148: Snail Mail Delivery

[Farris (Kuro)]

The small half human half shark marine might have looked like any other human girl if it hadn't been for her grayish skin tone and emerald green shoulder length hair. Her dorsal fin perched proudly on her head and stood tall and proudly in her marine uniform as a symbol of Justice. She was to meet a hired hand here at the edge of Sabaody before working with the person to deliver a new state of the art Den Den Mushi to none other than Admiral Kizaru himself!

Esmeralda could hardly believe her luck! To be trusted with something so important and have the chance to meet one of the three admirals in person! It was like being sent to a autograph signing for her favorite Marine heroes! It was a good thing she brought her Admiral Kizaru merchandise, like the "Authentic Kizaru glasses" and "The Official replica Kizaru coffee mug". And people tried to tell her that the shop was just trying to get her to buy things! Well now she would get these things signed as proof! As anyone that could see the crate with the Wotan would think that was the "cargo" to be delivered, but in reality it was all the fan merchandise the superhero loving Wotan had bought. The Den Den Mushi being carefully hidden in her side purse at her right hip.

The ensign had never been to Sabaody Archipelago and had no clue that finding Admiral Kizaru would be hard... For more than normal reasons. The public generally hated Fishman and Wotan where include in that stigma. Likely the reason why she was being given the "hired aid".

[masquerade]

A woman walked through the area to the meeting spot, and she had many eyes towards her. She was a very interesting woman. She was a devil fruit user, and she was a powerful one as well, despite only being of Paramecia. She had ringed irises for eyes that were black and white rings all in her eyes. She wore a very small amount of clothing. She had a short skirt with a leather bikini bottom under it, while the only thing covering her top was a leather bikini covering a very well curved pair of breasts. She herself was attractive even amongst females, as one could say she was curved in all the right places. Her hair was in a long black braid, and what she wore for foot ware were simple black sandals.

Sila was her name, and as far as she was concerned, this was just another job. While some labeled her as a pirate, she was more of a mercenary. She looked the part of a woman that didn't care what people thought of her because she truly didn't. Thats when she saw a wet behind the ears marine and she grinned as she walked to the woman nodding to her as she gave a smile to the fish-woman.*"Well hello there, the name is Sila, I believe you are the one I am supposed to travel with today? I certainly hope you didn't bring baggage or anything, we don't need to be slowed down."* She spoke with the voice of a temptress, entrancing to anyone who happened to hear her. She was actually quite happy to have some company, but she did not need anything slowing her down, she wanted her money.

[thormundsson]

To most passersby the day was proceeding as usual on Shabody Archipelago. The amusement park was full as usual and the docks and the merchants were working hard to earn a living. The lawless sector, groves 11-20, was as usual rive with a myriad of cutthroats and bandits. Most of these worked as hunters for the slave traders that worked the area. But today this part of the Archipelago was interrupted by it's daily business by the arrival of a tall man wearing the attire of a high ranking marine. His yellow coat marking him out amongst the many people that ran around.

Admiral Kizaru was not specifically on any orders to go the the lawless zone nor was he there on official marine business. He was there because one of his suits was in a less then impeccable state and he needed it fixed. There were dozens of lackeys that would run and fetch and cater to him in Mariejoa but he had no interest in such things. This was a special trip to him in any case. He had a contact that ran a small tailoring business in the lawless zone and he was heading there to have his coat fixed. His old friend was a former captain of the marines but had left the service after some unfortunate events. He and Kizaru had trained together and he had kept his contact with him. The man had a special touch when it came to fixing the suits that the Admiral liked so much and so routinely made these trips to visit his old friend and have his clothes fixed.

"aaaahn, where was it again.....?" said the tall admiral slowly to himself as he stood in grove 14, looking around. His face was marred with a slightly idiotic expression and he stood still for several minutes trying to figure out where his old friend had his shop set up. With his memory failing him he decided to ask the at the nearest tavern.

[Farris (Kuro)]

The bubbly girl was stirred from her thoughts when a very pretty woman spoke to her. "Well hello there, the name is Sila, I believe you are the one I am supposed to travel with today? I certainly hope you didn't bring baggage or anything, we don't need to be slowed down." She say in a seductive manner that was completely lost on the other woman. The Wotan's smile widened and she saluted her. "Ensign Judgeman Esmeralda, A pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms. Sila ma'am! Oh you mean this? I couldn't help but bring it! This is an opportunity of a lifetime!" She said cheerfully picking up the large crate as if it were a feather with her monstrous strength. "I mean, aren't you excited? It's not everyday you get to meet an admiral!" She added almost dancing on air as she spun around joyfully with the crate in hand.

"Let's get moving, kay? We heroes of Justice must get to Admiral Kizaru!" She beamed dramatically, like a hero out of a children's comic book. "By the way, HQ didn't tell me where to find him, just that he was here so looks like we have to find him. This'll be fun though!" She said with a a bubbly giggle before skipping off ahead, the grove marker saying 9, but the Wotan hardly took notice of this as she wondered which direction to search in first. After all it was hard to tell where a master of Justice would be, especially when you'd never been to such a place. So the Ensign just picked a direction at random.

[masquerade]

She grinned as she watched the hyperactive woman lift the things and she nodded. This woman was...odd...that was the only thing she had to describe this fish woman. The woman was oblivious, and clearly an innocent, so she decided to let her alone, but still followed her before grabbing the girl by the ear to stop her. While Sila was not at all a strong woman, she knew how to pull ears. She stopped the woman and sighed. While Sila herself knew that she had no sense of direction by any meaning of the word, she did know where to get information.

She looked towards a tavern and grabbed the woman by her wrist and pulled her lightly along as they were stared at. Sila was a gorgeous woman with a fish-woman, this obviously confused the hell out of the area. Sila walked into the tavern with the marine wet-ear behind her as she looked at the woman a moment and smiled*"Walking about aimlessly would be of no help to us, it is better if we can get some information as to the location, then go searching, as for one, I hate getting lost in this place, two, I am in no hurry, and am in the mood for a drink."* She grinned as she walked to the bar letting the marine girl stand there as she stopped at the counter and ordered some type of alcoholic. She looked about the bar and spoke in a very foreward and blunt tone*"While you men are staring, anyone know where a Admiral Kizaru is right now? "* The men had been staring at her, and they blinked when she spoke a few muttering to each other after she asked. Clearly she wouldn't get anything out of this bunch of sad sacks.

[thormundsson]

Every single person in the bar looked up as the tall Admiral entered the room. The man's attire, that of a high ranking marine, did not sit well with the customers and most seemed to try and hide behind their mugs or any other loose object or persons that were near them. Borsalino walked slowly up to the counter and bent over double as he brought his face to the level of the barkeep. The man, who had been washing some things in the sink turned around and went white as he realized that a marine was face to face with him.

"Uuuuum, do you know a Viktor Gray....?" The admiral said in his slow tone, not bothering to mention that he was a tailor or that his place was a coffee house. The bartender seemed to stiff up and tried to stutter out a few words. "thi..thii....this...is a..a...a well run e..ee...establishment, s...sss..sir" He said, his face dripping with sweat as he tried to cough out a sentence. Kizaru raised himself to his full height, looking down on the man and reaching almost to the ceiling of the small bar. "You don't know where he is......that's strange, he's been around here for a whileeeee" he continued on, not even paying the man's stuttering any attention as he scratched his temple with his index finger, his face a mask of surprise.

He turned around, realizing that the barkeep couldn't help. "does anyone know where Gray's Tailoring is....hummm?" he said, loudly enough so that every soul in the bar could hear him. He was met by a chorus of shaking heads and the occasional "no/no idea". Most of them seemed to be denying knowledge of the place simply to avoid notification from the admiral. "hummm, that's sooo strange" he said to himself as he exited the bar again. He kept looking around, trying to search for some hints as to where his friend's tailoring parlor was.

"Aaaaah, what a time for my den den mushi to be replaced"

[Farris (Kuro)]

Suddenly before the superhero loving girl could get to far the lovely mercenary grabbed her firmly by the ear, earning a sharp yelp from the bubbly Wotan. "H-hey! Ms. Sila-chan! that hurts!" She complained like a child might, but offered no resistance other than the awkward following and occasional wincing from pain in her ear. After Sila released her the bubbly marine rubbed her ear with a frown. Before she could ask Sila "What that was for?" The woman was leading her into a bar by the wrist, much to her dismay.

As they entered the bar Esmeralda noticed the less than friendly looks, mostly directed at her, but at least this she was used to to an extent. There was some prejudicey in Roguetown where she grew up but nothing she couldn't handle, at least so she thought. She did give a frown at the sorta of ruff bunch she saw though they didn't look like very nice people in such a place, but then again the Ensign tended to avoid bars. She didn't like drinking, especially on duty like she was now.

"Walking about aimlessly would be of no help to us, it is better if we can get some information as to the location, then go searching, as for one, I hate getting lost in this place, two, I am in no hurry, and am in the mood for a drink." Sila had told her before approaching the bar table. "Hmmm, I guess that's true, but what is the Admiral really needs this! And are you sure it's ok to do that while we're on the job?" She questioned not feeling right about the place. She brightened a little when the beautiful woman asked about Kizaru though showing that she was still "working". Though it didn't look like he had been by there lately by the reactions. "Um, Ms. Sila-chan, maybe we can try a different place... like a coffee shop? I'm sure Admiral Kizaru has been by one of those recently!" She offered up in an enthusiastic tone.