Post by BlacKitten on Mar 11, 2018 12:48:25 GMT -5
What was the purpose of living? All living things strive to survive no matter the cost. Yet, against what they’re designed to do, some would volunteeringly sacrifice their lives for others. For the longest of times, the concept of self-sacrifice seemed like a mistake, an error caused by irrationality of emotions running rampant. For each and every individual, their own lives should be the topmost priority; it is against their nature to go against that ingrained instinct. Touch a hot stove and the body would reflexively move itself for safety regardless of desire. Even in the most desperate, helpless of times, the desire to live would always exist. One should never underestimate the will the live. So why was it that he felt so detached from his own body?
Death was a universal phenomenon that ties all lives together; it was so common that people easily take it for granted for most of their lives. But, for someone who has stepped along the borders between hell and heaven, death was everywhere. No matter how numb he felt towards it, the unpleasantness never goes away. Every life he slays leaves a cringing sensation deep within the essence of his soul. Every single sin that he makes darkens his heart more and more, but never would it end. One can always just add another layer of black paint onto the surface, thickening the disgusting ooze of despicability; his heart strayed further and further from what it means to be human.
Some referred to him as an assassin, but, he never saw himself as one. True, he had killed many before, but there were some lives that were not worth keeping around in this world. He didn’t want to become… like her – a bloody reaper who went by the name of Scarlette, a monster that he helped to create. No matter what, he didn’t want to become like her, someone who just indiscriminately kill all forms of life for some warped, twisted belief.
He could never truly adapt or even accept the deaths around him. There was just something surreal about it; there was something about living things that distinguished them from regular inanimate objects. They could all be felt and touched, yet when death occurs, there was something beyond the physical material of their being that seems to be gone.
There was only one person in this entire world who made him human. That one person was what kept him from completing his metamorphosis of turning into a complete and utter heartless monster. Her name was Rebecca, his younger sister. Her death was the one thing that he could never tolerate. He was afraid of what he would become if she is truly gone from his life. For the past three months, he could feel his heart changing. Without the light that is his sister, he felt more and more apathetic to those around him. The most fundamental traits that made one human such as empathy and love, he couldn’t feel any of it.
Subconsciously, he was disgusted of himself. Did he want to bring her back for her sake or for his own sake? Did he truly love her or was he just being selfish? Even if her sister is still alive, was she still the same person as he last knew her? Was she still the same sweet, innocent girl that he last remembered?
Just what was this pain? Was it a yearning? Was it self-resentment? Hatred?
If he was honest with himself, this could very well be a suicide mission. Walking straight into the lion’s den, he would inevitably confront obstacles. There were people in this world who wanted him dead. There was no safety measure here. If he was infiltrating a marine base, there was always be possibility of being captured alive and sent into imprisonment, but that optimistic thought didn’t apply here. These people would try their very best to kill him. He wasn’t a wanted man, but he had unfortunate ties.
His little sister was merely bait. Whether or not she is actually here was beyond his control. That cute little bait had definitely enticed him. The light to his darkness, the sun to his moon, the innocence to his sins, he was drawn towards her like a moth to the flames. She made him human. She gave him this weakness of caring and loving even if it was just for one person, but that was all it took to change him from who he was before. But, a weakness was still a weakness. And now, his greatest enemies had made full use of it.
They used him like a tool. With Rebecca as a hostage, he had been forced to kill. Many lives were slain because of him. It was all for keeping her alive; that was the deal. And yet, none of those lives were ever innocent. He never felt conflicted in taking their lives; it was easy. From criminals with bounties on their heads to corrupted rich folks who dominated the poor, he took them all down. It genuinely felt like the right thing to do. It felt like cleansing the world from its pollution of evil. He saw so many disgusting and despicable men whose all part of the bigger picture that shifts this crooked world in the wrong angle.
...
Near the coast of the designated spot, a submarine surfaced. Kneeling behind a rock formation, he spied on the half-submerged vessel which possessed technology far more advanced than the norm.
“Pikaboo!” A quiet and sweet voice spoke up - inches from behind his neck. Alarmed, he flinched forth and turned around. His senses were so focused that they compromised his awareness of his surroundings.
“W-What are you doing here, Ara?” he asked while failing the hide the tone of surprise in his words.
“I’m come to help!” the girl with long, silky black hair in a sleeveless white garment walked up until her face was inches away from his face with a look of determination. To two of them were on good terms, hence she wasn’t afraid to be up close to him.
Pluto lurched back ever so slightly. He was clearly feeling reluctant to allow her to come. It wasn’t because she would be a burden or anything; he didn’t want any harm to come to her way. “I don’t need your help. Go back to where you came from,” he said coldly.
“I refuse! I’m going to help you save Rebecca,” It was rare for her to make such firm declarations. The kidnapped little girl was someone who once nursed her back to full health, so she had a debt to pay back.
He clenched his teeth in frustration, “Tch... H-How did you find me!?” Tracking him wasn’t supposed to be easy. He rarely left metaphorical footprints behind.
“Vivre Card,” she closed her eyes, holding up a white slip of paper in her hand that aided her to pinpoint his location. Any form of tracking skills that could have been linked to her was immediately thrown out the window. A complete amateur could find him if they had an item that forever gravitates towards him. It wouldn’t matter which corners of the world he resides in; whoever had the vivre card can always know which direction to head towards.
“W-Wha-? When!?” He did not recall ever giving her the opportunity to obtain a piece of his fingernail. There was only man who possessed such an item.
“Oh, I gave it to her,” a short and blunt explanation sounded out at a distance.
As Pluto turns around, his eyes widened immediately at an unexpected reappearance. “Raven!?”
“Well..., I didn’t need it anymore,” he said it so nonchalantly. “After all, this will likely be the last time we will ever meet each other. Long time no see, Plu-”, he stopped short as his arm move on reflex to catch a shimmering black-colored punch right as the youth closed the gap between them in a heartbeat. The air around them explosively expanded outwards from the point of impact.
Raw rage fueled reflected off of those violet eyes and fueled his body to attack. Right before him was the man who kidnapped his younger sister in the first place. He was a man from the New World sent to deal with him back at Drum Island. He was the man who poisoned bother his sister and Ara, leaving them in a fever and left to die in a slow and gruesome demise. He nearly killed him as well, took his younger sister as hostage, and used him as a tool to assassinate various different kinds of pirates as if it was just for fun.
“Oh!? I’m impressed – to think that you’ve learned Haki in such a short amount of time. I wonder... did your hatred towards me accelerate your growth to this extent?”
“I’ll kill you right here... right now...,” he said with a hunger for blood. There was not an ounce of mercy in his voice. His bloodlust radiated from his being, uncontrollably.
“My my..., you still have a long way to go. You’re just a novice who finally grew a small set of fangs.”
Something was wrong here. As he side-glanced towards Ara, he didn’t sense any form of trepidation from her. Just a moment ago, it was stated that she received that vivre card from him. “Did you come here to stop me?” He took a step back and retracted his fist.
“Stop you from killing me? Yes. Stop you from infiltrating that submarine over there..., not so much,” Raven sounded awfully lazy about it.
“It’s a trap. The moment that vessel sinks with me inside of it, I won’t be able to escape.”
“The latter of you just said is true – which is why I’m here. I will help you escape.”
“Why would you help me?”
“Well... we share a common enemy, so keeping you alive after this would certainly up the chances of taking this entire organization down. So listen up... here’s what we’re going to do.”
...
The ride within the submarine was surprisingly smoother than that of a regular floating ship. There was no rocking or swaying; it was almost as if he was standing within a building. Judging by the sound of their breaths, there were about half a dozen men within the vicinity of where he stood. The interior layout of the ship was quite linear, a single corridor down the center with doors on either side leading to other rooms. By the fainting echoes in the far distance beneath his feet, there seemed to be about three floors; he was currently at the top floor after descending from the hatch above.
The floor appeared to be made wood, just like a regular ship, but the hull was heavily reinforced with metal. The ceiling was concaved, curving over him like an arch. Small lamps were attached to the side walls at every ten strides he makes, illuminating the interior.
Without hesitance, the intruder balled his fist and swung it like a mallet, smashing the lamp at his side to diminish its source of light. As he strode along the corridor, he shattered the glass for each lamp he passes by, spreading shadows as if it were a plague. Pitch dark, even he couldn’t see anything. The sound of glass cracking lured men to cautiously step out into the hallway. Nothing could be seen.
THUMP!
They heard a body crashing into the ground without warning. One by one, the foot-soldiers on this floor were being knocked out.
“ARUGH!” A body was hurled across the room that he just stepped out of, struck by a heavy blunt force from that of a kick. “Ugh…,” he groaned as he squirmed on the floor with his arms wrapped around his abdomen – the spot that was struck.
“KUH!” Wind was knocked out of his lungs as a boot stomped down against his core, pinning him to the ground. The man winced in pain; hands gripping against the foreign ankle.
“I’m looking for someone, and you’ll tell me where she is,” a low whisper spoke out crisply.
“Haah… Haah… I ain’t telling you anything,” he blurted out. “AAHHHHHHH!” His body spasmed out of control as a surge of current ran through his limbs. It lasted for a few seconds before he was left panting. “Haah… Haah…, who the hell are you? AAHHHHHH!” Another surge of current was jolted straight into him like a bolt of lightning.
“I’m the one asking the questions here.”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Haah… You’re a dead man. Do you think you can get away with what you’re doing?”
CRACK!
“ARRRUGGGHH!” With a sharp strike, his elbow hyperextended; his joint snapped. “Go to hell!”
CRACK!
“ARRUGHHH!” A sharp twist of his arm, and his shoulder popped out of its socket.
“Look…, as loyal as you might be…, there are over three-hundred joints in the human body. And once I break all your joints, I’ll rip each and every nail out of your fingertips and toes. Then I’ll stab you at every pain-inducing pressure points on your body. I’ll then cut you up and rip every non-vital organ from your body such as your spleen, appendix, uterus, testicles, kidney, eyes… et cetera. And as you then proceed to die of blood loss, I’ll continue to electrify you until your last and final breath. I have several methods of torturing you before you die in excruciating pain. Do you really want me to keep going?”
“You monster!”
“Trust me… I take no pleasure in doing this to you.”
“What the hell do you want!?”
“A fifteen-year-old girl with dark hair and violet eyes…, she’s in this submarine. Tell me where she is.”
“Haah… Fifteen-years old? She can’t be one of us then; that’s way too young. The only possibility left is that she’s a prisoner then.”
“Where would she be kept then?”
“Bottom level…, but you won’t be able to get there. It’s guarded by one man – an ability user and the strongest man in this vessel.”
“How are the prisoners treated here? Is she safe?”
“Ha-ha… arugh,” he clenched his teeth at the momentarily pain that erupted from his brief chuckle. “That all depends how cooperate the prisoners are. Torturing kids isn’t a new concept to us. They don’t tend to last long like adults do, so methods of torture tend to be different.”
“Thank you…”
...
The stairwell to the bottom floor was inside a giant room. One could sense a single lifeform inside with a very loud, projected, echoing voice.
“80... 81 ... 82 ... 83... 84 ... 85,” a confident voice counted out loud without so much as a grunt as the tiger beast bench-presses the massive long metal bar with several black donut-shaped weights stacked on either ends. The circumferences of full grown adults, it was an understatement to say that he was superhuman. Forget about that word; he was most definitely a monster, a zoan-type much like himself. But, a carnivorous zoan wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Off to the side, a bloodied, beaten corpse lied on the ground. It took a while to register that this was once the man known as Berserker. In his hand was the broken shaft of what once used to be his weapon – a six-foot long steel scythe with a long chain dangling off the end. The mighty warrior, who once posed a great threat to him in the past, was now reduced to this pathetic, beaten state. Above all else, the one responsible for his defeat was currently working out with a barbell with twenty tons of weight.
“90... 91... 92...,” the monster continued his workout without breaking a sweat, not that sweating would have been visible given the black-striped patch of fur covering his entire jungle-orange and tan body.
“Well, there he is,” Raven said bluntly. “That door on the other side is the only entrance to the prison room below. But, as you can see, there’s a cat in our way.” He made it sound almost as if there was merely a domestic house cat up ahead, contrary the being’s actual size, physique, and demeanor.
“A Zoan-type?” Ara whispered to herself. It struck her as odd for someone to remain in a hybrid state as if it was the norm.
“I’ll handle this...,” the hooded assassin stepped forth, striding onwards in a linear manner.
“98... 99... 100!” With the last rep, Ragnar threw the barbell straight into the air with an upward push; buying him enough time to kick his legs outwards and throw himself up into a standing posture. The heavy weights crashed into the ground, releasing a thunderous boom, causing the entire room to resonate and shake. His green feline eyes turned to glance at the small group of figures who had entered inside; some of them were familiar while others were new faces. “Yo! Raven!” With a small flick of his paw, he fifteen feet tall tiger human waved at this fellow comrade in the far distance. His mouth gaped open wide, happy to see his comrade, “I didn’t know you would be here.”
“Hmm?” He gazed down at the relatively puny fella approaching him closer and closer. The little one was cladded in a set of pale-violet lightweight armor, and his face was hidden by the shadow casted of his hood. Once he was within ten meters away, the enclosing figure stopped in his tracks. His hands were held within his side pockets, giving him a reserved body language.
“I don’t suppose you’ll just let me pass,” the challenger asked in a soft-spoken, yet serious tone.
“Hah!?” The massive bipedal feline tilted his head ever so slightly, revealing a sharp set of white teeth and fangs. His bulky long arms were hanging at his sides, leaving himself wide open. His very presence radiated out nothing else but sheer confidence and pride, someone with a powerful fighting spirit that could psychologically crush those who failed to meet a certain threshold of strength. “I’m here to make sure the prisoners do not escape. But... what kind of fool voluntarily breaks into prison? Even if I let you pass, I won’t be letting you out. If it’s a fight that you want, then you’ll still end up in the same place - prison. While that’ll certainly save me a bit of effort –for you to just waltz right into a cell-, that’d be no fun to me at all.”
“Fun? Are you bored? Do you seek entertainment?”
“Grr-ha-ha-ha! Oh! You seem to get it, don’t you? That’s right! There’s no point in training when you don’t get to test it out on someone. Look around you!” He gestured his arms outwards, referring to the surroundings. “The floors, walls, and ceilings... they’re unlike all of the other rooms. There’re made of special hard metal just for me. Otherwise, this entire submarine would sink to the bottom of the ocean.”
“You remind me of the Berserker.” The comment referred to their similar personalities in regards finding absolutely thrill in fighting, chaos, and destruction.
“Huh..., pfft...,” the tiger puckered up his lips before bursting out in laughter, “Grr-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You better not compare my strength to his. He got taken down with just one hit, after all.”
Ever so slightly, Pluto raised his head, reacting to that statement with a pause of disbelief. “One hit?” What used to be his greatest adversary was taken out by a single hit? Of course the one time a fearsome enemy becomes his ally would be the one time he loses against a common foe.
“Yes. First, the blade of his scythe shattered upon hitting me. Next, he was knocked down with a single, direct punch. That’s how it hap...,”
The assassin dashed around the behemoth, heading straight for the door. A shadow soon loomed over him. He looked up, seeing the cranky face of the tiger human right in front of him.
Immediately, Pluto was forced to retreat, leaping back to evade a massive paw crashing into the ground. “He’s pretty fast...,” muttered the assassin, not expecting such a large, heavy creature to be able to maneuver right in front of him like that.
“Sheesh! What a tricky bastard you are,” Ragnar said with widen eyes of pure, unadulterated astonishment. “You were only pretending to be interested in having a conversation with me, waiting for the right moment to strike while I was in midsentence.”
Slipping his hands out of his pockets, Pluto clenched his fists, coating them with a concentrated power that’s expressed with its pitch black coloring.
Busoshoku...
Bolting forth at blinding speeds, he hammered his right fist straight into the center of the tiger-human’s bulky torso, straight into the solar plexus. A loud echoed drummed out from the impact, causing the floor to reverberate. Despite his first assault, the adversary remained standing in the exact same spot with an unchanged facial expression. Pluto’s arms soon blurred into a fury of rapid punches, battering repeated at along the centerline and organs of his foe.
“Grr-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” The feline merely laughed as he was being battered by puny little arms. “Was that supposed to hurt or something?”
The Revolutionary fighter leapt back as a meaty thick paw came swatting from the side. Immediately, hooking black claws grew out from his hands and feet, and a pair of leathery dark wings branched out from his shoulder sockets.
“Ho!? So you’re a zoan-type as well?” Ragnar looked onward with interest as the speedy creature that stood less than half of his height dashed forth even faster than before. He tanked against a series of haki-imbued punches to the body, feeling the strikes becoming sharper and heavier than before. His torso yielded with every blow; legs sliding against the floor little by little with every hit. “Huh... this kind of stings...,” he commented, merely evaluating the force of his sparring partner. With a casual swipe of his paw, he forced the little guy to jump back in evasion.
“Tch..., what is this guy...?” Pluto clenched his teeth. None of his regular attacks were working on this carnivorous Zoan-user. It wasn’t just the padded layer of raw muscles that’s protecting this man; his Busoshoku Haki was far superior to his own.
“Do you get it now?” Raven observed from far back with his arms crossed over his chest. “Among the fighters in Paradise, you are -without a doubt- one of the best combatants around. However, compared to the rest of the world, you are just a big fish in a small pond. Unlike those within Paradise, those from the New World often possess some level of Haki. Your opponent, Ragnar, has superior strength, endurance, and Busoshoku Haki. Now then, I’m curious how you plan to proceed from here.”
The air within the room soon began to shake and vibrate as power radiated from the Bat-Human who stood calmly in place with his hands soon clenched up.
“So you’re going to use that?” Raven recognized what the boy is about to do. He had fought against him as enemies before, so he knew what was about to come.
... Zen...kai
A shell of blurriness settled around his body in a stable, controlled manner. The surrounding air began to calm itself down as if equilibrium has been achieved.
“What is this?” Ragnar tilted his head in uncertainty. The abnormal blurriness surrounding his little foe was not an ability that a Zoan power could normally grant; he was completely unfamiliar with what’s happening to his adversary. Soon enough, his enemy flickered before his eyes, heightening his speed after tempering with the composition of his muscles to possess more white muscle.
“BLEH!” The giant beast had his body concaved as an explosive force struck him at its core, releasing an expanding ring of air outward. A shockwave erupted outwards, launching back against the iron wall which then resonated the shaking power throughout the room.
“V-Vibrations!?” Even with his impressive defense capabilities, that attack just now shook his body to its core, targeting him on the inside to deal internal damage. A coating of Haki cannot stop the vibrations being conducted inside of him; this strange power seemed to have the ability to bypass defenses. His jungle-green feline eyes widened as his opponent was rocketing straight at him at ridiculous speeds. Crossing his arms was the fastest motion he could manage before another blow struck him against his guard. The explosive force reverberated through his arms and into his body, shaking him from the inside.
Being pressed up against a wall putted him at a disadvantage. The tiger immediately jumped up tens of meters into the air before stomping his feet against the wall to propel him forward. Just as gained some distance, a looming shadow with splayed out bat wings flashed in front of his eyes. A downward kick struck him at his skull, hurling him straight down into the ground. The shaking in his head disoriented his senses for a bit; his enemy dove straight down, relentless with his attacks.
Despite his size, he somersaulted away from the sharp stomp before rolling onto his feet and darkening his hands and forearms pitch black before engaging on the offense. With a simple right jab, he clashed against his opponent’s Haki-imbued punch, emitting a shockwave from the point of impact.
Overpowered, Pluto was forcefully knocked back; all of his built up momentum was effectively killed. A second incoming punch struck him at his core, smashing him straight against the iron wall. “Kuh!” Dashing forth with a flap of his wings, he swung out a kick aimed towards the temple of his foe, but his ankle was immediately snatched by a giant grip that wrapped around his lower leg entirely. The large feline beast swung the lighter fighter around in a complete circle before smashing him straight against the wall once again.
CLANG!
“ARUGH!” The revolutionary had his back slammed into the hard surface before being swung around in the opposite direction, slamming the frontal part of his body against the iron surface this time around.
CLANG!
“KUAGH!” He cried out in pain. His body was then hurled up over the grabber’s head before being swung straight down against the iron floor.
CLANG!
“KUAGH!” His body was then raised into the air, dangling upside down by the foreign grip on his leg.
“What’s wrong? Is that all you got?” Ragnar mocked as he dangled his battered foe in front of his face.
Meanwhile, Ara crossed her arms in front of her face, peeking in between with a timid, half-open eye, “I can’t watch.” The beating was just unbearable to watch.
“Haah... Haah...,” With one of his eyes meekly open, Pluto gritted his teeth as the blurry aura that cloaked him began to concentrate into both of his hands. His hands cupped together with their wrists in contact, forming a ball of highly concentrated vibrations within his palms. Thrusting his hands outwards, he pressed it against the enemy’s chest, “Seismic Pulse!” The ball of vibrations entered into the target’s body, exploding outwards while damaging the target from the inside.
“KUH!” Ragnar released his grip as his body staggered back, eventually collapsing onto a single knee. Crimson blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth. As he panted for a bit to recuperate, he half-heartedly watched his opponent, who’s lying on the ground, doing the same. The strange blurriness around his opponent had dissipated as well. “I like it!” he growled softly in his low tone, “Someone who can fight back..., I like it!”
Slowly, the two Zoan-users pushed themselves back up into a standing posture, locking their eyes onto one another while standing at a safe distance apart.
Raven continued to observe from afar.
He was able to induce damage onto Ragnar, but that vibrational state cannot be used for very long. From his battle against me, he was able to sustain it for a bit longer than what he has shown here. He must have canceled his form early to conserve his stamina. He probably knows that even if his opponent stood completely still, he wouldn’t be able to take him down before his time limit is up. He better figure out another way to fight against him. After that display of power, Ragnar will start taking him more seriously.
Having used his trump card so early on, the cards that Pluto had left to play was now limited. Close-range combat was supposedly his forte, but if that isn’t enough, then he would be in trouble here. No mercy. Even if it means killing this giant adversary, the means would justify the end in this case. The claws on his hands and feet soon grew long and sharper, becoming more blade-like – the same goes for the claws on his wings. The fingertips of his wings extended past the membranes, appearing like bladed spikes. This was the first modified form he has ever invented, a form akin to having long knives being a part of his body. With this enhancement, he can cut even steel.
However, as he dashed forth, swiping his black claws onwards, he couldn’t even lay a scratch against him. If felt like trying to cut through a metal bat with a butter knife.
“Humph!” Ragnar counterattacked with a rising knee, slamming the dark fighter in the abdomen from below. The smaller body concaved, knocking the wind out of his lungs. A cross punch driven by the torque of his waist then slammed the airborne target into the distance.
Slamming against the steel wall at an angle, his body bounced off like a skipping stone and tumbled across the ground. “Ugh..., haah... haah,” slowly, he clambered his way up to a full stand. The strikes that he just received were imaginably heavy and crushing. The sheer amount of mass behind each blow combined with the monstrous power output of his muscles generated an almost unfair amount of force.
In the distance, Raven turned away from the fight and began exiting the room without another word.
“Huh?” The feline soon caught sight of his comrade’s motion. “Hey! Wait! Where you are going? And... just who are these people!? Don’t just dump your trash here in my room!” He talked like someone complaining to his roommate.
Ara thrust forth her spear, unleashing a darting force of air. The bipedal tiger just barely jerked his head as the projectile grazed past his cheek, drawing out blood.
“Eh?” Ragnar stroked his thumb along the cut across his face, wiping the crimson fluid off before he sucked the blood off with his mouth. “Hmm...,” he looked at the girl thoughtfully, “You know haki as well, huh?” Going on all four, he pounced at her with his hind legs springing him through the air like a rocket.
All of a sudden, a heavy, blunt force slammed into the feline from the side; a wall of wind knocked him off course as he was in midair. Twisting and coiling his waist, the big cat landed off to the side on his hands and feet; eyes now glaring back at his fellow zoan-user whose umbrella-like wings are fully splayed out for display.
“Don’t touch her!” Pluto snapped. He didn’t know why, but the very thought of getting her involved in this fight only brought forth animosity.
Ragnar couldn’t understand his reaction at all. “Why are you so mad? We should just have some fun!”
Phantom Claw!
Raking his hands down and across the air in front of him, the revolutionary unleashed an ‘X’ shaped assault composed of a pair of five arcs of blade.
Balling his shiny black paw, the giant cat punched forth, “Cannon Fist!” A shockwave exploded from his fist; a beam-like pressure wave completely dissipated the opposing technique.
“Arruuugghhh!” Caught within the blast wave, his body crashed against the wall behind him, denting it with a crater.
“Haah... Haah,” dropping onto a knee, he panted for air. His hood was blown off his head, revealing his face.
“That’s enough, Pluto,” Ara stepped forth. “Remember your reason for coming here. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can, so go and save your sister.” She readied her spear, wielding it in both hands.
“Tsk...,” he gritted his teeth. It pained him to have to do this. He didn’t want to lose her, but he also knew that she wasn’t weak. Little by little, he tried standing up.
Shadow Step!
He bolted away with silent speed.
Calmly stepping off and allowing the nimble speedster to head off into prison, Ragnar grabbed the curl bar that he left on the ground, lifted it with a single bicep curl and proceeded to remove the weights on either side until it was just a bare iron bar. “A spear, huh? Well, I guess it’s only fair if I have a weapon as well.” He twirled the fifteen feet long shaft as if it were made of wood. Its thickness was just right for his large meaty paws to grab onto. With its sheer weight, the weapon –combined with the wielder’s sheer strength- could easily overpower Ara if they clash.
He’s way too strong for me to handle. I just have to stall as much time as I can.
The girl wasn’t as hasty as Pluto was in terms of engagement. She waited for the feline to come to her first; and that was exactly what happened. Every second counted; she just needed to survive. She just needed to evade and endure. A single one of his attacks landing would be the end of her. Defensive haki can still be overcome with sufficient enough physical force. She knew that very well as she was never really physically strong herself.
...
At the lowest level, prison cells were kept to confine those who deserved punishment. The youngest prisoner was that of a young girl of age fifteen, kept within a special room behind a closed door. She had been trapped here for the past three months. It was where she had been sleeping, eating, and laughing. Occasionally, an adolescent girl would keep her company for hours on end, interrogating her for information about her older brother. The food they feed her with would sometimes be drugged with something that causes to fall fast asleep, and whenever she wakes up, she would find herself constrained in some manner.
Today was one of those days. She was sitting on a metal chair with all four legs bolted to the floor. Her arms were raised over her head; wrists cuffed together and linked to the ceiling by a hook. Her legs were extended forth, parallel to the wooden floor where her ankles were locked within wooden stocks. Her small bare feet stuck out on the other end. Nails lightly yet rapidly scraped across her tender soles, causing her toes to curl up and the restrained girl to squirm frantically. Her sweet giggles and pleads filled the enclosed, windowless room as her usual torturer exploited her greatest weakness.
“He-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! S-Stop it! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Noooo! Not the feet! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Not this again!” Rebecca laughed and begged as the sensitive soles of her feet were being brutally tickled nonstop.
When she was first brought to this room, her caretaker had been tasked to keep her alive and healthy while also assigned with the duty to extract any and all information from her without physical harm. For the first week, the kidnapped girl had been quite the brat who would always mock her caretaker, constantly bringing up the fact that she could not be harmed in any way. Not a single piece of info could be extracted from her even as they learned her weakness. When tickle torture was first introduced to her, the sensation was unbearable to her even for the first few seconds; she would plead for it to be stopped despite minutes –of not hours- of laughing. Her loyalty and love for her brother was the only thing that kept her going, stubbornly refusing to tell them anything. As weeks passed by, her will to endure did not falter, and as the intensity of the tickling increased, she eventually resorted to flat out lying, eagerly answering questions thrown at her of the torment to end. She forced herself to lie her way out of situations, and when they discovered that she was lying, she would be punished with severe tickling. Eventually, they began asking questions that not even she knew the answers to, but they mercilessly tortured her nonetheless despite repeatedly claiming to not know anything.
"Koochie, koochie koo!” The tickler teased as she wiggled her fingers relentlessly.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Stop it! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” All Rebecca could do was laugh and plead.
CLANG!
A thunderous echo resonated throughout the room as the locked iron door was suddenly struck by an outside force.
“What!?” The torturer turned around, noticing a large bulging fist-shaped mound formed on the surface. Her eyes grew in horror as soon a second clang sounded out, causing the entire door to contort out of shape. She pictured a giant muscular brute on the other side, capable of punching thick iron like nothing. A third punch ruptured straight through the material, leading to a surprisingly normal-sized fist sticking through the hole. Two blackish hands grabbed around the rim of the gaping hole and ripped the malleable material outwards to enlarge the entrance enough for a regular human-sized figure to step through and enter the room.
“Who are you!?” She had never seen anyone like him in her life.
“Rebecca!” The intruder called out immediately in a firm, strict tone, making his presence clear and obvious to his little sister.
“P-Pluto!? Is that really you!?” The tied up girl jerked her head around but was unable to see what’s behind her. The voice she just heard was undeniably him, but she desperately wanted to see him nonetheless.
“What!? D-Did you say Pluto!?” After months of getting this girl to talk, the name ‘Pluto’ was an all too familiar word. It was impossible. There was no way he could have found his way here. This was a submarine for crying out loud! After months of trying to extrapolate information, she had heard rumors of Rebecca’s legendary brother who had either slain or survived against all of the assassins that the organization had sent for his head. No one had ever succeeded in killing him. The lore of his name spoke of unfathomable combative potential within the Underworld; each battle only made him stronger. Each failed attempt to kill him would only make him an even harder target to eliminate. He was someone who grows stronger in every battle, an anomaly that evolves at an abnormally rapid pace. Opponents, who could overpower him once, would be defeated at the next encounter. His ability to surpass others made him a tremendous threat.
The young one whimpered as tears flowed down her eyes, “Hah! You’re done for now! You shouldn’t have messed with me. Now you’re Pluto’s number one enemy.” Her faith and confidence in her older brother brought back the hope of light in her heart. Every single night, she broke down and cried, yearning to see Pluto again. No matter what obstacle or challenges got in their way, no matter how hopeless and overwhelming their situations seemed to be, her brother had always managed to pull through somehow. Just as she knew that he wouldn’t give up on her, she never gave up in believing that he would come for her –no matter how long that might take.
“Wings and claws..., there’s no doubt about it,” she muttered to herself. “He’s the user of the Batto Batto no Mi, a zoan-type.” Such a power was awfully plain and normal as far as devil-fruit powers go. The zoan class was not the most impressive kind of powers; it was difficult for her to believe that this ordinary-sized human could pose a challenge.
“Haah.... Haah..., Kuh...,” he closed his eyes, sealing away the tears that inevitably gushed down his cheeks. His face hidden in the shadows of his hood, the relief of knowing that she really was safe uplifted an unbearable burden off his chest.
“Stay back!” The torturer swung out a knife that halted right at the youth’s throat. Truthfully, she had no hopes of beating him in a fight, but she had his most precious one right within her grasp. “If you so much as take a single step, I swear, I will slit her throat.” She threatened with eyes grown serious and tone dark as a grim night.
“Rebecca..., do you think her threat is real?” He asked his little sister for advice.
“Nah, Chloe is just a big meanie.”
“Quiet you!” She scowled at the sister, but that single moment of looking away was a split second of vulnerability. “What?” In disbelief, a fist had already struck her, a single knuckle focused onto a single point. A paralyzing sensation spread outward from the point of contact.
“A single step, you say? But, a single step is all I need,” said the intruder who now stands directly in front of the knife-wielding girl. “...to decapitate you. From the way you used your knife, I could immediately tell that you are a complete and utter amateur. You do not know the meaning... the weight... behind taking another’s life.”
Chloe dropped her knees; her weapon fell to the floor from her loosened grip. An intense pain grew; she wanted to cry out. But for some reason, she couldn’t. Her body wouldn’t respond; it shivered.
“But I do...,” he whispered right next to her ears. “Which is why..., I’m going to spare your life. I’m grateful for you. Had you been anyone else..., my little sister could have actually died. But, because it was you and your harmless little methods of torture, you kept her safe for all this time. I couldn’t have asked for a better member of your organization to take care of her. Stay the way you are. Don’t be a killer. Had you been serious of killing her, I would have ended your life for real.”
“Hypocrite...,” she spouted. “Why should I listen to anything you say? A killer telling me to not kill, that’s...”
“But here’s the difference between us. I was forced and made into a killer in order to survive from people that your organization keeps sending to take my head. You, on the other hand, see these monstrous fighters like Ragnar or the Berserker who kill for fun and think ‘I want be like them’. You think... these folks are what it means for someone to wield power and control. You’re just like a little kid who aspires to be that superhero or villain that you read from a childish comic book. That... is the person that I see in front of me right now.”
Immediately, he turned his back towards the fallen girl, and during that swiveling motion, he swung his hand horizontally across at invisible speeds. Moments later, it became apparent that the he chain that linked to Rebecca’s metal cuffs was sliced through cleanly. A few more of these precise projected slashes and the captive soon found herself completely free from her bondage.
“... P-Pluto..,” Rebecca began bawling. She missed him so much, all this time fearing for her life that she may never see him again. Being taken so far away out of anyone reach, she had been so terrified. Her body naturally wanted to hug him as soon as possible, but much to her surprise, she was the one who got hugged first. His arms wrapped around her and squeezed her against him in an endearing manner; his head tucked right next to her own, neck to neck. And as she was being embraced within his arms, she could have sworn she heard teardrops falling onto the floor, but they did not belong to her own. Her brother hid his face by burying it against her shoulder. She couldn’t remember ever witnessing him cry before. She never dreamed of ever seeing him shed tears. She didn’t know he was capable of crying. The usual cold, distant, composed older brother that she knew and loved was breaking down in front of her this very second. This was too out of character for him; she wasn’t used it. How much pain had he been in this whole time? Did he miss her that much? He would never admit to any sentimental feelings.
“Thank goodness...,” he clenched his teeth, holding something back. “Thank goodness you’re alive.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Shut up...., I’ve been crying every day because of you. Rebecca..., I’m so sorry. If I was stronger, I could have prevented all this. I’m so sorry. I promised to protect you, and... OW!” He was then smacked in the head.
“Stop blaming everything on yourself! I’m also at fault for being so weak. I’m always a burden to you all of the time.”
The brother rubbed his head. For someone who called herself weak, that hit to his head kind of stings. “No one expects a fifteen year old girl to be strong.”
Meanwhile, Chloe was dumbstruck. She never imagined that the dangerous Pluto would end up being someone like this. Her hand lowered out to the side and grabbed the knife she dropped earlier. Her teeth clenched at the thought of being dismissed in such a manner, especially after being treated like a kid.
I may be inexperienced, but turning your back to the enemy is a big mistake. I’ll show you... that I –too- can become a killer. I’ll start by taking your head, and then I can finally be respected.
With the amount of coverage that Pluto’s armor provides, it was difficult to find an opening for a knife to pierce through. She decided to aim for the back of his neck. Lunging forth with fire in her eyes, she gripped the wrist of her knife-wielding hand to put all of her weight and momentum behind her strike. Several strides in, she halted to a complete stop.
W-What...!?
Her body wouldn’t move, but it was different this time around. She felt a smothering, suffocating miasma that triggered danger signals from every cell of her being.
What the hell... is he?
His heavy presence made the atmosphere in the entire room seem almost unbreathable. Instinctively, she could sense a frightening surge of bloodlust that laid dormant deep within him, ready to explode like an erupting volcano.
If I had committed..., he would have killed me...,
That was the inevitable conclusion she came to. Her little knife wasn’t going to be enough. People like him and Ragnar were completely out of her league.
“Let’s go,” he said softly as he proceeds to scoop the girl up and carry her off in his arms.
Rebecca closed his eyes and sighed in relief. Her head rested gently against his shoulder. The armor made it uncomfortable, but knowing who it was beneath the steel-plates made her feel at ease, a feeling that she hadn’t felt for a very long time.
...
“Pluto! Rebecca!” Ara called out to them as she fends off the tiger monster with the shaft of her spear resisting against the hundred-pound barbell that’s being used as a weapon. The sheer heaviness of the weapon combined with the raw power behind the blow was completely overwhelming.
“Ara is here too!?” The sister was astounded to see her again albeit it was hard to pay attention to the familiar face when there’s a fifteen foot tall tiger monster wielding an equally long barbell as a polearm weapon.
“Humph!” Ragnar hurled the spear-wielder away before turning his attention immediately towards the siblings that stepped into the room. “Ah! Welcome back. I see you freed the little one too. But, it’s no use. There’s no escape for any of you. We’re in a submarine, trapped underwater. As Devil Fruit users, neither of us can leave.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll just let us pass by,” Pluto repeated a very similar phrase that was told when he first got here.
“Where’s the fun in that? Neither you nor this woman can beat me. Both of your Busoshoku Haki is inferior to my own. Why don't you two try teaming up against me? Two versus one, that might even things up a bit.”
“Busoshoku Haki?” Rebecca was puzzled by the term. What exactly did her brother and Ara possess that was lesser than what this tiger-zoan user have? “What’s that?” She looked towards the winged fighter for answers.
“It’s complicated. Now’s not the time for a lecture,” Pluto responded without taking his eyes off of the imposing beast that stands before him.
Steadily, the Revolutionary girl stood back up, using her polearm as a means to support her weight. “Pluto! He’s right; our best chance is to fight together.”
“Ara...,” Her ally said softly. “Take care of Rebecca. I’ll take him on.”
“What!? Don’t be crazy. You didn’t stand a chance against him just a while ago. He’s just too strong for you to take on all by yourself.”
“Grr-ha-ha-ha-ha! What’s this? You want more? I guess that beating I gave you earlier wasn’t enough.”
“Pluto...,” the sister gazed at the bat-human hybrid with a look of concern. She had always looked up to him, viewing him as the strongest fighter around. The thought that someone was even stronger than him worried her. She had never seen Ragnar in combat before, but for her brother to have taken a beating, this monstrous feline brute must be extraordinarily strong – perhaps the strongest they have ever encountered thus far.
Lowering himself down, Pluto wrapped his arms around his sister, covering her up with his wings in a protective manner. “Sorry, but can you wait just a bit longer. This kitty wants to play with me. After that, we’ll escape together.”
Overshadowed by a behemoth from behind, he seemingly vanished right as a giant fist came crashing down. Ragnar looked off to the side, eyeing on the bat-human holding the little girl before settling her down by the spear-wielder’s side.
“Hey Pluto!” Ara raised an eyebrow, ready to protest. “Quit fighting all on your own. That’s a bad habit of yours.”
“But if we both fight, there’ll be no one left to protect Rebecca,” he reasoned. The entire aim of this mission was to retrieve this girl, and he wasn’t going to let a single second pass by where she would be unprotected.
“He isn’t after her. He’s after you,” the older girl retorted.
“Yes, so I’m the perfect bait for him. You two should get out of here as I distract him,” he gestured towards the exit towards the room.
“We have nowhere to go. This is a submarine,” Ara brought up the issue once again.
“Yes, but unlike me, you two aren’t devil fruit users.”
“The water pressure will kill us if we trying swimming upwards.”
“Normally yes, but the submarine will be resurfacing soon.”
Rebecca switched her glance back and forth between the exchanges. What happened? These two seemed to be a lot closer than she last remembered. Her brother would never talk this much to Ara. He never even had a conversation with her as far as she could recall.
Immediately, a black donut-shaped mass of iron flew straight them at high velocity. Lurching to the side, the agile brother evaded the projectile before it crashed into the metal wall, leaving a sharp dent as the weighted plate was partly stuck inside.
CLANG! A thunderous echo sounded out. The cracking of knuckles silenced the trio. Ragnar had just about enough of listening to them converse as if he wasn’t around in the background. “Sorry, my hand slipped,” he said sarcastically.
Rebecca widened her eyes in shock, partly due to the heavy weighted plate that was flung at them and partly at the fact that her brother had evaded a projectile at his blind-spot without even having to look. Her hand was quickly snatched and tugged along by the older girl. She wanted to stay here and watch but reluctantly went along with Ara.
The evasive fighter then took a single step to the right before the farthest end of the oversized barbell came crashing down like a hammer. Bending backwards and arching his back, he allowed the swing of the iron bar to swish over his face. The tiger-human twirled the fifteen-foot long staff as if it weighed very little to him, yet each of his strikes with the makeshift weapon carried a tremendous amount of momentum as a result of its mass.
A high-speed furry of consecutive thrusts was then unleashed with the dull end of the bar ready to batter the little fighter and crush every single ribs into broken fragments. Yet, the nimble fighter stood in the same spot, quickly shifting his weight as he lurched towards different angles like a yielding tree as each linear assault slips past him.
“Why!? Why can’t I hit you!?” Ragnar was growing more and more frustrated for each thrust that missing its mark.
“Ragnar..., you seem to have... no Kenbunshoku Haki skills whatsoever. Your sensory abilities are far inferior to my own.” Unlike before, he was now straining each and every sense to its upmost limit.
I see! The reason why Pluto wasn’t able to do this before is because Kenbunshoku Haki requires calmness. He was so fueled by emotions that he couldn’t fight the way he usually can. Knowing that Rebecca is safe and sound has tranquilized him. Well... his reflexes had always been pretty good as well.
“So what if that’s true? You still have no means of defeating me,” he admitted his lack of talent in sensing presence, but that didn’t mean much to him. He thrusted his weapon onward, gripping it with both hands.
The hooded target deflected the iron mass aside with the palm of his hands. A wide swing of the bar swooshed across like a baseball bat, leading to the disappearance of the target.
“Eh?” The behemoth of a feline shifted his eyes to the furthermost end of his polearm, sensing his iron shaft to be heavier than usual. From there, the bat hung upside down from his hook-shaped claws, stationary and motionless.
Sniping Fist!
“Ack!” The tiger-zoan felt a small projection of air shot straight into his eye, leaving it blind. With other eye hyper-focused towards his adversary’s hand posture – and all too familiar shape to him. “That is... Raven’s technique!” Come to think of it, he could actually see some resemblance in the intruder’s fighting style to that of his comrade albeit heavily modified but still noticeable. A high-speed technique that shoots with a small darting force of air, it was his ally’s signature move.
Completely abandoning his weapon altogether, he took a long sweeping step and swiped his claw along the length of the falling shaft.
A streak of violet bolted past the massive meaty arm, “Looks like I’m starting to adapt to your movements and patterns.” A black hardening drop kick struck the beast in the chest. Then suddenly, a vine-like appendage wrapped around his ankle before he could retreat. “!” His eyes widened as a striped tail had whipped out and coiled around his leg like a serpent.
Ragnar grinned mischievously, “Didn’t see that coming, did ya?”
Tugged downward by the versatile tail, the winged foe came crashing down where his spine meets the hard ground. With the leg entangled, he couldn’t escape this time around either. Huge meaty paws rained down, bombarding him with heavy punches.
Sheild Form... Busoshoku
Pluto modified the very anatomy of his wings into a pair of thick organic shields; they curved and overlapped over his body, embracing the repeated impacts akin to a jackhammer.
I won’t be able to last long at this rate.
Suddenly, a spark of violet flashed from the contact point where the tail and his leg met. By conducting his own bioelectricity down to his leg, he could spasm the muscles that controlled that tail and ultimately release its grip.
“Cannon Fist!” Ragnar growled as his black right arm bulged in muscles. A single burst of power struck straight down.
Down the very last split second, Pluto shapeshifted into a little bat before making his quick escape. Had he been struck by that move, it truly would have been the end of him.
The force of the tiger-zoan’s attack ruptured straight through the steel layer floor, down to the steel layer of the hull, forming a pipe for the ocean water to start gushing straight through. “Uh oh...,” Ragnar was dumbstruck; his attack had just doomed them all. Water spread across the floor; there was now a leak in the submarine.
Human form Pluto widened his eyes at the revelation of their impending demise. Having drowned in the vast seas before, the sight of water closing in on them brought of a great sense of discomfort to him.
“GAH! WHAT HAVE I DONE!?” Paws pressed against his head as the feline panicked.
“Ah... great... you really don’t know how to hold back do you?”
Ragnar gazed at him with a blank expression before hissing at him.
From the entrance to this room, Ara returned, visibly fatigued. Her amber-hued eyes enlarged at the sight of the flood in the room.
“We... have to get out of here...,” said Pluto.
“What do we do now?” Ara asked in concern.
“The submarine should have risen up towards the surface for a while now. But... this leak is going to undo all of that. You need to leave this vessel before the water pressure becomes too much you to swim to safety.”
“Hold on, I found one emergency pod left. Raven had already left with one other.”
Ears perked up at the sound of a solution; Ragnar grinned. “Oh? A pod, you say?” his intention of using it for himself was clear as day. “Grr-ha-ha-ha-ha! But a pod only has room for one.”
“Go on and use it, Ara. Escape,” the zoan-user turned to face the other ability-user.
“EH!? I thought you three would fight each other for it!” the tiger growled at what he would have expected.
“But..., what about you?” Rebecca asked the armored figure in a saddened tone.
“You’re staying with me,” the brother stated. “What? I don’t wanna die!”
This decision was the most time efficient option. Rebecca wouldn’t go to the pod; she would be against leaving her brother behind. Pluto wouldn’t use the pod himself either as he wouldn’t leave his sister behind after coming all this way. Letting Ara use it was the best solution, and she would have less reason to suspect him sacrificing himself. The fact that he is allowing his sister to stay with him indicated that he had faith of escaping here alive.
“Alright,” Ara nodded and left.
Lunging forth, Ragnar pounced down with a ravaging paw. It took both arms and a solid low stance for Pluto to halt the paw thrust, directly the force straight into the ground beneath him. The impact caused a gale of wind, fluttering the girl’s hair.
“Shall we continue this?”
“Don’t be crazy. You’re a devil fruit-user just like me.”
“He-he-he..., true, but you’re wrong about one assumption. Unlike you, I won’t die if I sink into the seas – at least not immediately.” There was clearly something a secret he wanted to share.
“What do you mean?” the intruder asked abruptly, feeling a bit impatient as the water kept gushing in.
The tiger bared his triangular teeth, “I... am half-fishman. I can breathe underwater. The only ones who’ll die here today are you two.”
Trapped in a sinking submarine with a ferocious beast, Pluto and Rebecca found themselves in a dire situation. The tiger-fishman had revealed his biological advantage of breathing underwater; he wouldn’t come close to dying in these circumstances. The same couldn’t be said to the siblings.
How would they escape?
