The fox against the shark

(A/N: So... I'm not going to lie and say I didn't have some free time to write, (though it is partially true). I-I.. I forgot to write this one to be honest. I was a bit more fixated on another fanfic I was writing making me a bit distracted to think about this one. Very sorry for the delay, but I hope you like the chapter.)

As Akane and Hody stood opposite of the other, they both observed the others movement, indicating when the other would move.

This continued up to the time when a part of Akane's crew arrived to watch the battle. At that moment, Akane made her move.

Taking deep but controlled breaths, Akane's pupils narrowed into a slit, becoming more like that of a feline than those of a human.

Her weapons appeared in her hands as they seemingly trembled in anticipation of the battle.

Total Concentration.

With a strong push, Akane leapt forward in strong but controlled steps, decreasing the distance between her and Hody considerably in a short span of time.

Hody gripped his trident firmly, ready to meet her blades in combat.

Rushing forward as well, the two weapons clashed, Amaterasu meeting Hody's red trident.

The force between the two blows cracked the ground. Hody grit his teeth as he felt his feet digging deeper into the ground. Yelling in a burst of strength, Hody put more power behind his blow.

Akane felt the slight increase in strength, but thought nothing to deep about it. If she wanted to, she could end this fight quickly by just using her armament haki and her devil fruit powers.

That would, however, completely nullify the reason why she had started the fight with her swords.

It was like Shinobu had said one time during practice. You can train all you want, it still needs to be executed in combat. For that, experience in battle is needed. That was what she was doing right now.

She had the oportunity to increase her swordmanship abillity in combat and she would take this chance.

"Water breathing: Fourth form: Striking Tide"

Executing multiple fast slashes, Akane met the trident of Hody again and again, her speed slowly increasing as her eyes tracked his every move in order to find any gaps in his battle stance.

Hody didn't make the fight too easy though.

Creating a slight distance by letting the strength of one of the sword blows cary him, Hody swiped his arm forward, throwing multiple water droplets towards her. The droplets flew at the speed of a bullet.

Akane met the attack head on, unleashing a flurry of attacks that created a swirling trail of water in its wake.

When the water bullets were getting closer, a waterfall was created and blocked them all from getting any further.

"Water Breathing: Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin, Destruction"

With all the bullets blocked or simply redirected to the side, Akane once more rushed forward as water splashes were left in her trail. Arriving right in front of Hody, who didn't have enough space to use his trident or dodge, Akane brandished her sword.

"Water Breathing: Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Flash"

With a single uper cut slash of Amaterasu, a deep cut was created diagonally across Hody's chest.

Hody groaned in pain as he clutched the gash, blood seeping through his fingers and dripping to the ground.

"Damn...you!"

Hody gasped as he fell in a half kneeling position.

"You have caused enough damage, to this island, as well as to the progress of my journey."

Akane replied, brandishing her sword once more for one decisive strike.

Slashing down, a shout was heard telling her to stop, but it was too late.

The blade landed on Hody's neck.

Hody fell forward, his unconcious body falling to the ground.

Turning backwards to see who wanted her to stop, Akane met face to face with one of the people the fishermen revered, Jimbei.

"If you hadn't noticed, I used the back of the blade."

Akane stated a matter of fact.

Smiling a bit wryly at Jimbei, Akane stabbed her swords in her chest, returning them back to their 'Sheath'.

"The rest of the job is up to you, I suppose. Me and my crew are leaving."

Akane said as she moved past Jimbei, her and her crews disguise falling apart to show who they truly were.

Not surprised by this turn of events, Jimbei let them pass, only giving a nod and a soft 'Thank you' as they left. Jimbei was the only witness besides Akane's crew to know what had truly happened.

Maybe it was for the best.

.

.

.

After the whole Fishmen rebellion was dealt with and they had been treated to some grub, Akane made one last stop near a red Poneglyph, as Lafitte had been mighty interested in it and made a copy of it. Having a rare thought for a moment, Akane stared at the unique Poneglyph, wondering what deeper meaning it had.

There had to be a reason for its appearance.

On a simple impulse, she drew Tsukuyomi and stabbed it in the Poneglyph. Though stab wasn't the right word, the movement was all the same. The thing that had been stabbed was the space in front of it, which tore open and sucked in the red Poneglyph.

When the Poneglyph was gone, sucked into her mindscape, all that was left to indicate it had once been there was a square indentation on which nothing grew.

Humming a happy tune, Akane departed to her ship, ready to depart from Fishmen island to see what the New world had in store for them.

.

.

.

Once on board, all the crew members had gathered.

All the supplies had been restocked, the treasures bought and 'found' had been safely stored away and everyone was waiting for the coaters to leave so they could depart.

When the last coater left the ship, Indra happily roared as he dove outside of the bubble and pulled the ship outside of it as well.

Blocks of wood lifted the ship upwards, as did Indra who playfully swam around the blocks.

With nothing else to do but wait to reach the surface, each of the crew members took this time as a well deserved rest to dedicate to their 'me' time.

After all, it would take a while to arrive in the New world, so they should make do with the free time they had. Who knows what kind of weather would greet them at this unfair sea.