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Post by mugenginga on Jul 23, 2011 4:33:15 GMT -5
(OOC: Me and Jilak for now!)
Despite the sometimes seedy reputation of Port Misceo, there were good sides to the town as well. Sides where the children didn't mind playing on the beach. Where they could find seashells, make sand castles, swim, and find possibly dead bodies on the -
Wait what?!
Well, it wasn't exactly normal or what any sane parent would call safe, but there was most certainly a possible dead body watched up on the shore of Port Misceo's southern location. A man who smelled like something the cat dragged in with his face down in the sand and bits of wooden flotsam and jetsam all around him. Over his back was a black flag, which had the typical white skull and crossbones on black known as a Jolly Roger and a red sparrow flying towards the skull and off to the side. It was too small and tattered to be a blanket, but it seemed almost as if it was trying to be with how it was spread.
And there were kids on the beach. Two to be precise, neither of them over ten. Both where male, and one was inching towards the body with a stick, looking back at his buddy several times. The look on their faces indicated whatever the boy was about to do had been a dare. The younger seeming boy got just within range of the unconscious man and poked him in the side with a stick, hopping back in surprise. The older boy burst out in laughter, gaining and indignant look from the younger boy. He began poking the man several times in an apparent attempt to prove how brave he was.
Which lasted just fine until the man on the beach started awake. He sprung up as if to get to his feet, tripped over his own leg, and fell back down with a thud. The boys screamed in surprise and both dashed off, leaving the stick behind. The man on the ground lifted up a hand and put it over his face, willing his eyes to stop dancing. He'd been less dizzy drunken blind on rum. After his eyes decided to stop spinning he glanced towards hte ocean, squinting his eyes as he felt about on the ground. He ran into something of a different texture than the sand and reached over to grab the hat, shakily getting to his feet as he put it back in its proper place on his head. Then he turned towards the Port and blinked.
"Well... that's interesting..." said one Captain Jack Sparrow at the unfamiliar town sprawled ahead of him. He looked down at the bits of boat at his feet and the flag at his side. He grabbed the flag and began slamming it into a ball with his hands as he ranted, "Free Calypso, they said. It's a great idea, they said. Well to the Locker with their great ideas! Where the hell am I?!"
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Post by Jilak on Jul 23, 2011 22:47:34 GMT -5
A young man, only around nineteen or so summers, stared at a strange object within the hull of his ship. He'd come down here for many reasons. A few moments of precious peace and quiet as his crew prepared to enter the Grand Line, and perhaps an opportunity to give his navigator's ship charts a look over. But mostly because he was hungry. In fact, that was essentially Monkey D. Luffy's only motivation for entering his navigator's room. That lecherous chef of his had been serving her extra portions, SURELY she couldn't have finished them ALL.
His search, however, yielded far more interesting results. He found, floating in the centre of her room, what seemed to be a rip in space and time itself. He looked around it, unable to determine any form of three dimensional surface area. Finally, he peaked his head in, looking around. Instead of the other side of her room, he found himself looking into a... beach of some sort?
There were, of course, many suitable reactions. A perfectly stable individual would likely have written it off as simple trickery of the sea. A less competent captain would likely ignore it, returning to their business. Monkey D. Luffy, however, had never been accused of being either of those things. Somewhat silly, yes. But not incompetent.
"Hey, Nami! Why do you keep a whole beach in your room?!" Luffy called out, pulling his head free and cupping his hands to his mouth. He didn't get a response, however, as apparently the Going Merry had reached the 'reverse mountain' everyone had been so worried about. With the upward current came a downward fall for the ship's captain... into the portal. Luffy placed a hand over his beloved hat, laughing as he fell.
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His laughter lasted but a few seconds, as he looked down. Oh wait, that was right. Beaches were usually near bodies of water. Quite close, in fact. Luffy's eyes widened as he looked below him to find that he was about to fall in said bodies of water. Sometimes, he hated not being able to swim. This was one of those times.
He rapidly spun in the air, facing the beach. Right, perhaps if he could get a hold on something, he could--crap! Beaches usually had sand, which usually wasn't extremely good for grip! Luffy's arms merely snapped back into position upon finding no suitable purchase. He tried again, rocketing his right arm towards the beach before him as the water grew steadily closer. Drowning was not in his plans today! This time he brought an entire clump of sand with him, allowing it to filter from his fingers.
His third try, however, with himself literally brushing the water, yielded more results. He managed to grab onto a relatively solid piece of land, saving himself in the nick of time. He let out a quick sigh before his childish grin returned.
"YAHOO!" Luffy yelled out, hat falling to his back. He hadn't found the time to thank Nami for attaching a string to it. Without it, he'd probably have lost it in the ocean in all the excitement of nearly dying. Fate, however, did not seem to smile upon Luffy this day. His joviality was brought to a halt as he noticed himself rapidly approaching a haggard seeming individual.
"LOOK OUT!" Luffy called out, eyes wide.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 23, 2011 23:07:10 GMT -5
Jack was peering forward towards the unfamiliar city at the moment. Definitely unfamiliar. At least no one was marching up to him demanding he pay to use the port. He looked down at the bits of wood around him again and muttered under his breath. Not that there was any boat he needed one for, at the moment. He turned his head and gave a shrug and a casual smile as he saw several ships docked over a tall hill. The actual port seemed to be that way. He reached under his coat and pulled out a beat up compass case, flipping it open.
And it spun around and around, never settling. Jack blinked and shook it, softly at first and then getting more exaggerated. By the time he was at full strength it was being yanked up and down the full length of his arm and to his side.
"Don't tell me I don't know what I want most I just want my blasted ship ba-"
"YAHOO!"
Jack froze in mid shake, his eyes darting back and forth to try and hear the source of the shout. He spun around in a quick circle, his pose not changing aside from the movement of his feet. He frowned and straightened up as he didn't see anyone who could be making the noise when it occurred to him it seemed to be coming from above. He gave a puzzled expression for a moment before looking up just in time for another shout, enough time to note that something seemed a bit off about the person falling towards him, and having said person crash right into him, sending both men onto the ground and causing Jack's hat to spill off and roll to the edge of the water, where it jumped a bit with each incoming wave, slowly going out towards the sea.
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Post by Jilak on Jul 24, 2011 0:51:59 GMT -5
Luffy had had the misfortune of landing face first in the sand, similar to the somewhat older gentleman. He quickly pushed himself back to his feet, looking around. One thing was for sure, Nami's beach sure was weird! And there was someone else here. Was he, like, Nami's boyfriend or something? No, he didn't seem quite her type... too old to be her dad... a brother, maybe? Why else would he be on her island, after all? jeez, first Nami doesn't tell him about her secret beach, and then she has a secret brother! She was really good at keeping secrets.
In any case, Luffy noticed the other gentleman's hat being somewhat swept out to sea. Well, he'd been nice enough to cushion Luffy's fall, the least Luffy could do was safe his rather nice hat. He reeled his arm back, muscles growing taut. He released, firing his hand forth, grabbing the gentleman's hat. He pulled his arm back as fast as he possibly could. He'd really have hated to get, like, grabbed by a shark and pulled under or something. That would have been terrible.
"I used to lose my hat all the time, too. So my navigator sewed a string on for me so I could hold onto it. You probably know her, I think. This is her island. Or at least, it was in her bedroom. It's kind of weird, she's been pretty honest since she officially joined the crew, I don't know why she'd hide it. Maybe she's keeping more tangerine gardens here..." Luffy trailed off, mouth watering. He came to in a moment, however, handing Jack his hat, wearing a somewhat infectious smile.
Luffy looked up. He didn't see the portal he'd come through, which meant no way out. It was a good thing he didn't often make plans that didn't amount to 'punch the right guy in the face', or else they'd be pretty wrecked at this point.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 24, 2011 1:12:40 GMT -5
Jack just sort of lay there, frowning into the sand. Maybe if he didn't move it would go away. It was probably a silly line of thought, but right now he was a lot more annoyed with the compass than things falling from the sky. Even if they were people. WHy were people falling from the sky? He might have spent more time on this line of thought if a breeze heading out from the ocean hadn't caught the top of his head. The top of his bare head. At this point the chattering of the voice had stopped.
Jack pushed himself up to his knees, one hand on top of his head and the other grabbing around on the sand for the hat. His hand rested on the compass, which had come to a stop until Jack touched it, and then his hat was shoved in front of his face. He blinked and looked up towards who was holding it out, his own expression becoming a wide forced grin at Luffy's, and he took the hat in the same hand that wa sholding the worn string of hte open (and spinning without settling on any direction, let alone north) compass.
Instead of putting it right on his head, he got to his feet and spun it around a few times, looking inside, before returning it to its proper place on his head. He looked towards Luffy with a quizzical look, and then looked around as if trying to find something. He looked up and then towards Luffy, taking his own sweet time before returning his attention to Luffy.
"Where'd you say this was?"
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Post by Jilak on Jul 24, 2011 22:39:57 GMT -5
Luffy's grin was replaced with a ponderous expression. If he didn't know where this was, it meant he probably wasn't her father, or her boyfriend, or her brother, or her... son. Luffy shuddered at the thought of the last. Though if she kept an entire island in her bedroom a secret, she could also keep her somehow older son a secret as well! Though, it was highly unlikely.
"Oh, this is my navigator's beach. I must've fallen in here when we hit mystery mountain on our way to the Grand Line." Luffy rubbed his chin as he responded, continuing to think. It was highly unlikely that Nami would let some stranger on her beach. Unless... what if she'd kidnapped him? She didn't seem like a kidnapper, but she also didn't seem like the type of person to keep an entire beach secret! Oh no!
He shook his head, dispelling those thoughts. He really doubted Nami would kidnap anyone. Where would she find the time, anyway? Especially with how much time he imagined it took her to hide an entire beach in her room. Besides, he was sure he'd have noticed if she'd kidnapped someone. Though, he hadn't discovered her beach until today... no, no, none of this was getting him any closer to figuring out who this guy was.
"I'm Luffy. Nice to meet ya." He said, offering his hand.
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Post by mugenginga on Aug 4, 2011 7:03:57 GMT -5
"Oh, this is my navigator's beach."
Jack frowned at that, quickly turning his head over his shoulder towards the quite visible port town. Well, he couldn't exactly say it was impossible that his navigator owned a beach, even in a port town. Did kind of conflict with his appearance. People who were on good terms with people who owned beaches didn't tend to dress in such an odd fashion as him. Such a... pirating fashion, if you would.
"I must've fallen here when we hit mystery mountain on our way to the Grand Line."
Jack more or less stopped listening at that. Instead he turned his attention back to the spinning compass in his hand, tapping it several times with a finger. It continued to spin in a circle. Well that was a grand bit of no help. He more or less glared at the device for several more minutes before suddenly remembering there was a bit more he'd lost. Namely a map. One Barbossa was sure to have found out was missing by now. Served the ship stealing mutineer right, really. He was walking past Luffy as if he didn't care anymore when the boy shot out his hand. Jack ignored it for a few minutes longer, wading into the water and trying to see if he could find any traces of his boat despite the overall futility of it. Finally he looked back at Luffy.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack finally said. He gave an extremely irritated look around again, including under the water, "Have you seen any traces of my bloody boat?"
(OOC: Characterization note that may or may not be important to Luffy. In PotC universe, "boat" tends to be (accurately) applied to small things, like the glorified dingies Jack is often seen in or the lifeboats on the side of ships. Ship is what one would expect a captain to use towards his vessel. Jack's using it right in this case, but Luffy wouldn't know he wasn't referring to his SHIP as a boat. XD)
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Post by Jilak on Aug 14, 2011 18:34:13 GMT -5
Luffy looked around in confusion. If he'd lost his boat, how did he get to the beach? Did he also fall through a hole somewhere? No, that was insane. He'd never been on the Going Merry. At least, not since the Straw Hat Crew had obtained it. Which meant either Nami had ANOTHER door to her beach somewhere, or he was always here. Or the really unlikely option that it wasn't her beach at all. The latter of which Luffy felt a bit silly for thinking. It was in her room, OBVIOUSLY it was her island.
Either way, the fact that this this 'captain' lost his ship struck Luffy as somewhat odd. First of all, there was the fact that he'd never heard of him. And what sort of captain was he, anyway? Pirate captain? Marine captain? He wasn't really dressed in Marine garb and looked a bit pirate-y, but it was possible. Wouldn't be the first time a Marine had gone undercover, intentionally or not.
"Gee mister, you must have been pretty out of it to lose your ship like that. And no offence, but I don't think I've ever heard of a captain Jack Sparrow." Luffy responded, chuckling. He placed his hands on his hips and arched his back a bit, stretching. Falling into a beach had left him a bit stiff, surprisingly.
He didn't ask Jack whether his affiliation was towards pirates or Marines because, honestly, he didn't think it was a huge deal. He'd never made a habit of being actively afraid of the Marines, and he wasn't about to now. Besides, if this 'Jack Sparrow' attacked him, he was sure he could handle it. He was far more curious about what Nami was keeping on her beach, to be honest.
"Hey, now that you mention it, I don't see my ship around here either." Luffy continued, putting a hand above his eyes, looking around. Nope, the Going Merry was nowhere in sight. Though he supposed Nami's beach was technically still in the ship, to be fair. He turned back to face Jack. Might as well make the best of it, he supposed.
"You're a captain, huh? So am I." The least he could do, Luffy supposed, was make idle conversation. At the very least, it would give him some time to draw a conclusion about probably-Nami's island.
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Post by mugenginga on Aug 14, 2011 18:51:13 GMT -5
Jack's initial reaction as Luffy began to speak was to explain that he wasn't out of it, just that the Pirate Brethren were idiots and Calpyso was having a bad day (never mind his part for or against the entire situation nor the fact that he was alive in great part due to the decisions made) when Luffy said he'd never heard of a Captain Jack Sparrow. He closed his mouth and turned towards Luffy as the teenager arched his back like he was some sort of foreign object.
He finally settled for looking extremely irritated and turned back to his search, which he knew was hopeless by this point but damned if he knew what else to do.
"You know what, who cares! I don't! So what if you don't know one of the Pirate Lords and have clearly been hiding under a rock for the past," he spun his head and looked at Luffy, noting his age, "...few years. I really don't! All I care about is finding my bloody ship and there is clearly no trace of my boat here!"
He spun around fully at this point, "You wouldn't have seen a round chart then, would you have? Complete gibberish and completely unimportant, naturally, but I really would like it back."
He then paused and the expression that suddenly hit his face was one that indicated he may have made a pretty large mistake, "You.... are a pirate?"
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Post by Jilak on Aug 14, 2011 19:19:19 GMT -5
Luffy didn't comment on Jack's mention of being a Pirate Lord. It wasn't that he hadn't heard of such a group before, but more that it didn't seem incredibly important to him. Almost everyone in his village new of the Pirate Lords. A group of seven pirates, all sanctioned by the government and allowed to roam the ocean in peace. They were all said to be incredibly strong, more than a few of them having Devil Fruit powers. So Luffy's only visible acknowledgement of Jack's first statement was a slight frown when the group were mentioned. It quickly dissipated, however, replaced by a smirk as Jack asked his question.
"Not just any pirate, I'm the man who's going to be king of the pirates!" Luffy responded, pulling his hat back onto his head, tipping it forward. String or no string, he felt much more comfortable with it atop his head.
Regardless of whether or not Nami was a lying liar who lied, Luffy didn't imagine her to be close to a Pirate Lord. Where Luffy was from, they weren't... incredibly well respected. Normal citizens were terrified of all of them sans one, and other pirates found them quite distasteful. Which meant this wasn't her island. Which meant Luffy had no idea where he was.
Honestly, it didn't bother him too much. New place, new adventure, maybe finally find a musician for his crew... this could work out, he felt.
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Post by mugenginga on Aug 14, 2011 19:26:42 GMT -5
Aaand it was time for Jack to stare at Luffy like he was a foreign object again. Didn't know one of the Pirate Lords and wanted to the the Pirate King? Only one person had ever held that title, and she'd gone and given it up after the whole mess with Davey. Not that he blamed her, her and Will never had been anything but blatently obvious about the whole thing, but it still left a giant gaping hole in the whole thing. Not that he cared about that much, regardless of his own "title" as it were. He just wanted his bloody ship back, and without that chart, he was in the same proverbial boat as Barbossa. He really didn't like being taken down to that man's level.
"Yes, well, good luck with that," Jack said. He waded out of the water and began walking towards the settlement on the other side of the beach. It was a port, he was sure he could... "borrow" a ship here, get a crew, figure out where the hell he was and set about trying to find his ship again. He had the compass flipped open again as he walked and glared at it. He wanted to get his boat more than anything else, what was wrong with the bloody thing?! He'd taken quite a few steps past Luffy when he stopped. He turned towards Luffy for a moment and then gave a huge exaggerated shrug, "Well, I hear that the South China Sea's up and missing a Lord since the last King gave up her title. I might be able to throw in a good word if you can help me find my ship. She's the Black Pearl, you know, the Black Pearl?"
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Post by Jilak on Aug 22, 2011 2:33:00 GMT -5
Luffy looked rather confused as Jack made his offer. He'd never heard of this 'South China Sea'. Perhaps, wherever Jack was from, it was what they called South Blue? A pretty weird name for it, but whatever. Not to mention, he wasn't even sure if there was a South Blue! Then, of course, there was the fact that he mentioned the last King giving up 'her' title. That... that was pretty shocking, actually. The last King, to Luffy's knowledge, was Gol D. Roger. He had no idea that 'he' was actually a 'she'. All of the facial hair was a bit of a distraction, after all.
After Jack mentioned a Black Pearl, Luffy was completely lost. He'd never heard of such a ship, though to be fair, he'd never heard of that Kuro guy either. He was pretty fast, sure, but without those gloves, he wasn't very strong. He had almost no offensive ability without them, really. Luffy had begun to consider people or ships he'd never heard of somewhat unimportant, to be honest. Which meant he was quite unimpressed at this 'Black Pearl'.
"Why's it called the Black Pearl? Is it burned or something? Sound's like a pretty bad ship, if you ask me. Either way, I've never heard of it." Luffy responded, scratching his forehead. None of this made any sense to him, but he could deal.
"Hey, you should join my crew! The Going Merry could use a musician on board!" Luffy perked up at this, pointing to Jack as he made his own offer. He really wanted a nice pianist or something. Someone who could really play a nice... piano. Any instrument would do, really, but that was his personal preference.
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Post by mugenginga on Aug 24, 2011 1:39:14 GMT -5
Jack was now looking at Luffy as if he was some sort of alien creature. First, the teenager hadn't heard of him. Okay, whatever, who cared. Then he said he wanted to be the Pirate King. Well, that was a stupid goal but Jack supposed he'd heard stupider. If the boy thought he could convince someone to vote for him, that was his own delusion. Then he said he hadn't ever heard of the Black Pearl. Jack's mouth had fallen open as he stared at what he was beginning to suspect was a brain damaged fool.
And then Luffy called the ship bad. The ship he'd never heard of. The ship whose name actually had quite a lot of meaning. The ship that was Jack's, no matter how many times Barbossa ran off with it. And then the boy had the gall to try and recruit him. This wasn't Tortuga. He wasn't some drunk looking to get away from the authorities and was willing to scrub the decks to do it. He was goddamned Captain Jack Sparrow and he was quite prepared to inform the boy of that, a pointed finger raised and a single step forward when a capuchin monkey shot out from behind a sand castle and leapt up to grab Jack's compass, latching onto it with both tiny hands.
"MONKEY?!" Jack said.
Jack had lost all interest in Luffy at this point, and was now attempting to shake the primate off his compass. The monkey sceeched at him in indignance and promptly bit down on Jack's hand. Jack let out a curse and dropped the compass. The monkey rolled to the ground with its prize and began to run off. Without a moment's hesitation Jack pulled out his pistol and fired off a single round at the monkey's head.
It was a bullseye, but Luffy would probably note that the man was running at the monkey as if he expected it to run... and after rolling it did. After quickly turning to Jack and screeching at him again. The monkey that had just gotten a bullet to the head. And now both of them were running off towards the town.
Yep.
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Post by Jilak on Mar 23, 2012 23:43:37 GMT -5
What was perhaps most odd here, so to speak, was the lack of oddity. Sure, a monkey getting shot and then getting right back up and continuing to run was pretty weird. For normal people. But for Luffy, this was pretty much your average day, really. So the monkey seemed to be immortal. Or invulnerable, either way, it was most likely that it had just eaten the... Dead dead fruit. Yeah, totally. He'd never really considered the concept of animals eating any of the devil fruits, but he saw no prevalent logic against it.
Then again, it was very rare for Monkey D. Luffy to see prevalent logic in ANYTHING.
So as the two ran off for a considerable distance, Luffy stopped and stared for a moment, before an excited grin found itself upon his face. He put his left hand over his prized straw hat, securing it, before cocking back his right arm. He held it in place for a moment, allowing his entire body to reel with it, before firing it forward, securing a handhold on a somewhat loose piece of ground.
"Gomu gomu... rocket!" was all he had time to yell before his body shot forward after the musician and the mysterious monkey.
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