Test of Strength, Demon King vs Crow!
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
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Ignoring the wounds in his legs, chest, and arms, Devon stared the man who called himself Crow down, a fierce, determined look in his eyes.
"So, if I beat you, you'll tell me where Niri is?" the blonde nittoryu user asked slowly, "You know...if I don't kill you in the process for messing with my nakama?"
Crow smiled, his red eyes practically dancing in the light of the fire around them, "Sure, why not? But that's if you beat me...and if you don't kill me," he laughed coldly, "Though I seriously doubt you can do that," Crow reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, "Devon the Demon, worth only 40,000,000 beli.. They say that bounties don't reflect strength, but the threat they can pose to the world,"
Devon shrugged, "I don't care what the world or it's government thinks of me, I'm just trying to get stronger to do what must be done," he waved Geri from side to side a little, "You're gonna rue the day you messed with my friends," his hissed.
"Oh really?" Crow held up his own pair of blades, "Let's find out, shall we?"
"Fine by me!" Devon pointed his gladius downward and he immediately felt his energy pool into the blade, "Muspelheim, Kooen Kiri!" he rushed Crow and swung his glowing blade upward, "Eat this, Crow!". As he came close enough, Devon let loose his technique, the heated ki blade heading straight for Crow.
"Splitting the Water!" Crow swung one of his swords horizontally at Devon's attack. To the blonde, it looked like a wiggling air blade. That same air blade connected with the heated ki and to Devon's surprise, it seemed to stop the attack in mid-air, "What the hell...?" he murmured as Crow swung his other blade downward, creating a much straighter air blade at him.
"Shit!" Devon quickly brought Geri up just in time to catch and block the air-blade, "Nice try, but it's gonna take more than that to take me down!" he laughed as the blade dispersed.
"Perhaps," Crow looked at him thoughtfully, "That style...that technique...," he shook his head slowly.
Devon grinned proudly and held out his sword, "This is the style of the almight god Odin! Years ago, I began to learn not only the basics, but the great Nine Realms of Existence techniques that grants power! What style do you use, Crow?"
"It's called the Dance of Summer and Spring,"
Immediately, Devon snickered, "Dance...of Summer and Spring?" his snickering turned to out loud laughter, "You have got to be kidding me! What a wussy name for a sword style technique!"
Crow frowned, "You're making fun of my technique? Odin sounds like a stupid name too,".
"Sure, to some, but at least it fits a man, unlike Dance of Summer and Spring!" Devon wiped tears from his eyes, "Ah...seriously, that's something I'd imagine that baka Macleod to call his style of fighting,"
He's supposed to be a badass, but here he is laughing his ass off... Crow gripped one of his swords and plunged it into the ground, "Tearing the Mountains...,"
Devon stopped laughing, "Huh?"
Crow's muscles in his arm suddenly bulged outward and the mercenary ripped the blade out of the earth, and as he did, Devon watched as a large ripple-like action happened. The hole where Crow's sword was just moments before, began to grow and speed towards him, sending up large chunks of rock and wood as it did so.
"Shit!" Devon quickly rolled to the side, dodging the oncoming rocks, Heh, so he's got something like Sindri, huh? he looked back to Crow, but he was no longer there. Devon rose to his feet and looked around, "Come out, Crow, you coward! You mess with my nakama, you challenge me, and now you're hiding?!"
A low whistling sound from above made the swordsman back away just in time to see another arrow plunge into the wooden planks. Devon scowled, This isn't a normal arrow, but it's not the kind that exploded earlier, so what-? he was cut off as a large, gray cloud suddenly burst from the arrow, covering the street in a blanket of smoke. Devon coughed, hand over his mouth, "Dammit, Crow! What kind of honor do you have?!"
On a nearby rooftop, Crow watched the thick smoke cloud and smiled, "C'mon kid...let's see if you can get out of there," he whispered, running a finger along his sword.
As if they were called, two things suddenly burst from the smoke cloud. Crow frowned and jumped off the roof seconds before two blades of ki, one black and one white, sliced through the roof he was previously standing on. Crow landed on another rooftop and watched as the first roof slid off and crashed onto the street below. He also watched as the smoke cloud down below finally cleared, but Devon was no longer in there!
"What the...," Crow looked all along the streets, "Where'd he go?"
"HELMET SPLITTER!"
Crow snapped his head up just in time to see Devon coming down at him from the sky, sword raised and an angry look on his face.
"Shit!" Crow scrambled out of the way just in time to dodge the deadly attack, which sliced vertically into the other rooftop, splitting the roof apart.
Devon landed on that same roof, a foot on each side of the splintered rooftop. He turned his glare to Crow, an evil gleam in his eye.
"Where do you think you're going?" Devon pulled out his other gladius sword, "Niflheimr, Koori Kiri!"
-----
"You...have got...to be kidding me...,"
"Even I didn't see this coming,"
"Beer...,"
Arisa and Chizuru watched as Azu strode up to the bar of a tavern they had just entered, and take a seat to the vest wearing penguin that sat on a barstool, a tall glass of grog and a plate full of meat in front of him. Arisa blinked and pointed at the bird, "Is that...?"
Chizuru nodded, "That's Pingu and...," she facefaulted as Azu started chugging numerous drinks, "...that's Azu getting wasted," she finished, sighing.
The two girls walked up to the bar as Pingu shoveled a large steak into his beak, his cheeks puffing out. Chizuru took a seat between him and a large man in a blue coat, "You enjoying yourself?"
Pingu honked and guzzled down his drink. The bartender shook his head, "I gotta tell you, I have seen some strange stuff in my days on this earth, but I have never seen a penguin order, or even pay for a full steak meal with beer,".
Chizuru shrugged, "The Grand Line has many mysteries, my friend, and this," she pointed to Pingu, "...is one of them," she turned to the penguin as the barkeep went to another area, "You have any company recently?"
The bird nodded as he speared a steak.
"Those people have our friends," she continued, "So far, they have Herman, Dusty, and DJ. Azu and I got lucky because we weren't there to get a challenge, so we managed to get off without a hitch. However, we need to think of a plan to get them back. You with us,"
Pingu paused in his chewing and shot a "duh" look at her, and Chizuru couldn't help but smile. A light clinking sound made her look down to the log pose on her wrist.
"What in the world...? Azu, Pingu, check this out!"
Both the bird, and the now completely wasted shipwright turned to see the Log Pose on the navigator's wrist was currently pointing upward, towards the ceiling.
"The hell is this?" Chizuru held up her wrist and looked at the Pose, "Why is it pointing upward?"
A low chuckle came from her right, "Here we go again,"
Chizuru turned to the man in the blue coat. He had short blonde hair, and his head was wrapped up in bandages. She could see that he was grinning madly, as a wild animal would when it found prey.
"Excuse me?"
"BELLAMY!"
The people at the bar turned to see a couple of people enter the tavern. One of them was a tall man with blue hair and the other was a blonde woman in shades. They all could see blood on both of their coats. The blonde man growled and walked over to them.
"Sarquiss, what the hell happened to you?!" he demanded.
The blue haired man winced and held his wound, "Damn punk...with blonde hair and two swords pulled a fast one on me,"
Pingu, Azu, and Chizuru exchanged glances.
The blonde growled in anger and slugged the nearest patron, "SHIT! It's bad enough my reptutation as the Big 55,000,000 Beli Rookie gets his ass kicked by some weakling in a straw hat, you go and get sliced by another kid?!"
"It's not my fault, Bellamy...,"
Bellamy the Hyena glared at Sarquiss, "I don't care whose fault it is, you should've gutted him instead of losing to him! Did he have a bounty?"
"Yeah...40,000,000 Beli...or so he said,"
Bellamy cursed, "We can't keep getting our reputation trashed like this!" he ran a hand through his hair and walked back to the bar, taking a seat again, fists shaking. Chizuru glanced at him from the corner of her eye, Seems these Death Roots aren't the only ones who have a beef with us...
"What are we gonna do Bellamy?"
The blonde man chugged his beer, "We're going to get at least some of reputation back. Find that ass who cut you and bring his head here!" he turned to where Chizuru and the others were sitting, but he saw that they were no longer there and the swinging doors at the entrance were flapping back and forth.
-----
Crow ran his hands along the side of a building. He and Devon had been fighting for a good while now, and the punk even managed to slice him across the face, giving him a decent gash. Not to mention, that weird style of his let Devon freeze parts of a building with just a swing of his swords.
This kid is putting up a great fight, Crow grinned to himself, I was hoping for a challenge!
"You're stronger than a lot of people," Devon's voice floated behind him, "Only one other guy has given me this much of a challenge lately...and I kicked his ass,"
Instinctively, Crow ducked down, barely missing Devon's sword that struck the frozen wall, creating large cracks in the ice. He retaliated by spinning and thrusting his own sword forward, right at Devon's torso. Devon was able to pull back from the thrust, saving himself from the attack, but not his shirt.
"Thanks for the compliment...now let's see how strong you are, Demon!" Crow said as he began to circle around him.
"See how strong I am? You haven't been paying attention?!" Devon glared at him, "Look around! All this damage is from both of us! I'd say that I'm pretty damn strong!"
Crow smirked as he continued circling him, "Maybe you are strong...I am surprised that you haven't collapsed from blood loss yet," he commented, looking at the pool of blood at Devon's feet, his paints just about completely covered with his own blood.
"Fuck you, Crow!" Devon shouted, He's not completely wrong...I am feeling weak from the blood I've lost in this fight. I've practically painted this street with my blood!
"You know, you're looking a little tired," Crow said in a mocking tone, "Why don't you take a rest?"
Devon shook his head and lifted his swords, "This is a fight to the death! So, if you want to quit, let me kill you...," he rasped, wincing at the same time, "Aw shit...,"
Crow scratched his head, "Death Match, eh? Well, not technically, because I have orders to take you in alive, but if you do die in battle, I won't lose any sleep over it,"
"Sonofabitch...," Devon crossed his swords and charged towards him, "Tanketetsu!" he screamed, firing his near-invisible attack at Crow.
The mercenary smiled and ran at the attack, his own blades scraping against the street, "Cross Slash!" he ducked to the side, but winced slightly as Devon's attack grazed his shoulder. Using surprising speed, he was suddenly right in front of Devon's. He was even more surprised as the mercenary slashed him hard in the chest, sending him flying into the air. Devon held his chest and watched as Crow jumped up after him.
"Asshole...this isn't over!"
As soon as he was in range, Devon shoved one of his swords into Crow's leg as the man came flying past him. The mercenary shouted as blood spurt out of his leg, hitting Devon in the face.
"You wanna play like that, huh?!" Crow grabbed Devon's arms and flung him back to the street. Devon hit the street hard, creating a small crater as his body hit the ground. Crow landed not too far away and pulled his enemy's sword out of his leg. As soon as that was removed, he limped over to a bow that lay nearby.
Devon tried to sit up, but his body was too worn out, he couldn't do it. Too make things worse, another whistling sound was heard and Devon screamed as an arrow lodged itself into his hand, pinning it to the ground, "SONOFABITCH!". The sound of footsteps made him look up to see Crow limping up to him, an amused look on his face.
"You fought well, Demon," he complimented, "Be proud of that. A true swordsman like you will go far in this world of ours,"
The last thing Devon saw was Crow's fist coming at him.
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Kilnorc: Oh shit, no even Devon's down and out! This is sheer madness! -runs around- Ahh! I'm sorry if it's not as action packed as I previously advertised in the last chapter. Even with moves given to me from Luda (Crow's owner) I still felt as though I was lacking stuff, so that's why I put that scene with Chizuru and the others in the bar with Bellamy. You all may think that they could have a run-in with them...who knows? Mwahaha...ahem, I'm sane now.
On the next chapter of Homeland...
Kirsty: Dragon Drop Kick!
Prophet: That move has too many openings! Now, come and fight!
Kirsty: I think you underestimate me, Prophet.
Prophet: Just give up and come with me, I don't wish to injure you any further.
Disrupted Fight: To Save the Lives of Nakama!
Death: If you want your Demon friend to live, I suggest you come with us!