An Ancient Weapon's Counter

"That was a Shichibukai?" asked Lily as she took another deep breath. She hadn't paid Trevor any real attention and Kraven never bothered her, but facing off against Alan Fox in that small corridor was horrifying. He seemed to increase the air pressure around him, turning the space around him into a pressure cooker with just a single unsettling glance. She broke down once more, slipping onto the floor with her head in-between her hands. "How were we expecting to win against that?"

"Come on now we got Mikoto, Shane, and Bando on our side, remember?" Rosa stated once more, "and you got me!"

"Mikoto?" Lily asked with a clear tone of disbelief placating her tongue, "Mikoto is a nice guy, but that's just it. He's a nice guy, I don't fully believe we should place all of our bets on him. He's too nice. Facing off against Alan Fox was horrible."

Rosa nodded. Alan Fox wasn't like Trevor. Trevor was purely bestial and a killer. He had one-track mind, focused only on bloodshed and as long as he got this he was fine. Trevor seemed to be cocky and sure of himself and for good reason, but this Alan Fox fellow didn't seem to be sparing any chance. He would squash everything he saw as a threat to him and his brother. But unlike Trevor he'll do it intelligently.

Had he been so brash as to kill Lily, Rosa, and Sage right then and there that would only fuel Mikoto's power. There was nothing so dangerous as a man who had the idea of revenge on his mind. A man who would be willing to go to any lengths in order to accomplish a goal. Alan saw that in Mikoto. An unalterable drive. As a result Alan would deal with him first.

"Mikoto will accomplish it," Sage stated with more confidence than any normal person could muster, "after all if he couldn't he wouldn't have us as a crew. If we can do our jobs right than that means he can do his job."

"You seem to be awfully sure of yourself," stated Rosa as she took a deep breath. For some reason even though Alan Fox was gone the pressure of the room still felt intense like she was weighing lead weights all over her body. She thought it was just the pressure of being in the same room as a Shichibukai, but now that he had left she still felt all choked up.

Was something else increasing the pressure around them? Rosa paused as she considered this. It was possible. She looked up at Sage and the fiercely determined look on her face. The Osu-Osu no mi. A Devil Fruit which can control pressure within a limited range around the user.

Rosa had known Sage had this Devil Fruit a long time, but she never saw the extent to Sage's use of the Devil Fruit. The ability to control pressure? Rosa assumed it had its uses, but she never saw Sage use the Devil Fruit to any real extreme. But now as Rose felt the pressure of the room skyrocket she was beginning to understand that perhaps Sage had just figured out how to properly use the Devil Fruit.

Sage quite possibly possessed one of the most versatile and powerful Devil Fruits of the Infinity Pirates, but she was probably also one of the most inept users of them.

Mikoto and Enma's Devil Fruits were much combat oriented, but they were also a lot less versatile. Sage was lucky in that her Devil Fruit allowed her much wider berth of abilities than either of theirs, but unlike them her aversion to fighting limited it severely. She couldn't use it to the best of its ability.

Meeting Shane may have just jump started a powerful ability.

"Let's head on out," Sage stated, "we need to meet up with Mikoto and let him continue with his job. Shane is supposed to fight him."

"Yes," Reymundo stated as he struggled to his feet, "and that is quite possibly the most disturbing fact. Alan's speed greatly transcends my captain's. There is no way Shane will be able to catch him with anything other than a surprise attack and knowing my captain his pride would not allow him to win a fight with such an underhanded tactic."

"So, what are you saying?" asked Rosa, "Are you saying we are screwed because your captain can't beat him? Take a page from Sage's book and support him regardless of whether or not he'll win a fight."

"Mikoto will win," Sage pouted once more stubbornly.

"I never stated my captain will lose," muttered Reymundo nodding forward and telling everybody else to hurry on their walk. "I just stated he will have the cards stacked against him. As a matter of fact if you would permit me to be frank I am more worried for his opponent. There is nothing that I would fear more than Shane when his engine is running on full throttle."

Sage paused for a second before nodding. Reymundo was right. Shane's strength was unlike any other. It was enough to continuously push her during their fight. Sage was surprised when she had faced off against Shane. Shane may have kicked his engine down during their fight to such a point where even Sage could handle him, but even when they took it up another notch Shane never seemed to have pushed his true power.

Shane's strength seemed to have a near infinite reservoir. It may seem odd seeing as how she had just talked about Mikoto's strength, but she knew both of their comparative strengths and it was hard for her to believe either of them could lose. However, the more she thought about it the more she was worried for Mikoto. Shane could probably destroy him with one punch. "Mikoto'll win!" Sage shouted once more with a renewed strength.

"Shane will win!" Reymundo chanted in. Sage gritted her teeth and flashed him a mean look, she was certain he didn't know that she was thinking, but it still felt as if he had just insulted Mikoto.

(-With Aaron-)

Aaron kicked another one of the foolish men who thought they could handle him. He had grown rather bored with how harshly he had been attacking each and every one of them, but he supposed such things were to be expected. He quickly turned around and started to look around once more. He would have to find someone else's butt to kick in a few seconds. Or maybe perhaps a woman around for him to caress. He liked the idea, but didn't know where to go to find such a person. Aaron looked left and right and began to approach the fortress once more. Things had grown slow. He supposed this just meant that the rest of Mikoto's crew was just beginning to get started.

Aaron didn't know what he would do with the lack of people around. He certainly couldn't go in and join back up with Mikoto's crew, after all Mikoto had already stated the fact that he still didn't know anything about him. And that was a bridge that Aaron didn't really want to cross just yet.

"I suggest you either start fighting with Mikoto's crew or you hightail it out of here," stated another man as he came up behind Aaron. "Get a move on now," he stated, "cause I don't really like the idea of having another insect to squash."

"Who are you?" asked Aaron as he turned around to face his opponent. The guy smiled and chuckled.

"I'm a Shichibukai. More importantly I am the one of this island. Alan Fox," offered the man as he moved towards his opponent, a certain cocky gait to his walk. "You see despite how I acted I still liked this island. It has been my home for a long time, so I do enjoy it a lot more than I had previously expressed."

"It is a rather nice island, too bad its rulers are a bunch of a brats," Aaron mocked causing Alan to nod his head in agreement.

"Quite right, we are great people and anybody who opposes great people naturally feel and perhaps a little bit of a desire to mock them. So that's what you do. Mock us, your clear superiors."

"Superiors? Hah!" laughed Aaron as he twisted around, compressing his body into a smaller size before blasting out of it, using all of his body behind a single burst of speed and power. The attack shot out like a bullet incredibly quick and directly at his opponent.

Alan leaned out of the way before lifting the palm of his hand at his opponent. Alan placed the palm of his hand onto his opponent's chest. "I may not be the strongest or fastest out me and my brothers, but I am still a very powerful person. Due to my incredible intellect I have become an incredibly deadly opponent."

Aaron whipped around once more, bringing in a slicing kick from down above onto his opponent. Alan Fox chuckled as he struck up at the body intending to intercept it. He met the kick about halfway down, slamming the palm of his hand into Aaron's knee knocking the quick kid wonder back.

"The human body is surprisingly frail, is it not?" asked Alan with a cocky smile on his face. "We are always touting our strength, but with all the joints and pivots in our body a slight mishap could lead to permanent damage. One well-timed push in the wrong direction and the human leg becomes a limp noodle." Aaron quickly whipped his leg back behind his body.

Tae Kwon Do didn't just consist of kicks. Aaron took a deep breath and dove right back into the fray. He readied his spear hand, drawing it back and stressing the force that was building up onto it, before letting it go like an arrow. The small slender hand was aimed right for Alan's throat it appeared he wasn't the only one with a keen understanding of the human body.

Any strong force on the throat can easily close it up and induce massive asphyxiation, which could of course lead to death. Then again just knowing where it was didn't amount to much. Alan whipped to the side, his slender build making it easier on him than someone of say, Shane's size. Once to the side Alan brought his two arms up.

One arm went on each side of Aaron's arm. The first went to the inside of Aaron's wrist and the other the outside of Aaron's elbow. This constrictive movement was akin to many arm submission moves in wrestling. The joint in the elbow only bent one way, should it be forced to bend in the opposite way incredible pain and generally breakage will occur.

Alan performed a small twist to the arm bringing Aaron down to his knees due to the pain. Aaron hit the floor hard, barely capable of standing on his own two legs. Aaron quickly slithered his arm out of the whole and whipped around, making another quick kick right for Alan's head. But the Shichibukai was leagues ahead of Aaron's speed. He wasn't faster than his opponent, it was just that he could predict his opponent's moves on a whole different level.

It wasn't experience like Kraven's predictions or Mikoto's primal instincts that allowed him to know what his opponent would do. As a matter of fact his ability to predict moves were based strictly on his intelligence. He studied fighting movements, understood the limits of the human body, and from those areas of expertise he could construct a reasonable expectation of what his opponent would do and how they would do it.

Aaron's rigorous training had embedded into him a very strict form of fighting. A form of fighting which once Alan had seen it his brain had already spent another few seconds of figuring out how to defeat it. And now he had seen it, he pieced everything together already.

"This is boring," Alan stated with a yawn. "I've done so much already, I keep fighting with you and you keep doing so little to keep things exciting. Perhaps a walk around this island was the wrong idea. Staying inside would provide a more stimulating experience, if only my workers weren't so slow on building 'Paradise'."

"'Paradise'?" Asked Aaron as he backed up and separated himself from his opponent. Aaron checked out his body once more. His body had taken a lot of damage thus far. If his opponent got his hands on his body once more it was possible for Alan to try and snap his arm off again. And Aaron feared that Alan may actually be able to succeed at it if it happened again.

"Paradise was something that was so technically advanced it was believed to be a fairy tail. Something written off as wishful thinking during the time of the ancient weapon, but this element continues to perpetuate over and over again. A certain island that managed to stay out of war despite poor offenses and defenses. That is the very island we are standing on.

"A dream was born and made on this island something so incredibly wonderful that it is said even the Ancient Weapon grow pale in its splendor. That is the device called 'Paradise'! Originally the ultimate anti-war device, but with a few small calibration changes turning it into the ultimate war machine was child's play."

"And you are trying to create it?" Aaron asked as he checked the ground he was standing on. An incredibly strong and quick attack was what he needed a move, that launched and finished within the same millisecond. It didn't matter how quick Alan was to respond, it would still be too slow. Aaron could feel his muscles tensing, preparing for one sudden burst.

Two Shichibukais

Sorry about forgetting the last chapter. I could've sworn I did throw it out, but for some reason it didn't come. I apologize. Hopefully it won't happen again.