Serious: The Greatest goal, one last obstacle before the new world In Alabasta ((ENd and Closed))

She was about to continue her ideological rantings with the marine from her shroud of shadows. She could tell it required some level of concentration to maintain on Dirge's part as the man who called himself Sven began his attacks. She intended to annoy him further before launching an attack of her own but something distracted her. Something was not right. More shadows pulled and her consciousness and she knew the maze had changed. She felt another shadow pulling and moving- closing in on Anubis. She knew not if the shadow was friend of foe.

She reluctantly chose to leave- she had no choice. She had to go- she had to make sure he was safe. She moved briskly, slipping through the shadows of the new corridors, dragged though indirect alcoves until at last she arrives the a clearing. She reaches out from the last shadow of the maze, feeling the shape of the shadow of the threat. Johan's back was turned and his shadow was cast in front of him She had no idea what she was about to walk into or what weapons he may have, but she would not allow Anubis to be harmed even if it mean her own life.

Two sets of gleaming eyes appeared from the shadow; a set of red from her golden cobra helmet and a set of her own emerald oculars- glowing and brooding. Abruptly her figure climbed rose vertically from the shadows like an invisible force was pushing her erect up frame up like a lever, as though she were rising from the dead. When she reached her feet completely, the eyes of her helmet gleamed with brighter illumination as though awakened and activated. To be fair, her appearance was a most unusual and somewhat intimidating spectacle to have popping out of one's shadow. Her massive snake helmet and collar combined with the armor patches here and there had the look of a cultist warrior of another world.

She quickly assumed a stance that placed herself directly between Anubis and Johan. She held her snake staff obliquely in front of her frame, ready to perry any frontal attack, but quite unprepared for any sort of projectile. Her cloth mask hid her face, save for her eyes which narrowed, studying the man as she gripped her spear.

"I shall not allow you to harm---"

Her eyes met Johans with a flicker of recognition. It was not the man she recognized, but what she saw in his eyes-- a presence of remorse and concern crystallized in a moment of dancing sadness reflecting from his eyes. She lowered her staff and bowed her head briefly.

"My apologies."

She turned to Anubis, still needing the satisfaction of knowing he was safe and then she saw it too ... what the sadness of Johan's eyes was expressing. He looked worse than before. Part of her wanted to turn away while part wanted him to throttle him for being such a fool. What good is preparing for a battle that you'll never live to see? She removed her mask and helmet, lest he not recognize her. He had never seen her this way... not in her armor and not with her tattoo exposed. She had always kept it hidden because she want him to trust her even if she had no overt display of unconditional loyalty. None of that mattered now.

"You have weakened yourself further. I am sorry that I have earned such a low opinion from you that you would take a precaution of expanding the maze that presumes my failure to hold my ground. For the sake of your strength, please, my prince- I implore you- trust that I will die before I will allow anyone to pass."

She bit her lip as she shoved the sadness back into her self. She knew he would be alright- he was too strong to be beaten by sickness and a sand castle but it was still difficult to see him this was, and making himself worse because of his lack of confidence in her abilities. Her hand moved to touch the side of his pale face, concerned by the temperature yielded by a lack of circulation. She decides to again exploit his inability to squirm away from her creepy grasp to lean close enough to press her lips against his forehead.

"Save your strength, my prince. You still must punish my insolence..."

She lightly nips at his ear for good measure and before he can smack her away, she picks up her helmet, putting it on as she melts into the shadow of the doubtlessly horrified Johan. She returns her focus to the shifting shadow of Dirge, as she navigates the shadows of the labyrinth once more.

Inside Anbuis's Caste - Gideon v.s Ryan

Gideon then placed his fist together and pulled away from one another, creating a Sword of Light nearly instantly. Gideon then swung his sword to upward, clashing swords with Ryan. The connection of the Fire and Gideon's sword was intense. Gideon's sword then blocked the fire and it spread around the room. Gideon then jumped backwards and got his bearings. Gideon then held his sword tilted with his arms straight down. Waiting for a chance to strike. Gideon then sped towards Ryan, while Ryan was still in mid air. He attempted to slash him in two.

"..Hmpf...My Swordsmen ship isn't expert..but I'm no beginner.."

Ryan grinned in an instant his legs turned to springs and shot towards the wall launching him forward towards Gideon at high speeds, while still flying forward towards Gideon Ryan swung his sword releasing a air blade, while following behind it if the air blade didn't hit him them he would " Show me what you got marine"

Gideon was surprised this man was as skilled as he was. He wasn't surpised at this devil fruit power though. He WAS an Anbuis pirate. Gideon watched the mans movements and prepared for his counter strike. While allowing the air blade to slightly sever through his arm flesh. Gideon charged his light jump. Gideon then used Light Jump, half of its power to towards the wall at a near blinding speed. The rest of the power to kick off the wall and land behind Ryan. The movement was so fast that Gideon had to take a second to get his standings again. Gideon then lunged his blade straight, attempting to stab Ryan in his right shoulder.

"..Speed is one thing you won't be able to match me in..but you are pretty damn fast.."

"Glad to see I'm not the only one that has acknowledged your error of underestimating me," the captain said with a sigh as she readied her position once more after Maria recovered from the kick that she had given her. Delia then scrutinized the other, wondering what her next move was before quickly looking down at the crack and grunting as she moved away when the other hit the ice with her weapon and split the ice where she was standing. She landed on the left side of the now cracked ice, not wanting to put it back together since she had to store her strength for her enemies.

"I thought you'd have more of a thought out plan to take me out, but I guess I shouldn't overestimate the lot of you," she said while taking up a guarding position again. She was not going to launch an attack against this woman unless she attacked first.

In the meantime Barius caught his breath as he took a break right on the edge of Nanohana, finally reaching the shores as he watched his captain fight. Now that he was there the loyal pirate would wait until his captain won the fight to proceed any further.

Conrad
Conrad saw a tiny warrior leaped in front of his face "Get out of way you marine scum. Arrrrhhhhhh" Conrad's face was frozen instantly due to the water on his face. The giant fell forward no longer in control of his own body. His body fell unto the hooded justice with mast piercing through his body with blood gushing out unto the deck.

Sister Maria
Maria didn't like the insult this petty pirate "You dirty wrench how dare you talk about me? Me a instrument of justice. My resolve will be absolute. I was going to drag this battle out a little longer but you really got me angry. I will have to be careful to hurt you too bad after all anubis would want his woman intact." Maria giggled as she seemlingly disappeared. Maria ran toward Delia and then turned a corner. Then ran some more and turned agan. Ran a third time then turned. Maria kept doing this forming a square perimeter around delia. Now to ordinary person it would seem like Maria was disappearing and reappearing in and out all around them only seeing their after image when they stopped at certain points. If Clear had good eye vision she could clearly see this was an illusion to trick her. Maria then threw her scythe toward clear on the right side of the square and then ran to left before the scythe reached delia to hold her as scythe came toward her.

Delia just rolled her eyes slightly before looking back at Maria...or more exactly where she was before she disappeared. The girl frowned and looked around as the other appeared and disappeared in different locations, clicking her teeth as she just stood there in her guard, not even daring to attack the after images that would appear when she would move. The captain knew better than that, and she wasn't going to give the other the satisfaction of thinking she was a fire-headed fiend.

She gasped all of a sudden, pushing away the other when Maria was about to grab her but a bit took late for her to avoid the scythe. Delia was able to dodge any serious damage though, letting it skim behind her as she lurched forward, hissing in slight pain as it ripped through her clothes in the back and the blade licked the skin on her back before landing on the far side from where she was standing.

"Not bad...you managed to hit me," she said calmly as she blinked. "And.... gave me a new haircut," she added with slight disdain as she saw her hair flow away in the arid and chilly wind. She brought up her hand and felt how long it was, just below her ears, which meant it wasn't too bad. She needed a new look anyway.

Hibiki was satisfied incredibly by the effect of his attack. Suddenly Zalton appeared by his side, standing next to him and looking to the shore. Zalton wasn't the friendliest person he had met, but he was a crewmate. They were both division commanders, but obviously Zalton was and older member than him in the Anubis pirates and had more experience.

Hibiki respected him. Zalton asked first something that Hibiki didnt understand quite much, and he deduced that he was just talking alone, not really asking Hibiki. But then a final question which Hibiki didnt get either was directed to him, even if he wasnt looking at Hibiki.

Hibiki looked at Zalton.

"What are your plans? Should we advance?" -Hibiki asked him, the heat was greater on land and Hibiki thanked that he was using shorts.

Derge Senior simply extended his left arm forward as the block of incoming sand drew nearer. Upon impact the block lost all of it's forward momentum, the only thing left was the downward pull of gravity. The block fell to the ground shattering into the sand it was made from. Now with both his left and right gauntlets charged, Derge Sr. could attack with amplified power. On his right there sat an impact dial that contained the power of Johnathan's attack. In his left palm, was a rejection dial; it currently contained ten times the power of the sand blocks momentum. "Come on you can do better than that, swordsman." Derge Sr. said in a smug voice.

Ryan's eyes widen this man disappeared right before his eyes " What the?" Ryan heard Gideon behind him but by the time he could turn around Gideon's attack knocked Ryan from the air to the ground Ryan quickly regained his balance and landed on his feet his legs and arms were now back to normal but his right arm seem uninjured " I lost that arm in a battle long ago this arm here is only steel my friend" Ryan then stepped back and pointed his sword towards Gideon and then three fire balls fired from the tip of the sword Ryan sword then ignited with fire as he held it up and quickly spinning around he unleashed a vortex of flames which he sent covering the entire room * Escape this*

Johan shifted uncomfortably, unable to keep eye contact with the yonkou any longer, he looked at his feet...... something was looking back... out of his shadow... something with two sets of eyes, appearantly.
He froze, not quite comprehending what was going on, which gave the eyes, or rather the person they belonged to enough time to raise straight up and look, no, glare at him. Even if her stance had been nicer, Johan would still, instinctively, have jumped back and reached for his cutlass for the second time today.
"W-what the-"
Johan had seen quite some things during his life. His shadow giving birth, or serving as a doorway for, or whatever it had just done for a grown and fully equipped woman was not one of them, much less to a woman like.... this. She looked like she was ready to sacrifice him to some dorst of ancient otherworldy god... from hell!
Somehow, he felt deeply violated.... And he wasn't sure what kind of relationship he was supposed to have to someone using his shadow as a gateway.... much less someone who his shadow had given birth to, though that option seemed less and less likely. His other children had never pointed a weapon at him... at least before the revolution, now he wasn't so sure whether they would be exactly peaceful towards him, if their paths were to cross again.
Just as Johan was mentally preparing for the possibility of having to cross weapons with his... whatever she was to him now, he hadn't quite decided, but the point stood that he wouldn't have to fight her, for now at least, as she looked at him only for a moment, then suddenly apologised. Her stance was much less threatening as well now.
Johan relaxed somewhat, knowing that his shadow daughter cultist from another dimension wasn't about to try and just slay him, but he remained alerted as she turned to Anubis instead. The desert prince was weakened, and even though Johan was sure he'd still be able to defend himself, the thought of having to stand by and let him fight a possible assassin all by himself didn't sit right with him.
He listened closely to what she told him, and finally, the thought crossed his mind that she might be an ally, coming here because she had feared him, Johan, to be the enemy, alone with a weakened Anubis.
Well, he ceratinly was glad he wouldn't have to fight her. Almost a little disappointed she wasn't his shadow cultist daughter from another dimension though... He wasn't exactly sure why, but he had just about gotten used to that theory, and didn't really want to let it go, which might explain, partly, his sudden tension when she stroke Anubis face, and kissed him on the forhead. Anubis love life was none of his business, still he had that feeling like he was supposed to be stepping between them. She was too young to bind herself to a man! Did she even know him?! What about their future!? How could she be sure he could take care of her properly?!
Outwardly, Johan just frowned. His first instinct in this situation should be to protect Anubis, right? Right? She was clearly using his helplessness (if you could call it that) to get close to him....
One way or another, the situation made him very uncomfortable. He wasn't supposed to see this...... He still wasn't sure how to feel about suddenly having a shadow cultist daughter either, even though his rational side had ruled the possibility out already, something kept clinging to it. Much bigger a problem was that his totally not shadow cultist daughter was getting too close to a man he wasn't sure he could accept as her lover, even though of course it was none of his business at all!
As she nibbed at Anubis ear, Johan finally decided that it was time for him to intervene. He could just tell the others it was for Anubis, and keep the outrageously jealous sudden father side that saw his shadow cultist daughter get way too close to another man to himself. In fact, as far as he was concerned, that side didn't even exist. That woman had violated his precious shadow. He clearly did not have the urge to form a sudden shadow father-shadow daughter bond with her! Certainly! Not!
Just as he opened his mouth and raised his hand though, she stepped back by herself, and a moment later, she had disappeared in his shadow again. All that was left for him to do was look down at it, dumbfounded.
"Er.... goodbye..."
He murmured, for lack of anything better to say. in the back of his head, he hoped that she wouldn't put herself at risk. Let the others have the strong opponents instead.... He sighed. Of course she couldn't do that, she had to pull her own weight after all and he was very sure she was..... wait, no, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! Stop feeling responsible for someone just because they violated your shadow as a gateway! More important things right here!
He looked up at Anubis again, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"...So.... friend of yours...?"

SALTY (SHORE - AWAY - NEXT TO JOHAN'S SHIP)

"Hm... Who is the owner of this ship?" Salty wondered with a surprised look on his face, as he could see the flag of the Anubis Pirates on it. Apparently, many of the ships of the Anubis Pirates were around the shore and could be barely seen from afar by somebody who knew what was going on at the site they were. However, most of the Anubis Pirates Commanders had already revealed themselves. Anubis, Ryan, Maxulus, Hibiki, Lucas and Tanith, Manus and many others had shown their faces... Who could the owner of the ship be? Salty would have to find out by himself...

At the start, Salty was briefly scared. He took a deep breath and he looked towards the ship for a last time, before finally making the first step towards it. Each step he walked, he felt his heart beating more and more. The ship was giving him the creeps. He did not know what he could find on that ship. It was quite dangerous. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He could not report to his higher ups that he found another ship of the Anubis Pirates and then say that he did not bother searching for it. That would definitely cause him to be stripped of his rank and get sent to a different unit than his beloved Photography Department. The Head of the Marines' Photography Department had to move.

"For the Marines." he said as he walked and took deep breaths to calm himself down. Seconds later, he had finally reached the ship. Apparently, there was a wooden board that allowed him to walk on and finally step on the ship. He walked, more and more determined as the time passed and what he came to see was surprising. Three people, which he knew them to be Revolutionaries, were there. The ship was connected to none other than the 15th Division Commander of the Anubis Pirates with a bounty of 45,000,000 Beli.

"Darn it! Why did I have to run on his ship?!" Salty said with a worried look on his face, as soon as he saw them. Hoping that he was not seen, he swiftly grabbed his camera and attempted to take a picture of them to show it to his higher ups, before they would spot him. He only hoped that he was not spotted as the picture was taken.

Maria was proud in her hit that she caused Delia, despite that she wanted to kill her. "Now it was you who underestimated me. For a low life harlot you have some unique fighting abilities. Too bad I have to kill you." Maria walked over toward her weapon which she threw. Her scythe laid imbebbed into the ice. Maria picked up the weapon twirling it in her hand. She urgued Delia to come toward to attack.

"Funny how you should say that, since I'm not going to let you hit me again with that thing," she said in a very cold and nasty tone as she glared at Maria who was getting her weapon. She blinked, looking at the other who was waiting for her to attack. The young captain would entertain this woman for a while more and go for it, bringing her sword up once more and dashing towards Maria, slashing it to actually hit the scythe. That would give her a chance to punch the religious girl in the gut with her gauntlet covered hand and knock the wind out of her.

Seeing Conrad fall yet again, rage built in Johnathan. This was it, that little marine bastard was going to die. Diving under the water, the giant used his fishman like speed to approach unnoticed. Smashing through the ice near Mail, Johnathan raised his massive adam wood handled with black steel war-hammer. Bringing it down, the giant attempted to not only smash Mail, but the Hooded Justice as well.

"You bastards are going to pay!" roared Johnathan with a rage in his eyes.

[[Lucas vs Ferdinand]]

The Dragons clashed with Ferdinands atrtack in mid air as Lucas held his ground. He had new techniques now that he could use to his advantage. Still he would have to careful, Ferdinand seemed to have some strange ability or style that Lucas wasnt aware about. "Why do you wish to fight me so badly? I do not know you...."

[[Best, Anubis pirates and Izlend aboard the Grim Death]]

AS the battle waged on, Best Rylans had finished performing surgery on a injured soldier. This soldier was however a marine. Best had finished patching the marine up and already the marine was in ropes. It was Izlend. One of the pirates looked on in disgust and turned to Best "Commander, isnt it better to just kill this guy? Why waste our time?" Best grinned as he shut his case "Cause this one ranks pretty high and stands out. He must be with the group that came out to this affair.... hooded knights if i remember..... we might need this boy for leverage, take him to the brig" Best walked away, as Izlend was led by a few of the Anubis pirates to the brig of Grim death.

[[Anubis in the citadel]]
Anubis grinned "No mroe worse for wear i assure you.... we all have tasks to do, its best we get along with them.... we are also in a dire situation with a particular guy who is starting to annoy me......" Anubis then heard Desiree, he was abbout to say something before the whole thing unfolded in front of him. He smiled at Desiree slightly "Im trying , but i need to keep fighting or its over...... we must make it to Alurbana........" Anubis nodded taking into account. He was feeling slightly tired and was coughing , but at least he wasnt dead yet. He turned to Johan and nodded his head "She is a good member, but she is a assasin, not a pirate.... but she is very loyal.... and 'overprotective' almost to a crazy level... but i do not have time to choose those who will further my conquest and those who seek me for those sort of things......" Anubis then turned his hand. He was turning the position of the blocks and the maze around, so that he was no longer in the same position as before. The entire citadel rumbled slightly. Anubis looked to Johan. "Johan , what will you do? Will you join me for this battle?"

[[Below]]

In the town of Nanohana one lone man stood there. He was wearing his suit and his grey hair was all spiked up. His eyes piercing through his sunglasses. He was Morbius of CP9, and he stood steady to face the Anubis pirates members, at least they wouldnt know who he was.

Johan found it hard to not keep watching his shadow, his eyes kept being drawn to it. If someone was going to use it as a gateway again, he at least wanted to be prepared. Still, to be polite, he glanced at Anubis as he was asked a question.
....Well, he was here.... and he supposed he was here to fight.... He tilted his head slightly, thoughtfully.
"Hm.... I did come here to help. Even though with my injuries...."
He nodded at his bandaged arm.
"...I doubt I'll be a big help. I'll do what I can."
This was supposed to be a partnership, after all. Couldn't have a partnership where one part couldn't pull its own weight. Sure, his arm was a bit hurt, his left ankle, as well, and he had managed to had himself get hit on the head hard enough for the headache to last until now, but....
"If you need me for anything, let me know. Otherwise, I'll join the battle..."
Not so sure that was a great idea, really. But somehow, he ahd a feeling that he wouldn't die today. He had been through much worse, after all. Not that he could think of anything right away, but....


At the ship.
After a while, Emil and Zuzen had redrawn to the ship. Emil didn't quite know what had made him to that, he really had no idea how Zuzen had managed to get him to leave his post, but here they were, getting a short report from one of the soldiers, a very young man, barely old enough to call himself a grown up. Well, Emil was getting a report. Zuzen was too busy staring off into the distance, towards whatever he believed to be there. At one point, he had tried to get Emils attention, mumbling something about gunfire. Of course there was gunfire. It was a battle, what did that man expect there to be! Naturally, Emil had waved him off. Zuzen was much too young to be that paranoid.
"And what about our... special cases?"
The young soldier looked away and cleared his throat. Until now, he ahd tried to look professional, but this subject obviously made him uncomfortable.
"Mister, er.... I mean subject.... or..... well... Jackson is still comatous, sir, well... by that I mean we haven't gotten any signs that he is actually alive..."
Emil nodded. Perfectly normal. The young man didn't seem to see it that way. He shivered, obviously spooked. No wonder, Johan never really had told them about Jackson. Impatiently, he motioned for the man to continue.
"Yes! And Mr. Kadar is asleep, but no one wants to go near him, sir!"
He leaned forward and lowered his voice, as if this was some sort of new super secret information.
"...He talks in his sleep, sir... But we can't get close enough to make out what he's saying, or he'll lash out at us...."
Emil simply nodded at that. Yeah, those weren't news. Now if they could actually have told him how Jamil kept doing that attacking while asleep thing, he'd have been interested....
"Well done, soldier! Get back to your.... What is it, Zuzen!?"
Zuzen had been pulling at his coat for a while now, trying to get his attention. Now, Emil was usually a very patient person, but Zuzens persistance was far greater that even his patience.
When he turned his head, a somewhat annoyed look on his face, he saw his young companion staring at something. Wondering just what had him so paralyzed, he followed his gaze. As he found what it was, he gave the younger soldier behind him, who had, judging by his sudden silence, seen it as well, his orders, reaching for his rifle carefully.
"Get back to the others, lock the door, prepare for an intruder...."
Before the boy could run off to do so, Emil begrudgingly added another thing.
"......If... you don't get any sign of us in fifteen minutes.... try and wake Jamil..."
The look on his face was painful as he heard the young man hesistate, then run off and slam the door shortly afterwards.
Waking Jamil was directly opposed to what they were supposed to do. Still.... Emil knew well not to underestimate a marine captain.
"Zuzen, ready yourself!"
Emil had his rifle in his hands now, and took a step towards the marine intruder carefully, raising his voice to speak to him.
"Lower the camera, captain! We don't want any part of this! Get off the ship and on to the battle, and leave us out of this, and we'll let you go! Now is your last chance!"

SALTY (ON JOHAN'S SHIP)

Salty was about to take the picture. His camera was looking towards the revolutionaries who were talking and seemed to not have noticed him at that time. It was his perfect chance... If he took those pictures to prove to his higher ups and to the World Government that the revolutionaries, which were thought to be just having an informal alliance with Anubis because of the fact that they rarely helped him before, were cooperating with Anubis, this would be good news. Anubis could be doing much more worse things... If he really worked with the revolutionaries, he could be one of them... He could be a leader of theirs and his plans could not only stop in having complete control over Arabasta but to the whole World Government's countries. He would have to show what he found...

However, as he was about to take the pictures, something unexpected happened. Zuzen stopped talking and he was looking around, startling Salty to the point that he moved the camera downwards and he took the picture of the wooden board he was standing on! "Damn!" Salty said with a worried look on his face, while looking at the picture he took a second earlier for a second. Then, he raised his head and his camera to take the picture of Zuzen... However, while doing so, he found out something bad... He had just been spotted! Salty was too late and the revolutionaries realized that he was there and ready to take their picture. This would definitely make them mad.

Before Salty could react to anything, the revolutionaries started commanding each other. Apparently, they were quite organized and they made a movement swiftly. One of them was sent to alert the others while the other one would stay back in order to make Salty leave or fight to defend the ship. This was a damned unlucky moment... Salty was not used to getting tracked and the last 10 minutes he was seen twice! He would have to improve himself if he wanted to really be deserved to be called the Head of the Photography Department...

However, even if those things came through his mind, Salty quickly started realizing, as the time passed and he had to answer to Emil, that whatever happened could not be prevented from happening. As a result, it would be best to simply go with the flow of the events and see where they would lead him. He was pretty sure that fate did not want him to die, at least at that time, after all... Even if it was quite difficult, Salty was trying to pull his courage out of his soul... From times to times, in dangerous situations, he used to show unbelievable courage and he was demonstrating that he was not really a coward after all. And this was one of these moments.

Even if at the start he looked like he was scared, his face expression instantly changed. He took a smile on his face and he looked towards the revolutionary, showing some calm eyes which were not afraid of anything. He sighed and started speaking as he moved his hand in his bag and grabbed something which he swiftly placed in a box at the right side of the camera before Emil could see what it was. "Well... Under normal circumstances, I would definitely just leave quietly. However, the situation is very tense, revolutionary. This battle... It is a battle in which the fate of the world is being decided. The marines have to give everything they have to earn the victory and defeat one of the biggest threats of the world... And during that battle, I may be the chosen one who is finding out that Anubis may be having some agreements with the Revolutionaries and that he is not just a simple pirate... You see, anybody would make this simple guess. Anubis is trying to take over Arabasta and revolutionaries are at his side, too. What guarantees me and the World Government that this is not just a friendship between your boss and him? What guarantees me that Anubis is not involved in a conspiracy with the Revolutionaries to take down the World Government? I shall answer you... Nothing. There's nothing around me right now to prove me that I am wrong... And as long as there is not, it is my duty to report what I found and prove it to my higher ups." he said and he raised his camera and took a picture of Emil. Salty was more determined than he ever was and this was his first time that he really acted as the Captain of the Photography Department.

FERDINARD (SAND FORTRESS)

"FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ferdinard laughed as he listened to the words of the commander of the Anubis Pirates. "You are quite right... I did not even take my time to introduce myself." he said before he bent his back forward and he took off his glasses with his right hand, like a gentleman. "I am Ferdinard Maimou of the Hooded Knights. I am sorry, but it was just orders. My captain asked me to take you on, sir... As the Commander of the 20th Division of the Anubis Pirates, you are big trouble... And that is why I was sent to you! FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! To be honest, I did not expect you to be that strong... I mean, your bounty is not even as high as Galeria's... (OOC: an NPC Pirate Ferdinard defeated in a previous thread). I thought you were as weak as your bounty indicated. Well, bounties are simple numbers... They cannot calculate the strength of a person. Maybe that is why the bounty of a yonko cannot be defined after all... Hm...". Then, Ferdinard's big smile turned into a smaller one and he raised his hand forward. The palm of his hand started moving backwards and forward and a compressed air ball was launched, while Ferdinard said "Shockwave!". He was just using an attack against Lucas... Would his attack hit or not?

((GORE! ROFL!))

~~ (Creepy) "Dark Serpent" ~~

Désirée made quick time, meandering through shadows of the maze. She reached out for the shadow of he foe, feeling its shape as her eyes emerged. They were met with the underside of boots far above her head. She slipped back into the shadow of a wall of the maze cursing to herself.

"That self righteous bastard can fly ..."

No matter how skilled her hand to hand battle may have been, should would have been a fool to challenge someone with aerial capabilities. It frustrated her to no end that her attempts to destroy or at least attract this vile creature away from Anubis were fruitless. She melded with the shadow and winced. She felt suddenly dizzy... a light head feeling of being completely disoriented. A shiver ran through her frame as the feeling nearly took her breath away.

An amused smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she suddenly realized what the source of this disturbance was - Anubis altered the configuration of the floating mass. The shadows that she had just reached for had been shuffled and reoriented quite suddenly and without warning. It was HIGHLY disconcerting when you are IN one shadow when it happens and try to come out of another. It bloody made her run into a wall - literally.

She peeled her flattened body away from the wall, made for the next shadow, and shrugged off the shock. She spared Johan another lifetime of highly disturbing nightmares by surfacing out of her favourite shadow. Admittedly, Anubis' shadow never really seemed to welcome her. She always got this "Oh god - not you again" vibe from his shadow. Her vivid green eyes quietly acknowledged Johan in a slow, nonthreatening blink, much like the indifferent regard given by a cat. For some odd and unexpected reason she decided she liked the youth and actually felt a bit better knowing he was around Anubis at this time. She never much cared for anyone in particular, outside of her medication-worthy, unhealthy obsession with the fiendish prince in front of her but she sensed a palatable energy as well as an uncommon sort of aged soul in the boy that yielded an unearned fondness.

Her attention snapped to Anubis. She lowered her head her head slightly, a luminescent blaze of anger flickered in her emerald, serpentine gaze. Her demeanor was completely altered from her usual obnoxious cloud of inappropriate enamored creepiness.

"Anubis ... I would not be here if I could be useful against this creature's current state. The cowardly marine who hunts you seems to have an aerial capability that I cannot match. He occupies the air above your maze - I am tracking his shadow most carefully but I- I cannot fly, mi'lord- not more than I can become sand nor you can become shadow. I have tried using projectile poison against him but if he had the ability to avoid the trajectory on foot, he will certainly retain a like agility when airborne. If only I could trade my shadow doors for wings ...
I shall remain here and guard you with all the blood in my veins. You are on the ground and if he wants you... he must first bring the vileness- such as he is - to the ground, then... he must get through me. When he reunites with the shadow he casts on solid ground, I shall be waiting to open his throat. The blood of treachery is the sweetest to spill. I am sorry I have failed to be useful in the capacity of executing an offensive against this creature. I must now mount a defense. I will not fail you again."


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~~ "Demon Blacksmith" ~~

Annoyed and infuriated would never serve to capture the ire that rattled her to the core at the moment. Days ago, she was on on the trail of an illusive mineral that had taken her bloody ages to decipher the location of. Only recently the fissure of the land had opened enough to leave a vein exposed and would not stay stable for long and would not open again for another century. She had just organized her gear for extraction when she heard an disturbance on her ship.

Disturbing her work alone was worth 100 years of ass kickings. Now, she was in complete awe that any would would be so idiotic as to attempt to loot her ship. She found the man called Todd in the cabin that used to be the quarters of Satoshi while he accompanied her mineral quests - just standing there, creepily. She was about to strike when she came face to face with a blood-sucking marine, of all things. He demanded to know the whereabouts of Satoshi. As much as she wanted to run a molten spear though his abdomen and slowly cook him from the inside out, she gave him false directions with a tone of indifference and sent him on his way.

She was suspicious of how quickly and easily he left her craft and so she began following him, hugging the horizon with her ship until it had to be left out of sight of the battlegrounds. Either he know she gave him false information or he had the worst sense of direction in existence. She mounted her waver, equipped with insulated, silencing dial chambers for "stealth mode" and made her way to shore.

Pale arctic blue eyes followed the man with the giant axe carefully as he flailed about the battle, calling for Satoshi. She knew Satoshi wasn't here unless he had already found that which he was seeking. Something about the battle was unsettling and she knew he probably could not stay away from something of this scale for long. She had no choice but to stay and watch her prey, making sure he didn't stick his nose or axe where it did not belong to settle some idiotic vendetta that wasn't even relevant to the conflict at hand. Satoshi had better things to do than play tag with a marine lumberjack with too much time on his hands; she would not allow him to meddle for much longer.

Todd: Shigan, Ouren !!!
Another unlucky pirate in the way taking Todd's wrath, simply because he dared not to step aside. As Todd is walking forward, closer and closer to the more important areas and fights, behind him a path of injured or killed pirates, blood, broken weapons and shreaded clothes is formed. The pirates up ahead begin looking desperate "We have got to inform a commander or something, at this rate this guy is .." one of the more prominent, Clark, leaps forward, swinging a massive, iron spikey ball. "We had enough of you, marine !!" he shouts, throwing the ball towards Todd.
Todd: One after the other .. weaklings getting in my way .." *he casually moves his body to the left, dodging the ball, his motion being so natural and so smooth, as if it was nothing* "Irritates me the MOST !! Shigan, Revo !"
His unlucky opponent is hit with a powerful Shigan, that basically just punched an orange-sized, hole to the man's chest, senting him fly upwards, probably killed off with that horrifying move.
One of the pirates yells "Master Clark !!" while another one slowly walks backwards, holding his sword in frond of him, instintivly for protection, yet shaking like a leaf "This guy's .. MURDERIN US !!"
Todd is in a fairly bad mood. Some time ago, he thought he was lucky enough to get some information about his No1 target, Satoshi, from a woman named Kiana. While he found her cooperation to tell him some things, to be suspicious, he decided to actually investigate based on her words, simply because he didn't had anywhere else to start. Turns out, as he initially feared, that his woman told him a bunch of lies about Satoshi's whereabouts, obviously to sent him to a completely different place. Either way, that Satoshi, he sure was elusive to be found. As he walks in that slow, relaxed way, he pulls his axe again, and seeing the fear in the pirates standing in frond of him, he fires off an energy wave by swinging his axe rapidly, senting them all down to either death or a very painful torment.

Mail saw another more healthy giant this time and he looked quiet pissed off indeed. "And on that note...I run." he said leaping away from the hooded justice knowing he couldn't do anything against the giant.

Maria was surprised that Delia decided to par with her with their weapons. Even more so when the gaulent hit her in the gut. Maria was hurt by so an attack, but she couldn't punch back since it required both hands to wield the scythe. Maria let out a breath from the punch. She jumped back ready for more. Maria spun her weapon clockwise toward Delia's sword trying the push her weapon out the way. Her intent was to either slice through the sword or disarm Clear. Maria then followed the attack with a kick toward Clear's stomach.

Delia felt satisfaction when she was able to harm the other again as her punch connected. It faltered a bit though when Maria tried to push her sword away with her scythe, or maybe trying to cut through it which would be impossible on her part. she decided to push her to the side, grunting softly then letting in a sharp intake of breath as she felt the other's kick connect to her farther side instead of her stomach since she had moved. That captain kept a passive face as she maneuvered herself and ducked under the other's weapon as to not harm herself and went to kick her legs from under her to bring Maria down and try to at least immobilize her and stab through one of her lesser organs before knocking her out.

The man just stood there and sighed, wondering when his captain was going to finish off the woman as he took out a single cigarette and lit it up with a match, taking a drag as he thought things over. If he helped her now then it would make it easier...but then again he didn't want any body part frozen and cut off so he just watched the whole scene unfold. Besides, how his captain was doing Barius knew that she would come out winning.

-Sven-

Sven's sword-arm was quickly adjusted so that he was holding his sword at an oblique angle, slanted in front of his body. "Of course I can do better." He swung his sword, releasing the entirety of the obsidian covering at Derge Senior. The black glass seemed to fracture in midair, so the tiniest force on it would cause it to break into many little pieces, most of which would imbed themselves in Derge Senior if the opportunity presented itself.

As the obsidian shell was reforming on the sword's surface, Sven chuckled, "Oh, don't even try." He ran forward, thankful he had gotten close enough to Derge Senior that his speed was enough to catch up to the man. Sven swung his sword arm at Derge Senior, slanting the blade at Derge Senior's legs in an attempt to sever them from the rest of his body. Too be fair, Sven didn't quite expect to chop them cleanly off, but he did hope for enough damage to disable the higher functions of the Marine Vice Admiral's legs. He kept himself light on his feet, lessening the speed and power of his blow, while enabling him to better move away in the case of a counter attack.

-Manus-

Manus groaned as he dropped to his knees. That bite wound on his leg hurt like nobody's business, and he couldn't see Darnel at all. He knew snakes were poisonous, and since Darnel had snake powers from his Devil Fruit, his fangs were likely imbued with the same poison. He didn't know exactly which effect the poison would have, but he knew whatever it was, it would likely render him unable to defend himself. He dropped further, supporting himself on his hands and knees. He needed to draw Darnel out, he needed to wound him so much that he couldn't attack Anubis. Hopefully by looking so weakened and conserving his energy, he'd be able to bring him into the open and kick him hard enough to take him out of the battle.

Darnel
Once darnel stopped hearing movements from above ground he figured Manus had to be dead or at least weak enough to not move anymore. This could also have been trap. Darnel poked his head out from the sand just a few feet from manus. Once he got his heat scent, Darnel swam through the sand toward Manus. He burrowed underground underneath Manus. Darnel swam up toward Manus ready to sink his jaws on his neck with his underground attack. His attack will include a bite on the neck followed by Darnel wrapping his tail around Manus's legs if it suceeded.

Maria
Maria looked down as the pirate wrench kicked her leg "Owwch the harlot dares to strike me?!" She used geppo to quickly leap out of the range of Delia. Her leg hurt like hell. She had even bruised it. Maria should have learned tekkai when she had the chance. Well using Soru wouldn't be the best option right now since her leg was hurt. Maria stood at a defensive stance ready for clear to fight her head on.