Falling Chances!

Maria was still in the midst of the pirate rush when it happened. Her eyes came to rest on what was before them. It was a hulking black mass that the pirates in front were incapable of stopping before they came skidding into, being absorbed by it. What the heck was it? She doubted Trevor would install such a weird mechanism into the URA, not with the fighting force it had. So, why was this seemingly endless black mass engulfing these pirates? She soon realized that if she didn't escape soon, it wouldn't be just engulfing the other pirates it would engulf her. She tried to turn around escape, but another wave of pirates pushed her forward like she was sacrifice to a black liquid deity.

Since there was no way back her most obvious choice was to destroy it. Then again it was the choice that Maria preferred. Why should she back down? She was a pirate, wasn't she. She waited until she was close enough before she smashed her foot into the ground, pivoting forward and throwing her entire weight behind her fist. The punch smashed into thick mass and it reverberated loudly, the mass shook like a wall of jelly, but that was it. Maria was about to try to fire another punch when she realized her first punch hadn't come back, it was stuck in the mass. She managed to pull it back a little, but the black goop remained stretching out and attached to her arms.

A thousand tentacle-like black liquid strings remained glued tightly onto Maria's metal fist. She tried to bring her fist out of this mass, but she couldn't. It was too tightly attached onto her fist, she couldn't shake it off no matter how hard she tried. She panicked slightly and brought her fist forward and punched the wall again. Her other fist got stuck into the mass now and since her other hand hadn't broke free yet, she was now completely stuck in it.

Another jerk behind her smashed into her back forcing her forward again and now her head and chest were flung forward into the mass. Another bump from behind forced her entire body into the mass. Her vision completely disappeared once she entered the mass. Her vision was gone; her nose was filled with a horrid scent, not to mention the gooey, chunky liquid that was no covering her entire body. She couldn't break free from the glue-like mass. She had no way to know what was going on on the outside of the mass; she just knew she was trapped.

(-With Enma-)

Enma brought his bone spear out and he stepped forward, stabbing it through another Marine's stomach and tossing him out of the way. He took another step, swung his spear around, and smashed the shaft of the spear into a man's head. Another Marine fell to the ground, collapsing due to the sharp pain in his head. Enma rushed forward, he wasn't about to stop now. The Marines just kept on coming. It was already starting to wear heavily on Enma, he had been fighting nonstop for what seemed like hours. Whenever he brought one Marine down another would arrive to take his place.

Rosa's misguided cannon fire helped in some ways, but she had come close to hitting Enma once or twice. It was already obvious that she was no marksman. The large cannon ball would be launched and smash into the floorboard at either a completely irrelevant location or next to Enma's own foot. However, if they stopped the cannon fire more Marines would just flood in to fight this way at least they had some form of worry when charging in. A shot from a cannon is deadly and no one wants to be the unlucky one that gets hit by Rosa's insane firing technique.

Suddenly something hard and heavy hit the side of Enma's face sending him twisting and falling to the side. Enma hit the ground hard. He tried to straighten himself out, but the entire world was spinning around him. He had no idea who had hit him, he thought he had everybody separated from him by at least a good three or four feet. He was using his longer spear to keep people at a good distance away from him. For somebody to instantly jump into his range…it must've been someone fast and from the pain in his cheek, someone strong as well.

"It's…it is Docket Jr.!" shouted one of the Marines as they jumped up and ran back. In front of them stood a man of impressive build. His body was heavily toned to the point of perfection. His muscles slightly bulged from beneath his Marine coat, which he was just now taking off. He swept it off of his shoulder and carefully folded it. He handed it off to one of the nearby Marines.

"The Marine coat is the symbol of justice!" he shouted turning around to the Marines that were stationed behind him. "If it gets dirty, then that means Justice itself got dirty. You should protect it…you should protect your coat with your life!" The other Marines were divided at this declaration. Some of them shouted and hollered for the speech, others felt a little embarrassed that their coat meant more than their lives. Docket then turned around and faced Enma.

The man was not only large in stature, but wearing a tight shirt beneath his coat also allowed Enma to get a good look at his body. No nutritional problems there. He was obviously well-trained and conditioned even for the Marines he looked well off in the muscles department. Aside from his coat and jacket he was draped in thick white pants, however, they looked more like someone completely bleached their jeans. Speaking of bleached, his hair also had that bleached yellow color to it. Covering his eyes were a pair of light blue-tinted goggles that for some reason made Enma feel a bit uneasy looking into them.

"I may be a Marine Vice Admiral, but I'm new to this so go easy on me!" he laughed. "In all honesty, I wasn't supposed to be out here fighting on the island. The original plan was for me to stay on the ship giving orders, but…I also wasn't supposed to broadcast our intents of using a Buster Call on this island," Docket gave a quiet cough to try and cut the tension, "so risking my life like the rest of these yahoos is my punishment." Once more the Marines felt a little annoyed at Docket for that unnecessary banter. It appears that Docket Jr. wasn't particularly good at not saying the wrong thing. Whenever he opened his mouth it seemed to rub someone the wrong way.

His underlings seemed to agree with Enma's statement as most of them were sheepishly smiling and looking away, unsure of the best way to respond to this. "Ah, screw it," said Docket taking another step forward. His hand flickered forward for an instant and Enma brought his guard up to block whatever it was coming for him, but he felt nothing solid hit his guard, instead he felt a dense and heavy blunt object smash into his back on the opposite side of Docket!

Enma immediately twisted around, cleaving the air with his long spear to destroy any Marine that had decided to get the drop on him, but to his surprise…no one was there. Enma felt so bewildered he dropped his guard slightly and he immediately regretted it. Almost immediately Docket launched another attack, just out of the corner of Enma's eyes he caught Docket's hand flicker and seconds later he felt a dull pain in his side.

Somehow, though Enma was unsure how, this man was delivering quick dull blows from a distance at unpredictable angles. Well…only unpredictable if you had no idea how they were coming at you in the first place. Enma backed up and looked over at Docket…the only signal he gave was a slight wave of his hand, but beyond that…nothing. An untraceable attack that could be carried out with the slightest wave of the hand. The only explanation of the attack was a Devil Fruit. But that could mean anything!

Another wave of Docket's hand. Immediately Enma went on the defensive, bringing his spear in and swatting at the air right in front of him. Docket only smiled at Enma's 'cute' ploy. Enma felt another entity smash into his rib cage from the side. Enma's eyes widened as he was thrown back from the blow. He quickly caught his balance and steadied himself. Docket waved his hand again, sent Enma sprawling to the floor in order to dodge the attack. The Marines got a good laugh at that. How could he possibly not look like a fool trying to dodge an invisible attack?

The good news was due to not being beaten around he finally found his first clue to Docket's attack. He wasn't waving his hand, it was more like a throw. Like Docket was throwing something of medium size, but once more nothing popped out into Enma's hand as to what could be invisible and change its trajectory? Well, not automatically change its trajectory as it didn't chase after Enma, there had to be something else. Maybe it was a signal for someone else in the crowd to fire an attack?

No…Enma glanced behind him and realized the first attack he took was to the back and what was behind him was the ship and there were no Marines there to fire at him. There had to be another strategy behind Docket's strange attacks.

Suddenly Docket waved both his hands…this meant that if Enma's math was right two attacks were coming for him. Enma returned his bone spear to his body and quickly produced a series of bones protruding from his arms, they formed a net-like shield that should protect him from the attack if he could estimate where they were coming from. Having no clue, he guessed left. He twisted around brought his shield up. He knew he had guessed wrong fairly quickly as another solid shot smashed into back. Enma grunted as he felt it smash into bones. The second shot that collided with Enma's liver was the one that caused the most pain. It was just bad luck that both of them made their way through Enma stumbled forward and looked to his left and what was behind him. Once more it was the ship…how could an attack be originating from his ship?

While he would love to find out what was making those attacks, but he didn't really have the time. He needed to focus on Docket first and take him out before he would probably get the time. Even then there was still an army of Marines that needed to be handled. If only the volley of attacks from Docket would stop…Enma let loose a heavy sigh as he realized he had to charge in without a single idea of how to beat Docket Jr.

Another quick serve from Docket sent a heavy volley of whatever towards Enma. Enma scrambled forward, desperate to avoid the attack. He couldn't believe the guy was actually capable of putting him on the ropes like this. Each attack he threw at him came from a mysterious source, the only reason that Enma had thought of was a Devil Fruit, but that still left an impossibly long list. There had to be another hint in Docket's posture. Docket made another movement, sending a quick shot for Enma's head. Or what seemed to be aimed for Enma's head. Enma brought his shield up to his face to try and save himself, but the problem was that he felt the blunt object smash into his gut going upwards. Great now his attacks can come from the ground as well.

Enma tried to steady himself, but a second attack from Docket came crashing in and smashing into Enma's head throwing him backwards once more. Enma hit the ground hard. He felt a shooting pain in his temple now. He collided with the ground, Enma quickly jumped back up onto his own two feet. And he almost immediately fell back down. His world was slowly blurring together due to the multiple hits. He'd have to remember to give himself a check-up, make sure he didn't hemorrhage from that last hit.

Docket took another step forward, his hands at the ready to throw another…whatever at him. Enma would have to try to take him down quickly before Docket took it. He'd just take Zesiro's method, finish them before they finished him. That way no matter how Docket was attacking him, he would win. Enma's famous bone spear appeared in his hand at the ready.

Docket's Drive!

I'm getting quite a bit ahead in the writing of this story. I got maybe six or seven chapters into the future done. I figured I'll give you guys a bonus update! Enjoy!

The troubles the crew are getting in are growing larger and larger. The Marines are here too, don't forget! Cross your fingers and hope that both Maria and Enma can get out of their own tough spots.

Speaking of Maria, this is the last of the first-person profiles. Here you go! The profile of the Infinity Pirates own, strong punching cyborg, Maria!

Full Name: My name is Maria Euthanatos

Bounty Name: 'Cyborg' Maria

Devil Fruit/Weapon: Who needs weapons when you got two perfectly good fists.

Physical Appearance: I am a little bit taller than your average girl and possibly a little bit bulkier due to my muscular physique, but not overly so. I have long silver hair that stretches past my shoulders. I have a black jacket that wraps around my body. I've also got purple eyes. Oh, and if you didn't notice I have machines for my arms and legs!

Personality: I tend to like to be a little bit quieter than Mikoto and especially Ridley. I've been told I can be rather arrogant, but I prefer the term self-confident. I'm strong and I'm not going to act like I'm not. If you ask me most people who annoy me are 'brats'.

Goals (Or Dreams if you prefer): My original goal was to be the strongest unarmed fighter, but with these blasted mechanical appendages that option is out. So, I'll just be the strongest PERIOD!

Opinions of her fellow crew members:

Mikoto: He's an oddball…Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I think he's overly attached to my cyborg modifications and the all. I, on the other hand, am rather amazed by the fact that he turns into a coyote.

Ridley: What's the best word to describe Ridley? Loud, destructive, weak, a brat? Any of those words fit him pretty well. The first time I met him it was me saving his butt…admittedly he did let me out of prison…

Sage: The chef of the crew. She seems overly interested in me, she tries to engage me in 'girl talk'. I have absolutely no idea what she wants me to say…I prefer hitting the punching bag than hitting on guys.

Zesiro: Hmm…a strong opponent. My goal is to become the strongest and in this case, Zesiro is the only person on the crew I see as an obstacle.

Hiro-Shu: I don't know want to say about him. He doesn't talk, he's strong, he's a reliable person, but…that's about it. Three things about a person I'm going to be fighting alongside.

Enma: Me and Enma are at odds a lot. He believes I shouldn't be so reckless during fights, he believes I should take things slower and try not to get injured. I say I know what I'm doing…I know he's trying to take care of me, but I can take myself…I don't need anyone else to do it…