Serious : A new Journey (Open)

The wind pressed at his back, as Kitsune-me stood at the helm, overlooking the vast ocean around his ship. He set a lock on it, before descending to the deck, and taking in a closer look around his surroundings, eventually climbing up the crows nest. There wasnt a thing for what seemed like miles, and he was fine with that. A few clouds here, a few there, but mostly sunny.

He looked through a few of the telescopes to see farther, wondering where he should go to first. He had spent a couple weeks on the last island waiting for his ship to be completed, and it was a good investment, though it lacked a crew. He didnt trust those he found on the island, and those he considered were stuck there for whatever reason. It didnt matter in the end, for he was alone, but fine on his ship. He wondered if it was too big, but he could get across the ship in good time, if needed, and he hadnt been attacked yet, which was good. He wasnt sure he could take a whole crew of another ship, and didnt want to test that yet.

He wandered about the crows nest, looking out at the different directions around him, not seeing much, but knowing that adventure would come to find him soon. He just hoped he was ready for it. He stretched, as he continued his slow walk around the crows nest, looking through another of the many spyglasses, looking for anything to catch his eye, even if it was just a good spot to fish.

Taki was not having a good day.
 
She’d been freeing slaves left and right, even the World Government had started to take notice, but they couldn’t really publically announce that they’d been allowing people other than the Celestial Dragons to have slaves, it would be detrimental to their image, so instead they sent out teams to take her down, the first few were alright, but when they started to seriously consider her strength, they started to get out of hand. Furthermore, she had started to run out of slaves to free in the grand Line, she wasn’t aiming for anywhere in particular, but now she wanted to focus on the blues.
 
She didn’t have any method of transportation, and if not recognised, she would be reviled on any commercial ship, and only the marines could pass safely from the blues to the grand line, she had to swim there. She kept herself low in the sea, but not on the surface. She had to keep an eye out for any creatures lurking in the depths, she didn’t want to be swimming free one second, then in a sea-king’s gullet in the other. The first attack came from a relatively small thing, in fact she didn’t even think of it as a seaking when she punched it on the nose, causing it to roll backwards in the water, however when she saw it get grabbed bby a massive grab claw, she guessed it was more running away from something as it got dragged into the murky depths. She doubled her pace after that.
 
The second attack came from an actual giant bugger, it was in the shape of a giant grouper, and tried to swallow her whole, however before it could do so she swam to the edge of its teeth and yanked out one of them, causing it to howl in pain and retreat. Now aimed with a tooth, she continued onwards.
 
The third and final attack came from a very fast eel-like creature with a perpetual grin, it slammed its face into her chest, causing her to figuratively lose her breath, then it swam over and hit her on the back, she was subjected to a barrage of attacks before it started to lose interest, opening its jaws and preparing to devour Taki, she finally found a good shot and pushed the tooth toward it with all her might, hitting it in the eye, it let out a large roar before slamming her with the back of its tail so hard that she was propelled into the air across the sea, exiting the calm belt and into ta world of unknown.
 
She appeared to Kitsune as a spot in the sky, coming ever closer.

He stopped before wandering away from the spyglass, and blinked, unsure of what he just saw. It appeared to be a flying dot in the distance at first glance, but after watching it carefully, it looked like a whale flying through the sky, but that couldnt be right. Whales dont fly, he knew that, but then he saw limbs, and thought it to be one of the "Fishmen" he heard so much about in bars. He didnt think it were true, but there it was, flying his way.

He slide down the crows nest ladder and up to the helm, unlocking it, and adjusting the ships trajectory to align with the flying Fishman. Maybe he could help it, if it didnt try to tear his ship apart. He pulled it up to where he believed it would land, and dropped anchor, hoping his calculations were correct.

He looked out at where the fishman was flying and squinted, as he tried to find it again, and it wasnt hard to do, and he watched as the large creature flew acoss the sky in his direction.

An unconscious Taki whistled through the air as her bruised and battered body fell into Kitsune’s ship with an almighty SPLASH. His mathematics seemed to be fairly good today either that or luck. She didn’t hit the wooden deck or any of the ship’s mast, and landed relatively harmlessly to the ship. However,  she DID make quite a large splash, and the force of her impact would leave quite a mark on any average human’s head.
 
When she floated to the top, there would be bruises not ALL over her body, but they would have a large surface area, her fin would be flopped to the side as usual, the one imbetween her two shoulder blades on her back. Her skin would be smooth and shiny, and her clothing (albeit unhelpful as it was before) would be long gone. However! Her private parts were shielded by some kind of skinny thing, so that protected her from pervs, more like a built-in modesty shield, no need for clothes if they were unwanted. Then again, she was pretty much birthday suit’d.
 
But away from the digression, she floated to the top, obviously unconscious with her back turned to Kitsune.

He didnt duck as it flew into his large pool, of which he was now glad to have. He had insisted upon it, even though he didnt expect to use it much himself, except for anything he fished up, but it was good for the Fishman who landed in it, without any harm done to itself or the ship.

He wandered as close as he could without getting into the water, and looked her over, curious, but wary. He didnt want to be ambushed by this thing, but from the closer look he had, it was obvious that this thing wasnt going to be doing any harm any time soon. He decided they were safe where they were, and went down into the storage room with his fishing pole, and grabbed some bait from the kitchen, before sitting on the edge of his ship, and began fishing.

He felt that the fishman would be hungry when it got up, and that was honestly the best he knew for medicine for it. He wasnt even sure he could lift it out to take a better look at it, and besides, he wasnt a doctor. He could wrap up a cut, but he didnt know how to deal with bruising, and what if this thing had broken ribs, or whatever fishmen have? He didnt know how to fix that, and didnt want to make it worse.

He would wait till it woke up, and then see how badly it was hurt. If it needed, he would take it to the nearest island to see a professional doctor. If not, then he would take it where it needed, or let it get back on its way. If this thing was in good enough shape, maybe it would be willing to join him on his journey for power.

He was pulled from his thoughts as he spent a few minutes reeling in a decent sized fish, a Marlin at least 3 feet long, and set it on the deck, hoping its scent would wake up the Fishman. He left it there, flopping but not going anywhere, and began fishing for other things, looking back at the Fishman every so often.

Taki’s eyes slowly opened as she felt a fin slap against her face, she felt pain all over, and she guessed one of her ribs were broken, or two. Feeling her chest, she winced. Yes; two of her ribs were broken but none of them were near her lungs so she’s good for now. She was surprised she hand’t been attacked and/or eaten while unconscious, was she still in the calm belt? Looking around, she saw.. Furniture? Wood? Glass? Alert, she took her head out of the water. She was on a boat.
 
Looking around, she saw only one man, fishing. Slowly placing her hand upon the deck, she tried to quietly get out of the water and reach for him. Was he a slaver? Did he catch her fr the highest price? He probably caught her out of a net or something, but where were the other people to haul her up? She doubted just one human would be able to lift her.
 
However, on her way to sneaking up on the guy (or at least, attempt to) she seemed to have moved a broken rib, causing her to gasp in pain and hold her chest, grunting. Gritting her teeth, she guessed she had no advantage of surprise. “Who.. Are you?” she’d manage.

He blinked out of his fishing daze, and looked back at the Fishman. It had been some time since she had fallen into his ship, but he smiled all the same. He turned his whole body to face the creature, and bowed politely, setting his fishing pole down onto the deck for a moment, putting one foot on it so it wouldn't fly off. After a moment of bowing he finally spoke. "Forgive me, I was not aware that you were awake. I am known as Kitsune-me. I first saw you flying in the sky, and you landed in my ship. I caught you a fish, if you are hungry." He pointed towards the marlin on the deck, hoping that it wasn't offensive or something.

"If you require, we can head towards an island to get you proper medical care." Seeing her standing, he could tell she was in worse shape than he had hoped, and could probobly use a doctors touch. She towered over him, even in a slumped posture, but he wasn't scared. He was in a bit of aw, but more concerned for the creatures health.

The human seemed to be calmer than most in her presence, others would’ve probably have just.. Screamed and ran or something, then again she must’ve been out and on his ship for a while. “..Right.” she said, he saw her flying through the air, which was probably done by the giant eel, and he was able to, despite him being able to be anywhere else in the ocean, be in the same spot where she’d land? She hadn’t eaten since before swimming through the calm belt,  so she picked up the relatively large fish, pulling its head off and tossing the unneeded appendage into the sea, taking a large bite with her powerful jaws before placing it back down, staring at the human.
 
“A doctor? Good luck.” she said, sitting down on her rump. She couldn’t really take deep breaths, due to the ribs so she couldn’t really sigh. Not many would wish to treat a fishman, though for some reason this human wasn’t off his brain trying to stab her, so she guessed he was semi-alright. She checked her chest, moving one of the certain things out of the way she inspected where she believed the ribs were broken, sure enough she could see a bit of swelling. “They’ll heal by themselves.” she said.

He looked her over again, and nodded, looking up to her face. "You are more than welcome to stay on my ship if you would like. Is there anywhere that you would like to go?" He wondered if the creature, a female by the sound of it, would like to rest in a bed, or would prefer the aquarium pool that was behind her. He hoped that she was wrong and they could find a doctor willing and able to help her, but he wasn't going to push it. Either she was prideful, or she really was perfectly fine with a few bruises.

He knelt down, and offered her the fishing pole. "I have a few extra in the storage room, if you'd like to join me. I also have a net, if you do not wish to wait for more fish." It occured to him that he should probobly keep the anchor down where it was, for it was closing in on night, and sleeping while sailing was the end of many pirates and adventurers alike, and he had no intention of being one of those poor fools. "We will be anchored here for tonight, and set sail at first light, if that is agreeable with you." He was trying to be as easy going as possible for the Fishman, for this must be a shock in its own for her right now, being in a place it didnt know, it seemed.

She grimaced as she was asked where she wanted to go, she didn’t have the piece of paper which had the names of the islands where she needed to go, so she had to start from scratch. “I have nowhere to be right now.” she said, taking another bite out of the fish. She wasn’t quite sure if she remembered the places right, in fact she’d probably have trouble finding them even with the list, fishmen were a lot more common in the grand line than the blues.
 
“I could just as easily dive into the water and grab the fish myself.” she said, about to get up but felt her ribs jumble about, causing pain enough to make her wince. Or not. she inwardly muttered, grabbing the fishing pole and throwing the lure out into the sea. She didn’t know the first thing about fishing, but she’d seen other people do it, she guessed she’d have to pull back when there’s a tug and out they pop. “Right. Where’s.. The rest of your crew?” she asked.

He handed over the pole, and didn't try to tell her how to use it. No need to get bossy, he believed. Before he left to get another fishing pole, he stopped at her question about a "crew" of his. He almost laughed, but it was a valid question. "Well, I have no crew. It has just been me until you arrived, though I am looking for members to join me." With that, he left to get a fishing pole. He knew it sounded, and probobly looked, very strange that a single person would have such a large ship with no one else to help, but here he was.

They didnt need to fish, of course, but it would be a nice way to get to know this fishman, and stock up the aquarium if nothing else. It was not long before he returned with another fishing pole, and a bucket of bait, mostly chopped up smaller fish that he obtained from the kitchen. He placed it between them, and sat on the edge again, baiting and then casting out his line. "Might I ask you name? If you are not comfortable with informing me, I understand, and respect your privacy." Who knows? This individual might be someone who could help him with some standing in the world government, or at least find a home for his people.

Taki looked at him incredulously, “No crew, and you’re running a ship this big?” she wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, if not then he must be some kind of fool. How would he be able to take care of everything? She hasn’t been on a ship, but she was sure it needed a lot of work even from a full crew. Subconsciously holding her chest, she cast the line again. A few moments later she felt a bite, and pulled hard. The fish bounded all the way across the ship and back into the sea. It was quite a large fish, and Taki muttered a curse at underestimating her own strength.
 
Looking back at the human, “Taki.” she replied with a grunt, casting the net once more. She guessed it wasn’t too harmful to give him her name, after all he did help her out, as unlikely the circumstance may be. “Why do you have such a big ship, and how have you managed to even get it here? It takes a lot of effort for a ship this big, even with a full crew.” she said, looking around at the ship.

He waited a moment before answering, thinking it over to give the best reply. He finally replied "Well, I had hoped to have a decent sized crew, but I have yet to find those that I feel I trust. And it has not been easy, but Ive managed out in the open sea, its easier. Rope helps with steering when I'm elsewhere in the ship, but I do try to take it slowly around islands."

He began to reel in his line, and pulled up a small, but decent fish, maybe a few pounds. He set it on the deck, rebaited his line, and tossed it back in. He didn't know what kind of fish it was, but it flopped there, and eventually flopped its way into the pool. He didnt mind, it was just another fish they could get out of it later. "It hasn't been easy, honestly, but I haven't run into any problems yet thankfully. I wouldnt mind extra help, if I could find those that I could feel safe with on my ship." He smiled a bit, wondering if this could be the beginning of a good friendship.

“..Right.” Taki grunted, she didn’t want to speak too much because of her ribs, if they punctured anything then that would be quite annoying. Still, she couldn’t quite understand why he liked fishing more than going swimming for it himself, after all it is the thrill of the chase, what fun is there when the prey comes to you? Then again, humans can’t swim as well as fishmen, and a lot of fish were faster and probably just as large or larger than them, so it made sense, albeit a little.
 
“You’re talking about trust, but you let in fishmen nearly twice as tall as you who fall out of the sky onto your ship?”  she was fairly sure that she could snap his neck like a twig, so why isn’t he at least a little bit apprehensive? Did he have some sort of contingency plan? “And why such a big ship? You could’ve gotten something half the size of this and it’d be faster and easier to manage.” she continued, able to actually pull in a fish about the size of her arm, tossing it into the pool and throwing the lair out again.

He nodded at her words, knowing that she was right. It was a considerable risk to let something so dangerous on his ship, and that a smaller ship, even just for now, would serve him better than a full sized ship. "Well, I couldn't just push you off my ship and be on my way. That would be rude, and I did not know you, so who was to say that you were to kill me or not?" He let that hang in the air a bit before continuing.

"But you are right, I should have either gotten a crew, even temporary, or a smaller ship. I simply thought I would find good crew mates quickly." He glanced at her, sizing her up, and she was almost twice his size tall, and at least three times as wide as he was. It reminded him of when he was a kid, for he was bigger than most children, but the adults dwarfed him, as they always did. And now, he was dwarfed again, after he thought he was the tallest of his clan, now on his own ship he was dwarfed, but he wasn't mad. More amused, and it was a creature who's kind was known for their strength and size.

"If I may ask, how were you flying? You don't seem the kind who would know how to." He was actually very curious and confused at the idea of a flying fishman of this size. It wasn't exactly common, afterall.

Taki grunted, tossing a caught, much smaller fish that she could fit in the palm of her hand into the pool. “Thanks for not doing that.” she said, drily to him not pushing her off the ship,  she gave him that, he couldn’t know if she would. “Well, you’re lucky this time, I suppose.” she continued. Taki tried to pat him on the head comfortingly at his lack of foresight when it comes to using a ship, “We all make mistakes, I suppose.”/
 
Taki listened to him, then shrugged. “I was swimming along the calm belt when I got attacked by a bastardly eel, I guess that’s the thing that caused all these bruises, after I took its eye out it hit me away and knocked me unconscious, I guess it hit me so hard I ended up here. How close are we to the belt, anyway?” she asked, squinting off into the distance, the ship was about.. Half, maybe less than half of the size of an average seaking, so she didn’t bother giving it much of a chance against one.

He blinked at the pat, not expecting it, and tensed just a moment, before relaxing realizing he was not going to be attacked. He listened to what she had to say, and nodded quietly the whole time, surprised that she took on a Sea King on her own and lived. That didnt happen almost ever, so he was sure she was very strong. When asked how far they were, he pondered a moment, before answering,, "Well, we are a good ways away last I checked. I didnt think we were near the calm belt, but Im not a navigator, so... we could be a bit near it... " He said, pondering that thought. Had he foolishly neared it without thinking?

He reeled in his new catch, a squid from the looks of it, white with bright pink pokedots, and he tossed it into the pool behind them. He hoped they found a chef soon to cook all the interesting things they caught. He finally looked over at her, and asked "What were you doing in the calm belt? I thought that was a nesting ground for Sea Kings." He was expecting for her to casually explain that she was simply training and was caught off guard, but who knows what his new companion would say.

Taki pondered whether she should tell him her actual reasons for going, before deciding that honesty is probably best, “I’ve been hunting slavers, I nearly exhausted all of them in the grand line and I had a list that pointed them toward each of the blues, unfortunately I’ve lost it now, but swimming across was the quickest way.” she shrugged, “Probably wasn’t the quickest way but it beat having to crawl up the red line or try and hitch a ride on a marine ship.” she continued, looking around, catching a puffer fish that was just a little bit large, it didn’t look poisonous so she held it with two hands and threw it into the pool.
 
“Also, you’d probably want to steer clear of the place, there’s an angry eel missing an eye.” the said offhandedly, “Where’re you bound for anyway?2 she asked, the guy was all alone with a large ship, she’d probably be going around looking for a crew, but to start off with he’d probably be better off with a small raft or something, he’s started too large.

He blinked, looking up at Taki, not expecting that kind of answer, but smiled after a moment, going back to fishing. "Thats not a very common practice, I think. Though it is a noble one, and I would like to help you in this if youd allow me. We'll turn north, and when we find an island, we can begin our search there. " He listened to more of what she had to say, nodding as she went, before replying again. "Well, stowing away on a naval ship doesn't sound very safe, nor does scaling the Red Line, so I see your point."

He laughed a bit, at her mention to steer clear of the place. "I have no intent on entering the nesting grounds of the Sea Kings, I can assure you. I was heading to no place in particular, really, but now we find the nearest inhabited island and begin our search for these slavers and show them the error of their ways." He said it not with confidence, but more finality in his voice, almost like it was the obvious choice. He didnt move from his spot, but continued to fish, but the look in his eyes were deep, almost lost in his thoughts, but he was still paying attention. At last, his adventure would truely begin, and who knows what things they would see and do.

“No it’s not.” she said at his saying that slave liberation wasn’t a common practice. Not many would apparently stand up to these nobles who have seeming omnipotence over the state of affairs in the world, even the people who should be governing the law, and who made slavery illegal still allows some people to do so, like the Celestial Dragons she’d been hearing about. “You would?” she asked, surprised that he would want to help her. After all, freeing slaves it a rather dangerous task, and half-baked people probably wouldn’t get very far, especially with freeing some of the higher-up places. She’d already wrecked a few mansions but she couldn’t do it again for a couple of months in her state, she could walk (although slowly) and fight (although weaker than before as to not upset her ribs), but of course she was handicapped.
 
“Yeah, just turn the ship into the opposite direction where I appeared from, that should get you safe.” she said, looking around. There was the sea, which wasn’t very surprising. “Where’s the nearest island?” she asked, maybe they could go there and get her some bandages while they were at it.

"Well it shouldn't be too difficult to get away from it, we've been anchored all day in the same spot, and no Sea Kings have shown up." He reeled in his fishing rod, pulling up a clump of seaweed. That confused him, he was sure that his line wasn't long enough to grab any seaweed from the ocean floor. He untangled it and tossed it onto the deck. Who knows, there might be something in it. "Well, its been about a week sense I saw an island, and that was where I had this ship made, but if we head a bit north, I think we should run into another island. I am no navigator though, so I may be wrong."

He cast out his line again, as it seemed to become habit for them, though with the growing darkness, he wasn't sure if they would catch anything else. That was fine with him, but he didn't want to risk using the light attachment for his fishing pole. That might attract the Sea Kings. "Do you remember the names of any of the slavers or islands at all? Or should we look forward to starting from scratch?" He didnt mind either way, but having some place to start would be nice.

Taki grunted. “I suppose.” she answered to the lack of seakings. She wanted to defeat one yes, though she did encounter a particularly vicious one with that eel, she was able to defeat the others with relative ease, though she did have to use a weapon. She glanced at his wad of seaweed, before feeling a bite and taking out a fish about the size of one of her fingers, it’d make a hearty meal for the guy next to her so she tossed it into the pool. She looked around, trying to remember some of the names that were on the list. She could remember one of them. “Does Horshoe Island ring a bell? Or Braisewood Cove?” she asked, the second one she remembered after speaking of the first. If, in fact they went to such islands, she’d probably have to wear some kind of cloak, a disguise wouldn’t.. Work. Then again, there are some pretty tall humans.

He pondered for a few moments, trying to recall the various islands of the North Blue, and nodded after finding what he was looking for in his mind. "Yes, I do know of the island, but not of the other one. That may not have been an island I have set foot on, but that Braisewood Cove may be upon that island." He snagged another fish, this one small, even by his standards, but it was a deep dark blue, like the depths of the Blues themselves, with silver speckles on it. He decided to keep it. Who knows, maybe it will survive and get bigger.

He tossed it into the pool behind them, and baited his line again. "This is relaxing, isn't it? And we are surprisingly fruitful with our bounty." He was curious about that, but also a bit worried. Could something below have driven all these fish up here? Or was it just a prosperous night for them? He debated setting sail now instead of in the morning. Never know, and could get to this Horseshoe Island faster that way.

“Good enough that you know them.” Taki replied, looking off into the distance. They’d have to go there, though it’ll take a while for her wound to heal, or wounds. She didn’t really want to do anything with broken ribs, agitating them further would not be a very wise thing to do.
 
“Yeah. Maybe it’s because we’re so close to the calm belt, a lot of fish go to and from that area.” she offered, she wasn’t actually sure why there were so many fish, but he did manage to snag some seaweed earlier, maybe they’re above a reef? “I’d offer to have a look, but climbing back up the ship’d be a bother right now.” she said, wincing a little. It wasn’t just her ribs, but her back was killing her as well. Some people may think that large breasts are a blessing or something, helps with attraction, but really all they did for Taki was cause a lot of back pain. Something that didn’t help with her aggressive visage either. “Maybe we’re above a reef, setting sail away from here’d probably be best.” she said her mind.

He nodded a bit, about both things, and reeled in his line one last time, and went to put it away, before heading to the helm. He began the process of lifting anchor and setting sail, turning away from the direction Taki had flown. After pointing them in a safer direction, because anywhere but the calm belt was a good idea at the moment, he left the helm after tying it in place, and headed for the sails, first releasing them, then tying them down so they would catch the wind. As they began moving, he climbed to the crows nest, and began to look in the various directions for... something, anything at that point. He wouldnt mind planting his feet on solid ground for a change, having been at sea for some time now.

He eventually found something, nodded, and went down to adjust their course. He called from the helm to her "I have spotted an island, we can get directions there if it is not Horseshoe Island." He didnt say it, but he also hoped that they could find a doctor willing and able to help his new large friend. And if they could get a doctor to join them, all the better. He stopped his train of thought, and smiled a bit. He was already thinking of her as crew, and he hadn't even asked her to join yet. He hoped that she would join, it would be a shame to get so close only to part ways never to see each other again.