One of us:

---

How had it come to this? It was a question that plagued Elise's thoughts as she opened her eyes. Usually she woke up with the same scene as usually, that of the early morning rays shining through the window, their light stirring her from her slumber shortly after dawn. However, this was a scene she had never seen before, well perhaps aside from within a few dreams. A young woman was sharing the bed with her, her face only a few inches away from her own. However, it took a moment for Elise's senses to get out of their daze, and the expected reaction to follow.

"L-Lin?!"

Exclaiming the pirate girl's name by surprise Elise's flailing and attempt to enlarge some distance between herself and her guest led to the poor martial artist to tumble off the bed in a rather silly fashion, and while she rubbed the back of her head the memories of what happened had resurfaced. It was yesterday when she met Lin and helped her in solving the case involving the Naga Pirate. Unfortunately her recklessness had gotten herself injured, and as a result she had been infected with a venom that made her a 'little too friendly'. Of course Linnea had been kind enough to ensure she wouldn't do anything Elise would regret, but it seemed it had been quite a trial. Snuggles and cuddles had been made en-mass and it appeared that when Linnea succeeded in bringing Elise to the dojo the latter had pretty much grappled Linnea into a hold... inside her bed to the point the only choice was to deal with the koala-bear hug till Elise woke up and was freed from the effect of the poison.

"I apologize for all the troubles I caused you Lin-Lin. You even were kind enough to return me to the dojo and I..."

Her cheeks turned a bit red of embarrassment, as she rose back onto her feet, a brief smile lingering on her lips.

"You're more than welcome to stay for a while if you want to, in fact I'd love to enjoy your company for a bit longer. There are some things I would like to ask you, and perhaps you can accompany me during my training today."

The young woman's smile turned a bit more bashful, and yet at the same time she really felt incredibly rested. Her body felt like she slept on the best pillows of the South Blue, what might had been the case and for some reason she felt even more energetic than usually! Hoping that Linnea would accept her invitation Elise looked at the nearby clock, noticing that it was a little bit before the appointed time for breakfast.

"We can talk some more over breakfast if you want? Although the meals are humble the First Brother's soup and the fresh bread are delicious."

And with those words she awaited Linnea's response.

The whole last afternoon had been rather messy... Linnea had that tendency to classify everything overly complicated as "messy" (she did enjoy the simpler things in life after all), but nothing felt quite as messy as yesterday. First off, upon arriving in Karate Island once again, she found more people than usual using her name in vain. They spoke of a "Naga Pirate" who hypnotized people and posessed bewildering charm. Though Lin herself didn't relate to any of those traits, some people had associated her with at least the latter of the two, thus leading her to conceal herself. Due to this she wound up meeting a young woman named Elise who not only shared a dislike for authority, but also a mysterious middle initial, a V to her D. The two wound up chasing after the equally mysterious Naga Pirate, and found her to be a venom using Snake Zoan... That in itself might have been passed off as yet another unusual day, but then Eli wound up blocking enemy arrows aimed at Linnea and poisoned.

Though she survived the venom, its mind altering effects led to a rather awkward pouncing of Linnea that had the archer feeling rather dirty, as if she'd just cheated on her beloved Alice. They hadn't shared a kiss or anything more... intimate... But before Alice, Lin had never held another girl that close and tenderly. The worst part of all that was, it didn't really feel unpleasant: She actually enjoyed the other blonde's cuddles. She wondered how if she hadn't met Alice, she could have easily wound up doing the same with Elise and in a way, that scared her: Alice had been her first lover, and no way Linnea would ever do anything that might hurt her...

"Don't worry about it, Eli...", Linnea flashed a gentle, reassuring smile. Even if she felt bad for what had happened, Elise had no reason to. The girl had woken up in a frenzy, after a whole day for them to get used to each other's body heat, seeing her regain her conscious thoughts brought the ranger a measure of calm, "You didn't do anything too bad."

After taking Eli back to her dojo, she found the girl just cuddled onto her like a cute Koala bear, and eventually fell asleep in that position, leaving Linnea with no choice but to sleep with her. Now, as the sun finally rose and woke her up, she just fell of the bed rather cutely before apologizing for her behavior for the first time in hours: The poison had wore off.

"Sounds perfect.", the archer just smiled in a friendly, approachable expression, eager to ease away the whole awkwardness of yesterday's memories, "I've been training at Master Jeong's dojo, but he did advise me to experience different fighting styles. I'd love to experience yours!"

After a whole day of having her cuddle onto her and falling asleep on her breasts, Linnea hardly blushed at the proximity anymore, even if she still gave her a coy, shy smile. She was glad that despite being altered like that, she really didn't force herself onto her any more than cuddles and snuggles.

"That would be nice...", she nodded affirmatively, heading outside the room beside Eli. She would get herself an apple, some bread, and a mug of coffee for breaskfast, curiously looking at Eli to see what she'd eat...

Elise's meal seemed quite similar, an apple some bread and something that seemed like to be a soup of some sort. There was also a herbal tea that had a surprisingly pleasant scent, and yet as Elise was casually dipping a piece of the bread into her soup and taking a bite from it Linnea would likely notice the stares from the four other students that were send the archer's way.

"Usually Master Ryuujin makes us spar against special target dummies. I'm calling them special because they are actually akin to the Golems you might have read about in books. But I'm sure he will allow an exception today."

The girl smiled innocently at her companion, dipping the bread into her soup once more for a second bite while afterwards enjoying a sip of the tea. Their breakfast would have continued for a bit longer, enjoying some idle chattering when suddenly a tall man approached them.

"Elise, I'm afraid your schedule today will look a bit different from usually. Your misadventure in the northern harbor caused some concern among the farmers, so to make up for the troubles you caused we have made a list of chores you can do in order to help the villagers you injured."

The young woman was initially on the verge of complaining, but remembering the damage she had caused she puffed up her cheeks in a pout as she grabbed the piece of paper the man had given her, and that was how the duo soon found themselves on the road, almost suspiciously quick at being pushed outside by the other students.

"Smells fishy... Then again, this gives us just the right amount of privacy for that conversation I had in mind Lin-Lin."

Elise had just turned around, seemingly walking backwards along the empty dirt road while looking at Linnea with a slightly concerned expression on her face.

"I guess you're likely not staying on the island for long are you? Will you be going on another adventure?"

While she didn't voice it Elise's expression clearly said something along the lines of 'If you're leaving I'm totally going to miss you!'. It was the first time she had met someone on the island she could talk more casually with, someone she could happily call a friend. So obviously she would be sad if the pirate girl left.

In the meanwhile the building that had seemingly been their destination: some type of warehouse had come into view, the location they would be doing their chores at. According to the list they had four chores to do in total, and were permitted a break after two chores. However, the nature of the chores was yet to be revealed, but judging from the looks of the warehouse it would likely be the type of labor one might expect a farmer to do. Perhaps some lifting, or helping with the crops? Who knows, only time would tell...

With their breakfast over and done with, they soon went off to their training session. Unlike Eli's Ryujin Dojo, Linnea's Jeong Dojo didn't really have any mandatory official uniform, the archer had always been allowed to use her own uniform, and now that she had her golden detailed Falcon Robes, she easily had one of the most high quality, fanciest clothing among all the students, and they didn't really impede her movement anyway. Predictable from a Kuja to wear such skimpy yet practical clothes... Regar

"Indeed, I have yet to see your fighting style up close after all...", commented the ranger with a curious smirk, finishing her meal and heading off alongside Eli to visit her Dojo once again, this time for real... However, she was surprised when her master's lesson didn't entail fighting of any kind, but rather doing chores for the humans they'd wounded yesterday...

Even if they had saved their lives from the Naga Pirate... Still, after all that time with master Jeong, Linnea knew how to read an old master's hidden lessons, and this felt like Master Ryuujin trying to teach Elise some manner of versatility in all manners of tasks, even if she pouted the moment she heard about it. Linnea managed a coy smile when the girl suggested a private conversation, blushing and answering:

"Yeah... I guess you're right...", she said as they walked outside the Dojo, with Linnea tugging the hood back over her eyes to shield them from the sun's blinding gleam, trying her best to reassure Eli that she wouldn't really vanish completely, "I'm heading to the Grand Line soon, but If you're heading there too, you're welcome to join us!"

Eli did look pretty sad over the simple idea of watching Lin leave... That whole event yesterday might have been insanely confusing, but she did enjoy her usual company and wouldn't mind sharing it throughout her journey around the world. She looked into her eyes with an invitational smile... Elise still felt like someone she could trust. She had simple wants and desires, those people often turned out to be the most reliable. They soon arrived at a warehouse, but so far she let Elise take the lead and present whatever chores they might end up doing. Linnea was at her best when it came to supporting her friends, after all...

"The grand line..."

The name caused Elise to ponder for a moment. It was one of the dangerous parts of their world, a place only the strongest tended to seek out new adventures and trials to overcome. It was also the rumored location where her grandfather had disappeared to...

"I'd love to accompany you, especially due to the fact that there is someone I seek on the Grand Line. However, would you be willing to stay with me for a bit longer? I'd believe Master Ryuujin still has some important things we could learn from."

It seemed that upon their arrival the people they were supposed to aid were indeed the injured villagers, who surprisingly enough remembered nothing bout the incident. Instead a cover-up story was made in the sense that the Ryuujin no Budo had offered volunteers to help them out. Their first task would have been proven to be simple enough. Elise had been assigned to carrying some crates filled with vegetables from the warehouse to one of the carts that was meant to head to the market of one of the settlements, while Linnea was assigned a simple hunting chore of scaring away some wild animals that threatened to feast upon the crops. All in all a task that would have taken only an hour or two at most, and after they finished their task they were granted a short break.

"Say Lin-Lin, you mentioned wanting to see my fighting style up close? How about I'll provide you a little introduction lesson to the Ryuujin no Budo? We have about a hour till the break is over anyway."

Elise had just finished placing one of the remaining crates on the cart when she turned toward Linnea, seemingly eager to teach the girl a little.

"Most of my techniques can easily be shown since they are relatively harmless. You see, the Ryuujin no Budo is inspired by two elements. The first one being a defensive martial arts style that relies not on attacks, but instead on the aspect of devastating counters. Fundamentally those moves don't cause any serious harm, they are meant to restrain and subdue rather than harm."

She paused for a moment, her gaze focusing on Linnea's expression as she tried to read the girl's response to the following words.

"However, the other element is one of destruction. By amplifying our attacks with raw force we become capable of delivering some serious harm onto our enemy. While I can't show you that aspect properly, it basically allows us to inflict such damage that a mere squeeze of your arm could break the bones. According to my master there is a bit of a mysterious tale behind that power, but I doubt you're interested in fairy tales."

She winked playfully as she approached the archer, asking her in a curious tone.

"Want me to show you a few things? Don't worry, it won't be painful in any way, and it might teach you the dangerous nature of facing a martial artist like me who deploys a different type of approach rather than inflicting harm with raw power.

Eli looked pretty dreamy when Lin mentioned her own dream. She wanted to travel around the world more than anything else, and even if she didn't yet know about this girl's passion that look in her eyes indicated that she would also have to achieve that goal by travelling the same path as she did. Still, it appeared she wasn't quite ready, asking Lin if she'd be willing to wait a few days longer. Linnea just smiled and shook her head, reassuring that there was no problem:

"That's quite alright... I too have some tasks to attend to before moving on.", she just smiled softly, appreciating Eli's company enough to be willing to wait for her...

In the end, the job seemed easy enough. Elise was asked to carry some crates around, and in the meantime Linnea was asked to hunt through the woods around the crops, getting rid of any herbivores that might attempt to eat said crops. After a few hours, she had wound up with a bunch of rabbits and hares (four in total) held in each hand, having scavenged and recovered all but one of her arrows which broke after piercing a rabbit to a wall. All in all it was a rather easy chore to accomplish, one that didn't even let her break a sweat. She then came back just as Elise was finishing her own task, and the girl promptly asked her if she wanted to learn something about her fighting style:

"Hmm... Master Jeong did mention I should be learning other styles...", Linnea scratched her chin slightly, looking up before glancing back at Eli and nodding affirmatively, "Sure, I'm game for some sparring!"

What was Ryuujin no Budo all about? She had seen some of it, sure, but seeing a technique a few meters away was far from enough to be able to deem herself knowledgeable about a style. Fortunately, it did seem like her style was mainly defensive, a requirement for Linnea to be able to learn it. She was, after all, a mainly defensive fighter:

"I guess I'll show you some my Jeong Style as well.", Linnea just smirked and didn't really say anything else, taking her signature stance: right leg held forward, arms raised in front of her face. This style relied on unpredictability and letting her opponents underestimate her. It was as much of a martial philosophy as a collection of techniques, and Elise deserved to see it if she was willing to share her own knowledge, "Well then, we have an hour for some sparring then? Let's see what you can teach me?"

Even for all her calm, even gentle shyness, there was a glimmer of a burning fighting instinct behind her steel blue eyes... Linnea still came from a warrior culture after all...



1 arrow expended total

It seemed Linnea was eager enough to learn about her combat style, and in a way Elise had been quite curious to see whether the girl possessed any other skills aside from her remarkably accurate archery. Curiously enough she had seen the martial arts stance that Linnea adapted, in the end she had seen some of the students of different dojo in the past. Nevertheless, the way she stood seemed to had granted Linnea a style that held little to no visible openings, what meant Elise would have to create them herself.

Instead of properly dropping into a stance of her own it seemed the girl merely hopped a few times in place, the only visible sign of her being combat ready being the raising of her arms, the elbow bend slightly upwards almost in a similar style a boxer would have had when preparing to defend. One of the advantages of the Ryuujin no Budo was the fact they didn't need a proper stance, just the skills and fortitude to deal with an enemy attack. Of course it often demanded for her to have an attack aimed her way, but in this playful spar Elise could likely show a thing or two.

The girl suddenly darted forwards, her left leg grinding into a halt before Linnea, her footing seemingly steady and solid, almost akin to a rock when suddenly she shifted her right leg forwards, a palm strike being made toward Linnea's chest. It was a pretty clear attack, one that might had looked like she was underestimating the archer, but the glint of mischief in Elise's eyes, and the light curve of her lips into a grin suggested there might had been something else about it.

"The first thing that you should know about the Ryuujin no Budo is that most of our techniques demand a specific requirement in order to be carried out. Those techniques also generally are divided into three categories, with one of them being extremely rare, and often considered a bit forbidden."

If Linnea did try to counter or grapple Elise's hand, she would likely have noticed that the young woman's arm shifted in the middle of the motion and would have attempted to grab a hold of the limb used in the counter-attack or defensive maneuver.

"The reason it's forbidden is because most of us can't handle the backlash. In fact my lesser version of one of the techniques can break an opponent's bone, but in return multiple use will harm my own arm. The First Brother actually told me there is a more advanced form, one that literally deals such a crushing force it could tear of a limb if one isn't careful... It scares me a little. But it's to be expected of a style that embodies of the teaching of a Dragon King"

She smiled weakly at the end of her explanation, eager to see what Linnea would do.

Linnea was far from a martial artist... She was an archer through and through, but having been born on Amazon Lily, she had been trained tp use a wide variety of weapons. If that in itself weren't enough, she was also trained in hand to hand combat, which had been further honed by her training sessions with Master Jeong and her girlfriend Alice. Elise didn't display any visible stance that Lin could grasp and copy however, nothing beyond the basic stance she might expect from an amateur martial artist. In a way, this could be seen as both a strength a weakness: Either Elise didn't know a formal style (which she knew to be false), or her style taught her to conceal such warning sights.

Eli would find that her sparring partner was far from an offensive fighter when she simply awaited her own move, putting Master Jeong's teachings to full use and activating her Kenbunshoku Haki (planning to conceal its usage from Eli), and as a palm strike came headed her way, the ranger knew about it in advance. She listened to the girl's lesson, yet still allowed her body to react in kind, shifting to the side and letting her attack move past her, before intercepting grasping Eli's attack with her right arm - trapping hers between her forearm and bicep - and hooking her left hand under the blonde's chin.

The archer had foreseen a follow-up, but in the grand scheme of things it mattered relatively little since she made a point of trapping Eli's elbow to restrain any further movement. They had roughly the same speed and even if Elise was visible stronger, she'd have a hard time dealing with Linnea's follow when she kicked and sweapt her shin, knocking her down onto the cold hard floor if this attack connected. Even a powerful fighter like Elise might find it very hard to move after being struck behind the shin like this, for all her power, Linnea's smart use of the human body's own levers made this leg sweep from behind an incredibly diffucult attack to defend against without the use of Haki.



"First basic of Jeong style... Even a behemoth will fall if you break his footing.", she answered Eli's own explanation with a calm, steady expression and Haki enhanced foresight, a smirk appearing on her face. Linnea was stronger than her lean, frail physique would imply after all...


OOC: Used D-rank kenbunshoku (45/50 Haki stamina)

The lock was pretty accurate, to the point Elise's eyes widened for a moment in disbelief at the sheer speed and strength the ranger had been concealing. Still, Elise had her fair share of tricks, as was visible when Linnea found the leg sweep seemingly facing some odd resistance. It was almost inhuman, the leg-sweep that would have pulled most humans off their feet in an instant seemingly had struggled a bit, thanks to Elise's defensive stance. It granted the martial artist enough time to properly raise a scheme of her own, in the form of a swift lift of her remaining arm, seemingly attempting to grasp a hold of Linnea's waist and when the leg sweep pushed through she attempted to pull down the ranger alongside her.

During their fall Elise had collapsed onto the ground, but almost like a bouncing ball leaned upwards, her body pressed up against Linnea's, yet more remarkable was the unrestricted arm of the woman, who had likely wrapped around Linnea's back.

"This is another of those special techniques, a grapple known as a 'Sacrificial Grapple'. By making yourself vulnerable the enemy often starts to think they got the advantage, but when you suddenly pull them down with you..."

Elise playfully squeezed her arm around Linnea's waist as she tried to prove her point.

"By the time most enemies recover from the surprise a Ryuujin technique could have shattered their spine."

Elise winked playfully as she released her attempt to restrain Linnea, seemingly waiting for the girl to get up again. Nevertheless, whether she did or not, Linnea's Haki would likely make her able to sense the fact that someone was nearby, perhaps one of the farmer's? No, that was impossible since they left earlier during their break.

It appeared Elise was oblivious to them, and if Linnea had been distracted by the presence she would likely have noticed a pair of hands playfully try to flip up the ranger's dress, the gesture causing a sudden loud slam to come from one of the nearby trees, a flustered young man having a hand before his face, and bits of blood clearly dripping from amidst his fingers.

"Secret Technique: Peeping Tom Bait no jutsu... Just kidding~"

Elise's whisper was clearly mischievous and filled with amusement, but when a second voice came from the tree the man had fallen from it was clear something was up.

"You idiot! Did you really get defeated by a panty-flash? What will we tell the boss when he arrives to find two alerted women to deal with?"

The young man muttered an apologize while Elise stepped beside Linnea, stretching her arms into the air. It appeared like they had found some troubles...

"I don't think our chores involved beating up peeping toms. Then again, they seem to have busy with the farm we been helping at, and I don't like my work to had been for nothing, so how about we scare those guys away?"

----
Two enemies have arrived!

1 Peeping Tom
1 Perverted Thug

Her sudden movement caught Elise off guard, Linnea compressed both defense and counter attack into a single fluid motion that even a trained martial artist might have some trouble defending against. However, the other blonde had already proved she was far from an average martial artist, and by clenching her muscles and tightening her stance, she offered just enough resistance to the leg sweep attack to allow her the much needed time to prepare a counter attack, grappling Linnea's waist and pulling the ranger down alongside her. She called it a sacrificial grapple; which a principle easy enough for the Kuji to understand: To gain advantage, she sacrificed something expendable. Give some before you can take some and all that jazz. She let out a surprised yelp at being unable to keep her footing against the other girl's stronger grip:

"Smart principle too... In many ways similar to Jeong style's own: Ensuring your foe underestimates you to exploit that opening.", her face drew into a smirk as her hand moved to Eli's throat as they fell down, and a smirk appeared on Linnea's face as her torso and throat grabbing hand hardened with a charcoal black coating, revealing her Kenbunshoku Haki at a time that would have easily been fatal: Protecting her spine against the opposing grapple and empowering her own.

The ranger gave Eli's neck a light squeeze, not enough to choke or hurt her sparring partner but more than enough to prove that she wasn't exactly safe either. In the end it would have been a matter of who managed to kill their foe first and none of the two girls had any interest in doing that. The ranger had proved that despite her lithe build better suited to running and endurance, she was still a capable fighter capable of quickly exploiting her foe's weaknesses. These were the same principles she employed when sniping after all.

The two girls soon stood up, and even if Linnea caught the people hiding atop a tree, she didn't pay them any further mind than she paid everyone else around these parts. But she was caught mostly off guard against her friend's concealed attack...

"Gah!! Eri, why are you doing that again?!", yelped Linnea, closing her eyes and blushing profusely, once more wrapping her arms around her breasts to keep Eli from stripping her.  The girl answered soon after with a playful laughter, having flashed the archer's panties to distract and cause the boys at the tree to fall down, "Oooh, so that's why you did it...!"

She looked pretty amazed at how the men fell of the tree like ripe fruits, give it to an average woman to know how to exploit men's weaknesses better than a Kuja did. She only started seeing men less than a few months back after all... Still, Linnea could only narrow her sharp steel blue eyes at the two men who by all accounts, looked shady:

"Sounds good... One for each of us?", asked Linnea with a calm expression, completely oblivious to the potential hidden meaning behind these words. She drew her bow and one arrow, and quickly aimed at one of the two men, letting loose the first arrow in a flash.

Completely surprised by the quick draw and release, the weak peeping tom was scared further by feeling a an arrow whiz a mere inch away from his ear, and mostly by the knowledge that if Linnea really wanted to, it would have found its way into his eye instead. Panicked, the guy just ran off immediately...



OOC: Active D-rank kenbunshoku, used C-rank bushoshoku, hand and torso (35/50 Haki stamina)


T1 peeping tom scared off

She had to admit that there was something terrifying about Linnea's archery skills, albeit she wasn't entirely certain whether it was because of her effectiveness with those projectiles, or the fact that she didn't want to give the girl anything that had a pointy end and was capable of being used as a weapon. Unfortunately for the perverted thug, the man's decision to try to use Linnea's momentary focus on his companion, to attack the ranger girl. Although he was fast, far faster than the average village thug, the moment he had shown a open sense of hostility, the lad's chances of fleeing without any broken bones had been thrown into the wind. Her body rapidly breaking into a sprint Elise had easily enclosed the distance between herself and the thug in the blink of an eye, and although he tried to quickly toss a fist into her direction, Elise's hands had already raised themselves into a counter. Both hands easily grappled the foe, and with the strength of what could be jokingly compared to a bear she pulled the man's arm downwards while her other arm grabbed a hold of the thug's throat, lifting him upwards into the air.

"Let go of me!"

The man's demand was seemingly ignored as Elise's hand squeezed his arm rather tightly, causing a pained cry to come from the man, while she herself replied in a cheerful, almost gleeful tone.

"Don't worry, I'll release you in a moment. Just going to need to ensure that you'll serve as a fair warning to your companions."

The man's eyes widened in fear as he heard the term 'warning', and as if on cue he felt the sharp agonizing pain in his arm worsen, to the point a snapping sound reached his ears, and the thug released a screech that tore through the air, clearly the warning Elise intended to provide. Finally releasing her grip on the man the young woman lightly tossed him backwards onto the grass, causing the thug to quickly climb onto his feet, his healthy arm supporting his other one, and after sending a nasty glare into her direction rushed off.

Turning her attention back toward Linnea, the blond-haired lass grinned briefly as she explained her intentions.

"Don't worry, I just sprained it really badly, a doctor visit and some rest will fix things. Albeit his screech will likely have alerted his buddies to remain far away from the farm. I'm not in the mood for playing with more thugs, so how about we'll head back to the dojo?"

Indeed, they had done more than enough for today. Not to mention the list of chores were already completed, so all things considered... It seemed like it was a good time for her to call it a day and return to the dojo, perhaps even sneak in some more training before dinner time arrived.