The First Event
A series of fireworks exploded into the sky. They came out in rapid-fire succession, each shot rang out as if announcing the start of a festival. However, this thing was far from a party. There were no booths set up or things for sale. What they did have set-up definitely didn't set the pace for a festival either, a small poorly managed medical center in case you got wounded, a blacksmith for fixing weapons, and other odds and ends that didn't inspire confidence that the next hour or so of the fight was going to be fun. The crew felt uneasy as they walked through the crowd, but the opposing crews didn't seem too bad. Shane's crew even apologized for their earlier rudeness and even abducting their ship, apparently feeling more than a little guilty that their Jolly Roger got stolen. Even Kraven's crew smiled and waved at them, ignoring their actions for the most part and treating them like lifelong friends. They even set up a small beer distillery offering a drink to anyone who wanted one. Of course, Ridley obliged. However, this rather poor show of hospitality didn't make the rest of the crew feel any more welcomed. "I say we just steal the flag and run," brought up Enma looking over and watching it as the Dark Night pirates brought both ships around, of course, their ship wasn't touched, just their flag was gone. Then again by that same token, they could just run and make a new flag. It wasn't like their old flag was going to be fluttering in the skies any more, it was way too dirty to fly it with pride.
"Hey, Mikoto!" shouted Kraven as he threw a small packet to them, possibly overhearing Enma's strategy, "catch." With that Kraven quickly left, but nobody tried to stop him. They all kept their eyes on him. Enma turned around to warn Mikoto not to open it, but he was too late watching Mikoto already opening it. Mikoto soon pulled a black cylinder out from the small container. He unrolled the cylinder revealing their ruined flag. Kraven had no desire to screw them over, he wanted to keep them around here, but holding onto their flag did him no good. Besides…if they were real pirates they would just take it and run. "Remember you've already accepted the Davy Back Fight, so you can't run away. If you do then you'd be selling your honor as a pirate! As a former Shichibukai candidate or as a future King of the Pirates, you can't live with that, you understand?" Mikoto breathed heavily as he looked over their flag, but he slowly nodded and accepted his opponent's terms. Kraven may be a Shichibukai and a little bit of a jerk, but it was obvious he was true blooded pirate. His understanding of the Davy Back Fight proved that as well as his understanding of how to goad Mikoto into a fight. Kraven smiled as he noticed Mikoto's decision to stick through with it until the end.
"Crap," said Zesiro leaning back, getting a perfect understanding of his opponent. For once this wasn't an opponent who planned on winning through sheer strength or tricks. Kraven understood Mikoto all of the way. It was possible he had an intellect that met and exceeded even Mikoto's instincts. Zesiro should've put it together when Kraven easily avoided Mikoto's earlier attack. Zesiro turned around and looked at his captain, the fierce look said everything. Mikoto didn't care. He'd take him down regardless. However, it wasn't because of the fact that Kraven had stolen and desecrated their flag, Mikoto didn't care about that. He just knew Kraven would be a good opponent. Any pirate's blood would race at the prospect of fighting a Shichibukai, especially considering how close Mikoto came to losing to Trevor. Perhaps another battle against a Shichibukai was exactly what Mikoto needed something to really get him ready for the things to come. It wouldn't be long now. OF course, a simple glance over at the rest of Kraven's crew could get anyone's blood boiling. They were all high leveled pirates, large bounties spread generously about them. This Davy Back Fight didn't sound all too appealing at first, but the more Zesiro thought about it, the more he decided it was actually a very good thing. A way to test a pirate's skills in something other than a fight, perhaps it was a good way to test yourself. After all, plenty of fights end due to a lucky punch so this is probably the best way to decide.
Kraven smiled as he made his way to the stage, surely the Infinity Pirates didn't notice it. How could they? The fake bravado made in handing back their flag, the simple laughs and smiles they wore, they would never put it together. The real purpose behind the reason why he challenged them to a Davy Back Fight. He tried to do his best to hide the leering smile on his face as he slowly approached the stage, moving towards the front and to the microphone. Inviting Shane's crew also had an additional meaning, another way to force the Infinity Pirates to the need, the fact that they needed to beat both crews in order to obtain even a single one of theirs back. If Kraven could take the first round even as a surprise, it was entirely possible that they would never manage to take them back.
"It is time to begin the drawing!" shouted Kraven as he stepped onto the stage. "However, to begin with something simple needs to be decided," Kraven started as he reached into his pocket, nobody moved. They weren't expecting a dirty trick like a gun or a secret detonator, it was obvious that Kraven was trying to be sportsman-like. He pulled out a group of coins and held them up into the air, "how many games will we play!? Will it be a matter of one-coin-game, no chance for redemption, a two-coin-game, the possibility of us breaking even, or a three-coin-game, with each crew trying to win at least one round?"
"Three rounds?" shouted Shane as he jumped up onto the stage, causing Kraven's crew a fright as they all jumped back and nearly out of their skins. They braced their hands on their weapons, but relaxed a little when they saw that Shane only went for microphone, snatching it from his opponent and taking it for himself, "that shit's too weak! I declare we take it up another notch! How about a five coin game! No chance of us breaking even, no chance of there being no winners and losers, somebody is going home on a different crew no matter what!" The crowd immediately let out the most uproarious cheer ever. Their cries could split somebody's eardrums, immediately Shane's own natural charisma and the reason why he had a semi-big crew was obvious. He was definitely somebody to watch out for in the near future, a pirate legend in the making without a doubt! Shane lifted his arms up as if declaring victory already, which caused the rest of the crowd to burst into even louder cheers even those who weren't on his crew were cheering him on. That was just his charisma and years at sea showing his experience, in a battle like this the crowd was a weapon in itself. Shane looked over at Kraven and gave him a smile as if to say 'how's that!' Kraven frowned a little. If it was only a three round match he probably could've taken all three due to his experience and more importantly their inexperience, but five rounds was more than enough time for them to figure out their weaknesses and mend them. He just had to hope he could keep them in the dark long enough. Shane turned out to face the crowd, "what do you say, Mikoto!?" as he tossed the microphone into the crowd and towards Mikoto.
Mikoto lunged forward to get it, but immediately Enma intercepted it and Zesiro held Mikoto back, knowing full well that if they allowed Mikoto to speak he'd probably try to raise the stakes to 101-coin-match. "We accept!" shouted Enma into the microphone. The rest of the crowd immediately began booing wanting to hear the words from the captain rather than his lackey, but pretty soon they all quieted down as their attention returned to the stage as Shane stepped down.
"Damn," said Ridley as he looked up, causing the rest of the crew to look over at their nakama, who had already moved onto his fifth beer for the day, "it looks like we just lost round 0." Enma looked at him with a little bit of quizzical look. "Compare the size of our crews. Kraven's got nearly 100, Shane has about 20, and we only have about ten and that's counting damaged Lily, the weird new guy Aaron, and weakling Sage." Sage puffed out her chest, annoyed that once more Ridley had gotten the first jab in at her. "If things become a popularity contest we're going to lose no matter now. I can guarantee that Shane's little show probably convinced at least 20 men of Kraven's crew to back him if it comes down to it." True, there was no such thing as a popularity contest in Davy Back Fights…but still the crowd was pretty helpful at changing the referee's mind at times during any sporting event. "Looks like we just got to win." They crew nodded, immediately remembering this wasn't a fight it was a sports match and they would probably have the quietest cheer squad of them all.
Kraven muttered something to himself. Three coin matches were simpler to divide as well, the Infinity Pirates had a small amount of people playing for them. 10 people, maybe? He eyed Lily, immediately taking her up as someone who shouldn't compete under most circumstances. It looked like this may be easier to win than he had thought the more often they forced that girl to play the higher their odds of winning would become each time. He moved over to the hat and immediately drew one slip of paper from the hat before tossing it to Shane, who drew another and tossed it to Mikoto. This went on again until five slips were drawn. Meaning Kraven and Shane had both pulled two while Mikoto had only pulled one, it didn't matter since they drew them at random, but still…it looked like Kraven was already conspiring against them.
"To begin with!" Kraven cleared his throats as he accepted the slips from the rest of the contestants, "the contests will be…Capture the Flag, Sudden Death Knife Fight, The Famous Three Barrel Race, Relay Race, and Tug-o-War!" Mikoto let out an audible groan, none of those made it seem like he could actually fight hand-to-hand with Kraven. Ridley simply rolled and ignored them. None of them were music making or alcohol drinking, so he supposed he wouldn't be worth much. "To begin with Capture the Flag is a 5 people per team game, Sudden Death Knife Fight is a one person per team game, the Three Barrel Race is unlimited people per team game, and the other two will be decided as soon as I can think of what they are!"
"I have no idea what any of those ridiculous sounding fights are," muttered Maria, the rest of the crew wore similar uneasy grins and once more had to turn to Ridley, the only person they knew who might have the slightest spark of knowledge when it came to these things. Ridley moaned and sat up, he didn't really want to participate, but he knew very well he would have to. There were a limit to how often a person could compete and with only 10 people in their crew they would be at the disadvantage as their crew members would have to compete more often unlike Kraven who basically had an infinite amount of substitutes.
"Okay, listen up," began Ridley, taking control of the conversation. "Capture the Flag is exactly how it sounds. The objective is to grab a hold of contain the opponent's flag, which can be anything. I've seen games where the flag is actually a person. Of course, weapons aren't allowed as in most Davy Back Fights, but that's only if the opposing teams play fair and don't bribe the referee." Zesiro groaned slightly, but nodded he was tired of going without his swords! "Zesiro, Hiro-Shu, Mikoto, Enma…and Aaron should probably compete in this match, is that okay guys?" They all nodded, including Aaron, who was more or less forced onto the crew for this competition, but he didn't mind it. It sounded like fun to him.
"What about me?" shouted Maria, "It sounds like a game where you'll need to be able to strong-arm your way through your opponent's, isn't that my specialty?" Ridley agreed and ordinarily he would love to throw her out there and into this match, but like he said they didn't have any good substitutes for this match or the next one.
"Sorry, but we'll need you in the next competition." Maria looked a little confused as she didn't quite understand what the next competition was. It sounded like a duel with knives in which case Zesiro would be a better fit. "I'm going to have to apologize, but I'll be filling out the team cards and deciding who competes when, okay?" The rest of the crew nodded, even Sage reluctantly agreed. Ridley was indeed the only one who had the faintest idea of what they were doing. Ridley smiled and reclined, "good, and don't worry…I'm going to try to make sure we don't lose a single match, so I'll be trying to play off of everybody's strengths, including yours Sage." This caught them all a little off guard, Ridley seemed to be a little bit more solemn this time around. He didn't take his usual jabs at Sage or the rest of the crew. It was almost as if he sensed something horrible approaching them. They paused for a second wondering what could possibly make even Ridley pause out of hesitation. "Anyways, let's get the first game underway, no sense in waiting."
A massive field was laid out, no smaller than any average Davy Back Fight field or common Football field. Kraven signaled to a group of his men to bring out the 'flags'. "Ever since 'Savage Titan' Pierre came about the flags are no longer people as the titan would 'accidentally' kill them in order to prevent them from squirming and resisting, instead they have become improved and replaced with these!" The flags were solid steel weights each one taking four men to haul out. The crews all stalled at the sight of them. "The goal is to grab one of these weight each marked with the crew's respective flags on them and haul them to your side of the field." Kraven motioned to the field, which was still being painted…apparently having a third team participating in it was a bit odd and require a change in how the field looked, going from a rectangle to a half circle. The 'flags' were dropped off into the middle of the field. "Each time is now allowed five minutes to move their flags or position their players to any place on the field…granted they can carry it. When the bell rings in exactly five minutes you can start chasing after your opponent's flags or even attacking your opponents to prevent them from grabbing your flag, but remember weapons are not allowed! If your flag is captured your team is out, the game is over when all opposing teams have been eliminated. Let's see some fun battling!"
Zesiro, Mikoto, and Hiro-Shu all moved over to the weight and looked at it. It was about seven feet tall and only four feet by four feet wide. They all wedged their fingers underneath and tried to move it, but they quickly found out how hard that was. The weight almost seemed to resisting them, trying its hardest not to come up. "Damn!" shouted Mikoto as they all dropped it, "its impossible to move! It is like they are cheating already. We can't move it around at all, it is so freaking heavy."
"Actually it works in our favor," said Enma walking up to it and tapping on it, checking the density for himself. "The heavier the flag is the harder it will be for the opposing teams to steal it." Oh, right! If they couldn't move with three people it'll probably take at least four people to move it for their opponents in other words stopping them should be easy even if they don't move it. However, Aaron's face told a different story as he looked at the opposing team.
"It's-It's him!" he shouted, remembering the face from their trip to Zenith Gaol. A massive towering man, standing at least 8 feet tall. His long white hair still covered his dark slits of eyes, the guy was a giant. He was the one they met in the prison, who defeated that wild animal and was searching for some more people to fight! His arms were long enough to scrap the floor and he was apparently strong enough to heft the large weight up and into the air all by himself, "where do you want this thing, boss?"
There's Winners...
And Then There's Losers
Hey, guys, I know I said bonus updates every ten reviews (and with Sasaui just dumping off like 7 of them herself) I may be due for another one soon, but I got finals coming up which means final projects and studying is going to start devouring my free time. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with it, but still...you know, I'll try my hardest!
Oh, P.S. for those of you who haven't favorited or followed me yet the new story is up. Sights Set on the Sky look forward to it!