It had just hit mid afternoon here at Mock Town, and the place was at its most lively. The shady looking town was packed with equally shady looking people ranging from pirates to your ordinary thugs. Among the people were Renji who had decided to take this chance of not having any assignments today to do some walking, get a better understanding of his surroundings. This was something he could have done much earlier, but instead he had other important matters to attend to....such as finishing up a book he purchased before landing on this island. In fact, he actually has the book with him on hand, currently re-reading it. It was another horror themed one with a bit of mystery thrown into the mix. Books like those really do get to him.

"Hmm." the Revolutionary soldier hummed to himself as he continued to walk, and read. Normally it would be a dangerous thing for anyone to be doing, especially out in a packed place like this full of not so good people, but Renji was doing just fine, maneuvering around people without having to look up. At this point, he had gotten use to doing stuff like this, so it was no big issue. The way he walks even shows how relaxed Renji is despite where the blond ended up. If he were still a Marine this would have been a different story.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't appear that Renji is all that use to walking around distracted as he thought....

Soon, the man would find himself bumping into the back of someone. "Oops." he'd say as his book fell from his hand, closing as it impacted the ground. He frowned at the idea of just losing the page number he were on, but it wasn't really something to stress about. The person he bumped into however appeared to be not all that friendly. "The hell?" the man who was rather muscular, tall, and very intimidating turned around to face Renji. There appeared to be two other shady looking individuals behind him as well, another man, and woman that he was talking with before the whole bumping thing. "Yo ho there. Apologies about bumping into you. Guess I found myself a little distracted again." Renji claimed as he chuckled a bit before calmly kneeling down to grab his book.

Renji was not thinking much about this...but the brute, and his pals seemed to have other things in mind, all three of them squinting at the crouched Renji as a grin grows upon the first male's face.

"OH HOI HOI HOI!!"

The scene had changed to a much more...pleasant one now within a bar still at Mock Town. The three sketchy folks that Renji had bumped into earlier were now sitting with the guy in front of the counter as if they were all buddy buddy now with the main thug laughing his guts out as he slammed on the bar counter, his mug containing his drink bouncing a bit in return. "Oi, Renji was it? You sure know how to take the wind out of someone with those jokes of yours I'll tells ya that!" the man claimed as he took another chug of his drink. Renji looked up at him with a sheepish smile, chuckling lightly to himself. "Why thank you, but...that wasn't really a joke. I was trying to say that I-" before the Rev could even finish, the brute busted out into yet another laughing fit, his partners following behind as it started to gather the attention of most of the others here. Renji simply looked up at the three, blinking a few times with half opened eyes before looking around at the eyes facing their direction, a mixture of confusion, and annoyance written all over their faces.

"R-right..." Renji just gave up at that point, picking up his mug as he took another drink. Soon the laughing would die down, and the brute rubbed some tears from his eyes before shaking his head. "Sorry again about the bumping, laddie. Me, and the gang tend to stand out without paying attention, literally! Haha!" the brute claimed, leading Renji to just wave it off. "Oh it's no big deal. Should've been watching where I was going as well. Plus the free drinks more than make up for it." Renji claimed as he raised his mug up with a relaxed smile, clinging it against the other three thug's own. "Aye, we may be savages, but even we know when we are at fault. Good thing we made off with enough beli that other night, oh boy!" the other male said. "We? Last I check, it was me who pulled off most of the work while you two idiots were busy wailing on those chicken skinned guards." the woman chimed in, smacking the two other thugs on the back of their heads before looking over to the snickering Renji. "Speaking of, you could use a bit more meat on your bones. Looking like nothing, but a purple string bean." she'd say, Renji simply rubbing the back of his head as he gave her a light grin.

About twenty minutes have passed, and the three crooks plus Renji were still at their seats. The thugs were more talking among themselves now as Renji just kept to himself with his drink. He contemplated picking up his book again, but at a noisy bar like this, it would prove more than hard to get any reading done. Instead he observed the area, watching the many things happening right now. It was just your usual shady bar. People joking among each other, drunk folks making fools outta themselves, and minor bar fights that people decided to cheer on as oppose to stopping them. All of this was amusing to watch, but Renji would soon notice that something was off. Shifting his eyes to another table, the blond male noticed a couple of guys, five to be exact all glancing over in his direction. He didn't pay it any mind at first, and decided to look elsewhere, but soon found himself glancing again. Were they really looking at him? Perhaps there was something on his face, but that didn't seem like the case. They appeared very pissed from the looks of it. Maybe they were jealous about Renji getting all the free drinks...or perhaps wanted to rob him. There was also something familiar about those five, but he just couldn't put a finger on it.

Not wanting to stick around for any possible confrontations, wanting to keep things simple today, Renji got up from his seat, and placed a hand on his new brute friend's shoulder. "It's been fun, but I should really be going. Thanks for the drinks." he'd say before walking out, making sure not to make eye contact with those five at that table despite them all looking at him. They then looked towards each other, and all got up from their seats. Once Renji walked out of the door, there was another man standing beside said door smoking. Not paying him any mind, Renji walked past while the guy just followed the blond with his eyes while smoke exhaled from his mouth.

The other five guys then came out the door with the smoker following behind once they all came out, going in the same direction as Renji. Things were not looking good.

Renji continued on his walk with his hands buried deep within his pockets. The six shady looking folks were still on his tail, pushing, and shoving people by who were in their way. Some people who were out, and about noticed the small group of six following the one blond, curious as to what the deal was. Whatever it was, of course it wouldn't be any good. Renji also knew he was being followed, but tried his best to ignore it. He was actually a bit surprised they followed him out. They must've been really pressed about robbing him, or something. Possibly because he looks like such a good victim.

But that isn't the reason behind any of this...

Finally after walking for a bit, Renji would stop, seeing as these criminals weren't going to give up tailing him anytime soon. He closed his eyes, and let out a sigh just as the six huddled around him, the one with a cigarette in his mouth standing right in front of him. "If it's beli you're looking for, I'm fresh out of it." the Rev claimed. It was a lie however, but he wasn't just going to hand out his money to some damn thugs! The crook in front of Renji, a smoker with a slim build, and incredibly long legs took the cigarette from his mouth, exhaling some smoke in the process. "Beli? Nah, we're not here for any of that." just as the smoker spoke, Renji opened one eye, opening the other shortly after the man finished speaking. Not only did these six look familiar, but this guy had a voice that Renji just couldn't shake the feeling he's heard before.

"Me, and the boys here just needed to confirm something. Now seeing you up close, there's no denying it. Marine Captain Renji Vinsmoke." as the long legged crook spoke the man's name, the other five started to snicker. Renji's eyes widened from this. He was sort of afraid of something like this happening, but didn't believe anyone out in Paradise would recognize him. During his Marine days, Renji was always positioned somewhere in the four Blues. "Ar Ar! I've been waiting for the day where I could pummel you into dust, Marine dog!" a heavy set fellow wearing a ridiculous bull costume who stood behind Renji said as he cracked his knuckles in preparation. "I dunno about that. I'd rather watch the life being choked right out of him with my ropes." another male said to Renji's right who wore a kimono that had ropes coming out of each sleeve.

Just as this happened, quite a few people started to watch this, some whispering among each other about this. "A Marine here on this island...alone?" "Seriously? Pretty foolish." "Doesn't look much like one." were some things said among the crowd. A long legged smoker, a heavy set brute, and a rope action user along with three other guys. There was no mistaking who these three were now, leading Renji to grin a bit. "Oh you know what? I thought you three looked familiar! "Bull King" Bruce, still looking beefy as ever. "Noose" Johnson is that you? How's the whole rope thing going!?" he'd say, looking first at the brute then the rope user before turning towards the smoker without waiting for a response from the other two. "Of course how could I forget you, "Burning Legs" McGee?" Renji said with a nod, leading the smoker to smirk as he threw his cigarette to the side.

This three were criminals who Renji had the pleasure of throwing into the slammer back in the Blues. Bull King had a habit of destroying property, and beating the crap out of people who so much as looked at him funny in the East Blue. Noose was a serial killer who had a thing for...choking people in the North Blue, and then there is Burning Legs who led a Pirate crew back in the South Blue by the name of the Burning Leg Pirates. "Good to see you guys again...and not in jail..." That was a bit odd. Last Renji has saw them they were in prison. Why, and how they got out, and all the way to Paradise was beyond him, but the fallen Vinsmoke could care less about that now since he is no longer with that damned World Government.

Renji took another look at the other three he didn't recognize just in case they were actually people he knew as well, but turns out they aren't. Probably just some nobodies who got caught up with these three at some point. It was obvious what they were all here for however, leading Renji to sigh once more as he didn't feel like putting in too much work today. He also knew just telling them that he wasn't a Marine anymore was going to do anything, so it wasn't worth trying.

"So much for reading, and sight seeing...."

"We, the New Burning Leg pirates will reduce your World Government ass to ashes!" McGee shouted. So they all banded together to make a pirate crew? Neat, but still annoying. Renji had to take care of these guys before more people on this island find out about his Marine past. This is a haven for pirates, and crooks after all...

Before Renji could do anything, he found one of his wrists being grabbed by one of Johnson's ropes in an attempt to hold him down. Then, Bruce would attempt to follow up by rushing the blond from behind just as one of the grunts attempted to come up from the other side. "Whoops!" Renji immediately ducked, and quickly crawled under Bruce's legs. This led to the Bull King rushing the poor grunt, knocking him flat on his ass. As this happened, Renji smirked while he passed around one of the brute's legs, wrapping the rope on his wrist around said leg in the process. This caused Bruce to trip easily, landing face first onto the ground. It also caused Johnson to lose his balance a bit, giving Renji enough time to free his wrist from the rope.

Getting right back on his feet, Renji was nearly greeted by an incoming fist from one of the other grunts. Fortunately, Renji was quick enough to duck it, and gave the crook a punch of his own straight to the chest which was enough to stagger him. If only Renji still had his flintlock pistol, and short sword, this all would have been so much easier. Before that same thug could do anything else, Renji punched him once more, this time straight in the face, knocking him out easily. The grunts didn't seem like much of a threat compared to the three criminals Renji knew. Johnson lashed at Renji with his ropes, but the blond was quicky enough to dodge each strike before turning to knee the final grunt in the groin, sending him down with no sweat. A low blow, but Renji was not above that sort of stuff. Especially when his life is on the line.

"Sorry, man. I know that had to hur-" before Renji could say much else, a swift kick to the side of his face sent him to the ground with spit flying out of his mouth! Grunting a bit, Renji looked up to see it was McGee, and those fast legs of his. Bruce who was now up on his feet again sent a punch flying Renji's way who quickly rolled out of the way before it could make contact. The punch impacted the ground, leaving small cracks. He wasn't called the Bull King for nothing! Renji has managed to beat these guys before, but of course it was on separate occasions. All three of them together was proving to be difficult. Renji swiftly got back to his feet, and placed one of his hands into a "claw" like formation before swiping in the direction of Bruce! Three small air slashes were sent from this swipe, hitting Bruce right in his face which left claw life impressions. Bruce grunted, and took a few steps back while holding his hands to his face. Might not have done much, but it sure as hell stings.

Unfortunately, Renji was still not doing too hot. In the moment, Johnson managed to get a rope around Renji's neck, tightening it. The blond started to choke as he desperately grabbed at the rope to no avail. He fell to his knees, clinging to consciousness. McGee came in, and kicked Renji straight in his chest. Renji winced in pain as he continued to struggle. "Now you're about to learn what happen when you wrong, Burning Legs McGee." McGee said with a sadistic grin as he was ready to kick Renji's face in. Then without warning, and out of nowhere, a...boulder came flying by, bashing McGee in the face, and knocking him out cold. Johnson who was taken by surprise by this, loosened the grip he had on Renji without noticing, giving him some air. Bruce who was still distracted by his scratched face was immediately knocked down by another person right on top of McGee.

As this happened, Renji quickly pulled the rope from off his neck, and fell to the ground, coughing while air returned to his lungs. He glanced up to see someone, a woman standing over him, and headbutting Johnson to the ground. The three criminals were now unconcious, but not by Renji's hands. The moment, Renji started to get back to his feet, a hand was lowered to him. Renji looked up to see that it was that same guy he had bumped into earlier, who treated him for that whole mishap. The blond turned around to see that the other two who were with that guy were there as well. "I-I..." Renji grabbed the man's hand who pulled him back up. "Don't worry about it laddie! Just hope ye didn't get beaten too badly. Where else would we get those good jokes from? HOI HOI HOI!!" the man said.

Renji smiled a bit at him before looking down at the unconcious pirates. His smile slowly vanished at the thought of him possibly dying if it weren't for his apparently new buddies. "Don't know what all that was about, but we saw you holding your own against these idiots. Did well for a string bean." the woman claimed, patting Renji on the back with enough force to push him a bit. "Th-thank you..." "Aye, it was nothing mate." "Don't know bout you lot, but I say this calls for a celebration. Let's get on back to the bar!!" As the two men, and woman headed straight back in the direction of the bar, Renji looked over to them, then back at the unconcious six. Tsis felt more bittersweet to Renji who was not able to take care of this himself. If he wished to be of use to the Revolution, he needed to get stronger.

Right now, he felt helpless....

-Exit-