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The Ganglands. It had been some time since he’d set foot in this part of town. Not since Luffy had decided to set his sights on taking on the Lionelli Crime Family. He was making little headway in breaking the back of Lionelli. Many of their members were still too powerful for the Otter King to bring down. He had heard a few rumors that the smaller gangs were attempting to regain the handholds they had lost when Lionelli rolled into town. Bullets zipped by his head and brought him back to the reality of his current situation. One of the local street gangs, trying to make a name for themselves by killing ‘The Viking’.

Luffy popped another clip into “Mistress”, his new hand gun. She certainly wasn’t destined to be the belle of the ball, but she got the job done. And Quickly. He spun out from behind the wall and returned fire. Several members hit the ground as his bullets pierced their flesh.

“Yanno boys, I feel like we need to have some epic music for this,” he shouted to them through the noise. He ducked back behind the wall and turned on the music on his phone. the first song to play was Five Finger Death Punch’s song “Lift me up.” He drew his sword and constant companion, Erik the Red and smiled.

“What do you think old friend, can you and Gore play nice with other today,” He chuckled out. Mistress was tucked in her holster and a second blade pulled from it’s scabbard. Luffy spun from the wall and charged straight into the fray. Each step dodged a bullet, each dodge made the others panic. Luffy deftly cut a swath of carnage through the gang as the remaining members fell to the ground screaming. He paused and set his blades down as he readjusted his heavy black jacket before heading out in search of more gang members.

The Ganglands in December. What a lovely place for the holidays. With money and goodies she had just relieved a gangbanger of, Kamikaze felt this was the best place to spread holiday cheer. In a bright yellow raincoat, with matching boots, the woman moved through the area, until she could hear the gunfire, as well as the music. The others were skeptical, especially Shizuka, but Kamikaze pressed forward anyway. A hum and a start of a skip, the woman would start her journey in deeper, following the music. A few sporadic sprays of her firearm here and there, Kamikaze looked rather happy, smiling as she skipped and fired the weapon, even beginning to sing a little to herself. The song of choice was Gene Kelly's Singing in the Rain. Skipping to and fro, with little thought of self preservation, bullets were flying past, overhead, until they began to die down as the epicenter of this was also what was causing the music. The bearded man. Standing beside him, Kamikaze continued to sing, twirling a bit as she let loose fiery vengeance from her peacemaker, until the song was done, and the gunshots would die down. She felt as if she knew him, but from where. Perhaps when she worked with Tytonidae, she may have paid him a visit? She couldn't quite tell.

All of the king's men.. and all of the king's horses... they will never be put together again. Does this one burn with the fire of the ancients, bearded one?

Perhaps the screaming within Kamikaze's mind was at an all time high, this night, as the woman seemed to have more of a crazed look, though she smiled wide, gun and blade at the ready. Shi and Three were trying to get Kamikaze to calm down, but she would not have any of it tonight. Taking a moment, she began to mutter to the other voices, out loud, though not enough for the other to pick up. When she spent a few moments longer than she needed, Kamikaze looked to Luffy once more, though kept an eye on the others, a wide smile on her lips.

We seek to dance with the angels. The bearded demon can dance as well. These angels will sing!

Luffy didn’t have to travel far to find more gangbangers. They found him. As did a random woman. The first thing that caught his attention was a short string of slight psychobabble, and the smell of...stale sewage. He glanced to her as she stood next to him in her yellow poncho and boots. He shook his head and chuckled. The two of them in the ganglands, a living warning sign of danger and death. He looked around at the bodies of the dead and dying and then to the living who had begun encricle them.

“I may have broken them...a lot,” he replied to her, “Depends on which ancients you mean Kami. If you’re asking about the fires of Vikings, then yes. If you mean the fires of Worthington...well that’s a different matter.”

He sheathed his blade Gore for a moment while he reached behind his back. The heavy chains rattled as he slipped a dark handgun from hiding.He set the handgun down on a barrel near them with a fair amount of ammunition in clips. “Here, Hydra may not put out the rounds as quickly as that little beast you’ve got, but the boy knows how punch a few holes.”

He placed his hand on Gore’s hilt, but didn’t pull it out. “Also, I’m no bearded demon. I’m...The Otter King,” he corrected with a wink, “Though, our little ‘angels’ here look like they want to meet their god. Let’s give them a song to sing on their journey.” He spun his body so that one foot was in front of the other. His swords came together to form a cross of death. One blade down to the ground, the other across it.

“Let’s dance children.” he said as he charged into the fray. the steel lightning crashed as it split the flesh of those within reach.

With the new weapon given, Kamikaze took ahold of it, then nodded. It looked like it would pack a punch, though she didn't have the time to examine it more, though she of course would at a later time. It would be rude of her to pass up the chance for the dance. Setting the handgun aside, Kamikaze took ahold of Acid Rain, running her fingers along the weapon's top. Pressing a kiss to the barrel, she smiled happily, eyes lighting up. The chaos that would ensue, it gave the more chaotic personality a sickening thrill. With that, she curtsied to the Otter King, then to the thugs that were left standing, as well as to those who had just arrived. Standing up, with Luffy rushing and slashing, she chose to do the opposite, instead hanging back, though she did spray into the crowd, an angelic chorus of hellfire echoing from her firearm. Firing away into the humans, the manic glee filled Kamikaze, her cheshire grin widening.

BANG! BANG BANG BANG! BANG! Dance with us, angels!

Shi and Three were worried that this rage and chaos would get out of hand, though neither were strong enough to pull Kamikaze into the depths of the host's mind, where she belonged. The gunfire only made Shi flinch inwardly, memories flooding. Home. Family. Her beginnings within the city. The shadow realm. Ah, the Shadow Realm. It was there, that the three personalities first started to separate, due to the length of time the host stayed within. It was there that they first began to hear them. The voices. The shadows whispering, tales of the damned. Many things had caused this woman to become the crazed lunatic she was.

Sing with us, angels! The shadows sing of demise, we sing with them!

Back to reality, the sound of gunfire ringing, Kamikaze began to laugh, dancing with the gun as she was shot at as well, a few rounds passing through the shoulder. The pain caused the female's vision to flash white for a moment, before she would instinctively attempt to heal, while firing away. Through her Mystic Healing, the wound would seal, leaving one less thing for her to worry about. Reloading took a moment, though she blasted away once more, starting to giggle even more.

The last gangster fell as Luffy removed Erik from his gut. He sat down on a couple of tires and just watched as Kamikaze danced around the area screaming. He shook his head and went about checking the pockets of the dead. A few guns, some parts, a bit of cash. There wasn’t much on this group of people. He returned to the tires and stretched.

“Hey, think everyone’s dead there. Let’s collect the rewards. Also, you need a bath. You’ve been sleeping in the sewers again haven’t you?” Luffy reached over and tore a section of some gangster's shirt off and proceeded to clean off his blades. Once the blood had wiped clean he stood up and headed over to his maniacal partner in crime. He lightly touched her arm before wrinkling his nose.

“Seriously, you need to stop hanging out in the sewers,” the man commented as he took her weapons in one hand. The other lifted Kamikaze over his shoulder. “There’s a house over this way we can probably use to hose you off,” He told her as he headed off. He resisted the urge to use his nose to smell anything. The scent of the sewers clung to his companion like a giant invisible leech.

Now that Kamikaze was draped over Luffy's shoulder, like Santa Claus's sack of gifts, she stared at the world, mostly the ground as they moved. She went limp, unused to being carried and handled in this fashion. Normally others would give her space, due to either her speech, the look in her eyes, or the fact that she reeked of the sewers. Since she had been sleeping almost extensively in the sewers, the woman no doubtedly smelled quite unpleasant. Just as the man spoke of that four letter word, her eyes shot open, and she flailed a bit.

No. No. Bath bad. Hsssss. No bath. We no bath. No. No no no!

Ill memories of the humanity surfaced, with the thoughts of a bath, of a bathtub, which caused Kamikaze to claw at Luffy a bit, as she flailed. She clawed again, still, as they continued to walk, though she focused on the words he spoke as she attempted to pull away. He wanted her not to sleep in the sewers? The sewers were Kami's true sanctuary, though, and she felt safe in them, deafened of the voices with the foot travel others took, as well as the rats. As Kamikaze was in a frenzied panic, trying to escape, Shi and Three were within the back of the mind, assessing the situation. They both agreed that they would need to force Kamikaze into the back of the mind once more, and one of the more passive personalities would need to take over, but neither had the energy nor the willpower to take over.

Let this one free! We wish sanctuary! Land of safety! Paths in shadows sing of sanctuary! Angels of fury walk paths, yet we cleanse with fire! Shadows!

Slowly, Kamikaze covered her ears as she was carried, the voices becoming louder, the closer they came to the building that Luffy would most likely try to bathe her in. They were crying, screaming, begging Kamikaze to free them, to give them peace. The amount of voices that were flooding the woman's mind caused her to cringe, buckling and curling against Luffy as he held her. Kamikaze was weak to these voices, compared to the other two personalities, and didn't handle the barrage very well. She started to mumble under her breath, though inside of the head Kamikaze was screaming for them to leave her be.

Kamikaze started thrashing around on Luffy’s shoulder. her nails dug into the side of his neck and left bleeding red lines in his flesh. The more she struggled, the closer he got dropping her onto the half frozen pavement. The most troublesome was the screaming. Just as he went to tell her it would be alright, she stopped and covered her ears. He glanced at her, made a mental note to deal with whatever was going on with her later, then proceed to kick in the door to the random house.

The home looked normal, dated, but normal. The shag carpet was worn thin in patches. The ‘70’s wallpaper was peeled from the walls. He marched through the small building with the somewhat subdued Kami sack on his shoulder until the bathroom came into sight. The room was painted canary yellow with lime green tiles. Tub, sink and toilet were all ivory in color. Ivory and rust.

“Well, this place ain’t the Ritz, but we can get some of this stink off you.”

He kicked the door shut and set her down as gently as he could on the closed toilet. He turned to the tub and flipped the water on. He adjusted the water’s temperature then changed the flow to the showerhead .Once satisfied, he returned to Kami and pointed behind him.

“Alright you, into the tub. We’re going to wash that **** out of your hair. And your clothing. And just...all of that,” he said as he gestured to her.

The home had a history to it, even when the original residents had long since deserted it. The voices from the past echoed. Kamikaze's vision distorted a little, as she was dragged through, toward the bathroom. She could see children running around the living room, laughing, playing, while parents looked on. Before the Shadow had been dragged to the bathroom, Kamikaze noticed a smaller boy stop and stare at her, his eyes completely black, his skin pale. It slowly started to dissolve, until he was nothing but a skeleton. Face contorting, Kamikaze cringed as she saw the skull staring still, before it moved its jaw and screamed at her, causing her to cling to the man. Once the bearded man started to speak, she could feel her skin crawl, noticing the bathtub. Panicking, the woman tried to crawl toward the door, ending up crawling against the wall instead. She flattened against it, eyes wide, looking at the decrepit tub. Shadows were crawling from it, blackened tendrils slithering over the sides, at least in her mind. A near shriek was stuck in her throat, as she stared at the tub being overtaken, before she looked to Luffy. Wide eyed, she looked panicked, beyond her normal hysteria. Twitching, her nails would dig into the walls and floor, trying to get away from the oncoming darkness.

When he spoke of Kamikaze entering the tub, Kamikaze shook her head, words unable to come past her lips. She couldn't! She wouldn't! The tub, in her mind, was filling with the darkness, and not the darkness that she basked in. In her mind, it was bubbling, oozing, spreading through as if it was oil. It was a silent darkness, that would leave Kamikaze alone, with nothing but herself, Shi, and Three to deal with the cries of the damned. When the tub overflowed with the filthy darkness, Kamikaze stood, pressing herself to the wall more, eyes widened as much as they would allow. Nails dug in deeper to the wall, causing the blackened blood to start coming forth as her nails would break. It took the combined effort of Shi and Three, with all of the power they had at the time, to whisper to Kamikaze that the darkness was not real. Kamikaze did not believe the two. She could clearly see it. It was right there, and it was getting closer!

Three was the voice of reason, this time through, reassuring Kamikaze that she was indeed hallucinating again, but it was fine. She was safe. All was well, right here, right now. She understood that bathtubs triggered something within Kamikaze and Shizuka's minds, something dark and sinister, but this was now, and that was then. And she would do all she could to help the other two within the host to see this. Right now, the bearded man was going to rinse the scum off of the host, and Three made sure that Kamikaze understood that he was not going to do things to her. With that said, Three faded back into the back of the mind, allowing Kamikaze to revert total control.

Slowly, reality began to unwarp Kamikaze's mind, the darkness fading, as if it were just a bad dream. She looked to Luffy, her eyes still wild, nails still bleeding lightly, though starting to heal.

Scent of sanctuary. Keeps away. Darkness does not consume.

She had crawled as far away from the water and tub as possible. There were black marks sitting against the wall where she had clearly clawed her flesh off. She was terrified of something, but what it was, had Luffy confused. He looked from her, to the tub, then back to her. There was something with the tub that frightened the woman. He hung his jacket on the door hook and returned to examine the tub. He found nothing wrong at first, but then he had a realization. Water. The water was must be scaring her.

He turned from the tub and knelt down in front of Kami. She had the look of someone who was about to be slaughtered by band of demons. He placed his right hand on the top of her head. He looked right at her and smiled wide. He would reassure that the water isn’t evil. That it wasn’t going to harm her.

“Kami, the water is good. It’s...It’s the cleansing light. You’ll also feel better once we get the people muck off of you. It really just clings like those damn ghosts all over this city.”

He rubbed the top of her head gently as he glanced back at the tub. He wasn’t entirely sure why the water scared, but hopefully his reassurances could help the woman through it. He then stood up and held his hands out to her. “C’mon,” he said, “let’s get you shiny and clean and help you become a new person. In the manner of not stinking like poop.”

The hallucinations fully disappearing from her vision and mind, Kamikaze fully focused on Luffy and his words. Sniffing at herself, nose to arm, she shrugged, then stared. Was he wanting to clean her? Unsure. Once he had his hand out, to help, and talked of being shony and clean and a new person, the Shadow took the male's hand, lifting herself. Normally she would disrobe, to clean herself, but since she was with company she eased herself into the tub, fully clothed. This hadn't been the first time she had bathed with her clothing on, and it wouldn't be the last, but she felt awkward doing so with the assistance of another. The grime had been there for a while now, days maybe, and she hadn't bothered, since it wasn't important to her.

Pausing, as she fully seated within the tub, she sprawled out, the panic zipping through her mind, bringing back terrible memories of her humanity, of her childhood. The seclusion. The feel of the tub. The presense of a man. Luffy wasn't the doctor from the hospital, but it still put Kamikaze on edge, Shi as well. Three attempted to reassure the two that all would be well, that Luffy meant no harm. He simply wanted to make sure they were clean, though they had brought no change of clothing... This was where the fact of them bathing with their clothes on came into factor, Three suggested. The two other personalities were hardset on panic and their fight or flight, but Shi was more receptive to reason than Kamikaze. Perhaps the Otter King meant no harm. He had not touched her once inappropriately, so why start now?

Cleansing light. Shadows do not sing. New skin. Fresh. Warm. Rejuvination. We sing to shadows of this. Shadows listen. Shadows remember. Shadows always remember. Bearded Otter King Man cleanses us? Does not defile. Cleanses. Mindful. Shadows suspicious. Vengeful.