Glory Island Arc
"Land Ho! Welcome to the Island of Glory!"
"This is SOOOO boring!" Ralli practically screamed, his loud voice bouncing off of the calm sea around them and their trusty boat.
The red eye fell back onto the boat, puffing like a child as he glared to the sky like it was the cause of his troubles. The trio had been sailing the water for nearly a day, doing nothing more than watching the horizon. Ralli had lost interest in the scenery after about an hour ago and was complaining every hour on the hour about how boring things were.
Ches forced a smile and said, "Well, did you really expect it to be all excitement? There's not much we can do on such a small boat, you know."
"Yeah. What did you really expect, Ralli?" Atori added, lifting his head from its lazy position to scrutinize the boy.
Ralli just shrugged before bolting upright in his seat and turning to their navigator. "Ches, can I ask you a question?"
Ches seemed off put by the request, but nodded anyway.
"Why are you coming with us?"
Atori sputtered at the question and Ches seemed a bit too put off to reply. Ralli, oblivious to his own words, only watched expectantly until Atori sat up and struck him in the head with a kick. "Idiot! You don't ask someone something like that when they volunteer to help your sorry ass out!"
Ralli clutched at his reddening forehead and yelled back, "That hurt, ATO! And it was a serious question!"
"But still! Choose your words more –!"
"It's okay, Atori," Ches spoke, laughing a bit behind his words as he watched the duo. Atori threw a threatening glance at Ralli before reclining back onto the boat. "I've known Ralli long enough to understand his often blunt way of speaking."
"It's not like I don't want you to come with us," Ralli defended, shifting his eyes from Ato and looking pleadingly at Ches. "We already know why Atori and I are out on the sea. I was just curious as to why you were."
Atori couldn't even deny his own curiosity now that he'd gotten over Ralli's idiocy. He turned to look over at Ches as the rainbow remained perfectly quiet for a moment, as if he was trying to find the answer to his own question. "Because I want to see the world, Ralli," he mused with a kind smile. "I want to see and meet and befriend as many people as humanly possible. Whenever I die, I want to leave this world knowing that I'll be missed, that there'll be people sorry to know that I'm gone instead of glad. I don't mean to sound vain or anything like that. I just want to be a positive presence in the world."
Ralli took all of a second to ponder Ches's words before smiling happily. "Nice!" he chimed and turned away, his curiosity sated.
Atori's on the other hand was only piqued by the information, but now was neither the time nor the place for further inquiries. Instead, he turned back to Ralli and said, "And next time, think before you speak, Ralli, or else I make you swim with the fishes again." Atori rested his head back against the boat, closing his eyes and missing the alarmed head shake Ralli had given him.
"Please, don't Atori. He sinks like a rock when he hits the water," Ches sighed, knowing that the tall brunette was far from feeling sympathetic. He had only kicked Ralli overboard three times thus far. "You know, next time I think I'll let you rescue him," he added when Ato didn't do anything but roll onto his stomach.
"Can't. Don't like water."
"D-don't like water? You're joking, right?" the rainbow asked, and just sighed when Atori said nothing back. "You really can be quite mean sometimes, Atori."
The brunette just shrugged.
"Oooh! I think I see an island!" Ralli chimed, getting the others attentions as he practically bounced in the boat with happiness. He yanked his eye from the spyglass Ches had given him and pointed excitedly to the horizon. "It is! It is an island! We've finally found land!"
"If we're lucky, we might even find a ship," Ches chirped happily.
Atori just grunted before beginning to snore.
It was hours later before the trio had finally reached the island's shore. By then, the sun had nearly faded and they were greeted with an array of lights shooting out from the island that stood out in the dark. It was as if a festival of sorts was happening in the town, making Ralli nearly fall overboard with excitement as he tried to see the festivities.
"Ooh! Do you guys think they're having a party?!" he crooned, ruby eyes wide as he took in the different colored lights and even his acute hearing was picking up on chants of glee. "Let's hurry, Ches! I want to see what's going on?!"
"I wish I could," the navigator replied, frowning slightly as his eyes took in the extremely packed docks around them. There were boats and ships and all around seafaring vessels of different type nestled neatly against the shipping docks. And even though the place was twice the size of Kaishi Island's, each and every ship was practically on top of the next trying to find a place to dock. There were even a few pirate ships that looked squeezed in just to find a place to rest.
"This place is so packed! How exactly are we supposed to –!" Ches stopped mid-sentence, holding on for dear life as their small boat nearly toppled over when some strange force suddenly jostled it. "The hell was that!"
Atori growled with irritation before jutting an incriminating finger over at the docks, docks that were nearly a 13 foot jump away from the boat. "Him," was all that the brunette said as he pointed out Ralli, who was standing atop the docks with a pleased smile on his face. Ches didn't even bother asking why or how.
"Hey, guys! Hurry up and secure the boat! I'll be in town!" red eye called before sprinting off with a wave of his hand.
"I wish you'd fallen into the water, you idiot!" Atori snarled, though Ralli was probably out of earshot by then. He then turned back to Ches, whose eyes were focused in on the boats around them for a place to dock. "You do realize we practically sold our souls to the devil by allowing Ralli to be our captain, right?"
Ches burst with laughter at the utter seriousness in Ato's tone. "What's life without a little bit of hell, Ato?" he replied, laughing again when Atori rolled his eyes.
Ralli's red eyes were wide as dinner plates and glowing just as bright as the many lights around him as he tried to hold in his budding excitement. He walked down a street, a street that was packed to the rim with people of all different creeds and ages. And on top of that, many of them were dressed in odd costumes, the type of outfit you'd think to see some over-exaggerated wrestler or fighter wearing. Some looked like luchadors, others looked like some kind of thuggish street fighters, and even a few were wrapped up like mummies.
He watched with wonder as two kids ran past him, both dressed in the luchadors outfit, as they ran down the street with bright laughs. "This place is so cool!" he chimed.
"Hey, buddy!" Ralli stopped mid-step, his face suddenly an inch and a half away from connecting with a man that had just miraculously appeared in front of him.
"Can I help you?" he asked, not bothering to take a step back.
"Wanna buy a figurine?!" the fast talking man suddenly announced, leaping back with just enough room to hold out a small, plastic figure of a mummy. "A Bandaged Bruiser collectible. Only 40 beli!" the man spoke again, speaking so fast Ralli had to take just a moment to make sure he'd heard right.
"Um, no thanks," he answered, making a move to step around the salesman. But the man was persistent.
The guy practically leapt right in front of Ralli and quick fast said, "Tell ya what? Make it 60 beli and I'll throw in a Madhouse Brawler figurine." The man yanked out another figure, this one looking a little more like an actual person, but Ralli hardly gave the figure a second's glance before walking again.
"I said no." He moved to walked around again and the man was already in the way before he could take two good steps.
"How about –?"
"No."
"What about –?"
"No."
"Just look at –."
"I SAID NO!"
The whole little area around the two seemed to still as Ralli's voice carried over and all eyes fell on them. Red eye simply locked eyes with the pesky merchant, but the guy didn't budge an inch.
"Well, you'll just love –."
"UGH!" Ralli ran past the guy, not even caring that he'd nearly knocked the salesman onto the ground. "What's wrong with that guy?" he asked of himself and before he could form a good response, the voice of the salesman called from behind and Ralli deadpanned as he saw the merchant running after him with some other outrageous deals that Ralli couldn't pass up.
"Get away from me!" he demanded, picking up his pace as he took off down the street, but the man was hot on his heels with two more figurines and perfectly designed blanket just for red eye at a bargain's price.
In the end, it took Ralli fifteen good minutes to shake the salesman. Of course, the second he'd gotten rid of one, two more appeared out of nowhere to sell basically the same things. After being chased around the town for a complete thirty minutes, Ralli had finally given in to the pressure and was ready to buy something just to get them off his back. But of course, he didn't have any money and the second the salesmen realized that, they flew off like buzzards to the next carcass.
From there, Ralli had obviously found himself in the food vendors section of whatever was going on in the town.
His red eyes took in all of the varying vendors around him, the aromas coming from the foods nearly lifting him into the air from their lovely smells. And then, all of a sudden a smell so wonderful struck his nose that Ralli was sure that he was salivating, but didn't truly care. His head whipped over to a stand far off to the side that – judging by all of the customers – was obviously the best stand to stop at. A small banner around the top of it said Mira's Cabin in big bold letters and working were a group of younger guys – two that looked identical save for the different color bandanas around their head and then another guy with golden hair that made a long braid down his back. Working the food was an older man that basically looked like an older version of the twins. Ralli had nearly run right over to the stand to demand all of their food, but a quick pat of his pockets reminded him that he didn't have any money.
Maybe I can tell them that Ato and Ches will come later to pay. He thought for a moment before the older man working the food of the stand looked over in his direction. The man's eyes looked as cold as steel and Ralli was quick to shake the thought from his head. Maybe not.
In an attempt to forget the savory food he'd smelled over at the Mira's Cabin stand, Ralli followed the crowd of bustling people until he'd found himself in a large square that was probably a big marketplace during the day. This looked like the true heart of whatever festivities were going on in the town. There were all kinds of little attractions and games about, some for kids and others for adults. And nestled right in the center of the grand square was a large stage with a big, fat man standing atop it. Truth be told, the guy looked more like a penguin, especially in the fancy suit he had on. His dark hair was slicked down and styled professionally onto his head and he wore big, thick shades over his eyes even though there was no sunlight in sight.
"Ahem!" the man's weaselly voice called as he spoke into the den den mushi positioned right in front of his face.
"Welcome to the Pre-Fight Festival, everyone!" the man called once more, his voice booming over the other noise of the festival and effectively silencing everyone else. As all eyes landed on him, he offered a mischievous smirk. "Are You Ready?!" he yelled once again and almost instantly the entire crowd broke off into an uproar of cheers. Ralli had even had to cover his ears from the onslaught they'd taken from the unexpected noise.
"I can't hear youuuu!" the man demanded, egging the crowd on with a cunning smirk. The crowd braced themselves and Ralli did the same, pulling back his hearing as much as possible. "C'mon people! Make the whole West Blue hear us tonight! I SAID 'ARE YOU READYYYYY?!"
The earth at Ralli's feet trembled as the crowd surrounding him burst with a chaotic roar that could've made an earthquake envious.
The penguin onstage chuckled from the crowd's uproar and began speaking again. "Well, then. Don't let me stand in your way!" He swiped a hand back, moving to the side as two huge, burly men moved onto the stage – one dressed up in the luchador uniform that seemed popular amongst some of the spectators.
"Here you are." Ralli whipped his head around to the voice, not at all surprised to see Ches and an annoyed-looking Atori standing behind him. "Having fun?" the rainbow chirped.
Ralli's head could've popped off he nodded it so quickly. "This place is so awesome, guys! Well, except for the annoying sales people, but other than that, it's so cool here!"
"Yeah, we met them too." Ches pointed over to Atori with a smirk on his face. "But Ato cleared them out pretty quick. Believe it or not, he just glared at them. I guess those eyes of his can do good sometimes."
"Shut up, Ches!" the brunette barked.
Ralli smiled happily at the two. "So, do you have any idea where we are, Ches?"
Just as Ches opened his mouth to speak, there was an incredible slamming noise over at the stage. Ralli and the others turned to watch just as the crowd roared again with praise. The luchador was now standing proudly on the stage, his arms in the air as a sign of triumph as the other man lied out flat. There had obviously been a fight and the luchador was the winner.
"Give it up for 'The Masked Maniac!'" the man called once more as the crowd cheered with applause.
The crowd broke off into to warming chant for the fighter. "Maniac! Maniac! Maniac! Maniac!" they cheered, and Ralli's eyes grew wide at the excitement the crowd exuded from just one minor fight.
Ches smiled at the look on Ralli's face and clapped a reassuring hand over his captain's shoulder. "This is a place that I know you'll enjoy, captain. A world where fighting begets honor, infamy, and above all things – Glory! Welcome to Glory Island!"
Booyah! An island where people love a good fight. I'm sure Ralli's in heaven. XD At first I wasn't going to add in the bit with salemen, but I had remembered going to a mall once and this guy nearly chased my mom and I down trying to sale some kind of lotion. My mom took a more Atori approach to handling him though. Pesky buzzards! A little more action next time though!
See ya Friday!
