Begining of Devil Hearts/Haunting

[rei]

A very small Raft floated along a dark sea in the west blue. Though it was a dark sea, the sunlight was still present and thus the person riding it was still completely cloaked for his own reasons.

"Come on Mr. Sun... please go down..." Elliot sighed under his hood. He was childish and began to mope softly, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the moon, so he could take off his jacket for at least a few hours.

"Mr. Sun! I have your Children! If you want to see them again, then you better make Mr. Moon take over for a while!" He stared up at the sun from under his hood, standing up, hoping for a response. He frowned after five minutes when he realized there was not going to be a response and frowned.

"Its no fun being like this.... Its hot in here!!!" He complained about his thick clothes which stopped him from getting hit by sunlight and this protecting him. In the distance, Elliot noticed a small island and immediately smiled as he stood up and said, "Finally! Its about time for my first adventure!" As soon as he got close enough to the Island, Elliot jumped up to the tip of the mast and activated his power.

"DEVIL WINGS!!!" His back vibrated softly as he grew out a pair of batlike wings and began to glide towards the island.

[rei]

Elliot glided down unto the beach and softly landed down upon the sand, in an evil looking way with his wings spread far apart and leaning one knee towards the ground. He stood and looked around, seeing a town in the distance.

"Huh... it looks like an old western town." He smiled to himself remembering lots of old western stories he read back in the old library. Quickly, Elliot ran along the road into the town and noticed how empty it was. Looking around, he drew the conclusion that this was a Ghost Town.

"Best to find out if there are any people here..." He thought as he ran to one of the houses in the western city. Elliot pried open the door and peered inside as he asked, "Hello? Anyone home?" It echoed for a moment before his eyes centered upon the living room, where several see-through 'people' were having tea with a levitating Tea set.

"No." One of the men answered. Elliot smiled and bowed before saying, "I'm sorry for intruding!" After which he closed the door, and several seconds later began to scream extraordinarily loud.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! GHOSTS!!!!!"

To check and confirm it, Elliot opened up the door one more time and saw no one...

"Must have been my imagination.."

[rei]

Now starting to get a little scared, Elliot made his way down the street. There weren't really ghosts here were there? He started to breathe heavily as he saw a little kitten cross the street. Elliot smiled and walked towards it,

"Kitty!" He exclaimed but stopped walking towards it as he heard an owl in the distance and quickly saw it swoop down towards the kitten. "NO!! WATCH OUT MR. KITTY!!!" He screamed before the kitty grew three times the Owl's size and its eyes glew bright red, mist bellowing out from its stomach and becoming somewhat transparent. The owl flew away, frightened out of its mind. Elliot simply walked away and minded his own business.

"I didnt see that." He commented.
"Yes you did." A voice said from behind him.
"...No... I didn't."
"Yes... you did. I clearly saw you witness that event."
"Yeah I know Mr. Ghost, but I'm trying to tell my self otherwise!"
"Ah. I'm sorry."
"It's alright........... GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed as he turned around and saw a ghost with five bullet wounds in his torso. Elliot ran far away back to the beach and near his raft, breathing heavily.

[rei]

"Th... this really is a ghost town..." Elliot confirmed to himself as he took in as much air as he could and proceeded to exhale. How ironic that he, a living breathing Devil Man would be afraid of a few ghosts. Deciding to try one more time, he quietly tiptoed to the small town again. He looked both ways and sighed as he didn't see any spirits or ghosts this time.

"Hmm.. What should I do first... I'm new at this whole adventuring thing..." He frowned as he looked around and saw a bar that seemed as if people were inside it. Elliot hoped they were living people, not dead ones. Deciding to check it out, he walked inside and smiled at the fact that there were LIVING humans inside. He looked for a place to sit and noticed a eerily creepy looking bar stool at the right of the corner, and without thinking it through, sat down and immediately. The entire place lit up in screams as Elliot sat down in the cursed stool. He looked around as whispers said things like,

"That creepy guy in the hood sat in HIS bar seat!!"
"He sat in Daniel Wayne's seat!!!!! He's going to die!!"

Elliot's simple reaction was, "....What?"

[rei]

Elliot felt a presence behind him and looked behind him, confirming it. There was a tall man in a thick trench coat, standing behind him, no, more like lumbering over him. The man had a pair of cards in his coat pocket and you could see the gun at his side. He was twice as tall as Elliot, which scared him. He began to stutter as he asked about it.

"U...Um... Mr. Bartender..? T...theres..."

"A tall man with a gun standing behind you and he's see through?"

Elliot nodded as he cried, unzipping his hood now that he was inside a building and no sunlight was near him. The entire bar was muttering things along the line, 'Wow, he's just some kid!' and 'Such a shame for a kid to die so young...'

"Um... what's he going to do?" Elliot looked up to the Bartender hoping for a good answer, too afraid to move.

"You'll be fine kid... (probably)." The bartender sweat dropped and sighed. "By the way, the hell are you dressed like you're going to some cultist's funeral?"

"Oh... I ate a Devil Fruit." The entire bar stopped dead in its track as the focused their attention on Elliot.

[rei]

"W-what?! A little kid like you ate a Devil fruit?" The bartender screamed. The bar had been thrown into panic as they muttered thing after thing about the boy. "Why are you dressed like that though? I thought you only lost the power to swim?"

"Mine has an additional weakness.." He went on to explain his unhealthy condition when exposed to the sun. A group of merchants in the background talked for a moment before approaching Elliot, telling him, "Please Kid! If you're strong PLEASE help us!"

"Hey! He may have a Fruit but he's still a kid you guys, don't go getting him into your damned ghost hunt!" The bartender demanded.

"Ghost hunt?" Elliot asked as he peered behind him to see the still ever looming presence of the ghost the people called Daniel Wayne.

"We'll give you a LOT of money if you can find our missing crew mates..." Said one of the merchants. "They went missing a while ago and we cant set sail without them... Please, Mr... Uh... Say kid what's your name?" He asked. Elliot stood up and smiled as he began to say, "I'm Elliot Rath... Pirate Captain! I accept your terms!"

[rei]

Elliot exited the Bar after putting his hood back on, while Daniel Wayne's spirit followed him closely. He was now to track down the Merchant group's missing Crew mates. "They said they'll give me lots of money.. but its kind of a bother... I don't even know where to start looking." Elliot sighed and turned around to look at Daniel and asked him, "You don't have any clues for me, Do you Mr. Ghost?"

"..."

He sighed once more and said, "I figured as much..." He looked up into the sky to check the Sun's position and noted that it would be at least another few hours before he could take his hood off.

"Hey, can you even talk?" Elliot asked the ghost, but to no avail. He took a step and noticed that he followed. Elliot walked forward again, and he followed. Every step he made, the ghost of Daniel Wayne followed precisely.

"Um... w...what you planning to do to me...?" He said, afraid under his hood. Then, before the ghost had time to not answer, a gunshot was heard and it immediately captured Elliot's attention as he ran off in the direction it was heard.

[woohah]

Mountain Jack began followed the kid, his ghostly cowboy hat flowing in the wind as he floated after Elliot. He noticed old Daniel Wayne with him too. "Sigh, the kid just had to go and sit in old Dan Wayne's seat? Just my luck.." The gunshot brought back old memories...bad ones to be more specific. He rubbed his old wounds before continuing with the mysterious Elliot.

While he went with old Dan and Elliot, he examined both of them. Daniel Wayne, he still kept that gun at his side, although if he was planning to shoot Elliot, he questioned if it would actually work. The other guy, that bartender was right, he would look better in a cult than in normal society. Still, freaks like this one weren't so uncommon on the Grand Line. And a devil fruit? The seas sure were changing these days. This kid seemed to be rather childish, and ignorant. After all, it was a big deal to sit in old Dan's seat, and he didn't even seem frightened that the towering fellow was following him with a gun in his hand, even if he was just a ghost. "Hey kid, what's your name?" he asked.

[rei]

Elliot turned around and, now having become used to it, greeted the man just like he would if he was living. After these last few hours he had become very accustomed to spirits and the like. He wasn't really even scared anymore. He smiled under the hood and gave a polite bow, "Elliot Raths, sir." Elliot bowed several more times and said, "Now that I'm used to this I should start doing what I'm supposed to..." He said as he took out two pieces of wood, tied them together, and created a cross which he dug into the ground with and begun issuing a small prayer while lighting a stick of incense for the spirits.

He smiled widely and said, "There you go, Mr. Ghosts! Now you can peacefully pass on to heaven." With that he took several steps forward and frowned when the two spirits failed to pass over to the after life. They still followed him step by step. Sighing, he said, "Why didnt it work...? Are you two still connected to this life..? Well... if you're gonna be following me could you at least help me find those merchant's crew mates...?" He asked hopefully.

[yamakaze]

A gun sounded in the distance. The noise seemed to piece the otherwise quiet nature of this island. Frankly he was glad for it. This whole place seemed devoid completely of any life or noise, this sounds breaking up the silence before it started again. The plants and the atomsphere seemed so dead that they were nearly non exsistant. A few seconds after the shot was fired, the noise hung in the air for a moment before silence consumed it again.

A pile of leaves stirred just outside of town. Not by a gust of wind. It was different to that. It was as if these leaves had a mind of their own. Which oddly enough, they did. These leaves were infact Thistlewood, the user of the Kouba Kouba No Mi. Perhaps it was worth investigating. The cloud of leaves fluttered over in the general direction of the noise.

He eventually found a few ghosts and a child. At least he thought it was a child. Thistlewood found it odd that he was weirded out more by this kid rather than ghosts from beyond the grave. The pirate just got an odd vibe from the guy. The clothing didn't help much either.

[woohah]

(Blood has control of Mountain Jack again. And to finish the post, I'm now going to mash on my keyboard.)

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Masked it with color. Edit: Or tried, sorry.

[rei]

Elliot turned around too see the new person and sighed with a frown, walking up to him. He poked the man several times and smiled under the hood saying, "Ah, you're not a ghost. Nice to meet you!" Finally showing some relief that there are living humans outside the Bar. "You wouldn't know anything about the gunshot right now, would you?"

"HEY!!! DAMMIT KID DON'T IGNORE ME!! WHAT THE HELL? I'M NOT READY TO PASS ON YET!!!" Mountain Jack screamed as he ignored Elliot's sending. The two ghosts looked at each other and were quiet. Well, at least Dan was being quiet. Jack sighed and asked him, "Its her who's behind all this isn't it?" Daniel remained motionless and didn't answer Jack. "You're silence says it all." Jack stated as he brushed his hat. The dead man smiled to himself, well, Jack that is. He was a marine in his life, but he held no grudge against pirates, and in some cases, admired them. Elliot was the latter. He saw something in this strange guy who looked like he was about to sell his soul to the damned devil, and it was interesting.

[yamakaze]

The ghost shouting caused the cloud of leaves to rustle, making their formation break for a single moment. It didn't look like any of this odd gaggle had spotted him yet as the boy seemed busy with talking to the ghosts. Thistlewood reasoned he could take his proper form and join their group but not yet. Several factors stopped him. Firstly, nothing had really happened yet. For all he knew, whereever they were off could yield nothing of value. And most importantly, the pirate wasn't saw about customs in this area. What if he introduced himself incorrectly? How did they greet each other here? The leaves shoke. God, he hated being nervous.

One of the ghosts mentioned a 'her'. A lady, hmmm? From what little Thistlewood knew of the world, troubles always seemed to wind themselves back to the fairer sex. Was it the guy's wife? Or mother? Thistlewood banked it could be the former. He knew if he was a ghost, he'd like someone that close to keep him company. The leaves deemed it to be wise that the best course would be to fall back a little and stay unnoticed until a moment arised.

[rei]

(I feel stupid, ignore me saying hi to Thistlewood... I didnt see that he was a pile of leaves right now >_> )

"Bonny Clyde." Mountain Jack said with a smile, regarding the Woman. "That old wench pirate I sent off to be executed back in the day. She's finally decided to cause some trouble in this life?" Jack sighed and then turned to Elliot. "Kid, if theres someone behind this, it's an old acquaintance of mine, I'll take you to where she'd be... but first..." The dead marine looked into a pile of suspicious leaves and said, "Kid, this is a desert Island. You don't think its awfully suspicious for a pile of leaves like that to be lying around here?" Jack said in response to Thistlewood.

"Huh? ....Hey you have a point Mr. Dead Marine!"
"Quit giving me nicknames."

Elliot ran up to the pile of leaves and looked at it from multiple angles. He squinted his eyes and agreed that this type of plant life would not be found on this island and asked Jack, "Mr. Jack? What does this pile of leaves mean?" He wondered curiously as a bunch of bizarre thoughts ran through his head before waiting for a reactions.

[yamakaze]

That was it. The jig was up. He had been spotted. Considering how his Logia fruit worked, the pirate wished he could have transformed into a cactus. No one would have twigged onto him if it was a cactus following them. Thistlewood deemed this issue worthy of further investigation. All the leaves stood right up on end, as if they had seen a ghost. Which of course, they had. "Ummm ... errr ... how did you know this pile of leaves was a person? It ... it ... it could just be an innocent floating pile of shubbery!" he panicked, trying to look for a way out, "Hmm. This is no good. Well, you got me mister".

All of the leaves began to move together and out of them formed half of a young man's body. Each leaf that reconnected itself to the body added more until there stood Thistlewood. He was about half a head taller than Elliot but seemed to possess some wisdom from beyond his years. His eyes lookerd as tired and as weary as the green dressing gown he worn. Thistlewood's toes wriggled nervously. Urgh. He hated being the centre of attention like this.

Thistlewood made a bowing motion but his head stayed looking at the ground. "Not really, sir" he told Jack, "As .... as ... far as botanists know, there could be leaf based plants on a desert island. It is still a matter for research. And personally ... if you don't mind me saying so ... I reckon it is just as odd that there are ghosts on an island of an description". The pirate wasn't ure what to do now. Should he look up? No, he was pretty sure this was how people greeted each other here. Just out of the corner of his eye, Thistlewood could spot Elliot eyeing him up. He sheepishly shivered.

"May ... may I help you?" he asked.