Serious; The Nature Pirates; Chapter 1: Bear your problems! (Open to me and Metal Horse)

The sound of bones crushing beneath him Griz smirked then stood up and looked down at Shepard's broken body. Griz heard Brewmaster's orders and nodded. "Will do." When he saw Brewmaster head to the west he began to run on his four feet to the east leaping over corpses of villagers which made him angry. The scents of dead villagers was strong and the bodies we're bloody and in worse condition. Griz saw a few agents in the distance and sped up.

Griz could see the agents we're searching through corpses and taking whatever they could get their hands on. Griz slowed down and walked closer to them and called out "Can I help you guys with anything?" the agents turned to look at him and Griz knew he was in for another fight, he cracked his neck then charged forward before rolling an aikido roll towards the enemies and slowly bringing his wrist up to attack. One of the agents grabbed his wrist and Griz spun him around and ended up behind him holding on to his arm as the agent had let go. Griz had forced this guy into a crouch with his arm behind him. He then nudged him over to the floor and stamped on his back severing his spinal cord. As the agent screamed a blood curdling scream the other agents took a step back. Griz looked at the others smiling and said "Well, whose next?"

Meanwhile, at the west side of the village... While Brewmaster was walking with Mangix in order to search for the villagers, he could see the corpses of many villagers around. The World Government... What where they doing? Why would they do this? He could not get an answer. Then, while moving, he noticed a bunch of agents, shooting towards a house with their guns. Without losing any time, he rushed towards them and started cutting them down with his katana. He did not kill them, but he injured them to the point where they would fall unconscious.

"Damn it... Why is this going on..." he wondered, while the hologram of a man appeared in front of him, saying "Do you need an answer... Brewmaster?". The man, who was actually a hologram, was bald, wore black clothes and a black beret. He had light blue eyes and a calm look on his face that was so calm that it started annoying the panda.
"Let me guess... You are dressed like those bastards, yet you know me... Could you be..."
"Indeed... How could I not know you? I am the leader of the Nezumahan Project..." the man continued, enraging Brewmaster to the point that he attempted to slash down the hologram, even if that was impossible. As soon as he slashed it, the hologram disappeared...

Meanwhile, at Griz's place... the hologram of the same man appeared in front of him at the moment it disappeared in front of Brewmaster. The hologram of the man walked towards the grizzly bear and said "Well, well... You want to battle the government, huh? That is pretty interesting... But I am sorry to say that our job was done here. We've found what we wanted. Now, go and find your friend... He is probably attacking any agents he finds at the west side of the village... Fuhuhuhuhuhu!". Seconds later, the hologram disappeared and the agents who were around Griz and listened to their conversation disappeared from the place.

Who was that mysterious man and what were his motives? And would the two friends meet him ever again? There were so many questions...

Griz was confused about the hologram and where the agents went, he looked around and only saw corpses but no agents. "What the hell was that about?" asked Griz he hadn't ever been this confused in a long time. Griz remembered seeing the man in the hologram when he was being experimented on but he didn't know what they we're after.

Heading back through the corpses and buildings which we're being torn apart Griz found himself trailing along corpses which had got caught on his claws. Griz removed the corpse then carefully continued his search for Brewmaster hopefully he would know what was going on.

As he searched he saw no agents which unnerved him, he felt uncomfortable as there was an odd silence about the village. He couldn't hear anything which made him feel suspicious but he did his best to continue his search without worrying about it.

As soon as the hologram of the man that claimed that he was the leader of the Nezumahan Project disappeared, Brewmaster decided to search for his friend, as a strange silence surrounded the whole area. Nothing was heard at all. That worried Brewmaster. The panda did not know what to do... The only thing he could do was to search for Griz and see if he found any villagers or if he beat down any agents.

After searching for a while, he happened to run on him. He looked at him and said with a worried face "Did you find any people alive at the area?" while he waited for his answer.

Meanwhile, in the secret basement of the Government on the island...

"Sir... Do you think this is going to work?"
"Indeed, Leo-san... It will work... Have my plans ever failed?"
"No sir, but I cannot understand how the higher ups are going to believe our story... I mean, who would believe that a panda and a grizzly bear would destroy a village?"
"Hahahahaha... Just wait and see..."

Griz saw Brewmaster and shook his head. "They were all dead and rotting it looked like they'd all been dead for a while though. I took down one of the agents when suddenly a hologram of some bald man in black showed up and asked me if I thought I could fight the World Government then he and all of the other agents in the area disappeared." Griz was highly confused and looked around where he was still feeling the area around him was strange.

"Don't you think its oddly quiet here Brewmaster?" asked Griz as he faced Brewmaster and looked around with his eyes from side to side searching for any hidden agents among the corpses and buildings which were falling apart. In the streets it seemed to be corpses as far as the eye could see and the stench made him twitch his red nose.

"It is strange..." the panda said with a worried look on his face. However, he did not try to think of the reason the place was so quiet. It probably was because most of the villagers were killed by the World Government agents, after all. Then, he started thinking what Griz said about the bald man. As he did not want to worry the grizzly bear, Brewmaster decided to not reveal anything at all at Griz about his encounter with the hologram of the bald man so that he would not worry him. Brewmaster decided to take it all on himself and so he would try to figure out the mystery behind the "leader of the Nezumahan Project" by himself.

He sighed and said "We should better go..." and he started moving towards the village's exit without saying anything at all, but clearly showing that he was thinking of something...

Meanwhile, at the secret basement...

The bald man smiles as he picks up a Den Den Mushi... He seems to be calling somebody...

Griz followed Brewmaster out of the town on all four of his feet as he found it more comfortable even though he could walk on two feet. Griz could see something was going through Brewmaster's mind but didn't know what it was and chose not to ask as he didn't want to be too forward. Griz then said to him "I've never fought a devil user before today, it was unusual, I really didn't expect to see what I saw, it surprised me. The guy who came to fight me had eaten the rotto rotto fruit. It was strange to see the effects of it, it made me worry for a moment when I saw his body turn to a skeleton after I dug my claws into his arm." Griz then looked up at Brewmaster and tried to read his face and figure out what he was thinking.

"I see..." Brewmaster said with a worried look on his face as he listened to Griz's words. He stopped walking for a single minute. Then, he turned to look at his new friend. He said "Griz... We might be in trouble here if we stay on this island... We don't know when the World Government is going to attack us... I was planning to sail away from this island today, too... So what do you say. Do you want to come with me and Mangix on our journey to find strength and overpower the World Government? I know this sounds kinda crazy... But I want you to come with me. After all, I would feel more safe if I had a friend stand by me...". Then, he waited for the answer of the grizzly bear and hoped that he would agree to come with him in his long journey...

Griz heard what Brewmaster had to say then looked at him and was grateful to hear that he wanted him to sail away with him from the island where all the memories of the Nezumahan Project echoed through out his mind.

Griz then stood up and looked Brewmaster in the eye and said to him "I think it would be best to leave the island, it contains the memories of the Nezumahan Project for us both and I for one would be grateful to leave this place behind, as for the government they can try and stop us but with all they've taught us they've created their own worst enemy."

Brewmaster sighed as he listened to the words of his new friend. Apparently,the grizzly bear seemed to agree with the panda's opinion. He knew that they would be in danger if they stayed on the island and most importantly, they would never forget the bad experience of the project that the World Government put them into many years ago. He said "Great..." as he started walking towards the sea, followed by Mangix. The bamboo raft that they would stay on was near the sea, so he would go and pick it up first. Then, they would finally start their journey, away from the island in the Grand Line...

Meanwhile, in the World Government basement...

The bald man, who grabbed a Den Den Mushi before started talking at somebody... He said

"Sir, I got to report to you something..."
"What is it? What happened?"
"I am afraid to tell you that the animals of the Nezumahan Project that escaped returned... And they killed the people of the village."
"What?! Why would they do that?"
"They are animals, sir... They act based on their instinct, not based on their reason."
"Damn... We shouldn't leave them like that... And where were you at that time?"
"I was at the basement sir... I sent a few men there, but they failed to stop them..."
"I see... Call the marines. We need to inform them about these animals..."

Griz followed Brewmaster to his little bamboo raft when he saw it he realised the most important thing was they needed a proper ship. Griz was still just happy to be leaving the island. Griz said to Brewmaster "So where are you planning on heading to Brew?"

Griz was happy to be leaving this island and looked out to the sea realising he had no idea what was out there but couldn't wait to find out, he was excited to see what he could find and felt anger bubbling just under the surface as he thought about what enemies may come their way and what he would have to do to survive these harsh seas.

Hearing the gentle waves against the shore made him feel calm and he washed his claws of the blood in the water then looked at Mangix smiling, he reached out to pat him.

Brewmaster could understand that the raft would not be enough for the two bears and the dog... Apparently, they needed a bigger ship. However, he could not afford anything else at that time. He only had the bamboo raft to sail and not a big ship that would be enough for the three of them. He sighed and he took a sad face as he thought of all these things.

Then, he listened to Griz's question. The grizzly bear wanted to learn where they were going to head. Brewmaster did not know at all. They would sail wherever the sea would move their raft. He said "Well... The sea is going to decide where we are going to sail..." as he moved the raft inside the sea and got on it, along with Mangix. He said to his friend "Come on... Get on the raft so that we can go..." and he waited for the grizzly bear to get on it so that they would start sailing in the sea and get away from the island.

Griz saw them both climb aboard and joined them making sure his weight wouldn't weigh down the raft on his side. As he climbed on he could feel it dipping a little and he quickly made his way to the middle. Sitting in the middle he looked at Brew and Mangix as he felt the raft sail away from the island he smiled. Griz said to Brew "So why do you wear those robes Brew?"

Griz didn't need an answer for the bamboo sword considering both of them had been forced into the Nezumahan Project he could guess he learnt to use it thanks to the humans.

Even though he was forced to take part in the Nezumahan Project he didn't see it as a reason to despise humans as they had only made animals stronger and smarter but they obviously hadn't thought about the repercussions. Griz couldn't understand what the humans would gain from teaching animals to speak and fight. Griz was happy he now knew Aikido as it was useful when he needed to protect himself or someone else. Griz didn't like the fact that they were forced to learn this but knew that himself and Brew and any others they met would gladly attack the World Government for this.

"Hm? My robes?" Brewmaster said with a surprised look on his face. He expected Griz to ask him about his sword rather than his robes. However, even if he did not ask a thing about what he expected, he decided to give an answer to the grizzly bear's question. He sighed and said

"Well... I just liked them from the very first moment I ever saw them... Moreover, they are hiding my body... I do not want it to be seen by others... You know, I happen to have a few scars on my body because of the Project... Not that it matters anymore, anyway."

Then, he turned his head towards the sea. He looked at the sun that was shining and was reflecting on the water in a similar way he did the same morning after he woke up. Afterwards, he turned his head towards Nezumahan Island. That place was his home for many years and now he would get to leave from there... However, the island reminded him of his worst memories so he would never mind leaving at all. He knew that leaving from his home would hurt him in the begining, but afterwards he would be fine and he would continue his life like nothing happened...

Griz listened to Brew's reply and then nodded understanding he then said "This scar on my shoulder is from the project and the red nose......its just a birthmark but I hate it because it makes me stand out like a sore thumb. Griz covered his nose with his paw then sneezed and smiled at Brew.

"So I take it we're pirates now as we're running from the World Government and they'll probably contact the Marines, so we're pretty much fugitives now. Although if we're going to be pirates we'll need a crew name, we'll also probably get bounties too."

"A name huh?" Brewmaster said as he listened to his new comrade that suggested that they should think of a name. "I will think of one..." Brewmaster said, as he stared at the sea. "For now, let's relax and think of our new life, then we will think of anything else..." he completed.

And so, their raft moved through the sea while carrying the three comrades on it...

[END OF THE THREAD!]