The Rise Of Piracy (Wako Pirate Thread)

[Dandead10]

It was during this time period in the middle of the sea that Ruhe Krieger and her crew had been preparing to set sail after having stopped briefly at Torino for a resupply trip. It was harrowing, but after having learned from the natives how to get some supplies in exchange for dumb bartering and manual labor, the crew was set to go. However, one issue that was never addressed was the fact that the crew was now dreadfully bored and looking for actual action. There was a difference between training with your friends on the deck of a ship and actually raiding an enemy ship. Shandra Ruhe imagined must be dreadfully bored to be back on this damn ship again with no action. Ruhe had felt the exactly same way, so she could only imagine how dreadfully horrible it must be for her Vice Captain. The silver haired adolescent had stood before she set down her hand of playing cards on the table in front of Shandra. “Enough is enough. Enough blackjack, go fish, and old maid. We are pirates, not wanderers and explorers. Now is the time for us to be earning bounties and pillaging for treasure! If there is some sort of deity out there in the vast expanse of the universe, make something happen.”

There was silence other than the sounds of the rocking waves, the seagulls calling out to each other, and the sounds of the other people on the ship. However, it was at this moment that in the distance, there had been a medium sized vessel in the distance observing the vessel known as the Beating Heart. “There’s a ship ahead!” A man had loudly announced as he had shut his extendable telescope. The sounds of bustling activity had happened soon enough as there was a rather sizable crew located on the deck of this ship. “What does it look like?” The man up on top of the crow’s nest had climbed down the rope net ladder before responding. “It’s a red and blue ship with the figurine of a dragon sir. It has three masts and looks to be a galleon. Don’t have no jolly roger, so I think it’s a trader ship!” There was silence for a moment before there was the sound of a chuckle. “Excellent. All hands on deck! Set sail for that ship and prepare for battle! All men to your battle stations! We’re gonna loot them dry and leave them to sink!” There was a loud cheer as a pirate ship began to sail their way to the direction of Ruhe and Shandra’s ship. The ship was also a galleon, but a distinct difference was that there was a jolly roger with the image of a skull with pistols on either side and fire within it’s empty eye sockets.

Within ten minutes, there was a lazy calmness about the sea this morning as the weather was calm with the fluffy white clouds covering the normally hot sun. Within around five minutes of standing, looking out to the sea with something desperate to happen, she saw the blurry dot on the middle of the sea. It was sailing closer and becoming more noticeable. “What? A ship is sailing towards our direction!” There was a look of excitement and fascination from the crew members, especially the students from the dojo of Karate Island as they had wanted to fight more than most anyone on the ship. “You serious Captain Ruhe?! Let’s go and raid them and take their stuff like real pirates!” Ruhe had dashed up to the figurehead, standing on it to see that as the ship got closer, the black flag was apparent. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that this was another pirate ship. Her heart felt a pang, but not of fear of dread or resentfulness. What she was feeling right now was excitement as she felt her heart beat faster while sending blood through her veins.

“What we are facing ahead of us is a pirate ship! All men prepare for battle! Do not load the cannons! We don’t want to damage whatever cargo they might possess! Prepare to board for combat!” There was a simple return cheer as it seemed that the two pirate crews had juxtaposed each other. Within this moment, the doctors and cooks of the crew had looked a bit nervous, but had turned to their guns and swords for comfort while the uniformed fighters of the crew had went to the armory deck of the crew to grab a variety of weapons from bows, swords, spears, and other such weapons. Ruhe herself had been armed with two katana tied to her right side and her Ko Naginata Wabiskue on her back.

This weapon stood at around 45 centimeters and the blade was made from solid steel as the long shaft was made from the same material. It was her pride and joy but yet also her weapon of choice. However, for this occasion, Ruhe placed both hands around the twin katana that she bought with a portion of her money before she left Karate Island. Hopefully Shandra was also getting prepared for battle as Ruhe was excited for combat. Soon, the two ships would be meeting and greeting each other in a battle for supremacy. There was fifty members of the Wako Pirate crew not counting Shandra Grants and Ruhe herself. Turning to look to Shandra, the young adolescent captain of only 14 years had given a command. “Shandra-Chan. Prepare for battle and let’s beat them and take all of their loot. Or...in other words, “kick ass.” Ruhe had rested on the main deck, simply waiting as she tensed her arms and legs to build up strength for one of her swordsmen techniques. She wanted to rush into that battle and badly. The crew was restless and she was not excluded. Hopefully this battle would go smoothly and they would get some riches out of this endeavor. The young child stood wearing her red and blue gi, standing in a rough and rigid stance with her leg stance wide. Her right foot was tilted as her left foot was level to make a triangular stance with her left and right hands raised, shining blades in hand. Her long silver hair was tied back into a ponytail with a turquoise ribbon and her cerulean eyes stared out in gross interest at the enemy ship. Their ship was a green and black ship with the figurehead of a manta ray of some sort. She stood at the short height of 4’4 and while she may not look like a worthy captain, she was going to show exactly why she was captain of the Wako Pirate crew.
 

SPOILER: Click to show

I had permission from Greil to control Shandra a little bit.

Blue=Captain Enemy
Yellow=First Mate Captain Enemy
Grey=Random Wako Pirate Member
Turquosie=Ruhe

[Greil9]

Shandra was once again being reminded of one reason she wasn't fond of voyages: they got really damn boring. As much as she loved dancing, doing that by herself to the beat of her tone dials got samey after doing it for a week straight. Second week was half-done by sparring with the crew, but none of them proved much of a fight one on one. Beating them was fun at first to show off, but even that wore off quickly. Only the captain provided a really meaty challenge for sparring matches.

For now they had settled to playing cards, which was just half a degree above blowing spit bubbles. The way the dancer could draw some minor amusement from it was attempting to cheat, as well as get caught four out of five times since she wasn't too good at it. The one out of five might have been to some unknown degree because she wasn't the only one bored so the captain hardly paid much mind to the game. Finally Ruhe couldn't take it anymore, just quitting the game entirely. Tossing her cards down casually, the dancer replied in a dour tone "Damn, just when I had four aces too." Two of which were in her boot half a minutes ago. 

Becoming a pirate felt like such an adventurous lifestyle in the stories. They just happened to leave out the 90% of boring sailing in between the fun bits. Even a storm would be welcome to make things exciting. Thinking she'd extract whatever little enjoyment she could from taking down a few of the crew fighters, Shandra began stretching with the intent of sneak-tapping one in the back of the head to start a bigger fight. However before she could load up her guns, a shout came from behind her. “What? A ship is sailing towards our direction!” 

Soon talk of raiding the ship began going around. While this was more severe a crime than Shandra had ever partaken in, the excitement of the crew drew her along right past any second thoughts about plundering the ship. "Finally, some action. Think it's time I actually get to be an actual pirate." Though just a little after she could spot the jolly roger, signaling these people were the kind she'd beat up and potentially rob anyway back home if they got rowdy. And since they were headed right at the Beating Heart, chances of rowdiness were high.

While most people prepared weapons, the dancer already had all she needed on her: pistols attached to her boots, a pair of steel-plated gloves in her pocket, tone dials on her belt to set the mood and her damn good martial arts skills. 

As Shandra was snapping her gloves in place, Ruhe walked to her side with her own weapons at the ready. She seemed just as excited to finally see some action on the job. Upon the comment about kicking ass, the dancer smirked with a simple reply of "So a usual Friday night then. I took down my first pirate when I was eight, so it's nice to be back to familiar territory." Once again the dancer left out some crucial details, as she had simply hit one to the back of the head with a broomstick after aunt Celia had already smashed the man against the counter the then little girl was hiding behind. Still she had taken on more than her share of pirates as one of the staff bouncers at the bar. In her mind this would be just the same, only the pay was better and there were more people to take on. In short: better in every way.

[Dandead10]

Shandra seemed eager to perform in battle as the crew prepared themselves. The Jolly Roger of the enemy pirate crew had waved across the sea as soon, several uniformed martial artists had come on board with their weapons prepared to fight. The doctors and the cooks didn’t seem so eager as the students as they seemed to arm themselves with firearms, although a few of them held weapons like blades or clubs. There was a certain uneasiness as the crewmates had prepared for their battles together. “I'll see you at the end of the battle Shandra-Chan. Make sure to stay alive.” It wasn't that Ruhe had a lack of faith for her seated officer, but the young captain was not underestimating her enemies either. Soon, the rival ship would catch up with them and most likely attack them. Ruhe drew twin katana as she stood in a loose sword stance with both legs angled in a triangular formation. Her back was arched ever so slightly as she held these twin shining blades to the sun. This was Ruhe’s first battle with another pirate crew, one of many she assumed in her line of work.


The enemy pirate ship sailed closer and closer before stopping across from the Wako Pirate crew. “Huh? Seems like they are prepared for a fight Stein?” There was a nod as immediately there was the sight of several rugged individuals armed with swords and guns with two individuals taking the front. One was a man that appeared to be wielding a dual sided halberd. The other was a man who was wielding a sword and shield as he also wore a utility belt adorned with several small pouches of nondescript substance. The man with the shield and sword had taken the liberty to speak first. “Greetings. We are the Drakon Pirate Crew and we've come to take all of your valuables. Surrender and we don't have to worry about all this unnecessary conflict.” Ruhe looked to each of the enemy crew members before walking up ahead of the rest of her crew members. “My name is Ruhe Krieger of the Wako Pirates. You've chosen the wrong people to attack today. We are going to beat you and take your valuables." Suddenly there was a chuckle from the enemy pirates as one of them spoke up clearly and loudly. “A lil girl like you is gonna face big strong pirates like us? Where's the real captain?!” There was silence before the captain of the enemy crew spoke. “We already heard the answer. Attack!” Several boarding planks had been set across within a moment as there would be a clashing charge between both forces of the Wako Pirate crew and the enemy forces. The enemy captain stayed in the back whilst his First Mate and his fodder troops began to charge in an assault against the inexperienced students and the other members of the crew.


The first few lines of students and enemy pirates met, clashing as gunsmoke was exchanged back and forth with several bodies on both sides dropping. Ruhe had found herself with three fully grown men approaching across a boarding plank towards her. “You're gonna die little girl! You've made a mistake!” Ruhe tensed her arm muscles before rushing forward at a remarkably fast speed for a normal person and then pushing off of her legs with a sudden burst of speed. “Nitoryu:Krieger Tempest!” She had spun in an erratic pattern of diagonal slices as she seemingly danced through her foes as almost a blur before appearing on the other end of the boarding plank in a slight crouching position. Her twists and spins made her appear much like as if she were moving like a tornado. The three men she had faced cried out as several sharp slices appeared over their chests and stomachs with their eyes turning blank white. As their eyes rolled back into their heads, they fell backwards as their blood spewed from their wounds onto the boarding plank.. Ruhe raised herself at that moment to see a Wako Pirate slash down a pirate from the stomach down with a katana slash and cheering before immediately being smacked by a pirate with a blunt club in the back of the head. Shandra would find herself with two sword wielding thugs heading towards her with looks of anger and joy of battle with cries of battle. What was she to do? They charged carelessly as there was nothing to fear from a bunch of brats. Now was the time to continue her assault on the enemy.


However, it was at this moment that Ruhe noticed the man who fought with a sword and shield had rushed towards the ranks of the Wako Samurai. Three students had charged as the first aimed to stab a spear through his body only for the man to use his shield to smash the tip of the spear and slashing him down. A swordsman had charged at the enemy only to receive a strong shield bash go the skull. Finally, he charged to the last student whom also held a katana before diverting the slice of a sword and then ramming him with a shield before pushing him into one of the masts. Seemed this person was going to be a threat. Three students taken down with relative ease showed that this figure was an experienced fighter. No matter. There were more enemy pirates to deal with, particularly what she was more concerned about was the 12 gunmen in the back, firing bullets onto the ship. After the took these pirates down, they could perhaps take parts from the enemy ship and use it to make repairs.

[Greil9]

The anxiety for action was surging through Shandra and hard. She loved fighting for combining physical exercise, standing out and motions that in her case were pretty close to dancing. While the people around them were willing and partially looking forward to shedding blood, she remained ignorant at this fact. To her piracy was still all fun and games.

As soon as the ships were close enough for the dancer to feasibly get in a few shots, she began emptying her pistols towards the crowds on the opposite ship. Though her lackluster accuracy meant only two or three shots found their goal despite the large crowd of targets, nor did it really leave much more than a mark. At long range their power wasn't anything to knock a person out. Though just getting to work herself up was enough for the gunslinger girl, as she reloaded to repeat the process.

Finally the two ships came in contact, boarding planks acting as the start-up pistol for Shandra to dash right at their foes across the nearest plank. The same one being used by two of their foes wielding cutlasses in their hands. Perhaps a disadvantage against someone going in unarmed, but the dancer had enough experience at fighting armed foes to mitigate that factor. It wasn't made any harder by the two thinking this was just some foolish young woman running in for a fight now knowing better. In reality she already knew to start with an extremely low sweeping kick to stay below the blade, taking the pirate off his feet and tumbling to the ocean. His comrade going down so fast did put the second swordsman at guard, allowing him to intercept the incoming kick with the flat of his blade. Though with her heel still unguarded, Shandra managed to follow up with a shot at him. "Forte Kick!"

The three shots fired off at that range did cause the man to fall backwards, though he remained on the plank. All the better for Shandra to add insult to injury by walking over him to the enemy ship, putting her weight on the hell of course. In addition she commented with a playful tone "Thanks for the warmup, but I'm really more fond of dancing with one guy at a time. Less to take attention away from me." 

Eyeing for someone to let her show her stuff, the dancers attention was caught by few of her crew members rushing past her. As much as she hated them trying to hog the spotlight, the dancer still wanted a proper show-off so they'd just be her setup. Or so she thought until each of them were taken out in swift succession by someone she had spotted from their ship. This man was the guy yelling over at them, wielding a sword and shield. Being the vocal one in addition to his obvious skill made this their captain in the dancers eyes. However now it wasn't about shining bright on the stage: this guy just smacked down some of THEIR crew, meaning she'd take him down to ensure that wouldn't happen again. As well as show off on the side, no need to waste that potential while achieving her primary goal. 

Soon as she saw a chance, Shandra took off at the guy. Just the same as before the swordsman attempted to stop her approach with a shield bash, though the gunslinger was nimble enough to slide under it on her knees. Past the defense, she sprang herself up elbow aimed at his chest. However unlike the men at the plank, this one showed some competence by moving his own arm to intercept and bring down his shield on her. Shandra managed to roll out of the way, firing off two shots with her right foot, none of which managed to find their target before he had already moved out of the way. Once back on her feet, the dancer smirked at her foe. This one was good, good enough to really push her skills. 

Kicking off the pistol on her left boot to her hands, the gunslinger gave a grin at her foe. Ignoring the battle around them and the fact that their opponents would and had spilled blood, their short clash was already setting her heart on fire. "Nice moves, you might make for a good dance partner for a while."  

Rising to stand straight from his somewhat crouched combat position, the man too seemed to put on a faint smile. “Hmm, seems not everyone in this crew is entirely without skill. No matter.” Smacking the handle of her sword against his shield a few times, he almost claimed in an almost bragging tone "You're still no match for me. I've trained with the gladiators of old, learning every technique they had. The Flying Shield, the Tiger Cross Blade, the Burning Strike, the Shining Summer Sushi Slicer. I know them all!" 

"... you just made that last one up, didn't you?"

[Dandead10]

Ruhe Krieger had went forward into enemy territory as the main battle was taking place on the docking plank. Her goal now was to progress onto the back and defeat the enemy gunmen as to prevent as many casualties as possible. However, there were several enemies daring to get into her way. The man with the dual whirl scythe stood in the back, observing with a stoic look on his face as he seemed to be waiting with an indignant posture for his crew to handle the threat. Enough of that for now. Now was the time to advance! The young captain had rushed forward with Wabiskue her favored weapon as a gruff old man rushed towards her and swung for her abdomen with a katana. Using her steel handle of her halberd, it would clash with light tinder sparks flying before the silver haired girl broke the clash by pushing upward. Stepping forward with an exaggerated swagger, the girl would pivot and twist her arms so that the bottom end of her polearm handle would slam straight into the swordsman’s chin sending him skidding back onto the wood as she immediately was greeted by another foe. This man was bulky and muscled beyond normal human standards as he had a muscled 6 pack seemingly chiseled from stone with a jawline of steel. His arms were bulky and in his hands, he held twin cutlasses that glistened in the sunlight. His face was twisted into a bright smile as he swung both blades from both the left and right to cross right where Ruhe’s face would be.

The swing was fast...very fast. It was only from her experience from years of harsh training with her father that she was capable of evading this and losing her head. She had held her halberd outwards before rearing her head back as far back as possible. A tear of crimson liquid had spilled from her right cheek as her weapon wobbled back and forth losing in a surprise power struggle. This man was strong. Stronger than some of the weaklings gathered here. “Oi, wee lass. You should know where you be gettun yourself into. One second late’ur and I ‘ould have taken your head!” His hair was a glowing red as he had a handlebar mustache of similar color. The silver haired girl had looked up to her opponent with sparkling cerulean eyes as she just chuckled. “Now this was the kind of excitement I was looking for! A real battle that makes my blood boil!” She had twisted her halberd slightly to the right before pushing outward causing her opponent’s cross to break as she pushed off of her right leg to enter the air before thrusting her halberd out with her left hand. “Piasujabu!” Her steel Naginata clashed against twin Cutlass blades causing the man to be pushed back slightly from the force. She had pushed backwards to land on her feet. “You’re not bad for a girl. Not good enough to best me though!” The man had pushed outward wearing a plain white shirt and a kilt of the scotsman colors.

Both the blue, red gi wearing samurai and the scottish warrior had swung to clash blades once before breaking clash again. Ruhe had delivered a downward slash which was blocked with one arm and pushed riposted. The young captain had then pivoted off of one leg and slashed down for the bulky man’s legs in which he leaped over in order to bring both swords down on her head. “Kabuki!” Ruhe suddenly loosened her stance to become far more lax as she back-flipped closer onto the boarding plank before landing on her right hand as a support to keep her balanced, proceeding to enter a cartwheel nearby an enemy crew member. “YOU’RE MINE!” Within a moment, a mere moment, the child had leaped four feet into the air, spinning like a top sideways before delivering a powerful kick into her opponent’s face sending him screaming off of the ship as Ruhe stood back in position to face her foe. “Don’t interfere!” This was the most adrenaline fueled thing she has done in months now and she was not going to waste this time fighting the weak. Her lips were curled upward in a hungry blood thirsty fueled gaze. She clenched the steel handle of her shining blade tightly.

The Wako Pirate Crew had been slowly pushing forward while on the deck behind cover of the railing would be several of their own arquebester shooters, firing bullets back and forth. Two men fell backwards as several others were sweating in nervousness of losing precious life. Uniformed students had clashed blades back and forth as some won their skirmishes and others lost. However, the enemy captain stayed in the back with a look of annoyance on his face. From the cross fire, three of the enemy gunmen had fallen in the conflict. Of the thirty students, sixteen were still fighting full force as fourteen had fallen either too injured to continue or...deceased. It was not a pretty life being a pirate, but often times the rewards were far worth the risk. Ruhe had at this moment charged once again into the fray with her opponent, in a clash of steel as she wondered if the captain was even stronger than this. This seemed to be an experienced crew...and one that was decently strong if this was the case.

[Greil9]

Seemingly undeterred by how unimpressed her opponent was, the swordsman slowly ran the edge of his blade against his shield, smiling rather viciously as he claimed "People are of many different styles. Some... more different than others. But let me ask you: how does one fight against a hundred styles, all with strength against a specific style."

One hundred styles, one hundred thousand styles, numbers meant little for Shandra. In her mind it was no different from how she'd usually fight anyway: stay quick on her feet, react in the moment and kick some ass. Seemed to work against every kind of opponent so far. Confidently throwing her hands forward to a fighting stance, she claimed "In my experience, a good kick in the face tends to do the trick."

Seeming to hide behind his shield with a lowered stance, the man slyly responded "Confidence won't avail you." In sudden contrast he suddenly slashed the sword in two powerful slashes, enough to somehow send gusts forward as he shouted "Name is Hayato of Hundred Styles! Someone relying on a single one won't stand a chance." 

Even this wasn't enough to even cast doubt in the dancers mind. She wasn't one to think too hard about things that might get him down. Instead she just rushed forward, planning to kick the swordsman over with a strong kick to the shield once he defends. "Bored now! Fight time!"

This time not only did the swordsman block, he put both hands behind his shield to push back with all his force. "Strong Shield!" Coming in contact sooner than planned, Shandra found her kick lacking in strength. Not only that, but her foe kept pushing back to knock her off balance. Unable to spring off the moving platform, the man was able to shove the gunslinger to the ground. Not giving her any time to rest, he used the back of his arm to slam the shield right at Shandra, though she was too acrobatic to be held down for long and raised herself to a handstand. Yet even from the position she was able to deliver a kick, although again stopped by the shield-heavy fighting style. 

Seeing as she was making no progress, the dancer began changing the height of her attacks continuously, going from low sweep to high kick every few strikes. Due to her being quite a bit more agile, this left Hayato barely enough time to block, forcing him on purely defensive. Finally trying to drive through, she went straight ahead with full strength. "Forte Kick!" This was enough to finally force the swordsman back, the blasting boot knocking the shield into his face. Seeing her assault have an effect, Shandra gave chase to continue her assault.

Rather than take cover with his shield again, Hayato instead cast it aside as he began thrusting his sword forth over and over, weaving each stab into the next one. "Hedgehog!" While he seemed to put next to no power behind them, the flurry of stings seemed to leave no openings to approach and instead forced Shandra on the retreat, just trying to weave herself through each hit. Though just as she was adjusting to the rhythm, her opponent switched his form by instead using his weapon in a slash that seemed to switch its direction mid-slash. "Flowing Stream!"

The rapid shift to an almost unavoidable strike was too much in the moment for Shandra, as the blade managed to cut to her side. However changing directions lightly like that left the slash without sufficient strength to cut deep. Angered by her wound, she immediately pointed her gun at the mans face at point-blank. In the brief second between aiming and firing, he still managed to lean to the side, though this time catching the dancers elbow in the face. This at least got some distance between the two as the swordsman stumbled backwards, allowing Shandra to tighter her shirt around the wound to keep the loss of blood to a minimum. "You're gonna pay for that one."

"Heh, I'm just getting started." Now holding his shield out with no cover, Hayato began his approach again by striking a spark from his shield for each slash, sending a stream of sparks out with each strike. "Blazing Sword!" While having a nice name, the technique didn't seem all that impressive. While the flying sparks did force the gunslinger back, the man left himself wide open with how slow his swings were, drawing his sword back each time to get friction off his shield. In addition he kept the shield down, allowing an easy access to a shot in the face, one he couldn't avoid. Though packing only rubber bullets, this didn't end the match right then and there, even if it took Hayato a second to realize that, feeling his forehead to see there was no blood. 

Seeming almost insulted by the non-lethal weapon, he renewed his assault with yet another fancy stance, hiding behind his shield again while he kept the blade at the ready t thrust forward above it. Thinking of using the same strategy again, the dancer ran forth with a short leap descending down into a low sweep the keep the shield moving. However this time the swordsman seemed to be preparing just for defense, lowering his stance to catch the sweep before thrusting forward his blade in a counter-attack at the moment she was still. "Siege Sniper!" Only thing that saved Shandras leg was backhanding the blade away with the metal part of her glove, leaving it to only scratch her in the end. However in her position it wasn't wise to keep attacking, she instead she somersaulted backward into a leap that left a gap between them. 

While both took a second to catch their breath, Shandra began to realize something familiar about this cavalcade of styles. Smirking at the revelation in her head, she said "I finally figured you out. How you fight, and why I'm gonna win this one."

While taken off-guard initially, Hayato soon called his opponents bluff. "Figured me out? I've yet to show you dozens more styles."

Kicking off the ammo from her boot before reloading it, the dance began explaining. "That's just the thing: you're a show-off. I might not be the smartest person on this crew... or most crews... but I'm the biggest show-off on our ship and most ships so I know one when I see it. You just wanna use all those fancy-looking moves on their own. But like the greatest finishing move in a dance, it's just individual little poses with no flow. Now if you really want to see shifting styles, well..." With a smirk, Shandra slid her hand across the belt of tone dials as she said "Any dancer with only one set isn't worth their salt."

[Dandead10]

The Scotsman and the Samurai had clashed their blades in combat once more with her polearm clashing down against the man’s broadsword in a battle of supremacy. She had the superior range, but he had the superior strength in his choice of weapon. The tall man stood in front of her, sword raised in a fast overhead swing, only for Ruhe to raise her Ko Naginata held horizontally with a loud clang ringing. “I don’t understand Lass. What’s a wee baby like you doin on a pirate ship? Ya should be at home preparin ta get married to a good husband when you're older.” The young captain froze in that moment as suddenly she went cold. Those icy blue eyes of hers stared into the eyes of the scotsman. As he pushed down on the blade, Ruhe’s hold on her weapon shook slightly, but then stopped entirely. The vein along Ruhe’s right forehead began to stress and become more apparent as she clenched her blade tightly. What the man in front of her said reminded her of that man… “Ruhe...I wish to tell you that as my only daughter, your duty is to honor the family by marrying a strong and honorable man. As a result, I have decided to give your hand to Tokubetsu Nobunaga.”

It wasn’t a surprise that her father was disappointed in the fact that she was a daughter as he wanted a son to be head of the family. She was always seen as inferior and never good enough for his expectations. No longer how hard she trained, no matter how hard she worked to gain his appreciation. Ruhe stopped there as she looked up with a ring around her pupil. Those eyes were filled with callous disdain for the man in front of her. “Well, I’m not just any girl! I’m a pirate and I do what I want! I WON’T LET ANYONE DICTATE MY DREAMS!” She pushed the Scotsman’s broadsword upward before performing a pivot off of her right leg counterclockwise fast enough to kick up dust where she stood. She jabbed the blunt end of her trusted weapon with intense force into her opponent’s stomach and he gagged as his veins in his eyes popped out. A mix of saliva and vomit came from his mouth before he would find himself looking down at Ruhe slowly, shaking in disbelief. “Geki!”

Pushing upward, the man would find himself thrown into the air from the force nearly five feet as Ruhe took a deep inhalation of breath, time freezing around her as everything seemed to be blue for a mere moment. She took a single step charging forward in slow motion before twisting her halberd upwards as a fatal slash had appeared from the Scotsman’s left thigh to his chest, the slash getting deeper as she used the skill of her Naginata Jutsu to lean in. In that passing moment, the scotsman fell down, crashing onto a barrel with his shining blade clanging to the floor. "OOOOGH!" Her foe lay, unconscious with blank eyes as he clutched his body in pain. Ruhe exhaled her breath as she then took deep breaths in and out as her petite shoulders raised up and down. Looking outward, she saw the captain closely. The man with the duel sided halberd. His weapon had the bladed and blunted side of the halberd inversed on one end, and correct the other way. Ruhe could tell as she was familiar with blades.

He was distinguishable from the face he had two sets of horns adorned on his head, closely bunched together, sticking outward as he wore a white obi which addressed his muscular frame. This was going to be a battle between captains. The most disrespectful kind of duel to interrupt. Ruhe twirled her Ko Naginata within her left hand, twirling it over her shoulder and into its sheath. Reaching to her right, she drew twin Katana which would be better suited for fighting a halberdier like herself. He used a polearm and so they fought in very similar methods she would like to assume. Ruhe witnessed a Wako Samurai and a thug, clashing blades as the thug was forced to fall back with more students soon coming aboard. Ruhe stared at the man nearly fifteen feet away from her as he looked back at her with a look of silent anger masked as indifference.

Crouching, Ruhe crossed both arms around herself as if trying to give herself a hug before bending her knees. “Niitoryu.” Suddenly, behind her the visage of a being would be seen in the background as she built up strength, her arm muscles visibly tensing and becoming more pronounced as there was a brief pause. “Surasshu-fū! (Wind Slash)” Slicing outward, uncrossing her powerful arms back to their normal state, twin crescents of wind flew outward both nearly five feet, crossing together to form a large X at the enemy captain. Behind that attack was the visage of the god of death as an aura, the X briefly looking like twin knives wielded by it’s grotesquely pale hands. As it flew, several enemies were quick to move out of the way as the captain stood there. Within a moment, the man simply raised his bladed weapon before colliding with the blades of wind. Sparks flew across his weapon before he swiftly diverted the momentum of her blows, causing the crescents to fly to the right. They twisted, morphed as they sliced across the wooden deck before crashing into three barrels, slicing them all into neat pieces. “For a young girl, you know your way around a blade. But do you have the skills to beat me by yourself?” His lips curved upward into a coy grin as Ruhe frowned with a serious expression on her face. The real battle was beginning now. Her happy demeanor and thrill for battle gone, she steeled herself for this new and mysterious opponent.

SPOILER: Click to show

The Aura that is in Ruhe's background as she prepared her flying slashes.

[Greil9]

"You're going to dance? Know that I show no mercy to an opponent, whether they take the fight seriously or not." 

"Well, in one respect I'm a terrible dancer. I tend to hit people a lot, most of the time pretty hard and on purpose. But in cases like these, it tends to work." Since this was about showing just how much of a difference changing her mentality would mean, the dancer tapped on the first dial on her belt. The heated music immediately lit a flame in her eyes as she dashed forward, fists swinging.

While the swordsman though stopping limbs of flesh and bone with an iron shield would be enough to tire his opponent, her zeal didn't seem to fade anywhere. If anything each time she was just getting faster, as if hitting a plate of metal didn't mean a thing to her fists. Not that it did considering the reinforced specialty gloves meant for just occasions like this wrapped around her hands. Finally she had reached the fever pitch, striking several times each second. "Tempo Rush!"

As the rain of punches kept coming, Hayato was left on purely defensive. However he could hold up easily, as Shandras fists hardly carried enough force to get through a two-handed grip on the shield. Not that she had to, as in a split second she managed to swipe her hand past her belt to turn off the music and start another track. Immediately her moves shifted from the direct and furious to swinging and flighty, as if each step she was about to just leap up into the air and soar to the skies. Immediately she took a hold of both sides of the shield, pulling the two closer to one another as she pirouetted past the swordsman, elbowing him in the back on her way out.

Thinking his hundred styles wouldn't be outdone by one lucky blow, Hayato extended out his sword hand, kicking himself off to a spinning motion to catch the dancer while she was secure thinking he couldn't strike a target behind his back. "Hurricane Sword!" Since the name wasn't too creative, Shandra could take a good guess what was coming. To not be in the way of the sword, she leaped into the air with a back flip well over the horizontal slice. As she hung in the air upside down, she gave a wink to her opponent before landing on her hands. Right away she used the momentum to swing her legs down and crashed them both to the swordsmans feet together. As the man tumbled to the ground, the dancers motion never stopped since she extended her leg out to stand herself on an arm and a leg, then cartwheeling back to her feet. 

As there was now some distance between the two, it was time to break out the guns. As she lowered her arm to grab the pistols off her feet, she also started the next song on her belt. As the singers starting note began to play across the deck, the gunner girl turned both her weapons at her now standing opponent and unloaded two shots from close range. Not that this helped her much since her aim as still terrible and only one shot even came towards her target, right at his shield. Thinking the same style would work this time, Hayato only closed in with his shield upheld while delivering a thrust from safety of his defense. "Siege Sniper!" 

This put both on a stalemate, as Shandra kept light on her feet dodging each strike and countering with a shot from her guns, only for the bullet to be blocked by the shield. This didn't last long since the dancer took her opportunity to once again catch her opponent off-guard. The music returned to her high-flying style as Shandra took hold of the shield from above with one hand after swiftly sheathing the gun, pulling herself to the left of her foe as her legs wrapped around his torso. With the momentum from her swinging grab, she twisted her body to slam Hayato to the deck face first. "Ferme Twist!" While such a position made it impossible for the dancer to not crash into the deck along with her opponent, she made sure the swordsman took the far worse of two hits, leaving a few cracks in the wood beneath them. Not to mention with the acrobatic abilite she had, it took a literal second to get back on her feet.

Feeling extremely confident after taking the flow of this fight to herself, Shandra took the chance to boast as she twirled around her pistol. "See? It's about flowing from one to another. I'm a dancer with a good reason to show off, you're a posing boaster." 

Struggling to get back on his feet after a hard hit in the head, his vision still spinning slightly, the swordsman angrily growled "Why... you..."

As he opponent struggled for a moment to get up, Shandra simply aimed her pistol and fired three shots at extremely short range, all aimed at Hayatos head. The three bullets struck him back to the ground, though being made to not kill there was no blood to be seen and he might get up after resting for a long long while. "But you're boring now, thought you'd be the captain, but you're too weak. I'm gonna go look for someone else to fight." Not even bothering to check if this finished her fight, the dancer just looked around for someone else to show off against.

What swiftly caught her attention was her own captain dueling with a mighty big fellow, definitely someone whose sheer strength could challenge anyone in her crew. For some reason he also sported a few sets of horns, though the dancer couldn't recall ever hearing of people such as that. Either way this seemed like a fight worth getting into. After swiftly reloading her weapons, she made a quick dash behind the man as he doubted if Ruhe could defeat him on her own. Since the man failed to properly react to someone coming from behind, whether unintentionally or not, Shandra pointed her weapons at the back of his head as she confidently said "I don't think she's gonna have to," before pulling the trigger on both of them. 

[Dandead10]

The young warrior looked ahead at the enemy captain in a glare of two convictions; clashing blades, and two eyes. The enemy captain was annoying Ruhe with that smile of his. However, soon enough Ruhe had curled her lips upward herself. This was what she was looking for wasn’t it? A battle between two powerful individuals. She was so focused on her opponent, she was not even aware that Shandra was trying to get involved herself until the bullets were fired.

As Shandra spoke and then pulled the trigger, her bullets were able to slam straight into the back of the pirate captain’s skull. However, within a moment, the captain simply stood there with a slight grunt as the target began rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. “That...hurt.” Quickly turning to Shandra’s direction, the enemy captain twisted his dual sided whirler in an attempt to swiftly slice the bold dancer in half with a single blow. However, Shandra was a dancer and she had been working on her skills lately through training with the students and Ruhe. For such a straight up blow, Shandra was capable of leaping into the air and flipping backwards two feet easily. “I suppose that you’re right Shandra. We don’t have to fight alone.” Making eye contact with her Vice Captain/Seated Officer, there was an unspoken connection as Ruhe put her trust in her. They would be fighting as a team this time around.

“Tch. Two inexperienced girls can’t face a pirate like me. You can be strong. However, you lack the experience that I have as a pirate on the seas!” The man in front of the two was stronger and more experienced. However, he lacked teamwork and his subordinates were all but finished. The skirmishes that were breaking out were nearly finished with. With the efforts of Shandra as well as Ruhe, the morale had risen. This allowed her subordinates to push forward with full strength in the goal of attaining victory for their captain and for themselves. “Demon Horn:Impale!” Keeping her eyes sharp on her opponent, Ruhe was rather shocked to see the man’s horns had rapidly grown out. Reacting just quickly enough, she was able to raise her free blades to collide with each horn. However, it knocked her backwards nearly eight feet. She was pushed with such force an audible skidding sound could be heard with her boots skidding on wood. With Ruhe now not so much of a problem, the horns retracted back to the man's head.

Shandra at that moment had released a horde of bullet fire at the enemy captain as the ferocious man spun his halberd 360 degrees at such a fast speed, that the blades blurred. He rushed forward with his own boots slamming down on the oak. The vibrations were strong as he was moving faster than he was before based on how he cracked the fragile planks with every bellowing step. He wasn't holding back anymore and Shandra's guns weren't doing anything to slow or even stop. Even the one or two occasional bullets that hit the man wasn't slowing him down. "You're mine! Shine!" Swinging his halberd down at a range close enough so that it was nigh impossible for Shandra to dodge, a clash of steel had occurred as blue sparks flashed in a battle of dominance.

Standing in front of the older woman was the shorter girl. She was almost in a crouching formation as her katana were wielded in each hand with a finesse that only Ruhe had. Raising her head to her enemy and slowly standing with her back to her subordinate, she grunted. "I won't let you hurt my friend!" She wasn't an officer...nor an asset at the moment. She was a friend, Ruhe's first and she was going to be damned if the young girl was going to let this adventurous dancer die! Ruhe's left shoulder had been cut into slightly by the head of the scythe's blade and crimson liquid dripped from the oozing tear. "Hrrgh!" Pushing both Katana upward, there was a ceased clashing before Ruhe suddenly thrust out with both tips of her blades as she just left her kneeling position. "Piasujabu!"

"Demon Horn: Clash Steel!" The man's horns had rapidly grown outward again, but this time had pointed to the floor. Both Katana had clanged audibly on the man's horns as the man was sent skidding backwards similarly like Ruhe had been just before. However, there was a snap noise as both Katana had chipped and broken. "Shandra-Chan! We do this together! Seaking Formation!" Quickly unsheathing her Naginata, she looked out to Shandra to send an unspoken message. "Do you remember the time with the Seaking Shandra?"

Ruhe dashed forward as the captain had held his head for a moment, trying to recover from the recoil of the headache he just received. "You...pests! I'll kill you both!" Ruhe dashed forward a few steps before flinging her Naginata outward as a foot hold. This was the moment for Shandra and Ruhe's bond to come to the test. This outcome would represent how powerful their friendship has become as well as each other. Now, what was her favored friend going to do?

At this point, the Wako Pirate members watched from the sidelines to see just how their officer and captain were going to be dealing with such an opponent. They haven’t seen either of them having been impeded by an opponent before and it was a bit scary. Hence why they didn’t get involved. Against an opponent like this, they would just get in the way. Yet for some, they had grown a new emotion. A sense of respect for Shandra for either being brave enough, or stupid enough to help Ruhe face the enemy captain. A wave of inspiration went over the Wako Pirates this day.
 

SPOILER: Click to show

Shandra allowed me to control her character and also as a note to Greil. I set you up for the next post! Let's finish him!

[Greil9]

[OOC: Use of Ruhe was approved]

Seaking formation. Just like back when the dancer got an opportunity of a lifetime for bragging rights for kicking one in the teeth. This time it seemed like Ruhe wasn't keen on giving the same kind of boost, simply giving her a foothold to get higher than she could jump on her own. Though with no time to argue, Shandra stepped on the naginata to be lifted to the air and fly upwards. As she took to the air, the dancer began flipping forward to build momentum she could already see the man preparing for this and indeed he could most likely cut her down mid-flight since the dancer wasn't wielding steel. Not that he could allow such lapse in his defense since Blues was charging in at ground level, taking the captains attention for the moment Shandra came crashing down with both heels. "Crescendo Drop!" What her bullets failed to accomplish, a heel kick with a few meters of falling and a good bit of motion behind it managed: actually hurting the guy. 

However as she pushed off his face to flip backwards, she could tell right away this battle wasn't over yet. The guy was tough, she had to give him that. Though at the same time she had to remember they were still enemies, drawing the one pistol that still had a few shots in it and emptying them at the guy. From that range even one of the two aerial shots managed to land a hit, though it still didn't really hurt the man. Still made her feel better about the fight. Once on her feet , the dancer immediately flipped backwards twice to keep her distance, something Ruhe accomplished while Shandra was still in midair. "Nice one, now let's try this my way. Same principle, but this time let's dance!" Hoping Blues got her meaning, the dancer dashed forth to strike their foe from the left, cartwheeling to a handstand as she delivered a kick, though one that was stopped by a powerful arm that soon pushed away the gunslinger.

Thankfully Ruhe seemed to get the gist of the plan, already coming to stab the captain from the right with her naginata, only for the captain to have already seen this coming and managing to parry the strike with his blade. However while while the two were clashing their weapons, Shandra was given a few seconds to finally reload and fire from behind. Not that this affected the captain too much, but one lucky shot to his arm gave Blues the advantage she needed for a brief second. As she pushed her blade forward, Ruhe managed to leave a gash to their opponents chest. Hoping to capitalize on the opportunity, the dancer struck her foe from behind with a metal-covered one-two punch. Even if their opponent was tougher than possibly either of them, two attackers coming from opposite sides was insanely hard to defense against. For the brief moment it lasted.

However the difference in strength was clear, at least between the dancer and the captain. hen she attempted a jumping spinkick to the face, she did connect. However their foe also planned to simply take it and power through, steeling himself for the strike before grabbing the outstretched leg and swinging Shandra off by it. "Enough with your games!" With no leverage in the powerful swing, Shandra found herself unable to do nothing but watch for the brief moment before she was flying right at the quarterdeck, crashing painfully at it hard enough to embed herself into the wood. At the time her head was spinning hard from the blow, unable to focus properly on the battle or their foe, now facing only one opponent.