Task Name: Bird Hunt
Tier: 3.
Location: Torino Kingdom
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: Upon arriving at Torino Kingdom, you will find your docking Village under attack by giant birds. After discovering the humans of this island were once constantly at war with these birds and fear it will happen again, you'll decide to take out the rogue birds yourself...
Enemy Details: 4x T2 Big birds | 2x T3 Bird Boss
Boss: No.

It was time for a little exploration... Linnea truly felt like a change of pace, having grown bored with Karate Island as of late. There were quite a few islands she could still reach in the South Blue without the aid of a navigator given the smooth sailing waters and how close some islands were to each other. After a moment studying her map, she decided to visit Torino Kingdom. It was said to be a kingdom of very large birds who at one point ruled over the primitive humans. It was also said to be an island of great riches which was yet another reason why the pirate wondered that this might be a really good place for a tiny little visit. She might have a good deal of business left in Karate Island but what's wrong with a little vacation every now and then right?

The skies were clear and the weather was nothing short of gorgeous, as seagulls chirped in the air above annoucing the proximity to land, and the pleasant smell of brine filled her nostrils. The Melusine sailed the easy waters without any form of difficulty or hindrance to its speed, and she'd certainly reach land very soon. Breathing in this scent, Linnea smiled and kept on going the island; all things considered it was still pretty close to Karate Island. But then, she was surprised by the sight of a colossal bird soaring over her head...

"Wow... The map was right!", she thought to herself.

Up ahead, the even more colossal tree this island was known for stood out among all else, and Linnea used that as a form of guide to help her reach the island more easily. Soon, she had made land fall and docked her ship by the shore, taking her rowboat into the island known as Torino Kingdom.

Chuckling was the first action Linnea did once she arrived on this Island... Granted, she may have read about it, but no amount of reading might have prepared her for what she was about to see: The humans were short, round and stubby, almost looking like fat dwarves. Of course, calling them fat might not be accurate since all of them had the roughly the same shape. Some of them walked around the beach as she set foot ashore, fisherman heading to the see in search of a good catch, fishwives carrying whole bowls filled with fish back to the village. Her sharp, scruitinizing eyes darted around her surroundings, taking in every sight as if each glance was as picture firmly engraved in her mind, yet no matter what happened, she couldn't wipe that playful smirk off her face. And in a way, the natives, couldn't either, at least not the man. They were positively entranced by the tall, slender and bouncy woman in start contrast to the women they normally took as wives, watching her walk around with a blush and a perverted face. Their heads bobbed up and down as their eyes were firmly glued to her, but even if Linnea didn't understand why (or expected it to be due to them being unfamiliar with a normal sized human woman), their respective wives were perfectly aware of a the reason for their oggling, and promptly smacked their husbands in the head and snapped them back to work.

Even more amused at this reaction, Linnea was slowly growing to love this island even though she had just arrived. But then, even as she did more than walk around the beach, one of the Giant Birds from above plummeted ferociously onto the shore! Startled, Linnea grabbed her bow and ducked as she was knocked down by the powerful current the bird grew. The people looked started, wondering why were the birds attacking at random like this... Wait, birds? Linnea quickly looked around and indeed she found two more giant sized birds swooping down, one at the beach further away and yet another in the village. There was no time to waste: Activating her Kenbunshoku Haki, Linnea lined up a shot, and antecipating when it would turn to swoop, she let loose an arrow to intercept it, catching the bird right between the eyes and letting it plummet down to earth with a thundering crash...


Haki Stamina: 30/40 remaining (Used C-rank Kenbunshoku)
1T2 Bird beaten, 1 arrow used

But this whole battle was far from over... Seeing one of its buddies so easily killed by a pitiful human (yes, Linnea had learned about how at one point, Birds in this island held themselves above humans), it screeched angrily, narrowing its eyes at the perpetrator and charging towards her with a yearning for venegeance. At this point, the short stubby natives had already scattered into safety, with the few warriors coming back to fight, slinging spears and shooting arrows even if they had none of the percision Linnea did. The Kuja archer was a cool and collected hunter with not only years of training and experience, but a powerful sixth sense on her side. Those natives who couldn't find took to cheering for this mysterious woman who they now counted on as their ally. They looked at her with far more trusting eyes than they did their own warriors given how easily she had struck the colossal bird in a vital spot, certain that taking them down any other way was nigh impossible. But if this bird was expecting to blindside the ranger (probably not given how she could feel the wind draft behind her and hear his screech), it would find he'd have no such luck.

With a single, fluid motion, Linnea turned around - pivoting on one foot while drawing an arrow - relying on her Kenbunshoku Haki for Guidance as she once more took aim at the vicious bird's only visible weak spot: Its proportionately large eyes and head. After Firing her Viper Bite arrow, she immediately ran off sideways, narrowly dodging the giant beast as it fell down and would have crushed her had she not done so. The humans at the beach cheered wildly as the ranger easily took down the first two birds, but there was no time to waste... Linnea dashed upwards, away from the beach and into the village as yet another bird took notice of her too late. It turned to face and look at its slain comrades, but as he did, he was met by an antecipating Linnea, who foresaw his movement and nailed him just as she'd done the last few: With an arrow to the eye. Relaxing, she took a deep breath, for a brief moment deeming the battle over... But she might have celebrated too soon. The ground rumbled slightly as a large shadow flew over her. An even more massive bird had noticed its dead friends and targetted Linnea as the culprit, and it wasn't even the only one. Two more flew towards her, one as large as this one and one smaller.


3 T2 Birds defeated

3 arrows used

Haki Stamina: 30/40 remaining (Still active C-rank Kenbunshoku)

Spoiler:

As a new menacing enemy came over, the "brave" stubby human warriors of Torino Kingdom no longer dared to try and face it. The few that even bothered to address her simply wished her good luck and trusted her skills to handle the crisis. These people hardly seemed petty so no doubt they might at least reward her with free meals and lodging? She could only hope... Still, even if they didn't, being rid of nusiances such as weak warriors getting in her way was probably for the best anyway. Linnea focused on her strong Kenbunshoku Haki once more as the oversized bird landed. This time, she grabbed on to a wall to endure against the strong winds as the animal perched on the house opposite to her, and immediately attempted to peck her.

She knew very well that being pecked by something this big would result in certain death, but fortunately she could see the move well in advance and dodge appropriately, hiding into an alley to avoid getting trapped in a position where the bird might still whip her with its heavy neck. Inside the alley, it couldn't peck or strike her so Linnea simply loaded an arrow, imbued it with Haki, and shot at its head. She could see what the bird was about to do, but it was obviously smarter than the others. It raised its neck, blocking any angle Linnea might have to reach its only weak spot. While she did still pierce its neck, causing it to screech in pain, an arrow was little more than a tiny needle to a bird that big and wouldn't do much damage unless he hit its eye and drilled into its skull. Her arrow went through its neck with impressive destructive power, and the bird started bleeding profusely. Yet it would still be a long time before it bled out, more than enought time for the insanely angry bird to try and peck her to death. It flew up, leaping onto the roof next to her and beating its wings with a force such that the archer was sent crashing into some nearby crates, brusing and hurting her considerably but not enough to cripple her fighting abilities.

This was bad... She didn't want to deal with two of these colossal birds at once. It wouldn't be easy to wipe out this great giant bird boss, and the (ironically) little giant bird coming along too hardly scared her at all. They weren't fast or smart enough to escape her arrows and she could take it down with relative ease, but judging by how much trouble this one was giving her, she would need something much bigger to get rid of it. Quickly rolling out out of the way to evade the potentially deadly peck, she got on her feet and gripped three arrows, imbuing all of them with Haki... The bird attempted to peck her once again, but it was greeted with three arrows right in its skull, killing it instantly.

The heavily bruised Linnea quickly leapt onto the rubble of a crate, then from then on to the roof of the biggest house... The other two birds were roughly twenty meters away now, she could sense them clearly: Taking a deep breath and narrowing her eyes at the foe, she pulled another arrow, she took aim at the big one and prepared her biggest attack. To kill a big monster in one go, you need an equally big strike.


Haki Stamina: 5/40 remaining (Active C-rank Kenbunshoku; used B-rank Busoshoku on the 4 arrows used this turn)


7 arrows used total (4 this turn)


3 T2 Birds, 1 T3 bird defeated

Spoiler:

Linnea took aim, and kept it steady... She knew the bird boss was big enough to resist any near hit, and smart enough to avoid it if she gave it a chance to do so. Underestimating it would be anything but a wise choice on her part and she certainly wouldn't make that mistake ever again, so when she shot her arrow, the bird flew at roughly fifteen meters away from her, screeching angrily at the death of its comrades. Too bad for them, they shouldn't have attacked that village and expected to get away with it... Linnea had seen plenty of these birds by now, and up until this point none of them had tried to attack her nor any other human. These guys were the exception to what she had read about Torino Kingdom, and wouldn't show them any mercy. With her cold steel blue eyes firmly set on her menacing foes, she took another deep breath and let her arrow loose, flicking her thumb down and letting it soar straight into the Giant bird boss' head, at a surprising speed such it had absolutely no chance to react. This arrow moved faster than a bullet, and struck with the piercing power of a high caliber sniper rifle, drilling through the diving bird's skull and the rest of its body in a bloody mess.

In many ways, animals and humans shared the same instincts, she had seen that time and time again when hunting beasts and then when she hunted the greatest beast of all: men. After letting loose her arrow her quick arms were already grabbing another as the Bird boss's follower was completely surprised by the death of its leader. Startled, It turned its head aside for the briefest moment, and as it did, another arrow was let loose towards its eye, antecipating the moment it would look forward once again. The two birds crashed down to earth with a massive ruckus, crushing a single house and damaging another, the big one first, and the smaller one after it. And with that the adrenaline rush slowly passed and Linnea gritted her teeth as the sense of pain returned to her body in full. She put her bow aside and gripped her right arm which had taken the brunt of the damage, with a few splinters imbedded and a nasty gash. It was nothing she couldn't heal from, however. But then, she heard a strange call up in the distance... To a girl used to living in the jungle and hearing animal cries, this one almost sounded... happy?

"JYOOOOOOO~!", she heard

Regardless, Linnea left the roof as she scavenged some yet intact arrows off the corpses of the colossal birds, mostly the ones that were safely embedded in their heads and didn't break when they crashed...



Haki Stamina: 10/40 remaining (Still active B-rank Kenbunshoku)


All enemies defeated


9 arrows used total (2 this turn); then scavenged 4 arrows => Used total 5 arrows

Spoiler:

Even after all this, none of the other giant birds in the sky seemed to give a damn about their six dead kin. Were they smart enough to recognize they had attacked the humans of their own voilition and Linnea simply acted in self defense? It wouldn't surprise her after, the birds of Torino Kingdom were said to be incredibly smart, and seldom mean or petty. She wandered around the village for a while, since the villagers were still reluctant to heard out, as if worried something else might come to attack them. But that didn't happen... The only other thing she did hear was Linnea hearing that strange call again, and even though she had certainly never heard it before, she couldn't help but think like she should know it... The mark of a good ranger is often one's knowledge about different species of animals and plants, and this call was oddly familiar. She looked up at the sky, and much to her surprise saw a very unique creature, one that by all accounts really shouldn't be here. Violet and green plumage, long beak, yellow head crest...

"Jyoo! Jyoooo~!", it cried again, almost like a cheer as it landed directly north of Linnea, its head pointing straight South to look at her. It flapped its wings happily, pointing one of of them towards the dead giant birds. It felt like it was praising Linnea with a happy look on its face.

It felt almost like these six birds were bullies among the others. This Southbird seemed really happy about this woman having been able to kill that gang, and so the girl responded by gently pretting its head beak:

"So these guys were giving you a hard time, huh? Well, no need to thank me.", she smiled kindly as the bird bobbed its head, confirming Linnea's words. Still, this bird - Native to the Island of Jaya - was an odd one, pulled all the way across the Grand Line into South Blue. It certainly had something in common with her, "Still, you're a long way from home, huh? I'll be heading to the Grand Line soon enough, so I might be able to take you back there."

The bird answered with a happy cry, landing on Linnea's shoulder as an obvious affirmative answer. Suddenly, Linnea began to hear a cheering sound once more... The villagers all came out again, overjoyed at this stranger who had effortlessly defeated their enemies. Well, not effortlessly but the first one to approach the sitting Linnea was actually a doctor, who brought with him all the necessary equipment to tend to her wounds. She sat patiently as the grateful villagers rewarded her with heaps of Gold, which was apparently worthless to them, and asked for the name of their savior:

"I'm Naga D. Linnea! I'm a Pirate, but don't worry, I mean you no harm.", she answered quite frankly, hoping she could state her true allegiance without being feared but then they didn't really care...

Meanwhile the Southbird seemed really interested in this gold, its eyes sparkling even brighter than the metal itself. While the doctor tended to her, Linnea had a chance to talk to some of these villagers, and wound up offering them the meat of the dead birds, which was apparently enough to feed the whole island if shared among the different villages. This just wound up resulting in more gold being dropped at her feet as payment, which the villagers quickly loaded onto her boat. And the Southbird got even more excited by all this, leading to a chuckle by Linnea:

"I see you like gold huh?", she spoke in a playful friendly tone, winking, "That makes two of us!"

The Southbird sang happily to have found further common ground with his new travel partner, and promptly pointed his wing up at the tree. Linnea obviously understood what it was saying: There was more gold up there. The Villagers confirmed the dead birds must have a nest filled with Gold, so if she managed to find it, it would all belong to her. The doctor finished his treatment by wrapping a bandage around her arm and giving her ointment to put on her wounds. It wasn't big enough to leave a mark, but the ointment would help stave off infections.


Parting ways with the village for the time being, she was still left with the promise of food and lodging, as well as a bird meat stew the villagers assured would be delicious. But for now, Linnea and her new gold loving, feathery friend, went off in search of the birds' gold. Linnea ventured through the forest effortlessly, with her own ranger dexterity and the Southbird's Guidance, she quickly found her way through the jungle onto the tree. The bird flew up and perched itself on the ideal spots for her to climb, helping Linnea on the way on the way up the tree until they finally found the nest... Leaving both woman and bird staring down with Beli in her eyes...

Now this...! This was damn fine booty!!! €€€€

Wasting not a single moment, Linnea just threw it all down and hurried down the tree, and from then on all she had to do was collect it all back on her ship for a mission well paid. She would be staying here a few more days, but the Villagers warned her against stealing gold from any other nest, since the birds clearly loved it and giving them gold was part of their peace treaty with the humans... Linnea didn't want to have to deal with many of those giant birds, so heeding their request seemed like the best idea.

-exit-