The sun was just rising over the ridges of the plains as the silhouette of a young marine hastily making her way down the dirt path toward the closest town. The young marine with her arms hanging in the air behind her and her chest pushed forward. Her pace slowly came to a halt as she got closer to these large shrine posts, larger then the average man. Her heart swelled up from the sight of it, slowly making her way toward them and placed on hand on the cold wood post.

"Uwaa...It's been a while hasn't it."

She said to herself with her head tilted all the way back looking at the post from below admiring view. With these all the way out here would mean that she wasn't to far off from the village and should probably be able to see it once over the hill. A grin grew. She continued to climb the path hastily. She along with another dozen marine ensigns were dropped off the coast of Little Wano in attempt of resupplying, but suddenly a group of samurai's got a bit to aggressive and started to make accusations as to the marines "Plot" in settling and making a base. Takezō, being one of the few Wano marines and was left on a hunt within Shimotsuki and find their allied resident to help with any other unneeded interruptions.

What was also one her mind was her father. And within a Wano like island she assumed this might be a great place on finding some info on his whereabouts. With that she reached the top of the hill passing both posts and could see the entire village from her position. She skid down the hill before reaching another dirt road and walked toward the inner parts of the village hoping to find some info.

Shimtsuki Village, also known as Little Wano to some was an independent island home to many who practiced the art of a samurai as well as many forms of martial arts which set this island apart from any other island found in the blues due to it being inspired by the Wano Country which are famous for their powerful samurai.

The inner part of the village was filled with many buildings and unlit lamps dangled above the roads as many citizens can be seen out, going on with their daily lives. A shopping district filled with merchants behind their stands, selling all sorts of things, Samurai wearing their hakama with their katana safety attached to their sides, women wearing kimonos and children out, practice sword fighting with sticks at a dojo.

A man with black hair and dark red eyes who also looked to be a native of Wano was sitting on the branch of a tree by one of the dojos as he looked down to the children who were practicing. With a spiral scrapbook and pencil in hand, he was about finish with drawing the dojo as well as the children who were working hard to be samurai one day. As he finished with his drawing, the man brushed off the lingering eraser shavings from the page and smiled softly with a satisfy look on his face as he admired his own work. He then slowly turned the pages of his scrap book to admire the other things he has drawn during his stay at this village that reminded him so much of home.

"To think that there is a village like this all the way out here."

He said to himself, still amazed at the fact that there was an island based entirely off of another country more specifically, his home country all the way out here in the blues. He then closed his scrapbook and looked up towards the sun as he rested his back against the tree, peacefully. Soon, his peaceful sun gazing would be interrupted from overhearing two people below him who were walking past, talking about some marines who have arrived to the island.

"Oh? I wonder what the marines want with this island."

He wondered to himself as he looked towards the direction of the entrance. Marcel would then proceed to put his scrapbook away as he jumped to a roof of a building near the tree. He would then run and jump from roof to roof until he was closer to the entrance, where he stopped and saw a woman who just came in from the entrance. Marcel raised an eye brow as he observed her. He didn't know why, but their was something interesting about her. No, it wasn't her looks which he had to admit she did look astonishing, but it was something else that he just couldn't wrap around his fingers.

Marcel just shrugged the feeling off and took out his scrapbook, opening it to an empty page and began to draw a picture of this marine. as he sat on the roof with his legs hanging out on the edge.

Chariot had started her visit to the place they called Little Wano with sight-seeing since the town looked much different than any other place. It was a fascinating place, above all almost every man was carrying a sword, made in a way she had not seen before. Since her arrival in the morning she had already stopped in five different weapon shops and two forges. Compared with her own blade the swords they called “Katana” were much thinner, light and somewhat elegant in their simplicity.

She was standing in front of the sixth weapon shop of the day, when a odd smell caught her attention and she turned around to find a shop dresses in every colour of the rainbow. “Hanabi”, was written over the door and as she stepped closer it became easier to identify the smell as gunpowder. As blacksmith, which had grown up making tools and swords, she had not much experience with guns, but as someone interested in weapons in general she decided to take a look. Imagine how surprised she was when her sense of smell betrayed her and there was not a single gun inside the store. Instead there were mostly pictures of colourful light in the night sky.

“Fireworks...”, she said to herself, captivated by the beauty of the pictures in front of her. The Mink had heard of it before, but never seen it. Reaching in the pockets of her shorts she looked for some beli, enough to at least buy something small. A rocket got her attention and after the owner tried to talk her out of it she still somehow convinced him to sell her at least one. Just one would not cause any damage, right?

Chariot was sure it would be fine! So all she had to do was find a quiet place where she could light it up. It made her extremely excited, even when it did not show on her stoic face, anyone could tell from the sway of her tail.

Sword on her back and rocket over her shoulder, she travelled towards the town's entrance, all the way playfully throwing a pack of matches into the air and catching it again as she walked. The sudden appearance of a group of marines made her pause for a moment, but having done nothing wrong, she started to set up right there in the open space next to the entrance, eager to ignite the fuse.

Takezō had reached the outer parts of the town seeing mostly silhouettes of the residents in the distance. It seemed to be much more populated then she anticipated, but then again out in the blues there aren't just those of Wano, but many other races reside here, whether they're wanted or not. As she continued to walk through the town, there were many Wano residents, wearing their hanabi's or kimono's and holding blades by their sashes. When she looked at the blades she put her hand on her own, growing a smile on her face from the reminisces. She herself had to give up her casual clothes for the Marine Ensigns uniforms but hopefully if she can increase her rank she'll be able to wear whatever she sees fit. Though of course her blades sat by her hip side almost reaching the ground because of her height.

None the less, she had to find this allied resident within Shimotsuki but it seems that that'll put on hold. she noticed an animal walking on two legs toward the entrance of the town. She stood there stunned...astonished at the sight of it actually. Was it human? It was awfully humanoid but it had a tail!? She looked at the being with the utmost curiosity. Takezō looked around still on a quest in search of her ally but her thirst for adventure and curiosity got to the better of her.

Chasing after the lone Mink from behind, Takezō took hold of her tail wondering if it was actually real.

A gentle breeze blew by as all seemed calm in this little village as it should be. Marcel inspected the marine woman as he drew her to make sure that his drawing would come out perfectly. The medical samurai noticed that the woman he was drawing had stopped which also caused Marcel to stop drawing. He watched as the marine observed the islanders with an expression of happiness and acceptance. He then raised an eyebrow when she placed an hand on her blades that he didn't notice before.

She looked to have two katana in her possession which caused Marcel to look down at his own katana that was sheathed on his right hip. He then smirked a little and looked back down to the woman who now had a stun look on her face. Tilting his head a little at the woman's sudden change in expression, Marcel turned his head to where the marine was looking, only to see a familiar furry face. It was Chariot, the same wolf mink that the pirate had teamed up with not too long ago.

She appeared to have had fireworks and was about to set them off until suddenly, the same marine woman chased after the mink and grabbed her tail. Marcel's eyebrows raised in surprise from the sudden action as he assumed that the mink was about to get arrested for setting off those fireworks or perhaps from something else.

Marcel jumped off of the building, landing feet first in front of the two before grabbing onto the marine's hand that was grabbing onto the mink's tail. "I am pretty certain your parents have taught you that it is never wise to grab onto a wild animal's tail like that. Doing this to her would be no different." Marcel explained to the marine, just now realizing what he had said could actually be taken to offence by the mink and turned to her, bowing a little as he said, "No offence." with a little bow as he continued to hold onto the marine's hand.

"Anyway, if this is an attempt to arrest, can you do this village a favor and deal with this on the outskirts of this island? This may not be the actual Wano Country, but, I will protect is as if it were my home." Marcel demanded in a soft but serious tone as he looked to the marine. He has been out in the blues for quite a while now but he was still just now grasping how the World Government and Marines worked as the Wano Country had an entirely different system.

From what Marcel has seen so far, marines are more of a nuisance than help and it appeared that many of the islanders here agreed so he wanted to make sure that this situation didn't end violently or the other samurai and ninjas that reside here may end up jumping in.

As Chariot was just about to ignite the fuse she felt a sudden touch on her tail. Grabbing a Mink's tail was not something pleasant to the Mink, surprised by it she let the burning match fall into the grass and quickly turned around, pulling her tail free in the same motion. At that moment she also noticed Marcel and threw a light smile his way, before turning to the little girl that she had found at the end of her tail.

Before she was able to complain herself Marcel had already started to do that for her. Quietly she watched for a moment then raised her voice: “I agree, I would appreciate if you did not touch my tail. Also I have done nothing wrong to justify an arrest.” Saying that she leaned down to take a closer look at the girl and took in a nose full of her smell. Salty, like all marines. It was like they did not know how to enjoy life and all they did was sail around. She remembered that Marcel smelled a bit like salt but it was a lot less prominent than other smells that stuck to him. Thinking about the smell of human she wondered if they took not enough care of themselves. As a Mink she took great care of her fur and hair every day, to make sure it smelled good. On the other hand every human having a distinct smell helped a lot to memorize and notice them.

Again while thinking of smell she suddenly noticed a burning smell. Her ears twitched and scanned for a sound and she heard the sound of a burning fuse. The match had somehow lit the fuse of the rocket which she had set up. Without hesitation the big Mink yelled out: “Get down!”, stretched her arms out and jumped towards the two humans in an effort to catch them and pull them to the ground before the rocket took of into the air with a loud noise, before turning on her back to watch the rocket explode far above them in the shape of a bright red flower.

Marcel listened to the Mink. If she didn't do anything wrong to deserve an arrest, why did this marine grab her tail? The samurai simply shrugged it off as possibly just being curious. Marcel took a good look around and noticed that they were slowly gathering an audience. "Oi..." Marcel said with a sigh while rubbing the back of his head. This is exactly what he was trying to stop from happening in the beginning.

People began to talk amongst themselves while observing the situation. Some people were shouting at the marine while others were slowly unsheathing their blades. The gravity of this situation grew heavy as the crowd continued to grow. Some of the onlookers were upset, believing that Chariot was going to be arrested which they believed wasn't right after all the work she has done around the village while others simply had a deep hatred towards the World Government.

Marcel attempted to stop the crowd but was overshadowed by the constant yelling of the people. Marcel then turned his head towards the marine woman, giving her a sign that she should leave but was suddenly pulled down by Chariot along with the marine. "What are you..." before Marcel could finish his question, he heard the sound of fireworks shooting into the sky. The samurai turned around at the same time as the fireworks went off in the sky, creating a bright red flower. The crowd was also distracted by this wonderful sight, aweing at the bright color as it illuminated the earth.

The crowd would then slowly disperse, believing that the three were just there to set off the fireworks. Marcel turned his face towards the ground and sighed in relief as the potential catastrophe was stopped before looking towards the two women. "Well, this has been....interesting." the samurai said, pausing a bit as he stood back on his feet.

"Chariot." he said as he nodded to the Mink girl, giving her a sign that he was going to take his leave before looking towards the marine and her katana, giving her a smirk before turning around, walking towards the entrance as if nothing happened.

-Exit-