Chapter XVI: Fight for What You Believe In!

Ren drowned himself in his semblance, finding comfort in feeling numb. Nora's visage threatened to break through. She stared at him with an unreadable expression, holding her hammer loosely as if it were an off-hand thought. Would she let him explain himself? The logical part of him said she hadn't before.

Teal eyes bore down on him, piercing all the defense he had built up. Without a doubt, she knew. There was no easy way to miss the visual effects of his semblance leaving him. Then, after mulling it over long enough, he decided he would let her rough him up a bit first. He wouldn't let his comrades down, but he felt she deserved this much.

A cloud passed to reveal the sun, darkening the shadows under the half-built roof in a way that shrouded Nora. Two orbs of ice dared him to move, but he stayed still. Thus, Nora moved first. Her first step was light, but they grew in force as more followed. Magnhild reared back as Nora fell into a sprint. He could see her eyes close and her teeth grit, and he waited for the strike to come.

Nora had been waiting for this for far too long: a chance to knock some sense into Ren. She could feel a scream burn in her throat and she swung her hammer. It went flying. Launched from her grip, Magnhild was tossed far over Ren's head, quickly forgotten. Nora then launched herself at the boy, wrapping her arms around his neck and tackling him to the ground.

Severely taken off guard, Ren couldn't do anything to stop them from rolling together across the floor. When the momentum stopped, he laid there and let Nora hug him. He did not mention when he felt his shoulder grow wet.

A while after her tears stopped, Nora freed her captive, though they both stayed seated on the ground. "I really wish there had been puppies here," Nora muttered, "And you're going to make it up to me. Here!" Ren found a pink book thrust into his hands. Somehow, seeing a collage of kittens and weapons felt weirdly nostalgic for him. As he began to skim through the pages, it dawned on him what this was. The journal contained a series of the types of stories Nora liked to make up.

She scooted herself next to him. Her demand was absolute with no room to argue, "Read."

Cardin let out a roar, barreling in the direction of Sun. He tried feigning a left only to swing right, but it still wasn't fast enough. Sun ducked under and jabbed him in the side. Cardin's blocks became fewer and farther between as time went on. Executioner was longer and sturdier than this chunk of metal on a stick. If he tried to twist it around to clash with Sun's strike, there was a good chance there wouldn't even be contact.

Sun hopped safely away from him, finishing the action with a flip. If Cardin wasn't so determined to beat his ass, he might have run his mouth about the guy being cocky.

This wasn't getting him anywhere. Something needed to change — he needed to pull something out and fast. Sun's acrobatic skills made his swings almost seem primitive. His staff danced around Cardin's attacks and chiseled away at his aura. Not to mention he had failed to hit the guy even once. Executioner might have given him something of an edge, but this wasn't the time for 'what if's.

Cardin pressed the offense, trying to get closer. He wasn't sure if the guy's weapon had anything for closer range, but Sun was keeping him at a medium distance. That was also causing him to flounder. He could hardly block, his attacks weren't landing, and Sun was keeping him too far to even try in the first place.

Cardin watched the staff knock down his arm and strike his neck on the other side. Trying to plant his foot back to catch himself only got it swept from under him. Falling on his back, he felt a metallic rattle beneath him — the bag he had begun carrying. An idea popped into his head.

He pushed himself up and prepared a swing with his right hand while his left disappeared behind him. Sure enough, Sun side stepped and swung to counter. The staff did not meet its mark. Sun was surprised to see a second mace in Cardin's other hand. Disengaging, he watched his opponent cockily rolling his wrists.

"A second one?" Sun asked.

"Ha!" Cardin barked. "One wasn't enough, so I grabbed a second. Didn't expect that, did ya?" Sun, for what it was worth, looked faintly amused.

The fight started up once more. Finally, Cardin felt like he could block, but he was comparing anything to nothing. Sun weaved around him, undeterred by the second weapon. As the hits rained down, Cardin was made aware that he still had many openings. Sun gave him stinging hints at where they were.

Then, in a stroke of genius that came from Sun smacking his forehead, he pulled out of the fight. Sun waited, cautious despite the flow of the fight so far. Cardin shuffled around and Sun blinked in disbelief at what Cardin did next. Why would anyone think that was a good idea? Then, Cardin hit his first true mark. It was only because Sun's guard was down, but it knocked him back giving him a better view.

Cardin stood across from him, a mace in each hand and one firmly between his teeth. "Three mace style: flying ursa!" The attack was primal, an unrefined barrage that actually impressed Sun despite it not working.

"Ha, that's actually kind of cool!" Sun told him. Cardin noticed the shift in tone from the verbal sparring before. "If someone said they'd use three maces like that, I would have called them crazy. You know what? Check this out."

Sun's staff changed and the fight took on a different atmosphere. "Four gun style!" Sun cheered as they went at it. Smiling around his mace, Cardin began to enjoy the ebb and flow of the fight — really, it was becoming a spar. Four guns was pretty cool. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad.

The shots were overwhelming, even if he was getting some good hits now. What surprised him the most though, was that through the chaos, he had begun to enjoy the little quips. It felt almost like the sort of shit he would say back at Beacon, but the heat from it was gone. At some point or another, his enemy became 'Goldilocks.'

He crossed all three maces to take a quick series of blasts. A small lull formed from him skidding back. "You know, you're kind of a cool guy. It sucks that you're with the marines."

"I'm actually a pirate," Sun corrected him. "Just one that works with them."

"Huh, then why are you so against this? Sure, the marines would want to manhandle this and the others with you want us to go back to Vale, but what about you?"

"The tower's yours and you're building here," Sun answered. "The only way I can see it is you want to control the internet on the Grand Line. Isn't that what a pirate would do?"

Cardin lowered his stance. "Control? Freedom's pretty damn important to us. We just want internet out here; no one's controlling it."

Sun nearly dropped his weapon. "Wait, shit, really?"

"Luffy, what the hell is this?" Garp squinted, bringing a paper closer to his face to read. "Where's that land?"

"That's a paper, Gramps. There's no land on it." Luffy picked his nose while leaning back in his chair.

"That's not what I mean, dammit. I got you that plot of land for you to build a nice, big marine base on one day. I'm looking at our finance reports, and there's no mention of it."

"Isn't it the job of the marines to build their own bases?" Luffy asked.

Garp threw the paper down. "That's not the point! Answer my question."

"I lost it."

Garp deadpanned. "What?"

"Yeah, I kind of lost it in a bet."

"Yang —" She was cut off by a fist flying at her. Crescent Rose flashed around to greet Ember Cecelia. The moment Yang had walked in, the fight began. There was a point where it seemed she was going to try and drag Ruby out by her collar, but it spiraled into a fight at the first sign of resistance. Her eyes had been red the entire time, never speaking and not letting Ruby have a chance either.

Yang carried momentum with her, almost running Ruby over like a train. Each hit felt that it could be devastating, and Ruby was saved just by her deft movements and semblance. While it did well to defend her by deflecting attacks, she couldn't do much to go offensive like this, so she stuck to buying time. It might not be the best strategy, but she could either wear Yang out or stall until someone else could help her. Hopefully it wouldn't be a marine that arrived.

Sparks flew as her scythe crashed into Yang's gauntlet just in time to stop it from firing at her. Yang followed through, throwing a left hook that grazed Ruby's cheek. With how the fight was going, the last thing Ruby needed was to fuel Yang's semblance, so she gave up the small opening she saw and retreated. Yang followed.

"Yang, please —" Once more, Yang wasn't having it. It didn't seem like her opponent was tiring soon, so Ruby silently begged the others to hurry up.

The light was dimming around him, fading the farther he fell. As the surface above rippled, sunrays danced over him, sparkling over the drops of air that fled his mouth. Wasn't this what he feared? The expanse below veiled secrets he couldn't fathom; the mighty waves that could topple cities held him in their mercy; yet, it was calm. The cool waters soothed him, cleansing the horrors he had just faced. How could he ever look at cheese the same way again?

Forcing himself to swim and using his semblance, he soon breached the surface and pulled himself back to shore. High above, he could see the window he was launched out of. Well, he threw himself out of it from fear, but it was still that girl's fault. She had said so much without a single word, and it was all horrors. The temptation to stay out here next to the water, which he had discovered wasn't so bad after all, was strong, but he couldn't. With that girl still in there, Sun experiencing the same fate was still a possibility. That couldn't happen.

Going back through the stairwell would take too long, and he might run into someone else on the way too. He needed to get back up fast, so he climbed the boat-like base. It would have been impossible to make it up the sheer surface of the tower, but whoever designed the structure included purposeless masts on either side. Neptune was able to climb one and use the masthead to charge at the window. His feet left the pole and he soared, flying through the opening and landing into the room with a roll.

Slowly, he stood up. "You got the better of me before, but I won't let that happen again. I'm not going to give up that easily! I —" The door burst open. His opponent, silent as ever and not moved by his speech, turned with him to see Sun enter.

"Dude, she's dangerous!" Neptune warned, but Sun seemed to ignore it. He waltzed in and held his hand out to the girl. To Neptune's surprise, they shook. "Hey, what's going on, man?"

"Neptune," Sun said, as serious as he could. "They're making free internet."

"Oh shit, for real?"

Blake and Weiss were locked in a deadly dance. Advantage came and went each moment as opportunities were pressed or lost. Weiss' glyphs let her jump around Blake, but her own acrobatics and semblance let her keep up. Fire blazed past and Blake rolled to the side, landing in a crouch. Her eyes were locked with the icy, blue orbs staring her down. Closing the distance, she let Weiss stab at a clone to be open for slash at her side; however, Weiss was able to move at the last moment to minimize damage.

The fight raged on until Blake suddenly halted. There was a black glyph beneath her. The strike came from behind, sharp, fast, and took a large chunk of her aura. She fell to a knee, now close to losing. Luckily, if she could read Weiss well enough, she wanted to gloat to Blake — likely some sort of 'I told you so.' All she needed to do was wait for her to let her guard down.

"It's been quite some time, hasn't it, Belladonna," Weiss was almost sneering. "I thought we were past running away. What happened to the bonds we built? I shouldn't be surprised since you seem so good at cutting ties: your parents, the White Fang, and now us. How long until you leave your crew behind?"

"You — how dare you!" Blake forgot what she was doing. "You have no idea what any of this is about!"

Weiss scoffed. "Of course I don't! I'm starting to think I might not know anything about you. I thought I did, but I suppose I was wrong." She paused, emotions passing over her face. "The least I could do, for all of what I thought we shared, is I can give you a chance to change my mind. Will you —"

"Three mace style!"

Weiss' eyes widened. "Three what now?" Looking up, her vision consisted of imminent pain. At that moment, time seemed to slow down. She was able to verify that there were, in fact, three maces heading toward her.

"Striking nevermore!" That was odd. How was he speaking when one was in his mouth?

The force was jarring, launching her off her feet and throwing her across the concrete floor. Cardin stood there like some barbaric neanderthal, now between her and Blake. "Did you really need me to come save your ass?" He asked, not turning back to look at her.

Blake dusted herself off, getting up and standing next to him. "Whatever; you've seen her fight before in spars, right?"

"Yeah," he affirmed. "She has those circle things she uses for movement, her sword, and dust."

"Good enough, I guess."

Weiss stamped her foot, feeling the vein in her forehead pulsing. "Of all the people on Remnant, him? You left our team and the bonds we had to fight side by side with him?"

"Why are you acting like this is new?" Blake asked. "You saw he was with us before. He's a crewmember, and despite his past, I'll respect that."

"I just figured you did your best to ignore him. He is a racist bully after all," Weiss retorted haughtily.

Cardin grunted to take their attention. "I was wrong in my ways, I know that now. I was a stupid asshole looking to feel strong and didn't understand the first thing about respect. Just moments ago, a faunus became one of the people I respect the most. How could I not: four gun style is pretty cool."

"This doesn't erase your past," Blake told him. "But it is the first step forward."

"I know."

"I don't!" Weiss cried. "Are you trying to say you're not racist anymore because you think someone is 'cool?' That's ridiculous!"

Cardin readied his stance. "Don't slow me down."

"Only if you don't get in my way," Blake responded.

"...There were three-hundred and seventy-two beowolves upon that hill. Of course, they were no match for us…" Ren was still reading. Hopefully his friends would forgive him. It did distract Nora after all. Though, that wasn't his only audience now. Sitting across from them was a short woman with her hands on her face and mouth hung open in dramatic shock. Neo seemed to love the stories as well.

At the very least, he was able to say that he was right when he called Neo a stabby Nora.

Yang looked murderous, but the soaking boy next to Ruby looked almost zen. She didn't know what caused Neptune to switch sides, but she didn't ask. After holding out long enough, help had arrived and now Yang's attention was split in two. Back and forth, it became a game of bait and strike. Yang was quick to catch on, but it only mildly dampened their strategy.

Not quite as agile as Ruby, Neptune became Yang's main target. Despite her anger, she was willing to let Ruby evade her for now until she dealt with the newcomer — if she could.

For the briefest moment, Pyrrha stared dumbly at the ground. Then instinct kicked in. Her shield was raised and her blade ready to strike as she swept her gaze across the floor. Whatever was going on, it was planned. After Jaune disappeared into the ground, her gut told her he would come back out of it. The question was where.

She kept light on her feet, ready to lunge away come the time. At the same time, she kept rapid glances to the walls and ceiling. There was no proof he wouldn't come from there either, and it wasn't a risk she could afford to make. The attack came from next to her left ankle.

"Breaststroke slash!" Jaune yelled as he surfaced. Their blades met as she deflected the attack, but Jaune dipped lower to avoid her counter. He was, Pyrrha noted, swimming through the concrete. Propelled forward by his legs, he wielded his weapon single-handedly and used his off-hand to steer himself. Despite the situation, she found herself for the briefest moment wondering if that even was a breaststroke.

The weapon in question was a clearly modified cutlass. It wasn't anything particularly eye-catching, but looks could be deceiving. She would wait to see what forms it had, and even then, she shouldn't ever assume she had seen them all yet.

She dared a slash, aiming for his shoulder while keeping her stance clear from his path. "Sidestroke!" Jaune yelled. This time, Pyrrha was sure the technique was not what he said. Instead, he dived downward, causing her blade to graze the hard floor. Once more, it was a tense waiting game.

"Backstroke shot!" She was mid-turn. The bullet meant for her back hit her side. Finally, she made contact by continuing the motion ignoring the hit. Her sword caught him across his chest and tossed him back. If not for the situation, she might have found it amusing how he bobbed like a buoy.

Jaune's sudden use of surprise kept him on almost equal grounds with his old partner, but it was fragile ground. As the fight continued on, she began predicting his movements; she also picked up that he wasn't entirely aware of the surface when he ducked under. The favor of the battle began shifting away from Jaune.

He dove to avoid a shot, but Pyrrha traced his trajectory, slugging him in the shoulder as he surfaced. Then, just as she was going to fire again, the door burst open. Neither Jaune nor Pyrrha were particularly happy to see Sun waltz into the room. Pyrrha began insisting she had the situation under control and that it was personal for her, but Sun strolled right past her. Jaune, who was catching his breath, was about to go under again when Sun spun on his heel.

"What are you doing, Sun?" Her blade stayed leveled at him, ready to treat him as a threat. Slipping into a combat stance, the boy confirmed her worries. "Why?" He had made his intentions clear, but she struggled to understand. She still wasn't any closer to understanding why anyone would willingly throw what they had away to be labeled as a criminal.

"The internet," Sun told her.

"Yes, this is a CCT tower; we were told —"

"Lies: we were told lies." His lips spread into a hopeful grin. "Free. Internet. They're not trying to control it or anything like that. They're making it free." So they swayed him to their side. She wished she could say she was surprised, but he was a pirate after all. They were told as much but informed he was a warlord, meaning his criminality would be second to the command of the marines.

"Typical pirate," Pyrrha muttered, too quiet to be heard. Sun caught what she said next though, "Of course your kind would stab us in the back."

Sun looked shocked, as if he genuinely believed her anger undeserved. "Wow; just wow. You were friends with Blake, right?" Then, more so to himself he added, "You think you know someone."

"What?" Pyrrha looked aghast. She was struggling to figure out what he meant, but the tone and implication was there enough.

"I guess I can't say I'm too sorry about this anymore."

"Budding deathstalker!" Cardin knocked Weiss back. Gritting her teeth, she let a primal urge to win flare within. Not for the sake of their mission, oh no: that was inconsequential now. She just absolutely could not let an oaf who thought it was a brilliant idea to shove a weapon into his mouth win.

In her rage, she let Blake slip from her vision. The faunus had worked surprisingly well with that dolt. Admittedly, it was more Blake's work than his. Throughout the fight Blake used him like an offhand weapon, pushing Weiss in his direction.

A glyph appeared beneath Weiss, sending her at Cardin like a missile. Gambol Shroud's ribbon caught her ankles, tripping her into Cardin's next devastating attack.

It was getting tougher to face Yang. Her semblance had each punch hitting heavier than the last, and she refused to go down. Ruby was struggling to coordinate with Neptune; the intensity of the situation called for rapid but precise maneuvers, and they simply lacked the familiarity to read each other.

Yet, they had the upper hand. Yang was a warrior, but neither Ruby nor Neptune were weak and two-on-one weren't good odds. So, after a long fight, Yang slipped up.

While she prioritized Neptune, Ruby struck her hard in the shoulder. Yang let herself be distracted, and Neptune took the opportunity. Now with a solid opening, he struck her in the stomach and sparks flew. The sudden surge of electricity shook Yang, and she didn't have enough aura left to help. She collapsed, twitching and smoldering slightly. Neptune felt guilty, especially for her now poofy hair.

Ren struggled. One would think that reading instead of fighting would be easy, but Nora was pushing him on. By now his throat was dry and hurting, all but begging him to stop, but he carried on. This was a sort of fight in its own right, and he would not lose it.

That being said, Neo's presence disrupted the atmosphere. For whatever reason, Ren's mind kept likening her to a little sibling eager to be included in something she wasn't invited to. Luckily, he had the patience to accept it. Even then, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to push her away anyways: despite how she was acting now, she was still prone to being stabby.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he flipped the page and valiantly pushed onward. He would not fail his crew.

Pyrrha was formidable, this was nothing new to them. The sudden aid wasn't enough to turn the tables, but it helped Jaune hold on longer. Yet, now Sun was on the ground with Pyrrha over him, and Jaune was too exhausted to fight any longer. Admittedly, Pyrrha seemed to unfairly focus on Sun, but swimming the entire time was enough to put him out of it.

The door burst open. Tired relief pooled in Pyrrha's eyes, though Jaune was certain it was more of an emotional fatigue. Marines filed in through the door forming a blockade and holding their weapons at the ready. Jaune wasn't sure why they were there: were they backup, taking over the arrest, or just some part of the plan? Whatever the reason was, he needed a way out and fast. The issue was, he couldn't just abandon Sun. If he could bring someone else along with his devil fruit, he could swim under Pyrrha and bring them both through the floor. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to get remotely close to that in training so far.

Ideas popped up and withered away rapidly in his head as the marines steadied their weapons. The way their muskets leveled on them felt oddly like a firing squad about to execute them. "Drop the weapon!" One of them yelled. Their uniform suggested some higher level of authority: a billowing jacket embroidered with gold hung from his shoulders.

"I have the situation under control," Pyrrha told him. "You can —"

"I said drop the weapon!" He wasn't pointing at Jaune. Taking a moment to check if he was pointing at Sun, Pyrrha realized he was speaking to her. "You're under arrest!"

AN:

Next chapter is a stupid but funny idea curtesy of my friend. He has been waiting since nearly the beginning for it, and I finally have it written. I just need to revise it now.

This is the chapter I was starting to write when I began posting this, so it feels strange to be almost caught up to myself. I will admit that I slowed down writing while posting, spending time that I would have written to revise and plan.

I've also been busy practicing my cello for a wedding I'm playing at. It's in two days and I'm kind of nervous about it.

Anyways, next chapter: Court