Act of Piracy #1: Spreading the word

It's been a few months since the fall of the previous Chowdan gang, it was once a name to be feared, not it's just a laughing stock. Everything has been peaceful ever since, however today was the day trouble would start to brew. Today was the new age, the crafting of the new clan.

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SPREADING THE WORD

The weather was fair, the skies blue and the sun high in the sky. The town was peaceful, just like any other day and the people on the streets all wore a big smile. It was very busy for this town was known for it's stores and items, the items on sale here were gathered by travelers who would travel far and wide to gather incredible ingredients to sell to shops.

It was the perfect place to rob.

Ginichi, the current leader of the Chowdan gang wandered these busy paths. He seemed to be in deep thought, a few seconds ago a plan had formed inside his head, it was his 100th plan since the fall of his previous gang however he hada feeling this plan was superior to the rest, a much much brighter one. Rubbing his scared chin he stopped and lay his back against a wall in the ally. A devilish smile on his bruised face, a group of children were pointing and laughing at his battered face only to get frightened off by his cold glare. Focusing on his new plan, only time would tell if it would succeed.

Now, stage one, the announcement. He needed a place filled with pirates, however where would he find such a place in such a busy town like this one? Oh wait..

The bar.

The children were looking at Ginichi with a scared look on their faces, probably because they were staring the frightening man who seemed to be searching for pirates. As the children looked at Ginichi, though, a voice was heard. The voice belonged to another man. It was a soft and calm voice, quite mysterious indeed. "Children... Over here." said the voice and the children turned their heads, looking at the man who spoke. The man was a weirdo. He wore a tall hat, with a pink bandage around it. He had green eyes, long dark hair and a clean face. His appearance was completed with his green vest and his dark blue pants and shoes. "Don't be afraid... Come here. I have something fun to show you." he continued speaking as the children approached.

Then, the man looked at a small boy. He grabbed a deck of cards and placed it in front of the boy. "Grab a card." he said and the boy did so. "Now, look at it." he commanded and the boy indeed looked at it. "Place it back in the deck." he continued speaking and the boy obeyed, once again. Then, the magician would shuffle the deck and would give the deck back at the boy. "Shuffle it once more." he spoke and the boy started shuffling the deck for a while. "Okay, okay..." he said before grabbing the deck back at his hands. "Is this your card?" he opened the first card of the deck, revealing the card that the boy picked before.

"YES!!!" said the young boy, surprised.

"Hehe..." the magician laughed and waited for the children's applause.

Now to find the bar. The bar was the ideal place to find pirates, it's like their playground! The bar was a place for laughs and jokes, it's also a good place to kickback and relax. Ginichi's train of thought was soon interrupted by an odd looking man. He seemed to be playing with a few children, he seemed promising and it wouldn't hurt to ask right? The Chowdan gang, at this point, would really accept anyone willing to join. Walking out the alley ways, Ginichi approached the man. His glare focused on nothing but him.

"You seem to be a magician, correct? Any other occupations then preforming awful tricks? Cause I could use a hand or two in my gang and no, you don't get a choice. You're joining whether you like it or not. Any objections? I'd be more then happy to brawl it out."

What an odd way to meet someone. No introduction, no manners, he just came straight out and to the point. Ginichi got ready to draw his guns and engage on one-on-one cause the man seemed like he wasn't gonna accept rudeness.

Another reason on why he had chosen such a sudden action was to let his urge of battle roam free. An urge which he had kept inside him all these months and was slowly building up, day by day...

"Kids, step aside if you excuse me..." said the magician as soon as he listened to the words of the pirate and he grabbed one card from the deck. He pointed with it at the captain and with a smile on his face, he threw it with great force, making it past right next through the pirate's neck, before turning back like a boomerang from the other side, passing right next to the pirate's neck, this time from the other side. The card returned back at the magician and he would grab it with his right hand before opening the palm of his left hand and slightly scratching the palm, causing a minor bleed.

"I think your question has been answered regarding what I can do." spoke the magician. Then, he turned his eyes on the children. In an instant, his look would turn into a serious one, a quite serious indeed. He opened his mouth, speaking some words once more to the children. "If you are going to stay here, you are going to be traumatized for your entire life. I suggest you to leave, children. This is all you can do. After all, I don't want you in front of my way... You would be... Yes... You would be a burden, that's what you would be!" he explained and the children nodded before turning their backs and started running away, leaving from the area. Who was that guy, after all?!

As the cards whizzed past Ginichi's neck, his eyes widened slightly, such incredible force! It came flying back to it's owner who revealed the card could indeed cause damage. Gulping, Ginichi put on a smile, it had been a long time since he had been in a good one on one battle Drawing his pistols he noticed the people beginning to crowd around the two men.

"I see you've decided to battle. Heh, guess I have to drag you un-conscious body into the crew!" Ginichi yelled as he pointed the pistols at the man, his fingers dug into the trigger and suddenly a wave of bullets were shooting towards the man.

His pistols roared, he was gonna go all out from the start! The people around the two men went into a panic and soon ran into their homes... good... an open battlefield.

"As if. Idiot." commented the magician with a serious look on his face, as he grabbed a few cards from his deck of cards and with an angry expression on his face, he threw all the cards towards the direction that the bullets were coming from. The cards collided with the bullets and both projectiles fell on the ground. On the one hand, the bullets were cut in two while on the other hand the cards were pierced by the bullets, with holes around them. "Tricks like these won't work on a trickster!" spoke the magician afterwards and looked at his enemy with a serious look on his face. The magician was definitely strong!

(OOC: Lol, Im getting in quite a lot of posts today. It's a weekend so I have a lot of free time, I guess.)

Ginichi smirked. He had underestimated the man.. he seemed to be quite strong. A perfect addition to his gang! Checking his ammo, it seemed he had around 10 bullets left in each pistol. 20 bullets in total. Shooting 5 bullets at the man, he prepared his other gun for when the man drew a card, as soon as the man drew, he would fire at the man's card, hoping to pierce it.

He needed to finish this battle quickly or he would grab marine attention and he only wanted marine attention in the last stage of his plan.

"Not bad, Magician!"

"I am not getting hit by bullets, I thing it's pretty clear!" said the magician as he dropped some of the cards at the bullets once again, resulting in the same result as before. Then, he started walking towards Ginichi, a serious tone in his voice as he spoke. "Cards are mostly used by people in order to play... However, for magicians, they are different. Very, very different. A magician makes a living out of cards... And protects himself with them! My life is based on the tricks I perform and these tricks come to save my life. And as I happen to be an expert trickster, I am also an expert fighter." he explained before grabbing a card. He threw it at Ginichi, while smiling. "Returner Card!" he said, as he threw the card at the enemy, with great speed, in an attempt to slice the enemy with it!

The man had sliced and diced the bullets as if they were butter! Ginichi knew this man was not an average magician. Returning his pistols back into their spaces, he decided to switch fighting styles since using guns on him would waste the bullets however before he had time to change a card was dashed at him with intense speed. Quickly leaping out of the way, the card managed to slit some of his cheek. Wiping the blood away he was impressed.

"There are 52 cards in a deck, each card has a different suit, it's either diamonds, hearts, spades or clubs. If you keep chucking them without a strategy you're bound to run out..." he pointed out.

Now, it was time to test how the man would re-act to close combat, dashing towards the man. Ginichi got ready to dodge any cards which came his way, once close enough he would through a faint with his right fist and go with a hook to the man's face with his left.

If this strategy had failed, he would give up on violence and try another way.

(OOC: Don't worry. This thread does have a plot, the first few parts are just to let you get used to your character in combat.)

"What makes you think that a magician keeps only one deck of cards?" commented the magician, scratching his head by placing his hand right above his hat, making the gesture look awkward. "However, in order to please a b@st@rd like you, I will show you that I don't need to throw my cards in order to defeat you. Loser." he continued speaking and then he tossed eight cards on the air, just when the enemy dashed towards him. As the cards were falling, he moved his hands upwards, opening them widely, leaving a large gap between his fingers. The eight cards were placed at the gaps between his fingers, making the magician look as if claws were extending out of the gaps. "Card Knife - 8!" he named his technique, his face serious as always.

"Come on, failure!" he yelled at the enemy and he moved his body downwards, standing on his knees in order to dodge the fist and hook attack and he swung both hands in an attempt to cut down his enemy with his cards.

"Intresting!" Ginichi yelled as he observed the man's next move, jumping backwards in time to dodge the attack, the man had left himself open! Swinging his leg, aimed to slam it onto the man's stomach hoping to make him stumble backwards.

"C'mon, Join me!"

"OUCH!!!" the magician was struck by the pirate's kick and he was sent a few meters away, falling on the ground and rolling around for a while as he was screaming in pain. The first few seconds after he was hit, his stomach really ached. However, afterwards, the pain would stop and he would get up, looking at the pirate with an angry expression on his face. "F@ck you! I will join you!" he said, his face angry as he spoke. "And I won't join you because I want to... I will join you because of the trouble my pressence is going to bring you!" he explained while speaking, still angry. What did the magician mean?

"Hehe. Excellent." Ginichi mumbled to himself with a pleased smirk.

Now that he had finally gotten his first member, it was time to move out and get stage one of his plan rolling. He was going to go to the bar however he had a different place in mind.

"Now, We must get ourself in marine radar. Let them now that yours truly is alive and kicking.." he said to his newly acquired member.

He needed to do something bad... and what's badder then robbing a bank? (except killing of course.)

"First Order. Find a bank, report back to me once you've found one. I'll be right here, let's meet up again in 20 minutes or so."

And with that, Ginichi moved out. While walking off, he had remembered something.... the introduction.... damn. Where was his manners...? Oh wait, he never had some to begin with.

"Go forth, idiot!" whispered the magician with a smile on his face. Despite what his newly found captain ordered, he would not go and search for a bank to rob. Instead, he took a stroll, away from the spot he was before, ignoring the orders. After all the magician seemed to be a real hater and that was clearly seen in his actions and his behavior...

Ginichi walked on... you're probably wondering on why he decided to go, right? Well it's because he couldn't trust the magician. He had a pretty good feeling that the man was gonna ignore his orders in the first place. Looking around for a bank, it was a pretty short search for it was the most crowded area in the island! There was a big line and two guards stood beside the doors, their arms folded and their eyes peeled. Well, no one said this was gonna be easy. First off, the distraction. He needed something to get the guards moving. Hm... this would've been much easier if the Magician was around, they could've caused some kind of smoke screen or something. Suddenly an idea came into mind. Drawing one of his pistols, Ginichi fired a bullet into the air before dashing off. This caused a lot of shouts, people were panicking and the guards were trying their best to keep the people under control. Now, it was time to slip away while the area was flooded. Rushing over to the backdoors, the guards there were gone and were at the front trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

Ginichi was about to take a step in front of the door however noticed a camera, live and rolling. He would normally shoot it down however it would draw too much attention. Picking up a rock, he chucked it with all of his force, breaking the camera's lenses. Now the coast was clear. As he walked up to the door he had wondered on how he would get the magician back into his side... hm... eh, he'd decided to figure that out later.

Magician Sebastian

While the magician wandered off, a woman had caught sight of him. Behind here were two men, cloaked from head to toe.

"T-there he is! The person who started the fight!" she yelled out pointing at the magician.

The cloaked men stood in front of her, one of them put out his arm in front of her to keep her away and as a signal to run.

"No need to fear!" he yelled.

"The Zodiacs are here!" the other one yelled out.

After that awkward scene, the two ripped of their cloaks to reveal their very weird appearances. One of them had white curly hair and two horns poked out of them, his skin was tanned and he wore a white shirt with the word "Aries" written on it. He had a small white beard on his chin, black trousers with black boots. The other one had hair all around the sides of his head which looked like the mane of a male lion, his nose was painted black and his skin was tanned. He wore a black shirt with the word "Leo" written in white. He wore white trousers with white boots and lastly, his nails were quite long.

The two got in a really weird pose, Aries got down on his knees, his fingers behind his head, he curled both of them to make them look like horns... even though he had already had horns. Leo stood behind him, both his palms out in front of him.

"Justice will prevail!"

"Justice? Are you marines? Oh shit... What will I do now? Well, what can a man who has not a single beri of bounty on his head do against the marines? It really intrigues me... Oh, wait. The marines can't do anything to him as well. After all, he was defending himself, he didn't cause any fuss anywhere by himself... Go ask the children around. I brought joy to them. So what's the point in attacking a man who was in self-defence while the only worth thing he did to mention was to entertain a bunch of children who were scared by a pirate? If you can't give an answer and attack me, I'm pretty sure that the reason of my chase is political!!!" said the magician with a serious voice, while turning his back on the two weird people who looked a lot like creatures from a freak-show. As he left, he did not really worry that he would be attacked, as he had just explained to his enemies that they shouldn't attack him at all, being an innocent man. The magician really wanted to screw them, it seemed!

"False!" Leo yelled getting out of his weird pose.

"According to this women's testimony, you attacked a man first! Thus rendering you as the attacker and him as the defender!" Aries said as he pointed at the man and got back on his feet.

"Children have nothing to do with this and we have no time for your stupid lies so give up now or..."

"WE'LL BEAT YOU DOWN!"

Charging at the man who seemed to be walking away, Leo was the first to attack, springing off his feet he leaped towards the man's back and pushed his nails towards his back.

"Rule#1 Never show your back to the enemy!"

"What makes you think that this woman's report is not..." said the magician while turning his head, looking at the charging man. As he approached, he grabbed a deck of cards, prepared to attack in case anything bad happened. "FALSE!!!" he completed while using his cards to block the nail attacks of the lion-looking man, a serious expression on his face as he spoke. Then, he leaped back a few meters, staring at the two marines, before he would speak a few more words again. "What makes you think that she is right? Is she some kind of goddess to know everything? I doubt that, she doesn't look like one to me. In fact, both of you look worthless enough to be unable to do anything at all. Meh..." he said, before grabbing more cards on his hands, pointing at both of his enemies. "If you attack me, I've no other choice but to self-defend! Something you don't want..." he finished.

"Heheha...hahaha!" Aries laughed.

"The woman is not the only one who say you boy-u. A numerous amount of people were crowded here. The woman was the one to report it to us....oh and did you just want to challenge us... HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Aries began to roll on the floor laughing, slamming his palm onto the ground as he did so. Tears flooded his eyes.

"W-wait..heheh... Leo is known as the king of the jungle. His speed is greater then yours by a mile or more. You seriously think you can keep up with your stupid tricks?"

Leo smirked.

"Allow me to give you a taste."

Suddenly he leaped backwards and began to run around Sebastian, every single complete turn he made, he became faster and faster. Until finally he became like a blur.

"Yoooooou tttttthiiiiink yoooooou ccaaaaaaan hiiiiiit meeeee?" he yelled as he ran.

"Now finish it Leo! Give him the Neck Destroyer!"

"I am afraid that my tricks will be the ones to emerge victorious!" were the words of the magician who would grab his deck. Just like he did before when he faced the pirate, he placed eight cards between the gap of his fingers, making them look like claws. "Bring it on, kitty!" he said, prepared for the upcoming battle. The magician looked quite serious, indeed!

Ginichi Chowdan

Kicking down the door, he noticed the people's shocked expressions. Luckily the door wasn't broken so he closed it behind him. Next to the door there was a red button, the word "Lockdown" written on it.

Too easy.

Hitting the button, the whole back closed it's doors and covered it's windows, locking all the guards outside. The guards inside were outside checking out what had happened, they won't be very happy to see that they've been locked out. Drawing his pistols he pointed one at the crowd and one at the people behind the desk.

"You know the drill, all the money in a bag. No money, no life."

Sebastian the magician

"The neeeeeeck breaaaaaaker it is! Huahahahaaaa!"

Suddenly, Leo leaped out at Sebastian's neck, his nails out and his mouth wide open. His target, the magician's neck. However little did he know that this magician had a trick up his sleeve... now, who'll be faster? The lion or the magician?

"Ha!!!" yelled out the magician, as he moved his fist with the cards which he used like claws, blocking the incoming attack of the animalistic man who behaved much like a lion. Then, he leaped back, staring at the enemy with a serious look on his face. "Well, well, well... This is going to last a little bit, but not very long either!" he commented, making a judgement over the course of the battle that had just started. He proceeded to draw one of his cards and he threw it with great force to the enemy, great enough to cut down a limb, while saying "Returner Card!!!". What was the magician up to?

Leo was surprised to see that his attack was blocked by mere cards and a magician. Leaping backwards, he noticed a card being flung right at him, without enough time to move out of the way, he titled his head quickly and the card just passed his hair, cutting some of it as it whizzed by.

"YOU LITTLE. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO PERFECT THIS HARISTYLE!? YEARS!"

Leo let out a roar, well, he tried to roar before charging at the Magican was the same speed again, he brought back his nails and once close enough with swing them to the magician's gut hoping to injure him.

"I am the king of the jungle! Huahahah!"

"You are such a fool... I hate you." commented the magician, who looked at the charging enemy. With a grin on his face, he opened his hands widely, as if he was leaving himself open so that the lion-looking man would strike him. As the man approached, he started explaining. "The magic in Returner Card is not that it can chop you off... It's more that it's a boomerang like attack!" he explained as the card returned back from behind, ready to chop off the enemy's body parts in case it struck him. Would the magician's plan work or not?

"What!?" Leo's eyes widened as he heard the magician's words.

Looking back, the cards flew straight at him, without having any time to re-act, they cut straight through his body. Falling to the ground, Areis's eyes widened. Clenching his fists he looked over at the killer.

"You piece of sh!t! You've harmed enough innocent lives already! When will you stop!?"

Aries got ready to attack, pointing his horns at the top hatted individual. He charged with all his speed.

"Ooooooooooo! Get ready for deeeath!"

Ginichi

He watched as the people behind the counter un-loaded all their money. Perfect. Sitting on a chair, he relaxed. This was perfect, everything was going according to plan. Once the money was ready, he'll get up, kill the people and escape. Ah, sweet,sweet murder. However a person wearing a black clock stepped away from the crowd and approached Ginichi. As he walked, he ripped off his cloak. His left eye had a scar going in a vertical line. He wore a red mask, with only enough space for you to see his eyes, he wore a red shirt, with red trousers and red boots. Basically, he wore red. On his chest, there was a picture of a black scorpion. Around his waist, a black belt, with syringes attached. Drawing two syringes, he charged towards Ginichi.

"Oi,oi. What's this?" Getting up, he jumped to the side and dodged as the man pushed the needle. The man continued to chase, him. Ginichi would dodge, he would attack. This pattern got quicker and quicker, The man began to overpower him, he was too fast! Jumping to the side again, Ginichi shot 3 bullets at the person, the bullets charged towards him. He dodged them like nothing, who was this man!?

"Identify yourself!" Ginichi roared.

His speed got faster, he suddenly appeared a few inches away from Ginichi's face.

"Your death."