Roman Numerals

Breakdown
It had been exactly three weeks since Wavecro had been rebuilt by the hands of pirates and it had been the same time since the Xros Coup D'etat had been planned and organized. On unknown lands, Dragon D. Dexter stood at the very borders of an island, resting with his hood covering his head and his sword across his lap. His hands had been occupied by a small book and a pen, where he made swift movements as though he'd been writing something.

Yeah, sitting with nature was when Dexter had been at his best to write a song. While he had been a rather loud fellow on stage, while he tended to everyday activities, he chose not to indulge with the larger crowds which was when he had been at work with a pen and pad. Though, now was a bit more different than any other time. He had a lot on his mind and this was the only way for him to pretty much get it out. The song he'd been preparing, however, would be one that would take his career to a level he'd never expected it to.

The D'etat would begin today and as such, he waited at the dockyard of this island--Jumba--for those participates of the Coup D'etat to arrive. "Well damn, I ain't heard from that pira, Gerhard yet. Imma' guess he's just getting to where I am too." Dexter thought as he continued to write in his notepad. "And I ain't heard from "him" yet either..."

Dexter placed the pen and pad into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Den Den Mushi that took the appearance of Gerhard, with a mask covering its "mouth", and shell covered by a fur-trimmed coat. "I shouldn't... he could be in the middle of some shit... Man, I need something to pass the fuckin' time. All these piras are late... how.." A flock of birds flew over Dexter causing the teen to look up at them and as he did he had a sudden flash and sensation trigger his body.

Turning his head to face the sea Dexter could see a few ships entering his view. Flags sailed with the Jolly Rogers of different crews, but he knew each of them individually, but collectively they were those he sought out for this task.

A smile formed onto his face. "Guess this shout boutta' get ready to pop off." He stated, standing to his feet and grabbing his blade by its sheath. The sudden change in position caused his spiked hair to flip from under his hood over his forehead like a visor.

If his focus was fully into the sea before him, it meant Dexter wouldn't notice something falling from quite high above. A sound followed its fall, the sound of an explosion and a large cloud of dust filled the surrounding area, "KAKAKAKAKAKA!" Laughing, easily recognizable laughter ressonated out of the smoke cloud.

"So, I was right on whom you were!!" Qasarhog Yanbaal, a current member of the Oka Shichibukai, the captain of his own pirates, whose ship flew above. "The Thug, Dragon D. Dexter!" He opened both his arms wide, smile blooming towards Dexter's figure. Then, Yan beat off the dust from his clothes, using both hands.

From the sea came another ship. It was an unusual one, fashioned in the form of a mighty fortress. Two levels existed on this ship. The upper level of the fortress, where Hecate could be seen running around in anticipation, and the lower level, where the other crewmembers were keeping the ship afloat on the sea. Such a heavy ship required a lot of maintenance, although that wasn't something Hecate cared about.

As they reached closer, Hecate noticed a particular presence and zoomed her eyes forward. Fashioning her hands into binoculars, she had a look in front of her, and her eyes were glimmered with surprise. "Oiiii, it's Yan-Yan!!!!" Hecate cheered, jumping up and down, shaking the ship slightly, and the crewmates below begrudgingly continued charging the ship forward.

They had finally reached the area which they were supposed to meet, and Hecate immediately jumped off her ship and dashed towards Yanbaal. "Yan-Yan! I didn't know you were here too!? Yaaaay, this'll be fun!!!" Hecate made a genuine smile, entertained at the prospects of this game.

One of the many flags visible held the image of some sort of creature, maybe a panda or bunny of sorts, with the largest grin on it's face. With eyes that swirled like a whirlpool, and something of a heart above it's right eye. This was the Jolly Roger of the Cheeky Pirates.

The captain of the ship stepped out into the sun, his shadow-less figure making it's way across the ship, standing at the bow of the ship. He analyzed the other ships around his own, but two specific one's caught his eyes. The ships belonging to two of the strongest Pirates to sail the New World, the Warlords Yanbaal and Hecate. Kerrim faced forward, lowering his hat to cover his face, once more doing his signature stance. Hiding all but his cheek markings. "I wonder what this 'Thug' character has planned." Kerrim spoke to himself.

"Osiris, Lyov, do me a favor and keep watch of the ship for now." Wings constructed of shadows emerged on Kerrim's back. For as a rare occasion aboard the Laughing Turtle, shadows were able to persist. Lifting off, Kerrim made his way to where he'd seen Hecate run off to as soon as her own crew had docked. Landing rather gracefully to the ground, Kerrim took in the faces around him. The wings of shadows faded, Kerrim bowing to properly introduce himself. "Mauricio Kerrim, I assume you're 'Thug' yes?" Kerrim stated, directly addressing Dexter, the only person amongst those present Kerrim hadn't quite seen before. Or at the very least, heard of.

In the distance, not too far from the dock, a large boat could be seen making its way. At first glance, it would appear as though it were a boat, but upon closer inspection, they would notice it was not one. Instead, it took on the form of an extremely large ship and hybrid. In fact, as it moved, the water it rode across had slowly begun to turn into ice before shattering instantly and becoming snow.

The flag blew a jolly roger striking similar to that of a spider. Those present knew the jolly roger all too well, as it belonged to a crew that owned one half of the Grand Line-- the Black Widow Pirates. It took no time for the ship to reach the docks, planting itself in place by freezing the surrounding waters around.

A few moments later, a man of silver-hair appeared at the front of the ship. His matching silver eyes had its view cut in perfect halves by the long braid resting on his nose. He wore a rather fluffy white top, with loose strapped pants, open-toed sandals, and a blue cape. This was the man worth at least 150,000,000, the newly promoted Kamiumi of the Black Widow Pirates, Jack Frost.

He scanned the area in front of himself, quickly noticing exactly who was who. He looked past the Shichibukai and other people present and locked his eyes onto the boy standing with the hoodie on covering his head. "Dragon D. Dexter," he began and as his lips initially spread apart a fog traveled out from his mouth, altering the temperature around the group in a matter of seconds. "So then it was you. I've been informed by someone, that your offer was no fluke. Though for him to trust you with this task, must mean you'll bring disaster to the Xros Pirates." The rest of his words were all thoughts to himself.

"The user of the Ope Ope no Mi, a revered fruit, right in front of me. But from all I've heard, to call this boy a simple Super Rookie would be ignorant. He's beyond the scope of Legs' little, Zack..."

Floating just above the ocean waters, a massive ship closed in on the island. it was the Shinigami, the Reaper Pirates's flagship. Definitely one of the more recent "Rookie" crews on this meeting, but rookies only in the pirating world, as each member was a veteran of the seas in a way. Just before Just before casting it's huge shadow over the ships docked below, someone yelled from the deck, "Okay! That's far enough." Umori Kenshiro was waving his paper fan to his navigator signaling to stop the ship's engine, while a few others hurled the sails, and in a few seconds, the ship dropped from it's low altitude back to the water's surface, causing a large wave to reach the shore.

Running and jumping towards his captain was Wallace Genki with his usual hyperactivity, "Yo Cap'n! What is this all about? You said we were taking a detour just after you received a strange call." "Well you see..." Just before Kenshiro could answer, Genki had turned his head towards the ships around them and instantly recognized a few of the Jolly Rogers. "CAPTAIN!", yelled Genki from the top of his lungs. "WE ARE AIMING TO TAKE DOWN THE WARLORDS ALREADY!? WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME? I WOULD"VE WARMED UP EARLIER! GUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!". Genki was screaming so loudly it could probably be heard for a few miles, and just as he does for every minor thing, he began to heat himself up, causing the temperature to rise all around him.

Kenshiro had already begun to walk away from his fired up crew mate, "You're always reaching your own conclusions Genki. It's supposed to be a meeting, but we'll see. Catrina, James, Sherman, keep your heads up in case things get ugly, and please take care of Genki, make sure he doesn't jump in on the meeting or breaks something." Kenshiro looked over the direction of the island, grinning at all the possibilities of this meeting. Holding his hat and his katana, Kenshiro jumped from his ship and by combining Soru and Geppo, he proceeded to "fly" to the meeting's location by moving at high speeds in a zigzag motion in midair, ultimately reaching his destination almost in an instant.

Finally touching the ground, where several big names were already present, he took his usual stance, resting his katana on his left shoulder, and pulling out his paper fan, covering his mouth with it, while his hat shadowed one of his eyes. He scanned the individuals present with his eyes, and turning his gaze to Dexter, he closed his fan, and pointed with it at his target's direction. "Start talking, kid." "Dragon D. Dexter. I wouldn't normally take a kid like you seriously, but from what I've read, you're a bit special," he thought while he pointed at Dexter. "GUUOOOOHH! CAPTAIN! YOU"RE SO COOOOL!!", yelled Genki from atop the ship's bow. Kenshiro just stood there, pointing at Dexter, sweating of embarrassment.

Underneath Dexter's hoodie, his ears twitched. One after another the shouted out his name in either epithet form or outright birth form. Blood pumping and veins poking, he lowered his head down into the shadows. "All of you... each one of you here right now... are idiots." Dexter stated, leaning his Meito over his shoulder and turning his back to the entire group.

"Y'all are gonna' get us all killed before we even begin." Holding his facing down and spreading his fingers out, a silver spinning dome appeared underneath it. "ZONE", as he spoke a slight gust of wind blew past the area around him before the dome covered a large portion of the area in front of him. "Paste", he calmed stated before a small building "teleported" right before their very eyes, but in actuality, it had been the powers of his devil fruit. "I had Gerhard prepare this for me before we left Wavecro. It's nothing too crazy, but it's enough for us to use for planning this out."

"Alright, come inside." He gestured, walking inside sure that the rest of the group would follow behind him. It had taken a few moments for the people to get in, but once they did, they'd all take seats at the rectangular table within the building. "I see, Hectate and Yanbaal of the Shichibukai are present. The Reaper Pirates and Cheeky Pirates as well. And finally, Jack of the Black Widows. Some are not here yet, but they will be."

Sighing, Dexter removed his hoodie and placed Tenrairyū on the table in front of him. "Check it, check it. We got about an hour before the Xros Numerals notice that we are here. So we gotta' make this as quick as possible. The Numerals are broken up into divisions, that are basically crews in their own. Our best bet, to take them down, is to split up our forces. Now, I wouldn't have invited you all if I thought you were capable of takin' 'em down... so don't waver."

He lifted his index finger in front of his face. "But we have one problem..." His golden eyes looked at the various Pirates sitting there. "Aurora is a large Archipelago and I don't know which islands are guarded by Numerals and sadly my power can't be used somewhere I ain't been before. I ask, are any of you capable of reconnaissance?"

"Reconnaisance...?" Hecate turned her head to the side, raising her eyebrows. The woman had been wearing a very large -- and heavy -- backpack, so she couldn't move her body. She wasn't sure what the word meant, so the warlord looked to Yanbaal for a moment, and saw him make a Shinobi gesture.

Hecate's eyes lit up, and she immediately burst into joy. "Oh, oh, oh, MEEE!!!! I wanna find the bosses!!!" Hecate roared, uncaring of those in her immediate proximity. She was excited to play the part of the ninja.

Head shaking, Dexter simply gazed upon Hectate with a sleepy look. "Got damnit, Hectate. I thought piras were playin', you really are like a child." Pushing his two fingers forward in a shooing motion, "Feel free, just remember what you're here to do. Don't engage until you've reported back to the rest of us. Before I go any further, do any of you have any questions?"

Kenshiro was laughing his ass off at Hecate's antics, all the while covering his mouth with his paper fan. "I guess these Warlords are the don't judge a book by it's cover type." He turned his head over to Dexter, lowering his head, he closed his paper fan. He stood like that for a second, until he lifted up his gaze, "so, aren't you going to give us snacks at least, something to drink?". After finishing his sentence, he quickly opened up his fan, covered most of his face with it, while only his eyes visible, though shadowed by his hat. His eyes quickly scanned the people at the table to see if any responded to his remark, especially Hecate, which was amusing him for some reason.

"KAKAKAKAKA! He called you Hectate," Yan rolled on... the air, rather than the table. His shoulders high and a smile still widely present in his expression. Truly, coming along in these kind of missions only meant fun, though, even as he deemed so, Yanbaal remained quiet in the presence of the other pirates. "Others have answered the mail..." A quick thought coursed by his mind, smile still there, nope, he was not thinking any deeper into it.

Turning to Hecate's direction, Yanbaal crossed his legs and motioned a hand for her, "But, Cate, it has been printed that stealth is a must here!!" That same hand closed into a fist, Yan dropped his smile and pouted his lips, "Are you really up for a boring first phase-" Head moving from one side to the other, he stared into her, only to briefly look at the man identified as Kenshiro. "Snacks? KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!" Yan held his stomach, "Green Scourge! That's the least of your worries!"

Kenshiro turned his gaze towards the Warlord, he knew exactly who he was. Contrary to Hecate, he had briefly seen Yanbaal in person while the Warlord visited Mariejois some time in the past. He turned his head downwards, and closed his paper fan, putting it on the table. He gripped his Junketsu, which was resting on his shoulder, under the sword's guard, and with his thumb he pulled the sword upwards, revealing it's collar and less than an inch of his sword's black blade, and a second later, he let go, his sword falling again on his sheath.

"Oho? Now tell me, Yan-san, what am I supposed to be worried about. You? This rapper kid, or the Yonko crewmember? Because if you mean the Xros, well, I'm eager for some chaos...Aren't you? Mr. Warlord-san?..."

Dexter glared, “You..” Dexter stated, pointing his finger in Kenshiro’s direction and leaving it there. “We don’t feed fodder.” An empty emotion befell Dexter’s face as he dropped his hand to the table. “If you ain’t got a question pertaining to what is about to unfold, then remain quiet. In fact, if you want to take this situation lightly, then I’ll see to it personally that your pirate career is cut short.”

The teen scratched his hair, turning to face Hectate once more. “How long will it take you, General? We are pressed for time after all...”

Kenshiro turned serious immediately at Dexter's remarks. He drew his attention from Yaanbal directly to Dexter his eyes still covered by his hat. He once again unsheathed his sword slightly with his thumb and slightly grinned. " Hehe, cut short? You mean like your height, short? It seems rapper boy has no sense of humor..." His grin turned wider. "YOU, a little kid playing pirate, is threatening me? HA! I'm curious to see what you're all about, Manslayer." Kenshiro chuckled, in his head he knew this was not the time or place to be joking around, he recognized even the "little kid's" strength, and the dangerous mission they were going to attempt, but he was not the sort to choose to be bored over having some fun.

This time, his eyes became visible and he seemed to stare at Dexter, but his gaze was empty, nothing could be felt from him. "I've been soaking these hands of mine in blood since you were a helpless toddler. I ain't your ally, and I don't respect you. I just deemed your invitation interesting, to see how far a kid like you could plan ahead and accomplish." He seemed to calm down, sheathing his sword. "Next time, don't threaten with words, that only works in your music scene, pop-star boy." With his eyes bloodlusted, he once again stared at the wall in front of him. He hissed, "Come at me whenever you like, and show me you're not all talk..."

After this, he gripped his sword once again tightly. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Don't be THAT guy, be a team player, remember your own agenda," he thought. He lightly tapped the table with his sword's end cap, grabbing back his paper fan, "If Ms. Warlord is not up for it, I have stealth skills as well. But from the looks of it, Hecate-sama seems to be fired up about this," he said while changing his tone completely from just a moment before, as if he was another person, and ponting his thumb back at Hecate. He sat back on his chair, lowered his hat, and once again stared at Dexter's direction. More than annoyed, the infamous young man had certaintly piqued his interest.

Kerrim had his eye's closed as he listened to the commotion, but had seemingly zoned out from what was happening before him. What he was doing seemed to require the majority of his focus, but then there was a question. What WAS he doing?

Since he'd acquired and begun to vigilantly practice his Haki, it was apparent that, while rusty, this hadn't been his first time using it's potential. Kerrim deemed himself a specialist on Kenbunshoku, and the task he'd performed merely mirrored that skill. For any individual whom gazed at Kerrim's shadow, it would become apparent that it was oddly shaped, with other strings of shadows seemingly attached to it. Like a network of shadows connecting each other, all finding their way back to Kerrim's own.

By using the applications of his Devil Fruit, combined with his Kenbun Haki, Kerrim had linked his spirit to nearly every shadow present on the island. This caused him to focus heavily on keeping this link intact, with most of the commotion passing him over. By linking his Haki with these shadows, Kerrim had been able to widen the range of his Kenbun, but most importantly, it allowed him to detect the location of nearly all the inhabitants on this island of Aurora, but he failed to reach any others. Upon discovering the locations of those he assumed to be the Numerals, judging from their strength, Kerrim would alert those at the table of his accomplishment.

"I should be able to detect the locations of the Xros Numerals, however." Kerrim continued to have his eye's closed, after finding all he could on this island, he withdrew his shadow search party and turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "I can only scan one island at a time, I require assistance while on my scavenge for Numeral Outpost." Kerrim ignored the unneeded tension Kenshiro had brought to the table, with the task at hand being much more important.

"KAKAKAKA!" Yan clapped loudly, constantly shaking the vicinity through his palms' shockwaves. "We're already setting up quite an organization," Another shrug, that time, he had his eyebrows arched and his smile even bigger, if that was possible, "Cate-Cate will, of course, lead the reconaissance!! There is no one here better than her at moving undetectable!" With both hands, Yanbaal had gestured for his comrade, these same hands flapping like papers in her direction. "Oh, wait-"

Searching for something through his clothes, Yan instantly put out a large and folded paper with his left hand, held between his fingers. "I doooooooo have certain information about some of these guys!" There was no way the rest of them had come here without any of that, plus, he was a member of the Underworld. Of course he would have it.

His grip had been however tight it could be on the sheet, though, his eyes were fixated upon the rest of the room. Gaze over Kerrim, Yan continued, "I'll only say out whichever our... Red Feather here finds." Eyes blinking, Yan's eyelashes fluttered.

Kenshiro waved his paper fan, as if asking for a turn to speak. "I may have gathered a bit of information, thanks to the Wung Family who now work under me. This is why, I'll make a proposition while Kerrim-kun does his thing, and yes, it includes you too, Dex-kun..." Kenshiro put his sword down, resting it on the edge of the table. "I'm willing to give each and every one of you, three cyborgs, and a handful of clones, for your use in these battles. We'll need every bit of strength we can spare, so fighting against fodder," he stopped for a moment, and glanced at Dexter for a second, as if remarking what Dexter had called himearlier, and continued. "should be kept to a minimum."

He moved forward, resting his hands on the table, "The most I can give you is my word, even if that don't mean much in the pirate world. They're unfinished models, both the Death Knights and the Warmongers, but they'll follow your orders, simple ones, and are quite durable, both require Haki imbued attacks to receive serious damage. I'll program them to obey you, and they'll attack whatever you tell them to. Don't worry, they won't turn on you. So, what do you say, Yan-san, Hecate-sama, Dex-kun, Kerrim-kun, and Frost-san?", said Kenshiro, while leaning back again to his chair.

Quiet for the majority of this exchange, it had been about time for Jack to finally speak. "Kenshiro of the Reaper Pirates? Since I've been here, in this short amount of time, I've heard many foolish statements from you. First, was your misinterpretation of Yanbaal's words. Second, is the fact you claim that Dragon D. Dexter is nothing more than a pretend pirate. I've been keeping tabs on the World for quite some time, making note of who could become potential threats to the Black Widow Pirates. Yes, you have been making a name for yourself in your many expeditions, but the one who has organized us has been doing the same."

Jack began to reach into his sweater and pulled out two bounty posters. On the left was the one belonging to Dexter and on the right, the one belonging to Kenshiro. "Dexter worth 330,000,000 and Kenshiro worth 65,000,000. Now, I want you to rethink your previous statement of 'pretend pirate' and then look at these two posters. If I weren't a man of reason like yourself, I'd easily say you are the one playing 'pretend pirate'. Especially considering, you flopped under this boy's invite and are here today. Your hands and blade have been soaked in blood, but clearly, those opponents have been nothing compared to him."

Leaning back into his seat, he sighed letting out a cold breeze from his mouth. "Keep your threats to a minimum Kenshiro and listen to this boy. He is our leader, after all. Additionally, speak ill not of my name or I will strike you down myself, by permission of Captain Legs. With that aside, Dexter-sama... please continue."

Kenshiro sighed, kind of disappointed in what he just heard. He grabbed his sword again, rested it on his shoulder, and proceeded to clap slowly and quietly. "Bravo Mr. Jack. But you do have a point. As I told the boy, I'll let actions speak." He picked his hat and set it on the table. " No matter, there's no fun in war if one can't have a little joke, and I've had my fill. Sorry to say, boring crowd this one....except the Warlord, that one had me cracking up," he said while pointing at Hecate and turning his head towards Dexter. "Forget I asked, I'll keep my cyborgs to myself."

"Uuuu..." Hecate began to moan, as the other Pirates began bickering among themselves. She looked around, sulking, not because she was in a bad mood, but because these people wouldn't let her be a ninja. "Heyyy!!!!" Drawing the attention to herself, Hecate stood up. "I wanna go play Ninja!! So let me tell you who's a party member and leader, okay!?" Her eyes glazed across the room, and she only had to close them for an instant.

Her gut instincts told her exactly what she needed to know. Supplemented with her, a measure of strength was nothing but child's play for the Grey General. The first statement was directed to Dexter, the "leader" of this operation. "Party member...or, um...NPC leader...?" Hecate scratched her head. She could feel a tangible amount of authority coming from Dexter, but he wasn't strong enough, not compared to the strong ones, anyway.

She pointed to Kerrim next. "Party member! But a good Ninja! You'll come with me to play Ninja right?!" Hecate asked eagerly, her eyes brightening up. Her finger pointed next to Kenshiro, "Party member, with lots of small party members!" Hecate said, and then had two fingers outstretched, one pointed to Yan, and the other pointed to Jack Frost, while both thumbs had been pointed towards herself. "We're the Party Leaders! Fro-Fro is, um...five levels below us! You guys are 15! But it's okay, we'll win!!"

Hecate smiled cheerfully, and looked at Dexter eagerly. "Can I go now, Dex-Dex?!"

Silence filled the room following Hectate's words. Dexter looked at Jack and Jack looked at Dexter, both making eye contact with one another. Almost in perfect sync, their eyes drifted the opposite directions so that no one in the room would notice. They'd both been attempting to figure out, just what the hell goes through Hectate's brain. Jack was a bit more obvious than Dexter in that he forced out a chuckle, continuing to drift his eyes across the room.

The teen sighed and threw his face into the palm of his hand. "Yeah, Hectate... just make it quick." With his free hand, Dexter held his hand up and a sphere formed. "Screen." The sphere turned into some sort of display screen allowing him to see everything outside of their hideout. "We ain't been found out yet, but who knows how long that'll last."

Flinging his hand, he threw the sphere at Hectate where it would float around her body--orbiting. "We'll be able to see everything through that sphere. Go ahead."

The Plan
"They haven't found us yet...?" Hecate thought about what Dexter said, as she rushed out of the building with the orb in hand. Hecate floated like a butterfly with the silence of her steps, and dashed towards the highest point of the island that they were standing upon. Hecate found something wrong with this whole situation, she thought, as she found the wreckage of a large building in the center of the island. There was the ruins of a castle here, or so she could gather, but that didn't really bother her.

Hecate began to scale the ruins of the castle with deft ease, climbing upwards step by step until she reached the highest point of the ruins. With the orb in hand, Hecate looked at the islands stretching above the one she stood upon. "Uwahh...I don't have an airship, climbing might take too long..." Hecate lamented briefly. Then, a brilliant idea struck, as her eyes brightened up.

Positioning her fingers into a binocular position, she placed them over her eyes. Focusing her vision through, she vastly enhanced the distance her sight reached. Of course, the sight that she saw was something she didn't entirely anticipate.

Anticipation. "Who is that girl I see," That was a word hardly related or used in tandem with that person, "Starin' right back t'me." Three cigars had been in his mouth, all of them lit and held by his teeth, which formed a large grin. He had sung, even with them there. In a second, the cigars were covered by those same teeth, smoke passed in-between them, while the man chewed them. Burn, the insides of his cheeks heatened up, yet, he spoke normally, "Found'ja."

"Why is my reflection," A man, towering well over four meters, held with but a single hand a large object, larger than even him, and stood atop a building, "Someone I don't know?" Vibrant green eyes stared from way too afar at Hecate, another island, as she positioned herself at the highest point, "Somehow, I cannot-" Step, turn, the man's right arm blurred and the object blinked into nothing. "HIDE!!!"

The forest's trees budged backwards at a wave of pressure and wind, something akin to a ray of green pierced the atmosphere itself, barely passing by Hecate's direction. No no, while it could hit her, it wasn't her whom it was destined for, though, it was easy to see its true destination. Trees and bits of mountains got a singular hole tore through their bodies, almost forgetting to react to... whatever flew through by. Was that even a simple flight? Vibrations and quaking came after an instant, provoked due to the trajectory the object took and the sheer speed it travelled with. At the same time, it was almost too close to its final destination, the headquarters used by the group and created via Dexter's powers.

Waves rose in the sea, since the object flew between islands, and clouds of dust birthed from the terrain, also leaving along streams of green, pure, sheer will. Where it would land, it could provoke quite a large explosion, evident by the screeching of the air, and demolish whatever structure stood on its path. Briefly, anyone could see that the object was a cannon, not a cannonball, but the cannon itself.

Flung from such a high position, weighting so much, that was to be the fate of ANY object thrown by Willahelm Bill's hands. One of the Numerals and an old man that seemed to be worth 600,000,000, "YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! BITCH'S EYE!!" He cheered, saliva escaping his mouth, while he observed everything that transpired with his Kenbunshoku Haki, in fact, it had been more active than usual. A den den mushi laid behind him.

"Cap'n, it's Bullseye-"

"I DUN' GIVE EY FUCK!!"

Kenshiro picked back his hat from the table. He had stayed silent after Hecate’s remarks, not wishing to humor any of the pirates there anymore. He had kept all suggestions to himself, waiting to see what master plan the rest would come up with. “Hmm, it seems we’ve failed miserably at the stealth plan.”

As he had thought, things went wrong. He sensed something nearing their location at high speeds, and he knew the others did as well and proably were prepared for it. He clenched his Junketsu, in case he had to act soon, but another blast, coming from outside, near their location made him lossen up his grip. “Heh! Now who’s that, making the first move!?”

In front of Dexter sat one of the very same spheres like the one given to Hecate. Through it, Dexter could see each and every action performed by the Shichibukai, though honestly, he had no idea if that were a good thing. He pondered, taking in the life of the archipelago. Everything seemed to correlate with the information he was given about the place, maybe his informant was one to trust. Even if he'd never met the person before.

Just when he decided to loosen up, Dexter could feel, the breeze of wind blowing past Hecate through the sphere. His hair waved due to the force of the wind. Was that even possible? Only those who knew of his devil fruit's true power had any idea. "It missed Hectate?" Dexter asked himself, allowing the rest of the group to hear his inner thoughts.

"Aww, fuck." He shouted, leaping to his feet Dexter gripped the hilt of his blade and began to unsheath it with his thumb. "Well damn," Dexter began the attack finally reaching the boundaries to be sensed by Dexter's own Kenbunshoku Haki. Holding his free hand in front of him, he went on, "Delete." The wall of the facility had disappeared following the teen's command. Though it moved at tremendous speeds, Dexter revealed a flying attack headed directly their way.

The wall could have possibly provided proper protection and with him removing it, made the group more vulnerable to whatever was approaching. Flicking his thumb up he completely unsheathed his blade and grabbed the hilt in midair with his free hand. In that very same motion, he swung his blade in a vertical slash, "Cut."

Cleaving the cannon in half, it crashed into the building on his left and right sides but dealt no damage to the squadron of pirates resting at the table. Resheathing his blade, Dexter turned to face the pirates present and approached the table. "Hectate," he said her name wrong for the millionth time. "Go ahead and go to one of the islands and get a head start before the rest of us..."

Jack took his last mouthful of ice cream, before placing his hand over the container and freezing it whole. With a mental command, the frozen container shattered into sharps of ice and floated into the air. Though not evident to the people around, Jack was a bit disappointed that the supply was so short.. it was his favorite snack after all. "Bravo, Man-Slayer, Dexter."

Kenshiro had sat through the whole scenario, watching as Dexter showed a bit of his skills. "Not bad", he thought. He lifted himself from his chair, and with the sound of his wooden getta sandals reverberating in the half destroyed room, he walked over to Dexter, katana resting on shoulder as always, until he stood at his side. Putting his paper fan away, he looked up at the direction the cannon came from. "Hey kid, I see you're not all talk..."

He held his hat as the breeze entered through the missing wall. "No more jokes for now, boy. I'll run along your plan until we get rid of these bastards. But don't mistake me, I'm not your subordinate, our interests just happen to align..." He lowered his left arm, now carrying his sword at hip level, "The full force of my crew, and our subordinates, are at this mission's disposal. How shall we proceed?", he said with a serious, determined tone, totally different from the jokester and the bloodlusted person he was at the beginning of their meeting.

Even once the attack came, Kerrim kept himself relatively calm. The sudden draft that came along with the disappearance of the wall, followed shortly by the sound of a sword slicing through metal. "So, we've been discovered already?" the man thought to himself. Rising from his seat, Kerrim rested a hand on his rapier, seemingly ready to draw his weapon at any moment. A crooked smile crept on his face as he walked up to Dexter's side, giving the boy a good pat on the back as he produced a smile formed entirely of teeth, a silent chuckle resonating from the man.

"You oughta not overdo yourself tonto, you gathered us all here for a reason." Kerrim stated, his laugh calming itself as he finally pulled his hat back, causing it to rest on his head naturally. The entirety of the man's face was now visible, free of the looming shadows casted by his magnificent head wear. A faint memory, one of an unknown figure holding their shoulder flashed in Kerrim's mind. "No reason for you to do everything yourself."

"KAAAAAAAAKAAAAKAKAKAKA!" Yanbaal clapped several times, once again, "So we finally get to meet one of them, print that on something of high quality!!" Hands stretched into open palms, he waved at the air, "Judging what happened... this is definitely Farland attacking!" The paper that had supposedly contained any further information was nowhere to be seen on his hands, yet, Yan simply continued to smile.

Smile. Living was only once.

One finger up, Yanbaal glared at the rest of the group, "Whoever you fight, don't forget," He pointed at the direction where the cannon came from, "He will be providing support." Yan seemed more serious, smile gone from his lips, "This was just a welcome." Much like breathing, he floated higher into the air and opened his arms. "SO! KAKAKA, which island am I to go to?!"

The ground they stood on began to quake. The earth itself split all around them, both on the inside and outside of the building. Heavy and long breaths could be heard among the quaking as well as rocks smashing against one another as though they were breaking or forming. In various locations on the island they stood on, chunks of earth gathered together and began to take on form.

Humanoid creatures of a large mass stood before the group of Pirates towering everyone present, even the nine-foot behemoth that was Yanbaal. "It seems we have company." One of the creatures spoke, though their voice was filled with so much reverb that is was easy to tell that someone had been using some sort of power to speak through it. "Seems the information Sniper King Bill gave us was true. Then I'll give you all an appetizer. Once you're able to defeat the Golems that stand before you, make your way to each of the islands."

Dexter glared, holding his hand out to his side where subtle wind began to gather has he would prepare another one of his ZONEs. "So you mean to tell me, you expect us to just walk right into a trap? No way, my guy, I gotta' a better plan. As you can see, I have a play, in my better hand!" Dexter rhymed, attempting to fling his hand out but he was stopped by the pale arm belonging to Jack Frost.

With a single step, ice began to travel from his foot across the ground, instantly freezing each of the golems in sight. "I agree with Feathers, Man-Slayer. You called us here because you could not achieve victory on your own, so do not attempt to begin the fight off in that way." By freezing the ever so limited amount of precipitation in the air, Jack formed spears of ice from thin air. Each had been directed at the frozen golems crushing them into piles of ice.

"Excuse me for being late, Dexter. I have only recently finished my dish of ice cream." Jack ended, walking to Dexter's rear as his pillar of support. "Tell me this, with what he just offered, what is your plan?"

Smiling, Dexter held Tenrairyu by the sheath and allowed his ZONE to disappear. "Shit, what ya' mean? He just said if we defeat the golems then we can proceed to the islands right? Then we'll split into teams. Hectate has already left for the first island right? Those of the Cheeky Pirates will go to one on their own and the Reaper Pirates will do the same. Jack, feel free to proceed on your own, you should be able to handle a commander. I've been using my power for quite some time now, I'll tag along with who's left over, so that means Yanbaal. Just tone that fuckin' screamin' down a bit?"

Shifting his eyes to the various individuals present, "Very well then, I think it's about time I name this group before we leave. As I think, I write my songs, a hit that this'll be. No flops from my label, Black Ops will be the team. Death the Kid that be me, that Rappin' Dexter D..."

I Am Number IV
On the island of Drecal, a Golem sat on at a throne with its hand perched against its chin. Around the golem, were at least ten smaller forms standing as its bodyguards. Tapping on the armrest of the chair, the Golem smiled slightly. "It seems they were able to make short work of the Captain's golems and have already begun to land upon the different islands. Then we shall prepare their funerals."

The voice was feminine, much like the one that had spoken to the Pirates. This was Numeral IV, the fourth commander of the Roman Numerals affiliate fleet and direct creation of Vince through his Golem power--Maaka. Among the rest of the Numeral Commanders, Maaka was the only one to not be an actual human, a further testament of its power.

Drecal was a rather empty island and mostly ran off of Golem Powers. It had no Human life form with the exception of a few wild animals here and there. Even the weather there was rather abnormal, hot sort of like a dessert, yet it was more like a plains biome. "Let's see who I get!" Maaka shouted, excited for whichever one of the Black Ops dare step before her.

Farseeing Icicle
"Ooooooooh me gawd!!" Bill cried out loud, closing both his eyes and flashing a smile. "I almost hit 'em with that flex!" He had been standing at one of the tallest towers of the Abdeel Island, a place known for its mountain ranges, although not quite immense. "Motherfucker cut't in twuh," Another chuckle escaped his mouth, Bill rubbed his beard, which pointed upwards, not bending to gravity like it should. The sea of crewmembers behind him trembled within their positions.

Flinging those weapons like that was a nice exercize, at least, throwing the cannon was enough to wake him up. Yes, Bill, before the pirates had arrived, was napping peacefully, until some of his subordinates noticed the abundancy in the leak of his aura. Through sheer will, Bill walked to pick a cannon without being properly awake.

"Hmmm," Bill looked all around himself, "Maybe I shoulda' tell those bitches about tis'." His hand searched around for something in his pocket, then, finding a black snack, it soon entered Bill's mouth, "Birururu. What do ya' want?" The sea of men parted, revealing a man.

Clad in a war-like suit, he had silver hair tied into a side poinytail and a clean face, "Farland Billy, presentin' himself." A face some current-era-pirates would easily recognize. Arms behind his back, Billy continued, "I shall be tha' one to inform the other members if you would like, Captain." He bowed briefly, standing way less tall than his superior.

Today was truly the day Bill had most laughs, "BIRURURURURURU!" He held his stomach, turning around to face Billy and the other runts, crewmembers. "Do as ye' please. I think they be fightin' some of Vin's dolls, means we'll meet sometimeee." Without hesitation, Bill's eyes scanned the entirety of the paisage before his island, aided by Haki.

"Very well." Billy uttered, marching to leave.

Jack stepped up before the rest of the Pirates did, choosing exactly which island he wanted to take. Oblivious, the island he had chosen was Abdeel. Though he had no care for the name of the island, so it didn't really matter to him. With the snap of his fingers, a plate form of ice floated in mid-air before him. "I wish you all good luck, Black Ops." Lifting his leg, he stepped on the platform and proceeded to create and step more platforms until he'd finally reach the island.

Before stepping onto the island, Jack held his hand up and formed a long spear of ice with a drill head at the end. Pushing his finger forward, Jack threw the spear upwards at the highest floating island, though just before it could even get into the atmosphere of the island, a drone-like golem appeared and destroyed it before it could go any further. "I figured as much. So the island is run by rather secure technology. Face blank, as usual, Jack turned to finally make his first step onto the unknown land.

Despite walking into enemy territory, Jack had not a bit of waverence in his heart. "Here I am, walking into my first true battle after you've left, Zack." Jack mumbled to himself, not that there was anyone around him to hear anyway. "If I am to walk away from this battle with my life, I will see to it that I come to see you face-to-face, Zack." With that bit of motivational drive to back him up, Jack used his sixth sense of kenbunshoku haki. He quickly took in the geography is the island, eyeing each of the various mountains that made up the island as he continued to walk through the land.

"I see. This island is filled with mountain ranges, at first, I thought that the shot from earlier came from the center island. But," Jack thought, trying to deduce the situation and come up with a plausible conclusion. "I am certain it came from this island." he concluded. Creeping behind Jack, was one of the spheres Dexter handed to Hecate before she left to scout out the enemy. It seemed as though, he'd decided to use them as a way to keep tabs on the other battlefronts.

Stopping, Jack looked at the sphere. It hadn't dawned upon his until now, but he had no idea how the sphere truly worked. "I wonder does splitting, also split his power. Willing to handicap himself just to talk the battles?"

Color Blind
"There they are, our enemies..." A masked man spoke, as he sat on, what appeared to be, an invisible throne. The moment he uttered those words, the throne crumbled, revealing his full figure. He was a distinctive man, wearing a completely white mask with two incisions for his eyes and a wide grin. This was Skelton Red, known as the "Master Mime", and a silent, but deadly member of the Xros Pirates' Numerals.

He had heard the commotion beginning, and only grinned slightly. The island he stood upon was filled to the brim with rubble of various kind, but he did not say a word of it. He only waited, at the center of it all, for his opponents. He was alone, but his presence occupied the entirety of the small island.

The silence was deadly, and any who approached him, would soon find themselves in the same predicament, no doubt.