[VS] Eric versus Viper

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #1 

Loguetown, the city of beginning and the city of end. It become famous as the place of both birth and death of the first and only pirate king, Gol D. Roger, but as many other cities it had it´s secrets. One of the biggest was great underground arena located beneath Gold Roger Bar a sacred place, where Pirates, Bounty Hunters, Marines and other different kinds of people could forget their status for a moment and freely fight whoever dared to challenge them.


Inspired by the Colosseum on the Dressrosa island, this arena is a huge, underground building carved straight into the stone. It´s main part is a circle with a radius of 15 meters and stepped auditorium, which started at it´s circuit, from which it went up and backs with each step, so the whole thing was resembling reversed cone.


In the weak light created by several torches, there was only one man standing, awaiting his challenger. Being only average (180 cm) in height, Eric packed some serious muscles especially on his wide shoulders and big arms. Clothed only in a simple pants he was showing off his scarred torso, which, together with his messy silver hair were creating quite wild appearance, that was in direct contrast to his dead serious focused face and eyes, that were watching the second entrance opposite to him, while he was waiting for his opponent to show up.

[Aromancer]

Viper Lee had fought in this arena many a time before; though born in the North Blue, he'd spent most of his formative years in Loguetown, fighting all manner of challengers to raucous applause.

This Eric guy, however, seemed different. Special, one might say. Most of Lee's opponents were very large, reliant on their physical might to secure victory. Others were more technical, their weapon proficiencies making their otherwise unimposing frames into lethal fighting instruments.

Lee had developed many methods for fighting these sorts of opponents. He could easily outpace any large foe, getting behind them or tripping them up and dealing the finishing blow while they were still catching their breath. He could relieve any foe of their weapon; most of those weapons couldn't compare to the Shichishito, anyway.

This man was neither physically imposing nor catrying any sort of weapon. That meant that he was probably a martial artist; Lee's least favorite type of opponent. Martial artists turned their *bodies* into weapons, meaning that they probably had all manner of sneaky tricks. As the shortish, dour kid walked into the arena, he told himself to be careful; there was no telling what this man was capable of.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #2 

After a while, Eric finally noticed his opponent. Surprisingly young man in his teens with a slender build, black hair and weird weapon on his waist.

“Swordsman or something very similar? Slender build, so he will be most likely oriented more towards speed and agility, than strength.”

Eric made few internal notes about his opponent, leaving aside the fact, that he could be considered a little too young for a fight like this. After all, Eric himself was fighting in arena similar to this since he was six, so age definitely wasn´t something according to which he would judge his opponent skills a strength.

“So, lets do it”

After Lee entered the arena, Eric just stood there, watching carefully not only his weapon and build, but also the way he moved around to get some general idea about his nature and possible level of skills. But after while, he started do be bored by just observing, so he pulled his hands out of his pockets and began to walk slowly towards Lee. With his face completely still and eyes fixated on his opponent, he wasn´t giving away any signals, that could point on his intentions.

[Aromancer]

This guy wasn't as old as some men Lee'd fought, but he was clearly experienced. It wouldn't do to underestimate him. But ultimately, Lee wasn't one to play the part of the overly-cautious pansy; he was a man of action! So, as Eric approached him, Lee dashed forward, his unique blade flashing in the dim light of the arena.

The seastone blade in his hand, called the Shichishito after the seven prongs adorning it, had been passed down through the Viper family for generations; it was his pride and joy, and his bread and butter. Lee had been practicing with the five-foot blade for as long as he'd been able to carry it, and had quickly mastered every technique his father had taught him with it. Lee was confident his opponent had never seen a fighting style quite like the one he was about to face.

Starting things off, Lee swung the blade in a wide arc, the sword's reach enabling him to stay far away from the enemy combatant's fist. The biggest advantage Lee had over a martial artist: reach. He could go in for the attack while keeping comfortably safe from counter-assault. And any attempt by the man to block the swing would likely end in his losing that arm; after all, it was heavy seastone coming in on bare flesh.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #3 

Eric was walking slowly towards his opponent watching him carefully for any signs of movement. But he didn´t even walked half of the distance between them, when Viper suddenly dashed towards him, with his unique weapon in his hands.

“He is fast”

Eric realized, while he slightly jumped few steps back, to avoid that wide slash of his by few centimeters.
“Attacks like this doesn´t suit him. Is he just testing me, or is he so aggressive, that he can not control himself? Lets see...”

Yes, Viper was obviously faster than him, but these simple wide slashes had arc so long, that someone with Eric´s reflexes could easily keep his distance and that was exactly what he was doing. Dancing just a half step away from the reach of Viper´s sword, he was testing, whichever of his assumptions about him was right. Was he testing him, or was he simple too aggressive? Either way, this simple strategy should be more than enough to provoke him into showing off some more interesting techniques.

[Aromancer]

Huh. The guy was fast enough to dodge Lee's swing. Usually, the wide area of attack was nearly impossible for slower men to dodge, so Lee didn't need to worry about the inefficiency of the swing. Eric was clearly an exception to the rule, his reflexes quick enough to avoid slower assault.

No matter; Lee wouldn't be much of a bounty hunter if he couldn't adapt his strategy to all manner of opponents. He went in for a stab, the attack covering a smaller area but coming in much faster. The Shichishito spun in his hands as the attack came in, enhancing the power of the thrust.

He just needed to keep his wits about him, his body lithe and ready to avoid any counterattacks Eric might have planned. Lee was focused heavily on offense, but it'd be a stupid way to go, to get caught flat-footed.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #4 

While dodging his attacks, Eric realized, that his first assumption was right. Lee was only testing his skills. That was good, because if it turns out that he is just some mindless barbarian, Eric would be disappointed. Fortunately, instead of another mindless charge, Viper changed his strategy, going from a wide slash to more compact and much faster stab.

“Interesting”

Eric smiled to himself.

“But still something like that isn´t enough.”

This time, he didn´t try to dodge, on the opposite. When Lee extended his arm, Eric stopped on the spot, tensing his whole body and thus hardening it even beyond the levels of regular Iron.

“Indestructible”

As the weirdly shaped blade bounce of his body, without leaving single scratch on it, Eric released his technique, while hitting a blunt side of Viper´s sword with the back of his hand, pushing it away from his body, so he could quickly lunged forward, while carrying heavy middle-level blow aimed on Lee´s abdomen.

[Aromancer]

Lee smirked as the blade was stopped. The man, Eric, was it? Had hardened his body to the approximate density of iron... but Lee could work with that. He stepped back just far enough to get out of Eric's reach, then wrapped his blade around the martial artist's arm. "Blade Breaker!"

Now, normally, this kind of weapon was designed to... break blades. Shichishito-Ryu was all about shattering an opponent's sword. But it worked just as well on less-conventional weapons, too. It was just this guy's bad luck that his "weapon" happened to be his own arm in this case. A simple twist would be all it took to break the man's arm, and then he would be much easier to take care of.

And if he managed to get out of it... well, Lee would simply stab full force. He'd pierced iron before; that skin would be no match for his seastone blade. He held back a smirk; this would be almost too easy. And here he'd been worried! But it seemed he was faster than his foe, and able to launch more dangerous attacks. Unless this man had some technique he was unprepared to deal with, the fight was as good as won.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #5  

As Lee retreated back, Eric realized that he go away from his reach and thus “Leaped” back to make some distance between the two of them, pulling his arm back at the same time, thus avoiding Lee´s technique.

“Did he intended to break my arm?”

It was a wild guess, but given his weapon´s design and that rotating movement he just showed it was more than probable explanation.

“Interesting, but still, that´s not enough”

He smirked, when the Viper tried to stab him once more, this time using much force than before, but with the same effect as his blade bounced from Eric hardened body.

“Indestructible”

It looked like he was lucky this time. Indeed, his opponent was faster than himself, but it looked like he wasn´t able to get through his technique and slashing or stabbing took much more time, than simple tensing ones body, especially, when Eric was gifted with almost unparalleled reflexes since he was born.

With this thought in mind, right at the moment, when the Viper´s blade bounced off, he released his technique, "Leaping" against him, while turning “Indestructible” once again, thus turning himself into giant canon ball heading towards Lee.

[Aromancer]

Damn, Lee thought, as his sword once again bounced off the man's impenetrable exterior. He wasn't yet strong enough to stab this guy, and though he had him beat in terms of speed, Eric's durability would weather any storm Lee could present him with.

Luckily, it seemed Eric couldn't get in a hit on Lee, either. The man was tough, but not nearly fast enough to-

"WOAH!" That cannon ball technique was fast! Good thing Lee had a technique to counter it... Technically. Brandishing the Shichishito, he caught Eric in midair, whipping him around and into the stone wall. Usually, this technique was used to redirect attacks back on their attackers, but Lee couldn't exactly do that when the attacker... was the attack.

If nothing else, he'd put some space between the two of them. But if he couldn't figure out a way to get through Eric's iron defense, he was more or less doomed.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #6 

That tiny swordsman was surprisingly more skilled than Eric thought, as he managed to use his weird blade to redirect Eric in the middle of his flight and thrown him against the wall of the arena. A loud crack echoed through the arena, as Eric hit the wall with his backs with enough force to create deep ruptures in it.

Yet despite all that damage to the solid stone, he remained unscathed, sliding on the stone for a while, before he released his technique to get down on his feet.

“That so bad, he would be a great match for Gabriel, but if it´s all, this won´t take long.”

Eric smirked and dashed towards Lee with his full speed.

“Let´s see, if you can do it again.”
Eric yelled to provoke him a little bit. Than, when he got in his range, he “Leaped” once again, hardening his body with his “Indestructible” technique. It looked exactly as the first attack, but truth to be told it was just a trick as Eric was counting on the fact, that man with reflexes as sharp as this young man will simply throw him again, but this time, Eric prepared a surprise for him. Us until now he always stayed immobile during his technique, to give his opponent false sense of security. But this time, he used his mobile version. So, right at the moment of Viper´s counterattack, he punched his sword with his “Iron Wall” pushing it aside to gain clear path to it´s owner.

[Aromancer]

Damn, had that really not even fazed him? Lee needed some way to get this guy to loosen up his iron skin, or he'd never deal him a real blow!

He was coming at Lee again. But that didn't make any sense; Lee had already countered this attack. Was Eric so lacking in creativity that he only had this one move, and he planned to keep throwing himself at Lee? Unstoppable force versus immovable object. Lee could respect that.

But this was different. Always before, Eric had been immobile when using that technique of his. It made sense; tensing up one's body required all muscles be active. Nobody should be able to move like that. but now, somehow, Eric was moving!

Lee had only milliseconds to respond. The man was right in front of him, pulling his sword out of the way. Without the sword, he had no options! He had no... wait.

He did have one option. Eric's attention was focused on punching Lee; he wasn't thinking about the sword. And he was hurtling towards Lee full-force, no retreat available! But Lee had a technique that could break through even his iron body! As the punch moved in, Lee saw himself wrap the Shichishito's prong around his other arm...

"Blade Brea-OOMPH!" Lee was knocked backwards with frankly disgusting force, the punch much heavier than he'd expected. He hit the wall, and though it didn't break as it had when Eric slammed into it, it was hard enough for the boy to see stars.

But in his other hand was the Shichishito. He'd managed to hang on to it.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #7  

As he was flying towards Viper, Eric noticed his blade wrapping around his arm, right before his free shoulder hit his opponent´s body and send him flying.

“Hm”

Unfortunately for Viper, Eric wasn´t nice enough to let him recover from the initial hit. So as his opponent hit the wall, Eric followed him up with another “Leap” this time landing half a meter in front of him. Crouched little bit protected by full “Indestructible” he started punching him with his “Iron Walls” freely switching the patterns of the punches between left-right; left-left-right and other combinations. Always quickly pulling back the attacking arm, so it could make a space for the other one.

“What the...”

After first punch Eric noticed, that his left arm is kinda cranky, even bleeding from the small cuts, where that weird blade touched it. It wasn´t serious enough to diminish the power of his punches, as he was used to shrugging of much more serious wounds and any possible damage to the bones in his arm was currently “casted” by his own hardened muscles around it. But it was definitely something he should be concerned about.

[Aromancer]

Dammit, seriously? Lee had pulled off the Blade Breaker maneuver, hadn't he? That was supposed to shatter a weapon! Eric's arm should at least be broken!

Unless it was broken? And the man was just so durable he hadn't even noticed? Lee didn't have time to think about this, however, as he was coming in once more. The boy needed to put some distance between the two of them, so he quickly jumped out of the way of the oncoming leap.

Lee had one advantage over this man: maneuverability. Every time Eric leapt out at him, he was committing to his jump. Lee, meanwhile, was much faster, and able to change his direction on a dime thanks to his hardcore training. The problem was, with Eric's reflexes, the boy seemed unable to get a good enough grip to pull off the Blade Breaker that was the only move that worked on this monster.

The punches were likewise very mighty, but also very slow; Lee was able to put his sword between himself and the attacks, but be couldn't get the prongs around Eric's fists. Fortunately, the attacks seemed to be slowing down; maybe Lee could manage to outlast this guy until he was too tired to keep up the fight any longer.

So he did the only thing he could do; he began darting around the arena, never staying in one spot long enough to get his by Eric again. His head was spinning and he wanted to puke, but there was no way the man would lay a fist on him again.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #8 

It was nice shoot, but unfortunately, Viper managed to get away, so Eric hit the wall once again, cracking it even more than the previous one. Before he managed to release his technique and turn back on Lee, the small swordsman was already pretty far away, jumping around like scared monkey and keeping his distance from the slower fighter.

Disgusted by his behavior, Eric cursed and stepped forward into his direction.

“Is this all you can do boy? Running around? Terrified of being punched? And you call yourself a man? Pathetic!”

Even through Eric was trying to provoke him into some action, truth to be told, he doesn´t care much about Lee´s tactic as the smaller guy didn´t look like someone who would be able to keep this level of movement speed for too long, so Eric needed only to wait a little bit. Following him by short, precise steps, always keeping himself in the range for another “Leap” so he would feel threatened, while preserving as much energy as possible, waiting for the moment, when Lee slows down from exhaustion.