The Next Chance…

A Possibly Powerful Alliance is Formed

Maria eagerly punched the bag, trying to get ready for the upcoming fight. It was night already, so her fight wasn't for another 12 hours, but the warrior blood in her wouldn't calm down. It was all excitement lately, all those years in the prison at Reverse Mountain had dulled her down and almost put her to sleep. All the while though she was starting to build up the desire for another fight, she wanted to test her mettle for such a long time. And now she was here! She was here at the number one choice for a good fight. The URA definitely wouldn't let her down! Trevor, Duncan, Mashiba...even Zesiro were all here and fighting. And she had the chance to fight them all!

"Melanie's fighting Trevor!" shouted Ridley as he burst onto the ship. Maria flinched as the shouting shook her out of her world of fights. She was all alone in the training hall, but his voice still rang throughout the entire ship and caused her to get up and move. She hated the idea but she had to get going and see what was up.

When she arrived up top, she was kind of startled at the results of Ridley's cry. She and Simon were the only ones up there to listen to Ridley. Rosa, Zesiro, and Hiro-Shu were all hospitalized with Enma stuck watching over them and Sage was in no shape to do anything. Their crew was ultimately reduced to this...her, Ridley, and an outsider? Lily and the Fishman brothers, all of them had basically made this ship a second home to themselves, but Lily refused to leave Rosa's side and the same kind of thing could be said for the Fishman brothers and Zesiro, remaining strangely attached to them. She felt a little bit of remorse as she looked at their pathetically small numbers, but what were their options really? They couldn't just conjure more crew members out of the sea. Anyways, she listened to Ridley's ramblings.

"We found Mikoto!" Maria sighed, some good news out all of this! "But Trevor and Karasu interrupted us before we could free him!" So much for good news. "Melanie and Trevor are currently fighting and trying to defeat each other, I got out the first chance I got I didn't want to be there when the Shichibukais and Karasu wound up getting into a fight. Hopefully, Melanie will win and we will no longer have to think about Trevor!"

"When is it ever that easy?" insinuated Maria with a down-trodden voice. It seemed like the higher the hopes their got the quicker they fell. Ridley grimaced as he found out he kind of agreed with her, but he didn't fully want to admit it, especially when they were this close.

"What's wrong with you two!" shouted Simon slapping them both of the back and then wrapping his arms around their stomachs and pulling them in for a hug. "Don't be so down! We dwarfs ain't the tallest race, but that jus' means we are always looking up! And THAT is what's wrong with all the other races, they think about looking down! Don't think about it! Always look up! Skywards!" Simon directed their eyes up into the sky with a sweep of his arm. "See that! That's where our goals lie, no?"

Maria sighed and said, "he's right. If I'm going to complain about these problems, can I really call myself the strongest in the world?" Ridley smiled and shook his head at their foolhardy and very naïve optimism. Simon let out a loud laughter and patted him on the back.

"If you are just going to complain and moan about this crap, then I'll take over your duties on this 'ere rescue mission! And I'll do it with Dwarven pride!" shouted Simon as he slapped Ridley on the back and continued on his way over to the edge of the ship to continue scouting for his son.

"Wait! Simon!" shouted Ridley as he remembered Rosa explaining his powers to him. "You can help break Mikoto out!" The idea was so simple! With Simon's ability to create a hole in anything he could in theory create a hole in the cage! That way whether or not the keys were in the room again they would be able to easily break him out. Then even if it wasn't true they still would be able to use his ability to escape fairly easily...it was so simple!

"Sure, laddie!" laughed Simon, "you guys are gracious enough to help try to free my son wherever he may be on this island so I'll be more than happy to help you free your friend! Just tell me when!"

Ridley nodded. It was a simple plan, "great! Me, Zesiro, and Simon will launch an attack on them tomorrow while Maria attends the tournament for plan B!" Maria shook her head, she informed Ridley on both Rosa's and Zesiro's state. Ridley clicked his tongue at the horrible news. The Infinity Pirates were definitely in a sorry state if this is was what remained of them. He looked around and at what he had to work with. "Fine...I'll accept this sorry state that we are in as our only option. Tomorrow will continue on like normal, Maria will fight and we will prepare with better plans. Then the day after that when it is Zesiro's turn...me, Maria, and Simon will go out and try to find Mikoto again and hopefully free him...if Melanie doesn't come out and let us know she beat Trevor first."

Maria nodded slowly and went back down under the ship. Almost at once she was wrapped back up in the air of energy. She was impatiently awaiting the fight tomorrow, her goal to become the strongest was a hard road and this was only the first step, but regardless it was exciting. The tournament was becoming one of the best fights lately. One or more fight...just one more and then she would pour her all into the finding Mikoto.

Maria quickly disappeared into the training room.

(-in the arena-)

Armani dove sat in one of the higher balconies looking down upon the rest of the spectators. His arms were coated in his illustrious gold and he waited impatiently for the fights to start. He was slightly disappointed that both Mikoto and Trevor was no shows for the fights, he was hoping that they would both show up and possibly fight again. But sadly, no...talk about a letdown of fights lately. He had thought about leaving and calling it a day, but he had an important business transaction about to go down.

He looked up as he noticed his 'business partner' come up to him, 'The Dark Knight' Shane and his annoyingly leech-like first mate, Suzanne. While it pained Armani to have to negotiate with them, especially when he highly doubted that either one cared for him, he decided to swallow his pride and accept the fact that he needed them. "Friends!" he said opening his arms wide and walking towards them. The girl dashed in between him and Shane and glared at him as if trying to scare him away from her latest kill. Armani raised his hands in front of him and backed off, while he would cherish a fight with a man like Shane, it would have to wait.

"I'm sure a man of your stature noticed the Marine ships gathering outside," Armani continued motioning with a nudge of his head towards the sea. Shane grumbled something and Suzanne nodded enthusiastically. "And I believe you probably noticed the Golden Den-Den Mushi they were waving about haphazardly." Shane raised his eyebrow at this and stepped forward, pushing Suzanne to the side.

"A Golden Den-Den Mushi, you say?" he asked, his voice seeming like a hollow and empty grave. "The one they use to call a Buster Call?" He was interested in what Armani was proposing, especially if it began with the news of a Marine attack.

"The very same," Armani said with a smile, happy he managed to catch Shane and intrigue him. "I'm sure you've heard of the horrors that the Golden Den-Den Mushi brings, am I right? Well, you see I'm interested in a mutual beneficial partnership during this Buster Call. We both stay here until it begins and then using our combined strengths, we escape. Simple, no? I mean, I'm sure you could leave before it begins, but that would be like running away from it. The title 'The Man Who Lived Through a Buster Call' carries great weight."

Shane thought about this for a minute. It was certainly an intriguing offer. Claiming to live through a Buster Call would definitely be a great call-to-arms for many new and valuable subordinates and he relished the thought, but something about this man didn't seem fully trust-worthy and, of course, Suzanne voiced her concerns, "how do we know you will really help us? This could all just a ruse to make sure we will help you, but when we need your help you may just leave us high and dry!"

"Cah ah hah hah!" laughed Armani Dove as he slapped his knee for hysterical emphasis. "I like your wit girl. But I can promise you, I'm not that kind of pirate. My goal isn't to be the strongest, I have my own intentions I assure you, but nothing that benefits from screwing you guys over. I could leave now like I proposed, but the winds of change have become a hurricane around this island...and I want to see them clash more than anything. I would rather go to jail then miss this."

"How does that answer MY question?" asked Suzanne jabbing her finger at his chest, "I mean you could still screw us over after you've seen these 'winds' of yours clash!" She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, maybe the 'Winds of Change' was some new group of pirates that she hadn't heard about, but she didn't give a crap about them, she just wanted to get away from the Buster Call with her Shane. "I mean I don't tru-"

Shane stepped forward and cut her off mid-sentence. "Winds of change, eh?" Shane said as he turned around and looked out to the audience as another fight was finally starting. Duncan was gracious enough to join the URA special fight and was now accepting any volunteers to enter the ring with him. Shane smiled as he thought about Armani's offer, the Buster Call, and the chance to see something big, "I think witnessing that would be worth going to jail, too." Shane took a few steps away, before swiveling back around and placing his halberd underneath Armani's chin, "what makes you think I won't double-cross you? Stepping over your body would definitely benefit me."

Armani laughed loudly once more, several members of the audience turned around and shushed him, but Armani didn't care. He looked at Shane up and down and replied with a coy smile, "I'm fairly certain you would rather beat me one-on-one rather than sell me down a river like that. Besides...you can call me psychic or psychotic, but our time to fight isn't yet. We'll fight later down the road."

Shane mumbled something under his breath again and stood up. He nodded, accepting Armani's condition. He then motioned for Suzanne to follow him as he began to leave. Armani noticed that a few other fellows in the audience began to move out with him, no doubt other members of his crew that he had brought along just in case this was an ambush.

"Wait!" shouted Armani stepping forward, prompting the whole group to turn around and look at him again. "I think I should tell you something else about your future. That kid down there...or who was down there, the little 'Kid Coyote'. I think you may want to keep an eye on him. Your guys' fight is around the bend, so I suggest you get ready for I don't think it'll be an easy one for you...you might just lose against him." Without skipping a beat Armani leapt up into the air and disappeared into the crowd and it was a good thing he did as Shane sent his large halberd out, sending it smashing into the ground.

"What did he say?!" bellowed Shane using the loudest voice he had so far. He turned around and approached Armani, he grabbed a hold of the railing separating him from the audience. The audience turned around and shouted at him, but a few seconds later when the railing he was gripping exploded into a million pieces the audience quieted down and watched Duncan quickly finish off his opponent in the ring.

One More Step into the Arena

I posted this week simply to get on a better schedule. This way if I accidentally forget to post a saga chapter I won't wind up posting three different stories on the same day. Trouble is brewing, you can sense it on the Winds of Fate!