Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.


Araly was still sprinting from point A to Z in a desperate dash to hopefully cure her assassin ally of his debilitating ails. She already had out her runed bandages and glowing potions, ready to treat anything from a fracture to malaria. Although her head was bobbing up and down out of her exhaustion, she continued to run forward. Unfortunately, there were guards stationed at the iron gates to the castle courtyard that blocked Araly from progressing.

"Shoot" Araly said, totally out of breath. "I guess they've seen me by now. Odd they aren't trying to stop me. Oh well." Araly retrieved two papers with glowing glyphs of deep red. "I'll take care of them." She threw the cards, unaware that the guards were sleeping standing up, and blew them both away with loud booms that caught the crowd's attention within the gates. The battle took a pause as everyone turned to the gates as they were blow open by a cloud of red smoke. Araly came coughing out of the cloud and ran over to the pirate's side to catch her breath.

"Araly!" Bard shouted happily. "You're okay!!! How'd you make those explosions?"

"Zan's hurt" she said between breaths. "How much have you helped him so far?"

"Eh?" Bard grunted. "Um, well, I didn't have any real stuff to use, so I just...left him alone."

"He punched him" Rez called.

"Well, no worries" Araly said, kneeling down to Zan's broken and battered body. "Now that I'm here, I can help. I brought supplies."

"Wait" Bard said, "where'd you come from, anyway?"

"Wait" Gretta said at her throne, now very curious as to what was going on over at the pirate group. "Who is that? What is she doing to that man?"

"This isn't fair!" Rupert demanded. "No one ever said they could have reinforcements in mid battle! Guards, go and seize that intruder!"

"Yes, my lord!" the guards shouted.

"How dare she!" Gretta growled. She was glaring through a pair of telescopic spectacles as Araly went to work bandaging and fixing Zan. "She...she is touching that demon-man!"

"So she is not a fighter?" Rupert said, eavesdropping on his daughter. "Then that will make her capture much easier."

"Enough stalling!" Drakengard called. Rez spun his gunblades around on his fingers and readied himself for an opening. In the circle of moving guards in the very open courtyard, Rez could see a single environmental advantage. There was a monument of some random, faceless man holding a sword. The wrist on the sculpture looked particularly eroded from the heavy weight of the stone sword it held for who knows how long. That was it.

I need to lure him under that statue and shoot at the wrist Rez planned. This guy isn't too smart, so he should fall for it. I'll need to plan this as I go, though, because I'm sure he isn't above improvising. Drakengard reached the edge of his patience and dug his hands into the ground. Drakengard showed everyone his version of 'improvise' by ripping up a chunk of ground and turning towards Rez. Crap. Didn't really count on that. Rez started running, trying to get out of his effective range. Drakengard threw the rock with a grunt at Rez. Once Rez saw the rubble in the air he immediately stared running at it and slid under it before it could get too close to him.

"Rock's can't change course in the air" Rez noted. "However, neither can my bullets. I guess that's the main, striking similarity between those two projectiles, so in that regard we're even."

"Hngh" Drakengard grunted. "Is that so? Well, I can think of many regards where we are not quite even. Would you like to see!?" Drakengard started running at Rez, which he had anticipated with glee. Now Rez could start back-peddling towards the statue and trap his foe. However, yet another thing Rez failed to account was his opponent's unbearable strength. With each powerful stomp Drakengard delivered to the ground in his dash he shook the earth and made it hard for Rez to run without nearly tripping.

I need to switch up my timing in my feet Rez told himself. He started stepping out of turn with Drakengard, and the ground shakes ceased to bother him. He stepped lively towards the statue with Drakengard closing fast.

"What will you do now!?" Drakengard shouted.

"How 'bout this!?" Rez shouted back. He turned in the air and shot thrice at Drakengard. That emptied the clip in his gun and he was force to use it as a normal weapon. The bullets just skimmed past his head and impacted with his torn armor, forcing back his right arm. As Rez prepared to swing it, Drakengard caught and blocked it with the taloned section of his left arm. Rez grimaced as he flew threw the air and, eventually, into the base of the statue. Drakengard tossed the gunblade up and hit it right on the wrist of the statue that Rez wanted to shoot down.

You idiot! Rez internally smirked. You've done half my work for me! Rez waited for Drakengard to get close enough, spun his gunblade to face upwards, and slammed the hammer back. "Bye, dude" Rez said with a wink. Drakengard smiled slightly less, and looked up. He became instantly aware of the trouble he was in. Rez shot his other gunblade which sliced through the stone and sent the stone arm and sword down onto Drakengard's head. Drakengard's body, likewise, fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"HELLS YEAH!" Rez bellowed. His gunblade came spinning down and sheathed itself perfectly in its holster. Rez spun the other one and sheathed it just the same, then started walking away. It seemed that Drakengard was defeated.


"Shouldn't we help?" Colleen whispered timidly.

"It's there problem" Ramone decided. "Just stay outta it." The 'problem' was that the guards were here and charging at the calm and busy Araly. Bard took it upon himself to defend her while she worked her magical cloth around Zan's injured body. Bard was, at the moment, staring them all down as they formed a wide circle around him.

"Be careful, men" a leading guard warned. "These demons be tricky beasts!"

"I'm not a demon" Bard said. "I'm just a martial artist."

"What kind of hellish arts hath thou married then!?" a guard shouted out.

"I'm not talking to you guys anymore" Bard growled "because it's too much of a hassle for me to understand you. Just shut up and fight me!"

"Don't provoke them, Bard" Araly said, focusing physically on her task at hand. "Just beat them up and make them go away already."

"I can do that!" Bard said. He raised up a leg and drew it back like a blade. "Rankyaku!" then he snapped it forward and downed a whole line of guards with one sweeping, bladed kick wave. The guards all flew back through the air, letting go of their weapons as they flew of course. "Heh!" Bard laughed. He flipped over onto his hands and began spinning with his legs parallel to the ground. The faster he spun the more the air and dust from the ground started kicking up away from him. Ramone, sensing danger, ducked close to the ground to avoid an obvious attack.

Now then Bard though while spinning, what's a cool name for this attack? Something at least a little significant. Let's see, they usually fly really far when I use this attack and I always feel like saying 'have a nice trip!' as they do. That and the normal motion is kind of a tripping kick motion, and Rankyaku is a cutting attack...I got it!

"Rankyaku!" Bard undulated into the air.

"Don't let him!" a guard shouted. "Charge at him now whilst we have the chance!" The guards all roared and charged the defenseless Bard just as he was finishing announcing his attack.

"Razor Trip!" A halo of invisible, slicing energy ripped through the air and hit everything around him. The wave even traveled far enough that Rez had to instinctively block it with his huge sword and got knocked back. He dug the sword into the ground and braced himself while the powerful wave continued through the air. It stopped just short of a line of guards that was ready to receive the blow on their king's behalf.

With his attack over, Bard slowed down his spin and flipped back onto his feet. Then he fell on his back and stayed there with his eyes spinning in dizzy spirals, gawking into the sky. "Guaaaahhh..." he groaned. "That...maybe, might have been a bit overkill on my part."

"Oh never" Ramone shouted sarcastically. He was up and brushing himself off of the dirt from the anthill that got blasted onto him under the pressure of the air Bard had kicked up. Colleen was fine and dirtless, but her hair was greatly frazzled and stuck out in all directions.

"Good job Bard' Araly mocked. "You only dirtied about half the bandages I just placed! Now I have to start over again on his whole left side."

"Ah, he'll be fine" Bard weakly argued. He sat up and placed his hands on the ground for balance.

"You're an idiot" Rez said, arriving with a mighty stride of victory and his broadsword holstered behind him. "But, you're a damn strong idiot. I'm glad you're on my side."

"Our side" Araly corrected.

"Right" Rez said, "our si-EH!? When'd you get here girly?"

"My name's Araly, Rezland" Araly reminded passively.

"Ah, sorry" Rez apologized. "Anyway, it looks like we've won for now! I guess this means we get dinner in the palace tonight!"

"Food!" Bard cheered.

"If you won" Ramone began, "why hasn't your victory been announced?" The Buster pirates looked curiously at Ramone, then looked back over across the field. Drakengard, somehow, was stirring and rubbing the back of his head where the stone sword had struck him. Bard, Rez, Araly and Rupert's jaws dropped in unison.


"Uh" King Rupert grunted. A servant came over quickly and raised his huge jaw back up in its normal place. "I...I'm not sure how, but I'm glad."

"I expected as much out of him" Gretta said. "Still, the rules are fairly flimsy in their initial presentation. He has yet to be defeated, and therefore we have yet to declare a proper winner. In the meantime, I wish to go and confer with the outlanders."

"Wait a moment!" Rupert demanded, stopping Gretta preemptively from leaving her throne. "My daughter, as your father, I fear far too much for your safety to allow you to go over unescorted. Please, take a legion or two of guards with you."

"I don't need them" Gretta calmly argued. "They'll only slow me down. Look father, I have my bow and arrows on my back. If absolutely necessary I can defend myself. I just wish to make sure these...simple outsiders are aware of the rules I have set for this tournament."

"What rules?" the king asked. "I thought they would be done once the battle was finished. Did I mishear something?"

"I thought of new rules while they were fighting" Gretta said. She brushed past her father's huge shoulder and started walking across the yard. Drakengard was still incapacitated for the moment and could do nothing more than wonder intently where and why he was.

"Hey look" Bard declared. "Some girl is coming this way."

"Gggggg..." Ramone growled apathetically. "She must be the princess or something."

"I..I think she is..." Collen timidly agreed. Gretta finally reached the circular area where the bodies of guards were blown from and stood very regally with her hands at her sides.

"How do you do" she greeted politely. "I am princess Gretta Lioncrest. I arranged for this fight to happen so I could observe you all and determine some personal information based on your fighting skills. I am not an idiot, so please don't assume that I am one right now."

"Alright" the super non-judgmental Bard agreed.

"I have made some changes in the rules" Gretta began. "They are as follows..."