Ryozo stood by the rocky coast by Howling Moon, his eyes closed, as he was holding the handle of his rock sword tightly. Then, he quickly opened his eyes, as a rock pillar shot out of the ground, headed straight towards him. In the blink of an eye, he sliced through the massive pillar with relative ease, though just as he looked back at the cut-through rock, the blade of the sword shattered. "Oh, son of a-" Ryozo groaned, as he looked at the bladeless handle of his sword, before throwing it casually to the ground. "Guess I have to make a new one."
"You've been doing that ever since Zugai and the others went to town, Ryozo." he could hear Nampu say, as he turned around to see the first mate leaning on the railing. "You ought to take a break. I heard Shin, Maria and Craigmirra are making some soup, and they need someone to see if it's any good."
Suddenly, a blur flashed by Nampu, as Ryozo quickly got onboard the ship, headed towards the kitchen. "I can help with that! Just leave it to me!" he called, as he entered the kitchen.
"Huh… well, that was a quick change in attitude." Nampu mused, before he looked back towards town. "Guy must really like soup." Then, he suddenly noticed someone approaching the ship in the distance. "Who the…" he muttered, as he squinted to see just who it was. "There's five guys…"
As it turned out, the ones approaching were KC, Krystal, Chris, Craigmirra and Sorgan Viggs, with Craigmirra sitting on top of Viggs' head, whilst Chris and Krystal were shaking their arms to see if the numbness had died out from having been paralyzed. "So why're you helping us out, again?" Chris asked Viggs, who only closed his eyes in response.
"While we are working for Major Wana, I and Omega aren't exactly what you'd call 'loyal' to the man." he replied bluntly. "As I said, we only worked under him to ensure the safety of the citizens, but it's not always been possible."
Krystal looked up at the larger man once she heard that. "But why is it so dangerous for Zugai to face that man?" she asked.
"Well…" Viggs began, just as Craigmirra leapt off his head, onto the Howling Moon, which they had finally fully approached. "Wana's a fond user of traps, and his clock tower is a breeding ground for those kinds of devices. Any unwise step could very well mean the end of your captain."
"End for Zugai? As if." Nampu suddenly spoke up, as Viggs finally noticed him. "If anyone tries to put that guy down, he'll just bounce right back up and put whoever did it down." Then, Nampu pointed at Viggs, as he looked curiously at Chris. "By the way, do you know who the fat guy is?"
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Piracy: The New Generation
Fall of a Dictator
The Horrifying Powers of the Hone Hone no Mi
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"Get back here!" Zugai called, as he kept on chasing after Wana through the streets, whilst people quickly got out of both the major's and Zugai's path out of fear. "Just what makes you think that you can go around and killing people like they're nothing but toys, huh?!" he yelled, which made Wana look over his shoulder, though he didn't stop running.
"L-like you have any reason to know that, you Neanderthal! Now get lost, will ya?" he yelled back, as he picked up the pace, when he suddenly made a sharp turn into an alley.
"I'm not gonna let you escape!" Zugai said, as he quickly turned into the alley as well, but he suddenly noticed that Wana had vanished. "What the…" Looking further ahead, he noticed that the alley went towards the clock tower. "That's it! He's got to have hidden himself there!" he said, before he rushed towards it.
As he thought, the doors to the clock tower were open, though it was only due to a shoddy attempt at closing it, so without sparing a second, Zugai ran inside of the clock tower, letting him see the various gears and devices that allowed the clockwork to function. "Hey, where the hell are you hiding?!" he yelled, though there came no reply at first. "Damn…"
Just then, he heard someone whistling, and from behind a corner, a man came walking. His hair was a flaming red color, and he had sideburns that matched this color. He also wore a brown cap, along with a matching janitor's outfit. He was also holding a broomstick over his shoulder, and several other cleaning tools were hanging on various parts of his body. A pencil was also tucked behind his right ear. "Ah, hello there. Can I help you?" the man asked, as he looked over at Zugai.
"Eh?" Zugai replied somewhat dumbfounded, before pointing at this man. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"Me?" the man replied with the same dumbfounded tone, before pointing at himself with his thumb. "I'm Yomuin Sojinin, but people usually call me Yomu. I'm the janitor around here."
"Right…" Zugai replied, before shaking his head. "Look, if it's not too much to ask, did you happen to see some short guy enter this tower?" he asked, as Yomu put his hand against his chin, leaning against the broom.
"Short guy…" he muttered, scratching his sideburns. "Wears a fur coat, has this kinda old-timey wig on his head?" he asked, as Zugai nodded, which led to Yomu snapping his fingers. "Ah, you're talkin' about Wana. Yeah, the guy passed through here. Seemed to be in quite of a huff…"
"I see…" Zugai replied, as he looked at the interior of the clock tower. "So, did you happen to see where he went?"
Yomu hummed, before lazily pointing his left thumb at a set of stair leading upwards. "Last I checked, the guy ran up there. Why'd you wanna know? Got an appointment with 'im, or something?"
Zugai nodded, as he began making his way up the stairs. "You could call it that. Thanks for the intel!" he called, as he hurried up the staircase.
Blinking, Yomu finally did a mere shrug, as he began sweeping the floor with the broom, starting to whistle the same tune from before. Suddenly, however, the doors blew open, straight off their hinges, something which didn't seem to startle him too much. "And you couldn't just open it like normal people… why?" he asked, as he looked at the silhouette in the doorway, who turned out to be Omega,
"Time is running out, Sojinin." the cyborg replied bluntly, before making his way towards the staircase. "I need to see Wana before it's too late." However, just as he was about to set foot on the stairs, a piece of paper flew at him, flung by Yomu.
"If you're gonna meet with the major, then at least give 'im that note." he said briefly, as he stuck the pencil in his mouth. "It says that I'm taking my vacation now; I got someplace to be." Then, he began walking towards the door, still whistling the tune.
Omega looked from Yomu to the note, before nodding. "Affirmative. Your message will be delivered." he said bluntly, as he stuffed the paper into a pocket on his jacket, before he began heading up the stairs, though he could easily spot Zugai several floors over him.
Zugai, having lightened his bones to achieve greater speed, was running blindly in the figurative sense up the staircase, gritting his teeth at thinking of how selfishly cruel this man could be. "That guy better come out from hiding, so I can teach him some manners!" he exclaimed angrily, as he began butting his fists together.
All of a sudden, however, an arrow just barely passed by Zugai's head, causing him to stop in his tracks, unaware that Omega was catching up to him. "Where the hell did that come from?" he muttered, just as he heard something fly past his head again; yet another arrow. "Is he hiding somewhere with a crossbow?" he asked, just as Omega got right behind him.
"Get down!" Omega suddenly called, as he pressed his arm against Zugai's body, slamming him to the ground, but before Zugai could even make a single attempt at stopping him, a hail of arrows began flying around the two of them, most of them embedding themselves into Omega's skin, yet he didn't seem to mind this at all. Then, almost as soon as it had started, it ended. "Are you unharmed in any sort of manner?" Omega asked, as he removed his hand from Zugai's body.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Zugai muttered, as he got up again, letting him see the cyborg up close once more. "But wait just a minute here; I thought you worked with that corrupt major guy! If that's the case, then why didn't you just let those arrows kill me?"
Omega didn't say anything, but instead, he began removing arrows from his skin. "Your life is in danger if you continue proceeding up this tower. Wana has installed several life-threatening traps throughout this tower, designed to strike at anyone who is not himself, me, Sorgan Viggs, or Yomuin Sojinin." Then, he looked upwards at the end of the staircase. "I followed you simply to ensure that you wouldn't fall prey to his traps, Zugai Hibiware, also known as the Demon's Orthopedic."
Upon hearing Omega flawlessly recite both his name and epithet, Zugai recoiled a little, before regaining his composure. "Well, thanks for the warning…" Then, he suddenly turned back to face the stairs leading upwards. "…but I'm not leaving until I teach that guy a lesson!"
With that said, he began running up the stairs again, leaving Omega to watch him run upwards, before he sighed. "If that is the case, then I'm afraid I will have to incapacitate you, Demon's Orthopedic." He said, as his right hand entered his body, before it emerged as a drill, which quickly began spinning. Then, he began running up the stairs after Zugai, who once more resorted to lightening his bones to get up the stairs quicker.
As the two continued to climb the stairs, they soon heard a familiar, obnoxious laughter coming from all around them. "You know, I find it amusing to see you exert yourself so drastically, just to take vengeance for something as petty as this." Wana's voice said over loudspeakers cleverly hidden from sight, which only caused Zugai to grit his teeth in anger. "How I treat my subjects is my business alone. An outsider such as you has no say in whether I decide to kill every last one in the village or not."
Growling, Zugai turned his head in every conceivable angle to see if he could spot where Wana was talking from. "What the hell do you think those people are?! Pieces in a game of chess that you sacrifice to get to the opposing player's king?!" he yelled angrily out in thin air as he kept on running. "No ruler of any town should treat those underneath him as dirt, and I'm going to make sure that you get that through your thick head! I swear it!"
A scoff was heard coming from the loudspeakers, just as Zugai reached the top of the stairs, seeing a large hallway before him. "Tough words for someone who's about to die." Wana said, just as a spherical object was shot from a corner of the tower to the stairs, on a section lower than where Zugai stood, but conveniently enough, just behind Omega. Just as it made contact with the woodwork, however, it exploded, causing a god chuck of the stairs to be demolished, and also sending Omega flying upwards towards where Zugai stood, landing just besides the pirate.
"Hey, are you alright?" Zugai asked upon seeing him land, but as he moved to inspect Omega, he quickly saw that a portion of Omega's face had been burnt off from the explosion, revealing an eerie-looking exo-skeleton underneath, along with a red-glowing eye functioning as an eyeball. "Holy- you're a cyborg?" he said in disbelief, having completely ignored that Omega's right hand still was a drill.
"Affirmative." Omega responded, as he got up on his feet again, before his right hand reverted back into a hand. "I'm a cybernetic organism collected by Marine explorers in frozen wastelands, formerly an operative of theirs, but now I'm working with ex-Marine Captain Sorgan Viggs." he said, before placing a hand over where the explosion had burnt his face. "Sadly, it seems that I cannot simply take you down the stairs unharmed anymore, due to Major Wana's little hijinks." he added, before looking at the unstable remains of the stairs, which looked ready to crumble if anyone as much as breathed on it. "The only exit now is an emergency exit found only in Wana's quarters, so to escort you out of here, I have to bring you to the room where I can't bring you."
Zugai blinked at the cyborg's logic, before shrugging. "The irony is astounding, I see." he muttered, as Omega merely nodded in response. Sighing, Zugai scouted ahead in the hallway to see if Wana's room would be easily accessible, but sadly, that wasn't the case, as dozens of doors were scattered across the hall. "Ergh… how am I supposed to find him other than trial and error? He could be hiding behind any door!"
"It's a beginner's trap." Omega chimed in, before he walked up to one random door. "In the literal sense." With that, he suddenly kicked the door in, only for a huge boxing glove to appear from inside the room, which punched the cyborg across the room, startling Zugai somewhat. "Wana does this to throw off any eventual pursuers, hoping that the door traps would be sufficient for killing them." he said with a growl, as he got back on his feet, brushing off dust from his jacket.
"Right…" Zugai replied, as he threw a glance at the boxing glove. "Well, if you worked under him, you should know which room he's hiding in, right?"
Omega nodded, before pointing towards the end of the hall. "There is a lone door at the end of this hallway. That is where Wana's chamber is. Now let's hurry; the quicker I get you out of here, the better." Then, he began moving forward, when a siren began blaring throughout the hall.
"Wha- what's going on?" Zugai asked, as he looked in all directions, when Omega suddenly hoisted him on his shoulder. "Hey, what're you doing?"
"There's no time to explain. We have to move." Omega replied, before he began dashing through the hall, just in time for Zugai to realize that all of the doors were opening at the same time, unleashing a hail of arrows, spears, blades, gunfire, actual fire, and various other harmful elements at them, though Zugai was shielded by the cyborg's body covering him.
As they got closer to the end of the hallway, however, they could see an opening in the ceiling, which for some reason contained a large guillotine, ready to cut through both of them if they stepped underneath it. "This might get bumpy." Omega said bluntly, as his left hand turned into a three-barreled gatling gun, which he aimed at the door before opening fire, shredding the door to pieces in a manner of seconds, giving them enough time to run into the room before the massive guillotine made contact with the ground.
As they got to calm down from having nothing shoot at them rapidly, both Zugai and Omega sighed, but whilst Zugai did so out of relief, Omega did it out of disbelief. "Well, things can only go up from here." Zugai said with a whistle, when he heard Wana's obnoxious laughter, though now, it was much clearer, as if he wasn't speaking through a loudspeaker.
"Thanks a bunch, Omega, for leading the twerp up here." Wana said, as Zugai looked ahead to see the major stand before a window, overlooking the town and the bridge leading to Seisabetsu Island. "I was beginning to wonder if you were at least going to try to uphold that oath you swore." he said quite confidently, which Omega seemed to find unsettling.
"Alright; my move first, I guess." Zugai said calmer, though the way he drew Honehakaisha indicated that he was quite ready for a fight. "Now let's do this!" Then, he began rushing at Wana, though despite the difference in size, Wana merely smirked.
Then, a pair of concrete walls suddenly shot towards Zugai with the intention of flattening him, and in desperation, he extended his hands to block them from crushing him, his hardened bones creating a sturdy blockade, though it quickly became apparent that even with his powers, keeping the walls from crushing him seemed impossible. "Hah! Failing to observe where you fight is quite irresponsible, wouldn't you say?" Wana said with a laugh, as he slowly approached Zugai.
"Damn… looks like I'm going to get crushed. Why does this happen so often to me?" Zugai mused, recalling his fight with Count Megtapos. "I've got to stop rushing blindly at my opponents one of these days…"
Wana continued to laugh, which seemed to really get on the pirate's nerves. "How amusing! To see you so feebly attempting to escape your demise, with less than futile results is just hilarious! Perhaps even more amusing than collecting taxes, might I add!"
Zugai raised an eyebrow at this statement. "You have a strange sense of humor, I have to say." Zugai said dryly, when he felt something in his arm beginning to crack; most likely his humerus. Damn… the walls are beginning to tear on my skeleton.
"You just don't understand my more sophisticated humoristic sense." Wana scoffed, before immediately laughing again. "After all, charging the citizens twice as much as visitors each month is just so hilarious in the long run!"
This statement, however, made Zugai narrow his eyes in an angered manner. "What did you just say?" he muttered, as the cracking in his arms began to intensify, though he didn't seem to be bothered by it.
"What, didn't you catch it the first time?" Wana said in mock-disbelief, before laughing obnoxiously once more. "I charge each and every citizen in this town a hundred thousand Beri each and every month, and if they can't pay the price, their lives are forfeit! True, it may not have been as lucrative as one might have expected… but the sheer look of terror on their faces when taxation time comes around is oh-so refreshing, even after three years!" With that, he began laughing once again, but now, he was cut off by Zugai kicking him in the shin, though it wasn't half as powerful as it could have been. "Hn?"
"First off, stop laughing. It's very irritating and straining to my ears." Zugai said in mild annoyance, though his face screamed bloody murder, which even Wana was slightly intimidated of. "Second, that haircut is just ridiculous. The fact that people actually find you scary is the only thing that's remotely funny around here. And third…" Now, the cracking in Zugai's arms only became more severe, but Zugai didn't seem to give it a single thought. "I am going to kill you in ways more terrible than you can possibly imagine, you dwarfish, sorry excuse for a ruler." he said, though now his tone had gone from mildly annoyed to demonically cruel, which sent a shiver down Wana's spine, before he calmed himself.
"Is that all you have to say?" Wana said mockingly, before turning away from Zugai. "Well, I'll just wait for you to turn into dust to my trap, then. Have a nice death, as they say!" he said, as he prepared to laugh again, but the sound of something being pushed away made him turn his head back again, only to be quite horrified.
As it turned out, Omega had walked up to the two walls, before effortlessly pushing them away from Zugai, whose arms suddenly fell limp, and the pirate sighed in relief. "O-Omega! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Wana exclaimed angrily, though Omega looking down at him suddenly made him flinch.
"I am sorry to say, Wana…" Omega began, before he closed his eyes. "…that this boy has perfectly summed up what I and Sorgan Viggs have kept to ourselves for three years in all under two minutes." Then, he opened his eyes again, both the regular and the exo-skeletal one glinting red. "So, consider our allegiance severed."
Reeling back in shock, Wana quickly drew his sawn-off shotgun with his left hand, but Zugai's bony hand suddenly grabbing that arm made Wana drop it in shock. "Say, do you know about the synovial joints of the human skeleton?" Zugai began, as Wana feebly tried to escape Zugai's grip. "A sub-type of those joints is called hinge joints. Do you know why they're called that?" he asked, as Wana still tried escaping from the grip.
"I- Let go of me, you brute!" he exclaimed, though Zugai didn't let go; in fact, he only strengthened the grip, when he suddenly grabbed the elbow of the arm he held onto.
"They're called hinge joints because they work in the same way as a door; the hinges are what enable the door to open and close without falling apart. Now, do you know what happens when the hinges of a door are forced the opposite way?" Zugai continued in a progressively creepier voice, which only caused Wana to start freaking out, which forced Zugai to strengthen the grip on Wana's arm. "Answer me."
"Tsch…" Wana uttered, before gritting his teeth in pain. "The door… the door is blown open." he answered, as Zugai nodded approvingly, though the grip was only strengthened.
"Good, good…" Zugai said, before he began bending the elbow the opposite way it was supposed to be bent. "Now, as hinge joints do not support any doors, what do you think happens when they're forced the opposite way, hm?" he continued, but this time, he didn't bother for a reply, as he was certain that Wana didn't know the answer. "Well, let's find out!" Then, in a swift movement, Zugai effectively bent the elbow in the completely opposite way, coupled with a grisly snap, and a pain-laded scream from Wana.
"MY GOD!" Wana screamed, as he looked at how his arm had been bent out of place, but surprisingly, no drops of blood or ripped-apart chunks of skin were visible on it; in fact, no visible injury was on the arm, and if it hadn't been for the fact that it was bent out of place, it would appear like a normal arm. "Wha- what did you do to me?!" he exclaimed, just as Zugai grabbed his other arm.
"I'm doing what every one of the citizens here should have done to you for everyone you've harmed here." Zugai said calmly, yet still very threatening, just as he viciously bent Wana's right elbow out of place, which prompted yet another yell of pain from the major.
However, Zugai was far from done, as he suddenly grabbed hold of Wana's knees, before quickly bending them in the same way as he had done with the elbows, invoking another cry of pain from Wana. "Please, stop it! I'm begging you!" Wana cried in misery, though his pleads fell on deaf ears.
"You're a little late for that now." Zugai said menacingly, just as he grabbed Wana's throat with his right hand, before raising his left hand into the air. Then, he suddenly slammed the skeletal hand into Wana's face, which actually created a small crater underneath his head. "I'm hardening the bones in my left hand whilst I'm weakening the structure of your cranium, intensifying the pain you feel whenever I strike you." he said in a calm and chilling tone, before he continued hammering Wana, who couldn't even form any words to beg for the pirate to stop.
However, after knocking him into the ground for the fifteenth time, Zugai felt someone grab his hand, and looking back, he saw that it was Omega who was holding him back. "He is not worth the effort." Omega began, as he shook his head. Upon hearing that, Zugai looked down at the battered major, before reluctantly letting go of him.
"Hmph… so, Omega, was it?" Zugai asked, as he looked up at the cyborg. "If this guy's been hounding on this town's economy for three years, where does he keep the stash?"
Omega blinked for a second, before looking to his right. "Over there." he said, as he motioned to a red safe standing against the wall. "In that safe lies all the money Wana as accumulated for the past three years. Are you going to return it to the town?"
Zugai nodded briefly, and after putting his glove back on his left hand, he began advancing towards the safe. However, without either Omega or Zugai noticing, Wana slowly got up as best he could, with the intent of finding something within his coat. "Who shaid that yu can shteel my money?!" he yelled as best he could with his face smashed to a pulp, before suddenly throwing something at Zugai, striking his arm. As it turned out, it was a throwing knife made out of seastone, which prompted a yell of pain from the pirate.
"You… just don't know when to call it quits, do you?" Zugai said somewhat weakly, as he pulled the dagger out of his wound, before he turned towards Wana with a look that could kill. Then, at a speed unfathomable to man, he approached the frightened major, planting his hand on the man's face. Then, everything occurred in a flash. Wana felt that every injury to his skeleton was suddenly removed, as if someone snapped his arms into place. Then, Zugai suddenly appeared behind him, though Wana seemed alright, even smirking quite confidently.
That… was nothing… Wana thought, as he stood completely still, the smirk not fading a single inch. I… live…
"Wrong." Zugai said in a correcting tone, before turning towards Wana. "You're already dead." he added, as it turned out that he was holding a skeleton in his left hand. However, Wana didn't turn back to Zugai in shock, because that skeleton was his own, forcing him to stand completely still. Then, as a trickle of blood ran from his mouth, blood began spraying out of his elbows and knees, just as his body began deflating like a balloon, turning into a boneless blob of flesh that was hidden underneath the fur coat.
Omega, whilst still not displaying any emotion, looked at the remains of Wana with a slight hint of disgust, before looking over at Zugai. "Was that necessary?" he asked bluntly, before turning away from the remains, heading towards the safe.
"No." Zugai responded just as bluntly, before passing by the remains. "But he had it coming. At least the town will be free from his rule." Then, he walked up to the throwing knife lying on the floor, before picking it up with his gloved hand. "Chris might like this." he mused, as he spun it in his gloved hand for a while. "How do you open the safe?"
Omega shrugged upon hearing this, before he picked the safe up with one hand. "I've forgotten the code to the safe, but I know that it'll open from a heavy impact." Then, he suddenly threw the safe out of the window, letting it fall to the ground with a mighty thud, opening it and spilling its contents.
"Not too bad." Zugai said with a nod, before cracking his neck. "Well, now that we're done here, I'll have to get back to my ship. See ya!" Then, he suddenly ran towards the smashed window, leaping out of it as well, something that did surprise Omega.
"He is energetic for his age." the cyborg mused, as he started looking for the emergency exit, when he heard something that began beeping. As he looked for the source, he heard that the sound was coming from his own jacket. "What the…?" In curiosity, he dug into his pocket to see what it was, only to find the note Yomu had left him. "Huh… probably nothing." he sighed, before throwing the note behind him. However, just as it hit the ground, it exploded behind him, sending him propelling out the window as well, right behind Zugai.
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"And boom goes the dynamite." someone said, as he stood by the bridge leading to Seido Island, where a small raft was waiting for him. "Well, now I know that Major Wana is deceased." he added, as he began chewing on a pencil, just as he leapt on the raft. "Now, I got a council to attend, and I got little time to get there… so I'll show up fashionably late." he said, as it turned out to be Yomuin Sojinin.
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A/N: And the end of Ketsuwoo Island has arrived! Next chapter, we'll finally be leaving for the arc that I've been dying to write, so until next time, remember to read and review, and we'll be seeing one another again!
YolkaEd
