"It's a hallway." Nikolai spoke. "Do you not use buildings?" He asked, casually walking toward a stairwell, which seemed oddly unguarded. In fact, the entire trip inside the building was completely uninterrupted until they reached a door labelled 'Warden'. "Huh. Guess they never expected me to come this way," he laughed, kicking the door open.

"Well, excuuuuuuuuuse me. But going from direct sunlight to false light isn't an instant transition for me like this" Jade snarked, following behind while keeping an eye behind her. Something wasn't right. They sure as hell didn't send ALL the guards to fight them. Obviously some would work to cut off their escape. "I wonder if maybe they're trying to set a-" but she didn't finish as a loud *CRASH* erupted from behind her. Jerking her head around, Jade saw the door to the Warden's office hanging off it's hinges, having been kicked open. All she could do was facepalm.

"What... the... hell? What are we doing here!?"

"I've got some stuff I need to pick up," Nikolai spoke as he entered the empty office. He looked around, not finding what he was looking for and starting to get frustrated. "AAARGH! Where's my Eternal Pose!?" He exclaimed, punching the desk. Right next to a keyring. "Hm... Here. Help me look for my eternal pose. It looks like an hourglass with a needle in the middle instead of sand. Says Gourmet on it." He told her while he continued to look around.

Jade's face lit up like a Christmas tree the minute he handed her the keys. Stumbling through them, she thoroughly tested them one after another until... *click*. She slowly pulled the heavy collar off her throat, the pale skin resembling a choker. Dropping it to the floor, she placed her hands on her head and *CRICK!* "Ooooooooooh yeeeeeeaaaaaah... That feels sooooooo good. You have no idea how long I wanted to do that. Oh, right Eternal Pose!" she said, fingering her softer skin newly unbound. Jade closed her eyes and focused, as the boy became more and more frustrated. She was unknown to him as her body began to vibrate. Suddenly there was a large rush of air *and the sound of a ton of shit breaking* and by the time he turned around, there was Jade, Eternal Pose in her hand with Gourmet written on it "Ya lookin' for this?" she asked, handing it to him "Oh, by the by, what's your name? Mine's Jade."

Nikolai blinked. She'd taken off the collar and before he'd even figured out what had happened, she'd somehow found his eternal pose. "Uh... Yeah, that's the one..." He mumbled, taken aback by it. "Right, anyway, Nikolai." He gave his name for the first time. "I'm nobody special. Just a pirate captain," he explained as he put the saber on his waist and held the rifle on his shoulder. "Anyway, I think I have everything I came here for. Time to bust out of this joint!"

Jade grinned at his obvious confusion. Despite the destructive side effects of her ability, she did love to show off. Even in a world of abnormal powers, hers was both common and unique. Anyways, the boy gave his name, 'Nikolai, huh? Okay, works for me', and occupation 'Piracy? Excellent. All the better', and finished grabbing his stuff before heading out the door. Jade moved to follow before she noticed a glint in the corner of the wood pile that used to be the warden's desk. 'A-HA! There you are!' she thought, picking up the object. It was a just a choker (although MUCH softer and lighter than that seastone collar) with a locket on it, but it was worth faaaaar more to her than anything else. As she put it on, she saw something else that might be useful, too. A dagger belt, dagger included. "I like this knife, I'm keeping it". Standing tall, she set out after Nikolai "Alrighty. After you, Captain"...

Nikolai nodded, leading the way out and into the halls. "I'm betting..." He mumbled as he ran. He turned the corner past the yard exit, only to see...

"Woooow..." He said with a whistle. "That's a lot of mooks," he said, drawing the saber in his right hand and holding the gun in his left. "I don't know if we're going to be able to handle all these guys," he chuckled.

Jade came to a halt as well so as to not slam into her new-found buddy. "Hmm? Oh, that. That's should be easy enough" she said, stepping up. And just like before her body began to vibrate. After a couple of seconds, she stopped, her body giving off a slight greenish aura. "Alright boys" she spoke with an odd reverberation to her voice "Try and keep up". And suddenly, she was gone. Well, except for the green image trail she left behind, and the fire-laced foot steps (more like impact craters), and the massive gust of wind as the air rushed to fill the empty space where she just was. But by the time all this registered into Nikolai's mind, Jade was already down ten mooks.

"Holy shit!" "Where'd she go!?" "She's so fast!" "I can't see her!" the panic ran rampant throughout the crowd of marines, but Jade paid it no mind. In fact to be perfectly honest, she couldn't even hear them. Another side effect. When Jade entered what she called her "Accelerated State", she entered her own little world. A world were everyone and everything moved 3x slower than her, giving her a freedom afforded to no one else. This was the power of the Swift-Swift Fruit. And currently, that power was focused on body slamming, punching, kicking, crotch-shotting, kneeing, elbowing, and just flat-out running over any guard who dared stand between her and free-"Oh, shit. Time's half up!"

Within roughly 5-6 seconds, the entire battalion was flung into the air, slamming against the walls, floor, and each other, whereas Jade had tripped on her way back, and was currently sitting flat on her ass 'I have GOT to work on stopping', sliding to Nikolai's feet, trying to catch her breath. "Woo! That felt good. Well, Cap, I think we're good to go, don't you?"...

Nikolai whistled with a smile as he began walking forward. "wow... Girl's got some balls." He said with a laugh, realizing he didn't even need to lift a finger in that situation. "I could barely even follow what you were getting onto there," he said to her. "Well, JJ," he smiled and shook his head. "Guess we should probably get out of here... Seriously though, who knew you could do THAT kind of thing? Why didn't you use it back when we were out in the yard? Probably would have saved us a boatload of trouble!" He laughed as he walked right out of the front door to the prison.

Outside, a single man was standing. "Well this looks interesting..." Nikolai mumbled, feeling an odd presence to the stranger. The new man stood at around 6'2, which was certainly taller than the young escapee, even if not by much. "This guy... He's got an odd feel to him..."

"So, I take it that you two prisoners are the ones causing a ruckus in my prison?" The man asked, his eyes sharp in spite of his age, which looked to be at least 50 from the greying of his hair which had an unfortunate pair of stripes overtop that made it look like he was wearing a skunk's tail on his head.

"And if we are?" Nikolai asked, holding both weapons at the ready.

"Then you're far too dangerous for me to allow you to continue to run around unattended." The man spoke drawing a blade. "I'll detain the both of you and have you sent somewhere better suited to dealing with riffraff such as yourselves... Perhaps Impel Down?"

"..." Nikolai grimaced as he raised the rifle. "Like hell!" He shouted, pulling the trigger and firing on the man. What happened next caught him completely by surprise. He was positive he'd hit the man square in the chest, but just as it happened, he felt something sharply graze his cheek, leaving behind a burning sensation. "What... A devil fruit?" He asked, eyes wide.

"Do you have any last words?" The man asked, holding up his blade, completely unperturbed by the shot fired.

Jade laughed as she got up "Seastone collar, remember? I couldn't use my power even if I wanted" she said, dusting her butt off. She followed him out the door, mulling over her new nickname 'JJ... JJ... JJ... I like it' she thought. But her smile quickly faded when she saw who stood before her. The Warden. Jade had never seen the man, but with the strength he was radiating, there was no doubt in her mind of his status. 'But just like his lowly mooks, he stands between me and freedom' Jade began to vibrate 'He will end up just the same!' she thought, darting towards the large old-timer, full-on ready to barrel his ass down. But the second she made contact, she knew she fucked up. Her entire form had begun to sink into his body completely, and even through she tried to stop and change directions, it was too late. The man stretched outward like rubber, and once he stopped, that meant there was only one place left for Jade to go "Oh, shit" she whimpered, as the full accelerated force of her body slam was transfered back to her and she was slung hard back the way she came, all the way into the outer wall of the prison, leaving a nice crater. "Okay... bad idea" she let out, as she slumped to the ground...

"Tch... Gum gum..." Nikolai gritted his teeth. "Cut him! Don't bother with blunt attacks unless you're going to be able to knock him flying in a single blow!" He shouted, holding the saber with both hands. "I'll keep him busy! You try to overwhelm him! I'll keep him busy!" He said as he charged in, locking blades with the marine, though it was clear that he was outclassed.

"You take me too lightly, boy!" The marine spoke as he slashed at Nikolai, who barely dodged a direct hit, instead having his arm slashed.

Jade stumbled to her feet, taking deep breaths. "Yeah. Yeah... I'll try that" she said, unsheathing the saber he gave her earlier. Once again, Jade entered her accelerated state and ran towards the warden, aiming to take his head off in one clean sweep. And in that moment she went to strike, Jade discovered that swinging your arm at super-speed, and swinging a metal stick in a wide arc at super-speed were two very different things. Wind resistance quickly took over and slowed Jade's swing down just enough that her opponent was able to see it, and therefore duck it, sending Jade tumbling tumbling behind. "DAMMIT!" she shouted, getting back up to try again, but this time she tried altering the timing of her swing, hoping to fool the marine. Sadly, it didn't work and he managed to block, hard. Jade noticed a split appearing in her saber and jumped back to give herself some room 'If this keeps up, I won't even have a sword to fight with... unless... maybe' She thought, looking at the blade 'What the hell?'. She charged the man again, but this time, she held her blade straight, using it like a javelin as opposed to a sword. Sure enough, it worked, and the metal found it's mark being driven deep into his abdominals. Of course, this led to another problem... Jade couldn't stop going forward, nor could she retract the sword fast enough, causing the rest of it to shatter, leaving her with a poor little stump. "Oh, crap".

The marine gritted his teeth from the wound inflicted, and Nikolai took the opportunity to make a bold move. He swung up a leg to kick the blade out of the man's hand. "Right, that'll do it!" He shouted, holding out the blade and preparing to cut the man once more. "Take this!"

"Arm shield!" The marine called out, his fist seeming to start spinning right before the blade came down. Hard.

"W-what?" Nikolai blinked, surprised. The blade barely even made a scratch. "But you're... Made of rubber..." He mumbled.

"And release!" The marine slammed his arm into Nikolai's side, spinning into it at high speed. The friction from the spin burning into his side and sending him flying. "I increased the tension of my arm to make it harder than steel." He said. "You can't cut me with that kind of an attack!"

'Harder than steel? THAT'S IT!' Jade thought, running over to Nik. "Hey, if he's harder than steel, maybe he lost his elasticity, right? Cutting won't work, but maybe a high-speed impact will. If you can get him to harder a vital part, I can aim for that. What do you think?" She whispered as she helped him up. It wasn't much of a plan but if she was correct it just might work.

"..." Nikolai scowled. For a moment, Jade's plan seemed brilliant, but...

"No." He said. "You're right, he'll lose his elasticity, but that just means no snapback... Hit that shield and you're more than likely to break your fist... Look..." He held up the saber. Sure enough, the blade was bent from the impact with the marine's arm. He tossed it aside and dived for the marine's tossed blade.

"Don't get cocky!" The marine said, slamming his fist into his palm, sending ripples up to his elbow.

"This technique... I've seen it..." Nikolai said, getting his guard up. "He's going to speed up! Get ready!" He shouted as the marine approached with no sign of acceleration.

Jade watched Nik through the bent saber away. Damn, she thought she figured this out, but looks like the warden was a bit too much for them to handle. 'Fuck that. It's freedom or death for me' she thought. Suddenly the warden slammed his fist into his palm sending out ripples to his elbow, with Nik sending out a warning to Jade. This caused her to jump back to get some distance, and prepare... but nothing came her way "Uh.... he's not speeding up".

"It'll happen..." Nikolai spoke confidently. "Just gotta keep my eye on him... It'll..." He felt a pit in his stomach. Then a fist. The captain had just walked up to him and punched him, and he'd just sat there and took it. "Gh... You... Didn't... Speed up..." He mumbled, right before the ripples started approaching the captain's fist. Nikolai's eyes widened as the force impacted his stomach, and sent him flying through a concrete wall.

He coughed as the dust started to settle. "Ugh... That hurt..."

Jade facepalmed. The warden didn't speed up at all, he just used his arm like a piston. Too be fair... they should have seen that coming. She ran over to Nik. Climbing through the wall, she helped Nik to his feet. "Easy, buddy. You alright?" she asked, steadying him. Turning to see their opponent begin walking towards them, she sighed, looking around. Only then did it hit her exactly where they were. "Nik... as much as I hate to say it. I don't think we can win this fight. So we run" she began to vibrate "NOW!". She picked him up and darted away. Turns out the idiot warden knocked Nik clean through the outer walls of the prison.

Jade didn't stop running until they were all the way at the docks. By this point she had to drop Nik and flop to the ground. She was utterly exhausted. Not only had her powers been under submission for an entire month, not only had she entered her A.S. multiple times in such a short amount of time, not only had she had her ass just handed to her, but this last time, she pushed herself too far. Usually her A.S. only lasts 10 seconds at most, more than enough time to kick MAJOR ass, but this time, she pushed it to 12 to reach the docks. And that led to a MASSIVE drain on her energy. Namely... she was hungry...

"Daddy, I don't want to be a marine," Nikolai mumbled, clearly delirious. The marine would doubtless have followed them were it not for the fact that the riot had gotten to the point where his energies were needed elsewhere. In the meantime, he ordered a manhunt for the two escapees.

"Urgh... What's going on...?" Nikolai mumbled, sitting up. "I feel like I've been punched into next week and... Are we at the port?" He asked as he looked around. "Aaaaand you're basically unconscious..." He sighed, picking up Jade and peeking around a box. He saw marines vacating the area as he heard a snail phone going off, mentioning something about two escaped convicts.

"Of course... They'd not expect us to be at the port... Right in the middle of a marine base... Heh, this could work..." Nikolai said with a small smile. "Just need a few minutes and..."

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the bare minimum guarding the boats was left over. A mere two men. "Say goodnight!" Nikolai said as he took them out, then dragged Jade on board. "We don't have long... Can you do the fast thing again? We need to get this ship moving, and it's way too big for me to do on my own."

"Can't... *huff,puff*... move... *huff,puff*... too... *huff,puff*... hungry...." *grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* "Shut...*huff,puff*... up... *huff,puff*... stomach..."