Mission 6: If three's a crowd...(You know who)

[Cirrus]

The gnarled branches of the trees in the various groves of Saobody Archipelago gave the island the appearance of one giant tree. In actuality, it could be considered that, as the innumerable branches of the mangrove trees provided natural borders of the different levels. People lived around this "tree", and thrived upon its resources. Not to say that all is well within the island. It is a haven for World Nobles, who basically rule the entire place...

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Alek Sorenson was in the bar scene. Outside was a pleasant day, but he neglected the opportunity to sit al fresco. He was bored, waiting for something to happen.

Fortunately, happen it did.

A World Noble was abusing his rights, slaughtering citizens outside where he felt like, taking new wives as well, ordering people to bow to him. Someone decided not to bow, as his wife had been taken by the noble.
"Bow down you fool!" hushed someone next to him.
"No, that man took my wife, and I won't stop until I get her back."
The Noble looked in disdain at the man, and aimed his gun at him.
"Bow down, or else." he said in a cold voice.
A bold member of the crowd broke ranks, and charged the disobedient man.
"Why don't you save us some trouble!?" he said. He punched the man in the face, giving him a bloody nose.
A man next to him attacked the insitgator of the violence, saying that the man had a point, and soon a fullblown fist fight between both sides of the argument formed.

In amongst the chaos, the World Noble escaped, cackling wildly at the panic he had caused. Alek watched with intrigue.
"That man didn't need to bow down, his wife was taken. But on the other hand, he shouldn't have ran the risk of a buster call falling on the island." reasoned Alek. "It looks like I'm on both sides."

Alek walked through the fight, almost undisturbed. Any that did disturbed him faced the wrath of
"Ruku: Kureta Keisei."

Alek used Wiatr to appear on the rooftops. He was going to watch the fight, and "remove" any that tried to stop the fighting. The citizens had to obey the world noble, and it was obvious he had wanted them to fight all along.

[outsanity]

'What a mess...'

He thought to himself as he saw the fight break out between a group of men, all gathered around one of the Nobles. It was unfortunate to see the result of fear in these peoples; courage and bravery combatting those who all thought they were, in their own way, protecting what they loved, and who would blame them, when the most powerful of Marines were basically at the beck and call of just one man. It was an interesting dynamic that justice alone would prompt those who created the laws to be above them and those of increasingly larger strength were still bound by code. It was this kind of thinking that prompted pirating in the first place... the original idea of freedom that everyone clung to so ambitiously.

As for himself? He had a few ambitions on his own. Getting this far was a bother, and the people that he had came with ended up getting slaughtered themselves. He was the last of the Gang members that came here on a scouting mission, after all, this is one of the main enterances into the fishman island and the new world. Many expensive men, and their even more expensive dreams passed through here, and many of them ended. He himself planned on traveling to the new world, however he wanted to see what the competition was like. If so many Rookies from the Blues sprung up and came to a head at this point, then he would no doubt have a sneak peak at what the future held just by being here...

With that said, and with the Nobles also having their position here, AND a military base on the groves, he could only imagine the amount of trouble that came up in here. In fact one could tell by the condition of many of the buildings just how new they were, which could only insist that they were often destroyed by some cause or another, and here he was, watching this process play out before his very eyes. Over his back was a larger parcel, slung precariously, that carried the majority of his things. With the scene having caught his attention, he walked though an ally to get a better look. One of the buildings facing the brawl had a porch with chairs on it, and he hopped up to have a seat and watch for now.

Setting his things down he questioned his next move. He wasn't daft enough to confront a Noble, but stepping in on the fight may be enough to bring attention to himself, and as of yet, he hadn't seen anyone of particular importance or power that he couldn't take. But he was in no rush to judgement, and instead felt out the situation, looking about with a sort of paranoid anxiousness like an actor secretly looking out over his audiance from the corner of the curtain.

[Cirrus]

"Keh." The fight was quickly losing its ferocity and vigour. Many had fallen, unconcious, some were already tired, some had just left. One however, stood out like a sore thumb. He was not fighting, rather, only observing. Word had gotten round and a marine platoon was already on its way, but Alek Sorenson was in no rush to vacate the area.
"What do you do?" he murmured to himself.

Alek jumped from his high ground and landed amist the chaos. He was instantly swarmed, but he pushed them all off. He began to run. Expertly disabling many of the combatants that tried to stop him, Alek called out to the observing stranger.
"Who are you? Why do you not fight?" he called.

Ducking a punch and blasting the man away with the bazooka in his arm, Alek regained composure and stood straight up. He stared the man down, silently going through 671 plans of action.
"Friendly or hostile?" he said.


A bugle played behind him, and the simultaneous marching of innumerable feet echoed. The marines were not far behind. The bugle played again, and the Saobody Archipelago armed forces appeared at the crest of a hill(which was really a compacted mass of tree branches).
"TO ARMS!" came the cry. "ATTACK!"
The marines ran down the hill with impressive speed, and although Alek had calculated a plan to deal with it, the were upon him before he could enact it. Leading them was the familiar face of a World Noble. The instigator of the chaos was the one that was going to kill them all. He had let the fight commence so that he had a case to present to the marines. Now, it looked like Alek had played a major role, with many bodies around him. Like a scolded child Alek sheepishly looked up. His eyes were an intense blue, filled with loathing for the pompous man before him.
"Your calvary?" he began. "The calvary I assume you called to needlessly punish these good people? Well then...that is war against the king's people, and that means you are an enemy of mine."

With that, "Checkmate King" Alek Sorenson shot down 15 marines in quick succesion, taking careful aim to avoid killing the Noble in front of him.

The stunned marines scrambled into action, seconds too late. Alek pulled Zelic from its scabbard, and used the harpoon attachment to impale the first marine that came close.
"Anyone else?" he said coldly.

[outsanity]

It seemed as though this little street brawl wasn't going to yield anything in the way of production in his view. Like a scavenger; a vulture, he would watch and wait to clean up whatever was left to take with him, however it was a bit obvious that the majority of people fighting were enraged civilians simply exerting their own frustrations out on each other. It was interesting to see how much negative emotions came along with the idea of the corrupting World Noble, who himself was above the Justice that the marines so wildly promoted. He had almost decided to leave and be on his way to begin his own personal journey, when the glint of something caught his eye. Not because it was particularly interesting, but rather because it seemed to come his way.

A person, no... a cyborg had noticed him and shouted at him. He couldn't necessarily hear him only because the brawl itself muffled all sound into a number of yells, both in rage and in anguish. Hew knew the man was a cyborg when he noticed the many weapons, starting with the bazooka in his arm, that he had wielded straight from his body. It hadn't even crossed his mind that this could be the result of a devil fruit ability, as his first hypothesis was most likely the most correct. But why did he point Jazz out of a crowd of people fighting? He leaned forward to respond with a tentative yell back to see what he had wanted, however before he could say anything substantial, the marines scurried onto the scene.

What a quick response from them, considering the marine base wasn't exactly close. No doubt they too were in a tizzy about the World Noble; some of them probably pumped up to protect them, and others wanting to avoid the summoning of an Admiral and many other marines to the island in some broad scale event just because one of the World Nobles happens to over react. It would quickly have an impact on those bellow the hill, and if the street fight wasn't already dying down it would most likely result in the death of many basically innocent peoples. Even the person that had called him out turned his attention toward the mass of white coats charging down the hill. It was only then, with the World Noble scoffing in his laughter that he had a great idea... or at least what he considered to be a great idea.

Here, the world noble, was in fact one of the least powerful things in this area; he was practically a big teasing target of a man. And laying just a finger on him was enough to provoke and distract the attention of the marines forces and rumor has it, an Admiral as well? Certainly being the cause of such an inconvenience for the marines would be enough to catch their attention; or at least have his name known, and the world noble would want that he be found and arrested. Pirates only take other pirates seriously if they have a bounty on their head, so he would be killing multiple birds with one stone. It was really a curious question as to what would happen if he had... killed a World Noble? But no, that wouldn't accomplish anything here. Jazz decided to provoke the situation, and as the marines made contact with the brawl, breaking it up he casually brought himself form the porch, leaving his things on the wooden rail, and walked toward the scuffle.

"The calvary I assume you called to needlessly punish these good people? Well then...that is war against the king's people, and that means you are an enemy of mine."

He could hear; words spoken from the man that had pointed him out earlier. He was close enough to the action that he too had caught some attention, but honestly looked none-threatening as he walked directly toward the World Nobles; especially with this individual having gunned down many marines and also stabbed a marine right in front of him. The Noble look to him as he drew closer. Little did anyone but a few baffled marines knew, he had actually taken a few bullet shot that had hit his Logia clay body and now rested within the mass of clay that made up his form. The Noble was naive to his appearance, looking at him with an uppity smirk, "Who do you think you are getting this close to me? Do you know who I am? Keep you distance trash and if you want to live you will bow down to me, a Celestial Dragon no doubt!"

A few marines stopped fighting to look upon the scene. They were curious as to what would happen next, then all of a sudden... he would ball his fist, wind up, and deliver a driven punch straight to the gut of the World Noble with enough force to lift him into the air about above him. The Marines faces looked on in horror as they couldn't believe him to be so bold. They scrambled to catch the falling 'noble' as gravity eventually brought him back down to earth while many others looked to arm themselves to defend the Noble from further attack, he spoke to anyone with in ear shot.

"THE NAME IS JAZZ BOVICE! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE SO SHUT UP ALREADY!"

[Cirrus]

"Who do you think you are getting this close to me? Do you know who I am? Keep you distance trash and if you want to live you will bow down to me, a Celestial Dragon no doubt!"

Alek was going to move to restrain the stranger, he didn't want the wrath of a marine admiral raining down upon him, it's terrible for a king to get wrapped up in such dubious affairs.

A few marines stopped fighting to look upon the scene. They were curious as to what would happen next, then all of a sudden... he would ball his fist, wind up, and deliver a driven punch straight to the gut of the World Noble with enough force to lift him into the air about above him. The Marines faces looked on in horror as they couldn't believe him to be so bold. They scrambled to catch the falling 'noble' as gravity eventually brought him back down to earth while many others looked to arm themselves to defend the Noble from further attack, he spoke to anyone with in ear shot.

"THE NAME IS JAZZ BOVICE! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE SO SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Alek sighed. He had been too slow, and his reputation would probably be indelibly tarnished.
"Well, I'd better not be half-hearted about it." he said to himself. "Mr. Bovice, I think it would be in your best interests if you ran from this place." informed Alek.
"Bishoppu: Kuikko Undo."

Calmly placing a leg out in front of himself, Alek Sorenson activated Wiatr. He blew the marines far into the other groves, scattering the assembled forces as well as the downed Noble. This would make their lives easier, as the different factions would have to radio each other before radioing base; there was no point in around 9 calls to base for the same problem.
"That has bought us time. We can pick them off in the groves before they have a chance to radio base. Did you see if any of them had a Golden Den Den Mushi? No doubt an admiral is already on his way." remembering his manners, Alek introduced himself.
"My name is "Checkmate King" Alek Sorenson. It would probably serve you well to stick by me. In which direction do you want to head first? There are many marines to take out."

[outsanity]

"Mr. Bovice, I think it would be in your best interests if you ran from this place."

He heard as an almost nonchalant tone from the man who had previously called him out. As he turned, the man used an attack of his own, though he only partially caught the name as he announced it. He watched as the marines where scattered; the once conglomerate group now thin spread.

"That has bought us time. We can pick them off in the groves before they have a chance to radio base. Did you see if any of them had a Golden Den Den Mushi? No doubt an admiral is already on his way. My name is "Checkmate King" Alek Sorenson. It would probably serve you well to stick by me. In which direction do you want to head first? There are many marines to take out."

Checkmate King? The guy that called himself by name must himself be a pirate if that were the case. No one in their right mind would go around referring to themselves by nickname, let alone introduce themselves by both names. This fellow seemed a bit eccentric in his own right; dressed in the most regal of clothing only trumped by the actual world normal he had just assaulted. He himself wasn't afraid of an Admiral. He had never seen one, or heard anything spectacular about them, and if he youth and naive nature was ever present, it was now, "Hey I dont mean to be rude guy, but I don't think we need to kill a bunch of marines, I just wanted to give this guy what was coming to him."

"Besides, I just hit em now, there is no way that an Admiral would already be in route. How long does it take them to get from the Red line here? At least 30minutes."

He said, figuring in his head as he watched some of the dazed Marines come to their senses slowly. Some of which had realized the situation that had occurred and stammered in horror that a World Noble had been assaulted. Jazz, however, didn't get it. He really didn't think it was a big deal. "How bad can it be anyway?" He said, turning from the situation. "Look, you can handle em' alright? I got places to be." His careless nature only further showed how naive he was; that the gravity of the situation was beyond him. However in his head, the gears were turning... The Admiral would arrive on a Battle Ship, one of the Marines most powerful of boats. He couldn't himself command an entire ship like that but what if he were to steal one!? With something like that he could get through the Grandline and Calm belt with ease. In his mind, he imagined himself with a giant captain's hat, pointing off into the distance and laughing with merriment as he sailed upon his own personal Battle Ship. But HOW!?

He looked back to the scene and grinned, "Sorry, but you are own your own Check-mate guy!" As he said, he ran off into an ally, out of site from everyone... just in time for many marines to gather themselves and begin aiming at Alek down the barrel of their guns.

"Clay Clay... Sculpture!" He said from within the Ally, though no one would have heard him there. His Logia Clay body was moldable and thus he could disguise himself as anyone he wanted to! Even a marine. Having just seen so man his entire body was changed to that of an average marine, with the exception of his face; however everything from his clothing, to a useless clay rifle was spot on. No one would ever notice him. All he would have to do is parade around as a marine until the Battle ship arrived and then sneak on board. It would be easy right!?... Right?

As he assumed that Alek would be fighting just around the corner, he himself ran in the opposite direction to find the marines themselves. A small group were settled and contacting the marine HQ as he approached! Putting his best acting skills to the test he spoke.

"Wha-What happened!"

"Some punk just upper cut a World Noble... Captain is forced to call in the Admiral seeing as though he is out cold and unable to give the orders himself." A random marine said with forced whisper and a shiver in his voice as the Captain shouted details at the Den Den Mushi as though his very life depended on it. Jazz pretended to be shocked, though inside himself he was giggling like a school girl. It worked like a charm so far! The "Check Mate King" had ended up doing him a great favor by spreading them all out and also taking the heat for him. Ohh well, all is fair when it comes to Pirates, and with an Admiral deployed and his precious Battle ship on the way, needless to say this was the fun break that Jazz was looking for.

[Cirrus]

"Hey I dont mean to be rude guy, but I don't think we need to kill a bunch of marines, I just wanted to give this guy what was coming to him."

"Besides, I just hit em now, there is no way that an Admiral would already be in route. How long does it take them to get from the Red line here? At least 30minutes."

Alek sighed. It was obvious Jazz was more of a do now think later character.
"Well, the marine Admirals are always at hand to rush to a Noble's assist on a whim, they'll probably be here in 10 minutes. Luckily for us, it shouldn't be a Buster Call because the marine presence here is large, meaning we don't have to worry about escaping the island until much la-" Alek stopped talking as Jazz cut him off.

"How bad can it be anyway?" He said, turning from the situation. "Look, you can handle em' alright? I got places to be."

Alek was at a loss. On the one hand, he could make it alive out of a mass of marines, but an Admiral was supposedly on an entirely different league.
"Well..."
"Sorry, but you are own your own Check-mate guy!"
Alek sweatdropped. This hadn't gone well for him at all. Moreover, some back-up had already arrived, and were aiming their barrels at him. He was truly on his own.
"Fu**."

Alek rarely cursed, but he assumed he could be forgiven in this instance. If he made one sudden move, he would probably die. There was only one thing for it.

Act.

"Hello! Do you know what time it is!? The beast that assualted me has already gotten away! Find him and kill him or I'll get the admirals on you!" he said granduously. The marines looked bemused, not really sure of the situation.
" Why, gawping at a World Noble!? I'm a Celstial Dragon! How dare you look at me that way! Go find that pirate before I lose my temper!" he fumed in fake anger. He pointed in the direction Jazz had run off in. The marines seemed to wake from a trance and scrambled to be the first to find him. Unbeknownst to Alek, they would never find Jazz as he had used his Logia powers.

Using the sudden break in oppression, Alek used Wiatr to appear on the rooftops again.
"It's safer here." he murmured. His eyes darted out to sea, looking to see if the call had already been made.
"Some punk just upper cut a World Noble... Captain is forced to call in the Admiral seeing as though he is out cold and unable to give the orders himself."

Alek's sensitive ears picked up the noise from below him and to the right.
"So the call hasn't been made yet." said Alek. "I still have time."

[outsanity]

"Buddup buddup buddup, buddup buddup buddup, Cetch-ep"

The call was being made as Jazz had a chance to survey the situation for what it was. To his shock and surprise, the Celestial Dragon was awake and conscious. He thought he had hit the commoner hard enough to send em for a loop, but the fact that he was up and adam would only mean that the next step in the process would move faster. With that said, the other guy seemed to have taken his own advice and fled to safety, probably smart if he didn't have a good way of hiding in plane site like he did. He had a feeling that he would run into Alek again sometime soon, though it was just a hunch. He was surprised that, with the man having taken out a bunch of marines by his own efforts, a few of their comrades would pursuit, though little to Jazz's knowledge, the man had successfully distracted the marines by making himself the priority. Looking again at the celestial dragon, he could tell that the Captains of the marines seemed no longer in charge, as the rage Noble had taken over and commanded the 'lesser marines' to find him at any cost. "GOOD LUCK!" Jazz thought to himself as he snickered silently to himself.

But wait, maybe he should think this though? No one had really payed attention to the details of what he had looked like, after all, he stuck out like a sore thumb before his current disguise. He even changed the tone of his skin and his hair via the clay sculpture technique. Yes, it was a perfect disguise, but was there anything short of Devil Fruit ability that could spot him? He thought back to rumors on the island of the "Pacafista" unit, that had a way in which it could scan out pirates and their bounty by their appearance, but would it be bale to see through a physical disguise? (It is able to see through the nose and mustache disguise Luffy used, thats for sure). And even then, would they deploy a number of Pacifista along with the Admiral just for a punch? As he begin to actually think about it, he began to doubt himself and get anxious that perhaps something could go wrong... It was only then that the Den Den Mushi was hung up, and the Captain before them stated:

"I JUST GOT OFF WITH CENTRAL! THE ADMIRAL IS ON HIS WAY!"

The Admiral? Were there no specifics as to which one? It would really help if he knew, though he had no advantage against any one of the Admirals it would be nice to see exactly what threat he was up against... but in all honesty he wouldn't be going against anyone. The Admiral would get here, look around with all the other marines, find nothing but a bunch of no name pirates and minimal bounty and then leave; the Noble would be pissed, and the marines would put out the name of "Black Sash" Jazz as a threat worthy millions! Not a bad way to start out. His original ambition of stealing a ship was, admittedly, a bit over zealous, so he took that plan in placed it in his back pocket for later.

The Captain gave orders and he pretended to follow along.

"The Marine base is sending re-enforcements! For all of our sake, find the man before the Admiral gets here! Turn the town upside down if you have to, just arrest him immediately!"

"HAI!" And everyone conscious marched off in different directions, including himself would would enjoy the next few minutes pretending to look for himself.

[Cirrus]

(OOC: REALLY sorry for long wait! I managed to organise an admiral into joining this thread. Another round before he joins or?)

"I JUST GOT OFF WITH CENTRAL! THE ADMIRAL IS ON HIS WAY!"

"Or maybe not." sighed Alek. He was deep in the mangroves, looking for a boat or some method of transport to help him escape. The Admiral would come in, destroy everything until he was found, and then if he got caught, kill him. They wouldn't go so far as to completely annihilate Saobody, as a major marine base was there. Then again, there was that one Admiral...Akaniu his name was, who was renowned for destroying all the evacuee ships just so no scholars could hide there. If he was so unlucky as to have that admiral sent over, then his chances of escape were severely limited.

He stopped running, and came back into view. To onlookers, it would have appeared as if he had just appeared there. Walking, he happened upon the worst sight he could have seen. On the horizon was a huge fleet of ships. Each one armed to the teeth, and one figure was visible from even this distance. He couldn't tell exactly who it was yet, but he knew that whoever it was had seen him. At times like these, he really hated his "royal status".