Ambitious Marine

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #16

The Professor headed down from the hill, towards the village below it, ignoring Danielle´s attempt to stop him. Well, ignoring wasn´t the right word as he was simply too focused on the man in front of him, that he didn´t even notice she was talking at him. But someone else did. The large malamute, who, until now was just watching the unfolding events silently snuck around Danielle, positioning herself between the treasure huntress and her master, blocking her way.

“Woooof!”

She exclaimed, wagging her tail happily as if she was trying to distract Danielle from following him.

Meanwhile, right next to them Namkhai was watching Sukkari with a hint of distrust in his eyes.

“There are not…”
He nodded slowly.

“But I am not shaking hands with you. No offense, but you are a Devil Fruit user, and gods only know what kind of weird shenanigans is that thing capable of…”

His words, while maybe rash underlined how rare this type of power in East Blue actually was that even someone like Namkhai had barely any experience with it.

---

The Professor didn´t walk even twenty steps when the sniper noticed him. From what he remembered about his skills, he probably could start shooting at him even from that distance, but he didn´t. Instead of that Marcus just put his book down, letting his hands rest on his legs while watching him walking down the hill.

“I am surprised you found me.”

The sniper muttered, seemingly more annoyed by the fact than frightened.

“It wasn´t easy.”

Gabriel responded, watching carefully for any movement that could indicate hostility, but it seemed that Marcus didn´t want to fight…yet.

“It wasn´t hard enough.”

The Professor stayed quiet for a moment, before asking.

“Who hired you?”

Marcus looked into his eyes, almost as if he was waiting for something, before asking with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“That´s it? No bargaining? No promises that you will spare my life if I tell you what you want to know?”

Gabriel frowned.

“You murdered my friend. There is no scenario where you´ll go out of this alive.”

The sniper chuckled.

“Then why should I tell you anything?”

Professor Moon shifted his center of mass forward. It was a small movement, but the elderly man still notices, moving his hand slightly towards the right side of his waist, where under his jacket was hidden a gun.

“I can be persuasive.”

His voice reflecting the cold rage that was consuming his soul.

“Maybe, but I don´t think you will get a chance…”

Marcus moved with a speed and precision that could easily match with Gabriel, pulling out his pistol and shooting from the waist.

“Mirrored Moon.”

However, the Professor was ready for this. Releasing all the muscles in his body to make it limp and flexible, he allowed the bullet itself to push him out of its way, earning just a shallow cut across his left shoulder, instead of a hole in his chest.

[Shisha]

She frowned a little, not at his continued refusal to shake her hand or even crack a smile in her direction, but Namkhai's comment on Devil fruits. Being a marine she'd seen some pretty crazy powers in the barracks and from just the admirals themselves from a distance, her fruit was not exactly the weirdest ability out there. What's more the way he said it, mistrust of Fruit eaters was becoming a possible thing. She had the dumb idea to show him exactly what her fruit was all about, within reason at least. Smiling she made a proud pose, hands on her hips, chest puffed out. Then began to simply Walk forward.

"What's wrong with Devil Fruits? At least you can still swim big guy..."

Continuing to walk, she reached him and lifted a foot up, like one would climbing a step. Only to place it on his knee. Her powers kicked in and soon the young Marine was quite literally walking circles around Namkhai. From knees to shoulders, walking circles on his body as she talked.

"..All I can do is walk, or run. Any surface. Metal, Wood, Grumpy martial artists... Doesn't Matter. No summoning zombies or anything spooky like that."

With a sudden halt she stopped on his left shoulder, taking a single step off and falling back to the floor with a light thud of her feet. Turing back around still beaming her smile at his grumpy self. Suddenly throwing a flurry of kicks while on one leg, not at him, but at the air to her left.

"Other than that, I can Throw kicks around that could rattle your brain, or kick it out of your head at least. So relax already, I'm not that bad for a Mari...Marine?.."

As she said that last part, gunshots were heard. The Marine peeked around the looming wall called Namkhai to check on the professor. If she had popcorn, she'd of been munching it while watching. But instead she pointed at the fight going on, unable to hear anything the two said and looked at Namkhai, Danielle and the big doggo. Gesturing towards the battle of sorts.

"So shouldn't you guys get in there and help? I would but... Reasons."

[Bobbie]

Danielle couldn’t believe it - if Namkhai wasn’t getting in the way, then Beast was. It felt like the Professor and his entire crew were on a side mission directed toward stopping her, personally, from intervening with anything that he did! It was frustrating, but the large dog wagging her tail right in front of Danielle was not a creature that she could remain angry at for very long, nor could she resist.

With a long sigh that came out as a bit of a huff, she walked to Beast and began petting the massive animal. “Okay, fine… but if he causes trouble and lands a bounty on my head, he better find a way to fix it.” Her hands travelled to the scruff of Beast’s neck, her fingers buried in her long fur as she gave the dog loving scratches. “Rosalina’s father will never allow her to marry me if I have a bounty and we also need to sell those paintings, don’t we?” the blonde lowered her voice as she mentioned the paintings, glancing toward the marine for a moment to make sure she didn’t catch on to the illegal nature of said artworks, stolen from a wealthy nobleman, though a very unamicable one. “We can’t get stuck here for too long…” she finally concluded with another sigh and turned to Namkhai and Sukkari, letting one arm drop to hang by her side while the other remained on the malamute’s head, now gently scratching behind her ear.

As she watched them, Danielle laughed, “Don’t tell me the great Titan of Bokh is afraid of a little Devil Fruit magic?” she cut in as Sukkari also expressed similar surprise to the man’s reaction, though in reality his caution was very well-warranted. The treasure huntress herself did not have much experience with Devil Fruit users, and she was perfectly happy with keeping things that way, but it seemed that her distrust and phobia of spiders was far greater than the threat of unpredictable ‘weird shenanigans’, as Namkhai put it, from such users. Still... this one didn't seem particularly dangerous.

Danielle watched the marine walk around Namkhai, wondering how long it would take for the man to lose his patience while her hand just continued to work through Beast’s fur, petting the large malamute. As she stared, she had a moment to really watch the situation and analyse what she was seeing. The stark contrast in their physiques was almost comedic, the pair could make a very interesting comic duo: one was rather on the shorter side in comparison to both herself and Namkhai, relatively attractive and bubbly in both behaviour and appearance; the other was far more robust, the man was a sturdy tower and a lot less energetic than the girl seemed to be and his behaviour and structure always made Danielle consider him quite… ape-like. His shoulders were broad, with muscles like a mighty gorilla that most wouldn’t want to mess with, yet here this girl was, pushing her luck. He was intimidating, it was true, but she did feel that she had already broken through that barrier herself for the most part during their training. Training during which, she assumed, he went easy on her.

The gunshot captured Danielle’s attention too and her hand stopped petting Beast as it simply rested on her coat, motionless. She looked in the direction of the sound, but then sighed at Sukkari’s question. Turning back to the woman, she resumed the automatic motion of her hand petting the dog, and she rolled her eye.

“Oh, I’d love to do exactly that, maybe stop him from doing something stupid… but clearly Beast has orders to stop me, and he has his orders to watch you." She nodded her head toward Namkhai, "This guy follows the Professor’s orders religiously, the last time I tried to get around him and bypass an order, he…” Danielle paused and glanced at Namkhai, her frown becoming a bit of a glare, but she soon looked away in embarrassment. “Well, it didn’t quite work out as I had hoped.”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #17

Trying to make a good impression on the closest person she had to her father, Beast was keeping herself between Danielle and Gabriel all the time, although her behavior was resembling a dog begging for attention and scratching behind the ears rather than one that was on guard duty. On the other hand, Namkhai was taking his task very seriously, letting all the friendliness he displayed towards Danielle during their travel disappear, replacing it with silence and focused determination.

He frowned, when the young bounty hunter mentioned the risk of getting a bounty, his mouth slowly opening as if he wanted to say something on that matter, but then he decided that some things were better if they remained secret as something was telling him, that this woman wouldn´t take easily the amount of risk Gabriel took just to help her to avoid that fate.

“There is an important difference between being afraid and being cautious. You should learn it as well if you want to stay alive for long.”

He growled when Sukari stopped in front of him to demonstrate her Devil Fruit powers. As she stepped on him, the Titan of Bokh tensed, almost as if he was getting ready to slam her headfirst to the ground at the very first sign of any troubles, but nothing like that happened.

“Wait, is that all?”

He asked slightly dumbfounded when the young Marine dropped down and showed off her kicks that impressed the large man a bit more than her “magical ability.”

“You sacrificed your ability to swim for that?”

It was obvious from the tone of his voice, that he wasn´t mocking her, it was much worse, he felt pity for her.

“No, this is a matter of honour. My master wished for no interference so we will stay here, no matter what. Besides, maybe he doesn´t look like it, but that man is a real monster.”

---

Relaxing all the muscles in his body, Gabriel dodged the bullet earning nothing but a small scratch on his shoulder. Seeing this, Marcus cursed, throwing his pistol at the Professor with surprising force. As if it was a shuriken of some sort, the pistol started spinning with incredible speed, generating a long blade of compressed air around itself.

Turning his body to the side, Professor Moon dodged the incoming attack, only to realize, that it was just a diversion that was supposed to give the sniper enough time to draw other weapons. This time a pair of revolvers.

“No, you don´t…Blink”

The Professor growled, rushing to his target with a blinding speed. The two men collided as Gabriel´s hands blocked Marcus´s wrists before he could aim his weapons properly, but if the Professor expected that the assassin wouldn´t be able to handle himself in close-quarter fights, he was sorely mistaken. That man was a true warrior and knew his weapons well.

Twisting his arms, he tried to knock Gabriel´s hands away, creating a space for another shot, but against an opponent like The Professor, this was easier said than done.

“Empty Moon.”

Professor Moon captured his arm again, pushing it away from its target. But before he could follow up with a proper counter, Marcus circled his arm around his, pointing his gun again at Gabriel.

Their exchange continued on. For any onlooker they looked like two blurs, moving faster than any human should be able to. Neither of them was using any spectacular techniques. Just pushing, pulling, locking, and throwing, in an attempt to create an opening for a single decisive strike. They were evenly matched in both speed and skills, their match resembling deadly dance rather than a fight. A single heartbeat stretched to an eternity. Then suddenly, Marcus did a mistake. Reaching further than he should, he opened his abdomen for Gabriel to strike.

“Spear”

The fingers on Gabriel´s right hand pierced through the skin and Marcus paused, dropping his guns, before falling to the ground. It wasn´t a lethal wound. The Professor made sure of that, before letting him die, he needed some answers.

He opened his mouth, only to gasp for air, only now realizing how much this brief fight drained him. This moment of hesitation cost him valuable time. A time that he didn´t have.

“Father no!”

A female voice cut through the ensuing silence and before he could figure out what was happening someone pushed him from the side with enough strength to make the martial artist stumble several steps. When Gabriel finally regained his balance, he noticed a young woman pretty brunette in her early twenties, tall and athletic, wearing a simple summer dress, kneeling next to his target.

“Father, are you alright? Say something!”

She was on a verge of panic, but when she noticed Gabriel taking step towards them, she turned around shielding her father with her own body.

“Stay away! I don´t know who you are, but…”

The Professor frowned.

“Don´t think for a second, that I am above killing a woman. Move.”

She froze on a spot, but something in his voice probably revealed how serious he was because Marcus relented.

“Wait…wait! I…I´ll tell you what you want to know, just promise me you won´t hurt her.”

The Professor tilted his head to the side. This wasn´t time for kindness, but the woman didn´t mean much for him.

“You have my word.”

Marcus nodded, trying to push his daughter to the side, but she didn´t move.

“Katsumasa, the one who hired me his name is Toyoda Katsumasa.”

Something from Gabriel´s thoughts had to reflect in his expression because Marcus immediately started defending himself.

“I am not lying I swear!”

Just for himself, the Professor cursed. From all the people why him? Why would he do it? What kind of…no, this wasn´t the time or place for thoughts like that.

“Move, you don´t have to see that.”

He growled at the girl, but again she didn´t move.

“What are you doing, run!”

On a verge of hysteria, Marcus tried to push her aside, but the only thing he accomplished was provoking his wound.

“No…I…I don´t know what´s going on, but I am not leaving you!”

She wasn´t a fighter that much was obvious from her behavior, so when Gabriel looked into her face, he expected to see there a fear that froze her in place. But he didn´t find any. All she had in her eyes was defiance and determination to fight for the person she loved.

The Professor paused, his arm ready for a strike. For a single heartbeat, he stood there, watching the two of them, opposing impulses and emotions fighting a war of their own deep inside his soul. For a second, he wanted to kill them and get revenge for his friend. Then he lowered his arm.

“Ts…looks like I cannot kill you without breaking my word.”

He muttered the cold anger that was driving him until this point was suddenly gone.

“You raised a good daughter Mr. Lang. For her sake, I hope we will never meet again.”

With that, he turned around and walked away, back to the hill, where he left the rest of his party. With his back turned to them, he would be an easy target even for someone in Marcus´s condition. But the assassin, never tried to take the shot.

[Shisha]

"I get the whole "Honor" thing grumpy, but it sounds sort of hairy back there. You're not even a little bit worried about him? Could be a trap. The guy he's fighting could be playing dirty. All sorts of things could be happening and your just going to stand there to not make him angry?"

For a moment she stood there, not saying a word. Almost as if his words were just starting to sink in. The moment they did, she blinked and looked at Namkhai with a frown. Tapping her foot on the ground as she did so.

"So you think this power is a waste? Because it has no apparently combat advantage of any kind?... You have to think outside the box Grumpy! With this power of mine I can go anywhere. Dodge attacks you'd have to tough out, hell I could even deflect attacks if I could just work out the kinks behind it".

Her frown changed to a thinking expression, hand on her chin, contemplating the exact technique she hinted towards. Things Gabriel had said to her before had nudged her brain down a route she hadn't considered. Quickly pulling out the notes she'd taken and he'd given her. Flicking through them for a moment, she added her own additions to a page before tucking it back into her pocket. Once again she looked up at the tall looming grumpy martial artist and winked.

"Actually thanks, you just helped me out a little th...."

She stopped mid sentence, spotting the professor, the dapper Gabriel emerging from the top of the hill beyond them. With a smile she walked up over Namkhai once again, a slight jump while on his shoulder straight up, crossing her legs as she went up. Landing back on his shoulder in a classic cross legged sitting position on his shoulder. Waving at Gabriel as he approached the group, seemingly not caring if she annoyed Namkhai in the process.

"Welcome back! did you win? it sounded like a fun fight, even if this guy wouldn't move or let me see."

[Bobbie]

Watching the seriousness and determination in Namkhai’s face brought a subtle smile to her own, which she quickly corrected when he seemed to be about to answer her comment, and then insisted that he was being cautious, not afraid.

Danielle sighed gently and turned back to Beast, listening to what the man was saying to Sukkari, but not getting involved any further in the conversation. She looked at Beast knowingly as the Professor was described as a monster, her lips forming something of a frown as she proceeded to pet the animal and distract herself from flashes of memory from that night. Yes, he certainly was capable of something that a monster could be capable of… This would be the third time since she's known him that Gabriel would face a worthy opponent, two of those times being outnumbered, and only one that she witnessed. “Such a beautiful girl,” the compliment would just glide off Danielle’s tongue as her focus was once again on Beast, until the monster or, as she preferred, creep himself actually returned.

Her eye fell on the Professor, scanning his person for any traces of blood, but his suit hardly looked dishevelled. She opened her mouth to greet him, but before she could ask if everything was alright, Sukkari was sitting on Namkhai’s shoulder, addressing the man herself. Danielle closed her mouth again, deciding it might be better if she didn’t ask how the encounter went. Perhaps the less she knew, the better.

While she expressed none of it verbally, her concern clearly reflected in her eye while she patiently waiting for a chance to chime in.

“Right, now that that’s taken care of, shall we get going?” The treasure huntress let her hands fall from Beast’s neck as she crossed her arms. “We have a lot of things to do and… well, what are we going to do about her?” pulling one arm free, she gestured toward Sukkari, before tucking her hand back into her folded arms.

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #18

Listening to Sukkari´s further inquiries, Namkhai frowned.

“Just the nature of your question reveals that you don´t get it at all. We are martial artists. We are living and dying for our honor.”

He paused for a moment, to listen to the remaining part of her speech, before grinning widely.

“That´s all great, but you know, I still prefer these.”

With that, he flexed one of his arms, showing off the impressive musculature he possessed. However, the Titan of Bokh quickly reverted back to his neutral stance as Gabriel appeared on the hill and Sukkari jumped on his shoulder.

Namkhai opened his mouth to add his voice to these two women and their questions about the results of his fight, but quickly changed his mind when he noticed how grim his master´s face was.

“Namkhai, take care of her…”

He muttered with a detached voice, that was revealing that its owner was in fact lost deep in his thoughts and wasn´t paying much attention to what was going on around him. But Namkhai didn´t need further explanation. Faster than it should be humanly possible, he grabbed Sukkari´s ankles pushing her feet away from his body.

“Don´t reveal your tricks to your enemies dumb*ss.”

He grinned, slamming the young woman headfirst into the ground. It was a sloppy throw, but with his strength, it should have enough force to knock her out.

“Woooo!?”

Surprised by this sudden turn of events, Beast jumped in the air, but she quickly relaxed when she realized, that Danielle was safe.

“We need to find that mermaid.”

Ignoring the marine, the Professor passed around both Danielle and Namkhai and continued walking back towards the village where they left their ship.

Namkhai frowned.

“That bad huh, Myra?”

Gabriel shook his head.

“Not now…”

The Tian of Bokh glanced at Danielle and nodded.

“Alright, what are you two waiting for? It´s time to go back and sell these paintings.”

He grinned, waiting for Danielle to get close to her before whispering.

“Don´t take it personally. He is just overprotective of you and…frankly the less you know about what´s going on here, the better for you and that sweet girlfriend of yours.”

[Shisha]

"Wait...why is the ground getting closer?"

The last thing on her mind before she found herself face first in the ground, an impact strong enough to break the ground under her face and then some. An impact that at first didn't send her into blissful unconsciousness, but rather left her reeling. Stunned, like her brain had just been rattled around inside of her own head. During those moments that seemed to last for a long, Long time, her rattle mind raced. Martial arts? she'd spent years being taught how to fight, how to use her body in combat in such ways. But throughout it all, she always brushed it off as bluster, over complicating a simple enough thing. But with her face now planted like a tent pole into the ground maybe there was something to this...

And then she woke up. Hours had passed, maybe even longer. As her head emerged from its dirt bath of sorts, the sky had darkened. And the group of villagers who had apparently taken up places to watch her sleeping body looked shocked when she popped up off the ground like that. Blinking a few times before placing her hands on the ground, and forward flipping herself back to her feet. She looked down at the face imprint she'd left and the copious amount of now dirt dried blood left behind and sighed. Kids who'd been poking her with sticks scattered, she turned and looked around.

"Well...no sign of them. Stupid Sukkari!" she said out loud, talking to herself.

The kids came back once they realized she was no threat to them, laughing and making comments, questions about what happened, despite being a marine. Laughing back she crouched down and smiled, answering with just as much friendly attitude and glee. Unaware of the Looming presence behind her making the older villagers scatter and hide. Soon it clicked as the kids ran away, the shadow cast over her from behind now eclipsing her. She glanced around and almost instantly, her smile fell off her face. Fear replaced it, looking up at the towering hulk of a marine who stood over her. His angry snarled face, thick brown beard, and twitching stress vein on the side of his head throbbing away. She got up and backed away slowly with him following, cracking his oversized knuckles slowly, bit by bit.

"O..Ok I know what you're going to say, but they sucker punched me sir!. W..Well...sucker threw me I guess?. B...But I got Information on the group! Lots of it! Enough to possibly track them in the future!"

His angry expression didn't change in the slightest. A hand reaching out slowly to grab her by the foot and lift her up off the ground, much like earlier in the day. The sweat on her face falling faster, she panicked. Hands failing around in front of her to try and prevent what was going to happen.

"Marital Artists!, Gabriel, Namkhai. A girl named Danielle who, i didn't really learn much about. OH! and a large hound who... kind of ate the cuffs you issued me. Sir...." As she looked up into his rage filled and twitching eyes, she gulped, feeling his grip on her ankle getting tighter. Hands together in front of herself in a pleading way. "...Be gentle?"

"NO"

The large Captain reared his arm back and with supreme power, threw Sukkari clear across the sky, far, far off the island back towards the marine ship in the port. A loud scream following her as she sailed through the air, arms and legs flailing about. Crashing into the deck of the ship with a distant thud to him. He sighed, looking around at what was probably a mess for him later on. Dusting himself off with a disgruntled groan of sorts.

"That Woman will be the death of me..." Is all he said before walking back to the ship, the kids returning after the scary man had left. To play around in the face hole left in the ground. Sukkari for her part, once again awoke from her face buried in something hard, this time finding gawking soldiers around her instead of kids. And once again pulled herself out of the floor with ease, this time rubbing her aching skull with one hand, and her now sore back with the other. Looking down to see the notes Gabriel had written for her, quickly picking them up and pondering for a moment before her grizzly captain returned, giving her the evil eye as he went below deck.

She looked out over the water and thought about the group, a grin on her face. Fire in her belly, loudly shouting and throwing her fist up into the air "Next Time Namkhai, Next Time!". The other soldiers looked, confused, she smiled and happily turned, skipping on down into the bowls of the ship and settling into her cabin. A huge ship wide face palm echoed through it, everyone knowing they'd have to do her work. Again. She sat in her chair, feet up on the desk, reading through the notes with that smile still on her face.

"Next time..."

[Bobbie]

Danielle diverted her attention away from the Professor when she caught a glimpse of Namkhai’s big grin in the corner of her eye. Looking at him with a raised eyebrow to see what that was all about, she was just in time to witness such a masculine display of raw muscle power as he flexed an arm to show off. This prompted the treasure huntress to roll her eye and look away again, perhaps pretending not to have seen it. With men like Namkhai, it would be better not to feed his ego.

Turning back to Gabriel, she opened her mouth to say something, frustrated by his silence, but before she could utter a word, the eerily serious professor gave instruction for Namkhai to ‘take care’ of Sukkari.

Danielle’s own expression grew serious and she quickly whipped her head back to watch the wrestler follow such a command. Worried that he would go so far as to leave a dead body - perhaps a second one - in their path, she took a step forward in protest, but it was all over very quickly. She grimaced and inhaled through her teeth as the girl’s body hit the ground with such a loud thud and for a moment, Danielle’s gaze was fixed on Sukkari's unmoving body, trying to discern if she was still breathing. While she hated to admit it, this was a reminder that the people she had grown quite close to were far from innocent and harmless, despite the calm and caring nature that the Professor always displayed toward her. Namkhai on the other hand was a walking wall of bone and muscle with a hefty bounty on his head… he had his softer moments, but she would do best not to forget that. "Did you kill her?" she couldn't help asking, in shock, though she was afraid to hear the answer. 

Shaking her head, she turned to Gabriel once more. “Mermaid?” the woman asked in a quiet tone that didn't really beg for an answer, but was merely a vocal cue to try and grasp the situation that just unfolded before her eyes in less than 60 seconds. Her hand rested upon Beast’s head once more as the puppy was riled by all the commotion, petting the massive furball by her side, but she herself otherwise didn’t move.

Namkhai’s voice seemed to snap her out of whatever trance Danielle was in as she blinked and looked at him, then at Beast with a nod, who was still being given loving scratches. “Right, let’s get moving, Beast,” she uttered, once more reminded of the priority at hand - the paintings. As she walked past, she was weary of the titan, who began to lean closer in order to whisper something to her.

“Right…” she muttered in response, as she was again taken back to the memory at Mr Gatling’s mansion and she nodded in agreement, though in truth, what Namkhai just did to that marine was not a whole lot better. She tried to move on from it. “I saw what he could do once. I don’t think he meant for me to see it.” Danielle glanced at Gabriel, who was a little ahead of them now. It still baffles her how there could be two very contrasting sides to the Professor… and how well he did to shield her from the harsher one.

"Can we hurry back to our ship now? Eurydice must be bored out of her mind staring at those rolled up paintings by now." She didn't even dare to mention the mighty giantess that was also left behind.

---

Danielle: #fffd17