The Hunter And The Hunted![Mirra/Maru/Mari/Suirko]InviteOnly

[BlacKitten]

It wasn’t as if he was keeping track of the time, but roughly two days had breezed by ever since Maru began his training in the usage of the spear. While two days may not seem like much, he used a large quantity of hours per day training and sparring with the spearmen of the tribe, preferably not during noon. Early morning or late afternoon was the best time to train. Nighttime was pleasantly chilly, but noon felt like the flames of hell scorching his body, melting him like a snowman. Whenever he was not training, it meant that he was eating… a lot!

Before his training, his fighting ability with the spear or pole was limited to six motions: rising, thrusting, crescent, horizontal, vertical, and circular. Now, however, he can do much more than that. By spinning the staff at the center of the pole, he had learned to deflect incoming arrows fired from the bow, and it may also be used to intimidate or confuse the opponent. The pin-point accuracy of the rapid thrusts of the spear was adapted but nowhere near to his teacher’s level of accuracy. His stance was modified to a more mobile stance, and recently learned how to handle multiple opponents. Learning how to properly grip the spear and how to calculate the distance with the weapon, Maru was a much stronger fighter as a spearman. He doubted that he’ll ever use a spear very often, but it was a good habit to learn new ways of combat since he is a martial artist. Instead of treating it as separate styles, the panda fused the two methods together, taking what he found useful, discarding whatever was useless. The philosophy of his martial art was to constantly modify and adapt his way of fighting to become even stronger. He still believed that balance was important, but those acrobatic movements sacrificed the rooting to the ground concept, making one vulnerable in midair. While these tribal warriors can handle fighting in such positions, Maru found it to be wasteful of his energy, and energy was very important to him if he was on a desert that sucks the sweat right out of him.

Today was the day that Maru, a human disguised as a panda, decided to leave the hottest island in the world. Two problems stood in his path. First, how was he supposed to leave, and second, where was he supposed to go? In the past few days, these questions had wandered around in his mind, but he can only answer the first part of the question. This idea just might be the craziest idea he had ever came up with. Since there were no boats or ships to sail across, Maru couldn’t just travel by sea.

Digging a super long tunnel was another terrible idea for obvious reasons, thus the only way to leave this island was to somehow fly away! This was easier to imagine than it was to apply it in actual use. It was common knowledge that PANDAS CANNOT FLY! Unless he can miraculously flap his arms at rapid speed and fly away, he needed another method, and that method involved his powers.

He could think of three ways of getting off this island. The first ridiculously crazy idea was to attach hundreds of balloons onto him to rise up into the sky, but then he would have no control of the direction he would travel. The second ridiculously crazy idea was to fly away on a hang glider, but that would be a terrible end for him if he were to crash into the ocean. The third ridiculous idea was to fire himself out of a cannon, but he would have a horrific chance of landing on actual land.

After hours upon hours of preparation, Maru had finished his drawing design on a hang glider that might just work. Most of his attempts were simply mimicking paper airplanes that he used to make when he was a baby panda cub... child. For some reason, it just didn’t work as well on a bigger scale. The trickiest part was getting the wings perfectly symmetrical, but it also needed to be the correct angle. After several failed attempts and crashes, his latest one had actually managed to get him off the ground.

The tribal people had given him a gift a few days ago: a bamboo spear with a leaf-shaped tip in its finest quality. Making good use of it, Maru used this spear as the bar handle for him to hold on to if he takes flight since bamboo was a very strong material.

With a large manifested, triangle shaped, primitive-looking, blue hang glider over his head, the panda begun to dash through the desert as fast as he possible can to gather up wind. Since this was a desert, the thermal lift from the natural hotness of this island was the key to getting his hang glider into the air, hovering the panda off the ground. Moments later, Maru had become the first panda to fly, even though he wasn’t an actual panda.

By shifting his weight, he was able to turn left or right. Crossing the vast ocean, the trepidation of falling into the seas weighed heavily on his heart, but this was probably the most exciting thing he had ever done in his life. Holding onto the bamboo spear as a horizontal bar handle, Maru soared through the sky. The goal was the find land from a bird’s eye view to crash on. He made the wings to match the color of the sky for a futile attempt to camouflage.

After a long placid flight, the panda was unknowingly heading closer and closer towards the intersection of the Grand Line and the Red Line. Unfortunately for him, the weather wasn’t going to be so friendly with the panda. Ominous grey clouds in the sky begun to cluster together and violent winds thrashed the panda around like a stuffed animal.

Completely out of control, Maru was at the complete mercy of the incoming storm. Spinning around and around, through the unpredictable winds, Maru was hurled off course, “WHAAAA!” Hang gliders was purely meant for gliding, thus the panda wasn’t truly flying. As if nature was angered by the panda’s way of transportation, she tossed Maru effortlessly like a ragdoll into the North Blue, straying further away from the Grand Line.

Dizzy... very dizzy, the panda descended from the sky at a diagonal angle with a torn up hang glider, aiming straight at a island!

That terrifying storm must have whipped him at crazy length of distance.

The world around him was spinning around the dizzy, light-headed panda.

[Mirra|Robin]

After a long week at sea, land was finally in sight. It had been some time since she had taken the time to visit other islands in the North Blue. Really, Nuuk was the only island she had spent much time on, it being her homeland. As Mirra leaned on the railing of the vessel she had bought her way onto, her cheek resting on one of her hands while her elbow dug into the wood, she wondered if this island would be anything like that. The redhead sighed and tapped the toe of her boot behind her left heel. It really was taking way too long to reach the shore.

“Hey old man, how long is this going to take anyway?”

Mirra called out to the grizzled fisherman whom was counting barrels of salted fish. He looked up at her, his sunken eyes looking down his wrinkled nose into small rounded glasses. He shrugged and returned to his counting. He never was one for much conversation. This often resulted in a disappointed Mirra sulking off to find some other crewman to bother. Naturally, this was what she did. This time, it was the captain. He was on deck looking through a spyglass at the island they were approaching.

The captain of the fishing vessel was the son of the fisherman. He had always more ‘sea sense than fish sense’ as some of the other men has said when he wasn’t looking. He was a younger man with dark hair and a chiseled jaw. He fancied himself a pretty-boy, and rightly could have had his pick of many port women or bar wenches, but he seemed to prefer his mates to have big muscles and facial hair, in other words men.

“Hey! Captain Fennigan, when are we going to make landfall? I’m tired of this whole being at sea thing and your pops talks about as much as the ship itself. I’ve gone over my tracking charts a million times, read every paper we’ve got, double checked my charts, and I’m still bored.”

“Haha, Miss Mirra, you certainly are a spunky lass. We’ll be making landfall soon. Go gather your belongings and by the time you have finished we will surely be at port. If not, you can always grab lunch in the galley, we have plenty of salted fish.”

The huntress held back a wince and nodded before rushing off to pack her belongings. Once everything had been packed, she made her way to the deck of the ship. Everything was ready for the landing and, just as the captain predicted, they were in the process of making port. The redhead grinned, excited at the chance to find some new bounties and finally make some progress on getting her own ship together. Maybe she would even find a crew.

The problem with a bounty hunter gathering a crew was that is was difficult to trust other hunters. There was as much backstabbing, thievery, and killing among bounty hunters as there was among pirates, if not more. It seemed that every time money or treasure was involved people got crazy like that. Mirra would need people she could trust. But before that, she would need to make a name for herself here on Amino island.

“Look out bad guys, the best hunter in the world has just arrived.”

[BlacKitten]

Plummeting like a cannonball, Maru clung onto the bar as tightly has he could while his hang glider clumsily glides him diagonally straight down. Spinning and flipping uncontrollably, his conscious was too dizzy to feel fear. As his eyes meets with the land down below him, the giant chunk of land kept on spinning from his perspective. The panda shut his eyes closed as soon as he anticipated that he’ll crash in a painful way. CRASH!

From the diagonal angle he was traveling, Maru collided upon the rooftop, tumbling, and rolling like tumbleweed. Through a series of somersaults, the befuddled panda dangerously halted near the edge of the roof. Even with his eyes closed, he felt the world around him spinning as he laid there motionless on his back like a dead corpse.

A sharp wave of pain rushed through his arms, knees, and back from the rough landing, and he felt as if his whole body was coated in bruises and scrapes. On the other hand, his fluffy soft panda disguised must have cushioned the fall as he flowed along with the force through rolling. Thanks to what was now an unrecognizable hand glider, his plummeting wasn’t straight down to his death.

Between five or ten minutes later, the panda begun to move on its own! Twitching his limbs, he tested out the motion of his arms and legs to see if they were still there. Leaning up, he retracted his legs as his remained in a sitting position. Maru’s eyes scanned around his surroundings before he peeked down at the edge of the roof. He could hear the loquacious inhabitants strolling along the streets, and the little city appeared to be quite lively.

Staggering onto his feet, Maru felt like an old man as he walked ever so slowly. Bending down, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back while he picked up his bamboo spear. Stabbing the dull end of the pole onto roof, he supported himself using the spear. Bamboo was extremely strong for a material, so this well-crafted spear seemed to be as good as new.

He faltered in side to side despite trying to regain balance, but his legs felt wobbly and weak as noodles. Constantly wavering, his legs didn’t seem capable to take another step forward. Limping forward, his used his spear as if it was a walking stick, making him feel even more like an old man.

All sense of time was lost in his mind. Taking his final step, the panda collapsed forward as his vision was blurred. “Zzz…Zzzz…Zzz…,” The panda fell asleep! There were no dreams in his drowsy mind, or maybe he didn’t remember any dreams. As he slept on the rooftop, the sky grew darker and darker as nighttime consumes the heavens.

[Mirra|Robin]

As Mirra made her way from the docks to the taverns and inns, she thought she heard a crashing sound. For a moment she considered checking it out, fearing someone might be in trouble or perhaps there was some level of danger to innocent lives. However, after that initial sound, she heard nothing more. Deciding to chock it up to children being loud or a drunk showing his butt, the redhead continued at a normal stride for the nearest inn.

Upon entering the first of quite a few inns, the huntress immediately decided this was a rough place. Shady faces glared at her as she sashayed her way to the front counter. Leaning on it, she tapped the bell. A bullish-looking man entered from a door to the side, a gruff look on his face. For a moment he and the red-head were locked in a stare down before she spoke to ease the tension that seemed to spread to every person in the room.

“Hi ya, I’d like a room for the night. Got anything in an upstairs room? I kinda like to look out over new islands. Oh, and I’d like one where I can get a hot bath.”

As the young woman nodded enthusiastically the inn-keeper stared at her, a surprised look on his face. It appeared as if it had been a while since someone like her had come to this inn. Whether it was her gender or the fact she stunk of fish, she couldn’t tell. However, judging by the company this place seemed to attract the astonishment of the man could be in part to the fact she wasn’t a butch woman or a criminal type.

“Sure thing, kiddo. What kind of business ya got in town anyway?”

“Ah, nothing special, lookin for some honest work. You guys got any marines or local law-men hangin around?”

“Why you gotta ask somethin like that?”

“Cause I like to check em out and see how good of a job they do. One could call me a hunter of fortune. Who’s fortune, I could care less, but I earn it with hunting and I don’t really care what I hunt as long as it’s gotta nasty attitude or it’s edible. Your friends can relax, I’m not after them.”

The group of rough looking men behind her had gotten to their feet and were reaching for their weapons. Mirra rolled her eyes and turned to face them, her hands on her hips and an annoyed look on her face.

“Will you dorks relax, I said I’m not interested in you. I’m more interested in getting a room and washing this nasty fish smell off me.”

The group seemed to relax when she yelled the last part about the smell of fish. Anyone within a couple feet of her could indeed smell it. This was a bad thing for a huntress. After all, masking your scent or staying down wind was a very important part of hunting anything. If they knew you were coming they could easily prepare or retreat. Mirra turned back to face the inn-keeper.

“So how about it, buddy, you gonna rent me a room? I promise to not cause trouble for these guys or you.”

The redhead looked up at the tall man, her big green eyes very similar to the look an animal might give when begging for table scraps. The gruff man’s shoulders dropped and he frowned even more, increasing the lines around his mouth. He had been defeated.

“Fine fine. As long as you can pay and do something about that fish smell. Just stay outta the way of our local government. They’re not the kinda people you might want them to be.”

“What do you mean?”

Mirra tilted her head to the side, wondering if she had managed to walk into a port with a foul local official or worse, a foul law enforcement group.

“You don’t need to know, I can’t say. Hope you enjoy your room, I got work to do.”

The large man tossed the room hey at her and left back through the side door. The eyes that were so focused on her before were not longer as interested. With a sigh, the huntress trudged up to the room and dropped her bag. After that, she got her shower and was relieved to be rid of the stink of fish.

[BlacKitten]

“EH!?” Maru immediately crept out of his sleeping mode, fluctuated his head left and right. The afternoon seemed to have died out along with the sun. Even though it was nighttime, he could still see unusually well. Illuminating lights from the actively loud city provoked the panda’s curiosity. This should be the time where humans and pandas go to sleep, so why was everyone livelier than they were at daytime? Clinching onto his spear, the panda stood up as he crept towards the edge of the roof. The entire city was lit up like a Christmas tree! People wandered around and chattered all over the streets.

After his nice long nap, the panda felt rejuvenated, resurrected from his fatigue. Bending one knee and extending the other leg, the panda began stretching his hamstrings, switching from one leg to another. Leaping off of the rooftop, the panda pounced the ground down below. He waddled adorably on his first few steps as he began his exploration of this bright city. Where there was light, there was a shadow, and Maru lurked in the shadows. After all, a random walking panda would really stand out in the public and draw too much attention.

With every silent step, the black and white bear-like creature hits the ground with the butt end of his spear, using it like a walking stick. The chilly air was refreshing. Each time he exhales, he could see a faint smoke-like puff of air emitted from his mouth. Whimsically playing with his own breath, he accidently stepped straight into the blindingly bright light as all several eyes began glaring at Maru.

As the last puff of smoke faded, the walking teddy bear stopped in his tracks, “Eh?” Maru inquisitively scanned the glaring people around his scope of view. A long awkward silence roamed the atmosphere with the panda being the main attraction. Breaking the silence, Maru waddled cutely into the nearest entrance to a two floored building, and all of the curious civilians looked straight ahead, minding their own business as if nothing happened.

Fixating his eyes at the inside, there was so much light! The ceiling was all wavy with colorful red waving lights. A few roundish pillars that were evenly spaced apart supported the ceiling. The smooth wooden floor was beautifully clean and elegant while carpets were distributed to wherever there were tables. Almost all of the tables were occupied of lively people of all kinds, and Maru was probably the only panda amongst the crowd. Near the counter against the furthest wall, several drowsy men were dozing into space while holding their drinks. Blood seemed to be rushing in their blushing red face, but they all appeared abnormally convivial.

Among the countless of crowd, there was an old-looking man in his 40’s that was sitting all by himself with a board in front of him. The curious panda waddled towards the old man, pulling out a red comfy seat, sitting down.

The man looked up from his board, only to see an over-sized teddy bear staring at him. Rubbing his eyes, the old man squinted to get a better look at Maru. Was he seeing things? Did he need glasses? Was this black and white fluffy creature even real? “… Hello… You want to play chess with me?”

The word ‘play’ immediately struck Maru’s mind into play mode. “PLAY!” Childishly cheering, Maru energetically nodded twice.

“Alright then…,” The older man reorganized the thirty-two pieces to their initial starting position on the board. Black pieces were on his side, and the white pieces were on Maru’s side. Looking up, the man asked, “Do you know how to play?”

Nodding quickly, the panda placed his paw on his chest, “Of course! I am a panda after all!” The chess board contained an 8-by-8 grid, and the main objective was to checkmate the opponent’s king first.

“White goes first,” the man added, gesturing his opponent to move first.

Swiftly grabbing the pawn in front of his queen, Maru advanced it two spots forward to the position D4. The old man made his first move by displacing his knight to F6. Setting up his opening, the panda picked up the white knight and placed it at F3, backing up the pawn he previously made. The old man advanced his pawn to D5, directly face to face against Maru’s white pawn. Meanwhile, his black knight from the previous turn was in a position to back it up. As of now, the board was horizontally symmetrical for both players.

Preparing to make sacrifices, the panda marched another pawn two spaces forward to C4. This may seem like a suicidal move since it can be eaten, but the end result would be a tie. Instead of taking Maru’s pawn, the old man countered by placing a pawn one space forward to E6, acting as a secondary defense for the other black pawn. Summoning more powerful pieces into position, the panda lunched his second knight to C3. Suddenly, the old man initiated a threat by unleashing his bishop diagonally to B4!

The most logical intent behind such a move was probably attacking the white knight, but would he be willing to trade off a powerful piece on both side of the army? So far, no pieces got eaten yet, and the defense on both side were solid. From here on out, the real game began.

[Vio]

[/color] Mari whispered to the inanimate form, "shall we find something to eat first?"

Silence.

"Understood!" Mari exclaimed, responding as if a living person had suggested something.

Mari set off deeper into town, many sets of eyes glancing - some in appreciation, others in bemusement - at the neatly crafted marionette that she hefted along on her back. Mari caught the scent of fish in the air as she passed by a tavern, relatively fresh, but not yet prepared. There was a slightly salty tang to the smell as well.

"Smells like they got a fresh fish delivery. Maybe there was a fisherman's ship at the docks. Did you see one, Mahogani?"

No answer was a stern reply, but what else would you expect from a marionette? Nonetheless, Mari smiled and nodded in recognition, Mahogani's head tilting again, this time to the right. As the unusual duo continued on, somewhat deterred by the fishy smell, they passed another building. It seemed busy, packed with people, and as such Mari gave it a miss. She was fussy about people, not liking too much attention and shying away from conversations like a timid fox. She stopped mid-step, blinking and then looking through the window of the building. Mahogani's head turned a little, almost as if the puppet was looking inside as well.

"Did you just see what I saw?" Mari asked Mahogani. "Was that a black and white bear playing chess?"

Mari stared in for a short while, but the crowds made it tough to see much further than the first quarter of the room. Mahogani's head softly turned back into its original position and, as if the marionette had issued an order, Mari stopped her scan and continued onwards. Despite the unusual events unfolding before her, Mari dismissed them as trivial matters and tricks of the eye, but something else seemed off about this place. Her life as puppet maker and puppeteer had made her tune into the so-called "voices of the wood", and it was as if every piece of timber on the island was bracing itself in preparation for something.[/ul]

[BlacKitten]

BAM! Maru unleashed his white bishop at G5, mimicking his opponent’s previous threat. Tightening his defense, the old man ordered his inactive knight to D7. The panda gently positioned a pawn one space forward to E3, completing a strong triangular defense. In response, a black pawn was placed at C5, provoking a potential slaughter on either side of the army. Accepting the inevitable war, Maru’s white pawn at C4 ate the black pawn at D5. Likewise, the vengeful black pawn ate the white pawn, an eye for an eye.

The panda launched his second bishop into action at D3 where it could attack at a verity of range. However, the old man ordered a pawn to move at C4, threatening to eat the white bishop. This forced Maru to retreat his bishop to C2. Afterwards, the old man sacrificed his bishop to eat the white knight at C3 as the white pawn devoured the black bishop in return.

Attempting to overwhelm the panda, the old man summoned the most powerful piece to A5, the queen! Maru performed a castle move, switching the positions of the king and the rook simultaneously which made the king trickier to checkmate as the game progressed. Thinking alike, the old man made a castle move as well.

Placing his knight at E5, Maru was prepared to make a tradeoff, however the black queen attacked his defenseless pawn at C3. Since his white knight was spared, the panda used it to attack the black knight at D7 as the old man finished the tradeoff by eating it with his remaining knight. Now was the time; Maru summoned his most powerful piece at B1, his queen. The old man shifted his rook to E8 in return.

“Check,” Maru launched his bishop at H7, devouring and savoring a black pawn, but that should be the least of the old man’s worries. The panda’s move threatened the black king as the white queen hindered the king from eating it back.

After the black king retreated to H8, Maru made an outrageously risky move. He placed his queen at C2, directly in front of the black queen. At this rate, both sides would lose a queen. As expected, the old man ate Maru’s queen, and the panda ate the black queen with his bishop.

As soon as the old man shifted his black king back to G8, Maru moved a pawn one space forward to F3 as a black pawn was also moved one space forward to F6, threatening the white bishop. Maru countered by unleashing his other bishop at G6 to threaten the black rook, but the rook escaped one space forward to E7 as a white bishop took the chance to retreat to F4.

Both players were having the same thought at the same time, “At this rate…,” “…we’re both evenly matched?”

The even-sided battle continued on with the black knight at F8, forcing the bishop to retreat to C2, and as a pawn moved to G5, the other bishop retreated. “This is getting us nowhere…”

After what seemed to be an hour passing by, both players had a king and a rook remaining. Maru was on the blink of collapsing into a deep sleep.
“… I think we should call this a draw,” The old man suggested, but he received no answer. “Hello?” BAM! The panda’s head smashed onto the chess board, scattering the few pieces off the table. Maru immediately fell into sleep mode again from the boredom and repetitiveness of the game, "zzzZZZ! ZZZzzzz! ZZzzzz!" It was if each move on the board hypnotized him to become more and more drowsy and sleepy.

“Hahaha! So he fell asleep!”

One hour later…

“So you’re awake,” The old man muttered. Lying back in his chair, he looked up towards the ceiling, “who are you anyways?”

“Maru is a panda!” Maru proclaimed proudly, twisting the truth a bit.

“So your name is Maru, huh? I know a lot of people in this city, and to be frank, I’ve never heard the name Maru. New around here?”

The panda nodded, “Where is Maru, anyways?”

“Huh!? You don’t even know where you are? This is Amino Island. You just happen to be in Serine City. Where’re you from? This is a well-known entertainment island.”

“Entertainment?” The word caught the panda’s attention. Maru loves fun!

The man leaned forward, cupping his mouth as he whispered surreptitiously, “Between you and me, I happen to be a retired thief.”

The panda tilted his head curiously, “Is being a thief fun?”

“You could say that…”

Excitement grew in Maru’s eyes, but his panda appearance prevented that to be seen from the outside. However, his voice gave away his elation, “Can Maru be a thief too?”

“Mmm… you’re good at chess. Strategy is important. Also, since crime rates are high, it’ll be tough to find the culprit.” Sneaking his hand beneath his coat, he carefully pulled out a folded up piece of white paper. After unfolding the item several times, he spread out the creases as he laid it flat out on the table. “This is a map of this island. We’re currently here!” The old man pointed a small rectangle on the map with his index finger.

The panda pried his eyes over the map. His first impression was the fact that Amino Island was… tiny! Maru had no experience in reading maps, but from what he could tell, there were only at least two cities.

“Have anything in mind that you wish to steal?”

“Food!” Maru answered without a second thought. It was a typical Maru response.

A finger stabbed the map by the old man, “You shall strike here! It’s a pretty well-standing pub. Oh, could you get me a drink from there while you’re at it? Any will do. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.”

11:59 PM at The Hokey Cokey...

Sneaking in the shadows, Maru crept behind the building as he peeked through the half-opened window from behind. As crazy as it may seem, the pub was still open and active. What was wrong with this city? Did sleep not exist with these people? Of all the weapons or tools that the panda could have brought, he possessed a large sheet of white grey fabric?

The outside was quiet, but the inside was rather chatty from a few voices of the costumers. Pulling the window open, the panda attempted to crawl through. His fluffiness squeezed him through, but it would have helped if he wasn’t wearing one in the first place. Rolling silently against the wooden floor, he crouched low in the darkness. The slimmer of light from other room made it obvious that he was in a storage room in the back side of the pub where costumers weren’t supposed to be in.

Spreading the fabric on the floor, Maru began sweeping series of bottles of wine, beer, sake, soda, and other drinks that he never heard of from the shelves. Carrying it towards the fabric, he lined them up in rows on top of the fabric. With each bottle placed on top, the bottle vanished from the three-dimensional world with nothing but a sketch remaining on the fabric. By the time Maru covered the whole sheet, he flipped it over to fill the other side. This time, he turned four crates of drinks into sketches, not even bothering to open it up.

Wrapping the grey blanket around himself, he left a note on a shelf before he took his leave.

Written in black ink, words were written on the small white paper:

I’ll strike at the Chocolate Hostage at midnight!

~ Adam Ap Hunter

[Mirra|Robin]

Mirra exited the steaming bathing room, fiercely drying her hair with a towel, a robe covering her body. The orange-red locks were flung over in her face when she dropped her towel in a wicker basket by the door. The young woman quickly whipped her hair back, perhaps too quickly, she stumbled into the bed and caught herself before falling to the floor.

“Tch, at least no one saw that.”

After a good stretch, she leaned back onto the bed and relaxed a little. On a boat full of boring fishermen, she had found herself sleeping a lot. Thanks to the droll nature of that little trip, she wasn’t going to need to sleep for a few hours yet. As she contemplated what to do first on this entertainment island full of criminal activity, her stomach grumbled loudly. Mirra’s pale cheeks flushed and her hand covered her stomach as if to tell it to be quiet.

“Gah, I forgot to eat, where is my head today? Guess it’s down to the bar, I hope they got something edible and not just a buncha drink.”

Begrudgingly, she dressed herself and left the somewhat comfortable, little, room. As she ambled down the stairs at a slow pace, the huntress noticed how silent the bar had become. Once she was in view of the patrons, she saw most of the rough and tough crowd were passed out drunk. She smirked and shook her head.

“Shame grown men can’t handle a little drink.”

She approached the bar and knocked on the counter. The bartender came out from the back room, looking surprised that anyone was even here, or rather conscious, at the time. Mirra smiled and waved. The big man rolled his eyes as he watched the young woman climb onto a bar stool and lean her elbows on his freshly cleaned counter top.

“You again, what do you want?”

“Got any good eats here?”

“You actually wanna eat at my bar, girly?”

“Yeah, there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

“No, no, it’s just that no one wants to eat here because of all the drink. As you probably noticed, people here tend to drink their fill before they get hungry.”

“The idiots could drink more if they actually ate a bite while drinking.”

“Exactly! Geeze, girly, I didn’t expect you to know so much about drink.”

“Well, I am from Nuuk so you gotta give me a little credit.”

“Damn, I shoulda known. Say, if ya wait a minute I can whip you up something good. You like eggs and vegetables?”

“Yeah, you any good at omelets? Maybe an omelet with some wine.”

“You just read my mind, girly. I’ll go get you some wine first, then I’ll start your omelet. You are in for a treat.”

The man walked away heading in the direction of the back room where, Mirra assumed, he kept his stores of food and drink. He hummed quite loudly, despite his sleeping patrons. At least until he reached the back room.

“What the hell? Where are my drink? I’ve been robbed!”

Mirra’s eyes widened and she leapt from her seat. She rushed to the room the bar keeper was standing in. His face was red as a ripe apple and one could almost swear they could see smoke coming from his inflamed nostrils. One quick look around could tell a person that the thief was obviously a lush. The place was still had quite a bit of food and cheep beer but spots on the floor and shelves that had obviously been occupied a while, the lack of wear on the floor was telling, had been recently unoccupied.

The bar tender thrust a note at Mirra and roared.

“Can you believe this crap? Some of this stuff was well aged, too. Irreplaceable! What am I going to do now? They even took the wine I was going to serve you.”

The huntress read over the note, her lips pursed in an annoyed frown.

“This just got personal. It seems I have my first mark. I’ll find the thief and get back whatever good are still in his or her possession.”

“Would ya really do that for me, girly? If you succeed I’ll give you free room and board for as long as you’re on the island.”

“Must have been some fairly expensive stuff in here. You have a deal. This note is our first clue.”

Mirra read it over again. What the heck kind of cryptic mumbo jumbo was this anyway?

“This looks like some jerk is toying with us. He must know a great bounty hunter like myself is staying here. I’m so sorry that this has been forced upon you. It’s only right I stop him before this ‘chocolate hostage’ becomes the next target. By the way, do you have any idea what this means? I’m not exactly a local girl, ya know.”

The angry man shrugged and chugged a cheep beer, which made him more angry since it was such a low proof. He looked like he was somewhere between throwing a fit and crying.

“I don’t know, just get this son of a monkey dog and get my stuff back.”

Mirra saluted and left, knowing she would need to find someone else who knew the meaning of the note. She began approaching random strangers on the street, asking again and again what the ‘chocolate hostage’ was. Most of then snubbed her, brushed her off, or gave her the cold shoulder. Surely there was someone who could help her.

[Vio]

Growl...

"So many people, there's got to be somewhere to eat here without having to put up with drunks." Mari groaned to Mahogani, whose wooden head bobbed up and down in agreement. They had been walking around for ages, passing a myriad of casinos and bars, all of which reeked of booze: an olfactory cacophony of cheap wines, bitter ales and milder brews. It was surprising that people weren't getting tipsy off the air alone.

So far, Mari had visited two or three places, but none would accept someone of her age and she kept getting pushed out. The few that did allow younger people in were full of noisy drunkards and shady-looking characters that Mari thought it best not to be near. Worse still, whenever she tried to get a room at an inn, they were full, and there was no chance that she could afford to stay in one of the classier hotels.

"So tired, so hungry," Mari moaned to herself, "shame we can't afford it, Mahogani." The marionette's head wobbled side to side, it's head still tilted down.

"Hey, miss," came a voice from the left, "you need money, right?"

Mari turned to look. Mahogani did too, albeit far more subtly. There stood a tall and slender man, probably in his mid thirties, with a short, messy black beard and hair. Small, beady black eyes locked with Mari's for a second. Within them was greed.

"I'll give ya one thousand beris for that puppet you got there on yer back," the man said behind a sly grin, "sound good?"

"She's not for sale." Mari responded, turning and continuing on her random route through the restless streets. Mahogani was worth far greater an amount than a thousand beris, easily into the tens of millions, but to Mari she was a cherished friend: a priceless companion.

"Hey! Sure you don't want to reconsider?" the man called, slowly following a few yards behind her, "how does two thousand sound?"

"I said, she's not for sale." Mari could sense that this man knew Mahogani was valuable. Not only was this an intricately carved and expertly crafted marionette, but Mahogani was also made of an increasingly rare species of hardwood found only in the farthest reaches of the North Blue.

"That so?" Mari heard the man stop and draw a weapon, "then I'll just have to take it from ya!"

Mari didn't stop, she just kept on walking. It was strange that nobody had sprung into action to save the girl from this violent thief, but considering the reputation of this place, one could understand. Events like this were no doubt commonplace, and the fact that eighty per cent of the population was probably unaware of their own actions at this time made a considerable impact.

"You runnin' away!" the thief chuckled, "guess that hunk of junk isn't worth my time!"

Mari stopped dead in mid step. She unclipped the leather straps holding the marionette in place, sliding it from her back and onto the ground. Mahogani's wooden feet rested themselves on the ground and, though slumped, the puppet stood on the spot.

"You can insult me, if you want," Mari said sternly, reaching into a pocket on the side of her backpack and pulling out a pair of wooden control bars, "you can threaten me, if you want," Mari unravelled the silvery cords that were attached to the control bars, hooking them to set positions on the marionette's body and then backing away steadily, pulling them taught, "but never, I repeat, NEVER insult the craftsmanship of the Anette family!" Mari's gaze locked with that of the thief. The silver strings tightened. Mahogani rose from her slumped position, standing up just as a human would. Now all could see the full glory of this marionette: the face painted white with rose red blush on the cheeks, the narrow amber eyes, the fiery chestnut hair designed as if it were tied back into two buns.

Mari was disappointed. Already, somebody wanted to separate her from her friend. Together they would fight for the right to remain together.

[BlacKitten]

“Mm?” The old man from yesterday scrutinized at the walking panda who tied with him in a game of chess. Since Maru didn’t had any drinks with him, the old man assumed that he failed, “No luck?”

Pulling out a seat, the panda sat down like an animated teddy bear, placing his folded up greyish cape on his lap. Maru nodded, “Yeah… no luck.”

“I see,” the elderly one muttered, “Well then…” His eyes were startled as the panda pulled out a bottle of wine from below the table, gently shoving it towards the elder.

“Maru doesn’t need luck,” the panda stated cheerfully, “You said any drink would do?”

Holding the translucent green glass bottle in his hands, the man’s eyes was flabbergasted, “This is… a very high quality wine. So…, you did it after all,” he mumbled quietly, “But, you only stole one bottle?” That was understandable, since one bottle missing would be easier overlooked.

Suddenly, a loud thump was heard from below the table as a large object impacted into the man’s legs. Pushing his chair out, the old man looked near his feet, “No way!” Doubtingly, he cracked open the lid as if he was opening a birthday present, and inside, there were at least twenty-five red bottles of wine. How odd… the old man looked towards the panda from underneath the table. How did Maru kept a giant crate when walking inside?

"Astounding!” The old man was impressed as he pulled himself up above the table, “WHAT?” Unbelievably, as soon as he looked back up, Maru was whimsically stacking bottles of wine on top of one another in a triangular shape to pass the time.

The panda tilted his head curiously, “What’s wrong?”

The old man was utterly speechless. He could have sworn that his companion here was empty handed a moment ago, but now, there were all these wines popping out of nowhere. “Where did all these wines came from?”

“You mean the crates below the table?” Maru asked innocently.

“No, I mean all these wines on the table… well, yeah that too!” The old man looked back down below the table, “HUH?” All of sudden, there was second crate! “Impossible!” He bended down to crack open the lid of the second wooden crate, and there it was… a second set of wine bottles lined up in rows.

“A-are you a magician?” The elderly man looked up at the table, “There’s bloody way!”

Maru was playfully stacking bottles of beer and sake like stacking toy building blocks.

Shaking his head in disbelief, “How the hell did you carry all that?” A mere thief couldn’t possibly get away stealing all of these drinks, yet this panda did the impossible! Leaning forward, he asked a critical question in a whispering voice, “And you were unseen? No one saw you?”

“Mhm!” Maru nodded in approval, “Of course! I am a panda after all!” He proudly stated as he placed his paw on his chest.

Of all the possible tricks a thief or thieves could have done, how did this panda stole this much in one swoop? No… how could a magician performed this kind of trick?

“Whoops! Maru forgot to tell you,” The panda started speaking again, “Maru left a note, saying where and when Maru shall strike next!”

“You did what!?” The elderly man whispered loudly, almost spitting when doing so, “Why the bloody the hell would you do that? Now, people would be expecting you!”

“Exactly!” The panda childishly agreed while raising his hand, “That note is so pathetically obvious that it makes one to believe that it’s a prank. However, after the demonstration of the missing drinks, they know deep down that it’s possible, and the frustrating fact is that the note is the only clue they have. Right now, the bartender or someone else has probably already discovered that note, but what choice do they have? Better safe than sorry, they might as well check out at that place at that specific time just in case.”

The old man appeared to be amused, “Where will you lead them to?”

“The Chocolate Hostage, Maru saw it on the map,” the panda said it in the happiest tone possible. “Just like a game of chess, Maru is luring his opponents. On the off chance that no one will bother to check it out, Maru will just keep on stealing like taking the chess pieces from the opponent’s end.”

“What do you plan to next?” The old man asked eagerly.

“Depends… do you want to play with Maru?”

Smirking, the retired old thief chuckled, “Of course I’ll play! Allow me to become your knight.”

The panda begun explaining his plans, “Head towards the Chocolate Hostage, no later than 10:00 PM. Maru wants you to become a spy! The designated time of the robbery is midnight, but they might come earlier. Maru wants you to observe the people that you suspect to be waiting for Maru. We’ll meet back here tomorrow, and if there were any suspects, tell Maru everything such as gender, appearance, speech, actions, or behaviors.”

“What about you?” The old man curiously asked.
“Maru’s nappy time!” The panda’s head plopped down on the table, deep asleep within seconds, “ZZzzz! zzzZZZ! ZZZzzz!”

10:30 PM at Lord of the Fries…

At least half an hour ago, his partner in crime should be inside the designated location, placed their as a spy. As long as the old man played as an ordinary costumer, everything should be safe. Plus, being active at night was nothing strange at all. Meanwhile, Maru, a human disguised as a panda, sauntered on the rooftop under the black night.
Lord of the Fries, a mixture of a restaurant and a café where they served all sorts of food, an ideal place for a hungry panda such as Maru. Within his possession, he held a bottle of wine with the highest alcohol concentration and a cape. Next to him was a chimney with smoke ascending from the pit. Whether it was for keeping warm in this chilly city or for cooking, there was undoubtedly a fire at the bottom of this chimney.

Uncorking the cork of the bottle, the panda flipped the glass container upside down over the chimney as gushes of wine shot down through the tunnel. As soon as it the liquid splashed the scorching hot fire down below, a thunderous roar of angry flames erupted. High pitches of screams and shrieks were heard afterwards, “AHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Those screams were his cue to take into action! With one powerful leap, Maru pounced upon the ground on the backside of the restaurant. Thick grey smoke erupted from an open window, and all of the cooks had evacuated from the dangerous scene. Crawling through the opening, the panda dashed by the countertop, grabbing a sandwich to stuff his mouth while fanning out his cape.

Opening the refrigerator, the hungry panda began depriving it from all the yummy goodies as he turned each of them into a sketch on his cloak. After placing a note within the fridge, he shut the door closed; Maru crawled out of the window before the flames became untamable.
Fifteen minutes later, the flames were extinguished by a team of chefs who returned with buckets of water. No one was harmed, but the kitchen was left with an enormous burned mark.

In the meantime, Maru dashed through the night as he recalled of what was written on that note:

Thanks for the food! I’ll strike at The United Plates of Amino Island at noon.

~ Adam Ap Hunter

[Mirra|Robin]

Mirra still, after hours of hard work, couldn’t find anyone to answer her. Grumbling, she decided that it might be best to wait and see where the thief would strike. Surely it wouldn’t be much further from the previous target, the inn she had been staying at. With a reluctant sigh, she trudged back to the narrow street the inn was on. Here, there were a few good restaurants that catered to all manor of patrons, but mostly rough types like those she had encountered in the bar of the inn. If this person was a drunk, surely he or she would hit near here.

“That foul urchin has something coming, stealing good pricy booze right when I‘m offered a glass.”

Her annoyed mumblings were interrupted by yelling. It seemed pretty close by so the huntress decided to investigate. As she approached the direction she assumed it came from, it appeared as if nothing was happening expect between a teenaged girl and a thug. Mirra rolled her eyes, she knew eventually the perverts would come out of the woodwork. For a moment she stood back and observed. The girl had a puppet that looked to be made of wood and it seemed less clunky than the ones she had seen before as a child. The thug looked like a typical thug, nothing special about him at all. With a smirk, Mirra assumed it was alright to swoop in and save the day.

“Well, well, it looks like the trash has decided to come out and harass young women. You might be wanting to back off a tad if ya know what’s good for ya, laddie.”

If this escaladed into a fight, surely Mirra would be able to end it quickly and return to hunting the thief that seemed to be interested in playing a game. Maybe there would be a bounty out for this fool. Even places like this surely wouldn’t tolerate perverts harassing their daughters. Back in Mirra’s home village, they sent men like that into the wilderness or out to sea; usually the latter. They were normally cowards and tended to back down easy from anyone who would stand up to them so getting them out of the village was easy.

The huntress narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders, taking on a dominant stance. Hopefully her stare down here would end in the slime slinking off to the shadows where he belonged. Mirra didn’t really want to fight, she was busy tracking a bounty mark. To make it worse she didn’t know what they looked like or what they were capable of. She really did end up in some of the oddest situations.

“Well, laddie, what’s it gonna be? Leave the lass alone or have a go at the greatest huntress in north blue?”

Before she could get an answer, more yelling broke out behind her in a restaurant. It was easy to make out the cursing, something about the kitchen being on fire, and some son of a mother stealing food. Mirra looked up at the name of the establishment and face palmed. This was the place she was looking for the whole time. She turned to glare at the shady man.

“Look here pervert, ya get off easy this time because my mark struck again. But if I hear bout you messin with any other girls I’ll kick your shady little bum. Get it?”

Mirra turned to the girl and smiled, trying her best not to appear scary. The pervert probably already had her shaken up.

“If you come with me I can keep you safe from pricks like that. But keep in mind I’m working on collectin a bounty here.”

The huntress nervously glanced at the restaurant and then back at the girl.

“Your decision but I gotta put a pep in my step.”

Mirra pointer to her eyes and then at the suspected pervert before rushing off to the building all the yelling had come from. When she entered, the place was full of smoke. Perhaps she was underestimating the thief a little. This would have made for great cover to make an escape. With an annoyed sigh, she made her way back to the kitchen where cooks and busboys seemed busy trying to air out the room with fans.

“Oi! Who’s in charge here?”

“What do you want, woman, can’t you see we’re busy?”

“I believe the mark I’m chasing might have made off with your food. The jerk hit the inn I was staying at and took all the good booze. In case you didn’t catch that, I’m a bounty hunter and I’m chasing the jerk who did this.”

“I don’t care, grab a fan or grab a seat until we’re done.”

Mirra rolled her eyes, it seemed like this hunt was going to lead her on a wild chase for a while. Pursing her lips, she grabbed a large wicker fan and began to assist the cooks. However, she continued to talk.

“Did the thief leave a note or any clues that you managed to find so far?”

“I’ve not been able to see a damned thing in this mess. Anyone else seen anything?”

The replies of ‘no’ and ‘no sir’ rang out through the smoke. For a moment it seemed hopeless, but one young man called out to them.

“I found a note of the fridge.”

Mirra perked up, this would be a clue as to where he would strike next.

“Bring it over here, I need to know his next target. I’ll be taking him down with this one now that I know his trick.”

She felt someone tug on her sleeve and took the note from the busboy. Holding it close to her face, she read it.

“United Plates of Amino Island. What kind of place is it? Noon… that would be a lunch café or something. Ugh, this one enjoys playing games too much. I much prefer straight up thieves. Someone contact every restaurant, pub, inn, and food stand in town and tell them what‘s going on. I got to get back on the trail.”

With that Mirra left, her only clue a single note with a singed edge. If she didn’t stop him soon, he would likely kill someone.

[Vio]

Of all the people who would come to help her, the last Mari expected was such a pretty woman. Unfortunately, the woman's words - as unusual and as threatening as they may have been - had partly failed to deter the crook. He seemed a little more cautious, but otherwise his intent was the same: take Mahogani by force. However, Mari was never about to sit by and let that happen. As the woman dashed of, stating something about a mark striking again, whatever that meant, Mari tilting and pulled at the control bars. The show had begun.

Mahogani's little wooden hand rested on the hilt of a wooden katana strapped to her side, unsheathing the intricately carved sword. Everything about the sword was like that of a katana: the design of the hilt, the curvature of the blade, the way it moved. Though, however sharp it may have looked, this blade was just a blunt piece of wood. As the strings were adjusted again, their silvery steel catching the light, the marionette took on a fighting stance.

"What the hell?" the thief puzzled, "A little wooden sword isn't gonna stop the real deal!"

The thief rushed at Mahogani, sword raised and ready. Predictable. Mari thought to herself. She adjusting the strings once more, the marionette springing to life. It was all over in a second or two. The thief's weapon had been knocked out of his hands and was now lying on the floor beside its owner. The thief himself, though not harmed, was out cold on the ground. There was a red mark on the side of his neck where Mahogani had struck.

Had this been a real swordswoman, the man would be dead, but Mahogani's wooden blade had merely struck a pressure point, disabling the criminal. Mari made a point of incapacitating people over injuring them for two major reasons. Firstly, this was a key part of her grandfather's puppet fighting-style which she would dare not go against if she could help it. Secondly, Mari was a little squeamish, though far more so at the sight of a blood stain on her treasured puppets. Blood was surprisingly difficult to get off because it can sink into the pores of the wood.

Still, Mari and Mahogani were victorious. The wooden marionette's katana was sheathed, just like a real swordswoman would. The few onlookers applauded her, it was a performance after all, but the most attention was on the panic coming from the restaurant-place a little further down. The same place that the redheaded woman had gone too. Mari pondered it and she refastened Mahogani to her backpack.

"Perhaps the strings of fate are being pulled once more, eh, Mahogani?"

Silence. The puppet slumped.

"Don't tell me a little warm-up like that wore you out!?" Mari looked towards the ruckus, interested in the woman who had offered to help. I guess we should follow her, maybe she can help us get some food and rest...

[BlacKitten]

“Mmm!” The human disguised as a hungry panda chewed quickly upon the sandwich, gnawing through several layers of ingredients. “This is delicious!” Sitting in a chair with the old man in front of him, Maru stuffed his face with all sorts of food.

Twisting and weaving, his free hand held a metallic silver fork as the panda skillfully spun and devoured the ball of noodles, sucking in the strands like a vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile his other hand grabbed ahold of a burger, filled with meat, salad, cheese, tomato, pickle, and mayonnaise; he went back and forth with the noodles and burgers. By the time he finished his burger in mere seconds, he snapped the joints of the lobster’s claw, ripping the meat right out of its shell. The fork in his hand pierced through a slice of cake, crumpling it into his mouth, with a delightful taste of sweetness. Instantly grappling the leg of a chicken, he yanked out a huge bit out of its juicy meat right before he started to fold the pancakes as it went straight to his endless stomach. Seconds after that, several meatballs and shrimps vanished out of thin air as they all went inside the panda. Sandwiches and plates of rice with pork were the next victims. The shells and bones of the clams, oysters, and fish was all that remained moments later.

Mesmerized, the old man could only watch the delighted Maru consuming a vast amount of calories at record-breaking speed. “Oh my… you must have been really hungry.”

With food within his mouth, Maru asked, “So…,” he swallowed, “…any info?”

“I went exactly to where you requested at 9:30 PM, and I observed for anyone suspicious. After all those hours, I have found…,” after a dramatic pause, “nothing!”

Well… that was very strange for the panda thief. He placed his notes in the most obvious of locations. Unless a wind blew the note away, he was sure that someone would have read it and checked the area. This might mean that no one bothered to care of where he would strike next. Perhaps these selfish people didn’t care if another business site got robbed as that would eliminate the competition. That wouldn’t be unusual. On the other hand, there was absolutely no possible way for a note within fridge to have escaped on his second crime scene, thus someone surely would had found it.

Maybe Maru was stealing items that didn’t provoke enough attention. After all, even if a food thief was caught, chances were that the foods were already eaten. How boring… this mean that the panda can go stealing all he wants and no one would bother to stop him. The old man mentioned that the crime rates were high at night, so perhaps these people were used to being robbed?

To reconfirm the facts, the panda asked, “When did you leave?”

“Ten minutes past midnight,” the elderly man answered specifically. “I sat down near the window to get a clear view of who might enter the café, but none of them held any sort of note or said anything unusual.” These words only reassured the panda’s disappointment until the old man continued, “If I were to add anything that was unusual, it would be that girl with a puppet.”

“Mm?” Puzzled, Maru was confused.

“This probably had nothing to do with what you told me, but I witnessed a young pink-haired girl who showed tremendous skill as a puppeteer. She controlled those wires or strings on ground-level, and it was as if this expensive-looking puppet came to life. With it, she took down a single thug in a mere blow. I couldn’t see the details due to the angle of where I saw it, but I was sure that these old eyes weren’t pulling tricks on me.”

Maru researched on tons of martial art styles as a hobby, but even this panda had never heard such a fighting style that involved a puppet. This was most intriguing, such an unorthodox method of combat. However, from what he had gathered, it probably wasn’t very suitable against multiply opponents. “Interesting story…,” the panda pondered about it deeply.

The old man added, “Before I saw that, there was this one other girl. She had a reddish-brown hair who wore mostly green. Since I was inside, I couldn’t make out the conversation, but she appeared to have the intent to help the puppeteer out before suddenly leaving the scene. To be honest, I didn’t quite understand what happened.”

Tilting his head, Maru reconfirms a fact, “This girl just left the scene, leaving this other girl with the thug? Odd… Where did she run to?”

“Well, she headed away from where I sat, so it would be left from my perspective,” The elder coughed at the end.

“May Maru check the map again?” The panda innocently requested as the old man took out the map from his inside pocket of his coat. Unfolding it, he passed it to the panda.

Scrutinizing at the map of this island, Maru managed to uncover a potential hint. Directly left across from the Chocolate Hostage, there laid the spot where the culprit took action, The Lord of the Fries. If the old man witnessed it, then the time between Maru’s thefts roughly overlapped with this girl. Assuming she headed there after the kitchen was on fire, it would be difficult to not notice the smoke.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“No, it’s just a speculation,” The panda handed the map back to the retired thief. “The next action will take place at noon. Should Maru go?” “How active is this city at noon?”

“Not as active as it would be at night,” the man replied.

9:48 AM at The United Plates of Amino Island…

Maru, a human who was no longer disguised as panda, stepped through the front entrance of this fancy-looking restaurant. Inside, appetizing food flooded a large chunk of the space as a couple of waiters and waitresses would saunter with plates in their hands. Currently, this popular site was far from crowded.

“I’m Hauder Patman, an inspector,” Maru introduced himself in his human appearance.

“What business do you have here?” The leading chef asked in suspicion.

“I’m not here as a costumer,” he paced around slowly, “There had been some thievery targeted at food and drinks related spots, and I suspect this place to be the next target.”

“Oh? We’ve been warned about that, but what do you want, Mr. Patman?”

“With your permission, I would like to inspect this place thoroughly, so I may add some security that will definitely prevent the thief from success.”

“Humph! Do what you wish, just as long as you don’t get in the way of our business.”

“You’re too kind. I’ll need about one hour,” Maru entered through the door that only employees could have entered.

Within the next hour, Maru locked himself in the storage room, armed with his trusty cape. First, he drew a sketch of every single item that he planned to steal. Second, he manifested his sketches into identical objects, but the replica of the food was made out of plastic. Third, he used his cape as the surface area to hide all of the real food and boxes into its sketch mode. Fourth, he arranged the replica items in its original spot where the real items once stood. Afterwards, he laid out his trap by touching every single fake item, “Sketch Timer!”

A sudden knock on the door startled him, “Oi! What’s taking you so long? It’s over an hour! Unlock this door!”

Maru quickly folded up his cape as he kindly unlocked the door, “Sorry that took so long; I’m all set.”

The man looked around the room to check for anything unfamiliar, “If you laid out the security, then you did a mighty good job in hiding it.” Everything in the room appeared exactly the same before this ‘inspector’ had arrived.

At noon, all of these fake items shall vanish with a trace, and that trace is a sketch of each of those replicas. Automatically setting an object into a two-dimensional sketch at a designated countdown was one of Maru’s new techniques.

At the same time, a sketch that he had drawn on the ceiling was a small rectangular shape with words written inside the shape. This sketch shall manifest itself automatically at noon, revealing another note that says:

Catch me if you can! I'll strike at The Hot Nuts at 2:00 PM... or not.

~ Adam Ap Hunter

[Mirra|Robin]

Mirra was becoming annoyed with the game of cat and mouse she was playing with the unknown thief. Surely it was a single person working alone or with a scout. After all, no one is dumb enough to sign their own name to a note taunting authorities as they did. The joke was on them, however, as Mirra was fairly sure that the so called authorities here were little more than extortionists. Pursing her lips she watched as the restaurant owner put up a ‘closed’ sign on his carved wooden door. He walked away, apparently feeling as defeated as the huntress, herself.

So far, her own skill had been disgraceful. She had tracked down the target way too late and left someone smaller than herself to fend for themselves. If that dirty thug had laid one hand on that poor girl she would rip him a new one. That is, just as soon as she found him. Mirra began to wonder if she had gone soft after all that time at sea. The news coo didn’t show up nearly as often she had wished. A daily update was best for keeping track of activity on the seas.

As she turned to walk away from the scene of the most recent crime, Mirra caught sight of the girl with the puppet. Apparently, she had decided to join her. Quickly, the huntress looked the younger girl over for signs of harm and was relieved to see none were present. Perhaps she was alright, after all. Whoever she was, Mirra’s new companion seemed to be in good with a puppet master. The wooden form she carried with her had surprisingly detailed joints and lovely craftsmanship. Such things were not common in Nuuk as the carpenters there mostly focused on practical things like furniture and buildings.

“I’m glad to see you are alright, lassy. I’m Mirra. Sorry I didn’t stay with you. You see, I’m working a very important job that could affect the whole city if I don’t act quickly. There’s this jerk robbing pubs and eateries. The pig is sure to eat the whole city out of business if I don’t do something. He’s a weird one, too. He leaves notes at every place he robs containing the location and time of his next robbery. I intend to get to the next location early.”

The redhead put her hands on her hips, curls falling in her face as she leaned over and looked closer at the younger girl’s face. She had no idea where she was from but didn’t look to be from another blue. She wasn’t from Nuuk, that was for certain.

“You know, if you don’t wanna possibly be put in danger, you don’t have to keep on following me. I’m afraid this guy might hurt someone after starting that fire.”

The huntress took another look at the note left by the bulging burglar. Because surely, that’s what he had to be after eating all that food. She sighed and shook her head. This guy was going to make her grey headed before her time. Mirra began to walk away, looking back to see if the stranger was following her. After the confirmation, she continued at a quicker pace, her soft boots pounding the dusty cobbled streets of the port district. The next location was a bit further inland.

“I’ve got to make it on time this time. No distractions, no problems, nothing to delay me.”

Soon her swift walk changed to a jog and then a sprint. This guy had to be stopped one way or the other. This island had so much to offer and there way no way she would get to experience half of it unless this bandit went down. The swifter the better. After all, he might have already drank the wine she wanted as well as the barkeeper’s whole stock. That would be terrible, she would have failed the guy, as nice as he had been to her.

After running quite a ways, Mirra stopped in front of the place on the note. It was a much nicer establishment than the others had been. After all, it was next to a stage play theatre. The huntress silently reminded herself to stop by here again sometime as she worked to catch her breath. Once she had done so, she walked though the pillars marked with a gilded emblem of a plate with a fork and knife crossed behind it.

Upon entering the building she was greeted by a man with a thin, curly mustache. She showed him the note. Her face was locked in a serious scowl, a sure sign she was annoyed.

“I’m the one chasing the thief that has been causing trouble for you cooking folks. Can I speak to your head chef?”

The man looked alarmed, his bad comb over being alarming enough if he had caught the reflection in the mirror behind Mirra. He grabbed the note and looked it over, a look of displeasure crossing his face.

“I am sorry, miss, but the inspector has already come and gone. He set up surveillance in the kitchen to help prevent a theft here, if not catch the scoundrel red handed. I will have to ask you to be on your way like a good girl.”

Mirra narrowed her eyes. This man was an idiot; too locked in his own fanciful idea that he was working in a five star establishment on a much more respectable island. After a few deep breaths to prevent herself from completely blowing up on the fool, she spoke quietly

“Listen. Unless you paid off the authorities recently for their services, they will not have come here for anything but doughnuts and coffee. This is why most of the people I have spoken to are trusting me to solve this little problem for them. Unless you want them to be unhappy with you I can go back to that little inn by the dock and tell the owner you are impeding my investigation. I kindly ask that you drop the uppity attitude, pull your head from your bum, and let me pass.”

The stuffy man’s mouth dropped in horror at what he had just heard the young lady say. When it was clear he had nothing to say, Mirra pushed by him. Before she continued onward, she stopped just behind him.

“The girl with the puppet is my assistant. Oh, and you should close your mouth, you’re scaring away the flies.”

With a smirk on her face, the redhead continued to the kitchen. She pushed open the double doors in time to catch the cooks on break. After all, it was just after the lunch rush had ended for them and such a break was normal. They all turned to look at the strange woman with curled orange-red hair whom had confidently strode into their clean white and chrome kitchen.

“I’m looking for the head chef. I’ve got some bad news for him about the inspector that visited earlier today.”

A man stood up, his arms crossed.

“Yeah, well, speak up. We don’t have all day, girl.”

“The inspector was a fraud. If the authorities were not paid for their services then it was a fake.”

The kitchen staff began to whisper among themselves. The head chef held up a fist and they all went silent. He looked like a leader. He was much taller and had huge arms. The man could be quite the imposing figure for a regular girl to face down. However, a girl from Nuuk would have naturally faced worse; usually their own fathers.

“Well, then we need to check the kitchen he locked himself in. I knew something wasn’t right but I didn’t suspect this. Let me guess, you are the one that is actually looking into the kitchen thefts? Bounty hunter, right?”[/color

“You’re right. I’m glad to see someone around here has some sense.”

“You slackers heard me, go search the damn kitchen!”

The staff scattered and hurried off to search the kitchen.

“Chances are he was just checking out the place. Naturally, whatever name he gave you would likely be fake as he has been leaving a trail of notes giving the location of his next crime with a false name on each of them. I don’t think he’s a pro, though.”

Mirra handed the chef the note left at the previous crime scene. The towering figure studied it carefully, his thumb and forefinger stroking his chin.

“We gotta think of a strategy to defend against him. In the next, what, minute?”

The two of them, without speaking, walked into the kitchen and looked around. The staff seemed to be searching for hidden devices. The huntress and the chef joined in the search, but they found nothing. Suddenly there was sound like the rustling of paper. A woman checked the fridge as soon as the sound was heard and they gasped.

“It’s… It’s all paper, no, drawings!”

The kitchen staff crowded around and saw the fridge overflowing with drawings of food. They, as one, rushed to the pantry. The same thing was found there. Leaves and stacks and rolls of paper flowed from the pantry. Mirra growled and looked up, silently counting to ten. Just then a single piece of paper floated down and landed on her face. Slowly, she lifted it up to get a good look at it. It was obviously from the same thief she had been hunting. It was becoming apparent to her that he was either a devil fruit user or really good friends with one.

“Miss hunter, if you catch this son of a dog crap, I will personally see that you are well paid for your work.”

The chef clasped her on the shoulder. And walked off, his face red from holding back his rage. Mirra seemed to calm down a bit at the mention of more payment for the job. It was just as well, things just got more difficult with the addition of a fruit eater to the mix.

“Looks like I’m off to a place called ‘The Hot Nuts’ now. I’ll be back when I catch this guy.”

With that, Mirra rushed off to the next location as quick as her feet could carry her as she weaved in and out of small groups of people gathered along the streets. The further into the island she went, the more people there were. Eventually she arrived at an amusement park. The bright lights and loud noises were enough to attract anyone’s attention but the smell of food would likely lead the fat fiend directly to this place. A building nearby had a huge sign that read ‘The Hot Nuts’ told her that this was the correct. A small sign on the outside of the building made her giggle, it read ‘you’ll go nuts for our nuts’. A quick look at their menu told her that they had more than just nuts but that was their specialty. The huntress waited in line to reach the front counter. As soon as she did, she spoke quickly.

“I think your business might be in danger. The Amino Island food thief has targeted this place to strike at next.”

[Vio]

After having had her awkward run-in with a relatively petty thief, Mari followed the strange woman to another eatery. Despite her earlier comment to Mahogani, she too was worn out, desperately in need of some rest. Still, the red-headed lady who had threatened her attacker had piqued Mari's interest: she had never known such beautiful women to be so aggressive.

Mari caught up to her just in time, seeing the owner of the restaurant place a wooden 'closed' sign on the door of the establishment. Mahogani's head flopped in disappointment. The woman turned around, catching sight of Mari and Mahogani and then approaching them. Mari was unsure what to say, but the woman spoke to her first anyway. She observed Mari, like a mother searching for bumps and bruises, introducing herself as Mirra, but it was what she said about a thief that intrigued her.

Mari had met several thieves in her time, most of which committed the act out of greed or just to survive, but every now and then there were those who were far more adept at their work: Thieves who stole only the most precious of objects from otherwise highly secure places, not for the value of the treasure, but for the notoriety it brought them. Criminals like these sought out attention, and as Mirra explained it, Mari couldn't help but feel this was one of those thieves.

“You know, if you don’t wanna possibly be put in danger, you don’t have to keep on following me. I’m afraid this guy might hurt someone after starting that fire.” Mirra said, obviously showing signs of concern for those who were caught up in this thief's work. Mari stayed silent, her mind stringing facts together to form a mental blueprint of the thief: ravenous appetite, devious. It was like designing a marionette - each part of the marionette's form was a part of its intended purpose and, like an animal's body, should be perfectly designed for it.

Mari glimpsed a piece of paper than Mirra held in her hand, a note, but illegible from this position. Mirra looked over the note and then muttered to herself, a kind of pep talk, before departing. Mari hesitating for a moment, allowing her to gain some distance before following her. Mari toddled along behind, having to muster quick bursts of speed in order to keep up with Mirra's swift strides, losing sight of her once or twice only to be guided by a gentle shift in Mahogani's weight.

"What do you think of this Mirra then, Mahogani?" Mari quietly asked her marionette, whose subtle response was akin to a shrug of the shoulders, "Too soon to tell, eh?"

Mari finally caught up with Mirra as she entered another eatery, though her attention was shifted by Mahogani. The marionette had shifted its head, amber eyes fixated on the neighbouring building, a fanciful stage theatre. Mari admired the building, gasping in awe, faint memories flooding her mind.

"This place... is it?"

Mari sat down on the steps beside the theatre, sitting Mahogani next to her and rummaging through her bag. She slowly grazed the tip of her index finger across a set of books, stopping at the third and silently sliding it out from between the others. A tatty book, obviously some kind of notebook or diary, with a dark red cover whose edges were worn, a black spine torn slightly at either end. The remnants of printing on the spine spelled out G. Anette with the roman numeral III at the bottom of the spine.

Mari opened the book, skimming through the first ten or so pages before finding a particular page. On this page was a rough sketch of a building, identical to the theatre behind her, below which was a narrow scrawl of information, barely legible.

While on leave, I visited another island with my wife, taking her to an ornate theatre of impressive stature and prestige. It was here that we conceived our son ... The last fifth of the page had been torn away, recorded memories forever lost to the unforgiving passage of time. Mari flipped the page, the back detailing the designs for a marionette. Mari recognised the slender physique of this puppet. There were yet another set of notes on the following page, but the top few lines were missing; torn out just like the previous page.

...a grave for our dear S... who lent me his strength in my time of need. Alas, my beloved and I mourned his defeat. We know that his spirit lives on within our blood, one day he will return from the dead and spring to life once more. Mari shed a slight tear, knowing exactly what it meant. There was a small diagram in the bottom-right of the page, detailing a T and what looked like a peanut, arrows connecting them.

Mari carefully packed away the diary, strapping Mahogani on her back again and departing in the direction that the map had indicated. She was absolutely certain that she had left before Mirra had exited the eatery beside the theatre, but currently the red-headed woman was not Mari's priority. There was something she had to do.

Mari weaved between crowds of people, but as she got closer to her destination it was apparent that this place was an amusement park. Excited screams and chatter emanated from all directions. Ignoring this cacophony of laughter, Mari approached her destination. According to the map in the journal, this place was it, a restaurant by the name of 'The Hot Nuts'. Mari approached the counter, the man there was busy serving a customer, but another was there also.

"Hello, lass!" The man greeted chirpily. He was a real bruiser of a man, tall and beefy with a dark complexion, his cheeks rosy and his eyes a chocolate brown. His dark hair - slightly greyed - was combed back and greased, with a small moustache and goatee defining his plump face. He seemed a jovial and friendly man, not a refined snob as you'd expect from other establishments. His small eyes spied Mahogani, a look of recognition and surprise swamped his face.

"That marionette, lass," the man said, "is her name, Mahogani, per chance?"

"Yes, it is," Mari replied nervously, "how do you know?"

"Judging by your eyes, and to cut a long story short," he said, "I knew your grandfather and grandmother! Come, come, I'll order some meals for us, on the house of course. Please, take a seat over there!"

Mari walked over to the table in the corner which the man had pointed out and took a seat, sitting Mahogani next to her. This was strange, very strange.

"This man... he knew Grandfather?"