Setting
- 42 posts here • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
" I"m sure you remember those ones still back in Impel's Down."
" Your heart stopped only twice this time. Progress, don't you think?"
" Good dogs beg for their treat."
Karin awoke from her memories, just like she always did. Always the painful and humiliating memories of the past. She groped around for her pocket watch and noted several hours had passed. She also noticed that she was in a bed; Grey must have carried her.
After exploring the small room, it occurred to Karin that while she had told the two that they should head for the Grand Line, she had never actually said where. Leaving her gauntlets and blade in the room, she headed outside into the open sky. It had been a while since she had been on such a small ship. Almost every voyage she was either on a large marine vessel or her submersible. Sometimes, it was good to be able to see the ocean up so close.
Karin found Grey at the helm and she leaned against the railing, looking at the ocean.
" Redb-- Grey, thank you. I am very surprised, and thankful you didn't let me die after trying to arrest you twice. I suppose I do owe you one. Also as for the island I had mentioned, it's somewhere on the Grand Line near Seabody. I don't actually remember which one, so we may need to hit a few islands within two and a half days."
Hanako glanced over at Karin, "You better hope they didn't give us bounties too high, otherwise laying low will be a huge pain in the ass" she said, she outstretched her arms towards either side of the ship, initially the ship slowed down, before shifting directions, "Little heads up, first, i suggest you hold onto something, second, i'm taking a shortcut through the Calm Belt, so uh... yeah just hold onto something" she warned, with a wide backwards sweep of her arms the ship shot forward at breakneck speed, if Hanako hadn't pulled up the sail before she hopped down the entire mast would likely have broken off from the wind resistance.
"Oh by the way, if something shows up, i wouldn't suggest trying to do anything, trust me, they are not the fun type"
"Don't worry about laying low Drunken River. We'll just have to make sure you don't get drunk and cause any trouble." He said as he hung onto the Helm as the ship gained a lot of speed.
She clung onto the side of railing and watched the landscape rush by her. It was quite an experience, especially since she mostly traveled underwater or on large, slow moving ships. As she was thinking, she suddenly realized she hadn't introduced herself yet.
" Oh right, forgive me. My name is Karin Seiryuu, officer of the Marines and dog of the Gorosei."
"By the way..." she says, reaching into her jacket and pulling out an eternal log pose which she tossed to Oberon, "you can help keep us going the right way mr. navigator, that thing points to Fishman Island, so make sure we're going west of that needle and we'll find Sabaody quick enough. Since a compass won't work you're gonna have to keep an eye on the sun, i gotta focus on the water" she says, increasing their speed again slightly.
Hanako focused her attention of the feeling of the water around them, and noted when the clouds seemed to vanish and the water became smoother, "We're in the Calm Belt now... keep an eye out..." she says warily, clearly not all that happy about doing this despite it being her idea. Though to be fair it was the only realistic way they were getting into the grand line and to Sabaody within a week. For the moment she didn't feel anything at all, not through her haki or the water, but she had been through the Calm Belt twice before, and she knew such a thing case didn't stay that way for long...
He then kept the direction as he also noted they were entering the calm belt. Almost anything could happen here, a smooth ride or a run in with a Sea King. He had never gotten close to Amazon Lily either due to those facts, but he shook that thought off his mind. He still had his own travel plans after the stop at the Archipalego. He then learned the name of the Woman next to him. Karin seemed to want to be friendly.
His mouth tightened in small hesitation. "Oberon. My first name is Oberon." He stated quickly and kept his eyes on the water in front of him and the log pose as well.
After a brief period, she realized where they were.
" I've cleared this area out twice already, but pirates always seem to keep coming back. It's been getting worse ever since the Whitebeard War. I'd be on the watch for them, but most of them don't have bounties too high. Anyways, have any of you actually been to Saobody before?"
Suddenly her face took a worried expression, she glanced around, closing her eyes for a moment to "feel" through the water, "tch... figures... and here i thought we'd have clear sailing.... uh... so to speak... we've got some big... somethings coming towards us pretty quick and i doubt they wanna say hi, and i can't keep us moving and defend as at the same time and doing one or the other isn't a wise choice, so... really hope you guys have some ideas." she says with a somewhat anxious tone as she does her best to speed the ship up, at the rate they were going it would still be almost an hour until they got out of the Calm Belt and down into the Grand Line.
Oberon sighed as he looked at Karin, "Well, we'd better find a way to fend off an attack from whatever might be coming at us." Oberon stated as he let go of the helm and started walking to the main deck of his ship and drew his sword and gun and prepared for anything and anyone that would come out of the water.
"Black XII, prepare for Battle." He stated calmly as he stood silently watching the water.
" Invoke : Flames of Purgatory! "
The blade responded by flashing, then igniting into blue flames. If it was a Sea King, Karin was certain she could use the blade to an acceptable standard. Failing that, she could always just beat it into submission or death. The very large sea king emerged next to Black XII and roared. Grinning, Karin leaped into the air and prepared to swing her blade; perhaps this would be an interesting fight.
"D-dammit! we must've sailed right over a nest! we're in some deep trouble... hey mr. not-red-beard! i'm gonna try something, it's gonna take me a minute to focus enough and you're gonna have to do what you did before when you launched the ship off the dock. if you miss the timing we're probably gonna die so try not to screw up." she called over to Oberon, with a sudden sweep of her arms she brought the ship to a grinding halt, and with a broad graceful swirling of her arms the sea around the ship began to spiral, slowly at first but notably gaining speed...
He kept an eye on Karin though in case she ended up needing help from either him or Hanako. "Karin, be careful! We need you to be ready we might do something that might be insane yet totally awesome!" He shouted towards her.
He the. At the moment she shouted said in a clear loud voice "Fire now!" The cannon launched a cannonball, the resulting force doing a smiliar launch as it did the port causing it to sail in the air. It then did several hops, skips and jumps across the water before settling back down on the water. Oberon fell backwards, almost in total exhaustion.
"I nearly had a heart attack there. Everyone okay?" He asked, breathing almost close to out of breath. "I'm out of breath."
She flipped on her sunglasses as she steps into the sunlight, glancing around at the empty open ocean, she's not exactly an expert navigator, but by her estimation of the feel of the currents around them, if her memory is up to par, it shouldn't be more than a day left to reach their destination, the Sabaody Archipelago. Hanako let's out a heavy sigh, she's been there a few times, lots of growing bounties end up there, but she knows full well the potential dangers of an island frequented by countless pirates, bounty hunters, Marines, and worst of all, World Nobles. "wonder if i should bother with a disguise... suppose if i have to i can melt into a puddle to hide but it's such a pain..." she mumbles lazily.
She turns to her partner, and she uses the term loosely, given she had no choice in joining the marine woman, as after her drunken rampage she'd gone and gotten herself caught and would've faced Impel Down otherwise. "Yo miss big hand!" she calls, referencing Karin's gauntlet, "i suggest you get anything you can't carry on you and stick it in my chest over there" she says, pointing behind her to her chest she's stuck in the back of the ship, "Can't leave anything out at this place and we'll be there soon, well sorta soon but you get it." she says, after all with only the two of them they won't have anyone to watch after the boat, let alone whatever is on it.
" You know, I'm not sure that chest will protect our valuables from some very determined to take them, so I'll just keep my belongings with me. We might want to sell our late-friend Redbeards possessions through. A damn shame he fell overboard. I guess you could collect his bounty if I vouch for you."
After making sure her possessions were stored neatly in her bag, she slung the bag and her sword over her shoulder. " Oh, you know the general rules of the place right? Don't get into fights, don't travel by yourself if you dont want to get into said fights, and most of all, don't get in the way of any World Nobles. I can protect you from the Marines, but not a filt--an esteemed World Noble. Anyways, we'll be going to some doctor friends of mine first. Any questions? Oh , and try not to get drunk here."
"anyway don't worry about it, it'll be fine, believe it or not i do know what i'm doing" she says with a more serious tone, after all she's been a bounty hunter since she ate the Mizu Mizu Fruit when she was a teenager. Feeling a bit thirsty, she headed down briefly into the cabin again and coming back out with a freshly opened bottle of sake, sipping it lightly, "hm... i think i like the other brand better..." she mutters softly. "But suit yourself i guess, you might wanna ditch your stuff with the marine logo on em though, people are usually careful here but there's a LOT more pirates than marines there and fights happen a ton." she warns.
"And don't act all high and mighty over my drinking, do you have any idea how much booze it takes to get me drunk?" she questions with a raised eyebrow, holding out her arm and shifting it into liquid for a moment before letting it go back to normal. "I'm literally made of water, it takes like a barrel's worth to get me drunk, three bottles for me is like a few sips to you." Hanako explains
Hanako's advice on ditching the marine gear did make sense however. At the same time, having markings of a marine would allow Karin to pass around most parts with little trouble; most pirates would back off, and most marines would only salute her or ignore her. Then again, she wasn't going to most parts of the archipelago. She returned to the cabins of the ship and rummaged around until she could find something to replace her marine uniform. Karin found little more than a black top and a skirt, but it was better than nothing. After changing and checking that most of her back wasn't visible, she walked back above deck and threw her fists into her satchel as well. " This better? We'll need to depend on our own skill if we don't want to die now. Marine's will be checking us too now."
She spots the island in the distance and slams on a fresh boost to the current around them to get them there a bit faster, but soon regretted it as her headache kicked in, making her clutch her head, but luckily judging by the level it wouldn't last too much longer. "ugh... definitely not burning myself out with my powers that long again... sheesh..." she complains to herself. The boat eased rather neatly into a small inlet, "there we go, all neat and stuff, hope you're ready, I'd like to get done with you're business soon and go home." she urges, grabbing the chest at the end of the boat with a long water tendril and casually hurled it roughly 100 or so feet out into the water.
"You never did tell me what we're doing here you know" Hanako says, turning toward Karin with a raised eyebrow.
- 42 posts here • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2