Mission 19: Where the Bird Flies

[flame08]

Gyato walked through Mock Town, he was bored, with nothing to do all he had to do was eat and drink. He paused on the street to watch a brawl pass out. Some huge pirate with a 10 million beri bounty was fighting a skinnier swordsmen who has claimed a 15 million beri. The brawl was pretty interesting, as the swordsman dodged around the huge arms of the first pirate. The brawl was starting to draw a crowd, he looked around there was no one he recognized.

As the brawl continued he noticed the huge pirate was starting to gain tons of scratches on his body. But then in a not-so-huge upset the swordsman got hit with a great punch. The swordsman was smashed into the ground and knocked unconscious. Gyato smiled and started to walk away.

Then something caught his attention, a little girl was running around yelling "ANYBODY WANT TO TAKE UP A JOB FOR A NICE REWARD!!" Most of the surrounding people ignored her. They were probably right to too, such a young girl there was a very low chance that she would be able to get any sort of hefty reward.

Gyato normally would've ignored it, but he had a sweet spot for young girls (no hes not a pedo, hes just nice, ok maybe a little pedo). He caught the girl by her arm and crouched down to look at her face to face. "I'll take up your job!" He smiled at her and patted her on the head.

Pouting slightly the girl said "Well my parrot Jimahaus has gone missing. He went flying last night, and hasn't been seen since. Though you know . . . I heard a report that they saw a parrot flying in Skypeia . . . You should check that out." She smiled again, "Thanks Onii-chan"

[deathrouge]

Xun wandered Mock Town wondering where he could find some money. He was a poor man who desperately needed some to at least get some food or something to drink. He noticed a small girl running around yelling out something about a job and a reward! Walking toward the small child he noticed another person. She probably couldn't give much, but its not like she going to ask me to defeat a gang of bandits. As he finely reached the girl Xun seamed to miss most of the conversation but he heard small part of it at the end. A parrot in a place he never heard of.
"hey you ever heard of that place" He asked the other person. After hearing his answer he went off into town to find a better answer. Asking around he got nothing except laughter and ridicule. Man nobody here is of help at all. A moment later he deiced to find the girl again to ask if she knew. He search around town until he hear the girls' familiar voice.
"ANYBODY WANT TO TAKE UP A JOB FOR A NICE REWARD!!" Walking up to the girl he asked if she knew how to get to the skypia place.

[BEX]

Spitting to the right side of his mouth, the rookie pirate, Jack Dancer watched as the boring brawl between two nobodies concluded with a bone crushing thud as the lanky swordsman who tried his luck against a larger pirate paid the price for his insolence. Normally Jack would have strode into center stage and had fun massacring the guy slowly, but his ears wriggled slightly as the sound of a small girl’s voice yelling about a small reward drew his attention away from fighting. Although he had no shortage of beri at the moment, Jack never passed up the opportunity to make a quick buck from an unsuspecting damsel in distress no matter how small in stature. With narrowed eyes he watched as a few pirates that he didn’t know began conversing with the girl,

“Well waddaya know?” he mused from his chair in the nearby bar. Arrogantly he spat once again before rising to his feet and making his way over to where the pirates stood over the small girl; fittingly he was taller than all of them. Scratchign his head, he realized there wasn’t any fun to be had with these pirates,

“I’m yer guy if you need fighting power” he stated while jutting his thumb into his chest confidently,

“…no’s gonna beat me” he promised, “…AND I mean NO ONE” he finished with the strange energy crackling in his eyes.

[flame08]

After another pirate had come to help the girl they had stood over her together wondering about the whereabout of this skypeia. Despite asking so many of the denizens of skypeia they had yet to find an answer more than a bunch of ridicule. Dumbfounded they were completely confused as of what to do. Gyato turned to the other pirate "So what should we do about this? We seem to be in a mess there is absolutely no way for us to get to Skypeia, I mean really not one of the people here have a clue where it is and yet its suppose to be the next place on the route. Well maybe we should get a log pose, and have that lead our way. Maybe it'll work."

Then a guy had come up behind them talking about if they needed fighting power they could have him. He seemed a bit overconfident to Gyato, but maybe that was just him. Gyato looked at him and laughed, "Whatever you say, big guy I'm sure you'll be a fine addition to our group." looking over at the other pirate he asked "What do you think should we let him join us on this journey?"

[deathrouge]

Asking the girl proved more useful than any of the others in this town. Her reply was simply "Go Up" before she wandered away trying to gather more help.
As the other pirate asked about what to do next and suggested getting a log post Xun simply denied the idea saying, "Even if we know where we're going we have absolutely no idea how to get there."
"Oh by the way my name is Xun." he added before another pirate wandered into the group boasting about his strength and fighting power. The other pirate asked if they should add him to their group.

"Yeah might as well we haven't had any luck so far." Then turning to the newcomer Xun asked, "So, how about you? Do you have any idea about how to get to Skypia? We haven't had much luck ourselves." As he listens to the man's reply his thoughts wandered back to the young girl's very vague answer. What could she mean by Go Up? Does she mean an island on a mountain or one that's in the upper part of the world? There was something else bothering Xun he had seen that man before. Xun had absolutely no idea where, but he had perhaps it was one of the pirates that attacked his town or something else. He couldn't remove him from his head.

[BEX]

As he made his claim of strength it seemed that the other pirates didn’t take any particular interest in having him test out his strength, but he didn’t mind for the moment since he was actually trying to score some quick cash,

“Do we even have a direction or are we just sitting here scratchin’ our asses?” Jack asked with a sigh placing right hand on his hip while massaging his temple with his left hand. Regardless of whether the weird intention of finding the little girls’ bird it seemed that the mission would entail something interesting; going to the Skypiea regions. Of course it had been said that this place was something of myth and that it didn’t’ even exist, but Jack was a man of ignorance that relied only on the few truths that he had learned in his short time of living. Most of them revolved around fighting. Peering at the other two pirates deep in thought Jack began to wonder where he would get his next meal from and also if he should pull some of his stash grab some grub. Irritation crept through Jack’s brain and before either of the other two could respond he reached out grabbing an old civilian by the collar,

“Lookahere old man. We’re trying to get to Skypiea and we’re havin’ problems…” he explained harshly as he drew the old man’s frightened face closer to his own,

“….you better be the solution” he warned with a slight snarl at the end of the warning.

[flame08]

Gyato watched as the horrified man was picked up by Jack. Grabbing onto Jack's arm he pushed the horrified man to the ground. Blinking quickly at Jack he turned to the man and said "Sorry, hes a bit on the violent side . . . We just want to know if you know anything about Skypeia, a parrot seems to have flown up in that direction and we're helping a girl find it." He smiled at the man.

"S-s-sorry I h-h-have n-n-n-o idea where Skypeia is." the man stammered out. But there is a man . . . he lives on the otherside of the island . . his name is Montblanc Crick . . ." he had fainted. As his body fell to the ground Gyato looked at the other two. Gyato stated "It looks like we're looking for a Montblanc, he might know something about Skypeia. Lets go check it out."

He walked off through the town once again. As he walked pass people fighting in the streets he smiled, they were stupid fights weaklings against weaklings i wasn't anything special at all. He rolled on through the town until he exited the otherside. From far away there seemed to be a castle in the distance. This Montblanc seemed pretty rich.

[deathrouge]

Xun watched as Jack grabbed a old man up just to be knocked down by by the other pirate. Before the old guy fainted he did give a useful bit of information the name of a guy who knows how to reach Skypia. At the moment he was tired and did not want to fly so he walked behind the other pirate. They walked to the edge of town the other guy stopped noticing the Montblanc person's house. To Xun it meant almost nothing because his house was just as big. It was still a bit crowded to use his powers, so he broke away from the group heading off into a more open area.

Xun turned into his animal form and graduly flew up into the air. He saw the guy's house was nothing more than a cheap rip-off. He flew towards the house as he thought about where skypia might be. Xun felt more at home in the air it felt like it was a part of him. As he arived at the house he slowly decended and reverted back into a human. Xun look around finding a book and a few other objects before he knocked on the door.

[BEX]

Just as Jack was about to reveal his own secret brand of interrogation on the old man one of the other men stepped in and eased his arm towards the ground causing the civilian to drop to the floor free from Jack’s grasp. One of those guys, huh? Jack thought to himself as he sized up the man while a conversation had ensued between the man that had interrupted him and the civilian. A menacing scowl occupied Jack’s face. His fierce facial features twisted into a mask of anger as he glowered at the man, but then he caught sight of the other one, a guy whom he had met before. No doubt that man was a strong opponent and Jack wondered what kind of person he was in battle. Before he could investigate any further the man passed out and the group quickly moved into action; the unknown man deciding to walk through town and the acquaintance whose name he couldn’t remember turned into a strange bird taking off into the air.

“Dammit…” Jack complained as he strolled in the direction of the first person eventually finding himself in front of some mansion. For the first time all day Jack genuinely smiled as he rubbed the underside of his chin,

“I bet ya there’s tons of good loot in there” he said more to himself than anybody as he eagerly stepped towards the mansion not aware of who the person was or how they were significant to the mission.

[flame08]

Gyato walked up to the door. Looking up the castle looked pretty flat . . . possible fake. He sighed A wierdo who likes to make himself look great. Egotistic much . . . well lets see what he knows about Skypeia, maybe he'll be able to show us something In front of him a bird had just turned into Xun, a Devil Fruit user. As Xun knocked the door was pushed open.

Staring inside there was a small room nothing more. Gyato paused for a second as he looked inside, there was no other door. The actual house was tiny, sweat drops rolled down the back of his face. This was horrible, he was tempted to go back to the old man in town. But then he heard an "OIII". He turned around to see a giant man staring down at him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!!!" the man said.

Gyato took a step back and put his hand on a sword. Commenting quickly he said "Oh just uhhh looking . . . actually we were looking for a man named Montblanc Cricket you wouldn't happen to know where he is. A man in town told us that you might know where Skypeia is." Gyato waited for a reply silently.

[deathrouge]

When he knocked on the door it was unlocked and open. Did we miss him he thought totaly missing that a man was a few feet behind him.Xun turned around quickly as as loud and slightly angry voice was heard. He watch what was happening as his hand instinctively went to his sword. He drew his sword just as the man who owned the house intoduced himself as Montblanc Cricket. Xun took no time to state the group's intentions.

"Hello my name is Xun they are Gayto and Jack." He said pointing to them. Then taking a moment to take a breath Xun added
"We're looking for a way to Skypia and we heard you knew how to get there."

A face of surprise appered on Montblanc's face. A moment of silence passed before he broke the silence. "I know how to get there." He replied simply he looked tired it seemed like the way wasn't easy. He sat down on a stump before he explained how to reach Skypia. Xun thought it was hopeless as Montblac finished his explanation. He was sure they didn't have most of the stuff they need. A ship, a navigator, a south bird all before the deadline in 3 days.

[BEX]

Jack stepped toward the mansion, but before he could enter the other two men that had accompanied him moved into the mansion and were immediately met with a large man who identified himself as the Count that they had been searching for. Dammit…Mofos always messin’ up my sh*t Jack thought as he attempted to hide his irritation with the two with a frail guise of indifference. It seemed the Count was in fact very informed about the path to get to Skypeia which was some consolation to Jack so his vexation left him as he imagined what kind of adventures he would run into in the Sky Islands, more importantly he thought about the babes with wings that he had heard about being inhabitants of the Skypeia region,

“Well what are we waitin’ for then?” Jack asked with closed eyes as he tapped his foot impatiently on the ground of the pseudo-mansion. The Count explained that the weren’t prepared for the journey and that they wouldn’t have time to prepare themselves for the journey. Taking the man’s words as a challenge Jack stepped forward towards the Count with a smile,

“…any preparation we gotta make, we’ll get it done” he offered while pointing his thumb at himself with a serious look on his face while his other hand rested in his pocket. His sheathed blade dangled against his back from the excessive movement,

“Just tell us what we gotta do”

[flame08]

Gyato sighed, getting a navigator and south bird was one thing. But a ship was on a whole different scale of getting something. He had nowhere near the money to afford a ship to sail the Grand Line. He had been hitching rides, taking cruise liners and such but never bought his own boat. That was too much trouble, not worth it.

How would they get a navigator, he stopped in his tracks . . . .of course Mock Town, home to the pirates. If there wasn't a navigator there, it would be a disgrace to the name of a pirate. He laughed, then there was the south bird. They were supposedly fairly common in Jaya, most likely in the forests. The best way to find one would most likely be by getting help from another local. For that once again Mock Town would be the place.

Looking to the other two he commented "I think our best place to start the search is Mock Town . . .What do you two think? At the least we'll be able to find a navigator and south bird. We can hijack a ship if we really need too." He laughed slightly, hijacking a ship was a bit far fetched for him. But if it meant something he would do it.

He nodded to Montblanc and walked off back toward Mock Town.

[deathrouge]

Xun stayed where he was as the sound of the other guy's foots steps faded. He would ask Moblanc some more questions before setting off. To him it looked like he was holding back some information.

He turn to the Cricket, "So, where is the South Bird thing?"
The answer was short and pretty simple. The bird can be found in the forest close to here you just have to catch it. He also offered to help, but Xun declined the offer. All he had to do was catch a bird it sounded easy enough. He headed to the forest that Moblanc pointed out earlier. He entered the forest looking for birds that match the description. It was purple green and yellow and its head always pointed south. There was also a mention of its bird call or something, but it seamed irrelevant. He looked around and all he saw were incests, spiders and other bugs. There were lots of them everywhere he was walking. Suddenly a loud bird call sounded through the forest. Xun looked at the source of it to find a multicolored bird with its head in a weird direction. That's gotta be it He told himself as he charged toward the bird.

[BEX]

The other two had gone off and Jack was left alone with the strange Montblanc for a few brief seconds which the two only exchanged blanks expressions as the world around them seemed to disappear into the background. A slight noise of disapproval came from Montblanc as he examined Jack and with an arching eyebrow Jack questioned the man as to what was his problem,

“What’s up bub? Somethin’ yer in disapproval of?” he questioned as he stepped forward one small step with his chin raised slightly in defiance of the old man waiting for the answer to come.

“You’re a useless man if you really are going to just allow your nakama to do all the work for you. I assume it is FOR you that they work so hard regardless” he explained with a stern expression on his face. This statement roused a growl of indignation at the man’s insinuations of his “uselessness”, but something profound stopped him from reaching behind him and drawing his weapon; the man was right about his own effectiveness during the mission. Grumbling under his breath he walked towards a stump that was in Montblanc’s “backyard” and dropped his butt into the flat surface of the stump while peering thoughtfully at the ground,

That old bag can go f*ck himself…these guys aren’t my nakama…I don’t owe them sh*t he rationalized half heartedly as he awaited the two men’s return.