War-Torn Family

Enma moved Hiro-Shu back into his bed in the infirmary. Hiro-Shu was still severally damaged. His entire body was injured. Enma frowned. He had inspected Hiro-Shu rather quickly, fearing that the damage to his fist from the repetitive punches was probably long lasting and may never heal, but he found a much worse factor. Hiro-Shu's new technique of twisting his body and using his weight to create momentum had one serious flaw. It applied massive stress to his legs and waist. The muscles clinched and twisted whenever he did, but it did so with his entire weight bearing down on it.

Despite the effort Hiro-Shu put into developing it along with the power it provided him. Enma had to advise that Hiro-Shu never used this technique again. It was saddening to say the least, but as the crew doctor he had to do it. He had to prevent him from making such a fatal mistake as to win a fight by destroying his legs and future.

Enma muttered something as he left Hiro-Shu to rest. The fact remained. Hiro-Shu was heavily damaged, but in reality Enma wasn't in that great of a shape either. And the ship was in their hands along with Rosa who wasn't quite capable of fighting yet. Her fight with Zesiro left her in pretty bad shape, so it was the three injured men holding back a near infinite wave of Marines while they waited for reinforcements to arrive.

Enma sighed as he wondered what was taking them so long. The Buster Call was rampaging at full strength, but they couldn't leave. If they waited too much longer, Enma knew it would become impossible. As it stood right now they had probably only a twenty-eighty chance of escape. It was depressing thinking about it like that. Every minute that passed made that window of opportunity shrink even more.

They had just barely made it into the Grand Line and now this. The New World still stretched ahead of them. Enma slammed his fist onto the wall in anger. They were close…they were so close he could smell those old books in the legendary library. His goal was just over the horizon, along with Mikoto's and everyone else's they were all there. He just had to keep his head straight and not back down now. He'd just have to prepare the ship for departure and hope they'd hurry yp.

(-with Ridley-)

Ridley was quietly shuffling through the halls. He had a small box that stuffed with a few large bills. He considered it lucky that he had gotten this much. He had quickly arrived to the staff entrance and exit; it was exactly where he had remembered it. He smiled as he slumped into the small staircase. Almost the same instant he put his foot on the step, he threw himself backwards.

The Buster Call was still going on, but that wasn't why he threw himself back. No, it was because he heard the words, "hello son."

Ridley twisted his head around and looked up, further up the stairs. Karasu was smiling smugly above his head. Ridley didn't pause for a second, he flipped his guitar out and strummed onto it sending a painful wave of pure noise echoing up the stairs. The noise bounced off of the walls, building up to the point it was a maddening boom where Karasu was…was being the operative word.

Karasu had disappeared and was almost immediately behind Ridley. Ridley was directing the noise upwards, so directly around him the noise was minimal. Karasu struck out, a swiping chop with his only arm. Ridley ducked beneath while spinning around, swinging his guitar around and into Karasu's gut. Karasu screamed, not in pain, but more as a battle cry. Almost in an instance he rotated around, sending his entire body around in a flash with his entire weight behind it.

Ridley dodged it by a hair, he felt Karasu's massive arm slice through his Mohawk. Ridley stepped in, aiming to take advantage of when Karasu's wide punch would leave him the most vulnerable, but to Ridley's surprise as soon as Karasu's massive punch ended, another one began. A powerful straight blew through the air and for Ridley's face. Ridley ducked beneath it, desperate to avoid the insane punch. He couldn't believe it. The monster's strength was exactly like Ridley had remembered it, but he almost instantly realized something else had happened. The crispness of his punches were gone, his fighting style had devolved. It wasn't the fighting style of someone who put years of their life into practice, studying several different forms of martial arts.

At first Ridley was amazed at the sudden transformation that his father had shown him, but then it was replaced by sheer fear. The monster's strength had not diminished at all, now he was just putting his entire strength behind each punch. There wasn't any style or practice behind it, and it was obvious when and how he was going to fire a punch, but just watching that punch breeze by you, inches away from your face…that ripped apart your soul, your spirit was destroyed as you imagined that punch blowing your head and your shoulders apart.

Ridley backed off, trying to calmly analyze the monster that his father had become, but Karasu's maddening rush quickly destroyed that plan. Karasu moved several feet at a time until he was upon Ridley, swinging his wide punch through the air once more. Ridley slid down to the ground and swung his guitar vertically aiming for Karasu's chin. Karasu brought his shoulder in smashing it into the guitar and changing its direction. Karasu paused and quickly fired full and fast punches down upon Ridley.

The musician quickly scrambled away, going through Karasu's leg just in a desperate attempt to escape. The monster was going faster and faster while keeping his power up. Ridley didn't have a good idea on how to take him down either. After all, Karasu's power, speed, and defense were all light-years ahead of his. Ridley took a deep breath as he looked on at Karasu trying to find something that could be used as a weakness.

Of course, the most immediate answer was Karasu's missing arm. It left one side wide open and should be perfect for Ridley to rush in and attack, but…in order to get in that close Ridley would have to break through Karasu's murderous punches. Even if Ridley was fast enough to dive right in and avoid those punches, was he brave enough? As if to test Ridley Karasu fired a quick hook into the thin air. The sound of his fist cleaving through the air was enough to make Ridley back down.

Ridley realized right then that he couldn't…he wanted to tell himself that he could, but he couldn't. He was in no way shape or form ready to fight Karasu. "Hey, dad," said Ridley finally returning his father's greeting. Karasu's face went from anger to confusion and then finally to laughter. He couldn't believe that his son would even bother giving him the time of day.

"Still got that present I gave you?" asked Karasu eyeing Ridley's stomach.

Ridley knew what he was talking about that rotten poison that bastard put in him. "I tried re-gifting it, but it was such a crappy present nobody would take it off my hands." Another quick, but powerful full straight came shooting out from Karasu. Ridley tumbled backwards, in a horrible attempt to escape from Karasu's attacks. Karasu stepped forward again and this time he fired his powerful punch straight down for Ridley's head. Ridley rolled to the side, avoiding yet another sure-fire kill blow. However, Karasu's punch sent a flurry of dust and small rocks into the air, some of which cut into Ridley's cheek as he tried to get away.

"Come on, son!" laughed Karasu as he stepped forward for Ridley, "I taught you better than that, didn't I? The weak get crushed in this world! The instant you become weak, you become trash! So, come at me with everything you've got!" Karasu leaned forward as he charged at Ridley once again.

Ridley paused as he thought about Karasu's words. That was the world he was raised in…the weak getting slaughtered. Ridley wasn't about to deny it, but there was no way he would accept that he was weak, especially not in front of his ultimate enemy. Ridley dove down like Karasu and charged forward, his guitar arcing through the air like an ax aiming to separate Karasu's head from his shoulders.

Karasu blocked the swing using his shoulder. His thick wall of unrivaled muscles, protecting his neck from the fearsome and desperate attack. Karasu then leaned in and fired another full swing for Ridley's head. A demonic smile flashed across Karasu's face as he was just about to pummel his own son's head in. At the moment of impact Ridley's entire body jerked in one direction, being propelled in one direction far way from Karasu.

Karasu paused as he looked down at his fist. Something was wrong with his last hit; he looked up and saw Ridley standing back up. Ridley was definitely in bad shape, but he wasn't dead through some miracle. Ridley took his guitar back around and rather than swinging it, he began playing it quietly at the same time he was tapping his foot to the rhythm.

Ridley realized it the instant their attacks clashed. Head-to-head…he would lose. Karasu was much stronger than him, his wall of muscles not only supplemented his attacks, but also gave him a defense that no one strong blow from Ridley could pierce. He would think of how to land blows on Karasu after he figured out how to avoid them.

Karasu barreled forward like an unchained bull. Ridley rushed out of the way, once he cleared Karasu's direct path he swayed backwards to avoid another wide swing from Karasu. Karasu's punched whipped the wind around and Ridley felt the pure rare power just emanating from it. Ridley's heart was pounding against his chest as he looked on. Karasu quickly caught himself and turned around, returning his attention to his own son, who was trying to pummel into oblivion. Ridley took a step back and was amazed that he actually found himself with his back against the wall. He had been dodging all of Karasu's attacks, but if his escape route was cut off then it was possible that he was bigger trouble than he thought.

Karasu's experience was showing. Ridley hadn't been in nearly enough fights with nearly enough opponent's to fully grasp the situation, Karasu who was pushing 40 spent all of those years fighting for his life. His experience was showing, even his misses were deadly. The first rushes told him all about Ridley's dodging habits and from there, he could calmly maneuver Ridley into the corner. However, despite Karasu's immense power, experience, and pressure, Ridley hadn't given in yet.

As a matter of fact…if anything this only fueled his ambition. Before he was fighting against a monster, whose only concern was sheer power, but now Ridley knew the truth. He was truly fighting against his father. Ridley didn't care about beating monsters or beasts, he didn't care about the title of strongest. He wanted to beat his father. He wanted to show off that he had surpassed his father in every way, shape, and form. And now that his father was in front of going at full, Ridley had to respond properly.

Ridley stepped forward. He continued the simple melody on his guitar, if anything it was like he was inviting Karasu to come in and clobber him. Of course, Karasu wasn't about to turn an invitation down from his only son. He charged in once more, taking several steps at once and burying himself into Ridley's space.

"100 Decibels!" shouted Ridley as he slammed onto his guitar sending a massive sound wave forward. Karasu's eyes went wide as the loud noise collided with his eardrums. Karasu didn't back down, though, he kept his charge going. Even if Ridley's ambition had been renewed and he was going to fight all out against Karasu and his punches, it didn't mean that Karasu didn't have his own reason for not backing down. Karasu's pride refused to let him lose again, especially not to his son.

Karasu's right hand flew forward with immense strength. The fist embedded itself in the concrete wall behind Ridley. He had barely been able to dodge, he was holding on by a thread. He was trying hard, and now there was an opening. Karasu only had one arm and that arm was hyper-extended straight into the wall. Ridley stepped, swinging his guitar upwards aiming for Karasu's chin.

After that the world went black for Ridley.

A Sweet Death?

Death? That's not possible in this story, is it? Of course, it is! And guess what it is going to happen!

Other than that expect an additional bonus update Thursday!