An eye for an eye, and a ship for the pirate. (open and serious)

It took Jay two and a half days before he rowed long enough to get a toe from a passing cargo ship, who tended to his wounds and didn’t ask many questions, it then took him and his companion Paige, who was a small bonny girl he had picked up and offered a lift too as thanks for the help in their previous predicament.

Still as he was bandaged up he leant on the side of the large cargo ship and at his dinghy and began to think “If I’m going to make a crew I need a ship, before anything else I need a place for them, I doubt many will join, wanting to bring just and honour to the pirate name, but I reckon most will join to beat down on marines who are corrupt. Still... That is why I survived the flames...” Jay’s features were gloomy as he remembered his old island and how it used to be.

However the ship soon began to near the large port island of Kandokku, Jay turned and held his Bo staff, his muscles aching from the encounter with the Sergeant, before he went off to find Paige. It took him several minutes as she had been to herself for the journey, but he found her eventually doing something weird. “We’re almost docked, take care of yourself okay kid? I hope we meet again once I get a ship and a crew of my own.” He gave her a warm smile and headed for dry land.

Images flashed in his head as the youthful captain to be began to think of the jolly roger for his own crew, the crew to be known as the ‘Shaolin pirates’ a crew that would stand for honour and discipline upon the grand line, a crew that would only seek out the evil and then purge them for some almost higher power, and for the name of piracy.

Paige had never been so bored in her life. Her attention span was short as it was, and now she was supposed to stay on this ship, eithout anything to do and materials too sparce to waste on practice?
For the first two days, the only entertainment had been watching mister Jay, or whatever his name was, row, so she supposed this was better, but still.....
When he found her to tell her about the land, she had just been about to steal, er, look for something made of cotton or wood to at least stock up her supplies a bit. She had just found some rather high quality and probably unneeded piece of wardrobe she had been about to take apart when he informed her that they had reached land.
Best!News!Ever!

As soon as the ship was close enough to land, she jumped off the reiling to greet this warm, new opportunity with the most enthusiastic look on her face. Her try to do so would almost have ended with a cold, wet, and unwanted bath in the docks water when she landed just a bare inch away from it and had to row her arms to keep standing, but in the end, she stayed dry and on her feet.
Only after this little interference did she notice she hadn't even said goodbye properly....
After a moment of deep thought about that, she shrugged and went on to look for the nearest source of fun. Whatever, it wasn't like they had been close friends or anything. He had seemed okay. Reasonably fun she guessed. But so did a lot of other people, and there was no use being sad about the past, was there?
Speaking of past... She looked around. Hadn't she been here before? Then again, it was most likely just her, right?

Jay saw that Paige had leapt from the ship, in face she leapt over the side quite near him and he chuckled as he saw her almost fall in and then walk away, in fact he shouted after her “Take care kid!” Jay chuckled a bit picking up what little possessions he had in the bag, and in his other hand he kept a tight grip on his Bo staff, which glimmered in the light.

The bandages on his body were a bit dirty and a bit red with the blood loss and general dirt, but overall it only appealed to Jay’s “rough and tumble” looks, which most women seemed to like, but he was always clueless about such things. Still as he left the Cargo ship he paid his respects to the captain and offered his help if he needed it once he had acquired a ship, the captain pointed him down the docks which a large building loomed over. Jay was told it was the ship master of this port.

Jay then set forth off the barge and headed to the large building, only having to stop after a few minutes of travel as he noticed something strange on the wall of an Alley way near the Docks. A picture of him with a 38,000 belli reward under it dead or alive. Jay’s face was a mixture of mischief and surprise as he looked over his body in a clash with the sergeant. Chuckling Jay took the bounty sheet from the wall and said “I guess I can’t go back to being a civilian now.... I must move forward, piracy and honour await those who strive forward....” Jay chuckled putting it into his bag and heading for the harbour masters building.

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Indeed Paige had been here before, and she was almost well known, her face was upon a poster as well, or at least the side of her face, running. However some of the locals turned as she moved through the crowds, whispers of the one who started a fire seemed to spread about, and a few large men began to watch her carefully from their spots in the Cafe’s they were ‘relaxing’ in.

For a while, Paige didn't even notice the looks.
Then her instincts kicked in and she realised that, even for a small, a bit dirty girl in a trenchcoat, she was getting way too much attention. She slowed her steps down a bit. Somehow, this felt very.... nostalgic...
Now, the people lookinh at her were mostly, if not only men (flattered, she guessed...), mostly grown ups, and uh.... very, er.... big. Suddenly Paige was glad she wasn't staring at anyone directly, but instead had knelt down pretending to tie her left boot just to realise she was wearing cowboy boots that had no shoelaces, at which point she stood up with a sheepish smile on her face.

Well, she didn't think anyone payed attention to her shoes anyway. Or hopefully not. How freaking retarded would it be if someone knelt down to tie their shoelaces only to realise they didn't have any?
Less retarded than pretending to tie them only to notice there wasn't anyhting to pretend with, she guessed. Oh well.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a wall with wanted posters on it. Such places existed in many cities, especially if there were bounty hunters present. Something like a "take your pick" made by marines and bounty hunting comrades alike.
Oooh, bounty hunting had always been fun. Not that she was actually allowed to cash in the bounty, not personally, at least, and whenever she sent someone else, they tended to not come back.

But upon stepping closer and inspecting the posters, she noticed especially one of them. The first was in the upper right corner, and had drawn her in right away, since it was, well, hers. If not recognisable by the absolutely uneven bounty, then by the large picture of her, which wasn't the best she had ever seen of herself, but oh well.
When she reached up (she had to stand on her toes to do so, damn wall, why did it have to be so high up?) to get it, she noticed the second one, and forgot her own over it. Right in front of her, now that she was standing on her toes, was mister... what was it?
She looked at it. Jay Rateshi.

That guy actually had a bounty?
She scanned the picture for a moment first before ripping the poster from the wall and inspecting it. 38.000..... Not bad, but not good either.
Without a second thought to her own bounty, she folded his poster up and put it into her pocket. If nothing else, it could still make for good burning material later. Sometimes she thought the marines didn't know what they were wasting...
In her pocket, one of her fingers grazed the box of matches. Why not?
She retrieved it from the dephts of the large coat she had never grown into and opened it with one hand.
The small whoosh when she lit one of them up was quite relaxing... She started walking again, watching it burn right down to her fingers before dropping it and taking the next one out. When she passed the cafe, she smiled and nodded to the group that was watching her.

Even taking his sweet time Jay got to the building in a couple of minutes, he had time to look around and enjoy the scenery of the mid day docks, the smell of seaweed and fresh fish although un-appealing to some were beginning to remind him of home, or at least the beach of home, and his usual saunter turned into a stroll. Perhaps it was this level of relaxed that caused Jay not to notice the funny looks he was getting.

Fresh bounties always caught people’s eyes, especially when that bounty was walking around care free, almost ‘smug’ in the way they did it, it was commonly mistaken that they would be showing off that they were free for whatever charges they had committed. Even more so in Jay’s case as most of that bounty was self defence, however the corruptness of those he defended himself against was word worth higher than his own, and why he must get this ship.

If this was any other situation, where Jay wasn’t enjoying the weather, the walk, and his bandages he would have probably realised he was being followed, even as he strolled into the front of the Harbour masters reception and put his bag down gently against the main desk “Hello Miss, I wish to see the man in charge please.” He gave a warm smile, which most women seemed to melt at, or at least those interested in men of his build.

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Over in the street where Paige was, most people who recognised her from last time flinched as she pulled out a match, and some even walked swiftly out of her way, some closed windows, and others their stalls, but most in this busy town where visitors much like Jay and Paige herself, and as such continued.

The hustle and bustle of the crowd made the flame on top of the match dance in a way most arsonists loved, the chaotic turns, twists, and tumbles of a flame carrying out its whimsical dance, hoping it would give life to something more ‘explosive’ or perhaps something that would ‘last’ in the memories of those around it.

However the match only allowed the thugs to keep an eye on the young lass, and one of the members of this five man team, albeit one of the younger ones thought it’d be wise to bump into the back of her and chuckle simple words such as “You look familiar girl.... You wouldn’t happen to have a picture ‘round here would you?” His voice was deep, and sluggish, what most people would call stereotypical of such a thug. However the other men hidden in the crowd sighed and growled as the ‘rookie’ had made such a move in broad daylight, and in a crowded street no less.

Paige almost let out a little 'eek!' as she watched the flame dance, however it seemed she wasn't allowed to have such nice things just yet, as someone bumped into her and made her drop the match. It went out before it even hit the ground, the air resistance was too much for the small flame to handle, and it hurt Paige a bit. It was a bit like watching a puppy die... Granted, a biting puppy that had the potential to grow into a wild, dangerous hellhound, but that only made it sadder, didn't it?

Yet, there was someone who was talking to her here, and something as small as this wouldn't keep her from juping right into a small, friendly chat!
And so, with a last, sad look at the match, she erased the sadness from her memory as she always did, and spun around to face the fellow with a bright smile.
He seemed to know her. Maybe that should worry her, but it never had, really. Here was someone interested in her, who knew and remembered her, even though it was only vaguely.
"Oh yes, that's probably the one on my bounty poster! My name's Paige. And who are you?"

The young man seemed to be rather inexperienced in the ways of the world, but she wouldn't hold that against him! Plus, he looked like the guys who used to be in her... in Verucas crew! This was exactly how they had met some of them, actually! It was almost nostalgic...

[Sorry Mondays are a bit hard for me to post in ]

An elderly man was summoned from one of the back rooms looking a bit perplexed about the whole situation that he was asked for personally, and by someone who wasn’t a normal fisherman or marine looking for ship repairs; however his face rang a bell to the old man. He then looked back into his office where the news paper displayed several photo’s of people running, which had to anyone who had been there obviously edited.

As the pictures depicted Jay standing battered and bruised about to attack villagers who were running away from him in fear, however he wasn’t about to make a fuss especially as he had read the note that came with it that he was “Dangerous pirate who attacks innocent civilians ” again anyone who knew Jay would know that was complete twaddle.

Still he grabbed a cloth and made an attempt that he was cleaning his hands as he came to the desk before Jay.

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The rookie who was talking to Paige chuckled and said ”That’s right girl, and I’m a bounty hunter here to collect you for what you’re worth, unless you can offer more money to counter it, then I won’t have to get my gang involved.” Now this was a silly move for any ‘professional’ to make, as he not only gave away that there were multiple of them, and hinted that they were near enough to be called upon if needed but also that he was attempting to bring her in, without a weapon drawn.

The boss of the group had heard this comment and growled under his breath as he signalled around to make the rest of the group more ‘inconspicuous’ however bounty hunters were not the sneaky sort, more a smash and grab sort, as such if Paige were to look around she’d probably notice several large ish people trying not to look as if they were watching her.

"I can't, I don't have that much money, but I don't think you're worth it anyway, so that's okay."
Paige declared loudly. so this guy was here for bounties as well? She'd better warn mister Jay about that later, since he had one as well. For now, she reached into her pocket and puleld one of the batons out.
She didn't give herself or him time to think, which honestly wasn't that bad in her case.
Though it kind of did seem weird that she'd pull out a weapon, which she proceeded to look at with a confused and surprised look on her face, and then instead went for a kick aimed to where it hurt every male, to her knowledge.

Not that she was suddenly a tactical genius, but she had just changed her mind about the baton when she had noitced how she wouldn't be able to reach his head without stretching. Seriously, why had she even gotten that out?
Then again, if the kick hit, he would probably bend a bit, so then his head would possibly be in reach for her. Not that she had thought about all that, it just so happened to be that way.

Meeting with the Harbour Master

Jay raised an eye as the man came out then back into his office then came back out with his hands being cleaned, it was odd behaviour by Jay’s standards but still he was from an isolated island, the whole concept of these seas was new and weird to Jay, how people killed without concern, how some people didn’t even have talents or skills, and how others had more than enough money to share but didn’t. Still he smiled as the man came to the desk and shoed away the receptionist.

“Afternoon Mister, I’m in need of a boat being built, something that can contain a fair crew, but one that can be sailed by one man, as I’ve yet to get people to man it, as of yet.” Jay had a warm smilea bout himself, oblivious that the man thought him dangerous.

The old man stuttered a bit before coughing as he said “S..S..Sure... W...W..Well t.th..that will be...” The harbour master pulled out an abacus and some schamatics, before looking around for something else, to which Jay didn’t know was a small button that sent a signal to the enarest marine outpost, to say there was trouble down by the port.

When he came back up after pressing it a few times he had a weak smile about him and said “A...a...Any ex..extra’s Mr Ra-. Mister ra....”

Jay shook his head and again just happy to be relaxing on a nice day and excited to be getting a ship soon ignored the fact he almost said his last name.

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Bounty brawl in the street

The connect was not seen, as he was a little bit slower than most anyway, but still the rookie bent over holding his rather sensitive and now sore area, coughing as tears came to his eyes. Naturally he was now able to have anything done to him, and was almost losing consciousness from the pain as it was.

The captain opened his eyes in surprise as the girl then pulled out a weapon and his rookie went down, however he laughed on the inside as the rookie got what was coming to him for messing up the whole plan, however this needed to be contained.

A few of the people walking in the street saw it happen too and moved out to make a small arena to watch what was happening. The leader of this group signalled to a few other people to hop into the’ring’ and they did so without thinking too much, they weren’t too far away from them, however appeared behind their now fallen comrade, who was on his knees nursing a crotch shot.

One held a club, the other just a large metal brass knuckle type of weapon.

Stats

Club:

• Strength: 15
• Endurance: 15
• Speed: 15
• Agility: 10
• Skill: 11
• Tactical intelligence: 5
• Practical intelligence: 5
• Knowledge: 5
• Perception: 15
• Charisma and leadership: 15
• Talent: 15
• Devil fruit control: 0

Knuckle:

• Strength: 10
• Endurance: 10
• Speed: 20
• Agility: 20
• Skill: 20
• Tactical intelligence: 5
• Practical intelligence: 10
• Knowledge: 10
• Perception: 15
• Charisma and leadership: 15
• Talent: 15
• Devil fruit control: 0