It didn't take long for many of the marines to start pouring in. They surrounded Regan, their rifles and pistols pointed at his skull. He heard them shouting many demands, some calling for his surrender, and others calling for him to get on the ground with his hands behind his back.
Regan simply raised his hand and gave them the middle finger. His refusal to comply prompted one of them to fire at him. This caused a chain reaction, with many bullets now raining down on him from afar. Regan dodged five of them completely, some of them brushed past him, while others had found their mark on his iron body.
[5 Dodges Used]
[10 Second Cooldown In Effect]
He weaved his way through the group of marines, and clobbered every single one of them, grabbing their rifles and pistols and snapping them in half. From behind him, Regan could feel the woman's malice practically dripping from her body.
She was walking out of a dust cloud, patting away at her clothes as if she had merely been thrown through a cloud of dust, and not through a myriad of buildings. She turned her attention away from her clothes, and finally found Regan's eyes. ''Thanks for the defense.''
Regan shrugged. ''Guess I'll have to thank you, too.''
The transmigrater stretched out her hand as if to receive a hand shake, but instead what she received was the same holy grail that Regan had saw in the pawn shop. The golden cup was adorned by intricate patterns of roses, lilies, and tulips. She brought the grail to her lips, and drank the strange concoction inside of it.
What? The hell is she doing...
When she had quenched her thirst, she wiped her lips and threw the beautiful grail aside. There was silence between them for a moment, and the crowd was just as keen on holding their lips, their hearts in their throats, watching on with bulging eyes as Regan began circling her.
After a while, the silence was severed by a croak. The sound had left the woman's maw, and as Regan realised this, more of the deathly cries flew out of her like curses from a babbling drunkard. She then screamed, convulsed, her painful cries whipping away at the air and parting the sea of civilians who shriveled away in fear.
She clawed at her skin as if a body of flames were engulfing her, her sharp nails drawing thin lines of blood on her face. On that same face of hers, Regan found that specks of white fur was growing all around it. They were diminutive at first, but they soon began burgeoning all across her body, coating her frame in snow-white fur.
Her nose changed, too. Regan found that it had elongated, and a black snout replaced the spot where a white canvas of flesh was supposed to be.
No! No fucking way! She...she changed her race!?
Indeed, the woman had become a mink, courtesy of the liquid that she had gulped down from the grail. Regan was of course taken aback by this at first, but logic soon took back residence in his head. What advantage did becoming a mink have, Regan asked inwardly. The moon wasn't out, and so she couldn't even take on her sulong form. It all felt so pointless.
That was until the woman began lunging at him again. She was much faster than last time, and much stronger. Each blow felt like a boulder was being placed on top of the arms that he was raising to defend himself with, each blow forcing him to bite back a scream that sought to escape his mouth.
His observation haki worked to his advantage, allowing him to dodge some of her attacks, but when the dodges ran low, and the ten second cooldown that allowed for him to retrieve his dodges reared its head, Regan found himself cornered against a foe that he couldn't even dream of defeating. He was beginning to regret ever following her.
Once he retrieved his dodges, he leapt forward and unloaded a barrage of punches. A left hook, a right hook, and even a jab. She dodged every single one, but that was what Regan was hoping for. He didn't know what stage her observation haki was at, but it helped to bring down the number of dodges she had left. He was actively estimating just how many she had, too.
Dammit. It's definitely more than 5. She--
Before Regan could even conceive another thought, she threw around another fist that moved so fast that not even Regan's observation haki could keep up. The fist was also enveloped by electricity, something that Regan should've known that she could do but completely forgot about due to his knowledge of the sulong form taking up every bit of brain-space he had for the mink race.
The fist crashed hard into his stomach, and Regan could feel his entire body convulsing and contracting as the electric energy spread throughout his muscles. Regan collapsed to the ground, shuddering and groaning, his body stiff and hard. The corners of his eyes began darkening, and he could hear gasps and praises from some of the marines he had beaten up earlier, though muffled and distant as if he had been swallowed up by a body of water.
The azure sky was now a blur, as was the figure of the transmigrater who was now standing over him, her hands in her pockets, a triumphant smile on her face.
Shit...Is this how I'm going to die? Again?
It was fun while it lasted, Regan thought. He had spent a month living lavishly, and prior to that he had experienced fighting sea kings and pirates, something that he believed would only be achievable in a web novel or a manga. But he had lived it! He had actually lived it, and that fact made him much too happy.
Maybe I don't mind if I die like this
The thought brought him more peace than when he had died. But his peace died as quickly as it came. He remembered his goals and his ambitions, the plan to amass a large pirate crew and to meet up with Luffy in the new world. Could he just die without fulfilling his dreams?
Of course he couldn't! But his predicament was inescapable. He had fought, suffered, and lost. And now he would die. It pained him to know that the entire fight could have been avoided, however.
No. I made my choice. Can't be regretting shit now.
The woman raised one leg, and hovered it above Regan's face. The boot was going to put an end to his life, Regan knew, and so he shut his eyes and accepted his fate, not a sound leaving his mouth as it came plummeting down on his face.