A CELESTIAL DRAGON, A REVOLUTIONARY AND SOME BOUNTY HUNTERS GET INTO A FIGHT … IT COULD GO BETTER

Screw the none-existent plan.

Echo tore a disk off his bracelet and pressed it to his slave collar. A stark electric current jolted through his body, and with a plaintive groan, he crashed back to the ground. The thick collar that had threatened to decapitate him landed with a dull thud aside his panting form, and with spasming fingers, he reached down for a second disk, pressed the activation button, and threw it at his—fucking grinning—cellmate's collar.

If anything, the taser should shock some sense into the blond.

Echo pushed himself off the carriage's wooden planks, unwavering stare fixed on choke-man, and swept his right hand over his bracelet. Three charges left. He slid one off its ring, unclasped the fake jewel, and blindly threw it at Cleo. It wasn't much, even less so in her clumsy hands, but he hoped the sight of it would give the bandits pause.

The convoy slowed to a halt, and choke-man's glare morphed into a frown when Echo stumbled his way to the cage's door.

A mix of worry and surprise tickling his senses, unintelligible murmurs caressing his ear-drums as he kicked the prison's door. Unfortunately, his armament haki was being its usual uncooperative self, and no amount of kicking and cursing would bring the blasted thing down.

"What are you waiting for?" the lady-hunter shrieked, "Use your power!"

"I'm trying!"

Echo tensed, the thin hairs on his nap rising as heat radiated against his back.

"Interesting," Sabo said with a smile in his voice that turned into a chuckle when Echo instinctively slammed his elbow back into stupidly hard abs.

A dark blur grazed Echo's side, haki-coated fingers clenching around the door's handle before a shrill metallic whine pierced the air.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have an interrupted fight to finish," Sabo said before he jumped off the carriage and charged at the unrecognizable female bandit. Her once slim waist was bloating, olive skin turning a dark purple while her mouth stretched to accommodate elongated teeth.

Guess Sharif didn't lie about hippo-lady either.

Echo's eyes narrowing on his own dismounting target.

"Is it you?! What did you do to me?!" Choke-man asked before he unsheathed his sword and charged at him.

Echo smirked, his blood-thirsty smile turning viscous at his prey's approach. With the press of a button, he activated the taser in his hand and threw it at the man's forehead. He doubted the bandit used observation haki, but even if he did, it wouldn't help him avoid the coin-sized disk, not when Echo's power was blocking his natural flow of energy. The bandit leader was stripped bare, no haki, no devil fruit power, nothing but his human flesh, muscles, and bones to fight with, and even that was rendered useless when Echo's disk hit its mark, thin insect-like legs harpooning sun-kissed flesh before the taser released its charge.

"HAAAA!!"

A twinge of guilt sparked in his chest—having one's brain short-circuited wasn't pleasant—but this was a man who'd put a child in shackles and threatened her with a faith Echo wouldn't even wish on his uncle. There was no place for guilt, only satisfaction, when he slid behind the twitching man and coiled his right forearm around his throat. His hand met the inside of his left elbow before his left hand snaked behind the bandit's neck in a punishing chokehold.

"Unpleasant, isn't it?" Echo asked the red-faced devil fruit user struggling in his hold. A couple of seconds later, he went lax, and Echo unceremoniously dropped him in the sand. He turned around, back facing the carriage, while his front and flanks remained open to the approaching bandits.

Sword coming from the left. Echo ducked and swept a leg against his assailant's ankle. The blue-eyed man tumbled to the ground, but before Echo could take advantage of the bandit's sprawled out form, a rush of displaced air ordered him back. A sharp blade sliced through the spot he'd been standing in not a second ago.

Echo's armament haki may be a stubborn shit, but his observation was on high alert. He avoided his new opponent's swift slashes until he found an opening. He slid closer and punched the tall bandit in the liver. Tall-man doubled over, and Echo had just enough time to knee him in the balls before blue-eyes snuck back on him with a dagger. Echo sprang to the side, fingers clasping around the bandit's wrist while his left palm slammed into his elbow. Blue-eyes screamed, eyes watering in horrified pain as he stared at his arm's unnatural angle. There was no place for sympathy in this fight, yet Echo still wished he had his gloves (as must the poor sod cradling his broken arm). But there was no time to dwell on this, not with the mountain of a man closing up on him. Echo gulped, his pulse quickening as he took in muscles upon muscles. Thanks to his devil fruit power, he could prevent mountain-man from further hardening his body, but it had no effect on physical—

Echo's nap tingled. He ducked right on time to avoid a spinning taser disk. His gaze strayed over his shoulder, but he was strung up too tight to react to Cleo's mouthed "sorry". He appreciated the sentiment (or, well, he would if he wasn't fighting for his life), but the execution left much to be desired. The disk landed in the sand, useless and forgotten as Echo intercepted mountain-man's attack. His fingers clasped around meaty hands, while his eyes narrowed on the blade pressing toward his face. Echo grit his teeth, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple as his feet sank into the sand. His arms trembled under the weight of mountain-man's strength, and a side glance revealed tall-man was getting back up.

Shit. Echo side-stepped. The tip of mountain-man's weapon grazed his bicep while a vague awareness of the bandit's intent whisked through his mind. Double shit. There was no way he could avoid mountain-man's next attack.

A sharp elbow rammed into his face.

Echo's cheek exploded with searing hot pain as he tumbled to the ground.

A few steps away, tall-man landed in the sand, Cleo's last disk poking out of the convulsing man's shoulder.

Warmth bloomed in Echo's chest, but he quelled it. Now wasn't the time to bask in gooey feelings of pride, not with mountain-man's sword flying down toward him. Echo rolled out of the way only to land at the feet of whom he could only presume to be mountain-man's twin.

… I'm so screwed.