Claw Clashings and Scythe Slashings

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

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Herman backed away into the street as the muscular man slowly walked towards him. He felt a little nervous, but that didn't stop him from raising a pincer claw and a fist, "C'mon...bring it!"

Kuma laughed, "I'd love to, but I dunno if I should, merman. You see, with my Devil Fruit and the diluted blood of giants in my veins, I already have more strength than you. If I want to 'bring it' like you want me to, then you could end up dead,"

"What fruit did you eat?" Herman asked, mind racing for any thought, "I know it's Zoan...,"

The large man smiled, showing his sharp teeth again, "Kuma Kuma no Mi: Model Grizzly," he replied with a hint of pride in his voice.

Herman raised an eyebrow, "Kuma Kuma no Mi?" he repeated and scratched his head with his normal hand, "Wow...didn't see that coming. But I guess you're just a Zoan mercenary instead of the real Kuma, one of the Shichibukai," he shook his head, "Think I got lucky,"

Kuma chuckled darkly as he puffed his cigar, "That's what you think!". With that said, Kuma transformed into what Herman could guess was his hybrid form. He looked larger and stood on his back legs like a person, but he now had a fine coat of fur, longer, sharper teeth hanging from his jaws, and long, curved claws coming out of his fingertips.

Herman looked up at the newly transformed Zoan user, "...holy shit,"

Kuma let out a roar and charged at Herman, "HERE I COME!"

"Aragosta Parate," Herman's body curled up into it's ball form just in time. Seconds after he curled up, he felt heavy blows from above. Even though he was protected, he couldn't help but wince, the blows on his shell were pretty strong and through his shell, he began to feel stinging sensations.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to save Niri!" Kuma's muffled voice shouted from outside his shell as the bear Zoan continued to pummel his shell.

Meanwhile, outside with Dusty and Death.

The kitsune girl back-flipped away from Death's recent attack. She flipped a few yards down the street before coming to a stop and looking at her opponent. Death had just pulled out a wicked-looking scythe from her back and was currently trying to slice her up.

"HA! You may have a scythe...," Dusty pulled out her own scythes, "...but I got two, so there!"

Death giggled as she spun her scythe in her hand, "The amount of weapons one carries doesn't matter, fox...,"

Dusty watched as the woman suddenly disappeared in a blur. She looked around, "Hey, where'd she go?! Where'd Crazy Lady go?!". Her ears twitched as light footsteps were heard behind her, just before a large, curved blade was pressed against her throat. Dusty tensed as she heard Death's slow breathing right behind her.

"...it's what's behind those weapons," Death whispered before running her scythe across Dusty's collarbone, grazing her.

"Okay, that's it!" Dusty jerked her head back into Death's masked face hard, "Back off, bitch!"

A loud cracking sound was heard and the kitsune was released from the hold she was in. Ignoring her new wound for now, Dusty turned around and glared at Death, whose hands were holding her now broken mask. While Dusty's head didn't shatter it, it left a couple of decent sized cracks in the smooth material.

Taking this opportunity, Dusty gripped her scythes and ran past Death, her own blades outward. As she darted past, she ripped two gashes into Death's hip. The masked woman gasped and fell to a knee while Dusty came to a favorable spot behind her.

"Nyah!" Dusty stuck out her tongue and pulled down an eyelid, "Take that, freaky chick! I told ya, I got two scythes and I can kick ass with them any day of the week!"

Her hands stained with her own blood, Death removed her hands from her wound and turned to Dusty, apparently forgetting all about the gashes in her hip.

"Fox," she grabbed her scythe and planted it into a nearby wall, leaving it there, "You are in for a world of hurt,"

"Why and how?" Dusty eyed the scythe, "You just got rid of your weapon! How can you beat me without a weapon!"

Death giggled, "The same way my friend Kuma can beat your merman friend without a weapon. I have a Devil Fruit of my own,"

Dusty's eyes narrowed, "Oh you gotta be kiddin' me!"

Her enemy shook her head, "No, I'm not. Allow me to show you before I beat you to a senseless pulp,". Death took a deep breath, still forgetting about her still bleeding wound and Dusty watched as Death's body began to undergo a change that seemed familiar to her, but was very different. For one thing, Death's body was slowly being covered with a fine coat of white fur, her hands and bare feet began to look like some kind of padded animal paws, her legs became a bit arched while her feet grew larger, and to top it off, her head gained a pair of tall white ears. Whether or not her face had a change, she couldn't tell because of the mask, but she did know what she was looking at.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Dusty's jaw dropped and she pointed at Death, "A BUNNY GIRL?!"

Death nodded, "That's right, I'm a bunny girl, as you just said," she smirked behind her mask, "Like Kuma, I ate a Devil Fruit. My fruit was the Usagi Usagi no Mi: Model Snow,"

Dusty sweatdropped, "That sucks for you, then, huh?" she struck a pose, "Too bad you couldn't get the Inu Inu no Mi: Model Kitsune, because that's like the best Zoan fruit out there!"

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that," Death cracked her paw-hands, "Now, you said I couldn't hurt you 'cause I tossed my weapon?" she pushed off the ground and practically flew at Dusty. The kitsune stepped out of the way, but that wasn't a good tactic, because Death's leg tripped her as ducked out of the way. Dusty hit the floor a little hard, immediately tasting blood in her mouth.

Dammit! Dusty rolled along the street and flipped onto her feet again, blood trickling from both ends of her mouth, "You're gonna pay for that!"

"Am I?" Death asked, appearing in front of Dusty, fists raised, "Usagi Punchy!"

Before Dusty could register what she had just said, she watched as the rabbit girl's fist rammed itself into her face, sending her flying a few good yards. Blood flowing from her nose, Dusty hit the street and skipped along the wooden boards, cursing with each bounce.

Okay...okay...I was wrong about her... Dusty wiped her nose, smearing blood over her upper lip, "Okay...you just asked for an ass-kicking!" she shot to her feet, but before she could even take a step, Death was suddenly in front of her again.

"Getting up after that first one, huh?" she held up two paw-hands, "Try this then...Usagi Gatling Punchy!"

Death's two fists shot outward and struck Dusty hard, but instead of one punch from each fist, Death unleashed a barrage of quick punches that, to the untrained eye, looked similar to Luffy's Gatling Gun technique, something that Dusty and her nakama were quite familiar with.

Back with Herman and Kuma, the latter backed away from the still curled up form of the merman, his fists bloodied from punching the red shell repeatedly. All that punching, and the only thing he was able to do is make some slight cracks in the so called merman armor. Once the beatings ceased, Herman's body rolled a few feet away and he uncurled himself, looking unphased.

"Are you done?"

Kuma grinned and held up a hand, his claws gleaming in the sunlight, "Not yet...," he leapt high into the air, claws out as far as he could, and descended onto Herman, "Bear Claw!".

Herman's torso soon had five large, wide gashes as Kuma's bear claws slashed into him. The merman doubled over, holding his body, Shit! Wasn't smart to come out yet!

"I was hoping better from a merman," Kuma flexed his claws, "All you've done is hide and when you come out, you already have a bad wound," he shook his head, "You guys just suck,"

"I may have hidden, but that was until a good moment came," Herman shot his pincer claw outward and latched onto Kuma's shoulder, "You're mine now, asshole! I'll teach you to mess with my friends...," he growled, tightening the pincer, making blood trickle down Kuma's shoulder.

Kuma, however, didn't seem bothered by it. Instead of even wincing, he held up both sets of claws, "Grizzly Frenzy!". In what almost looked a blur of furry arms, Kuma's claws tore into Herman's body rapidly, tearing and ripping apart the merman's flesh.

Herman screamed in pain, released Kuma's shoulder and backed away, his blood flowing more and more freely. He winced, trying to get the pain out of his mind, What is with me and attracting enemies that have sharp claws?!

"Kuma!" Death's voice interrupted the fight, "I'm done over here!"

The lobsterman snapped his head up to the side and his stalks widened when he saw Dusty was unconscious and slung over Death's shoulder.

"DUSTY!" he got back on his feet and charged at Death, claw raised high, "Hang on!"

"I don't think so! You're still fighting me!" Kuma shouted just before his fist collided with the side of Herman's face. The lobster merman crashed into the wooden planks of the street, his vision screwed up due to blood loss and the recent head injury.

Rolling onto his back, as his vision went in and out of blurriness, he could see Death and Kuma standing over him. He tried to get back up, but he just didn't have it in him, "Just get it over with," he mumbled, vision getting worse.

"I think he wants us to kill him, Mel!" Death's voice laughed. Herman frowned, Mel? Who is Mel, there's no Mel here...? he wondered as he felt Kuma pick him up with just one of his arms. He began to go in and out of consciousness, Herman heard a muffled conversation between Death, Kuma, and someone else he couldn't see.

Guys...sorry... with that, Herman blacked out and joined Dusty in captivity and defeat.

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A short time before Herman's and Dusty's fight came to a close, on the grassy plains outside of Mock Town...

"Just so you know, because I'm a little girl that doesn't mean I'm a wimpy weakling!" Sunshine twirled her knives and ran at him as he ran at her, "Lemme show you-ACK!"

To their surprise, Austin and Pingu watched as the girl tripped over something and before either of them could do anything to prevent it, the girl plowed right into Austin, knocking him and herself to the ground. Both Pingu and the small panda in the orange hoody watched the two of them roll around for a few moments before coming to a stop, both of their bodies tangled. However, that wasn't what made Pingu stare.

Austin's eyes went wide as he found himself kissing the girl that had just tried to attack him. The two of them had ended up kissing each other completely by accident. The girl pulled back and wiggled out of the mess of limbs, face very red. Austin's face soon had the same color.

Sunshine bowed deeply, "I am so sorry! I...uhm...I gotta...sorry!".

With that, the girl turned around and sped off away from him. Confused, embarassed, and wanting to finish the fight, Austin took off after her, leaving the small panda and penguin behind on the plain, the both of them scratching their heads in confusion.

When the two humans were out of their sight, Pingu and the panda turned to each other. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before jumping back from each other, flippers and claws raised. What happened next happened in the form of a small dust cloud filled with angry honks, growling, and painful yelps as claws, beaks, flippers, and jaws went wild.

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Kilnorc: This isn't good. Herman and Dusty are down, and Pingu's fighting the panda. However, it seems that Austin inadvertantly got, what a lot of people would guess to be, his first kiss! Seems that strange things can happen on the battlefield, huh? BTW, Kuma's and Death's Zoan Fruits are created by Dude of Doom, but their animal attacks I made for this chapter.

On the next chapter of Homeland...

DJ: A gun inside a guitar?! Who the hell is this guy?

Mariachi: 'ou got to do better than that to 'it me!

DJ: This is for Niri-chan! Sharp Note

Mariachi: I vould run if I vere 'ou

Musician's Gone Crazy

Mariachi: 'ou remind me of myself vehn I vas 'ounger...