304 Brawling at Sea

Human World, Open Seas, Dark Tournament Cruise Ship.

A few minutes before the announcement about the voyage's special event was made, James, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara were chatting. During that time, seeing that there was nothing going on, Yusuke decided to sit down against a wall and take a nap. In a matter of seconds, Yusuke was fast asleep.

After the scruffy demon, who seemed to be the captain, made his announcement, a portion of the ship's deck near the center of the vessel rose above the ship's railings. A moment later, the raised portion split down the middle and began opening to either side of the ship. Then, a circular, stone, fighting ring rose from the ship's depths.

"Whoa... How do you hide something that big on a boat?" Kuwabara asked, in awe of what he had seen.

"I don't think that's what is important right now." Kurama said, watching the demon he presumed to be the ship's captain.

Like Kurama, every demon on the ship was also watching the captain, waiting for what he had to say next.

"Since we have so many demons on board, we'll have to have a little preliminary match to pick one team among the many to participate in the tournament." The scruffy demon said with a wretched smile on his face.

Hearing that, all the demons were excited. None of them would mind getting the chance to kill someone at the moment. As they waited to hear the rules, they all began cracking their knuckles or sharpening their claws in anticipation.

"Now, each team needs to pick out their strongest fighter." The scruffy demon said with a smile. "Then, they'll fight in a free for all. The team with the last fighter standing goes on to the tournament."

Immediately, the demons began to cheer.

"Hell yeah, After I kill everyone, I'll be famous." A green skinned demon shouted in excitement.

"Haha, the Spirit Detective is mine." A demon with no face said with a violent aura emanating from him.

"Back off!" An orange skinned demon shouted in reply. "The Spirit Detective is mine. "So is that spot in the tournament."

"Wait, does that mean we have to fight in this preliminary fight, too?" Kuwabara asked. "We were invited to the tournament as special guests, right?"

"Those greedy humans who run this tournament don't care about that." Hiei said disdainfully. "As long as they can see us dead, they don't care about the rules."

"So, which of us should go up there?" Kurama asked.

"As the leader of the team, I think Urameshi should go." Kuwabara said, approaching Yusuke, who was still asleep despite all the noise on the deck. "Hey, Urameshi, wake up, it's time to fight."

After reaching Yusuke's side, Kuwabara shook him gently. Noticing that there was no response, Kuwabara began shaking him more violently.

"Come on, Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted. "Now is not the time to be sleeping!"

"Let the poor guy sleep." James said, patting Kuwabara on his shoulder while wearing a wry smile. "Both his master and mine put him through hell for the last three months. It's kind of a miracle that he even lived through it."

"Then, who do we send to fight?" Kuwabara questioned, letting go of Yusuke.

"Well, since we don't know anything about him, why don't we let him fight?" Hiei said, staring at James.

Shrugging his shoulders, James materialized Ochiru Sakura on his hip. Then, he began walking toward the ring at a casual pace.

"But what if he loses?" Kuwabara asked, a bit nervous. "We'd be disqualified from the tournament, right?"

"If that happens, we'll just kill every demon on the ship until we're the only ones left alive." Hiei said, a dim glow shining through his headband.

"Yeah, you definitely don't have any friends, Hiei." Kuwabara said while inching away from the diminutive homicidal demon.

"Enough, we should watch so we know how strong he is." Kurama said, putting an end to the chatter.

Meanwhile, James had just stepped onto the ring. Looking around, he saw that there were fourteen demons grouped together. On top of that, they were all staring at him with murderous intent.

'Just like how it went in the anime.' James thought to himself. 'Except, I'm replacing Genkai.'

"Let's take care of the guy from the human team first." A blue skinned demon with sharp claws suggested.

"Agreed." A grey skinned ogre said in agreement. "After that, we can decide among ourselves who will go to the tournament."

After that, all the other demons agreed with the suggestion. Then, they increased their killing intent and slammed it down on James.

"*Sigh* Master hit me with more killing intent than this when I was eleven." James said casually with a friendly smile on his face. "Are you guys even trying? Did you skip dinner or something?"

"Now, let the preliminary battle begin!" The scruffy demon shouted before any more trash talk could be exchanged.

Once the start signal was given, all the demons began rushing towards James. James, on the other hand, simply placed his hand on Ochiru Sakura. A moment later, James turned around and walked back toward the rest of his team while all the demons stopped in place.

"Impressive." Hiei said, narrowing his eyes.

"Indeed, his speed could even rival yours, Hiei." Kurama agreed, nodding his head.

"Hmph!" Hiei snorted in response.

"What are you two talking about?" Kuwabara asked in confusion. "All he did was touch the handle of his sword then turn around."

Before either Kurama or Hiei could respond, fourteen geysers of blood shot up from the demons necks, sending their heads into the air. At the same time, James had returned to his team's side.

"*Sigh* It's been a long time since I wielded you, Ochiru Sakura." James said, tapping the hilt of his katana. "But you still feel so right in my hand."

"Holy cow!" Kuwabara exclaimed, I couldn't even see him move. Is he faster than Hiei?"

"He wishes." Hiei said in a testy tone.

'If he only knew the half of it.' James thought to himself without commenting.

Meanwhile, the shock of seeing fourteen demons decapitated simultaneously, had just worn off form the rest of the demons on the deck. Then, they all turned their attention toward Team Urameshi.

"Why do they look like their ready to fight?" Kuwabara asked, taking his own fighting stance.

"I think they've stolen my idea." Hiei said, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We'll have to make them pay dearly for that."

"Indeed." Kurama said, pulling a rose from his sleeve.

Smiling at the thought that he was living through his favorite arc of one of his favorite anime, James also readied himself for the coming fight.

And just like that, the remaining fifty-six demons who were hoping to join the dark tournament rushed Team Urameshi. The first to engage was Hiei. With his superior speed, he dismembered, disemboweled, and decapitated any demon that came within reach of his blade, without so much as a drop of blood landing on him.

Kurama, holding his rose, also found himself in the sights of more than a few demons. However, after pumping his demonic energy into the rose, it turned into a, at least fifteen feet (approx. 4.5 m) long, whip with rose thorns along its length. Then, with a flick of his wrist and a spin, Kurama slashed apart all the demon surrounding him.

Using his magic power, or spirit energy, as he knew it, Kuwabara created a glowing orange sword that he used to split the demons in half, both horizontally and vertically. Although he did not move as fast as Hiei, nor were his techniques all that refined, Kuwabara was still much more than any of these cannon fodder demons could handle.

Then, there was James. Choosing not to use his sword, he casually walked among the crowd of demons. As he did, he flicked away any incoming attacks before punching or kicking through the chests of any who would attack him. By the time he had walked through the group of demons, all of them were laid out on teh deck with a hole in their chest big enough that the other side could be seen clearly.

It was natural, however, that things would not go as smoothly as Team Urameshi hoped. While James and the others were fighting the majority of the demons, a few of the smarter ones made their way toward the sleeping Yusuke.

'Since Yusuke went through Master's training to sharpen his already impressive battle instincts, I wonder how he will handle three demons while he's asleep.' James thought to himself with a smile.

As the three demons drew near, Yusuke did not wake up, let alone twitch. So, after exchanging glances, all three demons smiled ruthlessly before plunging their sharp claws toward Yusuke's head, throat, and heart.

"Urameshi! Look out!" Kuwabara shouted, noticing the sneak attack at the last moment.

Before any of the claws could come within an inch (approx. 2.5 cm) of Yusuke's skin, however, Yusuke's left arm shot up and parried the claw approaching his heart upward, causing the claws to impale the arm headed for his throat and throwing it off course to the side. Then, his right arm shot up and deflected the claw headed at his head into the heart of the demon aiming for his throat.

'Not bad.' James thought as he continued to watch.

"Can't you two hags let me sleep?" Yusuke shouted at the top of his lungs.

After that shout, Yusuke grabbed both of the still living demon's by their heads and smashed their heads together over and over.

"Oh good, Urameshi is awake now." Kuwabara said in a relieved tone.

"No, you moron, he's still sleep." Hiei said, approaching Kuwabara.

"Huh, but he just..." Kuwabara began to retort. He stopped, however, when he saw what happened next.

Eventually, both demon's skulls caved in. After they both died, Yusuke let go of them and slumped back down against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Did he do all that... In his sleep?" Kuwabara asked in disbelief.

"Apparently, he put quite the effort into his training." Kurama said, approaching Kuwabara and Hiei. "It would seem, Yusuke might have put all our efforts to shame."

"If you only knew the half of it." James said, joining the other three. "Mine and his master really put him through the ringer. Seriously, if I told you about it, you might really shit yourselves."

"We know who his master is." Hiei said in a cold tone. "But who is this master of yours?"

Ignoring Hiei's attempt at intimidation, James smiled and began wagging his finger in front of Hiei.

"No, no, no, Hiei." James said in a sing-song tone. "If I told you that, that would ruin the surprise."

Scowling in annoyance, Hiei dropped the matter. Though, he swore that he would get the information he wanted, one way or another.

Meanwhile, James continued to smile.

'I should find a way to convince Hiei to join my peerage.' James thought to himself. 'That Jagan on Hiei's forehead would be useful in finding Rizevim. I mean, he used it to spy on his sister in the demon world from the human world, right?'

Meanwhile, the scruffy demon captaining the ship did not move from his place during the entire fight. However, once it was over, he turned around and returned to the ships wheel house.

"It seems they are stronger than we expected." The scruffy demon said to himself. "I'll have to report this to the organizers."

Human World, Japan, Tokyo.

In a certain apartment in a certain neighborhood, a teenage girl and a woman were forcing a second woman into a corner.

"Now, now, you two. There's no need to get violent, right?" The second woman, a beautiful woman with cyan hair pulled into a ponytail and pink eyes., said while holding her hands out defensively.

"Botan!" The teenage girl, a pretty girl with brown hair, styled in a bob, and reddish-brown eyes, shouted in an agitated tone. "Where is Yusuke?"

"And my baby brother?" The other woman, a beautiful woman with long brown hair and brown eyes, question, her usual nonchalant facial expression nowhere to be seen. "Neither Kazuma nor Yusuke have contacted ether of us in months."

These three were acquaintances of most of Team Urameshi.

The cyan haired woman, Botan, is a Grim Reaper who escaped from the Underworld, not liking the way Hades handled things, and went to work for Spirit World. On top of that, she is Yusuke's assistant when he works as a Spirit Detective.

The teenage girl, Yukimura Keiko, is a classmate and childhood friend of Yusuke. Just a normal human, she recently found out about the supernatural side of the world and has been worried about Yusuke ever since.

The third woman, Kuwabara Shizuru, is the older sister of Kuwabara Kazuma. Or Just Kuwabara, as he is better known as. Like Keiko, she has been worried about her brother ever since he disappeared to train for the tournament.

"Well, you know." Botan said, dripping cold sweat due to the threatening atmosphere the two in front of her were exuding. "Boys will be boys, right?"

"Not my little brother!" Shizuru said, taking a step forward. "Now, tell us where Kazuma and Yusuke are."

"But I can't." Botan said, trying to back away before bumping into a wall.

"Botan, please." Keiko said, making puppy dog eyes. "We're friends, right?"

At that, Botan started to buckle under the pressure.

"Botan!" Both Keiko and Shizuru shouted.

"Ugh... Koenma is going to kill me for this." Botan said as she finally cracked under the pressure.