Mission 38: Desert Icing

[phoenixflame]

Sand is the only thing that Dan could see. Everywhere he looked, he saw sand. He only hoped to travel the right way to the main town in the island of Alabasta. But he saw it. And another one. And yet another one. There were three exact replicas of of the town to which he was heading. He took some water out and drank it, and the images merged into one town. He ran forward, as fast as he could, and fell on the ground. He slowly moved through the town.

Dan wasn't so much of a man easy to notice. He bandaged his cyborg body-parts so he won't stand out too much.

Then, a voice came through the town, ''King Nefertari Cobra and his daughter, Princess Nefertari Vivi are searching for men who are willing to help in securing the removing of icebergs in the Drum Island and bringing them here. Good reward for those who help.''

Dan noticed the Den Den Mushi on the pole with many speakers around him. He knew that this occasion might not occur again, and thus he aimed to go the castle as fast as possible.

Already there he saw a man, looking nearly like a bird. Devil Fruit user? thought Dan, but dared not to ask.

''Are you here to go to Drum Island and transport the icebergs?'' asked the man.

Dan noticed this man holding a paper with very little writing on it, ''Yes, yes I am actually.'' said Dan.

''I warn you. You seem like a stranger, thus strange to you might be those waters. Many pirates might try to steal the icebergs and hold them for ransom. If you are still willing, then proceed. Tell me your name, and we will depart tomorrow.'' said the bird-like man, and pointed towards the distant docks.

''Pirates and storms are nothing to me. I am... a man of very little fear, and even less common sense. Don't worry, I can take care of myself. And the name is Dan... don't forget it.'' said Dan, grinning, and moved towards the docks.

[Tsin]

If the ever active Dan had arrived at the castle slightly earlier, perhaps using the time he could have saved not being distracted by mirages in the endless sands, he would have happened upon another man. Jun, his name was, and certainly not a local name by any means so that young man was probably accosted with the same warning that Dan faced, and just like the Mr. Richards before him, Jun agreed to the journey anyways. It was unlikely though, that his reasons and the reasons of the one who proceeded him were the same; The writer, as he always was, was most interested in the story involved in the assigned task. The danger of the high seas and heroic clashes against pirate crews as working men and women struggle to bring back lifegiving water to their homeland...

... Plus, getting off this baking rock on somebody else's dollar would absolutely be a plus, Jun reflected as he 'enjoyed', to use the term loosely, a seat on a wooden crate in the shade at the Alabasta docks. A native of North Blue and much colder climates, to say that the writer wasn't enjoying his time among the sweltering sands would be... not an entire lie, but a pretty solid statement all the same. At least he was enjoying the robes of the desert kingdom, somewhat reminiscent of the heavy robes of his homeland. They looked much stranger when accompanied by the scribe's azure winter scarf and hiking boots though, but the young man would rather die than be without them.

In a rare moment however, Jun had ruled the weather as being too hot to even do something as simple as write, so he just tried to conserve his energy atop that crate, watching the dockhands go about their business and enjoying the sea breeze, glaive swaying at his back...

"... I never thought a person could ever be this thirsty. Ever."

Once again, 'enjoying' being a loose term.

[versin]

Being sent on a mission by the world government, Versin walked the sand filled nation of Alabasta. The mission Versin was on, was to search for pirates that hid from the world government by going to Alabasta. Versin disguised himself as a normal civilian. As he walked through the streets Versin heard the Den Den Mushi saying something about a job securing the removal of icebergs in the Drum Island and bringing them to Alabasta. Versin had heard about job like this before and many times pirates try to steal the icebergs and hold them for ransom, even worse pirates sometimes even infiltrate the group whose job it is to secure the removal of icebergs in the Drum Island and bringing them to Alabasta.

So Versin decided to join the group to make sure that the icebergs from Drum Island would get to Alabasta safely. He then ran to the castle there Versin saw a bird man with a peace of paper. “I, Versin Ninstruck would like to join the group.” Versin said with a serous look, the bird man then gave Versin a serous look back. “Are you sure about that this job could get dangerous.” Versin then nodded his head to say yes.

The bird man then showed Versin the room where the other people who signed up for the job waited until the ship they were going to use was ready. While they were waiting Versin looked around the room for anyone who could have been a criminal. There was one person covered in bandages, so Versin went to him. “Oh, you look hurt. I have medical training maybe I can help.” Versin was lying so he could look under the bandages to see if he was really hurt or just using the bandages to hide weapons.

[phoenixflame]

Dan looked around him. Inside the waiting lobby, he sat on the opposite side of the room to the man who was here before him. another man entered and with a sounding medical experience he asked Dan about his bandages.

''It's... fine, don't worry about it.'' said Dan with a wide grin. His secret was not to be discovered yet. He decided to take a nap, since he walked in the desert for so long. He closed his eyes and soon dozed off.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He was awakened by the fact that he fell on the ground. He got up and scratched his head. He could not see his other co-workers here. He went outside, where the sun shined brightly, but he still couldn't see the people.

His ears twitched as he heard a lot of shouting. He looked to his left. There was a huge crowd of people shouting, and a ship leaving the docks.

Wait, what? A ship? thought Dan. then he realised. They were going on the mission.

Dan snapped back into reality. He turned on the tough ground, and his bandages snapped off. As he jumped onto a rooftop his arm bandages also snapped. Now his cyborg arms and legs were in full shine.

He ran as fast as he could towards the ship. Then he jumped off the final roof. As he was in the air, he aimed an accurate kick towards the ship's mast, at the same time his chain leg locked off. It flew towards the ship and flew around the mast. Then Dan pulled himself to the ship.

He jumped off and fell onto the deck. As the people around him moved back, he got up, ''Hey! Sorry I'm late.'' he said, grinning.

[Tsin]

The wind today and on the ship surpassed the meager breezes available on the dock in every imaginable way, shape and form. The oppressive heat that once weighed so heavily upon Jun that he could hardly drag a pencil across paper was almost completely gone from his mind now as he leaned against the railing of the ocean faring vessel allowed the air to flow by him. It was, in fact, cool enough on this day for the writer to switch back into the black jeans and white T-shirt he normally enjoyed; too bad the jacket would probably have to wait until later.

He still refrained from any actual writing though... Nothing too exciting seemed to be happening anyways. Just deckhands doing whatever deckhands did as the boat set off with their riggings and sails and what not.

That is... Until a rather unremarkable man made a stunning flying leap from a nearby rooftop and almost appeared to shed his outer skin to reveal gleaming appendages underneath, at least one of which he sent lancing through the air to anchor onto the ship and pull him in. All in all, a stunning entrance that shattered the hohum of a standard sendoff.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late."

Jun watched Dan's unorthodoxed boarding procedure from his spot on the deck and applauded as he landed, an fairly impressed expression on his face. "Very nicely done, sir. I can already tell that working alongside you will turn out more than a few surprises."

[versin]

As the group began their voyage to Drum Island, Versin realized that the man with the bandages was not on the ship. Versin thought that maybe he scared the man off when he asked about the man’s bandages. The ship was departing from the Alabasta dock when all of a sudden the man who had bandages covering his body earlier used his cyborg limbs to jump from a building’s rooftop and onto the ship. It was now clear why the man wore bandages all over his body, but Versin still had to keep his eye on the man because cyborg have a lot of hidden weapons inside of their mechanical bodies. The ship continued its course to Drum Island, then the ship finally crossed the Alabasta border and into the Drum Island border.

Now that they were in the Drum Island border people on the ship started to put on warmer clothing. The chew of the ship then started to look for any good glaciers, when they saw a glacier to their liking they docked the ship by the side of the glacier and then the people on the ship got out. They then climbed the glacier and one of the chew members started to shout. “Ok we are now going to cut the glacier but to do that we need two groups, the first group’s job is to cut the glacier and the other group’s job is to stand guard while the other group cuts the glacier. Now if any of you has battle experience then you should be in the second group.”

[phoenixflame]

As the ship approached the glacier, an order was put that there shall be 2 groups; one cutting and one guarding. Although the majority of the men on the ship moved to cutting, Dan walked over to the guarding team, which didn't contain even 10% of the ship's crew, including himself.

''I feel more comfortable fighting.'' said Dan. Saying this, he reached under his clothes and pulled out two throwing discs. He blew off the dust and gripped them in battle position. He secured his belt, with his various inventions and most of his chemical weaponry. He tightened the backpack on his back and secured the little hatch on it's bottom, it could be needed later.

Then, he swiftly spun thrice before jumping off the ship, and jumped onto the glacier. He slid down the sloped side of the glacier and landed before the captain of the fighters. Some other people slid down with him.

''As there is only 6 of us, we will divide into two groups of three. Me and my two most loyal fighters will battle on the side facing Alabasta. You new guys will take the side of the Drum Island. You,'' said the captain, pointing at Dan, ''You will take the Small Den Den Mushi. You are to contact me should you need help in battle. Don't use it without reason. Now spread out.''

Dan immediately kicked his leg over the glacier. The leg crashed into the ice, and Dan heaved himself up. As he was in the air he saw the men already starting to cut the glacier, yet the job wasn't even 10% done. He grinned and landed on the other side of the glacier.

The cold wind came from before him, and so he knew, he was at the right side.

[Tsin]

With the steady creeking of one of the ship's old and salt-sprayed doors, Jun emerged from the downstairs Cabin sporting his ever-present navy-blue jacket on beneath his standard azure scarf, as well as adding a pair of black gloves to the ensemble. In fact, he tugged on their edges absent-mindedly for a snug fit as his boots carried his body across the deck of the Alabasta boat to where the briefing was being held... If it could even be called that. 'Or perhaps 'brief' was exactly the right word to describe it,' the writer considered to himself as the teams were separated and sent on their respective ways.

Jun considered himself as somebody with at least a little bit of battle experience under his belt, so he followed the other members of the 2nd group towards the glacier, leaping from the ship's railing with a single powerful pump of his legs. And although one might expect the massive chunk of ice to be believably slippery, the scribe didn't show a single moment's hesitation in his steps.

''As there is only 6 of us, we will divide into two groups of three. Me and my two most loyal fighters will battle on the side facing Alabasta. You new guys will take the side of the Drum Island."

Taking a more standard route than Dan, throwing his leg around like some sort of chain-sickle, Jun leapt up to the top of the glacier from the meeting point, stabbing his glaive into the frost as it was required to stay put. He seemed oddly comfortable in this setting though, standing beside the cyborg with the frigid wind sweeping past his face.

"Feels like I'm at home again," the Yetine native said to himself, smiling at the picturesque scenery of ice floes drifting about. Certainly nothing could ruin it... And certainly not enemy pirates.

[versin]

Versin decided to go in the guard group not only because he had battle experience but it was a good way for him to keep his eyes on the cyborg man. When they were spreading out into different groups Versin made sure that he was in the same group as the cyborg man. After they had been guarding the glacier for a while Versin thought this was a good chance to learn more about the cyborg man. “So you are a cyborg. Cyborgs are pretty rare there are not a lot of people who know how to make them, can you please tell me how you became one?”

They where still guarding the glacier until Versin saw a pirate ship coming their why, so they had to get out of their as fast as they could. If they waited until the cutting group was done cutting the glacier it would be too late, so Versin used his Heat Whip to cut the glacier down faster. They then tied the glacier with a chain attach to their ship. The ship then started to set sail. Versin took control of the ship and using his navigator skills he used the fastest path to get out of there.

Heat Whip- The steel mechanical whip generates heat with a devise this is inside of it that is activated by the user.

[phoenixflame]

''Cyborgs are rare, but many people didn't live exactly the same life. Long story short, I lost everything, but at least I regained something.'' said Dan to the man who spoke to him.

He noticed a pirate ship coming this way. The man beside him seemed to help the cutting group, as the glacier got cut very fast. Everyone chained the glacier and the man took control of the steer. But the pirate ship was nearing.

The ship slowed down beside the glacier transport. The pirates jumped off the ship and started cutting the chains.

''Oh no, not on my watch.'' said Dan. He done a few frontflips and jumped off the ship and onto the chain. He kept a perfect balance, and the shock shook off the pirates from the chain.

Other pirates jumped onto the glacier itself, and Dan slid down the chain. The pirates came slashing at him, but Dan punched the swords away. The pirates looked around each other, then threw their swords back onto the ship. Someone on the ship threw them a huge iron bat, and behind it, a big pirate jumped down and threw the other pirates back onto the deck.

''SUCH A SMALL FLY IS NOTHING TO ME!'' said the big pirate, as he swung the iron bat at Dan.

''I'm more than I seem. Tap Dance - Acupuncture Step!'' said Dan. He jumped in the air and spikes came out of his legs. He started tap dancing on the pirate, pushing his spikes into him. Finally he jumped down, and the pirate fell into the sea. But 60 more pirates jumped onto the glacier and attacked Dan.

''A little help here?'' asked Dan towards the ship as he started smashing his fists into the pirates.

[Tsin]

"It appears that the pirates are coming out en masse today," Jun casually announced for the benefit of his comrades turned comrade when Versin decided he would be better off helping the cutting crew. The loss in manpower didn't really seem to phase the writer though; he simply glanced at the departing man and shrugged slightly to himself. Against a group like this, the addition or subtraction of a single man probably wouldn't make much difference... Besides, the maxim of storytelling demands that the small ragtag group of warriors win out over the marauding pirates and Fate wouldn't let herself miss out on a spectacle like this.

"Oh no, not on my watch."

Jun watched with calm amusement as the enemy raiders fell onto the glacier like rain from their own ship. As soon as their boots touched onto the ice though, Jun's boots were already slamming into their faces, effortless and expertly aimed kicks propelling the martial artist from one opponent to the next with an almost supernatural grace. No matter what sort of high flying action he took too, whatever leaping roundhouse butterfly kick the Lokuan youth planted into enemy heads, he never lost his balance once on the giant chuck of ice.

Which was, fortunately, more than the writer could say for some of those pirates, digging their fingernails into the frost as they slid down its side and into the water... It would have been kind of sad really, if not so outright amusing instead.

"SUCH A SMALL FLY IS NOTHING TO ME!"

A booming voice like that always signaled the arrival of a new breed of opponent though, and Jun heard the telltale thunderous boom of another big one landing behind him, brandishing an impressive battleaxe bigger than most average men ever grow to be. "Fe Fi Fo Fum, little bug. Your bones wouldn't make a slice of bread!" That gigantic axehead plowed through the air with all the force of a falling star, another handful of pirates being blown off the glacier due to friendly fire, but the writer was nowhere to be seen among them as they tumbled off the ice...

"I'm sorry that I wouldn't make much of a meal. You on the other hand-" Jun stood confident upon the broad side of the axe as the huge pirate was suffering from the momentum of his attack. And in one fluid motion, the glaive upon the writer's back whirled out from its idle position and into his hands, a speed that was mirrored in the flash of steel as he sprinted down the shaft of the battleaxe and cut straight through its wielder.

"-Your blood should keep this pen full for weeks, thank you." A clean cut, with no blood apparently drawn or flowing as the pirate fell from the glacier and into the water.

"A little help here?"

"Oop, sorry! I was busy!" The lancer pierced through the crowd around Dan, each slash of his blade dropping another trio of pirates with ease, and each one following seeming to be stronger than the last. Three, six, nine, twelve... Jun's pace of blinding to be sure, but even at that... "So do we have a plan, Cyborg? Or did you just want to bath this rock in bloodshed until we're unopposed?"

[versin]

The pirates were astonished that both their leaders were beaten so easily, Versin saw this as an opening. “Cyborg take the other guy now and jump on our ship!!!” Versin shouted. He then activated a devise in one of his mechanical whips to give it an electrical charge, Versin then used the electrical charged whip to strike the chain that the glacier was tied to. The electrical current ran through the chain that the glacier was tied to then the glacier that was wet, electrocuting all the pirates.

Now that the pirates were off the glacier the ship could once more go full speed, while this was happening Versin got one of the crew to take over the ship. Versin ran to the back of the ship, he then wrapped his whips on the ledge of the ship and jump off the ship. Hanging from the ship’s ledge with his whips Versin made sure that he was close enough to use his devil fruit abilities. He then ate the ocean’s color to make it immobilized and because the ocean was immobilized the pirates’ ship could no longer move. Versin swung on to the ship with his whips; he then took control of the ship to take the quickest why to the Alabasta border.

Meanwhile at a fortress made of ice the snow bandits who were the ones that hired the pirates to steal the glacier were talking about what had happened. “What do you mean the pirates failed.” yelled the woman dressed like a queen. The snow bandit looked at her nervously while kneeling. “Well my queen it would seem that even though the pirates out numbered the crew sent to take the glacier they still lost and only a hand full got away.”

“What about the pirates’ two large axes wilding leaders?” said the woman dressed like a queen with a mad look on her face. The snow bandit looked at her even more nervously while kneeling. “Well my queen they were disposed of by a cyborg and a man with a lance, also the crew sent to take the glacier has a devil fruit user that took out most of the pirates.” As the snow bandit was talking three large men who had big mallets and were wearing Eskimo jackets come into the room.

“Don’t wary my queen we’ll take care of it.” said one of the Eskimo brothers. The three Eskimo brothers then went out to look for the crew sent to take the glacier. The three Eskimo brothers waited for the crew sent to take the glacier's ship because they knew that if they wanted to get to the Alabasta border quickly they would have to take this path and they also knew they would get to the path before the crew sent to take the glacier's ship because the crew sent to take the glacier's ship was slowed down because they had to transport the glacier. When the crew sent to take the glacier's ship arrived the three Eskimo brothers threw scepters filled with a chemical that freezes any thing it comes to contact with into the water, the water froze so the crew sent to take the glacier's ship was stuck.

The snow bandit then started to attack with the Eskimo brothers leading them.

[phoenixflame]

''Sure I have a plan, dude. Just let me think of it. And call me Dan.'' said Dan, smiling.

“Cyborg take the other guy now and jump on our ship!!!” shouted the other man. Dan looked towards him. The man seemed to be activating something electrical.

Not gonna make it. thought Dan as the man was going to strike the chain. He grabbed the man who helped him.

''No time for explanations. Hold on.'' said Dan to the man, and while using the right hand to hold the man away from the glacier, he pushed the fingers of his left hand into the glacier. As the wave of electricity passed the glacier, only Dan and Jun were safe.

Dan threw Jun onto the deck of the ship, and then walked on his hands towards to ship, as he feared that some other electricity might have stayed on the chain.

''Were you even thinking? We would have never made it if it wasn't for the glorious inability to conduct electricity through diamonds.'' said Dan to Versin as the man somehow immobilised the other ships, ''But never mind that, we need to go while we still can.''

Dan allowed himself to get a short nap. Short, because the ship soon stopped.

''What now?'' asked annoyed Dan, as he came to the front of the ship. The water was frozen. With some impatience, he jumped down and became to drill through the ice.