Onboard the Howling Moon, Maria was watching over the comatose bodies of her crewmembers, whilst sighing at their misfortune. Ignacio had decided that it would have been best if Maria had some time alone, and as a result, had left for a stroll along the shores of the island. "I just hope that Zugai and Chris are okay…" she whispered, as she now looked down at Nampu, who seemed quite relaxed, despite being in a coma.
"Eh? You think I'm cute, or something?" His voice still rang through her ears, as she remembered a bit of conversation the two had before ending up on Atsumari. "Well, ergh… that's a bit of a problem, right there."
"Wh-why? Is it because I'm… a Fishman?"
"What? No, of course not! It's just that… I'm gay." Maria smiled as she remembered the brief awkward silence between them, before they both broke into laughter. Sighing, Maria then looked over at KC and Krystal, who she had placed together, because she felt that they fit like that.
"…and that's how we stopped The Wicked Knight. I don't like to brag, but I did do most of the work, you know." She could hear KC's voice clearly as well, as if he was actually talking to her, before almost feeling the light knock he received on his head by Krystal. "Hey, hey, I was just joking around! You three helped, you know!"
"Yeah, and who was the kid we had to rescue by sending in the gay guy?" Krystal's voice echoed, as Maria remembered how the three of them had laughed, before being chased by Nampu for allegedly hampering on sexualities, though he was aware that Krystal meant no offense with that. Then, she looked over at Jin, who was actually drooling a little whilst in a coma.
"So you don't know how much percentage of water the Fishman body consists of?" she heard Jin ask curiously in her head, before shaking her head both in response, and in grief. "Well, I could find out, but that'd be quite a mess, really. Well, I think we'd best get back to fis-shaaaa… and let's get some food!" Then, she heard herself laugh at Jin's feeble attempt at avoiding something that could be perceived as offensive, even though she wouldn't have thought much of it at all.
Finally, she looked over at Craigmirra, but she seemed to be in more pain than the others, probably due to her younger body not able to handle the poisoning as well. "You know, Maria, you're really working yourself out for us. I mean, you've been helping each of us like an ant working for its queen, and you seem to like helping out, as well." Maria blinked, as she remembered the conversation she had with Craigmirra just moments before arriving at Atsumari.
"Everyone…" she whispered softly, as she held her hands together, closing her eyes as she lowered her head so her forehead rested on her hands. "Please… don't die, anyone of you…" However, the sound of a door being forced open broke her from her thoughts, as she spun around to see Ignacio in the doorway, heaving for his breath. "What… is something wrong?"
"Non a toda!" Ignacio replied, as he suddenly revealed that he was holding a syringe in his hands, it containing a purple liquid. "Whilst I was walking, I stumbled upon a cráter in the sand, and in it, I found this! This is the antídoto to the poison!"
As soon as she heard this, Maria suddenly brightened up, before running towards Ignacio, so she could inspect the syringe up-close. "This… is it?" she said in awe, as she poked it slightly. "Then… maybe Zugai or Chris beat one of them!"
"That may be so." Ignacio replied, as he hid the syringe underneath his shirt, before looking over at the comatose pirates. "But there are still two of those diablos left, and I doubt Manigordo to be the one down."
As he said this, Maria's smile faded, as she looked sorrowfully into the ground. "But… if they keep on fighting, they'll probably… but if I could… I…" Then, she gritted her teeth, struggling to keep her tears in check, so that she wouldn't overreact.
Ignacio frowned as he saw Maria fight the tears, before placing his hand on her shoulder. "Señorita,some times in life, mankind needs to do what they feel is right, though their derecho may lie someplace else. Tell me; what do you feel is right at this moment?"
Maria blinked, as she looked up at Ignacio, before throwing a glance behind her at her crew. "I… I feel that…" Then, she turned back to face Ignacio, smiling slightly. "I feel that we should do whatever we can to help my crew!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Piracy: The New Generation
Manigordo's Grand Battle part 3
The Measurement of a True Monster
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris blinked, as she felt something wet crawl over her fingers, and though she found it mildly disturbing, she was unable to move; her shoulders and left leg were bleeding, as she was lying in a small pool of blood. However, it was not the injuries that were the major cause for her lack of movement; the revelation that Vraspos came from a Sky Island, making the antidote resident on his home island unattainable by normal means, had shocked her. "Damn… talk about running out of luck." she muttered, as she ignored the pain searing through her.
"Hm. I really AM getting rusty." she heard Vraspos comment, as the larger man approached her, kneeling down beside her, though she looked away with a slight pout on her face. "But you're still alive, at least. If I were you, I'd reconsider Morte's offer, pup."
Chris spat out some blood, as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure." she muttered in a sarcastic tone, as she tried moving her hands, when she noticed that she had dropped her crescent dagger after Vraspos shot her. "Goddamn it, that's just my luck…" she thought in annoyance, before looking at Vraspos again. "Say, I'm wondering just what you'd do if I either accepted or denied that offer at this point." she asked, aiming to buy some time; she still had one last ace up her sleeves.
"Hm…" Vraspos rubbed his chin, as he stood up, before turning away from Chris. "Well, if you were to accept, then I would do whatever I could to fix your injuries… or maybe not, seeing as you cut my neck like that." As he kept on talking, Chris attempted to regain control of her hands, as she focused all her remaining strength on pushing herself from the ground. "Then again, if you really were with us, I could have you help Morte fend off the Orthopedic, get up to the hostages in place of Morte… Now, if you denied it, however…"
Finally, Chris could move her hands so that pushing herself from the ground became possible, and she slowly did so, mainly due to not wanting Vraspos to catch her, but also because of her injuries. "C'mon, just a little more…" she thought, as she looked briefly over at Vraspos, who still seemed too busy listening to himself ramble on about how he was going to kill her if she refused the offer. "Now's my chance!"
"…and finally, I'd take your lifeless/limbless body and throw it to a pack of hungry sharks." he finished, as he clapped his hands together, looking to the sky, before beginning to turn around. "So in short, if you accept, I'll get your ass in gear for working with us, and if you refuse, I'll-" Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt something cut his stomach, as he noticed that Chris was on her feet. "Oh, you son of a bitch." he muttered, as he held a hand over his stomach to stop the bleeding.
"Oh, ow, you burned me." Chris replied with a sarcastic tone, as she spun two peculiar weapons in both her hands. "In all seriousness, though, you could have come up with something more original." she added, as the weapons she held were revealed to be completely identical; two crescents made out of steel crossing, producing four curved, clawlike points, one of them being bloodied; the main blade. She was holding them by the wrapped middle of the lengthened crescent, with the other one acting as a hand guard. "These are my Deer Horn Knives. I got them from some bounty hunter before I joined the Cross Skulls." she said, as she admired the way the knives were constructed.
Vraspos growled, as he picked up his Zweihänder again, pointing it at Chris. "So you got a set of fancy daggers. Big deal." he said in a sarcastic tone, before reeling his right hand back, the sword following suite. "With those injuries, you can barely stand." he added, as he looked at Chris' leg; still bleeding quite nastily from his shot, as it even quivered slightly.
Despite this, however, Chris merely smirked, as she spun her knives in her hands. "And yet even with that big, nasty blade, you haven't put me to rest yet!" she said, as she playfully stuck out her tongue. "I'm beginning to think that your fixation on compensation led to you getting a dull blade."
Just as she said this, Vraspos almost literally jumped at her, as he yelled in rage at this snide remark. However, as he swung his blade at Chris, she easily trapped the blade between her two knives (though she had to strain herself to do so), before pulling Vraspos and his sword right by her, making him crash into the pool of her own blood. "Gnh… acrobat tricks will not save you!" he growled, as he got up again, his body covered in blood, as was Chris'.
"Maybe not." she answered, as she got ready to dash at Vraspos. "But they can sure as hell help me kick the ever-loving shit out of you!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Zugai growled, as he squeezed his hand as best as he could around Morte's leg, but the bounty hunter didn't seem to notice one bit. "If you even think about raiding my ship for the slightest second, I'm going to use your bones to make a punching bag, which I'll smash with your lifeless body!" he spat, as Morte noted how angry Zugai grew.
"Ooh, I seem to have offended you." Morte replied with an apathetic tone to his voice. "I'm sorry, do you want an apology? I think I'll write one for your obituary, if you don't mind." Then, he began kicking the leg Zugai was holding, as he sighed. "Now, come on, let go of my leg."
However, Zugai merely grunted, as he was now squeezing it even tighter than before, which forced Morte to grunt in pain. "Gnh… I'm serious, that's starting to get annoying." he muttered, as he suddenly stabbed his pata into Zugai's hand, forcing the pirate to stop squeezing too hard. "Now, are we going to be nice?"
Zugai growled, as he looked up at Morte with a hateful glare, before lowering his gaze. Then, slowly, he let go of Morte's leg, as the bounty hunter chuckled. "Good, that's very nice of you." he said, as he looked to the sky, not noticing that Zugai had clenched his hand into a fist, pointing it at Morte's leg. "You know, for a second there, you really had me thinking that you were going to rip my leg apart, or something. But, I guess even you can't be so stupid to fight the power in such bad sha-" Just then, the sound of flesh being pierced stopped Morte's monologue, as he closed his eyes, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Bad shape? Me?" Zugai replied, as he smirked cockily whilst looking up at Morte. "Apparently, you've never seen me in bad shape, because this is nothing!" Just then, Zugai pulled his hand away from Morte's leg, leaving the bounty hunter to create some space between them, as he looked at his leg in pain; three holes were located just a little over his foot, where blood was now pouring out.
"Hrm… I guess this is due to your powers." Morte said bluntly, as he opened the bag hanging from his belt, before rummaging through it. "I assume that your Devil Fruit involves your bones in some fashion. Tell me, did you pierce me by extending your fingernails, or something?" he added, as he pulled out a few band-aids, which he glued over his wounds.
"Actually… no." Zugai replied, as he was now pushing himself off the ground, trembling slightly due to the amount of blood he had lost in this short fight. "Whilst I have full control over my skeleton, as well as other skeletons or bones in the world, I can't artificially increase its length." When he finally got up, he spat a few drops of blood from his mouth, as he looked over at Honehakaisha, which had a slight red tint to it now. "Since I'm having trouble fighting you with power, as you're pointing out, you're free to pick just what you want me to fight with."
Morte looked at Zugai with a neutral, yet slightly amused look. "So you're deciding your fate on what weapon I want you to fight with?" he said dryly, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, let me see what you have, first."
Nodding, Zugai closed his eyes, as he removed the glove on his left hand, revealing his skeletal one, before moving it behind his neck, reaching for something back there, whilst his right hand was now clenched into a fist. Then, Morte noticed that Zugai's right hand was convulsing violently, as Zugai was gritting his teeth in pain. Then, from out of his knuckles, three claws suddenly shot out, all of them bloodied, though not from Zugai's blood. "Ah, so that was what you stabbed me with." Morte said dryly, as he noticed that Zugai had grabbed something with his left hand.
Just then, Zugai pulled out his own spine from his back, as his body suddenly hunched over, its support lost with a single pull. Then, as he looked up at Morte, Zugai whipped the spine in a most spectacular fashion, which even made Morte clap his hands together mockingly. "Alright, your call…" Zugai muttered, as he lifted his right hand so that Morte could see the claws. "Is it gonna be these?" Then, he lifted his left hand, to show off his spine. "Or this?"
Morte made a humming noise, as he rubbed his right hand against his cheek. "Well, that whip seems interesting, but…" Then, he pointed at Morte's right hand. "I'll take my chances on those. You might have a slight winning chance, that way."
Nodding, Zugai took the spine back to his neck, before he began pushing it into his own body again, all whilst he slowly got up into a proper standing position, at which point the spine was back where it belonged. Then, he grunted in pain, as his left hand now began convulsing as well. However, this time around, Morte could see that his index, middle and ring fingers actually pressed themselves further into the skeleton, sliding past the palm and wrist bones, before they emerged from where Zugai's knuckles would normally be, if his left hand actually had any flesh. "Farankutsume." he muttered, as he looked at his hands, both sporting three claws now.
"Hm." Morte scoffed, as he pointed his left arm at Zugai again. "Just so you know, even with a slight chance, you're destined to die sooner or later by my hand." he said, as he cracked his neck, before licking his lips. "Your turn first?"
-----------------------------------------------------------
"GAH!" Vraspos held his arm in pain, as it was bleeding quite nastily, due to Chris cutting him there. "Guh… you're seriously thinking that'd stop me, pup?" Then, he flew at Chris again, holding his sword over his head, just as Chris began running at him as well. Then, he brought down his sword, just as Chris rolled past it, cutting Vraspos' leg as she passed him.
Growling, Vraspos spun his blade, whilst it was in contact with the ground, creating a dust screen again. Then, Chris suddenly received all the dust in her face, as Vraspos was now spinning his sword in preparation for another round of Destructive Scratches. However, this time, Chris ran straight at him, despite having the dust blown at her, and slashed both of her knives at Vraspos, just as he was about to cut her with his attack, resulting in their weapons locking together.
However, Chris left the Shandian no quarter, as she slid her left Deer Horn Knife against the Zweihänder, eventually coming in contact with Vraspos' arm, cutting him there, before rolling away from the blade, followed by her stabbing the knives into Vraspos' leg.
"Gah…" Before Chris could react, however, Vraspos quickly spun his sword so that its flat side struck Chris, sending her flying away from him, accidentally leaving one of her knives in his leg. "You fight me like some kind of attack dog, pup. You sure don't disappoint." he muttered, as he pulled the knife out of his leg, before throwing it towards Chris, who caught it with ease.
"Well, I guess it fits, because you fight like a bitch." Chris replied with a smirk, before she prepared to run at Vraspos again, when she stumbled, crashing into the ground. "No, no, damnit, why did it have to be now?!" she thought to herself, as she tried moving her leg, but to no avail. "Damn leg, get to work!"
"Hmph, seems like your injuries finally caught up to you." Vraspos said cynically, as he dropped his sword, before picking up his rifle. "Well, it has been fun, but this time, I'm ending this charade." Then, he aimed the rifle at Chris, who glared at him with a hateful look in her eyes. "Hey, no hard feelings, pup. After all, you brought this onto yourself."
"Desaparecer!" Just as Vraspos pulled the trigger, a long piece of cloth flew out from the woods, as the bullet crashed into it, without coming out on the other side, surprising both Chris and Vraspos. "Agradecer mi Dios, I made it just in time." Then, both bounty hunter and pirate alike looked towards the woods, as they saw Ignacio emerge from the thicket, holding his arms out towards Vraspos.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Vraspos called, as he looked from Ignacio to Chris, before looking back at Ignacio. "Answer me, or I'll-"
"Parcial Momia." Suddenly, cloth shot out from both of Ignacio's arms, as they quickly bound Vraspos from his stomach and below, though he didn't go for the arms. Then, slowly, Vraspos' back began bending backwards. "I'll break your back if you even think about pulling that gatillo, so drop the gun."
"Guh…" Vraspos grunted, as his back was slowly getting bent below 45 degrees, as the sound of bones cracking were actually audible. "Do you think… that this'll stop me?" he grunted, as he attempted to pull the trigger on his revolver, though the pain shooting through his back was simply forcing him to not pull it.
"I'll only warn you once more…" Ignacio said, as he closed his eyes. "DROP. THE DAMN. CARABINA." he added, as Vraspos looked at him with a maddened look in his eyes, before he grudgingly dropped the rifle to the ground. "Good man." Ignacio said, as the cloth around Vraspos disappeared, leaving the bounty hunter to drop down, exhausted from his battle.
"Ignacio…" Chris muttered, as she tried pushing herself to her feet, but she was simply too tired to do so. "Guh… thanks, I guess." she added, as she looked over at her defeated adversary. "But I had him cornered."
"Cualquier le rezar." Ignacio said sarcastically, as he walked over to Chris, helping her get on her feet. "I suggest we'd get his inyectar, before going back to your ship."
"But hang on a sec…" Chris muttered, as she looked at the Spaniard curiously. "Whatever gave you the incentive to come help me out?"
Ignacio shrugged, as he helped Chris get to Vraspos' trench coat, where the syringe still lied. "Well, let's just say that your sirvienta got tired of waiting for you. She's probably headed for Manigordo and Ortopédico right now…"
-----------------------------------------------------
Zugai quickly raised his right arm to block a sword strike from Morte, before thrusting his left arm forward, in an attempt to skewer Morte; however, the bounty hunter merely bent his head so that the claws passed just over him, before pulling out his kris, stabbing it at Zugai, who just barely blocked it with his right hand's claws. "You're not too shabby with this new form."
"Heh, thanks." Zugai replied, as he began pushing Morte away. "Other people usually freak out when they see this; calling me a monster, and everything." Upon hearing this, Morte suddenly broke into laughter.
"A monster? You?" he asked, before he jumped backwards, creating space between him and Zugai. "Kid, let me tell you something; even with claws like that, you have no idea about the true definition of that term. Believe me when I say that I know it." Then, he lunged himself at Zugai again, stabbing his pata at the pirate, this time actually striking home, though it didn't do anything except for bothering him.
"And I suppose you've seen worse monsters than me?" Zugai replied, before slashing repeatedly at Morte, who actually had to use some effort to block the strikes this time, rather than effortlessly dodging them. Eventually, one of the claws barely made a scratch to Morte's face, annoying the bounty hunter, as he struck his pata at Zugai, who blocked it with both sets of claws.
"Got you." Morte said with a smirk, as he suddenly pulled out one of his guns, before firing it at Zugai, though the bullet only bounced off Zugai's hardened bones. "You're trapped now, Orthopedic. You can't keep your claws extended whilst your skeleton is hardened for very long, can you?" he said, as he pulled the trigger again, seeing Zugai wince in slight pain. "Now, here's what will happen; either you retract your claws, thus letting me cut you down…" Another gunshot rang through the air, as Zugai looked like he had the wind knocked out of him. "…or I break through your defense with my guns, killing you." Another gunshot, as Zugai gritted his teeth, informing Morte that one more shot would seal the last nail in the coffin…
Then, all of a sudden, Morte felt something come in contact with his face, but the contact was of the "slam-a-leg-into-your-face-in-a-painful-manner" variant, as he was launched away from Zugai, crashing into the ground. Looking confused at what happened, Zugai looked at the attacker, to reveal that it was none other than Maria. "Hey, what just happened?" he asked, as he noted that Maria's look on her face when she kicked Morte was actually quite murderous.
However, just as he pointed this out, Maria's serious look dropped like a rock, as she looked between Morte and Zugai quite flustered. "Oh, I'm so- I mean, that is to say, I- b-but I had to- and you were…" she rambled, as she eventually held her head in frustration. "Oh, I don't know what to say!"
"Hey, don't say anything." Zugai said with a shrug, as he looked over at Maria with a smile. "I just thought that it was pretty damn cool." As he said this, Maria smiled sheepishly, until they heard Morte groan, as he stood up again, before he broke out laughing.
"See? See what I mean?" he said, as he pointed at Maria, before stumbling. "That girl, she's more of a monster than you are." he added with a chuckle, as Maria took a step back in shock at the possibly racial curse he threw out, though she wasn't aware of what context he was using the word in. "But that is to say, even like that, she doesn't come near the real monsters in the world."
Zugai frowned, as he stepped past Maria for a moment. "And just what kind of people are like that, then?" he asked, but this made Morte cackle even more.
"Why, people like me, of course!" Morte said, as he hunched his back, before his body began convulsing, all whilst he laughed. Then, Zugai and Maria saw that his body got slimmer, as his skin became slightly reddish brown, with some fur growing on his body, eventually leaving some black spots and rosettes there as well. However, the most surprising thing was that from his rear, a black-banded tail was sprouting out, coming out of nowhere. Then, his ears turned into what seemed to be cat ears, as whiskers sprouted from the sides of his mouth, before his eyes turned into a more cat-like variant. "I'll show you…" Then, he suddenly vanished from sight, surprising both pirates. "Just how terrifying a monster can be."
Then, Zugai suddenly felt something being pushed through his stomach, as he saw that Morte had gotten right next to him, before pushing his pata into Zugai's abdomen, all without being spotted. Before he could react, however, Morte suddenly used his right hand to grab his kris, before stabbing it at Maria, who barely managed to avoid it, though it managed to cut the sleeve of her maid's dress. "Wha… what kind of power is that?" Maria asked in a scared tone, as Morte only grinned wickedly at the pirates.
"This is the true face of a monster…" he said, as he pulled the pata out of Zugai, who quickly got a small distance away from Morte. "The Neko Neko no Mi… Model Ocelot." Then, he suddenly began cackling like a madman, which really was a frightening sight.
-------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Okay, we're going through with this at a quick pace, eh? Well, anyhoot, the Farankutsume is, as you may have guessed, a shout-out to Wolverine's powers (if you've seen X-Men, this should be self-explanatory), and the final paragraph of Morte laughing… well, just picture Yagami Light laughing like a mad-man if he was a anthromorphic cat. Alrighty, just remember to read and review, and I'll see whether or not the next chapter's the end of this arc or not!
YolkaEd