Chapter 17 - Dueling with Bandits


The fight between Benedict and Wilt had marked the beginning of the battle, Zarina and Raphael against who knew how many Tartarus Bandits. A battle for the sake of a clinic, but an important one nonetheless. Raphael and Benedict had been kind enough to aid them, and they were going to return the favor in defending their home.

The anger so apparent on Benedict's face was a rare sight; before he had kept control over his emotions but now, with his clinic under siege, he held nothing back in its defense. The young doctor knew he had to deal with Wilt and the leader as soon as possible since they were the strongest threats to his home.

He gritted his teeth as the blade of his knife intercepted Wilt's sword, "I just hope that suicidal jackass of a pirate can hold the leader off…"

His eyes locked on Wilt. For the time being, he had his own problem to deal with.


The attack acted as the cue for all the other bandits to charge their targets. A group of bandits went straight for the clinic, where Raphael and Zarina stood ready to defend it. With the very obvious difference in numbers working against them, they moved closer together to watch each other backs during this encounter. It was a shame they couldn't fight back to back because they needed to cover their sides, but this was something over nothing.

The first one to reach was intercepted by Zarina, his blade coming nowhere near her before she stabbed his thigh and whacked him across the neck, effectively turning him into a ragdoll of a body, falling to the ground in a weirdly hilarious pose. Face to ground, mouth in the dirt, and partly blocking the path directly to Zarina. He was certainly going to feel it when he woke up.

The next few came as a small unit, four men to be precise, and not five seconds into battle range Zarina was certain she could stand there and let them deal with themselves. They were practically leaping over each other to reach the scholar, bumping into one another and bumping each other forward. Typical lone wolf mistake, but she could only watch with a sense of unreal wonderment as they managed to turn a four-on-one into a tangled mess of limbs and weapons without ever getting close to their actual target.

It was quality over quantity. Well, quality in the sense that she wasn't tripping over herself and slicing her friends open with her weapon.

However, as Zarina moved to relieve the Bumbling Bandits of their misery. "A good name for them.", she thought. Raphael stepped ahead of her much to her surprise and curiosity. She hadn't expected him to move as fast as he had. A cursory glance in his direction showed a pile of incapacitated victims, with a few others retreating to regroup.

Raphael caught the first bandit by surprise, not that it was very hard to do so, catching his flailing arm with both hands before pulling him straight out of the pile, twisting around and planting the bandit headfirst into the dirt. Zarina was sure she heard something crack.

The force of the pull untangled the other bandits but were given no time to regroup when a scalpel blade slid out of the old doctor's sleeve, the majority of it still concealed. Zarina wasn't sure, but for a moment she thought she saw a hooded cape and heard an eagle's cry. Weird.

With all the finesse and grace of a surgeon performing a complicated procedure, the scalpel became blurs of silver light in Raphael's hands. A minute later, all the bandits were on the ground, unmoving but almost looking unharmed. Zarina knew better: the cuts had severed tendons or cut deep into the muscles. The three bandits either couldn't move or were in too much pain to counter their primal instincts to stabilize themselves. She decided that the sharp end of that scalpel was better pointed at the bad guys.

Zarina allowed herself a moment to enjoy the surgical disaster the bandits had become before she refocused, eyes on the oncoming group of bandits coming their way; they had joined up with their friends and were heading for them in force.

As far as she could see, they were trying to surround her and Raphael or at least outflank them. They were having trouble lining themselves up, however, so she decided to ask her temporary comrade a very important question.

"And where did a respectable doctor such as yourself learn to do that with a scalpel?" Even as she spoke, she returned to her starting stance, one leg behind the other, elbow folded in and rapier pointing outwards.

The old doctor laughed for a single second, "I wasn't always a doctor, you know. I just happen to know how to hurt a body with this handy little thing after healing so many with it." Raphael twirled the blade, making the sun flash off the tiny blade.

Zarina rolled her eyes, "Of course. I see now that the bandits are perhaps not my greatest concern."

Two very brave, or very stupid, bandits had chosen this moment to push forward on their own, leaping over their fallen comrades'. Zarina took the initiative, stepping forward even as the bandit slashed down, her rapier piercing a bandit's shoulder and making him drop his cutlass before withdrawing her blade and backhanding him with the guard on her rapier. There was a satisfying thunk before the bandit dropped to the floor.

An already staggered bandit was met with a forearm chop to the neck, rendering him a floppy mess on the ground.

The old doctor smiled at the lady next to him, "I could say the same to you." He stated before looking at the bandit she had just taken down, "You're not exactly harmless yourself. Perhaps I would cause you some pain, but I wager I'd be in next week before I knew it.."

"We're hardly in the competition for the best fighters here," Zarina countered, her thoughts going to a certain trio she knew.

"That, I most certainly agree with."

Another deafening roar alerted them to another small group of witless bandits charging them as the rest watched and waited. A rapier and scalpel held firm, ready to face each and every one of them.


The leader, however, apparently had other, more important concerns. The battle raging around him had no visible effect on his composure, and his eyes locked on Rob's red hair, like a hungry fox finding a particularly juicy rabbit, a toothy grin spreading across his face. The average man might not have noticed such detail, but Rob was not your average man; the killing intent coming off this guy told Rob that someone wanted to see his guts out across the floor and that someone was not taking him seriously.

Not that Rob felt threatened: he's faced his share of desperate situations and compared to when he faced Bipo the Clown and his Shoot-the-Duck game (him being the titular duck), this was a mild annoyance at best.

"You're good at playing tough. Most people shake at the knees, standing where you are now." The bandit spoke as he and Rob began to circle each other, looking for an opening. "They say my mannerisms are quite intimidating."

"They need to get their eyes checked." Rob raised an eyebrow, "You look like a stray dog eyeing a piece of meat." The redhead half asked half taunted, causing the bandit to lose his grin. "I've put down my fair share of wild animals. Comes with the job, you know."

Rob saw the bandit tense up, as his eyes lit up in recognition. "I know that face. Headhunter of the Blue Seas, at least 100 bounties collected, and 32 confirmed arrests, including Bipo the Clown, whose Carnival of Blood and virgin-trading terrorized the West Blue for some length of time." He rattled off Rob's most famous exploit even as his expression visibly changed into one of excitement, "So, it seems I get a good fight out of it." The bandit chuckled, a deep rumble of a growl, "How very exciting. It's not often I get this pumped, you know. If you disappoint me, I'll tear your dick off and feed it to you before I kill you. Slowly." He grinned, "If you don't disappoint me, I'll give your head the place of honor above my fire! A fitting end for the famous Headhunter!"

Rob took a brief moment to bask in the fact that he was famous enough to be recognized by sight. Odd considering not many knew him by appearance alone. They usually needed a name or something to clue them in, but this guy knew him without the need of a name.

Rob paused, a small chuckle escaped his lips, "Really? Gotta admit that doesn't sound like how a predator kills its prey. That's sadistic, ain't it?" He titled his head to one side, looking away from the bandit for a moment. "As for mounting my head as a prize? That would be ironic given the circumstances of who you're up against."

The bandit bared his teeth, showing his canine-like maw in the process. "If you're so far beneath me in a fight that you let me rip your dick off then you've already disappointed me. It should be obvious, but those who get me excited and let me down don't live to tell the tale. I'm Cecil the Cunning, leader of the strongest bandit clan of the East Blue, raided countless islands, cut down any and all who attempted to stop me, and I hear a lot of what goes on around the East. I don't fear strong prey, but I especially despise those who disguise themselves as a predator."

Rob's cheeks puffed up slightly as he tried to suppress his laugh, failed at it, and ended up smiling at the bandit.

"What's so funny?" Cecil growled, eyes narrowing. "I do not recall telling a joke."

"Nothing," he replied between snorts; he'd started to laugh again the moment he tried to talk, "Eh, cute name is all. Really, it's a cute name. I mean, Cecil the Cunning!"

"Are you mocking me?!"

"No, no!" Rob failed to suppress his smile, before laughing, "Yeeeaahh~"

"It's not a name or title to be taken lightly!" Cecil was visibly bristling now, and he pounced, closing the gap between himself and Rob at an impressive rate. Rob had to admit the guy was no simple pushover: his attack was feral but practiced, obviously no stranger to battle and blood. However, it lacked any intelligent movement.

Though the fact that Rob had the leisure to see all this even as his enemy got close was something that spoke for itself. Rob dodged the strike with relative ease, the blow meant for him leaving an impressively neat crater in the ground where he once stood.

"Good one. Not bad at all." Rob complimented, even as he dashed closer in a blur before hitting Cecils' ribcage with a solid palm strike. Cecil took the brunt of the strike side-on, and the blow had enough force behind it to knock him a solid twenty feet further into the nearby woods.

Cecil was quick to recover, slamming both his fists into the ground to catch and stabilize himself before turning his gaze toward the bounty hunter.

"Is that truly all you could muster?" He taunted, despite the fact he was catching his breath. A strike to the ribs from Rob seemed to knock some wind out of him.

"If I'm honest? No." Rob replied, Cecil in his peripherals as he strolled around Cecil, circling him for a moment before coming to a stop.

Cecil roared, teeth bare, as he once again charged the bounty hunter. His movements resembled a nimble big cat, bouncing on its feet as he pounced for its prey.

Cecil began to bounce from place to place, bounding off small boulders or flying off tree trunks, in a circling manner around the redhead. However, Rob remained standing in place, facing the same direction. He didn't really need to follow his attacker, he already knew what he'd do.

Cecil landed one last time, his fingers digging into the bark of the tree he held onto, and pounced at the bounty hunter from behind, aiming for his neck.

Typical hunting behavior, predictable but effective: strike from where your prey can't see you. Doesn't work if it's not prey, as Rob was about to show him.

Sidestepping just out of reach of those claws (he had to admit they looked sharp enough that he didn't want the attack to connect), Rob twisted on one foot and kicked out. Cecils' claws missed its mark as he sailed past, but was once again struck with a fierce kick to the side of his ribs, in the same area he'd gotten hit. Even before his target had landed, Rob had already started walking in his direction.

Cecil's body sailed sideways through the air a good ten feet. He recovered with a rough, mid-air tumble, before landing with a thud on all fours like a cat. Rob whistled even as he sped up; it was clear this one knew how to fight, regardless of whether he was a match.

Not even having a chance to counter, he was struck again. This time taking a kick straight to one ear now that Rob had the leisure to aim. His body tumbled across the ground even as his head rang, digging up chunks of ground along the way. As soon the ringing stopped and his head cleared enough, he slammed his fists into the ground and pushed himself upright, leaving another crater below him.

Rob walked closer to him, casually, one hand in his pocket, the other adjusted the hat atop his head. "Wow. You still have that kind of power after all that? Gotta say you're persistent if nothing else."

"If a predator gave up every time they failed to catch their prey, they'd starve, they'd never survive if they simply accepted defeat!" Cecil crouched, over, hunching over like a wild animal trying to intimidate its prey with size. A throaty growl escaped his mouth, fangs bared for the world to see.

"Wild Hunt!"

Rob rolled his eyes and prepared for yet another attempt on his life.

Just an average day, right?


Wilt had come to a swift conclusion during her little spat with the young doctor. Sword versus knife, skill versus physical ability, experience versus willpower. He was a threat, that was certain, but she could handle him. What she couldn't was the rest of this depressing carnival of a battle.

This battle wasn't going how Wilt had been expecting it to; she had expected another routine fight. It was not an unreasonable expectation by any stretch, but as things were, it would seem life had thrown her a curveball, and a very painful one at that.

The redhead and the woman. And while they both left an impression, she knew the redhead by reputation.

The Headhunter of the Blue Seas.

A well-known bounty hunter unless you went to the truly backwater places. His presence alone was enough to make Wilt consider calling off the operation, but much to her annoyance, the not-so-cunning bandit chief, Cecil, had come up with the brilliant idea to fight him one on one.

And although she too noticed the bounty hunters' injuries she knew not to underestimate the man either. He's set his sights on a lot of targets in the past, they tried to kill him before he did it to them, and they ended up being part of the reason he was given the name HeadHunter.

The woman, on the other hand, was a complete mystery; she heard no rumors of a partner or fellow bounty hunter resembling her. Nor did she appear to be a bounty hunter, not upon closer inspection, however, Wilt would learn of the woman's role in due time.

Her eyes eventually refocused on her opponent, the younger doctor who occupied the clinic.

It was quite apparent he was furious right now, who wouldn't be if something you cherished was under siege?

But to Wilt and her superiors, this was just business.

He stood across from her, eyes trained on her like that of a hunter. His knife in hand, held in a backward grip, a strong stance, and one fist forward ready to push past her defenses.

Credit where it was due, Wilt had to admit that the young doctor was strong. Perhaps the strongest of Loguetown's three known defenders. However, with the addition of a few new faces, he dropped a few places. How many? She couldn't say as she had not truly seen them in action, only through reputation did she know of her opponents.

Odds had swung far from their favor.

The blur of movement out the corner of her eye alerted her that the young doctor had moved to strike her, this drew her from her inner monologue back to her opponent in earnest.

Blades clashed, knife against sword, locking for the briefest of moments, before deflecting offside. Wilt flipped backward through the air, missing the backhanded swipe from Benedict.

"Is this a fight or a dance?" Benedict called out to her as she landed with grace further away from him. He flicked his knife around his hand and aimed it toward his opponent. "You haven't even swung back yet, quit wasting my bloody time!"

Wilt slowly drifted her eyes across his form, maintaining her own stance if he tried anything, before flicking them back to the carnage going on near the front of the clinic. Much to her surprise, the aged doctor and woman had defeated more than half their total forces just between the both of them. Whilst it did appear that they needed to put effort into beating those fools, it was still a noteworthy accomplishment.

Her eyes eventually landed on Cecil and the bounty hunter in the distance, it being quite evident that Cecil had yet to actually harm the redhead. Although Cecil didn't appear all that hurt either save for a few scuff marks and maybe a bruise. Considering the smile on the Headhunters' face, he was obviously toying with him.

Judging by the fact that the red-haired bounty hunter had managed to lure Cecil away from the clinic, by more than sixty feet, and was taking his time in the fight, Wilt knew there was a plan of some kind involved.

His strategy had matched her own, as she had planned to lure her opponent away from the clinic, yet that had failed. Her stubborn opponent refused to leave a certain radius of the clinic, eyes flicking to the structure, and comrades guarding it on occasion as if to make sure it was still safe.

Her plan failed, but the bounty hunters had not.

That alone was cause for concern, and as Wilt's infuriatingly calm mind very helpfully reminded her, she had a lot more to be concerned about.

Wilt sighed, "Honestly, I'm starting to believe this endeavor was a waste of my time as well." She replied to the young doctor before dashing in for an attack of her own.

A series of small thrusts and stabs meant to push the doctor back, to her surprise and annoyance he held his ground, blocking most in the process. A few slipped through but he managed to dodge them quite swiftly, save for one that left a small graze across his cheek.

Truly a worthless wound.

A speedy backslash of his knife forced her to block with her own blade before leaping back gracefully once more.

"You're not going to wear me down," Benedict stated, rolling his shoulders and flicking the blade between his fingers. "I'll go all day if I have to bitch. Nobody will harm this clinic under my watch!" He shouted toward her with a surprisingly calm tone. "This is my home! You will not harm it!"

Her eyes met his, sharp as steel and resolute in their actions. Wilt could see the young doctor would sooner die than let this island, and clinic, fall.

Wilt cocked her head to the side, looking away for a brief moment before releasing a breath.

"At this point, I should just cut my losses and fall back," Wilt thought to herself before raising her blade toward her opponent. "The Boss will want to know about this, but more importantly who exactly screwed his business plans in the East Blue."

Wilt dashed toward her foe, blade angled back at waist height. Benedict stood firm like a tree as he caught the swing of her blade with his own knife's edge.

Wilt pushed their blades upward which provided a small opening for her. She flicked her arm in a downward motion, a spherical pellet flew from within her sleeve to the palm of her hand.

With the small opening she made moments ago she hit Benedict on his chest with the heel of her palm, and although he wasn't stunned by the strike the effect she had desired was instantaneous.

The small pellet exploded into a thick cloud of dust and smoke, completely covering a fifteen-foot radius from view, both within and outside the smoke cloud.

Although it obscured his vision, it didn't faze nor stun Benedict. One didn't need eyes if you used observation haki.

But to his surprise, he could not sense Wilt around him, nor any harmful intent against him. The doctor bounced on his feet before jumping out of the smoke, eyes darting around the area in search of Wilt.

Neither haki nor his senses could find her.

"Where the bloody hell did that evasive bitch go?" He thought to himself, as he slowly lowered his blade to his waist. The smoke behind him had begun to dissipate, no longer able to hide anything from view.

There was no sign of Wilt as if she disappeared, all it took was a few seconds of a broken line of sight and she just up and vanished.

Benedict scoffed, his foe fled the scene. Her reasons in full might have eluded him but he figured it was their current odds. Their main forces taking on his mentor and young lady, their chief taking on the redhead, and he taking Wilt head-on.

That's when he realized why she must have fled.

Every other time Loguetown was raided, it fell to Crow, Raven, and himself to drive them off. Whenever Pok and Bhorn were defeated, wounded, Wilt would order a retreat. They usually got away with something of value, weapons, cash, food, and so on, but this time Wilt had fled before any of her comrades had, even before her leader had yet to fall. Where were Crow and Raven? Pok and Bhorn?

The usual suspects were missing, but what changed?

It was the redhead, and his comrade, that she feared. Was there more? Had those two not come alone?

"So, I have him to be grateful for… " Benedict thought, "Seems there is more to them than meets the bloody eye."

But he steeled himself, turned, and moved to engage the bandit chief himself. Now was the perfect time for an ambush.


Rob understood injuries.

He'd been injured before in his life, some wounds even worse than the one he sustained recently. Rob knew you had to pace yourself, not tear stitches, don't overexert yourself, or strain anything.

Rob knew all this.

And he promptly ignored it every single time.

But dealing with Cecil?

Yeah, that wasn't very strenuous. He's had more intense workouts than this! Cecil was supposed to be the strongest here, although he suspected he hasn't gone all out yet, it was disappointing. But even then, Rob had his doubts that Cecil would pose much of a threat even whilst injured if he had decided to go all out.

Not like this, he wouldn't.

"For a famed bounty hunter, you don't seem to fight with intent," Cecil growled out, dragging his nails across tree bark, tearing it like how a panthers claw mark would.

Rob just rolled his eyes at the display, did he think that type of shit was intimidating? Well, the bounty hunter was going to be a bearer of bad news if he did.

"A fight like this, I can do in my leisure."

Clearly, that answer wasn't good enough for him as he started fuming again. His eyes glared daggered at the injured bounty hunter but Rob remained unfazed, as per usual.

"Fine!" Cecil roared, "If that's what you think then-"

The bandit never got the chance to finish as he was slammed by a punch to the face from Benedict, rushing off from the side.

Rob gave the doctor a nod of approval, even if he had sensed Benedict on approach. Whilst he hadn't done much damage or thrown the bandit very far, it was still a noteworthy hit.

Rob suspected that Cecil was too angry to have noticed the good doctor sneak up on him, but judging by said bandits expression, he wouldn't be making that mistake again.

"You!" Cecil snarled at Benedict, changing stances once again. "I'll gut you for that!"

Benedict remained in his own stance but glanced over to Rob. "Having trouble taking this guy down, are we?"

Rob just smiled at him, "Nah, he's not even a workout." His response being as nonchalant as ever.

"You better not have thorn a bloody stick out," Benedict hissed, eyes back on Cecil, "We just spent our precious time closing you up."

"You don't need to worry about me." The bounty hunter replied with a grin, "I made it just fine getting here, didn't I?"

The young doctor had no snappy comeback for that, nor had he the time for one as he was forced to block a strike from Cecil.

Much to Benedicts' annoyance, he had to admit, the bastard had some strength to him. Luckily, the doctor was no slouch as he pushed him off, putting distance between the two.

"So, you're the apprentice doctor on this island." Cecil grunted, glancing between the two before him, "I've heard about you, a real pain in the ass for my men."

"Their pain is my pleasure," Benedict replied cheekily with an undertone of disgust in his voice. Rob remained quiet but smiled all the same as he stepped closer to Benedict, ready to assist if needed.

"Seeing as you've heard of Benedict," Rob started, this smile ever-present, "Why don't you introduce yourself." He gestured to Cecil as if waiting for him to do so.

Cecil just narrowed his eyes on the bounty hunter, growling at him, "I will not! You will just continue to insult me with your insolence!"

"I'm gonna do that regardless," Rob countered, causing Benedict to smirk to himself.

"Tsk, I'll rip this doctor apart first," Cecils' eyes locked back onto the delinquent doctor, "I'll kill you after, HeadHunter!"

Benedict paused for a moment in surprise, head-turning to face the injured redhead. "You're the HeadHunter of the Blue Seas?" He questioned.

His answer was a resolute nod, "Ay, that's me. Seems like my reputation is well known." Rob just brushed it off like it was nothing, which, to be fair, to him it wasn't a big deal.

Benedict shook off the news, "I don't even wanna know what a bounty hunter of your status is doing here, or how you became a pirate in the first place." Benedict stepped forward a few paces ahead of Rob, "I'll deal with this guy, I don't need you tearing a bloody stitch on me."

"Appreciate the concern," Rob stated neutrally, allowing Benedict center stage for this one, "I'll step in if needed."

With the opponents decided, Cecil started circling around Benedict. "I've heard of you before, both you and your mentor." Cecil began, a cocky grin on his face, "I've been told about your abilities, your style." His eyes flickered in the direction of the clinic, "What you fight to protect."

Benedict glared fire at the bandit leader, "I'd sooner die than let you have your way with this island."

Cecil cackled loudly before smirking, "But I have been this whole time! Every raid was mine! Every stolen good was mine!" His sickening smirk grew wider, "Every life taken was mine!"

His words silenced the area, leaving only a faint breeze, and a rustling of the trees as the only source of sound around them. Both Benedict and Rob fell into an eerie silence.

Rob remained quiet, neutral, his expression near unchanging, but eyes like steel locked onto Cecil. The bandit leader actually found himself flinching under his stare, it was as if his stare told him he was dead. That his next bout with the bounty hunter would be a bad one for him.

It truly spoke of the bounty hunters' fearsome reputation that he could do that to someone with a simple stare.

But Benedicts' reaction, being the more vocal of the two, drew the bandit chiefs' attention, "I've seen what you've done to the people here!" Benedict spoke, his voice low but rising with each word. "The people of this island have suffered for too fucking long." His voice rising again, "Everything that plagues this island and its people is your fucking fault!"

Before Cecil could respond Benedict closed the distance, drawing his knife from its holster before jabbing at Cecil with the pommel.

Cecil took the hit to his pectoral, winced, but swung a heavy right in return. His palm and clawed fingers struck the doctors' arms as he'd dropped it to protect his ribs.

Two, thin claw marks across his bicep weren't much to worry about as Benedict countered by pushing off his back foot before smashing his elbow into the bandits' face. The force was enough to stagger him, which Ben capitalized on by striking Cecil across the chest with his knife.

The cut was shallow, much to Benedicts' disappointment.

Cecils' reaction was faster than expected as Benedict was slammed by the bandits' forearm, lifting him off his feet as Cecil ran with the doctor before throwing him into, and through, an admittedly small tree.

Ben went through it in a tumble but rolled back to his feet on the other side, left hand outstretched, knife in his right ready to counter or parry. Splinters of wood and bark bounced off him harmlessly but littered the ground they stood on.

"Predators' Instinct!"

Cecil disappeared in a blur, and re-appeared behind the young doctor, his arm and hand outstretched like a claw, ready to slash Ben at the neck and spine.

But Benedict had sensed the attack, anticipated where he'd reappeared, and was just fast enough to avoid a cripply wound across his spine.

However, it was not fast enough to completely avoid it as Benedict spun on his heel, twisting his upper body as he did, so the attack merely cut his shoulder. The wound still cut deep enough as the three claw marks had blood erupt out of them but it didn't reach the bone.

The doctor countered with the uninjured arm that held his knife and slashed at Cecils' ribcage. The speed of the attack had the two shoot past each other, before spinning back to face each other.

Cecil maintained his feral grin, whilst Benedict narrowed his eyes at the bandit chief.

Much to his annoyance, Ben had to admit that Cecil was stronger than expected. Every time Loguetown had been raided in the past, Benedict was the one to call upon. His strength, alongside Crow and Raven, was enough to push back the usual suspects, that being Pok, Bhorn, and Wilt, but Cecil was stronger than they were. At least, he was stronger than Pok and Bhorn.

Then a thought popped into his head.

If that was the case, then how the hell did Rob manage to hold him off with ease? Benedict had heard of the bounty hunters' reputation on occasion, heard rumors too, but the man had just had surgery!

"How the bloody hell did he stave this guy off so well whilst in that state?" Benedict thought, his still intently focused on the bandit chief. "And judging by Cecils' own injuries, he hasn't gone all out yet either."

But unfortunately for Cecil, Benedict had his own ace up his sleeve.

Cecil dashed toward the doctor, swinging his hands wildly toward in unpredictable directions, the doctor as he was forced to backpedal, either evading the hit or only being cut ever so slightly.

Cecil forced Ben back a good twenty feet before Ben countered with a well-timed slash to the bandit chiefs' forehead. Blood sprayed from the wound far worse than any of Benedicts'.

Cecil rolled back to a standing position, blood now trailing down his face. But he wasn't the only one bleeding, as the good doctor had a few cuts of his own with little trickles of blood leaking from each open wound.

Although Cecils' bleeding was worse, the bandit chief knew that was a given.

"Are you trying to blind me with my own blood?" Cecil sicked his lips as he felt the blood trace past them. "A cut to the forehead does make one bleed badly, doesn't it?"

"That it does," Benedict affirmed, before a small smirk of his own formed, "But I did not attempt to blind you." Ben changed stances, from one that stood ready to counter, to one leaning forward, ready to push an attack of his, seemingly, "That was honestly just some bloody payback for the cuts you gave me, you son of a bitch."

Cecil merely continued to grin at the doctor, seemingly unaffected by the young doctors' smirk. Yet off to the side of the battle, Rob had noticed, and he could tell Benedict planned for that.

As an outside spectator, and with his experience, he could tell that Benedict had let Cecil cut him excessively on his retreat. Why? Rob couldn't say, but he knew the doctor had wanted it so.

And he could Cecil couldn't have cared less.

"Predators' Instinct!"

Cecil disappeared in a blur yet again, only this time he made his movements even more sporadic, appearing randomly from different angles as he circled the doctor.

The bandit leader wanted to catch Ben off guard, spook him with his disappearing act as a way to find an opening.

Appearing to Benedicts' dead side, Cecil threw a kick in his direction heel first with surprising speed. Rob wondered if it would it.

And to his surprise, it did.

But it didn't hit Benedict directly.

And Cecil was in for a surprise, as his kick slammed into a red substance.

All parties involved knew what it was, they'd all seen plenty of it in the past.

Blood.

"Hardened Clot!"

The young doctors' eyes peered over his blood shield, named Hardened Clot, eyes cutting into Cecils' before he pushed back and threw the bandit chief off balance. With a small opening, Ben jumped up, spinning backward, and back handed slashed Cecil across his chest.

The bandit was forced to backpedal to avoid most of the damage, leaving only a gash across his pectorals again, but with a little more blood seeping from them.

Both the bandit and bounty hunter watched the young doctor as he controlled the blood with a form of psychokinetic power. Rob immediately understood it was a devil fruit, and he had a reasonable guess as to which one.

"The Chi-Chi No Mi." Rob stated neutrally, neither impressed nor disgusted by the appearance of such a devil fruit. Just simple stating a fact.

Benedict didn't even turn to the bounty hunter as he responded, "Right you are, HeadHunter." The young doctor demonstrating some of his power as he moved his arms, the flow following as he pulled the fresh blood from his own wounds, like a blood bender, "Surprised?"

"Surprised," Rob freely admitted, "But not impressed." The redhead added with a cheeky smirk and a shrug of his shoulders.

The young doctor scoffed but remained focused on his opponent.

Ben held out his hand, blood began to be pulled through his skin, forming strands of blood flow.

"I don't normally have to use my devil fruit against the likes of those bastards, Pok and Bhorn, but you're a different kind of you sick fuck." Benedict called out to Cecil, he raised his blood-free hand to his face, and in a strange turn of events, blood seeped from his eyes, strands going from his eyes to the tips of his fingers before form one thicker flow.

Bleeding from the eyes? Nice imagery there.

Both Cecil and Rob remained unfazed by the display though. Regardless, the young doctor stepped forward, blood flowing around him like a shield, ready to strike and counterstrike at any moment.

"I'll bleed you worse than this for what you've put this island through." Benedict declared before making his own move, rushing forward, one hand covering his front whilst one trailed behind, gathering blood.

Ben swung his arm before reaching Cecil, but the blood that followed slashed outward in the direction Ben had swung. Cecil dodged to the side as the blood flow blade sliced a tree in half that was directly behind the bandit.

"Blood Punch!"

Swing back on his front foot, Benedict punched in the direction Cecil had dodged, a narrow stream of blood in the shape of an enlarged fist collided with the bandit who blocked the strike by covering his chest in an X shape, his forearms absorbing the hit.

The force was enough to send the bandit skidding backward, his feet digging into the ground as he did.

Keeping the pressure up, Benedict dashed forward and jumped into the air above Cecil, a good ten feet.

"Blood Pressure!"

Benedict pooled the blood into one, larger, and thicker liquid stream before manipulating it into a downward pillar slamming into the ground where Cecil stood.

The bandit chief dodged it, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the small shockwave the strike created. The force was enough to push Cecil backward, the bandit nearly falling as he did.

Benedict landed and charged forward.

"Blood Ram!"

Blood hardened into a combination of a ram and shield in front of the doctor, attached to his body and arms, both used for blocking incoming attacks and slamming his opponent with sheer blunt force.

The attack hit with a crack but much to Bens surprise, he had been stopped in his tracks. He peered over his blood ram to find his opponent had caught his attack.

Cecils' face was buried behind his arms, facing toward the ground so Benedict couldn't see his expression, his hands outstretched holding back his shield.

Except, he'd pierced his shield. It didn't penetrate far, but he could feel his hardened shield fracturing. That's when Ben noticed his opponents' hands.

They weren't hands like that of a human, they were claws like an animal.

Ben was suddenly pulled off his feet, spun around by the shield he was still attached to, and thrown across the forest opening in a tumble as he bounced across the ground.

All the work he'd done pushing the bandit back was undone in a single throw.

The doctor recovered from the throw, having used the blood as protection from any impacts, but he still looked worse than he probably was.

He heard foot steps approach, slow and casually, from behind, even as his eyes found Cecils' form in front of him. It must have been Rob coming over to join him.

"Nice recovery," Rob commented, confirming who it was that followed up behind him.

Benedict merely grunted in acknowledgment and dusted himself off slightly.

But a low, dark, chuckle drew their attention. Both focused in on the bandit chief as he stood away from them, standing over twenty feet from their position.

"So, you have a paramecia type devil fruit?" The bandit hissed out, "The weakest kind." He scoffed at the end before looking the doctor in the eye, a savage grin on his face and a dangerous glint in his animal-like eyes.

Cecil leaned down, wordlessly, into a four-legged stance as his body started to shift, and change. Fur sprouted from his body, dark black in color, his shoulders widened, his muscles grew. His legs shifted in shape to that of a big cat. Teeth sharpened, fangs out, a snout formed on his face, and his claws extended out, ready to maim flesh.

A few seconds was all it took for Cecil to go from a man to a beast.

A Panther, to be precise.

"A zoan fruit, huh?" Rob muttered to himself as he watched the bandit leader, "And a predatorial one at that. A panther." The ex-bounty hunter sighed to himself, "That explains all that stupid predator n prey talk…"

It also meant that the bandit hadn't gone all out yet, but to be fair, neither had Rob, by a long shot.

Cecil cackled as he stood tall to his full height, well above the doctor and bounty hunter, his beast form easily being twice their size. His strength and size being far more profound in his hybrid form!

His animalistic eyes focused on the pair, watching their bodies carefully like a predator would their prey.

The young doctor seemed to be the worse off than the bounty hunter, and the weaker of the two too, his eyes like steel blades wishing he could cut into him with his narrowed expression. The ex-bounty hunter, much to Cecils' anger, still didn't seem all that impressed if at all!

"Wounded prey makes for an easy hunt." Cecils' low, voice snarled out, his teeth bared for his foes to see, "I'm hoping for a struggle at least."

While Ben took a defensive stance, Rob remained relatively passive. His hat blocking his face as he glanced off to the side for a moment.

Cecil noticed his lack of attention and snarled at the redhead, "Still not interested in this fight, HeadHunter?" His voice rumbling with anger the longer the bounty hunter mocked him. Even Ben had glanced over to his ally in confusion. You'd think a Zoan user would earn at least some form of acknowledgment, but the redhead just didn't care.

Robs' head turned back in the bandit chiefs' direction. His hat still blocked his eyes, but both parties present could make out the cheesy smile on his face.

"I might not be interested in a fight with you," Rob began, his smile only growing as he spoke, eyes narrowing at the bandit chief in both amusement and anger, "But do you wanna know who is?"

"Who-" He didn't have time to finish his sentence as glowing orange, heated fist collided with Cecils' cheek.

The force of the unforeseen strike sent Cecil tumbling across the grassy ground of the surrounding forest. On the first impact, Cecils' body tore up ground and dirt chunks as he slid across the ground.

"Me!" Yelled the individual as he stood there with his superheated fist outstretched and an amused smile on his face.

Both of Cecils' previous opponents stood off to side with completely different expressions after seeing what just happened.

Whilst Benedict was surprised, and slightly confused, as to who the hell had just slammed the bandit like they had. His eyes focused on the individual before him, who was… glowing? On second thought, it seemed like it was a super heated limb like that of a heated blade. The young doctor came to one conclusion on the source of the power: a devil fruit. Having one himself, he could comprehend a devil fruit when he saw one, and this guy clearly had one.

Rob was just as casual as ever, his only expression was that of a simple smirk. Benedict was about to speak up but the bounty hunter beat him to it.

"Oi, Itzal," Rob called out as he stepped closer to his comrade, with Ben taking glances between the two. He could breath a sigh of relief as it appeared they were allies, but now the third wheel had the doctor wondering who he was in relation to the HeadHunter.

He'd find out later after this mess was finished.

"Rob!" Itzal responded with a small smile, "Good to see you all patched up!" Gesturing to his comrades' bandages. "Everything good?"

"Ay," Rob nodded, "I'll be back to full health in a day or so thanks to the work of two doctors." He tilted his head in the direction of Cecil as he picked himself up on all fours. A fitting position given his partner hybrid form. "He's the last of our problems, Cecil, the big boss!" Amusement seeping into his tone as the words big boss. "Either I can take care of him or you can, how do you wanna play this?"

"I'll fight him!" Itzal answered, shifting into a fighting stance, "You take your friend over there back to the clinic and help Zarina out." The young captains' smile turned into an excited grin, his eyes solely on Cecil who was now growling at him in return, "I'll deal with this guy."


AN:

Man, it's been a long time… When I first started this chapter, long ago, it kicked my ass and burnt me out. Hopefully, I can get through this Arc (which I feel is the problem Arc at the moment), finish this Saga after Reverse Mountain, and move onto the Grandline where most of my creative and fun ideas await! That might get me going again. Maybe.

One thing I wished I'd done was to focus more on the impact of this arc, I wish I could rewind time and do over the entire pacing of the Loguetown Arc but for the time being I can't.

I reworked some World Building parts and as such have created a new division in the Marines/Navy to replace Cipher Pol. Let's see if I can hold to this story better with a plan in place.

Also, plenty of references as usual in this chapter.

Disclaimer, I obviously don't own One Piece (For Shame). All OC' go to their respective owners and such.

AlcatrazDGold - Peace!