Earlier
"There's a ship heading towards the village!" A man looking through binoculars announced.
An old man beside him looked towards the sea, squinting his eyes. He climbed up the railings and said, "Check if they have a jolly roger."
This old man with a weird hairstyle was the headman of Mulberry village. It was the only village in the small Mulberry Island. Because they were so far from the other Islands and Marine bases, they have been targeted by pirates a few times recently. They had to give tributes to the pirates and beg for their lives just so they could live, and it's getting harder to please them as time goes by.
Mulberry Island wasn't always like this though. It was a happy and prosperous village that was safe from pirate attacks. Pirates would be thinking twice before attacking this village, and sometimes they even steered clear off the Island completely. It wasn't because marines were protecting the place, or the villagers were strong. It was because of pirates. That's right, pirates. There was a pirate crew who called this place home.
"They have a jolly roger!" The man with binoculars yelled, rousing the old man from his musings. The old man stepped forward and asked him what their jolly roger looked like.
"It's a skull, and a crescent moon!" The man replied. The old man gasped and almost fainted upon hearing this information.
"A crescent moon and skull? It's Crescent Moon Gally!" The headman exclaimed. "Crescent Moon Gally?" The villagers asked. They then started murmuring amongst themselves upon hearing this information.
"He's a pirate that has been gaining fame in some parts of East Blue as of late."
"I've heard he robbed a village of all they've got. They said he didn't leave even a single coin to the victims. Though, I heard no one died in that village."
"But I heard he killed every person in one village, even the pet animals! And he didn't even take their money."
The old man faced the people, a grim look on his face. "It doesn't matter what the rumors say, let's prepare our tribute to them." He said as he started to walk to his home to gather up valuables for the pirates.
"But headman, If we keep giving them our money, we will eventually starve to death!" One of the villagers said.
A mother carrying a toddler also interjected. "Yes! My daughter hasn't had much to eat for a few days. We can't keep doing this!"
"And what do you want us to do? Do you think we can fight them?" The headman asked the villagers. They have a lot of farmers, woodcutters, bakers and fishermen, but there weren't any warriors among them. "This village never had the strength to protect itself. Ever since those guys left, we've been…"
The crowd went silent upon hearing this. They all looked down sadly and seemed like they had resigned to their fate. "The headman is right, it is too reckless to oppose them." One of the villagers sighed. They were about to go home and retrieve their valuables when a figure came running in front of them.
"Why do we always have to bow down to these pirates? We should fight them!" A young woman yelled desperately. She was above average in height, slim and had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a blue t-shirt and green checkered shorts. A long saber was at her side with her hand on the handle ready to unsheathe the blade.
"You stay out of this, Silk." The headman told her. "Don't mess this up for all of us." He continued.
"No! Nothing will change if we keep being subservient to those crooks!" She yelled with tears forming in her eyes. "If we all combine our strengths together, then we can defeat these pirates!" She said desperately.
"Even if we can win against them, some of us will definitely die." Said a woodcutter who was one of the physically gifted people in Mulberry village. He continued, "and what about the next time pirates attack? If we fight back, we'll all die eventually."
"But-" Silk began to complain, but she was stopped by the headman.
"Enough! All of you prepare the tribute, I will try talking to them." The headman commanded and the villagers complied. Meanwhile the pirate ship loomed near the Island as it neared them.
—
"Boss! There are people on the quay waiting for us!" Shouted the lookout on the pirate ship.
"What, do they want to fight us?" Asked the captain of this pirate crew, Crescent Moon Gally. He was a man of average stature, wearing a typical pirate captain ensemble of a long coat and a bicorne hat bearing his jolly roger. His most notable feature is his crescent moon-shaped mustache. On his hip was a pistol tucked inside his pants.
The lookout peered through his spyglass again and said, "they don't seem to have any weapons on them, captain."
"Haha! Are they surrendering already? So it must be true then." Gally paced to the front of the ship and continued. "It looks like that pesky pirate crew has indeed abandoned this Island."
Their ship docked and Gally and his crew descended, wielding their weapons and grinning maliciously. The people of Mulberry village were frightened at the sight of the Crescent moon pirates. The previous pirate crews who raided their village were not as big or notorious as Gally's crew. None of them even had a bounty close to Gally's 5 million berry one.
An old man with a weird hairstyle approached the pirate captain. He bowed his head, sweat appearing on his forehead and said, "I'm this village's headman. We will listen to any of your demands."
"What demands? We just got here old man." Gally answered and started walking towards the town. He beckoned his men to follow him and yelled at the old man, "show us the town, you old fart!" They went in leaving the townspeople confused as to what the pirates want.
Silk looked on from behind the crowd, narrowing her eyes at the pirates. What are they planning? She thought. She started to have a bad feeling and silently followed their group into town.
"This is the towns tavern, and over there is our market." The headman said, still unsure of what the pirates came to Mulberry village for.
"This is it? This is crappier than my old village, and I lived in the sticks!" One of the pirates boringly complained.
"This shithole is what those bastards were protecting?" Another pirate asked as they walked throught the town, Silk sneakily trailing behind them.
The old man felt a cold sweat run down his back. They can't be talking about them, right? The old man thought as he paled. He looked at the grinning pirates and asked, "W-what are you gentlemen talking about?" He sputtered as sweat started dripping down his head.
"Hahaha!" Gally laughed out loudly and then look down at the panicking headman. "Those shitty bastards were protecting such a useless village?"
The old man suddenly prostrated on the ground and pleaded with the pirates. "We will give you all we have! Please spare us!"
"Haha! What are you talking about?" Gally laughed, but his face quickly morphed into a furious one when he realized what the old man just implied. "Do you know them?! Those arrogant bastards who humiliated me before?!" He grasped the old man's collar and lifted him close to his face. "Do you know those Kino bastards?!" He bellowed.
"We don't know them! We don't know them!" The headman shrieked. This isn't good, these scoundrels won't let us live! He shuddered at the thought.
Just then a figure came out from behind a wall and shouted. "Those filthy pirates are not here anymore! They got up and left after sucking this place dry!"
"Who are you, girl? Butting in on people's conversations is bad manners, don't you know that?" Gally said and almost went back to questioning the headman. But then he suddenly whipped his head back towards Silk. "Wait a minute…" he wondered.
"Run, Silk! Tell everyone to leave!" Yelled the headman to the confused girl.
Gally let go of the old man's collar and threw him towards one of his cronies.
He walked towards Silk while tilting his head and asked, "You. You seem familiar…do you know those Kino bastards?"
Silk bravely answered. "I know them! They are my-"
"ARGH!" The pirate holding the headman screamed as the old man bit his hand hard.
The old man ran. He took Silk's hand and screamed, "let's get out of here immediately! They will kill us all!" Silk was surprised but ran with all her might. But suddenly a shot rang out from behind them.
BANG!
A gunshot from behind them hit the old man in his right shoulder. He screamed in pain but kept running as Silk looked worriedly at him.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Gally yelled as he and his crew ran after them. "I'm not done talking to you yet!" He continued as he fired another shot at them. Fortunately, Silk and the headman turned a corner and the shot missed. They met up with the villagers and the old man hurriedly told them to run away as fast as they can.
They all ran towards the harbor to escape the island on fishing boats but as they got there, they saw the pirates coming out from the other exit.
"Haha, I knew you would come here!" Gally stated as he ordered his men to pincer them from two sides immediately.
Crescent Moon Gally was not a pirate known for having immense physical prowess or having powers from a devil fruit. Instead, he was known for his intellect and tactical abilities which made him feared in East Blue.
The villagers ran back but towards the town were attacked from the rear, several of them shot by pistols or stabbed by swords. As they frantically tried to escape, they found pirates in front of them, as well as to the side. They were completely surrounded. The pirates closed in on them and corralled the villagers in the town square.
"Why are you running? Why are you running?" Gally teased as he pranced around the frightened crowd. "We haven't even done anything yet! Hahaha!" He laughed as he looked at the poor villagers.
He then turned serious and asked, "Do you know why I'm here?" At this the vilagers looked confused and shook their heads. The pirate captain then pointed at a random citizen and questioned him. "Where are the Kino pirates?"
The citizen looked at the headman and then to Silk and answered. "I don't know where they are. They left-"
BANG!
Before she could finish, Gally shot her in the chest. The woman fell to the ground with a thud, her face showing shock. Silk's blood boiled at the sight and she almost charged at Gally, but she was stopped by the headman. The captain then put his hands on his back. "Two years ago, I was raiding a village north of here. It was fine, I wasn't killing nobody, just taking their life savings." Gally explained while looking out to the villagers. Veins started appearing on his forehead as he continued. "When out of nowhere, a group suddenly attacked me!" He then walked towards one of the villagers and grabbed him by the throat. "They sneaked up on us and defeated us, unfairly! They even acted all noble-like and spared our lives." Gally then stabbed the man in the stomach. He pulled his bloodied blade out of the man's stomach and laughed like a madman. "Hahaha! Only for me to find out that they, are also, a BUNCH OF FILTHY PIRATES LIKE ME!"
Silk couldn't hold it in anymore. She jumped out from behind the crowd and screamed. "All you pirates are the same! DIE!" She tried to slash down Gally but the pirate captain was ready and blocked her saber.
"Haha, why are you announcing your attack? How dumb are you?" Gally twisted his sword and swung it down, throwing Silk's saber on the ground. She then kicked her on the stomach, knocking the young girl down to the ground. "Hmm, why are you so familiar?" He said as he bent down and looked at Silk's pained face.
Gally suddenly had a flashback, of two pirates standing above him, laughing to themselves while he was tied up. It was a man with blonde hair and a woman with a face similar to the young woman before him. The co-captains of the Kino pirates.
"You're their daughter aren't you?" He asked, and the villagers went silent at this.
Silk picked her saber up and stood up. "So what if I am? Those pricks left me and abandoned the whole village without saying a word!" She then pointed her weapon at the pirates while shouting. "We don't know where they are so leave us alone!"
"Haha, you just made this a lot easier. Boys take her and lock her up on our ship!" Gally commanded. He then went up to the headman. "Send a message to those Kino bastards. If they want their kid back, then they should surrender themselves to us, along with all their loot." He instructed.
The old man hesitated, "w-we can't…" just then the sound of a blade interrupted them.
"ARGHH!"
Gally looked at where the noise came from and saw one of his men drop to the ground with a slash on his chest. Silk brandished her saber and prepared to take down another one when Gally shouted at his own men.
"What are you doing?! Why are you taking her on one by one? All of you subdue her!" He barked at them and his crew obeyed, all of them going at the young woman.
"WAIT!!" The old man yelled loudly, distracting everyone. He continued. "I can't do what you told me to do." Gally raised his eyebrow but waited for the headman to finish. "We can't send them any messages, and you can't find them anywhere…" the old man gulped and looked at Silk. He made a sorrowful face and continued. "They are gone. They have left this world."
…
…
Gally was the first to speak. He looked a bit disappointed as he sighed. "So they're already dead huh?" Meanwhile, Silk's face portrayed pure shock at hearing about her parents' death. Gally then started grinning from ear to ear. "Good! They fucking deserved it! Hahaha!" He then walked towards his crew. When he reached them, he turned around while wearing a disgustingly evil smile on his face and said, "but I'm not satisfied yet."
He then looked towards the unmoving Silk. "I have no more use for you." He said to Silk, who was still processing the revelation she just heard. "Kill her…actually, just kill them all." He commanded and the pirates all unsheathed their weapons and prepared to execute their boss's order.
—
Current time
SKILL ACQUIRED!
Stealth lvl 1 - 5% harder to detect when sneaking.
John dismissed the pop-up window as he and his crew crouched low with their backs to the wall. As they moved closer to the town square, the noise they heard earlier got louder and louder. The noise they were hearing was that of slaughter, people screaming for their lives and pirates laughing maniacally. The sound was familiar to John, as he had been in similar encounters back when he was a soldier. He knew that it wasn't gonna be easy to save people in situations like this. Regardless, now that he's here, he couldn't just ignore what's happening around him.
QUEST STARTED!
Mulberry's Fate
Save as many lives as you can
Villagers remaining - 50/60
Reward - 10 exp per villager left plus ?
He furrowed his eyebrows at the new quest and took a deep breath. He steeled his emotions and called his crew to gather around him. He sighed and asked them, "I know I didn't hire you for this but, I want to help these people." He looked all of them in the eye and continued. "I can't do this alone, so I'm asking for your help. If you're not up to it, go back to the ship and wait there." All 3 of them didn't say a word but stayed. Their eyes showed a determination to end this kind of injustice. John thought they might have been in a similar situation before.
John nodded and gave them instructions. He told them to scatter and hide and wait for his signal. And when they heard the signal, they were to fire at the enemy once, then hide behind the walls again. He elaborated on the plan some more and they nodded in agreement. "Don't risk your lives, run immediately when you feel like you're in trouble." He said to them as a conclusion. Finally he stood up and motioned them to go to their positions, "let's go." He commanded.
Broll went to the left while Vien headed right. Baba stayed in her position and John climbed up a building and laid prone, clutching his rifle. From his inventory, he pulled the last dynamite he had and lit it.
3..
2..
1!
He threw the dynamite on a group of pirates who were standing further from the villagers. He then lined up his rifle and activated Tunnel Vision and shot an enemy in the head as the dynamite fell.
BOOM!
25 exp!
20 exp!
20 exp!
Headshot! 3x crit!
25 exp!
At the sound of the explosion, his three deckhands appeared from behind a building and shot an enemy each.
10 exp!
13 exp!
Surprisingly, not as many enemies fell from the first attack as he expected. His dynamite only took out three people and one of his crewmates' shot wasn't enough to defeat an enemy. Now the enemies have become aware of their existence.
"Retreat! Retreat! Horns strategy!" Gally, who had escaped the explosion immediately started giving orders as he scurried away in a nearby alley. The pirates ran in opposite directions and entered the alleyways.
John was surprised at the pirates' use of strategy. He didn't see many pirates who fought like this in the series. He layed low and observed their movement.
"Found one!" Shouted one of them. It was near where Broll was positioned. John quickly got up and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he can't let Broll get hurt.
SKILL ACQUIRED!
Parkour lvl 1 - Run and jump over obstacles 5% faster. Plus 5% chance of falling safely.
When he got there, he saw Broll blocking a pirate's sword with his scimitar. Luckily the pirates can't fire their pistol in such closed spaces, so Broll was unhurt. John immediately shot the pirate in the head, alerting the pirates of his presence.
25 exp!
"There are enemies on the rooftops!" One of them shouted very loudly. John assumed it was to notify the other groups around them. He immediately ran to the other side of the alley and jumped down directly on one of the pirates, smashing him on the pavement.
20 exp!
"Shoot and run!" John shouted at Broll whose eyes widened in understanding. BANG! They both shot quickly, taking down two of the enemies and ran to the right.
20 exp!
10 exp!
A sharp noise flew across John's head as a shot came from the enemy's pistol. He quickly rolled to the side and returned fire, shooting an enemy in the stomach. The shot didn't kill but the enemy fell over in pain.
25 exp!
Only three enemies remained chasing him and one got close and raised his sword to slash John. He ducked and used [Gun bash] on the man's nose, making him bleed.
AP - 32/43
60 damage!
Knockout failed!
Even though the pirate didn't get knocked out, he was still stunned for 0.5 seconds, giving John time to shoot him point blank and blow his brains up.
AP - 37/43
20 exp!
Blood splattered on John's face and clothes as the pirate plopped down on top of him. He then pushed the dead pirate off him and got up from the ground. John stared at the two remaining pirates who looked at him with fear. Just then he heard a shout.
"John!" Broll ran towards him with three pirates on his tail. The young deckhand had a slash wound on his back and his scimitar missing. The pirates behind him were grinning as if they were playing with their prey. All three of them whipped out their pistols and shot lazily at the young deckhand's back. John felt adrenaline rushing in his veins as he promptly activated Tunnel Vision and jumped to tackle Broll to the side.
AP - 37…33…29
The bullets whooshed through the space they were previously at and one of them grazed John's shoulder as they both landed on the ground with a thud.
HP - 200/225
The former soldier was quick to roll to the side and activated Tunnel Vision again as he aimed at the enemies' heads.
AP - 25…
BANG! A bullet flew in the air and found its way through a pirate's eye and out the back of his head.
AP - 26
BANG! Another bullet whizzed quickly and pierced a man's forehead perfectly in the center.
AP - 27
BANG! The third bullet flew and penetrated the last pirate's neck.
AP - 32/43
All three of them fell to the ground at the same time as the slow down effect ended.
25 exp!
20 exp!
25 exp!
John got up and turned to look at the two remaining pirates in that area, his face and clothes covered in blood. Upon seeing such a sight, the two ran off quickly towards their ship.
The bounty hunter staggered and was about to fall on his knees but Broll caught him. He slinged John's arm on his shoulder and asked. "Are you okay?" John nodded and pointed him to where the others were located. He hoped they were doing fine.
A figure suddenly came running from the front and yelled. "John, Broll! Are you two alright?" It was Baba, their veteran sailor. When the pirates scattered, they went towards the left and right, which means she was left alone in her position in the middle. She came running when she heard gunfire from Broll's position.
John instructed her to take point as he recovered his stamina.
My stamina isn't listed in my status, so I have to be careful not to run out. Also, I've just discovered how to recover AP in battle…
They trudged ahead and saw the villagers huddled together at the center of the town square. To the side, they witnessed a truly horrible sight. A young woman was trying to keep a few pirates from getting to the crowd. She held a saber in hand as she struggled to fight several of them at once. Her whole body was covered in cuts and slashes, and her blood was splattered all over the floor. The pirates all looked fine except for a few shallow cuts and they looked like they were enjoying toying with the young swordswoman.
As John and his crewmates entered the scene, both the pirates and the villagers turned to look at the newcomers. And as John looked up, his eyes happened to meet with the young woman's eyes, which held a burning fire within them.