The Stars Align! Zodiac Stampede!

[Kami-Gaz]

In continuation of this thread!

---

*SLAM!* The fire exit at the back of the gymnasium was closed with a force that shook the walls, the group that closed it were carrying big sacks full of the kids that they had just stolen from a small group that thought they were safe, and in doing so injured one of the group to get the girl that was clutching at her side. William Savage had just witnessed the door slam as he tore his way out of the net that had been thrown over him by his sparring partner, in a spar that had turned more into a clash of ideals.

The goat horned man leapt down from the arena and rushed to the companion that had been injured but was slow in comparison to the wolf mink Shido. The man showed true genuine concern for Lola, he must have seen her like she was his own blood, a daughter he never had. Billy spared a glance before plunging his hand through the lid of the drinks cooler he had been carrying around all day and pulling up a coiled brown leather whip. Despite being beaten and bloodied from the clash with Shido he had a fire in his heart and a determined spark in his eyes.

“I’m getting them back.” Billy spat as he stood up straight, clenching his fist around the spool of leather to the point it creaked. “All of them Shido, and I’ll make sure no other kids get taken.” The goat horned man spoke before picking some of the partially melted it out of the cooler and using it to wipe his forehead clean of the blood off, it had started to congeal around the area that his skin split so that could stay as it was… everything hurt, but he was going to push on.

“I’ve seen you fight, come with me Shido.” The horned mink spoke as he now moved to the door, trying to push it open to no avail. Was it barricaded or blocked? With a frown and not a second thought Billy reared his head back and in a swift motion brought it forward to impact the iron banded wooden door. The Giga Impact Skull caused it to shatter into splinters and chunks of metal, the pieces flew everywhere to the shell grown that was the outside world and it drew a whole world of attention.

Outside the people of the world that were just minding their own business and were recovering from the mad dash of three men carrying sacks all looked over to the fire exit of the gym that had just shattered in as much shock as they were angry at the fact these people had ran over them in their flight. Billy didn’t care, he only looked back to see if the pair of minks would come with him in search of their missing kids. He hoped they would… but he was more than ready to tackle them all alone.

---

Billy: 818181

[pepsi]

-- CHAPTER 2 // ZODIAC STAMPEDE!

The wolf helped Lola stand up on her own two feet. The bunny girl felt extremely guilty about the whole situation; despite Shido always telling her to keep her guard up at all times, she simply did not expect to be assaulted inside of an onsen of all places. "I'm sorry..." Lola said, weakly, looking down at the ground. Shido tapped with his index finger on her shoulder, reprimanding her, "We'll talk about this later."
With a whimper for a response, Lola wiped her eyes, and nodded meekly.

The wolf's attention went to Billy. "Billy, listen. I'll rescue the kids. I'll be back in no time." Shido realised that his resolution would fall on completely deaf ears. The man was stubborn as a goat after all and, to be fair, in Shido's mind it was also his duty to go and rescue his little brothers and sisters.
Shido stood silent for a few seconds as Billy went to open up the path ahead. "I... want to help too!" Lola said, still covering one eye with the back of her hand. "No, Lola, you stay behind." "Please! I can't just stand here waiting for you guys to come back!"
The wolf sighed. He pulled aside a portion of his ninja attire, in order to create a little bit of space between it and his skin. "Alright, then. Climb inside my clothes." Lola nodded, and promptly disappeared.

With his arms lagging behind his body, the torso bent nearly parallel to the ground, Shido zoomed past Billy and entered the flight of stairs beyond the fire exit. Watching from the open space at the center of the staircase, he briefly saw the silhouettes of the men before they escaped his field of view.
The wolf jumped over the handrail, plunging into the empty space in the middle of the stairs. His fall seemed too slow to be a free fall, as if he wasn't just falling; rather, it looked like he was steadily descending towards the bottom of the staircase.
As he landed, he saw the men about to escape through another door. He produced three ninja stars and threw them aiming at the men's legs, but the door closed before they could reach their intended targets. The shurikens lodged themselves one after the other in the door. "Billy! They went through there!" Shido called.

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

[Kami-Gaz]

The sight of Lola shifting form and essentially vanishing was amazing, something that the horned half mink would need to ask about later on. His eyes managed to catch a spec of what Lola turned into land on the inside of Shido’s clothes, she must be a devil fruit eater… that and her fur explained her not wanting to swim in the pool earlier at least. Billy shifted and started to give chase.

The wolfman charged past him at a speed that would dizzy normal people, something that drove Billy to be more determined as he upped his own pace to just keep up. In the rush of everything that was going on he lost Shido in the chase but could still follow the path of carnage left behind by the kidnappers. Then he saw the shurikens hit a door ahead of him and heard the call of Shido.

"Billy! They went through there!" He called. That was all Billy needed.

“Right!” He bellowed as he lowered his head to present his horns and charged the door with everything he had. With a running start his Giga Impact Skull shattered this door and allowed him to keep charging through the explosion of splinters and metal shards of the iron banding. He was going so fast that he rammed right into an armed member of what seemed to be a gang and sent him flying into a wall hard enough to cause an impact dent before the body fell to the floor groaning.

“FREDDIE! ANNIE! NINA!” The goat man bellowed at the top of his lungs as his right hand let the whip he held uncoil to hit the floor. With eyes of laser focus he scanned the large room. Four… no Five men surrounded him, none of them had the bags that contained the kids though they were holding cutlasses or firearms. Large crates littered the room, those that were open showed more illicit materials and substances that were banned in most places the world over.

“BILLY!” The shrill sound of a young girl screaming at the top of her lungs could be heard from a door that seemed to lead upstairs.

“Sh!t, Lucas didn’t knock the kid out right.” One of the five men around Billy spoke to the others. “Kill him! He will get in the way.” He barked.

Billy didn’t care, he knew backup was arriving any moment now.

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

[pepsi]

Five people in the room.
Zero wolves in the room.

Back when Shido and Lola first met, they had to escape from what seemed like a million enemies looking for them. They were outnumbered.
And yet, the situation was turned perfectly on its head, and they managed to flee unscathed.

Five people in the room.
One wolf in the room.

The sound of explosions filled the air, closely followed by a thick grey mist. A staple for a ninja, really. The mist placidly crossed into the room through the door, enveloping everything in pure grey.
For a moment, there was silence. The goons took a second to process their current situation, and started wandering with their arms in front to avoid faceplanting into a wall.
"It's... it's behind me!" one of them yelled, and turned around; he attempted to kick his assailant away, but his foot found nothing but mist.

Five people in the room.
One wolf in the room.

"They're coming towards us!" yelled another on the other side of the room. He tried to run in the opposite direction, instead crashing into a stack of crates.

Five people in the room.
Two wolves in the room.

"I hear steps!" said another, "be careful!"

Five people in the room.
Three wolves in the room.

"How many are there? Who the hell is following us??"

Five people in the room.
Five wolves in the room.

The goons stopped wandering in random directions, and as they heard a number of steps that greatly exceeded their own, started to recede towards the center of the room. They were clearly outnumbered.

Five people in the room.
Ten wolves in the room. A hundred wolves in the room. A thousand wolves in the room.

"Billy," a familiar voice and snout popped from deep inside the mist right next to the half-mink. "They're trapped in here. Find the children so that we can finish this."

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // Doppler // Doppel
While transformed partially or totally, Lola produces a sound that is meant to imitate the presence of a creature of her choice (as long as she knows what kind of sounds said creature might make in the context). Any other person or animal that hears the sound will feel as if the chosen creature was close by them and only them.

[Kami-Gaz]

Something small flew into the room and rattled between all of the goons. There was a sudden popping as it exploded into a thick mat of grey smoke that filled the room. Shido was here and Billy was right to put his trust into the man. He had a job to protect one of the kids and he was going to get him back no matter what. The injured quarter mink cracked a grin as he heard the commotion going on in the smokescreen and steeled himself to carry on. The man had his back here and now he was owed a favour for doing this.

“Thanks, Shido, I owe you.” He spoke before charging forward directly to the door, headfirst. He impacted it and it shattered easier than the ones with iron banding and he kept going up the stairs. Billy charged until the final door where he again charged through and skidded to a halt, his whip curled up in his hand ready to be used.

“Give me the kids and you don’t get hurt.” He growled, eyes scanning the room to see the bags with now awake kids squirming in the corner. That was them. The pair of men that saw Billy stopped dead as they were reaching for a den den mushi on the desk… this was the bosses office? Where was the boss?

“How did you get up here?! Man, you look beat up. I think I can take you alone.” The lanky one that was making a reach said, spinning around with a cocky grin. His companion pulled a pistol from his belt and trained it on the bags… already to use the merchandise he secured as hostages. “Boss won’t be happy if you kill the kids Kenny, blood is real hard to get out of carpet.”

“I won’t have to shoot them if you take out this horned shmuck, he can barely stand look at him. The boys downstairs did a number on him.” A bark of a laugh filled the room and then there was a flash of light as the weapon that was in his hand exploded in a searing flash. Then the pain hit him. “MY HAND!”

A gunshot rang out, one that was aimed at the quarter mink as he dived to the side and pulled his whip back. The bullet grazed his side and caused a spurt of blood to splash the carpet. With a growl he stood and cracked his whip. “Lanza De Luz.” (Lance Of Light) Another blinding flash from the chest of the shooter, the explosion rang a second later as his body was tossed backwards and out of the window to land in the main warehouse below where Shido was dealing with the other goons. Neither of these were the boss this must have been a small portion of the gang operating on their own to impress the man.

The whip wielder groaned in pain as he moved over to the bags, his leg soaked in his own blood and injuries from Shido still smarting… that didn’t matter though. The kids were safe.

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

Techs Used: 
Lanza De Luz: Billy attacks his target with the whip using his recently mastered ability to push the very tip to speeds that approach light. It impacts the target causing a blinding explosion of light that knocks the target away with some serious damage.

[pepsi]

The smoke had dissipated, and the criminals in the room had gradually been released from the apparent spell cast over them.
The vanishing fog revealed the silhouette of a humanoid wolf in the middle of the room. Fist closed against his chest, save for index and finger; eyes closed, tail tensed up. The toughest among the criminals had already regained their composure - "He's there! Get 'im!" one of them shouted - and had started approaching the wolf Mink in the center of the room.
Despite the encroaching danger, Shido's stance wasn't shaken one bit. "Ninja Rule #2..." Shido mumbled, as his enemies finally formed a compact front to push their offensive.

"Win the fight before it begins."
"Hey, what is th-"
[---]

In a burst of fire and black smoke, the criminals had been scattered once more. At the last moment, one delinquent had noticed a sparkling piece of paper stuck to the back of his comrade. As it crackled like a lit firework, it made no sound at all.
The paper bomb went off in complete silence, but still delivered the same devastating impact.

Lola suddenly appeared from behind Shido's back. The wolf turned around to face her, and declared: "Good work. The routine was perfectly executed."
The plan was simple, and the two had practiced it for weeks at that point. Lola was to duplicate Shido's steps, so as to confuse the enemies and force them into a small, controllable area; silently place a paper bomb in the middle of the group and nullify its noise for as long as possible.
Lola was exhausted. She held her throat with one hand, struggling to breathe. "Did... did it work?"
Shido nodded.

The attention of both Minks turned to yet another character, who fell almost at their feet from the upper floor. "Where is Billy?" Lola asked, only to be met with a clawed finger pointing to the obvious broken window one story above them.
The two Minks disappeared again, only to magically pop up near the window a few seconds later. Their ability to teleport was mysterious and certainly supernatural, but could they really teleport? Billy could've been certain he'd seen a pair of insects - or whatever they were - crawl into the room just before they appeared.
Lola rushed to the bags; "Freddie! Annie! Nina! Marvin!" Lola shouted, open arms ready to untie those bags and hug the children. "Billy!" she added, just as she got there, noticing that the poor man had received a wound and was losing blood. "Billy, we need to take you to the infirmary near the onsen!"

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // Mute // Mutate
While transformed partially or totally, Lola produces a sound that can cancel out another specific sound by jamming it through her Devil Fruit powers. She can silence out a very specific sound, such as the noise from a shot or the sound of walking steps. She may only cancel one sound at a time, and only sounds from one source at a time.

[Kami-Gaz]

With the tip of his whip still smoking from the attacks he had made Billy pulled the bags open to see the children that had been taken. As he did a smile came to his face seeing Annie and Nina look up at him with their large eyes, wet from the panic and confusion of the situation. Each of their mouths had been stuffed with a cloth and their hands tied up. Then he heard Lola’s voice for the first time as the bag containing Freddie and Marvin erupted open and both of the boys latched onto her with a hug. It seems the pair had been resourceful and untied each other, but left their gags in.

“I’m fine Lola.” He spoke with a gruff tone, his free hand moving to pull the cloth from the girls mouths. He could hide the screaming of his muscles and the searing pain of where the bullet grazed him for now, ignore it while he had to keep a smile on his face for the kids. A hero always did smile for those that needed to see it and these children needed to see a smile. “You’re safe now, we’ve got you.” He said softly, using that one hand to untie each of the girls, his eyes looking to the side to see Lola.

“Thank you, and Shido too. You’re devil fruit eaters, aren’t you?” He asked, having pieced together the clues from when they were at the pool to their ability to seemingly appear from thin air. Shido’s ability to make string from nothing also helped clue him in. “That’s cool.” He spoke, looking down to the girls as he picked Nina up in his arm to carry her.

The mute girl wrapped her arms around the man who was bloody and battered and squeezed as tight as those little arms could. Annie looked around and moved to stand with Shido. “Thank you Mister Shido. Not many people get headbutt by Billy and can do what you did!” She spoke, gently grabbing at his hand to hold it.

Freddie was hugging onto Lola tight. “That was scary! Like really scary! Please don’t leave us! We’ll be good!” He cried, tears streaming out just as they were for the other kids.

“Come on, let’s get home before Zoe gets worried and sends Dandy to come looking for us.” Billy said before looking over Lola and Shido. ”You’re welcome to come, I could always use the help with the kids.” The goat man joked.

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

[pepsi]

Lola welcomed all the children, and hugged them tight; in her heart she felt like she never wanted to let them go again. With teary eyes she whispered: "Marvin... Freddie... I'm so glad you're not hurt...!"

Shido nodded. "Yeah. Where I'm from, it's called mahou, "magic"." The wolf took a stroll around the room, checking out the bodies of the criminals who had been knocked senseless by Billy, and nodded along. "Are they..." he muttered to himself, "... just random mooks?..."
It didn't make much sense that a bunch of kidnappers would just so casually pick those children. Among them there was Marvin, the son of a very important person. The wolf passed by Annie, and absent-mindedly dodged her hand. "Yeah, whatever" he said, and crouched next to one of the criminals, and looked for clues.

When Billy mentioned going "home", Lola wiped off a tear and immediately nodded. "I'm not letting them go this time..." she said, looking at each of them.

"We're not coming."

The wolf, still busy going through a mook's pockets, dismissed Lola's initiative with a stern tone. "Shido, what the hell? Why not?" the girl protested. The wolf turned around to face her, and said: "We're supposed to be here to prevent whatever just happened to Marvin. We have a job, and I have a reputation. Or has that smack over the head just wiped your memories, Lola?"

The bunny girl's expression turned uglier and uglier as she tried to fight tears back. Those words hurt her deeply, and she was trying her hardest not to cry in front of the children. "Why are you like this?!" she yelled, her voice cracking slightly. "What are you afraid of? Marvin is okay, and I'll stay on guard from now on!"

"You'd cut your tail off for fear of stepping on it...!"

Shido turned back and resumed his work. "I get distracted for a minute, doing something out of the ordinary, and we nearly lose a wealthy businessman's son. We could've ended up on a list for something like that." Shido's tone had migrated from wrathful to somber in a matter of seconds.

"I'm not doing that again. Marvin stays here with me. And you as well." Suddenly, it was clear that this wasn't about going home with Billy and the kids.

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED //

[Kami-Gaz]

Annie being brushed off so effectively left her pouting with a small tear in her eye… wasn’t a saviour meant to be nice and reassuring to the people they just saved?! This wolf man was too mean. At least in her eyes.

Billy however snapped his gaze to Shido and frowned with the response. Before he could even object to it Lola was in, speaking her mind to ask what was going on in that canine mind. The goatman simply watched as he held onto the mute Nina. Shido wasn’t scared of losing Marvin or the kids, he was scared of actually being himself around people. Getting attached and losing it all.

“Shido… That’s not up to you. Marvin decides where he goes.” He rumbled as he stood tall to hold Nina in his arms as if she were his own daughter. Then he smiled down to the rich kid who had been bonding with the orphans. “I think we should at least get out of here and somewhere not super dangerous. I also think me, and Mr Shido need to clean up and get some bandages for these cuts.” Billy spoke, letting Marvin know what would be a good idea a leader would have.

He then looked to Shido again. “If you are so scared for Marvin, I can help you, free of charge. And the best place for that is the Villa I’m staying at. Plenty of friends for Marvin to make and if push does come to shove my Brother and Sister can help too. I doubt these guys will come again though. I think they were just stupid little men hoping to get some favour with a quick random kidnapping.” The goatman spoke, telling a hard truth, the people they beat today did not seem that inspired or magnificently competent.

“This could have been anyone’s kids not ours; it was a good thing that it was ours because we got them back.” He spoke his rumbling voice growing as if he were scolding one of his own kids. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re a ninja! Make the best of a situation.”

Freddie nodded along with Annie as they stood behind Billy, getting close to the man they knew they could count on and trust. "Will you come with us Miss Lola?"

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

[pepsi]

Shido shook his head once more. "Marvin is a minor and I am being paid to watch over him. He simply does not have the ability to decide where to go" he dismissed with a stern tone.

The little Marvin planted his hands on his hips and strutted towards Shido. "No!" the boy said, "we're going to mister Billy's place, or I'm telling dad about what happened today!"
Lola snickered; the scene was just cute to witness, although she knew for a fact Shido didn't feel the same way.

"You little- alright! Fine!" Shido yelled, thinking that the apple really didn't fall far from the tree - at such a young age, already leveraging his power just like his father. "But my condition is that if we go, you tell your father exactly what he wants to hear - that we stayed around the onsen and nothing else happened."
It was clear that Shido didn't enjoy Marvin's family all that much. How could he, as everything about him - from his upbringing to his pride - directly stood in contrast with the placid and mellow lives of the rich and the wealthy.

Lola turned to face the children, as they asked her to come visit the Villa. "Of course I will!" Lola chirped, reassured by the fact that Shido was getting blackmailed into following them regardless.
At least he signed a pact with the boy that would cut them both some slack - both his best and worst trait was that he would always think about weaving a safety net first.

"Not you, too!" cried the wolf...

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED //

[Kami-Gaz]

The tall goat quarter mink stood with the kids around him as Shido got his blackmailing done be young master Marvin he cracked a giant grin, then winced in pain as he felt one of his cuts that had closed on its own with dry blood crack open again. That ninja really had a good sense of fighting. The kids around his legs all started to smile and get giddy as Lola agreed to come as well, little mute Nina walking over to hug the woman.

“Come on then.” Billy spoke, raising his voice to get everyone’s attention in one go. They shouldn’t be lingering around this shady gang’s base, just in case more of them came back. “We should really get going before more get back.” He spoke as he turned to lead the group out, down the stairs that they had used to get to this office and out of the building entirely. Those that hadn’t died in the fighting were softly groaning in pain and the goatman did his best to cover the eyes of the younger kids in the group.

Once out on the street he breathed a bit easier and took the walk somewhat slower as people made a great effort to avoid the small group that was led by a bloodied up horned man that was holding the hand of girl who looked to have seen a ghost. “I gotta say Shido, you sure know how to throw one hell of a punch! If I wasn’t as stubborn as I was I think you’d have won that sparring match.” He spoke, looking over to find the man and smiling again. “I didn’t see what you did downstairs but you appeared like real super heroes right at the end. I really want to hire you both to help us get all of the kids to the north blue, Shivre Mountain.” He explained, using his one free hand to gesture as he didn’t pay attention to his path and started to walk on a slanted wall whilst Annie remained on the floor.

“Billy!” She giggled. “You’re walking on a wall again!”

He paused and looked at where he was and chuckled. “So I am.” With a few steps he was off of the slanted wall and walking normal again.

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

[pepsi]

It was the moment for some downtime.

Shido, still completely against his will, and Lola followed suit as the cheerful little group made its way to the Villa. By then, it had become Lola's job to pick up any kid who felt like riding atop an adult's shoulders, especially those that big man Shido turned down.
He probably didn't know, but those kids just wanted to climb up his shoulders because he was by far the tallest in the group - even taller than their big brother.

Along the way, Billy decided to strike up conversation. He commended his combat ability, shown both before and during the kidnapping incident; "I don't doubt my skills," replied Shido, "I've been at this for many years."
Lola turned to look at him. It was true; the two of them only knew each other for a handful of months, but Shido had been a ninja and a mercenary far before then. It was Shido himself that came up with the attack formations and the strategies; it was Shido himself that taught her how to stay alive during a fight. He was knowledgeable, at least in this field. "He's been a ninja his entire life" Lola interjected, pointing out common knowledge that was pretty much obvious at that point.

"The style of my clan was taught to me by Ninja Grandmaster Fujibayashi Yatake, who..." Shido started to explain, only to turn around and notice that Billy had gone missing.
The goat mink was found only a few seconds later, as he drifed off climbing up a wall without realising; slightly baffled, the wolf cut the story short: "... I was trained for combat effectiveness. That is my ninja way."

Lola turned the question back at Billy: "You looked pretty fierce yourself, dashing in behind the bad guys! And I think I saw a flash at one point. Are your eyes okay?" she asked.

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED //

[Kami-Gaz]

The half mink bore a soft smile as he reaccustomed himself with the floor, striding with ease beside Lola and Shido as the gang of kids ran around each of them. Hearing the reason the wolf was trained for combat as he was made total sense, it gave the wolf mink a good reason to wear the garb he did. It wasn’t until he heard Lola’s compliment that his smile wavered.

“Ah you saw that?” He asked coyly as he leaned down and picked little Nina up. His body was injured and bruised but he was still able to care for the kids around him. That stubbornness of his would just not let him lie down and die until they were all safe.

“Yeah!” Freddie called up. “Billy’s the best whip master this side of the red line!” He called with a bright smile on his face and a chuckle. “I knew he’d save us.” The goat horned man flicked the back of the boys ear to make him shut up but the damage had been done. “Ow!”

“I’ve used whips since I was a little kid to defend myself. Taught myself to whip so fast the end is like light itself.” Billy explained as he led the group away from the small resort town now and down a row of villas. The one at the very end of the street being the large one he had managed to rent for the entire Savage Family. “Being raised on Dressrosa means you have to grow strong, or you’re eaten alive.” A cold shiver fought its way up his spine as he remembered growing up under the rule of the Dolflamingo family, the creepy toys that were everywhere and the criminals that targeted orphans.

---

Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff

[pepsi]

Lola and Shido strutted along with the rest of the group. The wolf's eyes did not stop darting left and right, as if half of his brain was still on high alert. A lot of effort would be needed to set his high spirits to rest now, since the damage was already done. At the very least, he could strike a deal with the kid so that he wouldn't snitch on him and absolutely ruin any chance he had to get paid from that bodyguard service. Or any service, really.

Lola listened attentively to Billy's words, her bunny ears softly swaying up and down following the motions of her body. "You're from Dressrosa, Billy?" she asked, echoing him. "I was born there, too!"
Shido rolled his eyes. "This story again? Minks come from Zou. You come from Zou." "Well, that's not what my birth certificate says!" The wolf sighed. "Lola," he responded, trying to keep his tone calm, "you don't have a birth certificate."

Lola pouted; the wolf wasn't wrong, but at the same time she was told so many times she was born on Dressrosa, she fully believed it was the truth. Even though it was known that the Minks' home land really was Zou, she was certain that her parents moved to Dressrosa before she was born. And then, she voiced in her mind, they left her behind. "It seems that all three of us didn't exactly have an easy childhood" the wolf said, surprisingly emphatising with them both. "At least you've had the opportunity to build character, Billy. And you, too, have seen what a pirate can do to a flourishing nation."
Shido was clearly referencing the discussion from earlier, when Shido expressed his disapproval at Billy's dream of becoming a pirate. After all, he only had bad examples to show for his case: Shido was still not convinced the man would grow up any different had he taken that path.

-- NAME // Shido Akaito

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED // None.

-- NAME // Lola Avery

-- CLASS // D

-- TECHS USED //

[Kami-Gaz]

The goat horned man nodded as Shido made his statement, he was right, pirates were scum and could do more harm to the world than good. But surviving what he had and coming out with the heart and love for the world around him was proof that the world needed something different… the only way to break the cycle of pirates that caused pain was to be a pirate that brough hope. Some one that stood up to the world and made it a better place.

“I wasn’t born on Dressrosa, Lola. My parents abandoned me there was I was Nina’s age.” He spoke, there was an underlying pain in his tone as he walked on, carrying the girl in his arms. “I grew up knowing the world is broken and that the only way to survive is to get a thick skin and be strong.” He looked up from the floor as he walked and shifted his gait to walk up a set of wooden stairs that were dusted in a thin layer of fine sand.

“One day I just snapped, said screw it. If the system and the world are so broken, then it’s time to break the wheel…” He looked over his shoulder and back to Shido. “If the Marines and the Yonko aren’t going to save us… then why not do it ourselves? Be a pirate to the pirates, free to fix the world.” Billy said with a genuinely kind smile, the one that could only be forged by a man that had seen harshness and rejected it. The kind of smile made kids think that everything was going to be okay, because a hero was there.

He looked back over and started his walk up, leading the group towards a row of villas that overlooked the hot spring town that was on the back of the turtle. Hopefully Zoe was sleeping so he could sneak in and wash himself off and hide most of his injuries… most of them came from Shido

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Billy: 818181

Freddie: acd1fc

Annie: ffd1f6

Nina: ??

Goon: ffffff