Adopted from Dude932 -
Chelia was smiling as she greeted the woman that had saved them from a giant crab. Herself and Buggy, the pirate captain she had met upon awakening, the odd duo had a little adventure since setting off on the makeshift raft Buggy had built.
They eventually landed ashore of a strange little island with all manners of creatures that Chelia didn't even know it was possible to have. They looked like crossbred species, it was odd but they were all friendly. There on the island of strange animals they had met a peculiar man trapped in a treasure chest by the name of Gaimon.
At first it looked to Chelia that Buggy and Gaimon would duel despite her trying to intervene, that was until Buggy announced that he was a pirate and that it was his duty to accept a duel, his announcement of being a pirate led Buggy and Gaimon to a rather amusing understanding and they became quick friends. They spent the night on the strange island, Buggy and Gaimon getting drunk while Chelia occupied herself with the animals. Chelia recalled their tearful farewell for the two men, they might not have known each other but Buggy and Gaimon became close, Buggy even asking if he wanted to join his crew, which Gaimon turned down in the end despite being so happy at the invitation.
Not even out of sight of the island and they had been attacked by a giant crab that had all but destroyed their little raft that they had been using. This led to being rescued by Alvida.
"Thank you again." Chelia smiled happily. "Buggy can't swim so it was going to be trouble."
"Shut up girl!" Buggy growled at her. "Who are you and what do you want!?" He shouted back at Alvida. The woman glanced at Buggy before turning to Chelia and smiled at her ignoring the clowns outburst for the moment.
"Really, it's no big deal." She told Chelia before glancing back at Buggy. "It's Buggy, the Pirate Clown right?"
"Wow, she knows who you are Buggy, you're famous." Buggy ignored Chelia's praise and glared at Alvida.
"What's it to you? Just who are you and what do you want?" He demanded.
"I'm looking for a certain young man." She smiled. "One that happens to have a straw hat." Buggy's eyes narrowed as he glared at her. "I thought you might be the person to speak to about it. I think you know him. "
"I don't think I've seen anyone with a straw hat." Chelia spoke, tapping her chin in thought. "Have you Captain Buggy?"
"Of course I have! That damn straw hat brat is the reason I'm stuck like this!" Buggy fumed. "Once I get my hands around that rubber neck of his I'll make him pay!"
"Come on, let's go have some lunch." The woman smiled, leading the two to the back of the deck where a meal was waiting for them. Chelia, who had been eating nothing but fish for the last few days since that's all that Buggy and herself could get their hands on happily dug into the food while Buggy and the woman spoke with one another. Chelia wasn't listening as the two spoke, Alvida informing her vendetta against the straw hat wearing teen making Buggy start to come up with a plan.
'We both want to kill the same kid, so why not! Let's work together!" He declared making ALvida smirk.
"Let's drink on it then."
"A toast!" Chelia happily called out not knowing the two's own conversation as she rose her glass of juice up, having refused the alcohol that was offered.
"She's absolutely adorable, is she a member of your crew Buggy?" Alvida asked.
"No, coincidence has just brought us together." Buggy told her. "She'll be leaving once we reach a port of some kind." He told her, getting a nod from the pirate woman.
"Well, the more the merrier." She smiled at Chelia as the three clinked glasses with one another, the young God Slayer smiling happy that she had made some new friends. "Speaking of your crew Buggy, I've heard news that your Ship, the Big Top has been spotted at a nearby island."
"What!? What are we waiting for then!?" Buggy shouted. "My dear crew!" He sobbed. "They'll be lost without me!" Chelia smiled happily at the blue haired Captain.
"I'll help in anyway I can Captain Buggy! I'll help you get your crew back!"
"Then I guess we have our current heading." Alvida told them. "Unfortunately the islands inhabited with savage cannibals so we'll have to be careful." Buggy's face paled as Alvida simply smiled and Chelia was getting pumped up for a rescue mission.
It was the first familiar scent he had noticed since awakening aboard the Going Merry. It was Sting, no doubt about it he could even feel the blonde Dragon Slayer's magic as he got closer to the island.
Natsu was running through the trees having forgone the path Nami had sent him along. His scent was on the wind but he wasn't yet on the island. He needed to reach the shoreline, see if he could see where he was. Hopefully he wasn't to far away and could get his attention. Breaching the tree line he saw that he was on a beach and he grinned, a small boat was heading straight for the island.
Casting his head back, flames flickering in his mouth he unleashed a torrent of flames into the sky. It looked like a blazing tornado to anyone who saw it.
Tashigi was shocked by the sudden massive mass of fire shot off from the beach and stumbled as Sting jumped over her causing the small boat to rock. It was nothing grand, only a small boat that could hold the both of them. She hadn't had it in her to take anything larger, along with knowing the fact that if she did take anything larger than this the Arlong Pirates would see it approaching and she didn't want to throw away the element of surprise. Right now it was the only thing going for them and the flames on the beach might have just squandered that.
"It's Natsu!" Sting declared causing Tashigi to stare up at the blonde in surprise, the grin on his face the biggest one she had seen yet as he turned back to face her. Had they really found one of his friends that easily? "There's no way it's not him." He sniffed at the air, and there it was mixed in with the scent of the sea was the familiar scent of the older Dragon Slayer. "Natsu!" Sting waved his arms frantically as the torrent of flames on the beach stopped and he saw the figure raise a hand, waving back at him.
Before they had even beached the boat, Sting jumped over the side and landed on the sand before Natsu tackled him to the ground both Dragon Slayers laughing. Happy to see one another, the last they had seen of one another they were in the Space Between time right after Natsu had been dragged away by whatever divine being had made them end up in this situation.
Tashigi pulled the boat onto the sand as she smiled, seeing the two Dragon Slayers laughing on the beach. She had felt it when talking to Sting on their journey here from Loguetown. What ever had happened to cause them to be seperated was not something that could easily be rectified. So the Marine officer was happy to know that the cause wasn't hopeless, already in this vast ocean covered world he had already reunited with one of his comrades. She didn't know how many more there were, but it was a start.
"Natsu, I want to introduce you to someone." Sting said as they got to their feet as he led the pink haired Dragon Slayer over. Tashigi straightened up and smiled as she greeted the Dragon Slayer. "This is Tashigi." The officer would generally not like the way Sting introduced her, without her rank, but seeing as she was here not on orders from the Marines and might very well be revoked of her rank upon returning to Loguetown, she let it slide. "She helped me when I first woke up, got Doctors and everything to heal me."
"It's nice to meet you Natsu." Tashigi smiled at him. "I'm glad I was able to help Sting in anyway."
"Nice to meetcha." Natsu grinned in return. "It was a shock when I caught your scent Sting, I didn't think I'd find anyone." Natsu told him. "Man, what a mess." He continued to grin.
"Don't I know it." Sting laughed. "But it's just a new adventure. We'll find the others in no time, they've got to be around somewhere."
"Right, Wendy, Rogue Erik, Laxus and Gajeel." Natsu nodded. "I wonder where they all got too…" He trailed off. "Plus I've got to find Irene."
"Eh? Who's that?" Sting asked.
"Dunno really, was a member of the Spriggan Twelve, she spoke to me in my head and said to find her, apparently she can help. Maybe she can find us a way back to Fiore, those Spriggan Members have all kinds of weird magic, that might be one of them." Natsu added with a shrug.
"So it's not just us that fought against Acnologia and were trapped in that weird dimension?" Sting asked slightly worried, just who else had ended up in this strange world with them? Tashigi was already lost on what they were talking about and had taken to keeping a lookout in their surroundings. They were in dangerous territory at the moment, these islands were controlled by the Fishmen and the pyro display earlier might have tipped some of them off.
"You there!"
"Crap!" Tashigi cursed gripping the hilt of her sword as two Fishmen barged through several trees and came down onto the beach. Sting and Natsu looked up at the shout, Sting narrowing his eyes as he recognised them as Fishmen while Natsu could only stare bewildered at them.
"What the hell are those things!?" Natsu laughed. "It looks like something Happy would eat!" Sting did his best to hide his small smirk as Natsu held his sides as his eyes watered causing the Fishmen to grow furious.
"We actually came here with a job to do Natsu." Sting told him. "These fishmen here have been terrorising the people on this island for years." He continued as Natsu's laughter was all but a memory as the Dragon Slayer's eyes narrowed. "I never expected to find you here, and I was going to use the reward money on the bounty's head to fund the expedition to start my search for everyone."
"Years you said?" Natsu asked causing Sting to nod. "That means… Nami has some beef with these guys?" He wondered with a scowl. Maybe that's why her attitude had changed when they got closer and closer to the island. She helped him get away from the Baratie so he could repay her with beating the crap out of these bastards then.
"Be careful, the both of you." Tashigi warned them as she drew her sword. "A single fishman is ten times stronger than a regular human." She was surprised when both Dragon Slayers shot forward leaving waves of sand in their wake, both of them were in tandem as their fists were cast back and before she knew it both Fishmen were driven into the sand by the sheer power of the two, resulting in an massive outward explosion of sand that she was forced to cover her face from.
Tashigi couldn't believe her eyes as the two stood over the Fishmen bodies, not a scratch on them and they had taken down the two with such ease that it put shame to the Marines that had lost in squads to single Fishmen. Just who were these guys?
"So these fish guys are some problem?" Natsu asked as Sting reached into his jacket and pulled out Arlong's bounty poster showing it to him, Natsu's eyes immediately drawn to the mass sum offered up as a reward for the Fishman Pirate. Turning his eyes from the poster he looked at the two unconscious fishmen, pulling them out of the sand so he could get a good look at them. Neither were this Arlong guy. However something Natsu did notice was the tattoo's on their bodies, while prominently they had a blazing red sun on them, they also had another. This one he had seen before, on Nami's shoulder.
"Something wrong Natsu?" Sting asked, seeing the Dragon Slayers serious expression.
"I've seen this tattoo on a friend of mine, I thought it was a guild mark but she said it wasn't." Tashigi having heard what he was saying frowned as she approached. Every pirate under Arlong's flag has that mark, but it was unthinkable that Arlong, the Fishmen that hated humans above everything else would allow a human into his crew. Something was wrong with that entire thought process.
"Hey wake up!" Natsu was now crouched next to one of the drowned fisherman, lifting him up by the collar and slapping his face from side to side. "Wake up!" However there was no way the fishmen was waking up making Sting give Tashigi and awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I know." Natsu grinned. "Nami told me to go find someone called Nojiko." He nodded.
"Do you know where she is?" Tashigi asked, sheathing her sword as she pulled a map from within her marine jacket. Natsu thought for a minute, recalling his conversation with Nami, 'Head to Gosa Village and someone will take you to Cocoyasi.' That's what she had told him.
"Cocoyasi Village." Natsu nodded. Tashigi looked over the map she had brought with her, while not completely up to date, it was the only one the Marine Base had on file.
"We're not to far from a town called Gosa, then Cocoyasi should be the next one along." She informed them, folding the map back up. "Keep an eye out, I don't know if there will be any other Fishmen wandering around."
"With how these two reek, I'm sure we won't have a problem." Natsu grinned folding his hands behind his head as Tashigi led the way to Gosa Village.
It was nothing but a Ghost town. Tashigi was stunned at the flipped over houses and terrified for the people that had been here. Just how long did the Marines intent to just swept what Arlong did under the carpet and not do anything about it? This was horrifying, it looked as though the entire village had been slaughtered. How could someone do this? She knew pirates were horrible, but this was the first horror she had truly ever witnessed firsthand. Why had the Marines done nothing, all this time? There should have been something that they could have done.
"Bastards." Natsu growled out as he saw the absolute destruction. Nami couldn't have known about this, she told him to come here and ask for directions to Cocoyasi, there was no way that she could have been involved. His fists were gripped tightly, he could smell the blood despite it being maybe a week or two old. There wasn't the stench of rotting bodies so those that had died here had been moved and more than likely buried.
"How can they do this?" Sting asked bewildered, looking on at the destruction. "Why would they?" He asked again. "We can't let them get away with this." He declared.
"We won't!" Natsu growled. "It's been happening for years and nobodies done a damn thing about it!" Tashigi flinched slightly, the Marines were supposed to be the one's to do something about scum that threatened the innocent and yet nothing had been done. Sting smiled gently at the young woman.
"Don't worry Tashigi, Natsu and I will handle the Fishmen and make sure that everyone on the island is free once again." Tashigi lowered her head causing Sting to frown slightly. "She must feel responsible." He figured, but they were Fiore Wizards, they dealt with stuff like this almost on a daily basis depending on the requests that come in. While some might only be in it for the reward, Natsu was surely not. He took things like this personally and now he had a friend here on this island, someone that had dealt with these Fishmen for the years of their reign over the island. He wouldn't let this stand. Sting knew all to well just how far Natsu would go for those he considered friends.
"To Cocoyasi then." Tashigi told them, getting a nod from Natsu. It was where he could find the person Nami had told him about, Nojiko. She had to have some idea on what was going on and could fill in the blanks about Nami's tattoo. Once that was done, they'd bring down the Fish Faced freak and all the others that had brought horror to this island. "Follow me." She instructed and the two Dragon Slayers followed after her.
There were people this time at least, the scents of those living here was evident in the air. But there was a tension in the air between all those that passed. Whispers that the Dragon Slayers could pick up, however the Marine Officer with them couldn't.
"Is that a Marine symbol on her jacket?"
"Damn bastards, probably came to gloat."
"Is she with that rat faced bastard?"
The whispers made Sting Clench his fists, he knew Tashigi to be a good person but obviously there was something else going on here. Of course there had to be. Somewhere in the Marines someone was covering for the Fishmen Pirates, otherwise how could they get away with everything that they were doing here? Massacring villages, holding the lives of everyone on the island for ransom. Things like this wouldn't just be swept under the rug.
The trio reached the town square, and now rumours had floated about saying that there was a Marine present. While the younger children of the village wouldn't know about the treacherous Marine behind the scenes the adults, the ones that had been there from the beginning did. Natsu looked around, catching Nami's scent here and there, it was faint but scents never truly disappeared from a place. This was her home once, or at the very least she spent a lot of time here once.
"You there." A man's voice broke through the hushed whispers causing them to turn to face the scarred man approaching. Tashigi immediately recognised the police like uniform the man was wearing and stepped forward. "State your business."
"I'm Marine Petty Officer Tashigi." She introduced herself. "I've come with these two, to stop the Fishmen plight on your island."
"So you are a Marine." Genzo growled. "We don't want your help!" He snapped. "What could three do against those monsters! You're years to late to help us!" Tashigi was taken aback but the refusal of aid. "Just leave, before you make things worse for all of us! You Marines, since your ships were sunk back when Arlong first arrived, haven't done a single thing to aid us!" Tashigi flinched from the truth as she lowered her head.
"Please, let us help you." She tried to say.
"Don't bother!" Genzo shouted. "Just get out of here!"
"Yeah, leave!"
"Get lost!"
Tashigi was bewildered by the onslaught of yells and shouts for them to leave. Sting remained quiet as he listened, they might not have wanted the help of the Marines after so long, but he and Natsu weren't Marines. A quick glance across at the pink haired Dragon Slayer with his hands behind his head, he just smiled seeing the growing agitation on his face.
"SHUT UP!" The bellow of the fire dragon slayer quietened down the shouts as he walked forward. "I came here with Nami, she told me to find someone called Nojiko. Where is she."
"Nami?" Genzo asked bewildered as he stared at the man before him. "Nami really brought you here?" Had Nami really brought someone to help them, after all this time?
"Yeah, so where's Nojiko?" He asked walking up to the scarred man. He glanced at his fellow villagers who were just as stunned at the news to find that Nami had brought them help. Could it really be possible? They knew she wasn't truly apart of Arlong's crew, but if these three couldn't do anything and the Fishmen found out, they'd kill her.
"I'm right here." Natsu glanced over to the blue haired woman walking towards him, Natsu staring at her for a minute. While she didn't smell like Nami, there was definitely Nami's scent lingering around her. Maybe friends or something? "Nami sent you to find me?"
"Long story." Natsu told her. "I just need to know what's going on, so I can go and beat the crap out of these Fishmen." He told them. "Why does Nami have the same tattoo as them?" Nojiko frowned slightly before sighing.
"Follow me, I'll explain somewhere else." Natsu frowned, not understanding why she couldn't explain it here but with a nod from Sting the three followed after Nojiko to find out what was happening here.
Tashigi was horrified to learn of what truly happened, the reports given to them at Loguetown were nothing more than the bare minimum. Nojiko didn't leave any details out, explaining what had happened when Arlong and his crew arrived to the years spent under their reign in constant fear of the Fishmen. Each month forcing to give up a massive sum of cash just to survive. Watching how the Marine's failed over and over again to rescue them only to give up hope as they stopped trying. Anger flared in the two dragon Slayers as they listened, Natsu growing more and more enraged as he heard of what happened to Nami and their adoptive mother, learning that Nojiko and Nami were sisters in every sense of the word apart from blood. He knew all to well blood ties didn't matter. They were sisters.
"Do you really think you can stop them, just the three of you?" Nojiko asked, Tashigi was the only one that hesitated.
"We will." The two slayers declared surprising not only Nojiko and their conviction, but also Tashigi.
"Just point us in the right direction." Natsu said standing up. "I've been itching for a fight and I just need something to let out my frustration on."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Sting grinned in return, following in suit as he stood up from the table.
"Can you give us a general description of where they might be?" Tashigi asked, spreading her map over the table so that Nojiko could pinpoint where it would be that they needed to go to.
"Here." The moment she did, Natsu scanned the area. While it would have been so much easier if he had Happy with him he knew he'd get there before long. Sting was already making a mental note of the track to take when Natsu dashed from the door surprising everyone. Sting grinned awkwardly.
"He's a go getter that one." Before rushing after the older Slayer, Tashigi stared awkwardly at the now swinging door as Nojiko was just stunned. Did they really just run off to deal with the Fishmen, without any weapons? She had expected to have to raid Genzo's secret storehouse to try and arm them, since Tashigi was the only one with a visible weapon.
"Guess I should head after them, they're my responsibility after all." Tashigi said as she rose from the table. "We'll make this right Nojiko." She told her before heading after the two slayers.
"How we going about this Natsu?" Sting asked as he caught up with the older Dragon SLayer, the two sprinting in the direction of Arlong Park, that was quickly approaching. The Large structure just screaming bad dude hideout.
"We're going in there and gonna beat the crap outta everybody!" Natsu declared.
"Sounds good to me!" Sting declared as the gate of Arlong Park came into view. Neither one hesitated, magic flowing into their dominant fists, flames encasing Natsu's as a white light encased Stings. "Let's see who takes out that bastard Arlong first!" Sting grinned knowing the taste of a challenge will get Natsu fired up.
"Like hell I'm going to fall behind!" Natsu grinned back as both threw their punches, the stone gate gave no resistance to the power of the two Dragon Slayers. Exploding inwards the Gate was destroyed rubble flying into Arlong Park surprising the gathered Fishmen, some of the debris even knocked out a few of those gathered within. Amidst the smoke the Fishmen saw two silhouettes walking into the park.
Instantly Arlong, the Captain of the Fishmen was on his feet with his three commanders behind him. Folding his arms as he saw the two walk from the smoke his eyes dangerously narrow with his iris in slits.
"So you're Arlong." Sting smirked recognising the large fishmen from his bounty poster.
"You two have guts coming into my home and destroying my gate." Arlong sneered down at the two. "We'll we're having a party to welcome back one of our members, and what's a party without entertainment!" He declared getting laughs from the gathered Fishmen.
"A party huh." Natsu grinned, punching his fists together embers flickering from his knuckles. "Good thing a bought enough punch for everyone." With a nod from Arlong the surrounding Fishmen launched to attack, but they weren't a match for the heat that suddenly crashed down on them as Natsu swung his arms out. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack." His arms swung about and even Sting ducked to make sure he wasn't hit with the whips of flames as they soared all around him crashing into the attacking Fishmen.
Arlong was furious as he saw the kid deal with more than half of his crew, only he and his lieutenants were still standing as Natsu dusted his hands off. His eyes narrowed as he faced the four.
"We'll take care of these punks Arlong." Chuu spoke up as he walked forward, his lips pursed, however he didn't make it far as Sting was before him, leg already swinging in a kick blazing white light.
"White Dragons Talon!" The kick collided with the large blue fishmen sending him reeling across the park carving up the pavement as he landed before hitting the wall.
"You bastards!" Arlong roared as Hachi and Kuurobi shot past the rage embedded Arlong but Natsu and Sting rushed back, not bothered in the slightest by the charging Fishmen. Flame and White light crashed into the Fishmen as they tried to defend themselves against Magic for the first time, but the light blinded and the flames burned. Before long both Fishmen were unconscious on the ground as the two Dragon Slayers stalked towards Arlong who was beyond rage. He saw nothing but red.
Arlong braced himself on the ground before using his immense strength in his legs to shoot forward, spinning and aiming his nose straight at Natsu. For the experienced Dragon Slayer the move was easy to read, Natsu dashed directly for the unsuspecting Arlong, the Dragon Slayers hand encompassing his upper face above his saw like nose, jolting him back out of his own attack.
Having a firm hold of Arlong's face with his right hand he grabbed Arlong's arm with his left and spun him around slamming him directly into the pavement causing blood to erupt from the stunned Fishmen's mouth, unable to comprehend how a human could be this strong. Natsu released a massive amount of explosive Flames at point blank range, Sting shielding himself from the explosion.
"I guess that's that." Sting smiled as the explosion died down around the older Dragon Slayer who stood above the charred defeated Arlong. "These Fishmen really weren't all that much to fret about, but we have no true idea of the horror they inflicted on the people here."
"What's all the racket out here?" A voice gained Sting's attention as he glanced to the direction of Arlong park to see an orange haired teen walk from within only to pause at the utter destruction of the Fishmen pirates. She was left gawking at Natsu as he rose up and turned to face her.
"Yo Nami." He grinned with a raise of his hand. "We beat up Arlong and his crew." He simply stated with a grin.
"W-What?"
Nami was honestly completely lost as the next few hours went by. To suddenly find that Natsu, the guy she had seen fall from the sky standing over the charred body of Arlong, her biggest nightmare. She needed an explanation, which she eventually got from Tashigi and Nojiko. But never would she have expected that Natsu and this Sting guy to suddenly be fighting for everyone on the island. How does one even get wrapped up in all of that?
Not even that, but after the defeat of Arlong, a Marine Ship was called thanks to Tashigi and Arlong and his entire crew were taken prisoner by Marine Commodore Pudding Pudding. Tashigi gave her word to the people of the island that she would inform Captain Smoker of what had happened and have a full investigation about the rat faced Marine they spoke of. He wouldn't get away with taking bribes from Arlong for much longer.
"Sting, Natsu." Tashigi smiled. "You two are really something." She continued on. "I have to go back to Loguetown with the Commodore, I'll make sure that when you arrive the reward for the defeat of Arlong is ready for you to pick up so you can start your search for your comrades."
"Thanks Tashigi, we owe you one." Sting grinned before a Marine walked up to them.
"Excuse me, I need to take a photo for the World Economic Journal." Tashigi stepped aside before Natsu's eyes widened Sting wrapping an arm around the older Dragon Slayer's neck and pulling him in close. Natsu tried to block the lense of his camera as he shouted not to take a photo but he was to late as the flash of light and the camera clicked. Tashigi giggled to herself as Sting laughed while Natsu tried to destroy the Camera.
He hated photographers and reporters, the last thing he wanted was for his face to be plastered all over the paper. He didn't let Sorcerer Weekly post stuff about him, he wasn't about to change his mind now that he was in a new world. Unfortunately for him, Sting intervened and let the Marine go telling Natsu that it would get their faces out there and let their friends know that they were okay.
"We'll see you soon Tashigi!" Sting laughed while waving as Natsu grumbled lightly still not happy about the photograph as Tashigi boarded the Commodores ship.
Brandish's eyes widened in surprise at the front page story on the paper that Makino had let her read. No doubt about it, that familiar face she wouldn't soon forget. It was Natsu Dragneel. The one beside him even held a guild mark of Fiore, Sabertooth she thought. It wasn't just her and Dimaria that was transported here after all?
"What's the matter Randi?" Dimaria asked from where she was sitting in bed, after having been treated by the Doctors the two had been allowed to rest and recuperate for the last few days at the Doctors residence. Brandish frowned as she looked to Dimaria, they hadn't really spoken about their predicament since Dimaria had reawakened after collapsing in Makino's bar. It was awkward to say the least.
Instead of speaking Brandish placed the paper face up on Dimaria's lap, the blonde woman glancing down, her eyes instantly widening at what she was seeing. Brandish watched her features go from shocked, to completely horrified. Afterall, Natsu had completely destroyed her when he transformed with his Etherious nature. She looked up at Brandish, horror still in her eyes, her body beginning to tremble.
"We should go find them, at the very least to find out what happened." Brandish told her, making the blonde freeze. "He's not as bad as you think." She offered. "You have to remember what led to him attacking you like that." Dimaria lowered her gaze slightly, not saying anything as her bangs hiding her eyes from view. Brandish rose from the chair she was sitting in and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Heading out into the street with the paper in hand, she headed for Makino's bar.
Being early there was no one inside, Makino just doing some cleaning as Brandish entered.
"Oh, Brandish good morning."
"Morning." Brandish greeted. "I need to ask you something." Makino tilted her head as the green haired woman approached and placed the newspaper on the table. Makino eyeing the photo and smiled.
"Isn't it great, with the Fishmen Pirates gone, that island can finally get some peace. Those young men did a great job in defeating them."
"That's what I want to talk to you about." Brandish told her. "Where is that island?" Makino frowned as she looked up at Brandish. "They're people we know, we'd like to get into contact with them."
"I see." Makino nodded. "Well, you probably wouldn't head for Conomi Island then." She smiled. "No doubt, they'll be heading for Loguetown for their reward soon enough." Brandish nodded in understanding. "I hope you make it in time, it's a few days sail from here.
"Time won't be an issue." She assured, if she got Dimaria to use her time stop ability then they could make it there with time to spare.