A Shichibukai's Agenda
Mikoto stumbled backwards, the flames that once coated his fists had completely died down into a dull heat around his knuckles. The heat pulsed off of his body and he sighed softly as he collapsed backwards. His arms hanging wearily by his sides as if there were no more muscles alive in them at all. A dull breeze would knock him the rest of the way down.
He gritted his teeth, his sharp fangs baring themselves as he tried to stay alive. He tightened his knuckles to the point that they white, throwing his arms up into the air Mikoto let out all of his strength in one final whoop, "I WON!" With the last vestiges of his strength leaving his body he collapsed backwards into the ground beneath him.
It was softer than he imagined. Or maybe he was just much, much more tired than he imagined as he actually could feel himself begin to drift off to sleep on the sand just mere inches away from the man who had tried to kill him just a couple of seconds ago.
(-With Zesiro-)
Zesiro staggered forward, his hand going up to his chest and clasping at it. How many ribs did he probably have broken now? Six? Seven? Or maybe even all 12 pairs? Zesiro leaned forward, crashing down to one knee. He breathed heavily. He was injured, no surprise there. That he would have trouble standing and moving about was only natural.
If he was an ordinary man he probably would've sat down and died, many superhumans probably would've at least sat down to catch their breaths, but Zesiro wasn't going to have any of it. He braced himself on his swords and walked forward. Shigoro had knocked him far off of his original path, but he could find it again.
He didn't have the faintest clue as to where Mikoto could possibly be, but he wanted to find out as quickly as possible. He surged forward, putting as much strength into his legs as he could muster and climbed forward. It would be an upwards hike all the way to the top of the mountain. And this was now mole hill.
Every step seemed to drain more energy out of his body more than it should. He nearly collapsed when a small rock appeared in his way, stumbling forward and going down to just a knee. He really didn't have any kind of energy in his body. Completely out of it. Tilting forward and hitting the ground, Zesiro had finally fell.
This was what these pirates were like. And they were declaring war against them. They had to win though. Really pushing themselves to the limits were the only thing they could do. As exhausting as it was. Yonkous and the Marine Admirals were next. There would be no time for rest either. Pushing himself back Zesiro tried to get standing again, but he was incapable of exerting that much strength and instead came crashing the remainder of the way to the ground.
His eyes bulged and he felt his chest nearly burst. He was out of energy. And with that he lost consciousness.
(-With Mikoto-)
"Pssht," muttered one young girl as she loomed over the fallen hybrid, an obvious look of disdain upon her young-looking face. "He's the kid, we are supposed to be beating our lives on, huh?" she shook her head, obviously unimpressed. It was 'Lucky' Lin. Another Shichibukai. She was a bit short and young-looking for her age, but she refused to tell anyone what her real age was. Insisting it didn't matter cause she looked no older than 20.
And in most ways it didn't matter. She was a Shichibukai, paid on the World Government's dollar and hired to handle Mikoto. She had heard of him once before back when Trevor got involved. Her interest in him was there, but she was never assigned to go out and kill him and even if she was it seemed like a bigger bother than it should be.
Her opened up like a beautiful flower and then a small spark jumped between her fingers. Kneeling down she pressed her hand against Mikoto's chest. "Energize." Electricity jumped off of her hands and straight up, forming a heart with its trail before suddenly crashing right back into her hand like an arrow and right into Mikoto's chest.
Mikoto's eyes snapped open. There was a small tingling in his chest, which only just barely hinted at what had happened. He had practically been arrived, his own veins were pumping electricity a bit. His brain had seemed to be refreshed. However, he could barely focus himself as the girl's finger began to blow light blue.
"Don't move," she stated, "I currently pumped some extra voltage into your body, however, all it takes is a light shot from my finger to focus the electricity in your body into a single place again. Probably kill you."
Pausing, Mikoto looked down at her finger and didn't move. He understood perfectly fine. The only movement he made was with his head, slowly bringing it up and down. The electricity probably wouldn't last long and until then he could listen to her. He rolled his head back, a bit upset his sleep had been interrupted, but at least he wasn't drained of energy any more. Mikoto's legs twitched a bit uncomfortably.
"So you're planning to take down the Marines and the Revolutionaries?" asked Lin with a wide smile. More electricity appeared on the tips of her fingertips, hopping wildly between them. "Its quite surprising to hear that someone like you could actually think they could do it. Look at how tired you are just after fighting one Shichibukai."
"He was a tough one."
"I'll admit I probably could never have taken him out," Lin stated, with a bit of poison dripping from her lips. She was annoyed obviously, but more importantly than that, there was just a hint of the word impressive that was dangling from her lips. "But compared to him the monsters that await you are even bigger and more dangerous."
Mikoto slowly nodded, "I know that and I accept that. Marine Admirals, the Fleet Admiral, how many of them still await me at the top of this spiral? I don't know, but I'm going to do as much damage as possible. If a war breaks out between the two right now, the balance would be thrown off according to Victoria."
"Yes, I've spoken to Victoria as well," Lin stated, matter-of-factually, as if that made her inherently better than Mikoto. "She's told me all about it. Right now, the Revolutionaries are keeping the Marines in check by offering its people an alternative if the Marines pushes things too far. If too many bad laws come into play the Revolutionaries' strength will grow rapidly and be able to overthrow the World Government.
"The pirates support the Marines in this manner. The pirates necessitate the need for the Marines while the Marines are necessitating the need for the Revolutionaries. Though the pirates are too disorganized to be a real threat to the Marines they still threaten the people enough and that justifies the Marines' actions allowing it to grow.
"And finally the last piece in the puzzle: the Revolutionaries give rise to the pirates. A couple of rioting actions meant to stir debates by the Revolutionaries instead stir hatred towards the government and its people. Pirates are born from this hatred and confusion.
"If any one of these groups are wiped out the balance would be thrown off. Should the Revolutionaries be wiped out the Marines' power will grow out of control, a totalitarian government would reign supreme. The number of pirates would dwindle cause the number of Revolutionaries were cut off making the World Government too large for its own britches.
"Should the Marines fall however, the Revolutionaries would lose power. No longer would people join up to 'overthrow' the evil World Government. The new laws they would enact would turn people criminal and the pirates would rise, rise much faster than the number of Revolutionaries, which would be falling all along. Anarchy would soon slip in."
"And we need to prevent those things!" shouted Mikoto waving his arm through the air, which technically broke Lin's 'no-moving rule', but she seemed willing to let this one slid. Indeed her blood was probably boiling as much as his was.
"And you're third idea is to bet the pirates, unaware that if you lose and the pirate forces are wiped out the need for the Marines will drop to an all-time low. Their restrictive laws meant to hold back the pirates will now impede greatly on the average citizen with no benefit. Taxes will seem outrageously expensive for so little protection. The Revolutionaries will see this as the perfect time to revolt. And they will with more than enough support from the citizens. Its not fixing it, its giving it another way to go wrong."
"I'll prevent it," Mikoto murmured quietly, "besides what other options have we got?"
Lin smiled as if she had all of the answers, but refused to tell them. "You're right about that," Lin stated with a small smile, "I agree let's just go through with this plan." Lin shrugged it off and motioned for Mikoto to stand up. Mikoto paused, he wasn't sure if he could trust her still. She had already told him move and die.
Lin stepped forward and motioned a lot harder, giving Mikoto no choice. Mikoto stood up and the tingling started to dissipate. Lin smiled, "for the time being, I'll side with you. My spot as a Shichibukai has been relinquished. I never liked the Marines myself, my crew told me horrible tales about them."
"But you're a Shichibukai."
"The deal was too good to pass up," she stated showing off a slight hint of intelligence behind her grin, "I got to sit in and many meetings with the Marines. I've learned more and more about the Marines than most pirates ever would. Which is exactly why you should be on my side. A Shichibukai alongside the Shichibukai killer."
Mikoto looked questioningly over at her, "is that what they are calling me now? Its a sight better than 'Kid Coyote'," Mikoto admitted, apparently getting a little annoyed at the fact that 'Kid' was going to stick with him all the way through the end. He would just have to accept it, for better or worse.
Murmuring quietly to himself Mikoto stood up and brushed himself off and followed right behind Lin, who was now leading the way. "We'll do what you want and try to stop everyone, and we'll do it the right way."
Mikoto felt a slight rumbling, a change in the winds if you would. Mikoto, Shane, Victoria, Lin, and Melanie. A Yonkou, two dangerous pirates, and two Shichibukais. The world would definitely be shaking in its boots. Things would be falling apart really quickly. The Marines would have to keep their eyes out because a whole new kind of enemy was rolling in on them. The storm was coming. The winds were changing and it was blowing against the sails of the Marine's flags, desperate to tear them down.
"The next wave," Mikoto stated as he felt his body giving up beneath him, he was still tired, but he couldn't fall. A gentle breeze pushed against his back and blew him forward, "the next wave will be even bigger than this one. Let's shut those Marines up."
Black and White