SRS: A Rising Stargazer - Volume I: Twilight in the South Blue [OPEN]

Jaw listened to what Bryce was saying and also remained focused on tearing the uniforms into strips. The fishman already knew that, he was going to lend them a hand at the cost of his own built raft. The karate shark man simply disliked a damaged ship and something attracted him to this ship. Something mystic.

The fishman stared blankly at the uniforms deep in thought after the man called Bryce had offered him joining their crew. No human was that friendly to a fishman. Jaw now was sure that they were pirates but he knew becoming a pirate was his only ticked to build a ship that would sail the end of the Grand Line. Otherwise the marines would arrest him and send him rotting in some prison or sell him in auction to some arrogant Tenryuubi.
His past flashed before his eyes and he blinked twice to escape the void he had suddenly entered.

The words that Jhonen spoke echoed in his brain and Jaw came back on earth. The big fishman turned his head towards Jhonen and nodded.
"I agree with your terms." He stated still with his usual frowning facial expression.
As both the humans left Jaw picked up pace faster and finished the improvised repairs.
He scratched his curly,cloud-like orange eyebrows and then turned towards where the humans disappeared. He stopped mid way and turned to the raft. The huge fishman jumped once and reached the raft even from such distance, he picked up his big backpack that had various stuff in it and untied the raft after leaving a golden coin and a thankful prayer.
Jaw watched the raft as it succumbed into the quickly falling darkness which absorbed everything in it's way, when it's silhouette was gone the fishman had already went below deck. He entered where the other two were and where possibly they were going to eat now.
The silent fishman put his backpack on an empty chair that was next to a wall and then sat on the table with his eyes gazing at the wooden table deep in thought about his future.

Continuing about his kitchen work, Bryce kept his head lowered. It was a wonder that he could see, his hat's brim a constant barrier between the things he's doing and those he needs to do. After Jhonen's speech was finished, the younger pirate finally risked an upward glance. A sullen, grim smile was etched onto his face.

"Respect...and obedience. I've had respect for you from the moment you told me your circumstances. Obedience, well...that just comes with the first." Bryce replied. "I want to be a good crew memember..." Shaking his head, as if to jar loose the nagging insecurities that filled it, Bryce looked back down.

"I really didn't mean to seem like I wasn't...I mean, I just got excited. I'm on this adventure and things are getting fun and, you know? I just sort of said it without thinking."

Getting back to his work, Bryce found himself rapidly becoming engrossed. Before long he was putting the Stromboli into the oven, ready for the final cooking. It was only a matter of time now before the men all sat down to eat his fabulous dish, the tastiness of which would be sure to make Jhonen forget all about his earlier indiscretion.

"In any such case, Jhonen-nii, thank you for clearing that all up for me." Pausing, Bryce slowly looked up at the young pirate. For a man who was in his position, Jhonen seemed to command no lack of respect.

Kujira floated on top of the ocean's surface, his eyes closed. To the causal observer, he would appear to be dead, but he was actually just enjoying the sun's warmth.

Kujira heard the sound of voices and he turned his head to look. There, a small vessel was moving slowly towards him. It had a somewhat chunky design. The ship wasn't built for speed, that much was for certain. There were two men in the boat. They had fishing rods with the lines in the water, and they were chatting away with each other. Suddenly, they both became excited about something and were pointing at the water. Kujira saw the familiar triangular fin, scything towards the vessel. Shark.

Kujira rolled over and dove, swimming carefully towards the ship. He could see the shark now, in all its glory. The shark was sixteen feet in length. It was a hammerhead. It was taking advantage of the fishermen's bait, which of course was attracting lots of fish to it, and the shark was eating those same fish.

"Hey now," Kujira said, his voice carrying through the water to the shark. "We can't have you doing that. They need these fish. You can catch your own somewhere else."

The shark turned its gaze on Kujira. The fishman could see that the shark's reason was all gone. It was in a feeding frenzy. With a speed that almost caught Kujira off guard, the shark barreled towards him. Kujira flipped upwards, allowing the shark to pass under him. Immediately, Kujira pounced on the creatures back and landed a blow on its head, just about its brain. The shark was killed instantly and began floating downward. Kujira let it go and he returned to the underside of the boat, contemplating his next move.
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The fishermen looked down at the water nervously. The shark had suddenly vanished and they could not hear or see anything. Abruptly, a hand shot out of the water and latched onto the side of their boat. The fishermen cried out in shock, but then a fishman appeared, in his free hand he held a couple of fish. The fishman plopped himself down on the edge of the ship and held the fish out to the two men.

"Here you go," Kujira said. "I thought you might need some replacements for the fish that shark stole from you."

Jhonen served the food up into three plates, and set them down on the small table in the galley. He invited the other two to sit down and eat, and once they were settled he tasted his meal with a small spoonful of the food. It was good, he noted. Nothing amazing but good, solid food. It was the sort of food he'd be perfectly happy to eat for months, as long as it wasn't perhaps this same exact meal every day.

"Not too bad Bryce. Until we pick up a proper sailing cook who knows how to handle all the weird fish and exotic foods we'll be picking up as we venture further from our cultural comfort zone, you'll do well as the galley officer," he complimented the young man. He took another bite, then turned to Jaw, watching the Fishman to see if it was as palatable to a non-human being.

"I can't thank you enough for the repairs Jaw," he said as he ate his meal. He really did mean it, the repairs were invaluable. "Is there anything I can do in exchange? I dislike being in debt to anyone for any favour for very long, so if you can think of something of equivalent value to the repair of this ship, just name it," he told the Fishman seriously.

The three plates were served with a nice smell of the well-made dish which increased greatly the appetite of the sharkman who was renown for his vacuuming of food. The tiger shark was the shark that ate everything, from ship parts to the best-cooked meals, now Jaw was going to prove it as he impatiently took the dish and devoured it leaving nothing left. Like some sort of magic.

He licked his tusks and replied to Jhonen's question:
"Actually you can repay me..." He paused and put his hand on his mouth and burbed politely. "I am really hungry, and I really would like more than one dish. We fishman are different but I am as twice as a food-devourer as a normal fishman."
He kept his frown even when he made that joke, well it was true though, he did eat a lot and since he hadn't eaten anything after he trained AND repaired the ship nor did he manage to meditate.
Jaw then looked at the table thoughtfully and finally got the guts to be direct with those humans, finally noticing that they meant no harm.
"I want to sail with you, pirates." He said seriously and put his eyes on Jhonen. "This is my only way I can accomplish my dream."

Jhonen stood up, grabbing Jaw's bowl and adding another serving of food to it silently as he considered the fishman's request. He handed the bowl to Jaw and sat back down, looking at both Bryce and Jaw, the former the scrawny boy with the hat pulled low over his face, the latter big, broad and brawny and all teeth.

"Your dream, huh?" Jhonen grunted after a moment. "Alright then, let's hear it. Time for a group share session. If we're going to be crewmates, we need to know all about each other, because only then will we know what we can depend on each other for," he explained seriously.

"So one of you, fire away, what is your dream? How do you plan to achieve it? What will stand in your way? I want to know everything you can think of," he concluded.

After getting into a conversation with the fishermen, Kujira learned that he wasn't all that far from an island. The fishermen offered to take Kujira to the island. Although he was sure he could swim there faster then this ridiculous boat could move, he agreed, wanting to talk a little bit longer and maybe pick up some information.

"What is the name of this island?" Kujira asked.

"It is called Baterilla," one of the fisherman, an older man named Michael, replied.

"It is not a huge town," the other fisherman explained. "But it's beautiful and a great place to live."

Kujira nodded, but didn't say anything more.

"So, what about you?" Michael asked. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Kujira replied. "Anywhere I can, I guess."

Jaw looked down at his hands which he put on the table, his eyes focused on the bowl infront of him but his mind had sailed off about the desire of the blonde man to know anything about both the boy with the hat and the giant fishman. It seemed as the boy wearing a hat wasn't long on the blonde man's journey as he was also targeted for the interrogation.

Was he going to be honest infront and not keep it for himself like he always did in his past after the disbanding of the Sunny Pirates. Another painful memory flashed by as the big fishman turned his open palms into fists and closed his eyes regaining self-control.
"I will tell you...." He said and looked at Jhonen as he awaited for the man to introduce himself before he gained the "honor" to hear Jaw's story. Something common in Karate's honor code.

"Hrm?" Jhonen looked at Jaw, wondering what he was waiting for, before he realised.

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself. Captain Jhonen Vincenzo, of the Cosmos Vagrant," he stated smartly and professionally. He motioned for Jaw to continue with his dream explanation.

Jaw nodded as he was now eligible to speak his dream out in the open. The fishman wasn't a socializing person so when you expect a big speech you get disappointed of how anti-socializing can someone be.
"I want to build a ship that would reach the end of the Grand Line." He simply stated and continued. "If this crew is able to carry on with my dream I would gladly be part of it and lend a hand in every obstacle that comes."
It was a bit too much coming from a silent person as Jaw but it was his ticker to finally make his dream true and even learn how to speak more rather than be silent as a grave.

Kujira stiffened suddenly, causing the fishermen to cast worried looks at him.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked. "Is the shark coming back?"

"No..." Kujira shook his head. "I killed the shark. It's that ship..."

"What? That marine ship?" Michael held a hand over his eyes to block the sun and he squinted at the vessel. "I wonder what they're doing out here."

Kujira stood up, which made the boat rock unsteadily. "I'm getting out here," he said. "Thank you for the ride." Just when he was about to jump off of the boat, Michael grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?" Michael asked. "It's just some marines!"

Kujira glared back at Michael, who immediately let go of his arm. "Scum who allow slavers the sail the ocean freely, have no right to claim that they know what justice is," Kujira growled. He dove into the water and sped towards the marine vessel.

Jhonen considered this for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You want to build a ship that can sail the Grand Line, hrm? Well there's already a clear issue here. We already have a ship. It's a good ship at that, cutting edge and quite an expensive Marine ship."

Jhonen paused for a moment, studying Jaw's round and simple face.

"Do you believe you can achieve your dream if you stay with us? If you'd like I can take you at least as far as the Grand Line, no issues there. I just... I don't want you to dedicate yourself to this crew if I can't guarantee that we'll ever have a circumstance arise where we'll need a new ship handbuilt for us," he explained.

"I'm more than happy to accommodate you, and if you want to become a member of the crew I will definitely consider it. I just cannot guarantee that service with this crew will bring your dream into reality. It may help, but I cannot guarantee any surety on that," Jhonen expressed firmly. It would have to be up to Jaw to decide how comfortable he felt with travelling with them.

Jhonen's speech was able to make something that was considered almost impossible to happen - make Jaw smile...well at least smirk.
The evil-like looking giant sharkman smirked with a non-believing facial expression which one would read on "Now I Am going to prove you wrong."
It was a satisfactory smirk on the otherwise demonic face of the shipwright.

"You said you can drop me at the Grand Line..." He started. " Then you are going to the Grand Line. What I deduced is that you both are wanted pirates on a marine ship, that would mean you have the abilities to steal a ship, but not an ordinary one, a new model marine cutter, which would mean you both are quite powerful and thus have high bounties or are wanted a lot. Another theory is that you Jhonen Vincenzo are a former marine on the run. I do not know your goal but if you would like to last to achieve whatever you dream you are on, you need a ship. To maintain the shape for a ship so you won't die from a mere storm in the epic Grand Line weather you will need a handy shipwright. This is where I come.
Together we can achieve our dreams. " He stated after a long analyzation of the situation, it was one of the rare situations where Jaw would talk more and reveal his gifted analytical abilities, something not rarely seen in fishman or at least not expected.

Kujira slipped over the side of the Marine vessel. He had already checked and there was no one on deck. How strange. Perhaps the ship had been abandoned? Or maybe everyone had been killed! Kujira wasn't very experienced in ships and all that, but he could tell that this one had been worked on recently. He crossed the deck and looked out over the ocean. The ship was moving fairly quickly so it seemed that someone was here they just weren't on deck. That was also bizarre. These people must be pretty confident to just leave their ship like this.

Jhonen listened to Jaw explain his viewpoint, and nodded. It seemed sound enough.

"Fair enough then, your skills as a shipwright would definitely be invaluable to us and you do seem content to travel with us and fix up the ship as we go. I think that sounds like an acceptable plan," he concluded. He turned to look at Bryce, nodding at him.

"Your turn, Bryce," he mentioned as he tilted his head. He could hear the wind was starting to come up. At the moment the cutter would still be fine to travel by itself in a locked-sail method, that was how he'd been sailing for a month, but if the winds came up any more than they were at the moment he'd have to head out to man the helm.

Nodding, Bryce seemed to have picked his mood up a bit over the course of dinner. He had seemed pretty raptly attentive to Jaw's story; after realizing he was up to bat, the young pirate stood up and bowed stiffly, formally.

"McEnroe Bryce," he stated in his smooth, soft, but assured voice of medium-high pitch. "I come from an island in the North Blue. I-" Bryce tilted his head down sharply, hiding his eyes.

"I grew up on a small island, in a big family. There was no military on the island, and everyone was very simple. I got in trouble once as a child, but my family didn't abandon me. They..."

"I practiced my shooting every day," said Bryce, suddenly changing his own course of topic. "I'm a natural born shooter, they told me." Still looking down, his fingers gripped tight on the edge of the table. "They said..."

"They were all killed," he finally blurted, after a pause. Looking up, Bryce met the eyes of the other two. He had a look that was distant, brown eyes that seemed to focus on the past. "A single rookie pirate killed everyone from my village. I saw them all die."

Sensing that the mood might shift, Bryce put on a strong smile and pumped a fist, leaning back and relaxing a bit. His voice steadied out once again, it's earlier distress seemingly gone.

"But! But I...I learned something important the day they were all killed," Bryce said, sounding a bit more optimistic. "I'm going to sail to the end of the world, to the end of the grand line, and make everyone in the world look at me. When everyone sees me, I'll tell the world what I learned. That is my dream!"

The ship creaked heavily and rocked a little harder than it had done so previously. The storm would be on them soon enough, and Jhonen needed to be up there at the helm when it did hit.

"Okay, I'll need to cover my story quickly, because that wind is definitely picking up and I'll need to be up there to check on the sails. Quick summary for Jaw, since Bryce already knows," Jhonen mentioned, speaking quickly and surely.

"I was a naval researcher working with the Marines on new forms of navigation. The Marines used my navigational techniques to get through heavily magnetised seas around an island and performed a Buster Call on it, wiping out everyone on that island. That was my home island, and I never even realised I was leading the crew to destroy it."

Jhonen paused momentarily, as it was still fresh in his mind, being only very recent.

"I realised that the navigational techniques I was developing were too dangerous in the hands of the World Government, and so I destroyed all the research and deserted from my assigned role, stealing this ship and fleeing the Marines. I've been on the run for about a month now," he concluded. He looked down at his empty plate, toying with his fork.

"So now I've got a stolen ship, and it looks like two ardent crewmates as well. I'll head to the Grand Line, because I'm determined to keep working on my navigational techniques independant of the World Government. If I can navigate the Grand Line without the use of a Log Pose and without being restricted to a single path out of the seven, I'll know I've come across something big," he summed up.

"To rigorously test the techniques, I intend to hunt down the Fourteen Antiquities of the Ocean Lords. Have either of you heard of these?" he asked curiously.

The ship rocked and nearly threw Kujira off of his feet. "I hate boats," he muttered. "Stupid unsteady things. Why can't everyone just learn how to swim?" He wandered over to the ship's door that led inside and he put his ear to the door. Inside, some people were talking. Now someone was mentioning something called the Fourteen Antiquities of the Ocean Lords, whatever that was. Kujira was a little interested and decided to listen and see if the person said what these 'antiquities' were.

Jaw nodded each time his captain finished a sentence analyzing carefully what was said. Jaw's captain was truly a remarkable human and his ways of navigating through were superior to those that were used now. This meant this man was seriously wanted by the government, a man who's true bounty was much more than the one now and considering he turned pirate, maybe'll the crew would get some worrying news.

As their captain left the giant fishman continued eating food this time slower and more polite than before while his eyes were staring at his dish in a deepfull thought about what was going to happen in the future. The fishman shook his head and looked at the wall infront as he told himself to keep thinking about now rather than dreaming in the future.

While listening to Jhonen's recap, Bryce's unusually keen eyes picked up on something out of the ordinary. Possessed of a singular talent for noticing tiny, incidental, and almost imperceptible details, the young marksman instantly recognized the two hair-thin shadows as they appeared under the seam of the door to the cabin. With all the noise the storm was making, there was no way they'd have heard him. If he hadn't been sitting across from the door, they'd like as not never have know anybody was there.

"I've never heard of them," said Bryce, reaching quietly for his rifle. He tilted his head back so the two could see his eyes, which were fixed on the door. Slowly, silently drawing his the gun, he continued to speak.

"Do you think you could tell us about them, nii-san?" Bryce asked, shouldering the stock and taking careful aim at the door. Though he seemed intently focused on his task, he spoke as casually and naturally as if he were actually at a party. "I'm interested in - could you pass the rum please? - artifacts like that, and-"

A sharp clatter interrupted Bryce mid-sentence as he knocked a mug off the table. Exactly as the cup hit the floor he chambered a bullet, the louder sound of the "accident" masking the quiet metallic click.

"Sorry about that, nii-san," Bryce apologized, staring intently through his scope, waiting for the door to so much as twitch. Every few seconds he glanced over at Jhonen, waiting to see he what he would do, what he could command.

Kujira winced as he heard a loud clattering sound come from the other side of the door. The storm was getting worse and the boat was rocking harder, so he attributed the crash to that. He certainly didn't want to stick around much longer. Surprisingly, he felt himself feeling sick. Seasick, he had heard it called. It was almost embarrassing, but not impossible. If he were under the water right now, it would be very calm compared to what it was like up here.

This is why I hate boats... Kujira thought to himself. He was wondering if hearing about the antiquities were really worth this.

Jhonen watched as Bryce reached for his rifle whilst asking about the Antiquities. It was unusual behaviour, but the captain was quick to pick up on the fact that Bryce didn't want anything to seem out of the ordinary. He glanced over at the door, his mind racing as he noticed the shadows that Bryce had obviously picked up on earlier. The younger man was sharp, that was for sure. He had the eyes of an eagle, it was no wonder he'd become a marksman. Jhonen had some fighting skills, but he was a researcher first and a warrior second, so he wasn't able to measure up to Bryce.

He's a good actor too, Jhonen noted. He sounds perfectly casual. He could blend in anywhere. So if he's so good at deliberately blending, why does he want to be seen so much?

"I'm not surprised if you haven't heard of them. The Fourteen Antiquities are a legend from before Gold Rodger's time. They may even have been what he was initially searching for, I don't know. It is possible though, because they're regarded as the fourteen most fantastic treasures in all the seas. Or at least they were," he added quickly. "One Piece has completely overshadowed them now, so many have forgotten about the Fourteen Antiquities."

With Bryce covering the door, Jhonen wasn't overly concerned about the shadows that indicated someone outside. It was concerning, yes, but he wasn't going to tell Bryce to shoot whoever was out there. Listening wasn't a crime, as far as he was concerned. Still, the fact that someone had gotten onto the ship in the middle of the ocean was of some concern, so he wasn't going to dismiss the threat entirely.

"I doubt either of you know much about the Grand Line, I know that most people from the Blues know next to nothing about the place since its so hard to get into and out of the Line, but there are seven paths on the Grand Line. These paths are magnetic paths from island to island, and because of the way they work ships can only follow one path. Wandering off the path your compass has been set to is almost certain doom in the Grand Line. Once you're on a path you have to follow it to the very end of the Grand Line, where they all merge back together," he explained. The shadow wasn't moving, it was simply lingering by the door. Perhaps it wasn't even a person. Perhaps Bryce was being overly jumpy as the storm stirred up.

"Additionally, the Grand Line is split in two by the Red Line, a thin line of land that circles the globe, perpendicular to the Grand Line. It's these two Lines that divide the ocean into the Four Blues. This essentially gives you fourteen "zones", though such zones have never been officially recognised. The World Government, the Marines and most pirates simply treat them as the seven paths and the two halves of the Line, never distinctly grouping both halves and paths together. Regardless of this, the stories were that each of these zones had a secret hidden away somewhere, a great and valuable treasure."

Jhonen paused for a moment, considering whether to announce their knowledge of the person at the door or not. As the person, if indeed it was one, hadn't done anything yet, he ignored it for now.

"It's generally regarded as impossible to collect the Fourteen Antiquities of the Ocean Lords. To do so would require seven complete revolutions of the Grand Line, once for each path. Even the legendary Gold Roger only traveled the whole Line once. To collect all fourteen would be a feat beyond any treasure hunter, it's assumed. But I have something other sailors don't," Jhonen surmised. He believed that Jaw and Bryce could probably see where he was going with this, but decided to explain it anyway.

"My new navigational techniques don't require a compass. I don't have to rely on locking myself onto a single path on the Grand Line because I can navigate by the stars and the moons and the sun. This means I can hop between the paths. It will be a true test of the new techniques, moving from path to path at will, and it gives me the unique opportunity to collect all Fourteen Antiquities in a single loop of the Grand Line. That's my new dream," Jhonen concluded simply. "To push my techniques to the limit and in doing so surpass Gold Roger himself."

So that's what this guy wanted. Kujira shook his head. Ridiculous. It wasn't possible to move across the lines like that, but why would this man lie about it? And if this was true then this man could be a force to be reckoned with. Kujira stepped away from the door and headed for the side of the ship. This whole trip was pointless. It was obvious that this guy was not a marine from the way he was talking and so Kujira had no reason to kill him, or any of his companions. The storm was getting worse and Kujira's stomach was doing backflips. He winced and stumbled over to the side of the ship.

"Urgh..." Kujira had had just about enough of this. He slung a leg over the side of the ship and was about to jump off when the ship rocked, knocking him back onto the ship with a loud thump.

Jhonen heard the loud thump against the deck, the sound coming through quite clearly to the galley underneath it. He motioned to Bryce, immediately taking action.

"Cover me," he mouthed as he moved towards the door. His anchor was secured in a rack against the door, but it had a quick-slip knot. He cracked the door open, peering out into the setting sunlight. It dazzled him momentarily, as the sun was just now on the horizon. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Jhonen flung the door open, his hand shooting out to the anchor on the rack, undoing the knot and hefting it with ease, ready to face whoever had sneaked onto the ship.

Bryce didn't waste a second. The moment the captain had given him the go ahead, he'd slammed up against the side of the door, gun across his chest, in an almost comical paramilitary fashion. As soon as Jhonen was through Bryce rolled off the wall and into the doorway, his hat sparing him the effects of the setting sun. He spotted the intruder, laying supine by the rail, instantly.

Strafing around to the other side, gun never leaving his foe, Bryce formed a pincher with Jhonen around the newcomer. Shouldering the stock and looking into the scope, the young gun took his sights on the fishman's head. Largely, the gesture was for intimidation and effect; he had no need for sighting at such a close range.

"He heard all of it, I think," Bryce relayed to Jhonen. "I think he left right when you were finished because now he thinks he can go after the treasure."

Cocking back Carpe's hammer, again more for effect than anything, Bryce waited like a statue for orders.