Caine stood with one hand on the handle of his rod, forcing himself up despite the blood gushing from his head and down the right side of his face. His messy black hair was matted to his face, though most of it was hidden by his miraculously intact hat.

"You're not bad at all for a Princess, I must say." He said, addressing Rosemary. She had the same emotionless smile on her face, the one that failed to reach her eyes. "Will those be your final words?"

"Heh. I don't remember saying anything like that, Miss." He lifted the massive weapon back up, and raised himself to his full height. "They say you never get anywhere in life without knowledge. If you come from where I think you do, I assume you understand this very well."

Rosemary lowered her head, with her eyes falling into shadow. "You're talking an awful lot all of a sudden, Captain Caine. I think...yes, I liked you far better when you were quiet." With that, she whipped her arm forward to summon a flurry of explosions where Caine stood, engulfing his figure entirely. But as she kept her eyes on the spot, she was astonished to find a massive coffin-like structure made of brambles where Caine stood. They quickly broke apart, and revealed the unharmed man inside. "Why?" She asked. Even Houzan's eyes were widened in surprise. "Why didn't you use that to protect yourself earlier?"

Caine coughed and brushed the dust off his shoulder. Even Full Coffin couldn't prevent that from getting in. "Why, you ask? I'm a scientist, a professor, a man of research before anything else. I could tell right from the start that you two weren't merely brutes like that Lyza. Even at her strongest, she would be unable to hold a candle to you. Am I wrong?"

He was correct, but Houzan's expression was the one that betrayed his thoughts to a very satisfied and increasingly confident Caine. Rosemary's face remained as stoic as ever. "Princess Rosemary. The runaway Dutch Princess wanted for potential treason and conspiracy. I was most interested to see what you'd have to offer, and I haven't been disappointed." He slowly raised his hand and pointed at her with a razor sharp look in his eyes under the shadow of the hat.

"Explosive Rose Ley." At this, her eyes flickered. But that was all that gave away her unease; her expression remained the same. "Not quite my naming sense, but I see you understand the gist of it then."

This one is not to be held lightly.

Houzan noted that Caine didn't address him despite a curious glance in his direction, which led him to believe Caine did not understand how his ability worked just yet. In any case, the two now knew this was a man who would be a threat no matter how close to death he was. They also knew he was deceiving them, and nowhere near as close to death as he was acting. As if he read their minds, Caine smiled and started walking towards them with an air of calm he did not display a moment ago. "Enough talk. Lets finish this."

Rosemary's smile changed for a moment, with the brightness actually reaching her eyes. "You don't actually think its going to be that easy, do you?"

Caine stared at her with that sharp look in his eyes again. "Oh, it won't be. Not for you. Not for me."

His opponents leaped backwards as a huge mass of brambles thrust out from the floor, sending them scrambling for cover. The dozens of arms whipped around and slashed the air with lethal speed, missing Rosemary's head by just a few inches. Houzan dodged a few slashes and spun around, sensing the presence of Caine from just behind him. With his face half in shadow, he dragged his massive weapon through the air and straight into his waist, sending him spinning into the mass of brambles. "Son of a-" Before he could finish, the vines began to close up and wrap themselves around him with immense pressure, trying to crush him.

He knew Caine was trying to dispose of him quickly to get to the Princess, holding him of little value. He tightened the vines around his arms and ripped aside the brambles, slowly battling his way through the massive thorns. Their sharpness barely even scratched his skin through his Advanced Ley. It was the force behind them that was the real threat. He looked at the bow of the ship, where the two Captains now fought. Rosemary wisely stuck to dodging and countering Caine's merciless offensive as he swung the rod with breakneck speed, with the brambles growing from it snapping at her with each swing.

"Don't look down on me, you fool!" Caine shifted his gaze to his right and ducked quickly to avoid Houzan's left hook. But he had come to an unwise conclusion on the wits behind the tall, muscular man, and did not expect the speed of his decision-making and reactions as he thrust his leg out into his calf, forcing him to one knee. He balled both hands into fists and brought them down towards Caine's exposed head, before being stopped by the cross guard of his weapon.

Despite Houzan raising his fists for another onslaught, he kept half his focus on Rosemary's movements. And indeed, the Princess failed to find a single opening in the formidable defenses of Caine despite him being outnumbered and outgunned. He slapped his hand on the floorboard below and let loose a flurry of brambles, distracting Houzan and allowing him some breathing room. "My attribute is a bit slow, so I hope you'll understand why I'd prefer to drag this fight out a bit." He said, stepping back and swinging his relic forward, nearly slicing off Houzan's head with the growing brambles.

He sensed something spark under him and leaped back, just about escaping the explosion that appeared where he once stood. Through the smoke and dust, Rosemary finally appeared to attack, swinging her hand in a wide arc over her head. He glanced up at the glowing ember rose petals that she threw in the air and covered himself with Full Coffin once again.

The chain of explosions rattled the deck and set his brambles aflame, forcing him to dissolve the coffin as quickly as possible to avoid harming himself and resume the fight. His eyes rapidly darted across the woman's small frame and found exactly what he was looking for; a pouch roughly the size of his hand, most likely stuffed full of rose petals. The pockets of the old, but intricately made pants she wore were filled with something as well, and once again Caine reached the assumption that they were petals. Armed to the teeth now, are we? It wouldn't matter. Her Ley was a bad match for him, but it had plenty of drawbacks he could exploit to win. Range, magnitude, and heat. She's lacking in all three. Long range attacks ought to be enough for me to win this.

The same couldn't be said for Houzan. He was incredibly tough and not in the slightest afraid to risk his life to close the distance between him and Caine, which made him several times more dangerous than the more reasonable Princess. Then again, Caine thought, he'd do the same if he had to help Whitebeard in a fight.

He thought about all this as he dodged the explosions from the petals falling from the sky and Houzan's fists. As he swung his weapon to block a full force punch towards his head, he realized the biggest danger to him now was the unknowns surrounding Houzan's Ley. The massive buds were starting to grow larger now, and were glowing a soft pink. Yet, he couldn't sense a change in Houzan's Ley. It wasn't increasing or decreasing, so what was he doing?

He could use Partial Primis and try to finish it off right then, but...that wouldn't do either. Partial would be next to useless on an opponent equal to him in strength.

"What-" He was forced out of his thoughts as something tangled his foot and sent him falling right into Houzan's fist. He managed to guard himself with Ley just before the hit, but still felt an electrifying jolt of pain in his chest as he was sent skidding across the floor. "Ugh. What a mischievous little trick for you to resort to in order to hit me. Is that befitting for someone as prideful as you?" He asked, jumping back to his feet. Houzan retracted the small vine that had extended from his ankle and glared at Caine. "This pride is not for my own abilities. It is for my Princess and her only. My pride is for the opportunity I have to prove my loyalty and capability to her, not for my own selfish gains."

Caine prepared to charge at Houzan, but once again was forced back by a hail of explosions from Rosemary. Houzan continued, "You must forgive me for making you believe you had a chance of winning, Captain Caine. You see, my attribute is also remarkably slow to prepare itself and unravel its full strength. And the only way for its full strength to be revealed is to push my body and Ley to the limit."

He shuffled his feet in opposite directions and flexed his arms forward with his hands balled into fists. "Primis."

The enormous flower buds opened immediately, and from inside them gushed out a gallon of greenish sticky mucus, covering Houzan's entire body and head with it. The flowers glowed a dim reddish colour now, with a soft hissing sound emerging from the center as the mucus continued to flow over him. The substance flowed down to the wooden floor, causing faint wisps of smoke to hover over them. "Acidic Mantrap." His face was barely visible now, with only the eyes peering through the sticky fluid covering it. Caine let out an impressed whistle, now finally understanding exactly what his Ley was. "I thought those flowers looked familiar. Acid Flytraps are normally much smaller and more docile than whatever this is."

"Indeed, they are. But my flytrap flowers are far larger and more lethal than those houseplants due to my Ley. So of course, I decided to give my Primis a more fitting name." He stepped forward, with his whole body hissing as though it were on fire. "Now, then, I'm going to finish this quickly. I have adjusted the acid from my flowers to produce an acid mild enough to deliver minimum damage to the floor, but strong enough to rip the flesh off your bones...slowly and painfully. You will submit quickly, for I truly wish to keep the damage I deal to the Princess' property to a minimum."

He drew his arm back and swung his fist, forcing Caine to summon a thorny wall from the end of his rod to block the hit. But instead of holding him back, his fist melted right through the wall and nearly ripped off his face, just barely missing his chin. A few drops of acid dripped under his eye and burned right through his defensive Ley.

His acid burns through Ley like butter! He thought, swinging his weapon up for another defense.

* * * * *

Cotton gasped for air with a smile on her face. It had been difficult, but she had finally managed to finish off Martinez. "He was more fun than I thought!" She said to Maxwell, who was looking at her with stern disapproval on his face. "Let me see to your wounds already."

Her smile grew wider as she turned towards him with a single thread of blood dripping from her lip and down her chin. "No. Keep them as it is. It helps me stay awake during all the boring fights." He sneered, but said nothing. All he could do, after all, was offer his aid. He certainly couldn't force her of all people to change her mind.

"Captain, you've got to be more careful when directing the people you fight! You still fight as though you're blind. What if you broke apart the Den when that thing fell?" Dorothy scolded angrily, hiding the relief she felt behind her eyes. But when it came to eyes, Cotton was not one who could be fooled. She lowered her hand and patted the girl's head with a somewhat reassuring smile. "Actually, you know, I don't think I have the strength to keep it-"

BOOM. The sound was deafening, and reminded Cotton of an attack from Whitebeard she had witnessed before. But the Ley was not her Captain's. Oh no, this was Martinez once again, but this time his Primis had changed shape significantly. For one thing, it no longer resembled a singular or even a few Eels. Now it was more like an enormous upside-down tornado of water spinning out of the sea, with Martinez in the elevated tip. As they looked closer, they could actually see huge Eels moving to create the thing, with some moving clockwise and some moving anticlockwise. There were dozens--no, hundreds of them, hissing and whistling as they moved in unison to maintain the form.

"Th-th-that idiot! W-what does he think he's doing?!" Jessica March cried, knees shaking in fear as she clung to the railing of her deck to keep standing. "We can't maintain a steady trajectory! He's messing up the currents!" Martinez's own crew were stunned themselves. He had always been a cool, confident man, certain in every move he made and word he spoke. Most had never even seen him use his Primis before. To see him with his shirt torn apart and blood flowing freely from the blackened opening in his forehead and his left ear was unthinkable.

A single bead of sweat rolled down the face of Borris as his fight with Saw continued. Leonardo had somewhat recovered, but the two were really having a hard time fighting Blackbeard's deputy. The silver lining in the current scenario was that the wheezing man before him was not having any more fun than they were.

Despite his wounds, Borris had no selfish intentions just yet. He wanted to live as much as the next guy. After all, if he were to die, who would help out Lenny in training? Cotton, I'm holding this one here. Beat your man and help the Captain, fast. He thought, and sent another explosive wave hurtling towards Tavares.

"Bring down your Den, Cotton. You have to fight him with everything you have." Maxwell said, but she shook her head stubbornly. "I can still-"

"You can still what?! The people aboard this fleet are strong, and you know it. And you yourself said it, we can't sit here forever." Cotton glanced back, at the women aboard who were rushing to preparing the cannons, at Dorothy, and at him. She clenched her fist and for a moment, Dorothy saw the hardness in her eyes melt away and reveal a...a softness hidden inside. Maxwell did as well, but ignored it and waited for her to speak. "Maxwell...please. Trust me. I can still protect everyone." Her voice was so full of emotion that it barely sounded like her own, despite that expression of confidence returning to her face.

He blew out a puff of smoke and sighed. "You never change." Dorothy looked back and forth from one senior member to the other and placed her hands on her hips. "W-Well in that case I'm going to help you! No way I'm staying here while you're risking your life out there!"

Even Maxwell couldn't help but smile. The kid was just like her idol. Before they could say anything in response, Martinez roared, "COTTON!" before propelling multiple Eels through the air, straight for the Den.

"I've taught you enough, Dorothy. Don't slow down and keep fighting. You'll succeed me as Captain one day, won't you?" She asked, with her back to her junior.

"Of course!"

Cotton expected no less, and was a little happy the girl couldn't see her smile. She had treated her as a teacher would, but inside she was no less than a daughter to her.

The impact of the Eels colliding hardly registered in her mind. That was unimportant. What was important was reacting to Martinez's next move quickly. The second the water from the Eels dissipated, the three leaped onto the wall and sprang towards the towering form of Martinez.