The Wannabe Daibukai!

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #23 (NPC) 

Thomas stopped as he noticed, that you are pointing your blade against his neck. At the same time, his expression switched from relaxed to way darker and serious one.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing right now partner?”
He asked and gently pushed your sword away from his neck.

“Of course I am completely serious about this. After all, Cassandra is our captain, and I am pretty sure, she can use that money way better then this drunk.”

He stopped for a while and then smiled a little.

“And before you will try anything funny, I have message from her to you.”

Thomas cleared his throat, before he started reciting the words he memorized.

“I know way too well, that you agreed to work for me only to protect the people from this island, well guess what my little bounty hunter. If you try to hurt Thomas...that´s me”
He pointed one of his fingers to his chest.

“Or you will not come back to the ship in twenty minutes...that´s something about six minutes right now...”
Added Thomas again.

“I will personally start bombard this island with my special incendiary bombs. There are few nice family houses in this city I can imagine, you don´t want to see burned down. Especially now, when my men forced the families inside.”

Thomas smiled.

“That´s the whole message...oh yes, now it´s only five minutes, so we should probably hurry.”
He pointed towards the doors leading outside.

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 24

Lee's face twisted into a disgusted smirk. "Interesting ultimatum... but for as strong as Cassandra is, she definitely isn't as fast as me. And here I am, with the eternal pose she wants so badly."

He chuckled. "If she wants this pose, she'll have to be a little more... flexible. I'm sure she'll find it in her to forgive me for one little cut..."

Obviously, if Thomas was telling the truth (a possibility Lee strongly doubted), the boy would need to keep him alive. So instead he twisted his blade and slashed down, severing Thomas's arm at the elbow.

"Hope you're not a lefty!" He cried with a chortle. "Now come on, let's get back to our "fearless leader!"

Was it perhaps an overreaction? Maybe. But Lee needed to establish a precedent; Thomas had gone against Lee's orders, and for that he had to pay.

He headed up towards Cassandra's ship, reaching it much faster than the slower Thomas. "Alright Cass," he said, holding up the eternal pose, "I've got what you wanted. But before I hand it over, I need to tell you something. You have to promise not to get mad though, alright?"

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #24 (NPC) 

Confident in the protection provided by Cassandra´s name, Thomas tried to walk away, but than startled as he realized, that he left his left hand behind...literally.

“You...YOU CUT MY ARM OFF?!”

He yelled at Lee with mix of shock and pain, than his eyes rolled backward and he fell down on the ground losing consciousness, so Lee was left with a choice, either leave him there, or carry him with himself and staining all his clothes with his blood.

Either way, he had to move quickly and get back to Cassandra´s ship, where the pirate captain was waiting for him in a really dangerous mood.

“What took you so long?”
She asked and with a simple gesture signaled her men that were stationed near the ship´s cannons, so they become a little bit more relaxed. As Lee could see, the cannon balls, they have ready weren´t ordinary ones. They looked more like tinny rockets with a mark for combustible substances on them.

“Well, I won´t be angry.”
She said and reached to the Eternal Pose with her robotic arm.

“As long as you´ll give me that pose and tell me where the f***k is Thomas”

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 25

Maybe it was a little sick; blame his criminal upbringing. But when he saw Thomas staring down at his arm, completely taken aback that he had cut it off, Lee burst out laughing. Thomas had thought himself so safe, that just because he was working for Cass he could get away with all that crap! Well, Lee showed him.

And now the asshole had fallen unconscious. Great. Lee bound up the wound, wrapping a cloth around the stump to restrict blood flow, before picking him up and slinging him over his shoulder. He walked Thomas back to Cassandra's ship, hiding him behind a rock before getting her attention.

"As I recall," he said, "You gave me a 24-hour time limit. I'm well within that limit, so you can't complain." He looked up at the cannons with concern; he'd have to play this safe.

"So, when you see what happened to Thomas, you might be a little pissed," he began, delicately, "but I can explain. See, I gave the man a direct order, and he disobeyed me because he thought you would protect him. So it occurred to me, right, that if some strong marine came along, and tried to get him to rat you out, he might default to the marine because they're stronger, just as a hypothetical, mind. So, I figured I'd teach the guy a little lesson about loyalty, ya dig? You know, "disobey a direct order and suffer the consequences" and all?"

With that, he moved behind the rock, coming back out with Thomas in tow. "Oh, right, we totally got you the pose, though!"

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #25 (NPC)  

Cassandra was looking at Lee and with every word he said she was angry more and more.

“Well...”
She whispered and her voice sounded like a cobra second before attacking some dumb human who stepped on it´s tail.

“You are right about that. When you disobey your superior, you should be punished. But the thing is as far as this crew is concerned, Thomas is your superior as he is my right hand man, so what you are telling me right now, is that you disobeyed direct command from your superior and since I don´t see him with you, I can guess you also hurt or killed him, and that´s what I call a mutiny.”

She pointed a single finger of her armored arm at you with it´s tip open revealing hidden gun barrel in it.

“So I guess, that according to your logic, is only fair, to punish you, right?”
As Viper moved behind the rock, she slightly nodded on her men and they fired single round from all ten cannons they had on the right side of their ship. The combustible rockets descended on the city only few seconds afterwards.

“Now where...?”
She wanted to repeat her question, but than noticed her subordinate in Lee´s care.

"You cut his arm off?"
She asked angrily.
"Reload the cannons boys, this little lad needs to learn his place. Maybe seeing this city burn will teach him."

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 26

"Wait wait wait!" Lee threw up his hands. "I know what you're saying, I'm hearing what you're getting at, but just chill for a second!" He paused in the middle of his shpeal, quirking an eyebrow at Cassandra. "Wait... that guy's your second-in-command? Really?"

He sighed. "Whatever. Look, you'll thank me later. Trust me, Thomas is alive, and he'll totally recover... maybe he'll need some therapy. Just ask him!"

As he headed behind the rock, he heard the telltale sounds of rocket fire and watched as the rockets began to speed towards the town. His face paled as he watched them as if in slow motion.

If he was going to stop them, he had to be fast. Luckily, "fast" was Lee's specialty. Bending his knees, he took a deep breath before activating Coiled Serpant, dashing towards the missiles faster than the naked eye.

The missiles were fast, but they weren't faster than him. Lee drew his blade, slashing each one of them, before bouncing off the air and dashing back to the rock. The missiles exploded behind him, just far enough away that it would look to Cass and her crew that it had detonated in the town.

Shaking and dripping with sweat from the incredible exertion, Lee staggered out of the rock with Thomas in tow. At Cass's threat, Lee gave his best cocky smirk, considering the circumstances. "Heh... C'mon, Cass," he said, dropping Thomas to his feet in front of her before stepping back. "The deal was, I get you your eternal pose, and you spare the city. If you don't hold up your side of the bargain, if you do blow up the town..." He held up the pose. "...I'll just destroy this little guy."

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #26 (NPC) 

Cassandra watched how Viper stopped the rockets with slightly amused smile on her face. If she wanted she would be probably able to stop him, but she didn´t move a finger to do so.

“it´s really interesting how desperately you are trying to dig your grave deeper and deeper with every single word you say.”
She growled.

“Don´t even think about threatening me punk. I beat you once I can beat you for the second time, than burn this whole island to a crisps and wait the remaining week to my Log Post to reset.”

Her mechanical arm started to sparkle with electric bolts, but before she could attack Lee, Thomas, who finally regained his consciousness.

“No captain, I want to kill him personally.”

He muttered, while looking at Viper with a murder in his eyes. Cassandra was watching both of them with unreadable expression on her face, before she shook her head.

“No, he can still be useful. But you have right to revenge...eye for an eye, arm for an arm I guess. Take the eternal pose and his sword guys and lock him up in the cell.”
She commanded four other guys, who were standing on the deck.

“You Thomas, go to see the doctor and you...”
She looked at Viper with warning in her eyes.

“Don´t try to resist, or you are dead meat understood?”

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 27

Lee nodded weakly. "Yeah," he replied, pocketing the pose. "You can definitely kill me. Wouldn't even be hard. But here's the thing: you won't. Because you know I'm faster than you and your..." He smirked at Thomas. "...Right hand. And if you come for me, I can outrun you for as long as I like. I can't beat you, but I can inconvenience the hell out of you!"

It was an extremely weaksauce threat, but let's face it: Lee wasn't in a position to make threats. He was, in fact, way the hell out of his depth. But he needed to keep some kind of grasp on the situation.

"Or, if you keep me on your good side, I can be your most valuable asset! I got you your eternal pose quickly and efficiently. Thomas helped, but I could've done it alone no problem. I'm fast, I'm capable, and I'm competent, and right now, I'm yours to command. Why would you spoil that?"

It seemed Cassandra agreed, so Lee relaxed a little. Which was a big mistake, as his sword was almost immediately confiscated. "W-what? Hey! That's my family sword! It's been passed down between Vipers for generations! You're spoiling it, Cassandra! You're spoiling it!"

He didn't put up any resistance, however, as he knew better than to piss the pirate off. He sighed as he watched his sword taken, as well as the Eternal Pose. "Ugh, fine. Get your hands off me, I can find my own way to the cell."

He slowly marched up the ship and into the cell, slamming the door shut behind him. Without his sword, he was basically helpless, so there wasn't much he could do to bust out.

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #27 

Cassandra instrued her subordinates with simple gesture to bring your sword to hear and took it with amused smile on her face.

“Yeah and if you don´t shut up I´ll spoil it even more.”
She said while watching Lee going down to the prison located under the main deck. Well the prison was maybe a little too much glorious name for a single iron cage placed in the back of their ship. Once there, the sailors locked the doors behind Lee, letting him there alone, with just single bucket and small wooden spoon.

According to the noises coming from the upper deck it was obvious that Cassandra didn´t wanted to waste any time and so she started preparing her ship for immediate departure. Her strong voice could be heard everywhere on the ship as she was guiding her people so they could set a sail.

According to the voices coming down to Viper, it took them a while before they gathered their whole crew but in less than half an hour the ship started moving away from the port towards the open sea. With the light slowly fading away it shouldn´t take long before night time.

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 28

He gritted his teeth as he was separated from his sword and locked in the tiny, crappy cell. He sighed, sitting down to await their casting off and fidgeting impatiently.

Eventually, finally, the boat was underway and they slowly began pulling out to sea. Lee pulled out his log pose, looking down at it to pass the time. It hadn't yet had enough time to recalibrate, so it was still pointed towards Arabara. He sighed, thinking back to the island. At least he'd kept the people alive and safe.

His reverie was interrupted by the sudden thundering sound of a cannon. He shot up to look out the window; a marine ship was attacking Cass's crew! He suddenly ducked down again, trying to make himself as small as possible in the hopes an incoming cannonball wouldn't hit him. Normally, they didn't scare him in the least; but then, normally, he has the Shichishito with him.

Still, even without his trademark sword, Lee was extremely fast and precise. So when he saw a cannon pointing directly at him, he just barely managed to dodge out of the way in time. The cannonball blew straight through his cell, destroying the door and freeing him.

"Well, hell yeah," he remarked, stepping out into the ship proper. "Alright then."

He needed to find the Shichishito... and ideally, the treasure Thomas had stolen, too. Also a means of escape, obviously.

Thankfully, he had the cover of night and the advantage of a distracted enemy. He dashed throughout the ship faster than the eye could follow, quickly finding his sword, the money, and an escape boat. This would be too easy.

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #28 (NPC) 

Cassandra´s crew was big one, almost two hundreds men in arms, but from the whole crew, she was the only real fighter and so it wasn´t really surprising, that they had some difficulties with deflecting the marine´s attack. And since the main battle occurred on the upper deck, the lower one was completely unprotected and easy target for quick thievish bounty hunter.

It got way more complicated however, when Lee headed on the upper deck. But if someone could move through cannonballs battering the ship and group of fighters that were going for each other lives it was Viper.

Unseen, he managed to prepare small boat for himself, when someone behind him pointed gun on his back.

“What´s this, are you going anywhere? If you are member of this crew, you should fight with us, or perhaps you are traitor and I should shoot you right away?”
Asked Thomas with a grim smile on his face. He was still little pale after his last experience, this time holding regular pistol in his right arm, while instead of his left one, he had metal prosthetic, resembling his captain´s arm, only perhaps slightly less complex in it´s design.

“Come on, try to run, I know you are fast b*****d, but this gun isn´t ordinary either!”

He challenged Lee ignoring all the fighting around them.

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 29

Lee smirked as he ran through the ship uncontested. Was it maybe a little cheap to do so while the crew was distracted with other matters? Almost certainly. But then, what did he care? They were damn pirates, and they'd stolen his sword! That was unacceptable!

When he came to the upper deck, he dashed and weaved through the combatants, so quickly none had time to register his presence. He was almost home free!

...And then Thomas.

Lee scowled as he turned his head to look at the treacherous right hand, pressing a gun against his back. "Hey, Tommy-boy," he said, trying his best to adopt a cocky smirk. "Nice arm you got there. You don't look so hot, though; sure you're ready for round 2?"

"Look, I know loyalty is kind of a foreign concept to you," Lee said, "but mine doesn't lie with the bitch who threatened genocide so she wouldn't have to wait a week on an island that really wasn't so bad. So why don't you go mind your own business and point that gun somewhere else?"

He jerked his head over to Cassandra, who was currently engaged in an epic combat with a huge marine commander wielding - of all things - a whip, his mastery apparent. "Why don't you go help out your Captain, if you love her so much?"

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #29 (NPC) 

Thomas was looking at Lee with disgust in his face, but the more was Viper talking the more he was smiling.

“Oh yeah Viper-boy”

He mimicked the way Lee was addressing him with lot´s of hatred hidden behind his words.

“Now you done it. Say hello in hell!”
Than three things happened at the same time. Thomas raised his gun to aim in the middle of Lee´s head and immediately pulled the trigger, while he was hit by a flying marine soldier from behind. Ironically enough, the soldier was thrown in that direction by Cassandra herself when he tried to help his commanding officer by stabbing her from behind. She found out and punched him so hard, that he flew all the way to them, hitting Thomas from behind so hard, that it not only threw his aim so off, that the bullet was now heading towards Viper´s shoulder, not a head, but also smacked him head first against the planks of the decks.

“What the...”

He cursed as he used his new mechanical arm to threw the unconscious marine from his body. Thomas got back on his feet but couldn´t see Viper anywhere near him.

“f**ck...Where are you you coward?!”
He yelled angrily and dashed to the taffrail to look for him in the water, while quickly reloading his gun.

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee - 30

"Shit!" Lee had intended to jump out of the way of the bullet while distracting Thomas with conversation, but the flying marine had caught him off-guard; he wasn't able to see the man coming in from this angle, and ended up getting shot in the shoulder and falling overboard.

Never had Lee been so happy to not be a Devil Fruit user. He immediately jumped out of the water and onto his boat, striking the water with his Shichishito to zoom away. Pulling out his eternal pose, he noted the way back to Arabara island before turning to look back at Cassandra's ship.

The proud black-and-white Jolly Roger, depicting a skull with a mechanical arm, flew upon the mast as Thomas looked down at his escaping prey. At this range, deflecting any incoming bullets would be a simple matter for Lee.

Besides, the crew was so busy dealing with the marine attack that pursuing him would be foolhardy at the moment! Especially on a ship so full of cannon holes as Cass's! Repairs alone would take days, and that's IF she had the supplies for it!

His only regret in the matter was that he hadn't been able to bring the pirates to justice. As he sailed away back towards Arabara, William's money in tow, he thought about everything Cassandra had done with some chagrin. Well. At least he'd managed to mitigate what harm had been done. And he was sure those marines would be fine without his help. Not like he would have been able to do much, anyway. Cassandra was still the captain, and he was still nowhere close to beating her.

---

When he returned to the docks of Arabara, Lee immediately sought out William, carrying the money in tow. "Hey there, you old drunk sod," he said, dumping the money at the man's doorstep. "I don't know what you did to get so much dosh, but I do know you have a more legitimate claim to it than that woman Cassandra. So here you go. Also..."

He pulled out a log pose. "Swiped it from the Captain's Quarters," he said with a wink. "It's not quite the eternal pose that you had, but hopefully it'll get the job done."

He turned to walk away, a smirk on his face. He might have kept a couple million berri for himself. Hey, he was a bounty hunter! What was he supposed to do? He liked to think of it as the "reward" for retrieving stolen goods. That William was such a cheapskate, he wouldn't have parted with any of that money anyways.

[Mr. Moon]

Cassandra #30 (NPC)  

Thomas rushed to the place, where Viper stood, but before he could get there, he was stopped by another Marine, who tried to shot him. The bullet hit only his prosthetic arm, but since the assailant continued with overhead slash of his cutlass, he had to change direction and deal with him first. When he finally managed to take him down, Lee was already nowhere to be found.

“S**t”

Cursed Thomas and with the bullet that was supposed to be Lee´s shot nearby marine, before entering the fight once again.

The battle raged for another half an hour, before the pirates finally managed to repel the Marines and run away. Of course, when Cassandra learned that Lee escaped and took her money with him, she was furious and wanted to turn the ship around, but with all the injured crew members and heavily damaged ship, they couldn´t risk running into that marines again and so she had to settle down with beating Thomas as a way of relieving her anger. But she definitely remembered Viper and the score she had with him to settle.