Task Name: Death from Above
Tier: 2.
Location: Briss Kingdom
Crew, Team, or Personal: Team.
Description: Emerging from the heavens above, flying-fish mounted fishmen glide downward onto the island firing their weapons at any and all, but their own. In unison out from various buildings, apparently stowed away hiding in wait for the assault, a platoon of fishmen charge the city, working from the inside out. The majority of all fishmen forces are ordered to kill any human on sight.
Enemy Details: 20 x T0 Infantry fishmen | 10 x T1 Flying-fish Fishmen | 2 x T2 Shark Fishmen
Boss: No.

It had been a few days since Seiju had accompanied Zed on a short adventure which led to a number of new developments in the old man's life. The first of note was that he had joined the marines again after twenty years of retirement. Not only was he commissioned at a higher rank than he had ever before attained, but he was even given a position as Captain Zed's right hand man. The next noteworthy change was the arrival of a new companion in the elderly human's life, albeit the species was a change of pace. The Sennenryu, Scylla, had seemed to have taken a liking to the silver haired swordsman. His displayed values had earned the bird's respect and now it was following him everywhere. Last of the changes was one in regards to Seiju's own anatomy. He had eaten a devil fruit and now he was a hammer. As for the powers it granted Seiju?...Well, he'd yet to really figure them out. He could make stringy threads grow from his body but what purpose they served or what they were even made of was still a mystery to him.

All these things considered, the old man felt like things had balanced out. Eating the devil fruit may have been a mistake, but now he had allies and a purpose again. That was a far better thing to possess than the ability to swim in the ancient fighter's eyes. Anyways, this new found purpose had led Seiju to Briss Kingdom on Zed's orders. The masked marine himself was still recovering from a leg wound he'd received during a cave in. Most of the other men in the unit were also on standby recovering. So it was just Seiju and his pet dragon-like bird on duty, their purpose to check in with the marine base that was established on the southern part of the island. The young men at the base were surprised to see the old geezer with his flying beast show up with documents making his enlistment and promotion official. They had almost shot him down out of the air, but thankfully they were told to stand down by a level headed superior.

Seiju successfully checked in with the base and learned that it would be a few days before a proper uniform could be tailored considering his tall height. But at the very least he was able to register Scylla in his records so any new duty stations would be aware of the large bird that would be accompanying the Commander. With that business out of the way, Seiju left the base and decided to head north to explore the island a bit before returning to Zed and the crew.

Linnea had fond memories from Karate Island... Incredibly fond memories in fact. There, she had met her old childhood friend who she hadn't seen in over ten years, and ultimately decided to create a crew alongside her; and if that itself weren't enough, there was more: It was also in Karate Island that she had her first kiss, the she took her first lover (or rather, was taken by her). Such an overflow of fond, pleasant memories was more than enough to keep her smiling happy but bashfully even now as she walked around another island with a smile on her face. The streets were crowded; and though this far from excessive crowding, it would still be too much for her normally, but the ranger was in an incredibly good mood, and she felt like nothing could sully it... But she still felt like a change of pace, and thus Linnea decided to take her new ship on a test drive.

It was hard sailing such a vessel alone, but as far as pirate ships were concerned, it was a pretty small and manouverable ship, as well as incredibly fast. She would have to get used to it since despite Concetta's navigational skills, the two girls had been looking at her as the new Captain. But Linnea didn't feel like a captain, no way she would ever give that answer if someone had asked her where did she see herself in a few years, back when she was still in Amazon Lily. But if the two girls wanted her, then who was she to deny that responsability? She wasn't a queen, or a conqueror, but she was as pretty good marksman, so she would use those skills to ensure no enemies would ever get even remotely close to her two friends. Since her crew was far from being offially formed and she was there by herself, Linnea didn't fly a Jolly Roger. She had yet to even make it, or name her new crew (who wasn't with her in the first place) so she had no business doing so, even she called herself a pirate. Still, this had the fortunate advantage of not drawing any attention to herself. She docked the Melusine on the East side of the island, and soon found herself exploring the city,

But as she walked around the island, taking in the sights and occasionally purchasing odd, interesting trinkets off the many traders, she got an odd yet disturbing sense of Déjà vu. She had been here before... Maybe not here but in this situation. The ranger had honed her instincts to near perfection, but even that wouldn't be enough: She focused, activating her Kenbunshoku Haki, and found nothing out of place... That was, until she heard something soar in the skies above. Suddenly, gunshot and screams filled the air as people started running around for cover in a panic... Fishmen! Just like last time; what was it with these freaks?! Were thet after her or something? Wasting not a single moment, Linnea walked into an alley, dodging the hail of gunfire, and from there climbed onto crates and ledges to find her way to the rooftops. This brought her a lot closer to the airborn fishmen who were trying to kill the humans at ground level. About seven of them wandered in and out of her sensory range, and so Linnea plotted how to take as many of them out as possible. Diving into a sort of gazebo hidden by linen curtains, she kept her mind's eye set on the Flying fishmen, drawing five arrows and lining all of them up.

She stood there for a couple of minutes until all of the fishmen flew close enough to give her an opportunity: Letting loose all five arrows at once, four flying fish were shot out of the sky, sending both them and their riders plummeting to the ground below. Her fifth arrow caught the fishman rider instead of his mount, and with an arrow to the chest he too plummeted down to his death or near death... The flying enemies were visibly worried, frantically looking for their invisible attacker who just managed to take down half of them at once, but in this hiding place, they wouldn't find her...


OOC: Used B-rank Kenbu Haki (Haki stamina 25/40)
Used Quintet Skill (Stamina 300/350)
5 flying fish riders plummeted to the ground, defeated/dead

Spoiler:

As Seiju left the Marine base heading northward he found himself overcome by a longing to see an old friend he'd known back from before he had retired. It was a wish that could never come true and Seiju knew it as he'd watched the man die in battle some twenty six years ago. But this was just the kind of island that old fool loved to visit. Memories of the passed away ally flooded Seiju's mind as he strolled through an uninhabited part of the island that was littered with ancient buildings. Old remains of the Briss Kingdom back when the population was still thriving enough to call itself a "kingdom" with any backing. The architecture was unlike the modern styles and murals on the walls depicted scenes Seiju felt he would never be able to decipher no matter how long he stared. The trip down reminiscing trail brought a more recent acquaintance to mind however. Damocles. The young marine who had managed to drag Seiju from his overstayed nest on Crescent Island. Thinking of the kid made Seiju chuckle.

"I owe that boy a debt. I wonder what kind of face he'd make to learn that I've become a marine once more. Higher ranked than him at that!"

The laugh was heartfelt and Scylla who had been walking alongside Seiju cocked her head as she look at the man, unsure as to what he found so amusing. Then the sound of distant gunshots reached them and both man and bird alike became serious, their attention drawn to the north. Scylla made a squawk of concern prompting Seiju to reach over to pat the beast. "Let's go, girl. We may be needed." The old man then jumped up onto the Sennenryu's back and together they flew towards the populated area where, from this distance, there appeared to be numerous black specks buzzing about.

As they got closer, Seiju could see that they were strange fishmen that had wings and pistols to take advantage of the flight that afforded them. Thankfully, there was at least someone fighting back despite the chaos caused in the citizens. Seiju watched as a volley of arrows sent numerous flying fishmen tumbling out of the sky. He couldn't see who fired the shots but based on the number of arrows, Seiju assumed it was a group of people. "Watch by back from above Scylla!" Seiju shouted over the passing wind as he patted the Sennenryu's neck twice letting her know that he planned to dismount. The swordsman had spotted a group of fishmen on the ground charging down a street slaughtering all who crossed their path. Scylla swooped down just over the buildings there and Seiju leapt off of her back landing in front of the charging fishman stampede. A swift use of Touhou carried Seiju into their ranks at incredible speeds as his sword broke free from its scabbard in a number of high speed slashes. He ended his movement past the group sheathing his blade as ten of the fishmen fell over grasping bloody wounds. Another five were still standing however and they turned their attention to the swordsman.

Meanwhile, overhead, the flying fishmen had taken notice of the Sennenryu but were trying to avoid her for the most part since she wasn't attacking. The human on the ground who had just taken out several of their men however? Two flying fishmen decided that could not be allowed and they glided over Seiju aiming down with their guns to take cheap shots at the man. It was only once her master was threatened in this way that Scylla moved to assault the flying fishmen. From their sides she arrived with a powerful wingbeat propelling her body forward. The Sennenryu crushed one of the fishmen in her claws while simultaneously batting the other downwards into the earth with a Tail Whip.

Seiju's Stamina: 335/350

Skills:

Scylla's Stamina: 385/400

Skills:

7/10 Flying Fishmen Defeated
10/20 Infantry Fishmen Defeated

This was bad... Really bad... Judging by the sounds coming from the ground below, there were far more fishmen around than Linnea could handle by herself. She didn't enjoy watching innocent people getting slaughtered for no good reason, nor did she enjoy a beautiful island such as Briss Kingdom being so heartlessly destroyed. Unforgivable... These men (if she could even call them such) didn't deserve the air they breathed, they didn't deserve to call themselves pirates, for whom they did nothing but give a bad name. But Linnea alone wasn't enough to stop them, not before they managed to destroy everything worth protecting. For all her skills, she was just one woman, and this feat of shooting five arrows at once wasn't something she could pull off endlessly. Where were the marines when you need? Linnea might not be overly fond of them in no small part due to her own allegiance, but many of them had a reasonable idea of justice, and just about all of them believed strongly enough in justice to save these people. This was their time to act.

Choosing to lay low for the time being, as most of the flying fishmen were circling around trying to find their attacker. This act kept them busy, unable to focus on just randomly killing civilians. It was alright for Lin, they wouldn't see her so easily after that sneak attack, but once she struck again, they would most certainly see her. So she would have to try and kill as many flying enemies as possible so she wouldn't have to deal with any more airborne enemies. But as she plotted her next move, someone else walked into her radar... It was a swordsman with a familiar aura, whose identity she wouldn't be able to confirm until she finally saw him, riding atop a really large bird. Between the man and the bird, a great deal of enemies fell upon their arrival, and Linnea now had an opening to take out the remaining flying fishmen.

"I don't know who you are but your timing is perfect...", she whispered, thinking to herself out loud, drawing three more arrows.

Hoping to take advatage of her still active large area Kenbunshoku Haki; she would have a small window to strike as they tried to take down the new arrival. Circling around where the swordsman fell, three flying fishmen rained down bullets while Lin scouted them through a tiny hole in her gazebo. With such a predictable path, they were sitting ducks: Even without Haki, Lin trusted her ability to take them all down. Pulling on her string, she let loose three arrows which all lodged themselves next to the flying fish' head, sending them all plummeting to the ground...

OOC: B-rank Kenbu Haki still active (Haki stamina 25/40)
  Used Trident Skill (Stamina 270/350)

10/10 Flying Fishmen Defeated
10/20 Infantry Fishmen Defeated

Used 8 arrows

Spoiler:

Seiju stared down the fishmen infantry as one of their flying cohorts fell crashing into the roof of a nearby building due to Scylla's attack earlier. The swordsman already had an intimidating enough presence after taking out so many of them, but the fishman tumbling out of the sky added to the effect of it all deepening the fear the infantry grunts felt as they grappled with the prospect of fighting this man and the giant bird that worked alongside him. The fear they felt in face of the threat was a temporary ordeal though. Their hatred for humans and a desire for revenge for their comrades quickly rallied the infantry into a charge. Battle cries left the lips of each fighter as they barreled headlong towards Seiju ready to attack the man with impunity. In one motion Seiju drew his sword and dagger simultaneously parrying the first blow of the closest fishman and cutting the tendons in his wrist at the same time. A swaying movement dodged a club swing and Seiju's following thrust pierced a non-vital organ sending another fishman to his knees crippled by pain.

The fighting went on like this as the remaining three battle capable infantry tried to overpower the old man with numbers, however they found that they were unable to break through his dual wielding defense. Every time one of them attacked with their single weapons they were met with a defensive guard, dodge, or parry, followed by a counter stroke. In a matter of moments the fishmen who had managed to stay standing were also brought to their knees or otherwise made unable to fight. The lack of skill these fishmen had was honestly a bore for the elderly warrior who cleaned his blades of the blood that had coated them before sheathing both weapons back to their respective places.

"If only I had a means of cleaning up riff raff like this that wasn't so bloody..."

Seiju mused to himself, looking down at his hand as he urged a few strands of mycelium to grow from his palm as he pondered the subject. Perhaps he could find a use for these after all...but it would require training. The idea he had regarding his devil fruit powers was something too risky to use in the middle of a real battle no matter how weak the foe. Just as Seiju was thinking this, another five infantry fishmen turned the corner led by one of the fishmen who's wrist he'd crippled. The cripple pointed and the others charged towards the man while he had his back turned to them. They might have gotten the swordsman off guard if he wasn't being protected from the skies. With the rest of the flying fishmen taken out by an archer, Scylla was free to swoop down and crash into the group of fishmen approaching Seiju's rear. The entire group was trampled under the Sennenryu's talons rendering them all unable to fight any further.

20/20 Infantry Defeated
10/10 Flying Fishmen Defeated

Once the flying fishmen were taken out of the sky, things got a hell of a lot calmer. With a glance outside Linnea could notice some really wierd bird, confirming what her aura had told her... She had never seen or heard about anything like that. Well, now the the menacing flying enemies were all dead, not only was she able to get a better look at that creature, but also get ready to help with the battle down there which - judging by noise - was still ongoing. Quickly leaping over the stone fence of her little gazebo cover, Linnea found herself back on the wide open rooftops, occasionally being able to take a glance at that flying creature.

It looked like some wierd kind of hybrid between bird and reptile, giving Lin the slight hunch that it might be some sort of relative of both species. As an amateur naturalist, Linnea had spent a lot of time looking at animals and observing the similarities between them, and trying to imagine what missing links between different yet somewhat close groups of animals might look like. This one seemed like an oversized version of the missing link between birds and reptiles. Still, she had no time to go around pondering on animals, even if she still looked at this creature with glimmering awe in her eyes. With the Flying fishmen all falling around here, the bulk of the battle was now taking place close enough to where Linnea could take aim: But when she approached the edge of the roof, all of the enemies had been killed, by a grizzled figure she recognized. Guess she was right about the Deja Vu, since this was the same ally she fought beside the last time she faced a fishman attack. She would wave at the man if he happened to look at her, but otherwise she'd keep her place in this little eagle's roost most people called a rooftop.

But the battle wasn't over yet. A menacing looking shark fishmen came out of an alley to face the swordsman who defeated all of his allies. Linnea no longer had her Kenbunshoku active at a level she could predict what this guy as about to do, but when did that ever stopped her? She pulled on another arrow and shot it at the man, slightly ahead of his location given how he was walking forward. She intercepted the man along his path to the old swordsman, giving him a good enough opportunity to be rid of him: The arrow pierced right through his chest, visibly wounding him but not killing or disabling him since he still gazed angrily at both the swordsman and the warrior on the roof...


OOC: Wounded the first T2 Shark fishman

Used 9 arrows Total

Seiju turned around once Scylla pounced upon the group of fishman grunts with raised eyebrows in surprise. A smile played across his visage and he made a silent mental note to give Scylla some fish later tonight as thanks for her help in dealing with the fishmen. Although that brought up something that was bothering him. Why so many fishmen and why here? There wasn't much on Briss Island of value worth looting. It seemed like they were just killing indiscriminately but that made no sense to the human. Sure, tensions between the races had always been strained and it was no mystery to Seiju as to why so many fishmen held a deep seated hatred for those who walked the land. What eluded him was why there were so many attacks now here in south blue. First the island where he met Zed and now again in Briss Kingdom. Not only were fishmen attacking but they were doing so in large numbers and organized groups. It was a disturbing coincidence if that is all this was. But Seiju suspected an even more unsettling truth. That someone was orchestrating these events intentionally and that these were not random coincidences but rather directed attacks as part of some grand strategy. He'd have to ask Zed about it once he returned, maybe the masked captain would know more.

Just as Seiju decided upon this he took notice of a fishman stepping out of an alley. He looked tougher and a cut above the rest of the rabble that had been roaming the streets. This was made evident to Seiju when he watched as an arrow struck the fishman only for him to act unphased by the shot. To make matters worse, there wasn't just one of these stronger fishmen but two. A second shark-like hulk of a fishman stepped out from the alley behind the other. They both pounced on Seiju like wild beasts. He tried to bring his sword up to block their attacks but he wasn't fast enough to really do a great job of it. One of the fishmen's fist was successfully parried by Seiju's weapon despite it still being in the scabbard, but the other fishman had attacked with his teeth and succeeded in biting into the man's shoulder dealing considerable damage.

Seiju stumbled backwards gritting his teeth as the shark left it's teeth in his shoulder only to grow back a brand new set instantly. These two were going to be trouble. The one that had been shot with an arrow was at least changing focus away from him. Seeing how badly Seiju had been hurt, the fishman now turned his attention to the archer that had wounded him and was headed for her with revenge on his mind.

Completely focused on the first shark fishman and devoid of her Kenbunshoku Haki, Linnea was thus surprised by the appearance of a second Shark Fishman. She assessed the aged swordsman to be competent enough to deal with one, but not two. He was still pretty old after all, no doubt his experience would be his greatest strength and certainly not his aged body. She lined up an arrow shot but once the two fishes jumped on the human swordsman she could no longer shoot. Even if she did catch the correct target, from her current angle she could easily end up hurting her own ally if her arrows managed to pierce her target. The man wound up taking a bad looking bite to the shoulder, probably hindering hsi ability to fight. But Linnea wasn't up there doing nothing: Her arrow was lined up and ready to shoot, all she needed was an opportunity. The moment one of them stepped away from their human shield, she would get them.

It felt like her opportunity was coming soon, however. She frowned in what she preceived to be her fault in failing to protect her only visible ally, but even though the man took that nasty bite to the shoulder, he was still going to fight. This guy was far tougher than what his age would let on and if anything, this meant Linnea wouldn't disappoint him. If he was willing to keep going after this, she'd have to do much better for him to feel proud of today's youth. The pirate she wounded earlier had turned his focus away from his hurt opponent, but Lin was ready for that. Revenge was a common thought on her enemies mind on the off chance they survived her arrows and still managed to move after them, and even without Kenbunshoku Haki there were things she could predict, such as him walking towards the building she was standing on with menacing eyes:

"Disappear..."

And with these cold words, her arrow was already let loose by the time he disengaged the swordsman, and after being intercepted with an arrow to the knee, the fishman fell down, resigning himself to either laying still or bleeding out and dying.


OOC: Defeated T2 shark fishman

Used 10 arrows Total

Still reeling from the piercing pain of the shark teeth that were still lodged in his right shoulder, Seiju stepped backwards with slow shifting steps trying to put distance between himself and the shark fishman. Seeing the old man's attempts to increase the gap, the fishy fiend saw fit to ensure that wouldn't happen. Lunging forward with a large fist, the fishman punched aiming for Seiju's wounded right side. The swordsman raised his scabbard to block but he couldn't absorb all of the force and was sent flying several feet into the building wall across the street. Seiju's back crashed against the structure and he coughed up a lungful of air. Slumping against the ground, Seiju was still grinding his teeth together as he let go of his sword to reach up and rip the shark teeth from his shoulder, tossing them aside like they were a discarded banana peel. "Don't suppose you'd offer an old man a time out, would ya?" Seiju asked in a defiantly joking tone. When the fishman declined with the body language of a front kick, Seiju dove to the side narrowly dodging the attack by a hair's breadth.

The elder rolled to his feel and drew the fishman in his direction while making eye contact with Scylla who would be behind the fishman at this point. "I guess your fishy mother didn't teach you any manners. Scum breeds scum after all." Mocking the fishman would have been a foolish course of action in this circumstance if Scylla hadn't been nearby, but thankfully she was. As the fishman growled in frustration at the words and lashed out to attack Seiju once more, the old man dove out of the way yet again making room for Scylla to pounce on the fishman with a Nail Talon attack. The fishman was pinned to the ground with a large talon through his shoulder, the weight of a massive Sennenryu pinning him to the earth.

It was around this time, just as all the WORK was finished, that the marines from the base finally arrived on scene. They rushed over to Seiju some moving to tend to his wounds while the others started to arrest the various Fishmen whom were still alive and simply too wounded to fight any further. "I'll give the captain a report later...see to it that there aren't any more of them. Protecting the citizen's comes first." The old man said, insisting that the other marines tend to him later. With that, Seiju leaned his head back against the wall and he closed his eyes while he slowly reached into his doctor's pouch to begin patching himself up with first aid.


All Enemies Defeated

Scylla's Stamina: 360/400

Skills:

For the time being, Linnea focused on watching the human swordsman fighting their fishman foe... Not only did it seem rude to interrupt a one on one battle, but when they were close and ready to hammer at each other, she could risk shooting an arrow and wounding her ally; all in all that situation hadn't changed from a few moments ago. The man appeared to be trying to talk, as if trying to dissuade his foe or just talk him to death completely (Lin could overhear some bits of the chatter, but not all; certainly not enough to get the gist of the conversation). The man stood up to continue the fight, and the ever watching Lin chose to watch it for the time being, both eager to learn something off this experienced blademaster, and about the enemies he was fighting.

THe man kept on talking and judging by the fishman's aura, he was visibly riled up and charged at the human. Whatever he said must have been a pretty grievous insult, or the other guy was just pretty sensitive to weak insults. The elder ran away from the obvious attack, dodging it while his pet giant bird promptly pounced on the foe and slashed him down with its massive claw. It felt like the man and the bird were working together, which was nothing short of impressive. Had the man managed to team up with such a powerful creature?

She overlooked the rest of the battle, and actually considered going down there to investigate but once all those Marines showed up, Lin changed her mind. It would be either go down there and kill them all, or go down there and be arrested; none of those options suited her linking...


-exit-