Adventures in a New Sea: The Wreckage Separated

**Date Started:** 05. 13. 2023
**Date Completed:** 09. 14. 2023
**Previous Role-Play:** About Freedom
**Next Role-Play:** Grimm Tales
**Users Involved:** User:Haraxmant, User:Black Dwarf Star, User:ThePirateKingmaker, User:KesshinGaia, User:LuigiEgbert,User:EazzyMacc
**Setting:** 3rd Week of January 1585, Paradise, Mokotal
* **Pirate**: Armani D. Lazuli, Chord, Yoshoku Bonny, Gaia Kesshin, Ferrari Weegi, Ilphen Kagu

## Post-Freedom

Days began to sail by, just as the Wreckage sailed themselves, injuries that occurred during their time at the Marine Base seemed so far away now. Though the Wreckage were sailing into dangerous seas, the ocean here was sporadic, almost in a way to Lazuli's changing moods, the sea too was moody, and they were about to get the worst of it.

Lazuli climbed the ropes toward the lookout post, before letting her hands go and flopping backwards, dangling from her legs in the ropes, she looked around the ship at her crew and smiled, times were good. "Oy!" she shouted, to garner their attention. "When's the last time you just, climbed a tree?" she asked, excited to hear her crew's answers.

Starlight, the Wreckage Pirates' ship, gently placed the young pirate back on the deck, unwrapping her from its ropes. A low humming went through the ship's hull, curious on how Lazuli had managed to pull off being stuck like that in the first place.

Chord seemed to be the one most comfortable in the rain. Even without his armored chassis, he was a Fish-Man after all. He just sat still, even in the storm, with his arms folded as he always was. Although, the question seemed completely foreign to him. "I've never climbed a tree," he said. "When would I have had the chance to climb a tree?"

Weegi nervously poked his head out from the door below decks, his eyes scanning before the area before slipping backwards. The pirate had knocked him clean out and shown him a strength greater than his own, he had chase after her! Sleeping in the bowels of the ship hadn’t been great for his workout regime but that pirate had a mean right hook. Clearing his throat and adjusting his outfit he burst out of the door. “Climbing trees? Why I climbed ten a day for thigh work outs as a child.” Weegi said while performing a quick pose to flex his muscles. Then the giant noticed the slight rocking of the boat and he turned a little green while he tried to maintain the pose.

Bonny was NOT happy. Hiding under a ragged tarp tied around her head and neck like a pauper's cloak, her mascara running and her powder clinging like mud to her face, she was hideous, soaked, hungry, tired, and all sorts of other negative emotions. However, since the battle with the Marines and the connection she felt to the crew, she was managing her temper. For now. "I never climbed a tree, but I think one of my sister's climbed a tree once. She fell and scraped her knee, so Momma hung her nurse from that tree to punish her."

Kesshin was below deck until he was woken up by the storm and Lazuli's call. He couldn't be bothered to fully dress so he came out with his pants and jacket around his shoulders. He had a serious case of wild bedhead. Hesitating a moment not noticing the raging weather for a moment. The torrential down pour felt good on his face and body. Kesshin's body was littered with scars. As he listened to them speak about climbing trees... for some reason. He would comment after Bonny who seemed to be having an absolutely miserable time and it was painful to watch, "Being a jungle boy at youth, I used to climb trees all the time. Not so much anymore these days." Kesshin scratched his bigger scar on the left side of his abdomen, "But when you find a good tree to rest in on a hot day with shielding from the sun by the leaves, and the breeze..." He closed his eyes and pictured it, "That's a good tree."

Kesshin, green glow in hand walked over to Bonny. He manifested a green and gold umbrella and held it over her head. He didn't say anything to her just held it over her. It wouldn't shield her completely but at least she wouldn't be absolutely drowned in the downpour, "So captain, I know I'm goin out on a limb here but did you see any land or place to weather the storm up there?"

Lazuli's brow furrowed as she was gently placed on the deck, she was enjoying hanging there, and she totally wasn't stuck at all, she swore. "Well, climbin-" she suddenly shot up "How have you guys never climbed a tree?!" she exclaimed. She jumped up to her feet and stretched out "It's like, an entirely different experience every time, finding your footing and the next branch is always so random, you never know where your next leverage is going to be, and then once there at the top, you can look out all over and take in the view, like a huge accomplishment..." she explained, her passion for something so trivial was apparent.

She looked to Kesshin, her own makeup a mess alongside Bonny's, but Lazuli's kind of, always was..."Weather the storm?" she paused "The storm...is the weather..." she explained, confused by the statement. "But uhhh, no, no land as far as I can te- AHHH" she said, stumbling to the side as the sea began to get rocky, pushing the ship around a bit more rough than before. She continued to stumble, before bumping into Weegi, her powers immediately taking effect on the man "Ouch, I hit something hard..." she said, before looking up, her hand on Weegi's chest, she quickly backpedaled and chuckled, rubbing the back of her head "SORRY! Oh, sorry Weegi, I lost my balance." she apologized.

Bonny nodded her head towards Kesshin, but she didn't say anything. As the rain pelted her, she grimaced and closed her eyes. "Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Beautiful purses. Leather belts. Sausages. Sausage belts." She had almost calmed down before the ship lurched from under her. Falling face first into the deck, she just lay there, unmoving, sliding around as the ship rocked and her face smeared a small trail of blood from her nose and lips. "I hate this. I hate all of this so much. I'm going to kill you all and build a better ship from your bodies."

"I uh, wouldn't suggest that. Those of us with devil fruits can't swim so I'd imagine a ship made of our corpses would most likely sink." The familiar voice of Kagu came from the entrance to below deck. A waterproof blue bucket hat covered his hair and his leather jacket rests over his bare chest. The crunching sound of him chewing on a piece of metal followed his statement.

"That is incorrect," said Chord, still having not budged, even in the terrible storm. "The power of one's Devil Fruit leaves them after their death. And human corpses are generally quite buoyant. Properly moulded together, you would all make for an excellent ship, for the brief period of time before your corpses would start to rot."

Kagu yawned, rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. His gaze shifted over Chord and his chewing slowed to a stop. "When did we pick up fish sticks? How long was I out for? Wait I'm not still asleep am I?" His sleepy tone carries a hint of concern. He was clearly out of sorts from having slept for quite a while.

Lazuli looked over, Kagu was still here, the man could really sleep! Chord spoke up, and knew, an awful lot. "Chord, you're- ooh- so smart." she said, trying to regain her footing on the ship. Starlight dropped a rope, allowing Lazuli to grab it and keep her balance. "Really morbid, but I think Bonny would eat them before they rot!" she added with a laugh.

"Well depending on who they are they might taste good." Kagu looked at Lazuli while absentmindedly licking his lips. He looked around at the wet ship. "Do we have a plan now? Like where we are going or anything?"

Bonny staggered to her feet, looking like she was near tears. "LAZZY! I wouldn't eat someone who was rotting. Do you have any idea how gross that is? Disgusting!" She shuddered and gagged before moving to the railing and hurling up her breakfast. If it was possible, the Pale-White Princess was even more white. "Rotten meat... brrggghhh..." She barfed again before sitting on the deck on whimpering. "Kesshi, can you just kill me and get it done with? I hate this so much. Rain and storms and gross talk."

Kesshin was surprised, he had never laid eyes on Kagu before. His room was always locked and he never came out. At that point Kesshin though he was a sea slug or something. Of course he would leave food by his door at the behest of Lazuli, same with Weegi. He walked with Bonny over to the railing of the ship as she hurled her guts out. Kesshin simply shook his head at her rubbed her back; out wet in the heavy rain vomiting her guts out, it was pretty pathetic looking to Kesshin, "Glad to finally put a face to a name, I the captain has told me next to nothing about you Kagu." Kesshin didn't look in Kagu's direction when he spoke, only looked at Lazuli. It was when Bonny spoke again that he turned his attention back to her, "Would you like it quick and painless or slow and agonizing?" Of course Kesshin was joking but he sounded so polite and sincere about it, putting on his lovely practiced smile.

Weegi smiled at the apology from Laz and enjoyed seeing the antics of the crew. The shenanigans often reminded him of his days in the circus, of course with less criminal activity. Weegi opened his mouth to introduce his stupendous self properly to those he had not yet gotten truly acquainted with like this Kesshin and Kagu, but a grimace crossed his face. A pain erupted in his gut where he was bumped by the defined lass Laz and he bent over in discomfort, looking down he let loose a strangled howl. “MY MUSCLES!” He gurgled out as he beheld his perfect physique marred by painful craggily rust. Foaming at the mouth, the gold giant tipped over and fell forward onto the deck.

"What the hell?" Before Kagu had been able to speak to the his newer crewmates he was interrupted. He seemed to wake up rather quickly at the sight of Weegi keeled over. He looked at Lazuli with an intrigued and vaguely confused expression. Even though he showed some concern for Weegi he didn't make a move to do anything about the situation.

Lazuli gasped as Weegi fell to the deck of the ship, she looked around in a panic at her crewmates. "N-Nuh uh, it doesn't do all that!" she huffed. "He- he's faking I swear!" she complained. The effects she had on Weegi were drastically more intense than anything she had seem from her powers, perhaps Weegi's own fruit gave him adverse affects. "Wee-EeEeEe-" her words were suddenly caught up as the ship began to shift furiously, a burst of water building up from beneath the ship. What was a small mount of water soon burst upwards, shooting the entire ship and its passengers high into the air, into the sky even!

This would begin a series of adventures for the Wreckage Pirates in a place they would least expect, an entirely different sea in the sky.

### Metalheads

A dense jungle with unfamiliar trees, the sounds of various unidentifiable animals filled the air, but they grew quiet as the clattering and crashing sounds from above grew louder, Lazuli fell through the brush and bramble and landed on the ground with a loud THUD. She stood to her feet with a groan, holding her neck and rolling her head around it like a pivoting ball "Duuuuuuuuude, that sucked..." a loud crack came from her neck and she yelped a bit. "You know first aid, right Chord?" she chimed, but there was no answer. "Chord?" she looked around, but there was no one. "Kesshin?" she asked again, looking around, there was plenty of green, but no Kesshin. She darted around, looking behind trees, and into bushes "Muscles?! Kagu?!" but still, no sign of Kagu nor Weegi. She sat on her butt, wrapping her arms around her knees "Not even...Bonns?" she mumbled to herself, growing a bit sad for once.

"Oi, pipe down. You sound like a whimpering pup, aren't you our captain?" Kagu spoke as he slid down a mess of vines and tree roots. His jacket had torn in serveral places and small twigs were stuck in his white hair. He walked over to Lazuli and offered her a hand to stand up. "So uh, I don't think we are on the ocean anymore."

Lazuli jumped to her feet, as the hand was coming down to lift her up "wooh" she expelled breath as she met face to chest with Kagu "So tall. Cool." she mumbled under her breath as she took a step back. "You're right, Kagu..." she said, before looking around. "It's like a uh, Forest? I think." she put her hands on her hips and looked upwards to the sky, blocked by the brush above them. "There weren't...any islands nearby, right?" she asked.

"Hmm...I don't know where we were but I have heard of geysers that are so powerful they can throw a ship hundreds of feet into the air. Since I got tossed from the boat and there's no sound of the ocean I'm guessing we hit one of those geysers." Kagu theorized about their situation. He absent-mindedly took a small metal pipe from one of his surviving jacket pockets. He took a bite of the pipe while he continued to think.

"Keep your eyes peeled, who knows what we're guna run into here."

Lazuli continued to stare upwards as he spoke. "oooo" she was astonished by his story a bit, before looking toward him. "You know, for someone who don't talk much, you sure know a lot." she commented, before placing her hand on her chin, thinking intensively "I think, when I know a lot, I can't really keep myself *from* talking." she added. He had mentioned this place being potentially dangerous and she nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right..." she agreed. "I think we can take anything really, as long as they don't surprise us."

She began to walk, in a seemingly random direction, with no real idea where they were, no sense of direction, and no idea where they should head, random was really their only option. "Kagu, where'd you learn about those geysers from?" she asked, turning and now walking backwards while looking at him.

"Oh, I've sailed around a bit. You aren't the first person I've called 'captain'. You pick up a thing or two from older pirates if you take the time to listen." He spoke matter-of-factly but shot her a grin while the pair walked. He absentmindedly snapped a small branch from a tree as he passed it. He began to snack on it while he looked around. He was just as lost as Lazuli so he followed her, interested to see what they came across next. "Though I really don't know what to expect here. Some people say there are races of humans that live up in the sky on floating islands. Ive even heard that there area giant monsters that fly around above the clouds."

"Nuh uh!" she called back to him teasingly, there weren't no sky monsters, she knew, she thought. "If there were sky monsters, we'd see them all the time!" she said, waving her hands around to symbolize things moving through the air. "I don't know your last captain, but he sounds like he fed you silly stories!" she mocked a bit, giving a laugh. As her laugh faded, she began to think, what if he was right, what if there really were giant monsters up here, maybe they did hide behind the clouds all the time.

She pushed through a brush before coming to a large cliff face, a huge drop before her. She stopped in place and gasped. "Kagu, Look!" she shouted, before them was a massive ruin, a large stone tomb crumbling in upon itself, beginning to be covered in bramble and greenery from the surrounding jungle "Do you have any ideas what that is? I mean, from all the stuff you've learned?" she asked.

Kagu let out a whistle as he looked out over the ruins. He had wanted to tell Lazuli some scary stories of the beasts that roam the world just out of human's sight, but these ruins caught all of his attention. He scratched the scruff on his chin while he thought.

"Hmm...I think Shandian is what some of the sky people are called. Maybe it's was one of their temples or cities? It doesn't really look like something that those geysers could throw up into the sky but I don't really know how big those geysers get." He looked around the cliff edge they stood above. A grin spred over his face. He already knew the answer but he decided to ask the question anyway.

"Do you want to go check it out?"

Lazuli shared his grin "Did you even have to ask?" she retorted, crouching down and throwing her legs over the edge. She rotated her body and began climbing down without a second thought, not even a moments glance to look for footholds, she wasn't just winging her adventure, she was winging her climbing! She began shouting up to Kagu as she climbed "So maybe if there are humans living up here, there are sky beasts too?" she asked, lowering her position a little before speaking up again "I bet if I meet one, I could beat it!" she added.

"Kagaga I bet you could! I would love to see that fight." He laughed as he walked to the edge of the cliff. He leaned forward to see how high they were before he climbed down after Lazuli. Unlike her Kagu checked his foot and hand holds before each move. His usual care free and relaxed attitude had quickly been replaced by a nervous and calculating one.

"So, huh, what do you want to find in the ruins?" He spoke more to get his mind off the height than for the sake of conversation. Though a part of him was curious to hear what she expected to find.

"Well-" she grunted, moving down the face of the cliff. "I figure, with ruins, there's the possibility of some kind of treasure. Or maybe we discover something cool? And if none of that works out. I can just break everythi-" she explained, before her foot slipped and she began tumbling down, the cliffside soon became a dirt-heavy hill, to which Lazuli tumbled and fell down, before hitting the base, surrounded by trees once again.

"I'm okay!" she shouted up to Kagu, holding up a very distant thumb to him. She pushed herself up and dusted herself off, grumbling "god, it took me by surprise...I should've done the air jump thing, I could've, if I felt like it." she mumbled, arguing with herself and waiting for Kagu to catch up to her incredible speed.

"Ah!" Kagu let out a brief yell after he saw his captain tumble away. He took a deep breath and shook his head a moment later. *"Of course she's fine, it would take more than a fall to take out that girl."* He thought to himself. He glanced down to where Lazuli landed.

*"Ugh fuck it..."* Kagu pushed against the cliff wall he had been holding to so tightly. He fell freely towards the ground but before he splattered into paste he held his hands out in front of himself. Two bursts of blue fire erupted from his palms and his momentum began to slow. Using small, controlled bursts of flame Kagu slowed his decent and landed without so much as a thud.

"Well that was something...anyway, you mentioned smashing ruins?" He forced a smile at Lazuli. He tried to regain his composure as quickly as possible now that he was back on the ground.

"That's right!" Lazuli said, quickly turning around to look at the new area they had landed in, she turned back quickly to interject a quick "That was cool." to Kagu using his fire as thrusters, before turning back and repeating "That's right!" she continued, pushing forward through some more trees until she came upon a broken stone path.

She began jumping from one stone to the next, a game of dirt-avoiding hopscotch. "Ruins, Kagu." she started, jumping from one leg to the other on the stones. "Means that this place is either, high value." she said, jumping once more "Or no value." she looked at him and smiled "and that means, we're either free to break everything we want....ooooor, we're gonna make a lot of people mad, and that's even more fun!" she said, giving a laugh, losing her focus and beginning to wobble on her leg. "woahhh!" she said, falling forward.

"Kagaga you really like to fuck things up don't you? I can't tell if you weren't hugged enough as a kid, or too much." He laughed as he reached out to stop Lazuli from hitting the ground. With a swift movement he caught her wrist and spun her into his arm. With his arm now draped over her shoulders the pair walked side by side to the ruins.

"Though either way, I like your style. Kagaga!"

Lazuli immediately, almost habitually, pushed herself from Kagu's grasp, shoved him away by the chest "Stop! You can't touch me." she raised her voice slightly, but not of anger, but concern. "My powers are dangerous..." she continued, lowering her voice finally. "If it was something I was meant to control I'd have learned it by now, but they don't really turn off." she explained, realizing that she hasn't truly spent enough time with Kagu to explain her powers.

"You know I can rust things, but I can rust people too. At first they freeze up, locking into place as I rust their joints. But, eventually it takes over their body and they break apart." she explained. "So, I can't really touch anyone, not for long..." she finished.

Her initial response caught Kagu off guard. Even as Lazuli explained her powers Kagu felt the stiffness enter his body. He had been unaware that her power was always active and he was suprised to feel how quickly it took affect. He looked at his fingers, opened and closed them a few times. *"It would take a few more seconds of contact to completely lock me up but that is a strong ability. If she can harness this power better she could cause some waves for sure."*

"That's an interesting power Laz. Certainly one that can cause some trouble easily." He smiled at her in an attempt to releave the tension. "Devil fruit powers are tricky things. They don't all work the same but they all can be strengthened, or weakened, by the will of their user. I'm sure with more practice you'll figure out how to control that power more." He poked at her shoulder a few times, jokingly checking his finger in between each quick poke.

"I don't know, I've had them for a while..." she replied, looking onward toward a small clearing. "Hey check it out!" she shouted, pointing forward, the broken stone path they were currently walking led to the large stone temple that they had spotted from the cliff. "They're basically begging for us to enter, I mean..." she said, trailing off and walking towards the base of the long staircase.

"Who wants this many steps?!" she complained, looking up to the top of the stairs, at the large stone doors overcome with vines and moss. "Who knew adventure required so much physical labor!" she expelled, exhausted already from their travels.

"That's why its important to bring snacks!" Kagu tossed a small bag to Laz. It was a small cloth bag tied with a bit of twine. Inside the bag were a handful of chocolate cubes about half in inch wide. "Those are these lil fudge squares I got at the circus town. They're delicious." He emphasized his enjoyment of the fudge by tossing one into his mouth. He turns his gaze to the top of the stairs as well.

"If we walk all these steps for nothing then Ima burn this thing down." His tone doesn't give away if he is joking or not.

Lazuli fumbled with the bag as it was tossed to her "FUDGE!" she shouted, finally catching the bag and opening it. Her eyes lit up as she gazed inside it, Kagu had been keeping snacks from her this whole time!? Shoved a handful into her mouth, her look of annoyance to the steps turned into a determined one.

She tied off the bag and hung it from her belt line before jumping into the air "Screw the steps!" she said, utilizing Geppo to traverse the distance in half the amount of steps. Landing at the top, she shouted back to Kagu "I win agaiiiiin!" she said, looking to the giant stone doors. "fudge fudge fudge fudge" she chimed softly, the chocolate treats filling her mind as she waited for Kagu to catch up.

She placed her palms on the door, each of the muscles around her body flexing at once in an attempt to push it open, it didn't budge at first, but with time, it began to grind against the floor, and eventually an opening big enough for the two of them, was made. Looking inside, the temple here was a mess as well, greenery sprung up from the floor, sunlight shining in from the holes throughout the ceiling.

Lazuli's speed surprised Kagu and he realized he hadn't really seen what his current captain was capable of. Her clumsy handling of the bag he tossed her amused him just as much as her speed surprised him. He approached the base of the steps and thought for a moment before continuing. The air around his feet shimmered from a sudden heat. A burst of blue flame launched Kagu into the air, leaving behind two burning footprints in the ground.

"Hey now, did you at least try to knock to see if anyone is home?" Kagu joked as he walked up behind Lazuli. He glanced around at the interior of the temple. "They have an interesting taste in decorating."

Lazuli chuckled at Kagu's comment "Yeah, if you like plants, I guess." she rebutted, leaning over and ripping a leaf from a vine climbing up the wall. The leaf slowly turned to rust in her hand, and her eyes widened. The leaves must've held a substantial amount of metals within them, that's what she thought anyway, they do say some foods are a great source of iron, after all.

She quickly turned to look at Kagu "I don't think anyone's home, Kagu. Which meaaaaans" she said, before reaching into her beltline, pulling a pair of gloves from her pelvis, pulling them over her hands. "No one to stop us from claiming this place for ourselves." she commented, reaching under her shoulder pauldron and pulling out a couple cans of spray paint. She tossed one to Kagu and smiled. "Let's write on shit."

Kagu caught the can and laughed. "Kagaga alright then. It's been a lil bit since I tagged somethin', let's see if I remember how to do this..." His face contorted as he concentrated on bringing the picture in his mind's eye to life on the wall. He sprayed quickly and it was obvious he had done this many times before. After a slow start he quickly regained the feel of the spray can. He smiled and stepped back for Lazuli to see what he had made.

"Voila!" He made a dramatic gesture towards the newly painted wall. A large caricature of Lazuli spanned nearly ten feet of the wall. It was clear that it was the captain but the cartoonish proportions certainly gave it a silly look. Kagu looked at Lazuli with a grin and waited for her response.

Lazuli held out her hands in the shapes of L's, framing the art between her fingers, biting her tongue as it stuck from her mouth, squinting an eye at Kagu's work. "Not bad Kagu, but let me show you how it's done." she said, looking around for a place to work. All of the walls here were broken though, incomplete or too small for her idea. She moved to a door on the far side of the room "Let's see..." she mumbled, pushing the large door, again flexing every muscle in her arms and shoulders to drag the door to create an opening, a gasp followed.

Looking into the room, light shone from the hole in the ceiling, perfectly encasing a large cube of mysterious stone. The writing on it was anything but readable. Lazuli approached it with excitement "Oh wow, this is...amazing..." she said, looking upon to Poneglyph. She paused for only but a few moments before her hand began shaking the spray paint can, she held absolutely no interest in what the stone was or what value it held, to her it was a wall to write on.

And so she began, writing her name with a large chaotic smiley face with sharp teeth, taking a step back to look at her work, she smirked, tossing the paint can at the stone before turning away, blinking at Kagu "Oh Kagu!" she said, suddenly remembering he was here, absolutely losing herself in her work. She stepped aside and pointed at her work like a great unveiling "What do YOU think?!" she asked excitedly.

"Very nice, you are a true artist!" Kagu clapped softly while he looked at the artwork. He shook his head with a grin. "There are pirates all over the world that would, and have, kill for one of these dumb ass cubes. You see and instantly decide it is the perfect medium for some graffiti. You really are interesting." He looked at Lazuli with a mixture of admiration and curiosity.

"Shall we carry on? Hopefully there's still something of actual value somewhere in here." He gestured towards a hallway that most likely led deeper into the temple. "It's a bit odd that this place seems to abandoned. No signs of fighting or being driven out..." He muttered to himself.

### Royal Stability

Elsewhere, a small village in the clouds found itself to be the landing site for both Bonny and Weegi. The natives weren't accustomed to newcomers, and at first arrival of these people, who landed in their village, they hid. Each villager rushing in, and hiding behind the curtains of their various tents, lodges and tipi. Bonny herself was a strange looking creature, something almost not human, and Weegi was VERY large, were they monsters or deities? Only time would tell, as one of the elder villagers approached, and nudged Bonny with their walking stick. "Are you....alive?" he asked.

Bonny was laying face down on the beach, unmoving. Her head was buried in the sand, making her appear like a headless corpse washed up on the cloudy ground. When the Elder prodded Bonny, her headless body sat up and frantically patted her shoulders and neck before standing and patting the rest of her body down. Once Bonny Body was satisfied she was still whole and beautiful, she ignored the village elder and started digging holes in the clouds, looking for her head.

"Gods, she's not a head!" the elder exclaimed, noticing the girl dig around in the clouds, he gave a whistle, calling over some of the other tribesmen "You two, help the strange one search. She's lost something." he ordered, the two men nodding with a grunt before joining Bonny in digging through the clouds, looking for her head.

### Weapons for War

Kesshin's eyes slowly opened near the shore. "Am I dead? It's about time..." He tried to remember the last thing he saw. He remembered hazily there was a fuss with... someone. He tried to place his thoughts quickly but that only made them more jumbled. "It seemed like it was something serious so I went to check..." That sounded right... "Next thing I know there was a shot, a geyser or something... water..." He revisited those moments in his head. It was mere moments when he went to try and quell the panic he was on his ass, caught up in a geyser blast of sea water. So much sea water he didn't brace himself and he was wiped literally in mere minutes. Kesshin didn't bother to get up, his head was still ringing and he was still weak... "Ugh... I REALLY better be dead..."

"No, you're still alive," Chord was looking right over Kesshin as he was regaining consciousness, still sitting in the same cross-legged position he always did. "I saved you. When the Knock Up Stream hit I swam up it and grabbed you so you wouldn't drown. You were the closest."

Kesshin blankly stared at Chord as Chord stared at him. He closed his eyes for a moment hoping he was having a nightmare. When he opened his eyes Chord was still there. He was having a nightmare, only in real life, *"Well then just kill me..."* he thought to himself. After a minute his upper body rose from the ground taking in his surroundings, "Did you see anyone else? Are we shipwrecked?" Kesshin pondered, he'd never actually been shipwrecked before, it was a new experience for him. Finally getting back on his feet, he grabbed his coat from nearby. Kesshin was about to leave before forgetting Chord was... apart of the crew? A guest? He wasn't quite sure really, "You feel like explorin or...?"

"I haven't found anything else other than this," said Chord, lifting up a rather sizable piece of lumber. "Although I believe a majority of the ship should be left intact, given its own self-repairing properties. I will otherwise assist you in finding the rest of the crew and the ship." Chord got to his feet, still holding the lumber.

The area was full of strange, orange-colored tree and numerous bubbles were floating in the air. The ground beneath them was solid, but had the appearance of clouds, the color of a setting sun. As a matter of fact, it would be more accurate to say that everything had this sunset color palette. "I'll check my database to determine our current location."

Something felt off about this place, "So... I assume you were one of the only conscious bodies when we got hit." He felt light under his feet, soft and perhaps pliable, "Is this an island? Or are we in Heaven?" He jumped up and down on the ground for a sec before watching Chord do... whatever he was doing, "Man, I sure lucked out with you huh?" Here was a fishman who potentially had a wealth of knowledge at his disposal because he was built that way. And then there was Kesshin, built in his own way down to the very fruit he consumed. "You probably would have been better off with saving someone else. You're pretty competent, no offense to the others." He wondered what mess they were missing out on that the others might particularly make because there was never a dull moment with them around, just when the others were beginning to get lively too. "Hmm... I guess we should maybe find Starlight first before we aimlessly search for the others? What do you think?" Kesshin had been to many islands back from his more... illicit past and from the circus but this place, he'd not seen anything like it.

Chord began scanning the area. "According to my database, we should be in the White Sea, likely on a Sky Island. They're on at a high altitude that only certain ships are capable of reaching. I believe we were shot up here by the Knock Up Stream, a powerful water spout that reaches several kilometers into the sky. Although, based on our position, and the amount of disorientation from when we were shot into the sky, I am unable to calculate the current position of our ship. Although I am 86 percent certain that it would have survived the blast and 79 percent certain that the ship is in the White Sea with us. For now, it would be equally as beneficial to pick a random direction and head that way in order to get back to Starlight."

Chord began looking around again, looking at all the strange, orange bubbles. There wasn't anything like this in his database, perhaps a completely new Sky Island that they had arrived on. Although, one thing seemed particularly strange to him. The orange bubbles seemed to slowly be drawing themselves to them.

"Sky Island huh...?" He'd heard tales but thats what he thought they were, just tall tales." Kesshin would do just what Chord suggested, and just walk in a direction. Come to think of it, "Does that mean... people live on these islands?" He hadn't seen anyone since they got here then again he didn't know how big a Sky Island was or anything like that. Based on Chord's estimations though it they should be able to find something or someone easily at the very least. After walking in silence for a good distance he turned to Chord, "Hmm maybe you should be taking the lead on this one Chord." Kesshin shrugged with a smirk, with confidence in his voice he declared, "I have absolutely no idea where I am going." They hadn't run into anyone yet or seen signs of the ship, at least Kesshin hadn't noticed but to be honest he was still gathering his bearings.

One thing was odd though, maybe it was just him but he felt like they were being watched. Looking around his eyebrow raised, "Uh... are there more of those bubbles then usual?" It seemed like they were drawn to them and that made Kesshin a little uneasy. He turned to Chord once again as the walking database, for confirmation he asked, "Is it alright if I pop these sons of bitches? They're kinda gettin on my nerves."

Chord stared at the bubbles for a while, scanning them with his visor. They were still inching closer and closer, faster to Chord than to Kesshin. "The substance is unidentified by the World Government. I do not know what it does. I would not recommend touching it."

Kesshin would place his hands in his pockets resisting the urge to pop one of the bubbles based off Chord's recommendation. He backed himself up walking behind Chord. Maybe if they got to a higher vantage point they would at least be able to spot the ship though Kesshin didn't know where that would be exactly.

Chord began moving, but, strangely enough the bubbles continued to follow him around. "Move quickly, Kesshin. These bubbles are bad news." He quickened his pace. He had said they would be just fine picking a random direction to walk in and he had done just that. They might find the ship soon, or a member of their crew. They also may end up wandering aimlessly forever. Only time would tell.

Kesshin began to run, keeping pace with Chord. "Heat seeking bubbles? Fascinating!" Kesshin laughed as his hands began to glow. He was recommended not to touch the bubbles, so he wouldn't, "*Doga Doga no mi, Light Screen Barrier.*" Kesshin formed two rectangular panels, they formed so that the longer sides were horizontal to be able to protect both himself and Chord whenever any of the bubbles threatened to get to close. He didn't know if something would happen if they touched his barriers but it was a good experiment. Things were finally getting kind of exciting.

"No, not heat seekers," said Chord. While his database couldn't tell him exactly what these bubbles were, his visor could still scan them for information. "They have a magnetic charge of some kind. It appears to be why they're more attracted to me than you." He gestured to the number of bubbles floating towards him as opposed to Kesshin. "I will be unable to complete my analysis until I determine the source of the bubbles, however."

"Magnetic bubbles? Hahaha interesting, but that still poses a problem for me." Kesshin could see as more bubbles continued to cluster his barriers began to fizz, frazzle, and sputter like bad static on a television screen. Small holes were beginning to form and expand, soon his barriers would be no more, as if eaten from the inside out. "Determine the source huh? Maybe I can help before it gets too crowded down here." Kesshin amassed a bit more speed before launching himself into the air. His back began to glow, *"Doga Doga no m*i*: Magic Make: Beast"* it was taking a bit longer for his wings to form but eventually they did, spreading out as he tried to scan the area for the source he was gliding back down. He couldn't hold his creations for long thanks to the bubbles.

Chord's head had been on a swivel, scanning the area as he tried to find the source of the bubbles. But when he saw Kesshin's "Beast", he found himself taken aback. He knew that he had a Devil Fruit power, but since he had joined the crew he hadn't seen anything like this before. His memories while under the control of the World Government were still quite hazy. "What was that?" he said as Kesshin would return to the ground.

Kesshin's eyes scanned but all he could see was just forest on forest, no ship, crewmates or anything that might resemble a trail of bubbles. His eyes did hone in on something though as he came back down. Tucking and rolling Kesshin continued catching pace with Chord once more, evading any bubbles that may be floating in his path, "Northwest from here, I saw something not sure its the source of these bubbles, but its the only thing that caught my eye out all this forestry, so maybe we can start there."

"What was it?" said Chord. He was still cross-referencing items in the World Government's database and was prepared to add the new information into his searches.

"Looked like a tree that was withering or already dead? It was the only thing that stood out, especially because nothing around it at first glance seemed to dying from what I can tell." Kesshin only got a brief look as he spotted it coming down so he couldn't say for sure but going the way they were already going was leading anywhere. Besides that maybe they could rid themselves of some of the bubbles is they cut through some of the forestry. He lead the way seeing as how he saw the tree and could guestimate it's general location.

Chord followed Kesshin which quickly led them through the tree line. The number of bubbles in the area suddenly skyrocketed, likely making it much more difficult for Kesshin to protect them from strange spheres. Chord continued scanning the area, finding that the magnetic fields in the area were increasing further. As a matter of fact, he was finding it much more difficult to see now, his visor beginning to only show static as he continued to move forward. He knocked his helmet a few times to see if that would help clear it up, but that was quickly shown to be a pointless action. He let out a sigh as he continued to walk, although it soon became impossible for him to walk in a straight line.

## Magnetic Attraction

Lazuli looked up to the ponelgyph, looking beyond her art for once. "What would people want a big brick for? It's just...stone?" she asked, confused as to the value of such an object. "Oh!" Lazuli exclaimed as Kagu gestured to the hall, she leapt over, skidding to a stop ahead of him "that's right, let me lead the way!" she ordered, putting her hands on her hips and walking into the empty hall.

From the empty hall, a light rumbling sound could start to be heard, a churning, grinding sound drifting its way through the halls, somewhere from deep within the temple. "D'ya hear that? Maybe it's not so empty after all?" she asked, cracking her knuckles with a smirk on her face.

"Interestin...it kinda sounds like machinery, doesn't it? Maybe there's something interesting happening in this dump after all..." Kagu thought about explaining the little he knew about poneglyphs but decided it would be a waste of breath. He followed Lazuli into the new hall, his eyes scanning the area as they walk. He chewed on a short metal tube as they walked.

Kesshin didn't know how long he had been traveling, he had been trying to keep an eye on Chord but barely could see him with all the bubbles crowding them. Had they passed the tree already? Pushing through the forestry he found another clearing. A bit more of a distance away he spied some abandon buildings or ruins wrapped in vines and greenery. Not too far behind them he found the withered-looking tree had spotted in the sky. "Chord, you still with me? I think I found something." Hopefully Chord was so he could see for himself. Hopefully they could do something about the bubbles as well, they both might be a bit useless in this state.

Chord had been stumbling around, tripping, since the static had started clouding his vision. If it wasn't for the sound of Kesshin's footsteps, Chord probably wouldn't have even been in the correct area. He had just refused to ask for any help. As a matter of fact, he was just scrambling to his feet after Kesshin had addressed him. "What was that? Huh? Are we there yet?" He blurted out in confusion.

Lazuli creeped through the long hall, her steps slowly becoming softer and slower as the grinding started coming from behind her as well, she stopped, turning to look at Kagu, disappointment struck as the other grinding sound was his chewing on metal. "Kagu!" she shouted. "Where do you even keep getting all this metal? I swear, every time I turn around you're chewing on something!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air and now stopping their pace.

"Oh, gah-" Lazuli's sudden shout startled Kagu and caused him to choke on his snack. He coughed a couple times and regained his composure. "Well I need to stay fueled for my fruit to work. I guess it's become a bit of a habit to snack on stuff." While maintaining eye contact with Lazuli he took another small piece of metal from inside a jacket pocket. The metal was about the size of a straw but perhaps thicker. "Sorry, would you like one?"

Kesshin had to admit, what was once intrigue was not agitation. These damn bubbles were getting in the way and he was not allowed to burst following Chord's suggestion. Sure, he could disregard it but he would not be able to make up for it if something dire were to happen to him or Chord. He could see Chord stumbling through the forest a few feet behind him. "Okay... C'mon you big lug!" Kesshin back tracked maneuvering the bubbles he grabbed Chord's forearm, and began leading him into the area toward the tree trying to avoid the bubbles with Chord in tow as best he could. He couldn't very well leave him, he did save his life after all.

"What?" said Chord, "Kesshin, is that you? I can't activate my database so I can't find the information detailing the texture of your skin or the sound of your voice."

Kesshin's agitation rising he now opted to out pace the bubbles, maybe look for a higher vantage point, the tree he'd chop down later, "Hang on." was the only warning he gave Chord who he figured couldn't really do anything anyway. He sprinted top speed pulling the fishman out of a cluster of bubbles. Leave a trail of dust in his wake he gleamed some temple ruins that stood above the rest, the vantage point he was looking for. Dragging Chord up the many steps he grumbled at the top of his lungs "I HATE THIS PLACE!"

Lazuli's face dropped, giving Kagu a blank and disappointed stare before reaching forward and grabbing the metal straw, only to have it rust and disintegrate in mere seconds. "Kagu.." she said, the disappointment escaping her lips before a loud grumble reverberated through the temple walls, louder than even the grinding sound from before. Lazuli perked up, her jaw popping open with a smile at Kagu "That super recognizable sound of annoyance!" she exclaimed, before bursting into a sprint back towards the entrance "It's-" she said, jumping through the doorway and throwing her hands into the air, landing before Kesshin and Chord "KESSHIN!" she shouted, excited to see her crewmate.

Kagu began to protest the destruction of his snack but Lazuli's attention had already moved on. He was surprised to see Kesshin in the temple, but then realized it might be the only and mark of note in the area. As Lazauli greeted their crewmates Kagu slide another metal straw from his pocket and began to chew on it. "I'm glad to see you in one piece. Come across anything interesting up here?"

"Who's there?" said Chord, looking around wildly, but still unable to quite see anything. "I don't recognize your voices. Where are we?"

Kesshin didn't stop at the sight of Lazuli, he ran inside with Chord in tow. He used all his might to slam the giant entrance door quickly before any of those annoying bubbles to slip in. Finally Kesshin let out a sigh of relief, that hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with those bubbles for awhile and that he found his other crewmates. "So far... not a fan of this place or- this sky island- or whatever the hell it is." He looked to Lazuli and Kagu, "Hey do me a favor would ya? Chord is broken I think, whatever those bubbles were really scrambled his vision or his brain. Fix him? maybe a good smack in the head or somethin?" Kesshin was well versed in a handful of things but cyborgs were not one of them, and he refused to hold the guys hand all day.

Kesshin rushed straight passed Lazuli, forcing her to spin in a circle as he rushed inside. She dizzily made her way after him inside, holding her head. Her eyes were practically spirals as she stumbled up to Chord. "I- got this! Lemme take ᵃ ˡᵒᵒᵏ" she said, her words becoming weak, and slurred, as if drunk. She fell back, still dizzy, onto the floor. Her hand shot up, pointing to the ceiling. "Kagu, Help Chord! I can't touch him, plus...you're smart." She said, her hand falling back to the floor.

"Eh? What am I sposed to do? I aint a mechanic..." He put his hands in his pockets and walked over to Chord. He looked Chord over for a few moments. He pouted while he munched on his snack. After a few moments he hit Chord on the top of the head with a solid *bonk*. "How's that feel?"

Chord caught Kagu's hand before it could touch the top of his head. He turned to face him, a new clarity behind his visor. "It appears that the interference I was receiving to my systems has been neutralized. I am once again operating at peak efficiency."

"Huh, maybe I should be a mechanic after all. What was interfering with you anyway? We haven't really seen much of anything yet." Kagu pulled his hand free from Chord and took a step back to give the cyborg space. If something were affecting the senses of the crew then this place was much more dangerous than he had previously thought.

Chord almost seemed to zone out as he stared into the middle distance. "Bubbles..." was the only word he said.

Kesshin looked around the place, "Yeah, some damn bubbles that was attracted to mostly him. Got some sort of magnetic field or something, was affecting my powers too..." He wrung his hand as if it was stiff and digital glisten when around his body like wave pushing up on the shore. "Seems the big doors to keep them out was what we needed." He turned back to Kagu and Lazuli, "More importantly, where are we exactly anyway? Is there an another exit? Because I sure as hell am not going back the way we came." He didn't get a chance to look for Starlight.

Lazuli sat up and shook her head, effectively shaking the dizziness from her body "I dunno!" she said in response to Kesshin "It's like some sort of ancient spooky religion cult place" she said, absolutely pulling words from her noodle brain that had nothing to do with anything that she or Kagu had found here. She jumped up to her feet and gasped "Wait! I gotta show you the art me and Kagu did. Once Chord like, gets better, you've gotta come see" she said. Lazuli still hadn't seemed to grasp the severity of their situation, taking it all in as some sort of vacation or getaway.

"Magnetic bubbles...strange...Like Laz says, we are in some sort of temple. The way we came in was easy to enter, no bubbles just a lot of stairs. There's an interesting cube that Laz decided was the perfect medium for her art." Kagu chuckled. The fact that Lazuli really didn't care about the poneglyph still amused him. He crossed his arms and put one hand to his chin. "We haven't seen any living things here yet either. I don't even think we've seen animals or bugs around. There's definitely something odd going on here, so keep your eyes peeled. If you feel anything weird say something."

"My scans of this location have been inconclusive," said Chord, "this location, actually, this entire Sky Island, appears to not be within the World Government's database. I suggest we move cautiously from this time forward."

Kesshin began moving forward at a steady pace, "I'm sure there's got to be another way out of here." This place may have looked deserted but at one time people were here, he wondered what made them abandon this place, a little curious to find out. "I'm sure whatever Laz did, it was nothing short of desecration." he chuckled as he walk, "Anyway, lets try to find another way out of here."

Lazuli crouched to peer into Chord's visor. "You hidin' a whole database in there?" she asked. She squinted her eyes "What kinda dirt they got on me? Do they have a file yet?" she asked, before looking over to Kesshin and Kagu. "Ugh, tell me later." she groaned, standing back up and moving toward Kesshin "Chord, let's go!" she shouted back, rushing to Kesshin's side. "Okay so." she clasped her hands together "I don't know about any kind of exit, but there was this grinding, er...churning sound coming from deeper inside." she said, pointing down the long stretch of dark hallway. "We were actually about to go brave it out before the two of you showed up."

Kagu felt better that they had more numbers now but not knowing what the purpose of the temple was bothered him. He chuckled and gestured towards the hallway. "Then lead the way miss captain. I think we will find something interesting in this place. Hopefully not dangerous and just interesting."

Chord felt uncomfortable with Lazuli being in his face like that. The last cheery person to do that happened to be the marine officer that tortured him and turned him into a cyborg, but he did his best to not overreact. That was something that was rather difficult for him to do anyway. Chord began looking around the temple, scanning its contents. "This temple isn't in my database, but it is ancient. I do have some records showing it to be similar in structure to other abandoned structures, both on Sky Islands and in the Blue Sea. It seems as though there isn't anyone here now, though."

"Come oooon Kagu, don't pretend that we don't like a little danger." she groaned as she began moving into the long hallway of the temple. "Ancient Temples, huh?" she asked back to Chord. "Well if it's abandoned, we shouldn't have anything to worry about...except whatever that sound is." she said, moving even closer to the sound.

They came to a wide staircase, leading down deeper into the temple, at the base of the staircase a faint blue light and shadows danced on the walls. Lazuli looked to everyone for a moment, nodding to signal that things could get dangerous, and to be ready, before heading down the stairs. The loud sound of grinding came to a halt, being overtaken by the sound of running water and small pops of bubbles. Over even those sounds, the snorting of a pig.

As they reached the base of the stairs, they would come out to a larger open room, well kept compared to the rest of the temple, and undamaged. In the center of the room there was a large pillar reaching down into a large hole at the floor. Other notable objects in the room were a pile of unidentified stones, a flag with a jolly roger hanging on the wall, and a large pig-man, standing around 5ft tall, holding a shovel, and looking down into the hole. A few bubbles, the same ones from before, were drifting up from the hole, but only two or three.

Chord immediately began hitting the side of his helmet. Even just a few of those infernal bubbles was causing interference in his systems. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as the many that had surrounded him and Kesshin before, but there was still a little bit of static on his visor. The first thing he scanned was the Jolly Roger, since he figured he'd at least be able to figure out what that was in his database, albeit the load time was much slower now. "Hm... interesting."

The Roger was definitely in the World Government's database, although it didn't technically belong to a pirate crew. "That is the Roger of the Once Upon a Crime Family," he said. "Quite a dangerous group in Paradise. Be cautious."

Lazuli looked to Chord and nodded, before shifting her sights to Kagu, the pig had yet to notice them "Hey Kagu.." she started, with a smirk "You've been eating this whole time, yeah? Think you can get information out of this ham?" she asked.

"I think I can manage something..." Kagu grinned as he stepped out past his captain. Blue flames burst from his hair and the skin on his arms. He held out his left hand and a ball of blue fire erupted from the center of his palm. The blue fire ball crashed into the ground at the pig man's feet. It was meant as an intimidation shot but was still close enough to show the pig how hot his flames burned.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but my friends and I would like to ask you a few questions. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be and you won't have to worry about becoming bacon. You understand me? What is this place and what does it hold?" He spoke to the point and gave an aura of confidence as he addressed the strange man. His flames still burned as he awaited the pig man's answer.

The Pig-man flew to the side, almost comically shouting "HOT HOT HOT, I'm Baking! I'm Bacon! No wait, I'm fine..." He stood back on his two feet and pulled what looked to be cotton from his ears, probably to muffle the grinding sounds from earlier. "Grrrr, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DO-" he stopped at the sign of the four of them, and the flames tearing their way up Kagu's arms. He began to sweat. "Squeee" he let out a sound of fear "we-well I mean, you're welcome to see for yourself." he said, backing away from the hole.

Lazuli moved forward, taking the opportunity to look into the hole. At the bottom of the pillar seemed to be a cone-shaped stone, centered upon three large rocks, and beneath that, a flowing river. "Oh I get it..." she said, taking steps back once again "But uh, explain it just in case someone here doesn't know..." she argued.

The pig snorted a laugh at how dumb Lazuli was "It's Liqui-Stone, grinding against the stone has the strange effect of creating water, and this temple's been doing it for years." The Pig laughed harder. "The stupid locals here had been praising some sort of water god for centuries until we took it over!"

Lazuli looked at the pig, his shovel, and then the pile of stones. "And what are you adding to it?" she asked. The Pig continued to laugh, perhaps it was out of fear, or confidence, was his crew so strong that even the Wreckage weren't scary? Lazuli growled and looked to Chord, luckily the bubbles had subsided at this point "Can you identify the stones?" she asked.

Chord scanned the stones. His visor was a little fuzzy still, but it was clearing up without the bubbles. "These stones carry a magnetic signature. Although, by themselves they don't have the same level of power as the bubbles. They're not causing any interference to my systems as before." He turned to the pig man. "Where did you acquire these stones. And how did you find out about the temple?"

The Pig snorted at Chord "A little bit of trade, a lot of underhanded deals, and a lineage of knowledge" he snorted again with a laugh following. Lazuli rubbed her temples "Aw he's talking in riddles!" she groaned. "Kagu!" she shouted, before the Pig finally dropped his shovel "Fine! We took claim over this place long ago, before I was born. Traded for those worthless stones en-mass for generations, and by dropping them into the grinder..." he paused for a moment to choose his next words carefully. "It keeps the locals out of our mink" he finished.

Lazuli tapped her head "I don't get it..." she complained.

Kesshin listened quietly as he watched his crew do their magic, he had to admit he had never seen Kagu in action, so to experience the blue flame himself was fascinating. While Chord was seemingly a fount of knowledge. And Lazuli was... well... Lazuli. Personally, Kesshin didn't deal with too many pirates in the past so his knowledge of particular groups were lacking but this pig person... didn't seem to pique his interest too much. He was either really smart for complying, knowing he was outnumbered and outmatched or really weak that Kesshin could see him in his frying pan on the ship served in some fried rice stir fry.

On the matter of the chemical reaction that was going on, upon explanation Kesshin did recognize part of the process. He'd only seen the distilled version of it back in his time at the organization. Kesshin rubbed his chin, "Whether out of the sanctity of their religion or the process they go about it... this stuff is actually quite toxic if you come into contact with it too often. With the right mix of chemicals you can say it's killer." He looked over to his captain, "In layman's terms what he just said is he they are essentially poisoning whatever populace was or is here." It was only a guess, he'd never seen the process himself and it wasn't explained to him directly as he was seen as nothing but a tool to be used and put away in those days.

Chord moved swiftly towards the pig man, reaching out to wrap his hand around his throat and lift him off the ground. The Fish-Man wouldn't squeeze so hard as to break his neck, but breathing would be quite difficult. It wouldn't be too hard to see why Chord cared so much about water. "But now that we're here, you're going to stop poisoning the water, correct?" He would tighten his grip, to let him know that he certainly had the strength to choke him to death, if not break his neck right then and there.

Lazuli eyes practically popped from her head as she watched Chord rush forward, she had never seen him show so much as a real thought or emotion until now, she clapped and laughed, she was enjoying his showing. Meanwhile, the pig squealed in Chord's grip "Stop!? You're hardly as much a threat as Red, If I stop, she kills me, if I don't...you do!" he spoke between his gags and gasps for breath.

Lazuli continued to laugh, wiping a tear from her eye with a sigh "It sounds like there's only one way to stop the poisoning, Chord." Lazuli suggested, "Go for it. Then we can go find Starlight" she finished, the pig squealing loudly "Wait, wait wait. You're looking for someone? I can help!" Lazuli sighed in disappointment "Starlight is our ship, you know where she is?" She asked, the pigs feet kicked and waved around in the air, unable to get free "Yes! Yes I saw a ship fall from the sky! It fell north-east of here, now tell your goon to let me go!" he demanded.

Lazuli smirked and gave a shrug "I wouldn't have said that." she chuckled "Chord, you're free to do as you wish." she finished.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said Chord. He lifted up the pig a few more inches in the air, then brought him back down, head first. A small crater was made on the floor where the pig's head made impact.

Blood splattered, covering parts of the room, including small parts of the flag on the wall, which brought Lazuli's attention back to it, she moved over and looked at the flag, holding her chin "You said they were a dangerous group, and they're here in Paradise?" she asked aloud, before tearing down the flag and rushing over to what was left of the pig, searching his pockets "Aha!" she shouted, pulling out and tossing an eternal pose to Kagu "Boom!" she shouted in excitement.

Lazuli then rushed over and began piling the poisonous stones onto the flag, wrapping it around them and using it to carry them over her shoulder "How about we return these to sender?" she said, before shaking her head "No that's dumb..I can think of something better." she paused for a moment, building anticipation in the room "Let's...Rock and Roll?" she scratched her head. "Okay okay wait, how about...Let's go blow their house down." she would look around, hoping to see her crew enjoying the cool thing she just said.

Chord didn't respond to Lazuli's joke, which was only marginally better than outright saying it wasn't funny. He looked at the mechanism of which the pig had been using to poison the waters. "No more." His visor briefly glowed and a beam of thermal energy fired from it. It struck the device, and after only a few seconds, it crumbled to pieces. "There, we're done here."

Kagu's brows raised from Chord's display of violence. He had assumed that the others in the crew were probably as unhinged and wild as Lazuli but he didn't quite expect Chord to be so brutal. He was equal parts impressed and concerned about the crew's chances of survival in the world. Regardless of how things were to go he was amused all the same.

"Looks like its time to rumble...like a rockslide...the ground rumbles..." Kagu grinned as he spoke. He knew his pun was terrible, and the explanation wouldn't help. To him that was what made it funny. He held a palm out to the dead pigman and a line of fire charred the creature to the bones. The blue flames across Kagu's body began to dwindle and extinguish as he walked behind Lazuli.

A smile on Kesshin's lips as he watched silently at all that unfolded. This was why he was here, this was the things he sought out of man. To see Chord exude such emotion, to watch Lazuli not be above it to all to allow it to happen, even Kagu had his quirks though he was still a bit more of a mystery to Kesshin. The act of violence by Chord sent a chill of ecstasy down his spine even more so when the pig's blood splattered a bit on his face. *"I can already taste him."* he thought, but before he could have a chance Kagu vaporized him. Kesshin stood with a smile on his face and an eye twitch staring at the ashes as the others began to leave. He joined them moments after, "Kagu... you're eating plain rice and bread tonight, with the flavorless butter." This was an interesting crew, he had to say this was the most comfortable he felt being most of himself in a long long time, *"My my, where will you take us next captain...?"*