107 Terror is scaly.

A swath of sweat pooled from my brow as I jumped again, my feet barely touching the hard metallic scale, before I raced up the massive spiral. The mountain around me shook with a passion and the moon glared down lighting up the blackish blue serpent.

The world around me could be summed up in the vein of mere scales and shadows, for the creature was so massive that regardless of what I did or how I moved I was always in its proximity. The only reason I had not died yet was because of the sheer size of the serpent. That coupled with my dexterous and nonstop movements was the only saving grace to this dire situation.

Nothing I did could hurt the snake and it could not catch up to me. Roar after roar of frustration came off its dripping maw as its face curled vapidly.

I had long used my fruit to shut down my hearing, redirecting the brain usage instead to perceive the vibrations off the serpent's scales every time I landed. I then put all the information into a compilation along with everything I could discern with my observation Haki… It was barely enough. And I was tiring.

The solitary hole in the top of the mountain acted as the sole source of light in the otherwise dark cavern. Everywhere that wasn't the snake was water. The creature had long ceased to act as a land surface, and that was even more frightening. For if it was this large with a major part of its lower torso under water, how fucking large was this fucker!?

The bit of scales that I had landed on convulsed slightly as a rumble roared out from underneath it. I barely dodged as it collided with a thick other part of the serpent's skin, vibrations shuddering through the air as it pushed me backwards, straight into another bit of its body that waited for me patiently.

If I could not nullify the force of that vibration, I would break a limb at least.

A dull crackle was felt through the air as a jagged crack formed on the mountain that surrounded the conflict field, most definitely caused by the mad cold blooded creature that I was facing.

I squatted slightly in midair as I kicked at the air under my feet. 'One good thing that has come from this foolish death march is probably the ease with which I can use moon walk and Shunpo.. ' I thought grimly.

Sonido, that was the move that I had created from merging the two moves, it had all the boosted speed perks from Shunpo while Moon walk took the auxiliary position of reducing the blow back of the former, making it possible for me to chain the move.

With a quick movement I twisted off a bit of venom that flew towards my face, a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized that the thoughts in my head had distracted my Observation Haki enough for the behemoth head to have sneaked up on me.

Slowly however, I smiled. I had an idea!

In the fraction of a moment I had fallen into a tempestuous calm.

"Color, Discard. Smell, Discard. Taste, Discard. Feeling, Amplify. Timing, collaborate." I said to myself. My devil fruit followed my commands, all the needless strain to my brain ceased to be as time seemed to slow.

I had entered a state of deep focus, I could see. The lines of yellow coloration on the snake's fangs, the vapid red in its eyes. The sick pink of its tongue and a small dull line that lined in the middle of its forehead.

At the last moment I turned around, my shoe stamping on the base of its fangs directly into the tender skin that held it in place. Immediately a sizzling sound echoed outward my shoe melting on contact with the layer of venom that coated the massive fang.

I kicked at it, using [Shunpo] as soon as my feet got a firm stand on it. As I kicked at it I angled myself upwards, aiming for the base of the other fang on the opposite side of its massive maw. My daggers were held at the ready, an 'X' in front of my chest.

With a loud thud I pushed off, a small crack line forming on the old teeth. The old relics had obviously been completely eroded, centuries of dormancy, even before which it had not been milked had obviously taken a toll on it. That coupled with the concentrated toxicity of its venom had obviously made it a sharp glass tooth if nothing else. Its tip was sharp, but everything else was as fragile as it went.

I zoomed forward, not a hint of pleasure came with my successful maneuver. Anything that could distract me from my target was unneeded.

As I neared the other fang I got my hand ready, digging it deep into the tender skin. My hand dug in all the way to the elbow, sizzling as it made contact with the skin. With the two hands I dug through, in an instant I dislodged the stalactite before cutting into the far most point of the mouth and spinning out of it. I leveraged the momentum of my movement to tear out of the closing mouth.

A loud roar sounded, even in a state where my ears no longer worked, my organs shook with the vibrations. The pure agony in the animalistic shriek caused the water to mellow out. A fountain of blood shot out of its mouth making a trail over its chipped and olden scales.

A second roar sounded as the dislodged fang buried itself into its lower jaw. As a reflex it closed its mouth. That was a bad move as it turned out, for as soon as it did, the crack lines on the first fang redoubled before with a soft crackle the second one too, crumpled down. Though unfortunately it fell off the creature's mouth making the arduous journey into the bubbling water.

The endeavor taking a visible toll on me as I sagged, the world zooming back into focus as my heart made its way into pace with the actions I had just taken. "No time to waste, fast! Faster!!" I roared out loud as I sonido'd out of way of a rabid mad serpent.

The world shuddered around me as I stepped onto a bit debris that flew through the air. All around me a mixed fog of dust, pinkish fog and water clouded around. The piece of cobblestone under my foot one of the only survivors to the rampage of the serpent.

With a sudden heave the water shook as it flung its way at the wall. As the scaly torso moved I could finally get a clear view of the outside of the serpent's constriction. Suffice to say it wasn't a pretty sight.

A whole host of Yuda swarmed against the survivors that fought tooth and nail against them. The water was so saturated with the reptilian menace that as far as the eye could see, there was no water! Only a wide swath of scales and hair.

The water only added to the problem, it raged frothing and fuming with a wrath that got the hammer that was I shuddering silently. The group of sea kings made a desperate last stand, unable to navigate the tough and fearsome waves. Somewhere in all the commotion the only route through the mountain had been blocked with a stray piece of stone, thus making the only available escape route underwater.

We Were fucked weren't we..?

**************

Roma gasped as she faced the mounting waves, every meter that she got closer to the hulking monolith saw the water increasing in ferocity and lethality. Already she had jumped up and down the deck six times rescuing people who were unfortunate enough to face the storm unprepared.

They couldn't be slighted for it however, after all the calm belt was supposed to be calm! She wouldn't even be blamed for making the assertion that that was the whole point of the damn belt! But Nay! the water seemed more than satisfied to fuck with them at every turn!

"Captain, did we navigate into the grand line by mistake..?" the youngest of her crew called out, clearly sea sick.

"Reality be damned! I wish that was the case…Nope this is the calm belt all right…" She muttered, firing a curious glance at the log pose tied to her waist. It still made no sense, as was only right if it wasn't placed on the grand line. Good to know.

A crackle roared out as a roar echoed out of the now terrifying looking mountain. The Yuda looked more and more fanatical as they renewed their efforts, blood coming off of the scales that had had the unfortunate fate of being caught in a rip tide.

The creatures had their tongues lolled out and their eyes completely wide as they made their way forward in a crazed and mad dash.

Finally, after what felt like a month of wrestling with the unruly sea they finally made their way to the cave system that they were so familiar with, but it was different… There was no one keeping watch as they were used to.

There were no soldiers giving them once-overs from their vantage point at the edge of the wall, what was there however, managed to chill Roma more than she could happily confirm.

Water swamped the wide cave systems, it was at such a height that she would drown. The stalactites glared down at them glowering maliciously as the Yuda till made forward. The mast scraped at the ceiling death trap as they barely made their way through.

And as they exited from the other side, there was only terror that awaited them….

"Oh God…"