Serious: Croix d'Acier Pirates, Chapter 1: Face Collage!

(OOC: I PM'ed Layman before making Emrick and he said it was like the candy, thingy, being able to be solid and syrupy)

Emrick saw the spring man get leverage, the metal buckler disappeared then he slammed his palms onto the ground, molten metal erupting out climbing the air to make a 8 foot tall 1 foot thick barrier infront of him. "Looks like that would hurt"

Afterward he brought his palms up and took his daggers out. He didn't want to east time making a weapon at this time, this guy with his springs was quick.

Alexis grinned at Heinz and moved from right to left quickly, dodging his airslashes. "As if" she mumbled and took her cloak off, as it was bothering her. She formed three arrows of lightning and threw them at Heinz's direction. "I'm not that easy to kill" she remarked and sprinted towards him, using said arrows just as a distraction.

(OOC: Im very skeptical about that, even if Layman said it... https://theonepiecerp.rpg-board.net/t3463-ekitai-koutetsu-no-mi-liquid-metal as you can see, there is a specific fruit for molten steel. This is the first time I've seen the Tetsu tetsu no mi being used as molten metal. I know you can shape the steel at will, but not create it as molten. Just for the sake of the fruit I just sent you, I have to ask you to please refrain from using it in that way... Im really sorry for that, but it's my duty as an Admin)

Tom's arms dented the metal barrier as they hit full power on it. He was tired of just aiming to hit with long distance attacks, where his power was reduced due to air resistance and other forces. That guy would see his close combat power.

"Enough with the little tricks." -was all he said before he lunged himself forward and bounced off various surfaces to approach Emrick at Soru speeds from the back. He then charged a powerful punch that caused a spring formation on his biceps and triceps, and launched it towards Emrick's back.

Heinz squinted when he saw Alexis dodge his airslashes in a fast manner. She took off her coat and then threw three arrows that seemed to be made of lightning in his direction. She said that she wasnt that easy to kill and started to run towards him. He held his spear in place, using it as a support, he backflipped and moved to the side in order to avoid the arrows. As she ran, he somersaulted forward and ruptured the air, causing a huge shockwave that was the size of a car in direction to her.

At the same time, Jay was taking a couple of Greim's hits when suddenly, the swordsman's movement stopped. The martial artist had stopped his arms from moving and was now contorting his body around Greim, putting him in am almost full body lock. As Greim didnt posses a fruit ability, it would be more difficult to escape, but his sheer strenght was giving Jay a hard time.

"Let go off me!"- Greim exclaimed angrily. He was still holding his swords in his hands, and although his arms were immobilized, he turned the position of his katanas to point inwards and to the attacker. He couldnt move them much, but he dropped himself backward and this threw his foe off balance. He jabbed his attacker in the stomach and turned around, slashing the air projecting a Hoemasu Slash that howled through the air in Jay's direction.

(OOC: wondering if I can't change it to that, I was under the impression that the Tetsu tetsu no mi could have those properties, would that be ok? Also I searched under approved logia before making my char and tetsu tetsu no mi is the only metal based one on there besides mercury, which is why I aske layman if it could be in liquid form)

(OOC: Well, you can change that. You need to edit your character and write down the change that you've made, and get it approved. Did you read the fruit I linked you to? That implies that you wont be able to use solid metal. On the other hand, it is molten metal, which is incredibly hot. )

Emrick tried to follow the spring man as he went around then he dissipated behind him, he again brought his hands directly to the ground; daggers underneath, molten metal spikes shooting up around him. 'This guy is Melee oriented, at least I think, and he's quick to boot.' He just began generating a buckler again when the spring man got close

Alexis cursed under her breath and made a sort-of-shaped-like-a-spear lighting strike and threw it towards Heinz while she did a front flip and landed so that the airslash hit her on her back instead. She fell to the floor and her tshirt ripped, falling to pieces on the floor. There was a huge cut (around 15cm) on her back and it was bleeding, however since the size of the airslash was so big the strength wasn't concentrated and it didn't do much hurt. It did hurt like hell though. Alexis stood up and bit her lip, starting to think of what she would do next. "I won't go down that easy!"

Heinz grinned when he saw his shockwave land on the girl's back despite her efforts to evade it. He ran around her, preparing for his next attack and considering what to do next. He saw her stand up and he couldn't believe she had taken his attack so easily. He ran towards her and attempted to jab her with a frontal attack, a spear barrage that cut through the sound barrier because of the speed.

At the same time, Tom Sawdust had burnt his hands on the molten metal that shot up from the ground when he attempted to punch the guy. He was swearing and he quickly kicked the ground to jump back. He immediately jumped off the ground to shoot himself against a tree, then against the surface of another tree and so on. He was going so fast that the trees started to have cuts along their trunks. Tom lost track of the sense of time and space when he did so, but he could still follow targets and had an incredible accuracy with his attacks. He was patiently waiting for the precise moment to attack his foe.

The airslash caught Jay offguard so he received a long cut along his arm. He yelled at Greim. Blood was dripping from the heavily inflicted wound. But suddenly, Jay's arm seemed to be alright as he had covered the cut with new skin. Greim knew he had done this voluntarily. He had seen Life Return in use before and he could recognize it. Suddenly, Greim started to run towards Kay and hurled both of his swords up into the air, he then jumped and grabbed both of them with incredible precision and hurled them back towards Jay. They were faster than bullets and travelled almost at Soru speed because of Greim's superhuman strenght combined with the momentum. Jay had to perform a dodge roll to the side to evade them, but Greim already was there to catch them. He grabbed the swords again and kneeled. "Cheetah Rampage Slash!" - he exclaimed and he moved towards the fallen Jay at Soru speeds, preparing a vicious slash.

Emrick smiled and opened his palms, putting his fingered close together, he aimed in the direction of the spring man just before molten metal balls began to form infront I his finger tips, the next thing of notice were the waves of bullets flying toward the spring mans general direction.

Behind his at the same time a metal snake coiled out of his back, and down his leg.

Alexis smiled had barely a second before the next attack was thrown at her, she noticed right away when Heinz started moving and pondered in that fraction of second what to do, and the reasonable answer would be counterattack, but before doing anything of that she had to dodge the spear that would possibly injure her mortally if it hit the target. So Alexis did a backflip, dodging Heinz' attack and then grabbed the spear, pulling it so that Heinz would (hypothetically) be pulled towards her.

Tom noticed that his opponent was definitely a fruit user and saw that he suddenly shot a series of bullets in his general direction. These, he infered, were probably made of the same material that had burnt him before. He probably was battling against a Logia type ability and so expected these attacks to be very unpredictable. He bounced off trees away from the spray of bullets that had gotten dangerously close to him and some of the leaves on the floor of the forest started to catch fire and the trunks were strongly lacerated by the waves of molten metal. He, for a couple of bounces, increased his speed significantly by using his whole body and arms as a spring and he disappeared from sight. This was his ultimate move and he could probably mantain it for a while. He leapt on various surfaces and got close to Emrick's area. Suddenly he was attempting to land blows and coups at incredible speeds going back and forth around Emrick, the increased speed certainly made these attacks extremely vicious and maybe even deadly if they hit various times in the right spots.

The lancer noticed the girls intentions when she grabbed his spear all of a sudden, so he simulated he was pulling her towards him as he brought his appear back to a comfortable position. He suddenly seemed to become very tense, and as she had the end of his spear, he concentrated all of his power on his arms and jabbed it forward once again, attempting to pierce Alexis' abdomen.

As soon as Greim's sharp slash landed on Jay's stomach, an extremely hard layer of skin had formed on top of it and he was just sent flying away from the place of impact. Jay performed a sommersault midair and fell on his feet, helping his stability with his arms. He started to run towards Greim and Greim started to run towards him.

When they reached the middle Greim mumbled: "Silence gap" and attacked with a series of high speeds feints and hits with the back of the katana that threw Jay completely off balance.

Emrick retracted his hands, waiting to see his apponent. The fire caught fire a little towards where he shot. He looked around for the spring man," your agitating." Emrick smiled; still looking.

Obviously the spring man knew how to use his ability well, he must be experienced. Emrick continued looking before growing more agitated, the metal spikes draining away around him; he felt a sharp pain in his right side as a punch landed, it was so powerful it drove Emrick into the air a foot. Then another hit his back; launching him to te ground, quickly Emrick got up, holding his back.

"You... Annoying... Little" the words sprang out increasingly loud

"Shit!" As his arms moved into the air by his sides, his hands in fists, a barrage of molten metal bullets exploded from everywhere on him, spraying the surrounding area.

Alexis gritted her teeth and used all of her strength to stop the man's attack, however she knew that she would not be able to stop it completely, so she also moved it and it only pierced her side, leaving a cut but not a mortal injury. Alexis gasped when she felt the cut and then concentrated so that she could pass electricity through the spear, that was still in her side, into the lancer. If he didn't notice before it was too late, it was probable that he would be as good as dead.

Jay had been thrown completely off balance and was open for any attack, and so Griem, using an incredible precision punctured specific points in his foe's body, piercing them and suddenly making him freeze. He then concentrated his power on both of his arms, and he performed a cross slash with both of his swords, producing a tremendous shockwave that cut Jay and threw him against a tree, making him pass out, covered in blood.

Greim then focused on his companions and Ben, who was running towards Hullsvilla and had taken advantage of the ruckus to go and see what was actually going on there. The spearman had been completely calcinated by the electricity from Alexis' attack and had passed out on the ground. Definitely in a very bad condition. The current had gone through his metallic spear and shocked him. He never saw that coming, especially in his celebration after having almost succesfully pierced his opponent.

At the same time, Tom had fallen and was rolling on the ground, covered in molten metal. He had ran directly into the bullets made of molten metal, which were piercing through his skin. He most certainly had third grade burns and was screaming, swearing because of the pain. Plus his own momentum had inflicted a lot of damage on himself when he abruptly lost the focus of his technique, flagellated against the hard ground.

"Good job guys..." -Greim said. He saw that Alexis was hurt, which preoccupied him a little bit, but he could see that it wasnt a deep cut.- "Ben has moved forward towards the town, he might be waiting for us in the outskirts... I just hope he is alright."

As he said this, he started to jog towards Hullsvilla, expecting the others to follow him.

Alexis grinned as her opponent fell to the ground, incinerated. He had been a tough opponent, she had to admit it, and she was injured already, but at least she had won the battle and she was just fine. Alexis pressed her side and smiled tightly, it hurt, of course it did, but she would be alright with fighting even more idiots. She knew something wrong was going on in this town, and if Greim wanted to fight them, wanted to release the town from evil, then she would follow him. She couldn't put her hand around why she was so loyal to this man, she had just met him! But she didn't care, she was fine with that.

"Lets get going then" she said when she heard Greim mentioning something about Ben heading to the town. Alexis went to pick up her cloak and covered her body with it, hiding the scar in her back from the guys' view. She started jogging and catching up to Greim.

Emrick jogged after, getting up next to Greim before steadying pace. "Greim who were those guys, have you ever met them before?"

"No, Emrick, I've never seen them before in my live." -Greim said. -"I just came back from the Grandline, though. So it might be something that happened while I wasnt here."

They eventually reached the outskirts of the city, and met with Ben. The town was small, but you couldnt see the main square from the furthermost houses. The guy was definitely nervous and he was biting off his left index finger's nail.

[Back at the forest trail]

Tom picked up a den den mushi and called. Someone picked up at the other side of the line.

"Yes... Boss, it's me... No, I dont know who they are but they are strong and they just beat us... Yes, be careful, they are probably moving towards you... IM SORRY BOSS... NO PLEASE..." -suddenly the den den mushi, which was blue, turned of an alarming red and it bit the guy, injecting a powerful poison into his bloodstream.

The line was heard: "beeeeeeeep-" no one on either side of the line.

[Back at Hullsvilla's outskirts]

"They gathered everyone at the main square and they are torturing them slowly... not killing them though." - Ben said. -"My brother is there... You know him Greim, John is a good person."

Griem nodded and then looked at Emrick and Alexis.

"Guys... I know this could be a lot to ask, especially since this is not your island." -Greim started. -"And it is completely acceptable if you do not want to take part of this, but I want us to go in and sneak around without getting caught. We scan the area, meet back at beach, which is close to the main square and then we plan our attack."

Greim seeked approval from his companions, but would do it by himself if he had to.

"Already went this far, may as well go a bit further." Emrick stated smiling his molten metal snake coiling from his palm up his arm to his neck. "But why don't you let me go in and make some ruckus so they come after me?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to do that, Emrick. And Greim, I'll follow you wherever you go, no matter what. I'm now under your orders" Alexis said and put her hand on her chest, swearing her loyalty. Her hood was down and she had a small smile on her face. "We need to be quiet and go unnoticed. Hopefully we can make it to the beach before anyone sees us or thinks we're a threat" Alexis put her hood on and sighed. "This is going to be hard" she muttered under her breath and started walking towards the crowd. Really hard, she added in her mind.

"I agree with Alexis here..."- Greim said, a little bit surprised by the loyalty of the girl. If he had a crew it would probably be good to have her in. He then looked at Emrick, he seemed like a nice guy too, and it would be interesting to see him develop. As he was right now, his abilities were probably able to beat these two guys. But with time... they could probably be outgrow him. He was thinking about that when he noticed that Ben was glaring at him, thinking why Greim had suddenly turned so silent and stared at the blankness.- "Uh, Emrick, we'll meet in the beach in a while. You need to be really stealthy."

Having said this, Greim nodded at the two guys, since Alexis was already off to that business, and walked through the shadows of the buildings. He didnt know what he was going to do with his swords if people saw him, he probably wouldnt be able to merge in, so he decided he would rather go completely unnoticed.

He climbed on the ceiling of a house he remembered throwing rocks at when he was a little kid. It had been a foggy day at the end of the summer, and the kids ran around, colonizing the main square. Now it was the same, only that people were forced to go there.

Emrick split off from the two deciding to see if there was a tower of sorts from which he could see better. Although not the sneakiest, he ran a hand over one of his daggers he could silence anyone who found out about him. He stopped at a rather tall building with a Vince crawling up to the roof, it looked vacant so he gripped the vine and pulled himself to te roof; when he reached the top he sat and looked at the scene below  where all the civilians were being held.

Alexis maintained her calm while she looked around, there were women terrified, holding onto their children as if they were their lives, well, she guessed they were in some way. The men tried to hold back their fear and be strong for their wives and children, but Alexis could see the fear hidden deep in their eyes, threatening to come out and for them to have a break down. She kept her face low, hiding it from the common eye's view, and continued to walk slowly around the main square, her steps were slow, calculated, as she was in need to not bring any attention upon herself and the rest of the guys.

[In the Main Hall]

"TCHIVES!" -The Major started screaming, as he did so, he spit small saliva dropplets that flew through the air, danced for a second in the space and then were lost as they fell.

"Yes, milord?" -The secretary, a guy who was wearing glasses, had entered the room, closing the door slowly behind him. -"You called?"

"OF COURSE I DID, YOU MORON!"- the man was still shouting, for some strange reason. - "LET THE GAME BEGIN!"

He said that last thing after touching his face, which completely changed to that of a completely different man. Oddly long moustache conquered his face and was his most prominent aspect, and his skin seemed to have suffered from smallpox or something similar.

[Back at the main square]

Greim on top of the houses, hidden, observed that suddenly the balcony of the City Hall opened and the Major came out. Greim remembered him as a much younger man, but as he talked, he noticed something strange. He had no idea what it was.

At the same time, four guys stood directly below the balcony, two at each side and looked at all the people, while the crowd was surrounded by functionaries from the municipality. Some of the had rifles in their hands, others had swords or butcher knives.

"Disgusting..." -Greim mumbled as he saw this.

The major started to talk about how HE was the righteous owner of the whole town. When people had chosen him, they had supposedly given him the power to rule over their lives, and now he had chosen to do so in favor of himself.

Enrich listened tentatively to the man as he spoke, his features crinkling in disgust. Emrick looke around for Greim, torture was something that insanely pissed him off and h e was almost ready to jump down and kick some ass. When he finally saw Greim; Emrick tried getting his attention by wavin a little. If he saw any more of this he was going to attack.

Alexis scowled and looked down, terribly disgusted with their appearances and acts, what the major was talking about and how they were all acting. Terrible, terrible, so terrible. Alexis could feel heat rising to her head and she was feeling a slight headache. She knew as well that she was losing blood, not as much to be a threat, but it was bad anyway.

She wanted to punch the people, to kill them. They were being completely unfair, the town's people seemed really nice and not deserving of these actions. However, she had to admit it did seem weird for a major to act like this out of the nowhere. Weird... just weird..., she turned to Greim and waited for further instruction.