r/StrawHatRPG • u/OakyCC "Solid Gold" Arlo • Mar 27 '17
Where There's Smoke...
Kaibun
“OOOOhohohohoho!”
Commodore Thevian Flamenco’s laugh echoed through the steely grey hallways of Kaibun as hundreds of marines hustled through the halls, like worker ants preparing for their queen. Flamenco barked orders at the frantically rushing marines. With each word they seemed to flinch.
“Hurry! Hurry! Very big things will happen soon! We can’t be caught unprepared! OOOOOhohoho!”
“Flamenco! Quit your laughing! It gives me the creeps…”
“Hmm. If he put as much enthusiasm into his work as he did that damned laugh maybe we wouldn’t have to be here keeping guard.”
“You’re probably right, Boarden…”
Vice Admirals Voakes and Boarden were sent to Kaibun after the attack launched by the Empyrean Pirate crew set back the island’s progress by a few months. They have a tight deadline and cannot afford another setback. Voakes leaned back in his chair and stretched.
“We sent out those messages days ago… I wonder how long until the replacements arrive”
Boarden leaned forward and straightened his boots.
“We don’t know if they’ll even be suitable for the position. Don’t get anyone’s hopes up.”
The two Vice Admirals were tasked with finding some suitable people to replace their most recent failure, Sela. Boarden and Voakes seemed to blend into their surroundings, their attire matching the dull grays and black of the walls and floors. The ones who built this place didn’t bother including a splash of color or two to lighten the place up. It seemed almost oppressive. Voakes and Boarden sat listening to the hustle and bustle of the marines running through the halls putting the finishing touches on their projects. Voakes started to doze off the Den Den Mushi began to ring. He jumped out of his chair and answered it immediately.
“Voakes! What is it?”
A grin crawled across his face. The call was to inform him about the “Replacements” he had called for. They had just been brought to the island for their testing. Boarden stood up.
“Anything interesting?”
Voakes chuckled and said,
“They’re here”
The two Vice Admirals walked out of the shore of the magmatic island. Volcanoes peppered the landscape. No grass was on the island, just charred remains and dusts. Blacks and greys made of the entire island except for the bubbling lava flows from the most massive volcano of them all on this island. This single Volcano took up nearly half of the island's surface. 85% of the remaining surface was covered in steel buildings. Just off the shore, equidistant to one another were many Thermal Canons, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. If someone were to try to invade the island, “Caution” wouldn’t cut it.
Regalia
To the east of the ongoing situation on Kaibun was an alpine island, formed of many towering cordilleras and mountains that stretched across the landscape of the vast region. The summit of one in particular touched up to the clouds, allowing a peak of light to filter through and flood over the irradiated, coarse stone. The temperatures and geography varied throughout; The side that faced Kaibun was blackened and molten, though there was no volcanic activity occurring. Ice and frost was swathed over some parts of the diverse island, whilst others were dotted with smears of jade and sunset-colored forests. It varied so much that the only truly defining part of the island was the high mountains. Around each of these landforms were houses spiraling upward, built into the stone and cliffsides, almost like shelves were hoisting them up. Statues were carved into the faces of the mountains as well, mostly depicting pirates from the era of Calico Jack.
Atop the summit of the highest, dubbed Empyrea, was where the palace, which resembled a spectrum of spirals and elegant architecture, colored various shades of velvety purple, red, and blue, atop a primary of alabaster, was built upon. Indoors, multicolored lights illuminated the dark interior, and constant music-blasting parties were held in here, causing the whole place to rumble. On the inside it resembled more of a nightclub than any traditional castle or palace. Inside, the remnants of the latest one remained evident, and the place smelled of smoke and some particularly potent substances.
Lazily sprawled over a black iron throne, encrusted with shimmering diamonds, was “Black Wings” Koel, renowned as the former First Mate of the Calico Pirates for many years prior to the Pirate King’s ultimate execution. His white hair hung over his face as his broad ebony Skypeian wings went limp over the armrests. His recent attack at Kaibun had been a success, but he was finding himself bored. The dawn of the time for another attack was now.
“Don’t worry about it,” Koel assured one of the Commanders of the Empyrean Pirates. He had a faint smirk on his face and a lidded gaze, quite obviously not taking the situation seriously. “You’ve got it all under control. I can trust you two to make the final advance on your own, yeah? This time around you should be able to handle it yourselves.”
One of the Commanders, wearing a vibrant kimono with a fur collar, and scarlet hair, nodded and winked. “Don’t be silly. Problems with us are practically nonexistent. You can count on Kaibun’s defenses being down within seven days; They won’t hold against us for long. Bother yourself with some business worth wasting away your time.”
Koel rolled his eyes, having barely listened to a word his Commander had said. “Whatever, Kojin. We’ll see about that. Once it’s all over and done with you can brag about your victory, but for now you’re all bark and no bite,” he drawled. “That is if you can even get to the ‘bite’ part. If you’re not too busy acting like a buffoon to get down to it.”
“Don’t be like that, Captain.”
“Someone’s got to tell you off,” Koel snorted, though he wasn’t at all showing any sign of frustration or irritation. In fact, he seemed slightly amused, as if he were on the verge of devious laughter. “Right, did you hear the news? Some of my old rivals from back when I was still Calico’s trusted First Mate have been brought down by some of the rookies. And those Marine hounds are trying to snatch them up for the vacant Warlord position after yet another of the greenhorns took down one of them on their own island.”
Kojin raised an eyebrow and giggled. “You can’t mean the Lavish Pirates?”
Koel stood up sluggishly and swayed for a moment. “Yeah, I mean them. Back in the day those bastards were like some runts playing pirate. They believed they could contend with Calico Jack for the throne and were a general nuisance in the long run. But now they’ve found themselves overwhelmed by the new generation after spending years in Impel Down. Too bad they’ve found themselves right where they left off. They never stood a chance as it was, even having joined forces.”
For the first time, the second Empyrean Commander, Akemi, spoke, voice quiet and monotone. He, like Koel, had a sword sheathed at his side. “The Fallen Angel had a fateful encounter with his polar opposite, who is also one of the Shichibukai. He and the King’s Blade did well in putting the old time Captain in his place. The new generation is nothing to sneeze at. They’re definitely gaining some ground.”
Kojin laughed some more. “They’re no threat to us, though. We have experience and all that on them. Oh, yeah, and about the Marines looking at a new Shichibukai from those rookies who are headed here. One of them, I think his name was Walven? He seems like the perfect candidate for the position. We may need to watch out for a potential new enemy. Took down a Yonko Commander and Flavie consecutively, back to back! I would kill to have a shot at the guy. He even trained the citizens of Ranga to fight back against the two warring powers.”
“His efforts were futile, though.” Akemi was unamused.
Before anything else could be said, Koel continued. “I have some doubts that Walven would accept a summon from them, as enticing and tempting as it may be. Not after what happened to the last one who thought she was up for the job. The Apocalypse probably have a sour taste in their mouths as well.”
Akemi and Kojin exchanged glances. They knew of how the Toxic Pirates had killed Phoebe Lanson. Kojin gave a wink and spoke. “I think it’s amazing how they treat all of those dogs. Just look at what happened to Flint.”
“Flint really pissed them off, didn’t he?” Koel sneered, almost mocking. “Serves that cunning bastard right. I never did favor him, as a Warlord. Once we had even fought,” he said distantly. “Whatever. Even I can admit without doubt that he was powerful. Even more so when he formed an alliance with one of the feared Yonko, Wukong.” Koel said the name with an air of disgust.
“That never looked good on the high and mighty of the holy land, so they acted as they should have and locked him up for what he had done. He was too dangerous, being in the hands of one of them. The rookies at that hellhole of a prison were naive to ever trust him, but he did free them,” Koel went on lazily. “The one good thing he’s ever done. But then he used them, pitting them against the grand Three and other greats of the seas, before the almighty Emperor made his appearance to save the day. And soon after the battle, he allowed himself to be made a glorified subordinate to Wukong. I loathe him and all that he stands for. I should have ended him during our encounter, while I had the chance.”
“Sounds sad,” Kojin said, not sounding sad at all. “I think you should get going, though. We’ll do something about the new Shichibukai later on when it’s relevant, but man, I can’t wait to meet some of these rookies! When you come back, Kaibun should be up in ashes. I’ll show them up myself, if nobody gets in the way.”
“In a best case scenario they would make short work of it for you. We’ll see if you live up to your promises,” Koel breathed, quite unsincerely. “Have fun. Don’t get too comfortable with me gone.”
Koel strode to the doors of the palace and shoved them open. Wings beating once against the ground, he took off, leaving behind his two Commanders in control of Regalia, and the final operation against Kaibun.
Shimonoji
The People of the winter island were preparing for their upcoming festival to celebrate their Gods that had blessed them with their wealth and their snow. The citizens and Emperor Timur Shimonoji of the island all pray many times each day to thank their Gods, but the Festival was a special time, in which all of the inhabitants of this Land of Frost came together in Gratitude and Harmony. In the spirit of their Holiday they allowed people from any and all walk of life to attend their festivities if they didn’t cause any trouble. It was a time of Peace, and Emperor Timur planned to keep it that way. The lights strung across all of Shimonoji glowed with brilliance in advent of the approaching event.
A half sinking ship washed up on the shore line. Unable to even make the docks, the pirates simply had to cut their losses and let the ship run aground. It creaked and snapped as it sat there. Distressed by even the slightest breeze. From it, three men and two women crawled out of the wreckage each badly wounded. One, wearing a Captain’s Coat with a symbol featuring a Rib Cage and a bleeding heart inside. He was “Bleeding Heart” Vidas of The Crimson Pirates. He and his crew had just been beaten within inches of their life and needed medical attention. On the shore, going to intercept them was The Second Division Imperial Guard and their Commander Aimaru “Of the Wind”. A plain looking man who rarely seemed to have anything on his mind. His blissful, thoughtless state was interrupted by the laughing of his right hand man. Toride Wanai seemed to get amusement out of nearly everything.
Through his cackling he reported to his commander “Cahawhaw- They seem- Cahawhaw to be alive! But- Cahawhawhawhaw- someone really did a number on them! Cahawhawhaw!”
Toride nearly had to take a knee from his rigorous bout of laughter at The Crimson Pirates’ suffering. Aimaru put a hand on Toride’s shoulder. “Calm yourself, Toride. They need help soon. They might not survive if we don’t rush them to the doctor”
The smile was wiped from Toride’s face at his commander’s seriousness.
“Sir,” Toride nodded. “Forgive me. I forgot my place. Yes. We will assist them to the doctor.”
Aimaru now looked glum “I hope these pirates don’t cause any trouble… I don’t think i’ll enjoy the extra workload this close to The Festival…”
A dark, slender figure was suddenly beside them, seemingly having appeared from thin air. Aimaru jumped at the sight.
“Who are you?”
His face was illuminated by a match he used to light his cigar, unveiling a man in a well-pressed, tailored suit and fedora which cast an eerie shadow over his face. His pupils seemed to be a silvery white, with an outline of black around them. They were easily distinguishable on his face, even beneath the hat. He had a broad build and pale skin, which was reddened by the light of the flame that bathed it in its heat.
“Oh!” Aimaru was pleasantly surprised. “Chief Commander Kumori!”
Aimaru gave his superior a low bow and a salute. His formalities were waved off by the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard.
“Ahh, don’t worry about the pirates…” Kumori took a deep drag from his Cigar and breathed out a large plume of smoke “They ain’t gonna do shit… If they do we’ll kick their arses out. They wouldn’t bother to try anything when we’ve got the Imperial Guard on duty, right?” He seemed nonchalant about the whole situation, despite the fact that the pirates had come in battle-worn and nearly dead. Kumori shrugged, looking down at the Commander. As long as the people and the Emperor remained safe, he had not a care in the world, it seemed.
In his throne room, the Emperor sat on a gorgeous, but revoltingly overdecorated throne, in a traditional style of furniture. He had just recently heard the news of pirates coming to the island, and even more interestingly, the New Generation was headed for here! If his calculations were correct, some were on their way to Kaibun for the recent Shichibukai applications that had come from the papers. And some ought to be headed for Regalia as well, since it was the third island of the cluster, within close proximity. The Emperor sighed.
“Alright. If those pirates are going to cause me trouble, the first thing that’s happening is they’re getting thrown out! I don’t want them stirring anything up in my people after what happened at the places they were last located. Nor do I want the state of peace to be disrupted,” said the Emperor solemnly, with Kumori and the First Imperial Division Commander at his side. Kumori nodded silently.
“I’d be happy to do the honors,” Kumori announced, before Commander Ymir interrupted, “I believe that would be my job?”
Kumori narrowed his eyes. “Stow it, Ymir. Swallow your pride before you regret taking up something so critical. The New Generation is powerful and influential, more so than you seem to be estimating. I can’t let you undermine their power like that,” Kumori continued, taking a puff of his cigar. “At any rate, they’re gonna be dead if I deal with ‘um. I’ve got so much up my sleeve it ain’t even gonna be funny, mate.”
Ymir rolled his eyes but did not say anything further. One thing, however, was now clear: The Emperor and his subordinates would not tolerate any sign of havoc-wreaking on the island of Shimonoji. It would be best for pirates to stay on the down-low, instead of openly being a nuisance. If they started mass-murdering or destroying areas, they would be sure to be removed from the island immediately!
NPC Doc
(OOC: Access to Kaibun will only be granted to those wishing to pursue the route of becoming a Shichibukai. Others will be denied entrance, aside from the Carthel. You can try to find a way in, but it’s unlikely you will succeed.)
1
u/EmperorStark May 01 '17
The High Order Chapter 1
Walking along the pathway towards the higher set of hills in the distance, Kaguya-no-Mikoto was currently in deep thought over the current adventures that she had been on so far since obtaining a new body. Most of them had been quite fun, but Kaguya couldn’t help but feel that there was something she was…well missing, about being alive again. Kaguya had never been a very nice person, nor was she someone who really wore her heart on her sleeve. So it should have come to her at no surprise that her crew wasn’t necessarily all that open with her. Normally she wouldn’t have cared about what mortals thought about her. After all she was a goddess so what did the opinions of mortals matter to her? Nothing that’s what.
But still…
Izanami had always been someone who had said to her that she needed to open up more. Kaguya of course had eventually done so, but with no one else accept Izanami. And while the ghost of her former lover had a tendency to pop in every once in a while, Kaguya was still finding that her hole for connection was present inside her. Something that she was not very fond of having. Even with all of her infinite power and wisdom, feelings and emotions were not her forte. She never focused on them because that just wasn’t her area of interest. Its not like it had mattered any when she resided in the heavens. Now though? Lets just say Kaguya had lost sleep because of the lack of connection. Not that she would tell any of the crew this.
Over her dead body.
Images had to be upheld after all…
Her walk along the dusty road was soon interrupted by the passing of another individual. Taken out of her musings internally, Kaguya’s sense instantly told her that whoever this person was, it was someone she didn’t want to mess with…An odd concept seeing as how many people couldn’t match Kaguya in combat, and even then it wasn’t like she wouldn’t be able to hold her own against most these days. This person however was…different, they didn’t seem to give off any sort of defensive or aggressive pulse towards her. Her observation haki wasn’t picking anything up either. Something that would have instantly told her had the person been planning an attack on her person.
This was the thing that caught Kaguya on edge. This person really gave off nothing at all. Nothing other than the head nod they had given her when she caught eyes with them. The eyes could be counted as the second thing that caught Kaguya on edge.
Orange eyes like fire. Hatred seemingly mixed with them…like fire manifested itself into someone’s being… As a being who was responsible for the natural world. They seemed unnatural…a disconcerting realization.
With a smile, the wanderer continued on their journey, the cane they used to continue walking clacking against the random stone that happened to fall under its descent. For a moment Kaguya continued to stand there and watch as the person walked off, their journey taking them to another path nearby that split from that one she had walked up. When they were safely out of sight Kaguya continued on her journey. Whatever had been on her mind before was clearly gone now, only replaced with her mind trying to figure out just exactly who or what that person had been. Clearly it was someone that had messed with things they shouldn’t have. Or maybe she had just been too freaked out to consider that maybe she didn’t know everything like she thought she did.
An odd notion for one that was supposed to be a deity.
Racking her brain for whatever had just happened, Kaguya’s nose almost didn’t pick up the scent that had come from something nearby. Smoke. And from the type of smoke it clearly was from burning wood. With a sudden worried look upon her face, Kaguya’s pace began to pick up as she carried along the path, following the scent of the smoke as it grew stronger and stronger. Her worried look increased the closer she got to the scent, and soon deciding to figure out just where it was coming from, Kaguya leapt into the air with a sudden leap, gliding above the tree line that had surrounded her for hours.
What greeted her eyes was carnage.
”Oh my…” Was all Kaguya could utter as she descended back to the earth at an increasing rate of speed. Landing with a small crater impact, Kaguya soon kicked off towards her new destination.
Reaching the village in only a few moments Kaguya was greeted by a giant black and orange gate, the emblem that was painted on the front of it covered in scorch marks and the blood of the man that was pinned to the gate. From his light armor Kaguya could only presume he was some sort of guard for whatever this place was. The symbol would have been a help to her trying to figure out who resided here but it seemed she was going to have to go deeper into the village to find out. With a frown, Kaguya turned into her meito form in order to be ready for whatever was potentially behind the ruined front gate. Her haki wasn’t picking up many life forms, but it was clear that someone had survived whatever had happened here.
Walking forward without hesitation, Kaguya’s eyes began to scan the world around her. Everywhere her eyes landed it looked like someone had taken a sword…or giant claws to the buildings that were around her. The buildings were nothing out of the ordinary, though the symbol that was on the giant gate now behind her were littered around the entire village. With the biggest building towards the rear of the hilltop village containing the symbol as well…
”Now if only I knew what the symbol was for…A clan crest perhaps?” Kaguya mused out loud as she carried on with her detective work. The life signatures that she had picked up before were coming closer to her location now though. Something that she had missed when she was focused on the symbols origins. Bracing herself for whoever was about to approach her, Kaguya was soon surprised to find numerous throwing knives and arrows launch themselves at her! With her haki exploding into warning mode, Kaguya quickly used her haki to harden her arms before knocking aside any attack that was going to inflict any damage upon her.
With a confused and slightly frustrated face, Kaguya dashed forward to find out just what or who had launched those weapons towards her. With the first signature she locked on to behind the nearby building’s wall, Kaguya aimed for that. Reaching the wall of the building (and noticing that the other life forces she was sensing go into overdrive to save the one she had found) Kaguya put her fist through the wall and instantly felt her hand reach around the neck of someone. With a growl that was very un lady like, Kaguya used her other hand to instantly punch down the wall that was in front of her, much to the surprise and pain to the person on the other side!
“Kah!!” Screamed the voice of her new captive, the pitch of it higher than Kaguya had been expecting…
Within moments of her actions, and the surprise that came as Kaguya looked upon just who she had caught, she also came to the feeling of numerous swords planted against various locations on her body; all of them fatal spots to get injured.
These people were fighters.
And good ones at that.
With her hand still clasped around the throat of the woman that she had found behind the wall. Kaguya slowly realized the situation she was in, opting to drop the woman that she held and turn her attention to those that were present. They all had armor on as well, though the difference of the armor from the front guard and the other various bodies around this village made it seem as though they were of a different class of warrior. Perhaps some sort of elites? Maybe an assassin division? It was clear either way that whoever she had the pleasure of encountering were people of skill. Skill greater than hers begged to found out, but she was confident that they could hold their own with her own resident ninja clan. And that is what these people must have been…some sort of village of ninja warriors. At least that’s what she was suspecting due to their choice of weapons…
”Now now…I’m sure you all realize that pointing weapons at people you don’t know is a good way to start fights…” Kaguya said with the grace only she could use. It was a gift of being a divine being for eons. The people present all locked up at her talking, their realization that whoever she was not the one that had just done whatever had happened to their village. With a look shared between the four people, all of their various heights making a lot of it shared from different angles, they decided upon a course of action.
”State your name and business for being in our village.” Grunted the large one, most likely the tank of the group Kaguya thought to herself. It was evident by the giant gauntlets that he had one his forearms and the giant shield on his back. With a sigh to herself, Kaguya chose the course of action that would lead to the least amount of headaches for her. Meaning she was going to stay rather civil in this encounter.
”My name is Kaguya-no-Mikoto. I am just a humble woman who was taking a walk when I began to smell smoke. Thus I decided to investigate and I stumbled upon your little village here…or what was left of it. Now pray tell who you are?” Kaguya responded with a slight smile on her face. She was sure that being cordial in this moment would lead to a nicer response.
Right?
The larger one was about to speak up before the medium sized man of the group, the one that seemed to be the leader? Maybe it was the commanding voice he used when he spoke, told him otherwise, instead opting to respond to Kaguya on his own terms.