Bogged Down in Balaggan Port

[Phayne]

"Don't worry about it. Possible recruiting is pretty common amongst pirate crews with big goals."

"As I can imagine, considering what I have heard about you so far.." replied Jin, referring to Darius's initial meeting with Alex. "It seem's only natural that aspiring pirates such as ourselves attempt to garner as many comrades as possible, even if they are already spoken for" he remarked, tearing his attention away from the Chef lamenting his food. Once this meeting was over, Jin would make his way towards the extravagant individual, hopeful that he did not have any lasting attachments to Balaggan Port.


"As for why we are here and what our goals are... Well that's pretty simple actually. We are a crew of musicians first and foremost. Our largest goal is to perform at the biggest event on the seas, the ascension of a new Pirate King or Queen. For that to happen we need to be strong enough to survive and sail the Grand Line. We're because it's our last stop before we enter the Grand Line proper. What of yourself? Are you a PIrate King to be?"

"Whether I am a pirate king to be or not is pretty redundant at this point, I have yet to even entered the grand line. My goals are simply to sail all the oceans and live the legendary fables told to us as young children, to see the land of giants for my ownself and to attain what luxuries come our way. If that includes ascending the throne of Pirate king, so be it. But that alone is not what drives me to the greatest ocean in the world" replied Jin, who had begun to lean against the barrel once more. "If we are to form an alliance, which I assume is also the reason you agreed to this meeting, then there is one thing that I need to confirm, considering your goals as a pirate crew. If time were to pass that I found myself in conflict with another pirate crew to whom you have sworn to help, what will your actions be?" he inquired, "Your goals are respectable, but it leaves question as to who would you really align yourselves with should the time come" Jin glanced at Alex, so far at least in Jin's eyes this potential alliance between the Horizon Strides and the Wolfwind Pirates seemed to be progressing rather slowly. "What your goal tells me is that you would settle for whoever ascends the throne as long as you get to perform during the 'ceremony', what that also tells me is that you seek to have conflict with no one as having an enemy ascend the throne would be detrimental to your own goals.. on that reason, should the time come were I may need your assistance, what trust do I have that you would follow through?"

Jin's eyes focused in on Darius, his irises almost taking on a predatory slit like appearance.​

AllHailDago shadowdude505 Sugary_Paragraphs

 

[Phayne]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Timeskip - A few hours
A couple hours had now passed and Zambini alongside several of his workers had been running around the place, their priorities solely directed towards the success of tonights show. Two of his most trusted associates, 'Romesh and Kutra' had been tasked with looking after their valued guest, the two retainers meeting their every needs until it was time for the show. Meanwhile a group of maidens had managed to gather 'fanciful' looking accessories as well as put together ideal costumes for the show tonight. The vast majority of jewellry they had gathered were excess 'bling' that the belly dancers had on them, golden colored tassles, belts, necklaces etc, all of which could still be put to good use tonight. Jayjay's costume however was a rather extravagant black tuxedo set partnered with an equally extravagent top hat. A little something Zambini had managed to attain during a past event. Whilst all this was happening Zambini on the other hand had been directing several different things at once; the construction of the stage, the placement of the seating, the menu for tonight as well as several other things of importance and on each occassion Zambini ensured that such conversations were done in private, less unwanted ears such as Zamir's caught wind of his plans.

"Yes yes yes, Make sure Urapesh gathers enough of the herb tonight and if that means he needs to rough up the local vendors for more, than so be it. Ensure we have enough for tonight. Take two of the girls as well, perhaps have them convince the vendors to be a bit more lenient on the price and if they still don't comply, rough them up." chatted Zambini, as he directed once of his more trustworthy workers.

With every passing minute, the construction got closer and closer to perfection as the burly workers finished off the final touches to the stage, a large 'Thrust Stage' with seating arrangements nearly all the way around the protruding floor aside from the back wall. Large velvet colored curtains were strung against the rafters of the stage, each with golden colored embroidering of flowers to cover the sea of purple. On the stage itself were several props; swords, guns, throwing knives, cages and the like were strategically placed around the set though whether they would all be used or not were another question as the initial plan for tonights show relied heavily upon Jayjays ability to improvise. Aside from the expected props, there was a large zorb ball sized glass aquarium, presently half filled with sea water and slowly being filled. Whilst Anjellyka had fallen in her attempt to dance upon land, Zambini had the idea of having her danced submerged, a truly inspiring idea as the water would allow for her tentacles to move in all its glory, which he hoped would further enthral the prospective audience tonight.

"Marvelous, Marvelous oh this is gonna be grand" chimed Zambini as he stood at the tip of the stage, admiring the work of his handy men; his eyes drawn towards the large dome like aquarium. "Sitra, are the additions I asked for in place?" he queried, glancing at the worker presently filling up the tank; the man nodding in response. "Good, very good!" Zambini turned to address everyone else once more. "Tonight will be a spectacle!, I expect you all to be at your best as the audience marvels at the show on display. This will be business as usual and if all goes to plan, than we shall celebrate greatly!" he raised both hands skyward and as he did so a chorus of cheers escaped his workers.


....

A knock could be heard at the door to the room where everyone presently sat, though rather then waiting for it to be opened from the inside, Zambini took liberty and walked inside. Upon entering, Romesh and Kutra immediately lent forward, whispering into Zambini's ears; their news eliciting a smile to appear on his face. The first news was the awakening of Ed, her antics not managing to go unnoticed as both retainers kept their eyes on the guest. "Ah little girl" he addressed Ed, "It's good to see that you are alright, you gave your friends quite the scare" grinned Zambini, his attention changing towards the others. "Kate, Anjellyka and Jayjay.. my friends" Zambini stepped forward. "The stage is almost set and from what I gather, our show has garnered quite the interest in the locals, a few have even come early hoping to sneak a glance, alas they must wait till tonight" Zambini made his way to the table and poured some wine into a chalice. "Little girl, have your friends told you what's happening tonight?" he questioned Ed, "Do you have any particular talents? I'd love to have you in tonight's main event if your willing"

As he awaited a response, Zambini's eyes fell upon Jayjay, the main attraction of tonights show and the literal moneymaker that would help him '1 up Zamir'. Whilst the Zombie himself was already weird enough

"My oh my oh my my my" chimed a shocked Zambini "Jayjay my friend, where is your hand?" he questioned in shock, only now noticing that Jay had been without his appendage for awhile. "Will you be alright with doing the show? Do you need my men to go search for it? What can I do to help you find your missing hand?!" panic setting into the pudgy man. If jay couldnt perform then his plan for the show would be ruined.

DonquixoteDoflamingo CelticHero37 thatonespacytallgirl AllHailDago Felix

 

[Phayne]

Can't see me

Kane glanced up as the young woman approach, his mammoth sized hands both of which could easily engulf her face were presently gripping the sides of his burger; the house special. Apparently despite the name of the tavern being 'The Minced Crow', their speciality lay in their unique approach to tenderising turtle meat and incorporating it into their burgers, a truly exquisite creation worthy of a stage far more grande then this dilapidated tavern. Hands squeezing tightly and juices oozing out of the half burger that remained, Kane couldn't help but look over his shoulder at the woman's companion the dark haired man whom had taken up a seat in one of the quieter corners. Whilst the man himself was tall in comparison to most, Kane was still almost a solid 2ft taller and with a shoulder span of twice the length of your average man it was clear that he dwarfed the newcomer, though all that considering, the attention the pair of them had managed to draw in was incomparable to that of Kane's and it was down to one simple reason, Stacy.

"Can I get two ales and… hmm… two of whatever happens to be the house special right now for dinner?”
“Certainly. You stayin’ at the bar or…?”
“Nope. I’ll be sitting ... there.”
“Alrighty, Miss. I’ll have two ales in about two seconds for ye.”

Kane's eyes widened, considering the size of his 'house special' he would have been rather surprised if a young girl of her stature would really be able to finish such a big burger, let alone manage to get half way, however it was not his place to voice such an opinion and he merely returned his attention back to his own meal though to say he would be able to enjoy it as much as he would have was an understatement. Since their arrival, the mood in the tavern had changed quite drastically, almost as if there was a restless energy in the air. Kane sighed, taking a bite of his burger.

Whilst it wasn't a unique ability of his, Kane could tell that the focus of the room had shifted towards Stacy, the young woman whom had entered alongside Syrin. There was a very good reason why this particular tavern was located far away from most and within a seedy part of the port. Many of its regular clientele were not the friendliest of chaps and often times in their drunken stupor would find themselves getting into all manners of trouble. Bringing a young woman into this tavern was a mistake evident by the ever rising tension being exuded from the customers. Kane was no stranger to such events, often times bearing witness to drunken riots back in his home town; a handful of which were for one reason started because of a woman. You see, men especially drunken ones were often slaves to their own desires and without any form of restraint or control these drunken beasts would ravage everything in sight, truly dangerous creatures.

"Young Miss, I suggest you and your partner leave this pub" called out Kane, raising his half full mug of rum and tilting his head backwards as he downed the contents. The whole time keeping his back faced towards them. "Ahh" he exhaled, content with the rum before a sudden slam reverberated through the room as he placed the mug down simultaneously using his free hand to wipe the froth that had built around his lips. "Another.." he ordered, glancing at the bar keep. Who obliged, nodding in response to Kanes request. "The animals in this pub won't be able to restrain themselves much longer, if you want whats best for ya, then ya better leave now" he stated still not turning around to address them head on. "There are probably safer pubs closer to the center of town if the pair of ya want to enjoy your date" he added,

As he said this, two men had stood up from their seats and begun to make their way towards the other side of the room; the larger of the two taking up a position against the entrance and effectively blocking off the escape route whilst the shorter but chubbier of the two approached Stacy and Syrin's table. "Well well, what do we have here?" gargled the short man as he leaned in to inspect her, his pig like nose twitching as he inhaled deeply. "Quite an alluring young woman, might I say so myself... why don't ya join Cap'n Rocress over there for a drink" a rhetorical question, the chubby man clearly didn't give Stacy a choice in the matter as he stepped to one side and pointed towards a rather muscular man sitting in the shadows of their table. At present his face was hidden from view due to the dim lighting but what was revealed were two muscular arms and a well built physique. Whilst a Captain in his own right, Rocress was no better then a common bandit, a measly 3.4million Beli bounty atop his head.

As the man waited for Stacy to move, his eye shifted towards Syrin and his brow furrowed as he glared at the man. "My Captain has no interest in little boys.. remain seated and behave otherwise me and my partner will be digging a rather large hole tonight.." he snickered, "ya.. know.. to bury your body and all.. should ya resist!" his snicker turned into laughter, though it didn't last for long as his foolishness only caused his Captain to grow impatient, obvious by the 'cough' he had made and the chubby mans ceasing his laughter almost immediately.

"Hurry up now!, You should be honored that Captain Rocress attention would be drawn to you!" he barked. All while this was going on, Kane had taken the last bite of his burger and began to drink from his second mug of Rum.

​

Can't see me

Lady Warlock
Exanis

 

[DonquixoteDoflamingo]

Echo Ekko​

Echo’s giant ears twitched as she flew high over the bustling town. The amount of activity was just so exciting! A bunch of construction sounds were emanating from one area along with shouts of a ‘zombie magician extraordinaire’. A zombie magician!? THAT would be something to behold, maybe she’ll see if Kahr wanted to do that later. Twitching her ears in another direction she heard two rather loud voices yelling in excitement about different things. One of those voice just didn’t sound quite human...like it was coming out of a mechanical speaker. She tilted her wings a little to fly slightly closer for a better ear shot.

“No!” She yelled at herself and shook her head. She flapped her wings to get back on her original course. She told Kahr she was going to head to the bar fight but he didn’t know where that was, she had to lead him there, she had a job! Realizing her words she flapped her wings hard and slowed down her speed, hovering in the air. Her ears twitched around frantically. Where was Kahr?! She hoped she didn’t lose him!

Her head swiveled left, no, Kahr wasn’t there. She whipped her head right, not there either! She sent out a couple panic squeaks and waited for the piercing sound to return to her. Hearing there was a building below her she flew down and snatched her claws around a section of the gutter and let her body swing upside down. Closing her eyes she listened harder to the sounds of the city.

Someone seemed to be yelling dramatically about ruining a dish, perhaps a cook of some sort? She shook her head and turned it in a different direction. She listened past the voices, past the everyday noises, somewhere there was a Hyena, she just had to find him - THERE! She caught onto the sound of those footsteps, she could recognize those anywhere. Confirming her friend’s location she released her grip on the building and used her wings to swoop herself back into the air.

She arrived at the scene of the bar fight just in time to hear quite the show. A polar bear mink fighting a fishman!?! She hovered above the fight as the fishman unleashed a blow on the bear. Echo twitched her ears and gasped when the bear then flipped the fishman. Oh, this WAS going to be a good fight! She wanted to land and focus on listening but she needed to be a beacon for Kahr. Since her hovering in place was causing more noise than she would care to admit Echo switched to flying in a small circle above the scene.

Echo squeaked out a few bursts down toward the fight below her attempting to get the play by play of what the blurry blobs of colors were doing. She decided that it was probably a good thing she didn’t land as she listened to the ground break apart in a shockwave after the fishman attacked it. Then again, perhaps the air also wasn’t too safe either as some debris flew toward her from the two of them throwing and breaking some crates. She managed to gracefully dodge a few of the high flying wooden fragments before returning her focus to the ground. She no longer saw the blurry blobs of color as if they were hidden under something and she squeaked out a few more bursts hoping her hearing would fill in where her poor eyes could not.

Chak AllHailDago Solemn Jester Sinny The Fool

 

[Felix]

Thing and Yukihime

Thing cautiously followed the corridor into the backstage area. He was constantly on the lookout for more dancers or other personnel. He could not afford to be noticed. Who knew what they might do with him? Suddenly he heard voices approaching him from behind.The corridor was almost empty where he was, no places to hide. A little above the ground there was a hatch. Thing moved back a little, took a sprint and ran up the wall. He lost speed way too fast. In a desperate attempt he stretched his middle finger upwards. It barely latched on, but it with a lot of effort he managed to pull himself up and into the hatch. The voices were now so close that Thing could hear what they said. He remained as still as possible and hoped they would pass without noticing him.

"... Do you think we should check on Esha? I am so worried about her."

"Voice down Lyasha, you don't want him to hear you." The other voice said. She continued to whisper. "Don't be stupid. Esha knew fully well what she was doing. You shouldn't give such an attitude. Especially when the boss has special guests."

"but she was sort of right."

"Right or wrong hardly matters. The boss will be lenient since you and your sister are new here, but this is just the way he works. Once a dancer was released because she broke too many plates. Your sister was lucky. Don't waste his forgiveness by going against his orders."

"but Suri-"

"No buts, no visits and no more attitude. Things will get better, I promise. All you have to focus on now is carrying out our current task. I will go ..."

The coast was clear as the dancers walked away. Thing did a step forward to exit the hatch, he had to tell Jayjay and his friends that Zambini was really not a good boss.

Wham! the hatch closed on top of Things pinky. The pain! Thing writhed an janked his finger back. He was now locked inside the hatch. He rolled around in pain and slammed the side of the box. The box started to move downwards.

There was a noise underneath him that became louder and louder. Boiling pots, hacking sounds and a lot of shouting.

"Chef, I think there's rats in the shaft again."

"Rats don't matter!" A bouldering voice shouted. "We don't have time for those pests. The boss wants a feast tonight, so that's what he will get."

The lift came to a ratteling halt. Thing prepared to jump whoever would open the hatch. A small ray of light entered. The openening process was agonizingly slow. When the gap was big enough Thing ran for it and took a jump.

"Hiiiiiiiiii!" Thing had landed on someones face.

"Gah! Wimp! Rats won't hurt you! Just get it out of the kitchen!"

Thing heard enough and jumped from the face to a spice rack. The scrawny boy he jumped off from was left a bit disoriented. Thing had no time to look back, he had to get out of here.

"What are you waiting for? I said: get this fucking vermin out of my kitchen!"

Thing continued racing over the spicerack, carefully avoiding not to fall off into the pans below. The steam was quite hot and the spicerack was quite slippery. A hand almost grasped him, but wasinstantly pulled back. The person attached to it shrieked. "Eeeeeew! I touched it. What is that thing?"

Thing was exactly what it was. Thing thought to himself. The funny moment didn't last long as he took a dainty step and slipped away. Just in time he clasped himself onto a big spoon that hung from the rack and swung himself to the countertop away from the furnace.

He continued to dash forward. There was all out chaos around him. People were whacking all kinds of kitchen equipment at Thing. Some he could nimbly avoid and other hurt quite a bit. Thing jumped over a knife that was planted in front of him. The counter did not continue much further.

Thing jumped off onto the ground, which was not much safer. People tried squashing him with their feet and someone even threw a jar at him. The blast of shards almost hit him, but he could just avoid it. The door was in sight. He was almost a free hand. There were no more feet between him and his escape.

Bang metal clanged to the floor. Thing was trapped in a pot.

"See that's how easy it was! All you pissers aimed like shit! What are you? Cooks or chicken to be slaughtered by cooks?! Because you acted like the latter! You would think all those special herbs would make you into vegetables, but I guess that's just for our guests. Now continue working like your life depends on it, which it does, and I will put this rat with the trash, where it belongs."

The chef put a lid under the pot and carried it up a set of stairs. Thing heard a door being opened. The chef lifted the lid and threw Thing against a wall in a back ally.

"And stay away!"

Things body ached all over as he laid on the ground. At least he was safe for the moment. Thing stayed down for a moment to recover before he got up. Then he stood up and looked around. The alley was dark and littered with trash and dirty water. There were two doors, the one he was thrown out of and a big metal door with a star on it, probably the performers entrance,but then heavily fortified. Someone stepped into the alley. Thing could barely see who it was, but it was clearly a woman. She took one step forward, her appearance suddenly appearing much brighter than before. Thing recognized and made a gesture of relief. He was saved! Yukihime was here!

---------------------------------------------------------------

A rather eventful island, Yukihime had to agree. Pirates everywhere, so many shops, eccentric businessmen, brawls between sharks and humanoid polar bears, excessive drinking, and so on. Still for the most part, nothing to catch her interest. Except... she heard about this one man and his establishment where the customers experience a rather surreal display. What caught Yukihime's attention was the uttering of the words "peculiar parfume". Her instinct told her to investigate the matter, considering that the source of the parfume could be a great addition to her collection.

And there she was, a few meters away from the building that belonged to Zambini. She, however, did not expect to meet Thing there. Yukihime gently took him off the ground, cleaned him with a handkerchief and patted him with delicacy. "What happened to you?" her tone was warm and compassionate, as she smiled brightly.

The next second another question came to her mind though. "What happened to Jayjay? Is he ok?" she asked, this time on a calm and cold tone. She was worried.

Thing rapidly tried to bring her up to speed with some gestures. He was not sure if Yuki would understand, but he hoped she would get the gist. An expert in sign language might have recognized some gestures like a jellyfish, running, being kicked in the balls by an octopus, an evil pudgy man and a magic trick. When he was done he looked expectantly at Yukihime to confirm that she understood. Or at least understood that they had to investigate an evil lair.

"I don't understand a thing you are trying to convey. But you are aggitated, and Jayjay's not with you. Something must have happened and you need my help. If I am correct, give me a thumbs up." she said, ever-so-calmly.

Thing wailed in agony, but gave a thumbs up anyways.

"Great! Let us investigate. It is a good chance for me to test some new po-...tent medicine," she said with a bright smile on her face, followed by an unusually eerie laugh. "Ahem, lead the way please." she regained her composure, so to say.

Thing gave a huge thumbs up when he heard the suggestion to investigate. Then he pointed several times to the fortified door with the star on it. He crawled over there and knocked on the door a few times. Nobody answered.

Yukihime hummed cheerfully as she threw a vial at the door and melted it partially. "Medicine! Does wonders for the skin, especially." she said, as she entered through the partially melted door. "Hmm, needs a more potent acid, this new composition." was a serious remark afterwards, but she was mostly talking to herself.

"Trick or treat?" she asked, ironically and rhetorically, as she walked through the unknown territory. There might have been enemies hidden, so she took out what seemed like a perfume bottle, then sprayed it over her exposed skin and clothes. "Long enough contact gives similar effects to chloroform, with a touch of numbness." she said cheerfully to Thing, as she put the bottle back in her cleavage.

She walked for a while, until she heard a male voice. She hid and tried to remain as silent as possible as she watched from afar. There truly was a large bald man laughing and mocking a girl which was put in a cage.

"Oh my, what an aggresive behaviour for such a handsome man." she said, as she walked towards him with sensual movements.

"Who's...t-there..." the man was mesmerized by Yukihime's beauty, enough for to get right in front of him with no problems and caress his face with her hands. The moment she got near him, the bald guy felt an incredibly pleasant smell.

"S-such a nice smell...wh-what is it?"

"Poison. Tehe."

"Oh..." he suddenly felt his whole body go numb, but he wouldn't lose consciousness so easily. "Oh my, so sturdy," as she said that, on a pseudo-impressed tone, Yukihime delivered a full-power kick to the guy's nether region, then used a throwing technique and put him to the ground. She then stomped on his nether region with her left foot, multiple times, looking at him as if she were looking at trash.

Dreadlock Pretzel

Miss White used a technique to "lock" the man's arms and legs in a similar fashion to a pretzel. Then stomped on his nether region again. She also made sure to take the keys away from him.

"Now then," she unlocked the door to the cage "You are free. Also, I am temporarily poisonous. So don't come close to me, at least for 15 minutes." as she said that, Yukihime distanced herself a few meters away from the girl.

The girl did not come out. She was shivering in the corner of the cage. However scary the bald man had been, this lady was scarier.

Thing waved at her to signal that it was okay to come out, but it had a reverse effect. The girl shrieked and then put her hand in front of her mouth. As if they couldn't see her if she didn't breathe.

"Now, now. I am sorry if I scarred you. And Thing is probably sorry as well. Do not worry. We wish you no harm." she spoke gently, smiling brightly. Her smile, together with her white hair, azure eyes and pale skin gave a surreal yet comforting effect.

Thing nodded and bowed. He was sorry too.

"W-who are you? Are you the new performers? If so then you really shouldn't have hurt that man." She rattled on. "Thank you though. He was really annoying. Here I go again, blabbing my mouth. My name is Esha, I am a dancer here." She stopped, catching her breath.

"Thing dear, give this vial for the girl to drink," she put a vial on the ground and pushed it towards her companion. "My name is Yukihime. You can call me Yuki. I am a medic. And Thing is a... nurse. The vial has a lot of vitamins, minerals, and Omega 3. Given your state, you should drink it. We'll talk more afterwards."

Thing rolled the bottle in front of him towards the cage, walking with his other fingers. Once he reached Esha he gave her a hand, like any good doctor should do to his patient.

Esha shook it cautiously and picked up the bottle. She held it in front of it and looked at it. She wasn't sure the woman spoke the truth. The lady said she was poisonous, so why wouldn't the liquid in the vial be?. Thing nudged her to drink it. She trusted that being a bit more and took a careful sip. She waited a while to see if it had any effect. When it didn't taste weird or did something funny she drank the rest of it. She hadn't realised how thristy she was. "Thank you! Now that I am free I can show you to your suits if you would like."

"Interesting train of thought. But if you were in that cage as a form of punishment for whatever reason, won't whoever put you there be angry if they saw you showing us around?" Yukihime asked.

"Well, I guess so, but there is one rule that overrules all. The performers are to be treated kings and queens. Whatever they desire shall be. Well ... except going out for a walk or something. It's too close to todays show to still go out. Not that they can go out any other time, but whatever. Anywho, whenever you ask me to help you, you can take me out of this cage and let me make you comfortable. Whatever floats your boat, I always say."

"Birds in a cage, basically," was Yukihime's reply to how performers where described. "Tell me, have you seen any unusual people coming in here? Like a zombie?" she asked.

"Ah, so you have heard that rumor as well. I heard that the main event tonight will be some undead magician. It sounds exciting, but I also heard he stinks a lot. They said he had two fishman woman as assistants. It's almost so extraordinary that I don't believe it. I have never seen fishman before. This could be Zambinis ticket out of here. We will all travel the grand line with this extraordinary act of showmanship. Isn't it amazing?" She walked out of her cage. She had clearly forgotten about her previous predicament and was bubbling with excitement. "So, shall I walk you around? Maybe we can get a glimpse of this new star!"

"Hmm... I need to contact someone first," with that said she took out a baby Den Den Mushi from her sleave and placed it on her wrist (left hand). She was going to call Jin.

"Captain, we have a problem..." and then she'd proceed to explain the situation to her captain.


collabed with Azure Sky

 

[Lady Warlock]

Captain Scarlet Johanna Indigrid

As the little group that was forming started heading closer to the docks, Scarlet was paying more attention to the new group of friends that surrounded her than she was to where she was going at the time. Now, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because it allowed her to be more engrossed in the conversation and to remember a few minor details of their current status as a crew. Until Nerissa mentioned it, the young captain had almost completely forgotten that they had a new ship in the first place.

“Oh yeah!” she remarked. “We have a new ship!”

Looking at the bags on her arms, Scarlet realized how silly she’d been to have forgotten such a thing. Their new ship was the whole reason why she’d needed new clothes in the first place; her old wardrobe hadn’t left Charybdis when the crew had made their departure. Oh well. “Have you thought of any potential names, Nerissa?” she thought to ask. After all, the priestess certainly seemed awesome enough to come up with something awesome to name their ship. Of course, Walter seemed pretty awesome too. And Scarlet had this hidden knowledge that Oliver had to be pretty awesome too otherwise he wouldn’t be hanging around with a robot man in a top hat. Everyone in her crew was just awesome like that.

“Walter! Oliver!” she shouted to get their attention. “Allow me to be the first person to welcome you to the Red Ribbon pirate crew! This is our yet to be named ship that we stole from the marines because they messed up our ship.” As she said it, they’d arrived at the ship and Scarlet waved her arm in a rather grand gesture towards it. “It still needs a name, too. If you have any ideas, please share them because it's not much of a pirate ship without a pirate ship name. And a pirate crew needs a pirate ship.”

Then her attention turned back to Nerissa. She hadn’t forgotten the priestess’s second inquiry… the one about dinner. Dinner was an important thing, after all. “As for dinner, that does sound fun! I think getting the whole crew together for a dinner would be absolutely wonderful! Wasabi was going to be getting some cooking things so we’ll want to make sure he wasn’t planning any surprise things first, though.” It wasn’t a bad thing to consider.

Without skipping a beat, Scarlet was leaping up onto their ship. “Jasper! We’re back! Well… most of us are. I think we lost Ed and Wasabi went off on his own, but the rest of us are here. And we got two new crew members!!! Allow me to introduce our robot buddy…. Walter the Wondrous and his friend Oliver the…” Scarlet paused. She couldn’t think of anything that started with ‘o’ that really filled the gap and it was rather frustrating. “Hmm… we’ll need to figure that out. Anyway, Oliver’s a mechanic! Kinda like Cletus but not quite. I don’t quite know how it works actually.”

DonquixoteDoflamingo thatonespacytallgirl AllHailDago QuirkyAngel shadowdude505 Misuteeku

 

[thatonespacytallgirl]

Kate and Anjellyka​

While some party goers stuck around to catch a glimpse before the show started most of them cleared out as Zambini’s employees prepared for the big show that night. They were bustling around so the place was still quite lively as Kate helped them move boxes, props and tables to set up for Jayjay’s performance. With her fishman strength she had no problem lifting the many heavy crates Zambini’s workers asked her to move. Kate was so focused on her task that she missed her new found friend coming up behind her.

Anjellyka had been watching Kate in awe. Kate was so strong! She wished she was strong, maybe….maybe she was! Seeing a box that had yet to be picked up, Anjellyka walked over and placed her hands on each side. With as much strength as her jelly body could produce she attempted to lift the box up. It moved but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t lift it off the ground. She glanced over again at Kate to see her carrying - wait...was she carrying FOUR boxes at once!? Anjellyka’s jaw dropped open and she ran over to Kate. “KATE YOU’RE SO STRONG!” Anjellyka praised her new friend with a huge smile on her face and hopped in her amazement causing her tentacles to sway about.

Kate turned around suddenly, since she hadn’t even heard Anjellyka approach. Her face flushed under Anjellyka’s praise. “T-Thank you Anjellyka.” Kate felt as though she was melting from happiness. A grin quickly spread across her face though as she got an idea. “I can carry a lot more than this though ya know!” Kate reached out with of her tentacles and suckered another box to it, before tossing it upward. Kate carefully positioned herself so that the new box fell on one of the other boxes she was holding. “See!” Kate said in triumph. “And this isn’t all that heavy to me.”

Anjellyka stared at the squidwoman with massive stars in her eyes. Quickly her domed head whipped from side to side. She wanted to carry stuff too! That one box was too heavy but surely there was something she could carry! As she looked around her tentacles whipped out around her, dangerously close to her friend. “I-I can carry stuff too!” She announced when her eyes locked on a smaller box. She ran over toward it and lifted it into the air. Turning back around she ran over toward her friend to prove that she was indeed...lifting a box. As if it happened in slow motion, Anjellyka’s slippery skinned feet slid out from underneath her and the box she had been carrying flew forward, directly toward Kate.

“Jelly be careful!” Kate called out as Anjellyka picked up her box and came running towards her. Her eyes widened as Anjellyka promptly tripped and the box came flew towards her. Kate quickly leaned forward and reached out with one of her arms that was only carrying one box and dipped down. Anjellyka’s box fell on top of the box Kate was already carrying. Kate let out a sigh as she straightened up, carrying a total of six boxes now. “Nice job lifting Anjellyka but maybe you should leave this to me.”

Anjellyka frowned as she picked herself up off the floor once again. Why did everything on land have to be so difficult for her!? She was pulled from her thoughts when she realized that before she fell Kate had called her something...different. “D-did you call me ‘Jelly’?” Anjellyka wanted to confirm.

Kate blushed again as she realised just what she said. “I’m sorry Anjellyka, it just sounded right. If you don’t like it I won’t call you by that nickname.”

Anjellyka shook her head, her tentacles whipping around. “No, I like it!” She grinned. “I’ve never had a nickname before!” Looking toward her friend she finally noticed a huge glass...container...like...thing. She wasn’t really sure what it was but it looked awesome AND they were filling it with water!! “WOW! Kate look at this!!” Anjellyka exclaimed and ran over toward the large aquarium. “Is this the thing that I’m supposed to swim in?” She wondered to anyone listening.

“I guess so.” Kate put down her many boxes and walked up to inspect the aquarium. “They really are pulling out all the stops for this show.” Kate eyed up the giant transparent container and bit her lip. Something about the aquarium was making her uneasy. Perhaps it was because she felt fishmen belonged in the open sea, not cooped up in a bowl. Or that’s what she thought anyway. She had yet to meet another fishman besides Anjellyka. She guessed it was okay though, as long as it was for just one show…

Collab with: DonquixoteDoflamingo
Phayne CelticHero37 Felix AllHailDago Azure Sky

 

[AllHailDago]

Darius Fletcher​

​

Darius slid his hand into his belt and ran it along yellowed leather as he listened to Jin. He seemed to like to speak, that was for sure. Despite originally looking like he was more inclined to simply fight everything rather than consider talking to it. Darius definitely couldn't cast stones for enjoying lengthy speech though. "Yes well, I tend to only jest at those already allied with a crew if they seem at all serious about it. Alex seemed to be pretty loyal and assured in her stance as it was. Which brings me to the other questions."

Darius scratched under his eye patch, his face dipping into a far more relaxed state as he did. Once finished, he put his hands back into his pockets in a rather lackadaisical fashion."I didn't agree to this meeting solely because I was ready to form an alliance. I do not make those fleetingly, as evidenced by having no alliance thus far. I mainly wanted to see what kind of person Alex would so defer to. Based on her actions back in the bar, her talk, her walk, her stance, she is one with a firm belief on how things are."

He rolled his neck and yawned, blinking slowly and repeatedly afterwards. "Y'see, people like that don't tend to follow idiots for long. Or those with opposing or weak morals, of which she made apparent she had strong ones in spades by tossing those drunk idiots out of that bar. My crew does avoid conflict unless need be, yes. However, if we don't think someone should ascend to Pirate King, and they make an enemy of us, they won't get the chance to sail away." He grinned toothily for a mere second.

"Should you and another crew we are allied with come into conflict? Well that would be more interesting. Should we be in range to help either of you it would come down to which crew I felt was more worthy of the alliance. Perhaps I'd try to talk you both down if I didn't believe one of you were in the wrong. Either way, those are steep if's. I see small likelihood of creating so many alliances you'd come across that at any point." He met Jin's eyes for his final bit of speech.

"Anywho... You say you have no intentions of being King. You just wish to sail the seas and adventure? Well, most would say similar of Gol D. Roger. One might consider the reason there is not other King is because everyone is shooting for such a goal. So few hold your ideal of simply pirating and adventuring. So far I'd say you have a better chance than nigh everyone I've met to this point. I think regardless of my simplistic reasons for coming, I would like to propose an official start to an alliance. How about it?" He extended his open hand, head tilted ever so slightly. The underside of his throat was just ever so visible to Jin. Whether as a sign of deference, a challenge to fight, or just a semi-arrogant stance was anyone's guess.

Phayne shadowdude505

 

[QuirkyAngel]

The Lucky Nova - Red Barber's Shop​

“It’s certainly a fun crew you’ve got,” Tristan said conversationally as he worked his hands through Nerissa’s aqua hair, washing the locks and getting a feel for her soft tresses. There was none of the water damage he would’ve expected from a pirate who spent much of their lives surrounded by the sea. In many ways, her hair resembled that of a mermaid’s or a Fishman’s. Tough. Hair tended to lose some of its tensile strength when wet. It becomes brittle and more prone to breakage, so had to be treated with more delicacy. However, hers was different. Smooth. Elastic. As if it was meant to thrive in the water.

Nerissa sighed in a relaxed manner. “I know. They are all so lively, it’s wonderful. Especially Miss Scarlet.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” With Jasper’s permission, Tristan had remained on the Red Ribbon Pirate Ship until their chronicler returned with her friends. A couple of greetings, handshakes, some business cards passed around to pretty ladies, and Nerissa was whisked away to the Tiger Shark ship where he currently ran his business. Or rather, she’d excused herself. A deal was a deal after all. Tristan had better things to do than wait for her to give some new crewmates a tour of their ship. He'd waited long enough. Arlen protested, of course. Adamantly refused to let her go alone. Therefore, Tristan invited anyone distrustful of his intentions to join them if it eased their worries. It wasn't a big deal.

Chuckling at the memory, Tristan glanced at the teen that sat—arms folded and legs crossed—in the corner of his shop glaring at him. Even though the butler had warned him about choosing his words carefully, Tristan couldn’t help himself. It was just too funny. Leaning close, the Red Barber whispered in Nerissa’s ear. “Your boyfriend is convinced I’ll do something nasty to you.”

“Arlen is the Leviathan and my assigned protector, not my boyfriend,” Nerissa replied tranquilly. “He’s very dutiful. It’s what I like about him. Though I wish he would trust me more.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. “And you’re convinced I won’t?”

“I’ve spent a good portion of the day shopping with you, Mr. Roads. I know you won’t.”

The absolute certainty in her voice made Tristan blink. She was right of course. Tristan considered himself above forcing any woman. And, while he was interested in her, it wasn’t in the manner her dark-skinned protector thought. Still…

“You’re a lovely woman, you know.” He lovingly caressed her wet hair, fingers combing through any tangles with efficiency of a skilled beautician. “I don’t think I would mind sharing a bed with you if you’d ask.”

There was a subtle growl from the corner.

“That’s very kind of you to say. Unfortunately, I’m sworn to Aquarius.”

“Too bad.” The scissor was finally spinning in Tristan’s hand. “Though I fully intend to get my way with you, as promised. Just sit back, relax, and leave everything to me, Chronicler Nerissa.”


(mentioned: Lady Warlock , AllHailDago , shadowdude505 , Misuteeku , DonquixoteDoflamingo , thatonespacytallgirl )

 

[Misuteeku]

Limstella
​

Sighing, Limstella ended up following the captain back to the ship along with her other crewmates. Stretching as she went up the boat, Limstella started to walk over to the front of the ship. Leaning on the railings, she looked out into the ocean and back at the town. It was rather nice to go window shopping... Well not exactly window shopping since Scarlet bought items from stores. Now that she thought about it, buying herself clothes was probably a good idea itself. It didn't matter since she could just wear the same clothes over and over, she'd just have to wash them somewhere on the ship.

Thoughts drifted to Cygnus. Man, this was depressing. Every time she tried to think of something to keep herself occupied, it would always land on Cygnus. Maybe guilt was the reason why she thought of him so much? Regardless, she dumped her thoughts away in the void. Staring off into the town, she just silently waited until they embarked again.

 

[Peaceswore]

Nobuyuki Amari

Whatever entity was in charge of luck and fortune, truly seemed to detest the existence that is Nobuyuki. For at every corner, misfortune seemed to find him or some kind of after untimely incident. While his luck had never been something one could even consider to be great; it seemed especially worse ever since he arrived at this island some weeks ago. Like any man running away from their family (of elite assassins), he had hoped to find some hint of fortune or at the very least a decent profit to live off of on some far away island. Alas, neither of these hopeful ideas happened for him. First his lovely stand to sell his beautiful baked goods had been utterly demolished due to some greedy guardsmen. Then he ended up being chased by several other guardsmen due to a supposedly unprovoked attack to the men that ruined his stand. Now he had to live off the little coin he had left in his pocket till he could find some way to gain a bit of coin, or at the very least till he could get off this island. Only the other night did he for the first time in his life experience what it was like to sleep on the streets. The experience as one could image, was anything but enjoyable.

A hefty sigh left the albino's lips as he adjusted his hat and shoulder bag while he wandered through the streets of this port. Frustration was rising as he gazed down at the few berries he had in his hand. Barely enough for a decent meal, certainly not enough for any lodgings. A low grumble rose out from his gut as it reminded him that food was supposed to be placed in his body. "Hush." He mumbled to himself as his free hand rested on his empty and rather pissed off gut, as if that would silence the noise, it didn't even faze it. He was starting to run out of options all in all, at this rate he would have to use more underhand tactics just to get a small meal. Something of which wasn't something he was fond using. He had actively chosen to skip meals rather than steal food or something of value to help fill his gut.

Stopping in his tracks he took one more long look at the last of his money before stuffing it in his coat pocket. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. 'I wont be able to figure out my next moves if I'm busy starving. One meal then I could go to the docks and see if there are any crews willing to take a chef on board. I should go to that bar I went to when I first arrived, had cheap kinda edible food, might be able to get more there then I would else where.'

With this idea in mind he shoved both his hands in his pockets and seamlessly glided toward the desired bar. Sticking close to the buildings and the shadows, he walked on without a sound towards his destination. To anyone that looked at him, it looked so obvious that he was up to no good. With his looks and his actions? Ya, he had to have been planning something malicious, not that anyone confronted him about such possible actions. While he didn't look the most....inviting of people, Nobuyuki was slightly ignorant to how people were viewing him right now. For to him he wasn't doing anything wrong, just avoiding the sunlight so skin that wasn't covered wouldn't get burned, and he just was so used to walking without a sound, that he found it harder to make noise when walking then not. He was aware of some looks he gained, as well as how a woman pulled her child closer to her as he approached, but he didn't bother to question a thing. Really, these things were the least of his worries right now. His stomach constant complaining was making it hard to care about anything other than filling his gut.

As he walked on, he started to pay more attention to his surroundings as loud crashes, booms and shouts were reaching his ears. Moving his eyes from his stomach to infront of him, he noted a good distance ahead was a rather large and rowdy crowd. 'Could have sworn the bar was in that direction.' As soon as the word bar entered his head, which of course meant a place to get food, his stomach seemed to get all the louder. A groan left him as he looked at his gut. "Quiet already, I ate the day before yesterday, why on the seas are you complai-" Before he could finishing questioning his own body, a loud roar of cheers and shouts filled the air, all of which occurred where the crowd was. Taken back by the loud shouting he stopped in his tracks for a moment as he cocked a brow in mild confusion. 'What is going on there? Cheering, rowdy gathered seemingly in a half circle, at least that what is looks like from here. Don't tell me......a bar fight' A small feeling of dread seeped into him, with the crowd being so hyped, it was unlikely that whatever fight was going down was soft and nondestructive. It more likely than not meant that there was a good, destructive fight happening, right near the sole bar he knew which sold cheap food.

A moment of silence passed before he took his hands out of his pockets he sprinted straight to the crowd. 'Don't let the bar be destroyed, don't let the bar be destroyed, can I have one good thing and not have this bar be destroyed?' Pushing a few people out of the way he arrived at the scene and the second he did so, a loud crash, no, it was more like a boom, reached his ears. Wind whipped against his body with a decent amount of force as he brought his arms up to protect his face from any possible debris. Which was useful for it seems currently something massive was flying straight toward him. Good thing he had his arm raised to protect his face fro-'.....that is not a rock.' Only giving himself a second to come to this realization, Nobuyuki immediately rolled to the side, right in the nick of time as the massive object; (which turned out to be a bear) crashed into those that didn't react in time. Pushing himself off the ground he gazed at the bear as he tried to figure out what in the world was going on right now. "What th-"

This alone would be shocking enough, not everyday you see a flying bear. Then, then that bear stood up and went to fight a fish. Blinking several times Nobuyuki rubbed his eyes a little bit to make sure the sleep was fully out of him. 'Too early for hallucinations due to hunger.' He reminded himself as he looked back at the fight that was occurring before him. For a good moment he completely forgot about his famished stomach as he watched the fight with the rest of the spectators, a good deal of surprise in awe coming from him. Arms crossed and his eyes narrowed as he gazed at the fighters intently watching their every move (really it looked more like he was wishing a death curse on them rather than him being genuinely interested in the fight). Sadly it seemed he arrived a tad late to the fight, for only moments after he started to watch, the two combatants ended up crashing straight into a fruit stand. 'I guess I'm not the only one that has to deal with people destroying their stand. Nice to know that I'm not the sole target of this misfortunate.'

A hush seemed to go through the crowd as everyone waited to see who would emerge the victor of the fight. Finding himself rather curious, Nobuyuki stepped out from the crowd and approached the fallen fruit stand silently and with that same dark look that he just seemed to naturally give off. Once he got about four feet from the stand he looked over it a bit (remaining ready to move back or react if the situation called for it). "Hey, you two alright there?" He asked, his tone shockingly soft, not timid, but soft. "Didn't knock each other out did you??"
AllHailDago DonquixoteDoflamingo Sinny The Fool Solemn Jester Chak (not sure if I tagged everyone that pertained to this or not)

 

[Phayne]

Jin listened intently as Darius answered his questions, not once tearing his gaze away from the potential ally standing before him. What Jin looked for in an ally was simple, he wanted someone with whom he could trust, an ally that honoured the agreement made between each party and an ally that wouldn't bring more trouble and put his own goals in jeopardy. If Jin ever felt that an alliance had risk of turning sour or potentially risked endangering his own crew, then he'd have left the negotiations immediately, which was why he had asked his questions in the first place. Before he even attempted to agree to an alliance, Jin wanted clarity, he wanted to get an insight into the captain with whom he'd be forming a contract with; to gauge just what type of person he or she was.

As Darius answered, Jin couldn't see any hint of deceit behind the mans words, nor could he detect any attempt from Darius to pull the wool over his eyes. What Jin saw was a man simply being honest, a man who had a clear goal in sight yet still held reservations as to how he went about attaining it. Like Jin, Darius too had standards that needed to be met before any formal agreement was to be made and judging by what Darius had implied, they were high standards. Jin Smiled, he was satisfied.

"Very well" he replied, reaching his own hand out towards Darius and reciprocating the hand shake; his right hand firm, perhaps even a little too tight. "I have no objections with our crews entering an alliance with one another. As Captain of the Horizon Stride Pirates, I ensure that I as well as my crew will honor our responsibilities as part of this alliance" he spoke, continuing to shake his hand, whilst doing so he kept fixed eye contact with his opposite captain. A visual challenge that was soon interrupted as he felt his pants pocket vibrate.

"I beg your pardon, but I must answer this" spoke Jin stepping away and turning his back towards the others before reaching into his pocket to retrieve his personal Den Den Mushi. "Ka-cha" uttered the snail, its deep voice quickly giving way to a more feminine voice.

"Captain, we have a problem..."

The aura around Jin shifted suddenly as the voice of Yukihime echoed through the Den Den mushi, her words illicitating an undesired reaction from the captain. "What's the problem?" he replied, his voice stern and straight to the point as he began listening to Yukihime out of earshot from Darius. As she explained her predicament, Jin's expression remained the same; the blonde haired captain taking in every detail of information that he could gather. It appeared that despite his earlier order, trouble had somehow managed to find members of his crew, at least at present that trouble to be somewhat contained to a degree, but considering how things could quickly escalate; Jin did not desire prolonging the situation to that point. Sighing, Jin raised his right hand to the bridge of his nose, shaking his head slightly. "I agree, I do not like the sound of this Zambini. Take Thing with you and find Jay, I'll be on my way shortly with Alex" Jin glanced towards Alex as he said this, his expression a far cry different to the more relaxed one he carried earlier. "...and Yuki.. Don't do anything that will escalate the situation.. If at all possible, I'd prefer we sorted this out without fuss" he added, ending the transmission and turning around to face Darius once more.

"It appears I have something urgent to attend to. I'd have preferred to share a bottle or two to commemorate this new alliance, but as you could probably understand, my crew takes utmost priority" Jin bowed his head slightly before turning to face Alex. "We have to go, It seems like some of the crew are in a pinch" With that said, Jin made his waytowards the stairwell leading back up to the main street. Jin intentionally kept the information to himself; not wanting to trouble the wolf wind pirates with this issue. At present, it was still something that the Horizon Strides were fully capable of containing and resolving.

As they headed up the stairs, Jin's attention was once more drawn to the Afro'd man sobbing over his spilt dish. Had this incident with Zambini not taken his priority, he'd have wanted to chat to the man, alas circumstances did not allow for such... or did it?

"You" spoke Jin stopping in front of Yummy, his voice full of confidence but hinting towards urgency. "Do you by chance know where I can find a restaurant owned by a man called Zambini?" he inquired.

AllHailDago Sugary_Paragraphs Felix Azure Sky shadowdude505

 

[Mitchs98]

Spoiler: QUOTES YAY

Cletus T. Bass
​

Cletus followed Scarlet into Blue Rose Fashion and began to glance around with his usual gruff expression, only this time he seemed more stiff than normal. He was a man set in his ways; he was used to his particular clothing style and didn't usually linger very long in clothing shops. This shopping trip he was more interested in buying something for his nieces. He was tempted to ask Scarlet what two pre-teen girls would like for a gift, but she was soon whisked away on her own shopping spree. "I'll figure something out," he thought to himself.

Cletus began to peruse the pre-teen dress section and felt a little awkward as he did so. He probably looked like a pervert to anyone who didn't know about his nieces, which would include his own crew since he hadn't mentioned them yet. While the dresses ultimately would have looked "cute" on his nieces, he ultimately decided to pick something they wouldn't grow out of. He began to search the other aisles to see what he could find.

Walking past the jewelry section, Cletus had an epiphany moment after spotting friendship bracelets. His eyes landed on a pair with blue beads and another pair with orange beads; the favorite colors of his nieces, unless they updated them recently. Cletus grabbed the two pairs of bracelets and walked to the register and bought them without a lot of small talk; he even refused the VIP offer.

"Hey Captain, I'm going to go find a postal office. I'll be back in a few minutes," Cletus explained after finding Scarlet mid-shopping-spree. He didn't stick around to see if she had heard him.

Cletus walked through Balaggan Port until he found a post office. He wrote a sappy letter to his nieces, telling them he'd always remember them when he looked at his half of the friendship bracelets and asked them to do the same concerning him. He put one of the blue beaded bracelet and one of the orange ones in the envelope and closed it. He put his half of the friendship bracelets around his right wrist and put the envelope into the mail slot.

He walked back to Blue Rose Fashion with a melancholy air and a light cigarette in his mouth. He was a couple yards away from the building when he saw Scarlet exit and call for him. Looks like she hadn't heard him when he told her he was leaving for a bit, or at the very least forgot. "Right here, Captain," he gruffly called out. "Headin' back to the ship?"

Lady Warlock Misuteeku (nearby)

Cait Merlin
​

"Welcome aboard," Cait said to Misuki. She finished her handshake and flashed the girl a smile before turning her attention to Trista. "There's always room for some extra muscle. Feel free to tag along as long as you'd like," she replied. "Though if you don't want to share your name, is there some kind of nickname or something you'd like the crew to call you? 'Hey you' is awfully impersonal."

As she waited for a response from Trista, the sudden appearance of Keya stole her attention away. "Hey Keya, meet your new crewmates. This is our new navigator, Misuki, and this is our new fighter...umm," she released she was didn't know what to call Trista yet. "...We haven't gotten that far yet," she sheepishly admitted. "Girls, this is Keya."

Now that introductions were out of the way. "I can show you two the ship if you'd like."

Hanarei simj26 Mitchs98 Sugary_Paragraphs (nearby)

View attachment 421777​

Mizuki smiled gleefully in response, nodding her head as she seemed so quick to take her on as part of the crew. She couldn't believe the incredible amount of luck she had struck upon. What had turned out to be some sudden disaster all but fell perfectly in her favor. All she had to do was allow the winds to guide her... well and take over a half a year journey with little success in order to find something... but she did find something in the end! Then again.... it was possible it was all a trap. She shook her head of the thought, after all it wasn't as if she had anything of any value to take. It would be a rather large waste of time to bother with a blind girl like herself.

The teen glanced over towards Trista... or at least more so turned her head in her direction lacking any actual vision to see the girl who she still hadn't the slightest clue what she was due to the crowd of people around and about making it difficult to pick out more about her, not to mention the notion of zombie wasn't even something she would even knew existed to begin to ponder such a being. It seemed as if she was taking nearly anyone onboard the ship... perhaps something she should have some worry about but she was far to grateful to even think about that.

Mizuki's head turned in the direction of Keya, hearing the woman speak up further addressing her presence. She lifted her hand as to wave, smiling brightly. While she was facing the right general direction it wasn't hard to tell she didn't seem to know exactly where she was, the area being far to noisy and her appearance so unexpected it had left her more so fumbling simply using where her voice came from as a general direction to face. She felt as if she should give her name though with Cait already mentioning it, she simply brushed off restating it. It was strange how people from outside her tribe seemed to interact socially with one another at times.

"Hello! Feel free to take the Omelette if you so like it... if the... eccentric chief doesn't mind." She spoke pausing a bit trying to think of a nicer word to say then weird before coming up with eccentric. She clutched tight on her staff, holding it to her side. Her hand fumbled to ensure she had her bag with all her things... as little as it might be... on her. She turned her head back vaguely in the new captain's direction nodding her head.

"Yes, I'd love to um... well I'd like to get a feel for it." She spoke with an awkward smile not quite sure of how to react to such a turn of phrase. She wasn't one who really got too offended by people making unintentionally 'making fun' of her lack of vision, typically only really throwing a fit should she feel slighted.

shadowdude505 simj26 Mitchs98 Sugary_Paragraphs (Nearby, small mentioning)

simj26

Keya FenrisKeya smiled happily as Mizuki waved at her, the little dwarf woman liking how kind she seemed to be already. While she didn't exactly stare right at Keya...or...anywhere near Keya for that matter other than her general direction, she didn't mind. Though she was definitely curious why she didn't stare at her, perhaps she didn't notice her. Who knew. She grinned however as she mentioned taking the Omelette, "Awesome." She replied happily. She soon looked up to Cait, then two the other two females present smiling at the both of them. "Hai! I'm Keya~!" She told them cheerfully. "I'm a fighter too, and usually used to break stuffs when it's needed." She explained. "I might be tiny, but dwarves are super strong too!" She said, grinning wide.

"I hope you guys like it on board the ship...everyone there is quite nice. Especially panda man. He's super cuddly and awesome." She spoke, humming softly. "I'll follow you guys if you don't mind, kinda...don't have anything else to do other than explore and potentially get lost." She explained, chuckling softly. Of course she didn't forget the food either, the dwarf quickly picking up the warmly wrapped dish. "Ready when you guys are." She said, carrying an omelette that was as big or even bigger than she was. It looked rather funny, but she didn't mind. All that she cared about was that she now had her lunch in hand and nothing shy of dropping it or a bird or something stealing it would pry it away from her, it just smelled that good.​

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Emilie Cortagne

​

The storekeeper sighed and collapsed in a nearby chair, putting his hands in his head.

"I- thank you, I'm sorry you had to be witness to all that but thank you for, for dealing with them,"

"Thanks are unnecessary," Emilie replied placidly, righting the display that had been knocked to the ground almost instinctively. "I was just following my own whims. As I said I can't abide people making a mess for no reason, especially in a such a well kept establishment."

The storekeeper looked up with a sheepish smile at the compliment. "Thank you... I, my name's Martin, Martin Waker. This store is all I've ever wanted, it's been my dream for so long. I put my life savings into the down payment for this store. For a while everything was fine, I was making my payments and a modest profit as well, but then I found out my creditor was intimidated into selling my debt to Mr. King. The King's are Balaggan's oldest crime family, but the youngest son is passionate about textiles and fashion, his designs are gaudy and poorly constructed but his father has bought up or scared way all his competition until he has a virtual monopoly and people are forced to buy his tacky rubbish! Ever since he brought my debt King has been raising my interest rates, sending his thugs around to scare away my customers and damage my stock! Trying to put me out of business!"

Martin had been growing louder and more animated as he spoke, clearly passionate about the subject, then he seemed to catch himself and looked sheepish again.

"Anyway, that's all nothing to do with you. I'm truly thankful for your assistance, of course you don't really have to place such a large order,"

"I'm rather mortified to tell you our budget isn't large enough to cover it anyway," said Emilie, bowing slightly. "That was... a deferment of the truth, in the interests of propriety. I only wish we could do more to help,"

"Thank you but I don't really know what you could do. I had plans to enter the upcoming fashion contest, the grandprize would be enough to pay off my debt and with the public eye on my store I could get the police involved if they tried anything else. But King has scared away any fashion designers or tailors that might work with me, his blasted son is running practically unopposed save for a few token teams there to make him look good,"

Lady Warlock

 

[CelticHero37]

Watanabe Hotaka Wasabi
Debts
Wasabi glared down the shopkeep for a long moment. Then, he set the man down and turned to leave as if nothing had ever happened. After a few steps, he stopped. Looking over his shoulder, his gaze piercing through the shadow of his rice hat and strait into the man as he whispered in a very eerie voice, "Very well. Here's the deal. I'll let you hold my money for now. Then I'll come and help myself to it at a time of my choosing. If you don't have the money then, I'll just take the equivalent in merchandise. Oh, and don't bother going into hiding. I will find you one way or another."

On that note, Wasabi left the scene. He continued on his way, finished up the orders he had planned and having them delivered to the ship. By the time he was done, they were fully stocked and ready for a long voyage. Once everything was done, he headed back toward the ship.

As he arrived, he thought he heard the captain's voice mention his name. Coming onto the ship, his shadow gradually loomed over Oliver and Walter, then he said, "I've returned as well. The ships holds should be full once the supplies have arrived."

Lady Warlock DonquixoteDoflamingo thatonespacytallgirl

 

[CelticHero37]

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV
It would have seemed like Ed had eaten well past her body weight in food before she finally let out a satisfied sigh, tapping her belly as in emphasis. With a content smile, she let her arm relax on the table. Then she grabbed a handful of spaghetti and shoveled it into her mouth. With a little bit still hanging out of her mouth, she heard the owner refer to her as little girl. Her eyes shot open and settled into a skeptical squint. Then she slurped up the last of the spaghetti, making it look very much like the flick of a snake's tongue.

The unrelenting stare she sent back to him was one that said he was in the doghouse. First of all for noticing she was awake, and thus likely noticed she had been eating. Second that he had called her little girl. However, all that changed when he asked about her talents and suggested putting her in the main act.

A little smile cracking in the corner of her lips, she asked, "Hee. Yup, I've got talents. But what's in it for me, huh?" Rising to her feet and thrusting out her chest, she added, "I'm the great Edward Wong Has Pepelu Tivruski the Fourth. Head navigator, Goritsuki expert, animal whisperer. You name it, I can do it. Actor extroardinare. I acted in and directed a musical on Broadplank that was written by yours truly, called Toodle the Screw. One man circus act, I am, yes indeed. I'll raise the roof, yessiree bob, whatever talent you need, I got it. But one thing I don't do is work for free. No sir. So? What'll it be?"

DonquixoteDoflamingo thatonespacytallgirl Felix Phayne

 

[shadowdude505]

Cait Merlin​

After watching and listening to Mizuki for a while, Cait began to realize that the girl was blind. For a while there she had hid it pretty well, but looking above where Keya made it a bit more obvious to the fishwoman. Mizuki had seemed very confident in her navigation skills though; maybe she had some sort of secret skill.

"Alright, follow me," she said with a grin. She turned and started to walk toward the Lucky Nova, humming a Celtic jig as she did so. "Watch your step," she called out as she started to make her way up the gang plank. "Welcome to the Lucky Nova," she said to those that had followed her.

Cait began to glance around the ship, thinking about what the next stop of the ship tour should be. That's when she spotted Tristan and Nerissa. "That's our barber, Tristan. Looks like he has a customer," she stated for those that weren't familiar with who was on the crew. "Ahoy there," she called out, giving the Tristan and the woman a friendly wave. She also flashed them a warm. shark-toothed grin before turning to her new crew.

"The crew quarters are down this way if you want to put some of your things away," she said. "I could show you some of the unclaimed rooms, or any other place on the ship, if there's a different spot you'd like to go to first."

simj26 Hanarei Mitchs98 QuirkyAngel

Alex Q. Draw
​

Alex watched and listened to the conversation between Darius and Jin. She wasn't the captain or the first mate. As a sniper it wasn't her place to chime in unless things went sideways for whatever reason. Occasionally she'd glance over to the wailing Yummy, keeping an eye on a potential recruit like Jin asked her to. Jet, on the other hand, kept his focus on Darius and his first mate; watching them like a hawk, because he was one.

Alex crossed her arms as Darius began to mention her loyal nature like she wasn't even there. "If you're trying to get bonus points with me, that ain't happening," she thought to herself. She watched as Jin and Darius shook hands. The dead was done, however, Alex didn't have time to contemplate what the new alliance meant.

Jin's Transponder Snail suddenly began to ring, bringing a pressing message from Yukihime. Without saying a word to Darius, Alex dutifully began to follow after Jin. She stopped when he stopped to ask the crying afro-man a question. Not wanting to do nothing while waiting for a reply, Alex turned her head toward Jet, who was still on her shoulder. "Find Yukihime," she ordered softly. Jet quickly nodded and took flight, before beginning to search the port from his bird's-eye-view.

AllHailDago Phayne Sugary_Paragraphs
Azure Sky (mentioned)

Cletus T. Bass
​

Cletus smoked as he quietly watched Walter and Oliver as they interacted with his captain. At first Walter's pushy left a bad taste in the paranoid-man's mouth, but it looked like the robot and his shy human friend meant them no harm. On the plus side, the addition of new crew mates distracted Scarlet from mentioning anything about his new bracelets. He still wasn't in the mood to explain the reasons behind his new fashion sense.

Cletus walked with Scarlet and the group back toward the ship. "I fix ships, he fixes machines," he gruffly stated after Scarlet tried to compare his work with Oliver's.

The shipwright made his way over to the railing overlooking the port and continued to smoke. He spotted a couple of men pushing carts of ship supplies. Wood, metal, nails, bolts, the whole shabang. His focus zeroed in on the men, zoning out any replies or chatter from the rest of the crew. "Looks like my supplies are here," he called out, mainly to give Scarlet the heads up that strangers would be on the ship for a few minutes.

Cletus walked down the gang plank to meet the men and showed them a spot below deck they could drop off the supplies. True to his paranoid nature, Cletus kept an eye on the workers even though they came from a reputable shipwright store.

Lady Warlock DonquixoteDoflamingo thatonespacytallgirl Misuteeku AllHailDago QuirkyAngel CelticHero37

 

[AllHailDago]

Jasper Pharos​

Jasper was quite pleased with the sudden arrival of his Lady and Captain, Scarlet. Especially with the sudden bustling activity that followed. Tristan left with Nerissa and Arlen in tow, presumably to go to his shop or ship or where ever he ran his place of business. Meanwhile Lady Scarlet had arrived with most of the crew behind her and two new members besides. Jasper gave the new pair a sidelong glance while wondering how many crew members they would gain over their travels. After all, it had been just Scarlet and himself for some time, then suddenly they had quintupled their crew in just a couple islands. By the time they get part way through the Grand Line they may very well need another ship or two.

Cletus had varying materials and parts delivered to the ship and busied himself with making sure they were properly put below deck. This was something Jasper would likely have mediated with many other members of the crew, but Cletus was in Jasper's eyes more than capable and trustworthy enough. Jasper rolled one slightly stiff shoulder for a moment before addressing Lady Scarlet and the newcomers. "Welcome back Lady Scarlet! I see you brought back yet another pair of new recruits." He faced them directly and eyed them up and down openly. "Oliver and Walter the Wondrous, hm?"

He put his left hand to his chin as if pondering. "A mechanic could come in handy down the line for sure. Though at current we have little to no mechanical parts to the ship, I am sure we can keep you busy." He turned his eyes from Oliver to Walter. "A robot hm? Do you require food? Water? Do you sleep?" He paced these questions evenly, rather than in the annoying rush you might find with many others. "Also, a question for all of you. Would you care for tea?" The pot was freshly cleaned and the tea could be prepared quickly. He had even recently procured some of Lady Scarlet's favorite!

Lady Warlock Sinny The Fool Solemn Jester

 

[DonquixoteDoflamingo]

Oliver and Walter
As Oliver cried about his misfortune into Walter’s shoulder he suddenly felt a hand on his back. He flinched at first, not used to positive human touch before relaxing upon realising it was one of his new crewmates offering him some comfort. "I read a bit about herbal medicine in a book once. It'll be alright. Aquarius protects this crew."

"Let's show Walter and Oliver the new Red Ribbon ship. We still haven't given it a name yet, but it's very...big...compared to our last one, Perhaps Oliver and Walter can help us decide." Nerissa smiled. "There's also going to be something big at a restaurant called Zambini's tonight as well. One of the construction workers told me."

Walter had been kind of off in his own thoughts for a bit before some of Nerissa’s words caught his attention. “Something BIG? Like...LIKE A SHOW?!” Walter’s optics glowed brighter in his excitement at the possible opportunity.

“Walter!” Oliver, still in his friends arms, reached up and cupped Walter’s face with both hands forcing the robot to look him in the eye. “No! You are not crashing another person’s show! You’ve already ruined five shows on the way here!”

“Ruined? EXCUS-SS-S-S-SS-SS-SSE ME?! You mean I made them BETTER!!” Walter corrected, glitching slightly as he stared down at the boy still in his arms.

Nerissa looked between Scarlet and her friends. "Can we all have dinner there? As a crew? I think it'd be a nice way to end our stay at Balaggan..."

Walter tilted his head to the side as he focused back on Nerissa. “Oh yeah...eating….that's a thing that humans do…” He trailed off.

Oliver face-palmed at his friend’s lack of knowledge about basic human necessities as the group started walking back towards the harbor.

“Um… Walter?” Oliver realised that he was still being held in Walter’s arms and his face started to heat up in embarrassment.

“Huh? WHat?” Walter looked down at Oliver’s face.

“C-could you put me down p-please?” Oliver asked softly, trying his best not to draw too much attention to himself.

“Huh?! WHat?!” Walter repeated, slightly louder than he had previously.

“I said could you put me down please?” Oliver repeated himself, only slightly louder than before.

“HUH?! WHAT?!” Walter repeated once more...this time unable to hide his smirk.

“I SAID PUT ME DOWN WALTER!” Oliver managed to yell this time, realizing that Walter was just messing with him, that jerk.

“THERE is that volume again! But no, I dont wanna put you down.” Walter exclaimed.

“What?! Why?!” Oliver asked, looking bewildered.

“Cause your legs are short...you walk too slow.” Walter grinned.

“It’s not my fault I’m short!” Oliver whined as he crossed his arms and glared at Walter. He continued to pout until they arrived at the ship.

“Walter! Oliver!” Scarlet shouted to get their attention. “Allow me to be the first person to welcome you to the Red Ribbon pirate crew! This is our yet to be named ship that we stole from the marines because they messed up our ship.” As she said it, they’d arrived at the ship and Scarlet waved her arm in a rather grand gesture towards it. “It still needs a name, too. If you have any ideas, please share them because it's not much of a pirate ship without a pirate ship name. And a pirate crew needs a pirate ship.”

Walter tilted his head as they walked, the gears in his head spinning as he thought of possible names for a ship. “Hmm. I’ll have to try to think of something wonderful, majestic, something that sounds like a ship worthy of hosting the greatest showman.” Walter muttered to which Oliver facepalmed.

Oliver suddenly looked panicked as he squirmed in Walter’s arms. “Please put me down now Walter!” Oliver whispered frantically. “I don’t want to mess up my first impression with the rest of the crew!”

Walter hissed air through his vents before finally placing Oliver back onto the ground. “Fineee.” He groaned before perking back up. “But only because I need to make a good first impres-s-s-s-sssss-ssion!” He exclaimed, glitching again, before proudly marching his way up to the ship.

Without skipping a beat, Scarlet was leaping up onto their ship. “Jasper! We’re back! Well… most of us are. I think we lost Ed and Wasabi went off on his own, but the rest of us are here. And we got two new crew members!!! Allow me to introduce our robot buddy…. Walter the Wondrous and his friend Oliver the…” Scarlet paused. She couldn’t think of anything that started with ‘o’ that really filled the gap and it was rather frustrating. “Hmm… we’ll need to figure that out. Anyway, Oliver’s a mechanic! Kinda like Cletus but not quite. I don’t quite know how it works actually.”

"I fix ships, he fixes machines," Cletus corrected Scarlett gruffly. Oliver turned over to his new crewmate with renewed interest. He had read up on building and maintaining ships during the journey he and Walter had made from Junkyard Island to Balaggan Port. Walter had acquired some books for him on the subject, (which Oliver later learned were stolen much to his dismay) and Olver was curious. He was always up for learning new things and he loved to build and create. Anything that kept his hands and mind busy and away from self-deprecating thoughts was always a plus for Oliver.

Walter gave a rather dramatic bow as he was introduced. He straightened back up with a smile on his face. “Walter ‘the Wondrous’ huh? Yes, Oliver write that down. Print it, Keep it, PUT IT EVERYWHERE!” Walter waved a hand in front of his face as if he was seeing a vision.

“Um, how about no?” Oliver sighed, exasperated with his friend. “The last thing you need is for your ego to become even more inflated.” As Oliver said this, a shadow suddenly fell across him and Walter. Oliver flinched in surprise, as he hadn’t heard the other member of the Red Ribbon pirates approach. He turned around in alarm to see an incredibly tall man in a rice hat address Scarlet, something about having all the supplies they would need.

Oliver’s attention was drawn away from the freakishly tall man though when another member of the crew addressed them "Welcome back Lady Scarlet! I see you brought back yet another pair of new recruits." Jasper faced them directly and eyed them up and down openly. "Oliver and Walter the Wondrous, hm?"

Walter grinned wildly when his newly acquired title was announced yet again. “Yes! Walter the Wondrous! Keep repeating it! Repeat it until it spreads like WILDFIRE through a small town made entirely of S-S-S-SS-S-SS-STRAW!!” Walter’s excitement about the subject seemed to cause him to have another glitch.

Oliver raised an eyebrow at Walter. “That’s… ah… a oddly specific metaphor Walter.”

Walter turned his gaze toward his little friend. “But Oliver….the burning of houses would glow just as brightly as my wondrous name!!”

Oliver sighed for the millionth and rubbed his face. “Sure… let’s go with that.”

Jasper put his left hand to his chin as if pondering. "A mechanic could come in handy down the line for sure. Though at current we have little to no mechanical parts to the ship, I am sure we can keep you busy." He turned his eyes from Oliver to Walter. "A robot hm? Do you require food? Water? Do you sleep?" He paced these questions evenly, rather than in the annoying rush you might find with many others. "Also, a question for all of you. Would you care for tea?"

“Even if you don’t have a lot of mechanics on the ship I’ll do whatever I need to do to help out!” Oliver answered earnestly. “I’ll do whatever it takes not to be a burden on you all…” Oliver trailed off as he nervously wringed his hands and stared at the floor. If they didn't have any mechanical parts on the ship, just what was he supposed to do. The last thing he wanted to do was be a hindrance to anyone. He had been learning about being a shipwright but…

Oliver’s gaze moved over to where Cletus was sorting through the supplies. Oliver wanted to head over and help, and hopefully learn something from the far more knowledgeable shipwright. However he hated to bother his clearly busy crewmate and he’d probably be nothing more than a nuisance underfoot as he still had much to learn about proper ship maintenance.

“Food? Nope, don’t need it. Water? Hate it. Sleep…..I barely know what that is but nope, don’t need that either. Tea? Don’t need it.” Walter answered all of the man’s questions before turning his gaze back toward Oliver. He noticed that his little mechanic was not really paying attention to the conversation but was rather focused on Cletus. Walter put a hand up to his face as the gears spun in his head. “Why don’t chya go over there? I see you staring.”

“What?!” Oliver spun around to look at Walter. “Oh, no I couldn’t! I’d just be a bother…” Oliver’s gaze returned to his feet and he fidgeted anxiously.

Walter nodded his head and put his hands on Oliver’s shoulders. “Go make friends!! I wanna see it in action!” He exclaimed and shoved the poor boy forward.

“B-b-but he looks really busy. Can’t I make friends later?” Oliver cried desperately, looking down the gangplank to where Cletus was observing the workers loading the supplies onto the ship.

“But I need to see how it works!! I don’t know how to make friends! So just GOOOOOOOO!!” Walter shouted and pushed Oliver toward the man again. However, he misjudged his strength and accidentally pushed the poor boy down the gangplank. “Oops.” He muttered as he watched the boy tumble away from him.

“AHHHHHH!” Oliver yelled as he tumbled down the gangplank, somehow landing flat on the dock right next to Cletus. Oliver quickly scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in from the various scraps and bruises he now had from that fall to look up at Cletus. “I’m sorry! I just um… I… um… ah… I w-was just interested in shipwright stuff so I… came o-over here a-and… oh gosh I’m b-bothering you a-arn’t I? I-I can just go if you want? I-I’m sorry…”

collab with thatonespacytallgirl

Lady Warlock shadowdude505 QuirkyAngel CelticHero37 AllHailDago

 

[Felix]

Suddenly all lights on the stage went dark. Eerie music started playing. A purple flash enveloped the graveyard props in light. Dark again, except for I lit skull floating from the ground. A flash again, showing the lean body that was attached to it. "Ladies and Gentleman ... Straight out of the grave ... The great magician extraordinaire ... The Shadow Doctor." The skull did a maniacal laugh. Thunder struck with another flash. The skeleton figure was gone now. The light turned on again. Something tapped on Anjellyka's and Kate's shoulders. "Boo!"

"Jayhayhayhayhay!" Jayjay laughed again, but this time it was less evil and more genuine. He waved to the stage hands. "Great work guys. If we add the smoke tonight this will surely be an entrance to remember. Though I still think we could add in some fireworks here and there." Jayjay was very self-conscious in the fancy suit. He felt really good in it. They had done a marvelous job backstage.


"Where is your hand? Will you be alright with doing the show? Do you need my men to go search for it? What can I do to help you find your missing hand?! " Zambini had asked.

"You mean Thing? Don't worry, he is right here." Jayjay tapped his bag. "He is on a little time-out for his bad behavior. I will take him out later to help me out during the show." He felt slightly guilty of the way he treated Thing, but he had to learn that he could not be jealous of other people spending quality time with Jayjay. Thing as unusually silent in the bag, which made Jayjay worry. He showed no signs of it though. "In the mean time, you could help me by setting up some props for the acts on stage." Then he continued to state a list of things that he needed for his show.

When Zambini left to organize the show he quickly checked his bag. It was empty.Or well, not empty, but there was no living hand inside of it. Jayjay panicked. Where could Thing have gone? He was not planning on looking for Thing though. He trusted his friend to take care of himself and that Thing would come back when his anger had settled. Besides they had a show to prepare.


"How are you doing, girls?" Jayjay asked, still chuckling a bit about his practical joke. "Can I borrow Anjellyka for a bit? We should really practice the vanishing from an aquarium trick. It is the main trick in my box, so we have to get it perfect." He made a gesture for her to follow him to the designated aquarium on stage. "By the way, have you guys seen Thing anywhere? I can't find him anywhere."

thatonespacytallgirl DonquixoteDoflamingo CelticHero37 Phayne

 

[Azure Sky]

Sayuri "Sakemono" Jigokumeguri

​

The highlight of the day was a fight between a bear and a shark apparently, many people gathered to see the show, but Sayuri wasn't that interested. Sure, she'd ask later to find out who won, but it was not her priority. Something else piqued her curiosity. At the outskirts of the island there was a park. An abbandoned park shrouded in mystery and rumor. As the daredevil she was, Sayuri couldn't resist the temptation of comfronting danger and finding out the truth.

As she walked through the foggy would-be hunted ground, Sayuri's excitement was slowly fadding away. It seemed she fell trap to a story meant to scare children. But soon enough a sparkle would form in her eye as she spotted a caravan in the middle of the wasteland.

Nyarara?

And so, there she was in front of the caravan's door humming cheerfully. She knocked casually, and awaited for someone to open the door. If they didn't it would be okay. She'd just tear the door open and enter anyway, with a bright smile on her face!

Phayne

 

[Sugary_Paragraphs]

It would be safe to assume that today wasn’t exactly the best for two certain siblings…

“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, WE ARE GOING DOWN! I REPEAT, WE ARE GOING DOWN!” William cried, holding on to a brown feather for dear life. His eyes were squinted, rapid winds threatening to blast him away and a swirling passing sky surrounding him.

“WHY DID WE THINK RIDING AN EAGLE WAS A GOOD IDEA?!” Wendy, his sister, cried next to him as she held on to his legs, both their forms flailing wildly as said eagle, now dead and non moving, began a rapid descend.

“TO BE FAIR, IT WAS KINDA WORKING OUT FOR A FEW HOURS!”

“BUT HOW DID WE CHOOSE A BIRD THAT WAS LITERALLY A FEW HOURS AWAY FROM DYING OF STARVATION?! WHAT GOD HATES US THAT MUCH?!”

“AT LEAST THE WATER MIGHT BREAK OUR FALL!”

As the two plummeting hybrids began to close in, they could see a small little dot.

“B-Bro? That looks an awful lot like land!”

“PffffT! Its probably just some small rock!”

They fell closer.

“Bro, I can see buildings!”

“We’re probably not even close to it!”

Closer.

“WE’RE RIGHT AT THE CENTER!”

“HOLD ON TIIIIGHT!”

The two screamed as the winds grew stronger, everything around them shaking a little bit before going green...and then black-

“...ugggh.”

William’s whole body felt like it had been stepped on by a marine’s army boots fifty times. With a groan, he opened his eyes and weakly lifted up his head. They were still on the bird...or at least, the part that wasn’t impaled by a branch...wait. He looked around, finding dozens of leaves and other tree branches greeting him. They landed in a tree?

“....HA!” William immediately laughed, springing up and pointing at the sky. “Sorry, Death! But you’re gonna have to wake up pret-ty early to kill ol’ Willy-aaand I got up to fast.” the mouse boy stumbled and nearly fell, dizzy and disoriented. His clothes were in tatters...or, well, in more tatters than they already were, and covered in bird blood. “Well, we’ve been in worse situations. Right, Sis?”

Silence. William blinked and looked around, but couldn’t see his sister anyway. “Si-Sis?” William stuttered out, eyes wide.

“Over here…” Came a weak mutter. William scrambled to the direction it came from, looking over the branch to find his sister dangling by the back of her dress on another, in the same state as he was. He let out a sigh of relief. At least this couldn’t get any-WAIT! William stopped that thought right there. He knew what would happen if- “...at least this couldn’t get any worse.”

CRACK!

Eyes wide, William slowly looked to see where the sound came, seeing that the two branches were connected...well, slowly un-connecting. “Damn it.”

Before they knew it, the branches fell, causing the siblings to fall once again before hitting the floor and tumbling against...cobblestone? William groaned, now laying next to his sister a few feet away from the dead bird, still impaled by the broken branch. Behind them was a single tree in the middle of what looked to be a small little port, benches under its leaves.

“Yo...Sis?”

“Yeah?”

“Can ya stand?”

“....Nope.”

“....Same.”

And so, the two lied on the ground, wondering what to do now as the people passed by the tree, giving the dead bird one glance before continuing on with their day.

 

[thatonespacytallgirl]

Kate and Anjellyka​

As Kate moved props and boxes and Jelly watched her, they suddenly noticed some commotion coming from the stage. They looked up as a skeleton head seemed to float above the stage, announcing the act for tonight's upcoming show. The two of them were so enraptured by what was going on on stage that they didn't notice the figure approaching them from behind.

”Boo!”

“AHHHHHHHHH!!” Anjellyka screamed in surprise at the sudden noise and touch. The jellyfish woman flinched so violently that she actually fell over. From her newly acquired position on the floor she looked over her shoulder to find the laughing form of Jayjay. Upon recognizing it was him and nothing dangerous she smiled. “Oh, hi Jayjay! When did you get there? Did you see the pretty stuff on stage?”

Kate jumped when Jayjay tapped her on the shoulder. “Geez Jayjay,” Kate complained as he laughed. “Don’t scare me like that! Save your scares for the stage why don’t chya?”

Jayjay then turned to address the other stage hands and chatted to Zambini about the upcoming show. Kate got back to work as the discussed this and Jelly… kept watching her work. Which was fine by Kate, since she wasn’t sure she trusted her pretty friend with any strenuous activity.

"How are you doing, girls?"

“Great! Just watching Kate work! She’s sooooooo strong!” Anjellyka replied, her voice filled with awe.

Kate’s entire face turned red and she had to work to hide a dopey smile on her face. “Yeah, doing great Jayjay. Just helping set up.”

"Can I borrow Anjellyka for a bit? We should really practice the vanishing from an aquarium trick. It is the main trick in my box, so we have to get it perfect."

“Vanishing act?” Kate looked over at Jayjay. “Sounds pretty cool. I can’t wait to see how you two pull it off!”

“Okay!” Anjellyka responded to Jayjay. “Where am I vanishing to?”

"By the way, have you guys seen Thing anywhere? I can't find him anywhere."

“Thing’s your other hand, right?” Kate asked.

Anjellyka made a little pouty-face at Kate. “Of COURSE Thing is his other hand! Come ON Kate!”

“Sorry…” Kate look legitimately upset for upsetting her new crush. “I can go find him if you want! The other stage hands have things under control so I can go look for him. He can’t have gotten too far.”

Anjellyka’s pouty face instantly morphed into big puppy dogs begging eyes. “PLEASE go find Thing, Kate! Thing is probably lost...and alone...and...and he NEEDS us!!”

“I’m on it Jelly!” Kate saluted Jelly looking determined. “I won’t rest until Thing is found!”

Kate set off on her mission, but finding a hand proved to be difficult. She checked the nooks and crannies of the area where they had enjoyed Zambini’s food earlier but had no luck. Kate then wandered further backstage, past all the props for the current show and back to an area she hadn’t seen before. Kate’s eyes widened as he stumbled across some cages big enough for a person.

“That’s… that’s…” Kate gaped as alarm bells that were far overdue went off in her head. She hugged herself with her four arms as she remembered the times she had to spend in her own cage. “W-why?” Kate whispered. “Why does Zambini have these?” Kate was so taken aback by the cages that she almost missed the woman with silver hair who seemed to be hanging up a den den mushi, with Thing by her side.

“Who are you?!” Kate demanded. “And what are you doing with Thing?!”

Collab with: DonquixoteDoflamingo

Lady Warlock Felix Azure Sky Phayne CelticHero37

 

[shadowdude505]

Cletus T. Bass
​

Cletus had bought a lot of supplies. He kinda had too after starting from scratch with a new ship. Hopefully the Red Ribbon Pirates wouldn't have to keep changing ships. Unfortunately being a pirate tended to put a target on your back, not only by Marines, but by other pirates as well; it was possible that this was just the next one in a long line of Red Ribbon ships.

Cletus took a drag on his cigarette and turned his attention back to the supplies. Slowly, but surely, they were being moved below deck. He could hear the hubbub his crewmates were causing on deck, mostly from Walter. He tried to ignore it by focusing his attention on the shipwright company workers, that is until he heard a thud beside him.

Cletus turned to see Oliver as he got up. He shot an unamused glance at Walter and exhaled a puff of smoke. So far the pushy robot hadn't made the best first impression for the grizzled shipwright. "Don't worry about it," he said gruffly to Oliver. "If you're interested in shipwright stuff, you can start by helping me move some of this stuff. My back isn't what it used to be," he grumbled. "'Sides, I could use your mechanic skills. It would be nice to draw up some plans for some activatable defenses or some kind of transport system that could shuttle supplies to another ship if we had to bail to a new one again."

thatonespacytallgirl
Mentioned: DonquixoteDoflamingo

 

[Hanarei]

​

Mizuki followed behind Cait keeping up her confident demeanor neglecting to mention or blindness. She didn't want to give off any vibe she might not be a good fit. The more she came off the normal and just seemed to fit in with the others the better she felt. The last thing she wanted was to receive a pity party or to be doubted do to her disability. The fact Cait was humming a celtic tune made following her even easier. The sound made it take that much less effort to pick up her familiar sounds walking through with others around. So far from what she had heard of Cait she seemed like a interesting person to be around. She quite liked her with the little exposure she had.

At the mentioning of watching her step, Mizuki's posture seemed to shift a little bit going around from being rather confident to being a bit more cautious as she felt around a bit more in depth with her staff to make sure she didn't trip. As skillful as she showed herself to navigate without sight, there was a clear limit to her abilities. Those few unexpected bumps were hard to read, even with her unnatural perception out in the outdoors. She could avoid a sleeping bear in her path but a rock jutting out to a small degree on the ground could easily be her embarrassing downfall if she was too complacent.

At the mentioning of the barber, Mizuki gave a wave roughly in his direction using the direction in which Cait pointed her 'ahoy' as a way of distinguishing which direction they were more clearly. She craddled her staff gently on her shoulder, leaning against it lightly as if to take a more relaxed stance treating it more like a home, even if it felt a bit awkward still. The more at home she acted, the better off she figured she might be.

"The ship seems so facinating!" She spoke attempting to emphasize her excitement despite lacking the vision to really see the fine details. Even if she couldn't see it, the very wind blowing against it was enough for her to get a feel for the size and shape of the ship. As far as any fine details she couldn't tell a thing. It could be painted bright pink with an elegant unicorn in the front and she would never know it unless someone told her that fact... though the very idea did seem like it would be quite intimidating. Only some really dangerous fellows would be so bold as to use such a friendly color tone to pirate across the seven seas! Then again, she wasn't exactly looking to be on some heartless pirate crew. Her own sense of naivety more viewed it for the adventure rather then considering it being possibly a rather cutthroat profession.

"It would be great to see more after I get to put my things away. I'd love to see my room!" She spoke not at all oblivious to the irony of saying it in that way still wanting to play it off as a nonfactor with her. "Perhaps... is there a cabin with a window of some sort? I prefer if i can feel the ocean. Not... well to sound weird its just a preference I have really..." She spoke with a bit of an awkward smile. Truthfully being exposed to natural air was the only really way she could more accurately 'feel' around herself to navigate. Being in more stuffy areas meant she could only rely on her senses. Being out in the open air almost acting like a sixth sense for her illustrating the world in a way likely few might really understand outside those of her tribe.

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