Mysterious Goings On (East Blue Event)

[shisha]

(OOC: Alright here goes. A brief bit to give you the run down on the situation. Have fun)

"Please calm down, the situation is under control. Return to your homes"

The man attempting to calm the situation was a lone Marine officer, standing along side a small group of other Marines. They had a small problem, a very large crowd of people, people who lived on Shell island, all shouting and voicing their opinions on the current problem plaguing the Island. The crowd of people were getting restless, the teeming masses refusing to listen to the explanations of the local Marine forces. The Marines themselves were having problems as well, up till a few days ago the crowds of people had been passive, non aggressive in their demonstrations. However in the last few days, three to be exact, they had become more aggressive, more active as it were. As a result people had been detained, and in the middle of the arguing and shouting, some had even been injured. All of this was happening in the main town centre, far away from the docks or even the Local Marine headquarters on the Island itself. Despite this it could be heard from the docks, in fact it could be heard from anywhere on the Island if one listened hard enough. Because of this tiny problem the populus was creating, Marine Presence on the Island was at an all time high, the crowds were scattered all over the Island, one such crowd was on the Docks, the very crowd the Marine was attempting to keep calm, despite several people brandishing weapons, all be it less than Lethal ones.

[shinku]

It was already afternoon when Shinku woke up. She had been in charge of the night shift and sat in the lookout all night long.
Now she slowly sat up and starred at the wall. It was a boring brown wall and there was absolutely nothing to see but waking up fast had never been one of Shinkus outstanding characteristics. She let herself slide back in the bed again and hugged her pillow, not wanting to leave the warmness of the bed already.
Noises from the outside came through the wall and restrained her from dozing off again. 'Looks like we arrived at the harbor.' she thought and with that she finally decided to leave the bed.

Shinku wasn't actually a member of the merchants of this ship but they gave her a ride after she helped them with their sales on the last island and she was still indecisive if she should stay a little longer with them or leave on this island. She kinda liked them after all.
When all her stuff was fetched she left the cabin and went up to the deck. Already on her way up she noticed that the noise which woke her up wasn't the normal noise you had on a dock. It wasn't the noise of busy people performing their work it was far more anxious and aggressive.

"What's up?" she asked the captain who was standing at the railing. He gave her an morosely look and answered like that. "I don't know. There seem to be an uproar but I don't know why. I just know that we can't unship as long as all this people are blocking our way."
"Hmmm.. is that so." she said, more to herself than to anybody else.
Without thinking any further she swung herself over the railing and landed on the pier.
If something big was going on then there was a nearly 100 percent chance that someone could profiter from it, and Shinku intended to be that someone.
But first she had to know what was going on. She tabbed the next person to her on the shoulder. "Excuse me. I just arrived here, what's going on? Why is everyone so angry?"

[shisha]

For a moment the man she had tapped on the shoulder and asked didn't respond, his attention was with the rest of the crowd, brandishing pitch forks and other Farming items as weapons. As the crowd started to desperse from the arrival of Marines, several Marines from futher up the hill, all of which seemed to be in no mood for any of the crowds arguing, the man turned around to leave, but almost fell backwards in surprise when he noticed Shinku standing right in front of him. It suddenly dawned on him, her question. She must of been from a far off region of the East blue, maybe further. Where ever she came from, the question had his blood boiling once more. Quick as a flash he got up and dusted himself off.

"Where have you been?, in a cave or something?. Were angry because the Dam Marines won't do anything!, we've been waiting for a long time now, they Don't Care about any of us at all!!"

He realised that she probably still had no idea what was going on. And at almost the same time, the Reason he was with the crowd came flooding back to him, so much so that his angry streak came to a sudden and rather abrupt end before her eyes. He sat down, hand on his forehead, looking back up at Shinku with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Didn't mean to snap at you like that. Its a Long story, one that no-one around here really wants to talk about. All you need to know is this, things have been happening, my friend is missing and the Marines won't help find him"

[jackal44]

The Marine Commander was less than pleased with the strange going-ons that this island was suffering from and the lack of resolution from the islands own Marines. Strange occurrences? And people disappearing without a trace? These issues should've been nicked in the bud by the local marines with the very first disappearance!

But no, things had to be difficult and now the island is facing total anarchy... Well, that's what B.W. felt the situation was spiraling towards, and by the look of things, his feelings weren't too far off. It's only been two hours since he arrived with Captain. Hikari, which he had no idea wandered off to, and already the people were beginning to get testy with the Marines' less than satisfying results.

Bartholomew could sigh deeply as he watched his fellow marines try and get a hold of the situation before anything rash happened and that didn't seem too far enough with the people brandishing weapons like that. He really hoped violence wouldn't ensue... But to be sure, he kept a hand close to Dawn & Twilight.
"Officer, do your best to keep the crowd relatively calm... I'm going to see if I can find Captain. Hikari and maybe find a way to get these people off the streets." He patted the lone marine on the shoulder, before carefully avoiding the ire of the crowd.

"Where's my brother!?"
"The Marines aren't doing anything about this!"
"Our Children aren't safe, do something!!"

They might've been saying different things, but it was all the same... The citizens were frightened, confused and angry and it was his duty, along with all the other marines to restore the peace to their homes.... Hopefully that'll be sooner than later.

As he tried making his exit away from the crowd, he overheard something that got a little under his skin. "We would have better results if the people and marines worked together instead all this rabble." The Marine Commander replied a few inches away from the less than faithful citizen and the young woman who was curious to know what was going on. This was starting to get ridiculous; it was time that he gave his two beri to the crowd.

Standing firm by the crowd, B.W. tried grabbing the angry citizens' attention. "People! I know you're angry at the lack of results but you have to understand. We cannot perform our duties to the fullest with all of you yelling and brandishing weapons! I mean what good would it do you if you strike against the marines who've been working hard to figure out what was going on! Look, what I'm trying to say is... Please return to your homes... You're not helping those missing return any sooner. I guarantee you that once we discover the source of all these mysterious events, we will work to the bone to bring back all your loved ones!" Hopefully that'll calm things down slightly....

[shinku]

Listening to the Marine Commanders speak, Shinku had a hard time not to nod and make a response. Shinku was kinda impressed about his speak. He was telling the exact same thing Shinku had thought for herself, but feared to say.
It was logical and all but Shinku knew that an angry crowd wasn't likely to listen to logical arguments.
Human nature had it's one common sense and that common sense seemed to tell the people that it was wise to take some nasty looking brandishing weapons and make trouble for the marine to show them their anger.
Hopefully they wouldn't take their anger out on this man, after all you could never say what an angry crowd would do next, so she tried to help him a little bit.

"So you are the one the marine headquarters sent to solve this special case? I heard you have a lot of experience with cases like that, so they personally chosed you for this."

'That should calm them down a bit,' she thought. 'After all they would feel taken seriously when they hear that the Marine headquarters specially chosed someone to help them.'
Just when she looked in the puzzled face of the man she talked before she noticed her mistake.

"Ah. I'm sorry I said that I didn't knew about the case. I actually know a lot about it but I wanted to hear it from the persons involved. I'm really sorry I wasn't honest to you but the fact is that I was asked to look for a missing relative for someone, that's why I came here.
But there are so many rumors around that you can hardly tell the true from the lie and I thought it would be best to play stupid and get some information first-hand.
But I agree with this Marine here. Why don't we just all sit together and change some information. That way we surely be able to solve this case.
I can't promise you immediate results, this is a very complicated case, but I'm sure we will find your friend!"

[shisha]

For a moment the man was speechless, not from the Marine and his charming grasp of the english language, but the girl who was attempting to calm him down. He had half expected the stranger to ignore him, to not care so to speak, most people who passed through didn't. It was refreshing yet at the same time strange to find someone who wanted to hear his story. His look of sadness changed slowly to a weak smile, nodding in approval. He got up and walked away into the crowd, vanishing into the teeming masses of people. The Marines words had worked, pursuading the crowd to desperse, despite the obviously hostile intentions of some of the younger crowd members. All the huddled and angry people started to walk back to their homes, some stayed and simply thought things through, while some still went off to cause trouble. The Recklessness of Youth, always hard to keep in check.

"I wouldn't count on it being that easy miss" said a voice from behind the girl, hidden behind a large fat man who looked at Shinku in a strange way before waddling away like an over inflated penguin. The man who had spoke stood there watching the man leave, a grin on his face at the expression he had shot at Shinku. The stranger, who's hands were in his pockets, looked back at the girl, spitting the cigarette he had in his mouth out away from them both. He stood in a very relaxed way, glasses over his eyes, his hair was a bit of a mess, but the rest of him was very clean cut.

[Kurosaki]

The angry protests of the people reached Kaede's ears as she stepped down off the boat. She had hitched a ride with some friendly people to get to this island. There wasn't much for her to see here though. This was just a stop to get supplies, a boat, and possibly a crew so that she could find her way to the Grand Line. That was where she truly wanted to go. She was sure that there would be plenty of history on the islands there waiting to be discovered. Being an archaeologist that would be perfect for her.

Curiousity got the best of the normally quite boyish looking girl. She wandered her way toward where the crowd was and listened to what they were saying silently. The Marines were trying to calm the people. Apparently some of their loved ones had gone missing.

An intelligent and well spoken Marine launched a speech that calmed most of the people. Kaede listened and wondered if what he said was true. How would they find all those people and where had they gone? Kaede normally dealt with past events but this seemed like something that was about to go down in Shell Island's history as a moment never forgotten.

As Kaede was turning, she happened to bump straight into an oversized looking man.

"Oh, excuse me," Kaede said in a way that was deeper than most girl's voices. Most likely from her appearance and demeanor she would be mistaken as a clumsy boy.

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[jackal44]

It would seem that his little speech did the trick; the crowd was dispersing and the villagers were returning home, well most of them anyway.... Anyway, that should keep the situation with the villagers relatively calm for the moment but he wasn't too sure on how long that would last.

"That should put a few minds at ease, if only for a short while..." Sighed B.W. as he turned his attention on the young woman that helped him in that precarious situation. "I appreciate the help, ma'am. Things might've turned ugly if you hadn't said anything. Oh! The name's Commander B.W. Jackal by the way. " The Marine smiled a little, thankful that someone else was trying to keep things settled here, and B.W. had a feeling that somewhere along the lines of this mystery, he was going to need all the help he could get.

As he watched the civilian who was talking to the young woman earlier, leave with the crowd. A strange, and very 'plump' man caught his eye. 'What the? .... How did I not notice this guy... Yeah there was a big crowd but there was no way I couldn't have noticed him... I mean... Look at him!' The Marine thought to himself as he somewhat eavesdropped on his very short conversation with the young woman.

The marine took a quick look-over this penguin-man with an arched brow; there was something not right with this guy, he was way too relaxed... Bartholomew couldn't but his finger on it but this guy had a creepy vibe to him.... "And why do you think that, sir? Do you know anything about the disappearances or are you just doubting the skills of the Marines?" If there was anyone that fit the bill of being 'suspicious,' this was the guy.

[shinku]

Shinku wanted to follow the man she had talked with, when the marine guy spoke to her. "Ma'am?" she thought slightly confused because most of the people thought she was a boy and went through her hair with her hand. She didn't tie it like usually when she woke up, which gave her a bit more of a female look and explained how the other one had guessed her gender right.
"No problem there, I always like to help Mr. Jackal. And there is no need to call me ma'am. I'm Shinku. Katsuhito Shinku, nice to meet you."

She looked around, but the other man had already vanished in the crowd and was nowhere to be seen. While thinking if she should follow him and look out to find him again or try her luck with the Marine Commander someone spoke to her.
"Suspicious guy." she thought, but since suspicious didn't always meant guilty or bad she answered friendly.
"I never said that I think it will be easy. It will be difficult no doubt about that. But difficult doesn't mean the same as impossible and I have great faith in my abilities."

And before she could say anything else her attention was dragged away for the third time to someone who just bumped into the fat man. "Clumsy girl." she thought but then corrected herself. "Clumsy boy." But the again Shinku had a lot of experience with being mistaken for a boy and her instinct on that matter was rather good. She pigeonhole the newcomer into the "uncertain" section together with the other suspicious man, whom she didn't let out of her sight.

[Kurosaki]

Kaede hung back as the civilians began to clear out. All of the citizens seemed satisfied by the speech by the male and female Marines. The man that she had bumped into seemed to have vanished even though he was so big. Where the heck had he gone? Kaede wasn't sure and her interest began to fade in the person even though he had been so odd looking. Kaede herself had no reason to fear simply standing around and observing since she wasn't known to be a pirate and didn't look suspicious; in her mind, at least.

"I wonder what the Marines are going to do to solve this," Kaede muttered to herself all the while looking suspicious with her standing around not doing anything. She was unsmiling and unmoving and anyone acting out of the ordinary was bound to catch the two Marine's attentions.

Kaede finally decided there was nothing there for her and started back toward the main part of town. She was going to find somone to be an source for her to write about the history of the island. There probably wouldn't be much since it was a more modern island but it wouldn't hurt to try.

(Shinku will be steering this event from now on since we got ditched by Shisha. =P)

[shinku]

The man who had spoken his doubts about the capability of the newcomers to solve the case of the missing people gave them a smirk.
"I don't doubt the skill of the marines. You're all fine guys I'm sure." he said in a voice which wasn't sounding as if he meant what he said but rather that he made fun of them.
"In fact I doubt it's important how skilled you are, cause skills won't help you here." He made an other pause and took his time to answer just to annoy the others. "Really! Didn't you hear anything about the case you want to solve? The disappearances aren't normal ones."
"Just what do you mean by that?" Shinku asked, already getting a bit annoyed by the man.
"The missing people.. they were spirited away." he said, trying to sound as dramatical as possible while not sounding as if he believed any of it at all.
"At least that's what the people here say. Just ask anyone and they tell you about it. It's not like I know anything first-hand of course. But I'm kind of surprised that you from the marines don't know a thing about it, after all one of the missing people vanished out of a cell in your Marine base. And now, please excuse me, I have other things to do."

While they where talking like this, someone watched them out of the shadows. And that someone watched Kaede heading off too and noted her as a person to keep an eye over. Things were starting to get more complicated it seems but on the same time, things were starting to get more interesting as well.

[SHADE SMASH]

Genna opened her eyes tiredly when she felt the small dowry she was in stop abruptly which had forced her to wake up. She grumbled a bit sickly and turned around to lay on her belly to try and ignore the small commotion she heard from who knows where. Yesterday, after being chased down by mechanics, she had finally reached a small boat and took off in it but so did many others. All night she couldn't sleep in fear that they would seek her out. But lucky for her they didn't but it didn't mean anything good for her sleep. She was downright exhausted and all she wanted to was sleep. Too bad her mechanics didnt agree.

A small sonar thing appeared on her wrist which was a shiny silver almost proving to be too bright to look at making high pitched noises in her ear too hard to ignore as she so dearly hoped. "Fine Im up!" she grumbled angryly sitting up to look around at her surroundings. Seems like she really did land at an island but she didnt see anyone around really. Only alot of commotion coming from within the island. Maybe at its center which shouldn't be too far off.

"Ok so lets figure out where I am." she thought aloud looking at the sonar thingy on her wrist which finally stopped its high pitch ringing. Not being such a good navigator, her father implanted a navigating software to help her with running amok through the seas. Maybe to help her find him or maybe find something else she didn't know but at least it could tell her what island she is at. "Shell Island...Hmm where have I heard that?" she questioned finally getting out of the boat and jumping onto the island pulling her black eye patch firmly over her left eye and tugging her abnormally long sleeves down so that her clothes looked goofily too big for her.

Wait a minute, the sound she had heard not too long ago dispersed and she began seeing people though they didn't do much except for go in their houses and go into secret alleyways and such to plot things. Whats wrong with this place?! Well she still heard sounds from the center of the island so might as well go find out whose there and what the hell is going on around here! With the plan in her mind, she acted upon it at once and walked towards the center of the island which turned out not too far off and saw a rather strange group of people.

Well the first one she noticed was a big ol' fat man, then she saw a girlish boy or a boyish girl, who new all that was for certain she had to be one of those genders, then she saw some suspicious guy talking to this other girl, or boy, why so many croos-gender looking people! And then another guy. There was a small crowd that seemed to be seperating but some continued to stay probably to think over things or another, but those specific people seemed to know more about this thing and probably the ones who would most likely welcome her into the conversation if anything, she just hopes none of them were mechanics and such.

At once her will to find out more about this island was diminished and she wanted to escape at once but her pride wouldnt let her go and after a short tussle in her mind she finally agreed to go up to them. "Umm, hi guys, umm do you know whats going on around here?" she questioned sweated profusely.

[Kurosaki]

Was it just her or did she feel watched? Kaede paused in her steps as a shiver went up her spine. Something had spooked her but she wasn't sure what. Maybe all this talk of disappearances. Kaede sighed. Her inner mind warned her not to get involved and she continued to walk.

That was when out of the corner of her eye she noticed a little girl hunched down, her knees held closely to her chest. The girl's body was shaking as she bawled softly. Kaede felt something twist in her heart. She bit her lower lip and then walked over to the girl.

"Daddy..." cried the little girl softly, almost inaudibly. Kaede wouldn't have been able to hear her if she hadn't been standing in front of the little blond girl looking down upon her with soft eyes. She squatted down and then smiled softly.

"Hey there... Don't worry. The Marines will find your Daddy for you..." Kaede said softly causing the little girl to hiccup and then start, not having known that someone was nearby.

"Do... Do you really think so?" asked the little girl with hopeful eyes as she looked at Kaede now. Kaede realized the burden of her words and saw that hope was what this girl needed most right now.

"Yes, I really do think so," Kaede replied before extending a hand to the girl to take to help her to her feet. "Now, why don't I walk you home? I'm sure that you're mom is worried about you, ne?"

"Nnhn..." agreed the little girl. Kaede saw herself in this girl's place. She had lost her mom at a young age. Now she wanted to find out what was going on here on Shell Island. The pain of the mystery was too much for these innocent people. Kaede would now stop at nothing to help.

-----

Kaede began to walk back to where she had seen the one Marine and the mystery woman from before after dropping the girl off at her home much to the relief of her upset Mother. She had thanked the "young man" that had been so kind to walk her daughter home and had even offered to give Kaede some food but the Archaeologist had politely declined.

Right now she wanted to see what the Marines knew so far about the case. Maybe if she had an understanding she could solve it on her own.

(Sorry for the late reply! I was waiting for Jackal to post. ^__^