Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.
'Lockout' Dean, a notorious bounty hunter from the North Blue, stomped down the wooden street with a legion of masked guards in tow. It has been rumored that this man was once the warden of a Marine prison far north in the North Blue, but he one day snapped and started fighting with all the prisoners. His rampant and berserk ended up in a court marshal, after which he became a freelance bounty hunter to exert his terrible force on his own terms of the law.
His fellow hunters followed in black-and-white stripped masks with eyeholes torn in them. The masks were the only matching features that these men seemed to have, being of totally different builds and carrying different weapons with them. In the gathering fog near the wooden harbor, only the mild outlines of the bobbing ships could be seen.
'Lockout' stopped mid-step and turned around in a flash. The legion halted its march at the same time and faced the devious stare-down of their leader. Dean started pacing across the front line of soldiers slowly, eyeing them all down under the shadow of his hood, waiting for even the smallest increment of movement. One of the men in the back row started to sweat.
Oh crap… the unfortunate man thought, my nose itches. Every man on Dean's personal guard squad knew that these surprise inspections were literally life or death. If even a single hair moved out of turn, the owner of that hair was shot instantly, no question and no remorse. Several men had already died in just the last week because they didn't know the extremity of 'Lockout's' methods.
Come on, nose, stop itching! Stop itching, stop itching stop itching stop itching. Please!! STOP ITCHING!! As the man continued chanting in his mind, the brutal leader of the force started walking toward the back row of unmoving men with a fiery glare. Good gods above, please don't let this happen to me! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!
As if on some godly cue, the loud thudding of some person's feet sounded from around a mist shrouded corner. A silhouette stalked into scene, and the menacing man halted his impromptu inspection just as the nervous man started twitching his nose fervently.
"Yo!" a man's voice sounded from beyond the fog. "Are you guys pirates or bounty hunters?" Dean snickered and started walking slowly forward, keeping a hand on a gun behind his back.
"Which are you, stranger?" The fog was now parting slightly, to reveal the man who was speaking to the legion. Short yet flowing blonde hair, a sleeveless jacket that ran down to his shins, and a playful smirk under a serious brow.
"I'm Captain Bard of the Buster Pirates!" Bard announced proudly with his fist on his hip and his other arm covered by the mist. The masked guards started reaching for their firearms with out word, only to be stopped by their superior. Dean had a hand aimed at his loyal guards as a signal to not move.
"Well, we're bounty hunters" Dean said very proudly. Bard's smile extended across one side of his face and he gave a half turn to increase the seriousness of his pose. "So you're gonna come with us, dead or alive, and whether you like it or not." Bard chuckled under his own breath, then started laughing over the quiet rain. Soon, he was laughing hysterically as the bounty hunter made a slow approach.
"I don't think so, old guy." Bard said, finally dying down his laughter. Dean's confident smile regressed into a menacing scowl at the comment made by the young man. "In fact, I've been looking for some bounty hunters to beat up, so you're lucky! Or, you're unlucky, depending on how you look at things." The smugness emitted from Bard's face brightly enough for Dean to see him perfectly through the fog.
"Alright then," the menacing man with the thunderous voice yelled, "make a move! If you want to fight me, then I'll let you throw the first punch!" Dean planted his feet firmly in the ground and threw off his raincoat, revealing his Iron-bar chest plate. This is why he was called 'Lockout' Dean; his vital areas were completely locked from damage thanks to his trademark armor.
"Alright then, thanks!" bard said politely. He took a massive, high step forward with his right leg and grabbed something with his left. His torso twisted around, and a low groan of air moving rapidly thundered down the street. Each of the elite guards shook from their masks to their unmoving feet.
"Baaaaaard…" The object Bard had curled under and over arm was coming into view slowly through the dense fog. It seemed to be a log of some kind. Bard stamped his foot down towards his enemy and propelled his body into a turn with every muscle he had.
"HOMERUN!" Finally, the weapon was in full sight. Bursting through the mist with a terrifying boom was a large mast, presumably from a ship, that was quickly accelerating towards the paralyzed Dean. All the soldiers had mouth gaping wide and eyes white with fear. Then, contact. With a horrifically loud boom, the far end of the massive bat smashed into Dean's armor, which served no purpose anymore.
Bard continued to spin into his swing, sending wooden shrapnel flying off as the mast broke off near where he was folding it. It a dazzling finish, Bard kicked his legs and spun in mid air, flexing his arms as the rest of the murderous attack connected. Time slowed down as 'Lockout' Dean blacked out and started to lift off and out of the ground. Time resumed its normal speed, and the elite troops started running at top speed from the rolling log of death that was stampeding down the street.
"How's that for a punch?" Bard said smugly, the mist now swirling around him like a cloak of air. His mid-air pose stopped as his feet planted back to the now torn up wooden ground. The still unconscious and now bleeding Dean lay on the ground, unaware of just how much trouble he was in once he decided to wake up.
Rez led the party of blood-thirsty pirates through the alleys and across the streets, searching for any signs of bounty hunters. Some of them, unintentionally, were springing the traps that were used to protect them. The group was getting exhausted from constantly running and annoyed at the lack of desirable game.
"Damn" Rez cursed softly, "where'd all those punks go?"
"We should look down by the docks" A female pirate announced. The group slowed down and stopped at the exit into a street. Judging by the signs and stores, they weren't very close to the docks yet. They had heard a cannon firing earlier, but that was a while ago. Rez decided on an easy way to get his bearings.
"You guys wait here," Rez said to the pirates. They nodded and stood still with their weapons in hand and ready to use. Rezland mounted a gutter pipe on a nearby building and started climbing up. The rain had made everything rather slippery, but the metal fixtures served as good enough foot holds. Rez's strategy worked right up until the pipe started splitting away from the house it was attached to, due to the combined weight of Rez and his gunblade.
Rez hit the ground with a crash, but still stood back up and tried again on another house. This time, the windowsill gave way and a miniature garden followed him to the ground. At this point the pirate group was on the very edge of exploding with laughter. The seemingly brilliant super-general that led them to and early victory was stumbling over himself like and idiot. At the next thud the group bursted out laughing loudly, and Rezland got pissed.
"SHUT UP! LET'S SEE YOU DO BETTER!!" The lady pirate who had announced her plan stepped forward, still laughing with the others, and shimmied up a pipe with ease. She tried to die down her laughter and gather herself long enough to stand up straight and spot a landmark.
"Can you see anything?" Rez shouted from below. The lady gazed around to find something, anything, in this dense fog. She could spot the towering Tall Mast, and used it as a compass.
The docks were on the south side of the Artefatto Coast and the mast was in the middle. Surrounding the city to the east and west were the mountains. The pirate could see the outline of the mountains through the mist, so she turned and face the docks. An odd whirlwind of mist was flying through the air not to far away from the group.
"I think I see them!" the woman shouted. Just then, the sounding of fearful screams started to echo down the street. A small group of terrified looking men wearing black and white masks came sprinting through the fog and back into obscurity, followed by a large log that was bouncing and rolling after them.
The pirates just stood and stared wide eyed. Rezland moved first, slapping his forehead with an open palm.
I have a hunch about this he thought in an internally painful voice. A very bad hunch, I'm sure. "The docks are probably that way, so let's go." Without a word of objection, mainly from surprise and shock, the pirates followed after a slowly pacing Rezland with his head turned down. "That idiot…" he said under his breath.
