Rebelling Against the World!
Taking Down the Authorities!
Mikoto gathered his nice little pirate lunchbox and hoisted it onto his shoulders. It was small only a couple of sandwiches (none of them tuna, to his disappointment), some leftover fries, and a bottle of juice. He morphed into his coyote form and began to head out. His eyes trained straight ahead of him as he left. His lunchbox strapped safely to his back in case of an emergency.
The kitchen was a nice place and had a pretty good variety of seats to eat at, but he figured he'd better move out and find the rest of his crew. Hopefully, the Marines were too busy fighting with the Revolutionaries that they didn't pay any mind to the pirates running wild. Mikoto looked back behind him at the kitchen, it saddened him to leave so much food behind, but he had already set his mind at finding his crew.
He wondered about the plan, though. The plan to get through Reverse Mountain originally relied on Henry to open the gates using some kind of Marine password…well, Renvont put a stop to that plan. Mikoto sighed. He was out of luck, not unless Ridley knew some kind of password that would make everything better. Maybe he should head up to the control room anyways, worse comes to worse, he'd just kick the darn the system. That seemed to work with most things.
He saw the staircase in front of him and quickly began to wander up it. The place should be at the highest point. He was pretty sure the gate was at the top of Reverse Mountain in order to make it where a ship would gain speed and then crash into the gate and be blown to a million pieces…he shivered at the thought of that happening to his crew. Especially, since about half of the crew were Devil Fruit users…and then Hiro-Shu weighed about 1000 pounds, so he would drown with them. Ridley and Zesiro would live…and then Zesiro would probably kill Ridley…
Mikoto sighed as he kept his head low and headed through the Marine Base. He looked about him every so often to make sure no guards or Revolutionaries with swords were charging at him, but from what he could tell most of them had been wiped out. The few Marines he did see were laying on the ground with devastatingly powerful chops to them, they were reminiscent of what he saw when you chopped wood. Large ugly gashes.
The Revolutionaries he saw were just about as bad off. Large multiples sword slashes ripped through their bodies, some of them were missing arms and legs, while others were a couple of feet away from their heads. It was like something you'd hear a Shichibukai doing…maybe even a Yonkou. He pushed that thought out of his head. He'd love to fight a Shichibukai…but not right now…maybe after he eats his lunch and finds his crew…but not right now.
Mikoto's nose pricked up. The smell of blood was becoming fresher…At the bottom of the stairs, the blood and the bodies seemed to have been killed a couple of hours ago, but here…the Marines laying about him, smelled as if they had just been torn apart by a massive axe. The smell sickened Mikoto. Mikoto quickly morphed back into his hybrid form, the smell was still there, but it was less intense. He was thankful for that as he trudged on through the halls.
He stopped at the top floor. A quick whiff in the air told him that whoever was up here was still killing and was doing a pretty damn fine job at it. Mikoto trudged forward carefully trying to avoid making any noises that could tip the killer off. He couldn't explain why but there was a heavy fog in the air…like the presence of death itself.
Mikoto peered around the corner. There was a single man standing amidst plenty of bodies lying about the ground. He had on a black trench coat with red shorts underneath. He had no hair on his head, which made his red eyes the most prominent feature on his face. There was some kind of green liquid oozing from his hand. Mikoto quickly ducked back behind the wall. He remembered this man from the ship with Henry. His name was Slash Calico, an acid man. He took another quick peek around the corner, this time he focused on the green liquid dripping from the man's hands. The man looked intense.
He kept his eyes trained in front of him. The large steel door behind him had a large sign above it, but it was torched from Slash's acid and therefore illegible. Mikoto quickly ducked back behind the wall. Mikoto's ears perked back up as he heard the metal door open. He peeked back around the corner.
Slash was joined by a second man. He was big and imposing. Mikoto first mistook him for a Marine due to his coat, but he was wrong. His coat was a Marine coat, except it was black instead of white. Then his Marine hat had a purple raven on it rather then a blue seagull.
"Jugo!" said Slash as he quickly went down to one knee to show his respect. "How goes everything."
"We need to get out," said Jugo. "Apparently, we spent too much time here. A special alarm was triggered and a group of Shichibukai's is coming."
"A group?" asked Slash surprised, "there's never been a group of Shichibukai convening at any place other then Marine Headquarters or Marjories!"
"The codeword for a Shichibukai when I was in the Marines was Tsunami. And according to the radio they have stationed in here three Tsunami's are headed for Reverse Mountain to 'stop' any and all interference. And I'm afraid we are the interference. Quickly gather your men and get out, I'll be heading out now. Can't afford to get caught while my plan is this close to completion. The gates are opened and will remain open, just get ready to get out."
"And the other crew?" asked Slash. "The pirate crew that for some reason ended up tagging along." Mikoto quickly ducked back behind the corner. Did they know he was here? Was his cover blown?
Jugo looked down the same hallway that Mikoto was in. Jugo looked more impatience then interested in what was down the hallway though. "I don't care. Do whatever you feel is necessary. Kill them, let them go, or you can frame them for this. Set them up and let them take the fall with the government for destroying this entire building. I'm leaving now. Meet me at the regular rendezvous point." Jugo lifted his large halberd off of his back and thrust it up at the ceiling breaking it down. He leapt upwards and into the air, through the hole. With that Jugo was gone.
Slash smiled. He turned his head over to the wall that Mikoto was hiding behind. The same green acid that was coating his hand before quickly covered it again. "Acid Curtain." He lashed out sending a large wave of the green acid over at the wall. Mikoto quickly dove to the side barely avoiding the large wave of green acid as it devour the wall with a single impressive blast. "Eavesdropping are we?"
"Uh," said Mikoto with an unsure chuckle, "no?"
Slash bowed his head and shook it. "Its easier to set a crew up with for a frame job if they don't know if they are getting framed."
"Yeah," said Mikoto, "I agree." Mikoto quickly looked back over at the extra-crispy wall. "I think Renvont's division would be fun to frame."
Slash furrowed his eyebrows out of impatience. "I prefer it if the Revolutionaries were kept out of the paper for the time being. A lone attack on the Marine Base done by the Infinity Pirates sounds good…"
"It would be more believable if I was alive, don't you think?" asked Mikoto making a quick joke.
"No," said Slash, "I mean in order to become a front page story, I think the death of the captain would be necessary. Otherwise pirates will see it as an invitation. Pirates attacked the strongest Marine Base and all of them lived…the Marines will never publish something like that. As a matter of fact the Marines have an entire floor in Impel Down dedicated to keeping people out of the paper. Gruesome stories that should never see the light of day are covered up and the masterminds are withheld within Level 6."
"Can't say I've heard of it," said Mikoto with a chuckle.
Slash began to grow more impatient, the green liquid changed to a light blue acid dangling from his finger tips. "So childish." He stretched his arm out and aimed it at Mikoto, "Acid Serpent." The acid stretched out from his hand flying towards Mikoto. Mikoto morphed into his beast form and began to run to the side to avoid the serpent-like stream of acid. To Mikoto's amazement, the stream of acid quickly turned and began to chase after him. Mikoto dodged to the left, the torrent of acid turned to the left. When Mikoto ran to the right, the deluge of acid followed him to the right. There was no escape from a such a unrelenting acidic stream.
Mikoto quickly turned and began to run towards one of the rooms. Despite the acid never losing sight of him or even wavering for a second in its chase, it wasn't all too fast. And it was especially not as fast as Mikoto. Mikoto's superior canine-like legs really helped him run faster then the pursuing river of acid on his tail. Mikoto dove into the room and quickly rolled backwards pushing the doors backwards and into the doorway blocking the wave of acid from advancing. Mikoto cringed as he heard the acid splash against the door.
Mikoto slowly opened his eyes and checked the door behind him. It was still standing. He smiled the door must be made of some kind of super wood! He had just seen Slash's acid burn through a stone wall, but this wooden door has remained strong. Mikoto smiled as he heaved the door off of its hinges. "It looks like I found something that your acid can't melt through."
Slash chuckled to himself softly. "Just my blue acid. Natural acids have a varying level of acidity, this goes for my Devil Fruit created acid as well. Blue acid isn't nearly my strongest," said Slash. Green acid slowly crept over his hand blanketing it in a deadly glove. Slash slowly pressed his hand against the wall. The wall sizzled at his touch sending his hand straight through the wall, "the sad thing is neither is green."
Mikoto swallowed hard. He spared a look over at his precious "acid-proof" door. He shrugged and chucked it at Slash, the large wooden slab sailing through the air at the aged man. "Acid Sickle." His acid began to jump from his skin forming a large pole, then the acid curved forward forming a sharp blade. He brought his new weapon straight down through the flying door. The acid burning straight through it without stopping once. As Slash looked in front of him, he noticed that the young hybrid was gone from his spot.
"Wolf Cutter!" shouted Mikoto as he came up from behind Slash. Slash wasn't even able to turn around in time to see Mikoto and his claws arcing upwards with superior speed and strength. Acid exploded from Slash's body covering a small radius around, but it was enough to force Mikoto backwards and away from Slash's body. Mikoto grunted. A failed attempt at an attack and from the looks of Slash's power, there was going to be a whole lot more.
(-With Sage-)
Sage had Zesiro up and was barely managing to walk with his weight on her. "Don't worry, Zesiro," said Sage with a calm smile, "we'll get you to Enma in no time and then he'll patch you up in no time."
"Uh-huh," muttered Zesiro, barely conscious.
"Just focus on living," said Sage, "I promise you. No matter what happens I'll make sure that you stay alive, okay Zesiro?" Zesiro remained quiet, "Zesiro?" his feet began dragging across the floor. "Zesiro!"
A quiet gurgle was her answer as Zesiro managed to lift his head in response, but his words were unable to form.
"Stay alive!" shouted Sage, "without you I'd be on a ship of nutcases! Hiro-Shu excluded, but he doesn't talk to me. He doesn't talk to most people, though."
Zesiro smirked, "I won't leave you then, but I think…I think…I think I'm going to take a quick…nap."
"Naps are okay," said Sage, "as long as you don't die!"
"Do me a favor, Sage," said Zesiro, "stop talking about me dying."
The Acidity of the Revolutionaries!
Slash, the missing Revolutionary, has shown his face and is hell-bent on framing the Infinity Pirates and destroying as much of the Marine Base as he can. And from the looks of his Devil Fruit powers, he can…oh, yes, he can. If that wasn't enough, Jugo's plan is just more weight on the crew! Not to mention the incoming Shichibukais and Zesiro's possible death! Is it going to be too much for the crew to handle?