AU- One Piece: Phantom Raiders

[batman4560]

Chapter 1: Mock Town

Open your eyes.... OPEN THEM! Eyelids slowly opened, the clouds parted and shot past the child. Wind rushed through his wild and black locks while he gritted his teeth. Moving so fast that he couldn't even open his mouth to scream, the boy felt his heart racing faster and faster. Drops of blood fell at the same speed that he did, who's was it? His tiny arms flailed wildly, legs kicked and something on his back started to twitch. Spread them! Do what she said to do, God please! Suddenly the muscles in his back flexed hard and wings, roughly the size of his torso and part of his legs, down to his knees opened for the first time. It hurt, his entire body screamed in agony but the freshly used bone and muscle in his wings held strong.

Catching wind currents, the boy started to spiral down, he had no idea what he was doing but a part of him managed to navigate the winds on pure instinct alone. The boy finally caught his breath as he slowed and he saw something that he had never heard of, a city... buildings below the clouds. The boy twisted as hard as he could and eventually started to drift towards a small island...

"Open your eyes! Hey! Wake up, we just docked!" A gruff voice called out to a man sleeping, tossing and turning in a hammock. The man sleeping sat up and his dark locks fell in front of his face. Swallowing a dry lump and putting his head in his left hand, he held his right hand up and offered the man a thumbs up. "Again.... every night." He muttered while the man that awoke him had walked off. The young man with dark hair waited for the door to shut and threw his blanket off, revealing his mostly bare body and stood. Large, white feathered wings spread wide and folded in on the mans back while he quickly got dressed.

Stepping onto the main deck of the ship, Mashyuu inhaled the sea air and smiled at the sight of men and women working the dock. Running his hand through his hair to reveal his blue eyes, Mashyuu cracked his neck and hoisted a back over his back, the black suit jacket he wore, hid his wings even though there was a slit in them so he could slide his large wings out and fly if needed. The young man stepped off the deck and wandered into Mock Town.

Single story buildings lined the streets, and stalls were set up along brick walls where peddlers tried to pawn off trinkets to tourists of the city. Mashyuu walked past a stall while a vendor was dealing with a young woman and snatched a pair of red sunglasses off a small rack and placed them on his eyes while wandering deeper into town, looking for an Inn or bar that would put him up for the time being.

Walking past a small two story building with a sign on the mail box that read Alex Banner M.D. Mashyuu was greeted by two men in black suits, similar to his own. It was then that Mashyuu realized that the street was crowded and the buildings seemed to be strategically placed to clog traffic in and out of port. Mashyuu's face twisted as the two men started to walk up to him. The young man placed the bag on his shoulder down to his left with a heavy thud. "Good morning young man, are you new to town? It's pretty obvious. Unfortunately I have to tell you that you need to pay the fee for staying here for any amount of time under Uncle's law." One of the men with rather unremarkable faces said. Mashyuu sighed and ran his left hand through his hair, the sleeve on his arm hiding the wrist sheath holding a throwing dagger. His blue eyes glanced to the tall bag he had, the handle of his morning star poking through the opening.

"So... this.... Uncle, he's the mayor? No... Pirate? Of course not, so with you and your suits. I'd guess he's a Mob Don. And you're the collectors." The two men narrowed their eyes but before they could reach for their side arms, Mashyuu was grabbing the handle from his bag and pulling up, sweeping his heavy morning star in a wide arc, causing the men to jump back. The Pirate spun in an arc and swept his weapon, crushing their skulls with the spiked balls and batted them aside and into the rail of the hospital in one move. Giving his weapon a quick flick he splattered their blood on the dirt road and placed the weapon back in the bag in one shot, causing men and women on the street to go running. Mashyuu heaved his bag up over his shoulder and continued on his way.​

 

[batman4560]

After an hour more of walking down the roads, Mashyuu finally came to what looked like an old school saloon. His left brow rose sharply from behind the red sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose. His chest heaved and his head lowered while he stepped up the sturdy wooden stairs and pushed past the front doors that swung in and out as he entered the Saloon. In the background, a piano played lightly, men and women (the few that sat at the bar) enjoyed drinks and chatted. Mashyuu's head twisted as he scanned the room and rested at the bar itself. Along the wall next to it, a young boy urged his grandmother to stop working while a beautiful woman with dark hair and a doctors coat gave the elderly woman medicine.

Stepping past the table with the doctor, Mashyuu leaned against the bar and set his bag down on a stool. He waved two fingers at a burly bar tender who was a little too big for his own good and had clearly seen better days. The bald barman poured Mashyuu a red beer and slid the frothy drink down the counter into Mashyuu's waiting palm. Clutching the drink he started to chug the liquid while the Tender waddled sideways down the bar and rested his large elbows on the counter and spoke. "New in town eh? Well can't say it's been good here the past ten years or so but hell, it's always nice to see a face that isn't regular. Big Al, what can I do fer ya?" The large man spoke. Mashyuu reached into his bag, and pulled out a small stack of Beli (Money) and handed the paper to the man. "Looking for a place to stay for a few weeks while I put together a crew. Got a room?" Al took the money and shoved it in his back pocket then took a key off a rack behind him and tossed it to Mashyuu.

Quickly, Mashyuu looked at the key and the number on it, on the second floor it was the first door behind the stairs, perfect. "Thanks Al, now where can I get some work around here?" Al was just about to answer when four men, each dressed in black suits walked into the tavern. Their hair was slicked back with grease or gel, and their suits were a smooth, almost silk black with thin ties. The men quickly walked up to the bar and one spoke with a thick accent Mashyuu couldn't place. "Ey Al, you see a new guy in here? He's got black hair, red sunglasses...." The man started to describe Mashyuu, who continued to sip on his beer next to the man. "...red and black checkered pants, some fancy boots, a suit jacket with white shirt, and a long travel bag that stands straight up..." As he finished describing Mashyuu, the young man finished his beer, slurping the drink in an obnoxious way.

He dragged his arm across his face, the sleeve cleaning his mouth. He remembered why he left to become a pirate, because he was worried some day, the people that raised him would turn him into the people he was running from to begin with. He wanted to live free. Before Al could answer, one of the mobsters looked at Mashyuu and noticed him pulling the red sunglasses off his face and setting them on the counter. "Sorry Al, I'll pay for the damages once I get some work..." Mashyuu's left hand slung out, his wrist flicked quickly and a dagger shot into the shoulder of the man who was standing next to the would be pirate!

Mashyuu's right hand's fingertips touched his forehead in a spread manner, hiding his gaze while his head lifted and hand slowly ran through his fingers. "That man's name is Mashyuu Ishi, and he doesn't pay protection money, go and tell your boss." Mashyuu stated with a cold tone, the hand that ran through his hair reached back and grasped his morning star and ripped it out of his bag while two of the three unharmed men grabbed pistols from their jackets and pulled the slides. At the same time, the doctor ushered the patrons out of the bar and the third mobster made a break for it. The man with a knife in his shoulder howled in pain, fell back and yanked the weapon out of his left shoulder while his teeth gritted.

Quickly Mashyuu dove at the two men who were trying to get a steady shot on him. One fired, missing and hitting a bottle near Al who was trying to duck and not doing a great job. Mashyuu slammed into the man that shot, his right arm sweeping the air to his left, causing the second gunmen to jump back and land awkwardly in the booth that the doctor was once sitting in. The young Pirate's left hand came up and smashed into the face of the gunmen he slammed into, knocking his head back at the same time that they both fell to the ground in a clatter. The mobster with the shoulder injury rushed over and grasped Mashyuu by the shoulders and dragged him off his friend. Quickly, Mashyuu's wrist flipped around and dropped his morning star on the man's right foot, causing him to scream in pain when the spikes dug into the mobsters foot!

Mashyuu grasped his injured shoulder, and arm, yanked and twisted, hurling the screaming mobsters down into the man on the ground recovering. Just as the two crashed into one another, Mashyuu ducked, dodging a second second shot that rocketed across the Tavern. He scooped up his fallen morning star, yanking it out of the man's foot and pushed it out to his left, right into the chest of the mobster that was shooting, digging into his lungs and knocking him out of a window. The two remaining mobsters scrambled up, one to his feet, the other to his hands and knees. Mashyuu gritted his teeth, ran up the back of the man on his hands and knees and threw his own knee into the jaw of the man who had just stood up, knocking him out cold. Mashyuu spun mid air, and slammed his foot down hard into the man's skull and knocked him out as the man's face hit the ground.

Slowly, Mashyuu grabbed the men and dragged them out of the bar and tossed them off the steps. "If you come looking for me, I'll gladly deal with you out here." Mashyuu mocked the men then turned and walked back into the bar. Casually he walked back to Al, and sat down across from him while placing his glasses back on his face and pushing the morning star back into his bag. "So... tell me about these mobsters and the Navy around here. What's the deal?"​

 

[batman4560]

Al reached under his counter and pulled a damp towel from a bucket, rung it out and wiped sweat off his face while looking at the little bits of damage from gun shots around his bar. "First of all.... you're gonna pay for all this damage. Second, thanks for throwing those guys out... Third, you already made trouble with the Don's boys? Vinny is gonna be looking for you and when he finds you, you'd best not be in ma bar, understood? Now listen up cuz I'm only gonna say dis once." Al slid out from behind the bar and took a seat next to Mashyuu, his massive girth and weight putting pressure on the bar stool.

Leaning forward, Al rapped his knuckles on the counter and drew a labored breath. "It's like dis. Ten years ago... maybe longer, days blur. So ten or so years ago, this guy moves in, Donny, short guy, middle aged, nice as fresh pie. Runs for mayor, hell he wins the election. But then he starts acting funnys. He uhhh.... Well he starts having the navy replaced with these guys in suits, says they the ones enforcing the laws now. Hell you just clobbered four of em. At first people don't like it but turns out he had most the navy boys killed, put his guys in the navy base and has em dressed like soldiers for inspections and stuffs. They don't even come into town now and we can't get messages out that they believe. So anyway, Donny starts charging folks extra money on top of taxes, says its to keep things runnin all smooth n stuff. We fight back, and Donny brings his nephew Vinnie in. Vinnie's a big ol cat, dumb, dumber than his uncle, but not so dumb he can't figure stuffs out. And he starts collecting.... Sooner rather than later, Donny is 'The Don' and he's got a mob runnin Mock Town. No good man, no good."

Mashyuu listened to Al's story, what little of it there was and he nodded along. "Sounds good Al, I'm gonna go for a walk, find a job and go see the doctor of town." Without another word, Mashyuu stood up and drew his morning star, clipped it to his belt by the clasp on the handle of the black iron rod and went upstairs to put his pack away. When he came down he picked up his throwing blade, wiped it along a cloth and dusted himself off while replacing the blade.

Mashyuu doubled back to the doctors office and made sure he knew exactly what it looked like in case he needed to see her after what he planned to do, then went for a stroll around Mock Town. He walked.... and walked, and walked. Noticing that a lot of the buildings on the outskirts of town were single story, but the deeper in you got, the taller the buildings, and each of those seemed to be houses built atop houses. Then at the center of town, a round stone wall surrounding a fairly large mansion of a home. The look of which was familiar to the winged man. Mashyuu couldn't help but growl at the sight of the building and marked it in his mind as the home of the Don.

On his way back to the Tavern Mashyuu stopped at a building with a sword and arrow crossing an anvil on the sign. Under the wooden sign a smaller one hung that read:
-For all your metal needs, Borris the Black Smith- Mashyuu quirked a brow and chuckled to himself and started to walk again when he noticed the street had emptied quickly and an awkward silence hung in the air. Mashyuu's hand flicked to his morning star when a man wearing ripped black pants, a pair of heavy boots, a red shirt with a black jacket missing the sleeves and a head band came out from around a building. He was a massive wall of muscle and held in his left hand a chain some three feet in length. Mashyuu sighed and started to take his glasses off his face while the man slowly drew closer. "I take it you're Vinny?" The large man nodded his head, his brown hair bouncing with his head movements and without a word Vinny lashed out with his chain.​

 

[batman4560]

A silver chain whipped through the air right for Mashyuu's head and the man jumped back, feet planted apart and the pirate slid backwards some five feet while whipping his morning star around in a circle then lunged forward. Using the momentum of the swing he tried to clash his weapon down but Vinnie lifted his chain in both hands and blocked the strike, only to send a boot straight into Mashyuu's chest, throwing the pirate off his feet, through the air and back to where he started. Moving with the sudden momentum, Mashyuu rolled backwards onto his feet and jumped up, evading a sweep with the chain. The moment he landed, Mashyuu side stepped to the right, faked swinging his weapon and extended his left arm rapidly, launching his hidden blade.

Instead of the blade connecting with anything, the man raised his right hand, caught the weapon in his gloved hand by the blade and snarled. Mashyuu spun his weapon around, caught the flat of the blade and slung the dagger into his left hand, blade facing down. With a grunt, Mashyuu spread his arms and his wings jutted from out of his jackets hidden flaps. He didn't want anyone to know he was a Skypiean, not after his time growing up, but he figured he would need his wings to help battle against the big chain swinging thug.

Vinnie stopped at the sight of the wings sprouting from the Pirate's back and took a step back. Whipping the chain along the ground he kicked up dirt to make a sort of smoke screen but one hard beat of Mashyuu's angelic wings caused the dust to fly back in Vinnie's face. He swung his chain again and Mashyuu hoisted his morning star out and let the weapon catch the slack of the chain. With neither one of the men wanting to give up their weapon, Vinnie yanked as hard as he could, pulling Mashyuu with him. However as Mashyuu was dragged forward he started to fly, whipped his dagger into Vinnie's knee, causing the man to drop to one knee for a moment, just long enough for Mashyuu to fly around Vinnie and choke him with his own chain!

Grunting and gasping for air, Vinnie stood upright and reached back, one hand grabbed Mashyuu by the crown of his black locks and yanked the Pirate to the ground on his back in front of Vinnie. Planting on the ground, Mashyuu groaned and held his head which collided hard with the ground. Winded, he looked up in time to see a fist smash into his chest hard. The impact put a small crater the shape of Mashyuu in the ground and broke bones. On pure reflex Mashyuu puked blood up and forced himself to roll away.

Vinnie seemed to be one step ahead of Mashyuu at every turn, and the Pirate was running out of options. Every breath of air hurt to take and he was starting to see double. "...Okay... I'm done playing, one attack to end you... I hope." Mashyuu groaned and flew backwards some hundred feet then flew forward as fast as he could. Vinnie tried to pick his chain up off the ground but had to step back as Mashyuu drew near. "SKY-" Mashyuu flew up suddenly, right before colliding with Vinnie, dragging his morning star up the man's chest. "FALL!" He shouted, flying up until his knee was level with Vinnie's head then dropped down as hard as he could while at the same time lifting his morning star with all his strength and bringing it down on the big man's shoulder with all the strength Mashyuu could muster.

The impact left Mashyuu on his knees, gasping for air, Vinnie never yelped, because Mashyuu was seeing double he aimed wrong and drove the morning star into the crown of Vinnie's head, causing the man to drop dead. Mashyuu yanked his weapons free of the dead body and fell to his back, passing out before he even landed.​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter 2: The Doctors Deadly Deal

Mashyuu's eyes slowly opened and a pained groan fell from his lungs like a rushing waterfall. Forcing his head to lift he looked on in horror at the sight of his flesh pulled open and held in place with pins. He could see muscle and bone with tools sticking out of them but couldn't feel a thing. The room he was in was dark and spacious, at his feet, far in the distance was a large wooden door painted a dim and relaxing blue. "Oh shit...." He groaned and rested his head, the moment his head hit the pillow under his neck he noticed a woman standing over him, looking down at his face.

"Interesting... I thought the drugs would keep you under for another hour or so. Oh well, now we can talk about the bill for this." The woman spoke in an alluringly dark but sing song like tone. She wore a black dress, white lab coat and a choker, her short hair framed her face perfectly and the eye shadow she wore kept her face a mystery in the dark, but Mashyuu recognized her build, the same doctor from the Tavern. "I don't have any money lady." Mashyuu spoke with a slight slur, realizing he didn't have full feeling in his mouth or tongue. The woman smiled softly and nodded to his left, causing Mashyuu's blue eyes to roll that way and stare at the dead Vinnie.

"So, you killed the Don's nephew, and as much as I didn't like him, he kept a balance around here. He never made anyone pay more than they should have and kept the other mobsters in line. Now things are gonna get worse, and on top of that I'm pretty sure someone saw me drag the two of you back here. That means I'm shut down. So. You can help me kill the Don, and in return I put you back together first, good as new. Or I leave you like this, cart your winged ass to the Don and tell him what happened and hope to god one of his family members doesn't come here and rip my practice apart, and maybe I make some money in the process. What's it gonna be big bird?"

Rolling his eyes Mashyuu pondered for a long moment and lifted a brow. "How dirty is my back? Ugh never mind, I think I can feel the lumps of muck stuck to it. Counter offer. I was gonna kill the Don either way, hell I planned on coming here if I got hurt in the process. So, since you're shut down for sure be the first member of my Pirate Crew, help me kill the Don and put me back together." The woman pondered this for a moment and lifted her pen to her glossy lips and hummed. "You don't even know my name. What makes you think you can trust me?" The woman asked and glared at the man under her with half lidded eyes. "Don't need to know your name. You're a good person, you helped that old lady and didn't charge her for the meds, plus you dragged me here instead of marching me through the Don's front door. If you were gonna turn me in, you would have already." Mashyuu countered. Placing her hands on her narrow hips and bending at the waist, the woman smirked wickedly and tapped his head with her pen. "Dr. Ion, but you can call me Ion. Tell ya what, if you can help me deal with the Don so the town can live in some sort of peace, I'll join your crew."

Mashyuu let his face twist into a smile and nodded at his chest. "Can you put my chest back together then?" She patted his head and grabbed a needle off her tray next to him and tested to make sure it had no air bubbles then injected his neck with a warm liquid. The warmth rushed through Mashyuu's body and a moment later he was sleeping heavily. Ion stepped away and rolled her sleeves up, setting about sliding her hospital shelves in front of her door after locking it, making a thick barricade, then hoisted beds up and blocked her windows with them before turning on a light and moving back to Mashyuu. She took one glance at the dead Vinnie and snapped a latex glove onto her hand and pushed his head away as if the dead body wasn't allowed to see what she was doing.

Tirelessly she worked, splitting bone, lining up his breast bones again and making sure they were level, the blow to his chest had force them too far apart. Slowly she slid them and the muscle back into place with a large clamp like tool and had to sew the muscle together again after she had to cut it to do her work. The man twitched from time to time while she worked but eventually Ion managed to stitch his chest closed, there would be a scar where she cut into him forever but he would be fine in time. Just as she was propping him up, a heavy pounding echoed from behind her door, the building shook and her brown eyes grew wide with worry. Not for her, but for Mashyuu who was still out and in no condition to fight.​

 

[batman4560]

The blue door rocked hard, Ion bit her lip and snarled while her ears perked and twitched. The barricade that she set up shook violently and a rapid flutter dusted the windows from the outside. Ion pushed Mashyuu's bed back against the furthest wall of the room and started to walk towards the front door, reaching into her lab coat she drew a pair of black gloves with the finger tips removed and pulled them onto her long fingered hands. A flick of her wrist caused hidden curved steel weights to slip from the glove and slide into the knuckles and lock into place when her hands balled into fists. At the same moment the wood of her door splintered at three points, a trident skewered the door at the center and twisted, shattering the door in one spot, revealing a black gloved hand as the trident was pulled away. The hand waved right at Ion and pulled back then the flutter grew louder as a white owl soared through the hole made.

It perched on an upturned bed and its head tilted and looked right at Ion. Her gaze only left the door for a moment and when it did, the door was kicked in, the top half remaining on the frame but the bottom half flew in, knocking the barricade away and against the wall to Ion's right. "Oh- How clumsy of me. I seem to have ruined the Good Doctor's door. I'll be sure to pay for that." The gloved hand gripped the top half the door at its bottom and a man ducked into the small hospital. Tugging his black vest with one hand, he spun a trident around in his right hand and brushed some hair from his face, revealing a left red eye, and right blue eye. His trident lifted and pointed past Ion to the man in the bed. "I'm not here for you, or for Vinnie's body. Honestly I could care less about the body. But I do want the man behind you."

Ion didn't blink but she could feel sweat roll down her spine and she growled with frustration. "That door cost a lot of money, and the man behind me is a patient. As his doctor it's my duty to keep him safe and that mean's he's not going anywhere with you. Especially to see the Don." Ion shot back with malice in her throat. The man with the trident chuckled and lifted his left arm, the owl flew to the man and landed on his arm. "If the man moves, rip his throat out." The man whispered to the owl and it took off, flying in circles around the spacious hospital. "Fine, We can do this the hard way Ion, but when it's over you will bow your head and beg for mercy from me, not the Don." Ion chuckled under her breath and shook her head, her black locks bounced and she clucked her tongue. "Jack Hill, Don's number four. It's gonna be an honor to rip that pretty throat out of your neck."

The man grinned and pulled his trident back while his left arm lifted and fingers spread. He aimed his strike and lunged at Ion, the woman lifted her right hand, palm open to reveal her glove had small bars in her glove and she used that to deflect the trident and push it away as she moved in towards Jack. Her right hand pulled back and her index, middle and thumb fingers touched then she struck out for Jack's blue eye. The man moved his head to the side, evading the strike and drove his knee up into the abs of Ion, doubling her over and taking her off her feet. Before he could follow up with an attack, Ion grasped his thigh with both her arms and twisted away from him, throwing him to the side and off his feet while she rolled to her feet and sprang at the man to try and finish him before he could recover.

Jack twisted his body, landed on his back and spun his trident at its center, swiping the side of Ion's ribs and batting her aside while Jack sprang up and jumped straight into the air and grasped his weapon with both hands then slammed it down at Ion's head. She lifted her hands, caught the weapon with her palms and stepped in, kicking Jack in the left thigh as hard as she could, hobbling Jack. The mobster cried out and forced all the weight in his body down on the blunt end of his weapon, causing it to swing out and up, catching Ion right between the legs. It clattered to the floor and Ion gasped in pain and dropped to a knee, a dark snarl spilling past her lips. "Bastard, that was a dirty hit."

Jack slipped his foot under the weapon and flipped it up into his hand then pointed it at Ion's chin and lifted her face so she had to look at him. "You've got some moves lady, but you should have stuck to your role in the kitchen. Time to die, then your friend!" He pulled back his weapon and lunged, in response, Ion jumped up, planted her foot on the trident and forced it down. Her fingers pointed out and aimed right at Jack's head and she leaned into her attack. "One Inch Punch!" Her fingers and hand folded into a closed fist, the impact from her pure strength and the sudden stop of her fist collided with his forehead, rocking his brain and caused him to not only drop the trident but flip over himself and collide with the floor, neck and skull first. Ion landed at the man's feet and hoisted her leg up. Without a word she stomped on Jack's throat and cut off his air supply, picked up the trident and hurled it at the owl, pinning it to the wall without skewering it. "Shh, I have to finish my operation." Ion grumbled at Jack while he choked and gargled on his own blood.​

 

[batman4560]

Mashyuu awoke with a startle as the sun crept up over the horizon of Jaya Island and Mock Town. The winged man's blue eyes fluttered open and a pained groan slipped from his mouth. Quickly he looked back at his chest and saw it was stitched up and wrapped tight with bandages. He started to laugh to himself until the strained fluttering of wings caught his attention. His head craned back and his face took on the look of confusion when he saw a large white owl pinned to the wall with a funny looking trident. "Umm..." He muttered and looked back to the front door of the hospital and grimaced when he saw it was broken in half. Rapidly he glanced to and fro and realized that Ion wasn't anywhere to be found. Forcing his arms under his prone body he pushed himself up and started to stand when a voice called out from above him.

"Where do you think you're going? You need to stay still for another hour to make sure the glue over your stitches holds shut." Ion called out and Mashyuu laid back down under the doctor's order. "What happened here? Are you okay?" Mashyuu asked and pointed at the broken door. "Nothing I couldn't handle, I sent him crawling back to his master, literally." Mashyuu chuckled and held his sore chest. "Wait... You didn't kill your attacker?" He asked while Ion came down a set of steps against a wall. "No, even though Don needs to die, I'm a doctor and keeping people alive is my primary goal. I only kill when I have to." Mashyuu found that line of thinking rather strange but didn't say anything else about it. "Well... before I got in the fight with Vinnie I went and scoped out the Don's house, it's big and gated, his guards are gonna be on high alert." Mashyuu continued as if her stance didn't raise red flags in his head, at least she would make sure he stayed alive if she joined his crew though.

Ion sat down next to him on a leather covered stool and crossed one long leg over the other while tapping her lip. "You had knives up your sleeves, but you can't be serious about fighting in a suit right?" Slowly shaking his head, Mashyuu gestured in the direction of the tavern. "In my room I have a bag, its got my pirate garb in it, just didn't plan on wearing it so soon is all. But it might not be a bad idea." He admitted. "Well I'll go get it for you then, afterwords I'll let the owl down." Ion muttered while digging in his pocket and grabbing up a room key and heading out the broken door.

While Ion was gone, Mashyuu slowly sat up and looked about the room and the battle field. His eyes darted about, examining the scars on the walls and floor from missed strikes and body impacts. A soft smile crossed his face when he realized that she could hold her own in a fight, maybe taking the Don wouldn't be so bad after all. The man drew a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, forcing it back and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off until someone entered the room and tossed a sack next to him, nudging his leg. Mashyuu awoke and looked at his sack. "Al said you still owe him money for the bullet marks in his bar." Ion remarked and started to load her pockets with a few scalpels and a needle. Without a word, Mashyuu got up and stripped down, causing Ion to turn her head and roll her eyes while the man slowly began getting dressed for the battles to come.​

 

[batman4560]

Slipping his red gloves on over his hands, Mashyuu placed a white domino mask with red sunburst design over its eyes to his face and at the same time Ion started to laugh. "You look like a moron... maybe you should put the suit back on." Mashyuu rolled his eyes and winced while forcing his wings out of his long black coat and hooking his morning star to his hip. "Please, this looks great. Black and red always looks good." He said while gesturing to his black pants, combat boots, padded vest and black jacket. "Are you kidding? You're wearing a stupid white mask!.... Ughh whatever, are you sure you can move with all those bandages I put on you?" Mashyuu gave Ion a thumbs up and made sure his gear was in place then walked off out of the broken door while Ion followed behind for a moment before joining him on the street.

"So, we just gonna walk up to the front door and kick it in?" Ion asked while Mashyuu wrapped Vinnie's chain around his right forearm under his sleeve. "I was thinking about it, I'm done with being the nice guy here, lets end this." He growled and flapped his wings once. "I'm gonna go scout the area and clear out the guards around the building. meet you there." His wings flapped hard, he jumped up and beat his wings again then took off into the sky. The man soared towards the center of town, wincing with every wing beat as his back and chest worked hard to not let the glue or stitches pop.

"Meet you there, he says. Not all of us can fly!" Ion shouted after him then ran a hand through her hair and tapped her chin. "I do want to examine his body before he takes off though, see how his muscles work when the wings move. Is it like a bird or does he fly through some other means?" She pondered to herself while picking up pace and running towards the center of town, attempting to catch up with the winged man.

When Ion arrived towards the large wall surrounding the mansion of the Don, she stopped and crouched low behind a near by bush and she peered over it to look for guards. There were six of them strewn about and each of them were on the ground un-moving but without any visible wounds. Just as she stood to go look at one of the bodies, a seventh body fell from the sky and crashed into a patch of grass with a soft thud. Ion's leg came up and her body curled in while she stifled a scream of fear and looked up to see Mashyuu wrapping the chain back around his arm and gently floating down. "Okay, all clear, it's a straight walk to the front doors.... Before you ask, they aren't dead I just held them up with a chain till they passed out, then dropped em all off here."​

 

[batman4560]

Silently the pair walked up a curved slab of concrete that made a walk way along a paved road where a pair of horses tied to a cart rested. Without speaking to one another they both stopped at a pair of large wooden double doors that were likely locked. The windows were closed and covered by blinds, making sure that nobody could see in or out. At the same time, both Mashyuu and Ion lifted their legs and as hard as they could kicked the doors. Both doors snapped off the frame and flew into the darkness of the three story white stone mansion and crashed against something solid. The pair stepped past the threshold and as they entered the building, lights flickered on, candles lighting the massive entrance hall and bars rolled down and slammed against the door frame and the windows, locking the pair inside the house.

Undaunted the duo didn't turn to the bars, but looked ahead. Leaning against a grandfather clock placed against a wall was the doors, to their flanks were a set of stairs that went up to a platform leading to the second floor where three figures stood. One was too far back to make out, but on his sides a man stood, one bald with a black suit and red tie. Opposite him was a man with a shock pair of pants and jacket with matching hair. His shirt was midnight black and he had a lit cigar in his mouth. "The two of you, especially the winged one have caused me enough trouble! You killed my nephew and I'll hang your wings above my mantel!.... KILL THEM!" The figure in the middle shouted with a deep, annoyed voice all while flicking his left hand forward and as if on command the two men started to step down the stairs.

Ion broke left and rolled her shoulders and neck, letting bones pop and joints loosen. At the same time Mashyuu smirked and crossed his right arm across his chest, his left came up and let his right rest between the joint of his elbow while he made sure his mask was on tight with his palm. Slowly he moved right and spoke. "If your boys hadn't tried to strong arm me when I arrived, none of this would have happened. Sadly you're a bad host Don. That's why I'm taking your turf." Mashyuu stopped and let his arms drop, looking up at the man in white while Mashyuu unclasped his morning star and glanced around the room. It was long and wide, plenty of room to do what needed to be done, like a ball room with steps against one wall.

Both men stopped at the foot of the stairs and the man in the black spoke first while staring at Ion with a blank expression. He pulled on a pair of black gloves and started to reach into his suit jacket. "I'm the Don's fixer, his number two. Sorry to do this, it's nothing personal." As he finished speaking, a pair of guns were drawn and aimed at Ion! The man in white flexed his fingers, the lights hanging down from the rafters revealed a set of finger blades that were hidden on the inside of his fingers while he tensed his hand. "I'm Don's right hand, you're not walking out of this house." Mashyuu's smirk stayed on his face while he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled a small needle and shot it into his chest, something to numb him up in case a stitch popped during the fight.​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter 3: Battle at the Dons!

With guns drawn, The Fixer took aim at Ion and pulled the trigger on both pistols, Ion ducked and weaved to the right, two shots hit the wall behind her where she was standing and would have likely hit her eyes. She charged and the Fixer moved a step forward, keeping his aim trained on her, he fired again but Ion dropped to her knees and slid closer, springing up inside his arms pointed reach so he couldn't take good aim. Her gloved left fist came up and collided with the Fixer's square jaw, causing his head to snap up and his stance to fall back a pace. He spun his right gun around and brought it down atop Ion's left shoulder before she could pull her arm back fully, her knees buckled but she remained standing and darted right when his left arm came up to fire a shot into her gut, just barely evading a lethal blow.

Ion's right hand dove into her jacket and drew a scalpel, swiftly she slashed it across at the Fixer's neck but he stepped back, causing her to cut the tie from his neck instead. It dropped to the floor in silence and the man watched as it fell. He flipped his gun back into place and jumped up and over Ion, aiming and firing at her legs. Ion rolled backwards and hand planted with the bullets digging into the ground near her back. She sprang straight up and drove both her feet into the Fixers chest as hard as she could, catching him mid air and knocking him into a light fixture.

Twisting in mid fall, the Fixer shot his gun at the bolts holding the fixture up and then landed next to Ion, he swept her hand out from under her while she tried to recover, then rolled aside as the light fixture caught Ion and smashed her into the ground with a crunch. Dragging himself up to his feet, the Fixer dusted himself off and glared at the light fixture that was now on the floor. He reloaded his guns and cocked them, then turned to face Ion...

At the same time Ion cried out in shock and pain as a man sized light fixture crashed down on her, ripping her dress above her hip, so that the lower part of her abs and the upper portion of her right hip was bare and bleeding. It threw her to the floor and almost pinned her, had she not rolled to her hands and knees while ducking her head just as her clothes were ripped. Her hands reached up, grabbed bent brass and she grunted while dead lifting. Just as the Fixer turned to aim, Ion tossed the fixture as hard as she could off her and into the bald man, sending him flailing and down to evade the fixture.

As she stood, Ion twisted and darted straight at the Fixer before he could recover, jumped into the air and landed atop him, straddling him and pinning his arms to the ground by the biceps with her knees. Her fingers rose up in two pointed stances like a mantis. "Surgical Strike!" Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! THUNK! Her fingers drove down, one strike to each pec, one to the throat and the last dead center in the left temple. Her last strike moved rapidly towards his forehead with the same motion as the rest but just before she would have hit, her fingers opened into a palm strike and she shattered his nose with the bars on the palm of her glove, twisting and rearranging his face as his nose was caught between the bars.

Pulling her hand up, blood pulled up with her hand and dripped on the forehead of the man who was out cold, laying and drooling on the ground with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Ion stood on wobbly legs and blinked hard, holding her head and dabbing a glob of blood. At some point when the fixture hit her, it crashed into the back of her head and she didn't notice until the fight was over and she was calming down.​

 

[batman4560]

"I don't care what your role is. Not giving a name is rude. So I'll go first. I'm Captain Mashyuu Ishi. It's my pleasure to cave your chest in and then deal with your boss." Mashyuu spoke while whipping his weapon around rapidly till it whistled in the air. "I'm called Crimson, don't worry about anything else." the man in white spoke and lunged at Mashyuu. The Pirate swung his weapon down, Crimson stopped his lunge short and watched as the morning star hit the ground and shattered polished wood. Crimsons right foot planted on the weapon's haft and he struck with a palm, cutting into the sleeve of Mashyuu and gripped before pulling his hand back, drawing small lines of blood on his left arm. Mashyuu jerked as hard as he could, causing Crimson to back up and smile ear to ear while dropping the cigar from his mouth and stomping it out. "Now the fight really starts." He growled and opened his hand to reveal the blades coated with glints of blood.

"Ketsueki-Ketsueki-Dart!" Crimson called out and pointed his fingers at Mashyuu, the blood on his finger blades lanced out and formed a single dart like object and crashed into Mashyuu's left shoulder and drew more blood, all of it pulling out and coating Crimson's fingers again, this time with more blood. Mashyuu reeled back and gasped, the sudden and sharp pain bringing a pained growl to his lips. "Confused Pirate? I ate the Blood-Blood Devils Fruit. Any blood I draw, I can control and weaponize. You can't beat me if you're bleeding." Mashyuu had no idea what a Devil Fruit was but didn't really care at the moment, he would ask later, now he needed to figure out a way to beat someone who could weaponize his blood.

Twisting about so his jacket's tails came up, Mashyuu used his wings as a cover for his body, his left hand flicked and palmed his throwing knife and as his weapon was gripped, his wings pulled back and folded against his back for a quick moment while flexing. His left arm tossed the dagger for Crimson's head. The man opened his hand and Mashyuu's own blood formed a shield to deflect the weapon. "Thought so!" Mashyuu shouted while his wings beat once, launching him like a bullet straight across the short distance towards Crimson. His morning star pulled back the was thrust forward like a sword. "Shooting Star!" Mashyuu called out and moved to stab the weapon into Crimsons gut!

Crimson slid back from the impact, his hand tensing along with his face but no damage had been done, he managed to bring his palm down just far enough that Mashyuu's blood absorbed the strike but barely. "Oh-ho, almost had you. Think you can keep that up even with your blood power?" Mashyuu mocked Crimson who simply remained smiling even through the pain in his arm from blocking Mashyuu's strike. "Bloody Dance." Crimson said with a smirk, the blood that had formed a shield launched into the air and dropped down in small, thin streaks like a meteor shower straight at Mashyuu.

The move put Mashyuu on the back peddle before he manged to fly up and evade the last of the blood drops by pulling right and beating his wings, causing a gust of wind to blow the blood away back at Crimson. "Block this one.." Mashyuu growled while placing his morning star into his left hand and shaking his right arm, causing two feet of the chain to fall from his sleeve and dangle with a foot of it wrapped around his forearm still.

Only gonna get one good shot at this, need to make it count! Mashyuu thought to himself and started to zig zag around the room in mid air, whipping the chain randomly to keep Crimson on the defensive. At some point during Mashyuu's flurry, he stopped whipping the chain and held it tight in his right hand. By the time Crimson realized it, it was too late. Mashyuu darted behind Crimson, let the chain go and stopped then darted backwards as fast as he could move. Hanging a sharp hook, Mashyuu caught an the end of the chain and caused it to loop around Crimsons torso while yanking as hard as he could and landing at the same time, forcing Crimson to stumble and try to get a shield up in time but the distance was too small and the swing too great. Mashyuu let his morning star go, flicked his wrist, revealing a second knife and used it smaller range to get inside the small shield of blood Crimson managed to make, slashing just below his ribs and moving his blade around to Crimsons kidney. Crimson fell in Mashyuu's chain, the man let the chain free and Crimson dropped face first into the ground. Not dead but without proper attention he would slowly bleed out. Casually he walked over to his dropped morning star and deflected blade and collected them, then flew up to the platform the third figure was last seen standing at.​

 

[batman4560]

Mashyuu's black boots connected with the platform while he fixed the red gloves on his hands to make sure they were nice and tight. At the same time Ion checked the bodies of the hitmen that were the apparent last line of defense for Don, then she ran up the steps to join Mashyuu. "I think they will both live, if the Navy gets contacted we should be able to make sure they get arrested and collect the bounty on them." Ion explained, but Mashyuu didn't seem to care much about that. He started forward down a long hall that lead to a single door. "Sure is dark in this hall, why would the Don have the entire house lit aside from here?" Ion asked just as the duo felt each of their feet tug on a tight cord. Mashyuu's right arm shot out, throwing Ion backwards and a gunshot rang out. The wall on Mashyuu's right smoked and the winged man lied against the left side wall, holding his hip and groaning. "To not see the trip wires..." He muttered while seething in pain and looking at the blood that was spilling out around the small gunshot.

Ion slid on her knees and stopped next to Mashyuu, digging into her pocket for a scalpel, a small pair of tweezers and a bandage. "Okay, now hold still, this is gonna hurt like a bitch. I suggest maybe flying down the hall after this." Ion used the small blade to cut a cross in Mashyuu's flesh where the bullet had entered, digging her tweezers into the wound, she found the round pullet and slowly pulled it out of the man. Mashyuu howled in pain the entire time she fished inside his body and fought the urge to kick his legs when she stopped. Ion pulled the packaging off the bandage the size of her palm and slapped Mashyuu's face. "This thing is soaked with something to keep the wound clean but I'll have to sew you up when this is all over. So try to not move to hard or fast." She warned the Pirate Captain. "Oh, yeah let me get right on killing this guy without moving." He tried to joke but went silent and groaned when the throbbing pain the bandage caused hit his hip. He hadn't mentioned it before but now that he was patched up he glanced at his exposed hip and then to his pants. "Can I pull my pants back up, or do you want to keep them undone and slightly down?" Ion glared at him and stood up, nudging him with her foot while she stepped over the tripwire and continued down the hall.

Mashyuu dragged himself up and flapped his wings twice then started to fly about a foot off the ground, Ion took large steps, watching the ground carefully in order to evade any more trip wires until the two were at the door at the end of the hall. Each of them placed their backs to either side of the door and glanced at one another, Ion being the one closest to the knob reached out and opened the door, swinging it open while pulling back against the wall. The moment the door opened a gunshot rang out and a voice shouted. "Stay back! I'll put one between each of your eyes!" Don yelled while Ion held the back of her still bleeding head and shook it gently. She wasn't in any condition to fight and Mashyuu was shocked she was still at his side.

He held his hand up when she made a move to enter the building and tapped on the wall next to him instead. Ion shouted out to the Don. "Come on, you can't think you're getting out of here, if your hitmen couldn't stop us, and your nephew nor the number four could do it, what makes you think you're going to?" The Don took a deep breath that was audible while Mashyuu pulled his morning star back in his right hand and Ion shouted. "Just give up! We won't kill you!" At the same time Mashyuu smashed through the wall, putting all his remaining strength into the swing of his morning star, The Don fired at the breaking wall, clipping Mashyuu's already injured shoulder and his wing. The man fell from the gunshots and laid still. The moment the gunshots went off, Ion darted through the doorway, jumped up and drove her knee into the Dons chest while he turned to face her.

Everything happened in a blur, she didn't realize they were in his bedroom, didn't realize that Mashyuu wasn't behind her or notice that the Dons gun was out of bullets like he loaded it in haste. All she knew was that she was atop him with a knee digging into his throat, her weighted fist driving into his greasy face until his own blood was mixing with his black slicked back hair and his glasses were shattered. Slowly she stood and drew ragged breaths. "Finally... I don't have to stitch your boys up anymore....my home is safe.... You can't hurt anyone else." She whimpered and stumbled back a step and fell to her knees.

The reason she made visits to taverns to help people was because the Don wouldn't let her see anyone at her practice if they didn't work for him, she would never have told anyone but the weight was lifted off her shoulders, and now she was free to keep the oath she made as a doctor to save as many lives as she could. "Ion.... I can't fly, I can barely walk and I'm bleeding all over the place! A little help here?" Mashyuu called out and Ion started to chuckle while wiping the tears off her face. "Yeah, coming Captain." Ion got up, and started to work on Mashyuu, patching him up for the third time in one day...​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter 4: Life in Mock Town

Mashyuu awoke laying in a bed, looking up at slowly whirling fan blades, his blue eyes narrowed when he tensed his back muscles and tried to flex his wings and felt them in a cast, keeping them pinned to his back. It was similar to when he was a child and his wings were forced to be pinned to his back so he couldn't fly and they barely worked. It was a sign of slavery but the man understood that his wings were stuck to his back so they could heal after being shot. A tube ran into his arm and a red liquid was slowly being pumped into his body while he was placed in bandages and stitches. His head slowly turned side to side, taking in his surroundings. Back at Ions hospital. Hope she's okay. He thought and drew a deep breath, the sound alerting someone in the room above him.

"Hey, he's awake, do you wanna check him out?" A small female's voice called out and in return Ion walked down the steps, followed by a slightly younger woman with red hair dressed in a similar fashion to Ion. Mashyuu grinned at Ion when he noticed she was wearing his red sunglasses. "Nice shades." He joked dryly while Ion pulled a chart off his bed. "I got a concussion from the fight, bright lights aren't good for it but I need light to see what I'm doing with you, so these are mine for the time being Captain. Also I'd like you to meet my apprentice Morgan, she will be taking over once I leave. I cleaned your wounds but she was the one that dragged you back here and put you back together. She is the grand daughter of the woman who taught me and gave me the hospital." Ion continued while handing the chart to Morgan.

"Pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Ishi, thanks for keeping Senpai alive and helping Mock town. Ion his going to take your blood pressure and help get you up. You should be fine in a few weeks and back to one hundred. That being said, as your doctor I can't express enough how stupid it is to be a Pirate, or to fight so many dangerous people, let alone fight at all. You lost a lot of blood and we had to test a lot of people for your blood type. Luckily Al over at the tavern was a match and gave you blood every day." Morgan explained while filling out a chart. "Every day? How long have I been out?"! Mashyuu asked while sitting up a little too fast. "Three days, plus most of this morning making almost four. Now, Ion can fill you in on what you missed, thanks to your efforts I have other patients that need attending, this small hospital is booming again thanks to you two." Morgan replaced the chart she had and wandered off to help some others in different areas.

Slowly Mashyuu sat up and let Ion take his pressure and run some final tests to make sure he was okay. "Okay, first thing's first. What the hell is a devils fruit?" Mashyuu asked and in response Ion simply stared at him with a blank expression plastering her face. "Holy shit.... okay.... A devils fruit is something that grows on the planet. Nobody is really sure how they came to be but apparently they are fruits cursed by the devil. They give you extraordinary power but give you a terrible curse in turn. Every fruit is different, and each fruit gives a different power but in turn you're cursed to never swim, sea water makes you sink straight to the bottom of the seas and oceans. It's not clear as to how many fruits there are or where they grow. Just that they all have powers. At least that's what I've heard." Ion patted Mashyuu on the top of the head and pointed at his wings. "It took some digging but I figured out you're a Skypiean, from the white sea above us in the clouds. Even more impressive are your wings, a lot of your kind can't fly at all. Some can barely glide so you're a rare breed." Mashyuu ignored the comment about his wings and quickly changed the subject.

"What about the Don and the others?"
"Oh, well everyone we fought in the manor survived, by the time I got back to the other two after helping you, Crimson was gone but the Fixer was still out cold. I called the Navy and they sent two ships to take the island and clear out the remaining mobsters. No more problems. For our troubles they paid us a small bounty and gave us some of the money the Don had made as well. It wasn't a fortune but your half was enough to pay for the medical supplies, my door, the Tavern damage and you still have a small bit to keep. I used my half to hire a small medical staff for the next month and buy some supplies for myself when we set sail."

Mashyuu grinned ear to ear at the last part. Well I wanted a ship first but getting a doctor on the crew is a good move. He thought and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... about that, I don't have a ship yet, we need to find a boat maker or steal one. If we buy one we need money that I don't have so we are stuck here for a while. If I were you I'd take that time to get your affairs in order and say your goodbyes."

Slowly Mashyuu got out of bed and examined his body for any new markings since he was last awake and when he was happy with what he saw he got dressed. "I'm heading back to the Tavern then to the Blacksmith, gonna see if I can pick up a trade skill while I'm on the mend." Mashyuu waved with a two finger salute while walking out the front door and heading to the Tavern.​

 

[batman4560]

The sun rose on Mock Town and Mashyuu, dressed in his black and red pants and a white button down shirt, stood before Boris' blacksmith shop. His hands in his pockets and a half smile on his face, the man stepped forward and pushed the light wooden door open. A gentle heat filled the room he found himself in, along with barrels of long swords, racks of axes, bows, arrows, and suits of armor. Along a wall hung rods of iron that all looked like different fencing, gates, and horseshoes. The forge master was a clearly skilled individual. Behind a counter, a young woman stood with a smile on her face and her dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. "Hello! It's so nice of you to shop here today, can I help you find something?" Mashyuu lifted his left hand and waved at the woman kindly. "No... well, maybe. I'm looking for the Forge Master, I'd like to apprentice under him for a bit." The woman nodded her head and bowed slightly. "Oh Boris will be so happy to hear that. Since the Navy arrived he's had a lot of work and can't keep up by himself. One moment." She took a few steps back to a hidden door in the wall and vanished into a different room.

A few minutes passed, giving Mashyuu a chance to draw some blades from barrels and look at them. They weren't shoddy by any means but he could tell that the blades were made in a haste and were likely things the forge master were willing to sell to any passer by that didn't have an appreciation for the finer crafted things and thus assumed the rest of the gear on display was the same.

Shortly after, the door opened again and a large man, Mashyuu guessed to be near seven foot tall stepped into the room. He wore a brown leather apron and thick pants with a pair of heavy boots and gloves. His black hair was tied in a top knot and his beard long and braided, tucked under the apron. "Eh, this is the guy? A little small eh? Come here boy, let Boris get a look at ye." Mashyuu walked up to the man and went to shake it. Boris grasped Mashyuu's hand and the Pirate could feel the immense strength in the smiths grasp. "Mashyuu Ishi, good to meet you sir." Mashyuu tried to be respectful. The large man nodded in approval and patted Mashyuu on his injured shoulder. "Boy, I can tell your hurt just looking at you. But I like that you came anyway. Come on back and we will get you set up."

Mashyuu followed Boris into a forge, the room was a hexagon shape and had a proper place for everything. Two furnaces, one large and one small, a smelter, and tons of things Mashyuu didn't recognize at all and in some cases didn't know why they would be used, including bags of sand, wooden planks and molds. Boris grabbed a smaller apron off his rack near the door and tossed it at Mashyuu. "Take the shirt off and put that on, you don't want to set your fancy clothes on fire. I have a lot of orders to fill out so I'll show you what I want you to do today and we can go from there."

Mashyuu hung his shirt up on the rack and put the apron on then walked over to Boris who was holding a pair of tongs and a small hammer near an anvil. "I already started on the steel for the daggers but I need to make one hundred daggers for the Marines, they use them as side pieces along with pistols. Take these, the steel is at the foot of the anvil in a stack, place the steel in the mold over there, heat it all up and quench it with the well of water, then use the anvil to hammer the steel and remove the impurities from it, rotate the steel and do it again until the blades look like the one on the anvil, I'll deal with the first half of the grips and you will do the second half. Understand?" Mashyuu nodded and pulled on a pair of leather gloves then got to work...​

 

[batman4560]

Flopping down on a stool, Masyuu dropped a whetstone and heaved a breath of exhaustion but behind him a powerful bellow of a laugh echoed in the forge. A massive hand clasped his Mashyuu's shoulder and Boris sat next to Mashyuu and patted the mans back. "Nice job kid, works rough around the edges but ya caught on quick, keep one of those daggers as a reminder of where ya started with this. Tell ya what, come back tomorrow and you have yaself a job. I'll teach ya and pay ya for every day you work. But first I need something from you. What the hell is a Skypiean doing down here?" Boris raised a brow and gave the dark haired Pirate a confused look. In turn Mashyuu shrugged his shoulders. "What's a Skypiean?" Mashyuu asked, just as confused as Boris was.

"Ya don't know what ya are? Boy a Skyipean has wings like what ya got, from the White Sea up in the clouds. How did ya get er?" Now Boris leaned in, excited to hear the story since Mashyuu didn't even know what he was. Slowly Mashyuu pulled himself up to his feet and moved to the rack to get his shirt and take off the apron. "Boris, I like you. Why don't you join me and my Doctor for breakfast in the morning at Al's Tavern and I'll tell you both the story... She deserves to know anyway considering she's gonna join my crew." Boris clapped his gloved hands and walked Mashyuu out of the forge, leaving the man to his evening.

Again the sun rose on Mock Town but this time Mashyuu found himself a table near the bar at Al's Tavern and made sure there were some empty seats for Boris, Ion and two others just in case they brought anyone with them. Ion was the first to enter, dressed in a short dress with a spider web design on the right side of it. She sat across from her captain and rubbed the sleep from her eyes while yawning. "You better have a good reason for asking me here this early." Mashyuu held up his hand to stop her from talking as Boris entered the tavern and took heavy steps over to the duo and sat down next to Ion. "Ma'am, nice to meet ya." The trio ordered a meal and then Mashyuu leaned forward with a heavy sigh. "Ion, I asked you here to tell you the reason I've decided to be a Pirate and how I got to Mock Town. Boris here wanted to know the story too so I figured I should let you both know at the same time."​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter 5: Fall from Grace

Cheers echoed in a small ramshackle of a house followed by the cries of a baby. The following morning a beautiful woman with golden locks held a small baby covered in a cloth and little more. The front door of the off color wooden house opened with a loud creak, causing the sleeping baby to stir and a man with hair as black as night, well built and dressed in little more than a pair of nearly shredded pants entered the building, He tugged at straps that ran over his chest in an X pattern that held large white wings in place and growled at the discomfort of how they dug painfully into his flesh. The woman motioned for him to be silent and offered the child to her husband. Gently taking the baby, the man wiped a tear from his eye once he had the child in his grasp. "Mashyuu." The mother mouthed to the father.

-Three years later-

Laughter filled the air while two children chased one another, one with long flowing hair as gold as any fresh coin, the dress she wore hung down to her ankles and her impressive wings flapped backwards as if they were trying to push her past the boy she was chasing. Mashyuu, darted around a tree, and scampered up it before completing his pass. His wings pinned to his back looked as if they were already struggling to grow and wouldn't be contained in the straps for much longer without getting new ones. He climbed the tree with bare feet and cut his foot, causing a drop of blood to land on the girls hand when she attempted to climb after him.

The young girl stuck her tongue out at Mashyuu when he staggered and stopped half way up the tree. Jumping with all her might she flapped her wings, barely flew up and slapped his back. "Tag! Hehehehehee!" She gloated while awkwardly drifting back down. "No fair! You get to use your wings, play by the rules Angela!" Mashyuu shouted and fell from the tree, falling back and crashing into Angela. The two tumbled to the ground and started to laugh while climbing to their feet.

A loud crunch stomped through the grass and a large man with wings the same shade as Mashyuu's hair towered over the boy. The sun was so bright he couldn't make out the mans face, Mashyuu never could. Fear struck the child's heart as the large man lifted a white cane and smacked it across Mashyuu's face, leaving a dark bruise. Mashyuu tumbled to the ground and growled with rage, nearly lashing out at his master before stopping and glancing at Angela who was hiding behind her fathers massive leg. "If your parents weren't the best hunters I had, I'd have had you killed the moment you were born boy. Do not touch my daughter, she is your master just like anyone else who doesn't have straps. If I need to remind you again I'll have your wings cut from your body I'm pretty sure those don't grow back." He snapped then stroked Angela's cheek and took her by the hand, walking her into a large two story marble home.

-Two years later-

Mashyuu was hoisted from his bed in a fit, his mother held him close and he opened his heavy eyes and noticed the panic on his mothers face. As she lifted him to rest the boy against her chest and shoulder he saw his father push what little furniture they had in front of the door and lift a stick with a sharp rock wedge and tied to the end of it and point it at his mothers back. "Are you sure you can do it? It's been years since we've flown, and we need to move quick." The father asked the mother and kept looking over his shoulder. The woman batted his face with he wings in a playful gesture as if she were trying to keep him calm. "I've got it under con-" A loud crack smashed into the door and an ax crashed through it, digging deep and leaving a hole. The father spun around and raised his weapon, facing the attacker. "Go! I'm right behind you." He shouted at the woman. Mashyuu tried to call out to his father, but no voice came. Before he could understand what was happening, his mother was climbing out a window and running across a field of white clouds, her wings beat hard, trying to gain liftoff but to no avail.

A cry of pain echoed from behind the mother, Mashyuu watched as his father was tossed through the wall by their master and stabbed in the chest with his own spear. Dropping the spear, the faceless man lifted a rifle off his shoulders and took aim. Mashyuu's mother frantically drew a home made knife from her top and cut the straps on Mashyuu's wings. "Live, survive!" She shouted at him and when the two were about to reach the end of the clouded ground, she held the boy out with her arms and the gun fired. The light in the mothers blue eyes faded as she used the last of her strength to toss the boy over the edge of the clouds and he plummeted rapidly.

Open your eyes.... OPEN THEM! Eyelids slowly opened, the clouds parted and shot past the child. Wind rushed through his wild and black locks while he gritted his teeth. Moving so fast that he couldn't even open his mouth to scream, the boy felt his heart racing faster and faster. Drops of blood fell at the same speed that he did, who's was it? His tiny arms flailed wildly, legs kicked and something on his back started to twitch. Spread them! Do what she said to do, God please! Suddenly the muscles in his back flexed hard and wings, roughly the size of his torso and part of his legs, down to his knees opened for the first time. It hurt, his entire body screamed in agony but the freshly used bone and muscle in his wings held strong.

Catching wind currents, the boy started to spiral down, he had no idea what he was doing but a part of him managed to navigate the winds on pure instinct alone. The boy finally caught his breath as he slowed and he saw something that he had never heard of, a city... buildings below the clouds. The boy twisted as hard as he could and eventually started to drift towards a small island.

Mashyuu hit a patch of trash with a heavy crash, gasping as he rolled out of the trash and into a small building that was still bigger than the one he had grown up in. He drew heavy gasps of air without realizing it. A scream of terror finally came from his lungs and lights all around the building came on. The boy scrambled to his feet, started to run but was grabbed by someone from behind. "CHILD! Boy what's wrong with you....by the gods what are those wings?" A massive man asked and pulled the boy into a hug. "It's fine boy, I won't let anyone hurt you." The man wore a black suit with red gloves and carried a saber on his hip. Slowly men and women moved in on the scene to see what the cause of the screams were.

-One week later-

Mashyuu found himself watching the day to day of men and women in a small village, every now and then the man that assured the boy all would be fine would come and check on him, telling Mashyuu about his adventures as a pirate, keeping the boys mind off the death of his parents, promising that the man who killed them wouldn't come for Mashyuu. The villagers thought Mashyuu was a fallen angel and a sign from the gods that good things were coming to them should they keep the boy alive. For the first time in his life, Mashyuu saw what people could do when they worked together and lifted one another. Five years passed like that, and while he had his own small home, he was taken care of by complete strangers who eventually became family. His new father, a pirate who called the village Mashyuu landed at home from time to time.

That all changed though when on Mashyuu's eleventh birthday, his father came to him with a morning star, promising that when Mashyuu could use it, he would take the boy with him to sea and let him live a life of true freedom. But when the Navy came with a bounty poster for Mashyuu's new father, he saw what human greed could do. The villagers all told the Marines where they could find his adoptive fathers ship, and the man along with his crew were all killed or captured. Mashyuu ever saw what actually happened to his adoptive father but never saw him again all the same.

On that day he decided to leave as soon as he was able to, he too would become a Pirate, live a free life and one day return to the sky he fell from to kill the man that killed his parents and make sure that nobody else had to live in binds or chains of any sort.​

 

[batman4560]

"And then ya wound up here... Interesting tale boy. I don't know if ya should be a Pirate but ya gotta follow ya heart, that's what freedom's all about after all!" Boris cheered and lifted his mug then quaffed the drink without much of a thought. He shrugged his shoulders and stood up, digging into his pocket to pull some money out and pay the bill. "I'm headed back to the smithy, If ya want more work boy, meet me there." Boris waved and headed back, leaving Mashyuu and Ion sitting at the table. The two remained in silence for a bit, Ion was the first to speak. "So, you want to go back home and free slaves? Looks like we are both prisoners of our past. If you're going that way, people are bound to be in need of my skill and after that, something tells me you're gonna be needing stitches a lot. I'll be at the Hospital working and buying supplies, when you have a ship or need help come get me. See ya later Captain."

Ion left before Mashyuu could say anything in response and Al chuckled loudly from behind the bar. "Got yerself some good friends don't ya? Well ye get to work and find yerself a ship!" Mashyuu nodded to himself and headed to the door of the Tavern, noticing that a man sitting alone with two scars on his right cheek was watching the group. Nodding his head at the man, Mashyuu left and joined Boris at the smithy.

As the day passed Mashyuu kept glancing at the door and the mantle above it, resting upon the mantle was a rolled up belt that looked sharp on the edges. His face squinted while examining the thing but he didn't say anything about it. "Hey, what kinds of weapons are you making for the navy?" Mashyuu asked. Boris chewed his bottom lip and gave Mashyuu a sideways glance. "Now boy I know ya don't like marines but I gotta do ma job." Mashyuu held up his hand and stopped Boris from continuing. "I don't care that you're helping them, I just want to know what I'm getting myself into. I want to learn, but I won't help the marines if these guys are bad people. Do we know who the commanding officer around here is?" Mashyuu continued and in turn Boris held up a long blade that was slightly curved so that the weapon was only mid length. "Sabers, rifles and daggers. I'm not sure who the commanding officer is but the Don's men were found out after ya attacked em. I'm willin ta take a chance."

Mashyuu considered this for a long moment and a torn feeling in his heart. He trusted Boris and the man seemed to trust the marines enough that he was willing to accept work and money from them. "Fine, teach me old man." Mashyuu said with a determined tone and picked up a smithy's hammer. One month passed and in that time Mashyuu and Boris worked together to assemble hundreds of weapons for the soldiers of the World Government. At first Mashyuu could barely make a dagger, but every week saw the man gaining more and more skill until he was carving the bore of rifles with ease and precision.​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter 6: The Phantom Raiders

Mashyuu strolled down the street, flipping a dagger in his hand as if it were air while the chain he had grown used to wearing on his arm rattled gently with each toss of the blade. A few passer byes waved and said hello since Mashyuu had started to gain a reputation as someone to be counted on in Mock Town, especially by those who bought weapons to defend themselves. Walking past the docks, Mashyuu heard a muffled grunt come from behind a stack of old brown crates that looked a little water logged. His face twisted at the sound when it continued longer than a drunks would have. He paused and lurched to the side to look past the crates when a dull thud rattled off the stack of crates and one caved in, toppling a few of them to give Mashyuu the perfect view.

What looked like a woman with wings similar to his darted down an alley, and the man who was listening to Mashyuu's story at the tavern a month ago was brawling with what looked like four dock hands. It might have once been five but one of the men was currently neck deep in a moldy crate and not moving. "Well that doesn't seem like a fair fight. HEY WHAT DID HE DO?" Mashyuu shouted, almost completely assuming that the rough looking man had robbed the workers or something. "That chick was gettin kidnapped! I stepped in, give me hand?" The brawler shouted back while three of the men held the brawler in place and the fourth laid into the brawler with heavy strikes from a pipe.

A silent anger welled inside of Mashyuu, who were they to try to kidnap anyone? Better yet, why? Before he could think to ask out loud, his flipped the dagger in his hand and hurled it into the back of the calf of the man striking with the pipe. He screamed in pain as the dagger went handle deep into his leg and the thug dropped to grab the blade and considered pulling it out. Before he could even make the attempt, Mashyuu was atop him, wings spread and folding in as Mashyuu flipped in the air, grabbed the man mid flip and tossed him into one of the thugs holding the Brawler by the arm, sending both of them crashing to the floor while freeing up the Brawler partially.

"Thanks wing guy! Sanoske Suji at your service!" The brawler shouted and balled his his fist, revealing on his partially ripped gloves that he had spikes roughly half the length of his index finger built into the gloves. With one good swing he struck the man holding his other arm with a hooked strike straight to the ribs. Sanoske's fist twisted with the strike and wrenched the spikes while his newly freed hand reached down to grab the man holding his waist by the head and squeezed. By the time he finished his strike, his punching hand was open and the entire arm wrapped around the last standing goon's waist. Sanoske hoisted the man up over his head, took two steps and hurled the man into the remaining crates, sending him through them, sliding across the wooden dock and into the water.

At the same time Mashyuu had drove his fist into the face of the thug that had a knife in his leg and flung the chain wrapped around his arm out a foot to strike the recovering goon straight between the eyes at the bridge of his nose, knocking him out in one shot. Sanoske joined Mashyuu and the duo stared down at the man with the blade in his leg, wearing wide grins. "You gonna use that chain?" Sanoske asked and grabbed the handle of the blade in the goons leg and hoisted the man up by it, off his feet to hang upside down. The sound of ripping flesh echoed in the narrow alley the fight took place in.

Mashyuu unwrapped the chain from around his arm and handed it to Sanoske. "It's yours if I can call you Sano." Sano took the chain and grinned wide. "Listen up punk, you tell us why you were try'n to take that woman or I'm gonna replace that blade with this chain and my buddy here is gonna fly you straight up, till your own weight rips the chain through as much of your leg and foot as possible and you come crashing down, got it!??!" Sano dropped the man and after howling in pain the goon spoke.

"Hey guys, it-ahhh shit that hurts! It's like this... We get paid to take non human's and knock em out, we carry em into the warehouse to the left of here and someone takes em later. I don't know anything else about it, but you should know your girl friend isn't gonna make it far, that alley leads to a dead end and on the sides are where the rest of my friends work, she's gonna get caught hahahahaha-" Before he could finish his gloating laugh, Sano hooked the man by the nose and lifted him to his feet then drove his fist into the man's jaw, rattling it so hard and puncturing it, that he passed out before he fell back down. Mashyuu dropped to a knee and ripped his blade free then wiped it clean on the downed man's pants.

"So, you're the guy making a pirate crew right? I'm in, I gotta get off this stupid island and see the world, only so many skulls I can crack here and the riff raff is getting lamer and lamer. Plus between you and the good doc, looks like your crew could use some muscle, plus I can cook pretty alright. Nothing amazing but I know how to get the most out of a little. Livin on the streets ell do that." Sano tested the chains weight and started to walk down the alley. Mashyuu grabbed the man by the shoulder and shook his head. "Your in if you can follow my lead on this. Girl's already been captured I'd say since there isn't any screams coming from down that way, and she is like me, a Skypiean. I'm gonna go act like I've been captured in the warehouse over here, why don't you hide and follow em when they take me, we can strike when we know what we are dealing with." Sano shrugged and cracked his neck by flexing the muscles in it. "Not my style but that kinda thinkin's why your'e the Cap."​

 

[batman4560]

A young Skypiean woman woke up groggy from a club to the back of the head while five men stood with their backs to her. She squinted and looked at the dock workers who were cat calling her when she strutted by. The last thing she remembered was her bad wing twitching when it felt the air behind her change due to the men turning to hit her. Quickly she glanced about, saw a window and she started to crawl towards it. Carefully she climbed a tall stack of crates slowly she pushed the window open and it made a loud creaking sound. She winced and glanced behind her to see the men turn and point while shouting at her. Quickly she scrambled out of the window and fell to the ground outside of the warehouse.

As she hit the ground, the men were already rounding the building and the wall of crates there. That was on her right, her head shot to the left where a man with two scars on his face and spiked gloves was walking towards her, a bottle of something in his hand. She bolted up and ran past him. "Hey buddy, help a lady out would ya? They clubbed me and dragged me into a building." Sano glanced at the men who were chasing her and made a funny sound. "Eeehhss? Ka!" He gave the woman a thumbs up and charged, hurling his bottle at the group, causing them to break into two units with one poor fool in the center. Sano grabbed him by the head with one palm, and twisted, throwing him head first into the stack of crates.

The woman didn't stick around to see what else was happening, but her hands went to her hips where she held two boomerangs that looked like wings on a set of holsters. She rounded a corner and groaned when she saw a dead end. Taking a step back she bumped into something solid and a smile crossed her lips. "Well you took care of those guys fast but-" A pair of hands clasped her hips and she shrugged them off. "Listen here buddy, I'll thank you for helping but I don't move that fast got it?" She whipped around and her half grin turned into a frown when she realized she wasn't going to get away. "Ah shit..." Eight men stood crammed in the alley and the one that had hold of her hips slammed a bottle that was handed to him across her face, knocking her out once again.

She awoke some time later, flat across some bars and slowly sat up in the uncomfortable cage. "What the hell... where am I now?" She asked while pulling the zip of her jumpsuit up to warm some of her exposed flesh. Rubbing her head under the flight cap she wore, the woman looked around with each blink. Cages lined walls, her face twisted and she realized that someone had sold her out. "Last time I take a tip from a man without a tie." She muttered but checked her inner top and pulled a small map out of it. The goons hadn't taken her map, maybe they just happened upon her after all. "What about a guy with a suit jacket?" A male voice asked next to her.

The woman jumped in her confined space and pressed up against the cage for a moment while looking Mashyuu over. "Who are you?" She asked while twenty or so men milled about and went through boxes of something. "I'm the guy that made sure they didn't touch you while you were out. Mashyuu Ishi, Pirate Captain and fellow Skypiean. Granted I'm just learning the name of our people since I've been on the blue sea most my life. And you are?" Mashyuu asked. The woman chuckled softly and sighed. Her hand went to her head for a moment and the smile returned to her face. "Well sir, seems I owe you and if we get out of here I intend to pay. Name's Sora, Shipwright by trade, treasure hunter by profession." She winked at Mashyuu and blew him a flirty kiss.

"Well Sora, if we get out of this I'll happily take you up on payment. Looks like you could use a friend though and I'm in the market for a shipwright. How about you consider joining my crew in the mean time." Sora thought about it and shrugged. "I'll have to see you action before I make that decision, but how many are on your crew right now?" Mashyuu thought for a moment and wondered if he should tell her the truth or not. "Three not counting you, you already ran into one of the members. He's got... I guess two roles, cook and quartermaster. I just decided on the second role. He should be here soon. We found out you got captured and decided I should get caught too. He's following behind slowly. But these twenty or so guys are all of em as far as I can tell. They were talking about taking treasures from far away lands like Skypiea.... Dials?"

Sora giggled and rolled her eyes at the way Mashyuu said dials like it was a question. "Gee you really have been here a while huh? Dials are-" She was cut off when Mashyuu rose his hand. "I remember, I had a voice dial when I was child of my mother singing a lullaby." Just then a quick rattle echoed in a hall that led to the large open area under the docks followed by a grunt and a clack of a head against a stone wall. "Ah, that would be my cook, Sanoske. I call him Sano, sit tight and I'll pick this cage lock while he fights. Those boomerangs on that table there are yours right?" Mashyuu pointed across the room where his dagger and a pair of boomerangs rested. "Yup, but how are you gonna pick the locks?" Mashyuu flicked his wrists and a pair of thinner throwing blades with fine points fell from hidden sheaths. "Always bring a back up."​

 

[batman4560]

Stealth wasn't something Sano really understood so while waiting behind a few crates inside the warehouse he let his eyes wander until he saw something funny, a set of grooves in the wall that wen down past the floor across from where Mashyuu was laying. He drew a breath to say something about the sight when the floor near the groves split and a small group of men wearing brown overalls and black baseball hats climbed up, grabbed Mashyuu by the arms and dragged him down under ground. Quickly Sano ran over to the rapidly shutting trap door and dropped part of the chain down into the gap, causing the trap door to stay partially open. "Stupid door.... Sanoske can't be beat so easily!" He roared, bent down and grabbed the door, yanking hard to bend the metal the opposite way on the joints and ripped it up off the hinges...

Casually, as if he were on a walk, Sano rounded a corner in a deep tunnel but fell back when he saw shadows moving. He peered around the corner with one eye and watched twenty or so men milling about with small boxes and some chests that looked like treasure chests you'd see in a children's book. "He-heeh, how lame." He chuckled under his own breath and loosened the chain in his grasp as a guard peered down the tunnel towards Sano. Quickly he tossed the chain out, yanked and wrapped it around the mans neck, dragging him into the darkness of the tunnel quickly then pounded his head against the stone wall of the tunnel.

A sharp whistle followed by a silly tune echoed in the tunnel, all the workers looked over towards the darkness and in response metal started to rattle with each step a figure took. Sano stepped from the darkness while swinging the chain side to side and whistling. He stopped in the entrance and looked around the storehouse like room. "...This place looks like a fire hazard, all these wooden boxes... Not even an emergency exit. I'm gonna have to shut it down."

The men all gave one another sideways glances many of them drew blades of some sort, daggers, knives, sabers and shanks. While they drew weapons, Sano looked over to see Mashyuu and the woman in a cramped cage with Mashyuu trying to pick the lock with a pair of thin throwing blades. Sano rolled his eyes and waved to Mashyuu. "Hold tight captain, I'll clean up this trash and be right with you! Stop trying to pick the lock!" Mashyuu's jaw dropped when Sano called him out, three men looked at Mashyuu and Sora then started to move towards the pair.

The other group of sixteen took up stances and rushed the confident Sano. "Sora, jump, fly, something!" Mashyuu shouted with panic in his voice and his eyes bulging out of his head while he leaned back in the cage, pressing Sora up against it. The sudden shift in weight caused the cage to roll backwards and the front end to tilt up into the jaw of one of the men charging the duo of Skypieans. "AHHH! I'm a woman not a bird, stop trying to grope me you perv!" Sora shouted at Mashyuu while he grabbed her shoulder and hip to try and not crush her. His daggers fell at his feet and clattered in the cage for a moment before he managed to turn in the cage and pick one up, tossing it out of the cage into the chest of another thug. However without the right arm space the dagger dug in but not deep enough to stop his charge.

Sano rushed the group, slipping his body to the left, and slamming his left shoulder into the chest of a man that lunged for a stab. The goon rolled backwards head over heels while Sano lashed the chain out like a whip, striking another man in the face with it. He yanked it up and held part of the slack tight with his right hand, blocking a slash for his throat then twisted the chain around the blade and yanked up, causing the blade to move awkwardly but the thug didn't have time to pull the weapon back when Sano's spiked fist drove into the mans chest right below the neck, sending him flying into a crate.

"Damn it, what kind of Pirate can't pick a lock? Here use these!" Sora reached into her hair and pulled a few hair pins out of it, causing her almost blue hair to fall out of her skull cap in cascading waves. Mashyuu took the pins and jabbed the lock again, this time finding the sweet spot, the door popped open and Sora jumped over Mashyuu's back, slamming the door into the thug with the blade in his chest, twisted her body and bolted for the table with Mashyuu's melee daggers and Sora's boomerangs.

Mashyuu scrambled out of the cage next, dusting himself off as he stood, realizing how dirty he had gotten when they dragged him about. His face twisted in a scowl while he ducked a swipe for his head. He reached out, grasped his throwing blade by the handle and dug it deeper while twisting, running the goon into his friend who brought up the rear. At the same time Sora secured her holsters to her hip and jumped up on the table, kicking Mashyuu's daggers across the room. "Captain! Heads up!" Mashyuu jumped right, caught his dual daggers and spun them around in his grasp rapidly, listening to them cut air. Stopping the spin he brought his elbows in to his hips and spun the blades towards one another while his wings started to beat hard. He took a running start and began to fly towards the the man he hit with the cage earlier and the two goons who were still trying to untangle from each other. "Eagle Talons!" Mashyuu shouted, extending his arms out and dragging the spinning blades in, across the three men's ribs, sending them sprawling across the hard floor at the same time.

The group trying to deal with Sano noticed the commotion happening behind them and the unit broke apart to deal with the three fighters. One group of men rushed towards the woman on the table who cocked a hip to the side, drew her wing like boomerangs and hurled them. They cut the air rapidly, Sora's one good wing reached back and beat hard, sending a powerful gust of wind that blew Mashyuu's hair wildly and hats off of heads in the room. The wind gust lifted a single boomerang above everyone while the other zipped at hip level towards the group rushing her. "Homing missile!" Sora called out, the lower boomerang slashed the hips of the men, causing their pants to drop and the men to trip, then the boomerang cut back towards Sora and landed in her hand. The higher flying weapon circled the entire room and skimmed the heads of the men that had fallen, knocking them for a loop. Before the weapon landed on the ground, her other boomerang shot out under it and dragged both of them back to her hand yet again.

Sano jumped up, drove his knee into the gut one one man and doubled him over, then Sano took a strike to the jaw from a balled up fist. A knife came swinging up towards the man's face and he grabbed the man who was doubled over and yanked him into the path of the blade, causing him to get stabbed instead of Sano. Now stuck on one of his friends the goon who tried to stab Sano half smiled and Sano responded by shrugging his shoulders and head butting the man, breaking his nose and causing him to drop like a bag of sinking stones.

Mashyuu flew up high and dropped down, throwing his feet into the head of a goon trying to sneak up on Sano, knocking him into the tunnel as Mashyuu landed behind the newly joined brawler. Back to back, the duo started to fight with renewed vigor, Sora supplying support from her boomerangs...

An hour passed and Mashyuu, Sano and Sora were climbing out of the tunnel with the map Sora had. "Well, the map leads to dock seventy, there is supposed to be an old submarine there." Sora announced with a matter of fact tone to her voice. The woman led the men down the docks with swaying hips that made Sano stare while licking his chomps, in a normal circumstance, Mashyuu would have too but he was too distracted with trying to clean dirt stains off his suit jacket. "I just washed this thing too..." He muttered under his breath.

The trio stopped at a wooden dock and Sora glanced around for a moment, looking at the empty port. "....Something seems wrong, the docks are filled with ships aside from right here.." She scratched her chin and started to strip down into her under shirt and a pair of blue panties. "Aww hell yeah!" Sano cheered while pumping his fist but before he could say anything else, Sora jumped into the water and vanished. A long while passed, Mashyuu and Sano staring at the water intently. "Wow... she can really hold her breath." Mashyuu joked and Sano started to laugh hard at the bad joke.

Bubbles soon began to surface and pop on the water and suddenly a white submarine exploded from the water and surfaced. The top of it spun and a hatch opened, Sora popping out like she were in a cake. "Ta-da!!! Sano be a doll and toss me my clothes."... After Getting dressed, Sora jumped out of the sub with a fairly large sack in her hand. She tossed it to the floor at Mashyuu's feet and held up two small curled sea shells in one hand. "I got my cut, give that to the rest of the crew Cap, then tell me where to meet you guys tomorrow. In a cage you're not very good but in a fight I couldn't pick a better partner between you two, and I can't fight well so.... yeah. I'm in."

Mashyuu lifted the bag and looked at the collection of shells. "Aww, most of these are lamps and toys... oh but this one..." Mashyuu pulled out a red shell with a button on the side and handed it to Sano. "Fill it with flames and it will shoot them out later, here." Sano took the shell and grinned ear to ear. "Bitchin..." Slinging the bag over his shoulder he figured he could sell em at the very least. "All right Phantom Raiders, see you at Al's tavern in the morning for breakfast and to see about buying a ship." Sora and Sano stared at Mashyuu blankly and Sano spoke up. "That name sucks... but whatever I'll see you guys in the morning, good brawling with ya."​

 

[batman4560]

Al carried three trays of food and drink over to a round table in the back of his tavern and placed the trays down one at a time then started to hand out plates to Mashyuu, Sano, Ion, and Sora. He took one look at the group and nodded in approval. "So ye Finally Got yerself a crew, well enjoys it Ishi, now ye just need a ship! Heheheheheheee!" Al laughed and walked off, leaving the four alone. Mashyuu took a deep breath of air and looked at his three new crewmates with a half smile spread over his lips. "First thing is first, Ion, this is Sano, and Sora, Ion is a doctor, Sano is a cook and Sora is a Shipwright and me.. I'm a blacksmith now, otherwise I'm juts a general deck hand and the Captain. We are all here for different reasons, to escape our pasts, find a future, avenge a loved one, or hold up some ideal we value. As your Captain I can't begin to thank you enough, and promise to do my best to make all your dreams come true."

Mashyuu took a bow at the table and everyone else started to snicker and laugh a little at the man. Mashyuu stood up straight and cleared his throat, then dug into his pocket. "...Anyway, I decided on your name and we are the Phantom Raiders, this will be our Jolly Roger." Mashyuu took a large, folded piece of black paper from his pocket and unfolded it, slapping it into the center of the table for others to see. "Okay... I laughed at the name twice but that is a cool design!" Sano shouted then chugged his glass of ale to wash down rare steak. Sora and Ion looked at the design and nodded in approval. "I don't have the supplies to make a ship but if we can steal or buy one, I can keep it sea worthy, Captain." Sora winked at Mashyuu and pressed her arms around her chest, pushing her bust together. Ion in turn rolled her eyes at Sora and drank a glass of water silently. "Mashyuu, I've been working hard and have enough money to outfit a ship with a medical station without having to tap into the hospital's supplies." Sano finally finished his meal and burped loudly. "Yo, I got a guy who sells me food on the cheap, it won't take much money, if we can find a place to pillage, like a Navy base on the edge of the island we should be good to go." He gave a thumbs up and yawned.

Taking in all the information, Mashyuu nodded while making a decision. "Okay crew, Sano, Ion, I want you to go and find a Navy base to rob. Make it quick and fast. No messes and no deaths. Hell if you can broker a deal with them do it. We don't need any unneeded attention before we set out, Sora, you and I are gonna go to the docks and see what is for sale and if we can't find anything for sale, we might steal a ship. Where we are going first, anything will do so long as its hull is sturdy." The group agreed and nodded. "Great, finish you meals and take today to relax, we get to work tomorrow." Mashyuu picked up the paper in his hand and folded the phantom skull with angel wings back up and placed it in his pocket once again....​

 

[batman4560]

Chapter Seven: Steal the Sky Cleaver!

Mashyuu toiled the morning and afternoon away in the forge of Boris. Working carefully and forging thick links of a chain and making sure there was plenty of room for the chains to move along one another until he had a four foot long chain. Once that was complete he got to work on a four pound weight that had a chain link to hook to one end of the chain he had crafted. Slowly smoothing out the bottom of the weight he took a small chisel and carved out his signature for all his works, a set of angel wings in mid flight. The man smiled at his work and pulled short haft kama about a foot long with a six inch blade and screwed in a small link into the haft then secured the other end of his chain to it. He took a look around the room to make sure he had plenty of space and spent the night practicing with the weapon.

Sano and Ion hit the streets, talking with people they had made connections with in Mock Town to see where the Marines had ended up setting up bases around the city. It didn't take long to get some addresses but they would need time to case the area's and see what kind of people they were dealing with, really they just needed a treasury of some sort to raid in order to pay for food supplies that would last a month or two without going bad. Once they could figure that out, in theory all would be well on their end.

Sora stood atop a roof among the docks, hands on her hips she scouted the ships, her keen eyes scanned each ship that pulled into port and frowned at what she saw. "Nothing with exceptional hulls. Hell I could make a fortune just repairing these things, half of them are rotting.... Poor sailors." She muttered but her eyes landed at the end of the docks and a smile spread across her pouty lips. "Ohhhh, that's what mamma likes..." She shivered and jumped up, her one wing flapping rapidly to keep her in mid air a bit longer than her weight would have allowed. Quickly she jumped off the roof and glided down with her wings, the crippled one barely moving at all causing her to almost circle to the ground and land with a stumble...

The following Morning Mashyuu, dressed in his black "Pirate Garb" mask and all stepped down the steps with his chained kama and weight on his hips, replacing his more lethal but heavy morning star. The man flexed his red gloved hands and looked at the door of the tavern to see his entire crew waiting for him. "Umm.... shouldn't two of you be out and about, ya know, getting supplies?" He asked while looking to Sano and Ion. "Oh yea, but I found our ship Captain, and we are gonna need help with it. I figure after we deal with taking it....because nobody in their right minds would sell it, we should be able to sail around and find any Marine outpost and hit it all together, or we can hide the ship and lay low, whatever the Captain wants." The others seemed content with the idea, especially Sano who was always waiting for a reason to fight.

Shrugging his shoulders, Mashyuu pushed past the doors and held them open. "In that case, lead the way Sora, we will follow your lead until we get to the ship." Sora giggled and skipped out of the tavern then fell in line with the others. For the first time, the Phantom Raiders moved as a single unit with a singular goal...​

 

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The Raiders stalked down the city streets, Sora skipped ahead of the group while the others watched her move with an annoyed look on her face. Her gait was a bit too cheerful for the situation they were walking into, especially without her giving them anything to go on. "What's it look like!?" Mashyuu shouted in annoyed confusion. "Yeah and why d'ya need all of us exactly?" Sano chimed in. Sora spun on her heel and placed her hands on her hips, bending at the waist to glare at the group. "First of all, it's a Skypiean ship. Do you have any idea what that can do? It can make clouds to fly up on! Granted it straight up but we could get to Skypiea that way! That's what you wanted right Cap?"

Mashyuu's brow lifted sharply at the idea of having a direct way up to Skypiea from Mock Town and Jaya. His eyes frantically darted side to side while his mind started to calculate plans, he could easily get there with the crew and maybe even get back down with almost no issue. He smiled wide and nodded back to Sano. "What about his question, its a fair one." Sora looked Sano up and down for a moment and shook her head side to side. "Skypiean's don't just come to the blue sea, they are looking for someone or something, and they aren't just gonna give up their ship. Getting them out of the way is not something I can do... I have a boomerang." She added with a dower tone to her voice.

After a moment, Ion clapped Sora on the shoulder and nudged her forward. "We've all stopped in the middle of the street and people are gonna start to wonder what a small group of us are doing. We get it, you need help and you don't think Mashyuu will be enough. Lets get going so we can take care of everything else after that." Level headed, Ion urged the group on. Rounding the corner of the street, through a tourist ally, the group stepped onto the docks and looked down to the far end. "Holy shit! that thing is awesome!" Sano shouted, pointing at the ship of brown brass and black wood. Mashyuu slapped Sano's hand down and pulled the mask out of his jacket pocket. "Don't point it out, lets try to not give ourselves away without knowing the numbers we are dealing with."

"Mashy!? Oh good it's you!" A sultry female voice shouted from down the docks. Mashyuu tilted his head in confusion while Ion glared at the man. "How many women have you met since you got to town? For fuck's sake." Mashyuu shrugged his shoulders and folded his wings in on his back. "Just you two and Boris' daughter!" Mashyuu shouted and looked back to see a figure working her way through a small crowd of people. When she stepped out of the crowd, Sano whistled and nodded his head up and down while rubbing his hands together. "Damn Cap, if you don't want her send her my way. These hands are good for more than punchin shi-oowww!" He yelped when Sora clubbed him in the gut and doubled him over.

Long legs wrapped in silver plated boots with white angel wing patterns strode forward, the white wing scabbard that held a basket hilt saber swayed wit the steps the woman in the chain skirt and breastplate made. Her long golden hair reflected the light from the early morning sun and her blue eyes glinted with joy at seeing Mashyuu. "Oh, you don't remember me? We used to play when we were children. It's me, Angela!" She stopped in front of the taller man and looked him up and down then threw her long, gauntlet covered arms around him and hugged the man tight. "My you've gotten handsome!" She nearly shouted into his chest with a shrill tone. The entire time, Mashyuu's eyes were wide with fear, Angela was the daughter of his former master. "A-Angela.... It's good to see you too. Umm why are you here?" He asked while stammering, worried that his master had come back for him and he was walking into an ambush instead of getting to do things his own way.

Slowly Angela pulled back from Mashyuu but kept her hands on his arms. "Why... I'm here looking for you silly! It's time to come home, back to Skypiea where you belong. Things are different now.... Besides you were supposed to be mine forever, remember?" Her cheerful voice slowly lowered to an almost threatening one. Ion and Sano picked up on the tone shift and their bodies tensed, Sano nearly leaping into a fight that hadn't started yet. Mashyuu in turn leaned in close to Angela and cupped her cheek with his left hand and gazed into her eyes. "Sure, just.... give me a few moments with my friends here and then you and I can talk." Slowly Angela let go of his arms and Mashyuu spun to his crew and gave them each a stern look. "I'm gonna lead this chick away, I have no idea what she's capable of right now, get that damn ship and look for me in the air. I'll find you later. Be quick, be careful and watch one another's backs." Mashyuu whispered and pointed further down the docks. "And that's an order!" He shouted, playing up like he had just shooed them away. "Okay Angela, I'm all yours, come on, lets go for a walk."​

 

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"Okay Mashy!!" Angela grabbed Mashyuu's arm and laced her arms around his left arm, letting him lead her back the way he came from and towards the center of town while the others watched them leave. "What a weirdo...." Sora muttered under her breath while Ion scratched her chin and watched the couple walk away. "It's not an act, she's got some real mental damage. Rough upbringing maybe." Ion mused but while the did, Sano fidgeted with the flame shell he had gotten earlier and hooked it to a hand loop he fixed to the chain Mashyuu gave him. "I should really ask Cap t' help me with dis..." He mumbled after securing the shell. "Should do da trick though." Sano swing the chain around a few moments and made sure the shell wouldn't just pop off. "Aight so, whats da plan? We gotta get dat ship we gonna go bash some skulls?"

Ion rolled her eyes and crossed her arms under her chest, causing her bust to rise a bit with the movement in her loose dress. "We could... but that seems like a bad idea, last time Mashyuu and I did that we were nearly killed, though he remembers it differently. It's funny, I've only known him a few months and he acts like we've been friends our entire lives and nothing bad has ever happened to us. I think he is afraid to lose a family again." Sora yawned and stretched, her curves put on display in her brown jumpsuit. "Boring! C'mon we got a ship to scout."

Sano cracked his neck and wrapped the chain around the sleeve of his left arm and started to walk down the docks followed by the women who flanked him. Sora narrowed her large eyes and scanned the group on the deck of the ship and working around it. There seemed to be a man giving orders from the helm of the vessel. He wore a tight black T-shirt with a white jacket lined with bird feathers, like Mashyuu his wings came from behind his clothes but they were larger and more powerful. His golden hair was swept back like it was stuck that way from flying too much and slightly covered his blue eyes. His white gloved hands waved about to direct others and the katana on his hip rested snugly. "That's the first mate... We need him off the ship, if a fight breaks out he's yours Sano." Sora whispered, Sano's face twisted into a wicked grin and he mentally marked the man. "Yeah but there are like ten others on the ship at least, and they all have their wings strapped to their backs. Hell they aren't even wearing shoes but they all have spears. Mashyuu said his wings used to be strapped like that when he was a kid." Ion went on, pointing out the crew of the ship all seemed to be slaves. "Then lets free em, if we take out the first mate they won't want to fight so much." Sano growled. "Fine but I'm not killing em, Sora, if the Marines show up you need to cause a distraction, let me and Sano deal with the fighting." Ion went on, not willing to put the weakest of the fighters in danger.

Walking past the tavern, Mashyuu and Angela hooked down a side street and the woman rested her head against Mashyuu's shoulder. "Things are different now, Dad has a lot of land, one of the smaller islands all to himself and a big factory above the city of gold. Damn savages keep trying to take dads island but we keep putting em in straps. But their leaders are strong, we can't catch em. I told dad you might be able to help, he promised not to put the straps back on you if you swear to be my pet." Angela whispered into his ear. Mashyuu's skin crawled at the thought but he continued to walk with her for a bit longer until the duo were standing outside of the Don's abandoned home. "I'm not going back with you, I'm not your pet, and you're father hasn't changed in a way for the best." Mashyuu replied evenly. "Mashyyy! Sweetie, why would you say something so mean!? If you don't come back with me I'll have to punish you and drag you back.... maybe bring the heads of your friends with me."

Swiftly Angela pulled away from Mashyuu and pouted at him but her right hand inched towards her blade. Mashyuu noticed it and his hands were already moving to the jacket he wore. "Don't make me hurt you Angela, you're sick in the head and need help, I can-" He was cut off by Angela screaming at him. "I'm not sick! You're a dog and dogs need to obey their masters!" In the blink of an eye, Angela drew her blade, the steel of the blade what a perfect white that almost hurt Mashyuu's eyes to look at, His mask came down as he jumped backwards, Angela lunged and barely missed jabbing her blades tip into his heart. Mashyuu's hands went to the chain and kama weapon on his hips and drew them, his left hand whirling the weighted chain around in a short arc and his right hand clutched his kama firmly ready to do battle.​

 

[batman4560]

Mashyuu back peddled on a grassy lawn, the crisp green grass crunched under his heavy booted feet while he braced his body and his teeth gritted. His left hand shot out, launching the weighted chain in a straight line, just as Angela went to parry the strike, Mashyuu yanked the chain back and lunged forward, sweeping his weapon for the exposed skin on her thigh to try and take her out before she could build any momentum. Her leg lifted and she blocked the strike with a clank from her metal armored boots. Mashyuu growled and flicked his left wrist up, trying to catch her right arm with the chain but she flew up and spun, causing the man to give chase.

As he ascended and flexed to attack, Angela came to a sudden stop, flipped in the air and brought her leg down on the crown of Mashyuu's head! His body sank fast and a yelp slipped past his lips before he crashed into the ground, causing a plume of dirt and grass to shoot up from the impact. Before Angela could follow up her attack, Mashyuu raced away, his chest nearly touching the ground while he flew towards the mansion that Don once lived in. "Aww Poor Baby! Don't run!" Angela called out. "Let Mistress Angela make it all better!" Angela gave chase and Mashyuu swept around a flag pole, quickly latching his chain to the pole and pulling the metal tight. Suddenly he raced towards Angela and to her flank, catching Angela across the forehead with the chain and making her flip through the air out of control before she crashed into the marble support of the buildings front doors. Quickly he took a moment to unhook his chain and landed near the pole, taking a moment to wince and shake the stars that were still sparkling in his vision.

Angela picked herself up off the ground and grasped her weapon again, whipping about to face Mashyuu. "You fucking Prick!" She shouted and jumped up at Mashyuu, blade high in the air she brought it down for his left shoulder. His kama came up, catching her blade with a flash at the thick black rope around the top of the wooden haft. His wrist twisted, causing the weapons to slide and the sword to be pushed outwards. His leg came up and he booted her chest as hard as he could kicking Angela back and then slung his chain out, catching her in the jaw before she could recover. A grunt of pain escaped her and blood shot up from a busted lip but Angela held her ground and started to giggle. "Oohhh I like this mean streak in you pet, it's gonna make breaking you all the more fun."

Sano and the ladies approached the ship and Sora bent at the waist, admiring the exposed portions of the vessel with no idea what was under the water. "Fine ship you have here. Mind if I come take a look at it?" Sora asked and winked up at the first mate of the ship. The man glared down at Sora and the others. "Crippled shrew, stand away from my Mistresses vessle this instance!" The man shouted. Sora, the beauty, stood up straight, stomped her foot and glared at the man giving her the same look. "It's not my fault part of the bone is fused to my back! You ass! Come down here and say that to my boyfriend!" Sora grasped Sano by the arm and he looked at Sora like she was insane. "Ohhhh you so owe me for this..." He growled under his breath while Ion started to stand between the men and the deck hands who were doing work on the dock when the commotion started.

"Better yet, come up here champion of the cripple, I indeed cannot have blood shed on the docks of a land I do not own. But on the ship, I am the master of the land. I'll have your head." The man grasped his blades hilt and drew it slowly. Sano sighed and ran his hands through his hair to sweep the dark locks back. Lazily he strolled up the gang plank and stood at the main sail of the ship. "You sure you wanna do this pretty boy? I have no problem cutting those wings off and wearing them for a bath robe." Sano threatened the man while rolling his shoulders. The first mate slowly stepped down onto the proper main deck of the ship and glared at the current cook of the Phantom Raiders. "Yeah, and I'll stake your head on the crows nest of the ship."

Without another word the two charged, howling with the heat of battle. The first mate slashed his straight blade at Sano's head and in turn Sano brought his chain wrapped arm up and blocked the weapon and drove his spike gloved fist at the mans face. The man pulled his head back and swept his leg at Sano's feet, trying to trip him but Sano jumped the sweep and sent a back hand across the first mates jaw, causing him to stagger a step and stumble before catching himself. The blonde chuckled under his breath at the bruise he could feel forming on his cheek and started to fly up off the deck just an inch or so. "My name is Chrono, first mate of the Sky Cleaver, and you will now face my full fury as a worthy opponent..... PREPARE YOURSELF FOR DEATH!"​