Begining [Queen Pirates]

[Blaka]

The sun was burning hot and the air was flickering. Zarzara's climate was really completely different to the streets of Acatopa. The ferry swimming down the canal towards Waq Waq at least had an awning on the deck that protected the passengers from sunburns, but it didn't help at all against the heat. The bees she had taken with her from home slowly started drying out, she could feel that. It seemed they weren't all that resistant to heat afterall, even inside her. Once the the ship arrived in the oasis, she would have to gather some more.
Melosa stood on the railing of the small ferry and looked over the small canal to the Zarzara desert. Even though 20 miles away from her home island, she had never been to Waq Waq. She had read about it a lot though, and knew that in its early days the island had basically been a slave to the Ciudadela Queendom.
Watching the desert carefully, she could see various snakes and scorpions fight each other in the sand. This was truly a hostile environment in every way, no wonder the Waq Waq people thought they were better off hidden in their oasis if their outside world looked like that.

Around noon, the ferry arrived in the oasis. Here, everything was different again. This was a lively environment, with lots of green, lots of happy people and clear water everywhere. Even the heat was suddenly not as bad anymore. In the middle of the terrible desert, here in Waq Waq gathered lots of joyful people, who were happy with their lives. On the docks, new ships constantly arrived and left and a bit further down the beach, shipwrights were working just now on new ships.
The latter was one of Melosa's two goals for coming here. If she wanted to be a pirate and sails to Fishman Island, she needed to get herself a ship. And a Crew. A Crew was definetly the priority. And where better to start in Waq Waq, where it was no secret that the citizens constantly sold their ships to upstart pirates. She would just need to make her offer known throughout the city and she would surely find some qualified people to help her on her journey.

With this in mind, she walked into the first bar she could find and ordered a drink and something to write on. After five minutes, the piece of paper said "QUEEN B. MELOSA PIRATE CREW, LOOKING FOR CREWMATES", with her Jolly Roger, two tulips, one red, one blue, crossed behind a skull. Yes, this should do.
"Huh, a pirate girl?" muttered a man sitting next to her at the counter. He was tall and muscular, with a brown fluffy bear around his chin and wearing nothing but black trousers and a dark red cape around his shoulders. "You don't really look the t-"
He stopped mid sentence when he recognized the name. Queen B. was usually associated around here with a nobel businesswoman from the Queendom. With lots of money. Hastily, he threw some coins on the counter, stood up and left. The daughter of the Queen Bs running around on Zarzara without protection and looking to start a pirate crew. That was a rare opportunity with lots of potential.

[lochstar]

Chase had needed that drink. And the six that had preceded it in rapid succession, surprising many of the other patrons of the bar. Wiping his mouth the sharpshooter placed one elbow on the bench and put his weight on it, sighing as he did so. He was wearing his typical black cowboy hat despite being inside and attracted even more stares, people apparently couldn't get enough of looking at a young man in a cowboy hat down countless drinks. Weirdos. Of course, he had no money to pay for all of the drinks that he'd just downed so he would be in trouble shortly. However he wasn't worried in the slightest, he'd think of some way out of it. He always ended up and in a similar situation in one way or another and as such he was quite used to the feeling. Not that it had worried him the first time it had happened to him on his journey. 

He'd arrived in the oasis not that long ago, having somehow sailed his pathetic dingy into a desert oasis...that had to be some kind of a record for either worst sailing or the greatest occasion of blind luck in history. And despite his attire suggesting otherwise the heat had bothered him all the way, it had been utterly sweltering and he'd ended up parched. Of course, the irony that a cowboy was uncomfortable in a desert was not lost on Chase and he had quite a laugh on his way to the oasis. As soon as he arrived at a town he moored the boat on the banks a distance back and then gotten out and walked. It hadn't been an awful lot of fun but he'd survived and was well on his way to getting a good drink. Which he now had and as such he was looking for the next thing to do which was...he had no idea, but things tended to happen and as such he hedged his bets on blind luck giving him something to do. If not he could just hit the bars and flirt with women. Or just shoot some stuff. That was a possibility as well.

However fate did seem to have something in mind for him as he saw a young woman walk in the bar, she had a different look to her than most of the people in that bar. She didn't look like a wanderer or a rough pirate, she wasn't rugged enough and she looked inexperienced which surprised Chase quite a lot, he'd figured that only drifters like him or pirates laying low would end up here, but he was evidently quite wrong. He saw her sit down and decided to just continue with what he was doing, which was nothing. With yet another sigh he just continued to sit at the bar, looking for was whilst pondering what to do. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she was writing something down and didn't think anything of it until the man next to her suddenly slammed down a number of coins and paced out after her. Upon inspection Chase noticed the amount of coins was far too great for the drinks he'd purchased, as such he decided that it could be out to better use and with one quick movement the coins had been moved to his own hands.

While it may have been immoral Chase was a pirate and he did what suited him. Waiting a few seconds he placed the coins down on the bench and went over to inspect the piece of paper and as he read his left eyebrow rose. It was an advertisement to join a pirate crew, and that seemed somewhat interesting to Chase. He'd been looking for something to do and he'd gotten something to do. Grinning he decided to go out after this Queen B. Melosa and see what it was that man was looking for. He may have been eager to join the crew, which could be interesting but he didn't look like someone trying to find an adventure, he most likely had some ulterior motive. The reason that Chase didn't recognize the name and join the dots was because he was from the West Blue and not familiar with the workings of the South.

Striding out of the bar Chase opened the doors and began to search for this woman and his next great adventure. 

[Blaka]

Meanwhile, Melosa continued her recruitment campaign. Every bar she could find near the docks, she went in, wrote another flyer and let it sit on the counter.
What she didn't notice was a group of pirates behind her, slowly becoming more and more until half a dozen followed her, trying to stay unnoticed until the right moment.

Which came soon enough, as she went further and further away from the docks and slowly walked into a part of Waq Waq that came closer to the desert. Melosa noticed it and took a turn into a more secluded alleyway. Afterall, she didn't want to scare people off. She slowly took off her yellow gloves and raised her hand into the sky. Inside her palm, one could see a yellow hole in her hand.
"Yoho-Bako - Tsudou!", she whispered.
Nothing happened at first. For about ten seconds, the girl stood perfectly still and waited. Then she heard a buzzing sound, slowly getting louder from all directions. From above the rooftops, hundreds of bees from around the area came flying in small clouds, then dashed down when they were right above her and flew in quick succession into her hand, one after another. When the last one was inside, she slipped her gloves back on. Better safe then sorry in an area like this.

It was 4pm by now, one last bar, then she would take to the city market and look around there.
When she entered, she immediatly noticed she was in the wrong place. The whole place was run-down, broken chairs were lying in the corner, something that maybe was a fan once with only one rotor blade was hanging from the ceiling, something had broken a big piece of wood out of the counter and there was only one window and a few candles, which made for a dark and hostile atmosphere. At the counter stood a big molly woman that looked at her with an unpleasant gaze and in the corner were some men smoking.
Still, she thought, this looked like a place pirates would frequent, it couldn't hurt to leave another message here.

Outside, her pursuers prepared to make the coup of their life.

[lochstar]

Chase was somewhat surprised by the erratic pattern of the girl' movements, she didn't seem to have a particular pattern in mind and just wandered around, seeking any bars she could find. The cowboy followed her at a distance, often walking into the bars she did once she'd vacated them or lingered in them for too long, only to notice an ever increasing number of fliers advertising her crew. He also noticed that the man from the bar who had been kind enough to "donate" his loose change to compensate for Chase's drinking habit as well as a few other men of various builds and heights following her around just as he was. Of course they weren't anywhere near as subtle as he was and were essentially following the woman around, standing only a few feet behind her in a group of six. They definitely didn't have noble intentions and were not looking to join a pirate crew, at least not the one that she was offering to them.

As the pursuit dragged on the marksman placed a cigar in his mouth and lit it, taking a good long drag on it. He continued to smoke it for quite a while until the woman finally entered a dingy little bar and the men looked just about ready to strike. The shirtless one in the cape seemed to be the leader as he explained what Chase could only presume to be some form of plan to the group. Breathing out smoke the marksman looked towards the building and decided to walk over towards it. The group of pirates didn't seem to notice him and as such he was able to get quite close before they even realized that he was approaching them. Of course he wouldn't be a threat to them, yet. He didn't want to pick a fight with six separate pirates, most of who looked like they could take him down with a single punch. As such he just walked towards the entrance in silence, smoking one of his cigars with his head low and his face in shadow from the brim of his hat. As he got very close one of the group noticed him and nudged the leader which diverted his attention to the strange boy heading towards the bar.

"Gentlemen." Chase acknowledged the group with a tip of his hat before he walked into the bar, getting the attention of the group. It was possible that the cowboy intended to take Melosa for himself and get all the money that could come with extortion. Immediately the ma in charge began to plot with the others, he decided that there were two main options. The first was to storm the bar and try to take him down which might not work if he was too powerful for them all to handle. He'd handled himself with a certain swagger and anyone brave enough to step past a group of pirates was likely a risk. This was to course wrong, but they didn't know that. The second option was to offer to join him and give him some backup, only to kill him in his sleep. Of course there was the possibility he'd just knock the girl out and then escape or refuse their offer.

Meanwhile Chase had walked into the bar and surveyed the area. It was an absolute mess, a true pirate bar and he couldn't help but notice how out of place Melosa seemed amongst the filth. "Hey." Chase announced, looking up from under the brim of his hat, revealing his face. "I saw that you're looking for crew members, tell me more about these Queen Pirates." The cowboy requested, doing his best to keep his swagger up in order to make himself appear like a decent pirate to add to the crew. After all nobody wanted a bumbling idiot to fight alongside them and despite hiss weakness Chase was quite the smooth talker.

[Blaka]

Sitting at the counter, Melosa had nearly finished another flyer, when a young man entered the bar.
She estimated him to be around her own age, though maybe a bit older. He was a bit shorter than herself and quite skinny. His attire resembled a cowboy; he wore a black big hat on his head and had two holsters hanging down left and right. Looking up from under his hat, he inquired about the Queen Pirates.
The man seemed like a nice gentleman and looked like he had seen his fair share of adventure already. She was off to a good start.

"Queen B. Melosa, nice to meet you.", she answered. "I'm looking for Crewmembers to sail the Grand Line. This, " she held up her flyer, pointing at the Jolly Roger in the middle "is my flag. You look like someone that can handle himself, everyone is welcome, esspecially people that can handle themselves! Though I haven't had much luck yet.." Even the last sentence, she said with a friendly smile on her face.
The men in the corner laughed at her. One of them yelled: "Ain't you a noble? What's a high and mighty girl like you doin in a place like this?!"
Melosa simply looked at him with a scoffing halfsmile. The guy who had yelled looked like he had been sitting in that chair for a year now and hadn't even gotten up to have a bath. She didn't even bother with and answer, turned back to the man in front of her and chuckled. "So, what's your name then? And what are your goals?"

Outside, the men decided to just enter and sit down close to the door one after another, so they would not attract the girl's attention and could observe the situation and stop the gunslinger should he try to run with their prey. Their  First Mate, a small fat one with a giant red nose, white, greasy hair and a long, messy, white beard, came in first, nodded to the barkeeper woman and sat down.

[lochstar]

Chase grinned at the comment about heading to the Grand Line, that seemed to coincide with his goals nicely, but then again who wasn't heading there these days? He then heard her say that she hadn't had much luck and Chase supposed it made sense. The majority of people here weren't looking for crews, they were after money and liquor. Nothing more and nothing less, of course he'd come here looking for liquor and something to do in equal measure and he'd found both. The cowboy was about to respond when he suddenly heard some great wit in the corner point out that she was in fact a noble. His eyes widened at this and suddenly the previously irrational pursuit of the six or so pirates made a lot more sense. With a wry grin Chase lifted his hat off his head and nodded. 

"Well, looks like I'm in the company of high class." He mused. "My name is Chase Perkins and I'm looking to find the One Piece like pretty much everybody else. But I intend to do it in style while being known as the greatest shot on the seas." He explained a he placed his hat back on his head. He heard a snort from the corner and looked over to see the man sitting in the corner. "Tch, kids and their dreams, the two of you ain't nothing but a bunch of airheads kidding themselves." He mocked before laughing heartily and lifting his bottle up to his lips. The exact movements that followed were difficult to make out but it was apparent that Chase was suddenly holding one of his flintlock pistols in his right hand and with an elegant pull of his trigger the glass of alcohol was suddenly shattered with no damage to the man drinking it. 

Looking back over at the boy with an angry expression on his face he saw the cowboy putting his pistol back in its holster with his head facing down so his hat shaded his face. "People's dreams...are nothing to laugh at!" Chase suddenly roared as he looked up at the man in the corner, staring him down for his statement about dreams. Meanwhile the small fat man had entered the bar and was most likely surprised by what he saw. A teen staring down a much older man with a look that could reduce somebody to ash and the very woman he was after present. So it seemed that he wasn't planning to take her, or at least hadn't done so yet. He'd have to be careful to stop him from taking what was rightfully there's.

[Blaka]

The greatest shot on the seas, huh? And a dreamer, looking for the One Piece. Well, that was probably the best combination Melosa could have stumbled upon. And one who stood up for his dreams as well, so quick with his gun she had barely been able to see what was happening. She began to like the new guy more and more.

"Hey, put that away!", shouted the barkeeper woman at the shooter. "Take your fight outside, no shooting in 'ere, I already got enough problems!"
Melosa laughed, a high-pitched, clear laugh. Exactly what she had been looking for. "It's okay, we are leaving." Turning to her new crewmate, she chuckled. "Don't get so angry mate! That's just an old bag of dirt who has nothing left anymore. Accepted, you can come sail with me. We need some more members though, it's not like we can sail the Grand Line with only two people, right?"
With these words, she jumped off of her chair, put some coin on the counter, patted the angry cowbody on the back and headed for the door.
Where she got intercepted by the little fat pirate that had just come in. The man wasn't the least bit impressed with what Chase had been doing, they had people in their crew that could crack the guy's skull with their bare hands.
"Queen B. Melosa?", the midget inquired with a nasal voice, "I need you to meet someone." That was the signal. The captain, the man that had found Melosa in the first place, entered the door, his crew followed. Slowly, Melosa backed off. Except the dwarf, all of the men towered over her.
The first mate contiued, talking towards the barkeeper, who seemed to recognize him now, slowly stepping her way to the door behind her. "Sorry to bother you again, Miss, we won't be long." Turning back to Melosa, he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the captain. "My name is Lucotor Enano, our crew's first mate and the quickest gun in the South I have met in my whole life. This man is behind me is Jicote Alborotador, a pirate with a bounty of 4,000,000 Beri. You will come with us for a while before we return you back home for a fair amount of money." The behind him grinned and drew their weapons. Jicote himself took a giant cleaver, with a blade almost as long as his arm, from under his cape.

So that was what this was about. Well, the time to show what she trained for had come sooner than she liked, but this was what she worked for afterall. In one fluent movement, her hands slipped out of her gloves and reached out to her back. Jumping back one more meter, she drew her swords and took on a fightings stance.

[lochstar]

Chase calmed down upon hearing Melosa tell him to forget about the large man and accept his request to join her crew. He then nodded to the apparent noble. "Nyahaha, I guess not. Well unless you're some kind of a monster." He replied with a charming grin. This would most likely be an interesting experience if nothing else and Chase decided that getting closer to the One Piece couldn't be a bad thing. As such he began to head towards the door only to see his captain stopped by a short man. He the noticed the group of guys from outside come in and sighed, he'd been right about their intentions. The cowboy listened to their bragging and was only really interested when he heard the apparently humble first mate refer to himself as the best shot in the South and the "quickest gun" he'd ever met. Challenge accepted.

"Well I'm afraid that I can't allow any of you gents to harm this lovely lady, see she and I are now nakama so you should back off or you'll have to deal with me." Chase explained with a wry grin. Of course he didn't look as intimidating as he hoped, all of these men besides the first mate dwarfed him with ease. "And you're about to see a quicker gun mister 'best shot in the South'." Chase teased. "Namely me." He finished before turning his head to his own captain and grinning upon seeing her getting ready to fight. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to deal with the short one quickly. I take it you can hold off these bozos till I get back?" Chase asked. He really wasn't making any friends among this rough bar, in fact he'd done nothing but annoy what seemed to be veteran pirates...probably not the best idea but Chase was just being himself.

[Blaka]

Oh, sure, she could hold 6 men that apparently destroyed the whole bar here a while back, she thought to herself sarcastically.

Cursing, the barkeeper disappeared in the back room and shut the door behind her.
Lucotor Enano sighed, completely ignoring Chase. In a monotone voice, as if he said these exact words a hundred times before, he rattled off: "Please put your weapon away Miss, if you don't want to get hurt. If you do not put your weapon away, we will have to be forced to use violence against you, which would not benefit either of us, since you get hurt and we cannot get a good enough price. I will not ask again, so I would advise you to cooperate."

Melosa didn't think of cooperating one bit. Instead, she showed the pirates the hexagonal hole in her right hand and moved her right hand as if she was wiping a chalkboard in front of the enemies. "Yoho-Bako: Sorasu!"
Concentrating for a second, she activated the pheromones in her body to make the bees inside her come out. Now it was everybody else's turn to back off. Within a matter of seconds, a wall of insects build itself up between her and the agressors, buzzing aggressively. This was supposed to give time to prepare while the enemy was startled.
"A Devil Fruit, huh? Even better, you know how much money we can make selling you?", Lucotor shouted over the loud buzzing sound. But Melosa didn't listen anymore. With three large steps, she was at the counter, hopped over it and followed the barkeeper in the backroom, a small kitchen.

The woman was cowering in the corner, screaming when the swordfighter came in. On Melosa's left, a large window led back on the streets. Perfect. With a slash of her swords, she shattered the window and jumped outside, rolling off on the ground to minimize the damage.
The pirates obviously hurt that sound and came running back on the street. Out here, two story houses marking the narrow street. Having their target so easily escape from their trap annoyed the pirates quite a bit, so they were eager to end this.
Melosa was too. This fight was unnecessary if she could just run and escape now. She got up and started running in the other direction, away from the enemies. But she only came two or three steps far. With every step, there was a bullet landing directly in front of their foot in the ground. She stopped and turned around.
"So you realized.", laughed the First Mate. "I missed intentionally, one more try and I'll just shoot your feet. And your little insects here won't help you if that happens. The cloud of bees blocking the entrance came flying over the pirates' heads towards Melosa and positioned itself behind her, ready for commands.
Hopefully, Chase was done soon with whatever he planned.

[lochstar]

Chase grinned at the monotone of the man's voice, it was apparent they engaged in activities of this nature quite frequently as he was so annoyed about engaging in typical hostage protocol that he spoke in monotones. Naturally Melosa didn't like this idea and prepared herself for a battle, raising her...palm forwards? Tilting his head to the side curiously Chase prepared to see what she would do. And then stumbled forwards in shock upon seeing her send a swarm of bees out of her palm thus creating a large wall of insects. Now that was something the the most certainly hadn't been expecting. She then proceeded to sprint out of the building, escaping while the group of pirates sprinted out after her, not even leaving one man to deal with him. "Wait?" Chase asked. "Have I been left behind by my crew already? Am I that weak that the opposing pirates don't even bother to try and stop me?" He lamented before sighing, he did have to go have his captain even if she left him alone with a group of dangerous pirates despite being the one possessing a Devil Fruit. And a Devil Fruit that would be incredibly potent in enclosed spaces as the bees would be able to swarm opponents and leave them essentially nowhere to run...he would really need to have a good long talk with her after this was all done.

Deciding to follow his captain the cowboy sprinted at top speed through the back room that she had gone through shortly before, nearly bowling over the woman who owned the bar and warranting a powerful slap upside the head for fighting in her establishment and brining the people who'd flattened it previously back before he was able to escape and leap out the window. Once there Chase realized that he had no idea where his captain went and as such just shrugged and ran. He ran for a short period of time before he noticed a large group of bees flying overhead and gathering at a certain point. Knowing that it meant Melosa was there Chase began to run along, heading through alleyways and reaching the location quite quickly. It was at the point he noticed something white convenient, one of the houses had a ladder leaning against it. With a grin Chase scrambled up it and decided to make an entrance. With speed and stealth Chase loaded his gun with a certain buklet and fired just behind the first mate, causing a small explosion behind him, not enough to seriously injure him, but enough to knock him forwards slightly and get the attention of both fighters in the street.

"I'm afraid that woman you're attacking there is my nakama, so I'm gonna have to stop you right there." Chase explained, his head tilted down slightly causing his hat to shadow his face. He then looked up, a grin on his face. "Besides, this'll be a good way for me to test myself against these South Blue guys." He continued. "And you've managed to split them up so it won't be too hard to pluck them off with the cool power of yours right?" Chase asked. "I'll be there to help you in a minute, as,soon as I'm finished with this joker." The cowboy finished, still smiling his trademark grin while looking down on both those present.

[Blaka]

Just moments after she was getting ready to fight, Chase appeared on one of the roofs above and solved the problem. With the midget occupied, she was able to avoid fighting now and could try her strategy.
"I'll be back soon, look after yourself!", she shouted over to him, then turned around and started running again. 20 meters away, there was a she ran into a narrow street to her right.  Before Jicote and his Crew could see her doing it, she turned right yet again and rushed down an alleyway that was practically directly behind the bar, while letting her wall of bees fly to the left away from her, making sure the pirates could see them. And the trick worked. While their queen could run in one direction, the bees floated down the other, effectively making her pursuers run after them.

Well that had been easy, the thought to herself. Though she wouldn't have much time until the men noticed or caught up to her insects. Trusting in Chase to take care of the First Mate the right way, she turned left yet again - and ended up in some kind of courtyard, a dead end, locked off by buildings on three side, the only way back being the way she came.
Then, she heard big feet coming closer and closer. Gasping, she turned around and got ready. This time, there was really no other way.
The 4 Million Beri captain, Jicote Alborotador himself, came around the corner, alone, dragging his giant cleaver behind him on the ground. His cape had to have fallen off when running after his victim. The pirate towered over the girl. Stroking his beard with the left hand and slowly raising his weapon with the right, he came to a hold in the entrance.
"How stupid", he said "Do you think we are, huh? My men are dealing with your little bastards and your so called nakama is probably dead already. By the way, what Lucotor said about not harming you ealier, I don't actually care. And when you little BITCH", he emphasized that word by crashing his cleaver into the ground "insult us like that, you're gonna get whats coming to ya!"

On the last word, he jumped foward and swung his weapon so fast and hard that Melosa barely got get her swords up to stop the blade from slicing her in half. For a split second, the three blades crossed, then she was send flying two meters through the air and hit her back on the stone wall. It hurt. There was no way she could beat such a force in prolonged one on one combat, she needed to end this quickly or her journey would end already.

"Yoho-Bako - Tsudou!"

[lochstar]

"Heh, no problem." Chase replied as Melosa ran away. The cowboy then sighed and looked back towards his opponent who had just stood up and was grinning maliciously at him. "So, you think you're pretty brave huh? Taking on the best shot in the South?" The midget sneered as Chase grinned. "Nyahahahaha, took the words right out of my mouth." Chase replied causing the opposing first mate's grin to fade away replaced by a frown. "I've killed countless upstart brats just like you. What makes you think you're better?" He asked, evidently trying to intimidate the arrogant cowboy. "Unlike them I'm a better shot than you." Chase taunted causing his opponent's frown to deepen. "Big words for someone who can't even hit a target at point blank range, with an exploding bullet!" The midget replied. "Like you're one to talk, you apparently can't hit a girl at point blank range with multiple bullets." Chase replied despite not knowing whether the first mate of the opposing crew had actually fired a single shot. However his guess was correct and his opponent growled at him.

 It was at that point that the midget's hand blurred and in an instant he held a gun up to Chase once more grinning maliciously. "Heh not so cocky now huh?" The man asked evidently confident in the speed of his gunslinging. "Tch, slow." Chase replied causing the shooter's eyebrows to furrow. "What did you just say?" He demanded. "I called you slow and rightly so. Is that really the fastest you can go?" The cowboy asked. "You reckon you're faster than me pulling this trigger?" Lucotor asked. "If you're anywhere near as slow as you are drawing then yeah." Chase replied with a sly grin. "Very well, this'll be how we test who's faster." The midget replied with a sly grin, only to see Chase's own hand blur and before he could react he'd fired...at the roof he was standing on. This caused smoke to billow out of the area around him and Lucotor to cry out in protest. "You cheated!" Before firing numerous shots, none of them hitting a target he couldn't see. "Nyahaha! I'm a pirate not a saint!" Chase cried out. The midget shot at the are where he thought he'd heard the voice coming from but hit nothing. 

Deciding that hat he needed to reload the midget acted on the principle that if he couldn't see Chase his opponent couldn't see him and as such quickly opened his gun and began the process with quick and practiced movements. Meanwhile Chase couldn't see his opponent, because he'd almost immediately set down the ladder behind him after a quick amount of dancing around in the smoke and taunting his opponent. At that moment he was just at the bottom of the ladder and noticed an absence of gunshots, he decided that he wouldn't go around and try to shoot his opponent down immediately. Despite his bravado before this man was quick to draw, but evidently didn't posses the greatest reflexes. Chase was pretty sure he would be able to react at greater sped but he wasn't certain whether he would be able to outpseed him in terms of drawing his gun. He'd have to test his opponent more, see if he could move at greater speeds before devising a plan to take him down. After all gunslingers were among the most dangerous types of fighters as no matter how strong you became one well timed and placed bullet was all it took to end your life. As such Chase would be careful against this self proclaimed veteran.

[Blaka]

The two combatants heard gunfire over from where the bar was.
"And that's the death of your new cremate, little bitch." You could say what you wanted about Jicote's midget gunner, at least he was way more polite than his captain. Who proceeded to let his cleaver come down on her with such force that it actually got stuck in the ground, while Melosa had to quickly dodge rolling to the side and barely getting up again.

She would not be able to survive if she didn't attack herself, otherwise, one of these heavy strikes would hit. And she would die. Only thing left to do was to keep him busy until her bees arrived. Hopefully the pirates didn't slaughter every single one of them. Her back hurt a bit, but she would be able to make it.

Jumping at the pirate with her swords crossed in front of her, she slashed at him simultaneously with both. But her opponent easily blocked her hit by turning and stopping the blade with his own.
"Oooh, did I get you angry, little bitch?" The man seemed amused. "Your man is dead, and you have nowhere to run to, might just as well give up. Though if you struggle more, I'll have more f- AAAH"
Melosa had landed a hit. While Jicote had been talking, she had managed to cut his left fist with her left sword. Blood was tripping on the ground. She smiled.
"How", she answered "Do you know that wasn't my guy's gun that just fired? And why do you expect me to run?"

Jicote just grunted, furious now. With a quick movement of his weapon hand, his blade clashed with Melosa's right one again, this time with such a force that her feet gave up under her and she dropped to the ground, barely holding up her arms to stop the cleaver from hitting her head.
Finally, she heard a buzzing sound above her. Both captain's looked up. Only maybe 100 of the giant cloud they had been before were left, but still enough.
 Melosa was able to use the enemy's surprise to roll back, jump up and back off as much as she could, pointing her right index finger at the man.

"Yoho-Bako - Kogeki!", she screamed with all the air her lungs had left in them.
The sound of her insects changed from the usual buzzing to angry screeching, resembling the sound of a starting motor. Jicote tried to slash at them, with limited success, as they were still too far away the moment the blade was supposed to hit them. Instead, they sat down all over his body, on his legs, arms, chest and back, and stung him, all at the same time.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YOU LITTLE...AAAH! I WILL CUT YOU IN LITTLE PIECES AND SENDING YOU HOME IN A BOX!" The oh-so-self confident man before her went crazy, writhing in pain and wiping off as many insects as possible. Melosa used this moment, crossed her blades in front of her, jumped forward and slashing at his chest.

The buzzing stopped. No sound could be heard. One after another, the dead bees fell down from the captain's body. Blood spilled from a cross-shaped wound right in his chest. 4,000,000 Dollar Jicote Alborotador plummeted to the ground, coughing. Behind him, her back turned to the awfull man, stood Queen B. Melosa, soon to be captain of the Queen Pirates, her swords loose in her hands to with her harms streched to each side, the enemy's blood dripping down from the blades.
"You should watch out. Some girls aren't as easy as they seem to be at first." She didn't kill him of course. "There is still time in your life for you to change. Hopefully we'll see again some day."

Jicote didn't answer anymore. He had long lost consciousness.

---

But that wasn't the end of it, as Melosa clearly remembered. That shot they had heard earlier had surely been Chase beating the Jicote's midget. But there were four other guys afterall. Four other guys, that probably had followed the small amount of bees they hadn't managed to slay by the time Melosa had called them.
And she was right. Just when she turned around the corner, there were the four, all out of breath, with stings on their arms and faces here and there, and all pissed off. And cutting off Melosa's way back. Now that was really a problem now.

[lochstar]

Chase began to sneak around, coming closer to the corner with every intention of blowing his opponent's brains out. Of course he had no idea of where his opponent was facing and as such leaping out would be ill advised as the midget could gun him down without a second thought. As such Chase decided to play it safe. He quickly raised one of his two flintlock pistols and fired at an alleyway opposite to the one he was hiding in. The bullet that had been fired was a smoke bullet and when it hit the ground opposite where Chase was standing a smokescreen occured, getting the attention of the opposing first mate and causing him to run over, a malicious grin plastered on his face. The midget quickly reached the alleyway and began to fire numerous shots into the smokescreen filled hazel confident in his ability to hit his opponent this time when suddenly a whistle sounded behind him. In an instant the small man froze and turned around, looking fearfully at the cowboy who was grinning back at him.

Suddenly a shot fired, but it wasn't from Chase's gun, he'd miscalculated, the midget still had one bullet left. And he'd put it to good use, hitting the new first mate of the Queen Pirates directly in the heart and causing his eyes to widen. Suddenly he began to fall backwards, heading towards the ground and his own death when suddenly his finger fastened around the trigger of his pistol and he fired, hitting his opponent directly in the shoulder and causing him to hit the ground with increased force. However th cowboy stood up once more, a wry grin on his face as he looked at his opponent who'd dropped his gun and was holding his limp shoulder in his hand as he lay on the ground. Blood had begun to seep out of it and he glared up hatefully at Chase. "H-how did you?" He asked as Chase grinned and pulled out a flask from under his shirt, it had a bullet hole in it and was leaking rum but he didn't particulalry mind as he sheathed his gun and opened the cap of the metallic flask before tossing the lid aside and drinking from the flask. "Nothing like a good drink of rum in a fight, am I right?" Chase asked as he lower the flask from his lips, still containing some alcohol as evidenced by the liquid seeping from the side.

By that point the man had pulled his hand out from his bleeding shoulder and was thing to reach his gun, that was blown away from him by a quick shot from the cowboy. Despite havoc consumed alcohol hems whipped his pistol out at an incredible speed and hit the gun and nothing else, thus sending it flying. "Nyahaha, it's not gonna be quite that easy." Chase explained. "Well it wouldn't be normally, but I've got my ace in the hole." The midget replied as he suddenly reached behind him. In response Chaee lobbed his flask of rum and the leapt away. Fortunately he was able to dodge the bullet that flew directly through the same hole it had made in the flask before, thus completing it. That certainly was impressive. "I was shooting with my bad hand." The midget explained as he forced himself up and looked at his opponent who was now standing opposite him, blue jacket blowing slightly in the very light wind that had just picked up. "Alright, let's do this." Chase explained and the midget nodded. This fight had just become something more. It was no longer a test of who could outwit the other in a large game of hide and seek. No, this was a fight between two men, both of whom could lay claims to the title of "Fastest Gun in the South" and were about to fight for it.

The midget held his gun by his side before actually putting it away back in its secret holster, under the back of his shirt. Both fighters stared each other down, finger twitching as they waited for the time to make a move. Simultaneously the two fighters raised their right hands out to a ninety degree angle at their side. Both were prepared to shoot the other. At that moment both sniper's hands moved in a blur, but the midget was the one falling back. Chase held his gun out in front of him and had hit the midget directly in the stomach. The wound wouldn't kill him, Chase wanted to let the man live so that one day they could have their fight once more. "Not bad, but checkmate." Chase explained before he sighed and decided to try and find his captain. It was at that point that the cowboy decided to just go towards where a large swarm of bees had not so long ago. He figured that his captain could hold her own against those guys...he sure couldn't. 

[Shin]

The darkness was over him now and it seemed that most bars were empty. A pity it was to see such a festive place empty. He took a look down at the parchment he'd managed to snatch from one of the bars that read "QUEEN B. MELOSA PIRATE CREW, LOOKING FOR CREWMATES". This just may be the break he was looking for so that he can get to his goal. His one emerald eye gleamed over the recruitment sign. Luckily he managed to track Queen B. Melosa all the way to  a battle that was currently in place. She had talent, and that was for a fact but once the man had fallen to her he heard more sounds. Taking a second look at the man he realized, it was Jicote who had a crazy large bounty on his head. Enough for him to make hundreds of ships.

He took another look and saw more pirates surrounding the woman who he knew without a doubt was the woman he'd been looking for. From above on the rooftop he smirked, "You know four against one isn't a really even match. Especially since the one you're fighting has already endured her own battle." The men looked at him and smirked, one remarked, "Look at that fool! He's just itching to die isn't he?" He dove from the top of the roof and landed roughly on the ground, kicking dust up in the process. Shin began rubbing his hands together with a devilish smirk on his face. One of the henchman would dash forward and slashed his sword at Shins chest. With the smirk still on his face he easily dodged the attack and began his very own, "Kosu no shotto!" Shin flung his right fist into his assailants stomach sending a shock of electricity with the force of a bullet. It sent the pirate lackey to the ground in writhing pain, "What the Hell! It feels like I was hit with a bullet!"
Shin Held the flyer that he found in the previous bar in his journey to find Queen B. Melosa. If you're Melosa then I'd be glad to chat with you about this after this is all said and done. One of the pirates took a closer look and noticed the eypatch over Shins right eye. "It's him, Shin Asada. Or do you you prefer One-Eye better." The three remaining pirates laughed, "His parents never even wanted him." Through all their laughing Shin held a neutral expression, unaffected by what they said.

He nodded, "So who want's to be next?" He asked while rubbing the two of his hands together.