An Unlikely Solution for an Unlikely Situation!

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #23

The bullet hit him in the upper arm. It didn´t have enough force to go through, but it did force his hand away from the captain´s body, so his attack missed his mark.
“Yikes! Are you crazy? You could have hit me!”
She cried out, suddenly transforming in a greyish blur, before reappearing several steps away.
“My bad! Next time, I will let him to stab you!”
An ironic male voice yelled from her ship. It belonged to young, dark haired man in fluffy frog pyjamas with a marine coat over it. Lieutenant, according to his rank and exceptional sniper since he managed to hit Gabriel´s arm in that speed with standard issued rifle.
“FROOOOG HOP!”
Dropping down into a deep squad, the lieutenant launched himself into powerful jump, clearing the distance between the two ships with nearly blinding speed, before grabbing captain Cottee and throwing her onto his shoulder.
“Wait, what are you…hey!”
She screamed angrily but was silenced by Frog´s ironic reply.
“It´s your revenge isn´t it? So don´t expect your sis to do all the heavy lifting! FROOOOOG HOP!”
The girlish scream that escaped from Cottee´s throat as she flew above the ocean would normally make Gabriel smile, but not now. While the training with Namkhai definitely made his body tougher, his arm wasn´t made of steel. The bullet still caused serious damage, rendering his right arm near useless and now he had in front of him three opponents not just one, their ship with fresh soldiers were getting close every minute and he still didn´t know what happened with Beast and Eponine!
A scream of pain and frustration would be probably in order if he wasn´t such god*amned introvert. Like this, he just clenched his teeth, sinking deeper into the dark place that was born with Python´s death.
Cruelty balanced out by kindness; kindness balanced out by cruelty. It worked so well for him until he met Danielle. Then he got stuck somewhere in between, trying to protect his puppies but not in a way that would terrify her, that would make her afraid of him. And so here he was chained, driven mad fear, with one arm almost useless against three dangerous foes, when the answer was so easy. He just had to kill anyone who would get between him and his puppies.
“Boundless cruelty…Gibbous Moon”
Standing several steps away from him in a small semi-circle lieutenant Frog narrowed his eyes as he was watching Gabriel, who was leaning forward, with his head down.
“Wonderful, and there I hoped we could bring someone in alive for once…”
Cottee frowned.
“Do you think he lost it?”
Her sister raised her sword into defensive stance and her lieutenant griped his rifle firmly.
“I don´t know but…oh boy, I don´t like this!”
Out of nowhere, the wiry body of the Professor bulked up with a muscles, tearing his prized suit to the pieces so much, that all that reminded was a short resembling remnant of his pants. Seeing the transformation, Frog swiftly aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger just as Gabriel straightened himself. Because of that the bullet that was aimed at his head hit the chest instead, tearing through the skin helplessly falling flattening unable to cause any serious damage.
“Nope, I definitely don´t like this!”

---

That thunder clap took Namkhai by surprise, sending him flying into a nearby building like a human shaped wrecking ball.
“Urh…son of a…”
The Titan cursed, as he dug himself up from under a pile of debris, spiting out mouthful of blood, while the gargantuan captain walked towards him. Just the sight forced a ferocious grin on his face as he couldn´t remember time when he truly faced a worthy opponent since his duel with Gabriel. And this guy, this guy was definitely worthy.
“You should probably go and help the others, this will get messy.”
He warned Barbossa, who approached him out of nowhere, completely confusing the giant who thought he addressed him.
“How gallant of you but don´t worry, captain Cottee can take care of herself!”
Yelling these last few words, he kicked a nearby statue, sending it as a projectile against Namkhai. Facing the giant´s boot, the stone statue crumbled, showering the area with smaller debris, from which most didn´t even make their way towards the Titan, but one piece, the former chest of the statue did. The giant expected Namkhai to dodge as most punny humans did in the past, but instead the wrestler swung his arm as if he wanted to catch it, crushing the stone with a single grip of his fingers.

---

Hariyama´s technique worked wonders. When several tons weighting projectile ran through the surprised soldiers he send a lots of them flying with broken bones, however it wasn´t enough as these guys were used to sail through the Grand Line, where monsters as Hariyama weren´t out of ordinary. Thanks to that, the remaining marines managed to regroup after the initial attack and soon it was Hariyama and Niko who found themselves in troubles, faced by several soldiers each. And while these two were busy, two armed marines made their way towards the wrecked ship where Hayden and Eponine were hiding.

---

Falling from such height and on stones wasn´t painless experience even for such naturally cushioned creature as Beast. So it was only natural, that her getting back up on the feet was accompanied by lots of silent whining, caused by both pain and feeling of uneasy that was caused by the flying hammer and distant sounds of combat that were coming from the port direction.
“Is Dad in troubles?”
The fluffy wonder couldn´t imagine that anyone in the world could be stronger than her dad, but still, she didn´t feel well with such distance between them.
Perhaps she shouldn´t leave the ship after all?
Her line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted, when Danielle dropped her F bomb, capturing Beast´s attention as the doggo never hear her hoooman sister to use such words.
“Whaaaat does “f*ck mean?”
She asked, carefuly limping towards the tree and it´s strange fruit. It looked like an apple, at least in shape, but the colours were off. Where normally one would expect something between green and red, this fruit possessed bright gold colour with a silver swirling pattern running across it´s skin.
“What´s this, it looooooks beauuuuuutiful.”
She muttered poking it with her wet nose.

[Bobbie]

Once Namkhai was back on his feet, Barbossa nodded to him, feeling quite proud of himself for keeping his cool despite being so close to a man he idolises. Turning to face the largest gathering of enemy troops, he began to make his way toward Hariyama and Niko to assist them.

Drawing a wooden sword with a rounded edge, the man fought through a small group of soldiers, in order to reach the two M.A.R.I. members. His vision wasn’t the clearest, but he was trained well enough to make do without relying on it, and both Hariyama and Niko had quite a distinctive appearance that were easy to tell apart even without being able to see any close details.

"May I be of assistance to you both?"

---

Meanwhile, Hayden was just about to exit the ship when he saw two marines that were approaching. “Sh-t!” He hissed beneath his breath, before turning around and swiftly going back into the wreckage. Adjusting Eponine’s body in his arms, he moved deeper into the ship to find the cabins, and stumbled upon the storage holding instead.

The entire ship’s structure was on its side, so the room was full of supplies that had fallen from the shelves and making his way through the mess was not the easiest task, but there was enough space for them to fit comfortably.

Putting her down on the flattest surface he could find, he continued to tend to her wounds, though the pharmacist was clearly struggling to do so without feeling sick again. Having cleaned the large cut on her face, he only got a more gruesome view of it, but the handkerchief that he held pressed to her cheek was quickly soaked.

“Okay, erm…” Carefully leaving the handkerchief in place, he rose to his feet once more and made his way out of the storage, kicking whatever preserved goods that were in front of him out of the way and nearly tripping in a few.

As he recalled, the cabin he was taken to should be very far away, and this woman was clearly the medic on the crew. If there were any medical tools and supplies, he’d expect to find them in the room he had been taken to, presumably Eponine’s. Sure enough, he’d find the closest thing to a medical sewing kit and return to his patient.

Having only stepped into the room, he heard a creaking sound from the entrance to the toppled over vessel, which Hayden assumed was the two marines. Grabbing a loose item of furniture, he pushed it to block vision into the storage where he and Eponine were, then rushed to her side and knelt down.

“Okay… that’s a lot…” one glance at her wound and the young blond’s stomach was turning again. He cleaned the medical suture needle as well as possible, then the wound, and began the delicate procedure with very shaky hands.

---

Danielle was frustrated and slowly slipping into despair. It was an emotionally exhausting day, this chaos was really the last thing that she needed. Had she been a superstitious woman, she’d be rambling on about being cursed by now.

Then Beast asked a question that immediately snapped her out of it and brought her back to face the reality. It was like swearing in front of a child, and she just made that grave mistake.

It’s alright, she thought to herself, Beast won’t speak in front of the Professor, so he won’t ever find out.

Still, she stood up and turned to face Beast. “It’s not a nice word, and I’m sorry I said it. Don’t ever repeat it, ok-” Right when she thought the day really couldn’t get any worse, she caught sight of Beast poking what appeared to be a devil fruit with her wet nose.

Her eye went wide and she ran toward the malamute, hoping to make it in time before she’d eat it.

“BEAST, NO!”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #24

The bullet tore through his skin and managed to drawn some blood, but ultimately failed to cause any serious injury as it´s deformed pieces fell to the ground.
“Shit…is he some kind of an ability user or what?”
Frog cried out, taking several steps back.
“Dunno, load an AP, we´ll cover you.”
The blonde captain ordered, raising her rapier while Cottee prepared her butterfly swords, but it was already too late.
“Gibbous Moon: Seismic Stomp!”
From the three marine officers, only Sharon could see the swift stomp of Gabriel´s leg. For the rest of them it was as if they were hit by a local earthquake. Just the sheer power of the Professor´s leg cracked the stone pavement beneath his feet, creating a large crater, from which powerful tremors travelled, knocking the marines of their feet.
“Phantom Step”
“Whooooaaaa…oooh, thanks.”
Frog lost his balance, nearly falling to the ground only to find someone´s hand against his chest for additional support. The initial relief he felt however swiftly changed in pure panic as he realised that it was neither of his colleagues who caught him, but the Professor himself.
“Sh…”
Even his curse was too slow, as Gabriel´s hand slide up his chin, pressing up and back, while his leg swept the lieutenants feet, smashing his head against the stone with enough strength to shatter them into pieces.
“F*CK! Fiery Dance!”
Standing closer to the Professor Captain Cottee turned around right after she regained her balance, slashing with both of her blades in unison with such strength it set the air around them on fire.
Being in no place to dodge, Gabriel curled down, growling in pain and frustration as the flames caused more damage on his body than the blades themselves.
“Fiery…”
Cottee raised took a different stance, raising one of her blades to opposite shoulder and the other one to opposite hips, but before she could unleash her next technique, the Professor used his body as a spring, launching himself backward against the captain. He hit her with the shoulder of his wounded arm, just as her swords started moving, shattering her blades, before sending her flying , earning another burn on his arm.

“Son of a b***”

Sharon cursed, finally releasing her feet from the high heel shoes. Unlike the rest of them she managed to keep her balance, however one of her heels got trapped in the crack caused by Gabriel´s Seismic Stomp and broke in half, robbing her of precious seconds, that could completely change the direction of their fight.

---

Witnessing the display of Namkhai´s strength, the giant didn´t even slowed down as for him, the ability to shatter stone with one´s grip was something to be expected rather than something exceptional. Running two more steps the colossus came to a halt, swinging his gargantuan fist in a downward arc to smash the tiny Titan in front of him.
“Bambai”
Contrary to a common sense, Namkhai stood his ground, intercepting the incoming fist with his open palms. As they clashed, a gentle ripple ran through the body of the giant captain, forcefully relaxing all of his muscles, dispersing all of his strength.
Even then it took all of the wrestler´s incredible strength to just hold huge fist, his muscles bulging ,as he moved under the weight and pulled. The giant was simply too heavy for a full throw even for someone of his strength, but he still managed to pull him enough to tear the behemoth to the ground.
“You little…ouch!”
The giant cried in pain as Namkhai´s elbow from a spin hit him in the eye, before the wrestler unleashed barrage of open palm strikes, hitting the giant over dozens of times, before he finally managed to grab the Titan and throw him away.
“F*cker, I´ll turn you into mush!”
The captain yelled, slowly climbing into his feet, before running after the wrestler, ignoring the damage he caused to the coastal buildings in the town.

---

The two soldiers who arrived to the destroyed ship stopped near the entrance to the lower deck, looking back at the battle between their brethren and the two M.A.R.I. members and it didn´t look that well. After the initial assault the remaining soldiers managed to encircle the two fighters, but Hariyama with his size and tough body proved to be just too much tank of a man for them to take down, with regular blades having only a little effect on a man who could made his muscles as dense as iron at will. The other one, Niko seemed to be an easier target as his counterattacking style was better suited to fight single opponent and not a group of them, however before someone could bring that man down an old guy with wooden sword attacked and gave the tribal warrior enough space to recover. That was why their Petty Officer send these two to the wreckage to search for potential survivors, that could be used as a hostages, at least, until the remaining two ships arrive with reinforcements.
And so, they entered the place, pistols loaded and ready, searching for anyone who could be arrested and used as a bargaining chip.

---

The fluffy doggo was curious about the strange fruit and decided to explore it. When Danielle raised her voice to stop her from doing something extremely stupid, the malamute lady quickly turned to her with guilty expression on her face.
“I didn´t…”
She paused out of sudden, her face turning so green it was visible even through the thick fur she possessed.
“Uuuuuuuuuh it was disgusting!”
She cried, dropping to the ground, where she rolled left end right, trying to wipe her tongue with her paws.
Two tings became obvious, first, she took a “small” bite out of the apple as good half of it was missing and second, whatever it was, it greatly improved her ability to speak human.
“It´s so bad! I think it was poisonous, Danny help, I don´t want to die!”
The overdramatic actress cried on the ground while loud explosions were coming from the direction of the sea.

[Bobbie]

Kieran Barbossa was more than happy to be of assistance to these warriors. It was nothing short of an honour and no thanks were necessary as he saw that he had offered some sort of cover for at least one of the two companions he now had by his side.

There was little time to relish the moment of meeting celebrities, however, as the oncoming attack was quick to draw the man’s attention back to the matter at hand. Wielding his wooden sword well, he fought against a number of marines, able to fend for himself efficiently. He found that impaired vision was less of an obstacle when facing a group of opponents rather than in a one-on-one situation; broader strikes were more effective and relied less on precision when the target was a larger area.

Unfortunately, this did mean that finer details in battle were missed, such as the enemy army thinning by just two soldiers, that was entirely missed by him - the two soldiers who strayed toward the ship where Hayden and Eponine were.

---

Hayden grimaced with each glance that he got of his own handiwork on the poor woman’s face, but he figured anything was better than leaving her to bleed to death in this ship by herself.

His hands were still shaking by the end of it and he would occasionally have to pause to look away with a sudden retch, but his empty stomach prevented anything more than sounds from coming out of his mouth. This was always followed by steady breaths and quiet mumblings as the young man talked himself through a process he never imagined he would find himself in.

“Study pharmacology, great idea…” he complained in a hushed tone. “You’ll only work from behind a counter,” his tone altered as if he were mimicking somebody who uttered those very words to him in the past. “No real trauma, I promise! You won’t ever see any-”

A chill suddenly ran down the twin’s spine as he heard the sound of a hammer being pulled back with a cranking noise that echoed through the empty wooden vessel.

“No, no, no, no!” In a hurry, Hayden finished the messy job of Eponine’s stitches, tying them off as neatly as he could before he stood and went to the doorway. The furniture debris covered the entrance quite nicely, but it was still possible to see through the gaps in the shelving. Peering through, the rookie medic couldn’t see anyone yet, but he caught sight of some shifting shadows - two of them.

Turning back to Eponine, he gently grabbed her shoulders and dragged her to the side of the room to hide her from anyone who passed by. They weren’t perfectly concealed and would be spotted in an instant with a proper search of the room, but without actually popping one’s head in to peep around corners, they were hidden well enough from intruders.

---

Danielle stared at Beast, her mouth open in shock. She just… she just ate a piece of that devil fruit… the blonde’s gaze turned to the half eaten fruit, then back to the fluffy doggo, whose face was turning green.

“You did…” she uttered before watching in horror as the dog confirmed it by dropping to the ground, rolling in all directions as she hopelessly tried to wipe away the wretched flavours that just touched her tongue.

“I can’t possibly be responsible for this… you were probably not even supposed to be off the ship.” Danielle’s thoughts were spoken out loud as she was mortified - was The Professor going to blame her for this?

Shaking her head, she tried to focus on what was really important. “Okay… Beast, you’re not going to die.” She reached out to pet the beloved malamute, hoping that she was right about that. “It was just a Devil Fruit, it’s not poisonous… those things are known to taste pretty nasty, it’s partly why I’d never dream of having one anywhere near my mouth.” She wanted to scold Beast for just taking a bite out of it, but she was a dog, at the end of the day. Her sense of smell and taste were a huge part of gathering information about her surroundings. Yet…

“Now, you need to listen to what I'm about to tell you. If you ever see a strange-looking fruit, you do not bite it, do you understand?” She instructed, sternly, as she tried to get the most important basics in order now that it was already eaten so as to avoid any further damage. “And no swimming for you. You are, under no circumstances, to submerge yourself fully in water. Only shallow puddles. Is that clear?”

Unfortunately, Danielle only knew what she read about Devil Fruits, and had no real experience with them herself. As far as she was concerned, there was no way of telling what kind of Devil Fruit Beast had eaten, though she had learnt that there are different kinds.

“Are you feeling okay? You’re a lot more talkative… do you feel like you’re going to grow a second head or something crazy like that? Maybe double in size? Shrink?”

She hadn't the faintest clue what sort of transformation would come next, if any at all. As she tried to maintain a calm facade, outwardly, the treasure huntress was in full panic on the inside as she kept asking herself, over and over again...  How the hell am I going to explain that I let Beast eat a Devil Fruit to the Professor…?

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #25

Sharon didn´t waste her time. Now barefoot, she rushed forward, unleashing swift and powerful thrusts against the Professor, but it didn´t go as she wanted.
“Charging Moon!”
Relaxing his body for a split of second, Gabriel dodged her attack, while at the same time directing his body into blindingly fast roundhouse kick, that clashed with the blunt side of her blade just as she began to pulling it back.
The slim piece of steel snapped, letting Gabriel´s leg continue in it´s movement, carried by its momentum.
“How…”
Dumbfounded, Sharon looked at the now useless handle of her sword, trying to figure out what just happened, but the martial artist didn´t give her enough time. Planting his foot firmly to the ground, he twisted his body, sending the blonde flying with a backhand strike.
“My puppies…”
Gabriel muttered, making one unsure step towards the ship. It hurt a lot as his own strength was slowly crushing his bones and tearing tendons.
He wished to return to his regular self, but before he could a large crescent shaped blade flew in his direction from the house he sent Sharon in.
“Urgh…”
Cursing for himself, the Professor raised his arms to block the incoming attack, earning a shallow cut at his forearms as the Rankyaku smashed into them.
“You b*stard now you did it!”
The blonde captain cursed, making her way out of the wreckage while the original inhabitants of the house were running away screaming.
Gabriel frowned, something changed with threw away the remnants of her sword, but that wasn´t it. No there was...strange aura around her body, like if it was enveloped by thin golden smoke.
“What the…”
Before the Professor could finish his sentence, she vanished. Not fast enough for him to lose a track of her movement, but still fast enough so he couldn´t intercept her. She jumped up with blinding speed, moving left and right in the skies above his head. For a split of second Gabriel couldn´t understand the meaning of such action then one of the “clouds” of compressed air exploded downwards in the form of long needle shaped blast, that hit the ground next to his left leg.
“Shock wave?”
Then it came. Falling as a murderous rain dozens of these blasts erupted one after another. There was no pattern to it, nothing that could tell him where to move to avoid them.
“Mirrored Moon.”
The Professor tried his best to dance around them, but even his prodigious defence was soon overwhelmed.
“S*it…”
Gabriel cursed for himself as several of these blasts hit him and knocked him to the ground. They didn´t have enough strength to pierce through his enhanced muscles physically, but the shockwave of their impact still went through, adding more damage to his already strained body.
BUMP
He was in pain, more pain than he felt since his fight with Namkhai. His whole body protested against just the idea of any other movement, but there was still something stronger than pain.
“My puppies…”
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Gabriel slowly climbed up to his feet, his body slowly returning into it´s former self.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
“You are still alive after taking my Fairy Light?”
Standing three steps in front of him, Sharon Cottee was panting, trying her best to catch her breath as her last technique took a lot from her reserves, but the golden aura that was around her body didn´t disappear yet.
BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
“What the…don´t tell me you are about to get a heart attack old man!”
She chuckled when she realised the loud, rhythmical sound she was hearing was his heart.
“Killed by your own technique would be too shameful wouldn´t it…well in that case let me help you out.”
As he stumbled one step forward, Sharon raised both of her fist forward, taking wider, more stable stance.
“Marine Fairy Sword!”
A pulse of power went through her whole body, from legs towards her fist, releasing powerful, needle shaped shock wave that pierced directly through Gabriel´s heart.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
Or at least that was what she for a split of second thought that happened, before the afterimage dissolved and she noticed the stab wound right under her chest.
“Son of a…”
Sharon whispered, before collapsing to the ground, with the Professor standing behind her back.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
“New Moon: Silver Charge!”

---

“Well, that didn´t go as planned”.
Growled Namkhai when he found himself planted in a wall of small family house, whose inhabitants were just leaving the property in panic. That b*astard definitely squeezed him hard, the Titan realised, as he more or less fell back on his feet, feeling sharp pain during every breath as some of his ribs got broken.
Unfortunately, he didn´t have enough time to recover as the giant was running in his direction, and the battle in the port didn´t look that well either as Gabriel was struggling against the captains and while Hariyama and co. were keeping the remaining marines at bay for now, two ships with fresh reinforcements were getting closet every minute so…he had to do something fast.
“YOU DAMN F*CKER!”
Hard to say if he was more angered by the fact that some punny human stopped his strike or by the black eye he got from it, but the giant captain was furious. In his rage, he launched himself to the air with the clear intention to crush Namkhai under his monstrous strength.
“Sh*t”
Cursing, the wrestler jumped to the side with all of his inhuman might, but it still wasn´t enough as a large stone block from the destroyed house hit him mid-flight, earning him large bruise on both arms he used to protect himself.
Hitting the ground hard, the Titan rolled for a moment, before he managed to grab the stone beneath breaking through it with his fingers to create a hold that stopped him.
Just in time as the giant was charging against him again, this time in very low posture, probably trying to sweep him with one of his arms.
Growling from pain, the wrestler rolled back to his feet and jumped backwards to avoid it. And thus, their battle continued, bringing havoc and destruction to the town. Several times the giant gave Namkhai an opportunity for counterattack, but the Titan didn´t take it, luring him closer and closer to the coast instead. It was a dangerous strategy, once that cost him dearly as even man of his might couldn´t guard himself against all attacks and flying debris unleashed by the behemoth he was fighting against.
It took just a couple of minutes of senseless rampaging, before the giant finally stopped, gasping for an air. But where he was just tired with a black eye, Namkhai was bloodied and covered in bruises with one broken arm hanging along his body.
“Where is your bravado now little man!”
The giant boasted, watching as Namkhai was backing off, mistaking his action for a sign of fear.
“Your boss dead, our reinforcements almost here and you have nowhere to run…TIME TO DIE!”
Yelling from the top of his lungs the giant clenched one of his massive fists, while a rain of shockwaves was falling down on Gabriel, trying to finish off this little nuisance once and for all.
“Mushgikh“
This time, Namkhai didn´t try to run away, but took a wider, more stable stance instead, intercepting the incoming strike with his healthy arm. This time, he wasn´t trying to stop the attack, instead he used gentle, flow like movement to twist and bend the incoming power, throwing the giant to the air. The captain realised too late what happened as his mighty back crushed into the docking ships, smashing them to the pieces, before his head hit the shallow end of the sea. For a moment he was just standing there on his neck, gargantuan colossus with legs pointing to the sky, before gravity claimed the rest of his body and pulled it down in to the ocean.
“Oh f*ck…”
The titan growled as he saw the incoming wave.

---

Hariyama and Niko were holding themselves well, especially with Barbossa´s help, but both of them were slowly getting tired and worn down by the sheer numbers of enemies they were facing just as the number of accumulated cuts and other smaller injuries. So, when the wave came crashing it was a relief for them.
“OSHI-DASHI!”
Fighting with his face towards the sea, the sumo wrestler noticed the incoming water first, hardening his body and rooting himself in the ground to withstand the impact.
The crashing wave hit him like a hammer but when the water went down, he was still standing, unlike the marines and Niko, who found himself pulled back into the ocean.
The crash didn´t go unnoticed by the two marines in the ship as well. Unable to find anyone so far, they became startled when a powerful wave crashed not the ship, filling it with a see water up to the knees, before disappearing again. Fortunately this time the boat was already on a dry land, wedged between a building and powerful tree and so it wasn´t sent flying still, it was something these two men didn´t count with.
“What the h*ll?”
Cried out one.
“Something´s wrong, let´s get moving!”
Yelled the other one as they rushed outside to check out what happened.

---

The initial words that came from Danielle didn´t comfort the terrified doggo at all. If anything, their effect was the exact opposite, installing more panic into her already terrified heart.
“No, please, don´t let me die! I promise I won´t eat strange things ever again, please…”
The doggo paused after the treasure huntress mentioned that she wasn´t dying out of poisoning.
“I am not?”
She asked carefully, rolling back to her feet.
“What´s a Devil Fruit?”
Ever curious she asked about the nature of the strange thing she just ate, nodding, when Danielle urged her not to eat any strange looking pieces of fruit in the future.
“Nope…never, this was so disgusting that…I CAN´T SWIM?!”
The malamute cried out in shock as the truth was revealed to her.
“But…but…I love swimming! It´s the most amazing thing in the world, right after running, belly rubs and fetch…and fish! How am I supposed to hunt for fish when…”
She stopped as a series of loud cracks and explosions came from the port.
“Uuuuuh, Danny is dad really alright? I think we should go back…”
Unsure if she was more afraid that her dad could be hurt or that she will have to tell him what happen.

[Bobbie]

The marine forces seemed to be endless as Barbossa fought on against them. He had the stamina to keep going, but not the strength that his two companions displayed. However, none of that mattered soon as a massive wave was incoming.

His eyes widening as he saw the blurry wave in the distance that was quickly getting closer, his attention darted to Hariyama, the man whose body was like an unmovable boulder. In an instant, he jumped behind the large sturdy figure of the sumo wrestler, hoping to have most of the wave blocked by the giant’s leg like a wall.

The loud crashing sound of the wave hitting the poor man and spraying outward in all direction was a relief as the swordfighter’s plan appeared to be successful and he was kept dry for the most part. That was until all the water that rushed over the shore began to go back out to the ocean.

As the rush of water went back out, Barbossa felt his feet rise off the slick ground and his body was lifted. Thankfully, Hariyama once again saved the day as he blocked the path that the water tried to drag the older man along and swallow him into the ocean. His back pressed against Hariyama’s calf, he suddenly spotted Niko being pulled out with the mighty force of the sea.

“Hold this, please!” He shouted up at the giant in comparison as he rolled against Hariyama leg, and leapt off the wrestler’s shin to be carried with the water. In one hand, he held his wooden sword extended toward Hariyama, its length making up for some of the distance between Barbossa’s tiny body compared and the larger man's hand. His other hand reached out to grab Niko’s forearm.

For a moment, he was submerged under water and unsure if his sword had been caught in time. His grip on Niko slipping down to the tanned man’s wrist, but then grew firm once more. Either way, they would either be saved together, or be pulled out together.

---

The rumbling sound of the water was not missed on Hayden, as the young pharmacist couldn’t stop the panic from rising in his chest. He had no idea what was going on outside, and couldn’t risk making a sound because of the two marines that were within the wrecked ship’s remains, searching for them or anyone they could get their hands on.

Suddenly, the entire structure rocked and creaked at the force of the wave crashing into it. Nearly losing his balance, Hayden grabbed onto the fallen furniture with one hand to try and steady himself, while he other hand went to Eponine, protectively.

“What the…?” He whispered quietly, frantically looking around for any indication of what was happening, his eyes wide with fear. It felt like an earthquake, but the ship thankfully did not dislodge from its wedged position. That, however, was only one thing to worry about, as water gushed into the ship, seeping in between the splintering wood and down into the storage room where he and Eponine were.

The blond’s eyes travelled down to his feet that were quickly becoming submerged below the rising water level, then he looked toward the entrance of the storage room. Their location was below the area where the two marines were, causing a lot of the water that was up there to deposit itself down into the room they sought refuge in instead of return to the ocean.

“Oh no…” Water was coming in from everywhere as the water had already risen well beyond his ankles; while he could stand upright to keep his head out of the water for a while, Eponine could not.

With the sound of the sea water streaming into their hiding spot at an alarming rate, Hayden hadn’t heard that the two men left, as he rushed to the entrance. “No.. no- HELP!” Calling out in vain, he helplessly tried to move the furniture that had partially blocked the entrance, but the force of the water had jammed it in place. He had no idea how much more water would be filling the space they were in, his mind instantly leading him to believe the worst.

They were going to drown.

Trying to pull at the wooden shelving, his feet kept slipping until they finally slipped out entirely beneath him and fell backward with a loud splash in the water and a second blow to the head as the water wasn’t deep enough to prevent it from hitting the wooden floor.

Thankfully, his head really must have been as hard as Danielle always claimed it to be, as it was not enough to knock the young man out. Hayden rose from the water, sputtering and coughing.

The water was now at his knees and still pouring in.

Trying to move the item of furniture again, the buoyancy of the shelving made it easier now that the amount of water increased and lifted some of the weight for him.

Hayden turned to Eponine with a sigh of relief, seeing the water now reached her. Hooking his arms under hers, he began to carry her out of the storage hold, slowly walking backward as he watched his footing. Wading through the floating debris, he made it to a higher point in the ship where the two marines previously were. The floor was wet with some puddles, but not flooded.

He emerged from the ship and Eponine was gently put down, then Hayden simply collapsed and lay on his back on solid ground, breathing and trying to calm down. “A pirate's life... is not... for me.”

---

Danielle watched Beast, trying to make sense of everything herself while also being bombarded by the doggo’s questions and comments. With a sigh, she shook her head once Beast was done panicking and gave herself a chance to process the shock herself.

“No, Beast, no more swimming… sorry. It will be alright, you can enjoy other things and before you know it, you’ll hardly even miss swimming at all.” She offered with a smile, which promptly faded when she too heard some commotion coming from the port and worry was written all over her face. As she recalled, she had left her brother there before she went to the castle with Gabriel to offer up the jewellery box.

The ceiling of the cave they were in shook as some stones and dust fell, but that was just about it. It seemed that they were in a fairly safe spot, and while she was sure that the Professor and the rest of the crew could handle themselves very well, she was worried about Hayden.

“I’m… I’m sure the Professor is fine, but we should try and get out of here and head back.” Her head tilted, she stared up at the hole they fell through.

“I can’t reach that on my own… Beast, can I climb on your back while you stand on your hind legs? That way I might make it to climb out, find a rope or something to drop down, and I can try to pull you up.” Pausing for a moment, she looked at Beast, silently estimating how much the giant malamute must weigh.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #26

It was a horrible plan. One that was born from a brief memory that returned to him as he was climbing back to his feet. His heart, it was racing like a crazy when he saved Hayden so perhaps if he tried to push it a little bit he could get the boost he needed. He had no idea if it will work or no, yet he bet his life on it anyway as the fear for his puppies was stronger than what was left of his self-preservation instinct.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
He was feeling terrible. His whole body was in pain from the damage he accumulated over the course of his fight just as from his own techniques, but he couldn´t stop, not when his puppies were so close!
Just as he was about to move towards the ship however things went south again as Namkhai crashed the giant captain into the ocean. Up until now the Professor was ignoring their battle, his mind focused solely on the simple most important goal he had but now when the road was clear he could see the bigger picture, like the large wave, that was moving towards him.
“Flame Clouds”
Just a single jump driven by his enhanced reflexes propelled him high in the sky, far away from the crashing waves that hit most of the people who remained on the beach, his eyes showing him the scene almost as if he was standing there with them.
Hariyama withstood the impact, saving his two brothers in arms as he quickly grabbed Barbossa´s arm, pulling both him and Niko back to the safety. Namkhai, just as most of the marines was pulled to the sea but got lucky as the quickly disappearing water left him stuck on part of Sigrid, that was above the surface, while the giantess herself was cursing and spitting water that got into her mouth.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
The Professor landed on the side of his overturned ship, falling to his knees as his legs betrayed him, listening to the sweet calls of unconscious that was lurking around.
BUMP BUMP BUMP
Two marines left the ship. Unlike their colleagues unaffected by what happened on the outside. They looked confused and mildly terrified, but only until another pair left the vessel. Hayden carrying another unconscious person with large wound on right cheek…Eponine!
BUMP BUMP BUMP
One of the marines opened his mouth in shock and jumped away, while the other one tried to raise his pistol. Gabriel killed them both faster than he could even formulate a single thought about what was happening.
Pushing Hayden away, the Professor dropped down on his knees, with his whole world shrinking to the black haired woman in front of him.
“No, no, no, no…this wasn´t supposed to happen…not to you…”
The Professor hugged her tightly petting the long black hair. She was hurt. His little puppy was hurt while he was too busy fighting. Because he was too slow…to weak…she suffered.
“I am so sorry…”
The pain from his injuries was nothing compared to the pain caused by her wound.

---

Almost as if she could read Danielle´s mind, Beast made an offended face while the treasure huntress was thinking whatever she would be capable of pulling her up on rope or not.
“I am not that heavy.”
She protested with slightly offended tone.
“I am just fluffy!”
She said it as it was something that was filling her with immense pride, while slowly walking towards the walls of the cave.
“It´s very high…should I try to throw you up instead?”
She asked, but quickly changed her mind after another explosion erupted in the town, reaching up with her front paws, before slowly walking forward with her hind ones to reach even higher.
“Just be careful please…”

[Bobbie]

Once Barbossa was released by Hariyama, he let out a sigh and let go of Niko. “Thank you, friend.” He looked up at the large man and offered a grateful smile and a nod, before turning to Niko.

“Are you alright?” he patted his newest comrade on the back with a firm hand and an endearing grin. “Perhaps… we should look around and see to anyone else who may need assistance?” Squinting, the middle-aged man looked around him, forming a quick assessment of the situation. Most of their enemies had been washed out to sea, but a few remained, even fewer standing.

---

As Hayden emerged and fell to his knees, he barely saw the two marines until he heard the hammer of a pistol being pulled back. Rising to his feet on wobbly legs as fast as he could, he raised his hands defensively and shook his head.

“No, don’t-”

The young pharmacist flinched as they were both taken care of in the blink of an eye. There was a loud sound, and all of a sudden there was nothing, what was left of the two men no longer standing before him.

In shock, Danielle’s brother stood there, trembling, and staring at the empty space where the marines previously stood with eyes wide. Then he was suddenly pushed and he tripped onto the wet ground with a splat, the puddles mixed with mud and debris from the chaos at the port making a sludgy sound as he fell into one.

Much like his sister, Hayden clenched his teeth, but not out of anger. The practiced response was one that attempted to keep himself from hurling again. His stomach turned and hurt as there were none of its contents left.

“Mm… I…” he started, the urge to throw up still strong enough to interrupt his words as he looked at Gabriel.

“I tried…” taking a deep breath, his body tensed and he suddenly rolled onto his side, emptying whatever fluids were left in his stomach that burnt his throat on their way out. This was crazy to Hayden… he’d never been involved in any form of real fight or surrounded by anything as dreadful as this.

Moving away from his own mess, he forced himself to sit up, facing Gabriel once more with a deathly pallor and tear-filled eyes. “She was bleeding a lot, so I… I’m sorry, they’re not perfect… ugh, how does my sister do this?”

---

Danielle smiled, despite a gut feeling inside her that she needed to get back to the ship as soon as possible.

“You are fluffy, and beautiful,” she corrected Beast’s statement, before looking up toward the hole. “No, I should be able to climb-” The explosion was a reminder that she had no time to waste.

The second Beast was in position, Danielle climbed up onto her back, then higher toward her head and snout, being extremely careful where she stepped so as not to hurt Beast. Once she was at the highest point she could reach, she leapt toward the opening and grabbed onto the edge of the broken path, hanging for a moment.

“Almost…” with a few swings, Danielle was able to pull herself up onto ground level and she peered in at Beast. “I’ll be back!”

With that, Danielle disappeared from sight. She wasn’t gone for long, however, as she soon returned with a long vine from the garden near the fountain. Wrapping it around a tree for stability, she threw one end down into the subterranean level where she left Beast and held onto the other end.

“Bite onto that and I’ll pull you up. Let me know when you’re ready!”

Using the tree as some form of pulley, she dug her heels into the ground and waited for Beast’s signal before she started pulling with all her strength, the rope wrapped around her own waist for added stability. She recalled a training exercise that Barbossa made all his students engage in, a test of wits over physical strength. That was not to say, however, that physical strength was not needed… Beast certainly was fluffy, but she was far from light.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #27

Holding Eponine in his arms, the Professor was barely listening to what Hayden was saying, trying to convince himself, that he has to release her and go inside to look for Beast sooner or later. However, he couldn´t force himself to do so. Not just because he was terrified, that something could happen to her again while he would be gone, but also because he knew what he will find there. That fluffy ball was good doggo, so the only way Eponine could get hurt like that was if whoever did that got through her first.
Unfortunately, he couldn´t stay like that forever, as the world refused to wait till he gets over his feelings of grief and guilt. For now, the remaining marines were too busy saving their drowning and injured companions, but that wasn´t something that would last forever, and the terrifying yet barely standing figure of Namkhai supported by Hariyama wouldn´t be able to hold them back much longer.
“Make me a favor, take her to the ship…that big one.”
Gabriel nodded towards the now empty marine carrier that was the only ship capable sailing after their battle.
“Namkhai, get everyone on the deck I…have to do something.”
His voice gave up on him as he entered what remained of their ship, slowly walking through it´s interior with fear slowly transforming into confusion and anger. He found lots of their things just lying around, he found Henry´s body but no signs of Beast.
“Where is she?”
Confused, the Professor rushed outside, almost colliding with marine Petty Officer who, together with four other armed soldiers decided to do their duty and stop the members of M.A.R.I. from boarding the marine ship.
“Hey what the…you are under arrest!”
The young soldier raised his gun but something he saw in Gabriel´s eyes make his arm shake so hard he would likely miss even from the point-blank distance.
“Where is my puppy?!”
The Professor growled.

---

The fluffy doggo patiently waited for Danielle to climb on her back and then up of the hole, nervously looking towards the port. It was strangely quiet as no more explosions were coming from that direction, which made the doggo even more afraid of the fate of her dad and the rest of her friends.
“Hurry up Danielle!”
She howled desperately.
Fortunately, the treasure huntress showed up right afterward with a long vine they could use instead of rope.
Biting into it, the oversized malamute started climbing up, using her unnatural strength and all four paws to help Danielle as much as she could to finally get back on the surface.
“Huff…climbing is hard.”
She complained when all of her paws were finally on stable ground before realizing why was she hurrying so much in the first place.
“We…we have to go!”
Beast yelled, tossing Danielle on her back before sprinting towards the port.

[Bobbie]

Hayden watched the Professor, who appeared to be going through a trauma of his own. Seeing him with Eponine, it became clear that she meant very much to the man and a part of him wondered if they were related or had some other more romantic ties. His thoughts were interrupted when Gabriel asked for the favour of taking her to the ship.

He wasn’t sure if Gabriel was addressing him or his other crewmates, but Hayden nodded nonetheless. Turning to look at the boat he was referring to, however, he regretted that gesture in an instant.

“That’s the marine ship…” he uttered, as if it could be possible that Gabriel didn’t realise that and just made an honest mistake. The Professor soon disappeared inside the ship, leaving him with Eponine. Sighing, he crawled over to her and steadied his legs before he slipped his arms underneath to lift her with him as he rose to his feet.

His arms were burning, his muscles not at all used to doing so much work, but he pushed through for two reasons - first of all, now was not the time to complain with all the more grievous injuries that were endured by others, especially Eponine; secondly, he didn’t want to look so weak in front of all these strong figures.

Having heard Gabriel address Namkhai and give him the command to assist with getting everyone onto the deck, Hayden decided to find him and follow the man toward the ship, hiding behind him if necessary.

---

Once Beast was up, Danielle let out a sigh, relieved to have the weight removed. “Yes, it is…” she agreed, while beginning to untie the vine from around her wait when Beast suddenly grabbed her and tossed her onto her back.

Grabbing onto tufts of the giant talking malamute’s fur with one hand, she finished untying the vine with the other and let it fall off behind them while Beast ran. She was also getting worried about her brother and the others left on the ship, where it sounded like all the explosions and chaos were coming from.

However, there was another matter that she was nervous about - more than revealing that Beast had eaten a devil fruit, it was the fact that she had no idea what abilities the fruit actually bestowed upon her, and she could only assume that neither did Beast. If they were in a more controlled environment, safe, and had more time, they would be able to figure it out slowly and cautiously, but that wasn’t possible.

As they arrived at the port, Danielle’s eye widened. Seeing their ship broken to pieces, she had a similar thought to what the Professor just had, but for her brother instead.

“Hayden!” Leaping off Beast’s back, she made her way toward the wreck in a sprint, assuming that he was inside, but the Professor and a marine stood in her way. Very much like her very dear friend, the treasure huntress was blinded by her worry for a loved one as she drew her sword and rushed to the marine. Her steel blade chimed twice as she struck the rubble scattered on the ground by her feet two times while she moved with unmatched fury shown before.

Hayden could be hurt.

Tilting her scimitar, the blade seemed to catch light that was non-existent at that hour, temporarily blinding her target who turned to glance at her and see a Golden Flash. Raising her blade, a golden trail was left behind it as she spun the sword in her grasp and turned it to aim her third strike at the marine with the flat edge of her weapon.

Danielle’s empowered Golden Strike had the same force as a large mallet colliding with his skull and it sent him smashing into the ground in a painful skid along the pier. Turning to Gabriel, she sheathed her blade and grabbed his shoulder.

“Where is Hayden!?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #28

Not really in the right state of mind, the Professor locked the Petty Officer with his gaze. Whatever the poor man saw in his cold gray eyes were quite unpleasant as he backed away from the wounded martial artist, his arm with the pistol shaking possibly even more than his knees. And the remaining four soldiers that were accompanying him weren´t in better condition either.
“Where…”
Gabriel raised his voice again, giving them the last chance to save their lives, when out of nowhere the stern mask on his face melted, revealing kind and welcoming smile, that put the expression of pure confusion on the Petty Officer´s face. Unfortunately, it didn´t last long there as Danielle knocked him out from behind, making the Professor proud.
“She was with you, all the time she was with you.”
He laughed in relief, grabbing the treasure huntress in one arm embrace as his second arm was uselessly hanging along his body.
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!”
Beast yelled from the top of her lungs, sprinting towards him without caring about the remaining marines between her and the Professor. One of them reacted in time and managed to run away the rest of them were cosplaying pins to her bowling ball, flying in away as the colossal furball hit them in full speed.
“Beast?”
Surprised by what he considered was his doggo talking Gabriel raise an eyebrow only for his eyes to widen as the malamute overestimated her ability to stop on wet stone, hitting him and Danielle as well.
“Urgh…”
Falling on his injured back, the Professor cursed, but any other protest swiftly disappeared under the endless fluff of Beast´s coat.
“You are hurt! Why are you hurt? Are you going to die? Please don´t die! I ate some weird fruit and though I will die to but Danielle saved me!”
Standing above her precious humans, Beast was frenetically licking Gabriel´s face almost as if she thought it could heal any injury.
“Over there…”
He finally answered Danielle´s question by pointing towards the large ship, while scratching Beast behind her ear. Overjoyed that at least she was unharmed and well.
“Wait…”
Gabriel suddenly paused.
“What fruit?”

[Bobbie]

The urgency of the situation was temporarily subdued as Danielle found herself pulled into a hug with only one arm wrapped around her. Upon first reaction, she frowned at the unwelcome but loving gesture, before softening up slightly and her thoughts wondered to why he could only spare one arm for a hug.

Before she could address Gabriel’s state, however, Beast came sprinting right at them, at full speed. It was unfortunate that the Professor had been so happy to see her, as she failed to get herself free of his grasp in time to avoid the massive furball barrelling in their direction.

When Gabriel fell, Danielle met the same fate, her feet swept out from under her and her body pulled on top of him. For the second time, her fall was cushioned, but it didn’t prevent the disorienting effect having the world suddenly flipped and herself being at ground level.

Then Beast came to tower over them and perfectly conceal the pair underneath the thick layer of fur from her body while she licked Gabriel’s face.

Turning her head so as not to suffocate on her fur, Danielle wormed her way out and sat up with a sigh. Her body was stiff, clearly quite unhappy about what it has been put through recently, but she couldn’t identify any major injuries anywhere. Her arms and legs seemed fine with nothing broken.

Before she could ask about her twin a second time, The Professor pointed toward the large ship, indicating that Hayden was that way. Following his pointing, she looked toward the ship, instantly frowning as it was, undeniably, a marine ship and not their own, but upon seeing that Namkhai was also there, Danelle visibly relaxed and felt reassured that he was safe. Squinting, she could see that he was carrying a woman who looked like Eponine, but there was no way to see her wounds from this far, and it merely looked like she fainted. This was a scene that impressed her, she'd never seen Hayden in such a gallant light before.

“Making friends with the ladies, is he?” She uttered, sarcastically, before turning to Beast and Gabriel.

“Alright Beast, give him some space, he’s not dying…” She did, however, want to ask if he was really alright, seeing how he avoided using one of his arms entirely and having heard the terrible sound that came from him upon hitting the ground. Having missed the opportunity, Gabriel’s question filled that space instead of hers and she let out a long sigh.

“It’s… well I can explain everything that happened, but now might not be the time.” Danielle gestured toward the mess that was left all over the port, a few of their enemies barely standing.

“Long story short, there was a Devil Fruit and she ate it before I could stop her… sorry. Now you all need to leave before all of this has further consequences.”

A harsh reminder that they would have to say their goodbyes crept into Danielle’s mind as she turned to look at the ship once more. However, it didn’t sit well with her to leave them now. There was a lot to talk about, which included more than just Olivier’s demand that they leave. Beast and that Devil Fruit were also a pressing matter now…

He said they have to be gone by morning… he technically didn’t say by tonight...

"I will tell you everything on the ship."  She offered him a hand to help him up onto his feet.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #29

Gabriel´s face visibly darkened, when Danielle mentioned her brother making friends with ladies, as it reminded him, that while Beast was survived this incident without a scar, his other puppy didn´t. He said nothing however, quickly switching back to his usual smile as he didn´t want to trouble these two with his dark thoughts.
What however interested the Professor a lot was the explanation Danielle gave him about Beast´s new found ability to speak.
“So you found weird looking fruit…”
He started, raising himself up to a sitting, revealing the burned marks on his back, together with the bullet wound on his arm.
“and ate it without asking anyone if it´s alright?”
The doggo who already got up from her owner suddenly looked very small an pitiful as she was trying to avoid the punishment that was looming over her head.
“It looked tasty…”
She tried to defend herself, twitching as Gabriel raised his arm, but he didn´t slap her nose, nor did he called her a bad dog, which would be even worse, but instead hugged the fluffy miracle around her neck.
“I am glad you are alright. But promise me you won´t eat weird things ever again, alright? It´s important, because if you´ll do bad things will happen.”
Beast nodded in agreement, snuggling to her dad.
“I promise…”
The Professor smiled in response, climbing on his wobbly feet. And while the idea of riding to the ship on Beast´s back looked very tempting, he couldn´t risk to show too much weakness in front of the Marines.
“Still, it´s interesting that it gave you the ability to speak human. Can you…I don´t know speak other languages too?”
He tried to say few sentences in the language of Niko´s people he was learning from the tribal warrior during his spare time, but the confused look on her face told him everything he needed to know and so he slowly headed towards the ship, gently leaning against the malamute that walked by his side.

[Bobbie]

As The Professor sat up, Danielle got a better view of the extent of his injuries and it made her frown. She could easily see that he was hurt, it was obvious, but she never expected him to be wounded so badly. Not him. He always seemed so… indestructible.

While he spoke to Beast, the treasure huntress walked round to his other side. His arm on this side was clearly useless, so she wrapped her arm around his waist, avoiding the burn wound on his back, and helped him rise to his feet. The man was never anything like a father to Danielle, but she never knew hers, so perhaps somewhere deep, deep, extremely deep down within her, he had crept his way into that little reserved spot… Olivier certainly stood no chance in filling it.

Walking toward the ship, she didn’t fuss over him, but remained close enough to offer any support that he needed while he walked.

“What about all the others?” She asked, turning her head away to look at all the carnage around them. Amidst it all, it was impossible the giantess that was lying in the water. She was so large that even in that position she wasn’t even fully submerged. Taking a breath, she chose to keep her eyes either forward or on her companions instead.

“How badly is Sigrid hurt?” Pausing for a moment as she silently hoped that the massive woman was not unconscious, but perhaps merely… resting. She could not bring herself to believe such an optimistic scenario, however, and promptly dared to ask the question that she hoped Gabriel had the answer to in the form of a plan. “How are we going to lift her out of the water, exactly?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff
Sir Olivier: #b9a3ff
Hayden: #c3f8fa
Barbossa: #4f8235

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #30

Unlike Danielle, the Professor didn´t really see any point in hiding his feelings and so when his golden puppy rushed to his side, to help him walk to the ship he was genuinely touched, which also reflected on his face.
“Thank you.”
He said, limping back to their ship, his voice carrying some sad tones, as Danielle asked about the fate of their remaining companions.
“Hurt, there was many of them this time…”
For a moment he thought about mentioning Henry´s dead, but in the end Gabriel stayed quiet on that matter as there was still things he didn´t understand himself. Obviously, he saw his body, when he was looking for Beast, and he would like to believe that he died defending his sister, but…something about all this, didn´t sit right with him. How did the Marines find them so fast? How did Eponine got injured like that…he needed these answers before going into that direction.
His line of thought was interrupted by Danielle´s question about Sigrid and the way they will pull her out of water, which honestly gave Gabriel pause.
“That´s a very good question actually…”
He muttered, making his way to the ship.
Controlling such large vessel with so few people wasn´t easy, but in the end they managed to move it away from the shore, while they were taking turns on the infirmary, where Hayden tended to their wounds.
Patched up, they even managed to pull Sigrid back on the deck with the help of anchors and Haryiama´s and Beast´s strength.
Once in the relative safety of their ship the giantess cried and apologised for the danger she put everyone in with her carelessness, apology, that was accepted by the Professor who gave that oversized puppy enough head pats to calm her down.
Leaving the heavily damaged city behind, Gabriel asked Hayden to stay with Eponine, while they directed their ship away from the marines to the other side of the island as there was one more thing they had to do, before leaving for good.