Smoke and debris filled the air. The Marines that were lucky enough to get away at the time shook and trembled. And those who weren't were left on the ground, bleeding and some even dead. It was a horrendous sight, that even those out at sea could see for miles.
Dalmatian, Momonga, and Norin were able to get away from the blast, but even they hadn't escaped it unscathed.
Dalmatian picked himself up off the ground. He was bleeding quite badly from his left arm and his left leg. " Is... Is everyone okay?"
" I'm... I'm okay." Norin groaned.
" I'm fine as well. That was close." Momonga muttered. " But this devastation.... There's nothing left here." Momonga muttered.
" It's a shame, Momonga. But if we're not careful, then well join those who weren't fortunate." Dalmatian told the man. ' Markus.'
.......
Inside the epicenter of the explosion, Markus dug himself out of the dirt that was trapping him. He pushed himself up to his knees and felt his chest stinging in pain. Lightning circled around him, almost like a barrier.
" Are you alright?" Goenma asked the man.
" Not really. I feel pain all over. But I'll live." Markus told the man.
" Good. " Goenma collapsed next to Markus and the lightning suddenly went away.
" What happened?" Markus asked the man.
" In a single moment, Bankotsu raised the output of his energy to try and exceed ours. But in doing so, he ended up throwing all of the attacks off pattern and caused them to implode. The resulting force blew up in our faces. Literally." Goenma explained.
" Damn it. The entire town... It's all gone." Markus muttered.
" Don't worry about that right now." Goenma muttered. " Our opponents aren't finished yet."
Goenma pointed to the piles of rubble moving away from them, and surely enough, Bankotsu and Zohakuten both reemerged from underneath the dirt.
" Bankotsu, are you insane?" Zohakuten asked the man. He was bleeding pretty badly himself.
" No, brother. I just refused to lose." Bankotsu exclaimed. " I... We need to win brother. Even if we die." Bankotsu exclaimed. His special kosode and armor were completely destroyed, revealing his bloody and scarred chest. His hair band had torn, and his long hair that was braided up came undone. " I... I won't lose. Not to that bastard. Not to anyone. Do you hear me, brother?"
" I hear you." Zohakuten muttered. " Stand then, brother. Let us go and finish this." Zohakuten said to the man. He grabbed his blade and together with his little brother, stood up to face down their enemy one last time.
" Here they come, Marine. This will be the last attack. We must work together to finish them off." Goenma stated. " Can you still, channel your haki?"
" It's hard, but I think, I can manage it." Markus told the man. Markus got up off of the ground, bleeding from his chest and arms.
" Good." Goenma muttered. he swept his hair backwards and took a deep breath and exhaled. " Alright. Let's do this Marine."
" Right."
Markus and Goenma stood across from Bankotsu and Zohakuten, both of whom were wielding their blades.
" Ready?"
" Go!" Markus shouted.
Markus and Goenma exploded forward, rushing Zohakuten and Bankotsu. Markus broke right and chased after Bankotsu, slamming his fist into the man's giant Halberd. And Goenma attacked Zohakuten, clashing against his sword.
.........
Markus went after bankotsu heavily, punching and kicking his Halberd as hard as he could.
Bankotsu jumped backwards. " Kenatsu!" His blade, which was coated with haki, became covered in sound. He swung the blade at Markus and sent out a white shaped slash.
Markus jumped over the blast, using moonwalk, and kicked bankotsu's blade, sending him flying backwards a bit.
Bankotsu skirted against the dirt, using his blade to slow himself down. " Gah!" Bankotsu spun his blade around and then slammed it into the ground. " Dragon Thunder!" Bankotsu started shooting out pillars of sound from underneath the ground, forcing Markus to jump into the air, however, this only made dodging the pillars even harder.
Markus twisted and turned in the air, using moonwalk and soru to move around freely, without constriction.
However, when he finally landed back on the ground, Bankotsu appeared over his head. " Rairyu Flash!" Bankotsu forced the blade downwards and sent out another white sound slash.
Markus covered his leg in haki and jumped off of the ground. " Rising Sun!" Markus threw a fierce kick upwards, and still channeling his haki, sent his attack through Bankotsu's sound based slash. The kick managed to hit Bankotsu.
" Guh!" Bankotsu grunted hard, feeling the full force of the kick smashing into his stomach was painful. But not enough to finish him off.
Markus jumped forward to continue his devastating combo attack. But before he could bring his other leg up to Bankotsu, Bankotsu dissipated into sound away from Markus and landed on the ground.
Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Markus rushed Bankotsu.
" Graaaaah! Thunder Haze!" Bankotsu swung his blade forwards and a massive rush of white sound rushed forward like a thunder cloud.
" Tempest Kick!" Markus kicked his leg ferociously and sent out a blast of compressed air shaped like a blade. It hit the thundercloud, halting its movement for just a moment, before it continued forward. Seeing that the attack was still coming, Markus started kicking his legs repeatedly, sending out as many tempest kicks as he possibly could.
The large blasts of air slammed into the thunder cloud repeatedly, creating another explosion that sent Markus an Bankotsu both flying backwards.
" I will not lose... To YOU!!!!!!" Bankotsu jumped into the air and raised his Halberd to the sky and started gathering sound around it in waves.
" What the hell?!" Markus shouted. He watched as sound gathered together at the tip of Bankotsu's Halberd.
[ I.O.N- Ignored- instrumental- family kamehameha]
" Stand in awe over the rage of sound. Can you feel the vibrations gathering at the tip of My Halberd? I will destroy this entire Island if I need to." Bankotsu exclaimed. " This is all of my rage, my Thunder Sphere! Thousands of soundwaves mixed together, forming a ball of compressed sound. NOW DIE WITH THE REST OF YOUR TRASH!" Bankotsu launched the massive ball of Sound waves, the size of a ship, rushed straight down towards Markus like.
" AghhhH!" Markus yelled. ' I can't let that hit the ground, if it does, everyone else is going to get caught in the blast.' " Yeaaaaaaaagh! UGH!" Markus jumped into the air, channeling all of his haki into his hands, and caught the ball of sound as it hurtled towards the ground.
" HAHAHAHA! You fool. If you want to die so badly then go ahead, try and stop i!" Bankotsu laughed.
Markus held onto the ball of air, forcing as much of his haki into it as he could, to try and destroy it from the inside out. Though he was feeling the pressure. Every moment, Markus held onto the ball of destruction, felt like an eternity pass. The blades of sound tore into Markus' flesh, even with haki, Markus' hands were bleeding.
" NghhhhH!" Markus grit his teeth and continued pushing against the ball of sound.
" HA! HAHAHAHAHA!" Bankotsu fired off a volley of sound waves right into the ball of sound, reinforcing it and pushing Markus further towards the ground.
' GAAAAH! I can't... I can't let this thing hit the ground! I can't! It's all up to me! No one else is going to handle it! So, If I don't who will?!' Markus yelled into the ball of sound, even as his feet planted into the floor.
" That's right. It's over!" Bankotsu yelled.
....
" What?!" Bankotsu shouted. He watched as his giant ball of sound, slowly started raising back up off of the ground. " Impossible! It should have exploded the moment it touched the ground!" Bankotsu exclaimed. And normally he would have been right to assume so. But not only hadn't the attack touched the ground; Markus was forcing the ball back up.
" Fine! Lift it up. I'll just make another!" Bankotsu exclaimed. He raised his Halberd to sky and started trying to gather more sound.
" NGH! HEEAAAAAAAAAAH!" Markus shouted his lungs out and with one fierce push, launched the ball of sound back into the air.
Bankotsu, couldn't believe it. His strongest attack was just swatted to the side, like it was nothing. " How?" Bankotsu asked. His brief moment of distraction caused the sound waves he was forming together to disperse.
" I've had enough!!!!!!!" Markus shouted,
" Not until you lie dead at my feet!" Bankotsu exclaimed.
Markus launched himself into the air, with all of his strength. He was going to put an end to this fight, one way or another.
Bankotsu did the same. Throwing himself at Markus, with his Halberd surrounded in sound, and covered in Haki. He was going to split Markus in half.
Markus was going for it all, combining his haki and the durability of Iron body together.
" BLACK STAR!"
" THUNDER DRAGON'S CRUSHING FANG!"
Markus' fist collided head long into Bankotsu's Halberd, resulting in a shockwave that covered the sky.
The sound of thunder rang out across the island, repeatedly, as if the heavens were screaming out in anger.
" I will smash this world into pieces, do you hear me?!"
" I'm gonna stop you, Bankotsu! I won't let you, or any of you pirates do as you please!"
Markus and Bankotsu pushed against each other. The force behind their blows was felt down below on the ground. Pieces of the island were being torn apart, and the patch of dirt where, the great city of Cream once stood, trembled as if an earthquake had hit it.
*Clash!
" Do you feel that Zohakuten? The curtain is being called down!" goenma told the man.
" Bankotsu..." Zohakuten looked upon his brother in sadness. Remembering a time where...." It is of no importance anymore." He muttered. Throwing the thoughts from his mind, he returned to his opponent. " Come, Flying Thunder God. Let's us put an end to this battle. Once.... And for all." Zohakuten's haki exploded from his body like a raging tornado.
" I couldn't agree more." Goenma told the man.
" Full Moonbow, Falling Half Moon!" Zohakuten channeled all of his haki into his blade and waved in a half-moon circle.
" One sword style Ultimate move! FLYING THUNDER GOD LEVEL 3!" Lightning surged through every inch of Goenma's body, maximizing his speed, and breathing ability. The haki that flowed over his lightning turned dark red.
This was going to be it.
Both men, using their strongest techniques.
In Goenma's eyes, Zohakuten appeared to be the moon itself.
And to Zohakuten, Goenma took the shape of a blue lightning bolt.
Up above, Markus and Bankotsu continued struggling against one another.
' How?! how is this possible?!' Bankotsu asked. He begged. He pleaded to know. ' Rairyu!'
Bankotsu watched in horror as his prized blade, Rairyu. The Thunder Dragon, snapped in half.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Markus's fist soared forward and smashed right into Bankotsu's chest.
Bankotsu watched as his blade snapped in half.
Down below, Zohakuten and Goenma finally rushed each other.
The lightning Bolt Smashed into the Moon and for a small second the black lightning of conquerors clashing with each other, sparked to life. And then the next second, a single bolt of lightning soared across one side of the island, like a blade, it cut through everything it touched. On the other side, a single line shaped like a half moon, was cut into the island, and into the ocean.
A dust storm kicked up, when the four attacks all collided.
The only question that mattered now, to the remaining pirates and Marines alike was, who won?
* Crash. Crash.
Shortly after the explosion of powers ended, two objects landed right next to each other. It was half of Zohakuten's sword, and the broken half of Bankotsu's Halberd.
" No way." Vyper muttered. " I don't believe it."
" Those two, brothers... The Moonlight blade.... And the Thunder Dragon...." Long horn spoke. his voice stammered back and forth between fear and disbelief.
" They've been defeated!!!!" The Marines chanted!
Zohakuten collapsed face first into the ground, still holding onto the remains of his sword, while Bankotsu was laying on his back, his eyes completely whited out, holding onto the hilt of Rairyu.
While Markus and Goenma stood over them victorious!
Markus raised his strong arm into the air and let out a loud shout to proclaim his victory, while Goenma simply sheathed his blade and bowed to the fallen Swordsman.
The Marines were finally feeling the tide of battle shift in their direction.
Now there was only one foe left standing that presented a true threat.
Markus and Goenma both knew it.
" Terris." The two men muttered.
On the other side of the island, standing over a barely conscious Jinshi, was Terris.
The earth told him everything, he needed to know.
" Fine then. If you want someone killed right, you kill them yourself." Terris muttered.
" Guh..." Jinshi gasped for breath, under the heel of Terris, his body sore all over and bleeding heavily.
................
Markus and Goenma both rushed through the forest together.
" How are you holding up?" Goenma asked the man.
" Not good. It feels like I could fall out at any moment." Markus told the man. " But it doesn't matter. We have to bring him down, or we're all dead." Markus exclaimed.
" You feel that? We're getting closer." Goenma muttered.
"Hm." Markus nodded and continued running forward, with Goenma.
In mere moments, they came upon the battlefield where Jinshi and Terris had been fighting.
This area of the forest had turned entirely into a crater. Trees were uplifted completely, the river had been destroyed, and any animals that might have called the lush forest its home, was gone.
All that remained was Terris, who was standing in the center of the crater, with a few wounds on his body. Scratches, claw marks, and the little bit of blood that was trickling from his mouth and nose were all that was evident that he had actually been hurt. And just below him, was Jinshi, who looked as if he couldn't move an inch.
" Welcome my friends. It would seem Zohakuten and Bankotsu weren't enough to settle the score. What a shame. Well, then it's time to up the stakes. Are you two ready to ante up? Or are you going to fold?" Terris asked.
" Fold? Not a chance." Markus told the man.
" Good, man. Now... Let's play." Terris muttered.
" I can't allow you to keep hurting innocent people, Terris. It's not right. THE GAME IS OVER!"
Markus has laid down the law, but can he take the heat? Having entered this battle exhausted and nearly depleted of energy, how long can he and Goenma hold out before they both completely run out of steam?
*DOOM!
To Be Continued!
..........
Well, in spectacular fashion Markus and Goenma move on to their next foe. But can they take the heat? Let me know what you think by leaving a Comment!!!