Task Details:

"Alright, this should be a fine location," Axel said as he stepped into a room meant for medical patients on the second floor. There were six beds; three on each side of the room. There were also plenty of cabinets between the beds that had medicine and first aid kits, but the only thing that the girl in Axel's hands needed was rest at the moment, so he gently placed her on the first bed to the left side. It was assumed that she went to sleep during the walk their since she was so exhausted, but Axel wouldn't be surprised if she was awake. He almost lost his footing a few times on the way to the room, especially up the stairs, but he somehow managed to do it all in one piece. Assuming that most of the marines stationed at this base were handling the aftermath of the battle outside, Axel didn't really have anything to do, so he sat in a chair next to Alice's bed and stared out the window opposite the door of the room. It was pretty much the alternate for a wall, that whole side of the room being a window. It was made that way to sooth patients as they looked either up into the sky, or down on the ground, looking at the outskirts of the jungle that was home to many wild creatures. A lot of them were friendly, or at least that is what the encyclopedia told Axel.

After about a half-hour, things went from calm to as crazy as the invasion of the Fishmen. Perhaps because there was yet another one going on. Axel heard many things outside even though there were many doors closed behind him and the outside world. Bullets from guns were being fired, and swords were clashing together. This time, it sounded as if fighting was actually taking place near the marine base too.

"Oh, shit, was the first onslaught so that..." Axel said as he got up and looked towards the door. He was thinking that maybe the first invasion was meant to be a distraction so that the marine base would be open for a direct assault. That meant that within minutes, dozens of fishmen would be inside, clearing out all of the rooms to ensure no marines were left to deny them of their new base of operations. If Alice was sleeping, she probably woke up from the noise. After 30 minutes of rest, she probably wasn't fully replenished, but she had to at least have some strength in her. The two of them would have to defend themselves within the room.

Or maybe not, Axel thought to himself. He looked towards the window. He might have to use 'that' power to get them out of there and head towards the jungle. The marine was saving it for when he really needed it, which was now since it too a lot out of him to keep it up just for a few minutes.

WC: 502
TWC: 502

Alice had lost consciousness between when Red had picked her up in downtown Briss, and when they reached theFl forrest path to the base on the South of the island. She was surprised they'd gotten here as quickly as they did. She'd been awake for the past forty-five or so minutes but Red's jacket was surprisingly comfortable, and Ali didn't want to walk. She could have, definitely, probably could have walked along the path with him, chewed the scenery, which was admittedly kinda shitty. Alice grew up next to a jungle and it was a pretty bad place. Nasty beasts ate people on the regular, so she wasn't terribly fond of jungles. Still, definitely coukd have started walking a while ago. She opted not to because as stated before, Red's jacket was pretty comfortable. That and she liked being carried like a princess, made her feel like she was in charge, which was always nice. However, it proved to her that her dear gunslinging friend was strong enough to counteract her Devil Fruit powers. At least if she wasn't focusing.

She'd make a mental note of that for later, if it ever became something they needed to worry about. For now though, he was carrying up the stares of the base to the second floor, she'd been told that's where medical was, not something she usually needed given her unique ability to negate most harm inflicted on her. He almost stumbled a few times just coming up the stares, it'd happened on the way here too but he always caught himself. He was pretty good at the whole "not dropping injured people" thing. Probably what got him this far in the Marines. Carrying people was a very unique Skill that took years to master, and so far this guy was something akin to a prodigy in the subject. He managed to make it the stairs and even gently placed Alice onto one if the relatively comfortable, but notably less comfortable than his jacket, medical cots. Once he'd taken a seat beside her, Alice broke the illusion of her false sleep and clapped for her chauffeur.

"Wow! Bravo! Champagne! Cheers! High-five! Slow clap! You did it! It was touch and go there for a little bit, but I knew you could do it! All you had to do was believe in the me that believed in you! Solid work, champ... So... You uhh... You didn't like... Do lewd things to me while I was out, right? I need to charge extra for that kind of stuff...", Alice would declare with equal parts enthusiasm and sarcasm while she nestled herself into the cot. "Gotta say though, moderately disappointed. Aren't the gallant heroes supposed to like... Drape their super heroic manly accessories over the damaged damsel? Should plopped that jacket on me like a blanket, woulda be so romantically cliché, ya know? I mean... Unless you're one of those weird types... Like... The kind to pleasure yourself over comatose women... In which case I can like... I don't know... Get out?" Alice would continue with her rhetoric, mostly to fill the void of quiet. Red hardly seemed like a talker and if Alice wanted a peaceful, quiet life she'd have never joined the Navy.

Still though, the view out the window was pretty nice. If forrests were your thing, you'd get a lot of stimulation from hanging out in Here. Alice's mind drifted to how many nurses probably got railed in this very room. The medical core of the Marines was notoriously comprised of slutty nurses and tall, dark and handsome doctors. At least that's what Alice liked to think, she'd never exactly had medical issues before now.

That wasn't true, normally she needed to report in to let the docs know about her Devil Fruit. They needed to use seastone needles for any inoculations she'd need, everything else just slipped right off.

It took about half an hour for Alice to get throughly bored of resting in bed, which was oddly enough pretty convenient. Sounds of gunfire echoed from outside the base, muffled, distant cries of pain and anguish were getting more and more nearer. It occurred to Alice right then that it was kinda a dumb coincidence that after one attack the fish folk would give up. She was no tactician but gang warfare was little different. Sent some guys to go harass whoever you had a beef with. They were expendable, after that, you sent more guys. Hit them where they live.

The Marines had built their southern base along the coast. Which is to say they lived right by the ocean. Right next door to the fish dudes.

Alice was up in a flash and quickly slammed the door to to the sick bay shut, yanking the cushy cushion off a cot and kicking the metal frame over to that door. It was the only way in besides that window. If the base was about to be hit, they were gonna be the only ones here for the most part. They'd have to hold out. If Axel still had the ammo, they coukd probably just shoot them as they tried to push in through that door... But what if they had more of those Flying fish guys?! They'd be sitting ducks in this room! It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel... Alice would laugh at her inner monolog pun later.

"Sooo yeah! Are we fucked? Those shots are getting closer and we might just be stuck here. I think we are like... 80% fucked in my professional opinion. We might be able to plug that door with dead bodies? But what if they get more flying guys? Do you have the ammo to hold out here? I'm like... Virtually useless at long range here, but if they did get in, I could take em..."

Alice looked at the floor for a moment and sighed. "I could also probably break this floor if you don't mind, like... Carrying my unconscious ass around some more, but we definitely need a plan. Like... Soonish!"

1062 words

"uh, what?" Axel tried to take in all that was being said by Alice who jumped up in a sitting position as soon as he placed her in the bed, saying things but then replying to them with her own thoughts. He processed that some things she said were kind of... sexual, so he decided to clear that up right away. "Wait, what? uh... I don't sexually harass people.." he answered as she continued on, and then she even assumed that maybe he was one to take advantage of unconscious girls. "Uh... you have a very... open mind? I mean, I am not like any of those kinds of guys. Anyway, you should get some rest.." the marine didn't know what else to say to that. Even though Alice was a very beautiful women, Axel never thought of doing any of those things she talked about. He was raised to be a gentleman. That went on for a pretty long time until the two hear gunshots [back to my timeline].

While Alice blocked the door, she seemed to be talking in a panic. Axel already knew what they had to do. While standing near the bed, he looked directly into Alice's eyes.

"Alice, listen. I have a special power that will let us escape this situation, but you ave to listen to me," Axel instructed. He pulled out the revolver on the right side of his hip with his right hand, pointed at the window and pulled the trigger. A bullet went right through the glass, shattering most of it. Enough for the both of them to... fly out of there. The white spiky-haired marine put his gun back into it's holster and looked back at Alice. "I am gonna transform right now. Afterwards, I need you to hug me and then we are out of here," he ordered, trying to force his cheeks to stay pale and not go red to show that that line was kind of awkward, but it was needed.

Axel focused his mind on transforming into the Peregrine Falcon, since he ate the devil fruit that allowed such a thing. His eyes were closed as dark gray and white hair began to grow everywhere on his body. He grew a yellow beak on his face, and his hands and feet turned yellow and the finger nails turned into claws. His shoes were torn off by the claws. He opened his eyes to show that they were completely black. Finally, he grew wings on his back that were each about three feet in length. He opened his arms out wide so that Alice could hug him. Once she does this, Axel would hug her back, grasping her as tightly as he could and would run towards the open window. Once he jumped out, his wings would begin to flap, allowing him to fly.

Axel and Alice would make there way towards the entrance of the jungle were some other marines can be seem running towards to regroup from the onslaught of fishmen. the coast was a few hundred meters directly west of the base, so the remaining fishmen would just run to the base and not even take a glance around the jungle.

"Is that Axel? I didn't know you could turn into a bird thing bro!" shouted one of the marines. He was scared from the fishmen assault, but then his facial expression also showed a grimace at Axel's transformation. He gently put Alice on the ground and faced the marine.

"Well, yea. This is the power of my devil fruit. It is gonna help us a ton too. I will fly towards the base and shoot from the windows, while you guys can take down the fishmen around the base. They haven't checked the jungle so you still have the element of surprise," Axel instructed.

"We can help too!" shouted a few men running towards the marines from the jungle.

WC: 656
TWC: 1158

"Special power? Uh, yeah, sure dude, ok." Axel wasted no time in trying to calm down Alice, who herself was in her perfectly natural state a being. Chaos was frustrating, but hardly something to make Ali lose control of a situation. She embraced a philosophy that at its core, reasoned that no one had complete control of any situation. Things happened. It was best to let what happens to happen, and react accordingly. It was just that simple, and because it was just that simple, there was no need to fuss about things.

Alice wasn't in a panic. She was just used to working by herself or in an open area. This situation was new, and required collaborative input. On Axel's part, he shot out the window. She figured his special power was a Devil Fruit, only reason he'd do something like that. Maybe he was slippery too? Probably not... He might be like that gross, disgusting bug monster guy. That would be really sick, like... In so many ways. Once the window was successfully shot out and lying in shattered pieces on the floor, Axel told Alice to hug him, and she could only bust out into a laugh at how he said it, and the hint of a blush that would follow it. He coulda said to hold onto him. But he said hug as if... We'll, his protests from earlier seemed to imply he wasn't the type for sexual humor. Perhaps he was just a prude. It would explain the jacket that reached well past his knees. Long enough to sweep a floor.

Still once her laughter died down, Alice watched in a little bit of disgusted horror as Axel became a bird man, gross beak and all. She held back her "ewww" response pretty well and wrapped her arms around him once they were open. It wasnt as bad as that bug guy, but honestly she'd be OK if this kind of Devil Fruit, that turned people into monster beast, bug things... She'd be cool if they stopped being a thing. There were probably plenty of weird fruit's out there, and the world could do without man sized bug-men.

Axel took hold of Alice and she tried not to vomit, which steadily became harder and harder once she'd realized his hands and feet were now grotesque claws. She bit her lip and swallowed her grossed outnessess and took off with Axel into the sky. She made sure to tightly close her eyes, so she didn't see anything. No dizzying heights, no grotesque man-bird thing. Nothing until she could feel solid ground beneath her feet. Once she could, she let go of her unintentionally gross saviour and rushed in a blind direction, mostly so that way she didn't vomit of Axel's comfortable jacket. She could hear him chatting up some Marines, confirming his transformation was indeed caused by a Devil Fruit. She wiped her mouth with a nearby leaf and shook herself straight, making her way back toward the sound of Axel's voice. Upon arriving she was greeted with a small team of armed Marines and a group of people who looked liked the towns folk. She recognized one of them as the shop keeper with the terrible fruit from earlier that day and greeted him with a friendly, innocent grin.

"Heyyyyy it's fruit guy! Good to see you didn't die in the attack. Your stand ok? Wouldn't want all that rotted food to go to waste.", she'd say sarcastically. The shop keeper simply gave her an angry pout and turned his attention back to some guy at the head of their group. They were all armed, which likely meant they were here to help. If they could. They were just townsfolk after all.

Alice wasn't going to expect much from them.

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Not only were the marines attempting to stop these fishmen, but a few civilians decided to form their own militia to try and help save their giant island. Axel was happy to see them also taking initiative. Axel re-suggested that he should be shooting through the windows up and down the buildings while they took out the outer defenses, and with mostly everyone agreeing with that, the bird man took off into the skies. He flew up to the maximum altitude that he could which was 200 meters since he didn't want the pirates on the outside of the base alerting anyone inside yet, or shooting at him. The young man would start from the highest floor, which was the 4th, flying around the building in a circular formation while looking into the rooms for the fishmen clearing out any remaining marines.

Axel descended quite a bit when he got near the back of the building, slowly so that he didn't fly past the first window. The base was pretty big, and there were at least 8 rooms with windows facing each side of the building on each floor. The chance that there was a fishman in each room was a small one however, so the marine wouldn't have to spend too much time near each one.

Axel faced the first window on the right side of the back of the building, 4th floor. It was empty save for a few beds. He kept moving left, and it seemed as if the criminals haven't cleared this floor yet, since none of the rooms had any of them in them, nor did Axel see movement through some of the open doors of these rooms that opened up to the halls.

Once the gunner descended to the third floor's windows however, in the first room which seemed to be the weight room, three hammerhead fishmen were standing near the window discussing something, but Axel couldn't hear their talk. He pulled out the revolver attached to his right hip with his right hand and aimed while keeping himself in one position by flapping his wings calmly. All three of them were facing the wall opposite the window, so it was pretty easy for Axel to shoot all of them almost at the same time. The last one was about to turn his head to the window upon seeing his allies fall at the sound of gunfire, but it was too late for him. At this point, anyone on the third floor would probably rush into that room, and will be gunned down by Axel upon hitting the doorway. The fishmen on the ground would probably notice something too, but the marine would be hoping that they would be too busy fighting against the marines and militia.

WC: 462
TWC: 1620

0/20 T0 Fishmen
3/10 T1 Hammerhead Sharkmen
0/2 T2 Electric Eel Fishmen

Alice hadn't exactly been briefed on any plan. She'd been too busy vomiting. So when Axel took off into the sky the blonde was left to scratch her head while looking at the two groups of support they'd found themselves with. She'd bite her lip, trying to imagine what they should do, or that is to say, how they should go about getting done what needed to get done. The voluptuous vixen tapped her foot idly while standing about, if she didn't have to keep these people reasonably safe she'd just storm the base. What were the fish gonna do against her Devil Fruit? They didn't exactly have a counter. She'd figured Axel had flown off to get some more support, but shortly after he ascended, Alice heard the familiar crack of his revolvers go off. If she heard it, you can bet so did the fish men. Alice whipped her head around to the group around her and gave them concerned look."Did he discuss a plan of some kind while I was gone? Or is he just gonna keep shooting and hope for the best?"

"Axel said we should take out the fish men around the base, as we still have the element of surprise. "

They might have had it, if Axel hadn't decided to fly off, guns blazing. Ali shook her head and pointed off towards the direction of the gun shots. "You guys go support him. Stay in the brush, pick off anyone that comes after him. I'll take the milita and uhhh... Do stuff."

"Do stuff?"

Alice bit her lip again in embarrassment. She wasn't a good plan type of person. She just sorta did stuff and good things usually happened. Her plan, if it really could  be called that, was to stroll right back into the base and take it. Anyone who got in the way would get a bone crushing kick to the noggin. Easy peasy.

"We uhhh... We're gonna uhhh... God, what's the word... Resecure! We're gonna rescure the enemy occupied fort. And uhhh... God! OK, we're gonna walk in the front door and kick all them fishy mother fuckers in their god damn teeth, ok?! It's not... It's not as crazy as it sounds it's just... Ugh! I'm nigh invulnerable ok?! Just like... Stay behind me and try to not, like... Die or do something stupid... Like die.", declared Alice as she made her way back toward the forrest path that lead to the base. She took a deep breath and focused, then began her stroll towards the fort. Much to her surprise, she could see the milita following her lead from the jungle.

The large doors to the fort had been forced open, so there was no need to knock. The courtyard seemed to be filling up with fish men, two squiggly looking, slimy eel types shouting and pointing, sending groups off in every which way. Alice strolled in with a womanly swagger, swaying her hips confidently as she entered the base's coverless courtyard, counting about 14 hostiles, including the two eels and three hammerheads.

She leisurely let her arms come up in a welcoming sort of shrug as gave the gathered fishmen the most shit eating grin they'd ever see in their soon to be brief lives.

"Hey! You guys made it! Here I thought you all forgot! You're so sweet to throw me this party! It really means a lot to me... Soooo~", Alice said as her eyes ran over each fishman present before dropping into a lazy looking fighting position. " Who wants the first dance~?"

Alice would smile as the peons rushed her, all 10 of them. The various species of fishmen were no match for Alice's smooth body, their blades glided off her skin harmlessly and unfortunately for them, with so many blades flying about they ended up largely killing each otheras their relatively unskilled sword play landed their swords in the bodies of their friends. Alice would pick off the stragglers with swift kicks to their heads, true to her habit, then shot a grin to the two sharks nearby. She fished into her pocket and removed the teeth she'd managed to pull out of that one hammerhead by the docks in the first wave of the fishmen attack.

"Ya know, that one hammerhead from your opening assault couldn't give me enough to finish my necklace, but I think if you guys were to donate too, I might be able to reach my dream of having a tacky shark tooth necklace!"

Without waiting for a response Alice leaped toward the duo and delivered a powerful knee to one of their faces, knocking him to the floor. The other took a swing at the blonde but unfortunately she'd planned ahead, having focused a bit on her slippery powers before ever even entering the base. She could hear the milita shooting and shouting from behind her as whatever skepticism they had about her abilities had likely been lost when she dove face first into a horde of fishmen and they all died. A stray bullet grazed Alice's skin, sliding off it easily and into her opponent's eye. She took that moment to meet the fishman's odd shaped head with a lateral kick, bending the left of his hammer shaped head out of place. He soon toppled over, likely passing out from the severe pain caused by having half his head moved out of place.

Alice wouldn't waste words on the eels, they were slimy and slippery and she could relate too well to that. With a stunning spin, she delivered a powerful Roundhouse Kick to both of them, taking two quick but intense electric shocks through her body. A quick scan let her know everyone was safe so far, and that they could push on into the base proper.

1020 words

Hard Knoxx Knee
Roundhouse of Hard Knoxx*2
Sube Sube Smooth Body

57.5/150 Stamina remaining


10/20 T0 Fishmen
5/10 T1 Hammerhead Sharkmen
2/2 T2 Electric Eel Fishmen

Two more hammerhead fishmen fell to the floor upon entering the gym to investigate. They both had melee weapons out, so even if they noticed the man in the red coat floating in front of the glass once they were inside of the room quickly, their heads would still have a bullet in them. At this point, Axel's revolver had to be reloaded, so he broke it open and quickly placed six bullets in the thing. There were two huge fishmen bodies now blocking the door to the room, so he didn't worry about getting shot while reloading. It was true that the gun attached to the left side of his hip was fully loaded, but he wanted both of them functioning in case worse came to worse. In fact, worse would come to worse when the next fishmen jumped inside the room from the small opening in the door due to him being much slimmer than any of the others. He had a gun in his hand, and was super agile, so when Axel shot at him once, the enemy was able to dash to the left and avoid it, then dash to the right to avoid the second shot, and finally plant one right into the marine's left wing. He was aiming for the chest, but Axel flew to the left just a bit. He was in pain and would most likely fall to the ground since he wouldn't be able to flap the injured wing too hard, but he flapped as hard as he could to get to the floor of the room. His drop down allowed him to dodge 3 bullets. The gunner immediately aimed at the assailant's head and shot him dead with one bullet.

"Fuck, I need to get this bullet out now!" Axel shouted in pain as he closed the door of the room and piled up the bodies of the fishmen in front of it. There was a first aid kit in the gym, so first the marksman took the bullet out and then wrapped the wing with a bandage. Not the whole wing, put just enough to cover the wound. He wasn't able to revert back to his human form in this condition. Not until the blood stopped at least. The best he could do was sit on a chair in front of the door an wait for the fishman to break the door down.

And so they did, after a few punches. The door fell on the six dead fishmen, and was then trampled on by 3 fishmen trying to rush in. They all slipped on the unconventional terrain they just created, and fell right in front of Axel's chair, making it easier for him to put bullets in their faces.

WC: 461
TWC: 2081

14/20 T0 Fishmen
7/10 T1 Hammerhead Sharkmen
2/2 T2 Electric Eel Fishmen

There was still shooting going on, and it even sounded like a pained "squak" of some bird could be heard, as if it'd been in... Well... Pain. Alice had to ignore it however. She had a base to secure, so once again showing her stunning leader ship skills, the blonde charged into one of the adjoining buildings. It didn't matter really where she started, the complex was connected. It only determined which part of the base she'd begin her cleansing.

Leading the milita through the barracks was pretty bad idea. There was no one here. Come to think of it, Alice had caught the invaders in the middle of giving out fresh orders. Likely in response to Axel's shooting. She tried to remember the layout of the building, to pinpoint where Axel might have been fighting but she hadn't really familiarized herself with the whole base. She knew where to sleep, eat, and work out... Bathe too, but she doubted the fishmen would be looking to take a shower. The mess hall was her next best bet and Alice high tailed it in that direction. Fortunately enough, she wouldn't have to the entire way. About half way there a large group of fishmen, roughly 10 by her count, literally ran into her, sliding across her body like water off a ducks back. They were likely leaving to investigate the gun shots, but they wouldn't live long enough to get to there friends. Alice lunged at the nearest shark, hell bent on making that necklace. She delivered a knee to one of their chests and then as he doubled over in pain, brought the other knee into his jaw. Every attempt made by the fishmen to harm Alice resulted in failure due to her fruit. She simply took each fish down one by one until they all could no longer move.

319 words

20/20 T0 Fishmen
10/10 T1 Hammerhead Sharkmen
2/2 T2 Electric Eel Fishmen

Axel's set up was great. He sat just a few feet from the doorway and pressed the trigger of his revolver down whenever a fishman came his way. There were some that tried to get in quickly like the one that shot the marine's wing, but he was extra alert this time, looking out for the speedsters. It was a cheap way to win a battle, but it was working. Everyone coming through underestimated the power of a gunner. They probably thought there was some big battle going down and that their allies were shooting all of the enemies coming through the windows, but when they got in view of the open doorway, their vision turned black, right after they saw a man in a red coat point a gun at them.

The fishmen stopped coming after a while however. Axel heard the marines and militia men's voices throughout the marine base, and suspected that they were the ones responsible for the destruction of the remaining enemies.

"Hmm, so the fighting is finally over with huh? Take that you fishmen bastards," Axel said as he began to fade. The wound on his wing was about to bring him into unconsciousness, but before that happened, he formed back into his normal human form. In that chair, he was forced to go to sleep, but there was no worry since it seemed like everything was taken care of. The only thing left to do was rest and heal this wound he took from those damned fishman.

WC: 254
TWC: 2335

EXIT

With these fishmen securely deadified, Alice removed what teeth she could from the collection of sharks. It was rather hard finding ones that weren't chipped, she had to really work on her nasty habit of aiming for the teeth if she were going to really start a business of fashioning tacky jewelry from Sharkmen teeth. However, with what she had gotten from those two by the docks, and what she had gathered from these guys she reckoned she could fix herself a nice, terrible fashion choice. Who knows, she might even make it look good.

The lack of noise was oddly troubling. If only because there's only two reasons it would be this quiet. Either the good guys won, or Alice was going to have to bury some Marines today. Fortunately enough, the group she'd sent to cover Axel returned, a mix of fear and excitement on their faces. They informed Alice they'd followed him, like she'd ordered, but unfortunately they didn't reach him in time. They saw him take a nasty wound, shoot for a short time, then quiet. After sending them off with the local milita to secure the perimeter, Alice made her way toward the gym, where they'd said Axel managed to land. After stepping over plenty of dead fishmen, Alice came upon her partner and quickly rushed to him. She did owe him for carrying her out of the city, so after removing his jacket, purely to wear it while he was unconscious, she did her best to drag him to the infirmary. She had to kick in the door, as her barricade from earlier was still in place but she'd blame the damage to the door on the fishmen anyway. Ali dragged the unconscious Axel best she could to the first cot, and pulled him up onto it. Then, just as he had done for her, she plopped her fine ass down in the chair beside that bed and closed her eyes for a nap of her own. Axel's coat was very comfortable and would serve as an excellent wearable blanket.

357 words
3419 words total

Exit