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Role-Play Name: Favors

Date Started: November 14, 2018
Date Completed: December 20, 2018
Users Involved: User:DamonDraco, User:EmperorSigma, User:Ash9876
Setting: Hamcroft
Characters Involved: Bro Dude, Buster D. Zack, Doge, Reinauld Ryan, Holland Sherry, Ferrothorn Braxton (Mentioned), Riz, Mathew, Foxwelle, Xerxes, Ban, Gallon Margie, Ford Henrietta

Night's Light[]

Booze and cheers filled the night and streets of Hamcroft, particularly, the place known as the Pig's Rest. A bar renown throughout the Winter Island, it had the most clients amongst the other estabilishments. Nothing too surprising given its size and structure.

It was rustic, made of wood, not too carved, but not too rough. It didn't crumble under the many feet of both men and women. Closer to the entrance was a large bonfire, much like a blazing rectangle on the ground, surrounded by people dancing and drinking beer.

At the bonfire's four vertices stood four wooden pillars, surrounded with some iron plates so that the fire didn't reach them. Two meters above the actual bonfire was a netted platform, made of ropes, which held several meat pieces that slowly got to the point. However, most notable was the presence of something else atop these pillars.

The body of a person, alive given their slow breathing. They were wet, clothes and skin, possibly, they were slowly regaining conscience. Much to their side, was another figure, though they were dry.

"Ugh.." A low grunt from the dark-skinned being was released with what seemed to be one of his strongest breaths. Every inch of his body was cover in scars. Some areas quite more noticeable than others. The palm of his hands, which were flat out on the group, had large holes in them as though someone had taken a concrete drill and stabbed through it.

His abdomen area, right around his ribcage seemed to have also had holes in it as well as the tee shirt and jacket that covered over his body. The clothing completely draped in the blood that leaked from his wounds. One would wonder just how he remained alive, or hell, even how he managed to maintain conscious from such a large loss of blood.

He turned his head slightly looking around the area. There was not a person in sigh to accommodate for the amount of noise around. He grunted again and turned his head the opposing direction. "Hey.." The boy whispered faintly to the man lying next to him.

"You are awake," The hooded person nodded at him, "Buster D. Zack." They had a voice somewhat rough and their eyes couldn't be viewed from any angle at all, not even with the bonfire's light. "I thought you were a goner, some of us put you up here to dry you out."

Memories of earlier during the day filled the man's mind, "You washed into the island by chance, along with some wood. This is Hamcroft Island, we're on Paradise," If that place could ever be called a Paradise. "Winter Island, which you can clearly see. Famous for its techniques on cutting meat and the likes, got some traffic, but that's enough about it."

That time, the figure stared more directly towards Zack. "What happened in the seas...? A famous head like you to have their boat stolen," Stopping for a moment as if he were blinking, the man extended his hand towards Zack. "Forgive my manners, I'm..." A wet pause, "Dude, call me Dude."

The boy's, Zack, eyes rolled to the back of his head as he turned his face to look directly up. "I'm bleeding out..." Zack whispered, his dark skin begging to lose its color. "Please, dude..." Zack whispered once again, unintentionally calling the man by his name. "Could ya' get me some help?"

Zack closed his eyes for what he thought was just a moment. He got an instant flash of a man, seemingly shedding his skin to reveal his true identity. Goo dripped from his body and Zack just stood there, the injuries he seemed to have currently had not yet been placed on his body.

He quickly opened his eyes which locked onto the bright sky above. Clinching his fist he grunted once more, as more blood began to leak from his opened wounds. He squeezed his eyes and bit his bottom lip; an expression of the pain he felt. "Damn." He thought to himself, clenching his fist even tighter. "Am I about to die?"

"Damn!" Dude shout out, "His wounds opened!" His body shot up and some other people paid more attention, their eyes shifting over to the platform. Dude jumped offwards and landed just a small distance from the bonfire, he seemed to hold something with his hand, partially hidden by the sleeve.

Even as that happened, however, most people went back to their own business, refilling mugs or just continuing to dance around. Dude slashed at the bonfire and flipped over to land on the platform, "Buster, this is not my specialty." He gestured for a knife, covered in flaming charcoal, "If you allow me to." Dude pushed the knife towards Zack, waiting for his response to proceed to cauterize such wounds.

Initially, the crowd seemed to be completely uninterested in Dude's cry for help. How could they? Were they drunk? Too self-centered? Whatever the case may have been, Zack remained there on the ground for a couple more minutes until Dude himself decided to take action.

Zack's vision was blurry. He could barely see what was going on so when Dude stood over him with his knife, he was not aware of what was going on. From his point of view and the current situation he was in, Zack simply nodded his head giving Dude the consent he'd been seeking.

The teen braced himself, the pain had gotten worse but to be completely honest, Zack couldn't even feel it. The pain seemed to have been completely overshadowed by the thoughts of him potentially dying. He was too young and honestly not ready to meet his demise just yet. But it just seemed like that feeling would not leave the atmosphere around him.

Not waiting any other second, Dude simply pressed the hot knife against the skin bits that he saw were open. Steam, the smell of burning flesh flew across the air. Some did stop to pay attention, but quickly glanced away once they understood just what transpired.

A bead of sweat rolled down Dude's face, he pulled his hood back, revealing a rather ebony tone of skin. His head was completely shaved, "It will be finished soon." He uttered at Zack, still pressing the knife against the rest of the wounds, "You are lucky they were not too deep, otherwise, I couldn't close them like this."

Zack felt nothing. Instead of even responding to Dude's statement, he went ahead and closed his eyes. Even though he went silent from what Dude had just done for him, had he been in the right state of mind, he'd truly have been grateful. He grunted once again after Dude's knife made contact and rigged him wounds close.

The moment his top and bottom eyelids made contact with each other, Zack found himself dragged into what he thought was "another world". It was dark, the only thing that seemed to shed light were the teen's very own eyes.

"Where am I?" He thought to himself. "What's this feelin'?" There was an ominous feeling and while the area was pitch black dark, he could feel a sudden breeze of wind blow past his face.

There was a buzzing followed by an even stronger gust of wind. A flash of light lit up the area, revealing a being floating in mid-air dressed in an all black cloak. The cloak came with a hood attached which was used to cover his/her face from allow Zack to see it.

"Who the hell are you?!" Zack questioned, staring the figurine down.

There was a loud snap and suddenly Zack returned to the world, quickly opening his eyes as wide as he could then jumping to his feet. All of Zack's wounds found themselves healed, down from the wholes which were all over his body down to the very smallest scars. He surveyed the area with his attention full.

"Where am I?" he asked Dude.

"God-damn," Dude muttered, placing his knife to the side over the wood platform. Much like Zack laid down, he tried relaxing by leaning against the wooden pillar. "As I told you... you are in Hamcroft, a winter island famous for its meat cuisine. Let me..." Dude licked his lips and sat to the opposite side to Zack that time.

"Let me introduce myself again... you can just call me Bro Dude, I'm just wandering around," He sighed, trying to shake off the hotness onto his hand that held the knife previously. With the other, he polished the blood off the knife. "You washed up ashore and some people helped you, so here we are. I read that you were part of a fight?" His eyes hovered over Zack's wounds again.

Zack took a deep breath and gripped his forehead with his hand. While he couldn't feel the pain from his wounds, he did, however, feel the pain from his head which had been pounding.

"I washed up? I don't remember any of that. I remember I was in the middle of a fight with that weird Marine, and after getting my ass kicked I passed out in the middle of the fight." Gripping his forehead even tighter and little lightbulb went off in his head. "Wait, you said you read about it? Read about what?"

Dude arched one eyebrow up, "If you need something, just tell me. I don't own the place, but, I could throw some word for you," He pointed at the main part of the tavern, a few meters away from them. "You don't, huh..." Checking over the pockets of his pants, Dude took a cigarette between his fingers.

With a quick and swift push, the cigarette went against the wood, sparking fire into its tip. Dude took it to his mouth, sighing, "The Newspaper. They released Newspaper about your deeds on Reverse Cape." A puff of smoke, Dude glanced at nowhere, but, continued to talk, "You survived the Four Blues and the Entrance, congratulations."

Zack coughed from inhaling a bit of the smoke. "Newspaper..." he mummbled, covering his nose from the smoke with his free hand. Then he became silent trying his best to grasp the situation. But then, "NEWSPAPER?!" He shouted, leaping to his feet and turning his head left and right swiftly as though he had no headache to begin with.

He rushed into the tavern leaving Bro Dude behind nearly knocking the doors off of its hindges. Once entering the buildign he rushed to the front desk where he met face to face with an elderly woman. "Excuse me ma'am, do you happen to have a newspaper lying around?!" He asked.

The woman's face did not hold the expression as though she wanted to help. "YOU DARE RUN INTO THIS TAVERN ALL ROUNDABOUT BOY!" She scream, jumping onto the top of the counter revealing her full self. She was an extremely short woman in a pink robe and blonde hair. She began to stab at Zack with her cane. "THE DISRESPECT OF THIS GENERATION IS INSANE!" She shouted, continuing on with stabbing Zack.

With a swift movement, he gripped her cane and stiffed his eyes onto her. "Listen here old lady! I ain't mean any harm, I just asked for the most recent newspaper. Ya' ain't gotta stab me with ya' damn cane!"

"There, there!" A voice called out from behind the counter. A man coming from what seemed to be a backroom held his hands up in a pushing position. "Here's one for you! Mrs. Farsey didn't mean any harm." Reaching underneath the counter, the man handed Zack a newspaper.

Zack, without another word to the duo, grabbed it and ran back outside to Bro Dude. The teen boy flipped through the newspaper vigoriously ripping a couple of the pages until he saw the headline: Mountain Defense Operation: Bringing Down the Sky-High Rookies!. He read through the page with haste, but there seemed to be something specific he stopped on. He stopped at the portion that spoke of him:

“Bone Buster” Buster D. Zack has made his debut from, what appears to be, a former Cabin Boy for the Black Widow herself! Somehow in the Blue Seas, he seeks to start his own crew and sail the Grand Line! In shocking revelations, the boy has been revealed to be the child of former Pirate Buster D. Amaka, a name that shook the seas at one point in time!

He read this short paragraph out loud to Bro Dude. "ALRIGHT!" He shouted, forgetting the headache he held, and flung the paper into the air. Just as he did, a lone sheet floated down and landed right between himself a Bro Dude. Zack picked it up--it was a bounty poster.

Zack 15mil

"15 MILLION BERRI!!!" He shouted, gripping the poster even tighter than he had done with his forehead. "AL-FUCKIN'-RIGHT!"

"Woah," Dude mouthed at Zack's sudden outburst, almost as if he prepared to draw something, "Calm down." He sighed. Maybe he should try doing something, though, given the shouting, it wasn't anything too serious. Or at least, that was what seemed to be the case. Dude's lips parted and a puff of smoke escaped, meshing in with the one from the bonfire.

It didn't take time for Zack to come back, not that Dude wasn't willing to wait. Even if he didn't look, the shouts were the mark of the young pirate's presence. "Heh, congrats on that. I read it the other day," Another smoke puff. "Don't get too ahead though," Dude glanced at Zack, "We got way bigger fish in this pond."

Fish that he didn't want to or could catch. Dude smirked briefly and commented again, "A group rescued you from the seas, and... and I helped too." He smashed the tip of the cigarette on the wood and threw it at the bonfire, earning some dirty looks. "But... that's because I wanted a favor."

Zack continued admiring the poster a bit further. In all honesty, he was happy. Just a few days ago, or so he thought because in actuality weeks had passed, he'd told his mother he'd be setting out on his journey to become the greatest pirate. This poster alone was proof he'd been doing just that.

He folded it up and placed it into his torn jacket pocket, patting the pocket as though it were a pet. "Thanks." Zack responded, "With yo help, I prolly would've been a goner." The ebony teen stood to his feet and punched his left fist into his right palm. "'Ight, dude! I don't know what the hell it is you want me to help ya' with. But, you saved my life! So, I am in your debt. Lay it on me!"

Favors[]

A snicker escaped Dude's mouth along with puffs of smoke, he having picked another cigarette, surely he couldn't recall the last time someone was so excited after receiving a bounty on their head. Seeing as the screams were odne, he fully turned to Zack.

"It's not a problem, though, I did say my intentions," Dude's left eyebrow perched up and his eye stared at the young pirate. "Debt? Don't worry about that, not at all." Another snicker, he threw the cigarette down to the bonfire, "Now..."

Breathing heavily for a second, Dude got up from his seat on the wood, towering over Zack's form on the ground. With a quick jump, he was face to face with him, "It involves the subject of lives... though, not one to save." Dude licked his lips briefly, expression still stern. "The favor is-" Whispers, his eyes pierced through Zack's, "-aiding me in an assassination on this island."

"Assassination?" Zack mumbled, slightly repeating Dude's words. Zack lowered his head almost as though he were shameful. "I'm sorry dude..." he apologized, his expression as blank as it was when he was found. "I've never done anything like that before..."

He clenched his fist and held a stiff position for a couple of seconds. "I always hear my mom talk about 'em. It's always like she put a hit out on someone. It seemed so cruel when she tried to explain it." Zack paused and covered his nose from Dude's cigarette smoke. He coughed and spat in the opposite direction. Cigarette smoke had always been one of his weaknesses.

"But at the same time... IT SOUNDS SO COOL!!" Zack shouted at the top of his lungs, throwing his fist up at the air. His entire facial expression changed. He grew a smile and cheesed like no other. "Who's our target?! I'll give him an ass whooping he won't forget!"

Seconds passed with Dude's face bearing no expression at all, he cracked his neck sideways and then answered, "You... you sound pretty okay with trying it all, okay." He instinctively tried to take a deep inhale on a cigarette, but found himself holding onto nothing. "Okay, okay," Dude waved a hand around.

Moving his head to the side, Dude gestured for them to leave the platform and jumped a second after, beginning to walk out of the tavern's territory. "Mrs. Fansey, I already paid the waiter," He waved at the woman behind the table counter in the distance, shouting while still walking his path.

"You damn right I am!" Zack shouted, jumping to his feet flailingly. "I just told you, when my mom explains it to her mates it seems so cool." Zack's eyes became googly. "I'm a pirate now, aren't I? I'll have to get an experience like this up close otherwise, I'll never know if its something I'd truly be into."

He began to chase behind Dude, giving off a few slight coughs as he did and waved back t Mrs. Fansey "Goodbye mean old lady, I'll be back later after this to get some rest!!"

"There he goes, mentioning a parental figure again..." Dude thought, while mindlessly staring the snowy road ahead. "D... Buster... could it be?" He turned his head to face Zack once more, musing out with a serious expression, "Your mother sounds like a wonderful person." Dude merely nodded at the numerous remarks.

A sigh, "Being back... I'm not too sure about that," Dude said quietly, putting his hood over his head with a single hand. "Our target is quite... unusual, let's say." Though Zack did ask whom it was earlier, Dude figured he was not too eager to know.

Nevertheless, he gestured for up ahead, out of the town, a path that led into a relatively small settlement. "Up ahead is the island's main location, the Hammerfield Castle," Several lights could be seen on the place's windows, its surrounding buildings not as active.

"Eh, unusual ain't got nothin' to do with me. I'm only here to repay my debt because once I become the Pirate King, I ain't gonna be out here spending my time repaying what people have done for me!" Zack ran slightly out in front of Dude and eyed the castle.

The various lights caught his attention as well, so much that he just had to take it a step further that Dude. Holding his left hand in front of himself, he gripped his wrist with his right hand. The skin on the tips of his fingers began to open up revealing the literal tip of his bones.

"Bone-Ladder!" He shouted, as his bones shot from his fingers tips and formed themselves into a ladder constructed of his bones. With a simple jerk, he broke his bones apart and the tip of his fingers closed. He now had now created a ladder which he could use to look inside of one of the shining windows. The size big enough for both himself and Dude to climb side by side.

He rushed to the ladder and signalled for dude to come along.

Dude stared at Zack for a moment, "If that is what you say, very well." He offered him a nod and, before Dude could even jump into the wals, his eyes widened at the visage of Zack's bones sipping out of his body. "So... it was true, the newspaper did mention your tricky powers helped you escape from the marines," Dude narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

Once the ladder was ready, Dude eyed it for a moment, mouth still thin. Then, he gave a short nod to Zack and looked behind and to his sides. After all, they were just this close to infriltrating the castle, surely, someone would have seen them. Or, just maybe, Hamcroft was more poor than he remembered, the castle wasn't even that big to begin with.

Without another second, much like they were phantoms, Dude's limbs moved to push himself through the ladder's body. He went past Zack and instantly reached the top, all without any sound, a large veranda entering his view as soon as he did so. With his hand, he waved for Zack to climb up.

As his feet touched the stone of the large veranda, no sounds again, Dude looked around for soldiers or any sort of guard, though, knowing whom it was, he didn't know if he should really expect guards. He faced the entrance to a large room, it was made of glass. "Convenient."

Zack climbed the ladder as quickly as he could, coming to Dude's side with the swiftness. But before he did, he watched each of Dude's stealth movements and tried to mimic them as best he could on his way up. In his head, it all worked out perfectly, but in reality... he'd been moving normally.

He extended his neck so that he could see through the glass window which gave a clear-cut view of the center of the castle. There were three men: there were two men and a mink, circling a single man who'd found himself tied up in the middle. The group seemed to have actively been in a conversation and Zack focused his eyes to try and read their lips. "Yo bro," he whispered trying to remain stealthy but at the same time not noticing he'd been calling Dude by his actual name.

"We should wait a while and try to scope out the situation." As if he were the one to actually be leading this "mission".

On the other side of the glass, the trio continued in their conversation, and the one currently speaking was the man to the far right with red hair. "Xerxes, this guy ain't talkin' maybe I should just rip his throat out right now." The lower portion of his mouth was wrapped by black tape but somehow he split it so that he could speak through it. Holding his arm up, he slashes across his forearm with a short knife and blood exited the wound. The blood began to move as though it had a mind of its own and formed into a scythe.

The tied up man shook his vigorously, a signed that he had clearly been disagreeing with what the man next to him mentioned. The tape covering his mouth was the only thing keeping him from being able to verbally give his thoughts on the matter.

"No, Riz." The yellow-furred mink stated, holding her hand out in front of him to stop him in his tracks. That's right, Riz was the now rogue Marine soldier who helped aid Braxton in the robbing of El Dorado's gold mine and the current user of the Chi Chi no Mi.

"Killing him is completely against the orders of my father." The mink was none other than Roxwelle, daughter, of the current Duke of Zou; Kyuubi. "I will not allow it."

The man in the middle of the two stood with his eyes closed and arms folded. He had short spiky blue hair and wore a white onsey covered by a black fur coat. "Both of you, quiet. There will be no touching Mathew unless ordered by the King himself."

Riz's blood scythe disappeared as he stepped back. "Ya' know somethin', Xerxes? Till this very day, I still ain't sure how you rank at ROOK when I've still yet to see your power. Even Braxton changes the topic when I ask him, and we've been best friends since he joined the Marines."

"It's something a BISHOP would never understand." Xerxes, another one of Braxton's followers, within Braxton's organization he held the position of ROOK, but as it currently stood, the position and ranking, or hell even the name of the group were unknown. "However, if this drags out, I'll personally take the blame for your death."

Indeed, as soon as Dude heard sounds and Zack called him, he stopped dead in his tracks. "And those..." He mused to himself, low like a whisper, "This is a problem," He uttered towards Zack. "Our target is basically the man tied up in there," Dude put his back against the stone, sliding to the ground without being noticed.

"Those teeth and red hair... I read about him in a newspaper... but, what is he even doing here?"

Zack continued to look through the glass as Dude went a proceeded on. "Hey, bro, I got a clear shot." Zack fixed his hands so that he'd been making a finger gun. "I could get this over with quick and we could get the hell out of here quickly." He squinted his eyes looking down the "scope" of his finger. The skin on the top of his finger split, just like when he created the ladder he stood on.

"I actually feel like a trained assassin!" He thought, "The adrenaline rush is HYPE-" A pellet from the tip of his finger shot through the glass down on the quadrant of people standing in the center of the castle. It was a complete accident. The adrenaline rush had truly been getting to his head. The excitement caused him to send a Bone Pellet at the group. His aim was off and instead of hitting his target for a clean head shot, he managed to pierce the man in the right shoulder.

"Oh shit!" Zack shouted, leaping from the ladder and leading to the solid earth. "Yo, bro, I may have kinda fried this fuckin' mission."

Within the building, Foxwelle and Riz were the first to react. Foxwelle rushed to Mathew's side, lifting his body from the ground over her forearm to survey the wound. "You mean to tell me, there were people here and we were not notified?" The Mink frowned, placing her hand across Mathew's wound.

"I thought your kind had keen senses. Yet, even you were unable to locate the boy in the window looking down on us." Xerxes responded, maintaining his same position from earlier; arms folded and eyes closed.

Slicing Throats[]

Zack would find himself without a response to his statement, Bro Dude had actually entered the room where everyone was in. Glass breaking and chatter completely allowed his figure to go unnoticed, though, for sure the Mink girl would be the first to react.

His steps were merely whispers through the night, he stood behind Mathew's figure and quickly held him, while the others were busy discussing the situation, the mink girl would see her hands empty. While holding him, Dude walked from the group, "D-Dude!" Mathew gasped upon seeing the assassin's trademark dagger being pointed towards the group, "You came!"

"Yes, I did," Dude stated flatly, "And who are these people? State your reasons for being here," He pointed the knife at each on the group. "Don't come any closer, or else Mr. Mathew will die." Dude really wished he could check upon Zack, but, the mission came first. Plus, if everyone's attention was on him, it meant Zack could come back.

"Oh," Riz's opened wound from earlier leaked blood once more forming into the previously shown scythe. "you are very bold to make such threats." He stepped back to further inspect Bro Dude. "Oh wait. I know this face." Riz's facial expression changed to that of being surprising. "Bro Dude: a bounty of Beli50,000,000--a well-known assassin."

Riz chuckled, "I know it may have taken me a while to sense the other, but there's someone outside as well, Foxwelle."

The yellow-furred mink purred, bending her knees and leaping over the standoff between Bro Dude, Riz, and Xerxes. "Yeah, I could smell him. I'll go on ahead and handle him. Remember, Riz! Mathew is to remain untouched!" She shouted, rushing through the doors of the castle to the outside world.

Xerxes maintained his position, not budging nor speaking to the rest of the group once. He let out a deep breath but allowed his allies to handle the situation.

"It'd suck if you put that knife to that man, Bro Dude. Then I'll have to commit something I don't wanna do..."

"Suck...?" Dude pondered out loud, eyes still lingering over everyone's figures, "You use a rather degrading vocabulary, young man." He said suddenly, face still stern, "I'm most honoured that you know of me, however," Dude, indeed, pondered just how far his few feats had gone into the Grand Line.

For a single moment, Dude's eyes met the entrance from which he came from, "The kid." Though, truth be told, he didn't have time to worry about him now. "This man is the target of an assassination, so "Bloodlad" Riz, state your reasons for wanting this person!"

Mathew seemed to sweat even more, although, for one reason or another, he made no movement to free himself from Dude's grasp. "Y-Yes, I've been hearing the rumors. People, people want my h-head!"

6:00 PM, the sun had just begun to set...


Riz stuck his tongue out and licked across his makeshift scythe. "It seems the World Government has called an assassin to take you out," Bloodlad's words clearly aimed at Mathew. "that's been a pain for you to get taken out right when we were about to get that information out of you."

He sighed and dropped his arm down to his side. "Bloodlad, huh? Is that what the newspaper's been callin' me? I suggest you not worry about your little friend too much," Riz's completely vanished from his current position--flawless use of Soru, a technique taught to him while a Marine.

Be appeared behind Bro Dude, performing a swiping motion with his scythe, which at this point seemed to be coated by a black armor. "When you're here fighting for ya' own life!"

"World Govern-" Dude began, but quickly interrupted himself at the sight of Riz coming to attack him through a flash step. "Woah!" Almost by instinct, Dude threw both himself and Mathew forward, hitting some furniture. His teeth grinded against one another and blood gushed from his back, way more than normal.

Thoughts plagued Dude's mind whilst his eyes glared at Riz and his weapon, "What is that scythe?!" Sweat went down his temper, he quickly glanced at Mathew, mouth still wide. Their eyes met for but a moment, both worn out, Dude's dagger stood close to Mathew's neck even then. They really needed a way to get out of there, Dude had a duty, a duty he ought to complete however he could. Yes, assassinations were duties, requests, no matter how someone handled them.

Dude's lips were curved down, teeth still tight, Mathew could definitely see that, myriads of thoughts crossing his mind as time went on. While Dude had that expression, in contrast, Mathew's lips perched up and he gave the other man a light pat on his forearm, which held the dagger. He was someone who had always produced trouble, one way or the other, be it through his requests or through his direct actions, other people didn't seem to get a break.

Dude stopped for a single second to look into Mathew's eyes and found his very being shudder. Much like iron molded by the fire, an image was printed into his mind at that very moment. His hand descended, blurring without a sound, and Mathew fell to the floor, still smiling.

Riz stood stiffly for a moment. He found himself in shock. Was it due to the fact he had just witnessed a murder up close? Or what is because he had seemed, no, completely failed his mission given to him. The redhead gritted his teeth at Dude, veins began to pop out all across his had, showing just how angry he was.

Even Xerxes who seemed to remain blind during the previous events, opened his eyes only to meet a lifeless Mathew. His blank expression made it hard for the others around to decipher how he felt, but for a fact, he was surprised.

"Dude, you just signed your one-way ticket to hell, motherfucker." Riz's anger got the best of him. With a simple slash, a gust of wind blew towards Bro Dude.

Xerxes appeared in front of Riz with his hand up, "You have already been detrimental to this mission, Riz. Take another step and I'll be the one to kill you." Xerxes unfolded his arms and gave Bro Dude a glare, "You should have turned down your mission today." The ground began to shake and the building they stood in began to tremble.

"Yo bro!" A voice shouted, bursting through the front doors of the castle. The appearance and voice closely resembled that of Zack. "When you ran off, some Mink-chick followed me and chased me. Ion' know how, but I shook off my dick somehow! Did you complete your mission?!" Zack stopped to survey the situation.

Bro Dude found himself in a two-way standoff situation, or at least that's what Zack saw. While doing so, his eyes stayed attached to the blue-haired man, Xerxes. "What is this I feel?" Zack thought to himself, placed his right foot behind his left as though he were preparing to step back. "Its an ominous feeling..."

"Bone Buster Zack..." Riz mumbled as though he knew Zack. "Well, what a surprise."

"Tha' fuck you mean, what a surprise? I don't know you, dude!" Zack shouted, reaching inside of his jacket and pulling out a flint revolver. He pulled down on the latch, "Step away from my boy."

"Gh!!" Dude took a quick step backwards, pushing himself with another kick to some furniture, and went outside through the broken exit. Performing another kick, he prepared to launch himself towards Riz and took a tight grip on his dagger. Only then, he came to a halt, seeing as the two companions started to brawl between each other, "Huh?!" Dude spat some blood briefly, not taking his eyes off them.

Before anything else could leave Dude's mouth, Zack's presence made his eyes widen, "Are you in a good state?! Yes, I did!" He shouted back and turned to run into Zack's direction, "Don't bother! This person's attacks are stronger than normal, let's go off!!" Dude stretched one arm in the hopes of catching Zack, so that the two of them would run.

Zack was stuck for a moment, he found himself ignoring Bro Dude as his attention had been locked onto something else. Xerxes and Riz both started at the boy. The glass that both Bro Dude and Zack looked through shattered and a young woman soared through the air. Without hesitation, Zack leaped up behind. His back to her very own.

Illusive Weaver[]

Meanwhile on the other side of the town...

"Ryan, you gotta have more patience-grr." A pale man with long white hair stated as he strutted through the pathway of Hamcroft. He dressed in the attire of the Marines, with a coat hanging over his shoulders with the insignia of the organization all around it. His eyes transitioned all across the town as if he were on the lookout for something specific.

He stopped dead in his tracks and so did the rest of the navy soldiers around him. His mouth opened and saliva slid down the canvas of his tongue. "There's just so much here."

Meanwhile, the young teen next to him seemed to be straying away from the group. "Commander Doge! We have a mission!"

Doge barked at the boy, "You are but a petty officer, Ryan-grrr. Remember your place! Ruff!" Bringing his tongue back into his mouth. The commander approached a group of conversating fellows with a large smile on his face, waving frantically as though he'd never been in this situation once before.

"Hello, citizens of Hamcroft grr. I am Commander Doge! How are you three gentlemen today?"

The first of the three men gave Doge a glare. The second instantly burst out into laughter and the third completely ignored the Marine officer.

"You ain't gettin' nothing outta us you Marine scum." The first man commented, spitting at the ground as he did. "Ya kind ain't even allowed around this island anyway. You sure are bold for landing up on here."

The commander smiled and held his hands up. "Please calm down sir!"

"Act like a Commander, Doge! I ain't tolerating disrespect you three drunk asses!" Ryan jumped out in front of Doge, his height made it hard for him to be taken seriously on top of the fact he had to look up at the three men. "We just want to know if you've seen any new faces around here! Nothing more nothing less."

The second, middle, man stepped forward in front of the boy. "Listen here boy, it's best you and your dad leave off this land before you both become missing Marines. Sir Braxton wouldn't like for you two to be on his land. If I killed tha' both of ya' right now, he'd be strangely satisfied. Now you better scurry away while you have a chance."

"Now you watch who the hell you're talkin' too!" Ryan shouted holding both of his hands outwards. "Flame...on..." Ryan mumbled as his left hand began to generate flames. "Ya ran into the wrong hot head!!!"

At the same street, in a humble tailoring shop, were people coming in and out with various orders. As the regular clients continued to talk, talk began buzzing of the Marines being in the area looking for a specific person.

"What do you think, Sheila-san?" One of the customers asked a woman with black hair, wearing a simple, short kimono, tights and the whole package, rather finely sewn together.

"Hmm...well, I hope they don't distract us! It takes a lot of patience to sew things so well, Holalalala!" The girl responded, taking the order cheerfully.

As soon as the shop was empty again, a mildly grim expression blanketed her face. Just what was the tailor hiding?

"Ryan, Ryan!" Doge exclaimed gripping the teen's wrist with all of his might. "They mentioned Braxton... is he on this island? This could be bad-gr. We'd better wrap things up quickly!" Doge's facial expression quickly changed to that of concern as he dragged Ryan away from the trio of men.

"LET ME GO YOU STUPID DOG!" Ryan shouted trying his best to free himself of Doge's grip. "I'll kick all of their asses. Let me go! We can't let these people speak crazy to the Marines. They have no respect around these parts!"

After getting a respectable distance away from the group, Doge threw Ryan to the ground in front of him. "I hear that, but we are not on Marine territory-grr. It's best we keep a low profile, ask our question, and move around. You're making this harder than it has to be. At this rate, Archibald Minerva will have to be notified of your actions-grr."

Ryan's eyes widened, "Oh no, oh no. I'm fine, Doge! I'd rather sit here and pout rather than tag along with Mother Nerva on another musical. ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

"Well, act accordingly. We must move silently and ask questions as under the table as possible-gr." Doge lifted his leg and began to scratch his back as though he were a dog.

Meanwhile, a woman dressed in a white robe approached the platoon of soldiers. Her face was held low, but even that didn't stop them from noticing how beautiful she was. "I overheard your conversation. In a small town such as this, we all know each other. Though, the other day, there was a new girl who began working at the tailor shop." She lifted her finger and pointed at a store that had been literally across the street from where they stood.

"Right there, a young lady her name is Sh- um, what was it? Sheila, that's it!" The woman smiled, lifting her rob from the ground so that she could continue on about her day.

Doge smiled and waved his hand at Ryan to follow behind him. "All other soldiers, I want all of you to remain outside and guard this place. Let's go Ryan."

Approaching the building with swiftness, Doge opened the door allowing Ryan to enter first but he was right on his tail. "Good evening." Doge greeted the two workers.

"A-ah, hello Marine sirs! How may we help you?" Two middle-aged men were working on their clothes as the Marines entered the building, shivering in nervousness from the possibility of violent questioning.

At the back of the building, the other worker named Sheila had just finished her shift before the Marines arrived. She quietly exited the building without anybody noticing and made her merry way.

However, the townspeople eyed her from a distance. Sheila knew exactly why, and tried to keep pressing forward without anyone questioning her. At the same time, she prayed that the Marines would not be able to catch her.

"Yes-gr." Doge simply replied with a large smile on his face. "I was wondering if your worker by the name of "Shiela" had come into work today-gr." He licked the backside of his hand and rested it on the side of his face. "We have something very important we need to discuss with her."

The two men looked at each other and hunched their shoulders. The man to the left lifted his hand, "I'm sorry lad, but she her shifted ended a little while ago."

"She probably is on her way home, but information of residency is something that we can not give out." The man to the right carried on.

Ryan's eyebrow lifted. In his mind, he thought there had been more to the situation and that these two men had something to hide, but in reality they did not. They knew nothing of why they had come looking for her and most importantly, why it would concern them. Yet, this was something he just could not accept.

The teen exited the building in the middle of Doge's conversation to where the rest of the Marine soldiers were. He looked both left and right, and in each direction, there was a large crowd of people. By the grace of the gods above or maybe luck itself, he saw a girl with dark hair dressed in the same uniform as the two men in the store merged into one of the crowns.

"Hey!" He shouted, rushing to the woman's location. "Hey! Sheila, could you slow down for a second!"

The woman named Sheila ignored the Marines and continued to move forward, rapidly increasing her speed as much as she could. Her hands, carrying needles, began to swiftly knit some spare fabric together into a net-like shape, and threw the newly made net, about a metre long and wide, towards the oncoming Marines, in hopes of distracting them for a brief period of time.

With keen ears, Doge rushed out of the shop only to find that Ryan had already taken off. "Did he find her-grr?" Doge asked the few remaining Marine soldiers only to have them maintain silence as though they didn't hear when in all honesty, they weren't too fond of Ryan.

Meanwhile Ryan, on the other hand, had been hot on Sheila's trail and it would soon become literal. He continued to chase after her, shouting her name out with nearly every ten meters he rushed forward. She seemed to be leading off the trail of the town into a large field and the only thing that could be seen on the other side was a large brick-like structure.

"Sheila, slow down! I only got a few questions I need to ask ya'!" He shouted, nearly getting closer with his few men behind him. That sentence alone was like a trigger to Sheila. In a matter of moments, Ryan saw a large net come flying over him.

Holding out his left hand, he mumbled "Flame on..." igniting his hand with fire. "Fireball—Curve!" A ball of flames formed in the middle of his hand and with a thrust back he threw the ball towards the ground. Just before hitting the ground, it curved and changed its direction upwards to hit the center of the net burning directly through it.

By doing so, he was able to avoid himself being captured by the net, but not his comrades. "I'm sorry guys!" He shouted.

"Fireball? Tsk..." Sheila continued to escape, looking at the oncoming brick building coming in front of her. "Do I have any other choice...?" With no other option available, Sheila unveiled an unusual sword that was placed within her larger bell sleeves. She jumped high, slashing the fabric-like blade with a single hand towards the incoming window, shattering it into pieces. Leaping into the building, she peered downwards and found herself above numerous people on the bottom floor.

...She might have gotten into more trouble than she started with.

Boy Problems[]

Her moves were swift but she could not truly shake off the efforts of Ryan. "Shit!" He shouted watching as the woman leaped through the window of the castle. "Fire Rocket—JUMP!" Ryan leaped into the air and fire shot from the bottom of his feet, jetting him through the window in hot pursuit after Sheila.

Ryan had his sights locked onto Sheila's back and he cocked his arm back dressed in flames ready to attack, "Stop right there, Sheil-" In the middle of his sentence, he found himself cut off by the appearance of a darkskinned boy who'd meet him in midair. His appearance wasn't the only thing that stopped him, but his own attack was blocked by the boy's arm.

After the two collided they pushed off each other and landed to the ground. Ryan and the boy stared each other down, but he managed to notice the rest of the people within the room. For now, he was only interested in the one who stopped his attack.

"Who are you?! Why'd you get in my way?!" Ryan question as flames combusted from the palm of his hand.

With his own arm out in front of him following the blocking of Ryan's attempt at an attack, just what he used to block his attack came visible. Numerous bones had grown from his forearm in the form of a cage as though it were to protect his arm. "I'm Buster D. Zack," he panted, "I could hear the grunts of a lady and couldn't just let you hit her. My senses are jus' keen like that. That fire devil fruit almost burned my damn skin, it's dangerous. Who you?" His grammar as atrocious as ever.

"Zack, huh? I ready about you in the newspaper. You were apart of those pirates that fought at the Grand Line. I'm a Marine." Ryan responded.

"I knew that dumb ass!" Zack smiled, fixing his stance so that he stood straight up as his bones began to dissolve back into his skin leaving no trace of the fact his bones were outside of the bone. "I'm talkin' 'bout ya name."

"Oh, Chief Petty Officer: Reinauld Ryan, a natural enemy to the pirates." Ryan clapped his legs to get, straight them and his back and held his head up firm. "Future Fleet-Admiral of the Marines." Instantly returning to his relaxed position he continued on, "And this isn't a "fire devil fruit". It's called the Nedo Nedo no Mi, you idiot. To keep it simple, I can control the temperature of the area and make flames or ice."

The Marine's facial expression change to disgust. "And what weird power is that?"

"Oh, I ate tha' Hone Hone no Mi, haha. I'm a Skeleton Human."

At the point where she could hear Ryan's voice behind him, Sheila had lost most of her hope. However, when an unexpected man launched behind her and intervened against the Marine, she turned around in complete shock.

Realizing she was still in the air, Sheila took out her needles once again, and working with a big ball of fabric while she was falling, she weaved together a dense mat that would contain her size in a matter of seconds. She threw it on the ground, before falling onto it herself, reducing the impact of her fall, but still causing her to wince in pain.

"...Thank you." Sheila said softly, and looked around her, attempting to find an escape route, while keeping mindful of the people nearby.

"Y-you good!" Zack exclaimed, panting heavily expressing he'd been out of breath. "I'll beat the shit out of anybody who tryna' hurt lady."

Ryan laughed at Zack's statement, entering his battle stance once again. "Those are some big words to spout and shoes to fill, Buster. But that's fine, after I deal with you, I'll take her back one way or another." Ryan finally decided to survey the rest of the people standing around thoroughly.

"Damn, I can sense that other than Buster, the rest of these guys are not to be taken lightly." The Marine soldier bit his bottom lip, "Where is he?" Throwing his hand out in front of him, Ryan unleashed a violent stream of flames directly toward Zack.

The pirate had no time to react, even he could tell he was in quite the bind. "Aw damn! I let my guard down!" What could it have been? Could he have actually be caught off guard, or had Zack's body finally taken its toll. After all, he still had a few open wounds that leaked blood along his abdomen.

The very next instance a wall of emerald stood between Zack and the attack Ryan had launched. The flames collided against the wall and create an explosion of sorts.

"That's enough." Xerxes' voice echoed throughout the corridor. "With our mission already failed, I can not allow the Marines to walk across our island as though it's under their protection."

Zack dropped to one knee in exhaustion. He seemed to have finally given in. "Ion' know what you mean, Pale-Man, but it sounds like you gonna' help us."

"..." Sheila saw the iron wall of emerald be conjured, and it frightened her. But even more so, was the blood that dropped from Zack's body. A flash of memories enveloped her, of a man falling onto the ground, blood spilling across the room, and of a slightly younger Sheila sewing a sash, wrapping it around her mouth, so she wouldn't scream in despair.

Flashing back to reality, Sheila began to take a few steps back, but knew she'd be unable to escape in this situation.

"What is even all of this?!?" Dude's voice was easily recognizable, filling the whole area, though he wasn't sure if it would stop anyone in their tracks. At that point, he couldn't wait anymore, he was already being ignored by all the mess and events that unfolded around him.

Shaking, Dude finger pointed at Ryan, "You! Why would you make a propaganda out of your ability and lay it to the enemy?!" Teeth grinded and Dude's eyes shifted to Sherry, along with his finger, "You! Those clothes, aren't you a person of culture?! Have more finesse in your actions!" Then to Zack, "And you..." Crickets sang in the background, "Ok, it doesn't matter-"

"I HAVE ALREADY CUT THESE WALLS!" Dude pointed at the walls of the room and, in the notion that everyone would briefly look at them, touched the ground. "HAH!!" Loud rumbling filled the atmosphere and dust erupted from where the floor met the walls, the chill of the island invaded where these two connected. Yes, connected, all of the corners fell apart, all but one to the right. "GOOOOOOOO!" Dude continued to yell.

Indeed, gesturing for the remaining wall, Dude waited not one second as he leaped. It was only then that the others would notice that the remaining wall didn't stand tall and began to fall offward, after all, the rest of the tower was being sustained solely by it. Due to the weight, the rest of the tower fell over along, though slowly. Dude's leap allowed him to reach over the side of the falling tower, which he would quickly run along in order to escape the castle's grounds.

Zack's fatigue made it difficult for him to even respond to Bro Dude's words. He remained on one knee, gathering what remaining stamina he had for one last struggle. It seemed as though the seventeen-year-old boy had trapped himself into an old man's body with the way he currently felt.

Just before Bro Dude could leap into the air, Zack used the remaining strength in his legs to jump up and land himself square onto Bro Dude's back. Once there, he wrapped both of his arms around his neck as though he were on a piggyback ride. While on Dude's back he extended his hand out and allowed a bone to grow from the palm of his hand which bent at a ninety-degree angle, hooking around Shiela's own body pulling her towards the duo.

The castle began to collapse but at the very center of the corridor, they stood in, perched up in a pile. Then there was a loud, "HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWLLLLLLL!", that could be heard all the way back to the main town creating some sort of shockwave. The rubble and fallen pieces of the castle all shot out in different directions.

A tail of a white-furred wolf the size of pillar swayed clearing the rest of the nearby rubble. In the middle of it all stood Doge, his tail hovering over Ryan and the rest of his troops.

"About time mutt! I'll go and take care of those three!" Ryan shouted with his body covered in fire and his face bearing a "battle ready" expression.

"Wait, Ryan-gr. You've been blind." Doge's usual laid back expression was no more. His locked locked onto the lifeless corpse lying beside Riz and Xerxes. "We have bigger things to take care of."

"W-Whaaa?!?" Sheila was picked up along for the ride on a bone-like structure. She didn't know exactly how to react but in shock. However, she was thankful, as with this movement, she seemed to be able to avoid the Marines for a while. Although, she wasn't exactly sure what was going on in the now-collapsing building.

"GAAAH!" Dude grunted loudly as Zack not only hopped onto his back, but also brought along the person from before, whom wore such styled clothes. Dude had to ask her where she brought them, sometime. "GRAAAAH!" Veins filled his expression, while his teeth grinded and grinded, saliva flying off his mouth as he leaped through the body of the falling tower.

"I am good at attacking and moving!! I can't-" Dude gasped, "-I CAN'T KEEP THIS UP!" Regardless of that, he had leaped such a distance that they were close to the end of the still falling tower, keeping themselves away from the Marines who were stuck under the rubble of the base. "Why?" The simple question crossed by Dude's mind, though, he hesitated no second and simply lept out of the tower, which crashed against the ground and made dust fly everywhere.

"Damn! Ya got lucky, Sherry and Bro Dude... especially you, Buster!" Ryan's anger was evident all by his facial expressions. He turned back to Xerxes and Riz. "What do we do, Doge?" He asked, hesitant in making the first move and instead deciding to wait on orders--a rarity.

Rocks and rubble flew across the destroyed corridor. Foxwelle entered the scene, her left arm's fur draped in blood. "Where'd that little fucker go?" She asked, but instantly forgetting about the question at the sight of Marines.

"The Paw, Foxwelle of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi." Doge was seemingly surprised at the woman's appearance. "These are two faces that'll never leave my memory-gr. Especially you, Riz. That man lying there, that's Mathew, isn't it-gr?" Before Riz even needed to respond, Doge had come to an immediate conclusion. "Let me guess-gr, this was Zero's work?"

Riz chuckled, "Zero, huh? Nah, that ain't the name he's being called anymore right? I thought you all were referring to him as "Justice's Thorn"." Riz scratched his head, "And, uh, I'll be honest, this is not what it looks like. You just let your murder suspects get away."

The Bay[]

The enhanced leg strength Bro Dude possessed manage to carry the duo all the way to the bay. The man probably exhausted more stamina than needed had he not have to listen to Zack's terrible excuse of "navigation". At this point, it would be hard to tell if Zack couldn't guide them due to him being halfway unconscious, or what.

In the distance, he could see his small canoe. Mental images of when the people of Hamcroft pulled him off of the small boat and brought him upon their land. Blood continued to leak from what not only seemed to be his open wounds but just his pores as well. It was cold, the temperatures clashing with the liquid caused his body to stiffen a bit, but he could see what was going on in front of himself.

A woman stood next to the boat. "Who is that?" Zack mumbled so low, that the only person that would be able ot hear him would be Bro Dude

The silver-haired woman sneered at the vessel, kicking the weak wood gently with her foot as if it was a dead beast. There was a noticeable look of disgust dwelling upon her visage. “What is this piece of junk?”

She looked on the inside of the canoe, spotting a backpack, and picked it up. It was a tad heavier than she expected. Though, it was a weight that she had grown accustomed to from her frequent interactions with people with similar backpacks. There was only a single thing that she could come up with.

“Medical Equipment……” she let her mind ponder…”whose equipment is this?”

Zack leaped from Dude's back and strife towards the woman. One of his hands were wrapped around his abdomen and held the other out in front of him as though he were reaching for something. He had truly been fatigued and if it wasn't evident before, it sure as hell was now.

"Aye, lady, that's my stuff. Give me that!" He shouting, running head on to her recklessly.

She stepped to the side swiftly, dodging Zack’s wild charge like a matador sidestepping a bull. Her face lit up with excitement.

“Oh, what is a little kid like you doing with all this medical equipment?”

She surveyed him.

“Got beat up by some friends or something?”

Panting and grunting still, Dude paid no mind to the new woman in front of their group, trying to raise his shoulder and keep Zack's arm around them. "Who gives me the shoulder though?!" He would never ever do that again, jumping and running were for young people.

"U-uhm..." Sherry was a bit puzzled on what to say. She had been dragged into this situation by these unknown people, and now she didn't really know how to help.

"I-if you'd like, uhm...mister, I can very loosely bandage your wounds...I don't really know how to do much else than stitch together fabric anyway." Sherry said awkwardly, trying to be of as much use as possible.

"I-I don't really know who you guys are but, uh...thank you for helping me there." Sherry bowed, as she was accustomed to do so. "My name is Sh-...Sheila. I'm on the run from the Marines, just like you guys...though I can't really explain my reasons yet. I'm not particularly useful on a Pirate Ship, but I should be able to stitch any damages to your ship with thread...at least enough till we dock to our next port."

Dude stopped only for a second, "Of course..." He managed to utter out at the woman, she was respectful like he expected. Truly, as a person of culture should. "It is my pleasure, Sheila. I am Dude."

With the assistance of Bro Dude's shoulder, Zack continued to push further towards the woman's location dragging Bro Dude with him. With his arm still out, he swiped at her and snatched the bag from her hand. As he did, various medical utensils flipped out of it.

"I-ion know what you mean..." Zack's words became fainter, which each passing syllable. "I just need-" His arm slipped from around Bro Dude's shoulder. Once it was freed, he fell to the ground on his side. His eyes were halfway open and all he could see were the feet of the woman.

Using what little strength he had left, he reached for one of the containers that had been right next to him. It read "OINTMENT" on it. He squeezed it with all his might, but because he had no strength left nothing happened. "Br..." He tried to speak, but the loss of blood made everything difficult.

“What the hell happened to you kid?” the silver-haired woman inquired. “Here, let me help.”

She bent down, taking the ointment in her hand. She squeezed out the contents onto Zack’s body. She looked up at the woman and man that accompanied him as she rubbed the ointment on his wounds.

“Who are you two? You guys haven’t gone this kid in any real trouble I hope. But,” she looked down at Zack, “judging from these injuries it seems like he’s in a little more trouble than a kid his age should be. So, explain yourselves before I call for some help.”

A breath, Dude sighed, "I hold myself responsible... I did ask a certain favor from him." He eyed Zack briefly, "As for who I am, my name is Bro Dude."

Zack squinted his eyes in pain as the woman applied the ointment to his body. On one hand, he was grateful, but on the other, he couldn't wrap his arm around exactly why it had been happening. As he began to think more and more he found himself haunted by a shadow of darkness and changed the very terrain around him.

Over his body, a cloaked being with a scythe resting on his shoulder stood. "Again?" Zack thought to himself as the being remained still and silent, aside from its heavy breathes.

Bro Dude's sentence snapped Zack back to reality. "His name is Smith Devin, he just insists people call him Bro Dude. What a weird name." Zack commented, smiling still completely unaware of the fact his birth name was actually Bro Dude, instead opting to give the man a name of his own under the assumption he was keeping it secret.

"Thanks." Zack smiled, holding his thumb up at the woman.

“No worries,” she replied articulately, standing up before the group. She put her hands into the pocket of her blue, winter coat. “So now, what happened to you kid? Why were you so beat up, and speaking of, what is that ointment? You went from almost dead to as if nothing was wrong….I presumed since you wanted it so bad, it must’ve been special. But, I didn’t expect it to be anything like that.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned in closer. “You wouldn’t happen to have some sort of special power, would you? Like, let’s say…A devil fruit!” Her response was almost accusatory rather than speculative.

"Um..." Sheila was still puzzled as to where to place herself in this conversation. She did not know these people, but she owed her life to them right now. "Mr. Zack...um, thank you for saving me from those Marines back in that castle. Without you around, I would have certainly been behind bars right now...And, uh, thank you Miss, um...for healing him up to full health. That being said...perhaps I should leave now. I don't have any combat ability, and I don't wish to be a liability to all of you...especially if you're traveling the seas as Pirates..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BACK TO FULL HEALTH, I'M STILL BLEEDING HERE!" Zack screamed out in a comical manner. "If this look like "nothing is wrong", I'd hate to see what you say is "dead"." Zack joked, allowing his smile to overtake his face. "To be honest, Ion' know what it is. My mother made that for me. Knowin' her though, it's probably mixed with some weird shit. If it wasn't for this dumb ass Hone Hone no Mi, I wouldn't be in this situation."

He took a pause to let Sheila speak. As she announced she'd be leaving, Zack reached up and grabbed her wrist. Despite being low on strength, he gripped her wrist with all of his might. "That's no problem, Sheila. The marines are my enemy anyway, it was just my instinct. Besides if you ain't the fightin' type..." Zack smiled, "Why not just join my crew, along with me and Devin!"

"Mr. Zack..." Sheila blushed as he announced his intentions. She was surprised that someone would dare to take her in despite her lack of use. "Uh...um...Thank you." Sheila smiled sincerely, though found Zack's grip remarkably strong despite his state.

"Since I'm a Pirate now, though...I think I need to learn how to defend myself...Um, in exchange, if you'd like, I can repair your canoe for you..." Sheila said, slowly trying to get Zack to lose his grip on her.

Dude buffed for a second, "Maybe I could help-" Though, he was instantly interrupted by the other woman.

There were so many different conversations happening at once that the silver-haired woman was uncertain which one to focus on. She had option A) the young woman that was real quiet and polite-like, B) the big, seven foot guy whose name was apparently dude or something, and C) the kid who was beaten to a bloody pulp somehow. Though, nothing caught her attention like the word Pirate. She stepped back instinctively.

“Did you just say pirate?”

Zack kept a grip of Shiela for a little while longer, using her standing position to help lift himself up. He released his grip and reached for his side, "Yeah, Pirate! I'm gonna' become a Yonko and replace the hag, Legs!"

“Mhm…Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.” Quickly turning away, the silver hair woman begun walking in the opposite direction.

"Wait," Zack called out as he dropped his head down. The energy the woman gave off following his response could be felt to his core, and frankly, it caused him to shiver. He could sense the doubt not only in her words but in her movement as well. But could he really blame her? A Yonko? Plans to defeat Legs and remove her from her position? You'd have to be a fool's seed to honestly believe this seventeen-year-old, half dead boy could achieve such a feat.

"I can sense it," Zack continued as his shivers forced his hand to shake. "The doubt you got. I know the goal of most pirates is to become the King of the seas. People even laugh at that." He clenched his shaking hand and turned his head towards the woman. "But I'll be damned if I let some doubt and laughs alter my goal. Imma' become a Yonko and protect the lawless and struggling lands!"

A great distance away atop an abandoned building. "Target acquired." A man dressed in the uniform of a Marine officer stated, eyeing down the scope of a unique sniper rifle. Without a second thought, he pulled on the trigger of the weapon, firing off a single shot.

Where he sat, Zack would find his left shoulder shot through, leaving a hole large enough for both Devin and Sheila to see completely through. The force behind the shot was strong enough to force Zack back down in a laying position. "ARRRRRRGGGGHH!" The young pirate shouted, bringing his right hand to his left side and gripping his shoulder in pain.

"What was that?!" Dude yelled, veins popping at his face and eyes, "Take cover!!" Normally, one would instantly observe their surrounds and look for the culprit of such an action, but, Dude was Dude. Before glancing around himself, he took a look at Zack's wound, Zack had fallen in the direction he was shot. That only meant one thing.

Dude glared at the opposite direction, the adrenaline sapped completely into his body and made him move, "It's from there! Take cover from that direction!!" His eyes were those of an assassin, they were sharp, but, they couldn't really spot something over such a large distance.

Sheila was stunned to see another injury on Zack. Flustered, nervous, she didn't know exactly what to do. When Dude told her to take cover, her body wanted to move. But to see Dude and Zack helpless in front of their unknown sniper...she had to help!

Sheila pushed forward in front of the two Pirates and drew both her sword, and oddly, a sewing needle. Poking into her thread-like blade, Sheila began to perform stitching motions at a blitz-like speed and incredible precision.

Her sword's shape began to be undone and was widening, loosening. The tight threads had began to form into a wide, shield-like formation that was tightly forming in front of Sheila's chest and expanding outwards. Even at this stage, Sheila could use the incomplete shield to defend any of her allies. But she continued to sew, uninterrupted.

"You helped me...so I'm going to help you!"

“Shit,” the silver-haired woman muttered, her eyes shooting in the direction that Bro Dude pointed at. She could run and walk away from all of this, leave them on this beach right now to get shot by whatever is hunting them, and watch his dreams simply falter. However, she felt his words and what they meant. Perhaps this kid was no ordinary pirate. So, for now…

“Let’s get him off this beach, now! Towards the left pier,” she informed, making certain not to point in any direction. If they disappeared, the sniper would have a rough indication of where they were going if she did. “Er…Dude, you pick him up, and um stitch girl, you cover him up and make sure they don’t get shot. While you’re doing that, I’ll make sure that you don’t get shot. Now move!”

Dude stopped no second to try and question once again whom this even was, Zack had been in this mess due to him. "Right away!!" He yelled back, quickly bending his knees and taking ahold of Zack's form, making sure to rest the kid's head upon his biceps so it didn't damaged. Dust rose behind them as Dude darted forward, panting yet again while the adrenaline continued to course through him. "Let's go!!" He called for Sheila.

Henrietta had made sure not to point anywhere, the sniper would surely know, following that trail Dude could only dash erratically. "UOOOOOOOOH!" He did zig-zags, he jumped a few things, changed directions, but, nevertheless, tried to go where Henrietta instructed. Sweat glistened his face and the oxygen began to escape is lungs.

"Yes!" Sheila responded abruptly, listening to Henrietta's orders. She traveled behind Dude's speed, pace to pace. She made sure that while moving, she continued to stitch her shield, until all that was left of her blade was the hilt, with the shield replacing its edge in its entirety.

Now she was confident she would protect everyone!

"Target escaping." The Marine soldier stated, pulling down on the lever next to the receiver of the rifle. While still looking down the scope, his vision would be obscured by the shield protecting the trio. He'd been in situations like this plenty of times before and not once had he felt he would not be able to hit his target.

Turning the barrel of the rifle to the left just a bit, he had now been aiming towards the side of the shield. Had he fired right now, Ban would most definitely have missed... or so we would have thought.

"Quick Shot..." He mumbled to himself as he inched his finger down on the trigger. "Geppo." Completely pulling the trigger, the Marine soldier--Ban--fired of shot which once reached a certain distance out of the barrel, bounced off the air and changes its trajectory.

The bullet seemed as though it had been kicking off the air in various different directions. Its goal; get around the shield without the need of seeing the other side. This was Ban's specialty, being able to not only apply Rokushiki techniques to his gunplay but all sorts of different techniques.

Before the bullet could reach its target, however, a strong breeze of wind cause it to fall completely off course and into the nearby ocean. A hand reached over Ban's shoulder and grabbed the scope of the gun. The hand was clean and the fingernails were painted in pink polish, evidently belonging to a woman.

"You know I can't let you do that, Quickscope Ban."

This was the voice of a woman and upon hearing it, Ban quickly turned around to meet her youthful face. She had her finger covering lips and her bust obstructed him from being able to completely see her full appearance. The only true feature he could make out was her orange hair.

"Unidentified target has infiltrated sniping position." Ban reported. "Attempts to flee, commencing. Unhand me, woman."

The woman lifted her eyebrow and swiftly released the barrel of the gun to instead grip ahold of the man's wrist. "The names' Margie. And noooooooooow~ I'm grabbing you, Ban. It seems he may have gotten into paradise."


The silver-haired woman walked ahead of the group, pushing through masses of people until they uncovered a fairly large steam boat sitting along the dock. She stepped aboard, turning immediately to the group of three trailing behind her.

“Come on, you can hide out here for the time being,” she explaining, welcoming them onto her ship.

“There are plenty of rooms aboard, I built the ship for the purpose of cruising the seas, so take any room you three would like."

She gave Sherry a pointed look.

“You seem to be real good with stitching stuff, so make sure that kid gets stitched up real nice, okay? While you three are doing that, I’ll get the ship prepared…where are you three even heading too anyway?”

"T-thank you, Miss." Sheila bowed and stepped aboard the ship with Zack in tow. She took out her needles once again, "In order to stitch these wounds...may I borrow some of that medicine you took out before? It will be a lot easier with that." Sheila's brow was furrowed, and her expression focused: she wouldn't let Zack die at any cost.

“Oh, the name is Henrietta kid,” the silver-haired woman stated, having noticed Sheila’s use of the word Miss. “But more importantly, I left that bag right there on the beach when he got shot. I didn’t think of grabbing it since someone was throwing bullets our way. There should be some minor bandages and in the bathroom of one of those rooms up there if you take a look. In the meanwhile, I’ll get the ship prepped and whenever you guys are ready to go, let me know.”

Henrietta pointed to the top of her ship. “I’ll be up there.”

Although Dude wished to say out his thoughts during more of the ordeal, he merely grumbled. That was, until Henrietta talked to him and that kimono girl, "W-Where?!" It was the first time he had stuttered in days, "We're not even- not a group-" His words just couldn't get out, Dude decided to shut his mouth once Henrietta and Sherry talked more. "T-Thank you, Ms. Henrietta," Dude managed.

Looking at Sherry, Dude addressed her, "I can try to help you with it, Sheila." He still had Zack in his arms after all. Dude gestured for her to lead the way, they still had to find themselves inside the place.

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