task:

Ah, Ohara, the land of scholars, trees...and really that was all Nicholas knew. The place was renowned for its archaeologists, gathering information on the old world. Unfortunately for Nicholas, old world knowledge wasn't exactly something he was interested in, unless it led to riches that is. No, what Nicholas was interested was information about the here and now, and it was for that very reason that he was here. While most people believed that strength and influence were the only ways to gain power (and indeed Nicholas could see their point of view), but there was another source of power in the young man's eyes. Information. Indeed, knowing what was going on in the world, and knowing what was going to happen ahead of time were great advantages to have. Of course, such things took work, and one had to start somewhere when it came to establishing connections.

The issue however was finding someone who he could make his contact here on the island. Asking for someone knowledgeable on an island full of scholars was, well, a bit of a dumb question. It took a bit of careful wording to try and get across what he wanted. Someone who knew of the goings on of the island, rather than its history. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he found what he was looking for. And that's how Nicholas came to be standing in front of this home, built out of one of the large trees that could be found on the island. He could crack a nature lover joke right now, but now wasn't the time. He had to see what kind of person this scholar was, so he could figure out how to convince him to offer his 'services'. With nothing else stopping him, Nicholas stepped forward and knocked on the door, waiting for a response.

The door opened and a grizzled, old face poked out from within. About a head shorter than Nicholas, the man had a rather long beard, and a sharp look in his eyes "Can I help you?" he spoke, up, his voice making it clear he wasn't in the mood for visitors. Nicholas could already tell this was going to be a hard task. The young pirate tried to put on a friendly smile. "Good morning sir," he spoke up, "My name is Nicholas Edison. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time." The man looked at him for a moment before moving to close the door. "Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested." Before he could close the door though, Nicholas slipped his foot in. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me. I hear you're a man of information."

The old man paused, looking at Nicholas curiously. "Fine. Come on in." Nicholas smiled as he was allowed into the man's house. Small, decently furnished, and cluttered with books. Typical place for an academic. "So, how can I help you?" the man asked. Nicholas leaned back against a wall. "Well," he explained, "You see Mr. Openhiem was it? I'm looking for certain sources of information throughout the Blues. Current events, activities of certain parties, ect. And from what I hear, you're a man with his ear to the ground. I was wondering if I could possibly, 'subscribe' to whatever knowledge you pick up." Openhiem looked at him curiously. "I thought your face looked familiar. You're one of those Uroboros Pirates, aren't you?" Nicholas' eye twitched when he was simply referred to as 'one of them', but didn't say anything. "That's right." "And you want me to be their spy?" Nicholas shook his head, chuckling. "Spy is such a strong word. I would rather say, informant." Why did he assume he was doing this on behalf of his crew? Sure, his crew would benefit from it, but it wasn't like he was acting under orders.

Suddenly, there was a crash outside, followed by raucous laughter. Nicholas looked towards the door curiously while the old man sighed. "Tell you what. You handle this little problem for me, and I'll help you out. Deal?"

Nicholas stepped outside of the house, seeing what he could only identify was a group of bandits, if their clothing was anything to go by. The group in question were a bit surprised to see Nicholas step out of the house, Openhiem looking on through the doorway. Nicholas looked at them, then glanced back at the old man. "These guys giving you trouble or something?" Openhiem nodded. "Yeah, a bunch of punks who have been trying to extort me for money for the last few weeks now." One of the bandits stepped forward. "We wouldn't call it extortion," he said with a smirk, "More like protection." Nicholas gave these guys a flat look before looking back at the old man. "Step back inside sir. I'll handle this." Openhiem nodded and turned back into the house, the last thing he saw before closing the door was the bandit leader's look of indignation on his face.

The old man moved to his table, back to the coffee and the paper he was reading. As he sat down, he could hear the commotion outside. Yells of commotion followed by cries of pain and sounds of bodies being flung around. And from what Openhiem could tell, the cries were not of Nicholas.

"Burning Impact!"

There was a loud 'boom', and something slammed hard against the wall of the house. Then everything seemed to fall quiet. Openhiem paused for a moment, waiting before getting up and heading back to the door. Opening the door, he could see the bandits strewn about, either unconscious or groaning in pain. Among them stood Nicholas, steam coming up from the shells he wore in his hands. Openhiem recognized them as dials. Nicholas looked back, seeing the old man and smiled. "One bandit problem taken care of." The old man nodded. "And you get a subscription young man." "Awesome. Here's the Den Den Mushi number, and we'll keep in touch."