"The Sky Queen Closes In! Battle in the Courtyard!"
"Heavy Storm!" Videl announced before thrusting her arm forward, a wave of petrifying ash blasting forth.
Quick as a whip, all of the pirates leapt from the rooftops as the Lt. Commander hosed them down. Ralli looked back up at the woman as she turned her angered eyes down to the group and he braced himself to run once again when the woman lifted her hands to blast at them once more, but as the wave of ash launched for them, an equally large wave of gold dust rushed up to negate the attack.
"I will handle Videl!" Popper demanded, using his manipulation of gold dust to send a column of it shooting up at the girl, who narrowly dodged it. "We have some catching up to do," the pirate went on, smiling wickedly as he watched her drop into the courtyard and begin charging them. "Be careful not to die, Ralli," he offered before rushing off to meet Videl with another clash of gold dust vs ash cloud.
And while those two did battle, Ralli looked around the courtyard in awe as Marine soldier after Marine soldier filed into the area, leaving Kissaru's, Feruk's and Popper's pirates to run out and engage the soldiers. Speaking of the other two pirate captains, Ralli looked over to see Ben doing battle with the both of them, and handling himself quite easily against them as he suddenly fanned a column of air at Feruk that launched him across the courtyard. Red eye even looked up at Everett, who was shooting off those giant arrows of his like no tomorrow. And the trajectory with which he fired him, allowed the arrows to swooped across the courtyard and take down numerous soldiers at once; his aim so perfect that he didn't so much as graze any of his fellow pirates.
"You know, a typical thing that people do in a cluster fuck like this is fight or run." Ralli's eyes widened as he caught the lazy voice and he turned in alarm to face the Commander named Juss, who yawned a bit as he watched red eye. "I've never just watched anyone stand there," he said and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking utterly bored despite all of the action going on around him.
"Hey, y-you breathed fire a minute ago," Ralli mused as he instinctively crouched down. Juss might've put up a lazy front, but there's no way he reached Commander rank by being a lazy marine.
Juss shrugged like it was nothing unusual. "Yeah, I did." He then yawned once more and scratched his eye before saying, "Since I'm a Marine and you're a wanted pirate, I kind of have to arrest you, and I'm guessing you're not going to come along willingly, are you?"
Ralli couldn't help the challenging smile that cross his face as he allowed his teeth and hands to grow sharp, small patches of black fur crawling up his arms and neck. "What do you think?" he offered.
Juss merely sighed and then charged Ralli with speed that red eye would've never guessed the man had. Before Ralli had time to prepare himself, the commander was already in his face. "Have it your way," he grouched and Ralli barely dodged in time before Juss's punch slammed clean through the pavement.
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"Popper! You won't leave this island if I have any say about it!" Videl roared out, as she pressed out a huge column of ash at the regal pirate.
Popper splayed a large wall of gold dust to block the attack and send out three small spouts of gold dust that Videl easily dodged around. "Too bad that you won't have any say," he offered in return.
With a snarl, Videl crouched down once more before a plume of ash roared out from behind her body. "Ashen Freeway!" she yelled as she used the blast of ash to rocket herself at Popper with twice her normal speed. The pirate placed up a small barrier of gold dust to block, but Videl snap kicked the barricade away and launched into a round of acrobatic kicks. "We grew up together! We played practically every day, Popper! How could you go and become this kind of monster!" she yelled out and struck out with and especially powerful kick, that Popper narrowly dodged under, though his fancy hat caught the blow.
A grunt rolled from the pirate as he performed a handspring to get away and reached back out for his hat that a column of gold dust just so happened to be bringing back to him. "We had different lives when we were at home, Videl," the man replied, still unable to wipe away his mischievous smirk. "You happened to have loving parents and I didn't."
"But the whole city!" Videl screamed as a tidal wave of ash rushed from her body and threated to engulf Popper. A slight look of concern graced his features as he quickly formed a spear-like wall for the blast of ash to rush around. "The aristocrats were horrible! And your parents were some of the worst, but to destroy Tsune City, to wreck our home! I can never forgive you!" The rush of ash increased alongside Videl's anger and Popper had to put up a good fight to not have his barrier broken.
"You foolish girl!" he yelled out and suddenly summoned more of his gold dust to coil and mix with the blasting ash cloud, allowing him to disperse and effectively negate her tidal wave attack. "You'd never understand! Even if I explained it to you!" he demanded and sent a rush of gold dust for Videl's leg, which she leapt into the sky to evade and used her ash like a jet-pack once more to fly through the air and throw down patches of ash to petrify Popper with. "This is the path that I've chosen. No matter what we had in the past!" He dodged around the aerial attack, leaping from spot to spot to keep from being touched by the ash. "We're enemies now!" He sent a column of gold dust up into the air, and Videl was knocked severely out control when she tried to dodge.
"Gold Dust Coffin!" Popper announced and sent up an enormous amount of gold dust to coil around Videl's body and cover every inch of her except her head. He smiled wickedly as he walked closer to her trapped body. "Although, I can't hate those idiots too much," he said. "If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be as powerful as I am."
But Popper's smile waned significantly when he noted the tears forming in Videl's eyes. "Are you even sorry for what you did, Eugene?" she asked, trying her best to stifle her tears.
Popper scowled upon hearing the name and held out a hand as he said, "My name is Popper." He slowly closed his hand into a fist, the gold dust morphing to its master's command. "And no, I'm not! Crush!" The gold dust suddenly morphed in on itself, looking ready to smash every bone in Videl's body, but just as it did so, ash started blasting out of Videl's confinement like a pressure washer and as Popper attempted to maintain control of his attack, it suddenly exploded with an expansion of ash that Videl had used to break free. Popper formed a small barrier against the rush of ash to keep from being petrified, and looked back to the center of the whirlwind substance to see Videl, who looked significantly more pissed off than before.
The girl formed a mini-twister of ash in her hand as she glared at Popper and said, "If I never accomplish anything else while in the Marines, I'll make sure to end you 'Gold Dust' Popper!"
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Ralli dodged around a storm of punches and kicks offered out by Juss, who despite being in a battle with one of the West Blue's most notorious pirates, still managed to look bored. The commander whipped up a kick for red eye's head, but the pirate managed to catch the appendage and begin spinning the lazy marine around a few times before throwing him into a crowd of pirates and soldiers.
"This guy's not messing around!" Ralli mused as he took a moment to catch his breath. "Heck, if I can't beat a Commander, there's no way I'll be able to take that Captain Iguru, lady."
Ralli enjoyed his moment of reprieve a second longer before he looked to the group of pirates that Juss was buried in, and awed when all of the men were suddenly sent flying with around of kicks from the Commander. As if he hadn't just dispatched of eight men within a few seconds, Juss walked back over to Ralli and said, "You know, I would've expected more from a Teko."
"I was just getting warmed up! We're far from done!" Ralli fired back and prepared himself for another round with the commander.
Juss didn't waste a second before charging back at Ralli and when in range, the marine launched out with a fast palm strike. When Ralli dodged it, he spun on the heel for a back spinning kick. It took a lot of effort for red eye to block the blow, but when he'd managed it, he whipped out with a Rabid Claw that Juss easily dodged and suddenly spun around once more, this time lashing out with three quick kicks that Ralli narrowly evaded, but not the fourth that launched red eye back several meters in the courtyard.
He didn't stop until he crashed into the back of a Kissaru pirate and when the man turned around with a cutlass to attack red eye, Ralli simply launched up with an uppercut to knock the man out. Red eye paused for just a moment to glare at the pirate and then looked back to Juss, who'd actually taken a seat on the ground out of boredom.
Ralli ground his teeth out on anger and frustration at the sight as he proclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?!"
Juss looked to the pirate as if just then realizing that he was there and said, "Oh, yeah sorry. I was starting to get sleepy again."
Ralli's face grew red with embarrassment and bolted back out for the commander. When he neared, he slashed his claws out for the attack, but Juss rolled out the way in time and spun around to kick Ralli's right foot out from under him. Thrown off balance, red eye was about to fall right into a palm strike from Juss until he suddenly leapt up out the way and cleaved his hands through the air, yelling out, "Reaper!" as a shockwave carved into the ground, Juss evading just moments before the attack struck.
Not letting up yet, Ralli fell back to the ground and charged Juss once more, using the best of his fighting skills to go toe-to-toe with the commander. Their bout of rapid strikes continued for a few moments before Ralli finally found an opening and connected with a thunderous kick to Juss's midsection followed by a whip kick that slapped the marine's head up into the air. Performing a quick back flip, Ralli held out his hands together in the shape of a spear and launched at Juss, yelling out, "Rabid Claw Spear!" mere moments before impact. And the power behind the attack sent the Commander flying into the wall of a nearby building.
"Get bored with that!" Ralli cheered triumphantly as he watched debris fall into the hole, but his moment of triumph didn't last too much longer before Juss suddenly walked out of the hole.
For the most part, the lazy marine looked relatively untouched, save for the rip in his shirt from where Ralli's claws had contacted. He paused to look down at his shirt and pouted at the sight. With a sigh, he said, "Dammit, now I actually have to fight you seriously."
Ralli quirked a brow as to wonder what he meant by that, but quickly got his answer as thick scales suddenly started to sprout around the commander and his hands turned to claws that were twice the size of Ralli's. His mouth turned to more of a snout and his eyes turned sharp, like those of a reptile's. "Don't look so shocked. I have the devil fruit powers of a fire-breathing dragon," Juss explained, though his bored tone was still in place. "I rarely have to call on the powers of my devil fruit, though. So, be warned. This fight won't continue for too much longer."
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The farther Vice walked, the louder the sounds of fighting had grown to him. He was way on the outskirts of the city when he'd caught the sound after perusing another art shop. Ordinarily, he probably wouldn't have thought much of it, but he'd learned rather quickly to expect the unexpected from the new pirate crew he'd joined. So, just to make sure none of them had been dragged into the mess, he decided to walk over and see what was happening.
The sound had grown so loud that he felt like he was walking directly through it until he'd walked around a corner and was brought face to face with what looked to be a brawl between Marines and pirates downstairs in a quad by the sea. He paused like a deer in headlights at the sight before he casual took a few steps back to take himself out of direct sight.
As he looked around the remainder of fighting pirates, he said, "Well, that answers the question of anyone I knew being a part of this mess." He watched as a long, black-haired woman dodged around two pirates with swords and whipped kicked the both of them into a stack of barrels with virtually no effort. "…thankfully," he added as he took in the sight.
By that point, the pirates' numbers had dwindled down to maybe seven or eight, while the Marines were probably double that amount. And so, the Marine captain walked back over to her seat atop the barrels to let her subordinates handle the rest.
"Certainly no point in me sticking around here," Vice mused and had been ready to walk back the other direction when he caught the sound of a yelling soldier coming from a nearby alley.
The manic Marine ran right by Vice, completely ignoring him as he almost fell down the stairs getting to the Marine lady. "Soldier, calm down! What is it!" the woman demanded of the man, who was grabbing at his chest to breathe properly.
The soldier took three seconds to calm himself before yelling out, "Ms. Sky Queen! The other two Blue Giants have launched an attack against Ms. Ash Cloud and Juss in the Central Courtyard! Their fighting has terrified all of the citizens and is already causing mass destruction."
The woman scoffed and turned away, as if not too concerned, making the soldier look even more worried. "Videl insisted that her and Juss handle it. And I have a sneaky suspicion that she's just as much responsible for the damage in the courtyard as anyone else," the woman said, looking like she could've cared less about the problem.
"But ma'am! Axe Killer Kissaru and Feruk the Traitor are also there!"
That managed to pique the woman's interest as she quickly turned back to the soldier. "Kissaru and Feruk?" she said, now beginning to stand.
"Yes! The Commander and Lt. Commander have their hands full with Ralli and Popper, and the rest of the pirates are starting to overpower the Marines! They'll win if we don't get your assistance!" the man pleaded.
The Captain sighed and looked back to the last two Alexander Pirates left standing, both of which just then deciding to give up and lay down their weapons. "Okay, okay," she groaned to the soldier before addressing her men in the quad. "See to it that Alexander and his hoard are taken into custody, and be quick about it before he comes to!" she demanded and began walking. "Stay here and assist them, soldier!" she demanded to the Marine that had given her information. "Red eye and Gold Dust won't take long to dispatch of."
And with that, she disappeared down an alleyway, her strides brisk as she trekked to the Central Courtyard.
"I need to get to the courtyard before she does!" Vice hissed to himself in anxiety as he suddenly bolted down the street and darted down an alleyway. He grunted as he barely dodged a man and his daughter. "I was hoping to keep this under wraps a bit longer, but…oh well!" The street suddenly became a blur to the man as he picked up a pace of speed inhuman and he bulleted out of sight with a gust of wind that knocked several people over.
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"Reaper!" Ralli yelled out as he cleaved his claws through the air once more, a row of slashing shockwaves rushing toward Juss in that moment.
The Commander snorted at the attack and deftly leapt away as the slashes smashed into the ground. "Nice attempt," he crooned and lifted his own massive claws. "Try this, though! Five-Pronged Shredder!" Juss carved out a devastating wave of sharp energy for Ralli, the captain's eyes going wide in astonishment before he leapt out of the wave.
The slash rippled past Ralli and took out five or so pirates and Marines in its wake, leaving Ralli to gape at its destructive power. "Mine wasn't that strong," he groaned, but his head suddenly whipped back to Juss, who was charging red eye.
With a grunt, Ralli leapt back to dodge Juss's first claw strike and ducked under the next. A purr of anger rose from red eye's throat before he lunged up with a double strike of his own that Juss easily sidestepped. The commander took two steps back before whipping up with a rapid snap kick, leaving Ralli to block the kick and dig his claws into the appendage to keep him from pulling it back. The red-eyed pirate captain emitted a huff of satisfaction as he yanked Juss closer towards him. The commander froze up in shock as he was pulled to red eye and nearly had his throat slashed, but instead his shirt took most of the damage as he dodged.
The man huffed in brief anger at his shirt as he moved away from Ralli for a second, the captain smiling triumphantly as he did so. "You improve quickly," Juss mused, taking a moment to scrutinize his shirt. "It's almost as if you learn as you fight. That must be a perk of having Teko blood flowing through your veins."
"Stop saying my family name!" Ralli snarled. "You don't deserve that right, jerk!" And not allowing Juss to say anything else, he rushed the Marine, his claws braced to strike.
Juss merely watched the charged pirate with boredom in his eyes and when Ralli came close enough, he lunged out with his own claws. The two met with a deafening clang of strength, moments later slashes ripping apart both of their shoulders from the other's power.
"Don't be so self-righteous, kid," Juss exclaimed before forcing Ralli back with an unexpected push. And while Ralli stumbled back in shock, the commander rushed in with a strong knee to the captain's stomach. "Your family wasn't so great." While Ralli curled in on himself, Juss slashed his claws across red eye's back, making the kid yelp in pain. The commander then smashed his palm into Ralli's chest and used the momentum to slam him down into the pavement. Juss lifted his other sharpened claw, poising it to strike as he said, "But that doesn't matter because this fight is over."
But as Juss said this, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Excuse me," the voice said and when he turned to see who was interrupting, he was greeted with a fist that sent him flying across the courtyard and crashing into a building. "Get lost, jerk!" Taya grumbled and reached down to yank Ralli up.
"Wow Taya! Thanks!" Ralli piped with a smile as he stood next to his chef. "Where'd you come from though?"
Taya gave red eye a deadpanned expression. "You know, it's kind of hard to overlook all of this commotion," she said and then looked back to the crowd. "I brought the lug-head too," she said and jerked a thumb over to Atori, who was taking on a whole crowd of opponents – Marines, Kissaru Pirates, and Feruk Pirates included.
The green eyed slugger placed up a tonfa to block a dozen swords from the group and used his strength to press them all back before then spinning around rapidly in place and swinging out his tonfa to smack them all away. "Serpent Twister!" he called out during his attack and then turned back to Ralli and Taya to say, "How did I know something like this was going to happen?!"
"Hey! This wasn't my fault!" Ralli demanded, but then his ears perked as he caught the sound of footsteps behind him and Taya. He and the blonde turned back to the sound and came face to face with six Marines, who were now aiming their guns directly at the duo.
"The Marines of Mokuba City won't allow one of the Blue Giants to escape so easily! Our Sky Queen has detained White Rage and we'll stop you, Red Eye!" one of the soldiers demanded as he and his fellow soldiers prepared to fire. "Give up or we'll shoot!"
Ralli tilted his head in slight confusion, but then turned to Taya and said, "What are Blue Giants?"
As if not even caring about the soldiers, he addressed the blonde, and she looked just as unconcerned as she replied, "I'll tell you about it later. We're about to get shot at."
The leading soldier turned red in embarrassment at being ignored and then yelled out, "Fire! Men!"
But as he did this and the soldiers readied to pull the trigger, a purple hilted knife flew around them and sliced perfectly across the backs of their thighs. The soldiers stilled as they felt the slices in their leg and as they all slowly turned to investigate their respective wounds, all of their knees buckled and they fell to the ground, their legs paralyzed. Meanwhile, the knife boomeranged back around to Ches's hand, who then slung out two more knives perfectly to incapacitate a group of pirates.
"We need to leave!" he demanded and turned to parry a soldier's sword and then leg sweep the man. "There's a Marine Captain on this island with a level of power that could easily rival Commander Jon Jon's! I watched her take down Alexander the Juggernaut with one kick!"
Taya's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Oh crap…" she muttered, having heard what Alexander was capable of and seeing his bounty for herself.
"So what? I'm not that juggernaut guy," Ralli mentioned stubbornly.
"Remember when you didn't think Jon Jon would be that tough?" Atori said as he walked closer to the group and smacked Ralli across the back of the head with his tonfa. "Stop being so stubborn!"
And while Ralli rubbed at the knot growing in the back on his skull, the crew suddenly looked around themselves to find that most of the Kissaru and Feruk Pirates had now turned their attention on the Battle Bars.
"Getting out of here won't exactly be a cake walk either," Taya grouched as she and her comrades prepared to fight.
Before they could do so, though, a soft, melodic sound drifted through the air, the sound just loud enough to be heard over the sounds of fighting within the courtyard. It was a peaceful tune reminiscent of a lullaby. And as the tune continued playing, Atori's eyes widened as he remembered exactly where he'd first heard it.
"Cover your ears!" he demanded of the crew and surprisingly, they did as requested.
On cue, all of the pirates that had been surrounding the Battle Bars now found themselves drifting to sleep, falling out onto the courtyard one by one as the tune's effect took a hold of them.
"It's that thief from Glory Island! He's here again!" Atori growled as he braced himself to fight. "He won't get the better of me this time! I'll take that bastard down with ease!"
As the tune continued pouring into the courtyard, the sound grew stronger as soldier after soldier – pirate after pirate – fell out onto the ground in deep sleep. By that point, the only people left standing were all of the Battle Bars, Popper, Ben, Everett, a few more of the Poppy Pirates, Videl, Kissaru, and some of the Marines. Even Feruk had fallen victim to the hypnotizing tune and was a snoozing heap on the ground, making Kissaru kick him out of her way as she snarled, "Where the hell is that music coming from?!"
"Can we uncover our ears yet, Atori?" Ralli asked, to which Atori angrily shook his head in the negative.
"Who is playing that music? Show yourself immediately!" Videl demanded.
And right at that moment, a figure slowly stepped out of an alleyway, entering the central courtyard with a slow gate as he continued playing the tune from his flute. When Ralli spotted the orange hair and casual attire of the man, he gaped with shock. Vice played out the tune for a few seconds longer before removing the flute from his lips, and when he did so, he immediately looked to his crew and calmly yelled, "The Sky Queen is coming and will be here any minute! We have to leave now!"
Atori found the words in his mouth wouldn't come out, but as Vice announced this, the rest of the crew dropped their hands and looked alarmed at the declaration. Even Popper had a vague look of concern on his face as he heard this, with Ben and Everett sharing a brief glance.
"No one leaves!" Videl suddenly announced, her voice loud and triumphant. All eyes traveled over to the Lt. Commander as ash slowly rose from her body like steam. "If I can do nothing else, I can hold the West Blue's worst in this courtyard until the Captain arrives to finish you all off!" And as she said this, she threw out her hands to the side and allowed colossal waves of ash to blow from her body and travel around the perimeter of the courtyard, where it slowly built up to a twister of ash that completely trapped everyone in the area. "Ash Cloud Typhoon!" she yelled out as the petrifying cloud spun around them and slowly she brought her hands together, the ash following her command as it slowly closed in on the group of standing pirates. "You pirates will not escape!"
Next Update: 8/29