Serious: The Dusk Pirates; Chapter 4: The big move (Open to the Dusk Pirates)

"OK! I HAD ENOUGH!" Frank shouted as he stood up from his place on the steaming floor. As he got up, a steel bar threatened to smash into his head, but the angry zombie was more than capable of taking care of himself. He raised his right arm and blocked the heavy bar with his forearm, producing a loud metallic thud, letting it rest on his raised arm.

"Not only did I have to hear you idiots without being able to punch your teeth in, IT IS ALSO DAMN HOT IN HERE!" He shouted towards Catman and Baron. "Now, if you are going to try and stop me from getting out of this damn oven, find my captain, and get the hell out, you two are going to regret it! And I don't care if satan himself is guarding this place! I escaped his grip once already, this time, he'll have to escape from me!" he said. He then raised his left arm and grabbed the heavy steel bar. Then, closing in with his right arm, he swung the bar high into the air before charging towards Catman and Baron. "Get outta my way!" He shouted, as he swung the steel bar like a baseball bat to try and send the two pirates flying back and out of the crew's way.

Quincy amazed that his foe was defeated so easily didn't the bars from the cage falling toward him. In a loud crash Quincy was smashed underneath a the bars. He pushed the thing off of him with his superhuman strength "These steriods work like a strong. I'm as strong as half a giant." Quincy moved toward his crewmates. Koga was being perverted again, Mantra was scolding koga, Alex was being ...Alex, and Frank was kicking ass. Despite the new comers it seemed nothing had changed since the first time they met.

"What the heck?!" Catman said as he looked at the zombie that carried the steel bar like it was a baseball bat. The man could not believe that a bunch of rookies was toying with them. Before he could even imagine, his body was hit by the steel bar and he was sent flying along with Baron, before he even got the chance to protect his boss. While they were sent flying, the men had realised that it was about time for them to meet their end. They could see themselves falling in the fire of the level. They knew that they would be burned to ashes and that there was nothing they could do about it.

While falling, Catman was remembering of his time as a rookie pirate. Apparently, he and the rest had started their careers much earlier before the pirate king. At that time, they were treated as dangerous individuals because there was not somebody big to compare them to. That explained the big bounties they got, despite the fact that they were weak... They were pirates of another era... They were older than they looked and they were not as dangerous as the other inmates of the lower levels. That was the main reason they were chosen by Miguel to defeat the Dusk Pirates.

"Good job, Dusk Pirates." Catman said, as his body fell in the fire and he and Baron screamed in pain as they were sinking in it, dying in seconds. The last one standing was none other than the Penguin, who was on his chicken form as he got transformed by Manta. Seeing him, Manta moved towards him. He walked slowly and he peted him on the head, embarassing him completely. The Penguin was looking at the man angrily. He could not do anything, though. Then, as he looked at Manta who raised his scythe, his body started sweating. He knew that the end was close. He had lost to a bunch of rookies. He died all alone, with all of his friends killed, hidden from the light of sun for quite a while. His life had come to an end.

As the scythe stabbed through his body, his eyes looked as if they popped out and his blood covered Manta's body. The temporary captain of the Dusk Pirates was smelling just like blood. Despite his injuries from level 3, he was still able to fight and move. As he got rid of the final enemy, he sighed and said "Let's move guys..." and he continued walking in front of the way to level 5, with most people following him. The battles of level 4 had just finished and the Dusks emerged victorious once again...

Alexander looked at the bloodied body of what had been the man named Penguin. When Manta had asked him to kill the man, he had not made a move, nor had he said anything. He had been about to say something, though. He was going to refuse the order. Unlike Manta, Alexander didn't kill his opponents unless he deemed it necessary. This casual slaughter...it disgusted him. Even with all of his calm logic, Alexander could feel himself shaking with fury. He kept his mouth shut, though, as he flew after Manta, all the while his eyes burning into the back of the man's head.

"You're time will come," Alexander thought to himself. "Once I find a way around that devil fruit ability of yours...you'll be nothing more than trash, just like the people we've been fighting so far."

Quincy followed Mantra and Alexander toward level 5. The faster max was saved the faster Mantra could stop ordering them around. Quincy didn't like the blind bloody leadership that Mantra was using. If this kept up none of them were going to survive very long. They had finally at level 5. Their problems were almost over. Just a few more steps more. Quincy spat out more blood unto the floor. His condition was getting worse. The bandages he wrapped around his wound was dripping blood. His time was running out fast.

Ellen pretty ignored her surroundings after she was given the order to destroy the cages, put as she used one of her cherry bombs to test the cages sturdiness, it didn't eve leave so much as a dent. Awwwww, those cages are too tough for my bombs! Best not use anymore since I haven't got such a big supply, she thought to herself, mentally making a note that she had already used two of her eight cherry bombs. She then went in a slight huff and made her way to the stairs to the next leve, the level where the dusk Pirates captain was held, and hopefully where the jail break ended, and left Ellen allowed to destroy what she liked. As she did, she swaggered a little managing to regain her balance as she almost tripped ove rher own foot, wondering why on earth it had happened. she then remebered the energy pill she was given before by one of the inmates, and that it that it would causes her to collapse unconcious after it's affect was worn out, and cursed at this to herself.

"Home run!" Frank said, smiling with satisfaction as the last enemies faced their defeat and the way out of this heat was open. He dropped the steel bar to the floor, producing a loud metallic thud before following the rest of the Dusk pirates down the stairs to level 5 of Impel Down. As he went down the stairs, he felt his right foot stepping on something wet and sticky.
"Dammit, what now?!" He said as he raised his foot to inspect the liquid. Much to his surprise, it was red.
"Guys, someone is bleeding, heavily" He said to the rest of the crew. He passed his finger through the bloody puddle and raised it up so the crew could see. "Doc, mind looking for some injuries?" He asked Quincy, not knowing the blood was his.

Wako was running behind the team now heading towards the Final Level 4, his mind was wondering how much more 'excitement' he would find the deeper he went inside Impel Down... it was thanks to this wondering that Wako slipped on a pile of blood and went sliding into a nearby wall. Wakos face was implanted on the wall almost, he got his head out of the wall and stared angrily at the puddle. Then looked at the Doctor, "Hmph isn't it obvious who's blood this is.." He nodded to himself, "this blood.. BELONGS TO HER!!" Wako pointed at the lady which seemed to love bombs. "IT'S HER MONTHLY!! look at her she is stumbling in pain!! someone give her the proper meds to stop the bleeding!!"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!" Koga said as he looked at the woman and he immediately jumped towards her to grab her so that she would not fall on the ground. Apparently, as he loved all the females of the world, he could not let Ellen fall right in front of his eyes... That would go against his gentleman nature. A man like him, even if he wasn't a real man, would never leave a beautiful lady like that unless he had no pride for his male gender. That was how he seemed to be thinking. However, except from that there was one more reason. The turtle was trying to forget of R.A.M. 2's loss. He could not believe that his best friend in the crew got killed in the fire. It was impossible for him to stand it.

For a brief second, Manta looked at Koga. He was about to stop him, but afterwards he looked at Quincy. The man was injuried and he needed medical attention. However, he would not give it. Quincy had to be strong. The place was perfect for him to show his strength and that was the reason he kept moving... The next floor would probably be even more dangerous than the last two. In level 4 and especially to level 3, the crew had big trouble against their enemies... However, they managed to overcome these problems and so they finally arrived to the level they had to arrive at... Maximillion was on this level! He was nearby, and they had almost reached him.

As Manta moved down the stairs, he could feel it. His brother was somewhere there. He was pretty sure about that. He could not understand whether it was his instinct or not, but he did not care anyway. All he wanted to do was to find his brother.

"Let's move everyone!" he said as he started walking down the stairs... And as he walked, he gave a command to Ellen "Also, gingerhair, place bombs around the stairs to destroy them as we move. I don't want any guards to find us. Hmph..." and he continued moving downwards...

Quincy sat unto the stairs pale as a ghost and sweaty "I'm not going to make it guys. Just go on without me." He had lost far too much blood. No doubt his wounds had gotten infected or worse. This was as far as Quincy was going, and there was little to nothing anybody could done to help him. He laid upon the wall "I'm sorry max. I just wish I could make it a bit further." Quincy laid motionless upon the wall.

Alexander stopped and looked back at Quincy. The man was acting like he was finished, but Alexander couldn't allow that. He stuck his sword's hilt in his mouth and flew back to Quincy. Then, with his good arm, he lifted Quincy off of the ground and slung him over his shoulder.

"Naw'...going...'o...leave...you," Alexander muttered around the sword hilt. "'ay...'ack...an'...I'll...'ake...your...figh'. Ge'...'etter...'o...you...can...'ix...us."

[[Level 5]]

Shrieker made it, to the Level 5 before the others. It was a lot of things, though it was mainly to kill the Vice Warden and end the whole blasted human affair. But what he found there was pure horror. He was on the floor covered in black goo. It stunted his breath and his movement. And was gripping him to the floor. The cold , clean ice ground covered in dark goo. Jack Yomi was standing above Shrieker speaking into his den den mushi "Prepare the cannons and weapons, fire at will,and stay in file.... do not let them past level 4"

[[Entrance to Level 5]]

There were prison guards stationed at the entrance in file with cannons and guns aimed. They even had nets with them to be fired as well.

Seeing the guards appearing in front of his crew out of nowhere, Manta was surprised. He thought that they got rid of all the guards in level 3, but instead more of them came... These pathetic government officers, even if they were not strong for the crew, they could still cause big trouble to the Dusk Pirates in their current state. Quincy was very injured, Alexander was carrying him so he couldn't battle and still somebody needed to get to the following level. Sweat started dropping from his body as he was worried about the crew's fate for real. A few seconds later, as he cut a few of the nets with an air blade from his scythe, he said "Everyone! Listen! I will stay here and protect Quincy from these bastards! I want the rest of you to get to the level! The rest of you, head to the next floor and save my brother! I am counting on you!"

Afterwards, the cook and the temporary captain of the crew used his Shockwave Rush technique to move with Soru speeds in front of the guards in the blink of an eye. With a swing of his scythe the man attempted to slash them and eliminate them so that they wouldn't be a threat for his crew. He was trying his best to protect them...

As soon as he listened to Manta's words, Koga prepared himself to move. As Manta was buying them time to leave by battling the guards, he decided to move as fast as possible to head to the following level. He got out of his shell and he kicked it. Then, he jumped on it and he started sliding as if it was a skateboard and moved down the stairs to the following level quickly, avoiding the guards. The turtle made his way to level 5 succesfully... The rest of the crew would have to make their way as well.

And, in level 5...

Maximillion was surprised to see Jack leaving from the place. It seemed that something happened. Somebody had come to the place... But who could that person be? He could not understand... If it was a member of his crew he would definitely listen to the sound of the member's voice. After all, his crew members were anything except quiet. "What the hell is going on here..." he thought before he turned towards Mercury, only to see him horrified inside his cell. "He is moving..." Mercury said with a trembling voice while hoping to get to his Dark Lord armor...

Ellen merely shrugged at the others when they pointed out her condition and said after pushing Koga away from herself; "Dont worry about it, most of that isn't even my blood.", as she followed the rest to the next level of Impel Down.

After Manta ordered the crew to go and save his brother, someone Ellen had never met before, the explosives obsessive grined manicly, believing it was reason enough to use one of her cherry bombs, which scattered anumber of the guards, temporarily leaving a gap in their defenses, and rushed through it, giggling to the guards; "Sorry boys, you brought guns to a firework show.", while she attempted to head over to level 5.

Frank was shocked to see the crew mate he liked the most dying in front of his dead eyes. He wanted to stay and help, he wanted to open Quincy up, stitch whatever was wrong with him, and then stitch him right back up. He started to move towards the deformed doctor, but then stopped short. They came here for one purpose: Get Max. To achieve this purpose, Quincy and R.A.M had to sacrifice themselves, with Manta still in the equation for the total death toll since he was staying behind. This whole situation was the fault of one thing: Impel Down.

He turned around, not daring to look into Quincy's eyes. He raised his head up to see Manta fighting the guards. "You are not going to stop me now..." Frank whispered. He then started running, his speed picking up and turning into a full sprint. "I'M TIRED OF THIS PLACE!" He shouted as he ran into the pile of guards that was blocking the way. For a second, his purple body disappeared inside the crowd of guards, but in the next one, it reappeared on the other side, with not less then three helpless guard dangling behind it, trying to hold on to it. "GOOD LUCK QUINCY! MANTA! WE WILL BE BACK SOON!" He shouted up the staircase as he kept on going.

Quincy was helped him by Alex which he was grateful, but now he became a burden to his crew. "Thanks, but I.....no I have to live just a bit longer so I can heal you guys. Come on Alex help me make it past these guards. Once in level 5 I should be able to heal myself properly there. Gotta save max."

Alexander didn't like this. Not only was it illogical to leave Quincy behind when he might be able to help them later, but Manta would be left here as well. No matter what the man's faults might be, he was a powerful fighter. Still...orders were orders so long as they didn't make Alexander violate his morals.

Then Quincy spoke up, saying that he could keep on. Alexander didn't say anything in reply, but he smiled and nodded to his comrade his silent approval.

Alexander next considered how he was going to get past the guards. Under normal circumstances, guys like these were beneath his notice. However, normal circumstances did not include him carrying his sword in his mouth and using his one good limb to hold a comrade on his shoulder. He also didn't want to risk simply flying over the guards because they were not average soldiers. Protecting a prison like Impel Down was no easy task.

Then it came to him. The Death Drill technique Alex had thought up...it wasn't exactly brilliant and his wings weren't the right type, but he could still modify it a little.

Alexander tightened his grip on Quincy's body and dove towards the soldiers, using his wings to move to fast to be seen. One moment he was above and in front of them. The next he was in their midst, spinning like top with his sword cutting all around him. He vanished again and reappeared on their other side. For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. Then, as if on cue, twenty guards collapsed, screaming from the various wounds Alexander had inflicted on them.

Alexander smirked and whispered, "Ittoryu: Windmill Scythe." Then he was gone, leaving behind a couple of white feathers, which drifted gently to the floor.

Having manta fold back eh assault Wako skipped through the commotion into level 5.. literally skipped, there might as well have been sunshine raining down from the heavens and lighting his area in specific, as he was in a very good mood. While skipping Wako had his front foot tipping the ground so elegantly, almost mocking the opponents being held back by the Crews forces. Wako took his time as he went towards the stairs and went climbing down, there would be no chance for him to be defeated under these circumstances, or even touched.

"OH CAPTAIINN~~~ I am coming to meeett yaaaa~~" Wako had learned from these moments that these people were trying to get their current captain, since the odds of the current one being the captain are very low considering the swordsmen could barely stand him. "I'll Play marbles with ya!! we'll have fun!!!" a single green marble fell from his pocket, hitting the ground and splattering.. the liquid inside of it continues to eat away the ground and seemingly never ended the melting process as a very deep hole was left behind. ".... Probably not with that marble..." Wako continued skipping as if nothing happened.

Seeing everyone disappearing from the current level and moving to the next level, Manta was relieved. Apparently, Koga, Ellen, Wako, Alexander, Quincy and Frank had disappeared from the place and probably went to the following level. Shrieker was also not seen and so he guessed that he had moved to the following level of the underwater prison. The others were still there, battling the guards. It seemed as if they did not want to leave Manta alone. That was quite surprising... Manta thought that he was hated but instead, he received some help. That was quite interesting...

Meanwhile, Koga had arrived in level 5. He had listened to the sounds the others made. He could listen to Wako, Frank, Quincy and Alexander, as well as Ellen. The turtle was glad that so many members from the crew arrived to the level. He did not know whether Maximillion was there, but that was one of the deepest levels in the prison. "He has to be here... If he isn't here, where could he possibly be?" he thought as he walked. Then, he looked in front of him. There was ice everywhere. His body was freezing. When he entered the place, he could not understand it as he was lost in his deep thoughts. However, after a while, his skin started feeling it. As he was so cold, he started thinking of the difference of the level with the previous two levels... and as he thought about the previous levels, he thought of R.A.M. 2. His best friend disappeared in the fire of level 3 and he did not pay his respects because of the circumstances. The turtle started crying. Tears started falling from his cute, turtle eyes and turned to ice as they fell on the ground. The more he remembered his friend, the more sad he started getting. A minute later, he whispered "R.A.M. 2... You died in order to save Maximillion. I will not let your sacrifice go to waste. I will be the one to save him... For you, I will save Maximillion no matter what!" and he started running randomly in the level, searching for his captain... As he run, he was careful. For an unexplained reason, there were many bogs around... A bog inside a building? That was very strange, he thought, while searching for the pirate with the great bounty.

And at the same time, in level 3... Miguel was walking on the ashes of the fire that the Dusk Pirates caused before. It had almost been an hour since they came to the level and the battles started. He grabbed his Den Den Mushi and asked for a report from the guards of level 4 to see what the pirates he released did.
"Soldier, tell me what is going on on level 4." he said.
"We got bad news, sir! The pirates you released are all dead! They were eliminated, even if they held them for quite a while."
"What?! These guys were supposed to be strong pirates years ago... The times have changed so much since you became the Pirate King... Pirate King."
"Huh, what are you saying, sir?"
"Erm, nothing. Try to hold them to level 4, if possible."
"That's impossible sir. Half of them have already moved to the next level... The one leading them, along with a few others is battling the guards that tried to stop them. They are cutting our guards down one by one!"
"What?! Damn it... They are in level 5 already! I have to get there!"

Then, Miguel "The Immortal" stopped talking on the Den Den Mushi and run towards the elevator. He took the elevator and started moving towards the fifth level... With Jack and Miguel in the same level, the Dusk Pirates would definitely have big trouble. What would happen afterwards?!

Frank was struck by the sudden change of climate. From the blazing hell of the level above they reached the freezing depths of the hell below. If Frank's counting was correct, they were now on level 6. No wait, the entrance doesn't count, it's level 5. Frank had no idea how many level did Impel Down have, but it was hard for him to imagine that they could go any lower than that.

"Poor Max-sama, if he's here, he must have caught some nasty cold..." Frank mumbled, with small icicles starting to form under his nose. "I think I'll hate that level even more than the last one..." He said.

Seeing Koga walking around and looking for Max, Frank decided to do the same. There was nothing he could do to help Quincy, and the cold must be relieving his pain. He started roaming around the level, shouting for his captain to answer, with nothing coming back at him. "Dammit Max, There's no way I'm going down another level so you better be here!" He shouted, forming a makeshift amplifying cone with his palms.

"Dammit!" He said, with frustration after getting no answer from his captain. The cold was starting to catch up with him, and he decided to lay down for a while. He sat down on the cold snow and rested his back on a nearby boulder. To his surprise, the boulder produced a metallic sound. He looked up to see what was this about, and to his surprise, he wasn't resting on a boulder at all. "An elevator? What do you know..." He mumbled to himself, not knowing who was inside the machine.

Alexander touched down in the snow and ice. A shiver ran through his body, but he pushed it aside. The snow was cooling the pain in his legs, which had been impaled on Reedlair's metal bars, so he wasn't going to complain about a little cold weather.

Alexander dropped Quincy lightly into the snow and sat down next to him. "Huh...I wonder what they'll send after us next? I can't imagine that there would be much left alive in this prison after everything we've done so far."

Quincy immediate shook when placed in the snow, but the cold was numbing the pain in his chest alot. Not to mention it would slow down the bleeding a lot. Quincy ripped opened his bandages covering his chest in order to perform upon himself. Since the place was so cold, It stopped his body from bleeding out and killing himself. Quincy removed a large metal object from the wound. It appeared to be part of the spear that was used to impale him. With the metal object out, Quincy was able to breathe much better now, and reapplied some bandages over his wound. Quincy got up from the ground "Ok I'm ready to go. That metal thing was scrapping against my insides like a grinder."

As the two crew members were lying on the snow, an aggresive and dangerous creature approached them... The creature was walking on the frozen floor of the fifth level of the underwater prison without making any sound at all. It was so quiet for the time... It was approaching its pray. It would attack the two crew members and eat them. The wolf of the fifth level, would go against the injured members! It jumped from behind, while not being seen in order to bite Alexander's head and eat him but at the last second it received an attack and it was send flying...

The wolf lied on the ground. It was dizzy after getting hit by that attack. It listened to somebody saying "Shell Boomerang...". That person it listened was tiny in size and carried a shell on his hand. He was none other than Koga, the pet of the Dusk Pirates who happened to run on his two crewmembers luckily. He said "You friggin' wolf. These are my friends!" as he started running towards it in order to attack with his Shell Stamp attack. However, the wolf jumped out of the way and dodged the attack with ease. Then, it slashed Koga twice on his tiny chest, creating an "X" shaped scar on it and making him bleed. The turtle, though, would not let the wolf like that. With the strength he had left, he attempted to go with another Shell Stamp to damage it, but he could not do anything. Instead, he was hit by the front right leg of the wolf and was sent flying on Quincy's chest, bleeding from the chest from the previous attack and in need of medical assistance...

Meanwhile, at the same floor... In another place...

The elevator of Impel Down was moving. As it moved downwards slowly, somebody was coming... Frank, the musician of the Dusk Pirates was out of it by luck. However, he did not know who was coming at the place... As the elevator stopped, the door was about to open... and as it opened, Miguel was shown inside the elevator, pointing to Frank with his gun from a close distance while shooting three times in order to damage him... The Chief Guard was more serious than ever!

And as these things were taking place, Maximillion looked at Mercury. He laughed evily and he said to the prisoner "Mercury... They are coming. They will be here soon. You shall be free... And the Dark Lord will come out to the surface once again! Hmphmphmphmphmphmphmph!". What was Maximillion thinking? What did he have in his mind? And was that all he prepared at all or was there something bigger going on?

Quincy feel down after getting hit by Koga "What is the big idea little guy? Oh god..." Quincy saw that koga had been injured badly from the fight with wolves. He had given his life to protect the crew. Quincy had to save him at all costs. Max would be very sad to see his pet dead. Quincy quickly wiped the wound with some alchol in order to disinfect the wound "This is going to hurt a bit Koga. Just stay with me." Then he gave Koga some SIQ in his mouth first "Koga this is going decrease your lifespan, but it should save you from death once I give this energy steriod." Quincy gave him the pill which healed the scratch and should give him a boost of energy.

Alexander looked on in shock as Koga saved his life and then fought the wolf. When the turtle was defeated mere moments later and thrown into Quincy, Alexander took to the air, floating just a few feet above the ground.

"Alright," he said. "Let's see how you hold up against someone like me!"

Taking his sword in his good hand, Alexander flew towards the wolf in a kind of zig-zag pattern, his body disappearing and reappearing from the right to the left then back again and moving closer with each flap. The idea was so that the wolf would be confused by the movement. Then quite suddenly Alexander shot forward instead of moving in the opposite direction. He swung his sword in a powerful slash.

"SKY BOLT!"