[Saga] [Part 3] Bringing their A game.

Anton La'croix uses:
Sonic Cutter, MT at Payload
Cavitation Kick, LT at Payload
Grind Slash, LT at Payload
UT at Payload

Payload uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 17, 13, 14, 15

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 9, 16, 2, 12

Anton La'croix uses:
Great Spear, MT at Payload
Fast Hopping, LT on self
She'd Skin, LT on self
UT at Payload

Payload uses:
HT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 11, 14, 12

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 20, 13, 9

Anton La'croix uses:
Grand Strike, HT at Payload
Pitch Bullet, LT at Payload
UT at Payload

Payload uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 4, 18, 20

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 4, 4, 3, 4

Anton La'croix uses:
Pirouette, MT at Payload
Hopper Kick, LT at Payload
Cavitation Kick, LT at Payload
UT at Payload

Payload uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 5, 13, 20, 3

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 15, 3, 2, 20

Anton La'croix uses:
Survival Instinct, MT on self
Grind Slash, LT at Payload
Treble Kick, LT at Payload
UT at Payload

Payload uses:
AoE at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 19, 8, 5

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 5, 2

Both teams stared eachother down. The tension in the air was so thick one could cut it with a knife. Anton quickly glanced over at Caroll. "Hey," he murmured softly, "Think you can push the cart while we handle them?" The female pirate glanced at Anton, and then to the larger pirates they were up against. She gave a quiet nod. Better him than her.

Hammond shouted out, shattering the silence, "BEGIN!"

Anton and Cicero charged towards the other team, while Caroll shot off towards their cart. As they charged, Anton noticed Horus heading towards their own cart. Of course. Send the tank to push the load. It would certainly be difficult to stop him from moving.

He glanced at Cicero before deciding that the captain could handle the two alone. He broke off, making a sprint towards Horus. The armored pirate looked over just as Anton lept into the air to deliver a flying kick. Horus brought his arm up defensively, stopping the kick, though the force caused him to step back somewhat.

Meanwhile, Cicero collided into Sturm at top speed, their fists crashing together with a powerful Shockwave. Crash, who had been nearby, was almost thrown off of his feet, but managed to catch himself. Well, let the big guys fight it out. There was one more member on the enemy team and he was going to stop her.

However, as he tried to run past, a large hand grabbed the back of his jacket. "And where are you going?" Cicero laughed, "You're gonna miss all the fun!"

Meanwhile, Caroll had reached the cart and was starting to push, slowly starting their progress towards victory.


Post Word Count: 276
Total Word Count: 5,630

"Quiet?"

Ryoichi blinked at Yumiko the Mustardseed's remark. Perhaps he had been quiet. But this is not the first time it had happened. It had been told to him by his mother, heck even by his friends before. But most of the time, they all carried a certain similarity. They all were before some big match-up. Maybe this was the same?

As for the second remark about Ryoichi barely taking a look at their chests, he couldn't help but chuckle. He sniffled his nose as he felt a familiar scent in the air amongst all the other different scents... Cigarettes... Quickly he had figured out a reason why he was not really, attached, to the leather-wearing punk ladies.

"I unfortunately could not focus... The loud one had the scent of... A cigarette... Quite a turn-off if you ask me."

The loud one also seemed to have a rather short fuse. It did not take much, just two, perhaps even one remark from Ryoichi and Yumiko to have the lady stand up and be prepared to kick some ass. According to her friend's remark, they had already gotten in trouble.

"You heard your friend. You two are polar opposites you know. She wears a rather pleasant cologne... You decided to dive into the cigarette bud ashtray... You are very nice looking though."

Ryoichi smiled at the already angry woman who would give anything to jump at Ryoichi at that very moment, heck she even threatens him. It felt like a venomous snaked hissed and stared into his would, ready to bite its fangs into him and release the toxins.

The question was, how long will she plan to stay angry at them. Will she do something stupid? Or will she not? One thing however was certain. Ryoichi felt something within him twisting and turning a bit. However, it was nothing that would take him away from the seat and stop spectating the game, that is if the ladies let them.

[329/4607/21 267]

Horus grunted irritably as he made his way to his team's cart, trying to hold off the constant assault of kicks from the disguised Anton, an irritation that his attacker felt also. Anton was strong, there was no denying that, but the man was fighting at a handicap. He couldn't properly access his Devil Fruit capabilities, and didn't even have a weapon. He was fighting with the absolute minimum he could do and it showed. Plus Horus was built like a tank.

As Horus started to push the cart, Anton lept at him to deliver another kick. Horus' eyes glowed beneath his helmet as he suddenly caught Anton's leg in mid air. "Buzz off!" he growled, heating the young man back and throwing him like a soft ball, straight at Cicero. The pirate captain had just shoved Sturm away from a grapple before he noticed the screaming Puck flying at him. Without missing a beat, he turned and caught him like he was a football. "Gotcha!"

Anton allowed himself to breath. "Thanks." He looked from Horus, now pushing their cart, up to his much larger teammate. "Wanna trade?" Cicero glanced at the two pirates he had been fighting, then at Horus. "Think you can manage?"

Anton nodded before suddenly looking past the old warrior. Anton suddenly lept over Cicero, swinging out a foot to intercept a blow from behind by Crash. Cicero watched for a moment before shrugging. "Guess that answers that," he said, before charging towards Horus.

Crash swung his guitar at Anton again and again, pressing the attack. Fortunately, while Anton's power was limited, his mobility wasn't. The smaller man ducked and weaved, trying to find an opening. As he prepared to launch a counter attack, something grabbed him from behind. "Wha!?" "Go!" Sturm barked, obviously to Crash, before throwing Anton up into the air. The turbines on his gauntlets started to power up. "Time to fly, little man."

What can only be described as a personalized tornado fire up from his gauntlets, catching Anton mid air. Anton yelled out as he was spun around in the wild winds, launched even higher skyward. As he tried to right himself up, he noticed that Crash had broken away and was making a run for Carol and the cart. Anton twisted himself around in the air before kicking off, shooting down at him like a rocket.

Meanwhile, Crash had reached the cart and lept up on top of it. He grinned wickedly down at Carol, raising his guitar over his head. "Ello luv!" Carol looked up, letting out a yelp of surprise before suddenly pulling something out from beneath her dress. Crash barely had time to react before an extend-o-glove suddenly shot up and clocked him on the chin. As the large rocker stumbled back, something shot past him.

"Yoink!"

Crashed shook his head to regain his senses, realizing his guitar was gone! His eyes shot over to Anton, who was now holding the large instrument in his hands. "Not exactly a sword, but it will do," he murmured to himself. "Oi! That's mine!" Crashed yelled out, diving at Anton.

"I'll give it back afterwards!" Anton lept up, causing Crash to fly underneath him. Landing on Crash's back, Anton launched himself off of him, shooting straight at an incoming Sturm. Sturm's gauntlet covered fist and Anton's borrowed weapon clashed.


Post Word Count: 559
Total Word Count: 6,189

A wide smile appeared on Ryoichi's face as he looked at Yumiko rack her brain about the while cigarette stench aspect having been mentioned. The smile remained on his face the moment when she had figured out what he had meant. Truly a cultural 'enrichment' for her. But what surprised the man was that she had no idea what that meant.

"What can I say. We the people are odd creatures."

He let out a soft chuckle but then he silenced himself as he looked at the now enraged punk chick who had turned around and glared at him, followed by a few rather stern words. A particular word remained to haunt him... Greaser.

"Mustardseed... What's a greaser?"

He had turned his head to face Yumiko and asked her the question. He was perfectly aware that it was a long shot, but at this point, he was curious to hear what she thought of this specific word, as he himself had no idea what that meant.

It was however quite possible that his question had flown over Yumiko's head who had focused on the games going on. And perhaps instead of keeping steering up problems, he should stay silent and focus on the games as well.

The man shut his mouth and leaned forward a bit. He squinted his eyes to try and sharpen his vision as he then looked further ahead from the seats, towards the arena where the game was happening. While he had stayed quiet, Yumiko lived quite into the game, even shouting out good tips to Puck the Anton. Did he hear it is up to debate?

"Good catch."

A loud ding could hear and an announcement with a woman's voice was let heard by the spectators and competitors.

"Next competition entries please make your way to your designated tents for preparations!"

"Haha! Now that was an unnecessary heat breaker missis announcer lady! But no worries! I am quite sure this did not disturb any of our competitors! Chop chop keep going people who need to go!"

Ryoichi blinked at the announcement. It was already the time to go? Perhaps some of these competitions take longer for the competitors to prepare themselves. No matter. Ryoichi helped himself up to the feet.

"Well, time to go."

He began to march towards the exit of the large tent, with possibly Yumiko following him since her own game is about to begin as well. Upon leaving the tent, he looked at Yumiko and smiled softly.

"Well, this is where we separate for now. Really wish we could have kept watching the games... Anyway! Good luck!"

He smiled, raising his hand a bit in front of her, indicating that he is ready to give her a high-five, but it is wholly possible that this as well could fly over her head. Who knows if she knows what this 'high-five' means to her.

[482/5089/21 749]

The fighting had begun in full force now. Cicero and Horus were grappling with eachother, pushing their full strength against eachother. Meanwhile, Caroll had pulled out a mallet and was now swinging at Crash, who was pushed on the defensive by the fact he had been disarmed.

But the real attention grabber was Sturm verus Anton. Now that Anton had a weapon, the two men were fighting on equal footing, their strikes clashing heavily. Each punch from Sturm, enforced by the engines on his gauntlets, pushed Anton back, only for him to leap back in with another heavy strike. Neither were giving eachother an inch.

Over the blasts of wind and the chaotic fighting, Anton could hear a voice yelling out to him. Yumiko. Stop his engines. It made sense. The man was certainly strong, but those turbines were giving him an edge.

An idea quickly came to him as Sturm swung another punch. Anton quickly spun to the side, avoiding the blast of air before he lashed out, thrusting the neck of the guitar right into the spinning engines of his gauntlets. There was a loud shriek of metal as the engine jammed, trying to fight against the surprisingly strong instrument clogging it. There was a loud crack as something broke, smoke starting to pour from the gauntlet.

Sturm let out a snarl as he tore the battered instrument free, before grabbing Anton by the throat. His remaining functional gauntlet fired downwards, generating a localized tornado that lifted the two into the air. Anton struggled to break free from the man's grasp.

And thrn noticed something large flying at them.

The massive form crashed into the pair, knocking them both out of the air. As Anton hit the ground and bounced to his feet to recover, he suddenly realized it was none other than Horus. Cicero had literally lifted up the armored pirate and threw him at them! "Dammit Cicero!" Anton shouted out, "We're on the same team!" Cicero gave a chuckle, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry. Got a bit carried away there."

Sturm got to his feet, looking over at his two opponents. He let out a low growl and took a step towards them, only to stop when he felt something on his foot.

He looked down. It was black and sticky, and it was climbing up his leg. "What is this?" he tried to wipe it off, only for it to stick to his hand. Now it was climbing along his arm as well! "Get it off me!" He struggled, trying to get rid of the invasive ooze as it started covering his whole body. Anton and Cicero looked over just in time for Sturm to cry out as the substanced covered him like a sheet.

Everything was quiet for a moment, before 'Sturm's' face lifted to look at them...and grinned. "That...can't be a good sign," murmured Anton.

Suddenly, Sturm's arm reached out, the limb stretching before it grabbed his team's cart. With a mighty heave, he lifted it off the rails and threw it right at Anton and Cicero, who leaped to avoid it.

"What the bloody hell!?" Crash yelled out, "You damn idiot! You just got us disqualifiiiIIIED!" Sturm's arm reached out and grabbed hold of Crash, before slamming him violently into the ground.

Caroll stood there for a moment, her eyes wide in terror. "No..." her frightened whisper devolved into a scream. "No! Not again! NOT AGAIN!"

Anton watched as she ran from the field in fright, before looking at the now oozing Sturm. "Definitely a bad sign!"


Post Word Count: 598
Total Word Count: 6,787

As Ryoichi had figured, the high five gesture flew over Yumiko's head, and instead of a high five, he got a handshake from her. But for him, that was all he needed. It was time to separate for a small amount of time to compete in their respective games.

A boxing match with a twist was awaiting Ryoichi. This game was to take place in a bit smaller arena as it did not require that much space, and thus it was located on the further another side from the center of the middle grandest arena.

On his way over to the arena, Ryoichi encountered multiple familiar faces from some of the previous games, but also the man saw faces that he had never seen before, of course, that is, if his vision managed to 'decode' the seen faces.

As he took each step forward, the vision slowly was becoming blurrier, even more frequently than it was back in the arena. Each step was feeling less precise, sloppy even. His body began to slowly but surely feel heavier. The mind became cloudy, felt like fluff, and the dizziness was kicking in.

"Haha! Look at that fairy 'king', looking like a drunken sailor! Hey hey! Oscar! I shall bet on his failure in the upcoming game!"

And that was just one remark out of multiple others, along with some laughter. As many as there are pirates, there are different types of personalities. Some could not give a hoot about anything, some found joy in ridiculing others.

The trip took longer than expected, but for Ryoichi, it felt like he had moved at the 'speed of light'. At the contestant's entrance, he was met by rather unhappy faces of the staff who were making sure the contestants were ready.

"Wohere wore ya?! Wi hat weited ya!"

The staff lead Ryoichi inside, stripped the man of his blue coat with white furred edges, and put on rather large red boxing gloves, roughly three times the size of regular gloves. And on top of them being large, they also felt extremely soft.

"Ovv ya go!"

The staff pushed Ryoichi out of the arena. The audience had already gathered, and the announcer announced with the same enthusiasm.

"Finally! Our last contestant! King Oberon is here! We can start our boxing match!"

As fast as he was pushed out onto the arena, the games also began. At that very point, Ryoichi had no idea how he had made it to the arena, it felt like some time had skipped... And now, he was standing there, like a thin tree that had the wind being blown at, leaning from side to side, back and forth... For the crowd, the man looked like a drunk... And for the contestants, an easy target.

"Let the games, begin!"

[467/5556/22 216]

The inky, oozing figure that was Sturm swung an arm out at Anton and Cicero, the limb stretching out unnaturally. Both pirate and marine dove to the sides as the strike hit the ground, leaving splatters of sticky blackness on the ground. As he wound up for another swing, the massive form of Horus grappled him from behind. "Stop," his voice growled.

'Sturm' paused for a moment before his body twisted, effortlessly slipping free of Horus' grasp and leaving the armored pirate coated in black tar. Watching, Anton was worried it would start overtaking him as well, only for his relief to see all that it did was hamper his movements as parts of him stuck to himself.

As Sturm pulled away, Cicero charged towards him, fist ready to strike. However, the pirate captain suddenly stopped mid step, thrusting out his fist when he seemed too far away from the blow to connect. The result was a shock wave that washed over the tar covered pirate, he rocked back, but managed to keep himself planted in place. Anton did notice some of the muck shift, exposing the man briefly underneath before it moved back to cover him again.

It's not a logia type. He's still under there.

Quickly recovering, Sturm reached out, grabbing the remaining cart with a stretched arm and swung it like a club at Cicero. The old pirate brought his arms up to block the blow, which shattered against him in a burst of splinters, metal and tar.

"Cicero!" Cicero looked back to see Anton running towards him, "Throw me!" He wasn't entirely sure what 'Puck' was planning, but he was fresh out of ideas other than "punch the dang thing". He wound back an arm as Anton lept onto his hand.

And for a brief instant, Anton's legs changed.

Anton shot like a bullet towards the tar covered pirate, twisting in air so he crashed into the pirate feet first, right into the sternum. The blow, followed instantly by the Sonic boom, sent Sturm flying back, sending the tar that had been covering him splattering all over the place. Sturm crashed into the wall, slumping down like a rag doll.

Crash, who had recovered from his assault, looked over to see his treacherous teammate was down. "Think you can just throw me around you bloody marine droppout!?" He shouted, leaping at him to deal what he hoped was a knockout blow.

Instead, a large form in metal lept from the grand stand, blocking the attack. The crowd was absolutely livid.

"Unbelievable!" Hammond yelled out, completely beside himself with excitement, "Not only has Sturm gotten his team disqualified, but now his captain has gone and interfered!"

Frau Eiserne stood tall, her glare hard enough to buckle steel. "Zis contest is invalid!"

From the announcers booth, Hammond chuckled, "Now now, you know the rules. Your first mate broke the rules and his team is disqualified." Frau snapped her gaze towards Hammond, whom even from this distance flinched, "Sturm violated nothing! You think zis was all him? He doesn't even have a Devil Fruit! Zomebody else intervered!"

Hammond tried to recover, "Well, unless you have proof of that-" "Shut your mouth!" Cicero interupted, "I believe her." Hammond looked around as Anton nodded in agreement. There was something seriously wrong with this situation. Frau was a little surprised her opponents weren't trying to capitalize on this, before giving a small nod of gratitude.

Hammond was stuck. "Well, erm, under the circumstances, the results of this contest are postponed, until this matter can be looked into."


Post Word Count: 595
Total Word Count: 7,382

Round 1:

Ryoichi:

[HT] Champions Weaving on Himself
[LT] Champions jabs on Blurry mess
[UT] on Blurry mess

Blurry mess:

[MT] on Ryoichi
[LT] on Ryoichi
[LT] on Ryoichi
[UT] on Ryoichi

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Ryoichi Ayugai' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 11, 17

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 10, 18, 19, 8

Round 2:

Ryoichi:

[MT] Taunting on Blurry mess
[LT] Left hook on Blurry mess
[LT] Tighten up the core on himself
[UT] on Blurry mess

Blurry mess:

[MT] on Ryoichi
[LT] on Ryoichi
[LT] on Ryoichi
[UT] on Ryoichi

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Ryoichi Ayugai' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 19, 12, 15

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 12, 2, 14, 15