Crew Split

"Clayground" declared a young man with dirt brown hair and an obviously arrogant look on his seemed misplaced though in this scenario as he young man was all alone on a dock while a large pirate ship barreled towards him. The small dock he was standing on began to get covered in clay as if to sturdy it for the impact.

He didn't look worried or even slightly excited at the premise of the large ship coming at him. He looked bored. "'Zero Heart' MacGillian, you are hereby under arrest by the command of Vice Admiral Kin Zignaut. You are ordered to cease and desist immediately."

"Ha ha ha!" shouted the pirate aboard the ship as he signaled to his men to increase their ramming speed, which caused their steam engine to puff out another burst. "I have over a 100 million belie bounty do you really believe that you and you alone can stop me? I beg your pardon fool!"

"You leave me no choice except to use extreme and deadly force," Kin lifted one hand into the air and flexed it. The air around him suddenly changed. The arrogant look soon became justified as the clay around him sprang to life forming two massive giant-like arms that jutted out of the ground. "Clay Colossus!"

The two arms eagerly rushed forward to meet the ramming ship stopping it in its tracks with little more than a worry. The pirate aboard the ship seemed worried as his ship had come to a sudden halt, but his worry only last a second before he began to smile once more.

"We're surrounded by water boy, you and your Devil Fruit don't stand a chance, you board this ship and I shall sink you without a second thought!" he waved his sword haphazardly above his head. He was quiet skilled with it already taking down many Marines including even ones as highly ranked as Rear Admirals. Not to mention how many houses and ships he had raided over the years, "come out to the sea and your worst nightmare!"

There was a heavy sigh echoing from Kin's mouth as he stepped back and drew his own sword, one made completely of clay. "Ordinarily I would enjoy humoring you a little, but my office has recently received some very disturbing news." Kin swished his sword around and aimed it right down the hull of the ship. "As a result I've decided I don't have the time for you. Clay Lightning."

It was smooth and quick step forward that sent Kin's sword thrusting with the speed of lightning. It grew, once more Kin's mastery with his Devil Fruit was perfect. The sword grew longer and zipped through the air. Rather than a sword it was more like a clay projectile with the speed and power of lightning itself. It ripped through the ship's hull.

The shot was far from a clean hit of a master's. The damage around the hull of the ship was rough and wide, indicating that Kin hadn't focused the damage into a single point, and rather than using any sort of technique had relied on power and power alone to overcome the ship's hardened exterior. The captain aboard the ship's eyes widened as he looked at the situation they were in.

Their ship, frozen in time by two giant hands. A deadly blade entering the ship in the front and exiting it in the back. He understood exactly what situation they were in and exactly what was coming next.

"Stalagmite," Kin commanded his Devil Fruit and sure enough both the clay hands and the clay sword changed. Before they had been smoothly coated over as if changed into the real things, but they grew now. It was almost as if a rampant disease overcame as they grew large bulbous callouses which exploded into spikes, piercing the ships in every way. They didn't spare even the men aboard, several of whom would have new holes to show off in prison the next day.

It was an even smoother pull out as Kin released his sword from its newly claimed ship and returned it to his hand. Kin smiled, pleased to see the massive galleon sink into nothingness before him. "Please tell the lower rank Marine there's some trash in the bay for them to recover," Kin muttered as he turned away and began to leave.

He was stopped rather instantly as Valerie Steele, another friendly face from the Marines shifted from her spot and walked up to him. "I'm surprised to see you here," she stated with a smile. In all honesty though, she wasn't that surprised. The news they had heard today had stunned them both and affected them both very much.

"The Kid Coyote is certainly making a name for himself, now isn't he?" Kin complained as he ran his hand through his hair once more. "When we first met him he seemed so weak I didn't even think I should bother with him, but he escaped me. The second time, our fight was interrupted."

"The third time we struck with him a truce and he still blew us away," Valerie stated recalling the time up at the URA, it was only a quick glance, but it was still enough. Mikoto was exceeding their expectations.

"And now we receive word that we're not only down two Shichibukais because of him, but actually four because the Fox Brothers were beaten and Kurai Ai had decided to defect to the Revolutionaries," muttered Kin. "We've had a hard enough time finding a replacement for Trevor, but now we must find even more.

"All the while guess who's poised and ready to strike," Valeria reminded him.

"His allies in this whole mess the Revolutionaries!" Kin smashed his fist into the ground and shook his head. "He may not be all that strong, but he knows exactly where and when to push it seems like. We've had more powerful pirates to deal with in the past, but I don't think any of them are turning out to be this bothersome!"

"Especially for a no-name," Valeria pointed out, "no regal blood-line, no experts training him, he's just charging ahead like a fool and he's making some serious headway. He doesn't have the slightest amount of actual training aside from his battles, but he's proven to be a very annoying adversary. He's even beaten you twice."

"I wouldn't say that," Kin corrected her, "the first time we've fought he used the power of the Rumble Ball to beat me. It was a completely unexpected turn of events for both of us. It was an unqualified power that he just stumbled onto and the second time our fight was interrupted before either of us could get serious."

"Still," Valerie stated with a smile as she swished by Kin and down the way, "he's still managed to tick you off."

"And for some reason, Hiro-Shu, the man on his crew who beat you doesn't tick you off," Kin laughed causing Valerie to get a little flustered. "I guess some of us just don't like taking our losses sitting down."

"That's why I'm here, right?" she countered, "the next time we encounter the Infinity Pirates. We'll be back and ready to take their heads."

"Indeed as only two Vice Admirals can."

(-with Shane and Mikoto-)

"You want to start a fight with the whole world?" asked Shane as he laughed, although he immediately regretted it. A couple of Kai's punches had really rang in home and shattered his ribs. Even laughing hurt like hell. He'd be okay soon enough though that much his doctor confirmed. And it wasn't due to any super medicine, more like it was just Kai's natural healing abilities.

"That's right," Mikoto stated with a swift nod, "and its not like you'll be on my team or anything either. We'd just not be shooting at each other while we're shooting at other people. I'm just saying if I'm going to be forced into a war I'd rather be fighting for myself."

"If you get forced into this war you'll get squashed!" Shane shouted as he broke into another laugh, and immediately grabbed his rib cage. "Unless you got a plan to handle the Shichibukais, Yonkous, and Admirals that'll be aiming for your head."

"I do," Mikoto brought up as he leaned in as close to Shane as he dared to get, "We've already got the offer. I say we run with it. Me, you, and the Yonkou, Victoria Shogun. Oh, and we're also going to try and get Melanie D. Stars, a Shichibukai and we're hoping your friend Armani Dove will come with us, too."

"I don't know if I should be ticked off you've added me to this half-baked battle plan without my permission or impressed you've gotten this far," Shane wondered, but he didn't really care either way. This sounded like a perfect opportunity for a fight. "Listen unlike you I have no interest with meeting Victoria. Its your plan, you handle negotiations. I'll just focus on getting Armani. Something tells me getting him to join may be the real problem. He doesn't half-ass anything. And that includes being a Revolutionary."

"I suppose there is nothing wrong with me bringing up one small problem in your plan," Reymundo stated as he sat down at the same table as Shane and Mikoto. The entire crew had been listening and were all deciding on how to handle things. However, even Mikoto had to say that there was more than just one small problem.

"How are you going to get the time to do all of this?" Reymundo asked. "Getting Armani, Victoria, AND a Shichibukai on your side? It'll take fifty years in order to have everybody agree on something. We don't have that sort of time."

"Well, like we said I can get Armani while Mikoto's off getting Victoria," Shane murmured, "the real problem would be getting the Shichibukai on our side within the same time frame. I highly doubt we can rely on just chancing into her when you guys are on our way from here to there."

"I'll go," stated Sage as she strode into the room, confidently. "We have a big enough crew now we can even take one of the Fox Brothers ships. But a handful of each people from each crew go we may be able to talk Melanie into joining up with us with just that. Especially when we say our captain is negotiating with a Yonkou."

"No!" scoffed Mikoto as he stood up from his seat. It took him a few seconds to realize how suddenly and forcefully he had said it. When he did finally realize it he settled back down into his chair and looked to the side. "I'm not splitting my crew up just like that."

"Do we really have that big of a choice?" asked Sage, "we need this. We need her help and in all honesty aside from my idea what do we have?"

"You're not leaving my side," Mikoto bit, "especially not now. Not with what we are getting ourselves into. I don't want to risk losing you or any of my crew at this point and that includes letting you jump out there and on this grenade. You'd probably be sailing right into Marine territory to get her!"

Sage whipped down and sat down next to Mikoto, all the while Mikoto followed her as she came down. She grabbed his hand and clasped it in-between her own, "trust me. We'll be fine. We're pirates. We can do this."

"I'll go along with the young missy," Reymundo stated calmly. "I trust this is fine with you, Shane?"

Shane grumbled and nodded his head, "not like she's going to need you, right?" Sage nodded exuberantly, although Shane knew it was just an act. She was trying to look tough for the time being. The reason she wanted to leave was because she was finally feeling good about her power. Felt like she had put her on the same level of power as Mikoto. Only to have that kind of faith in both her own power and her captain's power shattered at the same exact moment. The same was probably true for Reymundo now.

They wanted to grow stronger.

"I'm still saying no!" Mikoto barked.

However, as Shane's fist hit the table, breaking it into two as the large man stood up and glared at Mikoto, he felt a slight shift in his opinion suddenly. "Let them carry their own goddamn weight," Shane shouted, "they've been letting other people carry it for too goddamn long and they are sick of it! Let them finally shoulder their burdens and puff out their chests! She said it perfectly fine herself! She's a pirate! Let her be one!"

A Separation

So if you guys kept up with SSotS you'd know things weren't going too well in CSpacian-household, which may explain the lack of updates. I came down with a sickness, I had my wisdom tooth removed, I had finals, I have had a couple of job interviews as well, this is my last semester at college (woo-hoo!), and more recently my computer has had a virus infection, leading me to considering upgrading to something better or at this point, something usable. My current laptop is about 2-3 years old now, the battery is dying is quickly and it is chugging under the stress of some of the more basic programs and games, my anti-virus is basically killing my speed, but you can't uninstall that!

So while yes, I would like to say that you can expect semi-regular updates to start coming in again, but...I just don't know.