From the forge of the local blacksmith, a pair of hammers rang out, the dings echoing from the back of the building as Mashyuu mimicked a large, burly man who had taught Mashyuu the basics of smithing to begin with. The winged man ran his forearm over the top of his head to wipe away a heavy sheen of sweat. "Great job boy! That is how you hammer out a claymore! Look at it! It's bright silver and easy longer than you are tall. But look at how your blade is simply a flat piece of steel.... well as flat as a sword should be. But there is no curve or balance in it. While you hammered it out well, it's not going to be balanced at all. All the weight is at the edges. Nothing in the middle. You aren't making a battle ax but this will help to make a great training sword. Go ahead and fix the handle and pommel to it then try again. This time don't waste my steel!"

Masyuu's brow furrowed and he sighed with frustration and annoyance. "You just said I was doing good...." Mashyuu grumbled and took a fresh and hot piece of steel from the smelter. "...You did well. I needed to get a training sword made for this order. So that's one less thing I have to do." Mashyuu twisted his face up in a half proud snarl and leaned the blade of the sword he had just made against a near by wall and started to hammer a piece of steel again. Every three strikes he turned the blade over and struck again working his hammer up and down the blade but not as hard as he did before, sure to tapper the weight of the blade until he had made a proper two handed sword that was longer than he was tall. "Lets see it..." Gunther, the balding blacksmith stated and picked up the weapon, inspecting it with an eye that said he was looking for the slightest fault. "You're getting better. I can use this one for the order. But I'm reducing your pay for forcing me to have to redo all these pieces of crap..." His thumb jerked over his shoulder to a pile of twenty or so swords that weren't close to what the order was. As skilled as Mashyuu was getting he still had a long way to go until he would master how to make every type of sword in the world. But Gunther had told him that most smiths focused on one type of blade to master while knowing how to create the rest at a base level.

Mashyuu nodded his head and frowned but accepted the fact that the free practice was worth more than an honest days wage and the fact that he had honestly just made Gunther work harder was a fair enough point in Mashyuu's mind. The winged man pulled off his leather apron and pulled his black suit jacket on over his arms. "Well I have to get some supplies for my ship and make sure Harley is doing better. If it's okay with you I'll take my pay and head on out." Gunther smiled wide and headed to a table near by. He picked up a hammer smaller than the ones he normally used and handed it to Mashyuu. "Take this and one hundred beri from the register." Mashyuu looked down at the hammer and blinked a few times while marveling at its weight. It was perfectly balanced and didn't feel like it would ever wear Mashyuu out if he swung it. "I know you won't be on Jaya much longer but these past few days have been a joy for me. When you came here a few months ago and said you wanted to learn I never expected you to come back. But you returned from Skypiea with special steel, clearly practiced your craft and have been here every day since your return to learn more. I made this hammer as a token of respect and kinship." "You honor me with this gift. I don't deserve it but I'll accept it. Thank you Gunther." Mashyuu was moved by the gesture and left the shop without taking the money that Gunther offered, finding the hammer to be worth far too much.

The winged Pirate stepped outside and stretched his body up then out while yawning. His eyes leaked a bit of water from the exhaustion that flooded his body. As he let his arms fall to his sides his wrist flicked and the hammer flipped through the air behind him and landed in his palm as he deftly moved his arm back to grab the crafting tool. A moment later white feathers fell around the door of Gunther's smithy when Mashyuu took flight and headed back towards the Skycleaver.

He touched down at the gang plank and made his way up the ramp, feet softly trudging on the near brand new wood and steel of the ramp, his black boots making almost no sound, a caution he took to make sure Harley wouldn't wake up if she were asleep. He didn't understand the extent of her injuries and even though she had been patched up by Kouse, Mashyuu didn't want to risk her not getting better fast. Upon the deck of the ship Mashyuu's bare hand reached down and yanked the trap door up so he could climb the ladder down to the cabins and moved to the bottom deck of the vessel. Proudly he hung his new hammer on a rack and scooped up a small sack of berri he had made selling some of his more common wares. Apparently the winged cross guards he put on his daggers and swords had been a big hit and was starting to earn him a reputation in town.

Just as silently as he came to the ship, Mashyuu left, sneaking past Harley's room to make sure she was alive on his way out. Back on the top deck of the ship, Mashyuu flew up to the crows nest and glanced around. We haven't sailed on this thing yet but we have like... three ships. One of them is Gideon's kitchen, one is the Charon and the other is this one. Charon is fully staffed when you consider Dai, Kouse and Yuurei. Mine however needs a navigator still. Just in case we get split up and I can't follow Dai. Plus there are next to no basic food or water supplies here. I'm gonna need to get some non perishable foods at the very least. I think there is a place at the opposite end of town that sells food like that to ships. Mashyuu thought to himself and checked the sack of beli in his hand. It wasn't too much but should be enough to get him to the next island just fine.

Mashyuu strutted down the road, his cane flipping in a circle with each step as he continued to stroll through Mock Town. He had made it halfway through town. From the time he had spent in Mock Town alone he had gained some good friends and most people knew who he was by at least face.... or wings. The Pirate Captain smiled and waved at the people who were around. Mock Town had become a sort of home to Mashyuu, a place he didn't have to wear that mask to hide his identity, but alas, the leader of the Phantom Raiders could feel that his crews time in the town was drawing to a close.

Just as he started to get close to a large warehouse that he recognized as the place that packaged and shipped preserved food, dried beefs, canned fruits and the like, the sound of heavy panting from behind caught his attention. Mashyuu spun around to look at the source of the sound. Long hair that shifted in shades of blue and black shimmered in the light as a woman dressed in a light brown leather flight jacket, matching pants and a skull cap with goggles on ran down the street. Her face looked battered and broken but determined to survive and without anyone seemingly willing to help her, she was on her own.

Mashyuu sighed and ran a hand through his black hair then looked down at his sword still stuck in the cane's scabbard. He really didn't feel like killing anyone and decided to bludgeon the group of ten men chasing her. Just as she passed the Pirate Captain and darted down an alley, three of the men broke away, one heading right, and two heading left to dart into other near by alleys likely to try and head her off. The last two made their way behind her but Mashyuu stepped in their path, legs planted firmly apart with his cane out and planted onto the pavement of the street while his head twisted to the side and looked the two men dead in the face.

The two men slid to a stop, each wearing a pair of blue jean overalls and carrying short shafted war hammers. Their faces were covered in grease or oil, like they had been working on some sort of machine. Mashyuu straightened his head out and glared at the two men, his eyes flashed a shade of red for a brief moment just before he spoke. "That is not the right way to get a woman to like you. You have to be a gentleman and show them that you're worth trust and time." The two men looked at one another with a confused look on their face and figured that Mashyuu was some sort of bodyguard for the woman then lunged at him, hammers raised and coming right for the well dressed Captain...

"Honestly this is rude. We could have talked this through like adults." Mashyuu mocked while taking a singe step back and lifting his cane off the ground, a hammer crashed down into the pavement where Mashyuu was standing. His cane snapped out and caught the man who attacked the ground in the side of the face. A second shot came for Mashyuu's face but he lifted his cane and caught the mans wrist with the handle of the stick, hampering his attack and making it come up short. "I can tell why this place is an island of former Pirates. Most of you are terrible. It's like you realized you couldn't cut it and all gave up in the same spot. Well I'll tell you now, I can cut it and you're gonna have to try a lot harder." The two men collected themselves and snarled, one reaching into his back pocket to pull a short knife from the pouch. "Oh.... Enough of this." Mashyuu reached out with his left hand towards the two men and clenched his hand into a fist. Suddenly his hand crackled with silver sparks and a field of energy shot out from around his body. "Repel...." Suddenly the men found themselves having a hard time holding onto their weapons as they were pushed away from not only Mashyuu but the men. The man holding two weapons couldn't keep a grip on either of them and shouted when the weapons flew out of his hand while the other gripped his hammer with both hands and was pushed backwards from trying to keep his grip. "Attract." Suddenly and without warning the soaring weapons yanked back and came at Mashyuu, causing the man that kept a grip on his weapon to trip forward and fall, letting his weapon go. "You should run now." Mashyuu warned the men as the field of sparking energy vanished and the weapons dropped harmlessly.

The man that had two weapons helped his friend up and the fear and confusion on their faces said it all. Without so much as a word the two men ran from Mashyuu headed back the way they came. Mashyuu couldn't help but wear a smile on his face, his new skill proving useful already and was easy enough to control that he felt he could do it under a stressful situation. Quickly he turned to face the alley and a bead of sweat dripped down his head. I should have let them box themselves in and took them all out at once.... He realized too late. Quickly his white wings spread wide and beat down, kicking up a circle of dirt as his body rose from the ground and soared up towards the sky.

The wind soared past Mashyuu, almost stinging his face with how quickly he rose from the ground to the sky. He stopped and hovered when he could see most of the workings of the various places the woman could have ran and where her attackers could be. Quickly his eyes scanned the area while he mentally beat himself for letting her get so far and not thinking ahead. It was a bad move and he could have done better if he just took a moment to think before he acted. That was the benefit of having Harley or another member of the Phantom Raiders around, more voices of reason during any given situation. Mashyuu let his eyes land on a group of two that were laying in wait, and a group that were forcing the woman into a trap.

The Dark haired winged warrior was about to draw his weapon when he realized that the space was too cramped to simply fight all those men in. If he were acting as a wall so someone like Elias could fire off attacks at the others it would be a different story but in such a narrow field, a lot of Mashyuu's skills were going to be off the table as attack and defense options. Just follow them... He thought to himself with a growl slipping past his lips. Leaning forward his wings pushed off the air and he glided to land atop a building above where the ambush was happening. As silently as he could, Mashyuu touched down and peered over the ledge of the building.

The long haired woman stopped at the end of a path that split left and right, unaware that a goon was standing at the end of each path waiting for her to turn while a group of six men followed behind her. She took deep breaths of air and reached to her hip, placed in a holster was a bent piece of light metal that was pointed at each end. Her eyes rolled as she spun around on her black booted heels and drew the weapon. Mashyuu watched from above with a curious look on his face. The woman pulled her arm holding the metal boomerang back and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the wind with her spread right wing, once her feathers moved a bit from a breeze, she tossed the boomerang and pushed her wing forward, creating stronger gust. The wind carried the metal weapon towards the group of six and caused them all to pause to duck the soaring weapon. With them distracted she charged forward and drew a second boomerang from her left hip and brought it up. Just as she slammed into the shoulder of the lead goon and crumpled over his body her held weapon came down and slammed into the small of the man's back, drawing blood as it was brutally yanked back out.

The woman flipped over the man's body and brought her right leg down like a hammer atop the crown of the next in lines skull, knocking him out in the process. His eyes rolled as he slumped and the woman came to a stand. Her thrown weapon looped back around and the bent end smashed into the neck of the rear goon who was drawing a pistol, knocking him out as well. In one swift move, she had taken down half of her attackers. Then without a word of warning both the men who had been hiding rounded the corner with small guns drawn. They each fired their weapons and two darts stuck into the woman's back, causing her to shake from the impact and turn to face them. "What- wa?" Her words slurred and her eyes fell shut with heavy lids before she collapsed to the ground in a heap of dirty feather and brown leathers. The men gathered around her and one hoisted her up off the ground and slung him over his shoulder while the others helped their friends come too and together the group started to walk down the alleys.

"At least she put up a fight..." Mashyuu muttered and dropped down behind the group, landing silently near the dropped boomerangs. Quickly he picked them up and activated a small magnetic field on his thighs to hold them in place. He would have liked to look at their quality but couldn't make the time to do so under the situation. Again Mashyuu flew up, following from behind and above to see where the men were going. If he could, he would free the woman while the men were gone. He really wasn't going to help more than making sure there was a fair fight but seeing someone get captured and held against their will was something Mashyuu couldn't ever stand, it was at its core, slavery and the fact that the woman was a Skypiean made Mashyuu feel like he needed to help her anyway.

Mashyuu followed the group through a maze of streets and alleys, if he had followed from behind he would have become lost within ten minutes or surely have been spotted. But from above he could better predict the movements of his targets and get around easier. When the group all stopped near a dumpster, Mashyuu landed on a tall buildings fire escape and watched carefully as they moved it aside and revealed a sewer manhole. Mashyuu's brow raised and he started to look around at their location. "Edge of town, left of the docks...But still close. What is down there aside from nasty water?" Mashyuu asked and waited for the men to go down the manhole while another pushed the dumpster back into place and headed a different direction.

Once the coast was clear Mashyuu dropped down and used his devil fruit to yank the dumpster aside. Mashyuu stepped up to the manhole and pointed his left hand at it, slowly raising his hand the manhole lid moved up then aside with a wave of Mashyuu's wrist. The smell that wafted up was terrible and caused the Pirate to step back and groan with disgust and annoyance. "Oh shit... I gotta go down there don't I? Ughh so not cool." He complained and started to unbutton his black jacket so that he was dressed in his white long sleeved shirt, red pants and black shoes. No point in getting his entire outfit dirty when he could have just got the pants and shirt ruined instead. "The things I do for favors..." He complained and dropped down the manhole into the sewers...

There was no landing silently this time. He dropped down and splashed into some ankle deep sewage water that made Mashyuu's face twist in a disgusted snarl that said everything about his mood. He could feel his skin crawl with the feeling of how nasty the water was. He wanted to give up and go get the food then home to change but couldn't bring himself to do so without helping the poor woman. He looked ahead of himself to see a passage then turned to see another passage and a man who was standing guard and honestly shocked to see someone just drop down like Mashyuu just did. "Oh hi. I'm looking for a group of brutes who took a pretty woman down here. Would you happen to know where they went?" Mashyuu casually asked while the guard started to reach for a den den on his hip. Mashyuu rolled his eyes and jabbed his cane into the mans neck, cutting off his air supply, knocking the man to his knees while he clutched for his throat. "No no. What way did they go?" Mashyuu asked again.

The man grabbing his throat shook his head and spit up blood. He pointed behind him and made a left hand motion as if telling Mashyuu to head down the hall and hang a left. Mashyuu nodded his head up and down then smashed his cane into the back of the man's head, knocking him out cold. Mashyuu pushed up against a wall and walked as best as he could outside of the water instead of splashing through it. The winged man glanced at his feathered wings and sighed, he could have flown of the place wasn't so cramped but now he was forced to move through the cramped area slowly. He hung left and stopped when he saw a large metal door that was shut tight. "of course. That thing is gonna make some noise." He muttered under his breath and took a step back.

Once again silvered sparks jumped off of Mashyuu's body and formed a sphere of energy around him. "Repel!" He shouted and charged the door, knocking the heavy door off its hinges and into a large room. Mashyuu stood still in the doorway, watching the room but didn't see anyone, nor heard anyone coming towards him. Mashyuu took a deep breath and stepped into the room, bringing the field of repulsion in on himself until it vanished completely. Desks lined the walls and each desk had heavy tools or blue prints on them. Mashyuu moved to the desks and examined the blueprints for a moment. "These look like boats. What's up with these?" He asked himself without taking too long to look around the rest of the room.

While looking at the blueprints on one desk, Mashyuu spotted a half put together pistol on a desk and his eyes lit up. "Ohh this will be fun to put together and figure out how it works." Mashyuu mused silently and pushed the weapon into the band of his pants. From there he ripped up the blueprints and continued to walk through the large room to a small passage that was just big enough to walk almost shoulder to shoulder next to someone else. He examined the passage and put himself in the center of it then walked down the dark hall. In the hall the nasty water seemed vanish, replaced by dry and uneven stone. It hurt to walk on the stone with Mashyuu's dress shoes but it was better than having squishy socks. The terrible smell smell vanished as well, as if he were heading towards a place that was lived in.

Continuing to follow the hall Mashyuu realized he had gotten lost and was no longer sure what part of Mock Town he was under or where the closest manhole was in case he had to make a hasty escape, only that the hall he was in had no branching paths and he could follow it out to the larger room if he needed to. After what Mashyuu was sure was two hours of walking he could hear the sounds of tools clanking and working together against what he could only describe as wood and metal. It wasn't the sound of a forge but was similar in a lot of ways.

Mashyuu headed towards the cracked open door that the sound of of work was coming from and pressed himself against the wall closest to the cracked open passage. He peered inside and glanced around as best as he could without opening the door or stepping into the room. On the other side Mashyuu could see small ships placed on wooden blocks, the ships were broken into sections but close together and men worked on ripping the valuable pieces off the rest of the vessels. Things that could easily be sold were being taken first, steering wheels, sails and banisters to name a few items. After he was sure nobody was watching the door, Mashyuu peeked his head inside and continued to let his eyes wander about, stopping when his gaze landed on a small, cramped cage at the far end of the room. Inside the woman that was attacked sat curled in a ball with her arms bound behind her back and tied to her bound ankles. He could feel his blood boiling at the sight of her like that but he refused to let that anger get the best of him so easily.

Carefully Mashyuu stepped into the room and crouched down low, stepping just light enough that his feet barely made a sound as his socks squished each time they were compressed between his foot and shoe. The man gripped the sheath of his cane blade tightly with one hand and the handle with the other, ready to draw it at a moments notice. Keeping his eyes darting between the men working and the cage, he tried to time his movements closer to the cage with the loudest sounds of tools prying, breaking and clashing against wood and metal. The woman in the cage didn't seem to notice Mashyuu, as her face never lifted from being pressed against her knees. He wanted to reach out and tell her it was going to be fine but couldn't simply do that. He could have pulled the cage she was in closer towards him but it might have caused too big of a scene and the Pirate was for once trying to be stealthy with his movements. He inched closer and closer, using tables in the room and pillars that supported the massive area as cover.

The dark haired Pirate got close enough to the cage that he could almost reach out and touch it, then pulled the boomerangs off his thighs and floated them into the cage to rest on the woman's legs. She looked up and her bright green eyes lit up with shock and confusion. Quickly she slid the boomerangs into her palm and rested them against her arms to hide what she could then looked around until her gaze landed on Mashyuu. The Pirate checked his flanks then moved in to the side of the cage putting the cage between himself and the workers. "My name is Mashyuu Ishi. Captain of the Phantom Raiders. What did you do to get put in this cage?" Mashyuu asked as silently as he could while still being heard by the woman.

".. I remember running past you. Thanks for coming. My name is Sky, I used to run with this gang. I would steal small boats and leave them near the largest sewage gates of Mock Town where these guys would show up, break down the boats and bring them here to get what could be sold easily then they would make the rest of the ship look like it was destroyed by patrolling marines. Think of it like a chop shop. But I found something. A ship that held dials from Skypiea. You know, home. I wanted to keep them away from people like this so I hid the ship. They think the ship has lots of beri and I guess you could sell those dials for a hefty sum. But these guys are gonna kill me if I don't get out." Sky explained just as silently. "You stole ships? Then you can sail them. Are you a navigator?" "...I can get around the seas if that's what you're asking me." "I'll cut you a deal then. You take me to that ship so I can get a dial or two, and you join my crew as my ships personal navigator. Agree to that and I'll get you out of here."

Mashyuu would have let her out of the cage anyway but if he could get some help in the process he wouldn't hesitate to do so. Sky thought about it for a moment and nodded her head. "You get me a log pose and put me on a ship, I'll get you to any island you want. Besides, keeping some dials in our race instead of marines hands would be the best option." Sky agreed.

The Pirate Captain grinned ear to ear as if he had been expecting her to say that. "Good considering the other option was death. Sit tight and I'll have you right out. You okay with fighting these guys? I saw you had at least some skill with those boomerangs." Mashyuu asked but really wasn't about to leave her with any real choice in the matter. He moved to the front of the cage, gripped the bars with his left and set his sword down, His right hand hung open with his palm facing the pad lock that held the cage shut. His face strained as silvered sparks flung off his fingers. "What is that?" Sky asked just as Mashyuu's devil fruit powers yanked on the lock and pulled until the pad lock was forced to pop open. Mashyuu's entire body relaxed and slowly removed the lock from the door. "Any good pirate has a few tricks up his sleeve. Now come on we have to-"

Mashyuu only then realized that the room had gone silent and he glanced over his shoulder to see nine men, the workers standing behind him looking the Skypieans dead in the eye. Eight of the men were dressed like the two Mashyuu had beaten before and didn't look all that impressive but the one in the center, he looked different. Easily the size of Gogo, a mobster that Mashyuu had dealt with when he first arrived at Mock Town, with long brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head. His beard was short but rugged and clearly not kept well. While he was dressed in the same blue overalls and black boots as the others he carried a massive two handed sword over his left shoulder and the gaze on his face was one of pure and controlled anger. In a way it reminded Mashyuu of Madori.

"Oi! What the hell do we have here? A rat helping a mouse? Well luckily we have a second cage. Boys... Lets squash em." The large man reached back and grabbed his sword then with one fell slash brought it down atop Mashyuu! Without thinking about it, Mashyuu's left arm came up in a defensive manner silver sparks shot off it and created a shield of electromagnetic energy that stopped the sword before it cleaved Mashyuu and Sky clean in half. "What the hell is this!?" The man shouted in confusion while yanking his blade back and steadying his stance. Mashyuu slowly stood up and drew his sword from the scabbard of the cane while Sky slid out from inside the cage and flipped her boomerangs in her palms like they were daggers.

"What was that? It was my Jishaku Barrier. My name is Captain Mashyuu Ishi, leader of the Phantom Raiders and this is town. Afraid I'll have to run you out now." Mashyuu took up his swordsman stance while the nine men readied themselves for a fight. Behind Mashyuu, Sky stepped back and to the side so she could have the room she needed to fight without pumping into someone she had never fought along side of before. "I got your six Boss." She assured Mashyuu while bending her knees and getting ready for a fight of her own.

"Can you fly?" "If I can it won't be long. I'm grounded." Was all the pair of Pirates managed to get out to one another before the battle began. The large man charged Mashyuu and shoulder blocked him, driving the Pirate backwards and over the cage Sky had been placed inside. He rolled to his feet and sprang back a second step just as the brute smashed the cage in half with his great sword. Sky dodged left, rolled on the ground and used her curved blade to block a hammer strike and cut the fingers of her first attacker. She didn't have time to see how Mashyuu was holding up however when she realized that of the nine men total coming at them, five were attacking her. Sky spun around and stood up tall, throwing her boot into the chest of the first man that attacked her, kicking him into the others to slow them all down. The force of the strike gave her enough time to start running for a ship that had been broken down into its base materials for the most part. Sky jumped up, let her wings carry her just far enough to land atop a small deck and spun to face her foes. One was already climbing the rope ladder followed by a second and third. She grinned ear to ear and let them climb almost to the top of the ladder then slashed her bladed boomerangs across the rope, snapping it and dropping the men back down to the solid stone below.

Mashyuu on the other hand had his hands full. With his back literally pressed against the wall. The winged man pushed his left arm out, throwing aside a dropping hammer so it wouldn't crush his shoulder. His legs bent and he jumped up to avoid being ran through with a massive sword. The Pirate's face was twisted with concern while he moved right, ducked a second hammer and jumped back to avoid a third only for the flat of the sword to clip his back and push him into a swinging fist. Mashyuu staggered a few paces with the force of the punch and spun around, slashing with his blade across the legs of one of the workers, not dismembering him but cutting the man down for the length of the fight. Mashyuu picked up a dropped hammer and jumped back, over a table and hurled the hammer under handed into the chest of the large swordsman, driving him back a few paces while the Pirate brought his shielded arm up to deflect a second attack. Mashyuu was running on instinct, no longer paying attention to the numbers swarming around him but how his body should be acting when things came his way in general.

Sky watched the men tumble to the ground and couldn't help but chuckle at their misfortune. "Men always chasing tail..." She mused while stepping back a few steps and ran forward. She sprang off the edge of the broken ship and drove her boomerangs down, cutting into one man's shoulders while her knees planted into his chest and she rode him to the floor. With a quick roll she flipped off the down man and started to sprint away from the recovering men. A soft giggle slipped out of her lips when suddenly a dart shot past her head. Her giggle turned to a growl while she jumped over the table that Mashyuu had just moved over. Her left hand reached back and grabbed the table while she put most of her weight down on the other end of the table and brought it up as cover just in time to block two more darts. She didn't say a word but looked around the room. A hanging lamp was only a few feet away and an idea sprang to mind. Sky hurled her boomerang around the table at the men, causing them to not duck but back step. Quickly she stepped out from behind the table and hurled the second weapon up at a hanging lamp that was above the men, cutting the rope that the lantern lamp hung from. The lamp shattered on the ground between the men, throwing lamp oil and flames everywhere including the men. Sky's boomerangs came back to her hands one after the other just in time for her to holster the weapons and the men to run for their lives to find a way to smother the flames.

Suddenly Sky crashed into a hammer user that was driving Mashyuu back, her knee collided with the mans face, knocking the man across the room hard. He collided with a support beam and crumpled to the ground. "Doing okay?" She asked while Mashyuu used his shielded arm to block a strike from a third hammer user. "I could use some breathing room." He muttered. "Coming right up boss." Sky cooed and tackled the man that Mashyuu was holding at bay into the other hammer user, leaving Mashyuu to focus on the swordsman.

Sky ran the first man she attacked forward, one hand reached for a boomerang and drove it into the thigh of the goon deep enough that he screamed and toppled over himself into the man behind him. That man stumbled back but managed to not only throw his wounded friend aside but wrap a hand around Sky's slender waist and pull her into a heavy bear hug. He bent his back up and lifted the smaller woman off the ground. She cried out in pain and kicked weakly at his legs while he chuckled and wrapped his other arm around the top of her back, keeping her pinned to his large belly and chest. Sky could feel her lungs running out of air, the breath in her body growing more shallow by the second and her struggling started to lessen. Her head lolled backwards for a moment when an idea hit her. A lewd moan slipped past her lips, prompting the brute to loosen his grip from confused shock, then she darted her head forward and kissed him deeply, making the man stop squeezing her so tightly simply out of confusion. He had no idea what was happening and before he knew it, a knee was driven up into his groin hard. Sky pulled away from the man and watched as he dropped like a back of bombs to the floor, whimpering and crying.

Mashyuu took deep breaths of air, his body was starting to get tired and fighting four against one didn't really help him. Meanwhile the large man stood like he was breath winded at all. Mashyuu's repelling power sparked a few times then vanished as if his energy was completely drained. He glanced down at his arm and took a step back. "Looks like you're out of party tricks little man!" The large fighter bellowed out. Mashyuu raised his weapon and started to charge the man. Moving across the battlefield, his wings spread and he took flight, bringing him up as he started an attack but the brute pulled his left arm back and backhanded Mashyuu aside almost like a rag doll. Mashyuu nearly fell to the ground but was instead caught by a brick beam and fell atop a table. He crashed through the frail wood but quickly pulled himself up. "I've fallen from heaven twice, gonna have to hit me harder to hurt me." Mashyuu snapped while kicking the two pieces of the table aside.

The large man let his guard down a little, thinking Mashyuu was bluffing, because who could survive a fall from heaven? He raised his blade up to shoulder level with both hands and stepped forward with his left leg ready to cleave Mashyuu in half with his weapon. He held it like a baseball bat and shifted the blade so that the flat of it was facing the top of his shoulder. Across the way Mashyuu lifted his arm up and held his sword to the right while behind the large man Sky started to stalk him to get a good attack in. Mashyuu made a face like he was worried but it masked a warning for Sky to get back. Mashyuu started to spin his blade around and rush the man. His wings flapped and sent him into a left spiral while his blade spun right. The large man started to swing his blade but Mashyuu had expected it, dropped down and stopped spinning his blade as the pair nearly collided. Instead Mashyuu pulled his sword back and lanced it forward with all the strength in his body.

The large man looked down as he dropped his sword next to Mashyuu. Blood ran down Mashyuu's blade from right above the man's hip. "Ragnar's Spear..." Mashyuu declared from his knees and twisted the sword and pulled it out of the man's flesh. The large man fell back a few steps and clutched his wound. "You could have killed me... but you didn't? Why?" The large man asked while his eyes looked to the door to escape from. "I'm not a killer. Don't do it unless I have to. Now get lost." He declared. The large man nodded his head up and down and limped away, desperate to find a doctor to patch him up.

"They were gonna kill me! Why did you let them go!?" Sky asked while holstering her weapons. Mashyuu picked up the scabbard of his blade and pushed his weapon into it after running the blade along his white sleeve to clean the blood off it. "Killing them does me no good. They might come in handy later. Besides this is an island of pirates. People die every day. I'd rather not add to that count if I can help it." Mashyuu explained while looking Sky up and down. "I know two doctors that can take care of your wings. But first I'd like to get to that ship you have hidden." Sky sighed happily and cracked her knuckles. "Yeah no problem boss. A deal's a deal and even us pirates need some code of honor. I'm a woman of my word. Follow me." Mashyuu reached out and grabbed Sky's arm and shook his head left to right. "How about you let me take the lead, just in case. Besides you're injured." He insisted and headed back the way he came.

once the pair were back in the alley, Mashyuu removed his shirt and put his jacket back on. It wasn't much better but he did smell better than he did when he climbed out of the sewers. "Okay so, I hid the ship under a big boat at the docks." Mashyuu raised a brow and flashed an uneasy grin. "Under a ship? You're lying to me now." Sky cocked her hip to the side while zipping her flight jacket down a bit to reveal a blue shirt under it. "In a world where people have wings, men swim from the bottom of the ocean and Giant's roam the lands, not to mention people use fruits given by the devil... You think a ship can't travel under water?" She asked with a look on her face that made Mashyuu blush. She slapped his chest with the back of one hand and strutted down the alley. "Follow me but keep your eyes up hot shot."

Mashyuu's face twisted up and his eyes locked onto the back of Sky's head and he followed along while making a mocking face at her. "What happened to your wings?" He asked as they made their way to the docks. "That's rude to ask you know.... It might be a touchy subject. But if you really have to know, they were mangled a few years ago. I've seen doctors and none of them could fix the wings. Said the process would take too long and the pain might kill me. So I took to sailing instead. If I can't fly, I might as well sail across the beautiful blue waters." She mused with a hurt tone in her voice. "Sorry..." Sky stopped and spun around in one fluid and graceful motion. "I don't need you feeling sorry for me. I can achieve lift off and glide. Hell for about a minute or so I can even fly before my wings give out. They are just mangled and hurt when they work hard. But it doesn't change who I am or define me as a woman. I'll see all of the world weather its from a ship or the sky. Now stop acting like its the end of the world and lets go... We're almost there."

Mashyuu felt terrible about asking what happened to Sky's wings and couldn't imagine not being able to fly whenever he wanted to. "The one at the end of the docks is your ship right? It's nice. But the ship I hid is right here..." She pointed to a boat that was half destroyed and looked abandoned to time. "Yeah... that is my ship. How did you know?" He asked. Sky chuckled and waved away the question. "I tried to lift it last month but some drunk with an eye patch chased me away while swinging a sword and said something about some guy named Mashyuu coming back for the thing." Mashyuu chuckled, knowing that Gajeel had indeed been keeping an eye on the ship.

Sky walked to the broken down ship and removed her jacket and leather pants, leaving her in a blue set of overalls and her skull cap. She then removed the skull cap and tossed everything at Mashyuu. The man stood, staring at her for a long moment and barely caught her things. "I told you to keep your eyes up, now back away and wait for the ship to come up." She warned him and dove down into the water. Mashyuu backed up off the dock and waited for a long moment, watching for signs of her maybe turning against him but after about ten minutes of nothing, a small white ship exploded out of the water, next to the broken down vessel and the top of the round pod opened up. Sky stood up hoisting a large bag over her head. "One bag of dials, as promised!" She jumped out of the ship and skipped across the broken boat to the dock and dropped the bag at Mashyuu's feet. Inside there were about five dials of different makes. Mashyuu didn't recognize most of them but some had a familiar design.

"So... you have one navigator at your disposal. Do you mind if we head towards the ship? I'd like to get familiar with it before we set sail." Mashyuu hoisted up the bag and nodded his head up and down. "Yeah and I'm assuming you're okay with joining the crew considering you stole ships before this and were very willing to kill those guys." Sky chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "As long as following you doesn't stop me from seeing the world. And with a boat like that, it shouldn't." She mused and headed towards the Skycleaver along side Mashyuu who quickly started to hand her back the brown leathers she wore....
(end)