The tavern was in chaos, at least until Yuurei got serious. His voice calmed the storm that was the in-house fighting. Everyone stopped, both those who supported the ruffian that started the fight, and the others. Even Gideon himself was intimidated. This aura about him, fueled by anger, he had not seen it before, not even during the fights with the marines or the slavers. How much power did this man have hiding? Whatever it was, no one will see it at that moment, for everyone gave up the fight and the lead ruffian ordered for everyone to depart, in which they did.

With the atmosphere calm, the workers and Yuurei began to clean up. With a sigh of relief, Gideon began assisting as well, picking up chairs in between fingers and arranging them around the room by simply stretching his arm over. Yuurei suggested to clean up the debris, Gideon nodded in reply and began sweeping the debris with his hand as if it was a broom. Cleaning didn't bother him; as a matter of fact, it was a way to normally calm him down. If he had his supplies, he would have cleaned more appropriately and even assisted in cooking, but that was overthinking.

After he was done, Gideon pulled back and stretched his arms and back, feeling a little sore in an uncomfortable position. He looked down and noticed Yuurei was back in his seat, "First time I've seen such fire in your eyes, makes me wonder if you were holding back in earlier fights I've seen you in, even the battle on the warship" Gideon noted.

Within a moment, a worker rolled out another keg. Gideon picked it up, "Thank you" he said before he popped the top. The worker thanked him in reply before turning to head back inside. Though it wasn't Yuurei's intention, the day still drew blood, metaphorically of course, but ultimately, no one died and the battle ended quickly enough to grab a seat and continue drinking, "Sorry I couldn't help more, I tried giving them the finger" Gideon joked before he took a swig. This was probably the first time he had a happy mood after a fight, which was surprising, even to him.

Yuurei heard the words of his friend as he had spoken about what just happened. Yuurei could only chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. The chuckling stopped and it would turn into a smile as he was looking at Gideon. It wouldn’t take long for Gideon to get another keg for him to drink. The waitress came back to Yuurei as well with a mug filled with beer for him. He grabbed it and nodded while raising his glass as a thank you to her. She nodded and walked away; she was enjoying the fact that he was around, and from other people’s point of view could tell that she was crushing on Yuurei. Still, when he turned to look at Gideon the man had apologized for not being able to help him more. Yuurei pouted as he heard those words as it was not something he wanted to hear from him.

”You help me the best you could. You made sure that a lot of the people rushing towards my back didn’t get to hit me. I’m thankful for that, so no worries.” He said this as he moved the mug to his mouth and started drinking his alcohol without a care in the world. When he drank a good amount of it, he moved it away from his mouth, and on to the table. ”I didn’t hold back before. I just figured I got stronger every time we finished a fight. I learned from the little mistakes I go through and make sure that I don’t repeat it next time.” He said this as he looked at Gideon. He could only put a smile on his face because it wasn’t just him that was stronger. ”I don’t think I’m the only person who got stronger too. I peeped when you tossed one of the guys really faraway. It was scary, and not something I want happening to me.” He laughed when he said this because that was a funny sight to see.

Still, they were more relax now that the rowdy crowd was now gone from the Tavern. It was lively, but in a good way as the men who fought each other were now enjoying their time together. He looked around for a second, and wondered how these guys could pretend like nothing had happened. He sighed as he figured that was just the life of drunks as he turned to look at his friend. He leaned back on his chair and looked at Gideon as he wanted to learn more about his friend. ”Now that we settled that and got all the negativity out of this Tavern, let’s get back to getting to know each other better Gideon.” He said this as he moved the mug towards his face. He didn’t drink it though as he was thinking about what he wanted to say to his friend.

The people in the tavern already knew that the man with the white robe and the large amount of sword was a scary person. He wasn’t a person they wanted to mess with, so they knew to behave unless they wanted to feel his wrath. ”What did you use to do growing up Gideon. You said cook is something you did when you were growing up, but is it the only thing you use to do? Spill the beans let me know.” He said this to his friend with a smile on his face. Yuurei placed the mug on his lip now to shut him up, so he could hear Gideon speak, and drink his alcohol as well.

The men that ran away from the tavern had soon made their way to their ship. A bunch of them were beat up from the fight that happened not too long ago. They were taken to the med bay quickly, and a few people had walked over to the man in charge of the people who were hurt. ”Just because you are the boss’s son doesn’t mean you get your comrades hurt. Now tell me who did this?” The mysterious man asked. ”it was a man with a white robe on him. He was protecting this waitress that hit me for no reason. I want to go back there, and take that woman away, so that man could understand my pain.” He said this clearly lying about what truly happen. The man stood straight up now when he heard those words. ”Then we will go back and get this woman, and take her back to the hideout. Your father will know what to do with her. And if this woman is important the person who did to our friends will come chasing after her, and I will kill him for harming everybody here. So, let’s go and capture this woman.” The man said as he was about ten feet tall and started walking in the direction of the Tavern. The man who was a snob followed behind him to identify the woman that bumped him.

Gideon brought the keg to his lips whenever Yuurei complemented him, trying to hide his embarrassment, "Ah, go kill yourself, it's not like you're impressing me or anything" he muttered under his breath, trying to hide his flattered expression. He then took another swig before looking down at Yuurei, he was entirely sure that Yuurei was holding back. This long-armed man was able to clear the deck of a warship by conjuring a tornado from his blades; that wasn't magic, it was skill.

Immediately after the trade of compliments, Yuurei was quick to jump onto what they were talking about before the whole debacle happened. "Well aren't you one to pry" Gideon joked, but he then shrugged his shoulders, giving he had told Yuurei the most serious part of his past, figuring there wasn't anything else to worry about, "Well I had a bit of a green thumb, planting was a bit of a hobby, but I ended up slowing on that, hiding it; I was already getting picked on for cooking, didn't want to make it worse" Gideon avoided eye contact with the first-mate, not wanting to make it awkward, "Then there's reading stories of heroism and pirates, they were my inspiration on finding my freedom and taking life by the neck; Heroes of Asgard, Tales of Hellbeard" The giant chuckled before he took another swig.

"And what about you, swordsman-chan?" at this point, Gideon wasn't aware, but he was beginning to feel tipsy, acting a bit out of character.

* * *

Meanwhile at the docks, an elderly man steps off a boat which recently arrived. He takes a look about the scenery, enjoying the sight, ranging from the buildings, the clouds high in the air, the clouds on the floor and even the woman that walked about, "Such beauty, such possibility" he said with a smile.

"Would you like some help, sir?" a young man asked, noticing the elderly man was holding a single suitcase.

"No thank you young lad, I'm fine right here" And with that, the man began walking into town intending on finding a hotel he could stay in while he began his hunt for the legendary 'Anguis Gladius', the Snake Blade.

Yuurei heard Gideon’s words the moment he asked about his past. He could only laugh when he heard it. He was one to try to get to know the people he would be working with for a long time. He rubbed the back of his head as he knew that when he asked these types question, then he would be subjective to answering them to, if they were asked. He learned something new about his friend, and it was that he was a man who grew flowers. He could only smile at this man because if it weren’t for all the killing he made him do, then he would have been really known as a gentle giant. What Yuurei was learning from his friend was that he enjoyed life in a way that was different from a lot of people. He knew that he wouldn’t push his friend into doing something he wouldn’t want to do anymore.

The swordsman heard him speak about his books that he read, and when he named , Yuurei didn’t know what any of it meant. He didn’t really read growing up, for he was doing other things to keep himself alive. Of course, Gideon had turned the question he asked towards him. He had chuckled about this, and knew it would happen. Still, the way he asked him was different from any time before, and he figured his friend was feeling the alcohol. ”What I use to do as a kid. I did a lot, but nothing like you Gideon. Where do I start.” He paused as he was trying to think about starting with the good things, or starting with the bad things. After thinking about for a few seconds, he figured he would start with the good stuff first.

”I use to spend a lot of time with my parents. My mother always trained me, and showed me how to do little things. I figured she knew I would end up leaving the island and doing this. I never asked her about my middle initial, but when I told the man who train me to master Armament, he was surprised, and called it the Will of D. It was also in my mother’s name, but I never questioned it. With my father he would take me out to the woods, and teach me to survive in the wild, and of course about different types of swords this world had to offer.” He paused for a breath getting air, and drinking more from his mug. It was a nice sensation that went through his system, and he felt the alcohol getting to him, but it was normal for that to occur.

”That was just my good part, now for the bad. I had a group of friends, there were eight of us, and we use to go around stealing from the town we lived in. I did this when I was young, and it was the way I provided for my family. It was how we ate, and didn’t starve. My parents never asked me how I got these things because they knew I would tell them the truth. My parents are poor and trust me I don’t know how. I feel like my mother could teach a whole island how to use a sword. And I swear my father could work as a blacksmith. I never asked them why they chose this life.” He was talking a lot, and a bit of the time he went off topic, but it was because he was no longer sober.

”Anyways me and my friends would steal together, which meant that there were times when we got caught. My group would slowly decrease in numbers as they were taken by the marines. I don’t know what happened to them, but when they came back for paying their crimes, they no longer hung out with me. They stopped stealing, and it didn’t take long for my group to turn into two people.” Yuurei was getting into his past, and it was something he didn’t think he would ever do, but he was doing this, so Gideon could understand him better. ”Me and my friend would steal together, and one day I got caught. The thing is I wasn’t take to the marines, but the man who caught me started torturing me. He took a blade, and started cutting into my lower back. My friend saw this, and he was brave enough to come and save me.” He paused as this hit him emotionally.

The thief looked down as he gather himself before looking back to Gideon. ”He rushed inside the house and smack the man across the head with something. He was strong enough to knock the man to the ground, but not strong enough to knock him out. He freed me from the man’s grasp, but before we could run, the man got up and stabbed my friend in the back with the same blade that he tortured me with. I froze then, and there, but had enough in me to run away. I left my friend there to die, while I rushed home to my parents. They never asked me what happened that day, but instead tended my wounds, and figured it out by themselves when they saw my friend’s body being returned to his family.” His past was long, but it was coming to an end.

”The marines didn’t do anything, and it was because we committed a crime as well. There was nothing anybody could do about it. From there on I decided to work alone, as I didn’t want the same thing repeating to me again. I did join Mashyuu, which I didn’t think I would, but I did, which made me want to grow stronger. You guys are my family, and I want to make sure that I don’t lose you guys like I lost my previous friends.” He choked up at the end, and he didn’t want to cry, so he held it in, and drank more of his alcohol while he waited for Gideon to comment.

Gideon took another swig from the keg. The day was going as well as he hoped and the atmosphere was lightened. People began to return to the tavern, noticing it had gotten quieter, safer, now that the ruffians were gone, a few of them waved at the pirates, acknowledging them, probably figuring they were the ones who had taken care of the situation.

Yuurei story had began with a bit of an oddity. Gideon never heard of this 'Will of the D', or even if it had any type of significance outside of the Swordsman island; a middle name is a middle name, nothing more, or at least that is what he believes, besides, the only thing to it was a single initial, the letter could mean anything, but what was most confusing was that Yuurei had never discussed this with him before, something so simple, or suppose to be so simple.

Then the story took a darker turn. Gideon stopped for a moment, held the keg by his mouth, he looked upon Yuurei as he paid mind to the tale. By what he could tell, the pirate grew up in poverty, such a life was most likely the reason behind how his skill sharpened and such a trauma involving his friend was what probably influenced his decision on not holding back during fights; this did indeed make more sense.

The look on Yuurei's face surprised Gideon, to see him in such a vulnerable state was rare and he didn't want to pry or worsen the situation even after the story was done. There was a moment of silence. The giant took another swig from the keg, his heart feeling the melancholy of the atmosphere.

"Life has it's dark days as well as it's good days" Gideon said under his breath; he wasn't sure what he could have said. They both had their dark days and they were doing what they could to get by as they are doing at that moment, "So... what's your plan... your goal?" He asked, hoping to liven the conversation as best as he could.

Yuurei was asked a question; he asked if he had a goal, and the pirate could only smile. There were probably a couple of things he could have done with his life, but there was something in particular he wanted to do. ”I had planned to make a crew sooner or later. I was going to gather a bunch of people who loved swords together, and traveled the world with them. Things change, and now I’m on a ship with someone else as the Captain. I am glad with Mashyuu as the captain, and I want to make that man the strongest person in the world. I want to make sure no pirate crew dare tries to stand up to us. I have heard that people with this Will of D. can change the world, so I plan on doing that for Mashyuu. It doesn’t matter if I have to be in par with him in power, but nobody will ever think of us as weakling.” He paused leaking out what he wanted to do for his captain.

”I also plan on going all around the world, and collecting every sword there is. As of now I fight for the swords that I want, but I will always ask those to surrender their swords, or else die by my hand. With these swords like I said I will use them, or pass them around my allies to use. I will not store them as display, but allowed them to be use and be free.” Yuurei was feeling the alcohol even more now, and he placed the mug down on the table. He was calming himself down now as he leaning back on his chair. He figured that he had enough to drink, so he was done for the day. He did noticed that the sun was setting from this side of world, which meant it was getting late for them. He raised his hand up, and he didn’t know why he did it. ”What is your plan, your goal Gideon?” He asked his friend with curiosity in his voice.

While all of this was happening the man who had run away from the tavern was making his way back to the place. He wasn’t alone though, behind him was a tall man standing about tenth feet tall without a shirt on walked through the streets of this city. The man had a white skull mask, which had blood stained in certain areas. His had several weapons on his back, but none of them were in his hands to use. ”Are we almost there yet? I don’t like the city. It is why I stood back on the ship, and allowed you to go out and have fun.” The mysterious man asked. ”We are right close by. Just one more turn.” He said this as he turned the corner. They were on the other side of the Tavern, so they would not be bumping heads with Yuurei, and Gideon, which he did on purpose.

This man wanted to get the girl without those two interfering, and he figured they would be intoxicated about now. Still, the man’s eyes widen, and he had a huge smile on his face as he looked at the ten foot tall man. ”That is the girl who started all of this. She is the reason why everyone in our crew got hurt.” He said this the man, and he nodded listening to what he had to say. The girl was taking a five-minute break from work. She was relaxing, and talking to one of her employees now. They were just chatting it up, until she noticed the man who was not too far from where she stood. Her eyes widen because she had been traumatized by him. She was about to scream, but the man with the mask was no longer next to his boss’s son.

Instead, the man was behind the girl, and chopped on her neck. She gasped, and then lost balance; the man with the mask caught her, and placed her on his shoulder. ”Do we take this girl to?” He asked. ”No leave her. She will tell them that her friend has been taken.” When he said this the mysterious man started walking back to towards the ship. The woman who stood there for a few minutes, she was shocked on what she saw. Her friend had been taken by a scary looking person, and the man that was in the Tavern earlier today. She had to gather herself, and she started screaming her lungs out, but nobody could hear her. She had rushed into the Tavern, and straight to the side where the open tavern resided. She continued to scream historically and it caught everyone’s attention at the Tavern.

At this point Gideon would have already told Yuurei about his goal, or not. Yuurei would have turned to look at the girl as she was screaming her lungs out. The swordsman got up from his seat as he looked towards the woman. ”Can you stop screaming, and tell me what happen please?” He asked her, hoping she would calm down. She was breathing hard, but at the same time she was trying her best to gather herself, so she could talk. ”They took her…The man who grabbed her came back, and took her. They were heading towards East from the Tavern. I don’t know what they are going to do to her. Someone please save her!” She said this, and started crying. Yuurei looked at Gideon and sighed. ”I guess today just start Gideon. Let’s go see who the hell we truly dealing with.” He was intoxicated. ”Pick me up. When you are ready and let’s head east man.” He said with a serious face, but he was trying to be calm through his intoxication.

Picture of Mystery man:

[/b]

Gideon took another swig from the keg as he listened to Yuurei's story. Every so often he would nod his head to let him know he was listening, although he became lost in the words, missing certain things until Yuurei explained his hunt for swords. The atmosphere became quieter, colder, at least to Gideon. As far as he could tell, this wasn't some mere treasure hunt, whatever blades Yuurei sought, he intended on acquiring them... by any means. Gideon realized the more he learned about Yuurei, the more dangerous he seemed; he seemed like a bloodbath waiting to happen and only his desire for companionship kept him from massacring the entire island, to Gideon that wasn't an exaggeration, he truly believed Yuurei was strong enough, and determined enough leave countless bodies in his wake.

Gideon was beginning to wonder if he was truly safe traveling with such a time-bomb when his focus was drawn back to Yuurei's sudden question. "My goal?" he finished downing his keg, due to being so nervous, "Well, all I ever focused on was becoming strong enough so that one day I'll be able to free my mother and take down my father's killer" he put the keg down and looked up to Jormungander, still towering over the tavern, "Afterwards, I'll figure out something to do, maybe find a wife and settle down, I don't know" He pretty much threw such thoughts to the back of his mind, finding it tedious since he was trying to focus mainly on relaxing and enjoying his day off...

Or so he thought...

The scream of a window escaped the tavern which drew Gideon's attention. Another worker was stammering, getting her words out to Yuurei who was the first to confront her. Hearing of the waitress being kidnapped by the same ruffian from before aggravated him. Not only did this guy take the innocent waitress, but also took away Gideon's day off.

The giant stood up and nearly stumbled. "Son of gun is begging to get his tail kicked" his hand tightly gripped the handle of Jormungander, then he pulled the blade form the ground and laid the dull of it against his right shoulder. He then picked up Yuurei and placed him on the left shoulder, then after a deep breath, he began taking strides towards the east.

Every few steps, Gideon nearly hit a building structure, but luckily caught himself, all the while continuing his run, "We let this guy and his posse off the hook, and this is how he acts?" he said; it was obvious from his grumbling that he was feeling his drink, normally he would be more concerned and cautious, but now he was just simply annoyed, closed to pissed.

Soon arriving at the port, as expected from a sprinting giant, a ship came into view, as ship that was already departing, "Crab cakes! is that them!?" Gideon looked to Yuurei wondering what the plan was now.

Yuurei had been grabbed like he had requested; his friend had placed him on his shoulder as he left the tavern without asking any questions. That was good, but he knew that his friend had too much to drink. The thief had to hold onto him with a tighter grip than usual. He could feel the giant tumbling, which made nervous. He was intoxicated as well, and his eyes widen when he saw that they were about to hit a building. His friend was able to stop himself, and Yuurei sighed because that would have been a messy situation. ”Watch where you going Gideon. Don’t go killing yourself either.” He said as he was blunt, but that was the alcohol talking. It would take them a while to get to the port because of the intoxication his friend was going through. Still, they were able to get there, but it seemed like they had gotten there too late.

The swordsman’s eyes scanned the area as he was trying to find the captured girl with any of the guys that were at the tavern. There was nobody around, but he did take note of a big ship sailing away from them. He wasn’t of course the only person who noticed that; Gideon had asked if it were them, and he tried his best to try to make them out, but it didn’t work. Yuurei got up from Gideon’s shoulder, and he pulled out the vision dial that Daimaru had allowed to have. He took a video of the ship, and when the ship was barely in sight, he stopped the video recorded, and played it. Yuurei looked closely on the ship, and he could see that the guy who had grabbed a hold of the woman was on that ship. He shook his head because today was supposed to be their drinking day.

”Yeah that man is on the ship, but I didn’t see the girl. They probably locked her up, or at least I hope that is what they did.” He sighed as he sat down on Gideon’s shoulder as he put the vision dial away. He knew what they had to do, for he felt like he was responsible on what happen. ”I guess our day off from all of this has come to an end. We are going to rescue this girl, and make sure that guy learns his lesson. Gideon we will be going after him, when you are ready let’s go after that ship before it disappears fully.” He said this to Gideon as he pointed in the direction on where the ship was heading. Their adventure had just started though as the people they were going against had an agenda.

The duo didn’t know this, but soon they would find that there were a group of pirates on Skypiea. This crew would be large, and have a secret agenda with Angel Island. This was going to go from saving a girl, into something deeper than that. Still, for now they would have to catch up to the ship, which looked like it was heading to an area in UpperYard.

[EXIT]

Gideon watched as the ship sailed off, Yuurei using the visual Den Den mushi to get a better look. It pained the giant to stand there, doing nothing but watching as the kind-hearted waitress being taken away when she was simply innocent in all this. He gripped the handle of Jormungandr tightly, wishing he could bring the blade down upon the ship with all his might, but that was only a thought; the water separated them from the culprits and Yuurei was right, the longer they were there, the further they would get away.

Gideon removed his jacket and tied it around his waist, then put Jormungandr onto his back, "Let's do this" he said as he ran for the docks. With one long jump, Gideon flew through the air and dove into the water of the white-white sea. As he swam with long strokes, he had placed Yuurei onto his back, hopefully the smaller pirate wouldn't be able to keep himself on while the giant did his best to keep up with the ship, wherever it had went.

Every so often, he began to wonder if Yuurei was right, if they would have dealt with the man permanently, then would they have been able to prevent the water from being captured? Little did he know, the answer was a strong 'No', the threat behind that ruffian was more than he could imagine, now the duo are making their way towards a fight that will force them to bring out their best just to survive, for this was more than just to settle a score, it was to bring home a woman who they had roped into their problem, like a curse that befell the Phantom Crew, and now they must do what they can to lift that curse and raise some hell.

[Exit]