Anderson crossed his arms, bearing a vexed expression and at the same time seemed to maintain what appeared to be a calm demeanor. After witnessing some of his grunts failing to effectively take care of the trio before him, he slowly got to his feet. Red Knuckles stood slightly taller than Sean and was fairly more muscular than the drunk, whose indulgences garnered him more excess fat. The pirate made a loop with his fingers and whistled.
"Hey! Get your ass out here, Diggs! The punk brought company."
"Oi, Capn', wha' now? Aven't I told ye' I was busy lookin' for them Amber Lead pieces like ye' asked?" A young man said, turning around. He was on one of the slopes of the quarry and quickly made his way downwards. He looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, and everything about him spelled pirate. The long red hair, the excessive jewelry, his velvet coat.
Sean, still holding his fists up, released a subtle grunt. "That's Red Knuckles first mate, Diggs 'Caltrop' Hailer. Bounty of 13,500,000 beli."
Smiling, Connor quickly directed his gaze towards the young man. He was pretty short, bearing an average lean build and didn't have an impressive amount of muscles. Connor saw something in the kid's emerald eyes, though. A sort of whimsical air clung to the air around Diggs. Connor's keen eyes also noticed the variety of leather pouches clinging to the sash wrapped around Hailer's waist. Easing up on his stance and assuming an idle position, Connor adjusted his headband.
Diggs offered a wave in response.
"Leave it to me, Thadd. I'll make sure he doesn't get too close. Ain't look like he'll be much trouble.. but he's gotta' have a reason for being looped up with Red Knuckles."
The binge drinker offered Connor a firm nod, completely directing his attention towards Red Knuckles. The blonde haired young man who displayed rather strange abilities only moments earlier cleared his throat a few times. He took a drag from his cigar and crossed his arms, sporting a devilish smirk.
"Red Knuckles is mine, big fella. Alright? I got here first. Finders keepers, man."
Sean raised an eyebrow, ignoring his remark and setting his gaze back onto Red Knuckles.
"HEY! I'm talkin' to you!"
"Heh. Just take care of the small fry, and let us-.." Before Connor could finish, the blonde's strangely pretentious voice pierced the air. He shook his head from side to side.
"NOPE! Nope, nope, nope. Uh-uh. Not a chance, guy. I'm the one who found him, so I'm the one who'll take the bounty. You and big fella over there try and get in my way and you're gonna' go down with him." The young man removed the cigar from his mouth and placed it behind his ear, pulling back the straps of his suspenders as he walked forwards. He had no doubt in his mind that he was in the right.
"Now, let's get down to business." He pointed a finger at Red Knuckles.
"Oi, would you shut the ell' up mate? Don't you ever get sick of hearin' the sound of ye' own voice?"
"Not really."
"Aw, ell'.. looks like we got ourselves one of those guys, Capn'. Listen," Diggs exhaled. "We is on a tight schedule, ye'? See, me an' the lads ave' been at it for a couple days now and we're gettin' real close to hittin' our quota. So, les' cut all the hubub an' just get to it already."
"Agreed," Sean said while turning to assess Red Knuckles. He hadn't fought him before, but he'd been up against plenty of guys with a similar build. What differentiated Corban Anderson from the others was yet to be revealed. Without a lick of hesitation Sean lunged off his back legs, cocking his arm back like a piston of a well-oiled machine.
However, when Sean stepped forwards to prepare his lunge, he felt several sharp objects piercing through his boot and into the skin of his foot. He furrowed his brows and offered a subtle grunt in response, looking down at his foot.
Diggs ruffled a hand through his crimson tresses, snickering mischievously. Anderson's first mate hadn't moved an inch from where he was standing, and yet.. Sean found about half a dozen caltrops piercing through the leather of his boots and into the muscle tissue of his foot. Connor's eyes widened as he furrowed his brows intently. He had his eyes on him the whole time, had his perception failed him? Then it finally hit him. Gritting his teeth, Connor recalled when Diggs waved to him. He must've thrown them then.
"While ye' gits were babbin' about an' such, ye' forgot to pay attention to tha' finer details. Me? I ain't big or strong like Capn', but I've got somethin' else goin' for me."
The first mate twisted a caltrop skillfully between his fingers without managing to cut himself on any of the prongs.
"I thought you said you were going to handle him, Jackson." Sean said, briefly glancing over his shoulder to look towards Connor. He offered a subtle smile in response, quickly adjusting his headband and cracking his neck from side to side.
"Yeah, I am."
Before long, pirates began to pour out of the various makeshift tunnels that were littered around the quarry. A few miners armed with their pickaxes also felt inclined to join, persuaded by Anderson's promises of an extravagant life on the open waters. The blonde adjusted his suspenders, exhaling slightly and donning what appeared to be a subtle frown.
"What're you guys retarded, or somethin'?"
They wasted no time charging into the fray, and before long the quarry was filled corner to corner with what appeared to be senseless violence.
"I'll admit it," Anderson smirked. He stumbled back a bit after receiving a blow to the center of the chest by the bounty hunter Sean. "You've got something going for you. I could use some hard hitters like you on my crew. What do you say?" Red Knuckles quickly corrected his posture, cracking his fists and spitting some blood to the side. Sean said nothing, instead he lunged forwards with his back foot and went to uppercut Red Knuckles in the chin. With his arms raised and hands forming tight fists, the pirate twisted his body slightly and allowed the punch to glide off his forearm.
"A slugger, huh?" Red Knuckles opposite fist flashed forwards, quickly jabbing Sean in the side of the chest. The large man was pushed a few feet back, and before he even had any time to react a connecting punch with the opposite hand followed as it slammed into Sean's chest. He nearly fell onto his back, but his pride stopped him from doing so. Red Knuckles was already hopping up and down, alternating his footwork and keeping his hands up.
"I've been fighting in and out of the ring for longer than I can remember, and you sluggers sure are something special. Hit harder than any other type of boxer, but you've got predictable punching patterns and less room for combinations. Diggs! I'm going for a knockout. Be sure to tell me my time by the time we're done here."
"Ye' got it Capn'," Diggs smirked. Connor was keeping his distance, hesitant to approach the trickster. His eyes darted around the ground as he looked for any obstacles that might halt him in his advance, but even with the rays of sunlight bleeding into the quarry in abundance it was hard to discern the finer details of his surroundings.
"Whas' the matta', wasn't ye' supposed ta' handle me? Ye' ain't movin' an inch." Diggs juggled a a spiked spherical object in one hand that resembled a small bomb while juggling individual caltrops in the other. Connor simply smiled in response. He suddenly broke off into a sprint, moving upwards at a very slight angle. Diggs swiped his arm to the side, throwing the spherical object towards Connor. Connor saw it approaching, it was too late. He had already begun to carve the constellation in the ground with his footwork. A single step in the wrong direction would completely offset the momentum and finesse of his movements.
A figure leaped into the air in front of him, catching the sphere and rolling onto the ground. The blonde young man gritted his teeth, wincing as he clenched the sphere with both hands. A large sound echoed inside of the quarry as gunpowder sizzled from between his fingers. When he opened his hands, the caltrops that would have exploded outwards from it were reduced to a brownish-copper powder.. more specifically, reduced to rust.
He stood up, uttering a string of curses as he shook his hands around in the air. His abilities enabled him to render most metallic weapons ineffective, but that didn't make him immune to things like the force of the explosion that the sphere came with. It wasn't nearly as strong as say, a cannon ball, far from it, but anything with gunpowder in it tended to pack a punch. Come morning, the blonde's hands would probably be black and blue.
Connor wasn't able to stop himself. Even thanks to the convenience of the blonde's intervention, it seemed like he was.. somehow off course. Instead of heading toward Diggs, he was running straight towards one of the walls of the quarry. Soon enough he came to a sudden halt, pivoting his foot as smoke and dust flew up from under his shoe. The timing was strangely precise and accurate. He sped forwards right into Diggs, his bicep slamming into the red-heads throat as he was sent flying across the ground. It was one hell of a clothesline, befitting to the star sign of Aries.
"Ooooo, big fella! Nice one!" The blonde said, whistling. He was clearly impressed with Connor's footwork. While Diggs was still recovering, Connor glanced over his shoulder and offered a smirk towards the blonde. Behind him he saw the grunts that made up the Black Eye Pirates, which only a few moments ago had been circling the blonde. Most of them were conscious but incapacitated, with their weapons covered in a sheen of rust.
"That was somethin', I'll give you that. But pretty lame in comparison to what I did. The name's William, by the way. William Welch."