Task Name: Is death all that bad?
Tier:4
NPC or PC:PC
Location:Ilusia
Crew, Team, or Personal:NPC
Description:Within the enormous throne room the leader of this attack, along with the Royal Family, will be gathered in the center. Around the room their are many the Kings guard, all falling to the enemy. This is where the battle will take place. Well, not before Big jaw begins to go in depth about his shitty plan. He had already planned on taking this Island for the Revs to increase his status within the organization but the fruit was something that was going to get him even higher into the ranks. So why he has sacrificed so many of his men to get it back is because of that fruit. Blah blah blah.
Enemy Details: 20 T1 enemies & T4 Boss
Boss: Yes

Boss:

Ilusia can, now, be considered one of the most unfortunate Kingdoms within the West Blue. Not only is the conflict between the Revolutionary and Marines reaching it's conclusion, but it was also under siege by another enemy. This new enemy is the sole reason that the Marines can't truly use their vast numbers to just crush the Revolutionaries in the Castle quickly. As the Marines and also the Kingdoms guards are dealing with the other enemy who's numbers dwarfed that of the Revolutionaries. So yea only a small force is in the castle about to finish off the reaming Revolutionaries, and anyone that is able to make it there is able to assist. As the corpses of the Revolutionaries, who all are wearing the same type of uniform, lead right to the Throne room's doors. Those Marines are mostly made up of Derous' crew, the number being around forty or so, along with him a Vice Admiral, who was severely injured. Those are currently the only marines currently in the hallway leading to the Throne Room.

"Let me help you..." Someone would say as a door, in the hallway, would slide open. The door appeared to be a hidden passageway. The man was bloodied and appeared close to death. Though, the Vice Admiral would alert to everyone that guy was one of the Princes.

Derous' men would lower their guns at the bloody Prince, "My Father couldn't take it anymore when that monster devoured my Mother... and is taking that monster to the treasury, he.. he is going to give it away! Our most valuable possession." The Prince would say as he would walk over to them. He would be put on the ground and his wounds would be tended to. As this went on he would continue to speak. "I can't help in fighting the Monster but I got away to tell someone.... as only the Royal Family knows the way to the Treasury. But while I was escaping I was shot a few times..."

'Got damn, shut up. Just tell us how to get there... I don't care if you are hurt.' Derous would think to himself as his, impatiently, awaited to hear how to get to the treasury.

"I was able to slip away using a secret passage though, but let me stop getting off track. Currently, only my dead family and a few guards are in the Throne room. Those bastards and my Father are heading to the treasury, that is below the Throne room. The door to the hidden passage is most likely closed so you will need to twist the golden ball on top of the throne. " The Prince would say. Derous would give the signal for two of his men to go check it out, and they would. Cracking open the Throne room doors and peeking in, but not spotting anything but corpses. Next the two would cautiously head into the room, still not seeing anyone but the corpses. Making it to the throne one of them would twist the golden ball, and nothing would happen for a few seconds. Though, just as they were about to report back that the guy was lying they would hear a rumbling sound. And then the floor, behind the throne, would being to part and a large staircase would be seen.

One of them would head back to alert Derous that they found it. "Okay, anything we need to know before we head down the- never mind. You three stay here and tend to his wounds, everyone else lets go." Derous would say as the Prince had passed out. Everyone would do as they were told and head into the spacious Throne room.

"Okay, we are going to have to head down in groups. I guess the Vice Admiral can head down first and I will head down last, to watch everyone's back. So lets get a move on." Derous would say as everyone would begin to do so. I would take about ten minutes for everyone, but Derous, to descend the stairs.

---

What the long and poorly lit staircase would lead to was not just some underground treasury but a underground shelter, a place were the Royal Family could go encase their Kingdom was under attack. A place they weren't able to go to avoid their current situation.

Some type of dialogue would be exchanged between The King and the Revolutionary Leader, maybe with a disagreement or something. The two, alone, were in the treasury of the Kingdom, the room being full of many precious things. This size of the room was about twenty meters long and the twenty meters high.

It was full of gold, diamonds, rare artifacts and the like. Those things weren't what the Revolutionary Leader was after, he was after a Fruit. A extremely powerful fruit that he planned to hand in, along with this Island, to get a promotion within the ranks of the Revolutionaries. Outside of the Treasury were the twenty men that came with Revolutionary Leader, just sitting guard and waiting for their leader to come out.


(ooc: The underground looks just like in the picture, the large building being the treasury. So, Derous is the only person in the Throne room. I think that is the best time for everyone to talk to him and offer or be asked for their assistance. And I have all of my toxins and potions. )

"I'm not obligated to tell you anything, but I guess I could say a few things." Derous would say. Having already turned his attention to the Throne room's entrance; as the sound of footsteps could be clearly heard in the vacant room. The smirking man was creepy and Derous, honestly, couldn't tell if he was friend or foe. Coming into the room smirking, probably at the corpses, wasn't a good sign. Even his question was vague and could be taken in many ways. So, Derous would state who he was so that eh could get a better understanding of things.

"I'm a Marine. And i'm not chasing anyone that did this? How did you even come to that? I could've done this, but I didn't, I am simply after one thing. So, who are you? Someone that I should get rid of now?" Derous, as he spoke, paid close attention to Man. Along with keeping himself directly behind the Throne. Why? That was simply to keep himself from being spotted by anyone else that may enter the Throne room, and attack instead of talking first. At anytime during Derous' explanation the strange man did anything weird, Derous would react in the way he saw fit.

---

Down in the underground shelter conflict had begun. The Marines, right, when they spotted the Revolutionaries attacked. The fighting starting around the time Derous spoke for the second time. The sound of gunfire couldn't be heard unless you went down the staircase a bit. Also, the two in the treasury still seemed to be going at it. This is just an update ont eh situation below.

'How was me saying i'm not obligated to say anything...smart? God, he is as dense as Seth. I hope I won't have to kill this guy. I wouldn't care but I like to avoid killing other Marines.' Derous would think to himself as he let Long finish talking, paying close attention to each movement he made. The guy had a sword so he was mostly a swordsmen, probably not a effective one though. Derous would stop thinking about this kinda stuff though, belittling and thinking much about the guy.

"I guess you could say I was rude, I apologize. Currently, Ilusai is under attack.. by two different forces. The only one that truly matters, at this time, right now is the one that has the King, and responsible for killing most of the Royal Family. A Revolutionary Leader. He and the last reaming men he has are done there..." Derous kept his eyes on Long, and pointed, with his left hand, down at the staircase beside him. "All the marines that could assist in this conflict are down there, well except us. You can go done there if you want. I won't stop you. Be warned though... there is most likely a fight going on down there." Derous would as he would stop point down toward the staircase.

Why Derous hadn't went down the staircase himself was because he was thinking. Figuring out a strategy he could use to get what he wanted without bringing harm to himself. He also wanted to receive word on their current situation down there. As he had instructed one of his men, if they did get into combat, to stay out of the fighting and report back to him in twenty minutes. Twenty minutes being enough time to asset any situation going on down there.

HIRED MERC.

Welcome aboard... the rowboat

House of the Rising Sun

meeting the jester

‘Future Pirate King’, the pirate told himself. Of course, becoming a pirate king on his own would be ludicrous. He would need... the support of others. Others- being that those who consider themselves to be human. While the Jester is no racist, he hasn't been exposed to enough cultural influence to recognize other races other than his own. While talking, he was alone – in solace of his own company. By his side, a large spear named Zeus’ Thunder. It was a reference to the sheer amount of butt- hurt it would cause in the future. The tip rested against the ground.

‘Blue moon’, a deep voice spoke from the shadows of the inside of the large treasury room. The male who spoke looked through a small gap to the surface, where a full moon blue was shining. This time the had some weird dress- up going on, on top of his armor, he wanted to appear as a revolutionary. Earlier that week he caught wind of some type of informal coup de tat that was being planned out. He did some investigating on his own and found out that there were some revolutionaries behind it. He decided to go under cover, informally, since all that he did was kill some revo grunt and steal his clothes and then joined the task as an informal merc., it was a big mess. The head of the operation was some guy from the new world. He hadn't met him yet; but he had seen once him during the operation in which they entered the place. He seemed like a very tall, strong guy. His plan was to back stab him as soon as they got what they wanted. Of course, in order to not arouse suspicion he acted his part. This meant that he couldn't analyze the big bad wolf; because he would notice it had he done so. There were about twenty grunts down the treasury room with Jester included. The big bad wolf stood at the center of the room while Jester was close to the edge, about ten- fifteen meters away from a staircase. After some time a small battalion of marines had arrived the grunts of the revolutionary army and the marines had started fighting. Jester wanted to take this opportunity to strike the big bad wolf while his back was turned to him -- he moved his spear with the tip pointing in the general direction of the marines that were having an assault with the revolutionary grunts. As he was close to striking a group of marines jumped the big bad wolf. It seemed like an instant but they were all killed. Jester couldn't properly comprehend how they all were defeated that fast.

Maybe he was in over his head? Most likely, thus Jester decided to informally retreat while the entire squad was busy. He walked on the staircase that led up. Being as silent and sneaky as he could be, nobody could have noticed him leave. This had multiple implications, he heard the sound of a man laughing at the top of the staircase. This made Jester more alert, and he moved with great caution. Leaving the man at the top no reason to look for Jester. The staircase was covered by darkness, a lack of light was to be found. The revolutionaries took all the torches on their way down when they entered much earlier. With his spear ready, the tip was pointed at the entrance of the staircase at the top, where the man he heard earlier was.

‘So we need a plan?’ Jester heard, faintly. He was a fair distance away from the top but slowly continued moving. He wasn't exposed to the entrance at any point until he heard the guy speak again. Giving nobody any reason to have suspicion. He moved up and braced himself slightly. He could reach the guy who was speaking quite easily, using the length of his spear. He made sure that the tip of his spear, the sharp pointy-end that was capable of thrusting through thick human flesh was pointed at the mans spine. Using momentum in this situation meant that there was a possibility of Jester falling backwards and rolling of the stairs had he used too much strength. Thus he came up with a clever way to deal with that- on the spot, which meant that the risk of him falling backwards is minimized. Though it meant that he would lean his body forwards before thrusting, meaning that he could fall over instead, which wasn't that big of an issue had the man not been talking, since Jester couldn't spot anyone else he assumed he was not talking in himself but to someone in the room. Judging from the volume that the man spoke off he had guessed that the person he was talking to was a fair distance away, perhaps ten to fifteen meters.

Jesters plan was to dispose of this man and just leave the place with himself intact, unless someone convinced him to do the opposite. Since the guy with the marine cape was a threat to that, he decided it would be wise to dispose of him; which was a good reason for why he was as cautious as he was being. Giving absolute no reason other than some fourth wall breaking superstition for someone to peek towards his direction. The marines and revolutionaries were still fighting downstairs, where he had come from. They were quite rowdy, there were multiple distraction points - Jester judged that this would be the easiest time to strike. Jester faced the back of the marine with the poncho, the poncho guy had a sword in his hand, the moment of the strike was when the marine was still speaking, the words: ‘ as I am a sword user.’ Were muttered, this meant that Jester had moved relatively quickly - he was a quick thinker. While midspeak Jester used all of his momentum with his body leaning slightly forwards, towards the entrance of the staircase at the top. He initially held his spear a few inches away from his own waist and moved the spear in an upright movement, the tip aimed at the spine of the marine soldier with the weird poncho. The intent of the attack was to sever his spine and instantaneously paralyze him as a result. Jester was silent up to the point where he could no longer be silent, leaving his opponent a minimal amount of time to react to his attack. While in reality, there was no time to react properly to Jesters attack. Using the shading of the staircase as an advantage, had his opponent found a way to react - which was nihil, he still would not be able to figure out how to properly dodge. Reacting to something meant multiple things, to perceive it and then figure out a way to not be touched by the attack. The latter was the most difficult part, using your natural instincts sort of works when perceiving an attack, but not when trying to evade from being damaged. Evading from an attack requires some brain activity to find a path, a safe path to turn to in order to evade from an attack. That bit of brain activity requires some time that the marine soldier with the poncho was not given.

Jesters dark armor cloaked him even further, he made sure to move in a manner that allowed him to move silently even with the armor on. Judging from this attack, Jester had shown himself to be an experienced ex military soldier. Had the stranger talking to the marine payed attention to what happened even he could perceive the fact that Jester was experienced; but, lacking in power.

Knowledge trumps all. And you can't stump the trump.

The tip of Jester spear has no difficulty slicing the flesh of the marine like butter. While it was true that his abilities were not high enough to sever bone, it did mean that because of the momentum he had there was no issue in Jester chipping the spine of the Marine with his spear. Certainly, that would hurt ten times more- but it wouldn't sever his spine and instantaneously paralyze him; it instead would mean that his hands and feet would tingle, become numb slowly and the paralysis would slowly kick in. Maybe he was lucky that Jester didn't use his abilities to make it a clean cut; because in this case he could still get to a doctor before being wheel chaired for the rest of his life. Certainly combat would be out of the question for the remainder of this encounter, gripping the sword he previously gripped would become a task considered impossible, his strikes would become weak and flimsy. Immediately after the hit had connected Jester would use his might to pull his spear back, a set of chains could be heard clanging against the ground, Jester intended to restart a motion to attack once more had this attack not done its job in incapacitating this man. Had the man been incapacitated like he intended him to be; which meant that he was laying on the ground, bleeding profusely and attempting to flee - he would continue with his course of actions. Which consisted of Jester moving forwards, out from the entrance of he staircase. As soon as he stepped out he looked at the general direction of the marine who he had incapacitated was previously speaking towards. With the tip of his spear pointed towards the ground, covered by blood, he raised his brow.

‘I've SEEN you before, in that cafe, have EYE not?’ He shook his head after he spoke, making sure to respond reactively had he needed to. Jester knew little about the intentions of this guy, so he was wary and cautious- he would expect the guy to behave the same way. ‘Well, if YU are who EYE think YU are; don't be getting your willy down there; the guys too strong EYE tell ya’, Jester explained. Unless this man had an arsenal of power hidden there was no way for him to beat the big bad wolf. Jester was a mercenary in heart; convincing him wasn't very difficult, but it required some effort. Maybe if the man had promised Jester a nice reward; he would assist him in his task, he kind of had the idea that he was a marine but wasn't sure; he could be apart of this palace and had intentions of aiding the kingdom or whatever; which meant that he wasn't interested in sharing the treasure which would have made Jester leave the place, had that been the case. He pointed his spear down, towards the incapacitated marine. ‘Am sorry if that was yur friend, but, in all onesty, that guy would be killed roight. The big bad wolf down there doesn't know mercy; he should be fine in any case’ Disregarding Jesters fucktardish accent; the incapacitated marine would be fine if he crawled out of here and found a doctor to help him up. Of course, he could also try to strike Jester back; but as described above, striking in his current state wouldn't hurt a baby whereas Jester had the superior position as well. Jester was ready for combat, he was in a normal position to defend and strike had the situation called for it. Though at the same time; Jesters body language had faint hints of retreat; his intention wasn't to fight but it implied that he would had he been forced and brought to that point. Black smoke protruded from Jesters gloves and boots; as the smoke of his armor kicked in after it got the scent of blood. It hadn't started doing that before, for some reason.

* Chain
* Spear
* Armor set

5/5 slots(equipment)
2+3 (occupation)
armor 3 slots
weaponry 2 slots
_____

* Skills

1966

"Yea, you had that job. That we never got to take on together." Derous would say in response to the man, keeping his eyes on the fellow. Derous hadn't move form his spot after the small conflict had taken place, no need. He was expecting someone to come up the stairs, but he had reason. Sadly though he believed the one he was anticipating to come back, wouldn't do that. They were most likely dead, and that was fine. Derous had three more fodder left he could use, and right as he thought about them they came. Walking into the room but not doing anything hostile, just because they had no reason to. They knew their place would hear the voice of their Captain.

"I understand that the man down there is strong, but I have grown since the last time we chatted. And I have something that would be able to make that guy down their on my level. Well slow him down. Ah, but why am I telling you this? Well, I want you to work with me! You can have anything you want down there with my help, except one item.

But first! I would like you to finish that man off. I'm a Marine like him and he will most likely tell on me, as I don't plan to save him in anyway. As i'm not here as a marine officially.. i'm here to take a item for myself. So after you kill him I can tell you my plan." Derous would say as he spoke he didn't take his eyes off of Jester. And he also kept his ears open to the staircase, in case he needed to move. Even though it wasn't evident on his face expression or body language Derous was on edge, as he didn't plan on falling today.

calling my hit on the basis of:
- already having recognized trouble going on down the stairs
- taking moments of your time to think about random memories providing me with more time
- my strike landing prior to you starting your second sentence because of the interval you had with new thoughts popping up; changing the course of my timeline
- activating powers without having character reasons to do so - defensive powers nonetheless -, while you didn't do exactly that before based off your reasoning and not providing further reasoning as to why your character would activate it aside from using your 'third' eye :^) - METAGAME

Lucky for Hao his technique known as Steel Guard was already activated prior a few words ago or second before uttering the word I am a sword user.

- letting me stab you, then spinning a full circle with my spear in you, without describing that your defensive manoeuvre stopped my spear, instead of touching it - SUICIDE

Ensign Long had did a 360 spin toward the right along side the spear

- non reactive movement, instantaneous body movement without proper reasoning; your devil fruit doesn't take control of your body without abilities allowing it to do so

As Jester spear made contact with Long back it had trigger a series of events each happening instantly .

- ??? - GIBBERISH

The next thing that would happen upon the impact of the spear Long back would arc in about 1 or 2 inches as his right foot took one step forward jester well place attack receives a 0.5 reduction due to being a basic strike.

---

- theres several other stuff, but as you can notice the hit is called from the first point out; stopping ninety percent of Crows post on the basis of METAGAMING and applying the effects of my hit at the start of his second sentence instead of later, because of his sudden memories that gushed into his mind for no reason. if that wouldn't really work im requesting a full void of his entire post.