Name:Bully price
Participants: Me. and whoever joins

Side story:Beating the big bully


Lina sat at her swirling her coffee with a serene expression. Two teaspoons of sugar and a little creamer. The sun hadn't fully risen yet and the breakroom was nearly empty. Too early for the morning crew but late enough to miss the graveyard shifters. She sniffed her coffee before taking her first sip, to savor the bitter aroma. He smirked and sipped her drink in peace, slouching at first before straightening up. " ahh sooooo good".

The sound of boots interrupted her zen though, heavy set steps with metal clacking about with each step. A cloud of smoke preceded his entrance, as Lina waved around the smoke nonchalantly. From behind her cup she looked up at him with inquisitive eyes. " Capt"?

Dill didn't say anything, but he slapped a stack of stapled papers on the table. " Dock 8 a sunken fishing boat. Up the bid'ness district shattered factory windahs. In the markit distric't grumpy old bat saying her whole day's catch knock in'ta the watah". As he read the list, Lina sunk lower and lower with each claim. She blew bubbles in her cup and averted her eyes. " Well..pup"?

Lina tried to explain herself. The guy was too fast or she had no choice because the criminals fired guns at her. Things of that nature, never really taking responsibility for her actions. She twirled her finger and started to move toward the door. " Pup where'da think yer going"?

She calmly placed the cup on the table and bowed. " See ya captain"! The cloaked girl tossed her cloak in the air and ran off. The entrance to the breakroom was torn apart with a loud thunderous bang. Even in the distance and screaming, she could still hear his hard pump being readied on his massive gun. Lina stuck her tongue out and dove into the ocean. Dill scowled at her and turned back to his skittish workers, " what'r ya looking at? back'ta work"!

Lina on the other hand, ended up being caught in a fishnet on the otherside of the island about an hour later. Plopped on the floor, the fishermen shook their heads and went back to work. she bowed profusely and ran off into market district, wringing the ocean water from her clothing.

"Are you supposed to be a mermaid or trying to become a mermaid?" A voice rang out to ask Lina a question as she was spotted after slipping out of the water, trying to dry herself off with a walk through the frigid and freezing air of the land at the moment.  Willow Omens had witnessed everything that had happened with the fishing net, only to follow after the girl.  He had picked up on the fact that the Six Barrel pirates were unique, and they were only five people strong.  Six members would make the group perfect.

But before we build on that, let's figure out how Willow got here today.  He had been tasked with scouting out any potential recruits for the crew, having helped to get the attention of their fifth member, Melissa, and now here was someone else that stuck out.  The odd clothing wearing lad was interested in this person who stuck out like a sore thumb.

But it would be a terrible thing if she got hypothermia like this, so he unzipped his puffy Fubu style jacket of white color, pulling it off and exposing his sleeveless outfit underneath, offering it to Lina if she took the time to talk to him. He had a closed eye expression on his face and a big dopey grin of friendship. "Why were you out in the water anyways? It couldn't have been to go for a swim in freezing waters." He said while holding up the jacket for her to take.

Willow was a nice enough guy, and he was looking for a sixth member for the group, there were a lot of things that went with the number six. Six barrels in a gun, six cards for a tarot reading, six days before a single day of rest.  he could be stretching with some of his explanations, but it was best to have a sixth comrade.  And deep down, this girl seemed to fit the build with how strange she was!

They had The King, The Fool, The Chariot, The Star, and The Lover. At least that's how Willow viewed himself and the other four members of the six barrel pirates. Maybe this person would like to hear about them after warming up a bit.

WC: 389

Side story part 2: Another six barrel encounter


Lina cocked her eyebrow and gave him a confused look. it took her a few moments for it to register what had happened before she pieced together the joke. She slapped her fist into her palm with an enlightened grin and shook her head. " no thanks, I got this", she said gesturing to herself. She pulled her cape off and wrung it as hard as she could, sending a messy torrent of sea water and mud splashing about. As she was doing so she pondered it for a bit, scratching her head. " Ahh that's right. boss was shootin at me fer screwing up". She laughed nervously for a moment before coughing into her hands. " thanks but no thanks. I'm a get some fish and chips though", she said while gesturing to a nearby stand. It wasn't much to look at but it had a frier with fresh fish from the wharf and some good ol fashioned wedge fries cooked to perfection.

She turned with her mouth watering, ordering 2 entrees and 4 sides of fries. Behind her came a lumbering Wotan. Slow and steady with rolls of fat which jiggled as he walked. Each lumbering step made the ground shake, each breath he took was labored with drool coming off the side of his lips. He looked down upon Lina with flared gills. " 'ey girlie, gimme dat shit". His voice was repugnant and slurred.  Lina shivered a bit before running off with her order. She held out a bag for the weirdly dressed fella. " my name's skips or skippy. And you are"? The wotan's grunts surrounding him at his feet all dove for cover or ran off screaming for the hills. " yahhh done it now girllllie"!

Her boss shot at her for screwing something up?  That didn't eactly hit the ears right.  Willow thought to himself while listening to what this girl was saying rather than watching what she was doing.  If he had been more surprised by devil fruit powers, he would react much more strange to her mud being flung off of her body, stemming from the fact she didn't have any mud on her person right then and there.

Fish and chips? Was that a common delicacy on this island? Willow followed after the girl while leaning over to see what the chips were.  They were potatoes all right, but they weren't shaped like chips at all! How were these things chips? Looking back to Lina and then to the big wotan that wanted her food.  He knew something big was on its way here, from the fact that he bounced whenever one of those feet hit the ground.

But apparently, this guy had a posse with them, and he wanted the food that 'Skip' ordered for herself.  Willow just scratched the side of his cheek while talking to Lina, "My name is Willow, do you know him? ANd is it normal to walk into someone like him in a place like this?" Willow asked while the running grunts made for the hills.

Apparently, the angry Wotan had a short temper for about as much fat he had on his body. And when it came to being ignored or denied food, it triggered something in him.  He didn't exactly take kindly to Lina ignoring him, even more so when Willow just spoke to her.

It seemed that Lina and Willow were going to be getting a lot more than they bargained for if a wotan was a good source of fish meat. Time to prepare for a fight or escape!

Wc: 314
Wc total: 703

Side story part 3: Hold my fries

Lina looked at her three bags with great concentration, seemingly blocking out the noise around her." lets see if I do this then I can jimmy that? carry the fries and napkins...". Lina nodded a few times and put all three bags on one arm and tapped willow's cheek slightly. " Kinda...these freaks are all over the place. Here hold my fries and les go"! She tossed him a bag and began running away with the remaining two bags in hand. She dipped and swerved in and out of crowds, which at first were rather annoyed at the girl for rudely shoving her way through. But the moment most went to open their mouths, they felt the shaking coming toward them like a train.

Each footstep like a thunderous blow to the ground beneath. The wotan charged forth without regard for the safety of others. His torso and arms became black and slick like steel, making him look like an actual machine plowing through the people who dared fire at him in a line. Their screams could be heard throughout the slums, with people flying all over the place as lina dashed and swirved through the crowd munching on her sandwich. At a familiar sharp turn she had an Ah HA moment.


Lina shoved the half eaten sub in her mouth horizontally to clamp down on as much as she could before lunging forward and dropping low to the ground. As she came up to the turn, she skid in the dirt and bolted to the right with a tear in her eye. There were bits of lettuce and fish slathered in tartar sauce that fell out in the turn. The wotan tried to do the same, but he ended up skidding into a nearby shack before pulling up in a hectic sprint adjacent to her up a slope headed to the business district. The mini giant( lol ) was peering at her with a scowl and beared razor sharp teeth. " I'll getttt you bitccch"! Lina winced as she chewed on her sandwich.

" Ewww your skin jiggles when you talk"! In that instant she took another sharp turn into a narrow alleyway leaving the giant to skid once more with a loud roar accompanied by spittle.

"Right, seems there are a lot of weirdos in this part of the world." That was the pot calling the kettle black, Willow O Omens being from an island that was constantly on the move in Paradise.  But that wasn't exactly the point at the moment. Right now he was being given a bag filled with fries to sling over his shoulder while that giant was getting angrier and angrier.

In these tight alleyways he wasn't able to get to full speed or reach them perfectly, but his drunken desire for food gave the big bully a grim determination.  Willow would follow along with Lina, jogging with her toward crowds. "Pardon us! Coming through!" Willow would declare while twisting at the waist as he jogged, keeping up with Lina to weave through the crowds!  He had gotten roped into some weird series of events again, but that wasn't a huge problem, this girl seemed to need some of the help she was getting.

Willow would run up toward a cart and take the time to run up it like a ramp and get up and over some of the crowds by taking to leaping from the cart onto a stall that sold goods, and then onto a small canopy, bouncing off of it to land on the ground next to Lina, rolling to the side before springing to his feet to follow her down her sudden change of direction!

The jiggling wotan, some sort of cross between a humanoid giant and a puffer fish, wanted that minuscule amount of food badly. Just what the hell did he drink to throw him into such a rampage?  And not only that, but his arms were made out of a metal substance?! Willow would call to Lina, "Does he have one of those devil fruit powers? Look!"

It was true that Willow didn't know about the power of haki, but he knew that devil fruits were a recent discovery and they could give a wide variety of powers!  But that question would have to be answered later, while Lina and Willow were running into a small concrete clearing, like a concourse or a common area where people could host performances, the grunts and goons of the Wotan were forming up to block off their exits. It seemed that they were running into a trap!

Wc: 404
Wc total: 1107

Side story, part 4: Counter attack

Price wasn't far behind them, as he came crashing through a metal shack unscathed. Lina whistled as she was taking the last bite of her sandwich when Willow made a comment about devil fruits. She shook her head and started flailing her arms around with stuffed cheeks, " asjdfansf asdfjuakifsbasfkbnafskasf asdhfkbaskdfas hasbdkabsd" Translation: Actually no that's not a devil fruit power. It's a thingy where you go wooosh and your body goes waaaaaahmmm"! It was in that instant where she slapped her right arm as the jetblack was forming along it. Lina grinned before turning forward to see the group of fishmen blocking their way.

She lunged forward as they drew their weapons, jeering at her and forming a wall of meat to block their escape into the concourse behind them. Using the wall as a boost she jumped up and kicked off the wall to spin in mid air. The fish lunged forward to try and skewer her, but she dove forward and under their swords at the last second. Falling to the ground she slanted her body at a 45 degree angle, locking her body in the stance and spreading her feet out as she slashed in a 360 degree circle to skid and slash through numerous adversaries at once, " dragon's fang". Those not in the immediate vicinity, were cut badly by the force of her jetblack blade. Most of them fell to the ground as those who took the brunt of the blow, fell to the ground like poorly hacked meat sacs.

Bully was coming up fast, angry and bitter. His words were slurred and fat was jiggling up a storm. He bumped into the walls and ignored their presence like a bulldozer. His sights were on the fleeing Lina who ran into the open space, where a band at recently vacated from. He charged forth with all his might, letting out a loud steam exhale before straining his body to crash into her using his big black arms to defend himself.

Lina was taken in by the sight for a moment before sprinting faster than him, using the stage as a stepping stool. She leapt to one ledge directly in front of her before flipping horizontally to an adjacent restaurant. Bully could not stop and ended up clearing the stage and falling face first into building in front of him.   As he recovered she spun in the air and dove down toward him at an angle, plunging her blade directly for his skull where there was no haki protecting him.

However even though her blade connected cleanly, sending a small shockwave out in all directions, price's fat absorbed most of the blow. Located just below the nape of his neck, he scratched and clawed at his back as he flailed about like a bull trying to get Lina off him. She planted her feet down and twisted her blade in his fat, trying to reach his squishy insides.

haki and skills stuff:

Listening to her explain the anomaly in anatomy with her mouth full, Willow clapped his clenched fist into an open palm of his other hand, as if having one of those ah-ha moments. He somehow understood at least seventy percent of what she had said! So it was some sort of non devil fruit ability? What did that mean? Was it something like a martial art? He would have to wait for an answer on that as they were hurried in toward an open common area.

A stage set up in the middle while people were clearing out either minding their own business, or running from all of the ruckus of the wotan barreling through the alleyways of the area, cascading stones and mortar about while Willow was working on avoiding the falling debris. The guy wasn't that fast, but he was strong enough to tank through all of that stone like nothing was happening to him!

But while Willow was looking over his shoulder, Skippy got to leaping forward, doing the WOOSH thing to her own sword and cutting through two of the goons that blocked the way to the common area. "Oh! Thank you for doing that Skippy! I think I'll take care of the cronies! You can handle mister fat rolls for now." Willow declared while running on ahead, putting his all into it to leap up onto the stage by using his staff, Shepherd, extended to its full length to vault up onto the wooden platform, only to jump off of it as the Big Bully came crashing in toward it with Skippy on his back.

That left eight goons to deal with for now while Skippy played Shadow of the Colossus with the Wotan's body. If only there were clear marked places on where to stab with her toothpick of a sword compared to that body.

Meanwhile, Willow had a collection of eight men running in for him and Skippy! He would do well to cut off the first two that were closest, those that were directly in front of him. He twirled the staff back and forth over his person, pivoting about on the ground. Left foot in front, right foot coming around landing heel first and in front of the left as the staff was brought around his body like a propeller making it unpredictable when he was going to strike.

Instead of striking at all. Willow swept one leg around on the ground while the two goons put up their dukes to defend themselves, bringing the staff around in a wide sweep for added measures. First his foot got behind their heels. Then came the staff to really knock those legs up so the first two goons would be landing on their backs. Willow meanwhile would be coming to his feet, bringing the staff to rest high up overhead, half of the body against his back, left hand held up and against the body of the staff, right hand curled around behind his elbow to hold onto it as he posed triumphantly.

Apparently it was sort of a taunt pose, attracting the attention of three of the remaining six goons. The other three were readying flintlock pistols, aiming for Skippy. They didn't seem to like the idea of their boss being stabbed and possibly killed, and what could little bullets do to Pully Price? But what could they do to Skippy was the real question.

Word Count: 579
Word COunt Total: 1686

Side story part 5:Humpty dumpty had a great fall

Bully writhed and thrashed about, flailing wildly like a mad man. He scratched and grabbed at his back, but his fat bulbous arms just would not reach. They'd stop short and his exorbitant amount of fat would actually cushion his arms and prevent him from reaching Lina. As he flailed about, she heard gun shots. As they twisted and turned in what was a tempest of fat, sweat, and a whole lotta jiggling she could see fishmen goons reloading their pistols. Wide eyed now, Lina crouched down while holding onto her hilt and tried to release it by pulling as hard as she could.

The sword though, would not budge as it was tangled in the giant's fat as it twisted and turned in him. Though curiously very little blood was spilled if any as she latched back onto him by lowering her center of balance and holding onto his fat. Bully moved about with surprising tenacity as his hindquarters started to kick up as well, making his back feel like a vertical wave of jello. As he started to calm down and catch his breath, more shots were fired. " HEY YOU BASTARDS DON'T SHOT AT ME IT STINGS"!


Bully reached into the ground and lifted a massive boulder over his head, blocking out the sun before him. With a heave and a labored breath he threw the massive boulder at Willow and his grunts, causing his skin to shift in a manner that surprised Lina. One moment she was anchored, the next his shoulder blade kicks up and sends her careening back to earth. She quickly tossed her sword to the side and fell on her back and rolled a few paces. Bully on the other hand stomped at the ground as she tried to get up, causing the ground beneath her to tremble. " GED'OVER HUR GUIRL"!

His giant black fists crashed into the ground, just barely missing Lina as she used her arms and right leg to launch herself forward and out of the way of his attack. Dust and debris flew about liberally, blocking the vision of both fighters. She frantically ran about through the dust cloud searching for the blade as ferocious strikes battered the ground like a battle drum.Lina hopped and skipped a few times after finding her precious baby(sword). She kissed it and sheathed it before darting through his legs and out the other side.


Bully though, had other plans as he swept his leg and used his heel to send her flying with his excess momentum. She covered the back of her head as she flew. The world spinning and her mind blank as she rumbled and crashed into things in the process. She rolled a bit in the process and used the momentum to dart out of the concourse and into the open. Bully roared and followed suit, with no hesistation. He began to pick up speed and was throwing punches down to try and squash Lina. Though she was faster, the blow took a lot out of her. She was panting and gasping for breath with each leap to avoid his empowered attacks. They created small shockwaves that make it hard for her to continue running. Even through her body was saying stop, her head kept saying to go. She powered through the pain as she lead the giant out in the middle of nowhere, toward the undeveloped part of the slums. He raced toward her seemed to pick up speed, but that was just Lina's own fatigue catching up.

Lina started to count to herself.

"1....", Bully came started to sprint.

"2...":, Bully lifted his arm over his head and cocked it with a hard backwards swing to the left.

"3...."! Lina shouted as the giant pivoted its body to the left and sent a hard swing aimed at turning her into road kill. Except at the last moment she dove off a cliff, leaving bully nothing to stop his own momentum. He flew forward after trying to stop his advance in a final act of futility. His shadow passed her as she anchored herself into the side of the cliff just as she had before on his back. Her black blade sliding as she attempted to slow her descent and not let go. The fall was a good 10 stories high into jagged rocks on a rocky beach.

Bully careened into the earth in a giant cloud of sand and a thunderous boom of his heavy body. Lina managed to stop her own descent with a bloodied left hand a trembling right holding onto the hilt of her katana. " Take that ya...bully".

haki and skills stuff:

They were doing so well, how did it take such a drastic turn? It was like a game of chess with new pieces being thrown onto the board now and then just to make it harder for them!  This stemming off of the fact that Willow and Skippy were getting in over their heads against a dwarf giant and his fishmen cohorts.  Two were bleeding out, another two were on the ground suffering head trauma, and the remaining six were fighting between Willow and Skippy.

Willow took the time to get himself in the center of the three fishmen that he fought.  They were equipped with pistols and cutlasses, and by putting himself in the center he increased their chance of friendly cross-fire, keeping himself safe for the time being if it weren't for the swords at the ready to fight him.

Skippy could do that WOOSH thing just like Bully Price could to his arms. He needed to learn how to do that. Both for his sake and the sake of his weapon.  Sure his weapon was pretty durable compared to normal weapons, but it could get nicked or bent, or even broken if there was enough force applied to it!  That was something he didn't want to happen!

If it was something that could be taught or learned with training, he would have to look into it and find out what the WOOSH was.  For now, he was working on avoiding a series of sword swipes.  Instead of deflecting blows to his back or front by deflecting the blades with his staff, he brought the weapon around to strike the arms of the fishmen that came in, finishing off with a powerful push to shove them back and keep some space in between himself and them.

Willow had one attack come from behind, swiping left to the right, looking to slice open his back. He leaned forward, using his staff for a support while his back curved to avoid the slice!  Doing this made him open for an attack coming from the front, a stab to be precise.  He kicked off of the ground, and kicked off of the fishman behind himself, using the force to jerk himself around and bring his legs across in the air against the stabbing fishman's face.

Of course, doing all of this, he was losing his stamina over time.  Fighting three sturdy fishmen at the same time when you are nothing but a human made it a clear statement on just who's species was better suited for combat, on a normal level.  But Willow wasn't going to give in, not yet, he couldn't yet.  He had to get moving. ANd that was because a boulder of all things was being flung his way!

Thinking fast, Willow brought his staff into its fully folded mode, swinging it straight for the ground as he shouted out, "SUmmer SOlstice!" The staff extended to its full length as he started to jog, breaking through an opening in the formation of the guffawing fishmen (of course they were astonished to find a slap of stone being chucked their way). Willow's weapon would strike the ground and extend him forward through the air, just out of range of the crashing down boulder.  All of the smoke and rubble made it hard to tell who was hit and who was still alive while Bully Price and SKippy went off to do their own thing.

After about a minute, there would be the sound of coughing and groaning in pain, only for Willow to get up and get to dusting himself off while the three remaining fishmen were digging through the rubble to see if their brothers were alive or not.  Willow meanwhile got to running off to where the sound of a loud crash came from.  At the cliff, he found Bully Price groaning and wiggling on the various jagged stones, drunkenly complaining about the rough stones digging into his back, and Skippy hanging on for dear life.

Willow would crouch down and lean over the cliff, extending a hand for her to grab on to, "Need some help?" He would get to pull her up to safety so they could get back to planning.

Moves used:

Word count: 714
Word Count total: 2400

Side story part 6: Those under bully's control

In the wake of the crash I Lina closed her eyes and hugged the wall to avoid the down draft from bully's fall that tried to pull her down with his momentum. Or the uncomfortable blast of sand and debris that shot up back at her, which threatened to unhinge her and send her falling to her death. With each labored breath she pulled her blade from the rock's face and plunged it back in just a little higher than before. Each time pulling herself up with her bleeding left hand. She sometimes slipped in the process, straining her right hand and legs in a desperate attempt to keep herself from falling. She grimaced and heaved with each inch as she slowly made her way to the precipice of safety. Her arms felt like jello and mind was blank. All she saw when Willow leaned over offering his hand was a blurry silhouette of a man. She thrust her left hand up and held on for dear life. A moment of hesitation came over and stopped her from pulling out her blade from the cliff's face. But with her body being on the verge of collapse, she relented and trusted the stranger to pull her up to safety.

Lina used the last of her strength throw herself forward and into the ground. She turned back to him after a few more heavy breaths and said, " Thanks...uhh mister". Just as she was about to relax, a wall of people started to approach them. Lina's hand shakily hovered over the hilt of her blade, but her body could hardly keep itself straight at this point. She dropped to her knees and propped herself up shakily with one arm while looking up at the people who were confronting them. Yes they were fishmen, but they were different. Lina grimaced at the thought of Fishmen not being big scary walls of meat, but these ones were of a more average human build. Though they retained their fins, gills, and fish like features. One offered a hand to Lina with eyes full of determination, sprinkled with their own sense of hesitation.

Lina stared up blankly for a moment but at the same time heard the cries of angry slum people in the back ground.


She paused, then took the fishman's scaley webbed hand with a nod. " Sure, what do I got'ta lose"?

haki and skill stuff:

Well Willow helped Lina, also known as Skippy, not the peanut butter, up onto the ground away from the sheer cliff.  He just smiled and huffed, turning over onto his back while he looked up at the overcast sky.  "As much as I want to find a great spot to mark my grave in the future--This isn't the spot for either of us. Not too scenic." He was letting her in on who he was in a way, at least one of the goals he had in life, in his own vague manner.

While they were taking the time to get collected, Bully Price was rolling back and forth, apparently like a turtle on its back while grumbling about the uncomfortable stone mattress he was lying down on top of.  The guy was tenacious enough to live through it, but it seemed he would be out of commission for a while to sleep off the alcohol and whatnot.

And as chance would have it, Skips and Willow would have some unforseen allies, more fishmen?  When the hands were offered to both Willow and Lina, Lina was the first to accept them while Willow took the hand with a dopey grin on his face, "One moment please."  Willow pushed on past the fishmen, the octopus looking one with the head of a mindflayer spoke to Skippy.

"He's not the most grateful one is he?" The elderfishman would inquire of Willow, someone that Skippy had met earlier. But rather than jumping ot conclusions, Willow was pushing his way through the small crowd of fishmen, all the way to where the rubble was and the three remaining goons were still digging for their comrades.

When he came into view, Willow was stretching, bringing his right arm across his left elbow, and then vice versa, getting himself prepared for something. Many of the citizens thought he was going to finish the deed against the people that were just trying to kill him. Instead however, Willow took the time to drop down to his knees and get to clearing the rubble.  He wasn't bothering talking to anyone, just a look on his face that only the likes of his own kin had seen before.  Grim resolve. Nothing like his normal personality traits.

After clearing all of the rubble, the three bodies were discovered, one was barely clinging to life while the other two were lost, much like the two that Skippy had felled in one swoop. "Take him to get some medical attention." He said with a sigh while standing up to get the other bodies and bring them over to the center of the opening. He wasn't going to let anyone else help him with this other than Skippy. When someone came by to inquire what he was doing he would grunt dismissively, and whenever one of the fishmen tried to help carry the bodies he would snap at them, "This wasn't your deed! Let me finish what we started!"

He was startling enough that it was just a marvel to watch one young man drag those hundreds of pounds of dead fishman weight over to their other two downed brothers, only to line them all up, arms crossed over their stomachs and holding their weapons. While all of this was happening, there were citizens that had pieces of their homes displaced, casting off the blame on the first people that they could, Skippy and Willow. He would just give them one of those glares that could kill, daring them to interrupt something that was sacred to him and his people.  They wouldn't want their burials disturbed would they?

Willow's look alone was enough to keep people from trying to approach, and when someone got brave enough to try and attack Willow when his back was turned, he just took one step forward after being struck on the back of the head with a piece of wood, letting it break over his body while he clenched his fists. It wasn't a strong blow, but what Willow returned in kind was a fist that gripped the older gentleman by the collar, "Do not strike a warrior if you are not ready to put your life on the line. Do not accost one of the Lhao Zhuu unless you are ready to consign one life to the afterlife." He would take a deep sigh and set the old man down, his voice softening, "Please--there's been enough pointless loss of life today. Just leave me be." He said with a very dejected tone and went right back to what he was doing.

Willow would then drop to his knees while gathering kindling fire to start up a small spark of flame, enough to make a re tipped wand of tinder, smoke billowing from it in a small trail while he drew various shapes in the air as the tinders fell to the dry kindling to start a small fire.  He was conducting some sort of ceremonial rite! When it was done, he would cast the stick into the growing fire to add to it while putting his hands together for a few final thoughts before his gaze turned up tot he sky, "It wasn't even a fair fight. You had no idea what would happen. And your lives were cast away as quickly as the flames have burned. Now your embers rest as ashes, carried on to your next journey by the wind. See you in The Country."

He had a bittersweet smile on his face while slowly getting up to his feet, taking in a shaky breath and bringing a sleeve to his face to keep himself from getting choked up about it.  He would walk back over to check on Skippy, if she hadn't helped him out at all, and look to get the down-low of what was going on.

In the time that Willow had done all of that, various fishmen came over to speak to SKippy about her odd companion and inquire of her what she knew about him, if she knew why he was doing what he was doing. Why was Willow doing all of what he was doing, and for people that tried to kill them no less?

Sidestory, part 7: Bully's stranglehold


Lina eyed Willow with a dazed and confused look as well. Willow had forcefully made his way past the fishmen who had congregated around them. She silently watched him defeat the purpose of the fishmen escort and approach a pile of rubble located at the edge of the slum settlement. The fishman were rather frustrated, with balled fists and low growls under their breath. The elder nudged Lina with a look of concern, " Hey what is your friend gonna do? They may be our enemies but they're still our breathren". She didn't answer him and instead looked onward, at the scene that was unfolding. As the fishmen grew relieved and talkative, Lina had become more silent. Her gaze didn't leave Willow even as the slum folk started to berate them. They tossed rocks at the pack of fish who started to lunge forward. " All of you stay back! Can't you see this young man's efforts even in the face of this adversity"? The elder roared with a sense of authority that even shook Lina for but a moment.

Lina sensed Willow's agitation, as the once jolly man she had just met threatened to take the life of the slum citizen. The fishmen were in awe and cheered him on out loud with a sense of gratefulness and reverence. " Let's go old fish. We're done here", she said in a low tone. Those around her met her gaze with mixed reactions. Some fear, others with uncertainty, but the majority with anger. A young fishman built much akin to the ones she was used to fighting wringed his fingers around her collar and pulled her up to his face. His breath smelled of fish and something rank that couldn't be identified by human smell. " We may have asked you for help, but we can easily---".

The Fishman cried out in pain as Lina wrenched her fingers around his wrist with incredible force. She pried his grasp from her and began to slowly twist his arm to the left in an unnatural manner. The fishman tried to fight back, reaching into his pouch as others tried to charge the two, but Lina swiftly turned him around and held her blade to his neck. " Let me teach you the difference between that fool over there and myself. I will not show you mercy if you attack me. I will slaughter your families and leave you in despair. Forget Price. I will destroy your people if you take another step toward me". Her voice was low and deliberate, tinged with a sense of hatred and disgust. The fishman tried to move back from her black just inches from his neck. The look in his eyes made the others stand back, and lower their fists. When Lina was satisfied she brought her blade to the fishman's shoulder and used her free hand to plunge it into his skin.

Within seconds the fishman had registered what had happened with eyes bulged and a stutter he could not control. He screamed in agony and held his wound tightly with the intent of slowly the bleeding. " Let's get down to business, what are the terms of agreement"? The elder looked to his people with a bead of sweat trickling down his saggy cheeks. They nodded and brought their wounded to the side and began to wrap parts of their clothing to make a makeshift bandage for the fishman in order to stop the bleeding. "I hadn't intended on hiring a monster, but if it will kill price it's enough for me.".


Lina gave him an incredulous look, eyebrow cocked and gaze affixed on the old fish. " why would you trust a monster?", she asked. The old man grimaced and looked back to his people. " We had a larger tribe a week ago. And a month ago. And a year ago. Price kills our mercenaries everytime and the navy wont do anything about him.You too can use that accursed black steel of his. I beg of you, rid of this monster".

haki and skill stuff:

While WIllow was working on finishing up the burial rites, the people of the slums were eventually leaving him alone to do his thing, a sense of satisfaction washing over him while he looked up at the sky one more time, as if to see off the spirits of the fallen.  This was the way of his people, and disturbing something like this was grounds for a beating, but he didn't have to give one, having scared off the old man that broke a board over his orange haired head.

He was brought back to his home whenever someone was slain in duty to protect the homeland, or whenever someone was punished, or whenever someone was murdered and the criminal was put to death as well.  NO matter what, no matter the life, all bodies had a spirit to let go to The Country (as his people called it). And out in The Country it didn't matter just what you did, so long as you were ready to pass on.

It wasn't a full funeral pyre like he was used to, but this would have to do, and he would have to hope these fishmen could find their way out into the fields of that place.  He wanted to see what it was like himself one day, but only after he found the best spot in the world to die. The most pristine location. The fact that these guys didn't get a choice in the matter made him perturbed. But he had to let it go.

Willow turned away from the crowd and started to walk back over to the fishmen gathering, reeving a few pets on the shoulder and back as a thank you for caring enough about another non-human species with the same care as regular humans. Willow just had that signature dopey closed eye look on his face with a tilt of his head, "I don't know what you mean--they just need to be given their proper rites." He would continue on, catching up with Skippy after she had twisted an arm, literally, and laid down the law.

It seemed that they were being contracted to hunt down and kill that big Bully.  But Willow wasn't exactly aware of that yet. "Hello!" He declared with a smile on his face and a cheerful wave to Skippy and the elder.  "What are we doing?" Maybe it would be best to find a place to get inside and make a plan and talk things over?  Skippy was on point now, it was her call.