A Letter of War
Taisho's body bent out of shape as the attack seared through the air and into him. The thirty punches were fired in such short succession that they were all blended into one powerful blow. Taisho gritted his teeth, trying to standing through the blow, but even he couldn't survive the entire blow as the attack came through at an incredible back-breaking pace. Taisho turned around, his entire body still becoming deformed under the force of Mikoto's most powerful shot. He hadn't given up yet, he rotated around and brandished his blade aiming for Mikoto's neck with one final blow. He refused to allow any pirates just run amok! He would end this one pirate's life! If he was strong enough to be considered for a Shichibukai, than Taisho had to make sure he wouldn't harm the innocent civilians again!
Taisho's sword shuddered to a stop as a smoke cloud intercepted it. Taisho turned around, bringing his body to face the new intruder, the same pirate from before the man who had met and defeated Zesiro. Taisho opened his mouth, attempting to say something, but the priate stepped in closer and smashed his fist into his stomach, "Ssshhhh, don't talk now…let me do all the talking," whispered the man as he removed his fist from the already weakened Taisho's body and let the powerful Warden collapse to the floor, almost kneeling in front of Mikoto and the new pirate. The deadly iron cloud smoke stretched out of his lips as he turned around to face Mikoto, "a last minute attack like that would've been pathetic. Men who have lost are better off if they just accept their lost. Trying to continue on like that is just disgraceful." Mikoto took a step back and brought his arms up, he was still a little sore and he definitely wasn't ready to fight another man, especially if he was as strong as this man. Mikoto could sense his strength and his bloodlust. "I talked to my boss, the Shichibukai, 'Ghost Hook' Kraven. He's coming up here as we speak…he wants to fight you."
Mikoto paused for a second as he looked over at him. "Why does he want to fight with me? I never even met this man before," Mikoto brought up, before suddenly brightening up and putting it together, "He must've heard of me and wanted to meet me! I know maybe he wants to swap riddles?"
"HE DOESN'T WANT TO SWAP RIDDLES!" shouted the man, nearly punching Mikoto himself before calming down and turning away, "I've been given direct orders to make sure that you and your crew disembark from this island safely in order to be able to fight with him head-on. If it wasn't for that…you probably would've lost that fight." The man paused for a second as he wondered if that was true. It appeared that almost as soon as Taisho had already began bringing his blade around Mikoto had started to duck beneath to avoid it. An insane instinctual action to avoid the attack…he assumed such an action would be possible, but still…it wouldn't be easy for someone to pull especially at that close range…maybe he shouldn't have interfered and just left it up to fate to see if Mikoto would've survived the attack. He supposed it was too late for to consider that path as an option. "Me and my 'brother' are already fixing up the controls of this prison. We'll be going up in a matter of seconds…the only thing that was left was this one man's key card. But now that I have that we can get going again." He walked over and picked up a small card from the defeated Warden. "It'll take us about ten to fifteen minutes to get everything in order and start raising the prison back up…I suggest you and your crew start leaving immediately. My captain will come after you and he will kill you cause that's just the kind of man he is."
Mikoto paused for a second as if his feet were stuck in mud and looked at his opponent, he didn't seem to be lying. He seemed to be telling the truth and that his captain really did want to kill him. Mikoto turned around slowly, relying on his senses to tell him if something went amiss, but the man seemed honest enough and wouldn't hurt Mikoto since apparently his captain wanted to do that. Mikoto managed to break away from him and go running away in search of his missing crewmembers leaving the man all alone with a cigar in his mouth and two eyes full of concentration aimed at Mikoto. He moved around and watched the body of his latest target disappear down the hallway.
"I wonder where my brother is by now. I hope he isn't causing too much trouble, we are supposed to be allied with the Marines after all and not with these pirates," the man turned around and looked down to Taisho, realizing that he quite possibly could've ruined their chances by attacking the warden. Oh, well…he would just disband from the crew. His captain had sacrificed so much for him, so it was only natural that he sacrificed this much. He would say that he had been acting on his own accord and that his captain had nothing to do with it. After all, who could support a Shichibukai who had a villain like him on his crew? Taisho hadn't moved from the spot that had fought with Enma at so in other words a terminal was right there before his eyes. He would quickly activate that and the other two, find his brother, and then be on his way. He really hoped his brother was staying out of trouble.
(-With Aaron and Maria-)
The large bird thing that was chasing after them was no longer an issue, but not because of them…but because of an even bigger issue. A bulking man at least eight feet tall with long arms that stretched at least all the way down his body and hung there like pendulums maybe a foot or so off of the floor. Each one of his fists had a metal circle attached to the knuckles where when he punched he would make contact with the metal circles and not his own two fists. The man had many loose bindings hanging off of his body making it look like he was recently completely tied up and bound to something. He had long white hair that covered up his eyes, revealing only the dark pupils to those who looked. "Huff huff huff," he breathed heavily as he looked down at his recent prey as if he was thinking about how to finish the job. His tongue slipped loose from his mouth and seemed to roll down past his chin, meaning he had an impossible long tongue and he began to pant like a dog. "Find more…find more…" he mumbled as he walked forward, ignoring the two people in front of him.
"Um, what are you looking for exactly?" asked Aaron quickly jetting up in front of him using his superior speed. Maria was behind the large man, gripping her knuckles ready to react at the last second. Something about this man seemed off if he was about attack Aaron or her she would have to be ready to intercept at the first sign of trouble. He may not have attacked them, yet…but there was no telling what he may do when he was shown the chance. Aaron looked up at him as if expecting him to spill his soul just cause he asked. "Ah, forget it…I prefer talking to cute girls anyways! Ain't that right, Maria?"
"You've helped me out before…please don't make me want to kill you," Maria muttered to him immediately looking away and trying to keep her own temper in check. She wanted to hit this guy as hard as she could, but he was apparently Sage's friend so she supposed he deserved the benefit of the doubt. Aaron just shrugged and continued to walk forward…until he heard the heavy ragged breathing from the giant slowly turn into more words.
"Find more…must find more…more people…" Aaron smiled, apparently the large brute was lonely. He could understand that. It wasn't so fun being all alone. He turned around about to invite the man into their little group when the man started to finish his sentence. "More people to kill…" his breathing was still ragged, but he slowly turned around and left him and Maria alone. Apparently not interested in killing them…or was he not allowed to? Aaron was certain by the smile on his face and the gleam in his eyes he wasn't someone who was very picky about who he killed as long as there was someone to kill…if somebody else had that beast under control Aaron supposed he was lucky. A monster like that wasn't someone you would want to fight under normal conditions.
Aaron turned away, but he kept a close eye behind him for his vanishing monster. The monster didn't suddenly turn around and try to kill them, but he kept walking forward in search of what he wanted. Suddenly the ground lurched up and they could tell that whatever had happened before to cause this floor to drop was suddenly was undone. They would be reunited with the first floor in a few more minutes. They let out a sigh of relief, happy that for once they could start heading out on their journey once more. "Let's do this!" shouted Aaron, jumping into the air and pumping his fist forward. "I can't wait to meet the rest of your crew…I don't suppose you have any mermaids on your crew, do you?" Maria huffed and turned around, not really in the mood to be continuing this conversation. It seemed like an embarrassment of the finest magnitude to her. She just wanted to meet up with her friends once more. And get out of this stinking prison!
Of course, the rest of the crew felt the same way and rushed up to the first floor. Enma was already up there waiting for them. Apparently despite his actions and words Akihito wasn't someone who decided he should be taking charity. Both him and Taisho had lost the fight so they were in no order to capture them…only thing that would do would cause the Infinity Pirates to stay here for a little while and cause a little more trouble…however, there was one other thing Akihito couldn't quite put together. And that was why the supervisor didn't join the fight. He was a skill fighter when it came down to it, but he had apparently chosen to leave it to them…he supposed that was something else for another day. He didn't really particularly feel like challenging his decisions. Whatever his reasons were for letting them go, it would make sense in the end…he hoped…he didn't understand this at all. Maybe he should do what he was good at and complain! He turned around and immediately stopped in his tracks! The supervisor, himself, was there!
"Good evening," he said walking briskly past Akihito and to the nearby door, which lead straight to the roof. Akihito anxiously followed him, what was he planning? "We see that you, Taisho, and almost every other prison guard in this prison has lost so far, huh?" Akihito hung his head in shame before quickly bringing it right back.
"What about you where were you, huh?" questioned Akihito angrily waving his finger around, "You were just sitting in your office while the rest of us worked, is that it? It figures as always the boss man sits around while his underlings do all the heavy lifting! I nearly pulled my back out fighting that skeleton fellow. What do you have to say to that?"
"Do you know why only the Infinity Pirates are leaving?" asked the supervisor as he moved a little bit faster until he was on the edge of the roof and had a clear view of the area around the door. Akihito rolled his eyes, he knew why the Infinity Pirates were escaping! It was because none of them were strong enough to stop them and this guy was busy elsewhere! Akihito went to open his mouth and voice his opinions, but his superior stopped him with a wag of his finger. "Please," he moaned, "think about the question We asked 'Why are ONLY the Infinity Pirates escaping'?" Akihito paused, now that he thought of it they were quite few prisoners that managed to escape…they should all be flooding the front door by now! What happened to them? Wait…did he…Akihito looked over at the supervisor once more.
A man called 'Apollo'. It was said that had the power of the sun in his hands. The more Akihito's eyes glazed over this man of impressive stature, the more Akihito believed it. This man was probably the few men on this planet who could say they had the power of a god. Apollo smiled and jumped off of the roof, landing on the soft island cloud beneath them. "We could've taken the Infinity Pirates out as well, but We figured they came all this way out just to attack our prison, that would be rude. So, We decided to face them face-to-face." He patted his hands and let the dust come off of them as he looked on at the door. "According to my Haki they should be arriving soon." He lifted his right hand up and pointed it at the door. "Let's give them a warm welcome, shall we?" A small sphere of pure energy appeared in his hands, Akihito shielded his eyes and tried to look away from the dazzling light. "Supernova!" Apollo brought his hand in immediately and smashed the small sun sphere in between both of his hands. The sphere was squished in-between his palms as Apollo prepared for the release. Suddenly he opened his hands just a little, so a little 'hole' was pointing right at the door. Suddenly with the force of a hundred cannons an explosion shot forward, streaming into the door and blowing a hole in it, melting the edges of the hole and the stream kept going inwards, undoubtedly to the other side of the prison, burning anything or anyone in its way. Akihito remained in his spot on the rooftop and looked down at it…such incredible power, there was no way anyone could survive a fight with this man. Apollo clicked his tongue loudly as he looked on, "missed."
Akihito's eyes went wider as he felt a rumbling beneath undoubtedly the pirates were now fired up and ready to fight. Akihito scrambled up further onto the rooftop he was still too badly damaged to fight. He had taken a beating and that was it. He wasn't about to risk no life and limb at this point, especially since he probably wouldn't have to. This was 'Apollo' Ryan Marrow he was talking about. A high-ranking Marine official, who suddenly transferred to the prison…apparently as big as he talked the call of being an Admiral never appealed to him, he was more than satisfied with his position, never even aspiring to become the Warden of place. He would stay here for as long as he felt it was necessary.
Another loud rumble came from the prisoner. Apollo smiled apparently anxious for the first fight in a long time that he would be able to stretch out in. His power was god-like, Akihito knew immediately that no mere pirate would ever be able to lay a hand on him. However…Akihito would have to hold off on his own calls for a little while. The giant twin metal doors were sliced up with little care for delicacy or reserve. Only an extremely skilled swordsman confident in his own power could do that. However, the surprises didn't stop there. A black blur came shooting out of the collapsing doorway, expertly avoiding each fallen slab of metal with purebred instincts. No time for hesitation was allowed in such a daring act. Akihito remained transfixed to the scene. It was amazing to see a pirate crew like this, his side still hurt from his fight with the doctor of it. He wondered if there was something else to them as well…after all, Apollo doesn't miss…did they do something to cause that as well?
Mikoto crossed the ground, planting his feet to the side of Apollo and let a single uppercut screech through the air and into Apollo's side, forcing him to take a step back as he felt the burning sensation of power and speed hammer into his side. Apollo stumbled back before quickly balancing himself out again. "That'll do for introductions," gloated Mikoto as he stepped back, sensing danger. Introductions? So what, he wasn't serious then? Apollo smiled at the thought, but no matter how much stronger he could be, no matter how much faster he could go, he knew he would still win! After all, nobody in the world could match him. The title Apollo, the Sun God wasn't merely for show.
Can You Reach It?
I think I honestly just quit counting reviews...I tried, but in all honesty ten times out of ten you guys made it...plus I've got new reviews for the single chapters so I either discount those and I have to recount from beginning or count them, in which case I got to post another like twenty chapters...so, yeah...
Anyways, we finally get a look at a man, who goes by the title of Sun God...this definitely will not be your average fight. Mikoto, the coyote, has struggled hard to get here and he will not falter, but against a man who goes by the title of a god does a coyote have a chance? Oh, by the way, Apollo is the work of Labyrinth-Designer and congratulations to anyone who found a small little hidden secret to him. I didn't try to hide it, but I didn't really point it out, so if you find it! GOOD FOR YOU! Except for you Labyrinth-Designer, you should already know about the hidden secret...if you forgot about it...well, then...