| Date Started: January 30, 2021 Date Completed: April 22, 2021 |
One Man Army[]
The sky is dark. The world is still. As good a time as any to launch an invasion. The marine personnel that was headed to Koriyari did so under the blanket of stealth. They were an experienced bunch, fit to masquerade the sea while facing little disturbance. Their captain, a high ranking marine, was especially known for his services to the World Government.
"Koriyari will be ours from this day forward," he declared as the winter island came into the ship's view.
The island was sought after for its natural abundance of substances that could be used to make gunpowder. In fact it was so abundant in these substances that the world's greatest pirate crew had made it their territory long ago, despite taking up residence in the New World. This island was more than a week's trip from where their main land was located.
It was an odd sight to see a ship with the Black Widow Pirates' mast sailing on these waters, all factors considered. And while his subordinates shook with fear, their leader quickly informed them that they had absolutely nothing to be worried of. "It's a single ship. We have allies posted all around us," he reminded them, easing their nerves, "whoever is manning that ship has made a sorry mistake."
A single ship. In structure it was an oddity. Unlike the atypical ships pirates and marines used, this ship was a longship, in particular a Drakkar. Hundreds of paddles were seen on both sides of the vessel, while the figurehead of a long nosed goblin glared at the waters before it.
The longship began to retreat when many marine vessels came into view around it in the open waters. In a matter of minutes, the ship of the Black Widow Pirates was cornered. No less than 10 marine vessels surrounded it.
"Aim your canons, but hold your fire!" ordered the leader of the fleet. "We will not shoot until we have identified who is aboard that ship. We have them right where we want them…"
Minutes went by. The longship did not so much as budge. Meanwhile, all 10 marine ships were at work, dozens aboard stalking the opposing vessel with binoculars.
"Commodore! Commodore!"
"What is it?"
"There's… there's no one aboard that ship!"
"What?! How could that be?!"
It was true. There was not a single entity present on the longship. And yet the ship had been sailing as if piloted by a skilled navigator.
"This… this doesn't make any sense… we came all this way… chasing after a ghost ship?"
Whether ghost or man, the marines could not make any sense out of what happened next. The paddles of the ship fell into the water and began to grow exponentially into size, becoming full fledged longships of their own. In the blink of an eye, the marines were facing a ship three times their own.
"Open fire!!"
Canons boomed. But the winds were much too harsh. The original longship had led them into waters where the winds were blowing in the opposite direction. They were launching an attack against the wind; the winds were like a natural barrier that kept their canonfire from reaching the longship.
Fortunately for the marines, the longships were much too outdated to possess canons of their own. The Commodore was confident that so long as they maintained their distance, they could not be harmed.
"Those longships cannot harm us from here. There is no one aboard those ships and they do not possess the cannons for long range warfare. Retreat for now!"
While it was certainly true that these ships lacked cannons, what they lacked in ranged combat they compensated for with extraordinary sailing capability. The paddles aboard each longship enabled them to travel in either direction, regardless of the way the wind was blowing.
The marines struggled to retreat. Their sails relied on the course of the natural wind, and required for their hulls to turn completely around in order to face the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the opposing longships, which erupted into a sea of flames, could sail just as easily in one direction as they could the other.
"Fireships!!!"
The longships were set on fire, paddling towards the marine vessels that were struggling to sail against the winds. It would only be a matter of time now before they rammed into them, causing great destruction.
"Commodore! We're doomed!"
The Commodore could not believe his eyes. He had ordered this attack believing there to have been only a single ship. "You Black Widow Pirates… you waited until the rest of the Yonko were gone to make a mark on the world, didn't you? You're nothing but a bunch of cowards…!"
In his final moment, the Commodore looked up at the sky, which he had gravely left out of his earlier calculations. Floating in the sky, with wings and a bow in his hands, was the man he had been looking for all this time.
Mashikura the Tengu.
Flaming arrows rained from above. The 10 ships belonging to the marines were effortlessly destroyed. Flames swallowing his vessel, the Commodore refused to abandon his ship.
"Acting like you're some kind of an angel…" The Commodore was the last of the marines to perish. "...Are you saying that Legs is some kind of a god…?"
Mashikura the Tengu. Mashikura, the angel to Legs' god. Mashikura the One Man Army.
He was now headed for Koriyari, an island belonging to the Black Widow Pirates which had not been visited by a single member of their crew in years.
"Yodo Yodo no-," a shadow covered the remaining portions of a small town. "Giant Strike! Exclaimed a foreign voice to the people as an enlarged fist crashed into the remaining huts and homes crushing them into tiny pieces whilst simultaneously attack and knocking back a few of the people that lived there.
Two gunshots were fired and followed by the statement, "Dues Disparo De Fuego", the two shots hit the ground in the center of the town and another hit a nearby tree. Then, instantly after, the bullets burst into a wave of flames that latched onto the surrounding area and spread out like a wildfire causing a giant updraft of smoke in the area. This was the work of Miller Jim the Marksmen of the Kuzma Pirates.
"Ahhh! How dare you?!" Shouted one of Koriyari's inhabitants. To Jim's dismay, he managed to make it outside of the flame's coverage as the sole survivor of their attack. Dragging himself along the ground, he dropped in the front of a young man who wore a pure white mane. The Koriyarian's name was Joseph and he was peeved by the attack of the Kuzma Pirates on his town. "You're making the mistake of your life! You know that?! Do you- Gah!" He spat out blood as he had been one of the ones who took the attack of the giant fist head on.
Wiping his mouth, he mustered enough strength to continue on with his statement. "You don't know who you're messing with kid! Being a pirate ain't easy and messing with the territory of one who's widely renown won't end well for you! I've seen this happen multiple times before. Cocky youngin' think he can just stomp through and do whatever he pleases and there won't be a consequen-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the white-haired male had reached down and grabbed the man by his neck. Squeezing on his throat, he stopped the man from talking any further as indicated by his attempts to free himself and gasps for air. "You think I don't know that this island is under the protection of the Black Widow Pirates? I'm not in fear of them coming after me. I want them to know I've been here. I want to become their target. Tossing the man and swinging him aside like a doll, he stepped forward.
A woman of blue-hair approached the young man's side with a flag bearing the Jolly Roger of the Kuzma Pirates on it. "Then I guess this is done." She said, stabbing the pole into the ground and allowing the flag to wave around in the air. "Wait Kuzma," she said, gripping onto the pole of the flag. "I can sense a big soul not to far from here... It's on the same level, if not larger than, Apostle Reach's. We'd better be careful and continue cautiously. I'll spear head the routes from this point forward."
Looking to her wrist, she poured her soul into a Log Pose. "Vakne." she whispered and as if it were some sort of spell, the Log Pose came to life.
A face of seriousness, the Log Pose frowned. "Reagan-sama, what is your inquiry?"
Reagan knelt down, "Kompass, take us in the northern direction." She instructed right before summoning Sol from seemingly thin air in his "idled" state. "Sol, hover above us. Be sure to inform me of another that is out of the ordinary. If you even see a squirrel hugging a rock I want you to report it, got that?"
Smiling and rotating left to right, Sol nodded its mass. "You've got it Reagan-chan!" And so they traveled north of the island, unaware of the wish Kuzma had made would be coming so soon.
Indeed, it would be coming sooner than soon. Soon, sooner. Sooner, soon.
The meager stature of the Tengu arrived in the south to a most unpleasant sight. A group of wannabe pirates had made the shore into their turf. With a tent and a fire and cooked meals. By the looks of it they had been lounging around for quite some time and they didn't seem to have any intention of leaving anytime soon. It was almost as if they were waiting around, expecting someone to show up, which raised many questions in Mashikura's mind.
"Hey buddy, this island's ours!" said one of the 'pirates'.
"You heard the man, so scram!" said another. "And what's with that stupid long sword of yours?"
Mashikura trampled onto the land, one small foot at a time. His fluffy tail behind him held his nagamaki while his cold eyes held a stern gaze. "So which one are you guys, eh?"
They were confused by his question. "What did you say shorty?"
"Ergh..." Hands swept through wet hair. Mashikura was already losing his patience. "I said, what crew are you guys from-resu?" Far too many names came to mind. These days there were too many up and coming crews to count. And while the World Government swore they were notorious and to be feared, the Black Widow Pirates had yet to receive a visit from any of them. The truth was that when it came to challenging the likes of a real Yonko, none of these new era pirates wanted any smoke.
"The Everything Pirates? Dragon Pirates? Feather Pirates?" The recent news came to Mashikura's mind. "No, no. Don't tell me, the Hound Pirates?"
"We're the Reaper Pirates!" exclaimed one of them, rather proudly at that. So proud was he that he had to lift himself up from his chair. "You're that Tengu guy, aren't you? From the Black Widow Pirates?"
A proud grin formed on Mashikura's face. "Yes. Yes, that would be correct-resu."
"Well you're nothing compared to our captain!"
"Eh?" Mashikura's eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's right! Our captain, Umori Kenshiro, would mop the floor with you! He's the man that will become the Pirate King!"
Mashikura had heard enough. To make a mockery of his name was bad enough. But to compare him to one of these fledglings... there was simply no forgiving that.
The screams of the Reaper Pirates' foot soldiers echoed across Koriyari. Just how many more of these scrubs had made a home out of Black Widow territory?
Though Reagan had plotted a strategic path to move away from the soul she sensed, the Kuzma Pirates continued to lay their flag in each town they passed by causing terror. Screams and wails could be heard in the distance, but the only one aware of this was Reagan. She had no type of supersonic hearing, but the screams of their souls was as clear as ever.
She did what she could to keep these facts away from Kuzma, but for how much longer? "Kuzma isn't in the right state of mind, right now. It'd be wise to keep him unaware of what's going on." She whispered to Daigo, Jim, and Scubaza. "After the news of Shiguma-sama and the rest of the crew was broken to him, Kuzma has been acting differently. He doesn't even wear his Straw Hat in a visible manner." As Reagan mentioned in her thoughts, the Straw Hat Kuzma treasured so much had been tucked underneath his black feathered coat.
No one knew what had been going on in Kuzma's head, but everyone tried to figure it out. He remained to himself and gave them but one order ever since they left Gulala; The complete and total annihilation of all Yonko territory. In less than a day, Kuzma had claimed sixty percent of Koriyari and he had no intentions of stopping until it was completely his.
"You'd better turn around, boy." Said a man, leaning against a nearby building with his eyes closed and arms folded across his chest. Behind him was a pile of dead and defeated men, each was an affiliate or member of the Reaper Pirates which had been trying to take the island as their own as well. "Naivety will only get you so far.. and you have reached that thin line, kid." Turning his arm slightly, the man revealed a tattoo of the Black Widow Pirates carved into his shoulder in all black ink.
Reagan stepped forward first and Jim, Daigo, and Scubaza all stood in front of her in a unique formation as if they were guarding her and Kuzma at the same time. This was known as the 'Roof Formation'. "Black Widow Pirate," she began as she stood tall and held the flag bearing her crew's jolly roger. "Step aside or be-"
Kuzma quickly tossed his hand in front of Reagan, quieting her. "You're a member of the Black Widow Pirates correct?" Kuzma asked.
"That is correct," the man answered. "Anthony of the Black Widow Pirates. So again, I say that you and the rest of your crew shall back your bags if you'd wish not to end up like these poor men who were also naive in believing they could take over this island."
Body enhanced by this Light Drive state, Kuzma dashed forward while simultaneously activating his X Sword. In this particular moment, Kuzma breached past any of his previous speed limiters and reached Anthony in what was literally the blink of an eye. His ability to swing the X Sword in such a quick manner across the Window's chest was also astonishing. The diagonal slashed ripped through Anthony's clothing and skin and stuck right in his chest.
Blood slid down the X Sword as Kuzma lifted the blade with Anthony's body into the air. "This won't be enough," Mumbled Kuzma, looking into Anthony's eyes as his life slowly left his body. "The Black Widows have gotten weaker. What a pathetic crew, disgusting crew." The look in his eye had changed. Swinging the sword Kuzma was able to remove Anthony's body before deactivating the weapon and continuing to walk forward. "We continue onward."
Following behind Kuzma, Reagan look down to Anthony's body and shook her head. She knew better than anyone else that Anthony was nothing more than riff-raff of the crew, but it was not wise to make an enemy of the Yonko so early on. "North, North, North..." Sang Kompass as it continued to guide the crew, but Reagan couldn't help but think what was going on in Kuzma's head.
Red Snow[]
The further Mashikura traveled the island, the more he realized the importance of an impactful militia. The Black Widow Pirates were a very large and vast bunch, but the forces they had tasked to safeguard Koriyari was anything but a proper validation of their might. This was just paradise, they had thought. Without so much as a second gander they had left behind common foot soldiers to maintain the property. All the while the main benefactors of the crew continued to enjoy the spoils of the New World.
Rather than be impressed by the combined efforts of the Reaper Pirates and the Kuzma Pirates in stripping the island's ownership from them, Mashikura was instead disgusted. And yet he envied the weak. The blood in the snow left behind by Kuzma as he continued his masquerade of the island brought troubling memories to resurface in Mashikura's mind. He stopped short of his path when coming upon a pile of his defeated allies.
He was alone now. Or perhaps he always had been. From the very beginning.
The memories he had tried so strongly to suppress... they began to resurface in his mind and he could do nothing to prevent them.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He could hear them even now, the sounds of their swords clashing against one another. On one end was Mashikura, only two decades younger. On the opposing side was his very own father, the very man Mashikura had been searching for his entire life. All the risks and efforts he had taken had led him up to that moment. So it was true after all. His father was alive! And not only that, but he was a warrior so proud and strong that Mashikura knew he could never hope to defeat him.
The battle was the climax of a hundred round tournament in the Corrida Coliseum. At the command of the Red King, the many gladiators who were imprisoned against their wills and forced to fight to survive had been pitted against one another in an near endless tournament, where fighting meant killing and to survive meant to fight again in the next round.
Endless war.
I could not have imagined what the future had in store for me.
Mashikura, who had spent 20 years of his life waiting and training in the hopes of one day meeting his father. Mashikura, who had fought against his own uncle and mentor to leave Green Bit for the chance of revisiting Dressrosa. Mashikura, who had entered willingly at first into the battles of the Corrida Coliseum to prove the worth of his kinship. Never could he have ever known that waiting him in the hundredth round of the tournament was his father.
It snowed on that day. Mashikura would never forget it. His tears froze against his cheeks. And while father and son were forced to fight a battle to the death in their first meeting since the day Mashikura was born, the crowd cheered with excitement.
If only he had been weak. Had he died in an earlier round then he would have never had to cross paths with his father like this. It was in that moment that Mashikura began to envy the weak. It was the strong who were burdened with responsibilities. The strong who were forced to battle in armies while the weak remained at home, eagerly defended.
I wish I was weak-resu.
There was much blood in the snow on that day. Mashikura's mind returned to Koriyari. He closed his eyes. Then he opened them to the sound of distant voices blaring loudly in his mind.
He could hear the cries of his people dying in silence, still miles away.
The torn flag of the Black Widow Pirates fluttered towards him and Mashikura intercepted it with his hand. He held it now before his face, gaze settling upon it. Times are different. I am no longer the protector but the protected. And it gave him peace to know this. I cannot let that change.
He folded the torn flag and tied it around his head as a bandana. He took his sword into his hand, freeing his tail. Regaining his calm, he shielded his eyes once more from the bloodshed. The voice. He could hear it still.
Danbi!
In an instant his tail flickered, stamping against the ground beneath him once, then twice, then up to one hundred times. He vanished just as fast; so fast that there was no shimmering motion to even describe. He merely vanished without any visible indication left behind in the aftermath and reappeared in another location as if he had been there all along.
This location was the flag in Reagan's hand, more specifically the round shaped peak at the very top end of the pole called the plummet. While small, it was large enough to occupy Mashikura's figure. And while the Kuzma Pirates continued their parade oblivious as to his whereabouts, the huntsmen of the Black Widow Pirates made certain to notify the others of his presence by way of a verbal announcement. "You wanted to become our target, did you not?" Mashikura's cold gaze pierced even the snow infested terrains of Koriyari. He looked through the rest of the pirates and locked his gaze exclusively upon their captain. "Consider your wish granted."
Pride could breed warriors. Mashikura was just too fast and none of the Kuzma Pirates could feel him as he moved to the plummet of the flag. At least, Reagan could, but there was absolutely no way she could react fast enough to prevent him from doing so and as such he was free to make whatever move he wanted. His words traveled throughout the crew and its members and while no one said anything to him, they all knew he was no foe to take lightly.
Sol had just returned from its voyage, rocking side to side, failing at Reagan's request. But, just as its master and creator couldn't do anything, Sol was just as useless in detecting the man's presence. It's smile transitioned into a frown before it flared and became bloated with a armor of flames around its mass. Reagan's attention remained on Mashikura and she didn't look away for a moment. Instead, she opted to what her role in the crew was, and began analyzing the man to work out some sort of strategy that would benefit them in the inevitable battle.
"His soul wavelength is off the chart," Said Reagan, choosing the prioritize saying that as opposed to responding to the man's statement and question. She couldn't help it. Her specific power made it to where souls stood out like the temperature of the day and she couldn't ignore his.
Jim, Scubaza, and Daigo each took six steps apart from each other. It was the same formation as before with more space between them. Jim lifted his rifle and looked down the iron sight, forcing himself as he prepared for a shot. Scubaza took up the traditional stance for initiating Fishman Karate and Daigo had done the same but for his fighting style.
Kuzma stopped as well. He had no ability to sense people in the unique way that Reagan could, but he knew a strong foe when he saw one. But it wasn't his strength that forced Kuzma to stopーit was the man's words. "Then I'll take it you're some sort of fairy? You fit the description rather well." He teased Mashikura's height with his last statement.
As he looked around the battlefield, Mashikura took special interest in the one known as Reagan. Like him, she seemed to be observant. He could tell just based on her body language that unlike her crewmates she was more than capable of tracking his movements. What might her abilities entail? "I wonder. How many hearts has a woman like you claimed?"
After scanning the rest of the crowd, Mashikura's eyes settled once again on Kuzma. Not only was he their captain, but Mashikura could tell just by being in his presence that there was something more to him than what met the eye. It was too soon to say for certain. But this was a battle Kuzma had instigated with his words. And by the looks of it, he had no intention of backing down now.
Mashikura could tell by Reagan's reaction to his arrival that this crew was wary of his renown. They knew exactly who he has and why he was here. And knowing all of that, Kuzma not only stood his ground, but even went as far as to pass an insult. Mashikura wasn't so offended by what Kuzma said. "Fairy" was a term the citizens of Dressrosa used casually to describe the members of the Tontatta Tribe. It wasn't so much as an insult as it was apart of his identity. But Mashikura was far from an ordinary Tontatta. No, he had evolved far beyond that realm.
The Tengu grinned. "A fairy? No-resu. But after this I'll be your fairy godfather." If Kuzma was observant the way he and Reagan were, then he may have noticed that Mashikura was not looking him in the face. While it was true that his gaze was fixed upon Kuzma, Mashikura's eyes still lingered far above what he would consider his identity. They were settled on his legendary straw hat.
Could it be? He thought silently to himself. If that's the case, then...
With a torpid advance, Mashikura slid towards Scubaza. But while he targeted the fishman, his eyes never moved from Kuzma. Sheathed sword in hand, the Tontatta went to slide under Scubaza's legs and appear behind him, wherein he would then proceed to knock him off his feet by ramming his weapon into Scubaza's ankles.
With his speed and Scubaza's inability to track him in the same way that Reagan could, Mashikura easily succeeded in knocking Scubaza off of his feet in that single action. It looked much like a tower falling over a town or the tale parents told their children regarding the one known as humpty dumpty.
No one was able to react to the speed of Mashikura and his size made it all the more difficult. Kuzma may have been trying to make fun of him for it, but he was too ignorant to notice it had been his greatest gift. Jim and Daigo were the closest and wasted no time in attempting avenge their comrade. Daigo pulled both of his fists forward and thrust shooting a double-fisted shockwave at Mashikura. Jim, with his two flintlock pistols drawn, aimed them both at Mashikura and let off two fiery shots of Dues Disparo De Fuego.
Reagan shook her head. Thoughts flooded her mind and as she nearly blacked out from trying to dig deep, she imagined a bounty poster that had Mashikura's face plastered on it. She'd read that name in the paper a long time ago. "The Tengu—Mashikura of the Black Widow Pirates!" she shouted out to Kuzma, a vein stressed across her temple expressing just how serious this was.
At this point Kuzma was devoted to keeping track of Mashikura. In his small display of abilities, it didn't take Kuzma much time to notice that Mashikura was the real deal. He was in fear no, but he was happy. More like he wanted this challenge. It was sadistic in a way. He didn't even step forward to aid in an attack alongside Jim and Daigo, he instead wanted to watch Mashikura and gain a feel for his movement. While he may have taunted the dwarf to begin with, as a member aboard a Yonko's ship he knew that the strongest warriors resided in the weirdest of bodies.
As he dropped Scubaza to the ground, Mashikura's gaze remained wholly fixated on his captain. He had attacked Kuzma's crew as a means to test his resolve. He knew well the deep and rich history of the infamous Straw Hat. There was another phenomenon, the "Will of D.", that he was also curiously studying. And it was out of the hopes of testing this theory that he attacked the Kuzma Pirates, anticipating Kuzma at the very least to come at the defense of his nakama but he did something far from what he had imagined.
Rather than aid his comrades who clearly stood no chance against Mashikura's prowess, Kuzma abandoned them in plain sight. With his renown in the New World there was nothing that possibly implied Mashikura being a merciful pirate. He was known as a tyrant who disposed of his enemies by murdering them. With a reputation like that preceding him, was Kuzma truly allowing his comrades to die right before his eyes without even thinking to offer them a hand?
A swirl of Mashikura's pole arm deflected shockwaves and flaming bullets alike. He then stamped the free end of the pole against the ground to gain leverage, propelling himself into the skies and with a leap he stepped back to create some space between himself and the Kuzma Pirates. He did not imagine for Kuzma, bearer of the Straw Hat, to be anything like the man he was panning out to be. Did he not care for his nakama?
"Your crew... what do you take them for?" Mashikura had come here alone. But even now, important members of his crew that he deeply cherished remained with him in his heart. Kuzma whose crew was present before his very own eyes, it was he that was here as a one man army.
White on White[]
The irony. To be alone within one's own army.
Kuzma looked like a man who had lost his purpose. It was as though he was attacking everything in sight, picking battles against foes he could never hope to match out of a desperate hope to regain his lost purpose. As if there was a deep void in his heart he wished to fulfill by challenging the Black Widow Pirates. It was clear that Kuzma was blinded by these motives. Much like Mashikura in the past. Kuzma reminded Mashikura of the time he had first joined the Monk Pirates. The wise words of former captain, Daikaku, still radiated in his mind to this day.
Revenge is never the answer. You must learn to forgive if you wish to forge ahead.
No matter how badly Mashikura had wanted to invade Dressrosa in the past he knew that he would have only been lying to himself if he did it under the lie of conquering more territory for Legs. His vendetta against Dressrosa was extremely personal. Giving energy to a matter like that would only mark the end of him.
Kuzma, in his reckless abandon of life, was no different than what Mashikura was at his exact age. Anger, pain, revenge. These were all things that fueled him. And were it not for Daikaku then certainly he would not have lived to see this day. Seeing Kuzma in front of his eyes, Mashikura could finally reflect upon past times and attain the closure he had been seeking all along.
You were right all along, Bokushi-sama. A grin escaped Mashikura's visage; so large that even his mustache could not conceal it. He did not know the exact parameters behind Kuzma's motives. But there was a feeling in his gut as well as the voice inside of his head that made this personal for him. This was not a matter of breaking even with an arrogant rookie nor a matter of protecting Legs' name. He was doing this for himself, to crush the young and reckless Mashikura that still lay dormant within him to this day.
"Wararara!" Mashikura howled. "What kind of a pitiful excuse for a captain are you-resu? Okay, okay, I admit. I could have killed them all just now, but where's the fun in that? Normally, I have a bad habit of playing with my food, you see. But, seeing as how you don't intend to help them..." Mashikura's words became muffled when he stuffed the sheath of his sword between his teeth.
The tiny fairy began to grow exponentially in size. Under ordinary circumstances, he would never bother himself with pests like this. He'd leave this to his Koskeshi Corps and lounge on a meal or two. But now he was faced with an opportunity to crush his past self and once and for all prove to himself just how much he had grown since those times. He was going to enjoy every last second of this.
The black mane of Kurogami became whiter than even Kuzma's. So white that when it spread over his arms and legs he would have blended perfectly with the snow were it not for the blood of the deceased Black Widow soldiers tainting it. Mashikura grew to be 60 feet tall, towering over his enemies, Scubaza included, taking the appearance of a pure white quadrupedal Tiangou.
"I'll just crush them like the ants they are and move right onto the main course! Woo-roo-roo-roo!!!" howled Mashikura.
Nidai Shusui unveiled, its sheath clicked open moments after Mashikura's Mythical Zoan transformation. The sheath shot off the blade with incredible speed and precision, like a sniper bullet. This was Mashikura's fastest technique: a single use attack as it made use of the sword's sheath.
"Nagareboshi!" The sheath shot towards Scubaza at blinding speeds. As he had been unable to react to Mashikura before, the fishman would have absolutely no chance at reacting to an attack like this which was on a completely different level.
Each Kuzma Pirates' eyes followed Mashikura as he took up a transformed state. Those fairy jokes that Kuzma made before were no more and it made sense why Mashikura hadn't taken offense to them. He had something bigger up his sleeve to reveal to the crew both figuratively and literally.
Kuzma resorted to instantly smirk, but he wanted to drop his jaw like everyone else in his crew--this was a surprise to say the least. Before they could soak up everything Mashikura had to offer as far as his fur and size had gone, the Black Widow commander had already made his first move. With movements of elegance, he unsheathed his blade and used that same action to attack with his cover aimed directly at Scubaza as if it were one of Jim's famous bullets.
Just as he had suspected, Scubaza couldn't react in time. Before he could even take his next breath after discovering Mashikura's new form, he had dropped to his knees as the sheath collided with his windpipe and and fell to the ground. Jim, Daigo, and Reagan all looked to Scubaza in his fallen state. Confused, they shook their heads.
"Oi, mi capitán!" Jim yelled out, clenching his firearm. "La Senor is dangerous!" He wanted Kuzma. "We should gather Scubaza and retreat while we still can!"
Emerging from behind the group, Kuzma stepped forward once more. His eyes were different. It was just as Mashikura had assumed and pretty much like the rest of the crew had known. Kuzma stood before the giant Inu with his chest poked out and head held high, though he had courage, right now wasn't the time for that and Kuzma was more than trained on when and when not to engage an enemy. But the newspaper regarding the Xros Pirates and the threat the World Government and Bryant D. Kobe made to him didn't sit well.
"You can all flee if you wish to do so, but this is just what I needed." In his Light Drive state, Kuzma bent his knees everso slightly. Pulling his fists back they lit up and bright white light and he punched them forth in a sequence. His fists created arm-like appendages that extended out and fired at Mashikura's transformed state. Each strike was faster than the last, Yodo Yodo no Sonic Barrage.
One down. Several more to go. While they were anything but particularly strong, Kuzma's subordinates at the very least appeared to be somewhat intelligent. They knew it was in their best interest to escape this current predicament. The smirk of Kuzma's face stirred up a massive increase in adrenaline for Mashikura. Just when he thought he had seen it all, this young pirate was displaying all the necessary characteristics to one day become a top pirate on these seas. All the more reason for him to be erased.
To crush Kuzma would not be as simple as the rest. He could have attacked him the same way he did Scubaza, but that alone would not suffice. It was not so much Kuzma's exterior that Mashikura was interested in demolishing but rather his interior. He needed to crush his spirits, his will and his resolve so that after this battle was done and away with he would never rise again.
To that end, Mashikura resolved to evaluate Kuzma's will. Without so much as an ounce of hesitation Mashikura stood his ground, accepting the attack Kuzma sent his way with all but a simple glow laminating his tough white fur. Each blow of the so-called Sonic Barrage was more devastating than the last. And while through he first couple seconds were like a swarm of mosquitoes for him, by the time a minute passed and Kuzma was still persistent in his attacks, Mashikura began to lose his footing, in that all four of his paws skid backward in the snow.
The attacks of Kuzma's Light Drive were fast, perhaps even capable of meeting their mark against Mashikura in his smaller, more agile base state even if he intended to evade them. But against the superior size of his Tiangou form, it took whole minutes for Kuzma to generate enough firepower to be able to so much as scratch Mashikura. He was welcome to keep trying, but the limits of Light Drive were quickly being revealed.
Without any intention of a counterattack, Mashikura continued to accept Kuzma's enormous blows, sliding further and further backward in the snow because of them.
Jim sighed and rolled his eyes, "Mi dama, we may as well assist him if he refuses to flee." Flicking his pistol out, Jim fired off two shots at Mashikura's new form before vanishing with a single step at Scubaza's side. These shots weren't strategic like another other time, simply used as means to keep Mashikura at bay while he attempted to retrieve his crewmate.
With another few steps, Jim found himself back at Reagan's side with Scubaza clenched underneath him. Turning his head but holding his pistol high, the spanish marksman couldn't help but try and deduce the thoughts going through Kuzma's mind. He had vowed to be a member of the crew under Kuzma's tuteluge, but his inability in this moment to think about his crewmates bothered him more than when he was captured by the Marines unaware of where he would be headed.
"Ayeyayaya!" He said, looking over to Reagan.
Reagan had fallen into her own world of thoughts. She had a plan created for the sole purpose of Kuzma and the crew to retrieve Jengu and head to the New World and in the moment Kuzma had crossed paths with Mashikura, she saw it all crumble. "No, no, no. This isn't like Kuzma at all. This is NOT part of the plan," she began mumbling to herself, counting numbers and piecing together scenarios trying to make it make sense. But she just couldn't.
Kompass and Sol revolved around her, idly awaiting her command, but they were simply puppets of her spirit. They weren't going to be able to help aid her in these plans she created. "Kuzma, we must flee." She said out loud.
However, like her, Kuzma was also in his own world. After seeing he was able to push Mashikura back, he seemed to have gotten big headed. Kuzma was never the type to get excited off of success of his attacks, it was the basic teaching he received from Shiguma as well as other members of the Xros Pirates. All of that basic knowledge seemed to have been tossed out of the window.
Flaring up, Kuzma stopped his rapid barrage of punches to opt for another attack. "I would not be under the impression that I am incapable of an attack your size," Kuzma said, bringing his finger up to his lips and placing it in his mouth. Gathering a lump of spit, he pushed it into his fingers and quickly his hand and arm increased ten times its original size almost, but still a ways from, matching Mashikura's transformed state. "Bright Drive..." he whispered, activating a new form that watch much slower than Light Drive, but gave him increased power.
Pulling his fist back and punching forward, Kuzma struck at Mashikura with this giant attack. As it he punched forward wind drifts could be seen following his fist and even the dust tagged along. Kuzma wanted to crush Mashikura even if it meant showing off his best techniques early on.
Jim's twin shots were handled by a literal whiff of air from the Tiangou's nostrils. The rest of the Kuzma Pirates had become an afterthought to Mashikura. He had no intention of acknowledging them any farther. None of them aside from Kuzma wanted to fight, meaning that as soon as Kuzma was defeated the rest of them would collapse along with him. It was a matter of morale.
Through the beating of their captain, Mashikura would cause them to lose faith in him. And there was no better way to do that than to cripple Kuzma's faith in himself. A crew could not have faith in their captain if he did not have any faith in himself.
To this end, Mashikura once again welcomed Kuzma's attack unto his being. While this attack was slower than the last barrage of fists, Mashikura noted its clear superiority within seconds; he would not apply Haki to himself nor attempt to parry the blow using Nidai Shusui. Instead he wanted to meet it head on and see for himself whether there was any merit to a guy like Kuzma. How did a guy like that demand the respect of his crew?
It was certainly not through his strength, although what transpired before the eyes of the Kuzma Pirates would imply anything but. The large fist of the Bright Drive empowered Kuzma slammed head on with Mashikura, stomping him flat onto the ground. A thick cloud of smoke, dust, and frost kicked up around the figure of the enormous canine, and to the surprise of Kuzma's underlings, Mashikura was laying flat on his back. What was most surprising were the number of cracks chiseled in Mashikura's fur; as if he were a glass cup that had fallen onto the floor.
Mashikura seemed... seriously wounded if not outright defeated. His skin appeared shattered. Rippels, cracks, and tears present over every inch of his hide. Had Kuzma really done it? Had he managed to bring down the notorious commander of the Black Widow Pirates?
The celebrations of the Kuzma Pirates would carry on for many minutes until the horrifying truth emerged before them. Mashikura stood up to his feet without an ounce of hesitation. There was no limp in his movement, no sway in his legs. What seemed like skin tore off of him wrapping on a gift. He sighed, unamused by Kuzma's latest transformative state.
"Is that all? You couldn't even get through the first layer of my defense." Paper Piñata. A signature technique of Mashikura used through the powers of his Devil Fruit, which allowed him the manipulation and generation of wood. Carefully carving the wood in such a way that he could create paper, Mashikura wrapped it around his body, effectively making a Piñata out of himself. In other words, the defenses of Mashikura were paper thin. "What a joke. Don't tell me that's all there is to your power?"
Dissatisfied by what he had seen until now, Mashikura picked his front paws up from the ground, leaning back onto his hind legs. Then he stomped them in front of himself, causing the ground to shake and tremble like an earthquake. "Rising Root!"
Enlarged roots surfaced from the ground around the Kuzma Pirates, shooting up into the sky and snaking around like whips. "Snake!"
Said roots slithered towards each member of the crew, aiming to wrap around them and immobilize them.
No one knew that when he stomped on the ground, roots would emerge and head embark to wrap and immobilize them. Through all of Daigo, Kuzma, and Reagan's training as apprentice pirates on a Yonko crew, they still weren't prepared for everything.
The first to fall victim was the duo of Jim and Scubaza. From his last actions, Jim hadn't released Scubaza because he wasn't sure of what would happen next. It was like a hesitation. A moment of hesitation he could not afford and costed him. Scubaza was a large creature and because of that Jim wasn't able to be as agile as he was before and he refused to leave his comrade behind. Instead, he lifted him and attempted to scurry away but before he could get far, one of the roots wrapped around his ankle before slithering up his body and ensnaring both him and Scubaza.
Turning their heads, both Reagan and Daigo watched as their crewmates fell victim to Mashikura's trap. Daigo grit his teeth in anger. Pulling his fist back and quickly punched forward released a compressed shockwave in the shape of his fist towards Mashikura, ripping through the roots that laid in his path in attempts to smack the creature head on. "Reagan, hurry up! We don't have time for you sitting and mesmorizing!" He didn't expect it to do much damage, but he just needed to buy a moment for Reagan to think and formulated a plan.
Reagan was the strategist and for her to be caught up in the moment was bad for not only her image but the outcome of the rest of the crew. All of her life she aided Kane and Laveau Marie in utilizing tactics to deal with Marines and Pirates. She was bred for moments where they had their backs against a wall and she'd be able to find a way to get off of it without dying in the process. But, why was she so hesitant this time around? It was because she never led the strategies against opponents of Mashikura's caliber.
"Just give me a moment, Daigo!" She shouted in anger. Kneeling down slightly and jumping, she landed onto the body of Kompass and held onto the homie. She commanded Sol to come to her side. With her finger pointing at Mashikura, "Sol, bombard him until you can't anymore. I need to test something out. Kuzma, I need you to do the same but much more than before."
Shaking left and right, Sol laughed. "Yes, Reagan-samamamama~!" Shining brighter than before, the homie entered a fiery state and began to spit a number of fireballs in Mashikura's direction.
"Not in the mood for your orders, Reagan. If you all still want to flee then turn around and do that." In a flash of his own light, Kuzma covered a large portion of the area in a white light and as it went away, clones of Kuzma revealed themselves--Doppelgangers. There were at least ten. Each doppelganger created appendages out of light and began bombarding Mashikura with punches in the same manner as Sol did with its fireballs. Multi Yodo Yodo no Barrage created more of himself to increase the number of blows, but the cost would show itself.
The ever observant Mashikura was most curious to see what his opponents would do next. By the looks of it, Kuzma had long since resolved to stay and fight, as if he had far more to gain from clashing with Mashikura than he did by running. He trapped members of the Kuzma Pirates to see if he could separate them. More than anything he wanted to break their individual wills, and to force them to abandon one another in a scurry for their lives. This was what separated the ordinary pirate crews from the truly elite: the unbreakable bond that kept them united.
Still, to see a collaborative attack was against Mashikura's estimates. He anticipated these rookies to prioritize defection. Snaring Jim and Scubaza, he'd thought to have secured himself a hefty lead. But on the contrary, it made Mashikura the target of all the rest of them at once.
Why won't they leave him behind? Mashikura thought of Kuzma, watching Reagan and Daigo launched attacks of their own towards him. Attacks which surprisingly seemed to mesh well with Kuzma's own. What is it about you that keeps them believing in you-resu?
Mashikura's eyes narrowed at the sight of Daigo's shockwave slicing through his many rooted appendages. Had he been wrong to underestimate him? The shockwave would never be able to hurt Mashikura, even if he'd caught it with his eye. But what it did manage to do was provide sufficient enough time for Reagan to develop a stratagem of her own.
"Hayaoke!" Mashikura uttered, drifting one paw against the snow to snap his fingers together. At once, the roots that were snaring Jim and Scubaza were pulled into the ground, where a wooden barrel awaited them. Hayaoke were wooden caskets used in Wano to house the deceased. In this case, Mashikura was burying the opposition prematurely.
Dumping Jim and Scubaza into separated barrel coffins, Mashikura's roots pulled them deeper into the ground until they could no longer be seen. This action left Mashikura vulnerable to Reagan's fireballs, which not only met their mark against Mashikura's fur, burning him, but furthermore lit the roots which Daigo had not cleared with his shockwaves on fire. The presence of Sol would singlehandedly keep Mashikura from utilizing his roots any further, seeing as how Sol's flames could easily burn them to crisps.
I see... so you chose these ones wisely... did you? Eyes clenched, the last thing Mashikura made out before he was ramsackled by thousands of fists and fireballs were the hopeful expressions on the faces of the remaining Kuzma Pirates. Kuzma, Reagan, Daigo. Even this Sol and Kompass were not to be underestimated. They were all attacking him from a distance. Even if they could not kill him, at this rate they would always succeed in pushing him back. And that alone would allow them to successfully retreat.
Kuzma!! I will see for myself why he chose you.
Blood Brothers[]
The large size of Moon Print would never suffice under these circumstances. The Kuzma Pirates had made this a long range battle and were keeping Mashikura at bay. He needed to turn the tables against them. He needed to bypass the long range offense that had become their defense, slip past and force his way onto the frontlines. He was confident that they would not effectively be able to engage him in close quarters combat. Thinking of how best to engage them in this way, there was but a single entity that came to mind.
Ever since Mashikura had joined the Black Widow Pirates 10 years ago, he had always been in the shadow of Wolfgang. His superior commander, whom he referred to as "Anichi", was notorious for his nearly unmatched physical aptitude. Mashikura had duly noted the tendencies of Wolfgang over the last decade, such that he was able to develop an entire transformation based on his Anichi.
Even while taking large sums of damage, Mashikura still managed to gain mindful control over his many muscles. This was not an easy task for the average Zoan user, but for Mashikura it had become a far less arduous effort. The 60 feet stature of Moon Print began to shrink until it was condensed into a more humanoid state. Standing at 10 feet in height, this new form bore striking resemblance to Wolfgang.
Such was Gang Print. In this state, Mashikura's fur reverted from the white of his Moon Print form to the black of his hair in base. The fur around his body also became less prominent; instead his body was bare and his skin, blood red. Gang Print retained all the monstrous properties of Moon Print while allowing Mashikura with far more mobility.
Transformed, Mashikura twirled around in the air, finding enough footing to evade the fireblasts midway. Taking Nidai Shusui between both of his hands, he used his control over wood to elongate the handle of the sword until it became far longer than the blade, turning the nagamaki into a naginata.
"Kurokagami!" With one hand, Mashikura coated his weapon in Busoshoku and spun it around in front of his body. The outcome was a rotating black sphere that began deflecting Kuzma's fists and Sol's fire balls back at the Kuzma Pirates.
Mashikura's sudden form change caught all of the crew by surprise. Even the stimulated Kuzma had to stop what he was doing in order to fully take in the Widow's transformation. Memorization left the the crew in a state of shock and vulnerability as neither of them took the time to prepare themselves for the Pirate's following attack.
With almost no effort, Mashikura or Gang Print "created" a black blade and spun it which deflected Kuzma's fists and Sol's fire balls as if they were flimsy pieces of paper. Scubaza, quickly snapping out of his blank space, dashed over to Kuzma who stood square in front of the path to which the deflected attacks had reversed traveled. Kuzma's eyes were still focused onto Mashikura's new state and he hadn't even prepared to defend himself.
Hands up and stepping in front of Kuzma, Scubaza rotated his palms as if he were washing a surface with a rag gathering the liquids in the air. Around his palms were two water bubbles which he held up to grab hold of the fire balls. Teeth gritting, Scubaza shouted out to Kuzma. "Snap out of it, Kuzma! You still have a battle to fight. If you lose sight of this, then it'll fall on not only you, but the rest of us!" Scubaza barked, looking over his shoulder, right before another one of Sol's Fire Balls collided alongside Kuzma's attack.
The colliding attacks resulting in an large explosion which shook the island slightly and swallowed Scubaza into a large cloud of debris. "Senor, Scubaza!" Jim shouted out.
"Damn it, Scubaza!" Reagan and Daigo quickly followed behind in saying.
Still, Kuzma was silent as he looked into the dust. However, in actuality, he had been looking past it using his right eye to see through the darkness of the dust to keep his eyes peeled onto Mashikura. It was clear already, but to Mashikura who may have not sensed it, Kuzma only cared for him almost as if he were like a significant other.
The dirt cloud blew away and Scubaza was revealed laid out on the ground, defeated by his crewmates' own attacks. Kuzma didn't look down at him once, while the rest of the crew dart across the area to reach his side. Jim was still dazed by the previous exchange, but Reagan and Daigo were still reving to go. Placing their arms around Scubaza, Reagan and Daigo lifted him up to his feet, but he was unconscious to the point he couldn't even stand on his own.
As Reagan looked back at Kuzma, she noticed the grin on his face seemed to grow even larger. "Kuzma! Do you not see what is going on?!" She asked, referring to both Scubaza and Jim. "Your selfish actions are what have led to the fall of Scubaza and Jim! Would you also like that to be the fate of Daigo and myself?"
Ignoring what she said, the white-haired pirate shook as the thrill and excitement of Mashikura's new form settled within him. "Don't blame me for what happened to those two. Najeem has taught us that sometimes to get what we want, then we need to be self-centered and only worry about ourselves. The call of duty here; is to defeat this bastard by any means. We'll capture him and everyone else who crosses our path until we find out what was done with Shiguma-sama." Clenching his fist, Kuzma continued to grin.
"What do you mean, figuring out what happened to Shiguma-sama?" Asked Reagan. "Kuzma, both Daigo and I are wondering what happened to Captain Shiguma as well, but once we ditched the Megalodon and set shop on the Infantry Force, our goal wasn't to chase behind Shiguma! It was to-!" She was interrupted by Kuzma shouting out.
"YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, REAGAN!" He said, running off to continue his battle with Mashikura.
There was an odd connection that linked Kuzma to Mashikura and the former Xros Pirate apprentice was not the only one who could feel this sensation. In a realm befitting proper kings intent on reaching the very same throne it was clear that this feud could not be resolved without a clear victor. While Reagan and the rest of Kuzma's crew may have been quick to deem him selfish, on the flip side of the spectrum he was seeing something they were not.
The Kuzma Pirates were no match for Mashikura. Escape was futile. The moment he had set foot on the island ensured their demise. There would be no escaping him, after all he was a Huntsmen whose reputation was built upon pursuing spoils that the most powerful pirate in all of the world desired. To the force that was the Black Widow Pirates, the rest of the crew was about useful as a condom on the fifth fuck.
Kuzma was fast, but for a man that could see the future, anticipating his movements was as simple as feeling the breeze. With a lunge that feinted his true intentions, Mashikura swept forward with his arm and latched onto Kuzma by the throat, holding him up in the air for all to see. The screams of Kuzma's crew complimented Mashikura's monologue, as he observed the heir of Shiguma with distaste.
"Do you see the way your body trembles in my grasp-resu?" The Wolf eyed the fidgeting legs of Kuzma. "It is your body's natural instinct to escape my hold. Do you know why? I will tell you. You and I are pirates of the new era, heirs of times past. We carry with us the legacies that date back several centuries. For hundreds of years our predecessors have been at each other's throats, just like this. We are no different.
"Even now I can hear that cursed hat of yours, dreaming a dreamer's dream. You who descends from the lineage of the straw hat descends from the ancestry of the Pirate Kings themselves. Legends say that every other bearer of the hat is fit to become the new king." King Roger to Shanks. Shanks to King Luffy. King Luffy to Shiguma. Shiguma to...
Mashikura clenched his hand tighter around Kuzma's throat. "Are you saying you'll be the next king, brat?"
In a large radius around the two, a wooden dome began to form, rising up from the ground. This dome would exclude the rest of the Kuzma Pirates from its parameters, exiling them from contention of the battle. The dome on the inside appeared round, much like a sphere, but on the outside it took the appearance of a wooden Trojan Horse.
"A battle between pirates is a clash of wills. Whichever side loses will be annihilated. When those are the stakes, what more reason do you need in order to fight? Come, then! The one who remains standing will return alive. That's all that matters!" Mashikura tossed Kuzma to the ground as the dome's creation finalized and the two were locked inside of it.
"Let's settle this here and now, Mugiwarato (麦わらあと)! The lineage of the king ends with you. I won't allow it to blossom any farther beyond this point."
Kuzma. Mashikura. There was nothing to come in between them now.
Sencho... is this what you had told me of way back then? Mashikura's brow furrowed. He grew fierce. He no longer intended to play around like before. Now this had become personal even for him. "Kuzma!! A battle between pirates is a clash of wills!!" Zaps of black lightning sparked and surged from Mashikura through the dome. From the outside, this shockwave would surge from the horse and over the rest of the island, rendering those with weak resolves unconscious. The many subordinates of the Reaper Pirates that remained were all immediately offed. "Let me feel yours!"
Will of the Straw Hat[]
In addition to the fallen Reaper Pirates, a few members of Kuzma's crew followed the same fate. Scubaza and Jim, in their damaged states, dropped to their knees while Reagan and Daigo managed to remain standing by using every breath they had. Sweat falling down the side of their faces, Kuzma's first and second mates turned their attention to their crewmates.
Daigo rushed to their sides in assistance, while Reagan used her homie to take her to Mashikura's dome. Jumping from Kompass to the ground, Reagan slammed her hand against Mashikura's dome. "This is bad, Daigo!" She yelled out, unleashing a barrage of blows onto the dome, but each strike was futile. "He's not going to be able to stand a chance against another King. Not one of that calibre just yet!" Still slamming against the dome, she ordered both Kompass and Sol to attack neither able to do damage.
Meanwhile, inside of the horse-like structure, Kuzma was on his knees gasping for air and choking at the same time. Mashikura's claws left a print around his neck and he could still feel the force of the Yonko Commander's grip. "Gahhhk," he coughed up spit as he tried to bring himself to his feet only to get hit with what felt like ten tons of gravity that kept him on his knees. He continued to cough and gasp for air as Mashikura's will weighed down on him.
"His spirit, i-it's nothing short of an Emperor's." Though he may have been an apprentice pirate, Kuzma was considered a different type of apprentice. Most are allowed to battle only when the enemy is able to guaranteed be taken care of by the crew and even then are only allowed to participate and fight against those they would have a fair shot at. Kuzma, however, was treated with much more privilege. He was able to stand alongside Shiguma against high-ranking Marine officials, commanders, and Yonko--albeit once--all for the purpose of gaining more experience in combat. So he knew what it was like to feel a strong spirit and what it was like to feel one that is destined for the throne. Mashikura was clearly of the latter.
The white-haired pirate struggled to lift his head, but he was finally able to lock his eyes onto Mashikura. "I will not lose to you..." He mumbled, standing back to his feet slowly. With an aggressive shout he balled his fist, "I'LL BE THE ONE TO CLAIM THE TITLE OF PIRATE KING!" A giant vein stretched from his forehead all the way down to his throat.
His ebony face turned red as if his natural skin color was of the opposite tone all before a shockwave thumped and shook the area. Unintentionally, the two Haoshoku Haki's clashed which resulted in a rippling of the air before a crack could be heard. The grass in the immediate area began to grow exponentially into long grass due to the nature of Mashikura's red-tinted spirit, while Kuzma's white-tinted spirit forced the grass to slowly wither away.
"Watch your wicked tongue when speaking the name Shiguma..." Once the shockwave subsided, Kuzma's body trembled while his heart began to beat against his chest. His body became covered in a black aura and he began to take on a more enraged-like stance. Hands down to his side, the black aura shaped itself into claws at the end of his finger tips.
Reagan felt something off and placed her hand against the horse. "Oh, no..." She said, turning her gaze over to Daigo who also had a look of concern on his face. "We've got to get in there and now!"
It was clear that Kuzma was no longer himself. "ROOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRR," he roared with an added element of Haoshoku and rage which shook earth itself, ripping across the air through the valley like thunder. Dashing across the ground toward Mashikura, Kuzma destroyed the earth as he left it behind, creating a trail that an adventurer could have follow had they needed to find him. His speed had increased well beyond what he had displayed with his maxed out Light Drive so much so, that his Straw Hat had ripped from his straps and floated up in the air. He was mindless and sought only to attack Mashikura head on, but as an experienced warrior the Black Widow would have been able to notice his increase in both speed in strength.
The roar of the beast struck Reagan and Daigo's ears like a wall of pain. They instinctively clutch their ears. Reagan wanted it to stop. But the pain didn't stop. Her lungs felt out of breath. Her heart tremble. Her knees weaken. Her whole being wanted to coil into itself to hide away from this onslaught of sound. "This is Kuzma's true Falldown Mode."
Most pirates would be appalled at the revelation of Kuzma's conquerous spirit but Mashikura had anticipated it from the very moment he heard the voice inside the boy radiate and linger in his mind. He was not foolish enough to judge Kuzma off of his bounty, which was ten times lower than his own, because the spirit this boy possessed was beyond anything Mashikura had felt among even the rest of the Black Widows' commanders. That was not to make light of them, but they were prancing around in her web seeking praise while Kuzma instead burst onto the frontlines in Shiguma's stead and demanded his own respect.
The wills of the two kings clashed, each individual tendril meeting in the air. There was not a single bolt of lighting that went unmatched. The will of Kuzma was ferocious, capable of consuming Mashikura if he made the mistake of holding back. An apparition of Shiguma appeared on one side of the dome, prying over its apprentice, while a similarly sized apparition of Daikaku appeared above Mashikura. This was a battle that had begun much before the two present fighters were born. But it would be their duty to conclude it at long last.
Roots arose once again from the ground, whipping into the air with great speed and strength. They sought to entrap Kuzma in his heightened state, lashing around him like they had before. Only this time their numbers were staggering, multiplied tenfold. "COME, KUZMA!!!" No matter how fast the roots were they simply could not keep up with Kuzma who at this stage instinctively evaded each and every last one of them.
It's no use, they won't catch him. Mashikura realized a moment too late. He watched as the vines were torn apart by the sheer force of Kuzma's relentless charge. At this rate...!
"Paper Piñata!" Mashikura exclaimed, garnering his defense at the very last moment and bracing for impact. But Kuzma's head rammed into the space between Mashikura's eyes, shattering the layer of wood that was protecting him along with it. A crackle followed in suit of the force behind Kuzma's attack. Mashikura's pride clenched his snout shut, but there was so much blood that rushed up from his throat that eventually it bursted his teeth open and stained the air in front of him.
"Gwahhhkk!!" The large frame of the wolf flew backwards, arms and legs cycling mad. It's as if he's succumbed to his own will! Mashikura thought, stomping his feet into the ground to combat the force that was pushing him with his own. He managed to ground himself before his back was smashed into the dome wall behind him.
Blood spilled on the ground beneath his feet, along with tattered pieces of paper off of his fur. "Are you satisfied," he wondered aloud, gritting his teeth. Then this time, it was Mashikura who started sprinting towards Kuzma after stabbing his blade into the ground, leaving it behind. "Are you proud that you were able to land a hit?!"
"Nagu..." Poof! Mashikura's claws turned dark black with a lingering red tint. He aimed his paw towards Kuzma and fired a punch which was carried by the air. "...tsume!"
Had Kuzma been aware of what was going on, he too would have possibly been able to hear the voices of Mashikura's spirit. He had no idea that the deeper spirits of their masters laid dormant in the visage, but it would begin to make sense. Their meeting. Their wills. Even their drive, was all through a decade long rivalry between Daikaku and Shiguma.
As his attack landed, Kuzma, in his new demonic-like state, grunted as Mashikura slid back. An ominous mist drifted from his mouth as he attempted to recollect himself just before Mashikura lunged himself at him. With a simple but heavily amplified strike, Mashikura managed to connect with Kuzma with great force followed by a large scaled shockwave which destroyed the earth beneath the strike.
The strike was so powerful that it threw Kuzma in the direction away from Mashikura, slamming him up against the wooden structures wall at the same location where Reagan had been striking it from the other side. Sliding down the wall and to a single knee, "Dark Kuzma" spat up blood while a faucet of blood crawled down the side of his mouth onto his black body. It may not have been noticeable under the shroud of darkness clouding his body, but that last attack managed to crack one of his ribs.
His adrenaline was too high at this point and on top of that he had no control over himself. By entering this state, Kuzma lost all sense of himself and moved and acted like a savage beast. His sense of reasoning was out of the window and he only sought the defeat of the one who spoke the name of Shiguma and challenged his seat at the throne.
Mouth opening wide, rather than run at Mashikura head on again, he generated black energy at the core of his mouth and shot it at the Black Widow in the form of a compressed blast which covered the gap between the two of them in no time and destroyed anything that stood in its path.
Reagan, on the other side of the time, placed her hand against the dome as she could feel Kuzma's battle heating up. She leaned up against the dome as Kompass and Sol brought the rest of the crew to her. She felt more useless than ever before and couldn't help but to sulk. "I had a plan. A strategic plan... I just can't believe that it-"
Lifting his hand, Daigo shook his head. "Think nothing of it, Reagan. No one man is perfect and all plans can be foiled. Don't beat yourself up." Grunting, he sat next to her.
"Daigo, you wouldn't know..." She said, flashing back to her past.
Inside of the dome the battle was still raging on. Mashikura's eyes beamed a bright red and for a split second he saw ahead into the future, foreseeing the powerful attack that was to come at him streaking from Kuzma's mouth. This gave Mashikura the opportunity to plan for a counterattack; in fact when Kuzma opened his mouth Mashikura had already reclaimed Nidai Shusui into his hand. He thrusted his Kokuto and caught the blast mid-swing.
The blast split into two parts, each side spilling on either side of Mashikura and leaving holes in the wooden walls of the dome behind him. Smoke fragmented from the unison of the blast and sword, only to unveil that the nagamaki, which was was one of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords of the world and also a Black Blade, was unhindered by even one of Kuzma's most powerful attacks.
"Nice attack. To even hold back this sword for an instant is a feat worthy of praise. Even diamonds dull before Nidai Shusui," Mashikura proclaimed, but if Kuzma had learned anything about his opponent thus far it was that he was not a man who cared much for bluffs. He meant what he said and said what was meant.
Mashikura looked onwards at Kuzma. It's like he's on autopilot, he thought. His will has completely dominated him. He's only able to fight because his body is instinctively sensing the Haki around him. If I don't end him here there's no telling what he could become one day. Mashikura slammed his tail against the ground and seemingly teleported beside Kuzma. He aimed one paw after the other at Kuzma repeatedly. "Nagutsume: Arashi!"
Tens of shockwaves as powerful as the one that had broken his rib earlier were being fired at Kuzma.
"You're right, I wouldn't know but I'm here to see you lose face over this. Beating yourself up does nobody any good." Daigo snarled back, having no desire to see the young woman doubt herself over a single failure. Standing back up, Daigo walked towards the dome as an aura enveloped his body, flooding his veins with unbridled power. Stopping a foot away from the wooden barrier, the martial artist took a deep breath before falling into a stance with his legs spread apart and his left hand resting a mere inch away from actually touching the dome. Closing his eyes, he continued to build up more power within himself as the aura surged with great intensity until it was comparable to a beacon of light.
"Taikyoku Kiko..." Daigo whispered softly, feeling sweat trickle down his forehead as he flowed the power through his body into his left arm. Within a heartbeat, his arm exploded in a burst of azure energy as Daigo snapped his eyes open and thrusted forward with everything he had. "Horyuken!" With a fierce roar, his fist slammed into the dome as a explosive burst of air and dirt followed within the wake of his clash, pushing away anyone who wasn't ready for the display of strength from Daigo.
Despite being surprised at the wooden dome's durability, Daigo refused to quit as he dug his heels into the ground and pushed forward, focusing more of his strength and energy into his strike. With another roar, Daigo could hear the sound of the wood crack beneath the force of his blow. "I'm not done yet! THIS DAMN BARRIER OF YOURS AIN'T KEEPING ME OUT ANY LONGER!" Slamming his foot into the ground once more, Daigo twisted his waist and shoved with his entire body weight as he let out a fierce scream unbefitting of a young man but on par with a fable Oni of legends, watching with a savage grin as his fist finally broke through the dome for the rest of the crew.
"Huff...huff...There is your damn opening." Daigo said, panting heavily from expending so much energy on a single action.
Mashikura hit spot on. Kuzma was indeed on autopilot, his body being controlled by his rage for the world around him. Because of this, he lacked the ability to react to attacks in ways he normally could. Under the assumption that it could take the strikes, Kuzma--in Falldown Mode--stood and teach all ten of Mashikura's powerful blows. Each strike forced his eyes to roll to the back of his head as spit and blood mixture burst from his mouth.
Snap
Crack
Snap
Crack
Each strike made a new noise as his bones were broken from Mashikura's powerful blows. As if the Black Window harmonized with Daigo's strike, once his blast breached through the dome and dispersed, Kuzma came flying the opposite direction. His body traveled like a bullet past the rest of his crew, slamming into a line of trees knocking them down before his momentum was finally stopped and his back planted against a thick tree trunk, sliding down it to his rear where he say with his head facing down.
Though his body was covered in a shadowy aura, it was clear as day that he would have plenty of bruises to call battle scars. Reagan's face followed once Kuzma passed them as she had already stood back to her feet following Daigo's words. Kuzma, Daigo, and Reagan never really got along. In fact, while they may have seemed to hold some sort of relationship with each other, they spent most of their time training and learning under their respective masters. Even still, his words were able to touch her on an emotional level because she knew just as well as he did that they all had a singular goal in common: surpass those who taught them.
For a moment, she was torn between tending to Kuzma or the other members of the crew, yet at the same time, Reagan was no healer. She was a strategist. But this battle, was far beyond just playing your assigned "role". "Come along," she called out to Kompass and Sol, each coming to her side. Reaching to her hip, she drew the hilt of her light saber and grit her teeth at Mashikura who was clear as ever. "Vakne," started the young pirate, allowing her soul to emit from her body and a absorb itself into her sword. "Hodur."
Extra Change[]
Pressing the button of the sword, she it awoke revealing its light blade. "We'll have to do something quickly, Daigo." She said, as Hodur joined Kompass and Sol. "Charge!" She yelled out, running into the dome with her sword high and Homies following behind her for her only attack.
The large stature of Gang Print slowly but surely shrank into its original shape. Locks upon locks of spiky, long, black hair sprouted from his scalp while the sleeves of his yukata fell and hung around his waistline like flaps. Mashikura sheathed the ever powerful Nidai Shusui, known to him by a name far different than that uttered by most. "Arisama," he spoke, "unveil the truth."
Lacking a crossguard, the sword while sheathed took the form of a long staff; a large ring on the end of the blade side of the sword gave it the appearance of a Shakujo when Mashikura held it in an upright stance. The Straw Hat, which had come undone upon Kuzma's transformation, was finally beginning to fall back towards the ground, indicating that Mashikura the brutal beating Kuzma had received from Mashikura had in reality only taken a handful of seconds.
A hole was created in the roof of the dome through the admirable efforts of Daigo. The Kuzma Pirates intended on entering the fray once again by sending reinforcements, that much was for certain. It was an impressive switch in morale. Seeing the state of their captain they vowed to protect him even still.
Before Reagan could jump down, a stream of dust poured into the dome through the hole created by Kuzma's flying body. The cloud streamed through the air, swirling and snaking about the dome, collecting the Straw Hat in a bed whereupon it was delivered straight into Mashikura's hand. He studied the hat, sensing the energy that radiated within and noting the small incisions that were made in it from their fight. Bamboo, he decided. Mashikura poked his finger through the hole in the hat, conjuring the very element that was used to weave it in the first place. Carefully he patched the hat back to life and then propped it on his own head, sitting it between his horns.
As he clutched Arisama in his hand, the hat began to emanate a powerful voice which seeped right through and into Mashikura's skull. We are together again. Together. Again.
Reagan had been an afterthought over the course of this war, as far as Mashikura was concerned. The dust swirled around Mashikura's body, ensnaring him in a cloud. In the next instant it snaked around his neck and solidified into the form of a white weasel. "Tetsu-jin sama, it's best you not underestimate her! In many ways she is more dangerous than even him."
"Oh?" Mashikura glanced towards the weasel on his shoulder. "And how's that, Kusari?"
"Look closely at her ability. What do you see? That girl... she would turn your sword into a weapon and use it against you by implanting her own soul in it if she wanted!" Kusari reasoned. "She has the ability to breathe life into just about anything!"
Mashikura grinned wide. "Woorooroo... then she is the only one here who could take this treasure away from me." Mashikura placed a hand over his head and on top of the Straw Hat, pushing it deeper onto the helm of his scalp. "Kusari!" He took the same hand and opened his palm in front of his body as Reagan continued to charge towards him.
Kusari grinned. "Transform!" he screeched, and with a puff of dust the weasel transformed into a massive folding fan with a katana-like handle.
A battle of talking weapons. Mashikura flailed the fan at the storming Reagan. "Kamaitachi!" A blast of razor sharp wind bursted towards Reagan, strong enough to completely erase one side of the dome in a chaotic storm.
As if a switch flicked on in her mind, she burrowed her brows in anger as Mashikura placed the Straw Hat on his head. Daigo passed out from overexertion of his power and it was left up to her to fend off her crew mates. Hodur swalloed the martial artist up into a black and and carried him to safety while doing the same to the coffinized Scubaza and Jim.
Reagan's anger showed as her face turned red and her Homies flared into "powered-up" versions. "You give that back," Reagan said, hands bleeding as she gripped the hilt of her light saber as tight as she could. "It doesn't fit your head." She said once more, face growing more and more red as she spoke. With a single slash of her sword, the soul she placed into it seeped into the ground below and gave it life. Rising as if it were ripping, the ground came to live and shielded her from the attack Mashikura sent her way before resting back to its idle position. It was just as the being told Mashikura, she had the ability to breathe life into anything--so long as it was inanimate--which is what made the Soru Soru no Mi so renown.
"You don't know what that hat truly means, at least not to Kuzma" she went on. "Its the signification of his journey and the framework of what drives him to become the King of the Pirates. It isn't needed, but its like what a dog what be to a man. A sword to a samurai; his best friend. Kuzma lost everything at a point and Shiguma-sama giving him that hat is what changed his life. We all grew up disliking each other's personality, but, Kuzma always backed up his word-" A tear slid down her left cheekbone.
Panting heavily, tears continued to pour down her face through the water works before she dropped to her knee. Sol, Hodur, and Kompass quickly shielded her. "Reagan-sama, what's wrong?" Sol asked, as its master continued to pant. The truth of the matter was, Reagan had used all of her energy when creating compass and aiding in destroying the rest of the villages and the her mind malfunctioned as she went on in attempts to defend Kuzma, but she felt good about it.
Vision blurring, she looked to Kuzma. "I-I'm sorry, K-Kuzma!" The wind blew and with a final effort, Reagan pushed her soul into it. Suddenly, the wind which was heading one direction shifted towards Kuzma in the form of a compressed shot and smashed against his body, lifting it from the ground and carrying him along the way out of their immediate vision.
"Its the signification of his journey and the framework of what drives him to become the King of the Pirates. Mashikura stepped towards Reagan who was on her knees. The clicking of his sandals emanated loudly across the battlefield. "Good. All the more reason for me to take it." With the last ounce of her strength, Reagan did the unthinkable -she pushed Kuzma away, forcefully ejecting him from the battle against his wishes. From what Mashikura had learned of the boy, if given the chance he certainly would have tried to fight again and his end would be inevitable. Reagan being the strategist she was had realized this before the rest of her mates. There was no strategy that she could possibly conjure at this time that could lead to their victory. Her powers could place spirits inside of other objects but apparently they could not raise her own.
Mashikura had defeated Reagan in a battle of minds. And with her spirit crushed she was already done away with, there was no need to beat her down any farther. "You're a bright young woman," said the Sage. "To tackle these waters at your age truly is remarkable. To most of these other pirates you lot would pose great difficulty. But before the power of the Black Widow Pirates... you are nothing." He paused to study her lifeless face. There was not a single bruise on her skin and yet she was shattered in more places than Kuzma. "I can tell that you see that now."
He marched past the girl, sandals clicking to the rhythm of her heartbeat. The Sage's eyes lingered in the aftermath of the war. "Your efforts to save him... would be in vain." Mashikura closed his eyes and lowered his head. "If I wanted to I could appear beside him now and strike him down. He cannot escape me."
Together. Again. Together. Again. This time...
Mashikura clenched his eyes in pain. The voice in his head would not subside, growing louder by the second. He took off the hat and held it in his hand. "Again?" He whispered to himself. "How can that be?"
"Tetsujin-sama?" Kusari wondered, but Mashikura did not acknowledge his worries.
Rather, he tended to Reagan. "You seem to be an ambitious woman-resu. Yet you did not hesitate to give your life for him." His eyes quivered, dumbfounded. "Why?" There was no response. "Is it him that you follow? Or the fate that he wears? If I were to dawn this hat... would you then follow me?" Mashikura was thinking aloud. "This hat... how many times has it saved his life? Is it the reason he was able to get this far?"
Mashikura was a wise man. But he found that this hat challenged his peace. To bear the hat could mean straying from his path. It was a dangerous decision to keep it. "I wonder. If it was the hat that protected him then he won't survive for long. If it was because of the hat that you all follow him then he will lose you as well. But... if it was because of him then surely he will reach M'Lady regardless."
Mashikura propped the Straw Hat back onto his head. Immediately he grimaced. "Let's put a test to our theory, hm? If it is by your own merit that you have paraded these waters then I will wait you in the sea beyond this one-resu." Mashikura glanced over his shoulder to cast his gaze upon the young woman. "Come and find me in Wano. Until then I will hold onto this hat for myself. Relay this message to that Captain of yours. The next time we meet... you will not be spared."
The Sage slowly marched away.