Flashback: The Sorceror of Rollin Town

[Deleted]

There was a rumor going around Rollin Town, a small island situated near Reverse Mountain, in the West Blue. Recently, there had been sightings of a Witch of the Sea seen in the forest just on the edge of town. At first, the few that saw the Witch were considered delusional, but soon more and more sightings rose. Every time the town brought together a search party to track down the supposed Witch, they found nothing.

The forest was thick, and disorienting already, and finding one lone man proved to impossible for the townsfolk. Some of them panicked, some grew angry and suspicious, more assumed it was just an elaborate prank. Regardless, many of the townsfolk wanted to do something about this suspected Witch, but none of the authorities took them seriously so far.

Regardless, the rumor spread, and soon most of the nearby islands grew aware of this supposed Witch of the Sea. People came to try and find the Witch, and though a few spotted glimpses, many could not get a hold of him.

And so the rumor spread, and people got more curious. What could a Witch be doing in the woods? Why? And what sort of abilities would they have? The rumor began to attract stranger and stranger attention as time went on...

---

Gibb was really starting to panic now. Usually the nearby town would just be somewhat wary, but skeptical as a whole. Enough to scare the superstitious, but enough reason to win out over it. Now the entire town outside started to believe in his ruse a bit more heavily than he anticipated. It was unlikely he could just walk outside the woods and not be suspected easily at this point, especially carrying all of his gear.

He was doing his best to avoid the curious and search parties, but there was only so much he could do with the sheer volume of people flowing into the woods at any given time. Gibb needed to come up with a better plan soon, or someone a bit TOO superstitious showed up...or perhaps if the authorities got involved...

[.::Haseo On The Clouds::.]

(A flashback thread that takes place after Haseo left his crew momentarily to take down and bring in the bounty of the pirate Mariposa due to shortages in money. This thread takes place after breaking Mariposa out of jail and before meeting back up with his crew. His bounty was 13 million at the time.)

The midnight waves had slowly quieted down to a comfortable, soothing silence that rippled through Haseo's body peacefully as he tied down his small but sturdy marine boat that had been taken after the breakout. It had been roughly a week or so since the Gold Dream Captain had taken down Mariposa, a butterfly pirate who was growing notorious for his criminal deeds in the Blues. In the end, Mariposa was such a gentle spirit, one whom Haseo could sympathize with, and in a brilliant display of a blossoming friendship, Haseo collected the bounty reward and then proceeded to break out Mariposa later that night, stealing a Marine ship in the process.

Soft footprints embedded themselves into the sand that Haseo walked on, leaving imprints of his black boots and clinging ever so desperately onto his soles as he walked onward. "Whew." A breath escaped the youth momentarily as the lights within the darkness loomed closer and closer to him as he grew closer to the nearest town. A sign clumsily stuck down to the left read a warn out, almost illegible sound that Haseo could barely make out. "Rollin Town..." He recited, struggling, and squinting so slightly to read the sign. "Is it Rollin Town or Rolling Town? The sign's so worn out I can hardly tell." With both hands on his hips Haseo leaned forward, face almost foot away from the sign and blew out the dust that covered a majority of the sign. 'Rollin Town' it read.

"Hmmm I guess it really is just Rollin Town. Haha how strange!" A giggle escaped his mouth as he readjusted himself away from the sign. "Well might as well relax, find myself a place to eat..." A sudden growl broke through the gentle atmosphere. "Awwww man FOOD! I'm so starving!!!" Slouching down, bending his knees, Haseo rubbed his empty stomach, almost crying along with his wailing tummy. "LET'S GO!!!"

...

The town itself wasn't so impressive, maybe the sign outside the border gave that away, but it wasn't terrible. More or less it was a semi-modern locale, just by walking by Haseo could tell that it had thriving markets and a simple but comfortable lifestyle after light broke through the night sky. "Not really a place that the crew could go wild in though." He mused, almost missing the vibrant energy and joy that his crew gave him. The place was a quiet, almost a ghost town, hardly anyone could be seen wandering the streets other than himself.

Finding a cozy bar and inn almost midway into town, Haseo walked in, an audible bell ringing as he did so. Contrary to the quiet and mellow atmosphere outside, the place was bustling with people, music, and a whole ton of alcohol. The sudden shift of energy slapped Haseo in the face, prompting him to stand at door with a dumb and surprised look on his face. Yay...what a great first impression. The goal here was to slip into town quietly but now all eyes were on him. Hopefully the town wasn't a Marine occupied territory, with his now 13 million belli bounty Haseo had found himself to be recognized quite easily in the East Blue. If word had reached out as far as West Blue, trouble could possibly brew.

Seconds passed and the glares continued, it felt like minutes actually, but in reality the moment lasted a mere couple seconds before the townsfolk went back to their own business. "Whew...that could've been bad." He gasped, barely audible. Walking towards the bar, Haseo set himself up on the high stool and waited as the bartender proceeded to approach Haseo.

"Well what'll it be stranger? Haven't really seen you around these parts." The bartender spit into a cup, wiping it off roughly with a cloth that was previously hung over his shoulder. Haseo watched. disgusted but also amused at the outright action performed right in front of him, a customer. "Well..." He started, "I was hoping to get a drink but I think I'll pass." Holding his hand up, Haseo waved away the offer. "Quiet town though. What's the deal. You just like to party indoors?" Haseo looked up to the bartender, elbows now on the table and both his hands and fingers interlocked.

A brief moment of nervousness passed along the bartender's face as he set the cup back into a shelf. "Well...you see..." Now hesitance flashed through the bartender's face, "Word has it....we got a WITCH on the outskirts of town. Nasty lad, casting hocus pocus spells in the woods. Has the whole town outright terrified." Haseo cocked his eyebrow, head turning slightly at the bartender's words. "A witch?"

"AYE!" A sudden thump aroused Haseo to turn around to see a big man, roughly 7 feet tall, well built wearing a white wifebeater and a broken glass in his right hand. "Saw them mystical spells with me own eyes. Boy heed my advice! Stay out of those woods you hear me? Stay ou- WHAT THE HELL YOU DOING!? I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!!"

Haseo had walked pass the man and was heading towards the door at this point, a smirk forming on the corner of his mouth. Stopping right by the door, back towards the room Haseo laughed. By now the room was quiet, the men perplexed by the abrupt attitude of the young lad. The laughter died down, a full on smirk was now visible on Haseo's face. "A witch huh?" Haseo turned his head towards the men in the room, the smirk fitting onto his energetic face like the last piece of a puzzle. "A witch huh..."

...

"SOUNDS LIKE FUN!!!"

[Deleted]

Gibb, for now, thought it was better to keep up the charade until he could escape. If they found out he was just some guy...they'd probably just finish him, or arrest him. Or worse, destroy his inventions. Regardless, he had to focus and keep things up for a few more nights, and edge closer to the town for the sole sake of escaping. There had to be an easy way out he wasn't aware of...or a feasible way out he wasn't aware of. It took him a few moments to get that his harness on, which was always the most difficult part.

The easy part were the robes and the other accessories. That only took a few brief moments. Next were the finishing touches. He dirtied up his face a bit, and weaved some seaweed into his hair, all while drenching it a bit. It gave him a bit of a wild look, more so than he usually had. He put his glasses away in a pouch on his belt, hidden beneath his robes. They were only reading glasses thankfully, so he wouldn't need them tonight.

Gibb inspected himself in a cheap mirror he bought and smiled, before frowning, when he realized he would have to spend a good part of the next day getting the seaweed smell out of his nose. That was always the worst part. He sighed, pulled the hood up over his head, and headed out with a faint lantern.

It was enough to see in the dark, and the light was weak enough to not fully expose him. It was also easy to put out. Gibb wandered off into the woods, seeing if there was anyone he could scare away this time...

[.::Haseo On The Clouds::.]

"W-what a weirdo!" The man continued to stare at the the door along with the rest of the men long after Haseo had left. Most of the men in town, even himself, were terrified by the spooky sorcery concocted by that devil Witch, Warlock....whatever the hell IT was! Ever since the witch had arrived, no one had dared venture out into the woods, especially after light. That kid that to be some kind of crazy to wander out in those woods alone. Hell the brat was purposely looking for trouble! Several of the other men in the room glanced at each other, nervousness and responsibility kicking into their skulls. "Sh-shouldn't we go after him!? He's just a kid!!! Disturbed murmuring and hesitation filled the room as the adults straddled amongst themselves. "Hell I ain't going back!" The large man grabbed another drink and downed the whole glass fervently, wiping his mouth afterwards before he continued. "It's his funeral. Let the kid go and we stay quiet about this. Got i?" More murmuring flooded the room. "Shaddup! Let's just get back to enjoying ourselves huh! Hey Mr. Bartender you got the news there? Mind if I take a look? I wasn't able to grab one this mornin. Mr. Bartender....hey! What's the matter?"

The old bartender held the papes with faltering hands, his face full of disbelief. The title read, Gold Dream Pirates Captain 'Black Knight' Haseo, Bounty: 13,000,000 Beli Breaks Into Marine Base, Pirate Mariposa Escapes! "G-gentleman....that young lad....WAS "BLACK KNIGHT" HASEO!!!!"

Chaos swarmed the room. "W-what!? SOMEBODY CALL THE MARINES NOW!!!

...

The forest itself wasn't too bad. Sure it was eerie, spooky, and all things chilling, heck there was even mist materializing the further Haseo travelled, but all in all Haseo was enjoying himself. He thought of the journey as more of a playful haunted house. A witch? All things concerned for Haseo that ear-screechingly screamed adventure! The forest was thick, that was no lie, and the mist added onto the denseness of the locale, however long ago the previous inhabitants of the town must've traversed the area many times seeing as how there was a small but tangible dirt road. Stepping forward with each step, Haseo encountered many different aspects of the forest, or swamp, or desert? Once again the ever familiar sound of squishy footsteps tingled in Haseo's ears as he stepped onto what appeared to be another wet, muddy, almost swamp-like floor. It had been this was for the past twenty minutes or so, the floor of the forest was constantly changing.

Squish squish, thud thud, sink sink, this pattern continued for another ten minutes. With his arms folded, Haseo stopped coming up to the next solid flooring and then scratched his head. "Hmmm now if I were a witch where would I be?" He pondered for a moment. Obviously supernatural beings would enjoy area of this particular kind no? The forest gave of an absolute eerie sensation that positively chilled Haseo down to the bones...in the most exciting way possible. Oh yes Haseo was quite enjoying this adventure. Looking around Haseo tried to squint and put one hand above his eyebrows and scouted the area, unfortunately seeing no more than a whole bunch more trees and some foggy mist.

By now Haseo had come to the crossroad of making a strategy. Perhaps there was another way? "Man I might as well just start breaking down trees and see what happens..." Just as the last word escaped Haseo's mouth, a faint glimmer caught his attention at the corner of his right eye. A light. There was a light. It was dim but Haseo was perceptive and easily observant when focused. Once again a smirk emerged on his mouth as a single thought jumped straight into his brain. "Gotcha."

From what he knew, there was no other person outside at this time at night, especially in the woods. To add on the light was moving, quite creepy, and exhilarating. Without a second though Haseo cupped both hands over his mouth to amplify his voice and yelled out, "HEY! BALL OF LIGHT! ARE YOU THE WITCH!?"

[Deleted]

Gibb was wandering, when suddenly a voice called him out. He wasn't expecting a lone guy to find him, but regardless, it was show time. Gibb quietly cleared his throat and began his schtick. He let loose one smoke bomb, letting the smoke flow lightly out of his left sleeve, as he held the lantern up with his other hand close to his face. In his best creepy voice, he began, "Welcome to the forest traveler...I do hope you...enjoy your time here..."

Gibb finished his initial rant and threw a fire cracker into the air with his left hand. He added in his best evil laugh for good measure. After toying around with the lantern a bit in the smoke, causing the light to refract eerily. His left hand seemed to make some unusual gesture, as he attempted to draw the person's attention to it, and then back to the lantern. He was hoping to grab the staff, currently situated on his back for defense if need be.

"So...have you come searching for a curse? Hexes? Potions? Why are you here child?" Gibb held the lantern close to his face, trying to make himself look as terrifying as possible, "I do not like being disturbed..."

[.::Haseo On The Clouds::.]

Unsurprisingly a voice responded, a spooky, eerie voice that carried a sort of supernatural tint to it that made it appear realistic. "Hehe" he quietly chuckled to himself as smoke rose from seemingly nowhere. This was quite the show. "Welcome to the forest traveler...I do hope you...enjoy your time here..." the voice welcomed. With a lift of the "witch's" left hand what appeared to be a spark flew into the air, causing Haseo to step back slightly as to not get burned, all the while still smirking. "So this is the scaaaary witch that has been haunting these woods huh? Not gonna lie this guy's a pro, I wonder if it really is magic?" The witch made gestures that prompted Haseo to oooh and aaaah accordingly, holding himself back from giggling.

Honestly, Haseo was quite thrilled at the moment, even though he had come searching for some powerful displays of...ahem....magic, Haseo was still oogling at the thought of possibly meeting a true sorcerer, even though he knew that this might not have been the case. Without changing his facial expression one bit, Haseo prepared himself, "I might as well play with the guy, see if he's the real deal."

A serious expression shadowed over Haseo's face as he lifted both his arms up, just a little over shoulder length, elegantly yet eerily and looked the with in the eyes. "No worries friend..." Haseo said in a deep terrible voice. "I meant not to disturb you, I have merely come to express my greeting...to you....a fellow practitioner of the dark arts." In that moment a discharge of electricity flowed from Haseo's sleeves, coming for him special electrical chains hidden beneath his clothing. "I am Hex, a Warlock, a Demon, I am many things. I am known as the Reaper of Souls, the Guardian of the Dead, and the Slayer of Light." At that moment Haseo stopped himself before he burst out laughing. After a second's pause, he continued, letting out a continuous discharge this time, and with the combination of the electricity, shifted both of his arm and hands into metallic claws."Now...what is your name?"

Perfect. Just perfect. With his...hopefully convincing acting abilities coupled by his black clothing, his Executioner's Blade, and the display of electricity and morphing his arms into metallic claws, Haseo would truly find out just what this guy was. "Now...let's see if your bluffing."

[Deleted]

Gibb...paused. Mentally at least, he had to pull the lantern away from his face to make sure the guy didn't see the surprise. After a moment of silence, Gibb concluded that this guy was one of two people. The first was a nutball. Gibb was really hoping that wasn't the case, because that would be very obnoxious to deal with. That sort of person would probably take him a bit TOO seriously, and that could be dangerous.

Though the second option was almost just as annoying as the first. That meant that someone was on to him. Hopefully this guy wasn't the law...as that meant Gibb was finally being investigated. He would have to play this carefully, and try not to blow his cover. He lifted up his lantern higher and set it up on a nearby branch, "Well...well..."

Drawing the light away from himself, Gibb dropped another smoke bomb in front of himself to mask his movements. As he did this, he reached over to his Quarter staff, and latched it to the junk launcher on his left arm as quietly as he could. Gibb did his best to talk over the noise with his booming witch voice, "I am called Gibbous...as the moon which is partially obscured in darkness...slowly fading into the night..."

This man obviously had some tricks..but Gibb wasn't quite sure what they were yet. Time to try and goad them out of him, "So...'Hex', do you mock me with your antics? I would say that is...most unwise..." Gibb threw a firecracker close in front of himself as he waved his staff around to mask the toss. His face lit up briefly with a dark and serious expression.

[.::Haseo On The Clouds::.]

Okay fun time was over, there was absolutely no way that Haseo could keep up this hoax for much longer. From the look of things this "Gibbous" called his bluff and Haseo didn't have quite as near as many resources as the latter. Swiftly yet efficiently, Haseo retraced his chains and resumed his normal form, sighing as he did so. "Now what's so unwise with having a little fun now? I mean, after all you're doing the same thing." Haseo pouted as he crossed his arms, eying down Gibbous with an accusing glare. it would've possibly been a little more fun if Haseo had come more prepared. Honestly he was mostly expecting a show, pretending to run away and lure Gibbous out. Nowhere in his original intentions did Haseo plan to play the part of a magical being, it was merely in the spur of the exciting moment.

A howl could be heard from the distance as Haseo stared down the supposed witch. His brain was whirling with possible reasons as to why Gibbous was out in the woods spooking people. It was obvious that Gibbous purposefully attempted to scare Haseo off, but why? "Hmmm...you're not from here, otherwise the locals would've noticed you by now." A sudden shift in expression overtook Haseo's face as he began to question Gibbous. "You're either terrorizing the locals for some gain, possibly driving them out, starting something, which doesn't seem to be the case, or you're stalling, trying to keep them away as you accomplish something. So tell me....what's the story?" A barely audible ruffled followed as Haseo slipped his hands into his pockets, thus signalling that he meant no immediate physical harm to the spellcaster.

The moment that Haseo had heard about the witch haunting the area, Haseo knew that he had to get to the bottom of things. His simple curiosity demanded a course of action. The moment that Haseo had made his decision, Gibbous was trapped. Haseo wouldn't let what aroused his curiosity to get away. not only that but something had tickled at the back of Haseo's mind. From what he had heard, the hauntings were quite recent, however Haseo saw no other sea vessel by the shore other than his. If it were a local then their ship would be located in the town port, where a townsfolk would easily identify or at least narrow the suspects. The actions displayed by Gibbous proved to show that he was not a local, not only that it appeared as if he was trapped. So what....what was the story?

A thick fog had begun to gather around the area where Haseo and Gibbous were facing off. With this Haseo could reason why the townsfolk were afraid of these woods, it was a perfect locale for hiding, and for a trickster such as Gibbous, it was an ideal place to carry out any sort of illusion to drive out unwanted guests such as Haseo himself. Haseo already had a clear guess as to why Gibbous was up to was he was, however he couldn't kind rely on his analysis until Gibbous gave his answer.

[Deleted]

Gibb paused...longer...

This guy had basically figured things out, and Gibb was sort of pushed in a corner now. He didn't have any raw, powerful abilities like this guy seemed to have, and his charade had been seen through. Beyond running away, he didn't have any cards left to play. Gibb thought for a moment, and concluded that this guy...probably wasn't a marine. It was a wild guess, but it at least seemed like this guy wasn't a government agent.

If that assumption was true, Gibb had no idea who this guy really was. Hopefully he wasn't here to capture and or kill Gibb, so perhaps he could just talk the guy down. Gib pulled down his hood and wiped some of the nonsense off of his face. His expression went from a wily witch to a slightly annoyed inventor in an instant. His hair was still filled with seaweed though. He kept the staff attached to the launcher for now, and began speaking, "All right, all right, you got me."

He stepped forward and began, "Name's Gibb Caulder. I'm an inventor, working on gadgets and the like for my own personal enjoyment really. Problem is, people are annoying, so they always seemed to hound me and bug me all day. Mostly to fix things, or kids screwing with me. Then, I got the idea to pretend to be a witch to get people to leave me the hell alone. I used some gizmos to aide in the illusion to scare away people that came investigating, and put on my normal look when the authorities came knocking."

"Worked every time. And after a little while, I'd head to the next island, so that the rumor on the last one just disappeared. This worked like a charm...until this island. The locales here are far more superstitious than I thought they'd be, and they began flipping out. Eventually got a few marine squads to look into it. I avoided those guys, since they thought the locales were nuts, but the townsfolk have an eye on the forest, and if they saw me coming out...I think I'd have problems..." Gibb frowned.

[.::Haseo On The Clouds::.]

(BAH! This isn't my best work)

Haseo listened to Gibb's story, no apparent shift in facial apparent, however in his mind, the curious captain took in the information like a sponge and quickly matched his pieces to the puzzle to Gibb's story. Although he could quite the troublesome one at times, Haseo in actuality, possessed a capable analytical mind that could quickly deduce situations when need be. This side to him was however clouded on several occasions due to his curiosity and his character of acting on compulsions too quickly. If the Black Night just ever took a quick pause and a step back, he would find his mind whirling and working like a well run machine. Utilizing this skill right now, quick understanding flooded Haseo's mind. Shifting his posture ever so slightly, the usually bright and slumped young man fixed himself to stand upright, signalling that he meant business.

Something other than Gibb's story intrigued him. The inventor in front of Haseo was clever, that was evident through Gibb's constant success in fooling townspeople....although in this particular case it was a bit too much. With curiosity almost hitting him like a truck, Haseo twitched and blurringly extended his hands out to grab Gibb's shoulders. At this point Haseo was face to face with Gibbs, almost eye to eye, comedic in a way. With eyes sparkling, he blurted out, "YOU'RE AN INVENTOR!? That's awesome!!! And you concocted this whole witch thing!? That's even more awesome!! almost as if he had forgotten the situation. For any sane person that had to go through Haseo's sudden change in approach, a whiplash would have surely been proper for this moment. What the heck was up with this guy!? Well, Haseo was Haseo, and as much as he could be seriously, he could also be an absolute imbecile at other times.

Taking a few moments to find himself again, the energetic lad popped his hands off of Gibb's shoulders, laughing as he did so. "I'm sorry, let's get back to the matter at hand." Folding his arms, Haseo shifted his weight towards one side of his body, cocking his head slightly to that side before continuing. "Looks like we have a dilemma on our hands. If you leave by yourself, the townspeople would probably be provoked to fight you off. So this is what I propose to you..."

This was the crucial moment for him! He had been hiding his excitement for this long, everything came up to this moment. The wind blew furiously, almost as if it was reacting to Haseo's bottled up energy. This Gibbous, or Gibb's was an interesting fellow. Just by experiencing the illusions first hand, Haseo knew he had made the right decision by coming to the forest. This was the moment of truth, now he would just have to phrase things carefully. "I'll help you escape." He said, almost as if it was nothing. Haseo even looked away as offered his help, puffing his cheeks out in a cute way. "Look these people here are afraid of you. So how should we handle this? I capture you. That simple. I'll lead you out of the forest and take you to my ship. I'll 'throw' you in and we'll set sail. We can expect some suspicions but hey....we'll improvise. As for the marines....well seems like nobody here recognizes me....uhhhh more of that later." Stretching out his hand, Haseo smiled brightly as a final gesture of his invitation.

"....Yeah I'll reveal the rest to you later..."

[Deleted]

Gibb frowned, "Seriously? That's the best plan you have? What if the villagers want to torch me immediately? What if the marines want to lock me up for disturbing the piece? What if we don't make it to your ship? There's way...way too many questions here...makes me nervous and all that"

He sighed and thought for a moment. Gibb's other options were to try and wait things out, explain the situation to the villagers, or try to make a break for it on his own. Those options looked even worse unfortunately. After a few moments of thought, he looked at this guy and said, "Fine, we'll do it your way. I don't have many other options at this point, and I have no plans on getting arrested or burned at the stake."

Gibb pulled his hood back up and stepped forward. He wasn't quite sure how this would go down, how long it would take, or anything. Gibb would not have any control over the situation. That made him a bit sick to his stomach.

He finally gave in and said, "All right...let's go, what do I need to do? Do you need me in a sack or something? Pretend to be unconscious? Actually be unconscious? Tied up? What?"