Two Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do own Draconian.

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Draconian took a sip of his drink, a sweet and refreshing mixture that left a nice, fuzzy feeling on his tongue; no alcohol, of course, he only drank that for special occasions. The noise of the bazaar buzzed comfortably in his ear as he leaned back in his chair, making his heart yearn for home. His own town might not have been like this one (heck, it was completely the opposite), but the feeling he got being here was much similar.

After leaving the snowy island, he had traveled through the wild seas of the Grand Line for a few days before arriving at Alabasta. He was a little worried about docking once he had seen the endless desert, but after a while of sailing he was able to find a nice oasis.

His eyes lazily scanned the crowd from behind his shades. Just like with Drum, he was careful not to reveal his eyes, you never know how people will react when you're the son of Mihawk. Plus there was the fact that he had a bounty, which got people off even more.

The men and woman, dressed in concealing clothes, headdresses, and other such all concealing clothing, except in the female dancers' cases, all jostled around attending to their businesses. Some gazed at the food on sale in the bazaar, while some headed inside buildings for who knew what reason, and some just stood around talking to other people or, in Draconian's case, sat at a shaded table and enjoyed a cool drink.

Draconian leaned back a little more and placed his feet on the tabletop. At the moment, he was dressed in his traditional style. He heard from many people that it'd be better if he wore clothing that covered his skin, to protect from sunburn or something. But he figured that idea to be stupid, his powers completely cancelled out the effect of any heat source, leaving his skin completely unharmed no matter how hot the air got.

Now, he wasn't usually the kind of guy to just sit around when he knew there were people like Crocodile out there just ripe for a challenge. But as soon as Draconian saw the stand of cool drinks and tables with shade-providing umbrellas, he just couldn't help but taking some time off for pure relaxation.

It did help him to think, however. Already he was planning on how to get to Crocodile. At the moment, his theory was that the man was probably near the capitol of the island. Not in it, of course, that would be too easy to find, but most likely somewhere near, either in the sand dunes or a close oasis town.

There were also the other members of this Baroque Works thing. They'd probably try to impede him as much as they could before he could get to the head honcho. And since Draconian wanted to face the guy with a hundred percent strength, he'd probably have to take them off the equation on his own time. After that, he'd probably rest up a little and face Crocodile head on.

As he sat pondering this and many other things, playing with the straw in his drink, a commotion erupted from down the bazaar. A woman's startled and angry shout rang through the air. Soon after, many people gathered in the streets were shoved roughly aside as two men ran through, away from where the shout had emanated.

In one of the man's hands was a bag, a few coins falling out once in a while. Behind the two, one of the street dancers chased.

"Help! Someone stop those thieves!"

The men were heading in Draconian's direction. As they got in the area of tables, the men started to throw the tables behind them, obviously trying to hinder the woman's movements.

At this time, there were people headed in the men's direction, trying to cut them off. Draconian, however, preferred a much simpler solution than just chasing. So when they ran right past his table, he casually leaned his leg out and tripped the man carrying the bag.

The man fell to the ground hard, spilling the money along with him. A second later, his partner skidded to a halt and hurried back, scuttling around on the ground with his partner to collect all the money.

With a small sigh, Draconian stopped fiddling with his drink and stood up from his chair. He took a solid stance behind the two men, back to the crowd, and crossed his arms over his chest. "If I were you, I'd just leave the money and go."

One of the men looked up, getting to his knees and pulling a dagger from his boot. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do if we don't?"

Draconian glanced around as if trying to think. "Well," his left hand came up and slipped his shades off, revealing his birthright, while his right wrapped its fingers around the scimitar's hilt. "There are a few things I could do; it just depends on whether or not you want to find out what they are."

The blade started to slide out of the sheath, flames erupting along the cold steel.

The other man finally gathered all the money and looked back. His eyes widened and he jerked back in alarm, the bag sent flying and the money once more falling out. "Holy shit! It's the fire guy!"

The guy with the dagger froze up, his body starting to slowly shake, the dagger falling out of his now limp hand. But in a flash, he switched from shaking statue to a speedster as he turned around and ran. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

The man on the ground looked frantically back and forth. "Hey!" He shouted. "Don't leave me like this!" He scrambled up and ran after his partner, not even looking at the money.

A small chuckle arose from Draconian. "Thought so." He turned around to sit back down, sword still slightly out of its sheath and flaming.

And froze in his tracks.

Standing behind him was a young man in what Draconian guessed to be his late teens or early twenties. He had black hair underneath an orange cowboy hat, and there were a few freckles on his face. The only other piece of clothing he had on was a pair of dark blue jean shorts, leaving his muscular body exposed. He also wore a necklace of round, red beads, and on his left bicep was a tattoo that said ACE.

And in his right hand was a ball of fire.

Both of their eyes widened at the same time as they each saw the other's flames. Slowly, the two started to circle, their eyes surveying the other person from head to toe.

As the two circled, the dancer whose money was stolen earlier ran between them panting. "hah Thank you hah hah it took me so long to get all that and..." She stared at both of the men, neither of them taking their eyes off the other person and completely ignoring her. Instead of continuing further, she just walked past the two and grabbed her money.

Both men just continued circling, their minds racing at seeing the other person's fire. After about a minute, the two finally stopped, their bodies completely rigid as they stared into the other's eyes. Draconian was the first to speak.

"Oh you have got to be fucking me."

"Second that." The other man said, his shaking his head in disbelief.

"Please, oh please don't tell me what's in your hand is what I think it is." He pointed to the orange ball.

"Well, that depends," he looked down, "what do you think is in my hand?"

"A ball of fire."

For a few seconds the other man was silent, then spoke up. "Okay then, I won't tell you."

"Oh god." Draconian gave an agonized sigh and placed his hand on his forehead, placing the flaming blade back in its sheath. He turned and collapsed into his chair, taking his drink and completely dumping the rest of the liquid down his throat.

His fingers spread a little to reveal his right eye, giving a helpless look over at the other person. "What fruit did you eat?"

"Mera Mera." He walked over and pulled up another chair to sit across the table from Draconian. "You?"

"Mera Mera." His hand fell off his face as he leaned his head back against the chair's back, staring into the sky. "How the hell does this happen, I thought I was the only one with these powers."

"You thought? As far as I've known, there's only one type of each Devil Fruit, this just doesn't make any sense." He leaned his body against the tabletop, his forehead almost touching the glass.

For a while, the two sat in silence, until Draconian tilted his head to look over at the man. "So, what's your name?"

"Huh?" He looked up. "Oh, Ace. Portgas D. Ace."

Draconian cocked an eyebrow. "D?"

"Yeah, not sure where it comes from, just something from the ancestry I think. I think there are some other people with it. Don't need to ask your name, I recognize those eyes. A relative of that Hawkeye guy, right?"

"He's my father. The name's Draconian Mihawk." He readjusted himself in the chair so that he was once again sitting up straight. "So, what's your power?"

"What?" He raised his head back up and looked at him in disbelief. "You stupid or something?"

"No, no." He gave a wave of his hand. "I mean specifics, do you just control the flames or are you able to turn your body into it like those other elementalists?"

"Yep." He said a little proudly. "I can turn my body into the flames. Here," he placed his hand on the table, palm down. "Stab my hand."

In under a second, Draconian's tanto was whipped out of its sheath and stabbed into the man's hand. Flames danced around the blade where the skin was supposed to be, not a single drop of blood spilling.

Ace stared down at the dagger. "Huh," he said. "Interesting how you didn't hesitate to just stab me like that."

Draconian gave a shrug. "What can I say?" He took the tanto out of the flames and replaced it in the sheath. "I believed you."

"Then why did you even have to stab me?"

A small grin appeared on his face. "Because it was fun."

"Okay, disturbing." He slowly brought his hand back. "So how about you?"

"Nah, for some reason I can't do it. If you were to stab me, it would go right through the skin, and the blood would come right out. Not really sure why, but I've got my theories."

"Hmm, odd. So how do you think we could both eat the same fruit?"

"Well," he said, leaning back a little in his chair. "There are probably a few ways, I'd have to do some thinking. I do, however, have an interesting theory relating to how I can't actually turn into the flames."

"Yeah, what?" He leaned forward a little.

"Well, the way I see it, I'm not too sure that the powers of each fruit are set things. I mean, no one really knows what they're going to get until they eat one of the things, right?" An agreeing nod from Ace and he continued. "Maybe they aren't actually set things. They might be determined by the person actually eating them. The powers might be determined by some certain thing with the person. I mean, I think the reason that I can still be hurt is because I'd probably hate myself if I had powers like yours."

He looked quizzically over at Draconian. "How so?"

"The thing is, I'm the kind of fighter who doesn't like advantages like the body thing. I want to use my own skills to win fights; I barely even use my powers in a big way as it is. Maybe the fruit picked up on that and didn't allow my body to be turned into flames."

"Interesting thoughts, never thought of it that way." He gave a shrug. "But I guess anything's possible when you don't really know the truth, eh?"

"I guess." He raised a finger up in the air, signaling an order for another drink. As the waitress came by, she turned to Ace, who also ordered a drink.

"So," Ace said once they had gotten their drinks, "Where you from?"

Draconian raised his drink for a sip. "East Blue, one of the out of the way towns that pirates use to dock for a while. You?"

A smile appeared upon the man's face. "Also from East Blue, grew up in one of the smaller towns."

A warm smile grew on Draconian's face as he took a sip of his drink; somehow it just felt nice to be talking with someone from his own sea. "And what exactly is your reason for coming here?"

"You're going to have to be more specific." He leaned forward on his elbows, the drink clutched in his hands. "But as to why I'm in the Grand Line, same as everyone else. I'm a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, captain of the second command force (I'm sorry, but I can't remember what he specifically commanded). Here, look at this."

He got up and turned around, revealing a tattoo covering his back. On it was the picture of a skull with a white mustache in the shape of a long crescent, the ends pointing up. Surrounding the skull was the shape of a swastika.

After showing off the tattoo, he turned around and sat down. "Now, as to why I'm in Alabasta, I've been..." But that was all he got to, as in the next second his head just dropped forward, chin on his chest. The rest of his body stayed completely still, in the exact same position as before.

For a few seconds, Draconian just sat there watching his prone form, wondering what the hell had just happened. He didn't need to wonder long, however, as a small snore rose from the man's mouth.

Draconian cocked an eyebrow. "He's sleeping?" His hand reached forward and tapped him on the shoulder. After a few seconds of nothing, he tapped harder. Still there was nothing, so he smacked him across the face.

All this did was shift his body to the side, resulting in him falling completely out of the chair. Even still, he just lay on the ground snoring.

Instead of trying something else, Draconian just casually leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. He even decided to place his feet up on the table to increase his comfort as he waited this out.

For a few minutes he just sat there, sipping his drink, until finally Ace bolted back into his chair. "Sorry about that."

Draconian gave a casual look his way. "Narcolepsy, eh?"

He started to brush some dirt off of his arms. "Yeah, gets annoying at times. But hey, I've gotten this far while having it; I bet I can keep going okay enough. Just have to watch myself when I'm near a marine, or in a fight. Where was I?"

"I believe," he said, putting down his drink. "That you were talking about why you were in Alabasta particularly."

"Right. Well," he started. "For some months I've been tracking a man named Blackbeard, used to be part of the crew but mutinied. I was in this town about a month ago, right before my brother took down Crocodile, and..."

"Wait wait wait," Draconian raised a hand in an effort to stop him. "You mean that Straw Hat kid?"

Ace blinked a few times. "You mean Luffy? Yeah, he's my younger brother. Definitely making quite a name for himself. But what could I expect, eh? He is my brother."

Those words triggered something in Draconian's head, and soon couldn't help asking a question. "Do you happen to know what his bounty is at the moment?"

"At the moment, no. Haven't heard about the recent stuff, but after getting rid of Crocodile he was at a hundred mil."

"Damn." He swore under his breath. "I need to catch up to him. Sorry for interrupting your story, go on."

"Well," he started up again. "Before Crocodile was beaten, I had come here to try and get some information. I found out some stuff, and took off after Blackbeard. At the moment, I'm at a little dead end, thought I was going somewhere but ran into a wall. But then I remembered that I had ran out of this town before asking as many people as I had hoped, the marines had come so I needed to leave; so I figured there might be some things I missed, and I came back." He brought the drink to his lips and took a long drag. "So how about you, why you here?"

"Crocodile. Heard he got loose and thought I'd come here and fight the guy, hopefully raise my bounty to a good number. Besides, his goons have attacked me twice; I'd like to pay the guy back." He said all this as if it was no big deal, but Ace was able to pick out the gleeful anticipation in Draconian's eyes.

"I've got no doubt that your bounty will raise to at least a hundred mil, but that's if you beat him." He took another sip of his drink, trying to hold back a grin but failing miserably.

Draconian cocked an eyebrow. "If?" He turned to fully face the guy and leaned an elbow on the table, pointing his finger at Ace's chest. "Let me tell you about my record, okay? See if you think the same way after that."

And so they talked. At first Draconian just talked about his adventures to prove a point, but after a while it actually turned to conversation. The original reason for why he was talking about them immediately erased, and soon the two were just having fun. They traded stories about where they'd gone, what they'd done, and so forth.

Ace talked much about growing up with his younger brother, including his powers. This intrigued Draconian much, for someone with powers like that to actually get this far. He also talked a lot about being a crewmember for Whitebeard, and how awesome it felt to serve under the only man to actually tie with Gold Roger.

Draconian, however, talked about growing up without a father and how it felt to be looked at badly because of that father. He talked about his goal of beating the man and how hard he had trained everyday. On a lighter note, he shared some of his favorite exploits and a few of his funnier moments in battle.

With all this talk, the two men forgot about the awkwardness of both having the same power. Soon, they were just talking about things that didn't even make sense as to why they were being talked about.

It felt good for Draconian, finally having someone that he could just talk to. True, he had made some discussion with people he had met on his travels, but this was probably the first time that he had actually held a good conversation with a person.

Finally, Ace leaned back in his chair, looking up at the sky. Suddenly, he whipped his body back forward, getting up off his seat and looking at the sun, which was now in the western section of the sky. "Holy crap, we've been talking for hours."

Draconian casually tilted his head back to look at the sun's position. "Looks like only a couple hours till the sun starts setting. We've got time."

Ace chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure you do, but I've got to get that info on Blackbeard. Sorry man, but I really need to get to the next oasis."

"Really?" Disappointment shown on Draconian's face, soon followed by a sigh as he slowly got up from his chair. "That's too bad, I was hoping we could talk some more."

Ace cocked an eyebrow. "I'm surprised. I thought you'd be wanting to look for Crocodile some more."

"Eh, Crocodile's not going anywhere, he can wait. Besides, it's not like I was going to find him today anyways." He was silent for a while, then gave a small cough. "It was nice meeting you."

He extended his arm out towards Ace. A small smile appeared on Ace's face as he took Draconian's offered hand in his own for a firm shake. "You too."

A small thudding noise interrupting the silence. With their hands still gripped, the two looked down to see a baseball land between them.

"A baseball?" Ace said, letting go of Draconian's hand and kneeling down. "How odd." He reached out and grabbed the ball, straightening back up... or at least trying to.

His face showed all Draconian needed to know as his arm struggled to lift the thing, but that didn't stop him from voicing his thoughts. "Holy shit! What the hell is this thing made of?" After a few seconds of catching his breath, he gave a heave and lifted the ball onto the table.

Only to have the table break from the weight, the metal legs snapping clean off.

The two were silent for a while as they looked down at the baseball surrounded by the destroyed table. Ace was the first to speak. "Now that is strange."

"Shh!" Draconian raised a finger to silence him. For a few seconds they just stood in silence. Finally, Draconian turned back to Ace. "Do you hear ticking?"

At first, the two just stood there, their brows slightly furrowed in confusion. After a few seconds their eyes widened in understanding.

They both ran, diving through the air with a giant leap. The move wasn't fast enough, however, as an explosion ripped through the air, smashing into the two men and sending them flying.

People ran here and there in a panic, the sound of stamping feet and women's screams permeating the air. No one paid any attention to the smoke rising from the explosion site, the only thoughts racing through their minds being the urge to get away from the danger.

In their haste, no one saw the two new people arriving at the sea. They walked casually through the lingering smoke, heading in the direction of the wall where Draconian and Ace had landed.

One of the two people was a man. His body was huge; it looked like a tall, wide barrel. His legs, however, were short, and his arms were as thin as a regular person's. He wore a light green shirt with a dark green cross, two brown belts crisscrossing over the front. His flat, puffy head was covered with a mop of yellow hair, and a pair of puffy lips stuck out above where a chin would be. A giant yellow scarf completely covered his neck, if he even had one.

The second person was a small, old woman. Frizzy red hair stuck out of a green band going around her forehead. Small, round red rimmed sunglasses hid her eyes. A simple white sweater adorned her round body, a Christmas tree decorating the front. On her back was a brown pack, and a pair of purple sweats covered her legs.

They stopped in the middle of the street, right where the bomb had exploded, the smoke still trailing up into the sky like a thin snake.

Opposite them, his back leaning against the wall in which he had been thrown into, his head bowed and his legs splayed out on the ground, was Draconian. Just a few feet to his left was Ace, his upside-down body now splattered on the same wall, the back of his shoulders pressed against the ground.

Draconian lifted his head up slowly, bending it to the sides to let out a few cracks. He put his legs underneath him and stood back up, turning to Ace and grabbing onto his arm. "Come on, get your ass up."

He tried to lift him up, only to find the body limp. The head fell back, revealing closed eyes and an open mouth, a snore grinding out from the throat.

He gave a roll of his eyes. "Oh god," He muttered under his breath. "Not again."

His left hand came up and grabbed onto the back of Ace's head, getting a firm grip of his hair. With a sharp tug, he raised him completely onto two feet. Following this, he drew his other hand back and gave a few hard slaps across his face. "Come on, wake up!"

Draconian started to shake him. With still nothing happening, he turned him so that he faced the wall. His hand suddenly yanked his hair back, and he smashed his head right into the wall, sending it right through.

Slowly, he took the man's head out, only to discover that he was still asleep and snoring.

"Well," he said. "You've got to admit, that's impressive." He let go of him, letting his limp body fall, and turned around. His eyes narrowed in surprise and curiosity as he noticed the two people for the first time. "Oh, hello."

"Don't you 'oh, hello' us you little twerp!" The small woman excitedly said, obviously annoyed as she hopped about. "We just hit you with a bomb and that's how you react! You duh! How dare you treat us like that! It makes my back hurt!"

"Oh," he said simply, pointing his finger at the in understanding. "So you were the guys who attacked me?" He looked down at Ace, casually nudging his head with his foot. After a while he looked back up at the pair. "So who exactly are you?"

The woman growled, hopping up and down in anger. The man behind her raised his head up a little, slowly moving his lips. "Wwwwwweeeeee..."

"Shut up you stupid duh! Can't you learn to speak normal! Why are you always making my back hurt with your slow speaking?" She turned back to Draconian, leaving the big guy to continue on in his slow speech. "We happen to be top agents in Baroque Works, you duh! I'm Merry Christmas, and this stupid duh," she pointed to the man next to her, "is Mr. Four. We're the ones who are going to take you out before you become a problem."

It was hard to say what made him chuckle more, the old woman's little speech or the fact that the big guy next to her was still drolling on in his slow talking.

"Become?" He said, his voice edged with disbelief. "I already am a problem, or at least you are. I'm not sure if you recall, but you were the guys who attacked me." The disbelief in his voice was now replaced by annoyance as he stared down the little woman. "First that bitch and stupid bomb head attack me in Loguetown, which I dismissed because my new bounty had come out. But then I get attacked once more in Misty Peak, this time by the whole damn town."

He placed his hand upon the hilt of his katana, taking a step forward in challenge. "You guys were the ones who started this, and it's time you start making up for it."

"Making up for it! You destroyed over a hundred of our people and took out two of our top agents! Although I have to admit, we didn't really want them back in anyways... but still, you defeated all those people, so don't go blaming this on us you stupid duh!" She took a big gulp of air, preparing for another tirade, only to be interrupted by a loud yawn.

"Hey, can you please stop that annoying yelling?" Ace pushed himself back up, going to stand next to Draconian's side.

"About damn time you woke up." He took his hand off the katana, turning to face the newly awakened Ace. "I found the guys responsible for that odd baseball; they're members of Baroque Works."

"Really?" He scratched his head. "What are they doing here? I heard that they just concentrated on Alubarna, not the docking towns."

"They said they were here to 'take me out.' Apparently, I'm becoming a threat. I have to say, it actually feels pretty nice, with the recognition and all."

The two just continued to converse, completely ignoring the two Baroque Works members. Christmas' face grew red, her teeth started grating together, and her hands curled themselves into tight fists, the nails threatening to cut into her palms.

By this time, Four had finished what he was saying and was looking down at Christmas with stupid curiosity.

Finally she cracked, running forward in a burst of furious speed. "Stop ignoring me you duhs!"

Draconian casually turned his head towards the angry woman, his expression the same as if he was looking at a child having a temper tantrum. He whipped out his katana, swinging it above his head and taking it in both hands, putting one foot forward as he did so, and brought it down upon her head.

A clang rang through the immediate area as Christmas raised her hand to intercept the sword, thick claws growing out of her fingers to clash against the blade.

Draconian pushed down harder on the sword's handle, pressing the woman's "hands" close to the ground. He straightened the sword out, pointing the tip of the blade up. After taking his left hand off the hilt and pressing it against the back of the cold steel, he gave a large push, sending the woman off her feet and flying back.

She landed on her feet a few feet in front of her partner, one hand out to steady herself. By now, her hands had widened considerably, along with her feet, and long, thick claws stuck out of each finger and toe. Her face was a little pinched, and her nose was now longer with a small black snout and whiskers on the end.

His eyes roving over her new body, Draconian rested the katana on his shoulders. "So, a zoan fruit wielder, eh? Which style is that?"

She gave a growl. "Mole, you stupid duh," she said, looking behind her afterwards. "Four! You going to help me out here or what? Your laziness is making my back hurt!"

Ace walked up to Draconian's side, looking at the odd people in front of them. "You need any help with these two?"

"Nope."

"Okay... want some anyways?"

He considered the proposal for a few seconds before answering. "Sure, why not?" He then turned back to the Baroque Works employees, his brows cocked. "So you guys going to bring it or what?"

Four turned around, cupping his hand around his mouth as he called out into the distance. "Lllllllaaaaaaasssssssssoooooooo."

From seemingly out of nowhere came a dog, or at least what Draconian first thought was a dog.

From the waist to the head it was just a regular dog, dachshund it looked like. But below that, it was a big metal cylinder, like the end of a giant cannon. Draconian didn't know how the hell the thing was able to walk as well as it did, seeing as it could only use two legs.

Ace pointed at the weird animal. "What... the hell... is that?"

"That would be my companion's dog, Lasso. He used to be a cannon, but the thing ate a Devil Fruit, dachshund style."

"Okay..." Draconian said in confusion. "How the hell does a cannon eat a Devil Fruit? I mean, what, do you just plunk it through the hole and POOF it turns into a dog, or what?"

The mole woman waved a hand in agitation. "How the hell am I supposed to know, you duh? I don't think Four even knows, and trying to think about it hurts my back. Let's just say it's weird and leave it at that."

Draconian rushed forward before anything else could be said, flames quickly covering the blade of his sword. He took a slash at Christmas, missing as she dived head down into the ground, digging a hole faster than Draconian could blink and already going out of sight.

He reversed the missed slash as he came upon Four. Once more, the attack didn't connect as the big man jumped over the blade and fell down into the hole.

Draconian stopped running and looked back at the hole. Already, all he could see was blackness as the tunnel stretched who knows where below the dirt street. Other than that, the only thing left indicating that the two had been there was Four's dog, who hadn't moved an inch.

At the moment, it was looking at Draconian, panting dumbly.

In response, Draconian stared back. "What are you looking at?"

As if on cue, the dog's head slowly bent up, the nose scrunching, and gave a sneeze. Out of nowhere, a baseball flew out, Draconian didn't know where from, and landed between Draconian's feet.

"Holy...!" He jumped back, landing right back next to Ace just as the bomb exploded, just missing the force of the blast. The smoke from the bomb billowed over the area around the hole, which the dog used as cover as it slowly crawled in after its owner.

For a few moments the two were silent, staring at the space that the dog had currently occupied.

"Huh," Ace said. "Don't see something like that everyday."

Draconian slowly walked over to the hole, peering into its fathomless depths. "So-o-o-o, you think we should..."

"Oh, like hell I'm going down there." He said, crossing his arms. "I may be made of fire, but that doesn't protect me from cave-ins, and I highly doubt I'd be able to protect myself from explosions down there."

Draconian let out a sigh, straightening up and taking a tighter grip of his katana. "Fine, I guess we'll just wait them out."

The two didn't have to wait long. A few seconds later, a sneeze erupted through the air, and the two whipped their heads towards where the noise had come from. The dog's head was poking out of a new hole that came out of nowhere, and it was already retreating back in its depths.

The two jumped back and out of blasting range before the ball even landed, easily escaping the explosion that erupted soon after. Once more, silence greeted their survival as they looked around the area for any more attacks.

"They're sneakier than I thought with those holes," Draconian said. "We'll have to keep on our toes."

"Duh."

A small cloud of dust puffed into the air to their left. The dog's head once more popped itself out of the newly made hole, giving them a dumb look as it panted. It wasted little time in launching another sneeze, sending another ball bomb soaring in their direction.

The two dodged to opposite sides, ducking low as the ball soared right over their heads, continuing through the air.

Feeling odd that the ball didn't land near them, the two turned around, only to discover another hole had popped up behind them. Sticking out of it was the upper half of Four, a metal baseball bat in his hand as the ball headed right for him.

"Is he crazy?" Draconian said under his breath. "Those things are heavy as hell, plus there's the little explosion feature we all love."

He swung the bat, connecting with the ball and sending it sailing right back towards Draconian.

"Well," Draconian said. "If he can hit it, so can I." With that, he jumped into the air just as the ball got near, bringing his leg back as it lit up in flames. "Dragon Sledgehammer!"

His foot whipped forward, his foot connecting with the ball, sending it only a few feet back before it fell to the ground with a dull thud. A grimace pulled at Draconian's face as he landed on one knee, clutching above his foot in sharp pain.

"Look out!" Ace shouted, rushing to Draconian's side. He wrapped his arm around Draconian's waist, giving an extra blast of fire as he pushed against the ground with his legs, sending them flying backwards, just barely dodging the ball's explosion. At the same time he sent a volley of fireballs back at four, only to miss as he ducked back down into the hole.

"Are you an idiot?" He said as they landed. "Did you really think you could just kick something that heavy right back at the guy?"

"I figured it wouldn't be as heavy as the first, he was able to smack the thing like it was made of rubber. He's a hell of a lot stronger than I thought."

Their conversation was interrupted as the ground erupted behind them, launching out the mole lady. Her claws slashed out at Ace, passing right through him as his midsection turned to fire. A small look of surprise covered her face as she passed through his body, leaving no mark on his newly formed skin whatsoever.

Draconian hopped into the air as soon as she escaped Ace's torso, angling his body to aim his bent legs at her airborne body. "Dragon Stampede!"

The multiple kicks sent her flying off to the side. Before he could do anything else to her, though, she had already hit the ground and dug down into the earth, out of his range.

A small thud sounded between the two as he landed, and out of pure instinct the two jumped away in opposite directions as the bomb exploded, dodging the explosion.

From then on, the old woman didn't dare to come up to the surface anymore, and the fight continued on much like this. The dog continually popped in and out of newly made holes, sneezing the explosive baseballs at either Draconian and Ace or Four, who popped up to hit the balls at the agile pyromancers. His aim was surprisingly accurate, and it took everything that Draconian had to dodge them. Even so, he still got hit with the fringes of an explosion every now and then, one time even catching it full on, sending him flying into a wall.

Ace was having better luck. He dodged them at a slightly better speed than Draconian, and whenever an explosion got too close, he would usually just block the blast with a wall of fire. Still, there were times when the balls came at him from unexpected places, hitting him before he could offer up any defense. He may have had the ability to turn into fire, but that only worked with pure physical attacks, explosions were able to bypass that strength. He continually fired upon Four with barrages of fireballs whenever he could, only scoring a couple of hits as the big guy ducked down into the holes before any could land.

After Draconian had taken another unexpected explosion head on, flinging him into, and almost through, a wall, Christmas finally made another appearance. She poked her pointed head above a hole, shouting over at her partner, the bat casually resting in his grip. "Four! Let's finish this one up, I'm tired with toying with these two, it's starting to make my back hurt!"

Four slowly turned his head in response to Christmas, letting out a very slow "okay" and taking his eyes off Ace.

Big mistake.

Seeing his chance at an opening, Ace summoned a giant burst of fire from his hands, drawing it to his side to create a fireball as tall as himself. He let the giant creation go, flinging it across the expanse of holes and smashing it into Four's giant bulk.

"You duh, Four!" Christmas shouted in anger. "Pay attention! Your idiocy is going to cost us this job! God, it's making my back...!"

"Dragon Sledgehammer!"

She snapped her head to the side in surprise, only to catch a face full of flaming foot. The impact sent her flying out of her hole to land roughly on the ground. Seeing Draconian's furious form behind her, she spared no time in digging back underground and out of danger.

Ace launched another barrage of fireballs at Four, missing once more as the big man ducked his burnt form back into the hole. Giving a frustrated stomp, Ace took a look around at his surrounding, watching for any surprises.

Draconian stood over the hole that Christmas had previously occupied, the fire on his feet dying down as his temper lessened. He looked over at the cautious Ace. "Hey!" he called, his manner seeming as if they weren't even in a battle. "You want to kick this thing up a notch!"

"I'm game with that!" Ace replied, jerking his head around in search of his quarry. "These guys are starting to piss me off!"

No sooner had he said this than Draconian felt something grip his ankles. He looked down, seeing Christmas's claws poking out of the ground, each one wrapped around an ankle. Her head also poked out of the ground, and she shouted out over the expanse of holes.

"Now Four, do it now!"

"Hey! Get your dirty paws off of me, you old hag!" He tried to kick out of them, only to make her grip tighten.

Meanwhile, both Four and his dog popped out of opposite holes. The dog let out a series of rapid sneezes, releasing a giant swarm of baseballs all heading towards Four. He responded in kind, smacking each ball faster than the sneezes could shoot them out, sending them all flying towards Draconian in a cloud of round death.

"Fine," Draconian said, still concentrating on Christmas. "If that's how you're going to be, then I'll have to get violent." Fire erupted from his feet, scorching Christmas's hands and making her immediately let go. Before Draconian could release a good kick, though, she had dug back into the ground to get away.

With an annoyed sigh, he glanced back up, just in time to see Four smack the last ball. The swarm of baseballs sped in his direction, stretching out to cover both sides of the street. Already, he knew that he couldn't dodge this attack, Christmas's distraction had held him too long, and now they were on him too close for him to dodge the giant blast that was to follow.

At the moment, there was pretty much only one word to describe how he was feeling as he took an alarmed step back and stared at the oncoming bombs.

"Shit."

In a flash of speed, Ace was standing in front of Draconian, left hand forward and spread while his right held Draconian back. "Stand back. Fire Haze!"

The fingers on his spread hand turned into sticks of fire, and the flames started to swirl around, growing until they created a giant wall of fire. Bombs exploded against it, creating a giant wave of explosive force. More fire added to the mix, making it thicker so it could withstand the huge blast better.

Ace turned back to Draconian. "You o-" he faltered, looking around. "Where'd he go?"

The wall of fire finally shrank, revealing only Ace behind it. This made Four scratch his head in confusion; from what he remembered, there were two people standing there.

"Hey, fatass!"

He turned his head towards the sound of the shout, seeing the other teenager just a short distance away from him, running in his direction.

Draconian's hand was drawn back, his fingers curled tightly above his exposed palm, thumb pressed against its side. Fire swirled around the hand as he ran at Four in an almost blurred speed.

"Dragon Strike!"

His palm lashed out before the big guy could do anything, smashing right into his face like a battering ram. The force of the strike bent the man completely backwards, the length of his body above the hole laid flat on the ground and now parallel with Draconian's passing arm.

He swung his leg above his head, his foot still covered in flames. "Meteor!" he shouted as he smashed the foot down on Four's big body.

A thud sounded next to him as he took his foot off of Four's body. Not even glancing to look at the bomb, he bent down and wrapped his fingers around the ticking ball. And with a sharp tug and a grunt, he picked the thing up, gripping the top as he held the thing out to the side, his fingers digging right into the skin so it wouldn't fall.

"Draconian! What the hell are you doing?" Ace shouted from his position where Draconian had just stood. "Are you going stupid on me, 'cause it's going to be difficult to fight these guys when I have a crazy person as a partner! I'd just like to know if something's happened to your head so that I can adjust to the new conditions!"

The bomb exploded in Draconian's hands before he could even look at Ace in response, covering him in a cloud of smoke.

In the few seconds it took for the small cloud to dissipate, Four had sunk back into his hole out of site. For some odd reason, Ace couldn't take his eyes off the cloud. He wasn't really awed by Draconian's stunt, he'd seen people do stupider, and he wasn't too worried, there was a good chance he'd live if he was as tough as Ace thought, but for some odd reason he just couldn't deal with looking away.

The clearing smoke revealed Draconian to be standing exactly as he had been with the bomb in his hand, the explosion not moving him an inch. The only sign at all that the explosion had occurred was his body. His face and chest weren't really damaged that much, rough patches scattered throughout the muscled body; the black powder from the bomb clung in patches all over him.

His arm, however, was a different story.

Dark red blood covered almost half of the skin, issuing out from torn skin. Almost everything else that wasn't covered in blood was black from a combination of explosive powder, injured and, oddly enough, scorched skin. His fingers looked weak, blood covering most of them and the skin looking raw.

"You think I'm afraid!" He shouted into the empty air. "You think I'm scared of your little bombs! That I'm just going to run away when you throw one at me! I've run into a cannonball head on and didn't even blink! This is nothing!" He scanned the area of holes hatefully. "Get your asses out here! Fight me!"

Silence greeted his shouting.

"Fine then!" He shouted, then turned to Ace. "Ace! Let's smoke these bastards out!"

Ace grinned. "I was wondering when you were going to suggest that!"

They both bent down to the holes nearest them, placing both hands above the opening, palms down, and spreading the fingers. At almost the same time, fire blasted from both men's hands, filling the shafts with a deadly light. The flames hugged the walls as they traveled through the system of tunnels, twin animals searching for their prey.

In a matter of no time, giant pillars of fire were erupting from every hole, signaling that the two snakes of fire had overtaken every inch of the tunnels. The tops of the towers arched towards the center of the street, colliding with each other and creating a brilliant explosion of flames.

The explosion spread over the sky above the street, slowly dissipating as the fire started to come down to earth. Small wisps of fire floated down like leaves, creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of interchanging light and movement.

Standing at one end of the street were Draconian and Ace, each above their respective holes. At the other was Christmas, Four, and his dog, each one with scorch marks in various places over their bodies but not even seeming to notice.

There was complete silence as the two groups stared the other down, no one moving an inch.

Christmas twitched one of her claws, the most anyone had moved after the explosion, and Draconian's eyes narrowed on the movement. Immediately, he exploded into motion, running across the destroyed street, hopping over and dodging around holes in an unpredictable blur of movement.

In response, Christmas dived back into the ground, leaving Four to lift the metal bat in preparation. The dog didn't really do anything, just stood where it was, panting and looking stupid.

Draconian started to zigzag through the field of holes even more erratically, at some points even going so far out to the side that it didn't even look like he'd come back. A few times he even went backwards, retracing his steps and starting a new pattern of movement.

"Where am I coming from, Four?" He taunted, hopping over a few holes as he did so. "You only have one strike with that bat, and then you're open. You think you can hit me, huh?"

His speed increased a little, almost going to a blur, and ran around the final expanse of holes. Once he was close, he sped to the left, going a small distance until he sharply jerked in reverse, jumping to the right so that he landed right in front of Four.

The ground to his right erupted in dust as Christmas launched herself at Draconian, claws aimed at his injured arm.

In the blink of an eye, Draconian's arm snapped out, working just as well as before the explosion, and grabbed onto Christmas's neck, stopping her in midair.

"How..." was the only thing she could get out before Draconian jerked his body to the left, dodging Four as he swung his bat straight down. He then used the momentum of the dodge to spin around, bringing Christmas back and flinging her into a nearby wall.

He sprang into action once more, jumping over Four's swung bat. The fingers on his injured hand clenched, the muscles on the arm tightening as fire twisted down the scorched skin, gathering at the hand. He brought the hand low, bending the body to the side to give more momentum to his strike. "Dragon Fist!"

The fist swung up in a tight uppercut, smashing underneath Four's chin and knocking him back. Before he could fully fall, Draconian spun his body around, extending his leg out. "Sledgehammer!"

The foot connected with Four's jaw, sending his body smashing into the ground.

Draconian landed in a crouch right next to the downed body, only to be greeted as a baseball landed right in front of him. Looking over hatefully at the dog, he snapped his arm of and grabbed onto the scruff of its neck. He then pulled it over and laid the body on top of the ball, staying above the creature so that the explosion wouldn't hit him.

A cloud of smoke billowed from underneath the dog as the explosion went off, coloring the air grey around them. Draconian let go, the dog's body a little limp, and spun around.

"Kick!" He thrust his foot out, smashing it into the dog's side and sending it flying into the same wall as Christmas, crashing right through the bricks. Something interesting caught Draconian's attention, putting him even more on guard.

The simple fact was, Christmas wasn't near the wall anymore.

Before he could even try and look for any sign of Christmas, claws stabbed up from the ground near him. Christmas didn't follow them, it was just the claws, and they slashed at his feet. He awkwardly dodged, but was too caught off guard, resulting in a few of the claws slashing his leg.

Although the dodge had been awkward, his landing was as solid as ever. He whipped out his katana on contact, stabbing it into the ground near where the claws were.

Due to the fact that there wasn't any screaming and the blade came out clean, Draconian safely assumed that he'd missed.

A slow groan emanated from behind him as Four sat back up, only to be knocked right back down as a big fireball smashed into his front.

Draconian looked over to Ace, a fireball in each hand. "I'll take care of Four," he said, launching a small volley at the big man as he started to get back up. "You try and get the old hag."

Giving him a grin and a nod, Draconian took up his sword and started to slowly stalk the area that the claws had last disappeared to. In the corner of his eye, he watched as Ace rushed Four, who was now standing.

Once close, he punched his gut with a good sized fireball. He followed up with a volley of flaming kicks to the head and sent him back into a wall with a blast of fire.

Four got right back up from the wall and started swinging with that bat, missing with every swipe as Ace danced around the metal object. He was constantly hitting the big man with short bursts of fire and solid kicks to the gut, slowly wearing him out. If he could do that to a man who smacked around those bombs like rolled up pieces of paper, he had to have been strong.

As he thought this, Draconian's sense of danger kicked in, and he jumped into the air, doing a back flip. A pair of claws ripped through the ground below him, originally coming from behind. He landed with the sword stabbing down, once again missing as the claws raced off into the distance, sinking back into the ground.

Instead of trying to chase it again, he brought his injured hand up, clenching it into a fist and covering it in flames. "Dragon Fist!"

He slammed it down into the earth, punching right through the dirt and into the underground tunnel. Grabbing onto the edge of the small hole, he gave a rough tug, ripping the opening even wider. His hands found their way into the opening, fingers spreading out as he poured fire into the tunnel.

A ways away, Christmas broke through the ground, leaping through the air like a small, hideously ugly dolphin, and landed in a different patch of ground to start a new tunnel. The fire from the tunnel shot into the air behind her, the dragon's breath missing its mark.

Draconian gave a sigh. Obviously, this technique wasn't going to work a second time.

He took off in a run, not knowing what to do yet to counter Christmas's strategy. Instead, he sped around the area of holes, keeping on the move so that Christmas didn't know where to strike. He was sure that she'd know where he was due to his tremors.

Tremors? He thought, an idea starting to form in his head.

He went down where he stood, landing on one knee and stabbing the length of his blade into the earth. From there, he just stayed like that, not moving from the spot. He closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of his sword.

After a while, he started to feel a slight shaking through the hilt. He followed this lead by thrusting all ten fingers around the blade and placing his ear against the dirt.

It took a while to locate the source, needing it to get stronger to detect the tremors better. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked behind him and a little to the left, and just as he had thought, a few moments later the surface of the ground started to tent up and break.

Draconian slipped his sword out of the ground and stabbed it back down a second later, now pointed towards the cracking earth, leaving only about an inch left to be seen. By this time, the tips of Christmas's white claws had broken through the ground and now stood out like small pointy towers among a barren land.

The claws rushed him, multiple shark fins detecting a pool of blood in their territory. He waited, letting them come close, making sure there was no mistake. Hopefully they didn't notice the blade, but it wouldn't matter too much, he just needed them close, just close.

He thought he saw them falter when they were within a foot of him, but by that time, it was too late.

Fire twisted around the winding dragon hilt, going following it down to run along the sunken blade. He gave a small push of the blade, sending the final bit of steel into the ground.

The earth exploded around Draconian as a blast of fire exploded from the blade. Through the small storm of fire and earth, Draconian was easily able to make out Christmas's form as she was hurled into the air by the blast, straight up and right in front of him.

He took the sword out of the destroyed ground, drawing it back and gathering the fire around him to the blade, creating a cyclone of flames around the steel. "Dragon Slash!"

He swept the sword up, slashing right up her body, the spinning flames carried by the sword smashing right into her like a snake and keeping her midair. Following the direction of the slash, Draconian moved the blade to his shoulder, gripping the hilt with both hands as he pointed the blade in Christmas's direction. "Thrust!"

He stabbed it forward, sending it right into her shoulder. It stayed only for a quick second, coming out almost immediately and stabbing forward once more, this time aimed for the stomach.

This time it didn't land, as Christmas placed her claws in front of the sword's path. The force of the blow knocked her back and out of Draconian's reach, far enough so that she'd hit the ground before he could get to her.

He didn't leave her without a gift, however. The remainder of the cyclone of flames around the blade blasted out, smacking right into her flying body and sending her farther back through the air.

She landed right next to one of the older holes, scrambling right down its mouth before Draconian could get to her.

He ran right up to the hole's edge, peering down. "One of these things again, eh? Well, let's hope she's too deep to get out."

And with that, he placed his hands over the opening, palms down and covered in flames, and started to pour fire into the inky blackness.

Before the fire could even get to the opening, claws sprang from the ground around Draconian's feet, wrapping themselves around his ankles. They didn't cut him, instead keeping a firm grip as they zipped around the street, keeping Draconian's body upright.

Damn! He thought. The bitch caught me off guard. Should've been more alert!

From underneath the ground a muffled, but still clearly heard, shout yelled out. "Four! I've got the guy, now stop playing and get ready!"

The claws started to run Draconian's body right towards Four. At the moment, the fat man was getting up from a wall, a big crater showing in its side where his body just slammed into it. His bat was leaning against the bricks.

But not for long.

In the blink of an eye, the wall behind the bat crumpled, breaking down as the bat fell through.

Son of a bitch! Draconian thought. Either that wall is extremely weak, which I doubt as the fat man didn't even topple it, or that bat is heavy as hell.

Ace started forward, a fireball in each hand, as Four picked up his bat beneath the pile of rocks. He stopped as he saw Draconian being dragged towards them by Christmas's, and rushed Four before he could do what he thought.

He halted right in his tracks, though, when he saw Draconian give a small shake of his head and gave a wave, motioning the man to stop. Soon after stopping, he leapt far back through the air to dodge a swing from Four, landing at the other side of the street and staying put.

As his body sped for the fat man, Draconian slid his sword back into the sheath. He then worked to keep his body completely straight, the fact that he was being dragged by his ankles forcing him to lean back, and crossed his arms.

Four took up a regular batter's stance, standing to the side and holding the bat up to his right, waving it a little in anticipation.

Draconian readied himself, making sure he was prepared when the big man swung. He did not want to think of what would happen if that thing hit him, he may have been tough but it was stupid to think that it wouldn't hurt like hell if that thing smashed into his chest.

His body came closer to the bat every second, and he tensed his body in his own anticipation of what was about to happen.

His body came in front of the bat.

Four swung.

Ace held his breath.

Draconian moved.

In the time it takes to snap a finger, Draconian bent his body completely back from the knees, his back now parallel to the ground. The bat whistled over him, and he placed his hand out to catch it as the thing swung by. At the same time, his feet lit up in flames, making Christmas let go.

With that, his hands grabbed onto the swinging bat as his feet left the ground. Using the momentum of the swing, Draconian swung his body completely over, stretching his legs in opposite directions so that they were on either side of Four's arm.

"Dragon Scissors!" The legs snapped in, slamming into either side of Four's arm. Draconian thought he heard a small snap, and the big man dropped the bat.

The man clutched at his injured, and probably broken, arm almost doubling over in pain. Seeing his chance, Draconian spread his legs out wide, twisting his body as the fire on his feet spread to cover his whole leg. "Hurricane!"

His legs spun in a fiery wheel, continually smashing the flaming feet against the back of Four's head and sending him down to one knee.

Draconian left off with the feet and swung in front of the kneeling man, feet landing with a solid thump. He bent both arms back, palms out and fingers bent, fire swirling around the hands. "Double Dragon Strike!"

Both palms thrust forward, slamming into Four's gut and causing the man to buckle over in pain, a small bit of blood flying from between his teeth.

Draconian stepped onto the man's back, pushing off of him to launch himself high into the air. Once he was at a good height and starting to descend once more, he slid his sword out of their sheath. He started to spin around, fire twisting around his legs as flames covered his swords.

"Tornado Comet!" A cyclone of flames erupted from the swords to fall straight down, surrounding Four in a cage of fire.

Letting gravity take control of him, Draconian's spinning body fell straight down, legs leading. His feet slammed right on Four's back, forcing the man all the way down to the ground, face into the dirt.

The fire disappeared in a sudden wisp, and Draconian slipped the swords back into their respective holders. A fireball flew right over his shoulder, drawing Draconian's gaze over his shoulder as he followed the projectile.

The ball of flames slammed right into Christmas, who was sailing through the air, claws wide to slash at Draconian's exposed back. Before the blast could send her flying back, Draconian reached out and grabbed onto her frizzy hair. He gave a few spins, swinging her body along with his, and slammed her down next to Four, who was already starting to slowly get up.

Ace started to walk towards the pair, just as Draconian started to walk back from them. This put Christmas and Four right in the middle of the two, with both Ace and Draconian a good distance from them.

With a growl, Christmas got back up, looking at Draconian with intense hate. This made him smirk, and he extended his injured hand in her direction, palm up, and beckoned her.

She gave a shout born of pure fury and rushed forward in a blind run, claws extended out before her.

Draconian bent his knees, bowing his head as he took the hilt of his katana in his injured hand. "Blades of the Dragon Brethren..."

His voice echoed through the street, gradually gaining in force. His head snapped up as Christmas came within a few feet of him, his eyes locking on her body.

His right leg snapped straight up, connecting with her jaw and lifting the woman slightly off her feet. It was soon followed by the other foot, finishing the one-two kick combination and sending her flying high in the air.

As his left leg settled back on the ground, Draconian bent his legs completely, pushing off the ground with a small burst of fire to follow Christmas up. The katana came out of its sheath on the way, going up high to be taken up in both hands.

"Brother of the Sky!"

He came up even with Christmas, moving the sword in a series of fluid, double handed slashes. He finished with a slash from below, raising a line of red from hip to shoulder.

As he passed her bloody body in the air, he slipped the blade right back into its sheath. He then angled his body towards Four, who had already gotten back up, as gravity once more took control.

While he fell, his injured hand gripped onto the scimitar, slipping it a few centimeters out of the sheath, the blade already erupting in flames.

"And Brother of the Sea!" He shouted as he fell fast through the air at an angle.

The flaming scimitar snapped out of the sheath as he got close to Four's body. Without his bat, and his right arm pretty much useless, the big man was completely vulnerable to the onslaught. The scimitar swept through the air in a pattern of movement just as fluid as water, striking at Four's body faster than a viper.

He landed a good ways behind Four, hitting the ground in a crouch, scimitar out wide.

Ace went into motion before Four could collapse from the new cuts, rushing over to his direction. His fist was drawn back, fire completely obscuring the hand.

He stopped in his tracks as soon as he passed Draconian, thrusting his fist forward. "Fire Fist!"

A gigantic blast of fire issued from his clenched hand, heading right for Four and Christmas, who was still falling. The flames almost completely closed the gap between each side of the street, going as high as one of the walls and slamming right into both Four and Christmas.

The blast lasted for quite a while and extended all the way down the street. After a while of burning, the blast finally faded out, revealing the crispy bodies of Four and Christmas laying a good ways down the street, much farther away than where they had started.

Ace lowered his arm back to his side just as Draconian stood back up, back to back with his partner. He gave a few spins of his scimitar and slipped it back into the sheath, making a nice click as the final bit of steel disappeared.

He turned around and looked at the charred bodies. "So, you think they're out?"

"Looks like it, otherwise they're very good actors," he replied, looking around as he did so. "Hey, do you think the authorities of this place know of them being here?"

Draconian rested a hand on his chin, pondering. "Maybe, maybe not. But if they don't..." he flung a blast of fire into the air, a good distance above the two bodies so that it could be easily seen by the whole town. Once at the apex of its flight, the flames stopped and started to change shape, soon forming into and arrow pointing down, the words "Baroque Works agents" spelled out above it.

"Nice," Ace said, admiring his handiwork.

The two turned around and started walking down the street, both heading for the harbor. Draconian looked over his injured arm, turning it over to assess all the damage. "I've gotta get some of my medical supplies, if I don't cover this thing soon it'll probably get infected or something."

"Doesn't that hurt?" Ace said, looking over at the arm.

"It stings, yes, but I don't feel any serious pain." Draconian replied, turning his attention away from his arm and looking at the distance to his ship. "Nice fighting back there, by the way."

"Thanks, you too." He said, also turning back to look up the road. "So, uh, why exactly don't you use your fire powers more?"

"What are you talking about? I use them."

"Well, yeah, but not much." Ace said, forming a ball of fire in his hand and tossing it up and down for sport. "You only cover parts of your body with it, except for that one time you helped me with the holes and when you did that tornado thing. You never just blasted the guys with fire or anything. What's the deal?"

Draconian sighed. "I just don't like using my powers that way. I just don't see it involving great skill, it's an unfair advantage. I want to win with my actual skills, and using the fire that much takes away from that. Besides, I don't want to become dependent."

Ace gave a slow nod. "Okay, okay, I see where you're coming from. But you can still use the fire in conjunction with your fighting; make it a skillful mastery instead of a pure power thing. Besides," he said, glancing over at Draconian's impassive face. "Sooner or later, you're going to run into someone where your physical skills alone won't do shit. Then, you'll have to use your Devil Fruit abilities. And if I were you, I'd at least start training with them so that when that day comes, you'll at least be capable of using them well enough."

"I don't know," he replied, slowly shaking his head. "It just doesn't feel too right to me."

"Then why did you even eat the fruit in the first place?"

That simple question sent Draconian back. Why had he eaten the fruit if he wanted to rely on his actual skills?

Ace saw the look on Draconian's face and paused. After a few seconds of silence, he patted Draconian on the shoulder and started walking again. "Well, you think about that. Come one," he said, beckoning Draconian to follow. "I'm leaving, got all the info I need. I'd like to ask you a question before I go."

"What?" Draconian said curiously, catching up to the man.

"Well, I was wondering," Ace said, placing a hand behind his head. "Would you like to join Whitebeard alongside me? I bet after a short while you could increase those skills of your and become an officer like me."

He knew even before finishing what Draconian's answer would be, but he was still disappointed when he heard.

"Sorry, I'm a loner. If I wasn't, I'd love to, but I really need to make a name for myself by myself. Besides, if I'm going to beat Whitebeard in a fight, I think it might be awkward if I'm already a member of his crew."

Ace chuckled, his disappointment already disappearing. "Yeah right, I'd like to see you try. Bet you can't even beat me at the moment."

"I never said now, just in the future, when I become better than my dad, then I'll go on to become the best fighter in the seas. Soon, Whitebeard will just be a crossed off name on my list of targets, along with you and everyone else I meet."

By this time, the two had reached the mouth of the harbor.

Ace gave a soft smile, giving Draconian a playful push. "Well, I can't wait to see you when you're at that level. Next time we meet, how about a nice spar, eh?"

"Yeah, sure," Draconian said, a similar smile on his own face. "I'd like that."

An uncomfortable silence came between the two. Slowly, Ace extended his hand up.

Seeing the hand, Draconian's smile grew even bigger. He raised his hand up and clapped it against Ace's, fire erupting from between the two's palms as they squeezed.

With that small ritual of friendship over, Ace turned around and started to head towards his boat. He raised his hand in a dismissal wave as he gave one last glance Draconian's way. "Till the next time we meet, Dragon from the East Blue!"

"Till the next time we meet, then!" He shouted back with a laugh. After seeing Ace turn around, he himself turned and started to walk in the opposite direction, towards his own ship. After a few steps he stopped, pondering. "Dragon from East Blue, hmm?" He said, rubbing his chin.

"I like that."

---

Okay, there were some parts where it took me a while to know what to write, so sorry if it took longer to write this than it should have. Personally, though, I really liked this chapter. I'm not sure why, but it just seemed different than the others. I can't wait to write the next one, that is going to be awesome! Wait till you see the fight in the next chapter, it's going to be nice! Well, on to reviews.

H-girl.1: Um, wasn't he called Dracky in Ch. 8? I think you might b behind a chapter there. And yes, he will fight Zoro, that'll be just before the fight with Luffy. I'm going to have it so that he doesn't use his power when fighting him, that way it's just a pure test of swordsmanship. It'll be nice.

Ace D. Portgas: Well, when I heard it it was Dracule, so I guess I'm stuck with that specific translation. If it's the wrong one, then too bad, I can't change it now. I'm kind of screwed with Draconian's name too. I guess that Mihawk was the thing I was supposed to change, but again, I'm kind of screwed, so I'll have to pretend that Mihawk is the family name now. Well, hopefully you like the later chapters too along with the first.