Qilin awoke to darkness, but smelled the mustiness which was the man’s dorm and didn't panic. He was in his bed sprawled as normal along his length, hearing the occasional snore down the row. The beds were pushed up against each other like normal, with just enough space between them to weave between the maze of them to the bathroom which is what he did, staggering in the dark by feel, running his shins against blankets while he rubbed his eyes. He wore only the Gi bottoms they gave them, hating the feel of a shirt when he slept; the few times he had tried he had woken with lines across his body which irritated him for hours and he didn't need that, not to mention how bad he slept when they got tangled around him. The cold floor of the community restroom space woke up his feet with images of hours earlier and the naked towel fight he had missed. Wincing at some of the hits some had taken with the wet towel ends (a sharp snap which stung as he remembered) he chuckled at some of the yelps as he made his way to the sinks, not needing lights at all even in the pitch black darkness.

It was funny; he couldn't see his hand in front of him, but the mirror's sight told him how ruffled his hair was and how sleepy he really looked without opening his eyes. He poured water and waited for it to clear of rust for a minute, and then dipped two hands in the frigid water and splashed it in his face, wiping his eyes in particular. It took less than half a second to wake up with that, the icy water making his face burn with reaction at the suddenness. What was left of the dream was already fading, but left him very confused. For some reason it was almost like he was dreaming an old horror show they had decided to watch in a training class on the old projection screen, that ancient thing which the Dojo wouldn't replace. Most of his peers would have fallen asleep about half way through so why was he dreaming about one, although not one he had seen from the skeletons on screens perspective it was true. He tried to think back over the day and think about that moment; nope, no clues there. He knew of not of such creatures and couldn't remember ever seeing one except in the movies before and it had looked much more whole than this one he had seen.

The time had come to return to civilisation it seemed. After almost a week of hiding out amonst the plainsmen and women, enough time had passed for Isaac to try and reintegrate himself with the villagers of Karate Island. However, he was not going back to the village he had been at previously, for they all knew him and feared him, and it was rather dull. Oh no, this time Isaac was interested to see one of the other villages, he didn't really care which of the two remaining, as he wanted to see if word had spread. He had seen a few Wanted posters floating about with his name on them, with a decent bounty all things considered. I mean, Isaac was still a relatively new pirate, having only been doing it a few weeks now. And yet, in that space, he had certainly made an impact on the world. A bounty, and apparently he was a 'Blue Pirate' - a special rank given to certains pirates who had made a hefty bounty in their own respective blue. In the South Blue, Isaac had only heard of one other: Amatsu Qilin, a man with a much higher bounty than Isaac's own, and so potentially much more dangerous, but that didn't matter much to Isaac, not after he had unlocked his new power. During his time with the plainsmen, one of them had discovered a strange looking fruit, a devil fruit from what Isaac had heard, and he had heard of Devil Fruits: mysterious fruits capable of gifting the consumer with strange powers. As such, Isaac instantly ate the one in front of him, and naturally spent the next day in bed, ill and feeling like death from the rotten taste. But after that, he awoke with the power to control and emit emoke from his body, and he had been working on it for that week. He was still new to it, only able to do simple attacks with it, not capable of doing anything fancy with it yet, but that was to come.

He entered the village at around midnight, where it was still dark out. There were a few people around, but not all that many due to the time, which was to be expected. High in the sky, isaac could see the full moon, a beautiful sight which deserved to be seen by all, however so many refused to gaze at it during their slumber. It was such a wasted beauty if none were there to behold it. Ironically, Isaac then spotted a dojo, as if illuminated by moon's light, and so he took it as a sign. He didn't have much good luck when it came to dojos, he did burn the last one he was in to the ground, but he thought he'd check it out. Maybe someone would be awake, and so he walked in through the main doors and called out, not really knowing who, or what, was going to answer him.

"Anyone awake?"

He would allow his dream to guide him. Even though it wasn’t the most vivid he would begin to travel to the landmarks where his dreams had taken him and all lead to dead ends except for this one cave. The sign read…. “There lies the cave you must travel through. You will be tested immensely ones. I sense a powerful and dark destiny before you. An Omen has arisen and you are the cause, and only through these this trial will your path be determined. There lies the valley where treachery lies in wait for you. Defeat the demons that inhabit that land lest you become one of them. Then at the end of this journey, a final test will know yourself and your path...” Qilin waved off the sign and entered the cave. In the back of his mind he had needed to know his next step in life. Maybe this cave could offer some answers. Only moments had passed and two decaying beings arose from the tunnel causing him to take a step back. The two beings couldn't move to fast, but they weren't to be underestimated by any means. As they were fairly nasty looking skeletons. One could only assume that being bit by one of those things meant nothing but pain and suffering laid ahead. Qilin rubbed his neck slightly with his metallic gauntlets before cracking it. This was with his free hand of course. The other one was holding on to a torch. There was only four of the beasts in that hallway. There could be more. This time Qilin wasn't fucking about. A serious tone had crossed his mood now. This was one of the things Qilin took pride in, getting the job done quickly and swiftly with no questions asked. Qilin then held up his torch and proceeded to tread lightly over the corpses and pressure plates that were in the hallway. They were no doubt traps but time and erosion had made them obvious to anyone halfway observant to their surroundings. However the moment Qilin stepped out a stumbling sound caught his ear at the last possible second. With a quick dodge roll back as if he was playing a part of this game. A blade came down hitting the ground with a clunk. A few more of these things had made their appearance. Six to be exact yet only two stood in his path. Thankfully they came down the hallway in a jumbled formation. Qilin tossed the torch to his left hand before moving forward. He raised his hammer and sent a devastating strike to the first skeleton he saw.  The blow met the stomach of the skeleton like creature causing it to spiral backwards into the other. This would send them off balance before the hammer was dropped down upon them causing the earth to split and crater to appear where he had struck. The Skeletons were turned to dust. Though it gave the other six Skeletons time to formulate a formation that cut off any escape route he might have had and limit his maneuverability. Yet he could just avoid those.

After a few minutes of waiting around, Isaac knew that no one was coming to answer him. Everyoen had to be asleep. Even if someone was meant to be on guard at every moment, they had clearly done a terrible job, but it mattered little to Isaac, who had found something thast interested him more than simply another dojo. For you see, in front of Isaac, walking straight past him, completely ignoring his entire existence, was a man with white hair and some gi trousers on. But this wasn't any random martial artist, it was Amatsu Qilin, one of many pirates currently on Karate Island and, more importantly, the highest ranked in terms of combat strength and bounty of them all, weith Isaac being in second place for that position. So naturally, when a current legend on the island walks straight past you in the middle of the night, you become rather interested as to his destination. And so Isaac followed him just like that, staying on the ground but away so that he could remain undetected. As a marksman, it was his duty to be able to remain undetected, and it felt like he had accomplished his goal as he saw Qilin enter a cave and, upon closer inspection, it seemed the pirate was off fighting some skeletons. From what Isaac could see, Qilin had already taken out two of the creatures, using a powerful swing from the behemoth of a hammer which he wielded. Isaac didn't want to let Qilin have all the fun, so he ran in, drawing both his pistols as he did so, and fired off two bullets from each gun, each aimed at two off the skeletons, cracking and then breaking the bones of which their heads were made. Once those two were finished off, Isaac noticed a lot more startiong to emerge from the cave system, and decided it was not worth it. A tactical retreat was in order for both himself and Qilin, and so Isaac began his own first, turning and beginning to run, dragging the pirate with him out of the cave and back onto the main island plains. After catching his breath, Isaac turned to Qilin, starting to see why his bounty and his strength were so well regarded by the island, after seeing him use the hammer as he did. But Isaac had seen all he wanted to that night, and so he left, leaving Qilin in the dark. However, they were going to meet again, Isaac was going to make sure of that.

-Exit-

Enemies Defeated:

Qilin stood their viewing the carnage that had just taken place. "Well yeah that will work" the words directed at the newcomer just before he left the cave. He placed his hands in his pockets and began whistling as he stepped over the corpses and skeleton bones and body parts everywhere. The song he whistled was a catchy tune that echoed from the acoustics of the cave. He stopped at the last corpse before the exit...”Of that I have no doubt”. Qilin was glad he didn't have to fight again for a while after this deed was done, he planned on doing some serious training. However, he had done his task and beat his opposition. Now he wanted to know what answers the cave would provide but there was nothing. The only thing that was different was the man helping him out. He just came out of nowhere and offered help. Then he stated something about seeing him again. Maybe that was what he was meant to do. Right now he was a lone pirate doing small things to come up on the island. Maybe he need to get a crew together and truly expand. Karate Island was no longer enough for him. He needed to become legend. To go to the Grand line even. Such things were leaps and bounds away yet he knew this was his path. In a weird turn of events this cave had indeed shown him the way. He would pick up is hammer and and leave the area with a newfound hope and a new goal.

-exit-