Standing on one side of a huge sparing ring, which was simply a raised stone platform, Yoko stood with Rapanui and Carrot while glaring at the boy with the red mohawk and his two friends.
Back in the lunchroom the boy had been surprised to see Yoko, but he couldn’t stand it when the girl said that he was the protégé of a weakling to lost to the Fleet Admiral and shamefully resigned from the Marines as a result.
Naturally, neither Carrot or any of the others knew what Yoko was talking about at first, but they quickly saw the rage in the boys’ eyes and instead of trying to calm the situation down, they followed Yoko’s example and piled insult after insult on former Admiral Aokiji.
Of course, at this time it was unknown to most Marines that Aokiji had joined up with Blackbeard, saving the red-haired boy a lot of shame.
Still, the boy couldn’t take it, and neither could his two friends.
All three of them had been to Aokiji, what Yoko was to Bill, or what Kolby was to Garp, and almost immediately a challenge was issued.
It would be a 3 vs. 3 fights, one fight at a time.
Even this was provoked by Yoko who said that Grount was so worthless and weak that he couldn’t even call anyone friend besides the two that he was with.
To say nothing of the noble Marines, Yoko said that Grount couldn’t even find friends in low places!
“Grount! Zappa! Bonham! I’ll give you one last chance, stop being jerks! Apologize to Carrot or you’ll see what we can do!” shouted Yoko, which drew ‘ooooohs’ from the crowd of Marines which had formed.
Not including about 100 Monkey Mink Marines, which itself was a startling sight to Base G-F since Minks usually didn’t join the navy in large numbers, about 250 Marines stood around the platform.
Sneering with another laugh, Grount rubbed his red hair and replied loudly: “What you can do?
Girl, did you forget what happened the last time we met? That time you were saved by the ‘Science Division’ Captain, but this is the New World, and I bet that weakling is already dead! Hell, looking at your motley crew, by now he probably died back in some Paradise city to protect you!”
With everything that had been said before, it was Yoko and the others running their mouths off, but after Grount made that claim, Yoko gave him a thousand-mile stare, and answered with a trembling voice…
“Unlike that loser you followed, Bill would never leave the Marines, he’s a hero unlike that phony Admiral you clung to!! You’re… talking about things you don’t even know!
Now Enough!
Let’s get it on!”
Watching from a big window several stories higher than the ring, Bill rubbed his face while Zephyr laughed hard.
Prodi, sweating somewhat, laughed slightly too but somewhat nervously said: “You... uh... inspire confidence in your men… that’s a noble quality, Vice Admiral Ox.
But… we should probably go and intervene; those boys are older and were raised by Kuzan after all.”
This made Zephyr laugh even harder.
Back down at the platform, the first fight was between Zappa and Carrot.
Zappa was a tall young man, standing perhaps 9 feet in height, and seemingly reserved, he almost instantly appeared on the platform and carefully removed two longswords from his back.
Seeing this, Carrot was unfazed, and after pulling down on her clawed gauntlets, she tossed her Coat of Justice to Adelle revealing a tank top that showed a lot of skin and bounced on the stage with frown on her face.
Standing the same height as Yoko, Carrot’s 5’3” looked comical against Zappa’s near 9 feet, but the young man in question didn’t seem so reserved anymore after seeing Carrot ‘bounce’, and with a weird look on his face appeared in front of Carrot in a flash, dropped to one knee, and was about to ask her something when she reacted:
“ELECTRO FIST!”
As a true Mink, Carrot could use Electro as naturally as breathing, and catching Zappa seemingly off guard, she sent him flying with a punch while electrocuting him at the same time.
“I think I’m in love!!!” cried Zappa even as he was flying back, and pushing her attack, Carrot yelled: “Disgusting!” this time kicking him in the mid-section while shouting ‘Electric Avenue!’ – hurling him out of the ring.
Having been knocked out of the ring, Zappa had lost in two hits...
Covered in dirt, but more or less completely fine, the silvered haired young man sat up smiling.
Looking over to Grount, who was fuming with rage, Zappa didn’t care, and meeting eyes with his friend simply said: “I’m… climbing… the stairway… to heaven!!” before falling back on the ground, looking up at the sky.
Back in the office, watching the over matches, Prodi nodded his head and said: “Well, Minks are natural born fighters, the boy should learn to be more careful…”
On the platform below, with Zappa having lost Carrot could remain to fight.
But seeing the massive, long-arm tribe member, Bonham, effortlessly use Soru to jump on the stage Rapanui called Carrot back and went up to meet him.
Unlike Carrot, Rapanui kept on his Coat of Justice, but didn’t bring out any of his javelins.
With a black shirt showing under his Coat of Justice, Rapanui rubbed together his two hands before somewhat slowly putting on a pair of black gloves.
“Good times, bad times… communication breakdowns are inescapable when you black dogs of the Marines ramble on.”
Looking slightly up at Bonham who was a massive Longarm Tribesmen, standing 10 feet tall and no less than 5 feet wide, with arms so long that they could drag on the grounds like a gorilla, Rapanui sneered for a second and asked: “You’re Soru is pretty good, but do you think you can defeat me?”
Now it was Bonham’s turn to laugh, looking down at Rapanui he said: “I am a genius of every one of the Six Powers, at my age the number of Marines who can match me are counted on one hand, defeat you? I’m afraid that after this fight you’re going to turn into a dancing fool!”
When Bonham said this, Rapanui slightly crouched and took a martial arts stance where his supernaturally powerful fingers resembled claws.
“Fine then! I’ll let you taste my [Tiger Style]!!”
Trained by not only the Marines and learning their Six Powers, but the Minks also had their own forms of Animal Kung-Fu that the humans in Yoko’s crew were naturally familiar with.
For most of the humans in Yoko’s crew these were curiosities, but for a couple humans, they matched very well with one style or another.
With fingers strong enough to flick a coin through a war ship, Tiger Style was a match made in heaven for Rapanui, who closed the distance on Bonham in an instant and tore at Bonhams skin.
“Iron Body!” Shouted Bonham, immediately defending himself.
Initially aiming his claws at Bonhams chest, Rapanui quickly changed tactic and delivered a hard kick to the big man’s knee and followed it with a left palm to the stomach which stumbled Bonham back several feet.
“Iron Fist!” shouted Bonham who quickly steadied himself, Shaved back towards Rapanui, and launched a hard fist that was one part Iron Body Technique and one part sheer strength.
Using his claws, Rapanui redirected the punch, and from there the two young adults began fighting back and forth.
One was smaller, using a Kung-Fu that while being specialized in attacking did not forget its roots which emphasized body control and improvising.
One was much larger, using traditional Marine techniques designed for superhumans to overpower their foes.
Fighting back in forth, Rapanui hit Bonham five times for every one time he was hit, but the massive Longarm Tribesmen’s fists were truly rare in the younger generation of Marines, and each hit he landed had the potential to knock Rapanui off balance – and thereby shift the entire contest.
As the fighting went on Bonham grew more frustrated and Rapanui became more settled in his approach.
Redirecting an arm whipped that was going to produce a ‘Storm Leg’ Rapanui used a palm to strike at Bonhams upper arm joint, forcing him to back off.
Moving forward to press his attack, Rapanui roundhouse kicked just in time to catch Bonham when he Shaved to the side.
Dodging aside when he faced a combination of the Six Powers, Rapanui wasn’t anxious and didn’t gamble on one big move to end it all.
This all went on for nearly twenty full minutes, stunning the Marines of Base G-F who knew full well just how powerful Bonham was.
Even Vice Admiral Prodi was surprised. In his thirty-year career in the Marines he had seen a lot, who would have thought that seemingly normal looking young man could contend with monsters…
But of course, Bonham’s reputation wasn’t for nothing, and Rapanui had forgone using his best weapon.
Redirecting a Finger Gun aimed at his chest, Rapanui clawed Bonham across his eyes and kicked him away with a side kick.
Howling in pain, with his eye’s beet-red but not ‘bloody’ since Rapanui still wasn’t aiming to actually hurt a fellow Marine, for the first time Bonham purposefully created distance.
Thinking that he had given up, Rapanui didn’t pursue him, and was shocked when Bonham started yelling…
“AHHHHH!!!!
AAAHHHHH!!!!!
AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Watching wide eyed, as Bonham yelled the air around him floated upwards, and instantly Bill became serious.
He didn’t know what technique this person was using, but he made him feel like Life Return.
Ready to step in, in a moment’s notice, Bill didn’t react but held a serious look on his face – thinking that he may have underestimated Bonham.
Bonham was already 21 after all, and Bill himself was ‘only’ 25.
“Breath Qigong, First Step – Adios!”
Before Bonham had been large, but now he was at least two sizes bigger and pure muscle.
Like Bill had thought, Bonham knew something like Life Return, though his was apparently some kind of active technique, unlike his own which was passive and ‘on’ all the time.
For Rapanui, facing this… creature… he had a nasty look on his face and shouted: “DON’T GO OVERBOARD!” while running back into the lion’s den.
Without his javelins, he was close quarters fighter for better or worse, and holding nothing back, just before they clashed Bonham snorted through clenched teeth: “When the levee breaks don’t you know which way to go?!”
Even though Bonham was proud and harsh, a person who couldn’t stand losing, using his Breath Qigong against a fellow Marine did not make him feel happy.
In his ideal world, Rapanui would have surrendered the fight right away.
But Rapanui would not have lived the life he had lived if he was one to surrender. He would have never entered the Rainbow Mist and ended up 50 years in the future if he was a coward.
Clashing with all that they had, the two Marines caused the air to shake, and the platform rend upwards. Huge flying claw attacks made gashes that sank into the concrete, and massive fists finished the job of destroying the platform wherever they landed.
Displaying a weak form of both Armament and Observation Haki, Rapanui fought hard but was ended by a 10-Finger Gun that sent him flying and spewing blood everywhere.
Still, Bill didn’t move, because despite his worry – he had watched Rapanui grow up through his teenage years – he saw Yoko was there to catch her friend.
Examining Rapanui’s now-bare chest, there were 10 shallow finger holes on his sides but a huge double indention from Bonhams massive hands that had sunk into his sternum.
He would live, but it would take weeks for him to heal, and handing him softly to Adelle, she whispered: “Nobody’s fault but mine…”
Then turning to Bonham – who himself was a bloodied mess and tired, but not nearly as hurt as Rapanui – she stepped on the now destroyed platform.
The moment that Bonham indicated that he was not going to step down, Yoko used a combination of Shave, Iron Body, and Storm Leg which cut the Longarm Tribesman from head to crotch, dropping him instantly.
Only now pulling the [Compliance Tree] from her hair and extending it down like a quarterstaff, she looked at Grount and said passively: “As expected.
Another one bites the dust.”
I know the Minks aren't exactly Chinese themed, they're more like Hindu themed (living on the back of a giant elephant and all), but Bepo does Kung-Fu and Shaolin itself is Buddhist so I don't think its a big stretch for them to have animal-style Kung-Fu
Also, a lot of this chapter was a joke on Bonham and Zappa's names.
Yoko
Carrot
Rapanui (in this picture he's closer to 60, but it gives you an idea of what adult Rapanui looks like)
Grount
Zappa
Bonham (using Qigong)
Zappa+Bonham
Time for yoko to kick some butt
Honestly this chapter read like a bad xianxia. Even with the maybe Minks being Hindu or Chinese themed which is a stretch honesty. It comes off weird.
It was supposed to be like Shaolin (think of those old 70s and 80s movies) - which I agree is a stretch - but Minks using animal-style Kung Fu also doesn't seem too much like a stretch?
Thanks for the comment!