---

Caesar rolled to his feet, gaining a bit of distance from the two fights on Deck. He had an idea of what was going on now, but he needed to think of how to counter such a power. Constantly healing from injuries when they retracted and reformed meant his current work couldn't continue.

...."What the..." he muttered as he saw the giant, gleaming claw and armor on the enemy ship. Which was coming incredibly too quickly towards them. That thing could crush the ship in half! That complicated things. Horribly.

Caesar took a quick look at the battlefield. He needed to act fast. On one hand the ship needed to move. On the other, Slick severely needed assistance. Caesar was confident that he was the only one on board right now who could handle more than one of these guys at once. What a conundrum.

Falling back on the classic Slash and move along, throwing an Omni Slash at Red's chest, Caesar left his trust in the bone kid to deal with not letting the ship get crushed.

Running forward, Caesar knew he had little chance of reaching Slick before Blue and Green made contact. But he had to try.

If he could bake it there in time, perhaps he could deflect the Trident with an attack with the back of his machete. With any luck it might even disarm Green. From there he'd release his defensive Electro Shield to counter Blue, likely taking a hit in the process if he had to guess.

But then he could overpower Blue and hopefully engage both Blue and Yellow, allowing Slick to handle Green with the Trident.

That was assuming he could make it in time. But the tactical half-Mink didn't just plan for one possibility. That would be expected from one much less than he.

No, if he couldn't make it in time he'd have to pick up the mess that was likely to come. He'd have to unleash his whole array of abilities and ferocity, trying to juggle all three working in tandem with Slick. It would be largely dependant on Sick, as Caesar would be working around Slick's actions too better support his friend and deal with this threat.

Bonesword staggered, his blade still in hand as it's glow maximized. He reached up to feel his face, running his bony hand along the crack in his skull. This pest had some nerve to punch a kid, much less a defenseless kid.

And he would come to find that he would regret it.

Bonesword shouted to the other crew members as he ran forward, both hands on his sword as he prepared for a strike against Red. "Someone take the wheel! I'm gettin' involved! JINGOOOOOO!" The Mushroom kid leapt into the air, swinging the Shroomblade around the entirety of his body as he unleashed a Honor Strike, planning to send the blade directly into Red's side. There's always the chance he could miss, but even if he missed, he wasn't just going to let Red escape. Not when Red fractured the one thing that he could be identified with!

---

Kite couldn't help but begin to grow more impatient. These bastards were just kept coming. And if they weren't new fighters, they were fighters he had already taken out coming back for more. The young man was fighting on the bare minimum of energy a person in his position could be working on given the lack of food he'd been receiving. He'd been battered and beaten on top of that and he was so tired. He growled reaching back with his free hand to grab the other wrench on his back.

The shipwright pushed back another small wave of enemies before slamming the two wrenches downward, the open ends driving into the wood of the ship below him. He reached into his pocket and pulled his bandana out. He pulled the folded cloth into place over his forehead, pulling the ends back around his head. Once it was tied tight he ran his fingers through his hair. "Those of you who can't swim should stay back." Without another word he quickly grabbed the wrenches at the bases by the ring ends. He torn them from the deck of the ship and charged forward. The crewman of the King Crab that weren't instantly knocked out by the sheer force of wrenches against their heads would be knocked overboard.

Wafer D. Kite had a lot of anger to let loose. When he wasn't attacking the men he would attack the ship itself. The deck, the sides, barrels thrown into the crowd of men and over the edge. ropes were knocked out of place, if not completely smashed loose. Finally, the young carpenter got an idea. Krabbe was busy with the woman, and the other companion of said woman was looking for ways to put the claw out of commission. "I wonder how strong this ship really is." He said as he made a quick, strategic retreat from his enemies. They seemed confused for a moment until they noticed where he was. The Mast. Kite slammed one of his wrenches into it. There was a collective gasp and looks of shock.

"Stop the fool! The captain will have our heads if we let him do anymore damage to the ship!" One of the remaining crewmen shouted before the unit charged forward.

"Ooooooo~ How smart of you all attacking at once." Kite chuckled as a mass of sailors armed with swords and blunt weaponry came his way. He'd taken care of many wielding projectile weapons, making it a point that they would always be targeted first. Yet no strategy seemed correct. He may not have been able to stand up to Krabbe before, or even now. But he could handle cannon fodder to give his apparent saviors a slightly easier time. Still, he wasn't an idiot. He jumped upwards as a multitude of swings came his way. A few members of the crew were taken out due to "friendly fire". Then there were the swords now stuck in the base of the mast.

There was a look of fear on the face of one man in particular as Kite landed on his blade. These men were complacent. They could always rely on Krabbe and the Shrimp Brigade. And so here they were. "Idiots." Kite laughed before unleashing a heavy assault on the poor men before him. He turned using the force of his wrench to drive two swords, who's owners hadn't managed to pull free, deeper into the base of the mast. It was weaker. He swung again, and again, and one more time for good measure before the mass began to creak and shift. With any luck, it would fall like he planned and it wouldn't be embarrassing for him to yell "Timbeeeerrr!" He'd positioned himself behind it.

If it fell as he planned, it would be aim forward. With any luck it would drop down onto the massive claw at the front of the ship. This was wishful thinking. plans usually didn't follow through; especially when they were made on the fly. Maybe some of the luck that had carried him forward for so long had returned. After all, there was a reason he and his former crew had gotten as far as they did. Skill was a part of it sure, but it was more than that. Luck was needed. For a bit it'd just run out.

The shots from Violet's pistols came directly for the Captain whizzing through the air. Fortunately, Cedric figured the man wouldn't go without a fight. He raised his blunderbuss as he sidestepped, going for deflection. Then he charged Violet jumping over the precious rum as he did so. That's when he saw the pistol split apart and create another.

He thought to himself, "A devil fruit user that splits things into multiples. With allies that utilize perfect teamwork..that disappear.." The wheels in Cedric's head were working overtime as he lunged Violet with his bayonet. He aimed to run him through his chest. The force and momentum of his bayonet could puncture decent armor. His strength coupled with the weapons quality made for a deadly close-range combination.

That's when he finally put the pieces together. It was simple really. Why hadn't he figured it out before? He yelled out at the top of his lungs in amazement, "THINK OF ALL THE RUM HE COULD MAKE FOR US DIRK!!"

'Because you're bad at hiding, Shave,' Dirk says, ducks between Violent's legs to avoid guns hide again, 'and you don't know how to hide. If you could hide, you would hide better. Hi.'

Shut up Idiot! He'll hear you Dumbass!

Nuh, no, Dirk is the safest now. Divine Purpose tells him how to how he can scooch around and be the cool man boy child BITCH person. But right now, he had to has bean behind his back already. Now Violet was the one who will got the pistol, to at his neck, with a knife. Finger. Finger Pistol.

Also he could apparently create infinite Rum. Dirk frowned to hear this by tilting his head. 'That is not the point. He splits things, like himself,' he would point out, as he would do his attack attempt. And it would have to be a fast attack attempt, since from the sound of silence, there were bad times occurring that would lead to bad times in the near future. Dame.

---

Finding the metallic claws of her hands blocked by a longsword, Lilliana pursed her lips and started moving one of her extra arms, before the man jumped back and struck a pose. Her jaw tensed slightly and she exhaled, calming herself. Around her sailors had been laid low and were on the ground bleeding and groaning. Various pieces of metal on her body absorbed any of the blood that had gotten on her, using even the smallest bits of iron in it to gather energy.

Having lowered her arms, she looked at the armed man in his special armor before moving forwards to close the distance.

“I'll have to ask you to please move” she begun, one fist rearing back, metal hardened into spikes on her knuckles. Then, when the man almost surely did not get out of her way she called out.

At the exclamation her armored fist struck forwards, its spiked surface delivering a blow that was fast enough to catch almost anyone who'd never seen it before unaware. The force behind it was considerable as well as a good deal of her weight and strength was behind it.

It appeared she was quite serious about saving her crew and their ship.

Slick neither saw nor cared about Caesar coming in to save the day. Right now he was very focused on Green and Blue, particularly the fact that they were in midair and thus very vulnerable. "Let's see you dodge this!" Slick maxed the output of his flamethrower and let it rip, releasing a stream of fire so intense a normal man would have to brace themselves to make sure they didn't get pushed back. Slick was not a normal man. With the bottom of his feet covered in oil he flew backwards off the ship, laughing like a maniac the entire time.

Slick had a plan though, insane he may be but he wasn't suicidal. He took his finger off the trigger and lashed out towards the ship with his right hand, a tendril of sticky oil flying towards the mast. It latched on easily, Slick tugging himself back towards the ship at high speed. He braced himself for impact, slamming into the mast hard and possibly cracking a rib. He had a good overview of the battlefield now, finally noticing Caesar but still not really caring about him. "Charred fur smells bad, get out of the way!" He yelled as he shot another burst of flame, this time from above Blue and Green.

Beneath the deck of the Rum Runner, Shrimp Brigade wasn't living up to his title of swiftness. He had thought that the bullets he aimed for Boone would have been a forgone conclusion, so his attention had been removed from the captain. Even then he had misjudged Dirk's own speed. The thief ducked down between the gunner's legs just as two shots fired off, whizzing right over Dirk's head. "What the-?!" the Shrimp Brigade member exclaimed, looking down between his legs. This proved to be a fatal, or near fatal, mistake, for that's when Boone was able to stab through the violent-colored armor with his bayonet. "GURK!" Blood splattered outward, and was coughed up by the bounty hunter. Still, he twisted in place to point his pistols right at Boone's head point blank.

And that's when his neck was pierced by a knife, as well as jabbed with the strong force of Dirk's attempted shigan technique. "BLURGH!" The two pistols dropped to the floor, clacking against some glass rum bottles. Violet's eyes rolled upward, showing only white. His knees hit the floor as well, but he wasn't done yet! "Re... Recall!" Instantly Violet, and his two guns, vanished without a trace. Hey, at least he was nice enough to take his blood splatter with him!

---

"Kookiookiooki." Krabbe's chuckle would have been creepy and unnerving, had it been witnessed by someone other than the normally unflappable Feya. He snapped his great claw a couple times, intending to intimidate with the sound. That or he just liked it. Actually, it was probably both. "That's cute, pirate, but the one that's in a world of hurt... IS YOU!" With another mighty snap of the claw, he created his own gust of wind to rival that of the Vortex Punch. He thrust his claw forward much the same as Feya, the two air currents colliding and neutralizing one another. The difference between their techniques was that at the end of the collision, Krabbe's claw had clamped down on her fist. He grinned to her with an air of superiority. "You shouldn't have split up. Together you might have beaten me, but one on one? CRUSTACEAN CRUSHEEEEERRRRR!" Krabbe braced himself and twisted around to face the other direction, flipping Feya over his shoulder. Her body hit the deck of his ship. Hard. Again he twisted, she flipped, and her face struck and smashed through a guard rail. Another twist, another flip, and another impact. Again and again Krabbe slammed the doctor's body into a hard surface, never letting up, never giving her time to breathe, never releasing his famous vice grip.

Meanwhile, Lilliana had encountered a new enemy. Her strategy was fairly simple. PUNCH! Her technique was, however, not as effective as she had hoped. "Affection Rush!" the pink-armored man exclaimed. With speed she had not been familiar with, the swordsman ducked down and weaved passed her Fist! technique, getting in much closer than he ever should have been allowed. However instead of stabbing the scientist in the gut as he should have, his tactic was considerably more... Unorthodox. Before Lilli knew what had happened, Shrimp Brigade Pink had planted a small kiss upon her right cheek. Then with as much skill and alacrity, he moved back to his original position. The only difference now was that he had a small cut on his right cheek.

"Hm, looks like you got me, mon cher," he mused, wiping the small trickle of blood from his face. "I apologize, but I couldn't let one as beautiful as you go without my love before we end this battle. You're welcome." He blew another kiss in her direction, then took a combative stance with his sword outstretched.

Meanwhile, the cannon fodder continued to fail at detaining Wafer D. Kite. His tactics were quite splendid, given that he had to think of them on the fly. Yet this made a fantastic sort of sense. The Emperor Vice was far too powerful to go after directly, and he had seen first hand its destructive capabilities. How delicious the irony would be to have it destroyed by their own ship, which John Krabbe adored as he did? And so Kite's scheme was placed into motion. A large portion of the mast had been chopped, cut, smashed, and all other manner of destruction, until it did in fact come down.

"Shit! The mast is falling!"

"Everyone get the hell out of the way!"

"Krabbe! What do we do?!"

"What the hell is happening to my ship?!" Krabbe's attention was diverted his onslaught slowed as his eyes focused on the falling mast.

The large pillar of wood, along with the sail attached, came crashing down toward the prow of the ship. The sail unfurled, it blocked out the sun for those down below, including Lilliana and Shrimp Brigade Pink. The elite warrior's jaw dropped to the floor as he skedaddled the hell out of the way! Despite what Lilli did herself, there was no stopping that falling object, as the mast not only smashed the controls to the Emperor Vice, but the sail wrapped around the mighty weapon, tearing it from the King Crab. These two hugely important parts of the ship began to sink beneath the waves, having caused a ton of damage. The Emperor Vice being forcibly torn from where it had been attached might as well have totally destroyed the prow of the ship, knocking out a considerable amount of the Shell Shield in the process.

"NO! NO NO NO NO NOOOOO! WHO DID THIS TO MY BEAUTIFUL SHIP?! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! DEAD OR ALIVE, I STILL GET PAID YOU LITTLE SHITS! Wait..." Krabbe's ranting was cut off, as he caught sight of what was going on over on the Rum Runner. His rage changed to a frightened calm. "No. No, you can't do that! Saban, stop it now!"

---

Slick's plan to completely avoid combat altogether was pretty inspired. These warriors would have annihilated him if they closed the distance, which they were in fact doing. They even powered through the flames of his trusted weapon, suffering some burns in the process but otherwise ignoring the danger. The two struck the deck of the Rum Runner with great power, splintering the wood around them. Each looked up just in time to become enveloped in Slick's flames, letting out great screams of pain. They weren't moving through it this time, it was a direct hit on them.

Red's charge toward Bonesword was interrupted by a completely unnoticed attack from behind. An electrical discharge from Caesar's machete struck the Shrimp Brigade's leader square in the back, shocking him and knocking him off balance! He was in a perfect position to be finished off by the Mushroom Kid's special attack. The Honor Strike hit exactly as Bonesword intended, right into Red's side and slicing deeply enough into his body that the swordsman felt his blade touch Red's spine. A spray of blood erupted and splattered all over the place as Red fell to the deck, barely breathing.

Caesar's plan of sending an omnislash toward Red had yielded decent results, and his support of Slick against the rest of the Shrimp Brigade was a great route to go. However he hadn't predicted that Slick would've caused so much damage to Blue and Green all by himself, with some unusual tactics! That just left Yellow, who while mighty with his chain ball, was much too slow to properly handle the half-mink all by himself. This worry definitely showed on the yellow-armored bounty hunter.

That is, until he found his resolve and his expression completely changed. "Recall!" Yellow shouted out. All at once the other Shrimp Brigade members vanished. Blue and Green, flailing in the flames, left behind fire with nothing to burn. Red and hit massive blood puddle were nowhere to be seen. Even down below Violet had up and vanished. Only this time the remaining Shrimp Brigade fighter did not separate into multiple warriors. Yellow's armor took on a rainbow sheen, reflecting all five colors in one, and his body grew in both height and width, muscles rippling in this new form. By the time he had finished this increase in size, he was almost fifteen feet tall! Peculiarly enough, his head didn't increase in size with him, leaving it laughably tiny compared to the rest of the hulking body.

"I am Shotaro Saban! I ate the Waru Waru no mi to become a split man! I am the Shrimp Brigade, mighty force of Justice! Behold my majesty! Shrimp Brigade Prime! Vishnu Form!" The giant of a man split his two massive arms into eight slightly smaller, but still impressively muscled ones. Each one held one of the weapons that the crew had come to associate with the individual Shrimp Brigade members. Eight arms that wielded two pistols, a large ball and chain, a trident, and two spiked knuckles.

Caesar looked around in frustration at the disappearance of everyone yet again.

His eyes landed on Krabbe's ship, the giant claw and mast falling apart. And was he yelling something about...Saban? What the fuck was a Saban?

He pushed it aside, just proud of whoever had disabled the enemy ship so thoroughly.

And then his eyes spied the multi-armed form of the aptly named Shrimps. So the guy had eaten a Devil Fruit. Explained a lot. But man, couldn't he get any more impressive? He had to be, like, 4 feet tall now.

But hey, now he knew what a Saban was.

Caesar grinned as he ran through the options. While he could probably beat eight arms, he didn't like the idea of those pistols being that close to his privates.

His best options were breaking the eyes or the legs. Restrict movement. Bone kid and Slick should be able to back him up. And with those pistols, that meant the Captain and Dirk should be coming top side soon.

He knew there was an order in times like this, but forget that.

He was the Fighter. He was the combat specialist. He was made for this.

"Bonesword, get some plant invasion going! Slick, stop his movement with that oil! Hell, burn that pipsqueak where he stands if you won't burn my precious fur!" he called out as he dashed forward, sending several Omni Slashes at Prime's eyes and head and chest as he weaved forward in a random route to be harder to hit.

His Target was simple:
He was going to cut the beanstalk down from its trunk.

Assuming Slick got the oil down in time, if he even did it, Caesar would use it to slide between Prime's legs and slice with his machete using the increased momentum to his advantage. If not, he'd just have to run it and go for the legs. Maybe he could slip around the guy and get him from behind.

And, of course, he hoped that his Shield ability would stop bullets if needed. He'd never tried that before... Now was a good time as any!

What...

... is...

... THAT?!

What was once a man with a giant gash in his side now stood a fifteen foot tall monster of huge muscles and saltwatery smells. It was rather impressive, if not for the fact that it punched Bonesword's face and cracked his beautiful skull. That was one of a kind! LITERALLY! If one of the components of this guy was able to crack a skull, who knows what this giant conglomeration could do!

Bonesword looked at his weapon again, as if it was talking to him. Then he heard Caesar speak and say the same thing his weapon "said".

"Already ahead of both of you! KOJO KOJO TREANT!"

Several stump treants began to climb out of the deck, leaving it intact as Bonesword chuckled, bringing his sword back up to face towards the shrimp's head. He looked laughable at best. The stumps on the deck began to group around the swollen shrimp's legs, slowly growing up into true treants as they surrounded the shrimp. Just as they began to swarm the man (not attacking him, just trying to keep him in place), Bonesword had an amazing idea. "We need Dirk."

They needed to dodge.

Haha. Take that, Violent, you dumb. Didn't even get to have a hit shot target. He sucks.

YOU suck. He died because you got lucky. And I don't think he even died properly, because dead people don't VANISH.

Don't Listen To Him! You Did Very Well! He Won't Be Back For A While!

He appreciated it, Big Guy, and furthermore I found this conversation annoying. People were still yelling everywhere. It was time to go to the noise.

'I will meet you up stairs, Captain Cedric. Shave,' Dirk said, promptly beginning to began Nasturok running up to the top of the ship, which was a popular show that Yuushuu Spikybad once said could "suck my Rooster Ball Z", which Dirk didn't understand what the reference was, but no time for that, because there's a huge bastard showing off his arms. Including purple ones, with guns... so... apparently, he ate Violent. How dare he, that's Dirk doing the Violent killing. Only Dirk can prevent Violents.

You prevented nothing Jerk! He just ate a Devil Fruit Dummy!

Yeah well. Now I get to stab Violent again.

At that moment, Friend Skeltal said that he needed Dirk. Dirk liked Boneword, even if he thought he drank too much alcohol, because it was bad for people to drink too much. It was obvious when Cedric and others do it. Dirk never had any alcohol. Too much. Bad.

Are you going to do anything, you worthless lout? Saban over there's about to destroy everybody, you know.

Shut up, Derek, Dirk was just going to Bonelord now, past all the oil and fire and those things, because the Divine Purpose said he had to to not be seen by Jotaro. He agrees, since he's needed by the skeleton at the current present, and so he popped up behind him with a head tilt and said with whispers, 'How can I help, First Best?' He meant First and Best Mate, but they're shorter when combined.

Slick laughed like psychotically as he burned Blue and Green to a crisp, refusing to stop until they were shriveling up in his glorious blaze. Unfortunately they disappeared into nothingness, leaving Slick confused on whether he should be happy his fire was so hot it disintegrated them or sad that there was nothing left of his art. His face scrunched up as he looked to the only remaining Shrimp Brigade member. Hey he wasn't that big before was he?

"I am Shotaro Saban! I ate the Waru Waru no mi to become a split man! I am the Shrimp Brigade, mighty force of Justice! Behold my majesty! Shrimp Brigade Prime! Vishnu Form!" Slick stared at him with a blank expression as he processed what was happening, his lips slowly curling into a smile and his eyes filling with childish joy. This one would be much more fun to paint then the others.

Slick's eyes lit up in excitement as he completely forgot about Blue and Green, this one would burn way better than those little wimps. "Bonesword, get some plant invasion going! Slick, stop his movement with that oil! Hell, burn that pipsqueak where he stands if you won't burn my precious fur!" Caesar called out as the battle began, Slick was perched about face level with the massive Shrimp thing as he began spraying oil all over him and the battlefield. It was time to begin painting.

"Grease the food before baking to ensure maximum flavor!" He screamed as the deck of the ship was absolutely covered in oil. He loved getting to paint, painting was so much fun. There were dry patches here and there, but it would require some hopping to get from patch to patch without slipping like an idiot. Hopping that Mr. Big Shrimp couldn't do because he was too big and stupid. Slick stopped shooting oil at Mr. Big Shrimp as he pointed his flamethrower directly at his chest, relishing the sweet click the pilot light made as it lit. The world was turning red as Slick began shooting copious amounts of fire directly at Mr. Big Shrimp, trying to burn away his flesh, muscles, hair, everything must be burnt away to reveal the skeleton that was hiding inside him. Slick was an artist who needed to paint the world red. His oil was his paint but it was clear colored and needed color added to it, so he added fire for red. Red was the only color he needed really, the other crew members added in their own colours while he painted. Right now Mr. Big Shrimp's skeleton needed needed to be red, the enemy ship needed to be red, everything had no colour so Slick needed to make it all red. The world needed more color, so he was happy to make it red.

Captain Cedric watched as Violet disappeared and once again was perplexed. Even the blood went away! That's when Dirk ascended the stairs explaining to Boone his intentions.Cedric followed after him at a brisk pace. He was hearing a lot of noise including something about the "Shrimp". If his postulating was correct, the Shrimp Brigade would be above.

When Cedric arrived he was baffled to see the abomination that was the Shrimp Brigade's transformation. Boone could barely speak, "Wa-wa..WHAT IS THAT?!" He stared for a few more moments and then noticed his other crewmembers scurrying about with a plan he was unaware of.

That's when Boone sprung into action. Their captain yelled out, "I'll provide covering fire!" as he began to run towards the upper parts of the ship away from the monstrosity. After all, Slick had already started to burn the area and he didn't intend to let himself be caught ablaze. After climbing, he aimed his blunderbuss and fired a, "PIERCING SHOT!" at his opponent's head with the intention of blinding the abomination.

---

Once her punch was finished she brought a hand up to her cheek, a look of brief confusion on her face as she felt the slight wetness of a kiss left behind. The confusion became frustration in swift order, before it translated into a look of consternation as she tried to figure out the strange man before her.

“Um...” she began, but words failed her as she floundered. She stuck a hand into her mechanic's bag and began fiddling with stuff to slightly distract herself from the strangeness of what had just happened.

She was sorting her feelings.

“You know, it's not very polite to kiss a lady without her wanting you to.” She said, huffing a bit, a small pout forming. She didn't like this man, he was selfish...and faster than her, which was a problem in its own way.

However, before she could say or do anything further the mast fell and her eyes widened. Just as the warrior got out of the way, so too did she, but she moved in the opposite direction and then dashed towards the cluster of cannon fodder and the man they were attacking. He seemed like a potential ally, and on top of that, it was the direction of the mechanism that controlled the rest of the ship's armor, which in its own way was also a problem.

She kept one hand in her mechanic's bag, messing around with scrap—with B-MO's assistance of course—and building something as she was wont to do. Once she'd dealt with the armor she needed to get off of this ship.

Everyone jumped into action against Shotaro Saban, or Shrimp Brigade Prime as he called himself. The hulking behemoth of a man could do nothing to prevent Slick from further spreading his oil around the ship, but now a drop hit the man himself. Two of the many arms spun the ball and chain with enough speed to produce a vacuum, blowing away all the oil that would have otherwise hit his mighty, god-like form. Instead the oil splattered around onto the growing trees that Bonesword was using in an attempt to keep him in place. Speaking of those trees, the two arms wielding spiked knuckles began tearing the treants from where they stood and tossed them overboard. He kept only one, swinging it down to interrupt Caesar's attempted slide attack. The oil-covered tree trunk met with Caesar's electro shield and caught ablaze! This only meant that the half-mink warrior was slammed in the chest by a flaming tree trunk.

The ball and chain kept swinging swinging swinging, the vacuum putting out Slick's flames before they could reach their target. Then came Boone's piercing shot! Surely that had to have caught him off guard! Nay, for the mighty split man lifted up his giant blazing club to act as a shield against the captain's specialty ammunition. How did he even know that was coming?! That's when the crew saw it. It wasn't just his arms that he had split into multiple parts. He had four pairs of eyes, lining all around his head. Full 360 degree vision. This clarity of vision didn't enlighten him as to the nature of Boone's attack however, and so he was expecting the tree trunk to stop the bullet entirely. The specialty piercing shot made it all the way through the flaming tree and struck Saban in the forehead, drawing blood. The shot was nowhere near as effective as it should have been, having lost most of its power traveling through the makeshift shield.

"Gah! Cedric D. Boone!" his voice bellowed. Saban lifted both pistol wielding arms toward the captain and fired multiple times with each gun. In the same motion he leaned forward to slam his trident down toward Bonesword. This had the unintended effect of him slipping on the copious amounts of oil spilled around the ship deck, throwing off his aim. "Waru waru Anansi form!" Two legs became eight, splitting off into an array of thin noodle-like support beams, allowing him to catch his balance and move around reliably on the slick battlefield.

---

A number of more cannon fodder charged after Kite and Lilliana, but it was clear they were no match for the two pirates. Whether it be a wrench or bio-metal punch, they were already weakened and easily knocked aside. Even the ones with guns couldn't get off a shot on the duo before being tossed aside with minimal effort.

Meanwhile, Feya's plan to catch Krabbe by surprise with a suplex was implemented perfectly. His exposed head crashed through the upper deck of his ship, leaving the lower half of his body to flail about comically. Various insults and curses could be heard muffled from below. "Captain Krabbe!" called out a sailor, concerned for the well being of his superior. He needn't have been worried, for John Krabbe freed himself with a mighty thrashing motion, tearing apart the floor restraining him, flipping in mid-air, and jumping back up to deck. Feya's attack had bloodied his face a little, as evidenced by the trickle falling over his bloodshot eye.

"Stop this fight now! My first mate Saban has recalled all of the Shrimp Brigade into his original form! Without his ego and power being distributed among multiple bodies, he'll go crazy and kill us all! We've got to work together to knock him out!"

---

Caesar growled at the impact of the burning tree, sliding across the deck before stopping himself with his claws. He coughed, and blood mixed into the oil on the deck. Wiping his face, Caesar turned rage filled with back towards the abomination.

It burned his fur. His fur .

He didn't particularly mind the possibly broken ribs, or at least severe bruising he'd gotten. But his fur?

That was bullshit.

He heard yet another announcement from the enemy ship. Stop fighting? Did the guy want to work together?

Fuck him. His mate burned Caesar's fur. They could all sink for all he cared.

Caesar barely registered any of the other failed attacks, but he did see that the Captain's shot had connected. That was a blessing, because this monster needed to pay.

And pay he would.

Without even thinking, Caesar stood upright, wincing as his chest twinged with pain.

And then he started sending Omni Slash after Omni Slash at the bastard, his breathing labored.

Bonesword hit the deck as he dodged the trident strike just barely, his voice waiving as he watched the man-beast in front of him shift into a far more concerning form. Caesar was livid, and the situation was going south quickly for the Red Rum pirates, it would seem.

Thankfully, Dirk was there behind Bonesword. "Dirk. Get on that wheel and act like another torpedo is coming. DODGE THE TORPEDO DIRK!" Perhaps playing along to Dirk's quirks would get him to do something quicker?

Bonesword raced back up to his feet as he ran forward with his Shroomblade, holding it tightly in both hands as he screamed again. "KOJO KOJO COMBO!"

Vines sprouted from the deck under Bonesword's feet, lifting him up into the skies and allowing him to start attacking the giant spidery demon in front of him from above. Simultaneously, the Shroomblade's blade was extended with sharpened grass, allowing it to become even larger than normal, at least twice Bonesword's height. The vine that carried Bonesword into the air gripped his ankles, keeping him on path as the Mushroom Kid brought his sword down towards Saban's head, aiming to cut it off.

---

Kite had been busy for a time with the men of Krabbe's ship, but far be it from him to have had anything other than a wide grin spread around his face. His place to drop the mast and take out the vice had worked. Everything else fell away. He felt free. All that was left was to take out the captain of the vessel himself.

That's what was going to his mind when he saw Lilliana. His eyes widened almost immediately. "Beautiful." He practically plowed through a series of "soldiers" to meet her. "You! What's that?!" He asked gleefully admiring her weapon. Was it a weapon? He'd never seen something like it. "How did you make it? Did you make it? Did somebody else? Does it hurt? How does it work?" He bombarded her with questions for a time, continually swatting away sailor after sailor that approached him and the woman, one of the two he'd seen before. He didn't take into account the chance that she'd perceive him as a threat or enemy. That could go bad.

That is until at least he took one of his wrenches and through it with remarkable speed towards Krabbe himself after he managed to free himself. Fuck that if he thought he would be allowed the chance to get out of this. The wrench was aimed for the somewhat mutated man's throw, the jaws aimed to enclose around it and possibly force his weight back and pin him against the nearest structure behind him. Ideally, his focus would have been captured long enough for this to work. It wasn't an attack with the intent to kill. It was an attack to subdue. Kite wanted him alive for a word later after all and he'd taken enough damage that this would be tougher to dodge or block than the last time Kite had tried it.

And yet, despite the fierce launch of an attack, his gaze was immediately pulled back to Lilliana. "Does it have a name? Is it alive? Sentient? Artificial? All you?" He had so many questions, and these were only a few.