[Arc] [St. Poplar Conquest] [Part 2] Queen Of The Spring

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Lunar Woods | Saint Maria | 2:00 am | March 16th

Six Hours Later...

Covered in several bruises, concussed, and bleeding severely, the panting trio managed to knock out the rampaging Newport after six hours of intense combat.

Falling to their knees, Lucky, Minerva, and Jazzy who led the charge were all exhausted.

"W-W-What kind of dinosaur shoots scales from its back and flies-teia!" Lucky exclaimed panting.

"Definitely... Not that species of-" Minerva stated, rolling over on her stomach to empty her guts on the floor next to her.

"Pour terminer. Il s'est évanoui. J'ai pensé que j'étais presque foutu pendant une minute. Sa peau était extrêmement dure... J'ai peut-être trop utilisé mon pistolet de la Reine." (Finally. He passed out. I thought I was almost a goner their for a minute. His skin was extremely tough... I may have over used my Queen's Pistol.) Jazzy murmured to herself angrily, several of her fingernails were broken in the process.

Looking at Jazzy strangely, barely able to sit up. "What kind of strange language does that witch speak?" Lucky thought to himself, watching the woman rant to herself. Shaking his head, "Those two Lesser Minks... Especially the witch... Are Strong. Minerva did exceptionally well for someone who was injured." Lucky continued to ponder internally.

Minerva crawled over to check Newport's pulse but after a few seconds of observation, the woman simply suck her teeth in disgust. Newport was snoring loudly, the man had passed out.

Coming shooting out of the nearby woods like a projectile, Duke's body crash landed into a tree. Covered in the blood which was leaking from his skull, the man's already dilated pupils were now bloodshot.

Continuing the hunt calmly, emerging out of the clearing in the woods was Juice. Red Devil aka Duke was unable to escape or put up much of a fight against the underling without his suit of armor. He'd honestly done well to identify the flying Dinosaur in the sky, locating the rest of his crewmates.

Alas, all of them were exhausted. The situation was extremely dire for the Nox Pirates.

Examining the situation, "Looks like you started a party without me Mini. How rude." Juice declared with a smile, adjusting his sunglasses. "But now that I seem to have the whole crew here! Who's going to pay me back my Two Billion in compensation for that egg white-haired cunts mistake?! Huh?!" Juice exclaimed, becoming more and more pissed with every word he venomously spat.

Suddenly, dark clouds seemed to cover the skies around the opening in the woods where the posse gathered. From the shadows, three eyes gleamed in the half moon's light that peaked out shyly from behind the new settlement of clouds.

Still dressed in his marine attire, the trainee sharply dressed in his marine jumper and long sweat pants arrived on the scene.

The whole crew except for Lucky, of course, exclaimed with immense glee.

"Captain!"

"Gashi Gashi, Gashi... I remember you. Your the broker who was chasing me and Maxwell on Toroa. Just thinking about that bogus Dance Powder pisses me off." Castor declared with a menacing smirk.

Walking towards the shrimp's direction, Juice towered over the pirate captain, looking down into his eyes with a murderous aura.

"The Plague Rat scammed ya? The first rule of being a pirate kid. Alliances always end in some form of betrayal." Juice stated confidently. "But I digress. If ya don't know your crewmate crossed the line and damaged some cargo I was transporting for the Yonkou Thunder Ogre-"

Ignoring the man's statement, Castor stretched into a yawn, slipping past Juice's position to examine the Red Panada Mink. Staring at the Mink man from head to toe, Nox was intrigued seeing a Mink so casually out in the open since the issue at Las Camp.

Seems like everything about today was bringing back memories. Extending his hand to help up the Mink, "I heard you saved one of my sins. I thank you for that and you also saved my life with those pills." Nox declared with a broad teeth smile.

Pissed off at being ignored, Juice dashed in head first only to be intercepted by a compressed pillar of lightning that buried Juice several thousand feet into the ground. Blocking the attack with his Busoshoku Haki, the force of the attack alone fractured the bones in Juice's arms.

"I heard the whole shmuck on my walk over here. I just read a plethora of new books so needless to say, I'm rested and in a good mood. After all the commotion going on, I had to tune in with my radio." Castor declared cheerfully, pointing an index figure to his brain.

"The fact that your merchandise was easily destroyed by my Nakama... Means you were either too weak or not present to protect what was yours to guard. Gashi Gashi Gashi... Sounds like your problem." Nox concluded with a chuckle.

"Also. For someone who claims to be doing work for a Yonkou... I just read almost a month's worth of reports in that base... I didn't see anything about a Yonkou's underling arriving here in St.Poplar... I figure that would be big news." Castor explained.

"I've been keeping my movements quiet. As I explained to the white-eyed noble over there, what I'm smuggling belonged to The Ero Cook Rumeo of Thunder Ogre Pirates." Juice shouted, slightly pissed off with the attitude Nox had towards him, as he shot out of the crater like a cannonball.

"Thunder Ogre this. Thunder Ogre that. Look. I spent the last ten years or so estranged on an island with a deranged old man... Please forgive me if I'm ignorant of the ways of the world. I understand the Yonkou are at the top of the totem poll when it comes to ordering on these seas." Castor stated.

"The very top. They are the ones who maintain order on the seas and as such... I'll need you to compensate-" Juice's speech was interrupted yet again by Castor bursting into laughter.

"I think we're misunderstanding each other. Lemme put it more bluntly. I don't care whose cargo Red Devil destroyed.

I don't care how much you lost. What I do care about is one of my 'Sins' is significantly hurt at your hands.

So send this message to Thunder Ogre or his men or whoever you serve.

Paku Paku Paku..." Castor stated, laughing in an uncontrollable sinister manner.

"I will not bend for anyone. Yonkou. Warlord. Admiral or otherwise." Castor declared, spitting the gunk of mucus in Juice's face. "I will avoid them as long as I can though." Nox thought internally.

"I'm gonna fuck you up Nox!" Juice shouted, covering his entire body in an obsidian Armament Haki. Resting his palm against the man's chest by lunging off the ground, Castor discharged an electrical jolt that would electrocute the organs in Juice's chest.

Taking the man's attack in stride, Juice fire off a haymaker at Castor's jaw in an attempt to shatter it upon impact. The counter was properly timed and caught Nox off guard. The impact of the punch would cause Nox's body to flip backward twice.

Castor gritted it out, applying Haki of his own to his chin seconds before impact, nullifying the man's onslaught slightly.

"Ouch. That hurt." Castor declared condescendingly with a smirk.

"Liar." Juice stated, wheezing slightly with a smirk of his own.

@Roji

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Lightning flickered across the pirate's body as he prepared to engage the famed Juice.

"The irony. My old Vice Captain's now sailing around the seas with you." Juice stated, discarding his sunglasses to the ground to reveal his deep brown hazel eyes.

"Tch. I don't even have Zaigo on my person." Castor exclaimed, ignoring any attempts of Juice trying to initiate small talk.

Waking up from his bloody coma as if Castor's words triggered a program embedded in his brain, Duke regained consciousness. Shuffling through his white lab coat, Newport would reveal three pieces of metallic pipe, each of them having bulbs at their ends to form a staff-like fixture.

Launching the parts towards his Captain's person with a slingshot he'd fasten to his left arm, Castor would catch the strange goods.

Panting, "Experiment CN-001 - Black Clima Tact - Zeus." Duke declared. "I borrowed the concept from the island of Weathery. Though, I don't quite have the technology to allow you to manipulate the weather as yet. You can similarly use those three parts to the old spear you used to fancy." Duke concluded, his dead's twinkling at the idea of Nox trying out the new weapon.

Electrifying the three pieces, Castor began to fluctuate the size of objects, as a kind of test of how they work. "Ah. I see. The moment I stop funneling electricity into them... They begin to shrink. Intriguing." Nox exclaimed with the glee of a kid opening his new toys on Christmas.

Combining the three pieces, and manipulating the size and shape, Castor transformed the Clima Tact into a six-foot-long spear. Spinning the weapon around his body masterfully, he'd turn his attention toward Juice once more.

However, Juice had grown impatient, closing the distance in seconds, the bare knuckles brawler had equipped a pair of sea stone knuckle dusters, throwing a compact right hook in an attempt to shatter Castor's jaw.

Transforming into his intangible state, Castor circled to Juice's blind spot, impaling the man's right-most shoulder with the tip of the spear. Resting his heightened wood sandals on Juice's back, the man regained tangibility, mobilizing the spear to spin in a drill manner.

The force cut through Juice's shoulder, severing the man's right arm from his body. Blood splattered everywhere, the gory scene caused poor Lucky to pass out, though the rest of the crew knew Nox was capable of much worse.

Retrieving his spear, Castor extended his arm in a whip-like fashion, sealing the severe wound with the heat of his crackling lightning. The sound of Juice belting out in agony shook the sleeping birds in the nearby trees, as Castor's Three Eyes peered on callously.

Retracting his arm, Nox began to charge an orb of electricity, aiming in the direction of the crippled Juice.

"I'm leaving you alive to send a message to Thunder Ogre's Commander. It goes something like this - ' Sucks about your Cargo. Put it on my tab.'" Castor concluded before releasing a blast of lightning that sent Juice blasting off several miles.

The force of Juice's traveling body shook the nearby branches as his trajectory scaled sky-bound. Rattling every shrub and shattering every branch, the Veteran Pirate's body was reduced to that of a flying human frisbee, with no engineered design for return.

Breaking the Clima Tact into three pieces again, Castor gripped them between the gaps in his knuckles before tucking them into his kimono, as Jazzy's Garb Garb abilities had been dismissed from the impact of Juice's earlier attacks.

Four Hundred Million Berri Man: Juice - The 'Black Bull' had been defeated.

"I hope you don't grudge me for taking out your old Captain, Minerva." Nox inquired with a grin, softening the intensity of his eyes.

"Not at all. Consider it a chapter of my life closed. I promised you my sword did I not?" Minerva reinforced.

"Gashi Gashi... True. Roji. You seemed to have had a tough time. Did you score the blueprints? I found out some quite useful information about the Base from Hornigold's office." Nox declared with a grin before dropping to his knees.

Springing into action, Lucky inspected the pirate captain's vitals and condition, "He's just a bit dehydrated from the looks of it. Those steroids would do that-teia. We've caused too much noise around these parts. For my safety, let's retreat to my clinic for now." Lucky pointed towards the sky, balancing Nox on his shoulder.

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Meanwhile, at the G-43 Base, Lester had begun to quell some of the issues the Nox and Crazed Keg pirates had been causing. First off, calling in a favor, Lester had commissioned the Galley-La company to repair the tracks that were damaged at sea.

By the day of the festival, it seems all routes to St.Poplar would be indeed functional. Next, the crater in the sewers caused by Newport was patched by Lester's men and a few good chaps from around the Captial.

As the locals prepared for the festival, Lester reinforced the base by ordering several ships to sail from Enies Lobby with goods and supplies. Those who were under his command bolstered the marine presence on the island. Paper Lanterns hung from every home around the island and capital, all of them red to commemorate the Spring Queen's accession.

Vendors set up their stalls packed with an inventory of their finest local delicacies, filling the roadsides with tons of attractions for tourists and merchants alike.

Each of the major towns had attractions and many carriage services offered their stallions to go to and fro so all visitors could experience the Festival's different regional differences.

St.Poplar's famed Ale poured from the pubs and taverns like water from a well, filling the cups of the labor force after crazy several days of chaotic events.

The Hotels in the district tightened their security due to the explosion of a rival luxury brand hotel, requiring intense searches before being allowed to book a room.

The bells of Saint Poplar's Holy Cathedral rung daily to sound the incoming of a new spirit amongst the locals, or so the tradition said. Princess Serpina and the other ladies who had made it past the first round, huddled around the church to listen to the eunuch and nuns explain the rules of the competition.

"On the day of the festival... You all will dance the ceremonial steps around the sacred bonfire." One of the sisters explained. "Each of you will be given a glass of wine at each revolution around the flames... Intoxicated... Filled with the energy of the Saints Poplar, Maria and Gantz we shall see which of you will survive the grueling process." The sister nun concluded.

"The final three ladies will be given an egg to protect. They will then tramp from the Ceremonial Grounds into the city.

A path plotted out by the local marines will lead them back here at this church.

The first person to return here with their egg on scathed shall be the newest Queen of the Spring." The Head Eunuch explained.

"Several 'fools' or ' unwanted spirits' in the form of our helpers will try to interrupt each maiden's journey. At this stage, the maiden is not allowed to be violent with the spirits but enlist help from masked locals alike to escape the challenges placed in her path. It is a tradition." The Head Sister chimed in.

"As you all know... On St.Poplar. The Head of the Church is also recognized as the head of state. The winner will be our representative in the annual meetings on the World Stage and speak up on the productivity and pitfalls of our nation." The Spring Festival's organizer concluded.

"I wish all you lovely ladies the utmost of luck!" The Three Organizers declared simultaneously.

As the meeting disbursed, murmurs around the Lady Serpina and her followers filled the church's walls. "Who would ever want to support an ex-Noble such as herself?" One of the girls gossiping.

"It's their fault we had to become subservient to the World Government anyhow. Those corrupted elitists! Good ridings!" Another woman exclaimed in disgust.

"Ha. She has the smallest faction as well. Most of her retainers abandoned her after the whole family was arrested. I heard she sold her body to the helpers she has now-" one of the gossiper's words reached the ears of Serpina's helpers.

The lady wearing a business power suit reached for her pocket baton and B-Lined towards the slanderer with a vengeance. The blonde bodyguard with a scar across her face was frozen instantly from Lady Serpina's command, "Miss Ann. Stand Down."

"Everyone is free to their opinions. After all, it's not like chastity is needed as a requirement to become Queen. If that was the case, half of the shrews in here wouldn't be qualified anyhow." Serpina declared with a cheeky grin.

Storming off, the other candidates disbursed at the distasteful comment of Candidate Serpina. Rushing to her side, Lady Ann quickly bowed to offer her apologies.

"I'm sorry my lady. I've brought you a great disgrace. Before I knew it, my body was already moving." Ann professed, concealing her baton once more.

"Leave them to gossip amongst themselves. Our newly acquired allies are of no concern to them. I've already made a deal with the Devil. Hopefully, he holds up his end of the bargain.

Regardless.

Luck is on my side. After all, due to my priestess ability - no one can ever lie to me. I gained the name Serpina due to the fabled Serpent of Knowledge and Truth.

As such, I will reclaim these lands in the name of my family - The Ruths." Serpina Ruth declared with pride.

Four days until The Saint Poplar's Fire Incident occurred.

Part Two Closes. Fin.

@Roji

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