The duel raged on, the clang of blades ringing continuously amidst the din of the surrounding battles. Cricket and Kaku moved in a deadly dance, striking and parrying with tremendous speed and skill. Both bled from an array of minor cuts and gashes, but neither was willing to give ground.
Cricket could feel himself tiring. The non-stop exertion was taking its toll. He needed to find a way to gain a decisive advantage before his stamina gave out. Unlike the other straw hats, he was relatively new with long term fighting.
Even before fighting Kaku, he had to battle a bunch of agents, and he didn't have any rest due to all the rowing they had to do before with Going Merry. So yeah, he was lacking a bit.
Kaku must have sensed Cricket's fading energy. With a confident gleam in his eyes, the CP9 agent went on the offensive, forcing Cricket back with a blinding barrage of swipes and stabs. Cricket struggled to track the extended lengths of the blade, receiving several shallow cuts across his arms and chest.
As Cricket clashed with Kaku, the pirate realized something. "You know for a world government dog, you have the eyes of a dreamer."
Kaku snorted, ducking under his opponent's blade, before deflecting a bullet with his sword. "What would you know…"
Cricket laughed, "Oh, I would know…" he grinned, "Cause… unlike you all I'm a man that has a dream…" he said locking blades with Kaku. He could have shot his revolver at close range, but didn't, "Tell me Kaku… did you ever have a dream? A goal? Something that you worked hard for?"
"I worked hard to survive…" Kaku said getting pissed off. A flash of memories of once a kid that liked to read stories about a certain lier. "But you wouldn't know that… when I was a kid. I did look up to the stories of heroes, but I grew up… There are no heroes, there are only soldiers. Some loyal, while others are not…"
With that Kaku kicked Cricket back, slashing his sword at the pirate's neck. Cricket managed to dodge it, but his fake beard got cut in half. Along with his fake beard and mustache, he also had a hat that covered his peach-shaped top.
"Oi, be careful… you almost slit my throat," Cricket complained as he fired a few shots from his revolver. Reloading it, while he jumped back.
Kaku clicked his tongue as he went on the assault. He hated when people reminded him of his caged fate. There was no freedom of choice for those who served CP9. They were molded into weapons since they were kids, and their lives were meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
The only first sense of freedom he ever felt was during the undercover mission in Water 7. There he was free as the wind. But coming back to Enies Lobby reminded him of what his true position was. With all the thoughts playing in his mind, Kaku's miscalculated on of his attacks.
Just then, Kaku overextended a thrust aimed at Cricket's shoulder. Seizing the opportunity, Cricket stepped inside the arc of the blade and delivered a bullet to Kaku's elbow. The joint buckled with a sickening crunch.
Grunting in pain, Kaku staggered back. Freed retracted as Kaku struggled to regain control of the left arm. Cricket pressed his advantage, moving to finish his injured foe. But suddenly his legs felt leaden, his movements sluggish. Breathing became labored. What was happening?
Cricket fell to his knees panting, looking at Kaku questionably.
"So the poison finally started to take effect…" Kaku said, making the pirate wide-eyed.
Then Cricket noticed the shimmer of wetness on the edge of Kaku's blade. Toxin – the bastard had laced his weapon with poison! Cricket cursed internally. He had to end this, quickly.
"I thought we are having a sword fight?"
Kaku gave him a flat look, "With you using a gun? Yeah, right."
Cricket laughed, pushing himself off the ground with much difficulty, as Kaku ripped a part of his suit and bandaged his left arm. Both of them were, standing on rooftops as they prepared for their next clash.
Just as both of them were facing off against each other, both of them were stopped momentarily by a wave of bloodlust that halted their movement.
It was as if a wild beast was showing its intent to kill. Not just any wild beast. A powerful one. There was a wolf-like howl, before before both Cricket and Kaku saw what it was. Both of them were stunned at what they were seeing.
Their skin crawled and their instinct told them how strong the thing was. Luckily for them, the beast was running rampage, destroying anything and everything rather than any target.
"That fool!" Kaku gritted his teeth, recognizing Jabra, "He used that damn drug didn't he?!"
"The what?"
Kaku shook his head, "You wouldn't get it… let's fight. I have things to take care of."
Cricket snorted, but even he knew that kind of monster wasn't something Yosaku could beat alone. Franky and Groot had passed them a while ago, and he wondered if they were in the midst of that chaos. He also had to move in and help his crewmates, "Yeah… let's end this!"
The two fighters blitzed towards each other, moving so swiftly they were nearly blurred to the naked eye. Cricket poured every ounce of speed into his Soru, feet pounding furiously to propel himself forward. Opposite him, Kaku rocketed in with equal velocity, the tiles cracking under his feet from the force.
In an instant the combatants closed the gap, meeting in a tremendous crash of steel. Cricket's cutlass and Kaku's Freed smashed together with such power the air shuddered from the impact. Sparks flew wildly as the swords ground against each other, neither blade able to overwhelm the other.
Shockwaves rippled out from the colliding forces, rattling the surrounding pillars and rubble. Cricket and Kaku strained mightily, muscles bulging and veins protruding as each fought for dominance. The stalemate stretched for endless seconds until finally, the fighters disengaged, leaping back and panting from exertion.
The brief clash had been too swift to determine an advantage. But it served as a reminder to both of their opponent's prowess – this battle would not be decided from a single blow. With flinty eyes, Cricket and Kaku circled each other at supersonic speeds, before initiating another series of blistering attacks. Their duel continued with even greater ferocity, two masters of blades clashed.
Each intends to win the struggle. But as the battle raged on, Cricket started getting slower, and Kaku capitalized on that, inflecting more wounds with his poisoned sword.
But that didn't mean Kaku didn't have his flaws. Cricket had trained with Zoro and Kuina of all people to better his swordsmanship, and his training wasn't just for show. He was waiting for an opportunity to present himself, to strike when his opponent least expected him to.
"You pirates made a huge mistake going against the World Government!" Kaku growled, "So don't blame me if you die…"
Cricket laughed, "You know for a world government dog, you have quite the wild personality…" He said, "But you know I have though about what you said… and I think that's a load of bullshit!"
Kaku gritted his teeth, "About what? Me killing you?"
"That and the previous one about there being no heroes!" Cricket said, almost having pride in his voice. In some ways, he wanted to mention Luffy, his young captain as being the main hero. But didn't. There were other heroes around to set examples with. "Did you know growing up, I looked up to the story of Noland?"
Kaku twitched hearing that, finding it odd that his opponent saw the same lier as his own hero. "So what? Many kids did? And what happened to him? Nothing… he was a fool like you all! A man that said wild tales to sell dreams."
Cricket grinned, if it was before he would have raged, but not now, when he already knew the truth. "Well, that's the thing that separates me from you, Kaku. I'm still a dreamer, while you are just another cog in the machine!"
The CP9 agent growled attacking with fury. Trying to deny what he saying, but even he couldn't convince himself.
Kaku overextended a blow, giving Cricket time to get near and strike with his sword. Kaku seeing this used Tekkai, making his sword bounce off of him as if hitting steel.
But that was the plan all along, while his sword might not be able to cut through Kaku's defenses his gun can, and that was pointed right at Kaku's knee.
Cricket pulled the trigger and Kaku was a second too late to react. At this range, Kaku had no time to evade the bullet. It bore into his left knee with a spray of blood and torn ligaments. With a howl of pain Kaku immediately collapsed, leg no longer able to support his weight.
Cricket capitalized by using the muzzle of the gun to smash at Kaku's jaw. The brutal impact launched Kaku backwards, sending him crashing violently against a wall.
Cricket would have followed through, but the effects of the poison was anchoring him down. His breathing was getting uneven, while he started seeing black spots in his vision.
Kaku also stood up with much difficulty, the wound on his left leg slowing him down. Both of them looked at each other, and knew that this was the final clash. Both of them moved, their bodies too weak to even use Soru, only being carried by their wills.
Their swords sang as they met in a dazzling display of precision swordsmanship. Cricket rolled under a horizontal slash from Kaku, riposting with a rising backslash aimed at his opponent's chest. Kaku dodged right, wincing as the motion aggravated his injured leg.
The duelists clashed in a vicious series of parries and ripostes, searching for the one decisive opening. Kaku rained down blows, but Cricket's defenses held firm. Cricket countered with an upward vertical slice. Kaku sidestepped, the tip of the blade leaving a crimson gash along his ribs.
Limping heavily, Kaku backed off a few paces. Both fighters were breathing raggedly, sweat and blood dripping down their forms. Cricket bore numerous cuts, while Kaku's left leg was nearly useless.
But neither would yield. With yells of defiance, they flew at each other again. Their blades rang continuously as they dueled across the rubble-strewn courtyard. Kaku anchored himself on his good leg, using his upper body strength to put power into each swing and compensating for his weakened mobility.
Cricket parried and countered, slowly giving ground before Kaku's frenzied assault. He blocked high, then low, then high again in rapid succession as Kaku varied his angles of attack. Cricket realized he wouldn't last much longer against this onslaught. It was now or never.
When Kaku next attacked with an overhead smash, Cricket stepped forward and inside, catching the descending blade on the guard of his cutlass. Before Kaku could recover, Cricket delivered a vicious rising knee, connecting solidly with Kaku's solar plexus.
As Kaku doubled over wheezing, Cricket spun and slashed his blade across his opponent's torso. Steel bit deep into flesh, a crimson gash opening from hip to shoulder.
With a choked gasp, Kaku collapsed, finally bested. Blood pooled beneath him as his strength rapidly faded. Cricket stood over his conquered foe, panting heavily.
"I-its my win," Cricket said in between his breaths, before he dropped to the floor, "So any chance you have an antidote for your poison?"
Kaku who was lying on his own pool of blood, gave out a weak laugh, "You are fool… you know that?"
Cricket gave a small grin, "Well, I'm a dreamer…"
Kaku didn't say anything and with much difficulty fished something out of his pocket before throwing it towards the pirate, "Well, I don't expect you to actually trust me but…"
Before Kaku could finish the sentence Cricket gulped the serum down, gagging at the taste, "Why does all type of medicine taste like shit?"
Kaku opened and closed his mouth, before he broke out into a weak laugh, "You really are a fool, you know that. Mr. Dreamer." He said as his vision started to get blurry, "Sometimes I envy people like you…" That was the last thing he said as his eyes shut off, not listening to what Cricket said next.