|CLOSED| Serious: Dressrosa Arc, Part 1: Preparing the Ground

"Ouch." said Genther as soon as he performed a handshake with the officer of the Black Cross Pirates. Apparently the strength of the officer was so great that it left a painful impression on the librarian's hand. "Now, now... We have to get near to their basement of operations and start our assault when they do not expect it... Do you not agree Mr. Cebros?"

[[Tiberius]]

Tiberius simply kept quiet "Im not a good person...." Tiberius remembered his past, his betrayal of the marines, his crew dying, his vengeance, the countless deaths and pain he had caused. Tiberius got up "You would do well to remember..... pirates are not good people, we are not men of justice... we are men to kill and stab and claw.... carry this in your heart and remain vigilant..." Tiberius didnt want to admit to himself, the boy reminded him of Nishki when Nishki first joined the marines. Young and naive. Tiberius walked away and finally saw an old and young man stand before him at the entrance. Tiberius simply muttered "About time...." Tiberius knew the king wouldnt hesitate once his name was made public, clearly these two were part of the royal guard.

[[Caprice]]

Caprice looked at Sai "Your starting to get on my nerves ya know... but fine, what is this information ? I could use with some gossip right now...." Caprice was simply biding time before it was his turn to fight.

Before Luke left, and, hearing Tiberius "scold" towards him, the young man remains mostly unfazed, and just smiles at the end. "I can tell you're a better person than you think. Well .. see ya." he says, and walks away, heading towards the ring.

Moments later, the guards, they arrived at the scene. Tiberius apparently was expecting them, judging from his calm demeanor. "Tiberius Mandrake, the King would like to have a word with you ... please follow us, without a hustle." The elder one politely asks, showing a high degree of professionalism. While it was expected that he'd be summoned before him, what would his man possibly want to tell Tiberius?

Genther & Cebros,
"Indeed, you lead the way, I'll just begin breaking down stuff!" Cebros casually says, already focused on something else; some women passing by. Obviously he didn't cared all too much about what those two had to do. Which either meant he was sure in his combat skills ... or that he was an idiot. Time would tell.

"Sai X"
"You see .. next round shall be .. a deathmatch between the 8 ones to pass! Good, huh? I must let you know ..." He old man now whispers really lowly, so to make sure that only Caprice hears him. "I won't hold back, even against a marine .. Martello." saying that, the old man turns and walks away. Whoever he was, not only did he knew Caprice was a cover, he even knew the marine's name. Was he also a marine?

"Okay... I have something in my mind!" said Genther with an evil look on his face. "I am going to lead you to the palace. There we will destroy anything we find until the prince asks the members of the Chimney Top to come and get us for ruining his home!" said Genther with a smile on his face and he created a large book, jumping on it, using it as a means of transportation. "Jump on my book, it has some space for you. I do not want you to waste your energy as we move towards the palace!" said Genther afterwards to Cebros. It looked like the two were getting along really well!

Genther and Cebros
"Whoah, you really have more guts than you seem to have, attack the palace itself?! Wahahaha, alright!" Cebros says, chuckling loudly, and hops on the book. "Didn't expect I'd ride a book, when I don't even read any!" He adds a comment, while on top what was a surprisingly comfortable .. book! And thus they begin to fly towards the place, until Cebros suddenly claps his arms, and grabs Genther's shoulder. "Oi, change of plans, I have a better idea." He says. What did he had in mind, or rather, what did he saw that changed his mind?

Corrida Colosseum; King's Seat
After a while, they were there. The two royal guards, accompanied by the man the king wanted to see. People close to the King's seat, all nobles of course, slowly move away, most in fear, some in disgust as the man walking towards their king was probably more of a "filthy pirate" for them. The king, currently drinking booze from an actual barrel, looks at the visitor with the corner of his eyes, and lets his "glass/barrel" down, smirking. "Well well well ... what DO we have here?!"

[[Caprice]]

Caprice grinned as the old man told him this standing up slowly " A deathmatch huh? Thats nice... im going to enjoy killing all your morons in one swoop, thanks old man.... even if you do know my name, it wont change the fact that you will all die by my hand by the end of the day...."
Martello (Caprice) still tried his best to place his finger on where he had known this man before, it was a long time ago, but Caprice had totally forgotten where this man was from, Caprice decided he should keep his charade running even if the old man did know, no need to panic and report to HQ just yet.

[[Tiberius]]
Tiberius had followed the guards and now stood standing in front of the king, Tiberius was within grasp of the goal he had set out to do in this island. Tiberius adjusted his mask and bowed slightly " Great king of dresserosa, its good to see you again.... under less than welcoming circumstances......." Tiberius was aware that his sword was left at waiting lounge of the coliseum, so he only had his hands if things got ugly here. Tiberius had to be polite to discover the truth behind what was going on, before he started attacking the king or anyone else around here.

Tiberius & the King
The King listens to Tiberius's greeting, silently, somewhat inspecting the man that was standing before him. He then slowly rubs his lower lip with his thick thumb, his mouth opens to say something, but he stops, and then claps his fingers. "Bring it." he just says. What came after those words was probably something Tiberius wouldn't expect. A large table is set up within seconds, and the servants quickly fill it with all sorts of delicacies and drinks. "We shall talk, but first, we need to eat. So sit down and get some energy, and let's watch the battle that is left while we discuss, hahaha!!"

Arena,
In the arena, Luke has already entered, being introduced and all, but hardly anyone cheered for him. After all, aside him being an outsider to begin with, his enemy was the favorite.
"Look at this shrimp, why didn't he revoked his entry?"
"Some people are just crazy!!"
"This is the Corrida Colosseum, you idiot!"
"Just die, will ya?!!"
These are only a few of the commentary coming off the crowd. The young boy gulps, but still follows this up by and awkward, yet as kind as possible wide smile towards the stadium.
Heavy footsteps are then heard, making him to turn and watch, his eyes widening in sheer shock and fear, as the other man enters the field...
"And, then he comes inside, the man that is so dangerous, he caused a major uproar and a first-ever massive withdrawal from the Colosseum, causing the whole system to be remade!! What we could call .. HUMANITY'S ENEMY, has just entered the stadium!!" People cower in fear, some gulp, a few literally pass out, and everyone is just scared just from his mere presence. "What is that?..."
He lets out a scary, horrible roar, as he raises his hands, chains seen hovering, broken shackles on his hands. "The man with a bounty of 495,000,000 Beli!! Captain of the "Shark Fang" Pirates! The Human-hating Orca Fishman, Gorja "The Slayer" has entered the stadium!!!"

"Hmmm? What happened?" wondered Genther as the officer of the Black Cross Pirates said that he had better ideas in his mind, probably related to the. Apparently that guy even had that smell of destruction in his scent so the pirate probably had something similar to destruction in his mind. What else?

"Look down there." Cebros says, while pointing down towards the streets. There were two large toys walking around the street, and staring down at people with extreme persistence, causing said people to slowly walk away, baffled and bothered. Those 2 toys seemed familiar, however. "I came across those two clowns when I got here, they said they work for Chimney Top. I say we catch them and take them to your place for interrogation!" Cebros explains, and claps his hands, as if wiping them away. "I am awesome." he randomly adds, letting out a moderately loud burp, along with a laugh which, thankfully was not heard from anyone below, as no one turned their heads up, unaware of the duo's location.

"I see..." said Genther. "Then this brings our raid over that gang to the level of strategy and not an all-out attack." commented the librarian with a grin on his face. "But I must say that was a pretty smart idea! We can really work well together!" he commented and then he moved down, towards the direction of the two toys that worked for the Chimney Top gang, so that the two men would start with the strategy they just thought of.

As they got down, Genther would take an evil smile on his face. Without a second thought, he would set up his "Library" around the two toys, ignoring the fact that there were a few people around who could watch at what he was about to do. Then, before the two toys realized what happened, he created two open books right in front of him. He let out a quiet laughter and while doing so, he placed his hands on his pockets, grabbing a closed bottle with gunpowder inside it. He threw some gunpowder in the two open books and then he slowly closed them, making them look as if nothing was inside them. Afterwards, he would use his powers to move the books in front of the two toys and with a wide smile on his face, the slim man spoke with a loud voice "Chimney Top bastards, I have a gift for you!".

The next second, the two books would open and close in an instant. The force of the closure process though would activate the gunpowder in the two books, resulting in a powerful explosion that instantly defeated the two toys as they were off guard. "Book Bomb." said Genther with a shadowed look on his face, as the two toys fell on the ground, unconscious. "Let's get them, Cebros!" he finished.

((OOC: Making it seem as so we already got them into Genther's hideout))

"W-where are we?... My head hurts like hell..."
"What happened? ...!"
Tied down to the floor, the two over sized toys awake to see themselves captured and kidnapped by some unknown people. Really, they had no time to react and realize what was going on. All they could remember was that a bare-chested man just run towards them laughing loudly, and then something large just smacked them on the back of their heads. But now, with two people watching down at them, they remembered.
"IT'S THAT DUDE FROM BEFORE!!"
"ITS THE DUDE WE WERE LOOKING FOR!!!"

Meanwhile, Corrida Colosseum,
"Gaaah...!" Luke gasps, and folds himself in pain, right after he got tossed away several meters by his beastly opponent's powerful punch. The poor boy is coughing up blood, obviously his opponent is just too much, it seems. Blood has covered all of his shirt, and even parts of his jeans, he is obviously beaten down really badly.
"Why is a little fly entering this tournament? IT SICKENS ME!!! WAAAARHHH!!" Gorja's absolutely horrifying yell echoes across the stadium. A massive monster of at least 3,5 meters in height, huge muscles and a really, really scary, orc-like mug, Gorja was truly someone that could give you nightmares just by looking at him. The audience are left speechless, watching on the brutality. "T-this is ... too one-sided!! They should stop!!" the broadcaster finally says, gulping in the process.
"HUMANS ARE NOTHING BUT INSECTS, YOU HEAR THAT, YOU USELESS SHITS?! I SHOULD COME UP THERE AND KILL YOU ALL!!!" Gorja then adds, and actually makes a move, some water slowly dropping from his hand, the crowd gettin scared. But, Luke then lets out a scream, making the fishman turn towards him.
"Heh ... you are REALLY strong ... but, I won't lose. Prepare yourself." The boy says, and smiles, he is still determined, it's obvious on his smile! "....Shit ball..." Gonja slowly remarks, his face obvious a sigh that he is gettin more angry!!

[[tiberius]]

He ate the food calmly , making sure it did not smell like poison, he looked around , he saw the prince and the king, it seems the king was enjoying himself with the festivities. Nobility always loved the idea of killing in the name of entertainment, these gladiator battles were known for good sport and it helped the economy grow at the same time. "Your highness... what is it you wished to discuss with me.... perhaps you could also explain about some strange things that have happened since my arrival here..."
Tiberius had noticed the beating the boy was taking as well, it made him feel angry, he wanted to help the kid, but he couldnt, rather he shouldnt interfere in battles that had nothing to do with him. The boy had chosen this battle, not the other way around, he could have left at any time but wanted to fight, so he must learn to live with the consequence of his decisions.

[[Caprice]]
"The kid is going to die...." Caprice was watching calmly from the side of the arena, he didnt favour the kid to win at all, he as getting beaten to a bloody pulp and it wasnt good to watch. This is why pirate scum infuriated him, beating on a child. then again, maybe the child was a pirate too and this is simply justice. Caprice looked up at the royal box, where the king and prince were sitting, it seemed Tiberius was there as well. The nobility of this country had been acting strangely.

"I did not really want to get them into my hideout, but nevermind..." said Genther, displeased with what he had just agreed with. "I could extract the information I needed from these two pathetic idiots just with the usage of my Devil Fruit!" he continued speaking, a wide grin was formed on his face as he spoke his words. Then, he started walking towards the direction of the two toys and pointed at them with his hand, his palm widely open and facing the ground while pointing. "Library." he said and a wide room was formed around the two toys, surrounding them completely. A second later, two books would come out of the bodies of the two men, two mysterious books that came out of nowhere. The books would proceed to move at Genther, who grabbed them gently and said "Anything we need to know about these two are in this books... Though I instantly have access to a small summary with my ability. I must say that the story of these two is quite interesting..." he explained and then his calm and monotone voice turned to a creepy one. His face was shadowed and his eyes shined in the darkness of the hideout, which was nothing more than the library of Acacia. "Now, we have no usage of them... Shall we kill them?" he suggested.

[OOC: Aniki, please tell me whether the toys were formed by a fruit user and basically their history (the summary in this case as Genther won't bother to read it all, except from the part about their hideout and their boss and how Chimney Top is organized). I would give the books to Cebros to read them and have you explain IC instead of OOC, but Cebros doesn't look like the guy who knows how to read ]

Tiberius & the King
The King is watching over Tiberius as the man speaks to him, as well as noticing his initial reluctance to eat. With Tiberius finishing, the King then rubs the bottom of his jaw, before he lets out a laugh. "I see, so you have some questions. I wanted to ask you something first myself, you see, hence I called you here, but ... you are a visitor in my place, so please, go ahead and ask me up ahead. Also, eat up; if I really wanted to kill you then I'd find a better way to do so." the man finishes speaking. Many things seemed to contradict here. "Visitor"? Not quite. And what did he wanted to ask himself. Also, the prince, while not talking, seemed to be looking at Tiberius in a weird way. Maybe he just didn't liked him because he was a pirate. Who knows? "But, let's watch the match first, there will be a 1 hour break afterwards, so we will have time. Enjoy the meal .. you will find that it will make you feel better, it's a special kind of cooking .. Attack Cuisine, if you ever heard of."

Genther & Cebros
"Waaaah, Library doubling as a broker hideout ... you see something new everyday." Cebros was randomly commenting, while Genther was doing this things to extract information. The summary spoke of a certain man that was apparently a fruit user, and was responsible for their creation. However, when did that happened was mysteriously not revealed in the book. It seemed that the user was a high-ranked member of the Chimney Top gang. And then there was some more interesting information. About their leader's hideout, as well as some information about their leader. Some really, really spooky ones. "Zick Leoris. Ability: Ito Ito no Mi. Rank 8 Pure Gear Boxer. Bounty a mere facade of what this organization was capable of doing."
"Hm? Done? Nah, let's keep them ... I want them to become my pets~! Hahaha!!"

"Pets? Nah... You will have to feed them. I suggest you to kill them. I mean, look. They are so pathetic that they should be recycled..." commented Genther while looking at the two toys with an evil look on his face. Then, he generated a book on his hand, which he used to point at the two toys, still keeping that mad expression on his face. "It is clearly your call, Cebros." explained Genther afterwards, prepared to finish off the two toys in case Cebros made up his mind and decided to not keep them as pets, in the end. Genther was a really, really mad man and he seemed to have a deep grudge to Chimney Top, that was for sure!

[[Tiberius]]

Tiberius continued to eat, he still maintained the same speed while eating, making sure not to be rude in front of the king, sometimes manners could save your life, but still Tiberius had to press the issue with this man or he would not get anywhere. Tiberius then asked "Your highness, my main question is, why has a bounty in this island been placed on my head... i do not understand the motives of this as i assumed our captain had a good relationship with you... has that changed?"

Tiberius was also watching the match from the corner of his eye, but he simply could not lose focus here. Any mistake or if he let his guard down , he would be dead by the minute. Tiberius then wolfed down the meat in the corner of the table.

Tiberius and the King,
"Ah, about this ... you haven't heard, have you?" The King calmly says, and with a short clapping, a butler instantly approaches Tiberius from the left side, holding a golden plate that had some papers wrapped above it. Those were not garbage however, they seemed to be newspapers. The butler, after the King nods at him, lowers the disk, and points at the section, not that Tiberius could miss it, as it covered the entire front page. And there the male would see his captain, alongside all the other higher ups, and even a photo of his wife with him, there was obviously an article about his crew, something must have happened. The were also bounties. But, not the ones Tiberius would probably remember about his subordinates. These numbers were much larger all of a sudden. And there was also his number there. "Do you understand now? This was not a work made from me. You are currently hunted. And I was informed by a certain ally of yours that you was on a separate journey. I had to get you here, to ask you what I wanted to ask you. Which was why I was looking for you." What did the King wanted to ask?!

Genther & Cebros
"Meh, fine, do as you please, I don't care~" Cebros whines out, also letting out a yawn, while looking at the two toys, that were left silent and watching the floor for a while now. Did toy-creatures had to be recharged? Were they dead? Curious a man as he was, Cebros grabs one of the toy's heads, and pulls it upwards, only to see something unnerving. He was smiling. "Hm? What's so funny, EH?" Cebros says, and the toy simply giggles. There was something in his eyes, something odd. Immediately, the male turns towards Genther. "Check deeper and into events written the past hour! Fast!!" but, the very next second, an explosion had shaken the entire place. "Shit, I can't believe this, we were toyed by toys! It was a trap!"

Luke vs Gorja
A loud sound was heard, one of a fist pounding against a hard, sturdy mass. The crowd was left in shock, once again, not a single spectator was talking. Even the King, while talking with Tiberius, had glared towards the direction of the sound, which came from the stadium, and his eyes widened from what he saw. Luke was panting hard, stumbling, but, from the other side, a scorched-bellied Gorja was laying flat onto his back, looking towards the sky, not moving. "W-what .. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!!!" The broadcaster yells, unable to explain what had happened. "... A-all he has to do is .. push him out and ... IS IT POSSIBLE? IN A SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS, THE UNDERDOG, THE YOUNGSTER CALLED LUKE, HAS APPARENTLY DELIVERED A DEVASTATING BLOW TO THE FAVORITE FOR TODAY'S EVENT!!!"

Meanwhile, as they were all watching at this sudden turn of events, the prince turns and walks away. *Where are you going? ...* The King thinks to himself, he did noticed he was leaving, unlike most else.

"Hm... Scanning the files one hour and a quarter ago makes me realize that those two were indeed up to a trap... But that doesn't matter... When they set up their trap, it was going for you, Mr. Cebros... I had nothing to do with this... That if we think, we can realize that I am the wild card that can turn things upside down... I am the missing page of the book they were up to writing..." commented Genther calmly, not worrying as much as Cebros showed that he worried. Then, in response to the two toys, the weird librarian yawned, right before he started munching his nails. "What to do... What to do... Oh yes, you distracted me. I was about to kill you. You are not important at all, after all. I have your details written in my books, anyway." he exclaimed and two books were teleported in front of the two toys. Then, they opened and closed immediately, causing an explosion in their faces and causing them to fall down. "My books have an explosive impact on people, indeed, don't you think?" he asked Cebros, smiling. "We need to kill the first one and take the other as a hostage... Those two separated are probably useless, yet the other one won't be left behind... And as you are not a fruit user, Mr. Cebros, could you finish off one of the two as I don't want to waste my energy on scums like these? It looks like we have a serious battle to attend to, after all..." he continued speaking, suggesting his plan to Cebros.

Genther & Cebros vs ???
Just when Genther was about done to be finished, Cebros suddenly and violently grabs him from the waist and, as if he was a bag, and begins running, actually towards the sound of the explosions. Before the librarian was even able to react or ask what was the reason for such a move, an explosion occurs right where they were standing just a few seconds ago.
"My ability has given me a continuous boost to my sense of hearing .. just when I saw him grin, heard a ticking sound. They were actually set up to be suicide bombs. Damn, these idiots are crafty, after all eh? Let's go get them at the exit!"

"Oh, those bastards!" said Genther, while letting himself off his ally's grip. "You should keep your strength. You are the strong one here. I will move us there, faster." he said as he created a large book just like before, jumping on it. Then, he waited for Cebros to jump on it, as well, so that the two of them would travel faster to the exit thanks to the powers of Genther's Devil Fruit so that Cebros could conserve his strength in order to use it to defeat his enemies.

[[Tiberius]]

Tiberius looked at the article and then went back to eating again before stopping, "I see.... it is true i was on a seperate journey... i had to rediscover some things.... and i suppose now you have me here..... so what is the reason you wanted to see me your highness... i cant seem to grasp what exactly you want for me...." Tiberius was wondering why all this trouble? Why go through all this to get his attention?

Tiberius then saw the Prince leaving, it didnt seem to affect Tiberius too much, the prince looked like all his interests were not here and not with the match that was ongoing. Tiberius had to grin to himself, Luke had shown quite a strong finish now and the match was in his favour. Tiberius wouldnt say he was shocked that the boy turned it around, but he had seemed quiet docile, so it was slightly surprising.

King and Tiberius
"I will cut to the chase ..." the King starts, and for the first time, it seems like there's some darker feel surrounding the atmosphere, as the man's eyes shadow down, and look at Tiberius in a much more serious, and somewhat spooky, way. "There has been a strong rumor that ... Wally, a family ally, is actually heading here ... to initiate a revolt-" the guard around Tiberius come closer, they are obviously ready to try to attack the pirate if given the order. -"you see, I always considered his father to be a friend, no no, like a brother to me ... but it is true that lately this man has been taking down Kingdoms to add into his turf, replacing people of authority with his own allies. To put it differently ... I was not informed from Gregory of your visit ... I was informed by the Marines themselves... so, can you ... possibly, give me a fair reason not to be in such a tight and uncomfortable situation to be unable to ensure if he comes here as my friend's son, or as another pirate...?"

Genther & Cebros
"Well, this is annoying..." Cebros comments, they have arrived to where the gates existed, only to find a massive crater, flames eating up at the desks, broken marble scattered across. And, in the middle of the crater, a pain of men seemed to be sitting, back to back, and ... while one was seemingly eating a sandwich, the other was apparently playing chess with himself, the board placed on his lap, his goggles looking towards the board while he was moving a bishop. "Check..." he laments to himself. "Oh, lookie here, they have arrived." the other individual says, eagerly, a smile is formed on his lips. Who were these 2 guys?

Elsewhere,
The prince has entered what seems to be a royal room, somewhere located in the inner sections of the Colosseum. He seems to be communicating with someone. "Yes ... the pirate from the Black Cross is here ... this is excellent, things go according to my plan ... now, I need you to make sure that .. Tiberius Mandrake dies during the 8 men death-match ...!" Again, who is he talking to?!

"Who are these people?" wondered Genther while looking at the two weird men who seemed to be having peculiar habits. "Oh wait, I can find that out!" commented the librarian afterwards and with a grin on his face, he expanded his "Library" around the two men, putting them inside it. "Book!" he said and two books appeared around the two men before warping at Genther's hands. Genther grabbed both books and opened them, prepared to read them. "Let's see who you are..." he said, prepared to read the book. Genther's ability was really handful and that was pretty obvious during his and Cebros' chase over the Chimney Top gang.

[OOC: Aniki, give some information about them xD]

"Doesn't really matter if you read about us, little freak .. we will simply break down this whole places down to it's foundations!" The one, friskier one, a young-looking male, with messy, spiky black hair, a T-shirt of blue color, army trousers with several chains strapped around, and a large sword seen on his back, says, before he leaps off the "barrier" formed when Genther's abilities were activated to scan the two men. The enemy reaches them in astounding speed, and, as he aims for a kick, directly going towards Genther's neck, possibly to one-shot him, Cebros gets in the way and places his elbow forward, to block the strike.

The book writes: Chimney Top, "Roof Top" Member, Ziracho Streinstrag. Bounty: 100,000,000. Working under the influence and favor of the Prince of Dressrosa, active bounty a suppression and facade of his military powers. Estimated Bounty without the cover: Over 300 million. Ability: Uknown power to generate explosions; Bomu Bomu no Mi.

"Whoah, what is-?!!" A massive explosion occurs right there, engulfing them all. The other man is still playing chess, almost as if unaware of what was happening in close proximity. He doesn't even care when Cebros emerges from the smokes, pulling away Genther, slightly crisped-looking.

And the book for him writes: Chimney Top, "Roof Top" Member Rapacco Zweicco. Bounty: 120,000,000. Working under the influence and favor of the Prince of Dressrosa, active bounty a suppression and facade of his military powers. Estimated Bounty without the cover: Over 300 million. Ability: ???

The book actually had no information about the second man's powers. How was this possible?!

"The book doesn't have information about his fruit..." said Genther, surprised. "That can be explained with two things. Either he has a Devil Fruit ability he doesn't know anything about but he knows how to use, or he happens to have a Devil Fruit ability that allows him to mask information and hide them. This guy is definitely much more dangerous than that bastard with the Bomu Bomu no Mi..." he made an estimation about how his Devil Fruit could not find out the ability of the enemy. "Anyway, that's more than we need to know, Cebros... I am going to be useless in a battle against Ziracho... He is immune to one of my strongest techniques. However, you can take him on, judging from your level of strength." he continued speaking, before turning his head towards Rapacco. "As for myself, I think that the best idea would be to try and take on this guy so that we might find out his mysterious powers..." he finished talking, talking in the meanwhile with a quiet voice so that the enemies would not listen to him and not find out anything about his plan.