Shabaony Shuffling - Open to Aidoneus & myself

Shabaony Archipelago. The area located critically close to the links between the two halves of this world, was always active and filled with all sorts of individuals. Marines, pirates, bounty hunters, criminals, government officials, brokers, even Celestial Dragons, this place was the center-piece where they'd all pass from. It was natural that this place would constantly ignite some degree of strife and commotion, but rarely would things go out of hand. That was due to the fact that the Marine headquarters were literally a breath away. And not a lot of people would want to come face to face with an Admiral.

However, lately things have gotten way too chaotic around the world. With the advert of powerful pirates over the past few years, and the constant flow of newcomer ones, all very dangerous and potent, the world was unstable, and a spirit of suspicious and fear was spreading across the world. Thus, it was natural that things had gotten more lax into this part of the world, too, as the Marines had to focus a lot of their previously established control over that archipelago to other corners of the world, in a desperate, some could even go ahead and say, attempt to suppress this instability.

"Hey, who the hell do you think you are?!" A bald, drunkard man yells towards a tall male with gray hair that was sitting atop a very large, unconscious man, while drinking from some whiskey bottle. Behind the drunkard were several menacing-looking, but dirty and scrappy men, possibly pirates. "I warned you not to meddle with me, pirate." The grey-colored man calmly responds, glaring at the men, which was seemingly intense enough a glare to cause the bald man to step backwards, trip and fall on his posterior. Some minutes ago, this band of criminals, pirates, whatever they were, stopped the man, while he was strolling around, and demanded that he offers them anything of value he may have been carrying with him. "Go away now, I have no interest in you." he adds up, actually taking off a newspaper and beginning to read it.

Introduction Box:
Rear Admiral, Former CP9 Agent, Tamuri Todd, "Grey Eagle"
Seemingly off-duty.

Aidoneus, as he liked to be called, came to the beautiful, yet masking, islands of the shaboany archipelago to try to find entertainment. The celestial dragons had always had a nack for stirring up trouble with pirates, even with the marines so close. Vice Admiral Cortez strolled the sectors, until eventually he found himself bored. He found himself starting to find the younger, cuter women, that some would even think as nearly pedophilic, and lifting their skirts; he exploited his power and authority. He never went as far as to carry out the implications, but he continued until they would cry or collapse. He found it very amusing. Though he didn't behave like a vice-admiral, he never took things too far. He knew to respecthis position, respect the authority, massage the hand that feeds him rather than bite it. As a vice admiral, he already had a fault in that he refused to cease bounty hunting; why make it worse by acting like a pirate? He was a vice admiral, not a shichibukai.

Eventually, taking advantage of civilians began to bore him as well. He wanted something more interesting... More active. He could do whatever he wanted with civilians if he wanted too, even those things which did not interest him. But he wanted more than tyranical cruelty. He wanted brutality, chaos, desecration; the childred of war and battle. It had been very long since a good slaughter had been his hands. That's when he came across a drunk man and some pirates. He drew zaw, and snuck behind the pirates. He quickly and silently severed the man furthest back of his spinal column, then slumped his body in between nearby trash cans. He took his place, positioning himself similarly as to seem to be the same man at first glance. He wanted to watch without interruption, as the exchange unfolded.

"What is the problem, Balta?" A husky, deep voice is heard, and the drunkard immediately squeals in fear, as a man then appears from a nearby alley. "S-sir!" he gasps, while all the other pirates begin to move backwards, in fear as well. The newcomer appears to be a man in his thirties, he wears a trimmed jacket, black trousers and has a large pirate hat. "Haven't I told you that, if you fail to extract 10 million per day I will gut you? What do you do here, being all piss-drunk and cowering around? Oh, and who is that? Do you know of me? Of course you do."

Introduction Box:
Pirate Captain Gelos of the Gelos Pirates
Bounty: 76,000,000 Beli

As Todd completely watched him idly, without talking, the pirate seemed to assume that the man was scared to see him, too. "Well then, throw off all of your belongings, and be gone, I will be generous and let you walk away alive." Gelos says, with a smirk on his face. Moments pass, and nothing happens, before Todd returns to the newspaper. "Dressrosa, huh?" "Are you ignoring me?!"

Cortez watched closely, analyzing the man's actions. Primarily the "victim", but also Captain Gelos, whom he recognized from a bounty poster. 76 million bounty. A chump to be sure, but still a hefty sum. He decided he would turn Gelos in for the bounty when everything was over. He was tempted to just take action then, but he was too curious. Was the man he was antagonizing strong enough to handle Gelos, or was he another maggot like the majority of the insects called humans? Cortez didn't recognize the man. He didn't know what to expect. He assumed he was at least stronger than Gelos, but one could never be certain. He expected that he would find an opportune moment and strike before anything had resolved, but who knew.

At the same time, he wondered if there were any celestial dragons nearby, and if there are any more dangerous pirates. It would be well to note such annoyances.

"Hey, do you even listen to me? Are you maybe deaf? .. Are you ignoring me?! I am a well-known pirate, you clown!" Captain Gelos shouts at the male, while swinging around a huge, almost human-sized bottle filled with some liquid, probably alcoholic-related. Despite the man's best efforts, and the generally tense situation, Todd was literally behaving as if none of these men were even present, instead he continued to read, turn pages, it was like he was just having a calm, relaxing time of reading his newspaper.

"Uggghhh, you pissed me off, you shouldn't do that..." Gelos begins to hiss, his face becomes completely red. He swings the bottle once, before he spins and opens it, beginning to drink the insides. The other people seem really rattled. "Oh no, he got Gelos angry, he will use the "Drunken mode", run for your lives!!" Todd remains unfazed, still occupied with reading the news, while the pirate, astonishingly, drinks the entire material. He lets out a deep, prolonged burp, before he smashes the bottle on a nearby wall, holding the now dangerous sharps, aimed towards the marine. "Thou will pay for thour intholenthe!" Gelos then dashes forward, and attempts to maul Todd using the bottle. Tragedy was inevitable!

Todd, still without even looking at the man, simply swings his fist, while moving backwards a bit, just enough for the broken shards to pass in front of him, and delivers a punch on the man's sides, all the while still just reading the newspaper. "Gyaaah!!!" Gelos is blown away, and gets smashed onto a building, leaving a gaping hole, in exactly the shape of his body the moment he crashed, much to everyone's immense shock. "EEEH?!!" eyes popping out.

Todd now slowly glares towards the stunned crowd, which makes a run for it the moment they notice. "You are not part of this lot. What business do you have here?" He speaks to Cortez, apparently he noticed that this particular man wasn't related to these lowlifes.

"Who me? I am just a man looking for the bounty on Gelos here. Forgive me for not killing him outright, but you did not appear to need any help. You know this chump is worth 76 million right? I simply do not understand how weaklings like him tend to get such large bounties."

Cortez didn't feel like lying, so he told the truth without details. As always, he spoke flawlessly. He wanted to hide the details so he could have room for suspicion. Even though nothing about him could possibly appear deceitful in the slightest, and he could easily fit the part of a bounty hunter by physical appearance, experienced men learn not to trust vague answers. Having room for suspicion would allow cortez to manipulate the situation if need be, to gain trust or to make conflict.

Cortez looked the man directly in the eyes as he spoke. He was interested in this man before him. He wanted to manipulate him, to make him a source of entertainment. This man's demeanor was not of confidence, though he had every right to be in the circumstance. It was a demeanor of ferocity. This man was similar to cortez in that he was bloodthirsty. That much was certain. Similar as well, they both understood justice. That, or this man was a former government agent that happened to be very good at disguising his personality. He saw the latter as extremely unlikely. Cortez shifted his weight, revealing his zaw in its sheath. This seemingly normal act was cortez intentionally revealing that he was capable and ready to kill if he needed to. Cortez wanted to gauge the man's reaction to the gesture, though the man would likely not see it as a gesture so much as a revelation.

"Anything about the Wano country in there? I remember they were in the last edition over some massacre."

"I see. Feel free to collect his reward." Todd sharply responds to the man's explanation, almost before the man even finished talking. Clearly the male couldn't care less about something as unimportant as capturing a wanted man; at least, someone of that, clearly low, caliber. However, the man's eyes caught the movement of the individual, which lead to the revealing of his weapon, sheathed. Whoever this person was, he clearly had some good capabilities, Todd could tell that much.

Since the other male seemingly attempted to engage in small talk, he decided to at least bother to be responsive, albeit his eyes still remained to the articles he was reading about. "World's going crazy. The situation is under control, but the Marines seem to be lacking in response time and vigor." Emphasis was placed on the word "Marines", the kind of focus that implied contempt towards this military faction.

"It is true, most of the officers that are of substantial rank are incompetent, and all the lower ones are weak. Few still remain who are still competent enough to bring honor to the name; the rest only shame it, and make it an evil organization. The faction itself is fine, but the people who rule it are fools and criminals. Nowadays it seems like the people are on their own. This clouds justice and makes it hidden in the mist of politics, which slow down the system more than the corruption. Corrupt men can be bought, but politicians always argue. This is why I hunt the criminals in the areas I happen to be in. Serve justice one at a time, right? I wish I could say I could care less about the money, but I need to provide myself with food and transportation; what I can spare I like to use to help the victims and their families."

Cortez decided being verbose would favor him. Noticing the discontent of the man before him who seemed to have a sense of justice, he discerned he could now manipulate him into trusting him. Cortez did reveal a little; he had pegged the problem right on the head, more so than able by some mere bounty hunter. Though this made a connection in the conversation, it also meant he must have ways of obtaining information. This was also intentional. The lies flowed like water. He could care less. He hunted because he wanted to hunt, and he used the money to indulge himself. He did have a large enough collection of money to pay the victims of his own actions, and even those who he gave to on a whim. He did not go out of his way to be poor and to be charitable. He just wanted to appear that way. More vague truths, tying into plausible lies; a perfect net to deceive. As a way to balance the lies, he decided to tell a full truth at last.

"But enough of my ranting. What do you think should be done? I'm interested in what you might think."

"You seem to be quite talkative." Todd's tone and voice once again coming as if he was cutting the other man's sentences, despite not literally doing so. While speaking this last line, the male also got off the body he was using as a seat, and begins to walk away. Quite short on manners, that was for certain. However, as sharp, straight to the point and direct as he may be as a person, and as much as he was generally uninterested into small talk, or any form of conversation, for that matter, the man halts, and then lightly tilts his head towards Cortez.

"Anubis .. Dark Knight, Maxulus, Rodo .. it is due to scum like these that we overflow with weak, crippled by fear marines, and at the same time, mad, ready to go all out, youngsters that believe they can be like them. It is because of people like them, and faulty systems like that of the Shichibukai, that the world only becomes more of an endless scrap fest. What should be done is- the abolition of the Shichibukai system, and the extermination of the ones that inspire those naive fools." he mutters, strictness and tension that would probably cause an average person to back away from that intense, heavy pressure.

(OOC: Sorry for the wait, been busy.)

Cortez laughs boisterously. This man had so many similar views to himself... At least in a sense. Cortez wasn't a just man, but he always believed if justice was to be pursued it must be true justice without bias and chaos. Which would require the execution of corrupt officials, the shichibukai, tolatarians, and the great pirates.

"They must all die, yes. Fools flock to inspiration. For as many dreams as we crush, that many are made anew. If only those of us who are strong could defeat them ourselves. Sadly such things require unity."

Cortez grabbed the corpse and dragged it to the station next door. He dropped the body and returned to the man's side, easily catching up to him.

"Perhaps we should start by hunting the vulgar ones here?"

"Hm?" While Cortez was gone, with the body of the pirate Todd himself had dispatched a while ago, the sharp, loner marine had already begun to walk away, even going as far as reaching a new district, yet that person somehow managed to locate and catch up to him again. "I'd take more than that. We lack a leader to orchestrate and line up the required forces, and dismiss the worthless ones within the Marines." Todd turns towards the man, and smiles at him. It wasn't the kind type of smile, not at all; it was a very rugged, harsh and vicious-looking smile. Nonetheless, it was a smile, so presumably he was not bothered by Cortez; or he found him interesting enough not to walk away from or even attempt to dispatch. "You seem to be the type of person that has some knowledge over the things I spoke of. Who exactly are you?"

Cortez was amused by this man. He was very sharp and could see many things. Cortez decided to be honest again, as a test of his knowledge. The good doctor was known in the underworld as Diablo in the underworld. He is known for interrogation of criminals, surgical removal of concealed goods, massacres of groups who broke contracts, and so forth. He is infamous as a powerful anti-hero; he doesn't kill any but the corrupt, but many consider him to be corrupt himself, due to his brutal methods. It is a little known fact in the underworld that Diable is a vice admiral. Many know he is of high rank, but few know his true identity. Only the government affiliates of the highest calipur, such as CP-9, CP-0, and a handful of infiltration officers know of his true identity. If the man recognized his name, it would reveal a lot about him.

"I am Dr. Diablo Cortez."

"Dr. Diablo Cortez, huh?" Todd repeats the name the man revealed to him, but it was declared in such a way that it wasn't entirely clear if he actually knew of this name from before, if he was affiliated in any way with individuals that were connected to him, or if he never even heard of that name before. Maybe, he intentionally pronounced it in such a way to leave Cortez to wonder of whether the man was knowledgeable of his existence and actions.

Now turning completely towards him, the male lightly extents his right arm, as if he was displaying himself. "I am Tamuri Todd, fellow Diablo, and I will be the man to inherit the status mentioned earlier, to bring justice the way I view it ..!" he says, a dangerous smile, but a smile at least, emerging on the man's lips.

Cortez noticed that the man recognized the name on some level. It was too hard to tell if the man knew anything, but his response would make no sense if it wasn't recognized on some level. Cortez determined he must be an underworld or world government affiliate after all.

"Inherent my title? No, let's not be hasty. I don't believe you're quite ready for that. You have a lot of potential, however, while I have very little left. Perhaps one day, if you survive your endeavors, your potential shall exceed me entirely and you shall become Diablo."

Cortez eyed the allies they were passing. There seemed to be a lot of pirates in the area. Perhaps their stroll took them into one of the lawless sectors. If so, he would be able to find some non-tourist commercial goods. It is always good to stock up. And the trip might lead to the deaths of several vagabonds.

"Mufufu .. you are truly an odd type. Interesting, tho." The male says, letting out a short, rather unnerving chuckle, before he suddenly disappears, something that was both random, unexpected and surprising. It was not that he literally vanished, of course. Rather, that was the use of Soru. It was odd, however, after that dialogue, it must have been bizarre that he'd attempt to leave Cortez away from him just like that. Maybe he just wanted to see if the male could actually catch up again.

Cortex was in no hurry, so he decided to use the nice approach. He analyzed the actions of the man and predicted the point he would stop, during the 12 seconds he though about this, he ran at his 1/10 soru speed, steaking supplies, heading in the general direction. Tracking the soru user. He used these to assist in his endeavor. Then he used kin soru to accelerate to soru speed, weaving in and out of short cuts without pivoting his foot. Once he arrived at his destination, he would continue to run perpindicular to his path to ensure the crossing of paths; he would use his camouflage jewerly and the shadows of the trees to blend in with the surroundings at a moderate distance.

"What took you so long, boy?"
"Don't begin with the nagging already, old man."

At some point, located at this place's average port, Todd was carrying up some cargo atop a ship, while another male, this one clearly a marine, was apparently bothering him. The male must have been at least 50 years old, and had a broad, strong-looking figure, and a prominent chin, which was however overshadowed by a more prominent pair of grey hair that were shaping horn-like shapes.

"We need to be going soon again, there's still a lot of training left for us to undertake before I can claim that you are ready."
"Just shut your trap. This is merely because I wish to always improve; there's no "you need to get stronger" situation or an issue, here."

The male seemingly was more casual with that marine, and he clearly was also getting quite agitated by the old man's mentor-ship-like attempts and acts.

"You do need to get stronger. That is, if you want to get away from me that easily."

Cortez came out of the shadows, confident as always, relaxed and dignified. He was starting to reveal more the marine in him. It would be apparant to anyone who was a marine or worked with marines a lot that he must have some affiliation with a military of some kind. Only military men could walk into a dangerous situation with many unknown variable with squared shoulders, fear left in the last battle, melted from the stature of them.

"Now what made you think you could escape the Devil?"

He asked this question as a way to prompt todd for information yes, but it was also an indicator to the marine who he was. The way the man condescended the soru user, Dr. Aidoneus assumed he was either an ex marine of high rank, or a high-ranking officer he had just yet to meet. If so, the man would definitely recognize the code name, given the appearance and his skill.

"Oh, you managed to follow me. Not too shabby." Todd responds, seemingly brushing off the taunting comment regarding his, seemingly, need for further growth in order to become stronger. His tone seemed quite a lot less intriguing than when they first conversed earlier on, too, an indication that the male had either lost interest in him -quite a rude act, indeed-, or he was occupied with other things for now.

"Oh, and who is that? A friend of Todd? Or ... hmmm ..." The other marine casually begins to speak to Cortez, while maintaining a more relaxed and interested demeanor than his colleague. His eyes, locking to Cortez, were giving the impression that the marine had a general idea as to who the newcomer was. Or maybe his style was one that gives mixed signals to the ones around him; who knew?

"Say, if you are a friend of Todd, why not come and train with us? Our destination is a place that causes even the strongest of men require further evolution just to survive. Even someone as strong as you, may have some trouble there." he adds, with an eerie, unnerving, yet oddly joyful, at least at his part, smirk, and even a somewhat singing tone.

"What a pain." Todd monologues in almost complete apathy, almost, since a small trace of irritation would be obvious to the observant ones.

"I am well aware that there are environments which surpass my capabilities and make me as a babe on this island. I have been in many of them, but I have always found the brink of death enjoyable. I think I will take you up on your offer. However, I wouldn't go quite as far as to say I am a friend yet. I still know little, as do you two as far as I can tell. With that in mind, I would say this is more of a social mechanism we are using to gauge each other and our skills."

Cortez only spoke so much because he wanted them to know his thoughts; a small glimpse into the genius that is his mind. He stepped forward, almost like a march, towards the marine; hands behind his back, head held high, and blade visible, he had taken an obvious marine posture. Between this and the analysis, it would be obvious he was an officer at the least. He wanted to protray this as adequately as possible, trying to create a reciprocal to find information.

"You appear to be quite interesting. A tad bizarre and way too formal for my tastes, however, so might wanna loosen up a bit if you are to join our companion; let's keep it casual, sir." The old marine addresses to Cortez, while letting out a carefree and intense chuckle. His relaxed expression remains through-out several seconds of laughing at myself; talking about bizarre a person in himself, huh? Right after this demonstration however, he lets out a long sigh, before his tone changes to a rather lazy, bothered one.

"But, here's a catch. See, there's some things I've eavesdropped on a certain alley a few hours later, that may raise some concerts about the safety of the people on this island system. They may be a bit too troublesome for me alone, so how about we tag along to decipher what the issue may actually be? How's that?"

"So, your eyes got the attention of sinister acts and yet you was more concerned about doing your shopping, first?" Todd responds with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, before he turns his back to the two men. "I'll go figure it out myself." having said that, the male disappears in an instant. "My my, what an energetic one; he didn't even stayed to hear what I got!" The other man adds, then chuckles again.

Cortez watched as the man ran off. Hasty. Cortez had seen many hasty men meet their ends from that small shuffle too soon. Cortez sat on a nearby crate and drank a swig strong whiskey. He tossed the cantine to the old man.

"So what information do you have which I can use? Or would your rather share war stories?"

Cortez was not so hasty. He would listen to the elder, who likely knew moee than he let on. There was some empathy between them, so he decided to "loosen" a bit. Alcohol, war stories, all banter to make the man feel like cortez was becoming comfortable with him. Which may be true, but cortez had no reason to believe so.

"Ah, well, he will probably handle it all by himself whether I share the information gathered or not; heck, he'll surely find them without being given coordinates to begin with. It is actually good that he left, because there's something I'd like to tell you .. Vice Admiral." The elder calmly tells to the man; apparently, he knew more than he seemed to do. "Am really glad to have stumbled upon you, of all people." he adds, and slowly reaches for his hip. A sight than he was about to pull a gun?

As it turns out, it was a bottle of whiskey. "But first things first, let's share a war story or two, and enjoy this fine specimen, what do you say?"

"Bouncing my idea back at me like it's your own? That implies that you believed my disposition would change by mentioning your knowledge of me. If I was on any real mission, it probably would. But honestly I'm just bored. A war story or two seems good to me."

He drank some of the whiskey. Something about the slight burn of strong whiskey made Cortez love the drink. For some reason, it took a lot of alcohol to get him drunk, even when he hadn't developed a tolerance; given that, he drank for the feeling down his throat rather than the feeling through the blood.

"You ever heard of a man named Ragger D Sectin? He was one of the possible shichibukai replacements we were looking for 3 years ago. An up and coming pirate who had no desire to directly affect government or people's lives in any way; he was only about women, liquor, and money. And being drunk made him a laugh. Those techniques of his surprised most people from their unpredictability, and he was smart enough to not waste an open blind spot. He killed most people by imploding major organs. When I was sent out to go offer him the position he said 'I don't give two shits about you government types, and I don't want your damned title. Now get out before things get nasty.' Honestly, they probably should have sent someone other than me to do the job. As you know, I take my pleasure in torturing and killing such scum. Rather than barter him into a deal, I decided it would be better to show him what it means to disrespect the government. I admit I got a little carried away. He thought he could burst my organs, but my skin was too tough for him. I ended up shredding him into a cripple. His crew took great offense, and can you believe they somehow managed to redesign a marineford battleship into a pirate ship? They started fire cannons and flamethrowers. I was easily able to prevent the deaths of the residents, and I quickly destroyed their guns. In that time, they had surrounded me and they were holding a bunch of women and kids hostage. I told them that wouldn't work on me, that justice demanded that I take their lives or capture them far more than protecting a small number of innocents. Even admirals without my personal disposition have understood the job's necessary justice without mercy. That's what we are here for. Of course the slaughtered the kids. But the distraction they created gave me time to disappear. They thought I turned tail and ran, the fools. They began to rape and pilage everything and in their joy, the forgot about the danger. I hadn't come alone. I summoned my platoon and they fired 18000 rounds into the crowd of pirates. Sadly a few of the women got hurt, but they were still very grateful. Most fun I've had in years. Of course I could have just killed them all, but sometimes its more fun to sit back and watch as your victims suffer and die before your feet."

"Hmmmm, oh yes, that rings a bell. Was off duty for 4 years already when news about that spread among employees and former higher ranks like myself. I think the news reached me about 5 days after the incident took place. Now, you must keep in mind that I am not pleased with the sense; but rather, term, of absolute justice. But if there's one thing that is unforgivable, that is to deny and ridicule the foundations of our world, the World Government, that is. Those that do, they must be eliminated, regardless the cost. It isn't about the men that hold the ranks, tho. But the essence! Heck, these old geezers can just suck a lemon!" the old man responds to Cortez, before taking his turn to drink a generous gulp off the bottle.

The two men then proceed to talk for what had to be over an hour, one adventure talk after the other. They both had a lot to talk about, but there was a distinct difference into each other's stories. While Cortez talked more about situations often befitting a carnage, the old man's stories had a more humane feel. So how was it that he believed Cortez was the right man for, whatever this thing he talked about earlier, this "situation".

"And long story short, those idiots at the Headquarters forcefully upgraded my rank. But since I got word from those five old men, decided to respect their call, after all, these 5 know better." He seemed to have finished yet another story. The bottles -yes, more than one-, were now empty. Wiping his mouth, his cape moved just enough for Cortez to be able to see that the man was missing an arm. "Oh, that? A souvenir from Black Knight. The scientists working for us proposed a prosthetic one, which seemed cool, but that would interfere and work poorly with my ability, you see."