Bubbles and Troubles [Open]

[sabrejustice]

A tall figure walked through the streets of the Sabaody Archipelago, the resin under his feet from the mangroves squelching as he walked along. In his left hand he held a cigarette up to his lips, inhaling a little before pulling it away to exhale. Standing with a perfect posture and a the Justice Coat given only to those Marines of particularly high rank, the man was clearly one few would dare to cross, if the blade held at his right hip hadn't made that perfectly clear. Rather than walk along the middle of the street, the man, though not of the Archipelago, was smart enough to stand to the side of the street, knowing the dangers. Personally, however, this place sickened him. After all, between the Tenryuubito who dominated the place with only selfish thoughts in their head and the Pirates who dwelt here, where was Justice to be found?

Certainly not here, he imagined. He had purposely walked towards the center of the Archipelago, knowing full well just what it held. Pirates, criminals and slave-catching groups. These were just a few of his least favorite things. If, of course, he excluded the antics of his Lieutenant (Despite being close to his age, she was more like some grown-up child than anything else). Looking around himself, he took notice of everything that was within sight - Nothing so far that was illegal, at least, but he figured that would change the deeper he got into the Archipelago. Taking another drag of his cigarette, he proceeded to toss the little butt that was left of it into an appropriate bin for cigarettes.

"No pirate activity so far, but that's hardly going to stay that way" he muttered, mostly to himself. Letting a hand slip inside his pocket and rest there, he felt his fingers curl around his box of cigarettes. Sharp eyes remained glued to his surroundings, just waiting for any sign of a pirate. He was in the mood for some good Justice.

[shinku]

Looking left and right, a short red haired boy searched his way through the nastier part of the Sabaody Archipelago, jumping from shadow to shadow to avoid being seen by anyone.
Right now Rince could tell a thousand places where he would rather be than where he was now, but unfortunately he was part of the marines and his new captain was seen to be in this part of the island. Which meant that to bring him the message, Rince had to follow.

Not being one of the stronger members of the marines, Rince had decide to wear a grey shirt over his marine uniform. After all... walking around in the pirate part of the island while being clearly a marine was as good as a death sentence and Rince didn't feel like dying for now.

He wondered how he should find or even recognize the captain, since Rince was new on the island and they didn't meet before. There was clearly no chance that he would walk around in his marine uniform and other than that Rince saw no possibility to tell him apart. All he knew was the name of his Captain.. Sabre Thorpe, what a strange name.
Fitting for a strange guy it turned out, then the marine captain was indeed walking around in his uniform.
"Just what is he up to?" Rince wondered. "And why am I always working under such strange guys?!"

Slowly without making hasty movements, Rince approached him.
"Excuse me... are you by any chance Captain Sabre Thorpe? I'm here to bring you a message." he said while holding out the piece of paper.

[tsuki]

She knew that smell anywhere. It was Sabby-kun's! He always smelled like cigarettre's, granted that it was a certain brand but she knew that smell! She knew that he told her to stay on the ship, but it was SOOO borning. She had nothing to do on there! So being the lieutenant she just left. No one questioned her for no one saw her. She knew that if she was seen that would immediately tattle on her.

Sabby-kun didn't like it when she followed him on his patrols, or left the boat, saying that she was too...'wild' when she was unsupervised. She pouted, just because that last time she ate so much candy that she threw up was just an accident! How was she to know that 30 pounds of cotton candy was going to make her sick.

And then there was that last time where she accidentally got into a brawl with a pirate. How was she suppose to know that he was one?! She couldn't read minds like Sabby-kun could, though he was pissed at that, at least he gave her a pat on the head when they brought him in.

Ah, she was getting closer now, a grin spreading across her lips, her bare feet picked up speed as she began running, as soon as his back was within sight though she ignored that there was a woman talking to him, her grin widened then she jumped forward when she was close enough, "SABBY-KUUNNNN!" She yelled aiming for a glomp that she usually did when finding him.

She was Sophia Alexandria, Child Lieutenant of the Marines.

[sabrejustice]

As his name was called, the Captain turned around to face whoever had addressed him - which in this case seemed to have been a young man with bright red hair. Though being a Captain meant you were somewhat more well known among the Marines, it failed to explain how this kid in the gray shirt knew his name, prompting the Captain to raise a brow. Although, when mentioned that he had a message for the Captain, a thought sprung to his mind - either this kid had chosen not to wear his Marine uniform as was usually expected of one unless he gave them permission, or he was simply a commoner on the street asked to pass along a message for lack of anyone else available to do it. He doubted the second, so he went with the first possibility. "Yes, I'm Captain Thorpe. I'm guessing, despite your lack of a uniform, you are a member of the Marines?" he responded, his right hand taking a hold of the piece of paper the kid held out for him.

However, before he would be able to ever read the message, something had stopped him. A strange tingling - a sixth sense, if you will. Something was about to happen, though he wasn't quite sure what. Was a pirate nearby? No, it was not a pirate. Rather, it was a certain Marine who worked directly under him, often seen following him around. Someone who he knew very well - unfortunately, that hadn't prepared him in the slightest, even when she had yelled that god-awful nickname. In a few seconds he had suddenly been tackled to the ground, lying flat against the bubble-like resin under the weight of a woman roughly his age physically yet far younger mentally. His facial features scrunched up as he pushed himself up off of the ground.

"Sophia..." he grumbled, turning his head back to see her locks of green hair. He really, truly wished there was a way he could get her to sit still and grow up, he really did, because these 'glomps' were hardly for the good of his own health. Pushing himself up again this time he returned to his feet, fixing his blue suit and Justice coat before he narrowed his gaze on Sophia, momentarily ignoring the red-head. "I thought I told you to wait on the ship".

[shinku]

Being stared at by the quite scary looking Captain, Rince looked at the ground, moving his weight from one foot to the other and back. It clearly seemed that his Captain wasn't very pleased by him not wearing his marine uniform.
"Yes I am a member of the marine and I was told that you were my new Captain, Captain."
He took a glimpse of Thorpe and hurried to take of the grey shirt he had worn over his uniform. "And I am wearing my uniform, I just thought it would be unwisely to walk around in my uniform in this shabby part of Sabaody. I was told to bring you this message as fast as possible and it would have been bad if I was delayed because I got into problems with some random pirate."

He wanted to say something more, but before he could do that, a woman came out of nowhere and attacked his new Captain. Or at least it seemed that way at fist. Rince mind noticed that the woman had called Thorpe's name, or at least something that was likely to be a nickname for his name. And the attack wasn't an attack but a glomp.

"Sophia..."

Ah, now he remembered. In the information he was given, there was a Sophia Alexandria mentioned.
Could it be that this woman was his new Lieutenant?!
Things got stranger with every minute.

"Thehehehe... Look what we got there." a voice from the side shouted out. Rince looked around and saw a bunch of pirates standing next to them.
"Three little marines in this part of the town? You're asking for trouble you know. Don't look down on us we'll show you what it means to come here like that."
He gave out an other laugh and the pirates started to surround them.

"I want to go home." Rince thought. "Just what am I doing here. Curse my luck."

[tsuki]

Sophia laughed happily as the glomp connected and they went flying till connecting to the ground. Breathing in Sabre's scent she nuzzled his back affectionately like a cat craving for attention, and she was in her own way, wanting Sabre's attention whether it be good or bad. Good was much more preferred but hell Sophia seemed to have a knack for getting the bad more then the good.

As he began to move, Sophia wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and her legs around his waist in a rather clingy motion, clearly not wanting to let go of her captain so soon...and partially because she was wearing her pale yellow bra along with green short shorts. But if Sabre didn't see her clothing, he couldn't scold her for it. Which Sophia could not understand really, they covered what he said should be covered but he still instisted that she get more proper clothing, for what? Sophia didn't have the faintess clue.

At his question she pouted, "But its so boring there Sabby-kun." She whined, before lowering her head and nuzzling his shoulder, "And they don't smoke cigarette's!" Which was a complete lie, some of the marine's on board were smokers too, some even with there brands that they were fond of.

At a new voice though Sophia raised her head and looked around, her brown eyes focusing first on the girl wearing the Marine outfit, then at the pirates that were beginning to surround them. Smiling widely she reasted her chin on Sabre's shoulder, "Is this a new game Sabby-kun?" She asked him, "Why were you going to leave Sophia out of this game?" She unwound her legs from his lips and let her tip toes touch the ground, but did not leg go of his shoulder's, just in case he was going to scold her, at least then sdhe wouldn't be in his line of sight.

Looking about the circle, she smiled again, "Is this another fighting game?"

[sabrejustice]

Having stood back up, the Marine Captain had straightened himself out and now fingered the cigarette box in his pocket eagerly. With the amount of stress this woman and his work as a Marine put him through, it was practically a necessity. Pulling out the box he slid one of the thin cigarettes into his mouth before replacing the box in his pocket, pulling out a Doskoi Panda brand lighter with which he ignited the tip of the cigarette. Returning his gaze to the red-haired Marine, he proceeded to finally answer him. "If that is the case" he started, taking a drag of his cigarette. "At the very least, you're being intelligent. I'll forgive it".

Perhaps many could say the man was cold and stern, but harsh he was not. True, he did keep his men on his toes and at work all the time, but he never loaded too much work on their shoulders either. Overwork caused stress and brought down the overall efficiency of the crew, leading to a crew of Marines ill-fit to fight Pirates. Speaking of which, as he turned his head, it seemed finally a group of pirates had decided to rear their ugly heads. Frowning, the Captain sighed as he ignored the ramblings of the Pirates, instead pulling his left arm across his body and gripping the sabre that hung at his right side, slowly sliding it out of its sheath. "Since you are now working under me, I suggest you provide support, kid" he remarked, frowning as he stared down the Captain.

"Though I would prefer these Pirates hadn't surrounded us... I can't help but wonder how insufferably huge all of your egos are" he remarked aloud to the Pirates. "It's almost claustrophobic" he added with snark, holding his blade parallel to the ground in his left hand, extending his right arm towards the Captain as though he was aiming. His feet were apart and his legs slightly crouched. Though he made no attempt to move yet, he decided to add one more thing. "Ikuyoshi, Sophia, watch my back. If you can, break out of the circle they've formed around us".

[shinku]

"AH! Yes Sir. Right away Sir." he shouted.
When the pirates started to surrounding them he went numb for a moment, starring at the pirates who had just arrived and stupidly challenged them to a fight.
Of course his captain's uniform must look like a provocation to them, but why couldn't they just let it slide and ignore them? Why where this people always thinking of a fight.
Now he hurried to take out his Bokken, his wooden sword, which was his only weapon to give support to his captain and lieutenant, just like he asked, after all he didn't want to look useless from the very start. They would find that out soon enough anyway, so at least for once he wanted to make a good impression.
But, because he was too nervous and tried to draw it out as fast as he could, he hit his own head with his sword and let it fall on the ground. With bright red ears he took it up again.

Rince stood there, turning his back at Thorpe, thinking that it was strange that people asked for their back to be watched, when they wanted the person to take care of the people behind them... which resulted in the people not watching his back at all but looking into the other direction.
Then again he scold himself for thinking useless stuff when he had to concentrate on the fight.

"Maybe I should us my Luck?" he thought, but put that aside right away. If he used good luck he would have bad luck later on, it was a pain. It was something he just used when he had no other alternative.
But for now he still had other means to fight. His captain wanted him to get out of the circle... that just fit him well.
"Right... Here I go! Junkaisou - perverted monks fighting style Kyoufuu!!!"
With a fast movement, Rince draw his bokken, creating a strong wind that hit the pirate in front of him, disarming the enemy, while also tearing his cloths apart.
The pirate wasn't hurt from this attack, but he was surprised enough to give Rince the time he needed for jumping next to him, hitting his belly with his sword and making an other jump to be out of the pirates range and out of the circle.

[tsuki]

Sophia laughed happily, "Ok Sabby-kun!" She chirped letting go of his neck to turn around and press her back against his. Now to any other grown woman, she would've been horrified that she was fighting pirates in nothing but her undergarments and a pair of short shorts that really didn't hide anything. But no, Sophia was smiling widely at the prospect of a 'fighting game' as she called it.

"Oro?" She muttered as something occured to her, "Ne Sabby-kun, can I transform?" She asked with a tilt of her head. One of the pirate men that got over the distraction of a underdressed woman and took this chance to run towards her as she was distracted looking at the man that was behind her.

Sophia blinked her brown eyes as she looked towards the pirate charging towards her. "Cheater!" She yelled ducking under his swipe, her wide brown eyes narrowing as she thrusted her arm forward, "Force palm!" The action was as followed, her hand that was flat connected with the chest of the pirate. His eyes practically popped out of his skull in surprise as his back curled and he was sent flying from the strong hit.

"You wait for Sophia!" She shouted before standing up with a huff crossing her arms underneath her breasts, clearly insulted that he moved when she was not ready. A sudden look crossed her and she released a nervous laugh and pressed the tips of her fingers together nervously.

"Ano...Sabby-kun...?" She started out, "I forgot Tsuji..." She said softly, very softly, hoping that he wouldn't hear her then get angry at her as a result.

[sabrejustice]

The Captain felt like slapping his forehead. Typical. Something like this happens and she goes and forgets to bring her weapon. With his scowl deepening, he didn't even bother looking back at her - at the very least, someone had to be paying attention to the enemy. As soon as she had dispatched her attacker, two of the Pirates had rushed in from the front, blocking the way between himself and the Captain at once as they both raised their own weapons - a battle-hammer and a sword. Deciding not to bother with restraint, the Captain was quick and deadly. In a sudden burst of speed he shot forwards, surprising the two Pirates as he closed the gap between them in a single moment and with the full force of his upper-body thrust the blade in his left hand forwards.

The first one's hammer had been swung down to intercept, but he stared in shock as the blade pierced through the hammer effortlessly, the head breaking apart under the force before the tip came out from the other side and struck the pirate in the stomach. Howling in pain, blood escaped the wound quickly as suddenly he felt himself thrown back by the sheer force, his body moving backwards fast enough for the blade to be pulled back out again before he bowled over his comrade, both Pirates being thrown back past their Captain, who stared surprised at the Marine. Clearly, with his big head, he hadn't predicted such remarkable strength. But for the moment the Marine ignored him as he clashed blades with another Pirate who had run in, fending him off.

"Fine then!" he exclaimed irritably. "Sophia, use your transformation if you want! Just deal with these guys!". It was clear he wasn't exactly a cheerful person. Perhaps it would help if the pirates hadn't secured a tactical advantage in surrounding them. Luckily, said pirates didn't seem to be using their advantage well. Parrying the blade of the pirate he currently faced, he showed a more pragmatic side as his fist crashed into the guy's head after the parry and slammed him down to the ground. Flicking his blade to the side he cleaned off most of the blood from his sword, though he'd need to wipe it with a cloth later to make sure it didn't rust. "It's a good thing you guys came - I was looking for something to kill the boredom" he commented, clear snark evident in his voice.

[shinku]

With his jump, Rince left the circle the pirates made around them, and tripped over a empty bin that was left standing on the side of the street and dropped into a pile of empty wooden boxes.
"Owow ouch!" Rince suppressed a curse and tried to stand up again, which wasn't easy becaus he had trapped himself quite well in the remains of the boxes.
Finally he was up on his feet again, just to be knocked over again by a pirate that came flying. The only favorable thing Rince could say about this was that at least the pirate who was sent flying at him was knocked out and didn't pose any danger for him.

Rince got on his feet a second time and griped hard the haft of his bokken. His situation wasn't as good as he liked it to be, cause even though he managed to come out of the circle, he was now in a corner between to houses and the pirates had noticed that as well. Two of them were now coming closer and Rince didn't like the smile on their faces at all.

Despite the situation he was in he risked a quick glance to his Captain and Lieutenant just on the right time to hear him speak.
'Killing boredom? He sure looks like he wants to kill something, but I'm sure it's NOT boredom.' Rince thought.
'Poor pirates. Poor me.'

[tsuki]

Sophia laughed happily, "Really?! I won't get in trouble?!" She asked in excitement intertwining her fingers together as her brown eyes gained a glint to them. Sabre didn't like it when she transformed for some reason, maybe it was because she was too big. Or it could be the fact that she had a habit of kicking whoever was behind her.

Yeah it was probably that one.

Giggling, her body began to change becoming a strange creature even among the other Zoan users. Her's was not like most bipedal forms, her's was more like a Centaur from myth then some bipedal combination of the two. Smiling widely she looked down at them her front legs pawing at the ground. "Ne, ne Sabby-kun, can I get ice cream when we're done?" She asked, completely having nothing to do with the situation on hand.

Spreading the front legs, she crouched slightly, lowering her head, even though the horns of her head were not straight, they were still deadly. "Canonball..." She started before pushing off with her back legs and shooting forward with amazing speed, "SHOT!" since there was so many of them she was bound to connect with someone and connect it did into the poor pirates stomach.

Quickly grabbing onto his wrist before he could recoil from the hit, she began moving in a circle swinging him around with her. "Ring around the rosey~" She sang, before letting him go and collide with a few other of his crew mates.

"Pocket's full of posey~!"

[sabrejustice]

As his blade passed through the body of another Pirate, the Marine Captain glared irritably at the Pirate Captain that stood there with his own blade. Through years of insight, he had managed to pick up on many habits of Pirate crews, in particular regarding the Captain - Depending on the crew, the Captain was always either the strongest member of the crew, the smartest member, or both. This man was clearly not educated enough to pull off a big scheme that would make him deserving of Captaincy - Beyond surrounding them, their attack had been impulsive and direct. Not a trace of tactics to be seen. So clearly, by process of elimination, that made him the strongest. Gripping his blade tightly, his left hand swung up as he cut through another fighter's shoulder, before slamming his boot into the man's stomach. Letting his sharp eyes survey the field, he instantly caught sight of his two subordinates.

"Tch, figures it would come to this - Sophia! I'll buy you ice cream - just bail out the new kid!" he ordered, pushing through the others and quickly swinging at the Captain, clashing blades with the large man. His nostrils flared as he recognized the smell of booze - clearly the man had been drinking. While he himself had little problem with smoking, he always steered himself clear of such vices as drinking. Just the smell of the substance was enough to make him cringe slightly. Pushing away from the man, the two Captains clashed blades again, the pirate finding his opponent slightly awkward to fight against due to Sabre being left-handed. Sabre himself had no problem, by contrast - most opponents he met on the Grand Line and beyond had been right handed. It came to him naturally.

"I wonder - is this a drunken rage, or are you really foolish enough to think yourself my match?" the Marine Captain remarked coolly, maintaining a level head as he faced the pirate, skillfully evading a thrust aimed for his head before parrying the blade and swinging in, managing to just barely miss as the pirate took a step back. Stepping forwards he swung in again, this time having his blow blocked by the pirate's blade. In slight irritation the pirate pushed him back with brute strength, pulling out the pistol from his belt and aiming. Had Sabre not immediately ducked, a bullet would have hit him in the head - instead, Sabre crouched low, frowning. Great - he'd have to watch out for being shot too.

[shinku]

The two pirates, one fat the other big and both very scruffy and brute looking, came slowly closer. They seemed to enjoy the fear on the boys face, so they took their time to see it a bit longer.
For Rince that meant that he had a bit more time to think about his next move, but his thoughts were running wild so much that it was hard to get something useful together.
Calm down, he told himself and took a deep and slow breath, trying to concentrate on his hands that hold the wooden sword. Rince loosen his grip around the haft a bit. In his panic he had clutched it too much, which was bad because it would prevent him to fight at it's best. The warmth of his well known sword started to cool him down a bit and he became more relaxed and finally able to face the pirates like a good member of the marines should.

Of course the two pirates noticed his change too, and they did not like it at all, for they had become pirates to make people fear them and feel their power over them like that.
"Heh! Trying to be brave all of a sudden? Don't worry child, we will correct that bold behavior of yours." said the fat pirate.
"Yeah!" his fellow agreed. "We'll beat you up and then have our fun with you little girl." He smirked dirty and showed his yellow teeth.

Rince wanted to cry out "I'm NOT a GIRL!" but he refrain from doing so at the last moment. He had an idea and if they thought that he was a girl, that would be helpful to his plan.
'10 and 3 if I use this two stratagems I might be able to win against them. And if everything goes wrong there's always number 36.'

He let his shoulders slump and lowered his sword, leaving himself vulnerable. The pirates looked surprised at each other. They didn't predict him to act like this.
"Are you giving up little girl?"
"I do. I see now that I have no chance of winning against the two of you. You are just too strong. So please don't hurt me, I'll do everything you want." he said in a low voice. "It was stupid of me to even think of resisting. You two are so strong, it's so hard to even say which one of you is stronger."
"I'm stronger of course, remember that girly" said the fat one at once and Rince tried not to smile. "What are you saying, I'm stronger than you fatso!"
"You!" he grabbed his friend by the scruff of the neck and the other one didn't hesitate to punch him in the head before the other one made a counter attack and hit him in the belly.

Unfortunately for Rince this didn't last long. The fat one of them wasn't as stupid as he had hoped for. "Stop this!" he told his friend. "That's not the time to quarrel." He pointed at Rince. "It's her fault, let's make her pay for it!"

[tsuki]

"Honto?!" She asked turning to him her eyes wide with excitement as she transformed back into a human in the blink of a eye. Laughing happily and rather loudly, she started doing her own little dance in place while singing, 'Ice cream, ice cream~' over and over again. The men around her were at a loss. They had no idea how they should approach this woman, clearly strong, but acting so much like a child.

Jumping up she flipped, before planting her hands into two of the unsuspecting faces of the pirates, bending her elbows she pushed off and flipped once more to land on her feet. If she helped the new girl, she'd get ice cream! Perfect deal!

With a gleam in her eyes she paused to turn towards Sabre, "I want thrity gallons of Cherry blossom or Squid flavored ice cream Sabby-kun!" She declared to him.

Not wasting any more time she reverted to her hybrid form, and pushing off with her powerful legs into the air, "Watch out new girl!" She shouted, "Centaur..." She began saying as she started towards them with great speed. Sophia wasn't really fond of this attack on account that this can hurt ally or enemy. "Bounce!" She said just as her strong legs connected with the ground right behind the two pirates.

The force of the impact was something Sophia was use too, the earth collasping beneath her hooves, some upturning as the cracks echoed before sliding to make a small crater. Quickly reverting to her human form with a wince, she ignored the pain in her legs and headed straight for the two pirates.

Turning her body around so that she was on her hands once she was close enough, she coiled her body up like a spring, before with some fancy hand movements turned her body and uncoiled in one swift motion, aiming for her feet to smack straight into the both of them in one easy movement.

It was going to be up to redhead-chan to make the finishing blow upon them if her attacked missed. Even if they did connect however, they wouldn't be as effective as Sophia would like them to be as the impact from her Centaur Bounce had rattled the bones and slightly weakened her muscles. It was a powerful attack but it did have its draw backs.