Clash on the Calm Sea

Bo and Leon looked on at their opponent standing between them. This was the brief calm before the storm. Bo had let his pride get the best of him and allow him to free this giant of a man from his holdings. Now here they were preparing to see who was stronger: the experienced pirate worth 90 million beli or the two upstart pirates trained by a man worth 250 million beli.

Bo and Leon made the first move as they charged towards Tank attempting a two pronged attack; Tank would have no way to avoid it. Leon started his attack first as he swung his sword from across his body aiming for Tank's midsection, but Tank grabbed Leon's wrist with his remaining arm before the blade even got close to him and swung Leon around and into Bo.

Bo jumped up and avoided his partner, leaving Leon to crash into the cells there, and jumped forward launching a straight fist that connected cleanly to the side of Tank's head. He followed that up by twisting his body and landing a back kick in nearly the same spot.

Seemingly unfazed by the two blows to the head, Tank threw Leon at Bo, who caught him, and then lunged forward with a strong punch of his own. In order to avoid the strike, Bo dropped Leon and ducked under the massive arm aimed at him. He then unleashed a flurry of quick punches into Tank's abdomen. Tank tried to counter with a knee at such close range, but Bo timed a jump perfectly and springboarded off of Tank's knee and did a backflip, kicking Tank in the chin in the process.

With Bo out of his immediate range, Tank noticed Leon still in front of him and tried to kick him while he was down, but Leon caught Tank's leg. Bo then ran and jumped off of Leon's back and drove his elbow into Tank's face with enough force to take advantage of his imbalance, thanks to Leon holding his leg, and knock him down, creating a number of cracks in the floor of the ship.

Leon then stepped back to grab his sword as Bo delivered another punch to Tank's face for good measure. But the fight wasn't over yet. As the two looked on, Tank rose from the floor wiping rubble off of himself and preparing to continue, seemingly unaffected by the myriad of blows he'd taken thus far: a few bruises and some blood coming from his nose, but nothing major.

Leon rushed forward attempting to catch Tank off guard and began trying to slice him up, but Tank with all of his experience was able to recover and deflect many of the slices aimed at him with the metal bands on his wrist. As the onslaught continued, Leon was only able to land a few minor scratches only adding to the multitude that already adorned Tank's large arms and torso.

Seeing as he wasn't getting anywhere, Leon jumped back in preparation of one final attack. He put both hands on the handle of his sword for the first time and raised it above his head. Leon was planning to use one powerful downward slash to turn this fight around. If Tank tried to block this one with the bands around his wrists, Leon was sure they'd break upon impact and Tank would have no defense left.

However, Tank understood this as well and prepared to defend in a different manner. When Leon swung the blade down towards Tank's chest and shoulders, Tank solidly clamped the blade between his palms with enough strength to stop the sword instantly and shake the blade. Leon was surprised at the turn of events as he'd never considered this outcome.

Bo, wanting to take advantage of the distraction, came from behind Leon to attack Tank. But, Tank saw him approaching and twisted his hands to throw the sword, and subsequently its owner, out of his way as he prepared to counter Bo. Bo, however, was too quick as he jumped towards Tank and connected with a flying kick followed by a roundhouse to the ribs as he contorted his body in the air.

Bo then jumped back before pushing off the ground and driving his fist into the center of Tank's torso, the solar plexus, with enough force to actually cause the huge man to stumble backwards, noticeably affected for the first time in this fight. Tank, though, recovered quickly and used his superior reach to hit Bo in the back with a hammer fist that sent him shuddering to the ground.

As Bo struggled to his feet, he heard Tank mutter, "Cannon Fist". Bo barely managed to get his arms up in time to guard as Tank's huge fist came barreling towards him. As the fist made contact with his guard, Bo was barely able to maintain his defense as he felt his arms nearly break under the immense strength of his opponent. But, he couldn't relax yet as Tank continued forth with a barrage of powerful blows. Bo gritted his teeth through the pain and took small steps backwards as many of the punches crashed directly into his arms while others managed to bounce off his abs, shoulders, and even the top of his head at times. Luckily for Bo, though, none of the punches that got around his guard were able to connect cleanly due to him twisting his body with the punches to reduce the damage he took. If they had landed squarely, Bo would likely have been finished.

When the barrage finally let up, Bo saw Tank preparing for another Cannon Fist and knew this might be his only chance. Tank spoke to Bo, "I'm impressed that you're still standing; that first punch alone would shatter the bones of a normal man. But, you won't survive another." Bo recognized the truth in Tank's words, and although he was still staggering on his feet, Bo gathered up every bit of strength he had left and just as Tank threw the punch, Bo ducked underneath it in similar fashion as before and moved closer to Tank. Tank smirked at this action figuring he had Bo now. He moved his arm back towards himself in order to hit Bo in the back with his forearm.

However, Bo, as if predicting the move, back flipped over Tank's incoming arm then used it as a step to lift himself up with more force as he sent an uppercut directly into Tank's chin and followed it up with a powerful punch directly to the center of his face in order to finish the fight.

But, the punch wasn't as effective as Bo would have hoped and only managed to daze the monster of a man as he soon steadied himself and prepared to deliver yet another devastating punch to Bo. Meanwhile, Bo could only stand and watch as Tank readied for a finishing blow. His body had been beaten and battered throughout this fight to such an extent that it was taking nearly all he had merely to stand, and he knew that dodging would be out of the question.

When Tank was ready to deliver what he was sure would be the finishing blow, he did so with a yell: "Cannon Fist!" Surely enough, Bo was unable to move out of the way as he watched the fist approach him. The only thing he could manage to do was just lift up his arms with his left palm facing out in front of him.

Tank was perplexed as his strongest punch was just stopped and was only able to push the much smaller Bo back a short ways. Now it was Bo's turn to smirk as he used Tank's momentary confusion to push his arm down. He then ran up Tank's arm and landed a devastating knee on his face while Leon used his arm to chop the back of Tank's leg. The two combined blows sent Tank crashing down to the floor and created an even bigger dent in the floorboards as hundreds of wood splinters flew up and the floor itself threatened to give out.

Kneeling on Tank's face and chest, Bo moved the knee he'd attacked with away from Tank's face and placed his left palm there instead. Bo yelled, "Impact!" as the impact dial he had hidden under his glove released all of the energy it absorbed from Tank's punch back at him at point blank range, which combined with all of the other blows that had accumulated damage to his head, was enough to finally knock the massive man unconscious.

Bo stood up and scoffed before muttering, "We hijacked one warship and took down another" as he looked down over his fallen enemy.

Leon walked up with his sword resting on his right shoulder and clapped Bo on the back, eliciting a wince of pain, before asking, "We good?"

Bo responded with a somewhat pained, "Yeah" before continuing, "You know, it's a shame; if he hadn't pissed me off, I would have asked him to join the crew. What were you doing, anyway?"

"I was letting you have your fun, besides he was probably da Captain of his own crew anyway." retorted Leon.

"So what? He couldn't still have a crew; he's been in here. His crew's either dead or in here too."

At that point a shaky voice spoke from a nearby cell: "Actually, he took on an entire Marine squadron so his crew could escape."

Bo thought about that and responded almost immediately. "Heh. I definitely would have asked him to join then." he said before giving a shrug and finishing, "Oh well." as he walked away.

Leon asked Bo as he walked away, "What do you want me to do with him." pointing his sword at the unconscious Tank, but Bo just said, "Whatever you want. I'm through with him." as he continued towards the stairs.

As he neared the doorway, Bo noticed the prisoner that was with Leon earlier, specifically the wound on his hip that he was unable to cover due to being handcuffed. Bo called over for Leon to toss him the keys and then spoke to the prisoner: "You're still here? Why didn't you go get that wound looked at?"

"You two put on a good show. Besides, I think you need a doctor more than me." responded the prisoner.

Bo shifted uncomfortably due to his injuries as he caught the keys from Leon and turned to the man in black and retorted, "This? This is nothing; just a bruise." He then began to ascend the stairs with the other man close behind.

After walking in silence for a minute, the former prisoner broke the silence by asking Bo, "Why'd you stop him?"

Bo was taken aback by the sudden question, but after thinking about it and realizing the man was talking about what happened between him and Leon, Bo asked his own question: "What would you have done if I hadn't?"

"Die." came the matter-of-fact, emotionless reply.

"That's why. I've only met a few people who could keep from reacting when Leon swung at them; even fewer who knew not doing so would mean certain death."

"That still doesn't answer my question." stated the man, still in a calm, flat tone.

That reply frustrated Bo, but he kept his emotions in check and continued: "You interest me; I want you to join my crew."

The man was actually amused by Bo's simplicity of the matter and responded, "You don't even know me, and I don't know you."

"Okay, I'm Bo and I saved your life. Now it's your turn. What's your name and why were you in the cells on this ship?"

The man looked at Bo; Bo hadn't turned around once during this conversion as he walked up the stairs. "You forgot to mention it was your friend that was going to kill me." he said curtly before adding, "Anyway, my name's Mage; I picked a fight on this ship and lost." At Mage's last statement, Bo turned around for the first time and had a slight smirk on his face.

Bo then turned back around and regained his usual composure before asking, "Why did Leon try to kill you? Bo could sense Mage's hesitancy in answering, so he added, "Remember, Leon could also tell me, but...if I'm forced to ask him then I'll be upset."

At the added urging, Mage gave in and answered, "I'd accepted my fate."

Bo mulled over those words. If he had been talking about the scene with Leon, Bo could understand, but before that, he was simply in a cell and being offered freedom- however fake the offer; that was a bit early to be 'accepting fate'. Bo let his feelings be known: "Maybe I should've let Leon kill you. You don't just give up and stop fighting even when there is absolutely no other option."

Mage was a reserved person and wouldn't have bothered to say something under most circumstances, but right now, in this younger man's presence, he felt compelled to defend himself, but the best he could come up with was "I have nothing left to live for."

Bo lost his normally calm composure, swung around immediately and slammed his fist into the wall as he stared straight into Mage's eyes and shouted, "Then find something else! There's always a reason to live on!" Sensing hesitation, Bo let out a deep breath before grabbing Mage's collar and pulling him close: "Make your goal to serve me, then, until you find one of your own." commanded Bo in a low whisper as he continued to stare into Mage's eyes.

Even though he was older, Mage struggled to maintain eye contact under the heat of Bo's intense gaze and almost lost his balance as Bo released his collar and pushed him back.

Bo then turned around resumed his ascent up the stairs. After a brief moment, Mage followed suit and they continued to the main deck in silence.