Learning to Forgive: B.G. and Shiromi

[Mai Kobayashi]

"Ehh? For who's benefit? Of course, I won't look cool if no one knows who I took down right? It's to make me look cool, neh?"

The silver-skinned woman unhooked the still sheathed sword from the sash of her waist and slammed the end of the wooden saya down on the side of the head of the poor, unfortunate, pirate she was using as a doormat. With a loud 'guh' sound the man passed out in the middle of the street, leave a small pool of drool dripping from the side of his mouth as the Fishman stepped over him to face the whip-wielding, pompadour, touting pirate captain.

No... but the only people here are my men and that thief boyfriend of yours...
"That's right, we already know exactly how strong the Captain is. And you? you are just an overconfident idiot, aren't you? Having a spousal argument in front of us... Have you no shame?"

The two pirates looked at one another with a look of confusion passing between them, eyebrows were raised and a certain Fishman was lectured on not airing her dirty laundry in public. A purple twinge crept up on her cheeks as she stared at the two men in quiet disbelief before baling up her fist as the other wanted man spouted off unbelievable accusations one after the other. She finally rounded on B.G, her face having flushed entirely, though whether it was rage or embarrassment coloring her face was a bit harder to ascertain.

"As for you... stop giving them the wrong idea! Who is two-timing?! I was cutting you a break by letting you go! Look, I even gave you your own bounty poster so I could pretend I lost it! Who's ever heard of a thief who wants to get caught!? Besides, why would anyone want to break INTO the jail cell of a marine base? What were you planning to do, steal treasure? Break out your thief girlfriend!? Ahh no... you wouldn't be hitting on me if you had one of those..."

She blasted off into a tirade before halfway into her rant realizing that part of her premise was flawed, raising a finger to her lip in quiet though she tried to salvage what was left of her argument.

"See what I mean captain?"
Yeah... both of them are idiots... right?
"But Captain... Bosun... they've defeated over a third of the crew already..."
"Thinking about it... don't we look the lamest here by losing to these guys.."
Shut up you guys, I'm here now. I'll give these two a whipping they will never forget and restore our crews' honor!

[mildofthewild]

"Who said I needed a break cut for me?! You think I'm a charity case?! I can handle myself, I could've escaped from you anytime I wanted, so don't get cocky, sister!" B.G. shouts back, his own face flushing as the crowd only continued to bruise his ego. An idiot?! He could stand a lot of things, but he couldn't forgive being called an idiot by a bunch of pirates; talk about the pot calling the kettle black! But worst of all...worse than insulting his intelligence...they had the nerve to call him a...a...

Boyfriend?!

"And you...look me in the eyes and call me a boyfriend! I ain't the type to get tied down by anybody! The wind carries me, much like it carries these bountiful tops...so shut up! You're right, you would look pretty pathetic getting beaten up by two morons. But luckily for you, you picked a fight with the greatest thief in this East Blue; I'll bet your bounties skyrocket after surviving a scuffle with me!" The thief shouts back, his wounded pride flaming his boisterous attitude as he began to spin his tops along the tips of his fingers, the metallic toys racing across his body before they fly off again, aiming for the Captain himself. Meanwhile, the thief took action himself, dashing forward and sending a cloud of sand behind him, leaving Shiromi in the proverbial AND literal dust. "Stay out of my way, ya two-timing bounty hunter, I'll show you who's the big haul!" 

One pirate levels his rifle, aiming dead center for B.G's chest. The sun beams across his sunglasses, B.G. giggling and flashing his pearly whites once more before kicking a clump of sand into the man's eyes. Blinded, he fires a shot, the bullet missing by a mile and skipping across the ocean front beside them while the pirate rubs frantically at his eyes. He manages to shed enough tears to at least get a clear line of view, opening one eye hesitantly...

To see B.G. staring back, grinning broadly. How was he...so...close?

Another look confirms it; the boy was balancing on the length of his rifle! How was he even able to keep him up, was he really that light? 

"It's called acrobatics, dumbass. I learned a lot of it on the streets; amazin' what you pick up when there's food on the line. Now buck up and take notes; here's where it gets interestin," he says before flipping, his feet landing on the pirate's head as B.G. balances on top, surveying the number left. The crowd already began to swarm forward, several raising their weapons to slash at their quarry. But all B.G. could do was laugh...

"Hold this for me." 

Using just his feet, he manages to grip the pirate's head and flip over on himself, flinging the rotund figure into the crowd of pirates and bowling quite a few over. "STRIKE! Hehehehe, beat that, lady. That'll teach ya to throw away my bounty poster...," he says, snickering to himself before the barrel of a pistol jams against his temple, the second time today. "Uh oh..."

[Mai Kobayashi]

"Well... I figured thieves had to be smart but... I guess if you look long enough you'll find that one idiot who made it against all odds in any profession."

She raised her shoulders in a shrug and decided it was probably best to let the outraged thief rage a bit on his own. If he couldn't deal with a pistol being put against his head by now well... wasn't this the third time just today? He was probably used to it by now.

Do you really have room to talk...?

The pompadour-bearing Captain fired back at her with a snide little smile on his face, obviously, he didn't think much of her. That was fine, that was exactly the sort of reaction she had come to expect. At first, they overestimated her as Fishman, then they underestimated her like an idiot. Not a single person ever took the time to see her for who she was as a person.

"Who knows... do you?"

She put both arms on the neckline of her Gi and gave him a toothy grin as she fired back, an oddly sharp look in her yellow eyes. She pulled down her top, extricating her arms from the sleeves to reveal the short tanktop underneath. She rolled her shoulders, letting her arms make the most of their newfound freedom as her Gi hang around her hips, fluttering in the wind.

Her muscles were quite evident as she stretched her arms, lean but unmistakably powerful, the colorful ink tattoo across her arm flexing as the biceps underneath strained. The pompadour sporting pirate still seemed rather confident but his bosun took a step back as his eyes fixed on the Fishman's bosom.

In response, Shiromi crossed her arms in front of herself and turned aside with a purple blush creeping across her face. She was trying to fight here, not give them some kind of a show. Jeeze.

"Hey, what's the big idea, at least pretend to have some decency and don't stare!"

"C-captain... That emblem. Isn't that...?"
What are you talking about? It's just some Fishman art right.. of a su... Ohh. Ohh.

For a moment his look of supreme confidence faltered but then he raised his whip and pulled the leather tight between his hands.

"Hoh... you suddenly seem like you are a lot more into this. Ahh right, you were a Marine. So you know what this tattoo means on a pirate. Well I'm not a pirate, but I guess it's alright to use that notoriety for once. If it gets you into the spirit of things."

She put her hand on the handle of her sword, turning the blade upwards by her side. A sure sign she was done playing around and about to take this seriously. The whip cracked, the sound loud and fierce but the tip of the blade met it in mid-air. The sword had left its sheath fast enough to meet the surging strip of leather at the apex of its flight to deflect the blow.

There were no more words left to speak, no more taunts left to exchange. The whip was knocked aside and it cracked the pavement beside her before being roughly pulled back, Shiromi's feet carried her forward. That weapon had the advantage on range but if she got close enough there was nothing he'd be able to do. Pompadour Pete pulled back the whip again, a second crack and the strike missed, hitting the ground in the empty space where the Fishman had been before. It was quick, but so was she.

He left himself wide open. The sword flashed out and this time the edge was aimed straight for the man's neck, there was no backward swing, no merciful attempt to strike with the back of the blade. Just the pure simple intention of parting his head from his shoulders. There was no way he could recover to use his whip from this distance.

A loud thunderous sound, a spray of blood, and the sound of steel clattering on the ground. The bosun stood with his pistol smoking. A bloody gash was drawn across the Fishmans neck. He had only grazed her, the wound wasn't deep, yet she was on one knee, having let go of her sword. It was just a scratch.. but he had managed to hit one of her gills. The sheer pain had caught her by surprise. Damnit. The pompadour-bearing pirate grinned widely as he pulled a dagger from his waist and stepped forwards to stab her.

Ohh, but we ARE pirates, what did you think I'd fight you fairly? One on one? You stupid Fish, I'll gut you and you can regret that naivety in the next world!

[mildofthewild]

They were right; this was about the third time today. Hell, this was probably the 10th time this week that B.G. had a gun pulled on him, though the feel of the barrel against his temple was never something that was necessarily "easy" to get used to. After all, one wrong move still meant instant death...usually he was a lot more careful about letting it get to that point...

"Hey, watch the merchandise!" The thief grits his teeth before ducking, narrowly missing a bullet whiz past his skull before he turns and sweeps the pirate off of his legs, causing a plume of smoke to billow and envelop him while the others watch, afraid to approach. Who knows what he was doing to their crewmate, though...

WHZ!

BONK! 

VRRRRM!

The sounds of B.G.'s spinny tops indicate their arrival, the rotational force still strong as they plow through several of the fancy pirates, bowling them over before making a beeline back for their owner. The dust was clearing, and while B.G. was happily waiting...the unfortunate crew member beneath his foot was as well. With his pants pulled down. And his underwear bared against the coming onslaught of whirly, pointy tops...

"PLEASE, PLEASE, IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSOR-"

THWUMP!

The words die down, replaced instead by a high pitch squeal as B.G. made a hole in one....

"Hihihihihihi, you're making this way too easy! D'you see that, you two-bit, excuse for a bounty-" B.G. turns to flaunt his show, only to see blood dripping from between Shiromi's fingers and her neck, gunsmoke coiling from the Bosun as the captain approaches, with a sharp smile and an equally sharp blade to dig into her ribs...

"...I tell you...if anybody's kickin' her ass...it's me...grr, that's the problem with you pirates...dumb as rocks but worse than cruel...I'm the one you should be more concerned about..." The thief mutters to himself, digging in his pocket before pulling out the explosive jewels, eyeing the distance between himself and the captain. This has to be just right, or I'll end up blowing her up too...well, I mean, she's a fishwoman, surely they can withstand this stuff...ahhhh, but I'll never hear the end of it. Gotta get a wall between them at least...

He places one of the jewels on one of his tops, balancing the delicate but explosive gem gingerly before applying plenty of rotational force into the top, letting it fly and kick up a wave of sand as it makes a beeline for him. The other he jumps on top of, slipping the tip between his toes and letting the spin carry him forward after Shiromi. If he can at least get between them...well, if the Bosun shoots, he has a better chance of deflecting it...maybe...oooooh, where'd all this sentimental crap come from...

"Duck! Duck now, Shiromi!" He says, using her name correctly for the first time that day. That must mean something serious...

[Mai Kobayashi]

It was not often that the Fishman found herself short of breath to quip, or to argue for that matter. But this was one of those rare moments. Of course, she didn't use her gills to breathe on land. But that did not stop them from hurting, so much so that even drawing breath through her lungs hurt as if her throat was on fire. Short shallow breaths were all she could manage even as her eyes were firmly on the knife heading her way. It was a split-second decision she had to make. Should she trust in a stranger that she was not entirely sure she wasn't going to turn in for being annoying yet? Should she do something herself and risk getting caught up in whatever he was doing? Or should she trust in fate and see how things played out?

Fortunately, that wasn't a decision she herself had to make. The world was spinning in front of her eyes and she doubled over forwards, the lack of proper breathing getting to her to the point that spots of strangely colored light were dancing in front of her eyes. The world did not so much fade to black as it dissolved into a static image of pounding red flecks. She could see their voices more than hear them, every shout turning into a ripple of coruscating light in front of her eyes. She didn't have to duck anymore. She simply fell forwards, face-first onto the stone as whatever was going to happen did.

The pompadour-bearing Captain hesitated for a moment, he might have been able to duck too if he had either the presence of mind to do so or enough luck to be forced to. His split-second hesitation caused him to stop short of skewering the floundering Fishman and to look up in distraction at B.G. The remaining pirates were in too much chaos from the top thief's previous assault to react, only two of them managed to hit the deck. One very sore, depantsed, pirate who was frankly as good as out for the count after a very very demeaning assault stripped him of the will to live. And a very cowardly bosun whose fight or flight reaction was working overtime, to begin with. Nobody was quite sure what was about to happen. But all eyes were on B.G. One way or another...

[mildofthewild]

"Thanks for the jewels, idiot," he says, though no smile hides behind it as B.G. kicks his second top at the captain, the metallic toy colliding with the other and jostling the explosive jewel enough for it to roll and sandwich itself between the spinning edge. B.G. wasn't entirely sure how this would pan out for him, but one thing was for sure...

This was gonna suck. 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion catches the pompadour whip-wielder and the egotist square, with the young thief B.G. being blasted backwards, landing on Shiromi's back and knocking more of the wind out of her before rolling away, sand being kicked up behind him and filling every known orifice as he skids to a halt some feet away, face-first, much like his "partner." 

"...ow." It's all the usual chatterbox can say as he pulls himself up, his front singed and his jacket blackened from the impact, a crack in his glasses mirroring the metaphorical ding in the armor of his personality and wisecracks. He always ends up being on the brunt of such stunts...

"Gah, got sand up my butt," he adds, because such explosive stunts need a wisecrack to follow shortly after.