[IC] One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

[Pacifista]

Whoops

[Pacifista]

"CHESTER!" Lina hissed, snatching him from the hall and dragging him back. As she pulled him back into the storage room, she pointed at a spot on the wall void of anything except for some of the mess underneath it.

"There! It was... a face!" Frowning, she stooped down, putting her sun hat back on, before growling, "You could at least pretend to be concerned for me."

_{"It...hurts..."}

Lina let out a slight squeak of fright, a shiver running down her back. "Wh-what was that noise again?"

[Hillan]

Chester got janked like a clown in a play - sometimes, maybe that was all he was. He looked at Lina up and down, then at the spot on the wall she was pointing too with such conviction. Then he looked back at her, then back at the spot, then back at her, and once again back at the spot, his face was blank, a slight frown. "Sure you're not going crazy?" He asked, genuinely curious, as he took another few drinks from the grog he recovered, still overjoyed about his discovery.

"I'm not seeing it. Is it a angle thing?" Chester asked, as he quickly grabbed the top of the shelf, hanging upside down in the little room. "Nope, not seeing it from here, either. He jumped down, and turned upside down, standing himself on his one hand. "... Really am not seeing it here, either." and in all of his different viewpoints, he kept drinking from his bottle, never spilling even a drop, as if the alcohol inside of the bottle was defying gravity.

"Hey, you OK?" Chester asked her, as he stood back up. "You want some?" He asked, offering her the bottle. "I thought you complained about it hurting."

"And what noise?"

[Pacifista]

Lina frowned, watching Chester's weirdness blankly. "That wasn't me! You did hear it, you..."

"THERE'S A SPIDER ON YOUR FOOT!"

[Hillan]

"What do you mean that wasn't you? You mean you didn't put my grog there, either?" Chester asked, nodding towards the shelf where he had found the now half-empty bottle. As Lina mentioned the spider, Chester froze. "S-Spider?!" He asked. Before swallowing, hard, his skin turned pale as he looked down onto his foot. And sure as shit, there was something small enough to be a spider on his leg. He shook it ,trying to get the thing off of his boot. "Get off!"

It didn't take. His face turned from frozen to angry, "I said, Get off of me!" Chester shouted. his foot blurred for a second, as Chester kicked the air, while vibrating his leg, sending anything on it off of it.

In the next moment, he went for his drink again, finding it to be gone. "Lina, did you take my drink?"

[Pacifista]

Hurtling through the air, the old, broken compass impacted a wall, shattering into shards of glass and metal, but not before leaving a gash in the wall.

Grimacing, Lina growled, "Chester!" As he looked around for his drink, she frowned, "You probably lost it being an idiot." She giggled, maybe you swallowed the whole bottle because you were scared!"

"It hurts..."

"Well, swallowing a bottle..." Lina stopped.

"Ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts..." Something whined. Slowly, Lina looked up.

The wood of the cabin wall had been overtaken by convulsing, shadowy masses of movement. Grimy looking hands clawed at the air, more of them forming to reach the walls, where they began to scratch aimlessly. One of them was holding Chester's bottle. Spots without hands were taken up by small, round faces, twisted into pained expressions.

"It hurts!" they cried. Lina paled.

[Hillan]

As the bottle suddenly appeared in the roof, and the dark ceiling suddenly started moving, Chester's face went blank. A million super strong spiders He thought, as he fell to the floor, for the first time in recent memory, the captain seemed scared. "S-spider!" Chester shouted.

"With hands! And only two arms and legs!" He shouted, pointing up into the roof.

"Wait a fucking minute" He said, as he crawled back up from the floor, color returning to his face. "That's not what spiders look like! Hey, Preteniders! Give me back my drink, and get off my boat!" Chester shouted as he reached for the bottle, he grasped the bottom of the bottle, a group of the small beings held onto the bottle, keeping the pirate from moving it. "What the?!" Chester exclaimed

"Lina, can you believe this shit?!" He said, wiggling the bottle as hard as he could. "LINA WHAT IS THIS?!" He shouted, clearly flustered.

"Ittttthuuuurrrttsss" They moaned

"THEN STOP FIGHTING ME!"

"HUUUURRRTTTSSS"

"DAMMIT GUYS."

[Pacifista]

Lina's jaw dropped. "How can you act normal at a time like this!?"

...Or, well, normalish.

As Lina yelled, the hands seemed to not mind the bottle as much as they started to grab Chester by the shirt, as if to pull him along. Reaching down, Lina hopped up, sword flashing, chopping through a few of the arms, which left behind black flecks that seemed to fade into the air. The faces moaned, but the hands did not reform.

Swiping again, cutting the rest of the hands that were on Chester, Lina grinned. "They aren't that bad at all!" Pulling her hand down, she thrust up, stabbing one of the faces square in its forehead. This time the black flecks were joined by specks of wood, Lina's blade stuck in the ceiling.

The black mass writhed, more arms sprouting as they started to form on the walls. "IT HUUUURTS."

Lina screamed as they grabbed at her sword, which she couldn't remove from the wood.

[Hillan]

Chester shrieked as the many hands began grabbing him, he pulled away, and Lina helped with her quick slashes, the hands let go of Chester, and he hit the floor - flat onto his ass, no bottle in hand. "You sorry sons of bitches!" Chester shouted, Lina screaming. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HURTS!" His shouts echoed, as he jumped after Lina, his fist colliding with the roof of the storage room, and the planks exploded, sending the black forms flying - scattering all across the room.

"GET BACK HERE YOU GIVE ME BACK MY BOOZE!" Chester shouted, as he chased after the things running on the floor, they were still screaming about the pain they were in.

"ITTTTHUUUURRRTTSSS"

[Pacifista]

Ceiling bursting apart, the black forms caught in the mess faded as they were scattered about, leaving more black bits. The mass was silenced, Lina dropped to the ground as she was freed.

It didn't last.

"...Leave." More forms started to sprout around the broken area. Some came up from under Chester, taking him off the ground. "Leave! Leave!" The heads chanted.

Like a wave, the arms flowed, growing as they carried Chester out the door, pushing up, then down, forcing him to fall in their pace, even up the stair case. Lina made to follow, tailing the mass just as it was fading in Chester's wake. She called, "Stop damaging the ship! You're just making it mad!"

"Leave! Leave!" the chanting continued, heads forming on the walls of the hall. As Lina ran, she got a closer look at the black bits that remained when the hands faded, they appeared to be...petals?

[Hillan]

Chester got pulled up by his collar again, flailing in the air, cursing. "YOU LET GO OFF ME YOU FREAKING SHADOWY NOT-SPIDER FREAK!" He shouted, as he tried to punch the air, each punch sent a shockwave through the air, the windows on the cupboards vibrated from it. "Iiiitt huuurrts" The hands cried as they dragged Chester along the roof, up onto the main deck, the hand's base changed from the roof to the floor, but never letting go of the pirate. He tried hitting the hands, but once he hit one, another one just came up and grabbed him - like a hydra.

"Leeaaaveeee!" The voice shoued, as it also went to pick up Lina. Four hands held Chester, as he was trying to fight them off, biting, kicking, punching, screaming, everything he could think off to get himself free. But alas - it was futile, when he was pushed to the edge of the deck, the four hands tossed him overboard.

"I'LL GET YOU" Chester shouted as he crashed into the water.

[Pacifista]

Falling through there, Lina cried out as she fell to the water. Why did I run so fast!?

Crashing into the water, Lina floundered as she tried to find her ocean legs. Looking down, she saw the shadow that was Chester, completely helpless in the ocean's currents. Lina swam down, looping her arms under his, before kicking against his density. As her lungs started to burn, she reached the anchor chain, using the loops to pull herself up, finding Chester even easier to lift as he surfaced, as if his body was held down by weights while underwater.

Lina hacked out a bit of water. "Guess that's the Devil Fruit..." Keeping Chester's head above water, she pulled him up a few more rungs, grumbling, "C'mon Chester, help...me...you're too heavy!" As she started to get him more than halfway out of the water, she took a moment to elbow him in the stomach, making him cough up some swallowed water.

[Hillan]

He felt his body going limp - heavy, and then it all went black. He felt himself sinking, quickly, but soon, he lost conciousness. Even if he had been the most powerful man in the world, compared to the might of the sea - his strength was but a drop in an ocean. He got janked up, and soon, he emerged from the darkness he found himself in, a bright light cut through the black, and his eyes slid open, as a elbow found it's way inbetween his ribs, making him cough up a little bit of water. He grabbed onto the metal chains to his side. "Thanks." Chester said, simply, as he looked at Lina. "I'm gonna beat that damn ghost up."

---

"Hey, what you two doing in the water? Lina, you're not trying to move in on da captain, are ya?" Kuhn asked, as he and Macario emerged with a tower full of boxes on the small rowboat - the boat was packed well beyond it's capacity, almost taking in water due to how overloaded it was, but Kuhn had decided the two needed a lot of stuff, so they had bought an absurd amount of proviants and tools.

"What you talking about, Kuhn? There's a ghost on the boat. Threw us off! I'm gonna kick it's ass!" Chester said, as Kuhn raised an eyebrow. "He been drinking?.. I mean.. You know what I meant. What is he talking about?" The gunner asked, as he looked as Chester pulled himself up with one hand from the metal links, soaring through the air as he landed on the deck.

"YOU GET OFF MY BOAT! I FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO REPAIR THIS SHIP. ME AND LINA HAVE PUT OUR VERY SOUL INTO THIS DAMN BOAT, AND WE'RE NOT GONNA LET SOME PIECE OF SHIT GHOST CHASE US OFF!" He shouted, as he saw the hands emerge from the ground.

[Pacifista]

Climbing up onto the deck after him, Lina growled, "Chester! Calm down! You're not helping things!" Seeing the hands starting to form, she tensed in anticipation, but they seemed a bit passive.

As Kuhn and Macario came onto the deck, they began to fade. "What's going on? Ghosts?"

Lina blinked at where the hands were, before grumbling, "Well, there was these hands that were growing out of the walls and stuff..."

"Uh-huh," Macario grunted, patting his large paw on Lina's head. "You can watch for creepy hands while the three of us start getting the stuff on the boat. I'll pass it up, Chester can hand it off to Kuhn." Lina adjusted her ruffled hat, glowering at Macario.

[Hillan]

"T-They're gone." Chester said, in disbelief as the shapes vanished. ".. Lina, you saw that, right?" Then Macario patted Lina on the head with his big hands, and Chester grinned. "Whatever, you're probably just freaking out, Lina. It's probably nothing to worry about, you're probably just being silly." He said, changing his tune completely, as Macario suggested he'd hand things off to Kuhn.

"Cap'n, stop yammering and come help us with the supplies." Kuhn shouted from down on the row boat. Chester grunted. "Fine. But we're not handing things worth shit." As he headed down to help them, he jumped into the overfull boat, almost making it take in water. "Hey, watch it!" Kuhn shouted, as Chester shrugged. Chester began tossing the crates up onto the deck, gracefully, make sure that none of them broke, despite the several meter high throw. "You do realize that if one of you stood up there, and I threw to you, this would go a lot faster, right?"

Kuhn scoffed. "Sure." Kuhn climbed up onto the deck, and the two on the rowboat began tossing the crates at him, Kuhn caught all of them gracefully, placing them gently on the deck, as quickly as they came at him, and in a couple of minutes, the rowboat was empty, and the three men could get back onto the ship.

"Young lady, you seen anymore of dem ghosts?" Kuhn asked, taking off his hat, his hand running through his ginger hair, he placed his hair behind his ears as he put the hat back on. "No? Great."

"I'm starving." Kuhn added, and Chester nodded. "Yeah, me too. And I need a drink. Where did I put my grog?"

[Pacifista]

"...Hah?"

Lina blinked, stunned. Even as Macario's ship was unloaded.

As they went off to do their own thing, Lina blubbered, hissing, "Really!?"

---

Creeeeeaaaaaak...

Lina let out a slight squeak of fear from her small, fluffy white bed. Hands holding her blanket, she sat up, glancing around the room, dimly lit in the scant moonlight from the window. What time was it even? Lina hadn't gotten a wink of sleep...

Throwing off her sheet, she slipped out of bed, bare feet landing on the wood of the ladies bedroom. Patting down her frilly white nightgown, she took her sword, unsheathing it, before creeping out to the hallway. The creaking of the ship and light waves against the hull continued to meld into the night. Tiptoeing, she made her way a door down to the men's bedroom. Inhibitions nonexistent, she slowly opened the door, peering in. This room was bigger, and had a few more windows, so she could see the two hammocks staying aloft, where Kuhn and Chester slept. On the far wall was Kuhn's handiwork, where the wood didn't quite line up right, letting the smallest amount of light in (but no draft, thankfully). Of course, Chester and Macario would argue that they helped, but they mostly stood around and drank...

A vein throbbed in her forehead. She felt her vision flash as she looked over Chester, who left her out to dry. Her incisors flashed in the darkness as a smile crept onto her face. She steadily wormed her way into the room, moving over to Chester's hammock, before sliding down to her knees, dipping the tip of her sword to the floor. Steadily, she began to dig it in, rotating it until she formed a hole.

Collectively, the ship groaned. It sounded like a storm in the dead of night, but Lina transferred her surprise into more downward force, familiar whispers beginning to sound from the walls.

_{"It hurts..."}

[Hillan]

"Shut up, Chester" Kuhn groaned, as he turned in his hammock, on the other end of the room to Chester. He had his hat laying on him, over his face, covering it, but making sure not to damage the hat. His weapons hung on a hook next to him, so he could reach the pistol easily, his coat hung a few meters behind him, next to his boots and Chester boots and jacket, the jacket had been a coat till yesterday, but then Chester decided to use a pair of scissors to turn it into a jacket. Kuhn and Lina both spent a good hour fixing the jacket so it didn't look completely ridiculous.

They were only mildly successful, as it was still tattered at the bottom, looking like it had been mawed up by a bear, and not cut with scissors. "I am shutting up, Kuhn." Chester said, lazily, reaching for the bottle of beer on his nightstand, not noticing Lina, whom was digging into the floor under him. He couldn't find the beer on the nightstand, so he started looking in the other direction with his hand, still not opening his eyes.

_{it huurts} the voices said. "Come on, man. Her food wasn't that bad." Chester told Kuhn, talking about last night's dinner and the stomach aches Kuhn had had because of it. "What you talkin' about, Cap'n." Kuhn asked, tiredly, neither of the two bothered to open their eyes as they tried to sleep.

Chester smacked his lips, as he reached for the bottle, his hand wandering under him, finding something solid to grab onto.

It wasn't the bottle he was looking for, but instead the handle of a sword.

_{it huurts!} The voices grew louder, and soon, black hands came out of the walls, and flipped Chester's hammock, landing him on the floor on his ass.

"Son of a bitch!" Chester shouted, as Kuhn looked over at him, laying on the floor. "Too much to drink, Cap'n?" He asked, sarcastically. Peering over his hat as he lifted it from his face for a second, before laying it back down, and trying to drift back off to sleep.

"Freaking ghosts!" Chester exclaimed, looking around, the room was too dark for him to see the hands, his hand still on the sword. "Where did my damn bottle go"

[Pacifista]

"Oh, now you admit there are ghosts, huh!?" Lina suddenly yelled. As she'd started speaking, she'd raised her sword, before jabbing it down roughly into the hole she'd been digging, piercing straight through.

"It huuurts!"

Looking down, Lina offered, "My bad."

Unfortunately, her apology was not accepted. Even in the darkness, Lina could see as the floor and nearby walls teemed with the small movements of barely visible hands. They yanked at hammock strings and one nudged Chester's bottle, sending it to the floor. Lina let out a squeal of fright as she felt them begin to claw at her. While she tried to dig up her sword, she screamed, "Ah I didn'tthinkthisthrough!"

[Hillan]

"What you talking about Lina? I always said there were Ghosts." Chester spoke calmly, looking at the looming black hands that spurred from the side of the wall. "... That's just not true, Cap'n." Kuhn said.

"You listen here, Cowboy. There's freaking ghosts, and Lina overhere wasn't just making it up. You should've trusted her, even if she's kind of silly sometimes."
Chester responded, as he finally registered that she was there - in their sleeping quarters. "Lina, what the hell are you doing in the mens quarters, by the way?" Kuhn glanced over at her, frankly pretty relaxed over the whole scenario, as he peered over his hat again. "Whatever.."

Then it happened.

One of the hands touched the side of Chester's nightstand and sent the bottle of grog hitting the deck, the glass shattered everywhere - the sweet, sweet liquid gold inside spilling everywhere, and Chester's eyes going blank.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA KILL THIS DAMN GHOST!" Chester shouted as he began punching at the hands as they emerged trying to grab him, a fit of rage sent many planks flying as Chester tore into the wall of the ship, where the hands were coming from.

"leeeeeaaaveeee" The voice sang.

Kuhn laid still in his hammock, a deep sigh. "Too fuckin' early for dis bullshit.." He mumbled.

[Pacifista]

One of Chester's hands rushing by her, Lina was able to stand, yanking her sword up as she did so.

"DON'T BREAK THE SHIP!" Lina cried as the fury of the hands rose. Faces popping out as hands scuttled after them, Lina made the wise move, turning to run.

---

"Hnn?"

Eye cracking open in the dark cabin, there was a shuffling as the hammock rocked. Thumping down onto the floor, the boat rocked from Macario's bulk. A few moments later, a match lit a candle, bringing a dim light to the small vessel's cabin. A desk drowned in material, a hefty bookshelf, a table, and a small, portable cooking stove practically filled the room. Feet bare, candle in hand, a long white and blue striped nightgown with a matching cap, ball of fluff dangling fro mthe tip on his person, he made for the door, poking it open as he looked up to the back of the Breeze, eyes lidded.

"Noisy..."