Calm Belt (traveling from east to west blue): The Garden of Eden

Darkness enveloped the sky quickly, leaving sunset without so much as the hint of twilight or dusk. Strange, the calm belt. The weather was simply bizarre, this close to the grand line, thought the marines as they traversed the open ocean. Upon a Vessel, the S.S. Fenrir, Captain Argis was sailing this treacherous land filled with sea kings and bizarre, limited currents and sailing opportunities. With him, he had two new transfers from the East Blue, some special rookies who had somehow managed to get an early promotion, and both had very rare devil fruits with a lot of potential. The report he had received a fortnight ago on the day of his departure, describing the two men he had just been ordered to make accommodations for by the commodore before the journey to the West Blue.


After a fortnight of travel with Captain Argis, 1st Lieutenant Gawain, 2nd Lieutenant Lancelot, and the rest of the crew, Pyro had grown weary. Under the sanguine sky, spreading sporadically as if the sky itself was alive despite its impossible vastness, Pyro had just one a handful of pearls from Lancelot and Gawain in a game of poker. All the shrimps who manned the ship folded before they had the first shown card. No one could match Gawain and Lancelot's bets, save Derge and Pyro; Pyro seemed more pleased gambling it up than Derge had. Holding up the pearls in the bright moonlight, he felt the floor rush beneath him. Derge was down deck, asleep. Argis shouted orders, as people panically burst into action fearing for the vessel's capsizing.


Pyro gave a pleasant saunter; unskilled in such matters, he was useless in this crisis. But he could survive, so why did it matter? He knew Derge could handle himself and escape on his own, so they could fly if they had too. Suddenly the ship lurched again. Pyro realized they were flying; or so he thought, as he noticed the ruptured deck and corpses as they spun through the air. The shipped had been bitten, and then thrashed into the air by the largest sea king he had ever seen. Suddenly dark spots appeared all around the ship and the ship burst apart, almost as if an explosion hit; something had drawn a lightning bolt onto the ship, revealing the hundreds of sea kings that had just missed their dinner by seconds.


Suddenly everything was bright. He woke up, and he realized he was on a rough surface. He was bleeding all over from the jagged earth, which he recognized not to be earth at all, but coral. Extremely hard, hot, and razor coral, glistening as if petrified by ice in the beautiful tropic sunlight, even at just the break of dawn. But how had he arrived? He noticed small pieces of his ship, obviously destroyed by electricity, but also eroded by coral and water. He realized he fell into the sea and miraculously arrived on dry corals... That were growing. He realized he hadn't fell into the water long before he had been dragged by the current directly into coral beneath the sea, which had somehow grown meters in size since then.


He stood, seeing no one near, but noticing the shore and the clear sea beneath his feet, visible through pools of refracted light in the coral. He realized sea kings, and pools of water were everywhere. He soared majestically away as a phoenix, heading in the path of the larger corals with constructs and actual ground he could stand on without pain. Despite his injuries, he took no real damage. All of the wounds had somehow closed themselves rapidly, even though they were inflicted before his transformation. Pyro had no idea why, but decided not to question anything out here, in a sailor's hell.


When he arrived, he saw a large pool refracting the image of the entire city, showing the complex septuple helix structure, intertwined into a deca-headed ouroboros pattern, branching off into a mountainous jungle of coral buildings destructing and constructing the earth around him, particularly around the bright red areas. Suddenly he realized there were glowing red pools of water everywhere in the area of the complex city structure. Looking into a few pools, he seen immediately they were all super volcanoes, imbedded on the ocean floor, informing him the island coral passages lead even into the volcanoes. Suddenly, a purple fish the size of a humpback whale leaped out of a pool of water, barely missing Pyro and scraping a nearby tree, which almost instantly turned into swamp and ooze, decays from excessively potent venom. The fish flopped into a pool and suddenly 30 of them were attacking and he barely had the time to fly away. Then in the next moment, sea king burst through the corals. The fish all scratched and bit the sea king, but the wounds were small and quickly sealed, just like Pyro's wounds had been. Then, the fish were all suddenly scooped and slammed into a tower of coral by the tantalic whiskers of the giant beast, splitting the tower in eight perfect pieces, and then whipped them all into his mouth, descending just as suddenly to the giant watery pit now beneath Pyro. He flew up, into the next city layer, to find not normal citizens, but sickly lepers... With gray skin, red eyes, balding, and rotting... Suddenly Pyro realized they were zombies in human clothes, falling apart and wandering aimlessly. Just what had he chanced himself into!?


ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS:


+5HP to all healing effects
+10% Endurance
+5% Perception
+15 Damage from collisions
-5% Speed


4/15
120/120HP

As the demon slumbered in his den a massive collision caused him to be thrown against the opposing wall with a great amount of force. The marine's high endurance for his relative level allowed him to get up when many others wouldn't have; and quickly at that. A crimson liquid began to form around the man as he stood at the ready awaiting the ship to be rammed once again. He assumed they were under attack by another ship, most likely a powerful pirate group. Who else would dare attack a marine battleship? His confidence in his assumption faded instantly as a massive set of teeth shattered the walls of the ship, consuming a large area; including the part he was in.

A hardened dome of the red liquid allowed Derge to come out of the ordeal relatively unharmed. The dome protected its master from the wooden debris from the ship, however a portion of it had been shaved off by the monster's massive teeth. The hardened blood, nearly a strong as iron was no match for the sharp fury of the seaking that had just swallowed Derge and a large part of the ship whole. Derge could feel the pressure rise as the beast began to dive down, taking on large amounts of water as it did. He knew he had to act fast; otherwise he'd soon be nothing more than a bubbling pile of fish dung on the ocean floor.

"AAAHHHHGHGH!" screamed Derge as he bent his knees and back as if he was suffering from some painful injury. Veins began popping out and his skin and eyes received a red tint from the irritation as a crimson steam began to roll out of his pores and orifices, forming a small cloud over his head. More steam began to pour out of the man's body until a small explosion of the hot crimson vapor seemed to settle down the reaction. His eyes were completely bloodshot, looking as if he had burst a blood vessel; all the while his veins were puffed out as if he had been doping. "Gear of Wrath" Derge stood straight as he levitated to avoid the rising water levels as the monster fish descended further. "Blood Tsunami" A purely steam version of the massive tidal wave like attack poured into every nook and cranny of the seaking, almost instantly stopping it's decent. The steam instantly rose to the top portion of the seaking slowly pushing it upwards, while the cool nighttime ocean water pushed down.

Derge paused a moment as he collected himself, the pressure inside the seaking was more than most human beings could withstand. Even with Derge's endurance he was at the brink of blacking out. He wasn't foolish enough to believe he could withstand another push, however it was push or a certain and unpleasant death. "BLOOD TSUNAMI!" Derge roared as he released another wave of pure hot blood vapor inside the seaking. As Derge's vision cut out, his gear was released allowing his blood to condense once more. Blood wrapped around Derge creating an air tight circular barrier that hardened just as he lost consciousness.

The small seaking floated towards the surface of the ocean before popping like an overfilled balloon. Derge and what was left of the sphere of blood were rocketed towards the island by the explosion of vapor. The sphere took the brunt of the damage, protecting its master from about half of the damage he would have taken otherwise. As Derge careened into solid ground, the rest of the protective barrier shattered into pieces upon impact. A few small craters were left in the ground from where Derge and the sphere had skipped until his unconscious body came to rest, slowly skidding to a halt.

Fortunately fate had decided to launch Derge towards the only island even remotely close to the location his ship had been attacked at. Unfortunately it seemed fate also had a twisted sense of humor. While the explosion sent Derge to the only chunk of rock nearby, it also caused a great ruckus which in turn alerted the strange residents of the island to the current location of the currently unconscious and somewhat defenseless Derge. Was it simply Derge’s fate to be the unluckiest, luckiest man in the world; or perhaps the luckiest, unlucky man in the world?

4/15

85/120HP

The ground rumbled beneath Pyro's feet. Suddenly, at a tower on the other edge of the island, there was a crash. Using the crystals, pyro looked closer to discover Derge had in fact survived, Pyro knew he would. But then he saw something strange. A few of the zombies were going towards him. They were moving faster than the others, but were still slow (10% jogging speed)... Their skin tones were also darker...

Suddenly his thoughts were broken as suddenly he heard a growl. A zombie had grabbed him as he turned and bit him on the clavicle. Pyro quickly kicked him away, but the wound stung greatly. Pyro recognized the feeling as poison, but he hadn't felt poison since he had eaten his devil fruit. It had to be some sort of illness or venom that bypassed normal poison resistance. His wound sealed within seconds, which was also not normal. He didn't normally regenerate so quickly.

He quickly returned to his phoenix form and soared towards Derge. Just as he landed at the ruins of the collapsed tower he saw the zombies grow near and remove a chunk of his flesh from his leg through a bite. Before the zombie could. Begin to claw and tear Derge apart, Pyro lifted derge in his talons and flew towards the nearest Tower. Pyro recognized that there was a tower for every direction measuring in sixteenths. The tower Derge assumedly destroyed must have been the West South West tower, as they flew rightward away from the rising sun. He crashed into what appeared to be a dining area. The tower had been armed towards the bottom, but its walls and doors appeared damaged. The upper levels looks brand new. Pyro thought about it. Maybe someone else was in the building? Maybe they fought of the zombies. But there were no corpses: only crystal spikes and diamond dust.

starving zombies:

Crystal Fever: No effect this turn

5/15
120/120

Complete darkness shifted into red as pain shot up Derge's leg rousing him from complete unconsciousness.  It wasn't enough to actually wake him however as he started dreaming of a dog that used to roam his old village.  He could see it coming nearer, and it looked strange.  Its fur was standing on edge, but Derge didn't really understand what that meant as such a small child.  All he wanted to do was be friends with it.  He moved closer to the dog even as it growled and bared its teeth.  All of the sudden it bit Derge in the leg and he just stood there for like seemed forever.  Derge watched as the blood poured from his leg, and then with a look of terror on his face Derge watched as the blood engulfed the dog; killing it.  

Jolted awake, Derge's vision was far to blurry to see what was happening.  However Derge could still feel, he felt the pain and the weightless sensation and the tightness that came from being gripped by Pyro's talons.  He was aware that he had been injured and that Pyro was carrying him off somewhere.  In the presence of Pyro he seen little reason to react until they landed.  Soon after they crashed through a window of some sort of human settlement.  They were in some kind of upper-class dining hall.  It wasn't quite noble class more like a wannabe noble or upper middle class acting like nobles.  Derge had seen it before, it was likely a lower tier marine officer that owned the place.  As soon as they got a little extra beli they'd go out and buy shit they didn't need and honestly couldn't afford.  That wasn't really Derge's problem though, he simply found it amusing.  

Standing up, Derge looked over his body noticing the open wound on his leg.  Looking over to Pyro it seemed that he had something similar on his collarbone.  The wounds almost looked like bites.  What the hell could have bitten them, Derge began to wonder before he noticed.  He could feel something in his blood, spreading; no, rather it was spreading throughout his body.  Derge might be able to flush some of it out of his bloodstream, but it was so far gone that he had little faith he could get it out of even his blood.  He wasn't even sure if it was harmful yet.  If he had better control over his fruit, he might be able to drive it out by going intangible but he was far from that level.

"So what's going on, and what's with this crap in my blood?" Derge asked looking at Pyro.  

Walking down Derge held his hand against the bite and began to peer into his fellow marine's blood stream.  He was infected with the same type of foreign body.  It had spread through his entire body just like it had with Derge.  Whatever this stuff was it had bypassed both of their fruits.  To Derge's knowledge their fruits were the best healing types he had ever seen or heard of which made it all the more strange.  

"You have it in your blood too.  It's in every nook and crevice of our bodies, and out fruits seem to be of little help." he said removing his hand.  

Derge began hardening his blood around any open wound to keep it from leaking out unintentionally. It was like he was bandaging himself with his own blood. The combination of being a medic and having the blood fruit really let the user tend to wounds without actually physically doing anything. Luck him.


5/15

95/120HP

Pyro was surprised with the room he landed in. Pyro was tired. He hadn't eaten in days. He, Derge, and the crew were on their way to an island. Captain Argis refused to tell anyone anything about the island. He said it would be a crime to describe it knowing what it really looked like. Perhaps this was the fabled island; Argis had implied it to be a paradise rather than apocalypse. Something must have happened recently. But pyro was just making some guesswork. There was nothing to confirm his suspicions, sadly. Right as his pleasureless reverie came to a close, Derge had risen at last.

'So what's going on, and what's with this crap in my blood?' Derge had asked. Pyro had no idea where to start. Collecting his thoughts, he was surprised to find Derge touching his wound, where his bite had almost entirely healed. 'You have it in your blood too. It's in every nook and crevice of our bodies, and out fruits seem to be of little help.' Pyro thought about it: what could be in their blood? Well, he seemed to be healing faster than normal and he felt... Different since landing on the island.

"I suppose its either whatever is causing me to heal faster than normal. It couldn't have been from the bite could it?"

He looked out the broken window again, which was also crystal but did not hurt him to break it somehow. He felt uneasy about the state of the building.

"Derge, why do you think this room seems perfectly normal? Or at least as normal as it gets on this island, apparently. The lower levels seem to be barricaded, and it looks like marines where helping however did it. A lot of the traps and mounts are one's we've learned during training. And there are a lot of signs of a battle other than that, including the broken walls. But there aren't any corpses, living or dead. Just an excess of the weird dust that is on everything..."

Pyro broke off as he heard something fall in a different room. It was inconspicuous, and didn't seem oarticularly man made but it seemed to fit his suspicion that they weren't alone. But he didn't know what to do, or even what to think.

"It's just so strange... I don't know why, but for some reason I keep thinking we're not alone. Something about what's around us... It just doesn't add up. God damn it I'M STARVING!!!"

Pyro fell backwards, slamming against the floor from gravity. He was angry, confused, paniced, and hungry. But somehow he was supposed to figure out what to do. Marine training, nor any battle he had been in could have prepared him for this kind of purgatory. But at least there weren't any zombies yet.


6/15
120/120

"Healing?  Well now that you mention it, I feel a bit strange too.  Stronger perhaps?  Besides the healing, I seemed to have recovered the endurance I lost from using my gear." Derge said trying to explain.  Despite his rejuvenated state, Derge was a bit weary of any possible side effects the foreign objects could have later on.  Then again, they had clearly been infected for sometime and no adverse side effects had shown. All the while, Derge kept attending to his unhealed wounds. Most of the outer damage had healed, it was mostly some bruised muscles.

Looking around the room and listening to what Pyro had to say, Derge was a bit confused.  "This place?  It looks perfectly normal.  Why would the lower levels be barricaded?  Derge questioned.  He looked at the wound on his leg that had pretty much closed already before looking to Pyro with a look of concern.  "You never did mention what bit us.  Is whatever it is, outside?  Is it really so bad that they had to fortify a tower like this?" he asked questioning his partner.

He continued to watch Pyro, his partner seemed to be acting a bit strange.  The bird man wasn't usually this whiny or paranoid.  It seemed to be beyond normal suspicion.  Pyro never seemed to be that careful of a person, Derge had seem him go in and tank attacks many times before without batting an eye.  However all of the sudden the sound of something falling makes him so squeamish, it was just weird.  Shrugging off the strange behavior Derge continued to look around the hall.  "I'll check for any enemies, and then we can go looking around." he said.

"Mists of Hell"

Derge spoke and all of the sudden a stream of blood, in mist form began to pour from his mouth.  Soon every pore in his body began producing the fine red fog causing it to slowly spread further and further.  Pyro would have been able to see a red tint as Derge was executing the technique, but almost instantly it would have disappeared once he was actually in it.  It wasn't long before the blood mist had spread in fifty meters in every direction from Derge.  The irry mist was hanging in the air as Derge closed his eyes to concentrate.  Feeling everything within the range of the mist, he was trying to find anything that could be of use or any possible dangers.  Derge's opened his eyes with surprise and looked around the room.  

"Whatever is infecting our bodies wasn't transmitted from any bite." Derge started to say, but paused.  "It might have been transmitted from the bite too but it wouldn't have mattered.  Likely as soon as we got to the island we were infected by it.  It's airborne." he said with a mild distaste.

6/15

95/120HP

Pyro glanced at Derge. Fear was obviously in Pyro's eyes, and wonder in Derge's. Pyro lifted himself into a sitting position and leaned against a corner with one knee up. Before he could respond to Derge's question, he was checking for enemies. Pyro watched his much calmer partner. He sighed and pinched the crease on his forehead.

"Fucking zombies man. But they aren't undead. It looks more like their somehow dead and alive at the same time, without having to die first. I didn't even try my holy fire. It wouldn't have worked, seeing as how they were fully alive. They are slow, but they are extremely strong. The one that bit me grabbed me when he bit me. If he hadn't let go when he bit me, we'd both be dead. It felt like he was about to break me. He could have ripped steel to kill me if he wanted. I assume they broke down the crystal walls on the lower levels. FUCK! How the hell are we supposed to survive an island of monsters that can rip us apart!? It isn't like we can wait them out; we have no food..."

Pyro began to mutter to himself, wallowing in despair. He knew he couldn't fight those creatures alone. He could barely escape the ones that were going after Derge, and how he escaped from the one that grabbed him was a miracle in his eyes. Suddenly it occured to him. What if there is food in the building. Maybe he could think if he was fed.

"Do you think there is a pantry nearby?"

Pyro realized he hadn't been paying any attention to his partner and cut him off mid sentence. Pyro gave as coose to an apologetic gesture as he could, but it looked more like a startled grimace. He figured Derge would understand, but still. This was not what Pyro wanted right then.

7/15
120/120

Derge raised an eyebrow and looked at Pyro almost as if he was crazy.  "Zombies?" Derge questioned.  He could hardly believe that Pyro had just said that, little lone that there were actually zombies out there.  "Okay lets say there are zombies out there, and they are as strong as you say they are." he said with a bit of suspicion in his voice.  "There aren't any corpses yet there is an island full of indestructible living zombies.  What turned them, assuming they were once humans like the zombies of the story b...." Derge said before he was cut off.  

Pyro was in full fear mode at this point causing Derge to wonder if the paranoia was something more than just being trapped on the island.  "Like you said, they're slow as fuck.  Not to mention they sound like they don't have full use of their higher brain functions.  With our superior speed and intelligence it should be easy enough to escape if we really needed to.  If worst comes to worst you can fly away and I can use my tsunami to wash them away.  So calm the hell down." Derge said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.  

Derge stared at Pyro for a bit trying to remember where he left off.  "As I was saying.  There are no corpses, just zombies.  Ah fuck I can't remember what I was going for but the fact of the matter is we need to figure out..." he got out before he was cut off once again.  

"Food?" the marine questioned.  "I suppose if we don't replenish ourselves we'll slow down eventually.  However with our fruits it won't be necessary for at least a few more days if not another week.  "Fuck. lets just get going.  You go up and I'll go down, and we'll meet back here in an hour.  That sound good?" Derge asked.  He continued to tend to his wounds with his blood.

7/15

105/120HP

"It's not just the zombies man! We're surrounded by sea kings! Strong enough to break through the crystal! Plus there are those weird fish swarms that almost killed me earlier that the sea king ate! On top of being surrounded by three of our worst enemy match ups, we happen to be LOST not knowing where this island is, how to find out, or where we are on the island! We don't have any food, and the water we do have is sea water, and sea water pool is connected to the sea and both the weird fish and the sea kings can get through them. Plus, these crystals happen to be setting on a bed of massive volcanoes. I don't know much about volcanoes, but I know that lava and earthquakes happen a lot around them and crystal doesn't seem to do much to those, and what is the entire island seemingly made of? Crystal! And even if we DID have information, how are we supposed to use it! We're two men! Fuck. I need to eat. If I don't get some food I'm going to have a panic attack or an aneurysm."

Pyro had cut off Derge again. At the words "figure out" Pyro just couldn't hold back anymore. He snapped and told Derge everything that he was seeing in his head at that moment. Why he was so panicked. Why he thought he just get it over with. But suicide wouldn't work easily. Especially the type of person Pyro was. Suicide just seemed stupid.

"Fine I'll go up. If I get to the top without finding anything I'll survey the area and fly back here. I don't see anything else I can do."

Crystal Fever: Fever has spread into Derge's leg muscles. Infrequent cramps and spasms (minor) now occur.

8/15
120/120

Derge was glad to seperate from Pyro and his bizarre ramblings about the strange phenomenon that were occurring on the island.  Seakings and weird fish swimming around pools throughout the island that just happened to be sitting on an active set of volcanos seem like more than just coincidence.  They seemed so random, how could all of those things be connected in any way?  As the two were heading in their designated direction, Derge heard Pyro mutter about having an aneurysm.  Derge almost snickered when he heard the man whine.  At this point it would almost be a relief, if Pyro did in fact have an aneurysm.  It wouldn't likely take him out meaning his fruit would heal him eventually, especially with the increased healing factors they seemed to possess.  

As Derge was walking down the stairs, his leg locked up.  It cramped and spasmed causing him to trip and fall towards the stairs.  Using his levitation technique, Derge caught himself just before he hit the stairs.  If he hadn't been so quick to react he'd have likely rolled down the staircase.  The fall wouldn't have done much to someone with Derge's endurance but it would have still hurt.  Since he had taken on his fruit, Derge hadn't had any problems with such things.  A cramp and spasm, even under conditions where he hasn't eaten in a while seemed odd at best.  "What's going on here?" Derge muttered to himself.  "Just my legs...why?  The bite maybe?  Or is it the crystals in the air?  If so, why is it only my legs?  Hmm I need to examine those so called zombies." he said walking down the stairs.  He decided that he'd keep going down until he reached an exit so he could go out to examine the creatures.

8/15

105/120HP

Pyro climbed to next floor. He saw no signs of life or really anything on the floor. It was completely empty, save what appeared to be a strange type of carpet. He put his hand on the wall, walking around the room as he did. There were more floors, and this empty room seemed suspicious to him, as it would anyone. He couldn't really justify why it was a good idea, but it just felt right to him. He couldn't think of anything better to do. And now that he was more distracted from the threats, curiosity began to set in. Latching on this new emotion, he calmed himself out of his panic, yet still paranoid beyond belief.

Suddenly he felt something. He stopped. He wasn't sure what he felt. He took a few steps back and more slowly moved his hand across the wall. Suddenly, the wall lurched away from his hand after a few seconds, but only by several micrometers, just enough for him to notice. He began to feel around the wall; abruptly the wall ejected back, falling away from pyro. When pyro had touched two edges of the strange path way, it opened up. It appeared to be a type of elevator. But it had a manual option, thankfully. It looked like the elevators at the bases of big officers, except it was made of crystal. He began to turn the lever in the corner of the elevator, and it rose.

He searched each floor, finding nothing out of the ordinary, until he opened the door to the sixth floor. He found that there was a hallway, and there was a security door on it; Pyro recognized it as an upper-officer Panic Room. Upper officers rarely used it themselves; they used it for VIPs, family, and other persons of interest; it would be the perfect place to hide in the midst of all of this chaos. He did not want to enter alone. If it was a trap, he'd need to have back up. Any trap for such a room would likely include the kairoseki tools inside. He would know, as he had been inside his father's long ago. He decided to continue to the 21 floor, the roof.


Crystal Fever: Fever has spread into Derge's skin. Mild stiff sensation will begin. Fever has spread into Pyro's veins. Slight burning sensations in the chest cavity begin to occur.

9/15
120/120

Derge went from floor to floor trying to find anything that could have been of use, or perhaps a survivor of the apparent disaster. He found nothing in the way of survivors, eventually reaching the main entrance of the tower. The lower levels seemed in disarray, a vast contrast to the upstairs which was virtually untouched. All of the barricades seemed to have failed, which meant that the creatures were probably just as dangerous as Pyro had said. Walking towards the entrance, Derge created to large demonic looking hands in front of him. He hardened the blood and used the hands to push open the door for him.

Derge took a few steps out of the large crystal door before limping to a stop. His legs were cramping again, and what's more he felt stiff. Whatever was happening, the side effects were getting worse. It seemed to be spreading from his legs upwards, seemingly adding more credibility to his theory that it the effects he was feeling stemmed from the bite. Derge placed his hand on his leg over the bite mark and closed his eyes. Concentrating, Derge combined his ability to identify foreign objects in his own blood; and his touch ability to do the same in the blood of others. The combination of the abilities did little, all he could find were the crystals.

Derge was starting to get a head rush as his heart began to beat faster, panic was finally starting to settle in. He did his best to attempt to hide the panic outwardly, trying desperately to keep his cool demeanor. Fuck...shit...come on now. What did they teach you in training? How do I deal with a serious venom? Okay first I treat any possibly bacterial infections...then cut off circulation if possible." he mumbled as the panic set in. Derge began to create and send white blood cells to trap as many of the crystals in his legs as possible. After creating the white blood cells, Derge coagulated blood at his waist and then in his neck to cut of circulation from his legs to his torso and from his torso to his head. Using his fruit he created three smaller circulation systems to make sure his body kept working. All of the internal use of his powers began to drain Derge to the point he had only slight control of the blood outside of his body however the hardest part was actually controlling his body as it was functioning differently than normal.

Staggering over to a pit trap, Derge looked into it to see what appeared to be a dust of some kind. It seemed to be a crystal or mineral, possibly a different colored version of the crystal that was floating around everywhere. "Why aren't there any of those zombies in here? Did someone take them out or is this what they decompose into? I suppose if they're turning into this stuff that would explain how solid they are." Derge said peering into the hole. With a trembling hand extended outward, Derge began to mix blood with the dust looking for any evidence to suppose his theories. There was nothing, no left over genetic material; not even a bit of organic material in it. Thinking back to his education when he was a boy he remembered that some minerals were produced from organic material under certain circumstances. The one that came to mind for Derge was diamond, it was made from pressurized organic carbon that sat underground for a large amount of years. Derge couldn't remember if it was millions of billions, he was leaning towards the latter however. It almost seemed absurd that a human could be turned into diamond dust so quickly but the color of the dust seemed to fit his theory. If his theory was correct and it was diamond dust in the holes, he remembered that the stuff was about the most durable there was on the planet. Using his blood that had mixed with the dust, Derge coated himself with the blood and dust creating a type of plaster like material. Hardening the blood, Derge was attempting to try and create a durable armor out of the two materials; using the blood as a kind of putty to stick the diamond dust together and onto himself. Derge left the blood on his joins moist to allow maximum maneuverability. Even a task as simple as covering himself in what wasn't much more than bloody mud took quite a bit of effort as he was exerting most of his control on the inside of his body.



9/15
115/120

Pyro transformed his arms into wings again; the phoenix fruit was very friendly to him in hybrid form, being able to transform parts of his body at will. Very convenient. Ignoring the mild burning in his chest, he soared off of the building. But he found his wings weren't as flexible as normal anymore. Somehow they weren't bending with the air. Suddenly he was falling. He had broke his glide in surprise, and was having difficulties regaining himself. Suddenly he saw derge next to a pit. And both were suddenly cursing as crystal shrapnel from the fall pierced thier skin from the fall into the pile of diamond dust.

"Fuck! My wings have never felt so stiff! They just wouldn't bend right... Lucky you broke my fall. That could have been a lot worse, even for me. By the way, I found a Class A panic room on the 20th floor. I think we should check it out."

Pyro used his great agility to leap out of the pit in one bound. At least his transformation was still good for something. He reached his wing downward for Derge to grab. It seemed Derge was was already nearing the limits of his control, given by his stressed demeanor. And Pyro, having just regained some control over himself minutes ago, didn't want Derge to start losing his. Pyro decided being objective and observant would help them both to ignore the panic.


Crystal Fever: Fever has spread to Derge's bones, causing them to harden. -5% speed, +5% endurance. Fever has spread to pyro's ligements. Inability to fly.

10/15
120/120

Derge was standing in a pit of dust minding his own business, admiring the blood putty armor he had created when all of the sudden some fat-ass flaming birdman fell from the sky; landing on him, knocking him on his ass. He squirmed a bit trying to move the large man off of him without much success. It wasn't until Pyro himself moved that Derge could fully regain the use of his lungs. Attempting to get up, Derge could feel his body was heavier than a moment ago. Was it because Pryo had fallen on him or possibly because he cut off his circulation? Derge had taken hits worse than this before and walked away fine not to mention he was using his power to circulate the blood through the areas he cut off which if anything would increase its effectiveness. That meant it had to be the infection.

Releasing more of the blood into the diamond dust Derge used the blood putty to cover Pyro much like he had done for himself. Derge hardened the blood just as Pyro had finished telling Derge of the panic room. Unlike Derge's armor, Pyro had no protection around his joints as it would be more strenuous for Derge to have to control when it hardened or became moist for the two of them. Turning to Pyro Derge looked at his partner. "I'll be damned if I'm taking those steps again. I think we'll take the express elevator." Derge said trying to takeoff.

Derge first tried to pull himself up but it hurt too much to do so. His increased weight made pulling himself up by the blood inside of him agonizing. Combing his levitation and basic control, Derge began to float by forcing both the blood inside and outside of him upwards. After Derge was in the air he began to pull Pyro up with him. He was slower than he was usually but eventually the two of them made it to the roof where he sat the both of them down. Derge's breath was obviously labored as he stood there hunched over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. "The...room is only a few floors down, right?" Derge said while gasping for air.


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Though pyro had offered his help, Derge did not feel like waiting. With more strain than he'd ever seen him use, he lifted them both to the top of the tower. The sensation of having one's blood pulled was unlike any other. Frankly it just felt wrong. It felt like you weren't in control, it almost hurt the way the blood pushed against the body, and it felt like it made a large difference on the circulation. When he had reached the top, Pyro was out of breath, but not out of exhaustion. Noticing Derge and his question he thought about the panic room again.

"Right, just one."

Pyro grabbed Derge around the shoulders and helped him walk as he recovered from the rise to the top of the tower. When he arrived at the elevator mechanism, he let go and started it down. He was still a little worried as to what they'd do when they arrived. He stopped without opening the door for the floor.

"So... Before we go out there, what do you think is in there? What should we expect to do, and be prepared to do? I'd like to go in with at least a bit of a plan."

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Derge was relieved to find out that the door that Pyro had mentioned was only down one floor. At least he didn't have to over exert his body too much more than he already had. With Pyro's help Derge was able to walk over to the elevator shaft while recovering some of the stamina he had used to bring the two of them up to the top of the building. Looking down the dark vertical tunnel, Derge wished that they could just take the elevator down rather than having to levitate or climb down.

As the two were about to enter the floor that contained the panic room, Pyro stopped them from going any further. Derge looked at the open door as he pondered what Pyro had said. The panic room would likely house one of if not several different things. Derge sighed as he couldn't even begin to make a prediction that would cover everything that this screwed up island could throw at them.

"Seastone and regular weapons for certain, if they're still there. Important people would be second and other marines would be the third most likely for what's in that room. However I don't think we can rule out hostiles or former friendlies turning into hostiles while being locked away. Even if the upper levels look like they're untouched." Derge said hoping they could find someone who knew that the hell was going on.

"As far as I'm concerned we have to lookout for ourselves first, otherwise we'll just end up screwed like everyone else. We can't help people if we're just as fucked as they are. Besides it isn’t like a whole lot of people around to talk about it even if we did fuck up. This is really what it comes down to. Where does the marine end, and where do the Derge and Pyro begin? As a marine our job it to protect people from pirates and shit like that. Does this really seem like a situation caused by a pirate? I sure as hell don't think so. Right now, I'm Derge the survivor; not Derge the marine." he said giving pretty blunt version of just what he's willing to do.


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"Well I—"

Suddenly the door opened. Of course there were marines, but they were mostly what appeared to be citizens. But several of them had bandaged limbs that seemed stiff, almost like in a cast. Others where missing parts of their body; all were very pale. They young seemed less effected than others. The marines looked at them for a few seconds. "They're not juggernauts, calm down." Said a marine to the people behind him, staring with fear at the door.

"I am First Class Seaman Pyro, at your service. My friend and I have come in seek of refuge and work."

Pyro adressed the marine and the people, identifying himself as both an ally and a victim. This made him appear trustworthy, and the marines agreed to his terms. "Come and eat, we were just having lunch." Said the marine. Pyro stepped forward, fearing not what was ahead. But instead curious.

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Derge's eyes widened as the door to the room opened in front of them.  There were people inside of it, not the freaks but actual people.  Finally Derge could get some intel on what was going on and try to solve this fucked up island sized puzzle.  Almost instantly Pyro stepped forward, talking to the marine inside the vault.  Derge didn't like the fact that Pyro was cut off before he could respond to what Derge had said.  For now Derge would simply sit back and wait to see what was going to happen.  

Derge made sure to close the door behind Pyro and himself before walking to far into the room.  Looking around Derge could see that everyone in the room appeared to be sick, they were probably all infected.  Opening his mouth a stream of red vapor began to flow from Derge's mouth.  With the small size of the room, his vapor was able to fill it quickly meaning it would only have been visible for a fraction of a second.  That was unless someone in the room had perception equal to or over 50%.  With the vapor engulfing the room, Derge would be in contact with every single person.  It would be like he was using his touch ability on everyone at the same time.  He could see everything with in their blood streams.  

"You're all infected aren't you? What's causing this?" Derge asked looking at the people around the room.

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Pyro saw everyone stare at Derge, in awe and in surprise. "How could he tell they were injected?" was written on their faces. The marine from before spoke again.

"How do you know of the infection? You must be some sort of doctor, right? Well, you won't be able to treat us. None of the doctors could. You see this is no infection. It is a curse."

Pyro was taken a back. A curse? He couldn't mean a literal curse could he? He considered and deliberated that a devil fruit could be involved, but the use of the word was probably theatric and rhetorical. Pyro looked at Derge, gauging his level of surprise, calm, and assertion. You could say there was almost a mental connection between them from their experiences together. It wasn't anything complex; no they didn't know each other that well. But the simple message sent by pyro in his stare, his "Do what you do best, and tell me what's going on" was conveyed. Pyro leaned against the wall, noting the differences between the crystals inside the room and the corals outside the door.

Crystal Fever: Fever has spread to Derge's heart, and his Diaphragm. The Crystals have set themselves into his cells and he now feels mild exhaustion, isomnia, and infrequent disorientation. Fever has spread into pyro's skin. He now feels slightly stiff, +5 Endurance, -5 Agility.

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"Damn it all" Derge said punching the wall nearest to him. Gritting his teeth Derge listed to the people in the panic room as they spoke. "I know that you're infected because I'm a blood-man, I have the ability to control blood. Because of my devil fruit I could feel the same crystals in your blood stream that are in Pyro, mine, and even the air." he said explaining a bit of what he knew.

Pacing back and forth, Derge looked around the room. The people in the room had been here longer than he or Pyro so there was no telling how long they had before they began to turn. Derge held his chin in his hand as he thought. "I'm just a medic, nothing special. However I was hoping that you'd have more information than I did. If there is anything you know that I haven't talked about feel free to bring it to my attention." Derge said hoping they'd bring up something he'd possibly missed.

The panicked people mentioned it being more like a curse than an illness which at first seemed like lunacy to Derge. Then again, Derge himself ate a magical fruit that allows him to manipulate blood like some extra appendage. "As far as the realm of devil fruits go, this could be a curse of some kind but it seems more natural. In all honesty it's just as likely that a devil fruit created the crystals, as it is to be a natural phenomenon. Although most devil fruits are based in reality, so even if a crystal type fruit created this; it is likely a natural part of the world somewhere or at some time." Derge theorized. "As I mentioned before, the crystals are in the air. However the symptoms didn't begin manifesting in the two of use until after we were bitten by those things out there. My friend said they were strong enough to tear him apart, yet it let go after he was bitten. The same goes for by bite wound. I'm guessing you all were bitten but managed to get away too? It's a simple survival tactic, live off of your host and spread yourself before you kill your host. For that reason, I believe that there are actually two types of this crystal like substance. The crystal in the air and the crystal that transfers when bitten or...ingested are different." Derge said pausing for a moment to remember the pools with the strange fish Pyro had mentioned. "Have you, or anyone you know of eaten the fish in the pools?" Derge asked.

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The marine began to explain how they came to the point they are now. Pyro listened intently.

"The curse showed up when the silverfins came out from the lower levels of the catacombs. They used to stay deep, near the volcanoes. But they rose for some reason. When they did, the sea kings swarmed and trade ceased. We had little choice but to rely on the water systems set throughout the city to cultivate and hunt. But the fish would freeze up and break if they weren't cooked fresh. And the water would evaporate and leave a strong brine behind if you didn't drink it quickly. We had to be careful with these precious resources. But something in the water infected the towns folk. Most of them died. The one's that didn't... Well you saw what they are like now. When they begin to starve, they digest the crystals, which causes the body to then digest itself. Then they turn into the monsters that hunt constantly. Some are peaceful and slowly turning into crystal, crumbling away. Some have a bad reaction and turn into statues. Those of us with resistance have slowly watched as parts of our bodies crumbled away while avoiding the cursed ones. But some of us progress like the others. And there is the one... but he should be imprisoned in the catacombs under one of the towers..."

Suddenly the earth shook beneath them. The door shut automatically and loud crashing consumed the room. When the rumbling had ended, Pyro stood on the now lopsided room, looking at those around him. Most had received no injuries. One man watched as his petrified arm crumbled to nothing before his eyes. Then the door started to creak and bend. Suddenly, a black face replaced the door handle, and the door had disappeared, ripped and bent to nothing. The red, glowing eyes before him, a true monster was at the gate.

Lieutenant Jason's Ghoul:

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Derge has been correct in his wild assumption; the fish were the cause of the whole ordeal.  He listened carefully to what the process of the consumption was.  It sounded horrible to be quite honest.  Maybe it wasn't the fish that was the cause but the coral that poisoned the fish that was then ingested by the humans.  Derge didn't have time to mention his theory however.  The tower shifted and the room was practically turned upside down.  

As soon as the room began to shake, Derge lifted himself into the air, levitating through it with his arms crossed in front of him.  Derge floated down staying in the middle of disheveled room standing there like a paragon of order in the shifting chaos.  The people in the room had mentioned something that they seemed to fear and as soon as they had; an earthquake.  It didn't seem to add up to Derge.  Derge stared at the door as something began to tear it down.  Taking one look at the monster before him, Derge lowered himself down so his shaking leg wasn't as noticeable.  

"Tsk...If I die here today...I will do my damnedest to bring this fucker here with me." Derge said throwing his hands forward.  There was no time to be careful or prevent what might come.  Derge released all of the blocks in his blood stream allowing it to naturally flow once more.  He was back to full power.  

"Blood Tsunami"

A wave of blood erupted from Derge's hands that quickly engulfed the portion of the room that was in front of him.  The blood wave was condensed and forced through the small entrance of the panic room.  A smaller but pressurized version of Derge's blood tsunami hurtled at the monster standing in the doorway.  More blood formed around Derge's hand, this time making a demonic looking claw that then hardened.  

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Pyro was astonished as he realized that the tower had collapsed around them in but seconds. That feet of high-carbon steel had been tossed aside by some weird creature. Then came the surge of blood. The creature wasn't phased in the slightest. The creature, smelling Derge's blood, immediately sprinted towards him, rearing back his hand, straight through the tsunami, using the claws on his toes to easily keep balance with his strength. The hand crashed downward. Whether it hit derge or not Pyro did not know, for the strike created such impact the steel floor and the corals beneath it broke into lethal shrapnel, instantly killing the majority of the people inside, and creating a plume, reducing visibility. Pyro reflexively transformed, instantly recovering from the few pieces he didn't dodge with his great agility.

"Derge!" Pyro yelled.

The monster immediately turned his attention to pyro, dashing towards him without even a moment's hesitation. Pyro immediately went to dodge, but the creature was to fast. He had spread his arms into a double lariat, crouched from the ground. Being to heavy to fly, he was trapped in an enclosed space with the creature. He tried to jump to the cealing, knowing the creature would not be fooled. But to his surprise at the very moment he was to jump, the creature jumped to the ceiling, and launched himself downward at the rising pyro.

Crystal Fever: fever has fully enveloped Derge's body. No additional effects, other than extreme paleness. Fever has spread into Pyro's muscles, increasing his endurance by 10% but lowering his strength by 10%


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Derge watched as the brute forced his way through the pressurized blood wave like it was nothing. The powerful wave that would have swept away other powerful foes barely even served to slow the monster down. There was only one thing left to do, avoid the hell bent monster at all costs. Derge crouched down pushing the blood through his body at incredible speeds. However before he could finish the lengthy transformation the beast turned towards Derge and charged. Once in the middle of the transformation Derge couldn't just stop so he pushed himself harder.

A wave of debris and shrapnel shot in every direction as the monsters punch connected with the floor below. Derge pushed the shrapnel out of his blood demon claw that he had used to protect himself from the shrapnel. He shook a chill going down his spine as he remembered seeing the monsters massive fist less than an inch from his face. Derge's great speed allowed him to move out of the way, and the shrapnel masked that fact. Most of the people in the room had been killed and Derge wasn't able to stop it. It was like his village was being attacked all over again. Derge gritted his teeth as the monster charged towards Pyro, leaping into the air above him. The monster was like a massive bird of prey going for the kill.

Derge's body was tight and stiff; his body was so heavy that it felt like he was going to tear apart while moving as such speeds. That didn't matter though, he had to stop this thing and at least save Pyro. Pyro was the only person in the world who Derge had become close to since it happened. Derge shot forward like a rocket, hurtling himself towards the airborne foe at full speed. Throwing the claw forward, Derge increased his momentum by using his devil fruit power to pull himself by pushing the claw. The marine aimed the claw for the beast's upper chest in hopes the falling momentum would allow him to get a head shot on it.

"Demon Claw Impact"

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Pyro had literally just been touched by the tips of the creatures fingers when he suddenly spun off of pyro, sending him directly into derge's attack, slightly faster, increasing the damage by half the skill of the creature. The creature had sensed the attack at the last moment and acted out of pure instinct. The attack pierced through pyro's right lung, and into the torso of the monster, who was unfazed damage wise, but was sent flying into a pool of water. He did not return from the water, and Pyro hardly cared. Derge had hit him directly. For a moment, he felt death. Then right on the border, the phoenix fires burned his wounds shut, pulling him out of the burning abyss of hell he felt himself slipping into. He survived. With the island's endurance bonus and his healing, he survived. But he had never felt more exhausted. He felt weak he tried to lift himself off of the ground, but he was too heavy. He had never felt so helpless. Pyro was pale, and disoriented. The attack had drained more blood than he had considered. Almost all the damage was from bloodloss, not from injury; his regeneration assured it. Pyro slipped out of his confusion and groaned, seeing a panic-stricken Derge next to him. Had he just lost consciousness?

"What in the living fuck just happened?"

He tried to lift himself again, finding barely the strength to lift his weight, only to find the effort was to much and he was dizzy again, collapsing and almost whiting out again.

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