Hard-Hat's escape! The Shattered Sky retaliates!

[Tori Tori Chopper]

We last left the Hard-Hats in their daring escape from the Orange town docks. After Torin freeing a prisoner from her holdings the Hard-Hats leader had once again placed the crew in bad terms with the marines, as the Ex-Marine Imuka revealed to be a walking tank. From meeting new friends and obtaining new weaponry the Hard-Hats leave with another story for the books and another wanted criminal on their new ship. Though the marines will not give up as easily as the Hard-Hat's are used to this time..

______________________________

'There! Actually sailing with the boat in the right direction now eh?' Torin said happily as he jogged down the large staircase and back onto the deck, as the mast locked back into place. He hadn't had any time at all to look at his ship in more detail, and he silently giggled just thinking about what they were sailing on. Sure he was an inventor but this was something else, sailing the sea's in a ship of their own design, and apparently everything was to his specifications.. As clearly shown by the magical rotating mast, sure Darius could have sped them out of there.. But for once a little more care was needed in order to get them out of there with the boat unharmed. 'So if the boat is exactly to my blue-prints..' Torin began to point dramatically a multiple areas of the ship, even if three times he just pointed at the floor. 'My room! Kitchen and lounge! Cabins! Training room! Leisure room!' He finished by pointing to the sky, and to the almost sky-box castle with a smile. 'Crooows neest of awwsooome~' Torin let his arms wobble back to his sides as he looked about his crew with a honest smile on his face. 'This is a fun time..'

Though his admiration would have to wait, so many statistics to analyse, a ship to master and rooms to organize.. The boat was far from finished, though he was happy enough that it actually sailed rather than just plummeting into the sea the second it left the dock. Not to mention a heavily armored woman with a weapon which can destroy ships was casually lingering around on th- Wait a second! 'You! Uhm.. Muka!' Torin was clearly amazing at thinking of nicknames for his crew, surnames and half-names.. Genius. 'I know I said you could come onto the boat but..' His face seemed to turn serious as he seemed to reflect on past events. 'You're still a criminal! I mean we cant have criminals advertising our shi-' He paused for a moment, slowly shuffling away as to not cause a scene from the stupidity of his argument, he would rather change the subject and deal with a cannon-flailing lady being on their ship later.. Besides, Taro had new wanted posters.

'Yeees! I'm still worth more than you guys, right?' He moved to look at the posters Taro was presumably still gawking over from the dock, only to be distracted by a repetitive bird noise that he had been trying to ignore. 'God dammit go away you stupid!' He turned to yell at the source only to be starring down the beak of a large bird, a newspaper residing in its mouth as it tilted its head to one side. 'Oh! Thanks.. Uhm, here you go.' He placed a sack of Beri into the birds satchel as it flew off back towards Organ island, Torin watching it fly off as he attempted to unfold the newspaper without actually looking at it, feeling the ragged material of new wanted posters between his fingers. 'Hey look new-new wanted posters!' He sighed, he had only glanced at Taro's and knew they were the same. 'Dammit, I thought we had gotten even cooler.. Hey look! Fox has one.' he glanced over them curiously before looking back to the bird which had long vanished into the cloud-line, an army of marine vessels inits place. 'Hey look.. a huge bunch of marines.. I wonder what they ar-..'He looked to Imuka, then back to the ships.. They were gaining, fast!

'Uuuh! Guys!? We got company!'

[Cirrus]

Feeling refreshed after his awesome pose back at the harbour of Organ Island, Darius turned so that the majority of the Hard-Hat's new ship was in front of him. Taking in all the awesomeness, the swordsman realised that he planned to be on this ship for a looong time. Darius had remembered to retrieve his things from the old man in Orange Town (he had taken a little detour in his high speed journey when he blew up the marine ship), and as such went to move them into his room. He walked calmly over to where they lay - the thrill of being on a new ship had lessened somewhat - and picked them up. Darius descended the staircase that led to the living quarters of the ship, and quickly found a fairly large bedroom.

"I call dibs," he said to himself. Kicking open the door which was, thankfully, ajar, Darius soon had all of his possessions arranged in the room; even Aera was in her place, hanging on the wall using some device that was probably meant to be a shelf originally - a little DIY had seen that use wasn't possible anymore.

Awk! Awk!~

The news ku's cries alerted Darius, interrupting his current 'awesome-boat-inspection'. He ran up onto the main deck and caught sight of Torin opening the bundle and pulling out fresh bounty posters. From his position the swordsman could see Taro's, Torin's and...

A third one?!

Excitement bubbled up in Darius like well shaken fizzy drink. He broke into a sort of walk-run, trying to appear calm and relaxed while hiding the sheer anticipation that he felt. Once he came close enough to carefully prise the third bounty poster from his captain's hands, Darius took a good long look at it.

It was a picture of himself, looking uncharacteristically menacing in front of the ruins of the Shell Island marine base. If the aim of the picture was to portray the swordsman as a belligerent, evil man then the marine's prime photographer had done himself proud. Still - you had to admit he looked pretty badass. On the whole, Darius was rather pleased with his bounty - 7,500,000. It was pretty high for the Blues, and he now had something to pin up on the 'Wall of Fame' the new boat came equipped with.

"Awesome! Hey, Ta-...! Come ch-..." the sound of gunfire was intermittent with his speech, and eventually Darius succumbed. If he was going to be interrupted, then he was going to be interrupted. He turned sharply, and saw the armada the marines had sent after them. A few cannonballs were coming their way, but the ships weren't close enough to begin to seriously target them. However, just the noise of the cannons told the swordsman one thing:

The marines had upped their game.

[Deleted]

After getting over the initial shock of things, Taro had pinned up the wanted posters he was holding and the adrenaline rush that had been keeping him relatively normal faded, in its stead drunkenness arrived like an unwanted guest at a party. Fortunately the Hard-Hats had already set sail and Taro’s usefulness had probably if he was honest, dropped considerably. It was time to explore and so the musician headed below deck, the sound of the door swinging closed was the only thing signifying his departure.

‘God, this boat is more wobbly than normal – I need... pizza or... something? It’s much bigger than the last boat, it’s so homely... I want pizza... Hey look, the kitchen! Damn it... no pizza. Well this is an utter disaster, where’s my room.’ Uneasily Taro made his way around the boat and found his designated quarters, giving the room a quick once over before removing his trench coat, throwing it carelessly on the bed and then raising his hat as if to toast the room. He turned on his heel and as he headed to the door the sound of gunfire snapped him, somewhat, from his stupor. ‘Oh Crap! I hope this Imuka... hehe, I-moooo-ka! Yes... I hope she can shoot well, I better go and save these idiots from themselves... if our new home gets scratched I swear’

Finished with his internal monologue Taro began to head back on deck, although quickly became distracted as he decided the complementary champagne the kitchen had come so pleasantly equipped with would prove fitting in christening the ship, albeit if they survived, which of course they would. So arriving as he left with nothing signifying his arrival other than the sound of the door swinging open and closed again, Taro stood grinning in an excessively happy manner.

“Hey-hey, it’s time for a sing song! Under attack! Don’t look back, the marines are closing in! Something... hic!” Quickly reverting to his prior levels of intoxication, the squiffy musician began to wander the boat, playing his new guitar pretty well, but murmuring awfully. “It’s up to the new Imuka! Don’t mess with her she’ll shoot ‘ya and then... something else?”

The sound of gunfire was growing ever nearer as the pursing marines were able to gain their bearings. Then in synchronicity with a cannon ball that had came crashing into the ocean – mere meters from the new ship; Taro fell onto his backside. The look of happy confusion was replaced with semi-serious anger and so he waved a futile fist into the air, “I just want a party! The ship needs a name and marines suck! Blehhhh!” He yelled immaturely sticking his tongue out whilst ‘Blehhhing’.

[Die]

((Well...I'm just gonna go ahead and say that there are four ships leftover from the prison escort, so that's four ships to take out.))

With the ship well underway from Organ Island, Imuka could finally rest after having gone through what she did. The events of the past week seemed to blur through her mind. She seemed to go into a daze, reflecting on what had happened, seemingly shutting out everything that was going on around her, including Torin's voice. The girl placed the butt of the Var on the wooden deck and slumped against the wall, bringing the upper portion of the weapon onto her right shoulder. Her armored gauntlets protected her hands from the blade of the weapon.

"Imuka...get out of here. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into with this mutiny. Live on...for our sake, make sure our sacrifices aren't for nothing. Now go!"

The resounding explosion after those words echoed through her mind, concurrent with the whistling and explosions of missed cannonballs. It seemed to jerk her out of her dazed state. The gunner got back up to her feet and looked out where Torin was looking.

"Uuuh! Guys!? We got company!" shouted Torin. There was a small contingent of Marine ships, the same ones from Organ Island that were part of the prison escort. There was one missing this time, the one Darius had gotten rid of back on Organ Island. The original five ships were now reduced to four. Four targets for Imuka to take out.

"Dammit! Just give up already!"

[/color] growled Imuka as she lifted the Var up and pointed it out at the group of ships. With a magazine of HEI rounds already loaded, Imuka quickly scoped out the number of ships, their distance and wind. She aimed the barrel of her weapon up, in line with the ship on the far left, but seemingly aiming nowhere near it. Imuka adopted a brace position for the intense recoil. If anything, this would also demonstrate a need to reinforce the main deck if she was going to do this in the future. "MRSI..." Imuka said to herself as her eyes narrowed. The gunner pulled the trigger on the Var. A sudden surge in force knocked the weapon back along its plane of orientation, doing little to upset the trajectory of the projectile. Flames from the powder combustion spurted out from the barrel while gases were ejected from vents down the length of the barrel. The shell shot out and up from the barrel. The deck groaned from the force of the recoil as Imuka safely absorbed some of it. The round was well on its way towards the first ship. As it slowed down due to almost reaching its maximum height, Imuka lowered her weapon a little bit and turned to the next ship in sequence, and fired another round. The shell casing ejected, landing on the deck with a very audible metallic thump and ring. She lowered the weapon a little bit more and fired at the next ship, and completed the firing sequence with the final ship. All rounds traveled in similar arcs, but with increasingly lowered maximum heights and travel time, resulting in a simultaneous impact on all four pursuing ships. The rounds impacted the main deck of each ship, detonating the payload of high explosives and eliminating most of them while the penetrator crashed through the bottom hull of each shit. With most of the deck obliterated and a massive hole left in the bottom, the Marine ships began to quickly take in water and sink. Imuka left her stance and stood back up normally, placing the butt of the Var on the deck and held it vertically with her hand on just the foregrip.[/blockquote][/size]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Go away!'

Torin screamed across the quiet sea, well quiet if you ignored all of the cannon noises whizzing past their boat. Torin had not only just got this boat, but he was in no mood to face even more marines, sure it would be their first actual fight at sea but, he didn't picture it this way at all. It had to be dramatic! and awesome! It was only after his mental rant he noticed how the crew had come to attention, and yet were no help at all. Darius decided it would be a funny idea to just stand and look dramatically, even though Torin knew he couldn't actually do anything at this time.. And Taro was well.. 'God dammit Taro now is not the time for sin- Thats actually a pretty good tune..' Easily distracted Torin seemed to ignore the fact Taro was drunk, more annoyed at his insistence on party's over obtaining a boat which could soon be blown into the water. 'We have to think of something! I mean can't you do-' He was becoming repetitive in cutting himself off in his sentences as he was actually talking to where Imuka previously was, as a arrow in his mind directed him to turn to follow the Imuka who seemed to have taken action.. Unlike the others.

'What 'ya dooin'~?' Torin played oblivious as Imuka moved to the back of the ship, taking out her seemingly signature weapon and placed it down along with her-self, in a braced position, Torin stared closely at her and the machine before moving closer, and sitting beside her, looking out the marines as he began to scribble away on a magically appearing notepad. He watched as he calmly loaded, aimed and fired off a shot as he stroked his chin as if it was riddled with manly hair. 'Ah! An artillery cannon, run's off a recoil of.. Yes..' To explain the event which was just occurring upon the Hard-Hat ship would be somewhat confusing, and most would laugh as in a marine situation only one person tried to retaliate.. As the captain was simply talking to himself, and the other two were starring in awe at the weapon or too busy being drunk. Though then again not one of them were at all panicked by the situation.. The Hard-Hats had grown in ignorance as pirates at least..

Four shots were fired as the shells were ejected, and one was nice enough to even land on Torin's foot, a light hiss coming from him as he pushed it away, scrunching his face at it before looking back to the weapon at a dangerously close view considering it was being fired. He had written scribbles and sketches of the weapon in different shapes and sizes, and nodded with his work before looking out to the ships with a patient look, crossing his legs and placing his hands neatly in the center he looked to Imuka.. Then to the ships... Then back to Imuka, before the ships one by one began to explode and sink slowly. Torin clapped lightly as if a posh individual, before poking the gun, and Imuka's armor as she seemed to make a pretty cool pose over her success. 'So that's how it is..' He knocked on the weapon as if a door, before squinting his eyes in happiness and standing up, placing his hands on his hips as he looked back off to the previously daunting ships as they puffed and flailed in the light waves, giggling a little as the little marines began to skitter around the distant wreckages.

'A good weapon.. But it could do better.' Torin then began to mumble to himself about things not worth mentioned, as to the normal human mind it would sound like he may as well be blurting out noises and dancing, it would make more sense after-all. He quickly turned back to Imuka who was probably looking at him with a confused look, or even too cool to stand around and had gone back to her previous seating, none the less Torin moved to face her. 'So you weren't falsely accused I presume.' He took a seat beside her, pulling his remaining pineapple juice bottle from his belt before running dry of the old boats storage. 'Which means you are pretty much pirate material from the start..' After taking a gulp he would lie down, and place his hands behind his head as his helmet rolled off to the side. 'You may as well join us then, eh?' He said with a smile as he extended a hand out to her. 'Most people think you are on our crew anyway..' He chuckled slightly as he raised a brow, looking up to her from his lying position. 'How 'bout it Muka?'

'Wanna be a Hard-Hat?'

[Cirrus]

Darius cocked his head to the side, a little intrigued. If the marines had upped their game, then he probably had to up his. Curious as to what new kind of weapons they were utilising right now, the swordsman zoomed off, with nothing suggesting his previous presence on the deck of the boat other than the glowing red arrow. More appeared in the air as he travelled towards the marine ship at high speeds, planting grenades on a few of the more accurately aimed cannonballs as he went. They would explode behind him in midair, doing no damage whatsoever to the ship. Darius finally made it onto the marine boat, crashing into a group of Petty Officers and Ensigns.

"Oi! Watch it!" he yelled, irritated at the marines' presence. He hadn't braced himself, and had done himself a slight injury. Darius looked up, and realised that he was completely surrounded. Bemused at the constant incentive to fight, the swordsman pushed his way through part of the circle, running over to one of the cannons and hefting it onto his shoulder. Then he was gone again, the familiar glow of the red arrow remaining where he had once stood. Once more arrows would appear above the sea, like a trail for all to see; indicating where he was going.

"He's got one of the cannons! Stop him!" came the desperate cries. Their screams would do nothing to stop the ex-urchin, however. Darius reappeared back on the Hard-Hat deck to catch Imuka launching some odd kind of artilerry shell at the boat he had pilfered the cannon from, destroying it entirely. For the second time that day he tilted his head to the side, intrigued.

"Nice gun-cannon-thing..." complimented the swordsman. Remembering the reason he had stolen the cannon in the first place, Darius turned sharply about, fixed on finding Torin. He tried to shake the feeling of awkwardness that had arisen while he said anything to the gunner. As far as he could tell the Hard-Hat intended to recruit her into the crew, which could only make the situation worse. Darius still felt a little animosity between the two; the forceful way Imuka had asserted her purpose had not made a good first impression.

"Still....Torin!" Darius trailed off, his target becoming apparent as he made a beeline towards Torin. Somehow Imuka had gotten there before him, as the swordsman caught his captain sealing the deal.

'Wanna be a Hard-Hat?' Time seemed to slow down. Darius broke into a sweat. Did he want this? What was so wrong with her?

Her...

Maybe that was it? Darius had always been used to fraternity-style relationships. Girls had cooties or some other made up disease associated with the opposite gender. Sure, the swordsman could stand being near a woman, but...this was different, wasn't it?

Before the gunner could answer, Darius said;

"I kinda borrowed this cannon from the marines. You wanna take a look at it? I noticed the...ship doesn't have any weapons. Apart from her, of course." He gestured to Imuka, specifically the huge boomstick she was so proficient in wielding. Darius had paused midway between his conjecture, partly because the ship didn't have a name, partly because he realised that most of the marine ships were blown to shreds. Imuka had been the only one to directly attack the marines. Pondering this, Darius looked at the blue-haired girl again.

A new rival?

[Deleted]

Taro had been watching the proceedings from a distinctly unique perspective, upside down. Lying on his back gently picking at individual notes and couplets, creating a gentle melody he watched as black clouds and flames licked at the sky, each accompanied with a roaring explosion. “I here loud noises of death... but seeing that I’m alive and the boat’s all good too... I assume we’re winning?” the musician asked lazily from his position sprawled across the deck. “Now I’d get up if only everything would stop moving... I must be so dr~” stopping himself midsentence Taro realised they were on a moving ship, and actually he was feeling at worst, capably tipsy.

“Argh! Head rush! It’s ok I’m up, who needs what now?” as he glanced around he noticed four sinking marine vessels in the background and Darius, who was now for some reason holding a cannon, was staring weirdly at Imuka. Taro tilted his head to the side slowly, his expression one of utmost curiosity, it was hard to tell what Darius was thinking. Eventually the Hard-Hat’s musical go-to guy began to laugh, quickly proceeding to strum out chords in groups of three. Each accompanied with the words, “You love her! You love her!”

That’s when Torin interjected with “Wanna be a Hard-Hat”, short and sweet. Despite its length this had been the most official recruitment so far. In fact, Taro had already assumed Imuka to have joined, that’s how this seemed to work. Go somewhere, break something, run away and then whoever gets on the boat at the end is the crew. Still it would be interesting to learn more about this girl, she was certainly skilled but what exactly was she being arrested for in the first place? These questions would have to wait, at least until Torin’s was answered.

More than already in the festive spirit, Taro was planning a naming ceremony and lot’s of party, but first he thought it was best to inappropriately build up the moment as he continued to strum chords in groups of three, changing his chant now to;

“Will she join? Will she join?”

Regardless of the answer, which Taro was confident he already knew – he would proceed to knock open the champagne he’d carried from downstairs and spray it erratically over the new boat and his Nakama.

“Paaaaaarty!”

[Die]

With the final round fired, the barrel appeared slightly orange from the heat from all the powder combustion. The air around the barrel simmered and steamed for a bit before the cooling systems worked their magic, quickly bringing down the temperature of the barrel. She had successfully destroyed four ships with little effort and forced the others to retreat, knowing full well what they were up against. All the while the Hard-Hat boy was sitting there like an idiot with who knows what was going through his head. And then he poked at it.

"A good weapon.. But it could do better." Torin said.

"It's a prototype...the project that made it was scrapped before it could be completed." she said as she sat back down with the weapon by her side.

"So you weren't falsely accused I presume," Torin said as he took a seat next to her. He took out a bottle of juice and began to drink. "Which means you are pretty much pirate material from the start..."

It was then Imuka shot him an angry glance. How dare he say that to her! If he only knew half of what happened to put her in that position. But that was it, he didn't know, he wouldn't know why she was set for execution, the lives she tried to save by mutinying. And she didn't want to talk about it, not when the memories were still fresh in her mind and the pain was still there.

"You may as well join us then, eh?" Torin smiled as he extended a hand out to her. "Most people think you are on our crew anyway... he chuckled. "How 'bout it Muka? Wanna be a Hard-Hat?"

Another annoyed glare. They had only just met and already he was using a nickname for her? She reluctantly shook Torin's hand, using an overpowering crushing grip as a sign of her annoyance towards him. "Why not? So much has fecked in just a week, might as well end it on a good note...I'm game."

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Ah, so that's how it is.'

In response to her angry glares Torin simply smiled back, by the looks of it he wasn't wrong in what he said, though was none the less right either. The woman seemed to be concealing some pretty touchy stuff, and with a sarcastic scrunched face as she attempted to assert herself in the handshake Torin decided to leave that stone un-turned until a later date. None the less Imuka would have to tune in to the Hard-Hat way of life, being stiff around the three would only cause.. Well it would be safe to leave it at 'bad things'

The chaos was once again over, for the Hard-hats this was becoming a regular thing, as clearly shown by the un-phased crew members. Torin took to his feet after so politely inviting Imuka to join their pointless antics as a pirate crew, patting her on the shoulder with a light chuckle as he handed her his note-book and pencil. 'Well if you want that prototype adjusted in anyway. Write it down and let me know, would be a good side project.' with a smile to accompany his speech he lightly nodded be strolling to the lower quarters. 'It's the least I could do for a Nakama.' with his whole-hearted line he vanished into the ship, with all those boats one moment and an angry armored woman requiring official admittance, he hasn't actually had a chance to look around at his design in the flesh.. Or wood and stuff, as it should be rightly corrected. He hopped from one room to the next, checking the wood-work and what he could complain about not being in the right place.. Sadly he could not find a thing wrong with... Come to think of it he never actually named the thing in his blue-prints, he decided to leave the lower-deck as 'Good but improvements needed' on another note-pad he had obtained from his helmet's mesh, as he made his way back up to the deck with his conundrum.

'Guys.. What are we going to call this thing?' He announced curiously as he appeared from the lower deck, his giant luggage in hand as he slammed it beside his quarters. 'I mean I had some ideas but.. Eh..' He tilted his head back with a 'I'm too lazy to do stuff like this right now' look on his face, as he slumped onto the side of the deck, looking into the water. 'I can't believe I lost all that pineapple juice..' He was getting awfully off topic as he looked off to the small trail of smoke the distant marines ships emitted, before thinking back on the events at Organ island. 'So much for a quiet visit to an island, huh.. We were doing so well too..' He picked himself up, taking the map from his helmet as he slid down to lean against the banisters of the deck's sides. 'Though I guess if it weren't for my.. Tactical planning..' He concealed his horrible attempt to justify himself with his map as he continued. 'We wouldn't have Muka here now would we?' He decided that was a perfect excuse for freeing Imuka, who he didn't know one bit when he freed her.. Still doesn't know much now to be honest.

He flicked back and forth with his talented reading skills from the paper to the map, as he scribbled away on the much larger piece of paper which he found in the lower decks, figuring more islands to cover deserved a larger looking map. 'What sort of name is Twitch?' He openly questioned as he looked at one of the papers articles.. 'Prodigy Marine grunt rises once more to the rank of Captain, the now Captain Twitch receives promotion after his impressive pirate haul in the east blue..' He read from the paper as his eyes grew wider and wider. 'Hey! That's the guy we faced!' he exclaimed as he quickly jabbed at another picture with his finger, nearly stabbing the page. 'Hey! That's us at Shell island!' His repetitive gasping didn't end as he pulled the wanted posters from the paper, unknown to his increase or anyones for that matter since he had not yet asked Taro, who seemed too 'occupied' to answer the question anyway. 'Hey! I'm worth loads!' He paused for a moment, placing the papers and map on the floor he lay down on the deck, looking to the sky and listening in on the peace of the sea, which he had only just realized he missed, a lot. Placing his helmet on his face he let out a light sigh.

'I'm going to relax now.. While I still have the chance.'

[Deleted]

-Pop!-

The sound signified Taro had sprung the champagne open sending the cork flying like a missile. With a small clank it was deflected from the increasingly notable Hard-Hat that was making not only Torin, but all of the crew infamous. “Cheers!”

Deciding it was his personal mission to douse everyone in Champagne the musician grinned happily, “Four... I feel like we’re a proper crew. Our own boat with a flag, and they even did the Jolly Roger! We’re in the newspaper for god sakes; we’re making quite a splash.” Then with expert hands Taro proceeded to pour four glasses of champagne, unsure if the others would join in but well, if not, he could drink it all himself anyway.

Finally the important question was finally asked; “Guys.. What are we going to call this thing?”

Taro had been pondering this; he’d figured perhaps the Captain already had a name in mind but apparently not. ‘Hmm, the Taro, Sparrow... no, don’t be so egotistical.’ Perplexed by the difficulty of what he had assumed would be a relatively easy task Taro took to looking around for inspiration.

“What’s our figurehead? I didn’t even look, Oh and look they hitched up a row boat... It’s the Crimson Adventure... we named that easily enough. Urgh this is hard." Clambering onto the figurehead, the musician hung precariously over the front of the ship in order to gain a decent perspective of what it actually was. Whatever it was, it was in a Hard-Hat. “Huh... a turtle? I guess a shell is kinda’ like a Hard Hat.”

Making his way back to the others he continued to brainstorm, throwing names around and hoping someone would take a liking to something. “The um, Turtle... Shell – Hard um... The! It should definitely be The Something. The Green Shield, The, um, shovel of turtle. The Reckless Abandon! Aha words, umm! Immunities embrace, Unshackled Liberty, Destination Unclear, um-um-um.” Pausing to take a breath the musician thought perhaps it’d be wise to let someone else have some input.

In these moments it dawned on him that he had not in fact introduced himself properly to Imuka, who had been through an obviously rough time. Walking over he smiled reassuringly and extended a hand, “Hi – I’m Taro, both the brains and the musician of this whole debacle, welcome to the crew and to the boat which has no name... Hey how about Folly’s Hand or erm... sorry. Ok yes, nice to meet you and stuff. I’m not sure what kind of lifestyle you lived prior to this, but well you’ll fit in quickly – we’re all... we’re all, well I’m alright anyway.” Grinning Taro would proceed to sit against the main mast of the ship and idly continue to play his guitar as together they came to a consensus on a name for their new home.

[Cirrus]

(OOC: I was skipped?)

"Why not? So much has fecked in just a week, might as well end it on a good note...I'm game." Imuka confirmed - another Hard-Hat was born. Darius shrugged his shoulders, his previous anxiety dissipating into thin air, and held out a hand. This wasn't to say the swordsman was suddenly on excellent terms with the ex-marine, just that he'd act as civil as need be around her.

"Name's Darius, if you ain't heard. Welcome aboard, 'Muka." he said gruffly. Taro had noticed the ship's figurehead; a turtle inside a large hard hat. The swordsman walked over, dropping the cannon on the deck if anyone wanted it, and peered over too. It was pretty amusing, in an incredibly childish way. Feeling it best to include Imuka in the pair's little misadventure, Darius turned around momentarily and waved her over.

"'Muka! Come 'ere! Look at this!" called the swordsman, excitedly. Hostile behaviour forgotten, Darius looked with a puerile glee at the waves as the broke around the boat. The sea was blue, the sky was cloudless, and things were really starting to look up. Nevermind the fact that three out of the four on board were wanted men;nevermind the fact that the marines were now actively searching for them;nevermind the fact that no matter where they ended up long and hard battles would be ahead - they were free!

The swordsman, feeling a little reckless, perched perilously over the side of the ship. Dipping his hand into the water, Darius felt a little power drain away from him, like water falling out of a funnel. He closed his eyes for only a second, but the next time he opened them his face was a lot closer to the surface of the ocean. Shaking himself,Darius withdrew his hand, stood fully up on the deck, and retuned to the conversation at hand. The ship lacked a name, but it seemed that now was the time to remedy that. Now, Darius never was much of a thinker. Back in the streets of Saint Reia you didn't need brains - only a weapon and a convincing voice. Tapping his chin in thought, Darius listened on as Taro (whom was apparently drunk) ventured suggestions.

“The um, Turtle... Shell – Hard um... The! It should definitely be The Something. The Green Shield, The, um, shovel of turtle. The Reckless Abandon! Aha words, umm! Immunities embrace, Unshackled Liberty, Destination Unclear, um-um-um.” Darius shook his head at each and every suggestion. It just wasn't...right.

"What about the...'Brazen Beauty'?" Darius had offered up his soul with the name idea, and waited on tenderhooks to see if it would be received with mirth.

[Die]

((About goddamn time I posted...))

Despite all of this, her show of annoyance towards the Hard-Hat leader, he simply smiled. Whoever they really were, they had seen their fair share of chaos. At this point it seemed as though they were used to it and it did not faze them one bit. With everything said and done, Torin had gotten to his feet and so did Imuka. He patted her on the back and handed over a notebook and a pencil. "Well if you want that prototype adjusted in anyway, write it down and let me know, would be a good side project." he said with a smile to accompany his speech. "It's the least I could do for a Nakama."

"Nakama, eh?" Imuka thought to herself. "Has a nice ring to it...funny how I've never noticed it until now..." As Torin walked away, a slight smile formed on her face, the first time in weeks. "Guys...there's no turning back from here. I'll make sure your deaths will be avenged, and that I carry out what we all joined together to do in the first place..." She seemed lost in her thoughts as the task of coming up with a name for the ship seemed to fall on her temporarily deaf ears. She began to feel heavy with fatigue, given all she had been put through within the last week, and merely walked off below deck to find an empty room she could use as her living quarters. She walked passed three doors, assuming they belonged to the other crew members, and came upon a fourth with an empty room behind it. Claiming it as hers now, she put down the Var and unclasped a small box from the side. She placed it on the bed and opened it up, revealing several clothes folded and packed tightly into the small box. Imuka stripped off the armor, placing it neatly on the floor beside her bed and put on simple pants and a tank top. She lied down on her bed, and passed out.

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'I figured we could just call it Jericho or something..'

A mumble came from underneath Torin's helmet as names of all variations of awesomeness seemed to spill out from his crew-mates, and all he could think of was Jericho? Torin cursed himself for his lack of creativity as he lay peaceful against the beams of his new ship. He raised his helmet slightly to get another glance, just to make sure that life wasn't being an ass-hat and he had been dreaming the whole time. This kind of thing should become somewhat natural to a guy who had done so much in so little time, though none the less he couldn't help but think that any moment he'll wake up via some rock falling on his head down some tunnel, He was glad he hadn't, to have an entire story and then just to realise is was all a dream? He made a quiet 'Uch' at his thought as he took a last peek at the smoke which could still be seen towering like a beacon in the middle of the sea. The occupants of Organ island must have been able to see it to, and what batter way to throw a gesture of victory to the docked marines than smoke from their own marine boat wreckage, none the less they had Imuka to thank for such a easy win in regards to her new-found marksman skills within the crew.. And to think Torin just saved her from the spur of the moment.. He called it Captains intuition to further his skills as one, after all, with such a awesome boat and a bad-ass crew, he must be half decent.

Though as he had previously presumed to himself it had only been a couple of minutes before his body twitched to forge ahead, he didn't expect to be able to rest for long, but at least he can lazily perform his normal actions. From removing his helmet from his face he realised Imuka had vanished, with the bar-like door into the ship swinging back and forth he presumed she had gone to rest, with such a glare of misguidance and revenge she seemed to need a moment to herself where she isn't being hooked up to a trapping device. Torin didn't know as much as he wanted about her just yet, but it wouldn't take long to hear her full story if she'll be hanging around him most of the time. He left his curious thoughts aside as he took his map from his helmet, pulling a spare pencil from his ear he began to scribble away at their next course, leaving the ship to simply drift for so long must be hurting their path. 'Okay.. So we need to move here, around to here.. Ugh, this doesn't look good..' He looked to the weather warnings from the newspaper and then back to the map, the course to take would lead to nothing but strong winds and violent waves, it was the fastest route but not exactly the greatest idea with the Hard-Hat's Boat-destruction to weather disaster ratios.

'Fox!' He blurted uncontrollably, as he quickly looked to Darius to make it not look like he just thought aloud. 'Come here and have a look at this.' Torin was stupid for not have thought of it before, despite Darius's amazing ability to lose himself in places he was still apparently a good navigator, and two Hard-Hats are better than one. 'I think I'm going to need help on this one, you know. Deathly storms and the like, that is if you want to go..' He didn't mean to tear the crew from the discovery of a ship-name, but unless they started to plot a course now there will be no hope of keeping pace. 'We have Conomi or Shimoshiki within' a two day travel time-frame, though a single day time-frame for Conomi if we head through this.' He pointed to the newspaper with his foot as he scribbled with some haste a quite accurate drawing of his predicted weather patterns in that area. 'I wouldn't be easy, but it means we can make a pit-stop sooner and head towards the grand-line that much faster.' He looked to the two, Taro who seemed to still be deep in thought over a name and Darius who was no different, none the less he presumed that the two were actually listening, or at least he would have caught Taro's attention with Grand-line..

'Fast and trouble-some or long and peaceful, What do you guys think?'

[Cirrus]

'I figured we could just call it Jericho or something..' The suggestion actually sounded pretty good to Darius. Wasn't Jericho a place with crumbling walls? If so, then the ship could be a metaphor: the walls of logic and reason would crumble under the sheer awesomeness of the Hard-Hats. Smiling his appreciation of the name, Darius told the others how he felt about it. He wasn't too gutted that his name - 'The Brazen Beauty' - had gone largely unnoticed; as long as the ship had a name then it was all one to him.

'I like the Jericho...down come the walls of boredom and stuff. It's real poetic.' He nodded.

Another matter came up, this time on the subject of their next destination. Darius walked over to where Torin was standing, and took a good look at the maps. Being a navigator, reading maps was like second nature to the swordsman, and by the way the current weather was holding up the 'Stripe Jacket' clad man could tell that a storm was far from likely to brew.

'Hmm...' Murmured Darius. Torin had laid out the options they could take, and the swordsman, who was also a navigator, was running through the possibilities in his mind, turning them over in his head as one would when inspecting a toy. He wasn't too sure on what he wanted - their adventure had been pretty packed with fighting and danger thus far; did they want to take it slow for a while? On the other hand, fighting and danger were what he liked - was he prepared to give that up? Of course, it was also about destination. Darius had an urge to visit Shimoshiki - the dojo of the famed 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro was there. However, on Conomi there was Arlong Park, and fishmen were renowned to be great warriors. It was all so confusing and so sudden, Darius didn't really know which one to choose. His navigator's side was telling him to take the peaceful route; it was a new ship and storms were to be avoided for the time being, but his swordsman side, the side where adventure lay, was telling him to go straight for Conomi - find some fishmen to marvel at, maybe even beat some up, and dive headfirst into the Grand Line. After what would be a slightly awkward silence, Darius made his mind up.

'I think we should go to Conomi; see Arlong Park and stuff...we could even bump into a fishman or two - I've heard they're awesome warriors.' He said with his arms crossed. Steeling his resolve and assuring himself it was the right decision, Darius looked up in the direction of the aformentioned ilsand. Pointing dramatically, he held an expression that the swordsman thought said 'BRING IT ON!'.

'To adventure!'

[Deleted]

“Jericho?” Taro exclaimed perplexed. ‘What kind of a boat n~’

“I like the Jericho...down come the walls of boredom and stuff. It's real poetic.”

Taken aback not only by Darius’ acceptance of the name, but more to the point his rapid fire justification for what was transparently clear – at least to Taro, a name which Torin had just picked off the top of his head. Surely the musician would have voiced his disconcertment, for he was the Bard, the Poet and surely his ideas outranked Jericho? This did not happen however, slowly the musicians head slid from its resting place on his hand and crashed onto the wooden deck below. “Why Jeri—OW!”

By the time he had recovered it had seemed the crew had already moved on, sprawled over some disinteresting looking map, Torin and Darius, probably the two most spontaneous and seemingly incapable crew members were in charge of navigating the ship, through a storm which was apparently on the way. ‘Oh Joy.’ Of more concern however, was that it seemed the general consensus was the boat was now called Jericho, and so moaning in the background Taro launched off into yet another monologue.

“I don’t see why it’s been decided so quickly, also why the rush – we were supposed to party and...”

“We have Conomi or Shimoshiki within' a two day travel time-frame, though a single day time-frame for Conomi if we head through this.” Taro continued to rant as everyone seemingly ignored him.

“It’s not that I feel it’s a bad name, it’s just that I don’t feel it encapsulates~”

“It wouldn't be easy, but it means we can make a pit-stop sooner and head towards the grand-line that much faster. Fast and trouble-some or long and peaceful, What do you guys think?”

“Grandline! Venture forwards! Set the sails, Jericho awaaaay!”

It may have seemed strange that someone who originated from the grandline was in such a rush to get back. After all, wasn’t Taro here to see the world, meet people and discover inspiration? Indeed he was, but in truth the East Blue was by comparison – pretty mundane, unable to properly explore anywhere safely on his own, the mysteries of so many hidden Island’s littered with dreamlike, epic landscapes had remained unexplored and Taro longed for the bizarre. Pulled from his thoughts, he glanced at his crewmates and it occurred to him, ‘I’m very much already among the bizarre.’

“To Adventure!”

“…Yes to adventure” the musician chimed, as his slid his fingers across the strings of his new best friend, “Bring the storm!”