As the massive sledgehammer came down, Giru strafed left, now levitating just a foot off the ground. Al caught Giru by the shirt and attempted to slam him headfirst into the ground, but Giru used his tentacles to give himself leverage, stabbing them into the ground and pushing along with the force of the slam, twisting Al's arm behind his back. Giru held it there, struggling against Al's massive strength. "Stop this."

Al ignored the plea. Using his other arm, he elbowed Giru in the face. The pain and force caused Giru to let go, stumbling back and holding his face. This window was taken as Al slammed the sledgehammer into Giru's left side, launching him into a nearby oak tree. The bark was cracked and splintered as he made contact. 'Holy shit. A few more of those and we're fucked.' Akuma stated. "No kidding." Giru coughed out, getting to his feet. Al was directly overhead at this time, attempting to swing down again. Giru levitated to his height, wrapping Al's body in tentacles before spinning and launching him headfirst into the same tree. "I DON'T HAVE A REASON TO KILL YOU! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!"

Al gritted his teeth, shaking the splinters and debris off his body before clenching the sledgehammer tighter. "YA AIN'T GONNA KILL ME ANYWAY, YA LITTLE FREAK!" was his reply as he jumped, swinging the hammer diagonal upwards. Giru wanted to continue pleading with him to stop, but he understood that it wasn't going to happen. One of Al's own had died by Mist's hand. Any further and it would seem like Giru was afraid to fight. "Very well."

Giru teleported behind Al and 2 of his tentacles shot forward, the conical red spikes ready to impale. Both of them were met with the business end of a sledgehammer. Al had used the force of the upwards swing to spin around and come back down with the hammer. He was skilled with that thing. The impact was mind numbingly painful, as the tentacles were a mass of muscle with no bone to absorb the shock. Giru clenched his fists and bit down on his lip in an attempt to hold back the pain while wrapping Al in the tentacles he had just slammed. It hurt to move them, but at this point they were already damaged, so they were expendable.

Al was no moron, however. He grabbed both the damaged muscular limbs, using them to yank Giru up towards him. Giru's breath caught in his throat as he was turned around and pulled into the air. That caught air was instantly released when the top of the sledgehammer hit Giru's spine. Both he and Al fell to the ground, however Al landed on his hands and knees, while Giru landed face down. The crew stared in awe, looking over to Al and preparing for combat. Al slowly got to his feet, breathing heavily and using his hammer for support. He spit on the ground next to Giru, then gave out a hearty chuckle. "Ain't so chatty now, are ye, ya wee prick."

Al's attention shifted to Mist. "Now. It's your turn, lad."

He hefted the hammer over his shoulder. Rotating his shoulders. Mist drew his pistols, aiming at Al. He could shoot him before he got close, right? He didn't show any exceptional speed just now. He could pull the trigger and end this.

"MIST, NO!"

Mist lowered his guns.

Al turned around, scowling. "Yer still breathin'? Lemme fix that!"

The hammer came down again, but stopped just short of Giru's head. Giru was now kneeling on one foot, holding the hammer up with both hands. "That. REALLY. Fucking hurt. But not as much as this will."

4 tentacles wrapped Al's arms and legs, forcing him to drop the hammer.

"Time to go for a ride!" Akuma piped.

Giru teleported directly upwards to the maximum range, then did it again, then again. He repeated this until his crew looked like dots on the ground, then looked Al in his eyes. "You brought this on yourself."

Giru spun clockwise, but his body was sideways. After reaching a strong centrifugal force, he threw Al down to the ground.

The burly man instinctively spread his arms and legs out to slow his fall, and angled himself to land in the trees. He was smarter than Giru thought.

It was at this point that Akuma's voice returned to Giru's head, only this time echoed many times over and distorted. 'What are you doing? Why aren't you going? He's going to survive. You can't let him survive. Kill him. Kill him. He's within range. Teleport to him and knock him away from the trees.'

It was frightening, to say the least. "Akuma, it's over. He'll be unconscious, even if he survives."

'Not good enough.'

"Wh... what?"

The words 'Not good enough' echoed in tortuous repitition through Giru's head. It was painful. It was also obvious that Akuma was living up to the name of his fruit.

'Unconscious is not good enough.

'K I L L. H I M.'