Task Name: Stop the thief!
Tier: 2
NPC or PC: PC
Location: Karate Island
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: White training in Master Jeong's Dojo, you will come upon a thief trying to steal the grizzled Master's prized Sword. Defeat him! He will be tied up and kept in the basement of the house, and upon investigating you will find an odd tattoo on his wrist.
Enemy Details: T2 Thief wielding 2 pistols
Boss: None

Her adventures in the temple were hardly as fruitful as Linnea expected they might be... It turned out that she wasn't the only person in posession of that map and the others who did have it managed to beat her to the punch. Even then, it didn't seem like they had been the first to get their either, all that she managed to loot off those pirates implied that they hadn't been much luckier than she was at getting their hands on things. All she managed to get were some pounds of average beli, as well as an odd artifact. The latter looked like it might be sold for a good price, but Lin had other ideas. She knew that there was more to that temple than she had been able to initially discover, and she also knew that if that gemstone wasn't the key to it, it would certainly help her in figuring it out.

Thus, once she arrived back at Karate island, she felt like she needed a place to rest, something to clear her head beyond what simply sleep might be able to accomplish. She docked the Melusine at the pier as she always did; the sky had now darkened and most people had retreated indoors to eat dinner... Master Jeong's dojo would be mostly deserted, but after he had gone to the trouble of offering his Dojo to Linnea (and his other students) at all hours whenever they might feel like training and working out, she decided to exploit the mind clearing and relaxing effects training seemed to have on her body. Linnea didn't bother to shower, change clothes, or even eat this time. She just walked straight towards the dojo, already antecipating she might have greater benefits from sparring there than anything else. Tomorrow she would have to thoroughly examine that journal to see what else she might be able to gleam from it, but for now, she'd just expend what remained of her energy.

Linnea pushed open the door to the Dojo, and for the first time she was actually surprised to find nobody in there... But most of the students were off at their own homes eating dinner, while the master likely ate his own. Her Master's signature sword hung high and proudly on the wall directly in front of the door, right below the sign reading "Jeong Academy". She took a deep breath and smiled, fully aware how her own mind worked best while she was alone, with nobody around to bother her or deafen out her own thoughts.

She took a deep breath and smiled, glancing around the empty dojo and taking in the sight of all the empty space she had to practice, at her own pace. Master Jeong had warned her against sparring against inanimate objects as opposed to training partners, but then he also pointed out how even against an inanimate target, one could always repeat the exact same technique time and time again until their body remembered it, until the point one became able to execute that desired technique as easily as breathing. Linnea thus decided to focus on the signature Jeong Style technique, which she had pretty much mastered, but then wasn't quite there yet. Pretty close, but not perfect, not at the point it should be.

Her thought cleansing training program firmly set in her mind, Linnea approached the nearest training dummy. Master Jeong had taught them to train with the same intensity they would fight an enemy set out to kill them, adamant that no other mindset would be nearly as effective and it would just cause them to waste energy... Linnea activated her shorter range Kenbunshoku Haki out of a simple reflex, and also thanks to a hint of paranoia since her loud impacting strikes would potentially allow a foe to sneak up on her. And thus, she began her training session with a powerful sweeping low kick. Unlike a snapping kick which aimed to unleash all of the strike's power into the opponent's body without wasting energy pushing them, this kick was meant to sweet foes off their feet so Linnea's leg would normally continue its course, pushing the enemy's foot off the ground and robbing them of balance....

But alas, fate determined this peaceful training session under the beautiful moonlight wouldn't be so easy as she felt a breeze flutter under her hair and garments...


Haki stamina: 30/40 (C-rank Kenbu used)

It brought with it an uneasy feeling... If anything for no reason other than she clearly remembered closing the door and there was no other way for that breeze to find its way in. But as her strikes deafened out any other sound, Linnea suddenly felt a shiver down her spine as something wandered into her sensing radar. A crouched man was taking a single step with each kick she unleashed, his footsteps thoroughly silenced by the sparring young woman who would have otherwise never have picked this up. If not for her paranoia and Kenbunshoku Haki, this man's ingenious tactic would have defenitely worked. But with her short range Haki, she was unable to detect him until he actually walked past her. What was he after? His sneaky movement and absense of any bladed weapon she could see implied he wasn't planning on killing anyone and walking out alive... So a thief then? No matter. Once the man walked past her, Linnea didn't wait even a single moment. She turned around, staring at the man dead in the eye, as cold steel blue met an odd, startled brown. Surprised, the guy drew two guns, but unfortunately for him, Linnea antecipated his every move. She knew exactly when he was going to shoot, and stepped away the instant before he did.

Her training with Master Jeong had taught her how to deal with faster opponents, and even if this guy might not be exactly faster, his bullets certainly were. But his own reaction time was the weak link, the one weak link she could exploit to her advantage. She kept walking forward towards him, eventually covering her right arm in Busoshoku Haki and parrying the few bullets she shouldn't be trying to dodge in the first place... So far, Linnea managed to close the gap at a calm yet fast walking pace, dashing forward once her foe ran out of bullets and planting a rock hard Busoshoku empowered fist in its face. She followed up by activating yet another Busoshoku Haki and coating her right shin in the same charcoal black shell, clearly sweeping the guy onto the ground with a firm leg strike:

"What are you doing here?", she demanded coldly, pushing her heel against the burlglar's temple, threatening to crush his skull if he didn't answer.

Haki stamina: 20/40 (C-rank Kenbu still active; Used C-rank Buso on right arm and right shin)

The guy gritted his teeth, clearly resisting the dire threat to answer the question before he got killed. But Linnea was more menacing then her innocent, almost angelic look might imply. She had been trained in an almost Spartan warrior culture, taught never to show mercy to her enemies. Even if she disliked pointless killing, she never hesitated to take a life when she deemed it necessary, when she deemed there was no other way. But she was a kind a girl, and even as a child she struggled to kill even the animals she needed to eat... But her peers had a way to deal with that: She was left alone in the jungle, forced to survive and hunt for herself. She had the required skills to do so, so if she died it would have been her own fault... She learned her lesson then: The strong survive, the weak die. But later she came to realize that the strongest humans take it a step further: They can choose who lives and who dies. The World Government does it calls it Justice. Pirates do it and call it Freedom. She came to call it her own Will: She killed the animals she needed to eat or who needed to die so they wouldn't kill others, and killed the people who would go on to kill other innocents if she let them.

And now here she was, face to face with another. She made it very clear she was willing to kill him, but deep down she didn't want to. She wanted to know what this guy was here do do. Even if his lips didn't speak those words, his eyes instinctively did so, as he gazed towards the Dojo sign. Linnea followed his gaze: That didn't make sense, what kind of Dojo Buster would come here at this time... THE SWORD! Master's sword who seldom rested in its stand. This pile of trash would never be able to take it from Master Jeong, so he had to await the right opportunity. But just as it all began to make sense, Linnea was forced to tilt her head back as the man reached for his gun and shot up at her, drawing a thin line of blood from her cheek.

"You'll pay for that.", she spoke coldly, as the man suddenly stood up and attempted to pull his gun on her once more.

But the freshly trained Linnea wouldn't give him the opportunity to aim...


Quickly dashing in, she locked one arm around his wrist, another arm around his throat, and swept his shin from behind, grounding her foe once more and promptly knocking him out cold with a stomp to the head just as Master Jeong came:

"Linnea?! What's going on?!!", he shouted with obvious urgency at hearing gunfire in his Dojo...


Haki stamina: 5/40 (C-rank Kenbu re-activated; Used D-rank Buso)

"My apologies, Master... This man snuck in while I was training. I'm pretty sure he came here to steal your sword.", she saluted her master, bowing her head, feeling responsible for letting him in.

"No need for apology, you stopped him.", the man smiled, grabbing a tissue and wiping the blood from his student's cheek, "Makes sense that he would, that is a priceless artifact. He wouldn't be the first who tried..."

So this is why he normally kept the sword with him at all times, even if Linnea had never even seen him draw it. The master naturally went over to the sword and strapped it to his waist again, obviosuly regretting ever leaving it displaying in its stand. Though it was a beautiful, almost inspirational artifact. He sighed as he turned to the man, while Linnea looted the thief's pockets and investigated them. He had some obviously pricy rings in his fingers and other in his pockets. But the most interesting feature she noticed about him was the odd five pointed star tattoo with a skull on top of it on the back of his hand... It looked like a Jolly Roger but Linnea didn't recognize it:

"Don't worry about that man, Linnea.", reassure the Master, tapping her shoulder and motioning for her to move away as he crouched down and grabbed the unconscious man, carrying him atop his shoulder in an impressive display of strength that hardly surprised Linnea anymore. She turned around to watch him head out, "I'll turn him to the authorities after I find out who sent him."

The master looked into her eyes with a determined gaze, she knew he wasn't the kind of man to be trifled with and he didn't enjoy not knowing things, especially when those things involved shooting up his home. He used to be a ruthless Marine Officer, Linnea knew that much, and she knew that thief was in for a world of hurt if he expected to get by without talking. She also knew Master Jeong wasn't overly fond of the Marines, believing they would never care enough to find out who he was working for, if anyone at all. Fortunately, the thief's pockets were still a decent enough plunder for the young pirate girl... This wasn't really helpful in clearing her head, but maybe a good night's sleep will do the trick? Bidding the master goodbye, she went on to put that theory to the test...

-exit-