Glory Island Arc
"The Fun Turns to Trouble on Pirate Alley! Enter the Madhouse Pirate Captain!"
The walk to Pirate Alley took all of about ten minutes for the trio. The path led them down a variety of corridors between buildings, moving through the area like rats. But, judging from the whispers of music and laughter, they could tell that they were definitely on the right track. Along the way, Ches had explained the basics of the area. That the place had originally become a hangout spot for pirates when the West Blue's Fight Club had begun growing in popularity. And on these pre-fest nights, all the pirates would gather in the alley for entertainment instead of strolling around with the crowds of normal folk. But something seemed amiss, as the crew turned their final corner and looked down the stretch of alley that led to the wide opening of partying pirates. Standing at the threshold were two men, supposedly pirates given their facial expressions and clothing.
"Are they guards?" Atori asked, his eyes focusing in with an intense glare once he saw the two pirates take a protective stance in the threshold to block their path. "Since when do pirates have guards?"
Ches watched the two men closely, before replying, "I don't know. Things must've changed since I'd last come around here."
"You three look lost," one of the pirates suddenly called as the trio came to a stop in front of him and his friend. The guy looked pretty young, his dark hair a stringy mess with a bandana that was pulled over one eye. He had on a loose fitting white shirt with a jolly roger marked over the front – a skull with dark brown hair that looked to be laughing with golden cross bones behind it. Strapped to his brown trouser pants was a cutlass and judging from how tense the guy looked, he'd probably be willing to pull the weapon any second.
"This isn't a place for pedestrians, ya know," the other one chimed, a large man with a bushy beard and wild, black eyes. He had the same jolly roger marked on his stained and nasty looking red shirt. And at the side of his equally brown pants was another cutlass. "Why don'tcha just run along? This ain't the place for people like you."
Ralli sized the two up with red eyes and ignored them. He walked ahead as if they weren't standing in the way, but he'd hardly taken three steps before the bandana pirate yanked off his cutlass and placed the tip at Ralli's head. Red eye stopped walking for the sake of not cutting himself, but he simply watched the shining blade as if it were a pesky fly. "We're here for Pirate Alley, so move out of our way," he demanded.
The fat pirate barked a roar of laughter and looked to his friend. "Hear that, Eric? They're here for Pirate Alley! What a laugh!" The man then turned back to Ralli with an amused glare. "Get lost kid. We don't entertain the likes of you."
"Listen to Gooma, boy," the other pirate – Eric – added before pushing the sword just a bit closer, until the tip was touching Ralli's forehead. "Just go on back to the little pre-fest with the other land guppies."
"Why don't you two idiots back off?" Atori threatened, stepping up until he was at Ralli's side. He didn't even bother reaching for his tonfa, knowing that he could take the two without them. "Unless of course, you want to make us turn back." His tone was solid as stone and his eyes were a stream of ice. Even Eric had flinched a bit when Ato locked eyes with him.
"I'd advise you guys to step aside." Ches was at Ralli's other side, his hands in his pockets and clutching knives as he focused in on Gooma.
"And do it now!" Ralli demanded, reaching up to take a hold of Eric's cutlass between his index and thumb. With hardly any effort, red eye pushed the blade from his head and locked eyes with the bandana-wearing man.
Gooma and Eric shared a look for just a moment before bursting with laughter. A second later, Eric yanked the sword from Ralli's fingers and placed it back at his side. They both shot the trio a warm smile and then stepped aside to allow them entrance. "You three may not be pirates," Eric chimed.
"But you're definitely badass enough to party with them!" Gooma finished and swept his hand out to usher them on through.
Ralli's face smiled at the compliment and took a step, but once again, he felt steel against his skin when Gooma suddenly drew his sword and placed it at red eye's neck. "Be warned though, kid," the large pirate said, ignoring the hateful glare Atori was sending him. "Start any trouble in here and we won't hesitate to skin ya alive."
Ralli looked down at the sword for just a moment before his eyes rose up to meet Gooma's. Then, the boy smiled wickedly. "Good luck with that!" he chimed and walked on ahead, ignoring the small cut in his neck from when he'd walked past Gooma's sword. Atori and Ches followed with no problems and the trio was suddenly wrapped in music, lights, laughter, and excitement.
The whole clearing was a long rectangular area, about 40 meters long with an array of different pirates lined up in various areas. There were all sorts of games about – an arm wrestling table, a card table, booze drinking table just to name a few. And you better believe for every act of fun, there was a layer of gambling on each activity. A group of musicians were set up against a wall, all of them playing a jaunty tune that made the place seem more like a party than just a mere gathering of criminals.
"Now this is more of my atmosphere," Atori crooned, smiling devilishly when a stray pirate suddenly tripped over a crate from obvious inebriation.
"I figured that you'd like it," Ches added with a pleased expression on his face. The second his eyes landed on the collection of men drinking their lives away, he split off from the trio. "I'll be at the booze table if any of you need me."
"And I'll be at the arm wrestling table!" Ralli declared, bouncing away on a cloud of elation.
Atori watched the two wander off before he looked over at the collection of pirates with cards in their hands. "Haven't played a good card game in a while," he shrugged and stepped over to the join the crew.
The booze table was a roar of inebriation and all around fun. The men's eyes were droopy from alcohol and their words a slurred frenzy of incoherence. And Ches couldn't have had it any other way.
Three men, two of which sported the same jolly roger as the two pirate guards, suddenly slammed their empty mugs onto the table. And not a second later, did the other pirate fall onto the wooden surface, completely passed out. "Ha! An ther go another guy!" the man sitting in the middle proclaimed, his cheeks reddened from obvious intoxication. His friend at his left opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a hiccup before he fell back in his seat, now passed out as well.
"I shwear, yu all be real *hiccup* lightweights." The drunken man then looked over at Ches as the rainbow walked into the crowd. He faked as if he were being blinded with light and pointed Ches out. "You'r gonna blind me wit all them colorsh, boy-o!" he slurred before waving Ches to take a seat. Two of the surrounding pirates cleared away the two drunken men and allowed Ches to sit next to the guy. "The name's Nile! How it be goin'!"
Nile stuck out a friendly hand and Ches apprehensively shook it. "I'm fine, Nile. I'm just here to enjoy the festivities of Pirate Alley is all," he responded, but frowned when Nile shook his head stubbornly.
The drunken man made a sloppy wave to one of the surrounding pirates and soon enough a mug of alcohol was slammed on the table in front of Ches. "Noooo," the man sang, with his eyes fluttering close for a moment before sprouting back open. "If you be at *hiccup* this table, then you be lookin for a drink, boy-o!"
Ches didn't even make an effort to decline and reached out to take the tankard, but for a drunk man, Nile was quick to halt him. "No offense," the man said, catching the irritated glint in Ches's eye. "But round here, the drinks aren't free. If ya want to take part in the drinking, ya've got to play a game. If you can tosh back more drink than me, ya win!"
"Sounds simple enough," Ches instantly replied and tried to reach for the tankard again but was again stopped.
"Also," Nile's chimed, like a sneaky salesman. "We play for beli, boy-o. And shince you're new, I'll go easy. I'm thinkin 7000 beli a game."
Ches pondered over the thought for a moment and then looked over to his comrades. Ralli looked to be having a stare down with a large man at the wrestling table and Atori was just then sitting down to a table of cards. No one had said not to gamble. He carefully patted his pockets and knew that he didn't have more than 5000 beli to his name. Oh well, I'm sure Atori could help me out if I lose. Throwing caution to the win, Ches snatched at his tumbler and leveled Nile with a serious eye. "You just gonna sit there, Nile. Or are we gonna drink?"
The man smiled with glee and waved over for his own refilled mug. "I likesh ya, boy-o!" he cheered before tossing the drink back and Ches followed suit.
Atori stepped through the crowd surrounding the playing table and thanked his lucky stars that the pirates had just happened to finish their game, and three angry men stomped away from the table as the obvious losers. Left sitting was an older guy with a patch over his left eye and a straggly black beard. He cackled a mad man's laugh and called out to ask if there were any more victims that wanted to try their hand at beating the old card shark.
Atori didn't waste a second before falling into a seat and glaring the man down. "I'll try this out, old man," he said.
The man didn't seem at all bothered by the given nickname and instead laughed wryly. "New blood, I see!" man crooned, shuffling around a stack of cards with extreme finesse. "Got a name, old evil eye." The man laughed out again when Atori glared at him for his own nickname.
"It's Atori and what's this game we're playing?" he asked of the man, hardly noticing when the other men joined the table with them.
"Nice to meet ya, Atori, but I still be calling ya evil eye. And my name's Pippy! Or around here they call me the card shark. As for the game," the man did a flourishing shuffle with the cards, practically shooting them from one hand into the other. "I like to call it Castle Tower. We play four rounds in each game and the goal of each round is to gather the highest amount of points. A king is twenty. A queen is 17. A jack is 14. And from there, the numbered cards tell you their points. Get two of the same kind, ya double your points. Three, then its tripled. And so on. At the end of the fourth round, all points earned are calculated and the winner is the one with the highest score. Sound easy enough, evil eye?" Pippy questioned, and cackled when Atori glared at him for the nickname again. "And let me tell you now, we don't approve of cheating of any kind." The man's voice fell to a dangerous growl as he said, "Try to cheat me, boy, and I'll have your hand."
Atori wasn't the least bit fazed, but nodded nonetheless. "And let me guess, we gamble here, right?"
"Spot on, spot on!" Pippy did another lavish shuffle of his cards before settling them perfectly on the table. "And since ya seem like a good kid, we can start off simple. How does 12500 beli grab ya?"
Atori pondered the amount for a moment before turning to glance back at Ralli and Ches. Let's face it. He didn't have a single coin to his name at the moment, but there was no way he'd tell that old man that. All that meant was that he had to win. Easy enough. "I gotcha, old man. Just deal the cards!"
Pippy cackled again. "You've got the perfect poker face, evil eye! You're gonna be a worthy challenge, alright!"
Over at the arm wrestling table, two men – both with biceps the size of melons – struggled against one another in a desperate attempt at victory. Around the men, a crowd of pirates cheered, yelling for a winner to be crowned. And soon enough one of the men grew red in the face from exertion and his struggling arm began to move back against the might of the other pirate. The struggling guy held on for dear life, but could only hold out for a second longer before his hand was slammed down on the table with such force that his entire body was thrown to the ground.
The crowd of pirates erupted in cheers as the victor jumped to his feet, the man's broad and barreled chest heaving as he thrusted his hands in the air in triumph. "YEAH!" the man bellowed. "NO ONE CAN BEAT TITAN!" On his chest was the painted jolly roger of the very same pirates that had been guarding the alley. And even a few of the spectating pirates had the same emblem in various spots on their clothing.
But Ralli paid none of this any mind as he raced over to the table. He offered one unfazed glance to the man on the ground, who was still clutching at his arm, before turning to the victor with a bright smile. "I wanna go next," he demanded, slamming his hands down on the table to emphasize the challenge.
The large, mountainous man of a pirate looked down at Ralli with scrutinizing eyes before arming himself with a razor sharp smile. He leaned down to prop himself up on the table and locked eyes with Ralli. "We don't play for sport over here, kid," he demanded, his voice as grizzly as a bear's. "You wanna try me? You gotta put some money on it. And just because I'm in a good mood, I'll go easy on ya." He looked Ralli over real quick, sizing up the muscular stature of the boy before saying, "We'll put 10000 beli on the match."
Ralli paled a bit at the thought of money before turning a quick glance over to the table where Ches was drinking away. The rainbow had never specifically said that they couldn't bet money, so Ralli didn't see the harm in a little betting. Anything for a good physical sport. "Deal!" he chimed, turning back to the large man with a bright smile.
The crowd around snickered as the two moved to sit down at the table, some of them feeling bad for the poor boy to have to go against the large brute and others outright calling Ralli dumb for challenging the unbeatable Titan.
An officiating pirate stood above the table, watching Ralli's and Titan's clasped hands to make sure neither was trying anything funny. He looked them both over to make sure they were ready and swiped his hand down for the go. Instantly, both competitors strained against the grasp of the other. And though Titan's arm was as big as Ralli's entire head, the big brute couldn't budge Ralli's arm a single inch, making some of the pirates ooh and ahh at the show. They'd been at it for nearly twenty tense seconds before Ralli's face glowed with a bright smile. Veins sprouted from red eye's arm as he pressed more of his strength into the push and soon enough, Titan's arm was beginning to fall. The brutish man's eyes sprouted in shock of the event and his face turned as red as a tomato as he tried desperately to push back. But once Ralli had started, he didn't let up. No matter how much Titan grunted, hissed, whined, and eventually begged, the match ended when red eye slammed the brute's hand down into the table with such force that the wood broke on impact.
The crowd was too stunned to cheer.
Meanwhile, Ralli was smiling like a Cheshire cat as he folded his arms and looked down at the now sprawled out Titan. "That was fun! Let's do it again!" he chimed.
Three hours had passed. Three hours of arm wrestling for Ralli – having beaten Titan three times before taking on any random person and had even allowed three weaker men to test his strength at the same time. Three hours of drinking for Ches – who'd soundly beaten Niles after the second hour and had just been knocking the alcohol back against anyone who dared to challenge him. And three hours of cards playing for Atori – who had out sharked the card shark and anyone else who thought that they were lucky enough to beat him. After it was all said and done, the trio had entered Pirate Alley with hardly 7000 beli to their name and three hours later, were holding a total sum of 187,500 beli. Not too shabby considering who they'd been gambling with.
"Thanks for the game, old man!" Atori called, turning away from the old card shark with 62500 beli in his hands. He completely ignored how just about every single pirate surrounding the table looked as if they'd been struck by lightning and the fact that Pippy looked on the verge of a heart attack. Instead, he stuffed the money in his pocket and moved to gather with his crew.
Ralli offered to go another round with Titan and the guys, but the group of pirates could only look at red eye as if he was the devil himself. The boy shrugged at their fearful looking expression and turned away from the table. "Well, I had fun!" he called, stuffing his 90000 beli in his back pocket. "Hope we can do it again sometime!"
"C'mon, guys!" Ches muttered, absently poking at Niles's passed out head on the table. He then looked around at the rest of the pirates, and sighed when he saw over half of them had also passed out from trying to keep up with the rainbow. And for the ones left standing, they could only whisper and whimper amongst themselves, as if they thought the end of the world was coming soon. The knife thrower was far too inebriated at that point to analyze the situation and instead pushed his 35000 beli into his pocket and stumbled up from the table a bit. He took one last swig of the booze, allowing the warmth of it to color his cheeks with a twinge of red, before turning to reconvene with Ralli and Atori.
The three met up right back in their earlier spot, now over 150,000 beli richer, and outright laughed at one another's fortune.
"Ches, are you drunk?" Atori asked, the newfound money and excitement actually making him smile as he watched their navigator hardly stand straight.
Ches shook his head no for a long moment before saying, "Just a little bit." He held up his fingers to indicate the small amount. "But I've only been drinking for three hours straight. It's justified." And even Atori had to admit that it was impressive, considering the rainbow was still coherent and on his own two feet.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I had fun arm wrestling over there," Ralli exclaiming, tossing a thumb over to the destroyed table where the group of oddly frightened pirates still stood. "And I made so much money, too!" He yanked out the beli from his pocket to show them and Atori did the same to show his amount.
"We all did," the rainbow proclaimed before his smile grew wider. "I think I'll have to come back to Pirate Alley again someday. We all should!" He spread his arms wide with the declaration and snatched up Ralli and Atori in a messy yet friendly headlock.
"If we do, we're not letting you get this drunk again!" Atori demanded with an effort to free himself, but apparently a drunk Ches was stronger than a regular one.
"Wait!" a voice suddenly proclaimed, calling back the attentions of the trio. They stopped and turned to the voice, just then noticing that the jaunty music of the evening had stopped and that nearly every pirate in the alley were standing against them – including Eric, Gooma, a drunken Niles, Titan, and Pippy. And standing ahead of all the pirates – pirates that just so happened to all be sporting the same pirate emblem– was a solitary man. He was an inch or so shorter that Atori and had black, wavy short cut hair. His skin didn't hold a spec of tan, though he looked far from ghostly. It was just an ivory shade that seemed to make his oddly violet-colored eyes stand out even more. He wore a maroon colored pair of trouser pants that stuffed off into typical black pirate boots, an assortment of silver chain accessories hanging from one side of the pants. Over his torso was a loose fitting dark blue t-shirt and over that was a short, black, leather vest with the pirate's jolly roger over the chest. And across the man's back was a stunningly long rapier sword that looked every bit as long as his body. He had a slim figure that looked the least intimidating in comparison to the rest of the supposed pirate crew, but something about the way that he stood conveyed strength and authority.
The man took one step away from the pirates at his back and focused his violet eyes in on the trio. "You three can't leave just yet," he demanded, arms folded as he watched the group.
"Why not?" Ralli asked, stepping forward to challenge the man. And though he was a bit shorter than the guy, he looked every bit as commanding. And while red eye glared across at the violet eyed man, even Ches in his inebriated state could see the trembling pirate hoard standing in the background and he'd only just now realized that they looked scared for their lives.
The man held Ralli's gaze for a moment longer before speaking up. "You've all earned a lot of money tonight," he said. "It's more than anyone else has ever earned in Pirate Alley, period."
"Let me guess, now you're all pissed that we swooped in here and cleaned house, huh?" Atori stepped over to Ralli's side, his glare just as icy as the man's across from them. "It's not our fault your men suck. You gambled and you lost. Get over it!"
"You dirty bastards had to have been cheating us!" a voice called from the group of pirates. "Give us our money back!" another one said. "We have to get it back, men!" a final voice yelled and soon the whole hoard was growing rowdy as if ready to attack.
But whatever plans they had were quickly silenced as the violet eyed man suddenly turned to them with a vicious glare. He watched them angrily for a moment before turning back to the trio. "Look, you three are leaving out with a lot of money right now, money that we'd like to get back. Care to try your hand with more gambling?" He tried to offer a hopeful smile, but it wasn't accepted on the trio's part.
"No. We're leaving," Ralli demanded, turning his back on the pirate, but he'd hardly taken a step before the man's voice suddenly growled out over the area.
"You cannot leave with that money!" he proclaimed with a roaring call.
Atori was the first to turn back to the guy, with green eyes looking right into the man's soul. "Watch us!" was all he said before they began walking again, ignorant to the yells and pleads coming from the mass of pirates in the background.
"Please, Reese! You have to get our money back!" "Stop them, sir! Do something before it's too late?!" the various calls declared, all of them working to itch at the pirate's – apparently named Reese – mind.
"Double or nothing!" Reese suddenly called, making the trio halt for a second time. When they turned back, the violet eyed man's face was a picture of confidence, yet a layer of contempt was hidden beneath. "Double or nothing!"
"And what's the challenge?" Atori asked, the thought of more gambling seeming to pique his interest.
That made Reese smile. With a flourish, the man yanked his sword from his back, swinging the extremely long blade around before pointing it directly at the trio. "All you have to do is beat me!" Reese proclaimed with a devilish smile. "And if you can do it with swords, I'll triple your payout!"
This certainly snagged the crew's attention. All of them quickly calculated the profit and were astounded to realize that they could walk away from Pirate Alley with over 500,000 beli if they played their cards right. But suddenly Ralli frowned.
He turned to Atori. "I'm pretty sure I can kick this guy's ass, but there's no way I can do it using swords. We'll just have to take the double."
Instead of commenting, Atori took a step forward with his own cunning smile. "You've got yourself a deal, Reese!" the brunette said. "And I'd like to fight you with blades, although I'm afraid I'm all out. Surely, you don't mind…" He let the words trail off and Reese caught the implication.
The violet eyed man turned back to his crew, calling for one sword – and then a second one when Atori said that he worked better with dual weapons. Reese stood for just a moment, sizing Ato up as the brunette swiped the swords around to get a feel for the weapons. "I hope those are to your liking," he finally said, capturing Atori's attention once more. Ato smiled wickedly.
"Yeah, they'll do," he answered and then reached down to yank out the tonfas in his boots. "Take these, Ralli." He handed the metal weapons to red eye and then allowed his captain to move far out of the way before taking a battle stance.
Reese followed suit, raising his long sword to point right at Ato's skull. "For the sake of formalities, my name is Landser Reese, swordsman of the Feruk Pirates," he proclaimed, tilting his blade ever so slightly as he smiled with mischief.
If Atori was the least bit intimidated, it didn't show. "I like knowing the names of my victims. Makes the win all the more special." He chuckled darkly as the man watched expectantly. "Well then, in that case, my name is Otami Atori!" He swiped the swords through the air with the flourish of true swordsmanship before settling with both weapons aimed for Reese. "And I'm first mate and swordsman of…of…" Then, he paused, unsure of what exactly the name of their pirate crew was. Before he could even think of a name, Ralli blurted it for him.
"He's the first mate and swordsmen of the Battle Bar Pirates!" he exclaimed proudly.
Atori was ready to denounce the name, but didn't get the chance before the crew of pirates standing far behind Reese roared with laughter. "Battle Bar Pirates? What a ridiculous name!" one called. "These little brats just haven't learned their place yet!" another called. "The mighty Battle Bars! They sound so scary!" another mocking voice proclaimed. But all of their laughing was cut short when Ralli emitted a primal roar that could've made a grown wet his pants in fear.
Ralli's claws and teeth had sharpened to a deadly precision and a layer of black fur was already working its way up his face and arms. "Make fun of my crew again! I dare you!" he roared, his voice deep and grizzly as his ability was on the verge of sending him into an animalistic breakdown.
Needless to say, not a single Feruk pirate made another peep for a long, long moment.
When the shock of Ralli's roar passed, Atori turned back to Reese, and was a bit surprised to see that the man's eyes hadn't left Ato's figure for a second. Trained precision? This guy might actually prove to be interesting. "Just going to stare at me all night, or are we going to get this started already?"
Reese didn't need a second of thought before he sprang from the ground like a gazelle. With his sword's immense reach, he dove right at Atori with a stabbing strike, but the brunette easily managed to sidestep the lunge but was instantly thrown on the defensive when Reese swung the long blade around to cut his neck off.
"Get 'em, Reese! Show that punk whose boss around here!" the pirates called from their gathering.
Atori swung around his blades, the swords swiping up to strike at Reese's long sword with ringing clashes. The violet eyed man struck out with a set of stabbing moves, his long sword definitely giving him an advantage as Atori fought desperately to keep from being impale. He suddenly dodged around one piercing strike and swung around the right blade to slap Reese's sword to the ground. The jerking movement made the violet eyed man stumble and Atori took that moment to move in with the left sword aimed at the man's throat.
With a grunt of exertion, Reese jumped to the side to dodge the vicious attack and then swung around the rapier to strike Ato. Even though there was ample space between the two, Reese's long sword still managed to slice across Atori's abdomen. The brunette then jumped back as Reese dove in with another spearing strike and then moved way out of the way before touching at the small amount of blood coming from the slash across his stomach. But it wasn't anything that he'd die from so he ignored the gash for the moment and stood proud to stare down Reese.
"Wow! I didn't know Atori could really fight with swords! He's so awesome!" Ralli marveled, his eyes wide with excitement as he watched the fight.
His mind clearing a little, Ches nodded absently to Ralli's words. "It's been a long time since I've seen him use swords, but Ato's every bit a swordsman. I have no idea who he learned from, but he's definitely one of the most skilled sword fighters I've ever seen. He had a personalized set of swords too, though I haven't seen a hint of those since I've reconnected with him."
Ralli yanked his eyes from the ongoing sword fight for just a moment to look at Ches. "Really? What were they like?"
The rainbow thought back, far back to the very first time he'd met Atori, remembering how the brunette had used the weapons that one time to fight in the underground ring. "They were both double edged, about three feet long. One had a silver hilt and the other black, and both had an engraved image of serpents crawling along the blades. Atori called them 'The Sons of Orochi.'"
"Cool!"
Atori released a grunt as Reese charged with two quick stabbing motions before swinging the long blade around to slice. He blocked the strikes as best as he could and then slammed his right sword into the long blade and charged into Reese's zone once more with his left sword ready to strike. But Reese moved in as well, dodging the blade and striking Atori in the stomach with a strong knee strike before shoving the brunette aside and using his disorientation to press through his defense with the long blade. Atori had dropped to the ground to keep from being decapitated and was then pushed back again when Reese brought the sword back around to strike again.
"I'm getting nowhere," he grimaced, taking a moment to catch his breath and analyze the situation. He watched as Reese equipped a devious smirk and aimed the sword at him again. "So far, I've done nothing but fight this guy's sword. It's so long that there's no way to get a damn strike in on him without completely knocking the sword out of his hands. And let's face it, he's too good to let that happen." Atori took firm grips of the weapons in his hands with frustration until a thought dawned on him. "He's got an unconventional weapon, then I should try an unconventional technique."
"You're not contemplating giving up, are you Atori?" Reese suddenly called, his voice laced with a mocking undertone. "It'd be a real shame. I was really starting to enjoy our fight."
"Not on my life, Landser!" he roared before breaking off the ground in a sprint towards the long blade swordsman.
Reese held fast as Atori charged in and then struck out with another stabbing strike. Atori easily sidestepped the lunge and ran right up to Reese with both swords aimed to slice. The violet eyed man narrowly missed the two blades by ducking under them and was quick to swing his blade around for the counterattack. Steel met steel with another clang as the swords collided and instead of trying to back out of Reese's range, Atori instead stepped deeper into it. Reese was so shocked by the shift in Ato's fighting style that he didn't realize the other blade was coming towards him until the last second.
Off of pure instinct, the violet eyed man moved left quick but still was caught in the shoulder when Ato's blade struck. With a hiss of pain, Reese leapt back and the second he touched the ground, he speared the long blade back out to pierce the tall brunette. And yet again, instead of making a move to dodge, Atori just watched the blade fly in with an adventurous smirk. At the last possible second, Ato leaned back to dodge the stabbing strike, his back literally folding in on itself as if he had no spine.
The crowding pirates gasped in shock, Ralli and Ches's eyes threatened to shoot from their skulls, and even Reese was stunned and speechless as he saw Atori practically fold his body in half to dodge the spearing strike.
"Expect the unexpected!" Atori chimed with a menacing laugh before spinning his body around to slap aside Reese's long blade.
The weapon was knocked aside and Reese was still too stunned to even notice it until Atori had straightened back up as if nothing had ever happened. It wasn't until the brunette smiled devilishly that Reese looked down to his hands to see his weapon gone, but by then it was too late. "Venom Rush!" Atori cheered, practically disappearing into thin air as he charged right for Reese, and it wasn't until two long and bloody diagonal gashes sliced across the violet eyed man's chest that he reappeared, standing just behind Reese.
With a hacking cough, the long blade swordsman fell to his knees before completely falling to the ground. He coughed a few more times before looking up to see Atori standing above him. "Guess this is the part where you kill me, huh?" he groaned, though the smirk on his face looked far from saddened. "Oh well, you bested me. It's only right."
"Shut the hell up and give us our money already," Atori crooned, throwing the bloody swords to the ground by Reese's head and folding his arms when the violet eyed man just looked up at him in shock. "The deal was that I beat you, not kill you. And you look pretty beaten to me. So just pay up already."
Reese watched Atori for a moment longer, his eyes trying to find a hint of doubt in Ato's emerald eyes, but when he saw none, he angled his head so that he could see the rest of the Feruk Pirates. "Get them their money, men!" he demanded, his voice sounding a bit strangled from the pain in his chest. When no one immediately budged, Reese found the strength to roar like a lion. "I SAID GET THE MONEY!"
His voice then worked like a whiplash for the stunned pirates and before long, Gooma and Eric had stepped forward with a bag of beli for the victor. The duo held long and oddly, frightened stares with Reese for a while before reluctantly handing it over to Atori. Then, they helped Reese to his feet and the violet eyed man looked between Ato, Ches, and Ralli with analyzing eyes.
He had opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Atori stepped forward with a hand extended toward him. "I don't do this often, so if you refuse me, I just might kick you in your bloody chest," Atori demanded and indicated toward his extended hand. "It's rare that I run across a skilled swordsman and I always like to show my appreciation for a good fight. So, shake it!"
Reese watched him for a second longer before looking around Ato at Ralli and Ches, who were silently smiling at the scene. With a scoffing noise rolling past his lips, he struck out a hand to grasp Atori's in a strong grip. "It was…interesting to say the least," he responded. "If we ever meet again in battle though, just know that no kind of trick will stop me from beating you."
Atori didn't comment, but let his confident smirk speak for himself. He released Reese's hand and cast two quick glares at the anxiety-struck Gooma and Eric before turning on his heel and walking back over to Ralli and Ches.
"Ato! That was so cool!" Ralli exclaimed, practically bursting into streamers as Atori walked up to them. "You just have to show me how you did that thing with your back! It looked so gross, but cool too!"
Atori resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead pulled his tonfa from Ralli's hands and placed them back in their rightful places. "Let's just go," he said with a yawn. "I'm ready to sleep."
"You're always ready to sleep," Ches chuckled as they all made their third attempt for exiting Pirate Alley.
"What is going on here?!" a voice suddenly boomed over the area, the sheer ferocity in the tone making the trio stop once again to see what was happening. They turned back, watching as nearly ever pirate that stood behind them trembled with fear. And the object of the pirates' fear was two men walking up the alley from a supposed different entrance. One man was shorter than the other, he was dressed in what could only be described as rags. His dirty blonde hair was a mess on top of his lazy looking face. The man's expression seemed eternally trapped in a state of drowsiness, yet he walked with alertness. And around his shoulder was a dingy looking sack that carried who-knows-what. To the side of this man was, surprisingly, the Madhouse Brawler from the town square, the man destined to fight the champ tomorrow night.
And just as surprising as it was to find him on Pirate Alley, he was also smiling, but it didn't look like a happy smile. It was a sick smile, an evil smile, the smile of the joker. And when he spoke again, the others could tell right then, that he must have some kind of dominion over the pirates. "I said what's going on?!" he demanded a final time, marching right up to the hoard of trembling pirates, all of them too paralyzed with fear to speak to the smiling man.
"I can explain, sir," Reese suddenly called, drawing the Brawler and other guy's attention. The violet eyed man carefully moved out of Eric and Gooma's stabilizing hands to stand on his own, but even he seemed to flinch back a bit when the Brawler stomped right up to him. "I'm afraid, we lost…we lost some of your money, sir."
The guy at the Brawler's side suddenly looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. Even the drowsiness on his face seemed to run away as he chanced a glance up at the Madhouse Brawler. And as for the Fight Night wrestler, he simply glared down at Reese with unflinching, cold eyes that were a stark contrast to the smile on his face. "You lost money?" the man growled out and when Reese nodded his head in shame, the man suddenly began convulsing with laughter. His whole body racked with the usual joyous call, but in his eyes, he held no joy, no happiness. His mouth declared elation, but his eyes roared scorn.
The second Reese heard the man's laugh, his eyes sprouted with fear and he looked to the Brawler with all of the plea he could manage. "I'm so sorry, sir! I'll never let it – !"
But he stopped mid-plea, his words caught in his throat as the Brawler held a gun up. And the man couldn't even make himself stop laughing for a second before he pulled the trigger.
EDIT 9/6/14: So, when I first did this chapter I had my money calculations wrong. I was doing beli in the equivalent of US dollars *Face Palms* Yeah, my bad! But I've fixed it for anyone that may've noticed. If you haven't noticed or this is your first time reading, then please continue on. Thanks!
Believe it or not. When I first planned this scene, Atori was just supposed to fight some no-name pirate and kick their ass easily, but I started writing it and then I wanted to give Reese his name and then I wanted to give Reese a special wardrobe and then I wanted to give Reese a special weapon and then...well, you get the idea. Before I knew it, I'd created a fairly relevant character for this arc. Almost like Sonya was for the previous one. And don't I just love torturing the significant-yet minor characters? XD. Anyways, Reese looks like he'd made his final mistake. Wonder how the Battle Bars are going to handle this?
Oh! And Battle Bars? If you find it lame, believe me. You weren't the only one. I thought of the name one day and hated it. Thought of it again another day, hated a little less. A week later, I was proudly calling the crew the Battle Bar Pirates! Ralli will get to explain his reasoning for such a title later.
See ya!