6. burn it all (it's a party, have fun)

The battle on the Marine Ship.

Rookie pirates they may be, but rookie fighters they aren't. They leave as quickly as they come, but impressions stay, just a little longer.

-

Takara crashed against the wall.

A three-clawed hands pinned him against the wood, caving into the wall and keeping him trapped. Takara gritted his teeth.

Russo's arm became a wing, and his claw-- the claw of a predator bird-- was disturbingly close to the man's neck. His eyes narrowed sharply, and feathers grew from the side of his head.

"Ouch," Takara grunted out.

Russo kept his still-human hand at his bleeding forehead and sighed. "You thought you had me, didn't you," he muttered, "we didn't notice your metal arms because of your gloves, but you'll need more of a surprise if you want to take me on."

Takara kept an arm on the claw, gripping tightly. "A Devil's Fruit, huh..." he said, "a Zoan, I see."

Russo grinned. "You heard of them? This is the Tori-Tori no Mi, Model: Hawk," he pleasantly informed, "it's a predator."

"And predator fruits are always dangerous," Takara said.

"That's it," Russo said, "so you do understand."

There are still gunshots outside. Soldiers hollering orders. The panicked yelling is unbecoming of a marine ship-- but it's a ship stationed in the cores of West Blue, so there's no helping how weak-willed and inexperienced they are.

The door slams open, and a soldier comes in reporting frantically. "Captain Russo, sir!" he yelled, "the prisoner we caught, he--"

"What? Speak clearly."

The soldier straightened, "he's escaped and he's running amok!"

"What?!"

Russo tightened his grip around Takara's body. Takara winced, and both his arms curled behind him in the tightness. "Have Lock deal with it," Russo turned back to Takara, "I have my hands full with this one."

The soldier dismissed himself.

Takara reached for his elbows-- and with a snap, he released the buckle of his crossbow.

"No suspicious moves!" Russo warned. He lunged forward, the wall shattering and Takara howling as he sank deeper into the wood.

Takara grinned. His eye swirled into cogwheels, and a faint wave of light spilled across Russo's body. Takara raised his foot-- and slammed it backward.

The wall behind him shattered completely, and he stepped back to more movement space. Russo, caught off guard, was not prepared for this.

Takara pulled the trigger of his crossbow, and Russo howled, an arrow embedded in his wing. Takara quickly bent down, sending a sharp elbow at the bird's stomach, sending him buckling back.

"One word of advice," Takara straightened, "try keeping the extent of your abilities a secret... it's the basics of fighting with a Devil Fruit."

"You fucker-- you had a crossbow hidden in your arm?!"

"No," Takara pressed a button on his shoulder. "I have more."

-

After escaping the room, Takara was on the crow's nest.

"Man, the marine grunt rifles suck. Are these soldiers not taught how to maintain their guns? It's the basics!"

He stole a rifle from a marine soldier. Using his thigh as a platform, he aimed straight downwards. Shooting down soldier after soldier, he took a second to reload, and continued firing.

He toyed with the trigger on his finger, wondering who he should shoot next.

Down on the deck, Cross was running around. Close-ranged as they were, they had discarded their guns and went for swords. Cross was dodging each of them easily.

Takara took a drag of his cigarette.

Then he swung back and threw an ambushing soldier back down over the crow's nest. He sighed, watching the man yell as he went crashing back down.

"You're breathing too loud," he chided, though the man couldn't hear him. "Amateur."

He looked back down. There were about half of the original occupants left... did they go under deck? Why?

Ah, the Lieutenant is chasing Cross now. Man, that bleeding wound on the Lieutenant's shoulder looked painful. It's bright red against the white uniform.

Takara didn't peg Cross for the type that knew how to use a rifle, but there it was.

Oh well, Cross can go run around if he wanted. Since the soldiers are mostly under the deck now, they could use this opportunity to run away on the boat.

"Wait," he finally remembered. "We're missing someone."

Pause.

Then, "goddammit! Where the hell are those two dumbasses?!" he yelled, referring to the bear and a certain blond cowboy.

He hopped off the crow's nest, dashing across the bow to make a round around the ship.

"It's the other intruder!!"

"What happened to Captain Russo!?"

"Shoot! Fire at him!"

Marine soldiers started shooting at him, but they bounced off his arms and conveniently missed any parts of his torso. He bounced a little higher to dodge a blade, then continued on his way.

Now, where are they...

-

Cross shrieked. Lock threw a punch at him, and the air blistered.

"That looks really bad!" he said in alarm, frantically dodging the next punch with a sharp swerve to the right.

Lock punched the ship's main mast, and it shattered, the base crunched to pieces, the sails coming down.

Cross paled. The fist was right beside his face, narrowly missing him. Lock had probably missed on purpose to scare him into submission.

"That's crazy!" he squawked, "you're destroying your own ship! Are you human?!" Lock kept a firm grip on the boy's shoulder, and Cross gawked. "Ack, I got caught!"

"I don't know what you did, pirate, but you're not getting away," he tightened his grip, and Cross cringed from the pain in his bones.

This man had an iron grip, fierce and strong and so awfully painful.

Inhumanly so.

"You're very interesting," Cross' left eye flashed blue.

Lock flinched, but kept his grip firm. He kept a foot on Cross' blades, so the boy couldn't use them. Cross spotted it too.

"You're out of options. Stay quiet and get back in your handcuffs--"

"Lieutenant Lock!" a soldier interrupted. Lock shot a glare at him. "There's trouble in the basement! Commodore Dante is--!!"

The soldier was covered in blood.

"You piece of shit, you had other comrades?!" Lock tightened his grip on Cross, reaching for the boy's head. "Send backup to the Commodore! He's in no condition to engage a pirate!"

The Marine rushed down, scattering.

Cross stared straight at Lock, his blue eyes blinking in consideration.

"You're a Lieutenant, huh... is that very high up? Everyone seems to be listening to you," the boy said. "You don't look like you have a lot of experience, though."

Lock turned back around-- and Cross was gone. In place was one of his soldiers, and they looked fearful, howling in pain from the grip on his shoulder.

The blade was still on the floor, under his foot. Behind him, Cross held the soldier's rifle to the Lieutenant's back.

Lock heard the click of a safety being thumbed off.

"LIEUTENANT!!"

This gunshot was louder than the rest.

-

"This is ridiculous," Commodore Dante hissed. He held his side, where his wound reopened. He swore.

Titus stood before him, grin on his face and hands in his pocket.

"I may be injured... but why are none of my attacks hitting you?" Dante grounded out, "you're not using any tricks, are you?"

Titus shrugged. "I'm just lucky."

"Stop talking rubbish--"

"Y'know, there are three things that matter the most in battle," Titus continued talking, stepping forward.

Dante shrank back, burdened by the injury on his waist.

Titus counted off his fingers. "These three things are Power, Strategy... and Luck." He put his hand at his chest for the last one, giving him a smile for good measure. "And I am a man that is overflowing with Luck. That is why you can't defeat me, especially in your current state."

Dante choked up some blood. "Utter bullshit," he hissed, "quit looking down on me. You're just a criminal..."

"Criminal, scriminal, you call everyone you fight a criminal," Titus' voice lilted, "I haven't done anything to you yet, you know? I just came here to borrow some stuff, and suddenly, I'm getting attacked by a Commodore. And oh no, I'm evil."

Dante raised his pistol, and fired.

Titus didn't need to move. The bullet whizzed past his cheek, soared across his hair, and embedded into the wall. It drew no blood, just a little friction burn that barely left a mark.

"Oh, lucky me, right?" Titus teased.

Dante roared out a loud swear.

He raised the gun again, but this time, Titus grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, Commodore," he said, "if you keep pointing that dangerous thing at me, I'm going to get angry."

His wrist twisted, and Dante howled in pain.

"Be careful, Commodore, your wrist is still sprained," Titus smirked playfully. He set a foot on the man's bandaged ankle, "and if I recall, you have a fractured ankle."

There's a series of clicking noises.

A row of marines stand at the door, their rifles raised into the room.

"Step away from the Commodore," the one in front ordered, voice shaking, "now."

Titus sighed, letting go of the man and stepping away calmly. He turned his attention back to the travelogs, then faced the crowd again.

The Commodore was quickly retrieved from the room.

"Black Jack, Titus Turner-- you are under arrest!" the soldier declared.

Titus smiled. "For what?"

And the gunpowder stores blew up.

-

"Why are you still alive?!? Doesn't that hurt?!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU FUCKING MONKEY!"

"He's scary!!" Cross nursed a tear in his gray eyes.

Lock held his bleeding shoulder, but charged straight through any obstacles, including the mast, barrels, and other soldiers. Surprisingly, the wooden objects all but shattered on impact.

Cross wasn't the only one squeaking in fear. Other soldiers were scrambling to get out of the way, because Lock was too angry to bother distinguishing between soldiers and wooden barrels.

Cross used the bow as a launching pad, and he hopped off in a somersault, spinning right over Lock and landing behind the Lieutenant with a satisfied huff. Then he took off running again.

Lock charged right through the side of the ship like a raging bull, and threw himself into the sea.

Everyone on the ship stopped to just take in the exasperating situation.

Then the chasing began again.

"Lieutenant!!"

"Wait, the kid's getting away! After him!"

"The shipp!! Lieutenant broke the ship again!!"

"Forget the Lieutenant, get the kid!"

Man, these soldiers sure have tough jobs. Their Lieutenant's an idiot.

Cross snapped his fingers, "alright then," he blipped away. He reappeared next to the main mast, bending down to pick up his blades. "Let's play."

The soldiers all freeze in their tracks.

"He did it again!"

"Dammit, how is he moving so quickly?!"

"Don't panic! There's only one target!"

Then Takara dropped down on the bow beside them. A sense of dread quickly sank deeply in their guts, and panic ensued.

"It's the other intruder!"

"What happened to Captain Russo?!"

Blades and guns and screaming passed around, and the two intruders locked eyes. There was no message in there, only acknowledgement.

"Captain Russo is down!"

"Dammit, where's Lieutenant?"

"He's on his way up!"

"The Commodore?"

"Engaging a third intruder!"

It spoke volumes how inexperienced they were, that they were panicking over three decently skilled villains on their ship.

Cross lodged one of his blades into a barrel. He tugged it forward, and with trained movements, he dragged it forward and sent it crashing right onto a few soldiers. It's filled with water.

Takara was running across the ship, his movements heavy and clunky but he didn't need to dodge anything-- his body itself was a shield.

Cross easily danced around the blades, completely uninjured and drawing blood after blood after blood in the span of a few seconds.

Then the deck blows up.

Takara reacted first, charging through soldiers, scooping up Cross by the shoulder, and bringing them both in a leap overboard just as the ship exploded in raging flames.

They landed heavily on their little boats, and Cross cut the strings just as Captain leapt from the ship as well, coming out from one of the gun ports around the bow. Cross lunged forward to catch the bear.

"Captain! Where were you all this time??"

The bear roared back cheerfully.

"Cross, take this! Time to row!" Takara threw an oar at the boy. "Oh, welcome back, Captain. Did you have fun?"

The bear gave another happy roar.

"I'm back," came a voice from the sea. Titus climbed out of the sea, carrying a sack of money and pretty trinkets, "I brought your stuff for you, Captain."

The bear hopped over happily. He couldn't carry this by himself, so luckily, Titus was there to help.

"Where the fuck were you?" Takara asked.

"Hey, in my defense, I don't want to get mistaken as a pirate," Titus told him, squeezing water out of his shirt's hem. "Luckily," he stressed the word, "I found Captain while swimming."

"Don't lie, you hid in the sea, didn't you?" Takara hissed, "you were dead set on ditching us if you could."

"I won't deny that," Titus smirked, "but luckily again, I succumbed to Captain's cuteness. And I got some travelogues and island maps on my way out!"

"Wait, what?"

"Gimme a sec, I made sure to throw it on the boat so it wouldn't get wet," Titus picked up a few things that were scattered messily at the tops of the cabins, "they're surprisingly useful, you know?"

Meanwhile, Cross stood on top of the cabin, facing the Marine ship that was slowly drifting further away from them.

"Bye-bye, Mister Lock!" he hollered, and Takara could see a raging blue-haired Marine on a raft. "I hope we meet again!"

Takara could hear a string of curses in the distance. Ah finally, someone understands my suffering. You have my thanks Mister Lock whoever you are.

"Alright then. Hurry up, guys!" Titus ran around to his boat, "row out of the shadow of the ship! Wind is blowing in our direction, so if we're not careful, our boat's going to catch fire!"

Takara quickly set down and started rowing.

"Cross, stop messing around and help out!!" Then a second later, he turned to the bear that was jumping happily around his new sack of treasure. "Captain, sit down!"

-

-

"We don't know how they did it, but they took down Captain Russo."

"Russo... the Silverwing? You're kidding!"

At Marine base, the commander sighed. "They found him with a hole in his gut, seared through, no signs of a projectile. No one knows how long he'll be out of active duty now... there's no guarantee he'll make a full recovery."

Captain Russo was brought in with a stretcher, but he wasn't bleeding from his worst wound. It was burned-- staunching the wound shut, agony but not lethal.

"It's as if something drove a burning spear through his stomach," he said. "Though reports say the man wielded a crossbow."

There's a gasp.

"Yeah," and Takara's bounty poster is lifted to the crowd.

Takara is grinning, his hair red and blazing, his metal shoulder socket bright and strange against his human face. The scars around his discoloured eye felt more like patchwork than skin. The commander scowled.

"This guy... is very bad news."

-

-

Lock gripped his fists, and the machine in his hand shattered into pieces.

The nurse wailed. "Lieutenant, for the last time, I said hold it, not crush it!"

Lock stared at the broken pieces and new splinters in his hand, as if it was the machine's fault it just broke on him. "Uh, sorry."

"I swear, every time you come by, you break half of the things used on you!" the nurse ranted, "syringes snap when you tense your muscles, blood pressure checkers are never accurate, heart machines are always screaming like a siren somehow!"

Lock sighed, "I've told you plenty of times to stop using those useless things on me."

"They're not useless, you mentally-stunted buffoon!" The nurse knocked him square on the head, and the occupant of the bed beside him squeaked in fear.

"They're useless on me," Lock nursed the new bump on his head, "you can't gauge my vitals on the same levels as a normal human."

He looked out the window. The nurse sighed.

His mind drifted back to Cross, the cheerful little kid that actually said goodbye to him, as if they were friends. "Seriously, what was wrong with that kid?"

I hope we meet again, huh.

He leaned against the windowsill. In his lap is Cross' wanted poster. Though Lock only remembered his cheerful, wide grin, the poster is nothing like it.

In the picture, Cross had a visor hat tilted over his left eye, and he's frowning at something behind the camera. Lock remembered seeing that hidden eye glow blue-- but surely, that was a trick of the light, wasn't it?

"Next time we meet... I'll capture you for sure."