Disclaimer: We don't own One Piece, yo.
The "Guided" Tour Adventure on Smoky Top Island!
By: Orrahn
The outskirts of Battsville, Smoky Top Island
The sun's piercing yellow glare obscured Brizan's vision, causing a white botch to form slightly off center from his field of view. "Stupid sun, always being bright and shit," Brizan grumbled, his feet dragging while he trudged along the rough dirt road that led from the village to the marine base. He was led right past a nearby platform where a marine was carefully tying the knots of a noose for today's execution. After his vision finally cleared with a couple of uncomfortable blinks, the outlaw looked around him to see three men and one woman assigned to guard him. A group of eight marines, mostly male, was in front escorting the much more imposing Bert. Butterfield, in all his pink haired glory, led the way with a chained up and gagged Orrahn slung over his shoulder. Butterfield also had two men and a woman directly behind him. Unagi was also present to the right of Butterfield and was currently poking the chained up Orrahn with a vengeful grin. The rest of the marines, however were either left to their posts back in the town or assigned to confiscate The Moon Goddess.
"Wow that lake looks sick guys!" Bert exclaimed loudly from around a curve between two of the rounded yellow mountains as if completely oblivious to the situation at hand. Brizan's guards led him around the curve to reveal a rather large lake with pink water nestled between several mountains.
"Looks like pink lemonade," Brizan commented only for the growl of his still breakfast-deprived stomach to distract his thoughts from the lake and back to how the ship was completely out of any breakfast food. The thoughts sickened him still.
"Lots of people say that, but in actuality it is not," the woman that guarded Brizan retorted with a slight air of righteousness. Brizan immediate harbored a bitter distaste for the woman. The woman seemed to be around Brizan's age but was about five inches shorter. She had emerald green eyes, freckles and long wavy orange hair that was tied back into a slightly bushy ponytail that went through the back of her marine hat, though a couple of exposed bangs raced down towards her eyebrows. Unlike the majority of the marines there, she did not wear the basic white and blue sailor's garb, but instead wore her own custom uniform. Her attire included a corduroy suit of the deepest, smoky purple with an emerald green tie and a dark gray dress shirt with a frilly collar underneath. Her pants were the same smoky purple corduroy as her shirt while her boots and fingerless gloves were the dark gray of her undershirt. Basing his guess on her unique uniform but lack of the officer jacket, Brizan was able to deduce that her rank was between that of a Petty Officer and a Warrant Officer.
Upon looking through the crowd of marines before him, the outlaw spotted four others who donned the unique uniform. Two of these guarded Bert, one stood directly behind Butterfield and the last was the captain himself who wore his own glorious golden suit with a lavender undershirt matching his hair. His own Officers jacket was draped over his shoulders to signify his elite ranking.
All this observing almost made Brizan forget how much the woman's answer annoyed him. "You know, if you are going to correct me, at least tell me why the water is pink," Brizan replied in a rather agitated tone that he hoped reached his guards.
"I don't see why I have to give a good answer to a criminal," the woman scoffed with her nose high into the air as if she had accomplished some magnificent feat.
"But Chief Petty Officer, this one is innocent remember?" one of the marines guarding Brizan remarked. This one was a man with a scruffy salt and pepper beard.
A chorus of laughter erupted among the group before another marine spoke up. "I'm pretty sure that famed mass murderer 'Red Apple' Braeburn said the same thing the other week even though he was covered in blood, and strangling two children simultaneously when we caught him. " a fat marine with massive blond sideburns pitched in, causing another outburst of laughter.
"And don't forget about 'Gunblade' Hexxon who we caught just the other day. Even though there were numerous witnesses to affirm the opposite," the chief petty officer added with the same air of righteousness that made the breakfast-less outlaw sick to his stomach. "Though I suppose we have you to thank for that one now, don't we Brizan 'Coy Boy'? " The woman scoffed, quite aware of what had happened in the Euphrates Casino.
"Then how about letting us go then? We did do you a favor after all," Brizan retorted before letting out a sly smile. "Or at least you could see it that way, because we really did it for all the innocent bystanders who could have faced devastating injury in such a… catastrophe… If only there was some organization that stood for justice and protected the people, I would have not been necessary" Brizan drew on while simultaneously impersonating the woman's tone of righteousness. That was when the outlaw realized where he had seen the woman before: she was the one with the crossbow who shot the map! It was all her fault that they had to trust Unagi in the first place.
"Hey, quiet down back there. We don't need anyone getting friendly with the criminals," Brizan heard Butterfield call out, his eyes fixed firmly upon Brizan's own. Brizan looked away to see that they were now walking around the pink lake that had sparked all the conversation. The lake was surprisingly big on second glance.
"You should really let me carry you guys across the water! It'll be a lot faster!" Bert said with a huge smile only to be completely ignored by the nervous marines guarding him. They had absolutely no idea that the fishman was being completely sincere.
Finally, after a few more offers, all was quiet once more among the group. Brizan relished this as it was much better than listening to his guards talking about righteousness with morally dichotomous world-views that made his stomach churn. Even though, as Brizan acknowledged deep down, they probably did a lot more good deeds than he did. Thankfully, Brizan didn't have to acknowledge these thoughts for very long because the marine base had appeared on the horizon.
Brizan had always made a point to avoid marine bases in the past so he had never seen one before. The base itself was a large gray dome with navy spots. There was a wall surrounding the three quarters of the dome not bordered by the South Blue with several gray and navy blue towers appearing regularly sprouting out of the barrier at various points. These towers were mound shaped like both the mountains and the town's buildings and reached so high that the smoke-like mist overcast appeared along its highest points.
"Stupid mist is only thick enough to be irritating. Doesn't even block out the sun," Brizan mumbled to himself, causing his guards to throw strange looks at him. "Nosy assholes," the cynical outlaw muttered in an even lower tone. "Mind your own damn business." Brizan rolled his eyes as the group came to the a stop in front of a large, guarded opening in the wall that was obviously the one and only entrance to the base from land.
"Welcome back to the 64th branch base, Captain Butterfield sir!" said a marine with a backwards cap and no less than seven toothpicks in his mouth as the commanding officer approached his base.
"Just hurry up and clear us, Chore Boy! We have prisoners with us!" said Butterfield in a rather rude tone. The captain had little patience for standing around when the man he has been chasing for two years was moments away from being locked up for good.
"I am a Seaman Apprentice, sir!" The young man said, his toothpicks protruding from his teeth at various locations.
"Well… Seaman apprentice," Butterfield began, his eyes met those of the guard with searing glare that conspicuously displayed Butterfield's current levels of aggravation, "I could demote you to chore boy in heartbeat! Now let us through!" Butterfield said at last, much to the apprentice's dismay.
"Y-yes sir, r-right away," the apprentice babbled in a desperate attempt to regain his standing with the commanding officer, though all he did manage to do in the end was delay the process further due to his anxiousness.
This was when Bert made his move, his massive hands swept down towards the apprentice. His guards merely gaped in horror, afraid he was going in for the kill and were even more shocked when the apprentice was left completely unharmed. "Just take it easy man. It will all work out!" Bert said in an encouraging tone while he patted the nervous apprentice on the shoulder with his large, bound hands.
An hour, in Butterfield's office...
Butterfield was now completely engrossed in a call with Captain Pringles of the Hiko Town Base on the Grand Line. "For the last time, I will not come hang out with you! We only met once in passing! I am not your friend!" Butterfield seethed in anger. It was impossible to find out anything of importance from this man. He had never heard of a marine who made it his constant goal to become friends with everyone. "As I said, I have been trying to get a hold of that large oaf of a commodore who runs the South Blue Marine HQ for over a day now and cannot get anyone to pick up. I just want to know if you have heard anything from him, like if the war got him transferred… or something," the red-faced Butterfield continued, his index finger nimbly twirling his pink mustache.
"B….break…fast" Brizan meekly moaned, now lying completely on the floor. Butterfield had to make what was supposed to be a brief call to his commanding officer who also happened to be the highest ranked marine in the South Blue before dropping off the prisoners. However, his many calls to the 2nd Branch Marine Base (AKA South Blue HQ) went without a single pick-up on the other end of the line. Convinced there was no way that a base as heavily populated as SBHQ was empty, Butterfield began to call several other South Blue Marine Bases. After a few failed to answer, he attempted to call Marine HQ which was far too busy dealing with Whitebeard War clean-up to deal with a branch base's problems. At this moment, the distraught Butterfield finally turned to his absolute last resort which was calling Captain Pringles of the G9 Marine Base. Since G9 was positioned close to both the entrance of the Grand Line and the calm belt, many blue sea marines stopped there for supplies on the way to HQ.
"No need to be harsh," came a friendly voice from the den den mushi, which wore a pair of round shaded glasses. "Speaking of our old buddy Marty, I haven't seen him for quite some time. I wonder how he is doing?" the voice continued animatedly.
"WHY COULDN'T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Butterfield exploded in fury. "THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO LISTEN TO YOUR VOICE FOR TEN WHOLE MINUTES!" There was a loud crash he smacked the receiver back into the machine. "I can't lstand that guy…" Butterfield seethed to himself. "Where the hell could that commodore be? He specifically ordered me to report any captures I make immediately, yet he disappears off the face of the planet the very next day." There was a moment of heavy breathing before the captain turned towards the others in the room. "Chief Petty Officer Majje!" the Captain called out, his face now purple with agitation.
The orange-haired woman stood up in response to her captain's summons "Yes captain?" she asked cautiously, fully aware of her captain's short temper.
"Please show these… criminals to their cells in the dungeon. I must report their capture to the judge and arrange their trials," Butterfield ordered his subordinate while he motioned towards the odd trio of captured outlaws sitting against the wall of Butterfield's office. First there was Bert who was still wearing his fancy fur clothes and golden jewelry that was only outshined by the blinding white grin he had on his face. Brizan was next to him, completely sprawled out on his back with his hands behind his head in utter boredom, but once again that is enough about utters.
"I want those damn pancakes…" Brizan muttered to himself, still very pissed off about his lack of nutrition in the morning.
Then finally there was Orrahn, the twelve-year-old boy who was currently the most bound up of the three criminals, though this was more due to the 'pesky factor' than the actual threat he posed. The marines had tried to undo the gag on his mouth at one point, but they were immediately barraged with a flurry of insulting nicknames like 'shrew nose' and 'fat fingers'.
"Yes sir!" Chief Petty Officer Majje responded immediately. "But… aren't all the cells filled right now? Since Buggy the Clown's Impel Down breakout, prison transfers have slowed dramatically. And with each passing day, new bounty heads are popping up because of Whitebeard's last words," the lower-ranked officer said to her captain with raised eyebrows.
"Well, there is not much we can do about it then, is there?" Butterfield responded, his hand rising to slap himself in the forehead in frustration. "Just split them up and fit them where you can," Butterfield ordered as he looked at the huge fishman before him. "You might have to do some extra shifting around to fit this one in a cell."
"Yes sir!" Majje responded as she moved towards the office's exit.
"Oh, and Chief Petty Officer," the 64th branch captain called to the lower ranked officer.
"Yes?" The orange-haired woman with the cap responded. Curious about what he could have possibly missed.
"Make sure you place the boy in a cell with wall shackles. I have had…. extensive dealings with 'Wildcard' in the past. He can be quite… unruly."
A couple minutes later… about halfway to the jail...
"Yeooooow!" yelped one of the guards after facing a quick combination of toe stomping and nut kicking by a certain rebellious youth. They had decided to undo the body bindings on the thief so that they would not have to carry him down the stairs. "Sorry blondie, but I gotta go!" Orrahn said with a grin after removing the gag and making a break down the hallway.
"I'll take care of this," the Chief Petty Officer announced, her hands reaching into her suit's jacket to pull out a sleek and thin black crossbow and loaded it with a black bolt. Majje expertly flipped the ranged weapon up to her shoulder; she seemed to only aim the crossbow for the split-est of seconds before pulling the trigger.. The bolt tore through the air at an amazing velocity before hitting its mark, right at the back of Orrahn's head, knocking his flat hat to the floor.
Brizan winced as his assistant fell to the ground, emotion beginning to swell up inside, just like it had when he ate the Utsu Utsu no mi. The outlaw was shaking with anger and lunged at the woman. Before any of the marines noticed Brizan's attack, a heavy set of bound hands suddenly caught him in the gut and sent him flying into the wall.
"He's fine, the bolt was rubber," Bert explained in an undertone which did not serve its purpose in the slightest since Bert's voice boomed across the hallway anyways.
"Thanks," Brizan mumbled, irritated that he had gotten so angry, even if it was only for a second. He always had prided himself as a logical person and generally looked down upon those who would follow their emotions before using logic and reason. Now that the drama had ended, Brizan looked around to see that all eyes were on him and Bert.
"My bad," Brizan said to the guards. "I accidentally tripped into Bert's hands." He accompanied these words with an innocent smile. "That's what happens when I don't get to eat breakfast in the morning," the outlaw grumbled while he got back to his feet. "What is with these handcuffs anyways? I feel really drained... and I know it is not just my lack of breakfast that is making me feel this way," the blond-haired outlaw droned on. "And by the way, are you aware that I want some damn breakfast?"
Majje simply glared at Brizan, her face twitching in obvious annoyance. "Those handcuffs… have been specially made for devil fruit users like yourself. Don't even try to break out of them; they are as hard as diamonds."
"Wow, that's crazy," Brizan said as he gently pulled his arms apart to test the strength. "I should warn you though, Orrahn is the devil fruit user not me," Brizan lied in a rather sarcastic voice to make the lie all the more obvious. "I just want breakfast."
"Shut up about your breakfast, criminal. I know all about your fruit's powers and how you earned your bounty. You can't fool me," she said with a venomous hiss, once again finding herself clever for detecting a lie always meant to be detected. "I will have you know that I have not eaten breakfast in two days because I have been helping Unagi plan the route."
"I didn't think you would be such a braggart," Brizan responded, wrinkling his face up to make a poor imitation of her voice which sounded more like a seal being kicked in the gut. "I haven't eaten breakfast in two days, look at me I am better than everyone else," Brizan mocked only to be caught in the stomach by the blunt end of a crossbow. He gasped for air for a couple of seconds. This woman was being really annoying with all the righteous talk, like the world was that simple.
The captive outlaw continued to glare at the woman as they moved through the hall. Orrahn was once again bound and gagged up and was being carried by the fat marine with the sideburns from earlier in the day. After a couple more minutes of walking with Bert repeatedly offering to carry the unconscious thief for the fat man, they reached a set of stairs that led down into the dungeon.
"These the new prisoners sir?" came a slightly familiar voice from inside the dungeon that sounded just like the speaker had no less than seven, no, eight toothpicks constantly poking and agitating his tongue.
"Yes they are, apprentice Sproutos," Majje said in a stern fashion hers eyes twitching in aggravation from being referred to as 'sir' yet again, though this was understandable considering she only recently transferred here and is the only female officer at the base. "We may have to do some moving around to fit the fishman in… wait, weren't you just on front gate duty?"
"N-no sir. I was just out there doing my midday stretch routine when the captain showed back up. That's why it took so long to get you guys through. I had to motion the actual gate guard," the backwards cap marine stammered out.
Majje simply glared at the man and waited for him to finish speaking. Who in the name of justice would leave so many dangerous prisoners unattended to do some stretching? "Fine, I will just move the prisoners around myself," she stated in a sharp tone before looking into the various cells of the dungeon. There were about ten cells on each side with two people in each cell. And there was absolutely no room left.
"You should just let us stay on our ship, since we have plenty of room there," Brizan said with an extremely fake smile.
"Ohh, I like that idea Brizan. I built the Moon Goddess myself you know," Bert pitched in with a big grin on his face.
"Like we would let you do that," Majje responded, thinking herself clever to see the obvious ploy. "Besides, your ship is still being transported here."
"All the better! You guys couldn't navigate her anyways. You'd better just let Bert swim us over there and we'll take it the rest of the way," Brizan added with a sly grin.
In one swift moment Orrahn jumped backed to life, slipped out of the guard's grasp, awkwardly kicked him in the balls and slipped his gag off. "Hey now blondie! We aren't trying to crash her into rocks, you know?"
Majje reached back into her jacket for her crossbow, but was cut off by Bert. "Whoa now. I'll take this little guy to his cell for ya. No one else needs to be kicked in the balls today and he is far too short for that tactic to work on me," the fishman said with his signature smile.
"Well I don't think I would have trouble with that particular issue," the marine responded in a curt tone.
"Heh," Brizan coughed out a laugh. "You are not nearly as tall as Bert!" the outlaw said in fake confusion. "I am pretty sure Orrahn's foot would reach." The blond haired outlaw's words were interrupted by the butt of a crossbow making contact with his gut yet again.
Amidst the chaos, Bert grabbed the little pest through his shackles and threw the delinquent over his shoulder.
"Put me down Whaley!" Orrahn whined in a high-pitched tone. "PUT ME DOWN!"
"Sorry kiddo, but you gotta go to your cell," Bert said in a ridiculously reassuring manner as he looked to Majje. "Which cell do you need him in?"
The marine officer sighed. She had absolutely no clue what to think about these people, the fishman in particular. She had never heard of a criminal who seemed so… bubbly and eager to help. "Third cell on the right," she ordered as she motioned for Sproutos to grab the keys and unlock the door for the fishman. The two prisoners inside both eyed the new arrivals with curiosity, there was only supposed to be two people per cell due to how small they were. "He needs to be in this one so he can be chained up," Majje explained. "I have heard many stories about this kid's feats in the art of picking locks." Two marines took the squirming thief from Bert and chained him up. "Next, we need to move people around to make room for you and 'Coy Boy'... and before you ask for the hundredth time, yes I will go see about food. I do not think I could deal with your constant whining until your sentence and punishment. Even if Captain Butterfield has bumped your court dates way ahead of all these people in here with higher bounties than you."
Victory: Brizan.
Two minutes later…
A rough, grainy and horrendously out of tune voice filled the dungeon with song. 'Not again' Brizan thought to himself while rolling his eyes. He already could not stand one of his two cellmates, who was a low ranking crew member of Hexxon's who showered him with insults and jeers the moment he entered the cell. The other one, while not a bad person, had an insanely thick accent and could not sing on key even if his life depended on it. On top of this, he always insisted on singing the obscure and usually straight up weird music of his native island.
"Monkey married to baboon seestah
Kiss 'is lips and make eet bleestah
What you think 'dey had for deennah
Black eye peas and monkey leevah
Conch style, oh aunt Johnnay
Conch style, oh aunt Johnnay"
The roughly accented voice sang in the slowest tempo that his lungs would allow. The man was much older than Brizan, probably in his late forties or early fifties, and had very dark brown skin. Unlike the new arrivals, he was already fitted into his full prison garb, black stripes and all. He was bald on top but had a scruffy salt and pepper beard along his chin that extended into sideburns. It was also worthy to note that he had a rather large gut, though this did not make the man look soft and unimposing, instead the man's physique gave off an aura of physical toughness and compact power.
It was at this moment that Brizan noticed something odd that the thick accent had distracted him from earlier. The man wore no handcuffs. In fact, he had no hands! Brizan's eyes darted downwards to spot the man's ankles being bound by the exact same type of cuffs that bound his own wrists. "Say….um sir" the out-of-luck outlaw said while desperately trying to remember one of those 'polite' words that younger people were supposed to use when talking to someone much older and wiser than themselves (especially if they wanted to get some answers out of the stubborn old fools). "Would you happen to be a devil fruit user?" he asked. In his two years traveling the south blue he had yet to meet another person cursed by the sea.
"Oh yah, one of dem wicked fit, nuh?" the man began, his accent even thicker when not singing.
Brizan could barely understand the accent but from the man's expression, the word 'yah', and the question at the end, Brizan assumed that he was asking for confirmation that he was in fact thinking of the devil fruit. "Yes, a devil fruit, those things that make you unable to swim."
"Oh yah I ate mi one of dem wicked fits, Imma da wotless in watah," the man explained. "Wanted to test da taste, I'm a cook, seen?"
His eyebrows raised, Brizan wanted his breakfast even more badly. "You're a cook? Are you any good?" the outlaw asked, completely forgetting about the devil fruit conversation.
"Da very best!" the man said with pride. "Da names Jerry an' I ran dah best restaurant aroun' till I got caught up in dees fuckery, nah meen?"
"Oh, so you aren't a pirate like the majority of these guys?" Brizan asked with curiosity, he had assumed that everyone here besides his own group and that murderer he had heard about were all members of pirate crews. Brizan had heard tales of other devil fruit users from the South Blue like Eustass "Captain" Kid and even the occasional marine with a fruit, but he had never heard of an ability user who simply owned a restaurant.
Before Jerry could word a response, Majje appeared at the cell holding a tray of food that contained a very stale, but greasy looking slice of pizza and some water. "Here's your stupid breakfast 'Coy boy'."
In a different cell…
Orrahn flailed around with the desperate hyper-ness of a rabid Chihuahua. He didn't care how tight his chains were. He still had way too much energy to give up now.
"Hey brat," said a large muscular man with another wise bald head that contained a single, apple-shaped patch of red hair. "The sound of your chains frantically jingling makes me want to snap again." The man was chained up directly beside Orrahn after committing one of the single most atrocious acts in the history of the South Blue.
"What's that tomato head?" the thief said with a mischievous grin. "You want to…. snap!" His fingers snapped at the exact same time he said the word, caring little for the patience of his cellmate.
"I'LL KILL YOU! JUST SHUT UP!" Braeburn screamed, veins pulsating throughout his head and neck.
"Lalalalalala," Orrahn taunted, "what was that tomato head?"
Yet another cell…
"Bohohohohoho," Bert laughed as more screams came from the cell diagonally across the hall. "Orrahn sounds like he's having a blast with his new friend," the huge fishman said with a toothy grin.
"Would you just stop being so happy all the damn time?" said the man formerly known as 'Gunblade' Hexxon but was referred to in jail by 'Halfbeard' thanks to Brizan's handy work in the casino. "If you guys had never made a big commotion at the casino, neither of us would be in here right now."
Bert simply ignored his cell mate and continued to laugh upon spotting Brizan in the cell across from him. "Hey, Briz! How's breakfast treating you?" he asked with unneeded enthusiasm.
Brizan simply stared at the pizza with a slight trace of sadness in his glare. "… I… can't eat this," he said with a disappointed frown.
"For the sake of justice!" Majje cursed in the only way one with her values could. "What is it now? Why can't you eat the breakfast I brought!" she pleaded. She still didn't even understand why she went out of her way to get a criminal food anyways. She guessed it was pity, even though now it was obvious the man deserved none.
"I thank you for your attempt, I really do," Brizan started, speaking slowly and solemnly, "but this isn't breakfast. Breakfast is eggs, sausage, fruit, bread, maybe even noodles at its worst! It isn't some greasy food loaded with cheese like this! I will be nauseous all day if I eat that!" Brizan's eyes burned with more passion than they had in a year. After a moment's pause Brizan continued "Look, I am not intending to be overly critical or cruel towards your obviously good intentions. In fact, they were great intentions that completely altered the way I view you as a person by painting you in a much more positive light. However, your complete ignorance of your bodies need for at least some form of bread or another BAA(Breakfast Authorizing Association) approved food item obviously points to some part of your psyche being irreversibly warped." Brizan was pretty sure no one was listening to him anymore, but he had to keep rolling with this, it was personal. "Now, I understand that your mental instability is likely due to an extremely rough and tortured childhood where you were never taught the importance of ritualistic morning behaviors to start your day. However, you really need to understand that the rest of the world does not abide to you false, fascist food fallacies."
"Dats da truut." The chef said, agreeing with his cellmate. "Got tah nyam dah good meal tah set up dah day." He continued, using his chef's knowledge to back Brizan. This caused the outlaw to wonder exactly how the man even managed to cook without hands but he decided to just go with it.
Majje was not quite sure what to think for several moments but was pretty sure Brizan had insulted her at several points throughout his lecture. She simply chose to ignore this outburst and continued to glare at Brizan. She had never met such a picky eater in her life and was beginning to shake with anger. "Now I understand why, despite your low bounty, the Captain wanted you to be captured so badly." She said while she tilted her head to the wall at the end of the dungeon that was only a couple feet from the end of the cell.
Once again, Brizan was surprised how oblivious he had been, just like how he took a while to notice his cellmate had no hands. 'Stupid lack of breakfast'. He thought to himself in the most spiteful manner possible as he examined the wall. It was covered in bounty posters, all of the posters were big shots with bounties above 15,000,000 belli, well all except for the eight posters of the 6,000,000 belli 'Coy Boy' that were circled obsessively in various shades of red. The waist up image of a seventeen year old Brizan wearing a snow-patched jacket and holding a box of fruit looked as unintimidating as ever when placed beside all the big shots of the South Blue. A Cooperton resident named Jevinal Walter was testing out his new camera just one day before Brizan's life was turned upside down. Butterfield somehow stumbled upon the existence of this picture shortly after Brizan's escape and demanded the picture for usage on bounty posters.
Brizan wondered how odd all of his bounty posters must have seemed when compared to all the other poster. Brizan's eyes scanned the posters for familiar faces and spotted a smiling Hexxon with his full beard and 16,000,000 belli only this time his beard was braided and dyed a rainbow of colors as if he was partying it up at some festival. After this, he spotted the bounty poster of Orrahn's cellmate 'Red Apple' Braeburn which was an odd picture from above his head that his apple-shaped patch of hair in full form. He also had splatters of blood from his victims on his exposed shoulders, the man's bounty for wiping out two whole villages was a huge bounty of 28 million. Due to the large amount of 'Coy Boy" posters plastered on the wall, some of the real potters were partially coevers. One such case was the bounty poster of 'Elementalist' Matian Long where his picture was completely obscured, leaving only his 16 million belli bounty visible.
Another bounty to catch his eye was the 20 million Bounty on Blaster 'The Pangolin' who was a broadly grinning dark-skinned man with silver teeth and an afro with a styling silver pick sticking out of it. 'This guy looks way too happy' Brizan thought to himself as he examined this Blaster guy. In fact, he was so focused on the silver-cladded pirate that he almost didn't see the biggest bounty on the list.
Right below Blaster was a strangely familiar face with a huge bounty. Brizan couldn't believe that he had met such a dangerous man before or even that he had returned from the Grand Line after causing so much chaos in the South Blue just a month earlier. Smiling back at him was a man with shoulder length wavy orange hair covered in part by his feathered grey hat that was pulled down over his eyes by his left hand. The man's smile, however, was now covered by shadow, and there was no mistaking that Van Dyke mustache and beard combo. This was the face of a 42,000,000 bounty man "High Roller" Jagger Thorp.
"That Jagger Thorp guy," Brizan stated, completely ignoring the female officer's anger. "I thought he had black hair and was in the Grand Line." Brizan asked even though he secretly wished that he would not get an answer.
Chief Petty Officer Majje glared at him for a bit, aggravated at how he completely ignored her anger. "He… was at the Grand Line…" Majje began, the words seemingly slipping from her tightly clenched teeth. "But he is back now… that picture was taken the other day at Babylon Island. The very same day your group was on it."
Brizan let loose a long exhale, he sincerely had hoped his apprehensions wouldn't come true and closed his eyes. "Betohohohohoho" echoed a distinctive laugh from the depths of his mind. Suddenly Brizan was back at that card table with 'Gunblade' Hexxon, Koji the merchant, Kalmina the wealthy woman from Pucci the City of Gourmet, Vindlewelt the noble and finally the man now identified as 'High Roller' Jagger Thorp raking in his poker chips as he won yet another hand.
"Um… If that is all, I must report back to the captain." Majje said as she straightened her posture and briskly walked out of the room.
It wasn't even a couple minutes after Majje left when a man with a carefully trimmed hedge of thick hair that was sculpted to look exactly like his own head with his real marine hat on top of it showed up with a scowl on his real face. Seaman Apprentice Bruscle Sproutos scrambled to his feet and saluted the man "S-second-in-command Commander Neehanny Sir!" He blurted out with such force that he sprayed his toothpicks all over the towering figure of the ten foot tall commander and the two marines standing in attention behind him. "H-how may I help you?"
Neehanny simply scowled harder than ever at the bumbling soldier. "Just tell me which cell the prisoner scheduled for execution today is." The man ordered, tired of his clumsy subordinate.
"Y-yes sir." Sproutos responded in obvious fright, "He is in the last cell on the left."
Neehanny simply remained silent with a scowl and moved to the last door on the left where Brizan was. There was several seconds of intense scowling between the breakfastless outlaw and the man man-with-a-head-shaped-hairstyle before the commander spoke "I am here for the retrieval of the convicted murderer 'No Hands' Jerry to transport him to the location where he will be executed at 1500 hours.
Brizan raised his eyebrows as the handless criminal answered the summons "I'd love ta mon, but mi kyann tan wit dees tings on mi ankles." The chef explained with a frown.
"Well don't think for a second that we will take those off." Neehanny said sharply as he motioned for one of the marines behind him to unlock the door. "You two," He began to order his soldiers while the door slid open "hoist him up by his shoulder, you guys are going to have to carry him."
There was a moment of silent protest between the soldiers before they obeyed their ordered and picked Jerry up. "Oh and 'Coy Boy'" Neehanny began to order, his eyes directly on the also scowling outlaw "Your trial is also scheduled for 15:00, marines will show up shortly to escort you to the courtroom." The man said with the biggest scowl yet before pivoting quickly on his right foot and exiting the cell, locking it behind him.
Brizan did not even have a legitimate chance to ponder the revelation of his cellmate's crime before Butterfield himself arrived at his cell. "Ahem," The captain cleared his throat as he stared at his long-time nemesis. "Mr. Brizan, I am here to escort you to your trial." The man twirled his pink mustache while the marines behind him unlocked the door. "Now will you come with me?" the man continued in a tone that implied more of an order than a request.
Several minutes and hallways later…
The butt of a gun lightly smacked into Brizan's back, this pace was far too brisk for Brizan's slow-paced way of living. "Hurry him up men!" said Butterfield whose quick paced footsteps bothered the outlaw to no end.
"So how is this trial going to work?" Brizan asked inquisitively, wondering just how fair it would be. On second thought though, Brizan realized that fairness would not even matter because Brizan currently possessed no evidence to prove his innocence.
"It should be over in a flash. It's not like I do not have tons of evidence against you all stacked up for the trial." Butterfield exclaimed with a sly smile curling up his lips. "But, don't you worry, the courthouse has several windows with a great view of the ocean."
"What a waste…" The soon-to-be-sentenced Brizan remarked as he looked at the marines on either side of him. "The marines at this base look a bit flabby, I could help this base become the jewel of the South Blue you know?" Brizan asked with a face that read 'You know you will miss me if I'm dead."
Butterfield glared at Brizan "How dare a criminal like you associate me with such a corrupt act as aiding a criminal!"
"Well I should let you know that I could associate you with plenty of corrupt acts. All I have to do is wait for the items they confiscated from my ship. I am sure you will be quite surprised when they come back with all your incriminating records like your logs of the transport ship route that carried my devil fruit and your letters to 'Orange Storm' Jakin. That I just happened to find when I was at the South Blue HQ the other day." Brizan bluffed, trying his hardest to sound confident and arrogant.
"Nonsense!" Butterfield snapped back without hesitation. "If you were at my South Blue HQ office I would have known!" The man exclaimed before his eyes widened as he caught his mistake "…not that there is anything in my office anyways." He groaned on trying to cover his tracks.
"You're probably right, it would take quite the neat freak to keep organized copies of self-incriminating records anyw-" Brizan began when he smelt a scent in the air. It was an enticing aroma of more Pizza being cooked for the base, the kitchen was nearby. Brizan's pace quickened as they rounded the corner to see boxes upon boxes of Peo-Tai noodles in a stocking cart right outside of a door. The muffled sounds of pots and pans clanging seeped through the closed door, Brizan had found his salvation… too bad he was a bit chained up at the moment.
"Move along," said one of Brizan's guards, forcing him to start walking with a rifle butt to the back.
Brizan trudged along the corridor for several more minutes 'How long is this going to take?" He thought to himself just before the roar of his stomach drowned out all thoughts and consumed his mind completely. Butterfield was practically prancing by this point. He was beginning to think the day when Brizan was brought to his 'convenient justice' would never come.
Or maybe the day had not quite come yet. The group was only yards away from the courtroom's doors when an ironically suiting canon ball made its way through the fort's wall and sent a piece of stone flying at Butterfield's ankles. The base's captain had no time to react as he was flipped onto his face and knocked unconscious.
Brizan was unbelievably slow to react due to the daze he had been in on the breakfast-less day. Thankfully his hesitance beat the panic that ensued as people, citizen and marines alike poured from the court room and Brizan's left guard attempted to calm the people down. His other guard simply panicked at the defeat of his commanding officer and attempted to run before being elbowed in the side of the head by a panicking citizen who came to press charges for larceny.
Brizan shook his head, he could barely focus in all this chaos. He had finally gotten a chance to escape inevitable demise, he couldn't pass this opportunity up. The outlaw dropped to his knees and grabbed the keys from the unconscious captain's pocket. He never imagined that the memory of Butterfield clamping the handcuffs on him himself would ever come in handy, but here he was holding the key to his freedom.
Too bad gaining freedom would never be that easy. The handcuffs were bulky and didn't allow his wrists to navigate the key towards the keyhole. Brizan quickly moved over to the far wall and placed the key in a crack between two stones on a lower part of the wall. After several seconds of fumbling with the key trying to get it perfect, he managed to insert the key into the key hole and twisted his body for freedom!
The crash of the heavy handcuffs hitting the ground was drowned out by the sound of another cannonball slamming into the fortified outer wall, this one dealing enough damage send the entirety of that portion of the wall collapsing in the space between Brizan and Butterfield. Brizan looked through the hole in the wall to discover the identity of the base's unknown attackers. 'Probably pirates… they have been way too active lately.' Brizan thought to himself.
What Brizan saw couldn't have been further from prediction, sitting in the water around the dock side of the base were three large marine ships. "South Blue HQ?" Brizan said to himself as he read the large '2nd Branch' written on the side of the ships. "What the hell is going on?"
Brizan's answer was another cannonball that slammed into the wall in front of him, causing the wall to crack and stones to fly from the base. He had to move… now!
"Stop!" One of Brizan's guards called out as he ran towards him. The outlaw recognized him as the one who tried to calm everyone down, though his lack of rifle, bleeding nose and scuffed up face indicated that he had failed in his mission. All he did succeed in was to be lucky enough to be on the same side of the rubble as the criminal he was supposed to guard. "Are you behind this attack? I was not aware that you were in charge of a pirate fleet."
"I am not a pirate! Also, run away!" Brizan called out, hoping to avoid a fight "I looked through a hole in the wall, the ships are marine ships!" even though he knew from the determination of the charging man that his attempts at peace would be in vain so Brizan aimed a swift kick to the marine's stomach and then continued on his way.
The canon fire become more and more frequent as Brizan steadily down the hallway. Thankfully, Brizan and his group was never given prison uniforms since Butterfield was so tied up trying to contact South Blue HQ so people never gave him a second glance and worried about their own safety. The outlaw quick jumped to the side to avoid a group of oncoming marines before continuing his trek down the hall.
'It should be right around the corner' Brizan thought to himself as the aroma of pizza began to fill the air once more. The blond-haired outlaw grabbed his rumbling stomach, he may have been free from his restraints, but his true salvation was near at hand. Brizan turned the corner and stopped a moment to breath, free from the chaos. He had finally arrived at the kitchen door, and better yet, the cart containing the Peo-Tai noodles was still there. Salvation was at hand!
A/n: Oh snap, you better check that date it's our one year anniversary. Whale, Kaira and I were all writing up storms to get out chapters out today but it looks like I am the last man standing. Oh well, it couldn't be helped, I had to finish this chapter even if it meant climbing over the dead bodies of my friends to do it. So here you go, this wonderful and special chapter filled (I might be lying here a bit) to the brim with action!
Oh and I am fully aware that many of you are not from the western hemisphere and that it is the seventh there, but guess what! Your time doesn't matter to me, take that Europe and Asia!
There are a lot of surprises and hidden extras this chapter, some more deeply hidden than others. In fact, two of the biggest ones are practically laid out there for ya, so I will be severely disappointed if the reviews don't address them. In fact, I may have to dig my co-authors up and collectively insult you guys with them, so I hope you read close! Also, Majje's full name is Chief Petty Officer Amaranth Majje, she is a transfer from the East Blue and Butterfield's current most trusted subordinate since Neehanny is too busy scowling to do a good job.
Also, you may have noticed that Brizan said his fruits name. Yup, he ate the Utsu Utsu no mi, but don't worry even if you look it up, you won't get the right translation because its a pun, just like a lot of real devil fruit names! So better luck next time, maybe the fruit's abilities will get revealed on 7/6/13, so cheer up! [Update from the future: I lied]
There should be two more chapters popping up in the next couple of days from Whale and Kaira thanks to my dabbling in the necromantic arts, so get ready to read and review more exciting adventures!
Oh, and my boy Jerry is about to publish an Age of Four Seasons side story that you guys may like, so keep your eyes out for that. (No, I will not give you guys another exclamation mark, you haven't earned it... yet)
