Journey on the Grand Seas(Whitebrand and Tigra9)

[tigra9]

Naria frowned stopping at the vines and glancing back seeing that the ghouls had found their trail based on the noise and then quickly slipped in after Ghast not touching the vines, if this place had something worth guarding 20 years ago she didn’t doubt there were traps littered about even if the only ones still in any state of usable were the ones Ghast could maintain.

Inside her body the clone Naria would speak her thoughts as she followed Rey, the stairway stopped right with a trapdoor that existed under Naria’s tongue closing it off “I would really love to know what he was stationed here to guard… this island is uninhabited now besides him and isn’t even on a map far as I’m aware, not any relevant ones anyhow” she got a dark look to her face. Naria had her own secrets, secrets she had never revealed to Rey and indeed she would keep those to herself until such a time there was no more need to hide them

[Whitebrand]

"Ask later," Rey saifd, focusing on the current situation. "Right now, learn the lessons he will be teaching you."

Indeed, the older man was already giving instructions as he led her up into the lower branches of the trees.

"You panic, you die," he said bluntly. "They corner you, you die. So we make ourselves as hard to get to as possible. We don't fight fair. If we have to take a stand, we go where they can only come at us one at a time. and where they can't throw stuff at us. Otherwise movement is life."

He obviously didn't know that she had powers.

The first of the howling ghouls hit the edge of the vine-draped trees. At once a few of the howls became yelps. Two of the ghouls were actually pitched high through the treetops and back towards the beach. A sickening crunch suggested someone had broken something somehow. As the ghouls swarmed into the area, their cries became more pain-filled as they hit other traps she couldn't see.

Several of ghouls who came in sight were clearly limping, their feet or shins bleeding from whatever the old soldier had set out. One or two others looked like they had slivers of bamboo sticking out of them.

"You batter them and wear them out while keeping yourself fresh," he said. "Strike when you can, and whittle them down. Isolate and control. You understand?"

Few ghouls were getting through his trapped zone unharmed, and the group finally seemed to realize that caution wasn't such a bad idea. They slowed down...and some of the thick foliage below had clearly been planted so that it would force them to spread out.

The man stood and began running along the top of some of the wider branches. The ghouls spotted him at once and gave chase...and walked right into a second array of traps. Presumably the man had had a lot of time on his hands...

[tigra9]

Naria listed to the old veteran as he instructed her glancing back as she heard the ghouls setting off the traps but she still followed him, the way he was so meticulous… it was a guerrilla style of fighting, she knew the absolute basic, make the territory your ally, but the way she was now seeing that simple saying be put to use, she understood it immediately, she was stronger then this man in front of her but had she acted carelessly and made an enemy of him before… she would have been in the situation the ghouls currently were in.

Once the ghouls had seemed to have been whittled down by more then half though she would suddenly grab Ghast and pull him back shifting to her hybrid form right as a gunshot went off the bullet striking her shell and bouncing off harmlessly “sorry” she commented before her snake head turned to face the ghoul that had appeared from a brush to shoot its pistol and opened its mouth suddenly firing something… something that quickly enlarged to reveal itself as a cannon ball. Inside her throat Naria’s clone had disappeared having moved to man the single cannon. Once the moment passed though and Naria turned her focus away from the ghoul she had blown away she realized what she did on instinct “Ah…” she got a concerned look to her fact ‘oh shit I screwed up! I instinctively transformed to protect us and revealed one of my trump cards!!!’ she thought to herself, she only had the one cannon but it was one of the secrets she kept even from Rey after all it’s not like she had a store of cannonballs to let her freely use that cannon so it was a last resort weapon.

Another concern that flickered through Naria’s mind was ghast, she knew knowledge about Devil fruits was on the rare side as in her village only her adopted mother a former marine had even known what they were and according to what she learned during her stay at the Seras kingdom only the Royal family seemed to have intimate knowledge about Devil fruits that even the regular nobility had limited access too so those with powers were often treated as monsters by the general populace

[Whitebrand]

Rey's eyes narrowed.

"After this," Rey said with a somewhat disturbing calm. "We have to talk."

The old man looked much more astonished.

"What the hell...?"

A second ghoul, however, interrupted. The old man whirled around and slashed viciously, drawing a deep line across the thing's throat. The ghoul gagged, coughing on blood, as it toppled backwards, its hands uselessly trying to stop the bleeding. The man had entered his soldier mode, falling back on his training. The third ghoul took the old man's spear in the neck, also instantly silencing it.

"Move!" he barked at her harshly as he took off running in a different direction.

With good reason: The blast had drawn the entire swarm in the pair's direction. The chase was on.

[tigra9]

Naria’s clone returned to Rey’s side and she spoke “well, I have no ranged weaponry except that…. Reloading it isn’t possible though until I restock cannonballs”

Naria outside shifted back to human form and dashed after Ghast though this time she put some of what she already saw into use, the ghouls would find their paths after the pair impeded, nothing as effective as the traps Ghast had prepared but the ghouls would find themselves tripping over thick vine bundles or having branches strangely fall from their trees well after Ghast and Naria had passed the tree “let’s lead them to the water… if your willing to trust me I have a plan that can help us deal with them but I don’t have the room to use it here” well she had already revealed her hybrid form.. no point not making use of her full zoan form. She remembered her adopted mother telling her the fruit she had was one of a set of “Five Calamities” but it’s not like she knew everything about her fruit only that she had monstrous power if she just had the room to use it.

[Whitebrand]

"Devil fruit, eh?" the man said as he considered her suggestion. "All right...this way."

One might have expected the man to react with suspicion or hostility...but there was no room for that. The ghouls were hot on their trail and he was running out of traps. He quickly led the way towards the sea again. Unfortunately the trees en route were thinner and more sparse. Bushes helped slow the ghouls but not nearly enough.

They passed one of the ghouls that had been sent airborne. He had landed badly and broken his neck. His fellow lay not far from him and was in a similar condition.

Naria's nostrils were soon filled with the smell of the ocean. The trees seemed to vanish from around them as they burst out on to the beach.

"It had better be something," the old man said to her. "Because we haven't killed nearly enough."

[tigra9]

Naria frowned hearing Ghast say Devil fruit… but they had no room for her to make any comments or to question his seeming lack of suspicion. As they passed the poor ghouls she just glanced at it but did nothing else about it and instead focused her efforts to slow their pursuers even if only a little.

The moment they burst free of the trees and ended up on the beach though she wasted no time jumping and shifting to her full animal form, the sand exploding where her four feet landed, she had leapt in order to turn around so she landed facing their pursuers and she opened her mouth wide as her snake head dove itself into the water. Naria’s clone dragged Rey down the steps to get him safely away from her throat which bulged briefly before a massive blast of water shot out from her main mouth like a giant cannonball.

Naria in her full turtle form was atleast 40 foot tall and atleast twice as wide around taking her shell into account, and her head could easily fit two or three of Ghast shoulder to shoulder in her snapping turtle shaped mouth but she didn’t waste any time after firing the first water bullet (that tore away everything in a roughly 15 foot radius in the straight line it traveled) and fired two more of the same size, it tore up everything through sheer water pressure but didn’t seem to hold its shape past 30 feet. Naria figured she couldn’t wipe away all the ghouls remaining with just that but it would serve to reduce their number further… and that’s all she needed to do was bring them down to a number she could fight without risk of being surrounded.

[Whitebrand]

As relentless and tough the ghouls were, they didn't stand a chance against the blasts of water. The ones that were hit directly were hurled back, broken and dead. The ones that were hit by the edges were knocked down with a range of injuries. The few that could get up did, while the unharmed remainder closed in on her. They had been reduced by half, at least.

The old man intercepted a pair, stabbing and slashing with his spear. The rest swarmed around him at the bigger target. They didn't see a threat. They saw a big meal.

[tigra9]

Naria watched the ones that went around Ghast and smiled suddenly withdrawing herself into her shell minimizing the unprotected areas they could get and raised her snake head which launched a water ball right at the ghouls, it was smaller then the ones before but she was accurate with them so close to her, only one seemed to evade it in time but the others got demolished by the pressure.

When Naria shifted to hybrid form after she realized something about the ghoul that evaded that last minute blast, he was dressed far more extravagantly no doubt the captain, or used to be captain. “Well… now my tricks are used up… care for the final honors captain?” She spoke out loud opening her mouth as her clone opened the hatch under her now raised tongue.

[Whitebrand]

"Don't mind if I do," Rey said.

He stepped calmly out on to Naria's tongue. The wind caught his long coat instantly, making it whip and flutter dramatically. He stepped down from the tongue to the beach.

The ghoul captain seemed to have a spark of sense. He eyed the newcomer warily, letting the rest of his crew fight and die around him.

Ghast was staring at Rey in surprise. This kid was probably the last thing he could have expected.

"I am Rey," he announced. "You attacked my people. Prepare to die."

The ghoul's mouth curled in a smile. This one appeared to have a few cards up its sleeve. Rey just waited for the thing to act.

[tigra9]

Rey upon stepping out of her mouth fell but as if passing some sort of mark he would return to his normal size before he landed and Naria smiled suddenly dashing and using her spear to help vaulted over the captain ghoul landing and rushing to help Ghast with the very last of the regular ghouls, thankfully they didn’t have the intelligence the captain one still seemed to have.

The captain ghoul after smiling reached to its hip and pulled out a flintlock pistol before it charged Rey lifting the pistol and firing while it raised its sword in the other hand. It’s movements were fast for a ghoul but rather basic, there were plenty of openings for a good strike when he got in range, in their sparring sessions Naria had left less openings to take advantage of and the ones she did leave she covered for while teaching Rey.

[Whitebrand]

Rey dodged out of the way of the shot, his hands still in his pockets and his face determined. With that opening, Rey punched out at the ghoul with an almost cvasual-looking blow, but it delivered a much greater force than it appeared to. The cursed captain sailed twelve feet down the beach...and rolled to his feet.

"Tough one aren't you," Rey said, starting to grin.

Taking the fight more seriously now, Rey partially morphed as he had with his sister. Golden scales gleamed under his clothing and he bulked up significantly. Before the ghoul could even consider reloading his pistol, Rey slammed into the former man at full strength.

[tigra9]

Naria after stabbing through the last ghouls skull glanced back at Rey shifting to his hybrid form though his outfit did indeed hide most of his hybrid body. In truth she questioned why he went with such an outfit but she wasn’t going to comment on it

The captain ghoul actually dodged to the side and swung his sword down toward Rey while Rey was still in mid charge and couldn’t easily change his own position the sword aimed for the middle of Rey’s back. It was a rather clumsy swing but it wasn’t something rey could completely evade

[Whitebrand]

Rey twisted and caught the blade in one of his hands, his scales protecting him from the worst injury and his enhanced strength atoppingbthe blow entirely. He kept his grip firm on the weapon, forcing the captain to stay in one place.

Using the gripped blade as a lever, Rey vaulted upward and back over the ghouls back and kicked the thing in the back of his head with his steel-toed boot.

[tigra9]

The captain ghoul smiled as it drew blood but when he was kicked and flew a little bit the sword being wrenched form his hand which broke. After a moment the captain ghoul stood up again and charged Rey again not caring about his broken hand

Naria who was panting out of breath as she leaned on her spear, her adrenaline had kept her going with the later half of the ordeal but now that only the captain ghoul was left and Rey was dealing with him her adrenaline had faded, she was back in human form aswell “a desperate final charge huh?” She commented watching Rey and the ghoul with her jade eyes though she blushed as suddenly her legs melded together and changed into a long slick tail with a few small fins protruding from it. The reason Naria blushed though is because the suddenly change had lead to her face planting on the sand and she lifted her head spitting a bit of sand out of it “ugh of all the times for my tail’s transformation to let out” she looked toward Ghast, he had been fighting up until she helped kill the last ghouls and had ran same as her so surely he must be worn out as well “soo… I have a fair amount to explain… can I rest and we talk over food? I’ll make a decently good supper for all the trouble”

[Whitebrand]

The old man started at the mermaid. This man had stepped out of her mouth and was kicking the ass of his monster, and she was talking about cooking?

Rey, meanwhile, was retreating as fast as the ghoul captain was running. He stayed just out of reach, his smirk goading the monster's temper.

Suddenly Rey stopped, his body coiling low. He suddenly flipped backward, his heel slamming hard against the ghouls chin with shattering force.

[tigra9]

Naria propped her head on one hand looking towards Rey right as he finished the ghoul captain “And there we go, Rey can I get help? I can’t transform and crawling in sand, in case you weren’t aware, HURTS.” She commented casually in truth she wanted to get into the sea but she had the feeling neither man was gonna let her get out of their sight right now as she lazily flapped her tail fin. She then looked back at Ghast “I’m a chef, no formal training but as Rey can tell you I’m very skilled at it”

[Whitebrand]

As the ghoul's head fell to the sand, Rey turned and walked back towards Naria. He knelt down next to her with a teasing grin on his face.

"All right, Mister," the old man said. "What's yer story?"

Rey looked up as he easily lifted Naria into his arms.

"Just another fruit user with a ridiculous advantage over most people," Rey answered. "I'm Rey. I guess you could say I'm her master, but she is my teacher and caretaker so it pretty much balances out. I thgink that we could probably use some rest now. I assume you have shelter? "


"Ayuh," the old man replied. "What's left of the base my unit was in."

"I imagine we have quite a few questions for one another," Rey said. "And help one another if we can. What do you say?"

The old man didn't want to seem to argue with a kid who could kick a ghoul captain's head off. He grunted and pointed inland.

[tigra9]

Naria seeing the teasing grin waited for him to pick her up noticing he carried her bridal style and she swim her tail up getting him on the head “teasing a girl…” she commented with a roll of her eyes but settled down in his arms after that and just let herself be carried

Once they got back to what was left of the base she slipped free of Rey’s grasp letting herself plop to the floor and slid over to a wall sitting leaned against it, she had kept a grip on her spear the whole time as her jade eyes looked around “so introductions again, I’m Naria a Devil fruit user and mermaid that can strangely still swim despite having a Devil fruit. And he is Rey D. Seras… a former denizen of the palace and once my master now my captain” she shrugged “for all the good a two member group needs a captain”

[Whitebrand]

Rey frowned at Naria when she gave the old man his full name. He'd not mentioned it foe a reason.

"S-seras?" The veteran stammered. "As in the Imperial Family?"

He promptly saluted.

There goes any chance of anonymity...

"I cut my ties with my family," Rey said, looking like an embarrassed teenager. "I don't hold any rank, so please don't do that. I do, however, have an obligation to help a sailor of the Royal Navy who has devoted himself to service for so long. What was it about this place that your unit was guarding, anyway?"

"It was classified, sir," the old man said quickly. "My captain knew, but the secret died with him."