Set up the pieces...(Chess Pirates)

[Cirrus]

Alek noticed his crew stopping to fend off the chasing marines, and was glad when Shichi stayed with him. That pleasure was short lived, as some marines managed to catch up. Alek turned, and decided to show his crew just how adept at fighting he was.
"This should take a minute." he sighed.

He grabbed the nearest marine by the collar, and swung him around as a makeshift weapon. This knocked over six of the marine's colleagues, and Alek took them out with such nonchalance that the whole affair could have been considered little more than a rehearsed seen in a movie.
"Shichi, let's go!" he cried.

There were still more marines giving him trouble, but Alek was eager to go and retrieve his artist. He would hate to have to leave without Riley, but they were running out of time. At least this way the Chess Pirates would become infamous as a group rather than as individuals. Alek wondered sometimes about being notorious. Everyone had heard of Monkey D. Luffy and his carefree exploits. The Mugiwaras were one of the greatest crews out there, and Alek aimed to surpass them. They each had pretty impressive bounties, save for Chopper, but as far as anyone knew they had only been in it for adventure. To have a crew like that would be the best thing in the world for Alek; a group of carefree pirates ready to take on the world. As the leader of that group Alek would have some work cut out, first impressions showed that his new nakama were capable, but as a new faction they would need time to work together. They would be one big family.

Alek dispatched of several more marines before finally setting off again. Just up ahead there were more marines. Alek hadn't seen them go past, but there they were, antagonising his artist. Alek wasn't about to stand for that; what king let their subjects suffer at the hands of lowly barbarians such as the marines?

The skill of his artist was apparent when blue snakes and brick walls made from nothing but the colouration of various gases known as air distracted the marines and concealed Riley's presence. Alek couldn't see through the wall but he knew that it was intangible. With godspeed Alek ran past the occupied marines and grabbed Riley.

"Welcome to the Chess Pirates." He said.

Now they had to double back on themselves to reach the boat. This would be slightly problematic as Alek hadn't killed many of the marines, simply choosing to incapacitate them. With the incoming back up they would soon be able to fight again, meaning that it was inevitable that blood would be spilled. Although Alek was confident that it would be the blood of his nakama, but he didn't want to become known as a vicious murderer.

"Shichi, Riley, Riley, Shichi." Alek quickly introduced the two. "We have to go get Mathus Silo and Trent then get onto the ship and leave. All while the whole of Ilusia's marine forces are on our arses."

He said the lowdown of the situation with an entirely lighthearted expression. It would be fun to see the interesting tricks his nakama had for battle.

"Let's move."

Into the lion's den ran the heroes, eager as ever to cause a riot.

[jubakilaque]

Silo dealt with his batch of the marines with no problem. He ran forward just in time to see his captain, Alek , introduce the crew's artist, Riley, to the crew's cook, Shichi. He was still camouflaged, and decided not to make his presence known. He was about to follow them as they ran back down the slope, when some people ran into him from behind. It was marines looking to apprehend the three pirates. Silo turned visible again, and lashed out with a fist that flung the marine into the great blue yonder and out of sight.
"Shichi, Alek, Riley." said Silo, addressing the three pirates. He joined them in running down back towards the boat, when he realised that many of the marines were stirring from their bout of unconsciousness.

Silo groaned. He had had enough of fighting marines all day. He wanted to hurry up and get out on the great blue sea.
"Superboom!"
He thrust his palms forward, and a huge surge of air hit the marines. It decimated their forces, this time making sure that there was no possibility of them waking. Of course, there were still more marines down next to Mathus and co.
"Come on, let's just get to the boat already!"

(Sorry for short post)

[devin718]

Trent easily dealt with the rest of the Marines that he had been fighting, looking in the direction of his fellow crew mate. "Come ON, we have to get out of here!" he said to him impatiently. It wouldn't be long until more marines came after them, and he wanted to get out on the sea again anyway. Hoping against everything that Mathus would follow him, he ran off to find the others. He immediately started to sniff at the air, trying to catch Alek's unique scent. It was pretty difficult considering that there were a hundred others masking it, but he got a faint trace on it eventually and followed it. Just when he felt he got close though, he ran into another group of Marines....

"Freeze, pirate scum!" one of them shouted, the rest pointing their guns at him. "Sorry, but I don't listen to human scum." he retorted, pumping his arms a bit before rushing at them. As soon as they fired, he jumped out of the range of fire and landed right on one of the Marine, smashing him into the ground. He then turned and kicked the other ones on either side of him before running towards the final one. "Fishman Karate: Rising Geyser Fist!" he said, delivering a fierce uppercut to him and sending him flying off into the sky. Not missing a beat, he just kept running, dodging around people and jumping over every obstacle he came across until he finally spotted the others in time to hear Alek say that they needed to find him and the others. "HEY! I'm right here!" he called, running up to the cyborg and stopping, panting a little. "Sorry for the hold up, but I had to get Mathus...I think he was behind me." he said, looking behind him to see if he had followed him.

[phoenixflame]

Shichi easily dealt with the swordsmen, who turned out to be mere newbies. He followed his captain to the artist, and after a short exchange of greetings, they ran back to get the ship.

Shichi jumped up onto the roofs, and made sure that the Marines kept the right distance from him and his crewmates. He kept sending his slashes one by one, which wrecked the buildings, cutting off the way behind them. The Marines were forced to take a route around.

Shichi joined the crew in the run for the ships. He ran forward, scaring away the citizens and ruining the buildings to clear a way. He busted a kitchen, where a man was preparing a steak. Eager for the right meal, he ran to the man.

''No, no, no! You cover it in sauce 5 minutes after staring the fire, not right away.'' said Shichi. He then patted the scared man and ran back to the crew.

He could see the Marine barricade up ahead. It seemed as though the Marines built a brick mountain to stop the pirates.

''Allow me, captain. MAKE WAAAAAYYYYY!'' shouted Shichi, hiding his swords and bashing into the mountain with his body.

The impact threw the bricks into two groups on the sides of the road, making a clearing.

''Here ya go, captain.'' said Shichi and ran forward.

[Nasakeshira]

"WAAAAAH!" Mathus screamed as he kicked a Marine into a brick wall, the Marines surrounded him. "Great," spoken with a slight sense of satisfaction, "I can try out my new techniques now!" Jumping into the air he yelled the attack he just made up, "Special Attack: Thunder... hmm. Thats not a cool enough name."

By the time he thought of a name the attack had already connected. The stone ground cracked and shattered in various areas from the impact of the blow, he kept the Marines occupied as he waited for everyone to return. While sliding a few feet back he countered attack, he began spinning rapidly as the marines closed he started punching. The ultimate attack, punches flying everywhere the people who got close to Mathus were knocked out in a single blow! After his rapid rotation stopped he stumbled on one leg fighting to keep his balance, "woah! Where am I falling!" Gaining his balance and solid footing he got back into a fighting stance moments after his Captain and crew appeared around the corner, with the cook running rampant destroying innocent people's homes Mathus turned around and looked up to face Shichi, "HEY! People live there you know! Thats not nice!"

A Marine had snuck up behind him during his rant, as the Marine swung his sword Mathus instinctively sensed the danger and dodged. From his crouched position, he kicked the man's shin. Making a full turn the rose head grabbed the dazed man by the leg and began spinning, as he picked up rotation speed he released him sending him flying. Still a small amount of them left he spoke, "well it's time I finish this." Picking up a medium sized stone he charged them. "BIG BIG SMASH!" Instantaneously enlarging the stone by ten times he smashed the group into the ground.

Slapping the dust off his hands he looked around to admire his work, "alright! Captain, all done here." He waited there for the rest of the Crew to catch up then he'd follow.

[pablostudioz]

Riley stared at the man confused. "Uh... okay." he responded. He was not sure if he wanted to join this crew or not. He was not sure if he even liked these guys. Nonetheless, he decided to stick with them until he was away from the marines. He began to run with them toward the ship. A marine that was hiding jumped out from behind a barrel.

Riley was shocked, but he was prepared. He pulled out all his HiLighters. "Color Asgard!" He began to color all the air around the two. Snapping his fingers, the colors began to flash randomly. Using this as a distraction, he slipped away.

The ship was in view. He ran faster. A group of marines began to rear up toward him. "After image!" Riley seemingly split off into four people and they all ran onto different ships. Riley himself however, jumped into a barrel. He let out a sigh of relief. "Phew. I am safe for now." He poked a small in the barrel and began to look out of it. The marines seemed frazzle by all the chaos. Riley adjusted himself a little to be more comfortable. "Now we play the waiting game."

[Cirrus]

It was all going well, with Silo catching up to them.

For some reason Shichi decided it was best to take an aerial route to the ship, and jumped onto the roofs of the Ilusia Kingdom. His disappearance didn't affect Alek's run;although he hoped that the rock skinned cook wouldn't take too long up there. He had already had trouble getting Riley to cooperate, and now another of his crew mates were meandering off of the main path. It seemed that the Chess Pirates were full of free spirits, that probably couldn't be tamed.


Alek was running these thoughts through his head when he looked up. To his dismay a brick mountain was blocking their path. It was a true testament to the marine ethic of hard work; putting it up in mere seconds was no mean feat. Alek was surprised all the same, he hadn't even heard the construction. It would have been a tough obstacle to navigate until more interesting abilities from his nakama came to light. This time the man providing the saving grace was Shichi. He jumped out of a building and landed in front of Alek.

''Allow me, captain. MAKE WAAAAAYYYYY!'' shouted Shichi, hiding his swords and bashing into the mountain with his body.

The impact threw the bricks into two groups on the sides of the road, making a clearing.

''Here ya go, captain.'' said Shichi and ran forward.


Alek looked on, a little bemused, a little disbelieving. His cook had literally just ran head first into a mountain of bricks with gay abandon; it was as if this was his day job. Alek didn't stop for too long though, there was still a sense of urgency willing him on. To his relief Mathus had been ok, taking out the last of the marines with his devil fruit powers. It appeared to make rocks bigger, but Alek assumed it applied to more than just that. Trent seemed ready to go too, and Silo was still following. He lead the whole gaggle of pirates that were his nakama back to the harbor where the last few minutes of mad scrambling had begun. He did a quick head count, and realised that Riley had gone walkabout again. Alek nearly panicked, but then he noticed the lid of a barrel closing down suspiciously. He decided to play along.
"Hey guys! Look at that barrel of booty!"

Using Wiatr Alek appeared next to the barrel that contained Riley.
"Seems to be filled with treasure!" he said theatrically. "In fact, I think we'll need to bring it on the ship and break it open!"
He waved for Silo and Shichi to come over and help him lift it. He wasn't about to give away the fact that he was a cyborg, even to his nakama, just yet. They helped him lift the barrel and they took it onto the boat the salesman had pointed at previously.


"Aren't you gonna pay for that?" he asked timidly. What he had forgot to mention is that he meant the boat to the right of the one the Chess Pirates were all next to. The one they thought they were getting was in fact the salesman's house boat. It had all his life's savings on it.

Alek laughed at the man. "You are funny! This is the biggest boat you have! Anything less isn't worthy of a king!"
With that Alek used Wiatr to appear on the boat's helm.

"TO ALL! THE CHESS PIRATES ARE LEAVING HERE! COME ABOARD FOR ADVENTURES ALL ROUND AND EXCITING BATTLES! THE ROAD WILL BE TOUGH, AND SURE YOU MIGHT GET KILLED, BUT FOR TRUE PIRATES THAT IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR! FORGET YOUR POMPOUS LIVES! IF YOU WANT TO TRULY FEEL ALIVE THEN COME ON BOARD! WITH ME AS YOUR HUMBLE CAPTAIN, SAY IT WITH ME! CHESS PIRATES GO!"

With his speech said, Alek shot the tether binding the boat to the harbor. The force of the bullet was enough to push the ship away from the shores of Ilusia.
"Get on board!" he cried to his nakama.
At that moment, the marines' back up had arrived. They proceeded to fire at the hull of the boat, looking to sink it. With no other defense, all Alek could do was hop around with Wiatr and try to block all the bullets with his cyborg parts. He went on the offensive, using the bazookas in his arms to blow up two buildings on either side of the assembled marine forces. They crumbled, crushing around a third of the opponent.
"Protect the ship!" he ordered.

A rough start to the journey, but it could only get better.

(OOC: One last round of posting then we're done here. Basically, post if you officially accepted Alek as your captain and got on the boat. Try to stop it from sinking already and then introduce yourself to your new nakama. CHESS PIRATES GO!)

[nk]

As Leon and his escort continued to jog down the street, his eyes wandered around the numerous amount of casualties that were spread out along the stone street. The men groaned in pain as a few struggled to stand up but Leon watched as they ultimately wound up right back on the ground. Clearly someone did a number on them and they were going to be outta commission for a while. Though he wasn't sure which one of them exactly had done it, he was fairly sure the band of men he'd seen running were responsible for this. As they kept moving, his eyes kept scanning the downed men as he wondered whether the crew had encountered the Captain he'd seen before.

The man didn't look as though he'd go down as easily as his minions and Leon was fairly curious as to the man's current status. He didn't have to wait long to find out though as both Leon and his escort soon came across the very man and a very big problem. A huge pile of debris several feet high blocked anyone from moving forward and large group of Marines, dwarfed by their rather large captain, stood in front of it. The Captain seemed unusually calm as he talked to a man who seemed to be going ballistic about one thing or another and once Leon got within earshot he soon learned why.

“-blocked the roads with barriers like this one?”

“Yes sir! We're er, trying to find ways around it but the towns like some big giant maze!”

“Mmm..” The Captain voiced for a moment before he unfolded his hands that were crossed along his chest and slowly reached into his back pocket pulling out a rather generic set of black leather gloves. The man in front of him suddenly seemed to realize what his superior was doing as the man began slipping on the gloves and in a loud voice suddenly screamed, “Everyone get back! The Captain's about to use it!”

Now Leon, not exactly being sure of what was going on, found himself being pulled several feet back by a wave of fleeing Marines. And though he tried to watch what exactly the man was doing he couldn't and could only hear the Captain yell out two quick things before a huge explosion like sound rocked the city which was immediately followed by a thick debris ridden cloud that filled the air.

“GET BEHIND ME AND FOLLOW MY LEAD!”

“WE'RE GONNA BREAK THROUGH THESE OBSTRUCTIONS IN ONE GO!!!”

The men had cheered in unison at the man's order but that cry was overshadowed by the huge crash the no gone obstacle had made. The moment the cloud had cleared the men had noticed the Captain rushing forwards straight towards the next one and in a similar fashion another loud ear splitting smash ripped through the town as another dust filled cloud emerged. The group of Marines that Leon was currently caught in dragged Leon along with their charge behind their monstrous captain. At the rate they were going, the Marines were going to be at the docks in no time. Hell, even from where they were at, Leon could already see the masts of several ships. Which ultimately meant it was only a matter for the Pirates unless they were already on their way of course.

[pablostudioz]

Riley could feel the barrel shaking. "Whats going on?" he thought. "Oh well, better to stay quiet and wait till it stops moving before I try to make a move." It was a bumpy ride. His body banged around inside. All he could hear was the chaos that was going on around him. Riley was curious, but he was also smart. He would figure things out in due time.

Finally, the barrel stopped moving. "Now is a good time." He opened the barrel and poked his head out. To his surprise, he was on a ship! He got out of the barrel and looked around to observe his surroundings. The ship had already begun to take off. There were marines on one side heading toward them. He glared at the king. "Alright. I will join, but do not take me likely."

He pulled out his HiLighters and walked toward the edge of the ship. He began to quickly draw a sea monster. With one last mark, he pointed toward the marines. The monster went in their direction. Once it reached their ships, it exploded. The area around the ships became covered in thick glowing fog. "Get out as fast as you can!" he yelled. The fog would soon begin to flash in many bright colors, and the last thing he wanted was to be caught on a boat full of epileptics.

[Nasakeshira]

He followed his new nakama, kicking and jumping as he did so. He was quite satisfied with the day, getting some exercise and maybe finding a Captain who could save him money on food. Suddenly a brick wall exploded as the cook swung his swords at it. Attacking and pushing the Marines in his way to the sea they began to outrun the main force. Finally they arrived where the ship was docked, only to jump onto the larger and nicer one to the right of it. While jumping over the railing and onto the deck he stuck his hands out in a T position. Turning around he saw his Captain standing tall on the boat's helm. An inspiring speech indeed, maybe this man was worth following. "BRING ME LOTS OF GREAT FOOD AND ADVENTURE, AND I'LL FOLLOW YOU TO THE END OF THE OCEAN." He yelled to his Captain swearing his oath of nakama in reply. Turning to the side of the ship he jumped onto the dock and placed his hands on the dock waiting for everyone to arrive, he expanded half the dock breaking the ropes and setting the ship free to sail the all the blues.



(OOC: Sorry for Short post, no Mojo for me in this thread)

[devin718]

Actually a bit relieved that his new nakama had followed him after all, Trent ran after the rest of the crew as the headed for the docks to get on their new ship. However, he soon found that their way seemed to be blocked by a wall. This was quickly remedied by the swordsman of the group, who bashed through it like it was nothing. "Wow.....that was actually impressive." he thought, running through the hole that the man had created with the others, not stopping for anything. For once, he thought that he'd enjoy being around a group of humans for a long period of time, especially with the addition of the wotan. They seemed to pretty powerful, just like Alek had been when they first faced each other back on the island of GREED and defeated him. However, this was no time to think about that....they had to get out of there before the Marines caught up with them, and it wouldn't be pretty if they did.....

When they finally reached the docks and got onto the larger ship rather than the one that their cyborg captain had apparently brought, he waited for everyone to get inside of it first before hopping in the ship last and taking one last look at the island they were about to leave. before looking to the rest of his crew, save for Alek. "Well, you may all be just a bunch of humans, but you seem to know how to hold your own at least. I think we're going to get along just fine" he said to them, crossing his arms before looking to his new captain. "So, what island are we going to run wild on next, Alek? Hopefully somewhere without marines, right?" he asked his captain eagerly.

[phoenixflame]

Shichi followed others onto the ship. The pink haired man, who didn't seem to like Shichi's obstacles, pushed out the ship.

''Good job, momoirimo.'' said Shichi. The man's expanding abilities seemed very useful.

As the Marines arrived the crew got to protecting the ship. Shichi slashed into the Marines to prevent more attacks towards the ship.

''Akuma Slash. Blind slash. Reaction slash. Whip slash.'' he said in that exact order.

The first slash went on fire, and flew towards a group of the Marines, which scattered when it hit them, setting some of them on fire and causing them to jump into the water.

The second slash was perfectly aimed into a small opening between houses through which the Marines proceeded to get them. The slash bounced from one wall to another, knocking out the walls which fell onto the Marines.

The third slash was very large. It was aimed straight. It flew into the road, and disappeared. In reality, it left 3 more invisible slashes in the air, a trap if anyone tried to follow.

The fourth and final slash was aimed at a ship which took off, filled with Marines chasing this boat. Shichi spun his sword after the attack, and the slash flew in circles knocking out many Marines.

Shichi then sat back on the deck of the ship, ''Hey, I nicked a bottle of champagne from the town, so we can keep it until we decide to call this ship something or get a different one.'' he said smiling, taking out a bottle of champagne.

[jubakilaque]

Silo and the rest of his new nakama fought their way back to the boat. There was a lull in the battle, which enabled Alek to entertain them. Apparently, their artist had gone missing again, and had hidden in a barrel. Silo and the cook, Shichi, were entrusted with bringing it back to the boat. He did so, and was just behind his captain as he made the speech.

"TO ALL! THE CHESS PIRATES ARE LEAVING HERE! COME ABOARD FOR ADVENTURES ALL ROUND AND EXCITING BATTLES! THE ROAD WILL BE TOUGH, AND SURE YOU MIGHT GET KILLED, BUT FOR TRUE PIRATES THAT IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR! FORGET YOUR POMPOUS LIVES! IF YOU WANT TO TRULY FEEL ALIVE THEN COME ON BOARD! WITH ME AS YOUR HUMBLE CAPTAIN, SAY IT WITH ME! CHESS PIRATES GO!"

Silo was nodding at every single pause, hooked on every word Alek said. That was exactly what he needed to spur him on to formally join the Chess Pirates.

"CHESS PIRATES GO!" he cried enthusiastically.

As Alek set them off loud explosions could be heard. Many of the brick barricades Shichi had set up were now being blown to rubble. Silo was no scientist, but he knew it must take a lot of force to take down the obstruction so easily. Whatever was coming was powerful, and it was on a beeline straight for them.
"Alek!" he cried. "We've got company in about ten seconds!"

Since he was more of a close range fighter, Silo could do nothing for the moment. He watched as the rest of the crew held off early arrivers, and felt a little bit down. There he was, the largest of the gathered crew members, and he was helpless to even defend his own ship!
"Maybe I should get a throwing axe ..."

Silo decided to explore the ship. To his delight, it contained an armory, albeit a small one. Fortuitously, two hatchets were lying by the wall. Silo picked them up, and ran quickly back to the main deck, where the marines had assembled. By now the boat was a considerable distance from the harbor, but a boat filled with what Silo assumed were the man and/or men that were blowing up the obstructions was coming for them. Silo threw a hatchet with such force that it blurred at the ship. It cut a straight line through flanks of marines, killing them with such efficiency that their bodies flew off of the deck, getting rid of the need to dispose of the dead. Silo had two more hatchets in his hands, and he was ready to take them on.
"So, momoirimo," said Silo to Mathus. He hadn't gotten his name properly, assuming that the nickname Shichi had given the rose haired lad was his real name. "My name is Silo, what can you do?"

[Cirrus]

Alek smiled. His crew had all officially accepted his invitation to them, which meant they were officially nakama. His roster was pretty diverse, and they were only missing a doctor and a shipwright. It didn't matter too much providing that they spared the ship from the marine onslaught. Besides, they could pick up those positions on the next island...

His nakama were doing their best, with Silo becoming familiar with the axe, Shichi sending blades of "compressed" air (which seemed to have special properties) and Mathus giving the ship a push away from the shore. Unfortunately Silo had notified him of a powerful faction of marines blowing through brick mountains like a pile of leaves and heading straight for them. They got onto many of the boats at the harbor, and pursued the Chess Pirates.

"Protect the ship!" cried Alek. It was his first order as official captain, and it felt great. He was in his rightful position, leader of a fully capable group of pirates. It was he that decided their fate, as well as they who decided his. They were to become nakama; such great friends that they could be siblings.

As he moved away from the bow of the ship Alek jingled. The large amount of beri in his pocket was probably unviable to carry around. Earlier he had found the boat salesman's life savings of beri. It was rather pitiful, only amounting to 5,000 beri and Alek felt bad for taking it from him. Still, he had pointed to this mighty boat, so the man could only blame himself.

Then the marines started to fire cannonballs. Alek hadn't seen cannons on the vessels that the justice force of the world had commandeered, so he assumed they had brought them onto the ships themselves. It was annoying, considering that cannonballs were more dangerous to his boat than ordinary bullets. Before he had been fine with letting them bounce off of his robotic parts, but he figured cannonballs would do a little more damage than bullets. Alek fired the bazookas in his arms multiple times at cannonballs that were on target. They blew up midflight, sending tiny bits of harmless shrapnell at the body of the ship.
"Everyone take out the cannons!" he ordered.

The marines really seemed to want to take them out, considering that if they escaped they would be out of their juridstriction.
"What is it we have that they want so badly?" wondered Alek.

The mystery marine faction that could blow apart brick mountains like leaf piles had now made it onto a dhow ship. Because of their superior speed they started to gain on the caravel the Chess Pirates owned. This was worrying, as Ilusia had become a relatively small splodge on the horizon. They were in open seas where no one would or could help them. A fully fledged pirate crew fresh into the lion's den.

The game was about to begin.

(OOC: First off I want to say sorry to Leon for shoving a whole load of storyline potential on his NPC, and for ignoring him almost completely in the thread. You can follow us on a marine boat or something. This thread is now closed, great round of posting guys! The story continues in West Blue Open Seas, under the tag of (Chess Pirates).)