Chapter 5 - Sneaky my ass…


Zarina followed behind Rob, careful not to stand on any of the debris that littered the floor. The room they entered was dark and rather cold for some reason, her breath created mist every time she exhaled. Goose bumps formed on her forearms. Zarina had noticed that the building wasn't guarded in any form, meaning the contents of the building were of little value to the marines.

A moment later, Zarinas eyes adjusted to the darkness. The first thing she saw was Rob standing a foot away to her right. He had already busted open a crate and was rooting around inside it. Zarina glanced around the room, giving it a once over. She assumed Rob had done the same when he entered but he seemed to deem it fine and swiftly moved over to a crate.

The room was square in shape, more cube like if you look at it. There were small lanes to walk between massive stacked crates. The crates were stacked to the roof blocking some of the windows, that were along two sides of the room, making it difficult for light to illuminate the room in a decent manner. After her inspection of the room Zarina turned back toward Rob.

Zarina just watched him carelessly root through the crate, not caring for the noise he was making, which was a considerable amount. "You really are a pirate aren't you? Can't help but steal anything that isn't nailed down." She couldn't help but repeat the, rhetorical, question again. To which Rob only replied with a nonchalant "Yep."

Since Zarina expected such an answer she moved on quickly, "So, what exactly are we doing in this place to begin with?" She asked, Rob stops rooting around the crate and pulls out a pair of red apples, tossing one to Zarina. The crate must have been full of food. She caught the apple and examined it while waiting for a response.

"Well, I admit I had no idea what exactly we were going to do when we got here..." Zarina subtly rolled her eyes at his lack of a plan, "But since we're here, I say we gather some supplies and take one of their ships. After all, we need one if we're going to get off this island."

Zarina nodded in agreement, "I agree, we do need a ship, but you choose to commandeer a Marine owned vessel?" Zarina was rather skeptical of the idea, she could think of a few reasons why this could go poorly and a few ideas as to what this plan might need to succeed. "Well, for one, it's only us both and Itzal that will be able to man this hypothetical ship so we'll need something of reasonable size. Two, we're going to need one that is ready to sail at this moment because we can't waste time preparing a ship while being assaulted by the Marines."

"Well, that's only if we get caught." said Rob which got Zarina to give him a flat deadpan look.

"Like I said, we can't set sail while under attack from the Marines stationed here." Zarina had made it clear that she knew they were going to be caught at some stage. She didn't bother to consider the 0.01% chance they could actually successfully sneak through the compound undetected.

Rob remained silent for a moment, before finally saying "I suppose you're right." Rob took a bite out the apple as he leapt up to sit on the crate he found it in, there was another pause while he ate it.

"Well?" said Zarina expectantly. Waiting to hear what Rob had planned, which she was suspicious that he had none.

"Well, what?" was all Rob replied with, taking another bite of the apple..

"You don't have a plan on how to get this ship do you?" asked Zarina calmly but once again already knowing the answer. She was just being polite and giving Rob a chance to defend himself or even surprise her.

"Do I need one?" Stupid response but it's the one she got.

"It would help." She said wryly, Rob scratched the side of his head, he was trying to come up with a plan to, at least, give Zarina something to work with but that wasn't easy. Rob was always better at improvising and adapting on the fly in a moments notice. Plans aren't exactly his forte. Even when he was young he was like that. The only thing he ever really planned for his training schedule and that wasn't exactly a plan like he needs now.

"How about we move closer to the docks the marines have set up in here, I'm sure we can find a good vantage point. We'll scope out the ships they have and figure out which one to take. From there we go find Itzal and tell him the plan before we commandeer the ship." Rob explained his very basic plan. "Oh, and we gather supplies too before leaving so we can travel for some time without needing a supply stop, should give us some breathing room from the Marines if they decide to give chase." He added to the end. "How's that?"

Zarina thoroughly polished the apple with her shirt before giving her thoughts on the plan. "Basic but workable I suppose." She replied, idly as she thought over the basic plan.

Rob released a small breathe without her noticing. "We'll need to figure out where the supplies we need are stored." said Rob, glad his plan was enough for Zarina.

Zarina stopped and gestured around the room they were in. "We're clearly in a supply building right now. I'd hazard a guess that it's mainly food in here due to how cold it is. They're clearly keeping the food on ice so to speak."

Rob nodded in agreement, they could get their hands on some food but there was more than they'd need if they were going to set sail again. "Since we can just grab a bag and fill it with food that has a longer expiration date, food isn't an issue. No, what we really need is some navigational tools and maps." Rob smiled somewhat sheepishly, "Because if you rely on me for that I'll get us lost."

Zarinas lips twitched upward into a small smirk, "At least you're honest about it." Rob smirked as well and shrugged his shoulders. "Do you have an idea where we can find these navigational instruments? It's a large facility after all, we have a lot of ground to cover if we don't have at least a small inclination on where to begin."

"No idea but I'm up for a trip around the place. It'll be interesting to see what they have around here." Rob leapt from his seat atop a crate and made his way down one of the lanes to the other side of the building they had entered through.

"And you're just going to wander freely around a Marine facility how exactly?" Rob continued to walk toward the other side of the warehouse, Zarina following behind with a rather skeptical look on her face.

Rob didn't seem all that worried, "Well, I'm not exactly the sneakiest of people." Zarina muttered under her breath, "Yeah, no kidding," before Rob continued, "So I'm just going to wander around and if anyone spots me I'll just smack them around and hide the evidence as I go."

Zarina just continued to follow behind, she wasn't going to attempt to talk him out of it, what would be the point? Not like Rob would listen given the current situation. "I've only known you a day and I'm already done with your antics." murmured Zarina, she felt the need to say it out loud to herself. Luckily, Rob didn't hear or just didn't care. Although she wouldn't admit it, Itzal and Rob could certainly make things interesting if they tried.

As they reached the other end of the Rob clenched his fist and punched the door. This time however he was more surgical in his strike. He punched a hole through the reinforced iron where the lock mechanism would be.

It was still a loud strike, one that could draw attention but this wouldn't leave as much evidence as the shattered remnants of the other door would. Rob reach through the hole and pulled the door open, standing to the side as he did.

He grinned at Zarina, "Ladies first." Giving a small bow of the head as he did. Zarina just folded her arms and smirked in amusement.

"A pirate with manners are we?" Rob simply shrugged at the question before stepping out ahead of Zarina. In all seriousness he didn't want Zarina to step into trouble so he'd be on-point for this one.

Before Zarina stepped out too she took a deep breath and rubbed her arm for reassurance, although she had remained rather calm this entire time her nerves were starting to act up on her. She was way too far out of her comfort zone. She never would have thought she'd be breaking into a marine facility to raid it for supplies alongside pirates. Hell, she never thought she'd leave her home island but look at her now. A convicted, that word being used loosely, criminal on the run from the marines. If she was caught she'd be in prison for a lifetime and then some. Her thoughts could only find all the ways this could go poorly. From them being captured and what would happen to them or the marines not taking any prisoners due to them knowing too much. It was hard to say with absolute certainty what would happen but nothing good would come about it they failed and subsequently caught. Walking around with Rob through the jungle she had been distracted by everything that was happening around her, focusing on the now. The island itself, the ship appearing from the darkness and, of course, the fortress. Zarina had no time to sit and think but know that she had a moment, she began to feel regret about coming here.

She looked out the door Rob just stepped through. She was relying on pirates for protection. Was that really such a good move? Sure, both Itzal and Rob seemed to be good on the surface but at the same time they were pirates. They were going to be committing crimes as pirates, why was she travelling with them? Why was she joining them in their antics? It was odd, Zarina didn't mind their antics or being dragged into it with them but she feared the consequences. Would they stick their neck out for her if everything went wrong? She wasn't sure. But for now, they were her only option.

"Hey Zarina, you coming?" asked Rob in a somewhat hushed manner. He peered back through the door. "Something wrong?"

Zarina had quickly recomposed herself and stepped into the door frame, she put on her best customer service face. "Sorry, I thought I heard something, it was nothing." She stepped past him into the shadow of the much larger building that stood beside the warehouse.

Rob just remained stoic as he kept an eye on her movements. As a bounty hunter he had picked up some valuable skills. One was knowing when someone was bullshitting him. Zarina was lying and he knew it, but Rob also learned to never show the fact you saw through their deception. Rob wouldn't push it however. Zarina seemed trustworthy and he wouldn't want to pry into something he shouldn't. He'd let this one slide, for now.

"So, where do we start?" Zarina peered out from the shadow of the building and looked around the complex. "There are a few places that could be a good place to start. So which one?" She turned toward Robs direction but didn't look him in the face. Probably so he wouldn't get the clearest view of her face.

Rob remain silent for a moment, not to consider where to start but to make a quick mental note to talk to Zarina later. "We should start with buildings on this side of the lagoon." said Rob, stepping to the edge of the shadow to look over the compound. "But if we're lucky maybe the navigational instruments we're looking for are stored near the ships for ease of movement."

Zarina nodded in agreement, "Let's get going shall we?" She paused for a moment, "And try not to be seen, hm?" When she didn't get an answer she turned to Rob. He looked rather stoic from what she could see of his face. "Rob?" She asked louder, Rob glanced her way, "Something wrong?"

"Nah!" He grinned, "Just thought of something fun to do." Zarina could tell that was only half the truth. But even that being half the truth, she dreaded what fun Rob had in mind in a marine base.

"Fine, but promise not to make a scene?" She asked again, hoping he'd at least be cautious given the situation they'd found themselves in.

"Don't make promises you can't keep! Sorry!" Rob walked out of the shadow and along the front of the building they had just been in the shadow of.

"Great." Zarina muttered before she slowly, and far more cautiously, followed Rob.


In the darkness atop the buildings, two figures were crouched and leaning over the edge, peering down below them, observing everything that had transpired.

"See? I told you I heard some form of commotion." Two figures in the darkness of the night had found themselves on a rooftop.

"Interesting duo." A squeaky voice spoke, a small chuckle was heard right after. It was the same person. "Never thought we'd see anyone appear on this island… again." The shadowy figure turned to a much larger figure.

"Agreed, my brother. This is truly an odd and rare occasion." His voice much more gruff and deep than his counterpart. "I wonder how this was not discovered until now." His voice showing genuine curiosity at the feat. His companion wasn't as interested however.

"Who knows?" The smaller figure squeaked out, "They're both brave and foolish to be here. I must admit they're courageous for entering a marine base knowingly." He did a small flip on the spot. "Maybe we should get to know them better, ahahah."

"Negative." The larger figures voice was a bit harsher than before, clearly not wanting to leave room for argument. "We should inform the Commander, he'll want to know more. If he doesn't already know."

The smaller figure merely grumbled, "Of course he knows, why wouldn't he?!" His voice was whiny and annoying, although the larger figure didn't seem as bothered as others would more than likely be. He mumbled at the end, "No fun…"

"Forgive me, brother, but I wish to have the Commander lead us on this." The large figure peered at the corner the two they were observing disappeared. "They seem different." The larger figure seemed to be deep in thought, "They are different. I do not wish to underestimate them."

The smaller one grumbled again, "Fine, let us tell the Commander." With that, the smaller figure climbed onto the back of the larger one. The larger figured leapt from the building to another and continued on further into the fortress toward the main command building, disappearing into the darkness of night.


Itzal stood among a destroyed clearing of the jungle. Around him was the devastation of his brawl with an aggressive and intelligent ape species. Toppled jungle trees, wood splinters littered the ground, barely able to see the ground below it, smoke and dust still swirled in the area around the battle zone.

Itzal was located in the dead centre of this devastation. He inspected the carnage he and the ape group had created. Group? Pack? Whatever.

Small whimpers and groans could be heard among the rubble and debris of the battle zone. The ape creatures lay sprawled across the ground, there had to be two dozen at the very least.

All the apes sported similar wounds. Charred fur, inflamed and burnt skin, more than likely cracked, fractured or broke some bones too. They were all in a poor state, except of course Itzal. Who looked completely fine. The only sign of effort was a single bead of sweat on his forehead but other than that. Nothing.

'Where did they all come from? And why attack now of all time?' Itzal was trying to comprehend why this attack seemed calculated to a degree. 'I've been in the jungle for awhile but they attack me as soon as I locate the fortress? That is one hell of a coincidence.' Itzal sighed, "No point wasting anymore time around here I suppose. I better take a look at the fortress." He spoke to himself. Itzals blood pumped through his veins for the adventure ahead, that insatiable curiosity was going to be a blessing and a curse sooner or later, if it wasn't already.

Itzal gazed in the direction he knew the fortress was. 'I wonder if Rob and Zarina have located anything or if they located the fortress themselves.' He had faith that they'd be okay but was still curious and worried as to where they might be. Not wasting anymore time Itzal began the long sprint toward the fortress, he'd meet up with them at some stage. He'd been distracted long enough know, he was determined to find out what this fortress was all about.

As Itzal began to disappear into the jungle a small rustling of leaves occurred in the treetops above the battleground. The cause of the rustling soon leapt from its hidden vantage point and landed on a tree branch.

It was a small monkey like creature. White fur with dark rough skin, yellow eyes and a long thin tail. The monkey only stood at knee height and was the least intimidating thing in the jungle. In fact, it looked rather friendly. The monkey gazed after Itzal seeing his retreating figure.

"Chi-Chi." The little monkey squeaked out, it tilted its head as it gazed at Itzal, clearly confused and curious about him. The little monkey quickly leapt from the branch it was perched on before disappearing in the canopy.

Back with Itzal, he was sprinting through the jungle with little to no effort. Any obstacles that might have appeared on Itzals path was quickly passed. Whether leaping over gaps and trenches or running along fallen trees for easier movement, nothing on his path would slow Itzal.

The night was still relatively young, it would be another few hours before sunrise. From what Itzal could see earlier as he scoped out the landscape, this fortress might be the only human settlement on the island. If they were getting off this island, they'd have to get a ship and this could be the only place to do it. Through the Marines.

Itzal was considering a few possibilities but suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked directly across a small clearing in the jungle, burnt ground surrounded the wall on this side. There stood the fortress wall, towering over the tops of the jungle trees. Spotlights periodically scanned the clearing and tree line. Itzal moved to hide behind a tree, peering around the wall. He didn't want to be spotted, yet.

Watching the lights move across Itzal spotted an opening for him to get across undetected. Taking his chance he dashed across the clearing. He was a blur with how quickly he moved. Even if he was caught in the light, anyone that might have caught sight of him would probably think they were seeing things.

Itzal made it across the clearing and leaned against the wall, looking above him to see if anyone was above him. He couldn't sense many people atop the wall. At most there was two located at each spotlight. Itzal thought one of them was the spotter the other would be the sniper. He wasn't certain but it was a reasonable guess.

"Vulcan Prayer!"

Itzals body began to heat up drastically. Steam began to form from his body and a small amount of light was created. Itzal looked at his hands before making the temperature in his hands skyrocket. He placed his hands on the wall, as he had hoped the wall began to melt where his hands where. After dragging his across the wall he had made the outline of the hole before pushing the rest of the wall out of the way as quickly but silently as possible, revealing a clear way into the fortress grounds. Itzal smiled to himself, 'That wasn't so hard.'

Not wanting to stand in the open any longer Itzal charged through the hole and swiftly dashed toward a building. This one seemed alright from what he could tell, it wasn't one located in the larger main area of the facility.

As he reached the door, Itzal quickly melted the locking mechanism before throwing open the door and rapidly slamming it behind him and then bashed the door shut with his shoulder to confirm it was shut as best as possible.

"Alright, now where to begin…" Itzal turned from the door and looked toward the room before coming to an abrupt stop. He just stared at the contents of the room for a moment. Realizing his current situation.

There, stood in the room, that was a small kitchen or dining area, were fourteen marines, in standard marine uniform, apart from two, armed with swords on their hips and a pistol in their holsters. They were all staring directly at Itzal, all of them had some form of surprise, shock or disbelief written across their faces. Both Itzal and the Marines just stared at each other. Unblinking, unmoving, just watching. A very awkward silence had descended on the room.

Itzal, poorly, decided to speak, "Uh, hi!"

Bad move.

"Get him!" One of them yelled. Drawing his sword and charging Itzal, followed by at least eleven of the others. One of the more uniquely dress marines lead the charge against Itzal.

'Damn' Was all that came to mind at this moment. As the first Marine closed in, merely three feet away, Itzal skipped forward a step and landed a fierce kill to his stomach sending the marine crashing through two of his buddies and into the wall behind the group. His head slumped showing he was down for awhile.

The two that had been knocked over were getting back up as the others closed in. The first one went for an overhead swing but missed as Itzal shifted left and elbowed him in the face with a lot of force, he face slammed into the ground from the strike. The ground might have even cracked from the impact. He was down as well, two dealt with already.

Four other marines went for a strike all at once but Itzal swiftly backpedaled making it so they all swung at air or hit the ground, missing Itzal completely. Not wasting a moment he counter-attacked.

"Pocket Burst!"

Itzal formed a small pocket of heat and fired it toward the group of four. As it hit the centre man in the chest, sending him crashing backwards across the ground, the other three were launched in different directions. One slid across the floor and into a wall head first. The other two were launched into a table, smashing through it and shattering the wood as they landed on it.

Another two closed the distance after dodging their comrades being flung in random directions. One in front of the other. The first of the two went for a lunge but Itzal sidestepped it and kneed the marine in the face. The marine stood up and leaned back from the strike, dropping his sword and clutching at his possibly fractured nose. Itzal then leapt off the ground slightly and kicked the same guy in the chest with a bit of power behind it. The guy was thrown backwards into his buddy behind him with an impressive amount of speed and force. They seemed to be both knocked to the floor and knocked unconscious at the same time.

Itzal was rather surprised, 'This is.. A bit easy…' He thought to himself before turning to face his next assaultant. The next attacks came from both sides of Itzal, both swung at roughly the same time. Itzal ducked the swords, he could feel the rush of the swords pass overhead. Itzal turned to the one of his right and gave him an uppercut to the jaw. The marine slammed into the roof from the strike and came crashing back down to the ground, landing with a thump.

Turning to face the other one he saw he was already mid swing of his sword. Itzal slide forward and closed the space between them and caught his arm mid swing. The marine looked at Itzal with surprise. He wasn't expecting to have been blocked like this. Pushing the sword arm away, he grabbed a hold of the marine by the shoulder and hip, twisting his body Itzal dragged him backwards off his feet and threw the man across the room into the reinforced door he had just come through. Quickly rendering him out of the fight too. That made ten.

The last two that had charged Itzal were the ones that had been knocked over. They quickly went for Itzal as well, clearly not discouraged by their comrades failed attempts. Itzal widened his stance ready for them both. One of them went for a side swing, the other went for an overhead. Itzal quickly caught the arm holding the sword that was going for the overhead swing and kicked the sword from the side clean out the marines hands. Both marines looked rather nervous now.

The disarmed marine received a quick and powerful punch to the face which caused him to land face first on the ground. Throwing the sword from his hand Itzal once again leapt off the ground and delivered a flying knee to the marines face, which caused the marine to fall backwards clutching his face.

Waiting a moment, all that could be heard was the groaning and whimpers of the men laid out before him. Until a click broke that rhythm. Knowing what it was Itzal tilted his head to the right in time for a bullet to pass through where it once was, he slid across the floor to dodge another but this one passed through where his body was. Not needing to know where it came from, Itzal swung his arm out and reached for something, anything, on a nearby table. Twisting his body Itzal threw what he had grabbed across the room, the object sped across the room and slammed into the face of the gunman across from Itzal. The gunmen fell backwards, sprawled across the floor with the rest of his friends.

Itzal then realized that what he had thrown was actually an apple. Judging from the smashed apple remains on the floor around the shooter. 'Did I just defeat someone with an apple?' he had to ask himself that, it even sounded stupid when he thought about it.

The room went quiet again, the groans and whimpers had died down slightly and at the centre stood Itzal. Unharmed. "Well I better move on before someone finds all this." This was going to be a real problem when someone is alerted to this.

"Don't. Move." spoke a voice on the other side of the room. Itzal looked toward the source of the voice. In front of him stood one man with his pistol leveled toward Itzal. He wasn't exactly worried about this guy. He didn't seem to be much of a threat with just a pistol but Itzal didn't push it, he just remained still.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The marine fired off two questions rapidly. Itzal took a moment to look at this guy.

This guy barely looked older than he did. He looked to be twenty one or twenty two at most. He had short black hair, his facial feature resembling someone rather young, sea green eyes stared back at him before he examined his state of dress. He also dressed differently from a standard marine. He wore military black boots and had black pants to go with it. He wore a clean white button up shirt with a red long coat over that. The coat had gold trimmings around it, running over the cuffs and along the seams of the jacket. His outfit was tidy and organised. Very tidy, stiff and clean look about him. He looked slightly out of place among the rest of the marines Itzal had seen so far.

Apart from that knight…

"Answer the question." His voice remained calm, for the most part. Itzal could see a bead of sweat had formed on his forehead. He was clearly nervous after his little display earlier, who wouldn't be?

Itzal just smiled, "Bellow Itzal," He stretched his arms and put them behind his head, "And I'm here to escape this island." A simple truth, one that might not be believed.

"Escape?" The marine faltered for only a moment, his eyes unfocused and quickly refocused on Itzal again. A thought had come to mind in that moment, what that thought was is unknown. "Why come here to escape? That doesn't make sense."

Itzal remained unfazed even with the gun pointed his way, "Our ship crashed and is beyond repair so we're going to… commandeer a ship to escape with." Itzal decided to just remain honest. If he tried to warn anyone Itzal would be forced to stop him but no harm in letting him know right now. You only regret choices later so now it's fine.

"That can't be the only reason why you're here." The marine seemed distrustful which, given the situation, is completely reasonable.

"It's true. As soon as we get a ship, we're out of here." Once again the marine faltered slightly at the mention of leaving. Odd, he seemed to react strongly to any mention of escape.

The marine straightened out again, "Do you really believe you can fight your way off this island?" Itzals face scrunched up in confusion. Why did it sound like he was hoping for a yes?

"Of course, my journey doesn't end here." Itzal grinned, "I have goals I'm going to achieve." Itzal seemed to radiate confidence in his statement, leaving no room to argue.

The marine slowly lowered his firearm, turning away from Itzal he seemed to be seriously debating something in his head. Itzal just patiently stood there waiting for the marine to come back reality.

After a few moments the marine turned back to face Itzal, he wordlessly examined Itzal as if trying to see whether or not Itzal could actually escape this island. Itzal just remained unfazed.

But that was quickly shattered.

"Take me with you." Itzal looked at the marine, shocked. He hadn't been expecting that. Since when does a marine want to sail with a pirate? Itzal gave the marine a quick once over, this marine didn't seem bad. He was certainly different from other marines. He dressed differently, wasn't brash and didn't recklessly charge Itzal. He used his brain before his fists.

"Sure." Itzal gave the marine a trustworthy smile which seriously caught him off guard. "But! I'll need your name first." Now it was the marines turn to be shocked.

This really was turning into a strange series of events.


In a moonlit room sat an individual at his desk. The room was largely empty and plain, with only a desk and chairs in the centre and the odd bookshelf against the snow white walls. The room looked as if it had been drained of color, leaving behind mostly white and black in its stead.

At the desk in the centre sat one person. A man, his back to the large window behind him. The moonlight couldn't illuminate the room well enough to identify him in any form. Only his large silhouette could be made out. The only noise of the room as the sound of a clock, located somewhere on one of the walls.

"And what do you have to report?" He asked, seemingly to nobody as there was nobody else in view of him. However, stepping from the shadows were two figures covered by the darkness. One a large the other small, they both stood to attention. Clearly a sign of respect to an important higher up.

"We've located two intruders, Commander." The larger figure spoke, he seemed very prim and proper at this very moment.

"I know. I've sense an odd presence for awhile now." The man now identified as the Commander replied to them both. He leaned back in his chair. "Their presence… Is something peculiar indeed. I wouldn't have thought we'd see intruders ever again." The man gave an amused snort, "What has it been… twenty years?" Before an answer was given he interrupted himself, "Ah, I digress. But yes, I know we have intruders. Have you figured out why they're here?"

The smaller of the duo spoke up first, "Yes and no sir." Which got an interested "Oh?" from the Commander. "We've learned they plan on stealing a ship to escape but we do not know why they came into the facility otherwise." The Commander leaned forward, clearly interested.

"So we have a team of intruders with unknown goals?" He placed a hand to his chin. "I see, so we have a game now do we? Well, I accept." He spoke to himself, while thinking of a few scenarios that could play out, "What do we know of these intruders?"

"We know that two have made it into the compound from what we could gather. We suspect they have a large crew of some kind hidden nearby, whether ready to assault the fortress or aid in the escape, we are unsure." The smaller of the duo continued to take the lead on speaking. "It is difficult to say what they associate with."

"Associate with? How so?" The Commander listen quietly and patiently to his subordinates explanation.

"We are unsure of what they might be. One of them seemed to align more to being a pirate." The smaller one continued but was swiftly interrupted by his larger friend.

"Yes, the male we saw clearly resembled a pirate in some form or another, however, the female that he was with doesn't seem to fit the description of pirate, sir." The larger figure swayed slightly, "We are unsure of her role in this. We suspect she might be something besides that of a pirate and if so the male that was with her might not be one either if that is the case."

"So, we might not be dealing with some run of the mill pirates then?" The Commander paused, debating something in his head. "Alert the men, tell them to be ready for a call to arms at any moment but do not reveal that the intruders have been discovered. I want to keep them monitored for now until I see the full picture. Understood?"

"Of course, Sir!" Both figures replied before saluting and retreating out of the office to fulfil the Commanders orders.

The Commander leaned back and from under his desk pulled out a chess set, he quickly set up one side fully but on the other he placed only three pieces. The King, a Knight and a Bishop. The Commander gazed at the pieces opposite his, clearly contemplating their meaning. "Let us see who makes the first move shall we."

A game was about to begin, time to see who plays it better.


And it's done, slightly over 5,000 words, so not bad. Here's the chapter done and dusted. I apologise for the delay in the chapter. I've got other obligations I need to fulfil at the moment. Between summer plans, to college and work I've been somewhat distracted. Hopefully the next chapter is out on time, maybe even quicker.

If you're disappointed I didn't show the Battle of the Apes you'll have to forgive me for that. Use your imagination on that one. It was more something to keep Itzal distract, not really an important fight or anything.

The set up is done and we're nearing the end of this arc. The fights have been decided, now all we need is to kick some ass and get out alive! Lets hope it all goes to plan but knowing this crew, does it ever? Guess the plan is screwed… RIP

Question now is, who's the next potential crewmate to appear in the story? I guess we'll find out.

Special thanks to Outcast for beta-reading this chapter!

(Thanks again to everyone who has beta-read so far and to everyone who is willing to as well! I'm grateful for the support.)

Disclaimer, I obviously don't own One Piece (For Shame). All OC' go to their respective owners and such.

AlcatrazDGold - Till the next chapter… (Chapter 6 - The Commander and his Lieutenants)