Enma's Workload Increases!

Ridley's and Melanie's Search Bears Fruit?!

"A Golden Den-Den Mushi," repeated Enma as he thought about it. He heard of a very rare breed of Den-Den Mushi that were basically gold plated, but almost all of those were immediately confiscated by the Marines for some reason and they never let anything about them slip out. He had never particularly thought about why.

"I can see by your expression that you have no idea about them, which makes me a little bit happier," said the masked man and Enma got a sickening feeling that he was smiling behind his mask. "Here's the thing. The Golden Den-Den Mushi only sends one kind of wavelength, which is received by a Silver Den-Den Mushi back at base. When the Silver Den-Den Mushi receives said wavelength the Marines initiate a Buster Call to the Golden Den-Den Mushi's area."

Enma's eyes widened as he thought about the rumors of the Buster Call. He never saw one and he was happy that he hadn't. The Buster Call was said to not only destroy all inhabitants of an island, but also the island itself in severe cases. Five Vice Admirals controlling a battalion of Marine Battle Ships all aimed at one island. It was said that the former Pirate King's crew survived one once and the 'Demon Child' Nico Robin survived two, but that was it. No other documented survivors, even the Marine's own men died at the hands of a Buster Call.

"They don't expect Trevor to go down easy," stated Enma as he peered through a slight sliver of the window that the bookcase didn't block. "And that means we probably won't get away easily, either, would we?"

"If they start the Buster Call, you guys wouldn't get away, period," pointed out the masked man. Enma sighed. "I suggest you guys get away as fast possible...I think we may hold off until the end of the tournament. That gives you about four more days, though. That will be more then enough time for us Marines to set-up a barrier though. If it comes around to it...you probably won't escape unless your captain accept the position of Shichibukai."

Enma shook his head, "no. Even if Mikoto doesn't accept the position, we'll get through somehow. We have that kind of luck. Is that all?" asked Enma, he was kind of surprised that Valerie hadn't rushed in yet to say 'hello' to the unconscious Hiro-Shu.

The masked man patted his legs and stood up. "Guess so, if anybody asks I was talking to you about becoming a Shichibukai and nothing more," he threatened. He walked out of the ship and left.

Enma slumped into his seat. "I'm betting it all on luck now, huh?" He looked up at the various beakers and vials that sat on his table. He took a deep breath and lifted them up, checking their contents, "No, not just on luck. We've still got a few tricks up our sleeves."

(-in the arena-)

Zesiro limped out of the ring. The crowd, which was booing him as he entered had now erupted into a loud chant of his name in honor of his victory. Zesiro glanced over his shoulder and at Rosa. Maria, who was in the stands watching, had rushed out of her seat and over the board to her aid. Maria had managed to lift Rosa up and onto her unstable feet, she quickly ushered out of the ring and away from the sneering taunts of the men in the stands. "Its okay, its okay," Zesiro heard Maria mutter.

Zesiro was immediately greeted by Nito and Ichi who dancing about and cheering his name louder then anyone else in the arena. They each pushed their way under one of his arms and helped him walk the rest of the way out. "That was awesome!" they shouted in his ear, "its no wonder you two are both on the same crew. You could both probably easily handle Trevor all by yourself! I'm surprised you are not the captain!"

Zesiro blinked once more at the word 'captain'. He had once more forgotten all about their imprisoned idiotic leader. His entire attention had been on Rosa and mowing her down, he hadn't paid any thought to the reason they had joined the tournament. Even now as they walked back to the locker room after the thought of his captain had been pushed right back onto center stage, Zesiro's mind was still fixated on the next match.

The two opponents had been equal in strength, probably the same way he was with Rosa. Their fight lasted a long time, too. He had originally intended to watch it all the way through and gather hints about him, but Ichi and Nito's story had distracted him. He cursed himself as he thought about his next mystery opponent...then he cursed himself once more for forgetting about Mikoto again.

As soon as they were out of the stadium Zesiro pushed himself off of Ichi and Nito, standing on his own two feet, shaky as expected. "I can make it the rest of the way by myself," muttered Zesiro through gasps of ragged breaths. "I don't need to rely on you guys." To his surprise Ichi and Nito just wormed their way under his arms again.

"Don't worry about it, Ze-shi-ro!" shouted Ichi with pride and confidence, "we're brothers, aren't we? The blood of proud Fishman warriors run through all of our veins...we can rely on each other every once in awhile, right?" Nito nodded. Zesiro just scoffed at the notion, but he wasn't in any shape to fight them off. If they wanted to carry him, he'd just have to lie down and take it.

They arrived a few moments after Rosa and Maria got there. Maria had immediately rushed off, apologizing for being in such a hurry, but said she had to get ready for her next opponent and more importantly the one after that...Mashiba. She was almost sure that Mashiba would advance another round winning his own fight and she was counting on it. She immediately felt a quick flare in her blood as she saw a strong opponent before her and when he took out her friend that only made it so much hotter. Her blood was boiling with the anticipation of the fight. Her thoughts were also far away from rescuing Mikoto.

Zesiro hopped into a random chair. The infirmary was small for the ship, originally they didn't had paid it much mind since they only had three nakames when they first got it. Even now when they had seven nakamas it still didn't seem too small with two beds for the injured and a workstation for the doctor, but with three of them having disastrous injuries it seemed like they were severely lacking in medical attendees. Enma was rushing over Rosa, trying to spend as little time as possible closing up her wounds where he could immediately move onto Zesiro.

"Don't worry about me," reassured Zesiro as he ripped some bandages apart and began to apply them himself to his wounds. Nito and Ichi rushed about trying to help him, grabbing random medicines and bringing them to Zesiro despite not a one of them knew what the medicine did.

(-With Ridley and Melanie-)

Ridley breathed deeply as he stepped around a corner and into another empty and terrifyingly bland hallway. Ridley was always a fan of expression, but the walls and doors had all been painted the same dull gray color. He was more then bored as he walked through the halls, what made it even worse was the constant clacking of their shoes against the tiled floors. Melanie was following right behind him, so Ridley had to deal with her shoes clacking against the floor as well.

Despite the annoying conditions, he had to consider themselves rather lucky that Trevor was such a horrible boss that the URA was poorly understaffed. Trevor definitely was a cruel slave driver when it came down to it. He didn't stay around on the base leaving it up to the guards, overworking them and when he was here he probably always killed one or two of the guards either for fun or because they have been acting suspiciously. Either way, Ridley and Melanie didn't have to move as stealthily as they did, but better safe then sorry when you are trying to find a psychopathic killer.

"Let's keep moving," whispered Melanie as they heard the gong sound the end of another fight. By Ridley's count that meant Rosa's and Zesiro's fight just ended, he felt like turning around and rushing to his friend's aid, but that was exactly what he was doing now. He had to save Mikoto.

Ridley was about to take another step forward, when Melanie moved forward, wrapping her arm around Ridley's throat and pulling him back and into the shadows. "You jerk! I knew we shouldn't trust a Shichibukai!" Melanie leaned forward and hushed into his ear. She moved her over hand up and over his mouth to make sure he stayed quiet.

Suddenly, Makada walked around and into view through one of the adjacent hallways. Ridley just barely caught him through the corner of his eyes, but Melanie had her eyes on him at all times. Ridley could barely hear his random muttering, no doubt if they were closer to him they could perfectly hear him say whatever it was that he found was so important to him. However, neither one of them had a desire to risk talking to him. "Let's follow him," offered Melanie. Ridley nodded. The two of them set off, quickly following him down his selected hallway.

Makada didn't bother checking behind him, his differently colored eyes were locked on the hallway before him. His head never swerved from side-to-side, it was straight forward all the way. He either didn't think he was being followed or he just didn't care. He walked confidently through halls in order to get to his goal. His stride was nice and neat with no variations in his steps or their timing. Just one foot placed calmly in front of the other.

He finally stopped at a door. The door was like any other door, it blended perfectly into the drab black, white and gray colors of the rest of the hall. There was nothing of any exception to it, not even a number hanging above the door. For the first time since Melanie and Ridley had been trailing him, he checked left and right and behind him, for the first time he wanted to make sure no one was watching. Melanie had managed to grab Ridley and force him into one of the random room, which just so happened to be a dimly lit broom closet.

"Wow..." said Ridley, "I'll be lying if I said girls didn't do this to me all the time, but I think this is the first time a Shichibukai tried to do it. I'm not all too fond of the location, but..." Melanie's response was pressing her sword up against his neck and once more shushing him. Ridley shrugged at the thought and slumped down to the ground. He pushed the small mop bucket to the side and sat on the ground.

Melanie kept her eye out and into the hallway, keeping it trained on Makada. He poked his head into the room and once more began talking about something, but he didn't go in. All the while his wiry fingers tapped the hilt of his sword, showing off his impatience in being stuck here talking to whoever was in the other room. Finally he managed to pull his head out of the door and back away, slamming the door as he left. His lack of patience showing. "Damn kid." He turned around and hesitated for awhile as he checked the hallways once more. Everything was as it should be.

Melanie had closed the door the instant she heard him slam his, disappearing back into the dark supply closet. She didn't turn on the lights so her and Ridley were stuck in the dark, Melanie had her ear pressed up against the door the whole time though. Whoever was in there it was someone Makada wasn't able to kill. If he hated him enough to irately tap on his sword, he should've hated him enough to mow him down. It was apparent the people here didn't care all too much about human life...killing was almost second nature. There was only two people that Melanie knew Makada, a guard of the URA wasn't able to kill. On the other side of the door was either her goal or Ridley's. Trevor or Mikoto.

Finally!

I'm sorry to anyone who thought that Rosa was dead. I REALLY, REALLY didn't mean to portray it that way. It just kind of...happened. Anyways, the next chapter will be one full of exciting twists, so you definitely wanna keep reading!

Also, I am planning on changing my profile pic soon, so expect that to be changed tomorrow or this weekend!

Say hello, to the friendly and sometimes only rational member of the crew who is currently going through some hard times...Bardroy Sage!

Full Name: Nice to meet you. The name is Bardroy Sage...it pronounced Bard-wah.

Aliases (or nicknames): The Plant Sage! It's a pun! Sage is not only my name, but the noun "Sage" means both "a person famed for wisdom" and is the name of an herb used as seasoning! So, it has a double meaning.

Devil Fruit/Weapon: When I was little I ate the Osu-Osu no Mi (Press-Press Fruit). With it can control the air pressure around me. I have a limited range of only fifteen feet due to poor practice, but the things I can when someone is within that range is nearly limitless. Amnesia, loss of balance, puking, exploding their heads are all things I can do!

Physical Appearance: I'm about 5'2" and I have sea-blue eyes. I have shoulder-length black hair and when I'm in the sun you can see it has a blueish tint to it. When I'm working with my plants, I wear baggy jeans, heavy work boots, a large long-sleeved flannel shirt, and a cap that both shields my eyes from the sun and keeps my hair relatively clean, because I tuck my hair up into it. I don't want my clothing to get dirty...but some people mistake me for a boy when I wear this stuff. However, when I'm doing anything else, including cooking, I like wearing regular girl clothing. You know, things like skirts, dresses, and sandals. After all I'm-Just-An-Innocent-Little-Girl-Who's-Not-A-Threat *wink*.

Personality: I'm generally calm and peaceful. I'm not one to make a big racket, but I have something called Seasonal Affective Disorder, which causes severe mood changes with the seasons. In the Spring, when the plants are just sprouting again, I can get overly happy and optimistic, some people use the term annoying as well. In the Winter, however, when all the plants are hibernating or dead, I tend to become kind of gloomy and depressed...and again some people would use the term annoying. My mood doesn't change too much during Summer and Fall unless there is some other factor. If there are two things I fear it is fire and...leeches, they are just gross! I am very book-smart, remember the Plant 'Sage'? I am not very street-smart yet and I can be easily fooled, especially by those pesky smooth street vendors.

Goals (Or Dreams if you prefer): I have two dreams...my first is to complete my mother's dream which is to find the Tree of Life/Tree of Knowledge to find out how to grow Devil's Fruit...and I also want to find out about the meaning of life from it as well.

Opinions of her crewmates:

Mikoto: Mikoto is the man who made it possible! My mom has told me stories about courageous and good pirates, but I've never met one that was better then Mikoto! He's someone who'd stand besides you and help you out no matter what! He's never once left me out to dry.

Ridley: RIDLEY! HE IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST! I don't understand how Mikoto could think having him on our crew is a good thing! He is a piece of work acting like he does...I swear if we are ever on opposite sides...I'll...I'll...ERRRGGHH!

Zesiro: Zesiro is a nice guy. I trust him with my life as I have on many occasions. We've had nice chats and he's told me a bunch of things on navigation and fighting. Maybe one day I'll be able to put what he taught me to the test...maybe I'll practice on Ridley...

Hiro-Shu: He is smart. Not just in navigation either, he can actually cook, too. Its hard to cook three meals a day for seven people each day and still have time to relax, so I'm thankful that he's always there to lend a helping hand when I need it.

Enma: He can be rather scary at times. He talks about Lucifer and dissecting frogs, but he's never dissected me! He's patched me up when I've been feeling low, so at the very least he's a good doctor.

Maria: Finally, another girl! Or something close to it! Maria isn't as feminine as I hoped the only other girl on the ship would be...in some ways she's just like a guy, but still she has her moments during our girl talk that makes me proud she's on our crew.