One Piece: The Black Moon Pirates

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"Well, we're headed into a cave system. On the one hand, I wouldn't want to blast apart the entire structure but on the other, we might need to block off a passage."

He pondered the risks of bringing the explosives with them versus the necessity of them. After a few moments of deliberation, he snapped his fingers.

"We'll take two of the four charges with us just in case. We shouldn't have to use much more than that and we don't want to weigh ourselves down too much. And I'd prefer if you carried them - I'm pretty certain I can't carry myself on the winds carrying both of them. Oh, and don't worry about setting them off. My bombs are stable and as long as you don't light the fuse they won't go off."
 
The Caves – Jacobs' group, saddlebrown
It was if the entire world was compressing, as if his entire being had been squeezed into a single thread and then pushed through the eye of a needle. Several times.

When they finally "landed" Jacobs drew a deep breath, staggered back a step and clutched his head with both hands. One moment, two, forcing himself to breath, inhale, exhale, inhale again. Only once he was sure he could look up without the room spinning did he straighten and look around, taking the flare from Aden and peering into the dim lit passage beyond.

There was a space of about five feet long that would require anyone who wished to go through it to be either thin of frame, highly flexible, or made of something other than flesh, and with devil fruit in the world, the later was completely possible. Beyond that was the pressure plated passage Aden had spoken of, and with the way the floor rose and tilted out of sight it was highly possible that it led to a level of caves above.

Jacobs raised the flare high above his head, trying to get a glimpse of the contour of the walls. "I don't blame you for not wanting to go in," he said softly, his voice echoing eerily off the cavern walls. "Question is if we trip them before going in, will they reset, or will the path be safer?"

From a bag at his hip he drew out what appeared to be a child's wooden top with a great length of string tied to one end. "We toss it to the other end and drag it back. Might not be heavy enough for the pressure plates, but it'll get most of the wires in the main path." He wrapped the loose end of the around his hand before proffering the top.
"Millie, Your aim is better than mine. Care to do the honors?"

the Black Moon Pirates, gold
Emrik sighed, stretched , and rubbed the back of his neck as he waited for everyone to get their supplies organized. It was a relief to him to see his crew getting along so well even though they were so new to working with each other. It was a relief to see Julius keeping an eye on things though Emrik had never asked. That man was worth his salt. And the fact Lorelei was not only willing, but capable of lending a hand in more areas than just ship mechanics was an asset as well.

When Vivienne returned she found Emrik with a map of the island unrolled over a crate. He had her point out the location of the cave entrance she was talking about, and soon he had those on his crew interested in coming marching through the woods towards the location in question, Vivienne in the lead.

The jungle was dense, the terrain rugged. The foliage nearly blocked out the sun in some places, but the familiar sounds of birds chirping and the occasional animal chattering indicated that there was nothing truly dangerous ahead. After some time the pirates found themselves hiding in the bushes staring at the cave opening, which was currently guarded by three marines.
"I can dispatch the marines easily," Emrik whispered to his crew, thumbing his sword in its sheath, "But I'd rather not injure them if we can avoid it. Does anyone else have any ideas?"

The Caves – Marines, midnightblue
The marines with Lorcana hesitated uncertainly at following her into the caves quite simply because she was not a marine. But eventually the fact that they had been ordered to take orders from a civilian won out, and follow her they did. Some even ventured to branch out from her main group in twos and threes. It was one of these that stumbled upon Captain Birdcatcher Rosa as she chased the gorgon.

The men raced back to Lorcana with a tale of monsters in the caves and questions on whether or not the criminal they were chasing was even human.

"Does the – whatever – have the lady's object?" one relatively calm marine asked the stammering pair.

"Don't know," the men gasped, "It just said we were impeding a captain's work—"
 
Kyy nodded when Emrik told him to watch the girls. "Already planned on it."

He arrived to see Vivian come out of the girl's cabin. He listened to her apolagy and nodded. "Thanks for the apolagy but words only do so much. The best apolagy would be helping get my spear back. But I understand why you do it, the stealing I mean. I'd do anything for my family too." A half smile crosses his face.

Once back outside he follows the sisters, enjoying the view from behind. He was still upset but that wasn't going to stop him from enjoying himself.
 
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The expedition underway, Julius kept pace with Lorelei. He never carried matches on his person, preferring to light his explosives with his wind, so the explosives were safe enough with her. They were well prepared for the possibiliy of having to drop one and go. Still, they were his works and what good artist doesn't want to see them put to good use.

Coming through the forest with the rest of the party, he took point next to the captain, his own keen eyesight picking out the situation. With deft movements, he flipped one of his many kunai knives in his hand. A simple exercise of dexterity and it kept one of his many weapons in hand ready for anything.

"I can get one or two of them gone with a distraction using my wind but I can't get all three. If I tossed a bomb, it might get all three but without proper sight, it wouldn't be too far away and they might come back."
 
Lorelei had no trouble carrying the explosives, keeping a good pace while holding them like they were nothing. Excitement ran up her spine like chills as she followed the group, making sure she still could try and fight back if the sisters ended up being back stabbers. Julius kept pace with her, which made her feel a bit safer when handling the bombs. She knew he said that she wouldn't be able to set them off, but having the creator near his creation limited those kinds of things.

The sight of marines drove her crew and herself into the bushes, hiding from them. Emrik asked for suggestions, and Julius gave a couple. "While just killing them would be easiest... One sister can use ghosts, right?" Lorelei looked over at the sisters. "That could be a distraction." It was an idea, at the very least. She wouldn't be much use, unless Emrik wanted them dead, then she could just shoot all three right then and there. Sadly, that was not the case.
 
KAMAKIRI SISTERS, red
Lillian followed closely behind Vivienne, awkwardly silent. While Vivienne appreciated not having to talk, Lillian was more of a social person, and would much more have enjoyed being engaged in conversation. But, she was not particularly trusted in this group of people, so she did her best to maintain a low profile. When they reached the entrance to the cave, the captain asked for ideas on how to dispatch the marines positioned outside of it. A few ideas were thrown out, but none of them were satisfactory, in Lillian's opinion. She chuckled, acting a bit childishly superior. "Well, I suppose it's time to demonstrate the combined powers of the Kamakiri Sisters!" She finally said. Vivienne looked at her and nodded, hiding behind the bushes. She held her hand out, and three white orbs began swirling around the palm of her hand, gradually growing bigger. Lillian walked right out of their hiding spot, revealing herself to the marines. "Oh my, what are a couple of strong, handsome men like yourselves doing out here in the forest?" She asked in a seductive voice while slowly walking towards them, stopping to let water running from a large leaf, accumulated from the rain, drip onto the palm of her hand. While the marines where distracted from her sudden approach, Vivienne's white orbs had finished charging, and where levitating in a triangle shape above her hand. She stuck the hand through the bushes, whispering "Negative Trio". From the orbs shot three ghosts, aiming for each of the marines. They penetrated their abdomens, making them fall to their knees, writhing in despair. The water in Lillian's hand began to froth, and she tossed it over the marines, shouting "Golden Shower!". The water instantly foamed up in the air, creating a massive cloud of white bubbles, covering the marines. With all of their energy drained and a beautiful, glossy finish, Lillian walked up to them and tied their hands and legs together, before finally putting a gag on each of them to stop them from making to much noise once the powers of the sister's wore off. "As ordered, three marines incapacitated and not a scratch on any of them. Now, should we proceed inside?" Lillian said as she walked back to the group of pirates hiding in the bushes.
 
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the Black Moon Pirates, gold
Emrik grinned and raised an eyebrow in appreciation as the twins took care of things. "Well done," he stated simply, "very well done." Yet he hesitated at the mouth of the caves. "Why stay out here?" he mused to himself. "Why not go in and lay an ambush for anyone who would approach . . . unless . . . The interior must be trapped somehow. It's times like these that I wish I did have devil fruit powers," he sighed, but then he paused and looked around him, "and it's times like these that I'm glad I have friends to help me."

Lighting a torch he had prepared and brought with them, Emrik raised it above his head so the light fell into the passage. a large spiderweb seemed to block most of it indicating that no one had entered this way for a very long time. Hefting a large rock Emrik tossed it into the passage. The rocked bounced once, and then rolled to a stop. Where it landed the floor suddenly dropped slightly and a dozen darts shot across the hall.

"Looks like we proceed with caution. If anyone has any bright ideas on how to test for traps, speak up now."



Elsewhere Lex was very busily scribbling away.
​

[bg=aliceblue]
Enter the Caves
By Ryan Alexander

It would appear that the murderer the marines were hunting for has taken refuge in a cave system that spans the length of the Island. The marines have reacted accordingly and sent teams of their best to guard every entrance they know of. Other teams have been sent into the caves to see if they can apprehend the villain.

Captain Nesmath has also sought out the help of several nonmilitary individuals. Shichibukai Requiem and his crew who may be acting on their own, and a woman this reporter heard referenced as Lorcana. Lorcana seems to also believe there is an object of great value hidden in the cave system as well, an object a local treasure known only as Jacobs has been seeking for some time. It is unknown if others are seeking this object, or the criminal, it is this reporter's belief that any pirates in the area might decide to take advantage of this opportunity.

One only hopes that this possible four way man and/or treasure hunt does not end in disaster for Andesite island.
[/bg]
 
Kyy steps forward. "Guess it's my turn to shine Captain. I could slow the traps so we can pass." He steps onto the spot where the rock was thrown. "Chrono Pause!" The arrows freeze in midair and he starts grabbing them. "Go quickly. I don't know how long I can hold them."
 
Vithica gleamed with excitement. She finally found a possible crew that she could join.

"We have a deal! You will not regret giving me this opportunity~"

She noticed the red hair girl test out her weapon that she made for them. She seemed rather content with it from what she could make from how she acted towards it.

Now all she has to do is put her skills to the test! Though the others didn't seem very convinced letting her join them was a very good idea. She thought to herself. "I'll just need to prove them wrong! Though I should try and also make sure they don't try to sabotage me. Hopefully after this mission they'll at least somewhat accept me into their ranks. After that I can slowly start to prove myself more and more."

"Now, when do we leave? I'm all ready to prove my worth to you guys!"
 
"Save your energy Kyy," Julius said, clapping his hands together and causing a gust of wind to blow through the passage and knocked the rest of the arrows out of the air.

"Keep on your toes though. There may be more. I can handle projectiles if you can stop them but anything else is up to chance. I suggest we keep a few rocks on hand to toss ahead of us.
 
Kyy stops and nods. "Okay. Will do." He picks up the previous rock and pockets it for later. "I'll stick to the front so if any other traps are triggered on accident we I can slow them. Safer that way."
 
Lorcana, gold
Lorcana listened with an amused expression to the panicked men as they stammered in telling their find. There's no doubt that she is not human. "I don't know that much about the person but that they are female," she answered. "I am not concerned with that as much as I am with the possible object of their attention. If you find something pertaining to that then tell me, otherwise do not bother wasting my time." She turned and continued further into the caves.

Her only goal was to "find the treasure before the murderer does" and then supposedly lure them out if they had not been caught by that time. There were marines all over the caves and even searching the forest outside. Someone else could worry about the manhunt. As she went down one of the paths, she stoppped and put out her arm to stop whoever was still with her. "Don't move," she said sternly. Lorcana continued forward and when she felt the resistance of the wire against her toe she quickly activated her powers and moved around the two giant slabs of stone that moved from the walls to crush whoever had been unfortunate enough to trip the trap.

One the other side she continued down the path for about ten minutes until she found a dead end. She returned to the others and checked to make sure she had not dropped anything. "It was a dead end. Let's keep moving." She proceeded down the tunnel with purposeful steps.[/fieldet]

Millie, green
Millie suddenly felt an immense pressure as they were moved from one space to another. Once they were inside the caves she dropped to her knees, her body aching and head spinning as she stared at the ground, her eyes readjusting to the darkness after basically being snatched from the sunlight. After giving her stomach a chance to settle and swallowing her ill feelings she slowly stood and used the wall for support until she felt her legs could handle solid ground again. She went to stand opposite Jacobs as he looked through the small opening by the light of the flair. "That seems nice and tight..." she grumbled. Looking at the size of it even she, in her perfect shape, wouldn't be able to fit through it. Not that she was even considering crawling through there knowing there were traps waiting on the other side.

She looks to Jacobs as he takes a top from his bag.
"We toss it to the other end and drag it back. Might not be heavy enough for the pressure plates, but it'll get most of the wires in the main path. Millie, Your aim is better than mine. Care to do the honors?""
Millie smirks at the idea and takes the top from him. "I'll see that it acts properly then," she says as she nods then looks back into the crevice. She takes a stance with one leg forward and the other back so she could throw it in at a decent angle and not let it hit anythignto stop it's travel prematurely. With a flick of her wrist she sends the top into the small opening and it skips over the ground, making a low, strained sound as it pulls through the wires low to the ground.

Millie watches it until it goes past the reach of the flare's light. The clang and whizz of arrows and other grumbling noises of traps being activated filled the space and Millie covered her ears from the noise. She looks to Jacobs, "I wonder what kind of traps were in there..." she whispers.
 
Captain Requiem, darkred
It didn't take long for the group to get to the caves, and Requiem supplied them with the information relevant to their search. "Alright people, we've got two objectives in here. The first is the apprehension of a murderer that is terrorizing the island. I don't think I need to remind you, but I will anyway. We're free due to the government's acceptance of us. When we assist them with things like this, they leave us alone regarding other activities. As for the treasure hunt, well, we're pirates aren't we?" He asked rhetorically. He knew that the crew was apprehensive about this job. It'd been a while since they'd had much in the way of combat. "I should note that the murdered has been regarded as incredibly dangerous, another devil fruit user. Likely Zoan, but beyond that, information has been incredibly difficult to acquire."

"Vithica, this is your chance to prove yourself. Show us what you're capable of, and you might have a chance at joining our crew. Make a mistake and you'll probably end up dead. This place is riddled with traps." He warned her. If nothing else, he didn't particularly care to have the kid's death on his conscience. "Be careful, and if you spot anything of interest, bring it to us. We'll split up into teams. Huā, you're with Vithica, try to keep her alive. I'll take Catherine with me. Claus, you can handle yourself can't you?"
 
BIRDCATCHER ROSA, yellow
Rosa continued her hunt for the gorgon woman through the tunneling cave, and though she could not see her, she knew she was getting closer. She could hear her breathing not far away now. As the two came tumbling around a corner, they reached a point where the cave went straight for a while. This was the opportunity Rosa had been waiting for. "I've got you now, little birdie!" She screamed and rushed forward. What neither Rosa nor Cassiopeia had expected was to have company this deep under ground, but that's just what was waiting for them up ahead. A group of marines were in the way of Cassiopeia's escape, and so she threw herself wildly at them, trying to bite off their necks. "You're trying to take out my comrades? Like hell you will! Not on my watch!" Rosa was finally close enough to Cassiopeia to strike her. With all her might she drove her katana through Cass's thick tail, who screamed in pain. Soon, however, the poison coursed through all her veins, and she fell paralyzed to the ground. "Sorry for that, boys. Should have caught her sooner had it not been for someone interfering. None of you are hurt, I hope? No? Good." She talked to the marines as she spun Cassiopeia into a cocoon of spider's silk, which was a bizarre sight to say the least. And one might say what they want about her, but when it came down to it, she really did want the best for everyone fighting for the same cause as her. Then, Rosa noticed the figure of a woman dressed very unlike a marine, and more like a pirate, to be precise. "Hey, you're that woman from the marine base... What are you doing down here?" As she asked that she realized she was probably not the one to ask questions in this situation, but she was curious why this unknown female had been sent to the caves with a dispatch of marine soldiers.

BLACKJACK THREE, red
Catherine went up to Requiem as she was told, and held on to his sleeve. "Certainly, captain." Claus said as he brought his hand to his forehead in salute, and went off to inquire about the murderer on his own. Huā, however, was less pleased. "Tsch, why do I get stuck with the newcomer?..." She thought to herself. But, it was her captain's orders, and she was a bit curious to see how useful this girl could really be. Huā grabbed Vithica's shoulder, and pushed forward. "As you say, captain. We'll go ahead and see if we can find anything. Ciao!" And with that, she set of down the cave entrance, shoving Vithica along. "All right, small fry, let's see what you got. That treasure's not going to find itself!" She said with a smirk once they were at such a distance from Requiem that he could not hear them anymore. "You lead the way, and I'll help you out if you get into too much trouble... If I feel like it."
 
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Reimu - The cafe, crimson
[spacer]Long after her drink was finished, Reimu's attention was brought towards the ever-growing group before they all hauled off, having taken note of the previous three before, the presence of Requiem raised a few questions. ~A Shichibukai, here?.. Of all things, a warlord has come to the island too.. Wonderful~ She shook her head and stood up, adjusting her cap as she brought her cup back to the counter, giving a nod and a wave as she moved to leave the cafe.[/spacer]
[spacer]Stopping at the town center, she glanced over to the direction of this islands' marine base, eyeing it as she stood there. She gave out a sigh and shook her head, beginning off again, "As much as I'd like to, I'm sparse on time.. Can't risk Caim finding me yet.. Though, if the others don't know of the shichibukai yet, they might soon enough for all I know. Best I head back.." She grimaced a bit. A marine, willingly hanging around pirates under the guise of capture. The thought of it didn't settle all too well with her, but it was countered by the goal of the entire reason it's happened. In the midst of her thoughts, she slowly made her way back to the Striker, making sure she was unseen doing so.[/spacer]
 
Emrik nodded as his cremates demonstrated their abilities. He had confidence it them, he was proud of them for stepping up, and he knew that to get through these tunnels himself he was going to have to rely on them.

The rock that surrounded them was dark, and contained smooth surfaces that reflected their torchlight. "Carved by magma perhaps?" he voice aloud studying the substance, but his attention was quickly taken up by looking for more traps.

The tunnel was long, but eventually they reached a fork. One seemed to curve back the way they came, the other twisted deeper inside the volcano. But then, the volcano had once been much larger before it collapsed in on itself, and they all would have noticed that there was a high ridge around the perimeter of the place when they sailed in.

"Does someone want to make a decision?" he asked, "or would you all like to put it to a vote?"
His eyes flicked toward Vivienne who could create the ghosts.


The marines followed Lorcana, now far more confidant in the fact that they had seen her get past a trap that would have forced most of them to turn back.
Eventually they too reached a fork in the path.

"Right or left ma'am?" one asked, trying to sound far braver than he felt. "You do seem to know what you're doing, so I'll go wherever you suggest."


"I don't want to know what traps were in there," Jacobs answered Millie pointedly. He looked at Aden pointedly "You wanna go first? If there is something in there you can just zap back here right?" we'll follow after you give the all clear."
 
Vivienne didn't have to catch the subtle hint dropped by Emrik that she was probably the best suited to scout in this situation. Silently and effectively she created two ghosts, sending one up ahead and one down the path that seemed to curve back to where they came from. The second one came back rather swiftly, while the other one took a bit longer to come back. She waited until both of them had returned to relay the information. "The path to the right leads to a dead end. The path ahead, however, branches out two times before ending. Both of the branching paths ahead seem to lead further underground."
 
Lorelei stayed near the back of the group, hoping not to set off the charges as they passed through the traps. At the split in paths, the ghost making girl sent some scouts ahead. "Well, I guess that solves our first problem, it's just when we get to the second set that we have to choose." She tapped her foot, thinking over the current development. "I don't think we'd want to split up quite yet, but that would be the quickest way to explore... Maybe we should just head down the path first and decide when we get there." The orange skinned woman shrugged, moving so that the charges wouldn't be jostled too much while she walked. The whole thing was exciting, like exploring some of the sea caves back home. However, being with the humans made it a whole lot different. Lorelei started to move down the path that Vivienne said would lead deeper into the caves, stopping only to wait for the others to start moving also.
 
"I hate to say it but splitting up may be the best option. The only problem is that we lack any way to communicate anything meaningful. I don't know if the ghosts can communicate with the rest of us but they would be the most mobile."
 
Emrik looked around at his crew as each spoke, voicing their opinion. Vivienne's confirmation that one of the branches was a dead end and that they would have to choose a direction several more times before this was over only served to solidify his confidence in Julius's opinion that they split up.

He moved to follow Lorelei as she walked ahead, gesturing to the others to stay close behind him. "When we get to the next split I think Julius is right and that two teams would serve to make this go faster," He stated. "I want at least one person who can swim on each team. Lorelei, that means you on one and me on the other. Vivienne, if your ghosts can't speak can they pantomime? And could they take direction from some one else? For example if you send a ghost with the other team would they be able to tell it to go back to you with information?"

At he spoke they reached the next fork, again the second path curled back to the right, and Emrik paused. "I'd also like the teams to be split evenly if possible. I'll give team B first choice of path."
 
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