Anton took a deep breath as he walked along the path towards one of the three villages that made up the populated areas of Karate Island. He continued to remind himself that this wasn't a particularly dangerous mission. In fact, much to his delight, it was a diplomatic mission. He had been sent in to try and convince the leaders of Karate Island to allow the marines to establish a marine base on the island. With the place being the closest point to the Grand Line in the South Blue, it made sense the marines wanted somewhere to keep an eye out, in case any pirates from the Grand Line decided to try and come into the Blue.

However, so far negotiations have been, well, stalled. The islanders weren't at all willing to allow the marines a foothold, and any attempts to force the issue had met with, problems. The island was home to various martial artists. Men and women who were not afraid to defend their home island. The thought of it all made Anton shudder. Despite passing his training, he didn't really consider himself a skilled fighter. Heck, he considered his past victories to be the thing of luck. And now, here he was, on an island filled with people who could kick his backside. Hell, the reason he had been sent was because he didn't dress like a marine, and thus would hopefully not immediately attract the people's ire.

Suddenly, Anton wasn't so sure about this mission now. What would happen once it was revealed he was a marine? Would they tie him up and throw him off the island? He remembered back to the mission on Centauruea, stuck in the middle of enemy territory. This was exactly the same thing! Only this time it wasn't confirmed that the people would attack him. That just made it all the more worse, and having his sword with him didn't help at all.

However, before he realized it, he was standing in the middle of the village, people casually walking past him, though some took notice of his strange attire and obvious nervousness. Anton cautiously looked around. Any one of these people could realize who he was and attack him. He almost wished they did, just to break the tension.

Running around, training, exploring... She hadn't stopped for one minute ever since coming to Karate island. They were plenty of things to see and do, so it wasn't as if Linnea was itching to move on to greener pastures, and instead remained here a while longer. Proximity to the Grand Line felt like the main reason for why this island was so popular, since the faces she saw around here changed on a daily basis. Today was a lazy morning for the young Kuja; she woke up later than usual and ate slower, with a sleepy look in her eyes. Fruit was her main choice of food for breakfast and afternoon snacks, and today was no exception; the apples and bananas on this island were pretty good anyways.

Keeping up with this lazy mood, Lin picked up a sketchbook, a pencil, and decided to just walk around and draw some sketches of Karate Island. She'd already written a good deal about it, but hadn't drawn much to compliment her writing and mental maps. Today, she would rectify that fault. Wandering through the streets and carefully taking in her surroundings before drawing them on paper, it didn't take long for her to notice a particularly nervous looking girl also wandering around, looking pretty lost as if she'd just arrived. Unlike Lin, she didn't have a hood to cover her face, so this unease was plain for all to see.

That said, Lin herself wasn't wearing a hood today, just a plain, lighweight sandy colored tunic with a low neckline; one of her more casual outfits. Her piercing blue eyes met the fidgety redhead's and a kind, shy smile drew on her lips:

"Are you lost? I can help you find your bearings if you'd like.", she lowered her notebook as she approached the nervous redhead - who she was still sure it was girl - with a helpful, understanding look on her face. She had been on the exact same boat when she first arrived, and the help of a friendly stranger was much appreciated back then...

The sound of a voice addressing him brought a sharp cry from Anton, causing him to leap back. Eyes shut tight, the main flailed his arms wildly, in a rather failed attempt to appear threatening. When nothing came to attack him, his dared to open his eyes to see a rather beautiful, white haired woman standing in front of him. A bright flush spread across his face, both out of embarrassment, and the fact that this woman before him was beautiful. He slowly lowered his arms, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, unable to meet her gaze. His mind finally catching up to what she said. She was simply being nice and offering to help him.

"S-Sorry about that," he said sheepishly, daring to now and again cast a glance to the woman before him, "I-I just got a little startled. S-Sorry if I scared you or anything." Him, scaring someone? Not likely. He more often than not just made a complete idiot of himself. "I-I'm not lost, but thank you for the offer. I-I'm just a bit nervous, that's all. Just being here, all these strong fighters around and..." He let out a saddened sigh. Here he was, telling this nice, pretty woman just how much of a coward he was. "I'm sorry. I must look pitiful right now."

Some marine he was turning out to be. Marines were supposed to inspire confidence and hope in others. Thank goodness he didn't look like one, or he might have just made the entire organization look bad.

She giggled at the girl's reaction, which was nothing short of hilarious; she simply leapt back and started flailing her arms around. Amusedly covering her mouth, she still didn't miss the obvious similarities she had with this stranger. Though she was obviously really shy, she clearly didn't have Lin's stoic calm which only made her bashfulness all the more obvious...

"I know a thing or two about being outside one's comfort zone...", she answered humbly, for once understanding where she was coming from. Granted, Linnea was used to most girls she knew being strong fighters, but she'd been told even before leaving Amazon Lily that in human society outside their island, it was the men who normally did most of the fighting. She had indeed confirmed this notion, so far the number of male fighters far outweighed the females. She rubbed her chin for a moment, as if thinking of how to ease up the redhead's unease, before looking into her eyes, "How about just steering clear of all the rough fighters? There's a lot of non crowded sights to see around this island..."

She should probably avoid telling the girl she was a pirate, lest she suddenly die from sheer fright. She was already like this and none of these roughnecks had actually done anything to her yet. For now, she wondered what would be a good idea to put her more at ease with this strange new envoiroment... Maybe clearing away from this crowd would do it? It was worth a shot anyhow...

Anton blinked at her words. What did she mean by outside her comfort zone? Was she new to this island as well? She seemed so calm, so collected, like she could easily handle anything thrown her way. It sort of made him jealous. He wished he had that level of confidence. Still, she seemed very nice, and that was a good thing. Anton always preferred the company of nice people, especially pretty ones like this woman, even though he was absolutely rubbish at talking to them.

At her advice on staying away from the rough fighters, Anton let out a sigh. He wished it was only that easy. "I would like to, but I'm afraid I need to speak with the head of this village. It's a matter of importance." He decided to keep quiet about the fact that he was a marine, or why he was here. Whether she was a native here or not, he couldn't risk having his affiliation get out and cause problems for himself. Marines weren't exactly popular around here.

Still, going somewhere nice and quiet did sound appealing, and it wasn't as if there was a deadline for this mission. "Still, going somewhere a bit less crowded might be a good idea for the time being. Maybe somewhere with some nice tea and music..." He was thankful that he remembered to bring his violin with him. If he couldn't find any soothing music, he could always play some. He wondered if this lovely lady liked music as well.

Her suggestion didn't seem too appealing to the other girl, who apparently was in some kind of mission to go talk to the head of this village. She didn't say anything more and Lin didn't really feel like it was any of her business, so she just let the matter rest at that. No doubt she'd learn about everything that really mattered eventually.

"Indeed, If it really is that important, might be best if you relax and put your mind at ease, no?", suggested Lin, leading the redhead through one of the least crowded streets with a friendly smile, pointing to one of the nearby taverns. At this time of the afternoon there were never than many people inside them, allowing for a far more pleasant envoiroment than avaliable at night, "What's your name anyhow? I'm Naga D. Linnea."

She swung open the door to the tavern, though this wasn't really a tea place like the girl requested, the music part was easy enough to provide for. There was a band playing on a small stage, 3 musicians: A guitarist, a violinist and a piano player. Aside from those three, the bartender, and two old patrons, the tavern was predictably deserted, allowing Lin to claim a table on some discreet corner for the two of them, ordering a mug of beer for herself...

"M-My name is Anton La'croix. I-It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Naga." Anton replied, giving a shy smile and allowing the woman to lead him to a nearby tavern. Thank goodness the place wasn't too crowded, and heck, they even had music playing. The band wasn't too bad, which helped elevate Anton's mood. He wondered if he could get a chance to perform later. That might put him in a better standing with the people of the island.

He blushed lightly as they moved to a table tucked away in the corner. Here he was, alone, with a beautiful woman having a drink. He tried to keep himself calm. She was just being friendly, a good person doing a good deed, nothing more. Besides, he never really considered himself that attractive to the opposite gender anyway. Women always seemed to prefer big, buff men of action. Not wimps like him. As she ordered her drink, he ordered himself a cup of tea. Thank goodness this place as able to provide.

"Y-You mentioned you were out of your comfort zone as well. Wh-What did you mean? You seem pretty calm and confident to me." He figured he may as well strike up a conversation.

Her name sounded pretty manly, at least in the sense that Lin had already met a few men with the same first name in North Blue; which the closest someone with her background could come to guess on someone's gender from their name. She wasn't the kind of woman to forget things, even things like names of people she never talked to more than once or twice:

"Likewise.", she flashed a comforting smile before they sat down at the tavern, brushing her long platinum hair behind her back. Anton seemed to be enjoying the envoiroment and it seemingly put her a little more at ease, if only a little bit. Taking a good chug from her beer, she answered the question presented, "I just hide it a lot better than you. Large crowds of strangers make me uncomfortable."

She looked away timidly for a brief moment as a natural result of acknowledging her own shyness. She enjoyed being alone in the woods without anyone there to look at her, she enjoying being hidden, as could be easily guessed by her choice of seat: Most people wouldn't even look their way given how they just sat a discreet corner...

Anton nodded in understanding, watching as she blushed in turn. He never would have guessed it, with how confident she had acted before. "I-I can deal with large crowds," Anton explained, "I-It's just going into highly dangerous situations that make me nervous. Sometimes I wonder they send me on tasks like this. Surely there are people more qualified than I am..." Anton was now murmuring to himself. He really was confused as to why he seemed to be chosen for such dangerous tasks. First that infiltration mission, then fighting the fishmen, now being sent here to negotiate with rough and tough martial artists.

He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing his sword hanging on his back. Sure, he had been trained to use it, and by marine standards he was a competent fighter. They wouldn't have promoted him to lieutenant if he wasn't. But he still couldn't help but wonder how he ended up in this situation. He never wanted to be a marine in the first place. He just wanted to be a musician.

With a small sigh, he turned back to his drinking partner. Now was not the time for self reflection, especially when you have company. Blushing brightly in embarrassment for forgetting about her, he took a large gulp of his tea.

Apparently her own problem revolved around danger instead of simply dealing with crowds. Everyone has their own fears and uncomfortable situations to find oneself in, and while Linnea could deal with danger - she faced it on a daily basis - crowds were that one thing that would just never be okay. Small crowds (such was the one out there) were perfectly tolerable, the real problem laid with the really big crowds, the kind that even a genious would be unable to acknowledge that many people:

"Danger is the kind of thing you can get used to, if you ever want to.", Lin smiled reassuringly, even if the girl wasn't comfortable with overcoming that crippling limitation anytime soon, she hoped the awareness of the ability to do so would ease her up somewhat, "I can't comment on that since I don't know who sent you... But that might just mean they have a better opinion of your abilities than you do."

She said this last part rather nonchalantly, trying not to sound like she was prying into the girl's affairs; though she was curious, all in all she didn't really care since it was none of her business. This person didn't seem like she was here to give her trouble anyhow... She did have a sword so it whoever she worked for required her to fight. But that still left out a lot of options, Marines, Pirates and everything in between...

In the end, she felt like Anton's confidence issues harmed her a lot more than Linnea's harmed her. From someone who had to do the exact same thing while being trained as a warrior, maybe she could help her overcome the more crippling sides of her insecurity...

At Naga's words, a small smile spread across Anton's face. Sometimes, it was just good to get some reassurance about one's abilities. "Th-Thank you. It's nice to hear that." Maybe she was right. After all, he had managed to survive his mission into Centauruea, and survived against the fishmen. Maybe he was better at this then he thought. He took another sip of his tea, noticing at that point that the musicians had stopped playing. It seemed like their little performance had come to an end and were getting ready to pack up, leaving the stage empty. This gave Anton a small idea, some way to pay back Naga for her kindness.

"Wait here," he said with a small smile as he left the table, heading towards the bartender. He leaned over the bar, asking the bartender a question, to which he responded with a nod. Smiling, Anton moved over to the stage, pulling out his violin case. Carefully opening it, he pulled out his favorite red violin, taking a deep breath and stepping on stage. There weren't that many people in the tavern, and to be honest he was really performing for one person. Sending a smile Naga's way, he brought the violin to his chin and began to play. A nice, peaceful melody filled the air.

The girl apparently responded positively to Lin's words, which was the best she could hope for, earning an agreeing nod from the platinum haired girl. She still didn't know who the redhead worked for, but if she had been sent on a mission, certainly her employers believed her capable enough to carry it out, even if she herself did not.

"What are you up to?", Lin raised an eyebrow as she quickly guessed her new friend wasn't going to the bathroom but something else entirely...

She leaned back in her chair as Anton stood up, walking up to the bartender and chattinng with him. It wasn't just for ordering a new drink since he didn't give it to her. Chugging down another good bit of beer, her eyes followed Anton from the bar to the stage, watching the girl pull out a violin and suddenly start playing! Lin looked at the other girl with a mix of surprise and intrigue, she had no idea Anton was also a musician... But then again how could she? They had only just met after all...

Anton couldn't help but smile as he saw the look on Naga's face. Bet she didn't see this coming. The marine continued to play, paying no mind to the rest of the room. After all, a little musical number dedicated to a friend was a good way to repay her kindness, wasn't it? The song went on for a few moments before he finally finished. He stepped down from the stage, putting his violin back into his case and heading back to the table, sitting down. He gave the platinum haired beauty a warm smile. "I hope you like it," he said, honest to goodness hoping that she did. Meanwhile, the few remaining patrons at the bar were looking over towards Anton, now noticing that he was with Naga.

As the girl kept on staring inconspicuously towards Lin, it became pretty obvious the two had walked in together, they were pretty discreet when it came to claiming their own seat so most of the other patrons seemed pretty oblivious regarding that little fact. The redhead was pretty talented, earning an approving smile, from the shy ranger, followed by a slow applause once her violin melody subsided:

"I did; you're a pretty good musician.", smiling with praise, Lin was positively surprised by the whole display.

She barely paid attention to all the patrons eyeing them, it seemed like men truly enjoyed staring at women, especially when there were more than one in the same place.