Issuing of a Challenge
"Kra ha ha ha!" laughed Kraven as he walked forward and onto the front of his ship, looking down at the many people gathering beneath him. All of the Dark Knight Pirates as well as the Infinity Pirates were there beneath him. "I'm so glad all of you have decided to join us." His voice was deeper and darker than before, almost reminiscent of a grave. His entire body was cloaked in darkness as he couldn't be seen beneath his heavy black cloak and hood. He opened his hands up wide as if he was truly welcoming the men he planned on killing. "No hard feelings, right?" Shane immediately growled and flipped his halberd around, ready to fight with him. Shichibukai or no Shichibukai he wanted to take him down. "Relax, I promise you all we'll have a jolly good fight in the end." Despite his warm words, his voice radiated complete darkness. He lifted his hand up and signaled for his crew to appear. Two separate men appeared producing pistols and pointing them at Mikoto and Shane, both of who immediately went on the defensive. Suddenly the two pistols were tossed to them landing at their feet. "But first…how about a friendly wager?" His voice told everyone that this would be anything but a friendly wager. "I suggest a Davy Back fight," his voice rang out and seemed to bring an uneasy amount of chill to the air. The only person who seemed to recognize the words was Ridley. The rest of the crew just sat there looking dumbfounded.
"What's a Davy Back Fight?" asked Mikoto, stating the obvious question rather than trying to pry into Kraven's reason for calling them out here. The rest of the crew nodded, equally perturbed. Even Shane and his crew didn't seem to fully understand what it was and instead chose to stand there and look up to Kraven, expecting an explanation, but the man didn't seem to thrilled on handing it out. He apparently wanted them to go into this match as blind as possible and it seemed like it would be easy to do.
"It is basically a sports competition between pirates," explained Ridley, but from the dreadful tone in his voice it was obvious that it wasn't anything good. "You can compete in as many events as you want as long as both captains agree. The kicker is the winner gets to select one crewmember from the losing team and the crewmember is immediately transferred over to the winner's crew." The rest of the crew gasped in horror. "However, that was how it was in the past I'm talking like twenty years ago…a lot can change in twenty years, beautiful women can become ugly hags, grapes can become glorious wine, and ugly hags can actually turn into beautiful women…looks like there may be some hope for you after all Sage!" he said with a laugh, but he quickly got a bump on the head from her, encouraging him to continue. Ridley muttered something beneath his breath, but then he sighed and continued anyways, "like I said that's how it used to be until a man called 'Blood Savage' Pierre took the stage.
"He challenged crews to Davy Back fights left and right, resorting to any means necessary to win, after all that went down Davy Back fights began to devolve," Ridley muttered, "they used to be straight laced competitions plenty of rules and tradition backing them up. However, Pierre changed all that. He returned them to barbaric fights…it was no longer a matter of just keeping your crew after you lost…it was a matter of keeping your lives during the competition too…it was said for every one crew member Pierre won…another eight were killed…he competed in and won one thousand…nine hundred…and twenty fights…he won one thousand nine hundred and eighteen fights…however, after both of his losses he immediately went ahead and killed everyone on the opposing crew anyways…including any crewmembers he lost saying that he had lost them so it was only 'fair' that they died with their new crew."
"And that's not even the worst of it," stated Kraven, stepping forward and leaning against the railing of his ship, "do you want to know what he had done with the people he did win? The poor 1918 people who joined his crew? He killed them…instantly as soon as the fight was over he commanded them to take their own lives. If they didn't, he considered it a mutiny and killed them anyways…if they did, he would laugh…a laugh so loud it was said it could be heard around the world." The entire crew gulped loudly, what the hell? What kind of sports competition was this anyways?
"Wait a second," brought up Enma stepping forward and putting his foot on the gun, being careful to make sure Mikoto didn't accept the terms before he knew everything. "Why should we accept this fight anyways? I'm sorry, but we are rather happy with our crew…I don't really want to have any more slime join it. Now I can understand if Shane chose to accept the conditions considering you defiled his pirate ship, but I see no reason for us Infinity Pirates to stick our necks on the line. I mean, why should we bet our crewmates?" Enma pointed out a very valid reason, this wasn't an agreement somebody could enter into so lightly. Even Mikoto seemed hesitant after hearing the tale. However, despite Enma's well-spoken words and excellent reasoning…Kraven didn't seem perturbed at all…instead he was still smiling.
"I see, so you guys came here without even checking on your ship, huh?" he said with a smile, "I so miss the joys of youth." He sighed, but quickly got back on track, "I have a question what are the three main requirements to be a pirate?" The entire crew fell silent. "Just think about it for a few seconds…the three main requirements are 1) a ship, can't be a stalwart fighter of the sea without one, 2) guts, the bravery to defy the World Government and anyone who stands in your way…and 3) and…trust me this one is a big one…" he motioned to his men once more to bring something else forward. "Under all circumstances even as a Shichibukai like myself…even as a retired old man, even when your head is under the guillotine…you must have a Jolly Roger." The crew saw a sight that sickened and enraged them. Two of Kraven's crewmates had produced a flag…their flag to be specific. They had stolen it from their ship when they had attacked Shane's crew…worse yet…they had desecrated it, mud was smeared over the flag, knives were hanging loosely from gigantic rips in it, even the skull had been painted over with bright pink paint. "I think it suits you guys quite well."
Mikoto leapt forward, he took steps three or four at a time. He raced forward, kicking against Kraven's ship until his completely horizontal movement turned vertically as he bolted upwards. He twisted around and readied his punch. Kraven smiled as Mikoto's punch ripped through the air and at him, hitting his cloak, but only his cloak. Kraven's body flowed around Mikoto's, wrapping his long metal hooked staff around Mikoto's neck before shuttling the kid coyote to the ground causing him to smash horrible against the fluffy island clouds right next to his pistol. Kraven landed back on his ship, a delirious smile finally showing on his face. "Uh-uh-uh, I said it, didn't I? I'll only fight you if agree to my terms, a Davy Back Fight. Put your pride as a pirate on the line; show me that you at least have the guts to be a pirate. Show me the signal that you wish to participate in the Davy Back Fight. Grab that gun and fire it!"
Mikoto whipped his body around, stealing the gun right out from underneath Enma and taking aim at Kraven. He fired two shots, emptying out the chamber in a rapid-fire fashion. Kraven's crews eyes widened as they watched the two bullets whizz through the air at Kraven, but their captain didn't move. He stayed where he was and felt the air of the bullets blast past him and embed themselves in HIS Jolly Roger. Kraven smiled as Mikoto stood up, "now let's see your guts as a pirate!" Mikoto threw the gun down literally and figuratively you could suppose he had thrown the gauntlet down as well. Kraven's smile widened as he took joy in seeing his opponent so riled up and ready for a fight…perhaps his trip to Skypiea will be well worth it. However, Kraven couldn't relax just yet. He jerked his head to the side just in time to watch a bullet race past his eyes. Kraven turned around and looked down to the ground beneath him, Shane had also apparently accepted the challenge…although unlike Mikoto it wasn't the Jolly Roger he wanted to shoot. Kraven smiled as he turned around, waving good-bye.
"It'll take me and my crew a day or so to set-up," Kraven mentioned before disappearing beneath the ship's deck. "Come back here when you see the signal." The crew wanted to ask what was the signal…but they had a feeling they would know it when they saw it. Without a doubt it would be something big and scary, purposefully designed to scare the ever-living crap out of them. Shane stayed behind a little longer than the rest of them, he chose to stand there looking at the ship trying to burn his opponent's face into his memory. Shane kept telling himself that that man…would be dead in a week.
(-with Mikoto and his crew-)
"A three-way Davy Back Fight," started off Ridley, trying to cement the thought in his head. "Well, if there's an alcohol contest in it, you all can just sit back and let me handle things from there." He didn't seem all too worried and instead took another swig from his bottle. They still didn't even know how many contests they would be competing in. Should they keep it to one to keep their loses to a minimum…or should they challenge as many times as they could to try and make sure that even if they failed the first one through some sort of fluke they could win their old crew members back. As much as they hated to do so…the only one with any knowledge of the Davy Back Fight was Ridley so they had to turn to him for knowledge. Ridley sighed and set his bottle down, something told him if he had to explain everything to these folks he wouldn't have any time to drink.
"It is simple, okay?" explained Ridley once more, trying to keep it simple. "The games can vary between anything. I've seen Davy Back Fights that ranged from Tag to Boxing to seeing who can destroy their opponent's ship the fastest. It is hard to obtain the upper hand during these things because of the variety, most of the times the person who offers the challenge gets to pick, however, sometimes things are decided by drawing events out of a hat." The second one was the most preferable especially since neither Mikoto nor Shane the two team captains knew anything about the Davy Back Fights and would probably pick the worst events. "After that, each crew selects crewmembers to compete in each fight. Generally the number of combatants that are allowed per event are random. It could be one-on-one or it could be five-on-five. The crew nodded. "You have to choose who is competing in which event beforehand as well, no substitutions allowed."
"What if one of the people decided to compete in Round Two gets picked during Round One?" asked Sage, wanting to know the strategy behind the games.
"Then you suck it up and you deal with it," replied Ridley, "You become a man down during that event. It is an easy way for the winning team to keep its streak going. It is a legitimate and completely accepted strategy in most cases, a few exceptions apply." The crew shrunk at the sound of that…losing the first match will probably mean you would lose the second…and then the third…and then the fourth…and so on and so on. "The main problem will be the rules. Davy Back Fights are generally very rule orientated and learning how to skirt by these rules are generally what leads pirates to victory." The crew fell silent they didn't know what the rules were…it sounded like they were at a disadvantage before the fight even started. "There are other strategies such as paying off the referee or even cheating and getting a minor punishment…but in exchange for a large advantage. Killing a man on the field gets him taken off of the field for all future games…but the punishment is only disqualification for that one round."
"Then why have any rules at all?" balked Rosa, swinging her hand through the air in disbelief. "Why not just let it be anarchy on the playing field if things like that are allowed? Hell, why not just have it be a regular street fight for that matter?" The crew nodded in agreement.
"Street fighting is one of the competitions so prepare yourselves for that as well," muttered Ridley, "I don't know the specifics I've only participated in one in my life and it was a friendly competition between my dad and one of his competitors. Basically rather than betting crewmates they betted businesses. My dad came out on top, of course, but since then I never participated in another Davy Back Fight again." The crew raised an eyebrow, interested in knowing why Ridley avoided them. "It is not like I hated them or because I was terrible at them, it is just that it is mostly a coward's way of fighting. You use it as a last ditch effort against a clearly superior fighter in order to net yourself the advantage. In other words, it was what you do when you should be running scared. So, congratulations Mikoto you have garnered yourself quite a reputation there."
Mikoto nodded, although he didn't quite agree with that. For some reason this man didn't seem to be the kind of guy to be afraid of someone else. As a matter of fact he seemed scarily assure of himself, this whole Davy Back Fight just seemed to be more like he was just trying to twist Mikoto's arm. He didn't want him to run away…because he was confident he could win. At least that was what it seemed like to him, but Mikoto had been wrong before. He supposed he shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Mikoto would just have to settle down for a little while longer. However, Mikoto had noticed something during that briefest of exchanges they had had…Mikoto couldn't use the Rapid-Fire technique anymore.
(-With Kraven-)
Kraven and the rest of his crew had brought their flag down and had it resting on their ship as they looked over it and tried to figure out how to fix it. It had taken two shots and they couldn't be pirates without it. "Damn, that little bastard," swore one of them as they continued to look at it, examining the perfect black cloth, "I can't believe he did that!"
Kraven chuckled and shook his head, "I believe it…I would've done the same thing if I was his age and I was in the same position as he was." Of course, Kraven would've done it a little better, it was obvious the kid had no experience wielding a firearm. He fired poorly and only hit the black part of their flag, missing the white skull and crossbones, which were replaced with his hooks. In other words, it was hard to even see that he had hit it…Kraven began to think that it was possible he was aiming for him and he just missed so badly that he hit their flag. Kraven shook his head and laughed again. When he finished he noticed his crew was giving him strange looks. "What is it?"
The crew paused and waited a few seconds, "well, captain…it seems like…it seems like this is the first time we've seen you laugh this much since the…since the incident." The word seemed to bring a heavy sense of foreboding to them. They all quieted down and looked towards Kraven as he looked over to the side of their ship and towards the horizon as if suddenly becoming lost in thought.
"Don't worry," Kraven said, standing up his dark and sinister tone returning, "I promise you…I'll do everything in my power to ensure that that incident will never be repeated…I'll crush whoever stands in my way, including the Kid Coyote!"
The First Event!
Yeah, yeah, yeah...the Davy Back Fight. I know, I know...I just really liked how it was in the actual Anime and in all honesty I thought it kind of got discarded as a filler arc despite how cool it was (at least to me). I blame Foxy.
Anyways! Yeah, its an update!