Carat Isle Arc - One Piece RP (I)

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A pair of light green eyes blinked open and stared gently up at the wooden roof of their chosen resting place. There wasn't much else to see in the blackness, with the only light being a small sliver that filtered in through a crack in the wood.
Nevertheless, Toriru Shiori couldn't help the small smile that spread across her features as she uncrossed her arms and shifted her position. She hadn't been found yet, which meant she could do some exploring on her own.
Moving from where she was lying on her back with her feet pressed against the narrow walls of the box she had chosen as her hiding place, Shiori shifted to a crouch under the low wooden roof in order to have a better angle to push up at said 'roof' with one arm.

It had only been half a day or so ago, that Shiori had been wandering the busiest port of Reine Island...

The island was small, but that didnt stop large throngs of people from going about their daily business. As Shiori wandered along the docks of Reine Island, she could smell the delicate scents of cooking fish, as well as taste the salt of the ocean in the air. Sifting through the pockets of her pale blue jacket, Shiori wondered if she had enough beli to purchase some of that delicious smelling fish. There was nothing like fresh fish after all. Luckily, the money she'd gotten from lending a helping hand on the last ship she'd been on was more than enough to buy some food, and so Shiori sat at the small stall by the docks to enjoy her fish, not forgetting to thank the stall owner and praise his cooking. There really was nothing like fresh fish cooked on the docks.
Shiori had been about to ask the cheerful man about the best fish to put in a spicy fish stew, when her ears picked up the subject of conversation of a duo that were passing by the stall.

"The Grand Line is still that far away?" A blonde haired man asked his friend, who had a nasty scar over his right eye that trailed over his nose before ending on his left cheek.
The scarred man chuckled at the disappointment in the blonde's voice, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"You should enjoy the peace whilst it lasts!" He laughed, "The Grand Line will run you ragged. It's a dangerous place."
The young blonde's frown didn't leave his face as he replied, "But then why does everyone call it 'Paradise'?"

The older man with the scar burst out into a long, hearty laugh at the blonde's words, before their voices were lost in the crowds of Reine Island's port.

Shiori had wasted no time wolfing down the rest of her fish and yelling another thanks to the stall owner as she dashed off in the direction the duo had disappeared in. They weren't wearing navy uniforms, they'd been carrying various weaponry, and they were heading for the Grand Line, which suggested only one thing.
"Pirates!" Shiori grinned to herself.

Shiori didn't have a ship of her own, and so for the time being she'd opted to use her 'skills' at stowing away on other ships to get her from place to place. Normally she'd find a way on board and hide until they were in open waters, at which point she'd explore the new ship before someone found her and then convince them to let her stay aboard rather than throw her off.
Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was a hard task that needed to be handled delicately. It all depended on the type of pirates. Luckily Shiori didn't mind swimming too much, and as long as she wasnt too far away from the port she'd left, she could make her way back towards the docks and try and find another ship. Or if the threat of being thrown overboard was too large, steal a rowing boat and row back.

These two pirates however, seemed like somewhat decent individuals. Shiori just hoped their captain was of the same attitude. You could never be sure after all.

Spotting the blonde haired man and the scarred man in the crowd, Shiori had followed them, watching as they stopped at a store to pick up some rum and sake before heading back to their ship.

The boat had a stag figurehead and Shiori had to admit that the antlers it possessed made it look rather formidable. The flag the ship was flying was black with a skull and crossbones, but the skull possessed the same antlers as the ship's figurehead.

Shiori had already decided that Reine Island was too small to find a crew of her own here, so someone else's ship would do just fine until she could acquire one. If the words of these pirates could be taken at face value, the entrance to the Grand Line was still weeks, if not months away anyway; plenty of time to find a ship of her own, and maybe even her own crew! 
Shiori's mind was so easily lead astray by thoughts and dreams of adventure ok the Grand Line, that she nearly missed her opportunity to sneak on board the deer-ship. The ship's crew had been noticably absent from the deck for the past few minutes and, upon realising this, Shiori took advantage of the gap in security to hop on board and duck through a few doors until she reached the cargo hold.
Checking each of the various chests and boxes in the hold until she found one that was all but empty (if you ignored the few bottles of alcohol and a couple of bags of coins), Shiori clambered inside. It wasn't a tight squeeze and the young pirate-to-be had ample room to rearrange her position into something vaguely comfortable.

She had fallen asleep there, the comfort of the small space erasing any sense of danger that Shiori might have felt from hiding there as she waited for the ship to leave Reine Island.

The lid of the chest was opened just a crack but with practiced ease, making hardly a sound as Shiori's gaze scanned the area before her. Unfortunately what greeted her was nothing more than a stone wall, but there was still information to be gleaned from the sight. It definitely wasn't the same wall that she'd left behind when she'd first hidden in the wooden chest back in Reine Island's port, and Shiori couldn't help but wonder just how long she had been sleeping for.
Peering over the edge of her box, Shiori noted that the other assorted boxes and crates laden with food and other stored goods were still here with her, but in a slightly different order to before.

Where on earth had the ship's stores been moved to?

Caim slowed down to watch how Shiori acted, he likewise was confused for a moment, however it didn't take long for what she was doing to click on his mind... She was going after their captain wasn't she. "She's probably going for your captain, to try and explain the situation. The Armoury is just down the end of this corridor, Durian and C team will be waiting for you there. Ackee, we're going after her, there's no garuntee she'll be able to identify your captain and without one of you with us, he may mistake her for an enemy, something we can't afford" Caim spoke, his tone suddenly turned more commanding in nature. Caim quietly drew Murasame and slashed above the hole, making it larger and easier to pass through.

Caim now stepped through to the other side after imbedding the tip of Murasame into the ground "i'll leave a path for you all to follow on the ground, when you've reclaimed your weapons, come after us, no one is being left behind" Caim spoke now added before heading off after her, the blade effortlessly cutting through the ground, leading a visible line to follow.

Ackee blinked as Caim realised what Shiori was doing and explained to him. In a quick moment he nodded and called for Kian, the nervous marksman from earlier, to come back over.
"Take him with you. He's nimble and a good shot. I won't be much use out there without getting my cutlass back first, but he's a good shot with anything you give him," Ackee nodded, Kian looking a little nervous at suddenly being called upon to do something important. The scarred temporary captain gave Kian a brief explanation of the situation.

"I know you won't let me down, Kian," Ackee beamed positively, clapping a hand to Kian's shoulder before he turned and headed after the rest of B Team and the merchants on their way to the armoury. With the expectations of his acting captain on his shoulders, Kian turned to reluctantly follow Caim through the hole in the wall.

Shiori meanwhile, had already busted through a few more walls, not willing to spend unnecessary time trying to find the correct corridor to the exit when there was another perfectly easy way to get to where she was going. A room or two later, Shiori spotted a genuine outer exit, with a door and everything. It appeared to be only a side door, but it was perfect for getting outside without being immediately spotted, which would allow her time to figure out which individual was most likely to be Captain Kennard.

If all else failed she could always just yell his name and see who answered to it.

"Let's move, we don't have any time to waste" Caim spoke in order to respond to Ackee's suggestion of taking the nervous pirate from prior with him... his logic made perfect sense really so Caim couldn't blame him for it. he continued to walk down the passageway of shattered stone walls, his blade being dragged through the ground to create a clear path of which way he had taken, even if it wouldn't really be necessary yet due to the carnage Shiori had caused. Surely making so many holes couldn't be good for the structural integrity of the base... if she kept this up she would be putting quite the time limit on how long we could linger inside.

"Following her path won't be the most difficult... we are liable to encounter more hostiles however when we get outside... be ready for anything" Caim spoke, taking out his .44 Flintlock Revolver using his free hand, in order to maintain the trail he wouldn't be able to use Murasame at the moment, he had to make do with what was available. It didn't particularly take long for him to catch a glimpse of an exit of some kind, however he didn't head to it immediately. "Once we head out there, all bets are off, we'll be in the main battlefield... when you're ready lets go" Caim spoke, his tone calm and collected, he didn't seem to be intimidated by the prospect of heading out onto the battlefield, he had already seen how nervous this Kian could be... he wasn't going to force him to go when not ready.

Kian followed Caim almost silently, only acknowledging the helmsman's words with short nods. When they finally reached the door, Kian double checked that his weapon was properly loaded and he was ready for a fight before taking a breath and nodding again.
"A-alright let's go," he replied, not wanting to hold Caim up.

Shiori meanwhile was stood a few meters away from the door, a hand shading her eyes from the sun as she scanned the participants of the battle. All of the pirates seemed to be engaged, though there seemed to be a surplus of marines trying to hold down the fort.

One individual seemed to be quite a bit taller than both the pirates and marines surrounding him, standing at at least 9 feet tall. Shiori felt her eyes immediately drawn to the person. He had just slammed a cannon down on the ground, allowing a few of his fellow pirates to reload and light it up. As a large group of marines broke through some of the pirates, the tall individual roared in anger. His body began to alter itself as the visible areas sprouted reddish fur and a large and rather majestic pair of antlers grew on the top of his head.

"He's a Devil Fruit user!" yelled some of the marines, a few panicking as the large man charged towards them.

Shiori grinned as she watched the man attack the marines who had harmed his crew mates. That guy had to be the captain, surely! At least that's what her inner logic told her. Plus he matched the vague description she'd gotten previously; he was ridiculously tall.

"Then let's move" Caim merely said as a response, using his blade to draw an arrow in the ground, pointing to the door to signify that was where they had gone. Pulling the blade up from the earth Caim walked to the door, opening it and walking through. Immediately he was greeted by Shiori's back and the din of battle. "Easier than expected" Caim muttered as he walked over to Shiori, his eyes now being drawn to the main battle and the peculiar man with antlers... A Zoan type?

"I take it he's the Captain, let's move and get this done" Caim spoke, now cautiously advancing towards the main battle with Murasame in hand, he was ready for more combat if need be.

Shiori grinned and turned to Caim as he walked up to arrive next to her. Though she hadn't expected his appearance she was no less happy to see the other member of her mini crew.

"Y-Yea, that's him," replied Kian, confirming that the guy with the antlers was in fact Captain Kennard.

The tawny haired teen nodded and drew her green eyes away from the captain for a moment to dash forwards. The tail end of a group of marines heard her footsteps and turned their attention to her. Shiori paid them no heed, quickly knocking out their legs from beneath them and advancing over their toppled forms before they could get up.

The blur of tawny and pale blue dodged through the marines, gaining a few scratches from blades and bullets here and there as she made her way through the crowd. Trust this captain to be right in the thick of things.

Shiori seemed not to care for all the attention she was gaining as she somersaulted onto the shoulders of one marine, and proceeded to hop from shoulder to shoulder until there wasn't anyone else on the opposing side to leap from.
"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder, accompanied by a grin and a wave of her hand as she landed neatly in a clearer area. Standing up again, she punched another incoming marine in the stomach, throwing him back a few paces, winded from the wave she sent to impact the water in his body. She stood up fully and looked around for the Stag Pirates' Captain once again.

Kian was attempting to follow to the best of his ability, and his sharpshooter skills were useful enough to keep a few of the marines at bay.

So it was time to join the main battle and push towards the Stag Pirates Captain... Caim's fate most certainly would be sealed after this as he'd have shown himself to the majority of the present Marines... He didn't care though. Seeing how Shiori ran ahead and Kian was trying to keep up Caim knew he had to follow as well. He rushed forwards, occasionally cutting down a Marine or two that he couldn't get around before the main group with Murasame, for now he was trying to conserve the majority of his strength.

When he reached the main group that stood before him and his new Captain a faint smirk crossed his face, it was about time that he dealt with what he could and then got through as quickly as possible. He also would have to clear a path for Kian, who he had rushed past. "Itto-Ryu" He muttered as he took on a stance similar to the one he had used in his previous fight against a glaive wielding Marine. Taking a running start he leaped into the fray, quickly launching two circular slashes as he leaped into the centre of the fight. As soon as he landed he returned the blade to it's scabbard. "Iai Īgurusu no kagidzume" He spoke. As he did so the razor wind triggered once again, sending a large number of the surrounding marines flying, the wind tearing through their flesh with ease... He'd created a path through for a moment.

"We have a path through, push forwards" He called to Kian before rushing ahead through the now momentarilly opened path through the chaos, the Captain in sight.

Kian gratefully acknowledged Caim's help with a look of nothing short of awe at the swordsman's technique, before taking the opportunity to advance ahead without using any more of his precious ammunition. He could see Shiori getting closer and knew he had to catch up and help confirm the teen as an ally and not an enemy.

Captain Kennard had cleared quite the considerable area around himself using his dangerously sharp antlers and bulky form. The marines who had avoided the deer zoan's natural weapons were keeping a cautious distance to avoid being impaled by the horns.

Heading for the Stag Pirates' Captain, Shiori cleared the throng of marines and headed through the cleared path, straight towards the man's lowered antlers. The situation was to her advantage in the fact that no one but her group and Kennard's allies seemed to want to come too close. She'd be able to talk to him, albeit briefly, without the marines hearing as long as he was prepared to listen to her.

Although life would have been easier if she'd hopped on top of Kennard's antlers, Shiori found herself nimbly dodging each tip that moved to impale her as she drew closer to the inhumanly tall individual. It was almost like a choreographed dance, as she ducked and weaved around each danger as if it was second nature, her Wave Step turning her into that blur of tawny and blue once again.

Reaching past where the antlers were a viable danger, Kennard lifted his head in order to attack the new perceived thread with his powerful fists. Not one to be perturbed by such a gesture, Shiori flipped backward onto her hands to avoid the blow, catching a hold of the man's arm with her legs as it sailed overhead. Consciously not making a move to injure the other captain, Shiori instead swung herself around so that she was sat on the large man's muscular arm.

"I'm not your enemy," she commented, figuring it was as good a start as any and would help stave of further attacks whilst she explained herself.
"I'm Toriru Shiori, Captain of the Chime Pirates and if you're willing to help, we can get everyone out of this free and alive. Including your crew, and my friend's crew," she replied, a confident smile accompanying her words. Her light green eyes showed nothing but determination and -she hoped- honesty.

Kian watched as Shiori reached his captain and for a moment was worried that they would get into a fight. He sped up his pace as he followed Caim, hoping that his captain wouldn't act rashly before he could explain everything Shiori and Caim had done for him and the rest of his crew.

As Caim rushed ahead after Shiori many Marines had found themselves gazing towards him, mostly shocked by the level of damage a singular technique of his had caused, it seemed as if in a fight like this he had them individually outmatched quite easily. This did have another effect, due to it drawing the attention of Marines it had caused their guards to falter, thus allowing their Pirate opposition to quickly gain the upper hand over there distracted foes.

This had also meant that Caim had somewhat easier passage throughout the field of battle, on an individual basis it had input a mental image of what he could do, if he could defeat so many in one go, surely one on one would be even easier for him to handle. Soon enough he caught up to Shiori, making to avoid the mass of sharp Antlers the Stag Pirate Captain had as a result of his current form. "The others should be here soon, I did leave a trail so they should know which way we had gone... Then again what with you kicking all the walls down it probably would have been obvious anyway" Caim spoke towards Shiori before glancing back to the battle, he couldn't exactly drop his guard now.

Kennard remained silent for a short moment, as if considering Shiori's words. A small group of marines attempted to use this small distraction to their advantage, advancing on the captain. However, Kennard turned his sights to the naval personnel in order to quickly knock them back with his pointed antlers.

Before anything more could be said, Kian and Caim advanced towards Shiori and Kennard, Kian yelling for his captain's attention.
"She's trustworthy!" Kian breathed heavily, Shiori taking the moment to lean back and flash a quick upside-down grin at Caim in response to his comment about her kicking in the walls of the marine base, appreciating the update. Her attention quickly returned to the Stag Pirates as Kian continued.

"We'd all still be in cells if it weren't for her," the normally rather nervous sharpshooter attempted to explain. It seemed that the nerves that had wracked his body earlier had all but dissipated in the urgency of the situation, further supporting his words.
"The others are on their way here," he finished.

Kennard's brown gaze shared a small look with Kian before switching to Shiori again, the resolute expression having returned to the tawny-haired teen's face.

As if judging that she really was worthy of trusting, Kennard's gaze softened a little and his mouth curled into a slight smirk of almost-amusement, before thinning back into a line of grim determination.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked her.

Kian let out a small breath he didn't realise that he'd been holding. His captain approved of the allies his crew had made, and was willing to put his trust in both his crew's judgement and the new faces before him in order to escape with everyone intact. Kian felt as if giving them this opportunity was the least he could do to repay the debt his crew owed Shiori and Caim.

Shiori's expression broadened into a large grin once more and the newly dubbed Captain of the Chime Pirates quickly scrambled to her feet, moving to hop up the antlered man's arm and position herself on his shoulder so that she could explain more clearly without the risk of being overheard by any curious marines. Kennard listened intently whilst gazing around at the members of the Stag Pirates, watching as some began to overpower their marine opponents.

Caim took up a position on the Stag Pirates and Shiori's left flank in order to ward off any attackers while the two spoke, if either of them fell the plan would fail after all. Despite his injured shoulder the previous brutal display he had made was enough to intimidate most of them into not rushing in to attack, that combined with the Stag Pirate Captain's imposing presence was easilly enough to prove intimidating to face at the same time. Of course there was the occasional Gunshot towards him from those Marines that had thought they were safe at a distance, however Caim handled it relatively easilly through a combination of his telekinetic prowess and his use of Murasame, he made certain to make it seem he'd only used his Meito however.

"Shouldn't be much longer... It can't take them that long to grab their weapons can it?" Caim muttered under his breath as he quietly cleaned his blade, a badly maintained Meito a disrespect to the blade itself after all.

A short period of time later, Ackee, Durian, the rest of the Stag Pirates and the merchant crew burst from the side entrance that Shiori had originally found and began to swarm out onto the battlefield. The Stag Pirates intended to reunite with the rest of the crew, and made their intentions rather clear with large cheers upon sighting their captain in his rather large half-deer form. They had kept to the plan however, and now with their weapons, plus a few more from the marines' own stash, in tow, began to march onwards, keeping their group surrounding the merchants.

Kennard had made the call to follow Ackee's lead shortly after their appearance on the battlefield, Shiori having explained in rather cheerful tones the general idea of the plan. The captain of the Stag Pirates had agreed to help, if only to repay the debt he owed the tawny haired captain for freeing the rest of his own crew. He was well aware of the dangers of the plan, but was confident enough in the ability of his crew that he need not worry too much. Shiori also found herself vouching for the strength of a few choice individuals, if the tussle from earlier was anything to go by.

Ackee made sure to make it clear to the marines that the merchants were 'prisoners' by shouting  commands to the rest of his group to keep them in check and slowly but surely, it appeared that the marines were catching on.

The reuniting of groups was held off as battle ensued, the pirates flanking the marines from both sides, only for a late group of marines to join the fight and flank Ackee's group of pirates and merchants from the other side.

Shiori had hopped off of Kennard's shoulder by this point, giving him a short wave of appreciation for his cooperation before diving into the fight herself. They needed to look like they were losing so that the marines could 'reclaim' the 'prisoners', but at the same time, they couldn't let themselves be too overwhelmed as they'd just end up back where they'd started; in the marine prison.

To this effect, Shiori attempted to hold back a little, allowing the marines to feel like they were gaining ground with every scratch and bruise they dealt.... for a short period of time. However, Shiori was not one to let herself lose and instead found herself sending powerful waves to impact the water in the bodies of the marines with each punch and kick she dealt out, thinning the number around her quite considerably. With a brief respite in her own fighting activities, Shiori turned to see how Caim was doing.

ooc// Kinda sped things along a bit rather than writing myself into a rut where I didn't know what to do |D

Caim had ceased standing on the sidelines now, instead having thrown himself into the madness of battle. He was trying his best to clear some form of path for Ackee's group and the Merchant 'Prisoners', if they couldn't get through the entire plan would be a failure. Even with the injury to his shoulder Caim was fighting as if he was unhindered, mowing down Marine after Marine in swift, brutal fashion with his blade, not holding back in the slightest for the moment. "Clear a path... that's all I have to do... if I over do it the entire plan may be in jeopardy" Caim muttered under his breath, he understood that at some point they'd need to fall back and let the crew go in order to manage their escape, the only question was how he and Shiori were going to do so.

(Quick post just to iterate that I'm back and going to try and get this moving again, really sorry about the delay, i'll go more in depth where I can next post instead of how short and general this one was)

A commanding yell from one of the higher ups called for the marines' priorities to switch to protecting the so called prisoners from the escaping pirates. With a grin, Shiori hopped over to Caim, kicking a nearby marine back towards the navy building as she did so.

"I think it's working!" she smiled, gaze switching to where Ackee's group were allowing themselves to be drawn away from the merchant crew whilst still pushing forward - away from the marine base. A few of the marines seemed to be actively guarding members of the merchant crew, likely striking up conversations to try and make sense of this recent development.

"Did you get a chance to say your farewells?" Shiori asked quietly, resting her green gaze on Caim for a short moment before turning to attack a marine that had gotten a little too close for comfort.

Caim took a moment to back out of the fight and revaluate the scenario. backing up back to his previous position near the Stag Pirate Captain, Caim came to the same conclusion as Shiori. "They're falling for it perfectly... I guess that's our task done... now for escape" Caim muttered. Seeing as how the Marines were now protecting the Merchant Crew Caim smiled faintly, however it quickly faded as Shiori spoke to him about farewells.

"I get the feeling i'll be seeing them again... Fate is a Mysterious Mistress, she always finds a way... Anyway I believe it's about time that we escape... your the Captain, lead on" Caim spoke, seeming to be remaining focused on task, even if they had been successful with the plan if they got captured it still would be a failure.