Chapter 30: Gold and Silver
[ Ost-Giant Stronghold Takeoff]
Markus and Dalmatian stared up Janten and Manten.
" Advanced unit, return to the ship, we'll take care of things here. You all get back and radio back to HQ and inform them of what's happened here." Dalmatian spoke. He took off his coat and threw it to the side, knowing that it would only serve to slow him down.
" Hey, look Janten. The dogs going to fight us." Manten gestured towards Dalmatian and started snickering behind his fan.
" Yes, it seems so."
" He's not alone. You two better not count me out." Markus stepped forward and tossed his shirt and coat to the side.
" Hey, this one's a bit cheeky Janten. Let's show them our combo attack, let's go with that one first." Manten said to his brother.
" Right!" Janten shouted.
Janten and Manted jumped from their perch and rushed Markus and Dalmatian.
" Here they come, Markus!"
" Right!"
" Bansho Ten!" Manten gave a great shout and swung his gunbai at Markus and Dalmatian. An enormously powerful gust of wind shot out of the fan.
Markus and Dalmatian braced themselves to keep themselves from being blown away by the wind.
" HAAAAAA!"
" HAAAAAA!"
Janten and Manten slammed their weapons down on top of Dalmatian and Markus, however before they hit the two men jumped backwards, just barely avoiding being hit.
" Damn, this is going to be annoying." Markus grumbled,
" Don't let your guard down." Janten appeared in front of Markus and thrusted his spear-like weapon forward.
Markus's arm turned black, and, in a moment, he smacked the weapon down with his forearm. " Heh, not likely." Markus told the man. Markus spun around tried dropping the heel of his left leg on the man's shoulder, but before his leg connected, Janten vanished.
" Hahaaaa! You shouldn't drop your guard!" Manten appeared out of nowhere and swung his fan at Markus, hitting him right in his face.
" What the?! How did he get over there so fast?" Dalmatian asked. He had been fighting Manten only a second ago and now the man was over on the other side of the town.
" Where are you looking vice admiral? Lightning cutter style." Janten appeared in front of Dalmatian, and using haki to strengthen his Jumonji Yari, he slashed Dalmatian across his chest with a blade imbued with electricity.
" What?!" Dalmatian was briefly stunned. ' They switched places in an instant? They both have devil fruits?'
" Yes! We do!" Janten shouted, knowing from the expression on Dalmatian's face that he was thinking if he had a devil fruit as well.
Back over on the other side of the town, Manten was raining down blades of wind at Markus swinging his fan back and forth.
Markus dodged the swirling blades of wind, ducking and jumping through the wreckage around him to keep from getting slashed.
" Hiaaaaaa! Is dodging all you know how to do? That's pitiful, Marine. Shouldn't you have a Marine's honor?"
* Swip!
" Shouldn't you know when to shut up?" Markus asked the man. He jumped above Manten's head and started spinning. " Lunar Phase!"
" Huh? You're pretty fast." Manten spoke before he vanished, and his brother appeared in his place once again.
" Tch, this trick again?"
Janten blocked Markus' kick and pressed him away. Markus landed on his feet and lunged at Janten. He threw a punch that Janten blocked with the long hilt of his weapon.
Janten pushed Markus away and tried slashing him, only for Markus to swat the weapon to the side with his fist.
Markus stepped forward and landed and solid punch to Janten's jaw, and while his hit landed, Janten also swung his spear towards Markus and hit him in the stomach with the hilt.
' Guh!' Markus grunted hard. The force of the man's attack was heavy. Markus planted his feet onto the ground and grabbed Janten by the collar of his robes. He wanted to throw him over his shoulder, but Janten suddenly vanished again.
' There it is again. Is the other one coming?' Markus asked himself. He prepared for the other brother to show up and attack with his fan, unfortunately that's not what happened.
Instead of swapping places with his brother, Janten used a patch of dirt as a substitute, and appeared behind Markus. Janten swung the pole of his weapon towards Markus, and Markus raised his arms to block. But the force still knocked Markus off of his feet and sent him flying a couple yards away.
Markus tumbled in the air until he was able to land one foot on the ground. he skidded across the dirt and jumped into the air, using the momentum to correct his stance, while Janten was already stanced up and ready to strike again.
" Damn." Markus cursed. He was definitely feeling the pain in his arms. " Tha damn pole is a problem. Not to mention that stupid devil fruit. Why do I always end up dealing with the tricky ones. huh? Man, what a pain." Markus muttered. " But you know, I have to give you credit. That Haki of yours is pretty strong."
" Hmph! You're not bad yourself, Marine." Janten responded.
Like Manten, Janten enjoyed mocking his enemies. However, unlike his brother, Janten realized when the time to get serious came around.
' This one is trickier to deal with than the one with the fan. To beat him, I'm going to have start focusing more. Though I have to admit, I really wish Brago was here. He was always better with observation haki than I was. What was it Bogard used to say? Every attack has intent? Or something like that? I need to focus on his body and its movements, and maybe I'll be able to predict when he's going to use his power. Just focus.'
Markus began studying Janten's body, looking for any small sign of movement from him, be it a change in his breathing or a shift in his limbs.
" HMPH!" Janten grunted. He took in a breath and suddenly vanished.
' He's moving!' Markus started focusing, knowing that any moment now Janten or his brother was going to reappear to attack him.
Janten appeared behind Markus and swung his spear like weapon at him.
Markus focused and ducked under the blade.
Janten swung and missed large, his blade went right over Markus' head and as his body started turning, Janten saw Markus moving to attack him.
' Damn, he's starting to learn! He's fast.' Janten remarked. However, just learning his trick wasn't going to be the end of him. Janten moved quickly and planted his weapon into the ground, and used the hilt to spin around and as Markus was getting close to him, Janten swung his foot up, haki covering it, and kicked Markus, who raised his arms in response.
* Crash!
The collision of haki caused sparks to ignite from the friction between the two.
Eventually the ground beneath them gave in and Markus was pushed back several feet.
Janten quickly grabbed his spear and turned back to face Markus. He jumped into the air. He smirked at Markus and slammed his weapon downwards.
Markus raised his arm and blocked the attack.
" Not gonna jump around?" Markus asked the man.
" Now that you mentioned it..." Janten spoke. He vanished and a moment later, Manten jumped in front of Markus and slammed his fan down right on his arm.
" Miss me?" Manten asked.
" Just a little bit. You're a bit easier to deal with." Markus told the man. This seemed to irritate Manten a little, as Markus could see the veins in his forehead starting to throb.
" I'm gonna blow you to bits!" Manten shouted. He opened his mouth and fired a breath of wind right into Markus' face, knocking him away. He then jumped backwards and swung his fan wildly, creating a wind funnel right in front of him. " Twister bombardment!" The giant wind funnel turned into many small arrows of pressurized wind.
Markus dodged the incoming arrows.
Thankfully he did, as the arrows completely blew away everything they touched like bombs.
" HAH! How do you like that?! Hahahahahaha!" Manten laughed maniacally.
" Not bad, but you're way open." Markus told the man.
He appeared behind Manten, having used the smoke and debris from his attack to get in close.
Markus' arm turned black, and he punched Manten, who used his fan to guard himself. Manten had used his own haki to try and reinforce his fan, but Markus' strength was more than he had predicted.
Manten lost his footing and was sent crashing into the ground.
" Huh?! Manten?!" Janten shouted.
" Pay attention brat!" Dalmatian exclaimed. " Raaaaah! Finger Pistol!" Dalmatian thrusted his fingers at Janten, who blocked them with his pole. Janten was pushed back quite a distance, before he finally stopped skidding across the ground.
Janten took a deep breath and then he looked up at Dalmatian, glaring at the man. Manten did the same, his usual carefree and excited personality slipping away.
" That's not funny at all." Manten muttered as blood dripped down his lip. Manten jumped into the air a great distance, as did Janten, and the two brothers landed next to each other.
" You two really piss me off. You know that?!"
" Enough talking, Manten. Let's do it."
[ Ost- Kouen]
" Right, brother." Manten spoke. He drew his fan as back as he could and coated it with haki. " Hmph! PRESSURE DAMAGE!"
" Lightning cutter sword style! Dancing Fang!"
The two men swung their weapons together in a joint attack, Janten used his special sword style in conjunction with Manten's, and the two men launched a massive wave of lightning and wind together right at the two Marines.
" Haaah!"
" Grrrrrr!"
Markus and Dalmatian watched as the wave approached them, both in shock over the wide spreading destruction, heading right their way
.........
Oh boy Janten and Manten have upped the game a little with a devastating combo attack. Can Markus and Dalmatian survive this powerful attack in one piece? Let me know what you guys thought about the chapter by leaving a comment!
Until next time!