Rest, Relaxation, and...Sea Kings!
It was a lazy day out at sea. Maria was currently just laying down and enjoying the fresh warm sunshine. She was probably the only person on the ship relaxing right now...except for Ridley, who was now spending most of his time hanging out in the crow's nest. However, unlike Ridley, Maria wasn't doing nothing due to choice, she was doing nothing because...well, there was nothing more to do. They've been as sea for a day or two now, gently floating and Maria had fixed most of the problems she could.
She was impressed that the ship had managed to stay afloat for this long. Not only was it in terrible condition, but also the ship lacked a single cannon. Apparently Sage had thrown them out when she got it as she never planned on using it to go out to sea. Why would she? Before she met Mikoto and Ridley, she was botanist not a pirate. And cannons were simply over-glorified pots to her. She sold them and used the money to get more seeds and more cooking items. But still Maria was surprised that they hadn't bought cannons the first chance they got. Zesiro explained that no one could properly use a cannon...the aim of every one on the ship (Maria included) was below average at best, but even so cannon added a certain flair to a pirate ship.
Then again, when Maria got on this place was a hunk of junk. She had hurriedly spent the last two days fixing it. She had reinforced the crow's nest (which would explain Ridley's current fascination with it) and the walls, built some halfway decent tables from the leftover wood, and finally she fixed a hole in the girl's room that would allow anyone in the hallway to peek in at Sage or her at anytime of their choice. Zesiro, Enma, and Hiro-Shu all claimed to be innocent and Mikoto feigned stupidity about how he didn't understand the reasoning behind the hole. Only Ridley admitted that he knew it was there and he, Maria quoted 'didn't believe there was anything in that room worthy of peeking at'. Sage quickly delivered a punch.
Anyways, since this was Maria's first day off since she joined the crew she had decided to spend it relaxing. Mikoto originally wanted to spar with her (he's been sparring with either Hiro-Shu or Enma ever since their escape), but Maria turned him down. Everyone on the ship was a little weird, probably due to a small amount of distrust of a new person especially one whose only recommendation came from weird musician with green hair.
Zesiro and Hiro-Shu had their original suspicions of her, but she was fairly confident that those were going away. Besides she couldn't blame them. She was an escapee from a prison and an ex-professional underworld fighter, not really trust-inspiring occupations. Then there was Enma who Maria just couldn't get around. His...religion(?) was odd and gave her the creeps. Finally Sage seemed to be too nice...and Maria didn't trust her.
Sage seemed to be outgoing and trying to win Maria over at any cost, often bringing her plenty of snacks throughout the day while she was working, despite the fact that she avoided Mikoto, Hiro-Shu, and Enma while they were all training. Maria could understand to a certain degree she felt sorry for the poor girl being the only girl for miles, but...the overly friendly person tends to be even creepier then the devil-worshiping skeleton.
Finally, there was also Mikoto's actions towards. Mikoto was less interested in her and more interested in her arms and legs. He seemed fascinated by the robotic movements that her arms and legs bestowed upon her. Admittedly, Maria felt a similar twinge of interest towards Mikoto's Devil Fruit power. In order to become a four-legged wild beast in an instant or a vicious hybrid seemed interesting, but quickly lost its shine after awhile. Mikoto's amazement with Maria's appendages didn't seem to be faltering in the slightest. It made her glad that he spent most of his time sparring,rather then talking to her about it.
Today was just another lazy day, even the sea had died out. It was peaceful. The ship had been moving at this slow pace ever since they set out from Reverse Mountain. At least the sky was beautiful, clear and not a single cloud hanging over head. That seemed like a good omen. Her first days on ship in awhile were nice and sunny. She remembered the day she was transported across the sea from her first prison to this one the sky was nasty and it was raining for almost the entire time.
The blue sky with the yellow sun in it was much more welcoming then the black sky with foreboding rain. Maria was about to doze off out on the deck when out of the blue the ship rocked fiercely. Maria forcefully slid across the deck from one railing into the one on the opposite side. The sound of Ridley shouting from up upon the crow's nest was loud and clear.
Zesiro, who was steering the ship, was tossed from his spot. His wounds have undergone a slight recovery enough to allow him to stand and steer, basic everyday stuff, but a fight or if the ship were to be attacked, or even if it shook too viciously, like it did now, would mean Zesiro had to lie down and try to stay out of the way. Anything else would cause his wounds to open up and Zesiro would probably pass out in five or ten seconds and would die from blood loss in probably 5 or 10 minutes. He was currently crouched against one of the railings, despite the stitching and probably the immense pain he was feeling he was very capable of catching himself and preventing himself from falling at a time like this.
Maria quickly got up and rushed to the side of the ship, out of curiosity. She stared out over the edge of the ship. She was staring out over the ship's edge when she saw it. It was a huge shadow. A beast of immense size and power was currently lurking out beneath the sea's surface. Maria jumped back out of fear. The calm seas, the pure blue skies...they were in the Calm Belt. The monster lurking beneath them was a Sea King! It was a tremendous beast of monstrous power whose was unmatched. Even experienced warriors like the Shichibukai and even most of the Yonkou fear their power.
A low rumbling could be heard from the monster as it straightened its long body out and stood straight up. It had a snake-like body. Its scales were light-blue with black splotches of color decorating its impressive build. It glared downwards upon the small ship, its jagged and razor-sharp teeth glinting due to the sun. It stared down upon its next meal, his mouth already leaking drool at the thought of his next meal basically sailing up to him one a nice wooden platter. Its breath blowing viciously downwards upon the ship, almost tearing the loosened floorboards from the ship with its mighty lungs.
"Hone-Hone Spear!" shouted Enma as he appeared from one of the cabins. He produced a large ivory pole and hurled it towards the beast. The sharpened spear slammed into the monster's scaled skin, but simply bounced off of the monster's scales. Enma cursed himself as he skidded backwards. The large beast's body was too hard and too far away from him for a throwing technique to be incredibly effective and he sure as hell wasn't going to get any closer with the open sea surrounding the monster. One misstep and he'd drown, especially considering only Ridley, and Zesiro can swim. And Zesiro wasn't strong enough to pull him out of the water. Enma had temporarily forgotten about, Maria, his new nakama who is also capable of swimming to his rescue.
Sage was the next one on the deck. She formed a circle with her hands and started concentrating. The pressure began to build in the center of her hands forming a small ball of pure and heavy pressure. Sage fired it off and watched as it smashed heavily into the beast's body causing it to falter briefly before it recovered and came roaring down sending a large splash of water up and onto the ship. Enma and Sage both flinched from the energy-draining seawater.
The huge monstrous snake lowered its hulking mass lower till it was at eye-level. The Sea King smirked, its huge pink saliva-coated tongue slipped out of its mouth as he glared at the crew. The beast dove downwards upon the crew. The beast stuck fast in its tracks. Hiro-Shu had emerged from the ship's hull and grasped at the beast's massive jaw. His iron armor helped support his strength, preventing the monster from chomping down and making a meal out of the ship.
"Forger's Flame! Iguko's Fire!" shouted Hiro-Shu as he spewed a torrent of flames from his mouth straight into the Sea King's open jaws. The flames drove themselves deep into the monster's throat. The Sea King recoiled and backed up, back into the sea, diving deep into the water, disappearing beneath the sea's surface.
"Wow!" shouted Mikoto as he ran up onto the ship's deck. "What the heck happened! I was just sparring with Hiro-Shu when all of a sudden the ship shook and then I got wet and I couldn't move. But now I'm here I can fight!" Mikoto pumped his arm up with confidence.
"It was just a Sea King attack," stated Zesiro from his spot against the railing watching his crew fight, "but don't worry, the rest of the crew handled it." Of course, if Zesiro was fighting they would've handled it faster and better, but he wasn't about to say anything.
"That's no fair," muttered Mikoto, glumly, "you guys always get to do the fun stuff." Sage and Enma both flashed Mikoto an upset look. The water soaking them has mostly dried up or was thrown off to the side and they were gradually getting their strength back.
"Don't worry," said Maria as she continued to look out over the edge of the ship and down at the water, "I highly doubt the Sea King thought that was the end of the fight." Maria twisted about and faced Zesiro, a mixed look of panic and anger was on her face, "how can you not warn us that we are in the Calm Belt! Surely someone like you should at least be aware of the Calm Belt. All sailors should know about the Calm Belt!"
"Question!" shouted Mikoto, Maria looked over her shoulder at Mikoto who was raising his hand begging to be called upon. Maria sighed and Mikoto took that as a go signal. "What is the Calm Belt?"
Maria slammed her palm into her own face, "the Calm Belt is the single most dangerous place in the whole world. Most people given the choice between the Calm Belt and the New World would pick the New World! The Calm Belt, despite its lack of waves and storms, is deadly. Why? Because Sea Kings like the lack of waves and storms and build huge nests in them. Then they attack almost anything that enters into their territory! Its amazing we weren't attacked yet, especially since we don't even have cannons!"
"Don't worry," calmly stated Zesiro as he relaxed against the railing of the ship, "I knew we were in the Calm Belt, but I just knew what Mikoto would say." Zesiro looked back over at Mikoto,who by know was over at the side of the ship.
"Get back up here you sea chicken!" shouted Mikoto over the edge, "I want to fight you! Come on up here! NOW!" Mikoto was pointing and shouting at the sea, waiting for the large monster to reveal itself. "Hey, Sage!" Mikoto shouted looking back over his shoulder at the rest of his crew, who were all giving him weird looks by now. "Do you think it will taste like fish or chicken?"
"Is that really the best thing for you to be worrying about?" shouted the crew glaring at Mikoto. Mikoto shrugged it off and returned back to the edge of the ship and was about to start shouting again when Maria quickly grabbed him from behind and pulled him away from the edge.
"Don't do that!" shouted Maria. She cringed when she realized she was too late. The large Sea King had reappeared behind them, creeping up the side of the ship until its head was level with the ship this time. Its jaws wide open. "Happy now?"
"You betcha!" said Mikoto giving Maria a grin and a heads-up as he turned back around to face the best. Mikoto stood still and spread his legs, his body quickly morphing into its hairy hybrid form. He grasped his right wrist with his left hand. "Let's go! RAPID FIRE x 20!" Mikoto dashed forward and placed his right fist directly against the Sea King's body. There was a loud sound as Mikoto's arm disappeared quickly and then reappeared at his side. The Sea King was tossed backwards and into the water.
"What was that?" shouted Sage as she watched the Sea King pass out and collapse into the water. "Uh...Mikoto? Mikoto?" Sage looked to her left and her right, but Mikoto was nowhere to be seen. It took her a couple of seconds to register what had happened, but by then Ridley had already dove into the water.
A few moments later Ridley had reemerged from the sea with Mikoto in tow. The crew brought them both on board as quickly as they could. Mikoto quickly gasped for air as he was brought onto the ship. "What is this?" asked Ridley, "my third or my fourth time saving you from drowning?"
"Does it matter?"asked Mikoto as he lifted his left arm above his head in victory, "we've got enough food for a month!" Mikoto's left arm collapsed back down next to him. "How are we going to get it on the ship?"
"What was that punch?" asked Sage as she crouched down looking at the passed out Sea King laying out in the open.
"Its like Mikoto said," stated Enma, "its rapid-fire. Tell me how many times did Mikoto punch the Sea King?" Sage replied with 1, Hiro-Shu with 9, and Ridley with 15. "Wrong. 20 times. Mikoto's speed allowed him to blur all of his punches together into a singular, fast, and powerful punch with basically twenty times its usual strength. The Sea King couldn't even react fast enough to lessen the damage from the twenty punches. However, it does come with its drawbacks."
Bounty Hunting Central!
An Island of the Grand Line!
Yeah, I'm late. If you read any one of my other stories you'll know I had computer problems. With both my home computer and my laptop crashing. My home computer is permanently dead, but my laptop was salvaged. Luckily, this is only the second rewrite, but its little longer then what I'd like and I'm missing somethings I wanted to mention, oh, well.
Well, you just saw a brand-new move from Mikoto. To better explain it, remember Foxy's Devil Fruit? The Slow-Slow Fruit? Basically, Mikoto's speed allows him to replicate the effects. In comparison the punches are so fast and his opponent is very slow. Allowing his punches to accumulate the damage and inflict all of the damage from 2-20 punches into one punch. The drawbacks? I'll save that up for a reveal in a later chapter. Maybe the next chapter?
Also, since these guys are going to the Grand Line. I think they need to step up to the plate. And as such much like Sage's Pressure Ball and Mikoto's new Rapid-Fire they will all get new moves. If you have any suggestions feel free to submit them.