"Oh? +"
Kimagure Joka darted his eyes rapidly around himself as after images of Admiral Strife appeared and disappeared in many places.
He took a fighting stance, yet not even the observant eye of Kimagure Joka could keep up with such speed.
'Holy shit!'
Swiss watched the scene with awe.
He had been slowly getting used to the physics of the One Piece world, but the monstrous quickness on display before him was on a different level.
Admiral Strife's speed increased, to the point where you could no longer see after images.
He vanished.
"!*"
Was it instinct or was it just a hunch? Suddenly, Kimagure Joka felt his skin crawl after sensing a presence behind him.
Kimagure Joka swiftly turned around with a roundhouse kick.
All he kicked was air..
"Impressive!"
Admiral Strife was behind Kimagure Joka, his hand lightly grasping the back of his neck.
*BZZZZT!*
Then a surge of electricity spewed through the hand of Admiral Strife, shocking the body of Kimagure Joka.
Kimagure Joka's eyes turned white as he took the grunt of a debilitating shock, his body jolting.
"Joka!" Swiss watched as Admiral Strife let go and Kimagure Joka's limp body fell to the ground, a sizzling smoke coming out of his mouth.
*Plop.*
Admiral Strife turned to the remainder of Swiss company, "He was quick on the uptake. Talk about potential.."
Admiral Strife corrected the cuffs of his shirt as he strode towards them, "Who's next?"
Beads of sweat ran down the faces of Swiss company.
Raito gripped his tanto blade firmly.
Grit cracked his neck.
Swiss took a deep breath through his nose before declaring "Raito, NOW!"
"Yosh!"
That's when Raito threw a smoke bomb at their feet.
*POOF!*
Admiral Strife raised a brow, "So that's what you're doing?"
As if he could see into the future, Admiral Strife held out his arms to either side.
For two piercing bladed were coming to his left and right.
Or so they tried.
Instead of those blades piercing his sides, their edges had been caught in between the fingers of Admiral Strife.
"N-..Nani?!"
Swiss and Raito had been stopped in their tracks, unable to pull their blades away from the firm grip of between Admiral Strife's fingers.
Admiral Strife smiled candidly, "And the third…"
From above, Grit came hurling down with his Demon Slayer, intending to slice through Admiral Strife's skull and cut him in two.
"Catch this!" Grit declared.
It wasn't that easy, however.
Admiral Strife jumped into a backflip, catching Grit's Demon Slayer between his feet.
Admiral Strife was now mid-air.
With a simple twist of his wrists, he threw Raito and Swiss away, as they could not hold onto their blades against such a tugging force.
At the same time, the force of Admiral Strife's backflip sent Grit into the air, as he refused to let go of the Demon Slayer even after Admiral Strife sent it flying.
Admiral Strife released the blades of Raito and Swiss from between his fingers.
["Kumo-Kumo-No-.."]
*CRACK!*
Admiral Strife opened his palm, and in it formed a spear made of violent thunder clouds.
["Master Bolt!"]
With the accuracy of a world-class javelin thrower, Admiral Strife launched the spear at the falling Grit.
Grit's brown eyes reflected the hue of deep electricity as the spear got closer and closer, hitting him right through the stomach.
*BZZZZZT!*
Grit's body almost seemed like it froze in mid-air as the spear released a powerful electric shock.
When the jolting stopped, the spear disappeared, leaving a hole through Grit's suit.
"Grit!" Swiss screamed as Grit's eyes went white and he fell unconscious.
Swiss was fearful because it looked like the spear had literally pierced through Grit's body.
But when it disappeared, it revealed Grit's body to be devoid of any holes. Only his clothes were damaged.
*Thud!*
Raito and Swiss stood and patted the dust off their knees.
"This bastard.." Swiss cursed under his breath.
Swiss knew there was no way he could beat an admiral currently, but the savage way Admiral Strife was defeating his companions was incredibly unnerving. "Fuck it. No pain, no game!"
"Uh, I think the saying is 'No pain, no gain'," Raito corrected.
"Bahahahahahahaha!" Saint Lauren laughed so hard that she sprayed spit over the inside of her space suit's helmet. "They stand no chance!"
"Why of course, my love! Our bodyguard had to be this strong at the bare minimum!" Saint Lazlo proudly claimed.
As a collector of things and people who has lived in luxury all his life, Saint Lazlo could not help but think, in some sick twisted way, that Admiral Strife was also his property.
"…" James Shelby rolled his serious business-green eyes.
Admiral Strife glanced down at the blades by his feet and then smugly took a casual fighting stance, "Looks like you'll have to come at me with your fists." He said, beckoning Raito and Swiss with his hand.
Swiss scoffed, "Orly nao? I thought we'd whack you with our cocks instea-.."
["Soru!"]
Before Swiss could finish his sentence, Admiral Strife vanished.
Appearing in front of Swiss and planting a palm strike deep into his solar plexus.
"!"
Swiss got sent flying through the arena into the wall.
*BOOM!*
The impact of his body cracked the wall, an indent remaining in the shame of his body.
Swiss had been sent into the wall so forcibly that he remained lodged into it as if he was a starfish hanging on the wall of a marine museum.
"SWISS!" Raito wailed, his voice crackilng with concern.
"B-… d-… w-.." Swiss was seeing stars. The attack on his solar plexus rendered him breathless.
'Shit, was that attack a usage of Ryuo, or is this guy that physically strong?!'
In all his days since washing on the shore of Ninety Mile Beach, the most damage he ever sustained was from Stacy Mayah.
But now he was thankful for all those uncalled for ass-whoppings. Were it not for those, Swiss would have passed out.
'Heh… I survived an attack from an Admiral.'
Or so Swiss thought.
Little did he know that Admiral Strife read his power level and adjusted the damage of his attack accordingly.
"What was that?" Admiral Strife placed his hand by his ear as he mockingly tried to listen to Swiss' blabbering, "Not so talkative now, are you?"
"!"
Admiral Strife caught a foot that had come out of nowhere.
A flying kick had come toward Admiral Strife's face.
"Shit!"
Raito twisted his body as he kicked himself away from Admiral Strife.
"Look at what we have here. This one is very skilled!"
Admiral Strife and Raito engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Each strike, be it a kick or a punch, that Raito delivered, was brimming with emotion.
'Calm down! You're a shinobi!'
What was it that made this generational talent of a shinobi lose his cool?
How many comrades had he seen fall on the field? All of those times, the genius of the waves kept his composure.
Perhaps his brief time outside of Ninja Kuni had softened his heart.
Perhaps it was because he was facing the insurmountable strength that is Admiral Strife.
Or perhaps-
"You can relax." Admiral Strife said as he blocked a kick with his forearm, "I'm not going to kill your friends."
Their combative flurry continued.
Admiral Strife and Raito were locked in such an intense bout of martial arts that James Shelby and his celestial dragon guests could not help but be amazed.
"Your skills are impeccable. Not a single wasted movement. Unfortunately for you.."
Raito had cut off Admiral Strife by delivering a punch to his face.
But instead of Admiral Strife being the one to take damage…
"OW!"
Raito leaped back, nursing his throbbing fist.
Admiral Strife grinned, the cheek Raito had punched was coated in a black hardening, "Unfortunately for you, such skills alone aren't enough to beat me."
Upon saying those words, Admiral Strife vanished once again.
["Soru!"]
He appeared in front of Raito, placing both of his fists at Raito's stomach.
["Rokougan!"]
It was then that a rippling shock wave burst from Admiral Strife's fists and through Raito's body.
The wave sent a gust of wind as Raito's eyes whitened and he coughed up blood.
*Thud!*
Admiral Strife's attack had delivered devastating internal damage to Raito.
Raito fell to the ground, instantly defeated.
All who remained standing was Admiral Strife.
"That's it, I suppose." Admiral Strife declared as he cleaned his ear with his pinkie finger.
"Not so fast!"
"Hmm?"
The voice came from the wall.
The man that was still lodged in the wall, to be exact.
"Fuckin…" Swiss swore as he nudged himself out of the wall, "Damn bastard.. I'm not done with you yet!"
Swiss got himself out of the wall. He struggled to stay standing on his feet, still recovering from the damage sustained from Admiral Strife's palm strike.
"Evidently not.." Admiral Strife answered, flicking ear wax off his finger, "But are you sure you should continue..?"
"SHUT UP!" Swiss barked, before turning his gaze up to the imperial box, "Oi, Shelby!"
"..?" James Shelby's ears perked up at the sound of his name. He gazed down at the wobbling Swiss.
"Is that whiskey I smell up there? Do a brother a solid and throw a bottle down, will ya?" Swiss called.
One of James Shelby's henchmen could not hide his agitation, "Is this guy an idiot? That there is DaVinci whiskey, some of the rarest and most expensive booze in the world! As if Mr. Shelby would give a bottle to somebody who just asked-."
But before the henchmen knew it, James Shelby had thrown a fresh bottle of the famed DiVinci whiskey down to Swiss.
"Eh?!" the baffled henchman blurted.
"Trololol, much obliged," Swiss said, uncorking the bottle and downing the whiskey in seconds.
*Glug* *Glug* *Glug* *Glug*
Admiral Strife amusedly watched Swiss, "Drinking at a time like this?"
"Bah!" Swiss exhaled in satisfaction after finishing the whiskey, "*hic*"..
Swiss could feel the high-quality alcohol burn in his stomach.
As he focused on that burn, he could feel it blazing.
That blaze then spread throughout, enveloping Swiss in a warm feeling; a safe feeling.
The pains and aches Swiss had sustained in this battle were suddenly starting to subside, and a newfound freshness came over him.
"R-.. *hic*… Rrrrround two!" Swiss sloppily took a drunken fighting stance that was a poor imitation of what Raito had been teaching him.
Admiral Strife watched Swiss with a raised brow, "Hahaha! How funny, is this some kind of power-up?"
"When the going gets tough, the tough get drinking."
"…" Admiral Strife could believe the stupid shit he had just heard.
"….. *hic*"
["Soru!"]
Their standoff was cut short by the initiative of Admiral Strife.
A punch came at the face of Swiss, only-
"Wow!" Swiss drunkenly cocked his head to the side in the nick of time, countering with a loose uppercut to Admiral Strife's chin.
"OWWWW!"
Swiss cried in pain. It felt like he had just punched a boulder, "Bruh!"
Meanwhile, Admiral Strife was surprisingly impressed.
'That dodge! Must have been a fluke?'
Admiral Strife sent a roundhouse kick with the intention of knocking Swiss out, yet-
"Trololololol!"
Swiss had leaned back, catching himself before falling completely. It was a failed attempt of doing a dodge like that scene from the matrix.
"Uhhh.." Swiss could not hoist himself back up to his feet. He laid there in a reclined back-bend like a failed practitioner of Yoga.
"Shit!"
This awkward situation did not go unpunished by Admiral Strife.
Admiral Strife stomped his foot down onto Swiss, cracking the floor and creating a nasty sound of ribs snapping.
"BLeuh!" Swiss coughed up blood, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.
Swiss rolled away, clasping his abdomen in pain, "It's not over yet!"
With each bit of damage Swiss sustained, the burn of the alcohol that vibrated in Swiss' body would diminish.
Were it not for the strange healing powers that liquor gives to Swiss, he was certain that he'd be defeated by now.
Swiss got to his feet, "Fucking asshole. Not going easy on us.."
In all his years as a top-tier player in One Piece Online, Swiss would never destroy noobs in the brutal and anticlimactic way that Admiral Strife was doing now.
The reason was simple; that kind of shit was lame.
With all the wealth and power in the world, it was much more fun to play around with his opponents and enjoy the PvP.
'Each to their own, I guess..' Swiss thought to himself as he wiped the blood from his chin.
Admiral Strife did not relent in the intensity.
He and Swiss got into a combative flurry that resembled the martial arts of Raito, only much, much drunker…
Admiral Strife closely observed the movements of Swiss.
Despite Swiss being much less skilled than Raito, for some reason, his drunkenness made Swiss much more illusive.
Or so it seemed. In reality, Admiral Strife was intrigued by Swiss' combat style.
"Interesting! In your current state, I can't read the intention of your movements." Admiral Strife declared as he blocked an attack.
"Trololol, I guess your observation haki is trash," Swiss told him.
"If I can't read your intentions. Then I'll just read the future.."
It was then that Admiral Strife closed his eyes.
"You're going to attack with a kick with the right leg." He said, effortlessly dodging it.
"Next it will be a punch."
Admiral Strife kept calling out what Swiss would do and dodged it every time.
"Now you're going to say 'Bruh!'.."
"BRU-.." Swiss had stopped himself before saying it, "What the fuck!"
That was not the least of Swiss' troubles.
His limbs were starting to hurt.
His feet and fists were throbbing.
Each attack Swiss would attempt, even if it landed, felt like they were hitting a block of steel.
It was getting to the point where Admiral Strife's body was so hard and showing so few signs of damage that Swiss considered giving up.
'Damn it! Future sight is overpowered! And holy shit, without armament haki of my own, I ain't doing shit to him!'
Swiss defiantly shook his head, "DAT FROOT IS MINE!"
"Just try it!"
["Kumo-Kumo-No.."]
The dark clouds in the sky began to spin in a vortex as Swiss dashed adamantly at Admiral Strife.
Admiral Strife stood with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. A smug smile on his face.
Just as Swiss was about to punch him, Admiral Strife raised a finger.
["Kirin!"]
*BZZZZZZZZZZT!*
From the center of the vortex above came down a rumbling bolt of lightning.
The body of Swiss lit up as he endured the cataclysmic might of Admiral Strife's attack.
When it finally stopped, the blackened body of Swiss remained standing, still holding his fist up in his punching pose.
"Shit, I might have overdone it. Is he dead?" Admiral Strife said to himself.
He got his answer. With an ashy cough, Swiss fell to the ground.
*Thud!*
"…"
Admiral Strife looked around. Not a single enemy remained.
"Nice try, I guess." Admiral Strife said, turning his attention towards the ladder under the Devil Fruit.
"Hold it…" A raspy voice called.
"Hmmm?" Admiral Strife stopped in his tracks.
Behind him, Swiss had somehow remained conscious and was struggling to get to his feet.
"It's not over yet.." Swiss declared, reaching into his pocket.
In his hand was a small plastic bag with white powder inside it.
"Sped?" James Shelby curiously said.
Swiss' hands shook as he tried to open the bag, but before he could, a hand placed itself on his, stopping his progress.
"That's enough."
It was Admiral Strife.
"Nonsense. I can still-"
"And I can still easily defeat you. Why go to such lengths to face someone you obviously can't win against? And even resorting to snort this poison up your nose.." Admiral Strife snatched the bag from Swiss.
The bag combusted in flames as Admiral Strife turned his palm into a dense thunder cloud.
"Because why not?" Swiss retorted, "In a fight, I'll do anything to win! Besides, the opportunity to fight an Admiral in a scenario like this isn't something that comes around every day!"
"You wanted to fight me?" Admiral Strife asked.
"Damn straight! How could I not?"
"Hahahaha!" Admiral Strife's brain had been broken by the logic of Swiss, "In that case, why don't you join the marines? I'll train you personally. We can fight all the time."
"Nani?!"
Swiss was shocked as he watched Admiral Strife extend a welcoming hand.
"We need more idiots like you or else everything becomes too rigid. So, what do you say? Want to enlist?"
Swiss could not believe this.
'What the fuck? This guy just completely rekt us, and now he wants to recruit me?'
This was an incredible opportunity that Swiss did not take lightly.
'Holy shit. If I trained under this dude, I could learn everything I need to sail the seas!'
He thought of all those countless hours, thousands and thousands, that he spent sailing One Piece Online in search of power.
Learning new moves and fighting techniques was a thing that required much exploration and playing time.
But now, Swiss had been offered a shortcut. A clear path to the top had been presented.
"The fact you could not tell the difference in our strength is a clear sign of how far you have to go." Admiral Strife automatically started going into lecture mode.
An innate selfishness that lies deep in the psyche of the retired gamer pirate screamed at Swiss, 'ACCEPT HIS OFFER!'
Swiss extended his hand, reaching for Admiral Strifes.
Just as it seemed Swiss was going to grab it, Swiss instead gave Admiral Strife the middle finger.
"BaAaaaAaaaaka! As if I'd join you marine scrubs!"
Admiral Strife scoffed at the refusal of Swiss, "Oh?"
"Yep! You lot are a bunch of bum boys for the celestial dragons. Whom, I might add, are bigger cunts than a lot of the criminals you fight! So you can take your government job and stick it up your ass!"
"You're not wrong.." Admiral Strife muttered to himself, glancing at Saint Lazlo and Saint Lauren through the corner of his eye.
"Such insolence!" Saint Lauren cried.
"Kill him, Strife!" Saint Lazlo ordered.
"Sigh.." Admiral Strife let out an exhausted breath, "If you wish."
["Kumo-Kumo-No.."]
Admiral Strife's fist rippled black with death.
["Thunder Punch!"]
Sparks emanated from Admiral Strife's fist as it aimed toward Swiss.
"!"
Swiss tried to raise his guard, but he knew he did not have enough time. He mentally prepared himself for impact.
An impact that never came.
For Admiral Strife's fist had been redirected by a kick.
A kick from a man small in stature.
A thunder cloud shot out from Admiral Strife's fist and flew into the stands, creating a sizable explosion that destroyed an entire section.
'Eh..?' Swiss opened his eyes, "JINZO!"
"Wow, what a terrifying gaze.." Admiral Strife stated as he gazed down at the crazed Jinzo.
Jinzo gritted his teeth. His slashed eye now completely black with dark blood.
"What's this?" Admiral Strife pondered aloud.
Out from Jinzo's right eye came fine red fibers that twisted and bent. It was like Jinzo's flesh was repairing itself.
"How strange." Admiral Strife casually said as he stroked his chin.
"Nani?" Swiss was also confused. He watched the fibers move in Jinzo's eye with great scrutiny.
'Was Jinzo a devil fruit user this entire time?'
Swiss went into deep thought at what Devil Fruit Jinzo could possibly have.
His best theory was that Jinzo had eaten the blood-blood fruit; a popular fruit once upon a time in the OPO community.
"Oi, Jinzo. Are you okay?" Swiss asked.
"Haha, oh Swissan." Jinzo replied, clasping his eye and losing consciousness, "That's my line, you know?"
Jinzo had a warm smile as he fell to the ground, satisfied with his efforts that saved his companion's life.
'You owe me one…'
*Thud!*
"It's just one surprise after another.." Admiral Strife nonchalantly asserted.
"Kukuku, you got that right. ~"
"Hmm?" Admiral Strife searched for the owner of the voice.
Saint Lazlo stood from his chair and irately screamed, "IDIOT!", pointing to the sky.
There, standing atop the ladder with the large Pear-shaped Devil Fruit in his hands, was Kimagure Joka.
"What?!" Admiral Strife instantly understood the situation and readied himself to speed blitz Kimagure Joka.
But it was already too late.
Kimagure Joka brought the Devil Fruit to his thin lips and opened them wide.
"*Munch.* 3"
[ssyffix: yo!]
[ssyffix: I wish I had a friend like Jinzo! *cue Franky crying*]
[ssyffix: I wonder if Swiss feels bad for dragging the lads into such a dumb fight xD]
[ssyffix: meh, probably not!]