[IC] One Piece: New Age

[tex]

"...Run that by me again, you little tramp."

The voice that echoed through the den-den mushi was sharp, bold, and infuriated. "Where's Tommy? What'd you do to Jammy? Who the hell would be idiotic enough to attack one of my ships?" The sea-stone cuffed man giggled to himself and made his way towards the edge of the boat.

"Ohhh, you made Treant angry! You made 'The white swan' angry! Ohohoho!" He rambled gleefully, bending his knees like an idiot, over and over again. As the crazed man danced, the den-den mushi continued to speak.

"You've made a big fuckin' mistake, you hear me?"

[IceHeart]

"Just my luck, first marines and now some nut job pirate who apparently owns quite a few ships. This next island must be a pirate cove." Zypha thought as she glared at the island and then glared at the mentally disturbed dancing man. Whoever he was, he was certainly a piece of work, though he seemed to at least know what they were getting into, except now she had a feeling the man just made up the names as he went along.

"Do you mind shutting your trap!" Zypha yelled at the man before returning to the den-den mushi. "First off, your numbskulls attacked my ship so whatever happened to this Tommy and Jammy is on their heads! Second, I'm really not in the mood for your kind of bull! Third, you really know how to piss a girl off, normally I wouldn't give a fig about some pirate operation but dealing in human trafficking really, really rubs me the wrong way. So I don't know where you are you miserable little crackpot but if you dare come my way I'll crave out yer eyeballs and stuff them down your grimy throat!"

Not wanting to hear anything more, Zypha threw the den-den mushi at the dancing man to get him to stop. Zypha took a few deep breathes to calm herself down and stared at the island. "Well heck, if we try to make port there that wanker will no doubt have his men waiting for us, but we need to stay a few days to reset the log. After last time's disaster we really can't afford to go straight into the lion's den." Zypha grumbled as she started to pace the deck of the enemy ship. Then she stopped to get a good look at everybody.

"Also what about you lot? You just gonna stand there or are ya gonna make yerselves useful? We need to hurry and take whatever is useful on this tub and quickly get underway. If we could find some island maps or something that would be great, maybe in the captain's cabin. We need to hurry before that lout decides to send his whole fleet after us. Get your butts in gear or I'll beat ya so you don't slow me down!"

[malmshodes]

With her head tilted to the side in confusion Abigail watched the woman try to pull her sword from its sheath but nothing happened. She wobbled for a bit and fell over. "Oh." She blinked. "Oh that wasn't what I expected to happen." With her eyes narrowed the red pirate moved closer to the woman and nudged her with her boot. She was breathing and other than being too tired to keep herself awake didn't seem any worst for the wear. "At least there wasn't any time wasted on another fight, I guess."

Abigail turned away from the woman laying prone on the floor to look at Zypha. She was screaming into a mushi. "Wait?" Abigail blinked. "Did I miss something? How'd you find out this was a pirate's ship?" She looked around, but aside from the fact there seemed to be some kind of inner conflict that went on below deck she couldn't see how that the woman could be so sure about the ship's intent, but then again she was still new to the whole pirate life and just shrugged her shoulders. ""

Resting her hand on the handle of her blade as casually as one could do such a thing she turned her attention to the man in the seastone cuffs. "Whose Treant? "

[Leaves]

Fletcher's right brow began twitching. He was uncertain of the individual's identity. She had a few bandages on her presenting her fighting spirit and she did look rough around the edges. August took one look to the left and one look to the right. "Are you taking responsibility for the rescue? I'm sure you didn't even know I was down there. If I had to thank anyone, it would have to be-"

It was at that moment the woman who had unlocked the door collapsed onto the floor. "That's my savior," he pointed at the unconscious woman. "She didn't put much into the conversation in the cage. Kind of put all her focus on the lock-pick." August cupped his hands into his mouth. "Isn't that right, Crazy?" He shouted at the cuffed man spewing nonsense.

Fletcher heard the woman begin to bark orders. He tapped his chin a couple of times. "Captain's cabin? I've been prisoned on here for some time. I think I know where it is; I'll go search there." Drawing a smile, he began to walk toward that direction.

[IceHeart]

"Thank goodness someone listens!" Zypha commented as August went to the captain's cabin to search for useful things like maps and the like, but as no one decided to pick up the downed woman, it looked like it was up to her. She threw up her hands in the air for dramatic effect, then proceeded to bend down and pick Croma up, throwing her over her shoulder like a rather undignified sack of potatoes.

"You better not wake up and stab me or something." Zypha complained even though she rather effortless carried the other woman. "Like I said, make yourselves useful while I take care of this lump." She couldn't help but pat Croma's butt in order to emphasize lump. With that accomplished she carried her onto their smaller vessel and laid her down inside the captain's quarters, which wasn't much, but at least had a decent cot.

Zypha checked her vitals and quickly came to the conclusion that the woman was famished. She certainly wasn't a cook but thankfully they at least had some decent ingredients given to them by the locals at their last stop. She ended up putting together some salted meat of an unknown variety, though it was decently tender, some nuts, an apple, and a little drink to wash it down. It was rather simple and plain but would do the job no doubt.

She found a stool to use as a small table and placed it next to the cot, near Croma. Maybe whatever little smell the meal had would wake the girl up. In any event she would soon see what the girl was about.

[Jensoman]

As August headed towards the captain's cabin, he did not find any maps. He did find a desk with a chair in front of it, and a small white board to draw things upon. There was also a bookshelf with books about myths and other things, which was most likely used to keep the crew entertained. But essentially, there was nothing of specific interest on the ship. A man who owned a pirate fleet would certainly have some maps, but they were not on this ship.

[Noxx]

She could barely see as her mind faded in and out of consciousness, she certainly didn’t know she was being carried around but soon enough she did understand the sensation of being sat down and even better yet….. food. Croma woke up just enough to catch the glimpse of salted meat it had a faint smell thus hinting at the fact it wasn’t actually prepared, but in her hunger induced state of mind she couldn’t have cared less. Grabbing the food and began to shovel the sustenance down her throat like a woman possessed, with one hand as the other still firmly gripped her sword. The more she ate the more her old self came back right down to that uncomfortable bloodlust that seemed to pour from her body, the swordswoman stopped and looked at Zypha her first instinct told her to try and open Kichi but she remembered already trying that before passing out.

“I am in your debt ma’am, ” she finally said

[tex]

The dancing man caught the den-den mushi with both hands, but despite the yelling coming from it, he shrugged and tossed it overboard. Then Abigail addressed him, to which he responded with a smile, while reaching into one of his pockets despite his handcuffs, and pulled out a small key. "Treant! Treant! He's the big cheese around here! Everyone knows Treant! He runs the slave trade, the slave trade! White swan Treant, with a bounty of 126 million berries! Ahaha!" With that, he unlocked his cuffs, and let them slam against the deck of the ship, rubbing his wrists slowly. "He's going to be very mad," He said, pulling a few wanted posters out of his deep right pocket. "They don't have a picture of him, but hey! Here it is," He said peturbed, throwing one of the wanted posters towards Abigail. He looked at the next wanted poster for a moment, and then back at Abigail, before smiling even wider.

"OH, I KNOW YOU! I KNOW YOU, ABIGAIL!" He shouted, dancing around happily.

[malmshodes]

The man appeared to be happy, a bit on the other side of what the normal spectrum usually allowed, but that was surprisingly the majority for most of the people who called the sea their home. So Abigail didn't think much of it. The man was in chains and that was probably enough to justify just how eager he appeared to be. Silently she watched and listened as he explained who the man on the line was. "So he's a slaver then." The red pirate's eyes narrowed at the thought. Slavery wasn't something she was a personal fan of. The man was talking so she blinked and turned her attention back to the man as he started talking about a picture of Treant. "Oh. Well, that's a shame, but I'm sure we'll see him soon enough. I get the feeling he's not the kind of man who'd let anything play out otherwise."

Abigail opened her mouth, expecting for more to come out but she stopped mid-breath when she caught a glimpse of the posters. "Oh." Her hand tightened on her sword. "I see." She paused for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. "By any chance are you just a fan hoping for an autograph?"

[tex]

"An autograph?" He rasped, stuffing the wanted fliers into his pocket, "That depends, kiddo. 15 million berries aint nothin' to be too proud of! But still, havin' yer face on a poster... Hmmm..." The man rubbed his chin with a smile and turned towards where Zypha had run off to, suddenly widening his eyes. "30 million berries is pretty nifty though, that Zypha is pretty interesting! Especially for a startin' bounty! What'd you two do to catch the attention of the government? Kill some marines? Hmmm?" The man bent his knees rhythmically and hummed to himself. "Regardless of whether I'm a fan or not, I don't, or rather can't, bring in pirates that have a pure heart!"

[Leaves]

August slammed his fist against the desk; he was in disbelief that there was nothing of value. "What kind of pirate crew doesn't have maps or treasure?" His finger danced through the books on the shelf. Sucking his teeth, he began to complain. "I can find books anywhere."

Fletcher was planning to pocket most of his findings. What the female captain didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Fortunately, there was nothing for him to pocket saving him the trouble of lying. "How much do these books go for?" August picked a book out of the shelf; he blew the dust of it and began skimming through the pages.

"I'm really not going to anything for this," he said as he threw the book on the desk. Fletcher walked out back to the deck and chose to see how everything else was going.

[IceHeart]

Zypha watched as Croma ate and thanked her, ever on her guard just in case. Thankfully such guard was not needed despite the bloodlust as the woman thanked her for the food. "Don't thank me just yet, this crew was just a bunch of lousy crownies, I don't doubt the man behind this will try to get back his merchandise." Zypha looked Croma over more closely when she said merchandise, just to see what the slavers had almost had.

Croma was a pretty woman, slim and skilled with a sword, or scabbard in this case, as she never unsheathed her weapon during the battle. From what little she remembered of the other, non-crazy, prisoner was he had been somewhat of a blond pretty boy. In either case there was little doubt the two would have been worth quite a bit on the slave market. Even if they had managed to escape on their own, it would have been impossible for them to effectively pilot the large pirate vessel and they would have been captured again. It seemed that fate had decided her ship should arrive that day.

"Well, I'll expect you to pay me back for the food at least." Zypha added with a smirk. "Still, I am curious as to how you managed to fall into slaver's hands. Piss off the wrong type of people maybe?"

[malmshodes]

"What? Why? What did we do?" Small pause. Abigail's eyes narrowed into two tiny slits towards the man. "There shouldn't be any berries for me at all. Period." She watched the man, hand on her sword. It was hard to tell if she should draw it or not. Was he a threat? She was sure of it. Was he going to attack her? If she tried striking first she had little doubt. Would he attack her anyways? That was where her problems lay. She just couldn't tell. "Personally I had nothing against the marines, but they struck first and when they did several of my..." She paused, because as far as social circumstances went she never liked exaggerating a closeness. "Working colleagues were killed. We just followed the marine's own rule and dealt them some absolute justice. If anything they should be sending us flowers for stopping Yami and his crew's corruption."

"Pure heart?" She looked around to see if there was anyone behind her. "Who? Zypha? Are we going to get off the hook because of Zypha, because I don't have any problems with that." It was tempting to nod enthusiastically at the idea, but a little voice in Abigail's head told her not to, and who was she to argue with that.

[tex]

The man's smile disappeared and he begun walking towards Abigail with slanted eyebrows. "Blah blah blah, I've other things to do with my time! Where the hell do you get off lying about your piracy?" He asserted, summoning a small gavel in his right hand and patting it across his opposite palm. "Let yourself be judged by my Judge-Judge-Fruit! The truth will come forth regardless of the legitimacy of your words!" The man continued to approach abigail, patting the mallet in his hand against the air between them. It started to grow bigger, and bigger, changing color from a light green to a deep yellow, until it was blood red.

"It won't hurt if you're innocent!" He assured her, raising his hammer above his head once it reached the size of a small boat, nearly 4 meters in diameter. It was almost comedic to behold.

[Noxx]

Croma continued to eat ripping into the food till there was nothing left even taking upon herself to suck the bone a little trying to get what more nourishment she could and sighing in contentment, still hungry but it would tide her over for a while. Listening to the woman talk explaining her situation admittedly she didn’t know anything about how she got in that cell as she merely woke up there. “I’m looking for the captain I wish to check something, ” she said, her hand wrapped around the handle of Kichi “As well as pay them back for putting me in a cage” Croma finished picking at the plate making sure she didn’t miss anything and leaned back.

“I don’t know exactly how I got there all I remember is being hungry and passing out on my boat, then I wake up in the cell, ” she recalls her ears perking up with Zypha mentioned paying her back and immediately remembered she had no money “I have no coin of my own but I will certainly try to pay you back”

[malmshodes]

Abigail almost took a step back, the stranger's expression had changed so quickly, but she managed to force her feet to stay anchored where they were. He talked a lot for someone who didn't have time. Why did they always talk so much when there wasn't time? By the time he stopped rambling on about judging her there was a mallet over his head, huge and ready to come barreling down on her like a giant's food over a red bug.

"Judgement?" Abigail's mind flashed. It danced around the man's words and she quickly came to the conclusion that anyone willing to allow their fate to be dictated by some relic, be it a god's or the devil's, could never be innocent. innocence wasn't something which came from some sky king's decree, but from the understanding of right, wrong, and the deliberate choice to act accordingly. "Screw you, and screw your judgmental cartoon mallet." She pulled out her blade and rushed at the man, fully intent on swiping at his chest before he could bring down the weapon.

"If I wanted to keep on serving some pretentious version of right or wrong I would've never left home!"

[Leaves]

As August walked back outside, he was stunned at the sight of conflict. He backed himself against a wall instinctively and kept his observation at a silent level. There was not much to infer from the battle. It looked like the crazy guy from before chose to fight one of the pirates.

Relaxing his muscles, he kept watching the two fight. The crazy guy was equipped with this giant hammer; there was no telling where he had pulled that from. His opponent was a female pirate carrying a sword. Other than that, there was nothing August could speculate.

August decided it was better to view the people on board. Interfering wasn't going to help him in the slightest, and viewing the others might give him more of an idea of what he is temporarily stuck with.

[IceHeart]

"Don't worry about money, I'll figure out some way you can repay me." Zypha Got up and stretched her arms a little to relax her tense muscles. "For the moment you're free to tag along if you prove yourself useful." Zypha took a glance at the woman's sword to which she seemed very attached to.

"The name's Zypha, Zypha Celtus if you must know the full name and I...well became the captain of this small vessel quite recently." The events of their last landfall still haunted her a bit even though she was already plenty used to death.

"Well if you want to find the enemy captain he should still be knocked out over there, maybe you can get some answers from him. Well I better take one last look over there before we hightail it out of here. I am not about to get captured by slavers!" Zypha gave the side of the cabin a sudden smash quite suddenly, the wood creaked a little.

Zypha turned and exited the cabin, turned back toward the ship only to see the largest hammer she had ever seen! "What in the Grand Line is that!?" From her vantage point she could really only see the hammer and not who wielded it and who was on the receiving end. With a quick curse, she made her way back on the vessel to see what was going on.

[tex]

The crazed man tilted his head from side to side as Abigail spoke. His pupils wandered like a pair of unbound marbles, ignorant of what the woman was saying to him. He didn't care about her excuses or moral contradictions! This was a courtroom now!

"Podium-" The man howled. Suddenly, a tube of mass, in the same shape of his judgement hammer, appeared under his feet and rose him up, letting abigail's sword strike it. Her blade went right through the 'podium' though, cutting it like cheese. "Ohoho~? You can cut my podium?" He mused, shrinking his hammer back down to a gavel-sized tool, and looking down at Abigail from his podium of power, "Let me assure you, my dear pirate," The man wheezed, pulling another wanted poster from his pocket and hanging it over Abigail's head.

"My judgement isn't pretentious or flawed!"

The poster showed a rather unflattering portrait of the crazed man sticking out his tongue and making a pair of 'OK' signs with his hands.

'Judge' Mathias
350'000'000 Berries

"We Shichibukai are a little smarter than the navy that's hired us!"

[Jensoman]

While everyone was distracted with the things Mathias was doing, they failed to notice that one of the ships that was still at the docks had been manned by a large group of pirates. They boarded the vessel, which headed towards the Lotus ship and the first enemy ship at great speed. There was a total of 50 men visible on deck, one of which stood out from the large crowd with a greyish cape, to show that he was the captain.

"ONWARD MEN!!! SHOW EM WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE, WHO MESS WITH THE RUSTSILVER PIRATES!!!" The captain roared, as the ship was about to ram into the first enemy ship. It aimed specifically for the first ship, as Mathias's giant hammer had attracted most of their attention. At the way things was going, it appeared that nobody would have the time to act at all.