A Smorgasbord of Blood and Pain!

With a Side Order of Sage!

"Fish, fish, fish," said Mikoto as he rifled through the kitchen. The place was quite large, bigger then the one on the ship. A couple of knocked over wine bottles, but those were of no interest to Mikoto. Mikoto continued to examine the contents of the large refrigerator. There was a bunch of miscellaneous foods gathered in there, but no fish. Mikoto sniffed through the fridge looking around through it, he tilted his head to the side as he pulled out a nicely sized slab of ribs.

"Not fish," said Mikoto as he pulled it out and sat it down on the table, "but it's a nice start." Mikoto delved, sticking his head back in the fridge searching for more food to eat. "I still want fish…maybe Sage knows where the fish is? Now where is Sage?"

(-with Sage-)

Sage was walking carefully throughout the jail. Many of the jail cells were swung open without a care in the world. Sage considered herself lucky, so far she hasn't seen a single prisoner. They all seemed to be on the lower floors, maybe they were on the higher floors. She was just thankful that they weren't on this floor. They would be making a ruckus and lead Kentan straight to her. She quickly dodged out into the corridor and was out of the filthy prison.

She took one more cautionary look behind before breaking into a run down the corridor. She just needed to find Zesiro, Mikoto, or Hiro-Shu. They'd be able to handle him no problem. Enma might be able to, too. She just needed to find one of those guys and she'd be home free.

Sage quickly rounded another corner. She disappeared once more and quickly found herself in a large empty room. Her hands instinctively went up to her mouth, the foul smell of blood filled the room. She stumbled back with disbelief at the smell. The disgustingly, disturbing smell. She continued onwards anyways, trying to put as much distance between her and Kentan as possible.

As she continued throughout the room, she saw a group of people all with weapons in their arms scattered on the ground. Each of them bleeding heavily. Some of them had swords and maces rammed through their bodies and embedded deeply into their skulls. Sage timidly approached the scattered bodies and examined them. Many of them were cut up and sliced, bleeding profusely. She didn't see a single Marine coat among them, so she guessed that they were the pirates that joined them, probably some of Zenmaru's men.

She walked about the bodies looking at each one with a mournful glance. She felt sorry for each of them, none of them will probably live. She's not a doctor, but she knew enough about medicine and fights to know that…decapitation…or a dent the size of her fist in the side of a man's skull…probably meant he was dead.

Sage crept around the dead bodies and stood on the other side of them. She began to back away and go out the door to avoid them once more, when she saw half of a black blade. She bent down and examined it. The black blade and the engraving on it. She noticed it was separated from the hilt of the blade. A clean and impressive swipe, she crouched down. She wondered about Zesiro, he had a blade like this.

She lifted the blade up and slid it into her pocket. She got up and began to walk back through the room towards a new exit, when she heard a pain-filled groan. The harsh and gruff groan that she heard almost every morning. The sound of her friend as he shifted out of bed when all he really wanted to do was lie back down in bed and sleep. When Zesiro wanted to sleep, but had to relieve Hiro-Shu of his duty. Or when Zesiro was training and overworked himself. Her eyes scoured the room in search of him or something that told her that he was here. She found it.

A bloody pile in the far left of the room. A gleaming white sword gripped in a light blue webbed hand. His arm was covered in a crimson streak. Beneath his body was a large pool of blood. He had holes in his shoulder, abdomen, and chest. Her hands, in a hyper sense of fear and anxiety, began to run across his body. They fell upon each hole as she examined them, fingering each hole. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small packet of napkins. She took them out and began to frantically dab them onto the wounds, trying to soak up some of the blood. She didn't know why she was trying to clean him up, maybe having blood spill over your body was bad for your body or something, she wasn't sure. She just didn't want to see Zesiro bleed. She needed Enma. Enma would be able to fix him up in a couple of seconds, have him back on his feet or something.

"I'm surprised a lady like yourself is in a rotten place like this," said Kentan as he emerged from the doorway. His large iron ladle strapped to his back. He wore a twisted smile on his face as he approached them.

Sage shot up and backed away. She was moving away from Zesiro as she kept her eyes trained on Kentan. Her eyes were wide as she watched him. Somehow he kept her trail, he was following her all the way up here.

Kentan approached Zesiro's dead body. He crunched down and examined the body, "I can't believe it. Do you actually feel pity for such a miserable slab of meat?" He looked up at Sage, like he was actually expecting an answer from her.

Sage swallowed loudly. Her mouth was suddenly dry. "He's…he's my nakama…and its not pity, its sorrow. He's my nakama and he's twice the man you'll ever be."

Kentan looked up at her. "You're kidding me? This half-fish beast should be killed, filleted, fried, and served with fries. With a small helping of tartar sauce on the side."

"What?" shouted Sage, "that better be a joke. A twisted, morbid, and terribly unfunny joke!"

"Why not?" asked Kentan as he stood up, "he's a beast. I eat pork, I eat beef, and I will eat fish. How is this pathetic mistake of nature any difference?"

"He's human!" shouted Sage, "he's my nakama! He's my friend! You are not allowed to touch him!"

"Who's going to stop me?" asked Kentan as he pulled his large ladle off of his back. "Surely not the yellow-livered chef standing other there. The poor precious little girl shaking in her apron."

Sage breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down. She couldn't run now, she couldn't just leave Zesiro alone with this murderer, especially if he was still alive. She just needed to hold out, she needed to wait for Hiro-Shu or Mikoto. Until then she just had to stay alive and protect Zesiro.

Sage brought her hands up. Luckily the alcohol didn't seem to have as strong of an effect on her now, it must've been wearing off due to all of the running or something. It must be disappearing. She could concentrate, so she could win. First she just needed to apply some pressure to Kentan's ear.

Kentan lifted his foot up, brought he couldn't seem to bring it back down. The world around him started to spin. He was disorientated, he couldn't place his foot and regain his balance. He swung his large ladle out in front of him, using it to quickly throw his weight forward forcing his leg back down against the ground, therefore regaining his balance.

"Interesting," said Kentan, "what a unique…flavor. I never expected such a delicacy from you. I thought your powers were quite limited, but it seems like you got some real skills. I'm afraid, however, that you won't be besting me!" Kentan straightened his ladle out in front of him. He then dashed forward, the bulbous ladle charging straight forward towards Sage. Sage dove to the side and over the dead bodies, rolling across the ground. Kentan and his ladle came smashing forward into the wall, with power similar to a train.

The wall crumbled around Kentan as he pulled his iron ladle out of the wall and twisted about to face Sage. Sage bounced back up onto her feet. She dodged backwards avoiding a close encounter with Kentan's swinging ladle. Sage propped herself against the wall and prepared for another pressure burst. Kentan lurched forward as a sudden wave of pressure overcame him. His stomach gurgled as he leant forward. He opened his mouth and spewed.

"That's it?" asked Kentan as he straightened his back up. "A loss of balance, a little bit of pain in my leg, and I lose my lunch? Is that really the best you can do? You certainly do have such a long range of techniques, but if you can't even make me regret picking a fight with you it doesn't matter how many of those techniques you got." Kentan waved his large ladle back up into the air and then brought it back down with his impressive strength. The ladle destroyed the tiles sending multiple sharp shards of the floor up and around in a scattershot-like manner. Sage was tossed onto the ground and, despite bringing her arms up to block, was sliced into by the broken shards.

Sage tried to stand back up, but her bleeding arms and legs wouldn't easily support her weight. She was stranded on the ground for a few more minutes, she turned around and saw Kentan slowly approaching her. He was drawing this out. He knew that he outmatched her in terms of pure brute physical force and her abilities lacked the offensive means to take him out easily. Even applying the pressure straight to his head and rapidly increasing it wouldn't help her. Kentan knew of her abilities and had probably heightened his guard, he wouldn't stand still long enough for Sage to prepare and launch the attack.

Kentan quickly brought his large ladle up and above his head, preparing for another downward smash. Sage twisted around and onto her back. She launched another burst of pressure forward and into Kentan's leg. A slight grimace emerged on Kentan's face as the pressure reeked havoc in his leg, damaging it eternally. Kentan ignored the pain and brought his hammer-like ladle straight down once more. He looked down at where his victim was supposed to lay, but saw nothing.

Sage was quick. During that instant that Kentan felt the pain coursing through his leg and grimaced, Sage moved. She got rolled to the side to give her more room and jumped up to her feet. Kentan's strike simply smashed into the ground, he was in to much pain and too focused on the follow through of his smashing hammer-like blow, he didn't notice. Sage was now standing on her two legs ready to fight him.

Sage smiled. When she had gotten up she had positioned herself perfectly behind Kentan. His back exposed to her. His body hunched over, with his only means of protection embedded within the hard floor. His leg badly enough injured that a last minute dive to the side or pivot around with his ladle was impossible for him. He was in trouble and he knew it. His eyes were wide as he twisted his head over his shoulder to look back at his aggressor.

Sage lifted both of her hands up. She used her thumbs and index fingers to create a circle in the middle of them. She thought back to all of her fights. She remembered fighting Oz, Marx, Roger, and now Kentan. She wasn't a fan of fighting at all, but she had to admit that as a pirate it was moments like this that she relished in. The moment of victory. When your opponent accept his fate and you deal the finishing blow.

The pressure in the circle Sage's fingers created began to build, soon taking a solidified form. A small ball of incredible pressure. The pressure that would put even her head exploding trick to shame, but with how close it was to her and how simple it is to create she was able to make one in a matter of seconds rather then the long drawn out minutes it took to make someone head's explode.

"Let's go!" shouted Sage, "Fire! Pressure Ball!" The small, dense, high-pressured sphere shot from her hands flying towards Kentan. The ball hit like a condensed hurricane. All that air pressure was being applied in a single burst to a single point on Kentan's back. The force flung him from his place and across the room. He hammered into the wall, breaking throughout and flying into the next room. Sage smiled as she heard a second and third as he hit the wall and then fell to the floor.

Sage smiled at her latest victory. She had just taken out one of the strongest men in this building, no one could tell her she wasn't one of the strongest fighters on the ship now. Especially not that punk Ridley, she smiled and flicked her hair out of her face. She couldn't wait to tell the others! Wait! Zesiro! Sage dashed over to Zesiro's side and quickly began checking his pulse and other signs of life. He was still breathing, but each breath was ragged and drawn out. He didn't seem to be in such great shape, whoever did this to him had to be incredibly powerful. She doubted even Mikoto could do something like this to someone…

Sage couldn't even finish her thought. A large pure iron ladle came smashing into her face twisting her around as she landed awkwardly on her arm. She looked up at her attacker. Kentan was smiling brightly. His body was bruised and he was breathing heavily. But he was still standing and carrying his large ladle. He walked awkwardly, too, he favored his right side. He didn't want to put any extra weight on his injured leg.

"At first I thought you were genius," said Kentan as he lifted his hand up to his nose, "that attack had such impact, such a strong and intense flavor. Surely a unique delicacy…but then you forgot the one of the cardinal rules of combat…always make sure your opponent is down for good before you ignore him."

The Delicacy of Defeat!

And the Sweet Taste of Victory!

First off, I just want to say that I'm sorry for the increasingly slow update speed. I recently started college and college eats away at my free time. So, less free time means less writing time. Oh, well…what can a student do? Now onto my rant for this chapter!

TADA! Another chapter down. I'm great, aren't I? Anyways, despite Sage's new and powerful move, Kentan remains undeterred. His strength still incredible and resolution unstoppable, he may just be one of the biggest threats to the Infinity Pirates yet! With Zesiro out of commission, Mikoto on the search for food, and the rest of the Infinity Pirates busy with their own problems how will Sage get out of this mess?

P.S. Chapter 75! That's only like a quarter away from Chapter 100! How has the crew managed to avoid killing each other for almost 100 Chapters?