Serious: The Squall Pirates Chapter 2: Growing Pains (Open to the Squall Pirates)

Jimi watched as the sailors who brought him to the festival were dragged into back doors and out of his eyesight. They were good men and a great company, but Jimi felt nothing towards any f them and decided to focus on surviving instead of rescuing. He then heard one of the agents remarking on his fighting style. "I'm no freak... I AM JUST AWESOME!" Jimi shouted and raised his hands to flash two V-signs at his opponents. "Muton Muton No Hybrid Point" Jimi announced. Right after he finished talking, His body began changing. His torso and limbs became twice as muscular, his shirt disappeared as if his body swallowed it, his pants turned into small trousers and his red jacket and sunglasses remained. Instead, patches of afro hair started to grow on different parts of his body. His chest was hidden by a black afro patch, and so was his upper back. His shoulders, elbows and wrists, along with his knees and feet, were all covered as well, as if he wearing some sort of protective gear. He was now standing as tall as 9 feet, and weighted 110 kilograms. It was now obvious, Jimi was a zoan user.

"Who wants some" He said, raising his sunglasses. As the gunner began shooting him, Jimi's afro patches expanded to protect different parts of his body from damage. It was as if his afro was split and divided along his body. The bullets entered the hair patches but a hit was never heard. That made the monstrous Jimi smile with satisfaction from his powers. As the closed ranged fighters rushed at him, Jimi rushed forward as well. He picked up a random table with no effort at all, now equipped with the power to break boulders with his fists. He swung the table like a made, trying to take down as much enemies as he could before the table breaks. The mask that was covering his face wasn't fit for his new proportions and was stretched to it's limit, he'll have to find a better way to fight soon enough.

"Hey! Come back!" The men shouted after the escaping trio.

Daniel ignored them. He kept his gaze fixed on the back of the girl in front of him as she ran through the intertwining streets, most of which looked abandoned do to the fact that most of the people in town were at the festival. The hooded girl seemed to know where they were going, so as long as he didn't lose sight of her, he would be safe. Hopefully.

Daniel chanced a glance back to check on Mariana. She was following them. Good. He had been afraid that she might try to stay behind and take on the men. She was obviously a strong person, but that didn't mean she could defeat a large group of people. Not for the first time Daniel was reminded of how little he actually knew about Mariana. A sudden thought stuck him. What if she...

"In here!"

It was the hooded girl who had spoken. The sound of her voice had snapped Daniel out of his thoughts and he now turned back towards her. She was standing next to a house, holding the door open and watching Daniel and Mariana approach expectantly. Daniel ran in through the doorway to find himself in a living room. The room was dark and silent. The owners were probably away at the festival.
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Many of the charging agents were struck by the table and scattered across the room. Those that weren't hit didn't stop, but kept right on rushing towards Jimi.

Those with guns continued firing, even though their efforts seemed to be pointless. However, there was more to what they were doing than what they let Jimi see. As they were shooting, two agents, both of whom were holding swords, were slipping around behind Jimi. As one they leaped out, swinging their weapons at his back in an attempt to cut him down.

Jimi was quite satisfied with the result of his last attack. Most of his attackers went down, and he managed to save himself from the gunshots of the remaining agents. he seemed to be on a winning streak, and in a relatively good mood for a man who's gas mask was threatening to pop off. He placed his tree-trunk like forearms in front of his body, and used the afro patches on his limbs and body to protect himself from the ever-lasting bullet stream that headed for him. He closed in on the shooters, slowly walking towards them while being completely shielded from their attacks. It seemed like he was about to get out of here soon.

He bent down and picked up one of the fallen agent's polearms, planning to use it to take down some gunners. But, just when he thought he was safe and sound, he heard the sound of swords being drawn behind him. He inflated the afro patch on his upper back, and used the polearm to try and protect his lower back, but the swords connected. The wounds weren't fatal, since the attacks were partially blocked, but his lower back received a pair of wounds that were now beginning to bleed. "DAMN IT IT HURTS!" Jimi shouted to the heavens as he performed a quick pivot turn to try and knock back the two agents with the polearms. Just as he did so, he heard a quiet sound of tearing rubber: his mask was ruptured.

Mariana was behind them as they run, she didn't want problems, once again who would.. unless someone that was a trouble maker, but then again, Mariana wasn't like that, at all. She liked to stay away from trouble as much as she could, but she knew that there were some points in life where it was impossible to run away from trouble, although she didn't think this was one of those moments.

Mariana followed the hooded girl, she didn't know who she was, or what her intentions were, but she knew that for now, at least, she would trust her, at least she would get away from those guys, who obviously wanted to harm her, although it wasn't like they would be actually capable of harming her, not only she had Daniel with her, but she also was strong herself, not that she showed her abilities around, like a circus monkey or something, but more like liked to save herself for when her strength was really needed, which was a good decision and saved herself for the worst moments in her life.

Mariana followed them into a house, it was dark, she entered through the door that the girl had opened for them and into what seemed like living room, everything was quiet and it gave of an eerie feeling for Mariana, but then again, she always had those feelings for some reason, Mariana being Mariana and everything, she was wondering if it was the girl's houses or a stranger's house, who was in the festival probably.

"Where are we?" she asked curiously, she really felt the necessity of knowing where she was, it wasn't that she didn't trust a hooded girl who she just met or anything, I mean, because that sounds so smart for someone to do, but she just felt the need to know where she was, she needed no excuses, it was only natural for someone to what to know where the hell they were, and it wasn't bad, at all.

Mariana just hoped that Daniel wouldn't get mad, or that her asking would make too much noise and someone would notice they were there, because that was what Mariana didn't want to happen, that it would be all her fault that those guys found her out, and Daniel and the nice stranger girl who helped them out. She really didn't want to be the one who was the one who let them find them. really.

"I guess..." Daniel began to answer Mariana's question in his normal tone, apparently unworried about anyone hearing him.

"Shut up!" the hooded girl snapped. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it with her ear pressed to the wood. A few seconds later, she pulled back nodding. "Okay. They're gone."

She then pulled back her hood, revealing her face for the first time to the other two. She looked like she was younger than both Mariana and Daniel, though not by much. Her hair was a dark brown. It had been cut short, but not professionally. It looked like someone had hacked it off in a hurry.

"This is a home I used to hide in earlier today," the girl told the other two. "A lot of the houses around here are empty, but I know that the people who live here aren't going to be in here today, so we are safe." She stopped there, not bothering to elaborate on how she knew the people wouldn't be in that place.

"Okay..." Daniel said slowly. "So who are you? And why would you help us?"

"My name is Sophie Newman," the girl told them. "And I helped you because I need your help."
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The remaining agents, of which there were not a great many, continued on with their attack, having been revitalized by the fact that Jimi's mask was about to come off. They were hoping that if they could hold out just a little bit longer, the gas would take him down and then they could finish him.

Then came the sound of someone strumming a guitar. Several of the agents came to a sudden stop and were looking around to see where the sound was coming from.

There, in one corner of the bar, not to mention completely unmasked, was a tall, thin man, holding a guitar.* He looked very relaxed, sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the table in front of him.

"I do like watching you cats go at it," the man commented, his fingers flowing over the guitar strings. "But there is a such thing as being overzealous. And it ain't cool to swamp a fella like that." He grinned. "So I took the liberty of opening the windows. Funny thing about that gas o' yours. It don't work to good with all the fresh air coming in."

Now all of the agents had come to a stop and they nervously looked around the room. Each and every window was wide open. And they hadn't even noticed this man coming into the building in the first place!

(OOC: *This guitar playing man appeared in my first post.)

Meanwhile on a noticeably Bigger Tent in the Festival, a loud crowd was heard roaring and screaming. People of all ages from the youngest child to the oldest of Men were seen on the audience as they were all watching a fight inside a Cage. The fight consisted of a significantly taller man against an average sized younger Male. The crowd seemed to favor the bigger man "Hammer!.. Hammer!.. Hammer!", Miguel whom was on the arena at the time simply looked up at his opponent, with this one of his dreams would be closer. The Bigger man charged at Miguel once he heard the Bell Ring that signified the match starting, the man ran towards Miguel taking out his fists and attempting a swing, Miguel lowered his Body as to make the attack Miss and Punched the Man in the stomach "Steel Jab", the Force of it was felt throughout the Big mans body, looking at his eyes you could see he lost consciousness.

The match didn't look to be over. Miguel walked behind his opponent, whom lost consciousness while standing up, and poked him in the back causing him to fall Face first. "Injuries include, possible loss of air and mental trauma.."

The announcer stepped in the ring to check the body that was on the ground. After searching for minutes he raised his hands "H-he beat the Hammer!" the crowd went to a sudden stop, the announcer left the cage and closed the gate behind him. "Lets go for round two then!! for the 2 million belli price!!" the announcer yelled it loud enough for the entire Carnival sized tent to hear, the crowd cheered. It seemed like everyone was happy except for Miguel.. since the promise was that he would only defeat ONE man, any more would be abusive. Looking ahead Miguel saw 12 men heading towards the Cage, were they all going to attack at the same time?

Miguel started bouncing in place, taking his Taekwondo stance. "All these people are alot meaner then i thought they'd be.." Miguel mumbled to himself.

Mariana looked at the girl when she yelled at them to shut up, although she had the right reason on why being mad at them for making so much noise, which would pull up their hideout and they would be found out, she still thought that the girl didn't need to be so rude, because it was unnecessary, but then again Mariana didn't want to be rude or something towards someone who had saved her from being in trouble, considering how much Mariana hated being in trouble.

Mariana nodded as she heard the girl talk again, this time she seemed more calm, now that they had lost the guys, she felt better as well, she looked at the girl's hairstyle, Mariana herself didn't really liked it.. short hair was not her thing.. Considering that Mariana had really long hair, and well, the way it was cut wasn't really good as well, but she would not say something about it because it would also sound rude, really rude, and for Mariana rude things = problems, and yeah she didn't want that. Besides she should show her gratitude towards the girl who had saved her and Daniel from the men who were following them.

Mariana let Daniel interrogate the girl, since Mariana didn't know how to do so, besides she thought that was too troublesome, yes, Mariana associated everything she didn't want to do with trouble, it got her better excuses to not do stuff. Then once the girl introduced herself, and said that she needed Mariana's and Daniel's help, Mariana turned to look at her.

"I'm Mariana D. Fiore.. and our help?" she asked she didn't know why someone who she had just met needed her help, how she had found them in she needed it. How she know about them, everything was too weird and suspicious for Mariana, although she didn't know what to do. "Help with what?" she added.

((OOC: To make things easier for you all to deal with, since there are now three stories going on, I've placed the name(s) of the character(s) above the part of the story they are in. So you can read everything that is going on, or you can just focus on your part in the story. Or both. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion that may have occurred due to all of the intrigue that is going on. All will be explained soon enough. ))

Miguel

"Crush him!" yelled the manager of the fighting tent from where he was sitting on the sidelines.

The manager looked on, wringing his hands nervously. It was shocking to him that Miguel had been able to beat Hammer at all. No one had done that before. That's why the manager had prepared so many fighters for a 'round two' should the need arise. If this punk...Michael, or whatever his name was, won any more fights, the manager himself would be the one paying the two million belli. He couldn't let that happen. He had already put a lot into setting up this tent and hiring the thugs for the fighting ring.

"Sir, it is almost time."

The manager looked around to see a man standing directly behind him. All at once, the manager's nervous expression vanished and he nodded.

"Very well," he said. "Come with me to my quarters."

The manager reached over and picked up a walking stick that was leaning against his chair. It was a beautiful thing, made of a reddish- brown wood and fitted with a silvery hawk's head.

The manager stood and led the other man towards a small building, which had been placed off to the side of the tent. They entered the building, coming into a small room. There was a soft bed in the far corner and a desk, which was covered in papers, next to the door.

The manager went over and he took hold of the bed, dragging it away from the wall to reveal a manhole that had been hidden beneath it. He turned to the man behind him and waved his hand at the hole.

"Take the captives through there," the manager ordered. Follow the tunnel until you reach a fork and then turn right. Once you have gone right, do not deviate from the path. Keep going straight and that will take you to the docks."

The other man nodded and stepped back out the door, giving a signal with his hand. A few seconds later, a line of men and women came walking in through the door dragging behind them the sailors that Jimi had brought to the island. These men and women were the same agents who had kidnapped the sailors from the bar. One by one, they lifted each sailor and began carrying them down through the manhole.

The manager smiled and leaned on his walking stick. It seemed that everything was going to plan. There was only one more thing that needed to be done and all of his dreams would come true. Soon a measly two million belli would be the least of his worries. Nothing could go wrong now. Nothing...
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Mariana and Daniel

"I...I just don't know who else to turn to," Sophie said, starting to pace back and forth. "It seems like the whole town is after me...and I can't...so how can I...what should I..."

"Um...maybe you should just start from the beginning," Daniel suggested. "Bring us up to speed first."

"Right..." Sophie nodded. She went over to one of the chairs and sat down. Daniel followed suit, but instead of simply sitting in a chair, he hopped up on a sofa and set himself down on the back of it with his feet on the cushion. "My parents..." Sophie started again. "...are very wealthy. They each run two different businesses, both of which are doing very well in the market right now. Because of this, they've always been afraid that something might happen to me. My father hired a couple of bodyguards, who follow me around and keep me safe. I thought...that I didn't need them. Until today." She looked up at Daniel and Mariana. "My bodyguards were murdered and some men tried to grab me. So I ran. And I've been running all day, hiding in the houses and in alleyways, searching for some way out of town. I do have money and I tried going down to the docks and getting a ride off of the island, but everyone is at the festival and I can't row a ship by myself."

Daniel took another look at her hair and he nodded. "Your hair...you cut it."

"Yes," Sophie replied. "I thought that if I change my appearance I might be able to hide better. Even so, I knew it was only a matter of time before they figured out what I had done. I had almost given up hope until I saw you two in the restaurant, fighting. I've never seen anyone as strong as you two before. So I thought...maybe you would..." She smiled at them, her eyes shining. "...please, will you help me escape? Money is not an issue. I have plenty of that. And my parents will probably give you even more if you bring me back safely."
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Undisclosed Location...

A man walked into an office. The man was dressed in a suit. He clasped his hands behind his back and looked straight ahead at the figure behind the desk that was in front of him.

"Our agents say that they believe they have encountered the Newman girl," the man who had just came in reported. "However, they were unable to catch her due to the interference of another girl and a young boy."

The figure behind the desk was a woman. She was smoking a pipe, which she now pulled from her mouth before blowing a cloud of smoke into the air.

"And what happened to these...meddlers?" the woman asked, her voice soft and lilting.

"Well..." at this point the man in front of her looked a little uncomfortable. "...they escaped, ma'am. Our agents said that they were lead away by the girl, whom they believe to be the one you are looking for."

The woman smiled, noticing the man's nervous expression. "Afraid, Romulus?" she asked him. "Do not be. I am not angry with you. Nor am I angry with those that lost track of Sophie. She always was a very resourceful child. Have you managed to narrow down her location?"

"Yes ma'am," Romulus replied, looking relieved that he had at least this much good news. "Judging by the time of her escape and the suddenness of her disappearance, it is my belief that she is somewhere within a quarter of a mile radius. I have placed agents around the area and they are awaiting your command to move in to take her."

"Don't bother," the woman replied. "If I know Sophie, she will attempt to leave the island as soon as possible. As for these two children who are helping her, they may be nothing more than some muscle she has picked up to hold us off. They will be easily dealt with. As for Sophie, she will be headed for the docks. We can set a trap there to catch her. Once her bodyguards are out of the way, she will have her back to the sea. Go and make preparations for an ambush."

"Yes ma'am," Romulus said, giving her a half-bow before retreating from the room.

Jimi stopped in his tracks and observed as the poisonous smoke began to clear, and fresh air was pouring in. This was a blessing to Jimi's lungs, who were on the verge of giving out. The wounds in his back still ached, but it was nothing some bandaging couldn't fix. He turned to look at his savior, who seemed familiar for an odd reason. He lowered his sunglasses so his eyes could directly meet those of the guitar player and flashed a bright grin before saying "Awesome timing". He then raised his sunglasses back up and swung the polearm over his shoulder. His giant size allowed him to manipulate two of these weapons at the same time, and so, he picked up another fallen polearm and held it in his free hand.

"This is the end of the road for you desk heads, RUN" Jimi announced before he began rushing at his attackers, swinging both of the polearms like light katanas to brandish anyone in his path. His footsteps echoed in the room and desks were shaking as the giant sheep freak rushed at his foes. He'll thank his savior once he'll finish with them.

Miguel waited for the 12 men to come at him, Hammer being their strongest apparently meant that the battle was no longer about losing money, it was about pride, however Miguel never realized this as his personality was alot more gullible. To him they were simply refusing to give up, something Miguel had to make sure would happen, it almost seemed like a crime to have that much people fighting Miguel from another persons perspective, but to Miguel it was the perfect chance to prove he could fight a battle and be a REAL fighter. Taking his Taekwondo stance meant he was pumping his body up with movement, like a rush you get before a fight but continuous. As the cage door opened Miguel readied himself to counter what he could, getting his kicks ready for a possible frontal attack, since the only way in seemed to be the cage door he was facing.

"Maybe its not their fault, maybe it warned me in the poster within a fine print that 12 people were going afterwards... yeah that must be it" Miguel was mumbling to himself under his voice, trying to convince himself that the people he was fighting were not evil, instead were doing their job.. something Miguel could not have been any more wrong on.

Mariana stayed up while everyone else sat down, she noticed that Daniel sat on the couch with his feet on the cushion and Sophie sat on a chair. She didn't really feel like sitting in the other chair nor sitting with Daniel on the couch, besides she was comfortable standing up, and it would also be easier to attack or protect herself if someone came suddenly, because like things were going on right now, Mariana had to think about the impossible and the possible and wait for the worst so she would be prepared and fight even the devil if it was necessary.

Mariana listened, she felt sad for the girl, it seemed like she has had it bad the last hours, running away from people who possibly wanted her dead, she didn't really like everything that was going on, Sophie even had to cut her hair by herself, and that explained why the style of the haircut was like that, Mariana felt bad for thinking what she thought about the haircut, it was obviously a superficial opinion and something that if she had said out loud, if would have been really rude and mean, because Mariana didn't even like to be rude and mean in her own head, she felt bad about that.

She also decided to think and put herself in Sophie's spot, she would certainly feel scared, lonely, she would feel like there was nothing possible to do, obviously Mariana was strong and she could defend herself, but Sophie wasn't, or she didn't look like she was, anyway Mariana really thought that the way Sophie was feeling now was really bad and she wished to help her, because it seemed like the right thing to do. Sophie, although she seemed like around the same age of Daniel and Mariana, she seemed to be lost, disoriented and scared, she didn't want Sophie to be alone, because that would be no good, it certainly would be no good.

Mariana cared about helping people, even if this sounded like getting in lots of problems, she didn't know exactly what she would be able to do, she herself didn't know how strong the people that were following Sophie, but she would give her all to protect her, she didn't wait for Daniel's answer. She smiled and went to Sophie.

"You have my help, as I said already my name is Mariana D. Fiore, I know the Santtoryu, which is the three-sword-style and I know Muay Thai and box. You'll have my protection from now on until I take you back to your parents, I'll take you home safe. Although I must say that I'm a pirate, I wish to make you no harm, so you can trust in me" she said with a big, big smile.

She hoped she hadn't scared Sophie by telling her her abilities or something. Mariana really wished to help and only help Sophie, she didn't know what would Daniel do, but she would protect Sophie with her life.. well, with her life until it was too dangerous and she would escape with Sophie, she would just let no one do any harm to her. And she hoped that Sophie would believe in her.

Jimi

Jimi's weapons battered the agents left and right. They couldn't do anything to stop him. Their guns were useless and the majority of them were already on the floor, unconscious. The remaining agents turned and ran, escaping through the windows and front door. Soon the bar was silent, except for the gentle melody the guitar man was playing over the in the corner.

Said guitar man looked up, seeming to notice for the first time that the agents were gone. He grinned at Jimi and gave him a wave. Then, heaving a great sigh, he slung his guitar over one shoulder and stood up.

"Well, if that's all for today, I guess I'll be on my way," he said, before turning towards the door, apparently about to leave. He started for the exit, but then paused and turned back. Taking hold of one of the agents, a man, he lifted the agent with one arm and laid him over his open shoulder. Glancing at Jimi, he grinned again and said, "I'll be taking this bad boy, guy. See ya."
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Miguel

The twelve men encircled Miguel. They grinned at him and cracked their knuckles, anticipating this to be an easy fight. Even though Hammer had lost, they didn't think that it was very likely that this little guy could take on so many of them at once. At last a bell sounded and they all charged towards Miguel as one.

Meanwhile, over at the manager's house, about a quarter of the sailors had been moved down into the sewers.
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Mariana and Daniel

Daniel listened to Mariana with only a little interest. The part about her using three swords sounded cool to him, but having that knowledge didn't do him much good unless she as actually interested in being a pirate. Which, as she revealed barely a second later, was actually the truth. She was a pirate. Or least claimed to be one. Hopefully that didn't mean that she was already a part of a crew. If she was, Daniel wouldn't ask her to come with him. He wanted his own crew built by him. Not the leftovers from somewhere else.

With this in mind, Daniel dropped down onto the couch itself and leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking about Sophie's question.

"I get it," he said. "You need help. But my services can't be bought by you or anyone else." He opened one eye and looked over at Sophie. "However, you did help me out back there in the restaurant. I probably could have beaten those guys, even without the help of Miss. Sword-lady over here. But beating them would have been so troublesome...not to mention I could have been seriously hurt and then I would have had to spend a while healing and my dream would have had to be put on hold." He opened both of his eyes and stood up. "So I'll help you, if I can. That's a promise from the man who is going to become a raging storm here in the Grandline."

Sophie stared at Daniel and Mariana for a moment. Then she rushed forward and grabbed each of them by the hand. Her eyes were filling with tears. "Thank you both so much!" She pulled her hand back and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just never thought I would never find anyone who would help me and..." She sniffed. "Anyway, let's go. We need to head down to the docks and get a ship. I'll lead the way."

Jimi was satisfied with himself. He managed to overpower a pack of armed opponents by himself. That didn't happen everyday, and it was a good reason to celebrate. As he considered walking back to the festival, he realized something: He never knew why these people attacked him.

"Wait!" Jimi shouted after the guitar player as he picked up an agent. He reverted back to his human form, loosing several feet in the process and a whole lot of muscle, while gaining back his normal clothing. "I didn't get to thank you. Can I get you a drink as gratitude?" He asked the man as he closed in on him. "I'm Jimi H. Hide" He said as he reached for a handshake. "You have any idea who these guys are?" He asked, referring to the agent in the man's grip. "They attacked me for no reason, and took out the entire bar, including some great men" He said. He wondered if he should try and find the sailors. After all, they did bring him here, and more importantly, ordered him a keg.

Mariana listened to what Daniel was saying, it sounded a little uninteresting to Mariana because Daniel had said that he would've been able to beat those men wihtout her and because he had called her "Miss. Sword-lady" even when she had a name, a pretty one as well, so it kind of bothered her how she was called that, it was an pretty lame nickname as well, although she did understand where it came from, though it still annoyed her slightly, not that she would show it though, because she was just getting to meet Daniel, and wanted to problems with it.

Then he said that beating them would be too troublesome, she knew what he was talking about, she also hating troublesome things, specially if it had to change something she wanted to do, or pospone them, and things like that, so for once Mariana understood what he was talking about, and didn't mind it, because she knew that at least in that sense, Daniel thought like her.

Mariana was indeed glad that Daniel had agreed to help Sophie, that demostrated Mariana that Daniel was a nice guy, at least up to some extent, and that was enough for Mariana, at least for now, she was wondering if Daniel belonged to some crew, because if so, she would ask him to take her to the captain so she would ask to join that crew, which would be awesome.

Mariana thought about it for a second then spoke up. "I have a ship, that is if you're ok with using it" she said, since she really really didn't want to leave her ship there and it would probably be stolen or something and she wouldn't get to take her stuff and everything, besides that would give them the chance to not steal something and instead of it they would use her ship.

Miguel witnessed the 12 men circling him, getting ready in his Taekwondo position by jumping he temporarily pumped himself up, although it was more of a Warm-up then anything. The 'Warm-up' being ironically the jumping rather then the actual fight with Hammer. Giving the situation a few seconds the men decided to attack, sending 5 Men at once from the 12 each attempting to Hurt Miguel in a very serious manner. One of the 5 seemed faster and reached Miguel first attempting to knee Miguel while jumping in the air, his Knee trying to hit Miguels chin, but it backfired. Miguel instead took his arms and blocked the attack like a Boxer would, with his arms as hard as metal the guy couldn't help but yell in pain as Miguel quickly Punched his stomach like he did the Hammer. "Steel Jab" the opponent immediately hit the ground unconscious the moment the steel hard fist managed to hit his stomach, the other 4 men tried to attack simultaneously trying to attack from 4 different directions around Miguel. At that moment Miguel charged towards one of them in the group taking away their calculations and instead increasing the distance for some to get to Miguel, while decreasing the distance for another. At that moment Miguel took his Leg and powered it back, Hitting the man in a frontal kick that made the opponent go flying and hitting the cage behind him "Power Kick", the opponent was knocked out, while the other two came from the sides. Taking his foot and Spinning he made a Roundhouse kick to his opponents face, making one of them fall to the ground while the other grabbed Miguel and slammed him into the cage. The opponent took out his fist attempting to Punch Miguel while he was being grabbed, but the opponent had not known that Miguels fighting style also included balance, Taking his legs and putting them behind his opponents while standing up straight Miguel made a normal push with his fists making the opponent lose his stance, in that second the punch the opponent made missed and hit the cage while Miguel took his Elbow and made his Muay Thai techniques more noticeable "Elbow Jab" the steel hard part of his Elbow connected to his opponents Face, The sudden shock and power of the attack made the impact more deadly then it usually was, knocking him with only minor brain injury.

The last man, of the 5 that were attacking, was watching the fast events take place. He had Boxing gloves on, but once he made both his fists hit each other Miguel could hear the clanking inside of them, he obviously had Metal Knuckles underneath the gloves, however the crowd was far too loud and excited to even hear the sound of metal hitting another metal. The opponent ran towards Miguel, and Miguel towards his opponent, both tried to punch end the match in one powerful punch. The opponent swung his arm, looking closely you could see the spikes barely sticking out of the glove, Miguel punched back putting his fist and clashing against his opponents, while they clashed the crowd went to a sudden halt, Miguel put a lot of force into that punch, causing the spikes under the Glove of the opponent to shatter and making his fist bleed. The opponent screamed in pain as Miguel used the opportunity and positioned himself with his legs, the opponent was to caught up with his pain to realize that Miguel was positioning himself for an even more strengthening punch, Taking his Fist and moving it behind his Torso while maintaining himself straight Miguel Punched the opponent in the Chest making it harder to breath for a second (He lost his air), with the sudden amount of increased breathing do to the screaming, and the sudden stop to the air circulating his body with his punch, Miguel caused the opponent to lose consciousness almost instantly.

Miguel resumed to jump in place accordingly, the Seven opponents surrounding him were now terrified at what Miguel had just done without the need of weapons, or cheating. Miguel was indeed someone with normal strength and speed, but what they did not know was that his Skin was as hard as Steel, the forearms part, allowing the impact to be much more severe then someone with the strength to knock a hole in a wooden wall as his limit. Miguel also took his Muay Thai stance and waited for the next seven people to come charging at him, taking his time at manipulating the fact that all of them were experiencing Psychological trauma, including the Five whos Ego was hurt more then their bodies. The hopping in place and acting like nothing happened made it seem as if Miguel was ready for more, much more. This impact was directly at their self esteem, their endurance and reason for fighting had dropped giving Miguel a better chance of fighting back in their next attempt of attack.

"No worries, I still haven't broken any of their bones yet with fear that I might get in trouble with your boss.. after all I dont want your Hospital bills being taken away from my 2 million.." Miguel honestly said what he was thinking, although the situation caused a mental impact on his opponents, in his mind they might still be good guys simply doing their jobs and Miguel was taking it too far, even if one of them had spikes cleverly hidden underneath his boxing gloves. Miguel was indeed not knowing of how the world actually worked.

Jimi

The guitar man looked back at Jimmy, suddenly looking like a strange idea had just come to him. Then he smiled mysteriously.

"Okay," he said, his voice and tone now sounding normal. "I'll explain things...and maybe after I do, there might be something you can do for me. But no drinks for me. I'm on duty." He sat himself down on the back of a booth seat. "Where to start...? Hmmm....I guess I should just put it this way. I'm looking for someone. A girl by the name of Sophie Newman. These punks that attacked you are after her." He dumped the guy he was carrying onto the floor and planted his foot in the man's back to keep him from moving. "Oof, he was getting heavy. Anyway, I can't really tell you why they were after you because I don't really know. In fact, the only reason I stepped in here at all was to help Sophie. I thought with all the ruckus going on that she must have let herself be seen and they had caught her." He looked around at the destruction. "But it seems she is still in hiding, like I had hoped. Smart girl." He returns his gaze to Jimi and nodded. "Normally I would just say to go on home and wait for everything to sort itself out, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be that easy. You've fought them, and won. They'll be back and not all of them are as weak as the ones you beat." He dropped back down to the floor and held out his hand. "So let me offer you a proposal. You're strong. So help me and maybe we can clean up this mess before it gets out of hand. Maybe we can even find your kidnapped friends along the way."

Mariana and Daniel

"That's great!" Sophie said, excitedly, before Daniel could intervene.

Daniel closed his eyes again and just decided to let it pass. He too had a ship that he didn't want to lose, but he figured that after this job was over he could ask Mariana to bring him back to this island so that he could pick it up.

"Okay, let's take that," he said, in a quiet, but forceful, monotone. "You'll have to lead the way since you know where it is. I'll take up the rear guard. Sophie, stay in between us and don't step out from there. If you get lost we might not be able to find you again in time." Sophie nodded and Daniel, even though his eyes were closed, nodded back and continued, "Then let's get started. Take us to this ship of yours, Mariana."

Miguel

About half of the sailors had been taken into the hole. The manager was getting restless. He figured that he didn't really need to stand in here and he was interested in seeing how the fight was going on the outside. So the manager stepped out of his small home and looked towards the fighting ring.

"What's going on here?"

The manager spun around to find a man he did not know standing behind him. The man was watching the line of sailors being dragged into the house. The manager groaned inwardly. Although the sailors had been brought in at an angle that made it impossible for them to be seen from the stands and despite the fact that this area was off limits, this man had ignored the rules and come around here anyway. Probably to get an autograph. Stupid fool.

The manager figured he had nothing to lose by taking one more person, so he spun striking the man on the side of his head with his cane. The man fell to the ground without making a sound and the manager smiled wickedly.

Then he saw her. A little girl, probably no older than five had been standing behind the witness. She looked down at the fallen man and then let out an ear-piercing scream.

Hating his luck, the manager whacked her over the head as well, but the damage had already been done. A couple of people from the crowd had heard the scream and they had looked around to see the manager standing over the girl and the man who was probably her father. These new witnesses began pointing at the manager and yelling at others in the crowd, slowly bringing everyone's attention to what was happening over there.

"I see..." Jimi said after hearing the words of his guitar playing comrade. The man seemed to know nothing about those agents, but still knew more than Jimi did. 'Let's see... save a lady in distress with a chance of getting rewarded with beer by the good ol boys... sounds like a plan' Jimi thought as he considered accepting the man's offer. He really did need to thank him in some way, and since the man didn't want a drink, Jimi had no choice. "I'll help ya!" Jimi said as he flashed a smile that was shining with whiteness.

"So, you have any idea where should we start looking?" Jimi asked as he watched the agent being stepped on. "Maybe we should, I don't know, interrogate him or something..." Jimi wondered out loud. He clearly wasn't too bright, unlike his teeth.

Miguel heard the cry of a child, the 7 men circling around him didn't even bother getting to him as their mentality had suffered a major blow. With the little girl screaming and the man knocked out in front of her Even Miguel smelled something weird was happening in the tent. While making his way towards the door one of the men tried to block the only way to leave, from which Miguel only ran faster eventually taking out his fist and Punching him in the face, opening the gate. The other 6 men stayed inside the cage.

Miguel walked towards the child that was crying, but when he got to her she was already knocked out. Miguel ran towards the two bodies that were on the floor and put his hand towards both their necks, checking their pulses while still keeping an eye on the man that was assumed responsible. "Tell me... Why did you attack these two? this one.. shes a little girl.. The man might be alright but her.. she might not be as lucky."

Miguel was waiting for a response from the man with the cane, the same one that asked the 12 people to attack Miguel, he at that point was assumed to be the one that runs the tent, at least it was thought by Miguel. Miguel made sure to put the girl in a position where she could breath easier, her pulse was faint but still active.. a small girl.. Miguel would not leave her body until he knew she was alright.

Jimi

"Yeah, that's what I was planning on doing," the guitar man informed Jimi. "That's why I was going to take this punk with me. To get what I can out of him." He pressed his boot down into the back of the man on the ground. "I suspect that it won't be easy, though. Punks like these can be extremely loyal, as they demonstrated while they were fighting you. It was only once they saw that there was no way for them to win that they retreated. Still, even if he proves to be too troublesome, I'm pretty sure where we should look first anyway."

The guitar man took his foot off of the agent's back and lifted him easily. He carried him over behind the bar and stuck his head under a beer tap. Twisting the knob, he started the up the flow of beet which doused the man's head. Turning the agent over while keeping him under the tap, the guitar man began slapping him across the face.

"Wake up ugly," he growled.

The agent did so, spluttering and yelping. "Get off!" he shouted, struggling to break free. "I can't...urgh!" Some of the beer had gone up his nose.

The guitar man smiled cheerfully and turned the agent over. He clapped the man on his back sharply as he coughed.

"Get it all out of your system," the guitar man ordered. "I've got some questions for ya."

"Shove off," the agent muttered, apparently not yet realizing who he was talking too. "My head hurts to much to talk right now..."

Immediately after he had said this, the guitar man seized him by his short hair and yanked him backwards over the bar. The agent cried out in pain and squirmed around, but the guitar man kept a tight grip on him.

"It's gonna start hurting a whole lot more if you don't pay attention," the guitar man informed him. "Now...first off...I'm looking for a girl. She goes by the name of Sophie Newman. Know her?"

The agent scowled at him and started to lift his middle finger. As if by magic, a dagger appeared in the guitar man's hand and tickled the agent's throat. The agent gulped.

"S-Sophie?" he repeated. "Um...yeah. I have heard of her once or twice. She's some kind of rich girl, isn't she?"

"Oh yes," the guitar man said quietly. "She's very rich. In fact, her riches are so great that a useless lackey like you could never even imagine how much she has. Now, I want to know if you might have any idea where she is?"

"I can't..." the agent began. The knife poked his throat and a drop of blood spilled onto the floor. "...fine..." the agent said miserably. "Honestly I don't know where she is. All I know is that we are supposed to catch her and that we were told to gather at the docks after we were finished with this part of the job."

"Ah yes," the guitar man nodded. "This part of the job. Hmmm...well, I have nothing else to ask of you. Though I think my friend might have a question or two." He pointed at Jimi.

The agent looked around to see Jimi standing there and let out an involuntary squawk of fear. "T-t-t-this muh-muh-muh-muh-monster is y-your friend?"

"Why yes," the guitar man replied, seeming to be quite pleased with the man's reaction. "We go way back, to about five minutes ago." With that he stepped back out of the way and smiled at the agent blithely. "Good luck."
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Miguel

The manager wasn't quite sure what to do. He was half-tempted to just go and jump into the sewers and hide. He could easily escape that way. But if he went and he was followed the whole operation could come to a crashing halt!

It got worse. The man who had been fighting the manager's boys in the ring, came out and checked on the girl and the man he had assumed was her father. This new man was now asking questions about what was happening. The manager could not take the risk that Miguel would see the people being dragged into the manager's hut. He would have to do something drastic...and he had just the thing.

Throwing one hand into the air, the manager reached out with his mind. This tent was not set up with poles. It had no ropes or chains keeping it from falling in on itself. No, it had been built with something entirely different. A material that the manager produced from his body: Millions of long threads. The manager now touched those threads with his mind and pulled on them.

The crowd screamed as the tent fell inward. They began to scatter, knocking over lights and benches and tripping over each other in their mad dash to escape.

The manager merely turned and ran, escaping out the back of the tent. He grinned. It hadn't been the most graceful escape, but at least he had pulled it off. Not to mention he had completely buried his hut under the threads. By the time it was unburied, the rest of the sailors would have been dragged into the sewers to await what would come next.

Now all the manager had to do was get himself into hiding. That shouldn't be too hard, he thought. There were plenty of places where he could hide in this city. The trick was reaching one without bumping into someone who knew his face.

Jimi grinned madly as he watched the guitar player scare the agent. It seemed as if he was a professional torturer or something. But now, it was Jimi's turn to party. When the player referred to Jimi, the man cracked his knuckles with a loud noise, trying to intimidate the agent just a little more. He approached the agent, that was lying on the bar. Seeing how the agent already feared him, Jimi decided to stick with the violent monster bit to try and milk the information out of the guy. He raised his fist and pounded the table, right next to the agent's face, creating a small crack in it.

"YOU RUINED MY VACATION SCUM!" Jimi shouted at the agent. It seemed like the bad cop-bad cop approach was working. "PLUS, you took away some of my friends!" He shouted, pounding the table again and making the crack expand. He was lying of course, he could barely remember the sailors' names, but they were good guys.

Jimi then backed away, only to come back again, this time with a chair in his hand. "Now, either you tell me why my vacation was disturbed, or I'll have to find out how much wood you can chuck" He explained, with a smile on his face. Jimi wasn't really a cruel guy, but he definitely didn't like getting his vacation off track.

As the ceiling crashed underneath Miguel immediately went into action, rather then going after the fellow that caused the little girl to parish Miguel put his body around the girl to protect her from any certain harm or lack of oxygen, making sure she had enough room to breath when the tent fell on her. After the escape of the Evil man Miguel pushed his back against the tent, putting his hand on the girls neck checking if anything was broken, she seemed fine. With the neck in place Miguel took her in his arms and dragged the father slowly, as a precaution and ended up safely outside, where the sun could be seen brightly over his head.

"Little girl are you alright?"

Miguel had his palm on her wrist, her heart beat was back to being steady. He then left her in the care of a worrying man that sent someone to get hospital. Miguel left the little girl in the care of the man and left towards the direction of the manager, fully expecting to crack his skull once he saw him. He was going to do what he could to make him feel what the girl could've felt in the worst case situation.

Jimi

The agent flinched back as Jimi pounded on the table. He was terrified of the man's sheer strength and fury. Then, when Jimi grabbed the chair and began advancing on him, he quickly flung himself off of the bar onto the floor and pressed up against the wall behind him. If he got hit by that...

"Eek!" the agent squeaked. "I...I...I really shouldn't...but...fine...I'll tell you what I know." He swallowed hard. "W-We were ordered to capture a group of sailors who had a decent sized ship. We were supposed to switch out the sailors for our own people and take that girl, Sophie, with us on the sailors' ship. We were also supposed to let people see us as we took Sophie. That way, your friends would be framed for her kidnapping." He raised his hands in front of him, as if preparing to ward off an attack. "After that, I don't know anything else! Please don't hit me..."
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Miguel

The manager had escaped, or so he thought. He wasn't quite sure. He hoped that there was no one after him, but until he reached his chosen hiding place, he would be on his guard at all times.

When the building he would hide within appeared, he let out a sigh of relief. At last. He slipped inside. The room inside was simple. A bed in one corner, a bookcase in another, and a table at a third. On the table was a Den Den Mushi

The manager closed the door behind him and locked it before taking a seat on the bed. He sighed and lay back on the bed. Almost immediately the Den Den Mushi on the table began ringing. Annoyed, but unwilling to take the risk of simply ignoring the call, the manager went over to the table and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" he asked.

"We have just received word that the sailors were delivered to the sewers and your tent fell," said the voice on the other end of the line.

"That was fast," the manager commented. "How did you know where I was?"

"I didn't," the voice replied. "I've been calling all of the safe houses in the area. Never mind that. Listen closely, I need you too head down to the docks. It seems our Sophie will be making her way there soon. And she has picked up some muscle to help her get off of the island."

The manager let out a sharp hiss of frustration. "That little brat! First the tent's security was breached and now...has anything else happened that I should know about?"

"Not yet," the voice replied. "And nothing else should. At this point one more screw up at this point could expose us. So make sure that Sophie does not escape! Do I make myself clear?"

The manager's reply was to slam the receiver back down. There would be no rest for the weary, it seemed. Snatching up his cane, which he had deposited by the door, the manger unlocked the door, stepped outside, and closed the door behind him. Then off he went, marching quickly down the street in the direction of the docks.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Daniel

By this point, Daniel and Sophie had already left the safehouse. As it turned out, something else had come up and Mariana had been forced to leave. It looked like Daniel was on his own.

The young man had taken up position about ten feet behind Sophie and across the street. He was keeping an eye on her, but made sure to glance away and look into shop windows. If anyone was observing them, he doubted that he would be noticed.

However, that didn't stop him from taking notice. It seemed that there was an unusual amount of men and women standing on rooftops, conversing in low tones. Also there were many people standing in side streets or alleyways, apparently uninterested in joining in on the festivities.

At this point Daniel was glad that Sophie had agreed to returned to the main street of the festival. If they had been somewhere quieter they would have almost certainly been picked up by this point. Then again, none of these suspicious individuals seemed interested in tailing them. They just spoke to each other and occasionally scanned the crowd in what they thought were secretive glances.

Daniel considered catching up to Sophie and picking her up to run to the docks, but he decided against it. For one thing it would attract not only the attention of the agents, but also all of the ordinary people in the streets and he didn't know how many of them he could actually trust. Not only that, but by making both himself and Sophie noticeable, he would reveal his own identity as her protector. That would bring everything to a crashing halt.

Jimi stopped in his tracks when the agent agreed to spill his guts. He lowered the chair down and listened carefully, although he didn't really understand what the agent was saying. It seemed that everything that happened at the bar had something to do with this Sophie that the guitar player was looking for. Was she really important enough to gas an entire bar? Jimi couldn't say, but one thing was certain, the guitar player should be able to make more sense out of this than he could. "Right choice buddy!" Jimi said, this time with an absolutely friendly tone. He decided to drop the cruel attitude and leave it to the professionals. He reached and powerfully patted the agent's back, to signal that even though he was satisfied, he could still shove a chair into his stomach if he tried to pull anything off.

He then turned to the guitar player. Jimi had so many questions in his mind right now, like who is that Sophie? Why is she so important? And what is the guitar player's name? But it will all have to wait, since Jimi had a more urgent question. "So, what now?" He asked, having not even the slightest of clues on where were they heading. As a navigator, knowing the destination was important for Jimi to feel safe and confident, even though he had and overflowing ego and the strength to drag it around, not to mention his gorgeous Afro.

Miguel followed the general direction he saw the Manager moving towards, he tried his hardest to make sure he would not lose him but lost his tracks after he moved further down the road, however this all stopped when he heard a brief phone call coming from a building, it was lucky that Miguel was in a quiet area where those tings could be heard. After the ringing he heard a voice.. it was the managers.

Miguel took out his hand and tried to twist the door knob slowly, without making much noise, but that only showed the door was locked. It seemed like a simple home, so it wouldn't be much of a hassle to try and break through the door.

"Steel jab."

Miguels steel hard arm broke through the door, causing a hole close to the door knob area, Miguels arm reached past the hole and unlocked the door from the other side. The manager surely must've heard his loud bang from the door. As the door opened Miguel was on the door, cracking his knuckles.

"Sorry for what I'm about to do, doctors around this area won't be able to treat you by the time I'm done."

It was true, as doctors in the area were mostly nurse level, none were capable of brain surgery.

Jimi

The guitar man frowned. He had known this plot went deep, but now, hearing the full details, it still shocked him. The plan was so complicated and there were so many things that could go wrong. Even so...if it worked, the mess it would cause could take ages to clean up, not to mention that Sophie's kidnappers would be able to disappear without a trace. At least he knew what was going on now, so he might still be able to stop it.

"Eh?" the guitar man looked up at Jimi. "Oh...I guess we go to the docks. That's where they'll go next. After all, this guy said that they were supposed to take her there and they were going to frame your friends by sending her away on a ship." The guitar man stepped around Jimi and looked at the agent, who flinched back. "Even if they haven't caught her yet, she'll be looking to escape, so she'll have to go there eventually." He looked back at Jimi, now appearing completely serious. "I asked you to help me with this, but things are going to become super dangerous from here on out. You don't have to come if you don't want to."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(OOC: Karasu, the manager had already gotten outside of the building.)

Miguel

The manager heard a crashing sound behind him and he looked around to see Miguel breaking into the building he had just left. It seemed that the doctor had not noticed him leaving the hideout. Good for him, but bad for Miguel. The only thing was, how had Miguel found him so quickly? The blasted man must have been part hound.

The manager turned into a side alley. It would take him longer to reach his destination by taking this path, but if it helped him avoid Miguel, that was all he cared about. He wondered if it wouldn't be better to go back and kill Miguel just to get him out of the way, but he didn't want to take the chance that he would arrive too late at the docks and be blamed for any failure that occurred. Even so...

The manager slipped his cane under his arm and reached into his pockets with both of his hands. He fingered the objects he kept inside of them and smiled. If push came to shove he would deal with this Miguel and he knew just how to do it.

The manager looked up and smiled grimly. The docks were not far now. Once he had reached his destination he would have enough back up to deal with Miguel without him ever having to lift a finger himself.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Daniel

There were the docks up ahead. Daniel almost let out a sigh of relief. The agents had not closed in on them yet and now their destination had come into view. They were safe.

The only danger now was that they would have to expose themselves by leaving the crowd, but Daniel was sure that he could dash forward and pull Sophie out of any danger before it came into range.

Little did Daniel know that a certain pair of eyes had been watching him from the time he had entered the crowd with Sophie. Romulus had kept to the shadows as he trailed after Daniel, his eyes never wavering from the boy's back. Sophie was a pushover. They could take her without any trouble. It was this boy, this one boy who provided so much uncertainty.

Romulus grinned in anticipation. He would wait until Daniel and Sophie had gotten to the docks, and then he would strike suddenly and without warning. It would be over before Daniel even knew that he was under attack.