Task:

It hadn't taken him too long to find a tailor, and soon enough Gerard's coat was as good as new. Good timing too for as the thief made his way back to the ghost town, he found that he wasn't alone. Someone had beaten him to it. As he walked amongst the ruined buildings, he would find a man standing in the center of the town. His hair slicked back, and dressed in a nice suit, the man's sharp eyes fell on Gerard, a look of disapproval on his face.

"I'm going to guess you're the man who wants to be king?" he said in a sharp tone. Gerard couldn't help but get the impression this man didn't like him. "Yeah, that would be me," Gerard smirked. The man's face hardened. "I am Bastion Hound of the revolutionary army, and I am NOT going to let a king take over this island."

Gerard quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? And why's that? So you guys can keep snatching people up for your army? You guys claim you're all for the people, yet you've done nothing for the people here. You just take and take. I'm going to at least give these people something!" He couldn't help but glare at the hypocritical revolutionary in front of him. Bastion's eyes narrowed. "Didn't do anything huh? Well, I'm doing something now."

He snapped his fingers, and there was the cocking of weapons. Out of the hidden buildings, fifteen revolutionaries trained their weapons on Gerard. Gerard let out a weary sigh. "And you brought friends...of course you did."

He honestly needed to be way more specific with his message.

With the revolutionaries pointing their weapons at Gerard, a ghost of a smirk appeared on Bastion's face. "Now then, I'm sure you know what the best course of action is, Mr Sinnet. Turn yourself around and leave this place." Gerard was ignoring him though, looking around at the men with their weapons trained on him. Oddly enough, there was the same amount of them as the pirate had brought with him earlier. They were all visible, and all trained on him. Gerard shrugged. "Nah, I think I'm going to just kick your asses."

Suddenly, a burst of gas swelled up from under his feet, creating a large, dark cloud completely obscuring Gerard from view. Bastion took a step back, and the other revolutionaries, already on edge, opened fire. The bullets fired into the gas cloud, though it was hard to tell whether they hit their target or not.

They got their answer soon enough when gunshots rang out and bullets fired out from the cloud. Five of the revolutionaries, caught by surprise, were brought down instantly. The other ten ducked for cover, continuing to try and take potshots. at the man hidden in the gas. Meanwhile, Bastion took a step back, drawing his own weapon, a powerful looking rifle.

Suddenly, Gerard shot out of the cloud like a bullet, heading straight for Bastion. He learned his lesson last time. If anyone had anything to counter his gas, it was the big boss. He quickly closed in, swinging his cane at Bastion's head. The revolutionary brought his rifle up to block the attack, only to leave himself vulnerable to a blast of gas to the face. Letting out a pained grunt, the revolutionary pushed the cane back and suddenly lept backwards through a window behind him. The revolutionaries, now able to see their target, opened fire on him, though to little effect due to Gerard's gaseous form.

The gas man smirked, ignoring the grunts. "Oh no, you're not hiding from me!" He lept into the window after Bastion.

Bursting through the window, out of the range of the revolutionaries shooting at him, Gerard glanced around, trying to see just where his opponent disappeared to. Oddly enough, there was no sign of Bastion. Where the hell did he go? He wasn't that far ahead of him when he went through the window, and there didn't seem to be any way he could have exited quickly. As he glanced around, he could hear the sounds of feet outside. Gerard smirked. So the man HAD gotten out and was running for the hills. Well, Gerard was not going to let the revolutionary flee after all of his tough talk. With a burst of gas through his feet, Gerard propelled himself towards one of the smaller holes in the wall, his gaseous form allowing him to fit through without any problem. He quickly reformed, ready to expect an attack from his enemy.

Instead he found...a dog.

Gerard stopped and blinked in confusion. Standing before him was a dog, a doberman to be exact. What was one doing all the way out here? But more curiously, why the heck was a dog carrying a rifle? More specifically, the rifle that Bastion had been holding earlier.

BANG!

Gerard let out a yell of shot as the bullet tore into him, his head exploding in a burst of gas. Thankfully, his intangible nature prevented the attack from doing any real harm, but Gerard was more caught off guard by the fact that he was shot in the face by a DOG. I mean, how does that happen to a person? How the hell are they even able to pull the trigger? They don't have fingers!

As the thief recovered his senses, the dog had already taken off, running behind one of the buildings and out of sight. Gerard scowled in anger. Was that some sort of Devil Fruit? It had to be. He highly doubted Bastion would train a dog to fight him. Behind him he could hear the movements of the other revolutionaries, trying to track Gerard's location.

"So, that's how you want to play it, huh?" he hissed, his body changing into gas, "Alright then, time for a good old fashioned game of hide and seek."

The battle had turned into a game of hide and seek. With Bastion in his canine form skulking around the ruins, trying to find some way to attack Gerard, Gerard had responded in kind, taking on a gaseous form to keep himself hidden. He was irritated by the revolutionary's hit and run tactics, but as long as the man couldn't hurt him, he wasn't too worried. In fact, right now he could take this time to try and pick off the other revolutionaries sneaking around. Sure, so far they hadn't been a threat, but if he was going to take down the damn mutt, it was better to take out any eyes that could give him warning.

And so, Gerard slinked through the ruins like a ghost, tracking down one revolutionary after another. He tried to avoid using his weapon, or his gas. If he kept himself quiet, he could keep his position hidden from the remaining revolutionaries. He would sneak up on them, coming from either behind or above, and bludgeon them into unconsciousness with his cane. At times he left their bodies laying as they fell, but others he had to drag out of sight so the others wouldn't find them and raise an alarm.

Gerard had floored a sixth revolutionary. Including the ones he shot earlier, that should leave four more left. He had begun to drag the unconscious form somewhere to hide it when suddenly a gunshot rang out, striking Gerard in the shoulder. In his hurry to hide the body, he had returned to his flesh and blood form. So as a result, the bullet resulted in a very, VERY painful shoulder wound for Gerard.

The gas man let out a cry of pain, before growling in rage. Ok, enough taking out the rest of the grunts. Gerard was going to put that damn mutt down! His body changing into gas, he launched himself skyward, trying to see just where the revolutionary mutt had run off to.

Gerard growled as he shot over the ruined city, using bursts of gas to keep himself alot. His shoulder was bleeding badly, and the pain was making Gerard's mood even fouler. Sure, being up so high made him a target for the remaining revolutionaries, and the sniping dog, but Gerard wasn't being taken by surprise anymore. Bullets shot through the air, passing harmlessly through the gas man. Looking around, he finally spied the canine zoan below, darting through the buildings. "There you are!" he growled, shooting towards the fleeing dog. As he got close, he unleashed a blast of poisonous gas, the cloud coating the area. However, the dog continued to dodge and weave through the buildings, not sticking around long enough.

Gerard was getting more and more agitated. "Damn mutt! Stop running! How can I gas you if you keep running!?" He tried to keep up with the damn mutt, spraying gas all the while. But at every turn, Bastion would turn off and avoid the cloud. This was getting ridiculous, and the constant chasing was starting to tire Gerard out.

Finally, he rounded a corner, panting heavily to find Bastion standing there, having reverted back into his human form and his rifle ready. A smirk was on the man's face as he saw how tired Gerard was. "You logias are all the same. Thinking your invincible. But you all tire out eventually." He rose his gun up at Gerard, "Let's see if you have enough energy left to stop this." So that was the dog's plan. Get him worn out and then pick him off. Gerard quickly glanced around, noting his surroundings. While the pair of them were standing outside of any gas cloud, he could see his gas lingering around the area. He smirked.

With a burst of gas, Gerard shot himself upwards, just as Bastion fired. The bullets wizzed under him, just narrowly missing him as Gerard was in the air. "Now, let's see you dodge this!" He pointed his cane downwards, and with the last of his stamina, fired a burst of flame downwards.

It was at this point that Bastion noticed the gas surrounding him. He had failed to realize that in their little chase, Gerard had spread his gas around all over the place, effectively encircling the surrounding area. And it was only too late that Bastion realized he was standing in a trap of his own making.

Gerard's flame came in contact with the gas, and it erupted. With the other gas clouds so close together, what happened was a chain reaction of one explosion after another. In a matter of seconds, the entire section of the town was engulfed in an explosion, including the area where Bastion was standing. The force launched Gerard upwards, sending him spinning in the air. He cried out as he came down, the fire fading just as he landed hard on the snowy ground. Gerard groaned in pain, though thankfully he avoided landing on his wounded shoulder.

It took him a few seconds for him to regain his senses, his vision spinning from the flight. The section of the town was essentially flattened, the remains of the buildings charred black from the explosions. He could see Bastion laying on the ground, burned and beaten by the flying rubble, and clearly unconscious. There was no sign of the other revolutionaries, most likely taken out by the big blast.

Gerard gave a small sigh. "Well, guess that makes two out of three," he said, shrugging before wincing painfully. He looked down at his shoulder, the white jacket stained red with blood. He would need to get that looked at. Gripping his shoulder, he turned to head back to town. And he had just gotten cleaned up too.