THE POWER OF MARS

Artemyra hesitated for a second to make sure the Marines weren't going to fire upon them again. She narrowed her keen eyes and studied them closely, already seeing the beginnings of morale slowly diminish within Morgan's troops. Once that was confirmed to her, she finally felt safe enough to lower her blade and do a quick check on herself and her injuries.

The knightess didn't get out of the blaze of bullets unscathed. The white fabric of her dress was torn in some places, and some of the bullets did manage to cut her skin and make her bleed. She did what she could, and any bullet that didn't hit her blade bounced off her armor instead. Aside from that, Artemyra could hardly call the wounds to be actual injuries. They were really nothing but light flesh wounds that would stop hurting in a day.

"That…was a bit sloppy," Artemyra said, a bit disappointed with herself

Those words immediately snapped Zoro out of his trance of awe. "The hell do you mean that was sloppy?" he nearly snarled at the ridiculousness of the statement. "You single-handedly deflected all the bullets…and you're saying it was sloppy work?"

Artemyra turned to him and frowned. "Just a bit. I was hoping to not get hurt, but some of them still managed to cut me. It's unfortunate because I know I can do better." She was still disappointed with herself, but not to the point of dwelling on it for too long. "No matter. At least we're alive," she said while glancing over to Coby, now noticing that he was passed out cold with foam coming out of his mouth. He wasn't hurt or anything like that, but just must've been overwhelmed by the near-death experience. "Well…mostly." She went to approach him but stopped when the air suddenly began to ring with an overly enthusiastic voice.

"MYYYYYYYY-RAAAAAAAAA!"

Artemyra looked up just in time to see Luffy slingshot himself through the window of the compound and come speeding right towards her. She didn't even have a moment to react or get out of the way before Luffy slammed right into her, sending them both scraping hard across the ground.

Luffy sat up while laughing his head off. "That was so cool! How did you do that? Did you use the sheath?" Luffy asked the nearly unconscious knight who laid unresponsive beneath him.

It took a while, but Artemyra did manage to grumble out something of an answer to him, while still lying half confused on the floor. "No…It was...just me." It took at least another second for her to get up and finally collect her bearings. In the end, colliding like that with Luffy turned out to be more harmful than deflecting all those bullets from the Marines.

Zoro saw the whole thing and didn't know what to be dumfounded about the most. The fact that this woman managed to pull off a highly complicated skill like bullet-deflecting, or the kid literally stretching out like a rubber band and flying out of a window. "What…what kind of human are you?" he said, completely baffled.

Luffy snickered while turning his smile into a confident but cocky smirk. "I'm the one who's gonna become the Pirate King." He hurried up to Zoro and displayed to him three swords that he managed to get from inside the base. "Look, I got you your sword, but I don't know which one it is. Thought I'd just bring all of them."

"All three belong to me. Because I use a three-sword style." Zoro declared.

Artemyra perked up to the intriguing idea. "Three swords? Well, that's quite something." Her curiosity was short-lived though when she looked back to the surrounding Marines. She wasn't worried about them, but Morgan on the other hand was going to be a bit of trouble. "This crowd doesn't look so good. Resisting the Marines with us will make you an outlaw," she warned Zoro.

"Doesn't matter," he grumbled and looked between both Luffy and Artemyra, smiling this crazed but ready grin. "Rather than dying here…why don't I just accept your request and become a pirate!"

Luffy's eyes lit up like a curious young child when he heard the words he had been waiting to hear all day. "Really? You'll actually join my crew?! Myra! Myra! Did you hear that?!" he said eagerly, snapping his head between his new crewmate and Artemyra.

"I heard. Now would you please hurry up and untie Zoro." Artemyra turned her attention to the Marines, and just as she predicted would happen, they all began charging at once with their weapons raised. "Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out of this mess!" she shouted while getting back into position, tightening the grip on her sword, and holding her ground.

At that time, Coby was slowly coming too and sat up from the ground. He looked up, only to scream when he saw the Marines charging at his friends while Zoro was still tied to the post.

"What?! Guys! Look out!" Coby screamed.

Luffy grumbled to himself while struggling to undo a single knot that bound Zoro. "I'm trying, but…these knots are a little tight."

"Would you hurry up and untie me! There's no time!" Zoro shouted while veins popped up from his neck.

It took Luffy at least one more second of trying before an idea popped into his head. Probably the best and only good idea he had all day. "Mmm…Myra, would you help me with this?"

Artemyra couldn't stop her eyes from rolling while turning back around. "I should've done it to begin with. Luffy, get down!" She raised her sword above her head and made a swift and clean motion over the rope, freeing Zoro in an instant.

Zoro took full advantage of his freedom and moved fast and seamlessly. He charged ahead of Artemyra while simultaneously unsheathing his swords. With one blade in each hand and the last one in his mouth, Zoro effortlessly blocked all the swords from the Marines before they could bring them down on his new captain and crewmate. He did it so swiftly that neither Luffy nor Coby could see how he managed to pull it off.

"Any of you move first…then you're dead," he threatened the Marines in a dark and sinister tone. He must've scared them too since they didn't dare move a muscle after that. They could tell he was serious. "Ok, so I'm a pirate now. I gave you my word. I've fought the Marines, therefore I'm officially a criminal. But hear this! I have a mission to fulfill! I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman! All I have left is my destiny! I don't care if my name is infamous…because it's still gonna be the one that shakes the world! If you ever make me abandon my dream for any reason…then I'll kill you. You understand!" he said to his new captain.

"That's fine. The world's greatest swordsman, huh. It's fitting since your new boss is gonna be the Pirate King. Anything else would make me look bad," Luffy said eagerly.

Morgan looked like he was two seconds away from self-destructing. His face was completely red, and his body was quivering with unrivaled rage that was nearing its peak. "What are you all standing there for. Cut them to pieces!" he shouted at his dumfounded soldiers who still haven't moved.

"Zoro, duck!" Luffy took a step back and lifted his leg. "Gomu-Gomu no…Whip!" He whipped his leg out and it stretched nearly half the length of the courtyard, slamming right into the Marines. The blow knocked them back to where Morgan stood, who looked no less dumfounded from when Artemyra deflected the bullets from earlier.

Zoro's eyes grew wide when he saw Luffy's strange ability. He didn't even know to think of it, but then again, he didn't even know what to think of Artemyra either. "What kind of devil are you?"

Luffy's leg snapped back into place. "I'm a rubber man."

Lady Artemyra looked upon the soldiers who looked more disheartened than ever. They didn't get up a second time after that and just stared at the newly formed pirate crew. There was nothing more the Marines could do. Those three were unbeatable.

"Captain, they're too much for us!" one soldier said

"It's hopeless! We can't fight a rubber man and that knight. They even have Roronoa Zoro with them!" cried another

Artemyra strolled past the shaken soldiers and stood before the only one who remained. "Morale seems pretty low, Captain Morgan. Looks like you're the last one standing," she said calmly, clenching her weapon tight when she saw Morgan began to shake with anger.

"Trash…there all…nothing but trash. I will not tolerate any of it!" he muttered before looking the knightess right in her eyes. "Armwell knight! I do hope you know what this means. Defiance from you…means defiance from your whole island. I shall see this as a declaration of war from the knights."

Artemyra's eyes harden a little bit, but not to the point of anger. She was still very much in control of her emotions. "My people have nothing to do with my actions. Everything that has happened here today was my choice alone, and I will not stand for you accusing them like that."

"Myra!" Luffy called out to her. Artemyra turned around and was surprised to see how much Luffy was frowning at her. "I want you to end this now. Use the weapon and kick his ass!"

Artemyra looked bewildered at what he just asked of her. "What crazed nonsense are you talking? I thought I already established that I won't use the sheath on a simple fight that I can handle."

Luffy just stared blankly at her, like he didn't remember having that conversation at all. "Yeah but…am I not the captain? Aren't knights supposed to do what they're told?"

Artemyra flinched since he did have a point. "You're…you. You're right, but…" she stuttered out, catching herself fighting between her duties as a knight and her title as the wielder of Mars.

"Then use the sheath. This is an order," Luffy continued to press.

Artemyra looked like she wanted to say a billion things more to him but couldn't even utter a single word as her body slowly caved with defeat. "You're totally taking advantage of your title. Fine, fine, fine. As a knight…I'll do as I'm told," she said reluctantly and turned back to Morgan.

Expanding her lungs with air, Artemyra altered her battle stance by widening her legs and hunching her body lower to the ground, like she was bracing herself for whatever was about to come. A sudden whirring noise came from her back as the Ancient Weapon began to vibrate, burning a bright and ominous shade of gold. And like the weather was under the control of the weapon, the wind started to pick up and howl wildly too. It thrashed the soldiers around, and it was even hard for Morgan to keep his balance against the tempest winds.

"Wind-Log…" Artemyra muttered through her teeth while pulling her sword all the way behind her back. "Impact…!"

She slammed her right foot forward into the ground and swung her sword out, catching the wind on the edge of her blade and creating a strong current of air. It ripped up large chunks of earth as it headed right for Captain Morgan and his troops, picking them up and slamming them against their base.

"What in the hell…?!" Zoro covered his eyes from the backlash of wind as he tried to keep his footing. He stood like that for about a minute until the wind slowly died down. It was only after that he finally looked upon the damage that she solely created with the Ancient Weapon known as Mars.

The Marine base was practically demolished by the looks of it. The air pressure was so strong, that not only did it easily tossed the soldiers around, but it also tore down everything in its path. It destroyed a portion of the base and even half of the wall that surrounded them.

Artemyra's body slumped a little bit as her breathing became labored. She felt the nerves in her body began to twitch as the effects of Mars clung to her. Deep, deep Exhaustion. The type that weighed down on her like a wet blanket, putting extra strain on her limbs and turning her sluggish.

"Do you get it now, Luffy?" Artemyra breathed in deeply before turning around to face her new friends, all of which looked upon her in pure shock. "This is just a small taste of what Mars can do. This is…elemental manipulation."