Match #7: Dante and Gale vs. Iken and Saki

The sky looked grim as it was clouded with dark ominous looking clouds, casting a dark shade on an already dark looking place. The contestants in this arena were set on opposite sides of the largest arena as of yet. The dark clouds that blocked out most sunlight let a few rays through, and what it showed was the tragic picture of an abandoned city. No life could be detected, and the city was so silent it would upset most people not used to such a rather sad sight. The city displayed past glory as the houses seemed to be painted in all kinds of colors. However the colors had fainted to be darker then whatever it was once supposed to be, and cracks in the paint could be seen as clear as day. Obviously nobody had been here in ages. Leading into the city from both starting positions was a paved road, seemingly left almost untouched. Once one would enter the city they would find out that the city itself seemed pretty untouched as well, as if the entire population decided to just leave at some point.

The city consisted out of a large urban area, with no big plaza's or even but a large open space. The city, aside from the main road that seemed to go straight through the city, consisted out of small, dark and shadowy alleyways, forming a beautiful maze that expanded until the outskirts. These numerous alleyways could be entered from any part of the main road. Heck, the more one would enter into the city the more one would wonder what the purpose of a residential urban area only would be in the first place. Inside of the many houses and apartments nothing could be found aside from the occasional furniture here and there. Thanks to the fact that this city was almost completely empty any noise would echo, creating an after noise, making it easy for the competitors the pin point each-others location even though there was roughly 400 meters distance between the two ends of the city where the pairs started. Although the city was empty, the organizer of this particular round apparently had a knack for explosives, or he just wanted the city blown up, for right before the urban area starts there was a rather large barrel filled with sticks of TNT that could be lighted in order to create an explosion.

Even though it was dry, and quite now, it seemed like there was a storm coming though. The clouds appeared to be moving faster and faster, and someone with extensive knowledge about the weather could notice there was a storm brewing up. But what kind of effect would that have in such a city like this? Well for starters, the rain would basically make the TNT useless if made wet enough( 1 post exposed makes them useless) , and thanks to the wind blowing up to harder speeds the city would actually start to sing a mysterious song. Many amplified wind noises would fill the city, making the once useful echo into something rather annoying, as one would be incapable of hearing their opponents actions( during the storm you cannot rely on the 'hearing' part of your perception, unless you have a perception score of 25% or higher). As things were going to storm would hit rather soon. ( after 6 posts these conditions will be applied as the storm will break loose).

Dante walked around the city with open ears and sight. He was looking for his two opponents, whom he had to kill. Both of them had to lose this battle, no matter how Dante had to do it. The weather seemed to pick up, although Dante didn't know what that meant yet. It could mean tornadoes, it could mean rain, or it could mean a combination of both. Dante didn't want to risk getting wet, so he assumed the sky had rain. Dante looked around every second just to make sure the opponent didn't try to grab him from behind. The last thing he wanted was to get killed. Dante had a black desert-like pair of clothing on himself. He had a long robe that covered his body along with long black pants that seemed very baggy. His shoes were sandals.

Dante had a large foehawk that spiked out, naturally, in different directions and fell thanks to the effects of gravity. The sides of his skull are shaven off, but the mid-saggital plane of his head seemed untouched and allowed to grow. He inspected the area every second just to make sure an opponent wouldn't dare attack him. Even when he didn't inspect his naturally high perception gave in to whatever little noise tried to sneak up on him. The steps of Gale were very easily noticeable because of this, and Dante made a note of it. He looked around the city.

"I wonder where everyone is located.. remember Gale, show no mercy. When you see someone that isn't us, they need to die. They had their chances and they chose to be in this situation." Dante made sure that Gale didn't show chivalry this battle, it could possibly cost them their lives if they fought a strong opponent.

Iken took a moment to inspect the area around him. It was obvious he was in another arena match, with the woman from earlier, probably another two on two. He noticed this time the area was much larger than before. This time he didn't have to worry about falling from the arena and being disqualified like his partner had been before. It was a city without people, untouched dust and wilderness were the only occupants now; other than the contestants. Iken looked at the barrel of TNT that was nearby. The barrel looked as if it had been placed there for the contestants and was one of the few things that appeared to have changed since the city was abandoned. Unfortunately, Iken had no way to reliably lite the sticks of dynamite so he didn't bother taking any.

Logically thinking, if all of the contestants were dropped into the outer corner of the city like Iken had; his partner would likely be on the same side while his foes would be directly in front of and diagonal to his position. Iken turned and took off towards the direction he thought his partner would be waiting. At Iken's full running speed it only took him around forty-four seconds to cross the 400 meter or a little over a quarter of a mile distance. As he was running, Iken noticed the echoes he created as well as those created from others a distance away. It was a no win situation for both parties as all of their locations were given away. Iken noticed that the echoes coming from the other directions were much slow than his, he wasn't entirely sure if that meant they were moving slower or if the distance had something to do with it.

After his brief sprint, Iken had found the woman he had been looking for. If he wasn't mistaken, her name was Saki. It was definitely the same woman from before, the one with the star tattoo; the long legs and flat chest. Iken sighed as he walked towards her after breaking from his run. "Saki, correct? Looks like we're partnered up again." Iken said before pausing. "It'd probably be best to have one person to attack from above and the other to distract the foe from ground level. If we had anything to lite the explosives with, we could possibly use them as a distraction or in the attack itself." Iken said hoping to get ideas from his partner.

1/15

Gale walked besides Dante,  and although he was walking very consciously, trying to prevent excess of noise from his steps, the echo that was generated from it seemed extremely loud for the surrounding silence. The chef could notice that his companion was nervous, looking around every corner, considering every aspect of the setting around them. He looked at him and felt a little bit guilty for his own excess of chivalry in the past fight. He would be merciless now.

What Gale was most interested on, as they strolled through the laberynthic town, was the deepness of the silence. It was no ordinary silence, and it seemed like there were multiple instances of quiteness. The lesser one was the one produced by them as they walked: as their footsteps banged the floor, the noise generated a general silence on the surroundings. For Gale, it was like the ringing of a ceremonial bell, filling the air. Even some quick tremors from the furthest distances echoed through the alleys like heartbeats fill veins with blood. Then there was a silence that seemed to come from the objects around them, as their inactiveness and their archaic cores laid in slumber. But the biggest silence, which seemed to engulf all of the other ones, came from above. It was like the hollow feeling left when you take something out of its place. It had a lot to do with the fact that the climate around them obviously predicted a storm, but there was no storm yet.

Gale now knew that his partner's devil fruit powers were based on the element of sand. And his own were based on clay. In a sense, they were kind of opposites, but when used in conjuction Gale thought that it would have devastating effects on any type of opponent due to the earthly nature of their elements. For now, it would be wise to stay focused and watchful, as he was sure that their opponents wouldn't be easy to take on.

Saki opened her eyes and found herself in a sort-of abandoned town. She could hear faint steps every now and then, probably of Iken and their enemies. She looked around and tried to see if any was closer to her, but none seemed to sound as loud as to indicate how far they were. She sat down softly, making almost no sound. She couldn't concentrate on the footsteps, it seemed like they were coming from every single direction possible, maybe she had been located in the centre and they were actually in every direction, or maybe the echo made it seem like that when in reality they were in a specific direction. Saki sighed softly and closed her eyes, trying to pay more attention to the footsteps, a particular sound of footsteps, that seemed to be coming closer and closer. She was nervous, she had never fought properly, so she didn't know what to do. Of course, she had her powers in her favour but it still didn't mean that she would win. They could be just as good as her, or even better. Iken wouldn't save her now, and she knew that she had to give her best into this fight.

As the steps neared, Saki's heart beat faster, her hands were in fists and she was scared that someone would find her. Then she heard Iken's voice talking to her. She opened her eyes and then indeed, Iken was standing right in front of her. She stood up and let out a sigh of relief. She attentively listened to him talk and then shook her head. "We need to be silent, everything can be heard, I heard you approaching me for minutes before you actually appeared. Also, thanks for the last time, for saving me, you know. And as for the TNT, I can light it" she looked around nervously, waiting for Iken's response.

Dante continued walking forward and made note of Gale and his own footsteps. However, it didn't take long before he started hearing a third. After stopping his feet he still continued to hear the third pair of steps. Because Dante's perception was higher then most he could hear only a whisper of it, a tiny amount.. but it was noticeable. Dante walked in the direction he heard the footsteps but attempted to walk within rhythm. Dante looked at Gale and then back at his feet, hinting to Gale to follow his footsteps. Just to make sure Dante pointed at his legs and started to walk. Eventually Dante heard noises, it sounded like a woman. Knowing this area was supposed to be secluded Dante immediately learned that these were going to be their enemies.

Kaizen looked and saw, after a quick turn in the corner, two opponents he hasn't seen before. A girl and a strong man. While walking to the area Dante heard the conversation, apparently there was TNT nearby. Dante smiled and created an orb in his hand. Dante knew it would be impossible to catch them off guard in this area, since his steps, even if they were carefully and stealthily calculated, could still be heard in this empty city. Although there wasn't much of a warning, or the EXACT area of the noise. An orb quickly formed in Dante's hand. He hurled it at the group, aimed at the woman. The sphere moved across the field rapidly, and looked like it was very well aimed to strike the woman. The sphere was brown.

The surprise though was what would happen if the sphere got close enough to them. Unless the opponent conveniently thought that running away from the sphere about half a dozen meters was needed. It was a very small and compact sphere, so that thought was likely ignored. If anything it looked like a giant brown bullet being sent in their direction, the only difference is that a person with enough perception to see rapid moving objects (more perception then Dante) could see the rapid moving sand particles in the orb. The exception to this would be observation haki, and it would have to predict the danger of the technique or the outcome of it.

Once the sphere got close to Saki, or someone, it quickly and spontaneously turned into a sand tornado. If Iken was hit by the tornado his body's water level will get very low. His body will be in severe dehydration, to the point where he'll be near passed out. If he doesn't get water in five posts, he dies. If Saki is hit she'll be between be half dead, and in desperate need of water or she will die. The tornado's sand depletes water if it touches the opponent, and because this was intended to be a surprise attack Dante knew the possibility of it doing damage was decently high.

((OOC: Assuming we all started out at the same time from a one of the far corners like the arena was designed for and taking into consideration the average walking speed of 5km per hour we can infer that Iken and Saki had a minimum of five minutes to a more realistic estimate of ten plus minutes together before Dante and Gale would have found them. With that in mind there may be some discrepancies between the previous post and mine. At this point I'll attempt to pull Iken and Saki's time development into sync with the rapid time development shown in the other party’s posts.))

Once Iken received confirmation that Saki was able to lite the explosives, Iken's mind began to work on a plan to counter their foes. In Iken's mind it was the second round, and that meant the opponents would be stronger than the foe he had faced before. It meant that the strange zoan he had fought that could turn invisible would be out classed by whomever it was that was coming. The likelihood that one of the partners just wouldn't show up like last time also dropped significantly. Iken was confident in his abilities, but he couldn't help but feel handicapped by the situation at hand; making him more paranoid than usual.

With a sigh from the stress, Iken went into action. First and foremost he kicked off his boots to if not completely eliminate, greatly reduce the echoes he made. "Take off your shoes, the stone under foot shouldn't echo as badly if we're not wearing them." Iken said walking over to the barrel of TNT. Taking off his coat, Iken used it to haul the dynamite into a nearby building and placing it in a corner. He took two sticks for each of them and stuck them in his pockets. With the aid of his sword, Iken pried off a plank of wood from the house. The whole time Iken was listening to the echoes, they were getting louder and more confusing; a likely sign the foes were getting closer. Hurrying back to Saki and the barrel, he moved the barrel towards a corner of a building and stuck the plank of wood into it before draping his coat over it. Iken handed Saki the two sticks he had removed from their storage pile. "Remember the house with the missing plank is the one with the TNT, it'll be the house we meet back at if we happen to be separated. Now I need you to trust me. You're the most important part of this team, you have an ability to lite the dynamite; it alone is likely our most powerful ally. Without you, believe me when I say I have no chance of winning. My plan is for you to stay on the ground near the barrel and my coat on the plank. With any luck they'll attack before they realize it's just a decoy. I'm going to go to the high ground and wait. If I can I'll signal to you when and where they're coming from by hand gestures. All you need to do is act like you're speaking to me like I'm next to you." Iken said trying to exude charm and charisma. Whether the man was lying to the girl or not wasn't clear, however what was; was the fact that Iken would get most people to believe him with his level of confidence.

Iken strapped his boots onto his belt and headed into one of the adjacent houses. With a few quick slashes from his blade, Iken was laying onto of its roof. Iken slowed his breathing while holding his sword on his chest, making it ready for whatever could come. Iken worried about the girl, even though he had placed her in a good position. If he could signal her or if she could notice the foes coming; which shouldn't be hard with the nature of the arena, she would have an entire building to hide behind. The sole reason Iken took time to move the barrel to the corner was to protect his team mate. He hoped she would be okay as the sweat dripped down his face.

It wasn't long before the foes were close, Iken could hear their footsteps. They had come looking for their foes, an obvious sign they were strong and confident. The situation made Iken doubt his plan of attack; he began to think that a defensive position would have been better. The unfortunate part though, they had no time to back down or rethink it. The foes were too close to Iken for him to signal to his partner of their arrival. He could only hope that she noticed their appearance and the building defense would be enough to save her from their initial attack.

All of the sudden a massive brown tornado appeared from nowhere around the area that his partner had been. Iken's eye's widened in horror as he watched the brutal attack unsure of what had happened to his partner. An attack like that on a woman like his partner enraged Iken; the dishonor in it was monumental. Immediately Iken rolled from his position and leaped off of the edge down towards the two men standing there. Iken was surprised, by the sounds of the echoes there should have only been one. He knew one of them had to be a devil fruit user, but he didn't know which one it was. It didn't really matter; Iken coated his blade with haki and attacked.

"Copper Head Strike"

Iken aimed one strike for each of the opponents, with his haki coated blade. The coating made most devil fruit defenses useless, nothing less than a wall of something stronger than copper would stop the attack. Under normal conditions, Iken's twin strike copper head attack would almost certainly kill off the foe if it made a direct hit. Generally with its speed it would be a mortal blow with little time to block or dodge it; however the entire situation was turned upside down. Jumping from the roof, Iken placed himself in a precarious position that would reduce his accuracy with the attack. Not only did he attempt to attack two foes at once when going into the attack he thought there was only one, he was also falling. The man's skill with the blade allowed it so if the attack was going to hit, it would still hit. The difference being that the area he positioned the hit for could possibly, be off reducing the effectiveness of the attack. Regardless of the outcome, Iken grabbed the hilt of his second blade to attempt and counter whatever the foes could throw at him. Would this be the battle that has finally pushed Iken to the point he needs to use his second blade?


2/15

Dante shot his attack at their female opponent very hastily, giving Gale little time to react and perform a follow up attack. Gale decided, as the small attack Dante casted forward turned into a tornado of sand, that he would wait for his foes' reactions to attack them. The attack that his companion performed was very powerful by himself, and Gale didnt see a way in which he could contribute positively to the attack. From an unexpected direction, Gale saw that someone jumped towards them with a sword in his hand. He was grateful that he was paying attention at the surroundings and the reactions of the foes, because this gave him enough thinking time to react to the oncoming attack.

Gale faced Iken as he flew towards them and he timed his defensive mechanism correctly, stepping forward and raising his arm upwards to summon a barrier of clay that effectively protected both Dante and him. His current Devil Fruit Mastery level allowed him to make it as hard as iron, which would be enough to block Iken's attack. Furthermore, the correct timing intersecting his opponents attack allowed this new iron-hard wall to act as an obstacle in its trajectory. With the current momentum and its speed, it would be very difficult not to hit directly against the sturdy clay. Unless, of course, he had a mechanism that resembled Geppou to jump off the air itself to avoid contact with it.

Gale glared at Dante, not very intensively, inquiring for his opinion on this opponent and what they could do to defeat him. At the same time, Gale was worried about their other opponent. Not concerned about her health or state -Dante was right, he had to get over any sign of chivalry-, but about what she could do. There was a reason why she had arrived to the second round, and the fact that this other guy had jumped from on top of a house or wherever he was coming from seemed like something premeditated. They had definitely been expecting them, which could mean that they had something cooked up.

Dante sent his tornado and effectively hit the woman. Her body started to turn sandy and she fell on the ground; if her endurance was a little lower she would have turned to sand. Dante then heard, briefly, the sound of a footstep on the roof; It was lucky that Gale saw him and created a wall, however by the time the wall covered Dante from Iken, and before Iken hit the wall, Dante was already preparing another sand sphere on his palm, and a second one on his other hand. It was a reflex. The reflex would have summoned a dome around the two if it wasn't for Dante already seeing Gale's wall protecting them.

Dante simultaneously let out sand blades from his hand that stretched out at 10 feet. He sent then in horizontal slashes, and vertical, straight towards the wall. The first few sent were vertical (about 6 of them) while the other seven were horizontal. The slashes, if stopped with a sword, will bring a person with less then 20% strength back several meters; this would put Iken back in the air, but less of a plumet to decrease the initial damage. The attack, if it hit, would do the same effects as the tornado. Iken will be left wanting water and will die in five posts if he doesn't get any. This comes with weakness. Dante's blades can cut through Iron, so the second Iken's sword hits the wall many blades will penetrate through that wall and attempt to cut Iken.

Right after the attack Dante spoke, "Sand Blades." Now his attention was solely on Iken. With his high perception this area will work to his advantage.

As large as the blades of sand were, Iken could see them coming from behind the wall. He readied himself from their onslaught by taking a stance. The first blade was weakened by the iron strength wall and such, Iken was able to deflect it with relative ease. The remaining five of the first group were a different story. Iken was able to counter one more of the rapid sand blade using his counter strike technique, effectively canceling out the blade. The next blade slammed into Iken's sword causing it to smash into him, throwing him back through a wall. All of the remaining three of the grouping slammed into Iken causing part of the building to collapse.

"It's not over yet." Iken said standing up causing the debris to shift around him. Iken charged towards the remaining incoming blades. He was able to deflect one more with his counter strike blade before being smashed by the remaining six in that grouping. Iken was sent flying back by the sudden impacts, smashing through yet another wall. A good part of the building he had been sent into was collapsing from the power of the sand blades. At the end of the day, Iken's human abilities proved no match for the monstrous power of the devil fruit users.

3/15