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If you get to the end of the chapter and realize you just can't wait for more, remember these cool cats are 10 chapters ahead.
Anyway, you're here for the story, not my rambling. On to the chapter!
Chapter 19:
Battle of Wills (Part 2)
"They're so weak!" Daruma complained, hopping in place as if to relieve some of his stress. "And they call themselves fishmen? Kyakya! Weaklings, all of them!"
"These humans are much stronger than we gave them credit for," Zeo agreed with a nod. "That said, we proposed fighting them with numbers knowing that it would be a prolonged battle, so we must let our forces wear them down before our own involvement."
"We've still got a few tricks up our sleeves, ch," Ikaros agreed, eyeing the high-speed battle Hyouzou and Zoro participated in, both so focused on each other that they seemed unaware of the collateral to the New Fishman forces around them. "Still, seeing what Hyouzou can do now makes me want to get in there, ch."
"Patience," Hody ordered, his stance almost relaxed. "The humans are strong, but our force is overwhelming. Even if they beat the rest, we have the luxury of bringing out our strongest while still fresh. Besides…" Hody paused, turning his eye to the bubble above. "This isn't the only battle."
"What do you mean by that?" Caribou asked, his head upside-down over the band of officers while his body stretched into a tall curve. Daruma's nose wrinkled as he was forced to hop away from a splattering drop of mud. "I understand the king and princess aren't here, but the princes are, right? You said they were the most dangerous part of the royal family."
"Yes, all three princes. The oldest one isn't here."
"So he's a coward–"
"Fukaboshi is many things: deluded, a blood-traitor, and the current heir, but he is no coward." Hody shook his head. "No, he would be here by now if he could. Otohime, the late queen, instilled family-first, pro-human ideas in the king and her children, but they are still some of the strongest warriors on the island. Whatever mad plan Decken pulled must carry enough threat to the princess and enough chance of success to demand attention over us. That's helpful, but I don't know if I should feel insulted that the strongest prince is focusing on him instead."
"Well," Caribou blinked. "I did not expect that from Decken. I wonder what he did."
Prince Fukaboshi roared.
"The Dauntless Dragon," Dutchman whispered, taking in the berserker state of the once-regal warrior while settling into a defensive stance. Where Fukaboshi had held himself tall with an iron grasp on his emotions, he now stood like a mindless beast emanating waves of rage, his back hunched and teeth bared in a snarl. One hand held his trident while the fingers of the other dug into the wall beside him. It was a power Dutchman thought to never see, and one a part of him wished he had missed.
According to the legends Dutchman had heard years ago, the Dauntless Dragon was first discovered (or created) by the founder of the Ryugu Kingdom, Queen Umidora —an Anglerfish Mermaid— during the Void Century. It was the result of questionable chemical experiments in an attempt to distinguish the royal family so they could never be usurped. The power passed into hidden knowledge some time near Dutchman's creation and, during the time of Vander Decken V, the crew caught wind that the then-Prince Hidokan showed none of the royal power and that whatever chemicals had granted it were now too diluted.
Obviously, that information was either a clever lie or it simply skipped that generation. Whatever the reason, the Dauntless Dragon now stood before him, eyes golden and unblinking.
"Ye think ye can scare me with such a paltry lightshow?" the Klabautermann grinned, a waver in his smile. He waved his cutlass. "I'm older than any other ship in th' sea. I've seen generations rise and fall. Do ye think a single warrior pushing 20 will be enough to defeat a Klabautermann older than Moby Dick?"
A visible ripple of heated water passed Fukaboshi's lips, the prince not vocalizing any response he could have given. Dutchman felt that shiver once more. The eyes of a predator were making him their target.
"Graaaoh!" the prince screeched, lunging at the spirit. Dutchman's eyes widened as he raised his cutlass, the blade barely parrying the thrown trident that would have pierced his face. That in itself wouldn't have been horrible –this form wasn't his true body– but the trident whizzed by and stabbed into the railing. The feeling was similar to getting three painful shots at the same time, but Dutchman did not have the time to dwell on such esoteric thoughts as Fukaboshi appeared before him in the blink of an eye, water swirling around his fingers in the distinctive sign of Fishman Karate. That this was the lesser-known Merman Combat variation meant little.
"Shit!" Dutchman hissed, bringing his hands up in a counter, but he was unprepared for the speed of the attack. A ball of water hit him with the force of a cannon, blasting the consciousness off the deck. His form dissipated as he moved past the railing, as if passing through an invisible door. With his target no longer visible, the rampaging dragon set his sight on the captain.
"Baaahohoho! My apologies, Sir Knight, but you're in my way! Die for the sake of mine and Shirahoshi's love! Baahohoho!"
"M-My prince?" Angle, the only soldier left, stuttered, holding back an ax intent on running him through with supernatural force. The fear in his voice caused Vander Decken to freeze, turning slowly. Fukaboshi's glowing eyes stared at the captain, unblinking.
"Ah," the pirate swallowed like a mouse cornered by the cat it had been taunting. The teeth Fukaboshi bared parted as if readying to rip a chuck out of Decken's hide. "B-Brother-in-law. Y-You seem to be doing w-well. That's–"
He gurgled, the prince's hand suddenly passing through his bubble to clamp down on his neck. Angle felt the ax in his hands stop struggling as Decken tried to pry the fingers away, Fukaboshi now the new Target to the pirate's uncovered hand. Decken's four legs flailed as they left the deck.
"P-Please," he begged, the world growing darker.
"That's enough o' that," Dutchman said, his non-pincer hand gripping the prince's wrist. Suction cups thereupon pulled at the flesh, pealing the fingers away until Decken fell to the deck, gasping for air. "Your fight's with me, boy."
"Dutchman," Decken coughed. "What is that? What happened to him?"
"The Dauntless Dragon, Cap'in. Tis a power of the royals thought to have been lost generations ago. At the cost of one's lifespan and mind while in use, the user can access all of their power and more." His head exploded, the prince's hand swiping through it like a deformed cannonball. The body wobbled for only a moment before the head reformed on the shoulders. "He's just a berserker now, Cap'in."
"Well deal with it!"
"Aye." Dutchman pulled, yanking the prince back the way they came. Decken only had a second to breath before his instincts screamed at him, the man throwing himself to the side as his own ax stabbed the deck where he'd been.
"Don't forget about me, pirate," Angle hissed. "We're here to put you down like the dog you are, and I refuse to lose my friends in vain. Now die for the sake of the kingdom's love for Princess Shirahoshi!"
On the other side of the deck, Fukaboshi wrenched himself free of Dutchman's hold, his brute strength ripping the spirit's arm off. The mad dragon growled as Dutchman retreated, reforming his arm as he did so. The golden eyes narrowed, water swirling around his fingers.
"Oh Hell." Dutchman did not have the time to form his defense fully before the attack came. Liquid with the force of a waterfall poured down on the spirit, his little bubble of protection not extending beyond his feet. The water beat down on the deck around him, Dutchman gritting his teeth through the pain as cracks spiraled outward along his old floorboards.
'The Dauntless Dragon brings overwhelming power, but at the cost of the body and mind. Time is now his ultimate enemy. If I can hold out–' Another downpour beat against Dutchman's defense and it took all his knowledge to keep his deck intact between onslaughts, though the cracks continued to widen. 'Dammit, Decken III! Ye just had to practice your Fishman Karate away from me deck, didn't ye?'
Another attack pounded the top of Dutchman's water dome. His spectral body remained untouched, but the weakened deck finally gave way, the Klabautermann coughing up some approximation of blood as his feet hit the next floor below. His insides had been filled with air ever since Decken IX obtained his Devil Fruit, but that air now escaped through the hole the prince created, water spilling into the ship. The bubbles released held Fukaboshi back just long enough for Dutchman to plan his next move.
The prince's tail hit the wood just as Dutchman's coattails disappeared into the wall, the berserker turning his glowing eyes to every area in an attempt to find his target. Another heated breath leaked past his lips, the near-boiling water pulled away as the hallways and rooms continued to flood.
"Come out, come out~!" the prince taunted, a bloodthirsty grin revealing his shark teeth. "I know you're there~!"
In response, a claw rose from the floor in an approximation of an uppercut. Fukaboshi shifted backward, the spectral chitin whiffing past before retreating back into the ship. A spike of wood shot from the wall to the left, the prince catching it in a hand. It creaked under his strength before dissipating into mist and slipping between his fingers.
The prince's eyes narrowed as he growled, his fingers forming droplets distinct even in the water around them. They rocketed forward with a flick of the wrist, the Water Bullets ripping through wood, but that did not satisfy the crazed fighter. Again and again, his volleys tore into the old ship, Dutchman forming parts of his body where he could in order to negate some of the damage. Pincers, peglegs, cutlasses, and feet tried their best to estimate points of impact and tank the damage just to reform where the structure of their true body could not, but little could stand up to the force the Dauntless Dragon could make.
Dutchman cursed silently as another blast of water blew one of his manifested pincers to bits before puncturing another half-dozen holes through his walls and hull. That he was not meant to sail on the surface or that he had only recently grown used to dry insides was cold comfort as the waters of the deep filled him now.
He could feel himself slowing as his captain's powers were forced to fight against more water resistance. Few understood that Vander Decken IX's powers bestowed a level of kinetic force into the projectile and that the larger the object, the slower it would be overall, and that it was not immune to lesser resistances.
Dutchman, however, doubted that Fukaboshi knew or even cared about those details. More importantly, he would only survive for as long as his ship remained ship-shaped, shipshape, and seaworthy; the fact that he was still around after nine generations was a testament to his creators' abilities and the care his previous captains had taken. A Klabautermann is the essence and reflection of a ship, the physical made manifest in the meta-physical. As soon as one was no longer recognized as a ship (baring some exceptions as Going Merry and Moby Dick had proven), then the spirit would cease to be in the same way that the soul passes on with the death of the body.
And right now, his body was taking a beating he couldn't take much more of.
"Ye cannot keep this up," Dutchman warned, Fukaboshi's bottom two inches of hair a pale blue-gray already with the drain in color steadily crawling upward. The warrior barely reacted as the voice echoed from all around him, the walls and floor vibrating with the sound. "He ain't perfect, but me cap'in's a good enough man. He'll treat your sister like a queen."
Fukaboshi answered by punching a wall, a splurge of bubbles initially exploding from the new hole before lessening to a slow dribble. Before he could pull his fist back, however, the top and bottom of the hole formed teeth, biting into the meat and tissue of his forearm. He let out an instinctive grunt of pain as Dutchman rematerialized from the wall, dragging the prince through by his now-bleeding arm into one of the crew quarters. The fairy's face tentacles rolled up Fukaboshi's appendage, trying to crush the muscles and bones that had caused him so much pain to dust.
"This ship be my domain, boy," Dutchman growled, his voice coming from the room even with his mouth full. "I am all around ye and ye be burnin' your own body for a paltry win. Give up and live."
The prince closed his eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the pain cutting through the haze his mind had become with his pseudo-transformation. The blood rushing to his brain began to lessen as some of it seeped into the waters. His golden eyes opened.
"I must thank you, Dutchman," Fukaboshi said with that same echoing tambour that mirrored Dutchman's hull-speak. He flexed, his muscles snapping the conglomeration's teeth from their roots with brute force. As happened with the rest of his severed parts, the teeth faded before reforming in their proper places, leaving the already-healing cuts behind while Dutchman gnashed. "Something came over me, but you have cleared my head."
"Bloodletting," the spirit realized. "Damn."
"Indeed. I would say surrender, but that would not be fair to the men you killed. I'm sure you wouldn't do so anyway. You were quite literally born a pirate."
"You're right, prince. The only right answer to this is a fight to the death."
Dutchman leapt forward, cutlass cutting through water. Missing his trident, the prince swirled water around his arm and batted the blade aside by the flat. The Klabautermann refused to be deterred by such an action, his pincer coming up assisted by the centrifugal force of the parry. Fukaboshi responded in kind, completing his spin to bring his hand down.
"King Dragon Style: Dragon Current!"
Dutchman jumped, pivoting around the claw to bring his pegleg down in a punishing ax kick. The prince grit his teeth as he was forced to the floor, the start of a resonating headache throbbing from where wood met his skull, but the adrenaline of his Dauntless Dragon State was already beginning to nullify the feeling. One hand came up, grabbing the fairy's leg, while the other punched. Dutchman's head snapped backward, his consciousness rattled with whiplash-like vertigo. Disoriented, he felt water start to flow around him before the merman released his leg, throwing him into and through yet another wall.
Fukaboshi panted, one eye squinted as he wrestled with his blurring vision. His semi-physical opponent had vanished again after exiting the new hole in the hull, so he had only a few seconds at most before he returned again.
"This is going to hurt," he muttered to himself before tucking himself into a ball and summersaulting, his speed growing with each flick of his tail. "King Dragon Style: Shark Tail Rip!"
"No!" the Klabautermann cried, leaping from the ceiling over the prince. Alas, he was too late as a pulse of sharpened water arced in a vertical circle from the man. The attack cut Dutchman in half twice-over, first his humanoid form from head to pelvis, then his ship from port to starboard, which in turn split the spirit at the waist. The manifestation's parts landed on a separate part of the vessel, half on the bow and the other on the stern.
From up above, his captain called his name in panic.
"M-Me ship…" Dutchman hacked, coughing up spiritual essence. "Y-You…!"
The distance between the parts grew.
Dutchman needed only a second to realize the implication, the prince forgotten as he focused all his concentration on what he could do to delay the inevitable. He ground his teeth and the ship itself began to glow an eerie green, the same glow around the humanoid manifestation. Light shifted as Dutchman reworked which parts of his soul resided where. His waist knitted back together, though his left and right sides remained apart.
One problem patched for the time being, Dutchman stabbed his sword into the floorboards of one side while his pincer gripped those of the other. He let out a growl of strain as slowly, almost too slowly, his halves pulled to each other like magnets of opposite polarity until they touched. The front half of his ship continued on its course, undeterred and now almost twice as fast as before. Only Dutchman's willpower dragged his back half along for this painful ride. It was all he could do to keep himself together, a blurred line present as his spirit tried and failed to become whole without his body able to do the same.
"I'm sorry." Fukaboshi's words scalded him like boiling water.
"I hate ye," Dutchman bit out, a flame that refused to be doused growing in his gut. If this was to be his end, he would make it a memorable one. "Your family, your kingdom, the Poseidon, all of it."
"Poseidon?" the prince questioned.
"Your legend has shackled me cap'ins for all me existence. The mere idea drove 'em mad time after time, generation after generation. They slaughtered their own crewmates for their questions and stained me deck red for centuries, all because o' the royal bloodline."
"That is not our fault."
"Isn't it?" Dutchman grinned through the pain. "All along, I've wanted to save me cap'ins like so many o' me crew before, but there's only one way to do that. Do ye know how, Prince?"
"To turn them away from–"
"Yeaahahahaha!"
Fukaboshi cut himself off as the laugh ripped through the Klabautermann, echoing through the surroundings. He frowned.
"Ye think we would give up after so long?" Dutchman asked. "Ye think we could? Ye think anyone on the island would accept that answer? No, Prince Fukaboshi. Piracy be the only path we could ever walk."
"Then what?" the merman demanded, the ship rattling as its personification struggled to keep its parts together. The glow faded for a second before returning brighter. "What is your answer to your impossible question? What justifications do you have for killing my men like barnacles?"
"The only answer… is death and loss." That pulled Fukaboshi up short, his eyes widening. "Only the death o' the royal family could free the Decken line. Only the forever loss o' Poseidon could end the mad obsession. And only the destruction o' Fishman Island as it is now could erase the memory o' the sins o' the past and allow the Decken's o' the future to live in peace."
"What is Poseidon?" the prince questioned again. Again, Dutchman ignored him.
"Long as your father, your brothers, your sister, and ye survive, Cap'in Decken and his children will chase after ye. Long as you're around, I'll need to watch me cap'ins chase the impossible and die trying. I refuse!
"That's why, Prince Fukaboshi, I'd rather die and take even one o' ye with me than watch another Decken fall to the curse o' your legacy. And once you're gone, me bow will go on. Death befall ye and the princess, I pray to Calypso. Good riddance."
Wood ground against wood as Dutchman heaved, boards cracking and splintering. The prince braced as the battlefield imploded.
Coby panted, the ground around him littered with bodies and gashes. His muscles ached, dried blood drawing lines down his human form from the few cuts and bullet holes the waves of pirates had managed to nick him with. Kaku stood at his back, his fellow human-form Zoan swordsman equally winded but unable to complain. Despite the number of fallen, still more fishman eyed them while screams and explosions echoed through the air.
"It's like they never end," Coby grunted, rolling his shoulders. "I think it's time we joined the battle in the sky for a change of pace and leave these guys to Luffy and the others. What do you say we give them one more hit and go, Wind?"
The ex-agent nodded, sheathing his swords before crouching. Brown spots grew over his yellowing skin while, beside him, Coby shifted into his Drill Mode. He leapt, diving into the ground with little resistance as Kaku began to spin, swinging his neck to build momentum.
"Let's get 'em while they're separated!" a pirate yelled, the ring collapsing as the group rushed inward. "I hope you're ready to die, human!"
Kaku paid them little mind as he continued to move faster, trusting that Coby would do something about their plan. He didn't need to wait long before the first charging pirate stepped on a section of ground that gave way beneath him. He cried out in pain as his ankle snapped. His top trying to keep the momentum his leg could no longer support. Like a breaking wave, the man fell over.
He was only the first as another of his crewmates met the same fate, a distinct circle of interrupted attackers forming a speedbump for those behind. Said second wave hit an area much like the first, only this one was more of a spiral slowly closing in toward the ungulate nearing the end of his preparations.
An unannounced Sky Slicer ripped through the remaining charging force, blasting them outward. Kaku wavered, trying to give his inner ears time to stop protesting as Coby leapt from the ground while offering a fist. Kaku grinned, bumping it with his own hoof as the two shrunk back into their original forms.
"Moonwalk!" the roset shouted, both fighters kicking off the ground and into the air.
"Concassè!" Sanji yelled, Ace cheering in his arms as the chef's steel-toed shoes crunched against the skull of another bubble-suspended pirate. The force catapulted the merman into the ground below, but Sanji could not celebrate the victory as yet another spear aimed for his side.
"Dere!" Ace supplied, pointing out an obvious threat. "And dere and dere and right dere!"
That last one had gone unnoticed, the blond silently thanking the child against his chest as he backflipped over the incoming points. A glaring weakness and an additional weight the child may be, but he made up for it every now and then by covering what situational awareness his presence removed.
"Get back here, you coward!" one of the mermen demanded. "Give us the boy!"
"64-Caliber Phoenix!" A half-dozen flying slashes cut into the small band, Kaku and Coby appearing at either side of the chef as they took a moment to watch their opponents fall. Ace grinned, waving.
"Hi, Uncle Coby! Hi, Kaku!"
"Hi, Ace," the younger Zoan responded. "Sanji, what's the status up here?"
"These morons call themselves the Skyfish Division." He gestured to where Merry danced with a pair of nets and Nami rode Billy, both beating back against the seemingly-endless wave. "We've got more maneuverability with Billy and Sky Walk–"
"You're the only one that calls it that."
"–but I think it's clear they've got numbers."
"I wanna go see Mommy!" Ace demanded, wiggling in Sanji's hold.
"I'm not done teaching you to be a gentleman," the chef protested even as Coby took the young child from him.
"Wind, why don't you stay here with Sanji?" Coby suggested. "I'll take Ace to Nami and join Merry over there."
Again, Kaku nodded before Coby kicked, the force carrying him and the toddler over the battlefield. The land below was a mess of action and quiet pockets. Luffy was a whirlwind of fists and feet, blowing fishmen away like pollen in the wind. Grace and Amy fought together, the former bringing back the past for the latter as she created explosions to carry Amy away from imminent danger or position her for optimal meteoric impact. Chopper stuck out of a brachiosaurus-themed tank, calling out enemy positions while the person inside —Franky presumably— worked the cannon.
Gin and the princes stayed by Sunny, defending her immobile form even as the ship offered her own two cents with all the hidden mechanisms Franky and Galley-La had loaded her with. (Was that a flamethrower? Yes, that was an omnidirectional flamethrower. Why didn't Franky ever mention he gave their ship an omnidirectional flamethrower?) Brook seemed to be holding a concert for a small band, the dancing group shooting at their own crewmates with unfocused eyes whilst the skeleton played behind them. Zoro and Hyouzou raced in an arc around Robin, the woman's limbs spreading over the area like deadly plants. On the other side, Usopp spread literal deadly plants in his own little jungle, pirates hanging from the tops of bamboo shoots or trapped in the salivating mouths of gigantic Venus flytraps. If the lights in the sniper's eyes were any indication, he really wanted to be in the tank and away from more immediate danger.
"Wah!"
"Oh, Coby!" Nami grinned, Billy banking after their recent combination attack to come to a hover alongside him. She waved her Perfect Clima-Tact forward as Billy stopped, launching a cloud she'd been dragging into an opaque tornado that ripped through a division of spear-bearers like cattle. "I see you've got Ace. Thanks."
"Mommy!" The swordsman handed the boy over, the young mother settling him in the saddle before her in short order. He twisted his body as best he could, giving her a hug to the waist.
"Ace~" Nami cooed. "Do you want to see Mommy make some cool atmospheric phenomena? We'll electrically stimulate the water vapor of Mommy's stratus cumulonimbus~! And what will that do, Ace?"
"The clouds'll go zap!"
"And if we force a cold front into warm air?"
"They'll chase each other and go woosh! Twisty!"
"That's right, Ace!" Nami gushed. "You're so smart!"
"You're just as bad as Robin," Coby muttered as Nami rattled off more weather-based jargon to her not-even-two-year-old son. His left arm rose, batting away the merman that tried to silently stab him before the blade moved to pop the man's bubble. "Well, we'll deal with that between life-threatening situations. I'm gonna go check on Merry."
"Bye, Uncle Coby! Have fun!" Ace waved as Coby and Billy went separate ways. The skies were more-or-less clear in a straight path toward the mid-air Klabautermann supporting herself in the same way as the Zoan, the ex-agent, and the chef. Rope danced around her at her beck and call, a surprisingly-deep laugh rumbling from her throat.
"Come get me, you wimps!" Merry laughed, cracking a merman across the face with rope like a whip before wrapping him in a net that dragged him down. She spun, launching a Tempest Kick through the air toward a charging group that scattered to avoid the slash. "And you all call yourselves the Skyfish Division? Well, I guess it doesn't mean much when the Skyfish of Skypea are nothing but hot air balloons without any real bite. Baaahahaha!"
"Yeah, looks like she doesn't need any help," Coby commented, sticking around anyway to watch and catch his breath.
"Look what we have here!" one of the mermen surrounding Merry called, a posse of nearly 20 gathering in a semicircle arrayed around the pirate. "Did you know there's something even lower than a human? A wannabe human! This ship thinks it's better to walk on land than float in the ocean, and it must've eaten a Devil Fruit just to make believe!"
"Bro, I don't think that's how it works," another New Fishman pirate commented. "Not here in this version of reality. I mean, Moby Dick can still swim…"
"Come on, my brothers! Let's show this fake human the power of Mermen!" The egotistical merman charged, only two out of the other 20 following his lead. Merry blinked before pulling out a handful of marble-sized cannonballs. Though they were too small to fit inside of any conventional cannon, the metallurgy of their composition was the same, and that was enough for her "fairy magic" as Paulie sometimes called it. Taking inspiration from Grace, the balls revolved around her, spinning too fast for the mermen to notice as they approached.
"Die, you ghost!" He stabbed, the point of his spear passing through Merry's stomach as she destabilized. She grinned at him and grasped the weapon, pushing it out without even a hole left behind. One of her Metal Marbles snapped the shaft of his spear while another two broke the noses of his companions. "W-What?"
"You can't kill a ghost, silly," Merry teased, throwing the spearhead over her shoulder. "That's the thing about Klabautermanns. We're like music; you can't touch us…" You Metal Marbles pushed the merman forward, Merry's small hand grabbing him by the face before angling herself above him.
"…but we can touch you."
She kicked, the two descending with increasing speed. His cries for forgiveness and mercy vanished in the wind whistling through their ears. He landed first, his body forming a crater with Merry's Iron-Body-enhanced form digging him deeper.
"Dammit, Merry!" Amy cursed, smacking a pirate with her umbrella hard enough to launch him into the far wall. "That's my move you just stole!"
"Pirate~!" the ship-girl sang, leaving the twitching tail of the merman stuck in the earth. "Anyway, gotta go! More deluded morons to punch!"
"So you've finally come back down to earth," a voice said, both women turning to see a teal-green-skinned fishman with a large forehead. "We meet again, Klabauytermann."
"Fore," Merry said. "And my name is Merry. I guess you want to finish what we started back at the palace."
"I do."
"What about those guys?" Merry gestured upward to the Skyfish Division eyeing her from above. Fore waved them off, barely noticing as Coby attacked them.
"They won't bother us. I might not be one of Captain Hody's most trusted, but I am strong enough for Sir Zeo to trust me with some Energy Steroids. Not the new kind they have, but someone's got to use the old ones." He raised his palm, showing off the red-and-black checkered pills many had used back at the palace. "You don't mind, do you? You're the closest thing I've got to a rival and I want to beat you fair and square."
"I can respect that," Merry grinned, rope spilling from her sleeves. "Use every advantage you have. I know I will."
Fore nodded, downing the pills in one swallow. He grunted, three heartbeats making him bulk up until he was a couple inches taller and winder than before with now-glowing-red eyes. He cracked his neck as the power surged through him.
"Let's go!" Both contenders blurred forward, forehead and horns meeting in a clash that caused gusts of air pressure, matching grins present on their lips.
"Merry!" The Weightless Woman fretted, but she could tell there was no stopping the ship-turned-girl at this point; she was too much like Luffy with her current mindset. Amy turned as another group came forward, each of these fighters carrying a six-foot black shield ringed with spikes. "Great. More of you."
"Hello from the Iron Shell Division!" their leader called. "You're pretty tough for a female human, but I bet your insides are just as squishy as anyone else's. We'll punch right through and finish you off with our spiked shields!"
"I see," Amy grinned, sauntering forward with a sway in her hips. "You boys think you've got what it takes to get inside me?"
"We will!" The division raised their shields and charged, aiming to stab the woman they'd seen falling from the sky multiple times without a scratch to show for it.
"You're either pretty brave or really stupid," Amy said, taking a deep breath as the mass in her fist increased disproportionately to the rest of her body, save the muscles and skeletal structures holding her up. Lines of black smoke wisped into existence around her knuckles, the blonde readying as they approached. "Too bad you're messing with a meteor. Master Fist!"
She punched the ground, the force causing a localized earthquake as the stone gave way below her. Her mass reduced as she jumped toward them in their time of panic, fists, legs, and her umbrella breaking bones while they still could not recover their footing.
"Come get some!" a Batfish Fishman yelled, his powerful legs carrying his ugly mug over the rough terrain with little problem. Amy's nose wrinkled as he drew closer, the smell of rotting carcass invading her senses from a proboscis hanging between his eyes. Nausea washed over her as the pirate raised his spiked defense for pure offense. "Die, you human bitch!"
"Blue Arrow!"
The projectile nailed the batfish in the shoulder, its structure breaking down as its composition flowed into his veins. The man's eyes grew teary as he lowered the shield, letting it fall to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, miss," he sniffed, his proboscis returning into his face to cut off the smell. His tears fell. "Momma would be so ashamed to see me attacking an unarmed woman. Attacking anyone, actually. I've always been a problem child…" He broke down, curling into a fetal position as he wept, muttering about not having lived up to his mother's expectations.
"Thanks, Grace!" Amy yelled, kicking the man to send him into blissful unconsciousness.
"You're welcome!" her sister answered, the redhead returning to her own battlefield. The ground looked like a toddler's preschool project, splotches of color everywhere with periodic lumps where some unfortunate fishman had been unable to get away from a wave of paint.
"It's time to cave that pretty face of yours!" a large fishman announced, his speed belying his apparent size as he appeared over Grace with his club, a blunt instrument as tall as she was, already in motion above her. The chem-woman reacted on instinct, her hand coming together to form a swirling ball of purple gas between her palms. "Go to Hell, human!"
"Neon Argon!"
Gas ground against solid, the density of the two battling for supremacy. Grace grit her teeth as the force nearly pushed her to a knee before the grinding grew louder. The fishman pulled back in surprise, a rough orb now missing from his club.
"What the H–"
"Your Fear is delicious," the artist said, the ball of gas breaking in two as she split it into her pair of katar. One extended as she swung it, the blade of solidified argon catching and slicing the club where its integrity had been weakened. Its weighted end clunked against the ground. The man took a step back. "Aww, what's wrong? Is the big, strong fishman scared of a little human girl?"
"Don't make fun of me!" He threw his ruined weapon away and bore down on the artist, his superior height making him tower over her. Grace didn't flinch, shoving her hand forward as a wave of brown-black splashed against him. He froze, slowly looking down at the paint that now dripped down his front. He'd seen the effects on others and worried what this one could do. His rage made him fall right into her trap. She grinned.
"Colors Trap: Art is an Explosion."
"Oh, son of a fish."
Grace snapped, blasting the fishman across the way. As fire burned his front, his flight was interrupted by the strike of a bolt of lightning. His momentum vanished in a moment, the charred fishman landing on his face.
"Like cockroaches, th' lot o' ya!" Gin yelled, trying to hide his own panting. He'd gone all-out with his first few attacks after Sunny's entrance hoping that everyone's overwhelming force would scare them into surrender. That plan didn't pan out and, with his electric stores beginning to run low, it appeared the smaller groups of New Fishmen were beginning to wise up with who they fought.
"So you're the one they call the Electric Devil?" a voice said, Gin backhanding his latest foe with his tonfa before turning to the newest threat. Two identical pirates stood amongst their downed companions. They were male with elongated, brown skin interspersed with highlights of yellow and their underbites showed off razor teeth. "That bitch and her bird held us back in the palace, but we can't settle that score while she's flying around up there."
"So we'll take our pound of flesh from you instead!" the other brother grinned. "We're the Denki Twins, First and Second."
"Your names are First and Second?" Gin blinked.
"That's us," the first brother to speak answered. "I'm the older brother, Second."
"And I'm the younger brother, First!"
"That's gonna to be a headache soon," the Logia grumbled. "So what, ya've come here ta steal some glory from my head or somethin'?"
"You could say that," Second responded. "There aren't many Electric Eel Fishmen among us and we're the best of them. That makes us uniquely suited to taking you down."
"Ya really think some 'lectic resistance'll be enough ta beat me?" Gin laughed. "Come an' be cleansed o' your hubris. Fear not, for your sins're washed clean in th' humility o' defeat."
Gin flashed forward, catching the twins off guard if their surprise was any indication. First managed to react before his brother, the younger trying to pull the older away, but he wasn't as fast as the lightning-man. Both of Gin's tonfa landed glancing blows into Second's chest, the fishman hacking up blood. Gin's grin widened for only a moment before a sharp pain pierced his shoulder.
"What were you saying about hubris?" Second asked through a bloodied smile, the man pulling a thin rapier –more of an oversized needle– from the Logia's shoulder.
"Sea Prism Stone," the human gasped.
"That's right," First nodded, pulling out a matching weapon. "We knew we were going to take you on, so we prepared for it with these estocs. Come meet your end, human!"
End of Chapter 19
The battles start to heat up, but the New Fishman Pirates still have a few cards up their sleeves. And what of Fukaboshi and Dutchman? Find out more with the next chapter, coming May 21st! And as always:
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-SwordOfTheGods