The high priestess ran behind him, a rough towel thrown over her torso hastily. Terrick could only marvel at the women's speed, concluding for his own self esteem, that the faint poison in the atmosphere and the deranged room freshener chasing them had addled the air in such a way that it caused him to slow down.

"What's going on..?" The high priestess muttered, a level of pity for herself that Terrick now shared. At this point he was quite glad that he hadn't been born in a line of heirs, dealing with the bureaucracy of management had left him reeling.

"Run now, complain later!" Terrick quipped, offering his heart felt advice.

At this point some of you may ask, why he didn't move to tranquilize the Rafflesia earlier. To that, Terrick's answer would be, an unknown devil fruit that could neutralize targets from a distance posed too much of a safety hazard to be challenged without prior preparation.

If only he had that thing called Haki down, he was sure it would have widened his a.r.s.enal but that was neither here nor there.

As they rounded a corner, a deranged shriek sounded as the scent in the air got heavier, the fruity texture of the aroma drawing heavily on a primordial sense of disgust that temporarily caused for Terrick and his semi naked follower to stop in favor of dry heaving.

The scent tickled at their noses bringing images of rotting corpses and hordes of worms to the fore as an accompaniment to it.

"G.o.d…d.a.m.nit! ..Devil fruits are bulls.h.i.+t!!!" Terrick spat, his tongue immediately picking up on the noxious fume that his nose had been a party to and decided to transmit it to his brain as a separate taste. Now Terrick was both heaving and retching and he couldn't decide what was worse.

"o teacher~~" The singsong voice of the defiler of their noses rang from the corridor as the deranged harpy walked through. With an audible smack of her lips she looked over at them.

"A pleasant scent is it not?~"

"G.o.d d.a.m.nit women! I'm going to file your for raping our nostrils!!!!" Terrick roared as he held onto the wall for dear life, a single hand on his bellowing chest attempting to cool his hyperactive system.

"Silence maggot!" She snapped clicking her fingers at his direction. A visible stream of yellowish rotting air could be seen around him as he collapsed. "Have a smell of pure and putrid fear!~~" She said with an evil witch laugh.

Terrick felt his whole world churn as he kneeled down, his face grimaced in an ugly shade of purple as his eyes grew unfocussed.

The scent that had a.s.sailed him was something that he couldn't even describe. His spine seemed to liquefy as his skin bubbled in tandem with the rise of his goose pimples. The hair on the back of his neck shot up with all the attention of a soldier on duty as he crawled into a fetal position. A single thought running through his mind.

'Endure until you get used to it!'

******

I looked at the wreckage that i had personally committed, my hands clenched at my side as I saw the retreating forces of the of the soldiers that had attempted to stall me. The sea before the island at this point both looked and tasted like the metallic pungency of blood.

"Hehe, here is where we part ways, gill-less one. Your quarry is much further into the bowels of this beast. We shall stand here and hope that those foul patrons appear here. Go" Tiamat said nodding appreciatively before turning around and shooting a scathing look at the water below.

I nodded in agreement briskly journeying into the placid field that once beheld my battleground. The head honchos of the army had been dealt with, only those either too scared or not part of the armed force having been left.

With a small grin I shadowed them. I could see their tear stroked face, and would be lying if I said that I did not like it even a little. This was a reminder to myself, of what was the result of those that touched my family. I had seen my mother die before my eyes, and the last thing I wanted was to relive that experience.

The building at the very beginning were very small, monotony seemed to be the key quality of the entire island if the entrance was anything to go by. I had seen a transponder snail buried in the rubble, its sh.e.l.l caved in as pieces of cloth from the tent held it in place.

I had done quite a number on this place.

With brisk steps I walked through what looked like schools and markets quickly pa.s.sed by. 'Color me surprised! Not a single casualty.. However inefficient they are in dealing with an actual invasion it's good to know at least, that they don't completely suck' I thought as I casually bad mouthed them.

Good. In the end of this rood I could see the fog physically thicken. That meant that I had come to the second wall. The second wave, and if the army's mobilizations was anything to go by, it was going to be a last ditch effort!

Over the pinkish fog, I saw the call of armed men. They were a.s.sembled in neat cells, each with a level of sophistication that their sea faring counterparts could not hope to match.

It wasn't that they sucked overall, it was only that they placed too much trust on their scaly mounts!

Uncaring of the situation I was in, I lightly tapped my palm with my fist. I had cracked the enigma that was the island!

"Surrender now and you won't be killed!" A voice called out over the enumerable sounds of chattering. The man that gave the warning sounded weary, and who could blame him. His men were more terrified than his one lone enemy!

"With the dignity that mine name of Rapunga grants I shall guarantee it!" The man continued. Seemingly scared that I would not accept his proposition without his rea.s.suring.

"Unfortunately I can't accept your surrender!" I called back, my face immediately falling at the lack of sense that my statement made in the grand scheme of things.

"Ok screw it, Imma kick your a.s.s. You ruined one of my 'most sought after dialogues'!" I called out. Noticing of course the amount of silliness that I had begun to display. But after the amount of venting that I had accomplished I could not help but feel a level of freedom that I had only ever felt before Ohara.

The man seemed to choke on his next statement, before hastily biting out an attack command. But it was too late, I had already propelled myself into the unprepared militia.

With a swift draw of the dagger hung on my torso I launched onto the first person I could get my feet on, spinning around his neck and ramming the dagger's base into his skull. With quick movements I propelled off of the guy, jumping on the now panicked groups heads ramming down the heal of my foot every chance I could get.

The man identified as Rapunga cowered in a tent in the back, peeking out from a dull black tent that bordered another exquisite gate with an equally exquisite veil.

On his side was an older man, obviously evacuated from the front lines gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth at me as an aid whispered into his ear.

I had a vague inclination of him, remembering him as the one that gave the order to retreat before 'boldly' standing up to cover their retreat only to be knocked out by one of the other soldiers that I had left unconscious in the front.

Suddenly the man leapt forward, the crowd wading away from him as he headed towards me at an appreciable speed.

I snickered at the sound of a few of the soldiers sighing in relief before immediately jumping out of the way as the man barreled into the place that I once occupied.

"Bruma." he announced calmly as he inspected me.

"Lorean." I replied with equal seriousness as I prepared myself. I felt a sense of danger from him, on a much lesser scale than Doflamingo nonetheless higher than most other foes that I had faced.

In fact his presence felt a lot like Kuzan, so I had to take this seriously.

The man was armed with a simple army grade sword that he immediately unsheathed. No armor covered his chest and torso, though a small scale mail covered his waist and groin. He looked like a conventional berserker, if a berserker were to wield a blade of course.

With a quick movement of my wrist I pulled out a second dagger from a sheathe on my thigh.

Immediately the two of us propelled forward, at almost the same time. Though I as the leaner and sprier of us made it to him instead of meeting in the middle.

Dexterously I stabbed forward, feinting to his neck before hastily ducking the wide swing that he had just performed. With a twist of my foot I whipped around aiming for his exposed side, the man brought his left hand down quickly, his elbows aimed at my face.

Instantly time seemed to slow, no more of my coy playful att.i.tude remained. Only a keen focus of mind and a earth shattering excitement coursed through my veins.

My knees buckled on command the momentum of my rush carrying me around the parry as I swung around the descending elbow. My blade now aimed at his arm pit, seeking to de-arm him.

With a sway back the man avoided again, the blade grazing softly against his shoulder. With a swift turn he brought his leg up aiming at my temple, his sword moving independently to stab into my eyes.

With a quick (Flash Step), I slithered to the side, my leg shooting out aiming to make the man fall on his back.

With a swift jump over my leg he avoided, he had jumped using a single leg! And it was f.u.c.king stable to boot!!

His sword zoomed downward, shooting at my. The air in front of it collapsed closer, making a pink projectile charge fool hardily at me.

With a spin to the side I doubled my speed. Every other step was a short distance flash step. The first step took me straight into his exposed chest, the blade hung loosely to his side as he dodged.

Then he brought his sword down hard, both hands on the pommel for the first time in the fight. I could feel the pressure mount in the blade as it hurtled to my shoulder. If it landed it would cleave through it and possibly half my body as well!

I swiftly stopped my movement, I would be unable to dodge the move and continue my onslaught so I braced myself spreading my legs and gaining as much of a balance a I could.

My daggers moved upward, and as soon as the two weapons met it twitched to the side. The weight of the sword could not help but pull the attack down, with a ringing noise the blade slid of the end of my dagger as I shot the other towards the man's throat.

We were at an impa.s.se so far, and I wanted to break the stalemate.