Caitlyn dodged even if, for now, she might not need to with her lugia type devil fruit. Without Armament Haki, she didn’t think she would be harmed. But still, best to be prepared to dodge anyway. Plus the Observation Haki she has works with noises and one on one like this, and was for the most part self inflicted, so hasn’t had the training to focus it. “Be a love and put the sword down Hmm? All I want is to get the prince away from a no good red head who has to live vicariously through people that actually did something with their lives. Please dearie?” She purrs enticingly batting her eyelashes.
@KillBox

Lexi could work with the distraction that Caitlyn was putting up. Perhaps with luck, the majority would want to watch if only so they could see if the white haired ‘princess amongst whores’ would be beaten by a man. Men, they were all the same. Especially the one who taught her the deathly arts. Now, if she were Nikko where would she place the Prince? “Perhaps in a room with a lock that only unlocks from one side with a high window. Gotta keep the lad alive, and a human does need fresh air now and then.” She muttered under her breath to herself. What she needed was plans of the ship, but without that she’d just have to get aboard. So, she went to find a way on.

Location - GOLD LION MKII
@King Cosmos-@ladyonyx04-@KillBox

LAUNCH SEQUENCE STARTING IN T-MINUS... 10... 9...

As Caitlyn's attack began, and Lexi began to climb onto the ship, it was exploding into action. The ship, built for being in the air, was littered with guard rails and various other ladders that could be grabbed onto just in case somebody tipped over the side. Clearly it was all built upon a previous ship, rather than planned this way from the beginning as a cost cutting method. As mentioned before, the most obvious thing on the otherwise massive ship, was the central orb, which was the captain's control panel.
As Nikko stepped towards the orb, he stopped. His eyes narrowed into thin angry marks. "Delay the Launch sequence, just start a horizontal departure. We'll start the aerial sequence as soon as we're clear of the docks. We have to make sure our cargo is secured." Most of the pirates onboard were focused on setting sail, rather than watching or raising a defense against attackers. Mostly because they wanted to be out of Alabasta with their cargo as soon as possible.

The dock began to creak as the boat pulled away. Boards snapping as the ship clumsily pulled back, ripping off any rope that may have been used in docking it. The ship pulled away, slowly leaving Alabasta behind. Nikko stood on the deck, eyes on the prince who was all too happy to be kidnapped by pirates. Eyes wide, and asking various questions of the rest of the crew. All while they began to lead towards the Captain's room for royal safekeeping. Nikko didn't really use the Captain's room himself, since he never had to sleep, so it also served as a guest room.

Nikko followed the prince, a silent guardian for his captive.
"So, you're the captain. Why? The others look so much tougher." Vivian asked, as the prince stood on his tip toes to try and stand on eye-level with Nikko. Though Nikko was still notably taller.
"It's simple. Because I am the strongest." He smiled, and waggled his finger. "Though, there are other various reasons. I started the gang, so I am captain. I keep them well paid, and in control, so I am captain. And you, are my prisoner for a short voyage."
"I'm sure the royal guard will stop you." Vivian replied.
"Well, if they get the chance. But unlikely. We're already on our way, and they'll be trying to figure out where we are." Nikko said, and that was a matter of fact. It might take nearly an hour for the Alabasta navy to realize where the Red Lion Pirates were.

Nikko closed the door to the captain's cabin, keeping an eye on the boy. If the white haired pirate girl was staging an attack then the other one was probably hanging around. "Well, now we wait. Know any good games, Prince Vivian?"

Balthier arrived at the docks in time to watch Caitlyn pick a fight with Lexi nowhere to be found. He also saw her opponent, the loud-mouthed aggressive man from the bar, zip from the ship to the docks in an instant. He narrowed his eyes, catching the flash of light. Another devil fruit eater. And an unknown quantity. Great. He hated unknowns. He turned his eyes to the ship. Oddly shaped, the vessel had drawn his attention the first time he had visited the docks. The tub looked big and awkward. Nothing like the trim lines, sleek hull, and graceful sails of his Nidhogg. It was a barge, if nothing else. But, it reminded him of a sea bird floating on the waves. The bird floated just fine, but it was really made for the skies.

Strange as it was, he dismissed it for the time being. His priority here was to keep those two fool girls from killing themselves, preferably without taking on a whole pirate crew.

But if that's what it took...

Balthier was a practical sort. He didn't go charging in screaming bloody murder, or issuing bold challenges. No, the former captain calmly pulled a pistol from the inside of his cloak, sighted on the man who faced down Caitlyn with keen eyes, imbued the bullet with as much haki as he could muster, and gently squeezed the trigger. Once. Twice.

The gun's roar rolled across the dock, sending more people into fright.

@ladyonyx04@King Cosmos@Reflection@KillBox

Caitlyn didn’t move as the gun shot roared, having heard it many times with practicing her own guns she’d borrowed a time or two. She waited instead to either see red from a wound or what the swordsman would say to her question on if he wouldn’t mind letting her retrieve the Prince.

Lexi got on board as it began lift off, and not having much time to congratulate herself on that, she noticed she had company. She smiles and takes out a bottle of what seemed to be very fine and expensive rum. “Want some? You gotta keep my presence on the down low.” She offered. The hallucinations would begin pretty much immediately after consumption. And she had disguised the taste with the actual rum. It would leave the crew alive as Caitlyn had ordered....as long as no one jumped over board in the belief they could fly.

Alabasta Navy, Nanohana Branch Office.

---

It was immensely upsetting to Dan that he couldn't find any pretty flowers that could survive on Alabasta. He had been here for three months thus far, and it took the first two for him to give up and resort to cacti. Which weren't nearly as easy to trim.

Every day he was forced to trim the decorative cacti in front of the base was a day he suspected the transfer was a punishment more than a promotion. Granted, nobody asked him to trim the cacti, but nobody else did it, and he didn't want them to start looking messy. Dammit, that was definitely why nobody else trimmed them. They knew Dan would do it despite complaining.

Halfway through his daily pruning of the cacti, a Seaman Recruit by the name of slim- Dan tried to remember the name of all his men -ran up to him, huffing for breath. "Commander Dishes, sir! We've got a report from the capital!" He declared frantically. Dan let out an exhale. The capital never really called for much of anything. They preferred leaving things to the royal guards, instead of involving the Marines. Which meant this was a big deal. "Well? What's the report, soldier?" His voice was level as always, Dan hoped it would give his men a feeling of confidence.

"W-well, sir..we've just gotten word that..Prince Vivian has been kidnapped."

"W-HUHHH?!?!?!?!" Dan declared unprofessionally, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. "Inform the men to divide themselves into searching parties to look for the missing Prince! Have a squadron of them head to the docks to ensure no one leaves the island until he's found!" With his orders given, Dan rushes off in search of the missing Prince. It was not strategically sound to run off alone, but Dan knew if the Prince got kidnapped on his watch, he'd be in deep trouble until he was gotten back. Dan decided while running frantically through the city that the best place to check would, of course, be the local bar. Where criminals and rumors alike gathered.

>>Back on the docks of Alabasta<<

"Stop batting those fake lashes at me, woman. You're as much as fairy princess as I am. And I'm not feeling too pretty now a days..." He said as he finished the slashing motion.

Of course, his slash missed. He was not truly engaged in the slash anyways.

In any case, Jōichirō took two steps to his left and leaned towards the ground. To the untrained eye, his movements will seem wasted and out of place. However, with what little Observation Haki he has, he was able to discern that the two gunshots were aimed at him. However, with Observation Haki not being his best type, he tried to utilize his devil fruit to let the bullets pass through him.

Since the ammunition was imbued with haki, he was not able to escape unscathed. He suffered a wound to his left shoulder where the bullet went clean through. "Tsk" he vocalized.

"Great, now there is a fan boy to this whore. And a haki user to boot..." He thought to himself. "No matter, all I'm here for is to bide time. I would like to think I'm doing ok..." His thought continued.

Whilst leaning forward, he took a hard step with his right foot and kicked off the ground with his left, propelling himself forward at great speeds. His drawn sword, held in his right hand but to the left side of his body, was kept low to the ground. As he closed his distance to Caitlyn, he aimed another upwards slash going from his left to his right, at Caitlyn.

Though there is something different about his swing this time around...

@ladyonyx04@Crimson Raven

Location - GOLD LION MKII
@King Cosmos-@ladyonyx04-@KillBox

“Want some? You gotta keep my presence on the down low.”

Daring, imaginative, but very very stupid. After all, the line between bold and brash, and belongs in the trash, was a very thin line. A line Lexi leaped right over into baffling, and then as several pirates just looked at her for a good hard moment, it changed to insulted. No doubt the group of pirates who noticed her would include a member or two from the very group who had been with the captain in the bar. And considering they were noticeably under attack... Well the offer to let a clear enemy onto their ship was easily dismissed.

In short...

"Miss, we're pirates, not stupid." One out of the dozen said. Gun raising up and taking aim at Lexi, the bottle, and her very vital organs. "Now, why don't you do a sensible thing, and surrender. Once we're clear of port, the captain can decide to drop you off the side of the ship, or sell you off at the next port." As it turns out... Sneaking onto a pirate ship, only to announce one's presence? Really bad idea. Especially considering all the guns, swords, and very angry scowls directed at her.

Though, if she played her cards right, at least she would get to meet the captain. Not a bad consultation prize.

Caitlyn laughs amused as he called her lashes fake. “My darling idiot. My looks are as real as yours are. All inherited from my darling mother who I take after pretty much.” Of course that wasn’t all she’d inherited. Whore’s child she might be, but she actually wasn’t one. Sure she’d been taught with many skills of one, but she’d never sold her body like that. The leader of the house had protected the child in that way at least, letting the child have something of a childhood. This swing was different, Caitlyn noticed immediately and let her instincts take over as she jumped upward and kicked outward as water solidified behind her foot and she once more pushed herself off the foothold she’d made. “Rain fall!” She exclaimed feeling that would work, and droplets of water fell around the swordsman as she continued upward. She needed to get onto that ship to do the rescuing after all.

@KillBox

“Sell me? As if I’m goods? Well Pirates you might be, but you still are very stupid.” Lexi stated and struck out with the quickness of a snake, taking one of the Pirates into her hold and then one of her poisoned daggers pointed against the throat of her captive. “How about you take me to your Captain anyway? I’d so hate to disappoint mine and start killing, but really, I’m just about done being insulted by you low ranked no bodies.” She growls, her whole demeanor saying she was honestly through being docile. If they weren’t stupid and had that whole ‘we will do anything for our crew mates’ that Luffy had with his crew, then perchance this might work. But if not, she’s more than willing to leave behind corpses.

@Reflection

So, that’s where that Devil Fruit ended up.

Shigeuchi watched as Kuroda left the ship, disappearing in a flash of light as he reappeared by the young woman on the docks. He began to distract her, by which he meant drawing his swords and attacking the other Logia-user with a half-hearted swing, engaging the water-manipulating woman in combat. The older pirate watched as the youngster fought with the clear intent to delay rather than actually hurt his opponent, while the girl dodged and spent more time talking than trying to fight back. He let out a sigh; the fact the upstart had managed to get his hands on that fruit of all things was a bit concerning given his attitude so far. If he tried anything, like trying to oust either himself or the captain for example, then it wouldn’t be as simple as throwing him overboard and letting him cool off on his way back to shore, they’d have to kill him.

He’d have to give the kid The Speech soon and hope that it sank in. Power didn’t automatically mean authority, but if he didn’t realise that himself and accept it then there would be problems.

Nikko gave the order to depart, breaking away from the docks in a more literal sense than normal. The Golden Lion MKII would head out to sea first, gaining some distance from their attackers before deploying their balloons and taking to the skies; they didn’t need to win this fight after all, just escape, and the longer they spent tethered to the dock the more time the Royal family or the marines would have to mount a rescue. It meant leaving Kuroda behind, which Shigeuchi would be fine with, but unfortunately the upstart could fly back to the ship before they got too far away.

A gunshot rang out on the docks and Shigeuchi turned his attention back to the fight between the light and the water to see the former take a bullet through the shoulder. That the bullets drew blood either meant that Kuroda still wasn’t used to his Devil Fruit power and hadn’t turned intangible in response to the attack or that the shooter had imbued the shots with Haki before firing. Shigeuchi scanned the dock for the gunman, expecting to see the white uniform of a marine or another crew involving themselves in the fight; he saw nothing of the sort however, nothing but a panicked crowd of bystanders running for cover. It was perhaps a lone gunman, but a one gunman that could use Haki was a problem he didn’t want to deal with.

It was a kind of rule that Logia-users who were new to their powers thought themselves invincible until they had their first run-in with a Haki user, at which point they either learned a harsh lesson in life or died. Kuroda may have just learned that lesson, Haki was a rare skill even in Paradise after all, but judging from the way he continued to attack rather than panic or freeze up suggested he was familiar with it already.

A commotion on the deck dragged his attention back to the ship. Turning his head he saw the assassin, the young captain’s so far only confirmed crewmember, holding one of their own crewmembers hostage. She had made it aboard somehow, sneaking onto the boat before they could leave the docks and now holding a knife to someone’s throat.

With an exasperated, drawn out breath Shigeuchi drew his sword and pulled a nearby crewmember in front of himself, lining the two of them up so that he could see both the pirate and Lexi at the same time. Raising the sword above his head and placing both hands on the hilt, Shigeuchi prepared to cleave through the crewmember before him with one stroke. “Don’t move.” He reached out with his Devil Fruit ability, attempting to wrap both the pirate and Lexi with his power and swap their positions and cut the assassin down before she knew what hit her.

He tensed his muscles and drew power into his arms, the blade of his sword turning black as he imbued the weapon with Armament Haki just in case, and made the switch.

The power fizzled out and Shigeuchi stopped the blade a millimetre above the pirate’s collarbone before he could cleave his own crewmember in half. With a huff he sheathed his sword and pushed the somewhat shaken crewmember aside, forcing his way through the disgruntled pirates until he stood at the front of the circle of guns and swords surrounding Lexi. “Nice trick, whatever it is. Captain’s busy, so you get me instead; what do you want?”

@ladyonyx04

Even shot, the man didn't turn his attention from Caitlyn. Single minded. Aggressive. Prideful. Balthier noted. What a pain. Men like that rarely listened to anything but power, picking a fight with anyone given the slightest excuse. As a result, they either died weak or got strong.

Fortunately, men like that also made enemies by the dozens. Most of the time, you didn't have to kill them, they'd end up killing themselves on a self-destructive path to the grave. But if he had to be that enemy, so be it.

Well, if he was just going to ignore him, that was fine. Balthier moved forward, the pistol still up. He raised an eyebrow as Caitlyn leapt into the air, and kept on leaping, on what looked to be platforms of water. He remembered seeing her display power like that back in the tavern. Her arm turned to water from a kick. A Logia type, lovely. That explained quite a bit.

He'd only personally met one other logia user, though he didn't know at the time. It was only after he killed the man that he found out about what 'Logia Devil Fruits' were. He was also told that people with that kind of power tended to feel invincible, thus were incredibly arrogant and headstrong.

He could relate, a few years ago he might as well have been the pot calling the kettle 'black'.

Now he realized that description wasn't just rumour. It was firmly grounded in reality. That man had been like that, this girl was like that, and this other man fit so well that, combined with his displayed powers, Balthier suspected his fruit was of similar ilk.

All that said, logia were incredibly powerful and dangerous, regardless of their user. He resolved not to forget that.

His pistol roared in a steady rhythm as he approached, his aim getting better as he closed the distance. He would keep this man busy, giving Caitlyn time to escape. Already, the distant blare of Alarms reached his ears. It was only a matter of time until Marines or Guards showed up. While he could fight them off, he would prefer not to get tangled up with them. What he really wanted to do was grab the two girls and flee, but Lexi was still nowhere to be seen.

"Girl, find your friend and abandon this foolhardy mission!" He roared at Caitlyn over the din of his weapon.

”I want the prince returned back to his palace. Or more specifically, my Captain desires that. Is there some way I can convince you to do it? Cause honestly, I would rather get off this bark.” Lexi pulls a hand through her ash brown hair as her eyes took in the first mate of this ship. Her sharp mind had connected the dots when she’d heard Caitlyn’s name and what happened in Alabasta fifteen years ago. She was no fool, and no wonder that house was so protective of the young compulsive girl.

@King Cosmos

”I would, but I haven’t the foggiest where she might be on that ship!” Caitlyn shouted right on back as she stood upon the hardened water in the air. She would need training with this new ability before she got TOO full of herself. Probably too late for that but whatever.

@Crimson Raven

>>On the chase, basically.<<

"Oi oi oi, not nice with the name calling, yeah?" Jōichirō said, as Caithlyn took to the air leaping on what looked like platforms of...water.

"Great. Logia type. Haki. Fuck sakes, the old man sent me in to die. We would need to have a conversation as soon as I'm done here..." He thought to himself.

Gun shots rang out, steadily, towards his direction. Drawing in a deep breath, Jōichirō gathered his energy around his upper body and hardened it with Armament haki. Of course, his control with it was not the greatest but given that this type of haki was his specialty, he was able to cover the back of his upper body against blunt force attacks.

Now it is basically a battle of haki, between whatever has been imbued onto the bullets, if at all, and himself. And he would always bet on himself.

Jōichirō was a arrogant man, sure, but he was not lacking in battle judgement and intelligence. The gun has to run out of ammunition at some point, so he has to either wait it out or disable the unseen gunman. Waiting it out, at least for the brief reprieve of the gunman needing to reload, would be the more plausible option at this point.

There is still the problem of the girl jumping through the air to deal with for Jōichirō. With a annoyed sigh, Jōichirō looked for ways to delay the female even further. Sure, his slash missed but his intentions were felt. That last swing had more behind it. More force, more assertiveness, more killing intent.

Droplets of water began to fall. In Alabasta, a literal desert. There has to be something more to these drops of water. In any case, understanding at least the basic properties of his devil fruit, Jōichirō grinned inwardly. Using the refractive property of water to his advantage, Jōichirō created several cloned images of himself and stationed them all the way up towards Caitlyn.

Since these refracted images are 'clones' of himself, it would create the illusion that there are several of him, all doing the same action as his actual body which is the sheathing and redrawing of the sword held with his right hand. The edge of the sword, this time, was pressed into the inside of the sheath as it is being drawn, creating massive friction. The moment that it is fully unsheathed, the force behind the swing is such that it it cutting through the air that surrounds the sword and the part that comes into contact with the edge of the sword is behind pushed towards its target at high speeds, creating an 'air blade' being driven towards Caitlyn.

@ladyonyx04@Crimson Raven@King Cosmos

“The prince will be returned back home, safe and sound, in a few days.” Shigeuchi wasn’t going to insult the girl’s intelligence by pretending he didn’t know what she was talking about, not when they weren’t exactly trying to hide the fact they were responsible for the kidnapping and not when she had a dagger to a crewmember’s neck. Of course, he didn’t bother to say what would happen if their demands weren’t met, but even then the prince himself would be fine; he’d be days away in Water 7 with them when the bomb planted in Alabasta went off in seven days’ time. “Until then, he’ll be staying with us I’m afraid. No negotiating, unless you’re saying you’ll pay his ransom here and now?”

Shigeuchi shifted position, subtly moving his hands to rest on his hips so that they would be closer to the sword at his waist. “Is there any way I can convince you to walk away from this without bloodshed? You and you’re captain can’t take us all on by yourselves.”

@ladyonyx04

“Perhaps, if you weren’t planning on threatening and then following up with that threat with action. And besides, if Vivian was told all the stories of Luffy’s heroism he might have the wrong idea about you.” Lexi remarked being earnest.

@King Cosmos

”Illusions is it? Really?” Living in the dessert one was warned about the illusions the heat could produce if one weren’t hydrated. Caitlyn pushes with her hand, the gathered water rushing towards the swordsman. “Water pressure!” She calls sensing once more her capabilities with the fruit she’d eaten and quickly got out of the way of whatever swing the swordsman might make.

@KillBox

“Ha, I didn’t expect you to be so precious about it. If the idea of kidnapping and ransom bothers you maybe you should find another line of work, or does slitting throats not bother your conscience as much as a peaceful abduction?” This wasn’t going to end peacefully, not if they couldn’t get past this impasse; they weren’t going to give up the prince and leave empty handed, Nikko would never allow such a thing, and this girl wasn’t going to let them leave with him either. One of them was going to be disappointed and Shigeuchi wasn’t planning on it being him.

“We’re pirates, lass. We’re going to act like it.” He reached out and touched a finger to the hilt of a knife nestled in the waistband of the crewmember standing next to him. In doing so he confirmed its location in his mind, allowing him to target it with his power. “You’ll have to do this and worse if you want to survive out at sea.” The poisoned blade in Lexi’s hand disappeared, instantly replaced by the mundane dagger belonging to the man at Shigeuchi’s side. Depriving the girl of a familiar weapon was one thing, depriving her of an unknown poison another, but the fact that the knife was backwards in her grip and that she was now holding the weapon by the sharp edges was the real kicker.

@ladyonyx04

Balthier's bullets erupted in little bursts of blood and light with each impact on Jōichirō's back. His Haki much lessened the impact, but Balthier's proved to be the stronger. Balthier noticed the scattering of light, confirming his suspicions about this man being a logia user. Worse, he knew of that fruit's former owner. It was, after all, very very famous. The Glint-Glint fruit, formerly eaten by Navy Admiral Borsellino.

What a powerful fruit to be in the hands of some dumb kid. He thought.

He was counting his shots, so he knew when his gun was almost out of bullets. He fired slowly until there was two shots left. He was now within five meters of the man, who's attention was focused on the girl and seemed to be preparing some kind of technique. Balthier was almost impressed by the man's balls in ignoring him, but what kept him from any admiration was the fact that it was so incredibly stupid.

"What an idiot." He sighed.

He raised his pistol and shot him in the head.

Port of Alabasta.

Interacting With: @ladyonyx04@KillBox@Crimson Raven

---

Hindsight 20/20, running frantically through the streets was absolutely not a sound strategy. He was fast, really fast, but not fast enough to cover that much ground alone. Thankfully, Dan got a pretty blatant 'hint' at where he should head next. A great deal of shooting was going down by the port, apparent by the sound of a helluva lot of gunfire. Some of Dan's men had been sent towards the port, hopefully that wasn't the sound of them shooting. Regardless, he decided to head that way.

So, one detour later and Dan was hauling his cape-hidden ass towards the port. He had an expression of laser-focused determination, his mind totally clear. The focus was necessary to perform one of the more complex abilities of his 'curse.' His skin began to distort, several areas becoming raised and bumped, as if things were trying to breach the surface of his body. Yet it didn't seem to bother him whatsoever. After all, he was merely creating his weapons of choice.

Dan had always prided himself on his exceptional time management, which was why it didn't take him too long to realize the situation as he peeled out from around a corner, and arrived at the port. A duo of clearly Devil Fruit powered individuals dueling at the docks, and a gunner getting involved in said brawl. Were they involved with the missing Prince? Or was this a separate issue?

His attention was drawn away from the trio to the ship with a Jolly Roger currently leaving the docks. He couldn't say for certain, but Dan would gamble a guess that if the Prince was anywhere nearby, he was probably on board that ship. Dammit, he definitely couldn't deal with both things at once. Dan proceeds to charge by the people fighting. It was important to deal with them too, but he could do that after stopping the ship. "Turn yourselves in for public disturbance and whatever crimes you've caused while fighting! Or you'll be in serious trouble!" He shouts at the trio by the docks, dropping several handcuffs while running by. Did Dan expect them to actually put on the cuffs? No. But it never hurt to try.

By the time he reached the edge, two large ceramic plates emerged from the bottom of his feet, they immediately float upwards, levitating Dan above the water. The plates burst forward, with Dan riding them towards the escaping Pirate Ship. His skin continued to bulge unpleasantly all across his body, given the fact that he just generated dinner plates, it could be assumed that he was preparing something (or several things) else.

Lexi was familiar with all kinds of weapons, with her training. Her hand automatically corrected its hold on the sharp edge, the pain second nature to her these days. “I’m only doing as told for the time being as it delights me to do so. Or if I wasn’t told to not kill, several bodies would have already been on the deck. Kidnapping doesn’t bother me at all, I’ve lived in a more bleak world than most.” After all, what did Lexi have left to lose in her line of work and the life she’d had?

@King Cosmos

”How about no?” Caitlyn cheekily asks the Navy man looking up to the ship in a bit of worry. She didn’t want Lexi to be hurt, and she wanted that prince saved if she could pull it off. She was steadily getting more pissed off at that red head. She needed more training with these abilities! She needed to know what were the limits, and how far they would be willing to go. Probably as far as she was willing to go. She watched the Navy man quite fascinated.

@NachoBachoPacho

"Yeah, yeah; you're a dangerous woman with a dark and mysterious past. We're all very intimidated." The sarcasm and exasperation in Shigeuchi's voice should have been clear and obvious, but you couldn't always tell with some people; in either case, the pirates surrounding Lexi with swords and guns pointed her direction certainly didn't seem intimidated. He didn't bother to say that if she had decided to attack there probably wouldn't be as many bodies as she thought there would be, or that one of the bodies would surely be hers; there was no need to antagonise her more than he already had.

It was a little disappointing that the girl hadn't reacted more to the loss of her knife or the fresh cut on her hand, he'd give her points for keeping a strong poker face, but it was clear that this conversation was about over.

"Well, I'm afraid we're not going to be able to hand the prince over to you." Raising both hands up, Shigeuchi stood in a pose that almost suggested he was surrendering in spite of his words and tone saying the exact opposite. He didn't move to draw his sword and none of the crew moved to attack her; they couldn't, or wouldn't, so long as she continued to hold a knife to her hostages throat. They'd have to pick up more work if he died, after all. "But I can't just let you kill one of my crew either, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

In an instant Shigeuchi swapped himself with the crewmember in Lexi's grip, placing himself within her grasp and with a knife to his throat as the other pirate took his place in the circle. He'd rotated himself around as well as trading places with the hostage so that his back was to Lexi's chest and his raised hand was in perfect position to grab her knife hand, his fingers wrapping around her wrist with an iron grip that held the blade away from his skin. With his other raised hand he brought his arm back, driving an elbow back towards the assassin's stomach and hoping to strike her before she could react.

@ladyonyx04

Surrender? Yeah right. Being more prepared this time around, Lexi reacted much more swiftly for whatever he would do. So when he moved the hand with the most obvious weapon, she moved to the left, just feeling the air where the elbow would have connected with her stomach, feeling how close a thing that had been, and she once more struck out with the fluid motions of a snake. A flat blow to his face, hoping that the force would either make him bite his tongue, or that he in turn would dodge, and knowing devil fruit users as she did, she half expected him to. Her past wasn’t all that mysterious. A blood soaked orphan left behind by Pirates like this scum who didn’t care about those left behind to pick up the pieces of their destruction. She flipped the handle of the knife and brought it sharply to his side. If she didn’t sink the knife far enough, she just might miss a vital organ there.

@King Cosmos