A New Chapter Begins! The Rookies Invade Mock Town!

[Franky]

Jack looked from the gunmen to the escaping keyring and puzzled for a moment. He reached into his coat pocket for his single remaining Beri, the one he always kept on him. One side was painted red while the other was painted blue. Keeping himself balance with one hand he flipped the coin with the other, caught it then examined it. Red. He frowned slightly and shrugged his head to the side. He pocketed the coin once more and placed two fingers to he lips, whistling loudly to the sniper attempting to get his attention.

[Necromantic Soundwave]

Arnell watched the other guards run. He quickly shifted into his human form. His rage-filled gaze centered on Rizzo. He didn't notice what Jack saw, so Rizzo was now his only target. He wondered how anyone could feasibly accept working for World Nobles. His fingers wrapped around the hilts of his daggers, and with a startling amount of speed, he dashed at Rizzo, one dagger moving to meet his sword, and the other being thrust forward in order to pierce his chest, "I will never surrender to injustice!" It was clear Arnell was taking out his pent-up frustration with the World Nobles on these guards.

[CJ]

Rizzo frowned terribly when Arnell shifted into his human form. The pirate looked less of a monster, but his anger still made him as intimidating as he was before.

Ammy's sandal would have smacked the boy in the head, had he not vanished into thin air. Arnell's blade struck nothing and his dagger, simply brushed away a falling sword. With a cartoonish poof, Rizzo was gone, and in his place was a small figure. It hit the ground lightly and scurried away, heading for the constructed hotel.

In his fury, Arnell might have missed it, but Ammy would definitely have the opportunity to see that it was a small black rat, dressed in a cute and tiny guard uniform, exactly like the one Rizzo was wearing. With its stubby legs, it would take a little while for the creature to get inside.

With Rizzo out of the way, the men with rifles fired at Arnell and Ammy. It appeared the boy was merely a distraction to get the pirates in position to be easily targeted. Jack distracted the leader of the men though, causing them to shoot haphazardly, making it possible for Arnell and Ammy to escape death. Soon, the men would have their rifles loaded and ready again to attack.

Meanwhile, the leader approached Jack, training his rifle on him. The man with the keys was already far off, running along the beach.

"You there!" the leader called out, his majestic mustache flowing with the wind. "Get down immediately and leave or we'll kill you as well!"

[Fell]

Once again, Ammy was sent rolling by her own momentum, ending up in a seated position with her legs splayed out in front of her until she could shake the stars from her eyes, then spin about, turning toward where Rizzo had scurried off, a look of fury in her eyes, before it was vanished and replaced with wide-eyed delight.

"EEEEEEE It's got a tiny little uniform on! Come back Mr Rat!" She shouted, flipping onto her feet and sprinting after the metamorphosed rodent. "Come here little rat! you are gonna be my new best friend!"

[Necromantic Soundwave]

Arnell avoided the gunfire and dashed to the side and into cover. He hated guns. They were so uncivilized, though he was barely one to call anything civilized. He saw Ammy running after a little rat... in a guard uniform! That must have been what Rizzo became, he figured. Arnell peeked out of his cover quickly to get his bearings, but remained within it until he figured out a plan to destroy this place and get the treasure for that green-haired dude.

[Franky]

Jack chuckled and gave a little sarcastic two-finger salute to the mustachioed gunman. He looked out at the man with the keys, he knew the guy had too much of a head start to catch up to him but he had an idea. He tossed himself over the wall, returning his hands to his pockets as he fell feet first towards the sand, his coat and red hair flying up as he fell. Bending his knees as he hit the ground he absorbed the impact of the rather high fall without a problem. As soon as he was on land again he made a mad dash for the edge of the bubble dome encasing the tower. Placing his hand on it he took a firm grip on it's edge and pulled out a piece of it, forming a large second bubble in his hand.
"Here we go, capture special. Bingo Pitch!"
Taking careful aim at the man running down the beach he hurled the bubble at him, sending it sailing off at a speed you'd expect from a fastball, not a air-light sphere of film. With it's weightlessness keeping gravity from pulling it down it sailed off in a straight line, quickly and quietly closing in on the man with the keys.

[CJ]

"What! How did you see me?" Rizzo squeaked. "Go away!"

The rat scurried away from Ammy as fast as he could. In his distraction, he ran straight into the hotel. It was apparent he was supposed to run into a crack on the side of the building, but ended up hitting the wall right next to it.

"OoOoOoOohh..." he moaned as his beady little eyes spun in his head. He was completely helpless.

---

The men continued to fire at Arnell, too scared to step out into the open and confront him directly.

When Jack ignored him, the mustachioed man's face flushed in fury. Apparently, he didn't have the courage to attack the pirate immediately.

"Hey! I was speaking to you! Men! Kill this man immediately!"

Two of the five remaining guards turned around and fired their rifles at Jack.

Meanwhile, the bubble struck the key holder directly in the back of the head. He fell to the ground and the keys went flying out of his hand.

Before Jack could even think of reaching them, an unknown figure walking along the beach reached down to pick them up.

The man waved and approached Jack and the hotel. If the Devil Fruit user got a close enough look, he might realize it was Ron in disguise, with a bandanna tied around his head and his mouth and nose. But before he could talk to Ron, he might have wanted to consider the guards attacking him and Arnell.

[Necromantic Soundwave]

Arnell figured the shots fired weren't going to be letting up. He laid down on the ground and quickly shifted into a great salamander form, more bestial than his previous show of power. He dug into the ground, tunneling far away from that spot and over to the guards firing at Jack. Just before they could get their shots off, he emerged from the ground! His elongated forearms shot forward as if like an uppercut to each of the men.

"Salamander Surprise!"

The black salamander creature landed on all fours and glared at any other guards wishing to make their stand. Poison gathered on the glands of his skin, beginning to congregate towards the center of his back. He hoped Ammy could handle herself, but from what he'd seen, she probably could.

[Fell]

"Gotcha!" she said triumphantly, wrapping her surprisingly powerful hands around the little rat and plucking him up with a cheeky, gap-toothed grin on her face.

"...Say, you look familiar Mr. Rat." she said suspiciously, dangling him from the collar of his guard uniform and wagging him back and forth suspiciously. "...HEY! You're that jerky guard who ignored me! Despite your immaculate cuteness, my honor demands I punish you! she shouted, then flipped him upside down and seized his long naked tail, spinning him rapidly like a shot put and hurling him back toward the island with all her surprising strength, then spinning on her heel and nodding firmly to herself. "Now... let's see what-" she said, pausing and noticing Arnell's transformed state for the first time, expression going blank as sparkles slowly filled her eyes. ""Uwaaaahhh... A giant lizard. Where did that come from? This adventure is turning out to be really something!... Wait, wasn't I supposed to do something?" she asked, idly stepping to one side as a hurled guard landed head first in the sand where she'd been standing.

[Franky]

With the keys reclaimed, Jack turned back to the guards training their guns on him, only to see them be knocked skyward. Seeing Arnell appear he worried a little, he looked a little too into beating up these random guards. Jack looked around for Ammy but couldn't find her, so he reached back to the dome with his left hand and grabbed another handful of bubble then walked forward approaching the man with the mustache.
Sorry, had to take care of that. Now, where were we?

[CJ]

Arnell's attack worked perfectly. The guards simply weren't prepared for the ambush underneath their feet. They had been trained to combat the average pirate, not one charged by a wild Devil Fruit.

The Salamander man would find himself unchallenged. But a new threat was about to appear nearby.

---

"Whoah!" the mustached guard said to Jack, holding up his hands. "You guys aren't your typical pirates, are you? Don't worry about me. I'll... be seeing myself out."

The guard took off in the other direction, sprinting as fast as he could out of the situation.

They were alone. The only people left on the hotel grounds were the pirates and Ron. The rogue grinned and nodded to Jack.

"Nice work. I'll let you into Saint Matthew's private quarters. Give me a second."

He bounded up the back steps of one of the two stairs around the dome. He unlocked the first set of doors, leading into the dome and prepared to open up the main building.

It seemed like Ron had done this before. His hand turned the keys in the large metal doors like he was entering his own home. Either he was extremely handy with keys or there was something he wasn't telling the others.

Just as he opened the door, he was kicked in the face. He tumbled down the stairs and onto the pathway, clutching at his now bleeding nose.

Standing at the entrance of the back door was a large, portly woman. Her hair was short, nearly buzzed in its cut. Her blue eyes were ice cold, deep set within her head.

Her breath could be smelled from yards away. Rotten teeth encapsualted her wretched smile.

"What are you doing here, rat?" she snarled. "Brought some friends did you?"

"Captain Agatha Darling," Ron coughed. "Give me the treasure! It's mine!"

"This treasure belongs to Saint Matthew. What would people think if a filthy pirate got ahold of sacred objects?"

"I'm not a pirate! You can't keep it from me!"

"Oh, I think I can."

Pounding down the stairs, she revealed a battle hammer from her large fur coat. She heaved the weapon over her head and brought it down, ready to smash and kill Ron.

---

"Punish me?" the rat squeaked as it squirmed in Ammy's grasp.

Despite his struggle, there was nothing Rizzo could do to stop the girl from launching him into the air. His eyes spun as he himself spun round and round.

"No! Don't! Nooooooo!"

The rat soared, but didn't fly very far. Ammy's throw was perfect, but the tiny Zoan ended up using his little jacket as a sort of parachute. He soared through the air, slowly drifting down over the half built hotel.

His hat flew off his head in the breeze as his beady eyes noticed Ron kicked down the steps by Darling.

"Brother? What's he doing here? Squeak!"

[Franky]

The fixed attention of the woman's icy stare was quickly disrupted as another figure suddenly stepped between her and Ron. Jack reached up with his left hand and caught the head of the large hammer careening towards Ron's own head. The hammer made a light pat sound as it touched his blue hand and stopped, Jack showing no indication that it had hit him at all.
"A first name basis, huh? Someone you know?" He tilted his head back towards Ron. "Ex-girlfriend perhaps?" he said with a light smile. "whatever the case, I don't think we have the whole story here".
His fingers flexed, his inescapable grip having taken a hold of her weapon.
"But, doesn't matter. My chips are already down, no stopping the ball now."

[Necromantic Soundwave]

With the retreat of the guards and protectors of the new hotel being built, Arnell turned his head to the terrible, rancid smell that was the breath of Captain Agatha. The great salamander body moved forward, sliding across the ground. He leaped upward, and instead of slapping her shit, or trying to stop the hammer, Arnell instead, clamped his huge jaws around Agatha's head! The Salamander Chomp! attack doesn't actually do any harm. It's mostly just to be incredibly annoying.

[Fell]

Ammy sprinted around toward the commotion, puffing out her cheeks when she saw the huge melee.

"Hey! no fair starting without me guys! I wanted to fight the evil barbarian!" she shouted, stamping angrily and flipping her sword up into her grasp, then charging in in her usual half-stumbling but deceptively swift manner.

[CJ]

"I've had plenty of girlfriends," Ron smirked at Jack. "but not even the worst would compare to her."

"Aren't you plucky for a rat pirate?" Agatha sneered. "No one lives after they insult me."

"I told you! I'm not a pirate!"

Ron let out a fearful gasp when he saw Arnell in his salamander form leap above the stairs and clamp his jaws around Agatha's head.

Arnell would have been in for a surprise. His attack worked and his teeth didn't pierce her skin, as he intended, but it would have painful for the salamander man.

The stench of her teeth went away, revealing that her head was now coated in steel. It seemed she had some kind of Devil Fruit. Whatever it was would make bitting her less pleasant than it might have already been.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you, beast? Kane Kane no Punch!"

With a swift and awkward motion, Agatha brought her arm up into an uppercut. It was unnaturally fast for the portly woman so it might have come unexpectedly to Arnell. If it worked, the salamander man would find that her punch was at least ten times stronger than the average man, devastating and horrible. Her fist, like her head, was coated in steel.

---

Meanwhile, Ron got up on the lower part of the stairs and swayed back and forth, trying to balance himself after receiving a kick to the face.

"We need to get into that building past Agatha," he muttered to Jack. "My treasure's in there."

Gazing upward, he noticed the rat hovering ever downward toward them, sustained by his tiny jacket acting like a parachute.

"D-Darien?!" he gasped. "What is he doing up there?"

Ron turned suddenly to Ammy, who the rat was drifting to unintentionally.

"Quickly, kid! Catch that rat!"

"No, don't catch me!" Rizzo begged, kicking his tiny legs. "I don't want to be thrown again! Noooooooooooooo!"