A brand new age of piracy dawned, two years ago.

The last words of the man with the power to destroy the world:

"THE ONE PIECE IS REAL!"

Now, in the South Blue, a new dream begins.

---

Renegade Atoll is a strange island in the South Blue sea. Originally a relatively small speck of sand perched atop a coral reef, it was a popular meeting place some 20 years ago for pirates gearing up for the Grand Line. Soon, the island's rising popularity, and the budding romance of the Golden Age of Piracy meant that the island had to be expanded. Slowly, sand was brought in and dumped onto the reef. When that no longer became sustainable, pirates began building a massive wooden platform over the whole thing. From there, they expanded onto rafts, building farther and farther out into the ocean until the original atoll was lost beneath layers and layers of wood and stone. Now, the entire island is a port town, full of rowdy pirates and ambitious bounty hunters - a powder keg, ready to explode.

Nearby is the dreaded Sniveling Rock, another tiny island, the sole occupant being the Marine base. This posting is considered the ultimate in political exile, for only the most acute career suicides. The base's sole purpose is to monitor activity on Renegade Atoll. They are constantly fending off probing attacks from reckless pirate crews, but lack the authority to move in on the atoll and shut it down for good - there are simply too many pirates, and the resources needed to defeat them all are needed much more on the Grand Line. If you're assigned to Sniveling Rock, you've screwed up, bad, one way or another.

---

Today, for their own various reasons, a group of certain individuals all happen to be sharing the same tavern, along with quite a few other rowdy guests.

Little do they know, they're about to start the adventure of a lifetime.

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

One of those happened to be a certain Fishman with the name of Dunstan Asema. Said Fishman was currently drinking his Grog in a small corner a bit away from the others, trying not to attract any - unnessesary - attention to him and generally minding his own business for now. The pirate crew he had hired with had dispanded for various reasons - mostly infighting between the capitan and his mates.

edited 27th Dec '16 8:42:05 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

A man with light blue skin in a big long green coat strode from the bar to his table, furiously scribbling notes the whole way over. He was short for the place's normal clientele, and for the population of Renegade Atoll as a whole, but the fury with which he wrote suggested an intensity of spirit you'd see in most pirates.

I found myself in a tavern that alternated between cozy and claustrophobic. The walls were as willing to give a warm embrace as a cold strangulation. The people there, though, I assure you, dear reader, were more of the former than the latter. Criminals though they were, I was one of them. As long as you were willing to back up your words with

Thus wrote Kerry Jerry Delano Thank-You in a matter of seconds across a page of his latest update for MANTIS EXILE before he tripped and fucked it all up. He went sprawling, but recovered admirably. While his paper was still okay, his face now had a smear of ink splattered all over his face. He didn't notice, and simply rolled with it as he stood back up with a snarl. With a click, the pen was suddenly a shining stiletto. The Word.

"Who did that? I know you lot don't necessarily take kindly to me, always, but I'm one of you, you know. You do it, buddy?" He swiveled around to point The Word at the shark fishman. Could have sworn he'd seen the guy around before, Dunstan, right? "I'm not gonna be mad, I just wanna know."

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

Gen quietly sipped a glass of water at his table near the wall. He wanted to drink, but this was one of the more rowdy taverns he'd been to. No doubt some dumbass was going to get his ass stabbed, and his guilty conscience wouldn't let the guy bleed out by himself. And being drunk for that... Wouldn't be pleasant, to say the least.

He looked on as some blue guy tripped and messed up his paperwork. ... At least, Gen assumed it was paperwork. Kinda hard to tell from this angle. What wasn't hard to tell was the flash of a blade, soon pointed towards a fishman. "Oi," He called out to Kerry, "Maybe don't resort to shanking someone at first sight. Someone's going to have to fix that if you do."

off the shits

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

Over in another corner, a rather short figure looks up from her newspaper. Smiling to herself as she notices the commotion, she takes another swallow of her margarita and looks on.

"Hmmm. Interesting folks, wouldn't you say?"

This she addresses to the other woman next to her. Not really looking for a response, she ponders the figures in front of her.

"The one with the pen-blade, I think he's..."

She flips through the wanted posters that come with the newspaper.

"Ah! Here he is, 'Pierce-Pen' Thank-You."

The rest of the bar, meanwhile, is keeping only half an eye on the confrontation - after all, this is a pretty normal scene in this town.

edited 27th Dec '16 11:02:30 PM by BluBeriPi

Tavern

Abruptly, the doors to the tavern would be thrown open as a fairly large man would stride through them, a lengthy spear slung over his shoulder and numerous chunks of ice were hanging off of his clothes.

Beaming as he realized he was in a drinking hall of some sort, and thus no doubt a fine way to find out just where he was, seeing as few locals had been terribly helpful with telling him (in fact, most had just sat and stared at him slackjawed as he wandered through town).

Clearing his throat, Eirik announced "Hello my friends! I am very lost, can anyone tell me whereabouts I am?"

Renegade Atoll: Tavern

Besides the very short figure in the bar stood an extreme contrast, who besides her friend looked like a giant. An 8 feet tall woman in an unfastened light-brown leather jacket and a khaki colored shirt underneath. While her figure might've been scary, sharp eyed people would notice she was lacking a weapon, seeing as she had a holster in her chest-nut brown pants with no gun attached to it and a belt on her pants which were probably supposed to be attached to a sword of some kind. She looked into the crowd, her hands holding her head from behind, she had a very lax pose, Blackrose didn't seem to care much about the bar fight.

Caitlyn just wanted to relax before going on a dangerous really small heist, the marine base nearby had something she couldn't leave this place without.

Cait looked at the wanted poster in curiosity, wondering if she heard her aquaintance correctly.

"Pen Piercer what? Thank-You? That's... Certainly a name, I guess"

"He's got an interesting weapon, that's for sure, you wanna recruit him?" She said with a slightly tired voice.

edited 28th Dec '16 6:21:36 AM by LiorVal

Renegade Atoll: Docks

A fairly pretty blonde that looked like she belonged on a tropical resort island far, far away landed feet first on the docks of Renegade Atoll with only her luggage briefcase and her hat in hand. This woman's parents had stupidly named their daughter Chance la Veut; meaning "Luck Wills It".

This woman, who was on the run from the World Government, with a ฿15,000,000 bounty. Who looked down, opening her wallet to reveal a measly ฿500 in assorted coins, and sighed. Who had nowhere else to go now that she was nearly flat broke in pirate territory.

"Only enough for one meal, huh..." she told herself.

Deckhands from a merchant vessel docked just behind her carried crates of supplies onboard, in a hurry to leave Renegade Atoll behind. They were a little too gormless and uninformed to recognize Chance. Her wanted poster depicted a woman wearing a suit and glasses; not easily identified as the vacationer she appeared as now.

One meal. At least that was something to look forward to in the immediate future. Beaming like the sun, Chance put on her hat and headed off. It was time to try the local cuisine, and in a pirate town, that usually meant the nearest tavern.

---

Renegade Atoll: Tavern

Chance stepped into the tavern right behind Eirik. Seemingly distracted by her feet, she bumped right into Eirik from behind and let out a small high-pitched gasp. Chance took a step back, shrugging frost from her dress—wait, frost?

Chance looked up at the back of the man towering in front of her, more than two feet taller than her, wearing clothes that had to date back five to six hundred years ago; more than half of the World Government's lifetime. Was this what Renegade Atoll's pirates were like?

Chance bowed her head politely.

"Sorry," she said, with her soft I-want-a-promotion sing-song voice, "That was my mistake!"

Carlos Stark was staring at a tavern. Inside were tons, probably hundreds of pirates. Oh, he was nervous. But, no helping it! His ansector, Markus Stark had been in a similar situation once. So, he decided to do what he had done.

Carlos kicked down the wall of the tavern, making an entrance.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

Dunstan looked around as there were some noises near him (he had not really paid attention to his surroundings before), only to find him at the dangerous end of some sort of stabbing device - the safe less dangerous end being occupied by someone with ink in his face. He shortly looked from the knife up to the face of its owner and then back, holding back on chuckling. "Did what, lad?" He shrugged "I'm just here to drink my Grog... if you put that toy there away I might drink one with you."

edited 28th Dec '16 9:36:25 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

"Friend, The Word is no t—" Kerry was interrupted before he could really get started because someone had kicked down the wall. Shit, a raid! Maybe! The Marines pulled shit like that all the time, after all. Ironically, when faced with an actual fishman or the human kicking down the door, Kerry had bigger fish to fry and went after the human. Coat trailing behind him like a cape, he approached the dude with The Word drawn and ready. This place was where Kerry got his best stories, and he was not about to let some dumbass ruin his work!

"The heck do you think you're doing here, friend?" He waved the stiletto back and forth menacingly, but never actually let it leave a solid defensive position in front of his chest. "You can't just go wrecking people's places of business, you know! I suggest you either toss some cash the bartender's way or start running!"

Carlos was startled by the blue skin man. He guessed he was a fishman. Maybe? He was sure. But he put on a smirk, and boldly walked up to the bar. "Yes, I would like a drink and some pie!" He declared proudly. He put a hand in his pocket, clutched the Yaka briefly, and got out a small bag of gold, from his father.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.

Oh, there was nothing that got Kerry more than being ignored. He was Pen-Piercer KJD, not some bit part scrivener writing for some rag! If that motherfucker didn't know him by face, perhaps he would know him by skill!

"We got a fucking problem then!" Kerry roared, and rushed in. Not wanting to do anything too nasty to the guy just yet, he threw a flurry of slashes at his belt, attempting to just sever it and drop his pants instead of actually draw blood or anything.

Immediately, Carlos drew his blade, and countered. "Ha! This reminds of the time my ansector Lucas Stark was attacked in a bar without provocation! He solved in a most manly fashion!" With that, Carlos tried to kick the fool in his balls.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

Dunstan looked as the two started a fight, well, not his problem, he wasn't here to get into trouble. He was here to find a crew - with which to get into trouble.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

Tavern

Barely registering Chance bumping into him, Eirik quickly sidestepped out of her way, replying "No harm done, it would seem I'm still thawing out." Eirik finished his sentence with a brief chuckle as he plucked a chunk of melting ice off of his shirt and tossed it aside.

Shortly thereafter, some lummox decided that doors were too convenient and decided to knock a wall down. Quietly stepping aside with a muttered "Excuse me" Eirik wandered over to the recently knocked down wall and studied it for a moment. Deciding that it was only decent to try and repair it, Eirik leaned his spear against a wall and began lifting the wall back into its original position.

Kerry took several steps backwards to evade Carlos's counterattack, holding his blade aloft for a second before swapping it back to a pen with another click.

"Should you know of the Stark family, do give them my sincerest condolences." He said aloud as he wrote, staring the man dead in the eye. "The burden of this child must be excruciating for them, a boy who destroys property and then acts as if he has wronged nobody, then acts as if he has any right to relate stories of men greater than himself." He gave a wild grin, and refilled his pen with a few more dabs of ink. "Hmm. I think that's an excellent introduction, wouldn't you say? Oh, almost forgot, gotta have a solid description in there..." Kerry bit his lip as he stared at Carlos some more, then continued to write. "He was possessed of a brutish aspect and build, with elegant clothes and elegantly speech but bearing it as if you put a dog in a suit and told it to recite the dictionary. There, the revenue from this chapter of Mantis Exile can go towards rebuilding the wall you smashed down."

Renegade Atoll: Tavern

Chance ducked under a nearby table and covered her face with her luggage. As she peeked over the edge of the table to spot the broken wall, which Eirik was trying to put back together while a confrontation took place in front of it, Chance realized this wasn't the best idea she'd ever had.

These pirates were nothing like their romanticized counterparts in South Blue Thrills. They were bumbling buffoons, towering ancient frosted men and overly aggressive knife-wielding fishmen. Where were the noble free spirits Chance was looking for?

Still, she wasn't going to let that get her down. Plus, her stomach was grumbling. Chance peeked out over the table again.

"Is it over yet?" she said.

edited 29th Dec '16 12:17:17 PM by opnerf

Carlos clenched his jaw tight. "How dare you!!!!" He cried, now swinging his sword even faster and harder. He began to advance, trying to gain ground on his enemy.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

As Dunstan watched the fight unfold he shook his head, kinda reminded him of how his old crew had disbanded. Although then he saw Chance peeking over, well at least one person with a halfway decent mind it seemed. He waved her over "As long as you don't seek trouble you can get over here." Well... would be a good opportunity to have some halfway friendly talk with somebody again - and a chance to drink a bit of course.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

"How dare you? He cr—no, no bellowed at me." Kerry kept backing up and out of the Stark's range, scribbling down to the end of the page. "With another swing the demolitionist—oh shit!" The writer ran out of luck and bumped into a table. Not expecting it, he stepped wrong, his leg twisted, and Kerry fell sideways. He slammed into the ground, but immediately whirled around onto his back and swapped The Word back into a knife, ready to defend himself.

Carlos Stark was on him in a second, swinging his sword down in a vicious downward blow, ready to cleave. He was howling in victory. "Never insult a Stark!!!!"

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.

Alright, enough PVP.

Renegade Atoll, Tavern

As Kerry tripped, he managed to bump the guy behind him, spilling his drink.

"OIY! Asshole!"

He stands and takes a drunken swing at Kerry, who has already righted himself. In doing so, he completely misses his target, punching another random guy.

As one might expect, things quickly devolve from there.

Meanwhile, back in the corner, the shorter woman has been keeping track of the escalating fight over by the bar, and has long since stood up, deciding to intervene. As Carlos' blade begins its final descent she steps inside his reach, and seizes his arm, halting the swing.

"Alright, now I think that's about enough of that."

She smiles up at him, completely unfazed by the violence underway. Trying to break her grasp is like pulling at Seastone shackles. Her grip is beyond firm.

"Now, you're going to pay for that wall like a civilized person, and Mr. Thank-You behind me is going to stop antagonizing the Stark boy. Understand?"

Her smile seems to sharpen. That smile says: 'defy me, and you will be regretting it.'

As this confrontation comes to a halt, other ones flare up. The entire barroom has spiraled out into a full on brawl. One poor fellow gets choke slammed directly onto Dunstan's table, knocking his drink over. Another two idiots decide they want to take on the man trying to repair the wall, and a third grabs at Chance underneath her table.

Back in the corner, where the taller woman is still sitting, a rather large man takes a swing at her. However, unlike most of the other patrons, this isn't a wild haymaker, but a probing jab.

edited 29th Dec '16 2:19:47 PM by BluBeriPi

Tavern

Gen sighed as the situation in the bar just got worse. He took another drink of water (how was he doing that through the mask without getting it wet, anyway?) and shrank back against the wall. Maybe if he was quiet the other bar goers wouldn't notice him.

off the shits

Renegade's Atoll: Bar Brawl

Caitlyn fully took the man's jab as she was taken by surprise, however it didn't even seem to cause her to flinch, her only reaction was briefly touching her injury.

She looked straight into her assaulter's eyes with an intimidating expression, she really didn't have the energy to fight right now and preferred to end this peacefully. The tall woman folded her arms and spoke calmly.

"Okay, listen Mr. I don't wanna have to kick your ass right now, so I'll do you a favor, back up and I won't hurt you, hell I'll forget this ever happened, If I even so much as see hostile movement however, I'll break your neck, got it?"

edited 29th Dec '16 2:55:42 PM by LiorVal