“Look,” Isaac shouted to the squirrel, his hands so close it looked like he was shaking the sense into him, “we don’t have time for this petty argument! Did I sell you out? Yes. Having I been blaming weird stuff that happens on the ship on you? Without a doubt! But that’s not what’s important right now,” He yelled to the squirrel.
Since the match, Isaac has been stuck in his cell with peanut, a fiery companion to his icy acquaintance. The girl could understand Peanut just fine, but it seemed to be an acquired skill, as all he could see was the animal defensively perched on two legs, mouth squeaking like a toy, and arms violently protesting.
Isaac through up his hands in protest, doing a quick circle of the room before coming back, kneeling down. “I messed up, okay.” He was hoping for sympathy, but the squirrel merely crossed his arms and looked to the wall spitefully. “I did something, and now someone I care about is could pay for that. I know you love Sierra, you wouldn’t follow her if you didn’t. Well, that’s how Sasa and I are too, and if something happens to her, because I was being an idiot, then death would be too good for me.”
Peanut peaked and eye over, watching his face with his creepy eyes, the only part of him not ablaze.
Isaac sat down, in an attempt to conserve some energy for the next match, but the truth was, he was nervous without Sasayaki, and he knew GM would use his penalty to his advantage. “I have to get back to her, let her know she’s not alone, get everyone out of this place.” Isaac thought about what would happen to the others if they lost, and knew GM would not likely let a single person off the hook. He was the kind of man that used all of his pieces to win, and everyone he traveled with had a unique value. “Do this for me, and you can ask any one favor of me, no questions asked. I’d like to say I could win these games alone, but if I take a single hit in the next match, I’m dead, for real.”
Something he said must have peaked the critter’s interest, bring him down to all fours, cocking his head, then finally raising an arm to raise two little fingers.
“Deal,” he pronounced, giving the squirrel a before sealing deal with a heated bumping of fists.
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The doors opened, Isaac and peanut walking out side by side with a fierce determination. Surrounding them was a forest, with patches of light shining through the greenery. Manhunt, he imeadly identified, knowing there was only a handful of games the GM would employ specificly to take advantage of his one hit KO penalty. If he had to guess, modifications would be made to maximize his disadvantage state, such as no Haki, all while using Isaacs field of employment as excuse to justify fairness. The illusion of fairness was important, and dare he admit, the jaded man was a master at making you believe you could win.
“It’s looking like a senerio seven, wouldn’t you say?”
The squirrel looked up and flashed four fingers, still too stubborn to side with him fully.
Isaac looked up, waiting for the projector. “Guess we’ll find out, he smiled.”
GM appeared in the sky, his face particularly smug, with Bighead mumbling something off in the background offscreen. “Welcome to round two, contestants. We have prepared a classic for you all today, a game of manhunt!” The crowd roared, manhunt being a fan favorite since the first days of the games. “We decided to spice things up this time around, upping the player count to twenty five, while initiating zombie rules, tur-“
“Cut the crap you coward,” a familiar voice screamed, the camera shaking and hitting the ground, forcing everyone to turn their head sideways to see Klank to the side of Bighead, stoic as ever, and Sasayaki being restrained by two half beasts with security shirts. “Isaac is going rip you up for this. He is going to chew you up and spit you out like the day-old jerky that you are. He could take all of those damn cowards if you let him. ALL OF THEM.”
The team struggled to hold her back as his eyes glued to the screen, fighting back every muscle in him that want to move, to leap up unit the sky and yank her out of the screen, running away from the damned island for good. He could see peanut yelling gibberish at the screen, expressing every emotion he felt inside, Isaac turning to him and forcing his heavy jaw open. “Forget numbers,” he told his riled-up partner, flames bursting out his fur and past him. “Doomsday.”
The crew finally managed to get Sasayaki in order, Klank whispering something to her as they did, a dynamic he seemed to miss in the previous game. “What an idea,” the GM thought out loud. “Isaac and Peanut verse the remaining contestants. We could call the game, fugitive.” The crowd roared in approval, always thirsty for a new game. “Put and hour on the clock, and if the pair can evade capture, they will advance, if caught, the remaining 23 contestants will move on to the next round.”
“Quite a disadvantage,” Bighead blurted out behind them, a grin stealing away any additional modifiers, he could tack on. “I bet it would even more interesting of only the fugitives could use their haki.”
GM intended to object, but the crowd was out of their seats, the screams permeating the room which they were held. “Fu-ga-tive,” the shouted. “FU-GA-TIVE.”
He was impressed at the captain’s subtle manipulation, a side of him he had not seen in the days that passed, and smirked. He also caught a glimpse of Klank, at first appearing agitated with the plan, Isaac realizing that was wrong when he followed his eyeline down to the cigarette that was out of his reach. “Would you look at that,” Isaac smiled through his tenseness, the strike hitting GM, “a game just for me! This moment could go down in history, don’t you think?”
“Surely it will,” the man teethed, “but remember, the sudden death modifier is now active for this round, and I have decided to provide Den Den communicators to the hunters.”
“Fine by me,” he winked to the crowd, the stands reacting with a vigorous wave surged around the arena.
Sasayaki’s chain squirmed free just before it began, her blunted end reaching the front camera. “The hunter becomes the hunted, but can they really beat him at his own game? Will he run and hide, or take to the offensive? Is this man truly without fear!? Let’s hear it for the one, the only, the untouchable, Isaac.”
“ISAAC. ISAAC. ISAAC,” the crowd chanted, momentum building in his favor as Peanut looked up to him, both of them exchanging a look of confidence as Sasayaki started a song in the distance, Bighead knowing the words to this one, it’s lyrics piecing GM’s patients.
youtu.be/Mj_hApbc5qg “Begin,” GM announced, the projector shutting off, followed by the faintness of noises in the distance. He couldn’t hear anything nearly as well as Sasayaki, but Isaac had still fined tuned his sense to a level suiting of a respected bounty hunter over the years, his only hurdle being his motivation to chase targets larger than he believed he could handle.
“The song,” he told peanut, on guard, “of course. Thanks Sasa.”
Isaac tapped his hand to his hips to get Peanut’s attention, the squirrel clearly wanting to rush the enemy head on like his companion would, reluctantly following Isaac’s retreat as he headed deeper into the forest, the crowd contemplating his next action as he vanished in the tree line.
“Here,” he finally said, finding some smaller trees, replanted from destruction in previous games. “This one,” he tapped with his foot, the squirrel quickly melting the base clean through, then working diligently on the other side as it flipped, forging a staff that the bounty hunter spun in his fingers, then gripped tightly. “Now to gather the rest of the supplies,” he instructed, both of them scourging the area while keeping the sound as limited as possible.
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The clocked ticked down, ten minutes already expired as the group of hunters finally finished their plans and split up. It was easy to keep an eye on at least twenty of them from across the forest, but the remaining five we much better at concealing themselves, concealing their intent, a trait that was critical in surviving the new world. It didn’t help how spread they forced his vision, the ones broken off being the targets he was most concerned about. “Showtime,” he whispered, finalizing his plans at a speed that would have made Klank proud. “Just like we plan,” he reminded Peanut, who had already taken to a sprint towards the main group, slowly advancing forward with their weapons held firm, and eyes on every corner within sight, moving at a snail’s pace.
A flare of red darted out of the bush with the ferocity of a wild boar and singed the first victim upon landing on a lower calf, molten teeth melting into the hunter’s skin. The others reacted uniformly, turning to the animal and swinging wildly for a strike while Isaac cracked a straggler on the temple with the blunted end of his staff, the man falling into his arm before being dragger off into the bushes. The others chased the squirrel, giving him the opportunity to snag Peanut’s first victim, whacking her on the side of the head, and dragging her off in the same manor.
Five more minutes passed, and another seven fell in the same manor, Isaac discovering that it was much easier to dump them in random locations before rounding them up in his makeshift cell, the doors that the contestants waited in, the same doors that qualified as a DQ when entering. One more hunter feel to the tactic before the Den Dens instructed a full retreat, Isaac choosing to keeping the contestant as leverage, gagging them with a torn shirt and dragging them back to the starting area with Peanut toeing the line, eyes glaring at the bait with an eerie determination to return to their friend.
Twenty-five minutes had passed as the Den Dens came back into play, obvious code words ringing through the forest, making even Peanut shake his head. “Blue lion. Come in Blue lion. Do you read me?”
“Lion pouched,” another voice explained. “Silver Fox and Pocket Gerbil intercepted; casualties were astronomical. Lost eyes. I repeat, lost eyes.”
The whole exchanged was ridiculous, the banter going on for a full minute before Isaac picked up the Den Den and put on his tough guy act. “I don’t know who you are, I don’t know why you’re here, but I can tell you something.. I have a particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. Walk through your doors, and I will not pursue you, but if you don’t, I can promise you this.. I will hunt you, I will find you, and I will capture you. You can face the wheel now, or you can face it after I am done with you, but you will face it, nevertheless. I’ll be waiting for your answer.”
Once again, the crowd was on their feet as Isaac’s name was chanted through the forest. He tossed the Den Den up in the air, Peanut scorching it midair, setting light to the tree and signaling the others onto their location. The two vanished back into the forest, the sound of the wheeling spinning above as rest of the average contestant took their chances with the wheel, dishing out judgement piece by piece, leaving 5 opponents remaining, excluding his hostage, each closing in on the forest.
Forty minutes had passed when the first of five entered his sight, seeing a tied-up man in the middle of a clear opening. The man rushed in, face red with rage, lunging for the middle when his foot hit the trap, the ground caving in beneath him. The man let out a grunt as his arms and legs extended into wooden planks, perfectly catching himself before plunging below over the pit, yet still facing down.
“Cannonball,” Isaac yelled as he saw Peanut summersaulting off the tree, searing the devil fruit user’s back as the ball of flames collided with his neck, forcing him down and passed out with a crisp. “It’s super effective,” he winked, the crowd laughing.
A blade sliced to his side, drastically misjudging the distance between them, yet closing in closer with its next slash. Isaac retreated back, slinging his staff around to hit the blunted end of the blade with each wild strike, when he felt an arrow hit his chest, but no, not yet, but soon. Swiftly he spun to sweep the man’s legs with an unneeded flair, twirling the weapon as he came back up, an arrow nearly missing him from above. Once again, he saw an arrow land a clean shot, and what came after, forcing him to retreat behind a tree, the another as he saw himself taking another hit, only this time from another archer.
“Little help,” he called out, poking the staff out around the corner, only for it to get hit by another arrow, wedged deeply into the wood. “Left. Left. Right. Do a barrel roll, he instructed the squirrel, dodging each arrow as he made his way behind the tree. “If you can take out one of those archers, I might be able to deal with the other after the sword guy, but we have to move fast, and that means operation KABOOM.”
Peanut put up a protest, but he knew better than most what was at stake. “Listen,” Isaac yelled, waging around his finger like a sword. “If you want to see her again, you’re going have to be willing to do some crazy shit, okay.” He lowered the staff, the swordsman regaining his stance. “Now fly like the wind, Peanut,” he yelled, lunging the squirrel into the sky before rushing out of cover, catching two arrows with his staff be jabbing the swordsman in the guy, his reach long enough to attacking without hesitation. Two more arrows were inbound, yet neither needed to be evaded, as their aim was offset by a blinding white light and wave of heat that almost would have scorched him, had he not rushed to the swordsman to use him as a shield.
The full force of the man’s weight was on him, Isaac tossing his limp body to the side and stepping away from the flames that were overtaking the forest. “What the hell was that,” he yelled at the squirrel, racing back to check on Isaac, yet bickering his gibberish in protest. “Ohhhh, I’m guessing you think this is my fault. I wanted you to do a little explosion, not drop mother bomb on my head. You could have killed me.” The squirrel continued, more furious than before, no more understood. “What.. was that a finger? Ohhh, we are throwing those out now, well guess what, we’re done! You thought we were going to get along?” he yelled, Peanut looking to the side in disbelieve be resuming his high-pitched gibberish.
“No need to fight,” a man, a fishman, more specifically yelled, his arms crossed with spite. “You should save your energy, because trust me, you’ll need it to take me down.”
The two exchanged a look, figuring out who was going to challenge the man first, when Isaac rolled his eyes, flicking up the staff with his foot. “Fine,” he said, throwing the staff passed the man and at a partially singed rope behind, sending two boulders to each side, the fishman catching each with a hand. He seemed to take the test of strength as a challenge, predictably missing the point. Just as the man flexed to send the boulders back, Peanut’s fiery feet connected with his chest, sending the fishman flying back into a tree. Isaac looked around as the fishman was stunned, pointing at another tree and lifting his finger at an angle, peanut scorching through. The large maple started to bend, wailing as it buckled under its weight and falling towards its victim.
Laughs were heard as the screen once again screen appeared, revealing Bighead booming with delight behind GM. “It looks like Fugitive has its first champion. Congratulation, Isaac.”
Not only did GM waste his best chance at easily eliminating him, we wasted more contestants then he should have in the process. Isaac also gained the advantage of popularity, the crowd roaring his name, and a new hashtag appear on the monitor: #GD, Game Destroyer.
He felt the reluctance of GM to smash the hammer to the ground, and took the moment to take one more peak at Peanut before they both disappeared. “I still haven’t forgiven you,” he declared, the squirrel lunging at him before he vanished safely and into his next room.
