Voyage Name: Birth by Storm - Part 2
Location: Jaya - Jordsand travel
Participant(s): With others
Description:

After a tussle with Jacqueline, Lady Sofia will get involved into a transport deal to get herself and a couple more to Jordsand, the place where she has heard that there are a lot of new business opportunities to be made, especially in regards to this new mineral called "Seastone".

Registration thread: https://strawhats.rpg-board.net/t2228-birth-by-storm-part-2

---

Sofia was at Mock Town's port, in front of the Dawnbreaker. From a couple of rumors that she had heard from being around the Marine Station of this place, apparently there was quite a lot of eagerness to get to some island called "Jordsand", as the source of a special mineral called "Searocks".

And there could be a lot of competition to the first to arrive and mine the most possible, quite likely. However, Sofia wasn't too concerned about that herself - she was going to try to make the most of the situation. She had gotten in contact with the Phantom Raiders, and she was going to go with a few of them, with the Skycleaver (https://strawhats.rpg-board.net/t2232-travel-jaya-to-jordsand-birth-by-storm-part-two) always in view during the whole travel, as they were going to go together on the same route.

And so, she waited on board of the ship, sitting in a sofa, looking at Anna Blue, watching her do calculations and study maps as Sofia herself was eating a banana.

He also had a bottle of water for himself and a basket of bananas and the rest of the Gruntson brothers as they waited outside as guards for the ship and attendants for their guests who would like to embark.

Then, still eating her own banana, Sofia approached the edge of the deck to look over her diligent workers, as she started to make some calls on her Den Den Mushi.

---

And then, once Kouse and a certain surprise traveler (Percila) were on board, they set sail, leaving Mock Town and Jaya island behind them, and made their way to Jordsand...

Perila was upon the deck of the Phantom Raiders pirate ship the "Skycleaver" relaxing as her back was up against a pool chair as she took small sips of a lemonade cup that was slightly dripping condensation from the three square ice cubes placed inside, although she was relaxing now one may call this the calm before the storm as today was the day they were to set out to the mysterious island known as "Jordsand" where an even more mysterious material called "seastone" grow and could be harvested to weaken devil fruit users making I highly valuable around the world as people set off to claim it.

Perila herself cared not for the island or this strange material that was found on it, the events leading to her joining had been complete fortuitous as she was originally intended to just investigate the strange ship of the Phantom Raiders that eventually lead up to her joining them on this rare adventure to acquire something completely new. However, she would not be joining them directly on the ship, according to the information Mashyuu warned her about just the night before she was actually to join an acquaintance of his on their ship as a hired bodyguard, why he choose her to do this task she had no clue but it didn't matter to her either way as they were both heading towards the same place so it would only be a temporary situation for her to deal with.

The was nearing for her to go, Perila who had been in her usual clothing decided with a new adventure a change of outfit was in order, she then rushed to her room in a pleasant manner and begun changing just so, unfortunately for her she had made a mistake that she only just now realized. She had left Skypiea with little to no clothing other then her original outfit and then once more even as she was taken in by Mrs.Dwindle that owned an inn within Mocktown she hadn't bothered buying clothing letting the elderly women choose for her as she paid for them, as she searched through her closet she was beginning to regret that decision as she found nothing but dresses  and rather feminine attire making her feel somewhat queasy about the journey.

However, with time not on her side, she had to suck up her pride and deal with what she had on her, after searching for several minutes she found an outfit that although feminine was by far the least embarrassing to her, it was a rather long light blue cotton sweater with ovals separated into lines stitched into it in three different sections from top to bottom with long sleeves, although the length was good as she pulled it down and turned around in front of an large mirror within her room she found it put far too much attention to her butt and she quickly searched through her closet once more while huffing until she found short booty pants and slipped them on for extra coverage despite no one being able to see them through her sweater. Needing better footwear as if the island was covered in this "seastone" she didn't want it anywhere near her actual skin she eventually found a pair of long heeled boots  that were white at the bottom while being a slightly darker shade of blue then her sweater with even lighter blue around the top, not knowing rather or not the island would be cold or hot she prepared for the latter by wrapping around a simple white and blue striped scarf around her neck thus completing her outfit for this adventure.

Outfit:

Finding no time to waste any longer, she quickly wrapped a belt around her waist and tightened it before slipping the blade that Mashyuu had given her plus her original one between it safely and then immediately rushed outside. As soon as she was out she recalled that Mashyuu had warned her she find what she was looking for close by in the ports of Mocktown and quickly turned her lower body to smoke as it was somewhat faster than traveling with her wings and speed off through the air towards the location, it wouldn't even be three minutes before she reached the port spotting a unique looking ship with a women matching the description Mashyuu gave her eating a banana, knowing that it was the very same person she was looking for Perila landed directly in front of them possibly scaring them or not as her lower body returned back to its originial form, either way she would simply speak, "Hello there, Mashyuu of the Phantom Raiders sent me as....extra muscle?"

Kouse had been waiting eagerly for this for months. He could finally sail the seas with his new crew. He could finally give in to the humming of the sea, he could finally be the pirate that he truly was.

But he had to say goodbye to certain people first, people he had developed quite a close bond with over the long months he’d spent here at Jaya.
His newly built humongous teaching hospital wouldn’t run itself. He had the three brothers, Dovey, Saki and Sammy to handle the running of it until he came back. Kouse had spent the last four months training them the best he could, both in improving on their medical skills and in running a hospital.

“Lets come with you Dr K. We can offer you some help.” Saki pleaded, being the youngest of the three, he was less in control of his emotions than the rest.

Kouse adjusted his glasses while looking straight at him. “You can’t, I need people to watch over, run and guard this hospital.” Kouse touched Saki's shoulder. “And I trust only you three and Cindy to do so.”

“Alright Kouse, we understand. We’ll be waiting here for you, when you come back.” Dovey, the eldest said, whilst stretching out his arm for a handshake.
Kouse took one look at the outstretched arm and stepped forward and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for everything guys, and I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Then Kouse turned to look at Cindy's tear filled face, as the three brothers walked back into the hospital. He knew she would have the hardest time with his departure.

“I know you’ve always wanted to get back with a pirate crew and sail the seas. I know just how much you’ve wanted to do so, ever since I met you all those months back.” Cindy began the moment the brothers were out of earshot. “But It wouldn’t still stop me from asking, at least once, even if I’m completely sure you would say No…..Don’t go!”

Kouse took off his glasses, which he almost never did and held Cindy close.
“I have to Cindy, you always knew this day would come. It’s the seas, the murmuring of its waves intoxicates me daily, forging its own song, urging me to sail it, to discover the countless secrets it held.” 

Cindy sniffed once. She knew he would never stay behind, no matter what she did. She’d heard him talk about the sea this way severally.

“Come back to me Kouse! Make sure you do!.” Cindy whispered urgently, gripping Kouse’s dark top tightly. “Promise me!”

“I will…..I promise.” 

With a kiss, the goodbye was complete.





The docks were more active than usual. It seemed it wasn’t only just the phantom pirates that were interested in heading to jordsand. Pirates from all around mocktown, were boarding ships, headed straight for jordsand and the famed seastone.

He approached Sofia’s ship. Mashyuu his captain had told him recently, that he would be traveling with her to Jordsand.

“Hey Sofia! Let’s get this journey started!” Kouse would yell out as he boarded the ship.
He would adjust his glasses as he noticed the female who stood beside Sofia, ‘she must be the other travel companion Mashyuu mentioned' Kouse thought, but all introductions would have to be done later. As the ships sails were released and they sped towards Jordsand at full speed.

After warmly greeting the two guests that she would have on board, Sofia set sail on the Dawnbreaker, on their way to Jordsand, with the Phantom Raider's ship in view. It was nice to have some peace and quiet and now and then instead of having to fight to achieve what they needed. Although the fight could be considered to be now more on Anna Blue's side of things, as she now had to navigator through the treacherous currents of the Grand Line so that they could get to where they needed to. Luckily, since they were going along the other ship, the little navigator had an easier time figuring where they needed to go, because she could just go off that other ship.

Once inside of the ship and eating fruit, she casually approached Kouse and asked him about his medical expertise.

"So, how long could it take to become a good doctor?" she asked. "I think it might be a nice side-career to have. I have a school at Sabaody and all, and sometimes, the people who arrive and want to work there are in pretty bad shape - with eye patches, peg legs, and the sort."

She was alluding to that the people that went there were often pirates.

"Or maybe how long it would take to be able to give... first aid. Appropriately. Once I get started, I could go on and continue my studies on my own. But the issue is that: to get started. How's a good way to start practicing medicine?" she added.

“Hey Sofia! Let’s get this journey started!” Perila heard as another male came boarding the ship, apparently, Mashyuu didn't just send her alone on this one and had another one of his crew members chip into this travel period. Now with them all gathered together they set sail for the mysterious island of "Jordsand" where possibly an enemy or something far worst was awaiting them there.

While the captain of the vessel made conversation about the art of teaching and schooling which Perila actually never officially attended due to her rebellious nature as a child, she chose to jump into the air while flapping her wings to go to the highest point of the ship, for Perila this would be the first time she truly been on sea. As she stood there she was nudged by the gentle breeze of the wind, tasted the salty water of the ocean, and took in such fresh air that she could say it was almost intoxicating. Skypiea would always be her home despite all that happened, but it was moments such as this to her deepest regrets that she felt the happiest, as she stood there feeling as if she was on top of the world she felt truly at peace with herself as she closed her eyes and let the feelings of adventure wash over her.

As they sped for Jordsand, Kouse decided to relax a little and took a seat indoors and began sipping a hot cup of coffee. He'd noticed his captains ship flying right above them before he went inside. A flying ship was amazing, and Kouse could only guess just how thrilling it would be to sail on one. His friends, Madori and Andy would be having a great time on board the ship, having a good view of the vast blue see, and marvelling at its beauty. 
Kouse knew that he would soon get the chance to sail it also, but that didn't stop him from being jealous of both Madori and Andy.
Then Sofia approached him. They had just recently taken down a monster of a woman together, and the experience had more or less drawn them closer.

She asked a question that surprised Kouse, she wanted to know how long it would take to become a good doctor. 
This was an easy question for Kouse to answer.

"There is no fixed date or time for that. Every individual learns at a different pace. It depends on your work ethic, your dedication and talent." Kouse would answer.

Kouse would adjust his glasses as he nodded at her next statement. "Yeah, it is indeed an extremely important career. Good pirate doctors are not common."

Kouse drained his cup before he continued addressing Sofia. "Properly giving 'first aid' help is the basic of the basic, and a few instructions coupled with a little professional guidance when practicing on live patients, and you could become very well versed in the administering of first aid.
"The best way to start practicing medicine is to first start at the basics, like administering first aid and reading as much 'medical books for beginners' as possible. Also, to develop your medical abilities quickly, you just need to work directly under a professional, that would greatly speed up the time needed to become a doctor or practice medicine."

"Dedication and talent, hm." Sofia replied and nodded. It was pretty much the same with most skills really.

"I see." she then replied, once he mentioned about how to give first aid. She smiled once she heard how easy it was to start out with it, it gave her some hope that she could do something useful from the get-go with this art.

"And, to work under a professional..." we should then mimic, again. "Kouse, you had a clinic, yes? If possible, could I learn from you? If you won't want to that's totally alright though... But, I'd appreciate it a lot. I agree with that its rare for there to be good doctor pirates - I want to become the sort of doctor that helps pirates too."

And after that short discussion, she then showed her arm to him.

"I gave myself some bandages here." she chuckled. "It's the place that got the most hurt from that battle with Jacquelin. Could you check that I did it right, please?"

---

After hopefully getting her arm extra-attended by Kouse, she would then go to the deck and look over the sea, and to peer over to the approaching Jordsand.

"We're soon there!" she chuckled out loud. "Alright. Gruntson brothers, to your positions! We're disembarking soon!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" the siblings all replied in unison as they made a short salute, and they started to tug on the sails and prepare the anchor so that they could get off. And after those preparations, they soon arrived and got off on Jordsand...

She would later, more privately and when the guests had gotten off, sail over to a Marine-controlled area for her own protection. She was good friends with pirates, and with Marines, anyways. Plus, her Navigator, Anna Blue, would likely have to give her regular reports as usual there.

[EXIT]

After a while of just letting herself feel the breeze of the ocean and the peace of the moment, the sound of seagulls would pierce her ears causing her to open them as a small flock of five flow by her, Perila thought to herself that seagulls only flock towards land and that they must be getting close to the island,  "We're soon there!" she would hear from below her signifying that her guest was correct.

Perilas curiosity was piqued, she knew what the seastone could do and the effects it had on her, but she hadn't experienced it for herself yet which was weighing her whole thought process about the journey. Wanting to discover first hand what effect this mysterious seastone had on her body she begun to flap her wings rapidly and flow in the same direction as the seagulls to scout the island out first. It would take several minutes before she was now near the beach of a large island that she assumed was their destination, she then descended to the ground landing with her right foot first as her wings folded behind her like a cape. As she turned her head left and right there was nothing that immediately stood out about the island other than it was located in the middle of nowhere and the material it held that was somewhere on the island possibly hidden from plain sight.

Perila began to walk slowly and cautiously as she didn't know who or what was already on the island waiting for her, after a few minutes of walking she started to hear voices from a large bush up ahead, being true to her word she  unsheathed her oldest blade from her torso and covered its length in dense smoke while transforming her whole upper body into airy smoke except for the hand holding it, she then let her upper body stretch out above the bush so that nobody would notice the single hand holding the concealed blade from the air. It seemed that she had found three humans one being female, another looking like some type of fish and human hybrid, and the last one being a regular human that was laughing as he held a stone in his hand as if he had caught a rare treasure, Perila thought to herself, "That must be the seastone, I heard about so much now how do I take it.."

Upon some reflection she could come up with no better reason than to fight them herself, however, there was no reason for her to do so in a fair 1vs3 type of matter. Aiming for the male hybrid that looked of a male and a fish Perila carefully aimed the tip of her concealed blade near the location of his heart, upon carefully aiming it she would thrust it out using her smoke to extend her reach as the dense smoke around the blade disappeared before impaling the hybrid male, the sudden fatal wound stabbing deep into his chest cavity would not only surprise the male as he started coughing up blood but the two allies next to him who jumped in surprise at the revelation they were now under attack. Perila pulled back her hand bringing her blade back to her as she let her whole upper body reform in the air above them, choosing to rather protect the treasure that they had with them the male and the female human ran in the opposite direction, Perila whos lower body was in the nearby bush would have to waste precious seconds to reconnect with it before she started to run after them at first with a slow jog until she fully picked up speed, although they had managed to get the rare material it seems it may have been through sheer luck or perhaps thievery in the same way she was intending to procure the rare stone, either way anyone on this island was either a pirate, a marine or something in between so Perila would have no remorse for her actions this day as it was a matter of life or death to know what the effects of something that could possibly weaken her to such an extreme extent would have on her.

Within seconds she caught up to the two possible thieves having them in her sights, she then transformed the lower half of her body into smoke as she rushed towards the male holding the stone, upon getting just behind his back she would turn herself back to full human form while kicking the male right behind his knee causing his legs to buckle as he fell to the ground, seeing what Perila did to the previous companion the women wanted no part of what was going to happen and kept running leaving the male behind to his fate allowing the male to witness the true limits of his "allies" good will.

Now alone with the male who was holding the stone, Perila wouldn't kill him immediately but first grabbed the collar of his shirt with her free hand while balling it up into her fist before asking a question, "How did you get that stone?" The male wouldn't answer at first so Perila would press the tip lightly into their stomach and slide it along their skin leaving a slight cut making the male squirm from the sensation of the cold blade and the warmth of his blood slowly starting to drop until he talked, "I'll talk! I''talk! There is a pirate named Gustahn, he's forcing those that lose to his forces to collect the seastone or else he sends them to an arena to fight just for a scrap of food! " Perila replied, "Why?" the male replied back not squirming as Perila gave him a serious look, "He wants time to gather all the material for himself, that's it I swear!" Rather the male knew more or not didn't matter anymore as she got just enough information to know one of the things she was dealing with while on this island, she then let go of the male before driving her sword through his brain for a quick death as he had been a good sport and told her what she wanted to know, unfortunately, the female might report back to this Gustahn but she would deal with that when the time came.

Turning her glance to the stone it was now time for her to know the truth, she then lightly bent over to get a closer look at the mysterious object still held within the males hand and slowly reached out her hand to grab it, upon actually making contact with it her knees felt weak and she actually fell to the island floor from its effects, all the accounts of its strange ability had been true and the simple stone became a much-hated one for Perila yet all the more important to keep it away from the wrong hands. Looking at the males shirt she would slide it off of him as she picked up the stone through the cloth securely wrapping it and then used her own scarf to wrap it once more so that it wouldn't touch her at all, now with the stone secured Perila quickly made her way back to the ship to show it to the people on the ship.

By the time Perila was on the way back to the ship they were already starting to come onto land and she would simply showcase the rare stone while making sure she herself wasn't making contact with it, "A seastone" Would be all she said to the two people that had been chatting earlier on the ship.  -Exit-

Kouse couldn't help but smile. Sofia's request to learn under him was more than welcome. He was not new to the act of teaching. He'd already acquired a couple of students on Jaya island. The three brothers, Dovey, Sammy and Saki, including his girlfriend and nurse Cindy. He was expecting dozens more to troop in soon too, once his new hospital started running fully.

"Of course you can Sofia, I'll be happy to teach you some of the things I know."

Then Sofia showed Kouse her bandaged arm, saying she got the injury from their recent fight with Jacqueline.

Kouse's sharp eyes immediately picked up on the poor work done, not just on the bandaging but also in cleaning the wound.
Kouse took out his personal medic kit, opened it and withdrew fresh bandages, antiseptics,gauze and plaster. He properly cleaned the wound and dressed it. All done quickly but accurately.

"Alright, you're all good."


The moment they docked at Jordsand, he looked around for the strange female he'd seen with Sofia earlier.
When she finally showed up, with a sea stone in her arms, Kouse would adjust his glasses. 

"Hmm, I noticed you weren't on board the ship for sometime." Kouse would say still looking intently at the stone. "I guess you have some interesting story on how you acquires this rare stone, and yeah, I'm Dr K, nice to meet you."


After all that, Kouse would say his goodbyes to both Sofia and the exciting female with the wings and head over to Mashyuu's ship which had arrived a short while before theirs did, to catch up and get the plans started for going about accomplishing their goals of acquiring suitable amounts of sea stone ore to take back with them. 

They were pirates, and the phantom raiders were on Jordsand not for vacation, but to get what they wanted, no matter what it took. It was Kouse's first voyage outside Jaya island with his new crew, and he was excited to get things started.




(exit)