The Infinity Pirate's Great Escape!
"Ah!" yawned Mikoto as he stared out over the water. He had been cooped up inside the Marine Base for so long he forgot about what sunlight looked like and what fresh air smelled like. The artificial light just irritated him and the smell of blood drove him insane. He looked over at Slash's body which now laid motionless on the ground next to him.
His body had developed a few bruises from Mikoto's rather rash and crazed assault on him. "Remember," began Mikoto, "I was being nice." He wanted to stretch out and lie down in the sunshine, but the reality was, that if Slash was telling the truth, three Shichibukais were heading for them. Mikoto could probably take one of them, maybe even two, but if he were to fight all three he would be beaten…it was simple as that.
Mikoto stood up and stretched out once more. The sea and his ship were right in front of him. It would make sense for him to leap down from his spot and just rush over to his ship, after it would definitely be a lot simpler then charging through the base, but if he did just leap down from here there would be no way he would chance into one of his fellow crewmates.
Mikoto's body slowly shifted from his human form into his small grayish beast form. Just because he was taking the complicated and slow way down doesn't mean he should take it slow. Mikoto burst down through the doors and quickly broke off for the stairs.
(-With Sage and Zesiro-)
"I think I'm good enough to at least walk on my own," grunted Zesiro as he pushed off of Sage. Sage watched as Zesiro's legs seemed to wobble beneath him, but eventually stabilized and became strong enough to hold his weight. Zesiro slowly began to walk forward along with Sage.
Sage watched as Zesiro grimaced with almost every step they took. He also walked incredibly slow, they were probably moving faster when she was letting him lean her. Not to mention the fact that they still had another couple of floors to go until they got out to their ship and Zesiro could rest. Of course, though, to a swordsman like Zesiro pride is worth more then pain. But she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Zesiro's legs held strong as the duo moved throughout the Marine Base. Zesiro was like Kentan in that aspect, the powerful willpower that allowed them to move onwards with wounds that would kill three normal men. Sage remembered Kentan insulting and berating Zesiro due to the fact that he was a Fishman…she thought that kind of prejudice was gone in the world, died out with the old generation, but apparently it was still just as strong and probably just as widespread as it was before. Zesiro didn't seem bothered by it, but why that was Sage was clueless. Was it because his wounds seemed more urgent? Or was he trying to hide it from her? Or did it truly not bother him?
Zesiro's thoughts were more pressing at the moment. Kentan's racist remarks meant nothing more to him then it would if a parrot said it. Zesiro was more focused on Daimyo. A swordsman that used and killed with six swords simultaneously. Even worse Zesiro couldn't help but feel like Daimyo was holding back against him. Daimyo almost seemed to be toying with him, like he was playing a game. Daimyo's speed was better then Zesiro's and Daimyo even knew how to press Zesiro's swords to the breaking point. He was probably the toughest opponent Zesiro fought yet…
…and he wanted to fight him again.
(-With Enma, Maria, and Ridley-)
"Shit!" shouted Ridley, "talk about going from bad to worse. Our freakin' teammates decided that when the going gets tough the tough get going! But they decided not to tell us to get our butts in order." Ridley kicked aside one of the unconscious Marines lying in his way.
"Either that or all of our teammates died in a bloody manner and the Marines stole their ships and are now taking their ships and probably ours to a Marine facility," spoke Enma calmly, "but I highly doubt Lucifer would let that happen."
"I don't want to go back to jail!" cried Maria, "it took me years to get out and that's only because Mr. Mohawk over here decided to let me out with the rest of the prisoners!" She was pretty far ahead of the other two. She was physically stronger then the both of them and was easily able to outrun them with her robotic legs.
"The name's Ridley, Ridley Blackwell, girl," shouted Ridley as he began to run faster in order to catch up to Maria. He wasn't going to allow some girl to outpace him in front of his crewmate. "You better remember my name because one day thousands of fan girls are going to be screaming my name! And you can be the very first!"
Enma quickly caught up with both of them in a matter of a few seconds. Where as the other two were running at full speeds using their body, Enma and his Devil Fruit had a more practical method of transportation. Small circular bones extended from his feet, attached to bones on the side, created a basic form of a skate allowing him to glide besides them. "Ignore him, Maria. He's just a punk musician with daddy issues."
"Its better than being an undead worshipper of the devil," rebutted Ridley as he tried his hardest to keep up with his two much faster nakamas. "AND A CHEATER!"
"I'm just using the body that the devil gave me," said Enma as he cheerfully skated along the path, ignoring Ridley's rather rambunctious and annoying complaints. "Besides in all honesty you are just going too slow. If the Shichibukai's get here before we get on our ships you'll definitely die."
"Shut up, you zombie!" shouted Ridley as he began running even faster in a futile attempt to keep up with the rest of his crew.
The trio soon found themselves out in the open air, outside. The sun beaming down on their faces and fresh air around them…but the sight was horrible. At their feet laid hundreds of men, most of them had Zenmaru's flag tattooed across their body, and there were all bleeding profusely and probably dead. Their bodies looked shattered and smashed as if they were hit by some kind of heavy chain. All three of them had straight iron faces on them, none of them seemed to be freaked out at the sight.
"Did you guys do this?" asked Maria looking at the corpses laying about her. She had been in the ring and watched people die in there from some of the most brutal punches and tricks that man could ever think of so the bloody corpses didn't surprise her one bit.
"Nope," said Ridley nonchalantly as he continued to move through the disgusting piles of bodies. He had seen worse looking men in his father's torture room, to him this was just another Saturday night.
"Judging from the wounds," spoke Enma quietly as he hunched down to examine up close, "these wounds were done by a whip. You can see the slight impact and curvy lines created by such an impact. Not to mention by the way the arms and legs are its obvious that such wounds come from…" During Enma's career he had seen rather a lot of dead corpses and such mutilations, besides the way these marks were placed they were almost poetic.
"Shut up Mr. Skull," interrupted Ridley, "that's no way to talk in front of a lady. Can't you at least act like you got manner?"
"Oh, so, I should act more like you?" mocked Enma, "just sit around all day, play music, and drink alcohol. You are just Mr. Chivalry."
"You are damn right!" shouted Ridley loudly.
"Ridley?" asked Hiro-Shu as he appeared from their ship. He was toting around a couple of wooden planks, performing some simplistic, but badly needed repairs on their ship.
"Hiro-Shu!" shouted Ridley and Enma, "you're up!"
"Would one of you mind filling me in?" asked Hiro-Shu, he was still completely clueless as to why they were docked on a Marine Base, but after winning his bout he decided it would be best for everyone if he were to return here and watch after the ship.
"I will," said Enma, "I still want to do some minor checks on your body. Maria and Ridley will take care of prepping the ship for launch." The threat of the Shichibukais was out of his mind for the time being. After joking around with Ridley and seeing Hiro-Shu alive and well, he had just forgotten about it.
"Who's this?" asked Maria keeping a careful eye on the crew. A punk musician with daddy issues and a tattooed skeleton. She kind of wondered who this third and probably equally awkward person was.
"Him?" asked Ridley returning his glance up to Hiro-Shu, "he's the iron golem, Hiro-Shu! He's probably the third or fourth strongest pirate on the crew. With only me and the captain and maybe Zesiro beating him."
"Right…" grunted Maria doubting the fact that he could be an 'iron golem'. "We'd better get to work on fixing your ship!" Her eyes quickly filled up with joy. This ship was definitely going to be a difficult task. It looked like it was a piece of crap, but when she was done with it, it would be the best sailing vessel on the seas!
"You can go ahead," muttered Ridley, trying to avoid the extra work, "I'll keep a look out for the rest of our crew." He walked over to the main gate just in time to see two figures limping towards the door. "WE'VE GOT COMPANY!"
Maria spun around with the precise agility and balance that only a professional fighter could have, she armed herself and awaited a new opponent. The last one wasn't very tough, but this one could be trouble. You never know.
"Ridley!" shouted a feminine voice. Sage quickly rushed up and into the light, leaving Zesiro trailing behind a bit. "Where is Enma? Zesiro got hurt bad!" Sage took a second look over her shoulder to check on her wounded comrade.
"HAH!" laughed Ridley, "serves him right! Its just proof that I am truly the second strongest pirate on the…" Ridley's rant was interrupted by a fast and powerful punch from Sage.
"SHUT UP!" shouted Sage, "and tell me where the heck is Enma!"
"How can I tell you where Enma is if you want me to…" started Ridley, but when he saw both Sage AND Maria preparing to punch him, he quickly changed to, "he's on the ship taking care of Hiro-Shu, oh, and he woke up!"
"So, everybody's here then?" asked Sage, filled with relief as she began to help Zesiro onto the ship.
"Everybody except Mikoto," said Ridley with a smile on his face, "looks like we can set sail at any time. After all with Mikoto's luck he'll just catch a ride with Slash and his crew and catch up to us in no time."
"Who are they?" asked Maria, feeling genuinely confused and out of place. She didn't know even one of the people who walked past her yet.
"The injured man is Zesiro, a dual-katana wielding Fishman," started Ridley, he quickly took note that one of Zesiro's katanas were missing, "and the weak girl is the psychotic of a chef, Sage." A small rock flew through the air and knocked into the side of his skull. "See? Psychotic."
"Shouldn't we start to look for this Mikoto fellow?" asked Maria, "he could be seriously injured." She pieced together that Mikoto was their pet, an over-active coyote. Who he belonged to was questionable, since it seemed that nobody here was watching over him and none of them seemed to think about going in and finding him.
"HEY!" shouted a voice. Ridley and Maria looked up at the Marine Base. In one of the windows sat, a dog? Maria looked up and thought about it for a second. Dogs can't talk, so who was shouting? "Get the ship ready to sail! We're heading off straight away!"
"Right away!" shouted Ridley, "hear that crew! We are heading out right…now." Ridley turned around to face the ship and the sea. In front of him sat an impossibly large sailing vessel. Skulls lined the edge of the ship. The Shichibukai were here. "Shit! Hurry it up, you damn dog!" shouted Ridley as he turned back around and faced Mikoto. "We don't have a lot of time. We are going to start going up Reverse Mountain right away, we can't wait, Mikoto'll just have to catch up to us!"
Ridley immediately began to run towards the ship, Maria right behind him. "Who was that?" asked Maria.
"None other then our very own overly active coyote, Mikoto," explained Ridley as he jumped onto the ship.
"Your coyote can talk?" asked Maria as she landed on the ship. She ran over to the anchor and grabbed a hold of the chain and began lifting it up. Her bionic arms and legs making it an easy task to lift the heavy anchor off of the sea bed and back onto the ship.
"He's a normal person like everyone else," said Ridley with a smile, "well, as normal as one can be when you are a pirate." He rushed up to the ship's wheel and grabbed it. He had absolutely no idea how to control the ship, it wasn't a rowboat…it was a ship. Zesiro was in no shape to sail and Hiro-Shu was busy being examined by Enma. His options were Maria, Sage, or Mikoto. And he highly doubted Mikoto would know how to sail a ship. "I hope the rumors of women being terrible drivers is wrong, Maria you take over the ship!"
Maria nodded and ran up to the ship's wheel. She had very little experience driving a ship, but she probably knew enough of how to get the ship up Reverse Mountain…how does one sail up a mountain exactly? "Uh…Ridley…how are we going to go up a mountain?"
"I personally hope a dragon will fly down and carry us up it, but at this point I'd settle for hope, trust, and pixie dust," replied Ridley with his usual smart retort. In reality Ridley heard that there was just a lot of pressure being built up at the base of Reverse Mountain from colliding streams and that propelled the ship upwards.
The ship soon started to head off in the direction of the mountain. Mikoto in his beast form was running over towards them at the fastest his little coyote legs could carry him. "HEY!" shouted Mikoto as he noticed the ship nearing the streams, "aren't you forgetting about me?"
Mikoto leapt from his spot on the land. He noticed the mistake too late. He was going to be a few feet short…there was no way he'd land on the ship and there wasn't enough time for him to make another jump…the ship was going to leave without him!
So Begins the Hunt!
Nooooooooooo! Mikoto! Oh, well, he's dead…or is he? Is the fight between the Shichibukai and Infinity Pirates coming sooner then expected? Would they even be able to stand against all three Shichibukai? Possibly…probably not, though. Sad…isn't it?
P.S. I have decided to rewrite chapters 1 and 2 in order to make them longer. They are barely changed just an extra paragraph or sentence here and there, but I still think they may be worth rereading if you are interested and have time. And while I'm at it, I should also point out I made some minor changes to the OC submission form and the OC submission list.
I added clothing, Devil Fruit Powers, and Attacks onto the OC submission form located in chapter 1. (If you have already submitted an OC you do NOT have to make any changes to the already submitted OC, just any OC you send in from here on out.) The OC Submission list (located in chapter 2), has been updated including Maria as the shipwright, added Fortune Teller and Translator onto the list of open slots available on the ship, and I also added Yonkou and Rival Pirate crews to the list as well.
Also! The next two or three chapters are going to be just filler chapters, nothing that exactly moves the storyline along that much, so if you want to skip reading this and do some homework (like I'm supposed to be doing right now) feel free to.