Francho taunted his opponent leaping on one of his legs while he held his other leg bent and in one hand imitating a one-legged cripple, or at least a drunkard's version of one. For a brief moment, a thought had occurred in Kusagoro's mind to target the bottle of rum which his opponent held in his hand however it seemed too much trouble. The brawler already had trouble hitting the illusive drinker, targeting such a small target would've only made it proportionately more difficult.
Regardless of if Kusagoro would target the bottle or not, there was no denying that alcohol was integral to the style's successful use – the Jugo had noticed it. A sip was required to switch between these "immortal masters of old" that the Pirate Lord slurred of before. To a less skilled mind, such a fact would seem irrelevant however the Jugo quickly combined it with the previous knowledge of his opponent and realized he could use this style to his own advantage.
The inseparable part of this style was the user's inability to take their alcohol meaning they got drunk much faster than any other person without the ability to use Drunken Fist. That meant that each successive sip must've intoxicated the user more as well. To any solid drinker, eight sips of rum would've been a good and dizzying drink however it could've lead to someone like Francho being completely wasted, maybe the stupid fatso would even pass out? Even such a victory was acceptable to the Jugo rather than resorting to his Curse Form...
It wasn't that Kusagoro despised the Curse Form, his son hit it in the head right before, he didn't want to lose control unless no other way of winning was possible. Not when that darned girl was in his near vicinity. He hated this girl for quite a long time, she was a distraction for his son, she was a young thing with a head full of retarded ideas and she was instilling those stupid morals to his son too. However when he saw his son achieve the Curse Form before it all changed – somehow despite being so different from the Jugo this magician girl made his son embrace his origins more and more making her presence quite useful for Kusagoro's wishes for his son to come true. He would've killed her if he transformed, most likely, such an outcome couldn't have been let to happen – Kouta would never forgive him after it and his transformation into a true Jugo successor, not the sissy pacifist current ones but a true Jugo of old, would've been ended then and there.
Kusagoro's hand morphed into a dark-colored cannon and the man aimed it below him.
"Chakra Revolver!" he shouted out firing a precise and thin beam of chakra penetrating the waters open and reaching deep below. The brute ended the beam before it pierced the core of the world and exited on the other side. A distraction was all that he needed for this. A strong explosion tossed a powerful splash of water up messing up the water's surface and erecting powerful crashing waves rushing at the drunk.
"Huh?" Francho slurred as the water beneath his feet shook violently forcing him out of his second Li Tieguai stance into a drunken stagger desperate to stay afloat and on both feet.
"Rising Piston Fist!" Kusagoro yelled out triumphantly as his figure blasted out from underwater with a powerful morphed fist aimed right at the Pirate Lord's jaw aiming to throw the man into the air. Falling backward the drunkard evaded the punch however a cannon opened up on the rising Kusagoro's elbow firing off a separate stream of chakra aimed at the evading opponent. The explosion missed again, thanks to the amazing rolling evasion of the drunken master. Still, the explosion caused a large amount of water from underneath the rolling pirate to toss him in the air. This stance appeared to favor strong one legged kicks and rolling evasion, by lifting his opponent in the air Kusagoro would make sure to deprive the pirate of any ground to roll around in.
The Kusagoro that used the rising punch technique dispelled revealing himself to be just a clone. The real Jugo veteran surfaced from below as well looking up and preparing his attack.
"Earth Style: Titan's Drill!" Kusagoro roared out focusing his chakra so intensely that his entire body lit up with erupting jets and streams of chakra that couldn't be contained inside his body. It was a technique so powerful that it could've been used to create entire mines underground, a fist so powerful and focused that no material of any density could've put up any defense and stopped its user.
The Jugo's body blurred and disappeared into thin air. Mana's eyes couldn't have even dreamed of following anything. She felt completely oblivious to anything transpiring and this whole battle felt like a larger than life event shown to her in skipping fast forward motion. Something impossibly vaster than the limits of her comprehension transpired and then the combatants stopped for a breather or to prepare their next attacks. She was oblivious to all of it!
Kusagoro's fist dug in deep into the Pirate Lord's gut sending the man flying up in the sky. Meiko and the other younger ninja together with the greatly injured Hachiro looked up. For a moment it looked like they were able to perceive just how far the Pirate Lord had been flung by the fist, just how immense the punching power was but then everyone just closed their eyes. Meiko first, then Kouta, Shimo and after a moment even Hachiro's Sharingan eyes closed.
"I can't see it..." Meiko sighed in frustration.
"Not a damn clue..." the Yuki swordsman agreed.
"Now I see why Hokage-sama stopped father when he tried using this technique on Shimo back in Konoha." Kouta smiled with the right side of his face.
"That was a much inferior version of this technique. This just may have even pushed Lady Hokage back a little too..." Shimo scratched his tired eyes.
Kusagoro didn't let his eyes up from the sky for a moment. Then he turned at the Uchiha and yelled out.
"You! I thought you were running away, hurry the fuck up! Take that ship and leave. If the type-A little lady decided to use the Box I suggest you do it now too."
Mana blinked rapidly a couple of times, surely he couldn't have suggested that the Pirate Lord still had chances of returning anywhere close to Earth's orbit. Kusagoro scratched his wrists before carefully caressing them and letting the blood flow stabilize as his arms were beginning to feel numb. It was refreshing to finally see an opponent who could actually force him to fight without restraint. It would've been a bit more refreshing to actually use his Curse Mode, as little as he wanted it, in a way Kusagoro wanted to be pushed to that point in a sadomasochistic sort of way... Well... Maybe another time.
Hachiro stood up and began running towards the ship at a brisk pace. Shimo followed his past sensei with his eyes before something popped into his head.
"Hey, old timer, don't forget the ship is still full of workers the Pirate Lord kept behind. You sure you don't need help?" the Yuki swordsman asked before seeing Hachiro shake his head and stop for a moment.
"Nah, they're all on my genjutsu, even the most powerful foes rarely invest in a powerful defense against the illusionary arts... As for this trip, I'll say farewell to you four!" the Uchiha tapped his forehead with the index finger before beginning to rush towards the colossal ship as fast as his injured body allowed him. Kouta did manage to patch up the most severe injuries and Hachiro was actually in a halfway decent fighting shape, still, he was too much of a coward to stick around and see how this whole pirate affair ended up.
"So, what now?" Meiko wondered.
"I'm not using the Box, if that's what you meant. I thought that I couldn't protect everyone and change the world by an example of kindness because I was weak, but the truth is much crueler... It's what's here that's keeping me back." Mana sadly answered by pressing against her chest with her bruised and covered with blunt force trauma marks hand.
Shimo nodded, "If that's your decision then let's go home, I suppose this way the mission will be completed so it's not a total waste of time. That's a new record with you..." he remarked somewhat rudely.
Kouta turned at the swordsman and grabbed him by the torn rags of his kimono pulling him in closer for a punch.
"The hell is wrong with you? Mana-chan is just sad her careful planning and decisions ended up this way, there's no need to rub it in her face. She had nothing to do with the streak of bad luck we're in. If we did nothing we'd have a Pirate Lord just like Red up there wielding an arsenal of Audra alloy coated weapons! Whatever Mana-chan did, it's still a lesser evil than what could've been." he explained his stance. Mana looked aside, her eyes were beginning to water, it was happening again. Her teammates fighting with each other. Kouta's position was so obviously loaded since the two had feelings for one another.
"I'm sorry, Shimo... I just can't restore my chakra using the Box under my right mind. It's just not the right thing to do." she explained quietly.
"Mana..." Meiko pressed her hand against the magician's shoulder.
Shimo looked completely devastated for a moment before switching back to his angered state almost like this complaining and annoyed Shimo was a persona he was playing.
"Yeah... Because you always know the right thing to do! Better than everyone else, sometimes I wish you'd get off your high horse..." he complained in a tone that heavily suggested he wanted to end the heated exchange that way. "You've always had such strong ideals, even when we had to fight Tanshu-sensei you stood up for them. Tell me just one thing – why are you giving up on your dream now? What kind of hero gives up on their dream?"
"That's the thing. Over the time of this journey, I've come to realize that my dream will come true if I stop chasing it much more than if I am after it. My involvement is just that damn intoxicating. If I wish to leave the world better than I've found it, I must stop ruining everything." Mana shouted out in his face. The two had been at each other's throats ever since Shimo stopped her in Takigakure. Now it seemed they've openly begun challenging each other again and it seemed like things were at their worst now than they've always been. Shimo didn't even honor the magician with a reply, his surprised and somewhat disappointed expression just looked away at his rogue ninja sensei boarding the tremendously large ship and preparing to leave.
Mana turned away from everyone, she had to shut herself in because she'd have broken down if she didn't. She didn't understand why her long-time friend and a teammate she saw so much together with was complaining so much, what possible right did he have to blame her for anything? She was asking that they only did their mission objective, that they successfully completed the mission instead of failing it for Mana's sake.
"We just want you to be happy, Mana..." Meiko tried adding her own two cents.
"After everything that happened, I'd be the happiest if you guys completed the mission, got paid in full, scored some points with the village and kicked ass in the Chuunin exams. Just do this whole ninja thing, do it right. I'll be cheering on you from the backseat." the magician forced out a smile. Kusagoro turned around and leaped the whole distance between them in a single bound landing right up next to the young ones.
"You guys ready?" he asked before curiously looking at Mana, he must've known that look on her face, maybe he'd have seen it in his wife's face a couple of times but he realized it couldn't have meant good, Mana saw it in his eyes. The look of a person lost and in need of guidance about to make the worst decision of their lives that looked so alluring at the moment. The girl was made sure of it when the father pinched Kouta's shoulder painfully enough for the young one to complain. Still, the medical ninja was oblivious to his father's relationship related clue. He left Mana alone, maybe it was for the best, after all her worst beef was with her own self, the cruel body limiters that restrained her own spiritual chakra control from herself.
"Well then... How 'bout we head home?" Kusagoro sighed out but then his eyes widened once again after a booming splash interrupted the reaction of the genin nearby. Quickly Kusagoro turned back and looked at the tall fatso surfacing bottom-up from the bottom of the ocean where he had slammed heavily from high above.
"Impossible! I saw your body leave the solar system!" Kusagoro yelled out in annoyance. He may have enjoyed fighting the Pirate Lord in the beginning but then when he realized that his own full abilities were blocked off as long as Mana was around the fight where he had the potential to unleash his full and have his fun but couldn't due to outside conditions did nothing more but annoy him more and more with each passing moment.
Slowly and lazily, less than graciously, the Pirate Lord flipped over and pulled his half-down pants up so that they fulfilled the purpose which pants were originally intended to fulfill. He slapped his own temples a couple of times before wiping the blood off his beaten face and busted nose and spat a couple of teeth aside. A cruel and slurry, wandering, toothless smile covered his face.
"That was a pretty mean punch there... I had to take another sip outta my bottle there to get my shit together. Have you heard of the immortal Han Zhongli? The man of amazing strength that decimated his opponents with cruel tackles? He gained his momentum by using his powerful legs and his curved bottom!" the Pirate Lord emitted a powerful thundering laughter by mockingly slapping his own buttcheeks.
"You mean you farted and jumped your way back to Earth's orbit!?" Kusagoro grunted as all those immortal masters whose styles and variations of Drunken Fist his opponent inherited pissed him off to no end. He just wanted to beat that nonsense style out of the Pirate Lord but that was just the kind of approach that the Drunken Fist worked best against.
"Yeah, a bit of both, almost ran out of air on my way back..." the Lord laughed out from the bottom of his lungs but then got serious as he switched back to his usual Drunken Fist stagger, before switching up the variation again. Now the pirate held his hands extended almost as if he held a giant cauldron in his hands lifted up and staggered as he carried it completely wasted.
The Pirate Lord kicked off the ground rushing head and shoulders first at Kusagoro who just leaped into the air and then morphed his arms by extending cannons from his elbows that fired off sending Kusagoro diving head first diagonally straight into his opponent. The Jugo kicked his tackling opponent underwater as the Pirate Lord got careless with such an easily telegraphed attack. If the veteran jounin ended up in close range however it must've been quite amazing...
Francho surfaced again holding one of his palms against his bottle's top, the man had pressed the bottle of rum to his flappy fat belly so that it didn't burst under pressure where the man commonly ended up after being kicked around. The man popped the cork out and flipped the bottle up again getting drunker each passing moment, a single sip may not have gotten a common man that much drunker but Kusagoro could feel his opponent getting absolutely trashed. That was what the brute wanted – make his opponent use out all of his immortals and then pass out...
"Lan Caihe!" he shouted out in a drunken slur as the Pirate Lord began dancing a strange belly swaying dance which reminded Mana of the dance which the dancers in Agbarah danced for the Sheikh as entertainment, a highly sexualized dance at that which made the sad Mana crack a grin before she couldn't contain her laugh anymore and began cackling for real. Even if the magician felt embarrassed for laughing out she could hear her friends barely restraining similar reactions whereas Meiko didn't even try. The redhead's laughter was matching the drunken pirate's in its absurd volume.
Kusagoro launched himself forward setting off the jets that chakra cannons at his feet fired off. He knew that such an obvious attack would've been blocked or avoided but he wished to scope out just how much more drunk his opponent got from switching a couple of his different masters' styles. Before he could easily avoid almost any physical attack but now it should've been different.
Kusagoro's fist collided in the air with Francho's hip which the Pirate Lord lifted up to interrupt the brute's punch before the hulking brute pranced around and deflected the Jugo's punch with a playful bounce slam from his another hip. Kusagoro tried punching and kicking a couple of more times before setting off a chakra jet at the leg he wasn't kicking with.
"Chakra Rocket!" he yelled out naming his super-powered kicking technique however it too was deflected by Francho's playful hip swing and his sexually ambiguous dance. Kusagoro braced for upcoming impact but the Pirate Lord's hips hit him with so much force that he couldn't possibly expect to send him crashing back into the Box.
The brute coughed up and threw a large spit of blood dying the water below him crimson from both all of his wounds bleeding up on it and also this slam into the Box that must've cracked a couple of ribs all by itself. Kusagoro began to hate that thing, he'd have much more rather slammed into a meteor, into an active volcano and bathed in lava, into an island destroying and sinking it in the process, flown off into the goddamn Moon, anything but this Box. It was like this Box absolutely refused to be moved front or back or to the side. It just stood its ground without being affected by anything transpiring around it, just emitting its evil chakra everywhere around it and poisoning the Earth without taking any damage or budging one bit.
"Ho-ho-ho!" Francho laughed out in a ridiculous feminine manner.
"T...This bastard!" Kusagoro cursed. He felt another upchuck of blood coming up from his crushed and mangled innards, that last hit must've busted through his amazingly powerful chakra augmentations and dealt some real damage. If he held back any more he risked actually getting hurt. He needed to get this fool sober or to get him completely wasted, this in-between was killing him and his son...
"Well, at least you're not going anywhere..." Kusagoro smiled pointing in the direction of Francho's ship. The Pirate Lord turned around realizing that his own ship had sailed off, it was just barely seen at the tip of the horizon far far away.
"Oh no!" Francho covered his mouth up in a comical manner more akin to a courtesan being told that she won't be getting paid than a respectable and feared Pirate Lord, one of the three unquestioned rulers of the seas.
"Now that there's no way for you to run away, now that you went out of your way and pissed me off I can stop holding back! I've had enough of this little game! Even if I end up accidentally killing all those annoying brats, if I just kill you and spare my son, that'll be fine!" Kusagoro declared extending his spine out proudly and smiling. A purple glow began shining from his entire body, overwhelmingly dark chakra began emerging from Kusagoro's body as black marks began covering it and the man felt immensely powerful dark urges overtaking him inside. Curse mark sealing glyphs began enveloping the whole body of the violent warrior almost like tattoos.
With a final swipe of his pumped up and toned, muscular arms Kusagoro emitted a powerful scream of rage and pride, also joy that he would finally kill his opponent. The blast force from the warrior's transformation let out such a kick that Kouta grabbed Mana and moved her hiding her behind the Box's upper edge as the rest of the team couldn't help but also hide. Francho got blasted off his feet and rolled back feeling completely sick and just barely restraining his hurls. Kusagoro's arms also slowly transformed into colossal stumps of dark bone-like seemingly wooden material that formed gigantic fists extending all the way to the warrior's elbows. The man's hair elongated and stiffened extending a bit past the Jugo's neck while curling down in a crescent-like fashion instead of standing up like he usually wore them all curled and messed up.
Finally, Kusagoro's first stage of the Curse Mode was unleashed!
