Ridley and Sage...

Working Together!?

"Shit!" swore Ridley as he brought his large guitar streaming through the air, cutting nothing but empty space. Their opponent had already jumped back completely avoiding the attack and landing safely out of harm's way. The man spun his hat around again and laughed. "I guess he's just another user of Colors of Observation Haki." Ridley was trying to figure out some way to beat this guy. He had already proved that he was more than a match for them by landing the first blow on both them as well as dodging all of their blows so far…the pile of defeated pirates behind him helped his case as well.

"Uh uh uh!" stated the man as he wiggled his finger at Ridley, "Colors of Observation Haki is the Blue Sea term for this super power. Up here it goes by the name of Mantra. However, you are right to assume that you are in deep crap, not because of my Mantra, but because I am an all-around superior fighter to you and your teammate." The man took a half-step back before powering up his shoes and Ridley immediately understood what they were. He had seen a few pictures about them. Dial Skates or something or the other, they had recently become a fad down on the Blue Seas as well as the White Seas. They were sleek skates with a black-rimmed almost crescent moon-like shape slapped onto the bottom. On each side was a Dial, Ridley assumed they were Breath Dials, but they could also be the rarer Jet Dials. Anyways, whatever kind of Dials they were they shot air out behind him and basically pushed him forward. It cut back on his own fatigue while at the same time making him go faster than an average human. And with this improved speed he managed to once more worm his way beneath Ridley. "And! Axe!" Ridley barely managed to squeeze his guitar in between the two of them in time before the small dial he was holding shot out its sharp blade. Ridley was forced back, but luckily his guitar had suffered the brunt of the attack.

Ridley managed to land on his own two feet rather falling on his back, but his own small boost in confidence from that was soon wiped out as the man jetted forward again and this time, decided not to bother with Dials. He slammed the black crescent base of his skate forward and into Ridley's jaw, sending the man skidding backwards from the force. Ridley didn't fall though, his pride as a pirate and First Mate of the Infinity Pirates wasn't quite allowing him to appear to be that weak. However, all the posturing in the world couldn't save him from the very real fact that his legs were already starting to buckle. The prison guard wasn't just posturing…he was really strong! Ridley looked over to Sage to check up on her, make sure she was doing alright. She didn't seem to be scared until the man turned around and faced her.

"Ah cha cha!" laughed the man as he took another few steps forward, "Your earlier attack as well as your thought pattern…it seems like you ate a Devil Fruit power. I say I better take care of that meddlesome ability before I do anything else." The man reached into his suit's pockets and produced twin Dials. "Let's go, Nimbus!" He flipped them up and let them spray out a dark, gray-toned cloud that soon settled at about chest level all around them. Sage took a deep breath and watched her chest rise and fall, the clouds didn't really seem to affect her breathing. She supposed they were just clouds after all. The man leapt into the air, above the clouds and quickly redirected his weight downwards, his entire body was soon spinning on its axis becoming a buzzsaw-like entity.

Sage looked up and caught his eye. While he was in the air he couldn't dodge a easily the other fact was that his spinning around like that meant he couldn't activate his Dial Skates to propel him forward if he went now he would just speed up his rotation in other words he couldn't escape this attack. "Pressure Ball!" Her body was kicked back as she fired a quick burst of energy forward…or that's what should've happened, but she didn't feel anything come out of her hands. No, it was like her Devil Fruit power wasn't working! The man didn't seem too concerned with his opponent's state of affairs. He brought his skate digging into her shirt and her shoulder beneath it, ripping the sleeve off as well as some skin from the attack. He jumped back and took his distance. Sage gasped for a second and clung onto her shoulder, but like Ridley she refused to fall. She stayed standing and glared over at her opponent as he landed safely on the ground near her, "what did you do?"

"These are Milky Dials," he said as he caught the two falling Dials that he had previous thrown up and into the air. "Milky Dials can contain and release clouds. Of course, these include man-made clouds which are made in factories by following certain recipes. These recipes as you can guess change the qualities of clouds to nearly anything, including the quantity of its humidity or moisture levels. In other words I can produce clouds with a high enough moisture content that it'll cancel out Devil Fruit powers. It is difficult and it takes the perfect recipe, but ever since we've connected with the Blue Seas our research fund has boomed so we've managed to perfect this recipe and create Nimbus clouds. In other words up here in the sky islands you Devil Fruit users are completely-"the man vanished once more and only reappeared inches in front of the faltering Sage. He suddenly spun around and sent the heel of his skate striking upwards and smashing into her chin and sent her entire body jerking skywards, "useless."

"Hear that Sage? He says you should hang back and let me handle this fight!" mocked Ridley as he walked forward and towards the man. "50 Decibels!" Despite the earlier attack his guitar was still in working condition and so with a quick strum on it the music came shooting through the air. The man's eyes widened, undoubtedly his Mantra was telling him there was no way to completely avoid sound after all this entire prison floor was designed to channel the sound. However, he didn't seem too fazed. He jumped forward and his Dial Skates rocketed him forward. He passed through the sound, gritting his teeth as he applied another burst of air outwards and moved in closer. He braved through the treacherous sound storm and quickly brought himself face-to-face with Ridley.

"Milky Dials, Breeze Dials, Axe Dials, and Impact Dials," said the man as he brought his right hand forward and pressed it against Ridley's chest. "I have at least one of each placed somewhere on my body and in my right hand is…my Impact Dial!" Suddenly an immense force was blasted out of the man's hand and into Ridley's body sending him flying away. "Ah cha cha! So weak. Not even worth my efforts...hmm? I guess I accidentally messed up on killing one of you. Oh, well, my mantra can't even detect your friend's inner voice anymore. So it is just you! Ah cha cha!"

"I can deal with that…I'm not a fan of him anyways," said Sage as she straightened her back out and took up an offensive stance. Then again she didn't even possess her Devil Fruit powers anymore. She needed to get out of these clouds if she couldn't do that then she couldn't win. She turned around and looked behind her and then in front of her. The clouds stretched for awhile in both directions, but if she had to guess there were less clouds in front of her than behind her. She would have to go forward…even if meant running past him…without her Devil Fruit. She would beat this man and be on her way. She took off running forward for the area beyond the clouds.

"Ooh, coming at me, I admire your tenacity…you know, what I still haven't told you my name, yet have I? How rude of me! My name is Arkin! Ah cha cha! The thought just completely skipped my mind! May I be so bold as to ask you of your name?" Sage gritted her teeth and dove forward, ducking beneath his arm and escaping from that point. It was the middle of a fight it wasn't the time to exchange pleasantries and even if it was she wouldn't be giving her name to a freak like him. "How rude," he pouted as he brought his leg forward, cutting her off and then bringing it around full swing and cutting into her, sending her flying backwards and into yet another wall. "Ah cha cha! So laughably weak! Ah cha cha!"

Sage stumbled forward for another brief instance, temporarily falling just below the clouds. Some of her head was still barely gazing the bottom of the clouds so she had sinking feeling her Devil Fruit power was still canceled out. The clouds were just too thick to completely avoid. If she had full-range of her Devil Fruit powers she would win, so she just needed to get pass him! She strained herself just to stand up again and then race forward attempting to break free. As long as she stayed beneath the clouds he couldn't see her, she could easily avoid him! She kept her eyes on his legs and quickly swerved to take the long way around him. She bolted around, diverting her entire body like a whip and trying once more to get past her opponent. The man's legs vanished as he covered the ground and quickly appeared before her with one hand sticking out beneath the clouds, "Impact!" Sage's entire body was thrust back as the force of the small dial was emptied out into her body. Sage laid there on the ground beneath the thick clouds, her back against the cold stone floor.

"Crap," spat out Sage as she felt a dribble of blood escape from her lips. She barely managed to drag her body back atop her wobbly feet. She was starting to feel faint and the guy didn't seem to have any weaknesses. The impact dial gave him a pretty powerful attack, his mantra gave him a near perfect defense, and the humid nimbus cloud cover nullified her Devil Fruit powers. Three separate yet powerful parts to this man called Arkin. She had lost sight of Ridley as well, she hoped he was just knocked out, but she couldn't see where his body was due to the blasted clouds. If she had her opponent's mantra than she could find out where he was. She supposed she would be on her own until Ridley made himself known! She turned around bolted to the back resuming her previous plan. She had to get out of these clouds and Arkin already made it perfectly clear that she wasn't going to do that by charging past him. She had to get out of the clouds and sadly due to the fact that they were in the hallway there was only two ways of doing that! So she chose the second option.

Arkin shook his head, "Ah cha cha! Did you forget girly, you can't outrun me! Not with my Breath Dial powered skates!" Arkin jumped up and landed on top of the clouds an ordinary person would've fell through the, but Arkin had spent his entire life up here above the clouds and with those skates he knew how to balance himself out and skate on top of them and straight towards Sage. He rotated around and snapped his leg forward like a whip aiming for Sage's head. Arkin hooked the crescent-shaped skate around Sage's neck and slung backwards and into the air. Of course, Sage would be considered lucky if the attack ended there and nobody on the Infinity Pirates were ever lucky. Arkin applied another burst of Dial power behind him and sent himself flying up to meet her. He wrapped his legs around her arms to hold her steady and make sure she didn't get sent flying and that would force her body to absorb all of the impact. "Ah cha cha, talk about a bloody shame, you actually managed to stay standing for awhile…too bad your body had accumulated way too much damage there is no way you can survive thi-" a moment of fear took hold of Arkin's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it came and he returned his attention to Sage. "Like I was saying you can't survive this!" He pressed his right hand up against her bosom. "Impact!" Sage's entire body jerked back, but it was stopped sort due to the hold Arkin had on her. A new burst of blood splattered out of her mouth and onto Arkin's suit, but he didn't look annoyed by the stains instead he wore a gleeful smile that he had won another battle. Arkin let go of Sage and watched as she dropped to the floor meanwhile with his Dial Skates he descended more gracefully.

"How many pirates does it take to take out an overly cocky Marine?" said a dark voice. Arkin twisted his head around and saw Ridley's Mohawk peeking out over the cloud like a shark's fin. "The answer one, just me. You've screwed up you've been too busy focusing on Sage, aiming all of your Mantra at her while she tried to skirt past you. You've given me more than enough time to prepare my ultimate attack."

"Ah cha cha!" laughed Arkin as he turned his entire body to the side to face Ridley. "Don't make me laugh! You're at the end of your rope, you're weak, your partner is down for the count! Even if I did overlook you, so what! I overlook cockroaches all of the time."

"Your Mantra or whatever it is you call it, it allows you to read people's minds right? Then read my mind and tell me if I'm just some sort of cockroach…cockroaches don't think these things do they, especially not in this vivid of details," Ridley smirked as he noticed a slight change in Arkin's demeanor. "I grew up under the watchful gaze of the Kingpin of the Black Market, I'm on the crew of the Infinity Pirates! We turned down an offer to be a Shichibukai and for some reason you still think you have the upper hand. I have news for you, you are the cockroach here! An insignificant bug that isn't even worth my time. Alas you have had the poor unfortunate luck to run into me when I have no capable of people around to deal with you. Come on, I'll show you what I can do. If you can last long enough that is."

Arkin's eyes flashed with a temporary bolt of rage. He jumped forward and applied a quick burst of Breath Dial power to his skates and it sent him reeling forward. Apparently the fool didn't understand the extent of Mantra it gave him a perfect ability to completely see through all of Ridley's attacks no matter what traps he had laid out in expectation of him! A flash came over Arkin as the latest news came over from Ridley's inner voice! A trap to the left! Arkin swerved to the side and turned around, expecting a large stone pillar to appear out of the ground…but nothing came. Arkin was bewildered he was sure he had seen such a trap in Ridley's mind. Suddenly Ridley's guitar came swooping in with all the intent to take Arkin out in one blow. Arkin barely managed to swerve to the side and dodge it, quickly jumping up and into the air, separating himself from his opponent.

"Again you fell right into my trap!" shouted Ridley. Arking swerved around, reading his mind and quickly directed all of his attention upwards. According to his Mantra Ridley placed a Tone Dial there, which was set to go off he needed to get rid of it before it did so. Arkin's face went pale when he noticed that nothing was up there. "And that's what they call…A FEINT!" Ridley shouted as he jumped up, using one of the walls as support he kicked himself up into the air close to Arkin's body. Since Arkin was directed upwards, turning on the skates would send him upwards and straight into the ceiling. In other words, Arkin was trapped. Arkin flinched as the guitar came swinging up and smashed into his right ribs. He twisted and fell to the ground while Ridley landed with a little more grace, but in all honesty his body was still injured and he couldn't quite hide it.

The method Ridley had been using was simple. He thought something and of course Arkin would read his mind and expect it to happen, especially if you thought of it with as much vehemence as Ridley did. Arkin was all shook up from the deadly thoughts that he couldn't think straight. He had fallen for the same trick twice, however, even so he still had one thing on his side. Something that Ridley still lacked.

Sheer, undeniable power. If it was Zesiro, Hiro-Shu, or Mikoto when that opening was created in Arkin's perfect guard from the feint the fight would've ended. However, Ridley lacked that one final piece to make this into the perfect win. He was at the limits of his power, he couldn't end it in one blow like they could…or like Arkin could with the Impact Dial. "Damn," cursed Ridley, realizing his own short-comings, however, he still wasn't down and out of the count yet, "I still haven't worked all the bugs out of this technique yet, but I suppose you are as good of an opponent as anyone else. I'll just have to compose it as the fight goes on, but let's go! Devil's Orchestra!"

"Devil's Orchestra?" Arkin said standing up, uneasy on his own two feet, "I've heard of that song before. Apparently a great musician from Gol D. Roger's time had constructed a phantom symphony that could kill anyone listening to it. It was an amazing tale…however, just like all fairy tales from that bygone era not a single shred of it rings true." Arkin swung his head between his shoulders. "And even if it was true, it wouldn't have survived this long. Countless wars were fought; countless civilizations had disappeared into the dust. The Devil's Orchestra is in the same veil as the Boogeyman and unicorns!" Arkin's Breath Dials started up once more and propelled him forward. He readied his arm for another high-speed blow, his arm was starting to tear itself apart, but that didn't matter. He wasn't about to lose to this man. No pirates have ever defeated him before! He didn't much care for the prison's record of being inescapable; no, he just wanted to prove his own record! He readied himself for the moment of attack as he narrowed in at the doofus just simply sitting there and tuning his guitar, he readied it…the Impact Dial was going to soft on these fools apparently he had one final weapon in his arsenal. The Reject Dial! He could only use it once per week and during that week his arm would be in pain while the shockwave worked its way through, but he couldn't stand the thought of this man beating him.

"I suppose you would think that," muttered Ridley as he took a quick test strum on his guitar, watching as Arkin began circling at high speeds all around him, apparently awaiting for the perfect moment to strike. "You would think that something as scary as the Devil's Orchestra or the Boogeyman didn't exist. It probably helps you sleep at night. Truth be told, I met the Boogeyman and I sent him straight to the gates of Hades." Ridley quickly retuned his guitar. Truth be told, what he was planning wasn't quite the same as the Devil's Orchestra from back then, but it was built on the same foundation. "Music is said to be a key to a man's soul, music can control a man's mind, it can throw him into a blind rage, bring him to tears…and even kill him. If you don't believe that this is true, then you have never experienced the true magic of music." Ridley slowed nodded his head as he plucked another string finally satisfied with his configuration. "That is until today. From this point until your defeat I am the conductor and you are the rhythm section!"

"Oh, yeah?" shouted Arkin as he zoomed in from the air, arcing high above Ridley's head before finally twisting around and bringing the brunt of his body down, aiming for the very tip of his Mohawk. "Reject!" Arkin pressed the button and felt the power ring out of the Dial and the recoil shoot back up his hand, running through his entire body like electricity…but Ridley wasn't there anymore. No, Ridley was in the air right behind him. Arkin's eyes grew wide he had sensed Ridley's intentioned with his Mantra, but he didn't think the kid was actually capable of it. Was this the real power of the Devil's Orchestra? An augmentation of one's skills? Music was known for being able to stir a person's rage, could it really be taken as far as to create an increase in adrenaline and hormones to create a boost in speed and strength? Arkin's answer to that came in the next second. Ridley swung wide, but even with all of the build-up it was impossible for Arkin to accurately dodge. The swing built up tension and released it all in less than a second. Arkin's body was twisted and sent shooting to the side as if he had been hit by a gorilla. Arkin remembered the last thing he saw as the face of the devil. Ridley's entire body flushed with a dark red hue, his pupils had dilated to the point that his entire eyes became a pitch-black, he was only missing the horns and the tail or else Arkin would be certain it would've been the devil that knocked him out with one move.

Ridley landed on the ground, but while the increase of hormones was still flooding his body and blocking out the pain he knew it was only a matter of moments before that wears off and he would feel the full effect of the fatigue wash over his body. His body wasn't used to going that fast or exerting that much power, there would definitely be repercussions for his actions…he just managed to cuss as he took another step forward. It wasn't even at full-power yet and he already felt like it had him beat.

The Head Jailer

And a Little Black Duck

The guy is definitely not your run of the mill opponent. I've bee talking about giving Ridley a power-up for weeks now. It was supposed to happen all the way back in the URA arc, but I decided against it. It was still being hammered out at the time and I finally decided to introduce it, true, Sage kind of got stuck taking the back burner, but oh, well...my story.