♬

Walking to the main river that streamed oddly through the city to various tributaries, Wani surfaced by a small pier, off the coast of the city of Kes. Sensing the Gator with his Kenbunshoku Haki, Junbei led the way to the pier. Sitting in the water was Junbei's almost one story house Gator, Wani, blowing water through it's nose to create miniature waterfalls streaming horizontally. Grinning, "You've been sleeping since our big entrance haven'y ya, Wani?" Junbei said, hopping off the pier onto the Gator's head, petting him lovingly. Inspecting the Gator's pack and head, small scars remained from the explosives used by the invading crews. "Your wounds have closed up quite well too, Rishi Rishi." Junbei chimed in. Hopping onto the Gator next, was Octavia, whose feet hung into the water, kicking like a child who had her feet in a kiddy pool. Nico, walked down the stairs, leading to the riverbed, walking to the Gator from his tail which now rested against the soil. "Hehe... It's been awhile Wani." Nico chimed in. Once the Frog had boarded, Junbei would signal for the Mayor, Lux, who insisted to tag along, to board the Gator as well, however, the Mayor was superbly against the idea of taking the sea route, due to the dangerous Fighting Fish that filled it's contents. "Stop being a party pooper! Hop on!" Junbei shouted. "If you die, I'll just like... write a song or something for ya." Junbei said gleefully. "THAT'S SO REASSURING!" Lux exclaimed, swallowing his saliva as means to quell his fears, walking down the pier and boarding the Gator. Taking off, Wani began to travers the river at a fair speed, each river was broken down into smaller parts, at times, having resurface on land, until eventually, entering a chamber that was a long stretching rivers for almost miles on end. A dock, a platform trailed along with the River, which at first was filled was much activity, but as they traversed through the now winding passageway, via the sea route, less and less activity and signs of human life became prevalent. Keeping track of their location via the Ancient Symbols on the wall, which numerically progressed form zero to twenty-two, the Songbird's traversed the river, seemingly, with no disturbances in the jump off.

"Right now, we're on section eleven of the River Route. If we continue at this pace, we should come to land very soon. A maze will appear before us, it's potential entrances are many, about fifty, if I remember correctly. It'll span for almost kilometres... We'll have to be careful about splitting up since it's such a small party." Lux commented. "Relax. The sooner we find Kaz and his crazed masked buddies, the quicker this will be over." Junbei said grinning, excited to meet up with these crazed egotists. Digging into his kimono for a cigarette, dressed with regular straw sandals, and his usual red fish scale pattern cloth, the Yonko began to twiddle with the light's igniting mechanism, to enflame the cancer stick. "EW. Smoking again Jun Bug. That's a dirty habit you've picked up." Octavia said. "I told you... Try out my nicotine free Candy.... Come on. If it works on you, we'll make millions." Octavia continued. "Rishi Rishi... And what were the side effects again... Organ Failure and Blindness? No thanks." Junbei retorted chuckling at Octavia's disappointed expression. "Oi. Jun. Frog. Octavia. Heads up." Nico added to the dialogue. In the distance, noticing slight movements, Nico activated his Kenbunshoku Haki, in the tunnels of the platform, which spanned on each side, several masked members noticed the party and came out into the open, removing their blades from their selves. "Rishi Rishi... I guess they're going to try to sink our 'ship'." Junbei stated. On each side, the bladed marksmen were about fifteen metres away, give or take a few inches, Wani traversing in the centre of the River, just then, Wani's body began to sink, two Fighting Fish latched onto the Gator's legs with their bullhorns.

Lunging off the gator, using bursts of Sound, the Yonko surfaced on the stone platforms, the men hadn't even noticed the movement, even unable to track his speed with their Kenbunshoku Haki activated, it was only seconds after when they noticed the aura had vanished, and re-appeared on the platform, that the men we're on high alert. "Yo." Junbei exclaimed, grinning. "I lost my cig. And that was my last one." Junbei said frowning. The platform was thin, about forty inches wide, and not many people could stand on it bunched together, two at max side by side, Junbei was now in the middle of the pack, crash landing on one of the cult members as his landing cushion, who now slid into one of the opening passageway in the walls.

♬

As the  swarm of Fighting Fish crashed into the Banana Gator's legs and mid-section, Nico who'd sensed the crazed ones in the distance, latched onto the Mayor's collar. "Oi. Octavia... Anytime today!" Nico shouted. Lifting her legs out of the water, the woman split on the Banana Gator's back, using her leg to create a bridge towards the dock. Strapping the Mayor over his shoulders, Nico made a dash towards the dock. However, his advance was met with a parade of throwing daggers in the masked ones possession. Shifting his body weight along the log like leg of Octavia, Nico finally closed the distance, hopping onto the thin platform, sliding into the catacomb areas of the water tunnel. Five masked warriors on each side, hopped onto the woman's legs, attempting to slam their blades into the woman's skin, but no budge, the woman's Titanium tough body broke the blades which bent against her skin much like flimsy aluminum against scorching heat. "Ehehe.... That tickles." Octavia said, retracting her legs, sinking along with Wani. It was underwater that Octavia noticed the swarm of Fighting Fish, about ten feet in height, taking turns ramming into Wani's body with their tusks. Using her long legs to propel her, Octavia smashed her legs into two of the Fighting Fishes faces, making sure to maintain holding her breath. This attack drew attention of the hoard towards the woman, however, it freed Wani from their initial clutches, which meant nearly end-game for the Fighting Fishes. As Wani's one story figure now hovered ominously behind the Fighting Swarm, the Banana's Gator's eyes glowed blood red, opening his mouth and chomping down on almost twenty fighting fish like chunks of fish food. Blood filled the water, a fish guts and tusks entrails wedged into Wani's teeth as he chewed. "WOWWW THAT'S FRICKING AWESOME" Octavia exclaimed, watching the sight of the Gator munch down on the Fighting Fish, absent minded, losing her breath, the woman swam rapidly to the surface to gather her breath.

Before the warriors could even pivot to attack, Junbei released a combination of low frequency and high frequency waves, which resonated with the warriors breathing patterns, it was the kind of instant resonation that made anyone with in aural range, feel incredibly challenged in their breathing, shortening the range to a compact area, anyone within twenty meters of Junbei would be unable to breath, feeling shortness of breath. Luckily, the Frog was outside scope of Junbei's attack, landing further up on the platform, but would have a front row stage to what the Songbird was capable of. To those who couldn't pick up on the frequency, I'd appear that the Songbird's arrival simply made the men drop to their knees in fear, however, with closer examination, the men were in actuality clutching at their throats for air, about twenty-five in number at first, and another ten who tried to run to their colleagues aid, catching the drift, no more men approached, and the intensity sharpened. "Soundscape." Junbei uttered, churning his hand like he was turning a dial, upon his motion, each of the men would spew blood from their mouth, dripping through their masks, as if their insides were being blended. Finally, a quick shockwave of around 300 decibels would deafen the men, amplifying the sound of them bleeding internally, bursting several blood vessels in the process, simply put, the men died from the sound of their own blood leaking into their organs. Cancelling the waves, Junbei simply exhaled, glaring at the remaining men who stood speechless. "Anyone got a cigarette?" Junbei inquired.

Panting heavily from the passageway, the smell of blood ensued the thirst of the beast almost fifty meters away, the sounds of their growls echoed through the passageway, causing Junbei to expand the range of his Kenbunshoku Haki, picking up on five gigantic blobs, each with different auras and spread across over a thirty meter radius. Walking into one of the tunnels, he inspected the walls, placing his hand on the stone make, Junbei activated his Radar, giving him a full mental picture of the area, he'd pick up on Wani's fight in the water, Octavia surfacing, Nico landing a few meters on the other-side of the platform, and the raging beasts that were coming to their position, now twenty meters away from the East and North East respectively to the Frog and Junbei's positions. "Oi. Frog. Can you sense that!? They're huge. And breathing incredibly loud..." Junbei shouted towards the crewmate. "Bears?" Junbei would simply guess from the figures but oddly, the creatures, were clothed in human armour?

♬

In the water, Octavia scrambled to climb into passageway, climbing out of the water with the Fighting Fish. Wani engaged in combat, surrounded by over seventy of the aquatic fighting fish. As Wani's water leaked into the river, the Banana Crocodile stayed adamant, floating in his same position, about ten meters below the river's surface. The Fishes approached, meanwhile on the surface, Octavia and Nico were surrounded by the remaining members of the Cult. Junbei and Frog had progressed further into the chamber, Nico tracking them both with his Kenbunshoku Haki, as he noticed the rapid amount of auras fading, he'd imagined Junbei had probably made his move. "Hehe. That's our Captain for ya. Now... you's people need to get out of our way before things get dicy." Nico stated, grinning as he assembled the various dials against his Burn Bazooka. His current position was on the platform on the opposite side of the riverbank, it didn't matter which side either party docked on, as this River and the passageway had already entered them into Labyrinth which lead to Bedrock. Nico stood in the entrance of the passageway's hall, surrounded by twenty cult members on each side, each swinging their blades in their hands at rapid paces, but, with Nico's keen perception, to the marksman, it was like watching a merry go round spin. Five began the assault, shifting the weight between his legs, using his mental graph to perceive the blades, Nico shifted from the path of the first three blades by swaying left, and jumped into mid-air to avoid the last two aimed to pincer his feet. Clutching back on the Burn Bazooka's handle, Nico took aim, firing off a single cannonball, fuelled by Nico's Breath Dial, the force of the explosion pushed the marksman backwards forcefully but Nico slid against the dampen floor, maintain stance.With eight down from the last shot, twelve remained and they decided to limit the sharpshooters range even further by closing the distance between the mafiaso and himself.

In the heat of the conflict, Nico's mind trailed back to two years ago, when Junbei and him clashed on opposite sides of the fence, as a upcoming Supernova and a budding Cipher Pol Agent. "To think... You'd use the very weapon I gave you against me... Nico? Rishi Rishi." Junbei exclaimed. "However. The Burn Bazooka has two key weaknesses." Junbei proclaimed. "Oh. Really? Prove it." Nico announced, clutching back on the Bazooka's handle, taking aim. Dashing towards the man's body at the speed of sound, Junbei's Gravitas tonfa rocked Nico's body, shattering his ribcage in an instant, and increase the weight on his body from the curses burden. "First. If I get close enough, your aim is shit and you can't fire off that thing. Even though it's small and easily manoeuvrable, it's gameover if I get close enough." Junbei declared grinning, spinning his tonfa and walking pass the Cipher Pol Agent to advance on the Sea Train. Spitting up blood, "And the other weakness!?" Nico shouted before losing consciousness. "Your not a marksman. Your aim is shit." Junbei declared grinning, his smiling face the last thing Nico saw that day, was Junbei's smile. Returning to the heat of the moment, Nico pushed off the ground with immense force two meters backwards, hitting into the oncoming cultish like a pickup truck stuck in R, using the men to cushion his abrupt the recline, he cocked back the Burn Bazooka, leaving the Breath Dial, and took aim. Firing, the explosion took out another eight of the men. Swinging the Bazooka backwards, Nico knocked out his two make shift cushions, only two masked freaks remained in front. "Do you know my role as one of Junbei's Generals in his Army. I'm the Musical Director of String Instruments... Meaning my melodies or actions dictate the pace. I always give us light... when it seems to be too mucky. I'm going to make that man King." Nico announced, taking aim once again, firing off to the remainder masked warriors, leaving bits of their limbs scattered. "Now. Junbei and Frog seem to be having a handful of fun." Nico said grinning, running North towards a passageway that connected Nico onto the other side, hearing a tune up ahead.

The Fighting Fish Sprung forth, Wani, using his tail as a propeller, lashed it against the Fighting Fishes underbellies, with enough force to change his direction to swallow at least seven more of the Fighting Fishes whole. Beginning to regain feeling in his legs, Wani shot off in the water, unlocking his Predator State once again. Swift Swimming in action, in packs of five, Wani began to feast on the pack of Fighting Fish, large, medium sized, even baby fish which were once hunting the Crocodile, had now become the muse for Wani's ultimate Requiem, having now eaten at least fifteen Fighting Fish in the span of recovering his ability to swim. A new sport begun, Wani hunted as the Fish attempted to escape through the various sewer type systems built into the river. Meanwhile on land, Octavia was having some fun of her own with the masked men, as her Titanium cladded legs smashed against the masked men, with enough force to shatter them, the fifteen foot length girl cleaned up the pack of Masked Men with long strides of her legs actings as a whip lash with her unique joints, sending the freaks crashing into the stone passageway pillars. Retreating into the shadows, Octavia managed to finish off ten, before the pack retreated in hiding once again. "GOSH DARN IT! NOW I'VE LOST JUN JUN AND FROGGY! NICO LOLOLO!" Octavia shouted, in her usual childish tone. However, her voice quieted after noticing a purple fluid escape from the men's mouth, no longer having masks to hide their ugly mugs. Bending down, Octavia ruffled through her bag of supplies, collecting samples of the fluid. Assembling her kit, she'd begun testing the liquid for usual rundown, of it's composition. Poison. No, this was more than a poison, it was more of a serum. "Ohoho... These are performance enhancing drugs... Speed to be more specific. I knew these guys seemed a bit more agile for their builds." Octavia concluded. "Gubo is an interesting place. I want to meet who made this pathetic excuse for a drug." Octavia's tone changing to a slight fit of anger.

As the Frog and Junbei advanced, the bears within in no time came into focus, as the duo entered into a clearing, where sunlight dripped through more readily, the giant bears dressed in human armour, as thick as Steel, emerged scowling. Slamming his paw at Junbei, the sound of his arm retracting was enough for Junbei to lunge backwards, creating distance between him and the Frog, the warrior was now boxed in by the Five Bears. "Rishi Rishi... The armour almost makes you guys like big pillars." Junbei exclaimed grinning. The Frog made her move, breaking the encirclement, launching herself backwards to the West, Junbei maintained his position at the South onlooking everything. Changing focus, the four remaining bears broke into packs of two, one party fled to check on their injured brother and the other two approached Junbei with immense furious intentions. Simply glaring at the bears, making direct eye contact, as they dashed over on all fours, "Oi." Junbei exclaimed. "Sit!" the Yonko commanded, releasing a burst of Haoshoku Haki. The bears stumbled in their tracks, sliding against the ground, now sitting before the Yonko. Grinning, "Paw." Junbei stated, extending his hand. The bears extended their paw, which Junbei grabbed and shook both respectively. "Juke Box." Junbei stated. Taking a deep breath, the Yonko began to sing a lullaby, combining the powers of his Oto Oto No Mi to enhance the sound like a loudspeaker, pulsating a tune powerful enough to put the bears asleep almost instantly, after a few vocal runs from the Yonko, it was as if an angel had descended from the heaven's and quelled the beasts worries. The sound spanned for up to fifteen meters and once Junbei added in the Funky Jammer, the hundred meter range, combined with the rifts from Junbei's Funky Jammer, put everyone except the Frog out like a light bulb, including the remaining cult members. "AH! Man!" Junbei shouted, stretching after the minor gig. "If only I could win all my conflicts with a song!" Junbei exclaimed, grinning at the Frog who was still stuck in the wall. The slumbering bears snoring filled the caverns, however, danger still lurked within the maze, a thick miasma befell the chambers.

♬

As Junbei and The Frog wrapped up their conflict, Wani was almost at the end of his own. Chomping through the remainder of the shoal of the Fighting Fish like bite sized chips, in comparison to Wani's size. Climbing out of the water, Wani's stomp crushed the bodies of the worshiper's beneath from the immense weight of the Banana Crococdile, sniffing constantly to pick up his owners scent. Further ahead to the North, Nico located Octavia with his Kenbunshoku Haki, still keeping a firm lock on Junbei's aura. Aside from her usual cheerful demeanour she had a more serious expression. "You found me." Octavia stated. "Yeah. I'm guessing something happened though. I haven't seen you so serious sense the conflict on Tres." Nico chimed in. "Ah. I was just thinking about this serum in these masked creeps bodies... It's a nasty drug. I like experimentation as much as the next doc, but this... This isn't even to further human life. It's almost zombie like." Octavia conveyed, filling Nico in about the contents of the serum. "Let's hurry. We should tell Junbei and the Frog of these developments. I heard his song... and I'm sensing some unknown auras at the ridge of my Kenbunshoku." Nico commented. Further to the East, inside the Maze, Junbei and the Frog were now encased by a thick purple smog, which blurred their visibility greatly. "Death? That's the perfect description for this stench." Junbei commented, letting the playful jab about his music go, with a simple, 'If it was better, I'd already be King. Probably not of the pirates though. Maybe of the Drunken Sailors.', Junbei stated prior, chuckling with his 'Rishi Rishi' pattern.

A single voice chimed in a few meters from Junbei's location, it's girlish register echoed, slightly boyish, making the gender of the speaker completely hard to discern. "Did you know, Miasma was said to have cause death to millions during the Void Century." Umber stated, still enshrouded by the Miasma. "Well this is interesting... Your aura just completely disappeared off my Kenbunshoku Haki's mental map." Junbei stated, responding to the hidden figures who now huddled in the purple gaseous gunk. "Duh. My Miasma Miasma Paramecia renders Kenbunshoku Haki... This fog is a gateway to the spirit realm. Anything within my smog doesn't exist in the world of the living any longer." Umber responded. "However, Kudos for still tracking my location... I don't know what ability your using but I can sense pulsations coming from you..." Umber said. "Frog. These ones aren't like the others. I was getting some wicked and demented killer intent from them as well. They're about four of them... If you didn't sense before they went awall from Kenbunshoku Haki." Junbei commented, now pressing his back against the Frog's own. "Rishi Rishi... It's been awhile... Since the hair on my skin have stood up like this." Junbei said, grinning widely, brimming with excitement. Keeping his Kenbunshoku Haki present, he noticed Nico's and Octavia's auras in the distance but they too were approached by a pack of followers, their numbers almost four times the small squad that isolated them.

"You know. If this was anyone else... I bet they'd be terrified of this situation." Junbei stated bluntly. "However." the Yonko said, removing his Blitz Stick from his weapon jacket's holster, whipping his hand with precision, generating a Dustnado which created a vaccum, sucking up the smog in it's core, before the Yonko, only now ten meters away to the West, were the masked followers of Kaz, four in number. These ones we're indeed dressed differently, not as uniformed as the members they'd encountered before. On their masks bore no smile graffiti, but a single Chinese Character each, representing the deadly sins, from left to right of 'Greed' 'Gluttony' 'Wrath' 'Envy'. It was shocking sight, as one of the male stood almost twenty feet tall, towering over all present. "A Giant!?" Junbei exclaimed, his eyes glowing with immense glee, like a child discovering his toys at Christmas. As Junbei freaked out at the man's colossal size, Umber stared at the Frog, no eyes could've been seen, but the energy giving off of the follower was so immense, if Frog could see the man's face, he'd, no many a man would be creeped out. Licking his lips, "Hey Froggy." Umber declared, flicking his bouncy red hair and stepping forward. "I'm sure your Captain knows about your..." Umber trailed along, pointing his pinky towards the Frog's crotch and wiggling. "Little problem." Umber exclaimed, with immense joy, breaking out into laughter afterwards. "I'VE FINALLY FUCKING FOUND YOU FROG. I'M GOING TO MAKE SWEET SWEET LOVE TO YOUR CORPSE BRO. ALL IN THE NAME OF KAZ!" Umber declared disturbingly.

Spinning his tonfa in his left hand, the Yonko lifted his right hand towards the loud member, extending his finger toward's the man's head. Firing off a single sonic bullet towards the man's head, the man bearing the symbol for Envy broke from the pack, just a few inches behind Umber, slashing the sound bullet into two, leaving two large sized craters in the ground to their left and right, about twelve inches wide, and eight feet deep. Sheathing his blade, the man dressed in a blue and white kimono, lifted his head towards Umber, scolding the man, "Be more careful. You didn't even see when that was fired off, did you?" Apollo scolded. "Rishi Rishi... He actually saw my sonic boom and cut it in half. Impressive." Junbei commented. "I let the little tornado slide because I wanted to estimate your swordsman ship... well... skill with those tonfas I heard your so famed by." Apollo said. "However. I have to say... If this is all you can manage to muster up." Apollo commented, drawing his blade to fire off a wind blade to cut Junbei's raging Dustnado into gusts of wind. "I'm pretty sure it was your Devil's Blessings that made you so powerful. As a former vessel of the Shogun... I rate your skills, above average at best." Apollo commented. Lowering his right hand, still spinning his tonfa, "Above Average?" Junbei responded grinning. Stopping the motion, "If I wanted to take this serious... This whole island would be deaf by now." Junbei said slightly pissed. Sighing, his nonchalant behaviour resurfaced, "If you think I'm above average... Step over here... I'll show you whose 'average'. Cult boy." Junbei stated grinning, once again, commencing the spin of his tonfa.

♬

As the smog thickened, the Frog lunged into action, whispering among the members, Junbei's radar picked up the odd ones words. "He'll lung off the floor, onto the walls, and try to hit me in my face. The moment he launches, I'll thicken my miasma. Wrath. Pull out your axe, it's time to play whack the mole." Umber laughed as he concluded. "OI! Frog! Hold up! They've got your movements pegged!" Junbei shouted. In that moment, the miasma thickened, lunged from his former position, right hand firmly placed on the hilt of his blade, the Samurai, Apollo drew closer entering into a lunge movement. Though the miasma rendered his Kenbunshoku useless, Junbei's natural senses were still sharp, furthermore, it seemed the miasma only affected his mental map, as focusing Kenbunshoku with his other senses, restored his heightened state of self. Even though, he'd pick up the samurai's position at the last few inches before he drew his sword, Junbei counter by removing his Cursed Tonfa, Gravitas, and the playful trouble maker, Goldie. As the samurai's blade extended towards Junbei's right thigh, the Yonko countered by placing Gravitas in it's path, intercepting the blow with a block. The power struggled ended quickly in the Yonko's defeat, being launched almost three feet from the man's sword swing, his side block broken. "Howling Air Stream." Apollo uttered, withdrawing his blade and sheathing again. Fighting to regain his balance in mid-air, Junbei extended the Gravitas (left), hand outwards, turning his body towards the samurai, forcing his weight downwards, so his sandals would slide along the ground, rubbing them until Junbei's wooden shoes, were nothing but mere pieces of wooden scraps. His feet filled with scrapes, the Yonko grinned, "Rishi Rishi... You caught me off guard. Your strong." Junbei commented. "My blade is as tuned as Juilius Cease. Gozaru." Apollo commented grinning. The blade shone a black aura from the man's waist belt, as Apollo took stance, in preparations to attack again. Meanwhile, as the Frog lunged into mid-air, the miasma thickened. Wrath, the giant who stood Twenty Feet above them all, bend over and reached towards the ground, about six feet, opening his palm, from the ground, a large axe crept from a black hole, at a decent pace, in time for the giant to wind up, and attempt to slash the Frog in half. This was only possible in timing, due to Umber's ability to read a few seconds into the future.

"Punch me? Please Froggy baby. I'm the S here. You're my M. Besides... You think we're going to fight you and the Yonko one on one. Nein. It's two of us versus two of you. Me and the big guy will take you on. Apollo and Gena will handle the Yonko. I think his abilities will be most annoying to him too..." Umber said in an eerie manner. At another location in the tavern, Nico and Octavia were met by some un-welcomed guests. "What a snore fest... I really got the weakest of the bunch. I guess you'll do." Jasmine commented, hiding in the darker region of the cavern before revealing herself. "You stink of it..." Octavia blurted out. "Are you the inventor of the serum these idiots overdosed on?" Octavia asked bluntly. Twirling around, with a bow in hand, the woman simply ceased her ballerina type motions and respond with, "Of course. They're my babies. Aren't they gnarly!? I'm going to make you two into my toys too." Jasmine announced, as he masked face bore the symbol of Pride, still unknown to her potential victims.