Beginning Task 1:

The orders had been clear. They just had to stop the pirates from advancing. It wasn't something to make them go out of line. Keeping the peace, such a simple sentence yet hard task to accomplish. It wasn't that their was a problem with how pirates and the like were captured. Rather the lack of desire to do so. Pirates were ramparting on such a scale that it had become troublesome, and by some standards even difficult to keep doing so. Despite this his orders were clear. Keep the peace and ensure justice is served. That was all that was required from him.

It was all rather unimpressive. A set of happy-go-looking liberals with no regard to what was true and clear of the noble goal of the Navy. A reputed garrison of ok soldiers who had mostly waited anxiously for the day of the mission. Still, it could be worst. To be assigned to East Blue would be but an insult to a pride and self-worth.

Damocles was standing over the beach. He was already a serving member of the Marines, hence he would not be forced to look after rookie training. However he was not one for new recruits or re-assingments. The last time he had been assigned he had been dismissed from the West Blue and forced to enter the bases of the South Blue. A noticeable wound to his own vanity one would acclaim. West Blue was known to be the fiercest and most violent of all the Blues. It was honorable to be recruited by the commanders and captains as a member of the branches in the West. To fight proudly for that proud slogan that was gloriously emblazoned in the chests and backs of all who draped upon their names the institution that was the Navy, was but the highest of privileges anyone could ask for. Even if death had to claim his will and crush his being, Damocles knew that if it had been under service of homeland and military, he would die a pleasing death. Service and sacrifice was all that built the foundations of the planet. Yet, at the current tide of time, all was but humiliation and disgrace. Marines turning cowardly before the sight of pirates, casually gifting the seas to bastards who would do nothing for the innocent and weak. Damocles had always remembered that famous quote that his old master had turned into his personal slogan. "In the days of old, we had ships of wood and men of iron. Yet now, we have but ships of iron and men of wood."

The young Marine took notice to the ones that were arriving towards the beach and had opted to turn his heels around and follow suit. They had all received the information regarding their target and had been expected to read about said pirate. Despite this he still had some sort od doubt on whether or not they would actually look forward to the task with anticipation or desire. By his own part the young swordsman was more than willing to get on with the show and destroy the renegades before they caused trouble to the somewhat peaceful island. Yet before he could even greet the other Marines, something quite shocking happened. A single cannonball was shot straight down to the general direction he was on. Upon looking down on the water, Damocles saw that even at such a rate, the pirates had already began their raid of the island. A ship had docked and used the cannonball as a distraction. The fighting would begin even before he said hi to someone. With sword close in hand and arms at the ready, Damocles rushed towards the scene, his comrades would have to wait for the niceties later.

Anton took a deep breath to calm his nerves for about the fiftieth time since he had arrived here. He, like every other marine on this island, had been briefed on the situation, and knew exactly why they were here. A notorious pirate was planning to invade the island, and they were to repel them at the very minimum, capture or destroy them at most. Anton personally would have settled for not being on the island in general, but there was nothing that could be done about that. As a lieutenant of the marines, he had a duty to uphold. Not to mention he had developed a reputation for dangerous missions. At least these pirates weren't fishmen like last time. He could deal with human pirates much easier.

His sword in hand, he silently followed the others down towards the beach, making sure to stay clear of the water. Being a Devil Fruit user made water particularly dangerous to the lieutenant. When the fighting start, he just had to make sure he wasn't knocked into it. To be honest, that would be a rather embarrassing end to his career. There was no doubt that Anton was afraid, but he was trying to keep it from showing. After all, ensigns looked up to him (or at least, he'd like to believe they did), and showing he was afraid wouldn't be good for morale. As they walked, he remembered his various encounters on Karate Island. Remembering the words of both Lin and Concetta helped give him strength as well.

Then, the blast of a cannon rang out, and a cannon ball struck the sand not far from them. Any sense of courage went out the window as Anton let out a loud yelp, leaping into the air. The other marines around him seemed to have a similar reaction as well. "Cannons!?" Anton yelled out, "Nobody said anything about us having to fight cannons. Don't we have any cannons ourselves? Can't we simply shoot back with those!?" "Erm, sir?" an ensign near him spoke up, "We didn't bring any. We were under the impression that they were going to land on the beach." "Well, why don't you guys go back and get them? We need to be able to fire back!"

"Sir!" another yelled out, pointing towards the dock, "I can see the pirates sir! They're at the dock sir!" Anton spun around to look towards the docks. Indeed the pirates were beginning their raid. Anton even saw a marine with a rather large sword already taking off in a run towards the commotion. "Sir!" the ensign spoke up, "We'll go back and collect the cannons, while you hold them back sir!" Anton's eyes bulged. He never said anything about fighting them. And wasn't he their superior? Before he could say anything in protest, another yelled out. "How brave of you sir! We'll hurry back with the cannons as fast as we can!" Anton could only watch as the ensigns turned to run back to the base, leaving Anton there slack jawed. He hadn't even said anything and he was being gang pressed into fighting. He let out a defeated sigh, drew his sword and made a run after the other man, sword ready.

An honest to goodness mission, orders from top brass and everything!  Alissandra couldn't have been more excited, ya know, unless she was more excited. Her last mission had been a kind of happy accident. She'd been sleeping and awoke to a distress call. When she went to investigate there'd been a scuffle and one thing had led to another and soon there were a few less pirates in the world.

Apparently, someone told some who told someone who mattered because now she was here, shoulder to shoulder with a a few other bright eyed Marines who were all looking pretty gung-ho to take on the pirate menace. In Alice's honest opinion she was probably the best looking person here, no doubt. That sense of pride made the girl give a saucy hair flip as she basked in the knowledge she was bound to stand out, if only because she looked better than the other guys... Or girls for that matter. They were receiving their briefing at the base and would March from there to the beach to meet the invading pirate forces.

Of course, Alice wasn't paying all that much attention. No one had really anything important to say. She got the gist of it! Pirates bad, Marines good, now go roll so heads right? That's what this would boil down to anyway, why not just that then! They were wasting so much time talking about who the pirate's were and what kind of ship they had and how many were on it and all this ridiculous nonsense. It didn't matter in the long run, right? They were supposed to "ensure justice was served" which usually means killing dudes, hardly something that needed exposition. If only to kill her boredom Alice raised her hand in the middle of the unnecessarily long briefing.

"Yo, can I uhh... i mean, requesting permission to leav- scout ahead? Sir?"she'd ask lazily, not really one for formalities with people she didn't strictly consider her superior. It didn't seem to work however and the bombshell blonde was left to enjoy more needless talking.

Thank god the fort wasn't far at all from the beach. When they decided to finally head out Alice quickly pushed her way toward the front if the formation. As they drew closer to the beach she could spot a tiny figure from where she was and as she neared the white sands that figure got bigger. Her feet pressed into the warm sands and the young woman couldn't but let out a happy sigh.

Fight or no, she loved the beach. Not so much the ocean, but definitely the beach. Hardly one for a uniform, the blonde was clad in her usual attire, a red tank top that was honestly more of an ineffective sports bra with baggy blue jeans. She kicked off her shoes once she'd reached the sand to really feel the warmth on her feet. It'd also ensure she wasn't too bogged down by sand in her shoes should they need to have a drawn out engagement here on the beach.

Alice was just about to approach the figure she could make out as a tall male, however pleasantries would have to wait. After watching a cannon ball smash into the otherwise beautiful beach making sand erupt from the area around its impact, Alice got the distinct impression the pirate's wanted to have a chat first, and the young martial artist was more than happy to oblige. An argument of some sort broke out between a redhead and some ensign but Alice was already making her way down the beach towards the disembarking pirates. With an almost maniacal laugh she easily leaped the 10 meters it would have taken to land in the in the fist boat to make it to shore.

Alice decided to punctuate her entrance with a knee to a pirate's face. She could hear the crack of bone as her powerful leg likely broke his jaw. She counted 3 pirates in this one boat and they definitely wouldn't be a problem, if only because they were quite surprised to see her. She quickly spun around and delivered a straight high kick to another pirate, hitting him so hard he fell over in a slump in the rowboat they'd come in on. The third and final member of this particular boat gave Alice a fearful glance as he fumbled fir his weapon. She gave him a playful, almost flirty wink as her foot came to rest gently on his face."I wouldn't do that if I were you...", the shapely martial artist purred to her witless victim. The moment he layer his hands on the hilt of his blade, Alice brought her other foot off the ground and planted it forcefully into that pirate's face, her drop kick dropping the fool into the shallow water of low tide.

Skill Used:

3 T0 pirates eliminated. 1 by Skill, 2 by basic attacks.

Why me? Why me? Why me? Why me?

Anton repeated those words over and over again in his head as he ran towards where the pirates were. He was a little surprised when he saw a blonde, attractive woman suddenly burst out ahead of him, leaping at the pirates and managing to take down three of them with her bare hands. It sort of gave him relief to know that not only was he not facing those pirates alone, but also that he was fighting alongside some very skilled fighters. Granted, they wouldn't be here fighting off a pirate invasion if they weren't but it still helped to have that fact reassured.

As he ran, his body slowly began to change. A second set of arms formed from his torso. His legs elongated, knees bending backwards. His skin hardened, taking on a green tone, and a pair of antennae poked out of his hair. He knew this form wasn't exactly the easiest on the eyes. Hell, it had managed to scare the crap out of bloodthirsty fishmen for crying out loud. And right now, that was probably what was needed in this fight.

Digging his feet into the sand, Anton launched himself into the air, soaring over towards the pirates. One of the pirates looked up, noticing a shadow cast on him, only to cry out when the grasshopper man suddenly came crashing down atop of him. Anton visibly winced as he hit the ground, pretty sure he had felt the pirate's ribs break from the impact. Sure, he was supposed to fight and injure pirates, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

The other pirates had paused from the entry. A blonde woman kicking their butts was one thing. Seeing a monstrous grasshopper man fall from heaven onto one of their men was another entirely. Anton stood there for a moment, looking at the pirates surrounding him, his sword in hand. It was probably a very awkward few seconds for everyone involved. Then Anton did what he normally did in a combat situation.

He screamed.

Followed be charging at the nearest pirate, flailing his sword wildly.

Even though Anton wasn't trying in the least bit to be frightening, it he was certainly having that impact. The poor pirate tried to defend himself, swinging to block his blows. However, when he tried to make a counter attack, the pirate would be unfortunate to find his sword simply clanging harmlessly off of Anton's exoskeleton, followed shortly by Anton's own delivering a rather nasty slash to the pirate.

Another pirate tried to attack Anton from behind, swinging an axe and catching Anto square in the back. There was a loud clang, and Anton stumbled slightly, but overall no real damage. The pirate stood there as Anton looked back over his shoulder, seeing the axe wielding pirate behind him. With another scream, Anton spun around, his sword catching the pirate in the side.


Transformed into Hybrid Form
2 T0 pirates defeated. One severely wounded.

Alice dusted herself off, which wasn't entirely necessary or useful, however it did allow her some time to think about what to do next. Another cannon could be heard firing and Alice reflexively activated her perception Haki. Once it entered her 15 meter vision Range, she had a good idea of where it was gonna hit. They'd decided to take aim at her, oddly enough and she had more than enough time to barely escape with her life by flinging herself off the boat and into another boat 10 meters out. These pirates had definitely seen her, but they seemed armed solely with rifles, which would prove no match for her, as once inside their boat, the effectiveness of the would-be snipers was lost at sea. Just like before, Alice arrived like a delicate angel, furiously delivering bone shattering knees to the face from the heavens. The pirate she hit dropped like s sack of potatoes and the two rowing the boat exchanged a look to one another. Alice sat herself down at the front of the little rowboat, snug and smug the small victory. "Ya know, my mom warned me about boarding ships with strange men." she'd say with a wiggle of her hips, leaving forward toward both practically helpless pirates. " 's not really a ship... More of a boat..." one pirate would say quietly with a cough, to which Alice would return a faux gasp of shock. "Ya don't say! Well then I guess it's ok...", the girl lounged back a little, watching as the shore came closer and closer. Suddenly, she felt a pressure against her, one of the two pirates had lunged on her, gripping her neck, he tried to push her head under the salty water. Alice responded by instinct and drove her knee into his nuts, with a savage shout. Once he'd rolled off her she promptly kicked his head against the side of the boat, splintering some of the wood. The other pirate took this as his chance to strike, and Alice quickly cut his last charge short with a unimpressive kick to his throat. Alice took a step out the boat and dusted herself off in a slight huff, as she fealt like she'd been very hospitable to those pirates in particular. Still, with a quick glance around Alice counted 3 entire boarding crews down. Two by her hands, or legs as it were, and one by a uh...

Mantis, bug, monster... Guy...

Alice had to stop herself from vomiting a little in her mouth. She wasn't the hugest fan of bugs? And huge bug she was definitely not a fan of. Still, it was nice that the monstrous mass of chitin and pain was on their side. Alice happily skipped along the beach, that was actually more of a threatening pace. Like a predator, waiting for prey or like a shark, circling it's victims before it strikes. Alice liked to believe if she were a fish, she'd be a shark. But like... A sexy shark... Who kicked people in the teeth.

530 words
3 more pirates dead in the water
9 pirates neutralized

112.5/150 Stamina remaining

Skill Used:

OOC: Sorry for being a little late guys.

This was it, she was being deployed for the first time as a marine. The young woman who held hopes for her future, she was one who was going to grab it with one of her iron fists. Her first mission as an ensign since her meeting and introduction to the navy with the man mountain called Damocles. She knew that he was in fact on this job too, she wondered if her capability had impressed him enough for him to personally request her to join him. She hoped so, Skyla could see that the male was one of ability and ambition, attaching herself to such a person could be turn out to be beneficial. It was hard to imagine where she would be in five years time, would she be successful in her naval career? The young woman had only two different endings to her story, either she became a big shot within the confines of the marines or she ended up in a body bag trying to get there.

Being in the marine camp was a bit of an awkward experience for her, she had seen Damocles but didn't feel it was right to go up and talk to him, she was only a lowly ensign after all and was expected to fall into line. A grunt of the infantry, the lowest rung of the ladder that she hoped to climb, the top of which seemed so far out out of sight, hidden in the clouds. This was the first time she had been on such a military operation such as this, and she didn't quite know what to do with herself. There were so many other marines here on the beach, she had to make herself stand out. The invading pirates wouldn't know what hit them. Pirates.. She had been arduously battling to clean this sort of scum from the streets for years, putting in the elbow grease to try to make the towns of South Blue a little more habitable for the innocent people who lived there. She did not wish anyone to experience the visceral trauma that had changed her as a child, no family ever had that coming to them. Her devotion to her vigilante cause had managed to be somewhat successful but she was no longer satisfied with the small time plays that she was limited to. An organisation that combined the lethal talents of individuals into an almighty hammer to smite injustice. This is what she was looking for in the navy.

Noises traveled through the temporary camp, catching the attention of the soldiers in her tent. She heard one exclaim that the pirates were coming. It was action time. A moment later an officer flicked open the canvas door and ordered them into formation, sending them down to the beach. The pirate ship had already made it to the beach and pirates streamed out of their row boats. Skyla's heart dropped as she saw that other groups had already made it to the scene before her. She did not want to dally back here with the plebs. She had do differentiate herself. At that moment she took a risk, sprinting away from her officer to join the frontal group. The other ensigns were baffled at her earnest charge, the moustashed officer barking at her as she ran. Her metal leg warmers dug into the sand, flicking up granules in her wake.

She looked up to see two marines that stood right out amidst the battle. One pretty young woman who spun her hips and flicked pirates around like dolls. Then she heard a screech from the other, grabbing her attention and stopping her advance. Some strange beast flew through the air and at one of the pirates. She realised that this was a devil fruit. Only seeing a user from far away, she had not yet realised how crazy they were. Truly terrifying for their opponents no doubt. She would have to work hard to keep up with these two. She tugged the marine cap down to secure it in place on her head and then looked for her opportunity. A group of pirates were banding together to try to take down the mutant devil fruit eater. It looked like it may need some help, she ran over to assist. It screamed again as it slashed at a pirate to the side. As it did this, three pirates circled around to the back to try to take it by surprise.

She relaxed her legs and then in one powerful movement she jumped up and came down on top of two of the men, smacking them in the back, crushing one to the ground and staggering the other. The third man shouted out in alarm as it turned and swiped at Skyla with his cutlass. Out of nowhere, the female's core twisted and body warped to take power out of the attack, flicking it off her metal gauntlets and then coming back across her body with her other arm to smack him square in the side of the head, knocking him out. The staggered pirate readjusted himself and rose his pistol to get it smashed out of his hand by a backwards kick which turned into a spin kick that hooked the man's body and sent him to the ground with the momentum of her metal weights. Her serious expression broke in flavour of the toothy smile that sometimes crept up whenever she became too excited. The man on the ground roared into life only to see Skyla pivot on her heel and strike his neck and knee with her arm and foot respectively. As he fell, she flipped backwards and smacked the last healthy pirate in the middle of the forehead mid movement.

She stood up straight and observed her handywork, smile slowly subsiding. She cursed in her mind as she felt the annoying little grains of sand underneath her gauntlets.

2 t0 grunts unconscious, 1 heavily wounded.

Skills:
Showtime Entrance
Showtime Drama

In her pacing, Alice was allowed the time to truly appreciate the ever astounding prowess of the Navy, activating her observation Haki to do so. Alice took special note of all the useless idiots who were loading rifles to shoot at a pirate ship they could never hope to hit from this distance. She could see there bullets plopping into the ocean with her Haki, admiring how terrible they all were. She'd done a job not too long ago with a gunslinger, he was pretty decent. But even by shooting standards these louts were useless. Still, with her Haki active, she was able to extend the limits of her vision far beyond that of the average person. 15 meters out and she could see them perfectly. They had such weak auras, these pirates unfortunately, wouldn't live long enough to understand what Haki was. Or why because of it, Alice was going to ruin their day.

Bounding over within leaping distance, Alice pounced from the shore to yet another boat. She spun her hips as she flew across the 15 meter distance with ease, driving her spinning leg into the head of another pirate on yet another boat. Another cannon went off and landed in the water beside the boat, drenching Alice in water.

The blonde had a few pet peeves in life. Sea water was one of them. She hated the stuff, it was salty, and briney and terrible for her hair. With a wild yell she kicked the other two pirates square in their throats and with her Haki to guide her, she made a stunningly easy back flip onto another boat, the last one she could see anyway, and it occurred to her she could bring this invasion to a stunning finish. All she needed to do was lift her leg up, lateral with her body at a 180 degree angle and bring it down on the boat, annihilating the entire thing, it'd knock its crew unconscious completely from the sheer force of the kick.

But then she'd be left high and dry 20 meters out into the ocean. The one downside of having eaten a Devil Fruit was losing the ability to swim, and that far out would mean certain death for our blonde hero. She opted instead to return to land and dry off. She was tired, and there was only one boat left anyway. With a stunning 20 meter leap, Alice would deliver a kick to a pirate who had been previously unconscious, punctuating her landing by keeping her feet close together, planted on the now throughly dead pirate's head and throwing her arms up into the air in a 'V' shape. Before taking a proud, cheeky bow.

"Thank you! Thank you! Hold your applause! It's all in a days work for yours truly to do your jobs for you, no need to thank me! " she'd say with no hint of sarcasm, as she was honestly serious. She hadn't been the fire one here, but she was certainly the one who'd done the most ass kicking. She flipped her wet hair from her face and moved to one of the sufficiently dead or unconscious pirates and tore as much of their shirt off as she could, using it as a towel on her hair before tossing the wet rag on the head of its former owner. She wouldn't show it, not here, but she was beyond tired. All that leaping around was really tiring.

594 words

3 pirates eliminated
12 pirates neutralized total
1 unconscious pirate is now dead.

3 pirates remain.

Skills Used:

D rank perception Haki used, also ended

50/150 Stamina remaining

OOC: I apologize for the lateness of this reply...

With a twist of his sword, a berserking brute armed with twin clubs and a snarling scowl was felled in swiftness and precision. A clean kill it was by all most humble of declarations. In summation a marvelous display of his prowess against men of compatibly weaker standing. It was by state that these fools should be played though. Sheep have no business goading at the growling wolf, lest a set of ravenous teeth bare down and reduce to a good meal. In his case however, it was more a case of deserving retribution for a sin committed by his presence, a sin borne in nature in his arrogance at his declaration in piracy and proudness in such occupation. It was in final deduction, a liberty he had taken down to bring in forth of bringing about rightful justice.

In quick steps, and in a move of a most surprising nature, the hardened, albeit still youthful individual in heavy black armor displayed his surprising speed and deed well with his shocking dexterity. Taking advantage of a poor bastard's pathetic excuse for an open-chested, side-facing clumsy-swung downward stroke, which Damocles was fast to push away with a powerful parry of his large broadsword, once opportunity gave way and freedom, the swordsman move hastily and struck down against the other's shoulder, initially slamming down, but continuing to add strength until the entire connection and limb were bisected away. Sure the pig squealed out his complaints, but rather than allowing him the grace of an honorable and quick death, Damocles figured he would bleed out in five to ten minutes, give or take.

The last target in his view, a squeamish fellow of a rather shaky disposition, held a danger in his skeleton hands and no conviction in his stance. Feet too spread, knees not bent and dagger held pointing upwards. TO this, rather miserable ant, Damocles met with a shove down to the floor and a disarm of his dagger, without resorting to his sword. After, he looked down at the other and smashed the blade down on the other's skull, striking down hard and brutally. A man who is not ready to die should not be forced to appear before a battle. Such a ridiculous excuse of a 'warrior' was an insult to his origins as a Marine. His blade was sheathed, but the Marine would still not have his peace with those pigs. Rather than killing them however, he simply resorted to having them report back to their master in order to spread of his presence. It would be in o way a form of granting advantage. Rather a form of threatening that held it's ground in solid evidence that was submitted by a most heinous of lips.

• 3 Pirates murdered.