Serious: The Aurora Pirates Part 5: True Strength

Kaori looked at the escaping pirate. This man seemed to be somewhat out of the line for a blues fighter. Too powerful. He had to have lied. He had been in the grand line. They weren't so bad there. Rumors always spread like wildfire. But it did appear that powerful opposition could arise anywhere.

"Yeah, yeah," James muttered. He crouched down to examine the map. "But like that man said, we're not ready for the Grand Line yet. Or are we? In any case, let's head there next." James pointed to an island that was located 8.7 miles northeast of the Red Line. It was titled 'Taihou Island'. "I've heard about this old guy who lives on that island, who assesses the abilities of fighters," James said. His hands were still shaking with the anger that had possessed him moments before, but his voice was much more calm. "My teacher back at the dojo on Aurora Island told me about him. So he would be our best bet in seeing whether or not we're truly ready to enter the Grand Line. Pyriss, set our course to that island." James reached over with one hand and grasped the other by the arm, trying to stop it from shaking. "What's wrong with me?" James thought. "Am I really this angry? Or is this...fear?"

((Y'all posted quite a lot while i was gone :]))

Quote :

" You over there! Eavesdropping much? Show yourself and tell me who you are, you aren't hiding from anyone."

"Um..." Rai replied still just peeking over the edge of the ship as the other man used his staff to make some sort of impact on the ship making some little creature spin away. "...just, you know...Sight seeing." Rai said with a smile arose on his face just before the Man with the staff left. The people aboard the ship then begun to talk of landing on another island or something, he didn't hear well as he saw that his boat had drifted quite a bit away and now his hands were getting tired. "Excuse me...hope i'm not interrupting anything but um...can i have permission to come aboard...my hands are getting tired." He said still acting nice as usual.

James's head snapped up. He stared at Rai for a moment, but then he turned away, waving a hand at the guy dismissively. "Sure, whatever," James said. He had no idea who the man was, but he didn't have the time to figure it out.

Pyriss listened to his orders, she responded kindly back," Yes Captain! Right Away!" Pyriss balanced one foot on the floor of the deck as she patiently assisted herself up. She still possessed the compass in her hand as she calculated which direction the ship is heading and where it should head. she walked to the steer, shifting the steer, in response shifting the boat to the direction of Taihou Island. The red line was very close to the island, which would effect the weather of the island drastically. She predicted that the crew would need caution when they stepped on the island. She felt bad for the residents living on the island.

She stared at Rai, she wondered why he came out of his hiding after a few minutes. She walked over to him asking him with authority ," Who are you? And what do you do? Also where did come from?"

Heiki figured that everyone would be hungry after the brief fighting and returned to the kitchen only to find that the soup she had made had gotten cold. She quickly disposed of them. Pulling out a dozen eggs for omlettes and other ingredients, she made fried rice and gently placed the omlette on top of it. After setting them on several dishes, the girl walked out to let everyone know. "Food is ready."

James took his food quietly and sat away from everyone on the side of the ship. After eating a few bites he said quietly, "This is very good. Thank you."

"Hey, Heiki!"
Jake kept his voice down as he walked over to her, the baby dragon in his hands.
"Do you know anything about dragons? I think he might be hurt."
Just like a worried mother... Only that the kid in this case was a real deal monster. Even though it was a cute one.

Rai pushed himself up with his hands until he was hand standing on the edge of the ship and pushed again causing himself to flip over and land on the deck. "Thank you..." The woman begun to ask him questions again and he spoke "Who am i?...The name is Rai Ryouken...Um...I cook...and I came from there." He said pointing towards his small boat which had now drifted so far back that it was almost not visible anymore. Rai then looked around, "So, y'all like a real pirate crew, right?" He asked before he looked at the dragon this being the first time he had ever seen one.

James looked out at Rai's ship, which had nearly disappeared. He sighed and set his plate down on the deck of the ship. A moment later he tossed his shoes down the deck, which were followed moments later by his swords.

"Pyriss, stop the ship," James said as he dove overboard. He swam quickly out to the small boat and got in it, rowing it back to his own ship.

"Wow thanks" Rai said with a smile on his face as he the man retrieve his small boat for him, "Hmm...Pirates ain't as bad as i expected them to be." He said as he waked towards the edge of the ship where the boat was located and got a rope from his rucksack. He jumped down landing on the boat beside James before bowing his head to show his gratitude before he tired the end of the rope onto the ship. "Y'all wouldn't happen to be looking for a new crew-mate now would ya?" He asked as he pulled the rope's ends to firmly tighten it.

"Sure," James shrugged. "You said something about being a cook? We need a cook. Well, technically we have one, but she's also our doctor and she doesn't need that big of a load on her shoulders. Not counting the fact that she is incredibly lazy..."

"Great, i was hoping you'd say that" he said as he finished tying the rope tightly already almost anticipating James decision and jumped up high aboard the ship and tied the rope to the back of it, "I'll need to take this boat with me for now...I'm sure i can get a good price for it at the next island...i had originally planned to get a bigger one anyway." Rai then turned to face everyone else, "Nice to meet you all"

"Hmm. I didn't know we had a dragon..." Heiki laughed to herself. She approached the dragon and checked for broke bones and other injuries. "Nothing serious. Sure is a tough guy." She quickly treated the scratches that the dragon had. "There you go."

She grabbed her plate of omlette and sat down to eat when she heard James say something about her being lazy. "Hm. That's true, but you didn't have to say it outloud," she laughed. "Unless you want me to confiscate that omlette. Anyways..." the girl turned towards the newcomer. "Welcome. I'm Heiki, the doctor and ex-cook."

When James informed her to stop the ship, she performed the task without hesitation. She pulled the steer, with the intentions to jam the steer. The steer wasn't jammed but the ship, followed her orders, stopping completely. She looked down seeing the captain and the newcomer down at the smaller ship. She wondered what durability the ship possessed. The waves might destroy the ship, if he ever got close to the red line. Pyriss thought to herself, that Rai joining this crew was the smartest decision.

"Let's just continue on our way," James said as he passed Pyriss. "We need to reach the island as soon as possible."

Pyriss listened to James, she followed his orders swiftly. Somehow following the orders of James felt,.....rather exiting. James putting his faith in the hands of Pyriss made her grateful to be apart of the Aurora pirates. Pyriss used 80% percent of her strength to turn the steer clockwise. The ship started to move once more. She then she replied to James,"Ok, Captain. Anyways I have another question for you Rai, can you fight? Do you possess any special abilities, like for example Kaori's ability to stop objects."

"Abilities...besides cooking?...I guess you probably mean like a Devil Fruit sort of thing right?" He said looking around looking for the person name Kaori, Rai had never met anyone else who attained a Devil fruit so it would have been interesting if his new Nakama had some special DF abilities. "Yeah...I err...Ate on of those things when i was younger..." Rai's head then turned to the Dishes with fried rice and made his way over "...It's nothing important though...Mind if i have some rice?" He said changing the subject and looking down at one of the dishes.

(since no one is posting I will)

Pyriss laughed a little, she thought to herself,(thinking)??????He doesn't know what he does. Pyriss corrected herself," Well not simply a devil fruit, you can eat a devil fruit and it can be completely useless if its the wrong fruit. I mean any physical traits, combat abilities, and such. Martial arts, weapon specialties, not just presumably devil fruits."

((Alright then. Since there's not much else to do or say, let's just skip ahead a little.))

It didn't take them long to reach their destination. Soon they were pulling to the dock of a new island. This island was cleared of most of wild vegetation. The dock led into a small town, which opened up in a hilly area where many farms dotted the landscape. A large mountain blocked the crew's view of the other side of the island.

James jumped down onto land and stretched before turning back to the rest of the crew. "Everyone, go into town and ask around about this guy I was talking about earlier," James said. "Remember, he's old and can assess fighting abilities. I know it isn't much to go on, but with somebody like that living around here, surely someone's heard of him. Anyway, I'm off." James turned and headed off into town.

Pyriss, dependent and friendly, desired to travel in a group. She looked back and asked anyone she could find, she looked at Rai" Hey, Rai! Mind if you come to town with me? I would value your company. I also want to get to know the newbie." She continued to talk as she extended her legs outward, jumping off the deck unto the ground. She landed perfectly on her feet with a staggering pain in her knees, a recoil from the gravity of the planet. Though the damage, gradually minor. She looked back, wanting Rai to follow her as she headed into town, a different direction than the Captain.

Kaori had spent the rest of the trip reading the latest newspaper, reclusive as usual. Even though there hadn't been anything of real interest, he didn't particularly care to interact with the newbie. Another one to screw things up, as usual.
As the reached the island, Kaori decided to spare his knees and simply airwalked down with the power of his fruit. He decided to go alone. He walked down the streets, suddenly hearing a sound. A woman yelling “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?” It came from the bar.
Kaori was somewhat bored, so he decided to stop and look. Two people came out. He looked around at what was going on. The focal point of it seemed to be the sword wielding woman. The robed man (Kaori) seemed unimpressed.

The Women huffed as she put her sword away and walked back into the bar, inside seemed to be quiet a mess, she sighed as she had let her temper get the best of her. She walked up to the cowering bar owner behind the counter and leaned over it to look at her "uhh sorry about the mess, ill help clean up" she said smiling slightly as she put her sword away and rubbed the back of her head.

James made his way down a busy street. He stopped by a supply shop and bought some wood. He hadn't fixed the damage to ship yet and he knew he didn't have enough supplies to make repairs that big. James then asked the owner about the man they were looking for, but the shop owner didn't know anything. He gave James directions to a food store saying, "If anyone knows about this old man, then the owner of this store certainly would. She buys food from the surrounding farms and sells it to us." James thanked the owner and left, heading to the food store.