The First Pick
"Sorry about that," moped Hiro-Shu as well as the other two as they apologized for their actions, they should've kept a better eye on the rest of the crew, too rather than remaining so gung-ho about the big guy, who was currently resting up. The guy took a humongous beating, but by some miracle he managed to stay standing throughout it all. The next fight was Sudden Death Knife Fight…a game where Ridley said Maria's sheer physical power would prove useful. However, Azu's power may very well extend past Maria's. If he participated in the next fight as well they may as well kiss their hopes good-bye. Hiro-Shu looked back over at him, noticing how they had like ten doctors pouring all over him while Enma mainly attended to their wounds, true they had gotten off lucky and most of Enma's attention would be turned to Mikoto soon, but still their lack of doctors would make this fight horrible if it dragged on for too long…as a matter of fact it almost seemed like Kraven had suggested the Davy Back Fight because of this.
"Ah, don't worry about it," said Ridley, reluctantly, "besides it is better to lose the first match rather than the last. We can still come back from this no matter who they pick!" Ridley pumped his arm into the air as if trying to encourage his team, but truth be told he was more than a little drunk and his façade was obvious. He was just as worried as the rest of them, perhaps even more so as he had actually been through a Davy Back Fight so he knew how important winning the first fight was. The lost of momentum would be deadly if the fight were to drag on…the early loss sapped the team's morale and the loss of their captain as well as seeing the insane monster's strength would only further bring them down…it would be something if they had the crowd on their side and could run off of their cheers, but they didn't. The entire crowd seemed against them. They would have to try and win the next fight to further their own spirit!
"AAAAHHHH!" Speaking of a spirit booster, here came the best one town. Mikoto had begun his slow decent. Aaron was originally planning on catching him, but had apparently become distracted on prepping Maria, who for once didn't seem to mind the extra attention from the perverted romance king. In other words…everybody had forgotten about him. Mikoto crashed into the ground creating a collective 'ooh' amongst the crowd as they gasped, watching the proud pirate basically become one with the earth. Mikoto soon picked himself up and looked around. Things could've turned out a lot worse had Mikoto not known Geppou. He had managed to use his one shot about halfway down to slow his descent slightly, but that was it…now he was on ground and dragging himself over to Enma. Of course, he had no idea how the battle had ended until Kraven stepped in front of the broken pirate's way.
"Nice of you to join us," he said with a smirk, "I'll give you ten minutes to rest up before I pick the member of your crew I want." Kraven turned around and began to head back to his crew, peeking over his shoulder at the broken pirate as he continued his crawl to Enma.
"NO!" shouted Ridley jumping forward and moving towards Kraven, "he doesn't need to rest. He's our captain, he can definitely last a little bit longer besides he has all of next round to rest up through, so let's just get the picking out of the way and start the next fight!" the rest of the crew looked at Ridley with disbelief, they knew he liked believing he was in charge, but something definitely seemed weird. He seemed fairly confident and determined in this manner. Kraven smiled and looked at him. Kraven went to ask Mikoto if he was sure he wanted to let this man decide for him, but Ridley knocked his hand aside and looked Kraven determinedly in the eye, "he's sure."
"You." Kraven said with a confirmed smile, nodding towards. "You will make a marvelous person to be on our crew." Ridley nodded and moved forward. Kraven turned his back to the crew, "start the next fight." The rest of the crew baulked including Kraven's own crew, was this man really so heartless he would put off on having his own captain healed. Perhaps he would serve them better on Kraven's crew after all. Kraven smiled to himself, he thought so…that guy definitely knew his stuff. He must've seen a couple of Davy Back Fights to know all the different forms of strategy. Oh, well, getting him this early on served him well…now he couldn't continue to support his crew.
"Why didn't he pick Maria?" asked Sage, looking at the rest of the crew. "I mean without any substitute wouldn't we have automatically lost the next round."
"Our boss doesn't do no Peanuts Strategy," said one of Kraven's crew as he drove six knives into the ground in an oddly deformed circle. The Peanuts Strategy was basically picking the member of the next fight if the next fight was one-on-one…so basically it was a way to insure an automatic victory by such an underhanded means. Of course, it was one of the universally looked down upon tactics of the Davy Back Fight…of course, some people like 'Savage Titan' Pierre did it anyways.
"Nice try," said Kraven as he pulled Ridley in closer, "you put it together well, I mean, most people would've seen it as just a friendly allowance, but you saw the real reason behind it." Ridley shrugged off Kraven's hand and walked a little faster and further ahead of him.
"You may be my captain, but it doesn't mean I'm going to act like I like you," said Ridley as he basically flipped Kraven off, moving even faster to the stands. Kraven paused for a second and looked over at the doctor's team as Azu slowly sat up. Kraven hadn't counted on Azu taking too much of a beating and now he was trying to rest. The ten minute interval would've given his crew enough time to heal him up more and then Kraven could try and waste more time, pretending he was having a hard time taking his next pick and then go even further in having the referee explain the rules before Azu had to move…but Ridley's little declaration back then had forced him to kick things into overdrive…Azu would probably only get into the ring at 2/3's of his full-power. Of course, odds of him winning were still high, but…it was no longer ensured.
"Now that the stage is set up will the fighters make their way to the ring while I explain the rules," continued the announcer. "The rules are basic. No weapons allowed. Each fighter is to stand with their heels against two knives that are currently in the ground, retreating or moving wrong will earn you in getting cut by the knife. How do you win? Simple. You get both of your opponent's feet to leave both of their knives, if you do that they are disqualified! However, only one heel has to be in contact with the knife for the fight to continue and if the fighter's entire body is in the air than they are not disqualified until they hit the ground and even then only if they are still not in contact with the knife's keen edge. Everything else goes! Do you understand these rules?" Everybody nodded their heads, but more out of not paying attention than actual understanding. This fight would prove to be one of the most exciting match-ups based off of the players. Azu from the Ghost Hook pirates took his stance, but from the sweat on his brow and his slightly heavy breathing it was obvious he still hadn't fully recovered. Maria had also taken up her stance she wasn't too worried about the knives, her main concern was that she would move too awkward and accidentally have her feet leave the knives and get her disqualified on an accident. However, the crowd's real attention was on the third combatant the fighter from the Dark Knight Pirates the one and only 'Dark Knight' Shane went into the ring to lock horns with his opponents.
"I'm not going to lose on purpose just so you can get your crewmember back, just so you know," he said to Maria as he lowered his weight and prepared for the brawl. Maria paused for a second, but supposed the guy was probably right to do so. This was a dog-eat-dog world even the slightest show of sympathy for someone could get you killed. She just hoped he felt the same way when she kicked his ass.
The bell rang and all three fighters lunged forward, locking fingers and immediately tried the simplest act of pushing their opponent's backwards and over the knives. However, their own bad stances and the fact that they had two opposite forces being applied to them made it hard for anyone to get any momentum including Azu, perhaps his unearthly engine had finally been tapped out? Maria was the first one to break the tension as everybody could probably guess, she hated moments like this. The real excitement was in a fist fight with both side narrowly avoiding each other's blows! Maria lifted on heel straight off of the ground and nailed Azu with it, but she was careful to make sure that the other heel stayed put. Shane immediately went ahead to take advantage of that smallest of opens. Shane twisted around and fired a quick powerful punch straight to Azu's chin as an uppercut. The increased heat from Shane's punch, shattered into Azu's chin and bucked the giant back. Azu tipped back, but his feet didn't budge at the slightest. Azu shook his head and tried to retaliate turning around to face Shane, but the instant his attention shifted to him Maria's punch came crashing through from the side, sending Azu stumbling back and tried to keep his body steady. Shane delivered a fast, yet slightly awkward leg sweep to Azu's legs, knocking one of the leg free, but Azu's large body managed to keep the second one grounded and Azu remained in the game for a little while longer. Azu twisted around, sending his entire body twisting around, "Smash…Pass…" he targeted Maria, who tightened her guard and prepared herself for the moment of impact. The attack shuddered into her, but she pressed her legs into the ground as hard as she could resisting the urge to be knocked flying, her feet were pushed into the edges of the knives and she grunted as she tried to stay standing just a little while longer. She couldn't falter here. She stayed in and fired a rebounding punch into Azu's cheek, before he could recover from that she fired another, she used the hook from one punch to set up the next. Her body was twisting, rapidly from left to right again and again. Azu's face began to swell from the unending barrage of heavy punches. Azu grinded his body to a solid stance, "Smash…Pass!" screeched Azu as he brought his hand smashing into Maria again, pressing her legs even further into the knives, the metal edges combined with the force of Azu's continuous Smash Passes were almost destroying her legs as they were shredded against the knives.
However, Maria was not going down without a fight, she wrapped her arms around Azu's body, steadying herself as well as locking onto Azu's arm. It was an awkward strategy and definitely not one Azu was used to encountering. He looked confused and possibly even a little bit panicked. He tried to harden his exterior and part up a stronger façade, but Maria wasn't buying it. She redoubled her efforts, stressing her muscles even more just in order ensure this would work. Her muscles pushed themselves to their limits as Azu's legs were lifted off of the ground. His entire body was off of the ground for a split second as Maria twisted, lifting the human mammoth off of the ground and into the air. The entire crowd had their jaws on the ground as they watched…was such a thing even humanly possible! "Go, Maria, go!" The crowd was immediately wrapped up into a wave of cheers as everybody tried to will the young spunky warrior on. Maria tossed Azu behind him, sending the large giant crashing into the ground away from the knives and the ring. Maria tossed her two arms up into the air, the sweat visible on her brow as she breathed heavily. The crowd immediately went into an uproar, but it was only when the announcer's voice cut in that froze people over.
"What an amazing turn of events!" shouted the man into the microphone as he buzzed through the air, "Azu, the giant, the mammoth, the undefeated, has just been…defeated? It is not possible! It is amazing! And it just happened! However!" Everybody turned their attention to the announcer the word 'what' practically visible on their lips, "ordinarily the fight would be over, but this is a three way fight in other words the hardest fight so far is now coming up! Shane versus Maria, will we see what made these two people worth what they are today!?"
"What do you think?" asked Shane, "I know you are tired from having to heft that giant over your shoulder, but the fight goes on…and I said earlier I don't plan to go easy on you." Shane opened up his guard, offering Maria something that was her specialty...an all-out brawl. "Do you agree? You have a chance to back out now, but I doubt you'd take me up on my offer." Shane tightened his fists and taunted Maria into a forward charge, "bring it on." He obviously didn't want to through the first punch. He obviously wanted to give Maria a second or two for a breather, but if Maria took him up on that offer…she couldn't quite consider herself the person she used to be. Maria stepped forward and took a wide swing. It hit square on with Shane's chin, but he didn't back down he went into an even exchange slamming his own fist into her gut. Maria grunted, but stood through it. Her own exhaustion was showing as she stepped forward to land one of her punches, Shane sent a punch through and straight into him. This fight wouldn't last much longer. Shane was completely on the offensive now, he landed blow after blow after blow onto Maria, sending her body back with each one.
"He's better at this then I expected," said Zesiro as he backed up, amazed at the fact that Shane was managing to completely overwhelm Maria from the look of it. "I thought Maria was probably the most unstoppable person in a straight-up brawl…for her to have met her match. Shane was a weapon user its odd that he is so forceful even in a fist fight."
"Shane only picked up the weapon about halfway through his career," explained Dango as he sat down next to the Infinity Pirates, "truth be told he was fighting long before he got that weapon and he'll be fighting long after that weapon becomes obsolete. You gather your crew because you respect them and they return that respect it is a basic rule that makes pirates a deadly force no matter what a mutual respect will always be present amongst our crew. And all of us respect Shane for a reason. Your captain may claim it, but our captain definitely possesses the skills it takes." Zesiro raised an eyebrow a little bit, what did he mean about that? "Our captain possesses the skills it takes to become the next king of the pirates." Zesiro grunted a little, knowing that if Mikoto had heard a fight probably would've broken out between these two, but as he continued to watch the fight he quickly put it together…there was a definite difference between them, Mikoto and Shane, but both were definitely clear contenders for the title. From what Zesiro has seen though Zesiro would wager that if they were to fight he'd place his money on Mikoto. However, from the smug look on Dango's face it was obvious Shane still hadn't shown his entire hand.
Maria's head was rocked back as Shane's punch came in clear like a bullet, the proud shipwright didn't stand too much of a chance of winning anymore it seemed every step she took going forward ended with Shane forcing her two steps back. Maria was forced into keeping up a tight constant turtle shell of a guard, she was trying to remain standing and weather through the punches no matter how numerous or powerful they were, but it was obvious she was losing her ground. Shane's punch came screeching in and knocking her body loose, but she managed to hold on. One leg remained defiantly pushed into the knife, it wasn't going anywhere without a real strong blow. "Perhaps had this been a real match and not a Davy Back Fight, perhaps if you hadn't wasted so much strength taking Azu, perhaps then you would've actually managed to put up a good fight!" Shane said as his last punch rocketed through the air, miniature explosions following and propelling it as it screeched into Maria's cheek and knocked her down, finally dislodging her foot from the knife and knocking her onto her back. Shane turned away, listening to the announcer declare him the victory, but he didn't feel all too particularly thrilled, the girl was actually strong...if it would've been one-on-one...then perhaps the thrill would've been much, much greater.
The Three-Barreled Race!
Behold the Power of Riddle King of Awesomeness Mach 200!
Yup, bottom-line crap's about to go down. Mikoto's crew is now at -2 with only three events left if they lose even one more event it is entirely possible that they won't be able to come back. They are teetering on the brink and their only hope is...Mikoto. Its a sad thing.
Also, please remember I only promised to keep up this whole extra update thing under two conditions 1) I get ten reviews. You guys were a little low and if it weren't for some extra ones here and there I probably wouldn't have had to update. Just to warn ya you guys are kind of slacking off and the numbers are decreasing for some reason. 2) Up to chapter 200. Yeah, only what? Seven more chapters to go? Its not the best rate, but due to the fact that I still have decent back log (about 29 chapters still (DANG) I may keep it up to chapter 210 maybe even 220 depends).
Also, side note: ANOTHER ONE OF MY ARTWORKS GOT ACCEPTED TO A (student) ART SHOW! I'M FAMOUS!