Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or This Bites. These belong to their respective owners, I'm merely taking inspiration from the two and adding my own characters to their worlds. I hope you enjoy.

It had been about 2 months since we had started our new lives here on Banaro Island.

Cynthia and I were finally getting into the swing of things. She had started working at a local textiles shop. Since she had made outfits in our old world she seemed to have a real knack for it and her clothes were quickly becoming more popular among the island's population.
As for myself, I had started helping with delivering goods and doing odd jobs around the island. Whether it was lifting lumber, or cleaning around town, I was quite good at it.

Which brings us to today as me and Cynthia were talking about our plans for the future.

"You know this is nice…I wouldn't mind just staying here for a while longer." I said relaxing on a hill overlooking the town.
Cynthia was sitting next to me. "Yeah, but you know we can't stay here much longer. We have to find Terra and then start to look for a way home."

I nodded, before sighing.

"Still…isn't there something we can do for this town? In a couple of year's Blackbeard is gonna wipe it off the map." I said looking at the people going about their lives.
"What are we supposed to do? It's not like we have the power to stop someone like him." Cynthia said, as she had a hand on one of her pistols. She had been learning how to use guns ever since we arrived as well as how to defend herself in close range combat.

As for me, I had been learning from Cob about swordplay, and I had picked up on things rather quickly. I was fairly confident we could hold our own in a fight now.
I sighed as I thought about what she said. Shaking my head before looking up at the sun. It was about noon. "Hey, why don't we go grab something to eat. I have a job to do this afternoon, but I have some spare time."

Cynthia nodded, "Sounds good. In fact I heard about this great pizza place from Maria, we can go try it." I nodded and got up from where I was sitting.
That was when all hell broke loose.

An explosion rocked the edge of town, and a bell started to ring, collapsing a few building, as screams could be heard in the distance.
Cynthia and my own face paled as we heard this. "I thought Cob said they don't show up at this time of year!" I said as I watched another explosion go off. "Damn it!" I said sprinting and making my way to the house.

"Sora wait!" Cynthia said as she followed after me.

Running through the streets it was pandemonium as I watched people running for their lives, I lashed out with a kick to the back of one pirate assaulting an older couple, before another came behind me with a sword drawn.

"Bastard! I'll gut you like a stuffed pig!" He said as I held him at bay, I quickly parried him, and sliced at his ankles forcing him to a knee as I quickly knocked him out with a boot to the head. I looked at the older couple I had saved. "Go, get to the shelter!"
They nodded and ran off, but stopped as they saw another brute try and cut me down from behind.

Right before a bullet landed squarely in his shoulder forcing him to drop his sword. I watched as Cynthia stood there with a smoking gun before she holstered it and approached the man.

He didn't have time to turn around before a kick to back of his leg threw him off balance, and soon after a boot to the head sent him to lala land. I looked at Cynthia impressed. "Nice work." I said, before blocking another slash from another man who came at me, a sent him to the side with kick to groin as he groaned.

"Come on we have to get back!" Cynthia said as she led the way to the house. We passed multiple grunts and dealt with who we could, saving as many people along the way. I had to admit it felt good helping these people, but I wish it hadn't been brought to this.

We raced through the woods that the house was nestled in, and soon we made it there. Cob was grabbing an old sword off the wall. Maria looked worried.

"Grandfather please! You can't go out like this! You're sick! They'll kill you for sure this time!"
Cob was about to say something, but coughed as he struggled to breathe. He looked up at his granddaughter.

"I have to Maria, I'm the only one who can stop them right now." He said as he exited the house spotting both Cynthia and me as we approached.
"Perfect timing. Watch over Maria while I'm gone, make sure she stays safe."

I wanted to protest, but nodded. "Fine, but just make sure you come back in one piece old man." I said before turning to head inside with Cynthia. I stood there for a second as I watched Cob go to what could have been his death. I wanted to go after him, but knew I would only get in the way. I shook my head and went inside, locking the door behind me.


Meanwhile in town, the pirates were running amok.
"Loot and Pillage to your heart's content, but if you take a life, prepare to face the consequences!" A rather fat man with an impressive beard said as he signaled to the rest of the crew.
"AYE!" They said as they started to pillage and plunder.

The fat man turned to his boss, a younger man with red hair and, and a scar just under his left eye. "You sure you want to go through with this?" The young man frowned. "Don't have a choice, even if this used to be my home, I have no feelings for it anymore. I just want what is mine, and then I'm out."
A scream alerted the two to the threat that approached.

"BOSS HE'S- AGHHH!" One of the lackeys screamed before his throat was knocked out with a pommel strike to the side of his head.
The two looked up and the younger man smirked. "Cob, you old bastard! How you been? How's Maria? She doing well?" He said with a smile.

Cob gave the young man a look of surprise. "What are you doing Sakai, why have you come here after all these years, why bring these brutes to loot the town?" He said as he looked his opponent up and down.

Sakai grinned. "Well I couldn't just leave you alone. You see, you still have the treasure that should have been mine, you old fossil. So why don't you just hand it over, and we won't have to make a mess out of the town." He said, before glancing off and seeing the destruction already caused. "Well…more of a mess than what's already been done that is."

Cob looked him in the eye. "I'll give you one chance. Get out of this town. Now."
Sakai frowned and closed the pocket watch he had been holding, getting up from the barrel he was resting on. "Looks like we have to do this the hard way."

He stood up and drew his sword, a long red blade with cloud-like inlay all along it, making it look like a bloody sky.
Cob frowned, and in a flash moved. Steel clashed against steel as the two began trading blows. Cob struck with a thrust of his sword, trying to land blow after blow, but Sakai seemed to hold his own. Cob growled, whatever sickness he had, it was definitely affecting his fighting skills.

Cob locked blades with him before kicking Sakai in the gut, launching him away.
Sakai grunted but landed. "Nice one old man, now try this on for size." He said as he held his sword aloft. "First Dance: Bloody Slashes" He said before he quickly sheathed and unsheathed his sword performing a special Iaido technique. Two slashes launched forward and Cob batted one aside before deflecting the other one at another pirate who was coming from his side. Wordlessly he drew his pistol and fired behind him as another approached.

Sakai stopped as he saw more of the grunts he hired surrounding Cob. "ALL OF YOU, BACK OFF!"
One of the grunts with a mohawk looked surprised. "Wha-How come boss? He's easy pickings if we gang up on him. Let's just-" He didn't get a chance to finish as Sakai sent a flying slash towards him, sending him backwards through the window of a bar. The rest of the grunts turned to Sakai.
He looked at them all. "I said. Back. Off. He's mine." He said slowly, as the rest of the group stood back, and then another one said. "Fine, let's go get some treasure boys!" He said with a grin as he and the rest of the grunt's went further into town.

Sakai frowned as he looked at Cob. "Sorry about that old man. We just hired those guys and they don't really listen that well." He said to which Cob shrugged.
"Well whatever, just glad you're still somewhat honorable." Sakai smirked, "What can I say, old habits die hard. Now where were we?" He said and lunged forth, going for Cob's neck, forcing him to block before going for a jab right to his sternum.

Sakai moved out of the way as a flying slash cut through the barrel that he had been sitting on before the fight had started.. He and Cob lunged at each other, the two trading blow for blow, as Cob tried to break Sakai's guard without hurting him too badly. Sakai frowned as he sensed something was off. Cob coughed as and before his eyes he did something hadn't expected from the old sailor. He had gone to a knee. Not from anything Sakai had done, but on his own, he was breathing heavily. Sakai wanted to stop and see what was wrong, but he knew he couldn't, this was his best chance to finish him.

Sakai grinned.. "Aw what's wrong Cob, getting tired?"
Cob grunted and looked at the man. "Not likely.." He said as he stood up again and lashed out with a slash aimed for the young man's left side. Sakai blocked it, and soon the two were once again exchanging a flurry of fast blows, as they each landed hits on each other.

The fat guy with a beard grunted as he saw the boy struggling. "Sakai, let me help."
Sakai smiled and wiped the blood from his face. "No, you stay out of this."
Cob frowned as he looked at Daryl. The bearded man only shook his head sadly. Cob let out a sigh as he charged forth, the two once again locking swords with one another.


Back at the house the three of us had been watching, waiting and wondering what would happen.

"Damn it!" I said punching a wall. "I feel so powerless." Cynthia frowned and looked at Maria. "Is there anything here that can help us fight with him?"
Maria hesitated before nodding. "T-there is one thing, it's in the shed!" She ran to another room and came back with a key. "Follow me." She said and bolted out the back door making it to the old shed. I waited for her to open the door before we started to look. Cynthia followed in after me.

"It's a small red chest, with an intricate design on the front." Maria said as started going through different boxes.

Cynthia was also looking as she spotted what appeared to be an old picture of some kind, with four young man and woman in it. She picked it up, and made note of it, before a scream of frustration broke her train of thought.

I cursed as I knocked over a pile of boxes in my rage. "DAMN IT! WHERE IS IT!?"

Cynthia looked concerned for her friend before she saw something fall out of one of the boxes he had knocked over. She picked it up before showing it to the group.

"This it?" Cynthia asked as we looked at what she was holding. A red chest with an intricate winged pattern on the front, a small keyhole on set into the frame of it. Maria smiled. "That's it!" She said as she reached down and unlocked it.

Inside was not what I was expecting. Three different fruits lay inside, all of them looking bizarre and alien in nature. One looked a puffy and cloud like apple, the next was a fiery textured pomegranate and the last was a almost gravely looking cantaloupe.

Looking at three items in question I could only mutter two words. "Devil Fruit…"

Cynthia looked shocked. "So…these will help us?" She said, looking at the fruit, and holding the pineapple.

Maria nodded and looked at us. "Grandpa found these on his trip around the Grand Line years ago. He never used them, didn't want to give up swimming…if your going to do this please be sure you're ready for-"

She stopped as she saw me take a bite of the cloud apple. I took one bite and my taste buds were suddenly in hell. Devil Fruit was right. It tasted awful, like something fit for a devil. I didn't stop though as I ate the whole thing. Soon I stopped and leaned over. Something was happening.

Cynthia looked at me concerned, before she saw a blue wolf tail with a cloud-like tip appear behind me. A pair of wolf ears with clouds in them appeared atop my head. I gagged a little at the aftertaste of the fruit.

"That shit was nasty, like a dead decomposing corpse in the middle of a compost pile." I said as I looked at the two in front of me. "I don't feel any different though."
Cynthia looked at me. "Dude you have a tail and wolf ears!"

I blinked and looked at a nearby mirror that had been placed near me. "Huh…wow so it's a Zoan ...Guess that means I can't swim anymore either. No big deal, I lived most of my life not knowing how to."

Cynthia looked conflicted as she heard this, but after a few moments, she bit into hers and started to eat the whole thing.
Soon a set of wolf ears appeared from her head, but where mine were white and sky blue, here were brown and had flames in the center of the. Her tail had fire at the end of it. She looked herself over shaking her tail before smiling. "This is awesome!" She said as she hugged her tail, and the fire itself. Oddly enough the fire didn't burn her.

I looked at myself and realized I felt the wind a lot more closely around me. Where once it was light, now I could feel it around me for a good ten feet. I raised my hand as I willed the wind to bend to my whim. It followed.

"Holy shit…" I said before I looked at Cynthia and was surprised to see what appeared to be small fire-like spirits floating around her. They were in the shape of puppies, making them appear kind of cute. She giggled as the snuggled up against her. "H-hey stop that tickles." The puppy like spirit just barked happily before it disappeared.

She blinked for a moment before she decided to try something. Feeling like her power's were somehow related to fire, and something else, she held up a hand. I watched as a ball of fire appeared in her hand. She smiled and started to toss it from side to side.

"Huh so this is what it's like…This is crazy…I wonder what kind of fruit it is that we ate." I looked down and suddenly crouched down going on all fours as my form changed to that of a sky blue and white wolf with a ring of clouds hovering around me, and wisps of cloud trailing from my paws.

"We've gotta hurry Cynthia!" I said as I got ready to go.
I watched as Cynthia's form started to change as well. Flames appeared all around her, as her form switched to that of a brown hellhound with chains adorning them. "I'm liking this more and more." She said as she looked at herself. As we were getting acquainted with our forms, our ears heard the sounds of battle in the distance.

"Let's go!" I said as I rushed off moving unnaturally fast as the wind gathered around me.
"Wait for me!" Cynthia said as she tore off after him leaving a trail of fire in her wake.

Cob grimaced as Sakai continued to assault him with strike after strike.
"What's wrong old man! Getting tired already!?" Sakai screamed as he continued to slash at Cob.

The older man grunted, as he tried to endure the onslaught. It was true, Cob had gotten too old. He knew this, and it was one of the reason's he decided to train the two youngsters he had found on his fishing trip a few months back. He didn't want to say it to their faces, but the two had gotten extremely strong in a very short amount of time.

But now, he had to protect them, he had to keep them safe. He couldn't lose someone else important to him.
Cob blocked another strike and returned it with his own, giving a nasty wound to his opponent's chest. Sakai grunted "Not bad, now try this!"

Sakai held his sword above his head and parallel with the ground. "Second Dance: Scattered Petals." He said as he rushed forward and dealt a flurry of quick blows to the old man, and then finished with an Iaido draw straw strike that sent him past Cob. Sakai returned his sword to his sheath and as soon as he did, a nasty wound appeared across Cob's chest. This was too much, as he was sent to the ground.

Sakai sighed and walked up to his downed opponent. "This is what happens when you fight against the inevitable old man. You knew this would happen, so why did you try to fight against it?" Cob coughed, and tried to get to his feet. "Because…Because I have something worth protecting..My home…my family…I'll do anything to keep them safe…even if that means fighting you."

Sakai's eyes darkened, and he looked at the old man sadly. "For what it's worth.." He said quietly as he drew his sword preparing to finish him off. "I'm sorry." He said as he swung down with the intent to finish him off.

As soon as he did though, a strong wind struck the old man, and some sort of projectile landed beside the two. It went off, releasing a cloud of smoke.
'Smoke Bomb' Sakai thought as he tried to see what was happening. As he did though he felt something strike him from behind leaving a nasty gash across his back.
"Agh! Show yourself!"

Flashback: Ten minutes prior.


Sora and Cynthia rushed towards the scene of the fight as quickly as they could.
With their new form's they could easily make it there in a few minutes.

As soon as they arrived they saw Cob struggling to stay ahead in the fight. And we're about to charge right in. When a familiar form stopped them.

"Terra?! What are you doing here?" Cynthia asked quietly as she could given the situation.

The young man looked confused. "Cynthia? Is that you?"

Blushing Cynthia changed back to her human hybrid form. "Yep, it's a long story but me and Sora sorta got Devil Fruits." The young man blinked as he saw Sora change forms as well. "Wow, lucky you, looks like we got a lot to catch up on."

Sora nodded but then said. "Right, but right now we gotta help Cob." Terra looked at the fight.

"You mean the old man, yeah I've been trying to find an opening to get him away, there just hasn't been one yet. There is no way I'd be able to get him away alone, not without something to hold him back." He turned to the two of his friends.

"But that doesn't seem to be a problem now." He said as he pulled out a smoke bomb.

Sora and Cynthia looked at each other, before nodding.

"Wait for my signal then rush in and keep him busy under the cover of my smoke." Terra said to the two canine Zoan's. "How will we fight him if we can't see him?" Sora asked as confused.

Terra looked at him. "You guys are wolves now, just follow his scent. If you can't use your eyes, use your noses."

The two new devil fruit users looked at him and then to each other. "Worth a shot, right?" He asked his fellow ability user.
Cynthia nodded, and then the two closed their eyes, and tried to focus their sense's on the man fighting Cob. It was difficult to discern his scent from the others at first, as they all mixed with each other. Soon though they had it.

"Got it. Ready when you are Terra." Sora said as he prepared to rush in.
Terra nodded, as he counted down.
"3"
The man was approaching Cob who had fallen to the ground.
"2…"
The man was pulling out his sword
"1"
The man swung.
"GO!" Terra said as he threw the smoke bomb just as Sora rushed in launching a blast of air that sent the man away from Cob. It exploded as the area filled with smoke, allowing him to rush in and grab Cob as Sora and Cynthia tag teamed the man who had assaulted the one who had taken care of them these past 2 months.

End of Flashback


Sakai screamed as he felt a strong heat hit him from the front, and something else slash him in the back.
"Enough of this!" He said as jumped back and out of the smoke, waiting for the smoke to fade."

He didn't have to wait long, but stopped short at what he saw in front of him.

Twin Wolves, one sky blue in color with white accent fur, behind his head 4 cloud like orbs hovered, and from his feet wisps of clouds could be seen. The second was covered in chains and fire whipped at the edges of this one's jaws, fire in the center of their ears, and on the tip of its feet and tail.

Sakai was about to say something when he watched them shift forms, becoming human's that retained their animal-like features. "Devil Fruit users…Look you two I don't know where you came from but I'm really not in the mood for this so why don't you just-"

Sakai stopped as he felt the sudden instinct to move out of the way. He quickly dodged to the left, as a deep trench tore through the earth he had been standing on before.
He looked at the one with sky blue ear's and saw he had just swung his sword. Sakai frowned, "Looks like this is going to be troublesome. Daryl, take the girl, I've got the boy."

"Really? Wow, you're smart. Usually the villain would take us both on alone and get beaten because of his overconfidence." Cynthia said with a frown not expecting this.

Sakai smiled, "This isn't some comic, you two are unknown. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

As the two got ready for their respective fights, Terra watched from the bushes, as he held the wounded man over his shoulder. He took one last look at his two friends.
"Good luck guys." And with that he made his way to hopefully some place safer than the battlefield this place was about to turn into.

Next time, Daryl vs Cynthia. Thank you to the followers I've received so far, and I hope you all enjoy the story. I know it's not as long as This Bites, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. :)