Kin stood there. "I'm waiting to see these new transformations."
"Yeah, I am kind of too," said Mikoto as he shrunk back to his human form, "I don't really know how to use the Rumble Ball…I normally think of my powers as a lever. Dog is down, hybrid is the middle, and human is all the way up. The Rumble Ball I thought was going to give me an option of pressing a button or something to morph, but that idea isn't happening."
"Of course," said Kin as he drove his claws into the glass case besides him, "power is nothing if you have no idea how to control it. I have honed my skills for months on end without a break, and you expect to be able to eat one Rumble Ball and be at my level already."
"Right, the world just isn't that easy," said Mikoto, "Well, fine then, I'll just have to make do with what I got!" Mikoto entered his hybrid form again rushing towards Kin his claws outstretched.
Kin caught Mikoto's claw with his heavily armored fist. Kin then immediately brought his knee up and into Mikoto's gut. Mikoto fell immediately to the floor. He felt drained. His ribs felt smashed. Not to mention he still had that horrible taste in his mouth. Kin however wasn't being nice and giving him a break. Kin bent down and grabbed Mikoto by his ears. He yanked Mikoto off of the ground. Mikoto yelped at the tugging of his ears.
"This armor isn't even perfected yet," said Kin, "I was hoping as a Zoan-Type user you would give me a little insight to the power of my old superior Jugo. I guess I was hoping for nothing. Jugo was a pain in my butt. He sent me on errands to get his coffee and then he would lock me out of his room," Kin delivered a quick punch to Mikoto gut, "He would tell me to meet him in the gymnasium and he would go in the complete and opposite direction," Kin threw another punch into Mikoto, "he would get me and him onto a boat for 'training' then he would throw me, a Devil Fruit user into the water 20 miles from the shore!" Kin yanked Mikoto even higher. His mind was being completely consumed with thoughts that his old mentor Jugo did to him.
"Shut up," said Mikoto. Kin's glance returned to the half-dead coyote he held in hand. "I'm your opponent, not this Jugo guy you demented sculpture!" Mikoto brought his legs up and wrapped them around Kin's neck. "Claw Corkscrew!" Mikoto twisted with all of his might sending both of them into the floor beneath them. Mikoto got back up and quickly jumped back avoiding a swipe Kin made with his claw enhanced armor.
"Pest," said Kin getting up. Some of his clay armor had been knocked off in the impact. "You actually broke off some of my armor." The clay soon started creeping all the way around his body again until he was fully cloaked. "But still you do deserve some respect, I was being an idiot, how could you ever live up to be a man like Jugo. You can't even hit me or avoid my attacks! Goliath's Fist!" Kin's right hand expanded till it was the size of a small deck. Kin swung his heavy fist at Mikoto. Large lumps of clay started to fall onto the floor. Kin's hand was revealed underneath all that clay it was obvious he was bleeding heavily with a long wound buried in it. He saw an altered Mikoto smirking at him.
Mikoto was no longer in his hybrid form. This form was more slender. And the coyote ears Kin had been pulling on moments ago were lost in a hairy head. But the most astonishing change hadn't occurred on his head or chest but his hands and feet. The claws that were probably only two inches long last time had expanded to that of a foot on his hand and probably half of a one his claws.
"Hey, looks like our wait is over," said Mikoto glancing at his claws, "its just like before just with a little bit more of an effort to place the lever in the right place. Instead of just up and down there is also apparently a left and a right." Mikoto saw blood dripping from Kin's hand. "I thought you couldn't be harmed because of your Logia Devil Fruit powers!"
Kin's face twitched, "Is he mocking me?" The clay on his body covered his hand again. "I guess it was to be expected I got carried away with this tough armor. I didn't think he could've harmed me…crap, I got to stay on my guard haven't gotten my defenses down to a reflex, yet."
"Cool," said Mikoto, he ignoring Kin at the moment and was more obsessed with his foot long claws. He made a couple of feint hits in the air and then he spun around slicing a nearby pedestal into two. "Say hello to my new mode, Claw!"
"If you survive long enough to use it again," said Kin jumping towards him forming another claymore, "I might just have to!" Kin brought his sword straight down but it was cut into several chunks with a simple swift of Mikoto's claw. Kin jumped back avoiding another swipe from Mikoto's claw that would've nearly decapitated him.
"Here I come! Claw Bombardier!" Mikoto tried to run towards Kin, but do to his new and lengthy claws on his feet he couldn't. He tripped over his own claws and smashed into the floor. "No fair you tripped me!"
"I didn't do anything," shouted Kin. Why does he always get the stupid ones! His view returned to his arm. Slicing his clay armor up and then his claymore up were no small feats. He'd have to take a far more cautious method with this idiot. Kin jumped back another couple of feet. His armor loosened up until it just covered his torso and legs. The clay that was on his hands transformed into a small gun. He took careful aim at Mikoto. "I'll have you know I am quite the animal lover at heart, and seeing you ridden with bullets makes me believe you aren't the best at long distance fighting. Good luck in hell!" The gun fired three small balls of clay at Mikoto at high speeds.
Mikoto dodged each one with barely an inch to spare. "Wow, you got gunpowder in your body! Awesome! Where do you keep it?"
"Its not gunpowder," shouted Kin becoming increasingly annoyed, "its more like an air cannon then a gun. I create a small area filled with air with my clay and then I slowly compress it building up the air pressure. Then by opening it up I can fire numerous bullets at once, like SO! More bullets exploded from the gun.
Mikoto ducked and dodged behind each and pedestal. He was catching his breath behind one that contained a long spear with two large golden shoulder pads attached to the top. "Crap, this form is too slow," said Mikoto, "I got to have another form…think! Hybrid is too big, Coyote isn't strong enough, and human is too slow. Think! He said that Chopper made multiples forms available. I've got to have another one!" The pedestal he was hiding behind exploded into plaster chips. Kin stood back watching him. Waiting for the smoke to clear to make another shot. A shadowy outline was all he could see. A big one…too big for any of Mikoto's previous transformations.
The smoke soon dissipated. Mikoto was now standing there. His hair was much shorter in this form. His legs were also longer. His claws were now nearly gone just mere stubs rested on the ends of his fingers. His coyote like ears were back, but his snout had almost vanished into his face. "Ready to have your butt handed to you in point 8 seconds!"
"Point 8?" said Kin stifling a laughter, "do you know how dumb you sound?"
"Not as dumb as you are about to look, Beast Hammer," replied Mikoto his body vanished instantly into a black blur. Before Kin could even fire one shot the black blur was right up underneath him. Mikoto launched several punches at high speeds into Kin's body. Mikoto then did a back flip to jump back.
The armor that was previously clinging to Kin's chest was now shattered. Kin didn't even have time to turn to clay before that attack hit. His chest was completely bruised and probably swollen now. The armor stopped recuperating from the wound. The armor slowly started to just crack open and fall off of his Kin's body.
"You've proven your strength," said Kin, "I'll now give you 100%! CLAYGROUND!" Clay started to spread out from Kin's feet overwhelming the room's floor. Mikoto was about to run to get away from it, but he found himself stuck in place. He looked down at his feet. Kin's clay had firmly wrapped around his legs and was holding him in place. Kin's hand morphed into a dagger. "Die here!" Kin drove his dagger deep into Mikoto's chest opening up another wound. Mikoto regressed to his full human form.
"Die?" Mikoto grasped the dagger. "If I die here my dream and my father's dreams die, too. That isn't going to happen! Not here or now!" Mikoto broke his legs out of the hardened clay and slammed his foot into Kin's groin. Kin smirked as his groin area was pure clay.
"You can't beat me! I am composed of clay!" shouted Kin, "Any attacks you hit me with will just be useless I'll just grow from the smallest piece of clay!"
"Fine! I'll just squash you whole! Mikoto's Five-Form Melee! Human!" Mikoto jumped back another few feet. "Beast!" Mikoto morphed into his beast form and ran at Kin. He bit and tore a chunk of clay off of Kin's leg and kept going until he was on the other side. "Hybrid!" Mikoto morphed into his hybrid form and tackled Kin throwing him drastically off balance. Mikoto jumped into the air towards. "Claw!" Mikoto morphed into claw form in midair and started spinning. He gained enough momentum where he ripped straight through Kin's clay-like body. "Speed!" Mikoto changed into his latest form. He started punching Kin's body driving it backwards closer to the wall with every single blow that landed. Finally Kin was driven straight into a wall. Every single blow Mikoto landed plastered Kin's clay straight onto the wall. Mikoto stopped and stood back to see his work.
Nothing was left that even resembled Kin. Just a clay pulp lying there. Lumps, mashed clay, and the shattered cement floor. Absolutely nothing that would've made someone believe that a man had been there before. Mikoto was upset that he had to do it, but there was time for remorse later. Mikoto looked around and saw the door and ran straight out of it, towards the harbor and his ship.
If he would've waited a few more seconds till he left he would've seen the clay slowly rebuild itself to the form of a man.
(-At the Harbor-)
Sage jumped onto the ship. Ridley and Zesiro were already there prepping the ship for launch. Zesiro nodded in her direction. Ridley however was the one that actually talked to her, "so how did it go with Marx? Did you have to do something 'special' for him?"
Sage delivered a quick punch to Ridley's face forcing him to the ground. "I never did anything 'special' for any man in my entire life!"
"So you say," said Ridley with an all too intelligible smirk on his face.
"Stop arguing and prep the ship!" shouted Zesiro. "As soon as Mikoto gets on the boat we are leaving!"
"Aye-Aye!" shouted Sage she started to dash towards the helm but Hiro-Shu was already standing there ready to set sail. "Uh…who is he?"
Ridley and Zesiro turned around and looked up and saw Hiro-Shu. They both shrugged. "Never seen him before," said Ridley before continuing with his work.
"Come to think of it neither have I," said Zesiro, "he wasn't at the party, he wasn't in the infirmary, and he hasn't said a word to us since he's gotten on this boat whenever that was."
"How do you know he wasn't at the party!" shouted Ridley, "there were a million marine officers there! Did you remember every single of their faces?"
"Close enough," said Zesiro.
"Close enough! Stop your lying!" shouted Ridley, "You are a…." The sound of Mikoto screaming drowned Ridley's voice out. The crew gathered at the edge of ship to see Mikoto and the gang of Marines chasing him down.
"Get ready to sail!" screamed Mikoto, "raise the bridge!" He morphed into his faster Beast Mode as his rumble ball had run out only seconds after beating Kin.
Zesiro nodded. Ridley was struggling to lift the heavy drawbridge. Zesiro shook his head at the pathetic effort put forth by his nakama and he walked over there and lifted the bridge effortlessly with one hand. Ridley continued to shout insults at the half-fish that ignored them. Mikoto focused all of his strength into his legs and leapt into the air and onto the boat. Hiro-Shu twisted the boat and the sails caught the wind.
"Onward to the Grand Line," shouted Mikoto.
Cannon shots could be heard from the harbor. A few cannonballs whizzed past. "Crud," said Ridley realizing that they must of missed a few cannonballs. A few more cannonballs whizzed past one of them caught the sail and tore right through it. The ship was slowing down.
Another cannonball zoomed towards the ship this one effectively locked onto the helm. Hiro-Shu twisted around, his arm already covered in its heavy iron armor. He aimed one powerful punch at the cannonball and shattered it before the crew's eyes.
"Wow, I am glad we have him!" said Sage.
A few more cannonballs whizzed past, one of them wrecking the cabins and another one smashing into the side of the ship.
Back on the harbor Valerie was biting her lip as she watched the ship that Hiro-Shu was on nearly get destroyed. She approached one of the cannons pushing the officer down. She took aim with cannon and fired. The options were her job or her friend.
The cannonball smashed into the water right behind the ship forming a wave. The wave propelled the ship forward sending it drifting further away from the base and just out of the line of fire.
Kin scowled watching the newest pirates of the East Blue get away. "Whoever fired that last shot is going to be sleeping with fishes!"
Finally the Marine Base Arc is over with. And I must say I was kind of disappointed in it. I think I should've worked on the non-fight scenes a little more. My bad. The next couple of chapters are going to be stand alones; I have no idea when I am going to get to the next arc, but until then enjoy Mikoto and his crew's silly antics!