Birds of Prey Part One

Circle of Death

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

Kilnorc: Awright, another BV vs AH fight! Thanks to Gambit for helping me with a quote for this chapter.


"Let me out of this cage. I don't need these wings. I don't need this rage. Come, let your anger flow," - Raging Raven, Metal Gear Solid 4.

Austin flew through a maze of corridors in the mansion of Thriller Bark, searching for his missing nakama while some of his blood plopped onto the floor behind him, leaving a weak blood trail. He had taken down Tobias, and he had survived the assault of explosive dice, razor edged cards and deadly throwing darts, but it wasn't until right now that he started to feel the effects. Loss of blood and fatigue made the young Axe-Head weave around the corridor until he finally forced himself off his board. Leaning against a corner, Austin looked down at his wounds and swore under his breath.

"They're not fatal, but if I don't get this cleaned and dressed, it's gonna be a major pain in the ass for me in the future. Damn, I gotta find some sheets or something...or else find out where they keep the medical stuff here," he winced and pushed off the wall, which now had a large bloodstain, "Gotta keep moving...!"

Grabbing his belongings and picking up his board, Austin turned the corner in hopes of finding something to keep him from bleeding out, but as soon as he turned the corner...

"Amatsu Tonbo Giri!" (1)

A low humming sound followed after the cry, but before Austin could do anything about it, a loud noise, that sounded a lot like a rifle shot, echoed through the corridor and moments later, a great pain struck the young boy in the shoulder. Something shot straight through his left shoulder with such force, he was sent flying off his feet and slid along the floor until he hit the wall...hard.

The...hell...? Austin watched as a figure advanced on him, a sword gleaming in the darkness of the mansion, ...shit...!

With that final thought, Austin slipped into unconsciousness as he new wound bled out and as his attacker approached him.


"So, what you're saying is that along with the loss of Anubis, Lovett and Todd, as well as the many decapitated lower ranking members and the lycanthropes that met their end with silver bullets, we have to add Tobias to our list because that little brat that travels with Axe beat him?"

Toby cleared his throat and shifted a little bit, "Yeah. Sorry to deliver the news, but I thought you should know, Captain,"

Kairi idly tapped her arm and looked out the nearest window, "No big loss. We're still better than they are!"

"Captain, we've lost just about every lower ranking member of the crew, we've lost our flesh-eating plant, two of our nakama have been killed with head shots and now our cabin boy's been beaten,"

She nodded, "I'm aware of the count, Toby, but I still stand by what I said. Lovett and Todd were newbies to the crew, and Tobias was just a cabin boy,"

"He was just a kid,"

"You think I don't know that?" Kairi turned and looked back at him, "Toby, I'm curious, why are you so soft all of a sudden?"

"I'm not,"

"Yes, you are," Kairi said chuckled, "I noticed that when we were on the seas, you seemed to have a protective side for the boy,"

"So I pulled him out of some fights and other situations like that, who cares?" Toby shrugged, "Cobaras and Goheno used to watch out for him too, who the hell gives a crap?! Just because I helped a kid out now and then doesn't mean I'm soft, Captain,"

"Heh, if you say so. Where is Tobias now?"

"I tried to get Eliza to patch him up, but when I got to Hogback's lab, she and Stitches were already on their way back to the ship. I'll have to head there after this to get him fixed up," Toby crossed his arms, "Hogback told me he suggested they move the White Dragon to a safer place for now,"

"Safer place?" Kairi frowned and shook her head, "What could be safer than this place? Hell, this whole island?"

"Well...," Toby cleared his throat, "...it was in his opinion that with the number of people invading the mansion and putting up a fight, he thought it'd be best to move her in case her nakama came for her. Maybe we should do the same thing with Axe,"

Kairi shook her head again, "No, we don't need to do that. Granted, a lot of people are making their way into this place, but you forget Toby, that we're in the realm of a Shichibukai. Yes, he's asleep right now, but should he wake up, he can deal with whatever possible dangers that may present themselves,"

"Speaking of that, aren't you at all concerned about Moria?"

"Why should I be concerned?"

"Captain, with all due respect, we've been pirates for five years, you know how people like us can be," Toby looked around, sniffing to make sure none of Perona's Ghosts or a certain invisible man were not in the room, "Moria has a powerful Devil Fruit ability, plus he has a former bounty of 320,000,000 Beli! Should he wake up, he could go back on the bargain and add us to his list of shadow victims, OR he could just capture us and send us to the World Government and the next thing we know, we'll end up in Impel Down!"

Kairi shot him a look and grinned, "Moria may have connections and a reputation, but don't forget Toby, we have a connection out in the world, too,"

Toby growled and cracked his neck, "How could I forget?"

"Besides, bounties don't always mean anything to a power of a pirate," the blood-thirsty pirate captain continued, "Quite a few of us have low bounties, but we're all pretty strong,"

"Isn't that because of Damien?"

"That doesn't matter, what does matter is that bounties don't always mean power," Kairi waved him off, "Are you done? I'm sure Tobias is bleeding to death out in the hallway or something?"

Toby rolled his eyes at her sarcasm, but nodded and turned, heading for the door.

She may seem confident, but I won't let my guard down here... Toby thought to himself as he left the room, Most pirates would screw other pirates over for personal gain, and after meeting with Moria, I wouldn't put it past the freaky bastard!


"What the hell were you talking about earlier, birdboy, what did you do to Niri?!"

Damien shook his head, "I did nothing more than just take her from the forest and bring her to the Captain," he said casually, "From there, it was all Kairi," he looked down at his shallow wound, touching the edges of said wound, blood smearing on his fingers, "You should be mad at her for killing the Marine, not me,"

Dusty's eyes widened, "W-What...?"

"Oh yes, you should have seen it," Damien looked up at her, licking the blood off his fingers, "I must say, for someone who doesn't have a Devil Fruit ability, nor any firearms at her disposal, your friend Niri put up quite the fight against the Blood Countess. She even managed to get some good shots herself...before she sank her teeth into her, of course,"

"You bastard, you're lying!!"

"Hey, believe me or not," Damien shrugged, "That's not really important to me, all I know is that I speak the truth, it's up to you to deny or accept it,"

First, they beat the shit out of Azu, these guys take Kirsty, and I don't even wanna think about what they could've done to Austin and DJ-kun! Dusty gripped her scythes, I'm so gonna kill 'em!

"You're giving me an awfully nasty look there," Damien observed, crossing his arms, "I've heard that foxes can be pretty cunning and fierce, if their lives depended on it. I can see a slight example of what you call cunning, what with you slicing into my body like before, but let me tell you something: you won't be able to beat me like that. I've had more years of fighting experience under my belt, Miss Wenata. To tell the truth, I'm much older than I appear,"

"Oh yeah? Just how old are you, 26?"

Damien smirked, "I'm at least 50,"

Dusty's jaw hit the ground, "F-F-F-Fifty?! YOU'RE FIFTY?!"

"Mhm," Damien ran a hand through his black hair, "I must say, I look pretty good for a man my age, don't I? Like the birds, I don't show much progress in age,"

"Uh...I think you're confused on that bit," Dusty's ears twitched, "Wait a minute, are you saying your Devil Fruit is what keeps you young? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DEVIL FRUIT USER ARE YOU?!"

The navigator of the Bloodless Vampires facefaulted, "I suppose the myths of kitsunes being intelligent are only truthful to the actual animals. Either that, or they're complete myths,"

"Hey! Are you calling me stupid?!" Dusty glared daggers at him.

"That's not important," Damien knelt down and unzipped his duffel bag, "Two things: my Devil Fruit is the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Raven and the reason I'm so youthful in appearance is because of my Tai Chi,"

"You're tie's a what now?"

Damien sighed and rose to his feet, pulling out a pair of large, yet strange looking metallic rings. Each one of them had about four or five, wavy protrusions coming out of the edges, like flames from a campfire. Dusty didn't even have to look closely at the blades to tell that they were very sharp. The only reason that Damien's hands weren't cut and bleeding right now were a pair of leathery handles, one on each metal ring.

"Like what you see?" Damien noticed her stare and held up one ring, giving it an admiring look, "These are my friends, they're called Wind and Fire Wheels. If you're wondering what they are exactly, they are tools, as well as weapons. You see, Tai Chi is an art that incorporates both soft and hard martial art techniques into it, as well as the healthy practices that come with it,"

"...okay, you totally lost me,"

Damien spun the blades around idly, "Tai Chi, while used in combat, can also be used for health benefits. I've mastered many forms of this, and throughout my years of practicing Tai Chi, I look like this. Now, you've seen that side of Tai Chi, allow me to show you the other, more aggressive side of Tai Chi," he took a stance, rings held tightly in his hands.

"Alright, you want a piece of me, ossan, then come get some!"


"What the hell kind of crew, do you have, Kairi?"

The Blood Countess turned to Axe, whose head was lowered, "A very unique one, even among the Grand Line, Axe. I have a giant cyborg at my disposal, I have a werewolf, I have a woman who can enter people's minds through their dreams and turn them into pure nightmares, a physician who can do wonders with medical science...," she chuckled to herself and shook her head, "I'll have to admit, there are other choice pirates out there I'd love to get my nails into and make them a part of this crew, but it'd be very difficult. Hell, to tell the truth, I'm even surprised I managed to snag such an interesting crew in the first place. Take Damien for example,"

"...what about that flying freak?"


When Dusty imagined Tai Chi based off Damien's summary of it, she expected this to be a pretty easy battle. What she didn't expect was that Damien's fighting style to be such a pain in the ass. For a few minutes now, every time she launched an attack, with her fists, with her scythes, or her feet at him, Damien either stopped the attacks cold, or dodged, or just deflected the attacks with easy-moving movements of his hands and his body.

"Okay, you're really starting to piss me off, birdboy!" Dusty growled, her fox ears flattening against her head, "You do not want to piss me off!"

Damien smiled and casually spun one of his rings around a wrist on the inside of said ring, keeping him safe from being cut, "I've met plenty of men and women who have threatened to get to a certain level of anger and make me pay for making them go to that level, but every time, I've put them down. Do you have any idea how much blood my Wheels have tasted over the years?"

"Shut up and fight, you asshole!" Dusty lunged for him, her scythes pulled behind her back, I'm so gonna cut this bastard this time!!

The Bird Zoan could only chuckle as he sidestepped the oncoming scythes as she swung them down upon him. Taking advantage of the moment, as well as the fact that his opponent was thrown off guard, he slipped his hands through the inside of his rings, letting them drop onto his arms without harm to himself, and reached out, grabbing Dusty's arm closest to him. Holding her arm with one hand, Damien rammed his free elbow into her body, just under the armpit. A loud cracking was heard and Dusty let out a yelp before Damien pulled her arm hard, throwing her to the side. Dusty hit the stumbled and fell to the ground, holding her side and gritting her teeth.

Sonofabitch! That bastard! I think he broke a rib or something!

"For a woman pirate worth 130,000,000 Beli, I'm disappointed," Damien looked down at her she held her side, "I'll admit, the strength to keep holding onto your weapons while dealing with certain levels of pain, that's a nifty skill one can only learn from years of battlefield experience. However, after what I learned about you and your crew, I must admit I expected something...well, something better than this,"

Dusty looked over her shoulder, "Just give me a few minutes, I'll give you something you'll like!" she rolled over onto her back and flipped onto her feet, "Let's go!"

"Well, you're determined, I'll give you that," Damien slid his Wind and Fire Wheels back into his grips, "But as I said, you won't be able to beat me like that. My years as a Marine showed me all kinds of battles and all kinds of injuries-,"

"Hold up a minute!" Dusty climbed back to her feet, the pain still throbbing under her arm, "You were a Marine?!"

Damien tilted his head, "Is that so odd? Gasparde was a Marine, your friend was a Marine...,"

"Look, I know some annoying as hell people and even bad people who were in the Marines can become pirates, but...but uh...," she blinked a few times, "I lost my train of thought here, I don't know where I'm going with this,"

The Zoan shook his head, "How does your crew put up with you?"

"Hey, shut up!" Dusty barked at him, a vein twitching on her forehead, "If you were a Marine, what rank were you before you became a traitor? Niri was like the lowest rank before she got framed by Kairi, so you're what...a Commander, a Lieutenant at least?"

A smirk crossed Damien's face, "Oh, I'm sorry, but you've guessed wrong on that one. Actually, wrong on all things,"

"Huh?"

"You see, I'm not a traitor. I was a Marine, faithful to the World Government, but after a bad mission a few years back, I got discharged from the service. As for the rank I held, if you really must know, I was a Rear Admiral," the smirk got wider, "I was but one rank away from become a Vice-Admiral and two ranks away from becoming an Admiral!"

"WHAT?!" Dusty's jaw hit the ground, her eyes going wider than ever before as she pointed at her enemy, "You were a Rear Admiral?!"


"What the hell is a Rear Admiral doing being a pirate...least of all, a member of your pirate crew?!" Axe growled at his former nakama, "Someone of that strength should have their own crew!"

"Oh, don't worry, there is a Rear Admiral who defected to the life of a pirate who also has his own crew," Kairi took a seat in front of her captive, "His name is X Drake, or 'Red Flag Drake', and he's got a bounty of 222,000,000 Beli," she grinned, "I'd say he'd do either of us proud if he had joined up with either of us,"

"...why the hell is he a pirate instead of a Marine?"

Kairi shrugged, "From what I heard from Damien, he just defected because he wanted to see how the other half lives,"

Axe frowned, "I don't understand...,"

"That's one of the perks of having a former Marine who had a Rear Admiral ranking, Damien has connections!" Kairi chuckled darkly, "You see, he had a lot of powerful friends and plenty of subordinates during his career, and even now, as a wanted criminal and practically a traitor to the Government he served so well, he still has contact with many of them. He has such influence on them, due to his power and his knowledge of them, he can find out practically anything he wants to know!"

"One would think with that knowledge, knowledge that could be used against the Government, he'd have a larger bounty,"

"Ah, that's another one of the perks of having Damien around," Kairi held up a finger, nodding slowly, "He doesn't just use his contacts to get information, he uses his contacts to alter information! You see, I have quite a few dangerous members on this crew of mine, but compared to many people's standards, they have low bounties. The reason for this is, Damien spreads his influence and manages to reduce the current bounties or to make sure false reports are given so the bounties are not updated at all," she let out a laugh as she leaned her head back and looked up at the ceiling, "A few of us keep a few noteworthy bounties and the rest of us get less noticeable ones. Everything works out. Well, not for whoever gets in the ring with Damien, anyway. Compared to most of the Marines out there, except the really high ranking ones anyway, Damien's on a totally different level of power!"


"Hold still, you bastard!" Dusty snapped as she swung her scythes at the Bloodless Vampire, "Seriously!"

Damien said nothing as he moved fluidly from side to side, as if he were made of water. As one who had seen plenty of combat in the field, he had gone up against a lot of people who used melee weapons and knew just how to deal with Dusty and her scythes. He knew that the scythes themselves only had a limited attack range, so he had two choices: dodge every single attack, or keep out of the weapon's range. Staying out of a fight radius wasn't exactly his style though, so he just stayed as close as possible, not only dodging or deflecting the scythes, but also using his own body to either knock Dusty away from him or knock her down in order to disorient her long enough to strike.

The Rear Admiral had to admit, Dusty was lasting longer against him in this form of combat that he originally thought he would. She was very limber and no doubt whatever she learned as acrobatics was helping her keep on her toes against him. Aside from the occasional body rammings or close call Wheel strikes of his own, he wasn't landing any hits of his own either...yet. He still had a few things up his sleeve, but first, he had to find out something.

"Tell me, is the speed you're using your own, or is that borrowed from your Devil Fruit?"

"I don't think that matters, or if that's any of your business!" Dusty leapt at him, "Less talky, more fighty!"

"Impatience and anger will be your downfall," Damien brought up his Wind and Fire Wheels and held them outward to the sides, "Razor Whirlwind...," he closed his eyes and began to spin rapidly in place. Dusty, still in mid-jump, was able to veer off course and hit the floor of the roof, sliding to a halt a short distance away from the navigator of the Bloodless Vampires. She watched as Damien picked up speed with every second, and watched as the two blades that he wielded became multiple blurry images that gave off the illusion that they were floating around his whole body and incredible speed.

"Ooooh...okay, you wanna play like that?" Dusty grinned and tucked her scythes back into their place, "Two can play that game! Kyouran Kyuubi no Kitsune: Ichibi!"

Soon, Dusty was spinning around in her own tornado, just like Damien. The kitsune couldn't help but smirk as increased her speed, This will show that bastard I ain't a pushover pirate! I'll suck him in and rip him to pieces!

Sure enough, Damien was quickly coming towards the spinning miko kitsune, his blades still spinning in every which way. As the two twisters came closer and closer to each other, the outer rims of each twister began to clash, and through that clashing, sparks of bright light to spew outward, as if two metal items were scraping against each other. The closer the two entities came together, the more and more sparks were made, some of them in the form of small, blue arcs that jumped into the air.

Dusty was able to hold her own against Damien, but the downside of this technique of hers was that she couldn't stay spinning forever, and what she was doing was already making her pretty dizzy. Preparing herself for the consequences, Dusty's twister backed away from Damien's and began to slow to a stop. Through his own, Damien could see the opportunity he needed and with a burst of speed, he spun right at Dusty, his blades slicing through the air like they were butter.

The Axe-Head miko knew that he would most likely take this particular moment to attack her, so she did her best to avoid the oncoming blades, however even with her evasive tactics, Damien managed to cut into her pretty well. The navigator sped past her and came to a sudden halt, a grin on his face and blood dripping from his blades. Dusty came to a halt as well, except hers was a bit slower than Damien's. She was dizzy from the Ichibi technique, and a good portion of her upper body had numerous cuts, created from her enemy's Wind and Fire Wheels. Some of them even criss-crossed one another. Even her shirt was close to falling off her torso because of the slashings, but managed to stay on and stay together.

"That's very impressive," Damien rose to full height and turned to face her, spinning his blades idly, "That must be the first time for both of those things to happen. We were moving at such speeds, that when we collided, the friction in the air created some form of static electricity, although it wasn't very powerful. I suppose only certain levels of friction could create the kind of lightning we're used to seeing on the high seas. You've also managed to be cut by my Wheels and not fall. Very few people have managed to do that in the past...," he raised an eyebrow, "You must really want to live through this,"

"Of course I do!" Dusty, having regained her senses, turned and snapped at Damien, "Why wouldn't I want to live through this?! I'm fighting for my nakama here, there's nothing else aside from my dream that I'd risk my life for! Nakama for life, you asshole, nakama for life!"

"Nakama...for...life," Damien repeated slowly, "You know, in another life, I probably said something similar to the Marines I fought alongside with. Those men and women were my nakama, we fought together, some of them died in front of my eyes while I lived on, and we even backed each other up in some bad times. However, nakama are not always for life, kitsune," he scowled, "If I had nakama for life, I wouldn't be here. I'd still be in the World Government's employ, earning a good salary and becoming stronger than others who don't even deserve a chance to be in the forces. Yet, I am here, and the reason for that is this: the supposed nakama I had fought alongside with left me out to dry when I got discharged,"

"...what?"

"Four years ago, a mission went bad. I was at fault, and I thought I would have had some support afterwards, but no one came to my defense. I got stripped of my rank, I was kicked out of the Marines and everything I worked hard for was thrown out the window. It's true that nakama will stick by you, but that's only for a short time. Tell me, how long do you think it'll be before your nakama decide to leave you out for the wolves, hm? How long do you think it'll be before they turn their back on you and get on with their lives?"

Dusty grinned and pulled her scythes out again, "Never," she darted at her fellow Zoan, spinning her scythes around, "They'll never abandon me, and I'll never abandon them!"

Kids these day are always so eager to die... Damien gripped his Wheels and brought them up just in time to block and stop Dusty's scythes cold. The two Zoans stared at one another as their weapons were locked together, neither of them moving (save the shaking of Dusty's scythes). Damien leaned in close to her face, "You're agile and you're quick, I'll give you that, but unless you have the intelligence and strength necessary to survive in this ocean, then you'll never have a chance of beating me,"

"We'll see about that!" Dusty released one of her scythes and as it fell to her feet, she quickly brought her free hand up, fingertips aimed right at Damien's face, "Miko Attack Spell, Level One...!"

"I don't think so!" Damien thrust his free Wheel, aiming straight for Dusty's neck.

The miko had to cut her spell short and quickly as she could, she brought her hand up and grabbed the incoming wheel from cutting into her neck. Her hand was wrapped around one of the long, flame-like protrusions, which was awfully close of piercing her throat. She winced as the sharp edges cut into her hands, her blood either running down her own arm or down the metal blade.

"I know about you and your miko abilities, Miss Wenata," Damien chuckled, "You forget, I get information! For a while now, I've been looking into each and everyone of you, as best as I can and I know that you're a beginner miko with the power for weak spells!"

Dusty growled as she tightened her grip on the blade, "If my power is weak, then why'd you'd stop me from casting a spell? Are you really that afraid of me?!"

Damien let out a short, but loud laugh, "Don't be an egomaniac! I have no fear of your miko power, I only saw a window of opportunity and took it! Truth be told, I thought I'd kill you by ramming my wheel into your throat and let you choke on your own blood before you could stop me, but since you were able to stop my blade just in time, it looks like I'm getting slow in my age,"

"Or maybe I'm just faster than you thought I was!" Dusty grinned widely, "Stronger, too!". Before Damien could ask what she meant by that, Dusty let out a cry and with a flick of her wrist, the flame blade she was holding onto snapped clean off the Wheel.

"What-?!"

"Hehe...I think this belongs to you!" Dusty flipped the blade over in her hand ran it deep into Damien's shoulder.

"GAH! YOU BITCH!" Damien shouted and backhanded Dusty hard across the face, using his other Wheel to cut into the side of her face. Dusty cried out as blood trickled down the side of her face. The enemy Zoan backed away from her and with a grunt and a jerk, he pulled the bloody metal piece from his shoulder, an annoyed look on his face. He looked at the broken piece of metal, then at Dusty and threw the piece to the side before taking up his Wheels.

Dusty pulled out her other scythe and took a stance as Damien began to spin his Wheels so fast, they became a blur, "Now, we're really getting down to business!"


Herman ran around the interior of the mansion, his eyestalks twisting every which way, looking for any sign of Dusty, or any sign of his nakama for that matter. All he found were Portrait zombies and other zombies that got in his way. They tried to block his way, they tried to hold him back, they even tried to hold him down in one place, but every tactic they used had the same result as the last one. Herman was in no mood to trouble himself with the living dead, and he had no intention of wasting his time with them. He punched, he kicked, he tossed, he even used his tail to knock away anything and everything that came his way. The lobster Fish-Man left a trail of (living) dead bodies in his wake as he stormed through the mansion, never giving up for a second to find his crew.

As he came to yet another intersection, he heard the sound of glass breaking to the right. Without a second thought, he turned and bolted down the corridor, hoping he'd get there in time. Moving through the corridor, he noticed huge gashes in the stone floor and walls around him, as well as large holes in the area. The change in decor was recent, like brand new, whatever made these was straight ahead of the lobster-man.

"I got a baaaaaaaaaad feeling about this...,"


What used to be a mess of weapons clanging against each other and blood spilling, the battle between Damien and Dusty actually appeared to be on even ground now. Damien's strength and speed with his injured arm didn't seem faltered, in fact it didn't look like anything was wrong with it at all. Instead of her scythes meeting his Wheels, the two of them seemed to be involved in some form of ritualistic dance. Damien had been able to dodged and attack using his fluid Tai Chi movements, and before Dusty used to be thrown off or injured by his style, but now, she actually seemed to be moving with him. When she attacked him, he moved out of harms way, but whenever he attacked now, she moved out of the way of his attacks as well. It was like they were perfectly in sync or something. To make things even weirder, Dusty had her eyes closed the entire time!

What's going on?! Damien wondered as he made a fierce swipe at Dusty's head with his Wheels, It's like she's predicting my movements, but she's not psychic, and I know she can't be anywhere near experienced enough to read my movements! How is she doing this, it doesn't make sense!?

Truth behind this was Dusty was currently using her Kyouran Kyuubi no Kitsune: Sanbi technique. Her eyes closed and her other senses at work, she was able to move around Damien's attacks effortlessly. Whether or not she was actually attacking during this very technique, even she didn't know, she just moved her body around and let whatever happened happen.

I can't land any moves on her with this... Damien thought as he and the kitsune miko "danced" around the roof, I'll have to change things up a bit!

With a grunt, he jumped back a fair distance, reaching into his back pants pocket. As Dusty made her way towards him, Damien fastened a long, thin cable to the handles of both his Fire Wheels. Grinning, he pulled on both Wheels, making the cable go taut, Let's see her try and handle this!

Darting back to Dusty, meeting her halfway, Damien through one of his Wheels at her, and as he expected, she dodged the incoming weapon easily. When it cleared her neck, Damien pulled on the other Wheel hard. The Wheel that he threw suddenly snapped back and wrapped itself around Dusty's neck. The kitsune snapped out of her dodgy trance and her hands automatically went flying to her neck, trying to free herself from the hold of the cable.

"I'd like to see you try and dodge me now, miko!" Damien pulled hard, forcing Dusty to move towards him and allowing him to launch and land a hard kick on the side of her face. The miko's head snapped to the side, blood flying out of her mouth from the force of the blow. The bird Zoan grinned and turned on his heel, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the other side of her face. Dusty cried out in pain as her head snapped to the other side, more blood trickling down her chin.

Damien continued his barrage of unavoidable kicks before coming to a stop and standing over Dusty's bloody form. He looked down on the miko, whose body was not only cut, but severely bruised from the beatings. He grabbed the cable and pulled her from the ground to her knees, her eyes barely open, "It was a mistake for you and your crew to come here, Wenata. It was an even bigger mistake to come looking for your nakama. You should've just let yourself get killed early on, that would've been the smart thing. But then again, if you had, I wouldn't be getting the joy I'm getting now from beating the living shit out of you. Don't think that I'm doing this myself, though, you should give yourself credit. My Tai Chi is powerful, yes, but most of what I'm doing is using your own force against you...so in a way, you're killing yourself. Now," he pulled on the cable again, "...on your feet!"

She glared up at him, How the hell am I gonna beat this freaky bird-man?!

"I said on your feet, bitch!"

The bloody kitsune coughed blood as she staggered to her feet. Damien looked her over and shook his head, "I don't care whose blood you have or what crew you belong to, woman, you're one of the most pathetic excuses for a pirate I've ever seen. Granted, you held your own against me for a good while, but that's all you ever really did well. You didn't take advantage of your Zoan abilities, you have about the worst miko skills, even compared to a beginner...why the hell Axe recruited you to fight against my captain is beyond me, it makes no sense. Oh well, I suppose there's no sense in worrying about it now, since you're about to die,"

With those final words, Damien pulled his spare hand back and rammed a strong fist right into Dusty's chest. Using his inner power, Damien was able to expel a force so strong, he not only sent Dusty flying back, but he made her fly back so hard, the cable that was still wrapped around her neck actually broke and she was soon flying clear off the roof. The Blood Raven cracked his neck as he watched Dusty fly a good distance away from the mansion before disappearing into the forest below.

"Your captain fell before Kairi's power...it's no real surprise that you fell before mine,"


Kilnorc: MAN! What a chapter, and it's only the first half of the battle! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it, it was a pain in the ass to work with! I would like to express my thanks to my dear friends, Dragon's-Maiden, MalchiortheDraco, everyone else who helped me that I might just forget their name, lol. Thanks to a special girl who made sure I didn't stress myself and thanks to SuperHurricane for telling me about an awesome Jet Li movie that helped me out IMMENSELY. I owe you guys, you saved my ass on this!

On the next chapter of Endless Nightmare...

Lola: Shit! What happened to the fox-girl?!

??: You're too full of bloodlust, Damien.

Damien: You're actually using that power now? No matter...

Dusty: I'll show you the power of a fox!!

Birds of Prey Part Two

Dusty: Hehe...just found your weakness...stupid asshole!

(1) Amatsu Tonbo Giri: Literally, "Imperial Dragonfly Cut." A thrusting technique with the sword that can create a blast similar to that of a rifle's shot. It gets its name from the fact that a slight buzzing sound like that of a dragonfly's wings emanates from the rapier before the attack is launched.