Brave The Storm! Assault on B-1! [Canceled]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

The Wildfire Incident
Marine Base-One
North Blue
Seaman Recruits Atlas, Misuto

---

The thick mist cleared, snow in all its forms had reduced itself to a smoke screen of white sparkles agaisnt a casual yet sharp wind. The men were silent, conversations between exclusive circles masked by the whistle and roar that danced around the unwavered military vessel. A casual melody occasionally carried itself above and beyond, the small violin a recruit had smuggled on board played as his and others distraction from an unfamiliar northern cold. The atmosphere was by no means uneasy, simply mimicking the weather that they all had to endure to reach their next destination of the military process. The occasional glimpses of ships creaked and peered through the veil, coming and going from what the World Government considered to be the first and only hope of Marine occupation within these waters. Amongst the life, or lack there of depending on your perspective, stood an eye-catching figure.. Visibly shivering yet to others confusion, holding his ground agaisnt an invisible foe. A thick brown, furred bomber jacket made him a sore thumb amongst the white and blue, not even zipped up to result in his underneath rookie apparel and blue tie to shudder with the breeze much like himself. Arms folded, looking straight on, people had recognised one of the star pupils of their basic training regiment either training in another rigorous way or playing brave for reason unknown were both common occurrences. Regardless, a small smirk covered his pale face, accompanying the natural surrounding sound with a melody of his own, an imaginable accompaniment complimenting his every tone..

'Crazy, what's he doing taking this head on like that?'
'Been like this since day one, leave 'm to it.'

'He's training his resolve, gentlemen.' The voice was commanding, its low tone dancing through the deck as elegantly as the wind that carried it, bringing everyone aboard the top area of the ship to turn their heads. Those closer to this towering mans vicinity stood to attention almost instantly, others were not so sudden, but the man of the moment waved his head for ease amongst his ranks. 'Atlas' discipline and Endurance, along with sheer stupidity are things all of you could learn from.' Whistling settled, the rookie addressed letting out a stuttered chuckle while turning to his Captain. He was only slightly shorter than Wulf, their commander in training up until this point playing babysitter in their final stretch. 'We're a 'couple minutes out, grab your things. B-1 is the central node of this entire blue, you'll be assigned here to wherever you're needed.' This was in part, a finishing line. Basic training had been completed weeks ago, but arriving at North Base symbolised accomplishment.. Despite being at the bottom of the food chain, they were at least in the food chain.

'I won't be coming with you, so whether I see you in the future, however and wherever you turn out.. I've started you here the best I could.' Though not rigid in professionalism, a moment of silence washed over the ship, Atlas letting out a light cough to get a minorities attention, his general vicinity turning to see a light salute, though an ignored tear in his eye. a little laughter stirred, but eventually the whole ship had a head to their forehead. '... You're all idiots.' He swooped his shoulder hung Officers Jacket around, gesturing a light wave before returning to the depths of the large vessel while Training Squad 556 readied themselves for the landmark that began to peer through the distant white walls.

'Well ain't this place fancy..' As if it was unveiling itself, it emerged from the shroud that had previously consumed it, the snowstorm clearing passage for visibility of its literal towering structure. Torches flickered about its base while light shone through the fog via windows speckled over its plain marble surface. It was as if a mighty structure had risen from an island village consumed by housing. It reminded him of home. Once it was in sight, it felt as if they approached it at a much faster pace, the docks of Tower A were dense with activity. Marines of all rank and group.. Supplies, missions, training, coming or going, every one of these marines had a story to tell, they were just another page in the marines archive.

They dispersed, Atlas with the luxury of not really connecting with anyone within basic training as much as he originally hopped allowed him a casual couple of waves and hand shakes before branching off from what was weeks ago his family. He knew he may see any of them again, it felt silly to say goodbye. They had been instructed prior to make their way into the main complex, its many buildings that bumped out from the central pillar all looked individual, though the majority were simply protruding from the overall complex. The whole process had him admittedly a little lost, though the general wave of familiar groups had him within a large courtyard before he could even revel in his surroundings any further. Fires in large cauldrons battled the cold and snow with gusto, lifted high from tripods that had dug themselves into the islands natural rock grafted to formal tiles. Walls of familiar blue and white stripes defended the plant life and occupants slightly from the weather, but everything here had long learned how to brave its harsh environment.

'Name...' He had traversed the initial grounds unknowingly, a clip-board wielding man in typical marine attire giving the taller than most Atlas a nudge before repeating himself. 'Oh uh, Atlas, 556th, Wulf's group.' The man nodded repeatedly, scribbling at his paper before pointing off into the large archway entrance sporting a warm luring glow. 'You're up on the 25th floor, Barracks 3B.' A casual nod between the two of them had Atlas off into the lobby of sorts, the Arch almost having its own rite of passage for not only the marines, but even elements. A warm aura welcomed him to the lit lobby, stairs spiraling off in all directions around the large spherical pill-box like structure working as reception. Atlas had a lot to take in, moving further into the area as to not block the entrance, he peered down at his military papers that had been passed to him.. Affiliated still to Wulf's regiment, he had not yet been assigned a role outside of routine guard and maintenance of Tower A. Funny, he expected to be thrown into the thick of it right away, some massive Commander hoisting him and his group into another boat and off to some faraway battle. Instead he'd had to find his barracks floors above the one he occupied now, train and wait. But he would first have to deal with a different something, a different someone.

'For someone so daunting, you surprisingly look the most lost.'

[Rye]

“Recruit Misuto!” rang the booming voice of Captain Yuudou.

“Huh… what?” Rye exhaled, his tired blue eyes squinted confusedly through the thick smoke cloud, slowly settling on the bald head of marine Captain Yuudou, the Iron Wall of the North. “Ugh…”

“What the hell are you doing smoking in the officers building!?”

“There’s a blizz--”

“—and why the hell are you not in uniform, AGAIN!? YOU SORRY EXCUSE--”

“I said if you’d just promote me, then I could wear whatever. Y’know?” as the words tumbled from his mouth he knew he’d miss-stepped, or perhaps the protruding vein on the young officer’s head had clued him in. “W-wait!”

“PROMOTE YOU!? YOU ARE LITERALLY THE LAST RECRUIT ON THIS ROCK THAT I WOULD EVER PROMOTE!” he was really yelling now, visibly seething, the muscles across is whole body seemed to twitch. “In fact… I’m in half a mind to throw you off that damned bridge right now.” His voice suddenly quietened, but to Rye that was somehow worse. “Now get the hell back to your quarters and put on your god-damned uniform, GO!”

In a whir of movement the fierce Captain Yuudou launched forward, connecting with a powerful right hook. To Rye the world became a blur of white, as he flew through the doors to the Officer’s Building and outside into the snowstorm. Next thing he knew he lay flat on his back, holding his cheek, the glistening, muscular body of the Captain looming over him.

“Where’d your shirt go?” the seaman recruit managed, struggling to his feet.

“Now you’re questioning my choices of attire?”

“What attire… you stripping pervert” Rye muttered, still half dazed.

“You say somethin’ newbie?” Yuudou asked - his face like steel. The answer was inaudible over the wind as the rookie recruit dashed into the whiteness of the blizzard. The Captain let out a hearty chuckle.

‘Damned Yuudou… the guy’s nuts, I could get blown off the bridge in these winds.’ Rye pocketed his wood pipe before traipsing across the bridge, thankful that he couldn’t see just how high up he was. B-1 was a true fortress, two monolithic structures built atop a reef, joined by a mammoth bridge that itself contained an assortment of offices and barracks. It had been a week already but it was still hard to imagine B-1 as any kind of home. The sun seemed to have no effect in this place, even when it decided to appear. Still he’d needed this; the structure, the purpose and the discipline… well maybe not the discipline. Even so, wandering around this triumph of navy authority was getting old real quick. Every corridor looked the same, every person dressed the same and he seemed to be the only one not doing something meaningful. He done himself little favours with the officers either. Already he was regarded as somewhat of a nuisance and at best to his peers he was, eccentric. Still once they started active duty, then he’d have his way to prove himself.

By the time he’d made it to the other side and into the welcoming warmth of the soldier’s quarters, Rye’s dreadlocks had almost frozen solid. The former castaway twisted his shackles awkwardly, the cold steel painful to the touch.

“You really should take those off Rye; you look more a prisoner than a marine.” Hillary Hitchcock, perhaps the most straight laced marine stereotype in the world. Still at least she made an effort to talk to him.

“It’s alright, I don’t notice them most of the time…”

“That’s not really the poi—anyway! Another fresh batch just arrived. I’m beginning to feel like I should be outranking these new guys, I’ve shown three different groups around in as many days now. Hey… what’s with the red mark on your cheek?”

“Oh, nothing… just a run in with Yuudou” Rye replied, raising his hand to touch his still sore cheek.

“Again? Well I told you to wear the uniform” the know it all said teasingly.

“Yeah, and I told you that it itches. What’s the point in a uniform anyway? Surely style doesn’t dictate our ability to enforce the law.”

“Well its symbolic isn’t it? If a member of the public see this uniform they know they're safe? It also means we’re all on an even field, unified, it’s a sign of solidarity an—HEY!” she yelled, eyebrow twitching as she was interrupted by an exaggerated yawn from the dreadlocked layabout.

“It was rhetoric, the officers don’t have to wear the uniform… it’s just a sign of privilege. Keeping us recruits in line, plus it looks stupid.”

Hillary frowned, opened her mouth as if to say something and then paused. Slowly she opened her mouth, “well I guess if you hate it so much, maybe you should start doing your daily chores instead of sneaking off for naps and smoke breaks eh?” With that she was gone. Presumably off to talk to the new recruits and earn some more brownie points.

“Touche,” Rye muttered.

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'I-I mean! I'm sorry, that came out wrong!'

The aforementioned daunting figure didn't do well to respond as whimsically as his company greeted him, simply turning his head with a glare in his eyes while his shadow adjusted to loom over her. He raised a brow at her quivering second attempt, it took a moment to register that both of those cues, in jest and apology were directed at him.. He least expected this ponytailed girl sporting teal winter coat over her petite by comparison frame to pick him out the crowd. 'I'm Atlas' He leaned over, the difference in height not exaggerated brought the bumbling mess of a woman to a halt, her entire body rigid while one hand remained functional to lightly shake his. 'K-Kasper, And I know you..' She let out a nervous giggle, slightly less alert now that the giant had withdrawn, more so that his voice hardly contained as much grit and snarl as she previously imagined. Atlas however had a different take on the exchange, placing his hands on his hips and letting out a scoff, a smug yet sarcastic appeal consuming his features. 'Then my name precedes me..' He expected the humor to be unanimous, only to look back down upon furrowed brows and folded arms, large green eyes attempting a scowl otherwise impossible with such round and cute features.

'So why the lost recruit, Kasper?'

'Recruits are en masse to the base today, I volunteered to help.'

'So thats why you have a picture of me.'

'W-Well not just you..' She grumbled at his sudden look of disappointment, flipping her tightly held clipboard around to presentation with a clean flick of the wrist, chopping the air with the other to produce a pen that became a blur amongst her fingertips as she continued. 'Its todays manifest, much like any cargo, people are individualised and tasked.' Sleight of hand was obviously her forte, placing her pen aside to swipe her thumb across the tip of her tongue, spinning through pages that were intangible yet still stopping on her desired section, jabbing at yet another picture of Atlas. 'Ah, thats my Basic Training I.D.' He raised a brow, another familiar face wasn't too far off his own. 'Haha, and there's you!' A flush of red came and went from her cheeks, taking a sharp intake of air she clapped the pages back to their original positions before clopping off in small-end heels across the bright white flooring. She stopped for a moment, looking back and motioning the dumbfounded rookie to follow, hastily catching up before matching her pace.

'So you're new here too.'

'A day or so.'

'And you're a guide?'

'I'm part of intelligence, I volunteered to be one.'

She made sharp turns and motioned indicators slightly above her own height so her company would notice, before he knew it they were at stairs, to slanted corridors and again stairs, covering ground at an arguably efficient pace. 'So if we're on the same page, that must mean we're in the same barracks.' It made sense, she already had this placed mapped out like the back of her hand, so she felt it her duty to organise her regiment personally. 'A lot of work for a Recruit.' She huffed, making a stop at crossroads while attempting to look up to him in an authoritative manner. 'This way for your gear, that way for you barracks pin, and that way to the barracks itself.' He looked at each direction respectively, arguably slightly behind Kaspers description of each before looking back to her with uncertainty. '.... That's it.' She seemed to be waiting for him to do something, recoiling when the last thing she expected occurred, and Atlas swooped down to her level once more. 'Come with me.' She raised a brow, looking to the paths again, and back. 'Oooookay?' She had just as little to do as he did, she could argue that there were many things one could think of doing, but apparently nothing urgent enough to turn down Atlas' quite frankly childish proposal. He turned down the side-arm and Cutlass he was offered by the armory, pinned his stripe to identify experience and area within B-1 on his tie instead of his sleeve, then proceeded to slump himself across the first bed that came into view within barracks, leaving the rest of its occupants to look on in confusion at the sudden scene.

'Y-You didn't need me for any of that?!' going as far as to stomp her foot agaisnt the tile-patterned ground in her protest, Atlas sat up from a single bed that could've been anyones, a content look on his face which seemed to douse Kaspers flame immediately. 'This place is no different from home, its massive, confusing, and everyones 'gotta find their own company.' It was the most logical thing he'd said since they met, and probably one of the longest running things too. It was sudden, but it didn't take a psychic to figure out Atlas didn't beat around the bush about anything. She agreed, but giving him the satisfaction of knowing that verbally would've been too much of a personal victory, simply nodding at one another as Atlas rose from his seated position. 'Where's your bed?' A rather personal question were the barracks not completely lacking in segregation, an immediate attempt at claiming absolute equality. She pointed to the far ends of the room, Atlas looking over with a few nods and hmphs of approval before lifting the bed clean from the ground with one arm. A moment of confusion pulled all eyes on to the two closest to the door once more, Kasper trying to spew out incompleted words of reasoning while Atlas strode through the center of fresh faces, coming up to the prior directed space and shoving his apparently claimed bed in the blank spot beside his new comrades. Kasper was speechless, the whole room was, Atlas however was unphased by the mass of attention he had pulled, almost as if everyone in the room but Kasper were nonexistent. 'Thanks for the tour, I'm gonna go get some training in.' He nodded, walking back out the way he came and patting off down the empty corridor, all eyes looking back to the inside of the barracks towards the woman confusedly waving him off.

'B-Bye?'

[Rye]

Rye emerged from the bunks looking a little disgruntled but otherwise not much different. To the keen eyed observer, they would notice he had swapped his own shirt for the marine standard issue and proceeded to cover the whole thing with his long military style jacket. On balance, keeping busy was probably a good idea. Still babysitting the newer newbies seemed like a tedious task at best. In fact it would probably be best to avoid the Western; recruits and non-officers, half of the base entirely.


After descending a few flights of stairs the young recruit headed back toward the bridge, but this time he opted to stay inside the building. To call the B-1 Bridge just a bridge, was akin to calling the Grandline an Ocean. Technically correct but doing the thing itself no justice. The bridge was at least six stories thick and that didn’t take into account the lower levels in the pillars. Hanging to the bridges outside face too were entire rooms or buildings, clasping at the monolithic structure like barnacles to a ship’s hull. Mainly the bridge was filled with stock rooms and barracks; the outer structures were usually loaded with cannons or mounted turrets. Few are foolish enough to attempt to attack the base, it would take an army to siege it but the room still needed stocking as every week or so there would be a shooting drill.

So our antisocial protagonist found himself merrily rolling a barrel of gunpowder down a long corridor.


“Ok-ay finally… you monkey fingered idiots took even longer than I expected. Get goin’, get goin’!” An excited voice barked in the distance. There was a sound of general agreement and then a cluster of marines came running out of a gunning room ahead the dreadlocked observer. They gave him an odd look as he continued towards the room that apparently had already been stocked.


“What are you doin’ in here?” the asker was quite young and apparently a bit scrappy, at least one would assume based on the plasters decorating his face.


“Figured I’d switch myself down here, I like taking stock and I can’t be dealing with those newbies.” Rye’s reply seemed to mellow the asker a little.


“Cool, well I guess – it’s not my business but you don’t just get to pick your own schedule y’know? We already did all that, did most of it yesterday actually. Tell you what, you could probably just hang out down here a bit, we’re ahead of schedule and no one will come looking.”


“Cheers, uh what did you say your name was?” Rye swore he caught a glimmer of something in the white haired marine’s eyes, it was hard to tell through his orange shades but the guy had the look of someone who knew you had a kick me sign on your back – if that was even a look.


Glancing at his watch the newly met recruit headed for the door and with nothing more than a “I didn’t’” was gone.


“He seemed alright,” Rye muttered to himself. The howling gales shook the shutters in front of the heavy guns. It seemed that the snow storm was yet to let up. Approaching the window the Navy recruit peered curiously through the cracks in the large shutters. ‘Just white.’ Placing one hand against the wall he reached for his pipe before checking himself. ‘This rooms pretty explosive, probably shouldn’t.’


It was then he recalled the conversation before he arrived, the guy had been acting as if they were behind schedule. ‘Didn’t he just say they were ahead of schedule? What was all that bit about?’ Absent minded his fingers had danced across the wall, settling on something raised something tubular.
“Huh?”


There was something pressed into the cracks between the bricks, curious Rye pulled at it until he got a bit free and then loosened the thin rope as it began to tear away from the wall. ‘Wait it can’t be!?’ Quickly his eyes darted along the wall, the network of rope split out like a spider web and left through the doors entrance. Running outside the scale of the situation made itself suddenly apparent as it split off in half a dozen different directions. “Fuck!”


Then it started to add up. “Hey… HEY, WAIT!” Ears twitching he caught the faint sound of footsteps breaking into a run. He found suddenly his feet were doing the same. Sprinting after the mystery marine he heard an echoed laughter somewhere above, he was heading to the topside of the bridge.


“Ahahahahaha!~”

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Welcome to the World Governments Established Naval Military.'

The briefing opening more like an pamphlet, the marine logo smothered over their iconic colours to really sell that this was in fact, a Navy document. A small uncontrolled chuckle escaped the tall figure, weights of unfathomable size bending the bar that he clutched onto with one hand, reading these papers with another. 'In joining us you have begun your journey through the ranks of justice to better all four corners of the world with your combined efforts to strive toward peace and prosperity.' The concepts they pitched were bound to hit home somehow to anyone who read it, Atlas was no exception. When all was said and done this was simply a means to protect his homeland, gain enough reputation within this self-proclaimed strongest defence force on the planet to raise concern for the little guys littered throughout the blues and beyond in constant danger. He propped the piece up, like reading a sheet of music he flicked over to the next page quickly, lifting a larger weight again with two hands, propping it over his back before he examined it further.

'Until Instructed by your base Commander or commanding officer, you are tasked with defending your station and keeping it within professional condition, maintain your own health and familiarise yourself with military customs, you may be called at any moment to missions or other stations along with your assigned division.'

The rest seemed repetitive, covering human resources and chain of command, future plans through the multiple divisions of the marines.. They even provided a legend on ranking symbols and commonly used marks within the marines, as if they presumed basic training would be forgotten instantly by the majority of their recruits. He didn't blame them though, there must be more people who join the marines simply for a job than those with a purpose, a goal beyond that of simply cleaning the floors and watching from the towers. A sharp exhale had him throwing the weight over himself, clanking quietly agaisnt the ground thanks to the padded surface, stretching out his arms to the sound of a few cracks and snaps having him survey the papers one more time: roll-calls, training routines and reviews.. All things you'd least expect from a workforce aimed to bring down the worst of the worst also have to make sure they bring down unequal wages and high maintenance, guess some people never leave the bottom of the barrel. Some time had passed since he had started, lost in his own thoughts an originally desolate training area in the early hours of the morning became quite hectic. A small part of him wanted to continue, he had imagined that his most recent accomplice would wind up coming to check up on him at some point, seeing as she had essentially assigning herself to him gave the sense that he wouldn't have to plan his next move outside of the training room.

He took a quick survey of the new arrivals, all ranks and all shapes and sizes doing all sorts of routines in groups or alone, at least in regards to strength there was something all marines could be in agreement on. Papers and formalities can only carry so much, a fist is as much a problem starter as it is a solver, but at least it's decisive. The sparring caught his eye though for all the wrong reasons, the area in which tussles were encouraged hadn't seen a single punch for a while, a small group using the seclusion of the corner in which the area was placed to talk away from the masses. Their eyes would've locked for a moment had Atlas stopped staring, leaving the training area constantly fixated on the glances turned glares. Much like home even amongst people he may one day call his brothers, there will always be a primitive alpha sense amongst any rank, and he wasn't about to let anyone think he would back down to let another past in privilege unless it was hardright earned.

'Oi, big guy.' They must've taken more out of a simple staring contest that Atlas had started, the group splitting off from their little corner to cut off his approach to the door, recruits by their get up and rag-tag bunch at that.. The group were close to circling him with smirks on their faces and hands in their pockets. 'You didn't happen to be eavesdroppin' on us did were you?' He hadn't even realised there was something interesting enough to be listening in on from these kinda guys, but the idea that they were willing to defend something in such an aggressive fashion gave Atlas the excuse to spark the fuse. 'Was about to go tell everyone your big secret, if you wanted to join me.' The threatening postures jolted, suddenly very concerned. 'W-Well we can't let you leave then! Not when we're so close!' Were these guys roleplaying an excuse to turn out a tussle? Were they pretending to be pirates with intel or something? It was a unique show Atlas gave them that, but how far were they looking to go? Sparring followed, or least that was the best way to describe this small group going for the much larger built opponent only to be flat-lined by open palms and knees. He hadn't even moved from his spot, the group trying over and over and only stopped by an evident clearing throat looking to be noticed.

'I thought training would be the only thing you were serious about.'
A man on the ground wriggled underneath his foot.

'I was going to come find you, then these guys wanted to spar.'
Two faces pressed together in the same arm lock.

'Didn't you hear the DenDen? We're wanted in Command!'
The final lifted into he air, dangling from a choke-hold.

'Oh, right, sorry.' He released all the tension in his body, the group locked with him respectfully falling and wobbling into their own positions, they went for round two only to notice the sinister gleen on their new acquaintances glasses when they went to approach.. Not to mention the audience they seemed to have gathered, which proceeded to applaud what was presumed to be a performance. By the time they looked back Atlas and Kasper were gone, had they delayed him long enough?

'Its formality, but if you were looking for something to do, this is probably them providing.' He slipped his jacket back over his uniform, approaching a large set of stairs where other familiar faces were beginning to scale, the large windows without frames giving no quarter to the deadly storm that battered the base today.. Though out of the way enough to really be a concern in regards to the heat of the base itself. Kasper shuddered, a tingle going from head to toe which froze her in place for a moment, quickly shaking it off in the same motion. 'It'd be nice to get started with something around here.' A noise of surprised chirped beside him, raising a brow. 'You know for someone so happy and childish looking, you sound awfully serious.' Atlas pondered it a moment, revealing a small smirk while scratching the back of his head. 'If you don't mark your territory around a place like this, you'll never get anywhere.' They reached the top of the winding stairs, another starting just off to the side which the group seemed to prefer. it looked to go beyond the long and busy corridor which lay before them, though the weather was enough to not see your hand infront of your face, the wind was quite forgiving though... A shortcut was a shortcut.

Sadly in this case, one not worth taking today.