"Oi! Oi!" A voice boomed from the distance at James. It was far enough to know it was from a decent distance away, but it carried over quite powerfully nonetheless, as if the one doing the screaming had lungs of steel. That, or plenty of practice. "Just what do you think you're doing?! Stealing the thunder away from my big entrance?!" The origin of the voice could be identified now as a man at the edge of a decently-sized ship. Though the ship was somewhat far away, the eccentricity of it could be seen a great distance. It sported all manner of strange and bright colors and markings. The paint job was swirled and unaligned, almost as if the one who did it purposefully did so to make it stand out. The ship also contained multiple and oddly-shaped cannons across the deck, including the largest one by which the man who was shouting stood beside.
The man wore a white, cowboy-like hat and a teal pirate's coat. He also had two sets of tattoos across his face: one with a marking below his right eye, and another, similar one across his chin, though upside down from the one on his eye. He had messy, medium-length blonde hair and a smile that seemed like it was permanently etched onto his face. "This is supposed to be..." The man pointed a thumb toward himself. "MY MOMENT!"
The man with the hat then crossed his arms and looked on at James in disgust, before he had a thought. "WAIT! Maybe my moment isn't gone just yet!" He declared. He then held up a hand toward the group of Pirates and the Marine out in the courtyard in Dinas. "Hold on, I'll be over there in... a Bang!" He yelled to them. The man with the white hat then turned over to the largest cannon right beside him and patted it gently. He grinned toward it, then puffed out his chest. He blew at the fuse of the candle with his breath, which somehow managed to light it. The fuse lit up, but it appeared as if nothing was inside the cannon to fire with at the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEei99o6eJo
That was when the man with the white hat started climbing into the cannon himself! He positioned himself so that his face was turned toward James and the Skull Pirates. On his face was the same, unwavering smile that was on it from the moment he announced himself. "OK, here we go! Three...two...one... LET'S START THE SHOW!" He howled, and simultaneously, the cannon fired. The man with the hat was propelled forward with a tremendous velocity and altitude through the air. However, in between his arms, he appeared to be carrying a bundle of rockets, or more precisely... fireworks. The fireworks were lit as they were launched with him from the cannon, and they were just about to go off.
He was now high above the rest of the buildings of Dinas, and when he was at the very peak of his 'jump', he tossed the fireworks out of his hands and screamed loudly as they all exploded over his head. The man with the hat laughed almost maniacally as a multitude of colors and shapes emitted from the fireworks and the sky was lit up with the bright display of splashy bombardments. The man posed in the air with his hands outstretched to his sides, and then he looked down, and all at once he began to fall from the sky directly toward the man with the brown suit and the rest of the Skull Pirates. The man grinned widely, placed his hands together and fell from the sky like a missile. Kuzo thought for sure he would do something to lessen the fall or pull up at some point somehow, but the man fell straight toward the streets of Dinas. "WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!"
In fact, he fell straight at the ground, and then straight into it as well! A loud rumble and a sweeping of dust and rocks filled the area as the man collided directly with the hard pavement. By the time the shockwave of his crash passed, Kuzo saw the man with his entire head stuck into the ground below. He struggled multiple times to remove it from the ground, pulling once, then again, and then again. Eventually, the man lifted his head out of the ground, but found himself with a good chunk of the rock around his head, as if it were stuck to his head. He continued on casually as if everything was normal, and grinned at James. "The Living Legend... has ARRIVED!" He exclaimed as he posed for everyone and gave James a thumbs down.
James had observed the entire spectacle with a discerning eye, watching each and every moment with a raised eyebrow. It was not the overt nature of this 'Living Legend' and his entrance. It was not the fact the man seemed to need constant attention and bask in the admiration of his populace. It was something else. James felt as if he knew him from somewhere. After digging his head out of the ground, the raised eyebrow gave way to a piercing gaze as James stared down the Living Legend. "What are
you doing here? This isn't your territory."
"That's not true!" The man with the white hat exclaimed back to James. He extended his arms outward and yelled at the top of his lungs. "THE WHOLE WORLD IS MY TERRITORY!" He then began to laugh heartily. The laughing continued maniacally as citizens that still remained close by the action began to take off at the appearance of the man very few didn't know. When he began to stop, he reached into his pocket. "But the real reason I came was for this!" He showed James what appeared to be a wanted poster, with a picture of none other than Tristan D. Kuzo.
Kuzo didn't recognize the man right away while he was far away. Nor did he figure out who he was while he was facing away from him with his head covered with the stone residue of the street. However, when the man turned toward Kuzo and grinned, Kuzo's eyes opened wide. "V-Vyne?!"
"Been a long time, little brother! I see you're doing well!" The man with the white hat answered back.
"Vyne! It's Vyne!" Kuzo repeated excitedly. "I can't believe it! Of all the people!"
"I came here as soon as I saw the poster and heard the new to surprise you!" Vyne explained as he turned back to James. "I had the perfect opening planned and everything! But
you had to show up and steal my thunder!" He pointed a finger at James. "But I still outperformed ya!"
James blinked at Vyne as he talked with Kuzo, cocking his head to the side as he called Kuzo his "little brother." The development was intriguing but he couldn't allow a small trivia fact disrupt his business. "Vyne Crash. You will have to take your business elsewhere, and at some other time. As a Marine, it is my duty to see these criminals detained. Unless you wish to be amongst one of them, I advise you stand aside. I rather not arrest a Shichibukai today, but do trust me when I say, I welcome the opportunity. After all, a pirate is a pirate and I am a Marine. It is my duty to maintain order."
"Did he say Shichibukai?" Kuzo asked Vyne. Vyne looked over at Kuzo again and grinned, and gave him a thumbs up.
"Got a lotta catching up to do, don't ya Kuzo?" He laughed loudly again then turned once more to James. He furrowed his brows and pointed at the tall man menacingly. "I ain't going anywhere, bastard! It's time for you and I to put on the real show for everyone!"
"What makes you think I have any interest in putting on a show?" James asked with a narrowing eyes, as he stared down at the Warlord.
Vyne grinned again and pointed to himself. "You wanna get my lil' bro and his gang of misfits, then you gotta go through me first. And since you aren't planning to back down, and I ain't planning on moving, then..." Vyne clenched his fist and moved it behind his body. As soon as he did, his arm below the elbow began to alter and transform. His skin began to harden, crack and then grow. It appeared as if something was pushing under his skin and ripping it up into a harder, rougher material. It eventually reshaped to appear more like scales. Without a second more of hesitation or pause, he burst forward with an extraordinary pace and forced his newly-transformed arm forward.
"Ryū-Ken!" Vyne shouted as his arm was surrounded by a charring energy. The strength of the arm also began apparent as the ground below his arm and anything without its path between him and James began to crack and shatter under the pressure. The arm-force and flame-like energy combined into a deadly, combustion of energy which was sent hurling toward the tall marine.
"Chikyū no hando!" Extending his own hand forward, James summoned a large stone hand of cobblestone, soil and earthly materials to sprout from the ground, launching it forward to not only push the charging Vyne back but to snatch him in a tight grasp. Clenching his outstretched hand into a fist, James tightened the grip on Vyne, hoping to crush the Warlord in an instant, ending his dream of stopping James from accomplishing his sworn duty.
Vyne's fist clashed with the large earth hand that James created. The clash created a tornado of fire and bits of rock swirling around the streets, breaking apart everything it crashed into. However, James' gigantic hand of earth proved too large for Vyne to completely clash with, and eventually the stone hand closed around him. Vyne found himself encroached around the rock hand as it closed in around his body.
However, before it became too tight around him, he steeled himself and yelled out loudly. The same scale-like 'armor that appeared around his hand made it's way to his other hand, and he used the strength of both of these arms, as well as the combustion-like energy that was appearing around them, to spin around, erupt and break out of the stone prison James created in a twirling fury of flames and physical exertion. "Ryū Arashi!" Vyne roared again as he burst through James' ability and twirled into the air. In the process, he crushed the piece of street stone that surrounded his face from his dive earlier.
As he was in the air, he gazed over to his side at all of the observers that were still around to watch their epic confrontation. Distracted by the crowd in the city, Vyne gave the onlookers a thumbs up and grin before he placed his fists along his waist and posed in the air in case there were any cameras around to catch his picture.
"Taiseidō," James uttered quietly and his drove his hands together over his head. In that moment, two pillars from the earth below everyone's feet that shot from the ground sprouted flanked Vyne. And then, came together and sandwiched the man, crushing him between two pieces of foundation. Feeling as though his job was done, James sighed and dusted himself off: "Show off."
Soon after, however, a rumbling sound began to be heard from in between the two large pillars. Soon after, they began to be forcefully pushed apart. When they were parted large enough, Vyne could be seen struggled to pushing the two large rocks apart with both of his hands, which were still morphed into the odd, sturdy scale material. His head, however, was once again coated in what appeared to be the remnants of the pillars he was trapped in, as if they were stuck to it.
All at once, he forced the rocks apart of his body and yelped in victory over his feet. "YAAAH!" He howled as the pushed through the rocks. "You cheap shotted me!" He declared to James, kicking off the pillars now with his feet as he did the splits to push them further away from his body and back onto the ground below. Then, he sucked in a deep, deep breath, which seemed to expand his chest outward in what appeared to be an almost unnatural amount. He then breathed out toward James, which surprisingly came as an inferno of flames which spiraled directly toward the man in the brown suit. "Ryū no ikari!"
Seeing the flames fly towards him, James drove a foot into the ground and raised his hands in the air. "Chikyū no kabe," he yelled. As the words were uttered, a giant rock wall rose from the ground, surprisingly ornate in design with ramparts and tower like edges. The wall caught the flames easily, with only aspects of the wall feeling the burn of Vyne's impressive attack.
In the background, Morgan looked on, insulted that Vyne had copied his move. Yet, as insulted as he was, there was little he could as he was still caught in the mud cast than James had locked him into, so he simply found himself squirming as James' wall tanked the flames. When Vyne finished his siege, James leapt up on top his wall and looked down at Vyne, awaiting his next assault upon his defenses.
"Earning one of your many nicknames, ain't ya?" Vyne questioned the tall man at the top of the wall with a grin. He walked up to the large wall in front of him and kicked it with his foot. "This wall is blocking the view of our fight! Let's change that!" He forced his two armored arms forced and struck them into the wall. The density of the stone was thick, but the material of Vyne's hands were also sturdy. They pushed through the wall and cracked apart the surrounding area of the stone. The further Vyne stuck them in, the more the stone cracked. However, instead of merely forcing in his hands, through the cracks of the wall, a faint, red light began to appear, followed by smoke. The wall began to crack up more and flames and smoke burst from the fissures. Vyne forced in a final amount of his ability, which caused the entire wall to collapse and erupt into a fiery explosion.
As the wall crumbled, James lost his footing and found himself tumbling to the ground, getting lost in the pile of rock and dirt only be to spread further around by the large explosion Vyne unleashed. With the remains of the wall scattered about, victory seemed to be Vyne's for the moment with James no where to be seen. But just as that thought entered anyone's mind, small pebbles and stone make stir, rolling side by side into the middle of where the wall once stood, inches away from Vyne's being. The pieces of the earth came together and slowly outlined the shape of a tall man, but incomplete like a piece of marble ready to be molded by an artist. Bit by bit, the shape became more defined with arms and legs becoming readily visible, a head coming to form. Hands and feet were outlined, and fingers were drawn. Soon, the smaller grains of dirt crafted the features of a face and James came together as unscathed as he was before with a grimace of frustration. As James' body was in complete, he cocked a large marble fist back and slammed it down on top of Vyne's larger head, mirroring the move he did on Kuzo some time ago but with a far more vicious bloodlust.
The boulder surrounding Vyne's head was instantly crushed from the force of James' slam. As he was hit directly over the head, the ground beneath Vyne began to collapse and give way from the sheer force of the blow. Vyne was forced down and onto one knee from the hit, but he held his ground from plummeting down unlike Kuzo had done. Instead, he moved his hat up on his head to reveal his face to James. Part of his face was suddenly morphed where the bulk of the blow was struck to the same material of his hands. The scales were across part of the left side of his face, as well as over one of his eye and part of his mouth. His eye was a different color, a colorful red instead of the simple black. Vyne then grinned at James, which revealed the part of his mouth which was morphed to have larger, sharp teeth.
Vyne then brought his enclosed fist forward again and aimed it directly at the man in the brown suit. Again, the combination of the powerful force and combustion emitted from it. "Ryū-Ken!" He repeated a previous attack, sending a scorch of flames and power toward James.
The force of the blow plowed through James' chest lifting the Marine off his feet, fairly high into the air before sinking back to the ground with a loud thud. The ground quivered as a small crater formed where James ultimately settled. There was a quiet pause for a moment before James picked himself off the ground, cracking his neck as the dust cleared. James' features were crystallized, with chips of clear diamond fell to the ground before disappearing into the ground beneath his feet. With each step, James returned to normal, with crystal giving way to tanned skin and blue hair. The tall man was clearly not harmed from the attack, having braced his body before the startling impact of Vyne's raw power.
James stomped a foot deep into the earth and a number of rocks rose out from around him. Then, slowly they shaped themselves into sharp spikes shaped like missiles. Outstretching a hand forward, James launched the barrage of missiles towards the pirate.
Vyne braced himself for the spike attack rather than try to run for it. With his confident grin planted on his face, he positioned his feet on the ground and took in another deep breath. His chest expanded once more as he did so. "Ryū no ikari!" He roared as the blaze once more appeared from his mouth at his command and rushed through the air at the incoming spikes. Moments after making contact with the spike-shaped missiles, the attacks began to catch on fire in the torrent of flames, and then soon after melt form the immense temperature of the flames. Vyne continued to shoot his blazing attack from his mouth passed James' attacks and toward the man himself.
As the blaze of flames shot towards James, he pounded his foot on the ground again and raised a small pillar of stone to block the brunt of the blaze. The sparks of fire spread around, but managed to not to endanger any innocent lives or buildings, as if James had carefully calculated (or made an educated guess) with his defensive stance. As the flames died down, James punched the pillar and launching forwards a large stone fist headed directly for Vyne: "Chikyū no ken!"
"It's gonna be like that, eh?" Vyne questioned as the attack came forth from the Marine. "Let's see who's got the stronger fist!" He yelled. As he did so, the man with the hat snorted out through his nose, which produced what appeared to be steam that poured through the area around the two combatants. Kuzo lost track of the two of them momentarily through the thick fog, but he did hear his brother once more call out an attack. "Ryū-Ken!" He heard Vyne shout.
However, immediately after the attack was called, Kuzo heard something he didn't recognize. For a moment, he thought it might have been thunder due to how loud it was. The ground shook from that loud rumbling and Kuzo fell back flat on his behind because of that. The loud thunderous sound came again, and for a second, Kuzo thought he saw a large shape within the steam Vyne had released. Then he realized: it wasn't thunder he heard, it was a roar. Apparent contact was made between the two attacks as the steam cleared the area. Kuzo covered his eyes from the stirring winds momentarily, but quickly returned his gaze to the intense battle to see what was happening. When he did, he was surprised to see Vyne finishing his clash with James' large stone fist, but nothing else beyond that. Did he imagine what he saw?
As the two attacks concluded and James' fist crumbled, Vyne took a few steps back, breathed in heavily and placed his hands on his hips. "You're worth every bit of the name you've made for yourself. A demon on the field!" He praised the Marine before he pointed to himself with his thumb.. "But my performance was bigger. Flashier. Better! Which brings me to ask what a man of your caliber is doing chasin' Pirates like my lil' bro!"
"I have my reasons, Vyne Crash. None of which am I obligated to share with you," James rather plainly said. "If I recall correctly, you Shichibukai had divided up the Grand Line, amongst other locales to help us ensure...order," James said, swallowing his pride. The man was never fond of the Shichibukai system, preferring good old fashioned Marine presence, but the directives of Kanaru were not to be questioned, even by a man of James' status. He mentally shook his head, focusing back on the Warlord in front of him. "So answer my question truthfully, what are you doing here, Vyne Crash?"
Vyne grinned at the Marine and shrugged his shoulders. "Kasumi is gone from this island, and my name hasn't been said enough in Dinas," He began to explain. Vyne turned around and observed the wreckage of his fight with the Marine and nodded his head in approval. "I think they know me better now, don't you?!" He laughed loudly.
James sighed and rubbed his eyes, the cool countenance giving way to some amount of frustration, as he approached Vyne, standing quite close to the Warlord. "A fact I am wishing was not true. Please skip to the point," James grumbled lowly before looking back at the man with a blank but stern expression.
"My point is that YOU," He began to reply, as he waved his finger wildly at James. "should have much better things to do than build up my reputation. Believe me, I can handle it myself. But shouldn't you be going after bigger fish? I mean, my bro and his people are OK, but a man like you should be after the guys doing the worst of the worst! Guys like... Blackheart." Vyne paused after mentioning the name to let it sink in.
A second or two after the name was spoken, the silence between the two figures was shattered by a younger, eager voice booming from around the corner. "DID YOU SAY BLACKHEART?!" Rounding the corner, an average sized man, clearly dressed in a marine uniform with a gray suit, dark blue hair, light gray eyes and a dark tan complexion stuffed himself within inches of Vyne's face. "What do you know about him?!" The Marine spouted before realizing quickly that Vyne was, in fact, the Vyne Crash, recognizing the Shichibukai. "Oh sorry, I thought you were someone else, Mr. Crash." He fixed up the outfit of the Warlord, trying to be fairly polite. "I am just on edge because of some reports we got of Blackheart and I am looking for...well, maybe you have seen my CO? He's tall, usually wears a brown suit, I think. Long-ish bluish hair, kind of like mine actually. You know him right? Have you seen him around? I've been looking everywhere in the city for him."
Vyne blinked a few times silently at the Marine in the gray suit and then looked over to James who was standing right beside him. He gestured directly at James with his finger. "You mean him?"
"Who?" The young marine asked, gawking at Vyne. He decided that, being Vyne worked with the Marines, looking what Vyne was pointing in the immediate vicinity would not be a terrible idea. Following Vyne's finger to a man matching the vague description right next to the Warlord, Nate's jaw drop and he began to sweat profusely. "OH MY GOD. SIR. I DID NOT RECOGNIZE YOU. I AM SO SORRY." The Marine began to bow repeatedly, begging for forgiveness from his commanding officer.
James took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes with a tinge of frustration. "Why does this always happen?" He mumbled quietly to himself, before motioning to the other Marine to stop, with a calming gesture of the hand. "Nate, at ease. Now, what is going on exactly?"
Freezing mid-bow, Nate looked at James and his rather blank expression, which was often the grimace he always wore. In other words, Nate was, for all intents and purposes, forgiven from his mistake. "Oh right, sir! We have gotten new reports that Blackheart is terrorizing Ethora Island."
"That's relatively close," James said. "I take Kanaru wants me to take care of it then?"
"Yes, sir," Nate said with a salute. "We are the closest able bodied force to handle the situation. We are to abandon our previous orders and address the situation immediately."
"His words, not yours I take it," James said with a small smile, able to read in between the lines of his new orders. "Fine, then. Contact all ships and prepare for immediate departure," he began, turning towards Vyne and the Skull Pirates. "Oh, tell...what's that one ship's name? Poseidon's Pony? Order them to remain docked. I have a special job for them."
"Sir, yes sir! I'm on it!" With a emphatic salute, Nate bolted away with as much as speed as he entered the scene, gone in what appeared to be a puff of smoke.
James refocused his attention towards the remaining pirates, but looked around the immediate area. For the most part, the rubble was hard to stomach with his skirmish between the Skull Pirates and Vyne have torn up the street, not to mention the restaurant. Crouching down, James placed a hand on the street. The ground beneath everyone shook, shifted, ballooned and straightened out as if a wave from the ocean bellowed through the street itself. The rubble from the various amounts of earth manipulation that James ensued was swallowed up. The various amounts of earth related prisons that had ensnared the Skull Pirates disappeared and many of the damages appeared to have been remedied. In fact, it was if nothing happened in the first place. The street was pristine, cleaner and better paved than before with James fixing every nook and cranny, with each crack that may have once existed filled to perfection.
James stood straight up and dusted himself off before he turned to the Skull Pirates. He smiled weakly before pointing to the restaurant and the damages that James was unable to fix with his abilities. "Early tomorrow morning, I am ordering an entire Marine crew to come to this location to repair all the damages I have caused. Additionally, you shall receive a large amount of Beli as compensation for the inconveniences our little skirmish has caused. It is the least I can do given the circumstances," James said with a bow. He turned around and began to make his way to his ship but he shifted back towards the pirates, locking Vance in a gentle stare. "Consider this...your head start, Skull Pirates. I think I will be seeing you again sometime soon." James walked away without as much as a wave, taking his own words to heart.
"So long!" Vyne waved goodbye to the Marine, before he turned to Kuzo. "Now then..." He darted for the Skull Pirate Captain and wrapped an arm around his neck as he embraced him. "Little bro!" He yelled as he headlocked Kuzo, laughing as he did this. Kuzo laughed along with Vyne, still in shock from seeing his older brother there with him. "I can't believe it's you. I came as soon as I saw your wanted poster! Skull Pirates? Captain? And you took down Kasumi and the Unit too?!" He asked in disbelief. "You're doing the family proud! Well, most of them anyways," He said as he let go of Kuzo and chuckled somewhat nervously. "If Koan knew, she'd probably kill you!"
"She actually did try... sorta! Back on Duke Island when I met her!" Kuzo responded eagerly.
"Oh, you were there?" He asked, which Kuzo nodded to. "I'm guessin' she wasn't too pleased. Probably why she didn't mention anything to me yet. But hey, good for you, finally getting out here! I knew it was just a matter of time!" Vyne's eyes traveled over to the other Skull Pirates. "And you got a crew too? Well, ain't ya gonna introduce me? I'm sure they'd be thrilled to meet the Living Legend in person, after all!"
Kuzo looked at Vyne and titled his head. "Hmm? Living Legend? Is that you?"
Vyne opened his eyes wide. "What, you never heard of me?! Have you been living under a rock?! I'm as famous as they get, bro!"
"Oh, really?" Kuzo asked excitedly. "Sorry, I've been a bit out of touch lately, so I didn't know."
Vyne lowered his head and sulked for a moment. "C'mon, let's go meet your crew..." He said in a bit of disappointment.
Kuzo chuckled and nodded. "Sure," He began to lead Vyne over, before he stopped and looked back at the tall man in the brown suit who walked away. "Say Vyne, who exactly was that man, anyways? He was
really strong!"
Vyne stopped sulking and stared at Kuzo. "Who was he? Who was he?!" He repeated. His eyes traveled from between Kuzo to the rest of the Skull Pirates around. "None of you know? Why does this always happen?" He asked himself. "Who you just fought was probably one of the strongest men the Marines have ever produced!" Vyne responded vigorously as his eyes wander back over to the man walking away in the brown suit. "He's been called many things! The Silent Authority! The Stone-Faced Soldier! The Earthshaper! The Man of Stone! Terra King! The Wall of Marineford! But he's most well-known for the name the Marines have given him!" Vyne crossed his arms and grinned widely as he observed the man disappear from the streets of Dinas and toward the sea.
"Ginokami! One of the three Admirals of the Marines!"
