Task:

The freezing wind was biting as Gerard made his way up along the path. Even though he had gotten used to cold weather back on Minion, this was on a whole new level. The man's arms were wrapped tightly around himself to keep warm. His mind thought back to the events that occurred not long ago.

"Come on now. There has to be cannons you have lying around?" The blacksmith Gerard had been talking to shook his head. "Sorry buddy, all the my wares are going to the war effort. And before you say anything, no, I'm not going to make some for you. I've got a commission to keep up." Gerard let out an annoyed growl. "Well, guess I'd better take my business elsewhere."

As he turned to walk away, the blacksmith chuckled and shrugged. "Good luck with that. Most of the blacksmiths here have been commissioned as well. Doubt you'd find one willing to take the time to help you." Gerard let out a yell of frustration, earning a laugh from the blacksmiths and his apprentices. "Yeah," one of them spoke up, "You'd have better luck going to the Demon Smith."

Gerard paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Demon Smith?" The laughter began to subside. "Yeah. A frikkin monster living on the outskirts of the town. Though good luck getting that thing to help you." Gerard closed the gap between the two of them. "Is this 'Demon Smith' under a commission too?" The blacksmith blinked in confusion. "Well no...wait, are you seriously going to-" "Tell me where he is," Gerard cut him off, "Now."

And so here he was, trudging through the bitter cold. He didn't care what sort of monster this 'Demon Smith' was, he was the only one who could get him the weapons he needed.

In the distance he saw it. The glowing of a forge. It seemed to be coming from a cave in the side of a mountain. A fitting place for a 'monster'. Filled with some renewed vigor, he trudged on further towards the light.

As he stepped through the mouth of the cave, he let out a sigh of relief as the warmth washed over him like a wave. God damn did it feel good to be out of the cold. He stood there for a moment, taking it all in and listening to the loud clanging on iron striking iron. Now, Gerard was no black smith, but he could recognize the sound of a hammer and anvil at work. It seemed the Demon Smith was home, and at work. Adjusting his coat and hat, he began to walk into the cave.

As he went deeper, the heat continued to grow, until it was almost unbearable. Damn, who'd have though it would be possible to get too hot on an island called Tundra? Finally, he stepped into a large chamber, where the forge was. The place was set up like your typical forge, smelting equipment set around and hanging from the walls, as well as many, many weapons. This guy was certainly into his craft. Along the far end of the room, there was a massive fire, roaring and covering the entire length of the wall. And before that raging wall of fire, hammering at an anvil, was the demon smith himself.

Gerard paused as he saw the figure. He was bent over the anvil, but he could see how tall he was, maybe a little taller than Valentine. Dressed in a black smock, Gerard could see the figure was missing a leg, his skin an unnatural dark gree, almost black. Rivets of brass seemed to be screwed into his arms, for some unknown reason. Was he a cyborg? Something told him no. If he was, he wouldn't be missing a leg. From what Gerard could see, there was a reason people thought he was a demon.

Gerard stepped into the center of the room, though keeping some distance from the smith. "The Demon Smith of Tundra I presume?" he spoke out. The ringing of the hammer fell silent, the quiet almost making Gerard regret he had started talking. Slowly, the smith turned to face him, keeping perfect balance on his one leg. The smith's face was completely covered by a brass helmet, a single eyes peering out to look at the intruder.

"What do you want?" He voice echoed from inside that helmet, and seemed to reverberate around the forge. Gerard resisted the urge to back away. He took a step towards him. "I hear you're willing to make weapons for anyone. I was wondering if I could place an order." The blacksmith just stared at him, though Gerard could understand what he was thinking. Get on with it. Gerard cleared his throat. "I'm looking for someone to make some artillery for my ship. You capable of making them?"

The smith turned back to the anvil and began hammering away again. He gestured to a chest sitting along a wall, with an open book besides it. "Prices are in the book. Note down what you want, beli in the chest, and I'll get to it when I get to it." His tone indicated that he had done this a hundred times before, with everyone else who had come down to him.

Well...that had certainly been easier than expected.

Gerard walked over to the order book. Quite an interesting set up this smith had going for him. All a customer had to do was put their order down, place the money, and then leave. Most people would be suspicious of a service that asks to be paid up front, but if he was getting business, his work must have warranted some faith. Gerard looked over the pricing. They didn't seem too bad either.

Then he saw how many orders there currently had, and his jaw dropped. The amount was insane! For someone considered to be a monster amongst these people, he sure got a fair amount of business. But the orders were so large, he would be waiting months before this guy even started working on his cannons! This would not do at all! Gerard looked over at the Demon Smith, who had gone back to hammering away at his work. Maybe there was a way to push himself ahead of the cue.

"So...seems you get a lot of business, huh?" Gerard spoke up. The smith only gave a grunt as he continued hammering away. Gerard slowly approached him. "Ever take on any priority orders? Anything that needs to get done, quickly by any chance?" The smith didn't even look up. "No," he said flatly. Gerard frowned as walked up to his side, though taking a bit of care not to get too close to the fire. "How much would it cost to bump me up the list?" The smith gave a sigh of annoyance. "I will get to your order when I get to it. Now go away and wait your turn." Now Gerard was the one getting frustrated. "Listen big guy, I need those cannons pronto. I'm not going to waste months in this frozen wasteland, just because you want to take your sweet ti-"

Suddenly, the smith's left arm flung out, one carrying a pair of tongs. The shot had been intended as a simple backhand, not really to hurt Gerard too much, but to get him to shut up. Well, it would have, if the blow hadn't simply phased clean through Gerard's gaseous form. Gerard stood there, almost shocked from the audacity, while the smith slowly turned to see why his blow didn't connect. "Did...did you just try to hit me!?" Gerard almost shouted, more in surprise. The Demon Smith merely grunted and turned back to the anvil. "A logia." he muttered. "You're damn right I'm a logia! What the hell do you think you're doi-!"

WHACK!

This blow did connect, knocking Gerard back. Gerard was surprised by the sudden connection, before noticing the black, metallic sheen along the smith's arm. Haki. Well that was just great. The smith was now turning towards him, a baleful glare coming from his helmet as he griped his hammer tightly. "Get out of my forge."

Gerard straightened himself up and brought up his cane. So, this was how it was going to be huh? Well, Gerard Sinnet wasn't afraid to get into a scrap, no matter how big and scary looking his opponent might be.

The Demon Smith advanced on Gerard, the way he carried himself making even the act of hopping on one leg intimidating. Gerard took a couple of steps back and brought his cane up, pointing it at him. "Let's see how you like this big guy!" A burst of flame shot from his cane, hitting the Demon Smith head on. Gerard smirked, expecting to hear him cry out in surprise or pain.

What he didn't expect was for his hand to shoot out and grab him by the head. The haki infused arm lifted the Dandyman off of the ground, as the smith seemed almost unfazed by the attack. "I work in a blast furnace all day. Do you really think I'm bothered by fire?" To be fair, Gerard really should have seen that coming. He was suddenly flung upwards before a haki infused fist crashed into his sternum. Gerard yelled out as he was sent flying back, hitting the wall. But it would take more than a single punch to bring Gerard Sinnet down!

"How about this!" Gerard shot forward at high speed, keeping himself low to the ground as he lashed out with his cane, intent on looping it around the smith's leg and trip him up. However, when he tried to pull it out from under him, the leg refused to move. It was like a tree trunk! Suddenly, a powerful blow came down on the back of Gerard's head, causing the young man to fumble and release his cane. He saw that familiar black sheen around the smith's leg before it kicked him square in the face, knocking him back and separating him from his cane.

Gerard growled as he climbed to his feet. Ok, no more tricks. Time for a more straight forward approach. Gerard charged at the smith, swinging his fists to catch him in the sternum. The Demon Smith barely even flinched, the punches barely even moving him. "Dammit! Why. Wont. You. Fall. Down!?" Gerard yelled out, each word punctuated by a punch. The smith swung a punch down at him, but this time Gerard was ready, dodging the blow and jumping back to put some space between them.

Ok, I think I've got this guy worked out. He's a bit slow, so if I keep dodging him I'll be fine. I just need to work out how to hurt the guy who's effectively made of iron!


With a mighty leap, the Demon Smith lept towards Gerard, hammer held high. It wasn't hard for Gerard to avoid the oncoming attack, but one could only do so much by dodging.

After that initial rocky start, the fight had begun to level out a bit. Gerard's speed allowed the gas man to avoid any further beatings from the large blacksmith. However, there was one big problem with this fight. None of Gerard's attacks seemed to be hurting the monstrous thing. It was like punching iron for the most part, and even blasting gas in his face barely seemed to do anything. That damn helmet of his was keeping him from being too badly effected.

This was getting rediculous! Gerard had to do something to stop this frikken juggernaut. But he couldn't risk injuring the blacksmith. He still needed him to make his guns for his ship after all. Then an idea struck him, and a small smirk appeared on his face. He had the solution. "seems like you can take a lot big guy! But everyone needs to breath!"

Gerard thrust out his hands as he reached out for the air itself. It seemed like nothing was happening, but around Gerard, every scrap of breathable air was being syphoned out. Gerard himself could breath of course, but anyone else around him would be choking from the lack of air. It was perfect! He could choke the blacksmith out until he relented.

Which was why he was shocked when the blacksmith started approaching, seemingly unbothered by the lack of air. Gerard's eyes widened as he backed up towards the wall. "Wait, what? What are you doing? Are you insane? There's no way you can breath right no-" He suddenly stopped when a thought dawned on him, his expression falling flat. "You're holding your breath, aren't you?" Standing over him, the blacksmith nodded. Gerard let out a sigh. "Well crap."

The smith reached out and siezed Gerard by the collar, lifting him up. The gas man yelped, dropping his vacuum before suddenly being thrown through the air, straight towards the massive fire of the forge. Gerard's eyes almost bugged out of his head. He couldn't stop himself! If he tried to use his gas to slow himself down, the fire would ignite it, blowing himself up.

No! No! I did not come all the way out here to die like this! Nononononono!

He shut his eyes as he flew into the fire, and suddenly there was a blinding light. The blacksmith let out a grunt as he tried to cover his one eye. He had seen people burn before, but they never burned this brightly. What was going on?


Gerard slowly opened his eyes, daring to look over himself. His body was glowing brightly. Very brightly. He could tell by his wispy form that he was in a gaseous state, but he wasn't burning up. How was this possible? Gas normally ignited when exposed to flame, yet he was shining brighter than the fire that lit up this forge. Had Gerard somehow found a way to negate his weakness to fire?

Through the flames, he could make out the smith approaching, though with some difficulty due to the light. Gerard's eyes fell onto the anvil in front of him and he smirked. "How about some of this?" Suddenly there was a powerful blast of air all around him, pushing the flames out in all directions, and launching the anvil off of the ground. The large iron block struck the blinded smith head on, sending him crashing to the ground. Still alive, just finally knocked down.

Gerard let out a lough of triumph. "Haha! Look at me now! A bright, shining gas god! This is the best feeling EVER!" He crowed in joy and let out a large cloud of gas in glee.

Unfortunately while he seemed to be inflammable right now, the gas surely wasn't.

There was a mighty explosion, and the forge went dark.

Gerard was in a daze, his vision blurred as he was only vaguely aware of himself being dragged along the ground. He was also aware of the fact that he was no longer glowing, having reverted back to his normal self. "Aww, no more glow," he slurred, half out of his mind. What had happened anyway? Oh wait, he blew himself up. That was right.

The Dandyman was dumped unceramoniously into the snow, waking him up completely. "I hope your satisfied," The smith growled, "You ruined my forge, burned up the order book, AND doused the fire. Do you know how long that will take to restart? But hey, guess your order's first on the list now, since you burned up the rest."

As he turned to hop away, Gerard scrambled to his feet. "Wait! Wait a second! Look, sorry I messed up your forge. Let me make it up to you." The smith glared back at him. "You think I care about your money? Just go already." Gerard shook his head. "No no, nothing like that. You've got no work now, right? Why don't you work for me?"

The smith stopped and very slowly turned to stare at the audacious gas man. "You come into my home, start a fight, mess up my work, and now you're asking me to work for you?" It was almost hard to comprehend what Gerard was thinking. The Dandyman just grinned. "Yeah! I mean, think about it. You get to see all new locations, a forge of your own with plenty of people to help you out. And I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities for new works you can make. I mean, what do they have you doing now? Swords, axes, shields. They'll just break them and come back for more. But with me, you'll be making the stuff of legends! Pieces that will be around for I decades, even centuries!"

The blacksmith stared at him for a moment. Then he sighed and shook his head. "You are without a doubt the biggest pest I've ever encountered. But since it's obvious you wont leave me alone unless I agree..." he looked at the man before him, "Where's your ship?" Gerard grinned brightly. "It's down by the docks, the large iron paddle steamer. You can't miss it. Don't be bothered if the others are put off by you. Just tell them Gerard sent you and make yourself at home."

The smith sighed. "Well, if he annoys me I can always hit him with my hammer," he murmured to himself as he hopped along. Gerard had a big grin on his face. He had come expecting to get guns, and ended up with a blacksmith of his own. Not a bad turn of events if he should say so himself. He couldn't wait to tell Valentine when he saw her next. Then he remembered.

"Hey! Wait a minute! I never got your name!"