Underworld — P4

<p>━━━━━━━━━✾━━━━━━━━━<br/><br/>Koma continued his clash with the two pirates, his breath heavier than before due to the long battle and damage he's taken. 'This is looking kinda unwinnable.' He thought to himself. <br/><br/>"Why are you two here, then?" He said, stalling for time. He needed to think of a strategy to win, and strategies take time to form. However, it seemed anything he hadn't tried yet was unappealing—he had already used many of them, but to no success.<br/><br/>"Foolish boy.. telling someone as stupid as you serves no purpose," the woman hissed, though this time her tone was more provocative. <br/><br/>"Fuck you." Koma growled. It seemed he took the bait, but his stance and way he approached the battle remained the same. It was as though he could seperate mental aspects from physical aspects of the battle. 'If I can't win this, Vin-chan's gonna die.'<br/><br/>"We shall give your friend a painless death if you stop struggling," the woman shrieked. The marine's face was filled with fury—one that screamed of bloodlust and hate toward her. "What's the matter? You cannot defeat us."<br/><br/>The marine sighed, then positioned himself in a more aggresive stance. "Somehow, I doubt that!" Koma yelled. 'I'll win this. If not for me, for Vin-chan's sake.' Koma's eyes widened as a burst of invisible black lightning left his body and coursed throughout his surroundings. The two opposite to him seemed obviously distressed, losing their composure.<br/><br/>"H..haoshoku?!" Amelia screeched, stepping back out of fear. The man, too, followed, covering his face with his large hands. Koma's face was filled to the brim with ecstasy and bloodlust. 'The devil himself is within this man!' The woman thought to herself in shock.<br/><br/>"I don't know what you're talking about!" The marine shouted, dashing towards Amelia again. The two recollected themselves and took a similar synchronised battle stance to their previous one. This stance incorporated their battle styles perfectly—one where Roche stood in front of the woman, but not enough to obstruct her view. <br/><br/>Roche intercepted Koma's dash, though his movements were a just a tad off—perhaps due to 'An opening.' The man was slashed in half, then hit sideways away from the battlefield. The marine twisted his body as he landed, eyeing the woman who was now attempting to escape the area.<br/><br/>Koma's grin widened as he sprinted toward the woman, slashing donwards. "Executioner's Fury!" He yelled as he cut the woman's arm clean off. Amelia picked her arm up from the air and jumped backwards to Roche, stitching him together with her other arm. Her job was almost done, though Koma wouldn't allow his chance to perish. He hurried towards them, hopping up into the sky swinging his blade toward them. "Execution's Finale!" A giant air slash shot towards the duo, making them scatter into the trees as the slash destroyed and created another clearing of the woods. <br/><br/>'Bullet.' Koma's Observation Haki flared, and he was able to detect the danger. He twisted out of the way, evading the bullet. <br/><br/>Unfortunately for him, it was not a regular gunshot.<br/><br/>The bullet was pulled back as he saw the injured Amelia tugging her flintlock. It dropped a bit prior to reaching Koma, but it quickly connected and pierced his chest. He hadn't see it quick enough, but the bullet was connected by a string to the end of the firearm. 'If I had noticed a split-second earlier, I could have activated Armament.'<br/><br/>The marine dropped to the ground, bleeding from the injury.<br/><br/>"You cannot.. defeat us," the woman told him, wearily.<br/><br/>'This isn't looking great..'<br/><br/>━━━━━━━━━✾━━━━━━━━━<br/><br/>Vin trudged across the forest, attempting to find the clearing they were once in. He needed to help Koma—not because he doubted him—because it'd be safer and easier for both with himself there. But even walking proved itself to be a challenge, his breath and steps heavy as he kept his energy saved for the battle—it would be a miracle if he even made it to the clearing.<br/><br/>'Keep.. your breathing calm.' Vin thought to himself, beginning to control his breathing. His steps and breath became lighter as he grasped his wounds and again applied his Devil Fruit powers to them. This was the only way to survive.<br/><br/>He eventually stepped near the clearing, his vision fuzzy. He could make out Koma's crouching silhouette and two other people. One seemed similar to the man who attacked him, though the woman was completely new. Upon closer inspection, it seemed the Rear Admiral was also injured, in need of help. <br/><br/>Vin snuck behind the trio who were focused on monologue—Vin couldn't make out what they were saying, anyway. He pinpointed the exact area his blood was leaking from, letting go off his Devil Fruit powers and causing great pain. He let out a low shriek, he had to contain his expression of pain otherwise the enemy might hear him, find him, and kill him. <br/><br/>He activated his fruit's power. At the edge of the blood, in his mind, was a faint energy. A door he could open, a gear he could rotate. While it didn't look like anything—and it certainly wasn't physical, it didn't matter to Vin. It was just there, in his mind, provoking him to reach for it. Yet it was also incredibly faint—almost inaccessible, far away from his consciousness. 'Focus.' He reached forward, gliding towards it within his mind. <br/><br/>Vin took a couple steps toward Amelia, who was cowering behind the larger man. They hadn't noticed him yet, and that would be the cause of their downfall. <br/><br/>'Sharpen!' Vin finally grasped the energy in his mind and snapped back to reality. Every last drop of his blood—so long as it remained on him—that had left his body was molded in one continous stream, forming itself quickly like a coil. Eventually, it formed the shape of a spike, one that flew towards the woman's head. Amelia's head was struck by the spike, piercing her through her brain. <br/><br/>Koma flared his Conqeuror's Haki subconsciously once more.<br/><br/>The Rear Admiral gave Vin a smile and nod, then dashed towards Roche, who was now obviously panicking, thoughtlessly eyeing Amelia as she struggled to move. If Vin let go anytime soon, the woman would stitch her injury back together, even if by mere instinct, no doubt.<br/><br/>Roche swung a fist at Koma, but it was easily evaded as the marine twisted himself out of the way. He swung his large blade horizontally toward the bigger man's chest, slashing it open. The now injured man held the slashed area forcefully, but did not have time to prepare for the next attack.<br/><br/>His head was sliced clean off, and Koma made another impactful dash, this time toward Amelia. He slashed her across the chest, not enough to kill her, but certainly to place her in a vulnerable state. Vin followed up by letting go of his molding and using the last bit his energy to create a stone rope, which they tied around her. <br/><br/>This restricted her movements, and while the marine duo were injured heavily as well, no doubt that they had certainly won this battle.<br/><br/>Koma held his sword to the woman's neck. "Roche.. tell me what he is." The Rear Admiral demanded. <br/><br/>The woman scoffed, then, Vin assume she had realised he position. It was as though she made a remarkable discovery in realising her life was in their hands. <br/><br/>"Vaga..punk.. Germa.. Doflamingo.. made a deal," she said, turning her head toward Koma. It seemed she had difficulty talking and breathing, likely due to the injury the marine had just caused. Vin shot him a look of disappointment, and Koma looked away, embarrassed. "That is.. all I can say.."<br/><br/>"You value your own life less than secrets?" The Rear Admiral inquired harshly.<br/><br/>"Foolish boy.. telling you serves me the same fate, if not worse," she said.<br/><br/>Koma thought for a moment. "Okay, then, why were you here?" As he said that, all three heard the first gunshot.<br/><br/>It was a loud and ferocious, but singular noise. This noise broke their emersion on the conversation and made them turn heads towards the town. 'Pirates.. genocide..' Vin thought.<br/><br/>Koma immediately noticed what was happening. They were here merely to command the mass killing of every rich man and woman in this town. Perhaps it was to do with riches—perhaps more. One thing was for certain, they needed to escape. </p>