Chapter 5 - Trial by Fire

To say Elva was concerned would be an understatement.

You could say she was worried… but, again, that would probably be an understatement.

To say her heart was pounding out of her chest, would seem accurate as she placed a hand over the beating organ. It did little to calm her, but it was something.

Ryder, Rex, Elva, and a few of the healthier patients from below were all on deck, with the former three standing at the helm as Ryder steered the ship.

They'd closed the gap between them and the island, and all that did was just confirm to everyone present how bad it was for the island. The night sky, a great contrast to the bright light created by the fires.

Miklagard, the island known for its importance in the trade of goods across the entire South Blue, was burning. Houses by the coastline were on fire, random ships sunk by the harbor or just off to the side of it.

It seemed as though the island was only burning by the coast, the roofs of houses burned along the shore, but the fighting was sure to spread across the entire island.

Miklagard was a big enough island, one that was nearly entirely settled except for a forested area surrounding a mansion villa at the top of a hill near the center of the island that could be seen from every side of the city.

The rest of the island was a circular port town, with every side of the island having a harbor for trade ships.

The island was known for its acceptance, getting all sorts from across the Blue Sea, trading with everyone equally, daily, justly.

To see it like this…

...was painful.

The ship pulled up to one of the open docks, avoiding the burning and sunken wreckage of ships and boats, before it came to a halt.

"Stay aboard the ship until the fighting is done!" Ryder called out, drawing the attention of everyone on his ship, including Elva. The doctor noted his expression, and how calm he remained, how he slipped into a position of authority and ordered those around him. "Keep the wounded below deck, and stop anyone who tries to board this ship!"

The captain turned to the bounty hunter next to him, "Rex, let's go! We have some ass to kick!"

The bounty hunter nodded wordlessly but readied his wood blade. Ryder drew one of his pistols, twirling it in his right hand before turning back to the burning city.

The pair leaped from the ship onto dry land. The pair dashed off into the fray, ready to take on everyone that got in their way.

Elva watched the pair go from the deck of Ryders' ship, before glancing at the others on the deck. Seeing them in their current state, wounded, poorly bandaged, but still holding strong, Elva knew they needed to help this island in order for them to get the medical treatment they needed.

The doctor turned in the direction Ryder and Rex had gone, eyes hardening as he drew forth her bow. She knew she wasn't the strongest of fighters, but she had to do something.

Elva too jumped from the ship, racing off to join in the fight all the same as best she could.

She had people to save.

Another two shots dropped another two opponents. His partner, Rex, slashed at another two, downing both of them as well. The pair continued on their warpath through the city, trashing anyone who dared try stop them.

The duo had joined the fray haphazardly, throwing themselves at anyone who turned to fight them. So far, they had to admit, it wasn't much of a fight for either of them but given the huge number of fighters, it was still a wild brawl to be a part of.

One thing they quickly came to realize was the fact that there were three factions involved in this free-for-all.

He could tell there were Marines about, seeing as they were dressed in their typical uniforms, but the other two factions seemed less… formal.

To be honest, one group looked like a random bunch of pirates and criminals. Even occasionally fighting amongst themselves. So it was clear that that faction wasn't a team.

The last seemed a tad more organized than the riff-raff. They didn't have uniforms, but they did have a distinct symbol on their clothes, whether that be shirts, cloaks, or jackets, so Ryder and Rex assumed they were of a faction together.

What that faction was, Ryder couldn't say.

But they had outnumbered the marines, but with the chaos added of the rag-tag much of crooks, it even the playing field a bit. So this mysterious third faction wasn't dominating the fight.

Not that he cared, he could tell that they weren't welcome on the island having targeted civilians that strayed too close to the mayhem a couple of times before Ryder shut them down with a single shot.

Either way, Ryder was enjoying beating the shit out of those bastards, and their faction.

"This is a disaster," Rex commented dryly off to Ryders' side as the pair easily down another six combatants, blitzing them with both their combined speed and strength.

"We're getting through it," Ryder responded somewhat truthfully.

The pair had cleared the streets they'd gone through, every fighter that turned on the two was swiftly defeated in a few strokes and swings.

They'd easily defeated well over a couple hundred foes by this point as they carved their way through the town. Some had decided fighting the duo wasn't worth it and immediately holstered whatever weapon they might have had.

Clearly, they were the two strongest on the island at present.

Ryder and Rex fought their way to the biggest open plaza on the island, the size of the opening could easily contain over two thousand people with room to spare.

But this is where the brawl seemed to be at its most intense, or at the very least most dense as people seemed to gather here.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Rex spoke, sensing the chaos around, the number of people present, "This town is certainly going to owe us one with how many people we've taken down." Despite the fact, there seemed to be more every time they looked down a new street.

Ryder just smirked, "We'll be fine. Nobody here can handle us." His confidence was appreciated, likely true, but also a tad unfounded. Sure, they could handle all of them but would Miklagard still be standing by the end of it?

Rex merely nodded, choosing to focus on the battle, "Then let us be off!"

The pair dived into the fray, weapons at the ready.

This was a mess, and Madalyn was caught in the middle of it.

And she was getting quite sick of it.

The swordswoman parried another incoming attack, before slashing her attacker across the chest. He dropped with a scream before falling unconscious.

"This is getting tedious," The swordswoman huffed out.

Marines, criminals, and some other faction having a free-for-all war on Miklagard.

The young woman, standing at six foot, one inch, gazed across the brawling in the streets, her cold, calculating eye taking in all the chaos. The woman was both tall and lithe, her red, stringy hair fellow down to her mid-back. She wore a long brown sleeved top, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. A long, black skirt that reached her knees covered her lower half, accompanied by a pair of black shoes.

Her grip tightened on her weapon, a flamberge zweihänder, named Tenobore.

This town would surely burn to the ground, she could tell her own best efforts wouldn't be enough to defeat every foe here without the town falling to some degree.

Did she care? Not terribly, no.

But she did feel as though she should fight, both to fight to improve and also repay her debt to the island.

Madalyn had arrived a few hours sooner than when this shit-show had started. The townsfolk had proven to be very welcoming people, suspiciously so in the swordswomans' opinion.

They'd given her a place to stay on her arrival, although she was skeptical of it, refusing to drop her guard in spite of the kindness.

That's when the fighting broke out.

First, there were early calls of slavers coming, which Madalyn wasn't expecting. What did slavers want from Miklagard of all places?

She had her doubts that Miklagard participated in the slave trade as that would nearly destroy the islands' reputation. So, why were they here then?

The swordswoman didn't know, but one thing she did know, unfortunately, of the riff-raff that joined in the commotion.

They were the same people she'd been locked up with less than a day ago.

Yes, Yujin Madalyn had been a prisoner mere hours earlier.

And she'd been rescued by some red-haired gunslinger proclaiming to them all that he was in need of a crew.

Whilst Madalyn was one to repay her debts since he had been the one to free her, she had decided to escape the island instead. Choosing her freedom first.

The swordswoman did swear to repay the pirate one day, as it would be a shame not to, but that was something for another day.

Madalyn heard a scream, and without thinking, dashed forward to parry an attack that was not meant for her. The woman who screamed seemed to be a civilian, whilst the attacker was of this mysterious third faction.

With his guard open from Madalyns' parry, she slashed the assailant across the hips and shoulder, dropping him as well.

The woman shook as she stared at her attacker and savior, before sputtering out a thank you just as she scampered off to hide. Hopefully somewhere out of sight.

The swordswoman paid her little mind as a small explosion was heard in the distance. Her eyes found the small plume of smoke about the houses.

She moved swiftly in the direction of the explosion, sword in hand, ready for whatever trouble might greet her.

A blur of motion and a flash of steel dropped two of the criminals assaulting a poor marine who'd already been defeated, laid out across the ground with numerous bruises and cuts.

Re-appearing to those of the untrained eye, the swordsman peered down at the defeated marine.

"A brave defender falls in defense of the island." The swordsman flicked his sword to the side, "But he will live to see another day."

The swordsman stood at five feet, seven inches, his blade angled to the side. A diamond-shaped face, hairless, and pointed chin made quite the handsome face. His eyes were small, and round, with narrow eyebrows just above. Daring blue, icy eyes peered out of the damage. His was snow-white, slicked back, and neatly kept, yet decently long for a guy.

His attire consisted of black officer trousers, brown office boots, a jet black shirt. A blood-red tie and blazer completed the look, with a silver pocket watch chain going from the inside of his blazer to his trouser pocket.

Dearil Azreal, a bounty hunter by necessity.

The swordsman bounty hunter just happened to be at Miklagard, there in search of inspiration in the great trading island of the South Blue, when it came under siege. .

He'd been peacefully browsing the bazaar when he'd heard panic screaming and yelling, someone mentioning slavers, which had the bounty hunter recoiling in disgust, and random criminals who appeared by some mysterious ship began clashing by the docks.

The marines stationed on the island moved to engage the threat, and it turned into a battle spread across a good portion of the island.

Only the villa at the top of the island had remained truly unscathed.

Which was odd, but he didn't question that.

Azreal joined in the battle in defense of the people, his blade, quill, ready to strike at any who dared harm an innocent.

However, before he could, an explosion caught his attention. The plume was visible to him from his current position, and he could tell roughly where it had come from.

The main plaza.

In an instant, he was dashing toward the plaza, blade at the ready. As many others around him seemed to have the same idea, even if they continued to fight each other.

It appeared that everyone was converging at the main plaza for the final showdown.

And Azreal was excited to see the outcome.

With a tight pull, Elva had finished wrapping yet another wound on one of the poor civilians that had been unlucky enough to have been caught in the crossfire of this chaotic battle.

The good doctor had intended to join the fight, and whilst she had assisted a few times, using her bow to defeat some stragglers, it fell to mostly Ryder and Rex to fight.

She'd caught up to the pair to see them both trashing anyone who dared cross their paths.

Her initial reaction was one of shock, specifically at how easily the pair fought. They were both monsters compared to anyone else here. Not a single person could hit them, melee or ranged, no matter how hard they tried.

Elva couldn't help but think that if they had wanted to, they could have easily robbed them for what little they had back when Ryder had offered to help them.

The pirate captain could have done as he pleased with no resistance.

Yet he didn't.

And Elva both respected and appreciated that.

Elva had moved to bandage another civilian, as some marines came out to try and attempt to detain the unconscious criminals that lay sprawled out across the streets.

"Those two are something else." The doctor noted the aftermath of their advance through the city. Where they ended up, she didn't know. She frowned, "I hope they're okay…"

An explosion drew everyones' attention, with a few civilians screaming in surprise, the plume only visible in the distance down the street she was on.

"Was that Ryder?" Elva couldn't help but think, it made sense given his strength but…

Many of the other marines around her took off in that direction, weapons in hand, leaving only a few men behind to finish tying down any criminals.

It seems something big was going down.

Elva gripped her bow and turned to the few civilians she'd helped, "I'm sorry, but I need to investigate that explosion." She said apologetically, with the civilians nodding at her in understanding. Thanking her for her help so far.

With that, Elva turned and took off after the marines in the direction of the explosion.

Rex sensed Ryder approaching him, and as far as the bounty hunter could tell, he seemed quite pleased with himself.

That was probably because Ryder had been the cause of a rather large explosion in the plaza that wiped out a good portion of the remaining combatants in the area.

None dead, but all unconscious.

Still, it had proved quite the spectacle. Rex knew Ryder was strong, perhaps as strong as he was or greater, but he hadn't expected Ryder to fight with such ease.

He made fighting look fun.

Rex did admit that he himself enjoyed the droves of combat, but he wasn't one to make it look fun either.

Ryder on the other hand…

"Well, that was easy!" Ryder smirked as he twirled the pistol in his right hand. "That took out a good number of them."

In Rexs' opinion, that was an understatement.

Ryder had thought it a good idea to beat his enemies with one massive attack, using his twin pistols, to blast his foes.

And it worked.

But also the explosion drew the attention of many others on the island, the remaining forces from all three of the factions swarmed the plaza after seeing the explosion.

"Given how you attracted everyone here," Rex began, readying his weapon alongside Ryder, who held his pistols in an X shape over his chest, "It'll make defeating all these crooks easier."

"Who knew you were such an optimist?" Ryder joked, nudging his partner with his elbow.

Rex grunted in response, but still wore a small smirk at the young pirates' humor.

Both readied for a fight as the brawl erupted once more.

But, before that, both were forced to brace themself when a shockwave shook the earth they stood on. The force was enough to knock others off their feet, whilst most struggled to remain standing. The epicenter of the shockwave threw many people across the plaza in a tumble.

The fighting stopped in an instant.

Ryder and Rex stood ready, whilst many others scrambled away from the source of the explosion.

The crowd dispersed, with Ryder and Rex being the only two to not retreat any. Many others gathered behind them, like a crowd peering at some unfathomable reality.

Ryder and Rex, with their weapons still out, stared at the cause of all in this surprise.

Ryder seemed to focus on the woman, taking in every detail about this new arrival.

But Rex felt the emotions of the crowd around him, he felt their movements, their hesitation, their fear. Nearly everyone here was scared of this woman, and that could be overwhelming for Rex and his senses, but he ignored it as he too focused on this powerful figure.

A woman, accompanied by many rough-looking men.

Both of them knew who this woman was.

And they both knew she was dangerous.

It seemed as though the fight had moved to the largest plaza on the island. With all three factions descending upon the area for the final fight.

Madalyn had noted civilians still watched the chaos from within the safety of their homes, peeking through windows or out of balconies.

Madalyn had arrived just as the fighting had begun, but that only lasted less than a minute. As a mysterious shockwave ground the fighting to a halt.

The swordswoman remained standing despite the impact force of the blast, she caught sight of some random fodder flying through the air before crashing into the mass of bodies that made up the crowd.

The crowd retreated, parted in a way that revealed where the shockwave had come from.

It revealed who had created the shockwave.

And the answer was something else.

Madalyn was stunned, her grip on her blade tightening to the point it seemed painful.

The swordswoman wasn't one to be shocked easily, as she usually kept her demeanor calm, collected, cold as she usually was, but even her facade faltered at the sight before her.

Stood ahead of a huge group of men stood a woman, easily eight feet tall. Her body was big, many men would describe it as thicc, in all the right places. Her curves were big but muscular. Her skin was a light brown shade, smooth despite the scars visible. A jagged scar across the part of her collar bone that was exposed to the air, and a four-claw scar that went across her face from her hairline to just below her lip at an angle. A messy, brown bob cut was how she had styled her hair. Her eyes and hair going well together. But the horns were something else. Two big horns protruded from her head, one on either side of her skull. Scars, horns, and beauty. The woman was beautiful, an exotic beauty, yet she still screamed terrifying. Strong. Dangerous. Her brown eyes scanned the battlefield, wordlessly, many flinched under her gaze, including Madalyn herself.

She cursed silently at the fact she did.

The woman wore baggy, loose pants that only reached halfway down her shins before wrapping themselves tightly around her legs. She only wore sandals on her feet. The womans' top was that of a typical pirate. A t-shirt, with only two buttons, that did little to hide her curses given how much cleavage was on display, covered her upper body. A black sash wrapped around her waist. And a dark purple captains' jacket completed her outfit.

The woman was a leader.

The woman was the one to draw attention- NO- demand attention.

And Madalyn recognized this woman. She doubted many people didn't.

She went by many titles, for many different reasons.

But to some, especially here.

She was known as the Queen of the South Blue.

The swordsman bounty hunter didn't dare breathe in the presence of this person.

This woman, this monster, had appeared on the island seemingly out of nowhere. Broken up the fight with her mere presence alone as nobody dared make a move with her standing there.

Azreal merely blended into the crowd, as everyone stared at the woman and her people.

The bounty knew who she was, how dangerous she was, and he could understand why she was here.

This island was within her territory, as she essentially owned the entirety of the South Blue, and nobody dared confront her on that point.

Not many would even attempt to contest that declaration.

And Azreal wasn't surprised to see many of the people here were the same, all refusing to make a sound in case they drew her ire.

Few wanted the attention of such a powerful foe.

Lady Fortune

Captain of the Fate Pirates

You didn't mess with this woman.

Lady Fortune merely surveyed the destruction of the plaza, the people that made up this enormous crowd, and contemplated who here was at fault.

The Captain of the Fate pirates shook her head, displeased with everything she saw. She was frustrated, annoyed, and kinda itching to leave for the Grandline and New World.

Her vacation island had been attacked, and she wasn't too impressed by that, so she had to do something.

As she looked to the crowd once more, eyes narrowed, she could see nearly everyone shift upon seeing her face and the displeasure written across it.

"I shall say this once!" Fortune declared, raising her arm, "Any who wishes to continue this fight shall be met with my blade!" Her voice carrying across the city no doubt. She drew forth her enormous, two-handed, two-sided ax, slamming the pommel of it into the ground by her feet, creating a deafening crack that the entire city must have felt.

"Leave now with your lives, and flee," She continued, with none daring to interrupt her. "I will not pursue those that caused this destruction, but if there ever comes a time when I find this island in such a state again," Her eyes hardened with a dangerous glint, "I will hunt down all involved!"

The threat was as blatant as could be.

Elva couldn't believe her eyes, nor could she find the strength to stand as she had collapsed onto her rear, legs either side of her, as she watched this terrifyingly powerful woman stand front and center, bringing the chaos to a halt in a single second.

A blast of what Elva could only assume was Conquerors' Haki took down exactly half of the people here. A shudder shot up her spine at the thought of her doing more.

She was surely capable of far more than that but chose to be merciful. Allowing half the crowd to carry the unconscious crowd to safety.

Elva, herself, remained where she was, still quite stunned at the arrival of such a powerful figure.

The young doctor never thought she'd see…

A Yonko.

The fear was evident on the faces of the crowd, but Rex sensed in their being. This woman, one of the four emperors', had just wiped out half the manpower on this island.

With a single blast of her Conquerors' Haki, one could see the Will to Fight leave the crowd, replaced by self-preservation and fear.

Fear.

That emotion always fascinated the bounty hunter. This Yonko had mastered it, capable of drawing the fear out from others in such a way that it controlled them, it sapped them of their will, their desire to fight in favor of life. That was a power not many had, Rex knew that much.

But a brief check on his partner… confused the bounty hunter.

He could sense Ryders' body, his stance, and could tell his expression.

And it held no fear.

Not a single ounce.

Rex inclined his head toward his comrade, about to ask him what he thought of the situation but Ryder beat him to it.

"Don't interfere," Ryder stated, ordered, suspiciously neutral sounding.

Once again Ryder made a blind man roll his eyes.

"Of course not, fool, I don't plan to attack a Yonko any time soon." The bounty hunter replied.

"Good," The young pirate accepted.

Yet Rex couldn't help but sense the shift in his friend, and the smirk that spread across his face.

The next words out of the young pirates' mouth truly shocked the bounty hunter.

"She's mine~"

Another chapter done.

A short chapter, I know, but it's a build-up for the main event next chapter. And no prizes for guessing what that is.

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Review Responses:

(SugarGlaze): Thanks, Sugar! People seem to love their interactions the most. I'm glad you approve of how I wrote Elva, if I ever start straying too far from how she's supposed to be then please correct me. As for Ryders' backstory, there is a tiny bit more to it since he didn't mention names. He wasn't intending to hide that part, but nobody asked so he didn't say their names.

(Sheaon13): That's kind of you, I'm glad you enjoy their interactions. Hopefully you'll see more character interaction in the future with more crewmates joining soon.

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

AlcatrazDGold - See ya next time!