Tunnak and ??? - Abandoned Barbershop, Loguetown

"What the hell?!" A man shouted from the front of the door where the Fishman Tunnak had just entered. He was fairly tall, with a head of messy, black hair and a goatee. A noticeable scar marked in an 'X' fashion sat above his right eye. His clothes were torn and worn, and unremarkable, with a plain ripped white shirt covered by a red-brown coat with a slight pattern of black and yellow going down the left side, and black pants. On a sash around his waist, he carried a fairly sizable sword.

"Oh, this's jes great! Firs some white-haired bigguy ruins my drinkin' day at my favorite bar, then some fishy goes a breakin' in my house!" He stepped into the room with Tunnak, angrily motioning his arms at him. 'Whatdya think yer doin' in here!? Eh?!" He was about to shout something else, but looked around the room for a moment, taking in his sights more clearly despite his inebriation. "Eh? Ah, this isn't my house!" He said, slamming his fist over his palm in realization. "Hooorararararara!" He laughed drunkedly, placing an arm on his stomach as he did so.

While the drunk blabbered on Tunnak had snuck away from the door and windows to remain hidden the best he was able. The gentleman in front of him was about to make this a real challenge, though. By the looks of him he might not be easy to communicate with, but he figured there was no alternatives at this point. "Sir, please, I need you to lower your voice a little. It's in my best interest, and trust me, yours as well." Intimidation was not exactly Tunnak's prefered tactic but he was becoming increasingly desperate and this loud-mouth here was about to jeopardize everything.

"Shhs, please", Tunnak pleaded, hoping for the best.

"Hooorararararara!" The man laughed loudly again. 'Whatya doin' there sulkin' below for? You in trouble? Eh? You a pirate then!? Hooorarararara!" He laughed, reaching for something on his sash, something he expected to be there, but wasn't. "Eh? Where's my flask...I coulda sworn I left it on my sash! Dang it! Always loosin' my flask. I loved that thing! Best friend gave itta me when we were kids!" He checked every pocket and area of his person which could have the missing flask, before he suddenly jolted up in remembrance. "Ah, waita minute! I don't have a flask. Hoorararara!" He laughed. "Musta remembered it from a story I heard in the bar. I also thought I had a crew, but then I remembered I didn't either! Hooorararara! HOORARARARA!" His laughing only began to grow louder, the drunk man finding it harder and harder to contain himself.

A pearl of sweat appeared on the Fishman's forehead. Now he was really nervous. If he didn't find some way to shut him up - and soon - he would be in a heap of trouble. No, no, oh-nononono "Quiet, please. Please be quiet!" The drunk seemed disinclined to meet his request and so, as an act of sheer desperation, Tunnak sprung forth, forcefully trying to press a huge and scale open palm against the mouth of the stranger with the words:"I am so sorry, mate, but I really need you to shut your yap." He hoped to be able to limit the outburst that threatened to reveal his whereabouts to unwanted ear.

"Mhmrmrmimr!" The drunk man murmured from under the hand of the Fishman, trying to break free from under him, but failing to do so. Just outside the abandoned shop, a patrol of Marines searching for the Fishman walked close by, asking citizens if they saw anybody suspicious around the area. The drunk, for the first time, became aware of the situation, and stopped squirming as much below the palm of the fishman. He waited quietly, as one Marine noticed the shop and the open door, and walked over to the front entrance, taking a quite peak inside. Not seeming to spot anything immediately, he moved on with the rest of the group out of the area.

Tunnak exhaled loudly after having held his breath out of tension. He rolled to the side, landing heavily onto the wodden floor which sqeaked louder than expected. Blast! He waited for the shouting of men and the voices nearing the shop once again... but he was in luck. They were already too far away to have noticed. A jolt of relief shot through Tunnak's body as it collapsed entirely where it was with Tunnak giving no thought to the stranger lying next to him. After pausing briefly, his sence of awareness returned and he swiftly rolled away from his new acquaintance and sprung up looking something in between of defensive and apologizing. "I'm terribly sorry, sir, I meant to cause you no harm. You see, it was terribly important that the marine soldiers did not find me here, you see, I've been subject to a terrible misunderst--"

"Eh? Marines after you, huh! I knew yah were a pirate! Hoorararara! Been doing some nasty things, have yah!? What, did yah kill somebody then? Hoorarararara!"

"No, no! No, no! As I've already told you: there's been a misunderstanding. I am an ex-convict. That's the key word in this sentence. E X - convict. As in no more. The only reason that they're out looking for me is because of some blasted pirates causing a riot at the Plaza, and I got mixed up with th-.." He came to a halt halfway through, for the first time really taking in his surroundings. The shop seemed terribly old and very poorly maintained. Could've been closed for month for all he knew. And then there was this fellow? A man whose appearance might've been intimidating, but whose aura was rendered completely harmless due to the concentration of alcohol in his veins most likely being purer than that which came straight out of any bottle. There's no way in the deep blue this guy's got anything to do with the authorities.

"... why am I even bothering?", he asked himself out loud before addressing the stranger. "Who are you anyways?"

"Hooorarararara!" He laughed. "Whatever yah say, fishy! Convict. Ess-convict. Dun matter how yah look at it, we're all criminals one way er 'nother," He picked himself off the ground, attempting to dust himself off, however pointless it seemed to his overall dirty attire. "Call me Wallace!" He announced, wiping some dry drool from the side of him mouth onto his sleeve, while he walked over to the window to catch a sight at the plaza. "Loguetown, eh? Yah know, for the life o' me I can't remember what I was doin' here...." He trailed off, then looked back at the fishman. "And you look like yer makin' yer way out too, so les go to the docks! We can leave eer for good!"

"Hmm.." Pondering the situation, Tunnak was again in doubt whether or not this was the right way to go about things. But then again, what choice did he really have? It would only be a matter of time before another patrol of marines would pass by the broken door and if these were more thorough than the others, he would find himself in quite the pickle. Besides, even though this Wallace seemed drunk out of his mind, his suggestion did have more appeal than storming the prison gates with the other nutjobs. This might actually get me offshore and not back behind bars.

"Alright then, Mr. Wallace. Call me Tunnak. Or Tunn'. Or anything really, long as it's not 'Fishy', really. It's getting old..." He paused as gazed out in the thin air as bad memories circled his mind. "Ahem, anyway, how do you suggest we go about this? I'm not exactly difficult to spot out there." he pointed out, gesturing with both hands at the size of himself.

A quirky grin formed on Wallace's lips as he replied. "Oooh, lad, you jus' let me worry 'bout that."

Kuzo, Bass, Zoe, and Morgan - In front of Prison, Loguetown

Bass glanced up at the prison and frowned at it. "To tell you the truth... I've never been in a prison before." He cocked his head a bit, "How do you get in? I mean, are there windows up top or such? That would help a bit."

Kuzo eyed the prison up and down. The Marines could be heard in the background, still searching the streets for the group from the plaza. "Hmm," He let escape from his mouth, thoughtfully approaching the front of the prison, and placing a hand on the knob of the front doors. He twisted it, and opened the door to the prison. "Let's go through here," He said calmly with a smile to his two companions.

Bass blinked in surprise and slowly walked along with Kuzo. "Uh... you sure this is a good idea?" He asked as he went inside, "I mean... it's kind of cramped and there won't be much room to fly in, right? And why are we getting this specific pirate? I thought you had the ship?"

"I have a ship," Kuzo began, stepping through the front doors and into the first room of the prison, where a few guards were posted. "And Morgan's in my crew. The only problem is, both the ship and Morgan don't know they're with me yet," He smiled at Bass, as the Marines eyed the three who just entered the front doors. Two Marine soldiers guarded the door which headed down into the sub-levels, where the cages and prisoners were. They held up their rifles in front of their bodies, while a third Marine soldier approached the group.

"Visiting times are over, citizens! This area's off limits now!" He barked at them. He eyed both Zoe and Kuzo, before he set his eyes on Bass in the back, taking in his appearance for the first time. "Eh? What the heck is that?!" He shouted, pointing his finger at the bat-like creature next to them. The other two Marines were instantly on alert, while the third tried to fight emotions of shock and confusion.

"Waita minute," He began, looking over to the side of the wall, where multiple wanted posters hung. He spotted the one he was looking for, seeing the image of the same bat-human there. "Midnight! C-CRIMINAL IN THE PRISON!" He yelled, trying to get people's attention.

"Aren't there always criminals in prisons, you morons?" Zoe asked the guards sarcastically, her eyes rolling in contempt. Pulling out the rapier that hung tightly to her belt, she took a ready stance and braced herself for a fight. The building was too tight for her to comfortably transform, at least in her opinion. There was no room for proper maneuvering, so it was best to stay human.

"Just tell us where Morgan is and I won't kill you."

Bass paled at the name and hung his head, rubbing his thumb hooks together while he squirmed, "N-No.... you don't understand." He said softly. He remembered those words he had read before and closed his eyes tightly. "Kuzo... we should get out of here." He whispered to the man. "This is a very bad idea. There will be too many Marines here."

The Marine squirmed at the sight of the rapier, leaving his weapon by the desk at the end of the room, while the other two guarding the door to the prison raised their rifles at the group. They kept them pointing, waiting for something to happen, while the third Marine began to nervously sweat at the steel in front of him. "M-Morgan?! The Burning King? You his crew then?"

"That's right," Kuzo answered. He turned to Bass, and smiled. "Aww, come on, where's the fun in that? Besides, doesn't look like these guys will give us much of an option anyway."

"Not just criminals. P-pirates!" He yelled, and the two marines fired at the group.

Bass yelped and quickly jumped into the air as the bullets flew. With his jump he pulled his feet up to grip the ceiling as best as he could and then he pushed off to slam into a Marine and he wrapped his wings around the man. Already the man was screaming about Midnight biting into his neck and Bass had to roll his eyes. He unwrapped his wings and dropped the Marine on the floor and kicked his foot out right into the marine's chest and sent his flying off to hit into a wall. The gun fell and Bass was quick to pick it up with a foot and he sent toward Kuzo, "You can use this."

Ducking and putting her back against the wall, Zoe did her best to dodge the incoming fire of the muskets. Just in the nick of time, she felt the musket balls fly past her face. Bass seemed to make quick work of a guard, while she gathered herself and began to slink forward during the chaos. The other guard distracted by the bat-man's assault on his companion, she was able to get the jump on him and knock him out with a quick stroke of her rapier's butt. As he collapsed, she made sure to kick him in the head with her booted foot just to be safe.

This left the third guard for Kuzo, who was without a weapon, and Kuzo, not wanted to harm the man too much, decided to go with knocking him out. He bent his knees, muttering under his breath, "Tank Mode," His body reacted to his words, pumping him up to the previous, larger form he had taken before in the execution plaza. The Marine went wide-eyed at this, and quickly tried to walk over to his desk and grab his gun. Kuzo ran forward, bringing an arm up and smashing it to the side of the Marine's face, the impact quickly flinging him off his feet and sending him crashing to the side of the wall, knocking him out in one blow. Kuzo looked down at the guard, then at the other two who were just knocked out, catching the gun that Bass tossed to him. In the near distance, the noise they had caused seemed to have alerted plenty more Marines in the prison, who seemed to have been shouting their way to their location.

Kuzo stuck his arms out to his side and clenched his fists, reverting to his normal form again, before looking over his two companions, smiling and scratching the back of his head. "So there was probably a better way of doing this," He said with a slight chuckle. "This place'll be swarming with Marines soon, so we'd better hurry!" He pointed the gun to the door, shooting the lock in place, a few times before it was broken off, before kicking open the door with his foot, and proceeding down to the lower levels of the building, where the cells were located.

Bass followed and flapped up into the air just a bit and landed. He frowned and then called out, "MORGAN!" He shouted out, then he closed his eyes as his ears flicked about a bit to see if this Morgan would call out. He would key in on the noise and presto. Hopefully though he was in a state to call out.

"Yo. Down here!" Morgan said with a chuckle. I wasn't expecting visitors. "Though you don't sound like a beautiful girl, so you can stay over there too."

Bass' ears swiveled a bit as he zoned in on the voice and he nodded, "I have his location. Hold up the Marines, I'll go and get him out." With that the bat made his way down the hallway and to a large sight. There were hundred of cells with prisoners all in them. He made his way over to the banister and jumped over it. He spread his arms and glided down to the ground floor where thankfully only two Marines were stationed. No doubt the others had been called up to the floor he had just come from to deal with the others.

"Holy s**t! I know that thing! It's Midnight!" One of the guards cried out in a panicked voice. Bass quickly dropped down with enough force to land on one of the guards just as they were pulling out their revolvers and slammed him down to the ground. The other was just raising his own gun when Bass knocked him with his wing and kicked out a leg to trip him. He quickly got off of the first man and turned to the cage that held Morgan. "So... you're Morgan right?" He asked.

"Oh sure, hold off the marines he says," Zoe mumbled under her breath, readying her rapier as another group of marine guards gave chase and entered the area. "I'm a bat, I can find him by sound…" She made a sound that was mixed halfway between a scoff and a sigh as she parried away the tip of the nearest guard's musket, his finger pulling the trigger from her sudden movement. It was loud, the muzzle's proximity being dangerously close to her head. She let out a shriek of pain as she fought the urge to cup her left ear.

"Damn, I hope you guys are payed well for this s**t." She pulled her arm up and lanced him with the tip of her blade, a nonlethal blow, but enough to remove him from action as his arm went numb, the musket dropping to the floor.

"Hurry up down there, batman!" Another guard rushed her and tackled her to the floor, her body struggling to push off his weight.

"You are not exactly what I pictured when I imagined getting saved, ya know?" Morgan said raising an eyebrow as he stared at the talking bat in front of him. It was not everyday that you are saved by talking animals, but traveling the seas, Morgan got used to this kind of thing. Still, he never imagined getting saved, much less by a batman. He sighed a bit. His dreams were much more in line with typical male fantasies: A beautiful young maidan would bust down the evil tyrannical guards, thrashing them about as she reached his cell. Then she would yank the bars off their hinges, shatter his cuffs and then save his ass. He would be indebted to her and serve her, out of some obligation. At least at first, but then we would grow to fall in love and rule the seas together. A man can dream at least. A batman would be a close second. Maybe. No it's not. It works though. "But-" The voice of Zoe ran through the halls. "I heard a lady's voice. She with you!?"

Bass nodded, "Yeah, uh..." He went over to the guards and frowned, "Okay... this will take some time." Having no hands Bass hand to insert his toes into their pokets, frowning as he fished around from something like a... key! He pulled out his toe with the key and threw it up to catch it with his teeth. He went over to the cell door and knelt down to place the key in the lock. It took some time to angle it just the right way, but finally it went in and he twisted it. The door opened up and Bass smirked, "Yes! Finally got it down! So, we should get going now. Tons of Marines are coming!"

Morgan smiled as Batman freed him. "I can handle that. But first things first. Get these off me," Morgan ordered holding up his seastone cuffs. "Then get my friend, Reaper, out of there. He's the cell across from mine. And then, you can point me in the direction of your beautiful female friend."

Bass nodded and then frowned, "Uh... I saw no other keys..." He went over to the desk and flapped up a bit in the air as he used his feet to open the various drawers. "Uh... Morgan, does someone have the key?" He sighed, "Hold up, have to go through these drawers. So many papers..." He pulled out paper after paper, "How you holding up there you two!?" He shouted up to the others, "This is just going to take a while!"

"Use your genius detective skills. I certainly don't have any," Morgan groaned, following his "savior" though Morgan would use the term very loosely. "Out of the way," Morgan said pushing Batman aside as he shifted through the drawers. The Marines were never particularly organized, probably coming from their bureaucratic nature. "Wait a minute..." Morgan went to the other side of the desk and found a locked drawer. "1000 Beli its in here!" Morgan twisted his face in frustration on how the drawer was locked, pondering all the different ways he could force it open. Punching it would work. Slow, painful, but effective. Lock picking? No, Morgan wasn't skilled at anything that didn't involve setting things on fire. He was screwed. "Crap, it really is locked."

This time Bass pushed Morgan off to the side and reached out with a foot and let his long claws dig into the wooden surface. With a grunt he flexed the muscles in his foot and leg and the parts of the door around the lock and hinges stayed on... everything in between them however was ripped clean off and the foot dashed in. It pulled out a key and threw it over to Morgan, "There ya go." Bass dropped to the floor and peeked in, "Hm.. some other keys are in here too."

"G-get off of me!" Zoe screamed and tried to push the man off her, his weight suffocating and girth disgusting. Weren't these people supposed to be well fit and healthy soldiers? There was no way she would be able to push him off as things stood now. As much as she didn't want to in the building, it necessitated transforming. With a roar that started out human and became otherworldly mid transformation, she threw the man from where he was and down to where the batman had once flown. There was no way a mere mortal man might make that fall alive.

Angry and pushed to the point of desperation, she gave another mighty roar, the noise sharp and piercing as it reverberated off the walls. Two of the guards took off running down the very same hall from whence they came. The last three remaining stood their ground bravely, if a bit warily.

"You have made a terrible mistake," she told them, her voice ethereal and almost inhuman as she spoke.

"May as well grab them too, uh, Batman? Whatever your name is," Morgan said with sigh. Taking the keys from the savior, Morgan threaded the key through the lock and the heavy seastone cuffs crashed to the ground. "Much better. Good work, kid. Now to business," Morgan said with a smile. The Bat proved to be quite resourceful. All things considered, he was pretty good at whatever he was good at. Morgan would have to keep that in mind. Hardly seemed a fighter. Worst case, a well placed attack would take him out.

Morgan skipped over to the cell of Reaper. "You wanted to see my powers, right? Well watch and learn." Morgan touched the lock of the cell and focused every so slightly. Slowly, flames erupted from his hands, melting the lock with extreme heat. Once the the lock was nothing more than liquid on the ground, he used his strength to pry the door open. He fired a few small fire bullets, knocking all the chains and cuffs off Reaper with a small burst of flames. It was a controlled expolsion in nature, easy work for Morgan's devil fruit. "As promised, I got you out, and here is a crew. I guess. So let's get out of here. Come on, Batman! We need to catch up with your female friend."

"The name's Bass." He suddenly flew over and gripped the man's shoulders with his feet and took off into the sky, "I'll get you later!" He shouted down to Morgan's friend. He flew up higher and higher and then got up to the banister where he had leapt off of and gently lowered Morgan down. "The others are up here, let me grab your friend and we'll be off!" With that Bass swooped down again and out of view.

"I'm still calling him Batman..." Morgan said to himself, as he wiped off the dirt from the bat's claws from his jacket. Morgan decided to run ahead, remembering the echoes from earlier. He couldn't decipher it well enough earlier, but it did sound like a fight was happening. Likely Batman, or Bass, or whatever the talking bat's name was, had the orders to perform the rescue while everyone provided the much needed distraction. With Morgan free, the calvary has arrived. And he needed a warm up anyway. Been a while since his last fight. Morgan sprinted down the hall, watching as other prisioners gawked at the presence of the Burning King free from jail. Though now everyone will associate the man who set South Blue on fire with a bat creature. Not exactly great for his reputation as a loner. The press would get a kick out of it though.

Finally handling the last guard, paying careful attention not to kill him even in her anger, Zoe peered around to see if any more might be incoming. They surely were, but not foolhardy. Guards had to be somewhere, plotting and deciding how to best trap them in here. The clock in her head kept reminding her that time was running out.

Morgan's sprint came to a skid as his green eyes widened as something else came into view. "You know, I came running expecting a girl. A beautiful one too. And I find a dragon. Now I've seen everything." Morgan sighed and dug his face into his palms. Seriously, who came to save him? And why? That was a good question really. Why was he being saved? He didn't make a habit of making friends since he earned his name as the Burning King. In fact, he probably made more enemies than anything else. So this all became very supicious. Still, he couldn't help but feel extremely disappointed. The dream he had was within reach, and now the princess is a walking (probably talking) dragon. The things that were supposed only exist in stories. Sure, sea monsters existed and Morgan heard about that those. But dragons?! There were not supposed to be dragons in the world! It was amazing he wasn't crapping his pants. Morgan had to credit his tendency to live in dream land to his composure. "Let me guess, you are the talking bat's sister. Boyfriend? Or did you guys just come from the same ocean circus?"

Well, wasn't this a surprise? Here was the man that they had risked so much to come and free, standing right before her like a delivery. She noted that she would have to give her thanks to the Bat later. His ears were obviously better than she had given him credit for.

As soon as the two laid eyes on each other, the man began to tease about her appearance. Something about being the Bat's sister or lover. It was all very juvenile if a bit funny given their circumstances. Letting out a belly laugh she couldn't help but not contain, she spoke up to him across the way, "Oh, you're funny…a real bright one. At first I wasn't sure if you were the one we came for. You look far prettier than your picture. You sure you're not a lass under that tunic?" She asked him, her voice still weighty and not hers. "I'm afraid, you haven't seen everything just yet."

In an instant, she shrunk down and wore her earthly appearance once more. "That's not a trick my little effeminate friend. A trick is something a wh**e does for money. You better man up, you're part of this circus now."

Stonewall H. Mason - Loguetown: The King's Bar

It truly was incredible what a single martyr was capable of. What was previously a somewhat quaint own was almost literally filled to the brim with pirates. It was no surprise, really. Sivers' last words would make any red-blooded pirate want to jump on a ship and head for the Grand Line. Even Mason heartbeat accelerated at the thought of such a grand adventure...but that wasn't what he was in Loguetown for. No, there was something much more pressing that he had to take care of, something much more personal. There was a rumor that the Celestial Spirit, a name that was held by his sister. She'd become something of an obscure fairy tale, both in life and in death, so it wasn't the first time he'd heard stories about people disappearing and then other people citing the Celestial Spirit as a culprit. However, this case was unique.

So Mason sat in the King's Bar, drinking water. He didn't really like to drink...largely because he couldn't hold his alcohol. He kept his eyes trained on the entrance, honing in on every person who came in. He was looking for a specific person. He had to do quite a bit of digging to find out what this person looked like and what they're average habits were. He got it down to a T. The person was a pirate from...somewhere. He didn't quite know their past, but he did know what they looked like. They were from a crew called the Red Ribbon Rogues. He wasn't 100% sure that they would end up coming to Loguetown...but if they were truly a pirate, there was little chance that they wouldn't be there.

It had actually already been three hours since he'd arrived. While his faith that the pirate was in town was unwavering, the likelihood that they would come to the bar was diminishing quickly. If it came down to it, he would have to hunt them down on the Grand Line. That would be far more troublesome than he would have wanted it to be...but it may have been necessary. Of course, the real problem was that he couldn't hunt them down on the Grand Line. He didn't have a crew. What's more, he didn't know how to make a crew, and he didn't know how to make a crew. He slumped back in his chair.

Mason eventually left the King's Bar, realizing that there was little chance that he would find the one that witnessed "his sister". He bit his cheek as he did. He felt as if the lead was vanishing from existence, and the idea that someone was impersonating her and disrespecting what the torture she had to bear to take care of him and the others killed him inside. He had to do something about it. In the end, he followed the crowds and went to the site where the legend himself fell: The Execution Platform.

Leon and Bass : Murder all around!

Bass kept flying down until he finally landed on the ground and looked over at the other man, "Okay then, you're next. Just keep an eye out, not sure if any Marines are going to coming around." At that moment Bass' ears twitched again at the sound of boots, "Uh... we should get a move on." He flapped into the air and swooped down to grip the man's shoulders and quickly began to rise into the air.

Leon sighed, it seemed like everybody had some kind of devil fruit powers these days. Or perhaps he was a different race all together. Leon had traveled around, but he certainly had not seen everything. "I refuse to leave without my scythe and katana!" He growled. He was surprised the man could hold him up considering his bulk and height.

Bass sighed and quickly dropped to the ground with him, "Where are there? They will be here-" His ears swiveled a bit as he heard the boot step suddenly fall silent. "Soon." There stood five Marines, all with guns drawn at them. "Uh... "Bass raised his wing tips up in a meek show of surrender, then kicked out a foot to send a chair at one of the Marines and quickly fled in between the cages.

Leon growled as the man dropped with him to the ground. There were only five marines, and he was glad they had come. "I'm going to kill four of you and make the last one tell me where my weapons are." He roared. He threw his shadow at the marine that took a chair to his face and switched places with it. They were hardly able to react before Leon used the marine's gun against the other four soldiers. He lifted the soldier off the ground and looked him in his eyes, "Tell me where my weapons went." He growled, "Otherwise I'll throw you off the highest floor." The man passed out.

Bass at that moment rose up from the cages, eager to grab onto a Marine only to see all of them were dead. He descended onto a cage and looked over at Morgan. "You didn't have to kill them..." He frowned and then hung his head, "Hm... I didn't see weapons around here or in the desk. They might have an armory. Would make sense and if they do it would be locked up tight."

"They were ready to kill me." I barked, "Or did you think those guns had blanks in them?" Leon hoisted the marine that passed out over his shoulder. "If we run into anymore soldiers we could use him as a hostage. Go ahead and lead on, I'll do any off the killing you can't." Leon sent out his shadow to walk beside the man.

Bass sighed and flapped up into the air, glancing about before nodding, "Might as well try this way." He flew down to a door and warily opened it up. "It's clear." He walked on in to see several doors there. "Uh... which one is the armory then?"

He rushed forward and sighed. "Doors complicate things." He growled. He dropped the marine off his shoulder and went to the first door to knock it down. A group of marines were sitting around a table drink tea.They took a moment to gather their thoughts, before realizing that the table was broken and Leon had already slammed one into the ground. "Lock me up without food?" He yelled, him in his shadow violently not killing anybody in the room. After he finished pounding the marines into an unconcious pulp he stepped out and sighed. "Nobody in there had my scythe.

Bass paled and slowly stepped back, "Uh... I can see that." He rubbed the back of his neck with a bit of worry, "You have... anger issues?" He asked with a weak smile. "Though with these other doors, it'll take some time to try and find the armory."

"You'd be angry too if you had drift through the sea in a lifeboat for six days with little water and food. Then these cowards had to chain me up." Leon's blood boiled. He roared and broke the other door. Three marines stood aiming at the door, shivering in fear. "Where is my scythe and my katana?!" He yelled. One of them could hardly speak, but managed to say a room number. "He said the room four doors down!" He told the man. "Go retrieve my scythe, I have buisness to take care of!" Leon and his shadow entered the room and closed the door softly. A minute latter and he reopened the door and exited, closing it behind him. "That room is a mess."

Bass nervously tapped his thumb hooks together and looked down, "Uh... I really think you should... calm down a bit. I mean, they were just doing their job... and you seem like a very angry individual." He said slowly and as carefully as possible. "Just... it's just some positive criticism is all."

"Their job is to capture or kill pirates." Leon replied, "They failed at capturing, so they must want to kill me. Anybody that wants to kill me should be prepared to die. I didn't earn the title White Haired Demon for going easy." He growled. Leon was holding his temper for this guy simply because he saved him and Wright, but he wasn't happy that his fun was being criticized. "Anyways, I gotta stretch a bit. Ever been completely chained up? It makes you just want to punch something."

Bass lowered his head and his ears drooped a bit as well, "Well... no.... " He said softly, "But... you can't be this angry all the time?" He asked in a half hopeful voice. He knew that if this man traveled with them on the ship, he very well could end up dead... or worse. He shuddered at that thought and sighed, "So... these weapons are precious to you then?"

"No, but I really wanted to kill some marines and I don't have money to buy new weapons." Leon explained. "And no, I am not this angry all the time. Normally I only kill when I a told to, or when I am not told to not kill people." Leon walked through the hallway and commanded his shadow to enter each room and beat the daylights out of the soldiers. "This is the room here. I'm sure there are weapons from other pirates, you want to take something?"

Bass flapped his wings a bit, 'Uh... I don't have hands." He said with a weak smile, "So I really can't hold anything."

"Well I could see why you aren't a killer then. Though that reminds me of a time when I had to kill three other pirates with my hands cuffed behind my back." Leon explained. He sent his shadow in to retrieve his weapons, "Used my head and body like a ram." Leon didn't explain the details of the paricularly gruesome fight, but did nod, "Yep, they didn't even expect it." His shadow came back with his scythe and katana. He strapped the katana to his side and held his massive scythe. "Now where do we go?"

Bass pointed back out, "Uh... they are up on the floor above us." He twiddled his thumb hooks together, "I can try and get you up there... but last time I could feel some strain. You're a big guy yes... and maybe I could get a third of the way up?" He answered with a frown.

Leon sighed. He figured he was a strain to carry. "I'll just break the floor, then I'll climb up." Leon whistled and his shadow began to grow to the height of the hall. "Break it!" He yelled. His shadow punched upward with massive force, creating a hole in the ceiling. Leon's shadow held onto the ledge and began to shrink back to normal size. Leon switched places with it and called down, "My shadow is virtually weightless! Unless you want him to take the long way and kill soldiers, I would bring him back to me!"

Bass nodded and walked over to the shadow, "Uh... well, never held a shadow before..." He called back up, "Do I just... grab it or something?"

"Of coure! It is solid until I call it back."

He nodded and went over, gripping it with one foot and began to fly up, "Huh... it is weightless." He flew up and threw the shadow to him, "There you go." He landed down and looked down the hallway, "Well, we'll just have to meet up with the others then."

"Shame I couldn't wipe out this entire prison, but I would hate to keep my saviors waiting." Leon called back his shadow and held out his arm, "After you kid."

He nodded and flew down the hallway, "Kuzo has a ship so we'll be able to get out of here so we need to move fast!"

Morgan, Kuzo, Zoe, Bass, and Leon - Prison, Loguetown

"Oh good, you got him," Kuzo said from down the hallway. He appeared in his larger, bulkier form before extending his arms out and shrinking down to his normal size as he approached them. He looked around them. "...Bass?" He asked, wondering where their bat-human went.

"Well, you were right about this circus," Morgan said with a smile to the admittedly cute (if somewhat scary because she can turn into a man eating dragon) girl. "I take it you are their ringleader then. Well thanks, really appreciate it. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to see myself out now. Thanks again!" Morgan said to the shapeshifter with a bow. He wasn't going to stick around longer than he needed to. And he wasn't about to stick with another crew, especially one as stupid enough to break into a high security prison to break him of all pirates out. Clearly, whoever they were, they didn't read up on Morgan's history. Or bother to listen to any of the rumors. Or at least try to learn the story behind his name. The reason why he earned the moniker "The Burning King." He wasn't because it simply sounded pretty. No, there was a long story behind it. One worth hearing, but not one Morgan liked telling. It was that story that made him who he is today. And it was that story that explained why the so called "rookie" traveled alone.

"You're not going anywhere!" Zoe shouted at him, her voice struggling to carry over the sound of rowdy inmates and cacophony of battles nearby. "We went through a hell of a lot of trouble to get you out and I'll be damned if your little pretty boy face is just going walk right out the door on us." Putting her hands on her hips and eyeing him angrily, she pouted and thought about transforming once more, if only to make herself seem more imposing. She decided that could wait until later, he already knew what she could do. What she didn't know, was what he was capable of. Here he was, in a high security prison and he seemed harmless as a church mouse. Then again, she knew just how harmless church mice could be.

"I think you owe us. You either pay up or I transform and lock your ass back in another cell!"

Morgan rolled his eyes and turned back to face the girl. She was feisty, and truthfully if Morgan wasn't so against the idea of running with a group of pirates, she would probably be near the top of the list of people he would join. He sighed, raising his arm up and without as much as a second thought, blasted a hole in the wall with a fairly sizable fireball. The Grand Justice could be seen clearly from the harbor from the new window that Morgan created with his renovation. "There. A new escape route. Consider us even." Morgan turned to the other guy. "Are we even now? Can I go? Or do you need help cleaning up the mess you people found yourself in?"

Kuzo quietly smiled as he looked between Morgan and Zoe arguing with each other. He whistled lowly at Morgan's display of his Devil Fruit, burning a hole through the wall, approaching the hole and looking out into the bay, where his ship, as well as a good portion of Loguetown, was visible. He admired the view for a moment longer, before turning back to Morgan. "Kuzo," He began. "The name's Tristan D. Kuzo. That there's Zoe," He pointed to her as he mentioned her name. "I think you probably met Bass before too, wherever he is..." He looked around wondering where his other crew-mate was. Shrugging it off for now, he turned back to Morgan and smiled cheerfully at him. "Welcome to the crew."

Morgan could only blink at Tristan. "Never heard of ya. and I'm not interested," he began. "I fly solo nowadays. I appreciate you breaking me out and all. And in return, I won't burn your ship down if I bump into it out on the Grand Line." He finished as he approached his hole in the wall. He felt a few rocks from the ceiling trickle down onto his head. "Now, if you excuse me. I got places to be, crap to steal and ships to burn."

Kuzo looked around the room of the prison, catching sight of Zoe, who had a fairly angry look on her face. "Ah, yeah, I could see you doing real fine on your own," He said, grinning at the situation which Morgan was in before they came along. "And I'm sure you'll do well trying to find your way out of Loguetown without a ship on your own, especially with the entire island probably out to get you once they figure out you're free." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall next to the hole Morgan made. "If I were you and I ran across someone who was offering a free ticket away, I'd take that in a hurry."

"But I could tell you're a man that'll compromise, so how about this: You come with me to my ship, and we'll sail to the Grand Line together. The first island we hit, you and I will fight. If I win, you're apart of my crew. If you win, I'll let you leave, and as a bonus, I'll give you my ship." He grinned again to Morgan. In the background, he could hear the Marines slowly moving to their position, but he didn't appear to be too bothered by it. "So, what do you say?"

Morgan took a deep breath and sighed a bit. Whoever this Kuzo was, he had a point. As confident as Morgan was, he didn't have a ship and the Marines would hunt him down. Especially that Kiba guy. Morgan was a good fighter, but even he couldn't take out an entire armada of Marines himself. As much as the fact was painful to hear ringing in his ear, he didn't have any other choice. Though the pain in his ear could be nothing more than the after effects of more pieces of the ceiling falling around Morgan and the others with greater frequency. "Fine, Kuzo. You got yourself a deal," Morgan said. He needed a new ship and whatever Kuzo could do was probably nothing compared to Morgan. He never heard of the kid before, so he probably was an arrogant rookie. Morgan was one himself, and one beating later, he learned his place. That's all Kuzo needed to do. He needed to learn his place. "So where is this ship of yours?" God, I hope its not a piece of crap, Morgan thought to himself. I really don't want another broken-ass ship.

Kuzo nodded. "Great to hear," He turned around, looking through the hole, and pointing down to the harbor. "It's over there, in the harbor. Once Bass comes back, we can all go there together."

Leon pulled ahead of Bass by using his shadow. He arrived at the group and sighed, They are all kids. He kneeled down on one knee and said, "My name is Reaper K. Leon, I apologize for out lateness." Even kneeling down, he was a hulking monster. Afterwards he stood up, that would be the last time he would kneel for a long time. "I wish to join your crew."

"Hmm...sure," Kuzo said simply, somewhat amused by the way the large man who introduced himself as Leon conducted himself, especially with the kneeling. "Welcome to the crew, Leon." He said, introducing the others to him individually as they waited for Bass.

Bass flew over a while later, though looked a bit... disturbed. "Hey, so when are we go-" He paused and flapped in mid-air, in shock for a moment, "Uh... was that hole there before?" He inquired warily. "If not it'll be a good exit out of here, I keep hearing other Marines coming so we should skedaddle." He landed down and glanced about, "Sooo.... anyone we're missing or are we all good?"

The sounds of Marine soldiers were loud and getting louder. They were probably on the same level as the group, and would be there momentarily. "We're all here," Kuzo announced with a smile. "This should be enough..." He said with a nod of his head. "Alright, the ships in the port. Let's get to it, and get outta here."

Kuzo jumped out of the hole Morgan created just as the Marines could be seen down the hallway. Bullets began to fly down the hall and over the pirates' heads. Being on the upper levels of the prison, Kuzo decided to activate his ability before touching down, his body bulking up just before impact. Instead of touching down lightly, he slammed onto the pavement of the street, cracking it up and producing a hole where his feet impacted. At least he saved himself any injury. Expecting the others to follow him down the hole, he reverted back to his normal form, and ran down the street towards the harbor, the citizens moving to the left and right to get out of his way.

Bass heard them coming and flinched as the first shots were fired. He didn't need any orders to jump out of the hole and spread his wings. He flew up high and then glanced down. A idea formed in his mind as he landed before Kuzo and presented his back to him. "Grab onto my neck. I'll be able to get us a bit of height in the air and my legs are tired right now anyways."

"Go!" Leon roared at his shadow. There was no way he would personally jump down such a height. His shadow leaped down and he switched with it. He called it back and sighed. "Even though the place is coming down, I really am disappointed at the number of marines I didn't kill." Leon said looking up. He rushed out of the prison and stampeded onto the streets, knocking over civilians that were not fast enough to move out of his way, and sending his shadow at any marines that were in front of him. He didn't stop to admire the crumbling building, he was more content on getting to the docks as quickly as possible to clear any marines awaiting him there.

As much as Zoe hated to admit it, Morgan's hole did prove to be quite useful in this instance. Seeing Kuzo jump out and down, batman doing the same, she thought it best to follow suit, especially after the bullets started flying. Running by Morgan as she made her way to the hole, she bumped into him ever so slightly, just to let him know she still didn't much care for him. "Come on, idiot," she yelled, her tone sarcastic and annoyed. "Might wanna keep that face pretty, you got s**t for brains."

Jumping and transforming twice in quick succession, into a dragon mid-air and then human after she landed again, she took off after Kuzo. Still a few steps behind him, she asked, "You sure we need this Morgan guy? I don't like him and he gives me the willies."

Morgan laughed a bit at Zoe as she jumped out his window. "What a bitc-" Another rock clocked him in the head and he looked up to see the ceiling was coming down at an accelerated pace. "Ah, crap...not again." Morgan dove out of the hole, head first as he practically swam in the open air. After all, he couldn't really swim, seeing how his devil fruit took away that ability years ago. His goal was to land as close to Zoe and Kuzo as possible, so he made sure to launch himself as far as he could on his descent. Upon impact, his body burst into flames, only to recollect itself as Morgan entered a mid-stride, closely following Zoe. "Sup?" He only said, before turning his head back to the prison. The once solid foundation came tumbling down, and where Morgan's hole once was, was a collasped floor. The stones that constructed that forsaken structure crashed to the ground. Loguetown's fortress was collapsing into ruin. "Well, thank god, we got out of there when we did," Morgan muttered with a nervous chuckle.

Kuzo chuckled with Morgan, examining the damage they, or more particularly Morgan, had caused in the prison. He remembered reading before about the Burning King's 'talent' for destruction, and he was guessing this was only a taste of what was to come. He couldn't help but look forward to it.

"Sure," Kuzo replied, deciding to take up Bass on his offer. "Just hang on a second," He said, holding his hand up to give him a moment. He bent his knees once more, and said under his breath again, "Lightning Mode," and reverted to the skinnier form he had been in earlier in the plaza. He then made his way to Bass, clinging onto him. When he put his entire weight on the bat-human, Bass would have found that Kuzo, in this form, was surprisingly light, maybe only about 30 kilograms total. "All set," Kuzo said to Bass.

Bass nodded and gave a few flaps of his wings. He kicked off from the ground and soon the two were up in the air. Bass flew up higher and higher until they were high over the town and they could see the harbor. "Heh, you're pretty light." Bass commented as he glided along the wind. He glanced down at the activity occurring near the ships and flew down a little lower, "So then, can you pick out your ship? Tell me if you need me to get lower."

Kuzo grinned, spotting the vessel in the port. It was displayed prominently towards the end, already in position for the grand ceremony it was supposed to take part in earlier in the day. Unfortunately, Kuzo had a different ceremony in mind for it. "There it is," Kuzo pointed to the Grand Justice.

Kuzo and Bass - Loguetown

Bass blinked and gulped at the sigh, "T-That!? Uh... but that's a Marine vessel!" Bass stammered out, "You honestly think we have enough manpower to storm that ship? I mean, we do have a lot of people now, but still! Most of us will end up riddled with bullet holes! Kuzo, please tell me you're joking, that you're going to burst into laughter then point to a smaller one and say you're just kidding and that you enjoyed the look on my face!"

Kuzo grinned in response, looking below as Marines split up pursuing Morgan, Zoe and Leon, while another group trailed the two of them through the sky, firing shots at them to try and bring them down. "We can do it," He replied calmly to Bass. He kept his grin on his face, trying to reassure his new crewmate that it could be done. Kuzo know it would be tough, but he also knew the best things in life weren't those that came easy. "It's got our names written on that thing, I know it."

He nodded, looking over the ship in the distance as they began to make their way closer and closer to it. He patted Bass on his back to reassure him some more. "It might be tough, but that's what'll makes it fun."

Bass sighed as he weaved in the air to avoid the bullets, "Fine then, if I die though, I'm haunting you for the rest of your life." With that Bass pulled in his arms and began to speed down to the boat like a bullet. "Hold on. I'll try and get you somewhere close to the boat and then you have to get off. I'll need to start picking off the Marines off there, so work to keep them occupied!"

"Fair enough!" Kuzo replied, still keeping a grin on his face as he held onto his bandanna on his head with an arm as Bass dived in. The Marines in the area around the pier seemed to be plenty, which meant meant getting around and untying the boat, and getting on it for that matter, would be tough. He looked around, confirming that there were about four or five ropes tying the ship to the harbor, as well as the anchor. He quickly relayed to Bass just as he was about to jump off into the sea of Marines.

"Bass, there's about twenty ropes attaching the ship to the harbor. We need to get all of them off before we can set sail. I'll distract them, you get to work on that," He said, just as he let go of the bat-human and descended. His light form made him go down rather slowly, before he suddenly morphed in mid-air as he called out, "Tank Mode!" This altered him into the bulky form he had before, slamming fast onto the ground and gaining the attention of the Marines around. The shockwave knocked a few of them to the ground, while others lost their balance and also fell. The ones further out managed to hang on and point their weapons at Kuzo.

In particular, he saw a young woman among the Marines, around his age with dark blue-green hair, a brown-shirt and pants combo with a Marine coat over that, though apparently it appeared to be customly tailored to a darker color she designed. One look from her and he could tell she must have been in charge around here.

"Kiba said some pirates would be coming," She said calmly but firmly, in a voice much louder and sharper than her size fit. "But I don't recognize you," He commented, twisting her head in hopes that that would help jog her memory. "I am Ingela Hasey, Lieutenant of the Marines and second-in-command to Kiba's platoon. I am 22 years old, having been invited into the Marines four years ago, by my father, who is Logan Hasey, a Vice Admiral. I have been assigned to Kiba two and a half months ago, after showing exemplary work in the line of...."

Ingela continued to talk for quite a while, sharing more and more about her to the point that it was both comical and unnecessary to Kuzo, who stayed there surrounded by the Marines as he hoped Bass was already working on prepping the ship.

"Ma'am!" One of the soldiers said finally, interrupting her. "You're talking too much again!"

"Eh?" She looking at the Marine, then back at Kuzo. "So I have. I guess I was in the moment. It must be because as a child, my father was away a lot, and I only got to speak with him very little when he was with me, so I would save everything I had to say and say it to him once I saw him for that short time, thus making our time togeth-"

"Ma'am!" The Marine soldier spoke up again, reminding her she was going on another long speech."

"Ah, right," She said, looking at Kuzo. "Your group has been causing quite a mess around Loguetown. We're taking you all in."

Kuzo smiled at Ingela. "Sorry, can't let you do that," He said, continuing to distract the Marines as they prepared to fire at Kuzo. He hoped Bass was making progress.

"We're not giving you a choice." She responded.

Bass meanwhile flew about, letting his claws snap the ropes quite easily although every so often he found himself caught with a rope or two that had multiple knots in it. He glanced down at Kuzo's predicament and frowned. Being surrounded was no good and it seemed that someone was talking very loudly and not giving any breath to pause. Sheesh, he was being given a lecture down there and Bass kind of felt guilty about it. Kuzo didn't have to be talked down to in such a way, but that was life he supposed. He just hoped he didn't meet anyone that would talk for so long himself.

Finally he got to the last rope and snapped it apart, "Hey! You guys might want to look up every once in a while!" He shouted down as he quickly began to fly up into the sky. He glanced down and narrowed his eyes, he knew where to go. He pulled his wings into his body and flew down like a bullet and in the blink of an eye grabbed a marine and let him go quickly afterwards, his speed combined with lifting the marine off helped to send him off the side of the dock.

The Marines instantly turned to see the bat creature had be floating around, and took one of the Marines off of the dock. The others began spraying both of them with bullets. Kuzo instantly reacting, charging forward and hitting his large fists into Marines and knocking them off the side of the dock to the water, while blocking any other bullets that came at his body with his massively sized arms, which had the bullets bounce off of them with little damage done to them. They would need to take off the rest of the Marines in the pier until others arrive, and they would be able to leave on the ship. But with Ingela Hasey and a rather large group of Marines present, it wouldn't be easy.

Kuzo hit through a few Marines, knocking them to the side before realizing he would probably not be able to take them all on. Making a small path through them, he began to have them chase him, leading them a bit away from the ship so that the others would be able to get on more smoothly.

Reaper K. Leon, Wright D. Morgan and Zane Zoe - Streets of Lougetown

Leon roared as more marines gathered around him "I'll show you the consequence for locking me up!" He was now running off of adrenaline and willpower. His shadow danced around him, protecting him from bullets. Eventually the marines learned they couldn't just shoot at him, and retrieved chains and ropes to supress him. A chain managed to wrap itself around his arm, but he easily yanked it from the holder and used it as a weapon. He managed to kill or disable at least twenty marines before being chained down again. "Once I get out of these chains I'll kill every single marine on this island!" He roared. Any marine that got close was attacked by his shadow, and the only thing they could do was restrain the monstrous demon in hopes he would tire out.

"How did I get stuck with the jailhouse duo?" Zoe muttered under her breath to nobody in particular. Just as she was about to go flying off behind Kuzo, she saw that burly white haired fellow go under quite the assault. It was impressive, his skill in battle and manipulating what seemed to be his shadow left her in awe. His pure destructive power was like an uncaged animal that was finally cornered and ready to pounce. She could kind of sympathize with that in a way. That feeling of strength and rage you get when on the edge. Would they be okay on their own? Morgan certainly seemed capable, if abrasive on first blush. He had an air about him, a confidence. Was it a show, or did he actually feel that way? It was impossible for her to tell and it made her…unnerved.

Deciding it best to stick close with them for the time being, she did so more out of curiosity than smarts. In the back of her mind, she reasoned that she could always fly away and leave them if anything fishy started going on anyway. Running forward, leaving Morgan behind by a short step, she jumped, transformed and tackled a marine to the ground, her weight crushing him, but bite to the neck putting him down for good. Normally, Zoe wouldn't ever want to kill anyone so lightly, but these marines weren't playing and they wouldn't hesitate to take her down in return.

"Leave us alone!" She snarled and whipped at them with her tail, a few losing their grips on weapons and chains. Stealing a second to glance at Morgan, she wondered if he would help with their battle or take this chance to sneak away and back out on his deal. If he did sneak off, she swore that he would wish for prison again.

Yet when she turned around, all she saw was fire and in the beating heart of it was Morgan. Marines attempted to surround the pirate, yet a ring of flame kept them away. A simple tactic really, but Morgan enjoyed simplicity when it came to strategy. Complexities were unnecessary. He leapt through the flames and charged one marine with a flaming fist, knocking the marine into a nearby building. A marine attempted a sneak attack with a sword, but Morgan dodged the attack and slugged the marine with another fire fist sending him into another building. The others seemed a bit unnerved, if only because Morgan took of two of their friends so easily. Morgan just taunted them: "Want my advice? Take me all at once." He said it with his signature smirk. One that he wished stained his wanted poster. The remaining Marines all charged forward and Morgan stood his ground, hands at his side, as if he didn't particularly care what they were going to do. It was fearless. No. Reckless.

BOOM.

A snapping of fingers echoed throughout the street. But what was seen. What was smelt. What was felt. That was an explosion. Fire filled the street and dust the air as the wave of marines that pursued Morgan and Zoe turned to a field of bodies, with their drowning groans and burnt skin filling the air with the putrid sights of a plague. Morgan skipped through the streets to make his way back to Zoe, when a single marine struggled to pick himself up to face Morgan.

"Die, you pirate scum!" he yelled as he fired his pistol. Morgan had no time to dodge or react. The bullet went straight throw Morgan's head. His face dissipated. It was gone. Until flames recollected themselves and put his features back together.

"Do your homework. I am the Burning King. I am fire," Morgan said before grabbed the gun of the marine, and set his body aflame, leaving him alive enough to tell the tale. Morgan turned back to Zoe, smiled and then launched a fireball at her. However, the attack whizzed by her and took out the marine that was about to sneak attack the white dragon. "Don't let my hottness distract you, babe," he said with a wink.

That heart of flame….pulsating, dancing about in a gorgeous ballet of destruction. Zoe had never seen such a thing. All this came from one man? That towering inferno that sent men running and scorched the earth like armageddon itself. It was horrific and yet artistic. Everything was so controlled and precise, bending to the fire wielder's will. What kind of demon was he? He was shot in the head, or so it seemed and he still lived.

As he finished, Zoe flinched away from the flame he shot at her before realizing it was meant to protect her, she found herself actually about to thank the man before catching herself. He than began to tease her and insinuate that she had been watching him for reasons wholly unrelated.

"D-don't call me babe," she barked at him, her face flushing at the use of such a pronoun. "I ain't your damn babe!" Turning away and shrinking back down again, her hands clenching and flexing as she gripped her rapier in its sheath. It was an old habit of hers, something she did when agitated or flustered. "Besides, it seems you're the one who's all hot under the collar."

"That's what they all say...babe," Morgan said with a chuckle, as he nudged her on the shoulder playfully. "Now then, what do you say about helping our friend Leon down there?"

Leon's head throbbed with all of the fire based puns. He roared infuriated, "These puns are making me burn with anger!" and upon realizing his own pun, he lashed out at marines near him, breaking free of his remaining chains and lashing out at them with scythe and linked metal. With the two of them in the air, he could not attack them, so he attacked the next best thing. Everyone on the street. Him and his shadow roared, causing an echo that could be heard for a mile. He slew numerous marines with his scythe, while his shadow merely knocked them unconscious. He killed with frightening efficiency, he was all over the field, switching places with his shadow constantly. Him and his shadow seemed to dance a feral dance that brought fear into the soldiers. Some ran from the flames, others ran from the reaper. Regardless of their reason, there was no doubt that two demons were on the field. When he had run out of marines, he became more angry and started using his shadow to destroy the walls of close buildings. He eventually calmed down after the entire street looked like a victim of a fire and a rampaging elephant. He calmed himself with deep breaths and called his shadow back. "Lets get to the ship." He growled through his teeth, breathing heavily, "Before more marines arrive and I lose my mind." A marine crawling away was kicked hard in the stomache, knocking him out cold, and receiving an audible and low roar from Leon.

"I, uh, think he's got it covered down there…" Zoe whispered to Morgan, inching subconsciously ever closer to him as if he was a human shield. Between the frightening hulk of a man with anger issues and the flippant man of fire, she figured the human torch was a safer bet. That pained her to admit, as she didn't much care for Morgan and his flirtatious ways, but she also didn't much like the thought of getting caught up into Leon's murderous rampage. Something about that white haired demon said he would grab her scaly hide and skin her for boots. Not a thought she particularly enjoyed entertaining.

After Leon seemed to calm down, he mentioned offhand about getting to the ship and doing so before he lost his mind. Zoe found that last point particularly funny and had to bite her tongue so as not to mention that it looked like he already had. "Uhm, sure Mr. Scary Shadow man. We can go find the boat now. Zoe friend to Leon. Leon no hurt Zoe. Please? Maybe Leon hurt Morgan instead?" She turned and winked at the young man, a teasing smile on her mouth. "There you go…babe."

Before he could answer, she left the two men behind, her casual, and relaxed stroll down the wrecked street an odd match for the surroundings. She could have ran and she could have flown, but she didn't want to be tired for what may be ahead. Besides, it wasn't too far to the docks now. Based on the battle and screams she could hear nearby, she knew exactly which ship to go to.

Down along the path Zoe now walked, another Marine chose to make his appearance known. Commander Youra looked around at the destruction that the three pirates had caused. It was a mess, with Marine soldiers lying around everywhere, and buildings being set ablaze or broken apart. He gritted his teeth as he faced them. He may have been proud, but he was also not foolish. Against devil fruit users, he had to be prepared, and thankfully, he was.

"The White Haired Demon and the Burning King both in the same crew," He began, pointing toward them a sword which was dripping water from its tip. On his back, he had attached a barrel as well, filled to the end with seawater. "And I bet you're also with Skellen and the others from the plaza. All one crew, right under our noses and we didn't know at all about it!"

Youra grinned and gripped his sword tightly. "This is my chance to take you all down and outclass that fool Kiba! I'll bring you in and all of the rewards will go to me!"

Youra ran forward, surprisingly being more agile that his appearance led on. The dangers of his water-dripped weapon meant that against the three Devil Fruit users, he had an advantage, including the Logia-wielding Morgan, who could be hurt by the sword. He struck his blade forward, attempting to impale the girl pirate closest to him.

The blade glided over the girl as Morgan dove forward, tackling her out of the way and they rolled against the ground. In most of these cases, he would say something out of order. A continuning reminder that Morgan rarely follows social norms. However with Youra hounding over them with a water dripped sword, he spared them the moment. "You alright?" Morgan asked to Zoe as he picked himself up. He didn't particularly care for the answer, because he knew deep down that she was fine. She was tough. Fiery enough (he was an authority on such matters). It just felt appropriate to ask.

Zoe only nodded, jumping back up to her feet. She might have mumbled a thanks, but it was so low that Morgan might not have heard it. In the back of her mind, she knew that she owed him a proper thanks, but she couldn't swallow it, not now anyway. Transforming and standing to Morgan's side, she gave a furious roar that seemed to shake the sky. They had to hurry and end this. She didn't know this guy and what his problem was, but he was in her way. The ship was waiting.

"Commander Youra. Up to your old tricks again, I see," Morgan said, as if talking to an old friend. "I gotta admit, the sword is a nice trick. Kiba teach ya that one?" Morgan parted his feet and took a basic fighting stance, taking Youra a bit more seriously than the others. "But let's see if you can even put that to good use." Morgan emitted flames from his body, making the ground precarious to walk. Anything to make Youra's approach that much more dangerous, all before daring him to attack. He could probably just annihalte him where he stood with an attack. But where was the fun in that?

"Bah, Kiba!" He growled his name. "The fool doesn't know any new tricks! He just keeps his old secrets. Frankly I'm surprised you even know he's here. If you do, then you know how hopeless escape is!" Youra acted quickly, shaking his body wildly by jumping up and down, thereby dumping the water forward along the path where the fire lit up, giving him a path toward Morgan. He struck his sword forward a few more times in an impaling motion, trying to harm the fire manipulator. Suddenly, Leon approached him.

Leon tapped the handle of his scythe on the ground as loud as he could. His shadow appeared next to him and took it from him. Leon unsheethed his katana and stood calmly. He looked at his target and pointed his sword at him. His shadow dashed forward at a frieghtening speed, stopping just a few feet behind the new enemy.Leon swung his sword and switched places with his shadow. Leon dismissed his shadow and growled, "I will kill you without my shadow." He swung his katana down six times with a speed that could rival a gunshot. Each time was blocked, but the force weakened his oppenent greatly. Leon broke his guard with a different swing and kicked him toward Morgan.

Youra tried to hold up his guard at the giant man, but he was much more stronger even than his size showed, and he eventually was pounded through by his sword swings. But as he was kicked to Morgan, he grabbed the barrel of water on his back, and attempted to dump it on the three of them. Youra then yelled loudly in the air. "RAAAAAAAGH!" He swung his sword wildly, trying to cut the three of them in pieces, hoping the water he tried to dump on them was successful in giving him the advantage. "You're just an obstacle to my climb up the ladder!"

Morgan stepped back from the wild sword swings and released another ring of fire, this time surrounding the commander. The flames were blazing hot, as if Lougetown suddenly became a harsh desert. The sudden wave of heat caused a cloud of steam to rise up from the ground. The water from the ground, sword and barrel to slowly evaporate. Morgan walked through the flames as the steam grew ever thicker. "Looks like the ladder is broken," Morgan said with a smile. Youra's face was pale with a small degree of fear as the fire man approached the marine. Youra charged forward with a sword swing, but Morgan dodged the attack and slugged the man with a fire fist. Then Morgan, grabbed the marine by the collar before launching him out of the fire circle with a focused blast of fire. Youra crashed to the ground, mere inches away from the dragon.

Zoe looked down at the man, he looked so small from her serpentine vantage point. For a split second, she thought about eating him, right there on the spot. She had never done that before, never even considered it. In the back of her mind, she knew it was wrong but the compulsion was still there. Besides, she had a suspicion that he wouldn't agree much with her stomach.

"You should have left me alone," she hissed at him, her head stooping lower to look at him in the eye. "It seems you know the others. I must say, I'm quite insulted." Zoe let loose a belly laugh, a sound quite frightening in her current form. "My name is Zane Zoe, and I am a pirate."

With a vociferous roar, she caused the winds to shake and pressure to drop rapidly in the man's ears. Blood began to slowly trickle out, pooling on the cobbled ground below. "Remember me." She whispered menacingly, himself probably unable to hear her words anyway. Picking him up in her jaws, and with a mighty twist of her head, she sent him soaring into the heart of the town. She cared not if he lived or died. If he died, then he was no longer an issue. If he lived, she had a feeling he would indeed remember her quite clearly. That would only help to spread her eventual fame.

Transforming down once more, she looked at the others with a satisfied and almost innocent look. "Well, looks like he had to fly."

Leon watched the man fly away and roared angrily, "I wanted to kill him!" he growled. Leon paced around the burning town, kicking down parts of building that were weak but still held up. He contemplated attacking the dragon girl, but knew that it was no point. He called his shadow back and took his scythe back and sheathed his sword. He mumbled some angered words that would've been incomprehensible to listeners. As he walked toward the two kids he growled, "I'm going to the docks."

"We're going to the docks," Morgan said to Leon. "After all, we are all part of Kuzo's crew." He shrugged, as if he wasn't buying the words himself. "Just a question of what ship is actually his. Our wonderful captain neglected to tell us what his ship looked like. Unless you know...milady," Morgan finished, rolling his eyes over to Zoe.

"Just follow the sounds of violence," she answered him with an eye roll of her own as she walked away from him.

"Good enough for me." Leon growled following her.

Kiba, Skellen, Mason, Rosa - Loguetown

Skellen watched with a look of confusion and interest as the batman and the nut job on the execution platform above him were joined by yet a third bizarre arrival - a girl (she looked young enough to still be a girl to Skellen anyway) who seemed to have eaten a Zoan fruit that allowed her to turn into a dragon. Well, that's a new one. There's a whole circus up there now. That's great. It does not however help me with all the marines that are about to show up.

Sure enough, within a few moments of Skellen thinking just that, a large number of marines began to pour into the plaza, spreading through the crowd. "Get the Taipan!" he heard one of the men shout as well as something more about a crew.

"Crew? Those guys?" Skellen asked, gesturing to the group above who were now looking down at the marines. His queries however were not met with much of a response, rather all hell broke loose. Several of the marines broke off from the group in front of Skellen, chasing after another pirate they seemed to have noticed in the crowd. The trio on the platform also hurriedly fled in a similar direction, drawing some of the ever-growing group marines with them. Leaving Skellen alone to deal with the small army now filling the plaza, aiming muskets at him. "Do you still think they're my crew? I mean seriously, who just abandons a guy like that?" Skellen said irritably to the group of marines before him before shouting after the batman and the others "Seriously batman! Excellent rescue mission you jackass!"

Right... marines.

As the hail of musket ammunition streaked towards Skellen he swiveled to be behind one of the thick wooden supports of the execution platform, feeling it shake as lead projectiles hammered into the wood. Not waiting a second longer, Skellen sprinted out from behind the support, running into the crowd of onlookers in the opposite direction to the way the trio had gone. Running full pelt through the crowd Skellen pondered his next course of action as much as he could whilst he ran. I have to get off of the island, fast. I need their ship, there will be prisoners on it so I'll have people who can help me man it... I'm definitely stealing that ship.

Skellen slid to a halt in the middle of the wide street, the crowd having quickly dispersed at the appearance of such a large group of marines, finding himself surrounded by several men in the marine uniform who had come from the other direction. Skellen narrowed his eyes, looking carefully at the marines around him. His grin replaced with a malevolent smirk.

Twenty... I don't know if I'll be able to handle twenty. But I'm taking as many down with me as I can.

In a single movement Skellen whirled around, four thin razors finding their way into his hand from within his coat, and launching them at the marines behind him. He then dropped to the ground as several of the marines now behind him fired at him intinctively, the projectiles flying over his head in the same direction the razors had flown. Those who had been cut by Skellen's blades may have laughed at the small cuts inflicted at first, but within seconds they had fallen to the ground unable to move. Several other marines on that side fell to the ground also, taken out by friendly fire. Skellen wasn't waiting for the marines left to regroup, he rolled forward coming to his feet directly in front of the larger group of marines - a knife ending up in his right hand. Skellen quickly slashed the closest marine, leaving only a small wound before dashing to the next as the group tried to rush him - only making his job easier.

Skellen dived out of the way of a clump of the marines, cutting another as he did so, and as he returned to his feet looked at them - pure loathing emenating from his features.
"He barely even cut any of us! People call this guy dangerous?" one of the marines shouted, rallying his companions to rush Skellen again. "You people really are as stupid as you look. Remember what happened to the first four guys who only got small cuts off of me? They didn't name me after one of the worlds most poisonous snakes for no reason." At the end of Skellen's statement the screams started. One by one the marines Skellen had slashed with the knife began to drop to the ground, rolling around in agony and screaming at the top of their lungs. Five marines were left standing now, looking at Skellen with the same look of hatred he gave them. Five left... I've actually got this. I'm going to have fun with these five. Skellen grinned at the remaining marines, a sadistic smile across his face.

A bullet flew by Skellen's face. It was close enough for Skellen to feel the air be cut beside his face, though far enough to leave him unscathed. "That was a warning shot," said another that marine came out from behind the other five, parting the group in two groups. "Test my patience and the next one will be far more painful." He was clearly the officer in charge, as the marines around him gave him plenty of the room to approach Skellen. He was pale with narrow eyes tucked behind a mass of wavy black hair, holding a pistol in one hand, as he fixed his tailored uniform in the other. He had an air of authority around him, as well as one of intensity. He was not a man to be tested; that much was clear. "So you are the one called "The Taipan" aren't you Mr. Skeletor? I should of known Orca and his men wouldn't be able to capture you. A marine is only as competent as his commanding officer," the man said as he looked all the bodies of the marines left in Skellen's wake. He was clearly implying that the marines under the orders of Youra were lacking the desired skills to be an effective marine. "I am Commodore Zakiru Kiba. But you will know me as the marine that captured you." Kiba aimed the gun at Skellen, as if he was removing any sense of choice from the situation.

Skellen watched with contempt as the new arrival spoke to him. He held an air of authority about him - the kind of authority that would inspire fear in most, but only disdain in The Taipan. Skellen didn't flinch as Kiba aimed the gun directly at him. "Tell me, Mr. Commodore" he said to the wavy-haired man threatening him, his voice calm and cold, all traces of his earlier jubilant behaviour long gone "did they tell you what it is I do? I make it my business to see to it authoritarian trash such as yourself ends up in the dump where you belong. I have not once been in the hands of a marine and I don't intend to be any time soon. So if you plan on taking me in - I suggest you give up. If you plan on killing me, I wish you luck."

"I can clearly see what you do. It is no different than any other pirate that I've seen. In fact, compared to dozens of other pirates I have fought, captured and killed it is rather mundane. Disappointing even," Kiba said, holding his gun in a slightly more relaxed manner. "However, it is not going to change the fact you will be stopped. One way or another. And do not think for a second that you are special, boy. I've heard countless pirates pose the same threat. Needless to say, they had to expand Impel Down because of me."

"Threat? I'm not making any threats. I'm simply stating a fact, I have gotten very good at getting rid of lunatics like yourself. I don't care how many pirates you have put away, you're going to have to do far better than that to impress me. So, how about you show me just how tough you are and pull the trigger?" Skellen stared at the Commodore through his narrowed, snake-like eyes, calculating his next move carefully. "Make your move big man. I dare you."

Kiba's face twisted in frustration at Skellen, keeping his gun raised. He wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger and be done with it. To watch the pirate collaspe to the ground in a pool of his own blood. To hear the cheers from his comrades. To feel the pride he could take in taking down another pirate. But...but. He flipped the gun, grabbing it by the barrel and clubbed Skellen in the face, before delivering a left hook, knocking the pirate to the ground. "I have orders to take you in. And that is what I will do. How conscious you are for your arrest is entirley up to you," Kiba said as he loomed over Skellen.

Skellen glared up at Kiba from the ground, his head and body throbbing. So now the fun begins... Skellen smiled at the Commodore:"I promise that you will be enirely concious right up until you die" with that he threw another of his poison-soaked razors upwards, intenionally missing the man (since he could have easily dodged it anyway) but throwing him off balance. Using this to his advantage he shot his leg out, whipping it around in a crescent and sweeping the marine's legs out from under him. Saying to him in that infuriatingly calm, mocking voice as he climbed to his feet: "You might want to dodge the razor blade that's falling back towards you."

Kiba dropped to the ground, but quickly rebounded and picked himself up propelling himself to his feet. The razor blade was dodged easily enough, Kiba not entertaining the idea of playing with Skellen. He always took his mission seriously, and no pirate was to be trifled with. Especially one with a bounty. "You shouldn't telegraph your moves. That is if you expect to escape from this," Kiba said with a smirk. "I heard the rumors about you, Skeletor. You specialize in poison. So don't think for a second that your usual bag of tricks are going to work." Kiba flipped the gun back to its regular grip, firing another warning shot. However, like Skellen's razor toss it was nothing more than a distraction, he leapt forward to deliever a quick combination strike, a left jab to the face, a knee to the gut, with the finishing toss to the side. "You are outmatched, so just give it up" Kiba said, aiming the gun at Skellen's head.

For a time, Skellen simply knelt there with the gun at his head. Various pains throbbing through his body, but that did not mean he was ready to go down just yet.
"Funny, you all have a tendency to say that right before you get stabbed with something."
Although this is a somewhat different method to what I would normally do...
In one motion Skellen drove the needle he was grasping in his right hand into the Commodore's leg and dove to the side out of the way of the inevitable gun shot - it was a risky move that could have got him killed but he figured it was probably worth the risk.
"See you in hell" Skellen sneered at Kiba as he rolled to his feet and sprinted down an alley - he may have been outgunned and outfought but he had no intention of being outsmarted. He had just stabbed Kiba with a needle full not of poison, but with a rather fast acting anesthetic that would numb the Commodore's limbs and make him feel rather drowsy.

Knowing that he would still have the Commodore after him for a while, Skellen climbed to the roof of a building, deciding that making a half-sedated man run an obstacle course would be a good way to watch said man fall to his death.
Even better... this is the way to the boat.

Rosa had finally picked out the perfect outfit. It had taken her quite a while to finally decide on the right combination of bows and girliness, she parted with her father's hard-earned money and skipped gleefully out of the boutique.

Prior to reaching the Executioner's Platform, Mason made it a point to avoid any and all trouble. It was a matter of focus rather than a matter of morals; if he were to divert his attention to something else, he wouldn't have been able to find the pirate he was looking for. After leaving the bar, he decided to head to the platform as it seemed to be a point where pirates were meeting in memorium and honor of the late great. That was what Mason assumed at least. They could have had ulterior motives, just as he did, but why they were there didn't really matter to him, it didn't change his goal.

Skellen glanced behind him as he leapt from roof to roof only to see four marines - he assumed the other had stayed to eye on the Commodore - clambering after him. This is beginning to become irritating... It was then that he saw her. A fairly young girl, dressed in very feminine attire, alone in the street unaware of the chase approaching her.
Sorry for this... Skellen jumped from the top of a lower roof, landing by the girls side. He then quickly pulled her too him so she was facing the marines and placed a scalpel to her throat.

Rosa winced at the scratch of the metal blade, unsure of exactly what she had stumbled in to. Staring down at the hand, the only part of the assailant she could see, at her throat she let out a quiet, mouse like shriek.

"Okay you guys back off or she ends up like the guy in the bar!" He called to the marines, who were now dropping to ground in front of them, as they did so he decided he would whisper in her ear though "Don't worry, I don't plan on actually slitting your throat so long as you play along."

The words offered little comfort to Rosa, she shuffled backwards towards the man, trying to show compliance without any sudden movements. The marines around them dropped back further, hesitant to attack with what appeared to be a child in the way. Just play along, Rosa told herself, eyes wide in fear.

Mason, who was heading towards the platform, heard the voice of an assailant. "...A hostage situation?" Mason said to himself. He was curious indeed, and while he was trying to avoid pretty much any trouble that he could, playing the hero certainly wouldn't put him on the marine's bad side, so his search wouldn't be impeded. Or maybe it would, as he knew that the marines were a sleazy bunch. Regardless, he had time to spare and frustration to take out, so he headed in the direction of the assailant.

It didn't take long for Mason to arrive. The assailant had his back to Mason and the marine officers and mooks watched him warily. He seemed to be holding a girl who, from what Mason could tell, didn't seem to be a pirate. No, she looked like a commoner, and she seemed scared out of her wit. It wouldn't have been right for him to do nothing, August always said that being a bystander was no good, especially in situations where there were no visible downsides. Quietly, Mason unhooked his scabbard from his side and watched Skellen carefully, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Then, in the blink of an eye, he leapt forward, swinging his scabbard at Skellen's head as one would motion for decapatation with a sword.

Skellen had been paying little attention to anyone other than the marines until he noticed someone inching towards him, it wasn't until the man took a swing at Skellen's head with a scabbard that he recognised him as a threat though. He barely ducked under the attack in time, losing his grip of the girl in the process.
"I had no intention of actually killing her you idiot!" he raged at the man - whom appeared to be a pirate - and giving him a malicious glare "now I'm probably going to have to run from them again!" he continued to yell, gesturing at the marines who were looking at the scene with confusion but slowly beginning to inch forward.

Rosa stumbled free, still caught in the middle of the madness. Suddenly the protection of the strange man didn't seem too bad - the marines around them were slowly closing in, they seemed intent on bringing in the gangly man. The new attacker, a swordslength away from Rosa, was equally intimidating. There was no direction to run in, no cover to hide behind, Rosa had no choice but to stand her ground in the middle of the battleground. The marines had a violent reputation, but pirates weren't much better.

Pirates... have ships. The penny dropped. A spark of genius. This man would be her ticket out of Logue Town.

Mason glanced at the other pirate without saying a word. The girl was free, and as such, Mason no longer had anything against her assailant. He ignored the man's words and looked at the marines. They seemed to be inching closer, no less weary of him than they were of the other pirate. A pirate was a pirate, after all; to a marine, they might as well have had the bounty of 1 million berries. He considered running while he had the chance...but the other pirate didn't really leave him any reason to abandon him. On the other hand, it wasn't really any of Mason's business.

Mason gave the man his attention and said, "You have a ship, I take it. Let's retreat to it." He glanced at the girl, who seemed to be stuck with them. "We'll take the girl that you roped into this with us." As he said this, he knelt down and gestured to Rosa. "Get on." Rosa complied less hesitantly than expected and clasped onto his shoulders.

Skellen found himself thinking of the Grand Justice... the boat was easily going to outrun and out manouver regular marine ships and he knew exactly where to find it.
"Uh... yeah... I have a ship." Kind of he said to his strange attacker, who now seemed intent of aiding them.
At least now I won't have to find much more in the way of help...
Throwing one of his many toxic razors towards the group of marines, who were now moving forward with far more confidence and trying to flank the rag-tag group and not even bothering to see if it hit (he doubted it would it was mostly just to throw them off for a second), Skellen turned and starting sprinting towards the Dock.
"I strongly recommend hurrying" he called back to his newfound companions.

Mason briefly looked in the direction of the razors before taking heed of Skellen's suggestion. Without taking the time to confirm whether Rosa was ready, he darted off in the same direction as the pirate. Guess I'll find my guy after all, he thought to himself. Mason didn't know exactly where to go, so he had to keep his eye square on Skellen and assume that the marines weren't catching up.

Skellen, with the large angry-looking pirate and the unnamed girl soon found themselves on the docks - which had the benefit of having boats all over the place and the downside of being crawling with marines. Skellen looked at his companions, a smirk across his face as he reached into his satchel and produced several more razors from within.
"You wanted to know which is mine?" he asked rhetorically before gesturing at the heavily guarded Grand Justice "It's that one, it just doesn't know it yet, and it is in need of liberating from the marines so I hope you're ready to fight for it." Skellen glanced at the collumbs of smoke coming from the other direction
"-and judging by that a lot more trouble is on the way so I suggest we hurry."

With that last statement Skellen rushed towards the boat, slashing any marine he came across and hurting the blades he carried at those that were too far off.
I am taking that boat.

Docks of Loguetown - The Beginning of the Golden Age!

The impressive technique by the Fishman Tunnak managed to block a few of the incoming shots, but the rest soared by, only narrowly missing the ship while others were blocked by the people on board. Kiba was quick to announce

But the shots, the guns and cannonballs fired at the Marine ship, never reached them. A loud, slicing sound was heard from the edge of the docks, screeching across the ears of the Marine soldiers, as well as Hasey and Kiba. This was followed by a visible cut stretching across the entire line of the positioned Marines on the ship. It felt like a whisp of a tornado passing by for just a moment, and leaving behind a deadly amount of damage, for just as it passed each of them, it cut cleanly through their guns, their cannons, and the entire side of the dock, causing a few of the Marines positioned right on the edge to fall in. Bewildered faces took possession of the Marine faces, and it wasn't until a voice spoke that they figured out who had caused this great disturbance.

"A new age is just at our doorstep," A voice began to say, the source of which came from the far end of the docks, at the end of the Marine line of fire. An enormous cut extended from the man with the sword all across the dock, clearly showing he was the source of the monstrous feet of strength. It came from the drunk following one of the groups, Wallace. He examined his sword closely, before wiping away a bit of wood remnants that managed to form on it from slicing through part of the harbor. "Alexander Sivers ensured it's dawning, but it was actually Fleet Admiral Kanaru who initiated it by defeating the King Pirates.

Now, you Marines want to try to prevent what you started. But the age of opportunity is inevitable!" Wallace grinned, pointing to the ship now in the distance. "They are apart of the new age! They'll help shape the world for years to come! I can't let you stop that, or them."

"Eh? Who do you think you're talking to?!" A Marine soldier shouted angrily at the man, clearly intimidated by his swordmanship, but not enough to keep quiet. Knowing the reputation of Zakiru Kiba closeby certainly helped in his confidence. "We're the Marines! We'll stop any pirate who gets in our way, including you!"

The Marine began taking out his sword, and approaching forward, but he was held back Lieutenant Hasey, who eyed the man intently. Two other Marine soldiers also held the man back. "Barringer Wallace," She said his name out loud. "What are you doing in these waters?" She asked, though from her tone it more seemed like a demand.

"Payin' my respects to an old friend," He replied, looking back through the town at the direction of the Execution Platform.

"And you're purposefully interfering with our capture of pirates, Warlord?" She was clearly displeased with the very presence of the man. Some of the Marines shot up in attention at the mention of a Warlord.

"Yah can't think too harshly on the actions of a dumb drunk, lass. Hooorararararararara!" He laughed loudly. The Marine who had previously tried to go after Wallace visibly went pale, as did many of the other Marines present.

Most would have easily recognized just the name Barringer Wallace, for it had become famous and synonymous with piracy. Yet when combined with the identity that this man was a Warlord, a powerful pirate turned privateer allied with the World Government, a very clear picture was painted of the man's identity.

Barringer Wallace, known by the epithet of the "Wandering Whirlwind" and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, was perhaps one of the most famous and well-known pirates now that the King Pirates were gone, for many reasons. He was once a former ally of the Kings before he was invited to join the Shichibukai/Warlords. He is one of the most senior member of the Warlords in terms of tenure. Yet the main reason he is so famous now is for a feat he had obtained even while the King Pirates reigned.

He is undoubtedly and unquestionably, the strongest swordsman in the world!

Skellen wasn't sure how it happened, but in the chaos he found himself sucked into a strange pirate crew of sorts. There was screams, bullets, a guy that looks like a fish and more noise than he ever wanted to hear again.

At the hail of cannon fire he had thrown himself to the deck, but now he was climbing to his feet again and taking stock of the situation.
Fire Guy and the fishman are both injured it seems... because of that Kiba guy. I don't have any obligation to help them... but it is because of the fish that we aren't floating in the water right now and I'd suggest that having allies right now is a good thing in general.

Skellen walked over to where the fishman was lying unconscious, blood pooling around him from the wound on his tail - he would have moved faster but he was still somewhat weary of his fellow pirates.
"Here, let me handle it" he said, sighing rather audibly as he knelt by Tunnak (not that he knew his name yet). Reaching into his satchel he pulled out a clean scalpel and began to use it to scrape the wound clean of any debris and dead tissue.
"I'm just guessing fishmen bodies respond the same way as pretty much everything else's" he said to nobody in particular as he proceeded to disinfect the wound with a chemical and rap it in bandages "alright, he's pretty much done but can someone move him below deck and rest him lying on his stomach? I don't want him laying on his tail."

From there he got up and made his way to the pirate who had been juggling a fireball.
"Try not to cry, I'm about to pull a bullet out of you." Which is precisely what he did, using a fresh scalpel he dug into the wound, expanding it slightly and eventually digging the Commodore's projectile form it letting it fall to the ground.
"It seems like you are as friendly with the Commodore as I am" he decided to continue chatting mindlessly whilst he worked, now tightly wrapping the wound "so I think we'll get along just fine."

Skellen stepped back from the Burning King and surveyed the people around him.
Most of them seem like they could be quite useful... I think I definitely want some of them as allies anyway. I owe Kiba a very miserable and drawn-out death and they will be helpful in making that happen.
"So yeah, that's my party trick. I'm Skellen, the Taipan, and I'll either fix you or poison you depending on whether I like you or not" he said grinning at what appeared to be his new crew... although it seemed like the guy with the bandanna was running the show.

The Grand Justice - Open Sea

Kuzo sighed in relief, clenching his fists together and reverting back to his normal form as the bullets and cannons stopped firing, the cause of which was due to some commotion on the docks. He wasn't sure what had caused the firing to cease, and he didn't really care. The important thing was, he had succeeded in finding a crew, finding a ship, and beginning his adventure to the Grand Line.

Of course, he had no idea who half of the people on board were, and judging by the faces of the people on board, most would be slow to trust each other. It was his job, he felt, to try to bring them all together. Whether they knew it already or not, they had just joined his crew. Kuzo looked at the faces of all of the gathered people, smiling cheerfully at all of them, but not saying much beyond that. He watched in silence as the one who introduced himself as Skellen worked on fixing up Morgan and the Fishman.

Then, with Loguetown far enough in the background, he decided to take in his environment for the first time. Walking to the side of the ship, Kuzo looked out at the vast sea, the creamy currents splashing across the side of the boat as they sailed through, the familiar smell of the sea that he had come to love, the light breeze which cause his hair and bandanna just right to give him a calming sensation. He closed his eyes and took it all in for a moment.

"It's a great day to go out to sea," He said as he inhaled the smell of the sea once more, before calmly breathing it out. He opened his eyes, ready now to get to work. Walking past the others spread out around the deck of the ship, Kuzo approached the mast of the ship, looking all the way to the top of it to see a Marine flag prominently displayed. "First things first," He said as he bent his knees next to the mast, and inhaled a sharp breath.

"Lightning Mode!" He cried, his body reacting to his words and shrinking his frame, his size, and his overall body to a smaller, nimbler one. He stood upright for only a moment before he bent his knees again and jumped off the deck of the ship, his lighter frame carrying him all the way to the top of the Grand Justice. He touched down on the crow's nest at the top, and looked just above him to see the flag of the World Government. Reaching out, he teared the flag off the the mast, holding it in his arms for a moment as the wind began to flutter it, then released it as it was carried off into the ocean by the breeze. Kuzo followed the direction of the flag until the wind carried it into the water, and soon it was out of sight. He nodded in satisfaction, but also looked below at the sails.

"We'll have to replace those too," He muttered to himself. He then leaped over the crow's nest and made his way back down to the deck, where he touched down lightly. As he extended his arms outward and clenched his fists, once more reverting to his normal form. Looking around once more across the ship, he once again nodded, satisfied with the vessel he had chosen for their voyage. "We'll have to give it a name too," Kuzo said again, before finally looking around back at the others on the ship. He nodded to them, and continued.

"But we'll get to that later," He grinned, his eyes traveling back to each of them, mostly to the new people he had never seen, but also to the ones he had spoken to before. "You don't know me, and I don't know most of you...yet. But as of right now, we're all a crew under this ship."

Kuzo crossed his arms. "I believe all of us were meant to meet in Loguetown, and travel together. Join me to the Grand Line, and we'll find adventures you couldn't think of in your wildest imaginations!"

In the back of his mind, Kuzo revisited the scene he had witnessed seven days earlier, in the Execution Plaza. It seemed, at this moment, that Sivers spoke through him.

"Fame, treasure, land, freedom, One Piece." He counted off, his tone brimming with excitement as he himself looked forward to the possibilities. "Every dream realized, every goal achieved, every grand adventure embarked upon started off no different than where we are right now."

"My name's Tristan D. Kuzo," He grinned, pointing to himself with his thumb in a clenched fist. "Join me on our great adventure!"

Wright D. Morgan- Open Sea

Why am I here?

The blue skies were dotted by a few white puffy clouds, yet the sea of blue in the sky mesmerized Morgan as he lost himself in the storm of his thoughts. Maybe it was the pool of blood that he found himself swimming in. Maybe it was whatever Kiba shot him with. Maybe it was the fact that no matter what he could not find the strength to move.

Seriously, what am I doing here? I don't belong on this ship. With these people. Remember the last time you were out on the sea with other people?

No, that rationale was far too simple. Even if Morgan loved the wonders of simplicity, nothing was ever that simple. It was the fact that it was first time he felt vulnerable in so long. He took a breath, practically laughing on how right he was. Physically, he felt crippled. Helpless even as he lied there unable to move. And he was too prideful to ask for help. Though…was it pride? Was it something deeper? Did Morgan not want to feel like he owed any of these people anything? Did Morgan want to save face as "the loner without a cause"? Did he simply not want to get close to them? To make friends? To be with this crew? Would he rather die? All these questions ate at him as he felt gravity drive the bullet deeper into his shoulder.

"Try not to cry, I'm about to pull a bullet out of you," some stranger said to him as they approached. Morgan would respond with something like "Yeah, right. Like I'd cry" but the words escaped him. The bullet took away any sense of wit or sarcasm. The man pulled out a fresh scalpel before he dug into the wound. Morgan winced in pain, but endured before he heard the bullet fall to the ground.
"It seems like you are as friendly with the Commodore as I am" the stranger said as he chatted mindlessly, now tightly wrapping the wound with a bandage "so I think we'll get along just fine."

"Yeah, right…" Morgan found himself muttering. "I guess so." The man introduced to the others as Skellen, "The Taipan" and Morgan could only assume that he was going to be Kuzo's doctor. Great for him, but Morgan was more entranced by the bullet that rolled on the deck with the waves of the ocean. Morgan tenderly grasped the bullet, feeling ever so weak to its touch. "Sea stone…" Morgan mumbled, keeping one ear open to listen to Kuzo and the others speak amongst themselves, passing around invitations and introductions. Kiba. You tricky little bastard. Despite the weakness in his body as he clutched the sea stone, Morgan made a fist before putting the bullet in his jacket pocket, a friendly reminder of his wound.

Morgan forced himself to stand, still feeling the weakness of his endeavor with the bullet. His steeps were short and sluggish, but eventually he regained his composure as he stepped to join the rest of the crowd. He know had faces to put to the most of the names, but Morgan honestly had little concern for the bulk of the people on the deck. He recognized a few from the break out, but there were a bunch of strangers as well. Stranglers. That is what Kuzo's crew had become. Nothing more than stranglers and outcasts. How did he honestly expect to get anywhere with them? Morgan was usually one to look on the bright side, but then again…what was the point in worrying about them? If luck would have it, Kuzo's crew would bond quickly and they will help him succeed. If Morgan was to pass any advice to Kuzo, that would be it.

"Wright D. Morgan," he finally said. "Though most of you probably know me by my other name." Morgan made his way to the mast of the ship and climbed up to the crow's nest. He stood next to Kuzo for a brief moment, locking in eye contact.

"Just remember our deal…Captain," Morgan said before he sat down in the crow's nest, making himself comfortable as he took in the salty air.

Bass: What the **** did I get in to!?​

As the ship set sail it really dawned on Bass just how many people were here. Back at the prison it hadn't seemed like many to be frank. There had been the dragon girl, Morgan, that big hulking monster who Bass was sure would kill them all... just because he could, Kuzo... and that had been it. He hadn't realized that Kuzo had already arranged for others to come aboard... but that had been a stupid thought. Of course Kuzo already had a crew or at least had arranged for others to help them in the taking of this ship! I mean... it wasn't as if he just arranged this all at the last second hoping to God that he would get who he needed... right?

Well... maybe not. Kuzo himself went on about how they were fated to meet in Lougetown and Bass felt sweat start to form among his fur. He... he had no plan before. All of what had happened... all of what had transpired just a few minutes ago... was on the spot. It just 'happened' to fall into place. Any of them could have died at any moment! Bass felt his stomach squirm a bit and in truth he felt like throwing up... yet, he also felt something strange. A rush if you will. A rush of excitement that drowned out the weak feeling in his stomach.

He watched as the two girls went down deck and everyone began to introduce themselves. They were looking for food now and as Morgan went up to the crow's nest Bass' sensitive ears picked up their conversation. Deal? What deal had the two taken up? Apparently they didn't know of how strong his ears were. Well, he wasn't one to tell others of private matters so he would stay silent on that. He wasn't sure if he should let Kuzo know, but depending on whatever this deal was about it could either lead to good things... or bad things. What kinds of deals did pirates make? He didn't know, he never had pirate experience!

Bass wrapped himself up in his own wings and hung his head, his thumb hooks rubbing against each other nervously, "Uh... I'm Bass. Eh... I'll find somewhere to rest." He said quickly as he glanced up at the Crow's nest and flew up. Instead of sitting in it however. he let his clawed feet grip onto the wood and he hung from it, sighing in relief once he got into the very relaxing position. He closed his wings tightly and placed his face inside their embrace to block out the sun as best as he could... and then he began to snore.