It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: The Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red. P.S. I wonder how many people actually read this paragraph every time.
The Battle Begins! Blade vs. Bigger Blade
Facing each other, each crew now had all their members – whether they were conscious or not. Red had his eyes set on the Barboso, ready to go at a moments notice. Then, when things had become quiet, it began. Dashing forward, Red weaved through the crowd of cannon fodder, until finally reaching Barboso. Leaping into the air, he brought his fist down for a slamming punch. Barboso only had enough time to block, taking the full force of the punch on his massive forearm. The punch's force was so great that he began sliding back across the pavement, with Red's fist still in place. Coming to a standstill, Red leaped back, ready to spring forward at a moments notice. Catching his opponent's eye, he smirked, letting Barboso know he wouldn't go down easily.
Meanwhile the three other crew members had their hands full. It had taken a matter of seconds for Marron to take out Henry. Shouting, "I've got this one boys!", he dived right into it preparing to swing his hammer. But he made the mistake of forgetting to refill it, and the only thing that came out was a puff of smoke. Marron had grinned menacingly down at him before punching him full force, sending him flying into a lamp post. Taking this as his opening, Bede leaped in right afterward, ready to try his luck at the big guy.
Due to his size, he had a massive speed advantage over Marron. Maneuvering in and out of the sword strokes and slashes, he was able to land several hits on his stomach. But Marron remained unfazed, keeping at the same pace. This guy's tough, Bede thought as he leaped over a low swipe, Gonna have to hit him where it'll hurt. But just as he was about to go in for the finishing blow, Marron picked up the pace even more. "Bear Claw Starfall!" Spinning the blade around at rapid speeds, sunlight glistened off of the blade in its downward swing, giving the look of falling stars. Bede had to keep moving from side to side, unable to go in for his attack. Instead, he analyzed the speed of the rotations, and waited. When the blade was in its upward swing, he saw his opening. In a quick burst of speed, he surged forward, and palm struck Marron square in the forehead, shouting "Full Body Paralysis!"
Letting out a grunt, Marron flew back, his head whiplashing from the force of the strike. Landing on his back, Marron panted, struggling to rise as Bede approached him. Watching with his eyes, Bede stood over him like a giant. Crossing his arms, Bede looked at his expertise, stating, "You're paralyzed right now. I hit you in a pressure point that put your nerves on the fritz, you won't be moving for a while," pulling back his fist, he readied the punch, "And this'll make it a lot easier." Throwing the punch, he went straight for Marron's face, hoping to knock him out. Landing the hit, Bede was expecting resistance, but met none as his fist sank into Marron's face. Eyes wide in shock, he thought he'd stop, but it just kept going, like some sort of cartoon. Grinning through the fist in his face, Marron threw a punch of his own, sending Bede spinning through the air and right into the lamp post.
Sliding down the post, Bede landed next to Henry, who had stars in his eyes. Turning his head, Henry stared hazily at Bede and said, "Hey Bede, did you see the ship me and my grandpa fixed for you guys?" Confused, Bede just said, "Sure," and pushed Henry off of him. Standing up, he stared amazedly at Marron, who had also stood up. "You gave my nerves a jolt kid, I'll give you that," beginning to laugh menacingly, he punched himself in the chest, leaving a crater that slowly expanded, "It'll take a lot more than your punches to bring me down." Unsure what he was looking at, Bede asked the obvious question, "What are you?" Smiling, Marron replied, "I ate the Putty Putty Fruit, making my body malleable, making me immune to most injuries, see?" Saying this, he quickly bent his forearm back, making it look broken. Seeing this, Bede cringed away, "That doesn't look right."
But Marron just smiled as the arm whipped back into place, totally fine. Turning to Miles, Bede gave him a quizzical look, "Is it just me, or are there more Devil Fruits than usual outside of the Grand Line?" Nodding nervously, Miles replied, "Yeah, I think this is the second one. The first was that guy from your island, and now him," indicating Marron. Turning back to the brute, Bede shook his head, muttering "The Black Market's been busy." But where he was staring before, Marron vanished in the blink of an eye. Hearing him behind him, Bede tried to turn his head, but only got a face full of arm. Wrapping his arm around Bede's neck, Marron shouted, "Putty Choker", as he drove his knee into Bede's back.
Trying to let out a shout of pain, Bede instead let out a gasp for air. Pulling his arm tighter so his knee dug deeper into Bede's back, caused him to let out another gasp of pain. Smiling sadistically, he whispered into Bede's ear, "All the girls I meet love it when I do this." Slapping his arm in a futile attempt to make him release, Bede manage to gasp out, "TMI! TMI!" Smile widening, Marron just pulled tighter, closing off Bede's windpipe altogether. Laughing even more, he was about to drive his knee even farther into Bede's back, when a sudden burst of pain leapt through his body. Gasping himself, he relinquished his hold on Bede, and stumbled backwards. Reaching down, he felt his side, and he could feel a deep gash that was letting out a steady flow of blood.
Turning his entire body, he faced Miles, sheathing his dagger after cutting him. Growling, Marron took ahold of the skin under the wound and folded it onto it. Patting it down, he sealed the wound, with only a few splatters of blood to show for it. Baring his teeth like a dog, Marron reached over his shoulder and grabbed the hilt of his massive sword. Readying himself, he spat out at Miles, "You must be a good swordsman to have attacked without me noticing. But wait'll you get a load of me!" Leaping forward, he unsheathed his sword and brought it down in an overhead strike, aiming to cleave Miles in two. Unsheathing his own blade, Miles readied himself, holding his sword up to meet the enemy's.
But just as the blades were about to meet, Miles turned his blade. Hitting the angled blade, Marron's sword went askew, sliding down until it hit the pavement, sending dust and debris flying. Leaping out of the cloud, Miles waited for the dust to clear, watching as his opponent hefted the large sword out of the ground. An angry look in his eye, Marron spat on the ground, saying, "Better swordsman than I thought before, are you?" Grinning, Miles shoulder his blade, "I've fought big guys like you before, I know you're game. Even if my sword didn't break, I would've been crushed under the weight of your fatass!" Seething with rage, Marron lifted his sword with both hands, and sped towards him, blind with anger.
Swinging his sword, Marron didn't care where he hit, just as long he killed that annoying man. Deflecting each sword strike, Miles let the blades clash, using minimal effort in the process. He'd just let Marron tire himself out, then he'd go in for the attack. Unless, that is, Marron suddenly decided to go faster. And that's just what happened, somehow Marron kept going faster. Eyes wide in shock, Miles had to pick up the pace himself, blocking the blows instead of deflecting. Now Marron was tiring Miles out. Reaching for his dagger, he had to let go with his sword with his left hand, which was a soon realized mistake.
Swinging from the side, Marron's powerful strike struck Miles' sword and sent it spinning out of his hand. Staring after it, Miles' hand was still in the same position. Looking to his other hand, he realized the trade he made. Now, he looked up at Marron, who was smiling sadistically down on him. Rolling backwards, Miles could feel the blade swing over him. Sidestepping the downward swipe, he turned away from Marron and dashed towards his sword. Sensing his opponent in hot pursuit, Miles put more effort into his sprint. Hearing his opponent ready another swipe, he dropped and slid across the pavement, grabbing his sword as he went.
Coming up kneeling, he spun around and faced Marron, who was coming in for another downward strike. Putting his sword up, Marron saw this and smiled. He's getting desperate, he thought, I'll finish him off hear and now! But just as he was about to hit him, Miles did something unexpected. Putting his dagger behind his sword, he used it as leverage, stopping Marron's strike in its tracks. Using his leg's strength, he leaped into Marron's blade, causing him to stagger backwards. Capitalizing on this, Miles spun around, gathering momentum, before finally going in on the attack. Marron in desperation tried to block the slice with his massive sword, but he did not compensate for Miles' sword and style.
As the blade met the enemy's blade, there was slight resistance at first, but that fell away quickly. As the blade cut through Marron's, steam rose from the fast melting steel. Cleaving the entire blade in half, the top half flew away, leaving only a sizzling scar of where it once was. Sheathing his sword, Miles turned to the shocked Marron, and stated the name of the attack: "Spinning Blaze". Tossing the useless handle aside, Marron smiled crazily at Miles, and then he vanished in the blink of an eye. Knowing what was coming next, Miles tried to dodge, but the arm reached out and wrapped around his neck, choking him. Holding him up, Marron laughed crazily, lost in his rage, "I'll make you pay for that, bastard!"
But before he could knee him in the spine, Miles struck first. Kicking downwards, he thrice nailed Marron in the place he had cut him earlier. Eyes dilating in pain, Marron coughed up blood as he staggered backwards. Clutching where he was wounded earlier, he remembered what the old man had told him about this ability: "You can't heal the wound by doing this, you can only stop the blood flow. So only do it if you have a sure chance of winning." Now he stood there, realizing now that the wound had cut deeper than he thought. Blood drooling out of his mouth, he gritted his teeth, preparing for what Miles was about to do.
Miles smiled, finally things looking up for him. Walking calmly towards him, Miles unsheathed both the dagger and his sword. Putting the dagger at the end of the sword, he looked up and grinned at Marron, letting him know it was all over. "Burning Crosshairs!" Dashing forward, Miles ran the dagger down the sword, sending sparks flying and heating the sword to hundreds of degrees. Slashing with the blades, a crosshair wound suddenly appeared on Marron's chest, causing him to spit up more blood.
Clapping the dust off his hands, he looked down at his clothes. "Ah damn it, singed again." The ends of the sleeves were slightly burned, giving it a thready look. Sighing, he sheathed both blades and started to walk towards where Bede and Henry were. Standing around them, the crew of the Grizzly Pirates stared in horror, their first mate taken down. But as they watched, their horror turned to excitement as Marron, somehow, slowly rose to his feet. Panting, he gave his same sadistic smile, "I'm not done yet, stupid bastard." But as he said it, he felt something smash into his skull, and he fell down, face flat in the dust. "That's for bending a lamp post with my body," Henry said, hefting the hammer on his shoulder.
And just as they were finishing their fight, it appeared Red was about to finish his own. For nearly the entire time; he had been thoroughly handing Barboso's ass to him, and he'd only gotten hit a couple of times. Now he had sent him flying again, straight into a building, which partially collapsed on top of him. Shaking his head, Red said to himself, "Man, I thought you'd be tougher, guess not, though." Preparing to throw his finishing punch, he was stopped dead in his tracks as the rubble began to rumble. Curious, Red let the rumbling continue, and soon he was rewarded.
Shooting out of debris, the paw of some beast took a firm grip of the ground and started to clamber its way to it feet. Seeing this, Bede turned to Miles, saying, "You know how you said we've met two so far?" Miles nodded, a bede of sweat slowly forming. Turning back to face the Captain, now fully out of the rubble, he muttered, "You might want to make that three." For standing in front of them all was a twelve foot tall man turned beast, and obviously a devil fruit user. Staring around at them, they all just stood there for a second, when suddenly the bear roared, obviously wanting a rematch.
Smiling, Red readied himself, preparing to give all he had in this fight, "I'm happy to oblige."
