While Loguetown sleeps [Juli and marines]

[Sean]

The swarm of bats proved too little and that obstacle was easily overcome by that female Seaman recruit, with the use of her shield.The bats splattered onto the shield and became nothing more then black chunks of liquid, slipping off onto the ground to form another pool of materialised shadow. Sean pondered to himself upon the brick bats defeat. Perhaps that shield was a weapon after all. If only he could attack from behind the shield, that way she could be pincered. At that moment Ritz had been netted away, as well as the remaining, now black liquid-like substances, that were once brick bats. "Perfect!" Sean muttered to himself; he continued a casual stroll away from the gate and toward the dock.

Two marines patrol guards had come from both directions in an attempt to apprehend Sean. Just a simple slash from his claws to the right one which had attacked first, and then the left. Both guards fell to the ground in defeat of the powerful gauntlets Sean wielded. Everything seemed possible now. Spontaneously, Ritz had come back, making her swift recovery. "So her cowering friend let her out?" He mumbled something along those lines as he observed another devil fruit user next to the first pier. A good thing he was at least not in Sean's way. "Revolver Spoke!" Wait revolver! Is this a range attack? Sean analysed so in the name of the attack, he had to think of something quick, he was no logia type user. An idea came to him as Ritz begun to put all her energy into her next attack. Thinking fast, Sean dropped the suit case he carried in his left arm and lifted up the marine to his left. He was only a corpse now, there was no major pain for him any more. He held that before him as Sean felt the force of the spike. It had shot Sean's human-shield right in the leg. Yet the force of the attack had stumbled Sean back, that was a much too strong attack. It had led Sean to fall to his back on the ground, as he let go of the marine that fell close by. The fall to the ground caused tremendous pain to return to his sting wound from Juli. The pain had gotten the better of him now, unable to make a quick recovery.

Sean lifted his torso back up and glared at Ritz. Perhaps she was not to be underestimated like the other seaman recruits. Using his left hand he grabbed his suit case by the handle once more. Though Sean still stayed on the ground.Spontaneously a new challenger had leaped into the scene and was aiming his weapon at Sean. "Three against one intruder! Whatcha gonna do?" Damn, Sean never expected for there to be brave marines to counter him, not even staying in their positions. "WAAAAAAIIIITTT!!!" Oh good, saved my Musker. The now broken concentration of the marines gave Sean enough time to lift himself back up into recovery, once again standing on his two legs. By now Sean's shadow had long sat idle, as the distraction was complete and the marines were long away from the base. Sean allowed himself to slip into concentration, uncaring of what Musker had to say for now, as Sean was calling his shadow back to his body. That was done, now he just had to await its arrival.

Snapping back to reality, all Sean could make out was that Musker wanted to fight on his own. Sean licked his lips and grinned over that idea. Perfect, another marine he disliked could suffer death. Another splash could be heard from the docks, most likely Juli getting the ship ready according to plan. "You two. Go and check out what that noise was! You three remain with me!" Musker ordered the others to leave. As they hurried off, they rushed beside Lawrence, one grabbed Lawrence by the rest "Come with us!" he ordered, before following his other comrade, onto the piers. "Very poor mistake Musker. Very poor mistake."Sean muttered under his breath. It was a terrible strategy to split up the groups now. Eddy was very capable of taking down that group in three swings with Juli as support. No need to complain though. It was not much less of a burden for Sean. Both candidates stepped closer to each other. "So you wish to challenge me Musker?" Sean held out his right arm forward, pointing his five bladed gauntlets toward Musker's position. Musker may have been a dirty rat. But he was a well trained dirty rat. As expected, his fighting style consisted of two short swords. Not strong in length but easy enough to handle for the quick kills. There was still a reason why Musker had been a petty officer, and so he was not to be underestimated.

"You boy!" Musker clenched his daggers in rage. "You never had the money!" it was Musker's instant assumption, since Sean had now commit the crime of breaking into a marine guarded dock. Though Musker was not enraged by that fact. It's the fact Sean did so, which led him to believe that Sean never had the money to pay him! In a blind attack of anger, Musker leapt forward and clashed his short sword against the blades of Sean's gauntlets. Two finger swords had prevented Musker's sword from slicing into Sean's head. Meanwhile Musker, used his left sword to attack Sean's left position. To avoid being hit, Sean tilted his body away, keeping his right hand in a clashed force with Musker's sword. This would be so much easier if he only wore the second cat claw.

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

Xander looked around once he had un-netted Ritz, trying to find any other accomplaces that could be with the intruder. Searching around the area, he found nothing, so he went back to the battle to hear Sean call him...cowering. This annoyed him a bit, but kept a level head as Musker came in, yelling and panting about how he will take down the intruder. Once the fight began, he mentioned that the intruder didn't have the money. "What money?" he asked, coming out of the shadows, asking Musker for clarification. He didn't want to think that Musker was a corrupt man, even if he didn't particularly enjoy Musker as a human. There was just something about him that was very off-putting.

Xander's arms shook and grew viney, hard and long, large, long spikes sprouting all over them as he said, "You didn't take a bribe...did you?" He shook his head softly and forced the idea to the back of his head. raising his huge, long, spiked vine arms and asked, "I will help you Mr. Musker!" He shouted happily, swinging one of the arms at Sean with powerful force, calling out, "Club Crush!" and down came the fist, ready to crush the intruder into the dock. Xander giggled a bit, shouting, "Who's cowering NOW?"

[ritz]

Ritz spun back her shield withdrawing a bit as she took a step forward. the intruder was downed by her attack even if he had managed to dodge the actual attack. It was then a marine with a nodachi appeared to back her up keeping the intruder down. She would smile a little. It seemed that this at least was under control or at least in a position that could be controlled without too much trouble. She would look down at the intruder. "Surrender is your only option" She would point the tip of her shield at him as she said these words.

It was then Musker charged the scene yelling as he did so. Ritz turned her head only slightly but that small distraction that the officer had provided had been enough for the intruder to get back up. She turned to Musker as he charged in his blind and prideful rage. She would run past him so that she was now behind Sean ready to stop him if and when he took care of Musker.

[Juli]

Juli felt that the ship was almost ready to sail. It had to be; Juli ahd done just about everything she had though of but lower the sails. She now remained looking over to the site of the battle. She could she much of anything from here, but she knew that when it quelled, Sean would be on his way here.

Or he’d be captured, but Juli didn’t want to think about that. Behind her, Eddy sniffed around the deck, waiting just as she was. A few more moments passed, and Juli began to worry. What would she do if Sean was captured? How would she know? The fighting would stop for one, but she already figured out that it could mean two things or three things. She decided that when she heard the battle stop, she’d pull down the sails either way. If Sean won, the ship would be ready to sail once he got on. If Sean lost, well...should she go rescue him? She probably couldn’t just leave him. Hell, why even steal the boat for that matter if Sean wasn’t going to get it? She certainly didn’t need it!

She ducked down when she though she saw a group moving toward the boat. Not thinking, she cried out, “Eddy! Hide!” As she scrambled around, trying to find a place to stow away, she realized that she was far too loud for someone trying to hide, and that Eddy was probably far too many pounds of Umima to hide easily.

Regardless, they tried. Juli shoved Eddy in the corner, hardly concealed by some barrels. Juli herself was still looking for a spot when she heard someone climb onto the ship from behind her. She couldn't help but panic, freezing in place.

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

hOkaycc..h Lawrence said as he was grabbed by the marine and pulled towards the dock. Why the hell couldnft they just do it by themselves? It made absolutely no sense, ridiculous even! Upon reaching the pier, the group of three now ran over to where the source of the sound was. There was no time to complain now, but it had still bothered him, the actions of Musker were truly disgusting. Reaching the boats, one marine pointed towards the ship that was to the right of him. Nodding, Lawrence slowly crept aboard that one; at least this marine was much more tactical than their stupid, ungrateful, low leader. Checking around the deck, Lawrence groaned. It was obvious that this boat wasnft the one that made the sound, so he might as well spook out the robber if they were to hear his voice. Checking around every barrel possible now, Lawrence decided to look into the cabin, a perfect spot for a robber. If they were to be found, they could kill the person easily, as the door was small enough for only a one on one battle. Opening the door, Lawrence checked everywhere, still nothing.

Going back onto the deck, Lawrence looked to the boats right beside him which seemed pretty normal. Not. One boat had totally tilted towards the side, like something big was holding it down. Possibly crates, but why would anyone place crates of whatever items in it to the side? Pointing to the point beside which had shown the most suspicious in his case; Lawrence stared down at the marines who were still looking up at him. Nodding, they started to walk over to the boat. hAt least thatfs over, hopefully.h[/i] As the marines climbed aboard, Lawrence hoped that good will come out of it. Like every other type the marine had, he wasnft the type to just fall back in combat, and the idea of taking him with them was sort of ridiculous as well, the idea of taking someone out of battle just to search something was stupid. The climax of gWhat Made That Noise?!h was about to come to an ending. Or thatfs what Lawrence though at least.

[Sean]

The three remaining soldiers that have long been privatised by Musker, had followed the same idea as Ritz and joined her in positioning them around Sean. That cannot be good, the remaining marines on the docks were now working on surrounding him. Either it was a grave provoking experience or a gift of opportunity, as the next attack came right above Sean, having difficulty in holding back Musker. A large vine from Xander swooped down. The awkward feeling of an aerial attack from the expanding vine overwhelmed the clash between Sean and Musker. Both had to quickly leave their positions, thus they jumped back from one another as the vine slammed down, barely making it out. The slam onto the ground had caused the nearby ground to vibrate, obviously nothing major as an earthquake, but rather a short sharp shock on the ground which was slammed. It was enough to cause anyone nearby to lose balance and this included Sean, Musker and two of his marines. One managed to keep his balance but left him in a relatively confused state. "What the hell do you think you are doing boy?" Musker yelled out to Xander in anger. He clearly ordered that he was to take down Sean alone; on top of that, the attack was capable of taking down himself as well as Sean.

Again Sean had landed on his back,causing a sharp pain, from Juli's sting, to overflow him. Perhaps this was to mean a change of plan, maybe this was not as easy as Sean had predicted and he was underestimating the circumstance. He needed help! An idea crept into Sean's mind as he lifted himself back up. He gave Xander a calm and devilish looking grin. None of the other marines had recovered in time to lift themselves back up, except for Musker, who was now ready to pursue Sean again. Yet before Sean would allow that, he jumped across the collapsed guard who left an open defence, and stepped quickly toward Xander, just slightly away from the other marines so he was in range. Yes the scene they were in now had a spotlight emitted down from the towers and a few lamps for the purpose of guarding the docks. The shadow of Xander was stretched just up to Sean's feet. What a perfect ally! Sean dropped his suit case down once more and grabbed the ground where Xander's shadow was present. From then, he looked as if he was stretching out a black sticky substance from the ground, which was in reality, Xander's shadow. As a now manifested physical form, Sean stretched the shadow far enough up to the point of its feet, the perfect time to cut it. Finally with a swipe from his cat claws, Xander's shadow was disconnected from its former marine body.

At first the shadow had begun to struggle out of Sean's grip, but soon eased as it listened to the new voice. "And now you are a new shadow warrior. I have a task fro you." Sean pointed over to Ritz and the three other marines which Musker had favoured. "I want you to take them out right away!" Nodding its head, the shadow complied and charged at the marines, ready to attack. Whilst Sean had been detaching Xander's shadow, Musker and the other marines had watched in awe. Only Musker was quick enough to gather his senses and warn his fellow marines that Sean must have been a devil fruit user. "Soldiers! This boy is a devil fruit user. He is much more dangerous than we expected! Be cautious!" Though in the back of Musker's mind, this was a perfect time for him to capture the soon-to-be pirate menace and receive a special reward and promotion for capturing a devil fruit user. With his two short blades equipped, Musker charged towards Sean, who was now running towards the docks as Sean believed Xander's shadow would take care of the rest.

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

Xander large grin of truimph fell slightly ajar when he heard a familiar voice yell at him about attacking the intruder. The marine recruit's hearing wasn't the best to begin with, and orders where always hard to remember for him, so he wasn't sure if Musker actually said, "Everyone can attack him but me!" or something else like that. But that was beside the point. The fact of the matter was that Xander had missed both times, and nearly took out Musker in the process. Cringing a bit at the man's tirade, he began lifting his arms back up in anger, readying for another attack. Not that he was really upset. In his opinion, not many would miss Musker if something happened. As Xander lifted his arms to try some close range whipping, he noticed that the intruder was giving him a calm, yet extremely creepy look that froze him in his tracks, only to be broken out of it by an odd feeling tugging at his feet. Looking down, he saw his shadow literally being pulled off of the ground by the pirate. It was at first, very puzzling and odd to Xander, then it came to him.

His whole body shook with the intense horror at the realization of what was happening. He had heard of the Kage Kage fruit before, but never in his life had he hoped that he would ever see it in action, let alone to himself. In a poorly planned, last ditch effort to save his shadow, Xander took off running, but tripped a few feet later by the tug of his shadow, much like a leash. Looking up from the ground, the marine recruit witnessed the shadow being cut from his body, and dimly, the vision if it being told what to do. Then, everything went black for the marine, who passed out on the ground, muttering, "Shadow.........." before he slipped into the world of a blackout.

[ritz]

Ritz stood her ground as she watched Musker fight the pirate. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she did so, Musker was strong and skilled but he was not fighting smart. He was leaving too many openings it was a good thing his foe was not seeing them as she was. A vine attack would suddenly hit the ground causing Ritz to stumble. As her arm swung up though to keep her balance her shield would slide off and landed in the ocean. "Damn..." she would take a step back as Xander dashed past her. "Tch.." She watched as the intruder did something strange to Xander..he seemed to have cut off his shadow and then the shadow would rush the her and the three marines with her.

Ritz leapt back as the shadow took down the two most forefront Marines. As she did she felt her sword tap her leg as if reminding her she still had it. "No choice then..." As the shadow bore down on her she drew the blade. Anyone watching would only see one slash but in truth there had been many. The shadow would fall away as Ritz stood and ran at Xander. "Sword Goddess Tempest Whirlwind!!" She spun her sword gracefully slashing at the pirate though the pain from using the blade was starting to form.

[Juli]

“Hey lady! These docks are a restricted area; you’re not supposed to be here!” the first Marines said, the other two on board behind him.

Juli swung around, a nervous smile on her face. “U-um, well see...” Her mind rushed for an explanation. “The...um...mast...is broken?” Okay, Juli had to admit that that was insufficient.

“Alright, you’re coming with us,” the marine ordered.

Juli gasped. She couldn’t let that happen, but she could run away either; Sean could arrive at any moment. Juli made a defensive move backwards, sliding across the ground a tad. The other marine, wider in his chest and belly, whipped out a rifle, and aimed it at the mermaid, “Hey! Don’t move!” Juli leaned back, heart racing.

A frustrated growling caused heads to turn to the Umima, somehow unnoticed until now. Eddy jumped to action, leaping forward toward the Marines. The rifleman turned his gun and fired, but the bullet didn’t slow Eddy. The sea bear’s claw swung down, barely missing the rifleman, crashing into the deck. The first marine backaway, drawing his cutlass as the rfielman was smacked with a second, finned paw. The second strike launched the marine from the deck and into the water below, his rifle left behind, falling from the air and clattering on the floor.

Eddy snarled, and Juli couldn’t help but say, “Oh Eddy I hope you didn’t hurt him too much!”

Juli’s capacity for mercy on those who had just held her at gunpoint was enough that even Eddy could only shake his head...

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

The voice of the marines talking to someone satisfied Lawrence as he made his way down the ship and into the other one. This, of course, represented very good news to him because he was then able to then go back to the fighting area, where the real threat was at. While walking to the other boat, his happiness was soon trampled on by a strange growling noise and the sudden image of a fellow marine being tossed overboard. The scream of the other marine made Lawrence worry so much that he found himself hurrying onto the ship. Whoever or whatever was up there was totally something a lot more than a marine can handle. Hopefully, it wasn't much stronger then Lawrence himself. As he got up there, Lawrence was greeted by a bear-like animal that made him feel like deja vu was about to hit him in the face. Why did he feel that way? No freaking idea. "Please explain to me why......forget it. Getting up from the latter, Lawrence ran in front of the marine to defend him.

"Get back, and use your pistol, rifle, whatever you have! I'lll distract this thing!" Shouted Lawrence as the marine now scrambled to the backlines, showing fear of those who feel like they were about to die. Standing his ground, Lawrence looked at the beast straight into the eye. Did he meet this thing before? "Oh yeah! It's you!" Shouting out with a surprised look on his face, Lawrence dropped his stance as was now pointing at the Umima with the look of a surprised child when they first see a monkey in the zoo. It was not that Lawrence was dumb; there was a lot of things going on in his mind at the moment. The meeting between him and the animal, however fascinating it was, was snuffed out when duty calls. Chuckling, the marine now was as carefree as he had normally had been back on his morning patrols. The bear thing didn't look harmful, hopefully. "Hey, can you please get off of this boat until the situation is over? Lots of bad stuff is happening right now." Taking notice of the mermaid, Lawrence smiled. These people didn't seem as harmful enough like pirates, but they were still committing a crime, unless, this was their boat of course. Lawrence had to get them off somehow, might as well with words then force. Plus, if they were to fight, it would obviously end up for the worse on Lawrence's side. The animal looked strong, and of course, it had proven it was strong by throwing off the portly marine before. "That are you doooinnngg!" The voice of the scared marine pierced Lawrence's concentration as he held up his pistol. "These people are criminals!" Being one of Musker's close men had seemed to cloud this marine's brain. Yes, they were fighting for justice, but unnecessary fighting was a bad thing, no matter how bad the situation was.

[Sean]

"You just don't learn to stop when you're outmatched! Do you Musker?" Sean yelled back at Musker. He had that strange feeling within him that Musker was following close behind, and by that sense, he was right. Musker pursued Sean straight behind, like a bird swooping down for its prey. By now, Sean had ran past Xander and onto the narrow wooden pier and had to turn a few more corners to get to his desired ship. There was no way he could allow Musker to go any further, but at least he was now in a position where he couldn't be surrounded. Now to just quickly dispose of Musker before he got to the ship. Stopping on the middle of the pier, Sean turned around and glared at Musker once more, anger boiled in Sean's blood as Musker closed in to bring Sean to justice. Sean raised up his cat claw hand and snapped his fingers out; the five blades created a look of cage like bars that would shred anyone who even tried to squeeze through. "You shall die for ever deceiving me!" Now Musker had caught up to the halted Sean and leapt himself into combat. Both he and Sean engaged in a series of blade clashes. The sound of the swords colliding echoed throughout the docks. Musker swinging around his two short blades and Sean dancing his fingers around to block off any of Musker's attacks.

Meanwhile, Xander's shadow followed Sean's orders and proceeded to bombard the marines with a flurry of punches and kicks. It would have performed much better if the shadow only had a weapon, but it was flexible enough to dodge a few marine swipes from their swords. Unfortunately, although it was hit, the sword did little as the shadow was tangible enough to be unaffected by its weak slashes. One marine brought out his pistol and opened fire, though the bullet merely made a see-through hold on the shadows body. A few punches on a marine and one had already fallen. The others took a few teps back, beginning to fear how to defeat Xander's shadow. Though one marine still stood nearby, unflinching. Xander's shadow took notice and attempted a powerful and hard punch, capable of inflicting a heavy amount of damage, and this one was for the kill! Before it could land its attack, Ritz had already dealt it swift strikes with her sword. It was unable to make its attack and it simmered down onto the floor in multiple pieces. Once again forming a black liquid like pool.

In due time, Ritz arrived at what looked like Sean, in reality, a trap! The shadow doppelgänger! "Sword Goddess Tempest Whirlwind!!" Mimicking Sean's style of combat, the shadow too wore the shadow of Sean's long-bladed claws. Like Sean, it danced its fingers around attempting to block off Ritz's attacks and on the occasion, tried to land a few strikes on Ritz. However, as the battle went on, Sean's shadow received a few cuts, and these were powerful enough to make some black liquid slip out onto the ground.

back at the scene of Xander's shadow, the two remaining marines had long abandoned their posts. Retreating in fear to at least come back when they get some help from the other marines. Xander's shadow was granted enough time to reconstruct its body position, but being in a rush to hunt down Ritz, not enough time to recuperate its lower half and thus only left it as a floating torso. While Sean's shadow and Ritz shared strikes at each other, Xander's torso shadow latched in from behind and attempted to grapple Ritz's body, trying to get its arms around her. Upon a successful grapple, Sean's shadow would be able to finish her off with the final blow.

[Xander Touchstone Abernathy]

The incident with the shadow removal caused Xander to pass out. But his blackout was short lived. A few minutes later, the marine recruit began to come around. Groaning softly and rubbing his forehead, Xander staggered up to a standing position and looked around, his mind fuzzy and his hearing, temporarily impaired. As his senses came back, Xander noticed that there was another him attacking Ritz. "How odd..." He said, looking down for a second. "Huh....I have...no shadow?" The seaman recruit asked himself, glancing about his body to see if he had lost anything else. As Xander assessed the situation, he saw that Ritz was in danger. She was being double teamed by the intruder's shadow and...his shadow!

This had to stop, that, and Xander wanted his shadow back. Without it, he felt an emptiness inside of him, like there was literally a piece missing from him. The young recruit had also read a book about devil fruits and remembered that people affected by the Kage Kage No Mi would burn up in the sunlight, so he had to be careful as to stay out of the sun. Luckily for him, it was still night time, and therefore, no sun. But there where the search lights, so he had to watch for those as well. Xander crept through the shadows for a bit until he was a ways behind the shadow of the intruder, quietly kicking off his right sandal, Xander reeled his leg back and the gave a sharp kick, causing his leg to become long, viny and spiky as it collided with the Shadow. Xander was trying to knock the shadow over into the water, but he actually missed the area he was aiming at, and his foot collided with the Shadow's head.

[ritz]

Ritz would spin slashing down at the shadow clone in front of her her blade meet the shadow's arm cleaving through it. She would spin around to take a swipe at Xander's shadow making sure it had no opening to grapple her. Two minutes left..I need to wrap this up. Ritz would plant her foot as she raised her blade up to her face. Rushing forward at Sean's clone she would swing her blade down what appeared to be one time. She also seemed to walk right through him. "Sword goddess...50 Strike Funeral" She would stand sheathing her sword as her right arm began to spasm the pain from using her sword like that having been too much.

She fell to her knee clutching her arm coughing back screams of pain. Her back was to Xander's shadow as it bore down on her but before it could attack Xander managed to kick it in the head sending it away form her. She looked over at him smiling through her pain. "Thanks for the assist...ungh..." She clutched her arm a little tighter. "It's up to you now..I can't do anymore.."

[Juli]

Eddy gripped the wooden deck and snarled at the two Marines remaining, the cutlass wielding one not making a move. Lawrence moved in between the bear and the other marine, ording him to draw a ranged weapon and stay back. “Oh yeah, it’s you!” He said, talking to Eddy. The Umima tilted his head in confusion. Lawrence continued, “Hey, can you please get off of this boat until the situation is over? Lots of bad stuff is happening right now.” Lawrence regarded Juli before hesitating, awaiting a response.

Juli opened her mouth to answer when the other marine, pistol in hand, cried out, unnerved, “What are you doooinnngg? These people are criminals!”

Juli scoffed, before slumping her shoulders; it was pretty obvious. Juli was having a few more regrets... Unfortunatly, it was way too late to stop now.

“I’m sorry, I can’t leave the ship. But you...might...want too?” Juli explained, adding a poor attempt at a threat at the end. Juli’s heart was racing; on one hand, she didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but on the other, there might not have been another way to clear the ship. Juli inhaled, trying to steady herself, while Eddy’s finned paws lightly scratched the deck, waiting to strike.

[Lawrence Pure Regent]

hWhat? Sorry, no can do.h Lawrence now had more of a shocked face than a calm and smiling face. What on earth could she want to stay on this ship for? Was it because she wanted to hide from Musker until the morning?.....Or was it something else? Turning towards the mermaid, Lawrence now frowned a bit. The end of her sentence was not one of a fighter, nor was it one of a confident thief. So why would she choose to steal a ship at night-time, where all was guarded by marines? Yes, she was desperate, but she was a mermaid for god sake. Fleeing wouldfve been the simplest things for her right now; there was no need for getting on a ship. Walking closer to the mermaid, Lawrence raised his hands into the air and gave her a reassuring smile. hCome with us, ekay?h Slowly moving his hand closer to the mermaid, a bullet soon whizzed by him and nearly hit the mermaid as it slammed right into the shipfs cabin, producing a small black hole.

The voice of the marine that shot it was sluggish and horrified-like, like Lawrence himself had turned into a pirate or something. hYou!........aahhhhhhHHHc.g-getccit!h Turning back, Lawrence looked at the marine, wide eyed. What was with the bullet? It had almost killed someone! The appearance of the shooter looked just the way his voice told Lawrence, the marine was scared. He barely held his pistol in the correct form, and it was shaking crazily in place, like he was being ambushed with no one to protect him. His mouth looked like it was forcibly being shut by his willpower. Was this man scared of the mermaid, or was he scared of the animal beside her? True, Lawrence was scared of the beast too, but having it horrify you to death wasnft really a smart choice.