My Hunt, My Raid

An Unconventional Reunion
It had been about a week after the successful raid on the Numeral’s territory. Even after all the attention they received on the News, the Reaper Pirates showed no signs of slowing down. Especially their captain, a super-rookie now worth 200,000,000, was now treated as more than a crazy murderous scientist who had escaped from Marine HQ. The pirate captain had proved that he was ready for the unforgiving waters of the New World, as he was capable of throwing hands against some of the toughest New World Veterans. Now, for some reason, he and his crew had begun hunting down scientists, researchers and engineers, both affiliated and non-affiliated with the World Government, leaving behind a trail of blood and destruction.

Today had been the most successful hunt yet for the Reapers, as they had intercepted a Marine ship leaving out of Spicy Pot Island. What made their attack successful was the fact that the ship carried the one and only Peg Nez, a woman who was at the top of the Marine Science Unit, and Umori Kenshiro’s former boss.

The now half destroyed Marine battleship had been the stage for the battle. Even a couple of Marine Captains and a Commodore were not enough to protect their target against just two members of the Reaper Pirates, the Captain himself and Liam Grim, a former prominent rookie that sailed with his own crew a few years ago.

Kenshiro looked down on Peg Nez while she was being held by some grunts belonging to the Wung Family. He removed his hat and leaned over to his former superior.

“It’s been a while, Nez. I’m sorry I left the Science Unit without saying this first...I quit. Fufufu!” He put his hat back on and straightened himself and his green coat. Smirking, he looked to his right side as the injured Marine Captain Fuko Dokimura dashed to his direction, aiming a Haki coated fist to Kenshiro’s face.

Kenshiro didn’t even bother to draw his sword. He dodged Dokimura’s attack with his eyes closed and while smirking, he coated his fist in Busoshoku and delivered a palm strike to the Marine Captain’s head. While his palm didn’t actually hit Dokimura’s head, just coming a few inches short of hit, the Marine however was blown away by an invisible force, landing several meters back, almost falling of the ship. His face was covered in blood and without a doubt, this time he was not waking up anytime soon.

“Grim. We only need Nez. The rest of them can be disposed of.” As he said this, Kenshiro looked at Nez for a brief second, and made his way towards the destroyed ship’s edge, where a Wung Family airship would descend, floating just a dew meters above the ocean. Walking onboard the airship, Kenshiro announced, “We’ll make a brief stop at Spicy Pot Island to pick up some of her associates, them we’ll rendezvous with the others...Nez, if you don’t want them harmed, I suggest you convince them to come along willingly, as I won’t mind cutting a limb or two if they resist”, said Kenshiro as he signaled the grunts to chain her and put her on the ship.

Nez's body tensed at the thought of her associates being harmed, but she had little time to ponder before she was ripped off of the ground by two burly men. The grunts twisted her arms behind her back, making Nez let out a small squeal of pain. She suddenly tilted her head upwards in a jerking motion and made direct eye contact with Kenshiro before speaking.

"Oh dear Kenshiro... you've changed so much..." Nez whispered to Kenshiro.

"A few people tell you that you've got the stuff, and then suddenly you've grown too big for your britches... "too good" for the Marines..." She continued, before tilting her head upwards in a somewhat menacing manner.

"To be honest, I never saw that much in you... people with too much ambition are no better than those with none. You're nothing more than a kid at a science fair... you... aren't... shit..." Nez spat, before the guards twisted her arms further to stop her from talking.

Liam Grim was just laying down, with his head over his palm, on top of a small mountain of defeated and unconscious Marine soldiers. “What do you want me to dispose of, Ken? These guys are done for, many of them even dead...” He grabbed and shook the arm of one of the fallen soldiers. “Yup. This one’s dead...but more importantly!”

Grim began to slowly stand up and make his way to Nez while the woman was blabbering on. He crouched beside her and from his jacket, he pulled out five roses. When she finished talking to Kenshiro, He stood up, his bored eye had transformed into a lustful expression.

“Mademoiselle!! Would such a beauty as yourself, after all this is done...go out on a date with yours truly!? You would make me the luckiest man alive!!!...AND if any of your associates is a beauty comparable with yourself, she can, of course, come to the date as well!!” He finished up in a grandiose stance, throwing the roses up high in the air and letting them fall. One fell on top of Kenshiro’s hat...

Nez was taken aback by the man's sudden interest in her, a shocked expression clearly visible on her face. However, she quickly tilted her head towards the ground and looked as though she were blushing.

"W-well, I don't know what to say... um, I suppose I will go on a date with you..." Nez stammered, her eyes darting rapidly.

"But as you can see, I'm a little tied up right now..." She said softly.

"Grim! Don't get drawn into her pace!...She's a cunning one..." Kenshiro turned back to Nez. "Trying to get on my nerves as you used to, "Nez-sama? It won't work. And besides, I was "forced" to flee from the Marines. That bastard Eren Gyo, the one you forced as my assistant, he snitched to Rita all of my Underworld dealings...that bastard! Although," Kenshiro chuckled, '"I guess it's my own fault for being so naughty."

He turned his back to Nez once more, heading in the direction of the airship. "But I must thank you, Nezzie...It was thanks to you, thanks to you accepting a former CP9 member like me into the Science Unit, that I was able to acquire this much power so quickly!!! All those lost research documents and experiments? It was all me, dear Nez!", Kenshiro exclaimed as his coat waved in the wind, and he held his hat in place with his hand.

"You done, Kenny? Come now! We have to go! If Genki finishes his mission before us, he's gonna pester us to no end!" Exclaimed a woman from atop the airship. This woman would be the Reaper Pirates's navigator, Kaname Dimaria.

Nez was filled with a great rage as a result of her attempt at deception failing, which only burned brighter after Kenshiro confessed to sabotaging the Marine's experiments and data. Countless hours and extensive knowledge were wasted and lost because of one man's doings! Nez grumbled audibly under her breath, but she interrupted her own wallowing with a sudden idea.

She reeled back her head and let out a large sneeze, which shook her entire body as a result. As she did, she deliberately shook her lab coat pocket, which allowed a small live snail to fall out onto the ground and promptly slither away. Nez then positioned her body in a way to where the snail could not be seen behind her as it made its escape.

"Oh sorry... I've always been allergic to your bullshit, Kenshiro... you knew that already though." Nez snidely remarked.

As she was talking, the snail was able to slowly squeeze through a hole in the boat and promptly deploy a small set of plane-like wings and engine, which allowed it to take flight like a miniature fighter jet. It sped off into the sky above before deploying a small antenna that created a signal that would only connect to others of its kind.

Nez's plan was successful, but Kenshiro's eyes and ears twitched after Nez's comment. He tried control his annoyance, but he was already oozing bloodlust. Nez would feel that the two Wung Family guards holding her began to tremble at the young man's sinister aura. He stopped on his tracks and slowly turned his head, looking over his shoulder, one of his eyes would stare them down. His stare would be directed straight at Nez, with such intensity it would feel as if he wanted to impale her with his gaze alone. Dimaria had a visible sweat drop falling from her forehead to her cheeks, wondering what would ensue during this tense moment.

Because of the tension, no one would notice that another injured Marine soldier had picked up his rifle and had pointed it at Liam. But he, was also paralyzed by the powerful killing intent Kenshiro's aura was oozing off. The marine certaintly was cursing the moment he decided to be brave and pick up his weapon. Kenshiro turned over to them, staring the Marine intently. He walked towards him at a calm pace, each step taken making the soldier tremble even more intensely. He walked past Nez, the two guards holding her had their heads facing the ground, not daring to even look at Kenshiro's shadow. He finally stood only a few feet away from the soldier. The rifle was pressed into Kenshiro's chest. The Marine just had to pull the trigger. Just a flicker, and this madman's life would be forfeited. He would be a hero. But he couldn't. He barely had the willpower to blink, as his eyes met the penetrating gaze of the pirate captain. Sweating buckets, the Marine tried to muster all his strength to either pull the trigger or jump away from this monster. But his body only reacted with a slight nudge. However, this slight, almost unnoticeable movement would be enough for Kenshiro.

With a swift movement, so fast it seemed as a blur, Kenshiro would aim to take the young Marine soldier's life. Blood splattered all the way over to Nez. The near lifeless body of the marine stood in the same spot, his eyes losing it's light, as he looked downwards ever so slightly,. Standing over in an increasing pool of blood, he would realize Kenshiro's arm had reached deep within his chest. So much that, Kenshiro's arm had pierced all the way straight through the man's back. On the palm of his hand, he held the marine's still beating heart.

Pulling out his arm, now soaked in blood, caused the corpse to fall to the ground like if it were a ragdoll. Kenshiro began making his way back to the airship, and when he walked again past Nez, he threw the bloodied heart in front of her. "Let's set sail to Spicy Pot Island," he said while he held his hat with this non-bloodsoaked hand. Finally on the airship, Dimaria came to Kenshiro's side and gave him a wet towel for him to clean himself.

Not long after, Kenshiro sat in the airship’s deck, taking in the high altitude breeze. “Captain, Spicy Pot Island is already on sight. How do you want to proceed?”, asked his navigator Dimaria.

“Hmm...let’s just fly over it, leave the ship hovering while Liam and I descend and ask for her associates nicely. It won’t take long. Right, Nez? You’ll tell them to cooperate won’t you?”, Kenshiro spoke loudly so Nez, who was chained under the deck, could hear his taunts.

The people from Spicy Pot Island would notice the large vessel incoming boldly, bearing both the flag of the Reaper Pirates and the Wung Family.

Nez's Associates
As the airship peeked through the thick clouds surrounding the island, Tabart, who had been dipping his feet carefully into the water at the edge of the beach, stood up from the sand. During this day off from his training exercises with Yan, another fellow Shichibukai who desired on compensating him for his assistance on Elbaf so long ago, Tabart had hoped to spend it relaxing on the wonderful beaches of an island protected by the World Government with his fiancé, Frida. Though, it had seemed that somehow, even on this calm day, his plans had yet again been interrupted.

Tabart squinted and nodded. “Yeah, that’s the ship that scientist warned us about. She said something about it being the reaper pirates,” he continued as Frida stood beside him. “If I had known being a Shichibukai was going to be all this work, I don’t think I would have done it. But, well, I don’t think I had much a choice Afterall.”

Tabart sighed, pulling his hands from his pocket, releasing a bunch of seeds onto the sand beneath him. “Frida, I’m going to shoot down that ship. Judging from the information we got from the marines, the scientist should be able to swim. If not, we’ll rescue her too, but I don’t really know how well that’s going to go.”

The seeds dug into the sand, rooting themselves deep in the island. Like a chimeric beast, the variety of plants that sprouted almost instantaneously merged into a singular entity that embodied a host of flowers with an opening in the middle, akin to a cannon made of plants. Without hesitation, the middle of the plant began glowing a bright yellow as the plants photosynthesized, gathering the excess light and concentrating it within the middle of its cannon.

Tabart waved his hand out, commanding the plant to release its concentrated beam, which erupted from the mouth of the flower like a rocket and surged with remarkable precision towards the aircraft like laser beams of a pacifista, or even the light beams generated by a user of the.

"Mosa Mosa: Solar Beam!"

As the airship drew closer, Kenshiro was almost falling asleep because of the cool breeze and well, the attack on the Marine ship was easier than he imagined. He was bored. Though he didn’t manage to fall asleep fully because suddenly, the ship’s crew began to panic, as a bright light shone from the island’s direction.

“KENSHIRO SAMA! A BEAM!!!! IT’S A-“, Kenshiro clenched the seat he was on and gritted his teeth as the beam of pure energy pierced the airship in half in a thunderous explosion. A large cloud of smoke and dust enveloped them as the ship began to break apart and fall down.

“What the hell was that!?”, Kenshiro thought out loud as he fell from the cloud of smoke in the sky, along the rest of the Wung Family soldiers and the ship’s rubble. Above them, the large chunks of the destroyed ship made its way into the ocean. “GRIM!! Make sure to grab Nez! I’ll head into the island!”, he yelled to his comrade, knowing for sure he’d be fine, and that he’d do his best to make sure the beautiful Nez would be safe.

Using Geppo, he hopped away in midair from the falling ship and headed into the island still a distance away. “Keeennyyy!” Kenshiro turned his head to notice Dimaria falling helplessly, and he immediately changed direction in order to grab her.

When he wrapped his hands around her, she blushed and went into a fairy tail dream where she and Kenshiro were living in a nice cottage in the mountains.

Back into reality, Kenshiro was intrigued as to how an attack of that magnitude was possible. “A pacifista?...no. Nez’s subordinates shouldn’t have access to technology like that, much less the island’s residents...which would mean, this is someone doing, someone who’s not in my calculations”, he thought to himself as he made his way into the beach, finally landing and carefully dropping Dimaria. He looked back and saw the wreckage slowly sinking on the sea. To his surprise and amusement, many if not most of the soldiers survived and were swimming over to the island. He searched for Grim but immediately realized he’d be fine for sure, probably trying to seduce Nez again. Though the fact he could be taken advantage of worried him.

He landed a bit further than from his attacker’s location. As he walked over to meet the source of the attack, he realized his Meito sword, Junketsu, was not on his person. He had left it somewhere on the ship before he sat on the deck just prior to the attack. “Damn it!”

“You can use mine if you want, Ken-chan”, Dimaria addressed her Captain as she offered her blade to him. “It’s okay, Dimaria. I’m more worried about Grim and Nez. Stay here and search for them, I’ll go ahead and see who the hell dared to destroy the airship.”

A group of soldiers landed nearby where Tabart was. They swam to shore and after a brief moment of recovery, they searched the beach for any signs of the culprit. They saw the cannon shaped plant, and beside it, the figure that in their minds, was the one behind the attack. Without hesitation, the group charged at Tabart until one of them shouted, prompting the group of soldiers to stop on their tracks.

“STOP!!! Don’t move, soldiers!!! Look closely! Don’t you know who that man is!!!??”

Slowly the soldiers turned their heads, and it merely took them a few seconds to realize. They all fell to the ground in shock and became covered in a cold sweat.

“B-B-B-Ben-“

“Benjamin Tabart...” the group now turned their heads back to see that it was Kenshiro who had just arrived and finished the man’s name.

Another soldier continued. “A former super rookie with a bounty of 500,000,000 bellies. He now stands among those Seven notorious pirates, as one of the Oka-Shichibukai!”

Kenshiro simply stood there, his eyes shadowed by his hat. He lifted his head more and revealed just one of his eyes that stared intently at Tabart. “I never would’ve imagined I’d meet someone like you in a measly island like this.”

The same soldier who shouted for the group to stop, gulped loudly at a sudden realization, which he proceeded to mention to his men.

“Benjamin Tabart, the only surviving member of the notorious Horsemen, a group of exceptional super rookies...Umori Kenshiro, one of the new super rookies that rose to prominence after the Horsemen’s death, alongside Mauricio Kerrim and Dragon D. Dexter...this is one hell of a chance meeting!”

Kenshiro continued staring at his sort of “predecessor”, as he held his hat for it to not be blown by the breeze. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tabart-kun...But I must ask...what is the meaning of this?” Kenshiro said as he pointed at the destroyed airship, now in pieces and sinking into the ocean. His plans for the day certainly didn’t foresee him meeting a Shichibukai. But now things were getting interesting for him.

Although Frida was internally bothered that neither the soldiers nor Kenshiro acknowledged her presence, her self-absorbed thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a woman clinging to a piece of the ship's now-broken hull, using the wood to stay afloat.

She leaned over to Tabart and whispered in his ear. "Tabby, you handle these guys... I think that's her..."

After finishing this statement, Frida sprouted long rabbit ears and began spinning them in circles rapidly, until they reach a speed so high that they lifted her body a few inches off of the ground. Wasting no time, Frida used this gliding ability to speed across the surface of the beach and water, directly towards Nez's position. On the inside, she hoped that the soldiers would pay more attention to Tabart than to her, or their mission could get messy.

Tabart smiled. “Glad to see that I’m welcomed with such respect. I don’t know what came over me. Allow me to apologize for destroying your airship,” Tabart apologized, bowing his head in respect.

He lifted his head up, his smile shifting into what appeared to be a devilish smirk, as if the entirety of his last phrase was laced in nothing but pure sarcasm. He gave Kenshiro a pointed look. “But for some reason, you happen to remind me of the guy that kidnapped a special group of marine scientists. So, I’ll be politely asking for them back, if you don’t mind.”

He pointed towards the sea. “And, I guess you could use those wooden planks to go the other direction.”

As usual, Grim was napping on the ship's deck when Tabart's beam struck, destroying said ship. He fell with the rest of the crew. Grim quickly noted his captain was fine and making his way towards the island, when he heard his orders. Grim's eyes turned into hearts. "YES, CAPTAIN!", he saluted while falling in midair, jumping from side to side, using the falling ship's parts as a foothold. "Nezzie-chaaan. I will find you, my loooveee!", he sang as smoke enveloped the area, and he lost track of where he was. He grabbed something, though it wasn't Nez.

Now sitting on a wooden plank, he let it drift towards the direction his captain was in, until he noticed Kenshiro was face to face with a man who had adorned the newspapers recently. The new Shichibukai, Benjamin Tabart, a rookie pirate like his Captain. "Well this is gonna be interesting." He quickly noticed another beauty making way towards...NEZ! "Ohoo!"

Grim stood up, and jumped. The force was such that the plank he was standing on sank, and he made his way through several until appearing right in between Frida and Nez, in what seemed to be a mere moment. "How do you do, mademoiselle?", he intercepted Frida, though his intentions were a bit...lustful. However, besides the perverted aura Grim was expelling, half his face, the part with the eyepatch, and his left arm had taken another form, a darker, ghastly form. It looked like half of Grim's body had become somewhat of a dark ghost, undoubtly the reason he was able to cover the distance so quickly.

"Nez-chan, is this the other gal we can take to our date? I'm amazed at such another beauty!...HOWEVER! Captain has to deal with you gals first, then...you're all mine...What do both of you say!", he said while shooting winks at Frida and Nez.

"OH! Here Captain!", he threw something at Kenshiro's direction, the thing he had grabbed earlier. It would be none other than Kenshiro's blade.

Frida landed on a floating dresser that was large enough for roughly three people to stand and move on. Frida let out a loud sigh as she was confronted by Grim and rubbed her temples as though she could feel an oncoming headache.

"Ugh... I just cannot catch a break..." Frida moaned.

Frida converted both of her fists into the paws of a rabbit, with large protruding claws, and assumed a defensive stand before narrowing her eyes.

"Alright, let's dance, Pervy." Frida said in an almost bored tone.

Kenshiro chuckled at Tabart's witty remarks, however, his gaze shifted slightly from the Warlord, to his partner who had just been intercepted by Liam Grim. "I seriously hope Grim can deal with this. He's really strong, but he's a womanizer", Kenshiro thought, showing just a bit of concern for his comrade.

He turned his head back at Tabart. "Well you see, Tabart-kun. I did "borrow" some scientists, but I don't have them with me here," he said as he shrugged, and now pointed to Nez's direction. "I "rescued" Nezzie over there, and we were just going to catch up since it's been a while since I last saw her."

He lowered his head, as he extended his arm and grabbed his sword, the one Grim threw at him. "But you see, I really need them for a few things I have in mind, so if you'll excuse me, I came to pick up the other scientists stationed on this island. Don't worry though, I'll return them safe and sound to you."

Kenshiro turned as if he was going to leave, but suddenly shifted his body back to Tabart's direction, and pointed his sheathed sword at the Warlord. "You know, those Marines took from me the pleasure of taking down the so called "Horsemen"...How sad. those losers died at the hands of some stupid Marines, and you...well, you went and became a government dog. How disappointing, now all you do is lick their boots and give them the "paw". And here I even thought highly of all of you once." As he finished saying those words, his body shifted once again, now towards the sea. His target was, without a doubt, Frida. "Go and search for the scientists! I'll go and recover Nez", he ordered the soldiers, who had just been standing there.

"YES! Kenshiro-sama!", the group said as they hurried into the island, passing just in front of Benjamin Tabart.

Tabart looked at the ground as Kenshiro’s soldiers marched in front of him, ignoring his presence entirely just as their captain had. Was this what other pirates thought of him now? Is this the stigma that the Shichibukai face? Yan had told him about this malice other pirates held for them. How they were thought of as Government dogs, and how they were ultimately met with the highest disrespect. Back then, Tabart had told him that he didn’t care about that, and even now that was the case. So, why did he find himself staring at the barren sand, lost in a stream of consciousness? Was it for himself? Had it ever been about himself?

“….No!” Tabart announced, lifting his head up, and stomping on the sand himself. He conjured the Devil Fruit powers that lurked within, the same powers that he had dedicated himself to awakening so long ago; without hesitation, the sand itself morphed into a battlefield of his own creation. Great trees and flowering plants sprouted from underneath the earth, spreading across the beach like a contagious disease, until its entirety had been transformed into nothing but a forest. Kenshiro’s soldiers would find their path obstructed by a variety of vines and unusual plants, and Kenshiro would find his own view to the ocean obscured by his massive trees.

Situated alongside his left hip was his meito-grade rapier which had been gifted to him by the World Government for his induction into the Shichibukai. Tabart pulled it from the side of his hip and pointed it towards Kenshiro just as the man had done to him.

“Sorry, kid. But I can’t have you talking about the horsemen like that….or looking at my wife. I was going to allow you the opportunity leave from here, but it seems that you always intended to come after the horsemen anyway; which means I can’t.” Tabart paused but for a moment as he prepared his stance. “Because, I won’t stop until all my enemies are destroyed.”

Watery Grave
As Nez clung to a floating barrel to stay afloat in the waters, Frida adjusted her feet whilst standing on her makeshift dresser-boat.

"Stay back, Miss Peg. It's better I get injured than you." Frida said matter-of-factly after taking a quick glance towards the scientist.

Frida then lifted her arms backwards in unison with her rabbit ears and promptly flicked her entire body forward while maintaining a stationary position.

"Rankyaku 'Yui!'"

Following this exclamation, four bursts of Rankyaku erupted from each of her appendages and quickly formed a "wall" of deadly slicing blades that began hurtling towards Grim.

"Oh man, I don't like to hit women, especially pretty ones...tch! But whatever, this is a pirate fight!", Grim exclaimed as his half transformed body began producing even more shadowy features. His entire upper body turned into that of a wraith, and when Frida's rankyaku blades came hurling at him, they just passed right through him.

How was it possible? Grim didn't become intangible. He did, as a spectre ghost, possess the ability to become as thin as a shadow and manipulate his ghostly body in various ways, and with this he dodged the blades, though he hid this from Frida's eyes by using the ghostly shroud that surrounded him as a cover. Grim then jumped from his position over to Frida's right side, extending his arm and pointing it with his palm open to Frida, and his ghostly arm tripled its size, combining itself with the ghostly shroud to become larger. But instead of attacking with his arm, he launched a Busoshoku enhanced side kick towards Frida, with his non-transformed legs. Even if he didn't seem imposing, his kick would prove to be fairly strong.

But this was just a ploy to force Frida to dodge or block, as his real attack came from the extended arm he just froze in place. A dark, ominous orb was created from his palm, and was shot directly at Frida.

"Nightmare Pulse!" This attack was possible because of Grim's Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Yurei, a Mythical Zoan that granted him the abilities of a wraith, giving him the physiology of a ghost and the ability to create dark orbs or waves that induced sleep and nightmares to his opponents. If Frida was scratched by his Nightmare attacks, she wouldn't fall asleep immediately, but drowsiness would being to befall on her, weakening her or anyone unlucky enough. A direct hit would knock someone asleep.

Frida knew that she had to react quickly from the moment that Grim used his claw-like attack. As his leg swept towards her, Frida quickly crouched down and threw up her hands, catching his leg just before it would have made impact with her. The force of the sweep pushed her back slightly, but she dug her feet into the surface of the wood as to not be pushed off.

As she gripped his leg, she then forced her arms upwards, in the hopes of throwing Grim completely off balance and therefore nullifying his Nightmare Pulse by throwing it off-track.

The attack was sent into the distance, as Frida effectively managed to dodge the attack. Having his leg caught in her hands, Grim transformed into his full, mythical zoan form, and managed to slip Frida's grasp by becoming "as thin as a shadow". He swept across the few planks and pieces of scrap still floating, landing on one just in front of Nez, blocking her from Frida. "She's quite capable. I do like me some strong women..."

Grim returned his legs and right arm, and head into his regular form, but kept his left arm transformed, and he used it to attack his opponent, by extending his fingers into piercing claws that elongated all the way to Frida's position. Every finger-spear would attack Frida from a different direction, hoping to pierce or slice her. At the same time, with his right arm extended behind him, he created the same dark orb as before, his arm now slowly being surrounded in a black shroud, as Grim aimed to put Nez to sleep with this attack. "Nezzie, was it? I'll need you to go to sleep while I deal with miss rabbit here."

Frida closed her eyes and attempted to concentrate on her surroundings. Using her Kenbunshoku Haki, she attempted to weave through Grim's finger attacks by moving her body in a rapid fashion so that she would not hit any of the piercing claws that threatened to put her to sleep.

As Grim's arm charged the dark orb and thrust it towards Nez in an attempt to put her to sleep, his arm suddenly stopped in its tracks mere inches from her face. Nez held a ballpoint pen in her hand pointed upwards, which caused it to be stabbed into Grim's hand. But how was this possible? Grim seemed to be ethereal, it seemed impossible for something like a pen to be able to pierce his body. Well, upon Grim's closer inspection of the pen, it was coated in something as black as his shroud and dripped in a silvery liquid.

"Do you feel it? Your Devil Fruit losing power..." Nez said through gritted teeth.

"A little Busoshoku Haki and O⁷F³ can turn even something as simple as a pen into your downfall."

"What the!?", Grim felt a sharp sting on his hand. He noticed Nez held something on her hand. His ghostly shroud began dissipating.

"WOMAN!...YOU!", With the arm Grim had used to attack Frida, he turned his claw shroud into a large, sharp, ghostly sword. He swung down with great force into Nez's head, forgetting his orders, his eyes determined to cleave her in half. Barely just inches from her face, his entire mythic zoan transformation dissipated. At the same time, an excruciating pain overtook his body. His veins became visible as he strained and dropped to his knees from the pain and coughed blood.

"Guaaaaaaahgh!" Grim struggled for a few seconds, until he became motionless. "shit. I'm sorry...Captain...no...wait...NO! I can't QUIT!" Grim was struggling, but he started moving again. He gritted his teeth as he used his own head to get himself up, followed by his arms, finally pushing himself in a sitting position. he looked at Nez, and later at Frida.

"heh, you fight like real pirates." Seconds later, a massive explosion covered the whole beach, with the shockwaves creating wild waves and shaking the foothold the three had. The battle on the shore certainly was intense.

"Two vs one isn't fair!" Grim took advantage of the shockwave and the explosion to grab Nez by the hair and throw her with force on a nearby metal piece, a remnant of the airship. This was in order to not get sneaked up on again, and to concentrate on Frida. He coughed a little more blood, as he struggled to stay on his feet. But his body was strong, even if his appearance didn't give that impression. If anything, he could endure quite an amount of punishment. Right now, he had to depend on his physical skills alone, against a more experienced, Zoan user that still had her powers.

He took a fighting stance, preparing for Frida's attack, that no doubt would come at full force once she realized what he had done to Nez.

As Nez slammed into the metal surface Frida was filled with hot rage. Even if she was a Marine, she was also a non-combatant, which should have discluded her from the mindless rampage that Grim appeared to be on.

Sprouting rabbit legs, Frida launched herself off of the driftwood that she was standing on, causing it to rapidly sink downwards from the sheer force. As Frida ascended into the air, she hugged her legs to her chest and began rotating rapidly in the air, eventually moving so fast that it looked as though she were a sphere racing across the sky. She began to descend diagonally down to Grim's position, threatening to hit him with a sheer momentum that would surely serve as an extremely debilitating attack.

Being unable to move properly, Grim crossed his arms in order to block the attack, but Frida's momentum was stronger, and her spinning body hit him in his upper body. "Guaaahg!"

As the pain from both attacks, Frida's and Nez's, coursed through Grim's body, he knew this was his opportunity to retaliate. He would grab one of Frida's rabbit legs, just as her attack finished hitting him, and would swing her in the air, and send her flying, in order to slam her on another metallic piece drifting nearby. He coughed a bit more of blood. Just as she would be sent flying, by sheer force of will, Grim would follow behind, coating his right fist in Busoshoku, as for the moment she landed, he would immediatelly follow with a punch with all the strength he had at the moment.

Although she was caught off guard, Frida was able to land on the drifting metal feet-first, allowing her to regain her standing position before Grim's follow-up attack could connect. Seconds before Grim was about to send his Busoshoku-enhanced punch, Frida was able to utilize her Kenbunshoku Haki to predict that former's attack before it had happened. Instinctively, she ducked and flattened her body to the surface of the metal as to avoid Grim's punch and hopefully force him to swing at empty air and lose his balance, therefore falling in the water.

Grim gritted his teeth as he missed his target. He twisted his body midair, flipped, and managed to land just at the edge of the piece they were standing on. He was preparing to attack again, when he suddenly witnessed Kenshiro's avatar take full form. He stood there, when suddenly, it stopped, and a massive shock wave followed.

Grim had to jump into another piece of wood as the powerful waves sank or destroyed the remains. He focused his Kenbunshoku, and noticed a strong presence in front of his Captain. "That's not Tabart...shit. What should I do?"

Grim decided to grab Nez and take her to shore, in order to better see what was going on there. "Sorry bunny girl. But our fight has to continue another time." Having recovered a bit more of strength, Grim jumped using the bits of wood and metal left, in order to reach Nez, grab her, and land on the beach.

Frida was obviously not ready to give up regardless of the massive waves. She braced herself and sprouted rabbit ears, which she began to rotate rapidly until she was able to lift herself several feet off of the platform that she stood on. Seeing Grim take Nez, Frida intended to chase him.

"Come back here, coward!" Frida yelled, speeding after the fleeing Grim. As she did, she suppressed the strange and nagging feeling that there was an unwelcome woman somewhere nearby.

Super Rookie Throwdown
Kenshiro observed intently around him as Tabart's powers threatened to turn the entirety of the beach into a forest. He knew Tabart's reputation, after all, Kenshiro was always up to date with the latest news, so he knew the Warlord was a relentless one when determined. Having read some of the feats performed by the man, and just the fact he had been appointed as Shichibukai, he knew it meant this wouldn't be an easy fight.

As Tabart's awakened powers began to surround him, it gave Kenshiro brief flashbacks of his previous battle against an awakened user. It remined him of how tough it could be, yet he managed to fight, clash equally and even push his more experienced opponent to his limits. Though this was not the time to engage in another tough battle, as his plans took priority, but it seemed Tabart was giving him no other options.

"Until your enemies are destroyed, you say? Fufufufu...it seems we have something in common, Tabart-kun..." Kenshiro said as the trees and plants came in between them until Tabart's body was out of sight. " As a plant removed Tabart's face from Kenshiro's line of sight, the pirate exploded from the position he was in, navigating through growing maze of plants, he used them to jump around and make his way to Tabart at incredible speeds, slashing with his sword, a black bladed Meito, cutting his way through the vegetation, until he sent one powerful slash that would be powerful enough to slice everything in his way, reaching all the way to Tabart.

Just after he fired his sword slash, the vines and trees around him would begin to trap him, until suddenly it was sliced to pieces, and as it happened, multiple "Kenshsiro's" began appearing around the area, slashing away the plants. This could be explained by the simple fact that Kenshiro was using his afterimage technique, by moving at such blinding speeds around the area that he creates solid looking clones or afterimages. If Tabart had managed to parry or dodge Kenshiro's initial strike, he would no doubt notice the multiple clones of the pirate now surrounding him, cutting away his devil fruit's creations, and slowly drawing in closer to Tabart himself, threatening to close him in.

The real Kenshiro spoke, though his voice came from all directions, given he was moving around. "I also intend to annhiliate by enemies, Tabart-kun, but I won't stop there. This World needs to be "revolutionized". The Yonko, Marines, World Govenrment, Shichibukai, the Underworld, Pirates, Revolutionaries...these forces have persisted through so long, clashing and imposing over one another in a never ending loop, but I intend to break it...Don't you see? We are living under the illusion that the Great Powers are maintaining balance, but that is complete and utter CRAP!! Who cares about balance if there is no progress, no change!?? These factions, these powers, the false idea of this SYSTEM needs to be destroyed, by ANY MEANS NECESSARY!"

As Kenshiro exclaimed his dangerous ideals, rain would fall down on Tabart's location. Though not exactly the rain one would be used to. Sword slashes, created by the pirate, would rain down on the Warlord, covering the area above and spanning quite a distance. A technique in which he misdirects his opponent's attention by moving at incredible speeds around the area, and keeping their attention on himself, and shoots hundreds of small, piercing slashes into the air, and lets gravity do the rest, as a few seconds later, his attack would rain down, falling at incredible speeds with dangerous piercing strength. He managed to even catch off guard and slightly injure Skelton Red with this technique.

"Kagutsuchi Slash: Assassination!"

Even while moving at blinding speed, he still kept a close eye on Tabart's reaction to his strikes and his possible moves, as once again, his opponents powers proved quite versatile, and he needed to be prepared for the unexpected, while also waiting for a chance to try and take out Tabart as soon as he could.

Tabart grimaced in what could only be interpreted as annoyance. He hadn’t expected Kenshiro to launch three simultaneous attacks, and that was only because Tabart had severely underestimated Kenshiro. The only reason he had created this flowering forest was because he was unsure of his capabilities, and he was fortunate that he did so. As of right now, it was the only thing that could protect him from Kenshiro’s blitz.

Upon command, the vegetation in his immediate area, encapsulated him like a fortress of wood. However, even Tabart knew that such a defense would hardly be enough, especially considering that Kenshiro and his clones had been slicing through his forest like a knife through hot butter. The fortress of vegetation shielded his body from sight as he dug his feet deep into the soil. Not too long after, the fortress found itself blackened in his Busoshoku Haki.

Kenshiro’s first slice simply bounced off the haki-enhanced prison, failing to even put a dent into his defensive obstruction, but as the clones drew closer, so did the rain of sword slices from above. As they cut through his tree leaves carelessly, they slammed into his haki-enhanced defense, slicing away at the very haki that surfaced it until the blackened armor dissipated into nothing, leaving only the wooden obstruction.

“Shit!!”

Those were the only words that Tabart had time for as the sword slices dug deep into his fortress. There was a deafening roar as he strengthened his defenses, yet Kenshiro’s initial attack was simply too surprising. The last remnants of his rain cut through the fortress, leaving Tabart to defend just by simply throwing his arms up, leaving large cuts and slices across his arms, though odd enough, naught a single ounce of blood. From one of his arms, such was to be expected. After all, it was wooden. But what of his left? Had he done it? Had he transformed that one as well?

He kneeled onto the ground, exhaling deeply as his pulled his feet from the larger hole in the soil.

Kenshiro still was out and sight, and as it looked, Tabart was almost out of options entirely. “Come the fuck out and fight me like a man you piece of shit!!” Tabart called out, his voice echoing through the very woods that he commanded.

"Is this...all that the infamous horsemen are capable off, Fufufu?...how tragic", Kenshiro taunted, as he stopped his high-speed movement and appeared a few meters apart from Tabart. It seemed like Kenshiro had the upper hand momentarily, and he wanted to keep it that way, but it wasn't easy moving at such speeds through Tabart's forest. Every step he took the vines tried to grab him from everywhere, so he had to activate his Kebunshoku early on..

As Tabart would notice, Kenshiro was right in front of him, removing small pieces of vines and plants that had stuck on his clothes and body while moving around the forest."Fight you like a man, you say? I AM fighting and taking you seriously, Tabart-kun. You see, I learn from my mistakes...So you want to fight "mano a mano"? Very well. But it doesn't matter whether we fight our duel with only our swords, bare-handed, in the air, or without our Devil Fruits...the result will be the same!...Which reminds me, since you're using your abilities, I might as well use mine, right? I mean, it's only fair, fufufufu..."

"And YOU, morons. GET MOVING!", Kenshiro snapped at the soldiers, some of them trapped in Tabart's ability. Kenshiro swung his sword so quickly they could only see a blur. A second later, those trapped in the vines found themselves freed, as Kenshiro had sliced them. "Hurry and go into town, complete our mission. I got my hands full with this one."

"Y-yes SIR!", the soldiers yelled, and ran as quickly as they could in hopes to get out of Tabart's range.

Just after his slash, Kenshiro withdrew his sword, and turning his head down, he took a very deep breath, and exhaled. Once again. With every inhale and exhale, Tabart could notice Kenshiro's aura getting stronger. It would be no surprise that Tabart would've underestimated Kenshiro, his aura and presence isn't anything impressive, though that's on purpose. Semei Kikan, a crucial technique during training and mastery over Rokushiki, that enables control over almost every aspect of one's bodily functions. Kenshiro uses this technique to "reserve" his full strength and stamina, unleashing it only when called upon, though, recently he's been having second thoughts on keeping his true physical strength hidden.

In a sudden burst of energy and steam, Kenshiro's muscles enlarged to the point that it made his loose clothing become almost skin tight. "Semei Kikan; Muscle Memory."

Kenshiro cracked his neck and removed his hat, tossing it on the sand. "Let's see how you keep up now...oh, and also, THIS!"

Kenshiro extended his arm and opened his palm in front of him. From it, a ghastly, shadowy figure was forming from it. It looked like a human silhouette, though it became apparent that it was much, much larger as it kept extending and growing in size. 'Release, Asauchi!"

"I've come to terms with my devil fruit power. I can't keep boasting this stupid pride, after all, it is MY power," Kenshiro thought to himself, as he became excited to try out this newfound determination against Tabart. Kenshiro had eaten a devil fruit ten years ago, yet almost no one knew he had one. He trained it in secret, and whenever he used it, he made sure there were no witnesses nor survivors. Until his fight with Skelton Red, where he was forced to cast away those thoughts that were holding him back. How could he integrate his Aba Aba no Mi into his fighting style, how can he improve it, and make it stronger, other applications? Those were the questions he began to ask himself just after the battle with the Numeral ended.

Asauchi, an enormous avatar spirit of his own creation. Yet Asauchi was different from the rest, as Kenshiro's "avatars" only nurture and manifest for the first time by using a live being's body as host. Without a host, an avatar's original form is not that strong in the beginning. Though in Asauchi's case, it didn't need an organism in order to manifest it's powers, because Asauchi could become an avatar of an element he came in contact with, in which case, it could be more accurate to define Asauchi as an "Elemental".

Kenshiro withdrew his sword, his black bladed meito, Junketsu, and stanced up, putting both hands on the sword's hilt, and elevating it to his side until the blade was almost parallel to his eyes. At the same time, Asauchi, gigantic in size yet as light as a feather, launched itself into the sand. Seconds after, the ground began to tremble, ripples were forming around the area where it submerged itself. With a large tremor, a giant hand made of sand came out of the ground, pulling the rest of its body up.

As a sand mountain was being formed just before their very eyes, huge amounts of sand blew in every direction, until Asauchi finally stepped his own two, gigantic feet on the ground, revealing his new form, a gigantic, four armed, terrifying sand giant. "RUUUUUOOAAAAHHGGHH!!!!" Asauchi's powerful scream caused a great breeze mixed with sand to envelop the area, and its roar undoubtedly was heard for miles.

"Let's fight like men then, Tabart-kun..." Said Kenshiro as he kept on his stance, while Asauchi turned one of his giant arms into a sort of sand cannon, and shot a massive sand blast that carried great force into it, no doubt trying to blow Tabart away or send him flying to the sea.

Tabart had little time to react to the elemental’s cannon, and managed, just in the nick of time, to conjure a defensive wall of wood. Still, the force of Asauchi’s attack completely decimated the wooden wall, sending Tabart skidding across the earth of his own forest like a pebble across a lake. He rolled backwards, catching himself a tree trunk. He exhaled deeply, and glanced around the forest momentarily, noticing that the earth underneath his trees had begun to swell entirely, as if the roots themselves were growing ever larger and expanding. Tabart redirected his attention back towards Kenshiro and his elemental, drawing forth his sheathed Meito as a smile fell upon his lips. He stood up onto his feet.

“Hey, Kenshiro!” Tabart announced, “Glad to see you’ve stopped being such a little rat. Now though, that thing isn’t enough to make me really consider you a threat just yet. So, I’ll fight you like this,” he continued, gesturing to his sheathed meito. “If you can make me draw this blade, then maybe you’ll actually be worth something.”

Tabart slammed his meito into the ground in front of him and slammed the palms of his hands together as he manifested the powers of his Devil Fruit, summoning forth another wall of wood that he had once used. However, immediately after it appeared before him, he pressed his hand against it, causing the wall to magically explode into a barrage of wooden bullets that surged towards Kenshiro and his elemental with remarkable speed.

Tabart may have been cocky, but he was far from stupid. He absolutely refused to get close to that elemental and Kenshiro, at least not without knowing their fullest capabilities. He was prepared to fight like a man, against another man: not fucking that.

Kenshiro twitched his right eye at Tabart's taunts. He knew he was being teased, yet he couldn't help to get pissed off about it. Mainly because he was being looked down on. "Deja Vu. Awakened Paramecia user, constantly looks down on me, smartass. It's like I'm cursed to fight similar opponents or something," Kenshiro thought while his eye finally stopped twitching. His blade began to become enveloped in a fiery coating of Busoshoku Haki. He swung his blade around in a blur, trying to cut away the barrage of bullets. Though he managed to cut some, some managed to slice his face, shoulders and legs. Though the cuts were superficial.

The ones sent to Asauchi's direction would find themselves blocked by a thick wall of sand. Asauchi had distributed the sand that made up its body unto its arm, multiplying its size and density. The wooden bullets would find themselves unable to penetrate the sand arm-shield in its entirety.

"Okay, Tabart-kun. I'll humor you. You'll be dead soon anyways. But, I have to mention that, even though I know the Shichibukai aren't obliged to protect the citizens of the World Government...Hmm, I reckon it'll look bad in your resume, letting someone as unthreatening as me cause a bit of damage on your watch, right?..." Kenshiro signaled Asauchi with his eyes, and the giant sand golem turned, now facing the island.

His four arms turned into the same arm-like cannon that shot Tabart a moment ago, but this time, they were pointing at the island. Asauchi also began to spread some of the sand that composed his body in a violent manner, already wiping up a small sandstorm that shook the trees violently and made way to the island. His arms increased in size, as the sand around the beach visibly was being assimilated into the giant, becoming fuel for his power.

Though if Tabart shifted his attention to Asauchi's actions, he would find that it would've been a grave mistake. Under the sandstorm, Kenshiro's pivot foot sank in the sand for a moment, as he exploded forward, his speed, much greater than before, not even comparable. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between him and Tabart, appearing on the man's right side, looking to slice the Warlord in half with a downwards, Haki imbued sword slash. His black sword glowed red as the pressure of his attack was so strong it seemed he would use an air slash, the air itself around the sword becoming volatile and piercing, ready to cut anything that didn't stop it's strike.

Kenshiro was silent, yet his gaze was pierced on Tabart's frame, dead serious about ending the man right then and there. As his slash attempted to strike downwards with his right arm, his left leg was prepared to kick Tabart in the gut if it required it.

Tabart flinched in response to Kenshiro’s sudden appearance, doing nothing but throwing up his meito at Kenshiro’s slash as it came down towards him, barely managing to encapsulate it in the Busoshoku Haki necessary to deflect it. Yet, his slash did what no one could have expected; sliced the blade in half, then Tabart’s right arm, finally stopping until it was etched into his shoulder blade. However, even then, no blood dripped from Tabart’s already sliced body. There was naught a single drop. Upon closer inspection, Kenshiro would even notice that the sheathed meito itself was nothing but a replica, forged of wood.

Tabart caught his foot with his left hand as he collapsed onto his knees, gripping it tightly as he looked up. “Y-You fucking dumbass…”

There was a small chuckle. “I did all that taunting, all that talking…Did you really think I gave a fuck about fighting like a man? About not using my Meito? What type of idiot do you take me for, huh? It was all so that you could fall into my little trap. I didn’t unsheathe the sword, because then you would have seen everything. I didn’t unsheathe it because you weren’t worthy of it. I don’t give a fuck about none of that. And the fact that I didn’t bleed when you cut me…what the fuck did you think was happening?”

Kenshiro’s eyes would reveal to him the truth as he glanced around the forest, at the very same roots that Tabart had inspected when Kenshiro’s elemental launched him into this forest. The roots were massively expanding, as if they were prepared to…

“Mosa Mosa no Mi: Great Explosive Expanse!”

BOOM!

The sound itself was devastating, ringing like a shockwave as the trees themselves combusted into a mushroom of pure and utter destruction, consuming the Tabart that had been taunting Kenshiro the entire time as well as everything else that existed deep within the forest, the very same forest that Kenshiro had willingly abandoned his elemental to dash into. For Tabart, the plan was clear from the beginning.

When he encapsulated himself in the dome of wood, he had dug a hole deep into the soil, crafted a clone and had sent it to the surface. He was a tad worried his defenses collapsed so quickly, revealing that his clone was still pulling his feet from the hole. However, by feigning exhaustion, he was convinced that he could have disguised that little fact. From that point, as he operated under the earth, he begun rapidly converting his wood into the same explosive material that he was once used on Elbaf, and even against Gerhard. Explosive Seeds that could consume an entire battlefield if enough were made.

roots themselves began expanding because they were being infused with these explosive seeds, and Tabart’s plan was to keep infusing them until they simply couldn’t take it anymore. But his clone needed to draw Kenshiro in, without revealing his plan. Unsheathing the meito would have revealed that it was nothing but a replica with a sheathe, thereby Tabart decided to taunt him with promises of worthiness and arrogance. Kenshiro fell for it, charged into the very forest that Tabart had begun to lay his trap, and allowed his clone to take the hit. Of course, he was worried about Kenshiro dashing out, which is why the clone allowed itself to be smote by Kenshiro’s blade, catching it deep within its wood, meanwhile grabbing his foot with the arm he didn’t use to defend himself from the slash.

It was a deeply constructed plan that took him several steps to plan, and which, at any point, could have been deduced. It was risky. But who was Tabart? He wasn’t the strongest of the Horsemen, nor the fastest, or even the smartest. But if anything, he was the most creative, and the one willing to take the most risk to make his plans reality.

Thus, his clone sat their with a smirk on its visage as it was consumed in a wreathe of flames that scorched whatever remained that hadn’t been blown to smithereens by the initial shockwave. The real inquiry was where was Tabart now?

The man who tends to outsmart and misdirect others, was given a taste of his own medicine. Such was his surprise that no Haki, no Avatar armor was activated on his part in order to protect himself. Either way, it probably wouldn't have been fast enough to cover him fully.

Kenshiro was blasted with the brunt of the incredible shockwave and explosion of the culmination of Tabart's plan. He took the powerful and large explosion at point-blank range. His eyes becoming completely blank, and exhaling smoke as the explosion covered him fully.

The shockwave was even powerful enough to wipe most of the sand covering Asauchi away. Even the Avatar was taken by surprise, as it released what had left of the sand on its body, and returned to his normal, human sized ethereal form. It rushed around the smoke and fire covered beach, looking for its master.

Though it wasn't long until Asauchi decided on a quicker way, by absorbing the smoke into itself. He knew his master was around, and he wasn't dead, his creations shared a connection with him, after all. When it cleared most of the smoke and dust, he noticed Kenshiro had been flown all the way back to where he first had landed when he fell from the airship. There he laid on the ground, arms extended to his side.

Kenshiro's clothes had been burned away, the top of his green clothes, his black coat, his wooden sandals, all that remained were his now tattered pants. On his right hand, he still gripped his sword tightly, and now being shirtless, it revealed his incredible musculature, and a scar filled upper body. However, from the tip of the fingers of his right hand, to the right half of his face, the skin was now colored in a deep red, burned by the attack as it was the area that took the most damage from the explosion.

His forehead was bloodied, and his chest and arms were also filled with injuries, bleeding here and there, and no doubt, pain accompanied it. But for a man like him, subjected to torture repedeately in his younger years, exposed to high levels of voltage instead of having a normal childhood, among other things, made this pain he was currently feeling something that would fuel his anger.

While still laying down, he looked at Asauchi who had just approached him, and then took a look at his burned right arm. “Fufufufufu….that fucking bastard.” He moved his left arm, and swiped some blood from his face, while also using it to check his abdomen and face to see what was injured. His right ear was still ringing, meaning it would be useless for a while. His right eye seemed to have not received much damage, although a bit of blood fell into it, making his sight a little blurry on that eye. Some of his right ribs ached, could he have broken some? It didn’t matter much right now.

While grunting, he gripped his sword even tighter with his burned right hand, and with his left one, he slammed it into the sand with such force the ground itself trembled.

“That fucking HUUUURT!! …...You fucker!!!!!” Kenshiro roared while still laying on the ground. He used his left arm to help himself get up, being now in a sitting position.

One could assume any other person would’ve either died or have his body completely broken up after such a blast, much more so at point-blank range. But Kenshiro’s body wasn’t quite normal. He wasn’t modified with technology nor anything of the sort, but as part of a Government experiment, he was tortured physically and mentally, his body was broken down, repaired, and pushed to such extreme levels as to force it’s cells and tissues to evolve and adapt, to become stronger naturally. As a child, his body was forced to evolve past what was humanly possible, in order to create a perfect weapon, without the need of cybernetic enhancements.

Now sitting on the sand, while the remaining smoke began to clear up, Kenshiro looked around at the damage caused to his surroundings, and later looked at himself. He put his left hand on his face. “Fufufufufufufu…..Fufufufufuufufu….YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! YAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHA!!! YAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!”

His psychotic laughter echoed through the beach, suddenly coming to a halt as he noticed that to his left, Grim’s battle against Frida was ensuing on the ocean, using pieces of wood and metal as footholds. On his right, laid the burned corpses of the Wung Family soldiers that were unlucky enough to be caught in the explosion.

“Aaah..Damn it. Hydra Omelia will be furious for letting her men die.” While still sitting, he scanned the area, Tabart was nowhere to be found. Kenshiro grunted a bit as he stood up.

“Hey! Tabart-kun. You got me! Yahahahaha!! You got me good, you imbecile!” Kenshiro cracked his neck, turning his head sideways as droplets of blood fell from his forehead to the sand. “Fufufu...You’ll make a nice vessel, Benjamin Tabart”, he thought.

He was fighting someone who had much better control of his devil fruit abilities, same as his battle against Red. Yet, even if only two weeks had gone by, Kenshiro had gotten stronger since then. By the mere fact of acknowledging that he’d need the usage and mastery of his Devil Fruit if he wanted to achieve his goals. He felt confident he surpassed Tabart in every other aspect, except his Devil Fruit mastery and cunning...or was it?

“I hope you can hear me, Tabart! From my understanding, you can control and create plant-life with your powers, and a few other gimmicks...Now, do you know what avatars are?...i'll give you a hint. Incarnations, manifestations of concepts, beings, entities, so on...let me demonstrate.”

Kenshiro extended his right arm forward, while still holding his sword, and produced a crimson aura that manifested in front of him, taking the form of a humanoid. Slowly, his visage became visible, revealing that the summoned avatar took the form of a human dressed in monk robes.

“This man, in life was known as Devshara, a monk who practiced a secret martial arts, one that enabled him to cover himself in a shroud of Haki, and manifest several “Haki arms” to aid him in combat...I defeated him, and took him as a vessel for my “concept”. Now, the man he once was is dead, the one inhabiting his body is a manifestation of my own, with a totally new personality, and his powers were manifested on a whole new level! Asura-Deva, show this little pony what I mean!”

The being suddenly transformed into a massive, asura-like being, with four faces, and dozens of gigantic arms. The same entity that pulverized the surface of Megido a few weeks back. “Yahahahaa! Imagine what I could create if I make YOU one of them!”

In a swift manner, Kenshiro’s eyes turned dead serious. “It’s only been a few weeks since I began practicing this. Let’s see if I pull it off,” Kenshiro thought to himself, as he extended both arms forward, with the same previous aura covering them. The aura then rocketed forward, piercing both Asauchi and Asura-Deva. Kenshiro then clapped his hands together, and the avatars followed his gesture, slamming against each other.

Slowly but surely, they began merging, morphing themselves into a whole new entity! “Yes!”, Kenshiro exclaimed to himself, as the final product revealed an intimidating new being, having now acquired both avatar’s properties. The dozens of arms had now an ethereal glow to it, and a fifth face, appeared right in the creature's abdomen. The sand, air, and residual fire from the explosion began being pulled into the new avatar’s arms, becoming enveloped in these elements. If a barrage of punches from Asura-Deva’s regular form can shake and destroy an entire city into oblivion, what could it be capable of now, with Asauchi’s added strength, versatility and powers?

Kenshiro used Geppo to hop into the air, while the large entity followed. “Let’s see what you’re capable off. We’ll start with a simple attack!”, Kenshiro exclaimed while at a certain altitude in midair, he pointed his sword downwards, and the giant, elemental asura-like avatar began launching a barrage of sand, air, and fire infused meteoric punches. When the first one hit the ground, it caused a tremendous and large tremor, cracking the ground and exploding with the element infused into it, in the case of this punch, it was fire. The rest of the dozens of sand, wind and fire coated arms followed suit, in a devastating attack, as apparently it was Kenshiro’s goal to wipe out the island’s coast from existence, in hopes to force Tabart to reveal himself.

While in midair, he hopped with his Geppo technique right above his creation, while It launched his destructive attack towards the shore. Kenshiro then turned his gaze towards Frida’s, Nez’s and Grim’s position once again. Though he shifted back, giving his subordinate the opportunity to prove himself. He watched as the beach was being decimated.

“It’s only been a few days since I learned it, but if need be, I might be forced to use THAT as well...though I must save it as a last resort...Tch! If only I knew THAT and the potential I have with this power right now, I would’ve beaten that Mime freak!”, Kenshiro monologued to himself, as he widened his eyes, scanning the island below as they glowed red with his Kenbunshoku.

The barrage would leave nothing but destruction, as the avatar slammed dozens of giant fists into the ground, caving in the earth itself and pulverizing the sand, stones, trees and whatever came in contact with its powerful strikes.

Two aspects. Kenshiro intended to unveil Tabart through all of this destruction. One failed aspect. Though he unveiled something, it hadn't purple hair. Yellow sticked out of the blown sand, uncovered after many layers had been laid waste to, along it was a pair of hands clad in white armor. Unnoticed by either of the combatants and their companions alike, a dormant aura stood below the blanket of the island, even with Kenbunshoku one could simply dismiss it as an animal of some sort.

All the tremors, impacts, explosions had surely reached this person, their body was buried deep, why was unknown. Below the many grains, a smile bloomed, the little ember brightened into the sun, his eyes opened. Whatever brave animals still remained in the island chose that very moment to flee, however they could.

As the many strikes continuing to demolish the beach, the two hands twitched and a large amount of sand erupted in every direction, red flared and a shadow moved towards two of the strikes. They had their fists meet, then opened their arms in a straight yet unseen movement, forms almost twisted, their backhands and forearms collided firmly against the Avatar's hands while mid-strike. At first, the Avatar's hands moved to the side only a few inches, much like it moved them by itself, however, large rings of sheer pressure came from the collision point in both sides, quaking the entirety of the beach. The punches that the Avatar threw didn't even have a chance to meet the ground again, their melody hadn't been interrupted just yet, but then, they all opened wide open when the ones struck by the figure flew off, tagging them all along in a single push.

The tremor from before escalated even more, mixing with the shockwave of the arms stopping their assault over the beach. Remains of everything, trees, rocks, even the sea itself, were pushed away in their wake, the sudden aura that was unveiled reached for everywhere, for anyone to feel. The figure smiled, their blond hair stained with sand grains, the white of their armor shone for a brief second, "You wanted to wake me up...?" A rough voice left their mouth, eyes barely open.

Red Hair and Red Faces
Tabart could feel the tremors emanating from the beach below, but more importantly, he could the enormous avatar floating underneath the clouds as it unleashed its fury upon the earth. The moment that he went underground, instead of sitting idly by and waiting in the earth, Tabart had taken the opportunity to protect the scientist at the top of the hill, and instead used his ability to communicate with his clone to trigger the forest that he had rigged with explosives. As he sat on the roof of a small, little shack, he momentarily glanced down at some of the men who had made it up here; they were unconscious.

Though, his Kenbunshoku revealed to him someone else approaching, someone who was far stronger than the men that Kenshiro had opted to send into this town of marine scientist. Because he had given his sheathe to the clone, his meito sat idly in his hand, even though he had only used the handle in combat so far. He didn’t want to necessarily kill any more men than he needed to, especially considering that they could be turned into the marines for even a small amount of cash. His plan was to turn in Kenshiro and collect the bounty on him as his own. Though, the World Government took a cut for themselves, and the cut was always bigger than he would have imagined.

As the woman approached, Tabart stuck his sword into the roof as a temporary sheathe, so that both of his hands could be free. She would immediately see some of her comrades lying unconscious on the ground, and as she glanced at the roof, Tabart sat there; a confident smirk plastered onto his face.

“Oh, hey there! I didn’t expect…wow,” Tabart started, stopping just as quickly as his face turned slightly red. “Woah, who are you?”

Dimaria's breasts bounced up and down as she suddenly stopped, noticing the soldiers who were down on the ground, and above at the man who just addressed her. Wait, wasn't he supposed to be down at the beach fighting her Captain? She raised her eyebrows and stanced herself, putting one hand resting on her hips and another one over her eyes, covering from the sun so she could see the image of the man better.

"Umm, my name is Dimaria. Pirate. Navigator. Hi-umm...aren't you supposed to be fighting Ken-sama?" She responded, while walking closer.

"Before you answer that, would you be so kind as to tell me where a group of scientists are located? They should be around here somewhere...I-I need to hurry, if not, Ken-sama will be mad at me! Pleaaseee? He'll soon notice you're gone, and he'll bring the destruction over here, so please help me, Tabby?" As she pleaded, she lowered her head in an apologetic manner. Her cleavage was much more visible to Tabart now that she had lowered her head in an apologetic manner. Her breasts would almost seem like they would pop out of her dress at any moment.

"Damn it! I didn't expect him to be here!? What happened? I can't deal with someone like him!", Dimaria thought to herself as she awaited Tabby's response.

Tabart sat their idle for a moment, before shaking his head. “O-Oh, um, well so, I would like to tell you where they are and everything, but see, I um, well….” Tabart paused awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

“I-I actually don’t know where they are. I just told them to sort of run and hide. I didn’t actually tell them where to hide though.” It was the truth. Tabart had gotten there, defeated the men, and told them all to pretty much run and hide somewhere just in case his plan didn’t work and Kenshiro found him.

“Oh, but don’t worry about that guy. I blew him up. He’s over there digging for me, but there’s no way he can keep that up. He might have survived, but I doubt that he’s not injured at all.”

Dimaria twitched as she heard Tabart's response. She straightened herself, closed her eyes and wiped up a big smile. "Ohh...That's too bad. But you see, you shouldn't underestimate Ken-sama. If you do, you're in for a rude awakening Tabby! He'll come for your head soon enough! Hihi!...ooops!" Dimaria covered her mouth briefly, and continued to smile at Tabart.

She turned around, as if looking for something. "Aaaaww...and after I came all the way here! Now I'm sweaty for no reason." Dimaria removed her coat, revealing underneath a small, corset-like shirt. She removed her hat, waving around her long, red hair. "Now what am I to do?"

Tabart smiled awkwardly. “I-I’m not underestimating your captain, at all. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.”

He jumped down from the roof, landing on the ground behind Dimaria, grabbing his sword in the process.

“He was way to fast and way too strong for me to fight just flat out. Besides, his men were competent…. And women!” Tabart added, blushing again. He coughed, clearing his throat to break the fraught silence that proceeded. “Anyway, I had to deal with both groups. Simply put, Kenshiro came more prepared than I thought he would, ad he was stronger. Even now, look at him.”

Tabart glanced over at his avatar in the sky. “That’s an incredibly powerful attack right there. So, all I’m doing right now is waiting him out to see if he can keep that up. But it’s looked like he’s stopped or something? He isn’t punching It anymore, so I’m wondering if this is his limit. Or, he could be thinking. Nevertheless, right now, this is a battle of attrition. I need to play this smart.”

He paused, scratching his cheek with one finger. “But, um…you know, I’ll gladly let you go for free. I can sense that you’re an amazing person, you know. I’d ask you to join me as my subordinate, but Frida isn’t too keen on other women that much.”

"Awww...tell that Frida to not be such a downer,  we could have sooooo much fun." Dimaria now faced Tabart, and was really, really close to him. "If not...you could always join us. Ken-sama always enjoys having new friends, and he's the type to do anything for those who join him."

Dimaria turned around, and adressed Tabart from over her shoulder. "Such a strong one like yourself, we-I'd be glad if you, and Frida joined. Kenny will help with your problems as if they were his own...some of us he freed from prison, some he killed those that haunted us." She looked forward, staring at the beach. "That's why we are loyal. He treats us as his family, our problems are his own. That's why we go along with every one of his plans and desires..." Her mind seemed to drift for a moment.

"B-but, Tabby. What will we do now?...Any ideas or suggestions?" Still facing forward, she let herself fall back a bit, leaning on Tabart, her head resting on his shoulders. As she leaned unto him, Tabart would feel a barely unnoticeable slither on his leg. If he felt it, and looked down, he would see that Dimaria's saber had transformed into a snake, a python to be exact.

Tabart stiffened up. “U-U-Umm! Y-Y-You know, um, Dimaria-san…I well, like…um, so, like um…Frida; she’s my fiancé!” He exhaled deeply, as if he had finally been able to convey what he had been thinking the entire time. “A-And she wouldn’t appreciate you leaning on me, so I’m gonna, you know,” Tabart continued, stepping to the side away from Diamria as slowly as possible. His excuse was so that she wouldn’t fall from his sudden movement, but perhaps, for him, it was just a means to prolong their moment of contact. He hadn’t even felt the python itching up his leg. But, if there was anything he had noticed.

He tilted his head to the side. “Where’s your sword?”

"Sword? Forget about trivial things. I do have this knife though. And it gave me an idea" As she drew closer, she put a knife close to Tabart's face. The blade was visibly coated with a liquid.

"This knife is coated with a powerful neurotoxin. It kills in extremely high dosages, but, with just a few drops, it makes you fly! In other words, let's get a high! I mean, fate will separate us soon enough, so would you at least give me the pleasure of doing this with such a famous, powerful man as yourself, Tabby?"

Dimaria, in an extremely sensual manner, licked her knife, in order to make Tabart feel comfortable at her offer. She then offered him a drop, be raising her hand, letting the toxin drip from the blade. At the same time, the python would have reached Tabart's thigh, and would begin to squeeze strongly enough for him to notice.

Tabart was probably the most confused he had been in a while. Get high, off poison? What the hell!? Didn’t she know he could literally make weed? He had a Plant fruit afterall! However, Tabart didn’t have much time to focus on that before he collapsed onto the ground as his leg literally gave out from underneath of him. There was this immense pain, forcing him to rip his turban up across him, revealing a python of all things!

“OHHH SHIT!!! IT’S A FUCKING SNAKE!!!” Tabart announced, before recognizing that Dimaria was still there.

“I-I-I mean, don’t freak out Dimaria-san! It’s just a python squeezing the hell out of my leg! I can take care of this, no worries, hahaha!”

"Umm...Okay. Well Tabby, show me how-KYAAAA!" Suddenly a large tremor shook the entirety of the island! Dimaria landed her head on tabart's chest. The python returned to normal, and by normal, it returned to its sword form, and Dimaria's dagger fell on the floor because of the tremor.

"What was that, Tabby!?" Still with her head and body on Tabart's, she looked back at the beach, at the direction of her captain. "Kenny...What's going on?"

Tabart’s face was flushed with a deep red as Dimaria landed upon him. “O-O-O, Dimaria-san! I-I’m not ready for this! I’m with Frida! I have a child.”

"Silly Tabby, that doesn't matter..." Dimaria said as she slowly removed her head from Tabart, looking straight at his eyes from below. Then, another tremor shook the island, though this one followed with a massive cloud of dust from the direction Kenshiro was in.

She picked up a Baby Den Den Mushi. “Grim, do you have eyes on the Captain? What is happening??”

She turned to face the island, her, lower bottom now directly touching Tabart’s front side. She lowered herself to pick up her sword and knife, while keeping herself groped on Tabart. She straightened herself, and watched as the town’s commotion went on. The citizens began questioning and guessing what was going on the beach. Even the Marines stationed there, those tasked with protecting the scientists, were preparing to take action.

One of the soldiers came up to Tabart. “Shi-Shichibukai Benjamin Tabart. We were informed you were dealing with a threat on the coast. What is going on right now? We sent a squad to check the source of these tremors and the reports of a strange, multi-armed creature that supposedly appeared floating in the sky.”

Dimaria lightly tapped Tabart’s cheeks while keeping close to him. “Whatever is happening on the coast, if they catch Captain in a bad mood, those Marines are as good as dead.”

“Who is this!?”, asked the startled marine at Dimaria. “Benjamin Tabart, is she your woman!?”

“Oho! Oh Tabby, I sure can be your woman if you want.” Said Dimaria as she squeezed her arms close to her chest, which in turn squeezed her breasts tighter.

“M-My W-Woman!? N-N-No! I’m with Frida: Frida!!” Tabart basically shrieked, before a sudden realization hit him. He pushed himself of the ground, grabbing Dimaria with it, and scooping her up into his arms as he looked towards the coast, completely ignoring the marine’s inquiry. “What the? If that isn’t you guys fighting him, I know for sure that isn’t Frida....I can sense it after-all, now that I’ve focused my Kenbunshoku. It’s Frida, following some guy, carrying that scientist Frida went after and….” Tabart’s eye widened suddenly; sweat dripped from the crown of his head. “W-What is this aura? What is this power!?”

He turned to face the marine. “There isn’t anyone on this island in our ranks that’s much stronger than me, is there?”

The marine shook his head. "No! But, if you're here whose down there?!"

Tabart turned back towards the beach. "I have no fucking idea."

Mental Problems
The burst of aura certainly reached Kenshiro, who was using his geppo to stay suspended in midair. The pirate captain was surveying the area with his Kenbunshoku, until something caught his attention. When the figure became unveiled after countless punches, on the ground, for a moment, Kenshiro was about to address Tabart for finally coming out of hiding.

But before he could, he noticed with his Kenbunshoku this new "voice" was different, and while Tabart's was certainly strong, this one felt much greater.

"Was Tabart hiding all this strength?", he thought for a moment, which lasted until Asurauchi's attack was pushed away violently.

Kenshiro's eyes glowed an even deeper red as he focused his senses into some unknown individual. As Asurauchi's arms were pushed away unexpectedly, it quickly recovered and directed one of his massive, element infused punches towards the target.

"Stop!", yelled Kenshiro, as the Avatar's punch stopped midway. He hopped one more time in the same place midair, before blasting himself towards the ground, zigzagging through the air until landing firmly in the flattened sand. The sea began to enter deeper into the island, as the Avatar's attack had altered the geography of the beach.

Kenshiro walked forth, still not seeing the source of this strong presence clearly, all because of the dust and sand still in the air. "Was there really someone that came out of the sand, did I see that clearly? When did he get here? Could he be one of those people, that maybe was playing on the beach, and his friends left him buried? But… Asurauchi has been hammering the ground for a while now...Is he some kind of idiot?" Kenshiro had many questions on his mind, ones that he expected to be answered in order for him to decide his next move on whoever it was.

He approached the figure even more, now becoming apparent that it was a man, a huge one at that, both in stature and in musculature. He also was, wearing armor?

Kenshiro focused his eyes, still trying to figure out who it was. The individual's face and hair was still covered in sand. Kenshiro raised his right arm, pointing with his sword straight at the mysterious visitor.

"Who the hell are you?! And why were you buried in the sand?!" It took him a few seconds, but just after asking those questions, Kenshiro began to realize.

"Wait...But-It can't be…...No, I'm almost certain! You're!" He didn't finish the sentence, as now, many more questions began to plague his mind. Was it really the person he thought? Was he in the presence of one of the monsters that inhabit the New World? Could it be the "Berserker" himself?!

"Asurauchi?" Indeed, just like Kenshiro thought him to be, this man speaking once out of the sand was Cain D. Abel. Arms crossed, the sand dispersed from nearby him, revealing some kind of metal where he was laying on. He looked at the Avatar of Elements before him, though his eyes shifted towards Kenshiro. "Oh, you know me just as I know you!" Abel smiled, eyes half-lidded, he arched his right arm backward with its palm open.

Before Kenshiro could even utter a response, more sand burst from the ground, Abel didn't even take a look, wrapping his fingers around the handle of a bladed mace, akin to something like a guitar. One of the most famed amongst its family, the Mabulrega shone under the sun rays, reflecting them over the wild sea.

Abel smiled and turned his pulse while still, Mabulrega's blades were facing the left, his left hand cupped its top. Muscles budged out, he tightened both grips, his eyes laid over Kenshiro, "I'm Abel, yes."

Within a breath's moment, the left hand pressed downwards, followed shortly by the right hand, the air tranversed was split in two with a brief hiss. Whatever remained of the sand shallow quaked completely, sand roared through the air without any particular shapes, darkness sprung from where the mace made contact with the ground and sipped through the rest of the ground. Abel's smiled widened, one of his favoured melodies. Wails came from rocks this time, they weren't just broken apart but crumbled in their entirety, a fissure tore its way through the beach, while erecting curtains of dust and sparks of sheer pressure. The melody of destruction.

Rather than simply divide the whole location, it continued to travel into the nearby cliff as if it was climbing over its body, the very same where Tabart and Dimaria resided atop of, their whole footing was to shudder beyond balance-breaking. Yes, his true targets laid there, targets he had felt with simple aura reading. Half of the cliff sunk into itself, erecting clouds high into the sky and blasting even more areas of the beach with weight and falling rocks.

On the opposite side and at the same time, the sea was pushed back a single time and formed some kind of reverse wave, revealing the sand previously below it, surely, such a wave would be capable of reaching the fight between Frida and Grimm. How much it would be disrupted, Abel pondered not, that was simply an extension of his actions. Still, that was not all of it, the sheer quaking caused by the impact could possibly throw Kenshiro off his balance, given his presence in the nearby area, and alert him. Sound was not the only thing to travel everywhere after all.

Kenshiro pierced his sword to the ground, grabbing it with one hand to keep his balance, and with the other, covering his face from the debris as the shock wave that Abel produced caused something akin to a tornado and an earthquake at the same time. It lasted for several seconds, and it really felt like being in the center of a storm.

"The hell is with this guy?!"

He knew this wasn't a directed hit with full force, merely a regular swing of his weapon. Either he was stretching or showing how dangerous he was, though it didn't matter, the message was received. He was strong. Abnormally so.

Kenshiro pulled his sword from the ground. "He said he knows me...Damn it. This must be related to our attack on the Numerals." Kenshiro knew Abel was as dangerous and as powerful as the monsters of the New World could get, and having a target on his back from this man, was no laughing matter. Yet, that's what he did. He laughed.

"Fufufufu...Interesting. If you came chasing for me, I might was well entertain you, don't you agree, Abel-san. I have some questions, though I doubt you'll answer them, so, why don't we dance a little?"

Kenshiro motion his left hand. As he did, Asurauchi dispersed into the wind, becoming one with the elements itself. Abel had proven he could physically match his avatar's strength, so a change of tactics was necessary. "Let's see how I measure up!" Kenshiro extended his right arm, the one he held his sword with, and let go of it, beginning its short descent into the ground.

From behind Abel, Asurauchi would reform, wind, sand and fire forming its massive figure. From below the sand, its hand would sprout, enveloping Abel. And another would follow, from above, below, and another, in blinding quick succession. From every side Asurauchi's arms would try to entrap Abel, not only using the strength of dozens of arms to keep him in place, but also using the elements infused in them, using the force of the wind, sand and fire to trap Abel in a ball of elements and hands.

However, that wasn't the true goal, just to trap him. Asurauchi's four faces would turn to face forward and downwards, facing at the dozens of hands clapping Abel in between. Each of the faces would open their mouths, producing a sphere of each element; fire, wind, sand, and the fourth one, a glowing type of element, which was essentially Kenshiro's own life energy, which he fed into the being. The four spheres would merge into one, becoming incredibly dense. Kenshiro's arms motioned this, as when they merged and compressed, his hand turn into a fist, and he tightened it fiercely, and after a few seconds, he opened his palms and thrusted them forward.

Kenshiro's blade reached the ground.

The heavily condensed large elemental sphere began glowing brightly, shortly before shooting itself as a massive beam that would engulf Abel and the hands clapped around him. Not only aided by the power of the elements and the condensing of it, Kenshiro's own energy mixed into it added immensely to its lethal power. Asurauchi's elemental hands would no doubt disintegrate at the force of this mighty attack, which shook the surrounding area in a similar fashion as Abel's previous swing, although with more destructive force into it, as the beam would no doubt carve a scorched hole into the depths of the earth. There was enough energy for the beam to last at least ten seconds non-stop. This was not to test Abel's strength, this was aimed to kill.

"Questions?" Abel asked, tilting his head while taking the Mabulrega out of the fissure in the ground, his mind completely shifting from Tabart to Kenshiro. Of course, the pirate adressed him directly, "Go ahead-" He looked around him swiftly, noticing the forming elements circulating all around. "Oh," It was that golem thing again, a frown overcame his face, he felt his body rising in altitude.

Before anything else left Abel's mouth, more of the Golem's hands enveloped his entire form, blocking off any kind of illumination inside where he then stood. They all had different textures, he noted, made with different substances it seemed. Not only they held Abel, but a great amount of pressure came from all sides, not surprising given the sheer amount of hands holding him down. Abel looked aroud the cramped space, utilizing of his strength to push back the tightness, he shifted in search of a certain direction, the one where the most amount of energy aura radiated from. Faced with it, Abel sighed for a few seconds and held up the Mabulrega forcefully, oxygen was limited in there, but it was not like he had to do much.

Following that, the manifestation of his very spirit took place under a few seconds given its simple activation, Busoshoku Haki sipped over the front side of his frame, though Asurauchi likely felt no difference, Abel sank a bit into its large hand. Arms, torso, face, and the Mabulrega itself darkened in a yellow burst of aura, this same aura was then complimented by the waving of a similar yellow. His Devil Fruit, the Isho Isho no Mi, that brought forth a presence, a presence of one that came and went. This combination did not just stay by the outside of his body, the Haki went into his very tissues as well, further strengthening it.

No second later, the combined might of the elements and Kenshiro's energy blasted into Abel head-on, a myriad of colors enveloped his partially blocked vision, red, green, brown, and then just white. He gritted his teeth audibly, closing his eyes, his muscles completely tensed up and took it all in, the Mabulrega pressed against him, also taking the sheer blunt of the blast. Whiteness filled the beach of Spicy Pot, demolishing its remains much like Kenshiro expected it to, causing tremors and air pressure to reach everywhere else, a roar far from a dying yell and more characteristic of a triumphant beast.

It carved through the very earth, prompting glowing cracks to make their way into the sand shallow, its rumble coursed through the surrounding sea. Even the very atmosphere around the beach darkened under such a display, but, it calmed down once again after the blast soundly dissipated into the air, leaving an immense trail of energy and steam. While the rumbling went off, a few seconds passed by, small tremors appeared through the beach once again, but then, a pregnant pause.

Sand erupted once again, a figure flew out of the shallow and landed wherever it was that sand remained, causing another shockwave. Abel stood tall, yet, more than dirt plagued his whole frame, it was much dark, full of bruises, a few droplets of blood wet parts of his head and torso. Steam came off his body as well. The whole time he remained buried, his ears had been ringing, "Blergh," He coughed, "You... sobbered me up," He tilted his head to the sides, cracking his bones and breathing the air of the beach once again, "Aaaah, it was really tight in there!"

Although Abel knew not of it, the attack was partially rooted into Kenshiro's physical condition. Considering the long fight he had with the Shichibukai, how he was hit by such a mighty explosion, the offense of his elemental attack decreased, if only a small bit. When one took into account the sheer durability of someone like Abel, augmented by his tremendous and manifested will which provided a partial defense against certain Devil Fruit powers, and his boosting power, the likability of serious wounds lessened. His weapon, the Mabulrega, one of the most famed ones, also helped in with its sheer resistance.

Smiles bloomed from Abel again. "You interrupted me, Scourge... but this attack was... no, alright, no words are proper!! Maybe I could go on for a little bit, hm..." Abel's eyes etched onto Kenshiro's wounded figure, almost piercing through his own, a smile made its way over his face, but it was simple. "No, what were your questions?"

"Shit." Kenshiro whispered as he dropped one of his knees to the ground. He was breathing a bit harder than before, though not that much so it became apparent. "Just a few bruises? Damn, but I guess that's to be expected."

Asuraichi divided, and returned to the state of two beings. They moved over and stood by Kenshiro's side. Asura-Deva was now in its "sealed" state, taking again a humanoid form not that much taller than Kenshiro. And for some reason, Asauchi sort of molded itself into Kenshiro's right side.

"That attack was trash."

"Let ME take control, I'll kill that blonde freak in one hit."

"Leave Ken-boyo alone, he's trying his best."

"He's still a weakling. If he could handle us all at once, he would've ended that purple idiot and he wouldn't be struggling against this one."

"You guys picked the worst possible time to be noisy!" said Kenshiro in a loud speaking voice, irritated at their comments. He slammed his hand on the ground in annoyance, causing the surrounding area to tremble.

He directed his gaze at Abel's own in a challenging manner. He slowly stood up, not wanting to feel as if he was being looked down upon. He clenched his burned right hand, and scratched his head.

"Fufufu...sorry about that. I've been just a bit on edge..." he tilted his head up, took a deep breath and adressed Abel once again.

"Abel-san, I'm flattered you know who I am. If you're in the mood to talk, let's talk then. What brings someone of your caliber here, to this remote island? Why were you buried in the sand and...why were you drunk!?"

Kenshiro snapped his fingers as he thought of another question, "and does you being here have to do with my hunt for scientists and my raid on this island??"

Expression remaining the same despite the display in front of him, Abel returned the gaze, though not in the same intensity like Kenshiro. He cleaned some dust and minor blood from his own figure. It seemed the adrenaline he was put through before they met right then and there prompted him to take decisions that could risk his very life, how bold of him. But, it mattered not, Abel smiled even more, standing just where he was, after all there was no reason to move and alert anyone just yet.

Hand extended, Abel commented. "Of course, little one! You have not only been in the news, but in my comrades' tongues," Flashes of the Numerals went by his mind, yet, his body hadn't tensed up, not any bit. He crossed his arms once again, leaving the Mabulrega by his side, though, it oddly seemed to levitate. "And that is the very reason I am here, though," Abel's eyes shifted towards the direction of the cliff he attacked beforehand, then they went back to Kenshiro. "I have been here for the past few days, I got buried accidentaly."

"I was waiting for you, young man, one of the raiders and super rookies! I would like to ask you about the Red Feather's location as well," Despite having changed attention just a bit, Abel's physical eyes laid upon Kenshiro, however, his very mind was all around himself.

Buried accidentally?? Funny enough, that was what most caught his attention for a moment.

"Red Feather?....Oh! You mean Kerrim! Well, we all went our separate ways after our attack, we had to fend off the Marines as well after all. So I don't know where any of them went."

Something was visibly changing with Kenshiro...yes. His wounds, the burned right half of his body was, returning to normal! It was like the burned skin was being "sucked" into something.

"But you're one to talk, Abel-san. You were in the news as well...what was it? Brutally killed a Marine captain AND destroyed an island? Fufu...quite destructive tendencies if I say so myself!"

Kenshiro walked forward, closing the distance between them a bit, and letting his sword pierced in the sand behind him. "Nonetheless, I assume you being here doesn't mean you were waiting to have a drink with me, right? Fufufufu..." Kenshiro's eyes turned serious and piercing, his whole demeanor and aura changed just for the duration of his next words. "You came for my head, didn't you, Abel-san?"

Even more, the burned half of Kenshiro's body was healing. Kenshiro scratched his head, and with a smile, he continued to address Abel.

"Hmmm...But I wonder, why would a man of your reputation be following a lowly rookie as me? We didn't cause that much damage...In any case, let me make a proposition, Abel-san." Kenshiro took a few more steps forward.

"While I certainly do not know where Kerrim is right now, I can tell you where the Cheeky Pirates will be a few days from now. But, I want something in return, Abel . If I give you this information, I want YOUR services in return. Of course, given that, I intend to leave this island with my head attached, even if you try to stop me." Kenshiro's eyes had turned defiant, and even with his injuries, he stood tall, not letting the mighty presence of the legendary mercenary overwhelm him one bit.

Abel's gaze remained upon Kenshiro, just like ever, he didn't even glance at the avatars by the latter's side, not even for a moment. It seemed that he hadn't noticed the disappearance of Kenshiro's burns either. "Almost a week ago, yes, I wasn't being myself," Abel shrugged, smile not faltering, "You are right, but, that doesn't mean your head will leave your shoulders. I'm not that brutal, child," Maybe the stories told more than was anticipated.

"You need to open your eyes!" Abel held a fist out, clenching it in such a way that his fingers produced cracking noises. "Damage? That is something of physical importance, which is not our only matter." Fallen soldiers, destroyed lands, wounds, those could be healed with time, but there were other kinds of marks, beyond even scars, even those scarred deep into a soul. Ah, yes, that was a well known subject to Abel.

Both their pairs of eyes remained matched, for Abel, it was as if he glared at the rookie and they had similar heights. Maybe time for them passed a bit slower than for the rest. Nevertheless, Abel inquired, "What are you willing to pay? My condition is that... you are a target still."

Kenshiro squinted his eyes. He felt something strange from Abel’s words. Something that reminded him...of himself. He couldn’t grasp what it was, maybe a feeling, that was it.

His thoughts shifted momentarily to his desires, to why he was how he was, to his goals, to his past...Not knowing his parents, nor his name. Taken by the Government to become a soldier, but actually being part of their sick experiments, to be turned into a killing machine...Yes, his current methods were cruel, vile, and ruthless, but Kenshiro asserted himself that sacrifices need to be made. He wished for a better world, and in order to do that, this old one needed to be destroyed. He NEEDED to be King for this to happen.

Flashes of his young self, alone and cold in the forests of, sneaking inside laboratories in order to learn from the scientists, to feel something, to not feel...loneliness.

His mind shifted back to reality, back to his predicament. It was obvious he had heard about the man before him and his exploits, so he knew he wasn’t going to back down after marking Kenshiro as his target.

“Abel-san. I’ll tell you about my offer. First, I’ll let you come after me, well, it’s not like I have a choice, do I?......BUT!” Kenshiro raised a finger to his face.

“IF I survive our encounter, THEN... I’ll request your services as a mercenary...how does that sound? As for payment, that is of no issue to me. If you want money, weapons, soldiers, Devil Fruits, cyborgs, clones, airships, or just some fine Ale, I can give it to you. I’ve got a whole organization under my grasp, after all…”

Kenshiro paced around, still keeping about the same distance from Abel. “As for the Cheeky Pirates…” Kenshiro stopped pacing. “Seventeen days from tomorrow, on Negrsneg Island, the Island of Black Snow, there will be a gathering of various powerful forces. Scientists, Marines, Revolutionaries, Pirates, and more! Among them, the Cheeky Pirates.”

Kenshiro continued pacing around. “How do I know this? Well...I’m making sure this info gets to all of them, after all. Though of course, they don’t know it’s MY doing! Fufufufu!...What a riot!” Kenshiro extended both arms to his side, as if he was enjoying the thought of it.

He stopped again, and faced Abel. “If the conditions are met, Abel-san, what your services will require is plain and simple...”

“To arrive on the island of Black Snow around noon, and wipe out every single one of these forces, while my men retrieve a weapon, that is, of course...If I survive here, Abel-san!... That! Is all I’ll require of you! Fufufufufu...YAHAHAHAHA!...” Kenshiro sighed.

“Of course, you have the option to decline my offer...Fufufu...”

“You’re a fucking nutjob,” Tabart replied, his body flickering into existence beside Kenshiro as he held Dimaria in his arms. However, even as he spoke to Kenshiro, his eyes were stuck on Abel. That’s who that massive power emanated from. He allowed his eyes to momentarily shift towards Kenshiro, and then back towards Abel almost immediately.

“Survive this encounter? You look like shit, bud. Though, you gotta have some fight in you if you survived my big ass bomb,” Tabart continued. "But, you need to remember that you're my target here. The World Government is going to pay me a pretty penny for bringing you in. So, how about you tell your friend here, that you'll be taken care of, and let's get going."

Frida softly landed on the sandy coastline as her ears stopped spinning and she observed the men in front of her. She scanned them quickly before her eyes landed on Tabart, who abruptly dropped a woman at his feet once he saw Frida coming. Frida's eyes lit up and she ended up running towards the trio, completely ignoring any situation that they might have been in.

She raced towards Tabart and nearly threw herself onto him as she embraced him tightly in a hug.

"Tabart! Oh I was so worried, I felt the explosion and I-I didn't know what it was, and I-" Frida emotionally rambled before stopping abruptly.

"You smell like a girl," Frida said flatly.

Kenshiro did not bat an eye at Tabart's comments nor his and Frida's reunion, he kept looking straight at Abel. Dimaria jumped to Kenshiro. "Kenny! You're all beat up! What happened, and who-...who?..." She hid behind Kenshiro's back. "That can't be...is that, who you were dealing with, Kenny?"

Kenshiro once again did not respond. Suddenly, his mostly healed right arm coated itself in Busoshoku, and in a swift motion he pointed it right at Tabart's neck. He slowly turned his head and stared Tabart straight in the eyes.

"I'm getting tired of hearing I am someone's target. And YOU! Nice trick...did you remember to bring me a drink while you were running with your tail between your legs!!!"

He lowered his arm, and his Haki coating disappeared. "You've really managed to get on my nerves in the short time I've met you, you little pony."

Behind Tabart and Frida, Asura-Deva stood defiantly. However, it extended one of his arms and gave Tabart his sword hilt, the one he used earlier to execute his deceptive plan. As if it was Kenshiro's

Kenshiro turned forward, once again staring Abel, but addressing Tabart. "Don't think you're little party trick was enough to put me down. And if you want to have a go at me right now, let's do it, but I'm not going anywhere with you...and for heaven's sake, don't let your fucking scabbard abandoned like that. It makes me sick..." Kenshiro scratched his head again, and continued. "But you see, this fella right here ALSO says I'm his target. So, which one will it be?"

Tabart let go of Frida for a moment, placing her by his side as he took his scabbard and sheathed his sword in it, chucking the wooden one to the side. Thank god that Kenshiro had addressed him; it would provide the necessary distraction to draw Frida’s question somewhere else, hopefully forever. Though, he doubted it. As much as people doubted her, Frida was inquisitive, and very observant. It was a trait that her and Tabart shared. Maybe it was why they made enemies out of almost everyone they met.

Still, Tabart smirked in amusement. He couldn’t believe his plan worked, and hearing that it worked only made him that much more confident. He wanted to tease him more, but it seemed that this guy standing in front of them would turn out to be a bigger problem than he anticipated.

“Who the hell is this guy anyway, Kenshiro?” Tabart inquired. “His presence is tremendous! What did you do to get such a monster of a man to chase you?”

Kenshiro turned to face Tabart. He squatted a bit, and continued scratching his head even harder. He put on a goofy smile on his face. "Eeeeeeehhh.....Well umm...You know that attack thing Kerrim, Dexter and I along with the other Warlords did on the Numerals? You know, the one where we forced the strongest allies of the Xros to flee their territory, resulting in their leader's capture?..." Kenshiro continued, now he discreetly pointed one hand to Abel, and addressed Frida and Tabart in a not so subtle whisper.

"Well this guy, is sort of like their supervisor. He returned to his serious voice and stance. "He's Cain D. Abel... I'm sure you've heard about him..."

"A lot of people seem to know the name," Abel said after having been silent throughout all of the arrivals. Then again, with his Haki having been passively up since before, it was not as if they were even news to him, not anything else for that moment. "Well, well," Eyes slowly closing for a few seconds, Abel mused at those present, "A Shichibukai, a Super Rookie, their affiliates, and a Marine, quite a bunch of young lads. Regardless of affiliation, each of you have been hunting for your uttermost freedom," With his eyes open, he eyed them one by one, spending the same amount of time looking at each.

A Shichibukai, Abel didn't even repeat the word, but surely the tone he used may have lingered within their minds. "But, not just any... I suppose none of you know the word going around for why this lad here is a Warlord."

Kenshiro eyed Tabart, and returned his gaze back to Abel. "Now that you mention it, I actually do not know...does it have something to do with your comrades deaths,Tabart-kun?" Once again, Kenshiro addressed Tabart without moving his eyes from Abel.

"Hey....Kenny." Dimaria tapped Kenshiro's shoulder. "Hey, hey. Earlier, why did you mention him about wanting his services? Weren't you going to try and hire the Beyonder?"

Kenshiro turned his head to his side, trying to speak in a lower voice to Dimaria. "Yes, but with this man, we'd have similar results." Kenshiro continued, "Besides, the Beyonder is far to difficult to reach and while effective, he's too unpredictable...or so I've heard."

"Hmm...I see." Dimaria turned her attention to Tabart and Frida. "Hey Tabby...what's the big man talking about?"

"His name is Tabart. Just Tabart." Frida hissed at the woman, whom she suspected of being the one that she could smell on Tabart. Only Frida was allowed to address him as Tabby... not some random pirate wench!

After this statement, Frida saw a figure out of the corner of her eye on the shore of the sandy beach. Turning her head, she saw Peg Nez, the scientist that she and Tabart were originally tasked with saving. The woman was soaked in seawater, but seemed to be in otherwise perfect condition considering the circumstances.

Naturally, Frida ran over to Nez and helped her up off of the ground, helping her brush off the coating of sand she had accumulated.

"He'll be here soon, I was only able hold him back for so long after I was able to escape." Nez said matter-of-factly as she regained her composure and adjusted her glasses. Her gaze shifted over to the group behind Frida, which was the moment that she realized who she was in company with.

"Kenshiro..." Nez spat.

He slightly turned his body in order to see who had addressed him. Although, he already knew who it was, nonetheless, he wanted to look her in the eye.

"Nezzie...so you managed to escape...I figure Grim is probably somewhere taking a nap. I hope you lot weren't too rough on him." As he finished talking, in a flash, Asura-Deva disappeared from Tabart's side, and appeared behind Nez and Frida, the being now manifesting in his full form, the same one it had before, that of a large Asura being with dozens and dozens of arms.

"Should I dispose of them, Kenshiro?"

It spoke. In a multi-tonal voice that made the sand tremble. It was like four or five people speaking in unison. It sounded quite eerie.

"Let me take care of them, Kenny." Dimaria also said, clenching her sword.

"Hold it. We shouldn't make any sudden moves yet. Keep your cool" He turned back to face Abel. "I can always kidnap you some other time, Peg Nez..."

Nez turned around to look behind her and see the source of the ominous voice that addressed Kenshiro. She eyed the avatar with a blank expression before turning back around to face Kenshiro once more.

"Hm... pathetic." Nez giggled, looking down slightly and pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose.

"You barely got me this time, Kenshiro. What makes you think you'll get so lucky again?" She said teasingly, crossing her arms against her chest and donning a slight smirk.

Kenshiro once again turned to face Nez. "Barely? Nezzie? I DID get you... I just got greedy, and how was I supposed to know this idiot would get in my way!" He pointed a finger at Tabart, almost touching his face.

"And now…" he tilted his head to Abel's direction. "It's one thing after another. I had my hands full with purple pony over here, Grim slacks of against you two. Uuhg…" Kenshiro continued.

"If only I'd brought Genki or Kire, this would've run more smoothly."

"Oh!", Dimaria jumped in place. She got closer to Kenshiro. "That reminds me, Kenny. Genki failed to capture Rear Admiral Guimmard Reiner. So he should be headed our way."

"Hmm...what about the others?" Asked Kenshiro.

"They've all succeeded so far in acquiring their targets!" said Dimaria excitedly.

"Good. Things aren't that bad after all."

Amongst the bickering, Tabart was listening and analyzing everything happening around him. What had alarmed him was this guy was a supervisor to heavy hitters in the Xros. The second was that he seemingly knew why Tabart was a Shichibukai in the first place. But, perhaps he was bluffing? What if he only knew about that one thing? What if he was wrong?

“I don’t know,” he finally answered, responding to Kenshiro and Dimaria’s question. “Ask him. What’s this word going around?”

Ask him, of course they would ask him, Abel offered to say something, but was swiftly interrupted. Still, this was nothing to worry about. None of this was, all this struggle, all this conflict they had with one another.

They were against themselves, not against him.

Yet, why would they even believe Abel? Being powerful, being known didn't mean that people would just believe his word. This pushed for other measures, though, maybe saying that wouldn't help either.

"I am 33 years old," Abel began, crossing his arms yet again, "but I have lived longer than that..." His smile widened, the sunlight was suddenly cut off by a passing cloud, leaving some shades upon his body. Breezes soared by, yet the silence remained upon the beach, not even the waves dared go very far into the shallow.

"I didn't have this for long..." Abel grapped the bare air with his stretched hands. "But at one point... I was on the path to becoming an Emperor, I was too sweet, too careless." His hair flowed lightly along the wind. "My own children got ahead of me, Koyuki-chan, Daikaku-kun..."

The wind seemed to shift direction, suddenly going against the very waves of the ocean. "I have seen all those old faces while they were young... They sailed under my care. And there is one monstrous face we met during our journey... that we will never forget." Abel pointed down, though given his height he pointed at Tabart.

"Stalkmann."

Abel's voice made the ocean and wind retreat even more, growing louder. "Stalkmann was the reason that the Hunting Pirates fell that much!"

Abel opened his arms even more. "The fact that you stand before the new face of Vryrch Seth sends my whole body into excitement!!!" Saliva flew from his mouth, while an immense yellow glow surrounded him. Sand, water, wind all rumbled in the wake of his shouting, his aura. "The last time I was this excited was when my children became Yonko!! And you manage to take out my very enemy, Benjamin Tabart!!"

The earth trembled beneath Abel’s tremendous aura, and the elements had no choice but to beckon to his call. However, as his aura poured into the world, his intentions became crystal clear to Tabart’s Kenbunshoku, and so had his power.

“The Former….”

Tabart had been made aware by the Admirals and other Shichibukai that such a power had existed such a long time ago. They had spoken of Stalkman-sama’s dominance in the world, and how his defeat by Tabart’s hand would etch him in history. However, it would also make him an enemy to everyone in the world who sought might and dominance. To destroy the one who could usurp a man revered as The World’s Strongest Man; especially someone who was once the captain of the Hunting Pirates, both of which contained Daikaku and Daddy L. Legs, two of the current Yonko. His Kenbunshoku revealed that this man was telling the truth, the utmost truth. How would he…? Frida….he needed to protect her.

Tabart’s right arm began sprouting flowers across his body as he spoke, sending seeds burrowing into his veins that bloomed across the pores of his open flesh. His turban was ripped off his body, revealing the flower petals forming upon his flesh. Though, as quickly as they bloomed, they began to photosynthesize, and to condense the power of the sun itself. The sun, life itself coursed throughout Tabart’s body, turning his tanned complexion green. He exhaled oxygen with every breath and stepped forward.

“Greetings Seth! I am Bathory Tabart, Celestial Dragon, and son of the holy land! I am a king of this universe who has been anointed in titles and glory. I am known as the giant slayer,” Tabart continued, unsheathing his meito, “But do not be mistaken. Giants aren’t the only things that I can slay.”

The wind blew strong, as if the elements themselves were reacting to such a sudden reveal. The clouds were gathering, a storm was blooming. There was an eerie silence, like the calm before the storm.

Asura-Deva dissipated, returning into Kenshiro's body. He had...his head down, his eyes darkened by the shadow of his hair. How had he taken such news? That HE was being PERSONALLY hunted down by such a legend. The repercussions of that attack on the Numerals were much greater than expected. And to think that someone, somehow had the ability to live on, in another body? If anything, that's an ability HE, as an avatar-human should have! Yet...he was far from unlocking the potential of his powers. And here he was, face to face with the mentor of the ones he's supposed to defeat.

Where had Asauchi gone? Kenshiro's burned half had all but healed, though a faint shadow remained where those injuries were. Dimaria gripped Kenshiro's shoulders tightly, completely speechless at what had reached her ears moments prior.

Of course, he had heard of Tabart's accomplishments, at why he was named the "Giant Slayer". He was in the Marines still, working under Peg Nez. Of course he had heard of Vryrch Seth, though such a name is merely spoken in whispers. Such monsters that crew had, most of them still relevant to this day. Clearly to be faced with such an insurmountable force, Kenshiro had to have the most terrible luck in the New World...or was this a blessing in disguise? A once-in a lifetime opportunity!? But, at what cost? Cruel and ruthless as he was towards his enemies, he cherished his comrades deeply. If anything, he must fight to enable their survival!

Kenshiro was trembling, though not with fear. Without tilting his head upwards, he took a step forward, then another. Which each step forward, the sky grew darker, the winds stronger, the ambience, more ominous.

Lightning struck for the first time, followed by another seconds later. Thunder made the ground tremble, as Kenshiro kept walking forward. There was no need for a verbal command, after all, they are his avatars.

Moments before, Asauchi had sprung into the heavens, and it had divided itself into smaller versions of itself. Asauchi was special, very special. It was an incarnation of Kenshiro himself, of his desire to take over everything, of his will as a King. It had acted without it's master's command, but it was exactly what he willed. Nature was dancing, giving a concert as only "it" knew how, and Kenshiro's own spirit was directing such a performance.

He stopped advancing, having separated himself from the group quite a bit. A violent storm brewed upon Spicy Pot island. The citizens questioned such a phenomenon, it was the New World after all, but such events were rare on this particular island. Even without their knowing, they felt it. They felt how this storm was different. It made them feel uncomfortable, as if the storm itself was a living entity.

The Marines approached the beach, as they became curious of the unknown events taking place. Tabart asking if they had someone else stronger than him had definitely left a bad feeling on a Marine captain, as such, he ordered the entire unit to deploy towards the beach.

They approached from behind Abel, from behind the group, and from their right side, basically surrounding them, leaving the sea to their left as the only place without a soldier. As they struggled against the strong winds, they finally had reached such a distance where they could clearly see everyone's faces. And what was to be expected, their faces turned pale.

"W-what's with this lineup!"

"T-The former captain of the Red Viper pirates, now affiliated with the Reaper Pirates, Kaname Dimaria!...The Captain of said crew, one half of the Mad Hatters, the Super Rookie, Umori Kenshiro!...S-Shichibukai Benjamin Tabart, and his fiance, also a formidable rookie, Fluer Frida!"

Everyone slowly turned their eyes at the lone man in front of Kenshiro. "It can't be...why is HE here as well!!??...The man who murdered Captain Heili-chan! The Berserker, Cain D. Abel!!!!!"

"Do not falter!!", yelled a Marine Captain as he took a few steps forward. "They are criminals who obstruct Justice! We must not give in! Ready your weapons!"

"Yessir!!!" answered the few hundred riled up Marines. "Prepare the Kairoseki-net bullets! And be careful not to hit the Warlord nor his woman!"

"Aye!"

During all this, Kenshiro just stood there, head facing down. He hadn't budged, yet the storm kept getting stronger. Those few hundred Marines were supposed to be the only obstacles in today's hunt, on his raid on the island. Just...them.

"Enough...Enough...Enough", Kenshiro finally spoke.

"Who cares?...Fufufu...Honestly. Who the fuck cares who you really are, Abel. Who cares what you did, Tabart… The only thing that matters is…...that I'LL be King."

He continued. "You're just stepping stones into my ascension. That's why, I won't die here. I don't care if I have you as my Hunter. I'll just get strong enough, to turn YOU into MY PREY!...how does that sound?!! Fufufufu!"

Kenshiro raised his arms and head high, facing the heavens, his eyes still not visible to anyone, as lightning struck several times around them!

"Captain-san! I think that guy has something to do with the weather!"

"Impossible...He can't be responsible for this kind of weather. That's just...NO..prepare to fire!"

Suddenly...the winds stopped. Thunder couldn't be heard. Only the sound of the waves calming themselves permeated through the area. He proved them wrong.The marines were visibly trembling.

Kenshiro lowered one of his arms, and his head. From the arm he left extended forward, he clenched his hand tightly, as if gripping the air itself, similar to how Abel had done before.

"And you lot...you really should learn your manners," he said, addressing the Marine unit.

Kenshiro raised his head, his eyes now clearly visible as his hair made way. They were wide open, much more so than normal, pupils dilated, and had a unique strength to them, an indescribable intensity unlike he had displayed before.

He slowly eyed the entire unit, all without moving his head. The storm continued its rampage, even stronger and more frightening than before!

Trees were being ripped out of the ground, roots and all because of the powerful winds, lightning was striking the ground intensely, and the waves were violent and massive. On the town, ceilings were being torn from the buildings, posts were falling and flying into the houses. It felt as if the island itself was crying for help, as if it was about to be swallowed into the depths by an unseen monster.

The Marines struggled to even keep their balance, as should everyone else. Though, the source of this phenomenon, Kenshiro, was seemingly unaffected. The winds passed right beside him and affected the rest.

"Captain… Kenny. Y-You are truly, unbelievable. This is why I chose you!" Dimaria thought to herself, as she observed her captain, standing right in front of her, in the middle of their group and Abel, and clearly, in the middle of this terrible storm.

"Now…"

Kenshiro spoke once more, though his voice didn't just come from his mouth. It came from above as well... From the heavens themselves, his own spirit had merged with Asauchi, his Avatar, his manifestation, with its now divided form, which were responsible for the devastating storm.

"All of you....BOW DOWN...TO YOUR KING!!!"

As if another storm was manifesting from Kenshiro's body, an incredibly powerful wave of sheer pressure and dominance was exerted from his body, affecting everyone in the vicinity.

The Will of a Conqueror...The Will of Kings...

Kenshiro's aura and willpower was being physically imposed into everyone in the vicinity. The storm followed suit, as it only aided in the powerful burst of pure aura being released by the pirate; the ocean waves became even more agitated than before, and the storm itself howled as if a god itself had been released from its eternal prison, with lightning becoming as rain, as it fell down continuously around them. He had already imposed his dominance over the very powers of nature around him, now, living beings were being subjected to his presence, and as he commanded, they would bow to him.

One by one, the Marines fell to their knees, ultimately falling unconscious. They weren't fit to stand in Kenshiro's presence.

Dimaria dropped to her knees, as she gritted her teeth, visibly struggling to keep her senses under the sheer will of her captain. "T-This feeling, I remember it...it's just like that time!"

Even without him staring at them directly, Tabart, Frida, Nez, and even Abel would feel as if Kenshiro himself was just centimeters from their body, staring them down, screaming at them intensely while putting weight into their bodies. But there he was, in front of the group, and in front of Abel. He hadn't moved one inch.

Everyone but a single Marine had fallen unconscious, under the terrifying display of Kenshiro's Haoshoku Haki.

It would've felt as if it lasted for hours, yet, mere moments passed. The storm continued it's rampage, as wild as ever.

Dimaria barely held on, she was kneeling, as she struggled to keep her head up.

Kenshiro took a strong step forward, making the ground tremble a bit. A strong step in, as he took a typical martial arts horse stance, his legs wide and firmly grounded. His arms covered themselves in a dense layer of Busoshoku, the densest one he could achieve, after all, he had reached the Sixth Dan in the Haki Development System, and that was four years ago.

Without turning to look behind him, he addressed Tabart, knowing his Haoshoku burst wouldn't have made the Shichibukai pass out.

"Try not to get in my way," he said, keeping his gaze locked intensely at his powerful target.

Frida grabbed onto Nez's arms as the torrential winds blew around them, threatening to blow them away. Despite Kenshiro and Abel's strength, she forced herself to stay strong in the presence of such great power and refused to allow herself to become afraid. Her resolve was to become strong and dominant enough so that she too could rise to power as Tabart had, and eventually become strong enough that nothing would ever threaten her or her family again.

As Kenshiro's Haoshoku exploded in the radius around him, Nez was struck instantly due to her close proximity. She collapsed into Frida's arms, who herself seemed to be only slightly affected by the display. It appeared as though Nez wasn't entirely unconscious however, but her eyes had a glazed-over look and she was still rendered immobile.

Tabart walked towards Kenshiro, having taken notice of his immense strength. There was something powerful about him; Tabart had no idea when he first saw him, but now, he was sure of it. This guy was a candidate to become a King, just like he was. He was one of the people Tabart would have to defeat eventually.

Stepping ahead of Kenshiro, Tabart lifted up his blade. "Fine then, Kenshiro. I won't get in your way. But, allow me to do the attacking right now....I have a plan."

A King. Another King.

Chills, they ran down through Abel's skin, through strands of his hair, his body flinched not one bit, but his soul braced itself for the black rippling that took place. The presences within all awakened, looking out into the wave of pressure and aura that birthed from Kenshiro's own soul, the purple and red one crossed their arms defensively, the yellow one stood just there, and the blue one hid behind the former.

The very world around them was affected by this man before him, but, of course, it seemed that had been more than his Haoshoku. Abel physically crossed his arm, embodying the very one he was using at that very moment, his smile widened and his eyes took in the visage.

Not the world around them, not all the disasters, but Kenshiro's very soul.

Even the Marines, who had managed to resist such destruction and the presence of Kings, didn't have Abel changing his eyes to glance at them. Kenshiro's words went through as hard as his disasters came through, he considered them to be stones, stepping ones, but obstacles nonetheless, he was bold, yet he also showed fang. Abel stared into his very eyes, feeling the clash of their gazes, though he hadn't released any Haki.

The Marines failed to see and it seemed as if the others had a similar reaction, but, Mabulrega was suddenly into Abel's grip, its body pointed to the right, its blades visible. His body moved much like gravity didn't even exist, under no pressure, under few restraints, Abel's smile and eyes exploded open.

He thought on shoving Kenshiro aside by responding with his very own wave of Haki, a clash of Kings, a collision that would send the island under further destruction, but that was now pushed aside. Both of them, the both of them stood in his way, in their way. Seth decided that while Kenshiro gathered the attention of all of them, what came first was Tabart, and he did the favor of standing in the frontal lines. Seth was in charge today, Seth chose what she wanted to. And she chose to show some kids some manners.

The sand didn't feel it, its grains remained stationary, while the air couldn't even wail, it was as if whatever dashed through the atmosphere could produce a sound louder than any wail or roar. But, nothing came through. They weren't very distant, but all of a sudden, Tabart was going to find himself standing inches from Abel's approaching figure, though he likely couldn't see it.

Sparks surrounded the Mabulrega, which was drowned in Busoshoku Haki, the very tempering made from Abel's soul to strengthen a material to unbreakability. No, not just his will, his kingly presence etched upon the bladed mace, only reinforcing its power and distorting the very atmosphere around it. Surrounding this Haki was the determination stemming from Seth herself, a feat capable due to the Isho Isho no Mi, as stated beforehand. However, just like before, the atmosphere wailed not, it needed more time to even allow itself to let any sound out, nothing around had even moved, the ocean, the birds that fled from the disasters.

Even for those with sharp eyes, sharp minds, Abel appeared as nothing but an apparition, a blurr of sparking aura. No hesitation, a simple intention, barely any feeling, much like nothing moved, it was hard to say if anything could even move. Both his hands held the handle of Mabulrega at different spots, he turned his hips from the right to the left, dragging his arms along in order to push the flat face of his weapon against Tabart's head.

Yet, what Abel couldn't see were the unpredictable actions of a mindless decision from a man.

The moment that Abel's kingly aura radiated into the world, and manifested his spirit into the air itself, Tabart found his mind overwhelmed. Though no foam oozed from his lips, Tabart's body fell sideways as his blade went flying into the air in the opposite direction.

With its mindless movement, which began even more Abel attacked, Tabart's action allowed for Abel to follow through with his own attack, which was now aimed for whoever stood behind Tabart. Abel had been so fast himself that he didn't even glance at the falling Tabart, not bothered to use his Haki for this, merely blitzing over him and into none other than Kenshiro. Given the additional distance, the air started to crack and stir under such an absurd power, Abel would ram directly into him, the same blow that was supposed to take in Tabart directly. A simple touch could crumble the best of defenses due to the very density of the haki and will inputed, pushing through them to reach the target and demolish them with a pressurizing blow of presence as the attack sunk into their very form. An attack from a King, a Warrior, a Seeker of Freedom, capable of falling many New World warriors.

Kenshiro's defenses were to be few, one would suppose, his avatars were somewhat dispersed, he was partially tired out and wounded, his own Haki maybe could fall prey to Abel's. A strike that was not even aimed at him sought to fell the mighty Scourge.

Frida's eyes shot open and a small shriek escaped from her body as she watched Tabart collapse onto the ground after he made contact with Abel's blade. There was no telling what Abel had done to him, as almost nobody knew the full extent of his abilities. Tabart could be seriously injured... or worse. Frida's blood ran cold and her breathing became rapid and shallow. As Tabart's body fell, she saw that his blade was now flying overhead as a result of his fall.

"Snap out of it, Frida."

In a split second, Frida laid Nez's nearly-unconscious body on the ground and ran over to Tabart's position. She reached her hand up into the air almost instinctively, causing it to collide with Tabart's sword and allowing her to obtain a secure grip on the blade. Frida, blade in hand, looked down towards Tabart.

"You've always protected me Tabby, so I guess it is time to return the favor..." Frida whispered.

"BUSOSHOKU: BUGUTAI!" Frida yelled. As she did, her entire body was coated almost instantaneously in a thick black layer of Busoshoku Haki. However, this particular armament of Haki was different. The layer of Haki began to contort and form a clear shape around Frida's body, moving as though it were fluid rippling across her body as it dilated and moved. Finally, the mass began to solidify and change color. As the process was completed, Frida was now completely armored, wearing a fitted dark blue bodysuit with aquamarine-colored chestplate, greaves, armguards, and helmet. Her entire body was covered head-to-toe in a reinforced armor as a result of this technique, hiding her face behind a metallic and emotionless mask.

Frida used her newly enhanced form to take advantage of the situation and shot forward at a high speed, heading directly towards Abel with Tabart's blade in hand. Meters away from him, Frida launched her body high up into the air with a powerful jump, holding Tabart's sword with two hands and the blade pointed downwards, descending upon Abel while he was distracted by Kenshiro.

What was it? It all happened so fast. He had his guard up, defenses ready for any sudden movements. Yet, who could expect such a mighty frame to move at such speeds?

The mighty attack came, aimed at Tabart without warning, a feat few are able to achieve. Even the most veteran of warriors reveal even a slimmer of intention before an attack, yet Abel seemed to just have "teleported" in front of Tabart. Kenshiro knew it all too well, after all, he used similar tactics all the time, they had been beaten into his subconscious since childhood. To attack without prior warning, to misdirect his intentions, to not let enemies read your movements, but being capable of reading THEM.

Yet, even taking into account his unpredictable and cunning nature, who would've thought, Tabart would've reacted how he did. Kenshiro would've expected it, it wasn't as he was trusting the Warlord to be useful in the fight, yet his senses were too focused on Abel, and after that "speech", part of him thought Tabart was ACTUALLY going to fight.

He felt Mabulrega, breaking through the strong winds, reaching the side of Kenshiro's head. Even without glancing, he felt it, the powerful strength behind such an attack. Without being able to even move his eyes to look at the incoming weapon, Kenshiro lifted his left arm first, as it made contact with Abel's mace.

It hurt, a lot. Even coated with a thick layer of Busoshoku, upon mere contact his arm was about to give in, but that was just when he supported his left arm with his right, tensing up his core and his legs, in order to take the full brunt of the attack as Abel completed his swinging motion.

Bursts of black lightning emanated, in response to the clashing of Armament Haki. Kenshiro could go into an even denser state of his Haki, but he was weakened, this was the toughest he could manage without compromising his stamina too much, which was ready depleted quite a bit.

Kenshiro struggled as he gritted his teeth. His feet sunk in the ground as he tried to take in the impact.

"Such...strength!...This guy's raw power may easily surpass Genki's own!"

To Kenshiro, this clash felt as if it had lasted for a while, yet in reality, it only lasted a few seconds, until he was swatted away as Abel completed his swing. Kenshiro was sent hurling at high speeds, crashing against trees, rock formations, the ground, until he reached the town at the center of the island.

The citizens were startled as he crashed through several buildings and houses, finally landing at the base of the mountain, just at the edge of town, making a large crater upon impact. They wondered what more could it be!? As the storm that seemingly came out of nowhere had already been the cause of great terror in their minds.

As the dust began to clear, the people approached the mountain's base, as the storm's winds had diminished in strength. The saw a figure of a man, half buried in the mountain itself.

Kenshiro was panting, had pain all over his body, but he was still in the fight.

"That bastard. What a fucking monster…"

From the crater he was buried in, fissures came out, cracking the mountain itself, as Kenshiro forced his way out of his predicament.

His body was covered in cuts and bruises. As he jumped out, he landed on his knees, in front of a crowd that wondered his identity. At that moment he felt it immediately.

"My left arm…"

He then looked up, to the citizens that by now had recognized his golden haired frame.

"T-The Scourge!"

"Tabart!! Help us!!!!"

The citizens went into panic, as they hurried into their destroyed homes. Kenshiro's eyes twitched at the mention of the Shichibukai.

He struggled, but managed to stand up. He clenched his right fist tightly.

"I don't want to hear that asshole's name!!!!"

The winds returned to their devastating potency. Around Kenshiro, lightning rained down, striking the town several times per second.

"Somebody help us!!"

Kenshiro was furious. He tilted his head upwards, and looked at the sky.

On the beach, Dimaria was still in shock that her Captain had been sent flying away into oblivion. She was still on her knees, as she saw Frida make a move on Abel.

Suddenly, the strong winds returned. She turned her head to the direction of the town, and saw a rain of lightning striking down on it. She sighed in relief, and let out a brief grin.

"You're okay. Kenny…"

She stood up, and clenched her sword and a whip she pulled out. She was not about to let herself become easy prey.

"Oh", Abel muttered out once his eyes fully adjusted to the visage before him, which was not the Shichibukai being hit, but the Super Rookie, Kenshiro. Furthermore, he was met with some resistance, evident by the immense pressure that their contact released upon the world around them, such a turn of events had Abel slightly widen his eyes and look onwards. Though his body only pressed on, his hair flared backwards, "Hoooh," He mused just as he finished his first.

However, some things were short lived, Abel hadn't even needed to induce more pressure with his attack, Kenshiro soon vanished from his sight much like he teleported, no, was teleported away. The Mabulrega did its full swing and stood by the side with Abel's arm stretched, not even vibrating from the collision. Sounds of rumbling came from ahead and over the beach, clouds of smoke and particles of the soil rose through the distance, likely signalizing Kenshiro's violent trail through the landscape. First and foremost, Abel thought on making use of his haki to check upon the Rookie's condition, however, that thought was short lived, too.

What entered his range next was a killer rabbit, with an aura so heavy that she might as well having been wearing armor. Ah, that was right, once Abel turned around, said armor was the first thing he noticed. Still, having just executed an attack, he couldn't fully react to Frida's movements, even with all his speed and reflexes. In the background, Kenshiro made himself known by the distant storms, but that would be left for later. The blade Frida held, uncoated with the Haki around her nor with any really, spliced soundly through the very air and reached his body, the ground below him caved in slightly with a few cracks and he took a step back.

However, what gushed off the area where Abel was struck was not blood, but steam, the cut Frida executed easily destroyed the part of his armor that it struck, however, it stopped short upon his skin. In fact, the very moment that Frida had struck his body, she was likely to feel the recoiling of Tabart's blade, having met with muscles not only so tight, but firm and unmoving. Someone described it as if one took to attacking a mountain made of hard minerals. Frida had used her Busoshoku to enhance her defenses and physical might, however, it seemed that it accounted mostly to the former attribute.

"Hohohooo, the two lads here will fight as well," He eyed both Frida and Dimaria, Tabart was laying down in-between the two groups. Still, there was something about that weapon... It wasn't just how Frida wielded it.

Without another second of hesitation, Abel smiled and held the Mabulrega in front of him, both his arms stretched, veins sprouted from said arms and he extended his free hand open. His free palm instantly slammed against one of the weapon's faces with but a simple slap, prompting it and the very air around him to distort in a mighty ripple, one that traversed the entire area in an omnidirectional manner. More than a push, much like someone had hit a bell, an extremely loud sound reverbered through and sought to reach everyone's ears, in such potency that normal people could have found themselves cut of their hearing for a solid minute. Nature itself bent when hit by this wave, trees changed the direction of their trunks, debris pressed against the body of the partially destroyed cliff, some animals found themselves falling down and trying to hide themselves from such reverb.

Although Frida was successful in cutting through Abel's armor, she was shocked to find that Abel possessed a god-like durability that seemed to completely reject any damage that Tabart's blade may have been able to inflict. She was pushed back by the sheer force of Abel's strength, skidding back alongside Tabart.

"I've only landed one strike, and I can already tell that this man may be the strongest opponent I've ever faced... Frida thought to herself.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by the eruption of sound and force that Abel emitted from his sword. The surrounding area was nearly uprooted in every sense of the word, and Frida was barely able to position herself in front of the unconcious Tabart in time to protect him from the blast. Her ears rang from the deafening sound that Abel had produced, but she stood unyielding in her suit of armor.

“Captain! What’s going on in the beach!? The pirate, Umori Kenshiro got sent here flying, and is now walking across town!”, said a single Marine who had stayed behind on town. He was calling the Marine captain, the lone marine that withstood Kenshiro’s burst of Conqueror’s Haki.

“Marine! DO NOT ENGAGE the pirate! He’s extremely dangerous!”

“But Captain, he seems to be injured! This is the perfect chance!”

“LISTEN TO ME! Don’t do it! He’ll send you to the afterlife before you even realize what happened!....Listen...I once heard a story, of CP9 agent, that at the young age of 14, got sent on a high profile mission, to execute the leaders of a country that wanted to revolt against the Government.” He continued, as the Marine rushed back to the town, in order to call reinforcements with the long distance Den Den Mushi.

“Instead, the boy disobeyed orders, took the leaders hostage, and fought against the entire kingdom’s military...It took him a whole week of non-stop fighting, but he did it. A mere 14-year old killed every single soldier and political leader in the country.”

The other marine gasped from the other side of the call, while the captain continued. “But that wasn’t all...In order to prevent the flames of rebellion to grow, he continued his rampage, and murdered every single citizen, man, elderly, woman and child, in the name of justice.”

The other marine fell to the floor in shock. “J-Just with fourteen years!??”

“Of course, the public must not know the existence of CP9, so they accused the eradication of the kingdom to a being only known as “The Scourge”...But now I know...that boy, is that man, the one we know today as the “Green Scourge!”

The Marine in town slowly looked at Kenshiro as he passed by him. He felt as if he was being choked with just the killing aura the pirate was oozing.

Kenshiro shrugged his left shoulder, and looked at his arm. He then took a deep breath, and exhaled. He looked again at his arm, and just slightly could move his index finger and thumb.

“Hmm...It’ll take me a couple of minutes.”

Back at the beach, Dimaria witnessed the clash between Frida and Abel, while the Shichibukai was still helplessly lying on the floor. “Wow Tabby, you’re really useless.”

She prepared to make her move, when suddenly, a lightning bolt hit a tree nearby, and Kenshiro’s frame appeared, as if the lightning bolt itself had transported him there.

His arm was already coated in Busoshoku, his pupils flaring a shining red. Another lightning bolt hit the beach, striking the sand. However, before the sound of thunder that followed could be heard, Kenshiro had vanished, and had appeared right in front of Abel’s face!

Kenshiro’s body was twisted diagonally, as his Haki imbued right leg made way into the side of Abel’s face. Not only his deep dark Busoshoku imbued leg threatened to hit him, but a blue flare accompanied his kick, as even if Abel blocked or dodged the powerful kick, a Rankyaku blade would follow, while also aiding in the kick’s piercing strength.

But that wasn’t all, with Kenshiro’s body twisted, his head was facing downwards, as he aimed his right fist directly into Abel’s gut, striking multiple times at blinding speed. With the dense amount of Haki he was imbuing himself, he covered not only his external body, but also the inside of his muscles, providing added strength and durability.

However Abel would respond, just mere moments following these attacks, another one would aim to pummel Abel’s body. From Kenshiro’s back, eight arms came out, which by now, they would recognize it was Asura-Deva’s arms, though a smaller version of them, but not lacking in destructive power and heaviness. They aimed to strike Abel just as he was focused on Kenshiro’s kick and punches, and if those attacks managed to hit, a barrage of Asura’s punches would continue. If Abel moved out of the way, the eight arms would manage to extend themselves, following Abel, and growing in size as they distanced themselves from Kenshiro’s body, while also offering protection if for any reason the mighty mercenary managed to turn the tables and try to land a hit on Kenshiro.

Abel smiled.

It seemed that some lessons were better taught accompanied by a reality crash. One quite heavy reality crash. Chest puffed, as if Abel drew in all of the air filling the environment, muscles large, much like blood exploded into their veins, he crossed his arms and stood there. Inklings of the purest of Haki manifested throughout different spots of his body, solidified within a burst of yellow aura and small pressure wave, not too large yet visible. Kenshiro's assault over this very body was nothing short of incredible, it was much more than that, but maybe they were about to disprove if his energy attack had been the best he could do. Even then, these attacks weren't unfocused, Kenshiro had his goals set straighter than ever, his slicing kick, the many punches, all showered over Abel's form and filled the beach in a blinding light, sparks and pressure exploded.

A refined song, in fact. Instead of just his chest, Abel's cheeks inflated as well, evidenced by the bigger curve of his lips. What a delight, to experience once again the fireworks and tricks of this Super Rookie, this star of the New World, it must have felt rewarding to be put at such spotlights. Abel almost got lost in the middle of many memories, yet in that very moment his eyes flared red, oddly late since the attacks already surrounded him.

Sand tickled his back in a splash, for his body was shot downwards by the pressure wave of Kenshiro's initial attack, Abel just laid there, not dodging even with his Haki active. The Mabulrega stood afloat. All of the attacks, even Asura's as was intended, continued to connect with him, below him the sand budged not, for all of them aimed at his muscles, they were pressed much like some flour under a pro baker. Like a mountain that had been taken off its base, but one that remained intact, without any crack to its form, his physiology seemed slightly different than a normal human's. Abel's head turned right, left, up, wherever the direction one of the punches aimed for, the spots hit could be seen fueled with Busoshoku briefly, piling up on top of his normal defense.

Slowly, but surely, the environment began to take the consequences of this clash. Solely due to their failure in truly harming Abel. For that reason, the aftermath of these attacks' shocks gleamed off his body and into the earth, provoking a quake to resound through the sand shallow for a second or two.

Furthermore, healed as he was, Kenshiro's blows likely decreased only by a bit in their efficiency, for he wasn't at top shape. Unlike what Abel expected, it seemed that the first attack he received, the energy blast, truly was the best Kenshiro could muster at that very moment. Still raiding him, the attacks wiped away some of the blood and dirt marks, caused by the aforementioned blast. Still, that same smile never faltered from Abel's expression, even his own eyes still had Haki.

But for what? Abel had been there taking all of the blows, unresponsive. At least, that was what the situation looked like. A fist was rose and opened into a palm, Abel's muscles were already budged, tensed up in preparation not only for defense, but for offense, again his Busoshoku had been travelling to do more than protect as well. Through his Kenbunshoku, Abel had read the large majority of Kenshiro's attacks while they pressed over him, doing so even more easily due to remaining static. Amidst the chaos and flurry of attacks, Abel's hand silently made its way and shot into Kenshiro's form, like a chop, the air between them didn't have time to scream, it couldn't even feel Abel's arm moving. This chop sought to hit the many of Asura's punches that raided him, pushing and slicing them off atop him, but it wouldn't stop just there, one of its true targets was Kenshiro's limp arm.

One, just one of its targets? What else Abel aimed for by attacking like this was much simple. By reading Kenshiro and Asura's movements with his Haki for some seconds, he found an openning within them, allowing him to locate the trajectory of his own attack so that it hit precisely where it should. This way, their assault would be abruptly cut off and Kenshiro would get even more damaged due to being hit in a sore spot. The fact that Kenshiro and Asura were so close, so immersed into attacking Abel would make it nighly difficult for any kind of withdrawal or defense to be erected. After all, putting in so much effort into an action also made it quite hard to shift towards another action, Kenshiro's own haki hadn't proved superior to Abel's, so factoring his own in wouldn't make much of a defense.

Kenshiro had sung and performed quite one of the best melodies that Abel has witnessed. However, his time on the stage had been over, there were other matters to do, and Abel had to waste no time. For someone like him, who had climbed again and again back to the top like a true King, Kenshiro was another of his opponents that sought a place, just like he did.

A Carefully Laid Trap
The world nearly moved in slow motion as Abel initiated his counter, after virtually tanking Kenshiro’s entire attack. Everyone watched in horror, and even some small hints of amazement; but there was someone who was watching more carefully than everyone else, who had found his senses and mind enhanced by the power of the sun itself. He jumped up, grabbing Frida by the arm.

“Sorry, Frida!”

There was no hesitation between his next movement. Everything was in preparation for this moment; him faking and falling out, him sitting their acting helpless, even Frida jumping in front of him. It was all to fool Abel into thinking that he wasn’t battle capable anymore. It was to make Abel think he won. But, that was exactly part of his trap. From the palms of his green flesh, lasers of light exploded forth, sending them soaring in the other direction like a projectile.

“We’re getting the hell out of here!”

"Abel. Fucking Abel." These were Kenshiro's continuous thoughts as his barrage rained down on the man, while he smiled the whole time. It frustrated him to no end, but, at the same time, he understood it. He was feeling a similar excitement as well, after all, it was his first encounter against one of the New World's titans. This was the perfect chance to measure up, to see how wide was the gap. And wide it was.

Kenshiro was no slouch, after all, he had proven himself against a New World veteran, and even Tabart himself admitted to the rookie's might. But there was so much he could do at his current level against a monster like Abel. Few would've even survived Kenshiro's elemental blast, yet this man shrugged it off with a few scratches.

As a swordsman, few would expect Kenshiro's hand to hand combat skills to be exceptional, yet they were, proven by the fact he slammed Abel to the ground by his initial attack. But it wasn't enough, again. Frustration began to consume his mind, however, he tried to remain calm, as he couldn't allow to be taken by an unexpected attack yet again. Kenshiro's eyes flared red, matching Abel's own, as he "saw" Abel's next attack.

Yes, Kenshiro was capable of a certain degree of future sight. It was blurry, lasted a moment, and the "images" on his mind had to be deciphered. But that was all he needed at the time. Faster than he could react, Abel's arm swung right through Asura's arms, slicing them off cleanly. No blood poured out of them, they weren't organic, after all. Kenshiro didn not falter, as he continued his assault with his own arm and legs, as he once again flared his Kenbunshoku. However, the images that came to him weren't of Abel, it was of Tabart, it definitely was him, standing up, and flying away!

"This mother-" Abel's arm continued his swing, as Kenshiro's attack kept raining down, aiming to hit with massive force his already injured arm.

A crushing noise was heard, as Abel's chop made contact with his arm. "GRRR!" Kenshiro only had time to grunt, as his arm was being crushed before this man's strength. He had to move away, if he permitted Abel's arm to kept pushing further, his own arm would be sliced in half! And the continued momentum would probably also crush more of his ribs!

His arm was being bent in the opposite direction, at this point, the pain was so tremendous it became numb. Kenshiro placed his Busoshoku enhanced right palm right over Abel's face, while a strong, pressurized sort of blast came from it, and by kicking on of his legs on the air, he used Geppo to push himself away from there, aided as well by the Advanced "Haki" blast to Abel's face.

It all happened in a moment. Kenshiro landed, kneeling, not to far from where Abel was lying on the floor. His eyes turned to Tabart, who was now airborne with Frida in his arms. Kenshiro spat a bit of blood, from his previous injury, as he glared at Tabart. His eyes then went down, and he saw, well, he failed to see Dimaria anywhere, neither Grim. However, from the sand just besides him, a snake appeared, carrying his Junketsu on its mouth! This was Dimaria's doing no doubt, as his sword had been left on the ground not too far from where he was.

The storm seemed to calm itself even more, though it still raged on, but with much less intensity. Kenshiro had ordered Asauchi to return to him, as he needed all the stamina he could spare. Suddenly, the pain from his crushed left arm came to him, a piercing, and indescribable pain.

"Gyaaah!...Damn it." Just as he was recovering his arm, by focusing his Haki and cells on the damaged areas, it was yet crushed again. This time, on even more parts. Besides his shoulder, his left arm was rendered completely useless.

Again, in just mere moments, many scenarios played on his head, while he tried to figure out his next course of action. He had already admitted to himself, there was no way he could defeat Abel one on one. Teaming up with Tabart was his best choice, but that bastard couldn't be counted on. And his comrades, against this colossal entity, the most they could do was attempt to give Kenshiro openings, but that was too risky. One mistake, and they would be dealt with by Abel in a single blow. No. He couldn't allow that.

Any more of his "Avatar Warriors" would only delay the inevitable. There was still Musashi, his strongest one, but in Kenshiro's weakened state, it could't be manifested for too long, while he himself also fought. He needed something, something that could allow him to push Abel to a corner, just until his comrades found a way to escape...

His eyes widened. There was...one thing. A technique he'd been practicing ever since his fight with Red. Something that would allow him to elevate his skills to the "next" level. But it was too exhausting. After he did that, that was it. He couldn't possibly endure too much after that, because it consumed incredible amounts of stamina and Haki. But he had no choice...that was his only option at the moment. Once Abel stood up, he would definitely make a move on either him or Tabart, and his previous clashes proved that, in his current state, Kenshiro would be outmatched in power. And Tabart, could definitely suffer a similar fate.

No, he needed to step up, to match this mighty warrior. In fact, this was the perfect opportunity to unveil it. His trump card, by becoming ONE with his Avatar!!!

"Musashi!" Kenshiro's body glowed a silver aura. It seemed each Avatar had a different color when summoned. Musashi was not only his strongest avatar, it was the only one he failed to kill in a one on one fight, having to resort to underhanded tactics. A former samurai from Wano, Musashi was a master of Iaido and Calligraphy slashes. A weird name for a technique, but it allowed Musashi to "draw" air slashes in the air, and manipulate them as he saw fit, bending the slashes and air and mixing them in ways it seemed like he possessed a devil fruit power. "Wind Commander Musashi", was the name he was known by when he was still alive.

As the silver haired samurai manifested in its full form, the air around them bent wildly to its presence. As Kenshiro had mentioned with Asura's host body, after becoming his "avatars", their abilities evolve with the aid of the new entity and Kenshiro's own will. As such, it seemed just by manifesting, the air reacted and bowed down to Musashi.

"You have limited strength, Kenshiro. Why have you summoned me?", said the samurai avatar who stood nearly as tall as Abel himself. By simply speaking, gusts of air were released into the vicinity.

"We are going to do THAT, and no arguments," said Kenshiro while his eyes still focused on Abel.

Dimaria had appeared from below the sand in the distance. Her arms were that of snakes, and they returned into their normal state. "Oh that's..." she said out loud as she witnessed her captain's avatar.

Kenshiro stood up, raising his right arm in front of him. "ARK OF EMBODIMENT: MUSASHI....EQUIP!"

A powerful tornado covered both Musashi and Kenshiro, as the raging winds shook the sand, forest, and everything nearby. It grew so tall it extended itself into the heavens, pushing away the storm summoned by Asauchi's powers. Rays of sunlight came down, as they illuminated the battlefield, specifically the tornado itself, as if the heavens themselves were giving Kenshiro and Musashi the spotlight.

In a violent whirlwind, the tornado stopped, revealing what had transpired in its center. There it stood a man, floating in the air. A long head of orange, wild hair waved through the wind that circled the entity. Scales and ornaments covered its body, and a large, black blade was held in its right hand.

Kenshiro had successfuly merged his own being with his avatar's, becoming an Avatar himself! Even Kenshiro's own sword had merged with Musashi's, making it even larger than before. The ground beneath him was caving in, as the air that surrounded him, and levitated him, pushed everything away in slicing gusts of wind.

The new being observed himself, his arms, legs, body. It looked at the blade it held on its hand. "Interesting."

"Kenshiro!!", yelled Dimaria from a distance, completely in awe at her captain's new form.

"Kenshiro? He's not here." He said as his eyes glared at Dimaria. Its voice was powerful, and the wind raged with every word he spoke, much more violent than when Musashi did it.

"Yes, I am the result of Kenshiro merging with Musashi, yet, I am neither of them....hmmm" he continued. "For your ease of understanding, call me, "Kensashi". His eyes then glared at Tabart, who had been floating away. It didn't matter how far he was, Kensashi's voice would certainly reach him.

"Benjamin Tabart. Kenshiro asked me to tell you, he was saving this to, and I quote, "fuck you over". He also asked me to portray you this hand sign." Kensashi extended his left arm, yes, it was healed, as it was no longer Kenshiro. He extended his left arm towards Tabart, closed it in a fist, and raised only his middle finger.

Now, directing his attention to Abel, Kensashi waved his head to face him, the wind following his movement. It then looked at his sword again, and slowly raised his arm. He swung it down with force, and what it caused was nothing short of extraordinary.

As if an earthquake was splitting the earth itself, his downwards swing created a massive fissure as the pressurized wind enveloping his frame struck down with it. The massive gash on the ground kept going forward, leaving the beach, travelling through the forest, splitting through town, scaling the mountain and finally reaching the mountaintop of the mountain Kenshiro had crashed in earlier. As it reached the summit, a powerful gust of wind extended upwards, being clearly visible from the beach.

"W-With just a swing of his sword?", Dimaria said as she gulped, falling on her knees at the unbelievable display.

"Hmm...decent." Kensashi said as it once again glared at Abel.

"Warrior, I shall be your opponent. Let's see who can dance the best." Finishing his sentence, it seemed as the storm had returned, but that wasn't it. Kensashi's being had caused the winds to blow violently for a moment, as he declared his challenge to Abel.

Frida had simply allowed Tabart to continue his departure with her in hand, as she needed a moment to process everything that was happening. She clearly had not known that Tabart was faking his entire fainting spell, as evidenced by her usage of one of her most powerful techniques. But now she just watched as Kenshiro and Abel clashed, observing the destruction as the titan began to easily turn the tide of the battle in his favor.

Frida disappated her Busoshoku Haki armor, returning her to her normal state. She turned to look at Tabart as the two escaped and she turned a beet red.

"I thought it was finally my time to shine..." She mumbled, eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Nez finally awoke, pushing herself off of the sand as her eyes and ears tried to adapt themselves to the colossal battle that was taking place in front of her. Her mind was still foggy and she had nearly forgotten where she was, but was quick to grasp an understanding on her situation as she looked at Abel, the massive man who her captor had been fighting.

Nez realized that she had not yet been spotted by either of the combatants, and she decided to use this time to strike. She was far from a regular combatant, but she was sure that she would be able to safely dispatch both targets with a few weapons that she had stashed away. She frantically dug into her pocket and pulled out a sleeping Den Den Mushi. She tapped on the Den Den Mushi's shell and whispered closely to it.

"Hammy-chan... Hammy-chan! I need the GOL-SS, now!" Nez whispered to the snail, who had promptly woken up. The snail shook softly in her hand before opening its mouth and regurgitating a large rifle-like weapon several times its size. The rifle landed on the ground in front of Nez, allowing her to reach down and pick it up. Nez then flashed a smile at the snail, who she promptly put safely back into her pocket.

Nez looked over to make sure that neither of the combatants had seen her since she had awoken; as it turns out, both of them were far too distracted. She then took a deep breath as she shakily stood up, using both of her hands to maintain a tight grip on the rifle that she now had in her possession. She held the gun to her shoulder and looked down the sights before holding down the trigger. Rather than firing right away, the gun's plasma heating mechanism began to charge, creating a soft hum that slowly grew louder and louder as the energy charged. Nez aimed the gun directly at Abel, who she determined was the more dangerous target at the time.

"Ready... 3... 2... 1!" Nez announced to herself, before releasing the gun's trigger, sending a massive ball of super-heated plasma flying towards him.

"Oh," Abel mouthed once Kenshiro was sent flying by his attack, his eyes widened slightly, for at the same moment Tabart had jumped off with the armored girl at hand. Such audacity, not only had he faked his own mortality, was he truly ignoring the spectacle that was taking place before him? Then again, the play was over, so maybe not much blame could be put over Tabart, fairness could put a smile on his face. Turning around, Abel prepared to devise ways on how he would reach Tabart's and Frida's far away figures, yet, the wind completely shifted behind him, his eyes slanted and his hair flowed.

More auras were popping up into Abel's sensory, the one that seemed to come by with the wind shift was larger than the other one more to their side. "Hmmmmm, I sense it... lad," Rather than a smile, he smirked and crossed his arms, was he mistaken and Kenshiro actually had something up his sleeve? The final notes to his majestic composition, the epilogue to wrap up all of his previous demonstrations, a demonstration of how much freedom Kenshiro could squander. With a side-step, Abel glanced towards Kenshiro's exploding form from the corners of his eyes.

Such new form, Kenshiro had completely reconfigured himself, as if he had become a new being. Abel's haki could feel it, there wasn't more than one aura coming from him, however, this new aura had characteristics from Kenshiro's. The latter spoke rather loudly to a figure he summoned earlier, but Abel hadn't really paid attention, the other aura he had felt on the beach had an attack set towards him. Furthermore, this new Kenshiro was directly addressing Tabart, maybe that was his truest target... or was it? Abel smirked, knowing too well that whatever came next would be aimed at him, Kensashi's intentions were that blatant.

Hands tightened into fists, as if ready to be thrown against the double-sided assault. Arms idle by the sides of his body, Abel waited until both attacks neared his immediate location, and due to a quick side-step either would simply graze around his figure and not even meet each other, narrowly hitting him. However, just as he performed said step, Abel raised his shoulders and twisted his torso from right to left, his arms shot wide open and had his busoshoku-imbued wrists collided against both attacks firmly. A singular ring of pressure exploded around him due to the meeting, resonating through the very rocks below him, two attackers challenged him at the same time, yet he enacted a single response. Kensashi had likely deemed his attack to be quite the welcoming one once he shot it off, he wasn't really wrong, but that did not mean he was fully right either. Nez thought on using her weaponry, but would soon see the repercussions of attacking at the same time another did.

During and after the very second of the collision, part of the wind from Kenshiro's attack was carried over the wrist's swipe and easily changed directions, decreasing the size of the original. Meanwhile Nez's projectile shifted completely, evidenced by the loud boom that followed, it left scorching marks upon Abel's wrist along with a cloak of steam.

The wind breezed by Nez's body and shot into the ocean, aimed for Tabart and Frida, however, as it did so it seemed to take on a much compressed frame, because of the collision and redirection with Abel's wrist, and sliced apart the water it made contact with briefly. Escape they would not, they tried to take a shallow opportunity. Plus, with that portion of the wind going off, the main attack continued to travel along the island but less destructively. Elsewhere, the plasma projectile rocketed towards Kensashi and breached through a few circles of air, likewise, its form distorted from a ball's. Its heat and electricity nearly ignited the air around it, it was sure to breach any means of simple defense, surely it would explode before contact was even made with Kensashi, producing a blinding and numbing flash.

Since the deflection hadn't been an attack by itself, Abel hadn't properly gauged the focus of his own strength, hence the creation of the air twister around him. Some of the greatest fighters could measure how much power they put out, how it was used. It didn't stop there. After both attacks went redirected, the ring of air travelled further in all directions, taking the form of a grey barricade that, rather than just stand there, pushed off any other opposition and spread in the form of a hurricane's base.

"Not again..." A voice echoed in the forest of Spicy Pot Island, where a climactic battle had just been taking place, and was now shifting towards the beach. "I can't lose him...again!" The feminine voice solidified to itself, and a dash of purple could be seen breezing through the forest against the shockwaves that were being formed, without any interruption or harm to the woman that was traveling.

She had just exited on the port of an island only minutes prior when she could feel the sound of intense conflict. The small civilization that had lived in the area were all running away, but the woman could not afford to do so. As the woman closed her eyes, she could feel it. A familiar sensation, body, a voice she knew all too well.

Benjamin Tabart was here on this island.

"Tabart! We've found him, finally!" Despite her companions being on the same ship, the woman dashed off without any concern, purely focused on finding Tabart. After all, if she didn't catch him this time, perhaps she would never be able to catch him again.

This was Lockhart Phantasma, Captain of the Purple Pirates...and Benjamin Tabart's closest friend.

She had been dashing through the forest with wheels as opposed to her natural feet. They were wheels that were seen on advanced cycles, with extreme sharpness and high rotation speed, that enabled her to precisely run and jump through the forest's foliage without any hesitation whatsoever. Shockwave after shockwave was hammering at her being, telling her to retreat. Phantasma knew that the opponent Tabart was fighting was far beyond her level, but she had to do something. She couldn't be cowardly this time. The Ringleader could not afford to lose another close friend.

The battle had been intensifying, and she needed to be faster. Stronger. Phantasma couldn't allow the shockwaves to deter her any longer. Instead of just transforming her feet into wheels, using the power of her Shari Shari no Mi, she transformed her hands into wheels as well. She was now running on all fours, like a cheetah, dashing through the woods and cutting through all the opposition that existed in her path.

Finally, there was a small glimmer of light - a glimmer of hope.

Yet at the same time, it was a glimmer of danger. Phantasma would have to bring her strongest powers in the forefront to survive this battle, and finally reunite with her long-lost friend. Her eyes had been painted crimson, and her limbs dyed black, she leaped onto the beach, and appeared near the proximity of her fellow Purple Pirate.

Phantasma felt it. The overwhelming strength of the man's attack that was heading towards Tabart and what Phantasma assumed to be his wife. There wasn't much time, but Phantasma had to counter the move perfectly. She had one shot. If she failed, everything could have been over.

Pouncing forward, she leaped in front of Tabart in order to intercept the attack. While doing so, she had summoned a wheel across her torso, which appeared akin to a windmill. The wheels on her hands and feet were of the same manner, and she had summoned a number of smaller wheels all across her limbs.

"Windmill Juggling!" Phantasma exclaimed with all of her might. The blast of air hit her directly, and she was thrown backwards for a moment, but surprisingly was capable of holding her ground. The pitch black windmill wheels had begun to spin at enormous frequencies, rotating the air within the attack.

With every second that passed, the rotations continued. The pressure of the attack was dulling down. The wind that was concentrated on her torso began to cycle across the smaller wheels on her body, amplifying further and reaching her extremities.

Those few seconds felt like Phantasma's entire life had been passing by, as the tremendous pressure overwhelmed her. However, it was finally dying down and becoming her attack. This was the moment she was waiting for.

Her black dyed wheels gathered all of the attack that the adversary had sent, and then some. Thereafter, she gathered that pressure into a single point by bringing her hands and feet together, coalescing the violent gusts into a sphere of compressed wind that shot forward, back at the man who launched the attack.

The attack was hyper compressed. It did not possess nearly the same destructive power as its source, but it didn't matter. It pierced through the air and all opposition without fear. It sought to pierce entirely through the titanic opponent before them, and hopefully would make him fall onto his knees.

"Haaaah..." Phantasma panted. The exhaustion in her voice was evident. This maneuver drained her far more than she expected. "I found you...Tabart...."

“Phantasma!” Tabart announced, flipping himself around to land onto the ground immediately behind her, while at the same time stopping the expulsion of light from the palms of his flower-petaled hands. Both he and Frida landed gently on their feet, but Tabart immediately exploded forward, caressing the blade from Frida’s own hands.

“Phantasma, what are you doing here?” Tabart inquired expressively, stopping until he was right beside her with his blade held out vertically in front of. “I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m happy to see you. Ecstatic even! But, damn, did you choose the wrong time to show up you know. Though, I guess I should thank you for saving my life before I start freaking out.”

Tabart smiled briefly. “However, if you’re here, this complicates things. The crew can’t be too far if you’re right here, which means, running away won’t be as easy as I anticipated. Now that I expected it to be easy in the first place. Which means, I have no other option right now, but to fight this after all.”

He gulped.

“Frida!” he called out, keeping his eyes on Abel. “Can you still fight!?”

Frida had heard of Phantasma and the rest of the Purple Pirates previously, as they were the crew that Tabart technically still belonged to, after all. She was all for friendly reunions, but she was also very aware of the dangerous nature of the situation. Tabart was right, having Phantasma and her crew here really did complicate their escape, and made it nearly impossible for them to do anything but fight.

Frida wiped the sweat and dirt off of her palms and she looked up towards Tabart and Phantasma. She smiled to both of them and narrowed her eyebrows, nodding subtly.

"Let's do it." She announced.

Meanwhile, Nez was absolutely awestruck that Abel had shrugged off her attack as though it were nothing. It was both humbling and embarrassing, but both of those feelings were nothing compared to the sheer fear that had consumed her after realizing that it could very well be futile to attack the behemoth of a man in the first place. However, Nez quickly deduced that there was no way that a person could achieve this level of strength without the assistance of a Devil Fruit. It was this realization that caused Nez to dig in her pocket once more, still holding her rifle in her other hand as both of the men paid her no mind whatsoever. She pulled out a fountain-tipped pen, coated previously in the same chemical she had used in her battle with Grim just a little while prior.

Nez placed her rifle at her side and wound her arm back, waiting until Abel's back was turned towards her. In a way, she felt as weak and stupid as a child throwing rocks at a tree, with the adults around her paying no mind. However, this self-doubt would not deter her from attempting to contribute in the downfall of this menace to society. As Abel turned his back to her, she quickly threw the pen like a dart, allowing it to fly through the air in hopes of stabbing Abel.

Kensashi observed intently as Abel redirected the attack towards everyone. It wasn't just physical strength, no. The man had impressive skill. He could've just as effectively blocked the attack, but instead, he made efficient use of it. It seemed Abel had quite the experience in combat, using their opponent's move against them, not employing wasted movement, blocking and attacking with extreme accuracy for maximum effectiveness.

As the powerful gust of wind was hurled back to its source, Kensashi glanced at his sword. His own abilities were a mystery. He wanted to try some things, but, this wasn't the time for experimentation. Something told him, that with Kenshiro's inexperience with the technique, and his weakened state, the union he created couldn't be maintained for too long. As such, he, as well, must use only the most effective moves he could come up against, in order to take down his target.

But Abel committed a mistake, he attacked Kensashi with wind. Wind, the element Musashi had at his command, and who's dominion over it only increased in this new form. Kensashi slowly raised his left arm, feeling every bit of breeze as it passed through his skin. Abel's attack reached Kensashi, and with his arm extended forward, he intercepted it. The moment Kensashi's fingers made contact with the shock wave, it came to a halt, as if it were a living thing. One by one, Kensashi lowered his fingers, gripping the wind itself that was directed at him.

He hurled his hand upwards, and the wind was tamed. It now surrounded his large, floating frame, as he stared intently at Abel. His eyes lowered to glance at something that was also floating near the mercenary, Mabulrega. Kensashi slightly smirked, and waving his hand in a backwards and forward motion, he formed a small whirlwind on his right side. He then let go of his sword, which reacted to the whirlwind, effectively making it float on his side.

As he was about to approach Abel, more people appeared, and Frida and Nez attacked their common enemy. He stood by, waiting for the opportunity until Abel dealt with the attacks. Not interested in the reunion taking place, he simply lowered himself to the ground, his feet now touching the sand. As he landed, a gust of wind extended outwards from his position.

Kensashi stepped forward, with his floating sword on his side. The wind that surrounded him waved his long head of hair wildly. He made sure not to approach with any intent, and he just stood there, merely a few meters from Abel himself. He was, analyzing Abel from top to bottom. What made this man so special?

He finally spoke, wind blowing from his mouth in a calm breeze that would wave Abel's hair.

"You're mortal. That much, I'm certain... I-I don't recall everything, but from what I can remember from your clash with my "lesser" form, it seems your strength is something out of the ordinary…"

He closed his eyes, and lifted his head upwards, grabbing his chin with his left hand. "What kind of goal, or brutal kind of training you must have gone through? Hmmm...I doubt it was all natural talent, there is some, no...quite a lot of time and dedication invested in your being, Abel."

Kensashi slightly opened his eyes, squinting at Abel. "By any chance, are you...in grief, Abel?... is that armor really for protection against your enemies? Hmm...There must have been, something. Something in your past, that made you strive for absolute power...but alas...that is not why I am here, correct?"

The orange haired man lowered his head, observing his feet, chest and arms. "At least, you suffered and worked for that purpose...I...was created for mine. I have, so many questions, so many things I wish to see through MY own eyes, not through the memories of others...nonetheless, I will fulfill mine, and if possible, I will never see you again. It was a pleasure, Cain D. Abel…"

Kensashi walked forward, and stood even closer to Abel, so close they were merely inches from each other. He looked slightly up, in order to match Abel's eyes, as the warrior stood a few inches taller than Kensashi.

"Benjamin Tabart. If you're done with your reunion, Come. I am willing to work alongside you, no matter how my progenitor feels. This is my body now, my consciousness, my rules."

The wind abruptly stopped, just as Kensashi extended his neck and head slightly backwards, just before smashing it into Abel's own with his thick Busoshoku coating his forehead. The hit would send ripples through the air, as he aimed to push Abel back. The transformation didn't just cause the strength to be doubled, or tripled, it had completely evolved, reaching a new level. Even Kensashi's Haki coating, was far more durable that even the advanced form Kenshiro employed.

A wall of wind would surround the duo in response to the attack. Kensashi grabbed his transformed sword, and this time, he approached Abel, so quickly it seemed as he simply switched places with the air before the mercenary. Right arm gripping tightly, a small, but powerful gust of slicing wind surrounded his Busoshoku enhanced blade, as he struck diagonally, striking Abel from the top of his left shoulder, all the way to his right lower abdomen. As the sword struck down, everything on it's path was being sliced in it's wake, as before it would make contact with Abel's body, everything behind and around Abel had been affected by the sheer power of Kensashi's bladed attack.

Even if Abel intercepted the sword itself, the wind surrounded it held incredible slicing power, as if instead of one, two attacks were being launched in a single motion. The wind even surrounded Kensashi's frame, either as a coat of armor or in preparation for his next strike.

Abel's body was swiftly pushed forward due to the collision with Phantasma's improvisation, she had very much come out of nowhere and was aiding the Shichibukai then, the wind clapped over his body and dispersed through the atmosphere. Surprise after surprise arrived at this fight. His feet left a trail on the very ground, intent on not surging or losing to unbalance. Abel hunched forward slightly, "Another one." Everyone was gathering together and pushing up on the mountain that he was, the melody had yet to end.

That was alright, Abel supposed that it was only fair they helped each other out. How much would be enough, he couldn't know yet, he had yet to fully gauge some of them, though, Kenshiro and Frida had already tried some of their best against him. It was just like Kensashi thought, not mere potential... those that let themselves be tamed by power couldn't go very far, but, that story was for another day.

"Crew, alongside eh?" Abel chirped, receiving the full brunt of Kensashi's stare upon him, not backing down one inch, not looking up one bit. In under a blink, Kensashi had moved to attack him and Abel kept up his simplistic strategy, to stand there like the monster that he was. Certain monsters looked more imposing the more human they seemed to be. Abel saw the sky, head shot back with the impact of Kensashi's own, a bruise appeared over his face and he stumbled backwards without uncrossing his arms. He spat a droplet of red to the side and firmed himself upon the ground another time, summoning a layer of Busoshoku over where would be attacked first, his shoulder.

Kensashi proceeded to attack with his sword then, it landed just where he aimed, at Abel's shoulder, and seemed not to continue, for he shot his left hand in order to try and hold Kensashi's wrist, after all, Kensashi had put himself relatively close to Abel's position. Regardless, a flash exploded between them and steam left the skin on Abel's shoulder, his armor breached, but his skin just barely. The Busoshoku that tried to protect him vanished, Abel smiled so wide that his eyes almost closed. Yet, this attack had been just like the one before, unfocused, Kensashi was very much different than Kenshiro in that regard, he had less discipline to his blows, something that ultimately made part of their power disperse off to the scenario. If it continued to slash him, Abel felt as if it would do about the same.

Should his grip over Kensashi's wrist succeed, Abel would strengthen it and try to pull him inwards, gravity itself wouldn't dare nor even be capable of doing that in such a manner. Simultaneously, as he bent his leg, Abel rose his right knee in order to collide with Kensashi directly, Busoshoku appeared in a burst of yellow and then black, further adding weight, though Abel's speed didn't decrease. This Haki was much concentrated at the top of his knee, whereas some warriors preferred to spread it all over, this was flow, flames. The knee pierced through a few air rings and sought on hitting his opponent directly, ironically taking the very thing he had might over out of him, his breathing air.

One looking at it from a certain perspective could maybe reach a conclusion that Kenshiro, the man within Kensashi, was the knot holding the others there. Knots were pivotal, once it was done with, surely the others would go along with the downfall, not that they would necessarily fall prey to his attacks, rather, the reason for them remaining there would vanish.

Abel had noticed the wind circulating Kensashi, even before the latter engaged in close combat against him, it was for that very reason that his Busoshoku took that specific formation. With its focus and density concentrated like the tip of a spear, intent on making that same wind feel as much as a pillow, one to be torn apart. Given how Kensashi and Abel were close, should the former try to gather wind to former a firmer defense, it would only gather on the outskirts of Abel's leg. If the air was pushed out of Kensashi's lungs, there was a good possibility he would be more open to receiving other attacks, though, maybe those wouldn't just come from Abel.

In the town at the base of the mountain, the people screamed in horror at a sight right in front of them.

A tall man, dressed in white reached the commotion, and addressed a Marine Captain, the same one that had withstood Kenshiro's Haoshoku burst.

"Marine, what...is the meaning of this!"

The Marine, trembling, with his hands bloodied, turned to face the CP-0 agent. Tears fell into his cheeks, but he tried to contain them as he recognized the man in question.

"Edward Henry...what are you doing here?!"

"I've been following the trail of Kenshiro for a while. Tell me...was this, his doing?"

The captain burst into tears again. He had never felt this helpless. He was kneeling on the main road, where countless more were doing the same. Under them, a pool of blood and body parts “decorated” the street, as their cries of terror and despair were etched into the agent’s ears.

“D-Daddy! M-Mom!! W-W-Why are you like this!?” screamed a boy in agonizing pain to the corpses of his parents, or at least, what remained of them.

“F-First the devilish storm, then this! T-That wasn’t a man...it was an emissary from the gods, in order to pass judgement on us SINNERS!!” A lady bathed herself in the blood of countless citizens, who’s bodies were ripped apart and spread all over the street.

“GODS! PLEASE FORGIVE OUR SINS! Let the Green Plague have his fill of blood and destruction! I offer this entire island to your wrath!!! Ashuahagagshauahsgahaa!!!!”

The Marine Captain stood up furiously to take down the mad lady. Henry stepped his foot in front of him, and shook his head. “Leave her be. Look.” The captain observed what Henry’s finger was pointing at. Green marks and bulges all around the woman’s skin. In fact, they have begun to appear in most of the citizens. The captain looked at his hands, and he, too, became a victim of this mysterious curse.

Henry jumped into a nearby house’s ceiling, and observed the chaos that was about to ensue. “I was...too late. Curse you, Kenshiro!”

“H-Henry. W-what’s going on!? H-Help me, h-help us, PLEASE!!!”

Henry put his palm on his face in horror. “I’m sorry. There’s no way I can help at this stage. This is definitely one of Kenshiro’s “Ten Plagues…”

Henry looked at the mountain behind him. “At least, this mountain serves as a barrier between this town and the other one. Right now, the most we can do, is to contain it.” he thought, as his eyes were darkened by the horrible sight he was witnessing, though, the worst was yet to come.

Behind him, he saw another Marine had climbed to the ceiling with him. Henry turned his head in murderous intent. “Wait, no! I’m not infected, see!??”

Henry nooded. “Tell me, did you see how it transpired?”

The marine trembled to his core. “Yes. It was something out of a nightmare…” he continued. “That pirate, Kenshiro. As he made his walk through town, all bloodied, he looked around and saw everyone observing him and cowering. He smirked slightly, but it almost immediately turned into a furious glare.” The marine trembled even more. “He seemed to pull something from his mouth, like a capsule. Inside, it had a syringe. Without prior warning, he crazily dashed into one of the townspeople, and stabbed him in the neck with it…”

“H-His face...Kenshiro’s face...Yes, I was cowering as well, and it got worse when I saw that twisted smile, and those bloodshot eyes on his face!!! Cough, Cough”

The Marine began to cough and vomit some saliva, he continued without even wiping it off from his mouth. “The townspeople, I don’t know from where, but they mustered courage after the fact, and attacked Kenshiro. That’s when it happened...s-so much blood, and body parts. He tore through everyone as if they were made of paper! Just with one arm, he beheaded people, and ripped their limbs, using them as well to pierce other’s skulls!!”

The marine continued to vomit. Henry signaled with his hand to stop reliving that scene, he had heard enough. But it confirmed his suspicions. That syringe he had used on the man, it carried a deadly virus that spread like wildfire. Yes, he had seen it once before. A few years ago, the entirety of the nobility of the Alibaba Kingdom was wiped out by a deadly virus. The Government was in high alert because of such an epidemic spreading, so they sent various members from the Science Division to contain it...among them, Kenshiro. He was there, at ground zero, studying the results of his own weapon he had set off on the island a few days before. Of course, at the time, no one suspected Kenshiro at all.

Henry stood there, witnessing the effects of the bio-weapon taking place. Those infected were beginning to go insane. Like the woman from before, some started screaming nonsense, others began to bathe themselves in blood, while others began chewing on the corpses of their loved ones. It was a horrifying scene.

Those not infected, began being attacked by those who were, becoming afflicted immediately. However, this was just the first stage of the weapon, as those who had been infected first, showed signs of the second stage. It took less than half an hour after the virus caused dementia and hallucinations, for it to begin the second stage. The infected citizens bodies would begin to bulge in a disgusting manner. After their crazy rampage, they would become immobile and zombie-like, until finally...their bodies would explode. Their body parts would spread into every direction, and with this, the true power of the weapon would emerge. From their scattered body parts, a green fume would emerge. The virus would become airborne.

Henry instantly recognized the danger. He took the marine, and used Geppo to fly away from the town. It was all lost, there was nothing they could do to save the town. He landed on the distance, and released the marine.

“Marine! Go to the other town, and evacuate the citizens! We don’t have much until the virus spreads to the entire island!”

The Marine, wiped off his tears, nodded, and quickly dashed into the town behind the mountain. “I thought CP-0 guys were bastards, but this guy is kind of cool,” he thought.

Henry turned to face the direction of the battle taking place in the distance. “Kenshiro...don’t tell me...I think I figured out what your goal is.” He jumped into the air and went towards the beach.

“All of your experiments; Bio-weapons, powerful lasers, clones, cyborgs, airships, tanks...Kenshiro you...you are aiming to make something, that will stand on par with the ANCIENT WEAPONS, aren’t you!?!”

A Bloody Whirlwind
"Decent". This was Kensashi's thought after Abel withstood his strike and proceeded to counter. His attack would've definitely cleaved in half any less-than advanced user of Busoshoku. However, to this monster, not even a tingle would be felt on his skin...for now.

"I'm wasting too much power." He thought to himself, as he recognized the immense power he possessed in just two strikes, but they lacked the piercing power it could have if it were just focused, how it was supposed to be. Kensashi needed to access both of the memories of the beings that composed him. Their high skill, combined with his own raw power, could definitely change the tide of the battle.

Just as his attack connected, Kensashi's arm was pulled in by a mighty grip. Abel had accurately grabbed his right arm, and pulled Kensashi even closer to him, with incredible force. Kensashi's eyes flared, as he didn't remove his gaze from Abel's own. He was not only seeing, but feeling Abel's moves. The slight shift in air as Abel's knee began his ascent towards Kensashi, his dense Haki flaring up, in preparation for a strong attack, Kensashi felt it, as if he was the wind itself that moved through both their frames.

Letting his body be sucked into Abel's personal space, Kensashi moved his left arm, placing his palm facing downwards, beating Abel's own knee movement by supplementing his own with wind, and placed it just in the lower chest area. He coated it in a thick layer of Haki, but that wasn't all. Even Abel would notice, that just for a microsecond, it seemed as if Kensashi's eyes had dilated. Yes this was him perceiving the world with his sixth sense, it lasted merely less then a second, but for him, it felt longer. Yes, everything around him seemed to slow down. He had not only extended his Kenbunshoku to the air itself, but he had used it to read and effectively observe patterns, as to which move would be most effective. Kenshiro's blurry future sight was, by quite a margin, much clearer in this form, possibly thanks to Musashi's own skill.

Yes, it was a simple knee strike, but again, Kensashi couldn't just evade it or block it. No. It wasn't that simple, as he needed to take advantage of the situation, by using Abel's move against him!

It moved slow, well, it did in Kensashi's inner world, but in real time, Abel's strike moved faster than the eye could perceive. Kensashi was about to intercept the attack with his palm, but not how Abel would expect.

"Musashi, lend me your knowledge of "Ryuo" and Iaido. Kenshiro, lend me your wits and tenacity!"

Before his knee could reach Kensashi's palm, a heavy pressure would form in between them. Kensashi extended his Haki outwards, an advanced application no doubt, and in a powerful, explosive burst, it would strike Abel's leg! However, the strike was aimed at Abel's thigh, and without the use of brute force nor physical contact, Kensashi's haki would aim to forcefully repell Abel's leg, forcing it backwards with great force, with his knee still bent.

If this were to be effective, Abel would, even for a second, be balanced by just one leg, and this was the opportunity, to not only escape Abel's grip, but to land a solid hit.

"Focus".

Just as he delivered his extended Haki strike, Kensashi would release his blade from his right arm, letting it fall into his left, who had now twisted it's palm slightly upwards, and grabbed his sword by it's blade. The moment it touched Kensashi's hand, the sword's Haki intensified, taking on a greenish, flaming hue. His right hand, still tightened by Abel, would also encase itself in a fiery armament.

Being mere inches from one another, Kensashi's left arm, holding his sword by it's blade, wouldn't need to travel much, and in almost an instant, Abel would already feel the pressure expelling from it, similar to the one a mere moment ago, though this time, on his lower right abdomen. However, Kensashi wouldn't let his repelling Haki drag Abel away just yet.

Using his gripped right arm, he would instead use it to drag Abel even closer, forcing him to not only take the full brunt of the Haki emanating from his blade, AND his right hand, both of which would push him back with great force, but also, the blade itself would aim to make contact with his abdomen, aiming to pierce not only his incredible Haki, but his own flesh, by using the accuracy and precise, penetrative force applied in Iaido and Shigan.

While taking the full brunt of his attack if it effectively connected, a powerful, blinding shockwave would emanate from the duo, given the scale of such an attack. Kensashi's right arm's muscles would be tightened greatly, as he was using his own strength to withstand, even for a second, the repelling nature of his own attack, in order to cause quite some damage by letting Abel take it in for longer, even if all this exchange lasted mere moments in the spectator's eyes..

If Abel were to be subjected to this kind of impact, even a mountain as himself would be forced backwards with great force, and not to mention, the piercing power used with his blade in hand, which in this case, would be even much stronger than Kenshiro's "Odin's spear" a powerful, straight air thrust that he used to pierce through Red's Haki coated Mecha. Not only that, at the instant Kensashi felt he couldn't hold his own attacks force much longer, his right knee would swiftly rise to strike Abel's left arm, aided by him applying geppo to close the distance in a flash, aiming to strike his forearm or elbow, in order to weaken his grip, and release himself as to not get dragged with Abel by the force of his own attack.

If successful, Kensashi wouldn't stop there. The moment his grip loosened, He would send a haki coated air slash, using the sword as it was, held with his left arm by it's blade. Immediately after, he would switch his sword to his right, and twisting it clock-wise in front of him, Kensashi would "draw" a spiral of airblades, sent forward to encase Abel in a slicing, greenish vortex of wind and haki that would aim to pierce him from every angle, as the blades would completely envelop him, as he kept stanced up, prepared for his next move.

If his strikes would be effective, Kensashi would glare at Tabart, in order for him to take advantage of even the slightest opportunity to also launch an attack while Abel were in midair or recovering from the attack.

A counter-attack was probably the last thing that Abel was expecting in this, though, given how he had been slacking with his latest hit, maybe it was obvious that would be the response, Abel pouted. Still, Kensashi managed to send a wave of Haki against him somewhat, an emitting technique that very few knew and even less employed properly, maybe that was the time to use more of his speed. The knee strike that was aimed for Kensashi's stomach erupted and would meet with Kensashi's hand, not just keen on deflecting the trajectory of the emitting Haki, but also leave some sort of after-shock upon this hand. He had to show to Kensashi the dangers of physically engaging him.

That hand went to where Kensashi would move it anyway, high in order to grapple the sword from his other hand, while Abel's knee dissipated its Haki, so that it focused somewhere. By the next second, Abel had been pulled in, rather Kensashi tried to pull him towards himself with his right hand, yet, such a thing could prove quite dangerous due to how firmly Abel poised himself upon the ground and how tightly his own hand surrounded Kensashi's. Haki covered this hand, its mere addition weighting down on the atmosphere around without the need of an addition to his physical effort, so as to reinforce his resistance over the emitting Haki, however, Abel felt his fingers loosening from Kensashi's wrist. "You're quite fond of doing this, huh lad?" Though he wasn't pulled in, Kensashi's blade was still aimed at him and its tip crashed fiercely against his stomach, pushing it back in a way that Abel bent forward slightly, this clash generated ripples that spread through the sand, forest, and the spectators.

Trying to overpower Abel in such a manner was futile, Kensashi's best bet had been his control of Emission Armament due to its nature, but the initial strike was deflected and only the second one had any result, Abel hunched his eyebrows. Even then, Kensashi would bring more damage to himself, his left hand had been deflected, his right arm had been pulled backwards while its wrist was held tightly, and he used both of these to try and attack with an even more powerful attack, bringing forth more consequences than expected. Furthermore, while this last attack used Kensashi's sword as a medium, it didn't seem to pierce much into Abel's armor, though Kensashi was making use of the teaching of "Shigan", fact was that his true intention was to push his opponent off instead of piercing him completely. With Kensashi's knee smashing on his tightened hand, Abel let go of the avatar's wrist, and thus the aforementioned intention very much happened.

Abel flew backwards through the air while causing a sonic boom, it looked like he would go into the ocean even, but Kensashi's subsequent strike kept him floating midair, surrounded by a whirlwind of air slashes. For a moment, his eyes bore into nowhere, almost closed, other colors threatened to come off from him, but yellow persevered. If it hadn't, Kensashi's attack would probably have more success and leave Abel open to subsequent strikes, even if they couldn't quite hurt him.

Rather than budge his muscles and tank the onslaught of attacks, Abel let his limbs flow and be carried by the rotation of the very air, his form blurred alongside the wind like a smaller hurricane. Some of the slashes still grazed his body and left small cuts, but given the complications Kensashi brought upon himself due to his earlier actions, they likely weren't as accurate as he would have wanted, not as fierce. For that very reason, when Abel allowed himself to be carried along, he wasn't only flowing along to avoid the slashes, he went many steps further and rotated himself, with such firmness that his body became less visible than the air itself and that the wind attacks were now following his stead, instead of the opposite. However, it wasn't as if he took control of them, they possessed Kensashi's Haki and were fired by him.

With a final push, Abel passed on his movement and sent the several air slashes in new directions, they swarmed off through the atmosphere like a grey sandstorm, seeking to hit Nez, Tabart, Frida, and Phantasma. His body lost all motion and landed perfectly on the sand. The beach was torn apart, as stated before, Abel didn't possess full control of the attacks, having merely guided them anew, thus, although they had their power reinforced, they were still quite dispersed. To everyone else, they appeared as simple flashes of light that would quickly and swiftly swallow them.

Three Way Deadlock
Tabart was told that in real battles, there wouldn't be any time for elaborate planning, or to set up his usual antics. Yan had warned him about relying on his brain too much, and tricky strategies for every battle. However, what else could he do in these situations? In a world where everyone was faster than him, stronger than him, what else was he made to do except use his brain? However, more than anything, right now, Tabart desperately understood what Yan meant. There was no time. Sometimes, you just had to go out there and use the utmost of your power. Therefore, if he lacked it...

"Frida!!"

Tabart immediately slammed his palms against the ground, making contact with the barren wasteland that lay before him, and funneled his power into it. The earth responded in a triumphant roar as it quaked from the power of his awakened devil fruit, before the ground was replaced by a seabed of plants. From this seabed, a wooden wall, infused with Tabart's armament Haki manifested in front of the group.

The slashes slammed against the hardened wood, generating immense gusts of pressure that could only escape through the sides. Tabart's clutched a root of one of his plants as the the wind threatened to push him away; he couldn't allow it right now. Not while he had to prepare himself for his next move.

"I'm sorry, Yan. But, I don't got it," Tabart monologued quietly, funneling his power into the seabed yet again to temporarily expand its influence. It rapidly expanded behind them, beneath his feet, beneath the toes of Kensashi, and eventually beneath the feet of Frida, Nez and Phantasma.

"However..."

A wall of plants rose from behind Frida and Phantasma, manifesting into something resembling a botanic trampoline.

"She does!" Tabart turned his head around. "Frida, go!"

Frida watched as Tabart acted on his feet, countering Abel's re-directed attack with the abilities of his Devil Fruit. After Tabart sprouted the trampoline-like plant in front of her, it took only a few seconds for Frida to know what he needed her to do; she looked at Tabart and nodded, maintaining her serious expression. Frida used her own Devil Fruit powers to convert her body into that of a rabbit's, utilizing her hybrid form to become a human-sized rabbit with superior strength.

The rabbit woman took a running start before launching herself off of the ground and barreling back towards the earth, landing directly on Tabart's trampoline. The speed of her descent and the force of the bouncing plant were fused together, no doubt increasing her velocity by more than three times. Frida was launched up into the air, the angle at which she hit the plant allowing her to take a direct course to Abel's body, which was also mid-air at the time. As Frida soared through the air, her hands were quickly covered in a pitch-black covering of Busoshoku Haki. Frida placed her hands out in front of her so that her body looked very much like a massive bullet ripping through the sky. The sheer speed that Frida reached caused her body to heat up and ignite, causing her body to be engulfed in flames as she was now just meters away from Abel.

Tabart smirked. "Damn she's hot."

Still, there wasn't much time for jokes. He refocused, directing his attention to Nez. "Hey you, do something!"

Nez, who was understandingly still in shock about the whole situation, was taken out of her daze when Tabart spoke to her. She turned towards him, still breathing heavily, and nodded without saying a word. She reached into the pocket of her lab-coat and pulled out Hammy-chan, the Den Den Mushi that she had used prior. Hammy-chan, much like her owner, was also visibly startled at the clashing of such great power, enough to the point that she was lightly shaking out of anxiety. "I know you're scared, Hammy-chan," Nez whispered to the snail, petting its shell in an attempt to calm it down. "I just need one thing..." Nez continued. The snail seemed to understand its owner somehow, as its eyes shot up and met Nez's, like it was agreeing with her request. Hammy-chan opened her mouth and released a large glass tube that was roughly the size of Nez's forearm.

The tube was filled with a glossy white liquid and was capped with thick metal plates, apparently to secure the liquid into place. On one of the plates, an adjustable timer was placed. Nez held the tube in her hand before looking back up to Tabart. "Listen... you're familiar with O7F3, right?"

"Hell no?" Tabart inquired.

Nez let out a noise that seemed to be a combination of a grunt and a sigh, rolling her eyes slightly. "Well listen, we don't really have time for a slideshow presentation, but O7F3 is attributed as the most potent antithesis of Devil Fruit powers that is known to the modern-day man... that is what this tube is filled with. It is also lined with a highly explosive material that will detonate on command as soon as this timer hits zero." Nez tapped the end of the tube that the timer was on as a way to signify where it was.

"This is a highly experimental weapon... really, under any normal circumstance, we would both be sentenced to death because I exchanged this information with you. As soon as this timer hits zero, we all need to get the fuck out of here, lest we get vaporized by the ensuing blast." Nez rattled on quickly, talking at an extremely rapid pace.

Tabart's eyes widened. "Why the fuck didn't you give this to her!? She literally just blasted off towards him? What kind of scientist are you? Aren't you supposed to be smart?!"

Nez's brows furrowed in frustration as Tabart berated her. "I am extremely smart! Which is exactly why I didn't give this nuclear bio-weapon to a Devil Fruit-wielding pirate!" "What?!" Tabart asked angrily. "Then who the hell are you going to give it to?"

Nez's expression sobered and she looked at Tabart with heavy eyes. "I'm going to do it." She said in a flat tone. Hammy-chan's mouth fell open as even the snail herself was shocked at Nez's words. Tabart looked at Nez, his anger subsiding just for a moment. He clenched his fist tightly as he stared at her. It was obvious that she was bothered by her decision. Perhaps she wasn't ready to make such a noble sacrifice.

He turned back around. "Got it. Good luck!" Nez nodded and turned back around, facing Frida, who was just moments away from potentially colliding with the behemoth that the group was fighting.

Abel blinked as the attack was promptly dispersed by the Shichibukai, all that filled his visage were woods and blooming flowers. It was a given, after all, the attack hadn't been even his, though, for it to be blocked like that was to be more attributed to Tabart than anyone else. In those brief minutes that Abel had focused on Kenshiro, or rather Kensashi, he had diverged his attention from another good fighter. Sometimes, the news twisted quite a lot what the Pirates have truly done, however, Abel could feel it, the burning and shaking fighting spirit boiling within Tabart.

Still, his intention, coupled with that rabbit woman's, were almost as clear as Kensashi's own. Another smile bloomed into his face, he inflated the muscles of his stomach and chest with a single breath, rising his arms above his head as Frida neared him while engulfed in flames. "Lad, you playing dangerous by approaching me like that," Abel spat out at Frida, his face acquiring sweat drops all over it. Contrary to what she intended, by the time she crashed against him, Abel didn't spit out his breathing, rather, his torso acquired scorching marks and his two arms ripped across the air in front of him to meet her figure head-on and from above. The blow, if successful, would surely cause a sonic boom above them, along with the accompanying sound.

Given that she was pressing against him and his immediate response, Abel sought on transferring part of the momentum of Frida's rocket-attack back into her own body without allowing her any chance of dodging it, utilizing of the firmness of his own, despite being in mid-air. Furthermore, the instantness at which Abel attacked her back would surely allow for the impact to be done before he was sent flying. And fly, he would, but just a small distance and only if Frida had been struck by his attack to get sent flying as well, or else, he was just going to fly into the forest. The direction that Frida would be sent to was none other than Tabart and Phantasma's, she was still set ablaze, and with her own speed and power turned against her, she could make a proper projectile against them.

Frida felt the sheer power of the man as he neared him and eventually colliding into him, her immensely strong Haki beginning to crack at the point of contact. As Abel countered with a powerful slap, Frida was struck entirely by him, shooting her out of the sky like a fly being hit with a swatter. Still maintaing a great deal of speed and her fiery visage, Frida began a rapid free-fall back to her starting point, stunned by Abel's counter and unable to react properly in order to save herself. Her limp body rapidly fell to the Earth directly to Tabart's, Nez's, and Phantasma's position. If they did not react, Frida would collide with the trio with almost as much power as she had when she collided with Abel.

"I can't do it on my own."

Tabart didn't look back as he crouched his legs, and lifting his hand to his mouth. He shoved a myriad of different seeds onto his tongue and down his esophagus, that exploded into briefly what appeared to be spinach.

"Phantasma!"

That was all that was needed to communicate between the two. It was his silent plea for her to do everything in her power to ensure Frida's safety. Because, right now, their only was to attack. They couldn't waste the opportunity that Kensashi made for them.

"Mosa Mosa no Mi," Tabart mumbled to himself as his muscles flexed themselves, and rapidly expanded in size and quality, "Argonaut!!"

The only indicator that Tabart had even begun to move was how the sand beneath his feat was rebuked by the sheer pressure of his strikes towards it. While it appeared that he had simply jumped from his place, in actuality, he had struck the ground ten times with his leg rapidly, propelling him at speeds he could never achieve.

For any experienced veteran of the New World, they would have easily recognized this technique for what it was: Soru. However, where did Tabart learn such a skill? How had he come to even know about Rokushiki?

He blinked into existence in front of Abel, swinging his meito towards him with simultaneously sheathing in his busoshoku Haki.

"Don't forget about me!!"

Abel's eyes widened, but not for how quickly Tabart had closed the gap between them, rather, the manner at which he clad his sword in Busoshoku and how he swung at him. He narrowed his eyes and breathed, "This style... This sword..." Somewhat, the sensation had come to Abel beforehand, when Frida had tried to use the sword against him, yet, it was not hers, she brandished it like a normal weapon. A blade used by a non-swordsman was just that, another weapon.

Sand and air roared once Tabart met his target, a shockwave traversing through the scenario along some dust. Once the dust settled, Tabart would find his sword barely etched into Abel's figure, who had also made use of a layer of Haki, small sparks birthed from their quick clash and a droplet of blood sipped from Abel and down the edge of the Meito. "All that..." That was it, "For a single drop. Heeeeh." Abel grinned audibly, the wind hissed in the wake of his right fist being pushed forward without any apparent preparation for it, it breached through several air rings and quickly made its way towards Tabart's face.

With it landing, Tabart would not only be sent flying towards his own group, much like Frida had suffered, but, a direct blow to the head could mean dizziness. They were close to each other and Tabart was pratically stuck due to his sword, it seemed there was no way to avoid a direct hit.

Phantasma had heard Tabart's voice loud and clear. Without another word, the Purple Pirate manifested two sharp wheels on her legs and quickly accelerated towards Frida's flying figure.

As she reached Frida, she imbued herself with dense Haki, enabling Frida to land against her even with the enormous impact from Abel's counter and only skid back a small distance.

Panting, Phantasma put Frida down. "Rejoin us when you find an opening!" Phantasma told the woman as she dashed forward. Phantasma wouldn't allow Tabart to be sent flying back in the same way Frida did. Instead, she had a wheel conjured along her torso while positioned directly behind Tabart.

In doing so, she began to rotate the wheel at tremendous speeds. She wasn't confident in her offensive skills, but right now, if she could rebound Tabart back to Abel with his opponent's momentum turned against him, they may be able to land lasting damage.

Phantasma's plan was perfect, and was probably the reason that she was the captain of the Purple Pirates instead of Tabart. That, and the fact that no one in the Purple Pirates except her seemed to actually like him.

Abel's fist collided directly against his bare face, pulling his irises into the back of his head and leaving them whitened by the force of the blow.

There were only one major thought going on through Tabart's brain at the time: "Was that the hardest I've ever been hit?"

Still, even if he was immediately caught in a daze, Phantasma's contraption rebounded him directly back into Abel, like a bullet.

In the moment that it did, Tabart's irises faded into appearance, as he grit his teeth. The blood from his forehead streamed down his face like a river. The blood that he had injected with seeds and plants, and spinach. The very same blood that he could manipulate over and over again.

His body looked to shroud itself in Busoshoku Haki, but even if he couldnt make it all the way, there was no time to hesitate.

"EMBERS!!" Tabart shrieked, commanding the nutrients and plantlife in his blood to do as he always did: combust. His blood provided all the oyxgen needed to fuel their explosion, and his body was enshrouded in flames, which extended to his own meito.

He positioned his sword straight, and pointed the edge towards Abel with the intent to pierce his muscular frame, empowered by the flames of his own creation, while simultaneously using his own force against him.

Phantasma's quick catch of Frida, as well as her sudden support of Tabart made Abel coo, very few New World pirates, Captains even, rarely put themselves to support another. Was she really a pirate? He was already focused upon her, since Tabart had momentarily lost consciousness, therefore, when that proved to be short lived, the scenario at hand changed quite abruptly. If she had been any second earlier or any late, they wouldn't have managed it. Tabart would either fly back into Phantasma or strike back at him too late.

Amidst it, a certain sensation sprouted through the strings of his heart, no different than when a sunflower bloomed from beneath the soil, though, no sunlight rained over such sensation. Abel would have tried for hisarms to reach longer, so that they could fully embrace his own body. Uncertainty washed over Abel, he pondered which part of him, of them, felt that. At the same time, did it truly matter? Wishing was just that, to wish. What good were determination and will if they didn't fuel the actions of a believer?

Tabart's flames resonated with Abel's own, they, too, came from the insides of his heart, from the deepest pools, they circled through his body invisibly. Haki flowed into the areas of his stomach and branded itself with a heavy burst, their outwards taking on a flame pattern, blazes met, yellow and black sprung forth in the form of fireworks that littered the location around them, a small tinge of red and grey came from the point of contact, but the blade went no further than its tip into the left side of Abel's stomach. His blood almost evaporated in the wake of Tabart's blazing determination, giving out a weird smoke, Abel smirked yet again, a few sweatdrops over his brightened face.

"My previous punch wasn't enough?" Yet again, fist clenched, his right arm was drawn back, more haki flowed through his body and surrounded up his wrist. A blue aura oozed from the blackness, beyond the manifestation and solidification of his spirit, its dominance. Normally, the very world would have trembled in the wake of that Haki, the one of King's, that happened with Kenshiro after all. However, through his honing of the ability, Abel focused the waves and weight of his Haoshoku forward, so that it would condense over Tabart and Phantasma.

Abel's eyes widened and his muscles expanded, the air cracked open as his fist and arm pierced through it and aimed directly for Tabart's own stomach, though, this time, he twisted his entire torso from left to right in order to throw more of his weight into the punch. Furthermore, that way, the sword wouldn't enter his stomach more, as it was etched on the left side, which backed off. If the punch landed, Abel sought on pressing Tabart over Phantasma's frame, sinking them into the ground below with both the force of his direct blow and the power of his materializing will.

Tabart had nothing else to give in the face of this overwhelming strength; he fought with virtually everything he had to withstand the mentsl blow of Abel's refined Haoshoku. However, even though this Haki flung over his buffed frame and sought to crush him, it couldn't help but reveal to Tabart exactly how it wished to consume his being. Through this wave of Haki, he saw everything Abel wanted to accomplish, and he'd be damned if he was going to drag everyone else into his fight.

Therefore, he summoned every bit of strength in his vessel to simply turn his body to the side slightly, and twisted his hips so that when Abel's fist, which oozed with power, struck him the trajectory would change. Tabart went soaring backwards, dissappearing from his place between blinks. The only thing that indicated he was even there was the blade that remained etched within Abel's sword, but mere seconds later, fissures within the earth spawned into being just as the cliffs of the island collapsed from the force of Tabart's body being embedded into them.

Everyone's Kenbunshoku would have revealed Tabart's current state; there was no doubt about it this time. Even if they couldn't see him, logic would have dictated that Tabart was out of commission. Frida’s head spun as she tried to silence the ringing in her ears and regain her balance. She stood up and tried to thank Phantasma, but she could not find the words with her mind racing as it was. She examined her surroundings in an attempt to stop the spinning, but as she did, she noticed something very strange and even concerning; Nez was nowhere to be found.

Frida looked at the ground where Nez was last seen and saw Hammy-chan sitting on a small rock and waving her “arms” wildly, almost inaudibly making gibberish sounds that were clearly pleads, as shown by the extremely worried expression she had.

“N-Nez-sama? Nez, where’d you go?” Frida shook her head and came to, clearing her vision as her heart began to race fast. “Nez, it’s dangerous to be alone, where are you?” Frida yelled, looking in all directions for the scientist.

Nez’s legs felt weak as she reached the peak of the small rocky outcrop that was only a few meters behind Abel’s position. She was able to avoid his attention thus far, but she knew she had to be at her stealthiest now that she approached him closer and closer. In her sweaty palms, she grasped the glass tube that she had presented to the pirates prior. A glimpse of the timer at the top could be seen.

2 minutes...

Nez’s body shook with fear, but in her heart she had never felt this much certainty. Her head raced with many thoughts, but her resolve was clear and absolute. She remembered graduating from her alma mater and beginning her internship as a rookie Marine scientist; those days were hard, but they had formed her into what she was now. She even recalled the moment that she got Hammy-chan, who had arguably been her best friend ever since she got her as a gift for completing her internships and graduating to a full-blown scientist. Images of the building and opening of the Vegapunk Institute of Technology flashed in her mind, and she expressed a faint smile as she remembered the eager faces of the school’s first class. Her heart led her mind astray as she thought of Pyrrha, the woman who she considered to be her close confidant and partner.

1 minute, 30 seconds…

From afar, Frida’s eyes finally caught Nez’s position, and she opened her mouth to yell out before her eyes locked onto the object in Nez’s hand.

“N-Nez… oh my god…” Frida whispered. “Phantasma! You need to grab Tabart, and we need to go, now!”