Serious: Stag Night Marines Chapter 1: Grazing

Aboard the deck of the Iron Hoof sailing around the East Blue

Sitting in a beach chair on the grassy deck of the Iron Hoof watching the clouds go past Jasper Hoofe sat comfortably holding a small bag of pumpkin seeds, he reached into the bag then popped a few into his mouth before reaching in again for a couple more. He had recently received information of a new recruit being sent to himself and he was in a gleeful mood not that he wasn't always in one. As he sat aboard his ship slicing through the waves he wondered what his new recruit would be like. Would he be strong, fast, a might and powerful warrior or someone small and weak. He didn't mind as long as they accepted his help and trained with him to become the best they could become he would be more than happy to have them aboard his ship.

Seagulls flew overheard loudly squawking and he tossed a few seeds up for them to eat two seagulls swooped down and gobbled them up in mid air. Jasper stood up from his seat and stretched thinking about the adventures he would encounter as a Marine and felt a few birds land on his antlers. He smiled and walked up to the figure head where stood on top of an angry looking Stag Head with large antlers point out from either side just like his own.

"So boys what do you think about this then eh? Jasper Hoofe a Marine Captain at last."

Feeling something horrid wet and splotchy land on his shoulder Jasper grinned.

"Sorry girls, I never can tell the difference between you birds."

The birds on his antlers chirped happily as he looked out over the seas, his teeth shone in the sun a pearly white smile and as he saw off in the far distance an island he smiled. Looked like his first time commanding a crew would come soon as he was almost certain he may meet his first crew mate on this island. As he turned and jumped down from the figure head he unbuttoned his shirt. He wasn't sure if his new recruit would be meeting him on this new island or if he had been brought to his ship by other means but soon enough he would find out. As he slipped his shirt off and folded it over his arm he could feel the nice warm rays shining down over his not too built muscular and well toned body. He walked in through the door of his ship which had been made bigger specifically for him due to his antlers.

As he headed to the kitchen he began washing his shirt thought about his parents back at home. It was a sore subject for him and he instantly started to think about Pirates to stop himself from getting depressed. He couldn't wait to meet his new recruits and get busy capturing wanted Pirates stopping raids and so on. It was one of the many things he had been looking forward to ever since joining the Marines and now here he was about get a recruit for his own crew and heading to an island as a Captain to capture some Pirates. He was morally against killing them as no one deserves death no matter what they've done.

He knew he wasn't like most Marines some of who were just as blood thirsty as some of the Pirates but he preferred to be part of the minority of nice pleasant trustworthy Marines that existed in the world and if none did then he'd be the first and he'd do his job well and maybe even reach Admiral if he was lucky enough. He doubted he would due to his devil fruit power being a Zoan Type. A Zoan user could never compete with a Logia. Those guys could lauch elements such as lightning, magma & ice at him and all he could do in return was turn into a Stag. he laughed at the thought of it then reached for another handful of pumpkin seeds. He just wanted to do a good job, find the woman who would later be his wife and when his time was gone and done retire and start a farm like his parents had done. He was tempted to dedicate part of the deck of his ship to growing fruit & vegetables but felt it would look stupid and only get in the way during wars and thus he hadn't done it but if he could collect together a strong enough crew then perhaps it would be worth it, but until then it would be a stupid idea.


(OOC: Moore your character can enter however you like she can join on the island or already have been brought to the ship by other means before hand either way I don't mind. If she has been delivered to the ship then Jasper wouldn't have seen her anyway due to him sitting on deck the whole time sleeping and eating pumpkin seeds.)

A small row boat floated towards Jasper's ship in stood it Mail in his hooded knights uniform. As the boat got close enough Mail tied it on and leaped up onto the the ship. After searching for a while he came upon a man. "Jasper Hoofe?" Mail asked the man coming up to him. "I am Commander Mail of the Hooded Knights under Orders from Darnel Warshack I am to serve under you until your crew is larger and more stable." Mail said offering Jasper his hand for a hand shake.

(Sorry for not posting sooner. I have been working on finals this week, but thankfully I'm through most of them. Only one left for tomorrow.)

Calista nervously paced back and forth. Here she was, waiting on an island to join her very first Marine division. Unfortunately, it was not a group that was stationed at a base, as she had hoped. No, these Marines were the kind that sailed around looking for pirates and getting themselves killed. Why she had ever thought joining the Marines was a good idea, she would never know. Well, regardless of the outcome, she would try her best to help out where she could. It was all she could do for now.

Calista stopped her pacing and took a deep breath. Her crew would be arriving some time today, so she should probably start heading down to the port to wait for them. They were some group that called themselves the Stag Night Marines. Weird name. Probably had a weird captain. She could only hope and pray that he would not turn out to be some sort of psychotic, "let's-all-go-out-with-a-bang" nutjob.

The young woman pulled off her blue hat and straightened a few loose strands of her hair. First impressions were always important. On that same note, she paused to get out her officer coat and slip it on. With no other excuses left to stay where she was, Calista finally picked up her luggage and started off in the direction of the port.

(No problem Moore good luck in them)

As the Iron Hoof got closer and closer to the island Jasper was met by a voice he hadn't expected to hear one he turned around and saw a man greeting him. He recognised him as one of the Hooded Knights and when he made mention of himself as Mail Jasper shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Mail and I know of the Hooded Knights, they're good strong Marines. I'd be more than happy to have you aboard. We're about to just pick up another recruit at this island."

He reached into the bag of pumpkin seeds again and popped some into his mouth as he pulled his shirt out of the sink he hung it up and opened a wardrobe. He pulled out another shirt and pulled it on.

The birds on Jasper's antlers began chirping wildly and as they did so Jasper began to try and shush them as he walked out on deck buttoning up his shirt.

"So Mail how long have you been serving under Darrnel?"

The Iron Hoofe was getting closer and closer to the island and alongside of the Iron Hoofe another ship could be seen sailing. The ship had a black flag and looked incredibly plain Aboard the ship some people could be seen. Their bodies where very much covered up and very little of them could be seen.

Perhaps they were a religious ship but perhaps not either way Jasper didn't feel inclined to say or do anything until they revealed themselves to be criminals if in deed they did at all. The ship passed the Iron Hoofe to the island and Jasper looked at Mail awaiting a reply.

"Hm very good. I might be able to return to father soon." Mail said. "Who is this new recruit? By that I mean new new or new to your crew?" He asked with mild interest. "As for how long I've served Father it's been...A year now. I think I'm not sure. I lose track of time at sea." He said.

Calista finally reached the port and then she came to a stop and looked around. There didn't seem to be any Marine vessels here yet. So maybe she had a little bit more time to wait. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of much else to do but wait. She had all the ingredients she could carry and the ship probably had plenty of supplies on it as well. She also had several changes of clothing, enough to last her a week without wearing the same thing twice, and she wasn't hungry. There was no need to buy anything. There was nothing she wanted to buy, either. Maybe she should just walk around for a while.

With a sigh, she dropped her luggage on the concrete and sat on it. Then she glanced up at the sky, but had to close her eyes because of the sun's glare.

"Too bright," she muttered, gripping the front of her hat and pulling it down so that it covered her eyes.

"A year huh? Thats a long time. He must be doing something right then. I'm glad you've got such a great Captain and even more so happy to have you aboard the Iron Hoof. I'm sure you'll fit in just fie during your time here."

The Iron Hoofe drew closer to the island and the other ship which had passed by had already docked. They had lowered their anchor and where now leaving the ship. As Jasper looked out he could see 2 more ships approaching the same island from different points each one seeming to dock on either side of the island. Each ship docked at the same time and each one look plain with a plain black flag and the crews were all wearing the same long robes to cover themselves from head to toe.

As Jasper looked out at the ship that had passed them and docked he looked back to Mail. Reaching back into his sack of pumpkin seeds he ate some more. The birds on his antlers chirped a little.

The men who got off the ships headed straight into town, the ones who passed Jasper walked straight past Calista paying no attention to her in the least. They ignored her. One man was left on every ship around the island which had docked. They all looked exactly the same from just looking anyone could tell something was wrong but the question was.

What?!

"Seems like a cult of some kind." Mail said in a rather bored tone. "Any idea what the next recruit looks like?" he asked his current captain.

Calista's eyes opened when, for a brief second, the sun's warmth no longer touched her skin. Mildly surprised, she looked over to see a line of men in dark cloaks walking past her. Yawning, she closed her eyes again. It was nothing important after all.

She stood and stretched, reaching back to grab her luggage. As she did she glanced at the ocean before her. Her heart did a backflip. There it was, a Marine vessel sailing into the harbor. No turning back now.

Calista lifted her luggage and stepped forward, waiting for the ship to pull in.

The Iron Hoofe arrived at the docks and Jasper lowered the anchor shaped like a large iron hoof into the water. As it went down he looked to Mail and smiled.

"Time to meet our new recruit then Mail. Come on I've no idea who they are or what they look like all I know is there a new recruit, so lets go meet them."

With a childish glee about him Jasper rushed to leap over board and as he did he instantly got a glance at his first crew mate. He was a she and Jasper was surprised. As he landed on all fours. He stood up and dusted his hands off then offered his hand to her.

"Welcome new recruit, I'm Jasper Hoofe Captain of the Iron Hoofe Marines and I'll be your Captain its a pleasure to meet you and can I offer you a pumpkin seed?"

Calista was a bit surprised by the Marine Captain's straightforwardness, but he did seem nice, so she had nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, even if he had been rude, it didn't look like she woule have had anything to complain about anyway. After all, she wasn't here to join the Iron Hoofe Marines.

"I'm sorry," Calista replied, smiling at Jasper pleasantly. "You must have me mistaken for someone else. I've been sent here to join the Stag Night Marines. Perhaps whoever you are looking for is still in town. May I ask what they look like? I've been here for only a few hours, but I've spent a lot of time walking around, so it is possible that I have already seen them."

"Actually we ARE the stag night marines. Do not allow looks to deceive you as that is one of the worst mistakes you can make. My cybernetics is proof of that." Mail said to the woman.

"Iron Hoofe Marines? Oh dear. Yes sorry I meant we are the Stag Night Marines. Sorry about that I was thinking of my ship here. The Iron Hoofe. I am Jaspe------well you know the rest. So your my new recruit? I gotta say I wasn't expecting a woman as my first recruit but I've no problem with one. So new recruit whats your name and where are you from? Come on we'll head into town for some drinks whilst we patrol for Pirates. You guys drink?"

As Jasper made his way into town munching on his pumpkin seeds excited to learn more about his new recruit. The dark robbed people who had arrived and surrounded the island were working away. One group of them had entered a bank another the shopping centre, some more at the park,around the Marine Academy and lastly some who had surrounded the Mayor's house. They were spreading themselves around the places they where in and covering all exits.

The man in the bank pulled out some thick bulky locks and padlocked the door before each of the 5 men reached their arms up into the air and allowed their robes to fall.

Calista bristled slightly at Mail's words, but she bit back her angry retort. She hadn't been deceived by their appearances. She had been told by the Captain himself that they were the Iron Hoofe Marines. So how was this supposed to be her fault?

First appearances...first appearances... Calista began chanting in her mind. Don't make this a matter of pride, girl.

Slowly, her anger cooled. When she was ready to speak, she put on a smile and gave Jasper a smile and saluted him.

"Well then, in that case, hello Captain," Calista said. "And no, I don't drink." She trailed after him as he headed into town. As she walked, she answered his other questions: "My name is Calista Sage. I'm an Ensign. I'm originally from the South Blue, though I haven't been back home in a while. So I guess I'm more or less a Grandlinder now and..." She turned red and gave Jasper a bow. "Forgive me! I'm rambling..."

Mail blinked "Oh I must apologize. I didn't hear the captain say Iron Hoofe. Please forgive me." said. Mail chuckled a bit remembering he was the same way as she was about a year ago. "Is this a simple recruitment mission captain or are we doing something afterwards?" Mail asked Jasper.

Jasper heard his new recruit Calista say she didn't drink and nodded as he continued heading for the local watering hole (Pub) upon arrival in the town he noticed how it was fairly quiet and very few people walking the streets. As he looked around the nearly empty town he found a small pub named. X Marks the spot. He grinned and entered. It may have had a Pirate name and maybe even a few pirates in the pub. Would be a great a place to get his hands on any criminals.

As he entered he approached the bar man and said out loud to him.

"Hello Barkeep I'm Captain Jasper Hoofe of the Marines and I'd like 3 drinks 1 beer for me and."

Jasper turned to his two crew mates to ask what it was they wanted. As he pulled out a wad of cash he grinned awaiting their reply. Other customers in the pub looked at the Marine who'd announced himself so loudly.

One of the Pirates sat drowning his sorrows into his drink in the corner, the Pirate next to him took a drag on his cigarette and a swig from his drink then looked at Jasper with his eyes fixed on his face.

The men in robes at the bank quickly drew out weapons took down the guards and all of the security then managed to hold the people in the bank hostage. The people surrounding other important buildings took down all security and locked the doors. As they where now inside important filled locations they held the people in side hostage.

Each group was led by a Division Commander and the main crew's Captain was no where to be seen. No one knew about the citizens being held hostage including the mayor and the only strong Marine force on the island at the given time where those in the Stag Night Marines. The island's current Marine force had just been sent out to investigate an act of serious matters.

Calista looked up at the sign as they entered the place and her eyes widened. Were they really going into a place that sounded like it might be filled with pirates? This was crazy! Insane! Suicidal. And her captain had just walked in there. Calista grumbled incoherently under her breath, but followed him, placing her hand on her sword's hilt as she went. Its presence reassured her as she went inside and headed up to the bar.

"I'm not really thirsty," she said. It was true, but that wasn't all of it. She also didn't want to take the risk of getting poisoned. "So I'll just have a water."

There, that would do it. Water was usually free and if it was worth anything, it would still be cheap. And if her new Captain and his fellow officer didn't fall down dead, then she would know that it was safe to drink.

"No quite old enough to drink captain. Father also said it would off set my aim." Mail said sitting down.

Hearing what his crew mates said Jasper ordered two waters and a beer for himself and sat down at a table with the drinks. He offered Mail and Calista a glass of water and looked at each of them.

"So Mail & Calista where are you both from and what made you choose to become Marines?"

Jasper asked out of curiosity wondering why they'd become what they had. The more he knew about his crew the more he would learn about their strengths and their weaknesses. He allowed his eyes to pass glances at other Pirates in the pub and as he tasted his beer it tasted fine. The water looked fine too. He knew this place was a Pirate pub but what better place to come. His money was good like most of the Pirates and no matter how much they would hate him he found it fun to rock the boat.

He noticed one Pirate in the back staring at him talking to his mate and pointing. As he looked again he noticed he recognised the face of his mate which was now looking back at him.

His brain ran through the memories of there last meeting and all he could remember was walking away from the fool and leaving him in the loving care of two Marines. Seemed he came off a little worse due to his struggle but Jasper didn't mind he deserved a beating. He was just happy he managed to get the man off of death row and lower his sentence to what it was.

The crook didn't know how lucky he was that Jasper had brought him in and not someone else.

Calista considered his question for several seconds before she answered. She didn't really want to tell him too much about why she had become a Marine. If she did, she might end up mentioning that she would much rather be at a Marine base than on a crew, and that would just be rude. So, instead, she choose her words a little more carefully.

"Well, you already know where I come from," she replied. "The South Blue. As for why I joined the Marines, that's simple. I'm a chef and I love cooking. If I opened my own restaurant, I would have to deal with my employees as well as the customers that came in. And if I worked for a restaurant, I would probably be limited on what I would be allowed to cook. So it really came down to a choice between being a Marine and being a pirate. Either of those would allow me to use my skills to their fullest extent. But getting chased around all the time is troublesome, plus I'm not the kind of person who likes to operate outside of the law. So here I am. A Marine." She suddenly realized that what she had said at first wasn't entirely accurate. "I guess it wasn't all that simple after all," she muttered.

Mail chuckled as he thought about how he acted like that for a bit. "I never really took time to learn where I'm from. As for why I wanted to join? Well, a pirate mutliated me I lost an eye and I was damaged greatly. So I have a thing against pirates. Also my father was a marine as well so it's in my blood."

"Well there as good a reason as anything else Marines. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish, I'm sure it'll be something rather spectacular."

The Pirate who was staring at Jasper leapt to his feet and smashed the glass in his hand down on the table into smaller pieces and stormed over angrily. Reaching Jasper he slammed his hand down on Jasper's shoulder and gripped tightly. Feeling the grip tighten Jasper turned his head to see the Pirate and grinned.

"Good to see you again."

The Pirate gritted his teeth and tightened his grip again. Jasper stood up feeling the tight grip on his shoulder still and holding his glass of beer he sipped some from it and sighed.

"I'd let go of me if I weren't you." He said to the Pirate who retorted.

"Or what?"

Shaking his head Jasper let a little chuckle free before he lowered his left shoulder and spun around holding his glass in his right hand. As he spun around he smashed the glass into the side of the man's head and temple.

The Pirate hit the floor screaming as blood leaked from his face and Jasper looked down at him. Leaning down with speed Jasper allowed his antlers to dig into the Pirate's sleeves and were pinned to the ground by them.

"Your still bitter about me catching and handing you in I get that but let the grudge go buddy, its not doing anyone any favours."

The Pirate nodded in fear as he looked at Jasper through widened eyes.

"Now get going buddy. Get back to your table." Jasper wanted no trouble and as he lifted up the man with his antlers, Jasper pointed him in the direction of his table and lowered him to the ground.

"I'm merely here to pick up my Marine recruit not to deal with Pirates like you."

The Pirate turned away angrily muttering to himself something about not being good enough. As he reached his corner again he sat down in a mood and started drinking again. Jasper turned back to his crew and smiled.

"Don't worry about him. Thats a person I put in prison a while ago and he seems to still hold a grudge against me. Although I can't really blame him. It was a fight for the heart of a beautiful lady."

Sitting back down Jasper took a swig from his glass then looked at the Marines.

"So what have you guys done in the line of fire?"

"Hm...Well...On duty I helped to set up a new monarchy in Amazon Lily...I was in a war with Anubis in which I killed a giant and...Well it was off duty but me and a crew mate were in a tournament where we defeated..6 other marines in a gauntlet style set up."