op2024
Half Pint
wintersoldier
Noctis
Bork Lazer
mickilennial
Nallore
Marik
Ivar
Lord WraithRICO
Brandishing a bottle of vodka, Commander Lindsay grumbled, “You’re a damn fool you know, just like all my men who charged at you thinking they could handle your Fruit powers on their own. Hope none of them ended up dead because of you.” Drawing a hefty knife, its blade more than half a foot long, he pried the bottle open, peeling the seal off and swishing the content around. “Having a will to move will only get you so far on the ocean. Thinking you’ll always be lucky enough for your recklessness to pay off is childish. What you really need is strength and wits.”
Pacing about, Rico admitted, “Well, I’ve got strength at least.”
Lindsay shook his head as he held his knife against the bottle, pulling out a piece of wood with his freed hand. “To think a stupid party trick would help out in a real fight like this…” he muttered, taking a swig of vodka and charging forward. Striking the wood against the deck, it caught alight. Whipping it out, he raised it to his mouth as he closed in on Rico, who took on a look of panic and turned to run. A gout of flame erupted as Lindsay let his fire breath roar. The ball threatening to engulf Rico, it streaked into his side. There was a burst of noise and motion as his body exploded into action, sparks and rockets firing off from his body. The remaining half of the boy was blasted back, crashing into the railing, which cracked under the force of the impact. His right side reforming with a hiss, once his mouth was back to normal, Rico cried, “You trying to kill me man!?”
A smirk came to Lindsay’s face. “Knew that’d do the trick. Couldn’t do that below decks of course: fighting fires on the sea is a bitch.” Eyes lighting up, Rico gawked, pointing at Andou, who waved for him to focus. “I’m not trying to kill you kid, you can surrender at any time.”
Slipping to a kneeling position, Rico smiled, “Nah, not interested.” Kicking against the ship guardrail, the wood cracking from the blow, Rico’s feet were cast alight, the young man gliding across the ship deck right at Lindsay’s feet. “Hectic Feilong!” The man scrambled to take a swig of vodka, but as he moved the torch to his face, Rico made contact, shifting his course to roll into the Marine’s legs. His evasion action came too late, the Commander getting caught on the boy’s shoulder and crashing to the group, spitting up the sip he’d just took as he coughed it out, having slammed onto his stomach. He managed to keep the bottle and torch raised, even as some of the liquor spilled out on the deck, even if the knife clattered to the ground.
On all fours, Rico scrambled to his feet, taking a fighting stance. Lindsay jammed the torch into his mouth, biting down on it from the side, while he took the knife in his hand, rushing forwards. Rico barely reacted as the blade slashed through him, doing little more than shed pink and gold sparks onto the ship deck. “Huh? Did the fall rattle your head? Rico asked, raising his fist.
“Off courshe not, I toltd chou, didin’t I?” Lindsay said, words muffled through his torch as he raked his blade across Rico’s eyes, the boy blinded for just a moment. “Whaht chou kneed on shis sea-” Lindsay jabbed his knife again, cutting through Rico and charging onto the opposite side of him, barreling down on Andou, who’s eyes widened, “-is strength-” the knife dug into Andou’s shoulder, the man dropping his cigarette and staggering backwards with the weapon stuck fast. Pulling the torch from his mouth, he backhanded it against the still reforming Rico, “-and wits!”
Another explosion rocked the deck, leaves of a firework shooting into the sky and glancing off the deck. Rico’s body once again splattered into the same point of railing, the wood nearly given completely. Reforming with his elbows against the deck, he grimaced in pain, eyes spinning from the fatigue of having to forcibly expend so much energy for his powers in the face of the flame. Coughing, he moved to his feet, only to see both Andou and Lindsay also knocked to the ground, the former bloody and the latter messy with a fine layer of soot. ”Oh no they’re dead!”
Reaching to Andou’s side, the middle aged man grumbled as he tried to get up, “I’m not dead, idiot. And chances are we’re not so lucky on his account.” Sure enough, Lindsay started to stir, his grip still tight on his torch and liquor. “Dammit, that’s what I get for letting my guard down.”
Standing tall as Lindsay got back up, Rico insisted, “Don’t you worry, Andou, I’ve got this.” Stepping forward, his foot slid a couple inches on the deck, the boy’s arms flailing as he managed to keep his balance. “Hey, can you stop bleeding everywhere!?”
Andou glared. “I’ll try.”
Swishing around the vodka, the fall he’d suffered had cost him more uses than he was comfortable with. Letting out a long sigh, he said, “Sorry kid. I’m sorry that the world failed you; sorry that whoever raised you failed. You’re just a dumb kid who doesn’t know better, holding a damn arsenal in his body with that Fruit power of yours. If you don’t get stopped here, you’re going to run headfirst into a wall you can’t overcome somewhere down the line. You should’ve been taught better, and I’m not good enough to whoop some sense into you.” Getting the bottle’s neck near his lips, he finished, “If I kill you, don’t blame me.”
Rico wasn’t smiling, his eyes narrowed in focus. “I don’t care that the world failed me: what I do from here on out is my responsibility! Don’t you dare talk about the people who raised me like that!” Fists up, he took a fighting stance, facing down Lindsay head on. Mouth full of alcohol, cheeks puffed out like a hamster, the Marine charged forward, casting the emptied bottle aside. Rico turned tail and ran away. “Oi,” Andou grunted, unimpressed, before rolling out of the way himself.
Rico peeling out towards the edge of the ship, there wasn’t much room to run. Jabbing his fingers at Lindsay, a few small rockets shot out, careening off just enough that the man wasn’t even fazed by the explosions at his feet. Stuck, Rico jumped onto the railing, stuck between the threat of water and the impending flame. There was a crackling of wood. Lindsay planted his feet, torch raised as he shot out another fireball. The side of the ship was engulfed in light and heat, only for it to fade away, Rico missing.
Eyes wide, Lindsay bounded forward, noticing that a portion of the guardrail had broken away. Just as he reached the part where the deck spilled out into the ocean without the barrier, a hand clasped onto the edge of the wood. A face appeared, grin wide, blue sparks bursting from Rico’s legs, shoulders, and arms. A sharp uppercut slammed into Lindsay’s gut in the same motion as Rico pulling himself onto the deck, spittle launching from the man’s mouth. Putting his whole body behind the blow, his elbow ignited. “Sunny...” Whole forearm launching off, Lindsay was carried into the air, his passage marked by the sound of a whistling rocket, his face panicked. Rico’s arm reformed, two fingers stuck up in a V for victory. “Zhulong!” High in the sky, the firework detonated, green and purple sparks barely visible in the sunny day.
Eyes raised, watching the faint light fade into the bright day, Andou looked back down at Rico, the boy stretching and dusting himself off after a fight well done. Andou didn’t yet know how he pulled it off, but he did. Glancing at his shoulder, his suit coat tied around the wound in a makeshift bandage, he knew they weren’t quite out of the woods yet. Picking up his fallen cigarette, still barely lit, and took one last drag before flicking it off, his flame being extinguished in his own blood. “Guess this round goes to you, kid.”
