The Curse of Mechanical Appendages!

Bushou Finally Falls!

Maria dodged gracefully underneath Bushou's next attack, another elbow jab. She was waiting for the perfect opening. Bushou was big, but he wasn't particularly a strong fight. She fought stronger before…she was always fighting it seemed like. But that's what you do, you fight to become stronger. You become stronger to fight. That was Maria's life in a nutshell.

(~flashback~)

It was a quiet day out on the sea. The ship was world-class fighting ship. The Underground Rally Arena hosted a fight out at sea once a year to showcase up-and-coming talent. The talk of the town was one Randolf McKlinin. He had been the champion of the up-and-comers division for thirteen years. He was now thirty six years old. This was described as his prime.

This was his last bout before he was officially recruit into the Arena. This would prove that he had what it takes to compete with the big dogs. He was feeling extremely confident. Why wouldn't he? He was the champion, it was an unarmed fight (his specialty), and his opponent was this silver haired girl. It is a commonly known fact that women aren't as good of fighters as men.

He would draw the fight out, make it interesting, maybe even go down once to add to the suspense. But in the end he would be standing and the girl…well, if she could still move she'd be on her knees begging him for mercy. He wouldn't give her any, though. He would kill her. Just like his contract stated was mandatory.

He was so lost in his daydreams and his thought process he didn't even hear the bell ring. As a matter of fact, Randolf was barely aware when he saw the girl dash towards him. He wasn't even sure that the bell had rung until her right fist had made its way through the air and into his cheek. He was sent sprawling to the ground. He stumbled to his feet. He wiggled his mouth around and felt a tooth that had been knocked clean loose. He spat the bloody bone onto the ground. Forget about his plan, the girl was going to die in round one.

He charged forward, his entire body firing every muscle. He swung wide. Maria anticipated such a hit and ducked beneath it and to the side. A classic beginner's mistake. Even pros would've been unable to strike her now, but Randolf was better then the pros. He brought his leg out and made his punch into a spinning kick. He sent his leg spiraling into Maria's chest. The girl collided with the ground.

Randolf knew immediately that that would be the end. He got above her and prepared a second punch. But Maria was faster and lighter on her normal legs. She brought her heel straight up into the air and into Randolf's chin. Randolf stumbled backwards and landed onto the ground. His hand tentatively touched his jaw. Two blows there, both of them extremely powerful. He was lucky his chin wasn't broken.

The fight continued all the way in to the tenth round. Randolf wasn't prepared for it. He had never fought this long before. All of his fights ended in the fourth round, maybe fifth if he wanted to drag the fight out. This was twice the length he was used to, his legs were buckling under his own weight. He had been fighting at full throughout this entire fight, the fatigue was beyond what it was him in all of his other fights. Maria, on the other hand, was prepared for this. She had been hit a lot more then Randolf, but she still seemed to full of energy. The fight would be over soon.

Randolf shook his weariness off and drove forward for one last attack. The expert fighters watching this fight immediately knew he had lost. When you are tired and out of energy, the last thing you want to do is charge. Your perception rate is decreased, your reaction time is slow, and you are more then likely to get sent to the floor. And that's exactly what happened.

Maria's leg came soaring through the air and into Randolf's chin. The final stroke to an already battered jaw. The jaw gave way. It shattered and so did Randolf's ego. He was sent to the floor and was knocked out instantaneously. He couldn't have moved even if he wanted to. The last thing he remembered seeing was that girl's smug and cocky smile.

He woke up soon afterwards. He was in an infirmary. The girl hadn't killed him. Randolf opened his mouth to speak, but what came out wasn't really what he had been hoping for, "wult huppinnet?" His speech was slurred and distorted, if you could even call it speech. The doctor looked at him and smiled. He said he was glad he was awake, he told him everything that happened. Maria had spared him, his jaw was broken beyond repair, and she was staying at an inn in town. Randolf decided to pay her a visit.

Maria was ignoring the rest of the inn. She was busy tending to her knuckles and ribs. Randolf had done a number on her. She may have broken his chin, but her knuckles and shin were in pretty bad shape too. They would probably break if she took too many more blows to them. She was in her room, the complimentary Den-Den Mushi hidden beneath a pile of pillows when there was a knock on the door. She didn't get visitors often, so she would welcome any friendly face.

Too bad when she opened the door, it wasn't a friendly face. It was Randolf and about eleven other men. "Yu thurght gat ju gut rid oo me?" Randolf slurred as he slammed his fist into Maria's face. She was sent to the floor. Before she could even get up she was attacked on all sides by the men. She laid on the ground for about two hours feeling every single hit, she felt her shins break, she felt her arms break. Her entire body was being destroyed. They left after that. She couldn't move, but she was still alive. She was alive lying in a puddle of her own blood. No way to move and get food or water. She would die of blood loss soon, but until then she would feel every single ant crawling over her body like a boulder. Every breeze felt like a typhoon. It was over an hour when she thankfully passed out.

She woke up strapped to a hospital bed. Her body felt numb. She was thankful for that. Somebody must've put her under. She loved the feeling, or lack thereof. She looked over at her arm. Her broken left hand. She'd miss moving it, but maybe death would…wait! It moved! Her finger moved! She tried it again. It moved again! The same with her other arm! And her legs! Was it all just a horrible dream?

No. Apparently Randolf set fire to the inn, a man in the competition had heard them gloating about beating her up and went in after her. She never did get his name. Apparently he found her laying on the floor and carried her out. He took her to a friend of his, a scientist of sorts. He was able to create artificial legs and arms made of heavy machinery. She was…distraught. Her entire life, she dreamed of being the strongest unarmed warrior in the world. She couldn't be now…machinery is outlawed in hand-to-hand fights. Her dream was dashed.

Since then she had learned how to maintain her arms and legs, how to operate them, how to make subtle improvements, and things like that. She had done to the same to her ship on several occasions. Her ship was now heavily tricked out with weaponry. Her dream, however, was still shattered. Knowing that it will never come back she changed it. Forget about the strongest unarmed warrior. Well, just the unarmed part. With her mechanical parts, she'd just be the strongest.

(~back to real time~)

There! Maria wasn't expecting it, but for a brief instant Bushou left himself wide open. He shifted his weight behind him and to the side to increase the strength of his next punch, it was a wide punch. Maria didn't let this moment go to waste. She leaned forward and sent her fist rocketing forward straight up and into Bushou's skull. It gave way to her fist. She felt it. She probably broke the man's skull and killed him…it was possible. But she didn't care. If he was dead, that just meant he wouldn't come back around later and try to kill her.

She felt strangely happy as she looked at the dead man's body. It reminded her of what she should've done to Randolf. It reminded her that that man feared her and was still out there. Someone for her to hunt down and beat the crap out of. One of the few men around that reminded her of her life before the mechanical upgrades.

She was about to leave, but the brat with the green Mohawk was just laying out on the ground. He was probably halfway dead now…She sighed and bent down. She hefted him onto her shoulder. He helped her get out of the prison cell. He helped her get her life back, just like the man all the way back then. She'd remember to get this man's name.

(-With Enma-)

Enma's hand timidly crept towards the drawer. All of his attention of its 'contents'. Its 'contents' consisted of a tall lengthy young man. His face was contorted into one of fear. A shocked expression, the eyes left open, and its mouth letting loose a final scream. It was dressed in just boxer's shorts. His entire upper body revealed to the elements.

Enma had to admire the workmanship. The body hadn't paled at all. Nor had it begun to reek of death just yet. It had been kept clean, none of its bodily waste spilling out into the drawer with it. Whoever had killed the man and stuffed it into the drawer apparently had some purpose in mind for it and wasn't just messing with it. Enma was about to close the drawer when he noticed that there wasn't any preservatives in the room.

The body had been locked up in a dark space without any light for awhile apparently, but it didn't look aged. Of course, obviously the first idea would be to use preservatives. They would keep the body like this for awhile. But when Enma had his first look around, he saw no preservatives. As a matter of fact, the body didn't smell of the heavy preservatives that would normally be used. The man had apparently been killed not too long ago.

"I see you've discovered my little secret," said another man as he entered the room. He was older then Enma, probably by about twenty years. His body was awkward though. His left arm was slightly tanned, closer to dark then white. His right arm on the other hand was pale white, closer to an albino's coloration. His head was albino colored, but his two eyes were different colors. His left was a dark muddy brown and his right, a deep sea blue. He was in a stark white lab coat.

"I'm sure that if Ridley was here he'd make some crack about necrophilia," said Enma as he studied the man more carefully. The man reeked of heavy painkillers and probably some other medicinal drugs, but he didn't seem affected by them. His eyes were clear, his footsteps precise, his entire body moving in perfect harmony with each other. There was a small ding probably from a clock somewhere in the room.

"Excuse me a moment. I'm afraid its time to take my medicine," said the man as he reached into his pocket and produced a small silver syringe. He pushed the needle into his body and sighed as he depressed the plunger, allowing the green medicine within it to flow into his body. "This Ridley fellow couldn't be farther from the truth. I don't wish for long times alone with the dead, I wish to eliminate the dead. I am the leading scientist in immortality research."

(-With Mikoto-)

Mikoto had once again been sent careening to the floor. Henry smiled. He barely had to lift a finger. He smiled. "So, Mikoto…rethought my proposition? I mean, so far you can't even touch me thanks to my hypnosis. Got any other thoughts? I'd hate to have to kill you. You have…potential. Someone like you…I mean seriously do you know what you make me think of? The CP9."

Kin's face jumped straight to anger, "how do you know about them? They have been kept secret for the past fifty years at least! No one ever brought them up throughout their entire existence."

"You seem to have forgotten the Nico Robin incident, hm?" said Henry with a smirk. "They failed in their orders, so, yeah, its only natural that the Revolutionaries caught wind of it."

"Excuse me," said Mikoto as he brought himself to his feet once more, "but do you think you could tell me who the heck you are talking about?"

"The CP9," said Henry with a shrug, "They were an expert killing squad used by the World Government to kill people that have gained too much information. They were pretty good Zoan Devil Fruit users as well. You can see why you remind me so much of them. You have the makings of a great killer…what do you say? If you join with me, the Revolutionaries could train you. Make you into the killer that your Devil Fruit was made for. Hmm? What do you say?"

"No," said Mikoto. He brought his two arms up in front of him. He morphed into his hybrid form. His entire body was coated in fur and the ends of his hands became sharp claws. "I'm afraid that offer's just not what I'm looking for."

The Death of Henry!

Down in the Dark Prison!

For those of you who were wondering (probably 0), Shion's name comes from Shi (which is Japanese for death and pride) and Bushou means sloth.

Maria's past was revealed, but her future remains a mystery. Has the crew found a new crew member or will she join with the Revolutionaries for revenge? What has Enma gotten himself into? What has Mikoto gotten himself into? How is Sage doing? All of that will be answered in the next chapter!