Blackstripe

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

The old woman had quite busy with Siobhan's order, setting down plate after plate in front of the ravenous redhead. Gathering more than a few astonished looks from the patrons as she tore through enough food for ten hardy men, she paid them little mind. When the doctor brought up Taimi Taitale, however, the old woman stopped in her tracks and eyed him suspiciously.

"Why?" She asked tersely.

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

The men at the table eyed the man whose face was obscured, clearly feeling he looked suspicious. Still, they didn't seem to be looking for a fight at this moment, and so when the next hand began he was dealt five cards with the rest of them. He had two sixes (club and spades, respectively), a jack of diamonds, a nine of hearts, and a four of spades.

The others kept their cards well-obscured and their faces neutral. Eadgar not requiring a Poker Face was another reason they didn't seem to like him very much.

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

When Jones ordered a glass of rum and slid the appropriate amount of beli to pay for it onto the bar, the old woman simply nodded. Swiping the coin with a wrinkled hand, she proceeded to clean a glass off for the doctor before pouring him a shot. Without a single word she placed it in front of him before heading to the back to presumably begin preparing for Siobhan's ever-impressive order.

Many of the patrons in the bar were rough-looking individuals even as far as sailors went. There were several tables engaged in notably tense games of poker, with a hand always being kept at the hilt of a dagger in case any sign of foul play was witnessed. Elsewhere in the tavern, similarly anxious games of darts or dice were being played.

Staredowns between men were all too common. It seemed as if a fight might break out at any given moment in this place.

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

"Nope!" She replied with great enthusiasm, bursting through the doors of the tavern. For a brief moment, every eye in the place was on her due to her loud entrance, some lingering longer than was appropriate. Despite the establishment's size, the people inside were something of a rough sort. Being a trading port, this was often the first place many sailors--and pirates--ended up.

Pushing her way to the bar, she plopped herself onto one of the few available stools there. Waving for the old woman behind the bar, Siobhan offered her a grin, to which she merely grunted in mild annoyance. Only wandering over after she had finished cleaning a glass, the bartender centered her periwinkle gaze upon the younger girl before her. "What'dya want, girl?"

"I'm here for a few scoops, and a not remotely insubstantial amount of food!" Siobhan replied, nonplussed by her gruff manner of address. Rocking in her seat with anticipation, she ignored the leering men beside her. "Some of everythin', if ya please!"

Muttering something indecipherable in clear annoyance, the old woman kept her eyes firmly locked on Siobhan. "You'd better have money to pay. Don't think I'll let you dash on me without taking my due outta your hide."

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

"Kahuhu, then they had best have somethin' extra tasty," she replied to her doctor's joke. When Eadgar stepped closer to her and warned that he shouldn't be seen in public, she ceased her forward stride. Turning to look at him for a moment, she quickly reached into the inner pocket of her overcoat, withdrawing a large piece of cloth.

Tying it around his head, Eadgar now sported an adorable make-shift bonnet. "There we are! Nobody would ever think you were a well-known and dangerous bounty hunter now!"

"As for Taimi, we can ask at the pubs we stop by! Let's have fun for a bit."

Fate/esoterica

@VitaVitaARWell, I am good with pairing with your Master if you're good with Rider.

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

Even though he hadn't said anything, Siobhan could tell that Jones was practically fuming beneath the surface. Hopefully he would feel better after he took a moment to cool down. For the moment, she turned to face Eadgar, deciding to answer his question in her doctor's absence.

"Well, Jones is the one who served under him for a while, so he would know better than me. From what I gather, he's somewhere near the Grand Line, sending his men out to do his dirty work for him."

There was no need to go actively searching for him, she knew. So long as they kept sailing towards Reverse Mountain, it was inevitable that their paths would cross with Blackwell...

---

"Ooooh!" Siobhan loudly exclaimed, hopping off the trawler before it could even properly dock at the harbor. Her feet hit the wooden surface of the docks with a dull thud, the half-breed girl having once again retracted her fin and donned her scarf. "So this is Cathymnia! It's a lot bigger than I thought it'd be."

Indeed, compared to the last couple of towns they had visited, this was practically a booming city. It was quite understandable as to why: this was one of the central trade hubs within West Blue. It's harbor was host to quite a number of larger vessels at the moment, in fact.

"Come on! I bet they have some tasty pubs!"

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

"Oi, oi," Siobhan waved her hands at the two, noticing that they were getting pretty worked up. They seemed to go at it whenever they had any kind of extended conversation with one another. "Everyone's got somethin' to contribute in their own way here, or I wouldn't have recruited them. That may or may not be fightin', but regardless, everyone's got a say here on this ship, so cop on."

Exhaling, she shook her head. "If ya want to help fight, Jonsey, I can teach ya some stuff. Or Ed can."

Though, she wondered if Eadgar might not "accidentally" cut him. Probably best if she did it. She was about to answer her swordsman's question, when she realized it was likely aimed at Jones.

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

"Jones asked somethin' similar about you, like," Siobhan pointed out. "I'll tell ya what I told him: it's fate. The reason I gave up looking for her da was because I knew when I heard about her that she was meant to be my shipwright."

She couldn't really explain it any better than that. She didn't even fully understand it herself, she just knew that it was an overpowering feeling in her gut that she couldn't ignore...and if there was one thing she trusted, it was her gut! "It's like with fightin', ya know? You can't afford to doubt your instincts or ya'll suffer for it."

One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

Yeah, sure. People like Wiper, right? That's fine.