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

[Mr. Omega]

Hippocrates nodded "I'm confident in my men." He leaned up, inhaling, turning his head in the direction Sammi, Holik, Marielle and Anabelle were. "We seem to be close to some of them now... there are fou-..." he stopped, a slightly puzzled look on his face, but then he went back to his normal expression "Hm... there's something.......off... about one of them. Perhaps that can be examined once they apprehend them."

He picked up his pace. "Still, it just seems so... juvenile. You seek to help others. Why not put your talents to better use? Something that your family can be proud of..."[hr]

Anabelle hopped to avoid the axe, falling on her back, pointing her pistols up, firing at Sammi. She knew they wouldn't take her out, but was trying to buy a couple seconds. [hr]

Yezeku seemed oddly relaxed with the whole situation. He occasionally tried to hit Aleana with his knees, but it was more an attempt to irritate her than escape. [hr]

Gezora finally managed to get the poster of Hal. "hmmmm...AHA!" he started heading towards Hal, thinking he would be an easy target. "Not the captain, but he'll do. Might even lead me to the ship..."

 

[NeoAC]

Holik was pissed. Not only did this girl blast him good, but she had the gall, the nerve, to talk down to him like he was some kind of school child. She would pay for her insolence.

He used his momentum to keep barrelling out of the way as the girl fired more shots at him. Once she stopped, he mad a turn back towards his opponent. "Nah," he responded. "Nah, that ain't happening. You can go though!" As he returned to Marielle's position, Holik brought his trident back and swung for the fences, connecting with a shot into her head. Marielle was sent flying across the alley.

[hr]

Sammi dodged the bullets fired by Annabelle, ready to move in and deliver a swift chop when something hit her. Marielle hit her, knocking her over before she could make her move on the prone Marine. The two collapsed, not far from where Annabelle was lying.

"Blue, not for nothing, and I know you don't like fighting," Sammi mentioned as she crawled out from underneath her, "But do you think you could try and shut that bastard down instead of crashing into me? I'd appreciate it while I try to cut Shooter up over here."

 

[GoWithDAFro]

Yoje stiffened when Hippocrates mentioned his family, but hopefully recovered quickly enough for him not to notice. "Something my family can be proud of? Remember what happened on Lasklee? Me and a bunch of other pirates saved an island. We fought the gangs, and beat Harligold when he tried to take over. And all you so called heroic Marines did was clean up after we were done."

He glanced around one more time, taking an extra second looking in the direction Hippocrates said some of his crewmates were. There were no longer a lot of people around, which meant it was time to fight. Hippocrates didnt seem to be expecting it, and if the fight didn't go well, he could Shave away to help out the others.

"So tell me something-" and without transforming, he threw a quick jab at the Marine's face.

 

[tsatoma]

Alaena was not pleased with her captive's little kicks; though at the same time she wasn't sure why she expected anything different. She herself in the same situation would be doing anything at all possible to annoy her captor if escaping wasn't a possibility. 'And thank goodness it isn't,' she thought as she changed her course slightly to move away from the sounds of fighting close by. Help would be given to the rest of the crew when she made sure Peter knew what was going on, and once Yezeku was safely tucked away on the ship.

'Which should be straight to the left,' Alaena told herself, halting at the end of the alley to tie a cloth over Yezeku's eyes. She picked him back up and exited the alley, heading to the left to Peter's ship.

 

[SkyeNeko]

After making sure that Gezora was going after the strange figure, Cecelia switched back to Yezuku's line. That's weird... did he hang up? Ah, maybe he got annoyed waiting for me... She quickly tried to call him back, listening to the line ring. And ring. Eh? Where did he go? Did he find one of the pirates? She put up her scope and tried to look for him where she last saw him. Nothing. "Come on Yezuku, sir... pick up..." She started to get worried, deciding to find another point to get set up in. There was no place as high or secure as the tower, obviously, but it looked like all the fights had moved beyond her sight.

She ran down the stairs, a few bullets falling out of her bag and ringing as they fell down the steps. Out in the street she got a little more paranoid. In close quarters she wasn't good without her gun. While she ran towards where she saw him last, she loaded up a few shotgun shells, hoping not to have to use them.

 

[CounterAttack]

The swing that Holik performed connected spectacularly with Marielle's head, knocking her clean off her feet... and straight into Sammi. Dizzy and disoriented, she couldn't tell what was going on until she felt Sammi move underneath her. Marielle could feel something - blood, probably - on the side of her head where Holik had hit her. She closed her eyes tightly and reopened them to try to regain her bearings. Sammi's voice helped.

"Blue, not for nothing, and I know you don't like fighting, but do you think you could try and shut that bastard down instead of crashing into me? I'd appreciate it while I try to cut Shooter up over here."

Marielle groaned a little, but got back up to her hands and knees, and then her feet. She swayed, though, holding out one hand to steady herself against a nearby wall. The other hand went to her forehead. She was still quite dizzy, but could see a slightly blurred Holik standing ready to fight. Crap. She was in no fit state to fight. But she had to. Otherwise they would likely end up captured by the Marines... or worse, dead.

 

[NeoAC]

As Marielle slowly got up, Holik just stood there laughing at her. "Haha, not so tough are you now, huh girlie? Now you know this is only ending one of two ways: you getting taken down to the base, or you getting your body tossed into the ocean for the fishmen. Now if you're not going to bother making this entertaining for me, I might as well end it now."

Sammi still wasn't getting up, she opened her eyes, but all she could see were the cobblestones below her. Her opponent hadn't bothered to come over to check on her. The shooter was probably just as big a blowhard as Holik was. Which gave her another opportunity to try and snake one of her ropes into position. As the cord crawled along the street towards the shooter, Sammi knew she was making a bit of a gamble here. Just gotta hope she can't see it and is too stupid to finish me when she has the chance.

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

As the Marine drew nearer to him, Hal realized he was running out of options and escape routes. Dammit, I'm only good at two things really; bluffing and running. So which should I do? If he's a Marine then he definitely knows about my bounty but can I really scare him off? Can I run from him though? Argh... Maybe I can try to intimidate him into leaving me alone and then run if that doesn't work out. Fuck, this is a bad situation I'm in but I guess it's my best bet...

Hal took a deep breath before putting on his best attempt at the facade of a cold hearted ruthless pirate before turning to face his pursuer. He did his best to keep his expression blank (the shades really helped with that part) and his voice even as he spoke. "I gotta admit, you have a lot of guts to come after me. Don't worry, I'll reward you by making your end quick and painless." He said, putting a hand on his sword and trying to intimidate the Marine by sounding confident in his abilities. "So... Any last words?"

 

[CounterAttack]

Marielle shook her head, both to try to clear the dizziness and to contradict Holik. She held up a hand, wagging a finger from side to side. "Heh... me, I prefer option three. I knock you out and we get going. You don't have to bother yourself with all the work of holding me or - Hyah!" She cut herself off to deliver a surprise attack, launching another shockwave at the Marine from her raised hand. She followed it up with a blast from her mouth, feeling a slight sensation of heat on her tongue as the shockwave surged forward.

Sammi wanted her to keep Holik off her back, so that was what Marielle was going to do. If she had to fight, she wanted it to be fair: two on two, not two on one due to her not wanting to get involved. So she stood up and did her part, metaphorically speaking. Otherwise the pair of pirates would be overpowered.

 

[SkyeNeko]

As she ran through the alleys, Cecelia tripped over something sharp. She tried not cry out, groping blindly till she felt a metal blade. What's this doing here? Someone could get hurt... She took it out into the light. Huh? Isn't this Yekuzu's? Does he not want it anymore? This is a weird place to put it... maybe he lost it? He wasn't anywhere around the alley. The streets were pretty empty. She decided to try and call his Den Den Mushi again.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Annabelle managed to jump back onto her feet, taking a few shots at the girls to try and separate them. "You're seriously having a hard time with some new girl, Holik? Age must be catching up faster than you thought..." she sprung towards Sammi, trying to slice her. [hr]

Gezora smirked. "You have no idea who you're messing with, old man. I'm the strongest man on Porte Carlo. But I'm a sporting type... I can give you a couple seconds to try and run." Gezora turned his back, taking a couple steps. He was hoping Hal would either be stupid enough to try and attack, or even better yet, try and run. He was unaware of Hal's skills, thinking he'd just use Shave and cut him down in an instant, being able to catch up no matter how far he ran. He had pulled this off dozens of times, and it had become a great source of entertainment for him. "Go on. I'll be extra nice and give you 20 seconds..."[hr]

Yezeku continued just sitting back and relaxing. He heard his Den Den Mushi go off, bumping against Aleana again, this time trying to pick it up so whoever was listening in could listen in to Aleana. This girl here seemed like a big enough chatterbox that she wouldn't even hear Cecilia's more quiet attempts to talk up. [hr]

Hippocrates managed to see the hit coming in time to roll with the punch, but not soon enough to be able to dodge. He rubbed his jaw, a small mark on his face. For a couple seconds, he seemed frustrated, but then went back to his more calm expression. "Ah, the arrogance of the petty youthful rebellion... you have a lot to learn about how the world actually works..."

He took a look around, seeing they were very close to the docks. He stepped ahead of him, turning around once he was between the last few houses in the street, the piers and ships now in view behind him. "And I suppose I'll have to be the one to teach it to you." he said, holding up his left arm, starting to unbutton his sleeves, revealing some small razors in his cufflinks.

"I've had to deal with upstart punks like yourself on many occasions. I don't know who I angered, but HQ tends to send the more... uncooperative recruits like Gulligan or Gezora my way. And all they've ever needed..." his arms were now fully exposed "...was someone to put them in their place!" as he said this, he placed his wrists near his elbows so the blades touched his skin, slicing a large gash across his forearms. Blood began running down his arms, seeming to pool around his palms.

 

[NeoAC]

If the shot from the girl's hand before were like a bullet, the mouth shot was a shotgun blast. Holik was sent flying backwards from Marielle's attack, his trident unable to deflect the waves. He crashed back down onto the cobblestones, sliding back. In his prime he might have been able to bounce back up after something like that, but time had taken it's toll on him, and it was tough to recover. The snide remarks from his fellow Marine didn't help matters either. He had to prop the trident onto the ground to try and hoist himself up, but he wasn't having any luck.

Annabelle was about to get her comeupance though. As the shots fired followed the moving target Marielle, she got way too close to Sammi for her own good. As the Viking continued lying prone on the street, the rope suddenly had less work to do to get into position around Annabelle's leg.

"Gotcha," Sammi said quietly to herself, as she yanked the rope into place.

The cord constricted around Annabelle's leg and yanked the Marine down to the same level as her squad mate, and Sammi was quick to follow through this time. She leapt over to where her opponent fell and brought the butt end of her axe up and into Annabelle's face, for a solid hit. That was so satisfying. She spun the axe around ready to deliver a strike with the sharp end to finish the battle.

 

[tsatoma]

Yezeku's struggling was ignored as Alaena made her way across the deck of Peter's ship and down to where she figured he'd be. Alaena noticed that her captive seemed to be trying to mess with the Den Den Mushi she had taken from him and placed on her own wrist, almost tripping on some of the wires on the floor as she took it off and put it on her other wrist where Yezeku couldn't try to mess with it.

Once that was dealt with Alaena knocked on Peter's door a few times, hoping that he was inside preparing. She had seen Fletch outside waiting for her, which meant that the message had been delivered.

"It's Alaena. Open the door," she called after she was done knocking, not wanting Peter to think it was an enemy trying to get in.

 

[CounterAttack]

Marielle had Holik on the run now. Figuratively speaking, of course. Her shockwaves looked like they had done a good amount of damage, since the Marine was struggling to get up. Once he was back on his feet, she would knock him down again... There were a few shots in the background. The other Marine had her pistols out, presumably aiming at Sammi.

The next thing Marielle felt was something impacting her back... then considerable pain. It was a kind of burning sensation. Marielle froze. All the breath left her. She was shocked by the idea. Had... had she just been shot? She reached around with one hand to feel where it was hurting. There was a tear in the fabric of her jacket, and her shirt below that. Something wet was on her fingers. She brought her hand back around... the tips of her fingers were a brilliant red, contrasting the blue of her nails.

Marielle dropped to her knees with a faint gasp, losing track of the others. Her attention were locked onto the blood on her skin... and then she felt the pain in her back get worse. Much worse. So she did the one thing that came naturally. She let out a short, high-pitched scream of pain, shock and now fear for her life. What if the Marine had shot to kill?

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Being called an old man pissed Hal off, he wasn't that old after all, but not as much as this punk ass Marine just brushing him off like that. Yeah, he wasn't the greatest fighter but his guy really thought he could turn around, give Hal the first blow, and still get away with it? Hal was planning on either running or scaring the guy off, but this was practically a free win and Hal couldn't pass up the opportunity to take this guy down and get to the ship as fast as possible. Alaena was still back at the Marine base after all.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya pal..." Hal muttered as he crouched down and put a hand on his sword. He paused to inhale deeply before Shaving directly behind the Marine and unsheathing his sword, swinging at the Marine's exposed back.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Gezora was still chuckling when Hal had vanished "What in the-...?!" he managed to get his hooks up to block the blade from hitting anything important, but there he was still cut in his side. Blood splattered onto the ground behind him after the slice, but it was more from the sword's movement than the severity of the wound. "SONOFABITCH!" he shouted, haphazardly swinging one hook upward, trying to catch Hal while his sword was clashing with his hooks.

It wasn't able to hit, but it got some distance between the two. "How... how the hell are you so fast?" the fact he was barely able to keep up irritated Gezora. But he thought it would make taking this guy down even more satisfying. He rushed at Hal, swinging his hook with a little more precision. It was a fluke. He isn't faster than me. And he can't keep up... [hr]

Anabelle was disoriented by the initial blow, but quickly regained her senses as Sammi tried to finish the fight, raising both her pistols up, using the barrels to catch the handle of the axe, the blade a couple inches from her face. "Holik! Get off your ass and get her off!" She started trying to get the rope off her leg, but wasn't going to risk upsetting her position.[hr]

Right before Aleana had gotten the Den Den Mushi on her wrist, Yezeku managed to get the button, but it was muted. Others could hear his end, nobody on this end could hear any of the other Marines.

Peter opened the door, surprised to see Aleana back. "Oi, how'd it go?" After taking a moment to explain how it had gone, Aleana left to patch up and start resupplying her own arrows. "So... you're a Marine... but she told me you aren't quite with the other guys... what's the deal?" He undid Yezeku's gag. There was a moment of silence. "And you ain't talking..."

 

[GoWithDAFro]

He cut himself? What kind of power is that? Looks like my Tempest Kick won't be much use. Yoje morphed into his hybrid form, bouncing lightly on his feet. Then he Shaved slightly above Hippocrates and aimed a kick at his forehead.

 

[NeoAC]

As Annabelle was clearly struggling against Sammi's aggressive tactics, the blonde laughed derisively. She was just soaking this all in, the cocksure attitude was completely erased.

"What's wrong, hun? Can't handle this yourself? Gotta cry out for your washed-up pirate husk of a teammate?" Sammi taunted as she tried to move in for the kill. However, it was the cry of the other person in the fight that had gotten her attention.

Marielle's scream was short but effective. "Blue!" It appeared that the younger girl was the one who caught the hail of bullets Sammi thought had been intended for her. The blood dripping out of her back was proof of that. Fucking ***** doesn't even think I'm worth shooting at? Oh, she's going to pay...

"You shot the wrong girl, *****," Sammi informed her opponent, as she brought her free hand up to grab the Marine's wrists. "Now I gotta draw this out instead of just slitting your throat." Ropes started emerging her fingers and started wrapping around Annabelle's arms. She was so worked up from the shooting of Marielle that she was set to do anything else, to make the tying process go quicker. Sammi used her legs to slam Annabelle's legs shut and focused on her feet. Slowly, more ropes began to appear from each one of her toes, coiling around Annabelle's ankles as they grew tighter and constricted around her legs. As Sammi focused less on her axe and more on the process of binding the Marine into a neat little package. Just hang on Blue. I take of her and we'll get you healed up.

[hr]

Holik finally found the strength to stand up, with a liberal dose of aide from his trident. He was still reeling from the blasts, but he was coherent enough to see the current situation.

The Cabin Hand had managed to pin Annabelle down and was doing...something to her. Save that for the naughty picture shows ladies. Damn kids. What he also saw was the cause of his recent injuries now kneeling on the ground, open for a nice trident to the chest cavity.

"Heh, payback time you little rat!" Holik bellowed as he lumbered towards the injured Marielle, trident poised for a finishing blow.

 

[CounterAttack]

Marielle almost paid no attention to Sammi calling to her. Blue? Blue wasn't important. Blue could mean a lot of things. West Blue, East Blue, blue jacket, blue water... the chief thing on her mind was red. She felt like she had been set on fire now. Her back was screaming at her. And so was Holik.

"Heh, payback time you little rat!"

The younger pirate fell onto her side, curling up and earning another spike of pain in her back with the movement. She groaned and shuddered when she felt something shift in a bad way. As the Marine continued his charge, she wondered whether or not to let him hit her. Maybe he would stop the pain.

But that would mean the end of her life. And Marielle didn't want to take that option. So she tried to defend herself from the impending trident attack. She raised one arm and tried to form the usual hand shape to release her shockwaves again, but her hand shook too much. Her fingers wouldn't cooperate. Her arm fell back down to the ground.

Holik was in range to strike now. So Marielle opened her mouth and hoped to high heaven that she fired a wave at him.

 

[SkyeNeko]

Voices started coming from the Den Den Mushi. They were unfamiliar... The first voice she heard identified itself as "Aleana", it sounded like. Whatever happened, Yezuku was in some sort of trouble. Was it the pirates? She tried to remember the wanted posters, but was coming up empty at the moment. Either way, she had to try and find out where they were, or else he could be in a lot of trouble. A lot more trouble. Than he was already in.

She ran towards the section of the dock where the flying thing seemed to be headed, being careful to stay in the shadows. If they were the pirates they were looking for, and they were strong enough to capture Yezuku, she couldn't afford to take chances. Still, there were several ships in the area. She could start knocking on doors, but that would mean waking up several other people who didn't have anything to do with what she was looking for. Also, it was a stupid idea. She strained her eyes and ears as she tried to pick up any clue about her target.