Entering the Battle [Arc part 1]

“HIT THE DECK!!!!” Were Miku’s last words before her world suddenly exploded, pain and heat overwhelmed her whole body as her head rung while her vision was gone due to a large explosion of light at her feet. These sensations lasted for mere seconds before a whole new world of hurt began when she splashed into the ocean itself, her disorientation worsening, the sudden cold shocking her awake and the impact forcing the air out of her lungs. Salty sea water filled her mouth and lungs as she was too late to fight down her body's own reflex to replenish the air it lost.

Time seemed to stretch as more explosions light the waters below the Rascal, which meant those were actually above her. She was floating upside down, however before she could even reorientate herself another explosion right above her position blasted right above her causing her to be pushed further into the watery depths. Her lungs already had water in them and she could feel herself quickly losing feeling as her vision dimmed.

‘Was this it? Is this how I die!? I hope everyo-' Were her last thoughts as she finally blacked out, her body ceasing it’s resistance and giving itself to the mercy of the oceans will. Miku was already unconscious when her body washed up on a shore not too far from the naval battle. The woman regained consciousness long enough to immediately start coughing up the water in her lungs, her throat sore from the ice cold water and all the salt. Her chest ached as her body gasped for each mouthful of air, it was hell. Miku was too panicked to control her own breathing, hyperventilating as she tried to get a hold of her bearings. It took moments before she lost consciousness again, laying in the sand unaware of her surroundings.

Some Time Later - Dimly Lit Cell

The young woman began to rouse from her sleep slowly at first, her eyes slowly cracking open as she realized she heard the rustling of someone nearby and a fire flickering above her. Miku felt that she was laying on her side and decided to sit up, which was when she realized her arms were bound behind her as they refused to move and she felt the strain of tightly bound ropes on her wrists. It was this realization that quickly shocked her into being fully alert, her eyes shot open as she pulled herself into a sitting position. At least her legs weren’t bound, and all her clothes were on.

A quick survey of her surroundings revealed the interior of a cell with three cement walls and a single torch to light the room, though it was caged itself so she couldn’t even reach for it if her hands were unbound. The door out of the cell was an open frame with large reinforced iron bars that allowed no privacy at all. With little effort Miku managed to stand up and walk over to the door to see if she could get her bearings at the least. Had she actually been arrested by the Marines? How long had she been out? She wasn’t on a ship and unless she was unconscious for days then there was no way she could be in some marine HQ already.

As these thoughts whirled in the Rascal’s head she walked up to the bars and immediately recognized the man in the cell across from her own. Her brows furrowed in anger, hatred in her eyes and she lunged towards him as if the bars weren’t there. Of course she simply slammed against the bars which caused a loud clanging noise. “You…” Miku said with utter disgust while glaring at the marine. She wasn’t sure where the hell she was or why he was locked up too but all she knew was that this was all his fault!

‘Welcome back?! Oh, I’ll gladly reintroduce his family jewels to the tip of my foot!!’ Miku threatened in her head as the only vocalization given by her was an angry growl towards Anton. As she began to fantasize about stomping on Anton’s crotch repeatedly over and over her thoughts were interrupted by a new voice. Blue eyes ripped themselves from Anton’s form and quickly scanned for the source of the new voice. A Den Den Mushi was on the ceiling, it was also hidden behind protective caging. Annoying.

It was as she listened to her mysterious captor, who else would be speaking to them like this, that she finally realized they weren’t the only two locked in here. Apparently several other unlucky souls were captured just like they were. As the thought passed through her head all her anger immediately faded and she actually blanched a bit. What became of her Meddling Kids? Were they here too? Miku quickly tried to stick her face as far past the bars as she could in an attempt to get a look at the other cells and their occupants.

“Emi!? Cedric?! Laguna?! Meddling Kids sound off right now damnit!!!” Miku yelled ignoring the voice droning on about all the captives fighting each other. It wasn’t a surprise they’d all have to fight for their lives but the fact it was a ‘competition’ was. Still, the Captain was more worried about the fact that her crew could be in trouble. “Everyone else shut up unless you’re a Meddling Kid!!” Miku threatened as the other captives started to get rowdier, proclaiming their affiliations or statuses as if it meant anything in here.

As the prisoners all refused to quiet down Miku realized she hadn’t heard any voices she recognized. It was both disheartening and encouraging at the same time. It meant none of her crew was possibly taken, but the mention of other cell blocks dashed these hopes. As this all began to sink in for the woman the cell door in front of her suddenly unlocked, unfortunately she was still leaning on it with her hands tied behind her back. Thus she immediately pitched forward fall flat on the floor to her embarrassment, luckily she managed to twist her head to avoid smacking her chin on the floor. The turning of her head also allowed her to see that nearly all the cell doors had been thrown open at this point, some even having their occupants rushing out.

As Miku slowly got to her feet, Anton forgotten momentarily, the other occupants quietly stared at one another in confusion and apprehension. They were all told they had to kill one another if they wished to leave alive, several had weapons drawn, others hands on their weapons, and one or two with their hands out as if to try and calm the others by showing themselves unarmed. The tension in the air was intense, however it was broken by the sound of a gunshot and the dropping of a body onto the floor. A man dressed in eclectic clothing often associated with wayward travelers or bounty hunters had blood quickly pooling around him. Everyone stared at the body before traveling to the shaking marine who held the smoking gun. “I… you all heard the man!” The marine said as he pointed his gun at someone else before pulling the trigger again. This time everyone burst into action, attacking each other, running for an exit, a few even ducking back into their own cells for safety.

Miku stood there dumbly, her arms still tied behind her back, unsure what to do. A part of her wanted to join in the fray, throwing punches and breaking bones of all those who got in her way. Another part of her wanted to get away and continue searching for her crew, if this was the kind of chaos that was happening in the first moments of this ‘competition’ then she worried for certain members of her crew.

“Grrr… Fuck this!” Miku said as she turned around to leave the room only to find a hulking man standing right behind her. The giant man, giant to her at least, had both his arms out and were quickly reaching for her neck. The Rascal made to block with her arms only to realized they were still tied! ‘Why haven’t I removed these ye-’ Miku’s thoughts were interrupted as the man’s hands wrapped around her throat and lifted her off the ground.

“Gaaaah ack aaaaagh!” Miku managed to vocalize as she was beginning to get strangled by this man, her legs kicking in the air as they were unable to reach the man whose reach beat her legs reach. The Rascal quickly tried figuring out how to get out of this situation as she struggled to not lose in such an anticlimactic way.

The Rascal was still struggling to find a way to escape the bastards grasp as she could feel his fingers closing tighter around her neck like a vice. Her eyes were wide and full of a mix of anger and panic as she could see his sadistic grin get wider as she struggled even more. If only she hadn’t been so fucking slow! Suddenly she heard a person slide underneath her before the fingers around her neck suddenly let go allowing her to drop to the floor.

Miku landed on her side and writhed slightly as she took a large breath of air, her throat in pain from the strangulation it just underwent. As she tried to regain control of her faculties she heard someone move behind her and could feel the press of a blade on her back. However before she could even react the rope binding her wrists were suddenly released along with a simple command uttered by her savior. She sprung to her feet and spun around to face Anton, her fists raised and a look of anger and confusion on her face.

“I didn’t ask for your help, you-” Miku said angrily before turning away and cutting off her own insult. “Whatever, you’re not getting a thanks for this.” The girl said while refusing to make eye contact. Suddenly someone came at them and Miku saw an opportunity to avoid this awkward situation.

A large man who had the tattoos and ragged clothing of a pirate came barreling at them with a sword in each hand. Miku simply weaved under a swipe and punched him in the gut to force the air out of his lungs followed by a quick kick to the inside of his knee to drop him to her level. Now at eye level Miku delivered a quick punch to the side of the pirates head and knocked him out of commission`1, the man was still breathing as she didn’t want to waste energy on killing everyone in here.

The number of conscious/living ‘contestants’ had easily been cut in half in this short amount of time, the weakest being culled nearly instantly. Although less fighting was happening as more survivors had begun escaping or chasing one another. This left Anton and Miku nearly alone with a couple of stragglers as well. Though to her chagrin it looked as if the last few stragglers were slowly grouping up for some reason, they seemed to be neither marines nor pirates.

“What the hell have you gotten us into?” Miku asked accusingly of Anton as she faced the newly formed group who had finally turned their attention towards the two of them. “Any of these yours? Or can I put em all down?” Miku asked Anton as a polite way of asking if he would be upset she beat on any of these guys. The Rascal in turn was rolling up her sleeves and snapping on her Knuckles with an angry look in her eyes. She had to find her crew and these bastards weren’t going to get in the way.

The three who faced Miku were a bunch of young men, not much older than Miku herself. The three were very distinct in their looks as they easily varied in height from short, to average, to tall. The shortest one had a large scowl on his fist as he raised his fists and slowly advanced at the bluenette staring them down.
“I ain’t scared of no girl and we aren’t going to die here!” The short one yelled as he made to punch at Miku, [Ed Boys LT] the woman simply weaved underneath it as she activated her Kenbunshoku Haki to aid in the brawl that had commenced and returned his blow with a quick jab to his face. The tallest of the three who had looked unsure suddenly had an angry look on his face as he roared at Miku. “Don’t you hurt Eddy you evil sea hag from the gravy sea!” The large man yelled as he swung at the Rascal’s back slamming her against the wall. [Edd Boys MT]

“Aah!” Miku cried out in pain as she slid back down the wall as the force behind that attack took her by surprise. The third member was staying back and seemed to be eyeing a pistol on the floor, it seemed he wasn’t going to be a problem for the moment. Miku then kicked off the wall towards the biggest of the three as he seemed like the real threat. [Miku’s LT Bum Rush] She then aimed a punch with all her momentum behind it right into the side of the large man. [Miku’s HT SP Punch]

“AAaaaaaaaahh!” The large man yelled as he grabbed his side. “Double D! I can’t breathe anymore!” He said in panic as the air was forced out of his lungs. This was said despite the fact he was in fact breathing as he talked, simply painfully.

“Ed!” The man who was wearing a knitted hat, 'Double D', cried out while suddenly diving for the pistol and firing off a shot at Miku in panic. [Ed Boys LT]  It missed however and simply pinged off of the wall behind her. Ed tried swinging at her again but Miku ducked underneath and backed up, bringing all three back into her view. They all regrouped, with the short one, ‘Eddy’ as ‘Ed’ called him, and seemed to be viewing her with a new sense of danger. She grinned at the look of caution they now wore, damn right she wasn’t someone to underestimate.

The three Ed’s, as they all seemed to share similar namesakes, were arguing quite vocally about their current situation. The shortest one, Eddy, seemed to be fuming as he seemed to content to charge straight at Miku again only to be held back by the large one, Ed. Their scrawny friend who was standing behind the other two seemed to be giving orders, or more like meek suggestions, to the two while trying to make himself as invisible as possible.

Miku observed this through narrowed eyes and could slowly start understanding their dynamic, they weren’t strangers at all. They obviously knew each other and were probably captured in one swoop, it would explain why they teamed up so quickly. ‘Right, I should probably focus on the shorter two, that tall one packs a mean punch.’ She thought to herself before dashing back into the three of them while hardening her fists with Busoshoku Haki. Eddy once again met her and she easily dodged under another of his punches while jabbing hit again, this time on the other side of his face. [Ed Boys LT] [Miku’s UT - Punch]

The woman actually grinned at the look of absolute rage Eddy had on his face and how he began to nearly froth at the mouth from being shown up twice by some girl. It was during this distraction that a bullet whizzed past her and managed to graze her leg causing her to stumble for a step. [Ed boys LT] Luckily the stumble unintentionally caused Ed’s swinging arm pass right over the Rascal. [Ed boys MT] This wasn’t lost on the woman, sadly it meant she lost all the momentum she was attempting to build for that uppercut was planning to hit Ed with. [Miku’s HT - Glass Chin]

Instead Miku decided to continue past him and aim a punch at the gunman hiding in the back. She managed to land a strong hook on him before being grabbed by her collar and tossed away from him. [Miku's LT - Dirty Straight] “Stay away from Double D!!!” Ed roared as he stood before the scrawny man who had collapsed in shock from the attack. The man was already climbing back to his feet but was definitely caught off guard.

This left the two shortest combatants to square off, trading blows but simultaneously blocking each punch the other threw. “You’re not half bad.” Miku said as the two continued throwing punch after punch. “Not bad for a girl!” Eddy returned, no ill intent behind the comment but realized his mistake too late as Miku’s eye twitched at the comment.

The Rascal could feel the rage bubbling from within at Eddy's comment but before she could explode she noticed Anton launch himself at his group of foes in a similar attack she’d seen before. The woman let out a feral growl as she quickly slugged Eddy in the face and jumped towards the cage holding the Den Den Mushi, hanging from it right as Anton struck the floor. [Miku’s LT - Slugger] The impact didn’t affect her in the slightest but the shock-wave struck the three Edds as they all were sent flying into the walls.

As the three began to recover, looking towards one another to ensure they were all fine, Miku gave a feral grin and decided to to take a page from Anton's book. “My turn!” The Rascal yelled as she kicked off the ceiling and began to pummel her fists into the floor, causing it to shatter under her strength. The shattered pieces then went flying out from her and towards everyone in the surrounding area, large chunks of concrete flying at high speeds had a tendency of causing extreme blunt force trauma, much to the Rascal’s delight![Miku’s AoE - Rascal’s Tantrum | Missed Stooges] The three Ed’s all were caught off guard and ended up getting absolutely pummeled by the rubble and crushed against the walls they had been using to steady themselves.

Eddy, having been on the receiving end of most of Miku’s attacks, slumped to the floor unconscious. Ed, the large lumbering giant he was, was still standing despite all the attacks however he had a glazed look about him as he stood there. The scrawniest of the three had blood dripping down his face from a head wound that must have been beneath his cap. He was breathing heavily and slowly stood up shakily.

Miku was heaving herself from the exertion of pummeling solid concrete flooring into flying debris but didn’t let that stop her. She advanced on the giant that was Ed and decided to see if he was still conscious with a quick jab but she immediately jumped back as he swung his arm at her like a sledgehammer, his fist actually hitting the ground and shattering it. [Ed Boys HT] [Miku’s UT] His glazed look was gone and he looked absolutely furious. “YOU HURT EDDY!!!!” The large man roared as he advanced on the much smaller Rascal.