A Questionable Charge?
The prison guard forces had gathered at the stairs and were looking down the stairs, waiting for the upcoming pirates. They would be swarming the stairs in a matter of moments and they were ready for them. The first group had gathered around the stairway, all of them had guns trained for the door as soon as they saw the first hair of the incoming pirates they would unleash an incredible burst of gunfire. Regardless of the pirates' power an attack of this level would almost definitely finish at least one of them. One of those shots would definitely finish at least one of them off.
However, from what was going on on the floor beneath them it was debatable if there would even be a chance for them to work on it. The smoking invader was single-handedly putting both Zesiro and Ridley in his place. He jumped up again, creating a quick iron platform from his cigar to land on. He quickly tilted the cloud forward, angling it towards Zesiro. Suddenly he leapt forward like a rocket, sending his entire body weight screeching forward towards Zesiro. Zesiro brought his two swords up and in front of his body, preparing to block the full-body charge with all of his strength. The man quickly swirled around and covered his entire body in the thick iron smoke from his cigar. He was completely coated in it, he couldn't be hurt unless Zesiro blew through the smoke and him with one stroke. "Devilfish Finisher!" Zesiro crossed his two swords, forming an X and stepping forward at the same moment. He brought the two of them together and struck out, there was a loud clash as Zesiro managed to stop him. Zesiro's feet budged slightly, forcing them back a few inches as he tried to withstand the horrible blast.
Suddenly Zesiro rotated around, bringing his two swords out with a flash. The man was thrown out of the path and was completely and there was nice slit in the iron cloud, but sadly Zesiro couldn't force it in deep enough to make contact with the man. The man was still pretty close to invincible, he was just acting like a cannonball and it seemed to be fairly effective from Zesiro's standpoint. His arms were numb just from suffering the direct blast from that last attack, who knows how many more attacks of that caliber were going to be shuttling towards him at that same speed and power. The man drew in a deep breath, sucking in another quick gust of smoke. Then he unleashed a massive blast of iron cloud forward. The iron cloud quickly transformed into a series of slender sharp needles that came roaring towards Zesiro. Zesiro had no choice, he couldn't slash all of them out of the air in a single stroke. There were too many and they were too small. His only other choice was to get his own attack in. He leaned in and brought his sword swooping around in a circle all around him and throwing a quick sideways slash at full speed at him.
The man spun around and sent a complete veil of iron cloud around him perfectly protecting him from the powerful shot. The sword burned into it, slashing into it at full-power nearly ripping it apart from the force, but the man wasn't bothered by it. Hozuma immediately created another whip-like weapon from his cigar, he sent it flying off at his opponent. Zesiro stepped in and blocked it, he swung his sword around and if it was truly a solid weapon it was entirely possible that Zesiro would've defeated it by doing so, but the weapon was just a chain of clouds. Zesiro couldn't break it or even deflect it through normal means. Hozuma quickly rotated the cigar around and sent it spiraling upwards for Zesiro's chin. The smoke slammed into his Zesiro's head and threw him back. Zesiro managed to dodge the worse of the fall, by digging his sword into the ground and avoided the damage.
Ridley cut in, bolting in at full speed. He wasn't holding himself back, he had to stop the melee of attacks for even a second. He swung his guitar inwards, it was aimed straight for his head. Hozuma immediately sent another puff of iron cloud around his head. He wasn't about to take a direct hit from the swing just because his back was turned. Ridley's guitar squished into the cloud and Hozuma was completely uninjured. Hozuma spun around and launched a powerful roundhouse kick to Ridley's side. Ridley was thrown completely to the side from the force and slid into the ground. Ridley quickly crept back up to his feet, but he didn't have a very good chance as Hozuma shot forward for Ridley. Ridley immediately strummed on his guitar, whether it was out of reflex or a real idea of an attack didn't matter. The cacophonous note caused Hozuma to cringe and hesitate for a brief seconds, giving Ridley enough time to swing to the side and watch as Hozuma screeching on by. Hozuma crashed into a wall bringing it down and around him. Several chunks of debris came crashing down on top of him, but the iron cloud caught all of them and kept Hozuma safe and out of harm's way.
"I do love my cigars, however, I do find them somewhat limiting," the little cigar was starting to burn down eventually he would run out of cigar and once the cigar vanished he would lose the only thing that allowed him to control the cloud. An actual Eisen Dial would give him complete control of it for an unlimited amount of time as long as he held it, but the cigar was slowly disappearing. Hozuma reached into his pockets and pulled out two separate Eisen Dials and attached them to his hands. Hozume stretched his two hands down and pointed them at the wall behind him. The two of Eisen Dials suddenly spat out large quantity of iron clouds, propelling Hozuma forwards towards Zesiro again. The last of his cigar eeked out, covering his body in an iron-tight shell just like before. Zesiro doubted he should risk another head-to-head clash, last time it proved to be a rather useless attempt…at least if he mimicked his last attack. A slash wasn't powerful enough, but a thrust may be.
Zesiro sheathed one of his swords and shifted his weight forward. And brought one of his swords screeching forward with a thrust, his entire weight was behind it. Both of his arms were propelling it forward. The force of the thrust sliced straight into the iron shell. The slender blade dug into the iron shell, peeling away at the hardened exterior all the way to the squishy insides. Zesiro would repent for taking his life for awhile, but it had to be done. His sword would slide right through the iron cloud and right through Hozuma. At least it would've if Hozuma was really that transparent. Zesiro's sword did slide straight through the iron cloud and into the open center, but Hozuma wasn't there.
Hozuma had arranged an emergency evacuation. He had left his iron shell, leaving it to be still shuttling towards Zesiro, but he wasn't in it. He was on the ground rushing towards Zesiro. His Eisen Dials were starting to eject ion clouds that took the shape of staves. He rushed in to Zesiro and brought them circling in, one high and one low. Zesiro's feet were swiped away from underneath him and the other staff came shooting in and striking at Zesiro's head. Zesiro managed to bring his sword in and block the second strike just moments before it hit. He was lucky that he managed even that. He brought his sword around and took up another stance, this one slightly more defensive.
Hozuma buckled down and shot forward once more. This time he didn't bother putting up the iron shell and just remained open, with both staves in his hands. He came flying in at incredible speed and Zesiro stepped in ready to defeat him he was tired of this fight dragging on. His body was starting to sag…he was growing tired. His body was falling asleep on him, he couldn't keep this up much longer he needed to move on. And this man would have to be taken down in order for him to do so. Zesiro charged in. Without that bulky iron shell hiding Hozuma, he may actually stand a chance. The two came together and the sound of metal against metal filled the air. Zesiro's two well-sharpened swords came against Hozuma's iron staves. They clashed loudly as both warriors refused to back down. Zesiro felt his feet budged, Hozuma's had more momentum behind his body from him rocketing himself forward. Zesiro had too far and few options at this point. He had to come up with a plan to deliver a fatal blow.
Zesiro had one idea. He used one sword to angle the path Hozuma was taking to the side, Hozuma followed the curvature of the blade as he continued to propel himself forward. Zesiro lifted his second trusty saber into the air and suddenly brought it smashing back down onto Hozuma's back. The bare minimum amount of iron cloud crept over to protect Hozuma, but it still wasn't enough to completely protect him. The sharp blade was basically reduced to a bash with a shield. However, it may just prove to be enough to turn Hozuma off from the idea of handling them. After all, he still had his original mission in mind.
Hozuma straightened up and stood back up on his feet. He produced a second cigar and placed it in his mouth. He took a second and looked around him. "I suppose this was enough to say I fulfilled my boss' obligation as a Shichibukai," he muttered beneath his breath. He turned around to face Zesiro. His back was badly injured, he needed to see a doctor, but first he had to get his 'brother' out of this prison. That was his original mission, not fighting another soon-to-be Shichibukai's group, besides he saw the rest of the Infinity Pirates growing closer. "We'll finish this soon. My boss is eager to meet your boss. Until then eat well, sleep well, and don't forget to enjoy a cigar every now and then." With that he left.
Truth be told, his boss was really eager to meet Mikoto. They both rose to their current ranks by beating another Shichibukai. However, his boss, 'Ghost Hook' Kraven had really hammered the point in by bringing the pirate's head in to a Shichibukai meeting. Mikoto, though, was going to be promoted before beating a Shichibukai. It was debatable which one was more deserving of the title. And that annoyed 'Ghost Hook'. Kraven was older and more experienced than Mikoto was and yet they tried to lift this pirate up onto the shoulders of the Marines and Shichibukai title. It was insulting to his own ability, something that 'Ghost Hook' wouldn't stand for. He wouldn't allow for some green behind the ears pirate to show him up so early in his job. He'd finish them off for sure, however, Kraven hadn't had any luck in finding them yet. Imagine his surprise when Hozuma told him about finding them here. Their battle was coming up soon, Hozuma just needed to find his 'brother' and a Den-Den Mushi. After he did those two things he would get his chance to defeat them again.
He kept on walking as he glided past the rest of the infinity Pirates who were in too big of a hurry to get to the next floor to stop and chit-chat with him. It didn't bother him that they didn't want to chew the fat. He kept walking forward, a little bit faster right now. He didn't want to think of them as sore losers, but if they sic'ed their entire force on him he wouldn't make it out and in all honesty it was what he would do. He was an enemy and a rival, not to mention he definitely didn't try and befriend them during their first encounter. Taking him out would be the wise decision for the future. He smiled as he continued on his path and no one came after him.
"Just bad luck," said Zesiro as he explained away his wounds. Ridley kept his mouth shut as well, they knew very well that they had no right to complain or anything of that sort. They were pirates to take the hits and keep on running was in their job description. And that's exactly what they would do. They weren't going to stop. They would charge forward with all of their strength to the next floor. They both felt a slightly sick feeling about the thought of leaving Mikoto behind on this floor, but they also knew that Enma's plan was probably for the best. They couldn't lose another man to this floor, so taking their time was of the upmost importance. "No use waiting around here," Zesiro nodded forward and lifted his body up. He wound one of his arms, stretching it out and prepared himself for it. The next floor definitely would be a challenge, they were fighting their own bodies at this point. If the next floor threw opponents at them it wouldn't be a horrible guess to say that they might actually lose. Zesiro shook the negative thoughts out of his head as the group headed up.
Almost immediately they met by a wall of bullets speeding towards them. Hiro-Shu quickly took the lead, transforming to his iron wall form and withstanding the fast and powerful volley. His iron armor took several hits, but he gave the rest of his crew enough time to duck in and go back down the stairs. They were safe for another moment as they could watch the attack cool down. He soon journeyed back down there to catch up with the rest of the crew. "Crap…" he muttered as he caught up. "We're basically trapped on this floor." He turned his head back the stairs to see if the prison guards were going to chase them down, but it looked like they were fine with the way things were going. Why wouldn't they be? They had them pinned down on a floor that meant certain death if they stayed there for much longer. In half an hour or so the entire crew would be lulled to sleep, easy picking for anyone much less the entire prison's staff.
Enma paused for a few seconds. He had his new drug on him, but that would take at least five minutes to kick into effect, possibly even more. He was half asleep as is, his heart-rate would be slowed, and the distribution of the drug throughout is system would also be slowed as a result. Had they really lost this quickly? There were just two more floors up there, but it seemed so far away now. The prison staff had used this time to gather their forces and focus them onto that one spot. A strategy they undoubtedly had come up with just hours into its creation, a sure-fire killing strategy. Hiro-Shu may be able to get up there and lead the charge, take out a couple of the snipers, but by then he would be injured and probably an easy prey for any of the stronger members as if he was also tired from the journey. Then what? Could Enma, Zesiro, Rosa, and Ridley possibly take down the entire prison staff by themselves in their half dead state?
Suddenly the speaker system cut on. "I know you are down there," stated Taisho from his comfortable spot several floors up. "I wish for you to know. I have blocked off all other escape routes. Sealed off even the staircases descending to the floors below. You are trapped on that floor until either you decide to face my men or until you fall into a deep sleep. They are both horrible options to you, but to me they are both luxurious plans I have laid forth and planned out for this precise moment. Impel Down had fallen due to a swelled head. I made several steps again and again to improve upon this prison…you haven't even forced me to show my final hand yet. I hope you understand just how outmatched you small batch of pirates are."
Enma swiveled to the staircase, producing his spear and grinding his teeth. They were being mocked even worse though every word Taisho spoke sounded of pure truth. He wasn't lying. He was still holding something back, a powerful technique that obviously Taisho didn't want to use just yet for some reason. Enma realized that this meant there were out of options. "Let's go," stated Enma as he tightened his fists. "Sage and Mikoto are still out there. If we lose this fight, I'm willing to bet my life on them." He twirled his bone spear around and walked forward. Hiro-Shu sighed and quickly raced to be in front of him. It would be their last-ditch effort, their hail mary. They just had to put their faith in the little coyote who had brought them all together and had forced them to this spot. They would raise cane and hope that they all came out on the other safer side.
The Prison Guards of Zenith Gaol!
Ah...I think a sickness is going around around here...so just to warn everyone the future releases will be a little bit...well, off. Anyways, let's hear it for the Infinity Pirates throwing their lives on the line as they charge forward attempting to win once more against the giant iron prison!