[Episode] What a Monster! The Man Who Destroyed the Sushi Shop.

Quest:

“Pero pero pero pero ~ Pero pero pero per~ kaccha~

Stone slapped the Den Den Mushi as he slowly sat up from his makeshift bed. Looking outside he could see that the sun had just barely begun to rise but he was unable to concentrate on the time of day or weather for long. The voice from the other side of the snail was talking far too frantically for Stone to  decipher anything that the man might have been trying to say, “Hey man can you please calm down I just woke up”. Stone was now the highest ranked marine on the island after his direct superiors dropped him and about 65 men on the island while they dealt with business on a larger island about a half days travel away.

Stone waited patiently as he waited for the young sounding marine to catch his breath. After about 10 seconds the marine continued, ”Sorry Sir but have you heard of Santiago’s Sushi Restaurant?". Confused Stone sat there for a couple seconds before replying, ”Who hasn’t heard of it, It’s the only reason people visit this island”. The young marine's tone suddenly became serious, ”Lieutenant Stone, The Restaurant has been destroyed”. Stone immediately hung up on his subordinate. As a Marine and Chef it was Stone’s duty to get to the bottom of this horrible situation. The Marine put on his coat as he left his quarters, walking down to the kitchen of the ship where most of the soldiers would go as they woke up.

Stone gathered about half of the marines left on the island and ordered the men to guard the small village as he journeyed over to the Sushi Shop, Which was about a five minute walk away from the coastal town.

Upon arriving at his former favorite restaurant it was clear to him that this was not just some group of bandits that didn’t want to pay their tab, Whoever destroyed this place must have had a grudge. But no one from the village would destroy the island's main source of income. Stone looks around and makes sure that no villagers are in the area before transforming into his Full Bear transformation. As he becomes larger it is easier for him to survey the pile of rubble and broken wood planks. But as Stone steps farther into the remnants of the building he realizes that what used to be the back of the restaurant is now soaked in water.

Stone looks up at the sky, "If it hasn’t rained in the two days that he was on the island how was the building soaked?" A couple more moments of thinking upon what he saw in his investigation leads to nothing except what he suspected the second he witnessed the water-soaked building, It had to have been a group of Fishmen who attacked the Restaurant. But this did not make any sense in Stone’s mind, His captain and the other officers were supposed to be dealing with a group of Fishman on the nearby island. A moment of hesitation passes, Stone knew that he should report back to his superiors but if he didn’t check to see if the Fishmen were still on the island he would never hear the end of it.

More determined than ever, Stone stands up. Upon changing back into his human form he turns and begins walking back to the village where his boat is docked. If he was going to bring those men to justice he would need some men with him.

Word Count:

As Stone made his way back to the coastal village he began to think of how he should even travel to the interior of the island. Unlike the nearby island of Baterilla, the landmass that the village stood on was almost completely submerged.

According to bits and pieces of folktales that the townspeople have told the marine, most of the island was destroyed over a conflict stemming from the usage of the large trees that still stand to this day.

Regardless, The feeling of dread that Stone felt upon realizing that he would have to carve his way through a forest of tangled trees was only amplified by two facts, one being the fact that the forest is now mostly underwater and he is unable to swim, and two being the fact that most Fishmen generally do not like when a Marine randomly drops by to accuse them of a crime. At least, that is what Stone’s seniors have mentioned in passing.

When the Lieutenant returned to the small town he went straight back to the ship, where he grabbed a large raft and his naginata, Ashikatta. It felt kind of disrespectful to the Brown Bear that the captain did not have a rowboat made for him like the rest of his officers but if Stone could handle situations like this by himself maybe he would finally begin to rise the ranks again and command his own vessel.

The comically large plank of wood dragged across the ground behind Stone as he made his way out of the village and towards the beginning of the mangrove. The large man placed the raft on the water and slowly began to step on top of it, careful that he does not drown himself.

Hearing footsteps back on land, Stone turns around and sees a fresh-faced private looking up at him, “Where are you heading, Sir!”  

The Marine forced a smile as he replied to the younger man, “Oh, Uh...  I’m just going fishing”. Stone turned around and began to paddle away as he felt the burning embarrassment of telling such an obvious lie.

Luckily most of the larger branches in the mangrove are located a ways above the water, even allowing a larger man such as Stone to sit comfortably on his raft as he paddled his way deeper into the forest.

During Stone’s venture into the forest he realized if he focused his senses he could feel the native wildlife reacting to his presence, A sizable collection of birds and aquatic creatures have adapted to the changed environment. In any other circumstances Stone would have liked to find a nice spot on the island to study the behaviors of any predators that lived here. Stone was not always an academic but since he gained his power he has become very interested in the natural world and how it works past finding out what animals tasted the best.

The Brown Bear continued to hone his senses for a while, even stopping his raft to climb a ways up into one of the larger trees in the woods. Shortly after finding a branch able to support his weight Stone began to hear what sounded like a large wave. Looking down, Stone saw a large lizard surface as a jet of water sent the reptile flying up into the air. A pink colored man leaped out of the water shortly after, landing onto a branch not too far from where Stone was sitting.

The lieutenant tried to get the man’s attention, “Hey, I am looking for someone who destroyed Santiago’s---”

Before the marine could finish his question a barrage of water was sent at him. Stone had no time to run away so he was forced to sit still and use Tekkai. The jets of water bounced right off of Stone’s body while the fishman swam away, leaving a wake behind him. Stone checked to make sure his naginata was slung over his shoulder before he jumped from his perch.

Stone’s method of using his claws to grab onto branches while he bounded above the water was surprisingly fast but he was definitely not going to be able to catch up to the fishman. The marine continued to follow the wake for a couple of minutes before it suddenly stopped. Landing on another large branch Stone reversed his partial transformation and tried to focus his senses again in an attempt to locate where the man had disappeared to.

Word Count:

Unlike earlier, Stone was having a lot of difficulty sensing anything in the area. Whether this was due to being just a little angry that he was attacked for no reason or that there were actually no living beings in the area the marine was unable to tell. Under the water, Stone was able to see another large lizard, although this time the creature was not being launched into the air. The reptile resembled an iguana although it was several times bigger, being about 6 and a half feet long from head to tail. The iguana walked up the tree with relative ease, Once it got closer to the marine and noticed him it did not change direction and continued up the tree.

Once the iguana got to the same branch that Stone was on it walked all the way up to the giant man until the reptile crawled up his back and onto his shoulder. Intrigued by the odd behavior from the lizard, Stone decided to not do anything that might startle the creature, especially since he just saw one earlier get launched up into the air for no discernable reason. Stone couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to attack these iguanas, the one on his shoulder seemed nice enough albeit a little slow.

“Do you have any idea what you are doing!? Get away from that beast before we are doomed!”

The salmon fishman had appeared in front of Stone at some point but before the marine would be able to respond a larger iguana emerged from the water, eyes locked on Stone. The giant lizard began to sprint up the tree before swiping at Stone and the Fishman. Both men narrowly dodged the attack. As Stone fell he tossed the smaller iguana towards another tree.

Just before reaching the -surface of the water Stone slammed his fist into the side of a nearby tree, stopping himself from drowning. The Fishman surfaced a couple feet away in the water, “My name is--- Actually just call me Quarter"

Stone stared blankly at Quarter before speaking, “How about we stop this lizard and then we talk”

The Brown Bear looked back at the Iguana, who had just located the duo and was now running down the tree and preparing itself to attack. Stone yanked his arm out of the tree and launched himself towards the lizard. Rearing back his right arm, Stone punched the reptile as hard as he could, causing the beast to fall off of the tree it was standing on.

Below, Quarter appeared close to where the iguana would fall. The Fishman brought his arms up from the water and threw them up into the air, causing a cone shaped blast of water to hit the lizard and hold it up in the air. Noticing this Stone decided to catch his footing on the tree and leap towards the iguana with the goal of throwing it as far away as he could. The Brown Bear grabbed the beast's tail with one arm before spinning frantically. Picking up speed the marine was unable to tell when he should let go. At this point a couple seconds had passed so Stone could feel himself beginning to fall down. Fearing the possibility that he would drown alone with a lizard and a stranger the lieutenant let go and watched the lizard go flying into the distance.

One problem still remained for the lone soldier, Unfortunately his plan did not include a solution for the fact that he is still heading towards the water. Stone looked around and realized that despite his size he was still not big enough to grab ahold of one of the trees. At least that's what he thought until he remembered he had a naginata that was as tall as him slung over his shoulder. Reaching behind his back the officer stabbed into a trunk and stopped his descent into the water.

Quarter floated over to where Stone had landed, “Wow that's a nice arm you got, Where’d you learn to throw like that?”

Stone smiled in reaction to the young fishmans compliment, “Rahahahahaha, Come to Santiago’s with me and I’ll tell you”

Word Count:

Twenty Minutes Later

“So this is it”

“This is what?”

“Santiago's Sushi Shop, It was destroyed last night and when I went to go check it out this morning the building was soaked”

Stone’s face and demeanor had become a lot more intense and serious since reaching the remains of his favorite restaurant. Looking over at Quarter he began to feel like the fishman knew a little more than he was letting on.

“Listen man I’m not saying this was you but if you know something about this you have to tell me, it’s the right thing to do”

The salmon fishman took a deep breath before looking up at the marine, “It wasn’t me but I would bet that this is my older brother’s doing”

“Him and the others left to go talk to some marines a little ways away from here”

“Really? Thanks for the help dude I’m gonna go tell my boss, come around later and have a drink with me and the guys---”

While Stone continued to drone on and on about drinking and partying the night away he did not even realize that his guard was completely lowered to a stranger. This would be the marine’s biggest mistake yet.

In his frustration, Quarter had decided that his best course of action would be to attack his new friend in order to prevent Stone from communicating with his superiors, who would without a doubt detain his brother and friends. By the time Stone had opened his eyes it was too late. The fishman had already jumped up with the intention of punching him in the face. Stone had no time to move but he strangely decided to not use his Tekkai or Haki, His goal was to showcase the difference in power between the two in order to avoid a proper fight. After all, Marines are supposed to protect everyone from harm.

The punches connected and Stone remained unharmed and unbothered by the smaller man's attacks. Falling down to the ground, Quarter jumped back until he was a couple feet out of Stone’s range before speaking.

“Why won’t you fight back?”

Stone shook his head at the comment from his friend, “Because I do not want to fight you, How about we sit down and discuss this over some tea?”

The fishman reluctantly dropped his stance and made eye contact with the larger marine.

“Go to the center of the mangrove in one hour, If you can get my father to listen to you I will give up on stopping you”

Quarter abruptly retreated back into the waters of the mangrove and within a couple of seconds Stone could no longer see him. He had only known the fishman for a little bit but he felt that he had a basic idea of why he was told to meet up with Quarter’s father. All the marine could do was hope that his father wasn’t as quick to use violence as his son was.

Maybe it was just plain luck but Stone realized that the fishman must have forgotten that Stone was going to alert his boss to the attack on the Sushi Shop. The marine felt thankful on his journey back to the village that he was docked at. Since even if Quarter realized that he couldn’t stop Stone from calling his superiors he would think that the marine would wait until after he goes back into the forest.

Stone is greeted by a couple of his soldiers once he returns to the village with one asking if he caught any fish.

“Well I wouldn’t say I caught anything just yet, But could one of you please grab my Den Den Mushi? I have an important call to make?”

Word Count:

Center of the Forest

A large, pale, yellow coloured man sat alone in his castle . His “throne” was nothing more than a repurposed tree stump. The castle he lived in was just an octagonal tree stand, connected to the giant trees at each corner.

Just when the man was about to fall asleep he heard something oh so familiar and painful

“Dad, Are you awake? You need to hear this”

The old fishman opened his eyes and looked down towards his son. Any attempt at sounding happy to see him falling flat,

“This had better be important Nishiki, I was just about to take my 3rd nap of the day”

“There are marines on the island right now. They know that Tancho and the guys destroyed that one sushi joint”
The old man sat up and began to stretch

“And what did you do about this? Are they going to take any action?”

Nishiki broke his eye contact, struggling to think of any explanation for his actions that would appease his father.

“Well I tried to fight their leader but he actually just wanted to talk instead, He should be on his way soon”

“Good job leading him right to our base son I knew you had it in you”

The old man's demeanor shifted. He was now much more amiable compared to his earlier hostile attitude.

“If he comes to us he has to fight us both Gyahahahahahah!”

Back at the port town

Stone sat in the center of the small village. Soldiers and a few of the townsfolk watched him as he spoke to his superiors.

“Yeah sorry about that Stone we are just hard at work you know? You can never let your guard down around these fishmen hahahahahaha”

The Lieutenant was almost 100% certain that his boss was currently wasted. And if he was this far gone at 10:00 in the morning he could only assume that the other officers that accompanied him were already out of commission for the day.

“But Captain Crepe, What should I do about the fishmen here?”

“Oh yeah, Fuck it dude just arrest them too, Anyone who would destroy such a fine establishment as Santiagos deserves to rot in like, Impel Down or something”

“Understood Captain, Just leave it to me ~kaccha”

Stone looked up and handed the Den Den Mushi back to a nearby grunt

“You heard the captain boys, Let's get this done before lunch”

The reaction from the soldiers was as varied as you would expect, which means that for some reason all of the guys had gotten extremely hyped up. Stone however, was not very excited given the fact that he was now pretty much being ordered to fight at least two fishmen. With one of them being his most recent friend.

But Stone’s uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm was not due to any disrespect of authority, The Lieutenant simply believed that he shouldn’t be taking orders from a fool that only has his rank because his father was a big shot. But all of these thoughts would have to wait. Marine Lieutenant Stone Okirama had a duty to the good citizens of this island. The arrests of the evildoers who would dare destroy such a good restaurant.

Word Count:

10 Minutes Later


The Marine Lieutenant had somehow managed to end up alone again. Although it is fair to say that this is how the large man prefers to operate. It is hard enough to navigate through the mangrove himself so he could have only imagined the pain of trying to guide his men as well. And for that reason Stone opted to order his men to go around the island and try their luck getting to the center later, As the marine was hopeful that Quarter/Nishiki and his father wouldn’t be in too much trouble thanks to Stone’s trump card, Tekkai.

At least that is what the marine is pretty sure they called it. The soldier honestly didn’t even know if he was doing it correctly but all he gathered was the fact that if he flexed his body hard enough attacks would hurt him less. Unfortunately all Stone wanted was to find a way to use this technique to make talking to his boss - Captain Crepe easier.

Due to the fact that Stone was traveling alone again he found himself jumping from branch to branch again. It wasn’t often that Stone was able to stretch his legs or actually be ordered to fight someone. Back when he enlisted a couple of months ago he had been told that marines get to fight strong criminals and help people. But in Stone’s experience all the marines really did was sit around and get paid to drink on different islands while the pirates get to run wild and do as they wish. That is not to say that Stone takes enjoyment in hurting others, but if it is what he must do to stop and deter others from committing crime then the lieutenant doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.

While Stone was mindlessly making his way through the branches a sudden column of water shot up, nearly hitting him if it wasn’t for the marines' newer phobia of water. Landing on a large branch Stone heard a second splash. Looking around the large man was unable to locate any would-be attacker.

Remembering his training from back home Stone closed his eyes and kept his stance lowered. He began to feel a basic sense of awareness of his surroundings despite having his eyes closed. This sense of awareness slowly began to turn into a warning of danger. His body moved on his own. The bear-man jumped to the side and reeled back his arm in order to pummel whoever it was that attempted to get the jump on him.

As Stone’s fist made contact with his attacker he opened his eyes and realized it was Quarter. No words were exchanged from the two. Both of the combatants were fully aware of what they had to do despite their own wishes.

Quarter reached behind his back and took out pair of small, curved daggers in what Stone could only guess was some sort of defensive stance. In response Stone reached for his naginata and held it casually, spinning the weapon back and forth between his hands.

Word Count:

Stone Okirama uses Kodiak Flex (HT) on himself
Stone Okirama uses Kuma Slash (LT) on Fishman Duo - Hit
Stone Okirama uses UT on Fishman Duo - Hit

Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone - Hit
Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone- Hit
Fishman Duo uses UT on Stone - Hit

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Stone Okirama' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 18, 15

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 14, 14, 19

Stone Okirama uses Kuma: Two Paw Slam on Fishman Duo - Miss
Stone Okirama uses UT on Fishman Duo - Miss

Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone Okirama - Hit
Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone Okirama - Hit
Fishman Duo uses UT on Stone Okirama - Hit

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Stone Okirama' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 6, 2

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 8, 7, 18

Stone Okirama uses Forest Barrage on Fishman Duo - Hit
Stone Okirama uses Pawlm Shove on Fishman Duo - Hit
Stone Okirama uses Bear Focus on himself
Stone Okirama uses UT on Fishman Duo - Hit
Stone Okirama attempts to escape - Failed

Fishman Duo use LT on Stone Okirama - Hit
Fishman Duo use LT on Stone Okirama - Hit
Fishman Duo use UT on Stone Okirama - Hit

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Stone Okirama' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 17, 17, 17, 1

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 3, 9, 18

Stone uses Rolling Meteor on Fishman Duo - Hit
Stone uses UT on Fishman Duo - Miss

Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone - Hit
Fishman Duo uses LT on Stone - Hit
Fishman Duo uses UT on Stone - Hit

Fishman Duo break Stone's Marine Coat

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Stone Okirama' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 20, 2

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 7, 20, 10

The marines opponent had not moved the slightest bit since his entrance and frankly, Stone had no idea what to do about it. He has been told a soldier of the Navy should always enforce their justice fairly but something about this situation seemed a bit fishy off.

Okirama stopped spinning his naginata, Ashikatta and made eye contact with the smaller man. After locking eyes with the fishman Stone ran as fast as he could without worrying about falling off of the tree. When the man had gotten close enough to strike he came crashing down hard with his blade. Quarter’s attempt to block the strike failed, causing his two daggers to both fall down towards the water.

Quarter promptly made an effort to jump off the branch towards his blades and by extension, the water. Stone, knowing that the fishman would prioritize rearming himself lunged at the smaller man and was just barely able to grab his leg. Okirama lifted the fishman up over his head and began to twirl him around like a lasso. After gaining sufficient momentum Stone let go and watched the pink man fly into one of the nearby trees, create a crater in the bark, and finally fall into the water below.

Lieutenant Stone moved on before he had any time to think about what had just happened, The marine continuing the same way he had been previously. After a short while the bear-man was able to see some sort of platform in between the trees. At the center of the platform a large, yellow fishman sat.

Landing on the platform Stone looked down on the still sitting man,

“I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Stone Okirama, You are under arrest for aiding and abetting known criminals in the area.”

The yellow man stood up to his full height, easily taller than the marine by at least five feet.

“Where's my son?”

The fishman did not leave any time to answer his question before he began his attack. Stone watched as the man adopted a strange martial arts stance and punched the air in front of him.

“Old man? You missed me.”

“Thirty-Five Pound Brick Fist!”

Suddenly the bear-man was sent rolling backwards, stopping a few feet from the platform's edge. The marine did not know how to react, He had seen the punch miss him but was somehow still hit anyways. Was the old man fast? Had he eaten a devil fruit of his own? All the soldier knew was that if he wanted to bring this criminal to justice he would need to figure out what his trick was.

Stone regained his footing and gave the fishman an annoyed look. The bear-man’s body began to morph into, well, a bear. Teeth grew sharper, claws appeared on his hands and feet and fur found itself covering the marines body. Stone, now fully into his Hybrid Form, stretched out before stabbing his naginata into the ground and walking forward.

“Alright sir, Please don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

Word Count:

Fists raised, Stone approached the martial artist. The fishman remained both motionless and speechless even after the marines' warning. Suddenly, Stone began to pick up speed and jumped into the air, rearing back his left arm in preparation to attack.

The bear-man slammed his fist into the ground, missing the old man and causing dust to fly up and surround the area. Stone lowered himself closer to the ground as he anticipated the counterattack from the fishman. The marine then swiped his right arm and dug his claws into the leg of the fishman. Okirama, still holding onto the old man's legs, began to run and drag the man behind him.

A few steps later Stone let go of the man and leaped towards one of the nearby trees and with the use of his claws easily climbed to a sufficient height. The Junior Lieutenant looked over his shoulder and checked to see if his opponent had moved before launching himself off of the tree. While Stone flew through the air he clasped his hands together and braced his body for impact.

“Diving Kodiak Lance!”

Stone opened his eyes and saw that he and the old man were falling. Looking above them Stone could see that he had broken through the wooden platform and brought both of the men plummeting towards the water. The fact that was even more concerning however was that the marine had deliberately brought his enemy to the center, meaning that he was not close enough to any tree to climb back up. Stone instinctively reached behind his back for Ashikatta.

“Why must I do things like this?”

The marine then looked back to the old fishman and shifted back to his human form. Stone shifted his weight so he would be directly above the koi fish before he hit the water. Okirama then used the old fish as a foothold and jumped towards the nearest tree. Not wanting to take any chances, Stone shifted into his full bear form and made his way back to the platform.  

When Stone reached the platform he was greeted by Nishiki, who now only had one dagger and a large bandage covering his right shoulder. Okirama shifted back into his hybrid form before speaking.

“You know I honestly didn’t think it would come to this.”

I should have known, You’re a monster worse than even my brother.”

“I have no idea who your brother really is so that doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“Just leave my family alone!”

Nishiki and Stone simultaneously started to swing at each other, each fighter getting an equal amount of hits in. Stone was feeling shocked at how Nishiki’s strength had increased greatly despite his two losses earlier. The marine had never heard of someone who could grow in combat ability this quickly.

During one of the bear-man’s dodges he ducked and tackled the salmon fishman, attempting to take them both to the other side of the platform. The two men soared to the other side before Stone reached a claw out and scraped across the wood, causing the men to slow down. The marine then grabbed hold of Nishiki with both hands before throwing him into one of the trees connected to the platform.

Stone stood up and took a couple of seconds to get rid of the dizziness and then sprinted towards Nishiki. Just before Oki was about to attack Nishiki he heard the water below the platform and then the voice of the old man

“Koi Needles!”

Individually the old man's attack did not hurt at all but the sheer number of attacks was too much for the young marine to handle. Oki collapsed, his justice coat now riddled with holes falling off his shoulders as well.

Word Count:

1 Month Ago, Briss Kingdom

Stone stood in front of a much shorter, blonde man. The man was wearing dark blue dress pants and brown boots. A small crowd of the captain's officers were formed around the two men.

“Ok Big Guy, Come at me right now if you’re not scared.”

Oki charged the man blindly after shifting into his hybrid form. Every attack that Stone was making had been effortlessly dodged by the short man. The bear-man, now frustrated, attempted to slash at the captain with both of his arms. The captain's expression changed from his usually smiling self to a slightly annoyed look. Crepe jumped over Stone's attack and hit the young marine with a low leg sweep, causing Stone to drop to the ground.

Oki changed back to his human form and looked up at his captain, waiting for him to say something.

“I like you Stone, I read some files on you earlier and I think you have potential. Come aboard my ship and I’ll show you how we run things down here in the South.”

Crepe stretched out his hand and helped Stone back up to his feet. After the large man had gotten up Crepe looked at the crew members watching and signaled for them to return to the ship.

“Go sleep on that offer Ensign, we aren’t leaving for another day or so.”

Mangrove Platform

Stone was not quite unconscious, although he was hurting so badly that he wished he was. He could hear the loud footsteps of the old koi fish on the other side of the platform. Oki forced himself to stand up. His white shirt was now badly stained with blood and barely hanging onto him. The marine looked over to his left where Nishiki had been thrown and saw him also begin to stand up.

The young man slowly walked over to where Ashikatta was resting and yanked the naginata out of the floor. When Stone looked back up he saw Nishiki nod at his father before running toward Oki with his blade drawn. The two men clashed again and although both were now significantly injured it was clear that Nishiki only had so much energy left in him. The salmon took a step back before attempting to stab Stone between the ribs. Stone was expecting Nishiki to attempt to end the rematch early so he quickly spun Ashikatta around, disarming the fishman.

As soon as the dagger hit the floor of the platform Stone kicked it towards the hole in the center, dropping it into the water. This also served the purpose of distracting Nishiki by making him look away and drop his guard. Oki readied himself before slicing across the salmon's bandage. Nishiki yelled out before jumping back and dropping to a knee.

“You’re wide open!”

By the time the Lieutenant had looked over it was too late. The kick connected right into the marines stomach, sending him sliding across the platform. Thanks to Ashikatta, Stone was just barely able to remain out of the water. Both fishmen were now moving towards the marine and on the offensive. He got into a defensive stance and waited for his two opponents to get closer before enacting his counterattack.

Stone jumped in between the two criminals, changing into his hybrid form before pouring all of his energy into his final attack.

“Iron Forest Barrage!”

Nishiki and his father had not expected that Stone would gamble everything on his final attack. And it is for that reason that they both were hit head on by a combination of punches, kicks, and slashes from Ashikatta. After the onslaught of attacks was over Stone shifted back into his human form before watching both of the criminals fall, defeated.

Stone walked over to where his justice coat had fallen and sat down, leaning against one of the trees on the perimeter of the mangrove arena. The young marine reached for his small, bearlike Den Den Mushi.

“This is Stone speaking, I have detained the criminals and need backup in the center of the mangroves.”

“Yes Sir! We are almost there”

“Thanks, See you soon fellas. ~kaccha”

3 Hours Later, Port Town

It was easy to transport Nishiki back since he was so small. His father however was a completely different story. He was even bigger than Stone naturally and although Stone could normally just carry him back on his own the injuries he had suffered made it a little too difficult to jump from branch to branch all the way back to town. The solution that Oki and his men had come up with was to have Stone transform into his full form, which was larger than the old man and carefully walk him back by going on the branches.

Though the journey had been almost as difficult as the fight, Stone was now back in Port Town and had officially detained the two criminals. The only thing left to do was inform Captain Crepe that everything had gone well on his end. The grunt who had previously filled Crepe in on the situation passed the Den Den Mushi to Stone.

“Oh so you did get those two huh? Good work kid.”

“Did you get the older brother? And why do you sound sober?”

“Hahahaha! That bastard really got us good before he escaped. But don’t worry now that we got Nishiki and Soragoi, we can lure him back out.”

“Soragoi?”

“That's the old one. The older brother is named Goromo, They’re a whole family of criminals who fled to the South Blue.”

“Huh, I didn’t think they were that big of a deal.”

“Yeah well since you beat those two they probably aren’t, anyways see you soon kid ~Kaccha”

Stone passed the Den Den Mushi back to the grunt before he stood up and gathered all of his men in the center of the town.

“Okay boys, We did some good work today so the first round is on me!”

Word Count: