A Fun Time, Not A Long Time: Clockwork Island 3.2 (ch. 9) (Patreon)

“You need to approach this calmly,” Kim said as we stood on the beaches of Clockwork Island. The ships were abandoned and I’m pretty sure I could see the pirates fleeing up the island spire. It seemed a little too organized to be a full-blown panicked retreat. It looked like there was a plan in place in the event of someone powerful coming to kick their asses. The spire made for a good defensive option since I doubted the Navy would be willing to blow up the building, sentencing the villagers up top to death alongside the pirates and destroying the island.

“I am calm,” I told her, and that was true. I was calm. And focused. Very, very, very focused. My mind refused to budge from a single thought -- kicking the absolute mothershit out of the Trump Pirates. Any other thought was pushed to the side to give complete focus on that goal. Honey Queen gave a limited run down on what her siblings could do -- mostly through her boasting as if she could intimidate us into giving up and returning her in exchange for our lives, but when it was clear that we wouldn’t turn back, she clammed up real quick.

Bear King ate the Hard-Hard fruit, basically making him a human brick wall. Skunk One ate the Skunk-Skunk fruit, making him a skunk man.

“You aren’t,” Kim told me, placing a hand on my shoulder and it was only then that I realized how exactly tense I was. Every muscle was taut and ready for action. My hands were clenched into tight fists until the knuckles were bloodless and my teeth were starting to ache from how tightly they were clenched. “I understand that you’re angry, but you’re not going to help anyone if you don’t think this through and plan carefully. We are attacking an enemy stronghold and they aren’t above taking the citizens hostage.”

Honey Queen gave me the story -- they just rolled up on the island and crushed whatever resistance was on it. They had kept power by threatening the gyroscope that maintained the balance of the island. Without it, the entire landmass would crumble apart.

It pissed me off. Royally.

A band of pirates rolled up, kicked in the front door, and put a gun to everyone’s heads for their continued survival. No one could enter the island except for the pirates and because no one controlled the boats but them, none of the citizens could leave. They were effectively trapped in a cage. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it and unlike when I was watching shit scroll by in a news feed back home, I was here and I was able to do something about it. In the end, that was the difference.

“What are you saying?” I asked her, tearing my gaze away from the spire that completely dwarfed any skyscraper back in my old world.

“That you need to think. What’ll happen if we charge in?” She questioned me, sounding like she knew the answer but was asking purely for the sake of taking my mind off the goal of kicking the holy hell out of the pirates on the top of the spire. Her gaze was serious and heavy.

I had to take a slow breath, feeling my heart pumping powerfully in my chest, and let it out slowly. “They’ll take the villagers hostage and use them to get us to surrender,” I answered and the tunnel vision on my thoughts lessened a fraction, even if I was more pissed off at the mere thought of it.

“Are you someone that’s willing to let a couple of them die if it means neutralizing all of them?” Kim asked, and that sounded like a loaded question.

“No, I’m not,” I told her bluntly. Kim nodded, looking like she expected that answer.

“Good,” she told me, “We need to neutralize two threats -- the threat to the key, and the threat to the citizens. Not easy considering that from what I saw, there are a couple hundred pirates to deal with.”

Taking a slow breath, knowing that she was right, I let it out slowly. “Divide and conquer. We get their attention first and misdirect them with a trade for Honey Queen and Boo Jack. That’ll get the attention of Bear King and Skunk One,” I started.

“I can sneak in and secure the key,” Kim offered. Nami was quick to chip in.

“I’ll go with her!” She offered a little too eagerly. Rather than thinking that she was trying to betray us or anything, I’m ninety-five percent sure it was purely because she figured that the Trump Pirates' treasure horde would be kept in the most secure location on the island, and naturally that would be where the gyroscope that could destroy the island was kept.

That was two for the infiltration team. Well, more like one and a half. My gaze slid over to Kobeni, who was very pointedly looking off in the distance with a cold sweat dripping down her neck. My gaze lingered on her and, despite herself, Kobeni glanced over and froze stiff when I caught her glancing at me. She blanched, “I… can… help…?” She offered with so much reluctance, you’d think I was asking her to give up her life.

Momo raised a hand, “I believe Bocchi, Tae, and I shall stay in the ship to draw attention. They know we have the capability of flight, but they expect it to be from the ship. With the help of Tinkerbell, Kim, Nami, and Kobeni can slip in completely undetected.” Tinkerbell nodded along, puffing out her chest, seemingly pleased that she was being made the fulcrum of the plan. It was a smart decision on Momo’s part.

Bocchi was looking between us, her gaze bouncing around before it settled on the island we would be attacking. She hadn’t said much, but conflict was clear on her face. She wanted to join in on the assault, but I’d feel better if she was on the ship with Momo and Tae. Just in case the worst happened. So, I gave her a stealthy thumbs up to reassure her that we were good.

Mikasa offered a small curt nod, “We’ll draw the attention of the pirates.” She spoke quietly and Momo and Kim seemed momentarily uncomfortable with it. No one had said as much as of yet, but I could feel the conversation incoming -- Mikasa and I had killed a few pirates on the ship. Mikasa moreso than me. I imagine that a superhero-in-training and a freelance teenage hero would take some issue with that.

At the moment, I’m glad that the conversation was being put off because, right now, I don’t think I was capable of giving a reassurance that they would be comfortable with.

“Alright,” I said, striding towards the spire. We had seen them enter through a central shaft that seemed to take them up. “Let’s go knock on their front door.” Mikasa followed after me as I strode forward, hands in my pockets, and with a sense of purpose. It would be a lie to say that I had any skin in the game here. It wasn’t personal. I didn’t know a single person on this island, but the idea that a bunch of shit heads could just roll up and take it over? That rubbed me in all the wrong ways.

Mikasa fell in step with me and, honestly, it might be a bit nuts taking on hundreds of pirates with just the two of us, but… There was a distinct lack of fear in me. It was almost startling, really. It wasn't even that I was so pissed off that I wasn’t afraid- I just wasn’t afraid. Period.

The others went to follow through on their parts of the plan with the Icarus flying up, and the others flying low to snake up the side of the spire unnoticed. All the while, Mikasa and I approached the start of the spiral staircase that we quickly noticed was guarded by pirates. Something I’m certain would be true going all of the way up.

The first shot rang through the air at our approach, making the two of us spring into action. Fire gathered around my hands and feet as I launched myself forward, Mikasa not far behind me. She cut into the pirate that started the battle while that first shot was the cue for the others to take aim. Bullets hit the sand and went up in plumes of dust, some shots coming so close that I could feel them brush against my clothing, but I didn’t feel any pain as we reached the staircase. At the base, dozens guarded the entrance and I saw briefly as we descended upon them that the number didn’t really change as we went up.

Fire washed over the rough stone stairs and the people on them, the pirates screaming in pain and bangs ringing out as their weapons misfired. I led the charge, punching through the pirates as quickly as I could. Mikasa backed me up seamlessly -- it was less that we had flawless teamwork, and more that she seemed naturally adept at picking up the slack from my reckless charge. If I missed a pirate, Mikasa killed him before I could think twice, and at the same time, I found obstacles removed from my path when I was heading toward my chosen targets.

Things were progressing quickly -- the staircase was just large enough that three people could walk shoulder to shoulder as it curved around the central spire, which limited the number that the pirates could throw at us at once. I thought we were making quick work of them, but it was then my foot hit a pressure plate, and I was just barely saved from the spears that shot out of the wall by Mikasa grabbing me by the back of the shirt and yanking me backward. My vision was filled with the shaft of a spear that narrowly avoided skewering me. Taking my foot off the pressure plate caused the spears to retreat, but the momentary hesitation cost us our momentum.

The pirates surged forward, going to take swipes at us with their swords. Mikasa was just too fast for them, cutting them to pieces long before the deadly edges of their blades could reach us. “Watch their feet,” Mikasa told me as we dispatched the pirates that surged forward, trying to shove us back down the spiral staircase. “Only step where you’ve seen them step.”

The traps were an added difficulty, and if it was only that easy. The further we climbed up the spire, dispatching more and more pirates all the way, the pirates proved that they were entirely willing to sacrifice their own to stop us. From the staircase becoming a slide to boulders being rolled down that crushed anyone in their path. We avoided the worst of it, but the same couldn’t be said for the pirates. How many we defeated on our perilous journey up was impossible to say, but it felt like a lot.

Hundreds. Neither of us really was flagging as we steadily looped higher and higher in the sky, but I was starting to feel a burn in my muscles. Mikasa seemed completely undaunted, however, sometimes taking the lead. The journey up alone probably took at least thirty minutes by itself, but between the fighting and the traps, it was the better part of an hour and a half later that we caught sight of the end of the spire.

Clockwork Village was a pretty place, I quickly decided. The buildings were small, and thematic with a twist or a windmill attached to the roof. The top of the spire was surprising with how much grass it had -- if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that the rolling hills of grass that had a castle perched at the heart of the village was all completely natural. However, the scene of the peaceful little village was disrupted by the fact that between the buildings and behind a barricade were pirates.

A lot of them. It was impossible to tell with a quick glance, but it had to be at least another hundred. At the head of them all was a man that dwarfed everyone else around him for two reasons -- he was built like a brick shit house, and he stood at the top of a tank-looking vehicle complete with a fuck off big barrel. He was a huge and hairy man standing at a sound ten feet tall, wearing the pelt of a bear as a cloak. His hairline was nonexistent, just leaving a small soul patch on his head and some hair on the sides that flowed down into a short black beard.

More glaringly was the tank he was in. While Bear King was huge, the tank dwarfed modern tanks several times over. It was closer to thirty feet tall than not, the barrel of the tank was so big that I wouldn’t be able to wrap my arms around it even if there were two of me. The cockpit was left open, letting him stand free in what looked like a hatchback tank with large-looking tank treads. It was an intimidating vehicle, I could admit that much.

His face was twisted into an ugly smile, looking like I had just made his day with my arrival. “I’m impressed that you made it all the way up here! You’ve proven your mettle! But it’s the end of the line for you two!” He announced as I deepened my breathing, fire flickering at my fists and feet. “You and your petty little ship!” He declared, his tank taking aim at the Icarus that flew in the air above the island, not moving, but looming like a threat.

“I wouldn’t!” I quickly caught his attention, making Bear King look to me, cocking an eyebrow. “Your siblings are on that ship. Shoot down that ship, you kill them too,” I told him, focusing on him while trying to look at everyone. I didn’t see Skunk One or Pin Joker in the hastily assembled crew that surrounded the entrance.

Bear King narrowed his eyes at me, “You brought down Honey Queen and Boo Jack?” He asked, the business end of that tank still pointed at the Icarus. That still wasn’t moving. What was going on there? It was just hovering in the same location, looking completely unprepared for evasive maneuvers. “Hm. In that case, I’ll take a trade -- give them back to me, and I’ll let you leave this island with your lives.”

“No deal,” I rejected without a thought. “Unless you want your brother and sister to take a long fall with a hard landing in the ocean, you’ll be leaving this island. We’ll arrange for a drop off point when you’re far enough out,” I countered. I didn’t see any citizens, so I don’t think they were being used as hostages. Though, it was possible that they were all just grouped up to be executed all at once. They had enough time to do it.

Bear King threw his head back and let out a boisterous laugh, “With that entrance, I expected a little more spine! You’re here to rescue this island from me?” He asked with a laugh, prompting the rest of his crew to join in. It was a hideous mocking sound coming from hundreds of men, but it was quickly silenced when I took a step forward. Bear King’s eyes narrowed dangerously and I met it unflinchingly.

It wasn’t like I wasn’t afraid. I was. However, that fear was something distant and not a reason to see this through all the way to the end.

Because of that, I gave Bear King and his crew of dead men a great big smile, “You’re damn right I am.”

“Heh. You really are a fool. The citizens on this island are brilliant and for seven long years, they’ve been my slaves. I’ve used their brilliance to create the ultimate weapon! The one that will make me the Pirate King! Alone, they might not be Dr. Vegapunks equal, but together they surely surpass him in brilliance!” Bear King declared with a loud mocking laugh as he glared at me. “I’ve decided to take them with me to the Grand Line. There, they can put their brilliance to better use by making me the Pirate King!”

My smile only grew, something that he picked up on. “What are you smiling at?!” He demanded to know and I got ready to start this fight.

“Because you just told me you won’t kill the villagers,” I answered. His entire plan was to stand on the shoulders of giants -- using the technological brilliance of the people who made this island to make him the so-called Pirate King. Meaning that they were far too valuable for him to just kill wholesale. Bear King’s mocking look immediately shifted into a deep smile. “The offers changed -- surrender right now, or I’m going to give the order to toss your siblings over the railing. At this high up, I can only imagine how hard the impact will be on the ocean's surface.”

That was a bluff. Mostly because I knew that Momo and Bocchi wouldn’t follow through on such an order but Bear King didn’t know that. Right now, I had leverage and I was going to use it ruthlessly. Bear King looked to the Icarus with a deep frown that seemed to deepen with each passing second.

“I’ve always been a family man,” Bear King said, his voice carrying as his crew held their breath for his response. “But if they got defeated so easily… there’s no place for dead weight in my crew.” He decided, my ultimatum backfiring and I darted forward. I crossed the distance between us in a fraction of a second, but it was a fraction of a second too late. Bear King slammed a fist upon a bright red button that was labeled fire the same moment that my foot impacted the side of his head.

The tank bucked back as it fired, my ears ringing from the sound of the loudest bang I had ever heard. My gaze turned to the Icarus, even as I kicked Bear King with bone-rattling force, seeing the Icarus take the hit. The bow of the Icarus exploded, just not in a fiery one. It was like the bow was hit by a hammer that just ripped through the metal like it wasn’t there, shattering the wood, and it was nothing but pure dumb luck that the blimp that kept it aloft wasn’t struck.

All the same, the Icarus jerked in the air, recoiling as something tore right through it, before the ship began to fall. The engine room had to have been damaged. And I could do nothing but hope that Momo, Tae, or Bocchi hadn't been injured… or killed.

"Flame Breathing," I snarled, sending Bear King flying away, nearly tipping the tank over as his legs shot over the railing of the tank. He slammed through a dozen of his pirates, hitting the ground, before acting as a plow that carved a line through the dirt before he finally tore through a house. The fire around me intensified, singing my clothes with its incredible heat while I threw my hands out to the sides, "Firewall!" Fire surged from my body, following the motions of my arms, sending a wall of fire to my left and right that washed over the pirates.

The battle instantly became a chaotic mess of pure noise. Distantly, I was aware of Mikasa throwing herself into the thick of the pirates and turning into a human blender that just butchered everyone that came close. I saw limbs flying into the air, the rattling screams of the fearful and dying, and the chorus of gunfire that never even came close to her. The glimpse I caught of her expression was of ice-cold wrath as she extracted vengeance on the pirates for even the possibility that our friends could have been hurt. Or killed.

"Bear King," I snarled, launching myself forward and leaving the pirates to Mikasa. She could, without a shadow of a doubt, deal with them all. It didn't matter how outnumbered she was. Mikasa was making it plain for all to see exactly how deadly she was with those swords of hers. Leaving me free to take my pound of flesh out of Bear King, who was extracting himself from the ruined house, scorch marks on the side of his head, but no visible signs of damage.

"You're going to have to do better than that! I use cannons to get a massage!" Bear King declared, running forward towards me. He was fast, but I was by far the faster of the two of us. Doing a front flip after launching myself up, I delivered a monstrously strong Pinwheel to his head, only to find the kick blocked by his forearm. It felt like I was kicking an unyielding brick wall... and that I was as weak as I was back in my old world. My bones ached at the impact, fire washing over him as he accepted the blow, lashing out at me with his other hand, but I dodged by using the back of his hand as leverage.

Twisting sharply, I lashed out with another kick, my shin impacting the side of his head and sending him flying. This time he seemed more prepared for the impact because he braced, his feet digging into the ground as he skidded back a half dozen feet. My shin felt like I just kicked a coffee table and the pain was sharp and intense. Fire washed over Bear King, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I said you'd have to do better than that!" He shouted, swinging wildly at me while his hands sweltered with heat. I avoided the first strike with ease, sidestepping it before I brought my fist up into his gut. My knuckles bled, the skin tearing as my knuckles were smashed from the force of the punch, but Bear King barely seemed to notice. He lashed out with a backswing, catching me in the side, and even though I blocked, I felt my skin being seared like I had just made contact with a red hot iron skillet.

While Bear King was on the slow side, he more than made up for it in strength. Every rib and bone in my arm rattled from the impact, creaking from the strain as I struggled to right myself as I sailed through a house, even with the help of fairy dust. I smashed through one, my arm and ribs burning with pain. I had underestimated the Hard-Hard fruit. I was so much stronger, and even when I did get injured, I still mostly dominated the fights I had been in. Bear King felt like a human-shaped brick wall that was smacking the shit out of me.

Body shots weren't working. How about some cheap ones?

My fire blazed brightly, not at all doused, and I'm pretty sure I set that house on fire from the surge of flames around my feet and legs. Throwing myself back out, I hurled myself at Bear King, who laughed confidently. "It's no use!" He said, taking a swipe at me that I flipped over before I threw a frog jab at his eye, using the second knuckle of my middle finger as the point of impact. Instead of him screaming in pain as his eye was crushed, I only managed to break my finger. It was me who was screaming when I felt his hand wrap around my ankle, searing my flesh, before slamming me to the ground with incredible force.

Despite me trying to keep it in, all the breath was knocked out of my lungs, extinguishing my flames. My vision seemed to darken, my brain trying to blackout, but it was nothing but sheer willpower that I was able to remain conscious. Because of that, I was able to keep my bearings when Bear King began to punch down, intent to crush my skull. I countered, taking in a sharp breath and kicking with all of my might.

I'm pretty sure I broke every bone in my foot, but Bear King's head snapped back from the force. His grip lessened just enough to free my other leg and I seized the opportunity to use my arms to handspring away from him.

It was only then that I realized something was off. My breathing returned to its normal pattern, but that kick hadn't been a normal pattern. It had been…

"Heh," I chuckled, pushing past the pain to pin a fierce look at Bear King, who rubbed his jaw as he glared at me. "Looks like I just pulled a powerful move right out of my ass to deal with you."

My breathing pattern controlled how the energized blood cells were distributed throughout my body. I was so focused on increasing my lung capacity and utilizing my flames that I never stopped to think about something that was rather obvious in hindsight -- changing the pattern to enhance different parts of my body.

"Just try it. Nothing's ever managed to injure me," Bear King stated in no uncertain terms. "The Hard-Hard fruit surpasses even Logias in terms of defense! No one and nothing has ever hit me hard enough to draw even a single drop of blood. I have the ultimate defense and with my King Cannon, I have the ultimate weapon! I cannot be defeated!" It really was annoying -- how much this guy liked to boast.

But, his rambling was convenient for me. As he talked, I took in a slow and deliberate breath, feeling my lungs inflate to the point of bursting. Then, I breathed. The pattern was fundamentally different from Flame Breathing. While Flame Breathing increased all my stats across the board, this new pattern focused exclusively on strength. Every muscle in my body began to swell with strength, with power.

"If you can take a cannonball to the face," I bit out, glaring at him as the Icarus fell below the edge of the island. "Then I'll just hit you harder than a cannon."

"Feel free to try. Nothing's better than the look of despair on an enemy's face when they finally realize they can't hurt me," he returned, holding his hands out wide.

I moved. Despite the swell of power, I was undoubtedly slower. My body felt stiff and uncompromising, my muscles so tense that they struggled to properly relax and tense like what was normal for running. However, when I threw myself up, rearing a hand back while the flames around me vanished, I named my new breathing style. "Stone Breathing: Iron Fist," I intoned, slamming my fist into his nose.

In response, I felt it shift under my knuckles, a jet of blood shooting out from his flattened nose even as my knuckles broke against his face. His head snapped back and despite the pain in my hand, I didn't let up. The Icarus was down. I had no way of knowing if the others were okay. I didn't know if they were dead. I didn't know. That uncertainty became the fuel for fear and rage in my chest and I unloaded both onto Bear King.

I thought that he might have a grander reaction to bleeding, but his only response was to look at it in shock. With all of his bragging, I expected him to cry. To howl in agony at feeling pain. Instead, I learned that I had underestimated Bear King. His response to feeling pain was to hit me back and return it tenfold.

Stone Breathing cost me my edge in speed in exchange for actually being able to hurt him, turning our fight into a straight slugging match. I got harder, but his punches hurt worse on account that they were searing hot. My shirt was burnt away, my body sporting dark bruises and burns as we beat the absolute holy hell out of each other. Each punch felt like it made a new fracture and every other punch felt like one of those fractures became a break. My knuckles wept blood, crumbling under the force of my punches and his unyielding body, but the pain and my hands were a distant concern.

"RaaaHHHH!" Bear King exclaimed, going for a right hook that I dipped below and delivered a devastating liver shot to counter. His body bent around my fist, lowering him enough that I could deliver a powerful upper knee to the bottom of his chin. Blood flew freely as his head snapped back, his teeth creaking audibly. Cupping my hands together, I slammed the single fist into his face, feeling my pinkies break but the impact was so great that Bear King was driven into the ground.

My body hurt. It was painful. Part of me wanted to curl up into a ball and just cry until it stopped hurting. But all that pain just wasn't a reason to stop fighting.

I imagine the same could be said for Bear King because he was picking himself back up, panting heavily. He was sporting bruises and scrapes that wept crimson, though I imagine a fair bit of that came from me when I hit him. However, unlike me, I could see the fear in his eyes. The fear of pain. Of losing. With how much he ran his mouth, I imagine losing wasn’t something he often considered and now that it was in the cards, it scared him.

“You!” he barked, grabbing a pirate that looked like he was running and throwing him at me. “You and you! Deal with him!” Bear King shouted, turning away from me and heading towards the King Cannon. I hadn’t noticed it because I was so engrossed in our fight, but the crowd of pirates was ridiculously thinned out. Not all of them were dead or dying, or even most of them, but between Mikasa carving lines in their forces and scaring off plenty, Bear King didn’t have to exactly push through a crowd to reach the King Cannon.

His order, however, proved to have disastrous results. While some of his men went to charge me, obeying the order, some people just saw some from the back ranks turning around and running. It didn’t matter that they were charging in my direction -- they just saw people running away from Mikasa, turning the charge to me into a complete route. Pirates dropped their weapons and fled in my direction, something that worked against me -- Bear King wouldn’t kill the villagers, but scared pirates might.

I lashed out with fist and foot, shattering every pirate that came near me like glass as I carved a line through them towards the King Cannon that Bear King was reloading. I already knew what he planned to do, and he proved his willingness to fire upon his own men. Even my heart started thumping a few ticks faster when I saw the business end of the King Cannon pointed at me.

“Behold, my ultimate attack!” Bear King shouted, his fist going to slam down on the fire button.

I could dodge. I should dodge. The only issue was that I was all too aware of the positioning -- the castle was directly behind me, meaning that gyroscope thing was too. I had seen firsthand how powerful the King Cannon was -- the Icarus looked like it had been bitchslapped by the hand of God. The armor on the Icarus had been thin, but steel plate was steel plate and it looked like it had been punched through like wet tissue paper.

Maybe it would be fine. There was a hill, and maybe that would be enough to absorb the impact so the castle would be unaffected. Maybe it would all work out and the only people affected would be his own crew.

Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I’m not risking my friends and this island on a maybe.

I breathed in deeply, deeper than I ever managed to before. Raw power flowed in my body, strengthening my muscles as my head was filled with a single thought. There was no room for doubt or second-guessing. It was a decision that wasn’t at all rooted in any sense of logic or rationality. Even impossibility was a distant concern that had absolutely nothing to do with me. That thought was that I needed to stop the tank shell.

So, I would stop the tank shell dead in its tracks.

That's all there was to it.

“So long, punk!” Bear King shouted, slamming his meaty fist on the fire button and I thrust my hands before me, every muscle tense. I didn’t see the tank shell but I sure felt it, even before I heard the thunderous bang that felt louder than a strike of lighting right next to me. Something big, heavy, and above all fucking fast slammed into the palm of my hands. By all sense of reasoning, I should have been turned into a pink mist as it tore right through my body like it was nothing but I screamed at the top of my lungs, a wordless howl that conveyed a challenge to the universe as I caught the tank shell.

Stopping it dead in its tracks was well beyond me, it would seem, but my feet dug into the ground, carving long lines down the street as a mound of displaced dirt and stone grew behind me. Every window shattered on our way from the sonic boom of the shell that my fingers dug into, gripping it tightly. Veins in my arms bulged before exploding from the pressure, sending out sprays of blood, but my body remained unyielding. My teeth ground against each other, the mound of dirt quickly becoming large enough that even houses were displaced as we raced by.

But we began to slow. It was impossible to tell at first, but I felt it. The momentous pressure that I felt pushing me back, threatening to carve right through me, began to lessen ever so slightly. And once it did, the drop-off was steep. I was carried out of the village and halfway up the hill before the momentum slowed to a trickle.

Then a stop. Leaving me with a tank shell about the same size as Little Boy. The shell was shaped like a bullet with dense copper-like metal on the surface and it felt like it weighed a metric ton. Letting go of the breath I had been holding to keep my strength at its peak, steam emerged from my lips. That revealed Bear King and what was left of his forces reactions -- their jaws on the floor and if their eyes were any wider, they’d fall right out of their sockets.

I also saw Mikasa. She did not look happy, even if she looked relieved I didn’t get myself killed.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. A cackle bubbled up from deep in my chest, relishing at me spitting in the face of impossibility and embracing the madness of this world. The sound echoed across the clearing at the absolute silence that fell upon the Clockwork Village, carrying through the air like a sound of victory. A laugh that kept going even as my vision began to darken, my head going all too light and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to remain conscious.

This world. More than anything, I loved it.

But, the fight wasn't over yet. With my body screaming in protest, I hefted the tank shell up and gave it a little flip to point the business end right back at Bear King. His eyes widened, knowing exactly what I was about to do, but he was way too late to actually do anything about it. “You can have this back!”

With the declaration, I summoned the very last dregs of my strength and hurled the tank shell right back at him. It shot forward like a speeding bullet and my body gave out following the blow. But, even as dark spots danced in my vision, I saw Bear King scramble to get out of his tank and there was a brief panicked scream before the shell struck with a clap of thunder and a flash of heat.

By the time I fell face first into the dirt, everything had already gone black.