A Day at the Park
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do own Draconian.
Draconian walked into his cabin, the wanted papers under his arm, and immediately headed to his small shelf of books. Without even looking at the shelf Draconian's free hand deftly snatched a book off the top and tossed it onto his desk.
The light shining into the porthole was bright enough to see by, so Draconian didn't have to light any of his candles for vision as he plopped down in his chair and set down the pile of wanted pictures. He started to flip through the book, which was about half filled with maps of the East Blue.
"Let's see... what's next?" He landed on a page that showed a map of the whole East Blue, and immediately started to go through the pile of wanted papers.
Almost as soon as he started looking, Draconian plucked out two different pictures. One of them was Buggy the Clown while the other was Don Krieg. Getting up, Draconian headed towards one of those boards that you pin stuff up on and stuck the pictures of Buggy and Krieg right next to each other. He traced his hand over each paper, burning an X over each picture.
Draconian picked up the pile of papers and ruffled through them, looking for a good name, something that had a high bounty but not higher than he could handle at the moment. Soon he had discarded most of them, about three quarters seemed a little over his range, and there were some that didn't even seem worth his time, leaving him with just a few left.
He traveled back to his chair behind his desk, but on the way he accidentally ht his shin on the desk's corner and dropped a paper. With a sigh he bent down and picked it back up, staring at it with a curious look on his face as he once more plopped down in his chair.
The paper said Arlong, and the bounty was a good twenty million beli. "Hmm, Arlong eh? Nice price on this one's head, looks like a nice challenge."
Draconian once more flipped through his maps, almost immediately coming upon one with the words "Arlong Park" written across the stretch of land.
"I thought I'd seen his name somewhere before." Draconian once more got up and headed towards his board, and with chuckle tacked up the sheet of paper next to that of Buggy and Krieg. He circled his finger around Arlong's picture, drawing a charred line wherever his finger went.
"Well, it seems that I'm headed towards Arlong Park." And with that, he went back to his maps and started to pour over a course of travel to get to his next opponent.
Draconian's back was leaning against the mast, his arms crossed, as he stared out at the approaching land. It had been about five days since he'd poured over his maps, and now his ship was finally approaching Arlong Park. So far all he could see was a strip of land; he was too far away to make out any actual thing on the shore.
During the five day wait, Draconian had pored over all the things he had remembered hearing about Arlong, or to be more specific, what he heard about mermen. From what he heard they looked pretty much like humans, except for the different colors and some fish-like qualities. They were also supposed to have more power than a regular person.
This was definitely going to be an interesting meeting.
Draconian blinked his eyes and looked at the distant water. He could have sworn that he'd seen something. An instant later he spotted sprays of water go into the air. It was followed by another spray, this one slightly closer.
Draconian walked towards the front of his ship to look at the sea. The sprays of water had stopped, now it was just a continually spray as something seemed to cut through the water. Draconian couldn't tell what it was, but he could tell that it was big.
He backed up a little, making sure that he wasn't too close to the water when the thing got near.
After a while the spray finally got right up in front of his ship, instantly stopping. For a few seconds nothing happened, until a huge explosion of water blasted up into the air, and standing in front of Draconian's ship was something that was definitely odd.
From what he could see, the whole top half of it was a giant cow without any legs, it had blue spots all over where there was supposed to be black. He didn't need to look at the bottom half, as he already knew it was just like a fish's. He knew of these creatures, or at least these kinds, as the top half came in many varieties.
It lowered its head to stare at Draconian, its mouth opened to reveal a row of very sharp, hungry teeth. Its eyes had turned a red color as its hunger drove it to Draconian's scent.
With almost blurring speed, Draconian jumped up onto the dragon head so that his face was now mere inches away from the creature. His eyes were narrowed and full of challenge, fire flickering at the edges, as he stared into the cow's face.
At first the cow didn't respond, but as it took in Draconian's glare it slowly started to become unsure that it was a good idea to try and eat something like this. After about a minute of the stare down, the cow was in a very difficult decision, and it was hard to tell whether it would attack or not.
Draconian snapped his right arm out in front of him, creating a small explosion of fire right in front of the cow's face, scaring its formerly unsure body so that it plunged back into the deep sea which it had come from. A chuckle escaped from Draconian's lips as the explosion of water sprayed his face.
The ship continued on towards Arlong Park, the giant cow long gone to where it had originally come from, and Draconian had gone back to leaning against the mast. Hid left hand rested upon his katana while his right was against the mast. After a few minutes of moving through the waves, Draconian started to wonder what mermen looked like exactly. He doubted that they all looked the same, but they had to have some things in common, like regular humans.
He wouldn't have to wait long for an answer, though, as he heard a thud over to the right. Turning his head but otherwise leaving his body as it was, Draconian looked over at what had to be a merman sitting on top of the ship's railing.
Mostly he resembled human, his whole body was just like any normal human, if anything he was a little thinner, but that could just be him. He had a long face, and his hair was a dark blonde. He also wore a blue shirt with shorts, and he had a necklace of golden beads going across his chest. The only things that labeled him as a merman was his skin, which was a sky blue, and of course his webbed hands. The thing that drew your attention most was his lips, which were just like any normal person's, except they were bigger. They started at one side of his face and went to his other, they were also kind of sticking out, as if someone had grabbed them and pulled and they'd stayed like that.
"Okay kid, now what are you doing here?" His voice was like any others, except that it had a little aquatic sound mixed in.
Draconian turned his body to face the merman and crossed his arms. "I should be asking you the same question; this is my ship after all."
"Don't get smart with me, boy, now turn around and leave or I'll have to destroy your little boat."
"Oh really," Draconian raised his head so that the merman could see his eyes, "and how exactly are you going to do that."
For a few seconds the merman was silent, and when he finally spoke it was with a slight shock. "Well, I have many ways, young Mihawk."
A grin spread on Draconian's face. "Oh you noticed? And I was trying to keep it a secret, oh well what am I going to do now?"
"You're starting to get annoying, boy." He made a spitting motion, and what looked like a small thing of water darted out of his mouth at a speed equal to a bullet. It smashed into Draconian's chest before he could do anything and sent him smashing back against the mast.
With a shake of his head, Draconian got back his bearings and once more faced the merman, He wasn't bleeding, the projectile was just water after all. "You know, I don't appreciate it when I get attacked on my own ship."
"Then I guess you're not going to be appreciating me much, now are you?" He once more shot out another thing of water.
Draconian's hand shot out in front of the projectile, blocking it with his palm. It stung where it hit, but Draconian didn't show any of the pain on his face.
The merman drew back his head, shooting it forward to send a barrage of the little water projectiles.
This time Draconian was ready, and he dodged out of the way, leaving the little projectiles to hit his mast and create many small dents. He whipped both of his swords out and snapped them forward in an intricate series of movements to block the other oncoming water projectiles.
As soon as the merman stopped shooting, Draconian turned his head to look over the damages caused by the attacks. The mast and deck around it were covered with many dents and holes.
After looking over the damages, Draconian turned his gaze back to the merman. "Oh you'll pay for that."
"I'd like to see you try, human." The merman jumped off the railing and shot towards Draconian.
Draconian jumped back out of the way, pressing his feet against the mast and pushing off.
"Tic-Tac-Dragonfire!"
As Draconian sailed through the air, his feet came up and his body did a backwards flip while going forward. His blades came up and slashed two long lines of blood starting from the merman's abs and going to his shoulders. Draconian sailed over the merman's body, twisting a little as he landed so that he was now facing the merman's back. He brought both of his swords back up and slashed two horizontal cuts against the back of the merman.
The swords were slipped back into their sheaths as Draconian grabbed the merman's arm. He jumped backwards, pulling the merman with him and hoisting his body over the shoulder.
"Get off my ship!" Draconian threw him towards the rail.
The body went hurtling over the rail, his legs smacking the edge of the high rail as he went over. Before he could completely fall, though, his hand shot up and grabbed the top of the rail.
Draconian ran forward as the hand started to pull the body up, and at the same time that the merman got back up, Draconian himself jumped up on the rail right next to him. He then jumped sideways at the merman and kicked his feet out to smash into his chest and send him hurtling over the side.
Draconian leaned on the rail and looked over the side, watching as the merman started to swim back towards the shore. He gave a sigh. "Well, they're going to be expecting me, which takes away the surprise element."
He turned around and headed towards the dragon head, leaning against the back of it as he stared out at the ever approaching shore.
After a few more minutes, Draconian had finally arrived at the shore of Arlong Park, if you could call it a shore. The whole ground seemed to be made out of concrete, but the thing that drew his eyes was what was in the middle of that concrete.
Most of the ground was covered in the ruins of what looked like it used to be a huge building, and the ground in itself was covered in small craters. Right in front of the ruins was sitting a large amount of mermen, and immediately Draconian spotted the one that he had faced earlier.
It looked like he was whispering into the ear of the biggest merman of the lot, and from what Draconian remembered, this was Arlong. The muscles of his body were huge, his chest was wide and thick, and his arms looked like they could have ripped a person in half. Now, don't confuse this muscle with slowness, because from what Draconian could see, this guy did not look slow. The color of his skin was a dark blue, and he had the tattoo of a red sun on the left side of his chest. He was wearing shorts and a yellow Hawaiian style shirt, unbuttoned of course. Like all the others he had webbed hands, but they were more like a regular person's hands with the webbing between them so that he could move his fingers without limit. His mouth looked like it was always open as it featured a row of big, sharp teeth. Hanging over his mouth was his long nose, which probably went out to almost half a foot long. It looked like the nose of a sawfish, so that it was many triangles back-to-back. On top of his head was what looked like one of those wool hats you wear when it's cold, except that the earflaps were missing. Right behind it was pointing up a shark-like fin, and cascading down from his head onto his back was a mane of wild black hair.
Draconian hopped up on the dragon head and jumped off, landing on the ground in a crouch. He got his body back up and started to head towards Arlong, who had been staring at his ship as soon as the merman speaking to him had left.
Arlong's mouth twisted into a sneer of disgust as he laid eyes on Draconian, who was walking towards Arlong in a businesslike manner. When Draconian was about half his ship's length away stopped walking, staring at Arlong through the uncomfortable silence.
"So, pe-uman, what is it you want?"
Draconian's voice was calm. "Simple really, I want to fight you. That's it."
Arlong's sneer grew bigger. "And why should I fight a worthless pe-uman like you, anyways?"
"Well," Draconian stated, "I'm going fight you one way or another; you might as well comply with it."
"A stupid, weak, stinky pe-uman like you isn't even worth my time, now go away and leave me alone."
Draconian chuckled. "Weak? Tell me, Arlong, how exactly did your park get destroyed, I mean I doubt that other mermen did it."
Arlong's face contorted into one of rage, a growl escaped his lips. "I'll let you know that I lost this to a mighty fighter, a lot stronger than you by the looks of things."
"Yeah," a voice erupted from the crowd of mermen, "that Straw Hat kid is powerful."
Arlong's eyes widened as anger flooded his face. He turned around in the direction that the voice had come. "Who said that! Get out here!"
Slowly the small crowd parted as a nervous looking merman walked out and came in front of Arlong. Immediately, his shirt was hauled up by the collar and he was thrown all the way to the other side of the ruin.
All the while Draconian was chuckling, which soon turned into laughter. "Hahaha! You lost to a kid? Is that why you won't face me, Arlong, because you're afraid you might lose once more to a kid?"
Arlong gave a growl. "Fine, pe-uman, if you want a fight you'll get one. You," he pointed to someone in the crowd, "come here and wipe this kid out, I could use the entertainment."
From out of the crowd came the oddest looking merman that Draconian had seen so far. This one didn't even seem to have any similarities to humans except for the fact that it stood on two legs. But the legs were the only thing regular, as he had six arms, each one of them having small rings going up its length like an octopus suction cup, except Draconian doubted that the guy actually used them. He was wearing a red and white striped shirt, obviously with no sleeves since of how hard it would be to find. His head was smaller in comparison to his body, and on his forehead was tattooed the same sun as was on Arlong's chest. His mouth was cylindrical and looked like a trumpet. His hair was pretty odd, it was white and stuck up into five spikes, one of them sticking straight up, the top part seemed sliced off actually, two going to either side, and two more sticking out diagonally. All in all, he looked like a big, muscled, walking octopus.
"Yes sir. You guys, give me your swords." His hands went out as he caught six swords that were thrown at him. He the turned to face Draconian. "You're going down, the last guy I faced might have beaten me with only three swords, but there's no way I'm losing with a guy with two."
"You might want to think again, especially when you're fighting a Mihawk. Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not what you have but how you use it?" He slipped both of his swords out of the sheaths, this time not lighting the blades on fire, and put them up in front of himself as an invitation to fight.
"Mihawk, Zoro, it doesn't matter who you are, I'm going to beat you anyway."
'Hmm, Zoro eh? Interesting.' Draconian thought as he readied his swords.
The octopus merman started off by touching the tips of each sword together, so that the blades looked like the points of a hexagon. He rushed forward, the points of all six swords leading so that they point at Draconian.
Draconian sidestepped, the outside blades brushing past only centimeters away from his skin. He brought his left hand up and smashed the hilt of the scimitar into the face of the passing merman. After the hilt connected with the face, Draconian twisted his body and to the left and slashed the merman's back with his katana.
The merman arched his back, turning around to slash at Draconian with a small shout, only to find that he'd already jumped back.
He stomped his foot. "Argh, come over here! Are you afraid to face me now that you've gotten me angry!"
"No, I just thought it might be wise to dodge your swords so that I don't get run through."
With another shout, the merman put the swords back into the same position as before and once more rushed towards Draconian. This time, instead of sidestepping, Draconian vaulted his body over the swords and over the merman's body. Automatically, the merman stopped his rush and shoved his shoulders up, trying to hit Draconian with them.
Draconian's feet came down on the shoulders, and using the force of the push he launched himself high into the air. He tilted his body so that his head was pointing down and brought his swords up in preparation for the fall.
The merman brought all six swords up, bringing the hilts together and spinning them in a circle much like Draconian's own whirlwind attack. "I'm going to slice and dice you!"
Element gave a fierce growl in challenge. "Like hell you will. Dragon Whirlwind!"
He brought his scimitar out in front of him and started to spin the blade. It may have been smaller than the merman's own attack, but when the scimitar met the cutlasses Draconian's drop stopped cold as he hung upside down. Sparks flew as the swords scraped against each other, creating a small fountain of golden light between Draconian and the merman.
Draconian angled the scimitar and turned his body to the side, and soon he was falling off to the side, barely missing the spinning cutlasses. He whipped his scimitar into its sheath and gripped the handle of the katana with both hands.
"Dragon Slash!"
Draconian spun in the air before he hit the ground, bringing the katana up and slashing a long line of red from the merman's right waist to his left shoulder.
With an agitated shout, the merman once more stomped his foot. "Ooh, now I'm getting really mad!" And with a shout he launched himself forward, furiously slashing with all six swords.
Draconian leaped back, making sure he wasn't right next to the merman's body, and fended off the swords that got near. He grabbed the hilt of his scimitar and pulled it back out of its sheath, whipping it in front of him to block two of the swords that had come close.
As Draconian fended off the attacks, he continually had to back up as the merman advanced, not wanting to get too close in case he somehow got trapped. After a while of this, though, he started to notice that he was getting close to the water's edge, obviously part of the merman's plan. It was a lot worse for Draconian than the merman could have thought, since he only thought the water would give him an advantage, he had no clue about Draconian's powers, which meant that if he got in the water he would drown.
Draconian jumped back, putting his feet at the very edge of water and making it so that the two were out of swords reach. With a grin, the merman readied all six of his swords for launching a final push and started forward. At the same time, however, Draconian shot himself forward at an almost blurring speed, both swords at his side.
"Blades of the Dragon Brethren!"
The swords shot out at a blurring speed, immediately switching to another sword once they had moved the one before aside. The speed of the attack looked like just a wild charge, but the swords moved at an intricacy that only true swordsmen can understand. Each swipe of the sword that the merman tried was immediately sent away as Draconian's swords moved faster than they had ever before.
Soon Draconian pushed through the defenses of the six swords and struck at the merman's body, hitting him so fast that he couldn't even remember the number of hits he did. Finally Draconian jumped past the merman so that he was now away from the water, leaving the merman standing behind him, blood spraying from all the cuts covering his body.
As soon as he had landed on the other side, Draconian started to walk back towards Mihawk, thinking the battle over. That was, of course, until he heard the angry voice behind him.
"Okay! That's it! Now I'm REALLY mad! I won't take any more!"
With a sigh, Draconian turned around to once more face the odd merman. "Weren't you already mad?"
The merman turned around and stomped his feet again. "Yeah, but now I'm even madder!" And with a rage filled shout, the merman's eyes narrowed to a red gleam and he started swinging his swords through the air in a fury.
One of the mermen put his hand on his head. "Oh god, he's not going to do this again, is he? He'll destroy the place!"
"Ah, let him." Arlong waved him off. "It's destroyed anyways."
Suddenly, what looked like a tornado made from the wind of the slashes surrounded the merman and traveled up. It didn't seem as strong as a regular tornado, on it's own it probably wouldn't actually do that much, but it was still a measure of what was happening at that moment.
The merman shot himself forward, blades swinging furiously, towards Draconian. The force of his charge dug a huge trench in the concrete, and to all watching it looked like Draconian was doomed.
With the calmness and grace of someone who had all the time in the world, Draconian swung both of his swords up to cross in front of his chest and rest the back of the blades against his shoulders. Other than that he did stood completely still, did nothing but wait.
A few of the mermen started to laugh as they saw him just stand there, obviously thinking he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. But everyone's skeptically looks were washed completely away as he snapped his eyes open the same time as fire erupted along the length of the blades and behind his back.
A few tried to tell their fellow merman to stop, but it was too late, he was just too close to stop, and none of their full warnings got through before Draconian struck.
"Dragon Cross-Fire!"
The swords came down, cutting through the wind and swords, releasing a huge burst of fire with it that traveled up the small tornado. The merman's body went flying over Draconian's back, his original momentum not able to stop the direction he was going. His whole body was slightly charred, and an X had been slashed into his body.
He landed with a sickening thud just feet away from Arlong, who at the moment was shaking his head in disbelief and exasperation. "Great, another person with Devil Fruit powers, do I have to take care of everything myself?"
"Don't worry sir, I'll take him." Out stepped forward a muscled, grey skinned merman with fins on his elbows and a braid of really long black hair, he looked like he had just come out of a dojo.
Arlong stood up and pushed him back, an annoyed sneer over his face. "Don't bother; he'll just beat you like that stupid blonde haired pe-uman did last time. I'll take care of him, since none of you pathetic excuses for evolution are too weak to do anything right."
And with a cracking of his knuckles, Arlong stepped forward so that he was now facing Draconian, whose swords were once more extinguished of fire. "Okay pe-uman, now I'll give you one chance to walk away, otherwise I'm going to have to kill you."
Draconian chuckled. "You know, you talk pretty tough for a guy whose place had just been destroyed by humans."
Arlong let forth a growl. "Then I take it that you want to die."
"A Mihawk never backs down, Arlong, and there's no way you're going to kill me today." And with swords raised, he beckoned towards Arlong. "Just bring it."
"Fine, it's your funeral." Arlong lunged forward, hands out and teeth snapping.
Draconian jumped to the side, slipping both of his swords away as he fell towards the ground and pressed his hands against the ground. He pushed himself back towards Arlong, who had just passed the spot Draconian was earlier standing, and kicked him in the side of his abdomen.
Arlong didn't even stumble from the blow, but instead grabbed Draconian's legs and prepared to throw him. That was, until the legs lit up in flames, making Arlong let go as the flames started to burn at his hands.
Arlong's face snapped to the side as a piece of concrete, which Draconian had just threw, smashed into its side. Draconian twisted his body, bringing his left hand swinging up to throw another, bigger, piece of concrete he had just picked up.
The piece of concrete went soaring towards Arlong, who opened his mouth and snatched the concrete out of the air. With a sickening crunch, Arlong snapped his mouth shut and crushed the concrete as if it was nothing. Pieces fell from his mouth as he looked down at Draconian, who had gotten back on his hands and now started to put his legs out wide and spin them.
"Dragon Hurricane!"
Draconian pushed up, swinging the flaming legs into Arlong and landing hit after hit on his chest, arms, and face. Arlong tried to make a grab for one of the legs, but Draconian snapped them back together, making Arlong's hand miss its spot, and kicked out at Arlong's chest.
This vaulted Draconian back in a flip and sent Arlong stumbling back a bit. Draconian landed on both feet, readying his stance as Arlong got his footing back.
With a shout, Arlong lunged forward, mouth open wide and baring his sharp teeth. He snapped his teeth towards Draconian's head, only hitting empty air as Draconian ducked out of the way.
Draconian twisted his body, placing his hands on the ground and pushing up, sending his feet smashing against the bottom of Arlong's jaw. He then brought both of his feet back down and jumped to the side, barely missing Arlong's fist as it punched the ground where he was just crouching, creating another small crater in the concrete.
As soon as Draconian landed back on his feet, Arlong had once more lunged forward with his mouth snapping towards him. Before Arlong could get to him, however, Draconian pulled out his katana and shoved it into the ground.
"Dragon Flip!"
Draconian pushed against the sword and flipped in the air where he was standing. His foot right sailed forward and up, smacking against the bottom of Arlong's jaw and tilting his head up so that he wouldn't be able to bite Draconian.
As he finished the flip, Draconian landed in a crouch, bringing his fist back as he did and igniting it in fire.
"Dragon Fist!"
He blasted the fist forward, smashing it against the now exposed abs of Arlong and making him double over. Draconian twisted his body so that he was crouched right next to Arlong's bowed head. He took his katana and once more shoved it into the ground, bringing his body up.
"Dragon Scissors!"
Draconian brought his left leg straight up and at the same time placed his right leg under Arlong's head. He then smashed his left leg down while sending his right leg up, slamming Arlong's back and neck in a vice.
Arlong fell down, and Draconian put both of his feet back under him, slipping his katana back into its sheath as he did. Before he could do anything else, Arlong's hand shot out and grabbed a hold of his leg, holding on despite the fire. He jumped back up from his position on the ground and spun his body, throwing Draconian towards the farthest end of the park.
As Draconian felt gravity pull his body back to the ground, he held his hands out to try and land gracefully. He only succeeded in lessening the pain from the landing, however, as his speed took his arms out from under him, sending him to smash against the ground.
With a laugh, Arlong started to walk towards Draconian, who was pushing himself back up from the ground. Before he could get completely up, Arlong started to run forward, arms up so that they could attack the fallen Draconian.
With a shout, Draconian pulled his feet under him and jumped up, shooting over Arlong's arms and spinning around, kicking down Arlong's left arm as he did so.
"Dragon Kick!"
Draconian's right foot shot out and smashed into Arlong's face, sending him flying back to land hard on the ground. After he had landed, Draconian had shot off towards Arlong, who had already started to get back up.
Before Arlong even knew anything, Draconian had already gotten in front of him. He lifted his left leg and placed it on Arlong's knee, using the leverage to jump up and swing his right foot back.
"Dragon Sledgehammer!"
His foot swung forward, smashing against Arlong's mouth and sending him right back down to the ground.
With a small groan, Arlong sat back up and brought his hand up in front of his mouth. As he took it away, Draconian could make out a few teeth in his palms, and there were many holes in his mouth where the teeth had fallen out.
A grin stretched itself from the right side of Draconian's mouth as he looked down at Arlong's now useless mouth. That was, until Arlong put his hand into his mouth and literally pulled out his ring of teeth, letting it fall to the ground beside him as another set instantly grew back in its place.
Draconian gave a sigh. "Damn."
Arlong put his hand in his mouth and pulled this new set out, only to be easily replaced by another set, which was then also pulled out.
Arlong got back up on both feet and held both of his arms out, each of his hands were holding a set of teeth as if they were castanets, and he made a few snaps of the teeth as a warning of what would happen if Draconian got "bitten" by one of them.
Arlong lunged forward, snapping the teeth out in front of him as he tried to grab onto Draconian. The first "punch" was easily dodged by Draconian as he ducked to the side, only to go into a roll in the other direction as the other pair of teeth went in low.
Arlong then thrust both of the teeth down to Draconian's new position, which was barely dodged as Draconian shot between Arlong's legs and appeared behind him. He then thrust both of his elbows back to smash into the back of Arlong's knees, trying to bring him down to his knees but only succeeding in making him stagger a little.
Draconian turned around and stood back up, immediately hopping up and kicking into the small of Arlong's back with both of his feet, sending Arlong down on one knee. As son as Arlong had got down on one knee, Draconian rushed forward with his shoulder out, hopefully trying to get the merman completely down.
With a jerk Draconian stopped in his tracks and jumped back a little, barely avoiding Arlong as he spun around and shot out another pair of teeth in his direction.
Arlong got back on both feet, teeth held out so that Draconian didn't unexpectedly get too close and once more lunged his body towards Draconian.
Draconian jumped up and turned his body over, pushing Arlong's right arm out of the way as he did so, so that his feet were facing Arlong and his face was now looking at the ground.
"Dragon Stampede!"
His legs rapidly shot out, striking Arlong's chest over and over, so fast it was like two or three feet hitting Arlong when there was only supposed to be one. He continued this for some time, until delivering one final, solid thrust that sent Arlong hurtling backwards, a blast of fire accompanying him.
Before he had gotten too far away, however, Arlong had snapped his right arm forward, grabbing a hold of Draconian's left leg with the teeth and idly throwing him to the side.
They both hit the ground at about the same time, the only difference being the place they landed and the fact that Draconian was now clutching his left leg. Amazingly, considering how fast Arlong recovers, Draconian was the first one to actually raise his upper body up.
His breath was slightly ragged as he looked at his left leg, the pain radiating from the teeth was intense, he wouldn't have been surprised if they were close to his bones. With shaking hands, he reached down and took hold of the teeth, slightly prying them apart.
A sharp pain went up his leg as he moved the teeth, signaling that obviously this was going to hurt. So, thinking it better to do it fast than slow, Draconian took a firm hold of the teeth and gave one fast tug to pry them apart, getting them out of his flesh. The pain made him cry out, but it was definitely worse than the alternative, as the sharpness of the pain quickly subsided to a dull throbbing.
Arlong had already gotten up and was walking towards Draconian, his right arm tossing the pair of teeth up and down. "You're really starting to get on my nerves, boy."
With a growl Draconian shot up, only to immediately fall back down on his right knee with a cry of pain, his left leg searing from the pressure on the ground. He hadn't expected the intense pain to still be there, he'll have to try and ignore it from here on.
Arlong gave a laugh. "What, is the little pe-uman hurt? Maybe I should end your pain for you." He held up his right hand, the teeth back in it, and made some snapping motions with it.
Draconian took a deep breath and slowly got back on his left leg. Pain shot up it, making him almost fall back down, but this time he had expected it, so he was able to ignore the pain and stand back up.
"Still some fight in you, boy? Well, I guess that's good, makes it all the more entertaining." He started forward, arm extended.
Through the pain in his leg, Draconian shot forward, flipping over Arlong's arm and landing his feet on either side of Arlong's neck, squeezing to make the hold tight as he did.
"Dragon Whirlybird!"
A spinning tunnel of fire formed itself around Draconian, traveling down his body and across his legs to spin around Arlong. He bent his body backwards so that his head was towards the ground and his back was almost up against Arlong's chest. His body started to twist as he got closer to the ground, bringing his feet, which were holding onto Arlong's neck, down with him, in the process tossing Arlong across the ground to land with a solid thump on the ground a good distance away.
Draconian landed on both of his feet, only to once again go down on his knee as a pain burst from his left leg, this one sharper than before. Once again he witnessed as Arlong got back up, this time turning towards the crowd of merman.
"You two!" He pointed at the pair closest to his position. "Get me my Saw Blade, now!"
They gave him a salute, heading off through the crowd. About a minute later, which Draconian spent trying to recuperate from the pain in his leg, the two had returned, carrying one of the biggest, oddest looking weapons that Draconian had seen.
The blade was huge, almost as big as Arlong himself, and the handle was long enough so that Arlong could hold it with both hands. Instead f one long blade, though, it was made out of a long row of triangular blades, kind of reminding Draconian of teeth. Each one of them had to be about a foot wide, if not more.
Arlong took the blade in his right hand, having tossed aside his teeth, and raised it to rest the flat side on his shoulder.
Draconian himself had gotten back up, the pain in his leg subsiding a little so that he could stand okay. He brought his left hand up, taking a hold of his scimitar and sliding it out of the sheath.
Arlong belted out a big laugh. "Hah! You're going to face me with that puny thing! You might as well fight me with a stick, because either way I'm going to snap your pathetic weapon in half."
Draconian's hand tightened around the handle as he muttered under his breath. "I wouldn't count on that."
Arlong jumped forward, holding the handle with both hands over his shoulder. He was met by Draconian, who ran forward, his flaming scimitar drawn down and back, almost touching the ground. Arlong brought the weapon down as Draconian swept his sword up.
"Dragon Sweep!"
The two weapons met, Draconian's coming from below as Arlong's came down from on top, and connected between two of the middle teeth.
They both stopped, deadlock.
All of the merman looked shocked, some of them even gasping, including Arlong, who's eyes had opened so wide that even his teeth looked smaller. But none of them were as shocked as they had been when they saw what happened next.
Draconian, fighting through the pain and pressure on his left leg, brought up his right hand and grasp the end of the scimitar's handle, joining his right hand. And with a small grunting sound, he started to slowly move both of the swords up, overpowering Arlong as he raised up the Saw Blade.
When both of the handles had gotten to Arlong's eyes level, Draconian turned his blade so that it pointed almost straight up and shoved the Saw Blade to the side. Immediately he jumped up as Arlong swept his now freed weapon to the side, trying to chop Draconian in half.
As Draconian jumped over the blade, his foot snapped out and smacked against the side of Arlong's head, but all that really did for Draconian was give his leg more pain.
Arlong once more swung his blade, making Draconian jump back and out of the way as soon as he landed. The immediateness of his actions had sent even more pain through Draconian's leg, making him stumble back as he landed away from Arlong.
"Shark and Destroy!"
Arlong shot forward, his body spinning in the air as he headed straight towards Draconian. His spinning was a blur, and all that Draconian could make out was the color of the Hawaiian shirt, blue, and his spinning teeth.
Draconian tried to jump out of the way, but because of his leg he wasn't fast enough, and Arlong slammed right into the left leg, his spinning teeth tearing it up to send even more pain through Draconian's body.
Blood sprayed from the leg, spattering the ground all around them as Draconian yelled out a cry of pain. With a slightly shaking arm, he raised his right hand up and placed it just above Arlong, and with a shout of defiance he sent out a huge blast of fire, sending Arlong flying back.
Draconian sank back down to his right knee as he clutched his left leg. All that he could see was blood covering it; the skin was torn up in the area where Arlong had hit him. He was sure that now he probably couldn't stand, otherwise even more damage would come to his leg. But he had to fight, so he would have to find a way to finish the fight quickly.
Smoke rose up from Arlong's body as he sat up, the shirt he had been wearing now in blackened tatters. He tilted his head to the both sides, cracking it, and with a chuckle raised his weapon once more to his shoulder. "Can't stay alive forever, and it looks to me as if you won't last much longer, it's impossible for you to dodge any of my attacks now. Shark and Destroy!" And with a laugh he launched himself forward once more, spinning through the air with his teeth bared.
Draconian put away his scimitar, placing both of his hands on the ground as he did so. Fire erupted from his shoulders, traveling down his shoulders until it reached his hands, and with a huge blast of fire pointed towards the ground, Draconian launched himself into the air, going high enough to dodge Arlong's spinning body below him.
With a shout of rage, Arlong stopped his sinning to land back on the ground. He looked up at Draconian, who was till floating in the air, supported by the fire. "Get back down here you coward! Stop running and just stay still!"
"You want me Arlong?" Draconian shouted from his point in the air. "If you want me then come and get me!" And with another burst of fire, this one from his hands and feet, he blasted higher into the air until he was about as high as the mast of a regular ship.
"Fine!" Arlong shouted. He then ran straight towards the edge of the water, which was pretty close to their position, the rage he was feeling created small dents in the concrete ground underneath him with each step.
He dived into the water, staying under it for about ten seconds. His body then erupted from the water, flying straight towards Draconian's position in the air.
"Shark and Destroy!"
His body once more started to spin, the teeth leading the way towards Draconian, who responded to this by raising his flame covered right leg straight up in the air and up over his head.
"Dragon Meteor!"
The leg smashed down upon Arlong's head spinning head, sending him shooting down to smash into the concrete below, creating a crater almost as wide as Draconian's small ship. A groan floated through the air as Arlong slowly got up, for once struggling through the pain from the attack.
Draconian blasted himself higher up, so high that he was probably at the height of the huge building that used to stand here. He whipped both blades out, covering them in fire as he started to spin his body.
"Attack fusion, Dragon Tornado Comet!"
A giant vortex of fire spun around Draconian, traveling all the way down to surround Arlong, closing off all means of escape. The fire on his feet grew bigger and started to swirl around his legs as they were pulled together. He then started to fall, his spinning, flame covered legs leading the way down towards where Arlong stood.
Arlong issued a growl. "Fine, you're going to encase me, then I'll just have to punish you for this." And with that, he grasped the handle of his weapon with both hands and held it low, readying the swing for when Draconian got close enough.
The speed of his fall steadily increased, and it only took a few seconds for Draconian to get to Arlong. The blade swept up, all of Arlong's force behind it, to strike at Draconian's feet.
Time seemed to slow for the second that foot met blade as a crack ran through the metal teeth, in an instant bending the blade so that it snapped in half, the top art falling to the side.
Arlong couldn't even get out a "how" as Draconian's spinning feet shot down, smashing themselves into his face and sending it down to smash against the ground. The force created another crater, inside the previous one, with Arlong's smashed face being pressed into its middle.
A snap was heard, and Draconian's body fell over as he clutched his now broken leg. The impact of the ground had pushed its strength beyond the limits, finally making it break.
But that wasn't what everyone else was watching. They were all staring at their commander, who was lying sprawled out, his head pressed into the concrete, knocked out cold.
Draconian's breaths were deep and ragged as pain shot through his entire body. He put away his swords and slowly got back up, instantly hopping on his right leg so as not to put any pressure on his left. He snapped his sheathed katana from his belt and put it on the ground, using it for support, and oh so slowly he headed back towards his ship, the sound of the self made walking stick sounding through the silence.
With a deep breath he bent his right leg, pushing off of the ground and jumping on his ship with a burst of fire, he didn't have it in him to try and get a ramp.
The first thing he did was adjust the sails and wheel a little bit, getting the ship out of the place and leaving the still silent crowd of mermen behind. As soon as that was done he went down to the storage area, getting out the medical supplies and a few other stuff, taking off his pants when he was ready.
The first thing he did was bandage up the leg, putting some ointments and other healing things underneath it, covering the area where the skin was torn up. He couldn't stitch anything up, seeing as there weren't any real "cuts" on the leg. Slowly, he put his ants back on, stopping a few times as pain shot up through him, until it was once again covered. He'd probably have to stop wearing this pair, seeing as the tears just ruined it.
From his small pile of stuff, Draconian picked up two good pieces of solid wood, putting them on either side of the leg and tying them together, making a splint.
Once again, Draconian slowly got up, using his sheathed katana as a walking stick. He walked out of the storage room, immediately heading towards his cabin. He didn't light any of the candles, the light he had was good enough, and he didn't want to warm the place up.
"Okay, I think it's safe to say that I'll be out of action for a while." He gave a groan as he sank into the chair behind the desk.
He pointed his finger towards the picture of Arlong he had posted on the board, shooting out two lines of fire to burn an X through the picture. The map with Arlong Park on it was opened up in front of him, and Draconian immediately located his position.
With a roaming finger, Draconian looked for any town he might be able to dock at, he was probably going to be out of business for a while, and he doubted that he had enough supplies.
His finger didn't even to roam on its own accord as it limply went across the page. Draconian stopped it, though, as it landed on one of the many dots on the shore.
"Rogue Town, eh?" Draconian took a closer look. "Not extremely far away, it seems like a good place to hang back while this leg heals. I've always wanted to go there anyways, see the sights."
And with that settled, Draconian started to limp back up to the deck, book under his arm, and set a course for Rouge Town.
Sorry if I got the name of the town wrong. Hopefully you guys liked this chapter; I personally think it was one of my best fights. Now, how is it that you guys thought I'd end it? Do I seem like that kind of person, in my last A/N I was talking about the end of the chapter, not story. Don't worry, this is going to go on for a long time, and the only time it's going to end is when the actual series ends. Okay, just in case you guys might be thinking a certain thing for the next chapter, I am not going to have Draconian fight Chaser, or Smoker, whichever name you prefer, I personally like Smoker. I haven't seen his fighting part yet in the series. Oh, I'm just curious, is the weapon that Smoker carries a club or a sword, because I saw someone draw a picture of him and it looked like a club. If you know can you please answer? Thanks. Now, time to get to reviews.
Hutchy: Well, I'm glad you like my character interactions. Did you know that there's this one author that is actually giving Mihawk a really bad name in her stories? I mean if you pay attention you can see that he's not that bad of a guy, right? He just doesn't respect certain type of people. I don't know why I'm saying this. Don't worry, the series will continue, and hopefully if I'm able to write the sequel it will be after the series with Draconian's son as the main character.
Iwin Ulose: I didn't make Shanks one of the Shichibukai, he is one of them, I read it somewhere on the net. Sorry about the Marines problem, I guess I didn't think it completely through. But there's always a way to fix things (sometimes), I could probably make it bounty hunters or rogue Marine officers, kind of like Smoker. Those people would probably chase him, and they'd be wild enough so that Mihawk would be nervous if they found out who he was close to. Really, the best you say? Thanks, I try my best, and I don't like to sound self centered but I feel I write some of the best fight scenes on fanfiction, I haven't really seen any better yet.
Well, that's it, I won't get the next chapter out as fast, I think I'll go back to working with my friend Anters on our story for a while. So I'll TTY all later.