Soon he was forced to focus and work with the others as they entered the stormy water. Rain instantly soaked them all to the bone. It was so dense and non stop that Merlin and Valeria stopped rowing to bail water out of the boat. Between the waves and rain they actually could sink within minutes if not careful. None of them would drown, they were too strong for that, but it would be annoying to have to swim.
It took nearly half an hour of sailing through the storm to reach the shore. They pulled the boat ashore and looked at the jungle before them. Palm trees swayed in the wind, rain fell in sheets, and thunder constantly rumbled through the air. Thankfully, it looked like the lightning was mostly contained within the clouds and rarely struck the ground.
Peter shifted his gaze to Domino and grinned, "Lead the way!"
Domino playfully rolled her eyes at him. He'd blatantly told her he'd brought her along for her luck. Not that she minded, of course. Her luck was one of her greatest assets and she was more than happy to use it. She took the lead and just walked it whatever direction she felt like. There was no plan, she didn't even pull out a compass... not that one would work, she realized.
They only walked for about an hour before they came across a clearing. It was hard to see too far between the dusky darkness from the clouds blocking the sun and the vision obscuring rain, but they recognized an old village when they saw one. All that was left were the stones the building had been built out of and even those were heavily corroded by the nonstop rainfall.
The group did some minor exploring of the first few buildings, but there was nothing in any of them. No signs or a roof or a floor, just mud and eroded stone walls. It was as Peter was looking into his fourth building that his senses blared a warning. Without even thinking about it he bent over backwards pulling a 'Neo'. He briefly saw something ripple through the air as the danger passed. He quickly straightened while the wall of the building he'd been examining fell to the ground. The stone had been cut clean through. Peter instantly assumed it was an air slash from a sword or something similar.
"Not good."
His senses blared again causing him to jump to the side while shouting, "We're under attack!"
The others immediately took cover while Peter rolled on the ground having dodged the second attack. The near invisible attack that left a deep gash in the mud that soon filled with water. He scrambled to his feet and took cover quickly. Hoping he was out of sight, and feeling no danger warnings, he moved from building to building, hoping his attacker lost sight of himself.
He quickly managed to join up with his four companions in their hiding spot. He looked around while asking, "Anyone see anything?"
Artoria looked disgruntled, "They are using the buildings and the rain to hide before they attack. They sneak in the shadows like cowards."
Meanwhile the other three just shook their heads negatively.
Domino suddenly spins around and fires her revolver with full confidence. The retort of the weapon is loud as it fires off a regular copper jacketed round. A moment later there's a scream from the darkness followed by shouting everyone can clearly hear, "She shot me! The bitch shot me! How the hell did she shoot me?!"
He could understand the man's confusion. A normal flintlock would be completely useless in this kind of weather. Not only would it not produce sparks from the flint hitting the striker, but the power was more likely than not to be soaking wet and useless. The completely sealed shelled rounds Domino was using were fairly new and not widespread at all. The guns were so rare that only a single one had been depicted in canon, then was never mentioned again.
Domino fired again eliciting yet another scream of pain.
"She shot me too! How is she shooting?!"
"How should I know?! Just run!"
Domino smirked while she reloaded the two spent round in the revolver, "Serves them right."
Just as she clicked the cylinder closed, all of them dropped to the ground moment before another invisible blade sliced through the wall they were hiding behind. As the wall crumbled to the ground, Peter called out, "Split up! Artoria, you're with me. Domino, Merlin, protect Valeria. Find these idiots and end them."
The phrase 'never split the party' went through Peter's mind, but he ignored it. That was for Dungeons and Dragons. The party almost always split in One Piece for the individual duels. The truth was though, sticking close together just made them a bigger target and could lead to them having a harder time dodging the incoming wind blades.
Artoria quietly followed Peter as they moved deeper into what was turning out to be a small city. In the darkness it had looked like a small village, but at they moved deeper they found taller buildings, still crumbling, but at least a few stories high.
Peter had chosen Artoria to follow him as their fighting styles complimented each other. They were both melee fighters, though Peter preferred his fists to the sword at his waist, for now. He was training in its use, but he was still better at fighting with his fists. After all, he hadn't had a sword to fight for his life with back in West Blue when he lived on the streets. Fists and rocks, maybe the occasional dull knife, that was what he knew intimately for combat.
His combat had evolved some with the inclusion of potions and poisons. Though his best poisons were useless in the downpour as they needed to be inhaled. That just left him with enhancement potions. Things that would temporarily boost his strength, speed, and so on, along with healing potions in case things got really bad.
Working together he and Artoria should be able to handle anything.