"Ugh, gentle, Grand." Said Trenza with a grunt of pain as she stood back up and dusted off clothes while Grand continued to laugh, causing her to sigh.
"Tch, transponder snails that large are expensive; roughly 20,000,000 Beri's! Whatever, thankfully, I've got backups." Muttered Mirage angrily through the speakers, seemingly speaking to no one specific, merely voicing her thoughts.
"Anyways, as you nine have seen, starting now, every minute, the outside layer of the arena will fall into the water; I'm sure I don't need to explain the implications behind it. Now, please continue from where you left off; just know you have roughly 11 minutes remaining." Added Mirage calmly, regaining her bearings as she overlooked the pirates in interest.
Right when Mirage finished speaking, the ground I was standing on started trembling again, causing me to quickly jump forward, the same as Scar and Grand, just in time for the area we were previously standing on to fall into the water.
"Make that 10 minutes; chop, chop, pirates." Said Mirage lightly, with traces of amusement in her voice, prompting the nine pirates to imagine her with a smile as she overlooked them, much to their annoyance.
Groaning in anger and annoyance at Mirage, I clicked my tongue and focused back to the task at hand, which was surviving this 'game' and getting out of here so I could put a bullet in that old bitches head. It was a simple plan if I do say so myself; the only problem is, we had three people preventing us from doing so, well technically six, but the three were on death's door; they weren't of any threat.
I was about to say something to Scar and Grand, but before I could, the tribal man suddenly made a move, catching everyone's attention as we warily eyed him; the man lunged forth, spouting words of a language I didn't know, though I could only assume they were some sort of battle cry.
Thankfully, the man's focus wasn't on any of us; instead, it was one of the three exhausted and injured pirates, and his sudden actions caught the man slightly off-guard, though he did manage to react by getting in a stance with his sword, but unfortunately for him, the pirate wasn't able to put up much if any resistance at all. The tribal man caught the pirate's sword as he swung it, making him draw blood from his hand, but he seemed completely unbothered by it; he then, using the sword within his grasp, yanked the more forward, pulling him closer and next thing I knew, I heard a sickening crunch as the tribal man's fist landed squarely on the mans face, breaking his facial structure.
Though living up to his brutality, he continued to bombard the man with devastating punches with a sadistic grin on his face; even when the man died, he continued to unleash his brutality for some time before finally relenting, seemingly having had his fill.
"You sure you wish to take him, Scar?" Asked Trenza with a nervous gulp as she looked at the blood-covered man, who stared back at her, causing her to shift her body until she was behind Scar.
"Well, if you want Trenza, we can always change opponents; you take on that savage beast that acts like a wilder and stupider version of Captain while I take on what looks like a prepubescent boy." Remarked Scar with a slight smirk as he held his dagger in a reverse grip and stared unflinchingly at the tribal man slowly approaching him.
Hearing Scar's, I took a second to seriously consider his words, causing me to constantly look between the savage, brutal tribal man and the frightened young man, who, even I was confident in beating in a fistfight despite my small stature.
"Haa, no thanks, I'll take the kid; don't die on me, Scar, and if you do, make sure you greatly wound the man; that way, at least I'll be able to finish the job." Stated Trenza with a shake of her head as she lighted backed away before slapping Scar's butt with a smirk, encouraging him in his fight.
"Yeah, yeah, sister." Muttered Scar, lightly shaking his head before his expression became serious as he calmly yet warily approached the tribal man, the two sizing up their opponents.
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With Scar and that tribal pirate about to fight, the next person to move was the fish-man with the long serrated nose, though, unlike Scar's opponent, he ignored the other two pirates and was focused solely on Grand and I, though I was hoping it was merely Grand. However, while walking toward his, he outstretched his hand and opened his webbed hands, causing him to secrete water from his body; the next thing I knew, he shot his arm forward as if he was throwing him something, despite nothing in his hand.
Though I couldn't see what happened afterward, the moment he did that, Grand had moved in front of me, along with what sounded almost like gunshots hitting metal.
"Eh, Grand, you okay? What happened?" Asked Trenza in confusion when the noises finally died down as she attempted to look at Grand, though his massive frame hindered her.
"Yes, I'm fine, nothing to worry about; he just used those water droplets he secreted off his arm and turned them into bullet-like projectiles; my gauntlets had mostly protected me." Replied Grand with furrowed brows as he lowered his gauntlets, staring at the approaching fish while glancing at an unfortunate pirate that was caught up in the mess.
"You say that, but you don't really look find; you're already bleeding!" Said Trenza with a frown as she looked at the front grand, spotting a few small holes he bled from, though that merely caused him to laugh.
"Haha, worry not, Trenza; they are merely flesh wounds, I'm sure you can also tell. Other than being a little painful, they do not affect my combat ability." Declared Grand with a grin as he clanged his gauntlets together before approaching the fish-man, who warily eyed Grand.
Watching Grand near the fish-man to initiate in battle, I glanced at the young troubled man in the distance before looking at Scar, only to note that he was already engaged in battle with the ruthless tribal man as he clawed at Scar with his fingers, though he was able to dodge each one while still staying close to him before retaliating; however, from what I could see, Scar's attacks didn't seem to do much. I mean, he was getting in pretty good attacks, slicing the man and leaving decently deep wounds; it's just that the man completely ignored them while he fought; in fact, it looked like he fought with even more enthusiasm with each injury he accumulated.
'Reminds of a berserker I read in one of those children's books when I was a kid.' Mused Trenza as she watched and winced in pain when she saw Scar take a seemingly nasty blow to the chest, causing his feet to slide against the arena, though he quickly regained his bearing before running back toward his opponent.
Seeing Scar holding his own, I focussed back on the seemingly harmless young man, who, I noticed, was constantly looking at me, and I could see wariness in his eyes as he did so.
"Hehe, got you now wo-" Said the last remaining injured pirate as he snuck up from behind Trenza amidst the commotion and used his sword to slice at her from behind, though he wasn't able to finish speaking, since a bullet pierced his heart, causing him to freeze.
"Your sneak attack would've been much more effective if you stayed quiet." Remarked Trenza as she turned to glance at the pirate, who dropped his sword and grabbed his chest while falling to his knees, blood oozing out from his wound.
Once the man died, I turned back toward the young man and decided that I would take the initiative to approach him, which grabbed his attention as he stared at my figure while slowly backing away, only to almost fall into the water behind him.
'Maybe he isn't faking, and this is his true self?' Mused Trenza with a slight frown as she scrutinized the fearful young man while slowing her approach, feeling slightly sympathetic.
Deciding it was better to talk things out than start fighting immediately, I holstered my pistols as I neared him, though my left hand stayed on Sunaipu, just in case he was misleading me.
"Kid, what's your name?" Asked Trenza lightly, standing about two meters away as she eyed the trembling young man who refused to look at her in the eyes.
"I-It's K-Kane, M-M-Miss." Replied the young man fearfully with a slightly higher-pitched voice than one would expect from a man.
"So, Kane, how old are you? You seem a little young to be a pirate." Asked Trenza softly with a raised eyebrow, finding his actions not quite out of place.
"1-17, a-and I'm n-not a p-pirate, M-Miss." Said Kane, less apprehensive than before as he finally found the courage to look up at Trenza, though he still refused to look her directly in the eye.
"17? You're barely a man; however, what is someone who's not a pirate doing here?" Asked Trenza softly as she took a step forward, nearing the young man.
"I-I, u-used to l-live o-on an i-island c-called, j-jetski i-island, w-well, a-at least b-before I and m-my fellow i-inhabitants, w-were t-turned into s-slaves." Remarked Kane in fear, his body trembling more intensely as he thought about what had happened, causing Trenza to sigh in pity.