BATTLE ON
The blade made a sharp sound as Artemyra pulled it from her sheath. Silver gleamed under the light as the knight waved her arm over her head and pointed her weapon straight at Buggy's disconnected hand. The sharp end poked his skin, and the mad clown yelped, releasing his iron grip on the chief's neck. He retracted his hand all the way back to his body.

Arriving just in the nick of time, Luffy and his crew stared up at Buggy and the rest of his pirate comrades. They stood beside the beaten chief, who had collapsed with blood trickling from his mouth from being strangled.

Artemyra knelt by the chief and patted his back. Once she had inspected that he was fine, she looked back up at Buggy. "That's quite a unique Devil Fruit power. Very tricky," she said,

Luffy grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Doesn't matter. I'm here to keep a promise…and kick his ass!"

Buggy hissed as he inspected the small cut he had on his hand. "So you came without a single trace of fear by your own will? You morons! I should have expected a little more caution since you're Hira's daughter, but you're just as much as an idiot like the rest of them."

Artemyra laughed softly and stood up, backing up beside Nami and speaking up. "So…what are you going to do? I know you're not going to fight."

Nami nodded sharply. "You're right. You guys do as you wish, I'm just here for the map and the treasure."

Artemyra shrugged, expecting nothing less. "If you say so, but if you believe yourself to be in trouble…don't hesitate to call for me. I'll make haste to your side."

Nami was a little startled by that remark and even blushed a little. "Are you expecting me to pay you for your services?" she argued.

Artemyra smiled and lowered her head. "No…just my duties as a knight." She took a step forward and moved in front of Nami. "But please…stay back."

The chief wheezed like a dying frog, his throat burning from the strangulation. "All of you…what did you come here for? You four just stay out of this! This is my war!" he cried out. "I'm the one who must protect this village! Don't interfere!"

As the chief picked up his homemade spear, Luffy suddenly grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face into a nearby wall. Effortlessly knocking him out cold in an uncouth way. His glasses were broken, and blood streamed down from his hairline. Not only Nami but Buggy was shocked by this, too.

"You…you idiot!" Nami shouted at him. "What the hell as that for? Why did you do that?!"

"He'll only get in the way!" Luffy claimed boldly.

The sheer ludicrously of Luffy's statement made Artemyra feel like she shaved at least ten years off her life. She sighed deeply and dropped her face into her hand. It also didn't help to hear Zoro beside her, agreeing with Luffy's…unique choice of action.

"That was smart thinking…if you had left him alone, without a doubt, he would've charged in recklessly. It's safer for him to be unconscious."

"I agree..I agree," Artemyra groaned, hating herself for admitting it. "But I wish we could've used a better method instead of knocking him out cold in such a…rough manner."

A moment later, Luffy took a big breath and directed his attention to Buggy. "Hey you, huge, red, ugly…big nose!" he shouted with as much spite as he could muster.

Everyone's mouth dropped open, baffled that he could say the worse than possible to worsen the situation.

"Fire the Buggy special cannonball! Fire!" Buggy raged.

They fired a cannonball straight down at them with a shuddering boom that shook the town. Artemyra moved fast and quickly shoved Nami and Zoro out of the way.

"Luffy! What are you doing! Get out of the way!" she shouted, reaching out to grab him.

Luffy stood his ground, not at all fazed by the potential danger. Instead, he sucked in a deep breath, and his body suddenly inflated like a balloon. The cannonball collided against his rubber body, only to bounce back. The cannonball struck the pirates and blew up, engulfing the whole rooftop in a cloud of fire and smoke.

Luffy snickered. "Myra, look! There numbers had decreased!" he said proudly.

"I understand but you could at least warned us first!" Artemyra protested with a fierce passion.

"Explain yourself!" Nami shouted, just as wildly confused as the rest of them were. "I don't understand this at all! This isn't humanly possible. How the heck did you just swell like a balloon?!"

Luffy's eyes gleamed as he answered her. "Gomu Gomu…balloon!"

"I'm not asking for the name!"

Artemyra's sharp whistle drew everyone's attention back, and they followed her gaze to the settling smoke. The only ones who were left standing were two. Buggy had used his own men as human shield, while his commander used Richie the lion as his own.

Artemyra's eyes narrowed a little. "He used his own men as meat shields…?" she muttered.

"This is the biggest humiliation we've received under our pirate flag, Captain!" his commander said as Buggy tossed his men to the ground.

Buggy nodded. "I understand. I'm so mad, words fail me…"

From behind the two pirates, pieces of wood shuffled and fell away as Mohji crawled out, looking disheveled and confused after what had happened. He then looked up and saw the commander, Cabaji, holding up Richie as a shield.

"Cabaji! What the heck did you do to Richie?!" he demanded.

Cabaji tossed Richie to the ground. "This kitten? I was afraid my clothes might get dirty, so I just used him as a shield."

Mohji quickly rushed to his lion's side and saw that his pet was out cold. Looking up to argue with Cabaji, his eyes quickly fell on Luffy and Artemyra. "Ah! It's that Armwell knight and that kid! Careful, Captain. That kid has a Devil Fruit power! He's a rubber man!"

Nami looked confused. "Rubber man?"

Luffy nodded and stretched out his cheeks as a demonstration. "Yeah. See?"

Buggy's entire body tensed as his disembodied hand floated to grab the front of Mohji's shirt. "So that's why the cannonball bounced back… Mohji, if you knew this already…" his arm suddenly hauled off and threw Mohji towards Luffy and Artemyra. "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"

"But, I did!" Mohji cried as he flew through the air.

Artemyra braced herself and adjusted the grip of her sword. "Good grief…at this point I just pity all of you."

She twirled to the side, and with all her strength and a bit of mercy, she slammed the flat side of her blade into Mohji's face. She saw a tooth flying from his mouth as the force rendered him unconscious. He crumbled where he stood.

"Luffy!" Artemyra called out as she got into a wide fighting stance, the white fabric of her dress fluttering around her knees. "I think the fight is on!"