Welcome to the Grand Line!

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #6 

Eric stayed silent. Not a single muscle moved in his face, but deep inside he was smiling. Since their last raid on Naso he was slightly worried, he will never meet an opponent that on the same level as Bianca ever again, but with their last exchange, this marine captain restored his hope. If someone of his rank was already this powerful it meant that Grand Line was probably filled with powerful guys able to push his skills even further.

“Hey, I asked you a question, answer me!”

Patience obviously wasn´t one of Kay´s virtues, as he immediately continued.

“But hey, if you think, that you are some big shot just because you copied one technique, than I have unpleasant surprise for you...SHIGAN!”

The captain moved once again, turning himself into mixture of gray and brown blur, but this time, Eric was prepared. As he knew, that Indestructible won´t be able to stop hip, he swung his arm with a fingers folded like a claws, to redirect the incoming attack away from his body.
As his hand connected with Kay´s arm, Eric twisted his body sideways, with a short step forward, changing his Paw strike, into powerful elbow, aimed at the captain´s head, but he only hit the empty air as Kay swiftly ducked under Eric´s attack.

---

While Kay was using his enhanced swiftness and dexterity to avoid Eric´s attack, Jay didn´t bother with dodging at all.

“Meat head? Look who is talking!”
He laughed.

“But don´t worry, as fellow meat head I will take you on!”

With that, he dashed straight against Myles without any sort of guard. As a madman he ran straight onto the pink-haired man´s fist, stopping his advance with nothing more than his own body. Myle´s fist hit him hard, yet the marine didn´t even flinched.

“Hey, what´s up, I didn´t even felt it”
He smiled as he spited blood straight into Myles´s face from a point blank range.

“Now it´s main turn I guess. BURNING JAY´S RAMPAGE!”

Once again, he unleashed barrage of fiery fist´s against the Ferryman.

---

Unlike Anaya, Way wasn´t able to stay in the air for a long, so after his jump he quickly dropped back on the deck, with his revolvers ready for a next shot.

“You think I care about your rotten heart now, you...you…IMPROPER WOMAN!”

He yelled with tears gushing out of his eyes like two giant waterfalls.

As Anya was about to start another fire show, he sobbed.

“You...you think I will let you burn our ship...even...even when you are so cool I will stop you, WAY´S SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!”

With that he started firing from both of his revolvers against Anya, without taking single break to reload his guns, pushing her away from the sails and masts.

He run out of bullet´s right at the moment, when Anya decided to change her tactic and take him out, but it looked like if girl with flaming staff heading in his direction, wasn´t concerning him at all. Without wasting single movement, he rolled sideways, reloading both his guns with an incredible speed in the process.

“WAY´S PROPOSAL!”

He ended his roll in half kneeling position, facing Anya, from which he shoot right against her heart.

[Fennec]

The flaming fists struck against Myles' chest... he hadn't been quick enough to dodge the man's onslaught. He felt the flames beginning to singe his flesh and his vision to go blurry. His eyeballs began to roll into the back of his head when something in him snapped. No... not here! Not now! It wasn't the time to faint! He couldn't let Eric down! He simply couldn't.

"AGHHHHHHH SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Myles yelled super loud! Everyone in the ship would likely hear his extreme holler. It was enough! This game had been enough! He had had enough of this buffoon fighting him! The game ended! Myles said so! Game over! The large man grabbed the Marine's face with his open hand and began to clench tighter and tighter.

"SHUT UP!"

He yelled as he grabbed his head and then slammed it into the ships' deck causing it to shatter in many pieces. The flames Anya had caused were acting as a sort of fighting ring for both of them. This was it! Myles grabbed the man like a rag doll! There was a crazed look in his eyes! It was clear he was at his last hair of patience. He then leaped into the air with the man in his arms and did his signature suplex! Leaping over the flames and into another part of the ship crashing down into the lower decks. Myles was exhausted from the whole feat... he tried to get up but was still stumbling a bit. Maybe he had out done himself just a tad bit... but he didn't care. All he wanted was for that Marine to stop talking for the fight to end. Never had he thought he would want a fight to end so quickly because his opponent was so annoying.

[Cat]

Way stated he doesn‘t care about Anya‘s heart but he was crying like a baby. Anya rolled her eyes and heard his not so convincing proclamation about him stopping her. She sneered and was slightly surprised when he really tried to shoot her again.

She observed how Way rolled sideways on the deck. She was cautious, because she saw how he quickly reloaded his guns. At the same moment, she heard Myles and his yelling. He took the attention of many marines for a while, but her opponent was too concerned about her to notice it.

When Way ended in the half-kneeling position she quickly pushed his hands with guns by her staff to the right and preventively made a step to the left to avoid bullets from close distance. Without waiting and stopping her movement she bent forward and kissed Way before he can do something else and gently grabbed his wrists as if she wanted to hug him. She smiled and quickly hit Way‘s head with her head.

„You are so sweet, my love“

Anya lost interest in young lieutenant and jumped again to the air to see the situation on the marine ship and their ship from above. She looked for the best way to help Eric and Michael.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #7 

As the captain ducked from Eric´s elbow, the pirate followed up with a powerful knee, but the nimble marine dodged again, this time with a handspring leaving Eric with deep scratch on his left thigh.

“You little...”

Eric cursed, but before he could do anything, he noticed one of the ordinary marines pointing his rifle at him.

“F**k”

He cursed again, hardening his body with Indestructible. The bullet bounced away from his chest, without leaving single mark, but Kay, under the impression, that Eric can not move with his technique active dashed forward, with victorious smile on his face.

“Your wish...IRON WALL!”

This time, the weasel dodged his palm strike by the skin of his teeth, leaving shallow cuts on Eric´s forearm, once again jumping few steps backwards to crate some space between the two of them.

Without slightest hesitation, Eric followed him with his “Leap”, landing right next to him. The muscular pirate tried to pull his enemy into slugfest, but his opponent, managed to dance between his combination of hooking Paw strikes, powerful Iron Walls and kicks, occasionally scratching him on the arms or chest. It took almost minute, until Kay managed to find opening and distance himself from Eric once again.

Eric was slightly bleeding from several scratches, but his breath was still calm and steady unlike Kay, who was breathing heavily, despite keeping his victorious smile on the transformed face.

“Well I must say, you are slightly better, than the usual rookies, but you are rookie nevertheless. You think I won´t notice, when you´ll mix them among other attacks? You can only harden your body during the straight palm strike and anything else is just a trash!”

With that he dashed forward again, aiming his claws at Eric´s throat.

“If you think so...”

Muttered Eric.

“Indestructible: Bone Crushing Kick”

With his incredible reflexes, Kay picked up Eric´s roundhouse kick right away, but thinking that it´s just a regular attack, he pushed forward, with just his arm raised for to protect his head.

He realized his mistake to late, when Eric´s shin connected with his arm with the power of steel mace. The strength of the kick took Kay by surprise, throwing him of his balance and sanding him head first on the wooden planks beneath him.

“CAPTAIN KAY!”
Few marines yelled in distress, seeing their superior taking hit, but before anyone of them could react, Eric leaped forward, right in front of the marine who, seriously shaken, tried to get up on his feet.

“Indestructible: Piercing Mountain!”

Unleashing full power of his fist, Eric hit the Marine captain in his chest, sending him several meters away, until he crashed with his back against the mast. Eric clearly felt several of his bones cracking, but he suspected, that it wouldn´t be enough to put Zoan user down for the good and Kay proved him right, when he start slowly collecting himself back up on the feet.

“You little…”
He cursed, but before he could finish, around 20 regular marine soldiers stormed Eric with the combination of their cutlass and pistols, forcing him three steps back, before he had to block them with Indestructible once again.

“Damn, there is too many of this bu**ers!”
He muttered. Quick look around himself told him that both Anya and Myles already finished their fights and both were hurt more than he would like too. With the Marine´s sails burned and their main force occupied by another hundred of soldiers who got on their ship in the meantime, they had to move, before losing too much in this little skirmish.

“Fine...FALL BACK! THEIR SHIP CAN NOT SAIL ANYMORE, SO FALL BACK!”

Yelled Eric on his two combatants, who followed him there, making his way back to the ship, through dozen or so marines.

---

During the vicious barrage of fists strikes, Myles managed to reach out and grab JAY´s face, which the Marine Lieutenant commented with maniacal smile.

“Is that all? Something like that cannot, even...”

Before he actually managed to finish his sentence, he found himself high in the air, as Myles threw him head first against the hard planks of the deck.

“hurt...me...a...little...”

The deck broken his head stuck in the hole with the rest of his body sticking out like a weird parody for a mast, yet shocked way still managed to finish his sentence before he lost consciousness.

“MASTER JAY!”

Dozen of marine Sailors screamed with the mixture of shock and disbelief, before they charged against Myles with their swords and bayonets ready to avenge their lieutenant.

---

Way looked surprised, when he noticed, that Anya managed to redirect his guns with the end of her staff, but his surprise changed into shock and than pure happiness, when the female fire-dancer bend to him and kissed him on the lips.

“WAY´S HAPPINESS!”

That poor guy was so happy that his he was struck with powerful nosebleed even before Anya could actually hit him with hear forehead, which only finished the job started with her kiss. Lying on the ground, with two pink hearths instead of his eyes, Way was smiling with joy from his unconsciousness, but his subordinates didn´t share his point of view. Instead of that, they tried to swarm Anya, shooting on her like crazy.

[Fennec]

The pirate let out a sigh. Finally... that pesky Marine had shut his yapper. Myles stood up his legs shaking as wooden steaks and splinters stuck out of his skin... his mouth bleeding... and his chest covered in singed flesh in the shape of fists. The man stood up lumbering over all the Marines who had noticed their leader be defeated. Myles looked down at the mooks as a sinister smile came over his face. A horrifying smile when mixed with the dead look in his eyes.

"Roadburner."

He wheezed out dashing away from them and grabbing his Scythe. It was time to cull the souls. The dark harvest had begun. However, as he lumbered back to the awestruck group of Marines some. He decided he wouldn't end their lives then in there so instead he cleaved them with the blunt side of his Scythe. The marines fell to the ground as the large man panted heavily... he felt a daze as he dragged his feet in hopes of finding his Captain. There was pain in every step he took. But he felt it was nothing he could handle. The pain... the smell of blood... the excitment of battle was what he lived for. He smiled, enjoying the moment.

"Captain... Eric... Eric..."

[Cat]

Her opponent fell on the deck with a happy smile on his face. Seeing that, Anya changed her mind and decided to give him her pendant as a reminder of her, but marines around her started shooting. It was time for sky dancing again and really quickly. So she was only able to drop her lace handkerchief on Way's chest.

„How rude of you!“

She protested about the interruption of her plans and jumped into the air. Her response to the shooting was one long fire-breathing aimed at regular marines while she was spinning in the air. When she ended, it was time to move somewhere else before marines start to shoot again, because they looked quite upset by her actions before.

At the same moment, she heard her captain's order.

„Yes, captain.“

She sounded happy and amused. These few minutes of playing and testing her new skills improved her mood more than anything else in the last few years, but it was time to stop and leave. She really didn‘t want to make Eric angry.

She opened her mouth like she wanted to say anything but at the end, instead of saying goodbye she turned last time to the marine‘s ship and looked at the fire. Without any other word she somersaulted and landed on their ship right at her favorite place by the taffrail.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #8 

By twisting his body, Eric dodged incoming stab from a marine soldier. Grabbing his wrist and twisting it so that the poor guy ended up thrown into the ocean. As he was reverting back to his original position, the White Tiger noticed, that while Anya was following his orders, retreating safely to the ship, Myles charged against the incoming Marines beating them up with the blunt side of his scythe. There wouldn´t be anything wrong with that, if he managed to fall back afterwards, instead of stumbling aimlessly across the deck.

“For **** sake”

Cursed Eric as a group of eight or so marines tried to cut him of from hi subordinate.

“Indestructible: Bone Crushing Kick”

Another powerful roundhouse kick, this time executed with his left swept the Marines charging at him from his way, with a laud cracking noise. His left leg didn´t even managed to connect with the wood beneath him properly, when he Leaped forward, straight against another group of marines, that tried to get Myles from behind.

“Indestructible”

Hardening his body a moment before impact, Eric played bowling ball to their ninepins, throwing them asides like a rag dolls.

“I said...”

Eric growled as he landed few steps behind Myles, grabbing the back of his shirt with his right arm.

“fall back!”

With that he pulled Myles back, with his all might, throwing him above his head on a long curve back on their own ship.

“F**k”

He sighted as the remaining hundred or so marines, led by their captain used the time he was distracted to encircle him with their guns ready.

“Now, I don´t know if that was more brave or stupid, but it doesn´t matter. You know, for some reason Vice-Admiral Octavius from HQ is pretty pi**ed on you, so your head will equal some pretty nice promotion for me. So, any last words?”

Eric sighted.

“Yeah, I have some.”

Kay smiled smugly.

“Yes?”

“Because of my ferocity, the old ******* started to call me a Tiger, but you know, in nature I am more a wolf than a tiger and wolves, never hunts alone.”
His dark grim forced Kay and few of his men to look above, where dozen of meters above their ship hovered Gabriel, periodically kicking the air beneath his feet to stay in the air.

“S**t!”

“Indestructible”

“Phantom Tree”

Three things happened at the same time. Kay dashed forward to Eric and his some of his men tried to take aim on his second in command. Eric hardened his body and Gabriel threw current of of compressed air in their direction. It looked like one of his regular spears for a second, before it divided into many branches, stabbing several dozens of marines and forcing their captain back, creating opening for Eric´s retreat.

Without a single word of good bye, Eric released his technique and Leaped backward, landing silently with his bare foot on the deck of their ship. The combat able marines tried at least to shoot down Gabriel, but the first Ranker of their ship retreated after his initial salvo and so he got back to the safety of their ship.

“Cut the ropes”
Ordered Eric, pointing on the ropes with hooks that were connecting them to the Marine´s ship.

“And take us away from them. Their sails are burned to the crisps, they won´t be able to follow us anywhere!”

Taking his order, the regular Slayers got back to their work, while Ferrus, Eric and Gabriel did their best to cover them from the gun and cannon fire from the marine ship. Took them few minutes but in the end, their were back on the open sea with the smoldering marine ship far behind them.

---

And what happened on the ship? Anya landed on the ship a few moments after the Slayers led by Gabriel repealed another boarding attempt from the marines, pushing them to the sea and back to their ship.

“Hi Anya, where are the other two?”

Asked Gabriel, but instead of answer, with a loud crack, Myles landed on the deck, thrown there by Eric.

“Yeah, that is also answer...”
He muttered.

“Stay here and help others with retreating, I´ll handle this...Moon Step”

With that he propelled himself high in the sky waiting for the right moment to create opening for the retreat of his captain. At the same time, Sarah packed her strings back to the small pouches on her forearms and headed to Myles to give him the medical attention he needed.

“Hey, are you still with us?”
She asked, slapping him gently on the cheek to prevent him from falling unconscious.

[Fennec]

Myles was in a dazed state as he walked toward Eric. That's when he noticed the man. His captain. Had grabbed him by his jacket and thrown him across the water and onto the deck of their ship. Myles' felt his body crash onto the wooden deck, his body still a bit numbed from the adrenaline rush he had moments earlier. But that was all beginning to fade as the large man began to feel the strong burns on his chest. He looked up to see his skin sticking out of his flesh in a red manner.

Myles grit his teeth, that was among the worst injuries he had ever received! Even by arena standards, this was bad! At least for him, that is. Maybe this is what they meant about the Grand Line being tougher... about it being more difficult to navigate and it is filled to the brim with stronger Marines and stronger pirates. If this was the case Myles felt he had to adapt... he had to learn to fight. He had to improve his style and most importantly. He couldn't completely depend on his Devil Fruit.


As he began to feel himself fading into obscurity. Sarah came over next to him slapping him gently on the cheek. That was able to keep him alert at least for a bit. Myles took a deep breath and looked over at the woman tending to his wounds.

"I feel like sh*t."

He told her, a smile came over his face. It was true. He felt like crap! But he also felt like a champ. He had brute-forced his way through the fight! He had in essence won! Even if it was at a cost. But then again, nothing in life was free of charge.

[Cat]

Anya didn‘t have time to look around after she returned. Gabriel appeared beside her and began asking about the rest of her group. She surprised blinked and looked at him, then she looked around and searched for her captain and Myles.

„Captain……...“

She wanted to say about Eric's order, but at the same moment when she opened her mouth, Myles fell on the board of their ship. Seeing that, Gabriel obviously didn‘t need her response anymore. But she was confused about why Eric didn‘ return with Myles, so she turned her attention back to the marine's ship and saw what happened.

Before Anya could do anything, Gabriel stopped her and told her to help with others with preparing the ship for setting sail.

„OK“

Anya muttered. She wasn‘t happy about his decision to replace her in the fight with marines, but she had to obey his orders. She looked for some task, she can help with, but it seemed that she can help mostly with preparing sails by using her sky dance technique. She was trying to be helpful, despite she was tired and her injuries were painful for her, although they were only light. She really wasn‘t accustomed to being hurt like this.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #9 

As the battle ended, Eric broke his regular habits and took direct command over the ship instead of commanding his subordinates through his first mate, as Gabriel was needed on the infirmary, where he was assisting Sarah with emergency care over the injured members of the crew. Since the major part of the battle occurred on the Marine´s ship, they managed to avoid any deaths, but there were still many injured as a result of the crossfire between the crews. Also their ship took some damage from the enemy´s cannon fire and was not only tilting to one side, but also slowly gathering water. The “repair crew” led by Francis was doing everything in their strength to put their ship back together, but according to their report, they lacked enough material for complete repair and so they needed to find some safe harbor. Fortunately, it took only another four hours, before they spotted island with weird, cactus shaped mountains on the horizon.

“Hmmm, Michael, correct me if I am wrong, but didn´t Roland described the first island on the Grand Line differently?”

Asked Eric his navigator, who was at the time handling the helm.

“Yeah, we probably picked different route.”

He replied, forgetting that from all the members of their crew he was the only one who had at least some knowledge about this crazy ocean, albeit only theoretical ones.

“Different what?”

Asked Eric, irritated as his original plan was to reunite his crew as fast as possible.

“Different route”

Sighed Michael.

“You see, Grand Line isn´t like your regular Blue. You can not simply sail from one island to another as you wish, because regular compasses aren´t working here. Instead of them, we have to use this...”

He raised his head with small needle inside of glass bubble on his forearm.

“Log pose, device that can detect magnetic field of different islands and point us in their direction. It´s very practical, but unfortunately it also divide Grand Line in different routes depending on which island´s field it pick firsts.”

Eric cursed.

“So, how do we´ll meet with Roland?”

Michale shrugged.

“Dunno, either one of us will find Eternal pose leading to the route of the other, or we will have to wait for the last island of this half of the Grand Line, as that is the place, where all routes connects.”

Eric sighed. This news destroyed his mood, which was pretty high since their battle with the marines. But before he could start venting his anger, Sarah went up from the lower deck, with slightly tired expression on her face.

“We are finally done captain, so it´s time for your stitches.”

He sighed once again. Originally, he wanted to say, that his wounds are nothing and will eventually heal themselves, but he knew better than arguing with their doctor and so he switched with Gabriel, letting his second in command to do his job, while his girlfriend was stitching him up.

---

When she finally finished, they were only hour or so from small port city with Old West like architecture. Just as his men were finishing the preparations for their landing, Eric went up to give some last orders before they´ll get on the dry land again.

“Listen up guys, since we have many wounded and needs to put our ship back together, we are going to keep low profile here. That means, without mine or Gabriel´s explicit permission, no fighting or looting, understood? There are no visible ships near the island, but I don´t want to take the risks, so once we´ll get there, me and the combatants will go to the port, while the rest of you will stay here and guard the ship. Once we´ll make sure it´s safe, can go and celebrate a little bit. Understood?”

The Slayers weren´t particularly happy about his orders, but no one dared to protest against them, so they could proceed to the final part of their voyage.

---

In the matter of several dozens of minutes, their ship arrived to the port, where almost hundred of armed citizens of different age and genders waited for their arrival.

“They doesn´t look very hospitable.”
Muttered Ferrus and just in case, released the safety on his holster.

“Yeah, let´s go there and see if we can persuade them somehow, or we will have to beat them up first.”

Said Eric coldly as he stepped on the footbridge leading to the wharf.



“Well, well well, look what we have here.”

Arrogantly sounding man in his late forties dressed in two piece suit approached them with a bunch of papers in his hands. He was listing in them looking alternately on Eric and in his papers.

“Not this one...no….no...ah, here you are, Eric “White Tiger” Irongate, Bounty of 16 800 000 Beli, that´s not bad, for third grade pirate from a Blue, but you will not impress anyone here, so tell me, Mr. Pirate what do you think we should do with a wanted man as yourself?”

He asked with trained smile, but his face turned slightly pale, when his eyes met with Eric´s gaze.

“For starter”

The Tiger growled irritably,

“You can show your hospitality and feed my men. We also needs some materials to repair our ship, so, you and your people can prepare some high quality wooden planks, nails and other necessary stuff.”

The authority with which he spoken shocked the local at first. It took them almost minute, before they wake up from their disbelief. The first one to overcome his shock was their leader, who start laughing and soon, many others joined him.

“You have some nerves you little b*****d, just out of curiosity, what if I´ll deny your request?”

Eric smiled grimly.

“Then we will take what we need by force.”

Said the Slayer´s captain, ignoring Gabriel´s loud sigh. It was less then hour, since Eric urged his men to keep low profile, yet now it was him who went all out against the local from the very start.

The major of the town was looking at them for a moment, before he started to laugh once again.

“Hey, that wasn´t half bad!”
He said and his demeanor changed completely from reserved to surprisingly friendly.

“Maybe you are not such pushover after all!”

“Come, let´s make a party! We can discuss what you need and the price for it over a good diner and some quality booze!”

He turned around, leading the way towards building that looked like bar or rather salon. As if under the influence of some spell, the tension from the local people disappeared and their started to be much more relaxed in the presence of the pirates too.

Eric and his crew were watching them with a hint of suspicion but still were following their leader, until strong howl froze everyone on the spot.

“What was that?”
Asked Sarah with a poorly hidden fear in her voice.

“Damn, you seriously picked a wrong day for your arrival.”
Cursed the major as he was looking towards one of the cactus shaped mountains, behind which the sun was slowly setting down.

“Today it´s a full moon, which means, that he will attack again!”

Michael raised his eyebrows

“He, who?”

“The werewolf!”

Whispered small, barely eight years old girl hidden in the crowd.

“Werewolf?”
Asked Gabriel with poorly hidden disbelief.

“There is no such thing.”

“Yeah, you are free to doubt. We didn´t believe either, until the best went down from the mountain six months ago and killed almost dozen of us, disappearing without trails right after that, only to attack a month later.”

Eric looked around himself. The whole thing seemed to be pretty fishy even for his rather loose standards, but the fear he smelled from the people around him looked pretty genuine.

“Well guess we will have to postpone our negotiations, am I right?”

Asked the captain, but the major shook his head in disagreement.

“No, of course not, what do you think about our hospitality? We still have few more hours until the moon will be high in the sky so we can still celebrate your arrival before we will board up our doors and windows!”
He laughed slightly and wanted to continue, but Eric stopped him.

“Hey, If we kill that werewolf of yours, will you take care of my crew and give us the material we needs for free?”

Asked Eric. The major turned back to him and answered with a hint of humor in his voice

“We would probably declare you our king.”
Gabriel and Michael silently cursed in unison as Eric grimly smiled.

“Carefully with that words or I´ll take you on it.”

He said, before turning in the direction from which the howl came at the first time.

“Gabriel, Michael, Ferrus, Sarah, with me, it´s time to slay some beast.”

The three named Slayers sighted slightly but not a single one of them protested and instead followed their captain.

“Hey, are you serious?”
Asked the major in a pure disbelief.

“Yeah, when we´ll come back, I hope you will have everything ready for us.”

Replied Eric, without turning back. As he was walking in the direction of the mountain, he slightly bumped into Myles who was standing nearby.

“You are in charge until we´ll come back. Let the guys rest a little bit but don´t let them drink too much. There is something weird in all this, so stay sober and have your guns ready.”

He whispered before heading away.

[Fennec]

Myles had been patched up. His chest and arms now covered in bandages to hide the burn marks. They were quite painful so the pink-haired pirate had decided to take a rest in the time it took to go to the island. However, when Eric called out to make his announcement about how they should behave Myles came over to listen in. He didn't frown or smile in the prospect, as a matter of fact, he didn't care, unlike the other slayers who still seemed a bit bloodthirsty. Myles for his part had been in enough of a draining brawl to want to fight more unless that is his Captain commanded him to do so.

"Ok. Whatever."

The large man whispered to himself after the announcements had been made. He moved to the ship's side to watch the western-styled city in the distance. He looked at the oddly shaped mountains noticing one had a big bandage on it. That brought a bit of a smile to his face. A smile that had some childish glee to it. He turned around to the nearest person. It was Anya much to his surprise.

"Hey, Anya! Look at that weird mountain with a bandage! It's just like me eh?"

The man pointed at the mountain in the distance as he let out a loud audible laugh. To him, the prospect of a mountain with some bandages on it seemed hilarious. He wondered how it had happened? Who had broken it and who had put the bandage on it?

"Who do you think did that damage? I mean... maybe it was an earthquake. But that's a bit boring. Maybe it was a powerful rock monster who was using the mountain as a punching bag."

Myles tapped his chin for a bit thinking over his statement. His face went from happiness to one of disappointment as he noticed his statement was quite childish and dumb.

"N-nevermind that was pretty stupid of me to say."

---

Moving on as they got closer Myles noted the large crowd of people awaiting them. Unhappy angry armed people. Great another fight. Just what he wasn't in the mood for. The large man gave a deep sigh as he moved toward the front of the ship and looked at the angry people. However, upon arriving and his Captain setting foot they didn't attack. Instead, a man who seemed like the leader among them began to speak with Eric. There was an awkward tension in the air as Eric demanded goods and the leader of the Islanders seemed wart about them. However, things began to change at the mention of a Werewolf. Myles had heard stories of them while growing up in the arena. Men who were cursed to transform into monstrous bloodthirsty beasts when the full moon rose over the sky. Many legends existed about these creatures and the powers they had. Myles wondered if such legends where true. To him, they had been legends and just that... but at the same time, the pink-haired pirate was a bit of a believer in the supernatural. His motto was he couldn't be sure of what was real or fake... after all the world was big and full of weird wonderous things. Things he hoped to witness with his newfound freedom.

All this train of thought was interrupted by Eric who bumped into him. At first, Myles began to sweat cold. Oh no... he'd made his Captain mad. But that all changed once he noticed Eric's order. He was a leader now. Him? Myles? He was a leader? That... was random. He would have never expected such a responsibility. But at the same time, he felt it was best not to question Eric. He was an odd man who worked in odd ways.

"Consider it done Captain."

Myles saluted Eric as he saw him leave in search of this werewolf creature. The pink-haired pirate turned to the remaining crew member and looked at everyone in the eye.

"So... who's ready to PARTY!!!!"

He exclaimed. There was, however, a bit of wariness in his face despite the excitement his voice displayed. Eric was right. Something about this place was weird. He would avoid drinking too much in case things got too crazy.

[Cat]

Anya was one of the last, who went to the infirmary and sought treatment. When Sarah let her go, she wanted to go up and enjoy the fresh air. Hearing swearing from sailors, who were repairing the ship, was the last thing she wanted.

Her favorite place was occupied by sailors, so she leaned against taffrail somewhere else and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she found out that instead of relaxing she fell asleep. The voice which woke her up was Eric‘s, who was delivering a speech. She wasn‘t sure if she didn‘t miss something important as the only thing she heard was part about not fighting and it was strange.

„Yes, captain“

She replied as she really didn‘t want to tell she slept while her captain gave them instructions so she turned her face in direction of the island, but she didn‘t pay attention to it. She tried to hear what are sailors talking about to learn what she missed.

When she heard Myles she looked at him with surprise in her eyes and looked at the island.

„No, you have more bandages then that mountain.“

She laughed and her worries left her for a moment.

„It doesn‘t look like a natural disaster...If it was caused by a living creature, maybe it is still on the island.“

Anya stopped talking for a while and thought about something.

„Maybe we will be able to meet the monster that caused it, Myles“

Anya grinned but the reason for her good mood was unknown to her, she wasn't sure if she wanted to meet creature capable of such action.

---

They were welcomed almost by a hundred people, but no one looked happy about their arrival. Anya sighed and followed her captain as last from the combatants. She wasn‘t interested in another fight and hoped fighting would not be needed this time. As she heard the conversation between Eric and the leader of those people, she sighed again. There wasn‘t even a slight possibility it would end with an agreement, because Eric started to menace their leader.

The next few silent seconds were slow and Anya stopped breathing in expectation of an attack, but that man laughed and invite them for a party.

„What?!“

She observed local people with an untrustful look, but followed slowly her captain and listened to his dialogue without any words. In fact, she lost her speech when she heard about werewolf. She as almost everyone raised in the circus was superstitious, so she wasn‘t glad for the opportunity to see such mythical beast as a werewolf. Luckily, her captain decided to hunt the beast without her and Myles and put Myles in charge. She was glad Eric didn‘t want her with him and understood why she wasn‘t in charge… her methods of commanding others were quite questionable.

First order/sentence from Myles after Eric left was about party. She looked at Myles and calm down as she saw traces of wariness on his face.

„Yes, let‘s party while the captain isn‘t here!“

She agreed with Myles, but in the second part indicated to sailors they should not get drunk too much.

„And while my fiancé isn‘t here...“

She muttered for herself but loud enough to be heard by the nearest men from the town. She decided to play a weak part of the crew, who doesn‘t have real combat skills, just in case things would ger wrong so they would underestimate her.

„It‘s unlucky we have to stay inside, I cannot perform, these houses are wooden.“

She said to Myles and grinned.

„Well, I can play on flute at least or not?“

She grabbed her flute, which she always had by herself but didn‘t play on it since she left her family and waved with it while she looked around for opinion not only from Myles but from others.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #10  

Fortunately for the rest o his crew, were Eric and his four companions already far away, so their captain didn´t hear Myles and Anya´s conversation, or with his mood as it was he would probably stepped in and gave them a lecture about morale and authority. But since he was already too far away with his mind set onto something completely different, they had enough time and freedom to do things their way.

For Eric himself it wasn´t a short trip. Led partly by his own hunting intuition and partly by the occasional howls that were echoing from the forest, their party leaved the city and after several dozens of minutes entered small, sparse forest that was growing on a base of one of the Cactus mountains. There were no tracks, no signs that could lead their way, but since the howling was closer every time their heard that, they concluded, that there are going the right way.

“Hmmm, do you think that we will fight real werewolf?”
Asked Sarah suddenly, after half-hour of walking. She was trying her best to control her voice, but Eric noticed hint of fear in it and he wasn´t alone.

“I doubt that.”
Said Gabriel with slight smile on his face.

“As far as I am aware, there is and never was such thing as werewolf. So, it will be probably just a big wol...”

He hit his captain´s backs as Eric suddenly stopped.

“What the...”

Gabriel tried to ask, but Ferrus was faster.

“Are you sure, there is no such thing as werewolf?”

Gabriel raised his eyes and finally saw what forced everyone else to stop. Large, bipedal wolf like creature with pure white fur and dark red eyes. It appeared out of nowhere, and now it was watching them from a twenty or so meters with an angry look on it´s face.

“Am I dreaming?”

Asked Sarah.

“There is only one way how to find out.”

Eric muttered, but before he cold do a single step towards the beast, it moved. With a speed, that no one expected from a such big creature the beast howled and transformed itself into white blur that made it´s way through the trees towards Eric. Captain of the Slayers managed only to harden his body with his Indestructible, before powerful fist, sparkling with electricity hit him into a chest and send him flying backwards through the forest.

[Fennec]

Myles looked down at Anya who was talking about performing. He knew about her flaming circus acts... well, as a matter of fact, he remembered what happened back in the mansion in Nuevo Romano. It had been utter madness how the thing had caught on fire... and that was a building which was a mix of wood and marble.

Imagine how a pure wooden building would flare-up. However, he was glad the woman had asked for a musical instrument as well. That was more manageable! Nothing destructive about a flute. Right? That was optimistic thinking he honestly had no idea what to expect out of Slayers seeing as they were a crazy crew.

"Hmm, maybe there is a merchant somewhere on the island."

The pink-haired punk looked walked outside the wooden building they were in and looked around for a person who would look 'Merchant like'. As he did spot a small scrawny figure sitting cross-legged on a multi-colored blanket somewhere near the road. Myles approached the figure who looked up at him. He wore a brown hood of which weird cat ears poked out and odd cat-like eyes peered from the darkness within the hood. Tents were set up behind with similar-looking figures tending to the camp. A couple of large cat-like creatures with decorated saddles sat in the background likely this feline-like merchant's steed.

"Greetings traveler! Can I interest you in my goods?"

The raspy voice of the merchant spoke up. He had an odd accent Myles had never heard before. Heck! This guy was odd in general. But to Myles business was business and he didn't really care whom he did it with. The large man looked down at the figure scratching his chin.

"You got a flute perhaps?"

He asked the feline merchant who nodded reaching for a bag he opened up to display all the goods within. He pointed at a small thin metal flute with his clawed hands.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

Myles nodded and reached into pocket pulling out a wallet full of a couple of beri he had earned while on the ship.

"How much will it be?"

"1,500 Beri."

The merchant replied. Myles sighed pulling the amount out and handing it to the man who gave him the flute in exchange. The pink punk then turned to Anya and handed her the flute she asked for. Then he walked away back into the wooden building with the party going on.

"Thanks friend. Good making business with you heeeheeehee."

The merchant replied in his raspy voice followed by a wheezing voice. Myles simply nodded at his response and instead opted to say something to Anya as he left. 

"Make sure to keep your eyes peeled Anya. I am trusting you ok? Other than that have fun."

[Cat]

When she talked about her performance Myles looked quite unsure until the moment she asked about a flute. Obviously he was relieved by her decision and hurriedly proposed visiting a merchant. Anya looked at him with surprise and without thinking hugged him … well, she tried it, but it looked a little funny because of the difference in their heights.

“Sorry”

She grinned and quickly followed him outside before he changed his opinion. Maybe Myles didn’t intend to walk quickly, but for much smaller Anya it was so quick she had to almost run beside him, so she was glad when he stopped walking only a few meters farther.

Merchant by whom they stopped was strange. Anya observed him with curiosity as she never saw someone like him. His appearance wasn’t the only strange thing on him, his voice was strange too. Then Anya saw tents behind him and probably family of him. From her thoughts, she was interrupted when he showed them a small metal flute.

“Yes!”

She replied and waited until Myles pay for her flute. It was a pleasant feeling when someone else paid for her.

“Thank you, Myles!”

She hugged him again. It was a little surprising even for herself. Since she left her family she wasn’t so friendly to anyone. On the other side, nobody bought her anything since she was young so there was a reason why she was so excited. When they returned the rest of their crew started party already.

“You can rely on me.”

She smiled and tried to play on her flute. The first sound which came from the flute was really unpleasant and all people around looked at Anya with hands hiding their ears.

“I'm sorry?”

She grinned and tried again. Her next try was more successful and the melody which sounded from her flute was many times better.

“See, I just needed to recall a few things.”

She smiled with victorious light in her eyes and continued to play on the flute. Her third attempt was even better than second without off-key tones.