Mission #11: No More Monkey Business!

[Deleted]

Calloused hands closed tight around the padded foam cushioning of his motorbike's handlebars. He was still adjusting to riding on an island that wasn't built with motor vehicles in mind, but his chopper was well-built, meaty, and tough. The tires gripped the road beneath him and squealed as the tail-end kicked out and caught itself. With the rev of his throttle the biker streamed down the wide main road of the village.

Ah, the village. It was a place of windmills, green pastures, and blue skies. It was the complete antithesis to Dauntaun. There, you couldn't see the sky. The grass was never quite green and nothing ran on wind power. It was all steel and coal and electricity; the pinnacle of technology. Even the rural countryside of the island was marred with the black smog of the steel mills and the leavings of the city.

But not here. Here, people seemed happy and gentle and compassionate. It was a little unusual for the grim bastard.

The humming beast beneath him calmed as he shifted into neutral and parked in front of his destination: Party's Bar. He didn't know he was coming here when he'd started his trip, but he knew as soon as he'd seen it.

Nicky Torregrossa turned the ignition to his bike off, straddled off of it, and removed his helmet. With a flick of his wrists he adjusted the collar of his black leather vest and turned to enter the bar.

As his towering visage walked inside, all that was visible of his rather plain silhouette was his personal Jolly Roger sewn on the back of his vest: three conjoined skulls, one laughing hysterically, the center screaming in rage, and one screaming in despair. They were a play on the image of Tragedy and Comedy but with his own personal flair.

The massive man wasn't sure what the hour was, but he knew what time it was: drink time.

[BlacKitten]

From the cerulean sky of triumph, a colorful blob of an array of colors descended at its own placid pace towards the earth. Red, blue, green, yellow, orange, white, and violet, multiple colors made up the unidentified object. In the center of all the blinding colors, a black and white figure seemingly hanged there, drifting lower and lower at a sluggish rate while shrouded under the shadows. The rays of the morning sun effulgently beamed at an angle towards him, efficaciously making his left side hot while his right side cool. Gentle breezes could never seem to make up their minds as they nudged him left and right, forward and back. He was literally going with the flow, and his destination was unknown to him, not that he had any particular place to be at.

“What is that?” A young woman spoke with a finger pointed upwards at the strange colorful blob. It was no bird or comet that they were seeing, but the identity of such a strange object remained unknown to them.

Drifting and hovering lower and lower, the gap between him and the people of below shortened within time.

“Is someone up there?” A man said; another finger pointed towards the magnet of attention. While indeed someone was up there, the question whether or not that it was human remained unknown for it appeared a little too puffy; black and white were the only colors that the figure possessed.

More and more people gathered, looking towards the sunny bright sky as they gawked and observed the unusual sight that had never happened before in their lives. It was as if a colony of colored bubbles were stuck together that came out of the clouds. Upon closing in, the myriad of eyes could make out the figure at the bottom of the colossal blob, but they lacked the proper words to actually label what their pupils were glaring at.

It was black and white, covered in fur and fluff, but most importantly, it was cute and adorable. This huggable little creature was like a stuffed teddy bear, but it was moving and very much alive. Feeling foolish for not noticing this before, the individual colors that made up the blob was actually balloons that were all bound and tied to the bear-like creature, yet there were no shop that could possibly engender this quantity of balloons.

Maru, a human secretly disguised as a panda, descended down to a town that he was unfamiliar with, but his entrance to this welcoming altruistic island must have been a little too showy and ostentatious. Hovering like a winged angel, his paws were barely touching the ground as he waddled towards the crowd of wondering pervasive people. Ripping the strings that were attached to his upper body, Maru randomly began distributing balloons to every child, boy and girl, which he came across. With every balloon that he gave away, he felt heavier and heavier to the ground but soon back to his regular weight.

Why was there a bipedal panda on this island, distributing balloons? No one knew, and they probably never will find the answer. During the whole commotion, the sly little panda stealthily escaped the loquacious crowd, hiding by a wall, and there weren’t a lot of walls either. Unlike a city, this town was very spacious and roomy.

Maru’s plan was to mask his location by giving away all of his colorful balloons as a form of camouflage. Now, it was challenging to pinpoint his location with random colors scattering among themselves. Instinctively, the panda’s first step of action was to find some grubs, “Maru is hungry!” Speaking of food, his nose caught a warm stream of mouthwatering pleasant aroma that soothed his soul and teased his famished stomach. How lucky that on the other side of this wall was yummy food. Was this a restaurant?

[Deleted]

Nicky drew his hair taut and wrapped it into a loop of a ponytail before pulling his black knit cap down over his ears and stuffing said ponytail into the slouch of the garment. Before him was a wide, open bar with a very overt nautical theme. The windows were port-style and the walls were lined with trophy fish and anchors. Instead of stools some of the tables were even guarded with barrels to sit on.

The tower of a man that was Nicky Knuckles straddled right over a bar stool with the same ease that a child might approach a bicycle two years too small for them. Knuckles set one of his massive paws down on the bar and gave the emerald-haired bartender a court nod.

"Whiskey... Please." Gruff and to the point, as usual.

His left hand drummed against the counter while his free hand coursed trails through his beard. There wasn't much going on in this bar, despite the name above it saying Party. Was something amiss in this town, or was there something else going on? Maybe these people just didn't take to bars the way the Yolers of Dauntaun did.

Either way, the grisly mountain of a man, standing 6'9 and weighing a solid and lean 250lbs, with the rough-looking leather jacket, worn jeans, and leather boots definitely looked and felt out of place. Hopefully, someone would at least start a fight with him, soon. That always seemed to break the ice.

Trading Beri for poison, Nicky knocked his head back and opened the hatches. As fire coated his throat and warmed him from the belly out he waved his hand to draw the bartender's attention.

"Two more, please."

[BlacKitten]

In the midst of admiring the overwhelmingly appetizing, delectable, exquisite, heavenly, luscious, scrumptious, savory fragrance of food on the other side of this wooden wall, the adorable little panda crawled through the window because the door was not good enough for him, plus it was quicker this way. His fluffiness made it a tight squeeze, but he managed to slip through like a jellyfish where his greedy little paws outstretched for the deserts and dishes of warm, freshly cooked food that was begging to be eaten by a panda. Instead of ordering for food, the clever little panda had a much more efficient and quicker way for filling his famished stomach back to its happy state.

This called for the job of his magical panda powers! Pointing at the wall on the same side as the window he went through, he began moving his index finger that was a few meters away from the wall’s surface. Using invisible ink, he drew a particular yet complex shape on the wall that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Almost like magic, a unicycle came into existence from seemingly nothing! When the people in the restaurant witnessed it with their own eyes, they all began to clap for the magician, applauding the panda for his service of unintentional entertainment.

Pointing towards the ceiling, his finger briefly moved several times, pointing at different spots of the ceiling. Drawing with invisible ink from a distance, Maru manifested his unseen creation to the public. Several black spheres rained down on his audience as the smoke bombs poof into a cluster of clouds of black smoke, joining together into a one big smokescreen. A panda-monium arose among the people as many held their breaths in case of poison as others coughed repeatedly.

Meanwhile, the devious little panda rode on his unicycle across the room as his busy hands began stacking plates of food on top of each other. As one paw held the stack of plates, the other paw did the sneaky swiping of food that builds the stack of dishes higher and higher. With his supreme sense of balance from his martial art prowess, Maru made his exit out the front entrance, lowering the stack of dishes so it did not tip over from hitting the top of the doorway’s rim.

And, thus, ladies and gentlemen, Maru, the human disguised as a panda, who impersonated as a skilled magician, made his astounding magic trick without being caught! His feet pedaled the unicycle at a smooth consistent pace as the black and white bear began grabbing a sandwich from the top plate and stuffing it into his mouth. From a single crunch, his food-sensitive tongue immediately dissected all the ingredients used, which included bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, turkey, mayonnaise, chicken, and some special spices that he was unfamiliar with. When he was done with the first plate, he replaced it to the bottom of the tall stack, so he could continue his meal with the next plate which contained one of his favorite foods, sushi rolls! All in the meantime, he was riding away from the scene of the crime on his one-wheeled method of transportation. Now… wasn’t this a much faster way of doing things than having to wait?

[rocko52 (Drago)]

A fat man with pink hair marched down the center of the village. He looked ridiculous. He wore a blue shirt that read "SUGAR", a pink jacket, a purple baseball cap with a gumdrop on it, and some jeans. He had large cheeks, a huge grin, surprisingly muscular arms, and had a large tattoo of a cross on his left and a large gumdrop on his right. He had a sack hanging from his side, was carrying an odd looking rifle, and had a rosary hanging out of a jacket pocket. His craft was in port.

That is his rowboat. He was a pirate. A one man pirate. In search of a crew. And the best captain in the world. Why? Well he liked adventure, he liked the seas, he wanted to travel with the best. But most importantly, he wanted to make war on the marines. He'd been island hopping since he left the Gecko Islands a few months back, and had been searching for a good enough crew and captain. And one that would take such an odd guy.

Instinctively he reached for a handful of gumdrops, which he scooped from his pocket and threw in his mouth. He munched greedily.

He grinned when he came upon a bar, Party's Bar. Surely there would be pirates in there. He walked inside, and saw a pretty green haired lady waiting the bar, a few scattered drunkards...and a man with a pirate flag on his jacket!

Gumdrops walked over to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

[Deleted]

With a two-fingered gesture Nicky beckoned the bartender over for another shot of whiskey. She gave him a quizzical look, as his left pointer was tracing around the lip of a still-full shot glass. Nodding, he downed his sixth shot in twice as many minutes. That was how he drank - extreme quantities in short periods of time before riding out the intoxication. It was always good to drop a few jaws when he'd bundle enough liquor to kill a man in a single glass before gulping it all down. Of course, by the time he'd sober-up they were usually already passed-out, but he is sure they spend the majority of their time with him impressed...


Another shot of whiskey was laid out before him, but those big, pretty black eyes weren't focused on him or the liquor, but behind him. Clap comes a hand against his shoulder. The contents of his glass are startled, nearly spilled, but contained. With a flick of his eyes Nicky traced the girl's stare to the person tapping him.

Who...?

The clown behind him had a ridiculous look about him: pink hair and matching jacket, a purple candy hat, arms too bulky for the rest of his pudgy body, and a shirt that said Sugar. With all the pink, Nicky was beginning to formulate theories that the type of "sugar" this fellow liked wasn't the kind you ate.

Masking any preconceived notions that might have been forming in his head, the towering man spared one last glance at the bartender, decided he wouldn't be seducing her that day, and looked over his shoulder towards the walking gumdrop.

"Yeah...?"

[rocko52 (Drago)]

"Hey dude, you're looking pretty cool. You sport a roger on your jacket, you a pirate man?"

His face with rather large cheeks formed a great big eager smile. He looked up at the man with no fear in his eyes at all. He clearly had never been around these parts before, but he didn't look like he cared.

And he didn't. All he wanted was to find some pirates, specifically the best pirate captain in the world. Hopefully. He wouldn't settle for any lesser. Maybe this leather jacketed guy had what it takes, he looked pretty tough.

His smile grew wider in anticipation.

As he stood in front of the man, he got the urge, and scooped some gumdrops out of his pocket, and ate them up greedily, and slowly, savoring the taste as each ion of sugar fell was sucked into his tongue. He chewed into the gummy, fruity, sweet texture, adoring its taste all the way. He didn't care that he was practically chewing with his mouth open in front of another person.

He then tapped his sack tied to his side, and then tapped his rifle, just cause.

He looked back at the biker guy. And stared right in his eyes with his fat, eager face.

[BlacKitten]

Devouring the fish, turkey, sushi, pie, cake, pizza, sandwich, burgers, fries, fruits, etc… Maru, a human secretly disguised as a panda, was sitting ever so peacefully in a mellow green open field. In front of him was a large white rock with a flat surface in which he took advantage of as a makeshift for a table to hold all of the delectable dishes. Stuffing his face with food left and right, he hurried his eating pace out of pure habit. After all, if he wasn’t quick enough, the food could be stolen by someone else. In a way, it felt like eating on a picnic as he ate alone in this giant field of soft grass, near a farm.

Slowly and steadily, a large shadow crept behind him, and he only noticed it when his source of light was apparently blocked off. With a giant shadow casted above him, he was skeptical that it belonged to the clouds for it was completely bright elsewhere except the one meter radius relative to his position. Suddenly, he felt a peculiar nudging in a tapping manner against his shoulder from behind. It was neither nether rough nor smooth; the feeling was rather soft yet firm. Did Maru dare turn around to find the answer to his curiosity?

Curiosity killed the cat, but he was a panda. Thus, turning around should not kill him, right? Rotating his head around, he caught a glimpse of a massive monster behind him with the weirdest face. “GAHHHHH!” A MONSTER! A FOUR-LEGGED MOSNTER! IT WAS A… cow? As the white spotted bulky animal strolled to the side, the shadows subsided, revealing its true colors… which were white embellished with black spots. Wait a minute… where exactly was he even sitting at?

Looking at the big picture, he realized that he was surrounded by a picket fence far off in to the distance. Not too far away from where he was at, there was large barn with plenty of hay. Oh… he was at a barn, or maybe it was a farm. Nevertheless, that cow scared him that it nearly made him lose his appetite. Staring face to face with the cow, this impulsively bulky creature was not afraid of him, not a speck of trepidation was detected. Maru didn’t felt a dangerous vibe from this cow, yet this entire meeting with this animal was rather fascinating.

“Mooo!” The cow emitted a strange sound.

Tilting his head, the panda emitting his own high-pitched cute sound, “meow!”

[Deleted]

Knuckles sized-up the lumpy kid behind him before dismissing him with a flick of his eyes. With his gaze once again settled on the beauty on the other side of the bar, Nicky was giving second thoughts to seducing her when the irritating presence of the kid behind him became too much to bare. Whoever he was, he was chewing. With his mouth open.

The empty shot glass in Nicky's hand shattered as his rage boiled up inside. Right behind him and audible was the indisputable chorus of something sticky and gummy being chewed behind open lips.

Nick looked over his shoulder once again to the fat boy, who tapped his rifle and stared back at him. A challenge? With a flex of his legs his stool was pushed out behind him (possibly into Gumdrops?) and the full height and bulk of Nicholas "Knuckles" Torregrossa was apparent to anyone who'd missed him coming in.

The biker turned, ready to crush Gumdrop's head in a Vice-like grip, when there was coughing and shouting from outside. Deciding the tubby little bastard wasn't worth the heat, Nicky flicked a bag of Beri over his shoulder to the broad at the counter and made his way outside to see what the noise was all about. Each strike from his heavy, leather boots left sent a resounding thud throughout the otherwise silent room. Apparently, he was making things a little tense, as the bartender herself sighed in relief as he broached the doors.

Outside people were coughing and fanning smoke away from their faces and fleeing from a... burning building? What looked like a restaurant across the street was streaming with clouds of smoke that escaped the windows and double doors at the front. No one seemed burned and he didn't see any fire, so what was -

His bike was gone. The entire thing was just gone. There were tread marks on either side of it and his keys were with him, but sure enough the bike was gone.

When Nicky narrowed his eyes it was at first an unconscious reaction to the seething fury welling up inside him, but it quickly became a matter of focusing his vision. Down the road, just before the crest of the horizon, was a trail of people carrying... carrying a motorcycle. His motorcycle. The trail of people was snaking up a hill into what looked like the countryside of Dauntaun: wide pastures, green grass, gentle slopes, and windmills. They were going to farm country.

"Goddamnit. He said under his breath as he started running towards them!

[BlacKitten]

How intriguing for him to meet this common farm animal for the first time in his life since his home island, Karate Island, was more martial art oriented than farm oriented. While this enormous white and black mammal met face to face with the black and white bear, this entire picture was completely out of place. As if taking two animals from different habitats and uniting them in the same one, anyone who saw this risible scene would most certainly find it awkward. This cow acted quite friendly and docile to the young little panda, so in return, Maru shall playfully be friendly right back.

As he remained sitting by the flat rock that held many empty dishes, the martial artist grabbed a handful of healthy green grass by his side as he ripped from the ground while leaving the roots and soil as it was. That way, the grass can grow back. If his knowledge on grass was correct, they aid one’s digestive system. At the very least, cats ate grass to assist in their digesting, but he was unsure of other creatures. He knew enough that grass was one of the diets that cows ate, so he crawled over like an actual bear before he handed a handful of grass in front of the cow’s mouth.

Much to his joy, he felt the mouth of the cow nibbling and chewing the grass in his hands, making him a happy panda. After patting the cow on the hand, Maru waddled back to his flat rock in the sweet efforts to end his meal with the tasty deserts. The feeling of the surgery sweets in his mouth felt as if his happiness level skyrocketed. Standing back up on his two hind legs, he sauntered away towards the white picket fence, preparing to take his leave. Before he did so, the whimsical panda waved goodbye to the cow, “bye bye,” and in return, the cow said farewell in its own way, “Mooo!” Well, at least that was what Maru thought what the cow said. He didn’t quite understand the languages of cows.

Nevertheless, the young caped panda flipped himself over the fence where he shall begin his adventure on this island now that his stomach had received its satisfaction. After taking his first few baby steps to the right, his ears perked up by an unusual sound, one that he never heard before. Relating this sound to something else, it was as if a stampeded of buffalos were trampling right towards him. As he turned his curious head around, what he saw might be more shocking than seeing a bipedal panda to these humans. They looked human-figured, but Maru could never miss those dark brown fur and monkey-like faces. One of them carried a strange version of a bicycle, but he saw no pedals. What a strange looking bike, and this bike appeared a lot bigger than an ordinary bicycle.

Moreover, there were a gang of five of them, and they were humongous if one compared them to actual monkeys. They ranged from six to seven feet tall, and each of them possessed intimidating buffed up muscle arms, legs, and abdomen. These monkeys might be a lot worse than trampling buffalos for they could probably crush a boulder into grains of sand. As proof of their tremendous strength, one of them was carrying a 300-400 pound pedal-less bike over their heads as if it was nothing more than a bag of rice.

Suddenly, these giant monkeys halted their movements as one them pointed at the strange panda, “OOOOOO! AAAAAAW! OOOOOO! AAWWWWWW!”

“Eh…, what did he say?” Maru was perplexed at what this monkey was trying to say, but he had a sinking sensation that it was directly towards the other monkeys.

[rocko52 (Drago)]

The stool smacked into Gumdrop's legs painfully, irking him to no end. When he saw the look in the biker's face, he knew this guy wasn't even close to the greatest pirate captain ever, wasn't worth the effort.

Well he had thrown the stool at him, usually Gumdrops was of the forgiving sort, but this guy seemed like a jerk of some sort. Guys like that really annoyed Gumdrops, the type who hurt innocents. Marines were generally the worst offenders, but he wasn't blind, he knew tons of pirates were like that too. He decided we wasn't going to let this guy off the hook so easily, who knows what he'd do to folks? Just look at what he'd done to that woman, she looked quite frightened...wait a sec.

He took a look at the green haired woman again. Had he seen her before?

He approached the bar, curious.
"Are you...Makino?"

The woman stopped polishing the plate she was preoccupied with at the moment.

"I...am, but I don't believe I know you...wait...were you that boy...6 years ago? That boy in the streets on Gecko Island?"

"Yep, Gumdrops, remember me dude?"

"Yes...yes I do."

"You really helped me out. I was in a bad place at that time, but you gave me enough beri to get some food. After that I was able to make arrangements with a friend, but if you hadn'd stepped in there..."

"It was a simple act of charity. You can't exactly walk by a starving teen in an alley."

"A lot of people did."

"Well I don't know what you're looking for exactly, it was just the right thing to do."

She was clearly off-put by his random appearance.

"Well, could I pay you some beri for a glass of Gumdrop Ale?"

She paused, then reached for a bottle of the most sugary type of liquor in the East Blue.

"Thanks ma'am," he said, throwing her some beri, and taking a deep, loving sip of the alcohol. He sighed and wiped his lips on his arm.

"Thanks, see ya round."


He headed out the door, and saw the punk from earlier running after a group of people carrying of his motorcycle. He couldn't help but laugh. He decided to follow him, maybe to teach him a lesson, maybe get to know him better and see if he's not as bad as his first impression. Regardless, Gumdrops took of running, and he was incredibly quick and agile, much more than the average person, even more surprising considering his fatness. Still, he was running much faster than the punk he was chasing.

[Deleted]

Knuckles, as one may guess, had a specialty in strength, not speed, so while he was faster than the average person by a long shot, and fast enough to eventually catch the thieves, he was not as fast as the tubbo running behind beside ahead of him.

"..."

Arms pumping up and down, leather jacket and knit cap billowing in the wind, the giant of a man tore along the road and up the slope towards the smoky trail of the thieves... who'd seemed to have stopped moving.

Though the fat little kid would beat him there at the pace they were keeping, he would arrive not long after... but when he did, in fact, arrive, he saw (to his great displeasure) that these were not normal thieves. A single perpetrator was holding his motorcycle over his head while the others hopped up and down, pointed, and shouted. As a matter of fact...

"Monkeys." It was an acknowledgement of what he saw, rather than a question, despite his confusion.

His black buckled boots stomped to a halt with the audible scrape of grit between his soles and the road. His pause wasn't one of fear or hesitation, though. Reaching into one of the inner pockets of his vest, Nicky retrieved a pack of previously-rolled cigarettes. His other hand was already working to open his lighter with one drag up his jean-clad thighs. A quick shot downward worked the flint and caught fire to the wick, which was promptly lifted the smoke at his mouth.

After taking a long drag the biker pointed his index and middle fingers towards the apparent boss of the monkey thieves: a panda and his right-hand man, a cow.

"I don't know what the deal with the animals on this island is, but no one touches my bike and gets away with it."

Challenge issued, Nicky waited for an answer.

[BlacKitten]

Behind the gang of monkeys, a giant man who wore buckled boots approached by before he took out a lighter and begun smoking. As he observed the scene that even Maru found awkward to be in, he pointed at a cow and the panda simultaneously, "I don't know what the deal with the animals on this island is, but no one touches my bike and gets away with it."

A drop of sweat flowed behind Maru’s head, utterly confused, as he was unsure what to make of this situation. From what the man spoke of, it would seem that these monkeys had stolen his bike, and that was fine and all except one odd gesture. Why was he pointing at Maru and the cow when one of the monkeys was obviously the one carrying the bike?

“Moooo!” The cow strolled closer to the standing panda, nudging his fur.
Turning his head around, the young panda patted its head as he pointed off into the distance, “Go eat your grass!” As if it understood the panda, the cow walked away as it continued on its business on consuming the myriad of green strands known as grass, something that Maru was unfamiliar of its taste.

Now, the scene was a bipedal panda wearing a white cape on his back, five giant monkeys with a motorcycle, and a tall man who claimed to be the owner of the bike. From what the panda could tell, the end result to this entire predicament would depend entirely on the monkeys, but unfortunately, he did not speak the language of monkeys.

The monkeys observed carefully at the man behind them before they started on a whispering conversation among the group. Whatever these devious primates were plotting, the panda felt a negative foreshadowing of his own future. All of the sudden, the five monkeys lined up horizontally, each facing towards Maru, staring at him with a calmer expression on their faces than previously. Four of them went on their knees as they bowed towards him as if the panda was their leader. Meanwhile, the who didn’t bow was the one who held the motorcycle; that one stepped forth as he settled the bike down near the panda’s reach as he retreated back in the organized line up, bowing as well.

Staring at the bike, Maru’s level of confusion tripled until he realized what the monkeys were plotting. Placing his paws over his head, he panicked, “I AM BEING FRAMED!” These clever monkeys realized why the man pointed at the panda, so they developed this strategy to frame Maru as their leader by bowing to him as well as offering the bike. THESE MONKEYS WERE INTELLIGENT AND CLEVER! Tilting his head, Maru was dumbfounded, unsure how he should act for this was the first time for him to interact with giant monkeys. He feared that these thieves might possess a level of intelligence higher than his own; not to mention that he cannot communicate with his so-called ‘minions’. Or maybe he could communicate with them… “If my hunch is correct, they can understand human language. As evidence, they responded to what they man said with this clever scheme.”

All he could hope for was that the man was not as gullible as he appeared to be, but the framed panda had no time to do anything about it when the gang of monkeys started to rush towards him. One of them carried the bike as the others lifted him up as well! Tossing the panda up and down, they pretended to cheer for him.

[rocko52 (Drago)]

When he easily caught up to the group of thieves, Gumdrops stood in shock for a second before laughing the next. It was a group of giant monkeys.

Happily, he took a swig of his Gumdrop Ale, both extremely sugary and quite alcoholic at the same time, before eating a handful of gumdrops. He munched happily, before turning his attention back to the group of thieves.

He saw the biker catch up and shout his threat at the monkeys and the panda? Had he seen him before? Somewhere in the East Blue...Loguetown maybe? Nahh couldn't have.

He could tell that the monkeys were framing the panda based on his expression, as well as the monkeys. Although he looked like a complete fool, Gumdrops was quite intelligent. Very, in fact. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be such a great builder and mechanic.

He was amused at the scene about to happen, however he felt he owed something to the panda from somewhere, and never let injustice go unpunished.

He strode up to the monkeys, and whipped out his rifle, aiming it point blank in a monkey's face.

"Hey dude, quit the act, put the panda down, and give the jerk his motorcycle back, kay? I don't feel like hurting you, but trust me when I say I won't hesitate to shoot you. I can't tolerate injustice. Not one damn bit. So dude, just do what I said, kay?"

The monkey gave him a look like he was confused, and didn't understand what Gumdrops said.

He knew better thought it must be an act, these apes were intelligent...right?

He glanced back at the jerk biker behind him. While he didn't like him much at all, he knew all people deserved justice...except Marines of course, but that's a different matter.

He turned back to stare in the eyes of the monkey, and took another swig of Gumdrop Ale.

[Deleted]

The cherry at the end of his cigarette flushed before decaying into ash as its life was drawn into Nicky's lungs... ironic, considering the end result of too much smoking. Whoever the guy with the pink hair was, it seemed he had talents beyond being unreasonably fast. Either he knew something Nicky didn't, or he was a mindreader, as he immediately started threatening the monkeys despite the scene they conveyed.

Nick didn't care who did what, so long as he got his bike back unscathed. He wasn't here to catch the monkeys and he damned sure didn't feel like fighting them if he didn't have to.

The ground shook repeatedly and a magnificent, human-like roar rattled the leaves in the tree behind the panda.

"What now?"

With the cow having casually trotted off to the east minutes ago, something else was approaching from the west. Eyebrow raised, Nick squinted into the hills. Like Dauntaun, the hills here were rolling and could deceive the eye. Something that looked near could be on the other side of a bowl, and as a result something that looked small could be -

"No..." This time the gruff man was pleading.

A tree, clearly having been ripped from the ground recently, bobbed up into view from beneath a hidden slop in the west. Beside the tree were the largest bananas Nicky had ever seen. He was sure they were the largest in the world. Is that what a devil fruit looked like? Other than being massive, they looked like normal bananas, but he had no idea of what qualified as a devil fruit.

Aside from the monkey with the gun in his face the other monkeys began to hoop and holler and jump all around, leaving the tossed Maru to fend for himself in the air. Even the monkey with the gun in his face cracked a goofy grin.

By the time the head came into view beneath the trees and the bananas Nicky had already fished his knuckle dusters from his belt buckle and dropped them over his digits. He could tell this was going to go from "bad" to "worse" real' quick.

The owner of the bananas and the tree, and the real boss of the monkeys, came into view. If these guys were large for monkeys at seven feet, then he should have guessed the same would be true for their boss. He just didn't expect them to answer to a Silverback Gorilla. Those things were big enough on their own, but this one, like the monkeys, was exponentially large, standing nearly twenty feet tall and having to weigh at least as much as one of the cars from Dauntaun.

Setting the fruit and flora down at his pigeon-toed feet, the gorilla beat his chest and roared before finally hurling the entire tree, leaves, roots, and all towards Nicky, Gumdrop, and Maru. The monkeys, naturally, leaped high enough to clear the tree. His bike, having no mind of its own, was crumpled beneath the force and sent rolling away.

Nicky had no chance to see how Gumdrop or Maru fared, as he was struck by the roots of the tree. Arms crossed into an X in front of his chest, he did his best to protect himself as he was knocked like a ragdoll in the same direction as he bike, which, consequently, meant he was following the cow.

"..." Ragged and bleeding, with torn jeans and v-necked white shirt beneath an ever-weathered leather vest, Nicky pushed himself to his knees and spit a syrup of saliva and blood. With an agitated glance to his right he saw the mangled heap that was once his crotch rocket.

Paying no mind to the cow that laid on its back with spinning eyes and droll escaping the corner of its mouth (but otherwise fine), Nicky climbed over the discarded tree trunk and started the uphill trek towards the monkeys.

Looks like he had to fight, after all.