When Dirk had first learned that snow existed, he'd wondered what it actually was. When he'd learned that it was made of tiny ice crystals, he'd wondered how exactly so much frozen water could exist in one place without it all turning into a solid ice block. And now, looking at the snow of Drum Island, it was a bit more obvious that all the individual snowflakes were made of ice, but seemingly fell on top of one another without squeezing the other flakes below them into a single mass. Which was interesting, if chilly to observe. Even his own footsteps didn't compact the ice very much, but he imagined the obvious trail would make his Divine Purpose hellishly ineffective until they all got into the prison. However, Dirk's coat was more than thick enough to keep him warm, and he had to admit that the white covering on the ground was fairly pretty. He was just wondering whether anything could actually be done with the snow when an entire town suddenly exploded. Shadowy explosions, at that.

Whilst Jax's warning about avalanches was relayed - though it occurred to Dirk that if the sirens were in place at all, there was probably a negligible chance of their causing any more snow to collapse than the detonations had already managed - Dirk found himself looking around the rest of the island, in particular at the prison itself, and just caught a few licks of flame emanating round the corner of one wall, and the distant sound of yet another explosion. More normal-looking than had just engulfed the town, from this distance. He stared for a moment, then tapped the shoulder of one of his fellow crew members and pointed out that 'Something happened over there,' before beginning to trudge his way toward the prison, and toward whatever had caused that sudden burst of fire.

@Renny@JmerlRobot@Tmitche23@LokiLeo789@RyoRyoRyoken

Location:

• Outside Muron Prison

Interacting:

• @dragonmancer
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny

---

---

Rayne fell through the air, his back to the ground and his arm splayed out at his sides. For the seconds he spent in that silence, he made multiple plans. No doubt the Marine would chase after him, he was the most destructive, although leaving Jackal alone was a bad idea to begin with, the guards couldn't handle that guy. Unfortunately, if this Zepp guy was to give chase, were would he run to? Stealing a Navy ship wasn't exactly on his bucket list for the day.

As predicted, the Marine jumped after him, seemingly uncaring of the height. A cold sweat and premonition allowed for Rayne to deduce Zepp's next move. Two bullets were fired at him, at least a few feet apart. He could have utilized his explosive layer to block it, but something about this Zepp put him on edge, he wanted to test something.

Without a moments hesitation, a stream of yellow fire splayed out from his hands and feet in a massive burst, throwing him horizontally and away from the prison in a blink of an eye, creating a shockwave in his wake. He quickly started to accelerate, fast, and within a few seconds he was hitting 80 mph.

The very intense force of the wind pushing at him was strong, but he used that friction. A bout of fire was created on his body from head to past his toes, turning him into a yellow rocket of sorts. This created an extra later of protection on his body as long as he maintained this speed.

Running was the only logical answer, fighting would only serve to was time and bring reinforcements. At least Jackal would have a clear path of escape.

As the prisoner took off away from the Muron like a human rocket, the shockwave created in his wake blew Zepp back into the wall, knocking him up against it with enough force to slightly crack the building’s exterior where he’d made impact. So, escaping would be his game, huh? Perhaps he’d learned to cut his losses during his month in solitary confinement. The guards he’d sent to deal with Jackal were likely ill-equipped for the event of a sudden breakout, but the armored youngster hadn’t yet shown the raw destructive capabilities of Xerxes quite yet. As a result, Zepp figured that taking care of Jackal could wait until the “reinforcements” coming to Drum Island would arrive. Zepp descended to the ground below, only to disappear from sight before his feet could even touch the ground. The target’s abilities afforded him a considerable amount of speed, but it was far from a stealthy method of movement. The Captain of the 99th followed the easily identifiable streaking mass of energy as it sailed through the sky, keeping pace through rapid use of Soru.

It was annoying to have to use the ability without any true coverage, but the functional invisibility of his high speed movement would have to suffice. In any case, Zepp was soon to have his chance to dispose of the man once they got far enough away. There were plenty of places in this mountainous region where nobody would be around, or even dare to trek. It was when the pirate decided to make a landing that Zepp would strike. ”And to think I had chastised John after that incident. Perhaps I should pick up a souvenir for him as an apology.” the Captain thought, becoming distracted for a moment by the thought of finding a nice keychain or a plushie on his potential search for gifts while he casually pursued the target.

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @dragonmancer
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @JmerlRobot

---

---

Rayne gritted his teeth as he accelerated, fridged air slapping his face like loose branches in a dense forest.

"81.

84.

89."

Rayne sounded off in his head, measuring the break neck speeds that he was flying at. Flying gave him an amazing visual rush as the snowy terrain around him whizzed by at ever-increasing speeds. Despite his speed, he could sense the aura of the Marine Captain on his ass.

"He's still on us." Xerxes began, raising his spectral voice.

"Don't you think I know that, your not helping!" Rayne affirmed in his head.

"Think Rayne, its simple deduction, he is fast enough to keep up with us." Xerxes began.

"No doubt." Rayne grunted mentally.

"He had no qualms about jumping from that height, and still survived to chase us. This guy isn't exactly normal, and I have a hunch that none of this is a devil fruit power."

"I know all that, whats your point?" Rayne countered, becoming indignant.

"My point is, don't underestimate the enemy, think, he survived a fall from that height, his aura is basically teleporting from place to place to keep up," Xerxes hinted, egging Rayne on.

"He has the capability to meet us in the air if not catch up to us, he speed his crazy, so we assume he wants us to land. He's waiting for us to tire out." Rayne realized.

"Exactly, this Zepp is seemingly strong, his devil fruit ability has yet to be reveled, and look, he's still on our ass." Xerxes said finally. As quickly as the conversation began, it ended, leaving Rayne in complete silence.

Rayne had a massive amount of energy, not to mention the fact that he knew how to conserve it. Assuming this island was maybe 150 miles across, and he flew at a constant rate 90 mph, it would have taken him 40 minutes or so to span the whole island and meet the sea. Could Zepp keep up? Rayne defiantly could fly for longer than 40 minutes. Zepp could have came to that conclusion to, so if he didn't have a fail safe, this chase would have been for nothing, which meant Zepp either had reinforcements near the island, or had a secret ability on the back burner.

Rayne blew out a bored breath as he released another shockwave, hitting 95 mph, damaging hundreds of tress in the process. Decisions, decisions. Unfortunately, he would have little time to fully formulate a plan as he was ripped away from the confines of his own mind. In the distance, bouts of black fire ragged in the town, eating everything, and everyone without hesitation.

"That's not my fire.. " mumbled despondently as he flew over the flames and into the smoke, the heat scorching his face even at his high altitude.

Instantly, Rayne's head snapped to the side, another aura had appeared, a smaller one. Could that have been the reinforcements that Zepp may have called for? It was an aura unrecognizable to him, but was different from the civilians that frantically ran through the snow covered streets. Rayne immediately nose dived, slowing down to adjust to the wind resistance. Within seconds, his bout of flames disappeared as he somersaulted into the snow a few feet away from the aura he perceived.

He definitely was not a Marine, clad in almost all black with unusual white hair. Rayne was still careful not to approach the boy, slightly wary of the young man. "You wouldn't happen to be here to save me would you? Rayne called tentatively, slowly getting on his feet, snow crunching underfoot. It was a shot in the dark.

"Two hours, huh?"

Setting herself on a wooden crate, Freya huffed at a cigarette, trying to figure out what to do with herself. Story of her life, really. At least she was trying to put more effort into dressing herself. Uniforms were just so easy! At the moment she wore a brown and white plaid button up hanging open over a pale green tube top and blue jeans.

Purupurupuru. Purupurupuru.

Freya reached into her pocket, pulling out a plain baby Den Den Mushi. Opening it, she was about to shift into her serious mode, but it was only Samehana. Not really thinking about it, she answered, "Uh, sure. Why not?" Hanging up, she stowed the Den Den Mushi away. Some old habits died hard.

Stretching, Freya stood up, turning west and heading over. Now, what kind of place was the Angler even going to be? Guess Freya would find out when she got there. Hopefully there would be food. Or alcohol. Or gambling. Or some combination. Freya was a simple lady.

@RyoRyoRyoken

The Fishwoman continued her casual jaunt until she arrived at the west side of town. Perhaps it was due to the greater concentration of people around, but the wannabe pursuers had broken off from the chase, deciding wisely that making a scene wouldn’t be to their benefit at the moment. It didn’t take long for her to find the popular Valiant Angler. The sign certainly was big, bearing a logo of an angler fish wearing a plumed knight’s armet and the establishment’s name painted in a bold red. The building itself was fairly large too, and was painted in a similar red to that which made up the sign’s letters. Samehana waved to Freyja as she also arrived outside of the Angler, apparently bereft of anything in the mood for something tasty as well. ”Glad you could join me on this little adventure, Frey~.” she chimed, smiling at the green-haired woman as she approached.

Upon entering the Angler, Samehana and Freyja were greeted by a sea of tables occupied by all manner of folk, many of whom turned their eyes to the doors as the two strangers walked in. As expected from the size of the building, the interior of the tavern was spacious. And more well-kept than many other taverns she’d been to on her travels. One might have even thought it to be a tad fancy, frankly. Before the two could even take another step, a young woman with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair (which formed a rather impressive ahoge) and bright blue eyes skipped over to meet the two. ”Welcome to the Valiant Angler~. I’m Tabitha and I’ll be your server today. Follow me and I’ll find you two a nice table!” she greeted, filled with the bubbly, sparkly energy of youth. Tabitha swiftly found the two travelers an empty table with chairs to spare. In fact, there were just enough for Sancho, Church and Spiril to join the two if they so chose. Parking herself down on a nicely-cushioned chair, Samehana received a menu as soon as she had placed her posterior in the seat, as Freyja would too.
”You two travel far to get here?” Tabitha inquired as Samehana searched for something to her liking. Judging from what she could tell of the town’s population and the looks that she got alone, it was pretty rare that they saw Fishfolk roam through these parts. And Freyja, for all her lethargy, gave off a sort of hardened, well-traveled vibe. Throw in cowboy Church, the noble-looking Sancho, and wide-eyed Spirillum and the Golden Fleece as a whole had obviously come together from all manner of places.

”Sure did. Figured we should stop by and fill up before we explore the rest of the town.” Samehana responded, noting the curiosity painted on the girl’s face. She couldn’t have been much more than seventeen years old. ”Hehe. I figured as much. You two look like you’ve seen some pretty cool stuff. I’ve lived in this town my whole life, but I wanna go out and make it big as a famous pirate hunter.” Tabitha explained, unsolicited by either of the two. Samehana smirked and cast her eyes towards Freyja for a moment before turning her attention back to Tabitha.
”Oh, is that so? My friend here used to be something of a pirate hunter some time ago.” the Fishwoman stated, nodding her head over at Freyja. Immediately, Tabitha’s eyes took on a sparkle as she turned to focus her attention on the green-haired woman.
”For real? Any tips you could give me? This town’s got a lot of wannabe bounty hunters, but they’re all small-fry.” Tabitha asked, practically forgetting the fact that she was supposed to be the two’s waitress. Meanwhile, Samehana hummed as she took her sweet time pouring over the menu.
”Ooh, smoked boar sounds pretty good right about now.”

---

Still in hot pursuit, Zepp noted that Xerxes had yet to slow down. It was clear that the target had an impressive reserve of stamina, but the Captain was far from a slouch himself, contrary to what many would say. Without much warning, the leafless trees around him splintered and fell in his path as Xerxes let off another shockwave in the wake of his increasing speed. Sighing, Zepp simply leapt over and through the destruction without losing much speed. However, his attention was caught by the sight of smoke billowing from a nearby town, which left Zepp a tad confused. Xerxes wouldn’t have had any time to create any real destruction in the town at the rate that the chase was going, so who could have done it? Thinking back to the mysterious individual that caused the current game of cat-and-mouse to be possible, Zepp shook his head as he considered the idea that there may have even been more than one person who had come to Drum Island to break the two former Sunny Massacre Pirates out of the Muron and create a disturbance in the town to act as a distraction of sorts. Zepp would trust that the members of the 99th Division he had brought with him would be able to handle any firefighting and/or evacuation efforts without him.

Zepp had almost lost sight of the explosive man for the moment he’d been lost in thought, but managed to catch up and hide at a distance from which he could watch Xerxes’ movements for a moment. If nothing else, it would have possibly allowed confirmation on how much his flight had exhausted him. The Captain raised an eyebrow as he watched Xerxes begin to interact with a tall, white-haired boy… who appeared somewhat famliar to Zepp for some reason. “I wouldn’t exactly bet on that, pal. But you can save me a lot of trouble by coming with me to finish up your execution.” Zepp remarked as he appeared, practically out of nowhere, a few feet behind “Xerxes”. He was panting, as if he had become incredibly exhausted from the chase that had just about reached its conclusion. “I’m getting old, pal... *huff*.... You really made me chase….*huff*... You.” he complained, taking a fake deep breath. Zepp kept an eye on both of the young men, though Zepp was not nearly as wary of Dirk as he was of Xerxes. “Probably a good time to walk away, kiddo. Things could get a bit messy.” Zepp remarked, attempting to get the white-haired boy to leave the area in the event that Zepp’s apprehension of the criminal yielded a bit more environmental destruction than the Captain might have hoped.

Jax couldn't believe his bad luck, first they come to this forsaken island, next there were explosions in the town the Red Hoods docked in and that means they will probably be blamed for them. Now, the crew probably ran into a Navy officer before they even make it to the prison. He's not openly wearing any gear, but it's not everyday that citizens try and catch escaped prisons. There was also this prisoner who Jax assumed is a deranged lunatic due to the long line of destruction he left in his wake.

Jax overheard the Navy man make empty threats to Dirk. This man is probably insane, there are three of them and only one of him. Jax felt pretty confident in his ability to take out this guy without even breaking a sweat, but that's probably because of the freezing temperatures. He heard his captain acting as if they weren't trying to break anyone out of the prison. Even if the Marine doesn't find that out, he probably wouldn't let the crew get away. They are all wanted men, and the Navy probably wouldn't want news spread that they let someone escape. The World Government are always big on their cover-ups.

"Captain," Jax whispered to Sunny, do you think it is the best idea to just stand hear and ask him questions? This man will probably attack us, so we should strike first to catch him off guard. Jax looked down at his captain who seemed distant to the situation. Something was obviously was on his mind other than the fight that is about to start, whether it is the town or something about the prison, Jax didn't know. He did know that his captain needs to get his head right before it was too late.

Jax slipped back towards the town in order to teleport to a ledge with a good vantage point of where everyone was located. He didn't want to let either of the strangers know what he was capable of, so it was easier to take either of them by surprise. This time Jax wouldn't take his eyes of the situation, so he could react accordingly and react quickly.

@Renny@BCTheEntity@RyoRyoRyoken@LokiLeo789@JmerlRobot@LokiLeo789

As he'd predicted, the snow rendered the power of Dirk's Divine Purpose useless. Not only did the person who'd created the explosion find him extremely quickly, but having left a large trail of what seemed to be more fire behind him, he then drew a second person to Dirk and the other Red Hoods who had followed him. This one didn't seem to have any specific propulsion method, and yet he still moved fast enough to keep up with the first guy, apparently appearing from out of nowhere... Dirk frowned, his head tilting as he thought to himself. He knew of only one example of an ability that let a person move like that through physical power alone, and if this person was a user of the Six Styles the way Dirk presumed he might be, he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up, given his past performance against the Battler.

He was rescued from needing to respond immediately by the statement of his captain, and then of his fellow crew member. At Bogard's mention of the burning village, Dirk looked over at it, only to see that the fires were already being extinguished... blown out by a lot of wind, apparently. Was that normal for fires that big? He didn't have any reference point, so he couldn't say. Turning back to the escaped prisoner and his pursuer, Dirk considered the situation for a moment longer, eventually coming to the conclusion that pointing out the obvious might help prevent a confrontation for a while. Maybe, if it didn't just bring a fight about more quickly. Looking at the second, possibly-a-Six-Styles-user man, he pointed out "Somebody blew a hole in the wall of the prison. I think it was that guy. So you might want to stop the prisoners from. Escaping? Because some of them will probably escape whilst you're here."

@Renny@Tmitche23@RyoRyoRyoken@LokiLeo789@JmerlRobot

Just as he’d gotten done warning the white-haired youngster, two more men came to join the three and add to the steadily rising tension in the air. What caught Zepp’s attention most was the short, blonde-haired boy in the red coat. Ah, now things were starting to make a little more sense. The Red Hood Pirates. Zepp glanced over them to get a look at their numbers, making sure to account for the event of the rookie crew having increased their membership. The Marine scoffed a bit as the crew’s marksman, Jax Farseer the deserter, whispered into the crimson-clad captain’s ear. Did he think that Zepp wouldn’t be able to catch such a display? Or was he simply confident that the group would have no trouble dealing with him? Kids these days.

The blonde-haired boy spoke up, clearly not fully aware of the gravity of the situation. Or, much like the marksman who had made a point to get a “safe” distance away, he simply figured that taking this too seriously was beneath him The foolishness of youth was remarkable. “Well, I’m sure you’re here on very important business, young Bogard. As for the town being on fire, well…. That’s pretty obvious now, isn’t it? If I wasn’t willing to give you kids the benefit of the doubt, I’d have thought that was you lot’s doing. But blatant acts of terrorism doesn’t quite seem like the Red Hood Pirates’ M.O.” Zepp responded, making it abundantly clear that he knew the other three’s identities in addition to that of the prisoner’s. In the month since their big debut in Loguetown, the rising rookies had committed quite a bit of mischief. Enough to land them a hefty bounty individually, let alone the bounty for the whole crew combined. Next, the familiar white-haired young man spoke up, essentially reminding Zepp of things that he already knew.

“Well, as you can see, I’m in the middle of pursuing the guy who made the hole in the Muron. You’ll have to forgive me if I have to let the prison staff handle all of the other prisoners. Especially considering that buddy here was supposed to be executed today. Finishing what was started seems like an appropriate course of action.” he chimed, the coldness of his words cutting even through the chilly air of Drum Island. Upon further observation of the young man, Zepp remembered where he had seen him before. While the young man was, in fact, affiliated with the Red Hood Pirates, Zepp also knew of the young man known as Dirk Messir from his connection to one of his associates. Battler. The boy probably didn’t know Zepp… Or, rather, Mumyoumaru, on account of the fact that he made a point of staying out of Batller’s business to attend to his own. “I might be able to overlook your presence here if you can forget whatever business you have on this island and leave. Call it a small favour. The children are our future, after all.” the Marine continued, pulling the lid of his hat down lower. Of course, he didn’t exactly expect the young pirates to take his kind offer. After all, they had him outnumbered now, didn’t they?

Taking a quick mental inventory of the group once again and remembering the fact that Jax had decided to take a proper vantage point, Zepp noted that, in the event that Xerxes decided to ally with the Red Hoods in taking him down, he would have to be careful of how big and where he would direct his pyroelectric blasts for fear of friendly fire. The same went for Jax if he were to attempt to snipe. That left Dirk, Bogard and Fadel. And unless Dirk had picked up an absolutely monstrous amount of martial skill from his time under Battler’s “tutelage”, the young man would be a non-factor. With all of this in account, Zepp was sure that he could more than handle the situation until help arrived, even if he decided not to immediately slaughter the Red Hoods simply for interfering in the apprehension of the criminal.

The month had that passed since the crew left Loguetown had been an interesting one, at least for Spiril. He had never been away from his parents or library for more than a few days. But now, after a month aboard the Argo, he had to admit that things were going surprisingly well. Sure, he had moments now and then where he missed the comfort of home and the life he had been forced to leave behind, but he had quickly grown accustomed to his new life onboard the Argo. And so, bit by bit, the longing to return home and to be back with his parents started to fade.

One of the more notable things that happened during the month was the attack on the Marine Base, where they met the former captain Freya

Spiril didn't have much in battle or on a battlefield, so he remained a safe distance from where all the fighting was, doing his best to keep himself safe, but he failed. After the crew had ended up ruining most of the base he had felt it safe to start heading towards them so that they could meet up before returning to the ship, but he got ambushed and wrestled to the ground. The man that wrestled him to the ground turned out to be one of the marines many recruits Sancho, Church, and Samehana had just rushed through and beaten into the ground. He was badly wounded, he was weaponless, and he had almost no strength left, but still presented a threat to Spiril. The two kept tumbling around on the ground, and as they fought Spiril became more and more aware of the trillions of different bacteria that live inside the marine, but Sancho showed up and saved him.

Since that day Spiril has been hellbent on learning as much as he can about bacteria and how they work, and now that they have docked at the harbor of Elfen Island finding a library is the only thing on his mind, but he frowned when he heard that he would only have two hours to do his research. Two hours of reading would just let him scratch the surface, and he would need way longer than that if he was going to learn anything useful, but it would have to do.

He left the crew and started searching for a library, but what he found could best be described as ruins. The library was a mess. Everything had a thick layer of dust on it. Spider webs were woven loosely around books, dirtied shelves, and stands. Busted lamps hung from wires that were embedded in the cracked ceiling and walls, and the ground was littered with dirt, glass, books, and torn paper. There was no question, this place had been left to crumble, but how could someone do this to a library? Did the people of this place have no respect for books or knowledge? "What the hell...?" Spiril asked himself as he started walking through the library in search for the books he would need, but as he walked he kicked up dust and the air became harder and harder to breathe. He could hear sounds of rodents running around just out of sight, and the rustling of papers caught in the draft.

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @dragonmancer
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @JmerlRobot

---

---

The silence of the outskirts made Rayne's blood as cold as the winter air that constantly blew. It was as if nature conspired to keep him in the dark, not daring to whisper the reassurance of freedom he craved. The hurried but silent footsteps of Zepp appearing behind him brought his heart racing as fast as a gunshot. His head snapped in an instant from gazing at the white haired young man with unfocused eyes to the rectangle of black formica that the Marine clad himself in, who was huffing and puffing.

Despite the Marines clear show of fatigue, Rayne was still on high alert, he knew better than to underestimate the enemy. With that in mind, he expanded his explosive layer, creating a force field that would block almost any attack or projectile that came within two feet of him. Better to be prepared that to be caught unaware.

Suddenly, powerful gusts of wind blasted the crowd gathering at the towns outskirts. The wind howled as snow battered the inhabitants, including Rayne. The sound of sloughing snow screwing up the acoustics so no one could really tell which direction the noises were coming from, but as quickly as it started, the rushing torrent of snow ended, leaving them in silence. Rayne was acutely aware that the wind had put out the black fire, leaving them with a smoldering black husk of what was once a bustling winter town.

Weird. Rayne thought to himself despondently. Despite the unusual phenomenon going on around him, he kept his eyes trained on Zepp, who seemed to just as intrigued. He really couldn't tell, Zepp's eyes always seemed to be closed anyway.

Rayne's preparations were invisible to all those present, and he continued to ready himself, even as the group gathered went back and forth with Zepp. Within seconds, he was able to figure out the identity of the group, the Red Hoods. He recognized thier blonde headed Captain from his bounty while Xerxes was burning down the Conomi Islands.

With the chain of events that led him here in motion, he could only assume that the Red Hoods had something to with it. Rayne stayed silent for some time, formulating theories that could clarify this situation for him. In he end, it was simple enough, he needed the Red Hoods help. Zepp unfortunately, posed as a huge obstacle, and he was confident enough to make threats, which meant he had something up his sleeve.

Rayne made his move, turning this situation into a chess match in his head. "Bogard is your name, correct? You wouldn't happen to know of a woman wielding Jade edged blades would you?" he called out tentatively, his words cutting the tension in the air like a butter knife.

Posting for Jmerl

Interacting:

• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @LokiLEO789

---

Just as Fadel thought, the others thought it was a bad idea, but in the end, they all agreed to follow behind thier Captain. How could they not? They pledged thier loyalty to him, if he wanted them to follow, they would follow him, he found it unusual why Bogard asked anyway. Maybe he respected thier opinions, or chose to see them as human beings and not animals or slaves that he could command. That made him feel good inside, not because of Bogard regard for them, but in the way he chose to see them, not as subordinates, but as crew mates. It almost quenched is unending, undying will to find the man who destroyed his life, almost.

Fadel followed after his crew, lost in his thoughts before the cold fridged air hit his unprotected body. He instantly regretted his decision, goosebumps eating at his arms and legs within a flash. Each step he took was hell as his slippered feet sunk into the cursed demon he called snow. In truth, Fadel had yet to see snow before today, and he immediately hated it, with a passion, occasionally showing his frustration with a kick or soundless roar.

Soon, he found it difficult to keep up with his crew, quickly huffing and puffing after only walking a few feet away from the ship. As if on habit, a venus flytrap twice as large as he was grew under him, which began to carry him, pushing through the snow and rock that made up the island. Despite his slow pace, he eventually caught up to his crew, laying lazily upon his creation.

As if he hit a barrier, his trap stopped in its tracks a few feet away from the man clad in a black suit, his back to him. He seemed to he conversing with Bogard, Dirk, and another man who looked familiar, clad in a suit. The tall man was poised, even battle ready, so was the other man. The tension in the air was palpable, so much so that it was as if his butter knife could cut it.

Fadel stood upon his Trap, muscles taunt and ready to fight whoever captain ordered to attack. He was also aware of the smoldering ruins of a town behind them, which reminded him of Wolf. Just in case, two man sized traps burrowed deep underneath the ground under both men clad in a suit. Both were poised to rocket up at both like sharks launching into the air from the sea. Behind Fadel, a vine grew out from under the ground that held his whiteboard and and began to scribble quickly, in which he held up for everyone to see, at least those who faced him.

"We kinds have an appointment with destiny here, we can't really leave."

ANARU KAHURANGI
Still does not know how to make his words bigger.

Drum Island
@Ira @CannedBread

Anaru looked towards the destruction, and was about to leap into it, before he heard the Vice Admiral's words. "On it!" Anaru's body bulked up, a feature of his life return, as his legs became incredibly tense. "Adrian!" Anaru shouted, with a big stupid grin on his face. "Hold onto me, if you want to make it there, faster!"

Anaru let out a booming laugh, before using his sheer strength, to erupt into the air, leaping towards Muron, it was an odd sight, a bulky man, in a marine cloak, laughing in a most jolly way, while using his obscene strength to leap high into the sky, and reach a prison. odds are, if Adrian did in fact grab on, it was even odder for him.

"It seems as though there's a group of people, i'm sure i'll land near them, and ask what's going on!" Anaru grinned, as he prepared to land, and then he hit the wall of the prison, and smashed through it, Adrian, if he were riding with Anaru would be unharmed, but Anaru, to put it bluntly, fell flat on his face, and skidded. he let out a booming, but muffled laugh, as he did faceplant into stone.

The frank coldness of the Red Hoods’ captain was a little surprising coming from such a brightly dressed and featured pipsqueak, but Zepp supposed kids were growing up fast these days. The Marine felt a light tremor under his feet and shifted a glance towards Fadel before turning his attention back to the now aerial Bogard. Unphased, Zepp took a step forward as the blonde-haired teen began his assault.
Soru: Cicada
At the moment a flytrap burst up from the ground and Bogard’s foot met with the Marine’s face, the two young pirates would learn that what they were both attacking was an afterimage. Zepp’s movements were untraceable as, with unspeakable speed, he made his way to Bogard’s back and became two-dimensional on his body, working his “shadow” up along Bogard’s cloak until he reached the top of the boy’s scalp. Then, like the birth of wise Athena, Zepp pooped out from the top of the boy’s head and stomped on it, sending the boy flying down into the jaws of Fadel’s giant flytrap all in the span of a fraction of a second.

As the Marine sailed through the air using the Red Hoods’ captain as a stepping stone, Zepp pulled out a pair of flintlock pistols and fired two shots at Dirk and two at Fadel as he began to land. Once his feet touched the snow, he then discarded the two firearms and flicked his fingers at Xerxes, employing the use of Tobu Shigan "Bachi" to send an air bullet from his fingers that potentially had enough force to puncture the man’s spark field with speed to spare to puncture Xerxes himself. Or, at least, that was his hunch.

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @dragonmancer
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @JmerlRobot

---

---

The Messenger? Rayne had no idea who exactly that was, but if it would illicit the help of the Red Hoods, then so be it. Within an instant, shit hit the fan. Without as much as a forethought, Bogard went on the offensive with the help of Fadel, they seemingly had the drop on Zepp. Unfortunately, Zepp may have been right, the Red Hoods were a bit out of thier league. Nothing could escape Rayne's all seeing eyes, after a month of meditation, his Observation Haki was on another level.

He gritted his teeth as the duo unwittingly attacked an after image, but Rayne was glad they did. This allowed him time to understand Zepp's fighting style, to see what made him so special. The world crawled to a snails pace as his vision of the world changed, once colorful and full of life, was now surrounded by complete darkness with its inhabitants now just pale blue silhouettes.

As he watched the Marines acrobatic display, he was perplexed by the mans ability, which he absent mindedly revealed. It was unusual, it was as if he traveled through, or on Bogard, only to materialize on his head, only to use him as a launching pad. Shadow fruit? No, can't, he traveled on Bogard not under him, and he would have been able to manipulate shadows, he could have ended this without lifting a finger. Has to be a Dimension Shifting Fruit, a 2-D one, allowing one to flatten oneself and compress one's body into 2 dimensional space. How do you fight that? Rayne's skills of deduction and observant nature allowed him to easily figure out Zepp's ability. Unfortunately, his info was only hypothetical, he still needed more evidence.

Rayne would soon get his chance as Zepp's speedy attack soon reached him. It was an attack he recognized oh so well, one that he spent a month studying and learning the parameters off. Just as deft as Zepp was, Rayne retracted his Explosive Layer to its normal form and launched an identical attack to that if Zepp's, all in one motion.

Shigan: Kasai Dangan

Within an instant, his version of Shigan collided with one another. Instantly, both attacks repelled one another, both fizzing out into nothingness. Within a blink of an eye, Rayne counterattacked. He would show the Marines a whole knew side of his ability. With a snap of his fingers, a spark traveled through the air but disappeared. It seemed to be… lack luster, but instantly a flash of fire blossomed Zepp. Wave after wave of yellow flames appeared on Zepp, seemingly incinerating to Marine wherever he went with every snap of his fingers.

"Burn."