Lost in the Woods! In Search of the 10 Million Bottle!

[SnowDog]

As the merchant ship approached the port, Rio stared out over the sea as the sight of the encroaching island drew near. Notice Island; a rather befitting name given how its great white peak stuck out along the horizon for the last dozen of miles or so. The thief thought to himself about possibly inquiring with the locals here about a possible heist he had been brewing for some time. He would need a reliable set of skills to work for what he had in mind. Once the ship docked, Rio paid for his ferry ride across and started to make his way into town.

The sounds of the markets bustling with life and energy long sought for since his departure frilled Rio with a sense of renewed purpose. Fresh Air, fresh faces, and ever fresher opportunities were around every avenue. Rio slipped into the nearby tavern to refresh himself after the voyage over. Within the bar, his ears perked up when a band of bounty hunters nearby began to discuss their last troubled venture.

"I can't believe I dropped it!"

"You idiot, how could you leave her behind like that?!"

"We could've been swimming in the berri by now! 10 Million big ones just sitting in a bottle!"

Rio did not engage with the party, only listening in at opportune moments and singling out keywords and phrases at sparked his interest. The mention of a dollar amount stood out the most to the thief. While his original plan was to hire people with the promise of riches they would acquire from the heist, a large sum like that could help provide a decent sign on bonus as well as afford he and his potential hirees some much needed gear and supplies. Rio leaned forward and continued to sip at his drink, continuing to listen in and hope these big-mouthed hunters let slip more information about their blunder.

"I know it's somewhere out there in that there forest! Were it not for those tigers getting the jump on us..."

And there it was, the location he needed. Paying for his drink and shortly departing, Rio began to make a bee-line into the dense forest on the outskirts of town. Hands in his coat pockets, he trekked forward while walking alongside the road as he could continue to scan the hurried tracks leading back towards the town. "Those had to have been from the hunters back at the tavern." He figured as he pushed into the loose brush. Luckily he was following the trail of those who had carved their way through already, it was only a matter of making sure he didn't lose their tracks.

After a few minutes of meandering up and over lose branches and toppled trees, Rio found himself standing in the middle of a clearing. The tracks he was following all lead to this direction, but the soil around the area was beaten and torn, it was hard to determine which direction they had come from and gone now. Towards the center of the clearing, almost appearing to have been built into one of the greater trees in the forest was a stone shrine. Decorated in Tiger imagery and various other symbols, such a construct drew Rio's attention up from trying to determine the route those hunters had been taking. He approached the structure curiously wondering how much such a relic might even cost if he had the means to pawn it off to a museum.

"Strange..." Rio said amidst his surveying, "And here I thought I heard them say something about a bottle."

[Fox]

Mirply found herself in quite the predicament. She had been thoroughly… surprised! Yes, surprised. If she had seen those bounty hunters coming, she would’ve never been caught unawares! But… uh. As it was… she was in a pickle. Well, to be more precise, she was in a bottle. They’d grabbed her while she was sleeping, and stuffed her right into one and corked up the top. And, when she uncorked it, they tied it down really tight. So. She was kind of stuck when the tigers came and scared her captors. They even dropped and forgot her here!

After spending the better part of an hour trying to get out, Mirply had - not given up - taken a break from her escape attempts. She’d get it. She just needed to… catch her breath! Yeah. That was it. The bottle itself was sat in a ruined statue’s hands. There was a small amount of earth and grass in the cupped hands, so Mirply herself looked almost like a sacred treasure. One of those damn fools had put her here while trying to climb up to check for… something stupid.

It was actually really pretty here. The sunlight shone through the canopy far above, dappling the ruins in speckled sunshine. Some of it even glinted off her own bottle, making it shine like a gem. Hehe. Wait, why was she getting sleepy? Was it suddenly hard to breathe? Her heart jumped into her throat as she started to panic a little. Mirply pushed herself to her feet and gave the side of the bottle a hard shove, making it actually tip over onto its side. Great! She could roll it off the statue!

Mirply rolled until she got to the edge of the statue’s cupped hands when she spotted a human down below. Eek! One of those bounty hunters came back for her?! Mirply tried to backpedal, but the momentum of the bottle carried it off the edge.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!”

The bottle spun around in midair, sending a screaming Mirply spinning around and slamming into the sides of it. She was gonna diiiiiie!!!! With a dull thunk and a bounce or two, the bottle landed harmlessly onto a patch of soft grass. Mirply laid flat against the side of the bottle, her twitching tail giving an indication that she was, in fact, still alive.

“Ugnnhnghh….”

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 1

[SnowDog]

Rio was uncharacteristically caught off guard but the sudden surprise before him, the shrine seemed to shake lightly before something came tumbling forward out of the maiden's hands. He looked up from his studying of the strange shrine at the sound of muffled screeching, only to see a bottle hit the ground and roll a bit away from where he was standing, finally coming to rest in a patch of grass. When the thief glanced over to see what had fallen, his eyes widened in delight as he found the very thing he was seeking within these woods; the Bottle.

As he moved to pick up the fallen bottle, something immediately stood out from what he had hoped to see. The bottle wasn't exactly empty, but it wasn't full of berri or treasure like he had expected it to be. Instead, he found something rather... pecicular. The blond-haired thief knelt down and drew one of his throwing knives, tapping the end of his blade against the glass to try and draw the inhabitant's attention.

"My my, what do we have here? Are you alright in there?"

[Fox]

The limited air in the bottle had been further depleted by all her screaming, so she might have just died right then and there if not for the very loud and very annoying tapping coming from the other side of the glass. Mirply groaned and held her head, peeling herself off of the side of the glass to look up at a human’s dumb face. She could hear his muffled questions from the other side of the glass. Hissing softly, Mirply took a deep breath, her face turning an interesting shade of purple from the oxygen deprivation.

“DO I LOOK OKAY TO YOU, DUMMY?! GET ME OUTTA HERE BEFORE I SUFFOCATE!!! DUMMY!!!”

Mirply wheezed a few times, getting dizzy from yelling so much. Also probably the lack of oxygen. She lifted her finger to unload a couple more jabs at him, but suddenly she was back on the bottom of the glass. Every breath was getting harder and harder to take. She felt very lightheaded. Oof. As her vision started to swirl, she wondered idly if this was it. Was this all that she was going to be? She’d thought she would get so much further than to die here.

“D-Dummy…”

She clenched her tiny fist, stubbornly clinging to consciousness.

“I don’t… wanna…”

Her tail drooped down as she did pass out, her silver and pink hair glinting in the speckled sunlight filtering down from the canopy above.

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 2

[SnowDog]

Who or whatever was in the bottle was becoming frantic as they struggled within the bottle. Rio had never seen a sapient creature of such a stature before, it was actually quite fascinating to witness. Watching the dwarf begin to collapse and change color from within her glass prison immediately shifted Rio's priorities to trying to help the tiny creature. He returned his throwing knife into one of his dedicated pockets before opening the top of the bottle. Rio shook the glass container a bit close to the ground, plopping the unconscious Mirply into the soft grass.

"Hey, you still with me, little one?" Rio inquired as he poked gently at the side of the dwarf's head. He sat there squatting down beside Mirply, jar still in hand as he debated how best it would be to try and assist this strange new creature. He looked down at his own hand and debated at attempting to resuscitate her, but began second-guessing himself as he wondered if trying to revive this tiny creature would crush their skeleton. Does this little creature even have a skeleton?

[Fox]

Blessed fresh air slowly worked its way into Mirply’s lungs, revitalizing her. She grumbled softly as she came to, feeling a poke at her skull. She swatted the hand away, feeling nothing but air pass through her tiny fingers. After a minute, Mirply pushed herself up off the ground, swiftly wiping away some drool out of habit. She had to maintain appearances! She flopped backward onto her bottom as her head pounded painfully. For the first time, Mirply got a good look at her rescuer.

He was tall, dark, and handsome. Tall because. Well. He was human. But the other two held true. Mirply felt her heart skip a beat, though that might have been from the near suffocation. They spent a moment looking at each other before Mirply tossed her silver and pink hair to the side with an expectant huff. She stood up and dusted herself off.

“Hello,” she began, somewhat awkwardly before puffing herself up, “I am Verin Mirply! Future ruler of this world!!! But, I guess since you rescued me… you can have the privilege of addressing me by my first name! So, it’s just Mirply to you.”

She postured grandly, putting one tiny hand on her tiny hip and posing like some kind of royalty. She thought she was in her head, but she didn’t have a crown yet. Or a kingdom. So she didn’t want to be made fun of for being a princess without those things! She had her pride, after all. Wait, where… where was her loyal subject?! Mirply finally managed to tear her eyes off the big guy and looked around for Tril. Those guys… they wouldn’t have made off with her, would they?!

“T-Tril?! Tril! Where are you?!”

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 3

[SnowDog]

"Future ruler of the world, eh?" Rio repeated as he brought his cheek down to rest on his fist, a smug expression on his face, "Do tell me how you plan on reaching shut a feat, Ms. Mirply." Well, the tiny creature had a name at least. Mirply, Verin Mirply. Rio couldn't say he recognized the name from anywhere.

Soon the dwarf girl spoke out another name as she started to look around for something, or maybe someone? Rio's eyebrow crooked as he tried to study her movements as she began to look for this "Tril" she kept calling out for. The thief reached out and grabbed Mirply by the cloth of her collar, pulling her lightweight form back and hoisting her up to face him again.

"Whoa there, little miss, not that I don't mind helping you out of that jam but before you go wandering off I got some questions of my own in need of answering." He spoke softly as to not provoke any further hostility. "Firstly, what were you doing to get yourself locked up in that jar?"

[Fox]

“I mean, like, at least my own kingdom. I’m a princess, you know,” Mirply mumbled in response to Rio’s smug retort, still distracted by trying to find her weapon-subject-friend-pet-thing. As she was about to take a step, she was uncouthly manhandled by her collar and lifted up off the ground. That drew all of her attention back onto this human guy. Rescuer or not, this was no way to treat her!

“HEY! LEGGO! I DIDN’T GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO HOLD ME!”

Mirply reached back and, with a surprising amount of strength for someone so small, pushed Rio’s fingers apart and flopped down to the ground again. She grumbled and dusted herself off again. Once she was clean - clean enough anyway, she desperately needed a change of clothes - Mirply looked back up at Rio with her cheeks puffed out. She jabbed a finger at him.

“No touchie unless I say you can, mister! Plus, why should I answer any of your questions when you haven’t even bothered to introduce yourself! Were you raised in a barn?! Where are your manners?”

Mirply didn’t bring up the fact that she was raised in a hermit crab’s shell. Her family had been poor so they couldn’t even afford the nice ones. That was best vehemently forgotten. She was Princess Mirply now! Anything that contradicted that could go rot for all she cared. She sighed, her tiny rage slowly draining out of her. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, looking away from him.

“And I wasn’t doing anything. Apparently, I have a bounty or something though… I haven’t even done anything big yet, but I suppose it’s good to be acknowledged as a threat by those utter peons in the World Government. Now everyone knows I’m a big deal!”

The bounty poster didn’t actually have a picture of her on it. Those scumbags had shown her it while she was in the bottle. Some weird spider calling card thingy on a background of red. To be fair, she did have Tril with her, but she didn’t even get Tril until recently. Well, anyway, she wanted to pose for a picture. Something that captured her essence.

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 4

[SnowDog]

A princess? Her? This had to be some kind of joke, a village prank or something. Was he about to be jumped by those drunkards he overheard back in town coming to poke fun at the foreigner for falling for such a trick? Was this tiny girl apart of it?

Picking Mirply up had spired an illicit reaction within the dwarf girl, who was rather quick to retaliate by forcing his fingers apart and falling back to the ground. Rio was taken back, where did such strength come from in such a small package?! She felt as light as a child's doll, how did she manage to pry his fingers apart like that? Rio shook the slight pain in his hand as he could only sit there and bear the brunt of Mirply's scolding. She then spun away from him and began to expand further on her own importance. She was wanted? Considered dangerous enough to warrant an actual bounty be put on her head? Were it not for the pain currently running through his hand keeping him grounded in reality, he would've thought this was some kind of bad dream he was currently stuck in.

"Apologies, everything here is rather- new to me." the thief finally said, shifting from his previous kneeling position to sitting down properly into the soft grass. He extended his other hand outwards, in a manner ready to shake and properly introduce himself. "My name is Rio, Soldorado Rio. I dunno how obvious it is that I'm not from around these parts, but I must apologize for my... ignorance." He said in an attempt to apologize for picking her up.

As he spoke his mind began to wander, the stream of internal questions he was asking himself began to put the pieces of this convoluted puzzle he found himself in the middle of. The bottle... The 10 million beri... This tiny person couldn't be what those drunkards were talking about, were they? It couldn't be, it had to just be a freak coincidence...

"Well, well," Rio began shifting back to resting his cheek against his knuckle again, ready to humor and wax up the dwarf girl's ego a bit, "So you've also managed to catch the eye of the World Government. While I'm sure your bounty isn't as high as my own, but do tell, what have you done to warrant being put on their watch list?"

[Fox]

It seemed like her rescuer had finally gotten over his initial shock of meeting someone as rare and unique as herself. Mirply understood that she was very special, and so people didn’t always have the appropriate reactions to her. But she didn’t tolerate that behavior for long. Her rescuer just got some leeway due to the fact that, well, he saved her. Not that she couldn’t have gotten out herself. Hmph! As he sat down properly on the grass beside her, he extended a hand. Mirply put out her own so that he could take it and kiss it - as was appropriate to do to a princess. It was awkward as her tiny hand was just resting on top of one of his fingers. About time he introduced himself though!

“Well met, Rio! And I suppose I cannot fault you for your ignorance. I’m the only one of my kind!” That she knew of anyway. “Plus, I’m actually from the Grand Line, and… not wherever this is. Where is this, actually?”

Rio went on about her also catching the World Government’s ire. Oh? So he also had a bounty? Her tail puffed out as her competitive fire was reignited. She crossed her arms and waved dismissively at him, planning on getting him to spit out his bounty numbers with an offhand mention of her own.

“Yes, yes. My bounty is just a pittance, really. A mere ten million beri isn’t nearly enough to signify my importance!!! As for what I did…”

Mirply shrugged.

“I just sort of assumed that they recognized my greatness. The poster said something about killing nobles and officials affiliated with the World Government though… Maybe they meant I am going to kill them and take their place…? But then, they’re thinking too small. I have no need for a World Government who does not recognize me as supreme!!!”

Mirply smirked smugly and hopped up onto Rio’s shoulder with incredible speed and grace. She examined her nails as she gave him the side eye.

“But what about you?”

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 5

[SnowDog]

When the bounty amount was finally told, Rio could feel himself screaming internally, despite his continually held smug expression on his face. This is some kind of cosmic joke, and I am the fool who fell for it all! Rio thought as his knuckles continued to rest in his cheek all while Mirply happily carried on sharing her story.

"Me? Well, I can't say I've done anything that severe. In fact, I'm almost embarrassed to even share my exploitation with someone who makes my crimes seem so small time in comparison." He tried to match the smug energy that Mirply was emanating, being equally coy with her. "As for where we are, we're currently in the North Blue, specifically on Notice Island." Rio finally rose up to his full height and dusted his knees lightly, looking about around the grove they were standing in. "'Fraid to say you're quite far away from the Grand Line there, little miss."

The thief looked back down at Mirply as he pondered what he could do to rectify this situation. He was no bounty hunter and having a bounty on your own head made matters of trying to turn one in rather difficult. Could he maybe strike up a deal with those bumbling fools back in town and rob the money from under them. He didn't exactly like the idea of finishing their own job for them, but it was the only option he currently had.

"You mentioned another name earlier," He spoke, quickly changing the subject, "Trish? Tibs? Who are they, some sort of friend or relative of yours?"

[Fox]

Notice Island? Never heard of it. Must be some small time island. Hm. Mirply wondered if there was a Marine base somewhere on the island. Probably not, right? Those dumb bounty hunters would have turned her in right away if that were the case. Rio seemed unimpressed by her bounty. Mm. To be fair, she hadn’t really done anything to earn it, so… understandably, it was pretty low. She shrugged at him.

“Well, I didn’t actually kill anyone. I think they’re just acknowledging me as a real threat. Gotta be. Dunno where they pulled out that stuff though,” Mirply sighed with a shrug.

With a hop that seemed to defy gravity, Mirply bounced up onto Rio’s shoulder and took a seat rather daintily. She made herself comfortable and adjusted her ruffled clothing. She tutted at him when he got the name wrong and waggled her finger at him with a poof of her tiny tail. “No, no, no. Tril. T R I L. She’s… hm. My pet? My weapon? Both? Those guys from earlier took her away, and I want her back!”

Mirply looked at Rio and extended a tiny hand. “If you assist me, I’ll allow you the honor of traveling with me. Enticing, isn’t it? So? You gonna help? ‘Course you are. So let’s goooo!” Mirply paused. “D-Do you know where they went? They kinda just ran off and left me to die here, so I’m not too sure myself. Imma beat them up and good when I see their ugly mugs…!”

Mirply made a show of punching the palm of her hand and gave Rio a little smirk. They had caught her by surprise before, but not this time! She’d show them what for! Plus, now she had a peon to help her! Hehe! Rio wasn’t bad to look at honestly. He was probably tough, right? Yeah. He had to be to keep that pretty face!

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 6

[SnowDog]

Pet-weapon. Of all the things already stumping him today, she somehow manages to throw him another blindsiding curveball. What about this girl was so dangerous that everyone sees her as such a threat?

"I suppose I could lend you a hand, Ms. Mirply." Rio responded as his eyes followed Mirply's jump up onto his shoulder. There was a moment of disbelief as he watched her small height scale up to his shoulder in such a single hop before his mind began to wander and imagine the possibilities of such a skill. Maybe this girl could have some use to me after all...

"As for your captors, I believe I might have seen them back in town, mulling over having lost you at the local tavern. Can't say or not if I saw your... Tril, among them." Rio spun on his heel and began to walk his way back the way he came through the grove, "Better yet, what kind of pet is this Tril anyhow? Hard to help find him if I don't exactly know what I'm looking for."

[Fox]

“Hm-hm! So the cowards have skulked off, eh?! As befits inferior creatures! Oh, Tril’s a spider. And she is… about the size of a dog? But first! We should probably get the treasure that they missed,” Mirply said triumphantly, pointing up to the statue’s hands where she had been dropped in the bottle. “There’s a switch up there where they dropped me. Hang on…!”

With a couple leaps and bounds, Mirply managed to get back up to the statue’s hands, kicking away at some of the dirt. She stamped down on a switch, which made everything quake beneath her. She yelped as she tumbled off the side, catching herself on one of the statue’s weathered fingertips. As she dangled from it, the statue slid to one side, revealing a cavity underneath its base where a treasure chest sat innocuously. Mirply dropped down, dusting her hands off.

She smiled at Rio smugly and gestured to the chest. “Go on, tell me I’m amazing.” Really, it was sheer luck that Mirply had even noticed the switch. But, after lying there for hours, she would have kicked herself if she hadn’t seen it. She hopped back up onto his shoulder, plopping down and hanging on. She wanted to relax now anyhow. Besides, whatever was in that chest might help them get Tril back. Or, at least, they could rub it in the faces of those fools back at the tavern.

“Hehe, I can’t wait to see the look on their dumb faces!”

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Verin Mirply | Midnight Blue (#191970) | Post Count: 7