Blade of Hellfire: Thank you again.
Chapter 10, Tory
I made the first move. I ran towards Kola and swung my leg out. Kola jumped, avoiding my attack, and kicked me powerfully in the gut. The air left my lungs and I was thrown backwards, my shoulder hitting the railing of the ship. There was barely any time for me to catch my breath as I rolled out of the way, the railing crushed by another kick from Kola. I jumped to my feet and stabbed his side. He hopped back, dislodging my sword. He took a look at the wound and laughed a hysterical laugh.
"If Ilea were ever right about anything, it's the smell of blood! It doesn't matter if it's your own or somebody else's! The sight of blood tells you somebody's injured, that's all that matters!" he said wobbling back and forth. He picked up his dagger from the floor, which he had dropped when I head butted him. Kola then ran so fast when he stabbed me in the chest I was thrown backward again from the impact. This time, though, I stopped myself and skidded a few feet, and then I jumped off the floorboards, threw myself into the air right before I hit Kola with my hands and swung my sword down while upside down above his head. I made a cut in his shoulder but he wasn't fazed at all. I landed and barely ducked in time to avoid another kick from him. I tensed up my legs, and leaped at Kola's face, claws outstretched. He stumbled back, five fresh scratches on his cheek. The grin on his face just got wider as he wiped off some of the blood with his hand, looked at his palm, and started to lick off the red liquid.
"Ew." automatically escaped my mouth as my face twisted to one of disgust. Kola laughed wildly at me and I didn't even have a moment to feel shock as he punched in the head, his fist surrounded in dark smoke. Hitting the floor, I sat there clutching my nose, as my thoughts went all hazy. I couldn't think straight. My vision went blurry, and I struggled to keep focus, to no avail. For no reason I laughed out loud, not stopping even when I fell to the floor on my right side. Things that shouldn't be here appeared in my line of vision. The sail seemed to have a face. A large bright pink rabbit dressed in a suit ran past. Thom was soon next to me, peering into my face but he seemed to have morphed with a cat.
"Lookwathtwawabbit!" I squealed with my words jumbling together, lazily flailing my arm out. Thom suddenly had lifted me up and was shaking me by the shoulders.
"Come on Tory, you got to fight this insanity!" he yelled. I just let my head loll back, and gave another soft laugh. I was released and hit the floor with a thump. I watched with my eyes half open as Thom ran with his dagger raised, spouting words I couldn't possibly understand in my state.
Thom
I watched, unmoving, as Tory hit the floor, and suddenly laughing insanely. I immediately rendered my opponent unconscious and rushed to his side. I picked him up by the shoulders but all my shaking had no effect on Tory's state of mind. Dropping him rather carelessly, I rushed with my dagger at 'Black Plague' Kola. I threw all my strength into a punch in my opponents gut. Kola keeled over but didn't fall off his feet. Slowly raising his head he gave me a cruel grin. He plunged his dagger into my right arm and I cried out in pain. I kicked him away, and put my left hand on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. I decided it was time to show my Devil Fruit. I focused on the surroundings, trying to pick up the presence of the souls of animals that had died in the area. I found many fish and bird souls, but no useful animals. I sighed, nearly ruining my focus, and I brought my left hand away from my arm to the pendant around my neck. It was carved into the shape of a wolves face out of a silver stone, and orange crystals as the eyes. In this pendant carried the souls of 100 wolves. 'I need your help, O wise spirits.' I said mentally to them.
"What are you doing? Praying isn't going to save you. Well, I myself for one, pray to the god of monkeys, Skiffs but…" I ignored and shut Kola out of my head.
'Why do you need our help? You haven't needed us for so long. What if we refuse?' the Wolves answered back.
'Please spirits! My friend is in danger! If I don't stop Kola now, everybody could fall under his influence.' I begged. After several moments of waiting, I thought they were going to refuse, but the Wolves surprised me.
'Very well, we shall lend you our power. We aren't completely helpless you know.' even though I couldn't actually see them, I knew they were smiling. Focusing on the presence on their souls, I matched it with my soul, and the temperature dropped several degrees. White mist started to form into the bodies of large, white wolves. More than a few people from both sides paused their fights to stare. They leaped at Kola as one, and he could no longer be seen under the mass of Wolves, though his screams were completely clear. After the assault was done, the Wolves moved onto the other Black Water Pirates. Kola was covered in bite marks and bleeding wounds. As I crouched down next to his head, he pulled his long black coat which had fallen off on top of his body. His eyes peeked out from under the hem of his collar, and they no longer had the gleam of insanity.
"I'm guessing you're not insane any more." I stated. His mouth moved a bit, turning into something resembling a grin. Not like the ones from when he was crazy, but a true smile. He slowly closed his eyes.
"Is he dead?" asked somebody from the 8th Division.
"No he's breathing. It's slight, but he's alive." at seeing their captain defeated and no longer under the influence of insanity, the remaining Black Water Pirates fled to their ship after I had called back my the Wolves. When the last soul had gone back to the necklace, blood shot out of my nose but that was remedied with a scrap of cloth from my shirt. Most of my energy had been drained from calling the Wolves, but I had one more job to do. I walked over to Tory, who somehow was still insane even though Kola was unconscious and laid my free hand on his forehead.
Tory
As Thom put his hand on my forehead, I cried out,
"Whaddyadoing!" he ignore my outbursts, which made me all the more confused. In my mind, I suddenly found myself in a white hall. Dark smoke filled the air. I was getting dizzy, and I felt myself falling further to the clutches of insanity. My mind cleared as I felt a strong presence next to me. I found a white wolf at my side, which radiated a comforting aura. He gently took my hand and led me through the place which I realized was a maze. It seemed to go on forever as I was pulled through the stark white halls. The smoke always surrounded us, but my head remained free of its hypnotic trap. Soon I found a brightly lit open doorway, so bright I couldn't see the other side. The wolf let go of my hand and pushed me forward. As I stepped through the light surrounded me and…
My eyes fully opened, and I looked at Thom, who now completely human. He gave me a smile and I quickly sat up and gave him a tight hug. Then he fainted. For a moment I looked at Thom's limp body then turned my attention to the bundled lump that was Kola. Finally I looked around the ocean surrounding the Moby Dick and the Black Water Pirates ship was nowhere to be found.
"What did I miss?" I asked to no specific person.
"Well, Thom used his power and summoned up some ghost wolves, beat Kola and the Black Water Pirates, making them leave, and he brought you back to sanity." answered Mono as he walked up to me, his wounds bandaged.
"Oh. Where's Tami?" I asked, suddenly afraid for my sisters' life.
"She's in the infirmary. Her injuries were nothing the doctors couldn't fix." Mono assured.
"So, now what? Wait, I just realized something. POPS!" I yelled.
"What, brat?" asked Whitebeard in a relaxed tone.
"You didn't help at all!" I complained.
"It didn't seem like you needed it. How would it look if you guys depended completely on me?" he replied. I put on my pout face in return, and everybody laughed at this scenario. I kept pouting as one of the doctors came and took care of my injuries, since really I didn't like being fussed over, like the doc was doing.
"You know, you should really be more careful." he tipped as he finished bandaging my wounds.
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"I tried my best!" I countered. Looking over to Kola, two doctors were by his side, stitching and wrapping him in layers of bandages. "Has Pops decided what we're going to do with him?" I asked the doc.
"Who?" I gestured with my eyes and he got the picture. "Oh, Kola, Whitebeard said we would either leave him at Water 7 once he recovered, or he could join us. He said your sister was welcome to come, too, along with that girl that used bubbles to attack. They're in the infirmary if you want to see them." I thanked him, pulled on my shirt, and went to the infirmary as said. I opened the door and found Ilea in Tami's lap, who was on her bed braiding Ilea's hair. Tami noticed me in the doorway and gave me a grin.
"Hiya, Tory." exclaimed Ilea and she gave me a wave. I waved back and went to sit at the foot of the bed. "So, have you decided what you're going to do from here?" I questioned Tami.
"Yeah, I have. I decided I have had enough fighting to last me a while. Once you guys get to the next island I'm going to take Ilea and try to start a normal life. You had better visit, Totes."
"Don't call me that." and I took a swat at her. She dodged and swatted me back. Ilea watched the exchange and decided to join in by punching me in the gut. I bent over, holding my stomach. "Totally… Uncalled for." I rasped. Tami burst into laughter.
"You just got beat by a girl, Tory." she said happily. I pouted again. We said our goodbyes and I headed to my room to call it a night. In the morning, I was introduced to a new face.
"This is Fink Ruhr. He was the guy we had to pick up from Water 7." I shook hands with Fink as Leon introduced us to each other. Fink was a tall man around his late 20's. He had bronze skin, golden hair, and yellow eyes. Strangely, he had pointed ears and when we shook hands, I noticed his fingernails were long and looked very sharp. Fink grinned, and I saw that his teeth were white and pointed, like his ears. Right now he was wearing a dark brown and white striped, long-sleeve sweater, along with baggy red pants and black boots. "Fink was raised in the wild by wolves for fifteen years. We found him and took him in. As you can see, he is very civilized now although he still chases the occasional bird." Leon put more emphasis on the last part. Fink released my hand and threw his arms into the air.
"Hey, I can't help it. And anyway, if the dang bird doesn't want to be hunted, then don't just stand there. They literally scream 'EAT ME!'"
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." I put in.
"Let's get a bite then!" said Fink and the three of us marched to the Dining Hall. After they had eaten, Fink left, saying he had some 'errands' to take care of. He went into the room he shared, reached into his chest but first looked around to make sure nobody was around. Then he pulled out a Den-Den Mushi and dialed in a number.
"Hello is this Officer McKinley?" he said into the receiver.
"McKinley speaking. I presume everything is in place for the plan, Fink?" said the man on the line.
"Yes, everything is ready. Soon Whitebeard will be dead. Prepare the Marines." Fink answered, a malicious grin spreading across his face.