[b]Royal Palace of Cheribo Capital City of Gateau[/b] “I believe her,” Queen Mauriana Elesser exhaled, her fingers lacing together behind her back. “Given the opposition that awaits him here, I have no doubt that Blackwell will send his deadliest weapon to breach our defenses.” Captain Guntag pushed a lump down his throat in response, thankful that his helmet hid the line of sweat building along his brow. “Your Majesty, we have taken every precaution in fortifying the town. No matter what they send against us, I’m confident that our defenses will hold!” Queen Mauriana wordlessly swept past him as she moved to observe the map of the town from the war room of her castle. Naturally, Guntag had forbidden her being present in the town itself despite her protests. While she was the Queen, she was still far too young and inexperienced to be anywhere near the sort of violence that would soon engulf the settlement. Much of the population had already been evacuated in expectation of the attack as well, after they had finished assisting with the barricades. “I should be with my soldiers,” The Queen muttered, running a finger over the model town. “They are putting their lives at risk in my name.” Guntag shook his head for not the first time today. “No, my Queen. It is far too dangerous there, and if something should happen to you, then the morale of our forces would surely collapse. You serve a far greater purpose here. You give them a reason to halt their attack at the town.” She was so very like her father in many ways. Headstrong and resilient in the face of danger. It was why his young daughter was forced to take the throne at such an early age, and why the royal family was so beloved here. She was not the warrior he was, however...not that it had saved the King when he had challenged Blackwell to a duel. Reaching out to place a gauntleted hand on her shoulder, Guntag smiled. “Fear not, my Queen. I and my forces will face down whatever weapon they bring to bear against us...including Mushuro Takeuchi, if necessary.” “I hope you’re confidence is well founded, Guntag,” The Queen closed her eyes. “The fate of our Kingdom may depend on it.” --- [b][i]The Nathanial Creed[/i]; Eight hours later[/b] A rawkus chorus erupted from the deck of [i]Nathanial Creed[/i], the hundred member crew of the Whip Fang Pirates barely able to contain their anticipation for the coming raid. The town was in sight, their ship now close enough to exchange cannonfire with the defenders. Indeed, it had become readily apparent that this was likely the most well-defended port they had ever dared to attack. If it wasn’t for their secret weapon, then Captain Barca might have been just a little bit worried. “Alright, the meat’s ready! Bring him out!” Barca shouted down into the hold. At that proclamation, the crew became silent. Though the exchange of fire with the town continued, everyone on deck was focused entirely on the doorway. The muffled rattling of chains alone had several backing away from the entrance, others leveling their rifles towards the doorway...just in case something went wrong. Finally they saw him, still bound tightly in chains: Mushuro Takeuchi. Pushed up the stairs and towards the waiting meat by several members of his crew, Barca nodded his appreciation towards them. “It’s time, Mushuro.” Mushuro looked even more depressed and worn out than before, which made sense considering the whole process usually involved starving him for at least a few days at a time in order to force him to eat. He was still bound by chains, but not tied to the anchor anymore as he was pushed towards the meat with rifles at both front and back, emaciated and with dark circles around his eyes. The swordsman stared at the meat on deck, trying to will himself to refuse it and just get shot, but he had been starving for so long in the darkness that second by second, it got harder to ignore his will to eat it and survive. Finally, one of the rifle wielding guards at his back got tired of waiting and clubbed him over the back of the head so that the starving swordsman faceplanted in the big pile of raw steaks. With the food practically in his mouth already, Mushuro’s resistance broke and he started devouring meat from the pile, tearing up and mildly gagging over it as he ate. Mushuro’s torment didn’t end there, as within a minute or so the captive warrior’s unusual condition and the reason for making him eat the meat became painfully obvious. His eyes rolled back into his head and narrowed until only the whites showed and dark circles formed under and around his eye sockets as part of the allergic reaction. Finally, his lips peeled back in a snarl to reveal teeth that had somehow shifted and grown into a fang-filled, predatory maw. “He’s changing! Hurry and get him onto the dinghy!” Barca snapped, as his crew wasted no time in carrying him to the small boat that had been prepared for Mushuro. Once he was inside, one of the pirates - someone who had been given the task due to a minor instance of insubordination - rode it down to the sea with him and began to frantically row them towards the shore. Cannon fire impacted the surrounding water, splashing the two men in the process. Barca observed all of this through his eyepiece, smirking slightly. Everything was going to plan. By the time the ship reached the shore, Mushuro would be fully in the throes of his allergy and snap the chains that bound him. Hopefully the man with him would be able to jump in the water before that happened, but if not then it was hardly a significant loss. --- “Keep firing! Don’t let that boat make landfall!” Captain Guntag shouted into his Den Den Mushi from his command tower near the center of Cobblertown. “I don’t know what they’re playing at, but it can’t be anything good!” Their cannons weren’t really made to hit targets that small, however. Dozens of shots had been leveled at the small vessel, but none had successfully scored a direct hit on it, even if they had caused it to rock wildly on the waves. With his eyepiece he could see...chains? Writhing chains! Whatever that boat was transporting was alive, and dangerous enough to be put into restraints. “Could that be it? Mushuro Takeuchi…?” He muttered beneath his breath. [b]BRROONN!![/b] The night suddenly flashed with an orange glow, a crack of thunder causing the Captain to flinch. They had finally scored a direct hit. Unfortunately for Captain Guntag, while the explosive cannonball blew up the boat it also blew the chains right off of Mushuro Takeuchi. A moment later as the smoke was clearing to reveal the flaming debris of the boat floating on the water, a figure came rocketing out of the turbulent ocean and crashed down on the shore. The enraged, half-rabid swordsman still had water dripping from his clothes, but he snarled as he walked slowly up from the shore. “It’s Takeuchi!!” One of the soldiers shouted, immediately opening fire on the figure. His actions were quickly echoed by the rest of the division on the coast, gun and cannonfire soon crackling through the night...this time all focused on one man. From his command tower, Captain Guntag felt his jaw lock in frustration. More than anything, he had hoped to avoid having the beast successfully land. Now things were going to become far more difficult for them. Lowering his hand to the sword resting at his waist, the Captain of the guard knew that he could no longer just afford to stand and watch the battle unfold from up here. Mushuro was able to dodge bullets and cannon fire as easily as he had at the much smaller village, but the sheer mass of lead in the air this time meant that he had a lot less room to dodge and explosive cannonballs would have given him trouble even if he had the space he needed. For the briefest of moments it almost seemed like the garrison of Cheribo would succeed, but then Mushuro drew his swords. The sheer speed and strength behind the quickdraw attack from both swords produced a shockwave in the air powerful enough to knock both bullets and cannonballs back in the direction they’d been fired from, turning the hail of artillery fire into something like a single giant, exploding burst of grapeshot in the general direction of the defenders. With that attack having failed, Mushuro raced up the beach at inhuman speeds toward the coastal division, looking to finish off the survivors up close. Captain Guntag watched in horror as his men had their own weapons turned against them by the inhuman strength of the demon swordsman, his body beginning to tremble at the sight before him. He hated that he was being consumed with fear while his men were down there fighting and dying. What kind of Guard Captain was he?! “Lieutenant!” He forced the word from his throat, his eyes still winced shut. “Take over command here!” His second-in-command looked notably shocked at this, the younger man’s eyes wide as saucers. “Me?! B-but Captain, what are you-” “Listen!” Guntag cut him, already descending the stairs. “If I’m unable to stop him, you must sound the retreat back to the capital. We cannot afford to lose everyone here! We can better wear him down there, if need be.” The battle had continued to rage while their conversation took place, soldiers desperately firing on their lone assailant. But this was simply the start of their woes: beneath the cover of Takeuchi’s rampage, the enemy ship had moved closer to the shore. Now dozens of boats disembarked from it, prepared to deliver a small army’s worth of pirates to capitalize on the success of their secret weapon. Blackwell’s assault was now well and truly underway. Charging forward through the deserted town, Guntag said a silent prayer of thanks that they had managed to evacuate the people before the attack. There was no telling how terrible the casualties would have been otherwise. It didn’t take long for his eyes to settle on the figure of the Demon Swordsman, easily recognizing him from his bounty poster. Probably the highest bounty in West Blue next to Blackwell himself, it set at a bone-chilling forty-four million! This was the man he was about to engage in combat. To say he wanted to flee with his tail between his legs was a gross understatement. “M-MUSHURO TAKEUCHI!” Guntag bellowed out over the thunder of battle, holding his rapier high. “I am Captain Guntag, leader of the Queen’s Royal Guard! I challenge you to a duel, man to man! Leave my soldiers out of this!” Mushuro paused in his slaughter of Cheribo’s soldiers even though he was more distracted by the sudden loud shout from the Captain of the Guard than consciously responding to any actual challenge. Still, even with a brain that was operating in a rage-filled, almost subhuman level of intellect driven more by instinct and animal cunning than anything else, the message came across clear enough. Mushuro sheathed one sword and raised the other in acknowledgement of the challenge, before turning slightly and angling his sword’s blade down low on the side opposite his opponent so the majority of his blade was concealed from view, apparently preparing to launch a strike. Mushuro dashed forward, whipping his blade around from out of view and right at Captain Guntag’s head. Captain Guntag - more on instinct than from any conscious thought - raised his sword to narrowly intercept the strike. By the time the clang of their blades echoed through the town, the older man found himself flying backwards through the air. The force of that impact had knocked him clean off his feet, and his sword - a Wazamono grade sword - was humming violently in his hand, as if it might shatter! Rolling along the ground after he impacted it shoulder first, the armored Guard Captain released a deep grunt of pain. Pushing himself to his feet, he stared wearily at his enemy. Every joint in his body was now screaming in protest, and that was just from one hit! “D-damn you, monster!” He spat, readying his blade in hands that were now far less steady. “I...I won’t let you get past me…!!!” Once again Mushuro approached, squared himself up to Guntag and stepped into the same stance. The majority of his blade’s length and its position blocked from view behind his body. Once again, he dashed at the older man at high speed for a single strike. But this time instead of a slash to the head Mushuro's blade came in lower, in a rising cut aiming for his opponent’s leg.