The Difference in the Captains

Mikoto's fists flew out like bullets, each one whizzing through the air with just enough stopping power to freeze their opponents. Each fist bit into them like a wolf's fang, razor sharp concentration behind each one. It seemed as if he was in complete control of his own body as well as his opponent's, like he was moving in a completely different zone. Their slices cut air, their punches barely touched his fur, he was accelerating faster than before hitting a new level of inhuman growth. No, it wasn't like he was evolving, it was more like he was becoming more pure. A purebred fighter, he had forgotten the unimportant facts, he wasn't focusing on the big hits, each and every hit was precise and well-aimed. A level of concentration that was untouchable. His opponent's just seemed to lag behind him. Superhuman speed combined with animalistic instincts, he could sense his opponent's next attack and counter it before they even used it.

Meanwhile, you had Shane on the other hand. Was his fight as pretty? No. Was he coming out completely unscathed? No. Was he completely dominating his opponent? Yes. Unlike Mikoto firing multiple punches in seconds to take down multiple foes, Shane was blowing his way through the crowd with just one punch. He would twist and send a rocketing punch forward, knocking several men aside with a single blast. The few men who managed to summon up enough courage to attack him quickly found themselves on the wrong end of his fists, his charisma had quickly turned into intimidation. Nobody dared step towards and when they found him barreling at them, their leg turned to jelly and their eyes widened. Throwing their arms in front of their faces did little to help protect them as his punches would blow through their guard just to smash their skulls in. Even if Shane seemed to lag behind Mikoto as well…his body count spoke for itself. Nearly twice as many men had fallen to his blows as Mikoto's.

Their blood was boiling, not because they were annoyed at Kraven for springing this trap on them. Not because it had to be to defeat such an onslaught. Nor did the Davy Back Fights earlier have anything to do with it. It was simply because they were fighting side-by-side. An unnatural rivalry was blossoming between the two of them. Neither side would admit it, but…they didn't know how they would fare against the other. Could Shane's punches blow actually connect with wild and quick Mikoto? Could Mikoto even survive one punch with the destructive might of the berserk Shane? A challenge had been laid out between the two of them without either side ever actually saying a word and, of course, both men had picked up on it. Even if they weren't actually going to fight each other…they were going to outdo the other man.

One of the men's head was rocked back as Mikoto made a quick instep followed by an even quicker jab. Bright flashes of light crossed the man's vision as his brain was rocked around in his skull, but he stayed conscious through the troublesome blow. However, he soon wished he didn't. As if following up on it, but more than likely it was a sheer coincidence as they two men were just attacking everything in sight, Shane was upon him. His massive tree trunk of an arm supporting a wrecking ball of a fist swung upwards, smashing into the man's gut, lifting him six inches off of the ground and probably breaking just as many ribs. Shane let the man fly sideways, finally passed out after so much punishment, a few moments of peaceful sleep that followed such tremendous pain. And, of course, quite a few men followed the suite. All of them being flung off of the ship by either the quick, cutting punches of Mikoto or the devastatingly powerful blows from Shane. Not only that but both of these men were holding back their trump card, Shane's massive axe and Mikoto's own Rapid-Fire.

"I think that's it," said Kraven as he moved over to the mast of his own ship, which was thankfully being kept out of harm's way unlike the Infinity Pirate's. "I wonder if I should apologize or just call it a night. After all, their crew is way too tired to actually win tomorrow!" Kraven laughed as he turned around and flipped open a small box and revealed a Den-Den Mushi connected to his crow's nest. It was used for emergency announcements to his crew, but he supposed it would serve just as an important use here. "We're done for the night crew." His crew, the ones left conscious seemed thankful as they all abandoned ship, jumping off of the ship's railing and rushing back home. Goro seemed a little peeved as he apparently thought he was winning, but he returned as well.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!?" shouted Shane, jumping off of the ship and onto the ground, nearly rushing Kraven until he noticed that for every one man that was attacking the Infinity Pirates another two were on the ship…preparing the cannons. He skidded to a halt, but he kept up a steady glare at Kraven. "Come on down here! It is obvious that you don't want to settle this like a coward, hiding behind your precious Davy Back Fight! You want a fight, don't ya?" Shane opened up his guard and challenged Kraven to come on down. Kraven just smirked and nodded at one of his men, who promptly released a cannonball at him. The big black ball hurled towards the 'Dark Knight' but his ever confident and nearly cocky expression didn't change as he twisted around and fired a Colors of Armaments boosted punch that broke the cannonball into pieces before it could ever even threaten him. "I bet you your punches are tougher than that, so bring them on!"

Kraven chuckled, "I like my Davy Back Fight. Tell you what if you are so intent on fighting me then challenge me again when this is all over, perhaps then we can enjoy one of these bouts you are so eager to partake in." Shane growled and breathed heavily, growing noticeably more agitated with each heavy breath, however, the string of sweat coming off of his brow wasn't really enough to back his tough talk. He knew for a fact that if they were to fight now he would probably lose, he was showing off in front of Mikoto back on the ship, but now that he no longer had that burning desire to be number one backing him, he could finally breathe heavily. His strength was slowly being sapped out of him. He turned around and signaled to his crew to back off. Kraven had sent the weaklings to do battle along with the one or two strong men he could spare. He could tell from the trouble that Reymundo was having with Goro that Kraven's crew was full of men strong enough to push even the Marine Admirals. However, maybe that just made his heart beat a little faster. Tomorrow was going to be fun…

(-the next day-)

The shopkeepers were out there first thing in the morning. The Davy Back Fight was a huge draw, numerous alcoholic booths opened up and even more snack stands were open. There were one or two betting booths that were currently taking place for the first contest and the man standing behind those were anxiously rubbing their greedy hands together knowing for certain that they would turn a profit. Of course, Mikoto was hitting them all up, his fatigue from the day before seeming to vanish as he ordered basically one of everything most of which came for free as his crew was competing in the events today. Mikoto just smiled and ate down what could only be considered a concoction worse than a hot dog and ice cream smoothie.

"How can you eat that crap?" questioned Rosa as Mikoto came back with food of a questionable origin…whether or not it was meat was questionable, but Mikoto ate it all the same, shrugging it off and considering it to fall under the assumption of 'it tastes good, it must be edible'. Besides he wasn't competing today. The rest of the crew was silent as they tried to psyche themselves up…if they lost even one event today they would lose a crew member. Kraven had made it plain as day that his target was them and Shane, despite their wonderful exchange last night, had chosen Sage before so he was apt to do it again. One loss was unacceptable.

"We'll do it," said Zesiro as he did a windmill stretch with his arm, it was still sore and had several bandages on it due to his fight with Goro. He was the only Infinity Pirate who was competing in three events. Mikoto had wanted to, but Ridley made the scoreboards and saw Zesiro as a more fit 'all around' competitor unlike Mikoto or Hiro-Shu who ruled in one domain. They just had to hope that Ridley's aid wouldn't go to waste…especially since who knew when they would be able to get it again.

"I still can't believe we are even competing in these events," complained Rosa, puffing out her cheeks and looking all-in-all like a child that has been denied a cookie. She glared over at Kraven, who didn't even spare a second glance. He was busying himself with his own important matters, probably methods of winning the rest of the contest. Going home with only one new crew member wasn't the best way to end a Davy Back Fight, but going home with three new crew members was quite a boon in its own standards. Rosa shook her head and looked back at the rest of the crew, "I mean isn't this cheating?"

"The rules of the Davy Back Fight are still pretty loose," said Enma as he rubbed his eyes, he had tried to learn a little more about it over the course of the night, but the fact was that with all the different events, the rules of the actual Davy Back Fight tended get pushed back and forgotten. Each event was amazing though, the thought process being hammered out over hundreds of years. It just the Davy Back Fight was so simple the rules were as followed:

The captain of each crew agrees to combat by shooting a pistol. As soon as the pistols are shot they have agreed and cannot back out. The decision of how many games are played is then carried out. Which games are played is decided by the challenger not the challenged.

After each game the winner gets to pick one crew member from the losing team. Picking the flag is also a viable option.

Crew members lost in such a way pledge immediately loyalty to the winning crew and captain. In other words, they are not allowed to quit or go back to the crew unless they are won back or the winning crew is disbanded for whatever reason.

As long as these three rules were upheld it was a Davy Back Fight. Even real fights were allowed, but the above rules had to be carried out. The simplicity of them meant that they were all that much harder to break, but easy to build around. There was no grey area. Everything was black or white and sadly attacking the opposing crew in the middle of the night was in the white. The 'Savage Titan' never resorted to such low tactics, but Enma was still thankful that they were fighting Kraven over him. Kraven may be a Shichibukai, but the way he was talking about the Jolly Roger made Enma understand that this man did want to be a pirate. He wanted to sail the seas and conquer them. He just got a little lost on the way.

"Kraven! Oi!" shouted one of the men as he came back into the picture, "we got it all set up. We can now begin the next event!" his voice boomed over the field and instantly all of the spectators turned around and looked. They all became interested in the course of events and, of course, it made perfect sense. Three powerful pirate crews were facing off against each other all of them were circling the drain, ready to fire away. At this point it was still anybody's game. Anybody could turn the victory in their favor by winning the remaining two events. Mikoto's crew could gain a new member, Kraven could gain three new members, even Shane could obtain two more. The three pirates were still head-to-head. As far as they were concerned it was anyone's game. Of course, Kraven's crew begged to differ, this game was still very much in their court. Even with all crews boasting a single win, they were the ones that got ahead in the exchange.

"The relay obstacle course!" shouted the announcer as he took a few steps back and looked out onto the field. "The crew members are required to run from one end of the field to other while passing a baton continuously between players to run back and pass it again. The game is over when all five members have switched fields. Now let's get onto the actual course shall we? The obstacle course is so simplistic it is mind-numbing. First we have the simple wire trap, where players must belly crawl beneath the wires to get from one end to the other, then the canyon wall where players must climb a rocky wall, SO SIMPLE! Then right after that we have the garden of flames! Where the players must carefully time their steps where they don't' get burnt to a crisp by the erupting fire spouts! It is so simple you could die!" Yeah…die sounds about right. "But like all Davy Back Fights a few rules have been implemented, first off the use of Devil Fruits is strictly prohibited. Zoan and Logia Devil Fruits have been known to give competitors a slight edge in previous combats, so they are out as well as Paramecia. Remember the goal of a Davy Back Fight is to have a fair fight between two competitors…oh, yeah, also weapons are allowed!"

"Tch!" muttered Enma, fair his butt! It was him, Aaron, Rosa, Lily, and Sage. While the line-up wasn't too horrible, the fact was that without Devil Fruits him, Lily, and Sage were sunk…what kind of power did they have? Shane's crew didn't look too confident in victory either, Dango, Shane, and the rest of the main crew weren't scheduled to compete in this event either. Enma was starting to wonder if their goal was to actually win…or if they were just using to kill time. Then again…if the main crew decided to compete in the last event they may just win that. Enma shook his head and turned back to the obstacle course. Without his Devil Fruit his chances shrunk, he wondered if Ridley knew about that rule…relying on one guy to hopefully know all the rules of the competition was stupid. He would just have to sit back and relax and hope through something resembling fate, miracle, or Satan's interference that they would win.

"So, upset that your team is about to lose again?" asked Kraven staring over at Ridley, but he just shrugged. In all honesty Ridley was kind of planning on throwing this match when he wrote up the teams. It was this kind of stuff that no one on their team did well…Aaron may manage to drag a win out of the dirt and so could Rosa in theory. However, nobody else could. He would've liked to have thrown Mikoto into the mix, but Ridley doubted that he could outrun, out climb, out crawl and out maneuver everyone without his hybrid form. Besides Mikoto had already competed twice so far and only one member of theirs could compete three times. And in the end…they needed Zesiro during the next event. He would just have to hope these guys could handle themselves for the time being…

The Reason for the Challenge

Okay, fanfiction was doing something Monday so I couldn't access my stories for some reason (no idea what it was, but I was getting an error line) and I forgot about fanfiction on Tuesday on account we got enough snow to give me three day off of school (oh, and I had to shovel it out of our drive way). I estimate the snow to be at least a foot, probably a foot and a half.

Anyways, I'm sorry for closing the fight a bit early, but this is an arc around the Davy Back Fight and I still got a few more reveals to do before I can wrap it up nicely in a bow. Most notably why Kraven is going after Mikoto? Who is Kraven's lost crew mate? Along with some other hints and pieces along the way.