”Be that as it may, we could always use a chore boy. I’m sure everyone else could appreciate not having to mop the deck. Though, if his ability to do work is as good as his waiting skills, we might end up having to throw him overboard.” Samehana joked, unconcerned with whether or not Dan would hear her. Sullen-faced Freya was right to have her misgivings, of course. Thus far, the man had proven to be incompetent at anything but being a sycophant. And even that could have used some work. ”Ahhh, I really did want to have a taste of smoked boar, though. I’m sure after having to put up with my cooking, you might have been looking forward to something a little different yourself.” the Fishwoman remarked, leaning on the slightly shorter woman’s shoulder. In the short time that Samehana had shared Freya’s company, she had yet to lodge any formal complaints about the shark woman’s familiarity, so Samehana had already gotten used to doing things that made the two look more chummy than Freya might have considered the two to be.
Frankly, Samehana found the woman to be pretty “cool”, for lack of a better word. A lot like Church, but without the jokes at her expense.
Dan looked at Samehana as she introduced herself, revealing her name to be .. Samehana. He nodded at her suggestion to 'take these to go' as she gestured at the two plates. Then, while walking away, she inquired as to his name. Now that his cover had been 'blown' Dan returned to his non-descript silent nature, however, so she should not have expected any other answer than what he gave her. “Dan,” he replied, staring at her rather blankly. Now that they were leaving, Dan quickly untied the window cloth from his waist, throwing it into the air behind him. It'd be a grand move, maybe, if people had actually paid attention to him. But rather than looking at them, most people already took to looking at their food again. It seemed like Dan's power of blending in had rubbed off a little bit.
Putting his hands into his pockets he walked behind the two ladies, looking rather bored and bland as he tended to do. He heard Samehana's comment but did not comment - such a comment would be out of place since he was not actively trying to blend in now, and was merely 'existing' at this point. However one point Samehana raised was what he could do. Hm. This is tricky. If I want to board the ship, I must have something to do. Naturally.. now that they know I am Dan, they will pay attention to me, as expected of these fierce pirates. This mission will be harder than I expected. They are.. superior pirates. For a moment his eyes bore into the backs of the two women's heads, before he returned to his dormant state.
“I'll mop,” he then said, silently, to himself, but not out of earshot of the two women. Yes. Mopping seemed to be the best here. He'd just join the crew until a further time, when he could leave and board a ship that would be.. easier to infiltrate, perhaps.
His breath flung from his chest before being snatched back in. He trudged through the snow narrow-minded. He was determined to get off Drum Island with his entire crew in tact, even if all he had to offer was hopeful wishes to the sea. He wondered, if only minutely, if the sea would respond with kindness.
He paused, feeling the burning in his flesh leg erupt. It brought him to a knee and in turn, the carpet carrying Xerxes-- who was wrecked and bloodied--wavered a foot below the snow.
Not fucking happening, he growled as he pushed himself upwards, a renewal in tenacity flushing him. He ignored the pain the best he could and raised.
In the time he took trying to return his composure, Bogard heard Xerxes’ compliment. It was refreshing to hear, empowering to know even more. Hidden by the astrewn bangs of his hair, he grinned in the shadows of his face. Luffy’s crew huh? That’s exactly what I’ve always wanted to hear. Luffy’s been my idol since forever. It feels good to actually be compared to him. But...
Bogard shook his head silently. “Thanks, Xerxes… You don’t how much that means.”
He let out a mass of emotions through a cool exhale. When a low vibration hummed beneath him, he looked back to investigate. The gargantuan wood doll that now ruled the battlefield shook up massive amounts of snow. It didn’t seem to bothered it. The stampeding ice had taken to swallowing the village and now it continued down the mountain towards the ships. Bogard darted his head between the target and its bullet.
“O'shit. No, no, no, no!” he shouted aloud. A stuttered breath left him as he mulled over the possible outcomes. None of them were good. Eventually the Marines would come with reinforcements and they would be stranded on Drum Island. Fighting a battle that never ceased.
The sun was setting somewhat behind the harbor, it was paramount in his eyes. The plethora of colors that emanated from it was beautiful… especially the red.
He had a thought then, a usage for the red that painted the clouds along side its brethren. He plopped the injured Xerxes to the snow, his cloak lying dead beneath the ex-con. He stretched both his hands out towards the sky over the docks. The metal of his mechanical arm was broken, bent, and shattered. The flesh of his real hand had been pink, mildly swollen, and purpled on his index finger. Still he stretched his will towards the thin line resting over the fading beacon of fire.
He felt an overwhelming amount of strain coming from the leagues between them. Still he subjugated a small portion of the celestial phenomena. Both his hand clenched around some impossibly thick object in midair. Red Hood strained and struggled, every fiber of him becoming taunt. He twisted and wrenched his will towards the supreme force on Drum Island; the avalanche of snow and ice that rumbled towards him, Xerxes, and his vessel.
The river of red that flew from out the sky curved over Bogard, basking half the island in its infinite hue. It zoomed towards the avalanche, beating it in strength, mass, and speed. It annihilated the snow, turning the fringes into small ice particles and the majority of it into nothing. The wave of red sputtered and became unruly afterwards, continuing on after Bogard’s will had been done. It damned it's red fury towards the wooden woman, threatening to devour its giant figure. Right before it reached her, it spurred upwards and slammed into the Prison, decimating an entire tower and maiming its twin. The pieces of stone was rocketed off to sea, where it splashed ripples.
The blast faded into the sky with a giant sigh, giving its life back to the setting sun.
Far from the main battle, Bogard’s body was prone in his wrenching motion. He could be mistaken for a small statue begging to the sky for mercy. If not for the rippling and thumping of his muscles beneath flesh and the erratic heaving of his back, one might think him frozen. When the first layer of snow had reached the ground again, a army of its battalion touching his skin, he reacted to the stimulation.
A repulsive pain wracked his entire body, contorted him. He felt himself double over so tightly that his head was between his legs, he knew he was screaming bloody murder.
“ The ...ground is ….shaking… Where the hell am I? Fuck my hand feels numb.”
Marxo awoke in disarray. The ground beneath him trembled in a mighty rage. This battle had took a toll on the island. It seemed there was an avalanche happening where the mountain once was. The tree had now took form as a statue. The rest of the island would be devoured in snow. Those families couldn’t be saved by anyone. Marxo noticed his wrist as it dangled from the socket it called home. The pain immediately shot through his body. He dropped to his knee and doubled over.
“Damnit...I need to pop this back in place.” He winced as he grabbed one hand inside the other. *SNAP* It popped back into place. Marxo doubled over in pain once more . He then tore his captains coats and wrapped it around the injury. With his free arm he then reached into the coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a den-den mushi. It had been months since he had a smoke. Losing an island called for one. He sat back against what used to be a neighboring mountain to the current one going falling into an avalanche and lit a cigarette.
Pushing back his hair he spoke , “Overconfidence…. I should’ve killed him when I first seen him. My arrogance got the best of me and and I failed the mission. To think the bastard actually got away...Where the hell is Johnny!
He then spoke into the transponder. “ Johnny. Get your ass here now. Xerxes is out and making an escaping. At the current moment I can’t tell where the other are located but the Red Hood Pirates are also here. I think the planned to break him out. The entire island is covered in snow so any bystanders have been killed. This now makes the Red Hood Pirates considered dangerous. Use all measures to stop them at any cost. Also send reinforcements to where the giant statue is. The others may need help .
He breathed a sigh of relieve . He could always count on the marines.
Rayne grinned at the Red Hood Captains, who seemed to content and happy with the compliment. It seemed that Luffy and the Straw Hats meant alot him. "Glad I didn't say the white haired ones kinda like Nami, cute but useless. he sighed in his thought. It pained him to watch the statue go at the Marines. For once he understood what it felt like be a Marine against him.
Pirates were free, they weren't crushed under a chain of command. Marines served, they served the people of the sea and thier superiors. Thier unquenchable thirst for justice is what pushed them. It was unfortunate that so many only knew them for thier injustice.
The sounds of crunching snow were soon interrupted by screaming and rushing, which pulled Rayne out of his thoughts. He glanced at Bogard, surprised to see him stretching towards the sky, messed up arms for all to see. Rayne barely noticed that he was on the ground as Bogard put on a show.
Above the horizon, lighting up the sky as if lit by fire, yet the haze was so crisp and clear. Bogard called upon the colors of hot pinks, reds and even hints of purples and blues. But it became one, creating a massive river of red that blocked the oncoming avalanche of snow. It didn't stop thier, as if in a fit of rage, the river of red rushed toward the towering statue, only to spur upwards and slam into the prison, destroying the main building and maiming the second.
Xerxes roared in laughter, that was just his style. Ha Ha, that's my boy! Rayne bit his tongue. He didn't know how to feel about Bogard's actions. In the end he was only being a hypocrite, he was no better. Xerxes may have been the killer, but thousands of people's blood were on his hands none the less. It pained him, but he would be damned if he let that drag him down.
Suddenly, Bogard broke down, resting his head between his legs in pain and screaming. Rayne felt for the boy, killing brought no pain his consciousness, only physical pain. With a grunt he struggled to his feet, taking of his tattered suit jacket off and limped over to a crouching Bogard, with his red jacket in hand. "Funny how the tables have turned." he joked as he raked his hands through his raven black hair.
He suppressed the mental bombardment of past memories and attempted to console the young Captain. He saw an island of white, a young version of himself fighting against a red headed girl of the same age. Rayne pushed the memories away, this was not the time for that, they needed to get off this accursed island.
A cold sweat crawled down his spin. Looking out at see he could sense the presence of thousands of marines. This was bad, very bad. If they got here, they were done for. Despite his injuries, Rayne took matters into his own hands.
"Taiyō Furea! (Solar Flare!)" he bellowed. With a deep, gut wrenching breath, and a bite on the tongue, he spewed a jet of electrical fire right at the sea. The moment it came in contact with the water, it boiled and created a massive wall of steam. He was careful to make sure he didn't set the water on fire, or anything else, lowering the volatility of his flames. Within moments a massive wall of steam blocked the ships view of most of the island after 2 minutes of constant flame.
"There, that should help cover our escape." he mumbled to no one in particular. With a huff he looked back down at Bogard, who was still his fetal position. He was gonna need some help with him.
Jax couldn't believe the compliments that this marine was giving his crew. They truly are a ambitious bunch and they are willing to do anything to get what they want. Jax couldn't believe how much this marine was talking about the D, and honestly it mostly went over Jax heads. Sure he had heard a few stories about the power of D with Luffy, but it's not like he has extensive knowledge. His only focus was trying to get out of this situation without getting caught while also helping his crew.
Jax had to figure out what he was going to do and then out of nowhere there was a crack and an avalanche started to tumble down the mountain. No, the avalanche was the mountain and it was going to slowly engulf the entire island leaving behind a trace of anything or anyone. Why do they always get stuck in these situations where they cause mass destruction. It's not like they mean to. They didn't even make it to their destination. They were always finding marines that would make trouble for them.
None of that mattered at this moment because they both needed to get out of this situation or else they were both going to end up dead. That is when Jax took the chance to teleport closer to shore while hoping that Zepp was distracted by the impending doom. He got to shore close to where the Red Hood's ship is just in case the marine decided to follow him again. He took a quick seat to look at the destruction that is happening to the island. They will become even more infamous for this, and life was only going to get harder.
After checking to make sure he wasn't being followed, he appeared on the ship which was surrounded by smoke.
"What happened? Where is everyone? I was taking on the 2-D guy, you did some serious damage to him though," Jax blurted out rapidly. His captain looked worse for wear, and the prisoner at least seemed to be an ally. They were all exhausted and two of the crew aren't even here. "Do you want me to go out and look for them?"
Anaru's body was basically going off of entirely adrenaline at this point, there was no good outcome for him here, but as the tree became a giant statue, and sent a giant fist towards him, Anaru's hopes, managed to drop even lower, he didn't dwell on that long, what with the giant wooden hand flying at him and all. Anaru wasn't the brightest guy, not even he would argue that, but he knew that the giant fist, was big, and it would hurt if he got hit by it, so he decided, not to get hit by it.
that was easier said than done, it was fast, really fast, but Anaru couldn't give up, if his final attack, that he put everything into, was just batted away by a branch, he would fail as a guardian to the people. so, as he rotated like a drill towards the fist, he fired his Nail Gun, several times, to change his course, narrowly avoiding the massive fist, as he continued towards the Buddhistava, gaining speed. "GREEN MOUNTAIN: DRILL BREAKER!" one last burst of energy went through Anaru, as he picked up speed, and went flying towards the Buddhistava statue's stomach.
But then, everything seemed to slow down, the Buddhistava was so close, he just had to hit it, and he could- what was he trying to do again? it was hard to remember, he was so tired, as he flew towards the statue, he wondered what he'd even accomplish by striking it, surely not much, the pirates were already making their escape, and Anaru was too weak to catch them, but he had to do something, the statue was a symbol, that pirates could stand up to marines, he couldn't let that stand, as his drill like body flew to the Buddhistava, he could feel his muscles being torn apart, he felt like a failure, first his home, then the Conomi Islands, and now Drum island, it seemed like no matter what he did, he could never stop pirates from harming others, it was a bitter thought, and the last Anaru had, his body kept spinning, but he was so tired, that he might as well have already passed out, all he could do was focus on what was at hand, and it was all he could do, not to pass out then and there.
Fadel watched with a gleeful grin on his face as the Marine dodged the the Sixteenth Hand and aimed lower. He could care less. In fact, he could swat the Marine away like a bug with the Fifty-Sixth Hand, or crush him with a thunderous clap using the Fifth Hand. But what was the point? With the Marines trajectory, he wasn't hitting anything vital, just solid wood. The sanctuary was located in the chest. Fadel would grant him this false victory, instead of crushing the mans soul, sprit, and mind.
He turned to Dirk as the statue began vibrate due to the Marine drilling through it. Wooden words etched itself out near the First Mate, clear as day. Doctor sense telling me your hurt. Lets fix you up. Fadel walked over to Drik and quickly preformed a check up, feeling his body with his hands. He soon assessed the situation and went to work, a dislocated shoulder. Easy enough.
Without warning, he yanked Dirk's arm downward, snapping back into place. Before the First Mate could yelp in pain, Fadel slapped the wooden floor with his palm. Instantly, a small Devil Claw plant grew. Quickly, he ripped the claw from the plant and gave them to Drink to eat. Due to it enhanced properties when grown by him, he would feel its painkiller like abilities almost instantly.
Now that 'that was finished, he looked to find Bogard. Almost if on que, a stream of yellow fire and a wave of red led him right to the convict and his Captain. With a clap and two hand motions, two giant hands went into action. One positioned itself under the chest as a platform, and another landed in the snow near Bogard and the convict, palm ready to be used as an elevator.
Sādohando (Third Hand)
Dai shi hando (Fourth Hand)
The chest capacity opened up, exposing Fadel to the rushing wind and the beautiful sunset. He motioned for those inside to follow him as he stepped onto the waiting hand, which carried all to the ship before returning to its place, the other hand would do the same. From his place on the Rose Horizon, with everyone that came with them to Drum Island, and those they came to broke out on board, he gazed at he creation, marred by a hole in its stomach. He brought his hands together, creating prayer hands, paying respect to Buddhistava, one last time.
Apparently, his Divine Purpose finally did its job. After hiding under the vines, not much else happened to Dirk until a hole opened up in the branches beneath him, sending him inexplicably sliding down into the core of the tree, right next to Fadel. A bit of time passed where Fadel was pre-occupied with something outside, and then the tree started to vibrate, and Fadel began to perform his doctorly check-up on Dirk. Moments passed, and the doctor abruptly forced Dirk's arm back into place with a loud popping noise; it hurt badly, but it certainly wasn't bad enough to make him do much more than flinch. Afterwards, some form of plant was given to him, apparently to eat; Dirk put it in his mouth and began chewing- the pain relief was much-appreciated, even if he could handle a few full-body bruises- only to stop when the tree opened up, revealing a giant hand of some sort.
Stepping out on to the hand, Dirk looked around himself as it moved off, realised what Fadel had done and the scale he had been working at, and found himself even more humbled than he had already been today: that statue was huge. This was beyond anything Dirk had attempted to comprehend before, a fact he'd barely registered when the tree had just been a tree, albeit a humongous one, possibly because he'd actually been within its confines then. And apparently, it had dealt with the monkey-creature easily. There was, it seemed, a very long way to go before Dirk could match his teammates in raw strength, and he internally upgraded that promise to grow stronger into a vow. He had to become stronger. At this point, it looked like that was the only way to fulfill his Divine Purpose, and that he'd inevitably die if he failed to do so...
Was that his Divine Purpose, then? To grow strong? Perhaps even to become the strongest being in existence? He considered it, but... the goal felt incomplete to him. Gaining strength was perhaps the means, but for now, the end remained hidden to him. Either way, however, increasing his power could only mean good things. He supposed he'd have to talk to his fellow crew members about training, in that case... just as soon as they all arrived. Not everyone was here yet, so he'd have to wait for a moment.
Bogard took several deep breaths to ease the pain. To make himself functional again.
It hadn’t work nearly as soon as he’d like.
By the time Fudal had arrived and dropped them off onto The Rose Horizon, he felt like iron was coalescing in his veins. He stumbled onto the deck of the vessel before falling onto his back. He grinned to himself and lifted his hand up into the air, hoping from his crew to see it.
“Red Hoods, let’s get outta here!”
“I’m just going to lay here and…” He cringed as his gut tensed. “I’m just gonna lay here. Might sleep,” he muttered towards the end.
The Golden-Haired young pirate captain beat the crowds, wading through countless people, elbowing and genlty pushing his way to the front of the crowd that had gathered outside of the town hall, he could hear shouting - protesting, but maybe a thousand people, maybe more. This wasn't unheard off for the man of noble blood, but it had been almost a year since he left the Grandline, but now he was back. The protesters were shouting about the taxes - the king was demanding too much of them, the amount of money they had to pay was completely unreasonable. Sancho watched as the king walked onto the balcony of the Town Hall to address the people who were protesting - as well as the rest of the people. Sancho couldn't see the king from where he was standing, but as soon as he showed his face, things tenses up, and once he started to speak the crowd quiet down.
"Dear people of Elfen Island!" He began, and as he did, a gun was fired, a flintlock - one bullet flew past him, missing him, as he was rushed inside by his men, the crowd parted around the man who had shot the handgun, he was of average build, middle aged, had gray temples and red hair. "Down with the king!" He shouted, as 10 other men of smiliar age, armed with rusty cutlasses and farmers tools backed him up, soldiers rushed out of the town hall, rifles drawn and aimed at the small group
"If we die today, we do so with honor, we will not stand for this corrupt monarch no longer! Down with 'king' Carmello!" The man shouted, as tears welled in his eyes, as did those of his men as the soldiers readied up, the crowd panicked and began scattering as the guns were trained on the ten 'revolutionaries'.
The twenty muzzles all fired at once, gunpowdered covered the air, but the bullets never hit their marks, no, instead they were blocked in four inches think, soft, wool, that was put up like a blanket a few meters in front of the man who had fired upon the king. Sancho looked at the people he had just saved, his golden eyes were narrow, his face was strained, he looked pretty angry. "Run." Their savior spoke as they all darted from the scene as quickly as they could. Sancho would stand alone against the twenty soldiers, whom trained their guns on him.
"Who the hell are you?!" a soldier - donning a different outfit, he wore a black shirt and a blue armband, compared to everyone else's white and brown-colorschemes, he wore a military beret like the rest, his was red, theirs were black, he was some type of officer, most likely.
"My name is Sancho Graham, and I demand an audience with your king." As he uttered his name, the officer froze. "S-Sancho, and the gol- oh god." He spoke, as he shouted at his soldiers to go get backup. "You're that filthy kingslayer!" the officer spoke.
"And you think I, the slayer of the late King Shin, would save some lowly farmers lives, and show myself to you guys if I was planning on killing your king? Please. Bring me to your king - whom I've still not been introduced to, and I'll offer him my services in solving this little issue of his."
The officer gritted his teeth. "At ease, men. Let him see King Julian. Tell Darius and Jack that they shall keep their eyes on him."
"Follow me, Kingslayer." The officer ordered Sancho whom nodded. "Thanks."
"Wonder where my crew's at?" Sancho thought to himself.
***
The man in the red hair, the man who fired at the king returned to their homestead on the harbor - the base of their operations. "Holy shit, guys. We lived?!" He shouted to his men, whom all nodded. "Y-Yeah, we did. That golden guy saved us!" He exclaimed. The old man with the red hair "That wasn't exactly according to plan.. We were supposed to be martyrs.."
"But please, Great-Sam, we need you, you sacrificing your life like that is careless!" One of the men told their boss, whom sighed. "But it is necessary. King Julian can't remain on the throne, or our country's finished. Elfen cannot continue like this, and we need to people to see him for what he truly is.." Sam spoke, solemnly.
"We have to free our country from that warmongering lunatic."
Steam began to not only envelope the surface of the sea, but the island. Thick fog wafting through the tress and debris. Maybe he had used a bit to much fire? Rayne was on guard, watching his surroundings the best he could, soon it was apparent that only his Haki would help him in this situation. For a few moments, he could sense nothing, and he could only hear the ripping apart of tree bark. Chest contracting, Rayne slowly lowered his defenses. After a massive battle like this, who was ready to fight?
As if on que, a massive hand appeared flat on the ground, palm upwards. Almost instantly Rayne was ready to burn it to ashes, but he hesitated. The hand was wooden. Rayne's eyes widened as he quickly realized what was going on. While Bogard was hyperventilating, he took the opportunity to step onto the hand, dragging the Red Hood along with him. Quickly, the hand rushed up into the air, cutting through the fog like a knife. Falling on one knee, Rayne struggled to stay on, his body weakening with each passing moment.
Without warning, the hand dropped them off on the Red Hoods ship, which was surrounded by his steam. Amazingly, the whole crew had gathered on the ship, ready to leave. Frowning though, Rayne found himself thinking about Comnai. If Marxo was actually thier captain, they would have escaped if he actually assisted instead of licking his wounds. Rage and pain ran through his veins, Melany had been the one to dress his broken arm.
Jumping into action, Rayne took matters into his own hands. Limping over to the quarterdeck, he held his hand out towards the sea. He had enough of this island one month. Taking one last look at what was left of his former prison, Rayne gritted his teeth and summoned the last of his power. He lifted his other hand, having it point behind him. Suddenly a condensed yellow stream rocketed behind him, at the same time a massive burst of fire was realised from the front. The sudden burst of energy threw the boat forward, launching it at speeds that many hadn't seen before.
"F2 (Flame Force)."
Soon, the ship would be out of sight, the blanket of steam covering their escape. Rayne had no idea where he launched the to, but soon they were in open sea, and he had lost himself in the murky depths of his own mind.
Already returning to my human state, having stayed out of the main conflict, I would leap off of my current position seeing Xerxes away from what was left of the battlefield as well as others he seemed to have made friends with. Using the now turned statue I made a series of landing and leaps until I ended with a large leap towards my crewmate's position. Xerxes seemed much different without his mask on, and in fact something about him, other then that, was entirely different and strange. Nonetheless I landed nearby my fellow crew mate before speaking. "Wherever he goes, I go to." I said flatly and matter-of-fact like with arms crossed over my armored chest, awaiting for who I assumed the captain to respond.
The ship propelled out from the harbor and towards the sea. On the ground, Bogard slid on the smooth Adam Wood with a pained chuckle, he covered his eyes to hide the tears that formed in the corners.
Once the vessel settled on calmer waters, as calm as they could get for the Grand Line, Bogard looked towards the stranger with prudent inquisition. He stared until he got a good idea of the man’s intentions, until his gut assured him of their safety.
Bogard’s blank expression turned into a smile. “Sure, I’m guessing you two were prison partners or something like that."
"I don’t mind if you tag along. If you want a home… you can always stay aboard. Stay and join my... join my... my cr…”
The Captain was soon fading from consciousness. He found sleep quicker than he could ever imagine. A light snore fled from his nostrils.
Events progressed rather quickly after Dirk's arrival on the boat. The last few people turned up, some new guy began firing a blast that made the ship move really quickly... was that the same guy who made the explosion before? ...and then, to top it all off, another guy in full plate armour fell on to the boat out of nowhere and insisted that he was now a crew member, since explosion guy was also that. And then just when Dirk was about to start his speech about how he was in need of assistance to grow stronger, Captain Sunny fell unconscious. Ultimately, he was the one Dirk had wanted to discuss the situation with, so his unconsciousness was naturally a bother for him.
He supposed whatever speech he would make could wait until the captain was awake again. After all, he had plenty of time on his hands.
Yuushuu Manor, Loguetown
A little known fact of biology is that baleen whales can be extraordinarily loud, in fact proving to be some of the loudest living creatures on the planet as far as purely evolved means of sound production go. Many species routinely produce vocalisations upward of 150 decibels, with the calls of certain species reaching nearly 190 decibels, and the sharp split-second clicks of a particular species encroaching into the range of 230 decibels, though the rapidity with which the noise peters off often means it sounds quieter than its cousins.
And yet surely none of these creatures can compare to the din my whale of a mother has been making, Yuushuu Yuudaina thought to himself drolly as he approached the noise's source, the bedroom of his mother and of his late father. Tall and strong, with a tanned complexion acquired from many hours of Marine work to complement his bright blue eyes and dark tousled hair, Yuudaina was a handsome creature whom many women would gladly lose an arm to simply be near. Indeed, his dear wife Alicia Vale had lost an arm in years past, after an unfortunately-timed pirate attack took both it and her virginity; in spite of this forced deflowering, Yuudaina had taken a shine to her after but a single conversation, and it wasn't long before they were married, with a child along the way and an artificial limb replacing the one she had lost.
His fond memories were cut short by yet another pained wail of "SAAAIIDOOOUUU!!!", substantially closer than before. He doubled his pace, and soon found himself before the oak-lined gates of Hell, behind which surely lay an abominable creature fit only for bilious fascination in a zoo of some sort. Which was a shame, because he explicitly remembered an event in his childhood where she had calmly presented herself to the family in the most wonderful dress, and that all he could think was how beauteous his mother was. Those days were long past her. Twelve years in particular had been spent by her in a state of increasing despondency and lowering self-esteem, for naught once the ultimate cause of such mental issues had escaped the building.
He sighed, knocked on the door, heard his mother to screech "Oh, shove off, I need to get dressed!", waited another ten minutes until she cried out "Okay, come iiinnn~!", and finally entered the room. The place was decorated in a very untasteful combination of pinks, oranges, and disturbingly bright greens - not his father's choice, but he'd endured his wife's esoteric taste in decor until his death. Yuudaina highly imagined she'd also endured it long after it had outstayed its welcome, just to make a point to her partner. He glanced round before entering fully, just to see if all was in place, given her occasionally-destructive tantrums. Desk, check. Mirrors, check. Bed-
Oh, God. She'd been wearing the see-through camisole again. The memory of the last time he'd caught her out in that slinky thing still haunted him, and he flinched at the sight of the object of clothing, before finally pushing into the room proper. At least now, she had on a very long blue dress which better suited her frame.
With a gasp, Yuushuu Kireina greeted her son with an unnecessarily loud exclamation of his name, and a hug he'd rather she hadn't given him. His earlier assessment of her looks held true - were he a less polite individual, he'd likely assess her rotund, tear-stained and overall unflattering appearance the same way his younger brother had, i.e. "fat old hag". As it was, he simply responded 'Mother. Have you been well?'
'Nooo, of COURSE I haven't!' she cried. 'My beloved Saidou is dead, dead, deaaaad! Oh, why would that little shit of a slave do that to him?! WHY?'
'Probably because he was being kept as a pleasure slave,' Yuudaina offered bluntly, for what must have been the fifteenth time since Dirk's escape. In truth, his opinion of his father had only been somewhat higher than that of his mother, less an object of disgust and more an obstacle to eventually be overcome; officially speaking, now that Yuushuu Saidou was dead, and though his mother technically still stood in the way complete with excessively-long mourning cycle, Yuudaina was now the owner of the Yuushuu fortune.
'Oh, toss to that! That bastard ought to have known his place, and instead he murdered the only man I ever loved and stole the most valuable object in our family's possession! We're bankrupt, bankrupt I tell you! No thanks to that ungrateful little shit who claims to be my youngest child!'
At least what was left of it. After the palaver Sugureta had invoked by buying that damned expensive Devil Fruit and telling the family's guards to fire the guy keeping all their slaves in check, their funds had been somewhat strained. It had recovered somewhat since then, but he worried his hysterical mother was hoarding wealth as it came back in, for the purposes of sending more men after him and whatever ship he'd stolen away on.
Speaking of which, Yuudaina had important news on that front. 'As it happens, mother,' he stated in a business-like fashion, 'you may be close to achieving retribution. The local Marines of Loguetown have learned that a very familiar face has been lodging with a group called the Red Hood Pirates; as of now, he's entered the Grand Line, complete with Supernova status for his crimes. Trust tha-'
'OHHH, well DONE, you wonderful boy!' Kireina interrupted, a distressingly wide, fat-stretching grin crossing her face at the news. 'Don't you know how much STRESS he's caused me over the years?! Oh, I can already feel the pounds just melting away!'
'...trust that we'll soon have him back in our clutches, to do with him as desired.'
'Ohhhhhh, but how can I be SURE you and yours will get him?!' the woman yelled, hands clapping to her face and sending the fat rippling. 'I'll have to make sure it happens, won't I? Look- hold on a moment-'
Yuudaina sighed knowingly as his mother bustled off, bending over- nope, he was looking away from that sight with a grimace plastered to his face for the next few moments. He heard her unlock something, then pull out something heavy, close up whatever had been opened, and head back over to her son, now breathing heavily after her minimal exertion. The feel of a bag being shoved into his hands prompted him to turn back to the woman, and he hefted its weight with a contemplative, somewhat worried expression.
'Er... how much money is in this bag?' he asked, to which the fat entity who'd spawned him laughed in a way he was sure she thought tinkled just so. 'Oh, it's barely a trifle for the Marine forces, my delightful son! Only ten million Beli or so, nothing much.'
'Mother, our fortune prior to last month was only two hundred and fifty million Beli.'
'So? One-twenty fifth is only... er... five percent!'
'Closer to four, roughly speaking. But even so, we barely had fifteen million Beli left after all that nonsense.'
'Closer to twenty now, and I've got a fund going to make more over time. So, what I want you to do,' Kireina stated, wrapping an arm round Yuudaina's shoulders and ignoring whatever protest he had been about to make, 'is to give that money to the Marines, and say in your strongest, most masculine voice:'
Oh, Yuudaina thought, please don't try to emulate-
'"Look here,"' came a rather high-pitched attempt at his own voice, '"my mother is donating this money and plenty more besides after this, and she wants you to send your best men out to the Grand Line and bring back that skinny little git Dirk alive and in one piece, so she can take him apart herself!" Got that?'
'Ten million is a pittance for the Marines.'
'Eeeeeeevery little helps, you know!'
Yuudaina closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then stored the money in his coat and said 'Of course. I'm sure they'll gladly accept the extra funding,' silently promising to take the money back to Alicia instead. She'd appreciate the emergency funding, on the off-chance that he died in the field and his mother squandered everything else the Yuushuu family owned in an effort to bring a single meaningless slave to justice.
'Oh, but what I wouldn't GIVE to be able to go after him myself!' the fat lady pined wistfully, hands clasping together around her son's neck- he managed to slip out after a few moments, at the cost of soaking most of his head in sweat- her eyes growing misty at presumably-disturbing and gory fantasies. 'You'll just have to do the job yourself, won't you, Yuudaina?'
'You do know, mother, that most Marines don't have jurisdiction over the areas they patrol, right?' Yuudaina pointed out, to which his mother pouted angrily, crossing her arms the way a spoiled child might. No wonder Suguremashita had left the mansion to seek her own fortune nine years ago. Apparently, she'd visited in the past month to pick up one of the family's other slaves for her crew, and was supposedly doing quite well as a travelling merchant. He couldn't verify that personally, but he didn't doubt it.
'Fortunately,' he continued, 'it just so happens that I've recently been promoted from Commander to Commodore, and can now pursue individuals into the Grand Line at my own leisure.' His mother gasped once again, and cried out 'REALLY?! Right past Captain, no less?!', to which he replied 'For my good work at hunting in the East and South Blues, of course,' before being all-but-smothered by the bear hug Kireina gave him.
'Ooooohhh, I'm so PROUD of you!' she squealed. 'My own baby boy, a Commodore of the Marines! I can only IMAGINE how much the extra money will increase our ability to start going after the slave boy! Oh, but you will send some of the extra funds back home, won't you, my child?' she asked, finally releasing him from her grip. 'Please do, the family fortune...'
'Yeees, mother, that's been standard for our family's whole existence,' he noted. Certainly the entirety of his career, anyway, though now Saidou was dead, Sugureta had run off God knows where, and the costs of feeding both slaves and personnel had decreased, he imagined the extra money wouldn't even be necessary. Or rather, that his last remaining parent would dutifully spend it on both catching the pleasure slave and enhancing her own extravagant lifestyle. He'd rather she just died and saved everybody the trouble. Maybe he could finally move Alicia and little Francis in after all was said and done.
'You're such a good boy, don't you know, Yuudaina?' Kireina exclaimed, grasping his shoulders with a smile of what was perhaps intended to be cherubic delight on her face. Yuudaina simply nodded, then pulled himself away and moved across the room, reaching into his coat pocket to receive a non-existent Transponder Snail call, then exclaimed 'Wow, advances in Telesnail tech have been incredible, right? So quiet you can barely hear them nowadays, huh... I'm afraid there's been another pirate attack nearby, you know how it is...'
Apparently, the matriarch of the Yuushuu household was completely oblivious to even the most blatant of lies. 'You go and get them, my sweet child! Show those pirates what for!' she yelled, leaping and jiggling with a fist to the air. That, Yuudaina decided, was absolutely his cue to leave. Bidding his mother farewell, he set out toward the front of the mansion once again, ideally to never return, or at least not to do so until his mother's life ended. With his newfound rank in mind, he set his sights on the Grand Line...
And if he happened across a certain white-haired ex-slave, or any other pirate for that matter, then it'd be nothing personal.
Meet the Yuushuus (or Yūshūs, if you want to use Romanised Japanese, but hell with that) Yuushuu Saidou - The patriarch and ex-head of the family, who held intentions to use Dirk as a sex slave in his old age. Deceased. Yuushuu Kireina - The matriarch, an extremely fat and ugly old woman whose only likely contribution to the plot is going to be sending ever-more-intense waves of Marines after the Red Hoods as the family's fortunes will allow. Yuushuu Yuudaina - The elder son, a Marine recently promoted to Commodore who intends to sail the Grand Line for his next pirate-hunting venture. Yuushuu Suguremashita - The daughter, who left the family mansion nine years ago, and currently bears the mantle of sea-faring merchant. Returned to the Yuushuu mansion recently to pick up a particular slave for her crew; otherwise, her current whereabouts are unknown. Yuushuu Sugureta - The younger son, who recently purchased a Devil Fruit on a whim using most of his family's funds, only to lose it to a slave. Promptly left the family mansion; his current whereabouts are unknown.
So there are the names you requested, @CannedBread. To all and sundry, you can use the family's living members in your own RP sections if you so desire, but please talk to me about doing so beforehand, and please don't kill any of them off unless I've allowed for it. I have significant future plans for at least one of them, and I'd rather those weren't thrown off for no good reason.
Anaru was, fairly frustrated with how today went, as he pierced through the giant tree-monster-thing, he thought back to when he was on marine ship he took to the island, and remembered his hopes for today, he wanted to put the horrors of the Conomi Islands behind him, Ex-Captain Freya's frown, when she realized Anaru was hiding such an important secret, Anaru's realization, that capturing two pirates, and killing a third, was not even close to worth all those lives, he and other people lost, and worst of all, the sinking feeling in his gut, as much as he hated to admit it, he blamed himself more than the Vice Admiral, he could have prevented the destruction, if he just spoke up, about how dangerous this whole thing was.
He was broken out of his thoughts, when he hit the ground, causing a large crater to form under him, the ground torn apart where he landed. as got up, staggering, from the destruction he made, his overuse of his life return came back to hit him, hard. his entire body structure felt like it had knives twisting around in every muscle, it was agony, and brought Anaru to his knees.
While Anaru clenched his teeth, and struggled with kneeling, the Buddhistava statue behind him, felt the aftermath of Anaru's final attack, as the wind around the hole in its stomach, rotated violently, as if it was also torn apart by Anaru, as cracks spread across the entire Statue's frame, before it shatters into a rain of wood. Anaru felt the rain of wood, as he managed to force his head to the sea, just in time to see the pirates retreating, that was it, he failed again, and now, the Red Hood Pirates, were even more powerful, but much worse than that, the people on Drum Island, they were caught in the crossfire, this was too much for Anaru to bare, so many deaths on his hands, he couldn't handle it.
A tear rolled down Anaru's cheek, followed by several more, soon he was crying, not for his failure, but for the people who died, both today, and on the Conomi Islands, but a Marine couldn't appear weak, especially not in front of comrades, that would put seeds of doubt in people's minds, so Anaru mustered up all his strength, and began to stand. "BAAAAAHAHAHA, YOU PIRATES, I MAKE A VOW NOW!" Anaru's voice seemed to shake the island, worse than his impact. "AS LONG AS I LIVE, I WILL NOT STOP DEFENDING THE INNOCENT, UNTIL I GET RETRIBUTION, FOR ALL THOSE THAT HAVE DIED TODAY, AND AT THE CONOMI ISLANDS!" Anaru's body was screaming at him to stop, and tears were still streaming down his face, but he walked, he had to find the Vice Admiral, to make sure he was alright, to save him, to do SOMETHING that he wouldn't be ashamed of, he just hoped Adrian managed to survive, that man had a heart of Justice, but he didn't see Adrian anywhere during the battle, he was worried that when the prison was destroyed, Adrian was among those killed.
Hearing the echoes of a deep bellow. A emotion-filled cry that vowed compensation for Drum Island. Bogard was stirred from a sleep that should had been a abysmal. After all, exerting so much energy in one day was. . . well it was bound for hibernation after all was said and done. Red Hood looked towards his First Mate. For whatever reason, that man’s vow concrete his own wants and needs. Bogard wasn’t going to lose another crew mate, not ever.
“Dirk,” he called out to from the cool Adam Wood. “What are you going to do? You saw what happened back on Drum Island. You. . . You couldn’t do much out there today. It's getting dangerous for you. I’m worried.” He stared, golden knives stabbing at the youth for answers.
He attempted to sit up but pain roared through his body and with gritted teeth he ceased his efforts.That pain was not worth looking more Captain-like to his crew members. They would understand if he remained crippled for a few more days.
