[IC] One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

[Blackstripe]

"Huh? Where'd that trawler come from? I didn't see it dock," Derkins muttered, wiping his brow with the back of his soot-covered hand. It was too damn hot today.

"No clue," Marlo shrugged. "Last I looked there were only two ships docked here."

Grumbling beneath his breath, Derkins sauntered across the harbor for a closer inspection. Nothing seemed particularly odd or out of place about the modest ship, besides it being here. It had already been secured to the pier, and appeared to be vacant. Scratching at his matted hair, he glanced back to his fellow dockworker. "Maybe we oughta take a closer look. Whaddya think?"

Marlo didn't respond. Instead, his eyes were now directed out to sea. When Derkins traced his gaze, it became apparent why.

"...Bellamy's bloody shit, that's a jolly roger!"

In the distance it was clear to see: A sloop, about a mile out, flying the skull and crossbones proudly atop its central mast. It was heading right for them, and within minutes it would reach the docks.

"We've gotta warn the town! Come on, Marlo!"

---

Curtis had inherited the Smokey Saddle from his father, just as he had from his father before him. The tavern had been in their family for generations, serving as the small town of Boaduor's most popular establishment.

Now it served as the most popular place to establish a barricade against pirates. Dozens of townfolk had retreated inside and had moved every table and chair they could get their hands on to block both the front and back doors. Curtis still didn't like their chances.

While it was a sturdy building, it sure as hell hadn't been made to endure pirate raids.

"Oi, can I get some more rib roast here?" the woman eating at the bar called out, drawing an irritated glance from Curtis. She'd shown up here an hour ago, and had already eaten her way through about twenty people's worth of food. Where was she even putting it all?

Judging by her cherry red locks and pale complexion, she was from Belessia, an island not too far from here. And for whatever reason, though, she was wearing a red scarf around her neck despite it being hot as the hells outside. She also apparently didn't care that they were being raided by pirates!!

"Don't you think we've got bigger priorities, miss?" Curtis pointedly asked.

"No," she replied. "Cause I'm still hungry."

...If she wasn't such a looker, he'd slug her one.

[Zapdos]

Walking up to the tavern with the other pirates, Galen Jones reflected on what was about to happen. He never liked this part of the job. Raiding was so unnecessary, especially for a crew as notable as the one he was in. Even though they were only a subordinate crew of the Marquis, the Redwell Pirates were still a well-known force. Why not just send one guy to negotiate? It would prevent a lot of lost lives on both sides and it could enable the pirates to get more money. Then again, a guy like the Marquis wouldn’t do what he did if he cared about preserving lives. His thoughts were interrupted though.

“Hey Jones! Jones, you son of a bitch! Pay attention!”

A big, hairy fat man whose only clothing was a pair of pants was yelling at Jones now.

“Oh, what now, Claire? Your yelling’s giving me a headache!” Jones said, wincing his head and rubbing his forehead.

“It’s Carl! Say my name right or I’ll punch you!” Carl jabbed with his fists like a boxer to illustrate his point.

“Nah,” Jones responded, “and as I love telling you, we have a lot of muscle in our crew, but only a few doctors. If you do so much as touch me, the captain will kill you faster than you can say ‘One Piece.’”

“Yeah, well...shut up! We’re almost here,” the fat man said, turning to the force that was assembled under his command, “these people are all in their tavern. I’m hungry, so let’s get our money and get our food. Got it?!”

Without even waiting for a response from the pirates, Carl punched the door, forcing it wide open despite the fact that there were tables and chairs there. Walking in with the pirates, the fat man yelled “okay, we want food! ...and your money. Give us what you got, or I’ll do this!” He then grabbed the arm of a nearby man and crushed it in his hand, then threw the guy to the floor.

Before anyone could do anything else, Jones ran to the man and started making an improvised cast for him using some towels that were nearby.

“Sorry about all of this,” he said with irritation, “Claire’s an idiot.”

[Blackstripe]

A cloud of dust and splintered wood heralded the entrance of the pirates. Curtis had watched the townfolk spend the better part of the past fifteen minutes barricading that door, and with just a single blow it had all been undone.

"Damn it..." he spat under his breath.

They still outnumbered the pirates by a solid margin, but as if to dispel any thought of resistance, their apparent leader seized Perry Hendricks--the local butcher--by the arm, crushing his limb as if it were made of paper. His wife Abigail screamed in horror at the sight, rushing to his side. When one of the pirates rushed for her fallen husband, she gave him a glare interlaced with both terror and rage.

"S-stay away from him, you bastards!" She snarled.

An audible sigh from behind him drew Curtis' eye to the Belessian woman, her bottle-green eyes staring pointedly at him. "Now I'm completely out of rib roast! Whoever would permit such a horrible thing to happen?"

"Did you collide with the harbor head-first on your way here?!" Curtis snapped.

[Zapdos]

“Ma’am, I’m just the doctor,” Jones responded to her in a polite tone, “if you let me work, your husband’s arm will heal. Otherwise, he’ll probably be crippled for life. If you wish to complain, you can talk to Claire.” The doctor glanced over at the fat man to indicate who he meant. “But I would advise against that. As long as you cooperate, you and your husband should be fine...hopefully.” He then resumed his work without waiting for a response.

Meanwhile, Carl’s attention was focused more on the matter of rib roast. “Rib roast? You ate ALL of my rib roast?!” If looks could kill, the Belessian woman would be dead. He walked over towards the lady. “It looks like I need to teach you some manners!” he yelled, throwing his fist at the lady while the other pirates (minus the doctor) raised their weapons, ready to fight if needed.

[Blackstripe]

Abigail fixed the "doctor" with a hard look that warned him not to try anything funny--as if she could do anything. Still, she backed out of his way enough to allow him to bandage her husband.

Curtis couldn't even begin to imagine why anyone on a pirate ship would care if they were injured, but their situation wasn't so carefree that he could look a gift horse in the mouth.

Unfortunately, things quickly escalated further.

When the rotund pirate who knocked down their door heard that they were out of rib roast, he flew into a rage. Drawing back his barricade-smashing fist, he slammed it into the side of the woman's face, causing her stool to collapse beneath her. Curtis...had expected much, much worse. Both for the girl, and his tavern.

Glancing down at the stool with a frown, the woman instantly hopped back onto her feet and looked to the beleaguered bartender, "I'm not payin' for that stool there, like. That's his fault."

Curtis felt his jaw nearly hit the floor. Despite having taken the pirate's monstrous punch, she seemed completely unfazed. What the hell were these people?!

Refocusing her gaze on the pirate that attacked her, the woman slowly smiled. "But this one..."

She slammed her fist into the lead pirate's jaw, his face twisting and molding to her knuckles with the same ease as whipped cream beneath a spoon. The large man was instantly lifted off his feet, rocketing towards the assembly of pirates behind him like a blubbery cannon ball. Smashing through their ranks with nary a hint of resistance, he crashed through the back wall of the tavern.

"...This one's all my fault."

[Zapdos]

Jones completely ignored Abigail and the noise coming from Carl’s mouth, focusing instead on his work. This wasn’t anything he hadn’t done before, so it was pretty easy. However, when it was almost done, his concentration was interrupted by a crashing noise. Startled, Jones looked in the direction of the sound to see that the wall was missing and that the other people we was with were all knocked out cold. Most of them had been knocked out by Carl, in fact.

One might think that Jones would be worried now that all of his allies were unable to fight. Instead, he busted out laughing. “Hahahahahahaha! That was great! Ha, wow.” He took a deep breath to calm down, then turned back to the butcher and took a few seconds to finish what he had started. After that, he looked at his wife. Using the same polite tone he used earlier, Jones said “he should keep the cast on for about six weeks, ma’am. Then go see a doctor and he should be able to tell you if his arm is healed or not.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he turned to address the room and said “okay, that was funny and Claire definitely deserved that, but you should all return to your homes now. When Redwell finds out about this, he’s going to be annoyed, and trust me, you do not want to be around him when that happens.”

[Blackstripe]

Curtis was still speechless when the doctor of the crew began warning them to leave. The vast majority of the tavern obeyed without hesitation, flooding from the broken door and the hole that had been left in Claire--odd name for a man--'s wake.

After his tavern had been emptied, save for himself, the woman and the doctor, Curtis at last was able to find his voice.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" He shouted to the woman. "Why didn't you do that when the pirates first entered?!"

Glancing to him, she scratched the side of her face. "Ah, so those were pirates."

Slamming his head down on the counter, when Curtis rose again his forehead glowed red. "Of course they were pirates! Why do you think we were barricading the doors?!"

"...I thought that was your hobby," she answered bluntly, though she now carried a slight grin on her face. It quickly faded, though, being replaced with a look of mild distress. "Ah, shite...my ship's out there with me stuff in it. They'd better not've looted it while I was eatin'!"

Watching her step towards the remnants of the doorway, Curtis called out to her. "Hey, what about all that food you ate?"

Stopping in her tracks, she turned towards him and clasped her hands. "Gochisousama."

"Thank you for your patronage," Curtis bowed in response. "...THAT'S NOT WHAT I FUCKIN' MEANT!"

[Zapdos]

Jones smiled as he listened to the exchange between who he assumed was the bartender and the lady who turned Claire into a human cannonball. This new woman was interesting and not bad looking, he could say that much. While Claire wasn’t the toughest pirate he’d ever seen, he was curious enough about the lady who knocked him out cold to follow her as she left. Jones waved to Curtis as he left, glanced at Claire’s pile of pirates to make sure nobody was dead, and then caught up with the other conscious pirate and started talking to her. He knew she was technically the enemy, but Jones figured that if she punched him, at least he wouldn’t have to participate in raids for a while.

“Since we’re headed in the same direction, mind if I walk to the docks with you?” he asked. Jones wasn’t lying; he would need to go back to the Red Baron to report this incident to the captain. Redwell would not be pleased.

“That was a nice attack you did back there,” the doctor added.

Meanwhile, at the docks, the girl’s ship was indeed being looted. The Redwell Pirates were certainly not discriminatory with their raiding, that was for sure.

[Blackstripe]

Huh.

What had started out looking like a pretty mundane, boring day had actually turned out to be pretty interesting. The last thing Siobhan had been expecting to encounter in this sleepy little town were pirates, but she was hardly complaining. It had been a while since she had gotten to knock a few heads together, and she was starting to worry that she might get rusty.

When the sole remaining pirate on his feet followed her out of the tavern and asked to travel to the docks with her, she quirked a brow. "Aren't ya one of those pirates? Ya seem pretty happy that I beat up your comrades."

It wasn't a long walk to the docks, given the small size of the town. Unfortunately, when they arrived she saw exactly what she didn't want to see: a bunch of muppets ransacking her trawler. A vein slowly rising on the side of her head, she crouched. Her calves swelling slightly, she pushed herself off the ground in a leap that left the area bathed in a cloud of dirt.

Landing on the deck of her boat, it rocked furiously on the water, almost threatening to capsize. "Get outta there, ya feckin' gimps!"

Momentarily stunned by her arrival, the pirates were rendered speechless. A long staredown began between them that lasted for a fair number of seconds. When one's cutlass twitched, that was the end of it. In a blur of motion, the three pirates were sent flying, certain to find their way back to sea the hard way in short order.

Exhaling, Siobhan shook her head. Rustling through her now disheveled cargo, she smiled in relief when everything seemed to be intact.

[Zapdos]

This woman just kept on making Jones smile, although she no doubt didn't know what was so amusing about it. "Comrades," she said. Hey, he couldn't blame her; she didn't know what kind of people the Redwell Pirates were.

“Comrades,” he repeated back to her, almost just to make sure he got what she said. “Oh, right. Let’s just say that some comrades are better than others.” Jones was hoping to talk to her more, but after he finished his last sentence he was met with the lady leaping back to her trawler.

Again, he couldn’t blame her. Those pirates in her boat were run-of-the-mill goons, so it wasn’t like she was in any danger. Even if she did know who the Redwell Pirates were, it’s not like she couldn’t sail away in the time it would take for him to go tell the captain what happened. Jones was even impressed with the way she took care of the three pirates.

...but she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave. In fact, she didn’t really seem to be doing much more than going through her stuff. It was a shame; this woman was starting to grow on him. Maybe it was just the time he was spending with his current crew, but seeing someone who didn’t harass random people on the street was a nice change of pace for him.

Despite a part of himself telling him that he should just go tell Redwell about the pirate that attacked a bunch of people in his crew, Jones knew he couldn’t do that. So instead, he walked up onto the ship and stood next to her.

“Not to repeat myself too much, but again, you should probably get out of here. When Redwell finds out about this, he’s going to be annoyed, and trust me, you do not want to be around him when that happens,” Jones said. He was hoping the lady would listen to him. This woman had already saved a few lives today, so the doctor wanted to help her know what kind of danger she was getting herself into.

[Blackstripe]

Focused on putting her stuff back in order, she had forgotten all about the man who had spoken to her moments earlier. It was only when he boarded her ship that she offered him a curious glance. Rising to her full height of 6'2, she listened to him talk up some alleged bigshot named Redwell.

Actually, that name did kind of sound familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Redwell..." she needled her right temple, trying to remember. "I know I've seen somethin' like that in the news coo before."

[Zapdos]

Galen’s smile disappeared when she seemed nonchalant about the whole situation. She vaguely knew of him, but the fact that she wasn’t thanking Jones and sailing away concerned him. He didn’t want to insult the lady, but he knew from experience that if she didn’t listen to him, she would end up in a lot of trouble.

“You probably heard of him,” Jones said, “because he is one of the Rainbow Raiders. These captains are all pretty scary on their own. Trust me, I’ve seen it. But what’s worse is the leader of the Raiders; the Marquis is not someone you want to go up against. Let’s assume that you manage to miraculously beat Redwell when he shows up here. Then you have to deal with the other Rainbow Raiders and their crews, or maybe even Blackwell himself!” He was obviously concerned about this happening. “This is why you need to get out of here! Otherwise...” the doctor drifted off for a second, “you’ll be sold into slavery or killed.” This last part he muttered in a lower tone with a mix of disgust and regret.

[Blackstripe]

"Rainbow Raiders?!" Siobhan sputtered, nearly falling on her back as she erupted in hysterical laughter. Holding her gut, she doubled over, unable to stop her out of control cadence. "Kahuhuhuhuhu!! W-what...what are they, pirates plunderin' for sexual liberation?!"

Still, something he said had finally registered with her, causing her to finally get a hold of herself. "Blackwell, right! That was it. I remember now..."

He was pretty much the most powerful man in West Blue right now. Commanded multiple crews of pirates, and worse, slavers. He was running some kind of protection racket on many of the islands here, where if they failed to pay his "protection fee", his pirates would show up and raid their coastal settlements as a warning. If they continued to refuse, then he would send in his slavers...

Having at last fully recovered from her giggle-fit, she straightened herself, her lips sliding into a smirk. "So this 'Redwell' works for that guy. That's perfect!"

"Kickin' his arse will be a grand way to start my adventure!"

[Zapdos]

Jones smirked at first. “Sexual liberation...maybe Claire is-hold on!”

The fact that this woman was talking about fighting Redwell finally registered with him. “Hold on, hold on, hold on!” He held out his palm in front of her, now concerned again. “You can’t be serious?! It’s not like you can just get some Marines to help you with this and it’s not like you have anyone else with you to help you. This is suicide!” The doctor was wondering if this lady had eaten too much expired food at the tavern or something.

Despite all of that, the last part of what this lady said made Jones a little curious. “Wait, what was that part about an adventure?”

[Blackstripe]

"'Course I'm serious!" she replied, glancing out to sea almost expectantly. "That's not somethin' I'd joke about."

No, if there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was people who talked a lot of shit that they couldn't back up. Turning to once again face the doctor when he questioned her, she gave him a blinding grin. "Just what I said!"

Stretching her arms to sky, she threw her head back and shouted; "I'm goin' to find One Piece, and use it to destroy the world!!"

[Zapdos]

It seemed she was set on this course. There wasn’t anything more Jones could say at this point. He would just have to watch this woman take on Redwell, most likely dying in the process. Jones would likely admire her determination if it wasn’t so suicidal-wait, what was that?

“You’re going to use One Piece...to destroy the world?” he asked. “How’s that going to work? You’re just going to kill everybody, or what?” She seemed so happy about such a devastating concept. Just when he thought he couldn’t be any more confused, this lady showed him a new level of confusion (with a morbid twist) that exceeded what he imagined was possible.

[Blackstripe]

Her beaming grin only seemed to intensify with his confusion, her hands falling to rest upon her hips. "I'm goin' to shatter the foundations of this world that make it the way it is."

"The World Nobles, the government, slavers, even the Emperors! I'll smash em' all to pieces, and bring this world crashin' down! Only then will these seas truly be free!"

Closing her eyes for a moment to draw a heavy breath, she finally appeared to have calmed down somewhat. "That's the sorta Pirate King Grace D. Siobhan is goin' to be!"

[Zapdos]

After listening to Siobhan’s goal, Jones smiled. While he thought she was a little crazy, perhaps it was the good kind of crazy. She seemed sincere enough, anyway, and unlike him she actually had a dream. He wondered if she just might become Pirate King after all.

The doctor then grinned a grin that matched that of the potential world shatterer and clapped his hands together. “Well, Miss Grace D. Siobhan, I like you! I’ll tell you what; if you can defeat Redwell and his crew, then I, Doctor Galen X. Jones, will not only join you as your crew’s doctor, I will also be your first mate. Sound good?”

Jones actually didn’t think that Siobhan would accept, but he wouldn’t know until she responded. What kind of crew has a doctor for a first mate, anyway? Even so, for whatever reason, the thought of sailing with her made him happy.

[Blackstripe]

"OH!" Her face lit up, her raw enthusiasm now threatening to burn a hole in the boat. "You're Galen X. Jones? You're on me list, like!"

Reaching into her coat, she produced a rather unremarkable piece of paper that seemed to have a series of four names written down it. Next withdrawing a pen, she scratched one of them off. "Deadly! One down, three to go!"

Putting away both the paper and pen, she seemed incredibly pleased with this turn of events. "The whole reason I came to this sea was to find ya! Well, you and three others, like."

Among pirates here, the skills of Dr. Jones had become rather famous.

[Zapdos]

Siobhan sure was enthusiastic, and honestly it was kind of infectious. Jones was confused that he was considered noteworthy enough to be on a list, but he wasn’t going to worry about it now. There were other things to think about right now, so this was just one question out of at least a few he had in mind that he could ask her later.

“Well then! It seems now you have a captain to crush,” he said, smiling, “and I think I know how we can get you there.” Jones then grabbed the cutlass that one of the pirate goons had been holding.

“Let me capture you and bring you to Redwell, then you can fight him. He likes bragging about his power when he can, so there’s no way you won’t be able to see him,” Jones explained, then adding “just try not to hurt me too much when you have to ‘escape,’ okay?”