(14/02/24 - 16:10) (Sunday February 14, 1524)
Uma ascended the wooden staircase and kicked the double doors of the captain's quarters open. The room was expansive, featuring a lower main floor and an elevated wooden balcony wrapping around the back wall.
The slender man with the wire-rimmed glasses stood on the upper balcony. He hoisted a large wooden bucket over the railing and hurled the contents downward.
Uma stepped sharply to the right. The wave of thick, dark liquid missed his body entirely and splashed across the center of the room. He planted his leather boot to advance. His foot slid uncontrollably across the floorboards. The pungent, heavy scent of refined whale oil filled the cabin. The man with the glasses had intentionally coated the battlefield to eliminate any ground friction.
A massive shadow eclipsed the ambient light.
A heavy fist smashed directly into Uma's face. The sheer kinetic force of the blow lifted him entirely off the oiled floorboards and launched him backward toward the solid oak wall.
But a giant hand clamped shut around his ankle before his back struck the timber.
Rust-Knuckle Gator yanked his arm back, dragging Uma through the air and slamming him face-first into the center of the slippery floor.
Gator wore heavy, spiked iron knuckles over his massive hands. He descended upon Uma, unleashing a brutal, unrelenting pummeling while bouncing around the forniture and walls.
The iron spikes tore through Uma's skin. Warm blood sprayed across the oiled wood. Uma raised his arms to protect his head, but his boots found absolutely no purchase on the slick surface. Every attempt to generate torque or push back resulted in his feet sliding out from under him.
Gator utilized the environment flawlessly. The massive pirate pushed off the floor, bounced against the heavy oak desk, and kicked off the low ceiling beams. He moved like a giant, violent pinball. He delivered devastating surprise punches from Uma's blind spots, using the momentum of his ricochets to amplify the damage.
Uma absorbed a punishing uppercut to his ribs and a sweeping backhand to his jaw. He bled profusely from his nose, his eyebrows, and his split lips. He collapsed to one knee, sliding backward several feet on the oil.
He coughed, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
Gator pushed off a wooden pillar and landed heavily on the second-floor balcony, standing right next to the slender man. The man with the glasses leaned over and whispered directly into Gator's ear.
Gator grinned, revealing a row of gold teeth.
"You should have submitted when we asked politely on the road," Gator mocked, his deep voice echoing in the enclosed cabin. "Now I get to peel the skin off your skull and take that fish man as a slave anyway."
Uma wiped the blood from his eyes. He analyzed his tactical disadvantage. The oil rendered his grounded strikes completely useless. He needed to abandon the floorboards entirely.
A fragment of his past-life knowledge surfaced in his mind. He remembered watching the World Government elites fight. The Marines utilized a specific technique to navigate the sky. The user kicked the empty air roughly ten times in a fraction of a second, compressing the atmosphere into a solid platform for aerial movement. The official name of the technique and the precise anatomical mechanics eluded his memory completely. The fundamental concept remained clear. He needed to compress the air beneath his feet.
He looked up at the towering pirate on the balcony. Gator possessed a massive, heavily built frame, yet the man maneuvered across the walls and ceiling with terrifying agility.
'Size does not dictate speed in this world,' Uma thought, locking his jaw against the throbbing pain in his face. 'I underestimated his velocity. I will never make that mistake again.'
He reached down to his waistband and verified the heavy flintlock pistol remained securely tucked against his hip. Uma raised the heavy iron flintlock pistol from his waistband and squeezed the trigger three consecutive times. The loud reports deafened the enclosed cabin. Plumes of thick grey smoke erupted from the barrel.
Gator laughed a deep, booming sound. The giant pirate swung his arms, using the spiked iron knuckles to deflect the lead balls. The projectiles sparked against the metal and embedded harmlessly into the wooden walls.
Uma utilized the visual distraction entirely. He tossed the empty pistol aside and lunged toward a heavy oak desk. He planted his boot on the solid wood, using the furniture to bypass the oiled floor. He launched his body directly toward the upper balcony where Gator waited.
He channeled maximum output into his leg muscles mid-air. He lashed out, attempting to kick the empty space ten times in a fraction of a second. His form lacked precision. The kicks scattered, merely whipping the air into a chaotic draft. He failed to compress the atmosphere.
A massive fist slammed directly into his chest.
Gator intercepted his compromised trajectory. The sheer force sent Uma plummeting back toward the ground. He crashed heavily onto the slippery floorboards, sliding several feet before his back slammed against the base of the staircase. He coughed violently, splattering bright red blood across his chin and chest.
"You are a fool, boy." Gator mocked, standing near the railing and looking down.
The slender man with the glasses appeared on the stairs above Uma. The man hoisted a second wooden bucket and dumped the contents directly over Uma's head. The thick, pungent whale oil coated Uma completely, soaking his hair, his grey tunic, and his skin.
The pungent smell and the stinging in his eyes momentarily disrupted his focus.
Uma forced himself to his feet. He rushed forward again, his boots slipping slightly on the saturated wood. He narrowly dodged Gator's descending hammer blow. The giant pirate missed, but instantly adapted. Gator bounced his massive frame off a heavy bookshelf and launched a sweeping kick.
The heavy boot connected with Uma's hip. The impact sent Uma skidding across the oiled floor directly toward the slender man.
The man with the glasses drew a serrated dagger from his coat. He stepped into the slide and drove the blade deep into the lower left quadrant of Uma's back. The man twisted the hilt violently, shredding the muscle tissue and scraping the kidney.
"Ugh!" Uma grunted, his facial muscles contracting in pure agony.
He spun around to crush the man's skull. The slender pirate retreated with practiced speed, sliding backward on the oil to maintain a safe distance.
A shadow fell over Uma. Gator arrived on the rebound. A crushing right hook smashed into Uma's temple. The world spun. Uma hit the ground hard, his face smearing against the slick, blood-stained oil.
He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. Blood poured profusely from the stab wound in his back, mixing with the oil on his clothes. He recognized the lethal dynamic of the room. Gator provided the overwhelming physical pressure, acting as the anvil. The slender man acted as the precise, opportunistic hammer. They operated with flawless coordination.
'The blade struck a critical nerve cluster and severed deep vascular tissue,' Uma deduced, feeling the cold numbness of blood loss fighting the adrenaline. 'I am losing strength. If I cannot solidify the air right now, I will bleed to death on this floor.'
He scrambled to his feet. He threw himself into the chaotic dance of the fight. He bounced off the walls and the furniture, attempting the aerial kicks repeatedly. Three kicks. Six kicks. Eight kicks. Every attempt failed to break the resistance of the wind. He took glancing blows from Gator's iron knuckles. His left eye swelled completely shut, leaking a steady stream of blood down his cheek. His movements grew slower.
He launched himself off a toppled wooden cabinet, heading directly for Gator on the upper balcony.
Gator planted his feet and threw a massive, straight punch aimed directly at Uma's face to end the fight.
'Stop treating the air like empty space,' Uma thought, narrowing his single good eye. 'Treat it like the petrified mangrove root. Condense the strike.'
Uma focused the entirety of his explosive muscle density into his boots. He fired his legs. Ten distinct strikes hit the exact same millimeter of oxygen in less than a tenth of a second. The extreme pressure compressed the atmosphere into a hyper-dense, temporary solid.
A sharp sonic boom cracked the air inside the cabin.
Uma vanished completely from Gator's line of sight.
Gator widened his eyes in absolute shock, his devastating punch sailing through empty air.
Uma reappeared directly above the giant pirate. The veins on his neck and forehead bulged, pulsing with unfiltered, homicidal rage. Blood streamed from his closed eye and his split lips. He pulled his right arm back. He kicked the compressed air above him, utilizing the technique to violently accelerate his downward momentum.
He unleashed a devastating, full-body punch directly into the back of Gator's neck.
CRACK.
The cervical spine shattered completely under the immense pressure. Gator spluttered a massive fountain of blood from his mouth. The giant pirate collapsed limply onto the wooden floorboards of the balcony.
Before Uma landed on his feet, he immediately kicked the air ten times. The resulting sonic boom propelled him across the balcony with terrifying, high speed.
The slender man with the glasses froze, completely unable to track the movement or raise his dagger in defense.
Uma drove his stiffened fingers directly into the man's throat. The cartilage of the trachea crushed inward completely. The man dropped his dagger, clutching his ruined throat, and died instantly on the floor.
Uma turned around and walked back to the massive, paralyzed body of Gator. The boss of the Knuckle Gang lay on his stomach, dying from the shattered spine. Uma raised his heavy leather boot to finish the job.
Gator coughed a wet mixture of blood and bile. The pirate weakly struck a small piece of flint against the iron railing of the balcony.
The sparks fell directly onto the oil-soaked wood.
The refined whale oil ignited instantly. A massive, roaring wall of fire erupted across the entire cabin. The flames immediately caught the thick oil coating Uma's body. Searing, absolute agony overrode his nervous system as the fire began to consume his flesh.
Uma ignored the burning pain. He drove his heel downward, crushing Gator's skull completely against the floorboards.
Engulfed entirely in flames, Uma turned toward the back of the cabin. He broke into a dead sprint. He dove headfirst through the thick glass of the captain's window slipping several times before shattering the pane into thousands of pieces, and plummeted toward the dark ocean water waiting below.
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