Chapter 2 - Desoto VS Kumori

Desoto slightly opened his eyes and consequently welcomed the bright light of the mid day while it felt like he was in a rocking storm with his body shaking to and fro. He sheltered his eyes with the palm of his hands from the bright blue heavens while he fully opened his eyes. He stared right in the face of Kumori's fuming face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! How can you be in such deep sleep while the boat crashed in the reef and you nearly drowning?" He spat out while he was holding Desoto by the shoulders and shaking him violently.

"I guess I fell asleep in the heat of the sun"

"But you didn't wake up!" he pushed Desoto to the sandy ground. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes and then scanned their surroundings. They seemed to be stranded on a small remote little island that consisted of a sandy beach and four palm trees in the middle. Surrounded by a shallow bright blue coral reef and endless ocean.

"Where's my boat?"

"It crashed and sunk. I had to pull you towards the shore, useless devil fruit" Kumori hissed.

Desoto started laughing, "Useless you say? My power will get me off this remote wasteland and to safety, while you will die of thirst or drown in an attempt to reach land. And I am taking Yuna with me; I can't let her die here"

"Are you serious? You abducted us without our consent and now you want to rob me and leave me to die? You are the worst kind of pirate, scum!"

Desoto's expression dropped, he deserved that and felt bad. He wasn't really going to leave Kumori, he just wanted to make a point, but it came out wrong. He wasn't going to back down though…

"Let's make a deal. We fight; I saw that you are a capable swordsman and I'm longing for a battle to hone my own skills, for I've only had this power for a few months now. If I win, I get to keep Yuna. If you win, I will take you to safety and leave the two of you"

"I can't believe you are trying to make a deal with me. Have you no pride whatsoever?" Kumori asked blankly, though he wanted to fight Desoto, he wanted to teach the brat a lesson.

"My definition of pride is different than yours. I don't care for your life so I don't have to go out of my way to help you, even if you just saved mine" Desoto said with a soft smile, he was toying with Kumori's vulnerable emotions.

"You are a piece of shit" he said and stretched out his hand out to Yuna that was totally oblivious to the situation. She couldn't sense any ill intentions from Desoto so she couldn't classify whether he was a real threat or not, but Kumori extended his hand to her so she has to obey nonetheless. She threw her tail into his hand and morphed into her weapon form.

"WHITE MOON SCYTHE" Kumori said and shot forward in an inhumane speed, not wasting any time. Desoto could barely keep up with his movement. He instinctively ducked down as the large scythed cut through the air above his head. He laughed and jumped back.

"You're fast" Desoto said and ran to him with fists raised. The loose dry sand under his bare feet made his movement sloppy. He punched Kumori and he blocked with the shaft of his scythe, Desoto threw blow after blow in an unrelenting flurry which proved challenging for Kumori to dispel with such a large weapon. He stepped back and Desoto jumped into the air towards him and punched him in the cheek which sent him to fall and slide away in the sand, leaving a noticeable ditch trail.

"And you are surprisingly strong for a skinny shit" He growled as he planted the staff of his scythe in the sand and pulling himself up, "But you are inexperienced" he took the scythe in one hand and spun it around until the scythe turned into a deathly silver windmill, Desoto could barely see the blade as it spun. "HEAVEN'S MILL" Kumori ran to him and directed the mill towards Desoto and he dodged barely, Kumori tried again and again but Desoto dodged each one crudely. Slices appeared on his body on several places as it nicked him. The heaven's mill ability clearly took a toll on Kumori's speed. Desoto ducked down again and scooped up a handful of sand and threw it at Kumori's face. He recoiled back cussing at Desoto.

Desoto laughed and released a flurry of punches into Kumori's gut and ended the combo with a kick across the face which sent him flying into the shallow water. Kumori got up immediately and threw his scythe at Desoto, which he didn't expect. The scythe came at him and he side-stepped it and kept his sight on Kumori as he laughed at him. Kumori rubbed the sand from his eyes and smiled. He heard heavy pads behind him and before he could turn around, Yuna jumped into the air and bit into his shoulder and slammed him hard into the ground. She growled furiously as Desoto's blood filled her maw as she kept him pinned steadily to the ground. Desoto stared her in the face with a blank expression. Her tail, which was a white blade, pinned his legs down as well. If he moved he will be cut. Kumori stood over him and laughed. "I guess I win" he said proudly as he put his white hair behind his ear.

Suddenly Desoto laughed out, from his gut. Kumori didn't understand his reaction, who takes defeat like that? This kid must be mentally unstable. Desoto put his thumb and index finger together and put it by his mouth and he took a deep breath, "DRAGON FLAME" his voice echoed and a flamethrower appeared out of his mouth and sent Yuna and Kumori flying.

"I am a dragon boy! Remember?" he laughed. The wound on his shoulder hurting as he got to his feet. He stood on the one side of the island and Kumori on the other side, he also got to his feet, his skin was charred on various places but no excessive burns. He knew Desoto held back, he thought if Yuna wasn't there Desoto would have probably charred him into an unrecognizable corpse.

Desoto made a disgusting snorting sound and had a strange appearance on his face, "METEORITE!" he yelled and spat out a large ball of fire towards Kumori, it missed but created an explosion when it hit the ground which created a sandy crater with embers.

"Did you just spit a flaming ball of mucous at me?!" he barked out.

"You should see when I sneeze" Desoto laughed.

Kumori stretched out his hand towards Yuna and she jumped towards him and morphed into her scythe form again. "DRAGON FLAME" Desoto echoed and sent another large flamethrower towards them, the size was impossible to dodge with normal means so Kumori jumped and rocketed high into the air. Desoto directed his flamethrower to follow them then suddenly Kumori Shot horizontally in a silver beam and sliced the air "LUNAR HOWL!" he yelled and sent wave after wave of large silver rifts towards Desoto, the fire stopped and he disappeared in a veil of sand. Kumori dropped to the ground and waited for the sand to cease. When it did, Desoto was seen lowered to his knees holding his side with blood gushing from an intense wound.

"What's with that inhumane power?" he asked, coughing up blood "Its making my blood boil" he smiled darkly and wiped to blood from his mouth.

"I'm trained in Rokushiki, the six powers. I've used Geppou (moon step) to jump in mid air, and enhanced the speed with Soru (shave) to move quicker in the air, and also my movement speed on the ground"

"And you infused Yuna's power with Rankyaku (storm leg) to create the silver rifts you call lunar howl"

Kumori looked at him surprised, then his face turned into a scowl, "That part is suppose to be a secret technique, how did you figure it out? You're nothing but a mere moron…"

"I've read up on Rokushiki when I tried to obtain power, I've just never witnessed it in person"

"Psh. You won't be able to master this power, it takes years of training and pure determination to touch even the hem of what it is capable of" Kumori hissed. Desoto laughed and stood up, leaving his wound exposed as his blood gushed from it.

"I have no interest in that power now. I am a dragon boy!" he smiled gleefully. "Ryu Ruy no Mi: DRAGON HYBRID!" he yelled out and his hands and feet turned into dragon claws that scaled up his human limbs, his back sprouted large blue-black dragon wings and his eyes turned red with darkness around the sockets. Kumori stared wide-eyed at the quick transformation; he was in awe of the power of the Ryu Ryu no Mi hybrid transformation. Desoto tore off his shirt and spat into his dragon-clawed hand and it set alight, and then he pressed his flaming hand into his side of the wound and he growled in pain as he burned it closed. He took his hand off and Kumori nearly gagged at the appearance. It was a large gory burn wound in the shape of a dragon claw. Desoto shook his hand and the flame disappeared.

"Bleeding stopped, and I'm in my hybrid form. The battle will be serious from here on out. Approach me, Kumori" Desoto smiled. They both dashed forward towards one another, Kumori slashed down and Desoto hit the blade away with his bare hand (Well, scaled enforced claws) the scythe was directed towards the ground and the large she wolf appeared and tackled Desoto and she jumped away as Kumori followed up with a kick, but Desoto directed his wings forward to block himself from the kick. He flung open his wingspan and made Kumori stumble backwards. He followed up by dashing forward and swinging with his claws at Kumori. Kumori disappeared into thin air and stood behind him and swiped at him again with his white scythe, and Desoto also disappeared a split second before impact.

"DRAGON FLAME!" Kumori heard him yell from above and a pillar of flame pushed down towards him.

"HEAVEN'S MILL" Kumori spun the scythe above him to counter the flames, he was surrounded by the inferno but he was totally unaffected.

"SKY DRAGON'S INFERNO!" Desoto yelled and Kumori didn't know what to expect. Desoto Disappeared within his own flames and plummeted towards Kumori in a fierce comet of unrelenting inferno. He pushed down onto the spinning scythe and it turned into a battle of strength. Kumori's feet dug deeper and deeper into the sand and he was being lowered into a crater created by the force from above. His arms were shaking and he was yelling, trying desperately to keep his strength alive until the vigor of Desoto's plummet faded away. He couldn't hold on any longer and he collapsed under the force. Desoto crashed into him and an explosion of flames consumed them both. The wave of force incinerated the few trees and the island was being swallowed by the ocean.

They both laid there in the sand, wounded and tired as hell. Desoto clearly overdid himself, in attempt to play around with his own abilities, and Kumori just didn't have the strength required to defend himself from the power of a dragon. Nevertheless, Kumori laughed as he was lying next to Desoto, he has never had such an exhilarating battle. Even as he lay there with his tattered body, cringing in pain, he had to appreciate a good battle as it poured over him. Desoto just lay still as he watched the clouds above; he smiled softly and then turned his head to Kumori.

"Why are you suddenly laughing?" he asked.

"I win"

Desoto also started laughing, "What the hell are you talking about?!" he exclaimed, and then his body went lame and all energy was draining from him, he shifted back into his human form. The salt water touched his feet as it slowly swallowed the little island.

"A little water defeating such a powerful dragon" Kumori smiled darkly.

Desoto pulled his leg up and crawled backwards to the highest point of the island where the charred palms lay, Yuna had already made her way there and she was whining in fear, knowing what lies ahead for her as a devil fruit user. Desoto painfully got up and watched as the island submerged into the ocean. He was going to die.

"Come with me Yuna, we can attempt to get out of here" Desoto said and reached out his hand. She looked at his hand wide-eyed and then into his eyes, she was conflicted.

"Go Yuna" Kumori said, "He can get you to safety. You don't have to die here with me" he said. She started to wine again. "GO!" he yelled so loud it startled her. Desoto found his intentions to be pure; he has accepted death like a man and doesn't want to take anyone down with him. Desoto grabbed her tail and yanked it; she growled and shifted into her scythe form.

"Ryu Ryu no Mi: DRAGON FORM!" he howled out and turned into a full fledged feral dragon, his body tripled in sized and was covered in blue-black scales with a lighter colored belly. His fangs showed even with his mouth closed above his horned chin. His black hair were spiked horns pointing backwards between his black pointy ears His massive wings were positioned ready to lift from the ground (He's appearance was that of a normal American style dragon) his figure was slim but muscled, a perfect aerodynamic body.

Kumori pushed himself up to get a good look at the dragon, he was in total awe. And at the same time he was slightly pissed that Desoto kept this form to himself throughout their battle, Kumori would surely have died if he fought this remarkable creature.

Desoto had nothing left to say, he smiled at Kumori as he pushed his wings down and lifted from the ground. He hovered above the ground for a few seconds, looking at Kumori, and then he shot up into the air batting his wings gracefully. But then he stopped his ascend and looked into the horizon. Kumori tilted his head in confusion; he couldn't tell what was going on in Desoto's scaley brain. Desoto broke out in happy laughter and dropped Yuna down onto the dry spot.

"I see a pirate ship!" he yelled down at Kumori and then flew towards the horizon. Kumori's face lit up as he looked and saw the ship. Desoto flew towards it at a great speed and descended towards the ship, Kumori raised his hand from the light of the sun so he could see better as Desoto will get them to salvation, he was ready to die but now he has hope to live again! He saw Desoto's figure descend towards the ship, followed by an explosion of flames that burned high towards the heavens.

Kumori stared blankly at the scene, his blood boiling with a fury, and then he snapped "That fool will burn the ship down!" he howled.