East Blue - Yotsuba Region - Shells Town - Marine 153rd Branch - Rooftop

'Desert King' Sir Crocodile vs Marine Commodore 'Demon Spider' Onigumo

Crocodile figured Onigumo won't get down to fight him among the sands where he has an advantage, so he dissolved into sand flying up the building rapidly, before turning back into sand and swinging his hook at Onigumo. Ongiumo took out his two sabers and blocked Crocodile's hook attack. The clash makes a massive shockwave on the rooftop that would send any bystander away if there was any.

"Woah, what is this guy?!" Otto could barely see the fight from down there, but he was impressed by Crocodile's devil fruit abilities and the shockwave created from his clash with Onigumo. Onigumo pushed Crocodile away and slashed him, but the attack went through him. Crocodile tried to grab Onigumo's hand to dry it up but Onigumo jumped out of the way.

"A Logia User, huh? Haven't fought one in a while." Onigumo commented, not even fazed by Crocodile's abilities.

"Then you must know you have no chance against me." Crocodile has an arrogant smile on his face, he dashed towards Onigumo, attacking him repeatedly with his hook, but Onigumo dodges his attacks. Onigumo then attacks Crocodile, who takes the attack head on thinking it wouldn't affect him, but this time, Onigumo's attack cut through Crocodile, slashing his gut as he gasps in pain. 'What the hell is this? This guy has the same weird ability as Red Hair too?'

"You Logias think you are untouchable. I will make sure to humble you and make you wish you never stepped foot on this island." Crocodile is on one knee in pain, as Onigumo is facing him, not even sweating.

"I underestimated you, bastard. Now I won't hold back." Crocodile said as he got back to his feet. 'Desert Spada' Crocodile hit his trademark move where he sends a concentrated wave of sand that's as sharp as blade. However, Onigumo sidestepped it, the Spada touched his cigarette, dissolving it. Crocodile then tried it multiple times but Onigumo dodged every single one of them. Crocodile hit one last Desert Spada which Onigumo also evaded, but it gave Crocodile an opening to fly behind Onigumo and stab him in the back with his hook. But despite his efforts, Onigumo turned around and blocked it with his swords.

"Too predictable, you are gonna have to do more than that if you want to defeat me." Onigumo said, taunting the promising rookie pirate. Onigumo then charged towards Crocodile hitting him with his sword, but Crocodile was able to block his attacks with his hook, Onigumo attacked with one sword which Crocodile caught with his hook, this left an opening for Onigumo who tried to attack with his other sword but Crocodile untangled the hook and blocked the attack inches away from his chest. Crocodile transformed into sand and flew away, creating a distance from the Commodore. "You are not bad, pirate."

"This is taking too long, I've grown tired of seeing your ugly face." Crocodile said. Suddenly, he started moving his hand in a circular motion, which Onigumo was unsure what he was doing, nothing seemed to be happening either.

"What now, are you raising the white flag?" Onigumo asked.

"No." Crocodile answered, while still doing the circular movement with his hand. "This is your death flag." and as if on sync with Crocodile's words, waves of sand shot up from the ground around the building, surrounding the rooftop from all directions.

"Woah! What the fuck is going on?!" Otto said, he couldn't see the fight, but he was surprised by the sudden change of weather.

Onigumo's usually emotionless face became nervous and surprised. The waves of sand then turned into the shape of a barrage of arrows. "Dodge this, you bastard." Crocodile shouted at Onigumo with a confident smirk. 'Desert Fliches (Arrows)!' the volley of arrows are launched towards Onigumo from all directions. left, right, front and back, Onigumo got no place to go so he took all of them.

The arrows creates a massive wave of dust, covering the entire rooftop, obscuring any vision. Crocodile stood there looking at the dust to see if his attack worked. After the dust cleared a bit, he saw a shadow rising from the dust, but it wasn't the shadow of a man. The shadow had not two, not four, not six, but eight arms, and a huge circular body from behind the human-looking figure. Crocodile was flabbergasted by this, the shadow moved slowly towards him.

"What... what are you?!" Crocodile said as he took a few steps back from the approaching figure, with hints of distress in his voice. The figure stepped out of the shadow to reveal Onigumo, in his hybrid form, with six black arms holding sabers along with his regular ones, and a spider torso coming from behind the man.

"Now you have done it, pirate. You forced me into using my strongest form, playtime is over now." Onigumo charged at Crocodile with superhuman speed, unleashing an onslaught of attacks using all eight arms holding the blades. Crocodile couldn't keep up, he tried to block a few of the attacks, but every time he blocked a sword, seven others would slash through his body. Onigumo finally stopped his assault. Crocodile stood there, covered in scarlet. He dropped on his back, falling victim to the ruthless marine's assault.

Onigumo stood over Crocodile's half-dead body. "I haven't fought seriously in a while, but you are still too young to keep up with me. If you had fought me five years from now, you could've survived. But now I must kill you so you won't come back to haunt me." Onigumo said to the unconscious Crocodile.

"Sir, are you alright?!" Shu made his way to the roof, being alerted by Crocodile's Desert Fliches.

"Were you hoping that the day came where someone could keep up with me?" Onigumo mocked his underling.

"No, sir, that's not it at all!" Shu couldn't show his annoyance out of fear from the man.

"Take him to the dungeon. Use Seastone cuffs on him." Onigumo commanded, not even turning to face his subordinate. "And make preparations for his execution, he will be the next man to take the stand after this brat." Onigumo said, pointing at Otto, who gritted his teeth. Otto didn't see the fight, but he could tell that Crocodile's attack didn't work, not even an attack like that worked on Onigumo, that only brought more despair upon the man waiting his death.

"Yes, Sir!" Shu complied, dragging Crocodile's lifeless body to the dungeon.

"One down, two to go." Onigumo declared to himself.

East Blue - Yotsuba Region - Shells Town - Shore

While all of this was happening, a certain pirate ship docked on the island's shore, three familiar faces stepped out of it.

"What a nice town, now where's the closest restaurant?" Shanks said with a grin on his face.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! BELLE-MERE IS DANGER AND THIS SCARY GUY COULD VERY WELL BE TOO!" Buggy shouted, punching Shanks in the head.

"Red nose is right." Mihawk agreed.

"DON'T CALL ME RED NOSE!" Buggy shouted with comical shark teeth.

"Desert King immediately went to the base."

"HEY, DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"So we got no time to waste, we need to help him this instance." Mihawk said, doing just what Buggy told him not to do.

"Relax guys, Crocodile is a tough guy, he probably wiped the entire base on his own." Shanks chuckled. "Besides, if our opponents are too strong even for Crocodile, then we can't fight them with an empty stomach, can we? After all, we haven't eaten in over a day."

"I am not hungry." Buggy crossed his arms and looked away from the duo. But his stomach snitches on him by grumbling too loud that the duo could hear. "Grrr, stupid belly!" Buggy punched his belly angrily, sending it flying a few feet away. "AAAAAH, COME BACK HERE!" Buggy panicked, before reforming his body, but he at least got a laugh out of his two crewmates.

"It's not my fault none of us can cook you know. Crocodile was the only one, and I'd rather die than eat crocodile meat." Shanks mocked the crew before walking ahead of them.

"Fine, but let's make this quick." Mihawk agreed as he followed Shanks.

"HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" Buggy ran after them, and the crew indeed entered the closest restaurant.

East Blue - Yotsuba Region - Shells Town - Restaurant

"MORNING, GENTLEMEN!" Shanks shouted as he opened the door, attracting everyone's eyes.

"AH, MARINES!" Everyone freaked out by the sudden intrusion, but upon closer inspection, they found the guys looked more like pirates. "Oh, they're just pirates, what a relief." One of the civilians said calmly before returning to what they were doing, leaving the crew speechless with a large sweat drop forming on the back of their head.

'What an eccentric town...' Shanks thought to himself. They decided to ignore the town's strange behavior and walk to the closest empty table and sitting around it.

"Hey, mister!" the crew look around to see who was talking to them, but they can see no one. "Over here, sir." They still can't see anyone. "RIGHT BELOW YOU IDIOTS!" the crew look down to see a young girl, about 8 years old, standing next to Shanks. "Ah, I am really sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry!" the girl gets nervous from her outburst and bows multiple times to the crew while apologizing.

"Don't sweat it, you don't have to apologize." Shanks said as the crew nervously sweat at the weird young girl. "What is it, dear?"

"I am the waitress. Are you not from this town?" the girl asked.

"Nope, we are pirates as you deduced." Shanks answered.

"Yes, we are pirates, NOW GIVE US ALL OF YOUR MONEY OR WE WILL KILL YOU!" Buggy shouted menacingly, trying to take advantage of the situation, but he received a hit from Mihawk with his sword handle. "OW, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"I could ask the same, clown." Mihawk said in a calm voice.

"Pardon my friend, he is just joking." Shanks said to the girl. "After all, he doesn't look like a clown for nothing."

"HEY!"

"We are not hear to raid this town, we are just here because we need to have a talk with this Commodore Onigumo." Shanks said. As soon as he mentioned Onigumo's name, everyone started freaking out.

"Remember, Red Hair. This man is not the kindest individual to the people of this town." Mihawk reminded.

"Right. We mean no harm for you guys, we are here to save a friend, that's all." Shanks explained.

"Huh, did you say save a friend?!" the girl asked curiously.

"Our friend was captured by the marines in this town, so we are here to take her back." Shanks said with a determined voice.

"That's so cool!" the girl said excitedly with star eyes. "I have friends who I want to save from these evil marines too!" the girl said jumping in excitement. "Take me with you, please!"

"Ririka, come here now!" A woman came from the kitchen shouting at the girl. "Don't talk to strangers!"

"But mom, they are here to fight the marines. Maybe they will free big sis Eddie and big bro Otto!" the girl, Ririka, said with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Don't say something like that or you will get in trouble!" the woman shouted at her daughter again. "Besides, these guys probably can't win against the marines, so don't put your hope on strangers you just met." The woman then scanned the three strangers, looking at their faces closely, she then arrived at Mihawk and stared for a bit, before opening her mouth in surprise. "Wait, I know you, you are this infamous bounty hunter, 'Hawkeye' Dracule Mihawk!"

"DRACULE MIHAWK?!" everyone said in the same voice at the mention of Mihawk's name. "What is a notorious bounty hunter like you doing in this town where there are no pirates?!" one of the people sitting asked.

"I am not a bounty hunter anymore." Mihawk said in a calm voice. "Now bring us the food, we haven't eaten for a day." Mihawk demanded, but everyone looked at each other, gulping.

"Yes sir, you can have all of it!" everyone grabbed their plates and presented to Mihawk, as if they are offering a tribute in return for their lives.

"I wasn't speaking to you, I am not here to steal your food." Mihawk said irately, not happy about being treated like a bandit with no honor. "This is a restaurant, and we are here to buy food." Mihawk said, dropping a pouch of gold on the table, he made quite a fortune from his time as a bounty hunter, enough to keep him fed for a few months at least, he didn't expect to become a pirate while earning that money.

"About that, sir..." Ririka's mother said in a sad voice, which piqued the crew's curiosity. "We… we got no food left. We are out of stock." Ririka's mother said, which surprised the crew.

"WHAT'S UP WITH THIS STUPID EXCUSE, I HAVE NEVER SEEN A RESTAURANT THAT TELLS ITS CUSTOMERS THEY ARE OUT OF STOCK!" Buggy exploded. Silent filled the restaurant, it became apparent that what she said was not a joke or a prank.

"Wait, could it be..." Shanks said as Mihawk nodded. A realization came to both men's mind. "Is it because of Onigumo's food limitation laws?" Shanks asked. The townspeople were silent, Ririka's mother's eyes were closed and she looked down in misery. The crew put two and two together and figured the answer to the question was yes.

"Wait, so what the Marine said was true?! This guy really confiscated this town's food and water?!" Buggy asked in surprise, recalling Mozambia's story that they didn't entirely believe at first, thinking he was trying to scare them away from the island.

"Big Bro!" Ririka said, grabbing Shank's shirt and pulling it down to grab his attention. "You can eat my food. It isn't much, but it will fill your belly." Ririka said with an inviting smile on her face, as she offered her plate, which had barely any food for even one person. "Please take it, big bro!"

"Ririka, what are you doing?!" Ririka's mother shouted at her daughter.

"It's okay, if we feed big bro he will free the town for us, right?" Ririka said with a hopeful smile on her face. "They will save big sis Eddie and big bro Otto for us, right?" Ririka said as tears started forming in her eyes. The woman was holding her tears too. "This nightmare will end, right? Everything will be okay, right? Right? Right?!" Ririka asked, as if she is trying to live some delusional hope, constantly masking her fear and sorrow with this false hopeful smile.

But the mask started crumbling, tears started flowing from Ririka's eyes. Her mother was crying too, holding her mouth to not make any sound, even the townspeople watching this scene, some were tearing, others were barely holding their tears. Despite her age, the young girl who grew in these cruel circumstances was grasping for straws, doing whatever she can do to help the town, even if it meant she would starve to death.

As the girl was tearing, trying to hold herself together, Shanks puts his straw hat on her head. "Right." The girl looked up to see Shanks with a very determined and angry look on his face. "Everything will be okay. You can return the favor and feed me later." Shanks reassured the girl.

As soon as she heard Shanks' words, Ririka finally let her guard down and started crying, tears gushing from her eyes, finally finding a chance to let the tears that she held in for so long out. "Big Bro, please." She said, barely getting the words out of her mouth. "Help us!" Ririka begged. Shanks walked towards the door.

"Let's go." Shanks ordered.

"Yeah." Mihawk and Buggy said in one voice, following Shanks as they left the restaurant.

East Blue - Yotsuba Region - Shells Town - Marine 153rd Branch - Courtyard

The three men walk towards the marine base, they have made up their mind. The Captain, 'Red Hair' Shanks. The Former Roger Pirates Apprentice, Buggy 'The Clown. The Strongest Bounty Hunter of the East Blue, 'Hawkeye' Dracule Mihawk. Onigumo might have taken down 'Desert King' Sir Crocodile, but what he fought was only one member of this crew, now he has got the rest of the crew coming for him now.

"Open the gate." Shanks said menacingly to the Marine guards at the gate to the courtyard.

"You cannot pass, kid, go away." One of the marines told Shanks.

"No, you move. I got a word with your leader." Shanks said, but before the marines could react...

'One Sword Style: Wolf Slayer!' Mihawk dashed towards one of them and slashed through his chest with his sword, landing behind him within split seconds.

'Chop-Chop Cannon!' Buggy shot his hands at the other, stabbing him with his dagger claws. The two marines are taken down without fighting back.

"Buggy." Shanks ordered.

"Roger." Buggy split his body. 'Split!' Buggy finally got a change to try out Shanks' idea that he has been practicing since he joined the crew. He split his body into very small finger-size pieces at will. Not able to achieve grain-size separation as he was hoping yet, but that will do for now as his parts were small enough to get to the other side of the gate. 'Assemble!' Buggy reassembled on the other side of the gate, and opened the gate for them.

The crew walked into the courtyard, luckily there was no marines in the courtyard, so they walked to the only noticeable thing in the courtyard, which was the man tied to the pole. The man had brown messy hair, probably from his miserable situation.

"Hey mister, do you happen to be called Otto?" Shanks asked, walking up to the man who had his head down, probably not noticing them entering the courtyard even. The man looks up to face the three men.

"That's me, who the fuck are you?" Otto said in an unfriendly voice.

"Relax, my friend. Mihawk." Shanks called for his crewmate, not needing to word his orders to him or Buggy. Mihawk took his sword and swung it at the man swiftly. Otto closed his eyes expecting pain, but instead, the ropes dropped to the ground, perfectly cut, and he was completed untied now.

"Woah... Sorry dude, I didn't know you were gonna help me." Otto said, happy that he got his freedom. "You don't happen to have some food on you, don't you? I haven't eaten for days."

"This is not the time to eat, you won't find food in the town anyways, so let's finish this before lunch." Shanks said with a confident smile on his face. "Do you know where our friend, Belle-mere, might be? She was captured by the marine called Shu."

"She must be in the dungeon where Eddie is kept, I was also kept there, so I can lead you to it." Otto offered.

"Why in a rush, criminals?" a fifth voice entered the conversation, the four looked at the gate to the marine building to see Onigumo coming out of it. "You will all be going there very soon." Onigumo said in a threatening voice, with a confident smile on his face.

"Onigumo!" Otto said in an angry voice. Otto charged to attack him, but Shanks grabbed him before he could recklessly ask for his death.

"...!" Mihawk remembered his conversation with Shanks before they arrived.

"Since you are so determined to beat this Shu guy on his own, then I won't interfere in your fight, he's all yours." Shanks said. "However, I need to ask of you one thing."

"What would that be, Red Hair ?" Mihawk asked.

"Leave Onigumo to me." Shanks said with determination. "If he is really as strong as Shu made him out to be, then I must fight him myself. You get stronger by fighting strong opponents, so I will need to beat this guy before I can challenge bigger fish in the Grand Line."

"... Very well, Red Hair, he is all yours, I won't interfere." Mihawk promised.

"Both of you, follow me." Mihawk told Otto and Buggy. They seemed confused but they nodded their heads and followed him anyways.

'One-Sword Style...' Mihawk held his sword by its grip over his shoulder, with the tip pointing at Onigumo, slightly bending forward. 'Cobra Screw!' The aura of a giant cobra covers Mihawk, as he jumps forward, spinning around at superhuman speed, like a drill. Onigumo's eyes opened wide at this attack, he knew he had to dodge it or he was done for. So he instinctively jumped in the air to avoid it.

"Nice try, Hawkeye." Onigumo said, being better prepared for Mihawk's next attack now. But what happened wasn't what he was expecting. Mihawk ran towards the Marine Building, followed by Buggy and Otto. "Where do you think you are going?" Onigumo was about to shoot a web at the three of them.

"Heads up!" Shanks cried to Onigumo, who turned around while in air to face Shanks, only to see Shanks was also in the air, with his fist behind him. Onigumo's mind panicked and he didn't have time to dodge whatever was coming. 'Red Force Punch' Shanks hit his devastating punch, sending Onigumo down to the ground, as he creates a hole.

"You bastard…" Onigumo said angrily as he slowly stood up.

"Everyone!" Shanks called out. Mihawk, Buggy and Otto who were smiling looked at Shanks while running, already feet away from the entrance to the building. "Go save Belle-mere! Leave this guy to me." Shanks said with a determined smile on his face.

East Blue - Yotsuba Region - Shells Town - Marine 153rd Branch - Dungeon

Meanwhile in the dungeon, Crocodile was cuffed with seastone and thrown into the cell by Shu. He was all bloodied, which freaked out Belle-mere when she saw him.

"Crocodile! What happened to you?!" Belle-mere screamed. She couldn't believe the same Crocodile who was eating with them yesterday, now is fighting for his life.

"I am sorry, kid. I was too weak to save you." Crocodile said in a defeated voice.

"You mean you came here to save me?!" Belle-mere asked.

"You didn't ask for any of this, you are but a naïve girl who wanted to play pirate and party around." Crocodile said in a calm voice, which then got louder and turned into shouting. "Wake up, kid! You don't know what you got yourself into. This is the real world, the pirate life is not easy." Crocodile warned her. "You always put your life on the line the moment you become a pirate." Crocodile shouted.

"Crocodile..." Belle-mere said in a weak voice, not sure what to say to his words. The conversation caught the other prisoner's attention too.

"That's why I wanted to give you another chance." Crocodile said, starting to calm down. "If you somehow survive this, go back to your island and live a life without risk. Pirate life isn't for you."

"No..." Belle-mere said in a low voice, which caught Crocodile off guard. "You got it all wrong, Crocodile. I was well aware of the risks of being a pirate before I even joined. I knew something like this would happen. I knew I would meet despairingly strong opponents that could snap my neck in an instant. I knew I'd be in desperate situations like this where I need a miracle to survive." Belle-mere corrected Crocodile. "And even in this situation... I DON'T REGRET JOINING THE RED HAIR PIRATES!" Belle-mere declared with tears forming in her eyes.

'Is she serious?!" Crocodile thought to himself. 'This kind of resolve... she is just like her. This is something I could never have. Despite how strong I have become and how confident I look, I still don't have the guts and heart this girl has.' Crocodile thought, surprised by Belle-mere's strong words. 'She won't deny her loyalty to her crew even in this situation. I will never forgive Red Hair if can't save her.'

"BELLE-MERE, YOU BEAUTIFUL SOUL." Eddie said, with comical tears gushing out of her eyes. "I have never heard something so awesome. BELLE-MERE!" Eddie starts loudly crying, ruining the mood. A big sweat drop starts forming on everyone's back head.

"Thank you, Eddie..." Belle-mere said with a nervous smile. Luckily for them, their now awkward conversation was interrupted when they heard footsteps. It was Mihawk, Buggy and Otto entering the dungeon, approaching their cell. The marines guarding the cell were alerted and went to attack the pirates, but Mihawk made very quick work of them.

"MIHAWK! BUGGY! I knew you'd come to save me!" Belle-mere screamed, with tears of joying flowing from her eyes.

"Belle-mere, glad to see you are fine." Mihawk said with a smile on his face.

"BELLE-MERE!" Buggy said with a grin on his face. "Oh and you there too, Crocodile. I guess this guy kicked your ass." Buggy mocked, finally finding a chance to get one over Crocodile.

"You are a dead man when I get out of here, Clown." Crocodile said in a menacing voice which scared Buggy.

"OTTO, YOU ARE ALIVE!" Eddie said with a similar expression to Belle-mere.

"EDDIE!" Otto said, running to his friend and hugging her from behind the steel bars.

"Now now, lovebirds, save your merry reunion for later." One of the prisoners joked.

"WE ARE NOT LOVEBIRDS!" the duo shouted, their face getting red.

"Oh Eddie, didn't expect you to be so lovey-dovey, a moment ago you were giving a motivational speech. I misjudged you." Belle-mere mocked, sticking her tongue out.

"SHUT UP, BELLE-MERE!" Eddie shouted, getting more and more flustered.

"You do realize you are in a prison cell, right?" Mihawk reminded in a calm voice.

"Oh right!" Belle-mere and Eddie said in unison.

"Buggy, search his clothes while I search this one." Mihawk commanded, pointing at one of the guards.

"Right." Buggy complied as both men started searching the marine guards.

"Actually, Mihawk... the key to the cell and to Crocodile's cuffs are both with this marine with a veil on his face." Belle-mere said, taking note of that earlier.

"Shu, huh. That's killing two birds with one stone." Mihawk smiled. He was planning to fight him regardless, but now he has to fight him to get the key too.

"Alright then, we need to go look for this bastard Shu." Otto said in an angry voice as he ran across the hall and up the stairs. But as Mihawk and Buggy moved to the exit after him, they found Otto rolling down the stairs, with rust covering his neck, he was trying to catch his breath, the rust choking him.

"OTTO!" Eddie screamed.

"We don't need to look for him." Mihawk declared, as they heard footsteps descending the stairs. "He is here."

"AAAAAAH, LET ME IN, LET ME IIIN!" Buggy cowered as he split his body and re-assembled it inside the cell, escaping the danger.

"Now you are mine, Clown!" Crocodile said with an evil smirk, chasing Buggy around the cell comically, causing Mihawk and Belle-mere to sweat.

"Who the hell took out all the guards?!" Shu asked, as he made it down the stairs, but he wasn't alone. He was followed by his squad of marines. Shu sees Mihawk, who was gripping his sword. Shu smirked as he saw Mihawk. "Well well, if it isn't the weakling swordsman. Got another sword for me to rust?" Shu taunted, confident about his chances against the swordsman.

"Enough with your blabbering and fight me." Mihawk said angrily. "You will never get to rust this sword."

Red Hair Pirates Swordsman 'Hawkeye' Dracule Mihawk vs Marine Captain Shu

"We will see about that." Shu declared before dashing towards Mihawk, holding his hands forward to rust anything he touches.

'One Sword Style: Wolf Slayer!' Mihawk charged forward, time slowed down for Mihawk as he swiftly brought his sword forward, barely avoiding Shu's rusting hands and slashing him across the chest, landing behind him on one knee. Blood splattered from Shu's chest.

"You bastard, how did you survive that?" Shu said, gritting his teeth as he held his chest in pain, barely keeping himself together.

"You are too dependent on your devil fruit powers. You are not every swordsman's weakness as you claim if you are too slow." Mihawk explained as Shu gritted his teeth. But catching Mihawk off guard, Shu's squad stabbed him in the back with their swords. Mihawk gasped in pain from the multiple stabs in his back.

"MIHAWK!" Belle-mere and Buggy screamed for their friend.

"These bastards." Crocodile said angrily.

"You are not getting out of here alive, Hawkeye, even if you outmatch me!" Shu said smirking about the backstabbing.

"I will never lose to someone without honor as you are." Mihawk got up, barely able to still hold his sword. "Let me deal with these cowards first." Mihawk turned around. 'One Sword Style: Crescent Gale!' Mihawk at a very high speed swings his sword a half cycle, attacking all the marines in front of him simultaneously, creating a gale of wind that sends them away screaming. Mihawk turned around to face Shu who was inches away from rusting him, Mihawk instinctively stepped back, avoiding his attacks. He is got a panicked expression on his f ace.

"Don't drop your guard around me, Hawkeye." Shu said, swinging his hand around as he dashed forward, Mihawk kept jumping back to avoid his attacks. Mihawk could see a sword from one of the marines he knocked out earlier on the ground, so he stepped on it, launching it in the air as he stepped back, Mihawk then grabbed the sword midair and swung it at Shu who rusted it.

"Sword attacks don't work on me. You may have caught me off..." before Shu could continue, Mihawk slashed him across the chest with Gryphon, it was too fast that Shu couldn't rust it in time, Shu jumped away before Mihawk could attack him more.

"You were saying?" Mihawk smirked.

"YEAH, GET HIM, MIHAWK!" Belle-mere and Buggy fanboyed from behind the bars.

"Damn you, pirate! Making a mockery out of me." Shu got up, getting angrier. "Now I will show you my ultimate anti-swordsmen technique." Shu then took a deep breath, slapping his hand together. 'Full Body Rusting!' Shu rusted his body completely, his entire body was covered in rust. But he was unaffected by the rust since his fruit makes him immune to his own power.

'What the hell?" Mihawk thought to himself, confused by Shu's new plan.

"Now you can't touch me, great swordsman! Even if you slash me now, within the split second your blade touches my body, your blade will rust completely. So if you attack me, you lose your fancy blade!" Shu said with a crazy smirk on his face, which can be seen even behind the veil.

Mihawk took a step forward but he is starting to get dizzy. The blood loss from his multiple stab wounds are starting to get to him. 'Curses! I can't keep my balance. I got one final attack in me. If I attack him in this state, Shanks' sword will rust, thus breaking my promise to him. The only choice is to try... that technique.' Mihawk thought to himself, trying to find a game plan to get out of this situation.

"Now, die!" Shu dashed towards Mihawk. Shu stepped on a few of the marines' swords while he is running towards Mihawk, and indeed, they instantly rusted when he stepped on them. Shu dashed forward, attempting to touch Mihawk, just one touch wins the fight for him. Mihawk then thought of staying close to the bars of the cell. That's when Shu stopped his rampage.

"You surely don't want to risk missing me and rusting the bars by accident and letting the prisoners out." Mihawk threatened Shu.

"You coward!" Shu said gritting his teeth, before he started to smile. "Whatever, you can't touch me either. It's a stalemate." Shu said to Mihawk.

"Then you can't defeat me if we end it on a draw." Mihawk stated.

"I don't care about beating you, I am in a favorable position here!" Shu said with a smile.

"Oh but I do care about beating you, and that's precisely what I will do now." Mihawk declared.

"How do you plan to do that?" Shu asked confidently, knowing Mihawk has no answer.

'This technique would be perfect in this scenario. However, of all the times I tried it last night... I never made it work.' Mihawk gritted his teeth, his vision was blurring, he was about to fall down but he took a step forward. 'I will take the gamble here.' Mihawk grabbed his sword and held it behind his back, close his eye.

"What is he doing?" Buggy asks, wondering what Mihawk's plan is.

"I don't know, but he seems serious." Belle-mere answered.

"Hawkeye is clearly wounded. If this next attack doesn't work, we are done for." Crocodile analyzed in a calm voice.

'One Sword Style: Eagle Cannon!' Mihawk brought his sword forward, slashing the air. A slashing projectile with an eagle head aura shot at Shu, slashing him through the chest. Shu's eye became white as he coughed blood, falling to the ground, defeated.

Mihawk also fell down, dropping his sword and falling on his front. "Buggy... take the key and open the door." Said Mihawk. "I will take a short rest for now."

"Hey, this is not the place and time to sleep!" Buggy shouted at Mihawk, which earned him a punch to the head by an angry Belle-mere.

"Stop complaining and go get the key and free us, stupid!" Belle-mere shouted at Buggy with comical shark teeth.

"Yes, ma'am!" Buggy said in a scared voice.

Meanwhile on the outside, the fierce battle between Shanks and Onigumo has ended. One man stood over the fallen body of the other.

"What were you gonna become, boy?" the victor said, looking down on his opponent. "King of the pirate, what a joke." Onigumo told Shanks, who was on the ground, fallen on his face, defeated.

To Be Continued

Red Hair Pirates.

'Red Hair' Shanks (15) - Captain

Buggy 'The Clown' (15) - Lookout

'Hawkeye' Dracule Mihawk (19) - Swordsman/Navigator

Belle-mere (16) - Cook

'Desert King' Sir Crocodile (22) - ? - 27,000,000 Beri

Loguetown - Cocoyashi Village - Goat Island - Shells Town -

Author's Note

Uh-oh, Shanks is defeated ?! Will the crew be able to defeat this overwhelming opponent ? The monster trio of the crew are all down, how will they get out of this predicament!

On the good side, the crew got some new named attacks. I admit that I am bad at naming attacks, so this chapter was a bit of a challenge to me. anyways, hope you enjoyed the action in this chapter, and the drama too. I enjoyed writing this chapter the most, so I hope you guys similarly enjoy reading it. if anything feels jarring, let me know so I can learn from it in future chapters.

Anyways, don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed, any and all reviews are more than welcome, they keep me going, any criticism is welcome, and that's all for today, I bid you farewell for now!