SRS: A Rising Stargazer - Volume I: Twilight in the South Blue [OPEN]

Killing half an hour proved easy enough; there were several other restaurants along the street, and that had been exactly what the marksman needed. A few alleys down from the eatery he and his captain had shaken their bogey at, Bryce found a kitchen's back door open for ventilation purposes and ducked inside. A short while later he was dressed in a white chef's uniform - the attire's original owner sleeping off a blackjack.

Just a few minutes to the hour mark, Bryce showed by the dock pulling a small cart stacked with smoked fowl, cured pork, and dried sausages. He wore an annoyed look on his mousy face. Glancing up at the sun, he let out a couple of curse words and approached the cutter.

"Damn it big bro," Bryce groused out loud, wiping his forehead with a white sleeve. "Pops is gonna kill us both if you don't get here on time for once...!"

Walking boldly up to the gang-plank, Bryce took an armful of savory smelling prosciutto and began boarding the ship, his eyes scanning about for a place to begin depositing his cargo.

Shocker watched the young man wheel the delivery cart up onto the deck of the stolen Marine ship, and observed the young man pause to look around.

He doesn't know where to put the supplies. He hasn't been on the ship before.

Still, orders were orders. Once his marine tail had reported back that he'd lost the tail of the Anchor pirate Shocker had fallen back to watch and wait, just as his commander had directed him to. Now there was someone on the ship, and Shocker's orders were clear. He strolled up to the boat's ramp, then shouted loudly at the kid.

"You! Delivery boy!" he roared, getting Bryce's attention. "What are you doing on a Marine ship without proper supervision?"

Shocker strode up the ramp authoritatively, stopping just in front of the boy, looming over him. "Care to explain yourself? I never ordered any supplies for my ship... who placed this order?"

"Huh?" Bryce replied, finding an empty barrel to dump his first arm-load of foodstuff into. "A marine ship?" Bryce looked around him, then froze straight as an arrow. Staring at the sail, he seemed to notice for the first time that it was, indeed a marine ship.

"Uwah!" he exclaimed, taking a step back. Turning back towards Shocker, an embarrassed look on his face, Bryce scrambled to fix himself into a paramilitary salute. "Sir, I did not realize I was working for the marines sir!" Listening for a moment more, his face fell a bit.

"Pops never tells us who placed the order," Bryce whined, sounding a bit nervous. "He just tells us 'you little brats better get the order on time, or it's a whippin' tonight!'" Bryce said, deepening his voice when he spoke "Pops'" lines. Leaving the cart of meat up on the ship, the young pirate-come-merchant stood in place, looking dumbfounded.

"I don't want to cause the marines no trouble," Bryce finally said. "I'll get this stuff out of here in a jiffy, just..." he trailed off, looking at the marines with eyes that sparkled with tears over the rims of his shades. "...just, would you please give me a note or something saying I couldn't complete the delivery? Pops'll never believe I got sent away, he'll think I was just slacking!"

Bryce's eyes went wide with terror, and he clutched the sides of his head as if in pain at some act of punishment yet to be taken against him.

Shocker's lips tightened momentarily, but he sighed with an air of defeat. He wasn't a cruel person and he had no desire to get this boy in trouble.

"Mistakes are made. Finish your unloading and get off the ship," he concluded. He turned around, facing back towards the market place, surveying the area. A small grunt escaped from his lips at the appearance of another delivery boy. This one seemed to be struggling a bit under the weight of his cart, but it was a very large cart. The young man's progress was slow, and he pulled up to a stop at the base of the ramp. Pausing to wipe the sweat from his brow, he hailed Shocker with a wave.

"Hey, sir! Vegetable delivery. Where do you want them?" he called out. Inwardly, Jhonen wasn't pleased, he recognised the guy. A Lieutenant Junior Grade was generally not something special, but this one had experimental cyborg modifications. Obviously, such news had circulated around the Research Department like wildfire, and there were many rumours about what this man's abilities really were. This was not a good sign.

The Marine waved him up onto the ship, and Jhonen sighed a small sigh of relief. His mind was still working on a plan to get away, because with the Marine Lieutenant around they couldn't exactly hang around under the guise of delivery boys, and he didn't want to fight the man. That would only draw attention, more Marines and possible damage to the ship. Plus, he wasn't certain he had what it takes to beat a Marine Lieutenant.

Jhonen started to wheel the wagon up the ramp laboriously, the cart creaking and buckling at every step. Shocker pursed his lips, somewhat confused. Why would a delivery boy try to push an entire loaded wagon up a ramp rather than leave it dockside and bring up individual crates?

"Hold it, boy," Shocker ordered sternly. "Looks like your wagon is going to break. I'll help you," he advised as he strode down the ramp and stood beside Jhonen. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of Jhonen's neck, a prickly feeling of discomfort.

Things are about to go badly wrong, he thought. He was right.

Shocker leaned over to help push the cart and heaved, grunting. He heaved again and then stopped, looking puzzled. He turned to look at Jhonen, a stony gaze boring into the young man's face.

"Why is this cart so heavy? I can barely move it. Vegetables shouldn't weigh that much..." he trailed off. He reached for the sheet covering the wagon and Jhonen flew into action. His hand darted under the sheet and came back out holding the ring of the giant anchor. Shocker stared in disbelief at what he was seeing. It was the Anchor Pirate! Traitor of the World Government!

"MARINES!" roared Shocker furiously, knowing his four Seamen would assemble and give them the advantage of numbers.

"I hope you can fight, Bryce!" Jhonen roared as he drew into a fighting stance at the edge of the dock. Shocker drew into his own pose, a squat boxer's stance, as electricity began to arc dangerously around his hands.

Bryce had begun unloading the wagon as per his act, feeling mostly recovered from the effects of the alcohol after clearing out his gut and taking an hour. His own cart was empty and on it's way back down the ramp when Jhonen had shown up, his own cart and it's special 'cargo' on the way. Bryce rushed back up the ramp on the pretense of having forgotten the invoice, making sure he'd still be on the ship when his captain got on.

As soon as the marine had offered to give a hand with the wagon, Bryce had felt like things were doomed to go downhill. He'd been right, and literally; with the fight starting, the untended vegetable wagon started rolling down the ramp. Bryce leapt after the wagon, catching the rim and holding it up. It held their food supply, and he didn't want to see it lost to battle.

By the time Bryce had managed to get the lighter, anchorless wagon up onto the deck, the four seamen had all arrived, assembling themselves near but cautiously distant from their Lieutenant. Grabbing his disguise by the belt, the marksman gave a tug and ripped off his chef's clothes, revealing his usual wardrobe; somehow, even his hat and shirt were back on.

"I can't launch the ship, nii-san!" Bryce shouted down, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and chambering three AP rounds in a flash. Dropping down to his knees, the young pirate leaned up over the craft's guard rail, aiming his gun towards the assemblage of foemen and waiting for somebody to make a move.

"You come get it working," he said just loud enough for Jhonen to hear, "and I'll keep you covered!"

Shocker's attention never wavered from the man holding the large anchor in front of him, even though he was acutely aware of what else was going on by listening to the shouts of his men and the delivery boy.

"You're not getting that ship working, Anchor," he announced grimly as he drew one of his pistols from its holster. He pointed it squarely at Jhonen, his hand steady and calm.

"I don't want to kill you, even though you are a traitor. What I want is to apprehend you so that the justice system can deal with you in the correct manner, pirate."

Jhonen smiled ever so slightly at this announcement.

"So justice prevails. Well, I won't make it easy for you," he added dryly. His footing shifted ever so slightly and Shocker's eyes narrowed. The pistol reported with a loud bang and a flare of smoke as the lead shot was launched at Jhonen.

The pirate didn't move, recoiling only slightly as the projectile slammed into his shoulder. The impact had been hard but the damage minimal, and Shocker lowered his pistol to glare at Jhonen.

"So you're resistant to bullets are you? Well... I know your secret. You're an ex-Marine so it has to be the Tekkai technique of the Rokushiki arts. Am I correct?" he asked sternly. Jhonen smirked at the comment, confirming Shocker's suspicions.

"Fine, so I can't hurt you with your Iron Defense up. But you can't move either," he added. "So we're at a stalemate."

Suddenly his fist lashed forwards, Shocker roaring as it did.

"DENKA SAWARU: GANJOKEN!" [[Electric Touch: Solid Fist]]
The fist struck Jhonen's iron-tense abdomen, the steel knuckle points breaking the Tekkai as the electrical shock surged through Jhonen's body. He convulsed slightly and stumbled backwards, looking surprised as he glared at Lieutenant Dreyton and tensed his muscles once more.

"Your Tekkai is weak. I have real steel to break it, and electricity to sidestep it. Even without metal knuckles the electricity would cause your muscles to convulse, ruining the iron tension that Tekkai holds," Shocker explained to Jhonen as he slammed his other fist into Jhonen's side, causing him to tumble to the ground with a hard slap.

"Your little martial tricks are useless against Shocker X. Dreyton. I am the Lightning Lieutenant!" he shouted.

Jhonen, still prone on the ground, suddenly swiped his anchor at the lieutenant, easily swinging the giant one-ton anchor with one hand. The huge metal object caught Shocker's legs, knocking him backwards and onto the ground as well. Jhonen hauled himself up, panting slightly. He winced as he did so, his torso aching from the power of Shocker's strikes. There was an odd feeling there, a tingle from the electricity.

"Bryce, you'll have to handle the others, this guy's going to need my full attention. And I don't think I'll be able to get up there to get the ship off the dock until I deal with this, sorry," he concluded.

"Just start removing the moorings and get the ramp up. Get the ship as ready to go as you know how, I'm sure you've got good common sense," he order grimly as Shocker stood up once more, his fists crackling with electric energy.

"Like we'll just let him take the ship!" one of the marines on the dock shouted, rushing towards the ship defiantly as Jhonen shouted his instructions. While the ramp was neatly blocked off by the fight between Shocker and the ex-marine, the railing was not so high from the water that an intrepid and able-bodied marine couldn't make the jump. The other three rushed after the first as he sprang into the air, towards the ship.

The others skidded to a halt, however, as a shotgun report cut through the air, a spray of blood raining down among them. Though brave, the first marine's leap of faith had ended in a round of buckshot passing through his stomach. His body smacked against the ship's side with a sickening thud, a smear of red christening the ship to it's new service as an outlaw vessel.

Springing up from his spot at the railing, Bryce rushed over and began to weigh anchor. Seeing an opening, another of the three ratings tried his luck at boarding; with the gunman making ready to sail, he assumed the opportunity ripe. A second, quieter boom split the air, this one of a rifle. A moment later the screaming marine splashed into the waters below the dock, left leg missing from the knee down.

While the remaining two underlings assessed the risk/safety ratio of forceful entry to the vessel's deck, Bryce hurriedly unfurled the sails and kicked the rudder-lock off. The Cosmos Vagrant began to drift shortly thereafter, it's ramp pulling from the dock and falling into the water with a loud snapping sound. A moment later only two moorings kept it from blowing out to sea.

"Just two more, and-" Bryce began, his voice lost under the sound of a pistol being fired. A second chorused the first, and soon he was pinned to the dock, the remaining marines choosing to follow his example and open up at a range.

Laying flat and taking careful aim with his rifle, Bryce envisioned a series of dotted lines that connected every solid, flat surface on and around the ship with the ropes and holdfasts which were the last remaining obstacle between the ship and the open seas. Picking the most likely ones, the young marksman remained low under supressing fire, waiting for his captain to finish off the strange electric man.

"Hurry up, nii-san," Bryce shouted, sounding much more excited than he intended to. "The world is waiting for us with eyes wide open!"

Jhonen stepped forwards twice, swinging the anchor like a baseball bat. Shocker rolled with the blow to try to minimise damage, but it still sent him skidding across the ground with a gasp of pain. Jhonen pivoted, bringing the anchor down over his head in a hammering blow, smashing to pieces one of the moorings that held the ship in place.

The Cosmos Vagrant swayed and the remaining mooring stretched taut, the only think keeping the ship from the freedom of the oceans. Jhonen strode purposefully towards the remaining mooring to smash it apart. He was intercepted half way there by a low tackle around the legs, bringing him down to the ground forcefully. Immediately Dreyton laid into Jhonen with his electrified fists, smacking the pirate in his jaw, chest and torso with brutal force. The barrage of lighting punches left Jhonen feeling both bruised and half-numb all over, and he realised he had to do something soon or it would all be over.

"Grapple Strike!" he called as he lifted his right arm slightly and fired his anchor-cannon that was hidden under the large sleeve. It struck the Marine square in the chest, knocking him backwards as blood flew from his mouth. Shocker groaned as he fell flat on his back, it felt as though at least one of his ribs had just been broken.

Just as Jhonen was dragging himself to his feet he heard a high-pitched whistle, and a pile of crates nearby exploded into splinters. He twisted to see what it was, to see the Vagrant now drifting freely. The final mooring rope had snapped!

Feeling too bruised and uncoordinated to trust himself to a jump at the ship, Jhonen instead grabbed the ring at the end of a long chain on his anchor, and using the other arm began to spin the anchor in the air, building momentum for a throw. Several gunshots broke out, chipping the ground around him, but he released his hand and the giant anchor flew at the drifting ship. It landed with a crash, punching a hole right through the main deck, and lodged there, allowing Jhonen to begin climbing the chain of the anchor back to the ship as his chain dragged through the ocean.

Bryce watched Jhonen shrink on the shoreline with more than a bit of discomfort. Pacing back and forth, waving his arms, paying less attention to the fire raining down around him than to his captain, the young marksman didn't know what to do.

"Uaaaah! Niiiii-san! You can't miss the ship, I'm no good at sailing! Stop shooting, you freaks! Jhoneeeeeeen-niiiiiii!"

Then, his captain began doing something strange. It took a moment to figure out why he was spinning around the anchor, and his eyes went wide as he realized. Bryce had just enough time to run and hide behind the mast before the anchor crashed into the deck, sending a spray of splinters and beams into the air.

Tentatively, he peeked out from the safety of his hiding spot. They had sailed outside of gunfire range; the deck was quiet, except for the cool, low breeze and the sound of bits of heavy debris in the air slowly settling back down to the deck. A moment later, Bryce sighed in relief as Jhonen dragged himself up over the edge.

"That was pretty reckless, nii-san," Bryce chided, walking over and helping Jhonen finish clearing the side. When he was standing on the deck, the younger pirate dusted his coat off a bit, pulling out a map and handing it to him.

"I found this by the helm while I was running around," Bryce cheerily informed Jhonen, his mood returning. "What are your orders, captain-nii?"

Jhonen furrowed his brow, watching the dock. He could see the Marine Lieutenant had vanished. His body still felt prickly from where the electricity had coursed through him, and really he was lucky to have survived. He was a researcher, not a fighter, despite what skills he may have with an anchor. And unfortunately he had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time he saw Lieutenant Junior Grade Shocker X. Dreyton.

Still, to more pressing matters. He turned to face his eager crewmate, studying him closely. He unrolled the map in his hand, glancing at it.

"It's a starchart, Bryce. That's my skill. Navigation by the stars. I don't need a compass, and when we get to the Grand Line I won't need a Log Pose either," he added. "So it means we'll be doing a lot of sailing at night," the pirate captain concluded. "We'll adventure for our dreams!" he declared confidently to Bryce, smacking his fist into his palm. Following this announcement, he studied the hole his anchor was lodged into.

"Damn it, this is a bad hole. We can try to patch it up, but one big wave will send water pouring into the ship," Jhonen murmured. He pursed his lips, considering what to do. "It's no use, we'll have to do the temporary repairs and hope we meet a shipwright who can fix this for us somewhere soon," he stated. "So that's my order, we're sailing to the nearest inhabited island to find a shipwright!"

It was a sunny day on the sea of South Blue with a slight breeze which from time to time tickled the back of the huge tiger shark fishman. He was sailing on a bigger than a usual raft which was made of fully seasoned white oaks that were tight around with oakum and irons stabbed on each of the oak tree's long logs. As a floor Jaw had neatly jointed a pile of long lumber with the oak trees and had them painted white and of course had been caulked perfectly to prevent water from entering the raft.
It had one mast with a small sail which he had tied back because he was using the small fan which was powered by the water current and slowly pushed the boat forward. Usually Jaw would take the rope that was standing right next to him and tie it around his waist pulling the raft with his fast swimming going at quick speed forward. That also trained his strength more.

The last few hours he had been intensely practising his fishman karate and now had decided to rest. Jaw dressed back his jet black buttoned kung fu shirt after washing himself in the cool water relaxing his muscles.
A sudden burst of wind had popped out of nowhere making Jaw shudder as he turned off the fan on the back of his raft and untied the white sails letting them be blown by the wind as the raft increased it's speed greatly.

Jaw decided to meditate so he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes.
It was not long when he heard the crashing of waves into a ship. The fishman opened one eye and saw a marine ship not far away.
Jaw silently and calmly put on his cloak along with his hood on his head covering his face.
He continued observing the marine ship and soon realized it was one of those new models they produced - a Marine cutter. It was really a jump in the designs of ship and Jaw expected nonetheless from the marines who were still in behind to the greater pirates which seemed to have abnormal and outlandish ships.

The sharp vision of the tiger shark man could see only two figures, it was true that it could be piloted by one man but it still didn't make sense. As it got closer the fishman could make out an anchor right through the hull of it...

"How dare they wreck such a great ship..." He muttered with great displeasure as he felt the ship's pain like it was his own. Jaw had no other choice then to help those poor bastards and also try not to lecture them on how they should care for their ships.
But something else popped up in Jaw's head...what was a marine cutter doing here...

Could they be pirates?

"Right!" Bryce shouted enthusiastically, raising his right arm in the air as high as he could. "Onward, the sea of dreams!"

Bryce hadn't felt as excited as he was at the moment in a long, long time. Something inside of him told him that he was in a good place. There were many pleasures to be taken on the sea, on a good ship, with a good crew. While it was just captain and himself, the marksman liked the way things were going. If things kept up this way, not a man in the world would ignore them.

Before he got too lost in his excitement, Bryce remembered the hole in the ship. Rushing below deck, he found some materials in the hold for just such an emergency. Carrying as much as he could up at once, it took him several trips to get all the tools and lumber he would need up to the deck. Setting everything down neatly to begin his emergency repairs, Bryce realized he'd forgotten something.

"Jhonen-nii?" Bryce asked, hesitating slightly. "Is there anywhere else we could put this anchor until I'm done with the emergency repairs?"

Focused on getting a good-enough-patch in place, just in case of a storm, Bryce didn't see the approaching raft, though his eyesight was more than good enough. Unaware that help was coming, be started his own makeshift repairs; building ships was a lot different than guns.

Jhonen laughed at Bryce's eagerness and noted the young man's proactive nature. He shuffled over to the hole, swinging one arm back and forth and side to side, trying to work out if any serious damage had been done by the beating he'd taken from the Marine Lieutenant. Lots of soft-muscle bruising, which hurt a lot, but no broken bones or torn muscles, so he was essentially alright.

Reaching over Bryce with the better arm, Jhonen wiggled the anchor, popping it out of the hole easily and slinging the heavy anchor over his shoulder.

"Rightio, Bryce, I'm going to go and take care of these scrapes and bruises, wash my face of the blood, and stow the anchor," he announced, turning to head below deck. He paused, squinted and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, falling silent as he did so.

All of a sudden Jhonen roused himself, shifting the anchor to his other shoulder. "Okay Bryce, we've got company. A raft is approaching, looks harmless enough. Find out if the sailor is lost, needs help, anything like that," he ordered, waving his hand airily to indicate he didn't really care what exactly Bryce checked as long as he covered the basics.

"As captain of this ship, I'll need to be presentable, so I'll go do that face-washing thing," he added as he turned and headed below deck, leaning the anchor against the wall as he did so.

Bryce gave a nods and flashed a thumbs-up, throwing an eye towards the raft and gauging it's distance. At a glance he could tell it was still some ways off from reaching them, and decided he'd make best use of that time on his original task.

Throwing down the most basic, cursory, emergent repairs only took a few minutes, and the raft was still a little ways off by then. His attention now freed up, Bryce put his tools back in their chest and pushed the materials up against the mast, where they'd be safe for now. Strolling over to the railing, his hat shading his eyes from the sun, the young marksman took a look at the craft approaching them.

He could identify somebody very large in a black karate gi; they definitely did look human, but he'd seen too little of the world in his travels to know offhand exactly what he was. All the same, the craft was small and operated by just the one man. It didn't look like trouble, at least.

"Hey, the sailor!" Bryce shouted, waving his left arm. "What're you doing out here?"

Jaw's sharp eyes were able to make out that one of the figures disappeared probably on the deck below while one was left standing and observing the raft as it approached the Marine cutter. Whoever they were the karate fishman had to lend a hand for such a nice ship. He was going to lecture them even though that might get him some trouble.

The tiger shark fishman did not reveal his face and continued being in the shade when he spoke with a calm tone:
"I assume your ship needs repairs."
The fishman looked at the eyes of the one that waved to him just for a second revealing his inhuman face and then going back in the shades.
"A stronger current is coming, even this cutter would drown to the size of those waves after those emergency repairs." The sharkman used the word emergency because he did not want to offend the one who tried repairing...because the repairing was very poor.

Jaw remained silent afterwards with his guard on though he did not show it he was already ready to defend himself if those people decided to be violent other than that the honorable shipwright was lending a hand to the poor sailors who somehow had an anchor smashed on their deck which now was gone.
If they refused, the fishman was going to continue to his journey to the next island and proceed with his interrupted meditation.

Bryce spent a brief moment in shock of the wandering rafter's face; he'd heard of the many wild, animalistic races that inhabited the world in stories, but had always assumed they were either myth or confined to the grand line. To see one out here, in South Blue, was startling.

More startling, however, was that they should meet a roaming shipwright on the open seas within hours of damaging their ship. Most confounding of all, he was offering to do the repairs, and right on the eves of a dangerous storm's approach. The entire thing seemed too bizarre for Bryce to take at face value.

Deus X., who art in scripting, hallowed be thy plot device, thy gimmicks come, thy machina be done, in One Piece, as they are in Star Trek, Bryce chanted mentally, remembering an old prayer that suited just such odd occurrences. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, the small pirate gestured welcomingly to their miracle shipwright.

"Welcome Aboard the Vagrant," Bryce said, smiling to the sharkman. "My name's Bryce, but you can call me 'Ryce or Bry' or whatever you want," he finished. Though he was looking at Jaw directly, his tilted head kept his eyes hidden beneath the brim of his hat.

"Jhonen-nii!" Bryce called, turning halfway to face the cabin, without giving his back to the newcomer. "The drifter's arrived, and he wants to fix our ship!"

Turning back to Jaw, Bryce extended his hand.

"How much do you ask for your travelling repair services, Mister...?"

Jhonen strode back onto the deck, his face less puffy now that he'd cleaned the abrasions and applied cold water. He took in the looming Fishman, observing his great size, the black gi he wore and the sharp teeth he possessed.

Some kind of shark man, he mentally noted. Generally Fishmen were antagonistic to humans, but there were known exceptions.

"So you're a shipwright, huh?" he asked of the shark. Seemed awfully convenient. The Marine Lieutenant had seen the anchor incident, could he have dispatched a Fishman lackey? Fishmen weren't allowed in the Marines, but that didn't mean the Lieutenant couldn't have allies.

"Well, what's your name, shipwright?" he asked, offering a handshake.

((It's called Gi, Vagrant ? Awesome, I never knew that. Thanks =D))

Jaw's raft finally reached minimal distance from the marine cutter and the sharkman took a rope and jumped on the marine ship. He tied the rope to the marine cutter so the raft would not sail away.
Jaw nodded in respect to the first human he saw who warmly welcomed him on board the damaged cutter. Something told Jaw it was safe to remove his hood as the humans seemed as folks who didn't have prejudice towards his race. Most likely pirates.

The behemoth of his race fishman removed his hood revealing his outlandish face and it's demonic-like features. Jaw was frowning because that was his usual facial expression and spoke with a neutral tone:
"I am named Jaw." Paused and continued. "My only reward would be fixing this ship."

The fishman's attention turned to the second figure he had seen who just came from below deck and had enquired rhetorically about Jaw's occupation.
The karate sharkman's pulled his hand shaking the hand of the man infront of him.
"Jaw."
The huge fishman then turned out at the big hole and was curious how did an anchor smash on it's deck. Did the marines start firing anchors ?
Jaw was a silent character so he decided to keep his question in his thoughts...for now.

The sharkman then turned back and jumped on his raft taking his bag with tools and jumped back on the marine cutter.
Jaw dropped the bag on the ground as the tools fell out of it either. The fishman decided to explain a bit about their situation while observing the big hole.
"You are lucky your keel isn't damage but despite that your deck is in awful condition." He paused again and continued. "I can fix it up for some time but it would need repairs at a dock with materials in hand to the closest island around. Otherwise it would not survive a second storm, after the one that is coming."

Jaw took out the poorly hammered timbers and began extracting the oakum from with a jerry iron. He had to take out the previous oakum, use the one he had on the raft and carefully join together the broken timber with the new timber. With this kind of damage, to repair it to what it used to be, a bigger part of the deck must be dismantled, because the timber was broken.

The fishman continued on with his work extracting the oakum and after he finished the extraction he noticed the cloud coming up closer. Jaw was now in a hurry joining carefully yet quickly the timber with the broken timber which had not fallen below deck.
In the middle of him joining the the timber he asked if they had any tar to boil because he needed it to seal the seams makes them watertight.

Jhonen eyed the giant sharkman as he quickly and efficiently started about fixing the ship's deck. He lingered with a degree of distrust while the work was done, simply because as far as he knew nobody would do something for nothing. The fishman must have wanted something, he suspected.

"So Jaw, where are you from? We don't see many Fishmen in South Blue, you tend to keep to yourselves," Jhonen mentioned as Jaw worked, making amicable small-talk to pass the time. He glanced at his left wrist, where a small barometer was strapped.

"Hrm, air pressure is dropping, there's definitely something big brewing. I really appreciate this, you have no idea," he earnestly commented as Jaw looked to almost be done.

When the fishman asked about the tar, Jhonen bit his lip hesitantly.

"I'm not sure, I sort of... acquired this ship in a hurry," he said, choosing his euphemism carefully. He waved at Bryce, indicating for him to go check belowdecks to see if they had any urns of tar onboard.

Sharp as a tack, Bryce caught the byplay instantly and rushed off below the deck, searching around for tar or pitch for repairs. He couldn't find any; the ship was poorly provisioned for repairs, and wouldn't have had a scrap of food if they hadn't snuck aboard with it in the first place. There were, however, some items aboard that could be improvised.

"So I couldn't find any tar," Bryce said as he walked back up to the top deck, arms filled with a bucket, a jug of cooking oil, a bag of flour, and some marine uniforms. "But we can use this stuff, instead."

Dumping the stuff out on the deck, Bryce opened the oil and poured it into the bucket. He handed Jhonen the flour, and the fishman the uniforms.

"Please pour the flour in, slowly, nii-san," Bryce explained, crouching down infront of the bucket and sticking his hands in. "If you," he began, turning to the fishman, "would be so kind, could you tear those into strips?"

Beginning to churn the oil with his hands, Bryce explained what he was planning.

"If you soak those strips in this stuff, then press them tight between the wood, they'll keep water tight...they'll act sort of like the tar would, if we had any. Of course, they won't last very long, but the same could be said about the rest of these repairs, so it'll have to do."

Bryce smiled up at Jhonen expectantly, his hat tilted back just far enough for the slightly older pirate to see his eyes. Everything about his expression was asking for approval or acknowledgement of a job well done.

Whilst the giant fishman continued joining the timber together and creating holes for the irons to pass through he was questioned by the bigger man about his personal life. The fishman remained silent for a moment but then decided it was rude not to answer.
"My home was Fishman Island, now it's South Blue." He stated simply continuing hammering the irons and connecting each timber quickly.

The other man who seemed younger and his attitude was younger had come up with an intelligent idea of how to seal the seams and make it watertight...for a while. The moment he saw the items Jaw had already figured out the man's idea.
It was something Jaw did not expect but it was great nonetheless.
The giant karate fishman picked up the uniforms and nodded gratefully. Jaw began tearing apart very proportionally every strip making them big and thin enough for the seams.

"Let us double our progress speed." He said as he felt the storm coming closer more as the waves began moving wildly the raft. Jaw had already calculated that he would help them nonetheless and he had already known that his raft was going bye-bye as he had to stay on the ship and finish his duty of repairing. He was a honorable fishman. Jaw knew that even they did attack him after this they won't able to defeat him, he was still on guard and everything around them was water, including the storm they had no ground to fight....

But something told Jaw that they were honorable either...

Bryce did his best to pick up his own speed, but at the same while tried to stay slow enough to make sure he wasn't messing anything up. The young pirate had very little in the way of salable trades, and the two he did possess - making guns and firing them - were of no use to him here. Though he wanted to beat the storm, he didn't want to rush and ruin the much-needed quick repair.

While they were finishing their task, the wind had picked up pretty dramatically. Bryce could hear the well-made but tiny, improvised raft their improbably saviour had arrived on groaning and creaking under the stress of the violent chop on which they floated. It occurred to him that the little ship was unlikely to last through the storm; in fact, just having it moored to their vessel was bound to cause damage to both of them.

"Jaw-san, I apologize, but we need to let your raft go before the storm hits," Bryce said as delicately as he could, his voice raising in pitch slightly and lowering in volume, giving him a husky but effeminate voice. The marksman removed his hat and held it with both hands over his stomach, his brown eyes shining in the cloud-glow with sincere apology.

"You will of course be welcome to stay aboard the Cosmos Vagrant as long as you need," he continued, stuffing his hat by it's brim into the waistline of his pants just above his butt. "And I'll personally pay as much of the damages back to you as I can. Unless..."

Here, Bryce paused and turned to Jhonen, his expressive nut common brown eyes alight with hope.

"Unless, I mean, you'd like to sail with us...and, you know, Jho-, that is, Captain-nii were okay with it."

Jhonen started, a look of slight disbelief on his face. Granted, he had only just met Bryce, but the kid had some nerve to simply proposition someone to be a crew member right in front of his face.

"Bryce, you speak out of turn. If I'm going to captain a crew then it's got to be my decision who serves on this ship," he declared as he turned to the shark man.

"I appreciate the repairs, but I don't know a thing about you yet Jaw. Even assuming you want to join the crew, you'll have to sail with us to the next island. It's a few days away, so I can get an idea of who you are," Jhonen elaborated.

"Then, when we get there, maybe we'll decide. If you want to join and I like you, then absolutely I'd love a shipwright on this ship. If we have our disagreements however... we'll go our own ways," Jhonen concluded. He glanced up at the brewing clouds and down at the choppy water below.

"Finish up and come on down below. I'll have dinner ready for you two by the time you're done," he announced as he headed down to the galley.

"I...I!" Bryce's voice halved in volume and doubled in pitch. His hand flew to his back, grabbing up his hat and pulling it tight down over his eyes in a single fluid motion. He almost seemed to visibly shrink, slouching and staring down at the hole in the deck, the hair hanging out from beneath his hat tossing about morosely in the growing winds.

"I'm very sorry, Jho-, I mean, nii-s-..." Bryce paused for a moment.

"Taichou," he finally said, walking away. The strips were all soaking, his hand in the repairs finished. "I just got a bit excited..."

Within moments he had vanished below deck, any sound he might have made drowned out by the howling of the wind beneath the darkening sky. In the cabin, Bryce moved between the crates of vegetables and dried meats, trying to decide on what to make. Cooking might take his mind off of the captain's disappointment.

Face burning red, Bryce couldn't understand why it was so important to him that he have Jhonen's approval. All that he wanted was attention, and that man was nothing more than a means to that end. Nonetheless, he found himself wanting that man's attention in particular. Something about his attention seemed more significant.

Maybe it had been the ease with which Jhonen had seen through his past, or the fact that he was living under such exciting circumstances. It was unclear why, but Bryce was certain that there had to be some reason. He was certain that until he had this man's eyes on him, nobody else would be able to see him.

Nursing his wounded pride, the marksman-turned-temp-chef began preparing prosciutto and escarole stromboli.

Jhonen followed Bryce down to the galley, to see him trying to busy himself with cooking. He leaned casually against the doorway, puzzled by Bryce's behaviour.

"I never wanted to be the captain," he mentioned abruptly, not shifting from his place against the doorjam.

"I was content to be one guy with a ship. That was all. You wanted to join me, he reminded Bryce as he continued his chain of thought.

"I'm a researcher, not a naval commander. This is all new to me, but I did learn a few things with the Marines which I intend to employ in my new role as captain for you, Bryce. The most important thing I learned is that the captain's role is one that demands only two things. Obedience and respect," he concluded.

"Now you've got the obedience, you're eager to please, but you have to understand something Bryce. I don't know what I'm doing here. This morning I was a fugitive on the run, looking to abandon the ship and live on that island. A few hours later and I'm the captain to a young man, and this young man is offering another placement under my captaincy. All in the space of a few hours."

"So here's how it works. For me to learn about being a captain, you'll let me be a captain. You'll obey and you will respect me and my decisions. If you don't like them, you can tell me in private. If you have a great idea, tell me and I'll listen. If you think I should consider letting someone tag along, tell me alone, without that person listening in. Over time, just like you'll become a better sailor, I'll become a better captain. I'll find my preferred style and we'll settle in. But for now... I'm the captain, you're not. If you have faith in me to make the right decisions for my crew, and about my crew, including who my crew includes, you'll be my junior. If you don't have faith in me I can drop you off at the next island. I've made it a month on my own, and I'll be better off alone than with someone who doubts me and who I always have to be second-guessing," Jhonen summed up gravely.