Serious: The "Last Chance" Division - Chapter 1: The Test

Karin stepped off of the gangplank and took her first steps into Marineford. It had been a hard five years, but at long last she had made it. The rank of Captain was hers and today she would be receiving her first crew and ship. Karin glanced up at the cloudless sky overhead and smiled at the shining sun. It was warm, but there was a gentle breeze blowing over the area. Perfect weather for an already perfect day.

Karin next turned her attention to the two Marines who were waiting for her. One of them was a hard-faced Rear Admiral and the other was his aid, an Ensign, who was flipping through a stack of papers so fast that his hands and eyes were practically blurs.

Karin paused to salute to the Rear Admiral. It was the courteous thing to do. He was a higher rank, after all.

"Welcome to Marineford, Captain," the Rear Admiral said, returning her salute. "I trust that your trip went well?"

"Yes sir," Karin replied. "I have no complaints."

"Good," the Rear Admiral said, waving to his aid, who came over to take the suitcase Karin was carrying. "We have arranged a room for you for tonight. In the morning, you shall meet your crew and receive your first assignment."

"Thank you," said Karin. "But if it's okay, I would like to see the ship now. And the crew, if they are there."

The Rear Admiral's eyebrows rose, but the movement was so slight, it was hard to even tell it had occurred.

"I'm sure we can arrange that," the Rear Admiral commented. Up to this point he had been cordial and polite, but Karin thought she could detect a bit more warmth in his tone. "However, before we do that, would you like to change?" the Rear Admiral offered.

Karin automatically glanced down at her attire. She was dressed in her casual clothing, which consisted of a high-collared, sleeveless, yellow shirt, black pants, and military boots. On her hands were a pair of gloves and on her arms, a pair of tight, white sleeves.

"No sir," Karin said after a moment. "I might as well go as I am. This is how I usually dress, except on special occasions, so the crew might as well get used to seeing me like this."

"I understand," the Rear Admiral replied. "Please, follow me."

"New shipment coming right up Captain Roswell!" The current Ensign shouted from the hallway, trying to get Leonardo to open his office door. Ever since his crew got shipped to different branches of the marines, and disbanded, Leo was relocated to Marineford with mountains of paperwork. "Ugh, Come in Bell" Leo called with a frustrated tone, right before the young female ensign opened his office door, carrying half her height in paperwork.

"Hard day?" Bell asked as she careful aligned the fresh pile of papers next the last one that still waited for attention. "As hard as the last 30..." Leo answered with a hint of irony, making the young Ensign smile. "Good luck! I'll try and bring you some decent food in an hour or so" Bell called as she left the room, abandoning Leo with his paperwork for the ninth time today. Leo was liked by the most marines he got to work with, that was mainly thanks to the fact that he had no authority over them. If he had, they'll probably end up despising him after their first 3AM 9 mile jog.

Exhausted, Leo took a minute to relax in his chair, allowing his eyes to wander towards his sheathed sword that rested against the wall. It's been to long since the last time he used the weapon. He missed combat, he missed training, he missed not having ink stains on his hands every time he went to bed, he missed being a marine. But every institution has it's boring side, and with that in mind, Leo returned to his paperwork, hoping to finish some more before Bell arrived with a fresh pile.

Karin was impressed and she didn't try to hide it. The ship was a touch thinner than most Marine vessels, but as the Rear Admiral had already pointed out, that only made it that much more useful for what she would be doing. Time would their enemy and any extra boost in speed was more than welcome.

The only issue she had was with her crew. As it turned out, they had all been chosen for their individual skills and in those respects, they were an exemplarily group, there was no denying that, but they lacked a cohesiveness that Karin knew they would need in the heat of battle. Plus the majority of them were newer recruits who had not had any experience with combat. What they needed more than anything was a trainer. Someone who could whip them into shape and form them into a fighting force to be reckoned with.

The Rear Admiral stood nearby with his aide. He had seen the smile on Karin's face and had matched it with one of his own.

"They are impressive, are they not?" he commented mildly.

"Yes, very impressive," Karin agreed. "Only one problem, with guys like these I'm not going to make any headway in a battle."

The Rear Admiral once again raised his eyebrows in a slight, almost undetectable way.

Karin didn't wait for him to ask any questions. "They are good at their jobs, yes, but if I take soldiers like these into combat, we'll probably end up running from every fight. What I need is someone with experience."

"I see," the Rear Admiral replied. "I had thought you would be able to handle that yourself. Is that a problem?"

"Kind of," Karin replied. "I'm be straight with you. I've only ever been in one, serious battle before and that was with veterans. And I must have asked them a thousand questions before the day was out."

"Very well," the Rear Admiral said with a sigh. "I shall have a list written up consisting of any available Marines on stand-by."

"Don't bother," said Karin. She reached into her pocket and drew out a sheet of paper. "I already prepared for this eventuality."

What she didn't mention was that she had been so nervous on her way to Marineford that she had prepared for a dozen different scenarios. But he didn't need to know all of that.

"Interesting," the Rear Admiral commented. "And may I ask for the names of those you are considering?"

"Actually, it's just one guy," Karin admitted. "I heard he's been off duty for about a month now, but I found his resume to be very...intriguing."

She raised the sheet of paper and turned it around. There were only two words, both of which had been written in such large letters that they covered the majority of the paper. It said: "CAPTAIN LEONARDO ROSWELL".

Fortunately, it didn't take the Rear Admiral long to locate Leonardo. Barely twenty minutes had passed before Karin found herself outside of Leonardo's office. Feeling a bit apprehensive, she rapped her knuckles against the door.

(Please correct me if I am going too quickly with all this.)

(You're doing fine, don't worry)

"Leonardo Roswell... Leonardo Roswell... Leonardo Roswell..." Leo mumbled as he signed his papers one by one. He felt like his brain was about to snap out of sheer boredom, but a knock on his door distracted him. "You can't be serious Bell, I haven't even signed 10 papers yet, there can't be ANOTHER pile already" Leo called to the person behind the door, automatically assuming it was bell with some more bad news. He got up from his chair and went for the door, wanting to help Bell, who was probably struggling with the heavy stacks of paper. To his surprise, he didn't find Bell on the other side.

Outside of his room stood a woman, quite younger than he was judging by her appearance. She had an unusually pink hair and was only slightly shorter than him, a fact that took him by surprise since Bell was much shorter. She didn't wear a marine uniform, so Leonardo had no way of knowing her rank, but she was a marine judging by her military boots. Leo didn't recognize her, and since he got to know most people in his sector of Marineford in the last month, he assumed she was new to Marineford.

"Fhew, Thank god!" Leo said as he was glad to find out it wasn't Bell, "Uhm I mean, can I help? you mis..." He added, fishing for the woman's name.

Karin gulped as she found herself face to face with the man she had been looking for. She knew it had to be him from the picture she had seen, though that picture had been a year or two old. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure of herself. Was she really going to ask another Captain, let alone one who was a whole ten years older than her, to come and help organize her men and help her cope with the changes? Sure, his official title on the crew would be "advisor", but wasn't that just another way of saying "subordinate"?

"Karin Naito," she babbled in response to his question. A second later she bowed, bending her upper body so that it was parallel with the floor. "Please come with us!" Immediately she flushed, embarrassed by the bluntness of her request. "I mean...ugh, I'm completely going about this the wrong way..." She straightened back up, took a deep breath, and stood at attention, saluting Leonardo as she did. "My name is Karin Naito," she said. "I have recently been promoted to the rank of Captain and have been give a ship and a crew. I...well, to make a long story short, the crew isn't up to par yet and they've never even worked together before. So they need someone to get them to organized and...I don't exactly have a lot of experience with such things. And, um, I thought someone like you might be able to help. So...please come with us!" She bowed again while saying this last sentence.

Leo didn't know where to start. Firstly, the woman was a captain, which justified a salute, and so he did. Secondly, she seemed to be asking him to join her crew as a trainer of some sort, and there's nothing that Leo loves more than punching his hard work ethics into the minds of lazy marines. Thirdly, her request meant that Leo would finally get to leave his paper prison and head out to sea, something he was looking for in a month. Basically, Karin was pushing all the right buttons, at once.

Without saying a word, fearing that any waste of time would make him miss the opportunity to leave Marineford, Leo rushed into his office, grabbed his sheathed weapon and his marine coat and rushed back out. "Nice to meet you Captain Naito, I'd love to assist you as long as we leave as fast as possible" Leo explained. "Did you hear that Bell?! You can hold that lunch cause I'm finally getting out of here!" Leo shouted down the hall. "I'll keep your chair warm" Bell called back. She saw Leo getting excited about finally leaving for 10 times this month, and he ended up getting dragged back every single time, why should this one be different? She was happy for Leo, but also sad since she hoped to get some recommendations from him that'll allow her to leave her secretary position. The sad truth was that no one wanted to stay in Marineford once they got there.

"Oh, um, yeah, thanks," Karin replied, shocked by the suddenness of and excitement in Leonardo's reply. "But we don't have to lea-" She cut herself off. She had come very close to telling Leonardo that she was originally to stay overnight in Marineford to rest before the trip, however, his energy was infectious. "Let's go," she said after a moment's pause.

As she left the office, she could only think of one problem with leaving right away: The crew had been expecting to spend one last night here as well. There might be some complaints. Well, they would just have to deal with it, she decided. They had already been sitting around waiting for her to get there and one day wouldn't make all that much of a difference.

The Rear Admiral and his aide were waiting for them when they left the building Leonardo had been in. Karin sped up so that she would reach them first.

"I see you found him," the Rear Admiral said. "And I'm assuming by his presence that he is going to accompany you?"

"Yes sir," said Karin. "Also there has also been an new development. We would like to leave as soon as possible."

The Rear Admiral sighed. "You have absolutely no intention of doing things the way they were planned, do you? Oh well. I suppose I should just be grateful you didn't refuse the crew and demand to be allowed to form your own." He waved to his aide. "Go and get the transfer papers for Captain Roswell. I'll sign them personally. Oh, and pick up the information on that first mission that headquarters has assigned for the 121st." He then turned to Leonardo. "Congratulations Captain. It seems that you have found a new crew. I hope all goes well for you."

((OOC: Mind if Roger Joins? He'll be no problem. He's just gonna run around and try and escape you guys. I'm doing it to build some history between characters ))

Near The Docks of Marineford

An extremely small and nearly impossible raft to notice floated towards Marineford, the head of all the Navy. Or so it used to be. The owner of this ship had dozed off and some how came a float to this Island. The small boy then jumped up as he hit the side of the stone docks. Roger woke up almost instantly and looked around his currently location. Seeing nothing familiar, he climbed the stone wall and pulled his raft up with him. He then began exploring.

"Wow..I wonder where I am..it sure is nice around here..."

Before Karin and LEo left the office building, Leo stopped in front of Bell, for some reason, he thought this time he was leaving for real. "Listen, I have a few recommendations prepared for this occasion, pick your favorite one off my desk and just get it to an authority, hopefully it'll get you out of here" He said before following Karin, "You've been a great help!" He called back as they left, leaving Bell happy and surprised at the same time.

They then met up with the rear admiral, who sent Karin to get Leo's transfer papers. Obviously, Leo greeted the rear admiral with a salute before answering him. "So do I" he said, looking around for his future trainees. There was nothing that he liked better than putting some sense into the minds of young recruits, and he couldn't wait to get started.

(Roger can join, but since neither Karin nor Leonardo are officially guards of Marineford, and because they are about to head out on a mission, I doubt either of them will pay a single pirate very much attention.)

The Rear Admiral nodded to Leonardo and then turned away from both of the Captains. "Walk with me," he ordered. As he went, he glanced over his shoulder at Karin. "How much have you told him?" he asked.

"Not much, sir," Karin replied. "Only that I have a new crew that needs to be broken in."

"Then I shall start at the beginning," the Rear Admiral replied. He cleared his throat. "Captain Roswell, the crew you are joining is the 121st Division. It has been codenamed the 'Last Chance' division. Unlike most divisions, your job will not be to protect a certain island or patrol the seas in search of wayward pirates. Instead, you will be assigned missions that range from simple search-and-rescue to stepping into the middle of a warzone and assassinating an leader. The crew you will be a part of is a small one, consisting only of twenty-nine members; and that is including you and Captain Naito. Each member of the crew is highly skilled, however they lack the experience necessary to pull off the higher level missions that we would like this crew to perform." The Rear Admiral came to a stop and looked around at Leonardo, his expression turning even more serious than usual. "When I was first given the task of assembling this crew, I had hoped that Captain Naito would be able to handle their training, but since she apparently is unprepared for such a task, that duty must fall on someone else. I do not wish to question your bravery, but I must still press the point. This will not be a cakewalk. With such a small crew, you will be able to get in and out of places much more quickly, but you will also be more vulnerable when facing larger attacking forces. So I am going to offer this only once: You can back out now, Captain. No one will blame you if you do."

(OOC: Its fine! They can have a friendly relationship! Like Luffy and Coby do!))

Roger walked the streets of Marineford. Not knowing the grave danger he was in. One word of him being a pirate and he'd have literally no way to escape. Roger walked with his hands down in his pockets and his head held up high. Looking like a typical teenage boy. Roger's stomach then began to growl. This was bad. Roger could not function properly at all if he was hungry. Even the slightest bit of hunger would throw off his basic functions such as thinking, moving, and most of all fighting. Roger was known to be also quick to anger while hungry.

"...Boy am I Starving! I wonder what they have to eat around this place..Hmm.."

Roger then continued walking for a while until he reached the center of town. It was flocked with people. Roger tightened his lips and narrowed his eyes. He grew hungrier by the second. He then held his head down, balled up his fist, and shriveled up his face. Looking like a tough guy. He was really getting pissed. The hungeranger had taken its course. He stomped his way across the stone man made pavement and bumped any and all who got in his way. He then bumped into a man who wore a long Marine coat, who was being escorted by 2 Marine soldiers. Roger ignored them and continued walking. Roger made his way into a random building that was luckily enough a restaurant. He slammed his hand on the table and yelled out with a violent cry.

"BRING ME SOMETHING TO EAT NOW I'M STARVING TO DEATH OVER HERE! I FEEL HOLES BURNING THROUGH MY STOMACH!!"

((No idea what to do with Roger, so I'll just ignore it for now if I may))

Leo listened to the Rear Admiral as he explained the essence of the 121st division. The more he heard, the happier he was to be chosen to join it. Apparently, the Rear Admiral warned Leo, but that was understandable. Leo didn't manage to make much of a name of himself yet, and many marines happened to not know what he was actually capable of or what he had gone through.

"I understand sir" Leo answered, "I've trained myself for this occasion ever since I left my home sir, I've been trained through my entire career for such operations, I've climbed through ranks with iron will and fiery soul, and I'm damn tired of staying in and washing my hand with black ink. So, I'm going to accept the task at hand, I was never a fan of backing out and I'm still not one" Leo answered with a straight face. He waited for an opportunity to get himself back to the front lines for so long, he wasn't going to give up on it for anything in the world, he even missed going to bed stinking from gunpowder and sweat. "And I want to thank you, Captain Naito, for choosing me to escort you and your crew, I'll do my best not to let you down" He added.

The Rear Admiral was so preoccupied with his conversation that when Roger bumped into him, he barely spared the young man a glance. A second later, Karin smiled and nodded at Leonardo when he thanked her. The Rear Admiral took notice of this and when he did, the tiniest flicker of a frown crossed his face. The young woman seemed relatively unsurprised by what he had said and just a bit...was that satisfaction? True, neither of those emotions were strange in this situation, but he got the feeling that she had expected this sort of enthusiastic reaction.

Karin noticed the Rear Admiral watching her, but when she met his eyes, he turned his face forward again. She wondered why he had been watching her like that, but after a moment decided that it was unimportant. The first step of her plan was complete. Now she would start on the second step: Assembling the rest of her ideal team. She doubted that she would find the other members right away and even when she did find them, they might require some additional training, but that was to be expected. With Leonardo, she was sure that wouldn't be a problem at all.

The trio were making good time. Already they had almost arrived at the harbor. Karin smiled as her new ship, the "Zero Hour", came into view. Her dream was finally coming true.

"Captain Roswell," she said, looking over at Leonardo. "This is our vessel. If you have anything else you would like to bring with you, please go and get it and bring it here. Once that Ensign gets back here with the information on our mission, we'll be leaving." She hesitated, as if suddenly remembering something. "Oh, yeah, and he's got my luggage too. Can't forget about that." She giggled softly at herself. "In any case, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, Captain. You're doing me a favor and I want to make your stay a comfortable one."

Leo crossed his fingers and stretched his hands, making them crack. He couldn't wait to finally get out of Marineford and into the open seas again. So many things happened while he was jailed in his office, he almost felt like he wasn't a marine anymore. "All I want is to set sail, that will make me as comfortable as possible" He answered. He couldn't help but doubt the fact that he was actually leaving, since he was about to leave so many times before, only to be called back to his office, where additional tons of paperwork piled. He will only allow himself to relax once the ship will set sail.

Then, he noticed Bell walking along a route several meters form the docks to the docks, holding one of his prepared recommendations in her hand. She was obviously about to hand it to her superior and get the promotion she deserved for so long. Who knows, maybe Leo will even bump into her some day out at sea. She stopped and looked at him, only to give him one final salute and chant a mute "thank you" with her lips, before continuing her march and disappearing out of sight. Now, knowing that Bell was fine, Leo had no more regrets, he was ready to leave.

(Okay, I'm going to do a two day timeskip here. I'm also going to start this post with a brief overview of what happened during the timeskip, but I'll try to avoid talking about what has happened with Leonardo so that you can decide that yourself.)

Back on Marineford, soon after Karin and Leo had returned to their ship, the Ensign had arrived with the two things he had been sent to retrieve. The Rear Admiral then signed the transfer papers and Leonardo was officially made a member of the crew. Karin had gotten her luggage back and was handed a letter that contained the full details of the mission. Karin had put it away, deciding not to read it until after they had set sail.

When she did finally read it, she was a bit disappointed.

Their first mission was this: To track down a pirate named Kraven and bring him in. He had a crew, but it was small, just like the 121st was. His last known location was on an island in the Paradise half of Grandline. It was an island called Buford.

Personally, Karin thought the mission was a bit tame, but she supposed that it was only to be expected that they would be tested before they were allowed to go on the tough ones. She had been expecting this to happen, even though a part of her wished that her own first test had been enough to satisfy the higher-ups. However, in that test she had been given a crew that was willing to follow her orders and already worked like a team. This time around it would be a little different; or rather, it would be until Leonardo got his hands on the crew.

So they had set the ship in the direction of Buford. The next two days passed relatively easily for Karin. She still had her duties to perform, but with Leonardo helping her, they did not seem as difficult as they otherwise might have. Plus, as a Captain she had the option of taking a break when she wanted to. So whenever she felt like training, or joining in with the crew's training, she did just that. Sailing could get pretty boring sometimes and it wasn't like the crew needed her looking over their shoulders every second of the day.

Right now, however, Karin was neither training nor was she watching the crew. Instead, she was in her cabin poring over the mission details one last time. They would be arriving at their destination later that day and she wanted to be sure that she hadn't missed anything important.

Leo was working at the ship's small kitchen. After wearing down the crew members with his rigorous training routine, Leo though they could use a sandwich-shaped powerboost, which happened to be his specialty. After preparing a plate of simple looking sandwiches, he left the kitchen and passed them between the crew members. He had the feeling that the crew members hated him for being so hard on them for the last couple of days, but he knew that these feelings will fade once they'll start seeing results.

He realized that Karin might need some help as well. After all, he knew how frustrating paperwork could be. He stepped towards her room and knocked on the door. "Need some help? I got some sandwiches made" Leo shouted past the door. With the crew tired and Karin in her office, Leo had nothing productive to do, and he hated that. He hated sitting still and doing nothing, it was a waste of his time. He was desperate for some work.

Karin stood and headed for the door. She opened it slightly and peered out at Leonardo through sleepy eyes. Her eyes roamed downward and settled on the sandwiches he was carrying. Immediately, she brightened up and opened her door.

"Yes! Food!" she said excitedly. A second later, she blushed, embarrassed. "I mean, come in. Any help would be appreciated." She crossed back over to her desk and shuffled through the papers, setting two of them to the side. "I'm most concerned with these parts. First of all, Kraven's crew isn't all that big, but it's still about the same size as our own. Plus, he's got two crewmates that we have to look out for."

Karin pulled out two wanted posters. One of them depicted a man who was short, but stout. He was dressed in armor and carried a kite shield in his hand. The man's bounty was 20,000,000. The other poster had the picture of an average sized man wearing all black. His clothing covered him completely. He even had a mask that hid everything but his eyes. On his back were twin katana, the hilts of each coming up over a different shoulder. Unlike his partner he was thin and muscular. His bounty was 35,000,000.

"Martin and Hikaru," Karin stated blandly. "Martin may look like an overweight idiot, but he's a master of defense. The Marines he has come up against described him as a tank, impossible to stop when he gets going and even harder to move when he comes to a standstill. As for Hikaru, he's skilled at using stealth to deal with his opponents. Apparently he thinks of himself as a ninja, hence the clothing."

Karin had been moving papers around while she was talking and now snatched a third wanted poster out from near the bottom of the stack. She slapped it face up on the table. This last poster was of a large, hulking man with thick arms and legs and a bulging chest which his shirt could barely contain. At his side was a whip and on his back was a rifle. His bounty was 60,000,000.

"Then there is Kraven himself," Karin continued. "He's a skilled fighter who has taken on and defeated Captain-level Marines in the past. And he's not just all muscles. He's a brilliant tactician who has managed to keep his crew alive thus far in the Grandline. And that's the main problem. He is too smart and he hasn't taken any chances. His current location is in a town called Buford, which brings me to my second point." She reached over and grabbed the two papers she had previously set to the side. "Here's a map of the island and this other here is a description of it."

Buford Island was a Spring Island, according to the description. The majority of the island was encompassed by a town, though there was a small forest off to the side. The town itself was not huge. Its population was a little over a thousand. Because the town covered so much of the island, there were three sea ports, but according to the map, the rest of the beaches were rocky and the island itself surrounded by reefs.

"It'll be difficult to get on the island without the pirates seeing us since there are only three ways to reach it," Karin said. "We can go charging in, but it may be better to 'fly'. I know the Kamisori technique and I'm pretty sure that I could carry someone a short distance if I had to, so that wouldn't be much of a problem." She looked up at Leonardo. "What are your thoughts, Captain Roswell?"

Leo examined the papers Karin showed him with expertise. Kraven's pirates seemed strong, there was no doubt about it, but Leo had confidence in his own skills as well, and was pretty confident in Karin's skills as well, though he hasn't seen them yet. Not many marines could reach her and his rank without having a decent fighting history behind them, and even fewer were allowed to guide crews into battle without it. "They seem pretty powerful..." Leo admitted as he started studying the island's map.

"Here's what I think" Leo said, pointing at the main town on the map. "We need to try and get them out of this area to prevent any civilian casualties, the further the better" Leo said, pointing the very obvious. "I think that that Martin fellow will have a harder time holding his ground on a wet port, so if we manage to drag him to one, we may turn it into an easy fight" Leo continued, pointing at one of the sea ports. "Secondly, Hikaru will have an advantage in a heavily built area, since he could use whatever ninja skills he may have to sneak around, so we may want to get him to one of the beaches, where the terrain will probably be more exposed and naked" he added, pointing at a rocky beach.

"You're right about the arrival problem, they'll definitely spot us. Maybe it would be best to divide our forces between the ports, and make it harder for them to block us all. On the other hand, if we push them from a single direction, we'll have a better chance at throwing them out of the town..." Leo thought out loud. "I can manage an aerial rush in if you prefer it, it will sure make it harder for them to counter us since they all look like close ranged fighters" Leo said. Using his techniques, Leo had no problem keeping up with Karin's Kamisori, and the fact that she knew such an advanced technique, that he wasn't able to master, made him feel more confident in their chances of winning.

While Leonardo was talking, Karin grabbed a sandwich and started munching on it. It tasted alright, but it still reminded Karin that they would need to get a decent chef transferred to the crew later on down the road. In fact, Karin had been making plans for such an action...but now was not the time to think on such things.

As she listened carefully to what Leonardo had to say, she could feel pride swelling up inside of her. She had definitely made a good choice when she had picked him. He had brought up a couple of things that she hadn't even considered. He also had made suggestions on all the possibilities rather than simply tell her which was the best and forget about the others. Best of all, he hadn't tried to supersede her authority and had left things open for debate.

Karin was starting to sort through everything Leonardo had said, when a voice could be heard coming from outside.

"Land ho! Buford is in sight!"

Karin quickly stood and crossed over to a row of speaking tubes that extended from the side wall. She opened one of them and put her mouth close to the hole.

"This is the Captain, calling the bridge," she announced. "Bring the ship to a full stop and await further instructions."

She closed the speaking tube and returned to the table. As she did, an idea began to formulate in her mind and as she went back over what Leonardo had told her, it all began to fall into place.

"I think I've got it," Karin said, her voice growing quiet as her mind raced. She looked up at Leonardo and smiled. "Alright, here's the plan. As you said, sneaking in by air may be the best way to go since it will probably take them by surprise. The only one who even carries a long range weapon is Kraven, but I can't find any reports of him actually firing the thing, though that is not to say he can't. Anyway, I digress. A wet port would be helpful in stopping Martin and the rocks would help keep Hikaru exposed, but what if we were to combine the two? Martin would not only have trouble keeping his balance on wet rocks, he may also find it difficult to charge without tripping." Karin paused for a moment to take a bite of her sandwich before continuing. "My idea is this: We'll go in by air. We can bring one or two soldiers with us, assuming that you can carry one yourself. We'll head for the forest first and use the trees as cover. After that, I'll head into town with our soldiers. Meanwhile, you will head to a previously designated point on the rocks and wait. You'll have to decide where that point is with the soldiers we bring, but I'll get to that in a minute. When the soldiers and I get into the town, I will cause a ruckus, beat up some pirates if I can, and attract the attention of the rest of the crew. I'll then try to get Kraven to follow me. Once he out of the way, the soldiers I brought will try to get the attention of the remaining pirates. Hopefully, they will be chased at which point they will return to you." Karin looked up at Leonardo apologetically. "I know it's a bit much to ask, but hopefully with the advantage of the wet rocks and the help of the soldiers, you can deal with the remaining pirates, or at least stall them until I get back."

Leo listened to Karin's plan, and he liked what he heard. "Sounds good to me" Leo said after going through the plan in his head. "I'll make sure the rocks are soaked while waiting for the soldiers to draw Martin and Hikaru in, it'll be just like trapping a pair of mice in duct tape" Leo said with a grin. He got up and stretched his arms until a crack was heard. "I think I can carry one or two people with me, but since we are going in with so few soldiers we'll have to take the best of the best" Leo mentioned. He then pointed at one of the rocky beaches on the map, the one who seemed the largest. "I'll wait here, the large area would make it harder for them to draw us back out of our home field" He explained.

He then reached for the door and opened it. "I'll prepare my weapons, you better get ready and pick the finest soldiers for us to carry, we can't waste too much time or they might spot us" Leo said.

"Right," Karin nodded. She headed out the door, grabbing her officer coat as she went, and then she headed to the main deck. After taking a deep breath, she yelled, "ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!" She swept her coat around her shoulders without bothering to slip her arms through the sleeves. "This is what we're going to do!" Karin proceeded to give a summary of the mission and the plan they were about to execute to everyone who was on deck. "So that's all! If anyone has any questions, get over here and address them to me now. If not, I am going to be grabbing two of you to come with us. The rest will remain here and guard the ship. Do not, I repeat, do NOT allow anyone other than us to come on board this vessel. Also, under no circumstances are you to approach the island. Even if I call you and beg you to come to shore to rescue us, I order you to ignore me! That will be all for now." Turning to a nearby Marine, Karin shoved her coat into his hands. "Take this back down to my room for me. I won't be needing it where I'm going."

That down, Karin moved on to the next part of her plan. She knew very little about the individual skills of each Marine on her ship. She probably should have asked Leonardo to choose his fighting partners on his own, but at this point...well, it hardly mattered. They probably wouldn't even do much fighting anyway. With his skills, it was possible that Leonardo wouldn't need any help at all. In any case, Karin's opinion wasn't entirely worthless. A few of the Marines had caught her eye during training sessions.

"You and you!" Karin said, pointing at two soldiers. "You two will be coming with us on this mission. Once Leonardo is ready, we'll be heading over to the island, so make all your preparations now!"

(Sleepy, since these generic NPCs will be working for you, I'm giving you full control over them. Remember, they are ordinary grunts and only carry a single rifle and sword apiece.)

In his room, Leo picked up his sheathed weapon, Eisenkrieg. Leo and Eisenkrieg went through a lot together, and even the simple act of holding the weapon brought back memories. 'Finally I'll get to draw you again' Leo thought to himself as he slung the sheath over his back. He then covered himself with his captain jacket, letting its long sleeves hang form his sides. He approached his table and picked up a sack filled with bullets, and tied it to his belt. He took a deep breath and swept his hair back, "Time to get back to business".

((I won't be on during all of next week, sorry))

Karin stood at the prow of the ship and turned to face her crew. They were all looking back at her with determined expressions, though a few of them looked slightly nervous. This made her smile. She was glad to see that at least some of them were worried about her fate, as well as those who were going with her. On the other hand, their own safety was at risk as well. Even if they remained on the ship, it was possible that the pirates might try to get to them.

Karin squared her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. She would not let that happen. She had great things planned for this crew and herself. This would not be their last mission.

"Alright, it's almost time for us to leave," Karin announced with as much authority as she could muster. "Once again, be careful, don't let anyone on board, and don't do anything rash. With any luck, we'll all get through this experience alive."

With those words, Karin turned her attention to the two Marines she had chosen. One of them was a fairly big and strapping fellow. The other was more average-sized, but also strong-looking. Karin wasn't entirely sure how good Leonardo's flying technique would be, nor did she know how strong he really was. So she decided to make things easier on him.

"I'll be taking you over to the island," Karin said to the bigger man. She glanced at the other. "As for you, you're with Captain Roswell."

"Uh...are you sure about that, ma'am?" the large Marine asked, uncertainly. "I may be a little heavy for you..."

Karin raised an eyebrow and then she used soru. A second later, she was behind the man, wrapping her arms around his waist. He let out a surprised shout as she lifted him with little effort. She stood on the toes of only one of her feet and twirled the Marine around in the air. A moment later she set him down, a smug grin on her face. The Marine, however, had turned bright red in embarrassment. All around Karin and the Marine, the majority of the crew was trying to hide their smiles while a few of them were laughing openly.

"I'm sure I can manage," Karin told the soldier, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. But it is sweet of you to think of me."

(Okay, NOW I'm giving you full control over the Marine soldiers we are bringing. I just wanted to use them for a few seconds longer until you were ready to come in. )

As he stepped out of his room, ready for action, he watched Karin swirling a marine around like a saucer. "Hahahahahaha, you should never underestimate your captain" Leo laughed and clapped his hands. He was happy to see that he was going into combat with a powerful ally such as Karin. The other marine who was chosen for the mission, who was smaller than the first, looked in slight fear as his bigger comrade was handled as if he was as light as a basketball.

Leo approached him and the man shook slightly. Over the couple of days he got to spend with Leo, every time the captain spoke it was to assign a few hundreds of push-ups between exercises, which made him flinch. Without a word, Leo curled his right arm around the man's waists and bent his knees, before lifting the man up and slinging him over his shoulder, with his face pointing back and his legs dangling in front of Leo. Leo could press a 100 kilos over his head, and the man, while being close to that weight, wasn't there yet, allowing Leo to handle him with ease.

"Try not to puke until we land, if I see one drop on my coat or sheath you're going to clean them instead of sleeping tonight, got that?" Leo called back, and the marine could only nod. "All ready I guess, after you Captain Naito" Leo said.

Karin nodded to Leonardo and then turned to the Marine before her. He was still red. She grinned at him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "These guys'll forget all about it in a few days. Besides, you're the one doing the brave thing, coming over to the island with us. They're just going to be sitting around here waiting for us to get back. So let's show 'em what you got! Alright?" She turned away from the Marine and faced Leonardo. "All set, let's go."

On that note, she wrapped her arms around the Marine's waist, but this time she didn't lift him. Instead, she jumped and kicked off of the air, using her Geppo technique. With it, she lifted the Marine into the air. Then she switched to Kamisori and became a blur, racing through the air towards the island. As planned, she headed for the island's forest, dashing down into the trees. She set the Marine she was carrying on the ground and then she landed next to him. Without stopping to catch her breath, Karin drew a map out of her pocket.

"We're going to do this just like I told you back on the ship," she said. "Here's a map of the island and here is where you will meet up with Captain Roswell." She pointed to the beach that Leonardo had previously indicated. "When your buddy gets here, show him this and we'll get started. As I said before, I'll be heading out first and causing trouble for the pirates so that I can get Kraven's attention. Once I've led him away, you and your friend will come in and try to get the pirates to follow you back to Captain Roswell. Got it?"