Mission #6 - Doc on the Docks (Pierce, Isabella)

[White Mimic]

With a net slung over his shoulder and one of his cooking knives in his hands, Pierce walked along the docks until he found signs of good fishing. On the horizon of the sea, many different fishing ships could be seen working, struggling to bring in a good haul for a meager living. For Pierce, his catch would literally be his living; he preferred fresh supplies he preserved himself to those he could buy from someone he didn't know and, therefore, couldn't trust.

Many people stared at him as he walked along the docks and boardwalks, though he did not mind or care. It had been like this ever since he had began living with humans, and only became more frequent as he grew up. Fishmen weren't all that common outside the Grand Line so he supposed all the gawking was justified. Hopefully it would dampen when he got into the Grand Line. Ah, this dock extension looked lively.

The dock he had found was busy with shore fishing, and was closest to a grouping of boats out at sea where most of the fish would be sanctioned. Taking from the shore fish wouldn't be fair to those who needed to earn money, but technically the fish at sea were free game. He walked to the edge of the dock, still getting stares from several of the fishermen, as he deslung his net. He dived into sea and swam at an incredible pace. For his type of fishman anatomy, he wasn't the fastest swimmer (though he was still much faster than a human), but the shape and purpose of his fins made excellent self-defense tools and means for quick turns and agile manuevers in the water. When he got close enough to the ships, he spotted several schools of red snappers. He remembered what he had to work with on the ship and decided on what he could make with red snapper. "...Lemon Sage Red Snapper? Yeah, that'll work."

***

When he had caught about 15 fish, he returned to the dock. If he had caught anymore, he might have disturbed the intake of the people who had lived here. Leaping out of the water and back onto the dock, he shook himself dry. The fish he had caught had been dead for a short while now. Pierce had used his cooking knife to gut them partially.

Grinning he began heading back to the ship, a large catch over his shoulder.

[SHADE SMASH]

Bella stared at the object of her concentration with serious blue eyes. Giving the thing in question another minute of hard glaring, the people around her gathering up almost expecting some sort of show to be performed. Then, out of the blue, she cried "Awwwwwwwwwwwww," and her hard blue eyes changed to awe filled spheres. The object of such affection? A puppy who just stared at her like she was a chew toy. The moment Bella stuck out a hand to pet the lump of fur, the pup's eyes grew and his tail began wagging furiously before he bit into the hand. Then everything was silent. The people stared on thinking it was some performance and some even uttered some "Awwws," believing the action to be cute.

Instead, however, the crowd was shocked into silence as the girl suddenly had a change of character and swung her hand so that the dog was flying in a random direction. With a humph, she continued walking off, the crowd staring dumbstruck. It's just that Bella doesn't take too kindly to being bitten.

Bella is a swordsman who had just arrived on the island in her search for the perfect crew to be a part of, but frankly, the search was starting to become a bit more trouble than it was worth. For about a year she has been searching and never had she found a crew strong enough nor good enough to call her nakama. But she won't give up! For the sake of being like Zoro one day! Sparkles sparkled in her eyes and she shot an arm in the air in determination almost shocking everyone near her. Currently, she came to this island simply because she had ran out of food on her small ship. It was quite annoying, she thought, adjusting the black hat that sat on her head.

The worst part though? SHE WAS HOT! No, not in the way that she was attractive, but if you brought that up too she surely won't disagree. No, what she meant was that wearing black dress and a black mask, even if it was only a small piece of fabric, in the sun wasn't doing well to her internal temperature right now. It felt like it was 120 degrees here, and the hat was doing nothing to help her cool down. Maybe because it was also black and only made her head feel hotter, no actually she was sure it was for that reason. Yet, never would she consider taking off the valued item.

As she circulated through her thoughts, she accidentally seemed to bump into someone that smelled strangely of fish and fell back onto the ground right one her butt. "Ow." She thought out loud.

[White Mimic]

Pierce glanced over towards the sea. Now if only he could just remember where the ship was beached. He wasn't exactly keeping track of where it was docked, but he knew what it looked like, so there was that. It wouldn't be difficult to spot if he kept his eyes towards the sea. More and more people kept looking at him, but those who saw him earlier didn't gawk as much. The most he got from the other fishermen was a suspicious glance as he was carrying the snapper that was being fished today. They probably would have confronted him about stealing their catch, but fishmen were notorious for their strength. Maybe he was intimidating to them?

*bump*

There was a small nudge on his arm and hip, followed by a tiny thud. He looked over towards his arm but didn't see anyone. Oh right, he was taller than most people so... He looked down, seeing a girl dressed and masked in black. "Oh, sorry miss." The net was tied around his chest so that he had free arm movements. Leaning over he picked the girl up by her shoulders and stood her up properly. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He grinned and was about to keep walking when he looked back at the girl. He stared at her for a little bit before talking. "Aren't you a little hot in that?"

[SHADE SMASH]

Upon hearing someone apologize to her, Bella glanced up at the body she came to run into, her sight falling upon a fairly large fish man. Her eyes instantly widen in shock from pure amazement. In all truth, she had never before seen a fishman in all her time traveling the blues. Now, she has heard of them before but the prospect of seeing one face to face practically made her heart flutter! It was like she was coming face to face with a monster from a book! But more like Frankenstein, seen as a monster but really just a softy on the inside.

That idea flared in her mind when he even proved it by helping her get up and all, even though she was staring at him from beginning to end! Bella felt quite idiotic but she wanted to take in every anatomical feature before he left!

"Ah, no problem, entirely my fault!" Bella replied at one point, feeling she should say something since he was being so nice to her. Then, once he seemed to make sure she was fine, he just waltzed away.

Bella stared for awhile longer at the back of the retreating fishman, still unbelieving her luck of running into someone like that. She even forgot about the heat for a bit but when the fishman asked her one last thing, her memory came back. Man, however Zorro did it when stuck in dessert, she would never know. Yet, one thing that was clear, after spending most of her life in air conditioning, that is where she would rather be.

"Un," she replied in agreement, "Is it that obvious?"

[White Mimic]

"Well it's just that it's hot out and you're wearing all these black clothes, I know I'd be dying in your position." He smiled again. Pierce noticed she had been staring him too, even as he talked. "What? Oh, come one. I don't look that much different." He leaned in real close to her, tilting his head sideways. "See, just like a human face. Well, not my eyes. A little too wide for you folks huh?"

He stood up straight once more, adjusting his fish to be more comfortable. He looked the girl up and down, trying to figure out why anyone would wear so much black in this weather. It reminded him of a story he had been told by one of his superiors in the catering company. A hero of some far off land who had many adventures, usually involving saving his wife, people, or beating up his enemies from another country. He hadn't really paid attention to these stories, they were more of Duster's sort of thing. If Duster were here right now, he probably would have remembered the name of the hero on the spot if Pierce had asked him. Anyway, the connection was that the hero had also worn all black to hide his identity from his enemies.

"Hmm. You remind of someone." He leaned over again, this time to get a good look at her clothes. Mostly the material was fascinating to him, it probably didn't breathe well at all. How interesting. "Someone from a story I heard. You know it? Hero, all black clothes, fighting enemies, what not sort of stuff?"