"The prisoner is escaping!" a random sailor called out. "Mister Krabbe, Kite got ou-ooph!" His warning was cut short by a wrench to the face. Another six men appeared and surrounded Wafer D. Kite, but they were just as easily disposed. Still, it felt as though Krabbe's men were without end. That or those knocked aside earlier came back for more.
As the carpenter fought for escape, The Vice was still dealing with the tag team duo of Lilliana and Feya. The fitness nut took a risky maneuver by throwing them both up into the air while her arm was still being crushed. The amount of pain that move would cause was tremendous, but her mastery of self was far greater. Krabbe flipped into the air with her, having nothing to anchor him to the ground.
"Wooah!" They flipped up and Feya began kicking the man with fantastic strength! With each blow she could hear more breath escaping his lungs, but his armor was holding.
Lilliana creatively dodged Krabbe's Crustacean Stream, the high pressure blast of water flying off in the distance, and in the process caused some minor damage to the ship, flinging the wood at Krabbe like a flail while he was indisposed of in the air. However it seemed the women underestimated how strong of a warrior this bounty hunter truly was.
Kookiookiooki! You call those kicks?!" The man's claw clamped even harder than before, securing Feya as he spun at the peak of their jump. He used the momentum of her own kick to flip the both of them harder than he could have on his own, then slammed her body into Lilliana's makeshift flail, releasing Feya from his iron grip for the first time. The doctor shot forward like a bullet, slamming into her combat partner. Krabbe landed back onto the top deck of his ship, but fell to one knee. He was breathing quite heavily.
"The last time I fought someone with your strength and ferocity, it was the very crab I made my name on!" He stood back up to full height, pushing himself up with the claw. Once up he pointed the claw at the woman, his pride and joy, and barked out,
"Men! It's time to end this! RAISE THE EMPEROR VICE!""Yes sir!" A number of men called out, abandoning their stations. One made it to the helm, where he began operating a few levers by himself. The others surrounded him, offering protection.
"As you can see, the King Crab has been outfitting with the outer shell of the giant crab to enforce her hull, rendering your cannonfire worthless! I harvested other parts for my armor, and for the armor of my top men, the Shrimp Brigade! I made my very name on this claw that crushes all obstacles in my way! But don't you know? Crabs have two claws... A small claw for gathering food, which I wear upon my arm, and a large claw for combat!" Just as his speech reached a climax, the sea parted as a single massive red claw cleared the air. Attached to the front of the King Crab, the claw could easily fit the Rum Runner between its clamp, and snap the ship in half.
"Men! They've had their opportunity for surrender! CRUSH THEIR SHIP! SEND THE SPLINTERS TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SOUTH BLUE!""Sir?" a man called out. "The den den mushi is
still on!"
Over on the Rum Runner, things were going up and down. Caesar continued his one on two battle, dealing with the lion share of Shrimp Brigade for the rest of the crew. His gambit started out simple, barely dodge the chain ball, let the chain wrap around his arm, and yank the yellow armored one in closer. Simple turned out to be best, as the plan went off without a single hitch! Yellow was actively surprised at the development, and the half-mink's superior strength proved to be more than he could resist. "Woah!" he yelped. Caesar's machete came toward the Shrimp Brigade Yellow, and there was nothing he could do about it!
Clang! Unfortunately there was something Green could do about it. Though Caesar had intended to pull Yellow in Green's way, the trident using warrior was more quick than Caesar had anticipated and recovered too fast. The trident caught Caesar's machete between its prongs, twisted, and disarmed Caesar. However, the mink's fist still collided with Yellow right in the face, breaking the man's nose and knocking out two teeth. Then both vanished completely, weapon and all. Wait, what? Yup, they were gone. No poof of smoke, no light show, nothing. They just... Vanished. Weird.
Meanwhile, Captain Cedric D. Boone had ordered a switch on opponents. Taking Violet's bullet so he could get a better shot on Blue, the captain unleashed his shotgun shot as Dirk dangled near helplessly from the man's spike covered fist. Blue wound up for another punch, but it never got to connect. The insane thief was crafty, and stole the man's helmet right from his head! Dirk parried Blue's second punch with the man's own helmet, leaving him completely baffled and unsuspecting as a volley of gunpowder propelled pellets struck him in the back head on. "Urk!" The man's eyes turned white and rolled up. He released Dirk, then fell forward, but he never hit the floor. Mid-fall Shrimp Brigade Blue disappeared. He vanished in the exact same instant as the others! What was going on here?
At the top deck, Shrimp Brigade Red had a situation on his hands. Bonesword had just directed the Rum Runner on a collision course with the King Crab. He wasn't worried about the King Crab being harmed, not with the Shell Shield deployed, but there was still one major problem.
He was on the Rum Runner! To make matters worse, he would have to wrest control of the ship from not just the Skeleton Kid, but also "Oilburn." Oh wait, Oilburn was now rushing him with a long tentacle made of oil. Lovely.
"Men! It's time to end this! RAISE THE EMPEROR VICE!" That clinched it. Red needed a new tactic and had to end this battle, fast!
"Voice of the Heavens!" he cried out, spinning his hands and thrusting them up in a new pose. "Shrimp Brigade Recall!"
Nothing happened.
"Waru waru Quatro!" Red shifted his pose one more time, then three more people seemed to grow out from him! Each one separated from the original like they had just been hiding right behind him, and together they struck a
group pose. "Shrimp Brigade go!"
The split off in teams of two. The Green one with a trident and the original Red charged toward Bonesword. Red jumped off from Green's trident for extra momentum, flying right for his opponent with a mighty "JUSTICE PUUUUUNCH!" Yellow and Blue, both showing absolutely no signs of the injuries they had suffered below deck, steeled themselves against Slick's attack. Yellow hurled his mighty chain ball horizontally to collide with the whip of oil, while Blue flip-jumped from Yellow's shoulders to strike Slick from above with a double spiked punch.
Meanwhile, John Krabbe was giving some kind of speech from his ship. All the while the ocean itself parted as an enormous red claw rose up, attached to the front of the enemy ship. It snapped once and the air itself vibrated from the force of impact.
Leaves