(Blah Blah Blah, I don't own One Piece, Yadda Yadda, let's move on.)
Gerald held on tight to Frank's shoulders as he propelled both of them over the rooftops in the direction of the town square. "Are you all right back there?" The ninja asked. Gerald nodded. "Just hurry. If this Bandock is as fearsome as you say, Jack will get eaten alive if we aren't there soon!"
One Piece: The Skull Pirates
Chapter Three: Brawl in Charity Town! Skull Pirates VS Butcher Pirates!
"Doku Doku no Boomerang!" An enlargened bone from Jack's ribcage slammed into three pirates, knocking them flying. Jack ducked as it flew back, letting it slam into two others who had tried to sneak up behind him. Grabbing it out of the air, he popped it back into place, then pulling out his arm and turning it into a club. "Doku Doku no Club!"Spinning it around in an arc, he floored a further five crew members.
"Now let's try out something new." Reconnecting his arm, he pointed his hands finger first at a cluster of charging pirates. "Doku Doku no Finger Bullet!" His fingertips fired out, slamming into the pirate's eyes, sending them stumbling into eachother. The bones quickly returned and connected with his fingers. "And now for something with the legs."
Pivoting on his right leg, Jack reached over and tugged out his left one. "Doku Doku no..." Raising it over his head, he jabbed the leg into it, the bone shifting into a thin pole shape. His other leg quickly did the same. "Top!"Spinning around in a circle, he slammed into further pirates, knocking them over like bowling pins.
Reconnecting to normal, Jack frowned as he realized the majority of Bandock's crew were still conscious. "Doku Doku no Boomerang!" Another few grunts went down.
A bandage now covering his wound, Bandock turned to Mute. "Alright, I think that's enough. Do it." Mute nodded, raising his Marionettes to point at the still fighting Jack.
The skull pirate gasped as his arms were suddenly pinned to their sides by a pair of powerful arms. "What the hell!? Lemme go!" Jack turned his head and bit back a scream as he realized he was being pinned by a nightmarish cross between a marionette, a nutcracker doll, and a spider, which chattered it's mouth up and down in a chilling laugh.
Bandock smiled. "A shame, Jack, you could've been a good partner. Mute, have your toy squeeze his neck. Tightly." The silent puppeteer motioned with his marionettes, and Jack gritted his teeth as the doll switched two of it's eight arms to squeeze his neck, beginning to choke him. Despite how hard Jack struggled, the doll retained it's crushing grip.
Slowly, Jack's vision began to dim. "Damn it, is this how it ends...didn't see this coming." Vaguely, his ears picked up an approaching sound, like a breeze...and then the creature screeched in pain, it's grip loosening and dropping away.
"Jack! Jack, wake up!" The skull pirate snapped fully awake as Gerald slapped him across the face. The first thing Jack saw was the maniacal doll crouched in front of the fountain, whimpering in pain like a dog as Mute petted it on the head. Jack then turned and assessed Frank, who had straightened up after slashing the thing, katana still in hand.
"Uh, thanks for the help...whoever you are." Frank immediately crouched to the ground. "You wish to know my name? Very well, I shall tell you. I am a member of a group of-" He winced as Gerald slammed his fist down upon the shinobi's head. "We don't have time for that right now!"
He turned back to Jack. "What's important is he's on our side and he's not trying to kill us, unlike the pirate crew you just set on us. For god's sake man, what were you thinking?"
Jack shrugged. "I thought I could take them. I didn't know they were gonna sic the world's ugliest marionette on me."
Bandock cleared his throat. "Ahem, if you gentlemen would care to pay attention, my crew are still attacking you." Indeed, the crew were still advancing, weapons drawn. Frank straightened up and struck a pose. "Do not worry. I shall deal with this rabble." Pushing past them, Frank flicked his wrist, a slip of paper with writing on it appearing in his hand.
"Tao Scroll; Firestorm Explosion!" He then threw the paper into the crowd of pirates, the slip attaching to the forehead of one of them and glowing red. Realizing what was up, they turned to run, but were too late as the paper exploded, throwing the remaining crew to the ground, scorched.
Jack turned to Bandock and smirked. "Hah, what now Bandock? With you're crew done, you're pretty much finished!" Another moment of silence followed, before Bandock raised his head and laughed at the sky. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, you really are funny, Jack. But, the fact is you haven't even begun to see the power the Butcher Pirates are capable of!"
Raising his hand, he pointed into the crowd of pirates. "Kamikaze, quit playing possum and get up. I need your talents for this." The three comrades went bug eyed as one of the pirates picked himself up and dusted himself off, looking perfectly fine. Jack had been preoccupied fighting the crew, and so he hadn't noticed this man's bizarre appearance. A large red and black coat was draped over his form, strewn with fancy badges of various explosives. Stamped onto the front were the letters TNT. The man's gaudy red sunglasses fit perfectly with his slicked back blonde hair. A massive steel backpack was strapped to him.
"B-but that's impossible!" Frank pointed to the man. "After my Firestorm Scroll, you shouldn't be moving!" The man opened his mouth to retort, then gagged, coughing up a cloud of smoke. He straightened up afterward and grinned. "Shaa, you thought a little junior explosion like that would drop me? Please. You're talking to the crowned king of blowing things up; the explosives expert of the Butcher Pirates, Mr. Kamikaze!"
Hopping off the fountain, Mute landed squarely on the back of his creation, leaning over and injecting his strings into the puppet's head, functioning like the reins of a horse. Frank levelled his katana. "I'll handle Mr. Kamikaze. His explosions will be no match for my skills."
Gerald sighed. "Which means my choices are a giant and a psychotic doll and it's puppeteer. I suppose I'll take the lesser of two evils." He walked over to stand across from Mute and his mount. Jack grinned, thrusting a fist into his palm. "Which means you're all mine, Bandock! You're gonna wish you'd given me that map when I asked the first time."
Bandock began to chuckle again. Slowly, he stood up from his sitting position. Jack gulped. Bandock was intimidating when he was sitting, but standing up, he towered over you like a building. Bandock smiled wickedly. "Oh really, Jack? Or did you think you were the only one who ate a Devil's Fruit? Geki Geki no.." (Rage Rage)
"BLOODLUST!" A red aura began to line Bandock's body, and a wicked smile slowly spread across his face. Reaching behind his back, Bandock produced two giant meat cleavers, a perfect fit in his massive hands. Jack snickered nervously. "Y-you think that scares me? Bring it on, I'll take you any day! "Doku Doku no..."
"Retreat!" Jack turned and fled out of the square as fast as his legs would carry him. Frank sweatdropped. "Perhaps I overestimated his abilities..." Gerald merely face-palmed. "GET BACK HERE, INSECT!" Giant feet cracking the ground, Bandock quickly chased after the fleeing pirate.
The two remaining Skull Pirates assumed a back to back stance. "How about we take care of these two before we go bail him out?" Gerald inquired. "That sounds fine to me, friend." Frank answered. "Right. On one...two...THREE!" As one, they both leapt off and landed in front of their opponents.
"Shaa, I'm afraid your captain's as good as dead, dude." Kamikaze smirked. "Once Captain Bandock activates his Geki Geki Fruit, there's just no stopping him. He'd eat him alive, 'cept that there's no meat on him!" Frank merely levelled his sword. "Enough talk. All I am concerned with now is my opponent!" Letting out a battlecry, he leapt forward, bringing his sword down in a slash.
"Shaa, quit with the theatrics, dude." Tapping his heels together, Kamikaze grinned as the tops of his shoes opened and wheels slid out. Snickering, he skated out of the way of Frank's slice, then kicked the shinobi in the chest, sending him flying across the cobblestones.
Gerald wasn't faring much better. The most he could do was dodge out of the way of the doll's eight scratching arms. With Mute riding it, the marionette was much more coordinated. Digging into his pocket, he retrieved a paperweight, chucking it at the marionette's head. The creature chattered it's mocking laugh as it uselessly bounced off before resuming it's attack. Grimacing, Gerald feebly kicked the creature in the side of the head. It responded by latching onto his shoe with it's teeth. Letting out a cry, he pulled his sock out, letting the creature eat the shoe in one bite.
"Tch...at this rate we'll be more concerned saving our own skin than Jack's."
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"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP!"
These were more or less the thoughts going through Jack's head as he ran down one of Charity Town's streets, which were vacant now that all of the citizens had evacuated. He supposed that the city's police force should be here, but could he really blame them? He had the powers of a Devil's Fruit, and he was running for his life.
"ONCE I CATCH YOU, I'M GOING TO DEVOUR YOU, BONES AND ALL!" This declaration made Jack run faster, if that were possible. "GEKI GEKI..." Jack turned his head around and gaped as he saw the same red energy grow in Bandock's open mouth. "BEAM!" Jack threw himself to the left and into a side street as the red energy beam shot past, tearing up the street. Quickly he got back to his feet and continued running for his life.
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"Explosive Roller Bombing!" Frank threw himself out of the way as Mr. Kamikaze shot past on his roller skates, tossing explosives out behind him from his backpack, the bombs detonating shortly afterward. "As long as he's using those Roller Skates, I'll never catch him! Wait...it could work."
Getting to his feet and leaping into the air, Frank came down in front of the fountain. "Explosives Master, what a joke! I bet you can't hit me from over here, Kamikaze!" Mr. Kamikaze's eyes glinted from behind his sunglasses. "Shaa, Kamikaze, dude? That's MR. Kamikaze to you, dude!" Grinning, he produced another bomb from the backpack and tossed it. He blinked as Frank darted out his hand and caught it in his gloved fist. "W-what are you thinking, dude? Those have a fuse length of one second!"
"That's half a second more than I'll need!" Reaching down, Frank stuck the bomb to the side of the fountain. He then leapt swiftly leapt out of the way as the bomb exploded, sending a stream of water in Mr. Kamikaze's direction.
"Tao Scroll; Absolute Zero!" Tossing the slip of paper into the water stream, Frank smiled as it began to frost over. "Shaa, you think a little water scares me? Dream on, dud-what the heck!?" Mr. Kamikaze gaped as his wheels became stuck in the ice. Smiling confidently, Frank landed in front of him, feet perfectly steady despite the ice. "A true shinobi is trained to handle any opponent! Ittoryu; Precision Slash!" Mr. Kamikaze let out a yell as the strike hurled him backwards, smashing his roller skates to pieces.
Gerald frowned as one of the marionette's claws ripped his suit sleeve to ribbons. "Right, that will be quite enough of that!" Reaching into his pack, Gerald pulled, producing a golf club. Nodding, he swung it experimentally. "A Five Iron should be enough for this." Pointing the club head first at the puppeteer, he smirked. "Engarde!"
The puppet continued it's assault, but this time Gerald was prepared. Despite his weapon being unorthodox, he managed to block and counter the puppet's eight arms with it, even managing to get a few good licks in on the marionette's head. That was, until his foot struck one of the pot holes left behind by Mr. Kamikaze's bombing run. Keeling over backward, he struck the cobblestones hard. Before he could get to his feet, Mute and his marionette were on him. Lifting the golf club, he blocked the creature from attacking him as it battered away at the weapon.
"This might get me killed, but I think I have just the thing for this..." Removing one hand from the golf club, Gerald winced as Mute's assault seemed to increase. Reaching into one of his pockets, he dug around for a moment, before his eyes lit up. Pulling a ballpoint pen from his pocket, he shook it up, then aimed the pen at the marionette's eyes. Jabbing the button down, he smiled as a wide stream of ink shot into the doll's eyes. Immediately it removed it's arms and began to shriek and thrash, bucking Mute around like a mad pony.
However Gerald wasn't finished yet. Casting aside the pen, he reached in and pulled out a pair of scissors. Leaning in carefully, he neatly snipped Mute's strings. The puppet ceased it's struggling and appeared to be stunned. Mute looked at his severed strings, dumbfounded. Looking up, he sweatdropped as Gerald raised the golf club. "Killing Blow; Hole in One Smash!" Smacking Mute in the side of the head, Gerald grinned as the small puppeteer was sent bouncing along the cobblestones to come to rest against a wall, out cold.
"Shaa, I'm not finished yet, dude." Mr. Kamikaze got to his feet, stumbling slightly because of the ice. Frank readied his katana. Reaching behind his back, Mr. Kamikaze pressed a switch on his back pack. Instantly a panel on the top slid out as a helicopter blade popped out, and two handles slid out to the front. Grinning, Mr. Kamikaze took hold of the handles as the helicopter blade took him into the air over the square. "Explosive Copter Bombing!" The back of the backpack slid open as dozens of bombs dropped out. "Bombs are away, dude!"
Frank turned and ran from the approaching line of explosions, but was finally caught up in them, thrown to land several feet away, scorched. "Shaa, I dunno who you are, ninja dude, but I'm afraid you're toast; literally!" Laughing, he guided his copter towards where the ninja lay. Slowly, the shinobi began to rise, using his katana as a crutch. Standing straight up, he glared up at the air-borne pirate, cape fluttering in the wind. Raising his katana, he pointed it at him. "Tell me, Kamikaze; do you know the name of this sword?"
"Shaa, why would I care about some piece of metal, dude?" Frank raised his hand and ran a finger along the flat of the katana. "This blade is known through-out the world as Momotaro, one of the O Wazamono."
"This sword was given to me by my father, and it is proof of my status as a Shinobi. I was trained to defeat villains like you, and I will not fail in this mission!"
Sheathing Momotaro, he began to form a set of intricate hand signs. "Ninja Art; Speed of 10,000 Gales!" Turning, Frank ran, his speed triple that what it was before. Easily outrunning the bombing run, he leaped as he reached the wall, rebounding off of it and sailing towards Mr. Kamikaze.
"Shaa, dude, you aren't supposed to do that!" Instead of drawing his katana, Frank drew another slip of paper. "Tao Scroll; Shroud of Eternal Darkness!" Slamming the paper down onto the pirate's forehead, Frank grinned as darkness spread out around them.
Mr. Kamikaze looked around. The surrounding area was nothing more than an abyss of pitch black shadow. "Shaa, you think I'm afraid of the dark, dude? Get real!" Hearing a noise behind him, he turned and threw a bomb, but frowned as the explosion delivered nothing but silence. Another breeze whispered by on his other side, and he tossed another explosive, but this one also hit nothing but air.
This continued until Mr. Kamikaze lost it, tearing at his hair and snarling. "SHAA, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS, DUDE! FIGHT FAIR!" A pair of golden eyes lit up behind him. "Okay." Mr. Kamikaze began to turn...
"Ittoryu; Yami Oni Giri!" The darkness dispelling, Frank fell to the ground in a crouch, sheathing the Momotaro as Mr. Kamikaze fell to the ground behind him, sliced to pieces. "I told you...I will not die yet."
Gerald turned and began to walk back to Frank when a chattering sound caught his ears. "It can't be. Impossible." But when Gerald turned around, the marionette was indeed getting to it's feet. Quickly he snapped his head over to the unconscious puppeteer. Despite his lantern like eyes being shut, Mute was moving his hands back and forth. "He can even control that thing when he's unconscious!?"
Letting out another chatter, the doll extended it's two front arms, the fingers popping out and strings shooting from the holes. Gerald grimaced as the rope-like strings wrapped around his legs, tripping him to the cobblestones. Jerking it's arms in one direction, it tossed him like a wrangled steer into the nearby wall. Barely giving him a chance to recover, it threw him in the opposite direction, bashing him into the side of the fountain.
Now apparently tired of this game, the doll straightened up on it's back legs. Letting out a screech, it's chest popped open, revealing an array of whirling blades. Slowly the strings began to retract, pulling Gerald slowly towards them. "Hmmm, that's not good. I don't think I've understood what 'Cut to Ribbons' means until now."
Digging into his pocket, he brought out a match...but no match book. "Bugger. Well, this had better work." Scratching the end of the match against the ground, Gerald frowned as it produced nothing but empty sparks. "Come now Lady Luck, have you forsaken me completely?"
He smiled as the match burst into flame. Touching it the flame to the strings, Gerald grinned wider as the fire caught, shooting down and touching the marionette, which immediately burst into flame. Screeching in pain, the doll began to flail around, desperately trying to put itself out. Finally, it leapt over and into the fountain, the fire extinguished almost immediately. Slowly, it began to rise...until Gerald began to bash it in the head with his golf club, only stopping when he was sure that it was not getting up again.
Sighing, he walked over to meet Frank halfway. "Well, that's two down. Where's Jack?" Frank pointed. "Speak of the devil, and the devil appears." Indeed, Jack had appeared from one of the streets leading to and from the town square. Stopping in front of them, he began to breath air back into his lungs. "Okay...I think...I lost Bandock. How did...you guys do?"
Gerald shrugged. "Well, I nearly got cut in half and Frank nearly got blown up, but we're fine; no thanks to you, I might add." Jack glared at him. "Hey, I've had my own problems! Bandock chased me halfway around this town! He blew up a street with his breath!"
That was when the street beneath them began to rumble under their feet. Looking up at eachother, they nodded, then gulped as one. The three of them turned as Bandock pushed his way back into the square. Drifting his gaze to look at the three of them, the giant man's grip on his meat cleavers tightened. Baring his teeth and letting out a roar, he charged.
To be continued...
Now the Skull Pirates face the captain of the Butcher Pirates, the feared Bandock the Butcher. Quickly the three of them learn this name isn't just for show. Frank comes up with a plan to defeat him, but can they pull it off?
Next time, "Conquering the Giant! Escape from Charity Town!"
Attacks
Jack
Doku Doku no Top: Attaching one of his arms to his head, Jack spins around like a Top, knocking around anyone foolish enough to get in his way. Generally used in crowd situations.
Doku Doku no Retreat: Jack bolsters his courage, prepares himself...and runs away with his tail between his legs.
Frank
Tao Scroll; Firestorm Explosion: Frank tosses a Scroll enfused with the power of Fire, creating a large explosion of flame.
Ittoryu; Precision Slash: Frank executes a carefully aimed slash with his katana, dealing precise damage.
Tao Scroll; Absolute Zero: Frank tosses a Scroll enfused with the power of Ice, freezing an area solid.
Tao Scroll; Shroud of Eternal Darkness: Frank tosses a Scroll enfused with the power of Shadow, creating a blanket of darkness.
Gerald
Killing Blow; Hole In One Smash: Gerald executes a move you should most definitely not do at an actual golf course.
Bandock
Geki Geki no Bloodlust: Bandock infuses himself with his rage, transforming him from a generally genial man into a red-skinned berserker. Most normal attacks don't phase him in this form, and his attacks are more powerful, but in exchange his capacity for rational thinking is lowered severely.
Mr. Kamikaze
Explosive Roller Bombing: Zipping around on his roller skates, Mr. Kamikaze launches bombs everywhere. Lacks a certain amount of precision.
Explosive Copter Bombing: Activating the Copter mechanism stored in his backpack, Mr. Kamikaze drops bombs from up above.
General Terms
Momotaro: Frank's katana, named after the Momotaro from Legend. One of the O Wazamono.
O Wazamono: Meaning, "Great Grade Sword", the O Wazamono are 21 Swords considered to be masterpieces of craftmanship. No two are the same, and owning one is considered a great sign of honor among swordsman.
Malchior the Draco - I do believe you just gave me an idea for a new attack for Jack. Kudos.