[FLASHBACK ]Burning Canvas

Hearing the screams and destruction around him, Colton took a deep breath. He could see how Mishi was hurt because of his actions and the man who'd called him out as a marine. The stalls were falling the underworld that he'd been invited to was becoming little more than a nightmare and the man behind him was like nothing he'd faced off against before.

"I'm not coming with you" Colton muttered much to the man's dismay which only angered him further.

"One of the worst mistakes you ever made" the man muttered as he imbued his cutlass with armaments haki once more. Slicing towards Colton's head horizontally he held a steely grin over his face about to end the life of a lazy little logia user. What he hadn't taken time to notice was the mochi shooting towards him from the attack he halted coming from Mishi. As the Mochi slammed into him the man was winded a little which only gave Colton a little more time to put some form of a plan into action if he had one. The mochi was horrendously sticky and would make things a little more difficult in terms of movement for him.

Serpent Shed

Before the blade could reach Colton's neck there was nothing left to slice open. The body of Colton had drifted apart into dozens of little volcanic ashes. These ashes of which drifted into the sky where Colton was beginning to reform midway through his next attack. The man was in surprise at the sight of watching Colton disperse and he grew a little more frustrated which was only expanded upon by the stickiness.

Already seen shooting towards his opponent as an open palm which soon was revealed to be an outstretched hand speeding towards the man's face Colton/s entire arm was seen when it was too late.

Dragon Scorch

Colton's hand fell over the man's face and gripped it tightly. The force he'd used to propel himself into the man knocked him on to his back and Colton begun to pump copious amounts of volcanic ash into the man's body via his facial orifices hoping to put an end to him.

As Colton's body continued to form he watched in frustration as the man still clutching his armament imbued cutlass tried stabbing for him. Using his spare hand Colton to push the hand back down to the ground with the added force of his logia using it to burn the man's wrist in the hopes of burning straight through it.

Realising his strength wasn't enough to fully stop him, Colton increased the heat on the man's arm as it was slowly raising itself from the ground and increased production on the ash entering his body.

There were muffled screams from the man as his insides burnt and the blade was nearing Colton.

"JUST DIE ALREADY" Colton shouted as he pushed himself as hard as he could manage at his current level which was far too much for a holiday.

Feeling his ash on his left hand with nothing any longer in the way he passed a glance towards his left to see he had indeed burnt through the fleshy wrist of the man and his hand had fallen from the arm. In shock Colton sat up stopping his attack on the man.

Looking down over his badly burnt face and pained body Colton felt that this was the end for him and slowly picked himself up clutching the agonising wound on his abdomen. What Colton hadn't taken into consideration when on top of the man was how sticky his hands had become and how the mochi he'd super heated was now like boiling lava. He looked at his own hands to see that the mochi was rock solid over his own hands and searing hot.

Sighing Colton attempted to melt the mochi from his hands.

Oooff. She was getting waaaay too big for her shoes. "Ufgh." Every time, this kind of thing happened. Did something good for a change? She got shafted, each time she did something particularly bad? She got shafted. Did absolutely nothing at all for once? She got shafted. Every. Single. TIME. She winced as she tried to lift herself up over the debris of the stalls. It felt like a ship was weighing down upon her. What could be so heavy? She looked up. Oh. Her eyes began to sparkle. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all, if only she could escape with it. It was probably more valuable than anything she had in her stockpile here altogether.

Okay, she had to get out from under the debris first. The marine was fighting that bandit guy, she could do this safely. She concentrated, turning her stomach into sweet mochi as she gently shimmied her way out. She almost stretched too much for her body, which caused her legs to tingle as they weren't made of it, causing her to wince. She generated more mochi, then gently expanded it. She then rolled out of her creation, standing up as she kept the rest of herself human. She looked down. Oh, that's right. her legs weren't made of mochi. her trousers had gotten stuck in the mochi. She had no trousers.

SHAFTED EVERY TIME.

Okay, almost everyone had fled, Colton was still dealing with the guy, she had the jackpot and no trousers. She turned her hand into mochi, and generated it over her legs, then willed it to harden, making a makeshift, hard dress. Hoepfully no one noticed. She clambered onto the top of the pile. There it was, a big treasure chest. It had the seal of the World Nobles. What could be inside? her fingers twitched as she slowly moved to open it.

Turning to see Mishi struggling to get to her feet Colton lazily made his way towards her. He looked around seeing how the bazaar was no more and if anything it was in pieces. He'd been responsible for this and he had no way he could make things any better. Picking up the pace as he noticed that allot of the owners were still in the area and wouldn't be most gracious to see a Marine in their place of business Colton thought to himself it would be best for Mishi & himself to get gone asap before a riot broke out.

He wasn't in the killing people business, which was more than could be said about the bandit he'd just taken down.

"Sorry Mishi, I didn't mean for this to happen" Colton mentioned as he reached Mishi and gripped her arm hoisting her up in an attempt to help her to her feet.

"This was hardly my plan, but I believe the best course of action for us at this point in time is to get the hell away from here as quickly as possible. These stall owners don't look too pleased with either one of us right now."

Colton felt a little bad that he'd lied to Mishi but he couldn't do or say much that would fix things. Trying to hoist her up and away from the stickiness of her mochi Colton struggled a little but used every bit of strength his body would allow. Still running on adrenaline he was able to bypass the pain which came from his wound. But later it would hurt like a bitch and he knew it.

Alright. Now was the moment of truth. She let in a small gulp as she moved to gently open the box. ... It didn't move. It was locked. Alright, not too bad, she could just make a mochi key. She willed her hand to turn to mochi, and placed it into the lock. ... Mochi was a sticky pudding, and couldn't harden enough to actually turn into a key with any kind of consistency. She began to sweat. This was supposed to be her lucky break. A chest. Of the world nobles. A CHEST. OF THE WORLD NOBLES. And she couldn't open it. She began to snicker, then laugh, ignoring Colton walking up behind her. If she couldn't open it, then she'd have to break it.

All of a sudden however, she felt an arm around her own, bringing her up unwillingly to her feet. "No- wait, let me go!" She whined as she struggled against him, only to be hoisted up completely onto him. She began to flail, her legs touching the mochi dress she had made for herself and becoming stuck to it, eventually her lower half ended up looking like a mochi coccoon. "Noooooo! My treasuuuure! I hate yoooou!" She squealed, before falling limp. Seems she could only take so much heartbreak in one day, and fainted from it.

As Mishi fought back against Colton he did his best to pull her away. He understood it was hard leaving treasures behind, but in the long run it really wasn't worth it. Rushing towards the exit with Mishi, it was difficult due to the Mochi, but this wasn't something he was going to let stop him. Colton pushed any debris that had gotten in the way aside and burst through the exit back into the blistering heat of the island.

Things had gone horribly wrong for the two of them upon entering into a friendship and by the looks of it things were only going to get worse as they came into the sun. Hitting the ground feet first Mishi hoisted Mishi on to his back grunting in pain as a little more blood streaked down his clothing from the wound.

Attempting to run in the heat with such a wound and the broker on his back Colton opened his mouth to speak although it would be difficult.

"Mishi, you gotta let it go, we both made mistakes and I need a doctor."

This holiday was already proving to be far more than he'd expected and he was working far too hard for a mere holiday. Sighing as he reached the bridge Colton laid Mishi down from his back and hit the ground on his knees.

" . . . Mish - Mish . . . "

Struggling to breath and fight against the heat which lazed away above them Colton found himself drenched in sweat and struggling to remain conscious with the amount of blood lost. Hitting the ground face first Colton pulled himself over to lie on his back before placing a hand over his wound.

He tried to form searing hot ashes over the wound in an attempt to quarterise the puncture, but to no avail. Nothing came from it but darkness over his eyes.

Mishi slowly opened her eyes, wincing. Ow, a little bruised. She felt the heat of the sun upon her, once again she began to sweat. She sat up, her mochi dress melting under the sun, or her sweat, either way, it wasn't so sticky. It was revealling her legs at the moment. Great, she was down multiple sacks of items, treasure, and her trousers. She'd have to go back to the hotel to get them, at least everything from the thighs up were covered, at least, for now. She glanced to her side. Colton looked to be in some trouble, bleeding out on the floor. She felt a pang of hate, then sighed. She COULD let him die, and find the recycled devil fruit and sell it on the market. He absolutely ruined her day and business venture. but, really, she was squeamish about letting someone die who wasn't trying to kill her first.

She huffed, taking off her jacket and ripping a piece of cloth from her sleeve on the undershirt, putting the jacket back on, then wrapping it around Colton's wound, aiming to staunch the flow. She took some small amount of sadistic pleasure in making it as tight as possible. It was for his own, good. Of course.

How long had she been out for? Could people have told the news already? There was only one entrance, for osme reason. her ears prickled as she heard footsteps. Seems she hadn't been out for long, he'd only made it to the exit. She willed her hands to mochi, and stealed up the entrance. It'll take a while for them to break out of that. She reached down and hoisted Colton up, aiming to carry him this time toward a doctor. Every now and then she stopped to reinvigorate her mochi dress, which continued to slip and break off every now and then. "Freaking idiot.." She grumbled.

Dipping in and out of consciousness Colton's eyes would open temporarily before closing then opening later. Uncertain if he were going to make it he continued slipping in and out of a dream like haze where some pink blob was hitting him in the gut with her shoulder and laughing. He didn't fully get what was going on nor did he understand why a simple shoulder barge was hurting so much.

But things only got much much worse when he felt the staggering pain of something being pulled out through his abdomen. Again Colton didn't fully understand the pain but found himself grunting in agony. The pink blob continued to pound on his gut whilst it felt like his intestines were being plucked through his abdomen on the side forced to squeeze through a small hole. Pulling a face he was sweating profusely and after the stunningly painful almost never ending ordeal was coming to a close Colton found his way from the nightmarish dreamlike haze into the land of the living where people were kind well at least a little bit and the face of an older man known as Doctor Camp. A man with large round glasses and a baseball cap.

Breathing heavily as he awoke Colton felt a sense of urgency and fear. Sitting up quickly he grunted in pain reaching for his abdomen. The pain was unreal. Looking around Colton could see that he was in a lounge and currently lying on a coffee table. It looked like a DIY clinic and it was what he needed. Gazing over the painful area Colton could see that his shirt had been removed and his guitar had been placed against the wall. Running his hand over the wound he could see that it was stitched up. Looking towards the doctor Colton opened his mouth to speak which was halted quickly the doctor pushed a handful of pills down his mouth.

"No talking. Pills first. Questions later. These will help you."

Swallowing the pills Colton watched as the doctor waddled away into another room. Confused Colton chose to ignore this and turned his vision to look around the lounge trying to locate Mishi, but he fell short of this and was unable to spot her.

Dafuq is mishi? he thought to himself. Motioning towards the edge of the table Colton's feet came into contact with the cold floor and this was the moment he realised he'd had his boots & socks removed too. Moving hurt but he wasn't going to let any of this stop him.

Moving over towards the guitar Colton lifted it up and gave it a quick strum.

The sound seemed to catch the doctor's interest. Moving into the lounge Doctor Camp grinned.

"Out of tune."

To this Colton chuckled and looked over towards the doc who made his way closer offering his hand to him.

Passing the guitar over Colton watched as the doctor quickly begun plucking the strings and tightening or loosening them. The sounds in a matter of moments turned from the sounds of horror to that of an actual functioning guitar. Colton was shocked as he'd never seen someone tune a guitar before and never so quickly either. Smiling as the guitar suddenly sounded a billion times better he watched as the doctor plucked a few strings allowing a nice simple tune to resonate through the lounge.

Eyes widened Colton spoke up.

"Wow, that sounds beautiful."

"You want to learn?"

Nodding Colton responded to his question to have the guitar thrust into his hands. The doctor moved over and gripped Colton's hands and positioned them on the guitar placing his fingers in the correct places.

"Pluck the strings"

Doctor Camp did this a few times slowly teaching Colton the simple song he'd been playing before hand. As Colton plucked the strings then repeated the same chords again and again a smile on his face begun to grow and his confidence in the tune was beginning to show.

It was clear Colton was enjoying himself and the dedication to the craft seemed to be enough to distract him from the pain in his abdomen.

"Thank you doctor."

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Mishi was in her hotel room, newly washed with a replacement bunch of clothes, opening the window slightly to let the sun out and dry her now scorched short hair. Well, it wasn't all short, but she had to get it cut to a shorter hairstyle, having long hair was always a safety hazard anyway. anyone could grab it. Now that she had left Colton- that traitor- at a Doctor, she could escape the island. Not using a disguise was a mistake. She may as well have put a target on the back of her head. Was coming back from the Grand Line, so much weirder than the rest of the blues, making her too cocky?
-
Either way, she had to be more careful from now on. She had two favours from a Marine, that was always useful, but she had lost a whole load of her wares, at least -at least- forty percent of it, which was a disaster for her. She sighed as she brushed her dried hair. Stupid heat. She caught a glint of something in the mirror, and flung herself to the right as a bullet smashed into the mirror. "Waaagh!" She squeaked as she flopped onto the floor, turning toward the window. A woman with a grin that covered at least the bottom half of her face stepped through.
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"Mishi Hasimoh! Your seven and a half million bounty is mine!" She says, pointing imperiously at her. She was rather buff, for using a simple pistol, in fact she had two. She had to lean forward a bit as to not rub her head against the ceiling.
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"I-Idiot! If you kill me, the bounty is severely reduced!  Mishi says accusingly, jumpkicking up as she fled to the bathroom, closing the door behind her and sliding down as two more gunshots blow through the door above her, leaving two holes. "Stop shooting! You'll kill me!" She calls out.
-
"Yeah, I might kill ya'. But Even a million of that can net me some serious tail." She heard back. Great. A self-absorbed bounty hunter who doesn't care about killing. Mishi's day was just getting "better" and "better." Well, time to escape.

Having spent time with the doctor learning how to play guitar Colton pulled on his shirt covering his torso and the patched up wound. He pulled the guitar over his shoulder once more now with a restored faith in humanity and himself and thanked the doctor.

"Thank doc, I appreciate the help." Nodding to Colton it seemed he was pleased to have helped and before long Colton was out the door from the nice cool room and once more in the scorching heat. It felt as if it was getting hotter second by second, but he had no more business in the doctor's office.

He figured it would be a good idea to find Mishi where ever she might be. Heading into the town Colton thought about the man in the trench coat and how hot he must be right now. He remembered back to leaving the bar and how the man who'd stabbed him had been following since then and paused.

The man in the trench coat!

He had to have something to do with this! The bastard!

This was meant to be a holiday and here he was now sitting in a situation where he was in danger because of his profession and worse yet. Lots of people knew who he was. Was it worth staying? Or should he try and find Mishi? He did offer her his services and agree to it after all.

"Uuuh.. What will it take for you to not kill me?" She asked the bounty hunter, looking around for escape routes. This bathroom didn't even have a window- though maybe that was for the best. However for now? She couldn't escape. Maybe she could slide down the bathtub's plug, if only she had a logia.
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"Comin' peacefully'll do it. Or you could kill yourself. Or better yet, you could pay yer' heads worth. Though, I'll probably just kill ya' anyway. Or I could just drop you off by the Bandit King, yeah, I was in the Bazaar. So what? Look at you, with yer' pink hair and yer' looks while most of us have to get a real, honest job-" She began sprouting off in a tirade. Okay. That should give her some time, at least. She could formulate a plan. There were times when she could flee, and times when she'd have to fight, it looked like one of those times. If she could open the door and use her powers to stretch her fist over and punch her, maybe she could escape out of the window.
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"-UP YER' ARSE!" She finally stopped. Mishi didn't quite want to know what she had said before, but she got up, grabbing the door handle and whirling her fist back, opening it suddenly and extending her mochi powers to her arm, sending it toward the woman's gut as she screamed. "Mochi Mochi: Megapunch!" The lady caught it right in the stomach, sending her flying backwards and against the wall. Mishi took that opportunity to flee out of the crashed window. Back into the insane heat. Great. She began to run, it didn't matter where, so long as she could formulate a plan for afterward.