The Three-Barreled Race!
Behold the Power of Riddle King of Awesomeness Mach 200!
Shane reclined into a large chair that Suzanne brought out and was currently relaxing a little bit. The Infinity Pirates all looked a little shocked at what had just transpired. It wasn't too often that Maria was beaten in a contest of sheer strength and from the one-sided beating she took, it was questionable if she was even at full strength would she have been able to manage. Shane was an incredibly powerful individual, possibly much more so than the rest of the world. He just had that kind of unearthly power, too make matters worse the entire stadium was in an uproar in favor of him. Just when Maria's stupendous efforts managed to sway the crowd in favor of the Infinity Pirates Shane managed to crush those hopes. He didn't seem too upset about it, but then again no sympathy was the way of a pirate. Shane sat back and looked over the group, he supposed it was his turn to pick who he wanted on his crew. He looked over at the score card for the next few events perusing them and seeing which one would give him the biggest advantage. Whoever, they were they would have to be competing a lot more from here on out. Azu had competed in the last two events so despite being a valuable commodity he didn't serve any practical reason, besides he had won the strong-arm competition so having another one didn't really matter. There were still three matches left…of course, Mikoto and Kraven were forbidden fruits being the captains, so he just had to pick someone else. Perhaps there was one position on his crew that he needed somebody of extreme talent to fulfill their duties…he just hoped they wouldn't take it the wrong way.
Shane stood up and made his way to the podium. The next competition was the Three Barrel Race…there was a one-hour time limit to build their crafts…a massive crew like Kraven's had plenty of shipwrights to perform such an act meanwhile Mikoto's crew only had one, picking up Maria would probably cripple them during the next round…however, Shane's interest in the Infinity Pirates was for fighting and he wanted them to be at full-power during the next round. He wanted a real challenge not some victories made through cheap tricks. He stood on top of the stage, calling everybody to stand still. He raised his hand, obviously he was a big fan of being able to rub people's noses in his victories. He looked out in front of him and he smiled, all of these people were prime for the picking he would be able to point out anyone of them he wanted. "YOU!" declared Shane his finger jabbing through the air, almost as if it could slice through it and penetrate the heart of his target.
"M-me?" asked one of the men on Kraven's crew, taking a step back, a little bit shocked by Shane's designation, his face covered in sweat. Until that is Shane threw a small iron ball at him, knocking him down and onto the ground.
"NOT YOU!" growled Shane, apparently more upset than the guy was at the prospect of getting picked. Shane breathed out deeply trying to recover from the shock, he was obviously a little stressed, and apparently acknowledging what an important decision this was. He wasn't about to use it on Nameless Crewmember D. Finally once he had recovered, he looked back out amongst the crowd. He jumped off of the stage, his impressive strength and possible knowledge of Geppou carried him to the middle of the field. He breathed out again and moved over, grabbing a hold of his target and once more his grizzly and grave voice boomed through the voice, but the person he wanted could've heard him had he whispered.
"Why…why me?" quivered Sage as she felt her legs give out beneath her, causing her to collapse in front of Shane. Shane smiled and shook his head as he looked on at her.
"I have a rather large crew," Shane said modestly, although his crew wasn't obscenely large like Kraven's he did have a rather large crew, "and sadly all of the cooks on my crew are rather meager in the end. They lack the skills that would be necessary further on and as a result we were often forced to make do with poor nutrition. However, from what I've heard through the grape-vine that is not the case with you, you are actually a capable chef…and also our crew is rather low on girls which affect crew morale." Sage gulped, "don't worry! Don't worry, you're just going to cook!" Shane pointed Sage over to the Suzanne who would walk her through their ship and help her get acquainted with everyone. Shan was about to follow her, but he stopped and looked over at Mikoto offering him a sneering glance, a complete and total challenge to his true opponent. It was obvious that he didn't JUST pick Sage for a cook, he wanted to take another jab at Mikoto. He was offering up the ultimate challenge for Mikoto.
"Crap!" said Zesiro as he looked on, "both Ridley and Sage were signed up to compete in the next fight. It looks like it'll be me, Lily, Rosa, and Mikoto in the race. What do you place our odds on, captain?" He looked over at Mikoto was standing in the midst of the crowd glaring at where Shane was and at Sage who was being led away from them, his fists at his side, clenched so hard his knuckles had turned white. "Captain, what do you think are our odds of winning?"
Mikoto turned around, turning his back on Sage and facing his crew, "100%...we are not going to lose the next round." Zesiro sighed. Mikoto was right they kind of had to win the next round. If they lost the next round and they lost another member from their crew…there would be no way to get them back. They needed to work their butts off to ensure the next three rounds were all wins. Mikoto lifted his own hand up into the air as if declaring victory already, "that's a promise, so don't get comfy Sage!" Sage nodded, her faith in her captain was starting to rise again, Mikoto definitely wouldn't lose now. He was all fired up…Shane's challenge would not go unheard. Right now it was 1-1-0…the Infinity Pirates were the only ones who had not won a single even it was possible that they would be beat down even further if this continued.
"Well, now that the boiling heat and intense rivalry between these two pirates have subsided maybe I can move onto explaining the rules for the next round? Hmmm?" began the announcer. "The next competition is The Three Barrel Race! The competition is simple you must build your own miniature boat out of three standard issue Marine Barrels, apparently there was some cheating awhile back when people would use barrels varying in size and material…who couldn't forget about the gargantuan barrels used by the Foxy Pirates or the barrels made of Super Float wood by the Bloody Titan? Well, no such cheating is allowed in this. After that one hour of building you are expected to traverse this entire island in a clockwise manner continuing all the way around the coastline until you wind up back here! Of course, despite the cheating capabilities outside interference from the crew is still allowed as long as no cannon balls or similar devastating weaponry is used. If a ship sinks…then it is game OV-AH!" The entire audience seemed unimpressed by the man's over-excited ending. It wasn't like this was a real fight…it was a simple race. "Oh, and it should be noted due to the time the other events had swallowed up this...will be…the last event for the day!"
"What?!" growled Mikoto twisting his head over and up into the sky, "but I got to win back both of my crewmembers! You're just doing this because you're ahead, aren't you?" The rest of the Infinity Pirates wore similarly upset faces as they looked up at him. The man waved them away.
"There'll be two events tomorrow, but Capture the Flag and Sudden Death Knife Fight have both tired out all of our combatants beyond a shadow of a doubt. Just as I'm sure the next event will also tire out everybody participating in it as this island is rather a long circuit covering more than 5 and a half miles you are expected to take your boats all the way around it and despite this being Skypiea, the Davy Back Fights originated in the Blue Seas so NOOOOO using Dials!" The entire crew nodded. It seemed like an even darkening omen…they wouldn't have everybody on their crew tonight…they supposed the announcer could be right, but more likely this was just a ruse to make sure they didn't try fleeing since one of their teammates would automatically be essentially held captive.
"Well, it looks like I'm making everybody's boats…we'll split this up into two teams Mikoto and Zesiro and then Rosa and Lily," Maria said immediately trying to get her marching orders for the day. "Any ideas for what you guys are going to want for your ships?"
"I think I'm going to make my own," offered up Mikoto, which caused the rest of the crew to gawk at him like he was an idiot. "It'll probably work out for the best if Zesiro doesn't have to drag the extra weight, plus I have an idea!" Maria sighed…whatever idea he had it wouldn't work out for the best. "Are you sure?" asked Maria, double checking with their strong-headed captain. Mikoto flashed her a thumbs-up before continuing on his way. Yup, it was official…
He was going to sink.
(-With Sage-)
Sage sat on one of the railing as she talked to Shane, who was strangely enough sitting this one out. She was supposed to compete in this one, but with no substitutes allowed she was stuck waiting on the sidelines. She supposed she could consider it lucky, but she was kind of hoping to be able to help her crew out on this one. She suppose this was just another case of her being delegated to the side lines. She sighed and lied back, "how did you get your bounty?"she asked, looking over at Shane.
"This is my third one," explained Shane as he looked back at her as if verifying who was talking before turning his head back and keeping his attention fixed on his crew, "I got my first bounty because I attacked a Marine Base. I was looking for someone strong who was supposed to be there…I was utterly disappointed. They said a Vice Admiral was supposed to be stationed there for awhile…and I don't know if he was or not, but I can say this every last Marine in that facility was pitifully weak. I conquered the island fairly quickly. My second bounty was from various acts that I have built up over the year…the third one," remembering how he got this caused Shane to smile, "that one is a secret. Let's just say I have something very important that the Marines want." Sage puffed out her cheeks and reclined back onto the ship's uncomfortable bench. She was hoping for some actually useful information the only thing she gathered from that information was that he was strong enough to conquer a Marine Base and possibly a Vice Admiral, he crazy enough to attack a Marine Base in the first place, and he had been doing this for enough time to build up small acts. She wondered what exactly those were though, but based on Shane's non-descript way of talking she supposed he didn't particularly want to talk about them. "Also I don't particularly care if after this you go back to your old crew…I just picked you because I knew it would make Mikoto angry."
"Yeah, Mikoto is a pretty good captain," Sage said, shifting her weight and sitting up, "if you endanger his crew he'll come after you!" Shane smirked and leaned back further. He thought so. The two of them were like two peas in a pod…he had only agreed to this Davy Back Fight not because his ship was damaged, but because Kraven had attacked his crew. He supposed Mikoto's reason was legit as well. Nobody should ever disgrace a fellow pirate's Jolly Roger and Shane was rather surprised that Kraven could live with himself…even if he was a Shichibukai he was still a pirate! He supposed the captain had to have had his own reasons for chasing after Mikoto with such vigor, though Shane had to wonder what it was. Was it really just because Mikoto was offered position as a Shichibukai while Kraven wasn't? It seemed awfully petty if that was the only reason. Especially for Kraven to risk his own crew like this. For some reason he sensed that Kraven was cut from the same cloth as both him and Mikoto, he didn't particularly want to endanger his crew either.
(-One Hour Later-)
"And now it is time to introduce our competitors!" screamed the announcer as he moved over to the first group pulling their ship into the water, "it is a crowd favorite in all of the Davy Back Fights, it is the one and only Sea Charger!" 'Iron Chain Smoker' Goro raised a hand as Azu moved their well-crafted three person boat into the water, of course, Azu wasn't competing in it, but Goro and two other people were, one of whom was a Squid Fishman, whose non-worried smirk told of his many victories in this competitions, as he stepped into the canoe-like boat. The canoe was like all canoes, small width, but long enough to fit three people in it, plus it had some left-over wood apparently and they crafted a small canopy over it.
"After them the second competitor from the Ghost Hook Pirates! Nimbo and Nimba in the Mini-Shooter!" Two identical twins jumped off of the harbor and into their ship, which was basically two half-barrels attached to each other with a small pedal-like propulsion system up front. "Rounding out the group submitted from the Ghost Hook Pirates is the Backyard Bloody Boys, Boyart and Wright!" Their ship had a large propeller in the back of it along with a seat making it look like a bicycle with a long bar in between it and its other half a barrel cousin. It looked sort of like a dumbbell when viewed from above. Boyart was on the back half of the contraption and even through his thick and luxurious white mustache you could tell he was planning something devious.
"The Dark Knight Pirates…only have one entry? Are they even trying to win?" The entire audience burst out laughing until they saw the ship they wheeled down. Obvious unlike the Ghost Hook pirates who built three semi-hastily put together ships theirs was obviously the work of a skilled shipwright who had poured all of his time and heart into it. It was wide and perfectly proportioned, being almost like a miniature ship, sail included although for the time being it was ruffled up to give the audience a full-view of their ship. Suzanne was sitting in the back, she looked annoyed, perhaps that they only had on entrance and she thought that they would lose…or maybe it was just the fact that Shane had picked another woman to be on his crew…Shane was hers after all. The other two members in the ship were Dango and Shino, the two Fishmen. Dango was closer to the back of the ship almost right in front of Suzanne and was sporting the two paddles. Shino was up front, stretching his legs and making the ship bob left and right perhaps boasting that their ship wouldn't flip over no matter what. "And that is the…the…Shane and Suzanne's Love Boat?"
"WE DIDN'T AGREE TO THAT!" shouted both Dango and Shino glaring up at Suzanne, but she just ignored them and waved to Shane, who was just trying to hide his face.
"Anyways…moving onto the Infinity Pirates' three ships! First off we have the only one of their ship who could be considered a legitimate threat…The Shark Slicer manned by Zesiro only!"The ship was small, but aero-dynamically made basically being shaped like a drill with a single barrel of room for Zesiro who had his feet down the middle controlling a small pair of propellers and his two arms each possessed a paddle so he could pour both of his arms and his leg strength into moving the ship.
"Second off we have the two lovely ladies in The Leisurely Cruiser!" The second ship was obviously built for stability and not speed, but like the announcer had foretold this ship wasn't a serious entry. Ridley had just put those two together cause he knew Rosa would keep Lily safe and they both needed to be entered at least once. Of course, originally when he built their plans he had planned for him and Mikoto to be on one team and then Sage and Zesiro to be another team…however, that had obviously not panned out, "…and that's all…" cut off the announcer, obviously there was one more entry into the race, but for some reason he had chosen not to announce it.
"That's not all!" shouted Mikoto from aboard his ship, "announce me, too! Or are you too afraid I'll beat you!"
"I don't want to announce you! It'll be the low point of my career!" shouted the announcer, "it is embarrassing to announce you I mean look at your ship! It is just a plank!" And that pretty much summed up Mikoto's boat. Nothing more than a piece of wood, could almost be defined as driftwood due to its shape and size. It was obvious he hadn't even used one barrel in his creation. "Fine! Here it is! 'Kid Coyote' and his 'Just a Plank'!"
"Its name is Riddle King of Awesomeness Mach 200!" shouted Mikoto as he lifted his arm up to argue, but pretty quickly found out he needed that arm to do something as simple as keep balance and brought it back down. Quickly he and the announcer got into an argument of what his ship was called…in the end the announcer had decided to just ignore Mikoto's protests and continue calling it 'Just a Plank'.
"If he sinks…no, when he sinks somebody is going to have to go in and get him," brought up Maria and looking up at Aaron, since he was the only one of the few non-sinkers the crew had left besides her and she was too badly injured to go for a swim right now.
"Are you sure you wouldn't be better off letting him drown?"
The Race is On
I must say throughout all 220 chapters I have written of this story I have never felt sorry for picking someone like Mikoto to be my main character. The little psycho is exactly as he should be. The guy basically just writes himself...as a result Aaron brings up an interesting point. I wonder what the crew would be like without Mikoto's wild (and almost insane) antics pulling them forward.
And, crap...Saga Chapter 195 is nowhere to be seen. I know I wrote it...where could I have possibly placed it? I've stopped using a thumbdrive a while back but I can't find it on my computer...crap...got to go re-write it.