Baterilla Showdown

Cliff and the Captain clashed the moment the shot rang out. Cutlass met bear claw in CLANG as they both struggled to overcome the other.

They both jumped back and started clashing again and again. The bear-man hybrid seemed to be getting the upper hand as they clashed more and more.

Cliff grit his teeth as tried to physically overpower the bear-man in their latest clash. He was so focused on overpowering him, he forgot about the other claw.

He was painfully reminded of it when the bear-man swung his other hand to score first blood. He left behind a midway deep wound on the torso that sluggishly bled.

Cliff was surprised at the sudden pain and lost concentration giving an opening which the bear-man happily exploited. Plenty of claw attacks, clawed kicks made it through Cliff's hastily put guard leaving behind bleeding wounds. This charge only stopped when Cliff on his knees managed to stop the bear-man from biting into his shoulder by wedging his sword in between his teeth. He pushed the bear-man back who further jumped back to create some space.

By now Cliff shirt had been torn asunder and he was left panting. He quickly discarded his captains coat so as to avoid it being destroyed and charged back in.

This time, he tried his best to dodge the bear-man's claws while also landing attacks himself. It took him nearly 5 minutes of non-stop attacking to find an opening and land an attack.

Cliff had finally drawn blood.

The captain held his chest, the left side specifically, where Cliff had left behind a rather deep wound with his cutlass. The bear-man looked down at his wound for a moment before looking back up at Cliff, "You know, You're the first to draw blood from me since I ate this devil fruit."

"And I will be the last as well." Cliff replied.

"Heh! Let's see it then. Marine Captain Tragen Dieu versus Pirate Captain Cliff Calloway! May the better man win!" Marine Captain Tragen Dieu exclaimed.

Moments after the exclamation, they resumed clashing, both leaving behind bleeding wounds on the other.

They fought fiercely, as the entire plaza was filled with the sounds of their clashes which seemed to be infinitely louder than the cries of fighting originating from the fight between other marines and Cliff's crew. No one seemed to be able to hear the dying cries of the marines as they fell as more continued to fight.

…

Taiga so far had nary a scratch, walking out of a dead group of marines covered only in his enemy's blood. He seemed disappointed that the fight had been so easy that he had not even gotten to use his devil fruit. He already had a bottle of booze in his hands that he was chugging down as he walked leisurely because, well no other marines were left to challenge him anymore.

…

Cassy too leisurely walked towards Taiga as her own batch of marines lay dying behind her. She too was covered in the enemy's blood but she seemed to have a few cuts and bruises on her hands especially but also on her torso from when a few slipped past her guard and left behind these before being killed. She didn't care for them though; they would heal in a day or two.

…

Mio walked out with a grimace on her face, as she looked down at her shirt that had completely turned red with blood both her own and the enemy's that had been spilt on it. It had a few tears on it too likely caused by the few swords that she had been unable to block and hence had to take with her body.

"Dammit! I'm gonna have to wash it again! OOOH YES! No, I don't, it's torn! I don't have to clean it anymore!" She celebrated as she skipped to where Taiga and Cassy were standing.

…

May was easily the reddest of them all. She was literally covered in blood from head to toe, with blood dripping from her hair as well as fingers and dagger. She had a few wounds and bruises which if counted would be more than what Mio and Cassy had accumulated but she was still standing and had no trouble walking to where the other 3 were congregated. As soon as all 4 met they heard a cheer from all around them. They looked around only to see the public cheering for them. This should have startled them but they understood why the public would cheer for them right now.

Now all that was left was the Captains' fight. All 4 watched as the 2 clashed again and again.

…

The moment the first 4 shots rang out and 4 marines fell, the public assembled froze. They easily parted for the 4 shooters to reach the centre. it was only when the 4 downed marines were killed did the public regain their senses and start inching backwards towards the walls in an attempt to stay away from the fighting sure to come.

Plenty ran away using the roads while many stayed behind to watch. The moment the bloodshed started the captured family ran towards a corner to hide in the crowd with the hope of surviving today.

They were astonished to see just 4 people kill so many marines all by themselves. There had to have been around 200 marines that came here today to not only control the crowd but also enjoy the spectacle that is the execution.

No one cared as those same marines fell because everyone knew that the marines who cared never came to the plaza on execution days and only the worst of the lot was present here. Nobody here wished for these to survive and were rooting for the pirates to win.

 The moment the 4 pirates met in the centre; one man let loose a cheer which was echoed by all those still present here. They saw the pirates look around and then started to look towards where the last fight was being fought. The crowd too looked towards the fight hoping for the pirate captain to win.

…

As Cliff and Tragen fought on, the sounds of fighting around them faded away. Then suddenly a cheer sounded around them. They looked around to see all the marines lying dead, and the public cheering.

The marine grit his teeth before slashing which Cliff dodged by tilting his head to the left. Then Cliff retaliated by punching him in the ribs right where he had left a wound before. Tragen staggered back reeling from the pain in the wound that suddenly doubled in intensity.

Cliff used this opportunity to attack Tragen's face. His first slice resulted in him cutting straight through Tragen's right eye but subsequent swings of his sword were blocked with the forearm.

Now the bear-man had not only received a problematic wound on his chest but also lost his right eye and had a few nasty open wounds on his right arm below the elbow that ran quite deep. In addition to those he had plenty smaller, shallower cuts as well as bruises from where Cliff had cut, punched or kicked him.

They both separated to catch their breath as they panted while keeping their eyes on each other. Then Tragen let loose a roar as he fully transformed into a bear atleast 10 ft high as he stood on his hind legs. He then went onto all 4 legs and began to run at Cliff as fast as he could while growling.

Cliff stood ready to battle the bear running towards him and the moment the bear tried to swipe his claws, Cliff moved just enough to not be touched by the claws and then swing his sword for the neck. He left behind a rather large wound that was losing blood pretty fast. The Zoan durability shone through in this instance as even with all his power, the swing could not go through completely but the bear was still standing even though its neck had been cut.

The bear once again tried to attack Cliff the same way, so Cliff decided to respond in the same way. Twice more this happened before the bear started to slow as he had lost too much blood.

The bear staggered around unable to do much as it continued to lose blood that was now being splashed all over the place. A few seconds later the bear transformed back into a man wearing tattered remains of a formerly white suit that now resembled blood as well as a torn apart marine coat.

The man sat on his knees unable to do much with half his neck cut open. Cliff walked forward and stopped in front of Tragen and spoke, "The better man did win Marine Captain Tragen Dieu."

As he spoke, he raised his cutlass ready to cut.

Tragen simply replied with a sound resembling a snort, before Cliff swung his sword and Tragens' head went flying.

Cliff then looked up towards his crew, once he saw they were all fine he beamed a smile, sheathed his cutlass and fell back on his back.

He was unconscious before his back touched the ground.

…

As soon as Cliff fell unconscious, his crew rushed towards him.

"We seriously need a doctor in our crew!" Cassy said after looking over Cliff, "We keep on getting injured."

"Maybe we should convince the Captain that a doctor is more important than a musician." Mio said.

"That's easier said than done. We've sailed for more than a year now; we still haven't got one on the crew have we?" Taiga said.

"Goodluck convincing him on this!" Cassy said looking towards Mio, "He can be quite stubborn sometimes."

"Here" May said as she led an elderly man to the group, "I brought a doctor for all of us." She addressed the group, "We need to follow him to the clinic so that he can help us."

The others just nodded and let Taiga pick up Cliff while Cassy got his Captains coat and followed him.

…

Within a few hours, Cliff was up and about and the whole crew was currently partaking in a feast in their honour made by the people of the town. They had been thanked multiple times which they waved off, too engrossed in eating, drinking and having fun.

Apparently before Cliff woke up, the good and honest marines of their town came in, cleaned the bodies of the dead marines as well as cleaned the plaza.

They did not do anything to the pirates in their town after approaching them once which they did to tell them that they will report what happened here to the higher ups after the pirates depart from the town.

Back in the party, Taiga seemed to be entertaining a few ladies with the way they giggled around him while he most certainly was drunk, Mio and May seemed to be sampling different foods in different corners of the plaza, & Cassy and Cliff were sitting down and shoving food down their gullet just as fast as the townsmen were replacing the food on their plates.

Everything was going just fine for now with the Roaring Tiger Pirates.