Chapter Four.
New chapter and a new character is revealed!
Gor raced down the private dock located just outside the Marine base his eyes wide and his breathing heavy as he struggled to get out of the rain, the ear piercing thunder causing his gorilla instincts to kick in and causing him to cry out in fear. Finally, reaching the end of the dock he rushed past the two Marines who stood guard and he leaped high into the air landing safety on the upper deck of the large battle ship that was docked at the Marine port. Using his hands to push off the ground he began to race across in a gorilla like fashion and wasting no time he burst into the Captain's quarter's of the ship.
"I'm here and I brought rummmmmmmmm!" Gor cried out cheerfully as he waved a small brown potato sack high above his head that he had got from the mess hall, the sound of glass bottles clinging against each other ringing lowly through the silent room.
Pong shook his head lowly at Gor's idiotic and childlike behavior and Roku just annoyingly glared at the young Lieutenant.
Gor looked curiously around the room, "What's going on?"
"We're in the process of getting our orders from Head Quarters," Pong answered casually as he folded his arms and continued to lean against the wall.
"If you had burst in here a minute later screaming like that we would of-" Roku growled angrily as he refused to have his plan ruined by one stupid mistake by the pea-brained Lieutenant, but before he could finish his rage-filled rant his Den Den Mushi went off. Sending Gor a deadly glare he made sure the Lieutenant understood the importance of him staying silent, not having to worry about Pong speaking he quickly answered the call.
"Commodore Roku of the 80th Marine Branch reporting!" Roku called out sternly and calmly as he was trying to act as professional as possible so his plan could finally enter full swing. The room went dead silent as they waited for an answer, Roku had already reported Broshi's death and requested permission to hunt down the "killer" and now they were just waiting for their orders.
More silence.
Roku nervously glared at the Den Den Mushi thinking it might of been broken.
Pong hadn't moved an inch since Gor had arrived.
And Gor...
Well Gor was sitting in the corner drinking from a bottle of rum in hopes by keeping his mouth busy he wouldn't be tempted to talk.
It was working though!
"This is Captain Yo and I have been informed that your request has been passed. You will be instructed to take your crew and head out as soon as possible, the rest of the base will stay stationed on the island under temporary command will be passed down to one of your Lieutenants, until Head Quarters sends down a Captain to replace them. All promotions are still being processed for the men that participated in the attempt of capture of this murderer which include yourself, Commander Pong, Lieutenant Gor, and the deceased Master Chief Petty Officer Lanes. We will hold off on releasing the bounty as we don't want to throw the West Blue into chaos over a Marine murdering pirate newly wandering it. All Marine bases will be informed of his bounty though so use the 80th Branch to your advantage," The voice over the Den Den Mushi explained as he was a communications officer and not an actual Admiral who confirmed the orders. With that being said the Den Den Mushi went dead and the gentle sound of rain hitting the room's window was the only source of sound.
"You may yell now," Roku stated with a large smile.
"YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHH! WE ARE GOING TO TRAVEL THE WORLD!" Gor cried out with joy as Roku laughed widely and Pong simply grinned as he wasn't one to show much emotions besides anger in the face of battle.
"Nice idea requesting a promotion to that Master Chief Petty Officer," Pong stated calmly as he had to admit it was a nice touch as it made it seem as if Roku truly was angry about the death of his commanding officer.
"So when are we going after the kid?" Gor asked curiously as he finished off a second bottle of rum.
"As soon as this storm eases up it's too rough for us to travel through without risk," Roku explained as he released a deep heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair, resting his over sized shoes on top of his desk as he slapped his lips loudly.
His plan was finally in motion.
Two days later...
Ryker's small boat slowly road the gentle waves of the wide open ocean the sound of the water gently slapping the wooden boat echoed throughout the air as seagulls circled within the sky looking for leftovers from the human. Located outside the small cabin were several Breath Dials that Ryker had left out during the storm in order to capture the strong winds and two Water Dials that he used to collect fresh rain water. The cabin's door was wide open allowing cool ocean air to gust into the small cabin room.
The cabin room was generally small as it had a large bed made for two inside of it with several cabinets under it and against the wall, a desk was located beside it along with a small circular window that rained sun light down upon it, in the far corner was a small metal stove with a bag of coal beside it, in the center of the room was the wooden stern of the sail, and on the far side of the room were several chests of goods with two hammocks hanging above them. It was small but Ryker liked to call it home.
Laying in the bed with the sun light raining down upon him was Ryker himself, freshly cleaned up with the use of his Water Dial to shower, and dressed in his usual apparel. His hat covering his face allowing him to nap even with the morning sun light shinning in his face. Ever since his escape from Roku and the Marines he had been to emotional to understand why he had to chosen in their plan and why all of this was happening to him.
He was a good guy.
He did everything he could to help others.
The only things he truly enjoyed in life were his Dials and traveling... Why did this have to happen to him.
"Wait... Do I hear seagulls?" Ryker mumbled lowly as he slowly rose up from the bed, placing his hat firmly upon his head. His eyes lightening up as he could hear the birds high above in the sky. Ryker didn't know much about animals, but what he did know was that where there were Seagulls there was land.
Land!
With land came food, with food came happiness!
He was so hungry...
Ryker wasted no time docking his boat on a small shore line upon the island as he didn't want to dock it at the near by town as he feared that if the Marines arrived they could block off his escape route using the town's buildings as cover. Sighing loudly as made sure his boat was securely attached to the large piece of drift wood located deep in the sand and began to make his way to town.
Ryker knew if he didn't focus on food then he wouldn't be hungry and if he wasn't hungry then trip to town wouldn't take as long.
Humming lowly Ryker decided to focus on the wildlife around him to keep his mind off food.
Ryker smiled as he saw a family of deer...
"I wonder what roasted deer would taste like?" Ryker muttered to himself as he suddenly realized how hungry he truly was and releasing a loud cry for food he began a mad dash towards the town.
He was way to hungry to even pretend that he wasn't.
He was going to get some food if it was the last thing he did.
Yet, of course as everyone who has ever been near starvation and tried running would know that you won't get very far on foot on a empty belly.
Ryker was just half a mile from the busy little town when he found himself weak and tired, his once fast moving feet now dragging across the dirt at a slow and steady pace. His breathing heavy as he made his way down the dirt road slowly, his mind running a hundred miles per hour from the thought of food to the recent of events that had happened to him.
"Hey where do you think you're going?" A voice called out loudly as the former bounty hunter spun around slowly to be greeted by the annoyed faces of two full grown men. The two men both wore a collection of old dirt stained garments, but what they both shared was the white arm bands they wore. Ryker looked around curiously as he personally thought it was pretty obvious where he was going. He was walking down a dirt road that led to the town, there was nothing but grassy valleys all around them, and he had just been looking at the town sign a few feet back.
Maybe he was heading to the carnival!
"I'm heading to town," Ryker stated annoyingly as he didn't see why he had to answer to the two of them.
Both men looked at each other as if they were surprised by his answer.
"Are you sure?" The fatter man asked suspiciously.
"You caught me... I'm going to the carnival," Ryker sighed heavily as he just wanted to leave this wasteful conversation and go get something to eat.
"Hmmm but you just said you were heading into town, why are you hiding you lying traveler!" The tall and skinny man shouted angrily as he obviously had quite the short temper for someone with his muscle mass.
...
"I was joking about the carnival," Ryker sighed once again almost in tears by their stupidity.
"Oh... Well anyways all newly arrived travels must come with us for a proper background check. We are the local Guard here on the island," The fatter man explained as he pointed at his white arm band which in his little fat mind meant that he was important and had some sort of authority over other people. If Ryker had to guess these men weren't official guards, but looked more like pirates to him.
Ryker's heart almost stopped upon hearing this... Background check.
He was a wanted man for the murder of two Marines, there was no way he could get a background check.
"Um... How about we forget about the background check and I slip you two some cash?" Ryker asked desperately as he was way to weak at the moment to fight and even though he felt that he could easily take out the two idiots before him, he wasn't confident in his ability to safety escape the island and survive out at sea again without any food.
"Are you trying to bribe us?" The fatter man asked curiously.
Ryker just looked at them with a blank expression upon his face as he thought it was obviously what he was trying too do, "No I'm actually trying to offer the two of you careers as male models for our new magazine Pirates Monthly."
There was silence.
Ryker had forgotten that stupidity was silent.
"Do we have a problem here boys,?" A voice called out as entering on the main dirt road was a Fishman. The Fishman was muscular like most of his kind was, he was only an inch or two taller then Ryker though, and had a grayish light red color to his skin. He had jet black hair that was done in a small ponytail something that looked more manly on him then it did on Roku. He wore a pair of black beach shorts with a red sash across his waist, showing his chest off he had on a bright orange beach shirt with red floral symbols upon it, and across his forehead was a red bandanna. What grabbed Ryker's attention the most was the long piece of orange coral he had shoved between his sash which acted as a sheath for a sword, in his other hand was a long balded sword with three large fish stabbed through it, and the sword's hilt was a orange coral material just like the sheath.
The Fishman grinned widely as he finished off eating one of the three fishes raw in one gulp.
"Keep out of this Fish-Boy all new arrivals are our business!" The taller man called out annoyingly.
"New arrivals? This is my apprentice in training he has been working with me in my kitchen for the past two months!" The Fishman laughed out loudly his laugh booming loud as he joined Ryker by his side and playfully slapped his back, but for Ryker the slap wasn't so playful.
"How come we haven't seen him before?" The fatter one asked curiously as his eyes darted at the Fishman's face to Ryker's face.
"Um... Beats me," The Fishman answered casually as Ryker almost dropped to the ground at how casual his answer was.
"Good enough for us!" The Taller man chirped out as the two men shrugged and began to walk off.
Ryker almost wanted to cry by the fact that the Fishman's response actually worked.
There was an awkward silence between the two as the Fishman grinned at Ryker in a creepy way and the former bounty hunter just nervously shuffled back.
"No worries I'm not gonna eat you!" The Fishman laughed loudly his laugh booming loud once again.
Ryker nervously smiled and shook his head.
"Oh, you weren't afraid of me eating you. Then what's bugging you?"
"I've just never seen a Fishman eating... Well... Umm... A Fish!"
I know not very exciting as there were no fighting scenes in this chapter, but no worries there will be a big battle scene coming soon. Right now I'm focusing on getting the story line moving smoothly.