[IC] One Piece: New Age

[IceHeart]

It had been a not entirely interesting trip but like she had thought, there was plenty to modify on the ship. One of the first major tasks had been to make decent changing room, pretty much fashioned from tarps and other materials in a corner below deck. Just because they lived together in rather cramped quarters, didn't mean they had to do everything together as well. There were also various improvements and fixes that had to done so Zypha had plenty to do aside from interacting with the crew from time to time.

She also kept in mind Lenwood's challenge and started to think of what she could beat him at later...

---

A few days of sailing and they had arrived at their next destination. An island, which looked not entirely impressive but did have a village on its shore. Before their officially made land though their captain decided to give a bit of a speech, Zypha could not help but think it was rather corny. "Ahh, I didn't realize I needed a friend like you so badly." Zypha's voice dripped with sarcasm, "well as long as you don't try to make us all one, as I prefer to be separate, thank you. Now then, now that we are here I need to make a real inspection of the hull."

Zypha jumped off the boat onto the dock, taking a look around the seemingly deserted town. "Do you think they have a wonderful surprise party set up for us? They probably love getting pirate ships for visitors." She joked, unsure of what exactly to make of the scene before her. With a shrug she turned back to the ship to inspect the hull from the outside, there had not been any trouble really during the voyage but with this ship one couldn't be too careful.

[malmshodes]

"I thought it was okay." Abigail said. "As far as pirate ship speeches went." She paused to absently scratch the back of her palm. "It was short, I mean, and that's always a plus for regular speeches, at least in general." She watched Zypha descend the ship and thought about fallowing her but decided against it. She didn't want to come off as pushy. Instead she decided to call from where she stood "How's the ship look?".

"Well" Abigail said, stretching her back which brought out a pop sound. She winced but was quick to cover it up. "Well then, I guess I should go on and see what kind of supplies I can find." She started to climb but remembered about there being a captain now. "Uh." She turned and looked at the man in charge. "That's alright, isn't it?"

[Digizel]

Satoru couldn't help but allow a small smile to form on his lips as their apparent captain had decided to awkwardly announce his trust of him. Well, it wasn't like he had a lot of choice in the matter right now anyway. After all, of all the people here, he was probably the only one who had any kind of real medical know-how. Although he did have to admit one thing: this guy was definitely very lucky. He had managed to come to that bar at a time where all five of them were present at the same time, each of which fit a particular role. He chuckled at the thought.

If he didn't know any better, he'd have assumed that this whole thing had truly been coordinated by some higher power.

"I was always taught that a patient is a patient, no matter what the circumstances. So you won't have to worry about me. Once I'm well-stocked, you should be fine." He paused at that, though, as something crept into his mind. "Er...as long as it's not impossible to recover from of course."

From there on, he continued to merely enjoy the sea, not saying much to any of his other crew members unless he was spoken to himself. And this, of course, included the captain making a speech about their supposed unity. He remained silent as he called to them, but he smiled regardless. He was certainly with them...but he simply wasn't very vocal about it. Of course, that could change at the drop of a hat if it turned out they were no different than crews similar to those Rustsilver Pirates.

~~~

As soon as Asus had said that there was an island ahead, Satoru returned to the deck from the berth deck where he had set himself up beside the stairway for swift access. When they finally pulled into the port, Satoru was not surprised to find it seemingly completely abandoned. After all, they had set a pirate flag up on their way here. Perhaps one day, he could see that initial reaction change.

"It can't be helped," Satoru commented to Lenwood as he approached the side of the ship, ready to make his way down onto the dock. "Pirates aren't exactly popular. They'll probably avoid us like the plague. Which will probably make getting supplies a bit annoying." He then let out a small sigh. "Well either way, I can't be a proper doctor if I have no supplies, so I'll have to see what I can find." He looked at Lenwood inquisitively. "I don't know how these things are usually done, but I suppose I should ask first. That alright with you, Captain?"

Of course, in the end, he needed to keep an eye out for anything he could keep on him to use for his Devil's Fruit ability. If he could keep a sturdy material the size of his palm on him at all times, he would be able to use that at will. And that would no doubt come in handy if fights were going to break out as commonly as he expected them to. Wood and stone were common enough, but they were also some of the easiest materials to break if things came down to it. He needed to keep his eyes peeled for anything...sturdier.

[Duthguy]

Asus had been listening to his new captain's speech and while it was too dramatic for his tastes he saw no reason to complain."ARE YOU GUYS WITH ME?" "Don't worry about me after all I asked you if I could join, and besides the presence of both Abi and Zypha ensures that I'm practicality guaranteed to stay." He said the last part in a joking tone, hoping neither of the girls would feel offended.

---

As the day spent sailing Asus had many chances to pull pranks on his crewmates, but the fact that he neither knew them well enough to be able to predict their reactions and that he sill felt his navigational skill were only barely adequate for the Grand Line meant that instead he spent most of his time watching the weather as well as looking out for any coral reefs. That didn't chance the fact that by the time Erdol Island came in to view he was bored out of his mind. He quickly rushed to the side of the deck and caught the captain and the guy he presumed to be their doctor talking about supplies. "Well if you really need money I was planning to sell the pistol and bullets I took Arlen's Bar, though I would prefer to keep the profits for myself, medical supplies are important enough for me to part with the money."

---

Total number of hornets in Asus's body 75. Number of hornets used for combat 50. hornets currently in use 0/50 dead hornets 0/50

[Walnutella]

"Probably, I couldn't tell." Lenwood scratched his head as he answered the question from Zypha. Lenwood approached the abandoned village a step closer. Another girl called Abigail began to ask permission for her action. Well, Lenwood felt a bit awkward about that since everyone could do anything they wanted and not being limited by Lenwood himself. "You're free to do anything.." He stopped for a moment. "At least, don't do anything stupid." Lenwood chuckled. Lenwood changed his attention once again towards Satoru. "Wonder if there's a way to fix one's pirate's name and fame." He wondered if there was a pirate crew that had a good name among the people of the seas. However, he quickly dismissed the thought as he thought it was impossible to find that kind of pirates. Lenwood himself could be a cruel person when situation called in. "Yes, as I said before, you can do anything you want, really." He restated his previous statement as Satoru asked for another permission for his action.

"I hope we can find some great supplies here as soon as possible. I'm afraid if one of us is injured and we don't have any needed medical supplies." Lenwood's ear caught Asus's statement. Lenwood replied jokingly, "Well, you're part of the crew now. I'm your captain so your money belongs to me too. Don't take all the profits by yourself." He was happy that Asus came with a plan to sell his loots, at least, it could help them with the medical supplies. He scanned the area quickly while took few steps forward every 30 seconds. For a moment, he let his guard down.

[Jensoman]

Lenwood headed deeper into the seemingly abandoned town. Upon closer inspection, Lenwood would see some people stare through their windows, quickly hiding themselves as Lenwood turned to face their direction as he looked at the houses. A small girl, about nine years old, ended up bumping into him. "Oh, sorry sir-" The child muttered, abruptly stopping her words. Her face turned pale as she realised that the man before her was one that she had never seen before, and wearing a strange outfit. It realised that Lenwood was in fact a pirate, and could kill her at any moment's notice. It simply stared at Lenwood, paralysed in fear.

[Duthguy]

Asus honestly didn't think a single pistol and some bullets would get them that much money but he felt no need to mention that. So instead he followed Lenwood off the the ship and onto the island. When he noticed how empty it was he didn't trust it at all though rather than simply look around all the time he released ten hornets to do the spying for him, one at a time. He tried to do it with any of his crewmembers noticing.

The released hornets immediately set out to follow Asus' orders. Six of them headed of in the distance and the other four scouted the nearby area, all of them looking for large groups of people with weapons. Because of those order they completely ignored the girl that Lenwood would bump into.

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 75. Number of hornets used for combat 50, hornets currently in use 10/50, dead hornets 0/50

[IceHeart]

While several of the crew headed into town Zypha was giving the old tub a thorough look over. So far she had already located a few weak points in the hull thankfully her search had revealed nothing major so all the boat really needed was a little reinforcement to make sure the hull stayed stable. "At least our captain didn't get a total lemon..." Zypha checked all around the hull to make sure she did not miss anything. Finally satisfied she decided to leave the ship and head toward the town, good chance there was at least some opportunity there.

When she arrived deeper in the town she saw a rather stupid sight. A young girl, who apparently had not gotten the memo to head indoors, had bumped into Lenwood and was now frozen in pure terror. She also noticed Asus putting his hornets to good use but that wasn't of too much interest, the poor girl, with eyes wide as saucers and nearly shaking in fear caused Zypha to laugh out loud. "Ha ha ha! Captain it seems you have just gotten your first fan, I'm touched." She wiped a mock tear from her eye and stalked over to the pair, a big grin on her somewhat handsome face.

Zypha unceremoniously plopped herself down, cross-legged in front of the girl. "You know, when you meet a big nasty fellow you should probably run instead of stare." She grinned at the young girl and attempted to ruffle her hair. "Still I'm pretty sure you got nothing of worth on ya so you'll be fine kid, heh you look better off than I was back then."

[Jensoman]

The girl, frozen in fear, began to calm down a bit as Zypha ruffled her hair. She stared at her and gave a small smile. "Um.." Was all she managed to say. A door from a nearby house opened, and some people ran out, heading over towards the child. "Kira! Get away from them!" A man shouted, and rushed over, hugging the child. "I told you to stay inside!" He said, staring at Zypha and Lenwood in fear. "Please...leave my daughter alone. I will give you all we have...even my life if you wish. But let her go." He said. The other people who stood behind the man were most likely his wife and son. The people who remained in the houses watched the whole scene unfold through their windows, but appeared to be too frightened to do anything.

[Duthguy]

Asus was sure that the girl's father had nothing to worry about, and as such he used his appearance to split off from the rest of the crew. He still wanted to keep his DF powers a secret if possible after all, mainly for pranking reasons but also because he still wasn't one hundred percent sure he could trust them. He had no idea how successful how his attempts were so far, but if for some reason all ten hornets returned at once they would certainly find out.

As he walked through the village he came across a path heading into the woods. After making a small arrow out of pebbles pointing in the wood's direction as well as an A so they could tell it was his, so that if something happened the others at least had a chance to find him he decided to check them out.

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 75. Number of hornets used for combat 50, hornets currently in use 10/50, dead hornets 0/50

[Walnutella]

Lenwood scanned the area, his eyes met several eyes that peeked through the window. "It seems they are here after all" He sighed from disbelief. Lenwood could feel a small bump near his leg, he encountered a small girl. Lenwood stared for a moment without uttering a single word, the girl seemed frightened but that wasn't Lenwood's intention after all. Lenwood tried to smile, "It's oka..." but his words were interrupted by Zypha's presence as she started to laugh. Lenwood shifted his attention to approaching Zypha, "Don't try to scare her, Zypha.". When Zypha ruffled the girls hair, Lenwood noticed the fear in her eyes disappeared. "I didn't know you're good with children" Lenwood teased. As soon as they finished talking, a group of people rushed out from their homes, retrieving the girl. The whole town was covered in fears, "We're not trying to do anything. We only want to resupply and trade. That's all." Lenwood tried to calm the situation down. He looked straight at Zypha, begging her to say few words to reassure the people.

[IceHeart]

"I didn't know you're good with children." Lenwood teased Zypha, causing the young woman to give a little sigh on the inside. "Keep joking like that and I might punch your lights out." She thought, then the parents came out to protect their daughter, hugging her and begging for her to be spared. "Yep she defintely has it better than I did."

Zypha got off the ground and brushed the dirt off her pants as Lenwood tried to calm the people down. The he saw him panic and turn to face her his eyes pleading like a lost puppy. "You're kidding right? You're asking me to take care of this?" Zypha's face scrunched up in disbelief, then relaxed as she gave a long sigh, a huge puff of wind escaped her lungs.

Well there was only one way to go about this then...make a scene. "Took your asses long enough to show up, ya bunch of cowards!" She raised her voice for as much of the town as possible to hear. "Well at least one family has some guts," she grinned at the man and his daughter. "I see the look in your eyes and I know it all too well, you've given up and lost all hope it seems. Well fine, I don't give a crap what you guys do every time someone comes here to take advantage of ya, but one thing I can tell ya. You can either cower all ya want in your little hovels or you can all get to work and open up shop right now! So what's it gonna be? You gonna stay and home and let us just take whatever the heck we want or are you actually gonna give us some service and sell us your junk? Just one look around tells me you guys can't survive much more of people just taking whatever."

Zypha felt was if she had just given the worst and most stupid speech imaginable. It would have been easy pickings to just take whatever the heck they wanted but seeing that little girl, well it hit home to be sure. "Oh and if you're man enough to open shop don't try to jack up the prices cause I'll know! We need supplies: foodstuffs, water, medicine, some wood to reinforce the hull, anything else of use for a voyage. Now get to it or I'll just be rummaging around on my own for stuff!"

Yep, today she was a bit of an idiot.

[malmshodes]

Abigail nodded. Seemed easy enough, or at least it seemed like it was going to be that much harder to do something that could be considered out of line. "Alrighty then." She gave the captain a short nod, not wanting to overdo it and started heading towards the village off in the distance, behind the other members of the crew.

She had traveled a few yards before she stopped and noticed a small trail leading off in a different direction. "Hmmm." She scratch the tip of her nose with her finger and thought about it. "There's probably a better variety of foodstuffs up in the village." She nodded as that made sense. "But supposing this leads to one of those little secret shops that are always being mentioned in all the adventure books that can't stay in the village proper because the owner gives everyone else the willies?" Her nose scratching got a little harder. "Maybe I'll find something really fresh or with special healing properties. I'm sure those things exist down a path like that." Her hand went down to her purse and she jingled it. "I've got some money left over from earlier so I'm sure there'll be enough to get something interesting and then head back to the village to get the actual supplies." She started down the path.

[Jensoman]

The girl's smile got even wider as Zypha finished her speech. "You're...you're really nice!" She said to Lenwood and Zypha. Some people began to leave their houses, while others remained. Those who remained were still struck with fear. It was clear that these people had a lot of pirate troubles in the past. An old man came out, as well. He began to speak.

"Excuse me, pirates...I am the village elder. I am sorry to say...that we do not have many materials left. The Navy forces who were ordered by the World Government to protect our island, along with many pirates who came here in the past, have taken everything from us. When these Marines came, the pirates stopped terrorising our homes...but now, these Marines took advantage of the fact that this island is very far away from the Navy Headquarters. The Navy Captain abuses his power without the World Government to keep an eye on him, and makes us pay him 300 gold every week in order for him to protect us. We do receive trader's ships from time to time, but we have run low on supplies ourselves. Most of our gold, including other materials that we had is now within the Navy Base. It lies there, within the forest." The old man said, pointing at the path that led into the forest.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Asus headed down the path, he would see many trees on his left and right, seemingly without end. The forest was quite large, but the path was surprisingly well-maintained. As he headed further within, he would see five Marines in the distance, standing guard upon the path. They did not spot him yet.

"Oi, are those pirates gonna arrive now or what? They haven't even put the village on fire yet! I bet Rick was making that whole story up! There were never any pirates!" One of them shouted, yawning. He pulled out a flask of ale and drank from it. "Hey, you shouldn't drink! Captain's gunna kill us!" Another shouted. "Don't ya tell me what to do George! I'll do what I want!" The first Marine responded.

As Abigail appeared beside Asus, she ended up stepping on a branch that was on the ground. It made a loud snapping noise, and the Marines glanced over towards Asus and Abigail. "Pirates! Let's get em!" One of the Marines shouted. The five men drew their blades, and charged at Abigail and Asus in an orderly fashion, their blades at the ready.

[Duthguy]

When the five marines were rushing at them Asus wondered why his spies hadn't informed him about the armed men. "Guess they either didn't look here yet or they don't consider five to be a large group, I might have to be more specific with my orders in the future."
He also wasted time by trying to decide if he should use Kamen which had a very good of blinding one marine or Tama which with five enemies had a reduced chance of taking any of them out. At no point did he consider doing nothing just to keep his abilities hidden from Abi. "Maybe in the future I can combine Kamen and Tama somehow."

In the end he decided that even if he did just hurt two of the Marines that was better than blinding only one of them. Beforehand though he made sure to order to attack the men in the white and blue uniforms to prevent them going after Abigail as well. "Bachi Bachi No Tama."

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 75. Number of hornets used for combat 50, hornets currently in use 30/50, dead hornets 0/50

[Walnutella]

Zypha uttered shocking words that took everyone's attention including Lenwood himself. Lenwood's eyes were opened wide because he was startled after hearing a somewhat decent speech from Zypha. Her speech's effect could be felt instantly as the little girl smiled in relief and mentioned that Zypha was a really nice person. "You're lucky kid.. You see a different side of her." He thought to himself while chuckling secretly so no one would notice him grinning, afraid to be marked as an insane person who laughed suddenly or seen by Zypha as a mockery. Anyway, Lenwood was satisfied with Zypha's effort. Some villagers began to head outside and left their homes, getting closer to the crowd while few decided to stay inside. Everything happened for a reason and the reason was explained by the village elder.

When the village elder spoke, Lenwood took a note on his mind for important information such as force tribute done by the marine. Also, few pirate crews in the past who landed on this island terrorized their village and took all of their supplies. Lenwood moved his finger to mid-air and did a few invisible scratch. With the help of his finger and the air, he tried to calculate in his mind and drew a plan. "What we need is to... stand on top of the food chain... That's it!" He clapped his hand together with an inspired expression. "We can take all the supplies back from the marines. After all, we're pirates! We won't take orders nor being restricted by the laws that bind the marines." Lenwood grinned. "Let's go, Zypha!" Lenwood rushed to the entrance of the forest. Should Zypha followed him, he would ask, "Should we believe in them? How if their story was a lie? What if there are no marines? Where's Abby, Satoru, and Asus anyway?".

[IceHeart]

Somehow things turned out decently, it was a bonafied miracle really. Still not everything was peachy as they soon were told by the town that essentially, they didn't have didily squat because were a bunch of chumps who preferred to take advantage of the villagers rather than actually doing their job of protecting them. The marines had helped for a bit before they turned scum. Well that really much they could do, or so she thought but apparently her captain had other ideas.

"What we need is to... stand on top of the food chain... That's it! We can take all the supplies back from the marines. After all, we're pirates! We won't take orders nor being restricted by the laws that bind the marines." Zypha looked at Lenwood like he had lost his mind.

"You're joking right...captain...ah heck you're totally serious ain't ya." Lenwood was already on the move and calling out to her to come along. She gave an exasperated sign and shrugged. "Well what's a girl to do but keep his ass out of trouble." She waved goodbye to the villagers, especially the little girl, and charged after her captain who barraged her with several questions right after the other.

"The heck would I know about any of that? Still, just by looking at them I could tell they were telling the truth. You can get a feel for those kind of things after a while. If there are marines on this island, we better find the others before things get crazy."

[malmshodes]

"What?" Abigail blinked and turned her attention to the shouting marines that were hurrying for them. "Already, but how? We barely got together and haven't even had a chance to leave our mark, or even A mark." She frowned and her hand went down to her blade's handle. She pulled it out and got ready to charge when Asus started saying something. Is he a devil fruit user too, she thought to her self. It would be nice to know she wasn't the only one. For a moment she thought about showing her ability too, but decided against it. She'd happily tell the rest of the crew when they got back together but for the moment it might not be the best idea to show the world military what everyone was capable.

So she readied her blade and rushed towards the nearest marine. Technically this wasn't only her actual first battle it was the first time she'd be using a blade in front of another person. Yes, she's taken time to practice and read books on the subject but that wasn't the same thing, was it? Well, she'd learn soon enough.

[Digizel]

Satoru said nothing in response to his captain. He didn't need to, after all. He HAD just gotten his permission to go hunting around and doing what he needed to do. The biggest question, of course, would be...what that would be. He had already created a mental list of various materials he would need on a ship as a medic. From the basic materials like a stethoscope to the lesser-known like medicinal herbs to make his own medications. And of course, he'd need scalpels, disinfectant, vitamins.... Could a town this deserted really provide everything that he needed? He really wasn't sure. But he would never know by simply sitting around and waiting. He shrugged and finally began following his captain and Zypha into the town, though he did intentionally keep his distance from them. It was better for him to observe situations from afar than be right in the center of it, where he would be caught in the middle if something went wrong.

When Lenwood and Zypha had their encounter with the villagers at last, Satoru continued to maintain his distance and observe the situation in silence. He couldn't help but smirk slightly, though, when he watched Lenwood pass the responsibility for the situation to Zypha instead of handling it himself. Thankfully, she seemed to be able to handle it just fine, so there was no need for him to intervene just yet. Finally, the situation diffused and the villagers slowly came back out into the streets, explaining the situation. Now that he could tell that everything was going to be fine for now, he decided that he could approach his crewmates and show them that he'd been with them the whole time.

But as he began to walk, he couldn't help but scowl slightly. The story that the villagers told bothered him. Apparently, the Marines stationed here were bullying the villagers and taking advantage of their strength. What miserable excuses for the driving force of justice on the seas. But, he supposed it was comforting in one way: He had just acquired proof positive that his suspicions about the Marines and their methods were indeed accurate. There were apparently plenty of marines that were not as great and just as their banner and name would imply. And that eased the slight doubts he had been having the last couple of days about his decision to join a pirate crew.

Satoru made a mental note to send another note out as they were going to leave the island, see if there were any kind of carrier birds around here that could get messages out across the Grand Line. If he could get word of this to his family back on his home island, they would probably be able to do something about it if necessary. His family consisted of proper Marines, after all.

Though at the rate Lenwood was going, there might not be any disciplining left to do by then.

"Right behind you," Satoru said, finally catching up to his captain and crewmate, hands in his pockets. "I heard the whole thing. And if you want my two cents, I agree with Zyph. They appeared to be telling the truth to me. Or at least, I don't see much reason to doubt them yet. Plus...I already had a feeling that there were Marine bases that did that. So this would mostly confirm my suspicions about them." He then chuckled slightly at that. "Though I suppose that that might make me biased and I just want their words to be the truth."

He then paused for a moment, deciding to change the subject. "But are you really planning on taking this place on? I should probably tell you then, that if this island does have a Marine base established here, it probably isn't a big one. Judging on the size of the island and the apparent population, I'd say that it's probably a rather small base, relatively speaking. The only real threat likely to be present that we should be particularly worried about is whoever Captains the base. Possibly whoever is directly under them too. Some Commanders are rather strong themselves." He then looked over at Lenwood again. "I just want to warn you. Don't underestimate a Captain of the Marines. They're the sixth-highest rank in the Marines, with only Commodores being between them and the Admiral ranks. They don't often get their positions unless they've got the strength to back it up."

[Jensoman]

As the five Marines charged at Asus and Abigail, the two who were on their left immediately got struck by Asus's Hornet ball, and swarmed by hornets. They ran away screaming, eventually falling on the ground covered in wounds. The marine in the middle charged forward and slashed at Abigail. Despite not being well trained in sword play, she managed to deflect the sword strike and cut the Marine down. The two remaining Marines stared in shock for a moment, but continued their charge. One of them attempted to stab Asus in the chest by thrusting his blade forward, while the other slashed at Abigail.

As Lenwood, Satoru and Zypha reached the battle field upon the forest path, four nets fell down upon them from the trees on their sides, two that emerged from the left and two from the right. The nets were reinforced by steel balls on the ends, capable of pinning a person down onto the ground with it's extra weight. "About time ye did somethin! Were yall sleeping up there or what?" The marine asked, the one who was attacking Asus. The nets had to have been thrown from Marines who were hidden in the trees on the left and right, but the leaves of the trees made it difficult to see them.