One Piece: Treasure Cruise is an Alternate Universe (AU) site where the straw hats and all the other famous pirates of the animanga do not exist.
The Time frame for the site is around the same time frame of the Animanga so the technology and such are on par with what is seen in the show though some advances can be made within reason of course.
There should be no mention of cannon characters as none of them exist and although there may be certain things that are similar to the animanga as this site is based off of it, the animanga is not considered cannon on this site.
Plot
Seventy years ago the three way war going on within the sky was still happening with high casualties on all sides. Because of this a truce was initiated. Each island would have its own independence away from rule of the other islands. The truce would hold so long as they stayed on their respective island and did not venture off into the territory of the other islands. Although there have been news about multiple Birkans, Shandians, or Skypieans dying while on one of the other islands the open, all-out fighting has stopped and a lot of the killing has been toned down. However, this has not stopped many sky islanders from leaving their home in search of a peaceful life down in the Blue Oceans not knowing that they were going from one multiple century long war to another.
Around sixty years ago the revolutionaries had a secret base within East Blue on Colors Island. The secret base there was becoming so successful due to the fact that none would suspect any trouble out of the weakest ocean in the world, so much so that they would be surprised to run into high ranking officials of the revolution there. This went on for about ten years until the World Government finally got wind of the location of the hideout. The fight was brought to the base and the leader of the revolution at the time stayed behind to fight off the attack giving his people time to escape. Due to the public execution of the leader of the revolution having hurt the recruiting process for a few years it was then that the revolution decided to work through a system of council so that there would never again be just one leader of the revolution but five one for each blue and one for the Grand Line as a whole. Forty years ago people began to move back to colors island and multiple towns and villages have sprang up there each named after a specific color.
In the present time the fighting has become less open warfare and more vying for islands and power. However fighting between the revolution and the World Government still persist because of this the World Government has increased taxes. This has caused unrest in many of the civilians and has bolstered the ranks of the revolution. However in a move that no one saw coming there have been several individuals who feel as if the revolution is just as bad as the World Government and have gone to sea on their own to live by their own code and to enjoy their freedom. These pirates have sparked the Golden Pirate Era which has also sparked an increase in bounty hunters which is a fine way to earn a living and pay those raised taxes without joining the marines revolutionaries or the pirates.
Combat Based RPG
One Piece: Treasure Cruise The Problem
Blueprint is a premade Proboards v5 theme designed and built by punki of Adoxography and Pixel Perfect. Treasure Cruise is the work of the mind of The Problem. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. All images belong to their original owners.
It was another bright sunny day on Ohara Island, the great Library Tree shielding much of the island from the sun beneath its wide leaves. The coast remained bright and sunny, which is where a pair of blond hooligans were currently relaxing in the breezy calm of the morning. One, a young kid wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts, as well as a ridiculously overlarge blue schoolboy cap, smiles and points to one of the clouds. "Oooh! That one! That one's... a pirate ship!"
The other, a tall teenager with similarly blonde hair and blue eyes, relaxes beside his younger brother in the same outfit he usually sports - a pair of long, baggy tan pants with a variety of vibrant red designs up and down the legs, and a sarashi of bandages about his middle. A long length of apparent gold rests beside him on the grass of the ledge looking down onto the beach, and a large red bandana keeps his hair back out of his eyes while also shading them a bit from the bright sun. "That's what you said about the last three, little brother."
The younger boy giggles. "That's cuz pirates are cool! Pirate ships come in all shapes and sizes! One day, I'll leave and become the greatest pirate to ever sail the seas, with a ship so big it could be its own island!" He throws his hands upwards in a victory pose. "But fine. What do you think it looks like, big brother?"
The teenager eyes the cloud suspiciously, wondering about it for a second. "Looks like a cloud to me." He says with a nonchalant tone, as though he was too cool to play along with this kid game. Despite it, though, he smiles, finding the day nice and relaxing. He sits up, grabbing an apple from the little picnic basket between them, and munches on it as he looks out towards the main beach, the only real place on the island where the sea came ashore rather than against a cliffside, where a small harbor sat largely unattended besides a pair of small fishing boats currently docked - the fishermen didn't go out on weekends after all.
Like every other day for the past few years, Drake has sat on this cliff and watched over the port-beach from sun-up to sun-down, taking breaks only when the Ohara villagers bring him food and drink, or when his seemingly adoptive younger brother Roan shows up to hang out with him. Since the day he fell from the sky, and his life was saved by the people of the village, he has sworn an oath to watch over the village of archaeologists and scholars, to repay his debt to them for saving his life.
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 431 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
Karine lied on her side in her little dinghy, eyes closed shut. The craft drifted through the sea, carried by the waves. Every so often the boat would rock a little, but it was never in danger of overturning. The sea was far too calm for that. Sitting by Karine's feet was her rucksack. Despite how small her vessel was, it was still spacious enough for Karine and her belongings to easily fit. Karine's shorter stature certainly helped in that regard. But as the craft drifted, Karine began to let out a yawn. The Tiger-Shark Fishwoman slowly began to shift in place before stretching out her arms. She opened her eyes, only to flinch at the sight of the sun for a moment. Sitting up in her dinghy, Karine allowed her sight a few seconds to refocus as she stared out at what lay beyond.
"Mm. Few too many last night," Karine grumbled under her breath. Bringing up her hands she rubbed her eyelids. Letting her hands drop into her lap, she glanced around until she spotted it - an island just a short distance from her boat. At once Karine's eyes widened and she dove towards her rucksack. Rummaging through it, she took out a sea chart and opened it up. Taking a few moments to inspect the map, Karine glanced back up towards the island with a grin across her face. "Ohara! Finally, I've found it!"
Grabbing the oars, Karine dumped the ends in the water to either side of the dinghy and at once began to row. She lifted the oars, dropped the ends in the water and pushed, rowing herself towards land. It wasn't exactly the greatest means of travel, but with Karine's natural Fishwoman strength, it sufficed. Besides, she needed her navigational equipment and much of it didn't handle the ocean too well. Certainly not her sea-charts, at any rate. For minutes on end she continued to row, guiding her dinghy towards the shore. It was less then ten minutes later when she felt the thud of her dinghy hitting the sandy shore of Ohara. Steadying herself, Karine turned around to see the land and gave a toothy grin, revealing her sharp, razor-like teeth. Grabbing her rucksack, Karine hefted it onto her shoulder and smirked.
"So, island of scholars, huh? Let's see what these guys are up to," she remarked aloud to herself. Stepping onto the sand of the beach, she began to walk up a steady slope, surveying the landscape around her. "Bet I could score a Log Pose, if I'm lucky."
Drake spotted the dinghy a bit out into the sea, but figured it was just a floating, lost boat. Until its occupant sat up and rowed the boat ashore. He frowns as the craft makes it ashore, and nudges the boy in the blue hat sitting next to him, who sits up. "Hey. That look like a pirate to you, little brother?"
Roan takes a homemade spyglass out of his hat and looks through it, one made of tin cans and old glasses lenses. He's looking close at Karine from the hill they're up on, a couple hundred feet up the beach from where Karine's boat pulls up. Well within view for her, as well. "Well, she's got a pirate coat. And... stripes? And fangs? Ooooh, I bet she ate a Devil Fruit too! But..." Roan pans his spyglass out to see. "Buuuuuut I don't see a bigger ship. Pirates travel in big pirate ships, not rowboats. So iunno."
Drake stands up to his full six-and-a-half-foot height, grabbing his golden sword as he does, resting it on his shoulder in typical street-punk fashion for wielding a bokken... even if the sword is damn near five feet long. "Go take a look around on your way back to town. Let them know that pirates may have shown up, but nothing too big. I'll see what's up."
With that, Roan scurries off, and Drake gets a running start before leaping out onto the beach - though he's currently completely human in looks, he's already got his lightning-body going beneath the surfaces, as he's not willing to take any chances with a pirate his brother thinks might also be a Devil Fruit user. To Karine's eyes, the tall human clears a hundred-foot jump with seemingly no effort, and looks right at her... though he's not really in any sort of fighting stance right now, just resting the long golden bokken on his shoulders.
"Oi, Pirate. What business do you have on Ohara? Pirates aren't welcome here." He says, in a calm tone, staring down Karine with a look she can clearly tell is suspicion. Of course, beneath the surface of that tough guy exterior, he's secretly curious as all hell. Man, I've never met another Devil Fruit eater! I wonder what kind?
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 318 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
Karine was barely a few feet up the shore from her little dinghy when she caught sight of a tall man stepping down in front of her. He carried a sword in his hand and a look of suspicion on his face. For what it was worth, Karine shot back an annoyed stare as she looked up at him. Keeping her rucksack resting over her shoulder, Karine set one hand on her hip and leaned to one side. She could still feel a dull throbbing in the back of her head as she stared him in the eyes.
"This isn't a fight you should be picking," she told him, baring her sharpened teeth. She let her rucksack drop down at her feet, though she still kept her hand on the cord keeping it shut. "I've got the worst hangover right now. Until I've had some coffee, I'm not someone you wanna fuck with. Of course... Even if I wasn't hung over, I wouldn't recommend fucking with me anyway".
She didn't remember hearing about Ohara having some sort of protector. Last she remembered, Ohara relied on the Marines like pretty much every other island in the West Blue for protection. Did they have their own militia or something? He didn't seem to wear any kid of uniform. He just looked like some punk kid. A very tall punk kid, admittedly, but a punk kid nevertheless. Karine was more than familiar with his kind.
"Now let me go and head back home to your mom. I doubt she'd like to see her little boy's legs in a cast," she told him, not the slightest bit interested in dealing with him. But if he was going to put up a fight, she was not going to go easy on him. Last she needed was someone turning her over to the Marines. Especially this close to the 80th Branch.
Awwww... I was hoping they'd be nice for once. I'm kinda getting tired of beating up chumps these days, and this one looks really cool! Is what Drake thought, but on the outside his expression remained cold and unchanged, staring back at Karine without so much as even seeming to react to her words. He simply takes his sword off his shoulders, and thunks it down into the sand, where it stands straight up. He crosses his arms, and lifts his head slightly as he looks at her, everything about him the part of a disapproving tough guy.
"Another disrespectful pirate, huh? So shabai..." He smirks down at Karine. "You think you can just walk everywhere you want, eh? Take your best shot, then. I won't even need my sword for a pipsqueak like you. If you can land even one punch on me without hurting yourself, I'll let you come ashore." He holds his arms open, giving her a clear shot at his exposed chest, smiling slightly as he watches her. "Bring it, shabazo."
Of course, Drake was a man of living lightning, and knew that anyone trying to punch him might as well be punching a live wire. He'd used this gimmick on countless pirates before, and usually the result was them being knocked unconscious and punted back into the sea. He made sure to keep his internal voltage to just painful, and not lethal, so when Karine inevitably punched him, it would just hurt like hell when her fist went through his lightning body. If she was as tough, though... she could take it as long as the surprise didn't make her jump back.
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 354 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
Karine frowned as she stared up at him. There was a pause, but then a sigh escaped her lips. Her rucksack hit the sand as now both her arms hung down by her sides. Her hands balled up into fists. She could still feel the pounding in the back of her head. A dryness in her throat. She looked down and shook her head from side to side before glancing straight back up at the taller man. She took a step forwards. Then another. And another.
"Tch. Pain in my ass," she muttered lowly as she walked up towards the man. He didn't seem to budge, remaining completely still as she approached. She kept her eyes on his as a scowl stretched across her face. Slowly, she began to pull her right arm back as she strode up towards him. Her brisk walk became a run as at once she closed the distance between herself and the young man standing before her. With her fist drawn back, she grit her teeth and swung her fist.
"Hyakumaigawara Seiken!"
Her fist snapped forwards like an elastic band, and struck with the power of a cannon. Any ordinary opponent would instantly have the air knocked out of their lungs by the sheer force. Unfortunately, her opponent was not ordinary. Rather than striking his diaphragm, her arm seemed to just pass straight through instead. And instead of him taking all of the physical force of her punch, she took a jolt of electricity that coursed right through her body. Gritting her teeth, she grunted loudly from the pain and pulled her arm back immediately.
At once Karine dropped to one knee, clutching her arm tightly against her chest as she bent her head down to look at it. She didn't need to ask. He was an Ability-User. Probably a lightning Logia or something of the sort. She sneered as she looked at her right arm. Placing the palm of her left arm down in the sand, she glanced back up at the man, glowering.
"Nice trick. No wonder you've such a big head on ya".
Drake continued that look of smug superiority as Karine's attack failed, but as she pulls back and drops down, he returns to the calm, tough guy act. He drops down himself into his Yanki squat a foot in front of her, down to her current height, perhaps out of sportsmanship despite his tough, smug attitude. "So, shabazo... wanna try that again from the top? Tell me why you're here, pirate, or you can just hop back in your boat and leave. We don't allow pirates who come to this island to start trouble."
"Brotheerrrrrrrrrrr~!" Says a younger voice, the younger boy who had been on the hill with Drake before, with the big blue hat. He looks about 8 or 9, at most, as he runs up behind Drake and pounce-hugs him from behind. Seems Drake's lightning body has turned off now, considering the little boy is piggybacked on his shoulders. "Hiya pirate lady! You've got cool teeth! Did you eat the Kitty-Kitty Fruit?"
Drake's expression drops, as though his tough act was abruptly ruined by a giddy, excitable kid on his shoulders. He doesn't seem to resist the kid messing with him either, despite how gruff he's acted so far, merely facepalming and letting the younger boy leapfrog over him. "Relaaaaax, big brother, she doesn't got a crew, just a lone pirate lady, which means she's a good pirate. She's probably hungry! My name's Roan! I'm the other protector of this island! And I think you're O-KAY!" Roan grabs for Karine's non-electrically-singed hand to help her up.
Drake glares at the both of them as he stands back up. "Roan... pirates are dangerous."
Roan giggles. "So are you, dummy. Come on, lady, you can come home with us!" He says, trying to pull Karine to her feet but not even remotely being strong enough to do so. He's trying though.
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 333 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
Karine glanced upwards at the man as he squatted down in front of her, looking him in the eye. Her body was still tense as she scowled in his direction. She could still feel the pounding in her head. His words sounded like how a slap across the face felt. Her webbed left hand clenched, grasping onto a clump of sand. She was ready to strike. But then she saw the young boy approach. He clung to the back of the guy standing over her and addressed her directly. Karine's scowl vanished, replaced by a hanging jaw.
"Kitty Kitty Fruit? I-" Karine spoke, only to find her words completely gone. She dropped the clump of sand she'd grasped in her hand and grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling it down to better expose the red slits that lined her neck and collarbones. "See the gills here? See my fins?! I'm a Fishwoman, dammit!"
She released her grip on her shirt when she was certain the boy had seen her gills and stood up, glowering. She was scowling again, but she was mostly trying to suppress the hangover. Yelling out loud hadn't been good to her. It now felt like someone was smacking a brick against the crown of her head. She squinted.
The kid had already grabbed her arm and started pulling. All she could do was glance in the direction of the tall guy she'd just been fighting and raise a questioning eyebrow. Glancing back at the young kid however, she let out a sigh before letting him pull her along, walking just behind him as he tugged on her arm.
"Alright, kid, show me where breakfast is and I'm all yours," she told him, beginning to smile just a little. The kid was cute, if nothing else. Though she couldn't resist glancing over her shoulder for just a moment to stick her tongue out in the direction of the taller man. She needed some recompense, after all.
"Oh! You're like a Mermaid! But not." Roan thinks a moment as he tugs Karine along, oblivious to everything, including hangovers. "Cool! That makes sense. You'd be pretty stupid to travel around in a crappy little boat if you had eaten a Devil Fruit. A Fishman is way cooler than a Devil Fruit anyway."
Drake frowns after the both of them, glaring back at Karine as she made the face. "Oi, oi, I'm standing right here, you know." Roan, of course, continues to ignore him as he tugs Karine into the village around the base of the giant Library Tree, though Drake continues to follow. "...just ignore me then."
"So what kinda Fishy-woman are you? Shark? Whale? Dolphin? Electric Eel? Ooh, would an electric eel fishman be able to shoot lightning like big brother can? That'd be so cool!" Roan leads Karine into a tiny bar built underneath a large green tree root, called the "Wooden Tap". He's practically skipping. "Mama~! I made a friend!" He smiles as he hops up onto a bar stool, a woman in her thirties behind the counter, with long, curly blonde hair beneath a red floral-print bandana over the top of her head. She wears a matching floral-patterned apron over a blue dress with white polka-dots, and looks confused.
"Uhm..." The woman looks a little baffled by the Fishwoman her son has just dragged in, as well as worried, but as she sees Drake walk up behind the group she breathes a sigh of relief. She looks between Karine, Roan, and Drake, then back to Karine, then back to Drake. "Drake, honey? Can you go chop some more firewood? It's gonna be cold again tonight and we're running low!"
Drake politely nods, even giving a half-bow. "Yes ma'am." He says, before turning and heading out. If Karine is looking, as Drake leaves she gets a look of the long scars across his back, right around his shoulderblades. A wide number of other smaller scars crisscross his back, the sort that, as a former Marine, Karine could probably recognize as the sort caused by whips.
"Looks like you ran into our town's guardian. I apologize for any bad treatment, he really means well, he's just... dedicated." The woman behind the counter says, as she slides a tall glass of ale in front of Karine. "But for now... I know a hangover when I see one. Have a drink, on the house, should be a better welcome to our home. Ohara's local ale is known for fixing headaches pretty well. This is an island of braniacs, after all."
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 420 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
"Heh, they must teach you well, eh?" Karine responded, chuckling as she tried to ignore the pain of her headache. But every so often there'd be a little wince in her expression as she raised one webbed hand and blocked out the sun from reaching her eyes. "Eating Devil Fruits is for losers. Losing your ability to swim on these oceans isn't worth it".
As she walked Karine glanced up to see the Tree of Knowledge itself. She'd heard lots of things about Ohara, but in her youth she'd never been. She never really left her little island of Las Camp, and when she did, she'd gone straight to the Marines. No real time to explore the world, as much as she regretted it. But Karine found herself in awe of such a huge tree not merely for its size, but what it represented: A center for learning unrivaled in all the Blues. She'd probably appreciate it even more were it not for her mortal enemy right now known as the sun.
As she winced from the sunlight entering her tired eyes, she completely missed the fact that the boy had brought her to his own mother. Casting her gaze up at the old woman, Karine gave a toothy grin from ear to ear as she tried to keep herself right and waved her hand in the older woman's direction. As she approached the little bar under the tree root the older woman sent Drake away to gather wood. Taking a glance over, Karine scowled as she saw the marks engraved across his back. She quietly took her seat and slumped forwards over the counter, glancing in the direction of the young boy's mother. Thankfully, she'd prepared a drink.
"'Salright. Not like he did much. I just wanted to scare him off before something bad happened," Karine told the older woman as she took a drink and downed it. She gulped down at least half the glass before setting it back down again. Letting out a sigh of relief Karine glanced back up at the woman. "You lot really are the real deal, huh? I've wanted to visit for ages. See just how well-studied the Scholars of Ohara were for myself. So far? Looks like you guys have a really nice place here".
Karine fixed a crick in her neck, rubbing her right hand over her gills. A chuckle escaped her lips.
"Sorry. Almost forgot to mention - the name's Karine. Nice to meet ya".
The ale, in fact, did seem specifically formulated for the sole purpose of dealing with headaches. Figures the geniuses of Ohara would have come up with such a genius booze. Of course, it doesn't entirely stop all of the headaches... "NUH-UH! Devil Fruits give you cool superpowers! And having to survive without being able to swim makes you have to be super badass! Its the coolest stuff EVERS!" Roan has hopped up on his stool, shouting and grandstanding with his foot up on the bar counter like it was a barrel. "And besides, Drake is a super awesome Rumble-Man who fell from the sky like lightning! He's gonna sail the seas and claim ALL OF THE SWORDS, and--"
"Roan! No feet on the counter. And use your inside voice." The young woman says in that motherly tone, and Roan sits right down and clams up, returning to drinking his glass of milk in silence. "Sorry, he's... enthusiastic about pirates." The woman chuckles, taking Karine's hand and shaking it. "Tara Zaraka, proprietor of this little bar, and the sanest person on this island of ner-- errr, bookworms." Roan giggles a bit, at that.
"Pleasure to meet you, Karine. And thank you, I do try to make this place homey." She smiles, returning to cleaning out mugs behind the counter, everything about her tone and smile aimed to make Karine feel like a guest here. "I hope you didn't just come here for the library, the scholars are... fussy, about it. They don't usually let anyone in besides themselves, when they're not forgetting where doors are in their mad genius."
About that point, Drake returns, carrying a ridiculously huge stack of wood, an amount a normal man should not be able to carry. "Wood chopped, ma'am!" He sets the giant pile of wood down off to one side, quickly moving this way and that to stack it perfectly. He then turns and stands at attention. "Ready for your next job, ma'am."
Tara rubs the bridge of her nose, but chuckles with amusement. "You can go back on watch, Drake."
"Yes ma'am." Drake responds, giving another brief glare at Karine, before heading out the door and back towards the beach.
Tara waits for Drake to be out of earshot, then motions for Roan to close the door. The little boy does, hopping off the stool and closing the door, then flipping around the CLOSED sign. He hops up on the counter and looks positively giddy. "So... I can tell, you're definitely a pirate, you have that seafaring look about you. And not just because you're a fishman and all. The coat says you're a captain, but you didn't come here with a proper ship, which means you're starting out."
The young woman's tone is suddenly that of a merchant, as though bargaining with Karine. "Now, I can't give you a boat, but I can give you supplies for your trip, and all for no cost. You'd only have to do a favor for us." She smiles. "Take Drake away from this island. He's a Devil Fruit eater, he's eaten the Logia fruit of Lightning, and the best swordsman this island has ever seen. He'd be an asset to any pirate crew. Talk him into it, kidnap him, I don't care how you do it, just get him to stop thinking he needs to protect us so he leaves."
Roan and Tara lean in towards Karine, both of them all smiles, as they're clearly trying to sell Karine on this. "So what do you say?" Roan is crossing his fingers and hoping for her to say yes. Secretly, behind the bar, so is Tara.
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 587 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
Karine raised an eyebrow as she listened to the young little kid. His mouth seemed to run a hundred miles a minute, listing off reasons why Devil Fruits were cool. But what struck her the most was his comment about the taller man - Drake. Fallen from the sky? How exactly does one fall from the sky? Before she could pose the question, the kid's mother urged him to hush up.
Taking a drink from her glass of ale, Karine kept an ear out as the older woman introduced herself as Tara Zakara. The Fishwoman nodded as she listened closely to the proprietor of the bar. Her eyes lingered on the drink in front of her as she allowed the older woman's words to fill her ears. As she informed her of the situation with the scholars, Karine smirked and let out a small chuckle. She took another swig of her glass before setting it down again. She shook her head.
"Nah. Frankly, it'd be too big a risk to come here by myself if that was my only reason. Not that I don't mind the challenge," Karine remarked aloud. "Although I suppose I am after some info. The sea's a big place. Not always easy to navigate with all these wind currents and seasonal changes in the weather - never mind finding your way in the first place. I figured someone on this island had to be smart enough to know a thing or two about where to get some sea charts and maps".
Her little chit-chat was interrupted as a familiar face strolled in and started stacking logs of wood. Sitting from the barstool, Karine leaned back against the counter and watched him with an amused smirk as she sipped her drink. The bar owner seemed to have the kid wrapped around her finger with how he so dutifully followed orders. The thought briefly turned sour as she grimaced. Drake seemed to give her a look, but she didn't pay attention to it as she lost herself in her thoughts. It was only the words of Tara that shook her back out of it.
The Fishwoman found herself staring, her jaw ever so slightly slack. The words entered her head, but they seemed to just hit a brick wall somewhere between her ears and her brain. Karine allowed her eyes to glance in the direction of the kid, but he seemed to share the same earnestness as his own mother. As Tara's spiel came to an end, Karine's brows furrowed and her face adopted a scowl. She set her glass down.
"You're pretty trusting, you know. I'm actually impressed. You don't even know me, but you trust me to take this guy under my wing?" she questioned the two. "I'm "Turncoat" Karine Berry. I've got a bounty placed on my head for betraying the Marines. How do you know I haven't been playing you guys this entire time? After all, you guys just sent away your 'protector'. You're vulnerable".
Karine took a swig of her drink, downing the last of her glass.
"But... At the end of the day, I suppose I can't complain. I was thinking of recruiting people at some point anyway. But I'm not gonna make promises. If he joins my crew, that'll be his decision," Karine told the two. She gave a small chuckle. "Though, I certainly wouldn't mind putting him on clean-up duty. Serves him right for the trick he pulled earlier, if you ask me".
Roan gives a little victory fist-pump in the air. Tara, however, simply leans on the counter and smiles. "Just because I'm the barkeep, doesn't mean this isn't the island of geniuses. Your arm is slightly burnt, which means you tried to punch our "protector", before realizing he's un-punchable. For two... you let an eight year old child lead you into a building, and close the door behind you. You're either an idiot, or incredibly confident."
She winks. "But really, the main reason is that if Drake actually thought you were a threat to the island, he wouldn't let you near my son. Luckily, both of them are good judges of character, which means whatever you've done before now, you had a good reason for it."
She leans back, stepping away to further down the counter, towards a door to the backroom. "Regardless, my offer stands. I can get you maps, as well, there's certainly no shortage on the island of those. The catch, however... is that Drake won't leave of his own choice, otherwise he would have left long ago. When I said you might need to kidnap him, I meant it."
"Ooh! Ooooh! Can I tell the story?" Roan bounces excitedly in his seat.
"Roan! Use your inside voice. But yes, you may." Tara replies, before walking into the backroom and leaving her son with Karine.
Roan does another little victory fist-pump, and then pulls the worlds most adorable crayon-drawn comic book from under his hat. It's remarkably well-drawn, for being made by a child. "The story of Drake The Bancho, the Guardian of Ohara and the One Billion Beli Swordsman!" He shows off the cover, which looks like Drake, but wearing a cape made of a pirate Jolly Roger flag, and with a bunch of flashy electricity lines coming off him to make him look more impressive.
"Many years ago... for me at least... it was a bright and sunny day!" He turns the page, to a drawing of a chibi version of Roan sitting on a picnic blanket on a grassy field, surrounded by piles of books. "The amazing Blue Hatted Pirate Sidekick was trapped like he always was, imprisoned by homework on what should have been a day for fun! But then, out of nowhere..."
He turns the page, to a picture of a big giant lightning bolt striking down from the sky, without it looking stormy at all. "...lightning struck! A bolt of golden lightning flashed down from the sky, and hit the ground right near where the Blue Hatted First Mate was trapped, knocking over all of his books and freeing him from homework! Hooray!"
He turns the page, to a drawing of Roan running across the field, with a picture on the opposite page of a person lying in the middle of a blackened crater. "The Blue Hatted Heroic Helper went to see where the lightning struck, but instead, he found a man lying there. The man was injured, so he dragged him all the way home, where the Super Awesome Best Mom Ever healed him with her amazing Mom powers!"
Roan leans the book to the side, and whispers to Karine. "Mom doesn't actually have powers. That part of the story is for dramatic effect." He flips to the next page, which shows Drake sitting up in a bed, with a blanket over him that looks like a Jolly Roger. The insignia itself is pretty detailed, one of the older styles of Jolly Roger, looking like a skull and two different crossed swords, with a red bandana around the top and the mouth of the skull. "The man didn't remember who he was, only his name - "Drake The Bancho." But since he was wearing a Jolly Roger when the Blue Hatted Genius Boy found him, it was clear that he was a pirate from the sky!"
Roan turns to the next page, which shows a drawing of... another book, one with different swords drawn the cover. "The man had a book on him as well, which told of all of the Meitos, the most Super Awesome Grade Swords in the world, and where a skilled Sword Hunting Pirate might find them! Drake The Bancho realized that this was the perfect quest for a swordsman, and that it was his calling in life to become a Sword Hunter Pirate, in order to find who he was."
Roan turns to the last page, which shows Drake sitting on... oddly enough, that hill Karine had first seen him sitting on when she pulled in, in the exact same way of crouch-sitting that he had been in. The background is a bright sunset too. "However... as a swordsman, Drake The Bancho was bound by his code of honor to protect the people who had saved his life when he fell from the sky. And so, despite that he REALLY REALLY wants to go out and seek his Swords and Dreams, he remains trapped here until..."
Roan closes the book, and sighs. "...until idunno." He looks upset. "He's my big brother now, so I feel bad that nobody on the island has found a reason for him to leave. Mom's told me that Ohara has plenty of ways to take care of itself without him, but nobody wants to actually tell Drake he isn't really needed here. Cause even IF we can't protect the island without him... it's not fair that he's just stuck here because of us. He doesn't even know who he is, and there's no way he can find out since he's been stuck here for three years."
Roan jumps up on his stool, and makes a determined face and two clenched fists towards Karine. "So... if you're really a super cool Fishlady pirate like I think you are, you gotta make him believe it! You gotta give him a reason to swear his honor to you instead."
TAG.Drake D. Banchou WORDS. 428 MUSE. xxx NOTES. So this kind of became a full scene.
"Well, I suppose you're not wrong," the Fishwoman replied as she glanced down at her slightly burnt arm. The pain had mostly dulled. "Logia powers are cheap as all hel-heck. But if this guy's so insistent on staying here, why are you two so eager to dump him on me? What makes you so sure he really wants to leave?".
Her brow raised as high as it would go as she took another sip. At this point the boy spoke up, insisting that he be the one to tell the story. Giving an amused chuckle as his mother told him to use his indoor voice, Roan began to recount what he called "The Tale of Drake the Banchou".
The story sounded like it came from a fantasy. A lightning bolt struck the ground outside their home, and in the impact zone was the Logia user himself. It didn't take a genius to figure he'd fallen, but Karine could only wonder where. From what it sounded like he wasn't a native, but where in the world could he have come from? Karine had never heard of any kind of flying vehicle. Did he just fall from the sky itself? Unfortunately, from what it sounded like, neither the boy nor Drake himself seemed to understand just where he came from.
"So he feels duty-bound because you nursed him back to health," Karine summed up Roan's extravagant tale. The Fishwoman let out a sigh and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I can't say I don't understand that... Still, if he really is skipping out on his dream...".
Setting her glass down, Karine let out a sigh. Pushing off of the stool, Karine dropped down onto both her feet and grasped hold of her rucksack with one hand. Turning her back to Roan and Tara, Karine hefted the rucksack over her shoulder and began walking out.
"Alright, just give me a few minutes," she spoke back to the pair as she strode towards the door. "I swear, this guy is a pain in the ass, but if he's such a great fighter, I suppose he's got a spot on my crew. Every crew needs a swordsman, right?"
Stopping for just a moment, Karine looked back over her shoulder at the family and flashed a coy smirk. Turning her head back around, she decided to start heading off back to the shore. If they were really so desperate, Karine supposed she was just going to have to smack some sense into the kid. Metaphorically. Mostly.
Sure enough, Drake was right back where she had first met him, there on the beach. His sword was drawn, the oversized bokken of what looked like solid gold, and he was practicing... remarkably plain and straightforward Kendo strikes, of all things. He steps in, and strikes, each time looking like he's trying to do some sort of hop with it. His legs crackle with sparks of electricity with each hop, but it looks like whatever he's trying to do, it isn't working.
Still, his back is to her, and that means she can see one other thing she probably hadn't before - the scars. Running near Drake's shoulderblades are two long, jagged scars that run nearly the entire height of his back, and have a vague "V" shape to them, though they never actually meet. They're clearly not sword scars, or even scars inflicted by something like claws... whatever did them, it must have been a terrifying weapon.
Beyond that, she also sees the symbol from Roan's comic book - the black sash Drake was wearing as a belt, in fact seems to be the remains of a black robe of some kind. And the part that's hanging down in back shows the Jolly Roger from the book, a skull and two different crossed swords, with a red bandana over the top of the skull and around its mouth like a bandit' mask. Of course, the crew whose emblem it actually is, hasn't sailed the seas in Drake's lifetime - the Bancho Pirates, a group of ruthless bandits known for stealing the swords of every foe they defeated.
Despite what his brother and adoptive mother said about his skill, however... right now, he kinda just looks like a normal guy, aside from using a weird sword and occasional lightning sparks. After a few more attempts at whatever he's trying to do, though, he just sighs and slams his sword down to the side, where it thunks into the sand and stands straight up. He drops down into that Yanki squat he frequently crouches in, and takes a book out from his belt, one with an image of a sword on the cover. And there he stands, flipping through the little book, looking just generally annoyed.
~ Meanwhile ~
Far out, at the very very VERY edge of what could be seen from Ohara, a ship peeks into view. Of course, with its spotted black and white colors and matching sails, it's hard to see against the dusky clouds coming into view from that direction. Its flag resembles a Panda skull, with a green stick of bamboo clenched in its teeth.
And towards the front of that ship is a man who truly fits the part of a panda, at least in girth. A wide, portly figure, wearing only a remarkably well made panda mask and panda-colored fur cape from the waist up, like he was some overweight masked wrestler. The pants complete the look, black tight pants with bright green kneepads, elbow-pads, and boots, his legs not nearly as big as they should be considering the size of his upper body. He wields a long bamboo pole that's sharpened at one end, holding it one hand like a walking staff. "MEN! Today we conquer an island with a giant tree... containing every treasure map known ever mapped!"
A crew of assorted pirates cheers on the deck beside him, all brandishing bamboo weapons... spears, shortspears, and most also have bamboo blowguns. Some even have chunks of bamboo worn as crude armor on their arms or legs. But more importantly... every single one of them is wearing black pants and a variety of masks that all resemble pandas. Many are cheap masks that just cover the eyes and give them ears, others are simply white paper bags with panda features drawn and glued on, though a handful have similarly good-quality masks.
"Ready your weapons, my Pirate Posse of Pandamaniacs! After today, we'll be rich and have it easy, and nobody will dare call the great pirate Panda Manuel SO FAT HE COULDN'T POSSIBLY PUT HIS PANTS ON WITHOUT HELP!" The panda-masked captain seems to have a sudden burst of rage as he says it, making his entire crew lean back and away from him.
"Uhh... captain, nobody said that." Pipes up one of the pirates near him.
"Huh? Oh, my bad." The panda captain laughs heartily. "Papapapah!"
