One Piece: Blackbeard's Plan.

Loguetown: Matthew's Blacksmith.

Gaz gripped The Second Sword in its sheath when she overheard the rumor. Devil Fruits? Multiple? Most crews that passed through only had one fruit user, if any, along for the ride, especially if they were East Blue. If there was some sort of mass immigration of overpowered superpirates, it might be about time to skip town.

But her paranoia subsided when the rambling man left and Matthew let out a guffaw. "Can you imagine, a bunch of those sea devils coming through at a time like this? What, with the marines all riled up over the Whitebeard thing I'm surprised we still got customers! I hear tell every student from Isshin, you know, that three-sword pirate place, they can't get three miles out to see before some bounty hunter scoops 'em up."

Gaz stepped out of the corner and her sword clicked as it went back into the sheath. "Oh, you got a sword yourself?" The shopkeeper backtracked as he smelled a sale. "Never hurts to have more, you know. Rumor has it there's this marine what rusts away any sword he-"

"Relax, Matt."

"Gaz? I didn't seeya back there. Why, how long's it been? You got any swords to sell me?"

"It hasn't even been a month. And you don't want the kind of swords this crop's cannon fodder has been carrying. Business has been slow. I'm just trying to scout out any swordsmen coming through."

"Now listen here, Gaz. You know I love seeing you around here, but it's not safe having the bounty hunter what's putting the Isshin boys to shame hanging around in a weapons shop! You're starting to get a name for yourself, you know."

"Oh, please," Gaz turned around to flick through a barrel full of secondhand swords, "You're too kind."

(Just some scene-setting for when the next pc wants to come in the blacksmith's)

Koya caught up and growled warningly as it finally found Alexander, giving a roar of irritation to get both their attention. It lifted a claw that became a pen and trailed ink along the floor to create a message. "Meet Max and Itsuki at bar. Trouble brewing. Come back as soon as possible" read the message from Max.

A marine recruit barged into the shop, panting heavily, and saluted. "Miss Gaz, also known as Second Sword. Captain Tropical requests your presence at the harbour. He has an urgent message for you, and requires help" relayed the marine, out of breath. "He requests you urgently answer his summons. There are pirates around."

edited 12th Oct '12 6:09:57 PM by BigDaddyP

The blue eyed man grinned and spoke, "Alright. I'll do my best to go leisurely."Alexander grabbed the man's shoulder as he turned back into a ball. He race into the air as Alexander try to keep his grab. The ball bound on the roofs instead of flying straight.

Alexander felt relieve as they landed. The blue eyed man turned to Alexander ask, "Was that so bad?" Alexander turn green and held his head. The blue eyed man laugh nervously, "Oh yeah, sorry, guess that was two minutes, not three."

Alexander held his head for a minute before getting up and heading into the shop as the blue eyed man followed. Smoke was filling the roof and standing at the front was a man with deep black hair and soot on his face. The man was talking to a young women. Who headed over to the barrels of swords. "What can I do for you?", the man ask.

"I need some repairs for a pistol, bullets and gunpowder in a bag," Alexander answer quickly. For the first time he unbutton the bottom of his jacket and pulled out a simple pistol from his left side. Handing over to the man. "Also need a sharping stone for a knife if you got one," he added to the order.

The man examine the pistol. " I see that barrel is cracked. That should be easy to replace. Gunpowder huh? You're not planing anything right?", the shop keep answered.

"Naw, just want to be prepared. How much is that going to cost," Alexander ask.

"Nothing less than 9,000 berries."

"Fine I guess. Can you also make it quick please," Alexander ask when he heard growling.

"Right, Right."

edited 12th Oct '12 6:17:26 PM by theweirdKiddokun

Hartley Hale Bopp

Hartley watched in disbelief as Alex practically ignored the black panther that had swung its claw and magically created words. How could he have missed that? Was it a member of his crew? Were all members of his crew like this? Because right now, he was feeling outclassed.

He didn't want to ask who Max and Itsuki were, as that might cause bounty hunters to recognize them, in case they had a bounty. He didn't want to risk it, so he decided to wait until Alex came back. Until then, he was sitting around, staring awkwardly at a hungry-looking black panther.

edited 12th Oct '12 6:18:14 PM by jcw3

A marine walked pass. Alexander walked back outside to see Koya standing from the store. She wrote out that he had to return to the bar.

"Alright Koya. I will get right on that after I finish my business. Tell Max and the Captain I found a recruit."

edited 12th Oct '12 6:18:06 PM by theweirdKiddokun

"Tomorrow sounds good with me" Itsuki replied, "But before we do that, I really feel like I should get out there and scope things out".

"At least wait for Koya to return with the others" Max replied, reading over his notes. He should really carry around a second pen for moments like this Itsuki thought. No matter, Max didn't seem to be bothered that he had to put his note taking on hold.

Itsuki ordered another drink and swivelled on his stool, watching the bar entrance eagerly.

Hartley Hale Bopp

Hartley almost leaped for joy. Finally he had friends and crewmates to call his own. He watched Alexander and the shop tender discuss repair costs with a bored expression, instinctively slouching back when two Marines walked by.

That black panther had been referred to so casually by Alex that it had surprised the 88,000,000 beri man. What kind of powers did this guy's crew have?

Then he glanced over at the woman browsing the sword barrel. Wow, she was a looker. He was a sucker for women like her-No! He told himself. You must not let yourself be overcome by lust. You are a proud pirate now!

edited 12th Oct '12 6:22:44 PM by jcw3

Gazbiyya

She blew the marine off with an "Okay, I'm not making promises but if anything I'll be there in a few. Let me just finish business in here."

A gunner with a broken pistol? Child's play. The panther was new, though. Maybe the rumors of Devil Fruits weren't just talk.

But some creep was checking her out and the shop suddenly felt a bit too crowded. Gaz decided to slink out and find Tropical. If it weren't such a painfully boring day she wouldn't be caught dead following some marine's orders, even if it was the old Captain. He wasn't even from Loguetown, but that's what you get with ports. Everybody thinks they're home on the land.

The harbour wasn't far and Gaz knew the town like the back of her hand. Any swordsman worth their salt knew how to get the lay of the land, after all. She was there in ten minutes, greeted by a rotten old raft with a few dozen soaked marines and a sore-looking Captain Tropical.

"You call me out here and this is how you greet me? Boy, I guess the marines really are cutting the budget for the blues.

edited 12th Oct '12 8:19:15 PM by hazzaboner

"Damn it woman can't you see I'm suffering already?" cried Tropical dramatically, and supported himself up. "One of Blackbeard's ilk is on there way here, and one of the marines stationed here tells me there are bounties amounting to no less than 100 million beris. Are there any other bounty hunters in the town?" asked the Marine Captain with a wince.

<><><>

Max heard the man ask and raised an eyebrow. "There might be. Who is asking around? I'm Maximillian Saccharine, Sabaody Times reporter." asked the ex-marine.

Henry approached the man, watching him carefully as he did so. Sitting down across from him, he spoke. "Henry Reide, Devil Fruit researcher and explorer."

Max would notice that the man looked a little wilder than what would be expected of such a task. With his long, wild hair that seemed to go in every direction and his faded, frayed clothing he looked eccentric and not entirely threatening. "I travel around and learn as much about Devil Fruits as possible."

"Devil Fruit researcher? Interesting. How about I buy you a beer and you tell me more about it. It could make for an interesting article" asked Max curiously, and then looked at his Captain. "This is Captain Itsuki of the... Blue Stallion, thereby to be renamed soon. He's our captain, and has quite the Devil Fruit himself."

Koya growled at Alexander. Waving her paw again. "Now" replaced the words.

"Alright, Alright. Stubborn cat! Why don't you go bother Jack or something. I'll finish this quickly and head off."

Head back into the shop he noticed that the girl was gone. He walk up to the counter to see his supplies are on ready.

The shop keep smiled largely before saying, "Replacing the barrel was a quick job. For someone with a basic pistol you take care of it."

"Thanks," Alexander answered while handing over the 9000 berries.

"Remember kid here at Matthew's. We treat everything with care. The store is just like the owner. Come back again if you can."

"Alright, lets head out guy!"

edited 12th Oct '12 6:50:24 PM by theweirdKiddokun

Hartley Hale Bopp

Alexander left the blacksmith shop after handing over the 9,000 beri. "We ready to leave?"asked Hartley, who was juggling a few pebbles out of sheer boredom. Koya was starting to creep him out, as the cat had scratched the phrase Now into thin air. God, and he had thought he was more of a cat person. Not so much anymore, he supposed.

"Alright, let's head out, guy!"Alex ordered, as the two walked off.

"Well, that took a while. By the way, where did this cat come from?"Hartley asked the pirate.

edited 12th Oct '12 6:51:42 PM by jcw3

Itsuki stood up and offered the newcomer a handshake. "Nice to meet you. My fruit is the Iki Iki no Mi, a Paramecia type. Thanks to it, I have the power to inhale substances and replicate them, giving me a variety of breath powers. For example..." Itsuki exhaled into his glass, freezing the water within.

"So... do you have any questions about my power?"

edited 12th Oct '12 6:55:26 PM by Saiga

Henry was tensing up slowly. Something about this people put him off slightly, but they were some of the nicer people he had approached about devil fruits, so he was happy to go along. "Sure, that sounds perfect."

Reaching into his satchel, Henry withdrew a piece of charcoal and his sketchbook, thumbing through the pages of devil fruits until he reached a blank page. "Alright, well I guess I'll start. I've been travelling the seas for several years now following my dream of cataloging and researching every devil fruit in existence to try and find out more about them. It's been an on-off endevour in terms of success. But I've learnt some interesting things along the way."

Shaking Itsuki's hand, Henry turned to his book and began writing down information with the charocoal, such as the name, the ability and the type. "Now, what exactly did your fruit look like?"

edited 12th Oct '12 6:59:58 PM by Alleydodger

Itsuki smiled. "It look like an ordinary orange, save for the spiral pattern covering it. If it hadn't looked so bland, the pirates who obtained it probably wouldn't have mixed it up with their food supply. It was so unremarkable I wouldn't have believed it was a Devil Fruit if it weren't for the powers it gave me."

Henry sketched it down. "Interesting... and what exactly are the limits of your abilities so far? Have they developed more as you used them?"

"Uh, well... I haven't done a whole lot of experimenting. I can't inhale solids, that I know. Oh, and repeated use of my power can leave me winded, but that's something I'm improving constantly."

"A power that uses breath capacity to measure its strength..." Henry made a quick note underneath the sketch. "Do you have any more examples of what you can inhale? Do you have any information on where the fruit came from, or was it a random find?"

"Now let's not reveal weaknesses my dear Itsuki. So, do you have a Devil Fruit power of your own my dear sir?" asked Max to the researcher, the reporter making notes of his own with a spare pen he had taken from his pocket. "Any more and it will cost you extra. We're short of a bit of cash at the moment" replied Max, an idea coming into his head. Then he shook it. "In any case, is there anything else we can help you with?" he asked.

Henry put down his charcoal. "Yes, of course. I suppose since you have been so willing to share information with me on such a subject, it's only fair if I do the same. I do indeed have a devil fruit power of my own, The Reach Reach fruit, and it was this that actually sparked my interest in learning more about these fabled fruits."

Itsuki kept silent. Maybe he had said too much, although he deliberately chose his icy breath as a display to avoid revealing his more useful powers. Still, it was probably better to leave the discussion to Max now. The corner of his mouth turned upward as he saw Max produce a spare pen. I should have known, Itsuki thought.

edited 12th Oct '12 7:51:08 PM by Saiga

Gaz

"One hundred million? I don't know whether I've died and gone to heaven or... well, you know, maybe I'm about to die, in which case maybe it'll be the same anyway. So you're rounding up bounty hunters, eh? Well, I'm not much for working with any of them, you know, unprofessional sorts, usually, like to stab you in the back. I know of a few, but I try not to keep in contact with them. Just post the bounty posters around town if you're so worried about these new pirates. They'll be reigned in soon enough."

"Whether the Marines take them in or bounty hunters do, get them out of my town! Preferably before that blasted Greenbeard arrives. You, have you gotten those bounty posters yet?" snarled Tropical to a marine who was running back to them. "Aye sir" he saluted, "All the ones spotted by civilians marines alike." The Captain took them, looked through the papers, and then showed them to Gaz. Usually he'd handle this on his own, but time was of the essence, and he couldn't risk any of the hunters stabbing each other, or him, in the back in order to get an important bounty. Then there was Greenbeard... a real piece of work.

Maximillian reached into his carrier bag and pulled out the heavy Devil Fruit encyclopedia he carried with him. Pulling over to the index, he ran a finger down it and muttered the names. "Well, it's not in the directory so that increases it's rarity. So what do you do?" he asked, checking the door for any sign of Alexander and Koya. If they took too long he was pretty sure Koya would start biting them.

"Well, it's easier to show you then explain." With that he lifted his hand up, and using two fingers, mimed tapping on something. As he did this, Max would feel a tapping on his back that mimicked Henry's fingers movements perfectly.