Serious:Chapter #1 First day in town

It had been almost half a year since Jay had escaped the pirate’s clutches, and had gotten his strength back to what he considered as acceptable, his body was now back to being more toned rather than under nourished and he had even began to get a name for himself in some of the medium sized islands as a good tournament fighter. Hell when Marines asked him to drop so they could win big and he refused, that caused a bit of a ruckus and even got him a nice little bounty, nothing serious but enough to compensate the losses of the Marine officers.

It didn’t bother the Wild haired fist fighter much, all it meant was that he’d be getting a call from Marines every so often, or dealing with small time bounty hunters and to Jay that was all practise to him.

Currently in the town of Maywin, he had taken residence in he was halfway through a glass of grog, ale, beer, booze or whatever people wanted to call it and was resting up for the tournament later that night. He was registered and some had even began to put bets on and against him as he was the newcomer. The only difference in this tourney was that weapons are being let in, or at least melee weapons rather than someone coming in with a musket or flintlock.

Still the vagabond chuckled to himself as he was slouched over a half full glass in the middle of the bar.

ken liked the down of maywin, the people were great and they were even hosting a tourtament. after finishing his training for the night ken walked into the town wondering about his opponents. hopefully most of them would be strong, and some would be swordsmen. with this in mind he walked into the bar with his swords close at hand. placing some money on the table and ordered a glass of beer.

Blood splashed up against the wall of an alleyway and a man fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in an expression of terror. A bloodstained ax, which was connected to a chain, shot back into the hand of a young boy. The boy was dressed in a long-sleeve red shirt, which had a couple of white stripes crossing it near the top. He also wore tan pants and dark shoes.

[Presentation Box]
True Name: David Morrison
Unassuming sixteen year old boy
Secretly: ‘The Hooded One’
Assassin/Bodyguard
Bounty: 1,500,000

David walked up to the dead man’s side and leaned down to place his hand on the man’s neck to confirm his kill. When he didn’t feel a pulse David turned away satisfied. It was odd for David to go after a target outside of his ‘Hooded One’ disguise, but seeing the one he was after going into a place where his death would not be witnessed was too good an opportunity to pass up.

David slid his chain ax back up his sleeve and checked himself. He had avoided getting any blood on himself this time. That was always a good thing. The young boy slipped back out onto the streets and started back to his hotel. Well, maybe ‘hotel’ was too kind of a description for this place. Run-down shack that looked like it should be condemned would be more accurate. Still, David wasn’t about to complain. Staying in places like that one saved him money and it kept him out of the public eye.

David lifted a pair of headphones, which were hanging around his neck, and placed them over his ears. He then bobbed his head to a non-existent beat while his eyes roamed the crowds, always alert, always on the look out.

Jay threw his head back and chugged the last of the half glass, he had thought or meditated enough, the bitter liquid ran down his throat and filled him with warmth as he smiled idiotically belched out a disgusting chorus of gas and then sighed slamming the bar a few times for another. The slamming made his large metal Bo staff which was propped up against the bar to his left and as the chubby gentle faced bar staff and proprietor waddled forth Jay smiled and said “Another one my good sir. I need sustenance for the tournament!” To anyone looking he didn’t seem much in a state to be a fighter, more just a hooligan with a shiny stick going in over his head, still that didn’t stop the pudgy man bowing and getting another pint glass.

Whilst he was waiting though the long haired fighter looked around, seeing another man with Jet black hair and three rather impressive looking swords Jay raised an eyebrow, he seemed more drunk than he actually was but still he figured either a bounty hunter, or a tournament fighter, either way he looked like some fun. However as the alcohol came Jay smiled cheerfully and passed over the money, giving a small tribal blessing as he did so. The pudgy bar owner waddled off with a confused look about him.

“Hm, sword boy looks like he could handle himself” Thought our black haired hooligan “It’ll be fun if I get matched with him” He thought beginning to drink the first half of his drink once more whilst half looking at Ken.

as ken drank from his glass ken heard someone say "another one my good sir, i need sustenance for the tourtament. looking over he saw a man with a bo staff giving money to the bartender. judging by his looks he didnt look that strong, but ken knew to well not too judge a fighters skills by thier looks.

taking out another handful of coins he ordered another beer. luaghing to himself as the pudgy man waddled over he had a feeling this tourtament was goning to be a good one. taking a second quick glance at jay he almost thought he saw him looking back but quickly shrugged off the idea and began drinking his second glass.

The sound of loud whispering caught David’s attention. He turned his eyes to see a small crowd of people standing around some kind of poster. David’s curiosity was aroused, but he couldn’t just turn and look at it. The one disadvantage of pretending to be listening to music was that he could not pay attention to something when his only excuse for looking was his hearing.

So, David pretended to stumble and bumped into a middle-aged woman who was walking by. Muttering apologies, David glanced over the woman’s head at the crowd of people and faked a look of mild surprise. He then slipped over the edge of the group and peered over the people’s heads. Now that he was closer, David could see that the poster was advertising some kind of tournament. Interesting…but too open. He could not risk someone seeing his weapons and figuring out who he was. Or could he?

David was not used to fighting people head on; usually he had the jump on them. He preferred things to be that way, but it still made him eager to try out his strength. Stepping away from the crowd, David easily slid back into the throngs of people walking along, his mind already racing to think of a way for him to fight.

A man in a blue cloak was handing out copious amounts of fruit and money to the inhabitants of the island. He had heard rumors that there was a discrepancy in the availability of the food here, so he had visited to help out a bit. And he certainly was, considering the fact that he was giving out enough food to feed entire families for weeks. He was nice like that. He was hearing rumors that there was a tournament of sorts on the way, and he was interested. Ranyx and Ti'ar had their mannerisms, and Gael had his. You couldn't prove whether or not he was doing what he normally did, so that's why he did it. He'd check up on this tournament soon... as soon as he was done with the last bits of this load of food.

Just as the gaudy fist fighter had finished his finest ale the doors slammed open giving way to several burly white shirted and white capped men known as the local “Marine” squad, the largest of which, and one would presume the highest ranking of them came forth chuckling as he pushed his way through the minions before saying [b]”NOW! Who ‘ere’s the one named....”[/color] The largest and more dumb witted held up a piece of paper, which in his own hands seemed rather small. “Jay, Rat...Esh....E?”[/color] The patrons were silenced as the Neanderthal boomed; a few of them looked Jay’s way especially as his white toothed grin came across his face.

The black haired brawler slid some money across the bar still smiling, but hadn’t ordered anything, he slowly reached for the Bo staff, and once grabbed stood and turned his hands out to his sides as he said “Now now boys, I’ve told you’re commanding officer, that I won’t fall, that’s why I got the bounty already. Now if you’re going to ‘rough’ me up. And I hope you do, let’s not do it here yes?” Jay didn’t even wait for them to reply he simply dashed forward and to the right of the Marines, did some form of Parkour on top of a table and dived through the window creating a large smashing sound followed by tinkling of glass hitting the ground.

Jay rolled with his dive and as the crowd parted in the streets Jay shouted “LADIES and Gentle..... Well Men of this fine tournament hosting town, a preview for your pleasure, as I beat down some Marines who want to rig this honourable event!” Luckily just as Jay finished the group of 10 marines rushed out into the streets and lined up, swords at the ready, however the largest one that boomed before stood full at 8 ft high holding a large club. It was at that moment Jay realised that his Bo staff may get a few scratches.

However as he stood in the street, it now having been cleared a good few feet behind Jay (roughly 5) and the same behind the Marines who now stood 15 ft away from Jay, giving a total of a 25 ft area cleared from the bar door. “Now now boys.... Decide who wants to go to the hospital first.” Jay spun his bo staff around before allowing it to slide so his hand was in the centre and one end of it landed on the dirt ground beside him.

Gael heard something... off. Very, very, very off. The sound of growing conflict. What could be happening in a place like this? Strange to hear some people fighting. He made sure his shortened hair was tucked neatly into his hood, so that it wouldn't get in his face, and then he turned and... half walked, half ran to the site of the conflict. Jogged, that's it. Shouldn't take too long... here he was.

It was... what, a ten on one? What the heck? How old was the one person? Like, twenty? Mid twenties? It was like a freaking wolf pack edging around a single sick antelope. Not anything pretty. Only one solution to end this peacefully... coercion.

Gael went into a dead sprint, before fly-tackling the poor victim in the back, forcing the staff wielder to give him a piggy-back ride. "Oi! What're you guys doing? Attacking a single man ten to one like this? Where's your honor?" He dropped off the poor unsuspecting staff wielder and began climbing up the leader of the Marines. He managed to get up near the giant man's head, and he said, "Here, tell you what. You leave this man alone, and I won't tell Ti'ar you made me upset. How does that sound, soldier?"

Jay’s cocky smile was disintegrated and replaced with a sense of surreal-ness as, now on his back was a white haired hooded man, and as Jay moved his Bo staff to thwack him off, in a blink he was gone and in front of the fighter walking towards the Marines. He had asked a few things then said something to the marines which made them all turn white before they ran off through the crowd, tail between their legs.

This upset Jay as he walked forward bringing his Bo staff down, a little harder than playfully as he shouted “HEY! The hell you doing?! I could ‘a taken those fools. The hells are you anyway? You wanna go? Huh? You know what you’re my new spar, give these people a show.” Jay was mad as he hopped back and held up his Bo staff, right hand at the bottom of it and right hand three quarters of the way up at it pointing at Gael.

Jay didn’t know who he was demanding a fight off of, but some people were whispering and Jay looked around maintaining his strong fighting stance before saying ” Obviously you’re big around these parts, but I’m Jay Rateshi. Remember that name guy, I’m going to be the best fighter on the ocean one day, and I start here. Got me?!” If Gael were to look in Jay’s eyes he would see steely determination, and a fire that could only be compared to the mystical Phoenix Zoan fruit, as he stood before the Shichibukai.

Gael turned. "Huh-wha? Oh, I'm sorry, are you asking to fight me?" He chuckled nervously... the man must be trying to prove something to someone. Maybe a local girl. Or man, lord knew Gael had been there before. "I'm not really that big here, um... Jay. I don't really want to fight you, okay? I just wanted to diffuse a situation before it got out of hand. Is that really too much to ask?"

A vaguely spherical object rolled its way into the empty circle, rolling to a stop beside Gael. "Oh, you're done, Figdra? That's excellent. That means this island's been fed, and we can move on." He began patting the spherical thing, the object making strange squishing noises. "But seriously, Jay, sir, I don't think you want me making a scene here. It'd be terribly bad for my social health." And by that he meant it would be impossible to lead a normal life.

A growl came from Jay this was insulting. “Listen old guy. I’m here for the tournament, and you took a way my warm up fight, I’ve taken on people way above their level and walked away barely un-harmed, and you just ‘diffuse’ it? This is a matter of honour, namely you sullying mine. I challenge you!” Jay didn’t attack but became visibly tenser as he stared the guy down.

What the fighter meant by ‘old man’ was almost a sully on his hair colour, and his choice in lack of violence especially in someone an almost similar age to Jay himself, was this the world everyone had been sent into, idiots and pacifists? No wonder the others from his island had been picked for warfare specially. Still Jay took a deep breath in and then released it slowly, relaxing several muscles as he did so in case Gael moved and Jay would have been too tense to react.

Gael's eye twitched. "Did... you... just... call me... old?" Both hands had been clenched into fists as a reflex upon hearing that. "I'm only twenty one you bloody moron!" He pointed at Jay. "Figdra. Eat him. Now." The strange spherical thing opened up into a mouth, and a long stretchy pink thing stretched out, lashing out to wrap around Jay and suck him inside. Gael turned to everyone present, and chuckled. "Return to your various activities~ I'll let him out later!" He then prised the frog's mouth open and jumped in. He landed opposite of a standing Jay, sighing. "Now, what the hell do you want from me, kid?"

Animal began appearing from the darkness surrounding them. Two wolves, a peacock, and a squirrel. "Please, guys, don't give Jay claustrophobia. There's no need to."

((For reference, Figdra's got a strange alternate dimension in his belly that sort of acts like a normal grassy plain.))

As the sphere moved after Gael’s outburst Jay took a moment to think why it opened and as the moment passed he realised he was swallowed. Holding onto his staff he looked around in the darkness, then came the rebuttal of being called a kid. “KID?! I’m twenty, ya’ fogy. And what I want is my honour back and a warm up spar, I couldn’t give a rats ass if you’re the next pirate king, or a Marine admiral, you’ll still be taken down eventually. Jay span his Bo staff around his body as he scanned the animals around him raising his eye.

”Hm, this is more like the talent that could send Marines running off with things between they’re legs.” Jay slammed his staff down into what he presumed was the ground looking right at Gael. “Even death won’t stop me. Now, do you accept, or will you run?” His stance was pretty much the same as when Gael jumped onto his back not two minutes ago, however the stage had changed, but a fight would be happening today.

Gael groaned. "Why does every human on earth provoke me to violence?" He snapped his fingers, and the four animals backed away. "Purano Purano no Bamboo." He pointed at Jay, and bamboo stakes flew out of the earth, sharpened and aimed for practically every part of Jay's body, and then some. "Trees. Lichen." Trees shot up around the area, quickly being coated in thick steel-strength lichen. "No one wants to f*ck with me on a normal basis. I highly suggest you back off now."

ken watched as events unfolded before his eyes. if the marines busting in wasn't enough, a shibukai appeared on the island on the very same day. 'ethier my luck is really good' he thought 'or that guts luck is really bad'. exiting the bar he watched the fight heat up, unsheathing his sword a fraction incase he would need it.

David passed another muttering crowd, but this time he didn’t see anything worth investigating. He did hear a couple of interesting words like ‘Gael’ and ‘brain-dead idiot’. There also seemed to be some kind of betting pool going on about how long a certain guy would last. It probably had to do with the tournament. David just passed it all off as coincidental and kept right on walking.

The teenage assassin found his way back to his hotel barely a minute later and went inside. There was a young woman behind the front desk. She smiled at him and called out a greeting as he passed by. David merely raised one hand in a half-hearted wave before going upstairs towards his room. The woman had reminded him of an incident not too long ago. David had been tracking a particularly elusive target, but the target evaded him. When he had returned to the hotel he was staying at on that island, the hotel owner’s daughter had kissed him. Actually KISSED him! David shuddered at the thought. It wasn’t that she was super ugly or rude or anything. Quite the opposite, in fact he had actually been fond of her. That was the root of the problem. There was a difference between being friendly and getting to close to someone. Maybe one day he would…but no, first he had to survive his early years.

David slipped into his room and shut the door behind him. He first checked the room for traps or messages or people waiting to chop off his head. That done, he dumped his chain axes into his sink and began to clean them.

If he really was going to risk joining this tournament, he would have to find a way to enter without overly connecting himself to the ‘Hooded One’. That meant, he would have to use different weapons than he was used to. That would weaken him, perhaps too much. Maybe he should just scrap the whole idea. It was foolhardy, but how often was he going to get a chance like this one?

Jay blinked once more, not having heard anything of a devil fruit or it’s like on his home island so when the spears of bamboo came up under him he naturally leaped up and as one tore some of his trouser and scratched him he naturally kicked off it and away hard to where one of the tree’s popped up, causing him to roll once more forward again to where the Bamboo had appeared.

Jay stood up and chuckled “Good, you’re getting into it.” Jay then dashed forward with a similar stance to that he had outside, his left hand three quarters of the way up on the Bo staff, his right hand on the end, almost as if he was going to long jump onto Gael. However when he was within five foot and closing he allowed the Staff to slip down through his hands so that the left hand was now on the bottom, and he swung up with some powerful might with his right hand for Gael’s chin.

Jay knew he was probably in over his head, but not only was there honour at stake here, but this was the type of Man Jay would have to overcome to be the very best there was on these oceans.

Gael leaned and fell back to avoid Jay's attack, carrying through with his momentum to backflip back onto his feet. "Slow." With less than a gesture, vines launched out of the ground like a tidal wave, sloping up to grasp and entangle Jay. If they succeeded, Gael would twist the vines to hold Jay's arms behind his back.

As Gael back flipped and commented Jay smiled almost in an evil way as he said “Then I know what to get better at” He followed through as best he could but as the vines flew forward, he didn’t have time for questions, and so he did what he would with any projectile, he stood still and began to spin his staff around in his hands until it was like a motor fan.

The vines would grab a target and entangle it, shame it was more metallic and not organic, as they held the Staff in place tangled so that it wouldn’t move Jay raised his foot swiftly to launch himself off the Staff and shouted “Then I’ll give you a fight in what I’m better at Whitey!” A playful smile on Jays face mixed with opposing thoughts with his eyes, still full of fire and determination as he flipped in the air above Gael to try and drop his left heel on his head, a deadly thunder drop to the normal enemy.

However Jay knew he was taking this a step into the danger zone, getting closer with an enemy on his turf, a turf he fully controlled, and already Jay was thinking the next step, should the bamboo appear.

"I'm so glad that it was me who you ran into and not Ti'ar." That'd have been bad. Gael snapped his fingers and a little needle like seed appeared in his hand, held between his thumb and forefinger. He flipped it into the air like coin, and with a jump, sailed over Jay. He caught the seed and landed behind Jay, before spinning in place and using Soru to launch himself at Jay's back. If all went well, he'd implant a Parasite seed in Jay's arm. Which would grow and entrap him and immobilize him... at least until Gael gave it the order to self-destruct.

As Gael easily leapt over Jay even though Jay was coming down on him, Jay saw something in his arm and despite Soru being incredibly fast Jay was anticipating the bamboo again and dived to the side, doing a cartwheel once he was three foot away from where he landed. Seeing Gael Jab something forward Jay was confused and standing up straight he decided enough was enough “What is it with you and plants anyway? You a shaman or something?” A valid question for Jay seeing as on his island he had the usual tribal worships and shaman but never a devil fruit user.

However Jay didn’t let his guard down for too long, once he finished speaking he realised his fighting form was dropped and he soon raised it taking on a boxing style of stance as he kept his brown eyes locked on Gael. “And I’ll deal with Ti’ar if I have too, like I said, I’m going to be the best there is.”

Gael grinned. "A shaman? Funny thing, that. Nah, I'm not. It's kinda impossible for a shaman to do the things I can do." He then shivered. "Dear god, if you run into Ti'ar there is no hope for you." He spun the seed around, and checked to see if it was sharp enough. "I've been neglecting experimentation, lately. I really need to get back to perfecting that flower I've been working on." He shook himself aware. "Oh, by the way, I don't really need this in my hand." Flowers filled the entire field, save a small space in the corner. "By the way, if you start smelling something funny, it's just the flowers." The immobilizing flowers began giving out a sweet scent, sort of like roses, but the smell carried with it a special neurotoxin meant to disable the nervous system. Gael used Soru to launch himself towards the safe spot, and put up a wall of neutralizing lichens around him to protect himself from the gases.

His stance stayed the same, if he wasn’t a shaman then what? He was clearly using some sort of Magic, work of the gods especially seeing as they teleported to where they were now, still as the flowers appeared Jay’s attention was taken to them for the moment, and as Gael moved he snapped back moving in a circle but not keeping up, as he came level with him the lichen had come up around them.

Then it hit the fighter, the smell, it was sweet, yet it felt wrong. Jay suddenly felt light headed, had he been scrapped by a poison needle or something? He checked himself, a graze from the bamboo, but they were clean, they came through the soft grass, and with the excursion he had given it would have affected him sooner. He wobbled a bit, it was beginning to get blurry.

Jay looked to the lichen before charging towards it, he still had some of his power at least and as he got near he threw himself into the air slamming his foot into it. Little did he know the heavy breathing he was forced to do to do such actions weren’t helping how long he could had stayed up remaining calm, and no doubt his little power could have done anything on the steel lichen. However Jay stumbled back, he felt drunk without the perks.

Then something happened, he had finally been beaten since leaving his island and all he could do was laugh, hysterically even, so much so that he fell to his knees holding his sides and laughing.

Gael heard a 'thunk' as something, presumably Jay, collided with the wall he had made. Admirable, of course, but as Jay was no doubt realizing, it wouldn't work. "Figdra! I need sunlight, pronto!" Figdra opened his mouth, creating the effect of a sun literally appearing in the darkness, flooding the utterly empty plain. With a snap of Gael's fingers, the flowers disintegrated, and vines wrapped around Jay's limbs to make sure he wouldn't randomly attack Gael. Another snap of the fingers, and the other plants dissolved, leaving only a wrapped-up Jay and the grass on the ground. "Hey, Jay. Nice try, but it's not a great idea to pick a fight with others like that. I feel bad not telling you this earlier, but I'm one of the World Government's special privateers: one of the Shichibukai, Gael Iura."

He poked Jay's forehead, and said, "Also, not shamanism. Devil Fruit powers, sorry to say. Unique to every eater. Lack of aging, stretching like rubber, generating lava... we're all different. I suggest you try to learn more about opponents before blindly attacking them." He stood up and stretched. "Though, I have two people you should never fight, as they're both rather unassuming. A Marine with brown hair, hat pulled over his eyes, sleeveless shirt... and uses chains. A pirate, with a vest and a single glove, and probably one of the best martial artists you'll ever meet. The Marine hates getting bothered, and the pirate doesn't like to fight. Again, avoid whenever possible." He took a deep breath and sighed. "The neurotoxin should wear off soon, if not now."