Stonefish

**Date Completed:**Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play**:
**Users Involved:** User:Katokonia, User:SparklinLex, User:UpNAway
**Setting:** Strait of Saktani, **(Abuka)**
**Rapture Involved**:
* Exodus Krall (Mentioned)
* Exodus Salliene
* Exodus Bronto
* Exodus Tyla

**Revolutionaries Involved**:
* Sky Ward
* Sky Bound
* Sky Lark (Mentioned)

**Aont Okorrians Involved**:
* Kazeneko Hypna (Mentioned)
* Asia Mei

**Metrics**: Stonefish/Metrics

## **The Stronghold**

Crashing waves and clashing arms.

Reaching far and wide across the Strait of Saktani was a massive standoff, and a massive conflict taking place between three of the world's strongest factions. Upon the isles that lay here, each burdened with rolling, yet scorched and harsh hills and plains, there stood an everlasting battle, one that had been going on for some time now for the sake of naught to the naked eye. The land was bleak, bare, and frankly, unrewarding. It seemed to be just another part of the world, one that would sit idle by as the people of it would venture beyond this dull, though admittedly large, portion of the New World.

The Strait itself was just as divided as those who occupied it, though perhaps it's divisions became distinct in the face of that society which was placed upon it. A cluster of islands to the south of the Strait are occupied, although 'temporarily,' by the Revolutionary Army, who have come seeking that which the Strait itself has, over time, become to be known for. Nihilite. Indeed, the Strait of Saktani is one of the few places in the world where mines harvesting Nihilite in bulk can be found, in the largest quantity of all those mines that do exist at the current as well, though it is not the Revolutionary Army that yields this black-metal crop. To the north, reigning over the largest portion of the Strait, sits a massive and expansive series of battlements, mines, facilities, barracks, walls, fortresses, and warriors all under the overarching ownership of Rapture, an organization that, while entirely criminal in nature, has been endorsed as an official government-protected operation as the leader of this notorious group, Exodus Krall, has been recently recognized as a Warlord of the Sea, and in return for assisting the World Government in the persecution and elimination of their foes, in addition to supplying them with the lucrative substance that which they mine here, in the Straits of Saktani. There are many traps and ambushes awaiting any who approach, and/or willingly enter, this territory operated under Rapture, not excluding, and especially targeting, the efforts of the Revolutionary Army, and the third faction that sits a ways to the East of both groups.

This third group is none other than a bastion of a landmass armed and providing base and sanctuary to none other than one of the Auspicious Guardian Beasts of the New World Government of Aont Okorr, led by the Guardian of the White Tiger, Kazeneko Hypna. Initially coming here to take over the mining operation from Krall and putting it into the hands of Aont Okorr, and effort that would see the arms and arms supply of the coalition surpass in both quality and quantity with an influx of powerful Nihilite, however the efforts of Hypna have been stagnated by fierce retaliation and defense on the part of Rapture's territory, and additionally by the incursion of Revolutionary forces, who would rather see the entire operation permanently put to a halt than allow it to fall into the hands of Aont Okorr.

In recent times, a gleaming beacon representing the pinnacle of Rapture's absolute defense over it's mines and turf has arose in the shape of a massive star-shaped fortification, walls visible from above the hilly islands of this region of the sea, and several massive watchtowers that dwarf and mitigate any attempt at subterfuge and encroachment upon Rapture's turf. It stands on the central-fore island of Abuka, which sits at a location that defies the presence of both the Revolutionaries and the Sacred Band, the latter being the forces of the White Tiger, and it has provided a reason of ire, and a full-stop towards any attempt at making way towards their objectives for both antagonist groups to the Warlord's lands, armed to the teeth with artillery and troops whose sole mission is to prevent anyone, and anything, from passing into, and through, Rapture's waters in the North.

It was this star-fortress, this citadel, that was the target of irritation for the Freedom Divers. Sky Ward and Sky Bound, known as Sapphire and Ruby, respectively, had been tasked by Revolutionary command to infiltrate one of the Nihilite mines being protected in the shadow of the citadel, too far out of reach to arrive at unseen by the towering watchtowers, though close enough to see with the naked eye from where the two now stood, providing even further irritation as it was a goal only just out of reach. Ruby let out a growl of annoyance at this very thought, slumping herself into an awkward sitting position on a rock.

The two were at the tip of an island that served as one of the border areas between Rapture's territory and that controlled by the Revolutionaries, the two both making sure that they were well-hidden so not to squander any chance they might have had at passing by drawing the attention of the watchtowers, or the guards upon them, rather. They had a plan to get past the citadel, in fact, though it was currently the afternoon, and this mode would only be potentially possible in the dark of night, and so they sat and killed time, vaguely watching for any transpirations across the Strait aside from the endless sound of skirmishes and cannonfire that rang throughout its entirety.

"Well...it could be worse..." Sapphire said waveringly, drawing a glare from her red-headed compatriot,

"Yea, sure it could. I don't see why we don't just attack the fortress, I'm sure with the army backing us we could handle it." Ruby replied,

"True, we Revolutionaries alone could likely topple it..." Sapphire sighed, "Rapture may not be the best in a front-to-back assault/defense siege, though that just means they'll retreat back into their ambush campaign and we'll be right back where we started."

By ambush campaign, Sapphire referred to Rapture's tendency of laying an insurmountable mass of traps and ambushes along their portion of the territory rather than displaying a visible stand of defense, unlike what they were doing now. It had initially caused great devastation to both the Revolutionaries and the Okorrians when they had arrived to take the mines for themselves, this provided discouragement to both sides after the events that occurred then. While Sapphire mentioned that Rapture was inferior to them in strategic warfare in a front-to-back sense alone, this was also not to say that Rapture's forces were by any means weak. It was near-impossible to discern between some of it's members, them all being sheathed with one of the several types of masks that they all wore, and a few had shown to be quite powerful. Some days ago, maybe a week now since the Freedom Divers had actually first arrived at the scene, Sapphire, Ruby, and a third of the group, Sky Lark, known by 'Emerald,' had fought a rather large bulk of a man wielding a massive spiked club resembling a kanabou, though he had wielded it with one hand. They didn't catch his name, though he had been guarding their target mine the day they had arrived, and at the time they had actually been able to reach their destination, there not yet being this massive construction now in the way. The citadel itself seemed to appear overnight one day, but back to the topic their fight against the man 3-on-1 had actually resulted in their loss, his strength unprecedented in their conflict and him even managing to knock unconscious Emerald, who now still lay in the rear in bed after the event from injury.

"Ugh, well let's just wait for nightfall I guess. I'm taking a nap." Ruby said lazily, tilting her head into the shade and sliding down so her back leaned against the rock she sat on. Sapphire looked at her wearily, wondering if she could do the same, though she decided to stay awake and keep watch on any changes in the scenery for the time being, her eyes fixated on the Citadel central.

Across the open water from the Southern border and to the East there was someone contemplating an eerily similar plan at exactly the same moment. Asia Mei, a Huskarl of the Sacred Band under the banner of the White Tiger was planning her own attempt at infiltration as well. She too would wait for nightfall, and she too was painfully aware of the peering gaze of the watchtowers over the surrounding sea, taking care to remain out of sight of Rapture's stronghold as she contemplated how to get by it. Kazeneko Hypna herself had requested this mission for Mei, adding more pressure as Mei refused to return empty-handed and without at least some degree of success. Mei slumped down into a squat as she buried her face in her hands,

*"Maybe I shouldn't have let my pride get in the way and asked for help here..."* She thought to herself. Yes, she had volunteered to do this mission unaided except by her own fists, something that came as a surprise to her fellow soldiers, and a result of her confidence and pride getting to her head and spewing through her tongue. Mei was quite a skilled fighter, sure, but she was by no means a tactician. Relying on her fists and feet over a cunning mind, Mei had initially anticipated that she could just barrel her way through, though if that were the case Aont Okorr, and the two factions it here faced, would probably have not been locked in trenches for so long. In either case, Mei would wait for nightfall. Maybe something would count as a distraction that she could use to slip by, though even just managing to provide information on the state of affairs on the front line would be valuable information, and perhaps, it might be all she'd be getting back to HQ today.

And so they waited, and waited, and waited. The sun slowly began to dim, it's peering gaze fading behind first the clouds, and then the horizon soon after. Torches lit up around all the major, and known, settlements and battlements across the Strait one by one, the citadel joining this, and perhaps shining the most brilliantly of all. Nightfall had arrived, and thus the opposite, yet similar, plans of the two groups would soon be in play.

## The First Night

Nightfall had finally struck, the sun now set far beyond the horizon. Mei had been waiting for this moment of darkness devoid of silence. Battles still rung in the distance, some small, some large, some merely scuffles possibly between a side's own troops. However, all that mattered was that noise was still being produced. Under the cover of dark, it would be much harder to see her attempt at sneaking, especially when audio was prioritized in the wake of a lack of visibility in the first place, drawing attention away from one mere person sneaking by.

Mei's plan was to literally swim through the Strait to reach the island of Abuka, where her quarry lay. She fastened her equipment, which wasn't much at all aside from her clothes, and a plain-looking orb, taking the appearance of a golf ball, which she tied to her left ankle. Without a second thought or any to any possible danger ahead, Mei dove into the water and began swimming. She knew the direction she had to go, accounting for tide and current long ago, and was completely submerged. She would have to come up for air only twice on her journey, with the entire trip taking a total of ~10 minutes, as she swam diligently towards her target island, hopefully unnoticed.

At almost exactly the same time, both Sapphire and Ruby had also begun to make their way across the water, though their method differed slightly. While Ruby would have been fully capable of swimming herself, Sapphire was a devil fruit user, and thus she would not be able to swim for even half a second before plummeting into the dark depths below. The two opted to make use of Sapphire's power to compensate for it's downside, and travelled via an exceedingly small boat that Sapphire shrouded in a thick, shimmering mist that was fitted so that light that touched it would reflect and refract in such a way that would make it appear to be devoid of anything inside of it, showing only what was beyond. At a close range, the distortion would be rather obvious, but for the purpose of hiding from a watchtower afar, it would be able to successfully cloak the two's passage from the peering eyes of the fortress.

It must have been almost half an hour as they travelled slowly but surely, when suddenly, something hit their boat. Ruby immediately mobilized herself, unslinging her bow and nocking an arrow in the span of less than a second as she waved for Sapphire to stay back as Ruby slowly approached the front of the boat where the impact occurred. There was no way that the towers would have been able to notice them, they were much too small a target and sufficiently cloaked to remain hidden, especially in the dark of night. It would take incredible observation skills to notice otherwise, something that the standard guard manning an artillery wouldn't (allegedly) have. Second, the impact itself was more of a bump from the water itself, rather than something that had launched towards them. It lacked much impact, which is why Ruby reasoned that this was the case. She instead believed that they had run into something, hopefully a rock, but one could never be too careful, especially during an operation, which left Ruby on extra-high alert. She reached the tip of the boat where the impact had been made as Sapphire watched on from some feet behind her, as Ruby quickly popped her bow over the edge, her eye soon following it.

The moment Ruby peeked her head over the boatside, she saw Asia Mei. But rather than just seeing a sitting duck in the water, Mei propelled herself up, launching towards her while barely making a splashing sound in the water she came from. Her hands were in front of her, as she moved to cover Ruby's mouth as Mei began landing on the boat. When she saw Sapphire, She made to grapple Ruby, still trying to cover her mouth, as she stared Sapphire down awkwardly, immediately noticing that there was a lack of mask on their faces,

"Who are you!"

Sapphire calmly looked at the situation at hand. Ruby was restlessly allowing herself to be manhandled by the intruder, though it was obvious that she was waiting for Sapphire to give her a signal to attack or take some form of action. Sapphire looked at Ruby, messaging with her eyes for Ruby to settle down for the time being as she opted to voice her concern,

> "Would you believe me if I said we were just passers-by?" Sapphire said calmly, as she subtly stopped moving the boat and began to release an invisible mist of water vapor that slowly encroached towards Mei.
>
>
>

Mei had no clue about Sapphire's power, as she continued to half-strangle Ruby.

"No, I really wouldn't." She barked back as she clenched one of her fists,

"Let's make this nice and simple. Are you two Rapture thugs, or aren't you? Let's hear it!"

Mei stood belligerently as she firmly held Ruby in place. She had noticed that Ruby carried a bow, however was more worried about any sort of concealed knives or daggers that could be on her person as she carefully watched the movements of the two on the boat. The air was feeling just a little bit cooler than before, though Mei thought nothing of it at the time.

*"Come on Saph give me a sign..."* Ruby thought to herself as she then felt the cooled air, or rather the cool water vapor begin to thicken on her arms and face. Knowing that it was her companion's power to control clouds, she figured that Sapphire must have been the cause of such an abrupt change in the moisture level, keeping it subtle in such a way that someone who knew her power would recognize it, but a stranger like Mei wouldn't have a clue.

Meanwhile, Sapphire prayed that Ruby had gotten the subtle indication that she was laying preparation for the usage of her fruit, though Mei's question did admittedly catch her off-guard.

"Rapture thugs? Do you see a mask staining this face?" Sapphire paused for a moment, as she abruptly stood up, a cloud forming from the surrounding water and vapor marking around Mei and Ruby, it becoming dense by Sapphire's command as it began pressing Mei firmly onto the ground (deck of the small boat.)

In the same moment, Ruby began struggling free from Mei's grasp violently, which would further disorient the girl as Ruby tried to break free and move herself towards Sapphire.

Mei wasn't caught off guard by the fact that Ruby tried to escape, though she was definitely taken by surprise from the sudden heavy feeling that slammed her against the deck of the boat with little chance for resistance. She managed to keep Ruby in her grapple, so the two of them both fell down together as Mei grit her teeth.

*"This must be some devil fruit power huh.."* Mei thought to herself as she struggled to rise again, even though her body felt exponentially heavier than before.

*"Shit shit shit"* Ruby muttered internally as she had failed to get away from Mei, meaning that Sapphire would have a harder time too. She continued to struggle to get away, pushing herself towards Sapphire's general direction.

Sapphire noticed this and loosened the grip of her cloud so that only Ruby would be able to escape, meanwhile pushing Mei down even harder as she called out,

"If you're accusing us of being masks then you must not be one yourself. That leaves two options: either I've just happened to never see you at camp, or you're one of those Okorrian dogs tented across the strait. Well?"

Sapphire loosened the air around Mei's head so that she could respond with ease if she chose to.

Mei's face turned red with annoyance, "Dog?? You Revolutionaries are calling us dogs when you're the ones blowing up buildings on a Friday night?" Mei spat on the ground audibly as she continued, "Now let me go before I get mad."

Mei didn't struggle in vain, but her tone did sting in the air threateningly.

"You sound pretty mad already..." Ruby muttered under her breath, though Sapphire interjected with a calm, though stern, voice:

"What to do, what to do..." Sapphire initiated, "So how's this, Miss Government 2.0, how about you go on your merry way back into those cold, dark, water, and we pretend like this never happened. How's that sound to you?"

Though what answered Sapphire was not Mei's voice, but rather the whizzing of a bullet that zoomed past the small boat and propelled itself into the sea below. It was not alone, as soon many others followed, and a sound of gunfire could be heard coming from the site of one of Rapture's fortifications. Unbeknownst to the three thus far, during their confrontation with each other the tide had brought them within the shoreline of Abuka. A blessing, as this was the location-target of all three, however a curse in that none of them managed to arrive quietly, and with the mass of forces stationed on the island, the chances of success for their respective missions almost entirely vanished within a second of the first shot.

## Trouble Here and There

As the bullets began raining down on the small boat, orange and yellow lights followed by a sound of thunder roaring from some ways away, Sapphire immediately switched into survival instinct mode. She surveyed her surroundings, but in her mind there was no way that they could escape the range of the gunfire before their small boat sustained too much damage to hold it's passengers. And so, Sapphire made the questionable decision of using her fruit's power to use a dense cloud to propel the boat forward, towards the shore. It wasn't a smooth ride, and seconds later the boat slammed into the shore as the three were sprawled forward. As if a blessing from the lords above, they were placed behind a large, rocky formation out of the sight of the guns.

Ruby was able to wrestle herself free from Mei during this as well, though as she crashed into the shore she most definitely sustained more than just a few scrapes. Sapphire was able to cushion her own landing, though it all happened so fast that she could help the other two land safely.