First stop! A new adventure begins. [o]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Thank you very much.'

Torin said with an honest smile as he took the last box of supplies from the woman and placed them onto the pile. sub-consciously placing his hat on his head as he leant forward, other hand shoved in his pocket as he caught eye of the woman while he examined the goods. She simply stared at him with a grin, arms folded and her head tilted to one side. Torin raised his head, and a brow as the woman eventually snapped out of her gaze. 'Oh! I'm sorry!' Torin chuckled as he straightening himself out. 'Something wrong?' She shook her head, rubbing her eyes as she pushed the shipping trolleys to one side. 'The hat, the posture.. You just..' Torin pushed the last box onto a small pulley as he lifted his helmet from his face, a grin as if someone was taking his picture. 'Look like someone you know?' She nodded, with a glance to the long path out towards the ocean, she reminisced for a short moment before looking back to Torin. 'Well, you have a safe trip now.' Torin made a weak salute as he began to tug the supplies down the path. 'Will be now that we have food. Thanks again!'

He began to stroll down the path as he looked to Darius to follow. 'Well then, lets skip town, I'm sure Taro must be getting bored of all the attention by now.' He pulled the large pack of supplies down the straight path to the boat, he was amazed how small this town was in comparison to the only place he has ever lived, everything seemed small, though he couldn't help but feel comforted by it. It was cosy like the tunnels he dug for days on end. Torin had only just registered what Darius had suggested, he was too busy making sure he had all the right numbers at the time. 'Oh! You said you could navigate? So you can swing a sword and read a path, eh?' He pulled the piece of paper from out of his mesh on his helmet, waving it slightly before placing it back. 'I have navigation under control but you are welcome to correct me if I am wrong if course plotting in the future. Your skills in their entirety will be more than useful I assure you.'

'Well if I know anything about pirate crews is that they seem to have a wide range of job placements. Glad to actually have someone who can fight at the starting line of our travels.' He chuckled at the sound of it all, venturing out into sea with a price on their heads and fighting all the way.. Sounded rather welcoming to be honest. Torin stopped in his tracks as he realised people were around his boat, and Taro too! He was early..

The men seemed to be streaming out from the back alleys and buildings of the small town and gathering around Taro. 'I honestly thought he would have lost them before he got back to the ship. Bet you ten beri he thought he was home free and just skipped back to the boat as if those clothes weren't an eye catcher.' He continued until he was quite close, the men turning at the hearing of rumbling boxes and bottles, the store owner emerging from a small pile. 'I knew it! This is yours and his boat! You ratted out your own friend!? What a coward!' He pointed towards Torin as some henchmen from the mass of idle men began to walk towards Torin, batting their weapons against their bodies and itching for a fight. 'Its obvious this little rat can't pay, so we will just take your food as repayment.' Torin's eyes flicked back and forth as he watched the numerous men begin to stride closer and closer.

'But this is my food..' He said very calmly, patting his pile as the shop keeper simply laughed. 'Well now its mine, thanks to your no good pirate friend here!' Torin tilted his head, pirate was a odd choice of words. His words were backed up by two pieces of paper in his hands, as he pushed out one for Torin to see, Torin smiled, which soon turned into a giddy chuckle. 'No way! They gotta picture of me at the three sails!?' He placed his hand on his head as he leaned back to laugh, the shopkeeper looking like his head was about to explode. 'How is this funny!? Your a wanted man and all you do is laugh about it!?' Torin wiped a tear from his eye as he let out a sigh. 'That's awesome..' The keeper had lost his small thread of patience, flailing as if having a seizure before pointing at Torin once more. 'Get him! His bounty can pay back his friends thievery!'

Torin was quite confused as the group moved towards him at a faster pace, were they after him or the food now? This man's plans weren't very straight forward, how in gods name did these hired guys keep track he'll never know. A man with an axe decided to make the first move, as he swung and slammed his blade against Torin's helmet, freezing for a moment as his impact simple sent the vibrations wobbling up his spine. Torin, with an unamused look lifted his helmet to look at the man who struck the blow, taking his shovel from his back he smacked him on the head in retaliation, the man crumpling to the ground. 'Not so nice when I hit you on the head, is it!?' The other men, in all shapes and sizes considered their large pay and all charged at once. 'Get him' and numerous other shouts and yells emitted from the crowd as Torin put his shovel back on his back.

It looked almost as if every guy began swinging at the wrong time on purpose, as Torin began to jump onto, around and under the flailing men as one by one they began to yell about their arm not moving or the horror that they couldn't feel their legs. Torin emerged from the small crowd patting the dust off his hands as he looked back to the pile of moaning henchmen. 'You know with so many of you, you could have easily done more than swing widely' He pulled his shovel from his back, swinging it behind him then placing it back as a man sneaking up behind him froze on the spot, grabbing his groin and falling to the floor.

He looked back to Taro's small batch of opponents, and then the shopkeeper as he stood shaking from the result of his wave of minions. 'Ho- How did you do that!?' Torin shrugged as he took an intake of breath. 'Well the first one decided to swing to the right with too much weight on his one si-' He was quickly interrupted by the grouchy shop-man-person: 'I didn't mean that!' He looked helplessly at the men who stood cautious behind him. 'Well don't just stand there! Get the little brat!' Torin prepared himself for another wave of mindless flailers as he lifted his head as if to gesture towards Darius. 'Hey, now's your chance to us what 'ya got!' Torin said as he lifted a thumbs up into Darius before jabbing at the first incoming lackey, as his body seized from the neck attack and flopped to the ground.

Torin was starting to understand why people became pirates.
This was unnaturally fun.

[Deleted]

Taro was on the retreat; diving back he managed to evade another sweeping axe blow. This guy wasn’t messing around and his friend had just stopped and started to watch. ‘This is serious, these guys aren’t amateur, but not all that amazing either... it’s just these weapons... the intent to kill is a little overwhelming’.

Basically the musician was just running away, but with his face to his opponent. His hesitance to make a move was off course due to the fact he was unarmed and had little experience fighting people who seriously intended to cut him up. ‘Not many options though... the longer I stall, the higher the chance he’ll land a hit’ this rationale was all Taro needed to regrettably make a counter attack. The axe swung in quickly, a horizontal slash aimed at the torso. Now running instinctively all thought had been pushed from Taro’s mind, it could be fatal if he so much as hesitated. Sliding forward quickly, the musician positioned himself past the axe head and smoothly found a purchase on the weapons shaft.

Pleasantly surprised Taro capitalised without deliberation, pulling on the axe hilt he brought his opponent in close and swiftly kneed him in the abdomen, then again and again before finally kicking him backwards. With a clunk the axe hit the ground and a small opening was created. Through the corner of his eye Taro glimpsed the crowd of people who had gathered. He was so absorbed he hadn’t noticed them and even now they barely registered. ‘When is the cavalry going to bloody arrive?’

Never one to give his opponent a chance to recover, all this though took part in only a tiny moment. The bounty hunter had begun to recover himself, but the opening was there. Taro charged forward, unarmed combat wasn’t as intimidating; in fact Taro won a few brawls and a lot drunker than he currently was. He moved with confidence, planting a foot firmly in his opponent’s stomach and tensing up. With a burst of energy he launched himself upwards as he literally walked up his opponent, catching him firmly under the chin with his opposing foot.

Propelled into the air Taro just above his opponent, the musician allowed himself a grin – ‘this is a favourite’ he thought, happy with how flashy he was about to look. Turning in the air he twisted aggressively, rotating with a foot extended he brought it crashing down onto the bounty hunter, who was not being very impressive. As the two started plummeting toward the ground, the move was being performed flawlessly, Taro began to announce the move;

“The dr...” before he was interrupted by an unwelcome guest.

Taro had just managed to evade the slicing blade as the hunter’s partner made his move. Frantically adjusting his position the pirate managed to put feet to the ground awkwardly, before tumbling and rolling backwards and finally regaining balance and returning to a stand. Still a little shocked Taro was cursing under his breath;

“-ing forgot about that other bastard...”

The “bastard” had managed to land gracefully and support his falling ally. He ignored Taro momentarily.

“How many bloody times am I going to have to save you? I’ll take it from here...”

Taro really was getting frustrated now; ‘Great so he’s the good one? Hurry up so we can leave people... it’s got to have been an hour...’

The Break Down: Taro enters a stance, legs shoulder length apart with his eyes firmly on the enemy. In these moments his head will nod up and down as he attempts to read his opponents move. If successful an opportunity is created in which Taro can gain purchase on the enemies attacking limb or weapon, and pull them in close for a succession of knee blows aimed for the abdomen. The point of this move is to weaken and slow an enemy, to make a finishing blow easier to land. It is off course voided by ranged weaponry.

The Drop: Taro charges at and then literally up his opponent. Firstly placing a kick in the stomach, and then pushing upwards a kick to the chin with his other foot. Still riding the momentum of the initial kick both Taro and his opponent should be airborne and ascending at the same rate. Then if all goes well Taro spins violently extending his right leg and bringing it down onto his opponent, driving them back towards the floor at a frightening speed.

[Cirrus]

'I have navigation under control but you are welcome to correct me if I am wrong if course plotting in the future. Your skills in their entirety will be more than useful I assure you.'

"Oh, yeah. Okay then, that's cool too, bro."

Replied Darius. He would have been disappointed, but he wasn't voracious; every crew had to have a navigator, and on this occasion it wasn't him. However, the prospect of being designated swordsman excited him - he was in charge of the rough stuff. Clearly he emanated some kind of aura that told people he was awesome. The pair came to what was apparently the crew's ship. In front of it was Taro, who was in the middle of fending off multiple opponents at once. He was doing pretty well, or at least, well enough that Darius didn't publicly belittle his combat skills.

Then Torin was engaged in the battle, and he too dealt with his foes easily. Sighing as it appeared for the third time that day he had missed out on the chance to fight, a ray of hope in the form of Torin's familiar voice shone out to him.

'Hey, now's your chance to us what 'ya got!'

Darius smirked at the chance to fight. He had been waiting for a decent challenge all day, and now he appeared to have found one. For the second time that day Darius unsheathed Aera. Admiring the Odachi's beauty, Darius nearly forgot about the reason he brandished it in the first place. Turning to the thugs, he said menacingly,

"If you have a god...pray to him now."

And with that warning, Darius began his onslaught. Running with impressive pace, Darius made for his first attack.

"Hanketsu no Kami"

He grabbed at the closest thug, and rammed the butt of Aera into his stomach. The man crumpled, leaving himself open for a finishing move. This was the last part of the attack, but Darius was not able to perform it as he was quickly surrounded. He battled hard, parrying many a sword slice and dealing a fair bit of damage back too. However, there were simply too many for him to finish. He would have to change tactics.

"Awesome! Now I get to show this!"

It would be unclear to the other two what he meant, but by the tone of voice it would be obvious that whatever Darius was about to use was dangerous and probably had a high chance of obliterating the thugs' chances. He sheathed Aera, while muttering something along the lines of 'I don't even have to use this...'. Then, something amazing happened.

Two red arrows appeared on the back of Darius' hands. Before any explanation could be given he demonstrated. He rushed the group of thugs again, but this time his fists were flying forward uncontrollably at such a pace that it was unable to be tracked by the human eye. This was the power of a devil fruit, and Darius was using it with the skill of a veteran. Within seconds the thugs had been battered into a state of unconsciousness, and were now imprinted randomly around the dock into various objects like buildings, ships and even just the pavement; such was the power of the punches. Darius ran off to the edge and ducked his hands in. The arrows disappeared, and his fists stopped their reign of terror.

Grinning, he turned back to Taro and Torin, still ignoring the thugs' leader.

"Devil fruits. Awesome huh?

SPOILER: Click to show

Hanketsu no Kami (Judgement of God) [f] -- A basic grab and slash attack, but performed in a much more serene fashion. Darius grabs the opponent, rams them with the butt of his sword, then rams the opponent in the back of the head, flooring them.

Bakuta Bakuta no Mi

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Geronimooo!~'

Torin exclaimed with a cheerful giggle as he surfed his final petty henchmen into the ground, adjusting his helmet as he looked to the many still remaining. 'Ooo~ These can be Darius's' He sat on one of the larger men's backs as he pulled a pineapple juice carton from his satchel, slurping away at the contents as he watched Darius beat down his opponents. And then, it happened..

Torin's jaw dropped as Darius began to steam roll through the dense group of men like a blur, men catapulting off left right and centre. The whole event of epic proportions lasted no more than a minute, and at the end he launched from his man-seat, crushed his weak and puny carton and stars emitted from his eyes. 'That was so awesoooome!~' Torin couldent help but jump around for a moment before posing in a serious manner. 'They were like! Were gunna punch you and stuff! And you were like, 'Pffffffffft~' and then you went woosh and like, wabow! And they went everywhere!' Torin took a moment to catch his breath after flailing his arms to every detail of the event. Darius was quick to announce to sheer awesomeness of his devil fruit, as Torin simply nodded repeatedly, hitting himself with his shaking helmet then falling over.

Getting up and pretending that totally didn't happen. Torin looked to Taro who seemed to be having trouble with his two.. They looked different, and cooler than the riff raff he had faced, he pondered as he kicked a waking guy in the face in front of him, deciding to give Taro a hand. As the man went to strike the vulnerable Taro he flinched as he was smacked in the back with Torin's shovel. 'What the!?' He turned to reveal that he hadn't even been phased by the strike, with a dark glare he smirked down at Torin. 'So you're the digger..' Torin raised a brow as he pulled his shovel back slowly. 'The who now?' The man pulled the posters from his belt, showing Torin his. 'They Callin' you the digger, kid.' Torin placed his shovel on his back as he placed his arms at his sides. 'What kind of name is that? What about hard-hat or something?' The man pondered for a moment, before pondering over why he was pondering, then he just got confused and readied his swords. 'Why do I care I'm just here to get your bounty!' He pulled his swords back at the still annoyed Torin who mumbled to himself. 'Now hurry up and die so I can claim it!'

The man was quick to put all his force into a quick swipe from both sides with his blades, aiming right for Torin's neck. He was blind in his movements, his urge to kill weighed out his planning as he was soon to notice as he realised he swung at thing air. He looked to his side as a feint cough alerted him to Torin, who had stopped one of his arms from swinging fully, as it lay frozen at Torin's fingertips. No words were said, the man's arm twitched as it lashed out, his elbow driving into Torin's overconfident face as he spun into the ground, his hard hat absorbing a harsh blow from the stone ground. Torin's confidence had gotten the better of him. He had never been one to stride forward without a plan, and he just learned the consequence.. Torin got up, his helmet covering his face in shadow as blood dripped from his chin onto the floor. 'That nerve mumbo-jumbo wont work on me kid, so just give up already.'

Torin swept his thumb across his cheek, lowering his hand to get a good look at the blood he shook his head. The man was quick to strike again, as Torin was swiped with the tip of his sword, his face was jolted to one side, as a small line of blood trailed off the connected blade. 'No wonder your bounty is so low. 'Ur nothin' without your little trump card! Maybe you could just give up? Get more Beri 'outta you that way.' Torin realised the others must be watching, and though he knew his attitude directed towards them not getting involved. 'You think my buddy was easy? He was a rookie! I could hunt pirate-wannabes like you in my sleep!' The man decided to stop playing around as he spin on one foot, gathering momentum as he aimed for Torin's chest.

His eyes widened as coming out of his spin he realised Torin was no longer there, and uncontrollably he lost his footing as he tumbled to the ground. 'How the hell!?' He stopped a sudden fall as he slammed his sword into the ground, realising his leg had flopped to the ground, it wasn't numbed, it was in agony.. As his calf muscle looked almost swollen, it would be bleeding if the skin weren't in the way. He held himself up by his sword, looking to the now evident Torin who stood fists clenched as he stood at his vulnerable side. The shop keeper and the remaining men stood in fear of the unknown as Torin sent a pointed jab at the man's head, as his eyes rolled, his body flopping to one side.

The shop keeper backed away as Torin turned to the remaining group. 'Yo-.. You killed him!' Torin raised his helmet from his eyes to reveal the cut across his nose, and blood dripping from his eye. 'Oh shut up, he'll be fine in a few days.' His face was determined if not serious. As he stretched out his hand, taking a sword from the man and placing it over his shoulder, the size being quite large in comparison to Torin. 'And the names hard-hat. What kind of name is digger anyway.' Torin waved his poster in annoyance as the shopkeeper could contain himself no more.

'OHMYGODDONTKILLMEAAAH!~' Was the final words as the shopkeeper and his men fleed back into town, as Torin burst into laughter. 'So much for a quick stop eh?' Torin calmed himself down as he glanced over Taro's picture. 'Hey Taro look, They got a picture of you playing in Rouge town.' He waved Taro's wanted poster with a grin. 'I'm worth more than yoou~' He chuckled away as he wiped the blood from his eye, walking over to the supplies and dragging them into the ship. 'Well lets get going then! Ship aint going to sail itself!' He kept the sword hauled over his shoulder.

'I think I'll keep this.. Hell, even make a trend out of it.'
He then suddenly realised a most annoying fact.
'God dammit I got blood on the ship again!'

[Deleted]

Taro stood staring wide eyed for a moment, Torin had just neutralised his advisory perhaps not perfectly but very quickly, and Darius had torn though a crowd of thugs like they were made of paper. However, ever-quick to compose himself, the musician just let out a sigh and looked up at his two crew mates smiling;

“Took your time... arriving late, huh show offs? Anyway thanks for the help with that guy there...” he said to Torin as he moved in to give him a quick man hug. With the distraction of the fake hug, Taro slid his right leg quickly behind the newly appointed and un-expecting Captain and proceeded to push him onto his ass.

“That’s for ratting me out, you bastard!” he said grinning, pulling Torin back to his feet.

“So Darius, you’re officially recruited? Wow how things move quickly... Well I’d like to say welcome officially, and here is our vessel” he gestured grandly at their newly acquired ship. “Those were some crazy ass moves, I’ve never seen a devil fruit user in action, blimey!”

Turning cheerfully to the ship, the musician enthusiastically hopped on board. Returning quickly with his guitar; Alisha, he sat on the rail running round the ship to face his nakama and played a few chords... “A toast, to new friends and to the open sea”.

Suddenly the massive grin from the obviously contented Taro vanished and he strummed an intentionally flat sounding chord, “Did you say your worth more than me? I was the bloody trouble maker! That’s rich... just wait, I’m going to... did I even get a name?” Complaints rolled from the pirate in a disjointed mess, until eventually the grin returned. “Ah well, always tomorrow and ‘hard hats’ eh? Sounds like a better name... I mean who digs? Anyway, ramble over... let’s get the hell out of here and find a real adventure!”

Despite the optimism, there was a slight nagging concern deep in the back of Taro’s head. ‘I’m going to have to get better fast, to catch and keep up with these guys. Especially Darius, he’s a machine...’

However the more serious concerns of the musician were not as audible as the sweeping melody that followed his speech and he burst into song.

[Cirrus]

'That was so awesoooome!~They were like! Were gunna punch you and stuff! And you were like, 'Pffffffffft~' and then you went woosh and like, wabow! And they went everywhere!'

Darius just smiled. Admiration was a wonderful thing. Besides, that was just a fraction of the things he could do with his devil fruit. Subconsciously tapping Brynhildr, Darius looked up to see Torin taking out a few more guys. Despite his looks, the man seemed rather obliging to fight.

Two scraps of paper caught his attention. They had pictures of Taro and Torin on them. Bounty posters.

"Hey, I didn't know you guys were wanted. That's so cool!"

Now it was Darius' turn to be all excited. He was travelling with wanted pirates! They could be all infamous and stuff! Remembering his company, Darius stopped jumping up and down in a totally inconspicuous way. Noting Torin's apparent admiration for the sword he acquired, the swordsman made a point of asking for a duel later.

“Took your time... arriving late, huh show offs? Anyway thanks for the help with that guy there.."

Darius chuckled.

"Show-offs or not, I think we'd better get movin'. A guy like him could have some friends in the marines."

Darius' warning seemed to fall on deaf ears, however, as Taro was busy exacting revenge on Torin for earlier. He laughed at his captain's misfortune, then proceeded to follow the pair onto the boat. As Torin fretted about getting more blood on his boat, Darius went below deck to find some quarters for himself. Rather conveniently he had been carrying all of his belongings with him the whole time...

"Freaky."

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'I look like a mummy..'

Torin glanced at himself in the still water after patching up his eye and cheek. He flinched as he tried to move his wounded arm, and it was only then he remembered he even had it at all. He was lucky it didn't re-open from the conflict or else he would have been in trouble. With lessons learned he shuffled into the small cabin which resided by the steering platform, as he unloaded his stack of books onto the floor, and filling the empty slots on his large bookcase with new knowledge. He took a step back, a navigation book and 'A Captains life' Novel in his hands he sighed, considering how this went so well he wondered if it was always going to be like this, his realistic thoughts were shadowed as he took the sword he had obtained from the floor, hammering in a few pegs as he hung it up on the wall. 'The first of many..' A grin took over his concerned face as he left the small room to its dim sun coated glow.

He looked out to the blue ahead as he leaned over the railings, hopping down to the deck as he placed his books on the stairs leading back up. Hopping around joyfully setting up the boat by himself, as he watched his crew settled for the trip. He began to feel responsible for them, though knew that something like that worked both ways. It was going to take some getting used to but, he had nothing holding him back, no dark past to escape from, no vengeance to enact across the seas.

He took his map from his helmets mesh as he poked away at it, skittering back and forth as the sails dropped, ropes tied and the ship was jerked into motion. He settled down with numerous bits and bobs as he worked on a new idea he had thought of on the island, as he read the two books which lay open on the ground. He kept to himself as the ship began to move off along the calm seas, every now and again Torin lifting his helmet from his eyes to investigate a stir, before going back to his work.

He had a lot to learn, and in his opinion.
Little time to learn it.

_______________________________________________

With Torin and Taro conquering their first obstacle as pirates they had come across a new friend along the way. Darius the swordsman joins the ranks of Torin's slow building crew as enthusiasm for the future grows brighter with every moment as they set sail into the deep east blue. Torin begins to understand the importance of his role, as well as the trust he must put in his friends aid in the journey ahead. The crew venture forth into the world, as it lays welcoming to discovery.