Serious: Steel Village Regroup at Nanoto Island

Hearing all the ruckus outside, with his rather sensitive wolf like hearing; Benjamin the giant lowed himself off of the deck of the ship and down by a man standing next to it. He had heard the man say he was part of the crew, but Ben didn't recognize him. Although that wasn't really uncommon with a big crew when there was new recruits or temporary servants that provided a service for training. Ben could smell the animal on the kid, it was a mix of feline and dog, some strange combination. He was certain the man standing next to the ship was a zoan of some sort. They just gave off a muskier odor compared to normal folk. Most wouldn't even notice it, well most don't have a sensitive zoan nose like Ben did either.

"So you're a new recruit? And from the smell of you a zoan, what kind?" asked the giant casually from behind the man. Ben's shadow entirely engulfed the kid when he stood over him.

Roberto walked out the slaughterhouse that was emanating a cold steam and the people were staring as he walked out, he began running at a top speed and rushed to where Calupa told him to come and Roberto saw as he got closer and within an earshot distance he hid behind one of the dock houses loaded with equipment that could be bought for ships and Roberto listened in as Calupa answered the giant "I am a hyena zoan, I am guessing you got a feline doggy smell, I know about your ability to smell because I studied up on the races." Roberto popped out from the dock house and said "I am a new recruit to!"

Takumi was very surprised when the old man smashed the boulder without any effort at all. Although just briefly, Takumi saw his grin as he turned around and marched onwards and he couldn't help but grin himself too.

That grin quickly faded when he was given his task; looking at the immense boulders, some the size of a small ship, he knew there was no way he could lift those. But the smaller ones wouldn't suffice; he'd need more than a week to get that many of them all the way to the crater. Nodding at the old man Takumi headed down again, this time using Namikaze Shooting Star to get down faster. The immense boulders looked even more massive from close-by.

He started thinking about a pulley system to get those massive things up, but realized that was impossible. He'd have to make the entire system by hand, which would take days if not longer, and it'd have to be immensely big to cross the three-mile gap between the pit and the volcano crater. He abandoned the idea of trying to use the large boulders. Instead, he picked a rather flat boulder in the shape of a rowing boat and heaved it onto his back. It was heavy, but at least he was able to lift it. He then started the trek uphill again. The boulder really weighed down on him and by the time he reached the peak again he was panting heavily. As he threw the boulder down the crater and saw how much more he had to fill he began to think it was impossible. Not wanting to show his exhaustion he immediately headed down towards the pit again, this time not using Namikaze Shooting Star because he was slightly dizzy from the physical exertion. But no matter how exhausted he'd be, no matter how much his muscles would hurt, he'd keep dragging those wretched boulders uphill, even if he'd have to use his teeth.

Luke stepped into the cave and it was sealed behind him. He was in complete and utter darkness. His powers would be useless in this type of situation. Or would they? Darkness if the absence of light, and a shadow is just darkness created by something blocking the light. So was all of this darkness really just a complete shadow? Would his powers adjust to this, and would he be able to use them in complete darkness? If he could it would mean a whole new world of possibilities. He could appear and disappear instantly if engulfed by darkness. The only limitation would be the speed at which he could teleport and in the darkness that could be infinite.

Maski wandered the island when she came upon the ship Alphonse was in. "Huh, Is that their...our ship or someone elses... What does the ship look like, Never got a good enough look...."

Maski ran to the shore and yelled out "HEY YOU!", but it didn't seem to work.

"Hmmmmm.... Hold on.... I need some Amplification...." She muttered as her hand reached to the steel plate beside her and she pulled off gears from small to large until she made a cone of infused gears. She took a deep breath before yelling into the makeshift megaphone "HEY YOU! ON THE BOAT!"

Alphonse was quietly reading from his book, his eyes carefully examining the pages that he was going through. In moments he heard a voice coming from a loud.. something. Alphonse could not help but jump, his book closed out of instinct and his hands moved in the direction the voice came from. Without doing anything he noticed a women outside, her appearance was almost gentle.. but Alphonse already knew not to judge other by their appearance.

"I fail to recognize who you are, identify yourself before I consider you a threat to the crew..

Alphonse did not put on his coat, so metal shards were seen scattered throughout his chest, abdomen, and overall bellow neck areas. The light from the sun were reflected very easily from them, causing him to look quite different from everyone else.

Desais watched as he saw Luke disappear into the darkness. "Woah....how can he do that without a devil fruit?" Desais thought as he began to enter the cavern. As soon as he crossed the line into the cavern Desais felt a little funny. Trying to use his devil fruit abilities, he realized that he couldnt within the cavern. "Well I guess its time to play this a little differently than i used to." Desais commented to himself. Even though Desais seemed to completely forget about Jaizen and Derge at the moment. It still ate away at him with every step he took.

Maski looked up "Finally, Hold on a sec..."

Maski grasped at the side, pulling footholds out of the side of the ship as she climbed up on to the deck. "There we go, Now.... Is this the Steel Village ship?" She asked Alphonse, Ignoring his question completely as she pulled out and started unwrapping a chocolate bar.

Alphonse turned irritated almost immediately, she completely ignored what he had stated and walked right p to the ship.. the nerve of that woman. Alphonse tried to keep calm, but he could not help but grow a vain on the side of his frontal bone area. His eyes closed with a fist close to his chest.

"Yes, this is the Steel Villages ship.. and Who is asking.."

Alphonse tried to calm down, but being ignored was not the first thing he was expecting to happen in the day. He tried to take out the chemistry book and browse though it in front of her, he was not ignoring her, but it seemed to calm him down knowing the chemistry book was once Sarahs. He tried not to think about her, but it was hard. The possible enemy in front of Alphonse did not worry him too much, her fruit seemed odd.. but Alphonse has fought tough opponents before, and even survived encounters with near godly ones. She seemed strong though, and Alphonse wanted to know what business she had with the steel.

"Please speak-up, before I assume you are an enemy."

"Eh, Don't worry.... I'm your Doorstep baby of a new recruit. Basically unless I'm with you guys, I would be Dead or stuck here..." Maski slobbered out as she tore away at her Chocolate bar.

She quickly finished the Chocolate bar and quickly said right before Alphonse flipped out "The name is Maski, Geez.... No one nice enough to give me their name first?"

Sangjo saw how the old man simply scaled the mountain with easy. He use to be able to do that with easy when he had both his legs. Sometimes it felt like he could still feel it there only to be disappointed with the wooden stub. When sangjo decided to become a pirate he knew sacrifice would come with the job but never like this. He closed his eyes and thought of kenji. Sangjo then jumped once again into the similar to his former sky hook. He leaped with his one leg into the air kicking back the wind which lifted him up even higher until he finally landed on the edge. Sangjo fell on the ground tired "Man this as easier with both my legs." He unscrewed his peg and pulled out a secret container of rum hidden within it. Time for a drink.

Alphonse relaxed for a moment, she had claimed to be a part of the crew. His eyes were still focused on he book he was reading, but this time he had enough of a reason to trust her. Alphonse allowed himself to make a slight smirk as he talked to the women, his darkly tanned skin was still showing bright lights in random locations from the metallic shards around his body. His Long brown hair was almost motionless as it touched the bottom of his back.

"You may call me Metal, it was the name given to me by the government.."

Alphonse tried not to scare the new recruit more then he already did, probably. "What do you need then? If you want to get off the island, you'll have to wait until everyone is finished training. How long that takes, I don't really know."

Alphonse tried to make sure both of his swords remained sheathed on his sides. It was almost immediately apparent that if he would have attacked the women, it would have been considered the worst kind of first impression possible. She was a possible crew member, and in reality one should assume one innocent before labeling them guilty, which is not what he had done when he first saw her.

"I apologize for the way I treated you, but you have to understand that people could very easily attack a member of Steel."

The old man glanced at Sangjo once he landed on the edge of the volcano. "You know I could replace that leg for you, it doesn't have to be this way." said the old man. Almost in an instant the man's attitude switched to one that was a bit more aggressive. He flying jump kicked the bottle of alcohol into the boiling magma of the volcano. Landing on the tip toes of his left foot, the old man spun around with a devilish look on his face. "Now, sit down! Tell me what type of life return will you need? Something that increase the level of the devil inside of you, or something that will increase your diversity?" asked the man.

[Benjamin]

"Ah I see." growled the giant. He didn't intend to threaten anyone with the his tone, he had a natural kind of growl when he spoke. "I suppose I could show you the chemistry it would take to make a rumble ball. Most people don't understand that it takes a good amount of SIQ to speed up our natural mutations." The giant said. Finally taking notice of the other man Ben looked down upon him. "You reek of bodily manipulation, just like that old man up there. If you want to train, I suggest climbing the volcano; it's only a good couple of days journey." said Ben.

Roberto sighed and said "Fine but I am not gonna like it!" Roberto began running at his top speed towards the volcano and in no time he was out of sight. Calupa growled annoyed "Roberto can never just sit down and wait for anything could he, as long as I remember he has been so rowdy." Calupa rolled his eyes and said "I would love to see the chemistry I have heard of a rumble ball and how they effect zoans but I never got to see one up and personal so it would be a nice new experience." Calupa prepared for the giant to lead the way but for some reason Calupa began to involuntarily cackle and he quickly put his hand over his mouth "Sorry about that hyena urges."

Maski stuck a Lollipop in her mouth and replied "It's alright, Anyone could attack anyone. Thats how the world works."

Maski looked at the man and shaded her eyes a bit as she looked at the metal shards on him. "So Metal, Huh? You one of the Shipwrights?" Maski asked, putting her goggles on to examine Alphonse.

Alphonse was glad she took the misunderstand so well, but he was not expecting her to think of him as a shipwright. Technically there was little reason he would be the only person on the ship, the shipwright would usually be the only one behind while the rest of the people/crew-mates left. The lady probably put two and two together, and guessed Alphonse was a shipwright because of all this.

"No, I am not a shipwright.. I guess you can call me the wanderer of the crew, that is technically my profession." Before the woman asked, Alphonse continued explaining. "A wanderer knows the basics of most things, from cooking to medical.. although i am not good enough to make it as a doctor or a cook. I'm a blend of most things, enough for me to survive on my own."

After Luke and him got separated by the cave, Kiba decided it's time for his own training. While he could practice brute force, he was still irritated by Karasu's ability to outplay him in his own game. Luckily for him, he already spotted his training partner. It wasn't far form the cave, on the very top of a nearby tree, a bird's nest, but it was no ordinary bird, it was the infamous dotted blueback, a bird that any spy, infiltrator or stealthman knew all about, and Kiba wasn't as exception.

The dotted Bluebacks were large bird of prey, human size in most cases, and established nests on the tallest trees they could find. The Bluebacks were famous around spies thanks to a special detail: They were the ultimate trackers. It was quite astonishing, but bird experts claimed that unlike most birds, the Bluebacks hunted with their sense of hearing. It was said that while hunting, the Bluebacks could track down a mole digging 200 meters away from them and still hear their baby's heart beating inside the eggshell back at their nests. Some experts claimed that the ability of the Bluebacks is sharpened while hunting, hinting the use of Life Return in animals, which could be the reason such birds chose this very island as their home.

Well, these birds were the key to getting an edge against Karasu. Back in that day, Kiba was both invisible and odorless, leaving only hearing to be the method through which Karasu tracked him down. By managing to sneak up on the Bluebacks, Kiba will achieve what most spies don't dream of, he'll be dead silent. "Keep my stuff safe Zurui, and keep an eye on Luke, I need to do this alone..." Kiba explained, before dashing off and disappearing from plain sight.

Sangjo was pissed that the old geezer just kicked his rum into the volcanon "You stupid old man that was my liquor. I need that to walk. This peg hurts like shit and that was numbing the pain." He reached over the ledge trying to retrieve his bottle only to see it burn up. Sangjo wanted to pumble that man for wasting his last bit of alcohol. He sat on the ground "If you could heal my leg....do it so I can kick ur ass. As as life return I would like to work on mah circulartory system. I want to be able to control mah oxygen intake in my body."

Maski poked at Alphonse's chest before pulling and holding a silver gear out. "Hmmmmmmmm!~" She hummed as she examined the gear.

"Interesting body. And here I thought I would've had to build a strip mine to build the stuff I want~" Maski commented as played with the gear.

"Hmm I see, that could give you several options when it comes time to concentrate on one area, and then maybe master several areas of life return. Well first off to increase your oxygen intake you'll need to work on your lungs. Deep breathing will help naturally, however I suggest you try to increase that with your life return also. Now if you'll sit down and shut up we can get started. Concentrate on your chest and then your lungs, picture the size of your lungs increasing. Force it to bend to your will as if it was just another part of your body." said the old man trying to teach Sangjo life return.

Alphonse was slightly impressed with the woman's powers, she seemed to have created something out of the metal shards on Alphonse's body. It glistened as well, but Alphonse was more freaked out then anything.. and a little scared. She could create gears out of anything then? That was a very interesting power, and a little hard to comprehend.. the gods must've gotten really bored when they created such a powerful fruit. Any weapon could become worthless with a simple touch, it almost seemed like the gods purposely sent a plague into a fruit. He tried not to show his interest in teh fruit she possessed, so he tried the next best thing.. keeping a conversation going.

"I'm not exactly the vice captain, nor am I one of the people that are the most important to the crew, but I can help you with something you need.. you mentioned needing to build something? Since you are part of the crew, I guess I can help you create it."

Alphonse put his right hand behind his head, scratching it as he was thinking what she could've wanted.. and if he had just put himself in a bad situation, his other hand was still holding the chemistry book.

"Well, It Depends. I need a VERY large sheet of Metal to create the mechanics for this weapon I have planned. Problem is that the crew doesn't have anything like that." Maski said, looking at the gear.

"I also have the need to find something here in the New World." She said eyeing the book. Maski snatched the book and flipped through the pages until she came to a chart "Seeing as you are interested in this sort of thing~ I am sure you know about the Periodic Table, Correct?"

Alphonse took out his hands the second the women had mentioned a large sheet of metal. Small metal pieces started forming, and instantly a large sheet, about 20 feet in length, and 10 feet in width, was created. The sheet was left on the ground and rolled up into a rug like state. Alphonse created a metal wire to hold it all together. The rug slowly levitated towards the girl, for her to grab it.

But before she could get the rug, she snatched Alphonse's book, the book he was reading to relax himself! Alphonse tried to get it back, but before he could snatch it, or try to, the women asked him of the periodic table. The what? All Alphonse learned from it was the different forms of metal, but other then that nothing else. He tried not to say anything.. since he knew he would look like an idiot if he mentioned what he knew to her. He tried to distract her from the question by presenting the large sheet she had asked for.

"The Rug, for the book.. I think the rug would be much better for your interests." Alphonse then tried to distract her further by mentioning his Devil Fruits abilities.

"I can create and control Metal, my body can also be coated in it.. hence why I am able to help you create what you needed."

Luke sat in the cave and thought about the things he could already do. The insects and bats that occupied the cave with hi, he could feel their presence with the shadow fruit as they were in his territory. He could feel people just because they cast shadows, anyone with a shadow. This power allowed him to know exactly where any and every member of the crew was at any given time as long as they were close by. He could also tell the difference between new shadows made by enemies and the old shadows left by comrades. He was at a stalemate, he had no idea how to improve.

"Interesting~" Maski commented on the ability "That's going to really help with getting things built."

She was about to hand the book back before looking at the chart again "You really should get a more updated version. Maybe something directly from the Marine labs or At any bookstore. Your missing about half the ones I know. And again..." She finished, tossing the book back "No mention of Mithril in it."

Maski picked up the metal sheet and jumped back onto shore "I'll be in the camp if you need me. Later Metal Man~"