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Klasi Stryde Nie Li tears through pirates, ending their lives with those sickles as he moves upwards above Cutthroat Chris. As the martial artist plunges from the ceiling with the sickle blades, Chris only has a second to react. Luckily for him, he makes his reaction, moving his dagger up to stop the sickle blades from plunging into him, though a few are able to cut his limbs and draw blood. Despite being just a dagger, it's especially strong and durable, some sort of masterwork special weapon.

But despite blocking, Nie Li still overpowers Chris, sending him spiraling backwards, injured. "Hahaha! You think you're tough stuff just because you have something like a Swarm? I'm a captain of the Sharpjaw Fleet, Cruzer's told me all about them! I'm not scared of your special powers!" Even though he's actually mostly outmatched, the captain spits to the side, only slightly shaking, and then points that dagger forward at Nie Li. "I'll take you out myself. Charge!"

Swiping the dagger, it looks like it's just barely going to miss Nie Li - something he doesn't need to worry about - when Chris presses a small button on the handle and then moves to pull that revolver-trigger. The blade slides open, revealing a gun barrel, which fires a single shot towards Nie Li's stomach at rapid speeds. The round is explosive, moving to detonate once it impacts with him.

Meanwhile, Oryou and Ryouma are holding up the pirates' ship. Oryou throws a crate of shiny things and vases and other valuables at a pirate, shattering stuff and sending him tumbling backwards. At the sheer sight of her strength and the fact she just tanks the bullets, several of the pirates put their hands in the air. "Aaagh, don't kill us! The meat is on the other ship, we haven't even gotten it yet!" One of them shouts out at them, while a few more are still shooting, just trying to break through her defenses. In all the confusion, though, one misaims, and his shots are flying at Ryouma. That could be troublesome.

Varrick moves to have the ship veered away. With the ropes cut by Orchid's bots, this is doable, and as several pirates try to retreat to their ship, they're unable to make it. One tries jumping the distance, but the airships veer slightly too much at the wrong time, and he moves to plummet. Seeing how high they are, that's probably going to be a long fall.

Of all the fighters, Nickel Rodgers, the one dueling with Zhu Li is probably the most skilled of the 'pirates'. As she moves for low sweeping kicks, she impacts with his legs and trips him up, giving Zhu Li an opening, but he quickly follows it up by regaining his balance and taking a leap backwards, gracefully manuevering. "Well, you make some pretty good points, but it'd be bad for business to give in that easily, yeah? No one wants to hire a turncoat as a bodyguard." Though, he pauses slightly, not letting his guard down in the meantime.

"Though, if you're acting like meat animals isn't a big deal, you don't seem to know much. I don't think anyone on their crew has even tasted meat. I haven't. People have literally killed for it because only those with cash get a taste, and it's said to be real good. As I said before, money's power."

And then, Nickel moves for an attack. He doesn't move back in, though. He flicks his wrists, and then flips little levers on his swords, before striking out into the air with them. They won't hit at this distance. They couldn't...

Until the blades suddenly stretch out, turning into whip-swords, long yet still with their cutting power, somehow. The whip-blades are swung to lash into Zhu Li's sides rapidly, taking advantage of the fact she probably didn't expect that, and one of them is twirled to try and keep her at distance. It's going to be difficult to push past them, but if she can get into close distance, he'll likely have a harder time fighting her with them in that form, giving her the advantage.
Ryouma Sakamoto     "On the other ship?" Oryou repeats after the pirate, looking a bit annoyed... or hungry... or inconvenienced. It's hard to tell with her.

    "Ah... this is a terrible misunderstanding," Ryouma says, smiling. "We'd meant to come buy some meat, but it seems we've stumbled into pirating instead. Please excuse us," he says, politely.

    Well, until one pirate nervously shoots him.

    Since Oryou is already busy taking half a dozen shots to the face and trying to look scary, Ryouma doesn't benefit from her cover and takes it right to the shoulder. Red stains his white uniform and he winces, ducking behind a toppled crate for cover.

    "Ah, I let my guard down again," he laughs.
    Oryou Is Not Amused.

    Oryou takes a deep breath.
    "Oryou no," Ryouma pleads.
    Oryou breathes a cone of blue-black flames in front of her, with zero regards for the fact they're in a ship which is probably flammable and possibly not equipped to deal with a fire breaking out in its cargo hold.
    Although by and large she just wants to set pirates on fire for hurting her husbando. One cannot possibly fault her this decision, excepting for potential side-effects like the ship being on fire.

    Ryouma adjusts his hat with a sigh, looking around for a way out. Maybe that hole they made on their way in.
Nie Li     "Tch..." Nie Li would've perhaps considered offering mercy to a foe who surrendered and realized how out of his league they are, but this man is so full of himself he can't see what's right in front o his face!

    Disdain, disgust, and dismissal all flicker on Nie Li's face. A brutally contemptful snort is levvied, Nie Li deepens his fighting stance, ready to bat away the dagger and then---

    WHAT THE?!-- *BANG!*

    Nie Li's fast. He might even be fast enough to parry bullets in ideal circumstances.

    Ideal circumstances though, these ain't.

    The round strikes something metallic, with a screechy noise of metal being punctured the only real warning it goes off with a small KABOOM, forcing Nie Li to stagger back a few steps, his clothes ripped and staining with blood. He hisses rather fiercely at this... but hasn't lost his composure, nor his balance. It seems the worst of that bullet's damage was blunted by some armor he's wearing!

    But, the pragmatic side of him admits. That was a VERY good tactic. "Nhghhh... so you're not ALL talk. Still, what terrible aim. If you aren't shooting for the head or the heart, you're just wasting ammo." That's -probably- not him claiming to be a vampire or anything weird like that, and more...

    More the fact that an opponent who isn't down, can still kill you.

    Although blood drips freely from his new wound, and Nie Li's staggered somewhat by this, he still flicker-flashes into high speed motion to slash the weapon out of Chris's hand (might catch fingers or even the whole hand with it, if he's unlucky!), slip in under his guard, drive an elbow into his solar plexus and then reach up, grab the man, flip him up, over and then DOWN with a mighty slam to the ground that's sure to wind ANYONE!

    "Your grasp of basic combat principles... is LOUSY."
Orchid      Orchid thanks Varrick, then closes her eyes. Being more of a communications expert, and much less of a combat expert, Orchid is more inclined to talk, even after battle has been joined. "Attention pirates!" her voice booms from all of her drones. "You're not going to win this one. Surrender if you're still on the ship, and we might show mercy. Fight, and you will die."
Varrick     Zhu Li briefly expresses a lot more than she's ever expressed up until now. "If you're willing to put convenience in front of serving people worth serving to earn money worth earning then you don't deserve getting hired in the first place." She says, tensely. "I wasn't trying to convince you it was worthless, I was trying to convince you it /wasn't/. Do you think a meat trade's not more sustainable than a piracy protection industry?"

    But whatever convincing her argument might do, she can ill defend against the attack. The double whipswords cut less effectively because of the reduced weight, but they cut far more effectively when they catch her off-guard. "Ghhhh--!" She cries out in pain as they lash against armor under the clothes, or dig into exposed flesh in the arms, drawing blood and forcing her back, further and further out of range of the combat and desperate to keep away from the blades. Oh yes, this is definitely a win on Nickel's part.

    "Zhu Li! Stop poking him and do the thing!" Varrick calls out from a window nearby, peeking over the fight from the bridge. He tosses something from above, something Zhu Li catches, and begins calling out in his deepest, most compelling salesman's voice, "What's the matter with ya! Haven't you ever met one'a those ugly old-timers telling you how great it was the one time he got a chance to get a /sniff/ of barbecue? Do you wanna be the kind'a guy who steals some meat and never gets another taste again? Think about it!! Think about how /awful/ that sounds, being old and weird and harassing people!" He's shouting partially to Nickel, partially to the pirates.

    "Come on! What about /sustainable/ living! What about /long-term/ business! What about /deals/! What about /profit/! You wanna be weird and old and unemployed and telling everyone about how great one time you saw rabaroo meat was when you ate it without knowin' how to cook it? THINK OF THE MEAT!!" He bursts into abrupt panic, before surging back into salesman voice. "Get those swords down and get those hands to work, sailors, otherwise you won't get a taste of the kind of /nicely-cooked/ meat that comes outta a trade like this! You wanna stab someone for a chunk of gross blue meat that tastes like fat baby, or do you wanna put those feet on the deck to earn a couple nice meals of rare steaks! You want a guy whose idea of a meal is /me/ running the show?! Guy like that's got no /vision/! No /ambition/! No /drive/! He's not gonna take you anywhere you haven't been! Get onboard with VARRICK GLOBAL INDUSTRIES(tm), and start going places(tm)!"

    While he handles trying to sway the remaining pirates with his DRIVE AND VISION -- and Nickel, in a way -- Zhu Li grabs what Varrick threw to her, which is a pair of big chunky arm-pieces that she immediately slots her arms into. Big robot-looking arms of some kind, prototyped out of industrial steel! She's off-balance, having not used them yet, and she's still wounded and not able to press the offensive, but she can at least use the thicker armor to survive the impacts of the whip-blades, and try to deter them with short-range shocking electrical emissions.
Klasi Stryde The pirates make the worst mistake possible. They piss off Oryou. As the flames burst out, they catch several pirates on fire, including surrendering ones, as well as their goods, their food supplies, and also their fuel supplies, which is the bad part. The fire bursts and spreads around the ship, and starts getting to the fuel lines and the navigation computers, damaging them. The ship isn't going to stay airborne much longer, and the burning pirates inside are probably going to plummet with it to the earth. There's two ways out for Ryouma and Oryou, which are either the hole they came in, or the still open sliding doors facing Varrick's ship. They might have to deal with burning pirates trying to grab onto them, though. Not to pull them down, but to hope that their superpowers will allow the spirits to pull them with them, even if they're already kinda doomed.

As both Orchid and Varrick shout our their warnings and demands for surrenders, the pirates out on the deck waver. Some are steadfast in their loyalty. Others are waving little white handkerchiefs and surrendering. There's a group in a circle, and as Varrick shouts out his warnings, one of them shouts out. "You know what...you're right! I can still do labor, I don't need to die like this!" Another slaps him and shouts out. "You want Cruzer to rip you apart with his jaws? We're the Sharpjaw Fleet! We can still pull this together!" "You idiot, we were dead men the minute we failed!"

The arguing pirates soon start beating each other up, before moving to grab swords and start fighting, forgetting that they're in the middle of an enemy deck. The whole group descends to chaos. Someone might want to put that to a stop, but at the least, Varrick's crew is no longer threatened.

Nie Li surviving the explosive shot shocks Chris. He looks like a guy who's never failed to take someone out with that before, and he's visibly going 'oh shit'. As Nie Li lunges forward, Chris loses several fingers to the rapid slash, as his knife gun goes barreling to the floor. He's winded, grabbed, flipped, and slammed to the ground, nearly knocking him out, though he's stubbonly hanging on. "Aaagh!" He seems like he wants to scream and curse at Nie Li, but at the same time, is too scared to. Chris is basically at Nie Li's disposal.
Klasi Stryde Nickel just laughs and shrugs at Zhu Li, especially since he has the advantage. As everyone, including his boss goes down around him, though, he gets a realization that Zhu Li might have seen before in this line of work. The look of realization that you're probably not getting paid. And it shakes Nickel long enough that when Zhu Li puts on those gauntlets and blocks the swords, the electricity surges through the metal and towards Nickel.

Nickel Rodgers has never dealt with electric weapons, and his blades are highly conductive. The electricity surges through him, and even as he forces himself to maintain a grip, he's being tired and beaten. Finally, he drops to a knee, pulls his swords back, and retracts them into regular blades. "Alright, alright. I could keep going...but this is a stalemate. You have a point - I don't even like these guys - but I had a contract, you know? Can't just break it. Regardless...if I just surrendered here, you'd have no reason to give me any benefit, would you? So let's make a deal." Despite his position, Nickel doesn't sound desperate, and does sound like he'd keep fighting if he had to.

"These pirates are bad for your business, and bad for your bottom line. I hate them, but they pay me. But the fact that I took a paycheck from them means I'm just as likely to end up on a rope as them if I'm turned over to the authorities. But, maybe if I gave you information on them...like their next raid, or where their floating island is, you won't have a reason to turn me over. I made a copy of their map, you see? Insurance."

Chris hears this, and actually finally calls out at this point. "YOU TRAITOR!" Nickel ignores him, however, and keeps going. "I mean, based on this encounter, I wouldn't blame you for ignoring them. But, this was a boarding ship. Cocky idiots who thought one ship and a couple dozen of guys would be enough to take out outsiders. When Cruzer learns about what's going on, he'll mobilize his fleet. Hell, he might even step in himself. Multiple ships, hundreds of pirates, the worst of the worst."

There's a tint to Nickel's voice, and there's a look in his eye that makes it clear what type of guy he is. He's the one who'll do anything to survive. "What do you say? Want the information you need to take out a threat? Hell, you'd probably even become heroes for it. And that's lucrative."
Nie Li     The moment Chris is down and scared, Nie Li puts a foot on his chest and brings one of the shadow sickle blades to his neck, a fierce and overbearing majesty surging up in his eyes. He's gazing down like a god who judges who lives and who dies, doing his best to strike even more terror into Chris.

    "You came here intending to kill and steal and do as you please, so you deserve nothing but a swift death from us. Still, this is a business venture, so let's talk business! You're going to give us all the information you have on the Sharpjaw Pirates and anyone else who might threaten our shipments. You do that, and we won't kick you overboard with the rest of the dead weight. With the captain's forgiveness, maybe we can drop you off somewhere far from here. Choose quickly!" Quickly, because he has to protect the rest of the crew.

    The youth casts a glance over at Varrick! After all this is a good moment for him to pitch in any amendments to that idea. Or vote it down!
Orchid      Ah, the glories of diplomacy. Orchid sends her spider drones in among the pirates, to web them to the deck, starting with the ones that are fighting each other. "Wise decisions, there are some employers that it's just not worth being loyal to."
Ryouma Sakamoto     "This is such a mess," Ryouma complains, holding onto his hat so it doesn't fly off in the explosions. Oryou, predictably, has withdrawn to his side, hovering in place.

    "Oryou thinks it's their own fault," she says.
    "M-Maybe so, but we should consider how enclosed this is," Ryouma says.
    "It's not enclosed, Oryou made a hole, and there's a door over there," she points out.
    "That's not the problem here," Ryouma answers, but resigned, points at the passage connecting the two ships. "Well, let's abandon ship, this is enough of a mess. Please don't set the second one on fire!" he pleads.

    "Oryou promises nothing," she answers.

    The two make for Varrick's ship, weaving between pirates, flaming crates and explosions to the best of their ability. It helps they're pretty fast.

    This is what he gets for taking Oryou shopping.
Varrick     "A deal! Well why didn't you say so! Zhu Li! Do the thing!" Varrick leaps clean out of the window; Zhu Li jumps onto and off of the nearby rigging to catch him dramatically in the air in a stylish tag-team acrobatic maneuver. "Hup!" He lands on his feet, arms straight out, and then crosses them dramatically. "WE GOT A DEAL!" He shouts that before he's even had time to think about the entire matter. "Now let's work out those details."

    He's already planted his hand firmly on his chin, peering down his entire face with an incredulously leaned head. "HMMMMMMM. Well, whether or not I can /recruit/ any, I'm not looking to get any of my shipments taken down! If I'm about to make /real/ money and justify all this ruckus with sky-boats then I need to clear this nonsense out! Alright! You gimmie that map, I'll drop you off at... Wherever pirates drop off at. I always just assumed you guys kind of congealed out of algae or something, honestly, but I haven't seen an ounce of algae out here."

    "Quiet you! You didn't get to eat my brains, that means you don't get to be part of /business brain talking/!" Varrick shouts out to Chris when he speaks up, and then turns back to Nickel. "No, no. I hate pirates! Aside from the ones that'll work with me. I do run a /shipping company/ you know, we're practically natural enemies! No, I'm gonna get that map and you're gonna get wherever it is you go, and then Zhu Li here can deck you one solid later if you pick someone to bodyguard that decides to take a bite out of me."

    She's right behind Varrick, with those big robot arms, and those round glasses shining ominously, somehow managing to /bleed/ in a bloodthirsty way, though she wouldn't win the fight if she started it. Aside from that, though, she's right back to being the prim and proper model of a secretary. "I don't like touching paper. Zhu Li! Grab the thing, find out where to drop this guy off. I have to go talk to a magic ghost and get her to wait a few hours for us to get some of these delivered and then good and cooked." He's of course talking about Oryou. He's also got business to deal with with Nie Li. "We're getting tons of info already, but if this guy has any, we'll need to get it! Otherwise, ehhhh... Can cannibals fly? Overboard sounds okay. Nah, nah! He's got a /dramatic name/, maybe you can get a good bounty for him. Get yourself a nice bonus, kiddo! Just keep him in one of the cages or something." This /is/ an airship full of live animals. "Putting a gross, hungry cannibal around a bunch of totally regular, normal non-human meat, now that's /real/ torture! The Varrick Global Industries(tm) way!"
Klasi Stryde As the pirates are webbed up by Orchid's spiders, Cutthroat Chris is strangely still a bit defiant, even underneath Nie Li's boot. It seems to be fear-motivated. "I-I won't talk! That's the easiest way to get Cruzer to rip you apart! If you just sell me, then maybe I have a chance to survive, but he won't accept a snitch!" The whole of the pirates tense up when Cruzer is mentioned, but Nickel doesn't. It seems it's a thing with this fleet, and whoever their boss is, he rules by fear. At the same time, Chris also calls out about what Varrick has to say. "What? I don't eat brains! I'm not a cannibal!"

Nickel, meanwhile, sheathes his swords and smiles, moving to retrieve a map from his bag. He'll hand it off to Zhu Li, and then wait. He does say one thing, beforehand. "Pleasure doing business. But remember, I'm no pirate. Just a bodyguard." Nickel seems pretty firm on that, and if they suggest a place to drop him off, recommends a destination that's on their way. It's not a pirate place, as one might imagine!

At some point during all this, Klasi will come out of the navigators' area. "Wow, that was sure a lot of chaos. I'm glad everyone's okay!" He seems a little sad about something. Maybe it's that everyone got hurt and had to fight? Nah, it's that he didn't get to participate.
Ryouma Sakamoto     It's probably the fact Varrick is speaking very loudly about food, but it doesn't take long for Ryouma and Oryou to reach him. Nevermind the flaming ship behind them and the fact Ryouma's shoulder is bleeding - the man immediatly takes his hat off to gesture politely.

    "I am so sorry about this. Ryouma Sakamoto, and this is my partner," wife, "Oryou."

    Oryou stares at Varrick.

    "Oryou came here because she heard you sell the best meat. Oryou hopes the rumors are true," she insists.

    Ryouma squints. "Please forgive her, she's a bit angry because I took a bullet. I'm fine, really, but she..."

    Oryou turns to glare at Ryouma.
    "Ryouma isn't fine until Oryou says he is," she rumbles.
    Ryouma smiles. "Right, right, of course. I'm sorry, sir, I appear to be gravely injured, may I speak to the captain of the vessel to acquire a seat to rest and discuss the acquisition of goods?"

    Oryou turns back to Varrick, silently.
    o_o
Nie Li     "Hmph! Being defiant with a blade at your throat is just flirting with death. We have hungry beasts on board that can gobble you up as easily as this Cruzer." Nie Li's claims are starting to get a little bit ridiculous, and a hint of mischief enters his tone. It's hard to tell if he's trying to be intimidating or just JOKE with Chris now, what with Orchid's spiders tying up everyone else quite well.

    "I guess we'll throw you into a cage until feeding time." The boy proclaims airily, taking a step back so Chris can at least breath properly without a foot on his chest. "Ample time to change your mind and talk with our captain."
Varrick     Varrick squints critically at Nickel. "Well bodyguard less pirate bodies, because pirates are nobodies, buster!" He declares! "Go get a seat in the breakroom. And don't eat the little cookies! They're for /Varrick/ breaks only!" He insists, sending Nickel off to do his own thing until they can drop him off later. Zhu Li will follow and deal with things, while keeping a close eye on him.

    Anyway, he heads on over to see Oryou! "The name's Varrick! I'm in charge of being in charge around here, and that makes me captain-isyh. Get on aboard, any haunting is fine as long as it haunts pirates right into a burning ship. You caught us at a great time and you caught the /meat/ in the best company. If you want to buy the best, you buy from Varrick Global Industries, that's a fact!" He plants one eyebrow incredulously low and one incredulously high at Ryouma. "Huh? Took a bullet? Do they want it back or something?" Nobody explained guns to Varrick and honestly he just hasn't cared enough to ask yet. "Injured, huh? Why didn'tcha say so! Get aboard here, I'm sure we've got a sick bay here that I've been ignoring with my perfect health. We'll getcha the usual rate for a sinking pirate ship, in the form of /meat price/ if you really want it. I just gotta make the delivery first, then we can skim a little out of my Embezzlement Buffer." He's got a buffer just in case people embezzle, apparently.

    Looks like they're being invited aboard, and that their reward of deliciousness can be soon decided once they've landed and unloaded!
Ryouma Sakamoto     Oh, the captain! What good luck, for a change.
    And he's a very friendly fellow too.

    Ryouma nods, grateful. "A million thanks. I'm glad our entry was able to assist you, even if it looks like you and your crew had this well under control," he says, because the fact of the matter is most of what he did was show up with a dragon who set a ship on fire. The pirates were evidently subdued in their boarding by other people.

    "Oryou, you should say thank you to captain Varrick, and let's avoid threats or fire while on his ship, yes?"

    Oryou looks at Ryouma, then back at Varrick.

    "Oryou won't set Varrick's ship on fire or eat his crew as long as there's meat onboard," she reassures. For a given value of the term 'reassure'.

    "Ah, good enough," Ryouma laughs.