Wealth, Adventure, and the Open Sea: A One Piece RP.(Arc 4: Porte Carlo.)

[NeoAC]

Sammi had turned to face Annabelle as she rattled off her current bounty stats, which made it easy for her to hit the deck as the bullet flew over where she was standing. "Third highest? For the second in command?" Sammi blurted out as she popped back up. "Who the hell is worth more than me? If it's Grana, I'm going to be really ticked off, you know that?"

"You're second in command? That ship must be more pathetic than I thought!"

"Shut up, Holik! I know what you did with that squid carcass Slater dragged up that time!"

"You don't know nothing Cabin Girl! And you never will!"

"Ugh," she turned back to Annabelle. "I don't know how you put up with that asshole. Seriously, there was a fucking party on board when he left the Thrasher."

 

[tsatoma]

A sharp whistle was heard in the city of Porte Carlo; ending just as soon as it had began. Alaena dared not do a normal call for her companion; instead putting her hope in that Fletch would be able to hear her and come over. 'It might take him a few minutes to get here. He doesn't have much to go on,' Alaena thought as she closed the window behind her a little bit, before examining the room she was in.

It seemed safe enough from what she could tell; was probably a study of some sort for the shopkeepers below. She quietly walked over to the door and locked it, making sure to not make any noise. When that was done she went over to the desk in the room and took off her quiver. After placing it onto the wooden desk, she carefully took out each arrow and organized them into categories on the desk.

'I need a plan. One that does not include explosive arrows anymore. Once out on the sea I'll need to make some more of the complicated trick arrows,' she told herself, about to pick up one of her poison arrows when she noticed movement in the sky outside the window. It had been brief, but she knew that Fletch had located the area she was in.

The window was only opened for a few seconds; just enough for Alaena to flag down the falcon. As soon as he was in, he was told to stay as quiet at possible. "We're in danger right now. I need you to go back to the ship and deliver a message to Peter for me," Alaena explained to him, setting him down onto the desk as she rummaged for pen and paper. The note was brief, and was barely noticeable on Fletch's leg.

"Be quick about making it back to the ship. Only deliver the message though, I don't need you to come back. It could be too dangerous for you in the skies. There is a sniper about; so be careful and be evasive," she told him sternly, giving him a quick pet before opening the window and letting him go. With that taken care of, she turned back to the assortment of arrows on her desk; picking one up carefully as she thought over a plan to make it back safely.

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Once Hal made it into the alley he gently lowered the broken bed to the ground and moved the boxes of supplies onto the ground since the bed wouldn't stand up right anymore. Since the sniper couldn't get him in the alleys it seemed, this would be a good place to catch his breath and plan his next move. Alright, the streets are a damn shooting gallery. I can probably get around there with Shave just fine but.... These supplies are really making things complicated. I guess.... I'll just have to leave them here? Yeah... If I get back to the ship, I can grab acart or have the others help come move the stuff! That really is my only option now isn't it.

Hal waited just a bit longer to get some more rest and think, but he was drawing blanks. There was no way he could move all this stuff alone. He shifted it as much into the shadows as he could managed before leaving and looking for another route towards the docks. Eventually he found an alley that led pretty much right to the docks. With Peter's ship in sight now, Hal took a deep breath and stepped out of the alley and began walking towards the ships. Hopefully anyone around would be looking for someone with stolen goods and wouldn't notice him.

 

[SkyeNeko]

She tried to see if Yoje had been hit, trying to see where he fell. It was slightly out of her range though. As she tried to see what happened a quick movement caught her eye. Huh? Are there still birds and bats out after all that noise? She watched for a moment where she saw the flutter. It was near where the person with the flaming projectiles had disappeared. A few minutes later there was another, and she saw it moving towards the docks. What is that?? It was too fast for her to properly watch, and too small to blindly aim at. Instead she just watched it fly to a boat. Could that be the pirates' boat?

She noticed something else peculiar while she was trying track the creature. There was someone on the streets, going in the same direction. The person didn't have a cart with a bed, but he looked similar... she decided to go ahead and tell Gezora. Even if it wasn't, she might be able to stop him from complaining. She took out her communicator and called him, hoping he would pick up. Otherwise, she wouldn't take the chance of hitting someone innocent.

Come on...

 

[Mr. Omega]

Yezeku was looking around, then shrugged. "Well, it's worth a shot..." unlike the others, he kep his communicator in his pocket instead of on his wrist. He pulled it out, casually walking around. "So... maybe someone saw something..." he sent out a call to the others.[hr]

Gezora was rushing back and forth, still scanning the area. On one occasion, he rushed right past Hal. He was willing to ignore the call from Yezeku, but then it sounded again when Cecilia called him. He screeched to a halt, barely 20 feet from where Hal was standing "What?! What is it?! This had better be good!" [hr]

Anabelle seemed impressed with Sammi's speed. She noticed her communicator, but shut it off. This'll just take a second... "You're the second in command? The two higher than you are the captain and the girl with the bow. The captain 9/10 times gets the highest bounty, and the other ***** just seems to hog the spotlight a bit more." Anabelle smirked. "Still, you'll make a nice warm-up." She fired another shot, jumping forward to take advantage of any gap in Sammi's defense. [hr]

Hippocrates saw Yoje fall and land. He raised his hand up, trying to gesture to Cecilia to stand down. "I do apologize for that. Cecilia must have arrived back at the tower. Still, she will not interfere." He gestured for Yoje to follow him. "Now then... I admit, seeing your talents back in Jingo had piqued my interest." He then heard his communicator go off. "Pardon me..." he held it up and pressed a button, shutting it off. "Whoever it is can wait a moment. Now then... I'm wondering... where did you learn the techniques you know? I have a suspicion, but it might just be a coincidence..."

 

[SkyeNeko]

"I... Oh... w-well... it m-might be good sir..." She fumbled to hold the communicator up, looking into the scope again. "Ah! Sir! Sir can you see if that's a pirate behind you? I'm sorry, sir, I didn't get a good look at the one that was pushing the cart, but they look similar..." The shell beeped again. "Sorry Gezora, sir, I have something else reeeeally important I need to tell someone, just hold on, sorry."

She switched lines, picking up Yezuku's call. "Hello!? Sir? If you can, sir, please head to the docks! I'm really sorry if you're doing anything, it's just, well, I think the pirates sent something to this boat, and it might be their boat, sir, you see..."

 

[GoWithDAFro]

Hippocrates's question had caught Yoje off guard. He was expecting something about the crew's whereabouts, not his own past. His first impulse, as it usually was when people asked him questions like that, was to lie. "Some small island in the North Blue. An old man there was afraid of being captured by the Marines or attacked by pirates, so he trained me to get some better protection for himself. What's it to you?"

Whats he so interested in where I learned for? Oh, well, hopefully my lie will satisfy him- oh, stupid Yoje! He's in the Marines. He might actually know my grandfather is a master. Then again, hes on my mothers side, so our last names are different... Yoje struggled to keep his face impassive, waiting to see Hippocrates's reaction.

 

[Mr. Omega]

"Eh? Where did the thing come from?" Yezeku asked. "The other pirates are Hippocrates' problem. There're a couple I want to deal with, that's all." He asked Cecilia. It was just about the only real lead he had, and he figured it wouldn't be that much of a waste. [hr]

Gezora started looking around. Unfortunately, unlike the others, he didn't memorize the appearance of anyone besides the captain, who he recalled from Lasklee. "Which one is it? Where?" He started looking around, gripping his hooks tighter. [hr]

"An old Rokushiki master in the North Blue... and you just happen to be the one he decides to teach. I find that a little hard to believe... but there might be a couple kernels of truth to this..." Hippocrates mulled, heading further south. "So why you? Why you of all people he could teach?"

 

[NeoAC]

Sammi swerved to avoid the second shot, but it still got a piece of her left arm, nicking it. She grimaced, but was able to put the pain out of her mind pretty quickly. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing," she noted. She leaned to the side and slung her right hand forward, hoping to generate enough rope to close the gap to her opponent.

[hr]

Holik watched the two ladies battling. "Well, while those two are occupied," he turned his attention to the other woman in the alley, "I guess I might as well just get you to come in, since you are being a good little prisoner." He walked over and grabbed Marielle's arm. "All right, come on then."

 

[CounterAttack]

Marielle flinched as Holik roughly took her by the arm, but regained her composure. He had crossed the line. "You misunderstood me. I said that the two pairs could walk away from one another. But now I'm not going anywhere. You Marines just had to start the fight, didn't you?" It was true; the Marine with the pistols had fired the first shots. With that thought, she brought her free hand over to point at Holik's chest and launched a shockwave at point-blank range.

A small part of Marielle's mind briefly thought that her power didn't have a name, whereas those belonging to others were named. She would have to correct that at some point later.

While Holik was reeling from the blast, she wrenched her arm out of his grip and fired off a second wave to knock him further away, to keep him away from her. "And now look what you made me do," she admonished the Marine. "Suppose we have no choice but to fight now. Can't catch a break, can we?" she noted to Sammi, although her friend wasn't likely to be paying attention. She had her own opponent to consider.

 

[GoWithDAFro]

Yoje shrugged, looking up at the sky. "I'm actually not sure. I guess he saw potential in me. I'd already eaten my devil fruit when I found him, and that made it a lot easier to learn some of the techniques."
He snapped his head back to Hippocrates. "So what about my question? Why do you care where I learned Rokushiki?" If he keeps asking questions, I'll have to start adding more truth. Really, I should just attack him as soon as this gets too troublesome.

 

[tsatoma]

Alaena quietly closed the window behind her as she exited the building she had hid in; making sure to stay in the shadows of the buildings as she jumped to the ground. Moving over to the edge of the alley where the shops were, she peeked around the store fronts looking for what she needed. Thankfully some vendors had left their wares that were inexpensive outside on their stalls. Two lengths of rope were grabbed before Alaena started to head back towards where she hoped Yezeku was still at.

Her bow was slung over her shoulder as she quickly made her way through the alleys, making sure to check her surroundings every few seconds for trouble. Finally she came to the street that led to the Marine Base, and taking a peek out she saw that Yezeku was still in that same area. 'And he seems to be on his Den Den Mushi; that'll make things easier,' she told herself, using Soru to make it quickly to the other side. She knew that she was not seen by him; her Soru was faster than a normal one after all.

 

[SkyeNeko]

"No idea sir! I think it came from one of the people who was on the roof, the one that shot fire at the roof here, but I can't be sure. Sorry sir, I have Gezora on the other line, I have to get back to him! Sorry!" She switched the lines, keeping an eye on Hal. "Sorry it took so long Gezora, sir, I had to... nevermind... um... the person behind you, I think. The one right behind you, just turn around, he or she's the only person close to you, sir!"

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Hal froze as a marine ran right past him, preparing to Shave out of there as fast as he could. For some reason though, the marine never turned back to him. Instead he answered his Den Den Mushi and started shouting into it and asking where someone was. He must not even know who I am.... Perfect! But if he's around, I can't risk leading him straight to our ship. Maybe I could lay low on another boat for awhile like I did on Lasklee. Yeah, better give that a shot.

While the marine was still talking, Hal turned and quickly walked towards another ship. He made sure to glance back at the marine every few steps just to make sure he wasn't coming after Hal.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Gezora hung up and he quickly turned around, seeing Hal heading towards another ship. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a stack of wanted posters, looking through them to see if Hal matched any of them, drawing his hooks.
[hr]
Yezeku just spoke to Cecelia "Oi, just keep an eye out. One of them is sneaking around the town..."[hr]
Anabell noticed the rope. "So that's your power, hmmm? Perfect..." she jumped forward, swinging the heel of her foot at Sammi's arms, the edges in the spurs on her boots extending a little. "I'll just slice through it!"
[hr]
"It's just something I'd like to be sure about..." Hippocrates said. "Now then... why piracy? There are all sorts of ways you could put those talents to good use..."

 

[tsatoma]

Now was the time where her expertize in sneaking came in. Hugging the walls, Alaena made her way to an open alley near where Yezeku was. She didn't have the fortune of him being right in front of one, but it was good enough luck that he had even stayed in the area. One of the ends of the lengths of rope was tied into a loose knot for easier use, and now she prepared herself mentally. It was certainly a dangerous plan, but there were not too many other alternatives. 'Plus, a captured hostage could be of use. And with enough coercion he might even tell me how he managed to survive,' Alaena thought, taking a deep breath.

As soon as Yezeku stopped talking into his Den Den Mushi, she struck. Using Soru, she quickly hit him in the back with all her strength, knocking him to the ground. His double-bladed sword was kicked away from him as she bound his wrists first. "Hope you didn't miss me too much," she said wickedly, taking his Den Den Mushi out of his hand and putting it on her wrist. She continued to bind his limbs with haste before gagging him and dragging him back in the shadows. His weapon was picked up and flung down the alley, before he himself was picked up like a sack of potatoes to be taken back to the ship.

 

[GoWithDAFro]

"There are," Yoje admitted, "But this way gives me the most freedom. I never planned to make a name for myself as a pirate, but I never wanted to have to answer to Marines either." He subtly examined his surroundings. There were still too many people around for him to start fighting.
"You seem pretty calm, Hippocrates. Are you really that sure your men can handle my crewmates? And that you can handle me?"

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Hal continued glancing back occasionally at the Marine as he got closer and closer towards the nearest ship. Shit he turned towards me..... Oh shit he pulled something out of his pocket.... OH SHIT HE'S GRABBING SOME WEIRD HOOK THINGS!!! Walk faster! No wait, keep walking the same pace. Speeding up is suspicious. But so is glancing back at him all the time.... Fuck, I'm screwed.

Hal was sweating bullets now as he desperately tried to maintain a reasonable pace. Hopefully the marine would leave so Hal could go get the supplies in peace, but Hal was ready to use Shave to escape just in case.

 

[NeoAC]

Annabelle's sudden move forward surprised Sammi, but it was playing right into her hands...until the spurs emerged. She tried to bring the ropes back to wrap up Annabelle's free leg, but the spurs already sliced through them, causing Sammi to recoil her right arm in pain. "Fuck," she cursed as she shook her hand, trying to rid herself of the stinging sensation. "Fine then."

Annabelle was now in close enough that the ropes were unnecessary, so she swung the axe she held in her left hand towards the leg that remained planted on the ground, hoping to knock her opponent off balance.

[hr]

Holik was not expecting anything like what the young woman produced after he grabbed her arm. The shockwave blasted him, and he had no time to react to the second one that came afterwards. He went sent backwards and crashed to the ground, a bit of smoke rising from his now damaged Marine uniform. The condescending tone that his prisoner now spoke with was just salt in the wounds.

"Ugh," he moaned as he slowly got back up on his feet. "I'll teach you to talk to me like that, you little *****!" He grabbed his trident off of the street and extended it out to full length, as he charged at Marielle, ready to deliver a blow similar to the one he dealt to his former crew mate earlier.

 

[CounterAttack]

So Marielle was facing another fighter who liked to charge directly at her. Why did she have to get in fights with people who liked to get up close and personal? Setting that question aside for the moment, she tried to think of ways to keep him at a distance. She didn't think fast enough, though, and was forced to jump out of Holik's way and let him carry on past her. As he turned back to face her, Marielle raised her hands and released more shockwaves at him.

"Leave now, Marine, unless you want to get burned again," she warned Holik, trying to stall for time to come up with a strategy to best him. "I have no quarrel with you nor any of your fellows. I'll forgive the insult since we traded, one for one. Just... just go."

Truth be told, Marielle was scared of the Marines and the fighting. Even though she remembered Sammi's advice back in Lasklee, and was aware of the fact that pirates often got their hands dirty, she didn't enjoy it at all. Blades, guns, they were designed to kill and injure. And the mere prospect of facing them in combat frightened Marielle considerably. She didn't want to get hurt, let alone die. She already had more than her fair share of scars.