While Loguetown sleeps [Juli and marines]

[Sean]

Midnight came around now.It was the exact time to initiate his plan now. Sean, Juli and Eddy were located right at the edge of Loguetown, at the very brink of the city, where the ground now went straight down into the water. The only border to mark out the edge was a small stone wall, perfect for jumping on and diving down and convenient as it was out of sight from marine sight. Of course Sean couldn't do it, that role was for Juli and Eddy. Around one hundred yards to the west was the dock area. Completely open from sea water, but blocked off with iron walls from ground. Sean had already told the plan to his new company. It seemed all simple in theory,now this just had to work out well and they could leave Loguetown with little hassle. And with his new company, hopefully things should go much more smooth now. All Juli and Eddy had to do was to get aboard the ship from the water and get it ready, preparing to set sail as soon as Sean made it.

Midnight was the perfect time to start this whole procedure. Sean had been well aware, from the beginning, that every beginning of the month the East Blue commander ranked marines and above met in Loguetown, for their private conference. The officers were just off site, leaving all the duties to the lower ranked marines. They were much less skilled and would pose as less of a threat. Especially at midnight, when it was merely the Seaman recruits who were given the midnight shift. While Juli was doing her part, all Sean had to do was sneak in from the ground and get aboard the ship in a stealthy manner. Hopefully without being caught, though he did not have the greatest idea on the marine defenses. He had memorized the area fairly well though. The whole dock was compounded and protected by a weak iron fence. At the very corners of the fences, were it stops stretching, were two towers which watched over the compound. Between the towers, built right over the middle of the iron fence, is the only entrance, this small building acted as a guard post to monitor who goes in and who goes out.The marines would mostly be located inside the watch towers, a few in the checkpoint entrance and a small batch walking around the piers. Once inside, Sean just had to walk up the right pier. Around four piers away was the only decent looking boat; the boat he was after.

"Ok Juli you remember the plan right?" He was certain that Juli had followed, with Sean's cautious attitude which lead him to repeat the plan quite often. The again, Sean always wanted to ensure that the plans were followed to every point, especially in this case, something unrevised could prove fatal. Using his hand, he moved the hair away from his face, to both sides. They were ready to put this plan full into action now. "Let's go! And good luck." He gave Juli the word of the signal, before lifting up his black brief case and walking down the edge-road, heading towards the ship docks. In around half an hour, Loguetown would be out of sight for good.

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

The night wind rustled, salty and cold, as Xander paced around the gate, blocking off the dock to the public, namely...the pirates. His pace was slow and monotonous, but he was able to stay awake, even if it was midnight. As the young Seaman Recruit walked about the length of the gate, from tower to tower, he thought of his orders, given by some man named Musker. At first meeting, Xander didn't like Musker very much. There was something...off about him. And it wasn't just that, he would blow up at him for the tiniest things. Forgetting to wear shoes, spacing out, and playing with his hair, to name a few. I kinda like Mr. Kingsfield better, why did he take me with him? Xander thought to himself as he let his mind wander to the orders yelled out

Xander stood erect and attentive as the Marine man gave him some, very angry orders. "Listen up Rookies! I want you all to make sure that not a single person crosses those gates tonight...got it?" he spat contemptuously at all of them, before putting his face in Xander's, who was in his own little world. "Got it Fishbrain?" he yelled and spat, but with a hidden glee that Xander didn't quite understand. As the young Marine cleaned a speck of saliva from his glasses with the soft, white scarf he wore, letting it drop and hang close to the ground after, he replied laconically, "Yes...sir...not a soul will...pass..." He took long pauses and let the ends of his words draw out a bit to show his inner laxness. But Musker didn't notice, he was too busy wringing his hands and muttering something about a large amount of Beli.

Shocked awake from his little tangent by a particularly loud snore coming from the other guy that was suppose to be keeping guard, but fell asleep, laying against the tower. Xander didn't mind much of that either. In fact, he preferred it. Swinging around one of the ends of his scarf as he walked, giggling softly. He secretly wished that something would happen though, it was beginning to get a bit boring, guarding a bunch of cold docks in the middle of the night. Not that Xander was complaining, no...never. He cast a glance over to the ship that was docked about three docks away, the one that brought him here from his home in the West Blue. But then turned back and continued walking, letting his ears fill with the soft clunk of his sandals as he patrolled.

[ritz]

The sound of armored boots upon the wooden boards of the docks could be heard as a young woman with a large shield strapped to her right arm walked towards the gates. She was wearing a black Marine uniform and had long gray hair that was tied back into a ponytail. She seemed to sigh as she arrived at the gate next to Xander smiling a bit. "Hello you must be Xander..I'm Ritz one of the new recruits from Shells Town" She held out her left hand as she right was still on the shield.

She had arrived from Shells Town a few days ago and so far had managed to avoid too much contact with Captain Musker due in part to the fact she was still under the command of Captain Sven from Shells Town. She was here to observe the situation casually and report back. So far from what she had seen Musker should not still have his command but the navy had done stranger int he past so for all she knew perhaps they wanted an officer to act like that. she would sigh as she took a few steps away from Xander standing guard as well though facing the other direction to look for approaching ships. "So then..how long have you been stationed here?"

[Juli]

Juli shook her head, trying to wake herself up fully; her sleep schedule was all messed up at this point. Normally, she tended to stay up at night, but waking up to do business in the daytime had messed her up...

Eddy seemed grumpy for similar reasons, but as long as he listened to Juli, it’d probably be fine. He’d better or Juli would be displeased!

Juli crouched next to the stone wall, holding her venomous tentacles close to her while Eddy sat with his legs folded under him nearby. "Ok Juli you remember the plan right?" She nodded in response, ignoring the feeling in her stomach. Stealing...normally, she wouldn’t consider it. She was raised an honest person, it was just natural to her. But there wasn’t much other choice, especially now. If they stayed, Musker would track them down and force them to pay money they couldn’t supply. Sure, Juli and Eddy could leave fairly easily, but Sean, not so much. And after he helped her like that, she wasn’t about to just leave him, especially when he did have an alternative to paying.

"Let's go! And good luck." Sean said before going off to complete his part of the plan. As he faded from sight, Juli cleared her thoughts and climbed onto the wall. Looking out into the ocean, she glanced in the direction of the ship Sean had his eye on. Taking to breath to calm her nerves, she motioned to Eddy before diving down. She landed with a splash and sunk several feet. Juli swiftly moved away, moments before Eddy crashed down after her.

When the Umima righted himself, Juli began going in the direction of the boat, keeping closer to Eddy’s pace rather than leave him behind, as she could with little difficulty.

Hopefully they would get this done and over with without any trouble...

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

The town of Louguetown stood in the view of the bright moon as the streets of the town were the exact opposite of its daytime counterpart, isolated and eerie. Walking down one of those streets was a young marine who kept his cap off, stretching while he yawned from sleepiness. hAic..ai, being part of the navy doesnft exactly give any good perks at allc.I hate thiiiiiiiissssssch Hand covering his mouth, Lawrence stopped for a minute to examine his surroundings. Why was he here at nighttime while every other marine was at the docks you say? Musker had always hated everyone in his group except for his favorites, and well, letfs just say that Lawrence was one Muskerfs ehatef list, in first place to be exact. Though Lawrence was new, he would often find Musker playing favorites over other hated marines than Lawrence himself, which was actually considered a miracle. Walking back towards the dock, Lawrence hunched over while he was walking, Nodachi strung on his back. His choice was weapon was actually a quite an awkward one, as it was completely different from your regular kantana and rifles. The sword was almost as big as Lawrence himself, and provided the sense of a dangerous warrior, which was the exact opposite of Lawrence Pure Regent. Frowning at the amount of marines that had arrived to the gates of the dock, Lawrence slowly crept behind an isolated barrel. Being alone, you had no one to talk to, but being with people, you could at least enjoy yourself while time passes by.

Upon looking at them Lawrence caught something he would never expect he would see, a woman. Yeah, sexist right? It was never one of Lawrencefs types to discriminate against anything, but this was a special occasion. You see, this was a woman, a female, a lady. Those words were second in the list of Lawrencefs life, and nothing was going to stand in his way from getting a nice little gchath with the lady, nothing. But how was he going to meet her in front of Musker? His Nodachi was quite familiar to see, as it was almost the size of Lawrence, who was actually a tower compared to most of the human race in the whole entire world. There was absolutely nothing he could do, which sucked. Sighing very heavily, the depressed marine stood behind the barrel as he looked up at the sky. Looking to the side of him, Lawrence felt cold as he shuddered a bit. Why did he shudder? It was a mystery to him, but he felt something scream inside him as he tried to block it out of his mind. hI hate days like thesec.h Muttering, Lawrence tilted his neck to his free right hand, and cushioned it. Today was going to be a very long day.

[Sean]

Sean walked underneath a street lamp which towered above him. He gave a short reflection on Juli, it was true that she was doing so much for him right now and Sean was well aware that she could escape and leave him. The image of Juli flashed through Sean's mind, she must be going through a lot right now, it was a shame to put her through this. Quickly Sean snapped himself back into reality. There was no time to reflect now, he was truly his father's son, he hated plans that did not operate according to a set time. He dropped the suitcase from his hands. As it crashed onto the ground, the case opened to reveal all the essentials Sean had with him. On top of his books were his weapons. The gauntlets and two sticks of dynamite. Sean positioned himself underneath the light, where his shadow stretched out until it was in the darkness. That was all he needed. Submitting to his concentration, his shadow began to reform in shape. It expanded and became almost like a pool of a black liquid like substance. it seemed as if it bubbled, though they did not pop. They simply built up on top of each other until it made a humanoid figure, an exact replica of Sean that was made out of this black substance. "Shadow Doppleman!"

The plan was ready. Now with his shadow separated from his body as a physical being, Sean gave him the lighter and a stick of dynamite. Lastly he placed on one of his cat gauntlets. The weapon had been the exact same as his father once used, maybe some marines from the East Blue would recognize this as the might cat claw. He fitted his black furred gauntlet onto his hand. He reached it up to his face and gazed at his five fingered long blades in appreciation. Lastly, he lifted up the black suit case with his other free hand. Unfortunately he couldn't wear both gauntlets since he needed a free hand to hold the case. The other hand would be his weapon. With everything set, Sean turned to his shadow. "Light the dynamite when you get past the checkpoint. Throw it just by the gate next to the west tower!" Sean gave the command and the shadow floated off, holding out it's lighter and stick of dynamite.

Sean trod at a very sharp speed. It was all the works of his pussyfoot manoeuvres, giving Sean an incredibly sly and fast speed at which the enemy wouldn't have a chance to see him. he took his cover just underneath the east tower, away from the sight of the checkpoint and the west tower and out of sight from the top view of the east tower he was under. Now just a matter of seconds until Sean breaks in and of course it would be rude of him not to use the right entrance. The shadow clone of Sean reached its destination, managing to avoid the lights. Finally it lighted the match and used it to lit the dynamite. The dynamite gave the sharp sound it would naturally make, the sound of a time bomb about to detonate at any second. And a sharp sound that could be heard from inside the docks. At long last, when the sparks had reached it's near end to ignition, the shadow clone threw it at the iron wall, right at the base of the west tower. Hopefully this one would blast away some marines! And once that's done, all marines would rush outside, leaving inside defenceless.

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

Xander was about to go out on another one of his little tangents, when he heard a loud thumping sound, coming from behind him. Making a quick one-eighty on the balls of his feet, Xander turned to see a woman with grey hair and a large shield on her arm. He smiled softly and shook her hand, seeing as she was a Marine, and a friendly one at that. "Yes..I am Xander! Nice to meet you...umm...Ritz, was it?" He asked, smiling warmly at her. "And I am a new recruit as well, but I am from the Briss Kingdom...down in the South Blue! My Captain had me come down to help him though..." The young Marine guy said matter-of-factually, pulling his scarf down a bit when a gust of cold, sea wind blew it up and around.

Re-straightening his composure, Xander looked to Ritz with a smile, saying, "I have actually only been here for about four days now, and I can't get use to how rough things are here! Even some of these Marines seem off..." His voice trailed off as if he was still thinking about what else to say. When he came up with nothing, he looked at her for a second. The one thing he noticed, was the shield on her arm. How odd... He thought, A shield as a weapon? "I like your shield...." he said, tying to make conversation. He then gripped the end of his scarf and held it to his face, trying to hide his nervous sanguine.

Xander's smile faded quickly when he heard loud explosions coming from the west tower. Seeing the tall tower capitulate to the explosion scared Xander in extreme ways, so much so, that he turned tail and ran the opposite way of all the other marine troops. He ran all the way over to the edge of the dock, by the water and the boat, where he covered his head with his hands, and turned his arms into long vines that wrapped and enveloped him until he was in his own little cocoon of protection. "AHHHH!" he cried out fearfully, letting the bottom vines grow thorns that anchored him to the wooden dock.

Ever since he was a small child, Xander had been deathly afraid of loud noises and fire. Seeing both of them at the same time, overloaded the poor marine recruit's senses and caused him to go into 'Fight or Flight' Mode...and he chose flight.

[ritz]

"I see..well Xander it's more than a pleasure to meet you" Ritz would smile bowing slightly. "Briss Kingdom huh? I've read about that...though I'm afraid that I've not had the chance to go far beyond Shells Town. Actually except for coming here I've never really left home" she would sigh a bit. She had become a Marine to protect justice sure but it would not be a bad thing if she got to travel a bit. she smiled a bit at the thought before she turn her attention back tot he docks. She was standing at the only entrance so if anyone wanted in they would have to get through her, Xander and the sleeping guard first.

She would heft the battle shield a bit as Xander remarked about it. "Yes..it's my weapon and my partner for this job..it keeps me safe while at the same time taking down my foes. Funny thing is.." she was shook from her thoughts as an explosion came from the west tower. The sleeping guard ran off and Xander ran the other way as a group of marines rushed to the tower. "No!! Fools don't leave your posts!!!" Ritz sighed as she was suddenly alone, well Xander was by the boats shivering fear it seemed vines covering him. she gritted her teeth as she turned taking a step back, her grip on her shield tightening. "so then...they are coming" she took a defensive battle stance and waited.

[Juli]

Juli and Eddy swam through the dockside of Lougetown, below the snoozing city above. They knew their destination, but were taking it slow to avoid the notice of anyone who might have seen them. Hopefully, if they were seen, the one who saw them would assume they left or went another way. If they weren’t seen, then all was well!

Unfortunately for them, they were seen, just not in the way Juli expected. As they swam, they disturbed something else. Juli moved by a small, undersea rock formation when she saw an eye slowly open from under it. A massive eye, belonging too a Sea King. Juli flinched away for a moment, fearing for herself. Thinking quickly, she gently pulled the eye shut, whispering soothingly, “Shhhh...stay sleeping...” It’s eye did not reopen.

Juli turned to Eddy, and the Umima shrugged in response, which Juli responded too with one of her own.

Deciding that waste of time was sufficient, Juli went a little quicker to the dockside. She surfaced her upper body slowly, looking around until she spotted the boat Sean had wanted. Someone else’s boat still... Juli shook her head; she had to go through with it, or else Sean was going to try and take the boat, find that it isn’t ready, and be in a huge pile of trouble! That was worse than a little theft, especially since he went through so much to help her after getting stung. She ducked back underwater and motioned to Eddy to follow her over.

They floated under the boat in the moonlight as Juli gave some brief instruction, “Okay Eddy; I’m going to go up, and if I need you, I’ll call for you, so keep your head above water, okay?” Juli had been whispering, worried that someone above would hear her somehow despite it. Eddy nodded at her instruction, and the two of them headed up to the surface.

The moment Juli got her head above water, she heard an explosion. She ducked her head back under for a moment, but instead went a little deeper before shooting out of the water, going up until she could grab the edge of the boat. Her upper body strength alone wasn’t enough to pull herself up, so she swung a few of her tentacles up to get enough of a grip to get to the deck. Now on board, she was relived to see that it was unmanned, as expected. Also as expected, it was unfit to sail at the moment. Looking back down in the water for a moment, to see Eddy looking back at her. Glad he was still there, she decided to get to work.

...Until she realized she hadn’t been on a boat in her life, let alone know what to do.

“I’ll just...wing it...how hard can it be?” Juli whispered to herself. Hoping this wouldn't be too hard, she began looking to see where to start. She knew what the ship looked like now, and had an idea of what the end result should be like... Okay, there were the sails...was the anchor thing up or down right now? What else was there? Juli moved to try and get started, not wanting to hold up anything more than she had too.

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

Lawrence heard a monstrous explosion as the marines scattered about, confused on what to do and where to go. And of course, behind the marine soldiers was Musker himself, obviously rattled by the sudden attack upon the port. hNow, wasnft there supposed to be a procedure for this? Specifically MUSKERfS procedure?h Though, the explosion wouldfve shook Lawrence himself if he was at the towers. Front row seats to real life destruction could scar any normal person for life. Period. Untying the string on his back, the nodachi fell quietly into his hand as Lawrence turned a one-eighty on his personality. There wasnft much time left in anyonefs hands if they were planning on stopping the perpetrator at this rate, so haste was a must. Dashing towards the gate where the female marine was, Lawrence bit his lower lip until it started to bleed. A lot of things were going through his mind, directing his attention towards pain helped him calm down. Now nearly all of the marines had gone out of sight along with Musker, desperate to find the criminal who had decided to attack the dock.

Upon reaching the female marine, Lawrence paid no heed toward her. Naturally, he would be attempting to flirt with the girl, but on certain circumstances, there was absolutely no time for fooling around. And when it came to people getting hurt, there was no way you were going to see Lawrence stand aside just to flirt with the girl across the street. Finally reaching the tower, Lawrence quickly headed towards the dock itself.hWatch out for anything suspicious!h Lawrence cried out to the girl, nerves tense and senses now alert. Even though Lawrence was not as bright as many, at least he knew no one would possibly target a place with lots of marines unless one, the culprit was planning on killing them all by separating them, or two, he was planning on stealing a ship. Of course, Lawrencefs best bet was number two, the most reasonable out of his theory.

Now stopping, Lawrence looked around, right hand on the hilt of the nodachi as his other hand held the scabbard. The marine was ready for anything, he was sure of it. It was quite dark in the night, which deprived Lawrence of most of his vision, but the moon helped somewhat. It added light to a nice area around the dark, so any direct attacks would render useless to Lawrence, but a gun? Lawrence was as good as dead if someone tries to shoot him right now, where even if Lawrence had tried to move acrobatically, the percent of not getting one wound from a bullet was low, nearly impossible to be exact. Slowly crouching, Lawrence unsheathed the blade to his weapon without noticing, heart beating faster as he did. Even if the opponent he had suspected would come will never come, Lawrence felt like his soul was screaming for help. It wasnft Lawrencefs first time fighting a dangerous opponent, nor was it his first time fighting someone in the dark. The recruit felt like the jaws of death had decided to send him away today, the fear of someone or something being on a whole new level of Lawrence just sent chills throughout his body. Was the seaman recruit even ready to accept death?

[Sean]

As expected, marines began to run out of their positions from inside. Many scrambled around, wondering what to do, who was in charge, where to go? "Hurry you idiots! Go and find out who did this!" Musker ordered out, a predictable call from poor leadership. Many marines had questioned Musker's position as leader anyway. He did not have many obedient marines to back him up when the time came. Nevertheless, they followed their orders and the majority of marines had left their positions inside and marched through the entrance, turning west outside to find out where the attacker had come from. They had to be around the west area, unless of course it was a phony attacker and the real attacker had come from the east side. Though Musker would never suspect that. Once the last of the marines had left to investigate and search the west end of the base, just outside the wall and west tower.The entrance was clear for opening and there was not much opposition expected inside.

Shortly after, Sean danced with tremendous speed, using the pussyfoot manoeuvre to get right beside the front wall of the small checkpoint building. He looked around, examining his environment. Good! No one had spotted him yet. He hugged the wall, remaining perfectly next to it to assure that no one could spot him, gradually he travelled to the door. Placing his hand on the handle, he slowly opened it and took a step inside. Now he was in, there was one marine that had caught him out, with the face of horror. It was not everyday to have someone get past a few divisions of marines. Sean was an intruder! "I NEED HE-" The marines cry was cut off. As soon as he had opened his mouth; Sean, being the quick activist he was, summoned the shadow of the marine towards him before it stretched long enough to disconnect itself from the marine soldiers body. With that, the marine's body collapsed onto the floor, flipping over the chair he was placed on.

During this time, Sean's shadow remained hidden in the darkness as the marines gathered around to investigate. Gradually they split up, scouting around for any attacker. Some yelling a few intimidating threats. It was time for the next phase of the plan, the distraction. Sean's shadow floated into the visible light coming from the west tower. it shinned itself down onto the doppelgänger figure so that is was clearly visible to the nearby marines. A few called out to their fellow marines, informing the others of the dark figure suspected of causing the explosion. The shadow ran off along the outskirts of the city. The marines followed in pursuit of catching the figure which caused the explosion, soon to find out that it would be a dud, but it would be much too late by that time to stop Sean.

Showing no emotions in his attack, he impaled the new shadow of the marine, through the head, using one of the five blades which were Sean's fingers. The new shadow struggled as Sean held it by a finger-blade, taking the new shadow with him through the back door of the small checkpoint building. Back outside now, and this time, behind enemy lines! So far so good. Now it was just a stroll to the piers. Wait what's this? Sean gave a blank look towards one marine who seemed to take a defensive position. Not that this marine was the only one here. A handful were still in the base, and Musker was most likely around here too. Though this one had bravery. She was unlike the other marines as she wore black and had what seemed like armour beneath. her shield was quite the giant too. yet something strange.... she had no weapon out, she simply faced at Sean with a shield. Sean gave her a blank look, his eyes gave an almost soulless glare. it was clear that this was not putting her off, she had little fear. A brave marine at that. Though not someone Sean would ever allow to get in the way of his plan.

"Brick Bat"

Instantly, the shadow impaled through Sean's blade stopped struggling. it's limbs began to deform and chunks of dark physical semi-liquid floated into the air. They shaped themselves into around seven balls. At that point they grew bat like wings from each side, and opened eerie purple eyes, topping it off with mischievous purple smiles as their mouth. Upon completion, they grouped together as they flew straight towards Ritz, keen on biting her down with their new physical form. The bats would take care of her for now. If she could get rid of them, then all Sean simply had to do was conjure up a few more shadows from the objects or marines the light shined down upon. One marine wouldn't take him down alone. Now to continue to his ship...

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

Xander heard a certain voice that he could only be Musker's, yelling at all the marines, ordering them to a different area to find the person who threw the bombs. Once the sounds of yelling, stomping, and exploding had faded, Xander slowly began to uncurl from his vines, staggering up, dazed and confused. "Ugh...what happened?" he asked, hearing someone say, "Brick Bat" and many, black bat-things formed from what seemed to be...a shadow. This startled Xander, who's first instinct was to run from danger. But then, seeing the bats bite Ritz made him do otherwise. Acting out on sheer nerve, Xander shot out his arms at the bats, calling out, "Guaaa! Ten Vine Net!" As he shouted, his fingers grew long, green, and meshed together in a large net, wrapping and ensnaring all the bats...and Ritz as well.

{OOC: Sorry...writer's block}

Seeing that he had snagged his ally, Xander gasped softly and shouted, embarrassed apologies to her. "O-Oh....dear.....S-sorry Ritz! Didn't mean to net you..." He stuttered out, his face flushed with that strong sanguine again. After his apology, Xander just stood there, not exactly sure what to do now. He couldn't swing the net around and smack it against thing because Ritz was in it, so what else could he do? Just then, he had and idea. He maneuvered his vine fingers so that a hole opened up and Ritz could roll out, shaking his hands so she would.

[ritz]

Ritz swung her shield up as she saw the single intruder walk towards her. "Alone and so late? Could you not have come in the morning?" she would hold her shield in front of her her as she heard the words Brick Bat. "Iron Charge!'' She would rush forward shield first the powerful shield smashing into the bats. It was then a net of vines would snag her. She would turn her head to see a confused Xander at the other end. "Xander!! Drop the net!!!" She could of course cut her way free with ease, the shield was edged after all but she did not want to hurt her ally unless she really had to.

After a few seconds the net would open allowing her to roll out which she did her shield banging against the dock. Looking over to where Sean was she would stand shifting her shield so the tip was pointed at him. Pressing forward on her right leg she was shoot off after him. "Revolver Spoke!" Trusting the shield forward she aimed the spiked tip at his leg trying to bring him down without killing him.

[Juli]

“Eddy! Eddyyyyyyy!” Juli whispered harshly, calling for her friend as quietly as she could from her position at the top of the anchor. It had been a little while, and she was trying to lift the anchor. The sails were still up, and the sounds of combat from the shore were getting louder. Unfortunately, she was definitely not strong enough to lift it, much to he disappointment when she almost fell into the water. She breathed a sigh of relief when Eddy popped his head out around where the anchor chain entered the water.

“Oh thank goodness! Eddy, get up here; I need help.” The Unima nodded before sinking below the dark water. Juli backed up from the side of the ship, and a moment later, Eddy emerged from the sea, launching himself to the side of the ship, just as Juli had done earlier. The main difference of Juli not being a several hundred pound sea-bear became apparent when Eddy grabbed onto the side of the boat. The weight difference caused the ship to jerk to the side before rocking a bit. Juli kept from falling as Eddy pulled himself up. She opened her mouth to berate him for not being subtle, but that was probably asking too much of him.

Eddy began to hoist the anchor up at Juli’s instruction, while Juli nervously watched the location of the battle, not being able to make out much. Hopefully, none had noticed her. She still had more of the ship to ready! She bounced away, trying to find something that needed to be done. The sails were last, as that would, by far, be the most noticeable thing she had to do...

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

Now it had begun, the intruder had come. Breaking off from his stance, Lawrence rushed over to the gates as fast as his feet could possibly take him. As he was running, Lawrence had experienced quite a few events firsthand. First, the female marine was attack by dark bat-like things, which proved to be an annoying adversary. Second, a marine that Lawrence hadnft noticed earlier turned his hands into what looked like vines and used it to ward off the batsc.sorta. The marine had caught the female in a net while catching the bats as well, but corrected the small error swiftly. hWhat was that? A devil fruit?h Lawrence thought as he now completely unsheathed his nodachi. When he was young, Lawrence had stumbled across stories of devil fruits, but had never actually had came across one in real life. The part about devil fruits given people inhumane abilities served it justice, especially when a marine was using it in front of Lawrence. Jumping into the air, Lawrence smirked, three against one, what was the intruder going to do? Sure, the person had some interesting tricks up his sleeves, but would it work for a second time? Descending, Lawrence managed to land without stumbling like a fool. Pointing the tip of his nodachi toward where the female marine had shot a spike-like thing from her shield (which had awed the recruit for a second), Lawrence tried to make out a figure in the darkness. His eyes werenft the best of the best for sure, but at least he didnft have to fight completely blind. hThree against one intruder! Whatcha gonna do?h yelling out confidently, Lawrence stepped a few steps closer towards the shadows.

hWAAAAAAIIIITTT!!!h As soon as he did, Lawrencefs concentration was broken off by a sudden shriek, which also had shocked the marine for a second. Looking to his left, Lawrence felt his mouth gape as a very familiar figure appeared out of thin air, and it was coming towards the gates at a very fast pace. Of course, the figure was Musker himself, and the officer had looked very angry. The marine had what looked like the image of a gun in his hand, and behind him, was a small group of five. All his favorite marines obviously. Now the scene was filled with much more than a handful of people, the scene was quite crazy itself. What more could happen now? gGood job! I will nowc Panting, Muskerfs face looked like he had ran sixty miles without stopping. hFinish off this intruder oncecc..and for all!h It had seemed like Musker wasnft enjoying this one bit; but of course, the little rat had to always come up with ways to get himself into the spotlight. This one obviously involved a nice little story around the lines of him stopping the intruder single handedly in a one on one duel, which was an epic struggle as Musker was about to die. Still in the position when he announced his question, Lawrence felt like burying the officer alive six feet underground. What was this guyfs problem? The recruit could take his nasty attitude and judgments any day, anytime. But this was absolutely too much, it was serious business right here! This could be something that could involve deaths for all anyone knew! The officer had gone to the land of no return, infatuated by greed and lust was what had destroyed this man, inside out. Gritting his teeth, Lawrence felt his hand that was holding the scabbard tighten as a drop of sweat rolled down the side of his chin.

A loud esplish-splashf then combined with the sound of battle. The sound, oddly enough, had come from the docks. hShit!h Softly cursing under his breath, Lawrence now wished he had stayed back, so he could find out whoever was making that sound, but he dared not move an inch, knowing that he could get attacked at any point from right now back to the docks. Eyes shifting towards Musker, who was now silent as well, Lawrence had noticed that the officer had quickly ordered two of his group of five to check it out. hHe doing something right at leastc.h the recruit thought to himself as his eyes went back toward the shadows. If Lawrence was correct, there was either another thief with a different goal, or a thief that was associated with their mysterious friend that was in front of them right now. But either way, the intruder in front of them right now had no chance of escaping at all. Lawrence was confident about this one. But, the strange move performed a while ago was fairly interesting. Maybe it wasnft just confidence that made the intruder attack the dock at nightc.maybe it was something much morec..