| Charming Endeavor is an article written by DazzlingEmerald. |
| Charming Endeavor is an article written by Dragon Lord Erin. |
Charming Endeavor[]
It was a pleasant morning to be hungover at the The Tired Elderberry, the tavern that was the place of interest for the Diamond Archipelago. Many a lad was toppled over, face to the ground, piss drunk from a night of pleasure. They tainted the wooden flooring with their saliva, patronizing the bartenders with their treacherous snoring.
A certain patron sat at the bar dressed in a black jacket over his dark pants and white shirt. He sat bent over his mug drinking away with no regrets. He had recently left the crew that saved his life to start on his own. It had only been about a week and his three person ship was still in very good condition. This bar was at the gateway to a new begging, the grand line. It was the gateway to the dreams of all pirates the one piece, but that wasn't Erin's dream. His dream was to simply cross the map and see what the world could offer. So here he sat drinking to his new begging in the world.
The wooden doors to the tavern swung open abruptly, forcing the light of the sun into the confines of darkness that was the inside of The Tired Elderberry. Many of its inhabitants scurried into the corners, hid themselves under tables, or simply shielded their faces to negate being vaporized into dust as if they were vampires of some sort.
There was an uproar of bickering, a shriek of complaints coming in the way of the tall, green haired man standing in the open doorway, commanding that he ease them of their pain by once more masking the sun from their worries. But he didn't pay it any mind. No, he was there for something else.
"Alright, listen up!" he hollered, as if he was ignorant of the fact that he had already long since attained their attention, "I'm lookin' around for some crew-mates so that the vessel I made with my own two hands don't go to waste. Can't be sailin' around these parts by my lonesome, now can I?"
Looking around, he snickered at the sight of all the bickering. Setting down his foot, he issued a large quake that silenced the restless crowd. "For fuck's sake, shut up already! This is the goddamn Grandline, ain't it?" He looked around the room with his golden eyes. "Now tell me, which one of ya is gonna join my friggin' crew?"
"I'll join," came a voice from the back of the pub. In a matter of moments, a well dressed lad, clad in a long brown trench coat, shuffled up to the front, displaying himself to the man with the green hair. He grinned wide, unveiling a sheet of paper from his back pocket, pointing at it with his other hand.
"Got me a bounty on my head too. Just look at how much I'm worth; make me your first-mate, and I'll make certain that our crew goes far."
There was a moment of silence. Not a word was spoken for a period of several seconds. Not a noise was made, until the green haired man reached for something at his waist.
Pow!
A bullet was fired, striking the lad with the trench coat through the chest, and sending him down to the ground. Caught by surprise, the rest of the tavern was forced to watch in silence, many upholding the belief that perhaps the one with the trench coat was foreseen as being worthy enough to join the green haired man's crew.
But as they saw in the very next moment, this was most certainly not the case.
"Do you not know who I am? The name's Veno. Remember it well: I'm a friggin' pirate from South Blue." He aimed his pistol toward the weakened man on the ground. "Your bounty is higher than mine. Like what the fuck? I can't be havin' no guy on my crew with a higher bounty than me. I'm gonna be the captain, for fuck's sake!"
Pow! Pow! Pow!
Veno fired relentlessly at the man on the ground, leaving the bartenders with a pool of blood to sweep up after he was through here.
Erin was startled by the flood of light and the screams of some guy yelling about his crew. He placed his drink down in surprise, spilling some of it and turned to look at just who had entered. The man before him stood tall, with a significant plume of green hair protrufing from his head. He looked like quite the character. Erin waited patiently as another patron approached the man, bragging about his bounty and how he would be valuable to him. Erin hated those suck ups who thought they were doing people favors by allying with them. He'd met a few in his time with the marines and seen multiple in his week on the seas with his new ship. He continued to watch as the man was shot dead for having a higher bounty than the highly irritable green haired man. With this Erin decided something. This man may have a horrible temper and some sort of psycho hair genes but he had the presence of a captain. With his mind made up Erin stepped up from his bar stool and walked over to the man. He stood a good head taller than him and showed him a smile as he stood before him. "Hey there I'm Erin Wynn. If you're looking for a crew member I believe I could be of assistance. I currently just set off on my own adventure so I'd be happy to join forces with you." His statement was met with little response until he remembered the previous man. "Since I assume you're wondering I have no bounty and no desire to be captain."
The Pussy Test[]
Looking up at this so-called "Erin Wynn", Veno rose a brow. "What the fuck are you so tall for? I can't be risking a pull in my neck everything I turn to look at ya. Goddamn."
Setting a hand to the exaggerated soreness of his neck, Veno took a moment to think to himself. It was a bit suspicious the way this "Erin" had come up to him. He had been through several pubs in the last week, yet hadn't found a single willing soul to join him. Why was that, exactly? Was he not a likeable person? Either way, two guys in one pub was almost too good to be true.
"There's somethin' fishy about you. I can't put my finger on it just yet, but..." His eyes rolled off, his shoulders slopped down, becoming more relaxed. "But, I like fishy. So I let you in. That is, as long as you can pass what I call the 'pussy test'."
Flipping his gun, Veno allowed the nozzle to rest against his shoulder. "You see, I invented the pussy test to sniff out them pussies. Separate the weak from the okay-bunch, and the okay-bunch from the better-than-the-okay-bunch. Does that make sense to ya? No damn men of mine are goin' ta be afraid ta do what I tellem' ta do. A captain's order, is his decree; there's no turning against it, ya got that?"
Studying Erin's frame with golden eyes, Veno scratched his chin. "Erin, weren't it? Now Erin, do ya happen to have yourself a gun? Any ol' gun'll do, so long as it's gotta bullet or two in it.
"To pass the pussy test is real simple. Alls you gotta do is follow my instruction. So this is what I'ma have you do: take out your gun, and fire..." He paused, pointing at the bartender who was frozen with fear behind the counter. "Fire at him."
"Well my grandpa was around 9 feet so I guess we should be thankful I'm not that tall." Erin spoke with a small smile, making light of Veno's anger. It was then that Veno challenged him to what he called "The Pussy Test". It was a simple test of obeying his commands instead of following his own morals. "Give me a moment." Erin spoke as he walked out of the bar and back to his ship. For a few moments there was silence in the bar then a shot rang through the air as a bullet pierced the barkeep through the heart. A few moments later Erin walked in again, his sniper in hand. "How was that." He spoke as he slung his gun over his back.
With a grim expression, Veno looked hard between Erin's rifle and the bar counter, from an angle in which the tender could no longer be seen. The others within the tavern looked back at the two of them with anger and confusion, unable to grasp the reason in having slain an innocent man who was only doing his job.
"Get me a smoke," Veno scuffed as he turned his shoulder, walking out of the same doors from which he came.
Once outside, he studied Erin's ship, comparing its size, promise, and most of all, capability, to that of his own --which was anchored not too far away-- as he awaited Erin's return.
Erin sighed as the man left the bar. As he looked upon the people who stared at him with horror he spoke in a simple tone. "Anyone got a cigar?" Those who knew better kept their mouths shut and if they did have a cigar simply placed it on the table for the man to pick up. Others however where angered by his actions and stood to oppose him, guns at the ready. Erin payed them no attention as he walked to pick up a couple cigars and a lighter before placing them in his pocket. He then walked towards the door letting out a small wave as he departed. Those who were angered however did not want to let him live so easily. A volley of bullets was fired at the man but they simply passed through him as he walked out the door.
Erin approached Veno cigars and lighter in hand and handed them to the man. Noticing his gaze on Erin's own vessel the man spoke. "She's a beauty isn't she, though she could use some upgrades. I call her the Nimbus."
One in the Same[]
Accepting the cigars, Veno placed them between his lips, two at the edges of his mouth and a third dead in the middle. Setting them ablaze, he enjoyed a moment to himself before acknowledging Erin any further.
"Are you capable of sailin' her yerself?" Smoke steamed out of Veno's mouth. "What's a guy like you need a ship like 'er for, anyway?"
"Of course I can. I used to be a marine navigator." Erin spoke as he stared at his own ship with pride. "Well if you must know I was planning to become a pirate just like yourself. That's the main reason I decided to join you." He then turned to look at Veno. "I figured that we could just work together since I'm a better sniper and navigator than a captain."
Marine Navigator. Veno could have gone without hearing that first part. It took a part of him to keep himself from drawing his weapon a second time. What allowed him to maintain his "cool" --if there was such a exposition to him-- was the sheer fact that good navigators were hard to come by in this sea, leaving him without any other alternatives to ponder upon in the current moment.
"How much ass did you kiss?" Veno barked, his way of asking Erin of his former rank in the marines, "and please, do tell me why in the hell a marine, of all fuckin' people in the world, would want to be a pirate?"
"When I was younger I used to be extremely sensitive to things. When I saw the true fucked up colors of the marines I realized they were no better than pirates. I quit and decided hey why not become a pirate. It sounds weird but honestly pirates are better in my opinion sure they're sometimes horrible people but at least they don't lie about it. Nowadays I'm pretty de sensitized to all this slaughter. Living with pirates for a while does that to ya." Erin spoke as he stared back to the water. "So are we gonna set off captain?"
Placing a cigar between every one of the fingers in his right hand, Veno plucked all three from his mouth, puffing out a large cloud. "Not so fast," Veno barked, refusing Erin's immediate aspirations in setting sail, "I don't quite trust you yet."
Spitting a wallop onto the ground, he continued, "seems to me like you've got quite the bit of experience. A former marine, a former pirate... do ya got anythin' else you wanna add to the list?" His golden eyes sneered a glance at the rest of Erin's frame, as if looking for any more indications to his past. "What kind of pirate crew did you belong to before? What did they call and think of themselves?"
"Still a pirate actually and no I believe that's most of what I do." Erin spoke with a small smile. It was seriously quite hard to gain this man's trust. However it was understandable. Erin's own past was quite shady and filled with mystery but its not like other pirates weren't the same way. "Well my previous crew was known as The Blowfish Pirates. They were pretty standard pirates to be honest. They had an affinity for poison and some very bad manners. They enjoyed ransacking villages but they were nice people, at least to me."
There was another long moment of silence. Snickering, Veno began to walk forward. "We'll set sail with your ship, so show me those navigational skills of yours. I'll drag mine along behind yours." With a small bend to his knees, Veno took off, leaping high into the air before landing firmly onto the Nimbus' front deck. Shooting a look back down toward Erin, he stuffed the cigars back into his mouth. "Well, come on already, we haven't all day!"
"Aye Aye Capitan." Erin spoke as he climbed aboard his ship drove it out. backing it up close enough so that they could hook Veno's own ship up to the Nimbus. He then grabbed his log pose from next to his wheel and pointed them north. With his ship set on course Erin decided to make haste. Winds whipped up around them and sent the ship lurching forward into the ocean. "Just tell me if you want to stop anywhere captain."
On to the Next[]
Captain. The very word was music to his ears.
Because he didn't want to risk any damage to the Nimbus herself, Veno opted to do the dirty work of lugging about his own ship himself. With a hefty chain latched onto his ship, Veno pulled it over his shoulder, establishing a firm grasp with both hands to be level with his waist.
Moving the chain into one hand, he dug one hand into the inside of his jacket, after having curiously studied the surrounding winds. "So I heard gunshots as you left the tavern; much too many to have came from the same weapon," he mused, making naught of Erin's enthusiasm, "so how was it that you emerged unscathed from all that?"
"Oh you heard that huh." Erin spoke merrily as he sailed his ship, appreciating Veno's decision to carry his own and marveling at his strength. "Well some idiots decided that I had crossed a line and fired a bunch of bullets at me but as you can see it didn't work. The reason It didn't work is the same reason we have so much wind right now, I'm a devil fruit user. I'm the user of the Bōfū Bōfū No Mi, a logia devil fruit that made me the Wind Emperor." Erin stated as he melted into the world and appeared next to Veno from the air itself. A moment later he reappeared at the helm, his demonstration over.
Unsatisfied with Erin's earlier demonstration, Veno sought one of his own. When Erin had returned to the helm, he found a series of well aimed bullets pass through him, courtesy of his captain. "A devil fruit user, huh?" He grinned. "I'm looking for one myself. A zoan would be to my personal liking," he went on, as if thinking aloud, "yes, one that would allow me to transform into a wolf..!"
As the Nimbus parted ways from Diamond Archipelago, its inhabitants saw themselves be tormented by Veno's laugh until the shadow of the vessel made off into the horizon.
"Grabababababababa!"