Chapter 4: The Yangu Family.

-One year ago, Capone Bege, leader of the Capone Mafia, left to sail the Grand Line, Drake began.

-But, before that, he had a habit of brutally murdering the heads of the other families and laughing as they destroyed themselves in intense power struggles and thanks to his Castle-Castle Fruit, they had no chance of attacking him. This problem was even worse with the Yangu Family, as they had earned trust and support from the people in their territories by touting their honor and ability to protect them from other families. Bege's attack against their honor left a scar on their honor that could never heal…

With a final subtle tattoo pencil stroke the mantis on the back of Kiryu Yangu's back was finished, and with it, the ritual of him becoming family head. As soon as the ritual was done the new boss stood up and turned to the family advisors standing behind him; his intense eyes made them nervously clap.

-According to recent intel that we received, Capone Bege will leave for the Grand Line in only a week. If we are to reclaim our honor and take revenge for my father's death, our only chance is now…

-Yeah, sorry, the plan's been changed, Kiryu's younger brother Yakuza walked into the room.

-What are you talking about, brother? You have no say in the family business!

-Well, the thing is that I do, and your idiotic plan to attack Capone Bege is canceled, Yakuza casually objected.

-You know the little army of bounty hunters that you've fixed for this attack on the Bege family? That was financed by me, for finally breaking your dumbass limitations and starting to sell drugs in our territories! And now I've decided that that army is gonna go to take Capone Bege's territory when he leaves.

Kiryu's face turned pale.

-G-Gomu! Capture my brother! The advisor turned to look at the floor with shame in his eyes.

-I'm sorry, but he offered to forgive my son for betraying the family, Gomu said through bitter tears. Kiryu panicked as the room full of men he trusted turned away their eyes.

-You see, people only care for peace and honor if it benefits them, and since our father died…

Yakuza shot his brother right between the eyes with a seastone bullet. As his brother bled out on the floor, the Mantis fruit materialized in a bowl of oranges next to Yakuza. He quickly grabbed it and took one massive bite out of it, before spitting the rest on his brother's corpse.

-It doesn't From now on, the Yangu name will be feared…

…-And that was how a bastard like Yakuza came to power, Drake finished his story. Fullbody and Django were sitting in the corner, shaking in fear, while Tashigi grabbed her sword and walked through the door.

-I'm not letting Smoker and Hina be the captives of a betrayer like him another second! Tashigi declared while slamming open the door of the hideout, only to be met by the hulking body of Gomu staring down at her.

-Excuse me, but I'm afraid I can't let you past, he said before sending Tashigi crashing into a nearby wall with a sudden ten-ton slap to the stomach. Destroying the wooden floor with a single step, Gomu entered the house.

-Admittedly, your motives are noble, but as a retainer of the Yangu family… Gomu was interrupted by X Drake in hybrid form rushing into him and pinning him to the floor before being sent away by a single push. With both Tashigi and X Drake lying unconscious on the ground, Gomu prepared to finish both off his targets.

-Wait! Django's high-pitched voice interjected. Gomu turned around, stared at the futilely swinging pendulum with a raised eyebrow, before grabbing Django by the legs and throwing him off into the sea.

With a heavy thump Tashigi and X Drake's unconscious bodies fell to the floor in front of Yakuza.

-Gomu, I said to have them killed, not brought to me! Yakuza whined.

-B-but boss! Before we knocked them out, they mentioned having useful intel! One of the two goons accompanying Gomu explained.

-Oh, is that so? Explain, Yakuza demanded of Gomu, who ignored him and stared off into the distance with a completely neutral expression.

-Why aren't you responding? Wake up! Yakuza raised his hand to slap his subordinate.

-Now! Django screamed, throwing off his disguise. The hypnotized Gomu slapped his surprised boss through the office wall and out into the lavish garden surrounding the Yangu mansion.

-Tashigi! You'll distract him while I go and find the others! X Drake said while helping her up. With a single nod Tashigi agreed, and X Drake ran out into the hallway in hybrid form to the shock of some goons.

Out on the courtyard Yakuza went into his mantis form and flew past the worried goons surrounding him. Tashigi only barely managed to get her sword up in time to block; narrowly avoiding being slashed in half. She ducked under Yakuza's second attack, only to discover that while she was dodging his right arm, he had sent tiles from the floor flying into Gomu's face, shaking the giant out of his trance.

-You fool! The dinosaur one is going towards the cells! Stop him! Django and Fullbody dashed towards Gomu to tackle him, but upon impact bounced away. The building shook as he ran away.

While she was distracted Yakuza slammed Tashigi over the head with the broad side of his arm. Tashigi endured the pain and drew her sword to parry the following barrage of slices. Yakuza relented and dashed backwards, giving Tashigi just a moment to breathe.

-Predator Vortex!

Yakuza bounced around the room and sliced with such power that the air was compressed into powerful projectiles coming at Tashigi from all angles.

-Tornado Eye!

Tashigi spun around, infusing her sword with Haki to block all the projectiles. While she did she discovered using Observation Haki that two floors under her was a bathhouse, and quickly devised a plan.

Yakuza used a wall as a springboard to dart towards Tashigi. Just before he reached her, she cut through the floor and infused it with her Haki, and then jumped back. Yakuza crashed right on the spot where the floor was weak, and his speed and weight made it instantly collapse. They fell through the floor and landed in the middle of a break room, to the shock of the other gangsters.

-Hunting Wind!

Yakuza put both his arm's right next to each other and used one slice to create a massive projectile.

-Flowing Parry!

Tashigi used her own Haki to power up the projectile, growing it to thrice it's size, and repel it through the floor, sending Yakuza the Devil Fruit user straight into the bathwater below. The water melted away the powerful mantis and revealed a weak man gasping for air. During that moment Tashigi jumped straight down to take him out.

Meanwhile X Drake found the small prison cell where Smoker, Koby, Helmeppo and Hina were being kept. While the others were looking grim and hopeless in the dark cell, Koby sat straight up with a hopeful smile.

-Captain! He whispered excitedly.

-Goddamn, I can't believe it. You're actually working with X Drake, Hina said to Smoker.

-I can't believe it myself, Smoker laughed a bit.

-Tashigi's taking care of Yakuza Yangu himself right now, I've come to rescue you so that we can assist her.

Right as Drake put the stolen key's in the lock, Gomy's booming voice echoed out.

-So you stole my key's as well? Mr. Drake, I refuse to let you shame me by winning with mind tricks! Gomu threw off his jacket to show the impressive tattoo of a tsunami hitting a mountain that adorned his stomach. Drake turned into his hybrid form, and growled.

-Seems like you'll have to wait two more minutes before you exit this cell, he said to his crew.

Tashigi approached the weakened Yakuza and put the tip of her sword against his chest.

-Yakuza Yangu, you are hereby under arrest…

-I would look out, if I were you, Yakuza interrupted.

In the nick of time Tashigi turned around to parry the oncoming bullet hell coming from the gangsters on the next floor. With razor sharp reactions and Observation Haki she could dodge or parry every single one with ease, but as she was focused on that she didn't notice Yakuza managing to get out of the water behind her and fire another air projectile.

There was the sound of iron snapping, and Tashigi's sword was shattered in her hands…

The action ramps up as the raid on the Yangu base begins! In the main series I feel that Haki is a power system that mainly exists as another axis to the main (extremely more interesting) one of Devil Fruits, but as this is a navy story and the navy would probably use more traditional hand to hand combat, I've chosen to make Haki work more like Hamon from JoJo's. (If you haven't read my JoJo fic, I would appreciate it if you did) so that a battle exclusively fought through Hamon can be interesting in written form. In the next saga after this one that concept is gonna get an even bigger focus, so stay tuned!