The doberman turned up a nose at Gharn as he sneered and flexed. The display of power was dismissed just like the many other threats and impetuous requests that came to the doberman. What did surprise him was the sight of lion like features as they subtly flashed across the scantily clad man's figure. The momentary glance of awe was just as quickly replaced with disinterest as the small showcase which only lasted as long as Gharn's attention span served only to explain the feline scent the bartender had distastefully picked up on. He dragged a minimal scowl over to Aedre, somewhat aloof as she made her request. It took a moment, but the doberman finally digested what she requested, and managed a slight chuckle.
"I dig your taste doll." With a sly wink and a haughty grin, the bartender snapped his gloved fingers, triggering ripples of motion to surge through the shelves of liquor and spirits. Fluid danced in the rainbow of various bottles, all different sizes and shapes, as they rattled and spun. Subtle chiming rang out in a gentle harmony of clinking glass. Several pieces of shiny metal glimmered dimly in the muggy light, scattering out from the drying rack into the air above the bar. A swift right hand smoothly swept across the mahogany counter top and the young hooded woman's coins disappeared between nimble fingers. She felt a brief breeze of crisp and frigid air kiss her skin, brushing across her cheeks and over her shoulders. An ice chest slammed behind the doberman. In that moment the coins became three ice cubes, misting faintly in the tepid air as they were juggled across gloved knuckles. With his other hand, the doberman procured a tall icy highball glass clouded by a thin layer of frost from behind his back.
A trio of knives shuffled up from a suddenly open drawer, flashing through the air. Dry scratching hissed from the bottom of the straw basket of produce as a grapefruit and a lime chased each other around its edges until they were a blur of green and yellow gravitating into the air like a halo. Metallic clangs and clatters chimed out from the flurry of levitating blades as they seized into motion, carving through the fruit spinning in the air in a whirl of chrome and citrus until several disc shaped slices as thin as a coin spun out like a tornado of greens, pinks, and yellows. The rattling of the dancing bottles clattering against each other on the shelves gave way to the sound of a resounding clang as a bottle of liquid clear and pure fell forward. The cap spun off and the aroma of vodka wafted through the air, tickling at Aedre's nostrils as the pristine liquor defied gravity, snaking through the air. Iron taps protruding from the gnarled wood of juice baring barrels behind the bar clicked open, giving way to streams of juices from cranberries and grapefruit.
All the liquids swirled into the air, sealed away as the pieces of shiny metal came back together, closing around the rainbow of juices and vodka in the form of a shaker. A sound similar to maracas hissed out, accompanied by the acute tings of the bartender flicking each of the ice into the frosted glass before setting it down on the counter in front of Aedre. Knives bobbed away, filing into the sink and then onto the drying rack while the shaker tumbled down into gloved hands ready to catch it. After a quick twirl, the shaker's end popped off, and a sweet smelling amber cocktail poured out through a chrome grate and into the glass, spinning the cubes of ice around its insides as they floated up. Four paper thin fruit slices, two of each grapefruit and lime, slide onto glass's crystalline edges. "One Sea Breeze. Enjoy." The drink was presented and with a quick lick of his snout, the bartender moved on. However, before he reached the next customer, there was a sudden halt in the dobermans motions as his ears perked up, pointing into the air and tuning through the sounds of the bar like antenna. His eyes narrowed, shifting toward the entrance as he passed a muddled, smoke filled growl under his breath.
Shadows crowded the sunlight peaking in through the front doors as a gathering of silhouettes loomed in front of them. Sounds of merry died into curious awes and confusion as several men uniformed in white, blue and gold marched in, boorishly pushing passed the crowds of patrons. Soldiers that bore the mark of the World Navy across their coats and shoulders. Sheathed sabers and flint lock rifles rattled amongst the men, accompanied by the clatter booted footsteps. Seeking eyes studied the tavern, gazing over the clientele until one of the soldiers eyes locked on something toward the back of the bar. "There!" Not wanting to be shoved out of the way or to the ground, the crowd cleared a path for the navy troopers as a hasty advance was made toward the darker recesses until they were all gathered around a single table at the back of the room. The same table everyone else steered clear of.
The soldiers were twelve in all, as was common to most World Military squads, lined up and rowed next to each other in a disciplined formation as if they'd done it a thousand times. "Just as we suspected! Looks like our intel was right." Stepping forward from the ranks of soldiers was an imposing man decorated with badges and medals across the front of his coat and a gold pin at the center of his cap. The symbol of a World Navy Imperial Vice Captain. "So you finally decided to show your treasonous faces after all this time Red Fang Pirates? Quite a severe mistake." Wooden rattling and clicks hissed out from amongst the soldiers as they readied their rifles, training them on the darkened figures sitting at the table. "Now you'll be coming with us peacefully if you know what's good for you, and you'll be telling us where the Goddess Shard is too. Or it'll be the last mistake you've ever made!" With a deft motion, the vice captain rose a hand, ready to signal an execution.
A wicked smirk, filled with stained and crooked teeth, stretched across the mulish grimace of the pirate with the tattoo. Wiping some foam from the corner of his bristled maw with an ample forearm, the pirate turned over his fist slowly, revealing with a slight of hand trick a massive brilliantly gleaming pure blue sapphire almost as large as a skull. The precious stone rested in the scared palm of the grinning man, striking awe into the soldiers as they let out a concurrent gasp. "Dis be what ye lookin' fer mates?" he asked in a deep ragged voice that riled forth like an engine. "Well? Come an get it ye dogs!" An irritated scowl replaced the vice captain shocked expression. "You fools! To carry it on you...now we need not take you alive! Execute them! Don't hit the shard!" Flashes of igniting gunpowder and a rattle of rifles going off filled the tavern as the soldiers fired upon the table of pirates.
As the smoke cleared, the vice captains scowl quickly reverted back to shock as his jaw dropped in disbelief. "Wha...what is this?" In spite of the assault from the firing squad, there was no damage. Not to the pirates, or any of the furniture. Instead, something drifted in the air above the table. Glimmering faintly in the dim light of the tavern as they hung motionless in the air were several small led balls. It wasn't that the bullets missed, but rather that they had stopped midair. "Gyaaahahahahaha! Whassa matter mates!? Ye look upset that I took yer balls! Don't worry ye heads, I'll give 'em back to ya. 'Ere ya go!" By the will of the laughing pirate, the bullets shot back out, returning to their original owners and striking each of the soldiers, piercing through the front of their skulls with sickening thunks before sending the formation quickly toppling to the ground. "See? Aren't I a nice bloke?" The vice captain, the last remaining, took a step back as his gazed darted over his fallen troops desperately. "Y-you...b-bastard! You'll pa-" Blood spurted from his throat and nose abruptly cutting of the vice captain mid sentence as something pierced his chest, stabbing through from his back after ripping through the symbol of the World Navy across his coat, quickly staining it with a stream of blood. Looking down with pain stricken eyes, the soldier looked down at the black blade that had cut through his innards. His gaze followed the edge of the weapon down until he was gazing over his shoulder to the floor behind him, as the slender black painted man with violet eyes and a malicious smile that was impaling him snaked out of the shadow at his feet.
Death took the vice captain as the blade was ripped out of him, sending him falling into a bloody heap against the floorboards. The slender figure disappeared from the shadow of the decorated soldier and reemerged next to the tattooed pirate. "Thass the way Logia. Now go find the rest of those navy rats...an show 'em to the locker." Tucking the shard back into the recesses of his worn lambskin coat, the tattooed pirate kicked over the corpse of a soldier in his was before taking up his mug of ale and resuming his drinking, as if nothing ever happened. Papers scattered from the jackets of one of the soldiers, spreading across the floor. Painted across the front of each were marks identical to the tattoos across the burly pirates chest and rewards in gold marked at the millions. A kings ransom. Nodding and finishing off his own drink, the black painted man sank into his own shadow below the table. Silence plagued the tavern as the crowds of patrons and waitresses gazed in awe at the scene.
"I dig your taste doll." With a sly wink and a haughty grin, the bartender snapped his gloved fingers, triggering ripples of motion to surge through the shelves of liquor and spirits. Fluid danced in the rainbow of various bottles, all different sizes and shapes, as they rattled and spun. Subtle chiming rang out in a gentle harmony of clinking glass. Several pieces of shiny metal glimmered dimly in the muggy light, scattering out from the drying rack into the air above the bar. A swift right hand smoothly swept across the mahogany counter top and the young hooded woman's coins disappeared between nimble fingers. She felt a brief breeze of crisp and frigid air kiss her skin, brushing across her cheeks and over her shoulders. An ice chest slammed behind the doberman. In that moment the coins became three ice cubes, misting faintly in the tepid air as they were juggled across gloved knuckles. With his other hand, the doberman procured a tall icy highball glass clouded by a thin layer of frost from behind his back.
A trio of knives shuffled up from a suddenly open drawer, flashing through the air. Dry scratching hissed from the bottom of the straw basket of produce as a grapefruit and a lime chased each other around its edges until they were a blur of green and yellow gravitating into the air like a halo. Metallic clangs and clatters chimed out from the flurry of levitating blades as they seized into motion, carving through the fruit spinning in the air in a whirl of chrome and citrus until several disc shaped slices as thin as a coin spun out like a tornado of greens, pinks, and yellows. The rattling of the dancing bottles clattering against each other on the shelves gave way to the sound of a resounding clang as a bottle of liquid clear and pure fell forward. The cap spun off and the aroma of vodka wafted through the air, tickling at Aedre's nostrils as the pristine liquor defied gravity, snaking through the air. Iron taps protruding from the gnarled wood of juice baring barrels behind the bar clicked open, giving way to streams of juices from cranberries and grapefruit.
All the liquids swirled into the air, sealed away as the pieces of shiny metal came back together, closing around the rainbow of juices and vodka in the form of a shaker. A sound similar to maracas hissed out, accompanied by the acute tings of the bartender flicking each of the ice into the frosted glass before setting it down on the counter in front of Aedre. Knives bobbed away, filing into the sink and then onto the drying rack while the shaker tumbled down into gloved hands ready to catch it. After a quick twirl, the shaker's end popped off, and a sweet smelling amber cocktail poured out through a chrome grate and into the glass, spinning the cubes of ice around its insides as they floated up. Four paper thin fruit slices, two of each grapefruit and lime, slide onto glass's crystalline edges. "One Sea Breeze. Enjoy." The drink was presented and with a quick lick of his snout, the bartender moved on. However, before he reached the next customer, there was a sudden halt in the dobermans motions as his ears perked up, pointing into the air and tuning through the sounds of the bar like antenna. His eyes narrowed, shifting toward the entrance as he passed a muddled, smoke filled growl under his breath.
Shadows crowded the sunlight peaking in through the front doors as a gathering of silhouettes loomed in front of them. Sounds of merry died into curious awes and confusion as several men uniformed in white, blue and gold marched in, boorishly pushing passed the crowds of patrons. Soldiers that bore the mark of the World Navy across their coats and shoulders. Sheathed sabers and flint lock rifles rattled amongst the men, accompanied by the clatter booted footsteps. Seeking eyes studied the tavern, gazing over the clientele until one of the soldiers eyes locked on something toward the back of the bar. "There!" Not wanting to be shoved out of the way or to the ground, the crowd cleared a path for the navy troopers as a hasty advance was made toward the darker recesses until they were all gathered around a single table at the back of the room. The same table everyone else steered clear of.
The soldiers were twelve in all, as was common to most World Military squads, lined up and rowed next to each other in a disciplined formation as if they'd done it a thousand times. "Just as we suspected! Looks like our intel was right." Stepping forward from the ranks of soldiers was an imposing man decorated with badges and medals across the front of his coat and a gold pin at the center of his cap. The symbol of a World Navy Imperial Vice Captain. "So you finally decided to show your treasonous faces after all this time Red Fang Pirates? Quite a severe mistake." Wooden rattling and clicks hissed out from amongst the soldiers as they readied their rifles, training them on the darkened figures sitting at the table. "Now you'll be coming with us peacefully if you know what's good for you, and you'll be telling us where the Goddess Shard is too. Or it'll be the last mistake you've ever made!" With a deft motion, the vice captain rose a hand, ready to signal an execution.
A wicked smirk, filled with stained and crooked teeth, stretched across the mulish grimace of the pirate with the tattoo. Wiping some foam from the corner of his bristled maw with an ample forearm, the pirate turned over his fist slowly, revealing with a slight of hand trick a massive brilliantly gleaming pure blue sapphire almost as large as a skull. The precious stone rested in the scared palm of the grinning man, striking awe into the soldiers as they let out a concurrent gasp. "Dis be what ye lookin' fer mates?" he asked in a deep ragged voice that riled forth like an engine. "Well? Come an get it ye dogs!" An irritated scowl replaced the vice captain shocked expression. "You fools! To carry it on you...now we need not take you alive! Execute them! Don't hit the shard!" Flashes of igniting gunpowder and a rattle of rifles going off filled the tavern as the soldiers fired upon the table of pirates.
As the smoke cleared, the vice captains scowl quickly reverted back to shock as his jaw dropped in disbelief. "Wha...what is this?" In spite of the assault from the firing squad, there was no damage. Not to the pirates, or any of the furniture. Instead, something drifted in the air above the table. Glimmering faintly in the dim light of the tavern as they hung motionless in the air were several small led balls. It wasn't that the bullets missed, but rather that they had stopped midair. "Gyaaahahahahaha! Whassa matter mates!? Ye look upset that I took yer balls! Don't worry ye heads, I'll give 'em back to ya. 'Ere ya go!" By the will of the laughing pirate, the bullets shot back out, returning to their original owners and striking each of the soldiers, piercing through the front of their skulls with sickening thunks before sending the formation quickly toppling to the ground. "See? Aren't I a nice bloke?" The vice captain, the last remaining, took a step back as his gazed darted over his fallen troops desperately. "Y-you...b-bastard! You'll pa-" Blood spurted from his throat and nose abruptly cutting of the vice captain mid sentence as something pierced his chest, stabbing through from his back after ripping through the symbol of the World Navy across his coat, quickly staining it with a stream of blood. Looking down with pain stricken eyes, the soldier looked down at the black blade that had cut through his innards. His gaze followed the edge of the weapon down until he was gazing over his shoulder to the floor behind him, as the slender black painted man with violet eyes and a malicious smile that was impaling him snaked out of the shadow at his feet.
Death took the vice captain as the blade was ripped out of him, sending him falling into a bloody heap against the floorboards. The slender figure disappeared from the shadow of the decorated soldier and reemerged next to the tattooed pirate. "Thass the way Logia. Now go find the rest of those navy rats...an show 'em to the locker." Tucking the shard back into the recesses of his worn lambskin coat, the tattooed pirate kicked over the corpse of a soldier in his was before taking up his mug of ale and resuming his drinking, as if nothing ever happened. Papers scattered from the jackets of one of the soldiers, spreading across the floor. Painted across the front of each were marks identical to the tattoos across the burly pirates chest and rewards in gold marked at the millions. A kings ransom. Nodding and finishing off his own drink, the black painted man sank into his own shadow below the table. Silence plagued the tavern as the crowds of patrons and waitresses gazed in awe at the scene.