[Peridot]

The tip of Carina’s sword bounced harmlessly off the surface of the desk when Jango yanked it up to create a makeshift wall between him and her. She clenched her teeth angrily when she realized that the impromptu shield blocked any direct line of sight between him and her. She expected him to then jump over the wall to get to her and aimed her poisonous bubbles upward to block out that mode of transport when a leg with a booted foot swept around underneath the desk to score a hit on her leg. There wasn’t a cracking or splitting sound that suggested any of her bones were broken, but the dull pain assured Carina that the blow would be blue, purple and all sorts of sickly bruise colored the next day if she survived. Well, he was the Rear Admiral for a reason, she thought to herself, noting that Jango could have easily broken her leg if he had wanted to. It proved he really was powerful to be able to show restraint in the midst of combat like that. I really need to find a way to make this poison corrosive. Shame he’s not wearing shorts.

Jango followed up the attack with a sneaky tug of his chakram. Carina saw the glint of steel flash as the sharp disk whirled around the edge of the desk towards her arm. If she dodged, there would be nothing stopping him from continuing to chase her around the room with that weapon. Instead of throwing herself bodily out of pendulum’s flight path, Carina twisted around to grab the string controlling the chakram as it passed. The incredibly sharp pendulum nicked Carina’s arm as it passed. A modest amount of blood spurted out of the wound, mixed with her poisonous coating and either splattered onto the disc weapon or dripped onto the floor in a seething, frothing slurry of toxic sludge. As soon as she felt the injury, Carina grabbed at the string with her left hand to try and keep the pendulum in place briefly while she gave another jab with her sword. This time, intending to stab straight into the middle of the sharp chakram ring and use the sword blade and hilt to pin the weapon in place to the chair.

The marines were banging on the door trying to get in, but Carina would have none of it and neither did it look like Jango would. He deserved a good death in a one on one battle, not being mobbed in a small room. Plus, they’ll steal all my glory! He asked ME to kill him, so I’m the only one who gets to do it! Jango shifted to stand in front of the door, and Carina could just bet that the marines outside were going wild now that they could see the shadow of his feet from beneath the crack in the door. Carina grabbed an edge of the fallen desk and flung it over in Jango’s direction, releasing a flurry of poisonous bubbles immediately after. The desk itself wasn’t an incredibly serious attack, but it hid the path of her bubbles from sight, and got the darn thing out of the way if she needed to run around and dodge. If Jango dodged the attack and let it keep flying, then the extra weight of the desk would serve as an extra barricade if the marines did try to knock the door down.

She wouldn’t look to see whether the attack hit, and instead used the opportunity to rush for the second sword sent clattering to the ground when Jango first up-ended the table. She’d need it to fend off any further attacks or to try and cut the chakram string.

[Lord English]

Jango felt the tug on the chakram and decided it was best to make it seem as though he dropped it, keeping his four fingers open but his thumb pressed to his palm to keep track of the string. He felt it pull beneath his gloves as he had made his way to the door and continued to keep it loose so if she got in its path, it wouldn’t tug on her noticeably. This was all too crucial when the table was thrown at him, placing his hands out to take the impact on his palms, his thumbs now pressed to the side of his hands as he stopped it just to see the flurry coming at him.

He pivoted his wrists to make the table stand long side up then ducked behind it on the ground. This was when he decided it was time to truly get serious against her. He ripped at the string and it snapped the chair up to the ceiling and smashed it there, splinters raining down. He continued the movement of his chakram to knock down a box containing a mop near him. He grabbed the mop in his other hand and had the chakram cut the door behind him. It only opened the top bits of the door and marines were trying to crowd in and see what was going on. Then he moved from around the table and knocked it sideways and kicked it against the door. He wrapped up his pendulum string and swung it rhythmically as he swung the mop in from the upper right.

He noticed she had two swords but this didn’t bother him, he felt more than comfortable fighting the young one with a blunt weapon. And now all the marines would be able to witness her taking his head, his smile growing as everything fell into place. This would be his own greatest victory.

[Peridot]

To Carina’s dismay, Jango smashed the chair against the ceiling of the supply closet, sword and all. The wooden furniture shattered and began to rain down large jagged splinters. She yelped and dodged out of the way, not fancying getting pieces of wood stuck in her arms if she tried to shield her head from the attack. The weapon continued to slice off the top of the door before returning to Jango. Marines peeped in to watch the battle before Jango kicked the table against the door.

Far from laughing at Jango’s choice of weapon ( a mop, really?) something went dark in Carina’s eyes with the knowledge that their battle now had an audience. She gripped the fallen sword and then grabbed the second sword freed from the damaged chair. Her body was still dripping with noxious neurotoxin, and she dripped her poisonous secretions over the new sword.

“You’re not getting away, Jango.” Carina growled out as she lifted the sword in her right hand up at a diagonal angle to block the incoming mop swing. There remained a sword in her left arm so she decided to go for a surprise attack and hurl the blade at her adversary, putting a little torque in her wrist as she launched the weapon so it spun slightly, splattering droplets of toxin as it flew. It looks cool, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with two swords, Carina confessed to herself, glad to be rid of the weapon since the second sword was heavier than it looked. She used her newly freed left hand to grip the hilt of the sword blocking Jango’s attack.

Carina let out an angered shout, “This time you’re going to pay for your crimes as a pirate!” With the strengthened grip on her sword, Carina lunged forward with a broad slash sweeping diagonally from the upper left downward.

[Lord English]

Jango felt the one blade press into the mop he decided to fight with and pressed back against it. He used the rocking of his pendulum to swing it up along the thrown sword at him and wrap it up, yanking it to the side. Droplets were flying nearly everywhere and he raised his shoulder to block his face and it was unseen if a drop had in fact hit him or not. He leapt back and released the mop. He whipped the chakram back at her but ripped it ahead of the blade and back to send the blade at her as his other hand grabbed a support beam of the room and pulled. The room to her left and his right would begin to collapse and launch boxes down upon them both. He stood through the fury of boxes and used the falling objects as weapons as he pushed them fiercely towards her or punched them. His breathing remained steady through it seemed he was weakening. He took it one more step seriously as when the boxes were done falling, he whipped the pendulum right for her. It was nearly unseen that his body was beginning to shake and give out but he pushed himself past the limits being set for him.

[Peridot]

Her thrown sword was snagged by the pendulum and yanked aside seemingly harmlessly to Carina’s dismay as he leaped backwards to avoid her sword strike. Carina’s own sword was hurled back at her and grazed her side with a shallow nick when she swerved to dodge. Then the entire room seemed to collapse when Jango tugged on a support beam, bringing down boxes of cleaning supplies and tools used by the marine custodians. A plastic bucket made a dull clattering noise when it struck Carina neatly on the right side of her head, and then a box Jango punched at her burst when it collided with the arms she brought up to try and shield herself from any attacks. The box opened with a flood of bolts and screws, spreading the tiny round pieces about on the floor of the supply closet. A monkey wrench also got pushed towards her while she was knocked off balance by the screws and collided nicely on one side of her forehead creating a small bleeding cut and a large swollen bump. “Oww!” She hissed with pain and surprise.

The girl blinked angrily as blood trickled from the cut down towards her eyes and along the side of her face. That last attack only served to make her even angrier and the girl ground her teeth with frustration at the both humiliating yet effective attack. Without letting up, Jango flung his pendulum directly towards the girl. Carina instinctively ducked while thrusting her remaining sword straight up, to catch the middle of the chakram again. The girl would then retaliate with another poison bullet although she was starting to get a bit tired from using her Devil Fruit Powers so much.

Carina kept a tight grip on her sword. She knew that she wasn’t strong enough to snag Jango’s chakram away from him, and didn’t bother engaging in a game of tug of war with the grown man. Instead, the girl took the opportunity to rush forward and aim a kick at her pirate opponent. If he would yank at the string to pull the chakram back or tried to snag her sword away, she’d hold onto it and let herself get towed along rather than release his weapon.

[Lord English]

Jango only smirked at her anger and stepped to the side, just enough that the poison bullet wouldn’t hit somewhere fully fatal but into his shoulder as he didn’t want to let the men on the other side of the door to get hit. He stood strong despite the poisons running through his veins and kept his breathing even. It was clear where his resolve stood, despite the pirate past, he was definitely all marine. He then released his pendulum and let her charge him, figuring that since she had her poisons on her and it was already in his veins, it wouldn’t hurt to fight her hand to hand. He brought his leg up to block hers with his shin then thrust his hand out towards her forehead, attempting a strike on her injury to make it hurt more.

This was when he reached and pulled out a hand shovel and swung it at her head with the blunt end. It was clear he was trying to do damage though he noticed something. The marines had stopped trying to come in and interfere. As he drew the shovel back again and yelled, “COWARDS! IF YOU WERE TRUE MARINES YOU WOULD STILL BE TRYING TO HELP HER!” He finally gasped for breath but he made it seem like just a normal intake, forcing himself to keep going. He then used the shovel to attempt two slices horizontally for her chest. “SHE IS NOT AFRAID TO FIGHT A POWERFUL PIRATE ON HER OWN!”

The marines behind the door just stayed silent, then started yelling back, “YOURE TOO POWERFUL!” “THERE’S NO WAY!” “WHAT RANK IS SHE?!” They hadn’t a clue the admiral was behind them and watching.

[Peridot]

Finally, Jango dropped the chakram and engaged her in hand to hand combat. For a moment, Carina had been worried that she would be slammed into the walls or ceiling. The former Rear Admiral blocked her kick and then tried to strike at her head injury. The young marine saw the attack coming and reflexively used her free arm to block the incoming strike. For a moment, she gave a confident grin at the successful block before her face fell as she saw the end of a shovel hurtling toward her face.

A metallic clunking noise sounded as the blunt weapon made contact with the side of her head and sent Carina flying, where she crashed into the wall. While Jango shouted angrily at the spectators, she pulled herself up onto her feet, struggling to keep down the ringing noise echoing in her ears and the throbbing pain in her temple that pulsed in time with her heartbeats. She wasn’t sure if the slightly blurry vision was from having to blink to try to keep the blood from running into her eyes or the head injuries. Everything was pain, but she had to keep going. Both Jango and her audience were waiting for the finishing blow.

She spun around to avoid the first slice and then hopped backwards to avoid the second. Meanwhile, the marines were all in an uproar shouting and bellowing back at Jango at why they were too afraid to fight the pirate themselves. ‘Typical, worthless, weaklings,’ Carina thought, agreeing with Jango, ‘You’re so afraid of dying that you aren’t willing to live.’ Even if she hadn’t known that Jango was planning to lose, she still would have dismantled the door with her bare hands to get a chance to fight the notorious pirate.

“IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HELP, THEN SHUT THE HELL UP!” Carina shouted at the top of her lungs, and sending an earnest death glare to all of the marines behind the door.

“RANK DOESN’T MATTER! THERE’S ONLY THE WEAK AND THE STRONG. POWER AND THOSE TOO WEAK TO SEEK IT!” The shouting made Carina realize that the coppery tang in her mouth was the taste of blood. The young marine spat out the blood onto the floor before rushing forward at Jango in a fury. It doesn’t matter if you’re my Rear Admiral or a pirate outlaw. Your strength makes you a hundred times more worthy than these buffoons. You don’t deserve to be killed by them. She grasped for her sword and lashed out with a series of rapid sword thrusts. She was exhausted and injured, her breath coming out ragged and her nose and mouth were filled with the scent and taste of blood, but the rush of the fight and the chance to prove herself gave her enough energy to carry on. “MY NAME IS CARINA SKYLARK!” She roared.

Carina followed up the sword thrusts with another rush to try and throw a series of jabs at the man’s face and get too close in Jango’s range to allow him to use the full length of the shovel effectively. “I’M THE DAUGHTER OF WAR!” She coupled this attack with a sweep aimed at his legs to try and knock him off balance. “AND I REFUSE TO LIVE A LIFE OF COWARDICE!”

[Cain]

-Axel listened to her answer even though it was rather useless to him as he didn’t know these people personally enough to know there habits. He then heard the conversation of the man about to take on the big boss so he turned to Heiwa”go now, I can take care of us”. He decided to turn and headed for shells town which he knew would take some time but he could cut it soon enough. He turned and headed soon out of the storm into calm waters this was when the storm no longer filled his senses and he could smell the blood. He tied the wheel to keep going strait while he walked down smelling it the closer he got the more dilated his eyes became. He opened the door to her her room and shook his head. He had promised her death but at the hands of the marines not a fruit which made him wonder if that sand devil had known about the fruit as he had an on edge look about him till he handed the fruit to the girl. He scooped up the body and then grabbed her weaver putting her in it and pushed it away from the boat before he grabbed a match he found in the kitchen and threw it at some parchment he stuffed the ship full of and it went up in flames instantly her flames quickly went up in flames and for a short time she looked like a burning goddess of judgement with her tears of blood passing judgement on his soul. He punched the water and a wave pushed her out further into the sea towards the storm and as she reached it rain a bolt of lightening spiked through the girl and the boat leaving her to begin sinking. He turned away and went back to clean the blood away before he returned to the wheel and silently had the ship flow into shell town. He gathered up his chests all but the flags and the jacket and headed into port with them all stacked up and he stepped off his small boat and into town. He knew this was a marine town so he should catch a good price for all of this. He was finished with his sales by the time the night fell on the island so he want back to his ship and slept under the stars.-

[Lord English]

Jango smiled when she yelled back at the marines and the admiral present amongst them smiled as well. Jango moved back and forth from the fury of swipes, his body was about to shut down but he wasn’t going to let it, not yet. Despite dodging the strikes, he had blood running from his mouth and his breathing was definitely deeper as he stepped side to side. He then was about to swing again but she moved in close and he had to step back towards the door. He dropped the shovel by accident and her sweep connected with his leg. He let the leg collapse down but the moment that knee gave out, his body shut down and he collapsed to the ground, this not being helped by strong tremors starting to echo through the base.

He twitched as his force to keep going caused his quickening heart to burst veins in his body. This was when he chose to speak his last words, “She should be an admiral…” His body convulsed on the ground as the nerve endings went out, each part twitching oddly and his entire digestive tract expelling their contents. One the worst stopped, his fingers were twitching for a bit, eyes left open and a nasty mixture leaking from his mouth.

The admiral weaved through the marines and stood right behind the door and placed his hand on the top of the broken wood and smashed down to splinter it off its hinges. Then he picked up the table with one hand and tossed it back at his crew and pinned them out. He stood there and waited for her to show her resolve but he spoke openly to her, “You are quite the fighter.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Heiwa looked to Axel when he asked her to go and nodded as she said, “Be careful…” She leapt into the water and swam at her top speeds to try and get there swiftly.

While Axel was sleeping during the night, one of the marines from the town decided to sit near the ship since there was a sleeping shark alone there. He didn’t ask permission and was a couple feet away from him to make sure he was safe. This marine wore a jacket of high ranking and his pink hair flowed in the wind. He pushed up his glasses and would stay for a little.

This would be when the tremors reached them, the sounds of people waking up screaming and the unprepared buildings falling while some stayed stable. The ship rocked like mad and felt like it could tumble there at the dock. People began to panic and try to get to high ground. The marine on Axel’s ship took off into the town and yelled, “Everyone! Into the Marine base! It is stable! Do not let anyone tell you otherwise! Their Vice Admiral commands it!” People began fleeing into the marine base while he stood strong. Some of the other fishmen that had been visiting were freaked out by the earth shaking and either leapt into the water or went to the marine base. There were even merfolk there and young’uns of both kinds.

[Cain]

-Axel laid unaware of the marine so close to him but when the tremors reached him he shot up and out of the ship instantly running below to secure his chests and barrels. He then ran back up planning to head out to sea but he saw building erupting so he felt he would be more help here. He leaped off the boat and started helping people into the marine base at a couple times he was holding up a building for people to pass under which left him weak by the time he made sure everyone that could have been saved was secure. He looked out and saw his ship was undisturbed which he thanked his lucky star for this. he was unsure if it would remain safe but those chests were meant to last and they lasted a war and cannon fuatter they will survive this. He went inside seeing all the marines around him made him feel uneasy. He then realized while he was helping people to safety his shirt war ripped revealing his brand. He instantly began to walk backwards finding a wall between him and freedom and with the tremors would they notice a pirate among them.-

[Lord English]

Once all the people were safe, the marines turned their focus and blades towards Axel. Then their Vice Admiral stepped in and looked at the backed up shark and at his men and said, “Step aside.” The marines looked at the vice admiral and shook their heads. That was when he walked over to the shark and looked at the mark closer. He looked back at his men and said, “That’s not a pirate mark.”

“B-but the neo sun pirates!” One of them stuttered out.

“They are only pirates by name, not by any other means,” The Vice Admiral lectured them and said, “Go learn your history while we wait this out.” The building could be felt shaking but its structural integrity seemed enough for now. The Vice Admiral watched as the men either ignored it or went to go look things up then turned his head to the shark. “You are safe here,” He stated and then placed out his hand and said, “My name is Coby. I am the Vice Admiral here and those were and are my idiots. They don’t like to learn about anything but their own histories and it makes them a little… How to put this… Ignorant? Yeah.”

[Peridot]

Carina watched Jango as he fell to the ground and breathed his last words before descending into a convulsive, epileptic fit. His last words hadn’t been lost on her. Even with the pounding of her own heartbeat and pain throbbing in her head, she still heard Jango’s last words. “Thank you,” she replied solemnly. To others it might seem as though she was thanking him for complimenting her courage. She meant it for the chance he was giving her. I promise, Jango. One day, I’ll sail the Grand Line and become an Admiral. Then, his death throes began as the man twitched helplessly on the ground.

She had seen this happen many times with fish, bugs or the odd rodent she had been able to catch in her room, but never had she observed the effects of her poison on a living human being before. The horrifying, gruesome sight was mesmerizing and she couldn’t bring herself to look away. Then, her first boss and her first real opponent died with a shuddering breath and the reek of death.

This left the young seventeen year old wondering what to do next. Just how should she show respect for the body of a worthy opponent? Should she close his eyes? Throw something over his body? Use acid to dissolve his flesh? Cremation? She hadn’t bothered to ask what he wanted done with his body, but she was too weak to conjure up a corrosive enough acid to dissolve Jango’s body. In fact, it was taking most of her energy just to maintain her coating of poison so she stopped and allowed the lavender mixture of neurotoxin to disappear. Whatever she ended up doing, Carina did need his head to bring to the admiral who ordered his death in the first place.

The stomach acid and digestive cocktail rising up from the cadaver’s throat was pretty disgusting to look at no which ways about it. She didn’t want Janjo remembered like that, no matter what happened to his body so Carina bent down and wiped away the fluid spilling out with her hand since most of her white marine shirt was now covered in blood. The girl then began to glance around looking for the sword she had tossed aside during the fight so she could commence with the beheading. She spotted the sword and trudged over to it, limping from her heavily bruised leg, reeking of blood and vomit, and feeling exhausted and drained now that the fight was over. Carina licked the cocktail of digestive enzymes and gastric acid off of her fingers so she at least wouldn’t continue to smell like vomit when she presented her war trophy. Tasty~! She managed to drag the sword over to the body when a splintering crack filled the air and someone tore off the door to the supply closet and entered the tiny room.

At first Carina bristled, thinking that one of the marines was coming in to steal her kill and victory but relaxed upon seeing that it was the admiral. Uggh, I’m exhausted and starving. Thank goodness I don’t have to go looking for him. She raised one unsteady, blood covered hand to point at her temple in a salute, still struggling through the pain now that her adrenaline was starting to settle down. Her voice though polite, lacked its usual enthusiasm. Still, she managed to scrape together enough energy to eke out an insincere, cheery smile of a young recruit.

“Thank you for noticing, sir.”

[Lord English]

The admiral looked at the girl with a nearly pitiful gaze in his eyes, he reached his hand out with his palm facing up. He gently spoke to her after taking a deep breath, “I have seen your deed. You will be rewarded. I will take care of this from here.” He was hoping to do this quickly and get her medical attention. He would kneel down and scoop up the dead body in his other hand, holding it in his arm. The others were still crowded outside and he glared over his shoulder at them and said, “Don’t just stand there. Get medical you useless bag of lumps.”

They scattered to go get help at his demand and then his attention could return to the injured hero. He looked her over and his mind recalled what he’d seen. She had a very potent Devil Fruit and it could be useful in the future. He decided to speak on the abilities and if she were to take his hand, he’d start leading her to the medical ward. “So, you use poison?” He asked her in a serious tone. There seemed to be some remorse in his voice, though he’d seen the raising through the ranks and had watched Jango become who he was. Then to need to slay him arose and he gave it to this young woman, a nice touch.

[Silver]

Alice was woken from her nap in the barracks long ago by being shaken out her bunk and face planting into the floor. Pushing herself and shook as she struggled to her feet feeling the ground shaking under her and she started to hop around the room bouncing off the walls snagging what she needed as she moved around the room in time with the tremors. As she shot into the air she snagged her top off the bed post and pulled it over her shoulders and it the ground and did a back flip reaching behind her as she did tying the top off and pushed off the bed as she hit it grabbing her skirt and bottoms pulling the skirt on in mid-air and hit the nightstand as she bounced out the door pulling her bottoms on as men caught a glance up her skirt. her feet landing on their heads as they now got a clear view and she shoved off them and out the door her daggers and pistols now strapped to her legs and waist by the time she landed and rolled up one of the pieces of earth that bent up and shot into the air looking at the devastation the tremors where causing and sighed. “Damn it what’s going on Today was supposed to be my day off.” She landed at a beif moment of calm and shot off the ground again and gripped a tree pulling herself up into it and stabilizing herself and waited for it to stop or the tree to fall. She then felt it falling over and she jumped up out of the top of the tree rolling onto a roof and feel through it and feel out an open window and blinked. “Uhoh..” she hit the ground and rolled and just ran and dodged falling trees tell she found a door frame and gripped the door frame and held herself and still as she could.

[Lord English]

The people of the town all were out in the street. They had been there since the day before and waiting for the tremors to stop. The captain of the marines in the area just returned from an outing, his ship getting tossed in the waves from the tremors but not pulling it even close to dock. The captain took injured marines in his sand paper arms and leaped into the water and hopped out onto the land and ran them to the sturdiest building and placed them down. The other men on his ship only carried one at a time but he was carrying four at a time. He saw the one marine and her plight as the tree fell.

The Sand Devil ran over and lifted the tree from the house it collapsed into and tossed the tree out towards the sea. He then looked at the marine in the door frame and said, “Get to a reinforced building. If you can, care for the injured. Direct everyone out of the streets and to safety.” He heard his own snail phone going off and answered it with a firm, “WHAT?!”

“Notification to all Marine personnel,” The voice on the snail was reading off a recording, “The Fleet Admiral is in combat. His opponent is an advanced pirate capable of shaking apart the earth. Tread with caution.”

The Sand Devil hung it up and then tossed the snail with an angered growl. He then ran from the area and started to help get people to safer areas than out in the open. He was moving as fast as his shark muscles could take him.