PART FIVE: Catalyst
There was blood at the back of his throat. He could have swallowed or spit it out, but he didn't. He let it sit there, coating the back of his tongue and filling the cracks between his teeth with its coppery flavor. In that moment, the thought of choking on it felt appropriate, necessary even, given what he had done by striking his opponent.
The Bishop stood before him, a satisfied smirk playing across her delicate lips as blood trickled from her mouth down the side of her smooth cheek. Her chocolate-colored locks were cut short, his own bangs hiding more of his face than hers did, and her harsh violet eyes taunted him with the knowledge that she had deceived him into breaking his code, therefore securing a dishonorable victory of the duel they had barely begun.
Sanji's eyes were wide and terrified as he stammered, more ashamed of his shortsightedness than her deceit.
"You're a woman…."
"Actually, I'm a satyr." She replied as she raised one of her legs high and bent her knee, showcasing her cloven foot. "Though admittedly one without your most coveted appendage, so sure."
Sanji stared back at her in shock and morbid despair as his brain tried to process the situation he was trapped in.
It wasn't only the fact that his opponent was female, but that she appeared to have the same skillset he did, albeit with a much more powerful arsenal in which to use it. Bishop's legs were just as muscular as his own, but with her naturally hardened, sharpened, wrecking ball-like feet, she could deliver far greater damage with every blow.
A coarse layer of dark brown hair ran up her leg to about the mid-thigh, where her leg transformed back into smooth feminine skin. The only clothing she wore were dark blue bikini-type bottoms and an ashen-colored leather top, which was clearly chosen to maximize her range of movement. There was a large gold and black crescent moon tattooed across her stomach, encompassing her navel.
In any other circumstances Sanji's jaw would have been on the floor with wide-eyed lustful affection and joy. Despite her animalistic legs, she was quite beautiful to behold, even if there was a menacing acidity to the way her starry eyes locked on to their target. Now though, all he could do was stare in mortification as he realized how, even unknowingly, he had betrayed everything he stood for by kicking her, enemy or not.
He buried his blazing foot deep into the sand, extinguishing the flames.
"You really aren't going to do it…" She raised an eyebrow. "So Kalifa was being honest when she said you withdrew. What kind of man refuses to fight a woman as an equal?"
"One who is inferior to them." Sanji retorted simply.
"Your chivalry will be what kills you." She spat blood onto the sand.
"So be it." He gritted his teeth.
Bishop shot forward and delivered three swift kicks, aiming for his torso. Sanji raised his right leg in response and countered her blows by blocking them with his shin. Each strike felt like he had deflected a battle axe.
She continued to launch attacks at him with her legs and feet at a furious speed, like a boxer would pummel at a training bag. It was all he could do to keep up with her, but he knew he was losing too much ground. Permanently playing defense would only delay the inevitable. Had he encountered her earlier he may have hoped to tire her out and find a way to bind her legs together, but he was already exhausted and bleeding from his brief battle with Lady Rook and her shadow.
He needed to think fast. If she let her guard down for just a moment, perhaps he could trip her up and pin her to the sand by putting a knee into her back.
And then what?
He had no idea. A small voice in his head had always whispered to him to have a plan in case it came to this, but he had always ignored it, half unconcerned and half unwilling to believe it ever would.
Bishop flipped herself forward and landed nimbly on her hands, swinging both her legs around and connecting with his chest like a battering ram. Sanji fell backward and hit the sand before immediately launching himself back onto his feet just as she stomped her hoof down into the spot his neck had just occupied.
Not willing to let him regain his balance, Bishop spun again and caught him behind the leg, tripping him up and causing him to stagger back. She struck hard and fast with two debilitating kicks to his ribs and Sanji hit the ground again, landing on his left side.
Bishop kicked him in the gut and flipped him onto his back, and Sanji's shoulder screamed in pain as sand invaded the open wound Lady Rook had graced him with.
He rolled across the beach as she again tried to plant her iron foot into his brow. Sanji spat his cigarette upwards and struck her right above her left eye, causing her to flinch and look away for just long enough for him to flip over with the use of his good arm and land on his feet again.
Bishop wiped at her eye and slid her hoof against a rock jutting from the sand, and it made a shrieking sound like a blade against a wet stone.
"Three pirates once came for me, each one twice the size of you." She pointed her chin at him as they both moved in a slow circle, neither of them blinking as they faced each other, refusing to show the other their back.
"They weren't after bounties or gold. Their appetites were more… carnal."
Sanji removed his suit jacket cautiously, keeping his eyes focused on hers.
"I let them think I was afraid, powerless, willing to comply." She continued. "And when the moment was right, I crippled them. I took it slow, broke one bone at a time, until they were sacks of shattered fragments. I saved their necks for last."
She raised her leg into the air again, bent at the knee.
"I don't need a man's sympathy or protection, Blackfoot Sanji."
"It's not about anyone needing it. It's about respect. About differentiating myself from those three that came after you." Sanji retorted.
Bishop glared. "You wear your morality like a badge of honor, but all it does is showcase your weakness. It presents me with a target to aim for."
For the first time since Bishop's secret had been revealed, Sanji allowed himself a faint smirk and spread his arms.
"And yet, I'm still standing."
Bishop's eyes narrowed and she launched another kick directly at his head. Anticipating the attack, the cook spun nimbly and flung out his jacket like a net and ensnared her leg just below the knee. For half a second the Chess Piece pirate was caught completely off guard and pivoted awkwardly on her other leg to free herself, but that brief instant was all Sanji had needed to tug the jacket's arms into a tight knot and use her own momentum to throw her off balance.
She staggered sideways using her arm to break her fall. Propelling herself back upwards she spun horizontally through the air, attempting to wrench the coat out of his arms, but only succeeded in entangling both of her legs within the pinstriped trap instead.
Sanji grabbed both her legs at the ankles between his forearms and threw himself forward, body-slamming them both into the sand. Despite being matched in skill, the young man still had several pounds on her and took advantage of her momentary confusion to throw himself forward, pressing his elbow against her throat and setting his knee firmly into her gut.
Bishop snarled, struggling to take in a fresh breath. She grabbed at his arm, attempting to force him off, but Sanji leaned more weight into her, putting pressure directly onto her windpipe.
"Submit!" he cried out with more distress in his voice than ferocity. "I don't want to do it, but I'll hold you down until you pass out."
She stared back up at him with cold, calculating eyes that showed no indication of panic, and Sanji felt his heart sink. They both knew he was bluffing, and she wanted him to know his attempt at civility had been useless before she struck back.
"I'd rather my lungs burn." She hissed.
Her fingers found his wounded shoulder and she buried her nails into his flesh. Sanji screamed through gritted teeth and he released his hold on her, and as he straightened up, she headbutted him directly between his eyes and knocked him back. Tearing the offending jacket away from her legs Bishop rose to her feet, hunched forward like a coiled spring for a single heartbeat and then speared Sanji with a devastating blow with her cloven foot directly to his chest, catapulting him off the beach and into the underbrush.
Not allowing him even a second to recover his breath, she charged after him and smashed her other hoof into his ear. Sanji was hurled sideways and collided with one of the few withered palm trees on the island that had managed to grow into adolescence.
Sanji's ears rang and he vomited blood and bile onto the dirt as he struggled to find his feet. Before his vision had even cleared, he felt the cold, metallic pressure of Bishop's hoof against his forehead as she held him in place against the tree.
Somewhere down the beach, there was a flash of bright light as flares erupted across the sky, but Sanji barely noticed them. The white-hot fire inside his skull made it impossible to comprehend what was happening beyond his immediate surroundings as Bishop leaned in and pressed her iron foot harder against his temple.
"I want you to know you didn't just fail yourself." Bishop gave a manic, slightly deranged chuckle. "You failed your friends. After I kill you, I'm going to murder all your allies on this beach. The swordsman, the four-eyed navy officer, and that green-haired pirate captain. Then, I'm going to find the rest of your crew."
Sanji snarled in rage as he raised his hands and grabbed her ankle in a vain attempt to break her hold on him. She increased the pressure in response to the point that he felt sure his cranium would split.
"Most of them I'll kill quickly, but not Nico Robin and that pretty little navigator I saw at Enies Lobby. I'm going to make sure they die in agony, bones splintered, skulls fractured, and every time they scream, I'll remind them it was you, Blackfoot Sanji, and your insufferable morals, that sealed their fate."
Sanji felt a wrath build deep inside him that he had never experienced before.
"Just two more useless women who put their trust in the wrong man."
Somewhere, deep inside him, Sanji's resolve broke. He grabbed her stationary leg between his feet and twisted in a sharp, furious motion. There came a snapping sound from somewhere deep inside her joints and Bishop screamed in shock and pain as she fell over sideways and away from him.
Rameses spun in a furious circle, hurling punches and shooting quills in every direction, desperate the connect with his target.
Smoker encircled the enraged brute in a tight funnel of gray mist and locked his Jitte under the scarecrow's chin, clinging to it from behind, trying to choke enough life out of him to bring him down.
Marion had made quick work of the surrounding Chess Piece pirates, teleporting herself across the beach using rapid-fire attacks to cut down or disable those who were still close enough to cause trouble. Upon spotting her greasy-haired crewmate Ink grappling with the chain-wielding mountain that was Pawn, holding him off as best he could by hurling globs of ooze into his eyes, she teleported herself across the beach to land on a small boulder. Kneeling forward to touch the warm stone with her palm, she vanished, and reappeared atop the bulky missile directly over her enemy's head.
The rock split into two pieces and it landed on the pirate's skull, who, thanks to being half-blinded by Ink's attacks, never saw it coming.
Marion landed gracefully upon the sand as Pawn fell backward and crashed like a towering oak unconscious into the underbrush.
"We need to help Smoker!" She pointed with her sword past her comrade where the Navy Officer was still struggling to bring Rameses to his knees. The thuggish beast spun wildly and flung quills the size of billiard cues across the beach. Fortunately for Smoker, the attack passed through his gray, formless body without doing any damage. Marion grabbed Ink's arm and teleported them both across the beach away from the assault. A few unfortunate Chess Piece pirates lying wounded upon the sand were impaled by the indiscriminate projectiles.
Marion swiftly transported herself directly next to their towering enemy and sliced at his legs with her sword. Ink swept his arm horizontally before him and a splash of black, oily liquid painted the ground at their feet.
Caught off guard, Rameses slipped and fell onto one knee, one of the sea stone cuffs still clamped upon his wrist. Marion grabbed at the second cuff swinging free, but the pirate's upper body was too broad for her to grab his opposite arm, and with the sea stone clasped in her hand her teleporting powers were disabled. She glanced up at Smoker and the two made eye contact over the bulbous, spiked shoulder.
"Drop it!" She called to him.
Smoker complied and released his hold on the Jitte. Marion caught it as it fell, spun it around and stabbed Rameses under the chin with its blunted point.
Ink fired three fast globs of black ooze from the sacs on his hands and caught Rameses directly in the eyes. Smoker vanished into a cloud of mist and reappeared up under the creature's bulk and added his own force behind the Jitte. The weapon's tip punctured beneath the scarecrow's jaw and forced itself up into the roof of his mouth.
Rameses roared and slammed his fists down at them, but Smoker and Marion were both able to disappear and avoid the blows. Marion landed on the back of the creature's broad shoulders amongst the barbs and stabbed downwards with her blade, but the sword-point barely indented itself into his mutated flesh.
Smoker put the brute in a headlock while Ink ran forward and grabbed at the unshackled arm.
A sudden, brilliant blaze of light caught Marion's eye as flares exploded somewhere up the beach. From her vantage point on top of Rameses' hunched form she noticed the Bishop pressing her cloven foot directly into Sanji's head, pinning him against a tree.
"No!" She cried out and teleported herself onto the sand.
"Grab his other arm!" Smoker roared in her direction. "We've almost got him cuffed!"
Rameses bellowed in rage as he tried to regain his feet, a thick green blood spurting from his mouth and running down his throat from the wound in his jaw. Smoker was barely holding him down while Ink desperately tried to force the pirate's arm to bend and bring his free wrist closer to his bound wrist.
Marion glanced back at them, knowing she could potentially help them restrain this threat once and for all, but not at the cost of Sanji's life. If she delayed now, she'd never get there in time.
"I'm sorry." She called back to Smoker as she vanished.
Bishop stumbled sideways, cursing and snarling as she favored her wounded leg.
"You impotent piece of leviathan shit! You broke my ankle!"
Sanji attempted to raise himself up from the ground but his head was spinning, and his vision was still blurred from the pain. Bishop grabbed his necktie and yanked him forward, ready to break his neck, but before she could lay her hands on his throat Marion appeared beside them and sliced her blade down across the satyr's face.
Marion grabbed Bishop by the hair as the Chess pirate wailed in pain, her hands flying up to the fresh gash on her face, and the next moment both had disappeared.
Juzo Rameses lifted himself back to his feet, dragging Smoker and Ink up off the ground with him. Smoker evaporated and swirled downwards around the pirate's knees, reappearing to strike at him behind the leg, trying desperately to bring him back down.
The towering brute grabbed Ink with his free hand and hurled him across the sand. Reaching down he attempted to catch hold of Smoker, but the marine skewered the beast's palm with his Jitte.
With an enraged roar, Rameses wrenched the staff free from Smoker's grip and snapped it in half with one fierce blow from his opposite arm. Pulling the sea stone tip free from the wound in his hand he drove it into Smoker's chest, and immediately the man's hazy gray form rematerialized into flesh and bone.
Smoker grunted and spat his twin cigars into Rameses' grotesque face as he tasted blood on his tongue.
"Tell your superiors I'm coming for what's mine." The spiked monster snarled and slammed the marine directly into the sand at his feet.
He turned his bulk towards Sanji, who had fallen forwards onto his hands and knees and was coughing into the dirt, calling out for Marion.
Rameses scanned the beach. The Chess Piece Pirates had already won. He could have made for the ship and set off towards their next target, but he wanted to make a final example of this stranger, this mercenary who had allied himself with the Black Clovers and the Marines. He wanted the Grand Line to know that if anyone chose to stand against him with his enemies, they'd be shown even less mercy than he was.
He wrenched two quills from his back and stomped towards the young man, ready to impale him against the sand and watch his life bleed away and vanish into the shallows.
The sun glinting off the swords of another young man caught his eye as Rameses noticed him charging from across the bay, but he'd never make it in time. He'd make short work of him next.
The blonde man forced himself up onto his knees and stared back into the scarecrow's remorseless red eyes.
"You… are so… screwed." The cook muttered with a smirk.
Rameses paused.
"What?"
There came the blast of cannon fire from across the water and a piercing cry echoed around the beach.
"Gomu Gomu no… Gatling!"
An enraged figure collided with Rameses and with a wild blur of fists the two of them were catapulted into the undergrowth.
A straw hat lazily drifted through the warm breeze to land upon the sand in front of Sanji, who's smirk turned into a relieved grin.
Luffy had joined the fight.
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