Roman Numerals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Cap'n, it's Bullseye-"

"I DUN' GIVE EY FUCK!!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smile. Living was only once.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the plains, a grey-haired figured was seen launched from beneath the island, up into the air, and then landing on the plains in a single motion. "I'm heeeere! Boss battle, let's go-" Suddenly her hyped voice fell flat, as she noticed the barren island. She looked around with her eyes, listened with her ears, heck, even tried smelling with her nose. But something felt off...

"Wait, WHY ARE THERE NO PEOPLE!?" Hecate yelled in desperation, and started running around, unsure of what to do. She didn't want to be bored!

"Woah woah woah!" A feminine voice screamed from the air above, obviously coming from the gigantic being free falling from the sky above. In the next moment, the area ground quaked from the direct impact of the being smashing against the Earth's outer core. The ground caved in under the pressure as dust and debris filled the area. The sound of blowing could be heard and the sudden dust cleared in a matter of seconds revealing the being in its entirety.

The being was none other than a golem. If you looked closely, you'd see that its figure was shaped and refined to be fit that of a woman. Thick earth composed legs and a coke-bottle figure, the golem had obviously considered itself to be a girl. While she was a golem, it seemed to be strikingly similar to that of a human. Where the skin had been replaced by rocks and it lacked hair.

"Now that is rude, Miss Hectate!" The golem shouted, taking a comedic pose while pointing at Hecate. "Golems are people! You're just a big meanie! Meanie, meanie! Uh!" She teased, sticking out a tongue made of liquid rock from its mouth almost like a child. "Papa is sleeping and you guys are lucky too! My name is Maaka." Stretching, she prepared herself for battle. "If I do good, Uncle Bill said he'll send over tons of candy! Owwwwwe!!!!! I can't wait! I can't wait!" Maaka squeezed her hands against her chest, almost fangirling over the thought of candy.

"Ehhh?" Hecate looked over at the golem that appeared, who had named herself Maaka. "Golem...? What's that??" Hecate didn't appear to make any sudden movements. Instead, she had completely stopped in her tracks and sat on the ground. With her body reaching the floor, the thud of her extremely heavy bag came with it, forcing cracks in the immediate area once again. She put her finger across her chin and began to be in deep thoughts. "You have a papa...does that mean, you're a kid like me!?" Hecate thought aloud, simultaneously talking to the golem, but also to the air.

"Everyone has a poppa Hectate!" The child-like personality wielding Golem responding, almost as though she were the old of the two. "You aren't a child, get a hold of yourself. You make me look mature Hectate!" She screamed, calling Hecate by the wrong name yet again. "That doesn't matter though. You came here to take my papa down! I can't let you do that. "I LOVE MY PAPA!" Her scream was the trigger to the creation of a sonic boom which sent shockwaves in Hecate's direction. The ground cracked even more from the force and Maaka dashed forward towards the Shichibukai.

Though she was a golem, the speeds at which she moved was no joke. Dragging her hand along the ground, Maaka "grabbed" chunks of earth and formed into a weapon or a baseball bat. Gripping onto its handle with both hands, Maaka stopped in her tracks by digging her feet into the ground and pulled the bat forward. The strength behind the swing was so tremendous, that she ripped the ground up with it flinging chunks of earth forward as well. Her strike had been aimed at Hecate, she intended to make contact no matter the cost.

"I'll knock you back down Fukaru!" She claimed, referring to the island where the Black Ops met.

"Uwahhh!" Hecate was taken aback for a second by the strength this golem displayed. Despite lacking the true traits of a human, she could feel a marginal amount of strength from her. As the ground began to shake and crumble beneath her, Hecate hardened her own stance by pushing down against the ground. The impact of this action upturned the earth from beneath Hecate and began to clash with the ferocity of Maaka's own shockwave, causing the entirety of the ground to begin falling apart, removing virtually any sort of stable substance to land upon. (Sorry, still going) It was soon after that Hecate noticed Maaka launching herself forwards with a baseball bat. Hecate, due to her odd nature, often preferred to fight against opponents with the same method they used. In her mind, it was the perfect demonstration of her superiority as a player. But, at the moment, she was not wielding any weapons correctly, and nor could she get them out in time. So, she used her resources smartly.

In the small amount of time remaining to her, Hecate unhooked her bulky bag, which dwarfed her height, and was three times as wide and thick as she was, and swung it with an equal amount of force towards Maaka's bat. The resulting collision of tremendous strength forced the air to begin screeching, as the ground was delving deeper and deeper into its soil.

It had only been two collisions of strength, and already the immediate area they fought in was completely demolished. This was the power of both of these monsters! But Hecate was not done there, she was beginning to enjoy this! With that single proclamation, Hecate could feel the true essence of a human pouring out of Maaka. It was not a conscious thing she registered. It was merely an unconscious recognition that, indeed, Maaka was a player worth fighting.

The collision between the bag and the bat causing the bag to be ripped open. From its interior, dozens, if not hundreds of melee weapons were sprawled across the ground they stood, for tens of metres in every cardinal direction. The plains that they stood upon were now littered with weapons, all for the sake of this battle.

This wasn't a style that Hecate used, it was simply something to add a level of excitement to this game. "Alright, let's go, Maa-Maa!" Hecate exclaimed with glee, picking up a metal staff of a similar construction to Maaka's earthen bat. She did not move just yet, for she wanted to experience this game in its entirety. "Try that again!"

The collision of power caught Maaka by surprise, causing her to lower the bat down to her side. "Wow Hectate! You're sooooo strong!" She paused and brought her rock finger up to her fake lips. "Too strong. Only papa and uncle Bill can block my attacks. Soooo not cool!!" She screamed stopping her foot into the ground repeatedly. Each time her foot made contact with the earth, a brown shockwave of energy was released and each time it was, the gravity around seemed to increase. Clearly it wasn't the ability of a devil fruit power. "Owee that made me soooo angry!! Haki, haki, haki!!" She repeated that four letter word continuing to stomp onto the ground.

Then, Hecate lifted a pole and claimed to be ready to play the game the same game the golem had been playing. "That's odd, I don't get to play with other humans often! Especially not ones that can play the games I play with Uncle Bill and papa.... whenever he wakes up." Laughing, she went on her tangent. "Then, Uncle Bill throws attacks from Abdeel and I have to hit them, but you're a weird one. Fiiiiiiiiiiine!" She shouted, pointing her finger at her chest. "I've never backed away from a challenge."

Holding her hand out, a earth gathered at her palm and a ball formed. "Hello Little Maaka!" The ball spoke, growing a pair of eyes and mouth.

"These are the rules Hecat-" A buzzing noise could be heard in Maaka's ear. Placing her hand on her ear, "Oh, ooh. Well, that's no fun Rooooooob." She claimed releasing her ear and tossing the ball of earth into the air and back into her hand over and over. "Sorry Hectate, Rob said that my papa doesn't want me to play around today. OH! THAT MUST MEAN PAPA IS CLOSE TO WAKING UP!" Tossing the earth into the air, it erupted in flames. Cocking the bat backwards, she thrust forward and hit the ball with an unbelievable amount of force sending the spiraling ball right at Hecate. "Flaming Strike One!"

"Papa is close to waking up~? That sounds like fun!" Hecate excitedly responded, as she felt the shockwaves rough and tumble the ground, although she managed to stay perfectly balanced regardless of the shape of the ground, which was an oddity in itself. She stared at the ball that Maaka played with, before seeing it engulfed in flames.

"Pretty!" Hecate mentioned, as the ball started flying at her. The metal rod that she held in her hand turned pitch black and, in a similar stance to Maaka, she clenched the pole tightly before swinging it directly at the flaming ball, sending it zooming right back at Maaka. "Let's play some baseball!"

"I said no!" Her shout activated her busoshoku haki in a repulsive manner, bursting from her body in the manner of a shockwave... once again. The ball's path had altered completely, rather than heading for Maaka, it went upwards into the air until it completely disappeared. "Papa said no! Papa is our king and I don't want him to use his scary fear power on me. No, no, no!!!" She shouted as the brown aura released from her body once again.

Dropping to her knees, Maaka gripped her head with one hand and began to beat on the ground with the other. "NO! NO! NO!" She screamed, while she had a replay of Vince in her head.

A flaming battlefield covered her mental landscape and the only man that stood was Vince. His eyes like steel staring at the man citizens that fell to their backs and faces, all appearing lifeless. Some eyes rolled to the back of their heads completely, while others had been completely void of pupils. "I am a man who has conqueror many lands, but only those that have been plagued with bacteria." Vince stated, looking down on each of the individuals before him. "Years before I became a pirates, I have led my own archipelago of people for over twenty years for not my mass, but my sheer will of being able to do so. Even now, as a Pirate, I have led Aurora for almost that same amount of time. What I've seen here are not the workings of a king, but that of a conceited tyrant. Here you will die!"

Maaka began to smash her hands onto the ground. "No! No! Papa is terrifying when he's angry. NO NO NO! NO PLEASE!!! NOOOO! " Tears flowed down Maaka's rock face like a flowing river. "No, Hectate! No no please please, just lose just leave please!" Standing back to her feet, she dashed at Hecate all in one motion. Speed so immense, that once she moved she broke the sound barrier and made it visible. The ground trembled underneath her rage and became malleable like gum or a liquid. Had Hecate decide to stay standing, she'd be swallowed. Her best bet was the air.

Hecate looked at everything, and felt sad for the girl before her. She knew what it was like to disappoint her parents. She felt that pain every day of her life after they vanished from this world. Hecate had tried to subdue that pain through playing her games. But in situations like this, it only panged in her heart. "Maa-Maa..."

As Hecate spoke solemnly, she felt Maaka about to move, and her instincts told her she would be impossible to stop with regular movements. Dodging was pointless, so Hecate outstretched her hands. They were colored a pitch black, containing enough Haki that it began to leak to the air outside of her hands.

As Maaka continued to charge forward, she was met by an opposing force in the form of Hecate. Her hands would stop the golem in her tracks, causing the entirety of the ground and air behind Hecate to clamor in fear. The ground was shaking violently, and it felt like the entire island was on the verge of collapse.

However, Hecate herself was not performing this action as easily as it looked. Maaka's onslaught was by no means weak. In fact, it was so strong that Hecate unconsciously made use of every last reserve of power she had left in her muscles to stop the golem in her tracks. The Haki of both combatants began to crack open due to the intensity of the collision, and they could only go on for another few seconds. "Nnngh..." Hecate moaned, trying to strengthen her grip by tightening her fingers further, in hopes of reaching to the golem. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of struggle between the two powerhouses, Hecate's strength managed to pierce through Maaka's tremendous speed, and she gripped the woman by her shoulders.

Thereafter, Hecate pushed her legs off the ground in an unnatural manner, as if her whole body rotated one-hundred-and-eighty degrees in the air, her entire body remaining poised by gripping onto Maaka's shoulders, as she performed the perfect handstand. Suddenly, through the power of her Devil Fruit, the Dodo Dodo no Mi, Hecate managed to forcibly move her entire body downwards, performing a motion akin to a forward flip that would cause Maaka and Hecate's positions to be inverted, enabling the Shichibukai to throw her opponent towards the sky with such strength that air resistance had been completely damned for a moment, sending her flying far beyond the ground.

"Sorry, Maa-Maa..." Hecate apologized to her opponent, as she pushed herself off the ground. "Secret Technique: Crimson Phoenix Anvil!" Hecate spoke aloud, and suddenly, the entirety of her body began to glimmer in a bright red pigment. No, perhaps glimmer was the incorrect word. Her body had been blazing in a bright red pigment, with fumes releasing from her body similar to the likes of the. Not only had her body been fuming, but it was expending so much energy that in every instant she waited, her body was vibrating rapidly, expending her power further. After all, the Grey General had commanded her body to be stretched to the very limits of its activity, so she could only actively maintain this form for a few moments.

Of course, that was all she needed. In those moments, Hecate took what physically appeared to be a single step, but within that step, a shockwave shook the ground, and the already unstable footing once again began to pulsate, in an ebb and flow akin to tidal flows, as Hecate had reached the air where Maaka remain momentarily defenseless. She had commanded her body thereafter to focus all of the excess strength she now possessed to be transferred to her right arm, which had become a pitch black, while continuing to fume with a red smoke.

The woman had intended to land her fist squarely on Maaka's abdomen. The entirety of the physical strength that Hecate possessed would be placed into this strike, and even if it was avoided by some stretch of a miracle, the resulting vibrations would no doubt cause the air itself to repulse and cause considerable wounds on Maaka's person. Should it land, Hecate imagined, the entirety of Maaka's armor would be destroyed from the inside out.

Of course, Hecate did not possess any intention to kill. While this strike would cause excruciating pain, and perhaps even permanently damage a number of Maaka's body parts, she ultimately did not feel like killing the golem. Perhaps she had found a common point of sympathy the two shared...

"No!" Maaka shouted, though before she could react an image of Vince appeared in her head once again. This caused her to hesitate and subsequently take Hecate's attack head-on. Hecate's fist made direct contact with Maaka's abdomen and a cracking noise could be heard. Looking down, Maaka could see that her body had began to crack. "Oh no, I'm gonna be in... big trouble!!" She shouted, holding her position on Hecate's hand.

The vision of Vince continued to play. In just a flash, Vince had slain each and every man before him with a single strike. The ground shook as a young golem Maaka hid behind his legs. The earth and rubble began to break under his tremendous pressure before crawling up to the sky to form a giant meteor. "No Papa, you're done! No, no, Papa! See?! I'm okay, you saved me! You can stop now!"

"Stop? No man, who has hurt my Maaka, will live to tell the story! No.. not again. Everyone and everything that person cares about will be destroyed. Especially those who claim to be kings, yet possess not a single quality. He who lays his hand on a child is not fit to be a king no matter the situation. So, before me, these men are less than scum and this island will pay the price for his sins!" With that, the earth rock crashed into the ground before him. Grabbing Maaka, he held her by the abdomen and disappeared only to reappear standing in the sky.

"I have papa's soul in my. I know what he is capable of when's angry. I haven't seen papa that angry in years, not again!" She thought, eyes opening she'd try one last effort. "STOP HECTATE! AND PLEASE GO TO SLEEP!!!" She shouted, releasing another wave of brown aura around. This time, the source was quite clear. It was the release of her will alone. Her will of not wanting to see the wrath of her father once again. But, she exerted just a bit too much. Her rock body began to crack all over to the point where it began to crumble. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, the Commander had knocked herself out.

Her body continued to crack and as it slowly crumbled, one would notice that she herself had not turned into rocks. No. Instead, the earth that made up her body seemed to have been more like armor, a second layer of skin to protect what rested underneath. Once it had completely broken off, the body that had been underneath it fell to the ground below. A bright light emitted from their chest before rising upwards and shooting off like a star to the island above.

This body belonged to that of a woman. For those that knew their history about fifteen years ago, they knew exactly who this woman was. Her skin was a shade of dark and she was dressed in a very uppity outfit. She had long fluffy purple hair like a princess. Her overall appearance matched that of a woman in her mid to late twenties. A cloud of dust spun from the ground, covering her body and yet another light fragment drew from her body and shot upwards once again. Then the cloud disappeared just as fast as it formed.

As mentioned, those that knew their history would be able to easily make out and identify this woman. From the gorgeous face on down to her lovely purple hair. The woman who's existence plagued the New World and had more battles that destroyed islands than the World Government could even count. Hell, her appearance alone was enough for the Marines to ask if any island nearby had been destroyed by one of her battles. They feared her meetings with Titanboa, they knew if they kept up their battling the entire world would be destroyed. The former Strongest Woman in the World and captain of the notoriously feared Royal Pirates, she was: Buster D. Amaka.

Hecate's eyes widened while she dispelled her technique and landed on the ground. She saw lights moving to the sky, but what fell to the ground caught her interest more than anything. Following the trail of the body, she noticed a figure that was oddly familiar to her. "Bus-Bus..." Hecate remembered fondly of days when she was younger, and first arrived in the New World. She had witnessed the cataclysmic fights of Daddy L. Legs and Buster D. Amaka head-on, and even challenged both on separate occasions. When she heard about Amaka dying years ago, she couldn't believe it. And now here she lie on the ground before her.

As Hecate was about to approach the body of Amaka, a sudden sensation overwhelmed her. There was a new player in this game, and he was a lot stronger than he let on. A smile crawled upon Hecate's body, and after taking a last glance at Amaka, she sent a powerful crescent kick towards the air, releasing an arc-shaped projectile of wind, which she then spoke to. "Stop, soldier!" Hecate commanded, causing the projectile to stop in its path.

Hecate leaped atop the projectile, and began her ascent to follow the trail of the two lights that were released from Amaka's body. At the same time, she contacted Yanbaal through her Kenbunshoku Haki connecting the both of them. "Yanba! There's a strong player right at the top! I'm going to fly there, follow me when you're done, okay!?"

Ninth Track
"I don’t want to set the world on fire... I just want to start a flame in your heart..."

The record turned on its table, playing a song from days long since past. A large number of men, all dressed in suits and vests, sat around the plaza slowly swaying to the music. Today was not a day of celebration or happiness. Today was not a day of morning.

Today was a day of battle and bloodshed. Some group of punks had decided to invade the archipelago. To invade this island. And it was the Dandy Pirate's job to stop them.

Dapper Dan leaned up against a table at the edge of the plaza, facing the sea. A cigar could be seen in his hand as he watched the rolling waves.

The city on the island of Mecca sprawled out behind him, the lowcut sandstone buildings rarely rising above two stories as they sprawled across half the island. The other half was dedicated to agriculture and quarries. This island provided a large amount of stone for the Xros pirates, and more than a few fortresses were built from it.

the buildings were now empty, the civilians hiding in the quarries after Dan got a message from his old friends. All that was left was Dan and his men. Waiting on these thugs, waiting to fight before they could all raise jugs.

Blade on his hip, Dexter help both of his hands down to his side, creating two of his ZONES underneath his fingertips. As they spun in the same direction, a small wind current picked up lifting his jacket up as it did. Before he made any moves he had to think to himself, "It's much smarter, to do the damn two zones and jump as opposed to one big one. Gotta reserve my stamina as much as I can. I have no doubts imma' need that technique I learned from Gerhard."

Looking to Yanbaal, Dexter jerked his head. "Warlord, come near me." He stated, extending his fingers on his left hand outwards increasing the ZONE so that it covered the area around him like a dome. Without the enhancements of Kenbunshoku Haki, Dexter threw the other ZONE up into the air right at the edge of the island with astonishing precision.

As Yanbaal entered his ZONE, Dexter left a thumbs up to the people remaining on the island. "JUMP..." The teen uttered, transporting himself and Yanbaal from the current ZONE they were in, to the one that had been etched onto the edge of Mecca. "And we are here."

"OOOOOLALA! KAKAKA!" Yanbaal clapped with each syllabe, eyes closed and smile wide. When they opened, his mouth went from laughing to questioning. "You're a rather... efficient user of your own power," Eyes scanned Dexter's mannerisms and how it all affected everything around them, "I certainly did not expect to meet the Ope Ope's user." Yan covered his expression with a hand, eyes never leaving Dexter.

For a moment, these same eyes seemed static, just focused upon the powers exhibited before them. Suddenly, both he and Dexter were teleported into the other Zone. "So, what is YOUR plan from here on?" Yan mused, hand leaving his face and going free while gesturing.

Stepping forward onto the island, Dexter surveyed the area thoroughly through his ZONE. What he could not scan through his ZONE, he used his kenbunshoku haki to scout out the extra area. At that moment, Dexter hadn't detected anyone near the duo and let out a sigh of relief. Quite frankly Dexter had been rather tired after the consecutive uses of his fruit's and finally seemed to be able to catch his breath.

Reaching inside of his jacket, the teen pulled out a granola bar. Unwrapping it he bit into it chewed it and threw the remainder of it on the ground. "It's new so it may not be flawless. Plus, I only had enough time to make two. So don't be careless, Dex-kun." Zoe's voice replayed in his head stating that very claim.

Turning to Yanbaal, Dexter spoke. "My plan? Imma' use you to my advantage. Especially if you'd like to see my fruit in actual use." Looking up at the sky, Dexter tried to get exactly what time it was. "It's three, we have three hours until he gets here. I ain't ever met him, but I wonder just who he is." He thought to himself.

"Imma' a lil low on energy at the moment. So Imma' need you to take on the initial stages of battle."

Cl-Click.

The sound of a hammer cocking would be unmistakable to the pair of pirates as a figure approached them as they rested a short while later. In one hand rested an ornate pistol, gold trim adorning a well-worn barrel. The other was busy fixing his wind ruffled clothes, restoring his dress to its dandy state.

"Trespassing is a crime, you dastardly boys. Hasn't anyone ever taught the two of you manners?" Dan said dandily as he walked into the square proper. The old man marched with precise steps. He looked at Dexter quickly before adding, "Or how to properly dress?"

"Either way, the two of you are trespassing on Xros property. I must ask you as to so kindly leave... before I am forced to remove you from the premises."

Slowly returning to his feet, Dexter let out a soft sigh. "Listen," he began patting down his own tracksuit to get the dirt off of his bottom. "We both know how this is gonna' go. I'll say no, you'll say something, I'll tell you we gotta' take y'all down 'cause bad guys... etcetera." Eyes rolling and neck stiffened, the teen gripped onto the hilt of his sword but took a step back. "Me personally, I'd like to skip to the part where I'm cutting you down and leaving you to fall at my feet."

Eyes shifting to Yanbaal, Dexter jerked his head trying to hint at what he mentioned earlier. "But for now we are stuck with the process of getting to that point!" With that sentence's end, Dexter formed one of his ZONEs underneath hand which spun the dirt of the island underneath him into a small tornado. By holding his hand upward, the ZONE covered the area the trio stood within.

"The cliches are cliches for a reason. But what can I say to an individual with no class? But so be it, have it your way." Dan enunciated precisely as the youth put up his little sandstorm.

"Dandy Bullet."

As the sand whipped around the trio, obscuring the pirates from each other, the square was covered in a vicious storm. All but one spot that is. A different kind of beast dwelled there.

The space around the barrel of Dan's pistol warped and shuttered as the forces within churned and roiled. The sand found itself slowly being pushed away as a bubble formed upon the end of the barrel, locking the grit away from it. This bubble grew and shrank several times in the moments before the hammer clicked down.

The echo of the shot was lost as the sand gave away to the ever-expanding bubble. A bubble that burst into furious motion. The ground in front of Dan's feet shattered as the blast wave from his shot carved through it even as the sand was blown away. A wave of force centred on the seemingly ordinary bullet reached out towards the young punk, gouging through the sandstone road between them. Glass fell as the windows in the courtyard followed suit, shattered by the booming report.

Even Dan wasn't unaffected, jetting backwards even as his blast wave roared forward, allowing the recoil to push him so he could regain some distance between him and his opponents. He let go of his pistol as he flew backwards, its ruined barrel smoking as it hit the ground.

Dan slid back several meters once he regained his footing, pulling out a second identical pistol out of the quadruple holster on his back. He readjusted his glasses before standing tall, the gun pointed back down the ruined street he had just flown down.

Click.

"KAKAKAKAKAKAKA! Kid, back down, this one is worth 490,000,000! MAGNIF-" Yanbaal was cut short, paper flew and surrounded his and Dexter's frames, birthing many and many layers. Though with firepower like that, it was no surprise that almost all of them were burnt to a crip instantly, however, Yan didn't just stay still. With his grin widening, even more paper flew out of him, at a pace similar to the burning of the current paper, so that it could be substituted.

When the wave of power ended, Yan simply didn't stop producing paper, after all, his haki all but screamed that this old man wasn't done just yet. Of course, from what he knew, this one was tough, almost too tough. Then, the paper flew not only around themselves but forward, taking a specific shape.

Bursting forth in all directions, the atmosphere was painted a pure white, only to lose all of its color, for all the sheets compressed into an enormous hand in front of Yanbaal. Its fingers stretched, "SUPERMAN!! KAAAAA!" Yanbaal screamed in delight, closing his gigantic hand in order to intercept Dan's second shot, its fingers wrapping tightly over it. One would normally try to simply hold it, however, Yan pushed his own arm downward, prompting the hand to smash, along with the shot, flatly against the ground they all stood in.

An omnidirectional wave of pressure coursed from there, smashing against all of them at the same time, while also destroying the very environment. The plaza, the nearby houses all budged into themselves, dust and wind erupting high, providing some sort of cover over the entire area. Furthermore, with the ground broken, those that didn't fly could be caught off guard and lose their footing, surely, either Dexter or Dan would get the next move right.

Preparing to counter Dan's attack, Dexter stopped in his own tracks after Yanbaal stepped up. One move after another, Yanbaal did everything he could to protect the duo and he did just that. As the paper had been burnt from around his, Yanbaal had already been ready to prepare his next attack. A giant hand made out of paper through Yanbaal's own devil fruit abilities. Commanding it, Yanbaal ordered it to smash into the ground causing the very earth that the pirates stood on, to shatter and break apart beneath their feet.

Feet moving as though he'd been bouncing on the tips of his toes, Dexter jumped from earth chunk to earth chunk, trying to remain in the sky so that he didn't fall down to his instant death. Yanbaal seemed to have found a solution for himself, creating a set of paper wings to kept him resting in midair, but Dexter did not have that kind of technique. Well, maybe if he had thought about it during his training with Gerhard, but he didn't. "That crow-mouthed fuck.." Dexter thought to himself, allowing his body to drop down and free fall.

Extending one of his hands out once more, Dexter created a ZONE underneath it which cause the loose rocks nearby to gather underneath it. With his other hand, he reached into his pocket and drew out a kunai. First, he threw the ZONE with tremendous force. His goal was to throw it to the other side of the island, the side unaffected by Yanbaal's technique. Next, he threw the kunai with even more force, causing it to get within the boundaries of the ZONE now travelling like a protected weapon. Once they reached their destination, the ZONE increased in size comparable to that of a small room. Step two was now complete and with both his hands-free, Dexter snapped his fingers. His body vanished and was instead replaced by the kunai and he appeared within the ZONE.

Breathing heavily, sweating emitted from his pores. "It was best I went with Swap." Dexter mumbled, trying to catch his breath. "Jump is very risky since I have to be within my ZONE to use it. Which means, I'd have needed to open two more ZONES.. that's too risky and takes too much damn energy. With Swap, I can close my previous ZONE and create a new one and simply swap places with whatever is in my ZONE."

Dropping on to his rear, Dexter looked up at the sky. "Damn, only ten minutes passed. Boy, it's hot as hell..." Dexter held both of his hands up at his face. "I could try that technique, but I gotta' have Gerhard with me for it to work. I know it could end this real quick... But I could just cut it in half..." Looking back up at the sky, Dexter grabbed the time. "Two hours and fifty minutes. I can finish it in thirty minutes... Then, let's get to work."

"Not bad, Shirokuro," Dan uttered as not only was his first shot stopped cold, but the warlord had even noticed his second followup shot in the first's shadow. Most opponents liked to assume they were safe once they stopped his powerful first strike, lowering their guard for the precise second one. A mistake that was invariably fatal. A pity that this one was a bit smarter.

Dan didn't have much time to consider the situation much further. Even if Yanbaal had been perceptive enough to notice the second bullet, he had assumed that it was as powerful as the first. The force of his resulting attack made where Dan was standing no longer tenable. Dan turned on his heel, running away from the rapidly expanding explosion.

Dan dropped his empty pistol, grabbing a strap hanging over the end of an open gate, the mortar attached to it easily following. He made a beeline straight towards a building at the end of the street, the explosion right on his heels. As he reached the wall, his foot raised as he did, running straight up the side of the building as easily as if it was flat ground. Dan didn't stop once he had reached the top either, pushing off the lip of the roof with enough force to shatter it as he rocketed up into the air. The building came down shortly after between his and Yan's efforts. The explosion itself ended up passing beneath him.

Dan no longer sensed Dexter nearby as he soared, leaving only one target to deal with for the moment. He reached his apex as the mortar swung into a line with the Warlord's heart. Blackness crept out of the barrel until the entire weapon was a black mark in Mecca's sky. As the Numeral fell, the mortar erupted, a jet black bomb racing out to meet his opponent, ready to explode with all its might in an effort to take the crow down.

An Hour Later..

The battle between Dan and Yanbaal carried on. Dan lifted his gun and fired off another shot a Yanbaal, sending himself flying back due to the shockwave released from the blast. A simple solution was to create a wall of paper to protect himself from the attack, but leaving a gap in its formation so that he could still see Dan and anticipate any moves he could make.

Then, Yanbaal's ear began to buzz. He'd received a call from Hecate stating she'd defeated her opponent and would go on to proceed to the upper island where they believe the brain of this operation had been hiding. "KAKAKAKA," Yanbaal began to laugh, deleting the sheets of paper from existence before locking eyes with Dan before allowing them to slowly drift upon the last area he'd seen Dexter. "KAKAKAKA, Thug! I will go assist 'Hectate'," the Warlord intentionally said her name wrong in efforts to mimic Dexter.

Instantly, almost as though it were through teleportation, Dexter appeared in front of the giant being that was Yanbaal. "I saw everythin' Crow, I have my ZONES relaying all information to me..." Eyes falling upon Dan's figured, Dexter unsheathed Tenrairyu his most trusted partner--a Meito. "If you stay, you gone just get in my way." Dexter's pattern of speech returned to its horrific ways. "Imma' be up there quick."

"How very bold of you to claim that you are 'be up there quick'. Child." Dan announced to the pair as he approached. His Jacket was cut up in several spots, and a cut on his cheek was half healed. But the dapper man was perfectly capable of continuing. He slowly slipped his hands into a pair of studded gloves, gleaming scales adorning the back of his hands as flashes of black streaked across them. "After all, you had to hide for an hour after The Crow saved you from my warning shot. That's not very dandy of you."

Swaying, Dexter held his free hand out. "How about you, shut yo' dandy ass up." Thrusting his blade in a pushing manner, he twisted his wrist and in that same motion a compression of wind formed into something similar to a bullet. It was a technique Dexter utilized before and in fact, one he'd stolen from an opponent of his past, Bimore O. Jack. It was the Great Swordsman's technique: Bōfū-Tankyū Ken, but he wasn't done just yet!

With his free hand still out he lowered it while ducking the entire upper half of his body so that his hand touched the ground. "And pira, I ain't hide for an hour 'cause you was tough. I did it, to ensure you'd die by my hands... ZONE!" He shouted as once he mad contact with the ground a dome covered a large chunk of the island to contain Dan and Dexter. The ground crushed underneath Dexter's placed hand before a mixture of vines and earth began to mix together.

"Destruction," Dexter utter reminiscing back to his training with Gerhard. The Notch Pirate had taught Dexter a plethora of things regarding his devil fruit and potential functions of his own. The mental image of Gerhard's lanky frame had been embedded into his mind.

Gerhard had just finished demonstrating his two general techniques to Dexter whilst also giving him a couple of tips and tricks as to how he could apply them to his Zon Zon no Mi. "Yer gotta' figure out how to use yer fruit unique to yerself, Dexter." His initial sentence echoed throughout Dexter's membrane. "From what I've seen, it seems like as long as yer in yer zone, you can do anything. Just like if I'm in my DUNGEON." Gerhard grabbed his beak with his hand, "Just don't start that rappin'.."

"I ain't as good as you yet, Lanky. So it took me longer to form it." Dexter thought, referencing Gerhard as "Lanky" despite the Hoodlum not being present. "Creation!" With that lone word, the mixture of earth and vines melded together further, before compressing down into a small seed. Dropping into the dirt, the seed instantly grew into a venus fly trap and then opponent its mouth revealing a being sitting within it.

Smiling, Dexter's eyes glued upon the unfolding events of altered nature. "I had to run away, cause I had somethin' to make." Sheathing his blade, Dexter approached the fly trap. "This here is Plantalia." The rookie introduced the being that stretched out of the fly trap's mouth. It's full form and body was much like that of a human, though instead, it was a plant or a flower. "She's a mini boss. I'm sure a dandy man such as yaself has played a video game correct? After the events at Wavecro, I've been playin' em quite a bit..."

"I've been too busy having a dandy life to play your newfangled imaginary games. If you survive to become my age you'll understand. A good woman and reliable friends are far more important than any trinket of entertainment." Dan responded as he pulled out the last pistol from the holster on his back. "But some of my men dabble in it. So I am aware of the concept."

"But I think a boss trumps any mini-one any day of the week." He'll say with a dastardly tone and a grin. He pointed the gun towards Dexter again, the ripples in space emanating from the barrel once again cracking the world around them. Without the sand to obscure it like last time, Dexter could quite easily see the churning space that announced the usage of Dan's Devil Fruit, the Osu Osu no Mi. What glass and stone remained around them in this ruined block shook and cracked, the buildings falling down under this latest set of abuse as the world seemed like it would shake apart once more.

"Dandy Bullet," Dan announced once again as the hammer fell, the force infused bullet leapt from the barrel, carving a trench through the ground as it bored towards Dexter and his plant woman. Dan didn't play games, every single one of his moves was merely a step towards his final goal. Victory. This punk and his plant putain would quickly learn to understand those that play at being a pirate didn't live long.

Dan wasn't quite finished as he stepped forward, shattering the ground under his initial step. He raced forward in the path of the bullet, using it as a shield against anything Dexter may throw between them. His right hand was held out straight as a knife edge even as it was blackened like midnight by the power of Dan's will. He leaped towards Dexter at the end of his dash, coming at the man an instant after his shot came in, right hand spearing forward at the Thug's heart in an effort to rip it out of his chest.

"I'm sorry, dandyman," Dexter began, unmoved by Dan's sudden burst at him. In fact, the closer Dan had gotten to his body, the less firm he stood. He made no sudden actions to dodge or evade, but instead took Dan's attack head-on. Though once Dan made contact with his body, Dexter's body would simply distort and blur away before fading into the light wind breeze. "but those ain't the rules of this level."

Dexter's voice echoed over the land, making it hard just to pinpoint where he was because, in theory, he was nowhere. "Ya' know, bosses vary dependin' on the Gamemaster, right?" Again, Dexter had a mental image of Gerhard in his mind. "But some developers tend to steal from other devs, right?"

The plant woman began jumping with excitement, "Oh, oh, Dexter-sama! Dexeeeteeeeer-sama! It's been so long! So long, Dexter-sama! Can we play Hide and Seek please? Wait, where's Gerhard-san?" She asked, looking around until her eyes fell upon Dan. "Oh, no fun today?"

"Plantalia," Dexter stated, "You're a mini-boss for today. I gotta skip antics today?"

"B-Buuuuut Dexter-saama! Okay.. fine! If I win, can we play then?" She asked.

"Yeah, Plantalia. Whatever you want."

"Can I have a kiss as well?" She asked.

"No." No he answered, causing the plant being to poke her lips out. "I said that's not how the game is played, right Dan? That's because we are in my GAME ZONE. In this Zone, I ain't nothin' more than a gamemaster and someone you can't strike. To make a long story short, you've gotta' defeat the boss of this ZONE before you can proceed in levels. Are you ready?" The teen asked, tempting and trying to bait the Numeral in.

"While this is goin' on, Imma' go to"

"I told you once already, you unabashed thug. I don't play games." Dan said as he observed the trail carved through the side of the plant woman by his bullet. "So if you want me to clear this level so badly. I'll oblige. In one blow. One Dastardly blow." he finished as he adjusted his glasses upon his nose.

Dan raised his foot up high, the space around it churning and roiling under the caress of his fruit. The space twisted and turned even as it went black. Unlike before, Haki was added into this mix. The ground cracked and shattered under the waves produced by this roiling black. Rocks began to rise and fall around him, swirling about in a chaotic tempest of overbearing force.

"Dastardly Kick..." Dan uttered as his foot shot forward, the entire island began to groan and creaked as part of it was pushed towards the ocean by this dastardly wave. Buildings cracked and shattered, the sandstone structures unable to handle the violent shaking made as the bedrock below cracked open. A wall of black roared from his outstretched foot, carving a canal of destruction down the street and surrounding buildings as it aimed to swallow the creature of vine and earth in its entirety.

By the time its force had played out, there would be new waterfront property in Mecca. Water would rush into the bay he carved out with this one dastardly kick. "If you're going to fight, fight me directly miscreant. Don't just have your lackeys do it for you."

"DEXTER-SAMA!" Plantalia shouted, "That's not very nice of you to leave me here..." Placing her hands at her face, she squeezed her cheeks which forced her lips to stick out. "Owww, but he's soo cute! I could never be mad at Dexter-sama!" Petals on her back spinning rapidly, Plantalia began to float in the form of flight.

Just before she'd lift though, she planted her foot in the broken earth and lifting it, using a large chunk of rock to try and shield herself. However, Dan's attack was much that the boss had anticipated and for that, she was left legless as the shockwave ripped through her feeble plant anatomy. "Ouuuuuch!" Plantalia screamed as her body continued to lift in the air. "That hurt a lot, meanie! That stupid coat fits you well."

With the earth already cracking, roots and vines from within the ground sprout violently breaking and soaring through the air towards Plantalia, where they'd connect to her body. Slowly, her legs began to regenerate thanks to the help of the roots that had connected to her body. "Fine, once I finish here, I can go and play with Dexter-sama!"

Opening her hands, Plantalia unleashed a wave of seeds that shot at Dan wih the same penetration as a bullet being fired from a high powered gun. From her other hand, pollen released into the atmosphere and if Dan breathed it in, he'd suffer from some sort of poisoning.

Dan didn't even phase at the plant wench's efforts, though he was annoyed that she had somehow survived his dastardly kick. His gloved fingers glowed black as he plunged his hands into the earth below, ripping up a large chunk of stone to serve as a shield between him and the hail of bullets that threatened to open him up like swiss.

The boulder began to disintegrate under the repeated strikes, each seed penetrating deeper and deeper than the last. Dan inhaled deeply, holding his breath as the pollen began to reach him. Stone ground upon stone as he grabbed the shrinking boulder and rushed forward, using it as a shield against the hail of bullets. He rushed forward, closing the distance between him and this obnoxious plant. He leapt above the boulder right before the final seeds tore the rest of the way through it.

Dan had arced his jump to take him right at the plant woman. His left arm was pulled all the way back, his knife-edged hand dyed black with his will as he prepared to ram it forward, striking the plant woman with a straight hand to cleave her from top to bottom in a single thrust of his hand.

Late, Plantalia couldn't react and found herself hit by Dan's strike. The blade went from her head all the way to her middle part had it existed. The force from the slice created a compressed slash of air which ripped through the wind and screamed. Despite being sliced in half, Plantalia did nothing but smile. Stepping back, her two halves fell to the ground that still remained and began to wither.

"Yaay!" She screamed, almost as though she were celebrating her defeat. "I completed the mission, Dexter-sama!!!" Eyes rolling to Dan in the distance, she smiled even wider. "Sorry to have wasted your time, sir. But, Dexter wanted me to simply buy him a few minutes of time! Quick tip for the future, I'm not exactly combat orientated! Good luuuuccckkkk!"

Her final word was like the ritual that but her body and conscious at rest. Her body had completely withered away. Dan defeated the boss of the level.

"That little brat," Dan said as he absorbed the news. Not wasting any further time, he started sprinting to the north-west, in the direction of his old friend. "Get to the ship and start heading to the centre. I'll run ahead." The older man said as he pulled out a baby den den mushi.

Dan sprinted up the side of a half fallen building, gaining some height as he waited for his ability to return. He leapt from the building at the top, once more touching the sky.

BOOM!

An explosion seemed to occur at his feet as he pushed off on the sky, the wave of force echoing out behind him even as he was flung forward. Dan had long since figured out how to fly using his fruit, using the waves of force to launch himself forward at ever-increasing speeds.

The Dandy Man was coming down to Aural, and for one punk there would be hell to pay.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oho," A voice suddenly said and stepped out of the rocky scenario, coming from behind something that one could only describe a tree made of stone. Fingers snapped. Tall and clad in tribal clothes, a man directly eyed Jack's figure, "So es' the Sub-Zero of tha' Black Widow Pirrates, aye?" The man had one eye closed, his right one, a scar visible over it. Fingers snapped, a faint green light went off. Strands of grey hair fell over both sides of his face, held up by a red sash, he rubbed his beard and rose to his mustache.

Fingers snapped, sending small shockwaves, "Our haki," The man closed his eye and took more steps, snapping his fingers, "S'allowed us to know who's come." Eye opened, its pupil shone red, "Shichibukai 'n Pirates, wha' an odd combo." Finger snapped, those who heard them would find any other sound in the vicinity to have been rendered null.

This man was, in fact, another of the O.G Pirates' Farlands, who went by the name of Billie. A pirate worth 130,000,000 and one of the crew's top brasses. "Hmmmmm, hmmhmhm," Billie hummed, snapping his fingers even more loudly.

Head lifting towards the direction of the man speaking, Jack sigh releasing a cold mist from his mouth. The shockwaves released from the man's snapping fingers cause all of the Black Widow Pirate's loose clothing and braid to blow in the wind. "The Shichibukai are also Pirates," the silver-haired man responded brushing off his arm sleeves and wiping his hands across his pants. "Your last statement confirms my hypothesis. So, that means that attack from earlier was fired from here."

Eyes scanning up and down, Jack studied the man's figure. "You are not he who runs this island." His own Kenbunshoku Haki active, Jack analyzed the surrounding area as best he could. He'd been trying to pinpoint a strong presence, but it was nowhere near where they currently were. "He was not the one who sent that attack, I am sure of it."

"Tell me this," Jack began breathing out this cold mist once again, "Which of the allied crews are you people of this island aligned with?"

Billie blinked several times at Jack's statement, though his snapping didn't stop. "Hmmm, that ar' true," One of his hands pointed at Jack, Billie closed his eye, "I am not," It opened, "Or... am I?" Birds flew by, but with no song, wind hustled, yet the grass was silent. Fingers snapped.

"I joke," Billie said with a sudden smile, "I ain't the specific one whom fired it." He crossed his arms in another finger snap, "But I'll be the one to fire it." Boom, something that seemed like a cannonball, surrounded in a green aura, went through whatever path it could take amidst the rocky forest. At one point, it seemed to flicker and increase in velocity, easily reaching where they both stood.

Jack's kenbunshoku had been active, indeed, which would probably allow him to perceive the attack. However, should Jack look into its direction, he would indeed gaze and hear the cannonball coming at him, whereas the sound of broken rocks fell deaf, while myriads and myriads of rocks stood behind it, intact. Fingers snapped.

Correct, Jack's own kenbunshoku haki had been active and as such would be used to help him detect the location of the incoming cannon. Though, to be fair, he did not need the enhancement of his sixth sense. No, the Black Widow Pirate could actually feel the force of wind changing in a linear direction which would have easily allowed him to pinpoint just where it'd been coming from. But, ya know, haki is cooler.

Without making even the slightest of movements just moments before the cannon would make contact with Jack, it'd be frozen right in its tracks. How? Simple. Each time a word fell from Jack's mouth, he expelled an icy wind or "ice breath" as his former cabin boy used to call it, which allowed him to freeze anything that came within the vicinity of the expelled breath. Using the cold air he solidified a trait which followed the canon's path to freeze it at its core and stop it dead in its tracks.

Jack's face had a slight look of curiosity. "Yes, you are correct, you are not him." Jack began, eyed etched onto Billie's figure almost as if he were trying to stab at the man's soul. "I have connected you to the wanted poster, One-Eyed Billie." Again, like before, a cold fog drifted from his mouth.

"I'd like for you to take this back." Jack stated, referring to the frozen cannon contraption that had been flung back at Billie with nearly that same amount of speed it had been sent at Jack with.

Billie blinked for a drawn-out second, smile. "Yer a... fool. Not ignorant, but a fool," He stated dryly, not even gazing at the frozen structure that supposedly covered the cannonball that came towards Jack. It seemed that Jack could really look into someone, for, if he looked into Billie, he would see an odd aura of pure green, it seemingly had strands from some of its parts. However, he had yet to look at the truth.

Much like Jack commanded it, the structure completely encased in ice went on, leaving a mass of ice behind, and flew like a bullet at Billie. Yet, he budged not one bit. Fingers continued to snap, Billie smirked and looked onward with shining eyes. Once the large projectile passed by him, Billie was completely... engulfed by it, his frame completely disappeared once he was hit.

The attack continued through, in the blink of an eye, it pierced through the rest of the rocks, generating an absurd sound that could make a normal human cover their ears. Yet, no rocks flew off, said blink would have any person, even an experienced fighter, feel as if the attack disappeared amidst the rocks.

"I told ya'," Billie's voice came from nowhere. "Yer' a fool," An even more absurd sound came through. The noise of a dozen cannonballs coming at Jack at once, hidden by the rocks and somehow passing by the many secret passages amongst the stone forest.

For a moment, Jack was forced to step down almost to his knee. Either this man had been keeping tabs on Jack or it was a sheer coincidence because Jack hated screeching noises. "What is this?" Jack asked himself, bringing his hands to his ears completely unable to hold out against the noises against him.

Though his hands covered his ears, he had not truly been vulnerable in any way. His eyes were still on Billie and he saw the entire thing unfold. First, Billie dodged then, he was hit? A question he asked himself as he attempted to grasp the situation for all it was worth. Among the screeches, Jack heard the collapsing noise of cannonballs ripping through the atmosphere and seemingly coming directly at him.

"More cannonballs... a lot." With a simple wave of his hand, a wall of ice covered Jack in a near three hundred and sixty-degree circle, with only a small crack to leave open to keep his eyes on Billie. Though it seemed like nothing special, this wall would be more than enough to hold the cannonballs off and stop them from continuing along their paths.

"I agree, Billie," Jack stated in agreeance to Billie's claim. "I am a fool to come here ready to face you all, without any information of what it is you can all do."

"Hmph," Billie smiled, snapping his fingers, cannon shots came from everywhere, seemingly hitting Jack's barrier and causing explosions. "It seems ye' has some level of modesty!" His voice came from all directions, for his figure had disappeared completely from normal sight. "Verr' well, Zero, a word of advice," Finger snapped, more cannon shots followed, he almost whispered to the cold winds, "The true is not what ye' seek."

Explosions completely filled Jack's ears, while almost inaudible steps ravaged through the island, and he could also listen to some rumbling, the ground beneath him seemed to shudder slightly. Billie's whispers continued to ghost around, "Don't open yer eyes, don't listen," The steps were closer, more cannonballs than ever landing upon the area. Surely, everything would be reduced to a simple chunk of rock.

Outside of Jack's barrier, amidst all of the supposed rumbling and explosions, an apparation, yes, much like a ghost, the owner of the quiet steps came by. He was surrounded in white, barely seen even by trained eyes, his right arm was blackened, heavy with amounts of aura.

At that moment, he drifted by the barrier, seemingly not touching it, only then a moment later, a powerful shockwave in the form of pressurized air slice made its way into the ice, seeking to strike Jack. The surrounding rocks were chopped off their bases and the figure disappeared.

"What are you, some sort of child?" Jack asked, referencing the various noises made by Billie. "I can not sit with this anymore." He went on, stabbing his index fingers into his ears. As he pulled them out, a noise of ice shattering could be heard as he had essentially created himself a pair of ice earplugs to help counter the sounds. But, this battle had been far from over.

Moments later he could sense the presence of another, but as soon as he did, the man stood at his side with his arm coated in what Jack assumed to be busoshoku haki. On instinct, Jack covered his arms in busoshoku and made an "X" shape in front of his chest and blocked the strike as best he could, though he found his frail body flung across the terrain a few meters, lifting up debris and rubble as he slid.

"Oh, is that how you've been doing this, Billie?" Jack asked, straightening his stance and dusting off his body. "I wish to go past these stages. I mean not to sound arrogant, but.." A chilly mist began to emit from Jack's body, flowing through each of the thousands of pores that covered his being. "Can I have each O.G Pirate step forward and come out. That trickery will no longer work." The mist began to thicken and spread farther, "I have about two hours left, as designated by the three-hour window given to me by the Man-Slayer. I'd rather not disappoint him on our first meeting."

When Jack gave himself protectors from the sounds that came, the time had been nigh, "Child, huh?" Billie smiled, Jack had been more than right, that was it, his fingers snapped, but, this time, to no avail. Green streams of aura ressonated from his being, having been spread throughout the entire area, it was in fact his very Haki, though, not his Armament. But, his Observation Haki, skilled users of it could have their own influence another's. A technique Billie had been taught by Bill himself, ever since he was young, he grew upon that.

Since Jack was gradually coming out of the illusion of false sensations, it meant some of the sensations were still there. Particularly, those from the vision. However, they, too, would soon vanish, much like whispers being told by these cold breezes. Suddenly, before Jack would stand myriads and myriads of people, almost blocking the rocks from being seen with their sheer number.

Men, women, they all held weapons and flashed their silver-ish hairs for Jack. The ones in the front seemed to hold moreso firearms, while the ones in the back brandished swords and the likes. Some of them harbored serious expressions, others smirked. Some seemed old, some seemed to be nearing their peak adult years.

"These..." A voice came by in an instant, from behind Jack, it vanished, someone had taken a flash step, "...ar' we." The voice buzzed from another direction and disappeared again. "Tha' O.G Pirates."

Again, all of a sudden, another man, with long hair and tribal looks, appeared by Billie's side. "Willy, it seems ye' gathered most of tha' crew while I held tis' boy 'ere," Billie spoke with a laugh, gesturing for Jack with a large smile, "I ain't ever expectin' this to hold ye', Zero, but, these're our mates!!" The aforementioned man, Willy, a Nearland of the crew, stood quietly by his side.

To Jack, this all seemed to have happened in an instant. The area island became filled with soldiers, some armed with rifles and others with swords, regardless they were all armed. "When di-" Jack's smile cut his question short from being complete. "I see." A lightbulb flicked on in his head and lit his entire brain. "When I shielded myself, huh? That reminds me, I've been wondering about that last attack. The one with the cannons. It never landed--no--it never even happened, did it?" Jack placed one foot in front of the other, pausing mid-step.

"Ah, that's right. He told me about this, but in the most unorthodox way possible. I had no idea that his commanders could do it as well. That's a frightening ability you have, Billie. One that allows you to essentially portray illusions with the use of kenbunshoku haki." Moving his coat over his shoulders, "Then that means the boulders were also fake. I am embarrassed." The Black Widow stated, nearly throwing his face into his palm.

"That has been redeemed by the fact the whole crew has been summoned here. I must say, this is truly a magnificent sight." Jack breathed heavily and a mist fell from his mouth. "I heard tales of the Xros Pirates' Crew but even deeper ones of the Numerals. The Numerals are a single crew, each division headed by a Pirate Captain with his own crew. Each crew at least strong enough to have their captain go toe-to-toe with a Yonko's commander, or if lucky, the Yonko themselves. The O.G Pirates have not wanned over the years, I assume."

Smiling, Jack lifted but a single hand. "I have but one more question prior to this "Prelude to Destruction" and it is rhetorical so there will be no time to answer it before the prelude begins." Pausing, he did his best to eye the entire army standing before him. "I have to make this quick. I must remember I am on a timed schedule. Though, I see no person that resembles Bill. The one that has appeared at Billie's side is not him. He's a commander, Willy? I can't quite recall. In that case, that means Bill could be watching the battle and waiting for me to reveal my greatest arsenal of techniques. His sight is beyond my comprehension, surely I'll have to ask Isshin to teach me this art. I have been using Cold Front ever since I reached Aurora. Then I'll make this quick."

Slowly, Jack began to pull his hand from his side on up as he'd go on to continue his question from earlier. "There are hundreds of men on that side of the battlefield, yet I see no sightings of the great Bill. Tell me this, if I send his men back as statues, will he show his face?" Hand finally stretched out in front of himself, he snapped his fingers, "Cold World", he called out his techniques name following the snapping of his fingers. Everything, literally, everything within the area of Jack and the O.G Pirates army turned into ice almost instantly due to the powers of his Hie Hie no Mi.

As it currently stood, it appeared as though Jack had turned this entire area into an ice land in just a matter of seconds, though in reality, it had been something he'd set up since landing onto this island. Each time he spoke, he released a mist or fog of cold air which traveled across the island and spread so that at any moment he could freeze anything at his command. Though, could it really be that far off if he did do it instantly? Jack was a master with his fruit, having eaten it at the age of four, he's trained and refined its power each and every day. He truly lived up to the name Sub-Zero. The only question left was, how would the O.G. Pirates deal with it? Surely, had they stayed on the ground they'd make contact with his ice and be turned into statues as he suggested earlier, but had they jump into the air and had no aerial movement, Jack would easily be able to take them down with another technique.

Billie and Willy opened their mouths at the same time to respond Jack's many words, wringling their eyebrows upwar, but soon the air had been drained from their vicinities. Willy bent himself forward and disappeared, whilst Billie went backward, a gasp escaped his mouth and his pupils flickered, almost losing their color. Billie's frame was flung into the distance, loudly crashing against one of the nearby mountains and making a cloud of dust surge, this effectively put him out of the ice's range, at least, it seemed to be the case.

Some of the people that stood in the front row had barely any time to react, the ice had crept up through their legs. Frost, burn, they both overwhelmed some of these pirates almost instantly, screams filled the place, and the pirates couldn't even turn around to say anything. Still, they needed not, most of the people behind the frontal row leaped, some higher than others, something that could likely leave them open to whatever Jack had planned. For that reason, they held their weapons in a defensive manner, trying to employ their own Haki into them.

"Aaaa- GAAAAAH!" A scream stood notable amongst the others, pertaining to a young adult. "This, tis' hurts a lot!!" It was Aillie, a crewmember that held a rifle.

She laid over the ice sheet, face twisting constantly, after all, the limb that caught by the ice had been her left foot. Another girl was by her side, bending down and looking in horror at her leg, still, Aillie insisted, "B-But, I'm fine," When the ice crept into her ankle, Aillie hit it with her rifle, effectively breaking it off and allowing her to escape.

Aillie trembled, though, nevertheless tried to stead her rifle and aim for Jack. She was hidden amongst others that evaded and were caught, maybe she would pass by uncaught, she was really weak after all.

Two girls that had flew high spun high in the air, letting out a green sparking aura that went everywhere. Their grey hairs were closer to white, held by a headband, and they worn casual clothing. "Birururu, he really's-" One started.

"-Dangerous, dangerous!" The other concluded, high-fiving her look-a-like. These were Hilly and Hillie, respectively. "That just means we need to-"

"Keep dancin'!!" Hilly sung, both closed their eyes and spun even faster, spreading more and more droplets of their aura over the battlefield. "DAAAAAANCIN'!" At the speed they spun, coated in Haki even, it would be no surprise if they could resist a simple attack from Jack. Furthermore, a large man, lichored in busoshoku haki constantly jumped, trying to shield them from anything that happened, this was Silly, a rather quiet one.

One that was laying down next to Aillie spoke, "See," Another woman, though, much old, this was Lillie, who had short hair and black clothes. She sighed once she saw one of the statues next to her. "They be annoyin', but they do shit," She pointed at the girls above, her fingers snapped. Though, instead of sending a shockwave in all directions like Billie or even creating an illusion, it was like the action sent a projectile through the air itself, made of Haki. It gathered the aura spread by the girls as it passed, increasing in speed and size, to the point it pierced through the air itself in a ring.

"Aillie, if he blocks, shoot into't." A rough voice said, "if he dodges... Ailly upward, Gilly below, Lillie any side." All of the aforementioned people heeded by Cillie's words, positioning themselves without any hint of hesitation. An old man wearing a kimono stood afloat, hovering a few inches above the ground with his legs crossed. Cillie whispered, "Whatever else he 'oes, Sir Willy's backin' us up."

Indeed, blurring through the area had been Willy, much like he had done beforehand, while his hands were held out, ready to strike at Jack's ice and defense. After all, with Busoshoku Haki being his sole technique, he had it in high strengths, allowing his claws to cut through many. Willy had taken advantage that Billie stood by his side and used him as a platform, a jumpstart. He was fast, but he needed impulses to keep going, that was why he tried to step on the rocks in order to keep going, rather than slip on the ice. Not only that, but all the Haki that the girls had spread around was... odd, it felt was if they had somehow gathered aura from most of the people and then spread it, after all, if Jack used his Kenbunshoku, he would feel as if a meshed aura polluted the scene, obscuring him from foreseeing anything if he used a basic level of his own.

Behind some of the people that managed to avoid the initial wave of ice was a rather large body, cowering under their forms. That, along with the aura spread by the girls completely seemed to mask that person.

Everything unfolded according to Jack's intentions, though at the end of it all he felt bad. He had no intentions of killing anyone, but after hearing the wails of women both young and old his heart felt a bit cold. Ironic, isn't it? Even then, these people were not going to let his Cold Front stop them from completely unable to preform. In their own way, some avoided his attack and managed to say themselves... even if it cost them one of their limbs. Breathing, the cold fog left from Jack's mouth once more.

"Well, it seems I was not able to freeze them all. That means these are named members. One, two, three.." Jack began to count mentally before coming to a halt for two reasons. One had been the fact that Jack just truly didn't care, regardless of how many, he had been outnumbered and what had been worse, by rather strong people. Second, was the attack that had been launched at him. He had no idea just what it was, but he could sense it and it had a rather similar to all of the attacks before. "Illusion?" He asked himself, "No.. not this time. They are aware I've caught on." He reassured himself that this was no fake attack, but in fact real.

Quickly, he'd began formulating just how he could evade the attack, though before he could, each of his moveable positions had been covered by members of the O.G Pirates. Above, below, and sides, covered by Pirates, his jammed kenbunshoku haki allowed him to pin-point their location. Speaking of a jammed kenbunshoku, ever since Jack encountered Billie a little over an hour ago, he felt as though his senses had become weaker. Which was in theory, true. Billie's kenbunshoku had been able to be projected over an area and as such, due to possessing a much lower skill in the art caused Jack's to become weaker and jammed. "Ah, that is what is going on." Jack concluding, finally catching on to just what had been happening.

"If I am unable to dodge, then I take it head on." Jack stated, holding his already raised hand out in front of him. He could not really sense the attack as well as he could had it been another opponent, but the cold air around bent to his will and told him just where the strike was. "And grab it." Just before the air bullet would make contact with Jack, his hand would emit a strong burst of pressured air. Once collided with the attack from the O.G Pirate, a shockwave would be born, bursting outwards with tremendous force. As it stood, without some sort of armor of means of weighing you down, each of the individual O.G Pirates waiting to attack Jack would find themselves thrown away in the icy debris cloud that filled the area. Even Jack was not excluded from this fate... if he didn't figure a way to stand his own ground of course.

The debris stayed in the air for about thirty seconds before there was a sudden flash of light within. Then, suddenly, it clear thanks to the force of a strong wind current. There, within the center, stood Jack with his right hand still up. From his fingers all the way up to his elbow, blood soaked his skin and clothing. Droplets of blood fell from his arm onto his feet, which had been covered by a thick layer of ice connected to the ground. This seemed to have been the method he used to keep himself in place.

Though, that wasn't the feat that would have one amazed and standing in awe. It was, what had been being held in Jack's leaking hand. Jack held the pressurized aura bullet in his hand like it was a tangible substance, but it was not. Smiling slightly, Jack looked at his leaking arm for a moment. "Oh," he began, removing his grin. "I took that attack too lightly, how foolish of me once again. I could have lost my arm, had I not learned of this technique's structure." Lifting his head, Jack looked towards the direction across from him where he assumed the rest of the Pirates had been standing.

"This was not a technique, correct? Instead, just the force of your haki?" Jack nodded, "I have to say, even among the Black Widows Pirates, there is not a single person that can utilize Kenbunshoku even close to how you all can. Pressurizing your Kenbunshoku Haki into attacks, rather than defensive means, truly a wondrous feat." Squeezing his hand closed into a fist, Jack popped the bullet and as he did, released another strong burst of wind, though a bit more tamed than the previous. The Black Widow's entire left side of his body slowly become covered in ice, almost as if his body were trying to fight it off. Cold mist continued to release from his body, like steam from a chimney. Like the O.G Pirates earlier, Jack had nearly become an icicle.

"Contrary to you all, I am also an extremely skilled user of Busoshoku Haki. What I just did, was exert my armament into a burst, almost in the same vein as you all have been doing with your kenbunshoku. Though, right before burst, I manifested it around my fingertips into claws to grab the bullet. I can not make this much simpler." Taking a few seconds to think, he continued on. "Think of it as, my will grabbing yours."

There was short-lived silence. "I told you, if I made ice statues of his men, then Bill would have to appear before me. It seems you all did not keep up your end of the bargain, even if I gave you all no say in the matter." The ground began to shake, before suddenly, all around the town, the frozen ground began to shatter as Jack held his hand over his head. "Then, I will have to be a bit more hostile in my next request. After the blood of his comrades have been shed and his protected land has been destroyed, please Billie, summon Bill here."

Snapping his hands like Billie had done plenty of times, the ground shook more violently and had completely crushed under everyone's feet until an entire chunk of the island had been broken off. The portion that was covered in ice at least. Instead of falling down, the crushed frozen land traversed the air and collected above Jack who'd jumped into the air and utilized the moisture there to form a pair of ice disks under his feet to keep him hovering above while the people below would begin to free fall had they not evacuated to the side of the city that still stool. The people that had been turned into ice sculptures would face two fates; either becoming fodder into Jack's plan or falling down into the sea down below and god forbid any of them be devil fruit users.

As mentioned, the frozen earth gathered above Jack. It hadn't been long before it began to mesh together into a sphere above him. Each passing seconds allowed the sphere to grow in size. But Jack was unsatisfied with the size of a mini meteor, as evident by his sigh which released another cold fog from his mouth. "Cold Front", he muttered, holding his hand up to his face and blowing the cold mist from his mouth up at the meteor allowing it to grow even further. The first ten seconds it grew two times in size. Then, the next ten seconds it grew four times. Then, the third ten seconds it grew eight times in size. Then sixteen and it finally stood over Jack completely.

"Freeze Creation—Ice Meteor..." Jack dubbed the technique, but he said it as though he wasn't done just yet. The sheer size of the meteor caused a shadow to not only cover the destroyed half of the island but the remaining half as well. Had there been any civilians on Abdeel, they'd surely look at this meteor with their jaw dropped while others would do so thinking their lives were over.

If that wasn't enough, then surely his next action would be. Another snap of his fingers, the gigantic meteor became covered in a layer of darkness. "Black Coat!" He exclaimed, completing the technique following its coating of his busoshoku haki. "While not in my cold state. This is my strongest technique and would be enough to take you all down without question. I was once sent to conqueror a land inhabited by many gruesome giants, orders from Isshin himself to prove whether or not I was worthy of the position of Kamiumi. I had no worries, these giants had been known for exporting your girls for themselves whilst also selling them other pirates, so by doing this I'd be putting quite a few families at ease. This was the first and only technique utilized while I was on that land. Take what you will from that insert, but remember this, Gigala is now property of the Black Widows Pirates and of the people that were on that island that day, I am the only one still breathing."

Finished, Jack dropped his hand downward and the meteor traveled over his head to his front and fell down over the people that would be trying to figure out a way to gather themselves after the ground beneath them was no more, as well as the portion of the island that still remained. Had someone managed to deal with the meteor in the form of shattering it, they'd first have to get past Jack's busoshoku covering it and they'd suffer severe consequences.

"He's-" Aillie tried to yell, expression wide as she lost the platform she had been upon, "-he's destroyed our whole stand-on!!" Unlike many of the other members, she had lost a limb, which disallowed her from jumping offward the falling area. "G-GUYS-"

Cillie had merely floated away, arms crossed while he spared no glance at AIllie. "Worry not, younglin'," He began with shouts, also directing his words at some of those who had been frozen. Their forms swiftly descended through the air, losing parts of themselves once they hit some rocks or the water itself even. "Tis' the fate of we..." Aillie only stared at him, her partially frozen limb failing to flail through the air, then, she hit the water.

They didn't know or supposed how much farther they could go against a heavy weight such as Sub-Zero, after all, their lives weren't even theirs to begin with. But, still, it was something, they were there, and sometimes that was more than enough. Many of the All-Lands that escaped the fall could only gasp at the sight of the meteor that was thrown towards them, obscuring not only their visions, but whatever future they saw ahead for their very existence. However, behind them, much like was said before, a shadow uncovered itself, rocketing through his crewmembers and soundly reaching the meteor.

"BIRURURURURU!!" His laughter ressonated through the entire area, going into everyone's ears much like a bomb's siren. Indeed, the large figure of whom seemed to be Willahelm Bill laughed yet again in the face of such a predictment, of the man's said strongest attack. However, Bill held nothing to throw, instead, "YER SHAN'T BE GOIN' ANY FAR!!" Staring at the meteor with his shining eyes, Bill reached out with both his arms, firmly gripping the meteor with his hands that were encased in pure Haki. Sparks had flew from his arms even before he tried to catch the meteor, sending waves of pressure everywhere. The entire atmosphere seemed to gain a greyer tone over itself, shockwaves and sparks painting all that they came in contact with. Bill's muscles were tight, sprouting veins, his row of teeth grinded against one another. He wouldn't succeed, this was his opponent's supposed-to-be mightiest technique, Bill was there when Jack said so, his hearing had allowed for it, yet, why was he still not... trying and giving it his all? His smile was not as wide, his glare was not as fierce, Bill simply pushed both of his arms with all of his muscles upward and leaked most of his Busoshoku in holding the meteor at bay.

At that moment, Cillie smirked widely, flashing his teeth, it had been time. Yes, it had. His beard and mustache flew along the sparks that burst from his superior's action, all his hair even. If one looked closely at the crewmembers who fell from the destroyed platform, be it those who got broken or those who simply sunk into the sea... Their forms became blurrs and vanished in a motion upwards, blitzing through the skies.

"The time's come, birururu," Cillie mused, opening his arms widely while floating, the many crewmembers flew like they were energies. Even the crew that escaped fall had suddenly morphed into this same form, Cillie could feel it, that sensation from when he was born. Sometimes it was similar to as if he was about to die. "We're to brin' ourselves, so tha' I'io del Cuore may come!!!" Some of these energies collided against Cillie, whilst others converged around other members, green fire exploded from them and covered part of the area.

Sensations... all merged. Glorydeathcamaderyuselessnessdeathindividualcareprotectiondeathlonely. Shadows crept out of the flames, eight in total, revealing their appearances to the world. All of the crewmembers aside from Billie, Willy, and Bill, who held the meteor, had vanished from sight.

These shadows stepped through the air itself, leaving green trails of aura behind them. Their forms were encased in a typical pirate's clothing... dark pants, boots, open robes, a hat, and a coat, much like the clothes Bill wore. However, these were different in the regard that a silver and simple mask blocked the faces. In a blink, they had each flew towards the meteor and pushed their aura-hardened limbs against it, much like Bill.

"I'io del Cuore?!" Bill's eyes widened, though, he hadn't looked at them, instead, simply trying to push the meteor more and more. An incredible amount of aura had been gathered there, proving itself to act like a turbulent wave of power that pressed against the meteor itself and slightly pushed it off course. Even if it would land somewhere, it was not going to damage as much as it originally would, simply sinking into the sea itself with all of their jointed effort. That, by itself, would surely cause a towering tsunami, but, still.

Finally, for the first time since Jack had reached the archipelago, he smiled. It wasn't the widest, nor would it be visible by those around, but it was a smile nonetheless. He watched as the O.G Pirates struggled against his attack. Hell, it even called for back up members of the crew, completely proving his point of "Every member being present" wrong. Even the magnificent Bill himself showed his face. Bill himself, as well as the powerhouses of the crew, fended off the meteor and while they struggled for a short while, they seemed to been able to deflect Jack's attack after absorbing the energy of the others around. "Kenbunshoku?" Jack thought to himself, simply shaking his head "no" mentally.

After the deflection, the meteor did in fact crash into the remained of the island but ever so slightly. Rather than allowing it to do much damage, Jack snapped his fingers and the catastrophic sphere shattered into a million pieces. Sprinkling down over the lands, as the shards made contact with the earth it'd instantly become frozen. In just a matter of moments, the entire island had a shift in climate and became a winter island. Snow blessed the land and once Jack let out a sigh, the island's temperatures dropped drastically. Over his own head, the snow gathered into a small sphere and rest there. "Well. It seems I was able to weed out the main man himself. I no longer feel as though this battle will have to be drug out and you've brought more guest along?" Chuckling, Jack looked over to Bill. His body began to emit a chilly mist.

"My time is precious, so I'll grace you." Mentally commanding so, the snowball over Jack's head crashed into him like an avalanche. The force was so mighty, that his body was flung in a diagonal direction and into the second half of the island's remains. Again, there was silence for a few seconds then.. a few minutes from the pile of snow that presumably covered Jack's body. Within it, Jack was conscious and this was all apart of his plan.

He currently possessed the time and space needed for him to take on his form and after the meteor broke, he was able to take on the form in its entirety. Eyes closed, Jack freed his mind of all thoughts. Repulsion. His busoshoku pushed the pile of snow off of him, yet a thin layer of his remained. Clearly, it was his own doing. From the back of his head all the way down to his spine, Jack was covered in snow yet his figure could be seen by those that chose to look. Lifting himself to one knee, Jack kept his head held down as his body began to emit steam. No, that was false. It was that same chilly mist from before though this time much more thick and visible. His pores opened and a light blue aura poured from his skin. Slowly it covered himself and the sheet of snow that remained over him like a cloak. It was Busoshoku: Kaito, one of Jack's newest techniques added to his arsenal.

"Form." His voice could be heard under the sheet of snow when suddenly the cloak began to solidify over his shoulders and around his neck in the form of a collar. The O.G Pirates could not see it yet due to the snow covering him, but the Black Widow did not mind it. He continued to breathe in specific patterns and the busoshoku haki cloak continued to solidify until it had finally been done.

Jack finally made his first movements since dropping to the position of one knee and he simply lifted himself up so that the snow had fallen off of him and his face was visible. Jack's overall appearance had changed drastically in the manner of, he did not look like the Jack who'd been active on the battlefield. His hair had gotten much shorter and messier, while his facial features had seemed to have become much younger. Ice covered his shoulders like pads and his neck like a guard and it slowly covered his elbows on down to his wrist.

Placing his left hand on his knee, ice too began to cover that limb all the way down to his feet even hiding his shoes. Holding his right hand out, a scabbard of ice form and once he gripped it, it shattered revealing a blade that was being hidden by it. It was crafted by a fine metal and had a double four-point star crossguard. "Sorry, it took me so long, Bill. I had been waiting until you showed yourself. This here is Winter Knight, a custom armor made from my complete control over my busoshoku haki. After ten years, I've finally managed to perfect this technique. Please pay no time to my age regression. It seems that since I began the creation of this technique in my younger years when I place this armor on, my appearance matches that of when I began developing it. I even feel as though I'm in my prime. I even gain acess to my old sword, Himen the "Ice Page"."

Remaining in his position, Jack chuckled. "It seems I may have actually regressed. I'm doing more chattering than normal. I'd like to display what I can do now." Without even the slightest of movements, the entire island around Jack turned into ice at the blink of an eye. A trail of ice lead from Jack's position and a wave went soaring directly for Bill and his men. The speed at which it traveled was tremendous and unlike with Cold World that would progressively freeze whatever it touched, if they made contact with Jack's ice this time, they'd be frozen instantly.

Rain and snow fell from the sky, it was as mentioned, the entire season had changed due to Jack's power. And the bad part was, this was only the beginning.

Even though all those words had been directed at the man himself, Bill, and his smiling self, his form had suddenly vanished in the middle of Jack's speech. In fact, his form seemed to glide like a shade through the air, barely missable even to those with trained eyes, not even some of the I'io saw him breezing by. One did look backwards for a single second, only to focus back upon the marvellous figure that was Jack Frost, the Sub-Zero of the Black Widow Pirates.

Rather than continue their observation of such specimen, the eight I'io del Cuore travelled along the wind as well, before the cold ever reached them. The first thing one could see once they regrouped were their hands, put forward against the cold that came, a collective air boom birthed from their synched palm strike. Trees shook some ice that rested against them, while others simple broke apart, land and sea rumbled as if volcanoes erupted from the seafloor itself, everything reacted under the combined might of the I'io's exerted spirits. Busoshoku Haki was not only suddenly ejected from their palms, but, through such a large concentration that the very atmosphere had been tainted green, blocking the white and blue that sought to exterminate all that stood around.

That had been an attack from Jack in his Winter Knight Form... could these eight warriors truly wield such mighty spirit on their own? While one's proficency in Armament could reach extraordinary heights, to the point of projection just like then, it was nigh improbable to create quite a lot synchrony with another person and still difficult to project this much strength.

But, maybe... Maybe that was why the I'io del Cuore stood as the elite of the O.G Pirates, they each dug out weapons from nowhere, green weapons. A sword, a rifle, a staff, gauntlets, a spear, an axe, a bow and arrows, and lastly a whip. They were equivalent or even stronger than the Four Temporals: Billy, Billie, Willy, and...

"Oh me fuckin' gawd, Billie!!" A voice yelled from within the hole that appeared a long time ago when Willy had shot his compatriot, Billie, into a mountain. The latter shook his head, cleaning rubble off it, his single eye stuttered awake and glanced around him, spotting... Bill himself?

"Willie?!" Billie spat, eyeing he who looked like Bill, yet was named Willie, the fourth Temporal. "Wha' tha' hell happened?!" No luck, looking around for normal people would only yield visions of rocks, however, with his heightened haki, Billie slowly started to grasp everything unfolding outside. Luckily, the hole he was in stood on the path blocked by the I'io del Cuore.

Willie cried, wrinkles evident in his expression, "T'was just too much!!" He held his face with his gloved hands. "I ain't cut out for tis' thing," The events of outside were fresh on his mind, "I had ta' act like Cap'n!! I dislike doin't, facin' all these scary guys, uuuuuuuuuuuu." Tears flowed quickly out of his hands.

Still outside, all the I'io del Cuore circled around Jack's form, becoming as whispers. Their own Haki projected from below their feet, acting as makeshift platforms that allowed quick flight.

Terrible Gospel
A crowd of tens of thousands of people was swarming through the streets of Bohemia, men and women off all ages had poured out in masses just to the see the “The Day of Delightful Divine Dazzlement”.

That was the most important, and recurring, festivity in Bohemia since the Siren Pirates had taken over: in exchange for their master benevolence, every resident of the city who had reached major age had to attend a concert held by the crew every month. For these occasions only, the ferocious sea marauders and staunch defenders of Bohemia would put up the clothes of dazzling entertainers, giving off an unforgettable performance.

The center of the stage was located at the bottom of a large conch-shaped valley encircled by the hills of Bohemia. Aretha had personally carved this place in the terrain, revamping part of the island geography so that everybody in the city could have a clear view of her majestic view and hear the divine melody of her voice. Flaunting her purple dress, it was almost time for the Diva to take center stage.

Aretha took several rehearsals multiple gargling with hydrochloric acid to make her voice as smooth as silk. Her sweet babies, the Siren Four, had laid down the stage for her, completing their introductory performances with thunderous applauses: the only fitting introduction for a superstar of her caliber. She fixed her luscious, purplish hair, which flew behind her back like silk and braced forward to the spotlight.

Taking place at the exact center of the circus, Aretha was basked in a lavander light, a hue to emphasize her immense grace that blended perfectly with her dress, hair and complexion. The air around was loaded with smoke and soft light, so that her crowd would experience a glimmer of anticipation before being graced by the Diva’s majesty. Once the smoke had fully dissipated, the claps and applauses stopped for a fraction of second, causing an abrupt silence.

Aretha giggled. The audience was in awe again, every time Aretha entered in the stage people was standing still. Well, how couldn’t they? If she were one of those poor souls and could see herself from the outside, she too would remain as frozen as stone, enraptured by a beauty so enchanting it seems to belong to an otherworldly realm. Such stupor flattered Aretah, but it wasn’t what she truly needed. Aretha craved for yells of enthusiasm. And so they yelled.

“Say my name, again!” Aretha commanded; her visage, pictured by the Proko Den Den Mushi, towered over the crowd. “Give all of your cheers, people. You’re the best crowd a world class super star like can wish for. Even if you are only ordinary, I love you all! Give me another cheer! Another one! Another one!”

The public cheered in perfect tune with each of her requests. Aretha strolled, approached the borders of the stage with the grace of a panther while hugging her microphone in a sultry manner. Even though she had left the epicenter of the spotlight, her skin and hair kept the purple glow; in fact, it seemed as she was shining of her own light, which was growing brighter as the intensity of cheering rose. The unwavering support of her fan was for Aretha a source of happiness, beauty and power. And, as it fits a true goddess, she would reward the faith of her followers.

By singing.

In her own ears, Aretha’s voice sounded melodious beyond compare, something it would make mockingbirds barbecuing themselves out of shame, and the muses bowing down in devotion from her home in Olympus. To anybody else, it sounded more like the unholy wailing of hundreds of damned souls having their jogs boiled while a third-rate black metal band was playing in the background out-of-tune instruments with their feet and teeth. Her singing had a pitch worse than a chainsaw clawing on a chalkboard, less sense of rhythm than a bunch of bell-ringers high on crack. The drop in quality of the performance was beyond meteoric, burrowing deeper into shit as the abominable song of Aretha was burrowing in her audience’s ears and psyche, leaving scars that would ache for a lifetime.

Nonetheless, despite the torture they were enduring, the audience didn’t stop their cheering: if anything, they were reaching their peaks as Aretha nailed her most ear-aching high tunes. The reason was found in the solemn and dour face of bodyguards, who were roaming in the crowd and perching above the tallest buildings. The Siren Four, who just few moments had been the idols of the masses, reached the peaks surrounding at circus at each point of the cardinal direction. Waiting for the slightest sign of dissent to rebuke those audience member who were showing less than full enthusiasm before their captain; and, if scolding wasn’t enough, to give them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

That was the “normal” role of the Siren Pirates during Aretha’s concerts: to act as bodyguards and temporary jailers, making sure no one had to courage to dispel the delusion of their boss, and, on a more general basis, taking down any threat to the peace and tranquility of the performance. The fact they had just received a message from Farland had put everyone in a state of alarm. They were looking after left and right, patrolling every border of the island, many eyes got red due to the activation of Kenbunshoku Haki.

The torture… err.. singing last for too many tens of minutes, with Aretha trying and miserably failing to perform the best hit of Whitney Houston. The purple glimmer peak shrouding her frame reached a new peak, so much so could pass for a lamp on her own. The power coming from cheering, whom Aretha could harness and use for myriads of purposes, had reached a point acceptable for an overwhelmingly spectacular and brutal display of force.

Aretha knew assassins had come for her, answering the call of that hack of Dexter, in the vain hope a bunch of babies could overthrow some of the mightiest and cruelest pirates that New World had to offer. Well, if a fool, any fool was that stupid to try, may it be even a Shicibukai, she was there to carve a valuable life lesson in their flesh before tossing it in the cold depths of the ocean.

Aretha projected the hue of Observation onto her eyes which, from purple to the frizzling light, turned darker, almost reddish. Oh yes, nothing could put spice in her performance more than an old fashioned massacre.

Kerrim gazed upon the floating island of Bohemia, it was like a city that was dull and filled with your boring average citizens in the day going about their boring jobs. But at night, it thrived in the vice, the unholy screeching that arose from somewhere within the island. It seemed lively, a city that was only alive in the midst of the darkness of night. Kerrim landed somewhere within the bowels of the many homes, but he hadn't come alone. With him, Artaxes Lyov as well as Osiris Black. Even with his power and confidence, something told Kerrim it was best he not thread this path alone.

Kerrim looked around his small party, however discovering where everyone had gone in this barren town wasn't the slightest bit of impossible. He and his group begun to move towards the concert of the Frankenstein Aretha, a woman with a voice that would make any man wish she'd head towards the northernmost extremity of the globe. And hopefully, never to be seen against. Kerrim instructed Osiris and Lyov to split up, if only for a moment, and to hide amongst to crowd. Being an expert of Kenbunshoku, Kerrim had no doubt whoever he was after had the ability, but being amongst a crowd of other individuals would hopefully make it harder for Aretha and her gang to detect him.

Clap. Clap. Clap. What was going on? With each smack of the palms, Aretha's powerful aura only seemed to grow. Whatever was going on, there was no question, it couldn't have been good. Kerrim lowered his hat over his face, as he often did. Shadows stretched and lingered, beneath the crowd was blackness. Almost like an abyss. And Kerrim? Gone, a man like himself often didn't stay in one place too long. Moving wildly, something had been going on. Shadows coalescing on the other side of the crater, free from the rest it seemed.

Being the light director of Aretha’s concert and having eaten a Devil Fruit with powers pertaining to sight, Molpe had the keenest eye of all her crew. For that reason, and her seniority within the Siren Four, she was appointed as the head of security, perching on the highest alture on the stadium so that no one could sneak upon them.

Using her Kenbunshoku Haki, she tinged her eyes with deep red, though that was hardly visible behind her fuchsia sunglasses. Her gaze bounced left and right on the crowd, trying to spot stronger presences. Given the size of the audience, spotting the intruders would be worse than finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Molpe was no rookie, however, and tuned her Kenbun so that she would distinguish people from the color of their aura, as stronger people tend to emit more vivid shades of red. After counting out her sister and the rest of her crewmates, two red dots remained with a brighter hue than most. Molpe contacted the rest of the Sirens through her Den Den Mushi, and gave them the exact coordinates of the intruders.

The enemy thus was spotted; her sisters were formidable warriors, no doubt they would be able to deal with the intruders in a breeze. However, her keen eyes couldn’t help but noticing something quite off. Call it instinct, call it six sense, but the floor somehow looked… different. With that multitude of people crammed onto each other, chanting and cheering, there were few specks left uncovered between every person; the few tiles uncovered, however, bore a very distinct dark palette. Not the natural dark coming from the night and shadows, but something thicker, inkier, a layer of pure pitch black pitted on the ground. Very probably, a result ushered by some Devil Fruit power.

Molpe put up her monocle to have the clearest view possible of the unnatural black layer, and its scope. Few flickers of her eyes at the center and corner of the circus showed her it had spread everywhere. She mumbled: a potential attack of this scale in the middle of the concert could let to disastrous results. Molpe hated to interrupt her mother’s moment of glory, but this type of threat required her direct involvement. She searched for a special Den Den Mushi in her fur, one connected to a dwarf breed which Aretha kept as a particularly flashy earring

“M-mom...”

“MMMM… Yes, my baby….”  The captain responded, trying to hold a conversation without breaking her rhythm. Not that it mattered to her audience, cause her singing show couldn’t get any lover, and their ears had gone semi-numb to accept the horror.

"I've found something seriously wrong on the floor, unnatural darkness spreading on every inch. If that is the prelude of an attack we are screwed”.

“What we gonna dooooo…” Aretha’s voice peaked in a hellish shrill.

“I have located two intruders, and sent my sisters to deal with them. But I can’t be sure there isn't at third one, more skilled at clouding their Haki signature within the group. Are you noticing him?”

“I am already on… I am already on it...”

A powerful property of Aretha’s Fruit, the Ido Ido no Mi, was that every single aspect of her could be magnified if boosted by significant amounts of cheers. Haki was no exceptions; her Kenbunshoku, which was already very powerful and very honed due to a lifetime of fighting, had grown to level one would call unnatural, beyond that of many masters. She could see and distinguish between every and each person or creature present in Bohemia with utter clarity, not even seasoned users of Kenbunshoku would escape her gaze. She found Kerrim resting on the outer rim of the crater, far from the crowd.

“On the edge… on the edge… must be living on the midnight’s edge… babyyy…”

“Right, mom”. Molpe understood and diverted her attentions to the edges of the stadium, 0 o’clock. There she noticed a man with a large, flappy hat and of short height compared to them. Un unremarkable presence in terms of Haki, but her mother had reached a greater level of sight than her.

“Should I prepare some lightshow for him before you are going for a smack, mom?” She asked, with a pugnacious grin plastered on her face

“Oh yes… wonderful, wonderful babyyyy...”

Molpe drew her hand, the one with golden claws engraved on it, and blew a kiss full with sensual intent to Kerrin’s direction.

“Take my Rainbow Phantom, sweety”

A substance composed of a multitude of colors, impalpable ether, flew from the woman’s kiss to Kerrim without even making the sound of a breath. The haze fell placidly onto the young man, leaving a drizzle of flickering, iridis flames all around him. That attack was an application of Molpe Devil Fruit, the Mirage Fruit: she could cast powerful illusions, far away or near, hallucinations so vivid one senses could not distinguish from reality from phantoms. If just a pore of his body had been touched by the haze, he would be in her thrall for many minutes, subjected to any mirage she would wish to cast: if he just stared at the flame, they would still assume whatever shape Molpe would want to impose on them

True, it was not something that could kill anybody, and expert user of Kenbunshoku could easily spot fakers from real people, thus having a somewhat limited usefulness in a one o one confrontation. But when you are fighting against monsters who can hurt for real, when you are grappling in a struggle to death… a mere distraction could mean your end. As the eldest of the Siren’s Four, Molpe role was more to support than step into the fray. She would set the perfect show for the Dreadful Diva to enter.

And, since no grand performance was complete without banging beginning, she had her Rainbow Phantom looking like it was denotaning right in front of Kerrim's face. He was to hear the thunderclaps of hundreds of bombs exploding at unison and see fire rising all around, engulfing everything until it turned the world in complete blank slate. An illusion so bright it would make his eyes ache and his reflexes vulnerable for few precious instants.

The Dreadful Diva didn’t need a second more.

“Motherfuckeerrrr…”

Hollering an insult clashing against her own stage person, Aretha’s power rippled throughout the island. A massive wave exploded at the center of the stadium, vapors billowing sky high in a small tornado. People in the front sit were shot far behind, not tripping over only because there were too many people nearby, and even then whole audience had trouble staying on their feet as the ground floor shook and trembled, cracking down in more than few places. The rest of the stage broke down for the sheer force, collapsing into himself in a mass of crumpled metal.

Aretha snorted: it always happened that way when she was really charged with the undying love of the masses. Aretha had caused a gigantic mess, and that just by moving and jumping near Kerrin. She shrugged on her shoulders: the crowd was instructed to cheer even more in any occasion the Diva had run with such destructive, transcending speed. Afterall, one-sided massacres were nothing more than a great show for the Queen of Sirens.

“There you are, pretty boy”. Aretha whispered in Kerrim’s ears, lowering herself to that pipsqueak level. She wielded her microphone in her arm, which turned out to be shaped like a strange but monstrously heavy spade, imbued with crackling cheering power and pitch black Bosushoku. Drawing an arc in the arc with her weapon, she aimed for Kerrim’s head, open to utterly pulverize his upper torso with a single swing. Guts of wind discharged in the opposite direction, so enormous and so fast it would have demolished a cliff on its own, indicated that Aretha’s blow had to than enough force and speed to do it, and perhaps splatter the young pirate’s body in its entirety.

Kerrim had been waiting for the proper moment. Even though he'd been aware the populous had somehow been powering Aretha, he had to plan diligently. He hadn't bothered to activate his Haki, Lyov and Osiris were big boys and could handle themselves. Kerrim simply gave them a 5 minute timer to get to where they had to be, wherever that was.

Unbeknownst to Kerrim, he'd been spotted by one of the Siren Four, which would never be a good thing for someone like him casually entering their territory. He had more than a few reasons to be here, but a petty pirates excuses wouldn't save him from the wrath of the Numeral Aretha. Kerrim had become astonished with beautiful blazes of flames had encircled him, and for a second, he questioned where they came from. "...Merda." That one instance was all he needed to know that they'd found him.

Kerrim's body had already begun to transform to pitch blackness, he knew whatever was coming, no matter what it was, couldn't be good. Next that came was a flash bang, something like an explosion. Kerrim's sight quaked for a second, the smell of a dust and gunpowder mix filled his nose. But oddly enough, he could feel the power of the detonation. This was strange, beyond strange even. Kerrim had become intangible via his Devil Fruit, he shouldn't have felt that explosion unless it was enhanced by Haki. Regardless of what it was, it forced him from his dark cloak and back into a physical state.

This had been the second instance where his Logia defenses hadn't been of any use, at this point, it simply became a hindrance. That's when he heard her, the Diva herself, Aretha. His calm and collected face turned to one of shock and surprise, one could even call it fear, as he panicked for a quick escape. He activated his Kenbunshoku as quick as he possibly could, and from the shadows around the two, was able to make out Aretha's attack in a similar fashion he'd scanned the islands earlier.

Quickly reaching the scabbard of his rapier, yet nowhere near quick enough to actually pull it out, taking the sword and it's scabbard into hand instead. He pushed them against Aretha's weapon with all his might as he side stepped. The push against her weapon likely wouldn't effect the Numeral in the slightest, however, the opposite reaction it would have against Kerrim would get him away from her attack. As he executed his quickly devised plan, he rolled in the ground as he escaped an almost disastrous and shameful death.

As he rolled and soiled his attire in the dirt, something had become painfully obvious. Even as Kerrim's hat found itself off his head for a split second as he was dragged through the dirt, it never once touched the ground itself. Even as he suffered the minor injuries of gravel and stone, he grabbed his hat and kept it untarnished.

Kerrim began to stand up to his full height, it wasn't anything grand as many individuals exceeded his otherwise painfully short stature. Despite this, he tried to remain as menacing as possible. As Kerrim's odd red eyes met Aretha's the clapping of the bystanders came to an instant halt. If anyone bought to time to look at their direction, they'd notice something strange. Along the citizens' bodies were what seemed to be tattoos that spread even onto...their clothing? The thick, ink-like blackness could only have been the result of one man. The one daring to challenge Aretha. "It seems you have found me." His Haki deactivated as he spoke. "I can't fall here yet, I've got an entire agenda to attend to..." Kerrim condescendingly stated to the woman, a cheeky smirk revealing his dagger-like teeth.

Out of sight for anyone, a young boy, a teen at the least, seemed to be adjusting the angle of one of Kerrim's special cannons. As he did so, he seemed to sip from a cup of lemonade, a Den Den Mushi resting on a crate next to him with clothing identical to Kerrim's, right down to the hat and even the cheek markings.

"Ready on your mark, Cap'n."

The Dreadful Diva stared back at the young Pirate who had the suicidal thoughts of challenging her. How foolish could he be? Grinning his teeth and squinting his eyes, taking a stiff posture: acting like a lion cub imitating the adults of his pack. Aretha found that kinda cute, on a level. A midget, less than half of her height, who had probably less than half of her bounty and less than a speck of her strength or experience, facing a woman whose prowess in the battlefield was just as revered as her beauty.

“Pretty boy,” her voice had almost a seductive pitch “didn’t your mother teach you it is extremely rude and extremely stupid to interrupt a beautiful lady in the middle of her business? Look at all those poor people: all so eagerly receiving the divine gift of my singing, now left dry because of you. If I didn’t like fights so much, I would…”

Aretha paused. Something didn’t feel quite right. The pulse of everybody’s cheers wasn’t felt anymore, the crater wasn’t loaded with claps and praises. The purple aura who had glow brighter than a lamp was turning dimmer at a dramatic rate. Frantically looking around her, Aretha found the answer: her beloved crowd had their mouth and hands tied by tendrils of pure darkness. Unable to make their love and acclamation felt to Aretha, the source of her stupendous power. Her naturally pale face turned livid for the anger, her irises shrunk and were filled with blood.

“YOU FUCKING LITTLE WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! NO ONE STOPS MY SHOW! NO ONEE!” She screamed. “I am gonna rip off your arms, then cut off your tongue, then hoist you as a mutilated banner on my ship for this OUTRAGE!!! YOU’LL BE FUCKING ROTTEN BEFORE DEATH COMES!”

“Stay calm, mom!” Molpe had noticed the seizing up the audience before anybody. The situation was dire, indeed, but not disastrous. The Siren Pirates had faced smarter opponents who had went after their crowd before, and they were ready to take steps to deal with it. With a quick scan of Haki, she saw that many, if not most of her crewmates had escaped the shadowy bindings. Realizing the lack of support, they immediately shouted went to praise her captain while try to free as many people as possible. It wasn’t easy, though, as the chains appeared to be rather strong.

Nonetheless, the swift cheering of Aretha’s soldiers came at handy, plugging a bit the rapid draining of power. A glimmer of supernatural energy still crackled in her eyes, one that would help her healing from the most superficial wounds and keep her Haki reserves fresh and full. For power and speed, her sheer rage was more than sufficient.

“You think you can best only ‘cause you’ve stopped these masses pleasing me? Silly boy: I’ve been shattering armies with my own hands before you had lost your first tooth”. She addressed her daughter with a booming, authoritative voice. “Molpe, fetch me my blade!”

Molpe obeyed and threw an enormous sword to her mother, a nodachi fitting Aretha’s side. Aretha jumped sky high and grabbed the weapon. With the spade microphone in one hand and the sword in the other, she hovered in the sky, glittered in Haki and cheering power like a wrathful lunar goddess. Then she disappeared and flashed right before Kerrim’s eyes.

Aretha launched her attack with almost impossible speed: a quick thrust aimed at Kerrin’s gut, sharp and fast as a lightning bolt. With the other hand, she turned her spade against his torso for a power blow, raising a small to medium sized cyclone in the process. That was a classic tactic: a quick jab, extremely difficult to evade, to soften up the enemy, soon followed by a slower blow for a brutal smackdown.

Aretha was not playing around, her combo bore far greater speed, precision, and focus than her launching move, even though her state of enhancement was stronger back then. Aretha was moving more like a supernatural apparition than a woman, her attacks were appearing and fading out of human sight in an ethereal, ghostly fashion. If Kerrin hadn't showed truly preternatural speed or got some trick up his sleeves, his Kenbun won’t be enough to save him.

Kerrim still kept his cool the best he could. Seeing Aretha grab a hold of her weapon, the Pirate Captain realized that she now had all intent to run him through. Despite it all, Kerrim did his best to keep a calm and collected face on the outside. He wouldn't dare let a mere Yonko affiliate see him trembling like a child. As Aretha drove her weapon through Kerrim's gut, the Cheeky Pirate didn't seem to be in any pain. In fact, he didn't appear to obtain any damage from the attack.

How was this possible?

The answer was simple, Kerrim had utilized his Logia abilities. Not your standard intangibility, no. He transformed his torso and shifted his body, allowing the weapon to pass through his body without touching him and avoiding any damage. As the second blow came, Kerrim made sure to draw his rapier properly this time around. His reflexes were of an extremely high caliber, capable of performing movements in the blink of an eye. Perhaps this was how he was able to move his body quick enough to allow Aretha's nodachi to pass through him.

As Kerrim lifted the blade, his shadow seemed to move around in command. Without any warning, thirteen sharp tendrils, almost like needles, rose to deflect Aretha's attack.  Eitoji-ryu: Stance 3 — Thirteen Needles of The Abyss. Separately, they hadn't been too powerful. Hopefully however, numbers would allow Kerrim to temporarily halt Aretha's movements, the shadows imbued with Haki, although nearly undetectable due to their inherent dark color.

"Being ancient isn't anything to brag about, lady." Kerrim stated, it was clear Aretha didn't respect him. He couldn't blame her. He didn't seem ruthless, but he was by far one of the blackest hearted and vile pirates sailing the New World in current day. Kerrim's defense didn't hold out long, Aretha's attack launching Kerrim into the air with unprecedented force. "GAH!" He grunted, but didn't let up, hovering in the air with his wings of shadows once more. He had avoided the most brutal strike. The one that could've ended him. He had to bring Aretha's support down as quick as possible, otherwise this fight would be over for Kerrim within an instant. And with it, his life.

Kerrim gave a quick glance towards the crowd, noticing that some of Aretha's subordinates had begun to free the citizens. But he made sure to keep an eye on Aretha not to give her the chance to attack. His eyes were always red, making it difficult to notice his Kenbunshoku being active. He made sure her back was against what he had planned, turning around to see his "gift" to her would certainly trigger one emotion or another. "Murmur's Awakening." Kerrim whispered, when suddenly, a gigantic, earth shattering, ground shaking explosion erupted from the crowds. The blast reached into the clouds, scattering them and sending vicious shockwaves outwards. Bodies flew through the air like dolls being tossed about by a toddler in a tantrum.

Kerrim had always thought two steps ahead. The bottomless pit of darkness that made of the floor had two purposes. One was to restrict the citizens, however, if it failed, it provided a massive reservoir of shadows for Kerrim to use to decimate the masses. These people were ordinary individuals, they hadn't had near the endurance to survive this assault. And those who did, would've been left grievously injured. "Civilian or Pirate, they all are guilty of assisting a Xros Affiliate in combat. Their, how do you say...liberation, was required for the greater good of the world. As a future Shichibukai, my duty is make sure all pirates cease to exist." A twisted, sinister grin formed on Kerrim's face, "Looks like I can shatter armies too."

He outstretched the hand free of his rapier towards Aretha, "I hope you can understand. Since you have so much more experience than me, I felt eliminating your support was only fair. Evening the playing field, if you will." Kerrim sarcastically taunted, using Aretha's own words against her. From his hand, one quick blast of shadow launched towards the Numeral. Although it seemed to be something capable of blunt force, it also held the power to tear an individual limb from limb. Astaroth Lament.

The thunderous boom erupting on her side made Aretha wince, particularly as the Den Den Mushi was screaming into her ears, but she had to concentrate more on the skewering spear trusted at her. The Queen of Sirens flipped backwards and swung both of her weapon in acrossing motion. A in x-shaped squall of compressed air burst forth, coated in Haki and some cheering energy, colliding against the gusts of shadows and shattering both blows in fragments of black and purple.

Then her eyes flickered back to the stadium. She saw chaos and disarray, a billowing column of smoke and darkness shrouding her beautiful, colorful stadium. Bodies were flung and sprinkled near the rim, either dead or passed out. But the bulk of people and the bulk of the stadium- well, what remained after her own supersonic jump- was mostly spared from the reason. The reason of which was mostly found in two women clad in bright colors, placing their palm on the ground. They were Teles and Raidne, twins by adoption, the most adept of the entire crew in the use of Bosushoku of the entire crew barring Aretha herself.

The two were swift to recognize the threat, and had poured their Haki into the ground as soon as black floor of the gorge started rumbling. The rest of the crew apparently did the same, and provided what little to could to shield themselves and the people around them from the explosion. Even then, the place didn’t came out unscathed: many grunts were hurt, few even maimed. Teles and Raidne grunted as blocking that large surface had took a moderate toll on them.

Most people were saved, however. And the one saved were no more bound by those shadowy chains.With his own booming trick, it looked like Kerrin had to dissipate the solid aspect of his carpet of darkness, even if only for a short while. And those who were freed, as scared and as discombobulated by the explosion, knew what to do. To pray and praise the Queen of Siren, so that it would grant her power to destroy the one who dared to threaten her own life.

Still, how to be absolutely sure Kerrim would not try the same trick again? The boy may lack in strength, but he was a quick thinker and had tremendous reflexes; further, he got enough moxie with his Logia to imprison hundreds of people at once. Enter Molpe then, who had the effect of her Rainbow Phantom lasted on. And she, who was force to leave her position in a jif to avoid, was really damned pissed.

Also, the eldest Siren noticed one that: that Kerrim’s body reacted to her illusion in the same way as he was stripped of his Logia power. Well it was only natural: while Molpe’s Devil Fruit did not work at the same scale of his comrade from the Sacraments, she had an edge in scope. As long as anybody breathed her perfumes, all of their senses- smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste- were entirely her plaything. She could drive people insane with her illusions, leaving them wailing on the ground while subjects on the most terrifying visions and suffering the most excruciating agony. A fun pastime, sometimes, she admitted to herself: but it was better being subtle about the influence exerted, so be absolutely sure no one would even figure out the nature of her power before too late.

Given the danger of having their beloved crowd hurt again, Molpe realized she had to push herself from the comfort so just a bit. Another, tremendous explosion was summoned all around Kerrim, a flail of bombs so noisy, bright and scorching they would make the previous mirage like watching a bunch of firecracker. An assault on his sense, that, this time, would be far more prolonged, lasting enough for him to not notice how the audience had eluded their grasp, nor Aretha’s fury descending upon him and hurt him for real.

Meanwhile, Hikaru Aretha’s glimmer grew stronger once more, brighter and brighter as the cheers echoed through the valley. The adoration of her people, wholly genuine, make tint of lavender grow stronger and more vibrant, turning in a sort of imperial purple. It suited a goddess like Aretha, who was clad in an anemone of pulsating power. The energy puring from every inch of her frame was so strong it manifested in a lacy shawl adorning her clothes in a regal manner.

“Everybody look at me, my beloved people!” She shouted, her voice booming with power. “Observe my might and bow in adoration! See how easily and spectacularly I dispatch of the dark maggot who dared defy me and hurt you! Rejoice for your safety and praise may glory!”

The crowd was genuinely galvanized; a pity Kerrin was probably too busy dealing Molpe illusion to hear their applauds. And a pity Aretha was to crush such a young promising boy. That kid almost reminded her of her late husband: a short, cute guy, with boundless affection for his family and a mile-wide cutthroat streak. But he had dared to hurt her people and steal her the spotlight: both of those crimes HAD to be paid with death and torture. Well, you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs. And Aretha was already inch close to the boy, her movements were almost as fast thoughts.

A cruel smile warped her seemingly serene and aristocratic visage. Even more did her Bosushoku Haki, which smeared all over her body, emphasizing both the tonic curves of her body and the veins bulging on her. Aretha could have pulverized Kerrim with a slap, but wanted to make his defeat as cruel as possible, he needed to. Her arms came to buckle him, seizing the young Pirate from the arms ups and inexorably shattering his bones while shrugging off his pathetic tentatives of free himself with a laughter.

"AHHHHH!" Kerrim cried out in pain. No matter what he'd done, those punk bastards just wouldn't stay down. And somehow, even with the lower number, she had gotten stronger? He wanted to weaken her until he could handle her without unveiling his special technique, but the Siren left him no choice. "F-F-Fire..." Kerrim could barely get out, as the pain made him wince with every breathe he drew.

And with that one word, an odd sound resonated from the shoreline of the bottom island. It was like someone released some strange machine or some sort. The sound was of a low tone, resonating with a deep bass. Then, as if out of nowhere, a powerful blast of concentrated shadows tore through the bottom of Bohemia like it was hot butter. It specifically had a trajectory that was pin-pointed towards Kerrim. The blast was so side that, in it's wake, Aretha would also be absorbed in it's path of destruction. The blast struck with enough force to seemingly rip the floating island in half, a mere testament of what it could do. However, even though he was in the blast, Kerrim hadn't been harmed.

In the end, shadow couldn't harm shadow. Even after striking Aretha, the blast continued, pulling Kerrim's body along with it's current of wrath. After doing whatever damage the beam could to Aretha, all of it would seem to coalesce like an orb in the air, pulsing with purple intensity. Cracks began to form in it, eventually rupturing, revealing in it's core one of Kerrim's newest techniques. Malphas.

"RAAAAAH!" The Pirate let out a monstrous roar that made anyone and anything pause in it's tracks, demanding everyone's attention at that moment in time. Then, his, or possibly it? It's eyes laid onto Aretha, glaring at her for a moment or so. Raising it's hand at Aretha much like the man within it had done before. Black masses began to generate above the island, eventually taking the odd form of feathers that gently fell upon all of Bohemia. People found their arms covered in these odd assortment of feathers. And once they reached their hands in an attempt to clap, they'd find themselves in a struggle. As if attempting to lift up an entire building on their lonesome. This was the Riunione Ombrosa di Piume Nere, and one of it's two effects. These feathers would likely even find themselves on Aretha, hindering her movement if even for a little bit.

The creature simply continued to stare at Aretha, as if awaiting her next strike. Still holding an outstretched hand at her.

A blade, no, a wall of light struck Aretha’s eyes while they were savoring Kerrim’s squealing under her mortal embrace. She felt a tremendous wave of heat and energy passing through her, a hurricane battering her and breaching through large chunks of Bohemia like a hot knife through butter. Aretha pivoted both her feet on the ground and grinned in defiance; at the current state of cheering, her Busoshoku was nigh unbreakable, it would take something capable of annihilating the entirety of Bohemia to make her even bleed. Her opponent surely wasn’t nearly as strong as her, Kerrim would likely be turned into a pile of nothingness by his own assault.

And Kerrim was indeed turning into a form of nothingness: his flesh was unwinding in the same shadowy substance he commanded, right before her very eyes, carried away from her snatch by sheer force of the blast. Typical slippery maneuver of Logia users, those bastards. Aretha grunted, blowing off a lock of her failing in front of her eyes.

“You think you can slip away from me, pretty boy?” She sneered. “Seems you have forgotten Busoshoku Haki fundamentals. I am gonna give a painful reminder: you should thank me for that”. Indeed, despite the current being strong enough to blow away the entirety of Kerrim mass like a pile of leaves, a good slab of it remained solid and firmly under Aretha’s embrace. Because Haki allows users to touch and interact with the substantial body behind Logia, they cannot just will themselves to disentangle from a grip infused with a superior Buso: so whatever part of their flesh was held, it would remain of flesh and blood no matter what. Kerrin would find himself in a rather grotesque position, with his head, upper torso, hands, and legs materializing from the shadows far away from Aretha, while a large chunk of his chest, belly and arms not going anywhere.

Those were the parts she would continue to destroy. Splat. Crunch. Aretha’s tremendously strong grip weighted down on Kerrim’s ribcage and arms probably more than a mountain, it may pound into dust even the armor of a Pacifista. Splat. Crunch Ugly, sizzling noises popped up from Kerrim’s bones, as they progress closer and closer to their tender inner organs. Splat. Crunch. Aretha could feel the boy’s ribcage shrinking on her chest, turning into something resembling more mash potatoes than a human torso, his arms snapping at their joints. Splat. Crunch.

Just as was on the verge of folding Kerrim’s torso in the shape of crump of paper, Aretha caught hundreds, thousands of black feathers falling from the sky, reaching out her subordinates and audience to seize them up. Arena expressed her dissatisfaction with a snarl. Her shawl dwindled in size by the moments, her aura of red and purple almost vanished as the cheers stopped once more.

Aretha turned her back to Kerrim, who was stretching his hands. She released Kerrim’s torso from her grip, though it would be more correct to call it the limping remains of it so that it would return its owner. The expression she gave to the younger pirate was odd: a mixture of anger, arrogance and even… respect? Not many people had her and her crew struggling so much, nor pulled off so many tricks out of their metaphorical and literal hat.

“Well boy, I must admit it. You are certainly more capable than your dim frame indicates. What is your name, boy? I would generally try and recruit you for my crew at this point. But you have interrupted my concert and hurt my people. A goddess can’t let offenses against her authority or subjects slide, nor a mother forgive harm done to her children. Also..."

Her voice exploded in a thunderous bellow.

"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU TO CALL A DIVINELY AWESOME, BEAUTIFUL, TALENTED, LADY LIKE ME ANCIENT?!? I would call your mother an hag, if I were as fucking rude as you are, little ASSHOLE!"

She pointed the tip of her katana toward Kerrim. There was fire in her eyes, but it came entirely from her own passion and Kenbunshoku. Her breath was a bit less frantic, her tone much more lower: “Do you want a fight against me without the support of the masses? Well, your wish is granted. You are dead meat regardless”.

Aretha rushed once more at Kerrim, her nodachi resting in both of her arms. She came with a bout of strikes, slashes, and cuts and stabs delivered in rapid succession, with superb precision and impalpable speed, the blackness of her Bosushoku zapping like thunderbolts. She’d guessed Kerrim’s forte was his reflexes and use of the enemy’s own strength to be pushed out of the danger zone and counterattack with his Logia, so she was preferring quick, cutting blows that would slice him into pieces rather than squashing him like a bug. The kind of assault that would take a master swordsman to parry and counter. With the mess Aretha had made of his arms and chest, it would take Kerrim more than a miracle to even bulge his own blade.

Even when Kerrim was being harmed, the beast above Aretha, Malphas, seemed unharmed. It continued to stare at Aretha with it's blank, expressionless face. Once it fully combined itself upon Kerrim's torso returning, it had become apparent that this beast radiated with immense power. Power that allowed it to rival Aretha, or possibly overpower it. Malphas was a technique where Kerrim surrounded himself in a thick armor of shadow. Doing so, Kerrim was able to drastically augment his physical strength and durability. His speed would also obtain a sizeable boost. However, due to also using the immense cannon fire to add onto the technique, Kerrim's Malphas was twice as powerful as it would normally be. If not twice, then higher. However, that wasn't all this state had to offer.

Due to Malphas being shadows melded into Kerrim's body to transform it, and being an armor of sorts, it allowed even greater potential. Although moving his body was highly recommended, Kerrim didn't have to while utilizing Malphas. His skill with his Devil Fruit had evolved to the point he could freely manipulate this technique and his movements without having to move a muscle. He could keep his injured ribs and arms safe while still being able to wreck havoc. Lastly, but possibly the most important, Kerrim coated himself in his Haki, his already darkened armor turning into the darkest of black. The markings on his cheeks radiated with a purple hue, and an intense one at that.

"RAAAAAAA!" Once more, the monster raged, this time accompanied by sparks that seemed to glisten from it's figure. Malphas invited Aretha to be in it's party. Kerrim manipulated the shadows that constructed the powerful beast, raising one of it's hands as claws of darkness grew from it's finger tips. Excited, the demon birthed from shadows refused to wait, charging full speed at Aretha to meet her halfway. It lunged one of it's clawed hands forward to clash with Aretha's katana and halting the Siren's advance. The meeting between the two powers shaking the very air around them, the tiniest molecule feeling the raw power between the two.

The meeting wasn't done there, no, Malphas wanted blood. It's other clawed hand shot forward at Aretha's chest, the sharp nails elongating to cover whatever distance needed to get the shot. While shooting forward at blinding speeds, almost an instant attack, it wouldn't end with the five fingers plowing their way through Aretha's body, not at all. Whether the assault would land or not, a disastrous explosion would rupture from all five claws, with no intent on holding back. Any and all destructive potential had become absolute with a Malphas with so much power stored within. The inky abyss that was Kerrim's Koi Koi no Mi swallowed him whole. And birthed from it was the power to cause absolute oblivion.

Still teetering for the clash against the shadowy beast, Aretha swung her blade to intercept the tendrils hellbent for her blood. She faced the first two nails with groove of her blade, parrying them with resounding clangor, then she stepped forward and switched her pivot in her moment, sidestepping the third one. The final two nails, coming both on her side were both cut with an arcing blow; one, however, was too fast and cut through her flesh, opening a small wound on hip. Aretha had covered her hips with a layer of Busoshoku, yet she still accused the blow to a small extent. Kerrim shadowy form was more dangerous she had thought.

Aretha came closer to the creature of darkness, so close she mown it down with a quick slash of her blades, when light and fire rose all around her. Could he detonate darkness? Obvious! Aretha would have berated herself if she had time to think. She had fallen straight into the lion’s den, too close from the explosion jump back and avoid the blow.

There was only a way out. Shrouding her body in Bushosku Haki for an extra layer of safety and singing the hell out of it.

An extremely high note erupted out of Aretha’s throat, carrying force to shatter the very air around her and very much probably the tympani of Kerrim, who was still close to her. Guts of winds, rebuked by her voice, were pushed against the dark squall, encasing their master and protecting it from the brunt of the explosion. One could be mistaken by the scene and believe, not without good reasons, that Aretha’s singing was so abominable that the very elements were running away from her. But there was a deeper cause behind this odd phenomenon.

Despite lacking the typical feathers and the blue turquoise of her brethren, Aretha was a Siren, a race of beautiful beings whose singing can command to a small extent the fabric of reality. In fact, whatever human ancestor she could thank for the luscious purple of her air, lack of feather and relentless of childhood bullying from her peers, he was very remote in her genealogy. Aretha was using the signature power of her people, Harmonia, to signal billions and trillions of microorganism found in the atmosphere to create a makeshift shield around her.

As with any aspect of her voice, Aretha’s Harmonia was powerfully frightening. Certainly not nearly as powerful as a Logia, since it utterly lacked in range when not boosted by the cheers of her fans, but powerful enough to provoke utter destruction in small area. The blasts of air and the blast of darkness matched each other equally, stirring up ripples in the air and flames people in the nearby had to cover themselves from. Both combatants were hurled dozens of feet from each other by the collision.

Aretha took in stride and stood on her two legs, but the explosion didn’t leave her unharmed: her dress got torn, her lips got cut in half, her face got tattered with black bruisers and her cleavage got smeared with a third-grande burn, still throbbing. And her hairstyle got all ruined, for fuck sake! But the Dreadful Diva was still, despite the tanking what perhaps was Kerrim’s best shot.

“You just forced me to use my Harmonia to protect myself, bravo". Aretha sneered. "Not many people had me cornered so much I had to grace them with the smithing of my Harmonia…”

“A pity you won’t hear it anymore…”

It was Molpe who finished the phrase, and she was addressing her mother, not Kerrim. In fact, she had completely removed her presence from Kerrim’s senses, so that she would not perceive him nor notice any of her attacks without using Haki, and she wasn't pouring an ounce of killing intent. Having mopped her pants from the dust of her pants, Molpe took side near her mother, assisting her for another attack.

“Idol Mazurka: Troupe of Death”

Aretha broke in a sprint once more, her footsteps caved into the ground. Her figure blurred as she approached Kerrim with dance steps while drawing forth her blade in a sweeping strike. She moved at such speed than a copy of her took place at her turn, an afterimage suffused with Kenbunshoku that rushed straight at her opponent, giving off the illusion of a stampede attacking Kerrim. Aretha was not as good with Kenbun as Bill, not without the help of cheers, but she picked up few tricks for distraction. Power and killing intent oozed from her body, all flowing onto the captain of the cheeky pirates.

Yet physical assault was only a cover to her more complex strategy, a distraction for the real danger coming from her Harmonia. By singing in the middle of the attack, the Seira around Kerrim were triggered to amplify and modify the sequence of her pitch in one resonant to water. That would result in onslaught of sound waves ebbing and reeling inside his body, stirring up his bodily fluids against his tender organs, already compromised by the bear hug from before. Best case scenario for the boy? An extremely severe internal emorragia and a mild brain stroke. Worst case scenario? KABOOM.

The better part of it was that those frequencies are outside the range of what humans can hear, nor Kerrim would notice the assault through Kenbunshoku alone before too late, for Observation Haki can normally detect attacks only through the ill intent of the aggressor, not the physical direction of them by itself, and her soundwaves were bombarding the youngster from everywhere. Even so, he could shrug off the attack by liquefying his own body in shadow if he was alerted by its course.

Entering Molpe then, the diva’s most prized assistant, for a masterful display of illusory talent. First of all, she would delete from Kerrim’s sight any sign of Aretha’s mouth moving, so that he would not notice her singing. Second, she would purposely dull his pain, so that his body won’t react from the increasingly violent strain on his inner organs. Third, she would make Kerrim oblivious about his own blood dripping from his mouth and noise, eliminating any trace from its sight, sound and taste. To summarize, she would erase physical trace of her mother’s attack until it had popped up Kerrim’s veins for good.

Such complex illusion required a painstaking effort on the half-Siren’s part, one that would absorb all her attention. She sat down with her legs crossed and elbows resting on her knees, picturing every single detail to delete from Kerrim’s notice. She closed her eyes and painted a picture of the battle with her own mind and senses.

After the brief exchange between the two Pirates within the sky, Kerrim did somewhat of a mid-air somersault before eventually landing on the ground with a violent thud. Still keeping it's eyes ahead at the Diva, Malphas kept it's expressionless face. Beneath the monstrous appearance, Kerrim had been applauding himself for making this long. Too bad that punk mink hybrid had died at the hands of the marines, otherwise Kerrim would be more than willing to pay him back. In the end, he'd known this battle wasn't over yet. His sense of reason was already being devoured by the darkness of his boundless power.

As Aretha came forward, Kerrim didn't await to see her attack. The new potential he'd gained from donning Malphas was like a water well. Until now, he'd only been able to dip his hands into it and pull out an extremely small portion. Malphas, while a powerful state in it's own, was something that in the end would also help Kerrim learn to utilize more power. Kerrim wanted to exercise this power. He wanted to see what it could do.

The second Aretha came to Kerrim, he once more unleashed a ruthless attack. Once more utilizing Murmur's Awakening, a boundless rupturing pillar of nothingness erupted from the Pirate's being. He'd casted it around himself, however as it's radius widened out the destroy all around him, Kerrim hadn't been harmed. Per usual, his shadows were incapable of harming him yet everyone and everything caught in it's rampage could feel the full force of the punishment it brought. Perhaps the feeling of his organs being damaged would've made Kerrim hesitate or even hold back, but Molpe removing his sense of pain worked in his advantage. Aretha's physical attack would've been interrupted by the beacon of destruction she would've been caught up in and her singing too would've been drowned out by the sound of rubble and debris being tossed about, as well as the ominous sound Kerrim's technique brought along with it.

Even further, Molpe hadn't been completely out of Kerrim's detection. Although it was hard to tell due to Kerrim's and Malphas's inherently red eyes, his Kenbunshoku had been active. And even if Molpe's attack wasn't of malicious intent, he could still see her soul nonetheless. Without letting his attack subside before making his next move, Malphas flung forward in a berserker fashion towards the young Siren. Aiming to grab her by her face whilst she was distracted, dragging her body through the concrete until he finally came to a stop in which he'd proceed to crush her head within his hands which had been bestowed with well endowed physical power during Kerrim's transition into Malphas. The feathers from Kerrim's Riunione Ombrosa di Piume Nere were likely still weighing down on Aretha unless she'd taken time to pluck them off, while some feathers had also become visible on Kerrim's body. However, unlike everyone else inflicted from these quills, Kerrim's movements were much quicker than before, as if they augmented his speed in some way.

Darkness engulfed Aretha’s completely, uprising from below and falling from above at the same time. She found her own voice overpowered to the point of silence by rumbling noise of the billowing Murmur, leaving her Harmonia with barely an effect on the young boy, still shrouded by thick protection of Malphas and fighting as he had never suffered his otherwise crippling injuries.

Aretha hated to admit to herself, but this Logia user was some kind of small monster, one who bore the ingenuity and tremendous power of the expert. She thought she could beat such versatile opponent with nothing but her own natural strength and was paying the price for her arrogance with jolts of pain filling every frame of her body. As she fell down on her knees, her singing became a moan of lament. The black feathers on her frame, whom she had managed to ignore, began to feel heavy like mountains

“Things won’t end this way”, she muttered. “Not after everything I have fought, not after everything I have lost! Not before my fans, not before my beloved family”. Though her body may falter and even fail, her will to survive was stronger than ever. Her determination flew through her veins and coagulated on her skin, forming a thick of armor that fought harder and harder against the attack the assault the more Aretha was suffering.

Within the frame of few, nigh unbearable seconds, the assault ended. Still weighted by a hail of feathers, Aretha’s was nonetheless standing in one piece. Bruised, weighted down and aching just a little less than her opponent, perhaps, but she could still fight. It would take some time to take off those damned feathers, but she would rise again, harder and more divine in due time.

But she didn’t have time. Her face, who had continued to switch from patronizing serenity to murderous rage against Kerrim, was washed white by a mixture of terror and pure horror. That monster was grabbing Molpe with her ugly hands, her mouth muttering in fear, and beating her frame up and down, up and down the concrete as a sadistic child playing with a doll he could not wait to break in pieces.

“Stop, stop!” She cried out in pain.”Please, stop! I give up! I’ll do everything you want.. please...” Her voice turned hoarse, her eyes wet. In truth, there was a strategy she could think about, a way she could turn the table… but would she take the risk? Would she take the time to see her precious baby crushed against a rock? No: she was a mother before being a warrior, before being a pirate, and even before being a superstar. Aretha would murder anybody who dared hurt her pride, but she would throw it all away if it meant that her children were safe and sound.

“Don’t do this mom! We can’t give up yet”.

A female voice, a tone almost as imperious as that of Aretha’s herself, boomed through the wallet. Free from the hail of feather, Teles was glaring at the monster with flaring eyes and a livid face; Raidne, her adopted twin, stood at her side with a worried glance, more worried about her family’s health than feeling any fury, but she still itched to rush at their side.

“Die”. Teles’ tone was venomous, dripping with hatred. A flash appeared right above her shoulders, from the hovering, crystal pauldrons framing her head. The light fizzled in a bolt which was fired against Kerrim’s hand, piercing it in a blink of an eye. Molpe fell down from Malpas’ mortal grip, free from a moment.

“Die, die, DIE!” Teles hollered, shooting Kerrim with a hail of light blasts to dismantle his shadowy shroud and keep her away from her beloved big sis. Her hand quickly reached for Raidne, palm upwards; the half-siren, half-mink had already made a graceful leap over it, landing with the tip of her foot.

“DIE!”

Teles swung that hand, hurling her own sister as a projectile against Kerrim. Raidne rushed on at breathtaking speed, her fangs and claws bared and ready to draw blood. A glistening substance ballooned from her pores, something translucent and crystal-like which resembles blown-hourglass, covering her hands to enhance their sharpness and her torso to add a coat of defense, whilst electro blew up her blonde hair in a mane. Having turned in a creature of thunder and crystal, with an armor of Busoshoku Haki in the mix, to oppose the beast of shadows, Raidne clawed against Kerrim while tackling him sideways, pushing him further.

Meanwhile, Molpe was barely recovering. Her sight was marred with dazzle, her chest felt heavy, a ring of pain was exploding in the back of her hand. Left and right were blurred, she could only see the monstrous form of Kerrim towering over her and slip the furthest she could. Sneaking off with her four arms, since she wasn’t in the condition to stand up on her feet yet. Running far and far away from the beast, who loomed with his shadowy wings and face of obsidian, silent and hellish like a gargoyle made alive by the forces of hell.

Just by looking at him, terror had Molpe in its utter grasp; she could only tremble, sweat, groan, she didn’t have the guts even to scream, let alone to formulate a thought or a battle strategy. Her instinct shot up, triggering her illusion powers purely a form of desperation. She created a thick fog around the beast, painting everything he was seeing in a haze of white. Any other effect she had on Kerrim vanished, thus the suffering she purposefully dulled out came back in full force.

Lyov had been frowning and making a face of disgust ever since he entered the nearby area with his Captain. He followed his Kerrim’s orders reluctantly, and blended with the crowd. Although, Lyov wasn’t exactly a stealthy one. A towering man of great musculature, red haired, barefooted, and dressed in robes and a plate of gold armor, these were definitely reasons enough for people to turn their heads and stare at him. But it was fine, because he wasn’t known yet, so he drew the attention from his Captain who was stealthily moving through with the aid of his powers. But this “blending in” was hard for Lyov and not for the reasons stated before, it was the howling wail of a burning witch that was the Numeral’s singing voice that was making Lyov stand out, as his expression turned from one of disgust, from one of torture, as every missed note and screech stabbed deeper into Lyov’s soul. He was choking, sweating profoundly and cringing so hard, he even felt that the battle against the Yonko ally was finished right then and there. But something snapped the young fighter back to his senses, as a strong aura could be felt emanating from Aretha as she turned her focus on them, the unknown crashers of the party. “Back to reality...Cap’n Kerrim, I hope you make a move soon. I don’t know if I can endure another performance of this banshee. But beating the hell of some pirates? Now that, I can do with pleasure,” he said to himself as he continued his not-so-subtle march into the audience and in the Numeral’s direction.

When the chaos ensued, and by chaos meaning Aretha crushing the stage with her strength and spotting his Captain and striking him. “Hmm...if they noticed Cap’n. Which means, I’m probably already under their gaze. Whatever, all this sneaking around isn’t for me anyways.”

Lyov was standing on the left side of where the arena had been, still within the crowd, now disabled by Kerrim’s powers. “Well, here goes nothing!”. As he yelled that, Lyov used his right foot to stomp the ground with his monstrous strength, crushing the ground beneath him and causing a minor quake that shook the entire area, still quite strong enough to throw regular people off balance and make them fall helpless into the ground. Lyov’s foot was now buried into the ground itself, but that didn’t matter. Without bothering to pull it out, he slid it all the way to his back, crushing the ground on its way, and only got it out when he took his fighting stance. “Hey, fake idol! I hope you enjoyed your final shit show, because we’re going to give you the beating you deserve.”

Even though he had just met her, her wailing was enough to scar him for life, and for him, it meant her deserving a cruel death.

How dare these intruders! Aretha's show was going perfectly. Well...as perfect as a concert could get when the singer had such a frightening voice. All this pirate scum making a wreck of the Numeral's performance to her people. However, they also did her a favor. These trespassers would serve as an example to all of Bohemia of what happens to those with the gull to interrupt a show from the Siren Pirates. Not to mention, maybe the citizens would enjoy a little action to spice up the show? Yes, most definitely.

As Lyov took his stance to challenge Aretha alongside Kerrim, a ferocious gust of wind and debris has been kicked up before him. It was as if something had landed in front of him with monstrous force. "You dare interrupt mamma's show?" spoke a voice. Behind Lyov stood none other than another one of the Siren Four, Thelxiope, whom was responsible for producing posters and various forms of art to advertise Aretha's show using her talent with graffiti.

Much like her mother, she was a woman with a stature. She stood at nine feet, which was roughly 3 meters. A fabulous purple jacket and black hat, her long, gorgeous red hair flowing out the back. She seemed to wear a ring around her neck, a mask covering her mouth as well. There was something on her exposed stomach, a graffiti of sorts. The image was that of a mirror, Thelxiope's signature in the corner, and in the mirror itself? It seemed to be Lyov, with Thelxiope somewhat visible behind him in it. "Mamma isn't doing autographs right now, so be a good little boy and sit down." She looked down at Lyov from behind, with her voice projecting from the front of him.

Lyov relaxed his pose and looked back at the towering woman, at least a foot and a half taller than him. It was the first time he'd had to look up to a human woman. He let a low growl as he spoke to her in his deep, resonating voice. "Grrrrr...Even if you're a woman, don't expect me to go easy on you. The fact you came here to challenge me means you're a warrior, right? I'll teach you some manners and go to assist my captain!"

He stanced up again, but this time, it was a karate stance. His muscles flexed as he threw a straight punch with such force a wind gust followed immediately after..."Fishman Karate: Samegawara Seiken!". Yes, Lyov was a former gladiator who was trained in a myriad of martial arts, but his specialty was Fishman Karate. As he exclaimed, ripples and waves in the air emanated from his punch, covering the massive woman, with the intention of pushing her back and hurting her by using the water in the atmosphere and her body to hurt her. If his attack didn't work much, he would explosively run at her and strike with a right kick to her gut, while alert in case of any counterattack.

As Lyov's fist struck Thelxiope, one could tell something wasn't right. His strike was powerful, immense, destructive. It would've done severe damage if it actually had hit a target. Thelxiope's body began to dissolve, releasing colorful gas particles into the air as Lyov made contact with her body. The particles had only been visible for a moment as the aftershock of Lyov's hit caused the particles to vanish into the wind. It was some short of illusion. The true Thelxiope was standing in front of Lyov, however he turned his back to her when he struck her look alike. He was open and vulnerable to her hit. And Thelxiope loved to play dirty.

Her trickery along with her boundless speed and reflexes made it so anyone who fell for deception couldn't escape her wrath. As Lyov had been busy striking the false Thelxiope, the true Thelxiope aimed to deliver a fatal kick to Lyov's back. Being so quick, her legs were definitely the strongest part of her body. The winds were bent and feared the power within the Siren, the winds ferociously bursting out in an attempt not to get caught up in the destruction that would ensue. Attacking when your target is preoccupied? If you asked Thelxiope, it's just strategy.

Too late to react properly, Lyov received Thelxiope’s kick straight to his back, only barely giving him a chance to cover his back in a layer of Busoshoku, just in the area where he was hit. Still, the kick was so powerful it sent him flying several meters, until he caught his balance and landed on the ground.

“Neat trick, woman,” he said as he reeled in a bit of pain from the attack. Lyov’s body was so powerful, he could withstand barrages of cannon fire without so much as flinching, yet a single kick, although one he wasn’t expecting, managed to cause him pain. This definitely surprised him.

He had one knee on the floor, and he looked at Thelxiope intensely. He chuckled a bit and proceeded to lift himself up. “A kick, eh? How ironic...you see, kicks, are my specialty. My legs, are my pride and joy. So yes...i feel...”as he was talking, the sound of the people still barely cheering on Aretha distracted him completely of what he was going to say. Veins could be seen protuding from his neck and face. He took a deep breath, so intense that it seemed he was sucking in all the air in the area. His chest expanded to five times its regular size. “SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ANNOYING CRETINS!!”

A lion’s roar would pale in comparison to this. The ground trembled, his voice travelled through miles, and anyone nearby not strong enough would get knocked out by the potent sound waves entering their ear drums. Even his crewmates knew to cover their ears when Lyov screamed or their eardrums would be shattered.

He calmed himself down, and directed his gaze at the woman. “You should have killed me with that hit...I won’t fall for your magic tricks again.” Lyov once again stomped the ground with such force he managed to send a gigantic portion of it flipping into the air. He jumped, grabbed the massive piece of ground itself and tossed it at Thelxiope at ridiculous speeds. When he landed, he would proceed to sprint at her and strike with a left kick to her head, his heavy and powerful legs covered in Haki would definitely make his opponent realize that his kicks do mean business. His kick was fast and heavy, and his hands covered his body in case of a counterattack. He was confident in his own monstrous strength, but, he also recognized his opponent’s after that one attack he received. “If I can land just ONE solid hit, this fight is mine!”, Lyov thought to himself.

As the boulder came towards Thelxiope, she made a smirk, although with was almost unnoticeable due to the mask she wore to cover her mouth. The boulder would eventually fly beyond the point where the Siren was standing. Instead, a blur was seen ascending into the sky, clear from Lyov's path of rampage. "Funny...my legs are my greatest asset as well. There is none faster than me." Thelxiope took out two spray cans, as if out of nowhere, and spun around in an odd circle, like an orbiting planet. She would also utilize the sprays, hiding her body in the mist of colors whilst sending forward three compressed slashes of wind that bore the potential to tear through human flesh, a technique in a similar vein to.

While Lyov dealed with her assault, Thelxiope would stop her revolving, revealing another artistic expression on her stomach. She landed on the ground, which seemed to be perfectly fine despite the various attacks that had been launched on, in, or around it. On her torso, Thelxiope had drawn an image of Lyov falling, a chunk of Earth beneath him as he seemingly plunged to his death. Her signature sat in the corner of the image. Every good artist marks their work after all.

Lyov was pushed back by her compressed air slashes even though his skin was incredibly though, as durable as steel itself. He didn't activate his Busoshoku, so the slashes managed to cut him, even though the cuts weren't fatal. "Stronger than expected! But you need something better than that to cause damage on my body!"

Falling on the ground, he noticed things were different than what they seemed before. Thinking it would be a trick like before, he inhaled a large amount of air, expanding his upper body even larger than it had been before, and he blew with such power that a massive wave of air was sent towards the ground, hoping it would dissipate the tricks made by Thelxiope, while it also launched Lyov himself upwards, awaiting the result and the appearance of his adversary. After being launched upwards, he covered both of his arms with water, formed out of the water particles in the atmosphere, and launched his "Yabusame" all around the area around him. Hundreds and hundreds of needle shaped water droplets were shot at piercing speeds everywhere, possible to even reach the area where Kerrim faced Aretha.

As the blast of air hit the ground, much like the mirage from earlier, the ground slowly begun to evaporate in a colorful display of particles. After all of it had vanished in the end, a massive pit would be visible before Lyov which went straight through the island, having been directly in the path he would've crossed if he charged. This would've ended in him falling through the island and likely plummeting to his death. It was a good thing Lyov learned from before, otherwise he'd been in a world of trouble. Thelxiope saw as Lyov utilized his Yabusame and planned her own counterattack. This boy seemed to be one built on pride, so she was willing to see if this pride of his could handle being crushed beneath the heels of a merciless Siren.

As the needles came flying, Thelxiope effortlessly balanced herself on one of her legs, spinning around is a circle at unbelievable speeds. This created a miniature tornado that had been birthed through Thelxiope's impressive speed and the power in her lower body. Using the winds that were bent to her beauty, she drew in all the needles towards her. Every last needle that Lyov had flung were caught within the spiral of high speed winds. Despite this, some had been flying so fast that they breached the wall of winds, striking and piercing some of Thelxiope's clothing, tattering it in the process, but not much damage had been done to Thelxiope herself. Singing arose from within the funnel, a beautiful angelic voice that could upstage that of the Dreadful Diva herself. The tornado had become entirely blue following the beautiful usage of vocals, the water overpowering the wind. At that moment, Thelxiope utilized the tornado to send Lyov's Yabusame right back at him, but further augmented in power by her Harmonia, and flying at speeds that dwarfed that of a bullet due to the man-made tornado that had temporarily housed the attack's development.

Finally emerging from the crowd of people was none other than, Osiris Black. "I feel like I've missed quite a lot." Black had quite the look of unknowingness on his face. It was almost as though he was gone for the entire duration of the endeavor. He watched as his crewmates fought against the members of the Xros Pirates. "KERRIM, WHAT DO I DO NOW? SHOULD I FIGHT TOO?" Black shouted to his captain. He stood still in somewhat shock awaiting his orders. Still in midair and with a clear view of the battlefield thanks to him blowing away Thelxiope's mirage, he saw his Captain in a demonic-like form, probably something to do with his abilities. But he became a bit worried as Kerrim was fighting with the odds against his favor. He quickly began to search and found Osiris just Lyov while high up in the air, took a quick look at his Captain's location, and a few seconds later saw Black just wandering around while they were engaging in intense combat. "Yo Black! Stop fooling around and go and assist Cap'n! I know he'll probably get mad at me but the odds are clearly against him!" Being distracted was a mistake, as Thelxiope's counterattack drew closer to him. "Shit! Water Shot!" His leg enveloped itself in water, and he fired a powerful water blast at the incoming wave of redirected Yabusame shots. However, even though he managed to reduce most of the incoming shots, many managed to pass through because of Thelxiope's added strength, and rained down on Lyov while he covered his body's vital areas. Several slashes were made on his legs and arms. Still in the air, he turned his back to Thelxiope. "Samegawara Seiken!!!". Lyov punched the air, and let the power of his technique push him forward, directly towards his opponent. As he came through at high speeds, he prepared to launch a powerful side kick, but this was in order to try and fool his adversary, as his real attack was with his powerful grip, aiming at Thelxiope's neck in order to crush her windpipe. "King Crab Grip!!", it was a technique several times more powerful than the Shark's Grip. While he neared Thelxiope, as he launched his kick, if his hand neared her neck, it would turn pitch black with his Busoshoku. His senses became sharpened in order to react to whatever Thelxiope did if she managed to dodge his grip.

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

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

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

Back at the allied pirate's headquarters, Kenshiro made his way out. "Black Ops? Heh, kinda reminds me of the old days." Kenshiro reminisced of his days as a CP9 agent, as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a baby Den-Den Mushi. "Yo, can anyone hear me?"

Back at the Shinigami, his voice reverberated throughout their control room and the ship, thanks to a Den-Den Mushi that was connected to the whole ship's speakers. "Captain! What's going on! Are we being deployed for battle?". Someone answered. Genki had been surveilling the area from the ship. His Kenbunshoku had among the largest range in all the crew. "Well, yes, we are officially going to engage in direct combat soon," said Kenshiro. But we don't know much about our enemies, so just rushing with our full force to the islands could be fatal." He sighed and pondered for a few seconds.

"I'll proceed to one of the islands, and I'll require the assistance of one of you. I'd go by myself, but this is not the time to be prideful either. I have to play it safe, obtaining victory and crushing our enemies is what matters, no honor is necessary." He paused for a moment, gripped his sword tighter while he grinned, and continued. "It's safe to assume there are more individuals at around the level of the one who attacked us, if so, victory won't come easy, even for me...Kire! You'll come with. I'll head on now, try and catch up." Kenshiro proceeded to dash at high speeds towards his destination, while he continued speaking.

"Genki, keep your Kenbunshoku focused on us. After we make contact with the enemy, come and hide on the nearest island to us. I need you to watch out for anyone who would interfere, and don't forget to bring a communicator. Catrina, keep the cyborgs and our soldiers ready. And everyone, stay alert, we're at war." He hung up his Den Den Mushi, while he blitzed his way through the trees, and when he reached the sea, he continued on the air, using his Geppo and Soru simultaneously, making his way to an island filled with rubble all over.

The silence was great, almost eerie. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of his wooden getta sandals clanking on the ground as Kenshiro walked towards the center of the island. He activated his Circle of Perception, a Kenbunshoku technique where he focused his observation in a limited diameter around him. Ready to intercept anything that entered his range, even a fly couldn't escape his senses. But, he knew he was already in his target's radar, as a strong presence could be felt the instant he made landfall. "Interesting...", he thought. His blood pumping, senses pushed to its limits. He was hoping to meet his opponent soon, for this reason, he did not made any attempts to hide his presence, on the contrary, he had his fighting spirit and bloodlust oozing out, as if he were a wild beast, matching the strong presence with his own one.

"Guuuooh!" Genki yelled excitedly after hearing his captain's words. He made his way towards the same direction his captain had taken, stopping at the island just before the one Kenshiro and Kire were in. He sat with legs crossed, in a meditative position, and focused his Kenbunshoku on his targets.

Kire moved to the deck of the ship with haste "Of course captain, been bored for so long time for some FUN" similar to his leader the tontatta had a hard time holding back his intent. He cracked his knuckles as they made the noise of shattered class and stretched his arms behind his head. His muscles pulled, stretched, and flexed as if they were made of taffy. With a quick flick of the hands his hood covered his head.

His feet struck the ground a many times shooting him into the air with incredible speed. Kire made quick speed to catch up with his captain, while also conserving energy, he knew the captain didn't need a tired weakling so he would conserve his power to ensure he was ready for the fight up ahead. Kire finally caught up with Kenshiro and took a load off on the captains shoulder, an act he knew Kenshiro enjoyed, mostly because of the strange grin worn on his face. "Kire, the Reaper pirate still gotta get used to that, but now its time to show you some real strength worthy of the Reaper name", the tontatta said erupting with joy and lust for battle.

Red had noticed the presence of newcomers on his island. Of course he would. His island was one of perfect silence. Anyone who dared make noise would be noticed instantly. But Red was not an impulsive fighter, instead, he broke his own silence to greet his opponents.

"Welcome." A large voice broadcasted from an unknown location. He was not directly in front of the people that entered the island, but he was sure that fighters that approached him would not be so incompetent as to not notice his presence. "I am Skelton Red. Welcome to Megido. Unfortunately, today you lot will meet your death here."

After that, all that could be heard was the sound of footsteps. The man in the magician's hat appeared before the Reaper Pirates. He did not seem to attack them overtly, however. Instead, all he did was outstretch both of his hands upwards, before performing a circular motion, the size of which would envelop his whole body. And yet, beyond a slight distortion in the air, nothing would appear to the eyes of the beholder. Of course, whatever the Captain of the Mime Pirates was planning, would not bode well for those who sought to defeat him.

As soon as he heard Skelton’s voice, Kenshiro cancelled his Kenbunshoku technique, Circle of Perception, returning to his regular form where it expanded to a much larger area. He continued walking forward, Kire on his right shoulder and his Junketsu resting on his left one, until the mystery opponent revealed himself to them. He stood there, observing intently his enemy as he waved his hands, without uttering a single word.

“Hmm, I’ll keep my distance and figure out your abilities, masked man.””Just one thing, Masked one...you’re the one going to hell today...Kire! Take the right side!” As he uttered those words, Kenhsiro took on his quick-draw stance, turning his hips and moving his left leg slightly behind. In an instant, Kenshiro pressed his thumb against the hand guard, unsheathing his black blade, and in a continuous motion as he drew his sword, he fired a diagonal sword slash, and with that same momentum, with his sword above his head, he swung diagonally again but downwards, sending another sword slash which met the one shot first, forming a large “X”. All this was done swiftly in the blink of an eye.

While Kenshiro withdrew his sword, his swords slashes travelled to his target’s direction, with the lower part of the slashes cutting the ground they travelled. He stared without even blinking in order to analyze his opponents response to his long distance attack as well as Kire. His slash was strong, but it was more of a “casual” attack, any capable New World swordsman would be able to fire a slash with similar potency, as this was more to “test” what he would be dealing with and being cautious.

Kire followed in the path of Kenshiro, he swiftly moved to the right of his opponent, "Rapire Strike", Kire yelled as he kicked himself forward into the mime's arm using his fist as a small battering ram. He jumped back and stood up tall, as he refrained from putting to much force into that blow, because he too knew, like his captain, to start this fight with a test. "You're standing against the power of the reaper pirates I hope you are ready for the force of myself and my captain."

Red's eyes narrowed as he saw the small figure of Kire whiz past his makeshift barrier and end up at his right side. It didn't particularly matter, though. Before Kire could reach the mime's arm, Red instead launched his right leg in a one-hundred-and-eighty degree upwards, kicking Kire's fist away from Red and forcing him to jump back.

Red did not utter a word. Or rather, it was better to say that he couldn't utter a word. Instead, he made another gesture with his hands. As opposed to outstretch them widely, it was more appropriate to say that Red had performed the action of wearing a pair of solid gloves. It would b difficult to see with the naked eye, but the light began to refract ever-so-slightly where Red's hands where, revealing a translucent shape over his hands.

Without hesitation, Red clenched his fists and smashed both of them towards the ground. In doing so, a wave of force spread outwards from his position, releasing a tremendous shockwave that shattered the earth, releasing enormous slabs of debris that would compromise the positions of both Kire and Kenshiro. However, Red did not take another action. If the Reapers were testing his power, this was his response.

Kenshiro smirked at Red’s ground shattering strike while he took several jumps backs to dodge the debris flying through the area, occupying both of his hands, one holding his hat from being blown away and another his katana. When he landed a bit further than he was, his head was facing down, and a small chuckle could be heard, until he finally raised his gaze.

“Hehehe...Interesting!”, he yelled as one of his eyes widened, while the other eye remained in its regular size, smirking and laughing, definitely looking quite insane. He stood back and analyzed Red’s response to Kire while maintaining his crazed look.

Kire was taken a back by the sudden quake that shook the ground but he soon regained his composure looking out at the damage caused by the mute man "Impressive destructive power to say the least, of course I expected nothing less of someone who needed assistance to be taken down by my captain". Kire took another look at his surroundings thinking of his next move he approached some rocks that had been kicked up by the blow.

The tontatta raised his hand "Warriors Okama Chop!!!" his small hand struck the rock and turned it into many pieces of shrapnel. "I assume you have the powers right the powers of the devil!?" the little pieces of rock were still falling from his original impact when he at incredible speeds kicked them at Red "Why not give me a better demonstration"

The little pebbles were sent forward like small bullets ripping and tearing at the air with their incredible speed.

Red's reflexes weren't so slow that he could not avoid an attack like this. He looked at the rocks that were being launched towards him, and merely outstretched his hands without a word. Matching the speed of the bullet-like rocks, Red's palms caught every single rock, dashing in every direction as they caught individual rocks, before suddenly, the sound of shattering glass could be heard again.

"Decent force, it seems." Red spoke, briefly, before silence covered the area once more. He let the rocks fall onto the ground from his palm. Instead, Red took upon a stance similar to a swordsman. Both of his hands were perched at the left side of his waist. His left hand was cupped over an invisible shape, and his right hand clenched another invisible shape.

Then, the next instant passed, and like a master swordsman taking the first stroke of his blade, Red's right hand performed a perfect arc as it landed gracefully at the exact right side of Red's chest. The sound of the wind blew wildly with the shape of the slash, before suddenly, a similar to Kenshiro's own, was sent flying towards Kire. However, where Red lacked the precision of a master stroke, was where he compensated with his sheer power, as the force of his blade began to eviscerate the very ground that the combatants stood upon, seeking to grind Kire into nothing more than dust.

"hmm I guess its time to get serious, a true master of hunting and okama kenpo has a perfect balance between brute force and precision" Kire said confident in his abilities and his kenpo. The tontatta entered his stance taught to him by a master of martial arts both of his hands stood straight like daggers his right arched behind his head his left straight out in front of his body and his legs in the horse stance.

Kire smirked at the on coming attack "I WILL TAKE YOUR BLOW HEAD ON AND DEMOLISH IT WITH MY FORCE" Kire screamed with the will of a warrior. He prepared to strike forward but suddenly he felt a sensation in his right hand "YAAW" he yelled in intense pain. The kick from the numeral did way more damage than he thought especially since he had no haki protecting his attacking hand.

The pain overwhelmed his concentration as he looked to his side to see the on coming attack. He had no time to avoid the attack or to disperse it with a well timed chop all he could do was hold his ground. His battle instincts kicked in as his body coated itself in a thick layer of armermant haki. His defense was tough but not great enough to nullify the power of the attack knocked him back with major force destroying trees and rocks standing in his way.

He took a second and then returned to his feet his arms were red from the force of the blow. Kire's face became serious and his hands were  black with haki "Its time to get serious and take down this clown freak" he whispered to himself he beat his chest and raised his anger "I end this fight you bastard. Now get over here and stop fighting me from afar you pansy RAPIER" Kire appeared before the mime "STRIKE". He sent a swift punch forward making a huge wave of air come out like cannon as his fist approached Red's stomach.

Kenshiro stood at the place he had been since he dodged Red’s first shockwave, watching intently his and Kire’s fierce exchange.

Just as Red respondeded to Kire’s powerful punch, literally less than a second later, a shadow seemed to appear behind Red. When it seemed to materialize, it took the form of Kenshiro, rather, it was him, already stricking downwards towards Red’s back, and the image of “himself” which was standing further back seemed to disappear as he “materialized”.

Just after Kire received damage from Red’s “slash”, Kenshiro proceeded to move at high speeds around the nearby area while using his technique for hiding his presence. He kept an “afterimage” in his previous location by passing through there, as to give the impression that he hadn’t moved, as he was known to move so incredibly fast that he could create solid looking afterimages that lasted. He took advantage of Kire’s recent Rapier Strike and attacked Red just after he reacted to Kire’s strike, with a full diagonal swing from his armament coated black blade, targeted at Red’s back, with merely a blur seen where his arm and blade woul’ve been, as he struck downwards onto Red’s back. Just as the blade travelled downwards, it left a trail of crimson red and black from his Busoshoku for a mere instant, lasting just less than the speed of a blink of an eye.

Whether Red had been pushed back, damaged or unfazed by Kire’s strike, Kenshiro responded by capitalizing on an opportunity, as just after a response to an attack, even of it were an effective block, there is the chance that the guard is dropped even if for barely a second, and Kenshiro, being a trained martial artist and assassin, knew this and sought to take advantage. It wasn’t honorable, but this was a pirate’s fight, and he knew their opponent was no slouch, which is why he stood back and let his subordinate engage him, to further analyze his target to see if he could find a pattern.

He deducted that this masked individual was quite experienced, as he felt this Skelton Red guy was still on his guard towards Kenshiro even if he was just standing far back. He knew Red would probably be on his guard even after responding to an attack, and he didn’t know if his opponent’s Kenbunshoku could detect his stealth movement and forsee his sudden sort of assassination strike, but just as he capitalized by using Kire’s attack as his cover, he kept his sword guard on his left hand and his Geppo ready if Skelton were to dodge or block and follow with an attack. But even if Kenshiro’s slash connected his target, he would proceed to jump back again, as his target’s abilities were still a mystery, just as his own abilities were, even to his crewmates.

Red had his visible eyes making sure he'd follow Kire's aggressive tactics, however, his third eye was watching someone else. Kenshiro, to be precise. Kenshiro had been too predictable in this case, for the slash that he intended to do was something any amateur warrior would do. Nonetheless, it was a valid move, and Red would respond in kind, but in a manner unexpected of him. Red's left hand still gripped onto an invisible object, but the same object was now darkened a pitch black: indeed, it took the form of a sword's scabbard. Within the instant that Kenshiro slashed his back, Red had flicked his left hand, with the scabbard in-tact, to collide with the blade, causing a shockwave to emit from the strength of both attacks, while Red's eyes refused to look backwards: a show of superiority.

At the same time, his real eyes peered towards Kire, who had been attacking with brute force. He obliged to treat Kire with the same treatment, and coated his invisible blade in the same Busoshoku Haki, before cutting apart the attack bolstered with air pressure with strict ease. To rid himself of the two enemies in close proximity, Red soon spun around at heightened speeds, with the grace of a ballet dancer, creating a vortex in close proximity, sending out a shockwave that would no doubt batter away both combatants.

Holding his black blade and scabbard, he stared down both Kenshiro and Kire, though his expression could not be seen under his mask.

In this situation, he instead spoke, causing the weapons that he was holding onto, to dissipate into thin air. "Perhaps I should try ranged maneuvers next." Red spoke aloud. Once again, he gripped onto an invisible substance, this time with both hands grabbing different handles, and flicked both hands downwards.

The sound of a whip cracking could be heard painfully clear by the two opponents, as both invisible weapons were now dyed pitch black. The Xros Pirate now held two ethereal whips in his hands. How was he doing this? The opponents would not be able to figure out so easily. However, Red went silent once more, and began to utilize the whip to attack both of his enemies in either direction simultaneously.

The attack was initially straight-laced, and predictable. Of course, it would never remain as such. This was an ethereal whip, unbound by the limitations of a physical whip, and therefore, it would respond to Red's meticulous handling as necessary. With only the slight movement of his hands, the piercing tip of the whip began to fly to the right side, and then the left, upwards, downwards, diagonal, and various other directions as it flew towards both opponents.

On Kire's end, the tip of the whip would reach his right shoulder, intending on disabling it with a powerful laceration. On Kenshiro's end, the pointed whip's tip would reach the back of his neck, perhaps aiming for a lethal blow right from the onset.

Clashing against an invisible object, Kenshiro smirked once again as his mysterious opponent wasn’t one to disappoint. Just before he could react again, he sensed Red would do something, which prompted Kenshiro to use his Geppo to jump away, to keep his distance until he had Red figured out. But just as he had just begun his jump, Red was already spinning at a high speed, with such force that Kenshiro was pushed back just before he could jump in the air with Geppo.

He wasn’t pushed to far from Red though, as he recovered by finally using Geppo to recover his balance and to land himself on the ground. He withdrew his sword, and listened as his adversary began to talk, and created some strange looking tendrils from his hands. While Red was flicking those things around, Kenshiro spoke out loud; “Kire, keep a close look on this guy’s hands. It’s possible he needs to perform a certain action before creating whatever he’s using to attack and defend. But don’t let that distract you too much, we don’t know the extent of his powers, he could very well be capable of creating those things from a distance, and he’s just creating them near him to keep us focused on him, and that way we’d get caught of guard by an invisible thing appearing behind us.”

Kenshiro spoke out loud for various reasons; One, he liked to show off his analytic skills and intellect. Two, Kire was not near him, and he needed his crewmate to be wary of his opponents possible capabilities. Third, he was hoping to notice any subtle change in Red’s behavior or attack patterns after he mentioned all that out loud. By making his target conscious of what he had figured out, he made him aware that any change could prove or disprove his hypotheses, which could in turn lead to him coming up with countermeasures for his abilities. Of course, figuring out his abilities, and successfully employing the countermeasures for them were all dependant in various factors, such as strength, experience, circumstances, etc.

Kenshiro turned his head a bit over to Kire’s location. “Kire, I want you to...” Just as Kenshiro was speaking, he was interrupted by the sound of a whip like structure coming his way. It covered the distance between him and Red so quickly, that it gave him only time to move his eyes to try and follow the unpredictable attack as his head was still turned to Kire. The attack nearing him, moving at such speeds that the tip was just inches away from its final target. It had been just mere moments since Red launched his attack, but it felt like hours, as in this moment since his senses detected the attack, which less than a second actually passes, Kenshiro thought of all the ways to evade or block the incoming strike with his expansive arsenal, but all the variables made him uneasy, so, almost instinctively, he went with the safest, yet most undesirable choice he had.

Thanks to his Kenbonshoku, he managed to “see” where the attack would land, but the outcome was unclear if he used either his Busoshoku or he evaded it, as such, in that mere instant, he simply uttered, “Release! Kagutsuchi!”.

Just as he said that, a ghostly arm appeared from Kenshiro’s back, the hand grabbing the whip’s armament coated tip just centimeters away from Kenshiro’s neck. As the rest of the arm began to solidify, it became apparent that the limb was quite muscular, as it gripped the whip with great force. Kenshiro looked at the whip, and then back at Red. At this point, the creature could be seen up to the shoulder, and what seemed to be its head and hair appearing out of Kenshiro’s body. “Tsk, so early in the fight, yet you forced me to use this...” Kenshiro grasped his sword, while at the same time, the creature swung the whip with its incredible strength, with the intent of sending the owner of said whips flying through a nearby building.

Kire was on the ground his knees buried in the ground he had to focus very hard to hear to words of his captain and keep them in his head. He even tried to be amazed by his captains devil fruit powers but he was focusing more on the attack delt to him by Red the whip attack. The tontatta had managed to react to the whip coating his back and shoulder in haki but the mans will was so powerful it felt a if he ripped right through the armor.

The issue was not the pain but the whip and its strength reminded him of a creature from his tribe that had a tail which was hard and tough as a rock. When that beast struck him the feeling was just like the blow from the mime. When hit by the beast it felt as if every cell was on fire although to Kire the most painful part was the second after the initial strike where you must wait for the intense pain for what feels like hours.

He tried to listen to the words of Kenshiro and hopefully formulate a plan with his ideas but he could not think he focused on one thing staying conscious. His body's temperature was rising to a unbelievable degree he was like a tiny pebble that had been dipped in hot smoldering magma. Kire gripped each side of his head the heat and pain was incredible it was like ecstasy then his vision focused on Red "You bastard, I hate doing this I can't even use my KENPO when I'm like this but this pain!!!". He griped the ground there was steam coming off his body it was dense enough that it almost covered his body.

The steam was shaping itself around Kire's body becoming less and less abstract. "Kire would love to finish this on his own but I'd say right about now KIRE isn't home right now ONLY ME!". He looked to the sky and let out a scream "RED WARRIORS HAKI!!!". The steam became extremely dense as it was covered in a coating of armament haki.

When Kire was finished with his bout of rage he came back to his feet covered in a beautiful yet powerful coat of armor. The suit resembled a monster with fangs and claws. His feet dug into the ground and he seemed to whisper under his breath "rapier" as he dashed forward. The speed of this dash was nothing compared to all previous feats it was like he wasn't even the same person. He was approaching Red's chest but before he got close enough to his the man or for the man to hit him he changed his course, with one large geppo kick he appeared next to Red's ear. His two haki coated hands moved as if they were in slow motion then they hit each other in a thunderous clap.

The noise of the clap was as if two atom bombs were placed in each of Kire's small tiny hands the noise travel in every direction it was so strong that it moved trees a couple feet away.

Surprise was definitely one of the emotions that Red had felt after witnessing the actions that Kenshiro and Kire performed. The Master Mime had only been testing their abilities, and he had not even begun to show the depths of his ability, and these two said they were already using desperation moves? It made no sense to him.

However, his focus soon shifted to Kire, as his notable increase in speed did momentarily catch him off guard. He was prepared for an attack at his front, what he wasn't prepared for, was his ear. Although Red's Kenbunshoku Haki enabled him to react to a certain degree, his physical reflexes weren't able to match Kire's for that instant, allowing his maneuver to pull through.

Just before the sonic boom managed to pierce through, Red had already blackened both of his ears in a dense, causing his figure to be pushed aback considerably, but significantly reducing the damage to his ears. "I didn't expect that." Red spoke aloud, and the whips he were holding began to dissolve, something Kenshiro and Kire would no doubt feel. He performed a couple of backflips and managed to stabilize his position once again.

"It's time to up the ante." Red spoke, as he performed the gesture of reloading a gun barrel. Except, it was not just one gun, but rather, it was two. Two invisible guns, one in each hand, were present in his hands. He pointed them both towards his respective opponents, and drew the trigger. Powerful booms could be heard, one after the other.

Bullets were all being fired towards his enemies. But from where? How? Without the proper Haki and reflexes, none would know. Of course, these bullets were not imbued with Haki. They were strictly non-lethal bullets, incapable of killing. But the fear of death by an invisible weapon? The pain of death struck instant after instant? The thrill of his enemies being inflicted with that pain excited Red to no end.

However, Red noticed that something was amiss. He looked up to the sky, towards the peak of Aurora, and suddenly, a realization hit him. The messiah awoke.

“This is new. You rarely summon me for battle. You let your guard down, Kenshiro. That excitement and overconfidence will get both of us killed,” the mysterious figure spoke wth an ominous voice and only its arm seemed solid, while the rest of what it appeared to be his body enveloped Kenshiro in a ghastly shroud. “It’s because you were annoying me, as always! Talking to me in my head and driving me crazy! Man! It’s like I’m fighting two battles here!” Kenshiro yelled at the humanoid shroud of...something. As his crewmates often pointed out, Kenshiro had shifted from various “personalities” in a short time. This time from the confident, to the bloodlusted, to the insecure, and now to the child-like one, this man was truly an enigma.

Regardless, Kenshiro observed as Kire blitzed and took Red by surprise with his attack, and definitely noticed that the whip on the creature’s hand disappeard as soon as Skelton spoke. Coincidence? Maybe, but Kenshiro wasn’t going to let a detail like that pass by.

“Go back, I don’t need you for now, Kagutsuchi. You’re annoying me.” And as he said that, the shroud of ominous smoke vanished into thin air with the sillhouete of the creature with it. He took notice of Skelton posing his hands as if he had invisible guns. “Well then, time to step it up a notch”.

Kenshiro stanced himself up, and with his right foot he pressed on the ground so hard he made a small crater as he explosively dashed forward, creating a path of wind pressure and crushing the ground beneath. He dodged and blocked every bullet as he made his way forward, attacking Skelton directly. But just when he was a few feet from his opponent, he multiplied all around the battlefield, creating clones of himself. But of course, only one was real, but as before, he was moving so fast no movement was visible with the naked eye, and all the afterimage clones seemed to move on their own, comepletely surrounding Skelton and the vicinity and “slowly walking” towards him, enclosing him in a circle of Kenshiro clones. Any attack Skelton directed at the clones seemed real for a second, as they would even react as if they’d been shot. As they walked towards Skelton, Kenshiro noticed the slight shift of attention of Red towards the mountain peak, and he took this opportunity to attack. Dozens of Kenshiro drew their swords, and swung them in unusual manners at high speed. Immediatelly afterwards, they then proceeded to stance up and fire sword slashes that came at Skelton from everywhere, he was surrounded by them after all. Whatever the case of Skelton’s response, Kenshiro’s weird first swings would reveal their purpose, as just seconds after the barrage of surrounding slashes, heavy rain came pouring down on Red, but not made of water.

Arrow shaped sword slashes rained down on Skelton, enough to at least last 20 seconds of continuous “rainfall”. “Athena’s Arrows”, Kenshiro whispered, as the consecutive wave of misdirection and attacks threatened to pressure Red a bit. After the 20 seconds passed, the clones would merge into his true body, just a few meters in front of Skelton, already dashing towards the masked man, drawing his sword.

Coated in his powerful Armament Haki, which took on a dark red outline, he closed in on Skelton, and just as he drew his sword, a red beam of energy seemed to come out as well. “Kagutsuchi Slash!”, Kenshiro yelled as he fired off a red colored sword slash, twice as large as Red himself, aiming to give his adversary a deep slash from midsection to shoulder. The slash was strong enough that powerful armament Haki should be required to block it, and even if blocked effectively, it could be capable of pushing back a strong opponent several meters. Kenshiro didn’t stop there, however, as he immediately dashed towards Red again, not giving even a milisecond to react, striking with a thrust aimed at Skelton’s chest, sword still coated in Haki. No jokes, no distractions, Kenshiro was focused on his enemy...although, that weird, something that made Red take his attention from them intrigued Kenshiro to no end.

Red's momentary lapse of concentration was brought back to the surface with the advance of his opponent. It had appeared that, so far, Kenshiro hadn't been serious. While Red would normally be delighted in the ability to further torment his opponent, he had other priorities. He switched to a more matter-of-fact fighting style, refusing to make any excess movements.

He proceeded to ignore the slashes that weren't directed at him. Instead, he began to shoot only at the slashes which were directly aimed at him. While a collision between bullets and slashes seemed useless, it was the complete opposite in this case. He imbued his bullets with a light layer of Haki, not enough for, but enough that, at the point of the bullets' impact, the force would disperse across the air slashes that Kenshiro fired towards Red, annulling them in their tracks.

Red had slowly realized the true trick in all of this, as he could feel the air around him becoming denser. Looking upwards once more, there was a rain of sword slashes, waiting to lacerate his entire body.

"Not so fast." Red spoke, and the guns dissolved. Falling silent, he took another stance, almost knight-like, as if he were equipping a shield. This stance was not limited to a single hand, either. Both arms were occupied, holding invisible shields that were now imbued with extremely dense Haki, blackening and making themselves visible to his opponent. His left shield was poised upwards, blocking the most notable damage from the aerial slashes, though some did manage to leave small cuts on his body.

The true threat that Red anticipated was in front of him. Skelton Red, the Master Mime, was both a master of his own actions, and could feel the purpose behind the actions of other people. He did not need speech, for he could communicate to his opponent through battle, and that is exactly what he would do.

The Kagutsuchi Slash that Kenshiro had performed was not weak by any means. In fact, it was strong enough to pressure Red's own Haki. But that was all part of the fun for Red. The delight in watching his opponents make an extreme effort only for it to crumble into nothingness...that was what gave birth to the smile on Red's mask.

In the same moment that Kenshiro reoriented his slash and performed his thrust, Red pushed his shield forward towards Kenshiro. The collision of both forces left a shockwave in its wake, crumbling the ground beneath them and forcing both combatants to be launched back a significant distance.

Red crashed into a nearby ruin of a building, but was pleasantly surprised. The opponents he was facing were of a decent caliber. Red would have loved teasing them a bit more; prodding them bit by bit until they completely broke was the best part of a fight...but Red had no time left.

"Apologies." Red spoke to his opponents, as his shields dissolved in his hand. "I have other matters to attend to. But I can't stop you from following me."

Red leaped off the ground, and surprisingly, began to fly upwards. His speed was incredible, but anyone with a decent background in science would have realized, Red was flying upwards with the power of jet boots, no doubt created by the power of his ubiquitous Devil Fruit. Although his attention appeared to be at the top of the Aurora Archipelago, Aural, Red still kept his Haki completely active, unwilling to let his opponent get the best of him.

Being as observant as ever, this time, he confirmed it for sure. While paying close attention to his opponent’s counterattack, Kenshiro noticed that Red’s invisible guns seemed no longer to be active when he briefly spoke. “''In every attack and clash, he hasn’t spoken a single word, not even a grunt. Tsk...even if its the trick to his power, how am I supposed to take advantage of this?'' ” Kenshiro thought to himself, as Red shielded himself from his rain of slashes, although a few managed to slip through. “I guess I’ll have to inflict enough pain that it’ll be impossible for him to remain silent!”

This internal struggle happened in less than a second, as Kenshiro closed in on Red with his sword thrust, and after their clash, he also was pushed back a similar distance as his adversary was, his hat and scabbard having been flown away from him after the impact, Kenshiro finally crashed down into a pile of rubble. As if ignoring the fact he’d been launched at great speeds several meters back, he glanced at the clouds in the sky for a second, “I get the feeling you relish in this...hiding your face, and even your weapons. Watching your enemies try to figure you out, until its too late, and they’re killed by a weapon and face they never saw...Skelton Red, you may be even more twisted than I am...”

"YOU THINK SO? I don't..."

Something, or someone, answered, and interrupted Kenshiro's thoughts. "Stop with your crap and give me the Kenshiro I like!...By the way, are we doing it?!", the mysterious "voices" spoke to him in unison..on his mind. "What are you talking about?". ''"You know what I mean...BETRAYAL. Come on, don't play fool with me, you know you can't. I'm only bringing it up since you were thinking about it before." ''

"Uhhg...shut up."

"Hey! Why don't WE kill this mime freak, and...ask to join the Numerals?"

"Joining the Numerals? You know I don't serve others. And also, I have no reason to betray those fools, neither to even attempt joining under the banner of a Yonko, much less become a Numeral...Besides, it's possible they won't survive the day."

''"Well, if you don't want to betray, think of it like, going undercover. Imagine the connections and knowledge you'll acquire by joining a crew like the Xros, and when they eventually go down, you can take advantage of the situation!" ''

"Just...please! Shut the hell up! Just let me concentrate on defeating this bastard, then I'll think of the rest."

After finishing his inner conversation, he began getting up, noticing Red, had also done the same. He did ponder on what these entities told him. Why was he there? Just to gain infamy? He could care less about taking down a Yonko right now, and he had responded to Dexter's offer because he thought it would be interesting to join something like this, but what would HE actually gain? Although meeting new faces also interested him, and he did, in this case, getting to "know" two Warlords, a Yonko Commander, and two rookies from his own "generation". But why was he really there? Maybe all these reasons contributed to his decision, and well, the prospect of engaging in battle against powerful enemies as well.

Even with a considerable distance between them, the absence of sound sources on the uninhabited island made it possible for Kenshiro to heard what Red had said. Brushing off his thoughts, he walked towards his scabbard and hat, but again, his internal monologue began, but this time, no one joined in. At the same time, Red started flying upwards by what seemed to be jet thrusters or a jet pack made by his ability. “Barely noticeable, but he acted differently after that strange tremor in that direction. Now he’s leaving? He can’t stop us from following? is it a trap? I do want to follow him to see what’s over there. I wonder... I don’t know the status of the others...will they be headed there as well?...so many questions. But, one thing is for certain, I can’t let this guy go. He’s my prey...also...” Kenshiro stopped on his tracks. “You dare turn your back over to me!?”, he exclaimed loudly. Red was building up speed and distance quickly. “Kire! Take these pills. One is for aiding in the tissue healing, the other, is for the pain the first one causes, also, it boosts adrenaline 200% for a while so, take them if you need em’”, he said as he threw two round, black pills at his dwarf comrade in the distance.

Turning his attention over to the flying Red, Kenshiro slightly smirked. “The sky is my turf, masked man. I won't allow you to escape.” Even with his back turned to them, it was impossible Red wouldn't sense Kenshiro's flowing energy with his Kenbunshoku. With a burst of energy and steam, his own life energy exterted a kind of pressure around the area, as Kenshiro's muscles enlarged to the point his loose clothing was now almost skin tight. '"Semei Kikan; Muscle Memory." 'Kenshiro had released his full physical strength.

During his daily life, he's almost never seen as a threat to those who witness him just walking around, as even to those with the ability to sense auras and strength, don't turn their heads towards him, as his wasn't impressive at first glance. He just passed by as a regular, weird man. Although this wasn't intentional, it had a purpose. With his Seimei Kikan, he had the ability to conserve his bodily functions and control them. Conserving his muscles and strength, it was as if he was resting 24 hours a day, until he decided to unleash his full strength or part of it, and that conserved energy and power, would allow him to fight at full strength for ridiculous extended periods of time. In the current battle, he had released more of his conserved strength in the previous clash which pushed both combatants back. Now, he had decided to fight Red at 100%, not only a rare thing for him to do, it was also a sign of respect towards his enemy. The pills hadn’t yet reached Kire, and Kenshiro had already vanished from the position he was in, his clearly visible increase in speed leaving the ground crushed in his initial position. In the air, a black outline could be seen zipping around in a zig zag motion. Kenshiro was using his Soru in conjunction with his Geppo in order to catch up to Red.

He knew Skelton had his guard up, in fact, he was counting on it. Kenshiro arrived just a few meters from Red, while still being just slightly below his altitude. “Where ya’ goin’? You underestimate me, veteran. I’ll fight you here, and then I’ll figure out what has you in such a hurry.” Finishing his sentence, a red aura and ghastly “smoke”, similar to before, began to envelop Kenshiro. Without warning, the same kind of aura appeared just a few meters above Skelton Red, and with incredible speed, what seemed be an arm, with a hand twice as large as Red himself, protuded from the ghastly aura above Sketon. As it made it's way to Red, even in the short distance between them, a sonicboom was generated, and with a palm strike it aimed to hit the masked man at insane speeds and with unbelievable force. As more of the arm was revealed, shockwaves and strong wind pressure surrounded it as the hand struck Skelton, showing the amount of force the attack carried, probably capable of slamming Red back to the ground after the strike, or at the bare minimum throw him severely off balance, maybe making him lose control of his jet pack. But it wasn't over.

No matter if Red managed to dodge the first strike, or if he was slammed to the ground. What came immediately after, was something that would definitely impress someone like him. The sky around them became darkened, as dozens and dozens of arms, some with their hands in fists, others with open palms, rained down on Skelton Red. With the size, power and speed of these arms as they rained down, Kenshiro's previous air slash rainfall would pale in comparison to this meteoric kind of attack that covered a sizeable area. Above the large arms, an even larger "creature" had manifested itself, definitely the one responsible for this. Barely an outline was visible of the creature beyond the barrage of giant arms, but definitely the gaze of one, two...four pairs of eyes stared down Red, which glowed brightly beyond the reddish aura that enveloped the creature. But this was definitely the work of Kenshiro's ability, as the same red aura that had enveloped him before now surrounded the massive figure, and as its attack threatened to overwhelm his opponent, Kenshiro hopped in midair with his Geppo technique, right in the middle of the attack, awaiting the result, as the arms consciously missed him, only aiming for their intended target.

Kire was watching his captain quickly launch himself towards his opponent and caught the pills that had been given to him. He was intrigued by the item he was given but his philosophy got in the way of him taking the powerful cocktail of chemicals. "I'm sorry captain but I will have to continue this battle in my current damaged state, we are already fighting this poor man in a pair it would just be sad if I used this." this was his major reason from obstanting the healing advantage but his other problem was the pills were not for someone of his size. He would have difficultly consuming something nearly his whole body in size.

He tried to keep his composure for Kenshiro and for the sake of his own mental safety. The mental state he had to stay in and the amount of energy Red Warriors Haki used to be active was taking its toll on his body. He knew that the second this form leaves him he will have to fight without his haki and rely entirely on his kenpo which would be little help in this battle. "I have to close the gap between us and soon" he thought he set a limit to himself he would only continue using this form for 10 more seconds before he lets it begin to take major cuts from his haki pool.

He shifted his attention back to Kenshiro and red seeing that his captain was going to launch a devastating blow to the numeral, he had to act fast even a seconds wait could give Red enough time to recover from the attack. He squatted down the muscles in his calf's seeming to pulsate as he then extended them out luaching him forward with ridiculous speed. The dwarf positioned himself under where the man should land if the attack hits correctly and took a horse stance placing his left hand over the right which was balled into a fist.

"CAPTAIN YOU GOT THIS I HAVE YOUR BACK" Kire said tensing up the muscles in his back and arms he had only a couple seconds before his mind was lost to him so he concentrated with all his might for a few last words "CAPTAIN DO YOU REMEMBER OUR DEAL, I said if you ever became weaker than me I would leave you crew or take it WELL PROVE TO ME THAT A TRUE WARRIOR SHOULD BE FOLLOWING YOU". His body became so tense and his thoughts became blank as he began to launch a devastating blow into the air even someone with the power of Red would feel the strength of a strike like this "LETS KILL THIS MIME FREAK"

Kenshiro smirked, still hanging in mid air, as he heard his comrade shouting at him. Time seemed to slow down for Kenshiro as his senses were sharpened. While his wide scale attack rained down on Red, his Kenbunshoku was directed towards Aural, curious to see what was going on there. There he sensed several "voices" he recognized, all quite strong, but some of them a bit weakened it seemed. This confirmed that some of his allies had arrived there, and were not at full strength. "If I let this bastard arrive there, it would complicate things for them."

"Still thinking of staying as an ally, Kenshiro?", a voice from inside his head spoke.

"Yes...you see, I've done nothing but acquire great things since I left the Marines a month ago. I acquired an incredibly powerful crew, my research has transcended my expectations, and now here I am, in the heart of a Yonko's allies territory, alongside powerful rookies and other experienced ones...Why betray them now, when the fun is just beginning!! YES, WE are the ones who will shape this ERA. The Government and the Yonko better keep their eyes pried open, we are brewing up a massive storm that will shake the New World to its core!" Too bad no one could hear this speech, as he got pretty excited about it.

"So you assholes just sit back and listen to your master. I've been biting my teeth, biding my time under the World Government, learning, improving, taking all I could from them. I must say, even they couldn't control me, yet I became this powerful thanks to them, so I'm not about to listen to some miscreants that live inside me! So just shut up, obey me and enjoy the ride! I'm beating this guy and taking his body as a host."

Kenshiro clenched his sword, his inner monologue that lasted less than a tenth of a second in real time had gotten him even more riled up. Now, he awaited Red's reaction to his attack, which greatly threatened to pummel his adversary, while he was ready to respond to anything Skelton Red came up with if he survived, not willing to let him reach Aural and make the situation worse for his allies.

Red, on both fronts, was completely surrounded. There was nothing he could do as he continued to soar into the sky. His opponents had his trick figured out, but within this perilous situation, Red couldn't do anything but smile in absolute glee. "Ah, this is a lot more fun than I thought!!!!!!!" The jets were disabled with the sound of his voice. After all, he wielded the dangerous Mamu Mamu no Mi, an ability that allowed one to conjure anything with gestures, so long as no sound accompanied it. After all, what mime talks?

Despite falling down from the air, Red maintained absolute serenity of mind. Once again, he performed motions akin to wearing gloves. However, this time, the motions were far more fierce, and the objects in question felt like they had more weight. These were no mere gloves, this time, he was equipping a gauntlet. He imbued these same gauntlets, and his entire body, with dense, causing even his mask to go pitch black, as the outline of those armored gauntlets became visible to his opponents. The palm strike that came battering down was matched with Red's own fist, and the shockwave increased to such intensity that the local winds became almost galeforce, keeping Red sustained in the air as long as he needed to break apart the palm strike that sought to shoot him to the ground.

But there was another, more noticeable threat, looming above. Red could only grin internally, as he, for the first time in this fight, removed his mask. Beneath the eternally smiling mask of Skelton Red was a youthful, but mature-looking middle-aged man with sharp features, with purple hair and purple eyes. "You guys are great!!! I guess I can't keep my promise with Numeral 0 after all!" Red continued to fall down, but there was no sign of urgency in his face, he only continued to grin like a maniac. "Let me show you my true power, folks!"

Red's excitement appeared as overconfidence, but it was anything but. What his opponents were unable to grab was that Red was no mere Devil Fruit; he was an Awakened Devil Fruit user. And so, this perilous situation that he was placed in was merely another test of his true capabilities, an outlet to allow his opponents to suffer even more. Within the air, without any true footholds, Red had begun to run. Initially his steps were met with no resistance, but, soon after, his steps became more specific and nuanced; direction that did not exist were applied onto these steps, but how?!

The power of the Mamu Mamu no Mi was not limited to constructs that were on his body. While employing the Awakened power of his fruit, so long as he interacted with the object, it could be created and used freely by Red. Right now, he was actively creating an invisible staircase, in the sky. As the battering of fists ensued, Red ensured that his Kenbunshoku Haki was working at its maximum capacity. Every time a fist nearly reached him, he moved that much faster to avoid the attack, creating more and more stairs. As more stairs were created, more were destroyed, but that did not matter much to Skelton Red.

He had already figured out that these fists had to come from a creature with intent, after all, they could not possess this type of coordination otherwise. However, while he was analyzing this creature, he could feel a wave of pressure coming from below. Eyes opening wide, but mouth closed, a wave of pressure pushed him upwards with great force. The blow was dulled by the stairs in its path, but it still landed onto Red's figure. It was considerable blunt force trauma, that would shake his whole body.

But this wasn't the end, it was just the beginning. Red, who had been blown away briefly by Kire's attack, quickly regained his footing on a new batch of stairs, and began to run at a blistering pace to Kenshiro's position, imbuing his mask with dense Busoshoku Haki. Now that the mask was off, the weapon that he truly mastered could appear before his opponents: discmanship, the art of wielding a disc, akin to a frisbee, to destroy one's opponents from a distance or close range.

As Red's eyes landed squarely on Kenshiro, a large grin appeared on his face again. He sought to engage the swordsman in a battle of pride at close range, as his pleasures dictated.

Similar to Skelton himself, Kenshiro began to grin and chuckled like quite the lunatic. He opened his palms and stretched his arms wide, "You DEFINITELY do not disappoint, Skelton Red!!", he said as he observed his opponent dodge and react to the attack quite impressively. "Well done Kire!", he complimented his partner on the powerful attack that threw Red off balance. Just after Red took off his mask, Kenshiro responded by taking of his hat, and throwing it, letting it descend to the ground. He floated in midair as Red dodged the barrage of giant punches and palm strikes, and made his way towards him. The ground benath them was crushed and blown into oblivion by Kenshiro's creature's attack, turning the already destroyed city into a barren wasteland.

As Red made his way to Kenshiro, he responded by meeting his opponent in close quarters. Both individuals aimed to lock in battle, their kenbunshoku aiding them in dodging the strikes that still rained down on them. Kenshiro drew his sword, coating it in a dense reddish Busoshoku that flowed through his black blade as if it was coated in the flames of hell itself. "Busoshoku: Bogyo!" His blade coated in an even denser, stronger level of Armament Haki. He rushed towards Red with a powerful Geppo that made him reach Red with just one jump, and met his target with his blade. Red's demonstration of his capabilities had excited Kenshiro, and he wished to exchange blows with his opponent at full power, as Red had changed from a long range style of combat, and from only responding to their attacks, to now engaging them head on. Kenshiro wished to return the favor, out of respect for his opponent's strength.

The resulting clash of both powerful individuals and their will would send shockwaves reverberating through the entire island, as the rain of punches also stopped. Kenshiro's increase or 'return' of his real strength and his high level Armament would definitely be felt by Red as they locked their Haki reinforced weapons. If they clashed, however, Kenshiro would not aim to overpower Red, instead, he wished to speak to him.

Locking his gaze to Red's he asked him. "Tell me, Red. What is it that keeps you loyal to Shiguma? What is it that you truly desire in this world?"

After Red's response, Kenshiro would attack again and again with his sword, hoping Red would keep his expectation and parry his attacks, the resulting clashes sending powerful gusts of wind and shockwaves that could be felt from even outside the island. The entire landscape would be changed by merely the after effects of their weapons meeting each other. During this time, it would become apparent to Red the image of the creature above them. A large being with dozens of arms, and four demonic faces, a creature akin to an Asura revealed itself to them. Just as his demonic gaze stared Red down, the creature changed to take a more solemn appearance. Now it seemed to take the appearance of a Deva or a Bodhisattva. Each face was different, one took the form of a man, another of a woman, the third one of an androgynous child and the last one of a lion. This was the product of Kenshiro's mysterious devil fruit, the Aba Aba no Mi. A devil fruit that gave him the ability to create avatars of various creatures and warriors that he can summon at will. Even though they were his creations, they had their own identity, will and abilities.

Kenshiro proceeded to gain a bit of distance, and attacked with his flowing Haki coated meito blade, Junketsu. The dense armament took the form of five black tendrils that traveled across the short distance between him and Red through the air, and aimed to maim Red or at least cut or slash either one of his shoulders, arms or legs. As they made their way, the tendrils seemed to distort the air itself, but it was in fact that Kenshiro's will was using the wind to reinforce the speed, range and power of this attack, as the wind surrounded the Haki tendrils, increasing its potency. Busoshoku: Seigyo was the technique utilized by Kenshiro. After all, he was trained in the Haki Development system and by age 24 had reached a sixth level Dan. This is demonstrated with the high proficiency Kenshiro has with his Haki, enabling him to extend his will and affect other things as well.

If Red responded well to his attacks, and was still capable of it, Kenshiro would once again close the gap between them and lock arms with him in an even stronger clash that again sent reverberations that engulfed the entire island and beyond.

Red was observing every movement Kenshiro made, and had bolstered the Haki that was already imbued in his mask. Red flung his mask forward, and clashed directly with Kenshiro’s strike. Shockwaves pulsated violently, and the staircase that Red had made below their position began to break down. Red continued to make more stairs, as with every blow Kenshiro made, Red took a half-step back, not in retreat, but in fortification of his footholds.

With each strike that Kenshiro sent towards Red, the Numeral parried it with excellent form. His technique was strange, as despite wielding a disc as a weapon, his motions mimicked the nature of an expert swordsman like Kenshiro. His weapon, physicality, and his training were completely different, but there was a core tenet that Red abided by: mimicry. It was a core aspect of his psyche that disturbed even the other members of the Xros Pirates, most of whom were known for their brutality. Any opponent that the Master Mime fought, he would observe them coldly under his mask. When the time came for them to fight on equal terms, that is when he would turn the table on them, and every attack, every defense, and every maneuver they sought to use against Red...would be thrown directly back at them.

As Kenshiro asked him that fateful question of why Skelton Red served Michael D. Shiguma, thoughts began to play through the Master Mime’s head once more.

Skelton Red was a man who, growing up, was remarked as a genius far above others. He was a silent man, because instead of speaking, he observed and listened to his surroundings. In his mind, he thought that being able to surpass others came first from understanding them, and conquering them; he did just that. Every person that sought to teach him something, instead found those same lessons being pit against them. In a matter of time, Skelton Red was viewed as a monster.

So he moved on from simple civilians. He sailed the rumbling seas of the Grand Line, and became a Pirate Captain shortly after. With every fight he engaged, the man became stronger and stronger. His mimicry had assimilated hundreds of Pirates’ fighting styles, codes of honor, and personalities, serving only to reinforce his own pleasure while doing so. It became fun, being able to see someone hopelessly unable to fight back against their own conceit.

That is, until one day. The banner of the Xros Pirates waved high, and Red, in a bid to assimilate one of the greatest Pirate crews of his time, fought their Captain man-to-man. But it was a brutal loss. Panting, he looked up to the Golemancer, and readily submitted to him. Vincenzo did not patronize him for his loss, but Red felt ashamed that he so easily lost. It was for the first time in his life that Red realized one core thing: no man, no matter how powerful or intelligent, could ever live alone in his life.

As the last of Kenshiro’s initial attacks were parried, Red began to laugh, and the staircase he had so diligently built in the air, came crumbling down. With it, Red began to fall to the ground, narrowly evading the sequence of tendrils that came to attack him, although they had slashed the right side of Red’s waist, but it was not a debilitating injury.

“Why do I serve Michael D. Shiguma, you ask!? Perhaps the best answer I can give to that is...TO TAKE REVENGE!”

As Kenshiro dashed downwards once more, Red seemingly made a sound of a saddle being whipped. It was an unusual sound to hear in the air, until the sound of wings flapping could be heard. This was an advanced application of the Mamu Mamu no Mi, the creation of an invisible animal, and it was nothing else, but the mythical pegasus! Red avoided Kenshiro’s slash once more as he took this match once more to the ground. He could see, from the way that he parried Kenshiro’s attacks, that he was maintaining the advantage in the air.

As he reached the ground, Red spoke once more, “You know my ability, so now I want to see you despair completely!”

Suddenly, Red launched his foot in the air, almost as if his foot was burning. As he began to shake off the supposed heat from his foot, it became clear just what was happening. Red strategically moved around on the leftover debris from Kenshiro’s colossal attacks, while avoiding the actual ground. Truly, the Mamu Mamu no Mi’s Awakening powers were on a completely different level than what his opponents could predict.

After all...the floor was now lava!!

Kire was observing the clash between the two incredible fighters and decided he should help his captain, but the second his body attempted to move it felt as if he had a massive weight upon him. He was forced to the ground gasping for air, despite putting a limit of his warrior haki form, he still did some major damage to his body with little to no haki to draw from. He sat there exhausted all he could think to himself how useless he was, "My captain is fighting someone so powerful and all I can do is sit here in a pool of my own blood and die like a hunted animal". No matter what force he used, his body made no movement.

He did not see the fight, but he could feel it the mighty blows made gust of wind so powerful it impacted his body slightly into the ground. Soon he was driven to tears he heard the sound of Kenshiros hard work but knew that without his help it would be wasted with little gain. He thought Kenshiro would pity him or hate him for falling to support him in a time of need. This hurt his warrior spirit more than any sword or gun could, then suddenly he heard the shouting of Red, from such a quiet man it was a powerful scream.

Kire's mind was full of thoughts and of pain but through his clouded mind he heard two lines, "TO TAKE REVENGE" and "see you despair completely". Suddenly his blood flowed like crashing rivers as his body was surrounded by the heat produced from the power of the Mamu Mamu no mi.

"I will not be killed by this power if I die by anything..." Kire paused he needed to get up he thought outside of the box and grabbed his left pinkie with his right hand "IT WILL BE BY YOUR OWN DAMN HANDS!!!" Kire screamed as with a quick motion he snapped his pinkie completely back.

With a mighty roar and scream, Kire's "battery" had been jump started as his feet lifted his now completely tensed body. With a powerful geppo kick he sent himself flying all around through the air. He knew that if his captains skill wasn't enough to best this man then he couldn't win that way either so he decided to take skill out of the equation.

Red's response to his question definitely intrigued Kenshiro, but what really had his focus was how his opponent was parrying his strikes in a style ever so familiar to him. It seemed, Kenshiro had met his match. He was a man who had been born in the island of science, and a genius by nature. As a kid trespassing inside facilities, he had learned complex engineering and scientific mechanisms after mere observation, something that continued to develop during his life. But in this moment, he realized this man clearly surpassed his own observational ability. Red definitely could have unmatched photographic memory and motor applications, paired with an unbelievable physique.

"RED!! You intrigue me to no end!!!" He exclaimed as he plunged forward, meeting Red in a series of clashes and parries, and finally landing on the ground. Kenshiro was used to maneuvering in the air, forcing Skelton to take another course of action, so Kenshiro followed his lead. But what happened next definitely took Kenshiro by surprise, as the ground itself began to heat up. Things around him began to melt, so he took precautions and jumped back to the air, sustaining himself with his Geppo. He took a glance at his green and white stripped hat that he had thrown on the ground earlier as it began to disintegrate and melt because of the intense heat of whatever Red had created.

He took another quick glance at his crew mate, and saw him struggling from the aftershock of his intense haki usage. Whatever was burning the ground below would take a bit to reach Kire, so Kenshiro began talking to Red, in order to prevent him from attacking his subordinate until he recuperated, which he had faith he would do. "I know you probably won't respond, since well, your abilities and all, heh...but by know you know I'm no ordinary rookie pirate." He lowered his head for moment, before lifting it upwards while staring at Red and clenching his fist. "I don't know who the target of your revenge may be, but Skelton Red, if you join me, as equal allies, I will do ANYTHING in my power to help you achieve your desires! Think of it as making a contract with the Devil himself!. My crew, and my allies, as long as I have their loyalty, THEIR problems are my own!!" He paused for a moment, and continued to exclaim even harder, while the melting ground and intense heat surrounded them. "IF I defeat YOU, master mime...JOIN ME!! Your powers and strength are wasted here!...I may not compare to the mighty Shiguma himself, but mark MY WORDS, , my name will instill fear and respect to the very hearts of anyone who dares whisper it!!!" While it sounded overconfident, Kenshiro hadn't lost his composure. This speech, it was more for himself, than for Red.

He finally saw Kire regain his strength, so he returned to a more serious tone. "This is a special occasion, Skelton. You see, I hate using my powers in front of people. It's more a matter of stupid pride, I must say. Pride as a swordsman and martial artist, it prevents my from having my, "creations" do my fighting for me. And so, it's the first time I reveal my powers to a crew member besides my first mate, and the first time in a while I used my powers in combat. Luckily, only the few of us are present on this island for the time being, that means, I can cut loose for a change, and you, Red, are a worthy adversary...But, don't worry, it's not like I have neglected training my powers, I mean, where else would I find more worthy sparring partners?" As Kire was firing up, ready to move in on Red, Kenshiro wanted to throw him a bit off guard by revealing something unexpected.

He put his hand to his chest, and began to pull on something. Kenshiro seemed to be pulling out something transparent, and when he finally pulled it out completely, whatever came out took the form of a man, the same height as Kenshiro. No visible features, just a blank, transparent silhouette that resembled a man. "An avatar, Red, is an embodiment or incarnation of something. Be it an idea, a concept, or as ancients believed, of the gods themselves." Kenshiro pointed downwards, and the shady figure flew straight towards the direction he was pointing at which, strangely, was at the scorching sea of molten debris and rocks. "Asauchi, become one with the invisible burning ground, manifest yourself as an Elemental!"

The powers of Kenshiro's Aba Aba no Mi were truly quite strange, but also powerful and versatile. Even if his opponent knew what his powers were and what he could do, it would mean nothing when the time came to face them. His devil fruit granted him the ability to create and control avatar spirits, physical manifestations that embody his will, and idea, concept or emotion. Certain limitations would still exist, as for example the number of avatar spirits he can create and the number of those he can have summoned at a time, but this meant little, for the fact that these beings, as Red sensed earlier, possess their own will and individuality. They can learn and grow. This silhouette he had summoned, was a weak avatar by itself, but it had a great power, as it can assimilate itself with the elements around him, albeit one at a time, becoming a sort of "Elemental" spirit. Truth be told, it wasn't limited to fusing itself with elements, it could fuse with humans and animals, as well.

The avatar slammed itself into the ground, and a few seconds later, it resurfaced as a large, scorching humanoid of molten rock. Even if the source of the blazing heat was invisible, the large creature was certainly giving off the exact same heat as Red had created. Of course, Red only need to speak to deactivate this, but, with what would the avatar fuse itself next?

Kire then began his high speed attack towards Red's backside, and Kenshiro's avatars, the one still floating above, and the one who had just entered the fray, joined in on the attack, aiming to overwhelm Red. They would wait just after the instant of Red's response to Kire, for Asauchi to attack with a powerful blazing punch, Asura, the one above, would try and strike and slap Red again to the ground or at least a distance away, attacking with a similar barrage as before, albeit lasting just a second or two, but much faster and even more focused on Red. While Kenshiro, knowing Red would still somehow be in the fight, awaited Red's reaction, but without leaving any moment for Red to regain his composure if needed be, and would once again try and close the gap between them at high speeds in the air, this time appearing before Red... upside down? Eyes interlocking each other, Red's and Kenshiro's face would be just a short distance from each other, but well, Kenshiro's was upside down, trying to hide the fact even for just a split second that he was targeting a kick to Red's head from that position, and if blocked, a Haki imbued, five finger Shigan would target Red's chest area, while he held sword on his right, still imbued with Busoshoku, in case a defensive maneuver or a sword slash would be required.

Metallibrium
It had been a long journey of jumping and webbing through the skies before two men had finally reached the initial island of Auroroa. First to speak was the dark-skinned brown-haired man holding a lady who he'd wrapped around his waist. It seems time would have been shortened had he not made that stop at the Brothel. The event replayed in his head like a tragic event that he couldn't get over, though instead, he was happy about what unfolded.

Both the dark-skinned man and the glasses wearer entered the brothel. Wrapping his arm around the glasses wearing man, he dragged him into the brothel. "Listen, Pirate." The Marine began, holding his hand up and presenting the brothel to him. "We may be enemies and we may have the task of stopping something catastrophic from happening. But, I can't resist the pretty women! We have about, five minutes to get whatever kind of treatment we'd like!"

After the flashback, the Marine released the woman and let off a smile. "Stay here baby girl, I'll be right back. Prince Solomon'll be back in no time!" That's correct! This man was none other than Ferrothorn Solomon, a Vice-Admiral within the Marines and accompanying him was a rather unusual face--a pirate--and surely a man one would never think would willingly work alongside the Marines: William Parker!

To save you all the trouble of a lengthy flashback, I, as the narrator will summarize just what happened between the two and how they are here side by side as comrades. After Solomon decided to switch places on the battlefeild with Ernest, he stood to face Parker. However, in the middle of their battle, Solomon received a call from the Fleet-Admiral himself, Kurama with information of the attack on Aurora in efforts to take down one of the Xros Pirates' strongest affiliate fleet. He had been aware that it was banded together by other pirates, but the Fleet Admiral nor his student could allow pirates to take the glory for this. One way or another, the Marines would have to be the ones that emerged on top... even if it was only in appearance. After a bunch of back and forth, Solomon's slithering tongue managed to have Parker tag along and aid him. And here we are now.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Parker's torso hunched forward and backward repeatedly, shaking the trees around him. "I've wandered into ENEMY territory!" He glanced around, head whipping just as fast as his torso had. That Vice Admiral had really lured him here, though, this only meant he had even more reasons to surge his boot into that royal ass. Parker grinned, yes, marines had to be disciplined, so that they would become pirates. Jonathan, his colleague, had been a prime example, made by none other than Daikaku.

Converting other pirates was something else, Parker lost his grin, still searching everywhere through his own Haki. Landscape, the rocks, the water, the trees; animals, those that hunted, those that were hunted. Most bits of information went into Parker's head much like data, "ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUU," all the while his eyes bolted from one direction to another inside their sockets. Hands suddenly placed on the sides of his head, Parker stopped, taking in everything along a deep breath.

However, the last bit of information that sipped into his brain made his eyes widen and his head tilt to the left. A column of pressure and vacuum almost grazed by his neck through mere inches, its trajectory had his clothes and hair flare backward in a vicious manner, while trees and earth soared from the ground itself, thrown around and flying much like simple peebles. "HOHO!" He cheered, mouth oval. Yet, though such destruction happened, the thing thrown hadn't ever touched any of its targets, disappearing into the seas.

He didn't take it on? What was up with himself? His own fruit allowed him to take that kind of attack in... Parker instantly looked onwards yet again, trying to see if there was any piece of land in the horizon. Furthermore, he also wondered if anything else would show up.

"It is okay, Parker," Solomon smirked, easing his way back over to the pretty lady that he stepped in front of. "Enemy or not, you're also protected by the most handsome prince of the land, Prince Solomon!" Scratching the back of his head, Solomon turned to face Parker and the woman with a look of confusion on his face. "Uh, Parker.. Where the hell are we again? I may have forgotten everything when we walked into that brothel."

Nose ruffling, Solomon turned around so fast that his spinal cord nearly snapped. Snow fell over the island and the temperature suddenly began to drop. Holding his hand out, Solomon grabbed some of the snow within the palm of his head and looked upwards. A mental image of Jack Frost flickered. As it did, his normal grin became sinister. "Oh! Jack Frost is here! Then I'll kill him today!"

Parker looked sideways at Solomon's figure, lips curved down while he fixed his tie. "OKAY?! Certainly not!!" His forearms moved in several ways, steam left his mouth, this marine not only dared to adress him as if they were friends, but like they were heterosexual life partners. "Where? I'll QUICKLY get info-" White painted his very vision and enveloped their surrounds without another second to wait by, it seemed their companies truly weren't of normal calibers.

In a single whisper, Parker had become naught but a statue of ice, paused in a pose which he tried to pick something from his trench coat's pocket. Mist oozed off his frozen frame, it seemed that the actions of this so called Jack Frost carried way more weight than one could see, no surprise coming from a top brass from the Yonko.

...Then again, Parker also stood up there.

A single contraction. A single contraction from one of Parker's muscles, which stood unfrozen amidst it all, was all he had ever needed. Movement, the very act of moving acted as the opposite to freezing, which stopped all molecules in a vicinity from performing movement. Blue waves radiated from his being, covering the area in a long flash, almost like an explosion indeed, these waves pushed part of the ice away without any hindrance. It looked as if the ice was a sheet and simply got blown towards the direction opposite to the pair, substituted by semi-transparent blue. Along with it, a tremendous heat fell over the place, much like the blue energy were blue flames.

Once the flash had been gone, Solomon would be capable of seeing that Parker's figure had been untarnished. Though, his trenchcoat was gone and his torso was bare. His expression was blank and something stood held by his left fist. "WHAT-" Parker yelled in a bolt, generating another shockwave from himself, "-IN TARNATION WAS THAT?!?"

Memorable Faces
Spreading his fingers apart Solomon generated thin strings of metal through his Zoku Zoku no Mi. Grabbing Parker by the high collar on his coat, Solomon began to glide through the air like a comic book hero using his threads as webs to traverse the sky to the island that was is in the middle of the rest. "It's just snow, Parker." Solomon stated as he flung the man's body while gliding.

It took the duo about two minutes to reach the island and once they got on its land, Solomon couldn't do anything but be amazed. Half of the island had been broken while the half that remained, had become a frozen wasteland. This was beyond anything he'd seen Jack capable of before, affecting entire islands with his devil fruit had to have been an ability he gained whilst becoming a Pirate and it made him happy. Releasing Parker from his grasp, Solomon on the air in a climbing manner.

"Hm..." Smiling, Solomon placing his hand over his forehead in attempts to scout out the area. In the distance, he could see a group of people and even more floating in midair circling a lone being. Even though the distance between himself and the people was a bit grave, he could pinpoint exactly who the white-haired kneeling person was; Jack Frost. "So it's that damned Jack after all huh?" Smile continuing to grow, Solomon's hair when from its laid down position to spiking and sticking up. "I'VE BEEN WAITING TO SEE HIM FOR THE LONGEST!"

Kicking the air, Solomon darted towards Jack and the O.G Pirates elites. "FORMER COMMANDER JACK FROST!" Solomon shouted as he approached the battlefront. Once there he dropped the ground and allowed his grin to grow even further. At this point, his hair had been completely standing up and he'd taken the form that his comrades knew as Gintaka.

"It's been a while, Jack Frost." Solomon stated, inching closer to the circling ground and Jack.

Looking over his shoulder, Jack let out a sigh. "I see," He began, turning back to try and catch a good opening in the I'io del Cuore's formation but he could not. "I knew my senses weren't hazy. So it actually was you, First son of the Ferrothorn Family: Prince Solomon."

"Yes, Jack and you know why I'm here. It is to claim you head and take it back to my mother." Analyzing Jack, "What is this? Have you not aged over the years? Despite having to kill you, you looking damn good. Would have been nice to catch up."

Sighing yet again, Jack shook his head. "Think of this as a transformation or armor created through the combination of my devil fruit and busoshoku haki, I'm sure you are more than capable of figuring the rest out." Releasing a cold breeze through his skin, he continued on. "Oh, I am still a wanted man in the Kingdom of Yggdrasil it seems. And you plan to take my head back to the Queen? Can it wait a minute Solomon, as you can see I have a Xros problem on my hands at the moment."

For the first time, Solomon turned his gaze upon the eight beings around Jack. "Oh, the Xros affiliates I've been hearin' about. So, if you defeat these eight, then I can kill you?" Blades of metal surrounded Solomon's back, floating over him like rings of halos. "Then, for the moment, we will fight together." Through mental command, the blades all shot from behind Solomon aimed at I'io del Cuore.

Whilst Jack busied himself with Solomon's presence, the I'io del Cuore hovered in mid-air, watching everyone. But, therein laid the problem, everyone. Their eyes were void, surely, though they could still see, plus, they still had shape. Once they set upon William Parker's figure, they all widened in unison, jaws also hanging.

Shadows darted across the atmosphere, however, before all of them reached Parker's form, one had been struck by Solomon's metal blade. It cut cleanly across the side of its torso, prompting it to shift its trajectory and crash loudly somewhere else, a cloud of dust rose and engulfed part of everyone's visions.

Yet, when that one was hit, the remaining winced loudly, their mouths wide and their limbs arching in different angles. Echoes crossed many distances, but the I'io del Cuore recovered themselves within a heartbeat, eyes going wild once again. Their forms took flight around Parker's frame, the latter having been observant through the whole endeavour.

"Sir Bill-" They started, only to get blown away by the wind itself, or had it been the sea that washed at them? No, the eight shadows dispersed a great distance away, everything in the vicinity budged outwards. All the nature around trembled under the presence of anything but a simple blue wave, one that engulfed, seemingly, the entire island everyone was on. Waves surged as the sea quaked for a second, calming themselves down shortly after.

"-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!" Letters had finally echoed amidst the chaos, sounding even louder than the raw destruction itself. Tracing them back would have someone directly stopping at Parker himself, whose eyes and mouth were extremely wide. I'io del Cuore braced themselves by crossing their arms in front of their faces. "YOU ALL-" Parker's saliva flew everywhere, pushing not only his opponents but likely Solomon and Jack. "-COULD HAVE AVOIDED THAAAAAAAAAAT!"

Flung back, both Solomon and Jack performed an array of somersaults whilst in midair. Each of their movements was parallel to one another, evidence that the two had once trained together before and their basics were virtually the same. Stabbing his blade into the ground, Jack managed to stop his body.

Rather than turning to his opponents of the O.G Pirates he instead looked to Parker who stood among it all seemingly unphased. "Ah, I knew that face from earlier had been quite familiar." Jack began, standing back to his feet and swinging his blade at the air towards his side. "William Parker of the Monk Pirates. I had been unaware that you had a twin brother."

Lifting himself from the ground, Solomon to Parker and Jack. "Jack, you're dumb. Clearly, Parker doesn't have a twin brother, or he'd be apart of the Monk Pirates too." Solomon placed his hand on his chin and began to analyze Parker's figure in its entirety. "Or at least we ain't got no files of such information."

Silent for a moment, Solomon looked up after sensing something in the air. Small meteors of earth came crashing down from the uppermost island, Aural onto the other islands yet for some reason the island he stood on had been an exception. Eyes focused on the sky above, Solomon noticed a figure passing through the sky as though they were flying. The Vice-Admiral squinted his eyes to try and focus in on the figure.

To further his evaluation he utilized his Kenbunshoku Haki as a method of magnification. Once he did, both of his arms dropped to his sides while his mouth opened wide. Solomon's body began to tremble. But it was not because of any sort of fear. It was instead due to the amount of anger that had suddenly been evident by his expression.

Bending his knees, the liquid which initiated his Kaito transformation covered his body like a shroud. The pupils of his eyes began to thin before they'd suddenly became verticle like that of a cat. "I'll kill you!" Solomon shouted, jumping into the air leaving a crater behind as he did.

Jack's eyes followed Solomon after he shot out, yet the Black Widow had no idea of what had just happened.

"Twin brother?!" Parker yelled again, arms straight against his sides, and face stern against Jack. "WRONG! You are all wrong," Mouth still wide, Parker began to palm his chest and waved his other hand in front of his face, "I have SISTERS, not brothers." The latter hand moved right and left repeatedly.

By the next second, Parker began to walk in their direction, however, Solomon violently took flight and provoked an explosion just as he passed by. Dust and light overwhelmed Parker's figure, though, once everything settled down, he budged no inch from his initial spot, merely holding his glasses within his hands so they didn't get destroyed. "Heeeem," Parker coughed and cleaned his glasses, settling them over his face.

"Billy... Billy..." Some of the I'io del Cuore uttered while floating away from Jack and Parker, nevertheless keeping their senses over the two's actions. All their eyes wandered off to somewhere, something came.

"Hmmmm..." Parker mused, looking at Solomon and whatever he had chased, "I should go after him and SCOLD him properly!!" He moved his hands in a chopping manner, only then, he pointed at Jack. "AND YOU, YOU LOOK SO YOUNG- Ah," Waves of pressure filled the vicinity once again, homing into Parker's back side, to the point that his torso inclined forward. Some rocks were cut off their foundations, yet, this attack continued no further.

I'io del Cuore saluted. "Willy-san..." They echoed.

Willy jumped away from Parker's figure, which went back to a normal positon as steam came from his back, and rubbed his right hand. "Yer really look like Billy..." Willy snarled, one eyebrow arched. "Tho', what's with tha' body?" Sharp eyes observed the spot where Parker was hit, only part of his clothes were torn.

"..." Parker looked at Willy, then, at Jack. "SO THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DEALING WITH!" Left-arm jerked towards Willy, he sent a sudden shockwave of blue colors through the air itself. Willy held his arms in front of himself and closed his eyes, feet sliding against the rocky terrain and tearing it apart.

Leaping back to create a gap between himself and the mysterious group known as I'io Del Cuore, Jack slid his foot across the ground kicking up the ice behind him in attempts to stop himself. Sword dragging, he looked to Parker, I'io Del Cuore, then Willy. He wanted to react to what Parker stated, but he had bigger fish to fry.

Ice began to gather on his face and hands, though as he clenched his Himen the ice chipped from his hands. "I can't keep this up much longer, I have about five minutes until my entire body suffers from frostbite." Biting his bottom lip, Jack's eyes drifted to the island above. "I didn't think it'd drag out this long, what an unexpected turn of events. Braxton gave me the information on the Numerals, but not once did he say he would be appearing himself. What a risk taker he is. We will meet again soon, friend."

Mouth opening, Jack released a mist of cold air once again. "Parker, the main battle has been completed. Comrade or not, right now, we are brothers-in-arms. I'm sorry to bring myself to such low statements, but we will not be able to defeat this crew as of now. I would not like to risk my life, seeing as to how my captain has completed his mission." Eyes drifting to the plant of the current island, Jack lifted Himen. "Shall we flee in one fell swoop?"

"Main battle?!" Head jerked forward and then backward, Parker yelled without looking at Jack directly. "All these combatants are STILL out there," For a moment, both his eyes burst into red, "The fight is not OVER." There were just too many auras in many places at once, surely, even if part of the combatants was to leave they would be chased by their opponents. If those opponents didn't do that, Parker would simply have them do it.

Before Parker took a step, Willy's voice ringed in their ears. "AS'F I'D LET YE' GO."

Turning around, Parker opened his mouth. "I-"

Rumble, the ice-covered island shook when something crashed in the vicinity of Jack's fight, shutting everyone up, their eyes wide and ready. "See?" A voice said from the icy dust, many silhouettes barely visible within it. "He looks just like ye'," The same voice spoke, pertaining to a bearded figure, none other than Billie. Blood dripped over his face. "Ye' fuckin' bitch," Billie roared at Willy, whom kicked him earlier.

"B-Billie, don't be s-so h-harsh on 'im," Another one came through, voice deep and rough. Stepping out of the dust was Bill himself yet again?

Eyes heavied upon Parker and Jack. "I agree, Billie." Yet another voice spoke, the last figure walking out of the mist. Face exactly like Parker's, Billy held a gunsword and pointed it at Jack and Parker, "And I agree as well, Willie," He told the Bill look-a-like, though he looked not at him.

"Tch," Willy grunted, hair falling over his face.

There, before Jack and Parker stood the Quattro Temporali, and much behind, floating, were the I'io del Cuore, the entire crew known as the O.G Pirates. Each of the four harbored a bounty of 130,000,000, while the I'io del Cuore bore a collective amount of 160,000,000. A green shade plagued and flew through the atmosphere, released by all of the aforementioned individuals.

Lips curved downward, Parker's eyes burnt into the group. Wind currents blew and the ground threatened to erupt, Parker took a single, slow-motion, step forward, figure surrounded by a blue aura and eyes shining the same color. "You go on, Sub-Zero," He muttered, fingers stretched and veins apparent over his frame. Gaze over Billy, Parker spoke yet again, hair flaring, "...I don't get this joke, explain it before I RUIN your show." Everything beneath or close to his figure shook, the atmosphere going from a green tinge to blue, Parker's eyelids began to descend. "Until I blink."

"S-So h-h-hostile..." Willie trembled, figure so large that peebles shook beside him.

"Uncourt..." Billie humphed, eyes rolling inside their sockets.

"...Dangerous." I'io del Cuore blurted in unison.

Billy's hair flared as well, though, only in the direction opposite to the aura emitted by this look-a-like of his. Parker's eyes were already half-lidded. "Ye' do look like me..." Billy's expression went unchanged, albeit the grip on his weapon tightened, it was pointed at Parker, "Are ye' another of Captain's...?"

"Must be, must be," I'io del Cuore echoed, one after the other, they all had their arms crossed. Then, one hand from each rose to cup their chin, "Though," Eight pair of eyes set upon Parker, "Which part, which part?"

"TIME'S UP!" Parker's yell had the I'io del Cuore's and Temporali's eyes almost jumping off their skull, whereas Parker's eyes had both closed. A blue stream pierced through. Each group split itself to the right or the left, narrowly avoiding a push of... air? An air ring exploded before Parker, though, yet again, his body budged not. "Hmph." Actions, some simple, some complex, yet, with consequences nevertheless. Parker wielded the power to make one the other, to show people how fickle they were if they thought they could get away with the smallest of things.

White and brown erupted from the ground, the force of Parker's double blink tearing through the rocky forest behind everyone, rumbling even louder than before completely filled the entire island. Cracks littered the island and broke open the stone forest, snow flew even higher akin to clouds, the strike finally reached the end of the island and exploded into the ocean, provoking waves to go offwards. Surely, the mixed cloud that rose along the path could be seen even from outside the island.

Ignorant to the exchange between Parker and the O.G. Pirates, Jack struggled to even keep his eyes opened. The ice covering his body began to chip and shatter, reverting him back to his original appearance while he dropped down to one knee. Using the ice to slide across the ground, Jack threw himself a distance away from the battle to recollect his thoughts. While he couldn't be of much use to Parker currently, the least he could do was wait until his body could get back into a state of battle.

"Well, this is unfortunate," Jack uttered to himself, wiping his face with his hand before his blade shattered into a million pieces of ice. "I'll do what I can to provide support from a distance, but my direct involvement will not be happening for now." Stomach bubbling, Jack used that same hand to grip his gut. "Oh no, the ice cream from earlier and starting to get to me..." Spitting to his side, Jack looked up at the sky above. "Curse my lactose intolerance."

Drowsy Anger
As Hecate began to make her way to the uppermost island of Aurora, Aural, the body of Amaka also floated upwards. Instead, however, it moved at almost ten times Hecate's speed and reached the island before the Warlord had even gotten fifty meters away from Drecal.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE. This word could be heard three times on the island of Aural in the large castle. The very castle shook before one of its corridors crashed and crumbled. "Where the fuck is Bill!" A gigantic man shouted, roaming through the hallways of the castle smashing each and every wall he walked past. "MAAKA!" He shouted, clapping his hands together sending shockwaves throughout the castle. Upon closer inspection, one would notice the man had his eyes closed the entire time, with a small bubbled deflating and inflating from his nose. It was clear that the man had been asleep, yet someone managed to maintain his consciousness.

"Well damn." A voice relayed, stepped in front of the giant man. He took the appearance of a green and stood tall in front of the sleepwalking man. "It seems da' captains begun sleepwalkin'. That means he's drowsy.. Did Maaka really get defeated?" Footsteps tapped against the foundation of the castle, small golems quickly surrounded the Fishman and the larger bald man before him.

Each of the golem soldiers held their hands up at the giant man, ready to blast him upon command. "We are ready on your command, Numeral II, sir!"

Holding his hand up, the Fishman signaled for the golems to lower their weapons as he stepped before them. "I keep tellin' ya mindless golems, just call me Flounder!" The man clapped more and then he punched forward at Flounder, causing an explosion to engulf the area and nearly blow one half of the castle away. Once the debris cleared, Flounder stood firm holding the man's punch in both of his hands. Pulling his right fist back, Flounder thrust forward at the man but didn't make contact with him. In that very moment, a force of water vapor attacked him sending him crashing into one of the few remaining nearby pillars.

"Ahh..." Flounder sighed, dropping his face into the palm of his hand. "Where the hell is Bill?" Though, just before he could finish, the body of Amaka came flying through the wall and crashed right beside Flounder. The two fragments that were once in Amaka's body merged with the man who'd been knocked back by Flounder, yet he still managed to stand on his feet.

"Well damn," Flounder began, "Seems Captain' still standin' even after a strike from da' ."

Hecate wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the reason for Amaka being able to outspeed her was a single one: Hecate was conserving energy for the next fight. The attach she had landed against Maaka had drained her stamina to a notable degree, and she knew that the opponent above was someone even stronger. She couldn't afford to rush forward.

When she finally reached the island of Aural, Hecate noticed that a number of elites stood before her. Buster D. Amaka, Numeral II of the Roman Numerals, and most importantly, the leader of this entire crew: Gambi D. Vincenzo.

"The boss fights are all here!" Hecate exclaimed, announcing her arrival. A tingle went through her body as the killing intent of all the Pirates in the area focused on her. "Ahhhh, it's time to have fun!!!"

Flounder's body turned in a complete one hundred and eighty-degree spin at the arrival of Hecate, despite him being able to sense her long before she'd arrived. Eyes laying upon her, he chuckled ever so slightly before shaking his head left and right. "It's sad that ya' had to do what ya' did," Flounder stated, continuing to nod his head while sucking his gums. "The boss gonna' wake up and it ain't gonna' be pretty for ya-"

The ground began to shake and the bald man Flounder had been referring to as captain let out a yawn. "Ahhhhhhh" He stretched his arms like a newborn waking from a nap. Grounding still shaking, a shockwave emitted from his yawn with a wave and burst of brown energy stretched across Aural in its entirety. Things in the immediate area that wasn't the element of earth and rock instantly transformed into it. Rubbing his eyes, he finally opened them only to reach a fuzzy image of Flounder and Hecate in the distance.

Almost instinctively he looked to his right and there laid the body of Amaka, his one, and only lovely daughter. He scratched the back of his head and smiled, "YOSOSOSOSOSOSO!" Laughing, he stretched once more before dropping down to one knee.

"Welp, now that you're awake Captain' Vince, I'd like for ya' to kno' she's tha' one who took down lil' Maaka!" Turning, Flounder walked over to Vince and leaned up against the remainings of the wall.

This man was Gambi Vincenzo, Captain of the Golem Pirates worth at least 600,000,000, the father of Buster D. Amaka and relative of plenty of more well-known figures in the world. Holding his palm out, a fragment appeared in the palm of his hand. "Yeah, Yososososo, I already knew. Maaka's fragment told me. Though, if ya' saw there were formidable opponents," Dropping to one knee, he touching the left side of Amaka's chest resting the palm holding fragment against her breast. A weird exchange between father and daughter. "Why didn't ya wake me up, Flounder? I would've given her the other fragment."

Sighing, Flounder's shoulders hunched. "Captain', the groups led by a damn seventeen-year-old, who ain't been a pirate for a year yet. How da' hell we supposed to know he was trouble. Plus, he kinda' bought some of tha' Yonko commanders along with 'em and some other formidable Pirates like this one 'ere."

"Wow," Vince began, "Maaka must've been worn out after tha' mission at Gula, she did conquer it correct? She did return a day ago, so she probably ain't at full strength." Standing back to his feet, Vince gripped his forehead with his giant hand. Now I've got a headache. Where tha' hell is Bill? I need my medicine. Gah," Sighing heavily, Vince surveyed Hecate. "YOSOSOSOSOSO," he laughed. "You look a lot like Date! Aww how I miss her! If only she would have been born to me and not Victor! Then she'd been able to be my daughter.. but I had to settle for her being my niece. YOSOSOSOSO!! Which're you?"

"Hecate, a Warlord, Captain'."

"Right, Hecate! YOSOSOSOSO!" Facial expression completely erasing from his gigantic smile, Vince glared upon her figure. "Too bad you hurt Maaka..." Ground quaking once more, in a single breath, he disappeared from his position only to reappear directly in front of Hecate. Without an inch of breathing room, Vince gripped Hecate's face with his giant hand lifting her off of the ground. Flashbacks of war flickered in Vince's head. This very position of holding his foe by the face and lifting them off the ground happened plenty of times in the past.

Balling his free hand into a fist, it shrouded itself in the black armor of Busoshoku Haki before swiftly changing to a brown color. Thrusting forward, Vince smashed against Hecate's abdomen punching her in her stomach. The sheer force behind the strike caused yet another one of his shockwaves to be born. Now, every wall within the castle had broken down and collapsed atop the gigantic structure's foundation. Wails from golems and human maids could be heard all over the building, but Vince had no care for them at the moment, or at least in that strike alone.

Normally, the men Vince had fought on the battlefield only had two ribs for him to break, but because Hecate was a woman--or so he thought--she'd find all three of them broken. Pulling his fist from her midsection, Hecate coughed up a mixture of blood and saliva as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, but the Captain wasn't done just yet.

Hand still gripping Hecate's face, Vince violently slammed her into the ground he stood on with the might of seven gods. A force so tremendous that his will exerted itself in the same wave of brown energy as before. As her back made contact with the ground, it caved in and shattered underneath her cracking down to the very core of the island until the island broke into two halves and shifted becoming uneven to the other. Aural had basically become two separate lands rather than one.

"Sheesh, Captain.." Flounder stated, turning walk towards Amaka lifting her body from the ground and holding her like a newlywed. "It's best I grab da lady, cuz ya' gonna destroy her body in ya' wake. Ya kinda' scary when you've just got done sleep walkin'." Facing to now see an unconscious and bleeding Hecate, he shook his head. "She was still a lady Captain', ya may have taken it too far."

Pupils turning brown, Vince gripped his forehead in paid once again. "No one will touch my Maaka and get away with it. I don't care who it is. I planned on lettin' the Numerals handle the intruders alone, but I don't wanna take any chances. We don't need Shiguma with worries."

Walking to the side of Hecate's body, Vince held his hand up and the rubble began to lift and form into a makeshift seat. Something akin to that of a throne that a king would sit at. "Captain, Captain, Captain!" The seat spoke, forming both eyes and a mouth. Still holding his head, he ignored the seat's calls and sat in it.

Lifting his leg, he propped his foot on top of Hecate's abdomen. "Gather the rest of the Numerals, I ain't gonna' play, yososososo... I'm taking the soul fragments from each of the Commanders and throwin' em into the Numerals and Amaka, but her soul fragment'll take some time to be reusable. It still ain't recovered from Gula. We'll fight on Aural, against each of 'em. Allow 'em all access." Walking over to Vince, Flounder placed Amaka onto the man's lap. "Ya sure 'bout that Captain'? Bringing the fight to the Royal Capital? Ain't no pushovers Captain' and when Bill comes to give ya medicine, ya gonna destroy half of Aurora in ya battle."

"Anyone who's willin' to hurt my little Maaka, should feel my full quake, yososososo... I shouldn't have to fight much though, Bill can call up the O.Gs, they can handle these punks fine."

Flounder sighed, "I dunno' 'bout that, Captain'. Tha' O.G Pirates are kinda' fightin' their own battle against one of them damned Yonko Commanders. He doin' kinda well for 'imself too, he got that ice power. I think it's that kid from tha' old land Yggdrasil."

"Ice.. wait whaddya' mean being held up by him. The O.Gs?!?! Maybe, just maybe the Mime Pirates.. Maybe he could hold those off, it ain't no way he's holding off the O.Gs..." Roaring with anger, Vince smash his hand against the rest of the chair releasing yet another shockwave. "BILL!" He shouted once more, almost as though he were demanding the man's presence before him.

On the sea somewhere near Aurora's archipielago...

A figure floated in midair over the seas, his eyes rested upon the two Marines vessels that seemed to been going along the same path he'd been following. "It'd be bad to have this many Marines to show up, even I may have a tough time getting out of this considering I came alone." His eyes continuously swapped between the two vessels that rode the waves. Both were filled with Marine soldiers from the front deck all the way to the back, however, once seemed to have been housing a giant. "Oh, I think I've made my decision..." The figure thought to himself.

Meanwhile, on the Marine ships, both vessels had been in the middle of their briefings. Marine Commodore Bigdwun stood firm on the railing of the left shift, as he spoke to the rest of his soldiers. Some were ranked the same as him while many others were ranked underneath him. "That is all!" He wrapped up, grabbing his cigarette from his mouth and flicking it into the sea.

Though, as he would leap down from the railing, he would find it rather hard for him to keep his balance. Both boats rocked and swayed and that was all thanks to the violent waves that had come from out of nowhere. Both ships smashed against each other as their helmsmen did what they could to keep all damage to a minimum, but even they lacked the ability to fight against the force of these waves. "Ahhhh!" Many soldiers shouted, flipping over the ships and falling into the sea. Bigdwun looked to his right and the ship that was there found itself shadowed by a spirally wave of water. The giant of the shadowed ship stood to his feet, nearly causing the entire ship's front to dive into the sea.

"No need to fear comrades, I, Stevens Orobio am here!" The giant shouted, pulling his dial blade from his hip and holding it up at the wave. Pressing against the button on the dial a blade of wind formed and replaced the metallic structure. With a single siwpe, he cut the wave right in the middle to allow it to pass over the two ships. However, just before the wave would merge back with the rest of the sea, it reformed into its wave form and completely changed its path covering the ship once again and landing right over it.

The force from the wave completely flipped the ship, leaving some Marine soldiers swimming from their lives while others simply drowned due to possessing devil fruit powers. "Commodore Bigdwun, I've acquired a target in the distance." A man stated sitting atop the mast of the Marine vessel holding a sniper rifle. "Exact knowledge of the target is unknown, but his appearance seems striking similar t-" before he could relay the message in its entirety, a pebble headed right down the sight of his sniper smashing against it and knocking the man from the mast.

"Ban!" A dark skinned girl called out, rushing to the Marine's side and lifting him up. "Are you okay?" Nodding his head, Ban lifted his sniper and flung it across his back. "Yes, Payton, I am okay. But, the target has managed to escape. Mission failed." "Good," the figure stated, flying across the seas. "That should be more than enough time."

Leaping through the atmosphere was a large figure, adorned in purple clothing fit for a veteran pirate. Shortly before their trajectory shifted towards the broken castle, an object flew off their pockets, he gave it a look, only to gasp as his body hit solid stone.

Even then, laughter came from him, "BIRURU!" Finding himself next to Vincenzo, whom called him, he looked to be the man himself, Willahelm Bill. Aura naturally leaked around all living beings, those who could wield haki could effectively see it in its normal form, yet, were Vince to glance at Bill, he would notice how his aura was faint.

"What 'as't yer old bitch?!" Bill snarled with a smile, hand itching to go and grapple Vincenzo, "I'mma' short in time, blurt t'out!!" Suddenly, a breath escaped his lips and his head turned to the direction whence he came.

Something blinked into the distance, even if briefly, and descended towards the battlefield between Vince and Hecate. "CACACACACACACACA-" That laughing, it was familiar to many, though, was it truly laughter? Flapping trails were left in the air, work of none other than Qasarhog Yanbaal's barely visible white form, another of the Shichibukai.

"-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!" Yan's shots had been clearer by the time he landed upon the newly severed island, causing an explosion of rubble and dust that completely demolished another part of the castle. Before people could take their next breath, white had flung into existence and covered the entire area, shifting itself into a variety of dagger-like constructs that wildly flew in random directions. Yanbaal's muscles almost burst out of his clothes, since paper fluttered out of his very being by the instants that passed. Whatever had remained of the castle went on to get washed away, almost erased, by all the sheets that crashed against it, "STOOOOOOOOOOOOORM!" Yanbaal's voice chanted amidst the ruckus. Indeed, in but a few seconds, the walls, foundation, vanished into white winds- No, even the wind itself was completely cut off from its travelling courses.

All the blades that flew around, not surprisingly, would eventually hit the others present with a head-on impact, despite their edge. After all, beneath their super thin frames were several more layers of paper, folded into one another and compressed like a ticking bomb. If anything, they were like greatswords, flung with the uttermost power without a care for air resistance. Their ventures, be them forward, in circles, were such that parts of the island got carried along the ride, forming a distant and much slower hurricane of debris and pressure.

Bill himself screamed through the onslaught, mouth wide and pupils almost fading from their eyes, "GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The faintness of his aura allowed not for it to be hardened and focused into black layers of armor, prompting the attack to course through him with its true force. Red moistened the various paper sheets, whilst Bill's body got ricocheted around like a doll.

Yet, although this entire massacre sook to wipe out the location and damage the present members of the Numerals, the very few sheets that traveled nearby Hecate did otherwise. Calmer than distant waters, these sheets were just as heavy as the ones attacking everyone else, but their sole objective laid into carrying Hecate a fair distance from the others. After all, Yanbaal didn't expect the enemies to completely fall prey to his attack in an offensive manner. That was why he created as much paper as possible, in order to conceal their vision, hearing, and sense of touch.

"What the he-," Before Vince could properly react, a bombardment of paper came flying his way. Grabbing Amaka's body under his arm and standing to his feet, he held his hand up in front of himself. Arm becoming coated in busoshoku haki, Vince prepared himself to fend off the oncoming barrage of paper attacks from the sudden appearance of Yanbaal. "I'll deal with th-" Vince stopped before allowing his head to flip back nearly snapping his own neck, "AWWW SHOO, AWWW SHOOO." A bubble inflated and deflated from his nose signifying the Captain had fallen asleep right where he stood.

Looking to his captain, all Flounder could do was let out a sigh. Taking on the position his captain once held, Flounder held his hand out in front of himself but in a closed fist fashion. Flounder punched directly in front of himself, but once he did nothing happened. At least no immediately, as about a few seconds later, a burst of wind pushed in the opposite direction of where he stood deflecting off the paper that he been directed towards them at the moment.

Almost as though the paper were summoned by Flounder himself, they burst out violently bouncing off the wind itself to ensure their blades made no contact with the Numeral. This was through a combination of his Fishman Karate and Busoshoku Haki being combined, an excellent way to combine the two.

Lifting his free hand up behind him, Flounder pushed Vince in the chest cause the man to tumble back and fall into his chair. "Bill, get back over here. The Captain' needs his medicine. And call tha' rest of the Numerals before he wakes back up, or he's gonna be angry. The Captain's getting short temperate thanks to you lettin' someone defeat Maaka."

"O-oh, Yanba..." Hecate said, stuttering a bit as she winced in pain. "S-sorry Yanba...mind casting cure on me?" Hecate looked towards the sleeping Vince, and Flounder in the short distance. "I got distracted, because I thought that man might be a good Daddy to his daughter..." Hecate's normally cheerful expression went somber for a moment. "But he's not. He's a scary daddy...and because of that, I have to make sure Maa-Maa isn't scared anymore."

Hecate clenched her fist, and despite the extreme wounds she seemingly suffered, she had very little issue standing up once again. "Soldiers, Breakout!" Hecate commanded, as her own body's wounds seemingly became irrelevant. They were not cured, by any means, but Hecate commanded her body's senses, and organs, to ignore the pain and damage caused by Vince, allowing her to move with no repercussions. Soon after, she fortified her internal organs with Busoshoku Haki, causing her entire body to be dyed in a charcoal grey.

The Grey General had made her presence known, and she would not lose here. This was not a battle for herself, but it was for Maaka, who she had grown to sympathize with in their short battle.

"KAKAKAKAKA!" Yan spun around, hands motioned at Vincenzo's sleeping form and how Flounder deflected all of his attacks, "DELIGHTFULLY PRINTABLE, MONSTERS!!!" He clapped and rose one of his fingers, "BUT I WON'T FOLD MY GUARD!" All the while, paper sprouted from his own form and flew through the air, circling around Hecate, its texture seemed different from the ones Yan had summoned to attack earlier. They had dots and were transparent at certain spots, some found themselves using this sort of paper to wipe clean their rear off impurities.

The power of Toilet Paper.

It wrapped on to Hecate's body, masquering her wounds and absorbing her blood, it attained red stains then, but, more paper flooded over it. Hecate's own aura radiated with this paper, strengthening it, making her own. Whilst her body could indeed take profit from her Devil Fruit, it was no surprise or theory for Yan that she could suffer consequences from bloodloss should he not do anything. He simply could not allow it. Furthermore, the paper's components allowed for good movement even when someone had been wrapped in it. Though, if truth was told, Yanbaal would just create more paper should Hecate shred hers.

In-between both parties was the body of Bill, laying over a pile of his own blood, "Ghhh..." He grunted with red teeth, clothes all tattered and cut up, his fist beat against the ground. "CURSE YE', WARLORD!! GAAAAAAH," Saliva along with more blood splattered against the ground, both row of his teeth grinded together. How could that even be fathomable?

The Captain of the O.G Pirates, he who raided Dexter's group first, the one who laughed in his adversaries' faces. Bill, the Farland, Nearland, All-land, he was everything. Or... was that so? Bill rose mildly from where he stood and yelled at Flounder, "I'LL TELL BILL ABOUT'T, COUNT ON MEH!!"

Per Flounder's request, Bill did exactly as he had been instructed. A master of Kenbunshoku Haki, wherever he was had he not been just attacked by Yanbaal, he sent a pill flying at bullet speeds towards the throne seat of Vince. With his mouth being opened from his narcolepsy, Bill would easily hit his target.

Though before the pill could fully enter Vince's mouth, a figure suddenly appeared between the large Captain and his medication. Blade already unsheathed in the newcomer's hand, with a single swing he cut the pill cleanly in half. Both halves fell to the floor each on opposite sides of the sleeping Pirate.

Sheathing his blade, the figure landed to the ground revealing himself to be Dragon D. Dexter, the boy who'd orchestrated all of this and the Commander of the Black Ops. "It's been a minute since I've had to use Iaidō and I remember why," Lifting himself up, he straightened his knees so that he could stand straight up. Back towards Yanbaal and Hecate, Dexter left his eyes on Vince, Amaka, and Flounder. "This shit is complete and utter trash. But it's the quickest thing I could do after jumpin' through a ZONE."

Initially, Flounder's eyes widen then he smiled. "Oh man, that Captains' gonna be piiiissed." Cupping his hands around his mouth, "BIIILL, DAAAAN, REEEED!" Flounder shouted and his voice radiated throughout the lands of Aural, but he had been sure they'd reach the other islands as well. "Captains' still scheeepin'. Uh, he's drowsy you idiots. Get up here, there's kinda' some trouble I'm dealin' wit-"

Before the Fishman could finish informing his comrades, Dexter had already made his next move. In the air before Flounder and Vince, a wave of kunai and shuriken spun in the air. Despite their spinning, they held their position almost as though Dexter had control of their gravitational forces, but he'd had them attached by wire threads on various corridors of the fallen castle's walls. Much like himself, this attack had been teleported along with him. After all, Dexter was also a ninja.

Presence erased, Dexter utilized a combination of a high-speed movement known as Flash Step to infiltrate Vince and Flounder's blindsides. Once his position had been revealed the teen cut the trip wire, sending the kunai and shuriken at the duo of Numerals. "Stupid, I won't let you get the chance." Dexter stated, responding to Flounder's cry for help from his allies.

"Tsuki Style — Raigetsu!" From his blade, Dexter released a crescent of lightning at Vincenzo's back while leaving them to also deal with the attack of ninja tools from the front.

Without time and the mindset to react, Flounder and Vincenzo were swallowed by both of Dexter's attacks. As the metal and lightning collided an explosion occurred engulfing the area in its entirety. From the looks of things Dexter's attack had succeeded, but even he had been swallowed by the cloud of debris and flames!

For a moment there was silence. No one spoke. Breathing had been absent and even Vincenzo's obnoxious snoring had ceased. Did the scene succeed? Had the Black Ops managed to defeat the Xros Numerals at the source by taking advantage of a sleeping Vincenzo? If so, or even if not, Dexter had pulled off a rather miraculous feat and displayed skilled ninja abilities!

But, before the group could even think about celebrating, the ground began to shake ever so slightly. Though as time passed, the shaking went from harmless to violent. "AAAAA CHOOOOOOO!!!!!" Vincenzo's deep and booming voice shouted as the man had seemingly sneezed. The debris surrounding the trio had been blown away by the might of the Captain's nose. Vincenzo's, body now standing, had been pierced all over by Dexter's kunai and shuriken, with electricity and fire jumping across his skin.

Eyes still closed and bubbling still deflating and inflating, Vincenzo went back to his snoring phase. "Gaah damn, Dexter. Ya coulda' killed me." Flounder began, revealing himself to be completely unharmed. "Luckily tha' Captain' had saved me! Even though ya' got skill, I think you took the position as an Admiral too early."

"A Pirate can't be an admiral," Dexter responded, revealing to still be the same position as before.

Flounder chuckled, "Oh!" Kneeling down, he lifted something from the ground and flicked it into Vincenzo's mouth. "But on tha' contrary, Admiral Dexter! By all technicalities, ya an Admiral too! Since tha' World Government is classifying tha' little gang ya got with Blumenthal Gerhard a "crew", that'd make ya tha' captain. Then ya organized this little group ya got. It has Pirate crews too. And then," he pointed his scaley finger at Hecate and Yanbaal. "These two're Warlords, they got ships too. Oh and Jack Frost is flyin' the Black Widows Flag, but tha' ships followin' had the Jolly Roger of tha' Frostbite Pirates. And as the leader of all those other crews, ya technically a Pirate Admiral!" Flounder explained.

Before he could go any further, Vincenzo let out a yawn. "Uh oh, the Captains' gonna' rampage again."

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!" Hands out at his side balled into fists, Vincenzo looked upward and shouted Bill's name as though he were trying to power up to avenge his comrade's death. Like before, his voice shook and vibrated the entire island of Aural. Though, unlike the other times, he extended his rage to the neighboring islands. Drecal, the island that Maaka had been tasked with floated upwards passing by Aural and rested in the sky over them. Because of the island's size, it had completely shadowed Aural removing the sun from above and leaving the nation with nothing but darkness.

Unbeknownst to his drowsy and angered self, Vincenzo's body had turned completely black--evidence that he'd utilized vulcanization--before a sudden burst of repulsion released from his body throwing the lightning, fire, and ninja tools out and off of his skin.

A wave of brown energy summoned by Vincenzo spread across the collapsed castle like a shockwave once again, but why?

"What the?!" Dexter fixed his foot and leaping backward though before the gap between himself and Vincenzo could get too big, the bald Numeral reached out and grabbed the teen by his hoodie.

Still sleeping, Vincenzo gripped Dexter's jacket tightly. "Bill," he said the man's name calmly for the first time. Fist lifting, he punched right into Dexter's gut. The ground he stood on caved in from the sheer force behind his strike "MEDICINE!" He ended, demanding his medicine once again.

"GAH!" Dexter expressed, blood and saliva mixing as they escaped from his mouth due to Vincenzo's strike. "Fuck you," Dexter cursed Vince. "Imma' take yo big ass with me!" Mustering the strength to clench his sword, Dexter pulling his sword up and tossed it into the air slightly.

Holding his palm out, he commanded his hand to be coated in haki and pushed his palm against the end of his blade's hilt. He then enhanced his vision further with Kenbunshoku Haki and closed one of his eyes to get a perfectly aimed shot at Vincenzo's heart. "Ryūkiba Style — Ryūtsume!" He shouted, imbuing his own will into the strike forcing the blade to rotate rapidly and the wind to gather around it and compress into the shape of a dragon's claw.

The precision of his attack couldn't have been any better despite taking one of Vincenzo's strikes. As the tip of the sword drilled into Vince's body, however, it'd simply continue to spin without penetrating. Stepping forward, Flounder grabbed the blade and stopped its rotation utilizing haki to minimize the cuts he'd take from stopping a spinning blade.

Laughing, Flounder brought the blade away from Vince's chest and out in front of him. "Good thing the Captain' managed to use haki, or this fat fuck would be dead about now." Placing Amaka onto Vincenzo's shoulder, he stepped around his Captain who'd been holding Dexter by his jacket in the air. "Come on Dexter, ya can't supply me with the tools to kill ya with. Ya' makin' the game too easy." Without warning, Flounder drove the sword into Dexter's side.

"Aaaaah! Argggg!" Dexter screamed in pain as Flounder dug the blade deeper and began to move it around in side of him.

The Fishman smiled as he took the blade out of Dexter and slung the blood off of the blade onto the ground. "Ah, that style of fightin', ya get that shit from that Samurai from Wano, aye?"

Panting and fighting for breath, Dexter lifted his sweating head to look at Flounder. For a moment he sized Flounder up and then smiled. "Yoshitsune would kill you." The teen claimed, letting out forced laughs but he could not hide his pain from these war veterans.

Parallel to Dexter, Flounder laughed as well. "Ya wanna know somethin?" With his free hand, the Fishman removed the ornament hanging around his neck to the side. By doing so, he revealed a large wound across his neck. "Tha' bastard almost killed me. His skill and those swords are a dangerous combination. Tha' fucker didn't tell me his swords could perform tricks. He'd already been cutting me up with a normal katana, but when he started usin' that power, a single swing allowed him so nearly separate my head from my shoulders and basically slit my throat. I'd like to avoid fightin' that fucker again for now, but I need somethin' as leverage. Your life should suffice!"

"Haha," Dexter laughed, smiling.

Flounder lifted his eyebrow. "Tha hells so funny?"

"I don't know if yo dumb ass knew or not, but Tenrairyu is a cursed blade. Bite 'im girl." The ninja smiled and once he commanded so, the blade sparked with electricity before instantly spiking in voltage and completely electrocuting Flounder.

Falling to the ground, Flounder screamed out in agony and pain flopping on both his sides body and cells completely fried from the blade's discharged electrical surges. From the Warlords' and Dexter's point of view, Flounder looked like a mutated fried fish ready to be eaten.

"You weren't the target, but it ain't never a good idea to touch Tenrairyu. I tell people all the time that she's cursed, even I am not immune to her effects, I've just gained somewhat of an immunity to 'em. But in your case, she's your natural enemy. Fuckin' dumb ass." Dexter ended, flowing fade in and out of consciousness as his side continued to leak blood.

Witnessing that entire affair were the keen eyes of the Shichibukai. While Yanbaal was no doubt scouting for new talent within the Shichibukai's ranks, Hecate was noticing just one thing: "Hey, Yanba, he's strong!"

An eagerness rose within her as her wounds began to be sealed by Yanbaal's paper. "Ah, let's go Yanba!" Hecate smiled, and dashed forward to rescue Dexter from the clutches of their opponents. As he began to fall down from the loss of blood, Hecate rescued him in the nick of time, carrying him like he were a princess, and subsequently moving backwards to a safer position.

"Hey, Yanba, make sure to use toilet paper on him!" Hecate said eagerly, "Hey Dex-Dex! You did good there!"

Falling into Hecate's arms, Dexter scandalously snuggled himself into Hecate's breast. Though they were not as big as Thotiana's, he had been grateful for them and their comfort kept him from falling unconscious. Looking up, his face had been void of any expressions. He had enough of a battle trying to keep himself awake, so he couldn't waste energy on expressions.

"AAAAH SHOOOOO, AH SHOOOO..." Vincenzo continued to snore but did not remain idle. Running over to Dexter and Hecate with a single kick at the air he reached the duo. "BILL WHERE THE FUCK IS MY MEDICINE?!?!" He shouted, hand over his head ready to crush both Dexter and Hecate with a single strike.

Lifting his hand, Dexter pushed against Hecate's chest above her breast to ensure he didn't damage them while he pushed her away from him leaving only himself in range of Vincenzo's strike. "ZONE!" He muttered, quickly creating a dome to cover himself, Vincenzo, Flounder, and Amaka. "Hover," followed by the snapping of his fingers, which caused the gravity within the area to shift to zero. Vincenzo's giant body lifted causing him to miss his attack.

Vincenzo snored, even though his body and been floating aimlessly in the atmosphere he still couldn't wake up. However, it did not stop him from unconsciously making decisions. Despite not making contact with the ground, it shook and a shockwave of his will spread across the fallen castle for the umpteenth time. The broken earth began to gather in various areas forming into Golems all thanks to Vincenzo's devil fruit ability.

His command reached to the moved Drecal which rested above the Pirates. Had they simply looked up they'd noticed that chunks of the island broke apart and dropped down from the sky. As the chunks of earth fell they formed into Golems, landing onto the islands lower like a wave of soldiers.

Fingers snapping once again, the gravity returned to normal and the three Numerals fell to the ground. Turning his head so hard that his neck nearly broke, Dexter screamed out to Hecate and Yanbaal. "Kill him now!"

"KAKAKAKA, ALREADY THERE!!" On a curved rush, Yan bent the air around him and circled through everybody like some sort of ghost, wailing not behind their backs, but in front of their very frames. Surely, his smile flashed on their vision even if only for a moment, after that, paper followed yet again, blooming like hyper growing flowers amidst a plain field. However, whatever bees or other insects these flowers would attract... would surely regret ever going there.

From these groups of flower-like papers, extremely small papers floated nigh and through all angles. Instead of like earlier, however, they fluttered and meshed in with the air itself, "Poison..." Yanbaal's lips moved in after-images, shining purple eyes staring down upon everything that stood in his way, "...Ivy!" Tiny blades formed out of each paper and hid under the biggest sheets, the latter of which travelled all over the place, just like before. Grass, soil, people, even the sun itself was obscured from the island once the calm before the storm was murdered.

Yanbaal smiled, truly, he had been in quite an odd vibe recently. Had that been because of how Hecate was? He didn't know for sure, he didn't care at that moment, his teeth flashed whiter than the paper he summoned. Hecate herself would not be bothered by this new swarm, for, the paper covering her would provide her with insight through this storm.

Still, it was not as if Yanbaal was going easy, he knew she didn't like that. He was just... His eyes had been dead set upon their enemies, his true targets. Surely, though maybe not, they would find themselves questioning why he would even attempt to use the same strategy? For him, it had been simple. Unpredictability.

While it was true that most could see the swarm of sheets coming with their Haki, the same couldn't be said for how small and divided these sheets would be. They neared the tens of thousands, swiftly moving over everything and everyone, each one in a different direction, in a different body part, in a different shape. Even Amaka and Flounder had been swarmed by it. All of them had bits of Yan's aura, further contributing to how unpredictable Yan's attack was to be.

Yanbaal himself hadn't ceased to move around in circles, red eyes still over his targets, though, in truth, his trajectory was to end towards Vincenzo. "KAKAKAKAKA!!!" Yes, while he travelled a lot through all the paper, Yan accumulated a lot of paper in his very frame, paper that would then collide directly and pass all over to Vincenzo's frame.

Sleeping Navy
Throwing his cigarette into the land, Bigdwun gave off a final smoky sigh, his ship and the many others following it- Or was his following theirs? Anyway, they had all docked, finally. This was their time, to prove their worth, to engage in this titanic battle, survive, and follow through with Justice.

"All things set, sir!" A cabin boy said, saluting Bigdwun, who quickly leaped from the deck of the warship and into the sand.

"Good!" Bigdwun replied, only after landing, despite their distance, and looked onwards. "Everyone, follow me!!"

Before Bigdwun could take a step forward, chunks of rocks crashed before his feet slamming into the ground kicking up debris obscuring his and his platoon's vision. This was not intentional, as Bigdwun had no idea of what had been going on up above. Hell, Solomon neglected to update the Commodore concerning the events upcoming, so he'd been going into things blind.

From within the debris, Golems stood tall each at about seven feet and height and ugly in the face. Each passing second a new one stood, then another, then another, until finally, it looked as though there was an army of Golems because in theory, they were members of Vincenzo's: the Golem Pirates!

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!" Bigdwun cried loudly, quickly unsheathing the swords that rested upon opposite sides of his body. "Golems?! These must be those hard-headed assholes!!" Feet sliding against the soil, Bigdwun stretched his arms to reveal both of his swords and then, by rising his shoulders, bending his elbows, and putting his hands together, he put both his swords against one another in an audible clank.

In a breath, Bigdwun sliced the air before him vertically, generating a blue fissure-like blade in front of himself, oddly, it remained stationary. "HYAAAAAAAAAAAH!" After that, he hit the two swords side-ways against this same air blade, assimilating it into themselves. Bigdwun held them where their handles connected, swinging around this giantified blade.

This was nothing more than his signature sword style, the Giant Sword Style. His swords' reach were agumented drastically, as Bigdwun needn't even to move, pressing his left foot forward and bringing both his swords to his right. "ROAR, HYPERION!!!" Crying his technique out loud, Bigdwun slided both his arms horizontally, his shoulders firm, which brought along his mighty sword.

Most attacks would result in a wave of pressure being launched off, yet, due to Bigdwun's reach, the sword cleanly went up to the Golem's waists.

At Bigdwun's side was none other than Petty Officer, Wavecro Payton. Her skin tight blue body suit fit her body well, amplifying each of her curves to degrees beyond imagination for a teen of her age. Admiring her frame and figure was for another time, as now she'd been tasked with defending her life.

Running forward with her fist at her side, Payton punched a single fist forward. "Shigan," She began, smashing launching a compression of wind in the shape of her fist crushing many of the Golems that stood before her. "Tehō!" She'd then shout, finishing the technique's name out. Looking to her side, she'd noticed that Orobio, Ban, and Bigdwun had dealt with their waves effortlessly so she continued forward.

At the second wave of Golems, Payton leaped into the air and lifted her leg. As she did, she coated half of it, from her knee down to her foot, in Haki. Once done, that same foot ignited into flames. "Jalapeno Kick!" The officer exclaimed, sending a wave of kicked flames surrounded by a strike of Rankyaku towards the next wave of Golems handling them with ease as they erupted in flames.

Whilst in midair she looked to Bigdwun, the man how had been in charge of this platoon. "Commodore Bigdwun, I'm going to go on ahead and meet the man who destroyed my home. I can sense Vice Admiral Solomon, I think he's going up to the big island." Payton point upwards while continuing to look down, "That has to be where this Dexter is! I'm going, be safe you all!"

Kicking and walking on the air through the use of Geppo, she began making her way to the uppermost island but had no idea the terrors that awaited her.

Blood Ties
Just as Dexter instructed, both Yanbaal and Hecate acted accordingly. While she had been a woman of great beauty and sometimes opponents would see that as weak, her punch showed everything of the opposite. For a moment, Dexter’s eyes dazzling as he watched her breast shaking after she darted across him. For a moment drool escaped his mouth and slid down his left lip. Shaking his head to snap out of his many fantasies, Dexter had to remember that he’d been on a battlefield.

Still sleeping, Vincenzo had no true knowledge of Hecate and Yanbaal’s attacks. His body had been shrouded in busoshoku haki, but that had all been unconscious doing. The first thing he’d have to deal with was Hecate’s attack, but as mentioned before Vincenzo had no idea of what truly had been going on. Everything he’d been doing up til now had all been off of the anger of not being given his medicine. And for that flaw, he had been punished by Hecate’s tremendous strength.

With her fist, Hecate broke past Vincenzo’s defenses and landing her hit right into his abdomen. Blood, spit, and sweat all flew from his body equally mixing together. Had one not been knowledge, they have thought they three substances would fuse to make an atomic weapon that would level the portions of Aural.

There Vincenzo’s body laid flat, though for some reason this old bastard hadn’t been out just yet. In fact, like before, he had still been asleep snoring loud as ever, but the damage he took had been evident by his irregular breathing pattern. Unbeknownst to Hecate who dealt the damaging blow, she’d successfully crushed one of Vincenzo’s lungs.. But the old bastard still had the will to fight even in his sleep.

Lying on the ground virtually defenseless, Yanbaal’s paper attack missed most of his body simply being deflected by the man’s active Busoshoku Haki. However, what it did manage to penetrate was the portion of his body that had been struck by Hecate’s fist. Slipping into his skin, the paper shards dug into his body and struck his already collapsed lungs. Much like Hecate who’d have no idea of what she’d done on the inside, Yanbaal had been clueless that he’d been causing internal bleeding.

A slight breeze of wind blew past the area. It was like after a climactic point of a film, where there would be silence just to add emphasis on what just occurred. Think a princess being saved by a knight in shining armor in the clutches moment possible.

Smiling, Dexter rolled over to his back because from his angle it appeared as though the trio had managed to defeat the captain. Looking up at the sky, Dexter shook his head slightly. “Good… We did this shit before the three hours were up. Damn, these piras gonna’ kill me if I don’t up my gam-”

Dexter found himself cutting his own thoughts short due to the bright light that had been emitting from the island that had been stationed over Aural. It shined bright like an artificial sun removing the shadows placed by Yanbaal’s power, yet it let out no heat. Using his hand as an umbrella to protect him from the rays, the teen did what he could to figure out what was unfolding. Though, before he could think more on it the light transitioned from the island and shifted into Vincenzo’s body.

Looking to his side Dexter noticed Vincenzo’s body lifting to its feet. The light vanished once he had been fully on his feet. Both of his eyes opened and he lifted his hand to his head, grabbing it as though it were in pain because it was. Blinking rapidly, Vincenzo looked to his left and right trying to get a grasp on the situation.

“Yosososo,” he began, though not in a laughing manner. Bringing his hand in front of himself, he coated it in a pitch black haki and aimed it at the paper wrapped Amaka. “Hmph!” He exclaimed, releasing a shockwave from his hand while also releasing the busoshoku haki that covered it in a burst manner. The paper surrounding Amaka would bend under Vincenzo’s tremendous will and fly from her figure ultimately freeing her.

Turning, Vince faced Hecate and a traveling Yanbaal. Thanks to Yanbaal’s power obscuring his view, Vince found it difficult to see the duo with his bare eyes, but since he had been awake his Kenbunshoku Haki activated on it's own allowing him to discern each of them by their auras. Yanbaal’s white but warm so that it didn’t get confused with his paper and Hecate’s grey. “Warlords, Yanbaal and Hecate.. How you two have committed grave sins of lifting fingers at Amaka.” Clenching his head, Vincenzo did what he could to fend off his long-lasting headache. “Yososososo,” This time he’d actually been laughing. “You even took down Flounder! That was you, wasn’t it, brat?” He asked, clearly speaking to Dexter despite not looking in his direction.

“Don’t answer that.” He ended, releasing his head and reaching down to grab his side that had been crushed and penetrated by the Warlords. “This is all you managed to do while I had been asleep?” Shaking his head in disappointment, Vincenzo soaked up some of the blood with his hand and flung it to the ground next to him.

Despite his tough act, Vincenzo had been in great pain and honestly, he’d been moments from collapsing. With a crushed lung and bleeding insides, there was no way he’d be able to stand much longer, but he had to keep a facade up in the face of his opponents. Especially considering he’d just woken up. Though, without his medicine and the other Numerals being closer to him, fighting this battle would be rather difficult. If percentages were to be used, Vincenzo had about twenty-five percent of his full strength. “I won’t disrespect your efforts.. It’s been a while since I’ve even been wounded, so that deserves some celebration, does it not?”

The bald captain clapped his hands together and bent his knees slightly. As he did, the ground began to shake and a shockwaves burst out from his body alongside a brown aura. Stray rubble began to float into the air above him and even more chunks from the island above broke apart and formed a sphere above him. In just the matter of seconds above Vincenzo, the Warlords, and the rapper a meteor had been formed. He held it there for a moment and it continued to grow in size as seconds passed. The sound of metal clashing against each other radiated and the meteor became pitch black.

"Uwah!!!" Hecate looked upwards and stared at the meteor in sight. Of all things she was expecting, it was certainly not a meteor. But then, a face of excitement lit up. "Oi Yanba! Help me fly to that meteor! I have to make it into my soldier! Otherwise the boss fight will end in an annoying cutscene!" Hecate said, riled up that her opponents would resort to this sort of tactic.

Yanbaal's head whipped at Hecate's yelling, "KAKAKA! Meteor?!" His smiling expression glanced to the skies, a red dot seen behind some of his paper. "NOW, where is that ancient chanting to accompany this descending rock, hmmmm?!" With his shrug, Yanbaal whipped a decent amount of paper together, shaping it like a kid's airship and putting it under Hecate.

Just like the Warlords, Dexter also had a front-row seat of the meteor in the making. Sweat crawled down his face as he'd finally managed to give his proper reaction to it all. It was a bit delayed, as the teen had honestly thought they'd taken out the Numeral Captain, but all of their efforts seemed futile as the man simply rose to his feet. Sure he had been bleeding, but Vincenzo showed no sign of weakness to his opponents.

Eyes widening and mouth pouting, Dexter blink and left his eyes closed for a moment. He didn't want to believe this was real, but once he opened them his wishes had not been granted. "Well damn.. Just when I thought we killed this pira. The pira gets back on his feet and laughs in our feet." Dexter struggled but he just couldn't move his body, he'd been hurt too badly. "Well fuck, this is the end, huh? And I ain't even get a chance to drop my damn album."

“For your bravery and strength in wounding me, you three can have this. Yosososososo!” Lowering his hands to his side, but allowing one to grab his rib area that had been struck by the Warlord duo, Vincenzo commanded the meteor to follow over on his opponents. Despite its large size, the speed at which it traveled would have caught them all by surprise. Yanbaal and Hecate both had methods for avoiding damage: Yanbaal used his paper abilities to float into the sky out of the meteor's crashing radius while the plane he made for Hecate did the same, leaving Dexter there to fend for his life on his own, except he couldn't.

"Yoso Black Meteor!"

Once again the young Pirate smiled and closed his eyes. "This, it's the end is it?" He thought to himself, "And right when I stopped doin' shit just for myself... Life is ironic as hell, pira." Flashes of Osiris, Zoe, Lucina, Yoshitsune and Gerhard flicked in his head. Followed by close up images of both Thotiana and Hecate's breast.

The perverted teen chuckled, "At least I got to see those one more time." Pulling his hand up over himself, Dexter opened his palm and Tenrairyu flew across the ground and flew into the boy's hand. He then clenched the blade's hilt and held it up over himself. His next facial action would be the most iconic ever, making all of his stage performances quiver in comparison. He performed that very same trait the rest of the D. bearers did the moment before their death: accepting death with a big smile on their face.

Next to him, watching as he performed his actions was Vincenzo. Eyebrow lifting he just didn't understand it. He'd heard the tale multiple times, Will of D. members dying smiling. Who could be happy facing such a horrendous fate? It was the very reason he dropped the D. initial long ago right alongside losing captaincy of the Xros Pirates.. He felt like he dishonored himself he felt as though he was unfit because he did not understand it. Each of his dreams was like nightmares spending each one looking through libraries trying to figure out just what the fuck that initial meant.

Seeing Dexter do what he did made him all the more angrier. "Arrrrrrrgggggg, just fuckin' die!" He shouted, coughing up blood as he did, increasing the falling speed of the meteor by three times allowing it to smash into the ground over Dexter while he grabbed Amaka and kicked Flounder's away from the strike.

Upon impact, the very island shattered completely. Nothing remained of it as it's bits fell down to their islands and sea below. The shockwave of collision from the haki infused devil fruit attack kicked up wind debris which covered the central area of where the attack had taken place.

Vincenzo revealed himself floating in mid-air, wind pushing from his feet as he'd achieved flight through shockwave use of his busoshoku haki. He seemed to have been bleeding even more than before, but he did not stand down one bit. Coughing up more blood Vincenzo lifted his head and his eyes meet with two shadowy figures standing within the debris. Utilizing his Kenbunshoku Haki to try and figure out their auras, he failed because they were two beings he'd never met before. Both were strong, but one had more killing intent than the other. One's aura was silver while the other had been crimson red.

The Numeral snapped his fingers and earth from the above island broken apart once again and stationed itself underneath the now seven people, forming into a giant platform thanks to the power of his rather wacky Yoso Yoso no Mi.

One stood right in the center of the debris while another had been a bit of a distance away. Vincenzo swiped his hand out in front of him, clearing the debris and revealing the two figures that stood. The first to be seen and noticed would be known by Hecate and Yanbaal, especially considering the two had ties with the Marines and World Government. He was Ferrothorn Solomon, a man who managed to climb through the ranks of the Marines swiftly and held the rank of Vice-Admiral.

Like when he left the battlefield that held the warzone between the O.G Pirates and Jack Frost, Solomon's eyes had that same distinct features of a cat's. His hair stood up as though he'd undergone some sort of powerup, but this was due to the fact of his personality change. Even though Vincenzo had been the one to clear the debris and reveal the two figures, Solomon's eyes had been on the other man as he dropped down onto the platform made by Vincenzo.

The other newly appearing man stood at six feet five inches exactly. He wore a crimson, gold fur-trimmed, trench coat over his shoulders atop his white button down. Much like his shirt, he had white hair and in his left ear was a hooped earring. Underneath his arm rested Dexter and around his body had been broken pieces of the meteor floating around him as though he had his own gravitational pull.

The rocks all dropped to the ground crashing with great impact as though the man had control over their weight. Dropping to the ground as well, he released Dexter and the boy's body floated towards the ground safely. The unknown man's eyes were closed and once he released Dexter, took up a position consisting of him folding his arms across his chest.

"Wait you the one, huh?" Dexter asked, slowly standing to his feet but struggling as he did, pulling Tenrairyu back into its sheath. "You the pira that gave me all that information and basically had me set up this operation..."

Solomon growled cutting off Dexter. "What the hell are you doin' here, Braxton?!" Solomon shouted, demanding answers.

That was correct, the man who had saved Dexter from his death and gave him to keys and guidelines to this operation was none other than Justice's Thorn himself: Ferrothorn Braxton, third son and Prince of the Yggdrasil Kingdom.

"Well, he just answered your question, big brother." Braxton began, sighing and stepping next to Dexter. "I'm here because I had to save my little brother."

Solomon's muscles loosened as a stepped back in reaction to Braxton's words. "What're you saying, Braxton? I will not indulge in your mind games for the second time." The cloak surrounding Solomon's body began to grow in size exponentially and he dropped down to his hands and stood on fours as though he were a cat.

Much like Solomon, Dexter stepped back a bit and turned his attention to Braxton. "Wait, what the hell are you talkin' about pira? Brother? I don't know you my pira and I ain't with the weird gimmicks either!"

"Wow," Braxton began shaking his head left and right. "Look at you Solomon. you look pathetic. Since when did a Prince stand on fours like an animal. You disgust me how you are right now." Opening one of his eyes, Braxton peeked at Dexter. "No mind games, besides, it isn't my fault you were the one weak mentally at El Dorado. That has nothing to do with me. But, what I said is true. Dragon D. Dexter is my--no--our little brother, Solomon. And before you ask another one of your self-explainable questions, yes he is our brother by blood relations."

Closing his eye back, he turned his attention to in front of himself. "Also, I'd suggest controlling your haki, Solomon. As it currently stands, you do not possess the power to defeat me." Tapping on his arm, Braxton released his will in the form of a shockwave in the same manner that Vincenzo had been doing. The platform bent under his will and sunk him in slightly, the plant life that managed to be saved by Vincenzo withered away and the birds fell from the sky. Even the unformed Golems within Drecal's core fell unconscious.

While Solomon had been strong, even he felt Braxton's immeasurable will. His busoshoku kaito blew off of his body and returned his pupils back to their normal state. Eyes widening, he stepped back once again. "Wait, was that what I think it is?!" Solomon stood to his feet, "Conqueror's Haki?!?! When did you get it that?"

"Man," Braxton began, "How many more questions are you going to ask me? I did not come to battle. I told you I came to save my little brother. Anything outside of that does not require my energy."

All while this had been going on, Dexter had been confused but as it stood, he couldn't do much about it. After all, he was still on the battlefield and his opponent stood before him. "I'm as confused as you are. I don't know how the fuck I'm y'alls brother.." Dexter began, words clearly directed at Solomon. "But, Imma' save my questions for later. I still got a mission I need to complete."

"What the fuck? Am I really supposed to believe this pira is my brother... and this Marine too? Hell nah, hell no. This just makes everything like a hundred times harder." Dexter thought to himself, trying to mentally grasp the situation. "But damn, can I keep fightin' tho? My body feels like it's 'boutta tip over."

"Dexter, I thought I told you to come here and handle him before he wakes up. What was the delay?" Braxton asked, dropping into a crisscross sitting style onto the platform.

Vince laughed, "Yosososososo!" Though, as he did, he spat out even more blood. "You're the one who gave this brat the information about my sleeping? And he's of Noble Blood? Seems you had this all planned out, Brax-punk." Vincenzo placed Amaka over his shoulder. "No wonder he wouldn't go down so easy. So that's how ya' got all that information, huh brat?"

Simply shaking his head, Braxton lifted his finger and Amaka's body floated leaving Vince's shoulder and landed to Braxton's side. "Vincenzo, while you've kept your word to Shiguma, you have no idea of this woman's history. Some father you are. I sense my own father's traits in you."

Bending, Vince prepared to leap over to Braxton and launch his next attack. "THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, BRAX-PUNK. I'LL KILL YO-"

"You won't do anything, because I won't do anything to Miss. Amaka. Oh, right, you don't know do you? That's really pathetic, Gambi Vincenzo. But to ensure you'll stay right there, I'll say something like: 'Come any closer and I'll kill her', but I won't do that. Play with those words how you will. Wait," He remembered, eyes opening and driven into Solomon. "You're his favorite, aren't you? I want you to ask him about a Dragon D. Dexter when you can and while you're at it, tell him I know everything. Whatever you do will come to the light."

Standing back to his feet, Braxton held Amaka in his arms as though she were his newlywed. "It's getting a little weird here, even for me. I told you, I do not plan to battle outside of my goals as well. I've collected and done what I came here for and to do."

"Like hell I'd let leave!" Solomon shouted, "Yanbaal, Hecate, this is order do what you can to take care of Vincenzo. Leave the capturing of Braxton, he's my problem."

Braxton turned back to look at Solomon, "I'm your problem now? Heh," The white-haired revolutionary gave off a slight chuckle. "Oh, so now I'm your problem, now that I'm everyone's problem. Solomon, you should know I came here with something don't you?" Turning back, Braxton's coat jacket ruffled and a little girl came out from hiding. "You called for back up didn't you? I'd be worried about my comrades as opposed to a man who showed up here and did nothing. Last time I saw them, that giant Orobio lost an arm and Ban... didn't live to see the next day. What a pity."

"Braxton, you didn't!" Solomon exclaimed, snarling at his younger brother.

"But, Solomon, I did. They were like pests I gave them plenty of chances to leave me alone, but that Orobio couldn't miss the chance to be a hero and kept swinging that damn sword so I took his arm. And that damned Ban wouldn't stop shooting, so I gave him a close-up and crushed his face with my bare hands. I don't know about the rest that were there." Words cold but true, Braxton continued on his path.

"Brax-brax!" The little girl's voice radiated, "Are we ready to go?" She asked, clapping her hands and opening them apart from one another to create a portal.

Stepping through the portal, Braxton disappeared from view.

"FUCK!" Solomon shouted, leaping from the platform heading back down to the lower islands. "Yanbaal, Hecate, continue with your mission! I'll be back once I've secured Orobio and Ban."

Head shaking, Dexter had no idea what the hell had been going on. In fact, the suspense caused him to drench in sweat. Even then, he remained unhesitant and reached into his jacket's pocket unleashing a barrage of shuriken in Vincenzo's direction. "I'm confused as fuck, but I have a mission that I'll complete until my dying breath.

Vince's body trembled. His will, body, and strength all broke down after Braxton walked through that portal. Tears strolled down Vincenzo's face clogging up his vision to the point he couldn't see the shuriken flying his way. Rather than doing his unexpected use of Busoshoku Haki, he stood there and allowed each of the shuriken to penetrate his skin. "YOU TOOOOOK MYYYYYYYY MAAAAAAAAAAAAKAAAAAAAAA!!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs completely ignoring the fact his body had become a porcupine.

"Blinded by rage. Yanbaal, Hecate, go!" Dexter shouted.

"..." Hecate observed all the surrounding events with some level of disdain. She had developed a brief camaraderie with Maaka following their small duel, and she didn't like seeing her being thrown around like someone's toy. It was irritating her, when Braxton took her away, but she unfortunately had another job to do. "Right, let's go! Time to beat the boss!" Hecate said her normally cheerful words, but this time, there was an anticipation in her voice...as if she wanted to be somewhere else. She dashed forward, with her body once more covered in charcoal-grey Busoshoku Haki, and aimed a flurry of fists towards not Vincenzo himself, but rather, the shuriken that covered his body, from a small distance away.

The air pressure from each individual attack was a strong pulse of concussive force, which, when landing on the shuriken, not only caused them to pushed deeper inside of his body, further restraining the man's movement. Subsequently, Hecate became the commander of these Shuriken with the power of her Dodo Dodo no Mi, causing any that were still loose on the skin of his body to penetrate even further inwards with a click of her fingers. "Yanba! Your turn!" "RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE, IN A QUALITY PRINT!!" On cue, the paper that plagued the entire area stopped briefly in mid-air, only to start gathering along Yan's dashing form and compressing themselves. In that same moment, Yan spiralled through the air in order to dodge the many fist projectiles his partner had sent, and further increase the rotation of himself and the paper. "KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" The saliva that got off his mouth disappeared into the spiralling, his presence a mere and violent blurr that passed by everyone, directly towards Vincenzo. Whoever were the others that came, Yanbaal knew that the main threat hadn't changed. The paper around him rotated with such ferocity that it formed some sort of drilling snake, its tip small yet sending several waves of pressure everywhere. Yanbaal did not stop there, he couldn't just stop printing paper, smile wider than ever, an aura sipped from his very body, from his very soul. From the tip until its middle, roughly, layers and layers of blackness erupted from the white texture, creating sparks and booms as they gradually descended through its frame. Yanbaal yelled, complementing Hecate's onslaught, "DOCTOR DOOOOOOOM!!" Land was ripped apart, the air shattered offwards, and the drill aimed straight at Vincenzo's body. "FERROTHORN BRAXTON!!!!!!" Vincenzo screamed, almost as though he had been cursing the fallen noble's name. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AMAKA FROM ME AGAIN!!" He shouted, his voiced thumped through the makeshift platform he created, pushing out a sonic boom which shattered the platform that lacked feet. Though, much like Dexter stated, Vincenzo had been blinded by rage so much so his vision had been distorted by his tears and he'd been completely ignorant to his Kenbunshoku Haki.

While he stood there crying over his loss, the Pirate trio kept making their moves. After all, this was a battlefield and they came to the archipelago of Aurora to complete a mission. The shuriken that remained station in the air thanks to Dexter's power found themselves further enhanced by Hecate's abilities as well. Through Dexter's mental command, the shuriken darted towards Vincenzo's blindside piercing through his back in nearly every angle possible. Arm lifting, the element of earth spit from it as Vincenzo refused to go down just yet. In fact, the earth gathered at the palm of his hand in the form of a sphere. Again? Had Vincenzo planned to, despite being in the position of a disadvantage, decided to create yet another meteor to deal with his opponents? By why though? What purpose would it truly server, because it wouldn't lend a single hand in getting Amaka back from Braxton nor would it truly help in dealing any damage to trio before him. Rage. It was just that simple. However, despite being filled with such rage, Vincenzo's body could not hold it. The attacks he'd taken while asleep had been taking quite the toll on him, evident by the many wounds that leaked with blood and the pain he'd been trying to play off this entire time. Maybe, just maybe, if he had just one of his soul fragments he'd be able to muster enough strength to take on the trio, but he did not. And as he continued to gather earth into his palm, he coughed up a puddle of blood before him. It was hard for him to even remain focused to gather the earth, but even harder for him to hold up either form of his haki. But as mentioned, Hecate, Yanbaal, and Dexter had not been sitting by idly. It had been too late in the game for that and for Dexter personally, this was a do or die situation. He'd too, much like Vince, taken an attack that had shattered a few of his ribs and caused him to bleed from body his mouth and nose. And still, like Vincenzo, he always possessed the will to fight on and complete the mission without fail. Clenching onto Tenrairyu's hilt, Dexter lifted his fingers and uttered. "SWITCH!" The teen called out his technique and instantly disappearing. He reappeared behind Vincenzo while a shuriken fell to the ground in his place. He'd virtually swapped places with his shuriken through his Devil Fruit's power. Flipping Tenrairyu's hilt over his fingers with tremendous speed, he gripped the blade and thrust it into Vincenzo's back in an assassination-like manner. "Assinationation Style — Torture.." He whispered softly that despite Vincenzo being so close, even he wouldn't have been able to hear him. Then, a moment after, the electricity traveled from the blade onto Vincenzo's body shocking the man and by extension paralyzing him. Then finally, Yanbaal's paper drill collided with the front of Vincenzo's body creating a chain of shockwaves and explosions that shook not only the platform but the islands all around Aurora and the sea below as well. Hands in front of himself, Vincenzo tried to grab the drill and for a moment he succeeded, however, the speed at which he spun overwhelmed the Numeral's bare hands. Another shockwave occurred, though this one had simply been between Yanbaal and Vincenzo which would have sent Yanbaal flying backward, while Vincenzo would still stand. Vincenzo's entire front had been a bloody mess thanks to Yanbaal's attack and the man's pupils had dilated. Vincenzo dropped to his knees unconsciously, but somehow he refused to fall to his face in front of his enemies. He had not been dead, but he had surely been defeated. Pulling his sword from Vincenzo's back, Dexter jumping over the man and landed to Hecate's side releasing his ZONE before falling to his face. "Hahaha, I think I need to take a little nap."