The Fishwoman half-listened while Freya gave young Tabitha a rundown of the ins-and-outs of collecting bounties. Whether the girl wanted that information, or tips on how to actually capture pirates was beyond Samehana, since Tabitha seemed pretty engrossed in the explanation regardless. Just as Samehana was about to try and catch the girl’s attention to make her order, another waiter appeared with a hefty serving of meat. Sea Cow. Apparently Tabitha had been given permission to leave for the day, so the unremarkable gentleman who had arrived would now be their server. While his face bore no expression, the beads of sweat that had begun to run down his forehead betrayed at least some level of anxiousness. Samehana merely smiled and nodded as the supposed waiter talked up the dish being served. Though, at least he was right about it being some type of cow, albeit not one native to land. “Ah, you hear that, Frey? It seems the owner’s taken a liking to us. Past marriageable age my ass.” Samehana joked before turning her attention back to the young waiter. Either he was a bit foolish, or he was up to something.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the waiter continued to speak. Though, in explaining the extent of the Valiant Angler’s owner’s “generosity”, the man slipped up. Why exactly would the owner of this establishment extend such kindness towards their crew? That was assuming the man even knew who she and Freya were. In any case, the sea-steak smelled rather good, so Samehana would cut off a piece and dig in. She had to admit, despite being more in the mood for smoked boar at the moment, it was pretty good. Nodding in satisfaction, Samehana licked her lips free of any stray sauce as she observed the blank-faced man. Snapping a hand out in the blink of an eye, her hand cupped the waiter’s chin and she pulled him in close, almost close enough for their lips to touch. The action brought a solid degree of attention to the table, but Samehana ignored the onlookers and instead stared into the eyes of the fake waiter and smiled, revealing her pristine, sharp teeth. ”I don’t know many taverns that do food deliveries. Any idea what makes a couple of strangers like us so special~?” she inquired. Any way Samehana could see it, the offer seemed pretty fishy. And with what Tabitha had mentioned about the town’s pirate hunter population, he wouldn’t have put it past anybody in the tavern to be out for collecting bounties. Tabitha may not have seen Samehana’s bounty poster, but that didn’t mean that any of the more serious bounty hunters around hadn’t. Though, frankly, this particular individual didn’t register as being particularly frightening.
”Depending on your answer, we might take you back to our ship…. And maybe throw you in the brig.”

Dan watched carefully as Samehana dug into the steak, or at least, what he presumed to be a steak. Was it working? The beads of sweat on his temple rolled down, tripling in number at this point, but he could blame that on the supposed heat he was feeling. He looked on as Samehana seemed.. satisfied. To a degree. Maybe. But within a moment, without Dan getting as much as a warning, he'd be grabbed by the chin and pulled closer. He did not flinch - not in the face, anyway. Mentally, he freaked out. 'She's gonna kill me!' he thought to himself. But his face was still generally unemotive. He placed his hand down on the table, steadily, to stop himself from falling over. His eyes stared right back at hers, with their lips almost touching. He could feel her warm breath on his face. For a moment he was silent as she uttered her question.

“Miss shark, you've obviously never been to Elfen island before.. first of all, we don't see many women like you. I mean.. you're no ordinary woman, in the positive sense, are you?” Yes, pamper her with a compliment, that might ease her up. Perhaps that's what she was after. Perhaps not. But women were sensitive to that kind of stuff he read. Furthermore, she couldn't deny this really, since it was obvious from her attire and her demeanor that she was.. well, either a pirate or a marine of sorts, someone special, someone with a ship.

“Second off, I'm just following orders from my boss.” His eyes kept being locked with hers, where as a normal man would've easily let his eyes wander to her gigantic bossom. At this point, the three sweat beads on his temple had glid down and made it's way to the hair close to his ear, dripping further down from there and eventually letting go it's sweaty, wet clutch on Dan's face, instead dripping onto the table. “Third.. I am not against doing a service for a woman like you. Customer is king. Or.. queen in your case.”

Their already close proximity had given him the shakes earlier, but now, it was perhaps a probable tool to use against the woman. The way their faces were so close, it wouldn't give her time to react to this. He pushed himself forwards, and closed his eyes, pressing his lips against her and locking them together, briefly parting his lips again before pressing them against hers tighter. It was brief, very brief, but unexpected to throw her off of her little 'I'm a dangerous pirate' spiel and put her in the position he'd been in - the position of someone who wasn't sure how to react. Maybe if he was a pirate as well, he'd call this the Ero-ero fruit, after the power of seduction. But he was not a pirate. Or a marine. Or anyone, really. He pulled back, pulling his chin out of the palm of the woman, and then proceeded to pick up the plate. “I will be back momentarily to take your order again.” And then he walked away, without giving Samehana as much as a chance to speak to him again.

He was unsure whether he should run and wait for another ship to pass by eventually, or go back to see what would happen, but frankly, the first option seemed safer. Despite that.. he decided not to. Something about this woman and her friend felt like it was his calling. The sparkle in his eyes, that sparkle of adventure, that was what called him to them.

So because of that, he walked past all of the people that were staring at him, and walked past the other waiters, and even the boss, who did not seem to realize he wasn't employed there at all. His superior power of blending in and being as mundane as he could be were at work now. He went to the kitchen and promptly fetched a 2nd plate, this one filled with various seafood on a bed of lettuce and other vegetables. He made up some quick story, in his head, about the fish. However, he noticed from the corner of his eye that a cook was dressing another fish in some light-brown sauce. Something like.. mushroom sauce.

Dan's hand grabbed the plate and held it up high, like a professional, and walked to the pot of sauce, and when nobody was looking, promptly grabbed the ladle and dipped it into the sauce, before pulling it up and laying down a thick dressing of sauce over the fish. That looked slightly more appetizing at least.

Now that he had his next 'order' which was really just a stolen plate of food that somebody else was going to miss, he walked back into the large tavern and went back to Samehana's table. He put down the plate, as if nothing had just happened, and proceeded to put on the waiter routine. “Ahem. A fine salmon, on a bed of lettuce and assorted vegetables, with a dressing of mushroom sauce. I hope it is to your liking, miss Shark.” His face was unemotive as ever, but in his mind, he was literally preparing to run. Luckily the door was right there.

While Samehana didn’t entirely buy the innocent waiter act, the guy sure made every effort to heap on the compliments. If it didn’t seem like an attempt to avoid getting beaten up, it might’ve been a little more flattering. His poker face happened to be pretty good too. He just needed to work on the part where he sweat profusely. Either way you sliced it, he had a point. Samehana by herself stuck out for a multitude of reasons, so bounty aside it would’ve probably been safe to assume she and Freya weren’t exactly tourists. ”You’ve got me there. I guess I am pretty remarkable.” the Fishwoman listened as further compliments poured forth from his mouth. Before Samehana knew it, the blank-faced employee was locking lips with hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, only returning to their relaxed state rise, only relaxing to their normal state after the “waiter” had left to get more food. Well, that was odd. Samehana looked at Freya, pointing wordlessly in the direction of where the man went as if expecting some kind of confirmation of the occurrence of such a thing. It was a ballsy move, helped along by the fact that her guard was down. And, of course, Samehana herself had inadvertently created the right conditions for him to take that chance.

Shaking her head, Samehana took a few more pieces of the sea-steak as she contemplated the man’s motives. Even in the unlikely event that he was an actual waiter at the Angler, it was clear he wasn’t exactly bright. But he was a bold one. And his non-descript nature managed to fool pretty much everyone else. Once the waiter came back with the platter of seafood, Samehana stood up from her seat, noting that she was nearly half a foot taller than the waiter. ”You can drop the ‘Lady Shark’ thing, honey. My name’s Samehana. And besides… That’s yellowtail.” she retorted, the introduction earning a few low grunts and low “ahhh”s from those who had been listening in amongst the tavern patrony. Samehana tilted her head towards both the plate with the yellowtail and the one with the remaining sea-steak, ”How about we take these to go? Might as well give you some kind of reward for your courage. If you wanna see the Captain, you’ll see the Captain.” the Fishwoman remarked before beginning to saunter off. While Samehana hadn’t gotten anything she would’ve preferred to eat at the moment, she figured she would take advantage of Dan’s nonsense to save Beli. Before fully exiting the Valiant Angler, Samehana turned on her heel and looked at Dan.
”Oh! I don’t think I ever got your name. You might’ve skipped a few steps with that kiss earlier.“

While Sancho and Church would probably wonder why the hell Samehana brought the guy along, she figured that it couldn’t be that much worse than bringing Spiril along. Though, even Samehana wasn’t exactly sure that the sweaty, blank-faced man had any marketable skills other than being super mundane and feeding other people’s egos. Maybe he could be an errand boy? A lookout? Kitchen hand? The more the Fishwoman thought about it, the more sure she was that Dan was going to be almost completely useless.

---

The Captain of the 99th Division’s stay on “Hotel Kahurangi” was bumpy, to put it simply. In the time since he’d decided to make himself comfy within the hulking Lieutenant’s fur, they’d been launched into the air by the tree created by the young Fadel Nobu, and shortly thereafter, the marksman Jax Farseer decided to make his move. While the young man was busy bringing Anaru even higher into the sky, Zepp transferred himself from Anaru’s back and onto Jax’s body right under his nose. While the Gon Gon Fruit’s user unloaded bullets on Lieutenant Kahurangi from all directions, Zepp rode upon his back and waited for the Red Hoods’ sniper to return to his perch.

While Zepp was, in fact, still pretty damn injured from Bogard’s strange attack as well as the force from Rayne’s punch that managed to make it through his last-second Tekkai, the Marine wasn’t out for the count just yet. While his internal injuries and gradual blood loss prevented him from dealing with five opponents at once for an extended period of time, Zepp was still in proper condition to at least fight one more person before he would need immediate medical attention.

Once Jax returned to his sniping spot, the Marine began to make his move. While the young man was scoping out the opponents before him, Zepp slipped off of Jax’s body and turned himself 3D again behind Jax, placing his index finger against the back of his head. “Stand down, son. Unless you wanna try your luck at seeing if you can get away before I put this finger through your s-blgrgrhlk…..” Zepp’s threat was interrupted by a mini waterfall of blood pouring out of his mouth. There was a moment of silence before Zepp started speakiing again. “Yeah, let’s keep that between you and me, huh?”

Freya cringed at the mushroom sauce plastered on the fish dish. Who would ruin a good slab of fish with mushrooms. Grumbling, Freya was honestly a bit baffled: this guy was a complete screw up. They hadn't even ordered and he was showering them in food. What gives? Unless...he was nervous?

With Samehana heading out, Freya was torn between going along and getting her damn food: that stuff smelled nice, at least... Getting up, Freya went over to Samehana's side, asking, "Eh? Are you sure? I don't think he cares about the Captain." She elaborated, "I'm pretty sure he just likes you." That said, his possible nervousness and that kiss seemed to be in direct odds with each other... Having served on ships with hundreds of different sailors, Freya thought she knew men but it looked like soldiers were just cut from a different cloth.

@RyoRyoRyoken@Buddha

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @Ira

---

---

'They' weren't finished their, not until Marxo felt the pain, the frustration, the utter despair and hatred that he felt, he wouldn't rest. 'They' chased after Marxo, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, memories of his past filtering through his mind with each jump. He had spent 4 years sailing at sea with that bastard, he would make him feel pain. 'Their' kick had launched him towards the mountain side, and there 'they' would follow. Without hesitation 'they' launched after him, the branch snapping from from the sheer force of the jump, a massive shockwave being left behind in his wake, blowing many back.

"Marines! I guess 'we' were mistaken. I thought justice was the premise in which you all lived! The word that pushed you all each and everyday!" he screamed into the wind. He had jumped far to high, landing him near the mountain top. Landing face first, 'they' began to plummet, tumbling down the mountain side for a few seconds before somersaulting and cartwheeling onto his feet. 'They' entered into a longstrided sprint, lightning arcing off his body as he ran down a near vertical surface. "HAVE YOU ABANDONED YOUR WAY?!" 'they' barked flipping and tumbling over obstacles.

'They became a blur of blue running down the mountain side, the sheer force of his words could be heard throughout the battlefield for everyone to listen, his vocal cords enhanced. "We spent 4 years at sea, are we so readily so lost to you?! 'they' yelled as another shockwave launched him towards the now grounded Marxo. Wind whipped at his face furiously, but he paid no attention, the only thing that mattered was killing Marxo.

"During those 4 years," he began as he smashed through another jutting rock in his way. "when we surrounded with nothing but water and ourselves to talk to," he yelled, punching another rock. Suddenly, Marxo appeared before him, glowing a deep blue. 'They' were undeterred, as Marxo's fist lodged itself in his chest, slightly more to left as he was able to move just a few inches. "surely somewhere in the darkest depths of your heart, you began to enjoy yourself, you liked us. YOU ordered us to kill, IS THAT JUSTICE!" he roared as he launched his straightened hand right into Marxo's chest at the same moment, barely keeping up. He would do anything, anything to avenge Melany,' they' would avenge Melany. His undying will splayed out in front of him, forming a black layer around his finger tips as he smashed through the sound barrier to catch Marxo. The sheer force of the attack would break through him and attempt to pierce his heart savagely.

"God Spear!"

Marxo's attack sent him tumbling to the ground below, unable to comprehend what happened, pain blossoming in his chest as he smashed into the ground. The force of the attack sent him toppling into trees, smashing and breaking anything he went through before he forced himself to a halt.

"You bast- 'they' were interrupted by a bout of unwelcomed blood, crawled up and out his throat, destroying the clean white beauty of the snow and transforming it into a crimson mess. Every breath was like a machete twisting in his lung mercilessly, fortunately, 'they' were able to harden their muscles to stop the bleeding, but the pain remained. Another bout of blood spilled out of his mouth, this one signaling that he had reached the limit of his Raijin Mode. Lightning arced off his body as his friction layer returned to its normal state and place. His muscles aced and his nose bled profusely as he gazed bleary eyed at the fractured mountain that Marxo was thrown back into. It seemed that Drum Island would have one less drum.

The sounds of battle rang throughout the area of the tree. Or rather, the sound of one impossibly fast battle, and a few other battles seemingly aborted with the passage of time. Dirk wondered if he'd even need to implement his unique tactics at this point, having found nothing for a fairly notable amount of time.

And then the branches around him shook with the force of an immense impact. The monkey-person, who had just now landed in plain sight of Dirk, though he himself was not currently visible to the creature in question. Dirk quickly drew out two of the three cutlasses on his person, only to hesitate as the monkey-person grabbed a nearby tree branch that was possibly as big as the mansion Dirk had escaped from just a month ago, suddenly doubled in size or more, and tore the branch out of the tree at the roots, wielding the chunk of wood near-effortlessly. Dirk, as with many slaves, was intimately familiar with the sensation of fear, in his case frequently mortal in nature; this familiarity was what kept him from being paralysed by the emotion, and instead led him to approach the thing from behind, silent as his Divine Purpose would allow, cutlasses bared and ready to strike.

Once he was close, and in a moment where the monkey-monster seemed to be entirely inobservant of its surroundings, Dirk struck with both cutlasses at once - one hacking into the upper portion of what seemed like the creature's primary arm, in an effort to make it drop its newfound weapon out of pain, and the other plunging knife-like into its back as deep as he could manage with a single thrust. His strikes made, and knowing full-well that sticking around to see what damage had actually been dealt to the hideously strong ape-man was a poor choice, he pulled the weapons free and ran as fast as he could, making for the nearest set of cover-rich branches in an effort to hide, make an escape aided by his Divine Purpose, figure out whether the thing might have actually been crippled by his assault if he was lucky, and above all else, desperately, desperately hoping it wouldn't catch up to him.

Drum Island
@BcTheEntity

Anaru was laughing, before the laugh turned into a frown, as he observed what was happening to Vice Admiral St Laurant, he was about to come to his aid, before he felt a stinging pain from his arm, and his back, blood trickled down, as Anaru turned around, to see a man dash off, Oh. Anaru thought, before acting on instinct. everything seemed to slow, as Anaru began to roar, the force of his voice shaking smaller branches.

His body shrunk, smaller than his normal hybrid form, as his arms grew even larger, his gorilla hair seemed to flatten around his wounds, to slow the bleeding, it was like his body was alive. "You shouldn't have done that." Anaru said calmly, before taking off at newfound speeds after the backstabber, and swinging the massive club at him, like a baseball bat. "This is, my power of Justice!" A splintering sound echoed, as the massive branch was swung, the sheer force seemed to smack away the air itself, as the air was pushed away, to make a sort of shell around the branch, Anaru laughing all the while, despite being stabbed twice. "BRANCH, HAMMER!"

The roar from behind him gave Dirk cause to glance back at the ape creature. As he watched, the rest of its body shrunk to the size it had been before, whereas its arms became absurdly large. Dirk was willing to bet they'd also boost his power to a ridiculous degree too; sure enough, the time the creature took to nearly close the gap on him was minimal. More pressing, though, was the way it was threatening to swing its weapon...

Dirk fell to the ground, just managing to fall flat as the swing began, and nigh-instantly passed across his position. Had the branch itself struck him, he would have died instantly; even the shockwave of air around it would have killed him even with an indirect hit. As it was, the shell barely missed him, passing no more than a couple of inches over his prone position.

The crosswinds did not miss him. The force of the missed blow had generated air currents strong enough to tear any normal tree from its roots, let alone lift an underweight and rather weak human away, and Dirk was easily flung across the length of the branches like so much debris at speeds far faster than he was comfortable with. Discomfort soon turned to pain - though his journey was mostly horizontal, he bruised readily with every solid jolt upon landing, and he was quite sure he felt an arm dislocate on the initial impact. He only stopped rolling mere feet from the other end of the tree to where he'd initially been, inches from the edge of the canopy that would safely support his weight without breaking, and thus dropping him to an untimely demise.

The only benefit of that swift movement was that he was quite out of sight of the monkey-man, meaning his Divine Purpose could function properly once again; knowing this, he quickly hid his form beneath some of the vines in the area, falling motionless beneath them, his breathing slowing to an almost-normal quiescence that, if all went as planned, meant he would now be nigh-undetectable by the ape-creature. His usefulness in battle had ultimately been limited; however, so long as the monstrosity did not decide to pre-emptively break the entire canopy to bits, his Divine Purpose would hide him from its hyper-destructive grasp. If only a fellow crew member were around to help... or rather, if only Dirk could help himself, in this situation. He was weak now; he promised himself that if his Divine Purpose allowed it, he'd do what he had to to get stronger, even if it meant getting pulverised by his crewmates regularly for the next five years. He'd survived worse than that.

Interacting:

• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @LokiLEO789
• @Ira
• @NachoBachoPacho

---

Fadel seemed to disappear in the midst of the raging battle, his body no where to be found. Inside the tree, he sat silently, meditating at its base. He watched from inside, using its branch's and leaves as his eyes and ears. Information filtered through his mind like a ragging storm, the tree screaming as it became a battlefield. Branch's were ripped apart, leaves crushed, its trunk scared. Fadel soothed it, calming his creation, and the screaming died down, seemingly dancing to his mental tune.

The sunlight filtering in was fading, creating new shadows and dark patches around him. Wind wailed between its distorted trunk, carrying the sickly stink of wood rot. Lifting his face, he let the light and shadow dance across his skin. Leaves hummed and rustled, soothing him. He inhaled its minty smell and continued on, delighting in the sound shaking branches. His soul merged with his creation.

A consciousness was forced into the soul of the tree, an inhabited vessel ripe for the picking, gave the the tree new life. For the first time, another soul, another warmth, finally made its way into this lonely limbo. The only thing was, it seemed to be fighting him, the residual soul of the tree wished for control, but Fadel couldn't allow that. The soul ripped through the tree's, taking its conscious with it, eating at each level before extinguishing the flame of the residual soul without mercy.

Slowly, Fadel opened his eyes, this tree was his creation, and he would control it like so. Through near by leaves, he watched as Dirk was launched by the large marine. Anger rushed through him, he didn't like that. The tree became an extension of himself and his will, unfortunately, the Marines didn't know that. Upon command the tree came alive, wood bending and grabbing onto the Gorilla Marines legs with an iron grip. That wasn't all, the club that the marine held was of his creation, and Fadel didn't like people taking his stuff. Dozens of whip like vines burst from the branch, grabbing onto the Marines arms and attempting to wrap around his body. If the Marine thought that was bad , hundreds of vines protruded from surrounding branches, sporting a wicked pointy tip, all aimed at the Marine. In an instant they were launched.

Wrath of Pan.

"We can keep this entire situation between us. I'm more than content to just sitting here the rest of the battle. My mother raised me to be more of a lover than a fighter anyway. Now, I'm going to drop my guns and turn around. It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't trust you."

Jax chuckled at his own joke. He then turned around to face the marine who was obviously injured in some shape or form. Hypothetically, the more injured his enemy was, the more likely Jax would be able to escape, if not pull out his secret plan. This guy was obviously much stronger than him and wouldn't let his guard down. Jax would have to rely on his on speed to get out as quickly as possible. This met he needed to buy time to build up energy.

Though, it might make sense to sacrifice himself for his teammates by dragging this obviously injured man into the middle of the fight in order to draw the attention of all of the pirates. The dream would be to drop him in the middle of nowhere with a grenade. That would not be what his mother or his family would want him to do. Could he betray the way he was raised to help his crew? If he got the Marine to a doctor he could save his life. That might bet the best idea in the long run, but it might get an enemy out of the fight.

Are you gonna die? If so, please don't do it near me. I am just an awful doctor. I could take you to a doctor if you want. I don't stand a chance against you. So we could stay up here and you might bleed out. You could attack me, but I'd be able to at least get you close to the battle. I could attack you, and then you'd probably take me out. Or I could take you to a doctor, so you definitely don't die. I'm fine with whatever, any of these options help my crew.

@Renny@NachoBachoPacho@RyoRyoRyoken@JMerlRobot@BCTheEntity@Lokileo789@Ira

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @Renny
• @Ira
• @cannedbread
• @nachobachopacho
• @JmerlRobot
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @hillan
• @bctheentity

---

---

Rayne panted and he clutched his chest through the tattered remains of his suit. His rage slowly left him, leaving him empty and weak. In the end, Marxo still survived, he was still alive, while Melany was still dead. It was frustrating, angering, infuriating. He wanted to push his body, he wanted find Marxo and beat the living shit out of what was left of him. Unfortunately, his body wouldn't let him, Raijin Mode coupled with his injuries left him depleted, and unable to fight. He was still weak.

Failure was a crumpling feeling. It's was a feeling that made him desperate for attention, approval, and affection. It made him feel nauseous. It killed your self esteem, your trust, everything, but Rayne wasn't gonna let Marxo live, maybe not today, maybe not tommorow, but so help him he was going to burn each every inch of that mans body one day. He looked forward to that.

The crunching of snow and the rustling of cloth drew him out of his thoughts, his body in high alert until he recognized Bogard's signature red jacket as squatted down next to him. “I didn't know so much emotion could come from an animal. I guess my gut was wrong about you… We should talk about you joining my crew after we get you off this island.” Bogard admitted as he hoisted his arm across his shoulder.

Rayne chuckled sadly as he was lifted to his feet. He was thankful for Bogard's help, he found it unusual. Why was he so willing to help a wanted criminal, even more, why did Bogard want him to join his crew? “I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.” Rayne began, his voice returning back to normal as he shoved Xerxes back inside his cage. Xerxes wanted to chase after Marxo, to kill him, but Rayne knew better than to push his luck.

As Bogard supported him, Rayne mulled over his offer. Was he ready for another crew? Could he trust him? In the end, Rayne saw no other way off this island without thier help and trust. If they betrayed him, he would kill them all. Rayne found it surprising though why Bogard would ask him of his opinion. “Considering the enormity of the situation and whats at stake, we should cut out loses and leave.” he rasped simply, blood dripping down his chin. He was struggling to walk, even to think at that point was difficult, but he forced his body to move, to submit to his will.

Blood slowly trickled out from the puncture wounds that littered Zepp’s body and stained the ground below him. It was a wonder that the man was still standing. Even more so that he was still confident that he still felt like he was in proper fighting condition. Zepp listened to Jax as he made his offer, the young man’s words accompanied by the sounds of the pitched battle going on between the Marines and the pirates. After all of the trouble they managed to cause, Zepp really had to hand it to the rising rookies. They were an impressive bunch. A dangerous bunch. It had been a pretty tense month for the Navy. First, it was the Conomi Isles Massacre. The defeat of the Marines at Loguetown. The destruction of the base on Kumalado. And now, a prison break from the Muron, and the subsequent creation of a massive tree on the snowy Drum Island.

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I was in top shape right now, but this isn’t quite enough to put me down.” Zepp remarked, wiping his chin with the back of his sleeve. Jax appeared to be thinking about something. An escape plan perhaps? Normally it’d probably be pretty easy for the marksman to escape with the use of his Devil Fruit ability, but Zepp’s confidence that he could take him about before he could act might have put Jax on the back foot. “I’ve gotta admit, Farseer. I’m actually kind of impressed. You guys sure know how to makeca ruckus. And that captain of yours….. Bogard D. Sunny, right? A young gladiator claiming to possess the ‘Will of D’. There are a lot of people who see that D and come to their own conclusion as to what it means. ‘Determination’, ‘Destiny', the list goes on.” Zepp remarked, pulling out a pair of cuffs, one end lined with seastone, and the other made of regular metal.

“Maybe you and your friends should start wondering whether or not that ‘D’ stands for ‘Despair'.” Zepp suggested, his voice cold as attempted to slap the cuffs onto the young pirate.

Drum Island
@JmerlRobot @Tmitche23 @Ira @CannedBread @RyoRyoRyoken @Renny @Hillan @BCTheEntity

Anaru was having, a very bad day. he realized that, when roots and vines erupted from not only the part of the tree he was on, but the giant branch he was using as a weapon, binding him. his first reaction, was to think Maybe Freya was onto something, with the whole retiring thing. his second reaction was, Oh, sharp vines, very sharp vines, that's certainly bad. Anaru groaned as his body bulked up,he really didn’t want to use this technique, seeing as how the recoil was quite brutal, this was different than his normal life return uses, this was increasing muscle mass, and then compressing it, and it strained him bad, he could feel parts of his muscle tear apart, as he did this.

Anaru was outraged, the Vice Admiral was most likely down, Zepp was in bad shape, and now here he was, being pinned by the pirates, failing again, like the Conomi Islands, and he was about to be impaled too, this might be it, this was a situation not even Anaru could see himself getting out of, and for a moment, he thought about giving up, then he remembered his home, and what pirates do when there isn't a defender, he would lose, that much was obvious, with this many people of such a large level of strength, it was impossible to win, but if he didn't fight, who would?

"Rock.." Anaru swung his arms forward, ripping apart the pieces of the tree that bound his arms. "SOLID!" Anaru then, fires a volley of Nail Guns, tearing apart sharp vine after sharp vine, that came towards him, several grazed him, several more hit their mark, while he did this, he used his compressed form, to leap upwards, with such strength that the vines holding the rest of him, also broke, his back wound had been opened even more though, another side effect of compressing his muscles, but Anaru didn’t slow down, in fact, he raced upwards, leaping from ledge to ledge,as fast as possible, bleeding from the sharp vines grazing, and occasionally hitting their mark, as he does so, he was so tired, he didn’t want to deal with these pirates anymore, or cause any destruction, not after the Conomi Islands, being so fresh in his mind, but he had to do this, to use his ultimate technique, this would save the island from the pirates, or at least, he hoped so.

Reaching the top of the tree, Anaru flexes his legs, as he takes to the skies, curving his arms, and using Nail Gun as he does so, to make him rotate, around and around, blood raining down from his wounds. "Sturdy Mountain.." Anaru's voice boomed, echoing throughout the island, as his body rotates faster and faster in the air, using well placed projectile punches to position himself downwards, as he continues rotating. "GREEN DRILL!" Anaru's rotating body rockets down towards the tree below, going so fast that his body seemed to turn green, that was Anaru, Blueshifting, the speed he was going did indeed, make him look like a drill, as he flies towards the tree, faster and faster, this was his will, this was his determination, this was his justice, and it was Rock Solid, dammit.

Interacting:

• @BCTheEntity
• @Tmitche23
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @Renny
• @LokiLEO789
• @Ira
• @NachoBachoPacho

---

Needle point vine after needle point vine threw itself at the Gorrlia Marines prone body, ready to piece his skin tenfold. Unfortunately, the Marine wasn't finished there, bulking himself in the blink of an eye. Was he attempting to take the vines head on? Fadel watched on, his expression deadpan as the Monkey man enacted his plan. Despite being pierced by a few vines, Gorilla still managed to flex his way out of his binds, which impressed him. Fadel liked the tenacity of this Marine.

As the Marine jumped from branch to branch, Fadel created concealed holes for those in the tree, Marine and pirate. Red Hoods would ride a slide down to hollow sanctuary that he had created around him, large enough for the whole crew. Marines would slide down to the base and be dropped safely on the ground bellow. It was up to them to take his offer, Fadel had other things to worry about. He had been amassing energy, how could he have created a massive tree for nothing, this wasn't thier battlefield, it was his will, his anger, his frustration, and he would revel to all, who Fadel Nobu was.

The tree began to transform, wood snapping and leaves disappearing. Branches elongated, coming together to from hands, dozens of them. The trunk whittled away, forming a face, then a body, a statue. Beads of sweat ran down his face as he concentrated on the task at hand. At the same time, Gorilla man became a living tornado, descending towards the tree. Fadel or the tree let out a hearty laugh. This Marine was one who deserved to be defeated with his strongest move. It would have been disrespectful to carry it out any other way. Whether the Marine saw it that way our not, was none of his concern.

Nature's watch of 90.

Cosmic branch of 9.

Man's hand of 1.

His mental words echoed out for all to hear through the tree. To all those watched, from the sea, to the island itself, Fadel's tree transformed, no longer was it a lush green tree, but was now a gigantic wooden multi-armed statue of Guanyin, a Bodhisattva that was associated with compassion. Funny how that was completely opposite from what it was used for.

100 Hands of Life.

The structure echoed as it stood silent, its 100 long wooden arms brandishing different hand signs. As many staired in awe at his ornate creation, Fadel took the offensive. With a deep breath and a nose bleed, Fadel performed a clapping motion before following it up a punching one Instantly, Bodhisattva copied it, throwing an already made fist from its massive collection. A fist the size of a house curved upwards to met Gorilla at crazy speeds, a shell of air forming around it, ironic. It flew with enough force to through the Gorilla man clean through the mountain.

Jū roku hando. (Sixteenth Hand)

Location:

• Drum Island

Interacting:

• @Renny
• @Ira
• @cannedbread
• @nachobachopacho
• @JmerlRobot
• @RyoRyoRyoken
• @hillan
• @bctheentity

---

---

Rayne could no longer hear Bogard, or he could, but it was faint. He was tired, but he managed to walk. Silently, he vowed to leave this island and get stronger, train his body, mind, and soul, all for one goal. He needed to be stronger to maintain and elevate Raijin Mode, no more of this weakness and blood. The Haki that he used today would be harnessed, learned, used, and mastered. For once, Rayne and Xerxes had drive, and a motivating factor that would push him each and everyday of his life.

"We should have killed Marxo." Xerxes grumbled in his mind.

Rayne turned inwards. He struggled to remain conscious, his eyes bloodshot. Suddenly Rayne found himself back in his inner world, its oh so beautiful night sky marred by hues of red and orange, its glass surface now a green grassland with rolling hills.

"Your quite dense aren't you? Rayne mocked sitting next to Xerxes.

"No, just motivated." Xerxes countered. Words no longer passed between them and they watched the beautiful sky. Rayne closed his eyes, leaning against the chess table they played on a month ago, pieces unmoved, breathing in the last of the long day. Winter wasn't his favorite season, he had to admit there was something special about the winter sunsets that nature had to show. It was rare to have sunsets in the calm of his mind, maybe his mind was telling him something. The way things were going in his life, it had a calming effect on him and soothed his sanity which threatened to slip away from him with every passing day. 

The season cast an orange haze above the horizon, lighting up the sky as if lit by fire, yet the haze was so crisp and clear. The sun, like a large, granduer orange fireball in the distance was partially cloaked by the hanging clouds, which were all splashed with the random colors of hot pinks, reds and even hints of purples and blues. The sun was so large that he felt he could almost touch it. It seemed to look at him with a dull glare, knowing that it's beauty and the planet's dependence on it for survival made up for it. 

The sun which had it's time to shine for the time it was given, seemed to whipser "Farewell" to his mind as it sunk lower and lower in a lazy manner; almost as if it never wanted to leave. 

But Rayne knew he too had to leave soon. He leaned off table, standing up and walking down the grassy hill. A cool breeze passed, making him stop in the middle of the field. He let the wind tussle his hair as it was almost like a human touch. It had been a while since he had been touched kindly by another or even shook another's hand. Then again, he hardly trusted anyone. 

He looked at the sun again. The sun was almost as orange as the sky, like a ghost almost. Yet even from behind the trees, it seemed to stare at him; a silent ball of wonderment that was really a raging ball of Hellish fury. The very thing that gave warmth, life, light and happiness to so many could just as easily cause utter destruction. That fact reminded him of his father. Unusual, reminding him of a man he knew little of.

Rayne closed his eyes once more, the events of the life going through his mind like a reel. His father apparently always told him to get out of the habit of daydreaming, but Rayne was always the intellectual type. The "thinker". The sound of his father's words echoed in his mind, jerking him out of his fleeting thoughts. By the time he opened his eyes, the sun was gone, leaving behind a sea of dark, lonely clouds in a twilight sky. The heavens were beginning to litter the stars about, for it was their turn to shine, just like it always did in his mind. Xerxes was nowhere to be found.

He knew that things, like the seasons would change and that everything would be alright. And like the sun, he knew everyone had their time to shine. And he knew it would someday be the same for him.

Awakening from his slumber, Rayne found himself floating of Bogard's jacket, and the tree that was once home to thier battle, now a giant statue with hundreds of arms. Smiling, he turned to Bogard.

"Bogard, all your crew needs is your leadership. I think they are more that capable have handing themselves. Kinda reminds me of Luffy's crew." he rasped, gazing at the statue that the Red Hoods created. The Marines were in over thier heads.