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.

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.

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.

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 and 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 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 her 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 attempted at her most ear-aching high tunes. The reason was found the solemn and dour face of bodyguards, who were starting 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 jailer, 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 baby 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 than 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, Atraxes 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.

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.