Let it Set! Laying Low on Port West!

[The Prettiest Squish]

One would think after the time they spent together, Guy would have come to expect this sort of behavior but alas the lad had too much faith in his miniature crewmate. He grabbed the girl's arm with a fierce grip as he bent down to whisper through clenched teeth. "Wwwwwwhyyyy? Would you do thaa-auuuuuuuh-t??" Lea raised her brow at the question and was ready to answer when the hulking man keeping quiet this entire time revealed a rather disconcerting truth.

The two of them paused to glance at him. Guy's eyes widened to the size of saucers, sweat beading at his forehead. The azure locked lass, however, grinned at the sound of her own name. As if that wasn't enough to satiate her ego, though, the Marines perked up and began to shout her famed epithet to the masses. Incredible, she thought, to finally be recognized for the threat she posed! For years, the world had seen her as a soft, dimwitted, talentless weakling. But now she could show them what she was really made of!

"Brandy!" Lea yelled. "We don't need to wait for nothin'. You and me can take care of these fools, no problem. Guy, just sit on the sidelines and watch how a pro does it, okay buddy?" She looked to her fellow crewmates and smiled. "I'm the captain's right hand, don't worry 'bout me, alright?"

Though everything in his body compelled him to shake his head and make a beeline for Miss Eda with sponge in hand, he refused to leave his spot. Call it blind optimism but he'd seen the girl perform miracles before. The man nodded and turned his gaze back to the chaos beginning to unfold. "Alright then...let the show start."

A bare foot kicked off the ground as the Riot Gang's lieutenant made her way into the fray. "Yo Corgi Sue! I gots somethin' for ya!"

---

Left, then right, then left again. Was she upside down? Or sideways? Couldn't make heads or tails of it really. All Lea knew was that her body hadn't touched the ground in the last few minutes. It was quite the annoyance too as she preferred to stay rooted to the earth but unfortunately the witch kicking her repeatedly had other things in mind. 

"Would! OOF. You! OOMPH. STOP!! BLEH. IT!? HGH." In the maddening spiral of perpetual motion, she could vaguely make out that sinister grin on her face. The lady known as Shave, how cruel she was to keep a surfer so long in the air. Though Lea had to be thankful for one thing - that her unique physiology allowed such a merciless torrent of strikes and blows with no physical consequence. Well, she was getting slightly nauseous from the spinning but that was more of a side effect really. "God! BAH. Dammit! GUH." At this point, the super sponge had no idea how long she could hold on. All she had left to do was to wait it out until "Harley?!" arrived...Hold on a second. "Har? EEP. Ley?"

"Harley? Harley!!" In the middle of such pandemonium, the spectating Guy dashed to his captain and pointed to their ragdoll of a crewmate. "Thank goodness you're finally here! Miss Lea said she could take care of it but she hasn't been able to land a single hit on that woman. She's insane!"

[Jade]

Harley Post #9 / Brandy Post #9

"So, you're picking on my crew, huh?" Harley tossed the question over to the masked man, who lowered himself into a fighting stance, metal-covered arms raised and ready to protect himself if he needed. "Oooooh, a man of action, huh? You look stronger than those idiots from before - so don't go disappointing me!"

"Thank goodness you're finally here! Miss Lea said she could take care of it, but...!"

Across the significantly cleared plaza, the woman who had been treating Lea like a hacky sack spun around - letting the Sponge Human drop to the ground behind her. "Harley?! Oi, Jack - tag out, you take care of the small fry!" Shay's body lowered past the tipping point for falling over, but instead of falling, the barefoot martial artist pushed off into a dead sprint toward the newly-appeared Harley. Jack hopped back and out of her way well ahead of time, giving his captain clearance for her fast approach.

"Uh, Harley- Do you think you could-?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, sorry," Harley looked away from the comet of a woman down to her cook, who she finally let drop back down to the ground. "Alright, let's-"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as Shay made impact, driving her heel into Harley's midsection. The much larger woman skidded back a few feet, away from Guy and Brandy, before coming to a stop and grabbing her attacker by the ankle - much to Shay's obvious surprise. "Gararara! You've got some fire in you, don'tcha? Harley reared back, flinging Shay first backward before she took one stomp forward, cracking the street underfoot, and then flung the other woman back the way she'd come.

While Shay hit the street and bounced, Harley stood a little straighter. "Leave that woman to me. Oi, Sayuri! You and Lea fight over who gets to take on the mask guy, alright?" Without waiting for an answer from the woman who had yet to make her presence known, she took off down the street, barreling toward Shay as she picked herself back up off the ground.

"What did I say about doing anything stupid?!" Sayuri shouted after their group's leader just as she walked up behind Guy and Brandy, where she let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Honestly, Harley... Where's Holly?"

"I sent her to try to find you two," Brandy answered. "D'Artanyan is with her."

"Good, but we're here now..." The quartermaster sighed again, dragging her hand down the blinded side of her face as she considered the situation. "I'm trusting you two to go find her - tell her to get back to the ship. Got it?"

For her part, Brandy nodded, and started to sprint away. The initial batch of Marines had been quickly dispatched, unable to stand with those brawling, but more were quickly filing in, weapons at the ready - but it was more than just the men in white and blue uniforms arriving on the scene. While the two Zoan users of the Gang leapt into action and Harley shook the ground with her approach, Shay got up to her feet, put two fingers in her mouth, and let out an ear-piercing whistle. "OI! DEMOLITION CREW, GET YOUR SORRY A**ES OUT HERE!" she bellowed, and then punched the ground as she met Harley's grin with a battle-crazed smile of her own. "Let's pound these upstaging morons into paste!"

[The Prettiest Squish]

Lea dropped to the floor with a moist Plop! So suddenly had the buoyant babe remained in the air it took her a moment to adjust to the earth's tender embrace. "Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna hurl. Damn that Shape lady!" She struggled to push up from the ground when a cloud of dirt blasted into her face. "Bah!" The Corkscrew's mad sprint had literally forced the girl to eat her dust which she promptly spat out with disgust. "Mmnasty." Lea wiped her tongue dry then looked to the ensuing chaos that was quickly unfolding. 

To her absolute delight the woman known as Shane barely put a dent into her captain's rocklike exterior and was swiftly sent flying away with an effortless toss. Lea shot up to her feet right away and cheered from afar, "Yeah Harls! Show that good-fer-nothin' who's boss!" With the kick-happy psycho temporarily out of the picture, Harley had time to issue orders for the rest of the crew. That included figuring out which of the two between Lea and Sayuri would take on the Shake's subordinate: Big Old Jock. To be frank, on any other day the mad surfer would happily fight the masked man but after riding the vomit comet against his captain, she was less inclined to fight for the chance. 

Wasting no time Lea ran straight for her cyclopean ally and pat her on the shoulder as she passed. "Hey, he's all yours, dude! Give 'em a real one-two from me, got it?!" Without even waiting for her reply, she sprinted past the Adder and made her way for the gentle giant. But even the jolly big furball had troubles of his own.

While the pandemonium around them continued to escalate, things were not growing easier for the feline. Marine soldiers swarmed the streets and began rushing him from all sides as if the biggest targets were somehow the most dangerous. Guy was simultaneously quite flattered they viewed him as a threat akin to Harley and also highly annoyed at the rate they pursued him. Using every ounce of his bestial reflexes he gently pacified each man who approached him with a swift flip onto their backs. But his peaceful methods hardly garnered the results he wanted as more and more got back up and continued to fight. "Please stay down, I do not wish to harm any of you!" But alas his words fell on deaf ears. From the vanguard, two soldiers with rifles came charging at him with rage in their eyes. The man braced himself to dodge an impossible shot when suddenly.....

"BOOYAH!!"

The blur of blue exploded onto the scene with an impressive flying kick straight into the faces of the riflemen. As she descended Lea fell on her behind with a squeak as the two Marines fell silently to the dirt, their eyes blank and dazed. "Mi-Miss Lea?" the gentleman said incredulously. 

Like a flower in blue-m, she arose. "Heh, who else? Now get ready! This is your first mate speaking here, bub! Commence Battle Formation Bubble Bass immediately!!" The Super Sponge stared confidently into the mob, her arms raised in a ferocious battle stance. The day had come. It was time to unleash their ultimate tag-team technique. 

"Um. Question, Miss Lea. What the heck even is that?"

[Jade]

Harley Post #10 / Brandy Post #10

While the captains set upon each other, the area around them descended into true chaos. Brandy charged forward, axes drawn, into a small group of Marines - who paled in the face of the hunter's serious expression and apparent lack of care that she was running directly at them. They dove to the side to get out of her way just before her dual blades could be raised in their direction, hitting the paved street hard and doing nothing to so much as slow her down.

The giant steel ball, however, did a pretty good job of doing just that.

Brandy barely had time to react between her momentum and the ball's - she brought her axes up just in time to protect her front, but the sheer weight and speed of the swinging orb still sent her skidding back the street the way she'd come.

The ball swung back up through the air before landing with a heavy thud on the street. The chain it was connected to rattled in the hands of the heavyset, shirtless man wearing a set of goggles that obscured his vision, flanked by a pair of equally rough-looking twins who each carried a large red metal I-beam resting on opposite shoulders. "And where do you think you're goin', little missy?" the heavyset man taunted. "You've got front row seats to the Demolition Crew's show, bahahaha!"

---

"He's all yours, dude!"

Sayuri rolled her eye as Lea bound off to who-knows-where past her, but stepped up as requested all the same. "Fine, fine... What'd she say your name was? 'Jack'?"

The masked man nodded as he approached. A set of large metal braces had been procured from somewhere - something like a combination between tonfas and brass knuckles, with a metal bar that he gripped onto even as the rest of the contraptions served to protect his fists and outer arms. "It's more of a nickname, but yes. And you are Sayuri the Adder."

"That's what they're calling me, I guess," she sighed. Her hand came to rest on the hilt of her still-sheathed blade, adjusting the weight - ready to draw it at a moment's notice, even as she began closing the distance between them as well. "You seem a lot more reasonable than your captain, Jack."

"I could say the same of you," came his answer. Neither had stopped moving. "But appearances can be deceiving. I would say that goes for both of us, doesn't it...?"

Words were dropped as steel clashed against steel, movements faster than any onlookers' eyes could follow until the pair were locked against each other.

---

Harley put her hand up in front of her face, grabbing the flying martial artist's extended foot before it could make contact. But before a repeat of the last time happened, a mechanical whirr filled the air and Shay's body contorted impossibly - her other leg wrapped around Harley's huge arm while her newly upside-down body reached for the ground, even though the leg in Harley's grip should have been broken to achieve the pose.

Body weight and momentum came together. Shay's fingers hit the earth, and suddenly Harley found herself raised off the ground and flipped through the air - landing heavily in the stone of the street on her back. The same whirr buzzed as Shay's leg righted itself, balancing on the fingers of one hand while her opponent picked herself up out of the earth. "You're as dumb as you look, y'know that, right?" Shay taunted, then flipped herself up around and landed on her toes instead while Harley was picking herself up. "Why would I do the same thing twice without changing anything?"

Harley paused as she stood up, apparently thinking the question over seriously for a few seconds before her eyes lit up. "Maybe it's because you're stupid," she answered confidently, which somehow seemed to deflate Shay for a moment, causing her to nearly fall over out of her loose combat stance. "But you're an ability user, huh...? Cute trick. Shame it won't save you from getting beat to a pulp."

The two women charged at each other once more, each of them wearing a dangerous grin as they threatened to collide. On the sidelines of their brawl, which had already nearly leveled the section of street and storefronts they'd started at, two Marines watched on. "... Man, they're both terrible at banter, aren't they?"

[The Prettiest Squish]

Lea slowly turned then looked back at her sidekick with immense disappointment. "The hell do you mean, 'What is that?" She stamped her tiny foot with protest and screeched in front of the whole crowd. "It's our super secret move! The unstoppable Bubble Bass!" Despite her vigor the words failed to reach Guy's ears. The man could only shrug his shoulders and shake his head with confusion. 

"This is the first time I have ever heard those words leave your mouth, Miss Lea. I don't believe this is the time to come up with such nonsensical tactics. We must act!" Even as the two conversed, more Marines continued their assault by rushing in to subdue the pirates. Yet even with the element of surprise the grunts were no match for the man's catlike reflexes as he continuously flipped each newcomer on their backs like a batch of pancakes. To make up for the losses, one of the Marines snuck up behind the shortstack with a club prepared to swing when suddenly - "Unacceptable!" Lea screamed as she shot both fists into the air, catching the shadowy uniform in the jaw. 

"I have definitely mentioned this before! The Bubble Bass is our Double Triple Awesome Deluxe Attack! Remember the catchphrase? Don't forget the tickles!" Lea demonstrated by creeping her fingers up her ribs like she was playing her torso as an accordion. Alas the masterful performance did nothing to alleviate her partner's utter bewilderment. "Miss Lea..." Guy groaned as he chucked a riflemen behind his shoulder. "What kind of technique specifies the usage of tickling? This is sounding more and more like an absurd attempt at a joke than a proper battle formation!" 

In that moment, the woman puckered her lips and glanced away to the side. Befuddled, he stared at her with an accusatory look and stuttered. "N-no...you can't be serious." Lea sheepishly began to kick the dirt at her feet like a child who'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Miss Lea, are you kidding me?" The sponge moaned with disappointment and poked her index fingers together. She looked up with a half grin and chuckled nervously, "I thought you could improvise something on the spot?"

A thunderous CLAP could be heard coming from the gentleman's face after his crewmate's poor attempt at a joke disgraced his ears. As his hand slowly left his visage a prominent red mark in the shape of a palm appeared diagonally across his face. Guy sighed the biggest of sighs he could muster before staring back down at his embarrassing excuse of a combat partner. "Miss Lea."

"Hm?" She hummed curiously.

"If I did have something in mind, would you object to my proposal?"

Lea's emerald eye gleamed with excitement. Was it possible? Could her humdrum, utterly mundane, stick-up-his-butt, stickler of a partner have something fun in store for her? Was he even capable of it? She gulped. Only one way to find out. "You can do whatever you want as long as it makes me laugh!"

The man scoffed then shared his own smug smile at the imp. "Well then, Operation Bubble Bass is a go." Without warning, the giant bent down and grabbed the unsuspecting sponge off the ground.