The Tenshi Pirates - Meeting our first mate.

[Loki]

Loki had heard about it from one of the islands towns. A large group of pirates had taken control of the town and been demanding tribute. From what he heard most of them were no name fodder. But there were two crew members who called themselves the Rabbit Twins. Despite their hilarious name, they had built up a reputation for their remarkable agility that grace. He knew that the marines weren't going to resolve the conflict before someone got killed and decided to take matters into his own hands. He started searching for the most obvious place to find information on these pirates, a tavern. He found one such tavern and walked in, gazing around for any possible informants. But his gaze immediately caught the large group of about 20 bar inhabitants who were going to attack the pirates during their next tribute run. He looked over the 'attacking force', it consisted of boys, barely even 21, who he doubted had done anything related to combat in their lives, it would be a bloodbath. Loki whistled loudly until the group turned their attention toward him. "I heard your attack plan and I want you to give up attacking these pirates." The gazes turned from that of curiosity to that of anger. "Who are you to tell us what to do?!" One of them yelled. "Yah, we've been starved half to death by these pirates! We will get vengeance or die trying!" Another one yelled. Loki's face turned to that of rage and he rushed forward, punching the man square in his chest. "Who are you to ask for death?! Whenever someone dies, other mourn, and that is a pain that you should never willingly inflict!" He spat, before standing up and realizing that he had thrown himself on to the table. He silently reprimanded himself and jumped off. He quickly walked to the bar exit and stood there, looking at the 19 members of the group. "If you want to attack these men, then you will have to through me." The men hesitated but inevitably started to run at him, hoping to overwhelm with their numbers. Normally he would have used his pole for defense, but one glance at how they attacked told him that they were anything but trained. He took each one of them out with quick punches to the nerves and turned to leave. During his eavesdropping he had gained for more information than he could have ever dreamed of getting.

"I'm going to deal with tougher men than those. I have to prepare for this." He took his pole out and used it as a makeshift walking cane, taking note of the items he had in his pouch. He reviewed all the details he had gathered during his eavesdropping. "They have about 35 cannon fodder members and those two bunny guys, they are meeting at a beach to the south of this town, and they are armed with daggers and pistols." He spotted the ship docking from a distance away and used his directional skills to find his way from there. When he got there he found the pirates on the beach arguing amongst themselves. "I say we go in there and burn it to the ground!" One of them spat. "No no, we a kill a few to make an example, I know we can still milk this cash cow." They were so tied up in their argument that he managed to walk within 50 yards of them before they took notice. "Hmmm, there's 38. Must have been on a recent recruiting mission, those demons." He thought to himself. "It's good I got here when I did. If those villagers attacked it would have been a bloodbath." "Are you a villager with our tribute?!" One of them yelled. "It's about time, we almost lost our patience in your village." Another one, the one who suggested to burn the town, said. "You will be doing no burning today gentlemen. I have come here to inform you that you have strayed from gods path. I would ask you to change your ways and respect god. But the words would be wasted on you heathens." One of them casually walked forward and got straight into his face. "And who might you be , holy man!" His last two words were dripping with contempt and his look dared Loki to answer. "I am the captain of the Tenshi Pirates, Loki Nerose, and you will leave before I force you too." The opposing pirate seemed to be in deep thought for a second before answering. "I ain't heard of no Tenshi Pirates. But you arn't in much of a position of making threats, and because of this little joke I think we might go and teach those villagers a lesson." The pirate lazily swung his sword at him and Loki was about to block the attack, simultaneously spearing the mans belly, when suddenly...

[Marcas Nelson]

Marcas had just by chance walked into the tavern. He had no plans in participating in the attack. He was just sitting there enjoying his drink when those guys started planning the attack. No one invited him to participate but he didn't really want to either. He was slightly drunk and didn't feel exactly fit for a fight.

His peaceful evening was disrupted by a man, clad in robes and sporting some weird accessories. He didn't pay much attention to him first but when he started to shout and punch people he was hard to ignore "Who are you to ask for death?! Whenever someone dies, other mourn, and that is a pain that you should never willingly inflict!". Since this was the most interesting that had happened the whole evening he closely followed the conversation. "If you want to attack these men, then you will have to through me." The odd man said. Not surprisingly the angry mob lunged forward but after a couple of swift punches the men were rendered harmless.
The man's behaviour intruiged Marcas and he felt compelled to find out more. He stood up, grabbed his bag and his sickle. He swung the bag around his shoulder but the sickle remained in his hand, from what he had heard there was dangerous pirates in town.

He silently followed the man, keeping his distance. He didn't want to be spotted since this man obviously could pack a punch, He wasn't sure if the man would be happy if he knew Marcas was following him. Marcas could probably take him on but he wasn't a fan of unneccessary fighting.

Marcas followed the man down to the beach. He had heard the men in the tavern talk about the pirate's location, The South Beach wasn't it? He smirked, so the strange man planned to take on them by himself? Well, He wasn't sure if that was such a good idea but he was still intruiged how this was going to end.
The Pirates was obviously angry at the man. He couldn't hear the words but judging by the tone of his voice he wasn't happy. Marcas quickly did the math, Even if the man was strong he doubted that he could take on all of the pirates simuntaneously so he guessed he could help him out a little, He didn't seem like a bad person. He sneaked as close as he could, concealing his presence with a nearby bush. He rummaged around in his bag until he found the right seeds. "Serpent's Vine[/color]. About a dozon vines sprouted out of his hand. They were slowly slithering along the ground. Hopefully the Pirates were distracted enough by that man to notices the vines. The vines discreetly slithered themselves around the wrists of the pirates closest to the odd man. A tug was enough to trip them, Marcas hoped that this would help whoever that was.

[Takeshi]

After one year and five months of sailing with the pirates, Takeshi finally arrived at East blue. The pirates offered him to join their crew, bet he refused, as they did not intend to go back to Grand line. As promissed they, took him to the first island they came across, where they parted. Takeshi watched the pirate ship dissappearing behind the horizon, remembering the good old days he spent with them. As the ship dissappeared completely, his face suddenly turned all serious, his fists clenched, and stearing into the distance he swore to return someday...

Sailing for so long made Takeshi very tired. He jumped on one of the buildings, and then kept jumping from roof to roof, until he found a perfect spot to lie down. Bathing in the sunlight, he fell asleep almost instantly.
Suddenly a loud wistle woke him up, and there was a huge noise below him. People were arguing and screaming something abou the pirates, but becaosue of so much noise, Takeshi could not realy understand what they were saying. Suddenly a loud woice pierced through all that noise saying: »Whenever someone dies, other mourn, and that is a pain that you should never willingly inflict!«
These words made Takeshi remeber of all the people he was forced to kill in the past, by his master. Although he was just talking to himself, he replied to those words: »You are wrong about something tho – if I died, noone would mourn after me.« Saying that, made him sad. He closed his eyes, but could not fell asleep anymore. After a while, the noise cleared, and he was able to understand what people were saying below him.
»This pirates stole everything from us!« These words put a faint smile on his face. Pirates need to get their supplies somehow, so stealing was not something Takeshi considered bad, but something necesary for a pirate.
»They killed my husband!« Takeshi did not approve of killing civilians, as it could be avoided. He knew, some pirates killed anyone opposing them, but he did not plan to be one of them. Hearing that, he felt pity for this town.
Hearing those, and other similar words, he got the general idea about what was going on in this town, be he did not plan to do anything about it. As the words kept repeating themself, he lost his interest and fell asleep again.
Soon after, a desperate cry of a woman woke him up again: »Somebody help me! They took my daughter! Please, do not let her be sold as a slave!
Takeshi suddenly jumped on his feet. Taking someones freedom is far worse, then taking someones life in his book. Hearing that, he could no longer just stand by. He jumped off the roof, holding his giant sword in his hand, and ran in search of the pirates. While running he wispered to himself: »There will be no mercy.«

[Loki]

Loki watched as the vines tripped the man who was swinging his sword toward him and merely smiled, knowing that god was truly watching over him. No, it wasn't god who was manipulating the vines to protect him but it was god who sent him a protector. He blocked the now erratic sword swing and kneed the tripping man in the face. This sudden action seemed to leave the group of pirates baffled that the hostage had somehow made their crew member trip before knocking him out. "Hey whoever is controlling the vines!" He called out. "Aren't you afraid that these pirates will come after you. I'm fighting against much greater odds than my own and once they realize that I wasn't the one who created the vines they're going to restrict all passage away from this island until they find you." He smiled and slid both of his hand into a position that would make the pole act as a spear. "Are you will to take that risk for a complete stranger?" He changed his smile to a grin as the rest of the crew rushed at him. He already knew the answer to his question, and was merely reinforcing a fact. "If you are then would you mind helping me out a little more. I don't need much, just try and disarm as many of these guys as possible." It was when he had finished the last sentence that the group finally reached him. He stabbed his pole upward, stabbing a man in the gut, and flung his attacker at one of the other pirates. He shifted his hands to a naginata position and blocked a slash that came from behind him. He made a quick sweep and knocked the person who swung the sword to the ground. There were two simultaneous yelps from the docked ship and everybody, even the attacking pirates, turned their attention to notice that their twin captains had made their appearance. He got a good look at them and could barely keep himself from laughing. They were two scrawny men who were wearing, long, white shoes and a pair of rabbit ears on their head. "Now who is this trespasser. ~ hip hip." The brother on the left said. "He looks like a carrot. ~ hop hop." "Shall we eat him? ~hip hip." "Yes, he looks delicious. ~ hop hop." The jumped high into the air and Loki stood dumbfounded as the landed about 10 yards from him. "Those rabbits have strong legs." He thought to himself getting a slash on the shoulder from a crew member who had gotten his bearings faster the Loki.

Loki was brought back to reality and returned the slash with a quick jab of his pole, causing the man to topple over. He rushed through the newly made opening that he had made in the circle of opponents that surrounded him. "Feel gods holy might!" He yelled as he rushed at the two rabbit brothers. The first intercepted him, kicking the outstretched pole, his arms holding his body off the ground. Loki held firm and grunted at the power that was behind the kick. They both held there for a second before the second brother lunged at him with one legs pointing at his skull. He jumped backward to avoid the strike and the first brother came at him, punching him with increasing velocity. He blocked the hits and slashed forward, using his pole as a broadsword, causing the rabbit to stop its quick velocity punches and jump back, joining his other brother. He shifted his hands so that the pole was being used as a spear and glared at his opponents. "I can barely take these damned brothers, but that pirate crew is gonna realize their not useless any second now." He stared at the brothers, waiting for one of them to make a move.

[Marcas Nelson]

Marcas was actually a bit dumfounded by the question, Was he ready to risk his life for that man? Marcas wasn't sure. Damit, he shouldn't make decisions while he was drunk. He sighed, there wasn't much he could do now. Well, It shouldn't take too long for the pirates to realize where the vines came from, they were all sprouting from behind the bush. He could see that some of the pirates had figured it out and were rushing towards him. Crap, He didn't like fighting in close quarters. He quickly manipulated the vines to come and sweep the pirates their feet, but he quickly realized that he was to slow. He quickly raised his sickle and shot forward, hoping that they weren't ready for their target to leap forward to meet them.

Judging by their surprised faces they weren't. He smirked and with a swift motion one of them was swordless. But he didn't waste his time with them he kept going towards the bigger bunch. The man was handing himelf pretty nicely out there so Marcas probably wouldn't have to rush in to save him. He decreased the lenght of the wine so that they would be more suited for whipping. This wasn't such a good time to use them to bind his opponent since that would require him letting go of the vine and grabbing new seeds, something he didn't have time for. With a swift movement with his hand all of the vines whipped around, hitting a few pirates in the process. Taking a hit from the whipping vines wasn't really that dangerous but the could break a bone or two if they hit the right spot. Judging by the pained screams of the pirates his attack had been successful.

Suddenly all of the pirtates went silent and the battle froze. Marcas turned around to see what was going on and then he saw what he assumed was the captains of the crew. Marcas quietly snickered, they looked ridiculous but no one seemed to notice. Before he knew it they had jumped down from the ship and started attacking that weird man. The pirates did nothing, they just stood there, Watching their captains fight. After a quick exchange of blows the man backed away and so did the two brothers. He heard the man's plea for help and Marcas quickly decided that he had to do something but he realized that he was too far away, there was no way he could shove his way through the mass of pirates in time. Suddenly he got an idea "HEY YOU, YOU STUPID BUNNY RABBIT!" His shout attracted the attention of both of the rabbits and unluckily the attention of the pirates surrounding him but they did nothing, only stared at him in shock. "YEAH, IM TALKING TO YOU umm.." Marcas couldn't think of an insult.. "YOU FATASS COWARD" Calling the lanky men fatasses may not have been the most fitting insult but it had the effect e wished for. One of them suddenly leaped over the mass of pirates, letting out an angry roar as he jumped. Suddenly the man was in front of him, glowing with rage. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Never make decisions while drunk Marcas reminded himself.

[Takeshi]

Takeshi was running all over town in search for pirates, dragging his sword behind him. The mere thought of someone being enslaved was driving him crazy. Right when he was starting to get impatient, he suddenly ran into them. They were standing in a group, and their attention was diverted away from him.
The smart thing to do at this point, would probably be to observe the situation for a few minutes, and figure out what was going on. But that was just not his style. Takeshi furiously charged at the pirate closest to him, grabbed him with his left hand, lifted him up, and put the blade of his sword at his neck.
»The girl – where is she?!«
Takeshi looked very scary at this point, causing the pirate to panic:
»I ddddddo not know. I ssssswear! I remeber Joseph taking a girl somewhere...«
Hearing that, Takeshi thanked the pirate for information, and then suddenly smashed him in the ground and knocked him out. He looked at the group of pirates. Some of them were starting to notice his presence, and were slowly moving away, but most of them were facing the other direction. Takeshi recklessly charged at the pirates, and performed a Blade throw combo. He jumped high above their heads, and threw his giant sword down with full force. The sword hit one of the pirates, cutting off his arm, and smashed into the ground. The impact of the sword hitting the ground was strong enough, to knock nearby pirates backward, allowing Takeshi to land in the middle of them. The pirates were shocked by recent events, and started to ran away from Takeshi - as standing next to the guy with a giant sword is generally not such a great idea. But before they could ran completely out of his reach, Takeshi pulled the sword out of the ground, and started his Vortex attack. He started to rotate his sword around him at high speed, and managed to hit some of the pirates, before they could get out of his range, inflicting life-threatening injuries. The pirates then regrouped, surrounded him, and pointed their weapons at him. Takeshi stopped his Vortex attack, and leaned his sword on his shoulder.
»Now that I have your attention – which one of you is Joseph?!«
Pirates looked at each other, and then simultaneously pointed at the same guy – rather then trying to fight him.
»You there are going to show me, where is the girl u guys kidnapped.«
Joseph quietly nodded. Takeshi grabbed him, and dragged him away from the other pirates. As he was moving away he finally noticed, what kept the pirates attention for so long. Two men, were fighting two pirates in bunny rabbit costumes. Takeshi was so surprised at what he saw, it nearly took his breath away:
»Oh my God, this is so... ...this is soooo COOL!!! I wanna have a rabbit costume too!« Takeshi became so excited about this, he nearly forgot he was supposed to save the girl. But he somehow managed to calm down, and decided that saving the girl comes first, and the rabbit costume later.

[Loki]

Loki got ready for the pirates next assault when he heard a sound coming from nearby. The man who controlled the plants was insulting the captains. "He's risking his own life to help me have that much more chance at survival." One of the captains jumped over to him, glowing with intense rage. "I've decided." He thought, turning his attention back toward the enemy who was still with him. "That man's going to be my first mate." He lunged at the now lone captain who seemed to still be focused on his brothers fight. "Never forget about god." He said, crouching down and stabbing the captain in the gut with his pole. He threw the captain back a few feet and took hold of the pole as a broadsword as the small captain rolled back from the intense hit. He heard some ruckus coming from the group of pirates and spotted a man, hefting a large sword, attacking the large group of pirates with remarkable strength. He accused one of the pirates of kidnapping and ordered him to take him to the kidnapped person. "Hey you with the big sword. My buddy over there doesn't seem to great at close combat. These cool bunnies were probably the ones who ordered the kidnapping. If you help get rid of the one attacking my friend then I will help you get to this kidnapped kid afterward." He knew that either way he would try and help grab the kidnapped kid, but he also needed to get some help to his friend.

The pirates had obviously decided that he was the weakest of the group. After all, he didn't have any devil fruit, or even a large sword, he just had a simple pole and fighting abilities. The group was almost at him when a though suddenly hit him. "Kidnapping, murder, torture, extortion..." He muttered to himself, a frown getting larger and larger. Then, suddenly, he let out a large, loud, laugh. The pirates stopping to examine what he was doing. "You guys don't deserve any redemption at all. You have really fallen from gods graces." He let out another loud laugh. "What are you doing, get him! ` hip hip." The bunny, who had just managed to recover from the stab to the gut, yelled. The pirates, about 25 left, jumped at him. He stopped laughing and smiled at them all. He had been holding back on them, always holding back. They were his fellow children of god and deserved the chance at redemption, always deserved a chance to walk back on to the path of god. No more, no hesitation would exist when he struck them now, he couldn't if he expected to save them from hell. He slid to the side, using his pole to stab one of them in the neck. Then he made a quick chop at the back of another ones head, making him collapse to the ground. Then, out of nowhere, the rabbit came in with a strong punch, only to be met with air. Loki balanced himself on top of the pole and stared downward and the extended body. "Heavenly shot." He muttered and grabbed the pole with both hands using gravity to make him fall to the ground, but slashing upward at the rabbit pirates jaw. It connected and the rabbit eared pirate was sent flying into the sky. "Do you see heaven?" He asked when the rabbit reached the pinnacle of his throw. "Because god has seen you and welcomes with open arms..." he started right before the man started to fall to the ground. "but the weight of your sins has kept you from joining him." The pirate fall on the ground with a sickening 'thunk' and lay on the ground, multiple bones broken. "Does anybody else want to feel gods divine judgment?" He asked, calmly looking at the rest of the panicked crew. They didn't answer wondering how much of a chance they would have against any of their opponents.

[Marcas Nelson]

Marcas looked up at the enraged manrabbit with a mix of fear and surprise. He knew that he needed to figure out some kind of stratergy against this guy. His kicks and jumps was obviosly what he needed to watch out for. His planning was interrupted by a swift kick, It barely missed his forehead. He barely had time to react until the next came but this time Marcas was somewhat prepared this time and managed to put some distance between them. He certainly didn't want to get too close to this guy though, he knew that he easily could jump ahead and catch up to him. Marcas quickly realized that he neede to halt him in his movement and he had just the perfect attack for it but the mushrooms he needed was in his bag, neatly packed down just as the rest of his seeds.

He quickly put his hand down his bag, feeling around for the small mushroom. He did this as he simultaniously trying to dogde the kicks and punches his opponent was throwing at him. He quickly realized that he couldnt keep up the pace as every blow landed closer and closer to him.
He suddenly grasped what he was looking or, a tiny little mushroom. He let out a triumphant "Hah!" as he grabbed the tiny object. But just as he was to pull it out of the bag a kick hit him square in the chest. It felt like he was choking. He flied in the air for what seemed like forever but he finally hit the ground, about 10 yards from the pirates.

He breathed shallowly, gasping for air like a fish on land. His body went numb for a second but then the pain hit him like a wave. He slowly stood up on shaky lags. His hand was clutching his jacket slightly above his ribs. He suspected that me might've broken a rib judging from the intense pain from his ribcage. His other hand still held onto the small mushroom. Well in a sense he'd got what he wanted, he'd gotten some distance between him and the rabbit.
The wind was blowing in the right direction, It was a bit too fast so the spores would blow away after a few seconds but he knew from experience that one inhale was enough. He quickly realized that he shouldn't let this go to waste, He quickly channeled his energy into the mushroom. "Hey guys, Hold your breath and cover your eyes!" He shouted to the two other men that was fighting against the pirates "Devil's spore", He didn't know them but they were fighting the same enemy. He could feel the mushroom growing in his hand and with a small Poof It released it's spores, The yellow powder spread over the battlefield and the sound of coughing confirmed that his attack had been successful. He still had the vines in his hands. Letting them whip around him in 360 degrees keeping any pirates at a distance "Serpent's vines, Frenzy". Just standing up hurt like hell and he didn't want to think how much pain he wpuld be in if he tried to dodge an attack. He quietly hoped that in the mass of pirates, no one was able to fire a gun. His vines only kept melee fighters at a distance. He doubted that his vines could stop a bullet.

[Takeshi]

Takeshi was just about to walk away, when he heard a loud voice, saying the Bunny rabbit pirates were the ones that ordered the kidnapping. Those words had a huge effect on him. His body began to tremble, and his mind went blank for a few seconds. His arms went numb, and he dropped both his sword, and the pirate named Joseph on the ground. He just stood there for a while, as he could not comprehend – how can somebody that looks so cool, do something so incredibly evil. He slowly lifted his head, and formed his resolve. He picked up his sword, and turned around to face the Bunny rabbit pirate, and he – well, lets say he did not look very happy.
»Someone like you, is not worthy of wearing the rabbit costume!!!«
The pirates have figured out, he was about to attack the Rabbit pirate that was fighting Marcas, and tried to stop him. They charged at him with their swords, and this time they were organised. Takeshi was slashing left and right with his sword, and even though they were blocking his attacks, the force put behind his slashes was blasting them away, and breaking their swords. Even though they could not stop him, the pirates managed to slow him down. Suddenly he heard a warning from Marcas, telling him to shut his eyes, and hold his breath. He wondered why would anyone shut his eyes in the middle of the battle, when yellow powder spreading over the battlefield answered his question. He also noticed, that there was some distance between Marcas and the Rabbit pirate, and realised he has to act fast or the spores will reach him, and he will miss his chance. He lifted his sword above his head, preparing for his strongest attack.
»Feel the wrath of the dragon – Rising dragon strike!«
Takeshi slashed down with all his might, creating a flying slash attack. The attack was closing in on the rabbit at high speed, cutting everything in its path. The rabbit pirate was under the effect of the spores, and did not even see it coming – it hit him directly, and made a deep cut across his body.
The spores spread all the way to Takeshi at this point, and he was about to close hi eyes, when he noticed one of the pirates was aiming a gun at Marcas, and Marcas did not seem to move away. He spotted a nearby rock, and performed his Solid shield technique. He stabbed his sword deep into the rock, and pulled it out of the ground – the rock was ridiculously huge. He moved in front of Marcas, holding the rock in front of them, as a shield. And he was just in time.
It seemed some of the pirates figured out, that fighting at a distance was safer for them, so they started shooting.
»Hey, plant guy – I can not hold this for much longer. Please do som...«

He could not finish his sentance, as he started to cough severely, and his eyes were tearing for a while now.

[Loki]

In the small amount of time that Loki had gotten to know this man he had developed a basic understanding of his personality. He was kind enough to come to the aid of someone he didn't know, but he was also smart enough not to openly challenge the pirates. That's why he wanted this man to become his first mate, because he was kind enough to ignore his instincts but could still listen to his head. The other character who had come to help them was obviously a bit more passionate that his future first mate. He charged into a situation with little heed for his own being and had some history that caused him to hate slavery so much. He was a good fighter but he needed to be able to control his emotions better, but the fact that he had such a devotion to helping others was enough for Loki. After all this was over he would extend his invitation to him too.

Loki had finished his fight in just enough time to watch as the rabbit brother got a good kick on Marcas. "I'm going to have to look at that later."He muttered to himself, he was a decent doctor but wasn't good enough to perform the surgery required to fix a broken bone. All he could hope for was that it hadn't broken. Normally he would have rushed to the aid of Marcas but he could already tell that Takeshi would get there well before he would. Suddenly Marcas yelled at them to all hold their breath and he complied, pulling his cap over his mouth and nose. What happened next actually surprised him. Takeshi wasn't holding his breath, instead he was rushing at the still standing captain, slashing at whoever stood in his path. But even he could see that the spores Marcas has unleashed would reach Takeshi before he made it to the rabbit. So instead of a normal strike he raised his sword upward and slashed downward, creating a sort of energy attack that hit the rabbit at a high speed. The spores has passed over them and most of the crew had doubled over coughing, but the few that decided to listen to their enemy managed to avoid the attack and were now shooting at his crewmates. Takeshi had taken a defensive position and was protecting Marcas with a large rock he had stabbed and pulled out of the ground.

Loki counted about 5 pirates who were still up and not infected with spores. None of them seemed to be paying attention to him, probably distracted by the two's last attacks. He rushed forward and before they noticed he was there he had knocked one of them out with a swift blow to the head. As two of the other ones turned their attention toward him they got speared in the gut and tripped with his pole. The last two were quick enough to start shooting at him as well. Jishin, his master, had taught him many things during their 3 years of training. But during the last half of his third year he had focused a majority of their time into perfecting a technique focused on deflecting bullets. He explained that many people used guns as a weapon nowadays and that there were very few ways to block it. There were a few people in the world who could use their reflexes to avoid them, he even admitted to doing it during his youth, but that Loki wasn't good enough to do that yet. So he taught him how to anticipate where the bullets were going to come from. He had spent the entire time learning about trajectories and practiced with fake guns. He even taught him how to identify a gun and its caliber on sight, using it to help him figure out where the bullets would come from. He had learned to hate the fact that guns were ever created but also relished in the fact that it would take many guns pointed directly at him for one to hit. He spotted the guns and examined them very closely, one of them men had taken a few spores in and was very shaky with the gun, the other one seemed to be a better shot and aimed the gun at his torso. The second the shaky man started to pull the trigger Loki was well out of the possible hit range. The other man followed him with his gun and let out a quick shot. Loki already had his attention on the gun and positioned the top of his pole so as to block the bullet. The bullet came and hit the spot he had anticipated. "I hate bullets." Loki thought to himself as the bullet created a crack in his pole. But the thought only lasted for a second as he calculated where the next bullet could come from. That was the large downside from using his technique. He may be able to avoid the bullets but he couldn't do much else.

[Marcas Nelson]

Marcas was baffeled, he had no idea that the man with the sword was so strong. He knew that there was ridiculously strong people in his world but he didn't expect to meet someone like that here. The noises of bullets hitting stone made him realize that he needed to do something, His spores had clearly affected this guy. " Don't worry, the you'll feel better in about 15 minutes.." He said, grimacing from the pain. "Your eyes will burn for a while afterwards too though.." He said to the man holding up the rock while he dug up more seeds from his bag.

He had not intentions of moving, the pain in his chest made it almost impossible to move his arms but as soon as he found more of his vine seeds he would barely need to move at all. He finally found them but as soon as he heard the gurgling screams he suspected that that weird guy had managed to take down some pirates, maybe he didn't have to use his vines at all. He knew that some pirates probably had avoided the spores, what else could he expect when he'd shouted how to avoid the effect of the spores to the whole battlefield but when the screams of pain was exchanged with gunshots he became worried. He knew that weird guy was still there and alive, why else would the pirates still fire their guns. He needed to help him out somehow, but the huge rock held up by a coughong and half.-blind individual was more worrying at tyhe moment. "Just try top hold on for a minute" he said to the man holding up the rock.

He stil had the seeds in his hands, Judging by the feel of it, he had about fifteen plus the vines he had from earlier. He'd to take out the pirates without huring that other man. He realized that this would be rather difficult, He closed his eyes and tried to listen to from where the gunshots came from. Hopefulle they wouldn't be to far from eachother.

He sent out his vines. They slithered along the ground, Marcas didn't feel like wasting any energy on making the vines grow freely in the air. He closed his eyes and tried to focus but it was hard when it felt like his head had imploded. One of the vines suddenly made contact with something andthe rest immideatly followed, wrapping themself around the target. The gunshot's ceased and Marcas hoped that he hadn't accidently bound the wrong person but the scream that followed was rough and not even like the little he'd heard of the strange man's voice.

He let out a relieved sigh but was interrupted by the stinging pain in his chest. He heard a cracking sound and he realized that he'd lost control of the vines and they'd kept squeezing. "Oops." He mumbled, he suspected that he may have broked the poor guys rib. Well, he guessed he'd returned the favor, altough it'd been an accident. The gunshots had ceased, maybe the other guy was too surprised to fire anymore or maybe he'd realized what had revealed his friends posistion. Marcas hoped that the strange man could finish the last guy off. The large rock was more alarming at this rate, he quickly manipulated the vines to wrap themselves around the rock to supportorting it. He could of course tip it over but he wasn't exactly sure of the other man's position and he didn't want to crush him and the other guy's sword was buried deep inside the rock, he should probably let him pull it out before he tipped it.

[Takeshi]

Takeshi was holding the giant rock with all his might in a defensive position, hoping the other two will take care of the pirates. He was still coughing, and his eyes were burning, though the effect of the spores seemed to be wearing down. Marcas told him, he will feel better in 15 minutes, and that calmed him down. He knew something bad would happen, when he choose to ignore his warning, but he thought of it as a necessary sacrifice, and considered this a small price to pay. Trough the years of being a slave, and countless battles, he learned to accept pain as part of his life – so bearing with the spores side effects, was not so dificult for him, as it was for the pirates.

Since he could not see much, he closed his eyes, and focused on what he could hear. The gunfire seemed to be stopping slowly, so wathever Marcas and Loki were doing, seemed to be working. His arms were starting to shake, and holding the rock was getting harder by the second, when he noticed, that the rock was slowly getting lighter. He opened his eyes, and noticed the vines were supporting it, making his job easier.

Trough all this, Takeshi had a strange feeling, that he forgot something important. Suddenly it hit him – it was Joseph. He was so shocked before, he dropped him on the ground, and comepletely forgot about him. He looked around, but Joseph was nowhere near. This did not look good. Joseph could be long gone by now, and he needed him in order to locate the kidnapped girl. He was desperateatly looking around in all directions, when he spoted a man walking away in the distance. Because his eyes were tearing, he was not able to recognise him, but he was prety sure it was him. He decided to test his theory:
»Joseph, get your ass back here!!!«

The man abviously heard him, and started to run as fast as he could, so it became obvious that was him.

»Emmmmm guys... take care of things here emmmmmm... bye now.«
Saying that, Takeshi let go of the rock, as the vines were supporting it well enough by now, to hold it on their own. He quickly pulled his sword out, and ran after Joseph.
It took him a while, but he was able to catch him. He grabbed him with one hand, lifted him up, and turned him so they were facing each other.
»Now – where were we...«

Joseph did not even try to resist him, as he was smart enough to realise any resistance is futile, against a man of such strenght. He quietly bowed his head, and showed him the way to the girl. It turned out, the girl was imprisoned inside their pirate ship. When Takeshi saw the pirate ship he started to smile,which caused the Josephs face to become even more worried, as he wondered: What is he up to now?

[Loki]

Loki had his full attention on the trajectories of the bullets. This made it as much of a surprise to him as the pirate when a vine came out of nowhere and wrapped around the pirate. He heard a slight crack and figured that the vines must have done some damage to the man's ribs. The final pirate seemed surprised by the sudden appearance of the vines and took a second to realize that he had stopped firing at me. The second was all Loki needed, he rushed forward at the final pirate and sent him flying with a powerful stab to his gut.

Loki let out an exasperated sigh and smiled, knowing that the battle was finally over. "These guys were tougher than I expected." He thought to himself, "Without the help of these two I probably would have died. I was lucky to only end up with a cut to his shoulder." He felt the small wound on his shoulder and winced slightly when he touched it, but his wound didn't seem nearly as painful as Marcas'. So he brought his hand away from his shoulder, holstered his pole, and turned toward where Marcas was standing. "Yeah, he must have cracked a rib." He muttered to himself. "First things first though." He finally thought and turned toward the large rock that was now only being held up by Marcas' vines. He concentrated for a second, gathering his strength, and let out a roar as he used all his strength to lift the large rock and threw it into an empty spot. With that he let out a grin and turned back toward Marcas. "You know you're crazy for taking on that many pirates right?" He said in a joking voice. He put his left arm around Marcas, helping take some of the weight off of him. If he was going to ask Marcas to join his crew, now was the time. "Why am I so nervous?" He thought to himself as he struggled to find the words needed to ask him. Then it hit him. He had spent his entire life either within his church grounds or with his Master Jishin. He had literally never had one friend his entire life. "Is that why this' so hard? " He muttered to himself. Before finally saying. "Hello, you've saved my life but I'm embarrassed to say that I still don't know your name." He waited until Marcas told him and he smiled. "Hello Marc, thanks for saving my butt. My names Loki and I'm the captain of the Tenshi Pirates." He started to stutter over the next few words. "I may be the captain but I haven't found any nakama to sail with me yet and my intellect, as you have probably guessed, doesn't really make it easy for me to sail alone. So I was hoping that maybe you would like to become my first mate and make sure I don't kill myself." Now that he had finally asked Marcas, he found it much easier to talk. "My plan is to sail the sea's and try to stop as much evil as possible. I like you because your smarter than I could ever hope to be but you still have the courage to stand up against something unjust, no matter how powerful the enemy that stands in your way." With that he stared out at the sea and found himself admiring the vastness of it all again.

Loki spotted Takeshi on the bunny pirates ship and waved at him with his free hand. He was standing with the Joseph character and another woman. "I'm planning on extending my invitation to him as well. He isn't very disciplined in his strikes, but his heart seems to be in the right place." He said, lowering his hand when Takeshi saw him. "That's another good reason we need you to join my crew. Imagine me and him roaming the seas by ourselves unattended, we'd probably do more bad than good." There, he had finished making his case and his invitation was out there, it was now up to Marcas to decide whether he wanted to join or not.

[Marcas Nelson]

A last scream echoed over the battlefield, then complete silence, The man holding up the rock had already vanished when Marcas had his head turned. He'd no idea where he had gone, the huge rock was covering most of his sight. "Guess we won.." he said to himself, He was still in pain everytime he moved a stinging pain was sent through his body but it was bearable. He could only hear some pained moans from the pirates. Suddenly he saw the weird man he'd followed here. He grabbed the rock and threw it away, The vines wrapped around the rock snapped. Marcas reverted them back into their seeds, h¨'d no use of them anymore. Marcas couldn't help but to feel weak. He knew that he needed some serious training. The man approached him, he seemed to be a bit nervous. "You know you're crazy for taking on that many pirates right?" The man joked, Marcas didn't laugh, just breathing was painful enough but he mustered a smirk. " I guess I am.." He said, he didn't want to waste his breath on talking. He appreciated the man supporting him, It felt a little weird to have a stranger this close though. Marcas wasn't used to being close to people, neither physically or socially. "Hello, you've saved my life but I'm embarrassed to say that I still don't know your name." Marcas doubted that he'd saved the man's life to be honest it seemed like the guy with the sword had done most of the work. All he'd done was to get his rib broken. Well, the least he cold do was to introduce himself." Im Marcas" He said, He felt like he had to say something more but the man started talking before Marcas could add anything. Something he was thankful for, he wanted avoid talking. "Hello Marc, thanks for saving my butt. My names Loki and I'm the captain of the Tenshi Pirates. I may be the captain but I haven't found any nakama to sail with me yet and my intellect, as you have probably guessed, doesn't really make it easy for me to sail alone. So I was hoping that maybe you would like to become my first mate and make sure I don't kill myself."

Marcas wasn't sure how to react. He was flattered that someone wanted him in their crew but then he barely knew the man. "My plan is to sail the sea's and try to stop as much evil as possible. I like you because your smarter than I could ever hope to be but you still have the courage to stand up against something unjust, no matter how powerful the enemy that stands in your way."[/maroon] Marcas smirked a bit, he'd been drunk when he decided to fight the pirates, It was more an act of stupidity than courage but he could as well let Loki think what he wanted to about him. "I'm planning on extending my invitation to him as well. He isn't very disciplined in his strikes, but his heart seems to be in the right place." [/maroon]Marcas simply nodded, that guy didn't seem evil and he was very strong too. There was no doubts why Loki wanted him in his crew. "That's another good reason we need you to join my crew. Imagine me and him roaming the seas by ourselves unattended, we'd probably do more bad than good." Marcas knew that leaving these two unattended was only an accident waiting to happen. To be honest the guy with the sword was immensly strong but he didn't seem like the brightest guy. Loki put his believes before his brain and he could well imagine that the other guy would just follow along with whatever Loki was doing. That couldn't end well, Loki was stupid enough to face this many pirates alone. "Well, I guess there's no harm in joining you" He said, He glanced over at the sword-guy. " I'll be fine, you go and help him out instead." He said and nodded towards the remaining pirate.

[Takeshi]

»Thank you for your help Joseph. Since I do not need you any more – I guess this means goodbye.«
Saying that, Takeshi grabbed Joseph, and threw him into the sea. Joseph did not even have time to respond to that, all he could do is scream, which was followed by a huge splash as he landed into the sea.
Takeshi mumbled something about missing Josephs company, and entered the bunny pirates ship. Since all the pirates joined the battle from before, the ship was unguarded. He searched the ship, and found the girl trapped in a cage. He told her, they defeated the pirates, and that he came to save her. The girl was trying to explain to him, where he could find the key to her cage, but Takeshi did not realy bother with listening to her, and just ripped the door off. The girl was impressed by his strenght, and stepped out of the cage.
Now that Takeshi got a good look at her, he realised she was actually extremely beautiful – which was probably the reason, why they kidnapped her in the first place. She suddenly threw her hands around Takeshi, gave him a big kiss, and thanked him:
»Thank you for saving me, and this city from the pirates. Now that the pirates are defeated, we will finally be able to get our supplies back, and the city will recover. You trully are a hero.«
Takeshi was feelling all emberased from the kiss, blood rushed into his head, and his face turned all red. But at the word »supplies« he suddenly shaked his head, and managed to calm down:
»Supplies? What supplies? If you are talking about supplies they stored on this ship, I am totaly stealing them. You know – It is not like us pirates are getting paid for what we do.«

The girl realising that Takeshi is also a pirate, comepletely ruined the romantic atmosphere they were just having. She became frightened, and carefully distanced herself from him, then suddenly started to run away, as fast as she could. But at least she was safe. Takeshi just stood there for a while, trying to figure out what went wrong, and said to himself with a sad voice:
»I guess we simply weren't meant to be...«
He seemed to be satisfied with the explanation he came up with, and focused on stealing the ship. Just as he was about to sail away, he remembered something important:
»Noooooooo, I forgot to get myself a rabbit costume!«
Whithout second toughts, he jumped off the ship, and returned back to where Loki and Marcas were.