"Trouble in Mokuba City! The West Blue's Worst vs the Best!"

"Did I hear you right, lady? Did you really just say that you'd bury me under this island?" Alexander boasted from his seat atop the barrels. Even while sitting, his massive frame still rose higher than the Marine woman.

"I did," the woman's calm voice replied.

A beat of silence passed following her answer and suddenly the quad was filled with the uproarious sounds of the pirates' laughter. "Is this chick insane?" one pirate had declared. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all week!" another announced. "No one can defeat Captain Alexander! She's lost it!" a third pirate had yelled, amongst other mocking calls while the Alexander Pirates outright laughed at the marine.

"I'm usually not one to make light of the power of the navy, but this really is crazy," Ches spoke to himself, while trying his best to look inconspicuous atop the stairs. "There's no way that little group of marines can defeat the Juggernaut."

While the pirates continued their nonstop laughing, one of the crew developed enough bravery to walk right up to the woman. "C'mon missy," the man crooned while wiping away tears of laughter. "How about you just get going before things get ugly, huh?"

Ches had a perfect view of the man's wry smile as he addressed the lady, and with what looked to be utter calmness, the woman lifted one hand and slapped the pirate clean across the quad and crashing into the side of a building. Needless to say, that certainly ended the round of laughter coming from the pirates. Even the knife thrower was taken aback by how simply she'd just done the act. It was virtually with no effort.

"Mango!" Alexander cried out, turning to watch the pirate unpeel from the wall and fall onto the ground unconscious. With a growl, he turned back to the woman and said, "How dare you hurt one of my men?!" And as he kicked the barrels over and stood, he yelled out, "I'll make you pay for that!"

Alexander the Juggernaut didn't even wait for the rest of the crew to brace themselves. With his pupils already beginning to whiten, he rushed right for the Marine with a boisterous battle cry. He even knocked a few of his own crew aside as he charged the lady, who merely stood still as a statue as Alexander charged in. And then, as if in the blink of an eye, she disappeared just as the juggernaut had reached out to grab her.

Completely taken aback by her disappearance, Alexander froze in place and simply stared at the spot where the lady had been. He'd opened his mouth, ready to voice his surprise before one of his crew members cut in. "Captain! She's above you!" the man squealed.

And when Alexander turned his head up to the woman, she was already spinning down with a leg primed to strike. Without a single word, she smashed her foot into Alexander's face and the juggernaut was smacked into the ground with such raw power that he carved a crater nearly three feet deep.

To say that the entire quad was surprised would've been a horrible understatement.

The woman dropped back to the ground, looking as though she just finished watering her flowers and simply turned back to the gaping pirates that couldn't take their eyes off of their unconscious captain. "Detain this filth!" she demanded, and on cue the marines rushed in while the pirates ran forward to meet them and fight their way out of the situation, leaving the whole area to become live with gunfire and fighting. Meanwhile, the Marine lady walked over to a nearby barrel and took a seat to enjoy the battle.

"This is bad!" Ches mourned as he took three careful steps back, as if fearing that he'd somehow been pulled into the altercation. "We need to go. We need to go. We need to go!" And with that he took off running, mind set on finding some other way to the Central Courtyard. "She has to be even stronger than Jon Jon, and Ralli couldn't even stand up to him! We need to get out of here. Otherwise, we'll be arrested before we can even make it to Reverse Mountain!"

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"Taya, what the hell?! Why are you in such a rush?!" Atori demanded as he ran to keep up pace with their chef, who'd exited that last shop and had been running nonstop to get back to the ship.

"There's some bad stuff brewing on this island, Atori, and if we don't hurry up and leave, we'll be caught right in the middle of it!" she announced and suddenly stopped when she noticed that she wasn't the only one running through the street. There were many other people running toward the docks as well, but there some running in the other direction, looks of excitement on their face. "Where are they going?" she wondered.

"I don't know, but why did you –," Atori began, but stopped as two teenage looking boys hurriedly ran by. The words they were speaking caught both Ato's and Taya's ears.

"I heard that two pirates are up in the Central Courtyard! They say it might be a fight. Let's hurry!" one of the boys exclaimed as he tried to usher his friend along.

And without having any other details, Taya and Atori both grouched out, "…Ralli…"

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Ralli couldn't help noticing how people had seemed to stop and look at him and Popper. He looked around at all of their faces, and saw how fearful most of them looked, but then there were a few others that looked excited. Was he and Popper missing a show or something?

"Don't mind them, Ralli. People tend to stare oddly at things they don't understand. They'll move on to something else soon enough," Popper explained to capture Ralli's attention once more.

Having heard Popper's words, Ralli turned back to the man, ready to make a reply, but as he did so, he noticed a gang of people running up from behind the fancy dressed man. "Captain! Captain!" a man with short cut orange hair called out, only to stop just as he made in front of Popper and Ralli. "Sorry we took so long," he said breathlessly before a monkey suddenly jumped off of his back and landed on the shoulder of Popper. Ralli watched in amusement as the monkey made itself comfortable and straightened up its appearance until it looked just as regal as the man whose shoulder he was sitting.

"Did he just call you captain?" Ralli piped up before Popper could address the men. "Are you a pirate captain?"

"Indeed I am, red eye," Popper replied with a brilliant smile. "As are you. The captain of the Battle Bar Pirates, who've had a hand in the defeat of the notorious Kissaru Pirates. I am quite the fan of you," he said. "It's a strange twist of fate that I'd meet you here. I never imagined that I'd get the honor of coming face to face with the last of the legendary Teko family."

At the mention of his family, a scowl worked its way onto Ralli's face. "What do you know about my family?" he demanded.

Catching the shift in Ralli's mood, Popper said, "I meant no disrespect. I admire your family for being who they were. The amount of fear that they could incite in the hearts of those around them was truly awe-inspiring."

"I…I don't think I want to talk about this," Ralli offered and made a move to step away. "I'm going to leave."

"But, wait Ralli –," Popper began, only to be cut off as a woman's voice suddenly boomed over the courtyard.

"Yes, don't leave just yet!" she announced, but Ralli knew that voice from anywhere. With eyes wide in surprise, he turned up to the rooftop of a nearby building and gaped when he saw Madame Kissaru and her pirates behind her. "You can't leave just yet, my little ruby-eyed brat!" she yelled out before snatching a bazooka from the hands of Burty and aiming it into the square. "We need to get reacquainted first!" And with that, she fired the bazooka.

Ralli and Popper, alongside his pirates, all moved out of the way as the cannon crashed explosively in the square. With explosions going off, the people who'd been standing around to see Popper and Ralli, happily decided to leave at that moment. Screams of fear tore from the crowd as they ran for their lives, and as Ralli turned back to glare at Kissaru, he was blind to the hooded figure suddenly rushing him from behind with a fist aimed and ready.

"Ralli, watch out!" Popper exclaimed, making red eye turn around and his eyes go wide from shock.

But just as the man's fist had been ready to knock Ralli's head off, a large arrow suddenly zipped in between them. The sheer shock of the metal arrow burying itself between the two was enough to stop the figure and cause both of them to look in the direction where it had been fired. Sitting up in the windowsill of a building was a grey haired, yet young man with a large bow in his hands. He offered a smile and wave, and for some reason, Ralli waved back.

"Good job, Everett," Popper called out, to which the archer gave a thumbs up.

"Didn't see you doing anything, Bennie," the archer mocked, smirking when Ben glared up at him.

"Well, if I was lazing around on my ass, then I probably would've finally done something productive as well," Ben offered in reply, causing both of them to begin a glaring match.

But their anger with one another went mute in the ears of Popper as he suddenly ran up to Ralli, who'd been drawn into a fight with the hooded man. "Learn your place!" Popper announced as he rushed in and yanked Ralli away from a punch to instead put himself in the way. Ralli had opened his mouth to tell Popper how dumb that was, but before he could, he found his words stolen when the fist ready to connect with Popper's jaw suddenly stopped, as if blocked by an invisible barrier. "Imbecile." With that, the man was blown clean off his feet and bounced across the ground multiple times before crashing into a gypsy stand.

When the man pulled himself back to his feet, Ralli awed when he saw that it was none other than Feruk. "Why the heck are all of you here?!" he demanded.

Kissaru offered a devious smirk before she leapt from the building and crashed down into the square, her crew of pirates right behind her. "By good fortune, we were released from the custody Jon Jon by some kid that called himself the Death Punk back on Gregor's Isle," she announced as she walked closer.

"But while aboard, we couldn't stop talking about how much we hated you," Feruk added and completely tossed away the hood and donned his brass knuckles. "So, we figured we'd make plans to kill you. If we couldn't do it separately, we'd definitely make it happen when we work together."

"An alliance between the Kissaru Pirates and the Feruk Pirates! What better way to decimate you, red eye?!" the axe killer yelled out as she took a hold of her lethal weapon and prepared herself, with Resk drawing his blades and Bury preparing with his mallet behind her. And as if on cue, the remainder of Feruk's crew filled the courtyard, rushing in from every alleyway to swarm Ralli and Popper and his pirates.

And while Ralli looked prepared for battle, Popper couldn't help bursting with a malicious chuckle. "Really, now. You two old relics had to form an alliance to defeat an upstart pirate? You're an embarrassment to piracy," he said and didn't flinch when both the captains looked ready to rip him to shreds. "I can assure you. That you both are heavily outclassed here, and that's without including red eye into the equation." Behind Ralli and Popper, Ben had drawn his gusten fan and the rest of the pirates had donned their weapons, alongside Everett, who already had an arrow ready to fire. "Do yourselves a favor and leave while you still have a shred of dignity left."

"None of you are leaving!" a triumphant feminine voice suddenly declared over the courtyard.

"What now!" Kissaru snarled and looked up in the direction of the call, as everyone else, and what they found were two rather young Marines – one a woman and the other a man.

"It's Videl and Juss," Ralli heard Popper almost groan.

At the top of another roof, the girl stood proudly with hands on her hips as she looked down on the courtyard. She was dressed in an outfit similar to a school girl's, though she wore a white shirt with the Navy emblem on the sleeves. And her hot pink hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail. At her side, and seated with his back propped against her and his right leg dangling over the edge was a young guy with sandy brown hair that looked horribly unkempt. Based on attire, he looked to be a regular ensign, but on one sleeve it dictated that he was in fact a Commander. He chewed what looked to be a toothpick and didn't even bother with looking into the courtyard at the pirates.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Videl, serving under the authority of Captain Iguru! And by my order, every pirate in this courtyard is under arrest! You can either give up willingly or be taken in by force!" the girl asserted, but sneered when she heard a faint sound of snoring. "Wake up!" she yelled and kicked the man in the head leaning against her. "I swear, how you managed to be promoted over me is simply appalling!"

And while the girl took a moment to kick the man again and chastise him, Popper whispered, "Be ready to move, Ralli."

Red eye turned back to the captain and had opened his mouth to speak, but Videl was back to the courtyard and said, "What will be your answer?" Kissaru, her pirates, and Feruk and his pirates couldn't help laughing at how innocently she'd actually asked that. As if she expected the answer to be anything else. "I see," she said, sounding dangerously angry. Videl suddenly threw her head back and splayed her arms as a murky, smoky cloud started to rise from her body. "Ash Cloud! Heavy Storm!" she yelled out and pushed her hands down at the courtyard, a rush of ashen dust spraying into the area.

"Now!" Popper yelled out as he and his crew leapt into the air. Ralli still looked confused as to what was happening, so a glittery, golden substance suddenly rushed down to wrap around his arm and yank him up just as the cloud of ash struck the courtyard and permeated around the area like smoke.

Kissaru, Feruk, and some of their collective pirates had also managed to scale a building and get away from the cloud. And when it faded, they all gaped into the courtyard to find that every last inch of it had been covered in soot and ash. As for the people, they'd been encased in the ash and were petrified solid in their spots, completely unable to move.

"What just happened?!" Ralli gaped as he looked down into the area, still unable to fathom what had transpired.

"Videl petrified everything and everyone down there. That is the power of her ash-ash devil fruit. Her ash cloud will cover anything and petrify it solid," Popper explained. "That's why they call her Ms. Ash Cloud."

Kissaru snarled down into the courtyard, angered at seeing some of her crew frozen, and suddenly lifted up the bazooka once more to aim at Videl and Juss. "Damn you, you wenchhhh!" she yelled before firing. The two Marines deftly evaded the explosion before Kissaru turned the cannon on Ralli and Popper. "And I hate you two most of all!"

The cannon fired at them and Ralli prepared himself to run once more, but stilled when Popper placed a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me," was all that Popper offered as he stood still and watched the attack come for them. And just when it seemed ready to explode against them all, a swirl of golden dust suddenly converged before them and acted as a barrier from the explosion.

Kissaru and Feruk's eyes widened at the sight. "You're that gold dust killer!" they both awed while Popper's smile turned deadly.

Videl watched the exchange and looked over at her colleague and yelled. "Dammit, Juss! Back me up here!"

"Alright fine," the man whined before straightening up.

"Now!" the girl yelled, before thrusting out a hand and letting a column of ash blow forward.

Juss, instead, breathed in a deep breath before he blew out a large wave of fire, leaving both attacks to rush at the gangs of pirates on the other side of the courtyard.

"What the hell?!" Ralli exclaimed, unable to completely follow what all was happening.

But before anyone could make a move to dodge, Ben ran before them all with his gusten fan whipping through the air. "Category 3!" he yelled as he swung the massive fan out and created a gust of wind so powerful that it crashed against both the fire attack and the ash cloud, ending in a negation of all three super powered attacks.

Videl sneered with anger before straightening her shirt. She crouched down a bit, her eyes focused solely on the pirates on the opposite side of the courtyard. And then, an explosion of ash blew from behind her and lifted her into the air like a jet-pack as she soared across the expansion. "Marinessss!" she yelled out, grasping another wave of ash in her hand. "ATTACK!"

Next update: 8/26