Chapter 5

Shinomori raised his right hand out and acid spewed out. The acid formed a long chain and solidified. As the acid solidified it formed a giant snake made out of acid. The snake imitated Shinomori and hissed as his alleged master hissed and stuck his tongue out.

" Good-bye!"

Shinomori laughed diabolically as he hit Razi with it. However, Razi caught the snake's head and struggled to keep it in place as it frantically attempted to break free. " Soon…this things going to overpower me. I guess I have no other choice."

The acid snake head was crushed under Razi's weight and splattered all throughout the area. The acid rained down on Razi as Shinomori waited for it to clear so he could see Razi's remains. A shadowy outline however was all he could see. An outline of a man with pointy ears.

" What the…"

A rumbling noise was heard as the person behind the rain was clapping his hands. The person behind the acid was grim, mysterious. The person's body was covered in black fur. The persons ears were sharp and pointy, sharp talons on his hands, long legs, and a long busy tail between his legs. Blood was trickling from the figures mouth as his eyes stared into Shinomori's and made him shudder.

" You hurt my father…" Razi's voice was heard from the ominous man's mouth. " I'll never forgive you." The figure raised both his claws towards his chest. " Wolf Fury!"

With lighting speed, Razi in his wolf hybrid form disappeared, reappeared behind Shinomori, and he scratched at his shoulder where his acid tiles were. Shinomori made a futile attempt to swipe at Razi while he was behind him, and paid by Razi ducking before Shinomori's arms touched him and scratched the other tile off his shoulder pad.

"Dammit, how is he doing that?" Shinomori thought as his second shoulder pad was scratched off. " Him touching me should've melted his arm away, but for some reason he isn't getting hurt."

In a flash, Razi scratched Shinomori's arms and legs and tiles fell from them. In the midst of his downfall, Shinomori took a closer look at the trimmed diamonds on Razi's arms and grimaced. " Now I get it. Those stones are really made out of sea-stone. So his claws must for a second negate Devil Fruit powers, so he won't be caught off-guard. He truly is the Phoenix Fire's son."

Razi came to a halt as he was too close to Shinomori, then backed up to a safe distance. Razi raised his right claw in the air and the talons shined in the light. " I ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf Fruit (Wolf-Wolf Fruit) I have four forms. One is me. The second is a wolf. My third is my half-wolf, half-human form. And the fourth one is something I don't like to show very often."

" So what if you can transform?" Shinomori retorted. " You're still no match for me. I'm going to send you to Hell."

" Maybe so. But I'll sure as hell drag you along with me. Face the full power of my Devil Fruit."

Razi and Shinomori were both unnerving and staring into each other's eyes. Razi didn't move a muscle, Shinomori didn't move a muscle, both Razi and Shinomori were on mutual terms. Razi however was wiggling his glove with the sea-stones on it, and Shinomori was licking his lips as acid burned his chin hair.

" There has to be some way for me to get past him," Shinomori thought as he continued licking, burning his chin hair. " I could always try to spray him with acid, but so far that shows to be completely useless. I could also try outrunning him and spraying him, but I say our agility are well enough the same."

" My patience is growing thin," Razi growled in his wolf hybrid form. " Either you make a move, or I'll make mine. "

" Who knew that little brat had a temper?" Shinomori thought. " Guess there's no helping his impatient attitude. Still, maybe I'll go for his tendons, then I'll slit his throat with my scalpel? Acid Snake Garden!"

Shinomori punched his right fist into the ground. As he did, dozens of snakes made out of yellow acid slithered out of the burrow of the hole and slithered over to Razi. Each snake was hissing at Razi, showing their fangs, and rattled their tails.

"Honestly, is this the best you can do?" Razi said, and then he sighed. " I was hoping I'd get to have a little more fun with you."

" Stop your useless yammering!" Shinomori shouted at Razi. " You think you're so stuff, eh? Well, my platonic nephew Razi, you stand no chance against my names. A single touch or even being bitten will permanently damage you."

" Then I guess playing with them is a no-no?"

" SHUT UP! Snakes, attack!"

All of the acid snakes Shinomori made encircled Razi. Their hissing sound became more apparent, the sound of their tails rattling echoing in Razi's ears, and yet Razi continued to show no fear and had his arms crossed. One snake leaped up and tried biting Razi with its fangs, but Razi backslapped the snake and it exploded into nothing. More snakes leaped up to bite Razi, and Razi spinned around in circles and clobbered all the snakes in their faces as they all exploded.

All the snakes were gone, nothing was left of them, Razi crossed his arms and smiled. " I heard a Shichibukai was supposed to be tough. So where is this toughness of the Shichibukai?"

" Don't get so full of yourself, you dimwit. I'm probably the weakest of the new Shichibukai group. That old group of seven is now dead: Dracule Mihawk, Bartholomew Kuma, Boa Hancock, Trafalgar Law, and Buggy the the former Shichibukai were all eradicated by my Shichibukai brethren. And I swear they'll find you and gut you like a fish." Shinomori then took out the hilt of a sword without a blade. Shinomori swished the blade, then azure beige liquids oozed out of the hilt and solidified into a sword blade. " Acid Sword! One swish of this and your dead!"

Shinomori ran towards Razi. Shinomori jumped up and raised his sword over his head, but Razi simply walked to the right as Shinomori crashed down and hit the ground, and Razi countered by punching Shinomori with his sea-stone attached gloves. Shinomori was pushed back and struck his sword in the ground to stop himself from moving back any further.

" I hate you!" Shinomori shouted. "I hate you, I hate your family, and I hate being around you. The very scent of your skin makes me want to puke!"

" That seems a little harsh," Razi replied nonchalantly. " You don't even know me."

" Stupid! Just die already!" Shinomori ran towards Razi for a second time and raised his acid sword over his head. However, even though Shinomori swung with godlike speed, his efforts proved to be ineffective as Razi dodged each of his swings. Razi then jumped up and clobbered Shinomori in his face. "OI!"

Shinomori was once again pushed aback by Razi's iron-like fists and striked his acid filled sword in the ground to stop himself from moving any further. Shinomori spat on the ground as his spit was made of acid and burned a hole in the ground.

" Mister, are you alright?" Razi asked.

" Shut up!" Shinomori shouted. " I will burn you alive! I shall send you to the darkest parts of hell, so you will feel my pain! It's time I unveiled to you my most potent of attacks! Snake Charge Full Throttle!"

The color of Shinomori's eyes faded white. His tongue then stuck out, and a long serpentine hissed out. Small drops of saliva dripped from Shinomori's tongue and the spit dissolved the ground below him. Shinomori jumped in the air, his body dissolved in a puddle of acid, and morphed into a giant snake.

Razi wasn't scared, was happy in fact, he caught the head of the giant serpent before it could swallow him whole. The serpent tried its hardest to break through Razi's strong grip, but Razi stopped the serpent from going any further.

" He's pretty strong," Razi thought as his wolf hybrid body was pushing against Shinomori's snake body. "Guess I'll have to take my skills up a notch."

Shinomori dived below the snake of acid, barely able to avoid being burned in the process, then cleaved his claws under its chin and decapitated him. However, as the snake's body exploded, Razi noticed Shinomori was still alive and shouting as he swinged his arms up and down. Shinomori then crashed on the ground and rubbed his sore spots.

" Damn it! How could this possibly happen to me? Me, a Shichibukai?"

" I thought you were a pretty good fighter," Razi replied to Shinomori's shouting. " You were just too presumptuous about your moves. You never considered how I might be able to foresee them coming."

" What are you talking about, wolfboy?"

" Your moves were so snobbish that I could predict where they'd hit."

" Your lying! How could you possibly know my attacks?"

" I don't know. Ever since I was young, I've had this six sense of battle; there's no move I could not predict."

" Haki? Could it be possible you have the Haki Kenbunshoku?"

Razi then sheepishly scratched behind his head and stared at Shinomori, said, " I don't know."

" How can you not know? Fine, you don't want to tell me, I'll just have to see it for myself! Acid Balls!"

Shinomori for a second time raised his right hand up and fired numerous balls of acid at Razi, but each one was dodged by Razi tilting his body left and right. As he was tilting his body, Razi slowly tip-toed towards Shinomori as he kept firing his barrage of acid.

" Dammit, this can't be Phoenix's Fire's son. Then again…Phoenix Fire once told me he merely adopted this twerp. But then who is his real father?"

Razi had finally reached Shinomori. Razi then cleaved his claws at Shinomori and scratched his neck. Razi's claws negated Shinomori's Devil Fruit abilities, he could die, he was dying, and blood was dripping from his neck.

" I-I lost?" Shinomori groaned as blood trickled from his neck. " Impossible. Me, a Shichibukai lost to a mere human?" Shinomori's breath was hoarse. In his final moments alive, Shinomori turned his attention to Razi, got angry, and then pointed his finger at him. " You'll rue this day, Wolf Fang Razi! My comrades will learn of my absence and chase after you!"

" Really?" Razi said in his cool demeanor, then smiled. " That sounds like fun. I can't wait to see them." Razi soon remembered Daniel, Momo and the conditions of his crew, pouted. " But can they wait awhile? I want to upgrade my crew before I face anymore of you."

Shinomori was at first surprised by Razi's ignorance. However, hearing Razi in all his childlike prejudice, smiled. " Y-you really are a stupid kid. But I think I like you. Maybe, if we meet under different circumstances, in a different time, a different place, you and me may have been best friends. But it pains me to say…you may not have a crew anymore."

" Huh?"

" I hired two assassins to eradicate those two crewmates of yours when I heard you were in town. Don't be discouraged. Those two were the best assassins money could buy, and there was no way two crewmates could stop them."

" But my crewmates aren't dead."

" What?"

" It may be faint, but I can sense their life force in town. Uh, that reminds me…" Razi kneeled down and swiped the pouch Shinomori had stolen from him. " I better return with this, or I'll have to forfeit my position as captain to my firstmate Daniel. Good-bye, Shichibukai Shinomori."

Razi in his wolf hybrid form ran the other way from Shinomori, then transformed into a full grown wolf as he ran away. Shinomori watched as Razi was running away from him and smiled. " That boy is such a naïve idiot. But it was so a thrill fighting him. Things turned out to be anticlimactic, but I still had fun while it lasted. Maybe if I'm ever reborn again…" Shinomori's body dissolved, his legs and arms burning away as Shinomori continued to smile. " Him and me could've been the best of friends…"

All of Shinomori's body dissolved, withered away, every organic part of his body was dissolved and his last remaining tissue dissolved, dead. The sound of footsteps then walked up to the remains of Shinomori. A new man saw the puddle of acid burned on the ground and smiled.

" Too lose against a low bounty pirate, Shinomori, your death is of no concern to us. However, I understand that boy is the adoptive son of Phoenix Fire." The bony faced man's serrated teeth smiled as he pulled out a pair of scissors and slowly clipped them. " I think I'll the one who'll confront him next. Him and me should have a little TALK! Hahahaha!"

X_X_X_X_X

Meanwhile, Momo and Daniel became exhausted after fighting two assassins and patiently waited for Razi to return. Daniel however didn't care if Razi did return, as he wanted to become the captain of Razi's crew, and Razi not showing up would ensure he got the position. Momo unlike Daniel was worried about Razi as he growed fond of him in the short time they spent together and sat on the ground.

" That's not going to make time go faster," Daniel said with a smirk on his face as he stood over Momo.

" There's still two minutes left on the timer, Daniel," Momo said as he continued to sit on the ground. " If doing this makes time go slower, then I'll linger on to the feeling our captain will come by any second."

" I thought you wanted me to be the captain, Momo?"

" No, I think you're cool and all, but I think Razi deserves to be captain since he's more devoted to it than you."

" Really? You really think I'm cool. I never thought I'd hear it from anyone's mouth. Especially not from a fishman."

" Ta-da! Your beloved captain has returned to his trusted crewmates!" Razi shouted triumphantly as he appeared besides Daniel and Momo. Daniel took one look at Razi, then smiled deviously.

" He must've come back scared because he couldn't find the pouch," thought Daniel as he smiled. " So, Razi, did you get our money back?"

" Yep." Razi pulled their pouch out and showed it to Daniel. " I don't know how much money's still in it, but here's Momo's pouch safe and sound."

" OI! Than that means—"

Momo placed his right hand over Daniel's mouth to stop him from saying anything, said, " Congratulations, captain. You've passed the test with only one second to spare. I'll be sure to have your hat made by tomorrow, captain. But for now…" Momo quickly smacked his hands against Razi's cheeks as he turned his captains head to a restaurant ahead of them. " Why don't you have your victory meal. "

X_X_X_X_X

Daniel and Momo were both quiet while Razi was enjoying his victory meal. Razi was a ravenous animal to them, crouched over on the table, and gnawing meat away with his bare teeth. First Razi ordered a full roasted turkey, set it on the table, and then stared ripping the meat off with his teeth.

" I guess he never learned table manners where he grew up, eh, Momo old pal," Daniel said as he watched Razi eat the full grown turkey.

" I guess not, Daniel my human friend."

Razi stopped ripping the meat apart, in his ravenous state looked at Momo and Daniel with hungry eyes, shouting, " EAT OR YOU WON'T GET ANYTHING!"

However, before Daniel or Momo could even touch the turkey, Razi already ate every last piece of meat. All that was least of the turkey was the bones and endosteum that lined the bones. Razi then laid lazily on the table, his stomach and belly button bloated out, and Razi rubbed his stomach as he licked his lips. A waiter than appeared before Daniel and Momo and handed Daniel a piece of paper.

" Guess we're stuck with the bill?" Momo explicated.

Daniel took the bill, took a look at it, his eyes bulged out, shouted, " What? They want us to pay 200,000 beli for one turkey? That's way too overpriced!"

" But it was so good…" Razi mumbled as he rubbed his now bloated belly.

" Either way, there's no way we can pay for it," Momo said.

" Guess we're going to have to commit an eat-and-run. When I give the signal, we'll run as fast as we can out of this restaurant and make way for the docks. Who's with me?"

" I am," Momo said as he raised his right hand up.

"Count me in too," Razi said as he raised his right hand up.

Daniel and Momo grabbed their bloated captain and prepared to make a dash for the exit. Both Daniel and Momo were tip-toeing, not uttering a sound, as they managed to bypass dozens of customers without arousing any suspicions.

" Excuse me," The voice of a waiter said, but Daniel and Momo ignored him as they both kept walking towards the exit. " You two, hello." Picking up the pace, Daniel and Momo were already at the exit and kicked the door open by using both their feet. " Boss, those two are trying to run away!"

" Well catch them! No one gets a free meal from me!"

" Aw great," Daniel thought. " Out of all the things that would get us wanted, it's are captains stupid appetite."

Daniel, Momo and Razi were all escaping from an angry group of chef's with butcher knives waved angrily in the air. Daniel couldn't believe his luck. He hardly had anything at the restaurant, Razi was the one who ate everything in sight, but he seemed to be the one who was getting blamed for Razi.

" By the way, your sake sucked!" Daniel yelled at the group of angry chefs. " It tasted like cat-litter and was way too small for 200 beli!"

" Not to mention the lack of customer cordial in there," Momo said. " I went to funeral homes that were more positive then the people there." Momo flapped the skin of his face and made a wrinkled face of an old man. Momo then stretched both his index and ring fingers out to look like he was smoking. " I'm a waiter. Either have money or get out. We don't take kindly to beggars."

" Hahahahaha!" Daniel laughed as he held his hand over his diaphragm. "You really are good at that, Momo. I'd give you a pat on the back…" Daniel nearly tripped over as he slanted to one side and nearly dropped Razi, but caught him at the last second and growled. " But I'm too busy taking care of this knucklehead."

Razi had awakened from his sleep. He yawned and smacked his lips as he had just awakened from his sleep. However, Razi then noticed the dozens of chefs with butcher knives chasing them from behind. " Hey guys, do those chefs want to kill us or something?"

" YES AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Both Daniel and Momo shouted in unison.

" What did I do this time?"

" There's no time to talk about that now!" Daniel shouted. " I have a feeling we'll be able to escape these rip-off chefs if we turn right on my command. Ready? One…" Daniel picked his pace up as Momo followed suit. " Two…" Daniel smacked his legs harder on the ground below as Momo did the same. "Three!"

Both Daniel and Momo jumped at the same time. The two jumped right at a low height, and then they sank into the burrow of a hidden shelter. They stayed inside the dark shelter as dozens of chefs with butcher knives ran past them.

"That takes care of that," Daniel said with a smile. "Now all we have to do is—"

A giant-bodied man stood where the entrance was. Daniel tried pushing the big man away, but his body was so bulky Daniel's feet only sank into the ground doing it. Daniel unsheathed his crimson red katana and poked its hilt against the bulky man's stomach, but the man just laughed as Daniel only tickled him.

" It seems we're stuck in here for the time being, Daniel," Momo stated the obvious as it was irritating for the son of Smoker to listen to. " We could still have some fun. Maybe we could play some hide-n-seek?"

" That sounds like fun," Razi said in a cool yet enthusiastic voice.

" We're going to play hide-n-seek," both Razi and Momo unison together. " We're going to play hide-n-seek.|

" I'm surrounded by idiots," Daniel thought as he watched Razi and Momo have fun together.

Daniel then felt a soft push behind him. Daniel looked back, then looked forward, as he saw there were people lined up between him. A row of people standing perfectly still and were each carrying an assortment of weapons: swords, knives, pistols, whips, and even wooden bats.

" Why are all these people here?" Razi asked as he sniffed the person ahead of them.

" Some of them look kinda freaky," Momo said as he poked the big belly of a man behind him and the man giggled.

" This is not good," Daniel thought. " Some of these men look like mercenaries and bounty hunters. They must be after something."

Daniel, Momo and Razi were then pushed to the front where everyone had walked to. Standing behind a table with papers was one of the most revolting looking man Daniel had ever encountered. The man was an old midget, his face and hands were clammy, and wore dirty brown robes. The man's skin was pale yellow and wrinkly, his nose was big and there was a mole on the tip of his nose, as his eyes were faded white.

" Are you going to sign or what?" The midget old man said in a hoarse voice.

" Sign up for what, sir?" Razi asked.

" You have to sign your names if you want to join our cause."

" What cause would that be, sir?"

" Are you stupid or something? Sign up to be bodyguards on the master's boat."

" Nah, I don't want to be a bodyguard. Ask someone else to do it."

" Fine, then I guess someone else will get 10,000 beli's in paid cash."

" Yeah, that person would—"

Daniel held his hands over Razi's mouth to stop him from saying another word. Daniel then pushed Razi to the ground, and grabbed a paper on the table. But Daniel remembered one thing:

" You wouldn't happen to have a pen on you, old man?"

X_X_X_X

Daniel, Momo and Razi were all sailing on a large galleon. Daniel was sleeping soundly by the ships railings, Momo practiced swinging his metal pipe, and Razi did a handstand using his two hands. There were also dozens of people on the boat doing their own things. Some were sleeping like Daniel, others were practicing swordplay or martial arts like Momo, and others were playing around like Razi. One person juggled curved knives, caught them, then juggled them again.

" Things here just don't make any sense," Daniel thought as he pretended to be sleeping. " Why would anyone want to hire this many bodyguards? No ordinary shipping could be worth all these people. Just what is this ship carrying?"

Momo awed the man juggling knives, tightening his grip on his metal pipe, said, "That guy sure is talented."

" He sure is," Razi said as he continued to do a handstand. " I want to talk to him."

Razi ignorantly moved towards the long haired man while still doing a handstand. Razi got close to him, but tripped and fell on top of him. The knives the man was juggling were launched in all directions. One knife struck the joint of a book one man was reading, another narrowly hitting a man climbing the ships mast, and one striking Momo's right arm. Two came towards Daniel's sleeping body, but he moved his body side by side effortlessly and avoided both knives.

The man fell on the ground in all the conflict, got up, and then he raised Razi up behind his collar. " What do you think you're doing, kid? I outta gut you like a fish. You so much as sniff the air I breathe, and I'll—"

" Gentlemen," The hoarse voice of an elder man said.

The man dropped Razi on the ground and turned to where the voice was coming from. The tall haired man soon found the voice of reason. The person was a fairly elderly man with a short and stocky build. Behind the elder man was a second person. A man with bushy eyebrows and a large crooked nose.

The stocky built man looked at the man for a second, said, " Throw him overboard."

" W-what?"

However, the tall man wasn't given another chance to think. The man with the ponytail grabbed the tall man, then threw him over the railing of the ship. As the man splashed into the water, the gray haired man threw a life float into the water as the tall man clinged on desperately to it and sailed away.

" Serves him right, the weirdo," one of the people on the ship snickered.

" Maybe now I'll have the chance to get some shut eye," said another person on the ship.

" You and me both, partner."

" That wasn't very nice," Razi said. " They could've at least given him a raft."

" Like that raft we sailed in, and you attached it to this boat as a life reserve?" Daniel said. " Why'd you even need to bring that thing anyways?"

" It's part of our crew, right? We need to keep it as a memento of all the times we were sailing."

" Keep it if you want. I don't really care." Daniel swayed his body to the right, then curled up in a ball as he snoozed soundly" There's something here that feels fishy. "

"Hey Captain," Momo said. " When do you think—"

Razi and Daniel both tackled Momo and pushed him to the ground. Daniel then hushed Momo by cupping his hands over his mouth. " Sssshhhh! Quiet! Don't ever call him—" Daniel could feel drool exude from Momo's mouth, so he took his hand off, waved it, said, " Ew!"

" But all I did was say cap—"

Daniel chuffed his hand over Momo's mouth. " Ssshhhh! You want us to get thrown overboard like that last guy?"

" But do you have to be so harsh on Momo, Daniel?" Razi said.

" Whatever." Daniel took his hand away from Momo and walked away from him. "I have better things to do anyways."