The sun rise this morning was immensely calm. Lu Dahn attributed it to the fact that he and the company he was amongst were so very far away from civilization. There were only a few sounds, none of which were talking from the ranks of the Marines. It was as if they were paying respects to the beautiful scene that was the sun gradually ascending over the dunes of sand. It looks like liquid. Lu Dahn was referring to the sun that was waving like an orb of water that struggled to sustain its shape. That was due to the mirages that the desert they trekked notoriously casted.

As for the sounds, there was the crunch of sand from the pressure of the camels hooves. Two vultures that surveyed the troop from above continuously called out to one another. Then, occasionally the camels would spit, grumble, groan, and make the noises their species made.

By the second the heat of the desert rose and the Marines slowly began to lift their veils and strip off the extra layers they wore to endure the night that just ended. Lu Dahn rolled his shoulders to slip his officer's coat off his shoulders. The coat would slip down onto the back of the camel he rode on.

"Rear Admiral. I know Sharpe is out with the flu, but can he really operate as our Marksman? He only has one working arm." A grey haired lieutenant pulled his camel up to Briggs' who was in the front of the mob to whisper to him. "Why don't you ask Commodore Ricchi if he's in good enough shape to cover us yourself Tyson?" Briggs soiled the privacy of the conversation and spoke loud enough for the whole troop to hear. The grey haired man, Tyson, shrunk in his raised shoulders in an embarrassed manner. Commodore Ricchi resided within the heart of the small troop of ten Marines, all of which were Lieutenants save for the Commodore himself and Rear Admiral Briggs. Those ahead of Lu Dahn didn't look back at him for his response, but there was certainly an expectation for a reaction lingering in the air. Those behind and beside him had no shame in shifting their attention between him and Tyson.

Lu Dahn sighed and looked up at the sky in thought of how to respond. He wasn't irritated with Tyson's words. He completely understood. After all he only had one operating arm, the other was bound in a sling and cast. It was because he was an understanding individual that he wouldn't bite the man for his ignorance. Instead, he'd sate his curiosity and assure him he'd be safe for the duration of the mission. When finally he looked back down, his hawk like topaz eyes were on Tyson as if the Lieutenant were his prey. Tyson's eyes were on Lu Dahn from over his shoulder and he obviously assumed the role of the victim. With black thoughts, Lu Dahn reached for his pistol on his hip. When he unbuttoned the small leather strap that held the pistol down in the holster Tyson's brow furrowed inquisitively.

With how silent it was everyone heard this noise. Coupled with Lu Dahn's odd nature and reputation for being unpredictable, all eyes save for Briggs' were on him. Grabbing the pistol and closing one eye, he trained the sight on Tyson for a single moment. The Marine to flinched and ducked while a wave of commotion swept the rest of the Lieutenants. Lu Dahn flashed a grin of the Devil. "Hey Hey Hey!" They shouted out to him, before he quickly aimed the pistol upwards to the Heavens and fired once seemingly in the same motion. "What the fuck are you trying to accomplish?!" Lu Dahn nonchalantly holstered his pistol and acted as if nothing was happening or had happened. A Lieutenant who wasn't Tyson began to shout to Briggs. "Rear Admiral! You're just going to let this gu-" One of the vultures that were hanging in the sky zoomed down and collided with the sand, obviously dead.

Ricchi smiled in a reserved yet boastful manner. "I hope that puts your minds at ease." Lu Dahn's display forced a cocktail of emotions onto his comrades. Fear, discomfort, distrust, dislike, awe, & comfort all at the same time. With how uneventful the journey had been, their lack of stimulation would probably leave them intoxicated until they reached their destination. His eyes that seemingly harbored all his ambitions in the hues of the topaz, just looked beyond the few Marines ahead of him into the distance. Though idle and they weren't dormant and inattentive. They seemed ripe with life and the sunlight only complimented he gemstone tint. He was a true piece of work. The Marines that let their eyes linger on him, felt as if he was examining something only he could see and that was partially true. Eventually though, he'd bring his ambitious to the corporeal realm.

"Alright gentlemen, enough horseplay. We'll be coming upon Ramash within the hour. Stay sharp."

To know what Ramash was, was to know what the objective of Brigg's small force was. Ramash was a self thriving town deep in the desert of the Alabasta Kingdom. Half way through a season the Nobles of the Alabasta would dispatch their Officers to collect the taxes the town owed the Kingdom. Things always went as they were supposed to, but this time the Kingdom received the heads of each of their Officers on a camel, instead of their tariffs. With the state the kingdom was in, the Nobles couldn't afford to dispatch and potentially lose any more of their officers and protection. That said they turned to the World Government to establish peace in this province of their Kingdom.

With how remote and out of the way Ramash was, it was always a popular place for outlaws and bandits alike to gather. The place was a breeding ground for sin and crime, so it's only natural that this happened since the kingdom was crumbling. It's assumed that one of the local clans of bandits dug their claws in the town and claimed it as their own. This being because the mayor of this town was always sure to stay on good terms with the kingdom and royal family. This was so he could always ask for soldiers to be dispatched to Ramash's territory to deal with the troublesome characters attracted.

The rest of the journey for the government dogs was silent save for the camels. With Lu Dahn killing one of the vultures, the other had stayed behind and picked at the corpse of its brethren. Dog eat dog, a phrase Lu Dahn shamelessly aligned himself with. The only thing was that he was in the company of mere pups. While he wasn't acting out for attention, the only other dog in the troop was unbothered by his antics. Perhaps to Briggs, Lu Dahn was a mere pup. It was realistic to think such a thing, but Lu Dahn didn't want to taint his mind with any ideology that didn't hold him to be most high in the realm of men. He was very pro propaganda that promoted his image and his image alone, even if it was bullshit. To him it was unhealthy to let the idea that someone was better than him enter the sanctuary that was his mind.

They'd all come to a stop after coming to the top of a sand dune they'd been climbing for at least five minutes. Ramash was 100m in front of them, down into a valley surrounded by sand dunes like the one they just climbed. No one said a word, but this time the silence was a product of astonishment. Each Marine moved to get a better look, but stayed atop the hill. "What could have caused this type of damage?" The town or the remnants of it were just ashes. "Could this be the smoke we smelled the night prior?" Lu Dahn drew his camel near Brigg's own. "It has to be, but we've been traveling for hours . . ." Even from 100m away one could tell there were probably no survivors. "Fall back into formation. We're moving in." Lu Dahn brought his camel back to the heart of the Marines who followed the orders and moved back to their positions.

And here I thought I was tagging along for an easy mission.

Walking through Ramash was to walk upon the brink of hell. There was a stench of burned human flesh, bones, and hair. Even the ground itself was scorched and charred black. Vultures inhabited the area eating what blackened remains there were of the civilians. What structures still existed were burned black if not just dust and ashes. Lu Dahn noticed the deeper the troop went into Ramash, the more things seemed to be destroyed.

"Do you think it was a Devil Fruit user that caused this?" Some of the Marines quietly chatted amongst each other. Briggs remained silent, then spoke. "It's too soon to call. Though I wouldn't be surprised." Lu Dahn was steady looking ahead of the group since the chances were anything nearby would be spotted by the Lieutenants. "Up there." Lu Dahn pointed with his good arm up ahead of the group and they all looked. Their eyes shifted looking for what it is that Lu Dahn was pointing at, but no one was seeing it. "This another one of your stunts?" Lu Dahn scoffed and shook his head gently, bringing his camel up to what it was he was pointing at. They followed behind him. "Look at the smolder marks on the ground." They looked at the ground and the burn pattern was a bit more defined and peculiar, but still it didn't say much. "What about it?" "Now look at how the things are burned. There's more white ash in this area, than any other area we've passed through." Briggs put a hand to his chin in thought. "The layout of the bodies as well." Lu Dahn nodded. "Usually when there's a massacre like this, bodies of the deceased are near one another. Whether they were running to a designated shelter or trying to flee the town." Lu Dahn looked around and it confirmed his theory. "The layout of these remains don't seem to say much, because they seem to be randomly scattered about, but that's just it." The Lieutenants were trying to piece it all together, but Briggs and Lu Dahn kept coming to conclusion after conclusion while they were still wrapping their head around previous bits and pieces.

"They are scattered about the town as if they were just going about their day. Just like we're standing now." When Briggs said this a heavy and grim feeling fell on everyone's shoulders. It was like the bodies of the deceased citizens of Ramash were stacked on top of each Marine present, weighing them down. The Lieutenants looked around in shock, discomfort, and fear. What remained of the bones of humans were crisped to nearly nothing, but larger masses like skulls, hip bones, and torsos were still distinguishable. "So that point of interest you mentioned . . ." Lu Dahn looked at Lieutenant Tyson as he spoke then back to the point of interest inquisitively, though he was sold on the idea that he was correct. "More than likely is the center point of the destruction. You can barely tell due to sand that has blown in, but the scorch marks seem to fan out from here. There's far more white ash present, but that's not what seals it for me. This area is practically a clearing save for stone. When we first entered, there were more structures, well ruins, that were more or less standing. Whatever caused this erased basically anything that can't tolerate heat as well as stone. But as it got further from the focal point, it weakened." All eyes were now on this point of interest that Lu Dahn initially brought to their attention. "So we can agree that these people were nearly annihilated at once. But by what?" That question was what still needed to be solved. Lu Dahn couldn't fathom what could have caused destruction on this scale in an instant besides an explosive. However, there was no crater from the force of a bomb nor had he ever heard of a bomb that could engulf a whole town in an inferno in an instant. "I'm going to put my money on a Devil Fruit user. An explosive that could do this much damage would have at least created a crater at the center point." The Lieutenants were still lagging behind connecting the dots, while Lu Dahn was blazing through each bit of detail with surgical precision.

"You're really something else. Piece by piece, fragment by fragment, you aligned the whole scenario in order and got the finest details correct. The only thing left for you to figure out is who, but the answer to that is right here."

The Marines snagged the reigns on their camels to turn to face the origin of the voice that spoke to them. It wasn't a man, but a young boy, not even in his twenties, perhaps seventeen. He stood on an ashen roof, that looked like it was ready to crumble at a moments notice. The fact he was standing so keenly on  such a weak structure wasn't the eye catcher. What demanded all the attention was the ball of red flames that engulfed, or perhaps made up his hands. "A Devil Fruit user!?" "Juno, you took all of the fun out of it!" A child's voice whined out before a pile of rumble rummaged about. A small mink child was birthed from it. Despite having concealed his presence in ashes, his white hair, his white tail, and white garbs remained white and lustrous. This boy was definitely no older than ten, well at least that's how he appeared.

"Why must you always get him riled up Juno." Again the Marines turned to find they were positioned in the center of a triangle formation, by these three individuals. This last one came mysteriously from behind a stone pillar and dawned a head of blue hair. He had an aquatic vibe to his voice. It was monotone and plain, yet had a soothing ride to it. "Rear Admiral?" Briggs probably wasn't expecting this. Lu Dahn looked at the Rear Admiral to see the stress of the situation had scrunched his face with anguish. It tickled his heart to see the man like that. Hopeless and in a sense of worry. The Commodore wished he could live in the moment longer, but now wasn't the time to bask in Briggs' astonishment. He and the other lieutenants were also in the bind right there with him.

"Tyson stick with Lu Dahn. Everyone else, Battle Plan Delta. Go!" Red Hair's eyebrows rose and his sharp teeth flashed in a smile. "There'll be none of that! Ha!" He rose his fist up and thrusted it forward. A pillar of flames followed his fist's trajectory towards the group of Marines. All of the Marines including Lu Dhan and Briggs had dismounted their camels and though he was unaware of what Battle Plan Delta was, he wasn't going to wait around and be turned into ashes until he found out. Using Soru, he pushed off the ground and blitzed between two of the unnamed enemies, Red Hair and White Hair. Unknowingly to him, all of the other lieutenants were proficient in Soru as well and did the same thing. Of all the Rokushiki powers there was, this was the single power they were proficient in. Ironically as in Ensign in Briggs' unit it was the first power Lu Dahn himself learned per Briggs' orders. Additionally, it was the power he was most comfortable with.

The geyser of flames that was spit at the troop had slammed into the center of the formation they were in prior to changing their positioning. While the Marines were unharmed, their camels cried out in pain for a shallow moment before they were completely engulfed in the inferno that bloomed outwards once it collided with the ground. "Shit." Lu Dahn drew his pistol and aimed it at Red Hair. "Hey!" Red Hair wasn't even looking at Lu Dahn, so the Commodore could afford to avert his attention to what it was Tyson was yelling at. When he looked he saw the White Haired mink child was advancing them. He was about 15m away and steady closing the distance, by leaping off the fragile structures of ruins like a true acrobat. They toppled after he jumped off them, but he still manipulated his balance and where his weight was placed masterfully, to utilize each weakened surface effectively. "That's right! That's right! Fight me first!" The boy seemed to be in a state of joy as he rushed the duo. If it was evident in his voice, once he came within 5m of the duo, his body was engulfed in a showcase of sparks. "Huh!?" It was probably since Lu Dahn was obviously not at full strength, his arm in a cast and sling, but the mink targeted Tyson first. Like a cannonball, the small mink child curled up while cloaked in electricity and slammed himself into Tyson's stomach. The blow sent the Lieutenant away into a pile of debris, but the Mink bounced off the man's body with an acrobatic back flip. This placed him right beside Lu Dahn, but the Commodore didn't intend on letting the child wreck havoc on him as well.

The boy's focus was on him, but he was still airborne and no longer clad in lightning. Lu Dahn swung a hooking kick at the boy's torso and it hit. At least he thought it did. At the end of the swing, he found the boy was unfazed by the kick and instead caught and clung onto Lu Dahn's leg when it came to him. The boy was like a koala bear the way he hugged the Commodore's leg and sweetly smiled at him until the smile went sour. Volts were released and shocked Lu Dahn's leg for as long as he didn't retaliate. "Ahhhhh!" He powered through the pain that was oddly numb at the same time. Aiming his pistol at the center of the boy's forehead, he fired a single bullet. The boy quickly leapt down diagonally, to land on the ground and avoid the bullet on all fours. "You're fast, you'll actually be some fun to huh mister!?" Lu Dahn's face tightened in irritation, as he fixed his aim on the child once more. He didn't shoot yet, he was trying to gauge the state of his leg, though it was obvious had his mobility cut harshly. I won't be using Soru until the feeling returns to my leg. A shot rang off, but it wasn't from Lu Dahn, it came from where Tyson was launched, but the boy's eyes flickered to this direction before the gun was even fired. Leaping back and upwards, the boy landed on the second story of a still standing stone structure. "Hahahah, you're still alive too? I thought that would have collapsed your chest or something. You guy's are pretty strong you know that?~"

---

On another front of battle, there were eight Lieutenants squared off with Blue Hair. "Hmmm." He stood in the center of the six Lieutenants who had in in a hexagon. Even then he kept his cool, his cloaked figure not wavering in the slightest. That was until his arms shifted about a bit and long length of ropes slithered out off his sleeves. There were at least six cables of rope coming out of each sleeve. "Fire!" "COY-EL!" It was unexpected, a man like him shouting like he did that is. But that was the least of the Marine's worries.

The man had swung his arms inwards in a bear hugging motion when he shouted. All the while he twisted his arms like someone would to show the other side of their wrist to someone.  This made the cords of rope swing out and ravel around him in an instant while also having some spinning force. He was like a mummy wrapped in bandages and somehow the ropes managed to have enough spin power to alter the course of the bullets and make them fly off in random directions. "EN-SNAIR!" Shooting his arms out to make a letter "T" with his body, the rope lengths shot out as well, but this time the knots on the ends of them sped like bullets to cause harm and not defend. Each of the cables of rope wrapped around the frames of four Lieutenants, two on each of his sides. Between the neck, arms, body and legs, each of the Marines were ensnared by this man's ropes in some fashion. "Cover me!" One of the Lieutenants who wasn't bound in ropes, drew a saber off his hip and ran in at the man. "Your arms are occupied, you're nothing, but a tar-" The Marine's eyes instantly rolled back and went white as Blue Hair snagged the Lieutenants on his right into the swordsman. "CAN ON BALL!" Like a light paper weight or how one would wield the weighted end of a chain and sickle weapon, the man swung the tangled up Lieutenants over his head at an alarming speed. The rope itself could be heard cutting through the air it was so fast. With the other Lieutenants, he snagged them hard towards himself with a tug of his arm and stopped them by catching the face of one of them with a stiff arm that didn't bend in the least bit from the force. The Lieutenant who got caught by the face instantly got bloodied and fell unconscious. "BASE- BOL" Four Lieutenants were now Blue Hair's weapons and one was down. That left three to combat him.

---

Lastly there was Brigg's front. With him he had a single Lieutenant that was currently nursing a scorched arm while cradled in Brigg's own arms. Deftly the Rear Admiral was dodging balls of flames thrown at him from above where Red Hair was. "Hahahah! How long can you keep it up? You're a Rear Admiral right? If I beat you, Meruem will be sure to recruit me even though I'm not Winged." Briggs' brow rose. Meruem? The only man he knew with that name was the notorious pirate Meruem Blackheart. He was on Alabasta and on the watch list for the Fool's Gold campaign. He ended up not being involved and wasn't even encountered, but was it because he was busy recruiting new prospects for whatever his cause was? Briggs' hadn't the luxury to let his mind wander right now, he had to deal with this brat first.

"Sorry." Growing tired of the endless dodging, he threw the Lieutenant he was carrying straight up into the air. "Hahaha! Perfect pull for shooting practice." Briggs' new the man's thirst for blood would make his eyes get drawn to a seemingly helpless target, especially one airborne. With this lapse in the flame maker's attention, he punched into the earth and caused a fissure to race towards the structure the boy stood atop of. The fissure reached, but not before the boy got a clean shot off at the helpless Lieutenant. Briggs' sucked his teeth irritably as he quickly, pulled his fist out the earth while the structure toppled and boy began to fall with it. Using Soru he darted into the air and cradled his Lieutenant once more. As for the fireball, he had turned his right side to it and cloaked his arm in Busoshoku Haki. Though he landed safely, he quickly dropped the Lieutenant to the ground. "Ugh, you're on your own from here." He ripped off his sleeve that was steady being devoured by red flames and threw it on the ground. Despite the haki coating, he still got burned from the heat.

"Mighty impressive. I hope Kumei doesn't kill that blue haired guy with the cast. Between you and him, I don't know who I want to fight more." The rubble from the structure that collapsed was still on the boy as he spoke his muffled words. It was here and now that he showed his true nature. Currents of flames breathed out from various holes in the stone rubble and converged upon a single spot on top of this stone ruin. Birthed from this orb of flames was the boy, a Logia. "Been a while, since I fought one of your kind." Red Hair's brow rose with an arrogant sharp toothed grin on his face. "Never fought someone experienced with my kind. It'll make killing you feel even better." Random parts of his body still were composed of flames that flickered off of him like miniature flares. "Don't disappoint me Marine!" When he shouted he was engulfed with a pillar of flames that screamed with heat that Brigg's felt even from 15m away. Briggs looked at his injured Lieutenant and motioned with his head for the Lieutenant to flee. "B-but Rear Admiral. "There's nothing you can do against his kind. Go find Commodore Ricchi, he may be of some use." The Lieutenant nodded then scrambled off while holding his arm.

"MEET-EOR SMAH-ASH." With the clump of Lieutenants Blue Hair had swinging in the air above him, he swung his arm down and directed them to come sailing down at a group of three Lieutenants. They split, one went left and one went right, and one charged in. This one that charged in was another swordsman by the name of Sage. As his allies messily collided with the ground and shouted out in pain, he drew his blade and cut the ropes that lead to Blue Hair. Since Blue Hair had swung his arm down, naturally the rope lengths that bound his bludgeon of bodies, was also level with his arm and extending towards the impact point of the bodies. This freed the Lieutenants of the binds, but honestly it probably didn't do them much good. The slam had done bone crunching damage and one of them had landed on their head and died on impact. Sage yelled out. "Fuck you!" The two Lieutenants that had split up, drew their pistols in preparation to fire on Blue Hair. This would act as a means of offense and cover for Sage as he closed in the gap between him and Blue Hair. Calmly he moved the second group of Lieutenants he had bound up in his left hand in front of him as human shields. "Tch." The pistol toting Lieutenants sucked their teeth. "It's alright, you guys bought me time!" Sage prepped his sword to slice Blue Hair while avoiding his allies while just a shallow amount of meters away. However.

"SCA-AIR CURO!" Blue Hair thrusted his arm forward at the approaching swordsman, tossing the two Lieutenants at the sole Marine. The bodies came in a clump of one at first, then split to come at him from two fronts. I just have to slice the ropes! Is what Sage thought, but his attention was split to both his sides and he had to also avoid hitting both his allies. "EN-SNAIR!" Blue Hair shouted out and drew the swordsman's attention as he thrusted his free hand forward. From his sleeve, five cords of ropes slithered out towards Sage through the air like snakes. "Shit!" He jumped backwards, his two allies painfully collided into each other where he just was. He would have been sandwiched if he didn't move. From beyond these bodies, with unbelievable control, each of the five cords weaved around the collided Lieutenants and still persisted to come at the swordsman. In sync Blue Hair pulled back his human shields, for he saw the pistol toting Lieutenants ready their guns once more.

Sage slashed out at each of the cords of rope. "One, two, three, fo-" As he was about to cut down the fourth cord, the fifth had wrapped around his ankle. "FEE-SHER MAN!" Blue Hair tugged on the cord that ensnared the swordsman's ankle and it caused him to fall to his ass. The fourth cord then wrapped around his neck and began to strangle him. "As you can see, I'm quite talented with these ropes." From meek, to explosively shouting out his attacks, then back to meek when he was speaking casually. This guy was weird, but he was undoubtedly powerful. "Sh-shoot." One of the human shields wretched out and Blue Hair raised a brow. "Shoot us!" The human shield yelled out and the Lieutenants gritted their teeth, but knew it was what had to be done. Again they raised their pistols, but this time they fired them. Blue Hair moved his human shields in the way to catch the bullets and they served their purpose. "Gahhh!"

In this moment of time, Sage had cut the rope from both his neck and ankle and was running up towards a distracted Blue Hair. "Eat this you bastard!" His sword was already reeled back and now he was coming at the mystery man as an actual threat. Blue Hair's eyes flickered to his right side where the swordsman was approaching, a smirk on his face. From Blue Hair's sleeve with a flick of his wrist, the final sixth cord began to peak out and lunged out at Sage. Sage's eyes widened, but he deftly slipped the cord of rope with a ducking weave like a boxer. This worked as an evasive maneuver and as a means to slip into Blue Hair's immediate vicinity. His blade was pressed against the armpit of Blue Hair's extended arm he just tried to use to attack. One hand not he handle of the katana and the other on the blunt side, he applied pressure and dragged outwards in a sweeping motion. Through the tendons, muscle tissue, and eventually bone, Sage cleanly sliced Blue Hair's arm off in a single stroke.

"Ahhhhg!" Lieutenant Sage reeled back once more, this time for a thrust to pierce the wounded man's heart. Blue Hair quickly turned to the swordsman with his single hand palming the face of one of his human shields. In the same motion he turned, he pushed his human shields outwards at the swordsman and hit him in the cranium with the heads of one of the dead bullet ridden Lieutenants. This knocked Sage down and disoriented him, but with this opening the pistol Lieutenants opened their second volley. Again the lapse in Blue Hair's attention was exploited and this hail of gunfire made him seem like a sheet of paper for joint target practice. Every bullet from each of their clips hit Blue Hair and shortly after that moment he fell over dead.

Of the eight Lieutenants who had faced off with him, only four had lived. Quickly the two pistol Lieutenants ran over to Sage and the first swordsman who got incapacitated. Sage was helped up and the other swordsman eventually came to. "I'm fine. I just wish it didn't happen like this." They helped the other swordsman up as well and supported him with a shoulder. Their dead allies had their blood all over the battle field in various spots. In the end they rested dead in clumps of two. Heads busted open or filled with bullets. It was a painful pill to swallow, but such was the life of those who lived this life, Pirate, Marine, or anyone who trekked the seas.

Just as they all gathered themselves together a pillar of flames from Juno had erupted. "The Devil Fruit user . . ." "I believe the Rear Admiral was closest to him after we scattered." The other Marine nodded in agreement. "Then lets head over there." Sage led his group to the heated battle between Briggs and Juno.

---

Lu Dahn, Tyson, and even Kumei's (White Hair) attention was drawn to the beacon of flames that breached the sky. "Looks like Juno is fired up! I can't get left behind!" The boy leapt up and pulled his feet back to a scorched wall that was behind him. Kicking off this wall he darted towards Lu Dahn and curled up into a ball again. Though the boy was fast approaching he was an easy target like this, or so Lu Dahn figured. Raising his pistol at the Mink boy, Lu Dahn was about to fire off a shot when. "Nu uh uuhhhh!" With a burst of his Electro he released a bright flash that blinded Lu Dahn. "Shit." He rose his arm to his eyes to shield them as he bent his legs to jump back. His right leg was still numb and unresponsive, so instead of jumping back he just fell back onto his ass. "Boom boom boom!" "Ricchiii!"  The boy's body slammed straight into Lu Dahn's and a plume of dust and debris rose in his wake.

"Huh?" The boy found himself clutched in Lu Dahn's grip instead of lodged in his crumpled body. Even without his sense of sight, Lu Dahn had discovered a way to still see and that was through his "Instinct" ability. With a smirk on his face, he had his hand clutching the back of the boy's garbs. "I was supposed to be taking it easy this mission, but I think that's out of the question now." The boy shivered as a chill ran up his back. Ricchi's killing intent was leaking through his body which was just a vessel for his irritation fueled malice at this point. Shifting his weight from his ass to the balls of his feet, but not fully standing, Lu Dahn collapsed onto his front with the boy sandwiched between him and the ground. "Lemme go! Lemme go! Lemme go!" The boy's whines were muffled underneath Lu Dahn's weight, but the vibrations from his voice could be felt in the Commodore's chest. He cheesed menacingly. "Filled with fear to the degree that you can't even produce a spark?" Lu Dahn's voice was grim and taunted the boy as he wrestled him still on the ground. "Please stop! Let me go! I don't like this!" Lu Dahn chuckled darkly as he changed his grip on the boy to a grip with his broken arm. There was pain, but it was in the back of his mind right now. He had tunnel vision and this tunnel lead to the boy's death.

"Commodore!" He could hear Tyson approaching from afar, but paid him no mind for he was working on keeping Kumei pinned as he grabbed his pistol. With his pistol in his right hand and his body weight and left hand keeping the boy held down, Lu Dahn placed the pistol somewhere against the boy's body. He wasn't sure where it was, but it didn't really matter. The two shots were basically silenced due to the circumstances in which they were fired in. Blood from the young boy's body began to leak out into a puddle as Lu Dahn got off the body of the Mink. "This hurts . . . A lot." Lu Dahn looked down shamelessly and scoffed. "Pick your battles more wisely I suggest." Tyson arrived and looked down at the bleeding out Mink then looked at Lu Dahn. He really is a monster. A victory was a victory, but the whole scene was so brutal to watch. "Lets get going." Lu Dahn was considering finishing off the Mink, but Tyson's words drew him out of this dark place he was in and threw him back into the mission. He had a sense of duty and two others to help defeat. "Right."

Just as they began to walk towards the pillar of flames that erupted a few minutes ago, they heard someone approaching. Ricchi and Tyson both raised their pistols in preparation for the source of noise to come into their sight. "Tyson! Commodore Ricchi! Just who I was looking for. Rear Admiral Briggs needs your help. He specifically asked for you!" The duo lowered their pistols and looked at each other. "The Rear Admiral is in trouble?!" Tyson expressed his exclamation and worry, while Lu Dahn kept his feelings to himself.

Fool's Gold Finale wrote:"Of all the places I thought I'd run into you Ricchi. What convinced you to meddle in my affairs?" Lu Dahn wasn't interested in answering to Briggs, but he was a noble man at heart. As it stood, he owed Briggs. Not his life, but he owed the man, so he'd cooperate. "Glory. And to stand above the man who was once above me."

Glory had narrowly avoided his grasp then, but now it was his for the taking. "Let us make haste then." He smiled sinisterly on the inside, but kept a calm expression on the exterior. The tables had turned in Lu Dahn's favor.

---

"Prepare to die Marine!" Juno shouted through the bursting arc of flames that shot skyward from his body. As he shouted he pulled both his hands back, then thrusted them both forward at once. Hs open palms were directed towards Briggs and a powerful gout of flames rushed forth from his palms in a dense 10m diameter beam. Briggs quickly shifted to his right with a greedy sidestep. 7m over he then dashed forward at Juno. The Logia's geyser of flames horizontally spewing out and crackling close to his left. He could feel the heat as he ran. "Not that easy!" Juno pulled his hands back and stopped spewing flames. In place of the blazing stream, he now had moderate sized fire balls in his palms. As he pitched them, new balls of flames only replaced them. Briggs kept his advance towards Juno as he skillfully sidestepped and weaved the fireballs. Hoping to catch Briggs' in a rhythm, Juno threw one fireball more quickly behind his last one. It wasn't thrown blindly though, instead it was thrown where Juno predicted Briggs' would evade to based on how he had been moving.

As the first scorching hot sphere came in, Briggs' again jumped to his right and what was waiting for him was another ball of flames, but it's timing made it arrive much sooner than the last ones were coming. He read my tempo and predicted my move?! The Rear Admiral's eyes widened as he stopped running and raised his arms in front of him in an "x" shape to guard. Busoshoku Haki covered both his large muscular arms as he did so. It was a spur of the moment reaction and though some of the heat still burned his arms, some of the damage was negated. As he lowered his guard he was shocked to see Juno wasn't where he last was. With the fireball and his own guard comprising his field of vision, Juno took the chance to relocate. "Up here!" Juno's voice was accompanied by a scream that sounded like a blow torch spitting flames. Briggs' head quickly snapped up to see the boy above him in close range. He was descending with a large compact ball of flames in his hand. "Checkmate!" Juno pushed his hand downward towards Briggs' person, the ball of fire he wielded nearly larger than the Rear Admiral himself who was 8`10.

"Rear Admiral!" Lu Dahn's group arrived just as this was unfolding, but Briggs' probably didn't notice them or Tyson's shout. What they saw was Briggs' haki coated arms make contact with the ball, before it exploded in a hail of fire. "Rear Admiral!" Tyson shouted again in the wake of the explosion. Smoke, soot, dust, and debris littered the area so the true outcome couldn't be read yet.

Haki Stamina: 9/10

The sound of the explosion still echoed in the stance as things came settle down on the battlefield. "We have to help him!" Tyson shouted and began to run forward towards the black smoke, but a fearful image had stopped him. From within the ebon veil a glow could be seen. It was the glow of a fire and it was gradually gathering and composing itself, growing in size until it was that of Juno's body. Still it was hard to make out through this visual obstruction, but that glowing ember alone was an image that even had Lu Dahn rattled. This is power. This was his first encounter with a Devil Fruit user as a true enemy and he now understood why they were the Devil's fruits. "Stay back Tyson!" Lu Dahn's heart thumped hard in his chest, the initial reaction to hearing Briggs' voice was joy. It was held within him, but he was happy that Briggs' was alive, for he thought the man was certainly dead. "Ora ora. You're a persistent one. But then again, you aren't looking too good." The smoke, soot, ash, debris, all of it began to clear. Juno's body was altogether, despite parts of his body still being wavering flames while other parts were normal. Briggs' however, the sight was horrifying. His right arm was gone and his left was scorched to the third degree. He had other bad burns over his exposed body like on his face, but these were the worst ones. The feeling of hope that was fostered in the moment they heard Briggs' voice was just destroyed and replaced with despair. "Commodore Ricchi! I know you're injured, but you're the only one with the aptitude to assist me in this battle!" Juno looked over an analyzed the group of newcomers. As he did so the last group of four Lieutenants arrived on the opposite side.


"Oh yeah. You, blue hair." Juno pointed at Ricchi and it put the Commodore at unease. What could he do in the face of such a powerful enemy besides concede to their strength? "You're the one I want to fight too." Tyson and the other Lieutenants just had their eyes stuck on Rear Admiral Briggs. He was hunched over on a single knee and breathing immensely hard. "What's the meaning of this!?" From the other group of Lieutenants Sage had shouted out upon them all seeing the state of their Rear Admiral. "Hey, hey, Everyone wait you-" A gunshot rang through the air and the bullet whizzed right through flame Juno's body. He paused then looked at the Lieutenant in Sage's group who fired the shot. The action did more to irritate him, than it did to harm him. In fact he wasn't harmed at all. "Now what if I aimed a gun at you and shot you?" The Lieutenant was frozen in fear upon seeing her bullet had no effect though it passed right through Juno's head.

Mocking the shooter, he made a pretend gun with his hand and aimed it at the woman. No flames or anything, just as one would normally do. She was frozen in fear and it seemed everyone else was either right their with her save for Lu Dahn and Sage. They both seethed with anger. Sage for what had been done to Briggs and Lu Dahn for how weak and hopeless he felt yet again. The Fool's Gold incident was enough to make him feel less than, but here he was again in another situation where he couldn't help himself. "Bang." Mimicking the knock of a pistol after being fired, his hand quickly tilted up as if it had just fired a shot. However, it just so happened that it did. Nearly as fast as a bullet from a normal gun, a stream of flames with a small circular head projected from his two finger tips that were the barrel of his pretend gun. This bullet stream of flame did to the woman, what her bullet would have done to Juno should he not have been made of fire itself. Right through her head before anyone could do anything to help her or notice she was dead, she was dead.

Sage tensed up and slowly looked over to see another one of his allies dead, but this time right in front of him and gone in an instant. "Damn you!" He shouted and charged Juno recklessly with his katana drawn. "Lieutenant Riza, no!" Briggs tried to rally his dog in, but to no avail. With painful groans filling his movements, he pushed himself up off his knee with his one arm. "Geez, you're all so impatient." Juno's eyes shifted between the approaching Briggs and Sage, but more so his focus was on Briggs for he doubted the swordsman's ability to use Haki. "No matter what happens, don't enter this fight." Tyson looked over at Lu Dahn who had pulled his sling off from over his head. "C-commodore?" "Regardless if we choose to fight or flee, the odds say we'll die here. That said, I'm going to try my hand at supporting Briggs. I'm unaware of what he thinks I can do, but there's no use in me standing here and not finding out." After he spoke he closed his eyes calmly and blocked out the sounds of battle. First he reactivated his "Instinct" ability. Next, he gathered strength in his broken arm, then flexed it as hard as he could with a battle yell. The yell was a means to cope with the pain that came with this. In the end, the cast shattered from the intensity of the flex and while the arm looked normal on the exterior, Lu Dahn knew he should limit use of the healing appendage.

There's was nothing more to say, so he just opened his eyes and joined Briggs and Sage who were charging at Juno. "Hahaha, bring it on!"

Haki Stamina: 8/10

Sage was the first to close in on Juno who had decided to play on defense. While he felt Sage surely didn't have access to Haki, he was unsure about Lu Dahn and he knew for a fact that Briggs could. Sage lifted his blade to slash down vertically at Juno from Juno's right. As the Lieutenants arms were raised to bring down the katana, Juno quickly turned to face him them hopped back to dodge. As soon as he landed, he prepared to push off his feet again to take back the distance he just put between him and Sage. His right hand flickered with flames priming to incinerate the swordsman in an inferno, but Briggs had come into range now as well.

From Juno's left Briggs was swinging a nasty hook with his single arm, but it was coated in a shell of Armament Haki. Juno pivoted to turn towards Briggs and ducked down to sail underneath his hook. Along with the momentum of the pivot, Juno pushed his primed right hand out to Briggs' exposed stomach, but it was then that Lu Dahn, who was now on Juno's right had closed in on him. Lu Dahn knew he had no means of combating this man. From seeing the bullet sail through him, he instantly concluded that physical attacks had no effect on him. But despite that, Lu Dahn observed how he avoided Sage's and Briggs' attacks as he was closing in. So there was an exception to this immunity to physical attacks. He just had to find out what that exception was. And currently as it stood, he was actively dodging attacks made on him, so Lu Dahn would attack, even if he couldn't harm the man, to serve as a means to save Briggs who was at risk of getting cremated.

Since Juno was crouched low underneath Briggs' hook, Lu Dahn would kick with his left leg, narrowly avoiding Briggs, but at such an arc that it had the potential to hit Juno in the stomach before he got to Briggs with his hand. "Shit!" Juno saw Lu Dahn's attack, but there was also Sage's next attack that was coming in at the same time. From his downward slash, he put his non-dominant hand's palm on the pommel of his sword and angled the blade towards Juno as he stabbed at his head. He couldn't be too sure that both Lu Dahn and Sage didn't know Haki, so he decided to back out of his attack on Briggs. Changing the course of his right hands thrust towards the ground, he blasted the surface and propelled himself backwards 15m away from the three Marines. Each of their attacks missed him and each other, but his blast still created a wave of flames that mostly singed Briggs' body. "Guh." Briggs brought his arm back in from the hook with a pained expression. He had burns all over and only the clothing on his lower body remained, though they had ash and burns on them too.

From Juno's perspective the three Marines were now all near each other. Briggs was in the center, Lu Dahn was on the left side of Briggs and Sage was on the right, again this was from Juno's perspective.

Lu Dahn opened his mouth to speak, but Briggs began talking before he could. "Ricchi . . . You're familiar with Haki correct?" All three Marines kept their eyes on Juno who was waiting for their next assault or perhaps plotting his own. "I've heard of it, but don't know much about it. Why?" Briggs found this answer to be odd considering he could feel Lu Dahn had awakened Perception Haki by reading the Commdore's aura through his own usage of Perception Haki. This wasn't a time for secrecy though and he knew Lu Dahn knew this. Perhaps he awoke the power without knowing what it is. "What do you want me to do sir." Sage was itching to fight Juno though he was aware of what a power gap there was between them. "Just sit tight *cough* you've been a great help." Briggs was initially going to grab Sage and toss him away instead of attack Juno. But when he saw Juno dodge Sage's attack, he knew he was weary of the possibility that Sage knew Haki. This fear of the unknown was what was keeping them alive and buying them time currently.

"So Haki." Briggs nodded. "Though you don't know what it is. You've awakened one of the powers. It's a perceptive ability. Have you noticed this ability before." Lu Dahn rose a single brow. How can he tell? It wasn't that he was trying to keep it a secret, he just didn't understand how Briggs knew he had mysteriously gained such a power. "Yes, I'm using it right now in fact." Briggs nodded, this was better than he thought. Not only had Lu Dahn experienced his Kenbunshoku Haki awakening, but he had enough control over it to use it at will. "What are you chumps over there mumbling about! If you don't hurry up I'll start killing the rest of these guys!" Juno practically had hostages and he displayed before that he was deathly accurate enough to kill from afar very quickly.

Haki Stamina: 7/10

"Boss. I'll go and buy us time while you talk!" "Riza no!" Sage was already charging off and at first Juno raised a brow, but then his evil toothy grin overcame the confused expression. "I can't let him kill the others!" "Coming to die by yourself? Be my guest!" Lu Dahn saw Briggs eyes were glues onto Sage. It was deeper than just a stare though. Lu Dahn saw Briggs' eyes were already mourning the Lieutenants death. It was then that he put himself in Briggs' shoes, the shoes of the ring leader. An already stressful situation was now all the more stressful and he felt crushed under the weight. It was logical to let Sage try and buy them time, but at the same time it was sending a selfless and valiant soldier to his death.

For the first time in a long time, Lu Dahn acted off of emotion. He couldn't bear to force Briggs to focus on the conversation again and ignore his Lieutenant that ran to death's door just to buy them mere seconds of time. He also couldn't bear feeling weak and useless to the point he couldn't prevent the death of someone in front of him or his own death. Like a fool, Lu Dahn took off behind Sage and charged Juno.

"Ricchi!" Briggs reached out and tried to moved to follow, but felt excruciating pain instead. The adrenaline of battle had wore off and the endorphins that weren't letting him feel the entirety of his pain were no longer doing that. Even when he took breaths he felt a dry burning sensation. From there he just fell to his knees, then onto his front. My lungs are scorched? "Rear Admiral!" Tyson had run down to his superior officer and crouched down to his side. "Flee . . . take the others *cough* and flee." Tyson looked from Briggs to Lu Dahn, Sage, and Juno. Shaking his head he responded. "We're all good as dead. There's no point in running." Tyson looked to the other Lieutenants. "Give them some cover fire!" Per Tyson's orders, the Lieutenants showered Juno in a hail of bullets that did nothing but whizzed through his body. "Hahahaha. You idiots are desperate as hell. You know you're about to die huh?!" He taunted as his flame body was disturbed, yet unharmed by the mass passing through it. Ignoring the ongoing volley of bullets, Juno narrowed his eyes on Sage and Lu Dahn as he crouched down in a feral like manner. "It's about time I end this." He said to himself.

"Create and opening for me." Lu Dahn was running directly behind Sage when he said this before straying off to Sage's right side. The bullet fire ended and now it was the final stretch. Sage nodded to Lu Dahn's words and just as he came within 3m of Juno with a prepared over the shoulder slash, he darted off with Soru. In an instant he closed the space between him and his foe. "Slow." Juno snapped to his right to face where Sage ended his travel. He already had an extended open palm in the swordsman's face waiting for him. Sage's eyes widened and he ducked before quickly using Soru again to dart off back where he had initially Soru'd from. It was right in time to dodge Juno's massive flame wave that engulfed a large portion of the battlefield. The Lieutenants that were peppering him with gun fire nearly were swallowed by the wave, but they ran out the way just in time.

In place of Sage being where he started, Lu Dahn had also used Soru and positioned himself opposite of where Sage had. This put the Commodore at Juno's back and from there he released a straight right punch at the Logia's head. It hit and distorted the man's flame body, but lacked the Haki to make it cause any real damage.  "Oh?" Lu Dahn pulled his fist back out of the flames that had burned his right arm a bit. Juno casually turned to face Lu Dahn and his expression when he faced him was amused. "You don't have Haki?" His head tilted to the side and Lu Dahn released a strong kick from his right leg at Juno. The kick went straight through his flaming body like his punch had. Juno offered Lu Dahn a humored scoff in response. It only worked to heat the Commodore up more. Dammit! He gritted his teeth and executed a combination mixed with kicks and punches at Juno. His injured arm was one of the last things on his mind at the moment, so it was incorporated in the useless flurry of attacks. This was significant, because Juno snatched the broken arm by the forearm just as it came at him.

"Wasn't this arm in a cast and sling when I first saw you?" Juno examined the arm as he applied pressure to his grip, causing a world of pain for Lu Dahn. Juno began to grin his toothy grin until he felt his body waver from interference once more. At his back was Sage who was slashing at his flame body with his sword to no avail. Juno looked back at him and laughed, before looking back at Lu Dahn. "Both of you chumps don't know Haki? What a sorry excuse for Marines." His grip tightened and he began to lower Lu Dahn's arm to force Lu Dahn to lower himself with the appendage. "You seem like a prideful fellow. Go ahead and bow down to me heheh." The physical torture was one thing, but now even who he was as an individual was being tested. "Fuck you." Lu Dahn had rarely ever said that to someone, but if he had to pick someone Juno was most deserving.

Juno made a questionable face as he noticed despite the pain and position of his injured arm, Lu Dahn was refusing to lower himself. "How about this then?" Juno's hand suddenly was engulfed in flames and it began to sear Lu Dahn's arm. "GAAAAH!" He yelled out in pain and and couldn't bear to physical resist but to fall down to his knees to Juno. Juno's hand lost its fire and his grip lightened, but still held onto Lu Dahn's arm. "Was that so hard? Haha, that's going to be a nasty burn on your corpse." The flesh on Lu Dahn's arm closer to his elbow, but still on his forearm was seared. The burn wrapped around the entirety of this part of his forearm like a ring with jagged edges. "His hand Sage!" Lu Dahn yelled out to Sage in pain, but also when the thought hit him.

Sage couldn't harm his body, but since Juno's hand was physically clutching Lu Dahn's arm it meant it was eligible to be physically harm. Sage got the clue right away and slipped to the side to see the target and immediately chopped down. Juno looked over in astonishment as this quick shift happened, for he was caught with his pants down. With great precision even in a time of urgency, Sage successfully cut Juno's hand off at the base of the wrist. "Ahhhhhggg, you fucking bastards!" Juno immediately had turned the rest of his body into flames and retreated. As he was he just existed as a bundle of fire with details and features that resembled his physical form. From his knees, Lu Dahn got up. His left arm hung lose at his side, ridiculous amounts of pain banging at him trying to make him fall. Lu Dahn was undeterred however. His eyes were not the eyes of someone who had just been shamed. They expressed a yearning for revenge by any means necessary. While his left arm hung limp, his right arm was clad in an armor of ebony.

Haki Stamina: 6/10 - Kenbunshoku Deactivated. Busoshoku Activated.

Spoiler:

Indeed his pride was shattered, but if he killed this man right here and now, it'd be regained along with glory. These weren't the thoughts of Lu Dahn, he was currently blinded with the thirst for revenge and it lead him by the nose to rush in at Juno with no particular plan in mind. But these were some of the things that could be gained if he were successful now.

"Just die already!" Roughly 7m away, the body of flames began to shoot an array of small fireballs at Lu Dahn. They were no larger than softballs. With urgency he pushed off the ground with Soru to evade the cluster of spheres coming his way. He'd end the term fo Soru off to his left, albeit a bit closer to Juno who had now reverted to his original looking body. The only thing that remained flames was his wrist at the point of dismemberment. He was obviously irritated and seeking revenge as well. Who would be lucky enough to indulge in their primal desires?

Inhaling a breath, Juno exhaled a surge of fire. With his forward momentum, Lu Dahn jumped off he ground like one would do a long jump. When he did so, he jumped high enough be above the tide of inferno and far enough to be behind the one who spewed the flames. His landing was good, but had a few stumbling steps due to the fatigue he was powering through.Juno didn't initially see him, because his line of sight was partially blocked from the size of his attack. Nonetheless, the fire logia's other senses alerted him of Lu Dahn's presence once he began to run at him. Juno turned to Lu Dahn and extended his single hand at him with an open palm. "Check mate bitch!"

The memory of the attack flashed through his mind, the moment he saw the palm. "Dammit!" With his right hand balled in a fist he jabbed out to have the fist "caught" in Juno's open palm. This contact happened as soon as the flash of flames was supposed to erupt, but with the assistance of Haki, the eruption was suppressed. The concussive force still seemed to damage Lu Dahn's hand though. In spite of this, Lu Dahn didn't hesitate to step into Juno's space while the latter was stunned at the sight of the Haki coating on his foe's arm. "Wuh? When di-" Lu Dahn wasn't a very emotional person, but on this attack was a lot. Thoughts of Briggs and how he lost an arm, thoughts of the female Marine Lieutenant who was killed, and Lu Dahn's own personal vendetta against Juno. These were some of the things that kept him in the fight and helped the sharp uppercut landed on Juno do as much damage as it could. "Rahhh!"

The force alone knocked the young teen off his feet and into the air a couple of feet. Lu Dahn wished he could have continued his assault, but he hadn't the strength. Though when the teen landed. . . this is when Lu Dahn relieved the emotions he was feeling onto him. With a malicious smile that mirrored the one Juno wore many times prior, Lu Dahn mounted the Logia. Juno seemed to barely be conscious, but his eyes were still opening and closing as if he were in a daze. "Look who's on top now huh? Hahah." Lu Dahn's laugh seemed as if he were in a state of manic, but the onlooking Lieutenants did nothing but watch with mixed feelings. The mixed feelings were because the threat was obviously being defeated, but the way it was gone about was savage and something you'd expect more from a villain.

Lu Dahn let himself go as he pummeled Juno's head in with his haki coated fist. Even after he was surely dead, Lu Dahn persisted until his face was unrecognizable. All the while in his head he thought about how Juno had not only shamed him, but burned his arm. It was a burn that'd be on his arm for the rest of his life and it was a dastardly jagged looking ring around his forearm. "You son of a bitch!" Once a seemingly emotionless man, he had become a slave to his emotions once he let go. It was thanks to these emotions that he gained the power that he needed to reign triumphant over this trial though.

Haki Stamina: 5 Busoshoku Deactivated

Eventually Sage walked to Lu Dahn and caught his fist before he punched again. "It's done." Lu Dahn's fist tensed up with his last droplets of anger, before he sighed and released them. He felt exhausted. Not only from the fighting, but from letting his emotions run free. It was draining. "You're right . . ." Sage switched his grip on Lu Dahn's hand to help him up and once Lu Dahn was standing he took the time to actually examine Sage.

Sage:

"I didn't notice you're so young." Lu Dahn was take aback by how young Sage was. There were young Marines, but he acted with bravery that a lot of men lacked. He could tell parts of it were from still being a child, but mostly from being valiant and selfless. Sage rolled his eyes at Lu Dahn. "That's not what you say to someone who saves you." Sahe didn't take kindly to Lu Dahn's words and the youth began to walk towards Briggs where the other Marines were. Lu Dahn was unbothered by the boy's irritation with him, but amused at how he had responded. He had as much bite as he let on. A talker and a walker.

"We need to get him immediate medical attention." Tyson was taking charge of the situation, their troop of twelve, dwindled down to just five and one, the Rear Admiral, on the brink of death. "The closet town is outside of the Alabasta Kingdom. Should be half a day's journey on foot." "*cough cough*" "Rear Admiral?" Sage kneeled down to Briggs' level as he came back from unconsciousness. Lu Dahn watched from outside the huddle of Marines. He could tell they really shared a bond with Briggs and he cared deeply for them as well. It wasn't just a ragtag team of Marines, it was a true Unit. "I'll be fine. My wounds are all cauterized. We need to return to the Caesar. I would tell you you all did a fine job, but us being alive right now makes that apparent. . . Especially you Commodore Ricchi. You've outdone yourself. It's because of you that we survived." Lu Dahn looked Briggs in the eyes as he spoke to him and he felt the compliment settle in his soul. Oddly enough, with those words it finally felt like the battle had come to a close and they could be at ease.

"Are you sure we should return to the Caesar? It's a far journey with no camels sir." Briggs nodded his head. "You seem well Tyson, so I'm entrusting you with my body during this travel. If I were to walk, I'd only be a hindrance." Tyson was already supporting Briggs with the help of another Lieutenant. "Sage, see to it that our fallen ones are buried properly before we depart." Sage nodded his head. "Yes sir." With that, Sage ran off to do his duty by his lonesome. The group mobilized and headed to the entrance of Ramash. A few minutes after they got there, Sage had come back with dirt on his garbs. "Six feet for each them?" Sage nodded. "Yes sir." Briggs smiled at Sage. Lu Dahn then began to understand that Sage was Briggs' golden child and he couldn't blame him. For his age he was extremely talented and he had good character. "To the Caesar then. Commodore Ricchi, I know you've sustained injuries ontop of your previous injuries, but I hope I can entrust you to be our vanguard?" "Someone has to do it." Lu Dahn spoke with his normal levels of arrogance as if nothing had even happened. Briggs gave a weak smile, not that it wasn't genuine, he was just exhausted. "Sage I entrust the rear guard to you." Sage nodded and the two fell into their formations. With that the small troop of five departed to the Caesar back in Alabasta.

[Exit]