A Prelude To Greatness

### Foreword

*The following account is a forgotten story from years past, that has been brought to light from the Marine archives. A battle between two clashing Powers, Admiral and Yonko, before either party had claimed their respective positions. A battle that would have shook the world if it had taken place a few short years later, but instead was swept under the rug by the World Government. This is the tale of a brief collision between "Gold Fist" Ralph and "Mad Monk" Daikaku during the quiet beginnings of the latter's life of piracy. In an attempt to swiftly deal with the threat that this new pirate posed, the Marines had dispatched the formidable Vice-Admiral, along with a war ship, to dispose of the problem before it got out of hand.*

## The Forgotten

Standing like a statue at the bow of their stolen ship, letting the ocean spray wash over him, Daikaku stared into the nothingness that was the horizon. Or at least that's how it appeared to his small crew, but the rookie pirate Captain, with his enhanced senses, could already see an island in the distance. "Oh Captain, my Captain," cried out an elaborately dressed man in a singsongy, playful manner as he approached. "It would seem as though we will be in sight of our next destination shortly."

Despite the fact that it was already visible to the former monk, he turned to face his guest and thanked him sincerely. "Thank you for the update, Pierrot." He could tell that the clown had more to say, but knew that he would speak his mind in due time, albeit in a roundabout way. So he simply turned back to the horizon and waited.

Twirling his patched up umbrella once, twice, then bringing it back up as if to shield him from the mist, Pierrot continued his train of thought. "This hunt we've been on has been progressing quite smoothly thus far, wouldn't you agree? I mean, aside from those two idiots they sent after us, or more specifically, you. But they were nothing more than wrinkles in this tale of ours."

Enjoying the view, Daikaku took a small pause of his own before responding. "Hmm, I think it isn't nice to call your crew mates idiots, Pierrot. That aside, I doubt that things will stay so smooth for much longer. We can expect an ambush waiting for us on either this island or our next, I should think."

Pierrot smiled a devilish smile and simply said "Good. You see it too," before walking away.

***Present Time***

"Admiral Ralph sir, could I have a word with you for a moment sir?" Looking back at the infantry sailor, Ralph responded as he always did. "I tell everyone all the time to drop the formalities when on my ship I don't care for it, now what do you want son?" The young marine began to grow nervous as sweat would begin to form on the forehead of the young sailor. "Uhh......Ummm......Sir.......I mean.......ummm....." Growing agitated by his sailor's lackluster ability to speak Ralph screamed, "WOULD YA JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!!!!!" Startled by the sudden booming voice of Ralph the sailor quickly screamed back, "DID YOU HAVE A FIGHT WITH THE YONKO DAIKAKU?!!!" Ralph stood up from his seat and walked to the front of his ship and looked into the air. It was the middle of the night, every star was visible in the distant sky as they illuminated the night. Ralph smiled as he turned to his Sailor. "I'm not going to ask where you heard that from but I should have know someone would sooner or later." Taking a deep breath Ralph started the story of his battle with the Yonko Daikaku. "It was, I'd say ten years ago..........."

*"A golden hair, what the hell?"* a younger Ralph said as he pulled ones of his hairs from his head and noticed it was a golden pigment. He threw it to the side as he heard one of his men in the distance. "Vice Admiral Ralph!!!!!! Orders from HQ, the rookie pirate Daikaku and his crew are on their way to an island just east of us sir. HQ ordered us to intercept and catch Daikaku and his entire crew." The captain who relayed the message to Ralph watched as a smile grew on Ralph's face. It was a smile of excitement, an eagerness to fight. Ralph knew that catching Daikaku would not be simple and he would defiantly put up a fight. "Alright, tell HQ I'll intercept them, request for back up immediately. And get the men ready for a fight, tell them to get into formation, I have an announcement to make" Ralph said as the captain took off to relay the message back to HQ.

"Steer this warship towards the east to the next Island." Ralph began walking as his men scrambled to get their weapons ready and line up for the announcement Ralph was about to make. "Men!!!!! The Mad Monk, Daikaku is on the island we are steering towards now. HQ just gave us orders to intercept and apprehend the Mad Monk and his crew members. No one and I mean absolutely no one must attack Daikaku but me. I'm putting you all in charge of keeping the rest of his crew preoccupied while I'll handle Daikaku. All medics stay back from the fight, people will get hurt and we don't need it to be you all. These are dangerous men, do not underestimate them or you will die. When we land on the island, give them hell men because that's the only way you all will be able to come out this battle alive. That's all, prepare yourselves men."

As they sailed closer to their destination, the ragtag group of pirates began circling the island, looking for an ideal location to lay anchor. Eventually spying a crevice within large white boulders that was large enough for their ship to squeeze into, Daikaku ordered that they land there. As everyone onboard was climbing out, Daikaku hung back to have a word with the dark clown. "Do you think you could hide the ship with your wax?"

Snickering, Pierrot replied, "I don't know, my Captain. Hiding a ship in a field of white with a white covering might be a tad difficult. I'll try my best."

"Good. I would like that," Daikaku gave in return, ignoring the sarcasm in the reply while responding with none of his own. Catching up to the rest of the crew, who stood waiting for the guidance of their Captain, he began walking in a direction that seemed completely arbitrary to everybody else.

While initially following in silence, eventually someone broke down and asked the one question most everyone else was thinking. This time it happened to be Karoshi. "Umm, sir? Where are we going? There are no signs of civilization in this direction, and since we have no idea where the poneglyph will be located on this island, or if there even is one, shouldn't we start by moving towards a city and move out from there?"

Considering the young man's words, then choosing his own carefully, the man that the Marines refer to as "mad" took his time in responding. "Simply put, we are headed towards the poneglyph, that is almost certainly in this country." Seeing the confusion on the Salaryman's face, Daikaku continued, "Based on the previous poneglyphs we have discovered, as well as when we didn't find any, there seems to be a pattern as to which countries contain these ancient writings. I also noticed something of a pattern to where they can be found in these countries. The country that lies on this island fits into this first pattern, and should have a secret to the past hidden somewhere. And considering where we landed, geographically speaking, the poneglyph should be in this direction." The explanation was sufficient to quiet the doubts in everyone's heads, while also raising new questions about the man they called Captain.

"Well, yeah, when you put it that way, obviously we should head in this direction," the Salaryman responded. "That's what I told everyone else, but they wouldn't believe me." The Monk Pirates continued on towards their goal.

"HQ reports that there is a large storm to the north which is going to slow down your request for back up sir." "Well then in that case I'll only take a quarter of our forces, leave the others hear on the ship, have the stronger ones come with me. Mad Monks crew aren't mere bandits or trivial pirates we face in the first half of the grand line." Ralph responded as he and his crew continued to look for a place to dock their ship. This was a difficult task seeing as Ralph was on a large marine warship. "Hmmmmm, prep out biggest cannon." Ralph said as a rather unsettling smile came across his face. Ralph's crew saw that smile and knew that whatever he had planned wasn't the best idea.

"Uhh sir, if you don't mind me asking why did you want us to use this cannon?" A crew member said nervously. "I want you all to fire the cannon and I'll ride the cannon ball to the island." Ralph said this as if there was no problem to it, as if people did this frequently. The crew paused for a moment and heard what their vice admiral had said. It took a little while for the crew to process what he had said. However, because of Ralph's crazy ideas in the past, the crew didn't question nor become puzzled at his plan because more than likely just like Ralph's past crazy ideas, the one he had just came up with would more than likely succeed.

"After I land on the island, find a place to dock the ship send in the men to my position." As Ralph explained the sequence of events, a group of marines were pushing a cannon the size of a small fishing boat towards the island and another group were carrying a cannon ball that was larger than any man. "Sir, how will we know where to find you?" A marine asked. Ralph began to laugh as he calmed himself and said, "Wherever you hear the most noise, and feel strong tremors is where me and Mad Monk will be." "The cannon is ready sir." A marine said as they loaded the large cannon with the large cannon ball and were ready to fire it. "Alright me, I'm off, after you find a place to dock you know what to do."

Ralph got into position on the side of the cannon with his arms a few feet away from where the ball would come out of. "Alright, FIRE THE CANNON!!" Ralph said enthusiastically as the cannon went off. The sound of the cannon going off would more than likely be heard by anyone on the island because of how big it was. Moments later Ralph was flying, hugging onto the cannon ball as he zoomed through the air. "GOOD LUCK SIR!!!" The crew said as Ralph was on his way to intercept Daikaku.

BANG!

The Monk Pirates stopped in their tracks as they heard the deep noise that was telling of an explosion. The noise wasn't very loud where the pirates stood, but they could feel the powerful force of it shake their bodies. Everyone either turned to look in the direction the sound came from, or to their Captain, to see what he made of the explosion. Daikaku himself just stood there for a few seconds, reading the situation, before raising his head to survey the sky, in a noticeably different place than where the sound came from.

"Cannon fire?" Karoshi pondered. "There's no sea for miles in that direction, nor any reason for there to be inland cannons going off based on what's over there."

"You felt the strength of that blast, didn't you?" Harlequin gave back to him. "If you think that was from an ordinary cannon, you must not be using your head. The size of the cannon that fired that must have been extraordinary, which would explain why we can hear it from so far away."

"A cannon that big, you don't think it could be… no, there's no way," Jonathan mumbled to himself.

Harlequin, catching the big man talking under his breath, asked "What's on your mind, Marine?"

"I was just remembering this rumor from when I was in the Marines. Some people claimed that Vice-Admiral Ralph kept a ridiculously huge cannon on his ship, but that was just a rumor and he wouldn't be here."

"Vice-Admiral Ralph. I'm sure I've heard of him somewhere, but I can't quite place it."

"Warren D. Ralph. He's known as the Gold Fist for his advanced use of Haki that takes a golden hue. Unlike the undeserved praise that our little Jonathan over there received while in the Marines, he is a true monster that will likely become an Admiral at any time now," Karoshi explained for everyone. "If he's here, it might be best for us to leave before we run into him."

Daikaku just stood there, watching a cannonball flying through the air with a man clinging to it, having found the source of the powerful aura he noticed right before the sound of the cannon fire reached his ears. "All of you, head towards the direction the sound came from, then spread out to cover a larger area. The Marines should be coming from that direction roughly. Harlequin will be in charge. Keep them busy."

"Where are you going, Captain?"

"I'll be playing with that monster over there." As he started towards his opponent, he stopped beside Pierrot. "You continue towards the poneglyph, and get an imprint of the writing with your wax. When you're done, meet back up with Harlequin and try to fight them off, but retreat if you must." And with that, Daikaku took off towards the Gold Fist, leaving his crew in the dust.

"Get the cannons in position, if Mad Monk's crew comes here, we have to be prepared for the assault that transpires. The best marksmen get into a position where you can aim at the enemies and hit them. Like Vice Admiral Ralph said, have all the medics stay on the ship while all the close range fighters take the front lines. We cannot afford to lose this battle nor men, at least until back up arrives!!!!" Ralph's men were in a frantic to get into position for the battle with Daikaku's men. Meanwhile......

Ralph was descending towards the ground at a very rapid rate. Ralph however had a dilemma on his hands literally, how exactly would he land. Just crashing into the ground with the ball would be too dangerous. No matter how inhuman Ralph was, he was no Kaido who seemingly wouldn't die under extreme mortal circumstances. Ralph would either die or be seriously injured if he simply clinged onto the ball until impact. But, while he was thinking of a way to land, using Haki he could see that the man he was after was on the move and towards him. He knew that however he landed, he would land face to face with the Mad Monk.

As Ralph got closer and closer to the ground he finalized his plan of landing and started to take action. Ralph was on top of the large cannonball still clinging onto it while the ball itself started to take a perpendicular angle towards the ground. Ralph gripped onto the smooth surface of the large ball with both hands and using his brute strength lifted the ball over his head. This caused him and the ball to slow down considerably and start to glide towards the ground. As he would get a visual of Daikaku, he screamed to the pirate "I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY CATCH MAD MONK!!!" These words and the action of the vice admiral throwing the ball towards Daikaku at a immense speed would spark the start of the battle between two of the strongest men in the world.

*Catch, he asks?* Daikaku thought to himself as he continued towards the lump of metal now flying right at him. *I suppose I can give him what he wants.* Taking an immediate side step to his left, then making an abrupt stop, Daikaku stood facing the cannonball though just out of it's path. Using his training in Otokomichi as a basis, he extended his left leg out, keeping his foot on the ground, and his right arm towards the path he was just running along, with his fingers extended. He then firmly planted his right foot in place, to act as his body's axis. Finally, for some extra support, he grabbed his right forearm just above the inside of the elbow with his left hand. Having never done something quite like this before, he wasn't actually sure if his body could handle it.

As the cannonball came towards him, his fingertips began to brush up against it. When it had pushed his wrist back, and his whole hand was touching it, Daikaku gripped with all his strength, palming the enormous cannonball. At that same instant, he jerked his body in a twisting motion to his right. This caused the giant mass to rotate around the axis of his right leg as he held on tight. Letting himself roughly spin 180 degrees before letting it go with a powerful flick of his wrist, Daikaku redirected the cannonball. Specifically, it was aimed to fly right back at Ralph with even more force than it initially had, poised to hit him before being able to land. Even after letting go of the cannonball, Daikaku continued to spin from the momentum until he faced Ralph's direction, then immediately entered his fighting stance so as to mentally prepare for the battle to come, choosing to wait for his opponent's next attack.

Elsewhere, the Monk Pirates were heading towards the Marines that Ralph had come with. Spread out quite thin so as to have a better chance to find them, they swept forward in a straight line. Karoshi was standing closest to Harlequin, with the impromptu leader being at one end of their line. "HEY, SUIT. I FOUND THEM. TELL THE OTHERS TO FOLLOW ME," cried out the green haired leader as he rushed towards his goal. In doing so, he pulled a clown mask onto his face and grabbed his scythe off his back.

Annoyed by the nickname he was given, Karoshi grumbled to himself, asking what was wrong with being well dressed. He then took off with Soru down the line to inform his crew mates.

Harlequin ran to a small tower of rock, jumping off of it and slashing at the Marines with his large, red scythe from above.

*"Aww shit."* Ralph though to himself as the giant cannonball he hurled towards the Mad Monk was hurled at an even greater speed towards him. Once again a dilemma arose which needed the full attention of Ralph. No one had even thrown his giant cannonball back at him, in fact this was the only munition he had for his giant cannon. The navy spent millions of berries on that giant cannonball and didn't give Ralph another one, not to mention that his ship couldn't hold another ball of that magnitude without sinking straight to the bottom of whatever ocean Ralph and his crew were sailing. The point was, Ralph's giant cannonball was always recoverable, simply giving it up, or destroying it was heart breaking to Ralph because he knew the navy wouldn't dare build another one. *"I'll find it later."* Ralph said to himself as he used Geppo, a Rokushiki that allows the user to jump off the air, to evade his giant cannonball letting it soar through the air and into the distance most likely ending up in the sea. Ralph continued to Geppo through the air to safely land on the ground several meters away from the Mad Monk who was readying for Ralph's next attack. In the blink of an eye, a compressed blade of air was sent towards Daikaku. The movement was so fast thanks to Ralph's Rokushiki skill, he used a combination of Soru and Rankyaku to cause his kick to move faster than the eye could see. The speed cause the actual Rankyaku to naturally become stronger as it barreled towards Daikaku at an immense speed.

"FIRE!!! DO NOT LET MAD MONK'S CREW GET THE BEST OF US MEN." Ralph crew fired and fired towards the crew of Daikaku as they battled on the beach. Ship cannon fired as the marines used everything in their disposal to try and overwhelm the pirate crew. Several skilled melee fighters were at the front lines attempting to clash with several of the pirate crew, specifically Harlequin who just took out several marines with one slash. There were nearly 500 marines on Ralph's ship and most of them were engaged in battle.

The fight raged between the few pirates and the many Marines as Jonathan was finally coming upon the battleground. He seemed to be the slowest at traveling over longer distances, being better at short bursts of speed, yet he was the one who had been stuck with the job of informing everyone where the battle was. Karoshi had dumped the duty on him, immediately heading back from whence he came before Jonathan could object, and he couldn't manage a similar feat himself. Now here he was, late to the party. He could see the fighting going on at the edge of his vision, and it would still take him a while before he would be in the thick of things. But just because he wasn't explicitly there to join in the fight doesn't mean that he couldn't affect it. Looking around as he ran, there were plenty of large boulders protruding out of the landscape, and now that he could see his destination, he also had a target. Grabbing one of the boulders out of the ground, the former Marine Rear-Admiral chucked his new weapon off towards the horizon. Sure, he could have started hurling rocks into the distance sooner if he wanted to, and maybe some would have hit target if he was lucky, but it would have been guess work without knowing where to aim. He wasn't a sniper after all. Most of them wouldn't have even come close to hitting the battlefield, but the worst possible scenario would have been if he had lobbed a soft one that fell short and one of his companions saw it. They would never let him live it down if he didn't throw it far enough. No, it was better for him to have an actual target to aim for. *And maybe if I'm lucky I might hit one of those jerks with one of my shots,* Jonathan thought to himself as he continued to throw boulders while he ran.

One by one his crew mates had joined Harlequin in his fight against the Marines, changing it from a one man stand in the face of hundreds of opponents, but still being greatly outnumbered. Soon everyone was there, helping him against their enemy, with the exception of Jonathan. *What's taking that idiot so long,* Harlequin pondered as he slashed another group of Marines with his scythe, *did he take a siesta along the way or something?* The Suit had been the first one to join him, so clearly he dumped the job given to him on someone else. Given the situation, he figured it would be safe to assume that person was the former Marine, and he couldn't exactly recall who would have been next in their formation after the Suit. Not that it really mattered, but he surely should have joined everyone by now, right? Just as he was thinking that, a large boulder fell out of the sky, landing in the middle of the fray.

Karoshi was battling in the midst of everything, when he happened to turn around just in time to see the first boulder. It was about one metre away from him, and getting closer. *What the hell is that?* In fact, it was heading right towards him. "Tekk-" was all he could mutter before getting crushed by the unusual precipitation. After that, more boulders started to rain down one after the other, one of which almost hit another one of the pirates, while another one broke the mast of the Marine ship.

Daikaku watched Ralph carefully as he avoided the cannonball, landing metres away. Just as he landed, the Vice Admiral fired off a lightning quick Rankyaku that seemed to have been bolstered by Soru. *That could prove dangerous,* the pirate captain thought to himself as he put his arms in his baggy sleeves, depositing his prayer beads back where he initially grabbed them. As he did so he spun around to his left, avoiding the wind blade by a hair's breadth, letting it pass by his backside harmlessly. After spinning three quarters of the way around, he pressed off with his right foot so as to lunge towards his opponent. Pulling his arms back out of their clothy confines, Daikaku threw a straight left punch at Ralph's gut.

As Daikaku lunged towards Ralph, he had a smile on his face as usual and just stood their. *"Tekkai"* Ralph muttered as his gut was hardened to be as hard as iron. Additionally he coated his gut in a layer of invisible Busoshoku Haki so that his gut would be as hard as steel. As the punch hit Ralph he was moved back a few inches but stood his ground using his brute strength to withstand the force of the punch as well. Daikaku's strength was like no others, Ralph could still fell a bit of the punches force when it made contact. With the smile still on his face Ralph looked down upon the Mad Monk and said. *"My Turn.....Soru."* At close range Ralph used Soru to launch his knee to the gut of Daikaku, at such a close range and with such a fast movement, evading this attack even blocking from it would all but be impossible. This knee would most likely launch Daikaku several meters back from the pure force of the knee. As Daikaku would be sent flying back with that knee, Ralph who's knee was still up extended his knee sending another Rankyaku towards Daikaku. Quickly switching his kick and bringing his other leg up he send another Rankyaku towards Daikaku who was now being followed by two compressed air blades.

"What the hell is that status on that back up." One marine said as he kept shooting his rifle at the enemies ahead. "The storm has passed, they are sending 5 warships with over a thousands marines to our position including vice admiral's brother Rear Admiral Newton D. Brown but it'll still be a while so we just have to hold out until then." "Rear Admiral Brown? If he gets here we defiantly won't lose." Another Marine said as their hopes started to get raised before a giant ball of earth hit their ship's mast. "What the hell??" Looking into the distances one of the marines saw one of his former fellow superior officers however on the side of the Mad Monks crew. "Former....Former Rear Admiral Jonathan!!!!!" The marines looked up to see the former rear admiral and trembled in fear as their spirits were broken however they still fought on. However in the back of their minds they knew the wouldn't possible come out of this alive. "Tell Rear Admiral Brown to haul ass over here." a captain said, his voice cracking a little as another more balls of earth landed around the battle field. "Maybe vice admiral Ralph will be done with Daikaku before the back up arrives. Keep fighting men we'll get through some how." Cannon fire followed the marines statement to try and uplift the spirits of his fellow marines.

Daikaku struck Ralph right in the gut, resulting in a resounding **thud**. Realizing a little too late that he purposefully took the hit to better deliver one of his own, Daikaku attempted to jump back in hopes of avoiding the Vice Admiral's counterattack, while also coating himself in an invisible layer of Haki. Just as he was jumping backwards, Ralph's knee came rocketing up into the pirate captain's midriff. Despite being unable to avoid the attack, the combination of Busoshoku coating and his quick choice to jump away reduced the damage he would have suffered. Though despite that, he still felt the strength of the strike resonate throughout his body as he was pushed through the air. *If I hadn't jumped then, that knee would have broken through my Haki. Looks like he's as strong as the rumors would suggest.* While contemplating the strength of his opponent's Soru powered knee strike, Ralph seamlessly continued his assault with two Rankyakus. "Kami-e," he uttered as his body became limp. Due to the power of the two slashes, Daikaku's body was harmlessly pushed out of the way of the wind blades similar to how a piece of paper dances around in a strong gust. Using the momentum he gained from avoiding the attacks, he then delivered a spin kick in Ralph's direction. "Geppo." His foot stopped abruptly, pushing Daikaku backwards while at the same time driving a strong gust of wind right at the high ranking Marine officer. Landing, he then followed the breeze back towards his opponent.

As Jonathan finally reached the on-going battle, he lowered his head while raising his right shoulder, and plowed right through a large number of Marines with an invisible layer of Haki covering himself. As he barreled onward, he was set to run right through one of the boulders he had thrown earlier, when suddenly it was cut in half from underneath. As the bifurcated boulder fell apart, a chalky Karoshi stepped out. Dusting himself off, with his sunglasses broken, Karoshi now stood right in Jonathan's path. "Soru." Just before he was run over, the former CP9 Agent used his high speed movement to maneuver behind his comrade, while simultaneously kicking his feet out and elbowing the base of Jonathan's neck, resulting in him falling face first into the ground.

Standing up, completely unfazed, Jonathan turned to his assailant. "What was that for," he calmly, yet angrily asked? He hadn't even noticed his crew mate in his path, as he still wasn't used to using his Kenbunshoku Haki very often.

"That was for hitting me with a rock, you boorish brute," Karoshi retorted, while still fixing his suit.

"Pfft. You mean I actually hit you? That is too funny! Maybe my Kenbun Haki is better than I thought and I was actually aiming those pitches."

That pissed Karoshi off, and was about to seriously fight Jonathan, when he heard and saw something truly terrifying behind the larger man that was in front of him.

"Oh. Is that so? To think that you were aiming to hit me with that rock that brushed against my kimono," came a chilling voice from a large black twister that appeared out of nowhere. This twister started moving away from the two arguing pirates to reveal a small, porcelain doll looking woman who was wearing a black kimono and had long black hair. She started walking towards them as her attack continued to tear into the Marines that got too close to it.

Upon hearing her voice, Jonathan broke out into a cold sweat. *Shit. Did I almost hit* her *with one of my shots? I'm screwed.* Slowly and with a nervous smile on his visage, Jonathan turned around to face the voice that he dreaded. "No no, Columbina-sama. I swear that I had no idea where those boulders were going to land when I threw them."

Karoshi winced when Jonathan said that. Sure, he wanted to beat the shit out of him, but he would never wish for one of his allies to incur *her* wrath. Deciding it was best to get out of there before he somehow got dragged into everything as well, the Salaryman silently used Soru to move to the opposite side of the battlefield, using Shigan on Marines that he passed.

"I see, so then you attacked without any thought or care about how that might affect me? Your careless actions dirtied my kimono. What would you have done if one of them actually hit me? I might have suffered a bruise," she berated the large man before raising two beautiful metal war fans, sending two powerful aerial slashes that formed an X shape together.

Jonathan was hit where the two vertices of the deadly parabolas met, and was sent flying as a result. His Haki had protected him from receiving the worst of the damage, but he was still left with many lacerations. *Fuck that hurt. She is hella scary, but thankfully she seems to have gone easy on me.* The scary thing about her aerial slashes was that even when they appeared to be one single attack, they were actually an agglomeration of many attacks, due to her weapon. This would leave her victims cut to shreds from one slash.

"Are they trying to kill each other?" A marine said to another as they continued to fire at the crew of Daikaku. "FIRE!!!" A barrage of cannonballs were fired from the cannons of the ship aimed almost perfectly at the kimono wearing pirate Columbina. The marines took advantage of the infighting among the crew to attack. The commander of the marines at the moment stood on their ship, looking and strategizing a way to defeat the highly skilled pirates in front of them. Then something caught the eye of the commander as he looked in the sky he would see the black metallic color of the giant cannonball they fired earlier, the same one their leader Ralph rode to face against Daikaku.

"I need 50 of the best Rokushiki users here to come to me now!!!" In almost an instant, 50 marines did as the commander ordered. "Half of you all go up into the sky and intercept that cannonball up there. The other half, stay on the ship with me." Just as he ordered, half of the 50 men went up in the air with a mixture of Soru and Geppo to get up there in a hurry. The cannon ball was right in their path as all 25 of the men jumped once and used Rankyaku in unison to form a massive air blade that would be sent towards the cannonball. Because of the cannonballs sheer mass and size, the air blade would cause a minor cut in the ball but change the trajectory of the ball down on the heads of Monk Pirates. "BACK!!!" The commander yelled as the cannonball came soaring down upon the battle field, the gusts of wind created by the massive cannonball pushed everything around the Monk Pirates back a bit as it drew closer and closer to the pirate crew.

Jumping back, Ralph created a distance from himself and Daikaku as he did a spinning kick that ended with a powerful gust of wind coming straight towards him with Daikaku behind it. *"Let me try something here."* Ralph thought to himself as he jumped a couple of feet in the air and used Geppo to line himself up perpendicular to the gust of wind and Daikaku. He would move through the air in the same position still using Geppo while bringing his hands together with his two pointer fingers pointed out. As the gust of wind and himself was about to collide, Ralph used Soru to speed up substantially while making his body spin. Additionally he coated his body in Tekkai and with that he ripped straight through the gust of wind effortlessly, still on his path towards Daikaku however speeding up towards him. A spectacular move it was, it was as if.....

***Present Time***

*"It was as if I were a bullet soaring through the air penetrating even the atoms that make up the world. I caused winds to move at my force of nature. The island itself split under the sheer force of my technique that I made up on the spot. GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"* Ralph's story paused for a minute with his laugh. "Umm sir, that's kinda lame, ya know if you actually did that then I'm pretty sure you would have caused some type of disruption to space or something that would destroy the world." One marine said. "Yeah why didn't you just name it something awesome like Soaring Bullet, or Wind Splitting Bullet" "Sir they're right, you kind of build that one move up as if you defeated Daikaku with that move when it's obvious you didn't because well ya know he's a Yonko. The move isn't even all that spectacular if you think about it, technically anyone with those three Rokushiki moves could do it. I think you're lying about penetrating atoms and splitting island and stuff." *"SHUT UP ALL OF YA BEFORE I END THIS STORY AND NOT BOTHER TELLING IT ANYMORE YA SPOILED NIPPLE SUCKERS!!!!"* Ralph screamed at his men under their scrutiny. They all kept quiet waiting for Ralph to resume his story of his battle with Daikaku. "Well what happened next sir." A marine asked. *"Well, when I did that move Daikaku...."*

***Back to Past***

As Daikaku charged towards Ralph, he watched the future Admiral setup a peculiar attack. Now rocketing towards Daikaku with a steel body and a dangerous spin, Ralph punched right through the wall of air like it was nothing. *Heh, interesting.* Leaping towards his opponent, the monastic pirate prepared to intercept. Holding both hands in front of himself, with the left over the right and his palms facing each other, Ralph's attack entered the space between his hands. Spinning his arms together with the spin of the attack, and turning his own body at the same time so as to avoid getting hit, Daikaku redirected Ralph's weaponized body to hit the ground while also increasing the acceleration of the spin. However, the attack was too powerful to be handled without taking some damage, as Daikaku noticed with three broken fingers on his left hand. Daikaku immediately broke them back into place as Ralph crashed into the ground, splitting the entire island in half. Staying on him, Daikaku used Geppo three times to send himself after Ralph, back first. "Tekkai," he muttered as he curled himself into the fetal position, turning himself into a cannonball that was headed right for Ralph.

"FIRE!!!" A barrage of cannonballs were fired from the cannons of the Marine ship, aimed almost perfectly at Columbina, when suddenly they were all struck by lightning, causing them to explode. A light breeze also rolled by, preventing debris of the explosions from dirtying the kimono clad pirate.

"Geno geho. Please stay mindful of your surroundings when you chastise our comrades, Columbina-sama," an older, disheveled man with a scraggy beard said while coughing. "That could have gotten difficult to evade." He was wearing layers of dirty jackets, and held a bottle of booze in a brown paper bag that he was drinking from.

"I thank you, Gilgamesh. You saved me the trouble of stopping them myself."

Suddenly an enormous cannonball could be seen above their heads, covering the sky as it moved. And it seemed to be moving right for the Marine ship. However, before it could crash into their foes, they organized so as to slightly redirect the behemoth, causing it to now fall towards the disorganized group of pirates.

"Shit," Jonathan grumbled to himself, forcing himself to get up despite his bemoaning body. He stood there trying to figure out what he could do to stop the approaching monstrosity, along with several others. No one even thought about simply moving out of the way.

"Hey big guy! Throw me up there," came a loud and obnoxious voice that brought Jonathan out of his thoughts. He looked to where it came from, and saw Wybert, the short, dark skinned member of the crew running right at him. "I'm going to cut that thing in half!"

Laughing to himself, he lowered his right hand down so as to provide a platform for the swordsman to step on. It was foolish to get stuck trying to think of a way out of the situation. No, it was best to simply act in times like these. "Alright, let's do this!" Wybert stepped onto Jonathan's hand, and was about to be sent flying like a shot put, when suddenly the ground split in front of the gathered pirates. It was such a violent affair, that these Monk Pirates were sent flying backwards. Jonathan lost his footing, and couldn't quite manage to launch his partner in crime. This in itself wouldn't have pushed them far enough to completely avoid the cannonball, but an unusual gust picked up and pushed them far enough to be safe.

**BOOOOOM!!!** The massive cannonball crashed into the ground with thunderous commotion. Powerful winds were created by the impact, while the cannonball seemed to find itself a nice home sitting along the crevasse that now separated the island in two.

"Huh. Well, that happened," Harlequin stated, a little stunned by the sequence of events. "I suppose we could just wait here to see if they'll chase after us. I mean, that chasm had to have been from Captain's fight with the Vice-Admiral. If we see the Marines heading in that direction, we could just cut them off." Everyone agreed.

"Did......did they die?" One marine asked looking at the sight before them. "They had to die, no one could survive that cannonball." "Well lets not find out, this entire island split in half, that was more than likely the battle between Vice Admiral Ralph and the Mad Monk. While we can let's regroup. MEDICS!!!! Get down there and retrieve the fatalities, anyone else who knows anything medical help too. If you're not bleeding, can't move, or dead then haul ass to get things ready just in case they aren't dead. Reposition those cannons and bunker down. I got a feeling we're going to be here for a little while." The commander ordered. "YES SIR!!!" The marines replied.

Ralph stopped his spinning after he was redirected to the ground. *"Wow, I broke this island in half."* Turning around, Ralph would catch sight of a ball coming down towards him. *"A ball??"* Ralph thought until he realized that this ball was Daikaku coming down towards him as if he were a ball. "Tekkai.." Ralph concentrated the Tekkai into strictly his arms as he crossed them in front of his face to brace for Daikaku's attack. Daikaku hit Ralph's arms in his cannonball-like form and made Ralph's knees almost completely buckle under the pure force of the attack. The pure force of the attack made Ralph's feet dig into the ground but Ralph stood solid. The ground behind Ralph broke under the force of the attack, a smile appeared on the face of Ralph as he gritted his teeth. *"Tekkai won't be enough"* Ralph thought to himself as it was getting harder and harder to hold Daikaku in that position. Ralph's feet were now digging deeper into the ground and he started to slide back a little under the force of Daikaku. Everything was locked into position on Ralph, he couldn't physically move. That was until Ralph emitted a Haki shockwave through his arms with enough force to push Daikaku back enough to free Ralph up to move. Ralph would retreat while sending a Rankyaku towards Daikaku as he was retreating.

Being pushed back by the pulse of Haki Ralph produced, Daikaku released his Tekkai and exited the fetal position. With his back still to his opponent, he maintained a grasp of Ralph's actions with his Kenbunshoku Haki. Noting that he was retreating, Daikaku nearly missed the Rankyaku that was sent his way. Ralph's movements were just too polished to notice it from the image he could see in his mind, and his thoughts only seemed to be focused on gaining some distance, making that all Daikaku could read from the man. It was as if he had attacked on pure instinct alone. The pirate did *hear* the air blade though, allowing him to take evasive maneuvers. Performing a quick Geppo to avoid a direct hit, he used an invisible layer of Haki to provide some protection to his left leg that would still be in the path of the attack. Landing on the ground, now facing his opponent, Daikaku knew that the chasm he stood within would soon fill up with water, but that wasn't currently a problem. Ralph was too dangerous to fight without keeping his eyes on him. *I was right to be wary of that Rankyaku of his,* he thought to himself as his left leg bled from the attack it took. It wasn't deep, but it did cut through his Haki well enough to draw blood. Things were about to get interesting between the two.

*"Blood, Hmm..."* Ralph took off his custom made coat with the inscription "Justice" on the back and tossed it to the side to reveal a finely toned muscular structure that was his torso. Rotating his shoulders while shifting his head and neck in the opposite direction, a audible cracking sound of Ralph's neck popping could be heard. Any opponent that was skilled in combat would know that this was a sign that Ralph was not going to pull his punches any more. Up until now Ralph was just testing the waters with Daikaku, nothing too serious. However once Ralph saw that he drew blood, he was now going to go for the kill. Ralph coated his arm in an invisible layer of Haki with enough power to level a house in one hit. He used Soru to close the distance from him to Daikaku moving a bit faster than he had previously been moving. *"Let's see your power Mad Monk."* Ralph said to himself reaching his intended range. He threw a right straight towards Daikaku looking to stop this fight in this one punch.

Daikaku watched as Ralph sped towards him, getting ready to throw a powerful punch, and knew that things were getting serious. While Daikaku could certainly hit hard, he knew that this Vice-Admiral could out punch just about anyone. Ralph had a better punch than him. It was as simple as that. Daikaku had only just recently even learned how to properly throw a punch, so it was only natural. But he smiled to himself because this was the opportunity he was waiting for. A chance to give himself an edge against a serious threat, and one that he wouldn't pass up. Using an invisible layer of Haki, Daikaku threw a right hand punch of his own, so that their two fists would clash. At first, their power seemed to be even, as they stood in place, both trying to push back the other. Meanwhile the ground around them was breaking from their combined might. *Heh, that certainly is a dangerous fist,* he thought to himself as he muttered a single word. "Mutoryu." Daikaku had focused all of the strength of his own punch into a single point, causing the force of his blow to slice through even the arm of his opponent, a man who was infamous among pirates. Yet Ralph's arm was so powerful that this swordless slash, one that could split a small mountain, couldn't cut it clean in two. And even with that being so, there was enough force behind Ralph's punch that Daikaku was the one who was pushed back. He was sent flying back towards a rushing wave of water that was filling in the gap between the two halves of the island. Daikaku recovered in midair and used Geppo to escape the chasm, likely only possible due to having reduced the power of the blow by cutting the muscles in his arm. *That was a risky gamble, but it looks like it might pay off.*

Ralph thought nothing of the pain he felt literally rip up his arm as his fist clashed with Daikaku's. What drew his attention to his arm was the aftermath, after pushing Daikaku back Ralph could feel a lack of strength in his arm. Emptiness is what he felt in his arm as if it wasn't there. Ralph leaped back to the other side of the chasm across from Daikaku and examined his arm to see the true damage Daikaku caused. A lateral gash that ran up his arm starting from his wrist and a few inches above his elbow. Certain movements with his arm caused pain while other movements couldn't be done because the muscle was severed. The pain wasn't a big deal, Ralph could withstand the pain. What worried Ralph was that simply baling his fist up was ridiculously difficult, it could be done but not without effort with the addition of an obvious lack of power Ralph could just feel. Blood dripped from his arm down to his hands onto his fingers and finally plummeting to the ground. Ralph brought his arm up to his face and continued to examine it. "Back when I first got into the second half of the grand line, the opponents we faced some how would always end up amputating something from marines that I fought with. Legs, arms, hands, you name it and somehow it would magically disappear from marines bodies. It was like picking fruit for those pirates. Anyway, the medics on the field would burn that area and...uhh.. what was it they called that......CAUTERIZE! That's it. Cauterize the area the limb was amputated from and stop the bleeding that instant."

Ralph looked up at Daikaku and leaped across the chasm towards Daikaku, pulling both his arms back and coating them in an invisible layer of Haki, Ralph started punching towards Daikaku. Ralph punched so fast that his punches caused friction with the air and sparked a flame on his punches that were launched in a barrage of flaming balls of air pressure the size of Ralph's fist at Daikaku. In the process, Ralph's cut was cauterized, stopping the bleeding but not repairing the damage to his arm. Ralph still couldn't produce as much power in his strikes. However being able to produce enough muscle capacity to punch fast enough to cause friction was testament to his remaining monstrous strength.

The fact that Ralph could still perform such an attack with his injured arm was certainly impressive, but Daikaku could see through it. The fireballs produced from his right hand were lacking considerable power and speed when compared to those from the left, creating an opening in the assault. A discrepancy that would have been imperceptible to nearly anyone else due to the sheer number of projectiles, yet to Daikaku the difference was as clear as night and day. Avoiding the incoming fireballs by swaying through the gaps caused by the improper metronome between right and left, Daikaku waited for a direct line to Ralph. Seeing his chance, he leapt towards Ralph. Just as he was making another right hand punch, Daikaku lightly grabbed the extended arm with his left arm, so as to line him up for his own attack. "Buso," he muttered, coating his right arm in a heavy concentration of Haki as he went to elbow Ralph's right flank. As soon as his elbow jab reached its full extension, he straightened his arm, causing a secondary attack of a palm strike.

Ralph could predict what Daikaku's next attack was through the power of Kenbunshoku Haki, however because Daikaku grabbed his extended right arm there wasn't much he could do to avoid the attack. Not to mention that his arm was considerably weakened from Daikaku's earlier attack that decreased his right arms strength. The "light grab" by Daikaku was more so a heavy grab because of Ralph's lack of power in his arm. Not being able to evade Daikaku's attack was one thing, however Ralph could defend against the attack by coating his right flank in Haki. As Daikaku's Haki coated elbow jab and palm strike clashed against Ralph's own coating of Haki, a resounding thunderous-like sound echoed out through the area which was followed by two quick flashes of black lightning which signaled the strength of the two's Haki. As the last attack of Daikaku hit Ralph, he instictively used his free left arm to grab the extended arm of Daikaku with a vice-like grasp holding Daikaku in place. "Rokuogan Kafuka!!!" Ralph said as a wave of energy was released from his body to the surrounding area including Daikaku who was close by. The attack; the Rokuogan mastered by Ralph to such an extent that he could release the attack from his body in the shape of a dome that extended 60 meters beyond his body. Compared to the version used through his fist, this Rokuogan would be considerably weaker however would still be felt by anyone under the receiving end of this attack.

Unable to avoid it, Daikaku took the Rokuogan, gritting through the pain. This was a new technique to the pirate, but he could tell it had roots in Rokushiki. Nearly losing his grip on his opponent's right arm, he quickly redoubled his hold, gripping tightly with a strong coating of Haki on his own left hand. This had a dual purpose: the first was to make sure his target stayed close, while the second was an attempt to cause pain through the injured arm for long enough the cause an opening. With that, he coated his head in Koka while headbutting Ralph in the face. This was followed by a powerful front kick to the gut, while letting go with his left hand and trying to break his right arm free of Ralph's grip.

Ralph was impressed by the grip of Daikaku, it was indeed tight, so tight that he couldn't free himself from it. The onset of pain occurred then a headbutt from Daikaku to the face of Ralph. The front kick landed sending him reeling back from its force and cringing at the pain. Ralph spit up blood that was inside his mouth from Daikaku's headbutt and wiped his lip. Ralph coated both of his arms in Haki and them smashed his fist together causing a flash of lightning. He did it again, and again until the lightning enveloped over his arms and around his entire body. Taking both his fist, Ralph smashed them into the ground causing a widespread stream of black lightning to stream towards Daikaku. The ground in front of Ralph cracked under the force of the lightning as it traveled towards Daikaku at an intense rate of speed and power looking to cause harm to the monk.

The black lightning formed entirely out of Haki coursed its way towards Daikaku, tearing up the ground before it. Daikaku knew from a glance that it was dangerous, though was too late to avoid the attack due to a slight hesitation. That was all that was needed for the Lightning to take Daikaku undefended, causing immense pain and damage as it coursed through his body. This lightning disrupted his own Haki, preventing him from forming a proper defense after taking it head on. "ERRAAAAAAAAAAA-!" A cry escaped his lips that was so loud it could be heard throughout the entire island, but it was not one filled with pain. Rather, it had a sound of determination. But that shout was abruptly cut short as Daikaku forcefully clapped his hands together with a small but powerful pulse of Haki to dispel the black lightning. A pulse being the only form of Haki he could manage while being assaulted as such, awakening a new power within as a result of necessity. This power went unnoticed by the monk due to the adrenaline that flooded his senses though.

*"That....That feeling"* Ralph said to himself as a chill shot down his spine and a sweat droplet rolled down his face as the power Daikaku just displayed was that of the few. One in a million had the power to conquer. *"This is where the Mad Monk needs to meet his end for the sake of the world. That Haki, if he gets past me he will defiantly become a problem for us later on."* Clashing his fists together once again, Ralph upped the power of his black lightning by increasing the amount of Haki and charged towards Daikaku. Once in range, Ralph cocked his left arm back and punched forward releasing a powerful burst of black lightning made out of Haki towards Daikaku in the form of a large fist. The ground around Ralph and Daikaku rumbled and shattered under the power of the lightning Ralph produced, a testament to the power of Ralph.

"Oh Captain, my Captain. What fun you seem to have found for yourself," Pierrot smirked to himself as he heard Daikaku's outcry. "That Vice-Admiral must be the real thing to be able to push him that far. But if he is going to be getting serious, I can't imagine that this play date will last for too much longer. Though, he may surprise me." Pierrot was leaving a major city that was reeling from the commotion caused by the two powerhouses battling on their island, hopping from head to head of frantic citizen with his umbrella held out to the side for added balance and a role of wax on his back.

Ralph's attack, while formidable, was too late. Daikaku had already regained control of his Haki, and with his mind in a temporary state of elevated clarity, he was easily able to foresee Ralph's rushed attack. "Soru." Daikaku disappeared before the black lightning could reach him, followed by a loud sonic boom. Moving faster than sound, Daikaku appeared behind Ralph and aimed a spinning heel kick with his right leg at Ralph's head. With the intention of stopping just short of striking the Marine, right beside his left ear, the former monk uttered one word. "Geppo."

Seeing as how Daikaku reacted to his attack, Ralph quickly retracted his arm as Daikaku made his move. With Kenbunshoku Haki, Ralph was able to predict the spinning heel kick aimed at his left ear. Using his left arm he grabbed the leg that was seemingly aiming to take his head off and coated his arm in a layer of Haki beforehand to withstand the force of the attack and have a tight inescapable grasp on the leg of Daikaku. Ralph then proceeded to swing Daikaku over his head and back down to the ground at supersonic speeds. The force of Daikaku hitting the ground would cause another giant crater to deface the island the two forces battled on. However, Ralph wasn't done there. Using his injured right arm, Ralph infused it with a layer of Haki and something else more potent. Still having his grasp on Daikaku's leg as a means to hold him in place, Ralph punched downwards towards Daikaku and upon contact what he infused into his fist along with his Haki would be apparent as a very loud and resonating sound of thunder was created by the vibrations of Hasshoken. It was time for Ralph to take the battle up several notches especially since his opponent was a one in a million. He could no longer go easy, however Ralph knew that Daikaku wouldn't either.

Ralph was able to interrupt Daikaku's attack, and while he stopped the brunt of it, part of the Geppo's gust still took effect, blasting Ralph directly in the eardrum. Meanwhile, with Ralph slamming Daikaku into the ground, he had his own problems to worry about. "Kami-e." With his body going limp, he prevented any damage to himself, and subsequently the island as well, landing as softly as a piece of paper. But when he saw the punch Ralph was getting ready to throw, the pirate felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach; this would be dangerous. "Tekkai. Buso." Daikaku established a heavy defense for the incoming attack, but as he was hit by it, powerful vibrations emanated from Ralph's fist. These tremors ripped through Daikaku's body and destroyed his Tekkai. What was that attack? It almost felt as if it caused more damage due to his Tekkai, whereas his Busoshoku Haki was able to dampen the attack somewhat. If he had only used Tekkai to defend himself, or if Ralph's arm wasn't injured, that could have been much worse. Spitting up blood, he used Geppo with his left leg, hoping that Ralph would be off balance enough from the previous attack to the eardrum that this gust of wind would get him to let go of his leg.

Ralph was forced to release his grasp of Daikaku's leg and for a few seconds this fighting stop and Ralph came to realize something. The gust that blasted his eardrum did more than distort his hearing, it in fact deafened him. Ralph snapped by the ear that took the force of the gust to test his hearing but to no avail. "Mad Monk it looks like you may have busted the eardrum in this ear. You son of a bitch." Ralph continued to snap several times and still no sound could be heard through that ear.

Ralph clenched his right arm as the large gape started to bleed again from the force of his attack. *"This battle probably needs to end sooner rather than later, my wound will continue to bleed every time I patch it up."* Ralph held up his arm and stared at it for several seconds, opening and clenching his fist over in over winching a little at the pain. With one last clench, Ralph looked at Daikaku and coated his fist with Haki.

Ralph lifted his fist up in the air above his head and slammed it down into the ground again adding Hasshoken to his attack to greatly amplify the area of impact. The Hasshoken and Haki combination instantly caused the ground to give way under the sheer force of the attack which broke the surface into thousands of pieces. The impact moved forward towards Daikaku at a steady pace and strong force that destroyed everything in the path of this intense shockwave of vibrations. This was simply to get Daikaku off his feet.

To follow up, Ralph used Soru to quickly leap into the air and followed up his previous ground attack with several quick successions of Rankyakus that sliced through the air towards Daikaku. He would then slowly glide back down towards to ground, awaiting Daikaku's counter to his attacks.

Watching the ground crumble away before him, Daikaku waited until just before the ground he was standing on to disappear before jumping straight up with tremendous force. Having waited as long as he did, Ralph had already begun the next part of his attack before he had even moved. With the Rankyakus flying towards him, Daikaku found a gap for him to jump through, allowing him to avoid all the blades. Reaching the falling Vice Admiral in an instant, he grabbed Ralph's injured arm with Tekkai on his hand to lock his iron grip. Daikaku let loose a chain punch on his trapped foe as he pulled the two closer, to bring them to the perfect distance for Daikaku to make a powerful arm thrust aimed to knock Ralph's head off.

The grip on the injured arm of Ralph caused him to wince in pain, breaking his concentration for a second allowing the attack of Daikaku to hit him. Ralph was a tough person who could take a enormous amount of pain and damage but he was only human. A couple of the hard punches from Daikaku cracked a few ribs under the tremendous force of Daikaku's punches against a soft body. Eventually Ralph was able to use his free hand to block several of the punches before the last one Ralph could gauge was stronger than the chain of punches. Hardening his head with Tekkai, Ralph allowed the punch of Daikaku to hit him which would break the grip Daikaku had and send flying down to the ground at breakneck speeds.

Ralph hit the ground causing dust and debris to cloud up around the area. "Fuck that hurt." After the dust settled one could see the face of the Vice Admiral was busted up. Blood made its way down both nostrils and one side of his mouth. "You got a hard punch there I tell you. Broke straight through my Tekkai like it was nothin." Wiping his face with the back of his arm Ralph would quickly get back in to the fight. From his position, Ralph sent a Hasshoken infused Rankyaku towards the position of Daikaku. Then he'd side step from his last position to a position parallel to that position in an instant sending yet another Hasshoken infused Rankyaku towards Daikaku this time at a faster velocity than the last. Lastly, Ralph would side step again mimicking his last movements and ending it with yet again another Hasshoken infused Rankyaku that moved at a greater velocity than the last two. The result of the attack would cause the three blades to collide at one point which would bring about Daikaku's demise or cause the collision of the powerful attacks to explode in a fury of wind and vibrations that would emit from that position and spread through the area. The closer Daikaku was the more likely he'd be hit by this explosion.

Getting up after being knocked to the ground from the force of his blow, Daikaku looked at the fruits of his labour. "And you have a solid neck. Keeping your head attached to your shoulders after taking one of my palm strikes head on, with only a busted up face to show for it. I feel like I'm losing face here."

Elsewhere on the island, Pierrot suddenly had a strong feeling that he missed out on a golden opportunity for a witty remark. "Tch," he expressed his frustration, clicking his tongue!

Ralph then responded with three speedy Rankyaku that were designed to intersect on Daikaku's current position. Noting that the incoming blades looked rather unstable, and particularly dangerous, Daikaku side stepped in the same direction Ralph had when unleashing his attacks. Rushing towards the Vice-Admiral, the three attacks crashed together, creating a large explosion of razor wind and devastating vibrations. Reaching his foe, Daikaku attempted to grab hold of Ralph so as to throw him into the swirling vortex of destruction.

"Truth is I can't feel my face. I think you broke my nose if not a bunch of bones in my face. If I don't get help eventually it'll be hard to take breaths. So I have to end this soon." As Daikaku got closer both of Ralph's arms were coated in Haki however something was different. As the black color deepened a newer shade started to take place, Ralph's arms became lighter as if the coating was disappearing. Soon the coating matched his skin tone and then the coating became brighter. A shimmer of gold glistened as it completed ushering in overwhelming force that caused the ground to shake and break under the pressure of the coating.

As Daikaku was only feet away, Ralph's eyes locked onto the Mad Monk. Ralph spun out of the path of Daikaku and gained distance from him while simultaneously preparing for an attack. As he made his full 360 spin he launched his fist forward towards Daikaku and the power of his golden haki blew forth as a shockwave of pure power that enveloped the area in and around Daikaku. With that, a golden flash illuminated the area making it visible around the island. To Ralph's men it signified his use of the special haki giving those left the motivation to fight a little harder against Daikaku's crew.

The shockwave blew any and everything out of its path, uprooting the very ground that Daikaku stood upon as well. The sheer power cause sparks of lightning to erupt from random places in the shockwave. Ralph was looking to end this fight by incapacitating Daikaku with nothing but force.

As Ralph's arms went from black to gold coloured in Haki coating, Daikaku knew that the fight would indeed be coming to a close. He watched his opponent carefully as he spun away from his attempt to throw the Marine into harm's way. As he had been reaching across his body to grasp Ralph's injured arm, and having spotted an opening, Daikaku decided to follow through with his own momentum by spinning himself counterclockwise so as to avoid being routed. As he spun himself around, the Mad Monk covered his right arm and leg in his own strongest coating of Busoshoku Haki. When they were both back to facing each other, Daikaku leaned back to avoid Ralph's powerful southpaw while blocking the punch with his arm raised up and pushing into the inside of the golden arm, and at the same time, delivering a devastating low kick aimed right for the inside of the Vice-Admiral's unprotected right leg, aiming to cripple the man. "Buso."

What Daikaku was not prepared for though was the strength of his opponent's golden Haki. Despite having simply blocked the punch from the inside of the arm, pushing perpendicular to the force with an armoured arm of his own, Daikaku had broke his forearm against that golden monolith in that exchange. And even though he had avoided taking a direct hit from the punch, he was still blown back by the shock wave of it. He was essentially naked against the wave of Haki that crashed into him, and felt the full brunt of that force. Due to the reshuffling of positions that occurred when they both spun around, Daikaku was in fact being pushed directly into the rapidly encroaching death trap created by the Rankyaku collision. Being in serious need of a solid defense, the Mad Monk covered his entire body in pitch black Haki as fast as humanly possible after being unexpectedly struck, while also putting his arms up to cover his face. He was getting torn into by the vicious winds even through his Haki thanks to the triple onslaught of razor winds, Hasshoken vibrations, and the golden Haki wave. Daikaku let himself get mercilessly pushed around without fighting against the gale so he could get a grasp on the flow of the chaotic squall, then immediately used a full power Geppo in the opposite direction to counterbalance the storm with his own gust of wind, and while it couldn't completely cancel out the amorphous burst, it did cause the whole thing to lose enough energy to die out on it's own. He then used a second Geppo to hop across to the side opposite from Ralph of the newly formed crater. Releasing his Busoshoku Haki to conserve his stamina, the monastic pirate landed on the ground bloody and covered in cuts, and could feel internal damage to his organs from the shock wave that he had been unprotected against. "This tough bastard is deserving of his reputation, at the very least," Daikaku muttered to himself, coughing up blood as he did so.

As the Monk Pirates were catching their breaths within the shadow of the enormous cannonball, a sudden golden flash could be seen from the direction that their Captain was fighting from. Distracted by the sight, and attempting to sense how the battle was unfolding, a barrage of cannonballs took them unawares. Taking damage from the unexpected explosions, they reentered their fighting stances to see who it was that had attacked them. When the smoke had cleared, they discovered a new fleet of five ships looming upon them. The Vice-Admiral's worn out crew were suddenly reinvigorated by the golden flare and the arrival of their reinforcements. They started shouting that the Mad Monk had surely fallen to the Gold Fist, and that the Vice-Admiral's brother was here to save them. The collective Monk Pirates realized that they were in a bit of a pinch, but prepared themselves for the battle to continue.

"A golden flash, ah shit what the hell did Ralph get himself into. Men get ready, if that guy my brother is facing is that strong his crew aren't push overs either." Ralph brother Newton said standing at the front of the massive marine warship as he looked on as the battle continued.

"Able to survive my shockwave and being thrown into the vortex, not without consequences though I see. Though you did manage to hit my leg and that hurt, had that blast not blow you away I'd be a couple feet shorter HA!!! Amazing people like you still exist any regular person would have been obliterated by the forces." Ralph had the advantage over Daikaku over power in Haki at the moment, the power of his golden Haki trumped over Daikaku and Ralph knew this and so did Daikaku. With one swift leap, Ralph closed the distance over the humongous crater with intense speed and within a couple of seconds was in striking distance of Daikaku. With the knowledge of his advantage of Daikaku Ralph knew that he would absolutely need to evade a direct hit from his fist.

Ralph launched an uppercut with his right arm which carried another devastating shockwave generated by the golden haki's raw power. The shockwave of haki was different though, it followed the motion of Ralph's uppercut. Almost as if the fist of a giant was performing the motion the ground between Ralph and Daikaku started to bend under the force of the attack. The wind itself shifted and followed the force of the shockwave covering even more area. After a while of traveling, the shockwave flowing with the motion of an uppercut would shift upwards towards the sky which naturally covered Ralph from a possible counter from Daikaku from above. In order to get the upper hand against such an opponent Ralph had to cut off any possible means of evasion from him. Which is why Ralph made sure that once he leaped over the crater to Daikaku he landed close to the edge so that if Daikaku somehow managed to get behind him he'd be off the edge of the crater in mid air.

"Another golden flare, an uppercut. Seems my brother is taking up a little boxing it seems."

Daikaku had gained some distance, though he knew it wouldn't be for long and knew better than to breathe easy, so he was prepared when Ralph had crossed the crater like it was nothing more than a pothole. In fact, when he had released his Busoshoku Haki, he put his focus on his Kenbunshoku Haki so as to better sense any further Haki shock waves. As Ralph was delivering his powerful uppercut, Daikaku sensed the fist coming, and for a brief moment, his Kenbunshoku Haki was so attuned that everything near him felt to be moving in slow motion. As the fist was coming approaching his jaw, he leapt backwards, avoiding the impact, and jumped back far enough to steer clear of the proceeding shock wave. With the way he jumped, Daikaku landed on his upper back. Preparing to jump back further from on his back to avoid the encroaching wave of Haki, he then sensed it move up instead of continuing forward, thus Daikaku coiled his spine back with his feet above his head. Then, when the Haki had traveled up far enough, he kipped forward, with his one unbroken arm pushing off to add spin as the Mad Monk shot himself directly at Ralph's right knee. Just as he started his kip, his senses returned to normal and everything moved at its normal pace again. And so, Daikaku shot forward with a spinning kick aimed right for Ralph's unprotected knee then used Geppo once behind his adversary to jump over to the Marine's right hand side.

"FIRE!"

As the surrounding Marines collectively fired their guns and cannons at the small group of pirates, Columbina walked forwards, with her two tessen in her hands, and unleashed a powerful whirlwind with her fans. This razor sharp tornado sliced clean through the cannonballs while redirecting all the incoming fire. This sent the bullets and exploding cannonballs back at their attackers. From that confusion, the rest of the Monks spread out to attack the large force of Marines.

**Present**

"See back then guys I could only coat my arms in Haki and additionally once I did coat my arms in Haki I couldn't coat any other body part in haki. Well at least the black coating which in the new world was of course pretty much common. I could only use the invisible coating which practically was paper to anyone in the new world. And so..."

**Past**

Ralph coated his leg in a light coating of Haki as well as focused tekkai into that part of his leg to clash with Daikaku. Ralph lifted his leg to block the attack and upon hit Ralph's leg bone cracked shooting pain throughout his body. Ralph intended on taking the blow so that he would counter with a punch however Daikaku was a master in close quarters and quickly shot around to his right side causing Ralph to leap back. While jumping back once Daikaku was in view Ralph punched towards his direction sending a powerful blast of air in his direction. This was to simply make him move so Ralph could counter Daikaku's next attack and quite possible finish the fight. Ralph planted both feet on the ground and awaited his opponent.

Daikaku was through with running from Ralph's golden Haki waves. Having witnessed the attack for the third time, he had seen through it enough to create his own imitation of it. Coating his own arms in his strongest Busoshoku Haki, Daikaku threw two punches together. His left hand punched straight out to the side, while his right punched across his body to be parallel to his left hand. Aiming straight at Ralph, Daikaku put his whole body weight behind the twin blows, creating a black wave a Haki to clash with Ralph's own attack. Intending to muffle the force of the Vice-Admiral's formidable attack his own, Daikaku then jumped forward towards his worthy adversary guarding against the weakened Haki attack with his arms crossed. He was ready to bring this fight to an end.

The reinvigorated and reinforced Marines were whittling away at the Monks' stamina. They knew they were fighting a losing battle, and they were counting on their Captain to finish dealing with the Gold Fist so they could make their escape, or even turn the entire battle around. But just then, seemingly out of nowhere, several large javelins, bone white in appearance, sped above and past the battling seamen, piercing through the newly arrived ships, making them no longer seaworthy. While each ship was hit by at least a couple, most of the javelins had been thrown at the lead ship, with a single javelin coloured black through Haki aimed straight at Newton.

"Come now, don't just watch over this melee of action, dear Rear Admiral," a returning Pierrot called out. "Come join me in this dance, would you?"