A Hefty Sacrifice

Shane, Mikoto, and Mikoto's fellow accomplice, a man that had been dubbed as 'Square Jaw' Bando by the fellow applicants were forcibly thrust into the chair. Admittedly more because they realized that what they were doing was wrong than that the rest of the crew could actually force them to do so. Of course, Mikoto barely accepted that what he did was wrong, admittedly stating that he was well into the right...Shane managed to ignore it for the most part...since he joined the brawl late. However, 'Square Jaw' Bando, on the other hand, was repeatedly bowing and apologizing for his actions...apparently he didn't want to get kicked off of the alliance for some odd reason.

"It was the funnest way to decide who was worth keeping, we needed strong pirates, right?" asked Mikoto, stating the obvious fact. "Now all of the weaklings have been kicked out and we managed to boil it down to the top twenty positions." In all honesty, looking back Mikoto supposed they probably could've just kept them all...its not like too many raging pirates attacking a ship was a bad thing. However, he was going to adamantly stand by his choice! The fight was honestly the only thing that made the whole interview process worth it! Even being derided by Sage, Zesiro, Reymundo, Dai, and Kraven was worth it. Kraven was with them for a little while longer while he debriefed them on the strengths and weaknesses of all of the Shichibukais and what little he knew about the Marine Admirals...for future's sake.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" asked Kraven sitting down again, "I mean, you guys have taken down two out of five Shichibukais...the Fox Brothers could be viewed as a rather big obstacle. Nobody would even think any different of you if you were to go after one of the other four." Mikoto looked angrily at Kraven, which made Kraven remember that Mikoto and Melanie were apparently off on a good foot, "other three." However, all of the Shichibukais were equally tough...it was just that the Fox Brothers were a horribly match-up for these two. Surely it would do them better to wait and obtain a third trustworthy team member, rather than relying on some random person like Bando...which for some reason Kraven was reluctant to trust. Something about him just seemed...like he wasn't being completely honest with them. Like he was in this alliance for his own reasons, which wasn't taking down all of the Shichibukais...was there one Shichibukai in particular he had in mind...or was it something else entirely.

"Of course, we want to do it!" shouted Shane with a loud guffaw, "you said it yourself, these Fox Brothers are quite possibly the biggest challenge to us right now...doesn't that just fill you up with some kind of unrivaled desire to plant your feet and have at it with them?" The rest of the conjoined crews just kind of groaned at this...once again it was Shane's battle junkie of a personality that shown through here. He was on the quest for the ultimate fight...and since it wasn't coming to him, he was going to it! Even if he had to make it! However, despite Shane's rather battle junkie approach, Mikoto still agreed with him and added a swift nod to show it.

"Fine," resigned Kraven with a heavy sigh, "but I should point out quite possibly the most dangerous thing about the Fox Brothers...their individual abilities. For starters Alan Fox...I think you and him had a run-in early on, right Mikoto?" Mikoto nodded to that...he was still starting out back then, but he had in fact ran into that Shichibukai...back then Mikoto had thought of him as a helpful more veteran pirate, but Mikoto had since learned otherwise. "Right he ate something that has hence been dubbed as the Shifuto-Shifuto no mi*...something of the likes we have never seen before. We can't be too awfully certain, but it allows him to kind of 'shift' his presence from one plane to another...in other words he can hop across dimensions." The crew's uneasiness kind of shown on their faces...the ability to move between dimensions? Such a powerful ability would be hard to defeat, especially since there was no real way to train to go against it. More importantly from one look on Mikoto's face it was obvious he had no idea what it even was.

Enma quickly responded and explained. "In other words, he can leave this dimension and the fight with you or anybody else for an unknown period of time. It gives him a surefire escape plan and a surefire way to gain the upper hand through surprise attacks." Mikoto nodded, understanding it a little bit more...it was kind of like he was there one second and then gone the next. Almost like a Logia Devil Fruit user whose abilities couldn't be canceled out with simple Haki, he offered his explanation to the crew to see how close he was. "You are kind of close, but its not like its an all-powerful Logia fruit. First off, its not off of reflex while he can avoid all attacks coming at him, he has to be aware of them. Second off, he cannot regenerate any damage...if he gets hit once, that damage is staying with him for awhile. And finally, he needs a way to attack cause he cannot control any elements, in this case...a massive hammer." Kraven nodded, concurring and reinforcing all of Enma's words.

"Next up is Alistair," continued Kraven, immediately moving onto the next troublesome one of the trio. "He is considered a genius amongst geniuses, he was working on several flying ships...rumor has it he even has one or two ones that work. He may be physically frail, but to be all honest if someone was to find out about our trick it would be him. He should be handled by Bando." That made Bando pound his chest in bravery and show-off a gutsy pose. "And going back, Alan should be handled by Shane. You need to be able to knock him out with one blow and one blow alone, okay?" Shane nodded, an entire fight that rided on one blow! Definitely if that was the case his much more insane power should handle the fight not Mikoto or Bando.

"Okay, that leaves the third and possibly most troublesome for Mikoto," Kraven explained, causing Mikoto's ears to pique up despite flattening out earlier after hearing that basically he was a bad match-up to the other two...one would out-smart him and the other would take his punches and disappear...not fun, but if he was stuck with the most troublesome...perhaps he could salvage his reputation. "He never showed up to a single Shichibukai meeting...even the required ones. He always let his brothers show up and take credit for any mission. Mikoto slowly nodded, in other words, they were going in blind. Mikoto smirked, sounded fun.

"Excuse me," laughed a man as he came in and lightly tapped on Mikoto's shoulder. The man was broad and big, he had three swords stashed away at his waist, "is this where we sign up to join the pirate alliance for taking down the Shichibukais?" Mikoto nodded, eagerly, completely forgetting that they were in the middle of their strategy meeting and this man had just completely interrupted them. "Good, good," he said with a slight almost nervous chuckle, suddenly he drew a sword, "do you believe in fate?" The man used his one free arm to brush his old gray ponytail out of his eyes. Shane moved to attack, but he was intercepted by Kraven who just stood there with his mouth gaping open. "I was expecting to see you here, Shichibukai Kraven," muttered the man as he locked eyes on him.

"I'm fairly certain that's my line," growled Kraven as he moved forward, the man tilted his head to the side to find Kraven and smiled. "Vice Admiral Twon Graco!" Kraven drew his hooked staff in an instant and leapt forward. Graco smiled, leaping into action within the same second.

"Fate was kind to you the first time we met!" shouted Twon Graco as he brought the sword he was carrying forward and bringing it to clash with Kraven's. "Four or so years...right? Its been that long since we last crossed weapons. Of course, back then I was an Admiral." The crew gasped. Mikoto and Shane moved forward, but Kraven quickly cut them off.

"Stop it!" shouted Kraven, "I was reminded of something when I was with you guys. A time before the only thought in my head was living and protecting my friends. A time when I looked forward to every new tomorrow and the dangers it would bring! I realized something listening to your big talk...I want to see what'll happen when the new world is beckoned forth by you youngsters! The news is everywhere...we are heading into a new era. The Marines believe it to be the Era of Justice, the Revolutionaries say it to be the Era of Change, and the paper is calling it the Era of Anarchy...I believe they are all wrong!" Kraven grunted as him and Twon Graco exchanged blows once more. "Since I met you two, I believe I can firmly say that tomorrow...no, you guys will bring upon the Era of Freedom! The Era of Dreams!" The momentum broke with ease. Twon Graco finally brought his sword through Kraven, Kraven doubled over in pain...his mouth instantly went dry with fear and his eyes nearly popped out of his head with pain.

Twon Graco popped his mouth and licked his lips as he thought about it, "ah, Justice. Fate has decided. Today you will taste death by my blade!" shouted Twon Graco as he lifted his sword into the air ready to take another swing, however, his blade was halted by Shane this time, Shane had stepped in at just the right time, angrily growling at this new intruder. Just ignoring the fact that Mikoto had previously messed up as well, Shane turned all of his current contempt to this...Twon Graco guy.

"I wonder what fate shall decide for you," he muttered with a quiet laughter, jumping back and quickly shuffling his swords around and drawing a possibly new blade. All of his swords were exact duplicates of each other. It was entirely possible that Twon Graco didn't even know what his newly selected sword was. "Let's see if it is your fate to leave this place today or die by my hand!" Kraven charged in once more, tackling Twon Graco and knocking him back, pushing him away from Shane and Mikoto both of who were readying themselves to fight with him as well. "I'll have you guppies know that it was just over four years ago when I just met with and exchanged blows with Kraven, back then just as you've seen here I demolished him. My swordplay was on a whole other level then his. But that's too be expected I was an Admiral." Mikoto tightened his grip and tried to make a quick dash forward, but his instincts were yelling at him to stop. Something else was wrong. This man was far from normal. The title of Admiral was well deserved. No other Marines Mikoto had met had given quite the chill as this man...there was no hesitation in his swings. Ordinarily fighting came with a great weight and unless you were either psychotic like Trevor or fighting for your life like Mikoto often was...but this man had started a fight with a full-swing completely not worried about taking another human's life...it was enough to create a mixture of disgust and admiration in Mikoto. Truly such a thing was a fighter's ultimate trait.

"The three swords hanging at his waist," shouted Kraven cutting into Mikoto's train of thought, "they are called Justice, Mercy, and Grace. Each has been embedded with a different Devil Fruit!" The crew looked at the blades and backed away slightly, three different Devil Fruits? Even one of them was enough to propel a pirate into the ranks of notoriety for the rest of his life! What kind of man used three? "He draws a sword at random and uses it. Saying he's leaving it up to 'fate' to decide whether or not it is your day to die!" Twon Graco smiled, stepping and whirl winding Kraven off of him, knocking the Shichibukai down with one tremendous swing! He suddenly stepped forward, racing towards Mikoto with his blade drawn ready to slice.

"It is fate!" he shouted with glee, ready to annihilate his next foe, "Justice embedded with the Itami-Itami no mi, Mercy fused with the Ori-Ori no mi, and Grace with the Betsu-Betsu no mi! The three blades of fate! I abide by their decision if its Justice I will kill them on the spot, Mercy I will arrest, I will even follow fates' ordinance if Mercy is chosen and allow my prey a chance to escape my grasp. Do you choose to accept it? Or will you challenge it and stay defiant to my strength? The strength of an Admiral."

"Wait, I thought he was a Vice Admiral," asked Mikoto, questioning his opponent's strength as well as his sanity with that question. Twon Graco didn't seem upset, instead he seemed almost happy to answer his opponent's question.

"Its proof I follow fate to the letter," he explained, "I had ran into that tyrant that is currently cursing our waters with his Revolutionary ilk. I met the leader of the Revolutionaries...or is that Vice-Leader now, I saw Jugo and had the chance to impale him...of course, I did back then. I skewered him with my fate-deciding blades...and he received Grace. I am just a mere man, I have no right or reason to challenge fate so I let him go. I was demoted soon after that."

"Are you sure you're not just bad at your job?" questioned Mikoto. He immediately ducked the in-coming attack...oops, he kind of forgot that his opponent was a former Marine Admiral...no reason to take him easy. Graco pulled his arm back, but once again Kraven stepped in and parried it.

"For the last time, GO!" shouted Kraven as he produced his weapon. Mikoto moved back a foot or so looking up at Kraven. "I am not about to let you die here! You beat me, you can beat the rest of the Shichibukai! I will not have you dying here against Graco, so do my a favor and get away from here! Change the world and show them that we pirates are brave stalwart heroes and not the lying thieves the Marines make us out to be! Hear me! I'm trusting you with the fate of the pirate world! Now, don't make me repeat myself!"

Mikoto glanced behind him at his crews as well as Shane's. They had three infamous pirate crews here, surely they wouldn't lose! "I think we can take him!" Mikoto said pivoting back around and he was about to rush up and challenge Graco, but he was jabbed in the stomach by Goro, who immediately shoved him back, tossing him aside to the rest of the crew.

"I may feel indebted to you for returning Kraven back to his old self, but I will follow my captain's orders and obey his will! Even if I have to knock you out and carry you off of this island myself I will see to it that you get way from here!" screamed Goro as he looked down upon Mikoto. Mikoto was still on the ground, he looked past Goro and at Kraven trying to find out the current situation of the battle. He couldn't just leave! They haven't been together long and most of that time Kraven was trying to kill him, but Kraven was an ally! They were going to fight together!

"Go, BOY!" shouted Kraven. Mikoto froze for a second as he was lifted up to his feet. What was that? Mikoto's head felt like it was being ripped apart. What was it? Images rapidly began to flash in his mind, important information was being displayed...flashes of a thoughts and images began to be processed by his brain, they were there only for the briefest of seconds before going away being replaced by a new form of information. He didn't know what was going on...until he finally pieced it together.

He saw Kraven with another man, a man who had eaten the Inu-Inu no mi: Coyote Model. Mikoto swallowed hard as he watched the other man be killed over and over again like it was in slow motion. He could hear Kraven's silent pleas to prevent such a tragedy again. He could hear Goro's sorrowful yet non-existent tears as he tried to fulfill what he was fully aware would be his captain's last wish. He could hear the rest of his crew all mustering up the courage to flee or fight depending on Mikoto's reaction. He could hear the quiet heartbeat of them all. He could hear their thoughts and emotions pouring into him. However, there was something else mixed into all of that too.

A quiet insatiable blood-lust that had faith in that what he was doing was the right thing. He could hear that Twon Graco was already thinking eight or ten steps ahead and that he would win. Mikoto wasn't sure if it was fear that was welling up in him or he was just finally beginning to accept that Twon Graco was not a man they could afford to make an enemy out of right now. Either way Mikoto's choice was clear.

"RUN!"

Run!

Shifuto-Shifuto no mi: Shift-Shift Fruit

Twon Graco is the work of Labyrinth-Designer and the Fox Brothers the work A. Fox.

Thanks to everybody who voted in the poll. I greatly appreciate. Starting next week we will see Iron Hammer be posting on an every week basis and Saga on an every other week basis. However, Saga will still be updated next week as a sort of switch thing. Yes, Mikoto is beginning to unlock Haki.