As the dust passed over the cross where Kuina was tied up, it moved over the group of marines. Blinding them and giving a small opportunity for the three to talk. "Now then. I hope this is your sword." Lance walked towards the cross and held out the sword to the still-bound Kuina. "You know. If you fight with me now, you'll be an outlaw in the eyes of the Navy. If you like, you could always follow the law and go through the execution." Lance smirked, knowing there would be no real choice for the warrior.
Knowing she had no choice. Kuina gave a grim smile. "To fall from that height and not have a scratch…you must be a demon. I'm nowhere near ready to stop fighting." She looked Lance dead in the eye with an intensity Lance had never experienced from a human. "You've got yourself a pirate."
Lance threw his fists into the air with excitement. "Alright! I knew I could get you on board!"
Kuina's expression turned to annoyance at that. "It's not like you left me much choice. Now untie me!"
Lance began trying to undo the ropes tied around her arm. But the knot was evading his ability to undo it. "These knots are too tight."
"Would you hurry up?" Kuina shouted. Kuina watched as the dust rolled past the marines. She brought them back into sight.
"Quick, men! Charge them! Skewer those who defy me; they must die!" As the marines charged forward, their captain stayed back. He wanted his men to slaughter those who would defy him. Morgan figured out who was the one who shattered his statue. He would take over their torture personally.
Lance continued to struggle with the rope as the marines got ever closer. "These ropes are way too tight…oh! Hey, I got one of your arms out!"
"Quick! Give me my sword!" As Lance passed her the blade, the group of marines got close enough to jump on them.
After Kuina grabbed her sword. She spun the blade in her hand in a circle. The sword cut the ropes as it spun. It took an instant for the sword to make its way through all three of her bonds. As the sword reached the top of its arc, It collided with the swords of the marines who were coming down to attack her and Lance.
Kuina stood firmly as she prevented more than a dozen marines from reaching their target. "The first one to move dies." The marines currently clashed with Kuina, who trembled from her impressive presence. "All right. I'm a pirate; I gave you my word. I've fought the navy. And now I'm an outlaw. But! You're the one who persuaded me to do so. If I have to give up my dream for any reason, I'll make you commit Hama Kiri. I'm going to make you commit Hama Kiri!" She rose a bit to show the group that she was the one in control of their clash. Not them. "I'm going to be the world's strongest swordsman! The only thing I have left of value is that dream. My name may be infamous. But it will shake the world!"
Lance put his hands onto his hips. "The world's greatest swordsman? That's great! With a master like me, anything less would be embarrassing! This is fitting, especially since I'm going to be the king of the pirates!
"Hmmph." Kuina smirked while pushing against the wall of swords that surrounded her. "You talk big."
"What are you hesitating for?" Morgan screamed from the back lines. "Why aren't you turning those dissenters into mincemeat?"
Lance leaned back to his right side. Grabbing his axe handle. "Kuina, duck." Kuina immediately lowered her body. Letting Lance swing wildly into the group of marines. Pushing all the marines back as the swipe of his axe hit all ten of them at once. The group was sent back at the feet of the Morgan. Laying all around him as they groaned and grabbed at the cuts on their chests.
"Captain! These two are too much for us!" "That guy has the strength of ten men. Not to mention the demon pirate hunter!" Across the prison field, the group of marines felt the aura from Lance and Kuina as they faced each other after clearing the marines.
Lance drew his second axe as he walked towards Kuina. "Say. You didn't happen to see who shot that redhead girl, did you?"
"Huh? Oh, Mary? No, I wasn't looking. But I bet you it was that guy who keeps yelling that gave the order."
"Right, thanks." Lance began spinning the axes in his hand as he walked towards the captain of the marine outfit.
"Hear me! All the marines who were just complaining just now…" Morgan clenched his fist. The captain became enraged by the presence of such weaklings around him. "Shoot yourselves in the head! I won't have such defeatist scum in my unit!" The marines had all gotten back to their feet. And they looked shocked at the order that their captain had given them. However, they knew that their fate would be worse if they disobeyed a direct order. They put their flintlocks up against their heads. "On my order…FIRE!"
As the Marines prepared to fire. Lance came bolting through with his two axes spinning like buzz saws in each hand. "Hey! Captain Long Jaw! I heard you gave the order to shoot my girl!" Lance threw his axe like it was a baseball. The dense metal weapon spun with the same speed as it did in Lance's hand. When the blade made contact with Morgan, it stuck right into his metal jaw. This caused the marine's head to snap back from the force of the impact. "Too bad! I was aiming for your eyes!"
Lance stopped a few feet away from Morgan. "How…how dare you!" Morgan pulled the axe out of his chin. Morgan tossed it aside. "You have neither status nor rank. I am Captain "Axe-Hand" Morgan of the marines!"
"Please. I've thrown away more status than you could ever hope to achieve!" Lance threw his second axe at Morgan.
Morgan caught on to the trick and blocked the puny axe with his massive manly weapon. This was precisely what Lance was hoping would happen, however. As soon as he threw the axe, he started running towards Morgan. He threw a jumping punch with his right fist aimed at the massive man's stomach.
Morgan doubled over in pain as he took a few steps back. "Impudent wretch!" In a single motion Morgan threw his coat off of his body. Showing under his navy coat was a dark blue vest he wore dark blue pants with dark camo stripes. "I sentence you to death!" Charging Lance, Morgan came at him with a swing that was as large as his wingspan.
Seeing the slow attack, Lance jumped straight up. Jumping nine feet straight in the air. Above the cleaving axe that was coming to take his head. "Woah!" Lance looked to the side and saw the slice from the axe cut the fence all the way down the middle. "That thing is sharp!"
As he fell, Lance sent a double-legged kick into Morgan's chin. The metal chin cracked as a result. Morgan fell onto his back. "I almost tore a seam on that kick! You should consider getting a softer metal chin."
After quickly getting back up, Morgan swung his arm overhead in an attempt to squash Lance. But a roll to the side got Lance out of the way. Seeing another opportunity, Lance came in with a punch.
Sending Morgan back onto the ground. The marines watched in awe as this kid they'd never seen before single-handedly beat on their captain. "Captain Morgan is getting pummeled! Should we do something?" Not a single marine went to help Morgan in his battle.
"Didn't you say I was going to get executed?" Lance stood over the marine captain. "I guess I can try to knock that chin loose while we wait for the execution. I can try and knock that chin loose!" Only using his right arm. Lance sent punch after punch in Morgan's face.
"Stop it!" An annoying familiar voice screamed out from behind Lance. Ignoring the words, Lance finished his last punch. He knocked the metal jaw loose from Morgan's face. "I said stop it, you idiot!
Back near the cross. Helmeppo held a gun to Mary's head as she was slumped over. "Stop hitting me, Daddy! Or the redhead loses her head!"
Lance paused, his arm raised mid-swing. Lance heard the threat made by the pompous brat. Lance slowly turned his head to look at him. His eye was as small as a point on a pencil. "What did you say?"
At that point Helmeppo felt his body freeze from Lance's stare. His body was shaking uncontrollably. "W-what… what are you doing? I said stop!" Lance took a few small steps over to where one of his axes fell. Reaching down to pick it up, he turned to face Helmeppo.
"You want to say that again? What you're gonna do?" Lance took a slow stride in Helmeppo's direction.
"I-I'm going to shoot her if you don't stop right there!" His hand holding the gun shook as his finger threatened to squeeze the trigger.
As Lance ignored him, Morgan rose behind him. The axe was raised high and ready to cleave him in two at last.
"No, you won't. Because if you did, I'd kill you." Without any special spinning, Lance threw his axe at Helmeppo. He let the force of his throw spin the axe for him.
Helmeppo couldn't explain why. But something was stopping him from moving. He could probably dive out of the way. But there was something that wouldn't let him move. "D-daddy! Kill him!" The axe handle slammed into Helmeppo's face. The axe handle left a thin rod-shaped indent on Helmeppo's face.
"Thanks, Kuina. I kind of lost myself there." Morgan fell onto his back. Standing beside him, Kuina held her sword, which had a thin trail of blood on the edge.
Kuina looked out over the rest of the marines. "Are any of you still wanting to capture us?" The marines began to celebrate the defeat of both Morgan and his son.
"Weird. They're happy we beat up their captain." Before Lance could probe further, Kuina fell to the ground. Kuina collapsed onto the ground.
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If you enjoyed it, please leave a review or comment! Let me know if you want to see more of the Harem Pirates. And if we get to 100 stones, I'll drop the first cover story.