CH - 59

Halcen and Kazuki were set against a Marine Commander who had taken little time to show his vast physical superiority. Darmichal held the power of the Kinetic Kinetic Devil Fruit and it had given him a clear advantage. He had also seemed to be of moderately high intelligence; not just another dumb giant.

Halcen thought to himself. This man is so fucking strong. How Reluji was two ranks higher than this man, I have no idea. It had taken little for Halcen to take down the Commodore, who had been recently promoted to Rear Admiral, to Halcen's surprise. But that wasn't what he needed to focus on. How are we supposed to take down such a beast? He can feel the pain of the hits, but doesn't take damage. No bullets were able to go through… but there was that glint in his eyes as I came at him with the swords… so penetrating weapons can actually do damage? Is that too hard to absorb the energy? Or was there another reason? Was it just him being thrown off? No, he's a seasoned vet. That wouldn't do it. There's too much going on, and I don't have enough information… I still need to test his powers. I know what won't work. Now I need to figure out what will. Wait…

Halcen looked to the side for just a second to look at Kazuki. They're eyes met, and Kazuki nodded.

"I've got an idea," Halcen said, low.

"What's going on?"

"We're gonna push him. I'm gonna keep his focus on me, but I need backup."

"What do you need?"

"Let it rain," Halcen winked.

Kazuki cocked his head in amusement. "Alright."

Halcen stood up straight. Now, we might have a chance. I know how his powers work, and he still doesn't know about my Haki. I'll need to keep it until the most necessary moment. Until now, it hasn't been too bad. But it might get really rough really fast. There's gotta be some weakness to his power. Let's find out.

Halcen knelt down and picked up a couple random short swords that were lying about, and watched Darmichal's reaction very carefully.

Darmichal didn't seem to react at the moment. He merely continued to stare down the two pirates.

Halcen stood up and began running towards the man.

Kazuki strapped his rifle to his back and pulled out two pistols and kept them aimed out. His leg was a bit wobbly, but he could keep himself steady enough. He needed to be in that moment. This was going to be it.

Halcen drew close to the giant Marine.

Darmichal saw Kazuki in the back, ready to start shooting. He braced himself.

Halcen jumped and slashed his swords down at Darmichal's chest. In that moment, when Halcen thought Darmichal was going to move, or retaliate, the Marine stood still.

BANG!

Darmichal refused to budge. His body froze as two blades slashed down his torso and two bullets rocketed towards him.

Halcen felt all the strength he put into hit vanish as soon as he contacted the Marine's body. It was as if he hadn't really swung the swords at all.

The same thing happened with the two bullets at the same time, as the previous three had. They smashed against the man, but only went so far as to hit his skin, and then dropped off and clanked to the ground, flattened out like poker chips.

The only thing that proved Darmichal had even been hit was his roar of pain as these four weapons hit him all at the same time. He did not move or flinch until it was over though.

Halcen fell back down to his feet and looked up at the man. What the hell?

Darmichal's face was dark and he looked down on Halcen with a wicked grin. "Didn't quite work, did it?" he chuckled. And then he began to walk toward Halcen.

Halcen had to back up quickly, while struggling to avoid tripping over the weapons lying on the floor.

"See, you may know the basis of my power, but that doesn't mean you can do anything about it. You're still just a weak little pirate. You're scum compared to me."

"Oh, you think you're hard?" Halcen laughed. "You're tough, sure, but don't forget, I was able to take down Reluji, a Commodore."

And then Darmichal laughed. It echoed through the small room and sent chills down Halcen's back. "Reluji? That hack? Do you really think he was stronger than me? Have you not already witnessed the vast difference in our power? Reluji was promoted to Commodore without much power or fighting skill. His family is well connected. He played the game. He didn't earn his rank. That's well known in the officer circle. But, me? I earned my rank."

Halcen gulped. He had indeed realized there was a difference in power between the two, but had hoped Darmichal didn't know that. His bluff had been called. Halcen stood back and readied an attack stance. He had to keep going, he had to keep trying, he had to find Darmichal's weakness. "Alright, let's go."

Halcen rushed again. This time, instead of jumping straight ahead, he swung both swords simultaneously toward the right side of Darmichal's body.

Kazuki held off, seeing that Darmichal was not moving yet.

Darmichal stood still while Halcen swung his blades and let the attack go through without any damage. His side took the force of the attack and he gave out a small groan in pain, but the swords shattered against his body. They had taken all the energy they could handle and broke in the process.

"Shit," Halcen said out loud.

And then Darmichal moved. He cocked his massive right arm and thrust it down toward where Halcen was standing.

That was when Kazuki finally made his move.

BANG!

Two small bullets went flying across the small room at the same moment that Darmichal went to strike Halcen.

This time, they sunk in. One bullet went into Darmichal's right shoulder and the other snagged his forearm. He roared in agony at the wound and his body was snapped back and Darmichal fell to his back.

Halcen looked upon the fallen giant, for the first time with hope. I get it!

Darmichal didn't give him enough time to act though. He spun himself up off his back and leant down at Halcen with blood dripping from his arm. "You son of a bitch!" He roared at Kazuki. "It's not enough you betrayed that fool Reluji, but now you've drawn blood… from me?!" And then he thrust off, a giant wave of energy flowing behind him. He almost knocked Halcen over.

Halcen followed suit and rushed Darmichal with all his might. He caught the back of the giant man and threw him off course. "Kazuki, run!"

Darmichal tripped and slammed into the side fence, causing a massive blast to erupt. His body hit it as if he were a bomb. It took him an extra second to get his bearings straight, but once he had, he found his path blocked.

Halcen was standing right in front of him, with a long pole, guarding the way. Kazuki was now in the far back, standing his own ground, with pistols up.

"You're not going anywhere," Halcen said.

Darmichal raged. He threw a heavy fist down at Halcen, but Halcen was able to deflect the momentum with the pole, then swung around the side and smashed the pole end into Darmichal's ribs. The beast groaned again. This time Halcen was able to do damage.

"I finally get it!" Halcen cheered. But he didn't have time to explain.