Turning the Tides [Pluto/Scarlette]

[BlacKitten]

The two cursed combatants were Pluto and Scarlette, previous participants of the Battle Royale tournament. During the final round, they fought against their foes with their bodies swapped due to the power of the Hara Hara no Mi. After overcoming their opponents, the two approached the man known as Octavier and obtained their original bodies back right before engaging the charismatic man in a battle. Whether or not it could be called their victory was in the grey area, but that man, who plotted behind the scenes, had been taken down in the very end. Scarlette was the one who received all of the credit as Pluto remained unknown once again.

Five days had passed since their departure from The Crescent Moon Empire. Aboard this ship were two Devil Fruit users and one little girl. The first two days on their voyage were painfully quiet as they were needed for him to rest up from the accumulated damage from his past battles. Over the next two days, he spent much of his time in the skies, training himself within the clouds where no one could see him. Rewinding and playing through his mistakes in his past battles, he punished himself with a persistent urge to grow stronger. The air was quite thin at the elevation he dwelled at, demanding greater functionality from his body. His techniques were too dangerous to be performed on the ship, and more importantly, he did not wish for anyone to spy on him.

If there was anything that demanded his attention, he could be summoned upon the shout of his name, and through the vast distance between them, his ears were sharp enough to pick it up. Surprisingly, his little sister, Rebecca, never abused this privilege. The only time she summoned him was now.

It was a cloudy day, but while it didn’t appear a storm would arise, no one could really forecast the weather in the Grand Line with one-hundred certainty. Descending from the grey clouds was a small little bat that dived down headfirst towards the deck of his ship.

Shapeshifting into his humanly state, he asked calmly before landing on his feet at the last few meters, “What is the matter?”

“Look!” The younger sister held out the Eternal Pose that they’ve been using to navigate their way to the next island. However, the needle in the orb-shaped glass was acting a little odd. It kept on pointing downwards.

“What?” His eyes widened. Upon his descent, he didn’t catch sight of anything that resembled land. If there was an island nearby, he surely didn’t saw one. This was bad news. Worst case scenario, they would rely on their Log Pose to head for a different island.

And so, their five-day voyage came to an end due to a broken compass. Whatever island Blue Lagoon was, it didn’t seem to exist. They’d have to find a different island and move on, hoping that they would have enough supplies to last for that long.

The End!

Or so it seemed…

A few hundred meters below the water's surface, a certain creature lurked beneath the shadow of the ship. 

[Vio]

¹

---

Gulp… The warming sensation of freshly brewed tea rather welcome in her throat, Scarlette Grimm-Rosa soon returned the teacup to its pride of place within the dip of its matching saucer. The liquid inside – still steaming softly – likely contained more than twice the standard amount of sugar, but such qualities served her well. The more energy she could garner from sustenance the better, given recent injuries sustained. The Crescent Moon Republic had not been as kind to her body as she might have liked, but she had nonetheless survived the ordeal and sailed to pastures new. The Grand Line still had a lot to show.

^{“Creativity is it?” she huffed quizzically:
“What else can I do…?”}

Riiip! With one hand she tore away steadily at the gauze wrappings upon her right arm, unveiling the flesh beneath. This same arm had been the conduit for a new type of power – a new use of her accursed ability that came with as much hindrance as it offered help. The skill known as ‘Souffler’ had been a staple part of her combative prowess during her duels on Crescent; Homunculi inflated like balloons by blowing air directly into her own bloodstream offered a degree of power and mobility that she had not expected. Scariest of all was the raw strength of that combined with the already gargantuan beasts she had dubbed ‘Gigasculi’ – the product of concentrating a much larger volume of blood into a single carmine construct.

“It’s healed…,” Scarlette muttered. Brown eyes – tired eyes – observed the contours of her pallid skin. The flesh of her forearm certainly looked as if it had been damaged, but the wound itself was faint, scar tissue minimal yet clear thanks to its raw pink hue and somewhat silky texture. The faintest of outlines could be discerned within the light of the ship’s kitchen area, telling tales of the fact that she had been as bold as to bite down upon her own body. Reckless, perhaps, was the better word. It had hurt to do it, but it had been a necessary evil. In the end it had won them the battle against Octavier, the Exorcist, though still she was not entirely aware of how.

^“Hm?”

Drowned out slightly be the groans of the Phlegyas, not to mention the fact that they were almost on opposite ends of the admittedly small ship, the yelling of Rebecca only just managed to grace Miss Grimm-Rosa’s ears. It was a call for her brother – that much was recognisable at this point. Five days of the black-haired boy soaring skyward and testing his mettle against intangible enemies had made the vessel’s atmosphere seem increasingly sombre. If not for her diligence, Rebecca might have become bored, though exactly the same could not be said for Scarlette. Her focus had been rather lethargic.

“I wonder if I can make any other type of Homunculus,” the girl in Gothic dress pondered aloud, taking up her teacup shortly thereafter and downing the rest of its contents. Gently wiping her mouth with an available hand towel, she soon turned to venture onto the upper decks of the ship. Somehow the vessel felt empty as she waltzed through its dark timber halls – almost as if a part of it had been left behind on Crescent. It felt normal. No longer was the craft ‘haunted’ by the ghost of a boy named Ben, his spirit having been returned to his real body in the wake of Octavier’s defeat. Supposedly it was the boy who had bested the Hara Hara no Mi’s user, clad in a suit of crimson armour. Now, there was a story to be told for decades to come.

^{“What’s the matter?”}

^“Look!”

“What…?”

Pluto’s surprise provoking her own intrigue, the Offspring Woman soon joined her company upon the forward deck of the Phlegyas, whether they wanted it or not. Oddly enough, her scythe was still jammed into the timbers – a result of yesterday’s attempts at swinging it about with the kind of ease and grace that she was used to. Unfortunately, her legs still were not suited to the sway of a ship and in what might have been considered a rather surprising display of acrobatics, she had ended up burying the fanged blade rather deep into the deck.

That was not important, apparently.

“Ehhh…?” Tilting her head at the vision before her, the fact that the Eternal Pose – a supposedly unshakeable means of navigation here on the Grand Line – was pointing down into the ocean caught even Scarlette off-guard. Admittedly, her state of shock was anything but energetic, which just about summed up the entirety of her behaviour so far. Slow, sluggish and lacking enthusiasm was oft an apt summary of how she functioned when not following some primal or irrefutably twisted drive. Even her seemingly frail posture lacked elegance, providing a contrast to the portentous aesthetic of Gothic fashion.

^{“Why is it pointing down?” she asked, looking about:
“I don’t see any islands here…”}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

[/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)}

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[BlacKitten]

“So supposedly, this compass is telling us that the magnetic force acting upon it is right below us…,” he stated the radical thought in response to Scarlette's question. “So did the island sunk into the ocean? Or did it get flooded over?” A few theories passed through his head, but he couldn’t verify any of them.

“One of us could dive down to take a look,” Rebecca suggested with a clear sign of interest on her face. If the island really was indeed below them, one of them could possibly check, depending how much of it supposedly sank below. If it was all the way down to the ocean floor, then there was no hope of finding out, but if it is extruding high enough, then there might be a chance depending the shallowness.

The idea actually never crossed his mind, and he remembered why that was. The option was completely out of the question that he never considered it as an option. “Neither Scarlette nor I can do that. Forget about swimming, as Devil Fruit users, we cannot even be submerged in water without having our strength being sucked right out of us,” said the boy. Drowning had been the biggest risk to his life as long as he traveled by sea.

“Then I could take a look,” the little girl offered. She was definitely adventurous enough to do so as well as the only viable candidate on the deck to even attempt such a task.

“Don’t bother,” the brother said out of concern. “If anything happens to you, there’s nothing that we can do to save you, and even if we know for sure that the island is below us, there’s nothing we can do about it.” The situation caused him to feel puzzled. They wouldn’t have come to this island had it not been for that man.

Why would he give me an eternal pose to an island like this? If it’s underwater, does he not know about it? Well…, if it’s down there, there’s no way that anyone could be alive.

“Mmm…,” She hummed for a moment, deep in thought before distant sounds of gurgling snapped her out of her zone.

From either side of the ship, figures burst out of the water, flying into the air like cannonballs before landing flat on the deck. There were three of them in total, surrounding their prey in a triangular formation. While humanoid, they did not appear human. Their skin color varied between pale grey and blue, wearing casual unbuttoned shirts which left their muscular abdomen and chest muscles in the open, pants, and brown sandals. Their hands webbed in between their fingers; some wielding a sword while some balled into fists. Drenched wet, they stood hostilely while bearing their sharp, triangular teeth along with their smile.

“Humans…,” one of them growled the word under his breath.

"Good thing I didn't dive in after all," Rebecca realized that these sea monsters would probably have went after her had she decided to go for a swim. 

What are they? They remind me of Hexton.

The one with the pale-grey skin charged forth at the red-eyed female without any hesitance. “Gyojin Karate…,” readying a clenched fist, he then threw out a straight punch towards Scarlette’s torso, “Samegawara Seiken!”

Violet-hued eyes shifted left and then right, scrutinizing at the two other humanoid amphibians lunging at him and his sister with clear malicious intent.

The ambush had begun.

[Vio]

²

---

Being reminded of her inability to swim was not exactly welcoming, but Scarlette Grimm-Rosa was in no position to argue such things. It was pure and unadulterated fact that her physical form would lose its strength and suffer from a weighty paralysis the moment more than two thirds of her body became engulfed in the rich blue waters. Though she had admittedly never experienced such submersion first hand, the nascent knowledge of such things – bestowed unto her by passing rumours turned to fact – was enough to put her off such things. Even something as simple and necessary as bathing was almost worthy of being labelled a chore. Whereas many a woman would much prefer to soak herself in the warm bathwater, she did not possess such a luxurious option. Nor did she care for it, for that matter. Shallow baths had been the only consistency in her life, from childhood even into adulthood.

^Splash!

^Splish!

^Splosh!

Spears of squall seemingly shooting from the sapphire sea, Scarlette’s eyes quickly shifted about. Not one, but three humanoid figures crashed down upon the deck of the Phlegyas, brandishing polished steel weapons and bearing muscular bodies. Never before had the dark-haired demoiselle witnessed such creatures as these, and yet their abnormalities seemed strangely familiar. Webbed fingers and unusual skin colours, jagged teeth and slits upon their necks that reminded her of fish gills, there was no denying that such beings were far more suited to living aquatic lives than any human.

^{“Gyojin Karate,” yelled one of the strange folk:
“Samegawara Seiken!”}

^Thwack!

“Uck…!” A balled fist of chalky grey flesh striking her in the core, Miss Grimm-Rosa’s entire body seemed to linger for a moment longer than she should have. Through means unknown, the wave of pressure running through her body seemed to be taking its sweet time, sending a nauseating sensation throughout. Though it might have seemed instantaneous to an observer, it felt like an awfully long time of being entirely immobilised before her body shot across the deck. A trail of sparkling sea water and pinked spittle lingered in her wake before she slammed into the vessel’s guardrail, eyes rolling back slightly as she bounced off – somehow still on her feet – before falling to the floor with a thud. The railings had been clearly fractured and splintered by the impact.

“They really are all weaklings,” mocked another. Painted in dark blue scales, another of the intrusive triumvirate bolted forth – a steel sabre kept in one hand as he prepared to attack with the other. Drawing his fist back as he bounded across the deck with startling haste, he too prepared a strike as he focused himself upon Pluto:

^{“Gyojin Karate – Sansenmaigawara Seiken!”}

Oh, no… Her flat palm striking the deck, somehow Scarlette had remained conscious despite such a fierce blow, much to the apparent surprise of the Fishman who had struck her down. Her vision swimming and swirling, her body swaying as she struggled to her feet, the wobbly woman’s immediate attention was not upon her adversaries or allies. Indeed, her pallid complexion seemed to have adopted a green chroma, which was quickly expelled as she about faced and leaned over the ship’s side. A visible look of consternation washed over the third Gyojin’s blue façade, perhaps at the realisation that one of their target’s had just committed emesis into the very waters that they swam within.

^{“Erg… That was…”}

^{“How are you still conscious!?”}

“Eh? I don’t know,” the Gothic girl shrugged somewhat dismissively, coughing a little at the bitter burn in the back of her throat. And to think; so far she had done well to maintain her constitution since leaving Crescent. The sunlight caught her eyes as she looked up, causing her irises to flash a deep red for just a moment. Having been knocked closer to her scythe’s location, she stepped towards it and taking up the snaith within her clutches tore the hooked blade free of its resting place. Stumbling back slightly, Scarlette managed to compose herself, adopting a slightly more stable stance with her footing and core…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

demonstration of Scarlette’s ridiculous durability, plus I threw one of the Fishmen at Pluto!

[/font][/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)}

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[BlacKitten]

“Gyojin Karate – Sansenmaigawara Seiken!”

This technique is the true essence of Gyojin Karate, capable of shattering one-thousand tiles. If a human gets hit by this, it’s instant death.

An open palm outstretched to intercept the incoming blue-skinned fist. The air around them exploded outwards momentarily followed by a pause.

What the-? The blue-skinned fishman’s hostile eyes transitioned to that of disbelief. He could understand being dodged, but his attack was blocked by a single bare hand of this young human boy. It was preposterous to think a mere human could catch his punch so casually. There wasn’t a single change in the boy’s facial expression.

“Hmm?” Pluto narrowed his eyes as he analyzed the force he just received. His left arm that caught the attack felt strangely numb as if a wave of pressure just washed through his limb, targeting him from the inside. “Now, I get it,” he concluded after comparing what he’s observing with the techniques that Hexton had once been used repeatedly against his very own body. Even though he wasn’t in control of his physical form at the time, his body seemed to faintly remember it, and he definitely felt the painful aftermath upon obtaining this body back.

“This isn’t a Devil-Fruit power,” he corrected what was once his previous suspicion. The fact that these bipedal sea creatures were able to swim in the ocean disproved it.

Rebecca pressed her back against her brother as she momentarily panicked at the sight of the third enemy dashing towards them with a saber in his webbed hand. “Pluto! Behind you!”

“I’ll kill you both at once!” The blueish-grey skinned fishman raised his blade over his head before striking it down over both the sibling’s heads. The clanging of metal fragments resonated on the wooden floor. “What?” His eyes gawked at the broken saber in his hands. Its blade had been sliced clean. Raising his head, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that the little girl in front of him could have done this.

“Gyojin Karate, you say? What a fascinating martial art style. It seems you can affect the water within my body. How dangerous,” Pluto commented while still focused on the opponent in front of him. However, a pair of long black extrusions sprouted from his shoulder socket; they were bended backwards, crossing behind him. His little sister, who was pressed against his back, was perfectly at the blind spot where the slashes wouldn’t have reached her. He didn’t know what kind of attach the enemy from behind had executed. He didn’t really care. All he did was unleash a short-ranged projection of air with the claws of his folded-up wings. The number of joints within his extra pair of limbs provided enough flexibility to reach what’s behind him.

“Guh!” Only now did the fishman notice the X-shaped scratch mark across his chest.
Rebecca turned her head a quarter of a circle, peaking at the boy behind her. She noticed that her older brother still appeared human, yet only his wings sprouted from him.

The fishman in front suddenly backed off to keep a safe distance upon starring at the alarming appearance of those ebony extrusions, “... What’s up with this guy’s body?”

Silently slipping both hands into his side pockets, Pluto then fanned out his inhuman physiology to the side, displaying its true wingspan. With a quick flap forward, he unleashed a wall of blurriness which then crashed into the fishman, bulldozing the webbed creature off the ship followed by a splash.

The amphibian which had his saber shattered could do nothing but back off cautiously as he reevaluates the situation. This clearly didn’t turn out with what his group anticipated. There were only three humans who are supposed to be of the inferior race, but they were clearly no ordinary humans. As much as his hatred tempted him to go on the offensive, he couldn’t bring himself to take a step forward. That boy was watching him with those side-glancing violet eyes as one of his wings protectively shielding that little girl. Something just didn’t seem right here. Of all the humans that the fishman fought against, there was a distinct lack of fear and surprise from these folks, a sign of a great level of experience in battle. Something kept clenching his heart, suppressing his anger from bursting out.

What’s with that look? Why is he looking at me like that?

“Tch…, this is no good. We need to call in the boss,” he instructed to his fellow allies before jumping off the side of the ship to dive back into ocean on his own accord.

Their boss?

[Vio]

³

---

“Hrmm…,” Scarlette grumbled. Her cocoa eyes observed the Phlegyas’ deck, her brow furrowing slightly in disapproval. Grimm-Rosa’s opposition, still clearly shocked by the fact that this otherwise unassuming human woman had endured such forces without loss of consciousness, seemed to falter slightly as he drew himself into a familiar stance. One foot forward, both arms kept close but raised, it was recognisable as the typical martial poise of a hand-to-hand combatant. His toothy maw wore a rough grimace.

^{“What’re you grumbling at?” he barked angrily:
“Are you too good for us or something!?”}

^{“Huh…?”}

“You filthy humans are all the same – all of you look down upon us! We’ll show you! We’ll make you regret– Wait, why are you smiling…? You think this is funny?” the Fishman fumed. Sure enough, the lady in lace seemed far from intimidated by his words, physique and ferocity. Abandoning some of her own combative posture, even going so far as to allow one hand to slip from her sickle’s shaft, she simply stood there. The look on her face shadowed by her own jet fringe, her irises almost the colour of pitch; it was only her natural complexion and broad but thin smile that broke the darkness looming on her façade.

“Don’t you worry about what other people think,” Scarlette replied softly, gently running her fingertips across the back of her weapon’s gleaming steel: “I can help you forget your worries – your pain and your sins – and move on, if you’d like me to~?”

^{“Gtch…!”}

Whomph!

^Splash!

“What the hell…?” His attentions diverted momentarily from the ominous angel, the Gyojin’s beady glare soon found itself settled upon a pair of leathery black wings protruding from the back of his brethren’s chosen quarry. The fact that the youth had not even budged and inch, blocked one of the most punishing types of Gyojin Karate techniques, and then hurled his attacker back over the edge of the ship without breaking position was frightening. However, it was not the male’s actions that were truly frightening this one Fishman, but the behaviour of the black-haired bonnie with whom he shared a ship.

^“Well~?”

^{“How did you–?”}

“We need to call in the boss,” called the third of the strangely skinned sirs, plunging himself over the guardrail and into the ocean blue. It was all his comrade could do to move, having somehow ended up with the shimmering edge of the unorthodox armament a little too close to his gills for comfort. When had she moved? His nostrils tensed at the subtlety of bittersweet aroma, driving his eyes wide and making his spine visibly tremble with trepidation. What was this woman standing right beside him? As quickly as he could manage, he followed his allies into the watery depths, removing himself from the proverbial chopping block.

Scarlette’s placid happiness turned into a weakened frown, but the sinking feeling within her was even more drastic a change. She clutched her weapon tightly, resting the blade upon the deck and looking down into her distorted reflection. It seemed that the ‘inner demon’ against whom she had been battling was gaining strength, pushing against the limits of her self-control more and more with each passing day. On Crescent, it had nearly resulted in the death of Tweiss – the most corpulent of Octavier’s crew – by her own bare hands. The more she held it back, the less and less divine its presence seemed. Beforehand, the Jane from Jigokuchi had labelled it a manifestation of benign will, but now it seemed all the more devilish and wicked. Why was that, she wondered?

“What were those people…? The way the one attacked me. It reminded me of that woman we fought back in Crescent,” Miss Grimm-Rosa mulled. She deemed it better to distract herself with common curiosities than allow that bloodlust to gain any more of a foothold. A promise was a promise and under no circumstances was she about to break the one she had made to Pluto, for Rebecca’s sake – maybe for Annabelle’s sake, too…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

or clarification, Scarlette did not use a Soru-type ability to approach the Fishman, she’s just at the point where she’s that fast over short distances (kind of like Zoro)!

[/font][/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)
Fishman #3 (035806)}

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[BlacKitten]

“What were those people…? The way the one attacked me. It reminded me of that woman we fought back in Crescent,” Scarlette questioned after her opponent fled from confrontation against her.

“Hmm…, were they even human?” Pluto had his own questions on the matter as well. He still didn’t have all of the answers as who those creatures are. “Hexton at least resembled a human, but the ones that attacked us appeared more fish-like,” he stood at the edge of the deck, casting down a glare at the water below where the fishman escaped towards. So far, not a single one of them had resurfaced. They didn’t travel by ship; they simply swam towards their location.

“They can breathe underwater as well, it seems. Their level of water manipulation is still far cry from Hexton’s level of skill,” he continued to compare them to his previous experiences. “However, we’re not in a particularly good spot right now. We can’t see where they would come at us since they’re underwater, and I’m not confident that our ship can outpace their speed in swimming. If they do something such as attack us from below the ship, then we’ll be in big trouble.” Even as Devil Fruit users, their powers wouldn’t do them much good in the ocean environment. A homunculus probably wouldn’t fare well with the seawater. Not even his echolocation would help him detect enemies from underwater. If he tried, the surface of the water would just seem like a sheet of metal, blocking him from seeing what’s beneath it.

Suddenly, the ship that they stood on started to drift on its own by a change of current.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Rebecca rose a brow in confusion. The vessel began moving on its own accord.

It started out silently before a deep, low rumbling sounded from all around them. In the distance, the waters suddenly bulged upwards like a rising aquatic-blue wall. The ocean roared continuously, growing louder as it rose. At the climax of its towering height, it tilted off balance, forming a ginormous tidal wave that soon overcasts its massive shadow over the Phlegyas, curving at the top as it threatens to engulf anything within its tremendous reach. Their ship soon seemed to be awfully small. They all appeared insignificant when compared to the force of nature that was easily several times the height of their own vessel.

Eyes gazing upwards at the overwhelming crashing force that would soon be bestowed upon them, Pluto clenched his teeth. In a matter of seconds, they would all be washed over like seaweed and sink into their doom.

A panicked look grew on the little girl’s face upon seeing the incoming tsunami. What were they supposed to do against that?

“Scarlette!” He raised his voice to overcome the roar of the sea, “We’re cutting this thing down! Combine your attack with my own!” His demand may sound outrageous considering he literally told her to cut down a tsunami.

Razor Form!

In the state with elongated, razor-sharp claws and wings, Pluto ascended off the deck while drawing back his right hand. With a downward swing of his arm, he unleashed five crescent-shaped blades of air with the length of each one being on par with the wave itself in terms of its vertical size.

[Vio]

⁴

---

“They can breathe underwater as well, it seems,” Pluto assessed, taking note of the fact that their Fishman foes had not yet shown themselves a second time. However, her own lack of knowledge on the subject had caused Scarlette Grimm-Rosa to ask more interesting questions in the solitude of her thoughts. The fact that they looked human perhaps suggested common ancestry – a single origin to which they could both be tied. Even such massive men as Octavier and Tweiss were still human, even if the latter’s almost toad-like appearance might have suggested otherwise. It raised the question; did these folk with gill and fin need liberation as well? Would their souls pass to the Otherworld just like any other human being’s would?

Huh…? Such questions were cut short.

^{“The boat’s rocking?” she quizzed:
“Is it them again…?”}

^{“Scarlette!”}

“Oh. My. Lord…” Blasphemous utterances escaping her lips with very little breath behind them, even Miss Grimm-Rosa could not help but feel entirely overwhelmed by what approached. The ship’s tilting and dipping was taking its toll upon her, but any greenness around the cheeks was quickly washed away by the sheer shock of scale. She could barely even hear herself think above the cacophonous drone of the enormous surf, rode by white horses that threatened to trample the Phlegyas in their dark sapphire wake. The Conquering King of the Four Horsemen himself might as well have been bearing down upon them, mounted upon his trusted ivory stallion, for the sheer scale of such a beast as this was unlike anything the roving reaper had fought before. Even compared to the callous currents of Reverse Mountain, a wave that could actually down their whole ship was a formidable façade to have to look at.

^{“We’re cutting this thing down!”}

^{“But… How…?”}

“Combine your attack with my own!” His body already shifting thanks to the power of the Batto Batto no Mi, one of Pluto’s greatest ‘weapons’ was now on full display to his killer companion. Black, membranous wings seem relatively pale in comparison to the shadow cast by the gargantuan wall of water, staining the deck inky with sea spray as it drew ever closer. Like the horns of war, its bellows were deafening – a crushing noise that only foreshadowed the imminence of it the water’s deadly potential. Steadying herself, Scarlette readied her scythe, fighting against the voracity of the tides as she did so.

I can’t rely on Hypertension or my Homunculi for this – even a Gigasculus would just be washed away the moment it touched the water. I have to use something else, but I don’t know if it’s even powerful enough to cut through that much… Second guessing her own capabilities, the crimson-eyed crusader struggled to keep her cool. Of all the ways of meeting death’s final embrace, being swallowed by the ocean and dragged into its pitch depths was a way even she did not consider pleasant – drowning was anything but a swift and merciful death. However, the titanic torrent likely did not care for its victims’ personal preferences. Quite simply, it was now or never.

Her scythe held overhead, she began to twirl it. Once, twice, thrice it’s steely crescent circled, biting into the waterlogged winds that were now beginning to blow across the foredeck. Sparkling spears of saline spray struck her again and again, drenching her dress little by little and only serving to add more to the weighty burdens she bore upon her shoulders. Pluto ascended, pushing himself from the ship to place himself at a reasonable vantage point as he drew back his clawed arm.

“Slicing…”

“Phantom…”

The wind whipped and whizzed, the sheer force of centrifuge now enough to push the cascade’s own hiemal howls aside. Rooted to the spot was the scythe-wielding psychopath, neither able nor wanting to move for fear of this do or die attempt’s failure. Pluto cast out his claws, stripping the air before him and unleashing a volley of vertical slices of gleaming energy – projectiles forged from the generation of a sudden vacuum and the subsequent compression of air in its wake. The sheer scale of such blades was almost as formidable as the target itself, adding a sense of awe to the panic that instilled her muscles with sturdiness. Regardless, now it was her turn to do the same.

This had better work! With a wide sweep of her scythe, Scarlette drew every ounce of momentum she had generated. The force was enough to knock her off her feet, albeit momentarily, but said power quickly showed just how devastating it could be. Cast from the steely fang was a ‘Flying Slash’ of her own design – Tourbillon Tranchant – which soared through the sky of its own accord and met with the array of arcing wind that her partner had forged from his fingertips. The sight was an amazing one, the shimmering haze of power seeming to merge together into a single spiralling spear, reaching out to pierce the very heart of the grandiose swell…

“Whirlwind!”

“Claw!”

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

ehold! Slicing Phantom: Whirlwind Claw! An improvised attack generated by Pluto and Scarlette!

[/font][/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)
Fishman #3 (035806)}

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[BlacKitten]

He was only a human, yet the size of his attack was ginormous, “Phantom… Claw!”

That attack may or may not be enough to take on a tsunami. Hard to say, he had never tried it before, so just in case –just this once-, he asked for help. The force of his wind projection acted as a carrier of Scarlette’s own attack. When unified into one, their attacks fused together, forming an even more powerful projectile that spiraled like a spear. The claw marks from his attack spun like tails. The attack appeared like a tipped comet that crashed into the core of the wave and straight through it. A massive hole gaped in the waves, expanding outwards and opening up. In mere seconds, the wave dispersed outwards, leading to the aftermath of violent ripples in the waters as it rained heavily down above their heads.

The devil-like winged silhouette hovered down steadily towards the deck as his wings parachuted his descent. His form then shifted back into his human state.

Unblinking, enlarged eyes gawked at the unfolding of events; Rebecca gaped in awe at what transpired. This was the first time she had seen these two worked together. Even when fighting on the same side during the tournament’s final round, they never functioned as a team. She had seen slashes of projected air before and even when they clash against each other, but this was the first time she had seen two individuals combine such attacks into one. More than that, they couldn’t have been planned out.

Not even her brother should have foreseen that in advanced. That must have been improvised on the spot. It must have been quite a gamble, but it was their best bet to evade their demise.

“RWA-HA-HA-HA!” A thundering laugh seemed to have resonated from out the ocean itself. “To think that MY attack could be countered from a few scrawny HUMANS…, have I truly gotten that rusty?”

Just as the rain receded, Pluto shifted his eyes around the surrounding waters, unable to pinpoint the source of that voice. The seas were simply too vast for any form of generalization.

“Damn! Just thinking about it kind of pisses me of. Fishman Jujutsu: Kairyu Ipponzeoi!”
At the flanks of their ship, massive steams of water gushed out of the ocean as if shot out by an oversized watering hose. These snaking water beams arced over and fired horizontally across the deck from opposite sides in parallel. In that instance, Pluto’s gut instinct told him to ascend. However, his little sister was under attack as well, so instead, he rushed forth to wrap his arms around the girl. But, it was too late. There was no escaping this attack. As long as they stood on the deck, one of the water jets would hit them.

Pluto allowed his back to face the incoming attack towards his blind-spot, blocking the impact from reaching Rebecca. The pressurized water engulfed the two of them entirely while sweeping them off the ship and back into the ocean.

What?

The world around him suddenly appeared in the dark shade of blue. He couldn’t move; the strength in his body had vanished instantaneously. It was as if the waters around him robbed him of his energy. His last moments of consciousness was looking up towards the bottom of the ship up above, appearing as a long-oval silhouette in the glittering lights above.

Am I sinking? Am I drowning? Ah…, I guess this is the end.

In the end, he didn’t even got the chance to see what the face of his attacker looked like. Someone out there could just summon a tsunami just like that? That was truly a level of water manipulation that is worlds apart from what Hexton could have done.

Give me… another chance. I promise I won’t lose the next time. I’m sorry, Rebecca.

As his eyes began to close, he vaguely saw the blurred image of webbed hands reaching out to him. What a shame.

[Vio]

⁵

---

“Whew! We did it?” Scarlette Grimm-Rosa quizzed, watching as the culmination of their combined attack pierced the great wall of sapphire. Carved clean in two, the remnants of the wave seemed to split apart and ebb back into the waters from whence they had been summoned, leaving the Phlegyas and its passengers safe. Still, the ship was anything but stable, bobbing and weaving with fervour as the waters rocked it from both sides and drenched from above by the pitter-patter of the splintered cascade. From Scarlette’s point of view it was a miracle that the craft had endured, though the hype of their victory was turning out to be short-lived.

^{“Rwa-ha-ha-ha!”}

Now what…? The speech of another individual just about reaching her ears over the waning rumble of concentration current, the sickle-wielding siren could not help but feel tense. Her breathing somewhat laboured, she currently rested on one knee, her palm flat upon the deck in order to offer stability while her other arm balanced her scythe across her shoulder. Nigh from head to toe she was sodden, dress turned weighty by saline saturation to the point where its usual frill and fancy seemed to stick to her silhouette. Even the white bow that adorned her hair now drooped, seeming slimy to the back of her neck.

^{“Fishman Jujutsu,” the voice echoed faintly:
“Kairyū Ipponzeoi!”}

Crash! Crash! The ocean, which she had thought to have calmed, now suddenly erupted. From either side of the ship, great serpentine torrents broke the surface, threatening the Phlegyas and its skeleton crew. Compared to the colossal cascade, such an assault seemed petty, but that did not deny the scale of such an attack. Worn by her previous exertion, the fact of the matter was that Miss Grimm-Rosa felt utterly helpless – there was no hope of generating enough momentum in time to break these new waves. Indeed, it was all she could do just to try and stand, by which time it was far too late.

^Shplowsh!

I guess it’s time already, then. But… why did I have to pass like this…? What did I… do to deserve this…? Questioning the decisions of Otherworldly deities, the drenched damsel felt the burden of Devil Fruit upon her. Like rigor mortis, her muscles felt still and leaden, fingers of her right hand still tightly wrapped about the warped wooden weapon she carried. The water seemed oddly warm and forgiving, but the darkness that rapidly reached into her consciousness was anything but. It was almost as if invisible hands had reached up from the blackened abyss, wrapping chilling fingers about her torso and limbs to prevent her struggle, and then taking their sweet and sadistic time in dragging her down. The experience of being grabbed felt so real…

^-~-

“Dave…”

^{“Urgh… Wh–” Cough! “What’s happening…?”}

^{“It’s time, Dave.”}

Scarlette stirred. She coughed and spluttered, spitting traces of seawater from her throat and nostrils. Darkness surrounded her – an obscuring void that seemed both near and far. The air seemed humid and thick, yet none too sticky from heat. It did not dawn on her too quickly, for the haze of partial consciousness clung to her head like some sort of water-logged towel. Her ears echoed softly with the same name, repeated over and over, at different pitches and proximities. Still, she felt restrained. Something tight and somewhat slimy was wrapped around her, binding wrists and ankles. And that was when it settled in.

“I’m still… alive?” she uttered, finding her lips numb. Her jaw ached, her tongue felt swollen, and every breath stung slightly due to salty residue. Many a sensation still eluded her. Vision and balance alike were still stripped from her, making her feel trapped within a weightless world of pitch dark.

^{“It’s time for the rent, Dave!”}

^{“I thought I told you,” a hazy voice announced:
“My name’s not Dave!”}

Crack! Something forceful struck something hard, loud enough to make the restrained reaper shudder. So many questions were stirred, swarming around her head like a school of fish. Where was she? How had she ended up here? What was happening? Who was Dave? These were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, for many more inquiries each wanted to make themselves voiced, battering the girl’s brains with possibility after possibility.

“Now then, what do we have here? Our latest catch might be worth a pretty penny – I might even be able to move out of this shoddy shell of a shack!” The voice seemed closer this time, so too did the thumping noise of what must have been a heavy foot hitting the floor. The whole world seemed to shudder this time. Scarlette’s vision steadily began to clear…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

to help clarify exactly what was going on. Whether or not Pluto and Rebecca are with Scarlette is up to you; I imagine the base of operations is bigger than just a single Caravan Crab.

[/font][/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Definitely Not Dave (5c3129)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)
Fishman #3 (035806)
Caravan Crab (111111)}

[/ul][/spoiler][/font][/sup][/blockquote][/div][/div][/div]

[BlacKitten]

I need you to rescue someone…

… Who?

Her name is Chitanda Ara, a fairly strong fighter who unfortunately ran into one of the Phantom Beasts, Varuna. I know that you’re being pursued, so let me tell you this: the Phantom Beasts are the elite powerhouse fighters that are part of the organization. Varuna currently resides in Blue Lagoon, and he is not someone you’d normally come across at this early of a stage in the Grand Line. He will be stronger than anyone you’ve ever come across. This is a very dangerous mission. I’m not expecting you to take him down. It’d be in your best interest to avoid confronting him at all costs. Just remember that your first and foremost priority is a rescue mission.

Squeezing his eyes, he slowly opened his eyelids, revealing the dim, unfamiliar surroundings. First question that came to his mind was a very cliché one in situations such as this: where was he? The general answer to that question would be that he was located in Blue Lagoon. His clothes were still drenched, indicating that the time that passed by since standing on the deck of Phlegyas wasn’t that long. No island or vessel could have been nearby for him to have been transported towards within such a short duration of time besides Blue Lagoon. The eternal pose pointed downwards the last he checked, and his latest memories involved sinking into the ocean. Someone must have dragged him here. The only piece of evidence that counteracts this would be the fact that he could still breathe. There was air in here somehow, yet was this island not at the bottom of the ocean?

As he tried to move slowly, he found his wrists tied together behind his back. Initially lying on the floor, he adjusted himself to sit upwards, glancing at his ankles being tied together as well by organic, green, flat strands. He wasn’t sure if they were kelp, but they felt almost rubbery.

It would appear that he was placed inside a small apartment room of sorts with a single bed. The air inside certainly felt very cool and humid. The scent of the ocean still lingered inside here.

If I’m here, then it’s safe to very possible that the others are here as well.

He took his time to analysis his own condition. After having being submerged in water, he remembered his strength being heavily drained, but now that he was saved, his original strength seemed to have returned. His mind simply needed some time to regain its usual sharpness after having just woken up.

So they went out of their way to tie me up, huh? How futile.

In a heartbeat, the zoan-user shapeshifted into a bat, freeing his limbs from the binds by taking advantage of his small size. Immediately returning back into his human form, Pluto stood up and prepared to leave this room.

Meanwhile…

“Hmm?” Rebecca –wide awake- sharply pivoted her head left and right in search for her older brother before even paying attention to what sort of environment she was placed in. Upon figuring out that he wasn’t around, her heart mildly sank in fear. Not even Scarlette appeared to be here.

However, Rebecca wasn’t alone in this room as there was someone else lying on the floor a few meters away.

[Vio]

⁶

---

“Who… Who are you?” Scarlette Grimm-Rosa asked, competing against the blur of her vision to try and get a better look. There was most definitely a person in front of her – not too close, though. Slowly but surely, the fuzzy fellow’s features gained crispness and contour. A beefy fellow, packed with pure muscle and standing at well over two metres tall, stood on the other side of what appeared to be an array of bars. Were they bars? If so, what were they made of? In all honesty, her weary gaze and swimming consciousness were not yet synchronised enough to discern such factors. Regardless, there was something that she could see through segregating her and the man before her.

“I’m the one who asks the questions around here, human. Do you understand that?” quizzed her captor. A vivid pearly gleam betrayed the origins of his teeth as he smiled malevolently, revealing a wide and fierce set of jaws. Even with her senses impaired, recent memories quickly came flooding back. Those were the teeth of the strange folk who had attacked the Phlegyas – triangular and serrate like the bite of a shark. He continued, the pigment of his skin now discernible as a deep, oceanic blue: “I guess not… Rwa-ha-ha-ha! But, don’t worry about it! Humans are stupid. There’s no helping that.”

“I wasn’t worrying…,” Scarlette muttered.

^{“What was that?” the alien entity questioned:
“You’ve got something to say, have you?”}

^{“Do I…?”}

“Grr! You’re an obnoxious little b!+€#, aren’t you? I should’ve just left you to sink into the depths like the dead weight you are, but I suppose putting up with this is worth it in the end. Soon enough you’ll be out of my hands – and money will be taking your place! Rwa-ha-ha-ha!” Laughing as he walked out of her field of vision, the fierce Fishman soon disappeared entirely. Wherever he was headed, he had left his curious captive alone. Much of his aggressive and meaning had admittedly been lost upon his victim, for the dark-haired demoiselle seemed more baffled by his statements and actions that insulted or intimidated. By now, her eyes had cleared and her conscious mind was resuming normal lethargic service, revealing a lot about the environment in which she had been contained.

It’s not made of metal…? Chocolate hues settled first upon the bars, whose otherwise uniform appearance was broken by the colour and almost pearlescent sheen they bore. There was no steel she knew of that possessed such a finish and, while she was admittedly anything but knowledgeable about metalwork, her immediate assumptions were that it was forged of something entirely different. Somehow she forced herself into a more comfortable kneeling position, her wrists still bound tightly by the slimy shackles. The odd colour was like that of seaweed. In fact, it was seaweed – extraordinarily tough seaweed at that.

I don’t think I can break out of this without my scythe, Miss Grimm-Rosa mulled, now scouring the small and cellular room for signs of sharpened steel. Not a single blade made its presence known. The room was cramped, lacking in décor aside for the simplistic and rather uncomfortable-looking bed on one side, and possessed only a single door. Said entryway was sturdy in aesthetic, apparently carved from whatever substance the bars into which it was fixed were made from. All in all, it most definitely resembled some sort of gaol cell, though corners also seemed to be a rather scarce occurrence.

She scowled at the realisation.

“A prison within a prison… what kind of horrific world is this?” Almost hissing, the girl in Gothic garb leaned forwards to give her bound hands as much room as possible. The thought of being entombed within yet another layer of sanctimonious security forged by false gods was enough to make the woman’s blood boil, fostering a flurry of fierce hatred for the Fishman that had so willingly imprisoned her. Apparently he needed to be taught a much needed lesson in the world’s truths, but the vicious vixen had to refrain from delivering purgatory to his doorstep. The biggest priority was to break free of her own bonds, lest she become little more than – as her captor had put it – ‘dead weight’.

^{There has to be something I can do t–
Somewhere, a light bulb pinged:
This seaweed’s still alive, isn’t it…?}

^{“Hypertension!”}

Eeerrrk… Carmine cascades slithered down Scarlette’s arms, converging around her hands like some sort of freakish fog before tightening swiftly. The subtle luminosity of her Akuma no Mi’s power painted the calcified containment a subtle shade of rosé, but it was the fleshy vegetation wrapped around her wrists that soon felt the brunt of such ability. Fibres strained. The repulsive redness only growing more and more potent as it was squeezed tightly between flesh and foliage; she could feel the force pressing upon her body, almost threatening to smash her fingers into pieces if this failed…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

[/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Dave-Varuna (5c3129)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)
Fishman #3 (035806)
Caravan Crab (111111)}

[/ul][/spoiler][/font][/sup][/blockquote][/div][/div][/div]

[BlacKitten]

Rolling onto her back, Rebecca crunched up her legs inwards allowing her tied-up wrists to loop around her feet, resulting in her arms to be in front of her. Walking on her knees, she approached the humanoid silhouette. Upon gazing, her eyes grew horrified at this person’s terrible condition. There were ragged clothing, patches of discoloration on the skin, and lack of vitality; it appeared as if the person had been tortured and beaten. These bruises, wounds, and cuts were all over her. Some were in the process of healing while some others were freshly received. The body merely lied there on its stomach with faint signs of breathing to indicate that the person was still alive. Much like herself, this person had her wrists tied behind her back by seaweed-like ropes.

How long had this person been here?

“Um…, don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you,” she reassured the person before gently shifting the body to roll onto its back. As she sat on her knees, the girl allowed the head of the person to rest onto her lap. Now able to see the front of this person, Rebecca realized that this individual was an older girl with long silky dark hair. It became clear as the body build appeared quite feminine. Despite in her broken down state, her face appeared so youthful and pretty.

By having the person’s head facing upwards, Rebecca could tell that it helped the person breathe a lot more smoothly. Moments later, she felt the older girl stirring, just about to wake up.

“It’s fine now. I won’t hurt you,” she said softly in a warming tone.

“Who...?” A meek tone spoke out softly, “Oh…, you got captured by him.”

“Don’t worry, someone will save us.”

A slight chuckle escaped her breath, smirking slightly at the naïve slimmer of hope, “I’m sorry…, but no one can save us. He’s simply too strong. This is an underwater island; there’s no way to escape.”

“My brother is also strong. He’s probably looking for me right now.”

“I don’t know who your brother is, but at the same time, you don’t seem to know who Varuna is.”

“It doesn’t matter who Varuna is. Pluto won’t lose.”

Meanwhile…

Three fishman bent over with their hands pressed against their knees, panting from fatigue. They had been trying to hold this human down, but nothing they threw at him seemed to work.

“Damn it! … Who is this guy? … How did he escape?”

He held a disinterested expression with little desire to get involved in this scuffle. It certainly did surprise him to have been kept inside the shell of a giant crab, and from the looks of it, there were an entire herd of these crustaceans scattered across the landscape, each and every single of them occasionally scuttering about. Blue Lagoon was definitely the most unique island he had ever stepped foot on. There was no sky to look at; they were all encased inside a giant structure. The air was incredibly damp as well.

“Quit wasting my time. I just want to know where the other captives are held,” said the black-haired, violet-eyed human adolescent, standing just outside of the Caravan Crab.

[Vio]

⁷

---

Plewp! Crimson coruscation unleashed, Scarlette Grimm-Rosa’s entire body was practically flung forwards by the force. Her hands freed from their foliate fastenings, her first taken action was to slam her palms upon the floor to support her weight. Hypertension – a genius extension of her already bizarre Devil Fruit power – did not come without downfalls. In exchange for escape, her body had accepted a sensation not at all unlike being kicked in the stomach, causing the girl to heave and gasp through gritted teeth. Nonetheless, the pain did not last for long, soon waning into nothingness without ill effect. Such suffering was merely an illusion of the mind, though it always felt very real at the time.

I’ll assume the door’s locked, too… Body shaking slightly as she stretched her legs and stood up, the sinister siren’s assumptions were well-founded. Despite previous and often ridiculous displays of naïveté, she was horribly aware of what she was currently contained within. A gaol cell containing a prisoner not being secured by lock and key was a ridiculous notion, even to her, and so she saw no point in trying to open the door through conventional means. If anybody had the key, it was the one who had tried and failed to torment her. Whoever he was, he was long gone, but an icy voracity within sought him out.

“Hmm? It feels smooth,” Scarlette assessed. Her hands wrapped around the pearly bars of her prison, she noted their tactile properties as well as their visual ones. White, smooth and reflecting a very subtle spectrum of colour, the bars greatly resembled such precious decoration as mother of pearl. Indeed, the feel of it was not far from the sleekness of a seashell, contrasting the qualities of typical barriers of a stone or ferrous nature. She tested them; they did not give.

^{“I doubt they’re as fragile as they look,” she muttered:
“Hypertension probably won’t work, either…”}

Pressing her fair façade as deep into the bars as she was allowed, Miss Grimm-Rosa started to eye the environment without. The corridor curved around, its ends out of reach of her gaze. The cell must have been part of some sort of central column within this bizarre structure, but she had no time to debate architecture. Growing increasingly more frustrated and impatient with her imprisonment, she kicked the bars, but again they did not budge. All she received in return was a throbbing sensation in her toes. Again she peered outside, scouring the hallway for some sign of potential freedom and trying her utmost to keep herself under control.

^{“Huh…?”}

Chocolate irises and narrow pupils settled upon the silhouette of a seated figure. Relatively burly in physique, again adorned with the peculiarities of the Phlegyas’ unwelcome guests, a bizarre humanoid of unspecified origin sat snoozing upon a wooden chair a few yards down from her cell. Beside him was a chest of sorts, quite hefty and desk-like, upon which something gleamed softly. It was not steel in origin (or at least not discernible as such), but she could just about make out the shape as that of a ring of keys. She stared for a moment, pondering.

^{How am I supposed to reach them? It’s not like I can reach that far from here. If I was Pluto, I could just become small and fit through the bars – I wouldn’t even need the keys…}

“Oh…,” Scarlette sighed, her own stupidity dawning upon her as she squatted down. Through the bars she slid one arm, testing her reach. Her whole hand and about half of her forearm went through before the girth of her limb became too much. That was as far as she needed. Magenta miasma poured out from under the hem of her sleeve, flowing around her fingertips like some sort of faint, fiery fog. The bars may have been made of some unknown matter, but the flooring was most definitely wooden – dried and treated timbers that had long since surpassed the end of their lifetimes. With extended index, she pressed down into the wood.

“Thf…!” A hot sting struck her, like a wasp had bitten into the flesh beneath her breast. Her digit, however, had pierced the wood like it was nothing, drawing a steady line that seemed to mirror itself upon her body in the form of a searing buzz. A black slit, perhaps eight inches in length from end to end, had been carved in her finger’s wake. Around it, the wood seemed to warp and stain a subtle shade of pink. Would this be enough, she wondered; to what extent did she need to exert her power in order to do this? Minimalism and conservation were two things the Offspring Woman had never really applied to her Devil Fruit’s ability.

She flicked her index upwards.

^{“Renaissance…”}

Bloody bubbling broth seeped skywards from the blackened rift, steadily forming legs, arms and even a head. Once more, the cursed one noted how little of an impact it was having upon her body. Back in her earliest days of using the Tane Tane no Mi, doing such a simple act as this would have almost completely drained her body and placed her into a severely weakened state. Now, she hardly felt any change at all – hardly felt any weakness or encumbrance…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

break free of her cell in my next post!

[/font][/sub]

Starring…

_{Scarlette Grimm-Rosa (990000)
Pluto (550055)
Rebecca (33ffff)
Dave-Varuna (5c3129)
Fishman #1 (dddddd)
Fishman #2 (12006f)
Fishman #3 (035806)
Caravan Crab (111111)}

[/ul][/spoiler][/font][/sup][/blockquote][/div][/div][/div]

[BlacKitten]

An uneasy visage grew on the wounded girl’s face, one mixed with fear and anxiety. The look didn’t appear to be from physical pain; it appeared to be one from a horrid realization about something.

“What’s wrong?” Rebecca asked out of pure concern.

“He’s coming,” she stated in an enigmatic manner.

“Who’s coming?” She went silence upon hearing the sliding of metal in the far distance through the walls, later followed by the sound of footsteps. The sound soon approached right behind the bars behind they slid to the side, revealing a tall, blue-skinned figure standing nearly eight feet in height, accompanied by two slightly shorter subordinate-like figures on either side.

“Rwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! How’re you holding up in here?” A low, masculine tone spoke out condescendingly.

“Tch…,” the young woman clenched her teeth before rolling off Rebecca’s lap and repositioning herself to sit on her knees. “Varuna!”

He’s… Varuna?

The Tiger-Shark Fishman gazed at the younger girl with a grin revealing his row of triangular, pointed white teeth. “I see the little one awake already.”

“Did you hurt this person?” Rebecca gave a stern look.

“So what if I did? All of the humans I’ve captured end up like that. It’s amazing how long she has lasted. Every single day, we would torture the humans we’ve captured until they break. Only until they fully break down and accept their fate do they end up being sold off as slaves. A few were so weak that they just end up dead. The stubborn ones would continue with this regime until they either submit or die off. Most, however, would value their puny lives and accept their fate. That girl has been around for a week and still refuses to submit. During that week, she has escaped on her second day, but even then, she had nowhere to go. This island is underwater, and you humans are unable to breathe underwater like us Fishman. Of course, for attempting to escape, her punishment had to be extra severe. She can actually put up quite a fight, so I can’t let her recover to her full health. You good-for-nothing humans have been the livestock for me to earn lots of money.”

“Pluto will beat you,” Rebecca said an almost angered tone.

The older girl couldn’t help but give a slight surprised look at the little girl. Even after confronting this large, menacing fishman, this little one was still going on and on about this ‘Pluto’ person.

“Rwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry to break it to ya, but if you want to count on a human to save you, that girl beside you is your best bet. And as you can see, she’s in no condition to take me on.”

Meanwhile…

On the ground, two fishman were lying on the ground, motionless, each holding their respective weapon broke some manner when confronting their escaped captive. Only one fishman remained conscious, and he was kneeling on the ground on the verge of suffocation as her gaped his mouth wide open. Blood trickled down the side of his blue lips.

“I’ll ask you once more,” Pluto said in a dark, sinister tone as he held the last remaining fishman’s neck by a single taut clench of his grip. The amphibian grasped his wrist and forearm with both webbed hands, trying to break free but to no avail. A fishman ought to be several times stronger than that of a human, yet this boy’s grip was like an iron vise. “Where are the other captives being held?”

“I… d-don’t… know…,” the suffocating fishman said with what little air is left in his lungs.

“I see. So, none of you three are willing to tell me,” his eyes suddenly shifted to the side upon hearing a whistle in the air.

SWOOSH!