Angel on the island of demons. (Miguel)

SERENDIPITY

Normally, admirals would not be sent on scouting missions to unknown places unless it was a new island on the latter half on the Grand Line. It was simply too mundane for one of the three most powerful men in the Marines to handle. They usually had more important things to do rather than check on some uninhabited islands on the Blues.

However, one of the less irritating nobles –and those were a rare breed- had asked him to check on the island after rumors of demons inhabiting it started popping up. He had already sent a platoon to scout for him and hopefully deal with the problem without the need for his interference, only for them to return, blubbering about psychotic demons and pure evil while looking like they were put through the wringer.

Since he was supposedly an angel and therefore the supposed natural enemy of demons, he pretty much had no choice left but to investigate it personally. That was why he and a small contingent of his most loyal and reliable marines were now beginning to enter the forest of the island that was the subject of all of the rumors.

”Men. Be on your guard.” Miguel ordered as he looked around. ”Standard procedure applies. Delta formation.”

“Sir yes sir!” With that, the group arranged themselves to form a triangular formation with Miguel at point. You can never be too careful with this sort of thing after all.

Demon or not, one way or another he was going to deal with this within a day and then relax. There was almost nothing in the Blues worth his full effort and he didn’t expect this one to need it. If it did… well he would have a fun time explaining to the brass about the apparent demon invasion that started in the island, now wouldn’t he?

Word Count: 311 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: The hunter and the hunted

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“WAAGH!”

The Marines behind the tall admiral all jolted and started to panic when they saw one of their own suddenly snatched out from their midst by a black winged figure with red eyes. They had never seen anything of the sort and given that there was an angel in their midst the possibility of that being an actual demon was suddenly very really.

However, there was one person who wasn’t panicking. In fact, he wasn’t even surprised in the least. The admiral himself, who simply raised a hand to calm his men and keep them quiet before turning his golden gaze towards the foliage, seemingly looking for the beast that had kidnapped his soldier. He could practically taste the bloodlust that the creature was radiating, which had alerted him to the creature’s presence the instant it had entered the range of his Mantra. In fact, he knew exactly where it was.

Strangely, despite the bloodlust there was hesitance in there as well. That was the only reason the creature was still alive after it dared to kidnap one of his men. He wanted to confirm what it was and see what its game plan was before proceeding with any course of action, so he was going to play along with the demon’s little game… for now.

”Positions.” Miguel said as he lowered his arm after a few moments. ”Attack if you are caught. Do not show mercy.”

Word Count: 240 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: Hunter and the Hunted

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Some things became apparent to Miguel as soon as the creature landed in the middle of formation. One, the demon was a shirtless kid with white hair, red eyes, and black scaly bat-like wings. Two, his men needed more training if they actually missed such a slow and easy target while it was in the middle of them and were actually knocked out. So much for reliable.

Instead of attacking the demon child though, the admiral simply stepped back and observed how the small group he had assembled dealt with the threat. It was obvious that they were not as hardened and as disciplined as his normal hunting group, and it showed. The only thing more obvious to his experienced eye was that the demon was showing restraint for some reason as it was using a sheathed blade in order to only knock out his men.

However, something strange happened. The creature panicked and fled when one of his men coughed out blood. He scowled.

”Stay here.” Miguel ordered as he removed his justice coat and tossed it to two of his marines, revealing two small silver wings on his back. ”We will discuss the slacking you have all apparently been doing with your training when I get back. That was terrible, gentlemen.”

They were forced to step back as the silver wings expanded to their full size, turning from small, almost comic wings to the grand and statuesque wings described in the legends, being far larger than even the demon’s beastly wings. Still, they knew better than to let shock steal away their voices again or they would be really in for it once they got back on the ship.

“Yes sir!” They were then subjected to a powerful gust of wind as Miguel took off in chase of the demon with a speed that did not look like it belonged on his massive frame.

It was easy enough for him to home in on the creature with the virtual maelstrom of emotions it was constantly emitting. Curiously enough, distress was in there, which generally wasn’t supposed to be mixed in with bloodlust. This case was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

Word Count: 366 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: Hunter and the Hunted

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“Trust humans to send an angel after a demon!”

Miguel was amused when the demon child turned around mid-flight to glare at him, complete with theatrics that ruffled his hair. He was sure that a lesser man would have backed down at the sight of a manic demon covered in dried blood looking like he was about to kill him, but Miguel was an admiral. He had faced much worse things down over the course of his career, and some fledgling demon didn’t even make his top 100 list.

He was even more amused when the demon had the audacity to ask him to leave, though his face remained as expressionless as a rock. As if he was allowing anyone but the Gorosei and the World Government to order him around!

”How presumptuous, child.” Miguel stared the demon down with an icy, dispassionate stare as he remained aloft, having stopped the moment when the child did so. ”This island belongs to no one according to the records. You have no right to ask us to leave.”

His tone became cold as he pulled out his guan dao from his back and held it with a single hand. ”Desist your actions now and you will be shown mercy. Follow through with the threat and I will be forced to use force against you. Choose wisely, child.” He already knew what the other one’s course of action would be, but formalities were formalities and the perfect soldier always followed formalities.

Word Count: 251 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: Hunter and the Hunted

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As expected, the demon child started to attack. However, Miguel mentally frowned when his Mantra gave him a vision of the child hesitating to draw his sword and then trying attack him with the sheathed blade instead.

That was odd. What was stopping the child from acting out on his lust for blood? All he could sense was the inner turmoil stopping him but what he wanted to know was the reason for said turmoil. It had to be important if it stopped a demon of all things from acting out on its natural instincts.

Miguel mulled that over as he absently leaned his head back to dodge the vicious-looking strike from the sheathed blade. Simultaneously, his fist lashed out to strike at the boy’s chest with enough force to leave a deep hole in a boulder while he was still hopefully suffering through the effects of his wild follow-through. Given how long his arms were, it would take even less time to do normally to reach the boy’s chest due to his superior reach. It would take prediction of his moves or supreme reflexes to be able to dodge that blow.

But whether or not the fist hit, he would follow it up with a vicious knee to where he could see the boy was going to move next thanks to another vision from his Mantra. ”Not going to desist? You have been warned, demon. Prepare to face the consequences.”

Word Count: 242 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: Hunter and the Hunted

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So the demon child finally made up his mind. It still doesn’t change things.

Golden eyes stared down the white haired demon child with an indifferent calmness that contrasted the crazed, murderous look the boy had in his red irises. It was like facing down a wild animal back in the forests of his homeland again, only this one was armed with a weapon and actually had some semblance of sentience. And like with a wild animal, there were only two ways to deal with them once they’re in this state.

Subdue them or put them down permanently. Marine code dictated that he always tried for the first unless they were considered as kill-on-sight by the top brass, so a severe beating will do to discipline this unruly demon child.

Still, Miguel couldn’t help but be slightly impressed when the boy attacked him again. Though he could read the boy like an open book even without his Mantra, he noticed that making up his mind made his movements sharper and faster than before. Not nearly enough to make a difference in fighting him, but enough to put on a good show while he danced around the smaller one’s moves with a graceful, practiced ease.

He waited for the moment he had seen with his sight where one of the boy’s swings became really wild before he lashed out with a very fast kick to the demon’s side with enough for to split a boulder in two while said demon was still going on the follow-through of that particular strike. If it hit, the force of his kick along with the demon’s own follow-through should send him right into a tree. If he somehow missed or the demon found a way to block, then he would follow up with a massive haymaker to the boy’s head while he was distracted with his foot, and with a fist as big as the boy’s head and his natural strength he expected it to knock the boy out or at least give him one hell of a concussion.

Word Count: 345 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: Hunter and the Hunted

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There was something utterly satisfying about having one’s fish smash through a demon’s face after it dodged his first kick. It was even more satisfying than smashing in an ordinary pirate’s face in after they failed to follow his instructions, which was typical pirate protocol all things considered. But even he could admit that it wasn’t as satisfying as seeing his opponent crash through a tree and onto the ground and be unable to get up.

Miguel supposed that people would be surprised if they were ever privy to the thoughts that actually went on behind his stoic façade. For him though it was entirely natural since he was born and bred a warrior. Plus people would probably give him some slack since this was a demon he was beating on. Of course, mind-reading was extremely unlikely to ever occur so he didn’t have to think about that possibility.

”Looks like you were the one who left the building.” Miguel let himself say out loud. There was no one to hear it, so he was in the clear. ”I wonder if there are any others around here. They did say there was more than one….”

As he mulled over those thoughts, he fell back to the ground gracefully. He then picked up the unconscious form of the demon and slung the form over his shoulder before taking flight once again, this time to head back to where he had left the rest of his men.

---

“Admiral Gintaka! You’re back! And you’ve captured the demon, sir! We never doubted you, sir!”

Miguel was greeted with the sight of all of his marines standing at attention and saluting him as he landed on the ground in front of them with his prey slung over his shoulder like he was a trophy Sky shark.

”There was never any doubt, Sergeant.” He answered primly as he walked over to his men and handed the demon child over them with one hand. ”Secure the creature with chains, shackles, and whatever that priest on board thinks is necessary to restrain this beast. Keep him locked in the brig until I come back.”

“Yes sir!” The marines chorused as they took the unconscious boy from the admiral and began to wrap him around in the chains and restraints they bought along with them. You can never be too prepared.

Gold eyes then turned their attention towards two of the marines in the squad, a young humanoid wolf and a human. ”You two, with me. We are going to do a perimeter search of the entire island to see if there are any more like him who need to be subdued and captured while the rest of you will bring back that one and keep a close eye on him. Understood?”

“Sir yes sir!” The two saluted again before going over to the admiral and taking their positions behind him. Then as the other marines left with the demon boy, Miguel and the two marines he had been left with began a perimeter search of the entire island for more threats.

Word Count: 519 || Tagged: Akuma Waru || Notes: The falcon punch strikes again