The Final Clash of Two Swordsmen

The weight of Makada's sword alongside his own proud muscles, propelled his sword downwards. Zesiro's own muscles made his thrust faster though and cleaved it through the air and for Makada's soft gut. Both sides tried to dodge the strikes while keeping their own going, but neither quite succeeded. Zesiro's thrust ripped into Makada's skin and released a gusher of blood, however, Makada's strike also went through. It was brought down heavily into Zesiro's shoulder and he let loose a particularly bad word as the blade ripped into his skin and possibly ruined his shoulder.

Zesior backed off, his shoulder now tender and it was couple with a painful twinge whenever he simply moved it. He needed to be extra careful of it now, the only reason it survived the first blow was due to the mutual dodge. Makada was focused on dodging, so he unintentionally lessened his focus on his slash. Of course, the same could be said for Zesior, his cut was a lot less deep than he had intended it to be.

Makada never killed for fun like Trevor or Duncan, but that was because he never felt the glee or pride that they felt from it. He was a little bit more business-like in his killing. He only did it if it benefited him, even if that benefit was small like some way to release frustration, however, he supposed if all fights were like this he could get into it more. Regardless, he didn't have time to hang onto those thoughts, he rushed forward toward Zesiro and began another swing for his side.

Zesiro contemplated for a moment about rushing in and trying for another dual exchange like last time, but he decided it wasn't worth the risk of getting lobbed in two. He held back and instead blocked Makada's wide swing with his own two swords. He was impressed with the force and power behind Makada's swing as it literally swept him off of his feet and flung him to the ground. Zesiro laid there dazed for a few moments from the monumental swing.

Like all good killers Makada was insistent and turning that dazed into dead. He stepped, bringing his sword up into the air as he went. Then, in order to ensure no loss of momentum, he brought his sword down while still moving forward. His sword swung down, instilling a moment of fear in both Nito and Ichi who were both still watching from the sidelines. Zesiro crossed both of his blades bringing them up in order to block whatever attack was coming. He felt Makada's powerful downwards swing smash into his sword and push them down closer to his chest. Zesiro grunted through clenched teeth as he stared up at Makada.

Makada's two different colored eyes both seemed like abysses due to how close they were. A green and blue abyss, completely void of all emotion or guilt, were settled right next to each other. However, Zesiro's attention wasn't really on Makada's eyes, they were on his blade that was mere centimeters away from plummeting into his flesh and ripping apart his bones.

Finally with a tremendous push, Zesiro managed to dislodge Makada from atop of him and break free from the sword's press. Zesiro quickly scrambled back onto his own two feet and took up a powerful fighting stance. He didn't want to be caught off guard again. One near death mistake was enough for him.

The two immediately started their fight right back up, neither side willing to back down and call it quits now. Makada stepped in, swooping his sword up through the air and bringing it back down with renewed force and power. Zesiro crouched down and then shot back up, slashing one of his swords across Makada's forcing a neutralization of force. However, Zesiro continued his rush he didn't hesitate at all. He rushed in, getting in as close as he could to Makada's body before his sword arm recovered from the failed slash. He charged in as far as he possibly could.

He pressed himself against Makada and was bringing his sword forward aiming for Makada's side. Makada slid his elbow into Zesiro's arm, forcing the blade away. Makada charged forward, bringing his shoulder down onto Zesiro's head and forcing them apart once more. Makada quickly backed up again. He was starting to believe a more cautious approach was a wiser choice.

But for some reason, he couldn't. It wasn't that his feet wouldn't go back…it was something else preventing him. Makada smirked, for so long he had been a warrior for the URA, a henchman for Trevor, and a whipped dog for the Marines. For the longest time he hadn't thought about the warrior he was before the URA. He had turned his back on that for the money that the URA provided and the protection that Trevor's Shichibukai status provided. But now that he was back, growing closer to square one, he was easily starting to double-guess that choice. Should he go back? Become a regular pirate again? The thought was starting to sound actually good. Maybe Trevor was feeling the same way.

Makada smirked as he lifted his sword up into the air. Ordinarily such a stance would be seen as having so many holes in it, but Zesiro had already experienced the man's strength with that dropping slash. It seemed impossible to get in close when he was in that stance. Makada's dropping slash had the weight of the sword along with all of his strength focused on the tip. While there was no guard, it was a killing stance. If the sword were to hit you, it would rip through you beyond a shadow of a doubt. If Zesiro could get in before the sword dropped…he had his pick of Makada's vital organs.

This was the Grand Line decided Zesiro. Pirates who hesitated, who held back, who felt the slightest twinge of fear would end up as fish food by the end of the day. While Zesiro was none too fond of dashing towards Makada, accepting the lack of the battle plan and considering that winging it was the best option, but he sadly had to accept it. He charged forward, bringing his two swords inwards and preparing for the fastest thrust of his life. He was placing his bets on whoever was faster would win. The charging shark's thrust or Makada's powerful downwards chop.

At this point there was no backing down. Zesiro was charging forward, he couldn't stop, even if he tried to stop his momentum would carry him through to the execution zone. Makada's blade has already begun its fast descent for the ground. Zesiro was almost in the blade's drop zone. Zesiro realized he wasn't moving fast enough…there was no way he could possibly get in close enough to Makada before Makada's blade fell. Zesiro compressed his legs and rocketed forward, hoping against hope that he could do it that he could close those extra two or three inches he needed.. Zesiro reached out, flashing his sword forward at an incredible pace. There was a brief flash as the two swords came towards their respective targets. The fight had ended.

Both sides stood still for a second as silence fell in the room. There was still the low rumbling as the shouting from the hallway continued, but even that seemed to dull as this tremendous battle had ended in this instant. Zesiro felt the warm dribble of blood, slowly snake down his forehead. Makada was the one that collapsed, however.

He had a huge gash in his side from the exchange. He was down, he collapsed the ground, one hand holding his wound close as he hit the ground. Even after Zesiro mowed him down, his sword kept coming down and actually managed to nick Zesiro. It was enough to draw blood, but it wasn't a powerful enough blow to kill like he originally planned. Zesiro slicing into him had weakened him; it cut down on the speed and power he needed to kill Zesiro.

"Ze-Shi-Ro!" shouted Nito leaping forward and tackling the victor to the ground. Zesiro winced as he felt his shoulder shift once more from the heavy blow Makada had delivered. "You won!" cheered Nito almost forgetting that moments ago Zesiro had wanted to kill him in a bloodthirsty rage. Zesiro finally managed to push Nito off when Ichi came flying through and landed on top of him again knocking him down to the ground.

"I appreciate the victory hugs," said Zesiro, despite knowing very well that was a lie. He didn't care for the hugs and he cared for them even less at this exact moment, "but isn't this place under attack by the Marines?" questioned Zesiro, the last few minutes were definitely a blow, but the Buster Call that was taking place right now definitely wasn't debatable.

"You're right!" shouted Nito grabbing hold of Zesiro's arm and racing off, dragging Zesiro along. "We better get go!"

(-With Maria-)

The wave of pirates kept coming. The URA probably catered to thousands of pirates at the same time and that was probably an understatement nowadays. The pirates rushing by her, kicking her feet as they tried to race by. They felt free as a bird to shout any number of vulgar obscenities at her for being 'slow'. Maria, of course, felt free to yell back at them calling them 'brats' and the like for being rude. It wasn't until just now she had the free time to turn around and notice that both Melanie and Ridley got separated from her. For a moment she debated about turning around and seeing where she had lost them, but another jerk bumping into her from behind and nearly sending her sprawling to the floor immediately eliminated that option.

She just had to keep going forward and hope that the other two would be safe. Suddenly, she felt like it wasn't the other two she had to worry about. There seemed to be something causing an uproar up ahead. She had already determined it impossible to turn around and go some place safer. She braced herself for whatever it may be and headed on.

(-With Ridley-)

Ridley snickered quietly to himself as he headed on his way. While it was true that the URA was in trouble and things were going to hell in a hand basket fairly fast, but luckily there were a lot of people. He wouldn't be slowed down by a slight detour, would he? With all the pirates rushing taking the halls and the stairs was just extremely slow anyways. Originally he had planned on escaping, but he decided he may as well take advantage of this chaos and make a little money off of it.

He remembered when he and Melanie were snooping around earlier that they had stumbled upon a money vault. Originally he had left it be because he didn't want to tip Trevor off, but if he could go grab a bit of cash for the high seas, it wouldn't hurt the crew. Plus any money Ridley didn't take would undoubtedly be left behind by Trevor, whose only concern was killing. Further reconstruction of the area around Ridley reminded him that there was also a secondary stairwell around here for 'staff only'. Ridley was sure that they wouldn't mind him using that or taking their money.

Besides the risk was nearly minimal. Trevor, Makada, and Duncan all would've had a good half an hour head start to grab money and go. Why wouldn't they take it? It would be so easy for him to slip in and slip out with a new bounty for the ship.

(-With Melanie-)

Melanie trudged forward. She had no idea when she got separated from Maria and Ridley, but must've happened awhile back. There was something nagging at her to turn around and go back to kill Trevor, but her full attention right now was on escaping. After her near death experience she decided that it would probably be best to live after she got her revenge. She highly doubted that the Marines would let her walk despite being a Shichibukai that was the nature of the Buster Call…complete eradication. Even the Marines on this island aren't safe from the destructive Buster Call.

Melanie just sighed and continued trudging on through the endless wave of bloody and dirty pirates. All the meanwhile the thought of taking Trevor on once more and finishing it raged through her mind.

Falling Chances!

Nma? Zesiro won! The Infinity Pirates take the first victory by storm! Then again there's still Duncan, Mashiba, Karasu, and Trevor not to mention the Buster Call going on around them. There's also a number of other plot twists waiting in the wings! You better keep reading to make sure you don't miss an action-packed second!

Also, I completely blanked on Enma's profile last chapter. I forgot to edit it into first-person speak so that's why I didn't have it last chapter. My fault, my fault completely…I DIDN'T LOSE MY THUMBDRIVE AGAIN, OKAY! I didn't…well, here it is!

Name: Trafalger Enma

Alias: The White Devil. My bones are pure white and they are my weapon…I don't think there is any other Bounty name more fitting for me.

Weapons: Most notably is my Hone-Hone no mi or the Bone-Bone fruit. It allows me to control and produce my bones. I have a serious of various attacks that rely on this Devil Fruit to work. My favorite tends to be my bone spear as it allows me to attack at a distance. I suppose I should include my brain in this section as well as I think my every move through and I always think my moves through.

Appearance:
Now I know I'm not huge, but I am rather strong still. The Hone-Hone no mi strengthens my bones to the point of steel. Down my entire left arm is a series of gears and cogs that stretches all the way down. I also have the number thirteen tattoed on me as well as the world 'Death'. It all happened due to some stupid choice that happened in my past.

Personality: I'm very religious, however, I prefer Lucifer to any other god in the world. Lucifer gave people freedom…the freedom to do wrong, but freedom nonetheless. I'm good at reading people. Many years of learning how to be a doctor will do that. You learn to sense the nervousness in your patients and it is your job to make them feel better. I like reading, especially medical text books. Its just a good past time if you ask me.

Mikoto: We met while he was in a hard-patch in life and he made many, many mistakes and as a result I sometimes feel he's a little bit of an idiot for those mistakes he has made, but that's in the past. Now he's my captain and the number one person I trust. I don't think he even knows how to betray people.

Ridley: The music certainly makes things nicer. Me and him play cards all the way into the night, we are both big gamblers and we enjoy the back-and-forth. Without him, my days aboard the ship would be painfully boring.

Sage: A sweet young girl, isn't she? She does her best at all times and keeps us well fed. A Seasonal Affective Disorder makes her even more interesting; she's well read and makes for a good conversationalist. I don't believe she particularly cares for my religion or discussions on frog dissections.

Zesiro: I've probably spent more time with Zesiro due to his injuries than anyone else on the ship. With that being said he's not someone who'll turn tail, he'll be with us until the end, defending his allies with his life.

Hiro-Shu: Hiro-Shu remains quiet and steers the ship. We don't converse too much, but I imagine he's a good guy.

Maria: I'm worried about her. She fights a lot and that generally means that she's going to need to be patched up a lot. Patching up my allies isn't something that I see as fun. Plus her machines make it even harder to take care of her.