Gideon looked to Yuurei and nodded his head, a bit embarrassed that he didn't understand that he wanted to take to the roofs for scouting purposes, "Right", he figured his nerves had drew too much of his attention, "Then we'll take it to the rooftops" Though the thought was unnerving, it was a good vantage point and they needed every bit of edge they can get. Regardless of how powerful he and Yuurei had proven themselves, Gideon didn't want to take anymore chances, he had been separated from his friends and family too often.

The small giant clenched his fist tightly as he skimmed through his memories. However it wasn't long before Yuurei drew his attention again. Gideon had been wondering how he would be able to return to his original size. He began thinking about it but tossed the thought to the side. He needed to be this size in order to avoid being spotted. He and Yuurei needed to spot the enemy before they spotted them.

They made their way through the snow, Gideon with less trouble, though the snow was indeed cold. "So what is the plan once we confront these... thieves?" he asked. It felt as if it has been a while since they have worked together and whenever they do, the mission tends to end up more difficult then they normally plan, but regardless, so long as Yuurei is nearby, Gideon feels he manages to push himself further than he expected he could go... but he still feels better with a plan in mind.

At this moment there were no sudden changes in the area that he was surveying as he was waiting to see what his friend would say. He wasn’t sure if that was going to happen, but he was sure going to do whatever Gideon would agree to. It wouldn’t take long, for Gideon to say he was okay with heading to the rooftops. That was good to hear as he started walking again. He was looking for a place that they could jump to without it being too much of a hassle. While they were walking through, his friend had asked him a question. It was a good one of course, which he was sure to answer him. He placed his hands behind his head using them as a support as he was looking around the area with his eyes still.

”I guess that part is simple. We take captured them both, and use them against each otha. Hopefully they tell us what we need ta know about who’s creating this snow, and we can solve the problem.” He said as he was hoping it would work that way.

Yuurei would soon find a good vantage point and he would look at Gideon with a smile on his face. He didn’t say anything though and instead pull him and Gideon towards the rooftop using his gravity ability. It was one of his techniques that he used to make the rooftop have a gravity force. He made sure it only affected just the two of them. When he got to the corner of the rooftop he grabbed onto it and flipped himself so he would land perfectly on it. When he did that he rushed over to one side of the roof as he was looking around with his eyes to see if there were anybody who looked suspicious around the area. He kept his Observation active as he was still using that idea. Still, it was best to cover everything even having to use his eyes and ears.

”Gideon get the otha side and make sure to be on guard.” He said to his friend as he would noticed that his weight had also decrease and he wouldn’t have destroyed the rooftop

Yuurei continued to look around with his eyes and ears, but there was nothing going on. He was also using his Observation Haki, but there weren’t any sudden appearance in this area. He wondered when they were going to show up, or make their movements. Still, he thought about conversing with Gideon.

”So Gideon, I was thinking and I feel like expanding our crew from just us four.” He said as he was mentioning Kasui, Vizmir, Gideon and himself.

***
The Grinch and the Gift Thief were on their way to where Yuurei and Gideon were located. It wouldn’t take long, but soon they would reach the border of where Yuurei’s Observation would reach. The two of them would soon disappear from behind a house, and into it from a small crack on the wall. The people at this house were sleep and the two of them would move to the Christmas tree, and start putting the gifts into the Grinch’s gift bag. They were making their moves, and soon enough Yuurei would be alerted of this and the duo would make their moves to stopping this from happening.

The mysterious figure was still at the rooftop waiting for those two to come. He didn’t want the people in this town happy. He was distracting with the beautiful snow, so they couldn’t see the bigger plan. He was indeed destroying their ground, and crops, so they would be hungry and wouldn’t be able to feed each other. They would probably go into a depression and probably fight each other for whatever food was left to fight for. It was his way at getting back at the people of Lulusia one town at a time.

Technique Used:

28/30 Haki Remaining.

Gideon didn't understand Yuurei's plan when he said "use them to fight each other", but he didn't question it, figuring the swordsman had it thought out thoroughly. If strategy was being used here, then there would probably be less fighting, which Gideon prefers given their past adventures.

Seeing Yuurei give him a smile made the small giant shutter, wondering what was going through his head. Then not only Yuurei was floating up to the top of a nearby building, but Gideon was as well. It felt weird to him, his body losing grip of the ground, he felt weightless, which would probably be fun for anyone else, but not him, Gideon is a giant, he has always felt safe on the ground. He tried his best to keep his composer as he flew through the air.

He quickly grabbed the ledge of the building's top and pulled himself onto the roof. There he laid, taking deep breaths. When he managed to get a hold of himself, he crawled to the other side of the rooftop and looked over the ledge to keep a look out. Gideon isn't afraid of heights, for he has always stood tall since he was a child, but his fear is off falling, not being able to keep his feet on the ground. The last time he had this shiver running down his spine was when he and the rest of the crew were falling from Sky Island.

It seems Yuurei probably knew what the giant was going through, given that he was bringing up a random question, probably to distract the giant, "Sounds like a good idea, we do need more man power, but what about your followers? How long will they be staying with the crew?" Gideon kept himself crouched low as he kept watch, but only because he feared he would fall through the ceiling.

Yuurei was happy to hear the Gideon was good with increasing their numbers. They had a lot of members in his crew, but the ones that we strong and the ones he would truly bring into a real battle would be those four. He wouldn’t bring the others with them because it was just a way of getting them to kill. He wasn’t going to do that unless they had no other option and there was an overwhelming number of foes that they could fight against.

”Well the reason I just mention us four is because everyone else is there for the adventure. I wouldn’t truly want them going out in a fight, but I woulda have them gather information for us and stuff. The main people I trust in a fighting fights situation to come out alive is us four. We need to find more people like that, so we can have each other’s back is all. That being said those followas won’t be leaving our side unless death occurs.” He said as there were a lot of people who had followed him.

Yuurei knew that before they left this island he would need a bigger ship to house everybody that would be in his crew. He thought about how they could share the rooms to make sure that they didn’t take up all the rooms a ship could have. He was thinking about all of this, but soon enough his Observation Haki had caught on two new presences that were not too far from where they were. He looked at Gideon because he didn’t know if his friend would jump off the roof and follow him.

”I know where they at Gideon. You okay to move from the roof top. I’ll make us fasta as well, and if ya need my help I can make ya float if ya miss a rooftop.” He chuckled as he knew they didn’t have time to play around right now.

He sighed as he expanded his Gravitational Field around the two of them. Gideon had already felt like before, but he would feel even faster than he was before. That was because of Yuurei as it had also worked with him as well. Now we make sure that these two guys don’t get away from us. He thought to himself. It was soon enough he started running in the direction of Gideon and he jumped off the edge of the rooftop and onto another roof top. He tumbled as he got onto his feet quickly as he looked back at Gideon.

”Trust me.” He said with a smile on his face as he continued to run off in the direction where these two criminals were.

He could feel them moving back and forth, which he could assume they were taking the gifts in that house and putting it into a bag. This brought Yuurei to move as fast as he could now as he wasn’t sure how long they were going to take to get all of those gifts in a bag. As Yuurei got closer to the house he wondered how these guys were planning on leaving that house. The scientist would make it to their destination but noticed that those two were still inside. They couldn’t do anything to them while they were inside as they couldn’t be destroying everything around them on purpose.

”They still inside bruh, we can’t do much until they get their asses out.” He said to his friend as he was looking down at the ground to see if they would appear on the streets.

***
It wouldn’t take long, but those two were actually finishing up with their job. The gifts that they had stolen from this Christmas tree, and with that the Grinch had grabbed the thief as he touched the crack on the wall, and the two of them would slip through it without a problem. The crack would lead them outside, and of course for better or worse in the sight of Yuurei. They would start running, however, as they were making their way somewhere.

27/30 Haki Remaining

By what Yuurei had stated, it seems the skypiean followers were simply around for scouting purposes, though Gideon couldn't tell Yuurei intended on allowing any of them to join the official ranks. He began to wonder how long this group would intend to follow them and began to wonder how loyal they are even though they weren't officially part of the crew.

Yuurei caught his attention, though Gideon didn't see anyone out of the ordinary, he had to trust the swordsman 'observation' haki as he calls it. The two enemies are targeted, and now they must track them down. Gideon jumped off the rooftop to reach the of another building and luckily with Yuurei's ability, his distance was covered greatly as he felt he was floating, but no matter how magical it seemed, Gideon still feared being off the ground.

He landed on the rooftop, luckily it didn't give way. Gideon took a position beside Yuurei who was inspecting a nearby house. The small giant crouched and watched the house, though he didn't see any sort of hint of an intrusion, the swordsman was keeping track of them well.

Then suddenly two beings appeared out of nowhere beside the wall of the house, they looked about quickly but didn't notice those who were keeping watch of them. "What kind of devil fruit could do that?" Gideon was surprised, "try to flank them, I'll give chase" Gideon told Yuurei as he began moving along the rooftop, following the thieves.

Yuurei would see the sight of the two beings pop out of a house. It was like teleportation at its finest. The Shichibukai was confused about what he saw, but it looked like he wasn’t the only person who had thought the same thing. He looked at Gideon as he heard what he said, but he was speaking the truth. What kind of power could actually do such a thing, He thought to himself as he looked at the two running away from the scene of the crime.

”I’m not sure what or who could do such a thing, but best believe we needs to follow them and catch them.” He said to Gideon.

It seemed that his friend was thinking the same thing as he had told him to try and flank him and that he would give chase. Yuurei nodded as he was good with this task. He watched Gideon move forward and soon enough the young man would lose the speed that Yuurei had given him, but he was still fast due to him being smaller than he was. Yuurei had rushed off in a different direction as he was going to try and trap them. He would jump off one roof and soon enough he would be on another roof. He kept doing that as he kept their presence on check. He knew where they were going, and he could see that Gideon wasn’t falling behind them either. That was good because they couldn’t allow whoever used the ability to use it to disappear. It wouldn’t take long, but he had gotten into position as he was going to run in their direction and flank them.

”Here goes nothing.” He said to himself as he started running and when he got to the edge of the roof he jumped off and towards another one.

He was running smoothly without a problem and it looked like their plan was going well. When he got close to them he knew it was time to jump off the roof and onto the ground. He was ready to see their reaction and how surprised they were. When he got close to the edge, something happened. His senses gave him a warning that someone had shot at him. He sidestepped to avoid being hit by a fire projectile. Still, that was enough to break apart the edge of the rooftop, which caused Yuurei to fall down and towards the ground. He would hit the ground but tumble to avoid the fall damage, and he would still block the path of the two things that were running away.

He noticed that they were not human and instead one of them looked like a green monster, while the other one looked like a human fused with a creature. Yuurei was confused but figured that this was the work of a devil fruit. He also looked in the direction where the shot had come from, and soon enough he could see someone on top of the roof that he was on.

”Stop you two.” He said to them as he looked towards the guy at the roof.

They had stopped but not because he told them to, but because their master was here.

”Are you with them? Are you their leader? Explain yourself?” He said as he was looking at the three as he knew Gideon would be able to help him out.

The man on the roof had activated a magic spell and took all the gifts that were in the bag inside of his book.

”You shouldn’t be here. You not a part of this island, so leave before I have to kill you as well.” He said to Yuurei.

The swordsman was surprised that somebody was brave to say those words to him, but he figured he didn’t know who he was. He had cracked his neck and hoped that taking out a sword would give them a warning and would scare them.


”Give me back the gifts, and tell me why is it still snowing, or you guys will wish you never met me.” He said to the three of them.

The mysterious figure could only smile as he shot another spell at him. Yuurei would jump back as he would avoid the attack, but knew now that they weren’t going to give up without a fight, and a fight he would give them.

26/30

Gideon did what he could to keep the two gift-thieves in his line-of-sight while Yuurei went on ahead to cut them off. The small giant had always wondered if having a smaller body had allowed a human to have a sleight speed advantage over a giant, but now Gideon realized that wasn't the case.

After taking another leap onto another building rooftop, Gideon gained a better view of the two thieves and Yuurei who had soon cut them off, but then a flash of light flew and nearly hit his friend. His eyes immediately locked onto the person who fired that shot, a man donned in a red-white cloak. What was odd about the man was that he didn't have a gun as Gideon had expected, but a bag in which he somehow caused to vanish into a book he held in his hands. Possibly another devil-fruit user? Gideon didn't know what kind of abilities this guy had, but no doubt he was assisting the thieves or possibly the one responsible for the snow.

Yuurei had taken a position at the street level, cutting off the two thieves, but was more focused on the bookman who had fired off another shot of light, this time Gideon could tell it was sent from his hand, he figured it must be a devil fruit ability. Either way, Gideon took this chance to run up behind the man, given his size and the sound of the light blasts making collision, it was easy enough for the small giant to close the gap without being noticed.

Gideon made a leap while willing himself to release this temporary small form. He felt himself grow back to his full size as he sent a fist flying towards the bookman who turned about once he noticed a shadow was encompassing the entire rooftop. The bookman immediately teleported out of the way before Gideon slammed his fist into the roof, collapsing it in before the giant tumbled to the ground below.

Once he got to his feet, he searched around for the bookman, wondering where he vanished to.

Yuurei could tell the man that was up on the roof wasn’t afraid of him. That was an interesting turn of event, but he knew that there were a lot of strong people in this world. He could only wonder how he was able to shoot off that attack, and at the same time grab a hold of the bag that his ally was carrying in his hand. It was a bit weird to see, but he had seen a lot of things, so he was not surprised. Instead, he noticed a presence coming quickly through the roof and Yuurei could only smile because he knew what was going to happen. He never expected Gideon to do this, but he also never thought his friend would ever hesitate to fight when he had been attacked. He watched as the giant turned huge again, and at the same time, he decided to help him out. The moment Gideon’s punch was near the red-white cloaked figured he expanded his gravity field to make everyone faster in that instant.

He would benefit on that over everything, but that was because he was moving and had momentum while the other guy was just standing there. Still, it wouldn’t have mattered as the being had disappeared from his position causing Gideon to destroy a part of the rooftop with his hand. He smiled because it was an impressive attempt to take the man out, but it didn’t work out at the end. He cracked his knuckles because he saw the man teleport and waited for him to appear again. He could feel his presence all over the place, which was different than anything he had felt before. It was hard for him to keep track of him and wondered what kind of ability he had obtained to be able to do such a thing.

His eyes scan the area as his gravity field had decrease until it surrounded just him as he was waiting for something to happen, and then a smile appeared in Yuurei’s face. He wasn’t worried, yet at the same time, he knew there wasn’t much he could do. The cloaked figured appeared behind him and shot at him. The swordsman had moved as fast as he could, but the shot was to close, and he had stuffed that counter it, but for now, he had to conserve his energy because he didn’t know who or what he was battling. The shot would graze his face as he could feel the burn from the attack, which caused him to jerk his elbow back towards the cloaked figured. He would step back a bit, but miscalculated because of Yuurei’s second elbow coming into contact with his stomach.

”Gahh!” He let that escaped his mouth as he grabbed his stomach and stepped back a bit.

At this moment the Grinch and his fellow thief had rushed towards Gideon as they were planning on fighting him so that he couldn’t do anything to the person that conjured them. He would gain his composure as he looked at Yuurei with a smile on his face. It seemed like there was a strong variable that would be in his way before he could accomplish everything that he wanted to do to this island. He knew that it had hurt, much more than he thought it would, but he was still alive, but he felt like something had fractured. Still, he was able to move as he was ready to activate another spell. This time he had thrown a fire at Yuurei, which he could see coming and he dodged it.

Of course, when that happened the man had teleported again, which brought Yuurei to lose him again. ”This isn’t going to be fun. I can’t get a good sense of him, but if he appears behind me, I should use my gravity push to get him away from him. His attacks are strong, but what the fuck is he even doing.” He thought to himself as he started moving his feet back and forth. He had to be ready as he didn’t know where this guy would come from next.

25/30

Gideon looked about for a moment and caught sight of the white and red cloak, the bookman was attacking Yuurei still. "Damn!" He was about to make his way towards them when suddenly the two thieves ran up towards him, intercepting his movements. The giant wasn't intimidated, they were simply thieves and he handled thieves before.

But it wasn't as he expected, the green one had pulled out a large candle cane, but it wasn't a candy, it was a gun, it fired smokescreen which enveloped the giant's face. "Damn it!" Cried out Gideon as he coughed and tried to maneuvered his way out of the cloud. When he managed to find his way out, the animal-like thief appeared to have jumped up high enough to reach the giant eye level, then delivered drew a sword and stabbed forward, if it wasn't for the observation haki, one of Gideon's eyes would have been poked out, instead, the giant caught the blade between his teeth, preventing the thief from pulling away, as a counter, Gideon swung a fist to hit the thing, but as a counter-counter, the green thief fired some kind of sticky substances that caused Gideon's hand to stick to a nearby building.

With this, the animal thief let go of the sword and dropped to the floor, scurrying away from the giant's stomping feet and ducking into a nearby alley, "They're worse than roaches!" he cried out annoyed.

Haki used: 14/15

Yuurei wanted to see what Gideon was doing, but he couldn’t his attention was occupied with that of the teleportation guy. He did know that his friend was dealing with a situation of his own right now, so he would have to trust that he would be capable of clearing that on his own. He, on the other hand, had a problem of his own. His eyes scan through the area as this man’s ability seemed like it was pure teleportation, which was scary. Then it happened the man appeared above Yuurei, and he was already attacking on top of that. He looked upward and dodged as best as he could, the metal that extended from this man had grazed Yuurei’s left arm, and the swordsman could only grunt in pain from that. Yuurei grabbed the metal with his free hand and tried to pull the cloaked figured towards him, but it didn’t matter.

The man had let go and disappeared again. Yuurei would sucked his teeth as he couldn’t believe this was happening to him right now, but it seemed like this man was skilled at what he was doing. He was going to have to play defensively right now, which was fine to him. He decided that he would armament head, entire torso, and his arms as well. Of course, to a regular person, they wouldn’t be able to tell that he had done this as he had mastered his Haki. It wasn’t the only thing that he had done. Instead, of wielding one sword, he pulled out the rest of his blades. He had his swords in what looked like claws in his left hand, while his right hand held his Benihime like a regular swordsman. He kept his observation haki active, and it was good for allowing him to know where the guy was in the last second.

The next thing that had happened was the man kept appearing in Yuurei’s observation, but every time he did he would shoot out a beam, fire, ice, and metal towards Yuurei before he disappeared from existence. The swordsman would defend himself as best as he could. There were some attacks that hit him on his leg, which he would groan from the pain, but kept his ground. He was making sure that he wouldn’t be taken down, so easily. He had to get a sense of what was going on; the cloak figured would appear in front of Yuurei this time, which brought the two to gaze their eyes with each other. The swordsman was waiting for something like this and he slashed at the cloaked figure with his left hand and connected, but nothing happened.

His eyes widen as he had noticed that he had made what seemed like a clone. He couldn’t believe it and he turned around to see that the man was in front of him. He shot a beam straight at Yuurei’s chest, which pushed him back when he was hit.

”Errr.” He grunted from the pain, but was saved due to his haki being active.

Yuurei had lunged towards him with the same speed that he had and tried to swipe at him, but he would miss again. He truly didn’t want to use his gravity skills because he didn’t want to destroy the village they were in, but it was because he felt like he had relied on that too much. He was giving it time and he was planning on having the man wear himself out.

The cloak figured would summon more thieves and another Grinch to fight against the giant. He was a bit nervous with that big person and wasn’t sure what he was truly capable of. Still, this would limit his usage of his other abilities which was fine by him. Yuurei had to play it calm and the next time he saw him he was going to have to do something drastic. At this point, anybody who was in their homes was no longer there. They had heard the noises that were being caused outside and when they noticed what was happening they ran away, which was for the best.

Yuurei had noticed that a while ago, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he waited for the cloaked figured to appear again, which he would. It was time and Yuurei had spun around in a circle with his blades, which caused a wind spiral slash around him this time. This attacked would expand to about 45 meters around Yuurei and it would indiscriminately hit anybody near it. He was hoping that Gideon would avoid it, or not be anywhere near it at this point. Now for the cloaked figured he was getting ready to attack, and while he was doing that he noticed the attacked from the swordsman. He had gotten caught alright, and he could feel the cuts from the wind, and he felt the immense pain that came from it before he could teleport.

It wouldn’t take long before he teleported on a rooftop nearby and noticed the wounds that he had suffered on his torso and his arms.

”A little bit too close for comfort. If I didn’t have a way out I would have been shredded to pieces.” He said to himself.

Yuurei noticed that he had appeared and figured he would ask him something before the man would continue to attack.

”Are you the one responsible for the snow? If so please just stop this nonsense, return the gifts back to the people and your punishment will be less severe than it is right now.” He said to the cloaked figure.

”I am indeed, but I cannot stop and I will not stop.” He said as his body trembled from the pain. Still, he was not done here, and he would have to attack from a further distance where that attack could not reach him.

23/30

Gideon took one step and peeked into the alleyway where the two thieves had vanished into, luckily from the giant's height, "Gotcha!" he said as he reached down, however he was only able to reach down to his shoulder, his hand swinging here and there while the Grinch and the gift thief laughed.

"Damn it, whatever, plan B" Gideon pulled away, took a deep breath and with the familiar click of his teeth, he exhaled a breath of fire into the alleyway, setting it ablaze and and allowing the two 'roaches' to scream in pain. "No more pests" Gideon huffed, finely the annoyance subsided... for the second. Suddenly something cut him behind his leg, "Agh!", he wasn't paying attention and he cursed at himself for letting his defenses down. He looked back and noticed four copies of the gift thief and two more Grinches. "What the-!?"

Before Gideon could think, the two Grinches aimed their candy canes and fired them like guns. Gideon hardened his arms to take the hits, the bullets bounced off the black skin, as retaliation, the giant threw a fierce punch downward, the thieves dodged out of the way, but the punch was so intense the wind had pressed down and blew the enemies outward, two gift thieves tumbled into an alleyway, two more tumbled into a clothing store where the manager hid behind the counter, but the Grinches vanished into the small holes of a manhole cover.

Tech Used:

The cloaked figured was ready to continue the fight as he knew what to do to avoid the attack that he had been hit with. He couldn’t summon any more creatures, but he figured those that he summoned would be enough to take on the big guy for the time being. For now, he teleported from where he was and shot down a barrage of beams at Yuurei. The thief noticed his presence from above and could only smile because it was what he wanted. Still, the barrage of beams came down on him and he could only counterattack right now because he knew that if he didn’t then he would only be attacking the air. He thrust each of his hands twice into the air where the cloaked figured was and shot out ten powerful gravity force straight at the man that was in the air. At the same time, he had been hit by the beam of lights that had come down on him.

He grunted with each hit as it hurt to feel the pain, but he knew that he would have to withstand it. He was lucky that he had his armament on him, but knew that it could have been worse if he didn’t use it. The cloaked figured would smile when he figured this man was senile but noticed the blue gravity force coming straight towards him. He was in the midst of his attack, which he would have to stop as fast as he could and with that he teleported, and then teleported on the ground. He was on the floor as he noticed that he was missing a piece of his left thigh.

”Gahhh!” He shouted in pain as he looked at Yuurei with anger.

They were both fighting from range, but Yuurei was actually good with that because he knew that his attacks were strong and could be shot from far as well. The swordsman walked over to him but would come to a stop as the man teleported again and then appeared behind Yuurei. He would shoot a beam of light on Yuurei’s back. The swordsman wanted to dodge, but he couldn’t because he was caught off guard. This would bring him to stumble forwards, and then to the right, and then to the left. The magic figured was going all out on Yuurei right now as he wasn’t trying to give him any time to make for a counter attack.

The cloaked figured was badly hurt and it was because of this random person. He didn’t know who he was, but he knew that he had to be stopped, if he wanted his goal to succeed. Yuurei, on the other hand, wanted the attacks to stop. He was getting hurt too much, and that shouldn’t be happening. He didn’t expect someone with such ability to show up around here. Still, he figured enough was enough.

”Stop hitting me with that!” He shouted as a gravity push was sent flying from all around him.

This would cause the force to hit the man mid teleportation and he would teleport on a rooftop as he was looking down at Yuurei. The two of them would glare into each other’s eyes waiting for someone to make the next move. The scientist figured it was best to use his power now because he needed to slow this guy down and the use of his teleportation. It was getting annoying, but how would he catch him.

”I never been hurt like this before, but you are strong. What is your name?” The cloaked figured asked.

”My name is Yuurei D. Jiyuu, and for the sake of the people here I shall stop ya from what ya doing.” He said as he was getting ready to show him what he could.

21/30

Gideon had taken a moment to realize the two green characters were able to squeeze into tight spaces, but the moment was too long, for it gave the four gift thieves a chance to climb up the giant's legs and attempt to stab his knees in order to prevent him from moving, but the swords merely hit the armament coating, Gideon had noticed them and he was too use to foes trying to this tactic.

Quickly, before the gift thieves caught all drop down to safety, Gideon swung his right leg and slammed it against a nearby building, crushing two of the four gift thieves. However the other two managed to drop and stab the giant's left foot. Pain surged and he took action, with another click of his teeth he breathed fire down upon his legs. The street had lit up in a blaze. The grinches looked upon the scene in shock, not expecting the Giant to set his own feet on fire, but they weren't aware that Gideon was strong enough to handle his own flames.

Another swarm of gift thieves flew from the book of the summoner, this time Gideon caught sight of it and realized this bookman had numerous abilities and the only way to prevent this swarm was to take him down. But as he tried to make his way over to the bookman, he found himself taking a step back, preventing several of the gift thieves from cutting into his face as they jumped from rooftops and passing his head.

"Yuurei, try to stop the bookman!" he called to his friend as he slammed a thief between his two hands, but then quickly had his side stabbed into by two others.

12/15

Yuurei was going to get ready, and then he heard his friend shouting for him to take out the bookman. He smiled because he had given him a name or at least an alias in that matter. The only thing he could do was do what his friend asked him to. He sighed as knew that he was going to have to do it. He understood that his power was strong, but he also learned that he would never use it at the start of a battle. What he did next was simple, yet complex; he had activated his second mode now as he looked at the Bookman who was on the rooftop. He was in pain right now and he was planning on taking him out now. His power would increase, and the weight of the world would be felt by anybody around him including Gideon if he was within forty meters of him.

The best thing about this right now was that if the gift thieves were in range they wouldn’t be able to move from where they stood. The two Grinch that were created would also feel the effects and feel as if they were moving like regular person would, and Gideon would suffer to, but he would be faster than them though. As for the Bookman he would feel the effects and wondered what kind of witchcraft was going on. He looked over to the man as he could see that his look had changed. He could see the purple on face and on his hand, and it looked like he was much stronger than before. He wasn’t worried because he had his teleportation, which wouldn’t be affected by such a thing. The swordsman just looked at the Bookman as he was waiting for him to do something.

”Let’s end this right here and right now. My friend said I need to stop you, so the next time hit you will be your last.” He warned the Bookman.


The man chuckled when he heard those words because he had never heard something so ridiculous from a person. Still, Yuurei wasn’t kidding, this man was strong and if was left untouched for a while his ability would cause a lot of people trouble. Shit, he was already causing trouble, so he had to stop him. Yuurei would put away Benihime as he glared at the man. It wouldn’t take long, but Yuurei rushed towards him and when he got close enough he would lunge towards the Bookman. He was tried to swipe at the man, but he knew that he would teleport. He didn’t put much power to that attack and he would land on the rooftop as he was waiting for the man to attack him.

It wouldn’t take long, but he would appear behind Yuurei in a distance and would shoot a barrage of light towards Yuurei. He would see turn around to see them coming, but they were moving much slower than they did before. The Bookman had seen this and was surprised about what was going on. This man’s ability was crazy and he watched Yuurei jump off the roof and started running towards the Bookman. When he got close he tried to attack him again, but he would disappear. The two were playing a game of cat and mouse, and soon enough the Bookman would fall into Yuurei’s trap. He disappeared again and when that happened Yuurei was getting ready to jump because he knew it was time for him to appear from above.

When Yuurei chased after him the whole time he was going through an entire pattern. His behavior with the teleportation seemed to have been something he had done in his subconscious, which was his downfall. The Bookman would indeed appear in the sky, and Yuurei would jump into the air without a second to waste. When the Bookman had gone to attack Yuurei he noticed the man was in the air already. His eyes widen as he was surprised and he didn’t expect something like this to occur. At this moment Yuurei had a gravity ball in his hand and when he got close to the cloaked man he had thrusted the ball straight into the man’s stomach. A huge force of gravity would explode straight out towards the Bookman.

He would gasp for air for the last time as he coughed out blood and a huge force could be seen shooting out from behind him. It had gone up to the atmosphere and separated the cloud that was in the sky. It wasn’t just that, but the snow clouds that were up in the air had separated and soon enough it would disperse. The snow that was falling from the sky would soon come to an end. Yuurei would fall towards the ground and he would use his hover boots to slowly descend to the ground without much effort. Yuurei’s attacked had indeed cleared the sky out as the sun had shine down upon the village that was dreaded with snow.

The Bookman, on the other hand, was descending to the ground right now as quickly as he could. His body had was dying and he could feel his life escaping him; he had tried to do something for revenge, and he had power and ability to do just that because of that ‘thing’. If it weren’t for him, he would have continued to train and get stronger his own way. He chuckled as he couldn’t believe this was happening to him. Still, without actually hitting the ground, the Bookman would disappeared from the air.

Yuurei would see this and wondered what was going on here. Still, they had solved the problem with the snow, and when he looked to the right of him, there were a bunch of bags on the floor as well. He also noticed that the presence of the gift thieves and the Grinch were no longer around. He powered down as he knew that the Bookman wouldn’t have been able to escape death’s door. He would walk over to Gideon with a smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head.

”Sorry that took long; that man wouldn’t stop moving and I was trying to get him in a spot where I didn’t destroy the town, still it seemed like he escape, but his abilities is undone.” He said to Gideon as he looked towards Gideon.

”I guess we can take these gift bags to the center of the town and then distribute them to everyone that lives in this place.” He said to Gideon as he used his gravity rubble to pick up the gift bags and nothing else.

When Gideon was ready they would start walking to the middle of the town before giving away people back their stuff for Christmas.

19/30

Gift thieves here and there, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and swiping at the giant who had to dodge each attack, few attacks he had to deflect using his armament haki. Every so often, Gideon would be able to destroy a thief, slamming them into the ground, crushing them between his fingers, and instead of corpses remaining behind, the bodies would just vanish. There was an instant when the giant slapped a thief so hard, it sent it flying out of town.

"Not how I wanted to spend my day" he said before clicking his teeth and spitting out fire once more, catching a few more gift thieves. Suddenly, three Grinches had fired their candycandes, ropes had tangled up Gideon's right arm, preventing him from moving, the Grinches held onto the other ends, their strength were indeed matching the Giant, "Damn it!" Gideon grunted.

At this point, the gift thieves took advantage and crawled over the giant, stabbing their blades into body, Gideon tried to alternate his haki armament to lessen the damage, but with so many of the thieves covering him, it was difficult to fully protect himself, "Enough!" his anger surged, he activated his Baking Oven mode. His body temperature dramatically increased, emitting heat so hot the gift thieves were releasing their grips and falling off the giant, those who tried to say on intentionally, couldn't keep their grip, the body oil from the giant seeped over his clothing, forcing the thieves to lose their grip either way.

With the thieves no longer a threat, Gideon turned to the grinches who seemed worried now. Gideon clenched a fist and was about to confront them, but they suddenly vanished. The giant figuring it was more weird abilities, turned to the gift thieves who suddenly vanished too. Then he turned to Yuurei who slowly walked up to him.

Seeing the smile on Yuurei's face, Gideon realized the situation was over with, and his body heat returned to normal, "Well then, I guess we saved the town" The giant gave a small smile before he limped over to pick up the rest of the presents.

As he walked about, with presents in hand, the locals began exiting their homes, wondering if the fighting had stopped, then seeing the giant presenting presents, they ran towards the giant who stood at the center of town. Gideon placed the presents down in a heap on the snowed floor and the crowd gathered to retrieve their gifts now that the threat had finally been taken care of.

Haki: 11/15