Natsu's rope brought his bow as he reached for the quiver bringing out an arrow to shoot at him.
"That isn't going to work!" the boss said as he then remembered the previous incident with the arrow.
"Hope he doesn't think I'll fall for the same trick twice" the boss thought as Natsu fired it.
He quickly moved towards them but the smirk on Natsu's face made him back off as Natsu said in disappointment, "Damnit, he didn't fall for it. Your pretty skilled, I thought you would attack us since we were open but you must have figured out my plan" as he thought in relief, "Guess faking I had a plan really worked"
"I'm sure you don't know who I am, but do you think I won't notice" the boss said as he thought, "I don't know what he was planning on doing, but he doesn't know how to hide his expression. Although, it's also possible he was bluffing. Dealing with him is going to be a pain"
"Hold up, am I missing something? What are they talking about?" Yami thought as Natsu said, "Yami, I'm going to fight him head on, I don't want you to interfere"
Yami became speechless as he looked at Natsu walking forward.
"Get the hell out of here, I'll catch up to you once I defeat him" Natsu said acting like he could win.
"Are you crazy!!! You can't fight...!"
"Yami, just trust me!!! This is my plan, you can do yours when you're ready, now go!!!"
"But...!"
"I got this Yami, just go, now!!!"
"Fine, but you better not die, if not I'll kill you myself" Yami said as he began running away using his powers.
"Don't think I'll just let you escape" the boss thought as he moved towards Yami.
Surprisingly, an arrow went towards him before he could reach Yami which made him step back as he dodged it.
"I said I'm battling you on my own so don't go trying to fight him" Natsu said as the man thought, "This boy might actually be more of a problem than I thought"
They both stood looking at each other as Natsu began running towards him.
"What does he think he's doing? He's bad at close combat and isn't even fast" the boss thought as Natsu swung his swords around while he dodged every attack effortlessly.
The boss held Natsu's hand and bent him as he asked, "What do you think you're doing? I thought you said you wanted to solo me, do you think you'll survive fighting like this, get serious or I'll finish you in one blow"
He then left him and jumped back as he said with a serious but deadly look in his eyes, "This is your last chance, make sure you don't hold back"
"Damnit, how much time does he need? I can't believe I forgot to ask him, and I hope he notice that I can't win this guy in a one v one! The problem here is if he would understand that I'm buying time for him and come to my rescue. I just hope he doesn't think I'm really strong enough to solo this guy for real because that would put me in a major problem" Natsu thought as he got ready to fire an arrow.
"This battle isn't going to be easy, should I use the rope in the bag to move around while trying to fight him? No, I can't, cause if I do, he would notice that I'm trying to get Yami to come back using my main rope. I should avoid that, just incase he didn't notice my plan of buying Yami time. Although, if I use a smoke screen, it might work on him, but once I use it, what next? Would I keep my distance while shouting arrows at him? No, that won't work, this guy acts like an expert in fighting and hunting so he'll be able to locate me and pin me down easily, so what should I do? My only option is to get Yami back here, but that's a very risky thing to do, unless... If I can make it look like I'm setting traps with my main rope, he might actually believe me instead of thinking I'm trying to get Yami. Plus, I can be saying different things to throw him off balance and make him confused instead of knowing that I'm controlling the ropes using my words. Yes, if I make my move carefully, I can make it look like I'm concentrating on cornering him instead of calling Yami." Natsu thought as he moved around trying to launch different attacks at the boss.
"What the hell Natsu, I thought you said you didn't have any powers. So how the hell are you going to solo that guy?" Yami thought while running as he then stopped.
"Wait, Natsu doesn't have powers and he doesn't have the speed to fight that man, plus, he's bad at close combat. If all this is true, how in the world is he meant to defeat that man" Yami thought as he began recalling what Natsu said during their argument and when he left.
"Just trust me, I'm sure you're plan is going to be effective but let me do mine first, immediately we execute mine, we'll execute yours, happy now!"
"I didn't say yours can't but I want mine first and I'm sure you'll also agree with me once you know what it is, besides mine involves cornering him and I'm sure yours doesn't!"
"Yami, just trust me!!! This is my plan, you can do yours when you're ready, now go!!!"
Yami immediately realized that Natsu wasn't really soloing the man, but buying time for him.
"Wait, was he buying time for me to execute my plan?" Yami thought as he then felt something on his leg, and as he looked at it, he saw Natsu's rope as it began returning quickly to him.
"I can't believe it, he was actually buying time for me but in a way the man won't notice. Since that's the case, I should make sure I have a grand entrance" Yami thought as he threw the disk up and caught it with a smirk on his face.
Meanwhile, Natsu is busy swinging around as he tries to protect himself.
The man gave Natsu a solid blow that threw him to the ground as the place broke, but Natsu immediately used his rope to move out from that area as cut marks landed on the ground creating dust.
"Not bad, you're actually not as weak as you appear" the boss said as Natsu pants heavily with blood flowing from his body.
"But it's time to finish this" the boss said as he then felt something heading towards him and dodged it as Yami then landed a solid blow that made him to crash land on the ground as he then slid.
"Hey Natsu, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine, what took you so long?!"
"Sorry about that, it was hard for me to figure things out but it looks like I came right on time" Yami said as the boss stood up and clapped which shocked the both of them as they became really cautious.
"Bravo! You two did a pretty good job. Let's start with you Yami, I thought you would attack me head on if you were going to come back. But surprisingly, you used your brains and threw different rocks at me which kept me preoccupied and unable to dodge your punch. Even though I was able to block it, the impact was strong enough that it blew me away"
"But you know, the person who shocked me the most was you Natsu. At first I thought you were weak and useless, but you proved me wrong. When I heard you saying those words while moving around shooting different arrows at me, I thought you were trying to activate your magic but it looks like those were commands for the rope. But the actual thing that shocked me about you was the risk you took."
"To be honest, I knew you could control a rope without commands so seeing you saying those words got me confused. But now I understand, you sent your original rope to call Yami back here while making it look like you were setting traps. You even distracted me by throwing rocks at me using one side of your rope. And when I became serious, you quickly took it back and used it to move yourself, avoiding death."
"You two really amazed me, plus it looks like you're using the equipment you stole from my people really well. Although there's something you should know, I never let my target escape" the boss said as his body began increasing, making him look like a very fit and healthy man with lots of muscles on him which made Natsu and Yami more scared as they moved back a little.
"I've killed thousands of people like you, no, even more powerful and smarter than you guys. Although I enjoyed playing with you, your time is up" the man said as Natsu immediately asked the most stupid question, "Hold up, how do you know our names?"
"I was expecting Yami to ask that instead of you, but do you think I didn't hear when you were calling each other names" the boss said as he removed his blade from its sheath and placed it on his shoulder.
"This man is at least ten times more powerful than he was, how are we going to defeat him now" Yami thought as the man threw his sheath up.
"Once that thing lands we're dead, I'm sure he wants to use his pouch as a signal to start the fight" Yami thought as he looked at Natsu and said with consign and fear, "Hey, what should we do?"
"I don't know but we need to think of something fast" Natsu said in the same tone as the boss smiled with excitement and death written on his face.