AN: All items and abilities that the character has right now are based off of Pathfinder 1st edition. Some have been adjusted to better fit into the setting of One Piece.

As I looked back and forth between Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 a very out of place thought hit me. My mouth twitched as I struggled to remain calm. Here I was with a pair of gun toting maniacs facing me and I was struggling not to laugh.

"Sss..." My face contorted as I bit down onto my tongue as just a bit of laughter escaped me. I could see my arms shaking with the effort to hold it in, the pressure building higher and higher until I couldn't take it any more.

I threw back my head and began to laugh, a full bodied laugh that shook my entire body as I howled into the sky. "Ssssssssssss" The sound of my laughter only made me start to laugh harder. I sounded like gas escaping from a container or maybe a snake hissing.

I must have made the strange sight, this lizard person just standing there and barely able to stand as he laughed his head off. Even as I started to calm down I was still wracked by chuckles that just wouldn't go away.

"What, in the world do you find so funny?" Mr. 7 asked his tone completely flat. Miss Father's Day was scowling at me clearly finding no humor in my situation. The scowl was enough that a couple of chuckles escaped from me.

"I... can't...oh god." I managed to mutter out, a bit breathless from my laughing fit. Taking a deep breath I finally got my emotions back under control. Straightening up I resisted the urge to wipe tears from the corners of my eyes.

"Sorry it's just I suddenly realized i don't need glasses to see anymore." I responded completely unable to stop myself from breaking out into a wild grin. A grin that was showing far more teeth then proper. The glare that the pair leveled against me was glacial in it's coldness. It was cold enough that a shiver ran through my and calmed any lasting hints of hilarity.

"Lady." Miss Father's Day replied as she raised and leveled her gun at me. Fingering tightening about the trigger.

"Smash!" Mr. 7 finished as a dice with 7 pips on its side blasted out from his flintlock. I was already raising my shield up to protect myself when the shots collided less then a foot in front of me and exploded.

The force of the explosion slammed into me and the pain registered. It was horrible, awful, it was..actually less painful then I was expecting. I had actually been in more pain when I woke up then getting hit point blank by an explosion. Well that was certainly a bit of good news.

It was hard to say who looked more confused when the smoke cleared, them or me. Sure I had ended up a little singed but I wasn't anywhere near out of the fight. My grin widened and if I hadn't been showing off an already dangerous amount of teeth then my grin couldn't be considered as anything less then slasher.

"My turn." I growled out before darting towards them. As I moved I felt my thoughts slow, everything except this moment becoming unimportant. At some level I recognized it as the trance that sometimes came over warriors in battle. That state of heightened awareness one entered when their life was on the line. One of the rings about my finger tingled as its power was activated, a shimmering blue silhouette forming around Mr. 7.

The silhouette was already bringing his gun up to block against my blow before the real Mr. 7 had even started. The ring letting me peer just a second into the future to warn me of what my chosen foe was about to do. It didn't work as well offensively as it did on defense, leaving me better prepared for attacks from that foe.

"One Sword Style: Critical Waltz Exhausting!" My sword lashed out, Mr. 7 barely managing to get his gun up in time to deflect the blow that would have sliced into his ribs. A blackish aura flickering around my blade as I struck. It seemed to seep into the gun before vanishing without any effect.

The gun didn't come away unscathed though, a long gash marred the barrel the edges still smoking from the acid imbued into my blade from the gloves I wore. Miss Father's Day hadn't been idle as I charged though, loosing a trio of shots at me. I wasn't completely helpless however as my tail snapped out to smash into her side right as the shots went off.

The first bullet impacted against the armor on my shoulder, the second scoring a line across my cheek. The third bullet narrowly missed, Miss Father's Day aim thrown off by the impact of my tail as she was spun around 180 degrees before slamming into the ground.

Not allowing Mr. 7 a moment to recover I stepped forward and whipped my sword in the opposite direction of my first slice.

"One Sword Style: Critical Waltz Step Two Sickening."

A pale green aura forming along the length of the blade just before it made contact. Unable to bring his gun up again in time for another block it bit deep into Mr. 7's sternum the green glow seeping into his body.

Mr. 7 stumbled backwards his face going pale then a horrible shade of green and yellow before he dropped to his knees and vomited. The tip of my bloody sword came up as I spun to bring the point to rest on the bridge of Miss Father's Day nose just as she had sat back up.

"Toss the gun away." I growled out. Deciding it was better to obey then test to see how far I'd go Miss Father's Day tossed her gun further down the street. I gestured for her to get up and then over to Mr. 7. As she moved I kicked the other gun away to reduce the temptation of them continuing to attack me. Of course before I could get any further in my plans of what they hell I was going to do next the sound of someone clapping came from the direction I had just kicked the guns in.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath as I slowly turned towards the noise to find a trio of figures watching me. It seemed that they had come up from further down the street in the direction of the bay while I had been focused on the sniper pair.

"I must say that your quite impressive. I'd ask if you'd like to join me and my crew but I can tell by your reaction to these two that you'd say no. Ah well I guess I'll just have to content myself with capturing and selling you off. I'm sure that you'll fetch a high price." The man in the middle said his voice rumbling from somewhere deep in his chest as he finished clapping.

He was tall, easily 10 feet at the least and wore a blood stained butchers smock over his otherwise bare chest. Thick ropy looking scars crisscrossed across his chest as if it had been cut open dozen of times. The man's face was just as scarred as his chest, so much it was hard to tell where one ended and another began. Pitch black eyes were narrowed as he studied me. Slung across his back was a massive two-handed cleaver that was as big as the man himself, blade dripping blood from its last use. Along the spine of the weapon it seemed like someone had shaped the metal so it looked like the spinal column of a man.

To the man's right was a massive grey gravely skinned fishmen, his shoulders bore the only sign of color. Splotches of orange and darker orange with the same texture as the rest of him seemed to have. He wore a dark blue jacket, open at the front, along with a matching set of pants. Thick muscly arms were crossed across his chest with a pair of what seemed to be spines peaking out from his forearms. Considering that he was even taller then his boss I judged the fishman to be about my height.

The last figure to the man's left was a girl wearing a dark red dress that was covered in ruffles and lace. It was something that wouldn't look out of place at a Gothic Lolita convention. A black shawl was wrapped around her head and a matching veil hid her face completely. The only bit of the girl's skin that was visible was her hands. Such a pale white that it didn't look like they had ever seen the sun. In her hands she held a doll wearing the same outfit as the girl. That doll was even clutching a smaller doll in another matching outfit.

Looking between the three of them I just managed to stifle a groan. Why had I decided to attack an entire crew of pirates again? Oh right it was because I'm an impulsive idiot and I really hadn't thought this through. This was going to suck since unlike before it seemed that I'd be going against the elites instead of the mooks.

I turned fully towards the group, shield slightly in front of me. My sword held low, the tip pointing to the ground. There was a decent chance that both the man and the girl were devil fruit users but I doubted that the fishman would be. Whatever power the man had I couldn't guess at but the girl almost certainly had something to due with the doll in her hands.

The stand off between us continued the stillness only broken by Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day getting the hell out of the way as fast as they could. Meanwhile my brain spun in circles as I tried to come up with a strategy but I needed more time and info. Wait time and info this was One Piece there was an easy way to manage both. All I had to do was ask.

"I feel that I must ask for the names of those I'm about to do battle with. Just to have something to put onto your tombstones." Was I lying my head off to sound more confident then I felt? Yes, yes I was. But every scrap of knowledge increased the odds of my survival.

The man in the middle grunted in response and for a moment I thought that he wasn't going to respond before he opened his mouth. Score one for that actually working!

"I've no objection. You might even surrender once you know who your facing. My names Jack "The Butcher" Cook, captain of the Bloody Skull Pirates, bounty 99 million. The Fishman is my first mate Gargoyle, bounty 90 million, and the lass is my second mate Prima bounty 90 million." As Captain Jack introduced his group I firmly stamped down on any humor I felt at hearing that name. Dammit that also hadn't told me anything about what their powers were!

Somewhere in the village there was a crack followed by a plume of dust as another building collapsed. It seemed to be the moment that the pirates had been waiting for as they leapt suddenly into motion. Gargoyle charged towards me his right arm drawn back for a powerful haymaker. I caught the blow in the center of my shield but the force behind it was enough that my arm felt numb. Slashing out with my sword I forced Gargoyle to draw back.

Prima while this all was going on had actually taken a step back had tossed her doll before her. Landing on its feet the doll set the smallest doll down and seemed to watch as it scampered away. Something whined inside of the doll before dozens of sharp blades flicked out and shredded its dress. Bare porcelain and clockwork gears made up the doll and as it's veil fell I felt faintly sick. The upper half of the dolls face was perfectly normal even down to the slightly disturbing eyes. The lower half however had been replaced by a pair of spider-like mandibles that gleamed with some kind of liquid that I just knew was poison.

Jack in contrast to Gargoyle had barely moved other then to reach back and start drawing his cleaver. He didn't seem to be in any rush and it actually seemed like he was moving slower then normal. The only other change that I could see was that his skin was turning a dark red. Maybe a primitive form of Haki?

I didn't get a chance to think more about that as Gargolye charged back in and I was forced to sway to the side to dodge a punch. The blue silhouette formed around Gargoyle and before he could pull his arm back I lashed out with my sword, scoring a long deep gash across the inside of his left forearm. Following that up I slammed my shield into his face to drive him back. Before I was able to press my attack further I was forced to leap back as Jack's cleaver smashed into the ground where I had just been standing.

Captain Jack grunted at his miss as he hefted the cleaver back up over his shoulder. Hell he didn't even seem bothered by the miss as he half turned towards me. I nearly missed his next blow, one moment he had been standing there perfectly still and the next he was right in front of me. Massive cleaver swinging down towards my head he was standing there for a moment and the next the cleaver was coming down towards my head.

At the last second I snapped my shield up to block it. Metal shrieked as the blade skittered across my shield before it buried itself into the ground. A flash of blue warned me of Gargoyle's incoming attack but blocking that last blow had left me off balance and I couldn't get my sword up to deflect the blow. Right arm drawn back and spines extended he slammed the punch into my side right where there was a gap in the armor for movement.

Moments later the doll that I had forgotten about floated up onto my shoulder and sank it's fangs into my neck. I could feel it injecting something into me as it slashed at me with the blades across its body. Most found no opening in my armor but it still left me with a few scratches.

The doll floated away from me on invisible strings just as Jack's hand wrapped around my head. Strange his hand was a lot bigger then it had been. I thought just before he flexed and slammed me face first into the dirt. My teeth clacked together and I think I bit my tongue by the way blood filled my mouth.

I shook off a bout of vertigo as I pushed myself back onto my feet. Thankful that they hadn't decided to keep attacking me as I did so. Once I had done so I spat out a goblet of blood from my mouth. Well that certainly had hurt but I was still standing.

"You might as well surrender now. Gargoyle is a rock fish fishman, his venom is strong enough to drop an elephant. Prima fills her dolls up with his venom as well so you got double the dose." Jack chuckled as the strength in my legs nearly gave out. Now that he had mentioned it I could feel the poison burning as it spread from the site of my wounds.

I opened my mouth to reply but only managed to hack out another goblet of blood. When I finally did speak my voice was so low that I could barely even hear myself and I had only gotten a single word out.

"No.."

"What was that? You need to speak up if you want to be understood." Jack laughed as he raised one hand to his ear.

Growling I forced myself to stop slouching and stand up to my full height My hand tightened around the hilt of my sword and the handle of my shield as I drew in a breath as I fixed a glare on Jack.

"I said, fuck you. You two bit excuse for a pirate. I'm not giving up and dying here! Not before I achieve my dream!"

I charged forward bringing my sword up as I did so that it was horizontal in front of my shield. Instincts took over and in a fraction of a second my arm went from bent to fully extended. A blade of wind sliced through the air as it hurtled towards Jack. It caught him across the chest, ripping a deep bloody gash across it and ruining the man's smock. Which fluttered to the ground where he had been standing.

The wind blade had thrown Jack more than a dozen yards down the street and knocked him off his feet. I had no time to marvel at the scope of the feat as Gargoyle charged at me. I brought my shield around and as Gargoyle's spines slammed into the unyielding metal they snapped.

Cradling his injured arm Gargoyle started to withdraw but I didn't give him the chance. I leaned forward, stretching my neck slightly and sank my fangs into the Gargoyle's shoulder. The coppery tang of blood filled my mouth once again as I pulled my head back. I came away with a mouthful of skin and meat as Gargoyle stumbled away screaming.

Spinning like a top through the air Prima's doll flew at me but was intercepted in flight by my tail flicking up to intercept it. Their was a crack and the doll rained to the ground in pieces. Porcelain fragments and gears littering the ground where it had broke.

Seeing that Prima and Gargoyle were dealt with for the moment I turned my attention to Jack. He had gotten back to his feet and was charging at me, cleaver raised above his head. He was certainly bigger now double the size that he had been at the start of the fight. Beneath dark red skin muscles rippled and bulged.

I charged down the street to meet his charge with my own. My foot tapping ten times against the ground as I shaved. Then I was in front of him and my sword was lashing out. Two aura's, one of black the other green formed along the length of my blade moments before it struck

"Stored Strength Cleaver Guillotine!

Critical Waltz Step Mastery: Exhausting and Sickening!"

Jack's cleaver flashed down and impacted with my raised shield with a thunderous boom. I felt something in my arm snap but it was enough to complete my own move. My sword cut a line that traveled up from his hip to intersect the gash from my previous blow. The two aura's flowing into the wound and then Jack's body. The silence that followed was deafening, probably because my ears were still ringing the cleaver meeting my shield.

Jack swayed and then the cleaver fell from his fingers to the ground. Another sway and he pitched backwards with a resounding thump that I could feel through my bones. He was already starting to shrink as I glanced backwards showed that both Prima and Gargoyle were no longer looking for a fight.

Gargoyle was holding his injured shoulder as the tiny doll that had been held in the hands of Prima's doll worked to staunch the bleeding. I had wondered where it had run off to. Prima herself had somehow produced a dozen more dolls the size of her original one that were already floating away as she moved to Gargoyles side. The pair shot me a fleeting look before they hurried out of sight behind one of the buildings.

A look back at Jack revealed more dolls that were lifting him onto their shoulders. They glanced at me before scurrying down the street as fast as they could. One doll remained behind for a moment before it grabbed the hilt of the cleaver and then scampered off with the blade dragging behind it.

As I realize that I was still standing I shouted after the retreating pirates.

"I guess I'm tougher then two elephants!" Then the ground was rushing up to meet me and I knew no more.

AN: Well that escalated quickly. We'll find out more about The Bloody Skull pirates in the next chapter and what devil fruits they'd eaten.