Stampeding Up the Battle Tower [Arc Part 3]

The early morning rays were beginning to peek through the canopy of leaves and branches above the heads of two sleeping forms. A single ray managed to slowly crawl down the face of a sleeping woman before strafing over one of her closed eyes causing her to stir.

The sounds of birds chirping in the morning along with a stray ray of light that momentarily dazed Miku were what she awoke to. A stiffness in her back wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling knowing that she spent the night in a tree. After stretching for a moment from her seated position the Rascal decided to stand up and continue her stretching to get the kinks out of her body completely. The stretches also allowed her to feel for her injuries from the day before, most of the aches were still in fact there but much more bearable than before.

The woman noticed her temporary ally still sleeping across the way from her, instead of waking her she decided to let him sleep in for a little longer. The bluenette looked up and covered her eyes from the harsh rays of the sun that were beginning to break through the canopy in force. After a moment she decided to get a lay of the land and started climbing the tree in an attempt to get a good look of where they were.

After climbing up through the canopy of branches and leaves the woman burst into the open air above the tree and startled a few birds that were nesting nearby.

Allowing her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, Miku took survey of her surroundings and noticed that the forest they were in only went on for another mile or so before opening into what looked like fields of some kind. Looking back where the pair came from there was more forest with a random patch that was probably the site of their skirmish. Even further past that was the center of the island and what appeared to be a rather large imposing tower of some kind.

As Miku eyed it she had a feeling that the sick bastard whose voice kicked this all off probably sat comfortably at the top of it. That’s where she would be headed next, that bastard wasn’t going to get away with his cruel games.

The sound of rustling and someone suddenly landing beside Miku didn’t startle her, she hadn’t expected Anton to stay asleep for long. He seemed like the early to rise type after all. “Guess that's where we need to go,” The bluenette nodded her head in silent confirmation to the transformed marine. It was nice to know he was on the same page but she wouldn’t admit it openly. She had a reputation to uphold, despite the last day completely tarnishing it. ‘Well, as long as no one finds out I can live with it.’ Miku thought to herself as she looked at Anton at the edge of her vision.

It was at this moment that Miku spied a slight blush on Anton’s face as he looked as if he was mulling something over. Before the short woman could ask what was on his mind the man made a suggestion that while ‘logical’ was a slap to her pride. The mere thought of him carrying her again like some ‘damsel in distress’ made the rebel in her begin to thrash and yell. It also made the budding leader in her realize it was easily the quickest and most sound way of traveling. The suppressed woman in her made a similar blush appear on her face as well.

The Rascal looked away and growled under her breath as she contemplated internally over his suggestion. It was quite a distance away and them walking on foot would be both slower and more dangerous as there were surely other ‘contenders’ on the island trying to survive. She really thought about it as her arms slowly crossed in frustration and she began tapping her foot. After a couple more minutes of her silent fuming and the tapping of her foot she finally let out an anguished sigh before turning back to Anton looking anywhere but his face.

“Fine! It makes the most sense and we can’t get caught in another fight.” Miku explained her reasoning, though it sounded more like she was still trying to convince herself. “However, if you try to take advantage of this in any way I’ll beat all perverted thoughts out of your head myself.” The Rascal said all this with a furrowed brow but it’s intimidating effect was ruined by her blush that she couldn’t hide without looking away completely. “This stays between us too…” The bluenette said this with less conviction and more in a pleading tone.

As soon as Miku managed to extract the promise that Anton wouldn’t take advantage of the situation the two quickly and silently assumed the position they had used the night before to travel. Once again Miku had her arms crossed and refused to look at the marine who was currently carrying her in his arms. As the two sailed through the treetops Miku took this time to observe their surroundings.

There were obvious signs of combat occasionally, usually in the form of shattered landscapes, scorch marks, or simply faded pools of blood that stained the earth. It was unnerving to think so much death actually occurred so frequently on this random island, this wasn’t anything like the fight between Marines and Pirates or the World Government and that Revolutionary Army. This was just bloodshed for the sake of it.

Despite all this the Rascal did notice one distinct thing lacking, the other participants. Sure a day had passed but there were at least thirty people in their cell block alone. Assuming there were a scattering of those all over the island there was no way everyone had already fought one another to escape. Plus where were all the ‘winners’ who had survived their first day just as they had. It made no sense and made her wary about what could still be going on, maybe everyone who was still up had the same idea as them and approached the tower. After all it was the only real landmark on the whole island that was man made that wasn’t just another block of jail cells.

When the two finally touched down Miku was relieved to have her feet on solid ground again and immediately stepped away from Anton. She even made a show of brushing herself off as if she didn’t want to catch Marine or something. After the slight show she turned back to the tower before them and looked up at it’s imposing stature. “Bet you the asshole who made this so tall is compensating.” It was literally the first thought that Miku had as she took in it’s height. It couldn’t possibly need to be this tall.

“Let’s go knock on the front door.” Miku said to Anton as she approached the base of the tower. The tower itself was made of cinder block and had a medieval feel to it as if it belonged to some kingdom of knights or such. The front entrance was two large doors that looked as if they would easily allow a giant into their frame without needing to duck. Miku stood in front of the door, turned to Anton with a smirk, turned back to the door while spreading her footing out and pulling back her right arm as if she was priming a punch. As she stood in a solid stance she let out a loud yell and punched with all her might causing the section of door before her to splinter and eventually shatter, creating an opening for them but still leaving the rest of the door intact.

“We’re coming in!” Miku said as if she was still being polite and simply strode through the opening she just created. The inside of the ground level of this tower was rather plain with a single large rug covering a majority of the floor leaving the edges of the large round room empty. There was a staircase built into the walls of the tower itself that was winding and led up to the next floor. As Miku walked further into this room she noticed that the rug had numerous copper tone stains that she immediately assumed were faded blood stains. ‘How many people made it here only to die from their injuries?’ Miku wondered as she continued walking towards the center of the room.

The large room had no furniture, no other doors, and no other lighting other than the sunlight streaming in through the paneless windows in the walls. All there was left to do was continue climbing up, but the stains on the ground made her wonder if the survivors fought each other in here or if something else was the cause. None of this made sense and Miku had no clue what to think besides continuing up the tower and hopefully finding whoever was in charge here.

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(Top Floor of the Tower)

A man dressed in noble attire is seated on a rather plush armchair, an unlit fireplace is before him and at his side is a small side table with a decanter full of a rose-tinted liquid. As he sits with his eyes closed, a wine glass balanced between his fingers, it’s sides stained with a red liquid, he hums before opening them to reveal a sinister yet pleased look. “We have some guests, it seems your men allowed a couple of pests to slip from their grasp.” The voice that came from this man was refined in that each syllable was pronounced properly.

A man garbed in the uniform of a butler appeared at the nobleman’s side, an older gentleman with a finely kept beard and impressive physique, and simply poured some more of the liquid from the decanter into the glass held by his master. “I apologize, I did not realize any of the game we captured had such strength. I can go deal with them myself, sir.”

“Please make a show of it, all the other game your men hunted were so boring to watch.” The nobleman simply sipped from his glass and closed his eyes again, focusing and expanding his senses from simply the room to the entirety of the island. “It seems there are still a few stragglers on the outskirts. Make sure to deal with them after you entertain our guests.” “Of course, sir.” The butler said before walking out of the room.

“Tch, way to state the obvious.” The Rascal muttered as she waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss Anton’s cautious warning. Not that she was actually lowering her guard an inch, this place reeked of trouble. A small smirk pulled at Miku’s lips, she always managed to land herself in the worst situations. The young woman then proceeded to follow Anton as he advanced towards the stairs that hopefully led to a room full of fried takoyaki and sweet mead. Miku’s stomach growled at the thought and if it was heard she refused to acknowledge it.

As the pair arrived at the next landing Miku couldn’t help but whistle at the sheer height between this floor and the next landing. “That’s gonna be killer on our arms.” The Rascal said in agreement to Anton’s assessment. As Miku took a step towards one of the chains they all suddenly rattled to life, up above a noise drew her attention to reveal a platform lowering. Miku immediately raised her fists which still had her Knuckles donned as the platform finally reached the floor they were on. An old man in a butler’s get up was standing there as if nothing about this situation was strange at all.

His threats while delivered in a flat tone carried a menacing tone that actually made Miku flinch as a shiver went down her spine. Sweat broke out on her face as her feral smirk began to grow on her lips. The sound of her own heartbeat in her ear was deafening and she momentarily flicked her eyes over to Anton before going back to the old man before her.


“Ladies first!” Miku yelled as she rushed in without a second thought, throwing all caution to the wind and enhancing her reflexes. [Kenbunshoku Haki] [Bum Rush - LT] The Ominous Butler smirked as he raised a single open fist before him as if he could sense the difference in strength between himself and Miku. The taunt simply caused her to change tactics as she initially raised her fist for a quick jab but instead planted a foot right before the older gentleman before swinging her other foot with all the momentum from her dash along with the powerful muscles in her unassuming body. [Lady’s Kick - MT] The Ominous Butler eyes went wide and his composure was destroyed as he let out a pained groan that was immediately cut off as Miku delivered a blow to his temple and followed through with a kick. [Phantom Right - LT] [Unnamed Tech]

Despite Miku’s sudden flurry of attacks, her final kick was caught by the Butler who simply glared through his pain right at Miku. “How unbecoming of a young lady.” The words were followed with him swinging Miku over his head and slamming her back down on the floor of the lift. [MT] He then stomped on Miku several times as she was dazed from suddenly being tossed over the Butler’s shoulder and slammed with such force, the young captain was unable to defend herself from the Butler’s rebuttal. [LT][LT] By the time Miku was able to put up any form of defense the Butler simply kicked her away from himself causing her to roll off the lift. [UT]

The Rowdy Rascal felt pain radiating all around her body, her shoulders were hunched and she was in a semi-fetal position on the ground after being tossed about so carelessly. It took a few seconds for the small woman to work through the pain and sensation of vertigo she was suffering, unaware of the exact reason why she wasn’t being given seconds of respite. Miku slowly got back up on her arms and knees, still having difficulty not seeing spots in her vision.

As she lifted her head Miku spotted the monster of a butler walking towards her while mouthing something, the pounding in her ears didn’t exactly allow her to make out his exact words. Though the sight of that Bug Basta-Anton, kicking the man on the side of the head definitely helped raise her battered morale. Miku took advantage of the momentary distraction to assume a sprinter stance and take a few deep breaths focusing herself on what she was about to do. [Bosushoku Haki] She then dashed at the Butler and used her momentum to launch herself up towards him from below and aim an uppercut at his jaw. [HT miss] However at the last second the Butler noticed her and leaned back causing her to rise right before his raised fists.

The Ominous Butler quickly retaliated by attempting to hit the airborne Miku with a quick jab, however she was able to wrap herself around his arm and actually hang onto the man. This surprised the Butler who simply stared at the small woman now hanging off of his arm. Even Miku was surprised by her own reaction as she was simply reacting and trying to avoid more pain but didn’t dare to miss this opportunity. So she quickly sent two quick kicks at the man scoring two solid hits. [LT & UT hit] The Butler was quick to retaliate by flinging his arm to the side with such force that it actually launched Miku away from him and caused her to tumble across the floor before coming to a stop, a heap on the floor once again. [LT hit]

“Aaaaaaa-” Miku groaned out loud as she held herself with both arms writhing in pain. Miku knew she had a high tolerance for abuse but she hadn’t been expecting this kind of strength from the man and was quickly considering if she could survive another direct hit at all. Groaning the whole time, Miku eventually forced herself to stand and raise her fists again. Her body was covered in bruises and blood was leaking from scrapes and scratches she’d gained from being both smashed against the floor and her recent tumble. Her precious hat was tossed off to the side of the room sometime during the fight and her hair was a matte with blood from an unseen injury on her head. “I ain’t out of this fight yet…” Miku said as she slowly started advancing on the pair.

The Rascal grinned at the Butler’s compliment and spit out some blood as he continued into his insult. “When you are born with nothing in this world all you have is your will, old man. I know that better than most.” Miku replied as waited patiently for a chance to jump in as she noticed Anton about to attack once again. The distraction was enough and the marine had managed to land what appeared to be a debilitating blow to the Ominous Butler before being rebuffed. The retaliation of the older gentleman was swift as it was deadly, dealing a significant damage to her temporary ally.

As soon as Miku saw the Ominous Butler hesitating due to Anton’s blow she knew it was her chance. Using Anton’s continued assault as an opening, Miku was planning to dash in a straight line at full speed at the older man. The old man had actually stumbled due to Anton’s assault and the bug man landed beside her. The short woman ignored his words advising they retreat to instead to take a wild gambit, it was what she did best after all. [Toggle - Reckless Abandon] Miku sprinted as quickly as she could abandoning caution in favor for speed noticing that the man had finally noticed her approach, however it was too late. The Rascal managed to get inside his guard and dodged a blow that was so strong it actually cut her cheek open from a slight graze, but that wasn’t nearly enough to stop her at full speed. The woman landed a haymaker directly into the man’s abdomen sending him flying away from her and flying across the room in a heap like he had done to her.


“How’s that for foolishness, ya old bastard!” Miku taunted but the momentary victory was ruined when the whole room tilted and the woman found herself stumbling slightly. The sensation of liquid tickling her upper lip caused her to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand revealing a substantial amount of blood. The blow she had barely avoided had caused massive bleeding from her nose and actually gave her a slight concussion. ‘It’s the blood loss, it’s finally getting to me.’ Miku thought in a panic as she could feel her hair growing damper with time from blood and feeling the draining of warmth from the large cut on her cheek.