(Serious) The Iron Raiders ~ Cleaning Duties (Open to the Iron Raiders)

It's been a week since the battle on the shores of the Big Igloo. Salvador's successful escape was discovered the morning after it took place: Too late to track him down. Cornelio, his brother and his former captain, refused to reveal his brother's plans even after being tortured. Since there was a chance that Salvador might try and free Cornelio in the future, the marines decided to move Cornelio back into Impel Down in a month, after the mess back in the Grand Line settles.

As for the Raiders, they were given some time to relax and heal after their great performances in the battle. Leo, who wasn't a fan of free time, took advantage of this week to try and train his crew members, both physically and mentally. His training included morning 10 mile jogs followed by heavy weight lifts and battle training, it was by no means a vacation time. He forced his crew to do some chores as well, either being kitchen duty or cleaning duty. Of course, he took part in all of this torments as well. The paperwork that was needed to be done in order for the Raiders to head out to sea was coming to an end, and it seemed like a departure was going to happen any day now.

[The Big Igloo - The main office building of the Northern Igloo - Conference Room #1 - 6:00 AM]

Leo left the lounge that was given to his crew early in the morning. He had an early meeting and he tried his best not to wake up his mates. They needed to rest before their 7:00 AM jog. He picked up his captain coat and left the small accommodation. The lounges were given to any crew who stayed in the Igloo, it was a plural version of the private room. It consisted of a main room, that included 5 bunks, a small kitchen, a fireplace and a small library, and a captain's room with a separated bunk and a desk. In Leo's case, his room was overflowing with paperwork. They were staying at room number 12, and only had one other marine division as neighbors.

At precisely 6:00, Leo was heading down the fanciest corridor the North Blue had to offer. It was decorated by pictures of famous marine personas, including all current admirals and Vice admirals. There were no pictures of any Shichibukais, they weren't liked around the North Blue. He was summoned by the head council of the North Blue: The highest ranking marines of the Northern Igloo, who commanded anything that happened in it. He had no idea why he was summoned, but he was hoping it was about his crew's departure. He wasn't a man to enjoy free time, and he'll explode if he'll get any more of it.

The doors were opened by a low-ranking officer, welcoming Leo into the room. The room had a long table, capable of having 20 people around it, but today, it only had one: Rear Admiral Sheldon "Sea Lion" Patrick, the highest authority of the North Blue. Leo didn't expected him, and was caught by surprise by his long white mustache and gigantic dimensions. The man huge, and had an eye patch on his left eye.
"Rear Admiral Patrick!" Leo said before taking a hasty salute. "Bohohohoho" Sheldon laughed, "Relax Captain Roswell, have a sit, you're here for good news" he said. gesturing to the seat beside him. Leo nervously accepted, taking the seat as quick as he could. It might be it! It might be the time for the Raiders to finally head out! "How are you today Rear Admiral Patrick?" Leo asked. "Skip the formality, I only demand it from those who I'm not proud of" Sheldon said. The truth was that Sheldon was one of the people who handpicked Leo for his role in the Eisenkrieg project, and was thus responsible for Leo's current achievements. Of course, his part of Leo's acceptance was a secret.
"You and tour crew did a fantastic job Roswell! You practically saved the base and the entire blue!" He said with his booming voice. "Unfortunately, we allowed one criminal to escape while letting out guards down, but that's none of your fault" He said. "Thank you Rea~, I mean Patrick sir, I mean Sheldon" Leo said, trying to hold his excitement in.
"As gratitude for your actions, I took the liberty of finally sending your crew outta here" He said. "Are we finally heading out!?" Leo asked with excitement. "Yes Roswell, you and your crew are heading out of the Igloo! To your fully paid vacation!" Sheldon announced with excitement.
After hearing the news, Leo's heart sank to his socks. "Va... Vacation?" he asked with a depressed expression. "Yes! You and your crew are going to a week's vacation in the fancy Indigo Casino of the North Blue! That would be your last stop before you depart out of the Grand Line" Sheldon said. "Thank you sir..." Leo said with a low voice, holding his frustration as best as he could and shook Sheldon's hand. Looks like the crew had to wait before it got some action...

"Oh and one more thing Leo" Sheldon said. "Yes sir?" Leo asked on his way out of the room. "You're getting a small surprise before you leave".

FOR PonkQuagsire: Assignation letter:

Spoiler:

Ferdinard was sitting in his office at that time. Apparently, he was in a very small office, but he was satisfied with it as he could be working in a smaller one... He did not need a bigger one to do all the paperwork he had to do. He could do anything from there. He would sign papers and take a look at pirate profiles as well as contact other Blues for information about other pirates that happened to move towards North Blue. It was a boring job, but Ferdinard was pretty sure that these days were the last days he would be doing that.

As he worked, he received a message from a marine. The marine said "Commander Maimou! Your newspaper has arrived!".
"Fahahahahahahahaha! I see... Thank you very much!" Ferdinard replied while getting up from his chair. He did not bother wearing his marine coat. After all, his new appearance ressembled more that of the marines because of his blue colored shirt. Above the shirt, there were black suspenders and he wore black black pants, black shoes and black gloves. The glasses were still on his face, though...

After getting out, he looked at the bird that was carrying the newspaper. Without losing any time, the man picked up the newspaper and he started reading. He read "Mysterious disappearance of a pirate crew around the waters of Impel Down...". Apparently, it seemed that nothing interesting was up at that time... He did not find any news about Maximillion. It seemed that his prediction about his cousin was wrong, this time.

"Oh well... Next time..." the man said while grabbing the newspaper and moving back at his office. There, he would continue his work until he would be called to do anything...

Andrew Luminoso awoke on a hospital bed at the North Blue Naval Base. However, this wasn't because he was sick, it was because he worked there. Being the highest ranking doctor on the base, the Commander was in charge of all operations in the hospital. He had worked late the previous night on a mans broken ribs and had not been awake enough to make it to the lounge to sleep. He groaned a little as he got out of bed, yawning loudly and stretching his arms. He then walked over to the man with the broken ribs and sighed. He needed to work with his crew today and didn't have time to tend to him that day. He then went into his office where he let one of his doctors, a Ensign named Jim sleep. He shook the man awake and told him he was ion charge for the day. Andrew then grabbed his justice coat and sword and walked out of the base to try to find some of his crew.

After leaving the conference room, more frustrated than when he stepped in, Leo decided to head to the schedule ministry and see if his crew members were busy, they had a tendency to scatter when he wasn't watching them. He stepped towards the main table, confronting a young female marine, who was too young for him to address as nothing more than a co-worker. "Looking for your "brats"? That's how you call them right?" The marine asked with a smile. "Well, I guess you can say that, any of them reported anywhere?" Leo answered, hoping he won't have to look for them. "Let's see..." The young marine said as she went through a long receipt. "Well, Commander Luminoso never reported out of the medical center last night, he must have fallen asleep at some point, and Commander Maimou reported to his office early today, he's probably still there" She said. "Anything else I can do for you?" She asked kindly. "No thanks, you've been helpful enough" Leo said and left.

He didn't know why Andrew never returned last night, but he figured that as long as he wasn't slacking off, it was best. He headed for Ferdinard's temporary office, in order to give him the "good" news. On his way, Leo luckily managed to bump into Andrew on his way out of the clinic. "I hoped I'll bump into you" Leo said to get Andrew's attention. They were only one corridor away from Ferdinard's office. Leo figured that the wall he was standing next to was a part of Ferdinard's office, and he knocked on it several times to try and get Ferdinard's attention. "Ferdinard! Let's go I have news from the top" Leo shouted. "We're finally getting out of here!"

Back over at Lounge 12, a thin hazel-haired woman knocked on the door. She had an attractive figure, but modest at the same time, with muscle lines stretching on a few parts of her limbs, a result of her Rokushiki training. She remembered a promise she gave to one of the Raiders, and since their day of departure was getting closer, it was about time for her to fulfill it. "Sean? Are you there? It's me Tania, from Captain Tark's class" The woman said with a sweet voice. She promised Sean some Rokushiki training, and she figured he must be awake right now, getting ready for one of Leo's crazy morning runs.

"Fahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" a laughter was heard from inside Ferdinard's office, before the door opened to reveal the marine. "I see, Leo!" he said with a wide smile on his face, glad because he would finally get to travel out of the basement. "That is not a surprise... At least they made us a favor... We saved the day and yet they did not give us a promotion... That was the least they could do, right? Fahahahahahahahaha!" he continued saying to his captain while laughing loudly, picking the attention of any marines who happened to pass from around.

"Well, that does not go for all of us..." he said ironically, while pointing towards Andrew with his eyes because of the fact that he did not get the chance to do anything in the battle against the Family Pirates. Then, as he knew that he would probably be yelled for that, he laughed once more, saying that he was joking.

Apparently, the marine commander was really happy... He would finally get to travel with his new crew and his chances to meet his detested cousin would definitely increase. He did not know when he would meet him, but he was pretty sure that that would happen eventually. Whether it would happen in a few weeks or in a few months he did not know, but he was absolutely certain that he would find Maximillion one day...

"So, when are we finally moving?" he asked with a wide smile on his face and waited for his captain's answer.

Sean was sleeping in his bunk dreaming of the battle from salvador "Oh god don't hurt me please!" Sean fell down from his bunk hitting his head on the floor. He woke grabbing his head rolling on the floor with his head hurting. Sean then noticed Tania was in the room. He got up trying to regain his composure. He quickly cleaned himself up trying to make himself look cool. "Ok sean, tania is right there. Try to be cool for once. You know she is hot but you must keep your cool" Sean realized that he was talking what he was thinking in his mind. Sean turned red "Ummm what did u want from me tania heh ha ha ha" he laughed nervously.

"Ohman, Ohman, OHMAN. Late, I'm late, I'm late, I'M LATE." A young woman dashes across the street, not even bothering to look both ways as she does so. "Sweet Roll, you were SUPPOSED to wake me up at 6:30!" She glances at the small sugar glider perched on her shoulder, hey..it's not her fault sugar glider's are horrible with time.
"Oh man, this is the place, yeah..this is the place.." Glancing down at the note she had been given, she continues to walk foward. Right into the door.
"AH! Door, how do I work these again?! Help me Sweet Roll!" Tess scrambles to recover after walking face first into the door.
Sweet Roll would LOVE to help, but she can't...because sugar gliders can't open doors, silly.
"Oh..that's right..you push them..!" Tess leans against the door, allowing it to open, then struts inside, puffing out her chest. "First things first..." she looks over at Sweet Roll, "D-Do you got anything sweet..?" Man, she was nervous as hell, maybe some candy would help calm her down.
Sadly, Sweet Roll had no candy.
"Man..that sucks...well.." Tess takes a deep breath and marches her way to the room that was in the note. "Here we go, Sweet Roll!"
Swinging open the door, she opens her mouth to speak, "HELLO I'M-" And promptly falls flat on her face.
Yup, she just tripped over nothing, way to go.

Leo smiled as he saw Ferdinard, who was blessed with the gift of constant laughter. After a week, Leo got used to that weird laugh, and grew to like it, it was nice to see someone keeping high morale after the disaster of last week.
"We'll be leaving as soon as tonight! All we need is to pack our stuff and head our" Leo answered with fake enthusiasm, he preferred to keep the nature of their leaving to the lounge, so he won't have to repeat that horror twice. "Now, I guess Sean's still in the lounge, so I suggest we get there and fetch him before we start packing" Leo said and turned to the exit of the base. While he stepepd forward, he tried to guess what was the surprise Vice Admiral Sheldon spoke of.

*In your next post, feel free to time skip to the lounge*

Tania put up an awkward smile after hearing Sean speaking to himself. She couldn't decide how she felt about him, but it was definitely something. For reasons unknown to her, she liked the fact that he was alone. "Ah... Good Morning?" Tania said with an awkward giggle, she decided to try and ignore the accidental mouth slip as if she didn't hear it, though she was happy to receive the compliment. "Well, before the disaster of last week I promised you some Rokushiki training, and since your crew won't be staying here for long, I thought it might be a good time to start" She said. "Plus, after seeing the training Leo made you go through, your shape must have improved since the last time I saw you, which should make tings easier.". "Coffee?" She asked as she stepped towards the small kitchen, but the sound of the door opening and a girl tripping on the floor stopped her in her tracks.

Sean had nearly forgot about his training. All this training from Leo had drained him to exchaustion and the prisoner escape wasn't helping any. He had barely gotten any sleep. It wasn't dreams of tania. It was nightmares of salvador. It was clear sean was shaken up on after his first mission. His eyes were red, and hug bags had developed under them. The rokushiki training was a bright side though. Also some coffee sounded divine "After you ma'ma" Then a girl was sliding across the floor. Sean had to laugh since it was him this time. It was nice seeing someone else screwing up.

"Fahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Ferdinard's laughter was heard at the spot where Sean was training with Tania as the door opened and Ferdinard's and everyone else's figures appeared in the lounge. Even if there was no reason for Ferdinard to laugh, the man laughed in order to make Sean realise that he was there... He did not know whether his captain planned to tell what happened to Sean or not, but Ferdinard would take action this time. He would tell why they had got there all of a sudden...

"I have some really great news, Sean! We are leaving from the basement! We are going to finally set sail and search for pirates... We will get our chance to shine. Fahahahahahahahahaha!" Ferdinard said with a smile on his face which he always had. "I suggest you to go and pack your stuff... " he completed before saying "And I might find out what I am searching for...". Then, the marine realised what he had just said and coughed, while continuing "Nevermind... Fahahahahaha!". What was Ferdinard searching for???!

Leo stepped in right after Ferdinard, and he noticed two things on the spot: The first, Tania was there, and he noticed how Sean and her got along back before the crisis. The Second, there was another girl on the floor, probably Sheldon's surprise. "Yep, we're finally leaving lads" Leo said, trying to hold his disappointment buried in. Now that he was in the lounge, he took out a letter that Vice Admiral Sheldon gave him, it was time to shower the parade.
"But, before you get all excited, I have some more news to deliver" Leo said, tearing the envelope and taking out the formal letter.

"Captain Leo Roswell and his fellow 102nd division members" He started reading. "After the events of last week, and your extraordinary performances during such a difficult time, a bonus was being discussed by the higher board of the North Blue marine branch"
"And so, you will be leaving the Northern Igloo as soon as possible, and sail towards the Grand Line, but before that, you will be given a paid vacation in one of the North Blue's most popular resorts: The Indigo Casino, hotel services and trip expenses included, gambling is not included" He read, letting a part of him die inside. He enjoyed hard work, and a vacation was his worst weakness, his crew knew that too by now.
"In addition, we are proud to introduce you to a new recruit of the 102nd division, Seaman Recruit Tess Korczak" Leo read, ignoring a part that included all of Tess' history, he'll have to read that later.

"I guess that would be you lady" Leo said, referring to the young girl in that was spread over the floor. "Good to have you aboard" He said, reaching with his hand to help her get up. He couldn't decide how he felt about that addition, since the rank differences between Seaman Recruits and Commanders was quite big, letting them serve in the same division was quite stupid.

Back in the kitchen, Tania was a little disappointed for not having as much time with Sean as she hoped to have, but she didn't let anyone see it. She couldn't understand how she felt about the clumsy Ensign, but she liked him. "Oh would you look at that" Leo called once again, turning the letter to it's other side. "Looks like Tark's students got a vacation as well, you'll be coming with us Tania" He said. After hearing that, Tania felt a weird kind of happiness flowing inside of her, not only because she was getting a vacation. "Really? That's fantastic! Thank you Captain roswell" She called back

Sean stood in shock of what Ferdinard said "What leaving? Pirates?! I'm still recovering when those mafia pirates attacked. Maybe we should pass this one up. I'm afraid I won't survive much longer especailly with salvador out there!" He grabbed his captain's leg begging him not to allow them to go "I don't want to die." Then leo said something about a vacation and the crew about to go "what a vacation?! Yeah whew I always thought that you were tightwad captain.......crap u weren't suppose to hear that." Then sean had heard the girl on the ground was a new recruit. That was good for two reasons. One their numbers were increasing, and two she had a lower rank than him. That means sean hand authority over her. Finally someone he can bully on.

"Fahahahahahaha...ha?" Ferdinard laughed for a while until he stopped when he listened that the crew would go on a vacation instead. "Wai-Wait a minute!" he said to Leo with a smile on his face. "WHY?!!!!!! I thought we deserved to get to the Grand Line after that... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! No promotion, no journeys to the Grand Line! It is unfair! My bastard cousin is rampaging and I am here... on vacation?". he continued saying with a fake smile on his face. Even in situations like these, Ferdinard kept his smile. Even if he did not want to smile at all, it seemed that the smile had become a permanent feature of his face...

"Anyway, I can bear having a vacation for a few days... At least I hope so..." he said with a smile on his face while pointing towards Sean with a funny look on his face and saying "Now, move Sean! We got to get going already! Come on! I want to finish this vacation soon! Fahahahahahahahahahahaha!". Ferdinard was something more than impatient to start his journey in the Grand Line...

"Ugh. Ugh. Ugh" Tess gets to her feet, shaking about a bit.
"Hey! Hey! Name's Tess! Ignore what you saw back there, 'kay!?" She bows, Sweet Roll perching on her head and chattering away in Sugar Glider babble.
"So! You guys are the Iron Raiders, huh?" She bounces from foot to foot, clapping her hands together. "Oh! This is so thrilling! I've always wanted to be part of a team, and now I am!"
She goes about giving everybody in the room a friendly handshake.
"Hello, oh, hi..Hey..yeah, how's it going, nice to meet you!" She then turns on her heel and salutes Leo, "Tess is now reporting for duty." Her left leg continues to tap the ground, clearly she could not stay still for very long.
"So, what's on the agenda, huh?!" She starts punching the air, "I'm ready for some action, gonna kick some pirate ass!" She punches the wall, winces , then withdraws her hand, shaking it out. "I'm okay! I'm okay!"
She pulls her bat from the sling on her back and tosses it up in the air, catching it before it hits the ground and thrusting it in the direction of her new crew members.

Leo expected mixed reactions from his crew. He anticipated that Sean would be glad to have a vacation from fighting pirates, and that Ferdinard will be eager to catch up with his cousin, both of them could probably use a talk, but Leo had other matters on his mind. First, he had a new recruit that seemed to be too hyperactive and happy all around for his style, but he had to approach the situation with baby steps. The second matter that Leo had to worry about was the fact that he was about to reach the Grand Line without a navigator in his crew, which means that he better hit the books cause getting lost wasn't something he fancied. But first, he had some scolding to do. "Well Tess..." Leo started, holding his palms facing her to try and calm her down. "As you may have heard, we're going on a little vacation before we get to the kicking part, so it should give you a chance to get to know the crew better" he said. He paid no attention to Sean's mouth slip, this kind of stuff was better to be ignored, and he could always give him some punishment laps later.

"Ok people!" Leo said, clapping his hands once to get the attention. "You have exactly 10 minutes to pack whatever belongings you might want that aren't already on the ship and be ready for take off, get to it!" He ordered. He then retreated to the small room he had in the lounge to try and get as many navigation books as he could. If he had to take a vacation, he might as well make something out of it. By the time he finished, Leo had a 20 pound pile of books ready to roll.

Tania didn't have anything more to add to Leo's words. She left the lounge to get her stuff, she'll meet the crew in the docks.

[After exactly 11 minutes]

Leo was late on purpose, he wanted to give his crew some time to settle. He had a small backpack filled with his books and his sheathed sword with him, and he stepping towards the dock in which the Blue Raider was docked, Dock number 5. Leo was simply in love with his ship. He spent 2 weeks painting it so it'll have something that'll set it apart from the other marine ships, and he was proud of his work. "Captain Leo!" Tania called. As expected from a student of Tark's, Tania was always on time. She was waiting at the docks with a small suitcase, since she had nothing on the crew's ship. "Welcome aboard Tania" Leo said, shaking her hand out of habit. "I hope my crew won't be late..." he said.

(In your posts, feel free to do whatever arrangements you want and then time skip to the docks, I wanna rush this departure)