Business & Pleasure Part Deux! A Dance With The Devil!

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #1}

---

^–AAASH…!

Red splashed. Stone gave way. Dust filled the air. An unholy trinity of destruction unleashed by the massive blade wielded by Lilith Lilin was the first strike — the premiere of an engagement that would shake Mock Town’s people and then some. But in that moment — those scant few seconds — such an attack had done something else entirely, as proven when something chilling threatened to surge forth from amidst the gaping hole cleaved into the side of a nearby building.

^{“Hihihihi… Aah~!”}

^{“Gyaaah! No– No,” said a man:
“Get me out of here…!”}

Twas the door of the structure that burst open first, a man scurrying frantically free from its confines and galloping down the street as fast as his legs could carry him. He wasn’t the only one to do so. Likely, he wouldn’t be the last, but that was a trivial detail. Besides, Lilin had other issues to deal with. Having recognised the threat, the amorphous ivory forms of the previously summoned Chevalier Blanc had sprung into action, surging towards the Smoking Devil with aggression bristling as they placed themselves betwixt the swordswoman and the fissure she had formed in the wall.

Glick… In silent contention the first of the trio drew back a fluid fist, arm lashing forth like a bludgeoning whip as it stretched and contorted, the entity itself losing its opposed limb and thinning out as its mass shifted. The second threw itself directly at Lilin from her left, flattening and expanding until its form resembled little more than the white crest of a crashing wave. The third, from the right, approached directly, condensing its volume into one extremity as it reached out to grapple.

“Halt… This one’s my fight,” Scarlette’s voice crackled as her silhouette emerged from the dust. A bloodied gash across her torso was testament to the power of her adversary’s strike — one she had willingly endured with open arms. Inherent toughness and buzzing will in tandem had served their purpose, taking the force in their combined stride and fending off its lethality. A wicked smile turned quickly to a sharp frown, its intent proven when the first of the viscous beasts suddenly found itself pierced from behind by blackened steel — the sharpened snaith of L’Hydre Vorace plunged through the dark ‘heart’ that served as its core.

“Tch!” The whipping strike dissolved, splashing across the ground as little more than inert gel as the rest of its body melted into a useless puddle. It almost resembled an egg, were the yolk a deep purple. And yet, despite their progenitor’s words, the other two did not stop their assaults, ignorant — or at the very least uncaring — of their third’s fate. “They never listen… Oi, Lilin! Aim for the core and get rid of them so we can do this properly,” the Red Terror so willingly announced, finding her own constructs to be more of a nuisance than a blessing, but at the same time keeping an eye of whatever was to follow…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>As Scarlette recovers from the first hit, Lilin is targeted by the three Chevalier Blanc, though their creator removes one of them from the equation before allowing the remaining two to serve as tests.

Jade

Status Notes:
• Moderate Wounds ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×2

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

Lilin's momentum carried her another step or two before her heavy boots cracked the stone street below again, bringing her to a rather sudden stop. Odaki, blood dripping from the black blade, swung up and around to rest on the devil's shoulder again, even as two laughs rung through the dust-filled air.

"Hihihi..."

"Kashashasha!"

And then those three strange blob-like creatures were descending upon her, cutting Lilin's laughter off a second after her opponent's ended. Three entities of a creamy white coloration stepped up to the plate, putting their amorphous bodies between Scarlette and the looming figure of the devil. Even Scarlette ordering them to stop didn't seem to get through to the creatures, as their bodies morphed to descend upon the horned woman - it was only that wicked scythe piercing the first one's body, dissolving the creature's form, that got it to stop. "They never listen... Oi, Lilin! Aim for the core...!"

"Oh, so the untrained pups wish to play, eh?" Lilin grinned, directing her attention primarily toward Scarlette even as she spoke ostensibly toward the would-be protectors. "Well now, I don't mind helping with a spot of training - first lesson..."

What should have been an infallible pincer - one Chevalier Blanc crashing its extended body into her, while the other sent an engorged limb to pummel Lilin into the wall that the other had turned itself into - failed as the intended target flipped backward, vaulting herself over said engorged limb. "Heel." Odaki swung upward at an angle, cleaving through the thinned white knight, while Lilin's other arm became a silhouette that extended and thinned, carving through the other Chevalier Blanc's body. The weight of the massive ōdachi carried Lilin around in a decidedly graceless tumble, even as the two knights dissolved like the first.

But rather than crashing into the street, the blade was twisted about as the devil's form shrank. Odaki sank into the street as Lilin came to a stop, one foot pressed against the flat of the immense blade while she hung onto the hilt with one hand. "Kashashasha! Well, any other rowdy mongrels chomping at tha heels, Red?"

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #2}

---

Eyes of dark cocoa watched as that enormous blade was whipped about in a decidedly reckless yet somehow still effective fashion, cleaving cleanly the curious composition of one Chevalier Blanc as a tendril of darkness piercing and ripped through the second’s enveloping assault. Both strikes found their marks as instructed, rupturing the far more tangible hearts of the White Knights and causing their ivory forms to dissolve into little more than waste puddles. But even as Lilin landed and posed the question, the Red Terror had decided the answer already.

In mere fractions of a second, Scarlette had closed the gap — a blur of monochromatic motion that displaced some of the dust in its wake as she halted her supernal dash just inches away from the Smoking Devil’s form. Ravenous blade still strangled by the artificial grasp of her prosthesis, though weighted want for bloodshed begged for freedom to carve a path of devastation, it was the woman’s right arm that thrust forth with excitable vigour. With barely a beckoning, a clenched fist buzzed with that very same frisk, straight for that abnormally toothy grin…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>With the defeat of the Chevalier Blanc, Scarlette wastes no time in throwing a Haki-empowered punch at Lilin after closing the gap with blinding speed.

Status Notes:
• Moderate Wounds ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

No sooner had the taunt passed Lilin's lips than Scarlette was on top of the little devil. Diamond-shaped eyes slid down toward what that other sense already told her was coming - and then the fist connected with her body, sending her rocketing off of her precarious perch atop Odaki.

Her flight was quickly marked by a trail of black smoke that exploded outward, not unlike a smoke bomb, where the imp's body should have impacted the wall of some single-story house. The smoke continued to pour outward, filling the mid-morning air with choking, oppressive black. And then, unnaturally, the smoke paused - completely ceasing its billowing, frozen mid-air - and retracted, before pulsating back out and resuming its more natural flow. Only a moment later, seven thin, void-black tendrils shot out from the cloud, racing through the open air toward their black-haired target in order to pierce through her body.

Of the seven, only one had a different goal - it raced instead toward the massive blade stuck in the stone street, wrapping around the hilt of Odaki before snapping back, flying toward and into the cloud of black smoke.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #3}

---

Hmm… …! A successful hit was swiftly followed by a counteroffensive of the Smoking Devil’s own, shadowy making. A glimmer of anticipation sent a shiver up Grimm-Rosa Scarlette’s spine as not one, but six slender spear-like threads of black were thrust in her direction. A moment of consideration was short-lived in her mind, eyes trying to perceive the angles at which Lilin’s assault would strike, but failing to properly perceive the inky void’s depth of field. Still, that sixth sense told her she had time, though not much of it.

L’Hydre Vorace’s dark form shifted in her artificial grasp, arm stimulated by controlled pulses of that iconic red aura so heavily associated with her accursed gift, drawn back with the gently serpentine length of the weapon’s snaith pointing forth like a spear. Another set of more intense pulses surged through from body to arm, triggering rapid contractions of fibrin constructions and sending it into a swift forward thrust.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Ghost Viper…!
“Vipère Fantȏme…!”}

}
_{Holding L’Hydre Vorace in the Étrangler stance, Scarlette points the weapon’s butt towards her opponent and performs a quick thrust, releasing a Flying Slash that pierces instead of cuts at a significantly shorter distance than she can usually muster. The weapon’s curvature causes the attack to wiggle slightly as it flies, slithering like a snake.}

Sssss…! A whispered hiss from the ruddy edge of the weapon acted as prelude to the anomalous strike that would follow — a rippling, writhing spear of displaced air that shot forwards like a striking snake to do as the oncoming swarm of blackness intended. To pierce the target. And she surely wondered if it would, eyes locked on to the smoky void that marred the air as she put fanciful footwork to good use. Raw instinct guided her motions thereafter, seeing only in her periphery where one, two, three of the tendrils would fall short of their mark.

Wip… Sha– Jab! Three others landed, piercing into the one-armed woman’s right flank, but finding resistance. A second grazed her right calf, tearing a part of the boot she wore on its way. The third did not find flesh, but instead pierced into something organic all the same — the prosthesis in a semi-fluid state of being — and was halted an imperceptible inch from the woman’s neck. Crack…! The sound of steel being prised from stone was a surefire indication of Lilin’s plan, but really all that did was widen the increasingly entertained Scarlette’s smile as that massive blade was wrenched back into a paranormal grasp.

“Hihihihi~! So this is what you’re made of, oui?” the Red Terror giggled, flooding concentrated will into her right hand and reaching out for the tendril buried into fibrin-forged form, moving to try and grasp it in her clutches. Truly who cared for an escape from such an interesting opponent…?

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>As Lilin unleashes a volley of void strikes, Scarlette retaliates in what little time she has, sacrificing a few hits in order to send off one of her own, and making quick use of her foe’s successful strikes to try and latch onto their vorpal body.

Status Notes:
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

The tendril of darkness in her opponent's will-infused grasp writhed for a moment and then lashed itself around Scarlette's wrist, even as the other five that had gone after her dissipated, dripping down to the ground to collect in puddles of inky void. The wiggling spear of displaced air pierced the black cloud of smoke, vanishing into its depths - though if there was any effect on Lilin, it wasn't apparent in that moment.

"Kashashasha...! Aye, something kin to that, Red~" came the taunting voice - and then the grasped tendril shifted, tightened, and from the cloud of darkness came an absurdly immense form, bloated and bestial and grinning wildly. "Shade of Strength...!"

The tendril in Scarlette's grasp was now apparent as the woman's left leg, which Lilin now retracted in order to send herself flying in her direction, a fist the size of her opponent coated in concentrated will aimed to slam into the Red Terror.

SPOILER: Click to show

{"ONIDAIKO!"}
_{While in her Shade of Strength transformation, Lilin further bloats her body with smoke and darkness and tenses her muscles in response to an incoming blow, resulting in taking the blow and bouncing it back rather than simply absorbing it. Beyond a defensive measure, this can also be used to increase the power of a physical blow Lilin is about to deliver.}

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #4}

---

“Aye, something kin to that,” Lilin taunted, tendrils dismissed and dissolving in an inky manner, save for the one within the Red Terror’s grasp. Rather, it coiled and bound itself tight around her wrist, remaining strangely solid as the mass of darkness bloated and congealed into something more powerful. Within seconds, Lilin’s new form was hurtling towards her at a rate of knots, with a mighty fist gorged on that very same darkness and bristling with the Colour of Arms flying right at her as Lilin worked to pull them together.

“Now that’s more like it~,” Scarlette beamed, despite the encroaching and inescapable blow directed at her. What had formerly been an ambiguous tether of black had revealed itself to be the Smoking Devil’s leg, retracting like some kind of elastic coil and dragging her forward as its owner was being reeled in at speed. Will released its tension upon her right hand, spreading instead to upper and lower as her back arched into a wildly reckless series of motions.

^{Clash…! Haki crackled:
Bzzz– Zzt…!}

For a solid few seconds, an enormous fist found itself resisted through sheer force of will by both boot and forehead as Miss Grimm-Rosa did all she could with free limbs to repel the assault. Her left leg had raised and stomped forwards as she’d hammered with her own noggin — both bristling with willpower — and resulting in a precariously one-legged poise that somehow faltered only when the initial force of the impact had faded. All the same, it was the one-armed woman’s turn to be repulsed, wrenched free of an otherworldly grasp and cast into the air where she managed to twist herself and plant both feet firmly upon the second storey wall of a building across the street.

Shank! L’Hydre Vorace’s heel, the weapon having gathered momentum in her partially elastic grip, had buried itself about an inch deep into the brickwork — that left an extended snaith for Scarlette to balance her weight upon and maintain an elevated position. The rest of the weapon’s head jutted outwards from the wall, hissing softly as the air displaced by the impact was split by its ruddy edge. Still precariously positioned, Scarlette’s right hand pulsed red, index finger slicing through the wall that currently acted as her floor to create a signature rift in the masonry.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Weaver’s Rebirth: Three…!
“Renaissance du Tisserand: Trois…!”}

}
<sub>Scarlette sacrifices a small portion of her blood and weakens her coagulation factor in order to conjure a number of unique Homunculi. This type of Homunculus is known as a Tisserand, being approximately 1’ (30 cm) tall and possessing chibi, almost foetal proportions with little more than stubs for legs. The head is large in comparison to the rest of the body, which is mostly translucent and purple in colour. A Tisserand also possesses a pair of small, flipper-like wings on its back. This type consumes the equivalent blood of 1 Homunculus, but also weakens Scarlette’s blood’s ability to clot effectively on its own as a result of their unique ability.

A Tisserand is normally idle once summoned, floating in the air and curled into the foetal position, but can be commanded to wake up through a means entirely different to that of other Homunculi. They do not respond to verbal commands, instead reacting to Scarlette’s movements, essentially communicating via interpretive dance routines that stir them into action. While active, a Tisserand is capable of swimming through the air quite swiftly and can interact with the rifts created by Porte Rouge and similar techniques, pulling from them a white, pliable material with moderate adhesive properties which they can then weave into complicated shapes and structures at Scarlette’s command. This material, when exposed to the red energy of the Devil Fruit’s power, rapidly hardens and becomes highly elastic, springing into a specific shape and becoming easily as tough as steel (if not a little tougher) while also adopting a silvery white, sparkling lustre. The material returns to its softened state when released.</sub>

From the darkness of the rift poured something as of yet unseen by Lilin’s eyes — a trio of strangely small and oddly chibi-like forms of translucent purple composition, heads larger in proportion and each sporting thin membrane-like wings upon their backs. Averaging about a foot in size, they birthed from the wound in the wall and floated effortlessly in the air around their progenitor, curled up in foetal positions and seemingly unresponsive…

Up until Scarlette propelled herself from the wall into an aerial combination of pirouette and somersault. The motions stirred them into action, each springing into activity with the same kind of vigour one would expect of a child on a sugar high, albeit without gravitational binds. No words permeated the air, but they acted in a manner synchronised to uncanny perfection, sweeping small hands into the very abyss from whence they’d emerged and pulling forth a white, peculiarly pliable substance — the same material from which her arm had been constructed.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Trailblazer…!
“Pionnière…!”}

}_{Using rope-like lengths of Fibrin created by her Tisserands as platforms, Scarlette channels Hypertension through her legs and feet, triggering Surcharge de Plasmine in such a way as to propel her across the length of the lines created at speed. This allows her to launch herself with notable velocity, covering considerable distances in singular bounds and even redirecting herself in the air through further use of her Tisserands and their curious cords.}

Lengths of substance were dexterously wound and stretched between the grasps of the Tisserands, forming a bizarre jump rope onto which Scarlette’s boots — themselves now luminous with ruddy aura — were firmly planted. In an instant, the same aura surged with greater and more compact intensity, and — as L’Hydre Vorace was prised from the wall — Scarlette’s body became a blur of motion as purple-red flames erupted explosively in her initial wake. Any distance between herself and Lilin was closed by the smiling psychopath as dark steel flourished into a powerful, accelerated, aerial swing…!

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>As Scarlette mounts a defensive move she ends up still taking the brunt of the blow and is forcefully repositioned, but recovers swiftly by mounting a unique and high speed counter attack against Lilin!

Status Notes:
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×1
• Moderate Blunt Trauma ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0
• Active Rifts ×1
• Tisserand ×3

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

Lilin's grin grew wider, allowing black smoke to pour out from the sides, as her massive fist slammed into Scarlette. The two were stuck like that for a moment before the telltale, drum-like DOOM sounded and the Red Terror was blown back. And while her opponent was still in the air, the brutish demon slimmed and shrunk, the tendril of void that had been her anchor point returned to flesh and blood covered in a heavy boot and met the stone street below, and Lilin had returned to her hybrid form.

Her pointed ears twitched at the sound of voices in the distance - a distraction, but one that kept her sinister grin going. "Ain't it grand to feel appreciated..?" Lilin commented, and then swung Odaki up and around to rest on her shoulder while her other hand rose up and adjusted her orange-tinted glasses. "Best we give the performance of a lifetime, eh, Red?!"

"Pionnière...!"

The devil's too-relaxed posturing changed in an instant, her diamond-shaped eyes locked squarely on Scarlette even as the other woman became a blur and a trail of peculiar flames. She hardly needed that other sense to tell her what was coming, though it certainly helped with the timing - and, with terrible, unnatural speed, Lilin took Odaki in a two-handed grip and swung the massive blade about, meeting Scarlette's scythe with a combination of raw strength and the black blade's crashing weight.

SPOILER: Click to show

{"Daizai!"}
_{A defensive maneuver that carries with it a deceptive offensive potential, in which Lilin moves her blade to meet an incoming attack at the last moment with enough power to shake or even outright cleave through tough defenses.}

Even with the power of her parry, Lilin was sent skidding back from the impact of the blow, the heels of her black boots digging through the stone street until she grinded to a stop about a foot back from where she'd started. The horned woman grit her teeth, flipping her long pipe to hang from one side of her mouth to the other, and removed one hand from Odaki's hilt in order to shake it out. "Now that's a tap, kashashasha!" The devil's grip on her blade shifted - the only physically visible indication of what was to come. "Show me everything, Red!"

SPOILER: Click to show

{"Makaze!"}
_{With a swing of her blade, Lilin creates a crescent-shaped slash that soars through the air. For some reason, this slash creates a horrible screeching sound as it flies, akin to someone scraping a chalkboard.}

Her blade was swung upward, diagonally, with an ear-splitting screech as a crescent slash hurtled through the air in Scarlette's direction. Lilin's free hand caught the hilt on its way up, seemingly stopping the comically large ōdachi from flying out of her grasp - and her stance changed subtly before she kicked off from the ground, throwing herself after the flying slash in order to follow it up with another off-kilter slash from the blade itself.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #5}

---

Skreee…! Vicious was the strike against a solid defence: Inertia acting with such ferocity that, for a moment, L’Hydre Vorace’s edge threatened to plunge into its wielder’s prosthetic arm. Black upon black, both weapons screamed before the attacker’s momentum was redirected and reflected, sending Scarlette twirling backwards through the air with a death defying elegance. The serpentine scythe grazed cobblestones more than once as it happened, biting chunks out of the street-turned-battlefield.

“Show me everything, Red!” What followed tore at the air with a wild scream, but chocolate eyes tinged with red were able to follow it. Even as the flying attack approached with haste, Miss Grimm-Rosa’s body was a whirlwind of motion even after she had landed, guiding herself into a haphazard yet elegantly controlled pirouette of body and steel, blade hissing as it — once, twice, thrice — cut at the air so close to her head. Wild acceleration had become a dance.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Petals in the Wind…
“Pétales dans le Vent…”}

}
_{Using her weapon as a conduit of sorts when faced with an opponent’s Flying Slash, Scarlette begins to twist and twirl in a dance which generates a sort of vacuum, accepting and absorbing the incoming attacks. The result is a swirling veil of air that slices and shreds anything in the immediate vicinity, leaving Scarlette safe within the eye of the storm. Wounds created by this technique tend to be shallow, but numerous, but can vary according to the strength and volume of attacks countered.}

Scree– Whooo…! A cutting crescent cast from the Smoking Devil’s own monster of a blade entered lethal proximity, only to find its wild scream cut short by the howl of something altogether more fascinating. Not even finding its mark directly, ‘Makaze’ was instead pulled aside by invisible force in the wake of one of L’Hydre Vorace’s increasingly swift and broad sweeps as the one-armed woman found the rhythm obfuscated by the attack’s clamour.

“Aha… Merci beaucoup, Lilin~,” Scarlette spoke, caught in a calamitous carousel as her weapon licked at her arms whenever it had the opportunity — fraying fibrin and drawing tiny morsels of blood. But even as the horned one approached, it was made apparent that proximity had become problematic. “So easily scattered,” the Red Terror added, continuing to guide what was once a singular slash as it became a wild whirlwind of slicing air, ripping into cobblestone and structure as stray tongues of cutting energy fell away like blossom in the breeze…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>Lilin’s counter proves at least somewhat successful, but sends Scarlette into a wild dance that enables her to turn the following strike into both offence and defence of her own!

Status Notes:
• Superficial Wounds x?
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×1
• Moderate Blunt Trauma ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0
• Active Rifts ×1
• Tisserand ×3

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

Even if Lilin had been focused on the danger, she'd committed too hard to her assault - and when her initial slash was redirected against her, she caught the brunt of it head-on. Blood splattered backward, away from Scarlette, before it mixed with black smoke that was similarly pushed back by the razor gale. The smoke retreated at speed, even as sections were completely separated by blades of wind, until the true, diminutive form of the Smoking Devil practically bounced out of it, skidding against the cobble street from the speed she'd been traveling.

Her front was shredded, the simple clothing cut in numerous places and already stained with her own blood. Smoke continued to billow from her body, filling the small and already badly damaged plaza, as the horned woman came to a stop - but her blade was nowhere to be seen. As the pitch-black smoke choked the air, Lilin grinned. "Riveting stuff, Red... But let's see tha scatter this."

The last bit of light glinted off her orange shades before the plaza was swallowed by the oppressive weight and deepest black of the devil's smoke. The massive, hidden blade that had been floating within suddenly spun into action, hurtling toward Scarlette's back - while Lilin herself rushed forward through the void, somehow swinging an identical blade in an upward arc as she cleared the distance.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Techniques Used}
Since Lilin is being all fancy and secretive about what she's actually doing, here are the descriptions of the Techniques being used here:

Mauken

Within a dense cloud of smoke and darkness, Lilin manipulates her blade, sending it spinning throughout the cloud. While not as strong as a regular slash, she’s able to take advantage of the choking smoke and lack of visibility to overwhelm a larger crowd with her dangerous, unseen blade spinning in a manner that is exceedingly hard to deal with.

Kage-e: Odaki

Using the power of her Mythical Zoan, Lilin creates a void-black replica of her immense ōdachi, Odaki, out of the substance known as darkness. While she is not able to replicate the blade exactly - missing out on its almost supernatural durability as a Kokutō - she is capable of replicating the blade’s immense weight.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #6}

---

Obfuscating essences coalesced, expanded, and billowed as they met the whirling wind of razors. Whatever it was that Lilin was attempting would be concealed, but only until it met the perimeter of the deadly tempest — and that it did: Twice over. Still in the midst of her spin, Scarlette’s eyes only glimpsed the whirling edge of an oversized blade hurtling through the gale and shrieking as scattered petals of slicing air bounced from its blackened steel.

…? It’s coming from both sides… Intent ringing loud and clear to her senses, the Red Terror’s attention was momentarily divided by what appeared to be two separate instances of her opposition. That alone only served to intensify her glee — joyous abandon that was perhaps teetering on the edge of something truly terrifying. Regardless, her dance became erratic, turning from graceful to stumbling as she shifted strength and grip to meet one of the attacks with another of her own.

It was up to chance.

^{Clang– Slash…!}

^{“Egh,” she grunted:
“You… Heh… Hit hard!”}

Odaki — the real one — had once more clashed with the similarly darkened metal of L’Hydre Vorace, but wild weight and a chaotic trajectory caused by its passing through the dissipating whirlwind of blades had instead caused it to slam with all its absurd weight into the opposing blade’s hook, overwhelming the halberd’s wielder. Artificial anatomy twisted and strained in a manner most inhuman, caused by the weapon’s own starved edge as L’Hydre Vorace cleanly chewed through a third of Scarlette’s prosthetic left arm, leaving a sheared mass in its wake as its heel was wedged into the plaza at an angle.

Despite her weapon’s betrayal, however, the alternate approach had both succeeded and failed. An otherworldly replica of the very sword that had triggered the amputation had swung upwards, sharpened and weighted darkness cleaving into the one-armed woman and causing her to stumble, but not to fall. Against all odds and the spatter of red that bloomed from her shoulder, Scarlette remained standing, if only thanks to an ever-growing tolerance and unwillingness to bow out when the party was just getting started.

Whoosh! Hasty motions at such short range turned her into a blur of black, white, and red as she wheeled around on one heel and launched herself into a wild and sudden lunge towards the now revealed Smoking Devil. Fingers of her right hand splayed and softly clawed, what followed was a wild and consecutive series of short dashes and swipes as what remained of her prosthesis feebly spasmed as if to echo the same flurry. One could only imagine the ferocity of such an attack with both hands, offering little to no respite between lunges and swings…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>Lilin’s two-sided assault proves effective against Scarlette, forcing her to drop her weapon as it sunders her own arm, but Scarlette swiftly follows with a rapid (but limited) close-proximity assault.

Faucher: Scarlette dashes about while unleashing a flurry of rapid, clawing strikes in order to shred through opponents and obstacles, leaving a network of deep and jagged gashes in her wake. (This uses the Aspect: Lacérer, effectively Shigan mastery.)

Status Notes:
• Superficial Wounds x?
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×2
• Moderate Blunt Trauma ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0
• Active Rifts ×1
• Tisserand ×3
• Damaged Prosthesis

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

Steel clashed against steel, though not quite with the shriek of an even conflict - it was more like what one might expect from dropping an anvil on a blade than anything. The true Odaki had slammed against that ravenous scythe, leaving Scarlette's front unprotected against the Ryō Wazamono's shadow. That second blade happily carved through flesh before it and its wielder bounced back into the smokescreen.

The smoke blew back half of a second later, letting more light into the clearing. Sure enough, even as the massive blade fell to the street alongside the ruined remains of the pirate captain's alien prosthetic, a void-black doppelgänger of the immense blade came to rest on the diminutive devil's shoulder. Before Lilin could get some smarmy word off, however - and she so clearly had been about to, mouth in the middle of transitioning from smug smirk to opening to speak - Scarlette was on top of her, clawing at the Smoking Devi with her one remaining hand. The first strikes found their mark, tearing at her front and arms and more than drawing blood, and put the horned woman on the back foot.

"Oi," she said, even as she at least attempted to put the length of her void blade between her body and the vicious hand, "are tha- Come on- Bah, fine!"

The blade rippled for half of a moment - a truly disorienting effect, given the way no light reflected from its length, causing the effect to only be visible in the way its edges wriggled. And then its length contracted and spread outward, forming a gently curved surface the size of Lilin's entire body. The slashing assault would slam into what seemed to be solid steel serving as a barrier between claw-like fingers and the devil's body, offering Lilin a moment of respite...

SPOILER: Click to show

{"Kuroyari!"}
_{Lilin projects or travels forward as a black spear outward in an attempt to pierce a target.}

A spiked point on the void shield's front, invisible to anyone facing the steel-like barrier head-on, extended forward at speed, aiming to punish the Red Terror's greedy assault.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #7}

---

Swing after swing, Scarlette’s clawed hand found its mark multiple times before finally being repelled by a desperately devilish defence — a shroud of steely black against which raking talons could not find their purchase with which to rend. But where her strikes grew duller, her grin became keener, even as she took a fraction of a second to process the obfuscating veil between her and her foe. And then it came.

^{“Kuroyari!”}

…! Preternatural senses failed her, simply because her real ones could not help against such an assault. With no ability to perceive the dimensions from whence an assault came, Miss Grimm-Rosa was forced to try and move aside in order to avoid an attack: Evasion proved a useless endeavour as something thin and black thrust from the dark shield and pierced into flesh, carrying her backwards from the impact as it dug into her flank. It’s so much fun when they’re hard to predict…! Her hand grasped the spear, closing tight to generate some sort of leverage with which to pry it from her side, if only so it didn’t end up pinning her against a wall. Then, once free, she began to twirl again, raising the fibrin stub of her left arm and gesturing with her spare hand.

Immediately, the floating three that occupied the nearby airspace sprung into action, diving towards the rift from whence they’d come and drawing dollops of gooey thread like bees gathering balls of pollen to make honey. Tisserands in motion were mesmerising to behold as they swam through the air in synchronicity, guided by their maker’s movements as malleable lengths were shared between them — combed with tiny fingers and woven with aerial agility on a level of complexity one could only expect from a veteran seamstress, yet in a mere fraction of the time.

A replacement was being fabricated, but time — precious seconds — needed to be bought for it to complete. Fingers still glistering with red drawn from her opponent, the Red Terror took the opportunity to aim, arm flicking with speed and pulses of carmine glow. Volley after volley of thin, crimson streaks darted through the air in the Smoking Devil’s direction.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Red Arrow: Salvo…!
“Flèche Rouge: Salve…!”}

}
_{An enhanced version of Flèche Rouge in which Scarlette unleashes repeated shots and volleys of piercing droplets to barrage opponents.}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>Despite taking yet another hit, Scarlette recovers and takes the opportunity to forge herself a new arm, buying herself time by unleashing a volley of ranged attacks to delay Lilin’s advance.

Status Notes:
• Superficial Wounds x?
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×3
• Moderate Blunt Trauma ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0
• Active Rifts ×1
• Tisserand ×3
• Damaged Prosthesis

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333

[Jade]

Lilin didn't need eyes on Scarlette to know her latest attack landed - she could feel it, the weight of impact and the slight tug of extra weight. Still, that was little comfort. There was purpose here, to this fight, and letting herself get put on the back foot the way she'd been was a poor showing.

"Tha know," Lilin started as her void-black shield wavered and collapsed, dripping onto the broken stone street at her feet, "slugfests ain't really my bread-and-butter..." She hardly needed some sixth sense to know something was coming when Scarlette raised her one intact arm, and so she was more than ready for the bloodthirsty sanguine shower that followed. "Kage-e..."

SPOILER: Click to show

{"Yoroi!"}
_{Using the power of her Mythical Zoan, Lilin creates a basic void-black armament out of the substance known as darkness. In this case, she has covered herself in simple armor.}

Inky darkness bubbled over her growing form as she darted forward in a reckless charge. Within moments, that amorphous void spread over her body, layering over her and even creating a crude helmet of sorts that still allowed her horns to poke through. The bloody darts splattered against the makeshift armor without so much as giving the charging devil pause - and she was on top of Scarlette a moment later, grinning down on the other woman in her full hybrid form, one arm raised and hand clenched around the hilt of a weapon that did not exist. Not yet, at any rate.

SPOILER: Click to show

{"Kage-e: Ono!"}
_{Using the power of her Mythical Zoan, Lilin creates a basic void-black armament out of the substance known as darkness. In this case, she has created a simple axe.}

The darkness sprung forth again to create the black shaft and the wicked crescent blade of the axe as Lilin brought her arm down in an attempt to chop into Scarlette's shoulder. In her empty hand, the darkness of her makeshift gauntlet was bubbling, moments away from shaping itself into some other armament.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #8}

---

“Your ability really is something…,” Scarlette smiled as vorpal armament enshrouded her foe, once more demonstrating to her that the Smoking Devil had done just as she had — learned the versatility of a Devil Fruit’s potential. This had never been a test of raw might, but of ability. Still, just a handful of fractions of a second were needed for the Tisserands to complete their endeavour, but the forming of a blackened broadaxe was shaving through that time as well.

…! Making me rely on my body? Well, that’s one way to do it, she assessed, aware of the fact her arsenal was scattered and occupied. As the axe came crashing down, the Red Terror did not try and avoid it, but rather raised her arm to intercept it, layering tempered spirit over her fist and forearm. The axe struck true against the offered limb, the impeccable strength of a Mythical Zoan pushing back against a resisting barrier of raw will and cutting into her. The ground beneath her feet threatened to crack as the force of the impact rushed through her body, but she held fast.

Eyes caught bubbling black.

“A shame… Hihihi,” she giggled, feeling the weight of something binding to the remnants of her prosthesis. Her peculiar progeny were done with their task, delivering even at risk of their own existence. Loyal to a fault. Still, with two limbs again, now was the time to repel the assailant yet again. “Because I love being up close and personal~!!” Carmine pulses flowed through the fibrin formation, causing loose and elastic weave to snap into action with refreshed vigour as a steel-hard uppercut aimed for Lilin’s helmed jaw.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synopsis:—}
<sub>Scarlette blocks yet another of Lilin’s hits, despite taking damage from it, before striking back!

Status Notes:
• Superficial Wounds x?
• Minor Wounds x2
• Moderate Wounds ×4
• Moderate Blunt Trauma ×1
• Chevalier Blanc ×0
• Active Rifts ×1
• Tisserand ×3

Crew Page: Big Sis Pirates</sub>

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette | #960018
Lilith Lilin | #f0b333