The night began to fall on Jordsand, with the Skycleaver nestled between two small islands the shadows loomed long ago but now the sun was setting over the horizon, washing the ship in darkness. Deciding to turn in early, most of the crew were sleeping, leaving Mashyuu alone on the deck of the ship, dressed in his black suit instead of his pirating garb. He was tired, the day was filled with events, securing the Islands around the ship, forging a suit of armor into a dress for Sofia and scouting out the area for any signs of a threat... Mashyuu didn't know how he had energy still but he couldn't sleep.

He lazily ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath, inhaling the salty scent of the sea. It was refreshing but his mind didn't stay focused on it long. The sound of soft feet echoing off the wood of the dock drew up behind Mashyuu and he looked down with a grin on his face. "You should be sleeping Harley, this is island is dangerous." Harley joined his side and rested her head against his shoulder, Mashyuu froze for a moment, torn between needing to tell her about Percila and not wanting to hurt his friend. He simply let her relax without saying a word. "Can't sleep, too much to think about. Are we ready for this?" She asked while looking up at him while batting her eyes. Mashyuu blushed hard and looked up to avoid eye contact. "Honestly, no. The crew is too hot headed and I can't predict every outcome. I need an edge, some of you need to grow as fighters if for no other reason than to defend yourselves when I'm not around." Harley considered Mashyuu's worries for a moment then clasped his hand in hers. "Alright, I've seen the things that happen around you and for you, I'll get stronger. No need to worry about that." Harley whispered up into Mashyuu's ear... "You get stronger too Captain. One day I might need you to save me again."

Mashyuu couldn't help but go wide eyed and take a step away from Harley. "Yeah.... Look Harley, I like you. A lot... But not the way that I think you like me. At least not yet. I don't want to hurt you or upset you..." He tried to say, Harley in turn took a shy step back, flushing red and looking away from him while wrapping her arms around her torso to hold herself. "Oh! You think... No, I mean... Yeah... You're right. Exploring feelings like that could get one or both of us killed. I'm sorry. If you need anything I'll be in my quarters. Enjoy the night Mashyuu." Harley closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as her heart broke a little and she rushed off towards the rooms below.

Mashyuu looked on with a look of hurt and pain in his face then sighed and patted the belt on his waist, the metal blades rattling softly. His wings beat and the Pirate soared off into a near by forest he had entered with Elias earlier in the day. He wandered through the forest, not really going in any one direction but let himself get lost. He remembered his time on Skypiea, how he learned that his father was a guardian to a temple of solid gold before becoming a slave. That his father could see all of Skypiea from the top of the temple, there weren't any telescopes atop the tower, he had to use something else, was it Mantra? Could Mashyuu do that? He had reacted to things faster than he should have been able to more than once. It had even saved his life a few times. Maybe that was the key to harnessing the skill? Throwing yourself in danger? But if that were the case he would have surely unlocked it when he faced off against Quinn right? There had to be more to it, but what?

Mashyuu had never been the type to be able to do something after just watching someone else do it, or being told how to. He had to do things himself, mess up and learn on his own. Sometimes it was slow going but other times it was an extremely fast process. Mashyuu figured that this time it would be a slow process. How could it not be slow with all the times he felt something spark in his body only to feel it drain just as fast? The Pirate stopped his walk when he discovered a small worn path leading to a large clearing of trees and could hear the sound of water running in the distance.

Almost lazily, Mashyuu walked along the path until he came out of the trees and saw a large grotto in the clearing, an oasis of peace on an island that was possibly poison to the Devil Fruit user. Mashyuu stared at it in awe for a long moment, considered going to get the others but realized he had plenty of space here to try things, it was silent and peaceful under the moon and he could actually focus on growing as a person here. With that thought in mind Mashyuu embraced his inner wildman for once, and let go of having to be the gentleman like Pirate he had grown into.

Mashyuu's shirt and jacket quickly came off along with his shoes and pants leaving him in only his boxers and his whip blade. He ran to the small waterfall and natural pool it made some twenty meters away from him and dipped his toe in it. He didn't feel weak or drained. It was cool to the touch and pleasant, almost refreshing. The grass under his feet was crisp and naturally soft like the soil it grew from was the exact kind of dirt needed to grow the softest grass Mashyuu had ever felt.

The Captain beat his wings once, twice then shot up into the air, flying past the trees and dove back down, only to loop up again mere meters before he would have crashed into the ground. He shot back up and made figure eights, trying to push his body past its limits, test his reaction speed and see what he could do with that.

WC:

Mashyuu stepped out of the oasis, naked aside from his boxers and a whip blade wrapped around his waist and fastened to the belt like handle of the weapon to keep it in easy access. The Pirate Captain had a plan, to push his body as hard as he could and then beyond, to see if that would help awaken some spirit or power to continue to push on. Mashyuu took a deep breath and looked out as far as he could towards the ship. Of course he couldn't see the ship but he had an idea of the direction it was in. He would fly until he found the ship, loop back around to the oasis and repeat the process until he awakened something or passed out in the process. The man twisted at his lower back and cracked his spine then bent at the hips side to side to keep popping his spine's bone until he felt like he could move around any tree in his path. Slowly he dropped down to a knee, punched the ground to get himself hyped up and jumped up.

His wings beat twice, the first giving him a good lift off, the second launching him forward. His arms folded in on his sides and his elbows bent so that his forearms were crossed over his chest. Legs stretched out so his mass looked more like a spear with white wings and a black tip than he did a dark haired man. His wings carried him from left to right, his body twisted and curved around trees, taking a lap around the bigger trees before he continued to shoot towards the shore of the small island.

After nearly an hour of flying he exploded out of the forest like a missile, brush and leaves followed in his wake as he shot towards the Skycleaver, went up past the mast, back down and into the forest again. Wind pushed and broke around Mashyuu, sweat dripped off his body and left a trail to lead a good hunter right towards him and his muscles strained to remain as straight as they possibly could while allowing him to fly. Halfway through his second lap Mashyuu's face started to strain and he lost a little altitude, yet he maintained the same speed. His teeth gritted tightly and started to grind while he dipped towards a low hanging branch, moving too fast to simple go around it in the dense forest he was barely evading trees as it was. "AHHHHH!" He screamed and pulled up on his own flight path, grazing the branch with the entirety of his chest, skinning himself on the bark of the tree. A curse slipped out of him while he chuckled at his own pain. "Almost there, just a little more." He told himself as he left the forest once again, this time coming out of the opposite end to circle the Skycleaver and go straight up, over the canopy of the trees. For a moment he considered flying back to the oasis in the clear but decided against it and dove back down into the forest and towards the oasis yet again.

A quarter of the way through his third lap, Mashyuu dipped so low that he nearly ate dirt and rock, his body started to slump as he pulled up, making it harder on his wings and that was when he realized he hadn't truly pushed his body since he was a small child teaching himself how to fly. He had always coasted on what he could do, slowly getting better and was now trying to squeeze water out of a rock. Could he actually do it? Could he get better like this? "Fight! People are counting on you! Fight!" He screamed at himself, his voice carrying out over the small forest. The man shook his head, trying to keep himself hyped up when he came out of the forest, didn't even fly to the Skycleaver this time just to be safe and not risk falling into the water. Without a word or barely a sound he twisted around again and pulled his body into a spin, paused mid air, and shot back into the forest, going as fast as his tired body would allow him. This time though he was barely flying, it was almost like he was limping in mid air, each beat of his wings had him going up into the air but he was slow falling back down nearly touching the ground before going up again.

He swallowed a lump of snot and spit that formed in the back of his mouth, the oasis was in sight, and he still hadn't felt any different, aside from maybe passing out or having a heart attack. He pushed on further, moved into the oasis and fell in a ball of feather and limbs to the ground and didn't move for a full minute or so. Slowly a laugh started to ebb out of Mashyuu, one he had never made before, it echoed how his body felt and how tired he actually was. "Ha.... Hahaha.....hahahhahaa.....ha...hahaha..." Nobody would have heard him from how tired he was and how soft his laugh was but the laugh was funny to Mashyuu, making him laugh longer all while he pushed half his body off the dirty ground and rolled to his back. He pushed himself to his limit, was sure he was about to pass out and nothing had changed. His blue eyes glanced up, looked at the pool of clear cool water ahead of him and his body twisted so he could crawl on his arms.

Slowly he dragged himself to the water and threw his body in to wake himself up. The water was refreshing, gave him a new sense of energy and after only a few moments he exploded out of the water and pulled himself up to a stand in the middle of the oasis. His eyes flashed a deep red, like they had the two times he used haki in the past but just as quickly faded again. Maybe pushing his body wasn't the way to go, but he was making some sort of progress and that was good enough of a start.

WC:

Mashyuu stood, dripping wet from the water in the pool, behind the winged Pirate the waterfall rushed pleasantly into the crisp pool of water below it. Mashyuu shook his feathered wings dry and hopped up on a large rock. His blue eyes shut and white wings spread wide. There had to be a way to learn how to access the mantra his people used. With his eyes shut and wings spread he could feel the currents of air lightly traveling through the oasis and hitting the wooded forest. It was a strange feeling to the would be Pirate lord. It was almost like he could see the wind as a road to travel on without even actually seeing it. The dark haired man sprang up on the balls of his feet and understood in his soul how he could see the road of the wind. With his eyes closed, Mashyuu's wings beat twice and in his minds eye, he could see beams of blue light launch from his wings, bending and flowing for a few meters before fading away. It was the currents of air his wings created. As a gust of wind rolled through the oasis, beams of yellow whipped around and spread through the forest around Mashyuu and a half grin spread wide over his facial features. He understood, or at least he thought he did, how to use his haki. It was simple, close your mind off from the distractions of the world, and instead feel it around you. Mashyuu jumped off the rock he stood atop and flapped his wings once. The air carried him up, the second beat of his wings pushed him forward and off he went.

His body twisted with a spin, wings flapping as he leveled out, blue beams of light followed the flap of wings as if Mashyuu could see the air, then as the currents he flew on rounded a tree, the yellow beams of light he could see in his minds eye, flashed red to outline the tree. His body lurched left, he evaded the tree and moved on past it as he entered the forest. Mashyuu could see the air spread around him for a bit, nothing amazing but he could sense all around him in a small radius. He wasn't sure if opening his eyes would be a good idea yet so instead he simply continued to follow the currents of air until he flew out of the forest and hovered near the Skycleaver. When he felt safe, Mashyuu opened his normally blue eyes that were now glowing red. His body twisted to face the forest again and he could see... or maybe it was more accurate to say, feel the woodland creatures that stalked the forest at night. Owls, rats, raccoons and the like. "This is amazing.... I can't believe how much I can see!" Mashyuu shouted with joy and lifted into the air.

The Pirate shot himself back into the forest, flying in a way that he never had before, it was much more natural, allowing the man to take longer strides per beat of his wings, creating a large gust of air on his wings to carry him. His eyes darted around, locking with the owls and rats in the forest for a moment, as if he were confirming that he could indeed see them in the same manner that they could see him. He flew back to the oasis and landed in the grassy field, eyes fading back into its natural blue hue. Sweat dripped down his forehead, along his jawline and off his chin. He drew deep breaths of air, and only then realized how much of a drain even using it for a moment was. "How do others keep this up? It's so intense..." Mashyuu pondered silently and headed towards the waterfall again. This time he flew up and folded his legs, flapping his wings hard enough to effectively hover near the waterfall while sitting Indian style. His hands clasped on his knees and eyes drifted shut.

Mashyuu focused on the world around him, not only the wind currents this time but the way trees seemed to take breaths and release fresh air. The sound of animals scurrying about in the forest almost without making a single noise. Mashyuu's brow furrowed while he struggled to "look" past that, and sense all the life around him in a fifteen meter area. The oasis was empty, or so it seemed for a moment. Then as birds of prey soared over head, Mashyuu's face lit up. He was too focused though and didn't yet notice the ground trembling some thirty meters away. Something large was drawing upon the Pirate, angry about Mashyuu invading it's home. It stalked to the top of the waterfall, it's large almost gator like mouth opened, drool dripped off it's yellow teeth and hit the water as if it were part of the waterfall and washed into the cool pool. It's grey scaled skin gleamed under the moonlight and it's head twisted to the right.

It jumped down atop Mashyuu, not roaring as its hind legs launched it off the top of the waterfall and into Mashyuu's new radar like sense. Suddenly Mashyuu's eyes snapped open and the man dove forward and he hit the ground and rolled, red eyes narrowing while his right hand snapped out and palm opened. The whip blade around his waist quickly floated to his hand and coiled on the ground until Mashyuu pulled his arm back. He had no idea what the thing that dove in at him was, or if it was still alive, at least not at first.

As he focused his haki, he could sense the anger in the beast, radiating from under the water. It almost crippled Mashyuu, how strong its rage was. His heart leap't in his chest and told him to run, but if he did then the beast might follow him back to the ship and do more damage. Mashyuu had to either drive it off or kill it.

WC:

Mashyuu focused a little harder, trying to keep his energy and mental power up when suddenly his eyes flashed blue and the red hue faded, leaving him without the ability to sense the things around him at all. Mashyuu drew a deep breath of air and swallowed a lump while sweat and water ran down his forehead and lips then dripped off his chin. The beast exploded out of the water, suddenly bounding from the floor of the pond to land only a few meters away from Mashyuu. The ground trembled under him, almost knocking the Captain over from the shake of the earth. He had to quickly adjust his footing then spring backwards as far as he could when the grey scaled beast took a long swipe at the dark haired man. Mashyuu tripped over his own legs as he tried to land, rolling end over end. He swore at himself, unarmed hand pushing off the ground as he launched himself up and his wings spread to let him take off into the air. His wings beat hard, causing the air under his wings to make an audible "wooshing" sound as he propelled himself up. He looked down to prepare an attack when the grey monster roared with anger, tusks snapped out of its skin, from between its eyes and down its spine, the skin around its ribs trembled and ripped up, creating wing like flaps and with a single strong beat, it jumped up to follow the Captain.

"Oh you've gotta be shitting me! This is stupid!" Mashyuu shouted while pulling back his right arm and lashing out at the monster. The whip sword snapped out nearly forty inches and crashed into the snout the beast, cutting the hide of its nose but not drawing blood. Mashyuu twisted and flew backwards snapping his weapon out again as the massive monster shot up past Mashyuu's position and tired to snap its maw at the Captain. Mashyuu's weapon cut at the underside of its belly, again cutting it but doing next to no damage, if any. Mashyuu growled, annoyed that he had no way of harming it as far as he could tell. If anything he was just pissing the thing off. Silver sparks leap't off of Mashyuu's right hand and caused the individual pieces of his weapon to line up and lock in place as he activated his magnetic alignment, forcing the whip to become a full on sword. The monster flew in a clumsy manner, leaving it open and gave Mashyuu a chance to strike. His right arm pulled back, his body raced for the area he assumed the heart was at and then he lashed out with a forceful stab. "Ragnar's Spear!" Mashyuu shouted, plunging his blade completely into the beast. A second passed in silence, Mashyuu thought maybe he had defeated it but with one fell strike it brought its head down, snout slamming into Mashyuu's swiftly raising left arm knocking him down, away from the monster. Mashyuu started to plummet, wings unable to catch him for a ten meter fall before he managed to spread his wings and glide to the ground in a rough landing that caused the bones in his legs to crack with pain.

His blue eyes rolled up for a moment while his right hand reached up towards the sword that was no longer being held straight thanks to his hand coming off the weapon. The monster tried to correct its flight path and circle Mashyuu. If that thing hits me with a claw, I'm a dead man. The snout almost took me out... He could feel his body ache from pain after a single strike. Nothing some ice wouldn't fix but something he didn't want to fight long term. "Attract!" Mashyuu screamed, a field of silver jumping out of his body and pulled his sword from the beast, yanking it back to his grasp. That caused the monster to roar, causing the trees to shake in protest to the sudden yank.

After its roar ended the monster vanished, not in a sense of moving faster than Mashyuu could see, but in the sense that it seemed to no longer be where it was, as if it were removed from the world in the blink of an eye. Mashyuu's eyes went wide, then narrowed and anger mixed with fear welled up in his heart. The monster turned invisible. "Okay, no worries. This is an easy fix. Just need to focus... Focus for a second..." Mashyuu's eyes shut for a split second and as he opened them he could see the monsters killing intent. Or at least feel how close it was to him. Mashyuu's legs sprang up, causing him to jump with all his might into the air, the grass under him suddenly being cleaved and dirt shot up from the ground. Mashyuu's left hand shot out to the side, grasped the beasts scale covered arm and pushed, throwing the Skypiean over its crossing arm so he could throw himself into roll away from the monster.

The fighter spun around to face the beast, his right hand started to spin his blade around in a circular motion before him, then launched himself forward. His body spun the opposite way while he charged the monster. He intended to try and lob the monsters jaw from its mouth but instead the monster swiped at him with its claw, batting the attacking Mashyuu aside, even from a grazing strike that knocked the fighter aside with a skidding bounce off the ground. He landed at the edge of the pond and shook his the stars out of his head, blood ran down his left arm and ribs. "Son of a bitch, that's gonna need some stitching soon." Mashyuu swore with a seething breath. The Captain rolled into the water as an invisible tusk jabbed into the spot Mashyuu was at, impaling the ground only to be dug up. Mashyuu threw himself out of the water, now stained with his blood, and screamed in pain while flying up, dragging his right arm up, over the face of the monster. Mashyuu brought his sword high over his head and flipped it in his palm then stabbed down on the monsters head, stabbing its eye. "SKYFALL!" He shouted over the sound of the monster screaming with pain as it suddenly returned to a visible form.

WC:

As the beast returned to a visible form, clearly harmed by Mashyuu's last attack, considering the sword that was jabbed into its eye, Mashyuu twisted his sword and yanked it out of the monsters dead looking eye. Green puss and red blood seeped from the wound while the beast stumbled, thrashed and howled with pain. It's one good eye glared at Mashyuu, a claw raised to swipe but as pain racked its body the claw lowered and the beast started to limp back. Mashyuu could sense the monster's emotions, fear, pain, anger, all went through it at roughly the same time. A pang of guilt rushed through the Pirate when he realized that the monster likely lived in the area and felt threatened by Mashyuu's presence and now the winged man had wounded it forever, an eye injury wasn't something that simply healed. The winged man gripped his bleeding ribs and came to a landing on one knee, drawing deep breaths of air in as slow a manner as possible. His vision blurred and if not for the fact that he was still using haki, he was sure that he would have lost track of the monster. His hand gripped his sword tightly, mind trying to remain focused on the fight at hand, if the beast didn't flee then Mashyuu would likely die. On woozy legs he pulled himself to his feet and took a step forward toward the general direction of the monster only for the monster to turn its back on Mashyuu and climb up the waterfall, vanishing from sight and the field of Mashyuu's haki a few moments later. The whip blade in Mashyuu's hand went loose, losing its ridged form as Mashyuu's focus wavered too much and the Captain fell to his knees. He slowly pulled his hand away from his wound, looked down at it and started to laugh with a pained expression plastered on his face. "Hehheheheh. And that was just a graze... I got lucky." Mashyuu slurred, almost sounding drunk. The red in his eyes flashed and faded away, replaced by his normally blue hued look just before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell backwards, laid out on the grassy plane of the oasis.

Foot steps crunched down behind Mashyuu but he could barely make out the sounds of two women standing over him. "We don't have time to move him, just keep him stable!" Harley shouted as she dropped out of her run towards him to slide to his side, quickly pulling her medical bag off her shoulder and started to go through it. Sky, the Skypiean navigator dropped down across from Harley and lifted the arm at Mashyuu's injured side up, to rest above his head. Harley winced when she saw the cut flesh. "How did you know it was Mashyuu at the center of the howling?" Sky asked while Harley pulled a bottle of hydrogen Peroxide from her bag and poured it on the wounds. Sky held Mashyuu down while his body thrashed and shook with pain all at the same time the peroxide bubbled and cleaned his wounds. Harley glanced up and pulled a long roll of wire tied to a curved needle from her bag. "Stick around, you'll learn that this guy is at the center of a lot of fights, usually getting himself hurt because he can't help but stick up for someone in need." Harley quipped, causing Sky to recall her being locked in a cage, in the sewers of Mock Town and Mashyuu randomly showing up to help even though she used him to draw some of her attackers away earlier in the day.

Harley looked at the four slashes running across his ribs and shook her head from side to side. "Grab a roll of bandages and put it in his mouth to bite down on." Harley ordered Sky while the Doctor lined up her needle at the top layer of skin. Sky did as ordered and gagged Mashyuu's mouth by wrapping the bandages around his head so that the majority of it was running between his teeth until there were no bandages left in the roll she plucked out of Harley's bag. In the end it looked more like a bondage scene but it got the job done. Harley glanced at Sky, shook her head with shame and plunged the needle into Mashyuu's flesh, gently tugging at it until the knot at the end of the wire caught tightly. Carefully she pulled the needle down to the next wound and pushed the needle through again, only to bring it back up and start stitching his flesh back together. Mashyuu bit down on the cloth in his mouth tight, feeling like he would knock his teeth out if not for the material between his lips. Each time Harley finished a set of stitches she poured more peroxide on his wounds to keep them clean. An hour later, all of Mashyuu's wounds were stitched tightly. Slowly Mashyuu sat up and with the help of Sky, unwrapped his mouth, the bandages soaked with his spit. His brow lifted at Sky's direction and in return she simply shrugged her shoulders and looked away. Harley took a second roll of bandages and wrapped them tightly along Mashyuu's ribs, wrapping him so tight it was hard for him to draw breath. "Now we are going back to the ship, you aren't going out for at least a day, if I had my way I'd say longer but I know you better than that. You're just going to fight me tooth and nail about this ore. So do us both a favor and stay in bed for a day, let me take care of you. No fighting, no smith work and damn sure no pirating. You let the others deal with stuff for a day. They are gonna be fine." Harley snapped at Mashyuu. He could barely draw breath and simply nodded. With that settled, Harley and Sky helped Mashyuu to his feet and then helped gather his discarded clothes.

"So aside from nearly getting killed, did you get what you came here for?" Sky asked, looking around and seeing only blood, grass and water. Mashyuu limped between the ladies after putting his pants and shoes back on and winked at Sky. "I'd be shocked if I didn't." As his eyes blinked, they flashed red for a moment, then turned blue again...

WC:

Skills used in thread.: