I have...posted another chapter!

To be honest, I kinda like this chapter. It's just fun for me to write. I don't really have a lot to say other than thank you for at least giving this fic a chance. I'm still just a newbie writer but I'm hoping at leastyou guys can get a kick out of this.

Onto the reviews! Or at least the only review.

jure rollo: Thank you for at least sticking around! And don't worry! I'm planning to add a max of 3 or 4 crossovers. Elements of other franchises might be present but otherwise it's those 3 or 4 franchises that will be the main focus.


Kuchinashi was the very definition of the phrase: 'keep to yourself'. Tucked into the side of an entire mountain, endless twisting streets make up the entire city. Much of its climate is a mixture of both rain and fog, broken up by the surrounding mountains. The steep cliffs and mountains make it hard for any person to climb along with the anti-air artillery systems guarding the entire city leaving only one proper way to get to the city.

Known as the Kuchinashi Approach, it was a series of bridges, dilapidated ropes, and drawbridges to keep out both any unwanted visitors and Grimm. Unless a person was intending to go to Kuchinashi in the first place, they can't accidentally stumble into the city as the bridges were the only way to get to Kuchinashi

Thanks to its isolated location, the presence of Mistral's government does not reach far into the city, making Kuchinashi the perfect hub for any criminal activity. It is home to many pirates, thieves, even gang leaders. The locals are either in service to a crime syndicate or are in frequent contact with similar organizations.

It isn't wrong to say people were profiting from this, however. He can attests to that.

A man with a balaclava carried a large crate over to the large aircraft hovering near where several others are doing the same. Inside his crate, their latest haul shook slightly.

His name was Charlie Opal but everyone just called him "Charles". He didn't mind the nickname and went with that most of the time. In fact, he preferred to be called that way. No particular reason for why.

He was part of Wave, a rather recent criminal organization that had settled in Kuchinashi for the time being. To be clear, he had a pretty decent life working as a city guard before getting into crime. Charles joined Wave because the payment was more lucrative than his real job.

All he needed to do was take the wads of Lien and not say a word about the one or two extra shipments going out of the city.

Right now, Charles was simply transporting recently uncovered artifacts from an old ruin inside the surrounding mountains. Besides the small unmarked veins of Dust, there were actually lost remnants of civilization with valuable relics inside the cliffs of Kuchinashi.

Charles heard that these would be worth thousands of Lien to collectors around Remnant. The corrupt city guard had taken a peek inside one of the opened crates and knew that the price wasn't unwarranted.

What kind of person needed a gold gauntlet, anyway? Seriously, the thing had six gems embedded on the hand!

Charles paused for a few seconds before shrugging and moving on. Meh, no point in asking questions. As long as he got paid, Charles could care less if they found a giant statue inside one of these ruins.

Placing the crates inside the cargo bay of the Bullhead, Charles turned to one of the other members on the aircraft, Mary if he remembered correctly. "So when are we heading off?" He asked, strapping down the additional cargo to prepare it for the trip back to Kuchinashi. "Thought we'd be done by now."

"We have a few guys still down there," Mary didn't look up and strapped down another crate, having already done this several times during the day. "Once they round up the rest of the haul, we're gonna drop our luggage off at a discrete warehouse."

"Great," Charles groaned, feeling his muscles ache from having to carry around said treasures. Call him lazy but he joined up to get some easy Lien not work. "I swear if this takes any longer…"

"It won't take that long," the woman said irritably. Like Charles, she had been working for some time as well. Expression weary, Mary leaned on the crates to relax. "As long as nothing goes wrong, we'll be out in a few minutes."

"Thank Oum. Can't wait to go to my aunt's bar when I'm-."

"Yo-ho-hoy, yo-ho-hoy, yo-ho-hoy-hoy~!" An unfamiliar voice sang, originating from outside the Bullhead. The tune was similar to a shanty.

Charles perked up and stared at Mary while she did the same. Both of them shrugged at each other, not knowing how to react. Seeing that the other didn't sing that strange melody, the pair walked down the ramp to see what was going on. Mary exited first, walking towards the first person she could see.

Everyone had stopped with what they were doing. Their bodies were tense and cautious as if preparing for an attack. Some of the grunts glanced at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Hey, stop playing around," she began to chew out the presumably slacking grunts. "We're gonna be late otherwise."

One of their allies standing guard glanced at her, confused about what she meant. "That...wasn't us."

Alarm bells were already ringing in Charles' head. He was sure he heard someone sing. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What do you mean 'that wasn't us'?" Mary frustratedly said, gesturing to their remaining colleagues. "There's nobody else out here-!"

"Yo-ho-hoy, yo-ho-hoy, yo-ho-hoy-hoy~!"

And there it was again. This time, Charles could make out who it was and where it was coming from. It was a male voice for sure and since they were on a mountain, there was no way they were singing from faraway. Everyone including Charles and Mary turned to the source where they saw their culprit.

A man stood on the small path leading up to the cave's entrance. He seemed to be in his early to mid twenties with messy blonde hair. The man wore a black long jacket with lustrous plate decorations (some in varying sizes) stretching down the sleeves. Inside the jacket was an ocean blue blouse, unbuttoned to reveal another black shirt with golden jacquard snake skins underneath. Black denim jeans with sand-like splotches completed the look.

Shit, did a Huntsman find them? He certainly looked the part. In his left hand was a large red ship wheel that he held up by using his shoulder. The middle of the wheel had a symbol on it (four separate golden stripes on top of a V). Attached to the back of the ship wheel was a small pistol with a folded blade near the barrel.

Charles was already about to draw his handgun and it looked like everyone else was preparing to do the same. If this man blabbed about their operations then Wave will be targetted by the Mistralian Council.

Before anyone could do anything, the man slapped the middle of the ship wheel.

Hey!

And started to dance.

"Ore wa kaizoku," the man began, stepping back forth merrily while smiling as if he was having the time of his life. "Otakara motomete, umi kara umi e~!"

Charles recognized the words as old Mistralian though he didn't know what they meant. Not with how confused he was seeing the spectacle in front of him. He could only utter one word.

"...wha-"

"Ore wa kaizoku, jiyū motomete," Continuing his routine, the man began to move more flamboyantly. The smile never left his face. "Sekai kara sekai e~!"

None of the members of Wave moved, too bewildered at the man's actions. They had no idea how to react and only watched as to how this would end.

"Kanarazu te ni ireru ze,"

As the song reached its climax, the man's voice also raised in energy. He had to have done this several times. No way can someone move like that without hours and hours of practice.

"Soshitara, kibun tsūkai~!"

With a flourish, the man raised his hand to the sky, ending his little performance.

"Yo-ho-hoi!"

No one said a word. Caught off guard, there was literally nothing they could say that can match the utter confusion inside their minds. The man's smile turned more arrogant now as he stood there with his hand still in the air.

To their credit, the first person managed to gather their bearings despite the bizarreness of the whole situation. "W-who are you and what do you want?"

Lowering his hands, the man smirked and answered. "Zox...Goldtsuiker," his tone was confident and cocky despite the group of criminals slowly getting their act together and beginning to try and surround him. "And I want to take something from those ruins."

Charles snorted and gripped his handgun, already planning to shoot the idiot. The guy had the perfect opportunity to sneak by yet he just revealed himself in one of the stupidest ways possible.

"This area is under control by the city of Kuchinash," the corrupt city guard said dryly while gesturing to the rest of his comrades. "Now run back to whatever island you came from before we have to 'detain' you."

Of course, he isn't lying. There is 'official' paperwork that states they had permission to retrieve any historical artifacts found inside the mountains; forged documents still counted as 'official' in his opinion. It helped when some Huntsman or Huntress investigating Kuchinashi got a little too curious.

Yet he couldn't help shake off the odd feeling inside him. Every part of him screamed to run away as far away as he could. Charles tried to ignore the pounding in his heart which for some reason began to beat far more louder than usual.

Zox didn't seem to care about Charles' words and ignored the subtle threat. Instead, he reached into his pocket and fished out a small golden gear, gently kissing it. It glinted even in the foggy afternoon.

"Too bad then," the pirate-themed man responded and opened a small slot on top of his pistol. "I wasn't asking."

The golden gear was inserted into the chamber which Zox immediately closed and raised the weapon; the wheel facing the group. Everyone else raised their weapons at him causing him to smirk further as his strange weapon announced another word in old Mistralian.

Mawase!

Suddenly, Charles felt that perhaps he should've listened to his instincts.

"Change Twokai."

Yeah, definitely.


"Ugh, where are they? The shipments were supposed to be here already!"

Sil groaned, leaning against the warehouse walls while playing on his Scroll. He typed away on the device, trying to pass the time. It wasn't working and only made him more annoyed as he looked at the time.

He and his team were hired to act as extra security in case a capable person got too nosy. Wave was paying them more than usual to make sure their stolen goods arrived on time and safely.

Like any other Huntsman, he also dressed rather flamboyantly. Flipping his black bangs away from his eyes, his black leather coat with several belts and buckles gave off a gothic impression. He was rather short compared to the rest of his team.

Sil was the leader of Team SMMK (Smoke), the best of the best if he had any say in it. Unlike most teams that break apart after graduation, they have stuck together throughout the years. Unlike their other colleagues, however, they weren't above taking illegal contracts and the like.

The other members of Sil's team were scattered around the warehouse, standing guard by the entrance or just passing time.

"Maybe they're having trouble with the cargo?" Khaki, a woman with a fur-trimmed jacket, offered an answer. She was a headstrong woman, serious about her work. Oddly enough, Sil got along with her despite their differing personalities.

"Bad time for that to happen," Mina commented, her voice slightly muffled due to the large silver helmet covering her head. She had long raven black hair, poking outside her helmet and wore purple clothing underneath her armor. "The boss is expecting the shipment in an hour."

"They'll probably here a couple." Marton shrugged, sitting back against a small swivel chair. He was rather rotund for being a Huntsman, wearing yellow goggles over his eyes with a shoulder cape over a red coat.

Sil flipped his bangs away from his face again. He received no responses ever since the group told Sil theyhad arrived at the job site. They were supposed to have wrapped up already and arrived at the airship port a couple of minutes ago. The job site wasn't that far from the city too so they had no excuse about being lost.

Either they were messing around or they ran into some trouble. It can't have been Grimm as their boss made sure that there won't be any of the creatures near the job site.

So what the hell was going on?

The answer came in the ringtone of his Scroll.

"About damn time." Sil said, taking out his Scroll in order to accept the call. He raised the device up to his ear after a moment. "Yeah? Where are you? We've been standing here for like a while."

What Sil didn't expect was for the sounds of gunfire to respond on the other side of the line. Several shouts can be heard in the background accompanied by several explosions in the distance.

The caller scrambled to pick up the Scroll, breathing heavily into it. The gunfire raged on as the person on the other line answered.

"Hello?! Anyone there?!"

Again flipping his bang away from his eyes, Sil raised his eyebrows.

He could hear someone yelling in the background (maybe orders?) before another explosion happened, causing Sil to pull his Scroll away from his ear due to how loud it was.

Were they being attacked?

"Yeah, it's me. What's happening?"

"Some...guy just strolled up and attacked us! He's after the cargo-shit!"

Well that explained it. Sil tried to think what gang would benefit from an open attack against Wave. His first thought was the Hana Guild but Sil didn't know anyone that was skilled enough to take on a whole group. It wasn't enough proof that it wasn't the Guild but it was one theory.

So is it a rival crime family? Or someone else like a Huntsman?

Either way, the boss would be pissed.

Something seemed to whizz past the Scroll's microphone and the caller was heard frantically running, presumably to find cover.

"We're getting slaughtered, send help-!"

"Zensoku Zenshin!"

A new voice shouted over the conflict. Sil had no idea how someone could shout over an entire battlefield and be so crystal clear. All hell was breaking loose and all Team SMMK could do was listen.

Even Sil was stunned into silence, thinking if they could even take on the intruder. They certainly seemed powerful but that was not saying much considering any seasoned Huntsman can wipe the floor with those grunts.

So for now, the leader of Team SMMK stayed silent in order to see how it would play out.

"Damn it! He's here! Shoot him!" Another person tried to direct everyone's fire on the intruder. Yet it was clear it in their tone that they knew it was hopeless. The criminals was just trying to put up one last veil of resistance.

The sound of gunfire filled the other side of the call, muffling most of the voices. Orders and cries could be heard though no one can make out what they were saying.

Sil tried one last time to talk to the man. "Hey! Hey! Do you-!"

Another explosion interrupted him and soon after static filled the air. There was no more gunfire, no more yells or even just footsteps. Only radio silence.

"Ugh, hey! Pick up! What happened?!"

Sil was openly spitting onto the screen of the Scroll. No one responded. It was pointless to even try to get any more out of the call. The Scroll was most likely destroyed in the ensuing explosion.

Staying silent, Sil ended the call.

For the first time, Team SMMK had nothing to say. They were known for their self-indulgent theatrics and general annoyance. Despite that, they were a skilled and experienced team, spouting off one liners and quips during their fights and spats. It was the reason why they were hired after all.

Yet the call shocked them to silence. A sense of grim realization settled in as the team realized that they were most likely dead.

Sil stood there, unsure of what to do now while still holding onto his Scroll. They didn't have any Bullheads on hand to fly over on short notice and even then, they had no idea of the intruder's capabilities or if they had backup.

All he knew was that their artifacts are probably lost. And they had very little ideas as to who the culprit was.

It was unsettling, to say the least. Sil had to give them props for their actions. If the culprits were trying to send a message, they succeeded. He doubted it would do anything but make Wave their enemy but hey, more power to them.

"Should...should we tell the boss?" Khaki hesitantly asked. She looked rattled at what she heard on the Scroll but tried to at least be professional about it.

Oh yeah, her.

Sil knew he would have to tell his boss sooner or later. Better now considering she would only get more pissed if she found out that they didn't tell her immediately. He sighed and typed in Lemon's Scroll number, feeling another headache coming out.

"Another Lemon bitch session coming up."

He's gonna need a drink at Opal's after this.


"How boring~! You guys couldn't even put up a fight "

A golden figure strode past a corridor of corpses. Most of the bodies had small bullet holes on various body parts. There was no blood and all of the fatal wounds seemed to have been cauterized stopping blood from flowing out. He didn't care all that much about the corpses and kicked away an arm that was in his way.

The figure wore a black bodysuit underneath a gold coat with two gold pauldrons designed after a crocodile's mouth. The popped collar was colored red underneath. A red belt buckle with a yellow V was wrapped around the figure's belt. Red gloves with a similar colored wrist brace. A golden helmet covered his face with a black visor to allow the person inside to see.

He glanced back at the corpses he passed, remembering the one-sided fight. They had tried everything from swords, guns, to even explosives to take him down.

Honestly, he wasn't impressed.

Zox had come here in search of treasure.He didn't expect to see people already there, looting the ruins. Then again, the pirate didn't care if there were people. It made the whole ordeal much more exciting. If he wanted something then he would take it.

By force if he needed to.

But unfortunately, the feeling would soon quickly fade as Zox engaged the group of looters. They were just so...weak. Just one hit from his Geardalinger took them out immediately. Even when he held back, they still couldn't harm him. Their guns barely did anything against his suit nor could they shoot worth a damn.

If this was the standard for fighting then Zox wouldn't try to transform next time. Hopefully, that would give him a challenge.

Entering the large opening, Zox was greeted by several large pillars in the middle of the room. They were arranged in a circle and made of a crystal-like material. On the pillars were depictions of strange creatures, standing tall while holding up ornate swords into the sky. There was a pedestal in the middle of the pillars, displaying a small object

Zox ignored the pillars in favor of the obvious treasure. Jogging past the pillars, he raised his eyebrows at what the small object was.

It was a book. A very small one by the way. It was the size of his palm and depicted a majestic bird covered in flames on the cover. The spine of the book was colored orange while the rest was colored black. Zox picked the book up to examine it closer.

"Eternal...Phoenix…" Zox read the title of the book aloud. Strange book if he would say so himself. There's no way anyone would be able to read it if it was this small.

Well, treasure is treasure. Besides, he found it more interesting than most of the jewels and decorations here. He'll take some of them but they'll most likely be sold off one way or another.

Even still, he would say this was a victory! Zox hit a large haul! He was right to have entered this world. It was a shame his family couldn't come nor could the ship but he can manage with just himself for the time being.

"This looks interesting." Zox commented, his smile widening. "I'll take this then."

He would turn and leave the room, playfully tossing his newest treasure up and down.

Zox didn't know of the ramifications of his action that day. If he did, perhaps he would've left the mountain alone.

It would only be the start of a series of events that would change Remnant.

All due to the whims of luck and fate.


Just to clarify: Zox will not have his mecha nor his other forms for the time being. Essentially he will be left with his transformation device and base form.

I know people want to see our dancing pirate squash every single enemy with his mech but honestly I just want to have fights on the ground rather than having giant enemies.

As always read and review!