The Prison Guard of Zenith Gaol

The instant their feet had hit the top floor, the hail of gunfire had started. A sheer inescapable blast of metal and fire rained down upon them. Hiro-Shu coated in his protective iron armor, charged forward. He didn't waste a second as he made his way through the crowd. He summoned forth a roar of incredible red, hot fires that engulfed the front roar. The ones who were fast enough to dodge the flames quickly fell prey to Zesiro's swinging swords. They were ready to cause as much trouble and chaos as they could before they fell and they weren't about to stop here. The bad news was that just according to Enma's prediction Hiro-Shu fell early on. One of the elite prison guards, a man going by the name of Kohaku had stepped forward. He left an imprint of both of his fists on even Hiro-Shu's iron hard chest plate. Ridley and Rosa moved out to handle Kohaku, but a wall of prison guards immediately stepped in and charged forward. The wall of prison guards came rushing at them, they did their best to hold their ground, but it was obvious that against a sea of well-trained guards they wouldn't hold out forever. Zesiro charged forward quickly meeting up with the long-armed trident user, Zesiro slid his two blades forward and met the trident's hilt. They were immediately thrust into a dead-lock that could've gone either way. If it wasn't for the fact that Zesiro was in the belly of the beast. Another prison guard rushed up on him, swinging downwards and onto Zesiro's face. While the punch was nothing special, it proved to be a worthwhile distraction. Zesiro's focus wavered for a second and in that second the longarm surged forward, kicking up dust and slamming the side of his trident into Zesiro's abdomen.

The feeding frenzy had begun. The nearly endless wave of prison guards had descended upon the crew, they were too many of them. Zesiro had recovered from the strike to the abdomen and had come back almost immediately, charging at the wave of guards again and again. He was acting rather recklessly, there were too many for him to attack each and every one with a sane amount of power and an incredible amount of focus. Once more it seems like he had given into his primal state of affairs. He had lost any and all sanity and mercy that were holding back his shark-like nature. His swords ripped through a man and sent his body flying straight into another guard. From there he stepped forward and thrust with his second sword, piercing through one, two, three men in a single stroke. The close and cramped quarters made dodging difficult and made hitting multiple people easy. However, the opposite was also true. Almost immediately a group of guards, charged at Zesiro. Throwing their body weight at him, slamming into him in an almost reckless fashion.

"We are the Bodyslamming Brothers!" they shouted, throwing their arms into the air and then snapping them back. They jumped back over to Zesiro, with their shoulder leading the way. All of their shoulders were covered in some kind of metal that protected it from strain or injury when they attacked like this. However, that did not mean they were safe from Zesiro's attacks. He turned around and lashed out at two of them simultaneously. His swords digging into each of their armors, sending them flying back with shredded shoulders. Zesiro was still outnumbered though. The remainder of them continued their anxious charges. One-by-one they smashed into Zesiro, throwing him around like a rag-doll. It wasn't until Zesiro managed to recover in midair, bringing his sword swinging around and its hilt smashing downwards into the man's skull that the assault finally stopped. Zesiro landed on his own two feet soon again. He was grounded once more as he watched the anxious group of insane characters charge at him, leaping up and down as they began their approach. Zesiro grinned, showing his sharp teeth to them all. He readied himself for the attack and dove head-in again.

Enma was in a similar tough spot. A blizzard of hands and feet were coming out at him. He was nearly blinded by the thick curtain of human body parts, blitzing towards, each of them eager to blow his head off. It was a perfect mix of multiple martial arts. There was a boxer's straight, Muay Thai's Kao Loi, Karate's Yamazuki, and multiple other techniques were all blended together as three or even four professional martial artists came charging in for him. They were fast and strong even Enma could only predict and dodge one in every three blows. Dodging each and every blow was out of the question, even with his extended range due to his spear he couldn't push them back well enough. A knee cut through the air towards his head, Enma ducked beneath it, rotating his chest, and bringing his pristine ivory weapon upwards towards the attacker's pelvis. He was immediately brought to a halt as a punch came shooting in with plenty of power behind it. Enma swerved to the side, barely avoiding the shot. He quickly landed well, but he found himself at the receiving end of a karate chop. He stumbled back and into a wall of guards waiting behind him. Several arms started to move forward, wrapping themselves around his body. Enma shook them free, striking each of them with his staff, but once more his guard was forced down during that attack. One of the martial artist practitioners charged forward, throwing his entire body forward at Enma. His knee made clear-cut contact with Enma's skull and throwing him back. Enma was sent flying through the air, incapable of catching himself as he was knocked back into the wall of waiting guards. The guards began clawing away at his body, trying to drag him into the mosh pit that were his enemies. Soon they engulfed him. He disappeared beneath a sea of foes.

"Enma!" shouted Ridley as he swerved around, about to charge over to check on his fallen compatriot. However, as soon as he stepped forward another group of guards had rushed in to meet him. There were just too many. There were damned if they did, and damned if they didn't from the very start, but still at this very moment in time. Ridley wished that they didn't. He was immediately set on upon by the seemingly ravenous group. There were seven or even eight people rushing him. Ridley stepped forward and swung his guitar, but he only made contact with the air around them. The guards were professionals, they weren't just some random people picked off of the streets. And that completely extended to the Head Guard. It was like a wall of muscles and flesh came barreling at him. The man was quicker than the rest of them, he was much more powerful character than his initial appearance had led Ridley to believe. Ridley rolled onto his back and brought his guitar straight up for his chin. Kohaku deftly dodged it and quickly bolted to the side next to the pirate. There was a notable difference in his arm as the muscle mass surged and tightened. This wasn't going to be no half-hearted punch, Kohaku's entire strength was behind this blow as it surged down to Ridley's gut.

There's only one thing more powerful than a predator's urge to kill and that is a predator's urge to stay alive. Kohaku backed off just in time to dodge a wicked fast thrust from Rosa. Kohaku was driven back, but Kohaku was only one out of fifty. Even with him temporarily taking a break from the high-octane action there was still other guards ready and roaring to take his place. They charged in on Rosa, several of them drawing their own weapons unlike Kohaku who opted for his bare fists. One of the firsts one to approach Rosa was an axe-user. The hefty weapon was swung around with sheer unimaginable amounts of reckless abandon. The guy swung around, cleaving the air. The powerful, yet slow blows were no match for Rosa. She bobbed and weaved through them until she got close enough to the man. She leaned forward and shot her weight into a swing for the man's gut. Her speed was out of the man's reach for a moment at least. The man quickly swerved around and using a combination of his own momentum and the axe's weight, created a last-ditch swing…with enough power to fell a tree in one blow. He brought the axe around, aiming for Rosa's head. Rosa pushed herself forward with one more and almost final umph. She sent herself soaring forward with another burst of speed. Rosa brought her sword swinging around, gouging out the man's side with a triumphant and definitive blow. The man stumbled for a second as his face went a pale white out of pure fear. He mumbled something quietly before collapsing into a puddle on the ground. Rosa allowed herself a brief moment of happiness in such a swift defeat.

Her celebration was short lived. She felt her body move by itself. Her short celebration had temporarily distracted her, opening her sixth sense up to the world. Her body was already moving by itself in anticipation of the next attack, however, while the Colors of Observation Haki was incredibly powerful it was highly dependent on one's own speed. You had to be faster than the incoming attack, usually Rosa had no problems with it. She was faster than most people, she traded strength for speed, but this attack was blinding fast. Even if all of her attention had been turned to the attack, even if she was fully aware of it both with her eyes and her body she couldn't have dodged it. Its speed was beyond hers. And if that wasn't enough to drive home the point of how screwed they were, the attack's power was incredible as well. The Vice Warden had unleashed a kick of dazzling power and speed onto her side with one mighty and hefty kick. Rosa was sent tumbling backwards, unable to catch herself before hitting the wall. The Vice Warden's leg had vanished back into his cloak just as quickly as it had come out.

"Good job," blared Taisho's voice as he came back on over the Den-Den Mushi. Everyone's eyes directed upwards to the ceiling. Taisho didn't have to lift a finger, the Infinity Pirates were just that outgunned and outnumbered. They had no real chance of victory. They had known that stepping up to this challenge and yet being here now under the heel of their enemies' just reiterated that fact. The pirates had lost, the guards had won. Their perfect defense record was no mere bluff. "Let's lock them up and repair any of the damages they had done." Taisho straightened himself back up and relaxed. The Infinity Pirates had caused a general nuisance of themselves by running amok here, they prisoners on the fourth floor were 'free', the gate separating the second and third floor had been broken, and some of the animals on the third floor were dead. He'd need to spend some money and time fixing these problems. In order to do that he would need to immediately get a hold of the Marine Headquarters and that was usually an all day process of getting re-routed over and over again, building up an encrypted signal. It wouldn't be an enjoyable use of his time, but it had to be done…and quickly. The prisoners may just feel rallied enough by the aspect of the break-in that they would have to re-trained to this perfect state of lethargy and inaction. It was a pity, but once more Taisho's desire to create the perfect prison was more important than his desire to spend a day at the beach. He had everyone set out, all of them going to their own respective stations. This wasn't the first time they almost experience a prison break-out.

(-On the third floor-)

Mikoto dozed off lazily. He was still asleep, the rough gas of the Sleeping Nightlock had seeped into his lungs. He would be out until he got away and have been away for awhile. Luckily he had been bought some time just being on this floor. The fact was that the tapirs had taken him away to their nest. The tapirs had gathered around him, successfully hiding him from view of any security. The next reason he had lucked out was that the prisoners on the fourth floor were still causing a ruckus, just by being out of their cells and unchained. They warranted an investigation more than a captain who they did not know even existed within their walls. Someone else besides the tapirs was there with him though. And it wasn't Sage.

It was a raven-haired beauty. And beauty was the key word. She had an ample figure, tanned skin, and a dark brown eyes that were absolutely magnificent. She had short wings sticking out of her back, indicating that she was a Skypiean. She wore black tights with the top of them concealed by blue jean shorts. Her pink low-cut t-shirt had white edges with holes for her wings. She kept a constant watch on the things going around her. Obviously her interest in Mikoto and tapirs was not to cause a ruckus. She seemed content just to keep an eye on her temporary bunkmates. She rested comfortably besides them, every so often glancing backwards as if checking up on Mikoto to see if he had arisen yet. He probably wouldn't wake-up for awhile, but she wasn't going to risk carrying him (more like dragging him since she lacked the upper body strength to completely lift him) yet. She could still hear the footsteps pounding the pavement above her.

Avoiding going to sleep was easy for her. She knew about this level and made the appropriate counter measures. Borrowing a Flutter-kick coating from the blue sea, she had coated herself in her own air bubble and was safe for the time being, however, soon her air, too, would run out and she would have to leave the sleeping coyote alone to fend for himself. It seemed like until then, though, she would stay here and keep a watchful eye on him as if following some sort of order.

Suddenly there was ruffle of leaves nearby. Somebody was coming to them. The girl shot up, anxious to make herself invisible. She turned around and disappeared into the mass of fuzzy tapirs, watching from her new safe spot as the person approached the nest. It was the Vice Warden. He was walking around here, mainly because he was tasked with rebuilding of the other stairway, Taisho had sealed off in order to force the Infinity Pirates up one specific staircase and into their trap. His entire body was still hidden beneath his cloak. Even here where there was no one around to see him he kept his entire body hidden from plain sight. He paused for a second as if sensing the presence of someone. It was clear he wasn't certain of the location of the person as he paused and glanced both to the left and then to the right.

The girl panicked for a brief second. Rather than confronting the man, she leaned forward and pulled Mikoto into the mass of furry tapirs as well. It was obvious her #1 fear was being discovered and the chance that this man in particular would discover them worried her all the more. She shied away disappearing into the tapir-wall where the man had no chance of just accidentally finding them. The man seemed satisfied that there was no one around except the sleeping prisoners and the tapirs. The prisoners on this floor were all racked with horrible nightmares and some of them had horrible sleeping fits where they spasmed uncontrollably in tune to their nightmares. He guessed that it was just one of them that had caught his eye. He soon started to move once again.

It looks like for the time-being the duo of the mysterious woman and Mikoto were safe and out of harm's way. However, they weren't the only two people that were on this floor.

(-with Sage-)

Sage didn't shout or scream as she moved through the forest. The slightest action from a prisoner having a night terror to a tapir popping up out of the blue, caused her heart to skip a beat, but nonetheless she stayed quiet. An overreaction or a scream could lead to her demise. The prison guards could be pouring onto this floor as she thought. She had heard the prison warden's booming announcement awhile ago. She wondered if the fight had ended yet and if the rest of her crew was alright, but that just reaffirmed her desire to find Mikoto. Rushing to the scene of the fight all by her lonesome was silly, stupid and all around reckless. She was sure once she found Mikoto and woke him up, it was exactly the kind of thing he would do. It would still be stupid when he did it, but for her to do it now and all alone was even stupider. She'd just have to find Mikoto first.

She'd just have to stay out of sight until then.

After Being Caught

Kohaku is the work of Sasaui102.

Also, this is a bonus update! It has been awhile since I did one of these...or maybe it just seems that way since I was planning on doing one like eight times, but I just could never find the time. Nothing more of note because this is pretty much basic, the crew is royally screwed with the majority of their major players being in jail (it is kind of odd that Ridley is having such a nice time though), Mikoto is knocked out cold, but he had found a new buddy who should seem familiar to all of you. Oh, and Sage is the only actually Infinity Pirate who seems to be having a productive time.