Friendly Flora, Fatal Fauna:

Another day in, another day of being thrown out. This time, out of Mock Town entirely. Cast out, ostracized, sent to become a hermit of the lands themselves. Elias Weltenbauer was chased out of the town for the day. Yes, this happened from time to time. When you are a pariah in the eye of pirates for marines always wanting to collect you, living in a town of pirates made you a target for a lot of ridicule and people not wanting to talk to you. Hell, it felt like he went through his days as one of those weirdos that everyone in school talked about behind their back. And, that wasn't really far from the truth. Just take school kids and replace them with burly pirates, and take the school and replace it with an island of salvaged junk and ships made by pirates, for pirates.

And so, we turn to Elias, walking out of Mock town with his hands behind his head, fingered laced together over his hood as he waltzed on out of the town and toward the wilderness. Whistling to himself as his red eyes looked up at the clouds passing overhead. He got out of town today without being the target of a hit, without being target practice, hell, he wasn't even thrown through a window, or a door, or a roof! Today, it was a good day! So what better day to take than to head out of town and to his little private hovel he had set up in the wilderness a couple of weeks back.

Thanks to his skill with plants, he was able to grow a few things here and there in the secluded parts of the jungle-like forest. Back in the forest-jungle-thing-whatever-you-call-it, Elias had managed to grow a series of durable and bendy leaves. Gluing them together with a sap grown from a second plant to make his own private hut and a garden on the side so that he wouldn't need to worry about food.

However, while he was walking away, behind him by about five hundred feet, were a series of pirates gathering up their tools and weapons. They had some serious plans. Plans to deal with Elias. If they could dispose of the bad luck charm, they could make sure no one, not that Mashyuu Ishi or whoever else was fool hearty enough to take Elias with them, would not be getting the Curse of Weltenbauer. ANd so, the story of Friendly Flora and Fatal Fauna began!

Yuurei wasn’t back on the island for that long, and if things were moving pretty quickly. His captain had gotten several new recruits to join them, but the thief wasn’t able to meet any of them just yet. He was okay with that because he knew that this would give him enough time to get stronger and prepare himself for the guys, or girls that were joining their adventure. He was able to free himself from the little entourage that followed him everywhere. He knew that they were just nervous with experience something new, but they had to learn how to move around on their own. He wanted some alone time and it was actually to get stronger. The best thing about being back on the Grand Line was the fact he was able to wear his old clothing again. It was nice to be able to wear the eye patch again, which he enjoyed how misleading it could be.

The man’s training spot coincidently happened to be in the forest that was on the outskirts of Mock Town. He had remembered the first time he chose to train here. It was a secluded area, and nobody would come here to bother him. Yuurei would move through the forest as he was avoiding the tree branches that were close to his face. It felt like he wasn’t on this island for months, and in fact, that was true. The thief hoped over a stomp, and soon enough he was able to reach the opening that the forest had. There was a certain place in this forest he would come to train, and he had reached the location. He had spread his arms in the air as he was standing still, and his head tilted upward. He closed his eyes as he was enjoying the sun’s ray that shot down in this part of the forest. He took in a deep breath as he felt amazing and alive.

He could feel the world around him and knew that when the crew made their way back to Skypiea, their goal was to take down the Gods that lived there. It would be their biggest task ever, and he knew that with time they would be capable of doing so. Still, Yuurei opened his eyes as he exhaled all the air that he could and then placed his arms to his side. He looked around as he looked at that wasn’t too far from him. It was a clearing, but he used this specific tree for his exercise. He was about to run towards the tree, and start climbing it, but then he remembered there was something else he could do. He reversed his gravity force, allowing him to float in the air, which from where he was able to navigate to the branch.

When he got close to the branch, he grabbed a hold of it and lifted himself up. He sat on the thick branch and started moving his legs back and forth. This place brought back so many memories, that he felt that it was unreal to be back here. ”I’ve done a lot, but it seems like I’ve done so little. I guess Skypiea was just so messed up, that they had a lot of fixing to go through. Now I wondered what kind crap would I get myself on this island?” He asked himself as he didn’t know what would happen in this forest. There would be someone who needed his help, and he would offer his help if the chance ever came for it.

His hut, his own little home away from home that he didn't have. What would you even call that if you had no home but had a home away from it? Just a home? Well, it was temporary housing, so that couldn't be something that one would have to consider a home, just housing. ANd he had to dismantle it and rebuild it now and then whenever it rained. So, could you even call it housing? Was it just shelter? He thought all of this to himself with his left arm folded across his chest. His right elbow in his left palm while his right hand scratched the side of his tilted head. Those red eyes of his looking at the hut with a semi-circular opening that was reminiscent of the taller half of an egg.

It was a bunch of insanely large banana leaves all lain horizontally around the base of the hut, curved to make a nice mostly circular fashion. Splotches of yellow, a few brown patches, but it was mostly green to blend in with the surroundings.  Around the top of the cylindrical hut rested a conic dome, pointed at the top with the point ends of the leaves forming a nice child's drawing sun shape if one were to look down on it from a bird's eye view. Inside was a hand hewed bookshelf with some mock books made out of leaves stuck in it. A desk carves from a stump and a chair carved out of that same tree with moss thrown over it for padding. Hanging in the corner (could a circular hut have a corner?) and up near the roof was a hammock of a large banana leaf, more moss used for a blanket.

Like he thought before, while looking over the garden of specialized plants growing next tot he hut, this isn't five star living, but at least, with his knowledge of plants, he could at least make due with the friendly flora and make it livable.  It was an admirable feat, yes, but one that might not work out for him in the long run. You see, those pirates from before? They were hunting Elias for one reason and one reason alone. If they simply killed the source of bad luck, the bad luck goes away, and pirates can sail safely from Jaya without the marines hunting them down.

These pirates were stupid mind you, but desperate times call for necessarily drastic measure. They couldn't track Elias. But they could burn down the forest he was hiding in! With three lit Molotov cocktails, they called out for Elias. "Oi! Bad Luck Charm! Yous come out of that forest and yous will not have to see your plants burned to the ground before yous!" From the fights Elias had been in, they knew that if they took away the source of his ammunition, and the source of his shelter, he would have nowhere to go. SO, maybe they weren't so dumb after all?

Elias meanwhile just grimaced for a moment. Really? They were gonna resort to something as boring as that? That old literary cliche of destroy everything around just to get one target? He grumbled to himself and collected his slingshot and satchel of seeds that he had on hand, heading out to meet with these pirates. They were a group of nine, and they seemed to mean serious business with the wandering wordsmith.

Yuurei would continue to sit on the branch of the tree; he was thinking about the people he had met on Sky Island and those that he had to leave behind. He didn’t get rid of all of the slavery, and the head of the snake was still out there, in the sky. It annoyed Yuurei that he wasn’t able to do anything about it, but it would stupid for him to complain about it. Instead, he just looked at this island and figured that the people on this island would be needing his help, so he was planning on working down below before Mashyuu felt like he was ready to go back to the sky and take care of Quinn. He could only wonder what he could do to get stronger, and he looked at the blades that were on his side. His hunt for the blades needed to continue as he had stopped after he found his last one.

While he was thinking about this though he could hear shouting from the distance. Yuurei was close to this hut, and he didn’t even know. He didn’t use his observation when he came out here because he wanted to be at peace. Still, the yelling made his ears twitched, and he closed his eyes to make out the words that they were shouting about. He heard them talking about burning the plants around here. It made Yuurei twitch a bit because he was in the forest. It wasn’t just that, but the one place that he used to escape the town was going to be burn to the grown. He wasn’t going to allow anybody to do that, so what he was going to do about it. Still, what he could tell from their shouting, they were trying to get someone to come out.

The thief wondered who cared about the forest that they would threaten the wildlife. Yuurei stopped swinging his legs back and forth as he was a little annoyed. Those words stung him to his core, and he wanted to smack these people. The wildlife gave them everything they needed to survive, and if they got rid of it, then they were just making their lives harder. He got up and onto his feet as he was looking around the area. He heard their voice, but he couldn’t pinpoint their location from where he was. The swordsman closed his eyes and activated his Observation as it spread out all around. He could feel the animals around him as some were moving around and away in a certain direction. There were others who were sleeping and not moving from what he could tell. Then there was one person in the direction to his right.

It wasn’t just him, but he could also feel the presence of nine other people behind him. Yuurei figured that these people were possibly the people threatening to burn this forest, while the one person was the one they were looking for. It seemed like the one presence that was on his own was making his move. Yuurei smiled because that was one brave soul. He figured that he would give him some help because he could clearly tell who the bad people were, or were they just stupid. Yuurei pushed off the branch he was in, and towards the direction where the nine people were. He jumped from branch to branch as he was making sure that the ones he landed on would be thick enough to suppose his weight. He would continue to move, and soon enough he would come to a stop.

Yuurei could see the nine men standing there as they were looking around to see if their target would show up. The thief sat on the branch he was standing on and looked at the nine with an angry face. ”I hope you guys weren’t serious about burning down this forest. I come here to train, and if you guys actually burn this forest down, then I don’t think you will understand what that means, so please put out the fire because if I have to find a new place to train, and you guys would be what enriches the soils for the plants to grow.” He said to them. They all looked at Yuurei as they were surprised that someone else was in here. They heard what he said and were confused on the last part he said. Still, he knew what he said and what it meant as he waited for these guys to answer him with an okay, or a no.

1/20 Haki

The thirteen pirates hadn't thrown anything yet, the forest wasn't blazing. It wasn't even smoldering. They were trying to threaten whoever was in the forest to come on out when Yuurei showed up and tried to lecture them. The leader of them, some dude with a penchant for fire if the fuses braided in to his mustache and eyebrows were any indicator. The guy looked rather large. Easily twelve feet tall. Cotton fuses tied in to his black hair and a white tri-corn hat on his head. He had an open vest that revealed scorch marks all over his body.  Even the cutlass he held in his left hand had a special port along the blade. A simple push of the trigger and the blade would expel an ignitable gas to set the sword ablaze. "Oi! We know what's gonna happen. But that's fine if yous knew what was in that forest. It's a curse. A walking, breathing curse for anyone, even yous! It's not human whatever it is. Despite how it looks, it brings misfortune on any pirate crew that associates with it! So get yours ass out of here so we can do the world a service! Ready men!" He raised up his sword, all of them lifting up their Molotovs, ready to throw them.

However, they wouldn't be throwing them. As from the brush of the forest came flying a speck. A brown speck that had a series of green stars scattered across it. It looked to be no bigger than a seed. And because Yuurei was tracking people and not attacks, it wouldn't be expected. The seed would land on the ground, and blow up as if inflating at a rapid velocity. A large open leafy plant. Looking down on it from the sky would reveal it looked exactly like some sort of child's drawing of a sun. But the center of it was some strange dew, a blue-purple dew that glistened in the light, and all of the pirates, ten of them that is, the other three safe from it as the leaves pushed them away, were sprung up in to the air thanks to the elastic nature of the plant.

They were sent up high in to the air, only to come crashing back down head first, getting buried in the ground up to their shoulders where they would go limp for a bit. None were dead, but they were certainly in a lot of pain and had to think about what just happened. "Oi! No one does that to the crew of Fusebeard!"

"Grow a beard first, and then you can call yourself that. But, I would recommend reading a book and coming up with a better name than that." Elias came ducking out of the brush, twiddling a new seed in between his index fingers and thumb, rolling it across his knuckles before he tossed it, and caught it with his left hand, tucking it in to the leather hide sling of his slingshot, pulling back on the elastic while he lined up a shot for Fusebeard, but then pointed his weapon at Yuurei. He didn't know if Yuurei was with them or not, but because he was so close, he just had to make the assumption.

Inventory:

Yuurei listened to them as they spoke about a curse. He rolled his eyes a bit when he heard the nonsense. He wasn’t buying what they said and he doubted that whomever they were talking about was actually cursed. The swordsman noticed that they were getting ready to throw their fiery cocktails, but he knew in his bones that he was going to have to stop them. He stood where he sat as his body twitched a bit. He was getting ready to move from his position and towards them, so that he could stop anything like this from happening. Still, it wouldn’t take long for something to happen. He noticed something soaring through the air and towards the men who were trying to burn the forest. He was confused at first, but then noticed that the seed had rapidly grew into something entirely different from its source.

His eyes widen when he saw this as he watched as it quickly bloomed, and threw ten of the men that were there into the air. Yuurei was impressed, and he could feel the presence of the person who had attacked them. That was a good man as he was probably trying to protect the forest. That is interesting. I got to ask him how they did that. He thought to himself as he took noticed that there were three of them that didn’t get caught by this surprised attack. In a sense Yuurei kind of caused a distraction, or it was how he looked at it. He watched the group of men fall to the ground and cringed when they hit their head on the ground. He laughed a bit as he found this funny and it was actually good to watch. ”Man I guess this curse you guys hate so much has really good aiming.” He said to the remaining three.

After it happened the man who spoke to him before wasn’t to please about what happened. The swordsman was just watching everything unfold as he wanted to get in on this, but figured watching this was better. It wouldn’t take long for the young man to show himself as he was talking down to the captain of this pirate crew. He noticed that he was playing with a seed, and then soon enough he had pointed the seed at this Fusebeard guy. He nodded as he was waiting to see if this seed would do the same thing, or if it was something different. Of course, his thoughts changed when he noticed that this new person in the scene of the crime was point his weapon at Yuurei. He was surprised because he didn’t think he would have been targeted.

Still, the man didn’t fire at him, but it was as if he were ready for Yuurei, or Fusebeard to make a move before he shot at them. ”Woo. I’m on your side; I was just telling these folks that they shouldn’t even do what they were thinking about doing. These are my training grounds, so I don’t want it to get destroy.” He said this as he explained himself. He wasn’t sure how strong this kid was, but he was a shooter for sure. Fusebeard looked at Yuurei as if he was trying to indicate that this was the curse he was talking about. The thief would look at the two back and forth for a few seconds before deciding to say anything. ”If this is the curse you talking about, then I don’t see it. I think you are over exaggerating on the manner.” He paused for a second as he looked at the men on the ground.

He chuckled a bit as he figured he could be a curse. ”I mean if you saying what happened to your men was due to this guy’s curse, then I say its precision and initiative that this guy has.” He said this as he was getting up from the branch. Yuurei placed his hand on his sheathed as his hand was leaning on it and he watched what happen next. He was here to stop the fire from happening, or spreading, and if happened he was going to put the fire out with a wind slash of his own.

2/20 Haki

"You don't get it lad. How many crews have gone down the drain because of that curse? Wherever that curse goes, marines and bounty hunters come along and the crew loses its flag and captain before they even make it out of the blues. The fact that its come to the Grand Line just means that soon marines and bounty hunters won't be enough. They're gonna call warlords, they're gonna bring in black hats, they'll bring in whatever they can to collect that curse themselves." Fusebeard said before that springy plant came out of the brush of the forest and displaced his crew entirely. ANd the moment that curse showed its face, he pulled the trigger on his sword and lifted up the flaming weapon, threatening to cut down the kid if the kid came any closer.

Elias just readied another seed in his sling shot, pointing at Yuurei at first, and then swung his arms over to Fusebeard while still readying that seed, and then back to Yuurei, "Yeah, I still don't feel good about trusting you right off the bat. So, you keep your distance, and I don't shoot. ANd as for you! Dig your men up, and leave! or else I use them for target practice." He shut one eye, keeping his vision on Fusebeard who still had that flaming sword at the ready.  He finally relented and lowered that sword, taking a few steps back before the flames along the sword shut off, the gas vent on the side of it shut off.

Fusebeard twiddled some of the fuses tied in to his mustache and huffed out an annoyed breath of air, "Fine. But I'm gonna be back, with more men. And we're gonna get rid of you. You're a pox. You're The Black Spot. You're nothing but a nuisance for this island! ANd we're gonna restore it to its glory!" He shouted while retreating, grabbing any men he could on the way out, grabbing three while the other two men that hadn't been buried up to their shoulders head first grabbed the men that were and dragged them out and back to the Mock Town.

"Well. That takes care of them, for now. But, he's probably gonna be back, and use the same tactic again. He's not the brightest of men, but he knows his pyrotechnics." Elias sighed and lowered his arms, rolling his shoulders backwards while his gaze was turned up to the clouds. Those red irises then turned, glaring right at Yuurei as he lifted up his arms again and returned to aiming at Yuurei, "So. You gonna leave with them? Or stay and make your case some more? Either way, I'm always up for a good story. Lie or otherwise. Entertain me." He said, pulling back on the elastic while ready to shoot the green and red-X marked seed in the burlap hide pouch. His fingers poised to let go and let the weaponized plant fly.

While he was waiting for something to happen, he could hear the man speak to him. He was trying his best to convince Yuurei, that the person with the slingshot was such a huge threat. That wasn’t how he saw it, and he could only shake his head. What he did noticed was that Elias kept pointing his weapon at him. He found it funny, but he didn’t want to get shot; he didn’t know what those seeds were capable of, so he didn’t want to make the wrong move. Instead, he let the man with the gun do the talking. He watched as he told Yuurei to stay in his place as he spoke to Fusebeard. He could only chuckle when he thought about that name as he didn’t understand why someone would name themselves that. He wondered what was going to happen next, and soon the man backed off.

Yuurei shook his head impressed about what happened, but wondered if this gunman was going to allow this man to just walk off. In his shoes he wouldn’t have allowed him to because they always come back. Of course, he didn’t do anything about it as he watched the man put his sword away. That was actually a cool sword, but it wasn’t the sword that Yuurei was looking for. He heard the man talk, and he could only shake his head when he heard that the man threaten him on coming back and getting rid of him this time. This guy had it tough and he wondered why these guys truly hated him. He didn’t look like he was a bad person and honestly he was trying to figure out what was so bad about him. If he let him go then he was a good person, which meant that this curse thing was bogus, and he figured that there must be a good story behind all of this.

The thief watched as the men that were left standing had dragged their men away from Elias and Yuurei. He could see that this was going to come back and bite this guy on the ass. When they had left the premises, his hand moved away from his handle as he looked over to the kid with the slingshot. He was wondering if he was ever going to lower his weapon. He heard the man speak and he nodded as he was agreeing with him. The swordsman seen these guys before and knew that they would always come back. He sighed when he saw the guy lower his arm as he thought it was all over, but then noticed that he aimed his weapon at him again.

Yuurei chuckled when he heard his words as if he were supposed to explain himself to him. ”I’m not going to leave, and you shouldn’t be aiming your weapon at people who are trying to help you.” He said this as he pushed off the branch he was on. He used enough force that it wouldn’t break, but he moved quickly and closer towards Elias. He would land behind the young man, but he didn’t do anything. ”I was here to stop them from burning down the forest as well. I used this forest to train, but it isn’t just that nobody wants to see the wildlife here in Jaya get burned down because of idiots.” He said as he explained his reason anyways. ”They left, and it is sad because I wouldn’t have let them go if I were you. They always come back and worse than before.” He said this as he was prepared for whatever the guy had in store for him.

”Still, I got to say I’m a little intrigue on why they don’t like you. Why are you called a curse, and why are they going to the extreme to get rid of you? I just don’t like it and I find it stupid.” He said this as he was little frustrated about the situation now that he thought about it. He still kept his Observation on though as he wasn’t sure what might happen, and it was always good to keep your senses open around you.


3/20

He lowered his weapon finally, after listening to what Yuurei had said to him, and let up on the tension he was creating by slowly moving his hands together. With a turn and a pinch, he got that seed out of the hide sack that held it, and tucked it away in to his satchel. His left hand tucking away behind his jacket, the handle of his slingshot put in to a nice leather holster. "I mean, I could kill them. But what good would that even do? You can teach them a lesson by beating them, letting them live and going home to think about it. it makes for better character development for them that way than for their story to end right there. Besides, boring as they may be, I'm not gonna kill every person I come across."

He walked toward Yuurei and stretched backwards, twisting his waist to the left, and then tot he right, his hands together above his head in a high triangular peak while his spine popped numerous times just to alleviate some stress build up. "And if they come back, I would be more than happy to teach them another lesson. You get two chances to make some good development, on your third loss, that's it, you haven't learned anything. You don't win in three goes, you don't deserve a win." There was some solemn seriousness in his voice. And those red eyes, that thousand year stare beyond Yuurei that he gave, melted away in an instant as he closed his eyes and smiled with a tilt of his head.

[color:4d01=tea']"As for that whole curse thing! It's a long story! Come on back to my place. I'll explain it to ya." He would swing an arm in a vertical motion from back to front, pointing on toward the deeper parts of the forest. If Yuurei were to follow, he would be lead right to Elias' hut, where he made himself at home by leaping up in to the hanging leaf hammock. With his hands tucked behind his head, fingers folded together, he started to explain.

"So first off, I don't know if you know the name, but I'm Elias Weltenbauer. I'm from the Weltenbauer family. We're sort of low on the rungs of nobility. It goes: Celestial Dragon, Royals, Vassal royals to the royals, nobles to the royals, and then low nobles - that's where we are."

"My father, however, has aspirations to make it up to the vassal level. he wants to make it so that we can attend the Reverie. He gets to go there, he gets to schmooze his way in to the good graces of royals, and marry me off in the process, climbing the social ladder. He wants to become a dragon through that method, if that's even possible."

"Now, you are probably wondering where I am going with this story, okay, so here's where it gets good: I don't give a rat's ass about what he wants. And I left. I ran away. I flew the coop. I absconded." He was leaving out some details, but what good story gives you all the details of their past in one huge chunk? Especially to a stranger.

"As for the curse, I can only imagine that Dear Old Dad wants me home. So he's paying marines and bounty hunters and mercenaries to hunt me down, and bring me home. So anyone who's ship I ride on sort of is marked if the government catches wind of me. I'm safe from all of that on Jaya, because no one comes here but pirates. But because of my reputation among pirates, no one will take me off of this island so I can achieve my goals." He sighed audibly in frustration.

Yuurei was waiting for something to happen. He didn’t know this person, and it felt like whatever he told him didn’t register. It was what it felt like at first, but then he noticed that he was putting down his weapon, which was a good thing and he was glad that he didn’t have to fight anybody that he didn’t have to. He rubbed the back of his head now and at the same time was listening to the guy speak to him. He was a smart man and the things he said were true. It was different for him. He had killed people, but he didn’t think they could change. He didn’t see the good that was hiding in their darkness, but that was just him. The people he killed were usually slave owners except for a few exceptions. Still, he nodded understanding where he was coming from.

He placed his right hand down to the side now as he watched the person move towards him. His eyes moved with him on every move he had done and he was talking again. He gave people chances, which was a good thing, but it was also a bad thing in his eyes. He just felt like things could go horribly wrong, and he had seen it many times. But, that was how he did things, and he knew that he couldn’t change his mind, but he would have to experience it firsthand. What made him curious about this person was this curse that those men were talking about. He wanted to know what was up with that, and he was hoping that he would tell about that. It wouldn’t take him long to catch him with his words. He wanted to know about the curse, and he was going to get to know about it, but first, he was going to have to go back to his place.

Yuurei didn’t think twice on the matter and he nodded with the decision to go and it would follow up with verbal words as well. ”Sure I will head over to your place, and then you can tell me all about it.” He said this with a smile on his face. He would follow him through the forest as there were a lot of areas around here that he didn’t go to. This place looked like it had a different amount of plants to the other parts of the forest and on top of it all, there was a hut as well. He had chuckled and had a huge smile on his face as he was walking behind the strange guy. His home looked cool and it looked awesome and very homey.

When he entered the hut, he looked around and moved towards the side of the hut and leaned against it. He could tell from leaning on the side that it was well built and this guy knew what he was doing. He looked over to him and he heard the introduction first followed by the explanation. He was a royal bloodline or at least low royal bloodline from what he got. Yuurei was confused on the matter, but either way, Elias was not normal. He couldn’t believe that he ran from all of that, but that was because Yuurei was poor and had to struggle to live through his youth and live to eat another day. He nodded when he heard about this curse, and it brought him to laugh when he heard about it. He couldn’t believe that the curse they were scared of was because of the situation he would put people in because of his status.

Still, Yuurei heard about his goal, and it stopped him from laughing and giving Elias the look of curiosity. ”That is interesting. A royal person is in front of me, but he doesn’t act like one. That is new to me. My name is Yuurei D. Jiyuu, poor guy from Swordsman Island, and I know little to none about the Royal Ranks, but it looks like Celestial Dragon is the place where people of money, wealth and nobility want to reach.” He said this as he was trying to get that part right. ”I see you are a man with their own ambition since you weren’t going to do as your father pleases. That’s good to know, and its good to know why people say you are cursed, which makes it funny because I see a challenge and not a curse.” He said this to Elias.

”You did bring something up, and I want to know because I’m interested. You basically want to sail the seas with people to achieve your goal, but what is your goal exactly? Mine is to collect all the swords in the word and have them used as they were meant to be used, and not rust away as a display. I also want to show my father the swords I’ve have collected as he loves swords and knows everything about swords that exist and knows how to make them. I also want to help my captain with his goals and make sure that nobody stops him from doing that. It’s the same for everybody in my crew, I want to help them achieve their goals as much as I want to achieve mine.” He explained his goal first so that Elias would be more open to sharing his own.

Elias snickered at first, but then his face twisted and he bust out in to full on laughter at what Yuurei had just boiled down about the celestial dragons. "Seriously?! That's what you think?" He wiped a tear from the side of his eye and flicked it away. Leaning back and breathing in deep through his mouth, his gaze up at his hut's ceiling, only to slump forward, fingers laced together in a little arch against his forehead as he exhaled loudly through his mouth. "While you have the right idea about my father, not everyone thinks that way about the Celestial Dragons. They're this hoity toity society of rich beyond rich people. Some of the founding families of the kingdoms of the world make them up, they're their descendants. And you aren't allowed to argue with them, fight back against them if they want to enslave you, and they are allowed to do whatever they want because they are to be revered as gods." He scowled as he spoke about them.

"If they even were at least a little bit 'human' they would be redeemable. But, they don't pertain to my motivations. I'm in this business for three things!" He declared while holding up the back of his right hand, extending his thumb, middle and index fingers to show Yuurei just what he wanted.

"First, I want to write a book. A book unlike any other in the world. Something that details a story that couldn't possibly happen in our world, no matter what, I want to follow a group of people, so I can write about them, take the inspiration of our adventures, and write about them with my own twist. I could easily write a book from the thousands of books I grew up reading. But I want to experience the adventure first hand."

"Secondly, I want to make more seeds that I have. These two I currently have? They're the tip of the ice berg. I want to breed new species of plants, I want to see what I can make. I want to be known as the man that can make a panacea. The ultimate plant that can be used for anything. Once I do that, it leads me to my next point."

"Point the third, Mangrove Trees. The way that they grow in the water and their roots stick up out of the water, I want to do that, on the ocean, on a large scale. I'm gonna make a mark on the map, something that no one can deny. It's going to be put on the world map. I'm going to leave a mark on this globe one way or another, and no one will look at my family name like it's a low ladder rung, They'll put proper respect to what I have done, not who I am from." He had a sinister look of determination on his face, he was obviously serious about wanting to do something like this!

Yuurei chuckled nervously when he heard Elias laughing; he wasn’t sure if he had said something funny, but to this man, there was something funny. He just waited for him to say something as things had gotten silent for a few seconds, but it felt like it lasted a lifetime. He nodded as he was listening to him describe the Celestial Dragons. At first, he thought they were some loved nobility that everybody wanted to be and admire, but what he was being told made him scratched the back of his head. ”Sound like a bunch of assholes to me. If I see one and he tries anything, then he might lose a hand royal or not.” He thought to himself as Elias was speaking. He heard everything he wanted to do in his lifetime. His ideas were interesting in every way; if he had joined Yuurei with Mashyuu and the rest, then he would have an interesting book he could start writing on now.

The seeds were actually surprising to him, and he wanted to see what other plants, and seeds this man could use as ammunition. Today was the first day he had seen someone use a weapon like that, and he didn’t think plants could grow so quickly like what he saw. It was interesting, and he wanted to see to see what kind of other ideas he could come up with. The last part was something he could stick with him. He wanted to make something huge enough to make a mark on the world. He, in a sense, told Yuurei that he wanted to make an island using Mangrove, or that was how he looked at it. Still, the last thing he said about his family’s name made Yuurei smile because he couldn’t run away from who he was.

The young man wanted to be respected and looked upon as a royal with just being at the bottom of the rank. It was ironic that he still wanted to be thought of as an important nobility, but it was how he wanted to do it that made good. ”I see, so Celestial Dragons aren’t what they sound like. I’m not quite enjoyable with slavery. I hate it, I almost became one myself. My captain has been one, so yeah that is something I just like very much. And then there is the fact that they could do whatever they want and get away with it.” That part was on the gray line. He was a pirate and he did whatever he wanted, but it didn’t mean he could get away with it. There were people who were after him to make sure he would pay for his crime.

”But forget about them, they aren’t around, so I will deal with them whenever they bump into us. Now as for your book, how about you join me and my captain on a journey then? We have different people from all over the world, and we are pretty crazy and extreme I guess. We got a giant, a Fishman, a cat girl, a man with wings, and of course me with my long arms.” He said this as he was going to give this curse a shot. It wasn’t a curse to him, and that was a fact. ”As for coming up with new breeds of plants, the giant has a ship where he plants fruits and vegetables for food, I’m sure he would be okay with you using a piece of it for your plants.” He was offering his hand to join the Phantom Raiders, and he was wondering if he would take the offer.

”And for the Mangrove thing. I can actually see that happening and come true. It is something I would like to see and could be our territory, that nobody could claim their own except for you and anybody you call a friend or family.” He said this to Elias with a smile on his face. ”So what do you say, Elias? How about you finally get off this island you wanted to get off of and start off your adventure?” He said this to the man as he was trying to persuade him to join.

Elias' eyes seemed to shrink, the whites of them being more apparent as he heard what Yuurei suggest, "I hope we don't bump in to any of them. Disobeying a Celestial dragon is punishable by death. Striking one marks you by the world government and any allied kingdoms as a target for death. So I would prefer we not encounter any on whatever adventure we take part on. They're pretty easy to spot though. They wear these fish bowls for hats, covering their entire head so they can only breathe in purified and 'clean' air."

He stretched back, lacing his fingers together, "ANd this crew you are describing, you're describing Mashyuu's crew right? I bumped in to him the other day. It's not official, but I won't make it official that I am joining you guys. The way I see it, one of three things will happen if news of me joining your crew comes out." Again, he held up his index and middle fingers followed by his thumb, just like before.

"Number One: I declare it, and the rumor gets out, and you guys are attacked for trying to bring the curse of Weltenbauer off of this island. Number Two: You all are pressured in to attacking me, or you fight back and kill everyone on the island, thus making you targets for pirates. Option Three, and the most likely: your ship is fired upon by any and every ship able docked here in Jaya. So, while I will not say one way or another, I may just jump aboard as you are undocking and heading out to sea."

He offered a smile, extending his hand for a handshake with Yuurei.

Meanwhile, in Jaya, Fusebeard was regrouping with more men than before, collecting enough foa a twenty-one man raid on the forest!

Yuurei heard the man spoke about how he didn’t want to ever bump into one of those Celestial Dragon. He didn’t mind as they were just another person to him. Still, to hear that death is what could happen if you disobey them kind of made him flinch. That was extreme, but he figured that they had special treatment like that. He chuckled when he said marked by the government because that was too late. There were just situation that he had done that was taken the wrong way, or his life was on the line and it was kill or be kill. He nodded though as he was taking notes on what they would look like. He waited for him to answer him about the crew invitation, and soon enough he brought Yuurei to raise an eyebrow. He heard Mashyuu’s name and was surprised that he had met his captain.

It surprised him and it seemed like both the Firstmate and the captain had peaked interest for this guy. That made this even better because he would only be seen placing his hand on his chin and rubbing it happy to hear what Elias was telling him. He heard what could happen and he smiled at Elias. It wasn’t such a scary outcome if he declare that he was a part of their crew. Still, the man was thinking of the safety of his potential new crew, which he was okay with. ”I don’t think anybody would attack us, or probably a few people will. I’m known throughout the island as the hired thief. I do jobs all over the island for people who pay me in beli.” He said this to Elias. The day he stepped onto this island he had sold himself to the highest payer.

”Still, I will take what you said and go with it. You don’t have to declare your part in the crew just yet. You can join us unofficially, and then you can claim the Phantom Raiders after we set sail. I plan on having a training session with everybody that’s a part of the crew. This island even though scary, is a good place for us to stay and get stronger. Once that happens and Mashyuu and I think we are ready we will be off on our adventure, or that is a plan I suggest. We can easily do this on another island as well, but we will see.” He said this to Elias as he felt much better with the guy. If Mashyuu had thought about letting him into the crew than Yuurei’s judgement was correct.

Still, he was wondering how he and Mashyuu met here. It must have been short after the fall from Skypiea, which would make the more logical sense. He figured he would ask him though just to be certain. ”How did you meet my captain, if you don’t mind me asking Elias.” He said with a smile on his face as he was interested in the tale.

Off in Mock Town, there was a bit of a rally going on. A bit unheard of for pirates from different crews to socialize in such a friendly manner, but, they had a good reason to, at least in their mind. WHen you aren't the strongest crew out on the seas, you tend to be a bit more apprehensive toward superstitions. Especially jinxes, bad luck charms, voodoo curses, things like that. SO when Fusebeard came in to Mock Town, spouting out about how he finally found the general hovel of the bad luck charm that plagued pirates on Jaya completely, that charm being Elias, people were more than keen to listen at least a little bit.

"Listen to me lads! We have the location of where this little lout is hiding! ANd he's just one kid! He can't get far, he's stuck on this island! And the only reason no one goes after him is no one gets a big enough group to go after him! So what I say is that we go out there, and smoke him out, and then be done with him! If the lout's dead, we don't have to worry about the curse following us off this island!" He shouted to the crowd, which one person spoke up to Fusebeard, "Why don't we just find a crew for him to join and let the marines go after hi-" He was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, a bullet shot straight through the man's throat thanks to Fusebeard, who raised his sword and pulled the trigger, managed to rally twenty people behind his cause. They would be heading out for the forest outside of Mock Town shortly, after he spent time braiding new fuses in to his mustache.

---

Back in the forest

"How I met Mashyuu?" He pushed up inside of that leaf hammock, supporting himself with one arm as he leaned over, only for the hammock to give way and start to flip him around in circles before it snapped back to where it wanted to be, depositing ELias out on the ground with an audible 'Bugger' to be uttered from his lips.

"Well, I was being harassed by another pirate captain, someone who wouldn't listen to me. I just wanted some passage off of this island, and this guy, this long armed freak with a pot belly and spindly stick arms, throws me through the window! On my way out, I ran in to this doctor that kind of looks like me, but he has black hair. ANd Mashyuu was there too. Mashyuu offered I could join his crew, instead I left a thank you note on the ship and promised him I would join him when you all were gonna leave the island."

"How about you. How's a swordsman like you wind up with a captain like that?"