Outta Water [for Gear]

[juusan]

Ashita beached himself on the shore of the island, laying spread armed on his back looking up at the sky. He was moron. He caught a sea monster recently, but although he'd been able to take it down with ease, putting on his tiny boat hadn't been quite as simple.

He looked to the left, blowing his long head-fin out of his eyes. His sorry little ship was beached as well, cracked all along the sides, and, if Ta hadn't practically carried it through the choppy waters it would probably be at the bottom of the ocean by now. With that sea monster. Stupid thing got a lucky break.

Ta got up and looked around, brushing the sand that stuck to his scales off of him. There was a human village here, if the map he got was accurate. He got his bearings and began to walk. It only took him to the top of a sand dune to find the village. It was a homey place, full of humans. He made his way over the hill and jumped down into the town. He walked down the street, looking first off, for a place where he could eat something. It took him a few minutes to notice that the people were staring at him. With anxiety and fear he would notice, if he bothered to look closer, but Ta's mind stopped at 'they're staring at me' and went straight to:

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?! SEE SOMETHING FUNNY?!"

This didn't go over well with the townsfolk, as they quickly turned and ran from the street, back to the safety of the buildings. Takun frowned. "Idiots, shouldn't have been staring at me..."

The half-Fishman spotted a bar not too far from where he stood and made his way over. He sat at the bar and folded his arms across the top. It was then he noticed he was still wearing his arm-blades. The fighting half-Fishman frowned and slipped them off, if only so he could rest his head on his arms. The blades went into his bag with a few small clinks.

"Good afternoon, sir. Can I get you anything?" The woman behind the bar had dark green hair and seemed nervous and mellow. Ta looked up at her with bored gold eyes. "Food and something to drink." He answered bluntly. He could breath better on land so he was taking the time to do so. Breathing in and out slowly, he tried to remember how much money he had left. Not much if any. He just supposed he would get to that when the bill came. Maybe he'd be able to slip away before it came.

[woohah]

Gear was soaring through the skies over Fuschia Town, overlooking all the people. His Gear Glider rotated at a fast speed, keeping the boy in the air. He tilted down, and soon, he was gliding toward the ground lazily. He touched down near town square, and then the gear disappeared. Everybody around him watched him like a freak. "Hiya folks, I'm Gear!" Soon, everyone returned to their business, deciding that Gear was of no more interest to them.

He decided that first things first, he needed nakama to help him become pirate king. So, he started walking around, but he noticed no pirates or anyone particularly outstanding. "Guh, isn't anyone around here a pirate worth something?!" he cursed to himself. Yet, his indomitable spirit could not be tamed, and he walked into the local bar, figuring the best place to find pirates is here. He noticed Takun. "Fishman? Sure, I'll check it out." he whispered.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a marine captain had shown up, and now he was charging outrageous taxes to protect the town from a pirate crew (which he was totally lying about) and he was arresting anyone who refused to pay as well. He announced to the townsfolk that anyone refusing to pay that they were the supposed pirates sneaking around. The people chose to believe him because Fuschia was a neutral island, so they were in worry of pirates landing and taking over the island. The marine's cape flowed along the ground like the tail of a ghost. His steel-grey eyes imposed fear upon anyone who looked into them. His gray skin seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. Yes, this was the Mako Shark Fishman, "The Chain Champion," Captain Ryuzaki. His short black hair shook every time the captain opened his mouth to let out his booming voice.

[juusan]

Someone else came into the bar, but Takun didn't bother to look up. His head still resting on his arms, he got his breathing back under control and was now just hungry. He didn't eat often since he didn't need to, but when ever he did get hungry it was pretty serious. He was going to try eating that sea monster, but that was a failure.

He was about to complain that the food was taking too long (though it hadn't been long at all), but the woman was much quicker than he thought she would be, and he had food before he could get the words out. It surprised him, and he probably would have commented on it if he wasn't so distracted by the food. It was seafood, which, since he was a carnivorous-type Fishman anyway, was fine with him. It was, he noticed, overcooked like most human food, but it looked too good for him to complain about. He ripped into the fish happily while the human woman got him his drink.

"Food's...good...." Ta got out the words between bites, and the green haired woman just smiled in an appeasing way. Ta kept gnawing on the fish, picking off the meat down to the bones before he reached for his drink, completely oblivious to his surroundings.

[woohah]

Gear looked around inside the bar, oddly named The Panty Raid. The lights were dim, he could see navy vets with battle scars, two drunk old men singing some jolly song in a drunken drawl, and then, Gear saw the fishman. He was downing that fish like crazy, so Gear figured he must've been some kind of fighter. He carefully inspected from a distance, and noted no marine symbols on his person. So, he was either a bounty hunter or a pirate, and even if he was a hunter, Gear had no bounty. He grabbed a chair nearby and dragged it along, up to Ta's table. He sat down.

"Hey bro, how would you like to be on a crew of pirates?" he bluntly asked. He gave a smarmy grin, the kind that showed Gear's pride and excitement. While he was at the table, he saw Ta's arm blades. Also, now that he was up close, he noted how weird this fishman looked. It was almost like he was half-human.

Meanwhile, Ryu was collecting more taxes and smiled at his sack of loot, filled to the brim with berri and valuables since some people had to fork those over instead. His sharp mako teeth seemed to glint in the sun.

[juusan]

Ta gulped down his drink, then began to chomp through the fish bones he had left, his sharp teeth easily cracking the thin tissue and marrow. He, unlike most humans he'd met, at every part of a fish, including the head, tail, and bones -though never whole. He felt naturally compelled to rip at his food, though he was used to it and never thought it weird.

The half-Fishman heard a chair being dragged, but was to busy finishing up his meal to bother looking. This long, thin red and blue head-fin blocked his vision of the young pirate coming up to him. He swallowed his last bit of food just as the boy started talking, and then, all of a sudden, the little thing in Ta's brain that just loved to snap did so.

Takun slammed his body toward the boy, using a hastily executed head-butt that made his ears ring. Even so he was still shouting, "WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' BRO?!"

All of the noise in the bar quieted as all of the patrons looked their way. Ta had managed to tip over the table during his little spaz so it cause quite a bit of commotion. At the sight of so many people staring at him, Ta got ticked yet again, though at the same time he seemed to forget about the boy who'd gotten him angry in the first place, "And who are you all looking at?!" He snapped at the people in general, thankfully not as loud as before. Everyone immediately went back to their own business.

[woohah]

Gear was quickly suprised when Ta went in for a headbutt, only to grimace. Ta's head connected with his goggles, and Gear noticed a crack in one of the lenses. They were made of reinforced glass, so they definitely weren't broken, but it would've taken a lot of strength just to put a dent in them. He also noticed the table had been cleared of food, and that's when Gear got an idea. He pulled the table back up, swept any remaining crap that had gotten spilled on it with his arm, and slammed his elbow down on it in a flex-style position. "How about this, you and me arm-wrestle, I win, you join my crew. If you win, I'll buy you all the food you can eat." To Gear, it seemed like a good offer. If he were in Ta's position he'd take the deal. Well, he wasn't the fish-human. He kept his other arm below the table, and formed another gear, in case the stranger tried to attack him again.

Ryuzaki put his fingers and ran them lightly through his spiked chains. A fellow marine was following him, a simple Petty Officer. "Son, do you know why they call me 'The Chain Champion?'" he asked.

"Is it because you carry those spiked chains around and use them as weapons?" he replied.

"That, and I cut down more pirates with them then there are links on the chain." Ryu answered.

[juusan]

Takun looked back over at the human, noticing with some irritation that he wasn't hurt. The fighting Fishman's territorial instincts were getting to him again in a big way, but he managed to keep himself from tackling the pirate long enough to here his challenge.

The half-Fishman grinned at the kid's words. He'd been wondering how he was going to pay for his food anyway. "That right? How strong do you think you are to take on a Fishman, guppy? You've gotta be 10 times stronger than a normal human to even consider it; 20 times stronger for me." While Ta boasted he put his arm up on the table with the pirate's and locked his hand in his.

"You even have any money, guppy?" Ta asked, putting a bit of pressure on the pirates arm to let him know they were starting. He kept his arm steady against the responding force of the kid's arm. It occurred to Ta that he should have asked that question before he started, but he was never very good at keeping things in priority when he was challenged. After all he planned to never lose to a human or Fishman ever again, and the more times he took down on of either race the more he proved himself as both.

[woohah]

Gear was pumped, seeing the gyojin accept his challenge, as the two locked hands. "Oh really? Well, you're talking to a shipwright straight out of Water 7, a place where if you can't carry several beams of wood, you're a woman or a loser." It was true, Gear was several times stronger than most men his age. "The name's Gear, nice to meetcha." He had an ace for this kind of game, one that he and the other kids on Water 7 had developed. The idea was to feint and let the opponent slowly carry your hand closer, and let down their guard, then when they got close, quickly jerk your gripping hand forward with all your strength. Usually, the poor sap was too suprised and not braced enough to respond and lost. Plus, since the administrator of this trick was usually a strong shipwright, the loser's hand would be smashed directly through the table, and while wooden tables usually collapsed, anything made of metal could crush the victim's hand. No matter what, once your hand hit that table, it was going to hurt. Usually, the winner would fix or replace the table anyway. The other patrons had taken notice, particularly the cute barmaids.

He let the fishman drag his hand closer to the table, then when it got about halfway, he flexed all the muscle in his arm in a powerful sweep, but soon, the fight would be interrupted.

Ryu had busted the door down, and it went flying toward Ta. Gear however, would respond before the fishman could've been hit.

"GEAR GIMP!"

Gear raised his other fist with the gear on it, made it spin at high speed, and slammed it directly into the wooden barrier, knocking it back towards Ryu. When it reached him, he just punched it like Gear, but this time, it broke in two pieces. "PUNK! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, interrupting two men during a competition?!" Gear roared. Ryu got a disgusted look.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking you." He cracked his knuckles.

[juusan]

The interruption surprised Takun, especially since it came right after his challenger had decided to get serious. The pirate reacted faster than he did, surprisingly, somehow forming a giant gear on one hand to repel the door. The half Fishman quickly thought of a Devil's Fruit. Where there Devil's Fruits that granted that power? He'd seen maybe two during his seven years of traveling the East Blue, but he heard there were more at the Grand Line.

Ta was a bit slower at reacting than he would be on most occasions, probably because he was concentrating on their arm wrestling. He let go of the kid's hand when he started yelling at the guy who had come bursting in so violently. Ta looked over toward the door and immediately recognized the guy as a Fishman, a full-blooded one by the looks of him. He was carrying a chain with spikes.

"And who the hell are you, Pops?" Takun said looking at the full-Fishman irritably. He was the first Fishman Ta had seen since his father was killed by one, and that didn't put him in a good mood. Plus, another Fishman in his vicinity was setting off his territorial instincts big time.

[woohah]

"Impudent fools! Do you know who you are talking to! That's it, pay double the tax, or die." he ordered. "The chain at my belt has rended the flesh of many, many pirates. I won't hesitate to use it on you." Gear looked confused.

"Didn't you just say you were going to enjoy breaking us?" he asked. It seemed at first he was going to outright kill them, now he was offering them life in exchange for money. "Besides 'pops'" he continued, using an actual finger gesture for the word pops, "I'm more broke than your train of thought."

The Mako-Shark Fishman showed his teeth, and tossed away his hat. His steel-colored eyes met the kid's, "So I'm going to have to kill the both of you, is that it?"

"Wait, he might have money. The only person's beef you should be on is mine, you stupid moron! GEAR GATLING GUN!" Gear shouted, and aimed his arm straight at the fishman. Several gears flew at the man at high speed, crashing straight into his face and knocking him backward.

"Bro, want to put off that bet?" he asked Takun, holding the other arm up with the gear on it. "GE~AR!"

Before he could realize it, the fishman's spiked chain was coming straight for him, slashing him in the shoulder. "You naive human! How can you hope to defeat a fishman, five times as strong on land, and ten times in the water?!"

Gear held his shoulder wound for a moment, before he showed his grin. He tilted his goggles down over his eyes. "I've got a nice, shiny gear to shove up your fishy-"

"CHAIN SNAKER!"

The fishman released his chain at Gear. Gear would've intercepted by slamming his gear against it, but just a few moments before it would've made contact, it bent at an angle and slammed straight into Gear on the broad side, knocking him over as well.

"Now, half-breed, you're next." Ryu turned his sights on Takun.

[juusan]

"He ignored me?" Ta fumed, not even really listening to what was said between the kid and the man. The guy was seriously grating on his nerves. He was almost going to charge at the guy when the kid spoke to him and distracted him from his would-have-been rampage.

"Why the hell would the bet still be on if you don't have any money?!" Te half-Fishman snapped just as the marines chain slashed into the kid's shoulder. Luckily that brought Takun back to the matter at hand. Marine. Fishman. Attacking. Right.

Ta had enough sense to remember he took his blades off, and was actually going to look for them so h could put them on (something he forgets almost every-time), but then the old man had to call him a half-breed and Ta's vision went red.

"Lotta..." Ta charged round the still uncoiled chain, unconscious of it's possible danger. He was in front of the shark man in half a second and slammed the knuckles of his right hand into the side of his face. "Hitto!"

Ta's training had paid off, and he managed to knock the shark man toward a nearby wall, but the half-Fishman didn't even register it, since he was still all kinds of pissed. "WHAT YOU JUST CALL ME, POPS?! ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOT A GOOD'NOUGH FISHMAN?!" Luckily his steam was slowly running out, and the red tinge everything had was fading. "I'll show you, moron. I'm twice the Fishman you are!"

[woohah]

Gear quickly bolted toward Ryu, headbutting him Zidane-style. He kept running after his head connected, running a few meters before Ryu jumped back. By now, they had reached the white sandy beach, since the Panty Raid was near the ocean. Gear stepped back, suddenly realizing what had happened. If that ocean water touched him, he was screwed. And he wanted to be Gear, not screwed. Ryu jumped into the water.

"DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY YOU JERK!" he shouted, looking down into the water. Unfortunately for Gear, Ryu had just pulled out a pair of his teeth, and had broken them into a pair of top and bottom jaw respectively. He placed each half over his fist so the teeth stuck out and the dull back was connecting. Then, he shot back up from the water at high speed in a backflip, catching Gear with his teeth and carrying him into the air. Ryu flipped several times, slashing Gear every time because of his toothed fist. Eventually, the two peaked their jump, and Gear finally regained his bearings.

"GEAR GRINDER!"

Gear smashed two of his gears together and span them both at high speed, and a storm of sparks flew at Ryu. The hot sparks colliding with the wet fishman sounded like frying fish. Ryu groaned from the pain. Ryu shouted in rage, and slammed his spike covered fist into Gear, sending him colliding toward the ground.

[juusan]

Takun ran after the kid and the marine, slipping on his blades as he did so. He really didn't know why he even took them off. He watched the shark Fishman fall into the water and rip out one of his may sets of teeth to uses as knuckles. He was quick in the water, Ta noticed, and wondered briefly if he was faster than him or not.

The Betta Fishman took off down the beach looking up in the air at the Marine's attack on the pirate. He was surprised when the kid was able to repel the Fishman and send him flying back down. Ta was headed right for that path, so he sped up and got ready to slam into the larger Fishman.

He made it in time to deliver a hard elbow to the Marine's side, hearing a faint crack as the Fishman's body bent oddly from the force. The hit carried them both over the shoreline and into the water.

Ta opened his eyes underwater and almost tried to breath in with his lungs, only to quickly switch over to his gills when he realized where he was. He took in a few breaths, trying to keep it under control while he looked around. The salt didn't sting hi eyes so he could see through the water clearly, he didn't see where that marine went, however, and he was silently cursing his stupidity. Half-fish or not, he wasn't gonna be a very good match for a full Fishman in the water. He just couldn't breathe right.

Suddenly he felt something slam into his back and it only took a split second to know it was the marine, but by then the Fishman had attacked again, slamming into Ta's gut, then his side. Ta was getting angry again, especially since the old man was faster than him. His movements weren't hindered by water, but he still couldn't land a hit on the guy. His breath was thinning quickly because of his distress and finally Ta shot up toward the surface.

The Fishman was caught of guard by the sudden retreat, and paused a moment before shooting off toward Ta. The Fighting Fishman grinned and turned around sharply, shooting back toward the incoming marine. "Furia di Lotta!" He shouted underwater while he bashed, head first into the Marine's gut.

Immediately after Ta shot off to the surface again, re-emerging and taking a big gulp of breath with his lungs. He hadn't go out of the water yet before the marine was coming again, angrier than before.

(OOC: Sorry, I took control of Ryu for a while since he's an NPC anyway & because Gear wouldn't be able to do much while Ta & Ryu were underwater. I figured it would be a lot of trouble to have to rp that when your character couldn't be involved. I didn't damage him too much though. ^^)

[woohah]

(OOC: Direct him whenever you want, I originally thought we were sharing control of him. Also, Gear was flying toward the ground, not Ryu.)

Gear hit the ground with a thud. He was banged up pretty bad, but he had to defeat the fishman now. However, he had a chance to rest while Ryu and Takun did their war under the waves. During that time, he had prepared a new gear, since his original one had gotten banged up from all the stuff that he had used it for. If this was a land battle, he would've flown up into the air and started dropping gears onto Ryu, but the ocean would dissolve them into rust the moment they touched the sea. Gear had noticed how Ryu's chains were dangling. However, while Ryu continued to attack Ta underwater, he had sent one of his chains back at Gear again.

"Gear Gimp!"

Since Ryu was focused on Ta, he wouldn't notice when Gear's gear caught the chain and began to wind it around. Ryu soon noticed that, when he felt his chain starting to pull out of his hands, and looked above the water. There he saw the blond-haired youth standing there, trying to yank the chain out of his hand. Ryu took the steel chain and locked them in his teeth, and swam away from Gear at high speed. Gear pulled back with all the force he could, but within a moment he was being pulled toward the ocean.

"GEAR GUARD!"

Gear formed the huge gear in front of him. He knew it was incredibly heavy, and thus, it immobilized him until he disconnected, but that would be his own advantage. But, Gear was horrified as he noticed the gear being pulled along with him. And based on how much chain was wrapped around his gear on his arm, if he disconnected it, the chain would wrap around his wrist and tear his hand off. As he neared the water, Gear said one word as his huge gear in front of him disappeared.

"Crapbiscuits."

He was quickly sent under the water, and within a moment, Gear was immobilized. As Ryu turned his sights on the new prey, Gear realized only Takun could save him. And after the way he had lied, he wondered if the fishman would leave him to be shark-bait.

[juusan]

"IERI TAGLIARE!"

Ashita had dove back into the water, and shot toward the marine, his bladed forearms held horizontally in front of him. The distraction the pirate had made was enough that Ta was able to ram, blades first into the guy, slashing out forcefully with hi arms and sending the Fishman back.

It wasn't until the kid was almost pulled down completely past Ta hat he noticed the marine still had the kid tangled in his chain. Takun grabbed onto the chain, just before it became tangled in the gear that appeared on the pirate's arm, oblivious to the spikes that nicked his fingers. The chain stopped, then jerked suddenly when the marine tried to pull them both down.

Ta held tightly and swam up a bit before looking over his shoulder at the pirate stuck on the chain with him. He didn't look to good, and it took Takun a while to figure out exactly why. "Dammit. Humans can't breath underwater can they." He said, more as a statement than really asking anyone.

Ashita wondered briefly if he would be able to untangle the kid, but judging by the more violent tugs coming from the other side of the chain, and the condition to the kid himself, he probably wouldn't have time.

"How much pressure can you take half-breed?" The marine taunted from where he jerked on his side of the chain. "I'll drag you and you're little human friend to the bottom of the sea!"

"Like to see you try, pops!" Ta snapped back before shooting off toward the surface. The sudden motion caught the marine off guard enough to get within a few feet of the shore, before the tension in the chain went up again and Ta found that he was having trouble moving with the chain in his hands.

Ta strained against the chain, holding tighter until his hands started to bleed, which wasn't good around a shark-Fishman. But at the same time Takun seemed to be getting more and more aggravated, and his vision was getting the red tint that usually happened right before he attacked someone. This time however, he didn't have anyone he could attack without drowning in the process. So the sudden burst of energy was directed up at the shoreline, and the sudden jerk caused the Fishman to loose his place in the water and dragged him back up to the shallower waters.

Ta shot back onto land with both the kid and the chain. The half-Fishman landed on the pirate kid hard, pushing a great amount of water out of the kids lung in doing so.