Mission #31: Arrival in Fuschia.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

A ship arrived in Fuschia at mid noon, it was a two mast barge that carried a large number of people. It had sailed a long ways to get to the island of Fuschia.

On board a girl stood arguing with the Captain of the ship, a man with a black beard and a strict looking face.

"No Hanabi! You're not getting off this ship. As far as I'm concerned you're a deck scrub for the rest of your life." He said to her aiming a pistol at her vividly. "You won't ever get back to the Empire, and you're not allowed to leave my ship. You're to keep cleaning the deck as you have been for the past year." He waved the gun at her.

Hanabi growled lowly, "Damn it! You lied to my father, you promised you'd bring me back safely... I'm out of here!" She said to him with a hiss in her voice. With that Hanabi turned her back on the man and ran leaping off of the edge of the huge barge dropping down twenty feet onto the stone dock bellow.

Suddenly Hanabi heard a boom and felt a bullet ricochet off of her skin, she hissed lowly in irritation running off into the town before her.

Hanabi hid for a short time behind some crates waiting for the 'Captain' of her old ship to stop looking for her. He didn't know about her devil fruit and would assume he'd just missed.

It was as she sat behind the crates she saw the door to a Tavern. Not one to sit around she got up.

The tavern doors swung open and in strode a rather muscular brutal looking girl with black hair and and several scratch like scars on her. She was dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans that were ripped off at the legs. Her feet were bare.

She walked in, looked around and found herself a seat at the bar and sat down. "Barkeep, Rum..." She said sliding forward her last forty Beri.

[hellcats]

The day had been a slow one. A simple task like watching over a tavern wasn't glorious or heroic by any definition. If it put Beri in his pocket though then it was out of his hands. His true motives though weren't just about funds, he was here, in this quaint village, looking for any signs of bandit activity. The robbers who marched about so brazenly have never successfully been put down, the cowardice of they're leaders always resulted in the arrest of lackeys and never the kingpins who lived comfortably in the mountains depths.

Recent reports suggested they were trying to once again plant roots into the surrounding towns and docks of Fuschia. If this was allowed to happen, it would lead to more bloodshed and innocent civilians getting caught in the mix. He himself knew well of the inner workings of such bandits and gangs, from this experience he drew the conclusion that a preemptive strike was in order. With that in mind, he had now spent the last month hanging around local taverns in hopes of seeing suspicious activity.

It wasn't so much the clothing or how she spoke that made him take notice, though the absence of shoes was rather odd. It was the way she barged in without a care in the world, marching up to the counter like so and demanding some rum. Made more suspicious by the man who came in only a minute later, looking no better then the woman in question. Ragged clothes and jacket, shaggy hair drooping down around his face with a toothy grin. He would say the man was an eye sore but he honestly wasn't that much different from Chris himself.

The shaggy haired man walked to the bar, slamming down a sizable firearm for all to see. Your typical six-barrel revolver, though it seemed to have a few modifications from what it looked like. "Seaking Vodka wench, and hurry it up," the man bellowed, his voice and weapon leaving no room for argument. Chris could see this was gonna be a problem. You generally don't pull out a weapon without the intention of using.

Chris watched as the man sat impatiently, taping his finger on the counter before looking at the person sitting close by. Noticing Hanabi, the awkward grin from before returned as he sat up and moved closer. Throwing an arm around her shoulder as he casually waved his weapon about. "I see we got ourselves foreigner in these parts. How about I give you the grand tour of this little town and make you feel at home," his words conveyed a veiled threat as he pressed himself against the young woman. Chris was fairly certain the man wasn't going to be getting lucky this day.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

Hanabi smiled at the man who put her arm around her shoulder, "Nice Pistol." Hanabi said, seeming to not at all mind the arm around her shoulder. Hanabi looked across the bar at the now stammering barkeep who was in a worry over the gun leveled at him.

Hanabi looked around, seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with getting Rum she slid her money back to herself and put it away in her shirt, still with the man's arm around her.

The man would notice Hanabi smelled like ash and burnt wood and that her frame was unusually strong for a woman, especially for her low height.

"I see men in this town are very... affectionate, yes?" Hanabi asked the man, "Firstly, can you tell me the name of the Island I'm on? Then perhaps you'd be willing to get me some Rum? Then maybe that tour you are offering?" Hanabi didn't seem the least bit put off by the man so close to her, in fact she didn't even seem to be noticing it at all.

Hanabi suddenly shifted her weight, turning the stool she was sitting on sideways, literally twisting around in the mans grip and leaning backwards against him like he was some sort of chair.

"Barkeep, my rum please?" She said, holding up the money she'd reclaimed.

[hellcats]

It was difficult on himself, not to crack a smile that is. Watching the woman not only be unshaped by the fool's antics but actually return them in kind. It was amusing, but it was also a tad bit arrogant he thought. She probably thought she could handle herself though, she certainly looked like she could.

Downing the rest of his small class, he continued to keep an eye on the two. His sword arm was itching for action after all the waiting, and the woman's teasing was almost as effective on his nerves as the man she leaned against. Though the robber was probably enjoying himself allot more then Chris was right now.

The arm around Hanabi's shoulders began to move south, slinking around her waist. "Your in ol' Fuschia town, peaceful little shit bucket out in the depths of East Blue." His words fell quiet as he snatched a bottle from the hands of a shivering young girl. The barkeep himself staying in the back for his own protection. "Ill get you all booze you can handle little missy," a short laugh echoed the partially empty tavern before he began to gulp down mouth fulls of alcohol.

The door to the tavern creaked open, several unkempt individuals strolling inside. They seemed to be little better off then the man trying to seduce Hanabi, three of them looking like common hill dwellers with swords dangling from their wastes. A fourth shorter man leaned against the open door, scanning the room with a stern expression. Seemed that things were about to get allot uglier.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

"Thanks... It's really been that long of a journey..." she muttered taking the Rum from the man, biting the quark on the top, pulling it out and with a single motion spitting it onto the table.

Hanabi smelled the Rum and got a shiver of excitement, she hadn't drank before. Hanabi took a deep gulp of the rum, still ignoring the man she was leaning against as far as his wandering hands went. The man himself if he had done stuff like this in the past would notice that Hanabi wasn't in the least bit threatened or seduced by his hands moving around. In a way, to her it was like they weren't even present.

Hanabi suddenly took a big gulp of the Rum and let out a small cough from the strength of it. She frowned taking another glug from the bottle, her eyes watering from her first drink of Rum. "Damn..." was all she could say after a second. It was clear to see Hanabi probably hadn't drank before in her life.

As Hanabi sat there she got herself, somehow, spread across three stools. Her butt on one, her back leaning on the man who was hitting on her and her feet kicked up on a third. With her eyes glancing at the price chart on the wall for a bottle of Rum she noted the price of the bottle she'd drank and took out ten Beri and put forward to pay for her Rum.

She took the bottle taking another drink. "Hmm... thought I'd be seeing fog now..." She muttered, not realizing that the Alcohol needed a minute to hit her. Hanabi reached up the bottle to the man she was leaning on. "Thanks."

Hanabi's eyes suddenly turned to the door seeing the Men march in. They would find the image of a totally relaxed, barefoot foreigner leaning on a shabby looking man taking three times the stools she needed to be.

[hellcats]

The scene made him feel the need to slam his face into the table before him. Holding back the urge to do so, he watched as the soon to be drunk women was now blocked from view as the men surrounded her. "Looks dirty," was man mentioned. "Like you haven't had dirtier," came the voice of another as they looked over Hanabi's built frame.

Though the rest paid attention to the aloof girl, the shorter man near the door was keeping his eyed glued to Chris. It was difficult not to look up when somebody was staring at you, especially so when you knew you had to stay inconspicuous. His hopes of staying unnoticed faded once the shorter of the men made his way over to where Chris sat.

Now looking down onto Chris' head, he spoke in a deep voice uncharacteristic of a person his stature. "I think it's best you leave," short and sweet. No taunts, or insults. As humorous as it was, this fellow barely reaching over five feet was probably the brains of this outfit. At least the goons in the tavern anyways.

Slowly sliding out of his chair, Chris stood and turned to face the pint sized menace. He wasn't exactly intimidating, so much as he looked really pissed off. "Don't exactly see why I need to leave," murmured Chris as he looked down at the man. The response consisting of a quick bullet wound to the foot. It was unexpected to be sure, though later on he would think back on it as a learning experience. Never push your luck with angry midgets.

The shot grabbed the attention of the rooms patrons rather quickly. The men hovering around Hanabi looked over with a mix of smiles and enthusiasm. "Lets get this party going," shouted the now intoxicated robber who initially entered. Pulling Hanabi off the stools and into his arms as he waved his revolver around. Heads were going to be rolling now, Chris would make sure of it.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

Hanabi twitched irritatedly as the men who came in started to appraise her. She didn't like being appraised and she was going to say so. "I don't like being appraised." she said to them flatly.

Hanabi suddenly saw the short man, walk over to Chris. Hanabi herself wasn't that tall but that was a man she could have towered over.

"Look, I'm enjoying myself here, I'm getting rum. This gentleman so far has been nothing but nice to me. So shoo. Away with you guys. I'm trying to enjoy my drink before I consider my course." Hanabi's cheeks were flushed, the alcohol now kicking in as her vision got slightly hazy.

Suddenly out of the blue a Gunshot was heard and Hanabi was hoisted onto her feet by the man who had been hitting on her. Him waving the pistol around like he meant business.

"So... I'm to be a hostage then..." she muttered looking at the man. Hanabi had been trained to fight from a young age and she could see a weakness, she was at point blank range to him, she could take and wrench his arm or she could twist easily out of his grip.

Hanabi firmly placed a hand on the man's hip pushing the man's hip to the side slightly weakening his posture, then she knelt down raising her arms like wings to lift off the man's grip around her. It wasn't a painful or hostile break free, it wouldn't have hurt the man in the slightest but it got Hanabi away from the man.

"Looks like you wanna get violent." Hanabi said cheerfully, her eyes seeming to light up, even through the drunken haze. "Why didn't you say so in the first place. I'm always one for violence!"

Hanabi looked at the men with swords and the pistol jockey who obviously was here to more then just make a friend. "My name ish Hanabi Castle Badhand, and I love to fight... hic." Hanabi made a punching motion into the air illuminatingly. The gesture would have been amusing and almost dismissible if it hadn't been for the fact that Hanabi's punch was flawlessly tossed and the large muscles on her arms clearly illustrated it as a dangerous punch.

[hellcats]

Hanabi's act of slipping through the robber's arms only seemed to worsen matters. The men quickly forgot of Chris, all except the one who shot him. Attention now focused on the drunken girl they began to try and grab at her. Several of the more anxious men fighting over who got to have her first. This continued for a minute or two before crashing echo filled the tavern.

A flash of light filled the tavern as a deafening boom struck the ears of those close by. When the vision returned to them, the men groping at Hanabi watched as Chris lifted up a rather large fire arm, casually leaning it against his shoulder. The bulky frame of Lorelei went almost unnoticed when the men realized what had happened. A spear lay plunged deep into the ceiling above. The short man who had injured Chris only a moment ago now hung from that ceiling, pinned through the lower jaw and out the crown of his head by the projectile.

"Who wants to join him first," he asked casually, ignoring the body that fell from above as it slid off the spear and collapsed to the ground. The lifeless corpse at his feet was stepped over as Chris took out a small derringer and aimed it at the men before him. The drunken one was the first to drop, laughing absentmindedly as he stepped forward with his revolver in hand. Two loud shots rung out as Chris emptied two large bullets into the inebriated fool's chest. His gun might have been a derringer, but at the size of a small pistol, it still packed half the power of a .49 Magnum. Which quickly became apparent as the men took up arms to defend themselves. Chris would be lying to say he wasn't looking forward to this, not that denial wasnt a specialty of his anyhow.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

"YA DAMN FOOL!" Hanabi shouted at Chris after this had happened, "Don't shteal my fights! I'm the one they came to for trouble! Me! You just lie there and deal with your foot... before..." as she said this, a shield plate covered over Hanabi's knuckles out of sight of everyone in the room a smirk coming to Hanabi's face. "Before I get nasty."

Suddenly Hanabi shot forward slamming her fist into one of the men's sides with a powerful looking punch. The punch alone would have been enough to send the man wheeling back, but the metal covering Hanabi's knuckles at the moment of impact let off a burst of force identical in power to the hit Hanabi delivered into the man effectively doubling the power of the punch.

the powerful punch would have sent the man flying hard and probably broke all the ribs in his side as well as put him through the Tavern Wall.

Hanabi was walking straight towards the men with swords holding up her hand which now had a metal shield on it. An observant person would notice it was now slightly larger then when it was first seen.

[hellcats]

Hanabi's punch had sent one of the miscreants into table on the other side of the tavern, shattering both the furniture and a few ribs. Two more shots followed as one of the men turned to confront the intoxicated women and was gunned down from behind. Body hitting the floor, it quickly became apparent that with four men out of commission, things weren't good for the simple bandits.

As Chris placed his derringer back in the vest pocket it came from he watched the frightened men make for the door. His trigger finger twitched, fighting back the urge to kill them before they could leave. He needed them alive for now, killing them all in a fit of rage wouldn't lead him to the hideout they came from.

Leaning down he pulled out the Sword Catcher in his vest and began the extremely painful process of digging a bullet out of his foot. The round had made its way fairly deep, but thankfully there weren't many muscles or tendons to worry about, making it simply a matter of pain. With the small slug too deep to pull out with his knife, he wrapped his foot in a makeshift bandage out of a torn table cloth and doused it in hard alcohol. Primitive and stupid yes, but there wasn't time to be wasted.

He stood and walked over to Hanabi, trying not to let his foot injury get the best of him. "I don't care who you are but you seem like you can handle yourself. Help me deal with these idiots and I'll throw a few Beri your way courtesy of the Marines." This wasn't something Chris enjoyed doing at such a moment, but his injured foot left him in need of assistance. Which this tipsy young girl could possibly provide.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

Hanabi looked like she was about to outright refuse the offer for a moment but her hand went to her chin as she looked at the overly violent man. Her was impulsive, a rude kill stealer. He stole her first moment of glory in two years with a crudely made pistol and she kind of wanted to kick his ass.

Her father had told her before to watch out for the marines. But she wasn't sure she wanted to follow this Captain. "Give me a second to think about it." Hanabi said walking over to the bar, "I consider myself a bit of a doctor, and what you need now is some pain killers." Hanabi said grabbing some rum from the bar, bringing it to Chris.

Hanabi was drunk, but surprisingly enough she seemed to be one of the few people who didn't change much in personalities when inebriated.

She reached over handing the rum to the man with the hole in his foot. Her eyes gazing over his foot. Hanabi reached her hand out moving to brush away his sword breaker. "I'm not medically trained, but even I know a blade of that width will just drive the bullet deeper in!" She snapped grabbing a small eating knife from one of the tables that hadn't been used.

Hanabi would then move to start extracting the bullet from the man's foot herself. Moving to slide in the blade and move the thin blade in a round motion with the back to try to lift the bullet out of the foot. If she wasn't interrupted she'd remove the bullet in thirty seconds. It would hurt like hell, but in Chris' favor, he was holding a bottle of rather strong rum.

[hellcats]

Not keen on having a stranger play operation on his foot with a kitchen utensil, he tried to resist for a moment before deciding to simply down the rum and take it like a man. The pain was there for sure, intense and burning. He could feel his shoot becoming damp from the blood that leaked as the knife sunk in, but the previous dousing in alcohol and the current mouth full he swallowed seen began to kick in. Whoever said drinking was bad for you clearly didn't have a bullet in them with a barbarian doctor going at it.

Once the pain had settled down and the rum had kicked in, Chris found it difficult to stand for a moment. A fresh bandage was dressed to keep out infection, courtesy of the barkeep who was happy just to see his shop still standing. Though he hated the idea it seemed he would have to wait out the pain for a while. His foot was horribly tender, leading to sharp pains up and down his leg from any attempts to walk. Sure the bullet was gone and there was less chance of it getting worse, but now his targets were long gone. Essentially making the entire ordeal fruitless.

He looked over the bare foot woman who had helped repair his injured foot. She didn't exactly look like a bandit now that he got to know her a bit. First impressions were sometimes prejudicial he supposed. "So what's your name anyways? Don't need to be calling you 'she' or 'it' the whole time we're together."

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

Hanabi while Chris got his foot bandaged went to rifle the pockets of the guys they'd killed. She was pulling out wallets, coin purses and what not to gather herself some Beri. "Hmm, I came into the bar with forty Beri, now that makes sixty Beri!" She looked, "YOSH! Ten percent to the cost needed for a new boat." She said putting a hundred Beri she'd shamelessly robbed off of the dead into her shirt, some of the Beri still covered in blood.

Hanabi herself wasn't greedy when it came to money, but she did understand that she needed at least enough to buy herself a rowboat or 'something'. If there were no ships she'd need to row her way to the next place. That said she was really good at rowing.

Hanabi turned to Chris when he asked her for a name and she inhaled the air, almost seeming to create a moment of silence. "I hale from the Crescent Moon Empire, trained for sixteen years of my sixteen year life to fight I am she who will one day be hailed as the Iron Immortal. I am..." She said turning pointing her thumb at her face with a feral grin that made her teeth look pointed. "Hanabi... ...Castle..." she growled out, picking up the guy lucky enough to only have his ribs broken by her by the neck, "...Badhand!" She said spinning the man around throwing him into the ground causing a groan of pain to be heard from the man.

Hanabi, having finished her introduction immediately seemed to return to normal, "Well, I'll need some money. But never shoot anyone I'm fighting again. It's bad manners to take a girl's toys." She gestured to the guy in pain. "I sail on the sea, worken my ass off as a deck scrub for the longest time, I haven't kicked ass in months. And you go ahead and break my toys for me. That's light lighting another persons firework stash or eating another man's meal! You don't do that!" She said irritatedly lecturing Chris on why it was bad to steal her fights. "You had the midget! The rest were mine!" Funny thing was, she wasn't much taller then the midget.

[hellcats]

Slightly put off by her attitude, he merely shrugged and propped his feet upon the table. "Show me you can handle yourself in the future and Ill be happy to let you go wild without my help," lighting a cigarette as he tried to relax. "Saves me bullets and headaches not having to worry about others."

The fumes of his cigarette leaked out of his nose in an odd fashion as he leaned back. He watched the maid and barkeep as they went about cleaning up the store. "Sorry about the mess, just let the local Marine base know it was my doing. I'm sure they will throw some Beri your way to compensate," he wasn't completely sure if the Marines would actually bother. He felt it more likely he would get his pay if the barkeep believed he had some form of insurance. Its not that it was a lie anyways, just an impractical guess.

"So Badhand," he spoke with a grunt as he attempted to flex the toes of his injured foot. "You gonna help me track down these assholes or not? You missed your chance to break some heads so I'm sure your up for it." Playing to a persons violent side was easy enough, Chris knew well the temptations of blood lust when rage and alcohol meet. Though Hanabi seemed stuck in a constant state of 'Pissed'. Something he would have to try and tone down if they planned to work together.

[Hanabi C. Badhand]

Hanabi looked at him and shrugged, at his remark about her handling of herself, "I'm not the one who got shot in the foot by an angry midget." she retorted like an angry midget.

"I'll help you out. But I've never done an investigation before. If you hire me, you're hiring a combatant, not a private eye." she said to him honestly, not selling herself short but at the same time making it clear that her only skill actually was fighting.

She looked at Chris and smiled at the Barkeep sweetly and innocently, "Well, the guy with the broken ribs seems to be coming too..." She grabbed the guy whom she'd practically mangled off the floor by the biceps lifting him off of the ground slamming him into the wall, his feet lifted several inches off of the ground.

"HEY, BROKEN RIB GUY!!! SPILL YOUR GUTS AND TELL US ALL YOU KNOW, BEFORE I SPILL YOUR GUTS FOR YOU!!!" She roared in the mans face when his eyes regained focus. She seemed very used to brutalizing people.

The man would find that Hanabi meant every word she said, she was already examining his gut, his ribs would be on fire. "Ask away..." Hanabi said to Chris.