Ryu and the Commander stared at each other for a moment, as though each were daring the other to be the first to take action. However, Ryu was the one at the disadvantage here; the longer they waited, the closer the reinforcements were to arrive. The Dragon Fruit user may not have heard exactly what was said on the den den mushi, but he knew that he was up to something. He had to have been talking with someone...which likely meant that somebody else was going to turn up. Had it been a call for reinforcements? If that were the case, he would need to finish this fight quickly and leave the scene before he made too big of a splash.

As such, Ryu made the first move. He rushed in as quickly as he could. dragon arm pulled back completely. Perhaps he would be able to finish this in one, quick shot.

"Dragon...Claw!" he cried out as he approached, swinging his arm forward, aiming to slam his powerful claw directly into the man's chest, an obvious attempt at a decisive power strike.

However, there was a wave through the air and the sword in the Commander's grip raised itself, back of the blade meeting Ryu's clawed arm...and stopping it in its tracks. This caused the boy's eyes to widen in shock. He had practiced with this attack already and knew that this strike was capable of shattering small stone walls upon direct contact...! How could a single sword be used to keep it at bay...!?

"Surprised already?" the Commander sneered. "You're not the only one who knows how to fight, you know." As he said that, he tucked himself in, allowing his blade to slide right off of his opponent's scales, slid right past Ryu's guard and slammed the hilt of his blade into his gut.

"Grgh...!" Ryu grunted, his arm losing its partial transformation as the blow landed, though he managed to hold his ground against the strike.

"Let this be a lesson to you, boy. Nobody messes with the Marines!" the Commander called, shifting his sword around, aiming the bladed edge toward his target and swinging it around, aiming for a fierce slash across his body, starting at the shoulder, clearly intending to deal some significant damage.

However, a loud clang of metal rang through the open air instead of the sound of a successful swing.

The blade found itself pressed harmlessly against bright red scale, which had covered a small portion of Ryu's shoulder, stopping the blade entirely.

"What!?" the Commander exclaimed, pressing down with the sword with what seemed to be all the strength he could muster...but no matter now hard he pushed, it was fruitless; the boy's newfound armor successfully kept it at bay.

"Scales...of the Red Dragon." Ryu growled before reaching up and grabbing the sword in the Commander's grip by the crossguard. "Now let's try this again." With that, he pushed the blade aside so that it was no longer aimed at him. Once it had been moved to the side, the scales on his shoulder disappeared. However, his right arm had been transformed again, just like before.

"Dragon Claw!" He swung his arm upward, aiming to slam his claw heavily into his opponent's chest just like last time. This time, however, he had control of his opponent's weapon and wasn't going to be blocked. The claw crashed into his opponent's body and sent him flying straight back into the wall he had crashed into before, though this time he went straight through, falling to the ground on the inside.

Ryu's eyes widened a bit when he realized what had just happened, quickly deforming his arm once more. "Ah...! Sh-shoot, I-I didn't mean to break the wall down!" He then turned is attention to the crowd and the old man that had gotten back up by this point. "I-I'm sorry sir, I-I didn't mean to be so care-!"

However, at that point, an explosion rang out into the air. Ryu's eyes widened as a sudden pain erupted from his right upper arm, a small amount of blood spattering on the ground in front of him as the bullet that had passed through his now-regular arm collided with the ground.

"Agh!" he growled in pain, stumbling forward a bit until he felt into the dirt, instinctively reaching up to grab his arm, rolling onto his back so that he could look up and spot the shooter. Sure enough, down the street, another figure could be seen, this one a bit shorter than the Commander Ryu was already fighting.

The smaller man wore a typical Marine outfit, though instead of the typical cap one was used to seeing, he wore a hat which had a large, upward-curving brim. The hat was white in coloration with blue trim as well as a large, blue feather sticking out of it.

"Seems even Commander Bulrick is having troubles," the smaller man replied, spinning his rifle and allowing it to come to rest across his shoulder.

Ryu quickly moved to scramble back up to his feet, though he winced and glanced at his arm for a brief moment. [i]'Well...at least it missed bone and isn't in there anymore....'[/i] he muttered in his head before glaring at the newcomers. But then something else caught his attention.

"I'm not having troubles. I just underestimated him is all."

Ryu's eyes widened again as he turned...and saw the Marine Commander he'd just crashed through a wall getting back up, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth again. "And I don't need your help, Hibiki."

"Yeah well, we can't afford to let you screw this one up too, William." the smaller Marine answered.

"I told you to stop saying my full name already! The name's Commander WILL Bulrick, got it!?" 

"Yes yes, as you say," Hibiki replied. "But as your fellow Commander, if you screw this up, then I'll get in trouble too. So I'm not giving you the chance."

Ryu couldn't believe this.... Not only had that first guy gotten back up after his direct hit, but now there was a rifle user in the mix?

What was he going to do...? He could probably take one...but was he good enough to take down both of them...?