Max looked over one of the flyers, intrigued in the little kid. "Water 7 eh? I did an article on that place. It's amazing how the entire city floats as a ship" he added, hoping to find out more about this interesting little boy. "I'm a Journalist you know. If you want to get well known, perhaps I can write a story about you?" he asked, eagerly.
His Journalist partners would scoff at offering a little kid an offer, but Max's mentor had taught him appearances were deceiving, and Max had felt the winds of fate change subtly. What would happen next?
<><><>
Still posessed by the battle bloodlust, just like the time he killed the innocent Marine, Akauma did not hear the laughter until it had begun to die out. More shouts now, and this time the battle haze had gone. Turning a curious face, he saw someone shouting instructions, and pointing. Now that he knew people were there, he closed his eyes, focusing on scouting people out with Kenbunshoku Haki.
Four Devil Fruit users and fifty odd ordinary people. Two were up high, laughing and challenging him to a fight. Was this the pirate that had escaped from Kincadus? Fortune smiled on Justice, as his mentor Akainu had assured him. Reaching out a hand gently, he clenched his fist.
The man's devil fruit power, from the Cactus Cactus Fruit he guessed, was halted, nullified by the aura of his Haki. It wouldn't be for long, being that the battle rage was subsiding. The
What was this place and everything exploding?!
He saw the pirates scarper from the explosion, and saw a figure fly on a makeshift net in the sky towards the Marine ship. This Island was causing so much trouble.
He had never destroyed an island before.
<><><>
On the Marine sheep, the marines had watched with open mouths, finally noticing the approaching figure. "Sir, something, is coming!" pointed out a particularly stupid Marine and the Commodore looked up at it. He took out a small Den Den mushi, and used it to speak to the person.
"Halt your position, remove all weapons. This is an official Marine vessel and must be treated as such" he ordered to the floating figure.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.OOC: 17 and 5'7 is not little.
IC: Mousa grunted with distaste. He doesn't need fame or fortune, that sort of thing is only for the spotlight hogs he gets money off of. Who did this guy think he was? Well he wasn't a pirate and he wasn't a marine so he had no reason to hurt him, but he also had no reason to care too much about him.
"I don't need fame, I need money, food, and a marine base to blow up," Mousa said frankly as he continued to put up his flyers.
The Blog The ArtMax chuckled, giving the boy space, not mentioning that he used to be a Marine. "Well, OK then, but I do know where some Pirates will be, and a Marine as well. But, you're not interested" he added, walking away whistling. Maybe he could hop board on one of the boats, although it was early in the morning. Hell, perhaps the merchant ship would take him on.
He wasn't a deceitful guy, he just had a feeling this could be an interesting story. Sometimes, he regretted leaving the Marines. Freelance journalism was not very pleasing to people he had spoken to, and he was now doubting it.
"There's nothing to do in this town!" he exclaimed in quiet frustration.
edited 25th May '11 6:43:45 PM by BigDaddyP
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.Smoothly sliding from beneath the hand, Max turned around smiling genially. "You have to eat, I have to eat, Fixer-san. What can you offer me for the information?" he asked, seeing a genius mind in the guy.
Maybe Whistle-san would appreciate an up and coming young carpenter, although the man had said he wasn't interested. He could change that.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature."Whatever you need. I can build, upgrade, and repair anything, or if someone's giving you problems, I can make them regret it, whatever you need." Mousa said cooly as he pulled out the pale yellow gun looking device from his messenger bag with a barrel that was two inches in diameter. It looked like the pistol that could never work.
edited 25th May '11 7:16:06 PM by MousaThe14
The Blog The Art"This is all good stuff. I just ask that you let me write an article on you, maybe take a few pictures. You say you don't want fame, but imagine it" he said and suddenly was at Mousa's side, hand out and moving across as if showing him something. "Fierce Inventor Mousa. Pirates would fear you, or want to destroy you, and the Marines would be out for your blood" he suggested, moving away.
"Instead of looking for victims, perhaps you can draw them to you? You help me get this story out, and I will meet the pirates and Marine with you. There's more than 50 about to arrive" he added as an incentive, taking out his notebook smoothly and picking up his pen. "So, shall we talk, Mousa-san?" he requested.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.so that was his game. Mousa spat and stepped back.
"no dice, I'm not looking for that crud, I don't need them following me, I need to sneak up on them. Besides..." he adjusted his goggles and rubbed his shoulder as he looked away from the man.
"Being famous makes me no better than them..." He then looked back at the man with fire in his eyes.
"And if they're taken down by a big name, they learn NOTHING!"
The Blog The ArtSometimes Akoti wondered if the Pirates life was for him. In one second, not only had he been asked to join a crew, but a Marine, a SINGLE MARINE, had taken down a Sea King and lived. This was something that insane people got themselves into.
Akoti looked about as the first pirate group made a charge at the Marine, and the girl, whom he hadn't spotted before was now flying towards the Ship somehow on...a parachute? What?
Well, he wasn't one to argue. He would admit though, that Marine ship was looking good, and needless to say he was feeling ballsy. He wasn't going to fight that Marine, oh god no. He didn't feel like getting ripped apart like wet paper. So, and knowing his leg was going to hate him for this, he began to run as quickly as he could to the shore, mindful of his shattered leg.
With a deep inhale, he shouted at the ground, and used the eruption as a way to sail himself through the air. It wasn't as nice ad pretty as the girl with Parachute was, but it was a way to get around the very strong, very scary looking Marine. So, with a shout, he landed on the deck of the ship, another loud crack coming from his leg.
"SON OF A..." he shouted, hopping on one leg and holding his leg in pain. "ARGH!"
Maxfacevaulted, obviously disappointed and in a slump. "Well, can't blame me for trying" he said dispassionately and walked away slowly, keeping an eye out for someone interesting. If this got too bad, he would just ask someone to pick him up.
Brrbrr, brrbrr. The sound of a Den Den Mushi ringing. Max out the blue snail phone and took off the receiver. "Moshi Moshi, Max here" he spoke into the device, waiting for a response. "Max-san" said a positive sounding voice that Max recognised. "Ah Frayer-kun. Whistle-san said you'd be checking in. Did you get the information I asked for?" he asked, speaking near the dock, keeping an eye out for everything.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.His crew was panicked, screaming, and scared. Joe thought of only one thing to do. He began laughing again. A laughter deeper and harder than the previous one, with the entire crew joining in so that the laugh was more loud than the explosions happening.
"First, the killing of some ugly sea cows, then exploding cactuses? You are possibly the stupidest,ugliest, most egotistic marine I have ever laid eyes on. Out of my 50 men, you have not hit one, which shows how completely weak you are. Even if we can not use Devil Fruit powers, we are more than a match for you!"
Joe then whispered something in Duncey's ear. Duncey gasped, then ran off away from the fighting.
"Captain, we actually have one casualty, a man named Jim. He was the 51st to join our crew."
Upon hearing this news, the crew bellowed in anger at the loss of their good friend Jim. "He cleaned my puppies!" "He took care of my children!" "He was the first to cheer at Captain Joe's amazing speeches!"
"Well," said Joe "Lets who them why you do not attack one of us and live!" screamed Joe as his crew rushed toward the Burly marine as fast as they could.
Of course, unknown to the pirates, Jim was alive and well. He was just pretending to be dead for the good of the crew. "We will have fun celebrating our victory later, it should be very fun" thought Joe.
Meanwhile, the tanned man just seemed to be flying away while screaming, personally one of the stranger things Joe has ever seen in his life. No time for questioning feats of logic now though. He also noticed the girl wearing white clothing was nowhere to be found. Joe assumed it was probably going to ambush the marine boat.
edited 25th May '11 7:48:05 PM by VicariousShaner
Hello everyone."Well in that case, I'd have to talk to someone different. Have you heard of the Tinkerer's Almanac? I know the editor there. He could get your inventions and stuff printed in a special article. What do you think? Whistle-san will be disappointed that you won't give your name, but that's a small thing" spoke Max quickly, smiling.
While the man pondered, he went back to the Den Den Mushi. "Frayer-kun?" he asked. "Hai?" responded the voice. "Send me a fax of what you've gotten so far. I'll send your payment tomorrow, if that's OK?" he asked, and the face on the snail was deep in concentration. "Hmm... OK then, Max-san. Coming through now. Sayonara" he said, and with a Gacha, the snail went back to sleep.
<><><>
Watching the island, he saw the crew from before picking themselves up, most burnt from the explosion The second Devil Fruit user was shouting insults in a very undignified way. "To the Pirate who landed on the Marine vessel" he shouted, Haki used to make himself sound louder. "If that ship moves one inch away from me, I will blow it up. Surrender yourself, and I may let you live" he ordered, lying at the last part, but completely serious for the first part.
On the ship, the Marines all saw the first man land, and took out their weapons. "Halt pirate, give yourself up now or we'll be forced to open fire" ordered the Commodore, then the voice of Akauma rang throughout, threatening the ship.
"Oh crap, he'll really do it Captain. He backhanded Jonesy for just disturbing his nap, he'll blow us up for sure if we let the pirate escape" exclaimed the marine nearest to Akito. "Calm down. Pirate, you heard the Vice-Admiral. I'm not joking when I say he will do it, and then we'll all be stuck on that island. I can't swim!" finished the Commodore dramatically, their weapons still trained on him.
Without haki now, he was getting a bit tired, Akauma turned to the rampaging pirates. "Whoever you bunch of freaks are, you are not worth my time. However, since you are all pirates, death is your sentence. But, rest assured, your death will be by the only protege of Admiral Akainu. So, taste this!" he boasted, pointing his fists up and firing Haki shaped bullets up into the air. A multitude of them fired into the sky like a rapid fire gun. "Red Horse Meteor Fist
Moments later, they rained down on the island, the first punching a large fist shaped hole in a group of Cacti. Nothing was left but dust, and a barrage of these were about to hit the people on the island. After five minutes, Akauma watched the barrage of fists fall down on the island, rendering the surface to rubble, his haki picking up people dying. Good.
In one barrage he had killed 48 odd pirates, rendering Cacti Island a wasteland. From the sky, the gigantic picture of a horse had been scarred into the land, leaving one or two cacti at the edge of the island.
Akainu would be proud.
Satisfied, he began swimming towards the Marine vessel.
edited 25th May '11 8:09:48 PM by BigDaddyP
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.Kincadis and Ferdinand started to move the Maraxus out to sea to go looking for that pirate kid Akoti Narsa as well, after Kin insisted on helping to rebuild the fortress. Ferdinand wished he was with someone who believed in Absolute Justice and not in any of the kid stuff that Kin preached. Kincadis was actually getting rather excited by the prospect of someone who could escape him now, and wanted to fight that guy again.
Granted, he was probably pretty badly hurt.
Kin saw another marines vessel a while away and decided to go see who this was and how they were called out here. He had a sneaking suspicion his supervisor was involved in that.
edited 25th May '11 8:12:01 PM by NickTheSwing
With that, Joe's ego dropped like a rock. He had killed them all...so fast....so brutally.... The only people alive were Gumby and Duncey, and the small chance of Jim remaining alive. Jim was a nice guy, Joe hoped he was all right.
But, as always he had a plan. He told Duncey to go and eat some explosive cactuses, thorns and all. Hopefully he had eaten a good amount and was ready.
"All right you monster, this is for killing everyone! Go Duncey, go!" With that, another massive explosion happened off in the distance and Duncey was, once again, flying through the air propelled by the explosion. He then aimed at the Marine boat and shouted "Cactus Cactus explosive needles!" as hundreds of needles shot out of his body, which all would explode on contact.
"And finally!" Duncey began "Cactus Cactus Super Explosive Mega Needle!" With Duncey on the way down, he aimed towards the burly Marine that had kiled his former crew and a huge needle,a quarter of the size of the boat, was launched at him.
edited 25th May '11 8:15:48 PM by VicariousShaner
Hello everyone.Akauma swam fast through the water, seeing the needles fly towards the boat, the larger one flying into the ocean missing him. Thanks to his super fast speed, he was now near the boat and pointed up at the needles. He climbed onto the side of the boat, again cursing the fact he didn't have Rokushiki, and holding onto the boat he shot a Haki fist into the air, sending the needles spiralling off course to harmless explode in the ocean. Some however had gotten past, and he snarled, now relying on the Devil Fruit users on the boat to protect the very vessel they were on.
For his part, Akauma lunged out of the water and grabbed the cacti man, plunging both of them into the ocean. Submerged in water, the Cactus Cactus Fruit was nulled, it's effects cancelled so he was just a normal person. Akauma brutally beat him up beneath the water, breaking his arms in several places. His legs too, for good measure.
Broken like a doll, Akauma let the man floating there in the water. If his Devil Fruit friend jumped in to save him, stupidly, then Akauma would have a good laugh about it. "He's here" baited Akauma, and now running out of Haki to use. Two seakings, taking out a whole island, fighting three Devil Fruit users at once, he had done a lot.
"Stay there!" he commanded to the pirates on the island, and boarded the ship.
edited 25th May '11 8:25:57 PM by BigDaddyP
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.Gumby jumped in to save him. A few minutes later, Gumby had rescued Duncey from the perilous depths Joe was trying to wake Jim from his sleep. It was no use. He was dead also.
"From now on, Duncey is your captain" Joe said to the only conscious crew-mate. "Go find the ship and sail back to that old port town and try to re-assemble a crew." "But sir!" Gumby pleaded "where will you go?" "To find the 2 other Devil Fruit users. I will kill the man who killed my only friends, and they could help me." "You mean, you do not think he is dead?"
"No" said the rasping Re-Captain, "I sensed after I hit that boat, he was still alive." Gumby slapped him, telling him to save his strength.
"Goodbye friends, I will remember you always. Perhaps we will meet each other again in the future." The friends said nothing. Joe was too weak to use his power the entire conversation. He sensed they knew their lives would be infinitely better if they had never met him, and something else Joe would not admit to himself.
With that, Joe walked away, in search of a way off this damned forest of Cacti.
edited 26th May '11 7:20:23 AM by VicariousShaner
Hello everyone."Right then, Mousa-san. I prefer to have a quite friendly relationship with people I meet, so we can talk while you put up flyers, is that alright?" he asked, taking up his pen and it growled softly. "What? I'm using you, Koya, already" he muttered, looking around the docks. "Lead on then, and perhaps start by showing me your boat?" offered the journalist, walking over to it casually.
His discerning gaze revealed to him a few jutting pieces of metal and string that no doubt would set off dangerous booby traps. "I see you're very defensive about your... boat, Mousa-san. Did you make it all yourself?" he asked.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature."I made it," He said simply as he plugged his complex looking key into a bar in the boat and the door swung open without setting anything out. "It's a small weapon of utter destruction and only I know how to operate it and use it correctly. Punishing the jealous and the greedy is simply a necessity." He explained as he lead Max into the small chamber. It had a very simple bed n the back, and a control panel in the front and the entire boat was surrounded by leavers and gears that seemed to increase everytime you blinked.
"My fridge is in a panel in the ceiling, storage in the bottom, everything else is a self made anti-ship artillery," Mousa explained slowly. "Through my very specific systems of activation this can fire incendiary gatling guns, explosive cannon bals, acidic arrows, and many more. I'm currently working on making it fly."
The Blog The ArtAkauma landed on the deck, water sliding off his specially treated clothes, to look at the two new arrivals on his ship. "State your names now. I have no doubt now that you are the pirate who escaped from Kincadus, am I correct? Atoki Sarna or something" he asked, looking towards Akito. The other marines visibly relaxed now he was here, but a stern glare made them all rigid once more.
He noticed the woman after a while, and turned to her. "Who the hell are you?" he asked bluntly, looking at the wooly net that had saved the girl. The second Devil Fruit user, it seemed, with quite a weird ability on her. Scratch that, he told himself, all Devil Fruit's were weird, apart from his mentor's perhaps.
Who wouldn't want to be a man made entirely out of magma?
<><><>
Max followed Mousa into the ship, being cautious as he entered the mini war machine. He made sure not to touch anything and set the kid off. "Fascinating. What do you use as a power supply?" he asked, writing down quickly and taking a mental note of everything. As Mousa went through the weapons it had, Max paused, flipping a page over to write down a list of the capabilities.
He scanned his eyes around the room, checking out the fridge and moving over to the weapons; obviously the most special thing about this place. He recognised a targeting system and the triggers, but could not see where the weapons were loaded in. "Do you still have the plans for all these? Or do you work from memory" he added to his previous question.
edited 26th May '11 7:46:36 AM by BigDaddyP
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature."A combination of oil, gas, and cranks. It's how I keep skinny besides starving." Mousa said as he made sure Max wasn't touching anything important, he was suspicious of this character poking around his home. "I also bought some special tools from someone with wings. They also work very well as power sources and they augment my weapons, but I don't use them all, I'm still testing their properties."
He took the second question very simply. "And there are no plans, I watched, learned ,and built everything from understanding and my own innovation."
The Blog The ArtMax nodded slowly, interested in the whole process. "I see, that's very ingenious. I'm surprised you haven't blown yourself up with all those different methods" added Max honestly, writing down and then looking at one of the gun turrets. "I know what you said about being discreet, but if you let me sketch out some of these weapons, from the inside of the boat and the outside, the editor would be very pleased" he added, clicking his pen once. This told it to generate more ink.
"It will be an interesting Tinkerer's Almanac this week. Ah, sodeska, I saw you putting up fliers around town. Do you want some flyers in the magazine?" he asked, beginning to sketch.
Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

The man fighting the Sea Kings, in less than five minutes, won the bout, which was somehow not entirely surprising. And as it turns out, he was actually a marine. Which meant that a Navy ship must be nearby! She had seen the shadow of a ship on the horizon, but she had mistakenly assumed it was a pirate ship.
Riitta's mind churned into high gear. The pirate crew had suddenly appeared beside her, and the needle-studded guy exclaimed that he's going to shoot at the marine. At least she heard that he was going to. She considered it to be a bad move.
No pirate could possibly defeat the marine now roaring in victory.
With that in mind, Riitta understood. Out there was safety.
She gulped, and looked at the exploding cacti she had gathered. Maybe this would be a good time for a diversion, she thought. Her mind quickly formed a plan.
Ten seconds later several exploding cacti were soaring through the air. The tan man and the pirate crew nearby stared as one of the plants exploded prematurely. A look of understanding dawned on their faces and they scrambled for it.
At the same time Riitta was running towards the explosion, and finished knitting a rope from the wool in her half-animal form. She quickly lassoed a needle on a tall cactus nearby, and the elastic rope propelled her into the air. While hurtling upwards she started to weave a makeshift parachute.
She finished just in time for the cacti to explode, and the resulting updraft of wind pushed her parachute and sent her soaring out into the sky. She set her sights on the Marine vessel and started to awkwardly glide towards it.
edited 26th May '11 3:25:01 AM by fillerdude