The marines outside stood with their rifles aimed at the doors to the manor house. A scrambling businessman had come to the base minutes prior and informed them that someone had attacked Lord Ostin down the road. Due to his status, this prompted an immediate response from the base commander who sent forty of his best men to handle the situation. While the commander had little respect for the lords who lived on the cliff he hated paperwork far more. However, none of the marines had expected resistance quite like the kind they found.

It had begun with the breaking down of the door from the inside. Low and behold two combatants, a woman and a fishwoman leapt from within the building and confronted the marines.

"Hello boys." Bianca said. "If you put your weapons down now we won't have to beat the snot out of you."

Of course, none of the marines took that quite well. On the correct assumption that this was the woman who had assaulted the lord, and the fishwoman was an escaped slave, they opened fire immediately. Ten men fired their rifles, and ten more followed suit, but no shot hit its mark. The two women were much too smart for that, and had moved to the sides and rushed the company from both ends.

Bianca entered the left side of the column of men with a flying kick right in the face of one marine. His body flew over his comrades, and before they could even react she planted a punch in the chest of another to her left. At this point the marines had managed to regain their senses and quickly drew their swords in an attempt to deal with their opponent head on.

On the other end of the mass, Alphyne was moving around the battlefield as if it were her natural element. To her, humans were hardly an issue thanks to her strength that dwarfed their own. One marine attempted to charge her with his cutlass, but she deftly dodged the strike and pressed her palm into his chest.

"Fishman Karate: Torrent Palm!" She shouted.

At once, water from the atmosphere coalesced along her palm and impacted against the man's chest. His body crashed into multiple marines standing behind him causing them to tumble over in a heap. Those nearby who hadn't been knocked onto their butts were looking at the fishwoman with horror on their faces. None of them had ever even seen a fishman before, and now they were supposed to fight one who used techniques no one had even heard of.

Alphyne took advantage of this fear, and pressed her attack with a roundhouse kick into the marine on her right. Landing on her palm she spun around and kicked marine on her left in the legs causing him to fall where she knocked him out with a quick punch.

Bianca was having a more difficult time with her opponents by that point. She had never fought so many people before, and without her traditional weaponry she was at a greater disadvantage. With every marine she punched out of her way a new one would sprout up ready to take her down with his blade. Upon seeing this from across the way Alphyne laughed.

"Do you need help, human?" She called.

Bianca socked another marine with a haymaker, and gave Alphyne a dirty look.

"Please, I'm just getting warmed up." She replied.

A marine suddenly dove at her from above with his sword set to impale her.

"Warm up on this, scum!" He cried.

Bianca rolled out of the way just in time as the sword came crashing down into the dirt. Things were getting quite a bit more intense, but it was nothing she couldn't handle despite what Alphyne had said. She still had the trick she had been saving until this very moment.

She jumped back a few feet and lowered herself near to the ground. Alphyne tossed a marine out of the way and turned back to look at her compatriot, and what she saw surprised her more than anything today. Many of the marines who remained standing were also frozen by the sight. Before their very eyes Bianca began to grow snow white fur that covered her entire body. Her physiology drastically changed in a mere instant until she was more canine than human. She was as tall as three men, her teeth as large as knives, and her eyes a harrowing black that stood out against the surrounding color. She looked down at the marines with a sort of contempt as if she no longer felt the need to see them as a threat.

"So, who's first?" She growled, her voice like breaking stones.

None of the marines stepped forward, and some even dropped their swords. It was hard enough to deal with the fishwoman, but fighting a devil fruit user like Bianca was something none of them had expected. On an island like this there was hardly anyone who had ever even seen a devil fruit, and aside from their commander they weren't even sure if anyone had ever fought someone who had a power. Alphyne, on the other hand, was laughing like this was the funniest joke she had ever heard.

"Well, well, human. I didn't think you had something like that in you." She said in between laughs.

Bianca smiled a toothy grin. She kept this power hidden most of the time simply due to how much energy it drained, but she always loved to use it. The praise only made her more excited.

"My word, that is certainly an interesting transformation." A new voice said.

Bianca looked past the marines to see a figure standing behind them. When the rank and file turned around as well they immediately cleared a path and stood at attention. Now that the two aggressors could see the newcomer clearly they could tell that he was the man in charge. Alphyne snorted at the lower ranked soldiers as they barely held together their own formation. Clearly they were beaten, but some almost seemed hopeful now.

The man that the marines were saluting stepped forward. His white coat fluttered in the slight breeze, and as he walked he stroked his grey beard with an almost sagely air about him. His eyes were focused entirely on Bianca save for a few glances towards Alphyne. He stopped only a few feet away from the apparent devil fruit user, and continued to admire her. Alphyne took a few steps towards him on the right, but was wary enough to not get too close. Bianca held her ground before the commander, but was careful not to make many moves either. She had no clue what this man was capable of, and didn't intend to find out wrong way.

"I assume you've eaten a devil fruit, girl." The aged commander said. "What was it, if I may ask."

Bianca was unsure whether to respond at first, but she put aside her reservations for the moment. This man was willing to speak before he dealt blows, and that made him worth returning the favor.

"The Dog Dog Fruit, Fenrir Model." She replied.

The man's eyes widened for a moment.

"The wolf who eats gods. How interesting." He exclaimed. "To find a mythical zoan in these waters is rare indeed. How did you come across it?"

"I stole it from the house of a Celestial Dragon." Bianca said.

"A hefty risk to take for something like that, wouldn't you say?" The commander questioned.

"It was better I have it." Bianca replied. "He would have hurt a lot of people with it."

The elder marine continued to stroke his beard. He had no doubt that this girl was truthful in that regard. The Celestial Dragons did tend to be cruel individuals, and using a devil fruit to cause harm to others was one of their tamer offenses he had heard of.

"What is your name, child?" He asked.

Bianca did not respond quickly. She wasn't sure if providing her true name was wise. Sure, she was bound for the life of a pirate, but punching nobles tended to get one in more trouble than they expected.

"Forgive me." The commander said, suddenly. "I did not consider how rude it must be to ask for the name of another without first offering one's own name in turn."

He offered her a slight bow of his head.

"I am Captain Leon, resident commander of the marine base stationed up the hill." He offered.

Bianca was taken aback by the captain's own courtesy. Surely he meant it only as a formality, but she felt a sort of respect coming from him as well. Marines did come in all stripes after all, she knew that, but this seemed different altogether.

"Otto Bianca, pirate." She said.

Captain Leon nodded, and turned to Alphyne.

"And you, miss?" He said.

Alphyne hesitated as well, both perturbed by this man's openness and his manners towards her. Today was just full of humans being far nicer to her than she expected.

"Alphyne, former slave." She replied.

The captain's face grew a shadow at that response, but he recovered.

"I am deeply sorry for such circumstances to have befallen you, Alphyne. I did not realize these nobles had been keeping slaves in their homes." He said.

Both fighters were shocked by the words, and, judging by their faces, so were the marines. While the worst secret kept on the seas was the existence of the slave trade it was not so common that one might find it here in the North Blue. Still, to hear a marine captain apologize to an escaping slave who had just beat his own men into the dirt was something no one would expect.

Captain Leon turned back to Bianca.

"I take it you came here to free this woman." He said.

"Not just her, but all of them. I won't say how many, but the others have already escaped." Bianca said.

The captain nodded. He had expected as much, and was glad to hear that the poor souls had been set free. That only left the present matter to deal with.

"Well then," He began. "I suppose you two are the issue I must deal with. Despite your intentions, you have still assaulted my men, and left quite a few of them with injuries. I'm afraid I can't turn a blind eye to such actions."

"I wouldn't expect you too." Bianca said. Alphyne grunted a confirmation as well.

"I'm glad you see it that way, Ms. Bianca." Captain Leon said. "So, shall we do battle?"

Bianca dropped back into her low stance, and readied herself.

"Sure, as long as it's just you and me." She said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." The captain replied.

In a motion faster than one would expect from an aged soldier like himself he had tossed away his coat and revealed a physique that seemed like it belonged more to a thirty-year-old. His muscles rippled with strength, and Bianca found herself quite impressed.

"At your ready, Ms. Bianca." Captain Leon challenged with a smile.