With the thought the open air and arriving at a new destination, Rei-Rei tugged on her pair of orchid purple shoes – the ones patterned with navy stars, of course – over her purple and pink floral print Capri pants, with a renewed sense of determination. On went a set of brightly-colored bangles, each jammed onto either wrist by nimble fingers with such fervour that the bracelets clattered and jingled together; their charms clinked against each other loudly in some kind of only slightly dissonant background tune as she continued to gear herself up. A flick of the wrist then, and more tinkling of tiny red gems against miniature gold keys ensued as she swiped on two coats of mascara. Another flick now, and on came her lipgloss – strawberry scented- and finally, a fluff of her hair. One last nod then, and the girl was all revved up, and with somewhere to go, final destination : Orange Town.

Why there, you ask ? Well, darling, had even one passerby cared enough to ask Reinaka, as she embarked on her trek through the bitter cold October morning, her response would’ve been quick blinking, then a small giggle, and the enquirer would be met with a look of surprise and not-so-mild bemusement. It seemed, after all, a quite obvious choice in location to her; everyone loved Orange Town, and everyone went where they loved – at least, this was what she did. So, logically speaking, everyone ought to be at Orange Town. In her own words, total duh ! As things stood, however, she’d yet to be stopped by anyone while walking, and such comments, as a result, would have to remain tucked safely away in the back of her mind, kept only to herself.

Perhaps it was better that way. It probably was, actually. Less talking meant more walking, didn’t it? Now keep in mind that more walking meant getting to the cozy pub that much faster, so not talking was, in fact, quite beneficial to Miss Sciwalker's cause. Besides, until she got there, she had her map, which was tucked neatly in between the band of her trainer bra – blending perfectly into her portfolio of tattoo'd artwork along her torso – to keep her company.

And company it gave her, up until she found herself having pushed open the door to teh designated pub that she and Tai were to rendezvous at, smiling with excitement, coupled with relief of having freed herself from the cold. Her eyes darted around the room, in search of a familiar face. No cigar, kiddo. There wasn’t much of anyone here tonight, save a few groups of friends, huddled together as they mulled their drinks over, but they all seemed to be quite occupied. Rei-Rei let out a sigh then, as she jammed her hands into the pockets of her now unzipped of her pants, and blew her bangs out of her eyes. She looked around once more, her eyes shadowed with – was that disappointment ? Unfortunately, it was. Poor thing.

Shuffling her feet against the hardwood floor as she did so, she made her way over to the bar, and eyed the bar tender with curiosity for a moment. He seemed…friendly enough; she’d met him before, and he’d always been ready to offer a smile. And then she heard the whispers... shark-man, "there's a fishman here tonight", "I heard, he's over there in the corner"...

Wuh!? Sweet. The purple lady be-lined away from the bar and to the back of the pub until she saw the shark-boy sitting at a table, all eyes fixed on him...

"There you are..." She made her way to the table and plopped down with her feet up. "I thought you might of backed out of the plan..." Ha, as if there really was a plan. He'd sort of agreed to go to Orange Town with her, even after they had to fight all those damn bandits. But he did seem a little flaky.

Reinaka always began a new sitting with a quiet registration of how soft the chair cushion felt beneath her bum, how high above the floor the height of the chair stems put her and an impressive calculation of just how far the hinde legs of the seat could be pushed and leaned on before the entirety of the chair would come toppling over. The estimation of it all was child's play--elementary, even, my dear Watson, and the thought of it sent flashbacks through the young girls mind of a time when she would play at the kitchen table during breakfast, routinely incurring her parents wrath at introduction of the development of these chair accessing techniques.

"Sorry that took so long but everything seems to have checked out with my bandit, Knives. Hmm I'm surprised we didn't get more all things considered he was just a low level third with a lot of friends."

Rei swung her feet off the table and sat up with the suddenness of a determination unseen til just that second. She wiped out a folded piece of paper and revealed an in-progress map of the East Blue. She smiled at the beauty of the unfinished artwork. It was her finest version yet, and nearly completed. Just a few more islands.

She looked up and the fishman land grinned a proud and wide smile , pleased at herself in a way that one probably shouldn't be. She smoothed the edges and placed a few of the condiment bottles on either end to hold it in place.

"This beautiful piece of art work here is my map of the East Blue! Gorgeous, hug? I drew it myself! And it's only the beginning of what I've got in store!" Rein aka folded her arms and started up into the space above with a look of dazed glory in her eyes.

Hmm. Reinaka sat in Indian-style on her chair with her arms still folded, pondering exactly how they could make this work. In order to get to Orange Town they definitely needed to find a boat. While Tai might be able to swim all the way there, she doubted that mode of transportation would fair well for her. She peered at her dotted line leading from Logue Town to Orange Town as if the picture would tell her exactly how she should secure her passage to the next island.

He was right there was a ship docked on the south end of the island only...

"That's perfect... We'll stow away on board and get a free trip to Orange Island. It'll be easy peesy."

She noticed the ship again as she was dropping the bandit off to the jailer for the bounty. The ship docked on the island was actually a marine vessel stocking up on supplies at the different islands before crossing over to another blue perhaps. That meant that it was sure to stop at Orange Town on its way. What would be so hard about sneaking aboard a marine ship? Piece ah cake! At that time, the waiter finally came over with a pint of ale for Rei-Rei, apparently compliments of the a group of rough, ugly seamen over in the corner of the pub. Rei-Rei turned and blew a kiss, then turned back and took a huge gulp of the drink. Refreshing as it was, it didn't sate Rei's curiosity concerning her new partner in crime..

"So what's your deal anyway? Why'd you wash up onshore yesterday and why of all places would you be swimming the East Blue?"

Rei-Rei kept her arms folded, nodding intently, desperately trying to focus on what the shark was saying. Unfortunately, too many things were going through her head as usual. It wasn't personal, its just how her brain operated. She couldn't very well ponder life choices or take mental notes about her surroundings while she spoke. That'd be crazy, entirely too strenuous and probably nigh impossible. No, when others spoke was always a great time to tack off some of those mental checklist items.

Look at his teeth, they're so sharp. I wonder what would happen if he bit his tongue? Can sharks regrow tongues? Hmm does he eat his victims after fighting them? Would that be cannibalism? Nah, not technically. I wonder if Fishman eat other Fishman.

And then a loud horn sounded off and she nearly jumped out of her seat. How could she have forgotten? They were so late. She jumped to her feet, finished the beer and grabbed the shark's arm to pull him up and out the door. They were running so fast that it was hard to speak but she had to manage.

"I...found us.... a ship to crash. Here... put these on..."

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a Marine uniform, tossing over to the man. She'd managed to swipe a few from nearby when she'd first passed the ship and scouted it out. And then began to throw hers on over her head. The ship would be leaving soon as if they were going to get to Orange Town, well, it had to be now or never.

"Here...I cut a whole in the inside flap of this backpack, put in on to cover up your fin! I don' know if Fishman can be Marines but either way we need as little attention on us as we can possibly manage."

Finally they were at the port. Rei-Rei stopped to tuck in everything properly, fastening her long hair into an air-tight bun, putting on a blank, boring expression then began marching up to the boat and up the ramp. A marine was there with a list to check off names, it seemed. As she made her way up to the man and halted.

"Hmm. Ramirez? Check. And..... uh," the Marine was stunned to see Tai. He squinted his eyes a bit as if to figure out what exactly was wrong with... "Houston"...

"Sorry, sir. Houston ate a bit of bad fish. He's bound to puke at any moment," Rei interjected, trying desperately to throw some of the eat off Tai.

"Well... see to that I guess. We don't need our cooks contaminating the food. Hurry up, you too. Mess time is at 015!"

"Right, sir."

Rei-Rei scurrying on up and onto the ship, exhaling a sigh of relief at managing to somehow get on board. Dumb Marines. Ha. This would be easy. No one was ever going to suspect a thing. HAHAHAHHH

The shuffling and bustling of the marine ship brought a wide eyed look to Rei-Rei's expression. Everyone was moving, everyone was doing something or going someplace. Heads down, and tight marching formations were in full-throttle. It reminded the Skypiean of an assembly of marching bands, practicing and prancing up and down the deck of the ship. The movements, the shifting, the perfect execution of procedural formations, it was all enough to make the girl's head spin and her stomach churn. She wanted to throw up all the order and vomit as much structure as should could. Reinaka, our fear-less and daunting lady-love, was afraid of nothing and no one except for Robert Rules of Order, single-file lines and tucked in shirts, with name badges. She felt as if she could break out in hives and any moment. She would, she should, you bet your ass she could if she didn't immediately make a change of scenery.

As if by magic and fate, the couple were pushed from behind into a formation of marine's marching in to a lower deck of the ship. Rei-Rei darling tried with all her might and muster to mimic the formula'd process of marching one-two-one-two style along with her similarly dressed cohorts and yet for the life of her she couldn't time her steps with one Private Johnson only inches behind her. Flustered by her confusion, his pacing broke off as well, and as though a domino effect had occurred the entire formation was thrown off by one ditsy, winged creature with an appetite for non-pleated skirts and boys with full lips.

"Halt right there, private!"

Instinctively she knew she'd been singled out, and the fact that the line had moved two paces behind her and she was now very much alone in her sloppy stance and bad timing. A large marine approached her from behind and she could feel the weight of his glower on the back of her neck as though she'd entered an M. Knight Shamalan film. The prickly hairs standing at attention and a cold front passing just over her nautical coordinates. The seven-foot giant rounded the little brown angel and peered into her face as though he was trying to look at a spot on the inside of her forehead. She reflexively drew back from his approached grimace and he, in turn, leaned in closer. He looked at her face, and then her badge and back to her face and she knew she'd been discovered. That is until he stood back at attention and looked back at the formation.

"Continue to your posts, marines! Ramirez and I are gonna have a little session on marching in place! If there are any other cooks in the formation, get down the fucking kitchen right now! Only an hour remaining until cow time! MOVE OUT!!!"

The formation simultaneously 'Sir, Yes, Sir'd" with all their might and moved out, leaving Jax to have to continue down to the kitchen without her. She hadn't a second to worry about him, though, as she was instantly instructed to behind marching in place! Suddenly she was marching at full speed with a screaming officer hot on her tail, threatening to throw her over board if she stop!

"KEEP MOVING BEFORE I PUT SOME WEIGHTS ON YOU, LITTLE LADY!"

Reinaka burst through the door of the kitchen, shutting it behind and pushing her back up against the steel frame. Her breathing sounded more like the the last cries of a dying whale than the body trying to take in air to live. She'd barely managed to survive the foreman's abuse, her legs wobbling under her as she stood there, really to buckle and give out at any moment. She'd been crying the whole time and it showed, her eyes pouring out liquid like a water fountain.

"Why.....Why....Didn't you H-H-H-H-Heeellpp Meeeeeee, you Meanieeee!"

The waterworks continued as she launched herself at the giant fishman, biting his arm and flailing her arms at him in no particular style or intent, her anger clearly at herself for being made to exercise so intently. The Fishman's indifference to her predicament only making her contempt that much worse until...

Oh?

She looked down to see a piece of paper sitting on the floor, and reached down to pick it up... it's...a.... wanted poster?!! Rei-Rei's eyes burst forward as she say the face above the standard "Dead or Alive" marker, labeling the Fishman that she'd been traveling with, Tai Rackem" as a wanted pirate!

"YOU'RE A PIRATEEEEEEEE!????? Why wouldn't you tell me that you stupid fish face?! We just snuck onto a freaking marine ship, you idiot! If you get me thrown in jail so help I'm going to kill you, you oversized catch of the dayyyy!!!

Her anger radiated off her body and she stood there, glowering at him and inhaled sharp, long breathes, her fist balling up the wanted poster in her hands. What were they going to do now? They were in the belly of the beast, surrounded by hundreds of marines and now forced to make their dinner.

Hmmm. Well, that made sense she supposed. The World Government was very black and white in terms of following their laws or not following them. A supreme organization in charge of the whole world was bound to have its flaring gaps and shortcomings, not to mention its own level of corruption and abuse of power. Reinaka was no fan of "The Man" and actively fought to go against the grain in all things. And while she was necessary bad enough to be declared a criminal, she was no way near what you would call "marine quality".

She decided to let it go. She wasn't necessarily all pirates, although most of them were lousy good-for-nothing womanizers and petty criminals. But she was concerned with the fact that she didn't really know anything about this guy still and yet she was trapped on a marine ship with him. It just seemed like too many variables to figure out and it didn't help that he wasn't the talkative type. He had to spill or she wasn't gonna be doing this anymore.

"Well...fine. But I'm not just gonna be hanging out with some crazed killer. You've yet to really tell me anything about yourself..."

She scanned the stove and counter tops for a sign of what they'd been preparing while she spoke. Hmm... freshly cut vegetables, tenderized meat, boiling broth. Hmm... a stew of some kind it seemed. Stews must have been very popular on ships like these. So many people, so many mouths to feed. Reinaka wasn't a cook by any means but she'd at least learned how to prepare dishes for herself. She looked around for an apron, not wanting to get her new uniform messy. She hated it, but the last thing that would make it better was going to be brown stains.

"You said you were trying to swim to Fishman Island, right? How could that have gotten you a bounty? I'm guessing you made a few unfortunate stops along the way, huh?"

Her hand reached for the knob of the closet door and as soon as she cleared the door, two men tied up lauched themselves out of the small, cramped space. One aimed right now Reinaka. It was instinctive, it was unplanned and it was horrible but she reacted as she was trained to do. Vital areas! And right now... that was the man's throat.

"Obstructionnnnn!"

Three jabs and the man froze in place, his eyes wide with fear and panic. His body seized up and he looked as if he couldn't breathe, which she knew was most certainly the case. She'd aimed her paralyzing strikes directly at his throat, likely cutting off his air supply. Rei's hands went to her mouth and she stepped backward and the man fell over and ceased his struggling, relaxing completely on the floor.

"Oh my God... he's dead! He's dead and I killed him! I.. I killed a marine! Oh no! Oh No! Oh no!"