Task Name: The Disciple
Tier: 3
NPC or PC: NPC
Location: Karate Island
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: You'll decide to go after the Collector yourself, but Master Jeong won't allow it. Defeat him to prove you are capable, or no way he'll even allow you to go outside.
Enemy Details: None
Boss: Master Jeong

boss:

Continued from: https://op-piratenation.rpg-board.net/t2932-time-to-get-some-answers-frosty-adventures-arc-iii-part-1#20992


This whole thing was a huge mess... Linnea had not only her treasure stolen almost right before her eyes - by a smooth talking masked man - but she also lost a smaller piece of that treasure which seemed like it was pretty important in the grand scheme of things. But not all was lost yet, since in her attempt to interrogate the only lead the had left (a thief who shared the same mark as the the Masked man's underlings). It turns out that at least in this particular case, the young clueless-about-men Kuja was a far better interrogator than her grizzled master. For all his gruffness, the man still had a certain regard for humane treatment of prisioners, so he didn't interrogate the man beyond the occasional beating. Linnea didn't even need to touch him however, and soon had the information she wanted. Having more information seems to make it easy to obtain more, as does having multiple targets.

So between the two captured assassins, the master, and the eldest female student interrogating them, they were able to discover a bit more about Raziel and his goals. It turns out the cautious man's excessive caution had been his undoing since he sent overly informed henchmen to kill a poorly informed one. If he had just let things be, Linnea's life would have been a lot harder. The best good part of all this was (assuming one could even call it such) was that Linnea now knew exactly who she was dealing with. She had faced him before and been soundly defeated, but that had shown her the difference in their strength. But this young archer was as resourceful as she was smart, not to mention relentless when she took sight of a goal. A trait ideal for a keen huntress that ultimately helped her on troublesome quests such as these. As she shared information with the Master, Linnea had a resolute look on her face as her teacher questioned her:

"So, what shall you do now, Linnea?", he inquired, partly expecting the answer but from his stern gaze he hoped she wouldn't give the answer he expected she might.

The girl simply clenched her fist, and despite her cool, calm and kind exterior, one might easily tell how much she yearned to simply go after this pirate who had crossed her. Her single minded tendency to lock on to her prey was driving her completely, perhaps more than the rage she was so good at controlling:

"I'm going after him obviously.", she stated with a soft spoken yet determined tone.

With this answer, the master frowned. This was the answer he expected, but he truly hoped he'd be getting a different one, and with that his disapproval was replaced with something else. Refusal, the kind Linnea might have expected to see in a father disapproving their child's choices and preparing to stop them. If only she'd have met her father to compare... Linnea folded her arms under her breasts and narrowed her eyes back, but she'd have little time to do so:

"And that I cannot allow. If you truly insist on pursuing this man, I would rather beat you down until you can no longer move than have you die at his hands. With his henchmen missing, he'll vanish soon enough.", the master raised his guard, pausing only for only a moment to shout at Linnea, a warning mixed with a war cry that nearly deafened her, "PREPARE!!"

Startled, the girl was unable to form a proper retaliation against the master's right hook, instead barely having time to raise her arm in a comparatively lax defense. His fist made contact with her arm, sending painful shockwaves throughout her arm and upper body. So heavy... Master Jeong's fist... Just from guarding she felt like he might break her arm. He had never struck her this hard before. Linnea attempted to counter with a straight, to which the master simply grabbed her arm, moved behind her, hooked his other hand behind her chin, and swept her down with a kick to her shin.

He intercepted her so easily... Linnea was as hurt as she was astonished, never having dealt with Master Jeong going all out. So this was the sheer power of the unleashed Jeong Style, used by a true, masterful practicioner. He engaged her effortlessly, with his voice (yet another of his teachings) displaying how the human voice was a weapon possibly as strong as one's fists; anyone who's been shouted at from so close would understand.

Linnea fell down in a crumpled mass but there was no time to simply stay there... Her arm hurt like hell from the weak defense and anybody could tell she was injured, her back hurt too and neck hurt even more, thanks to Raziel's attack when he defeated her. Soon, the other wound Raziel inflicted would start hurting again.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER?!! IS THIS HOW YOU'LL BEAT RAZIEL?!", he shouted once more, closing the gap between them, aiming to strike downed Linnae with a powerful axe kick that literally split the tiles in half... He wasn't fooling around. Lin was actually scared at this serious onslaught, and barely dodging this attack by enduring the pain in her back and rolling back onto her feet, "IF YOU WISH TO WIN, FIGHT ME WITH ALL YOU HAVE...!!"

There was no way his words didn't sink in... Almost like every word was a war cry in itself, and it took every ounce of focus for Linnea to take up her stance and brace herself as Master Jeong dashed. Hearing these words, she activated her short range Kenbunshoku Haki and naturally antecipated her Master's straight punch when he moved to engage her, turning her body to the side and retaliating with an uppercut to his jaw... The other students were having fun; hell they were in awe even. Those who were still training at this late hour all stopped to watch the battle, and some of them even went to call other students who had already left. Few of them had ever seen the master get serious, and never against a woman who had never spent as many years trained their body like a true martial artist... Hell, it was a miracle she was even standing.


OOC: Using Kenbu Haki D-rank (35/40 Haki stamina)

Her attack connected, allowing Linnea to actually glimpse a bit of hope in winning this battle. She could do this! But Master Jeong wasted no time in viciously crushing it. Unlike her, his trained body was more than capable of withstanding this punishment - enduring the obvious pain - and to make things worse he saw through Linnea's follow up Haymaker, predicting it: ducking down and moving his right leg to the left, he pivoted on that foot to unleash a might backhanded punch onto the girl's own jaw. It sent her lightweight body flying and crashing into the wall stating a clear message:

"...BUT IF YOU USE HAKI, YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN!", he reminded her as she struggled to rise from amidst the rubble. Her whole body was bruised and cut up from the repeated impacts, and her neck hurt so much she thought it would break, yet it was far from over, "STAND, LINNEA!!"

But jaw was the worst among all this, she rubbed it in obvious pain, spitting out blood. He was strong... Too strong. Linnea was being destroyed and for a while she realized that if she kept fighting like this she could even die. He was too strong... He was too fast... But even after stating he aimed to beat her till she could no longer stand, Master Jeong was still doing what he always did: teaching. In terms of raw power and hand to hand skill, she was no match for Master Jeong, but she knew there was a way to beat him. But this was a test and If she could find a way to do so, she would pass it.

She tried making good use of another of the Master's lessons. Even if you can see everything, even if you're faster, none of that is worth anything if your body cannot react. Ignoring the pain, she kept telling herself, "Just a little bit more", putting the full extent of her willpower in defeating this excruciating pain before she could defeat her master. Running towards him, she used her Kenbunshoku Haki to antecipate his move. Instead of planning hers out in advance, she kept herself fluid, preparing herself to react as fast as she could. At little more than three meters away, she saw a glimmer of intent, in his aura: he was going to intercept her with an arm strike to her offending limb!


OOC: Kenbu Haki D-rank (35/40 Haki stamina)

Seeing this, Linnea went low instead, as if she had planned to do so from the start. Attacking the opponent's legs was one of the master's own teaching after all. In his own words, even a mighty elephant will fall to its knees if you break his footing. At such close range, he didn't have time to react to the strike he didn't prepare for, and Linnea managed to struck her master's knee with a powerful straight kick... Even with his trained body, an attack like this was painful, though he didn't even scream, just grunt and stagger. As Linnea stood up, she could swear she saw a hint of a smile in his face... Master Jeong actually felt a kind of joy to see his student learning something, but a vicious attack to the knee was akin to revealing a use of Haki: He'd react in kind.

"Smart...", Jeong uttered a single word of praise before dashing straight at Linnea, intending to initiate a with defendable strike, baiting out a punch from her and strike her elbow weakened left elbow. This could very well break her arm, but even if it didn't, it would incapacitate her arm easily.

Allowing Linnea to escalate first was a luxury, the only one he'd give his student in this fight. That in itself was showing more kindness than Raziel would ever show her, but he also hoped that against such a vicious pirate she'd fight without any shred of mercy and strike with killing intent. But unlike Master Jeong, Raziel would hopefully underestimate her, and if she played it smart it might yield a similar effect. Maybe Linnea would learn this lesson here tonight... As got close, he initiated with a swift uppercut that albeit fast and painful it connected, could be defended against with a simple parry and countering motion, the same movement he had taught Linnea at one point. Though she parried the uppercut as taught; she did something else one might excuse her for doing without prediction: She parried the attack, following up with a snapping low kick that would have swept anyone off their feet. On Master Jeong's injured knee, it simply disrupted his balance long enough to prevent him from executing his arm breaking strike and letting Lin pull her arm back... But the master took her quick backwards stept as an opportunity to counter attack...

OOC: Used Kenbu Haki D-rank (30/40 Haki stamina)

And then, Linnea finally saw a window. Master engaged her with a quick jab which there was no way she'd have been able to see coming without Haki. Thus, she braced herself and took the punch, to the face, gasping as the sharp pain once more ignited her wounds. But Linnea gritted her teeth as her window was coming soon. Using her Haki advantage, she's make full use of it at the last possible moment, when there would be no time to react. Master Jeong would easily notice her use of Kenbunshoku Haki but by then it would be too late.

When the follow-up leg sweep came, Linnea was already moving to counter attack. She had never been able to successfully remain standing after this attack unless she used Haki, and she could have never seen it coming: Master Jeong aimed to interrupt her counter uppercut with his signature leg sweep, but at the last possible moment, both her shin and punching hand hardened with Busoshoku Haki, and she unleashed a powerful punch to her master's throat. A lesser human would have likely died from this blow, but for one to whom even weak spots had been hardened beyond those of an average human, he was simply left gasping for air, falling to his knees and defeated.

A sneaky move by Linnea, but the Master had clearly stated the use of Haki was allowed. If she hadn't timed when to use it like she did, she would never had won this fight, and even if Linnea didn't see it as a victory, the master did, already being able to speak in an astounding display of resiliency:

"You defeated me...", he said, still holding his throat and gasping for air, looking up at her before standing and staring at eye level, with eyes that were almost completely devoid of pain, "...Because I underestimated you... You saw it... And exploited it... That's your key to defeating Pirates like Raziel."

So this was yet another lesson... There was strength to be had in being underestimated. If your foes look at you as a meek, incapable warrior, no way they'll fight seriously. They will drop their guard and save their strength for a supposedly worthier foe, and that carelessness makes them weak. It was the same for Linnea too, if she relied on the supposed superiority her Haki abilities gave her, she could find herself surprised by an enemy who also posessed them. Some foes may never underestimate their opponents, but if they ever think they have already won, they will start then.

"I'm a Pirate like him though...", confessed Linnea, almost with a tone of apology, both for the attack and for her own affiliation, as she bowed to him, respectfully thanking for the final lesson.

"No, not Like him... I realized that a while ago since you look so cute on your wanted poster.", gibed the old man, shaking his head and earning a blush from Linnea, "When you live as long as I have, you get a kind of perspective you youngsters couldn't understand. Marines aren't always right, and Pirates aren't always wrong... You're a good woman Linnea, and a strong warrior. If more pirates were like you, I might have become one instead of a Marine."

He laughed boisterously at this last part, speaking of his youth and life choices with the kind of casual tone only an old man could pull off, to the point even Linnea shared a laught with him. Drawing his arm around her shoulder as the solemn moment came to an end, Linnea was surprised that he didn't grab her breast like most old men did at times like these. But what kind of master would sully this beautiful moment with her student? The other students congratulated the bashful Linnea knowing that even if it wasn't the same as defeating the master in a real match with rules, it was the closest any of them had ever gotten. She shyly hid in her hood as even the students she'd seldom spoke to spared no congratulations.

She ultimately left the Jeong Dojo with both friends, a teacher, and a place she could call home should she ever need one... More than anything, her resolve was firmly set on the horizon as Sengoku finally returned to perch himself on her shoulder. Today, tomorrow, a week from now: She would get her treasure from Raziel.

- exit -


OOC: Defeated Master Jeong, used C-rank Buso Haki (20/40 HS remaining)