Night had fallen and the time to reap the benefits from a long term of toiling was upon Birdie and his collective. In his company were those he purposely embedded into Cervantes' crew and some who were oblivious that the parasite was running his own organization from within. Most of them were newcomers, but some of Birdie's newest insurgents were also rookies within the crew. Verde was amongst them.

The moon hung high above and reflected off the waters of Paradise off the coast of Jaya Island, more specifically Mock Town. It wasn't quite a half moon, but in a day or two it would achieve such a fullness. "I'm going to do myself a favor and get on with this.  Basically we have a guy we sell our goods to that is reselling them at a higher price to make a profit. Our job is to make an example out of him. He's not much himself, but he's a rich bastard and he probably know's we're coming, so expect resistance and a lot of it. Super simple, don't kill the fucker though . . . I got some things I need to ask him." The men weren't really huddled around Birdie, but they had formed a circle around him giving him plenty breathing room as he spouted his lies to give the men a motive to push his agenda. Taking a drag from the cigarette that bobbed in his mouth as he spoke, he billowed out smoke with squinted eyes, before flicking the half expended stick overboard where it sizzled in the ocean. "Gonna need at least three guys on the Gatling Gun, you-" He eyed Verde as if he wasn't yet familiar with him. "You take this and hope it doesn't explode on you while you're using it." One of the men beside Birdie, a personal assistant was struggling to hold up a large looking rifle weapon that was actually one of Birdie's inventions, the Proton Cannon.

"This guy has a fat ass estate so I don't have the patience to try break into it and try to do this with a low causality. We'll open with the Gatling Gun on my command, afterwards we'll storm in while the Gatling Gun cools down or jams, whichever comes first. Any questions?" Birdie looked around while Verde retrieved the Proton Cannon fully aware of how it worked and what precautions to take as he helped Birdie build the thing. Should there be no questions, the company of 50 some odd pirates would start traveling towards the distant estate that was a few miles outside of Mock Town in it's own little haven away from the dirt and grime of the pirate town.

 

One banter filled traveling cut scene later, the estate was in sight. They were still about 150m out, but the well lit mansion stood out in the darkness of the night drawing the sinners to it like flies to a pile of shit. "Alright that's the estate right there. Twenty-five of you, stay with the three on the Gatling Gun. You guys will attack from the front of the Estate, while the rest of us come from the back after your opening fire. Pico will be in charge of you guys." Pico was a veteran member of the crew and one of Birdie's guys, but that was unknown to anyone not within Birdie's circle of course. Also as planned Verde went with Birdie's group, the Proton Canon being needed to break down the Estate's walls. Birdie's group would creep through the bordering woods, hidden from sight of any of the Estate guards, that walked the balconies of the Estate waiting for Birdie's predicted raid. Pico would lead the Gatling Gun squad down a similar route, albeit to the front of the Estate, but nonetheless hidden in the foliage of the woods. In front of them was the front of the Estate. Two large gold statues stood on each side of the stone walkway that lead to the mansion's doors. Before even getting to the doors though there was the large yard that had a flowing fountain in the middle of it. Guards strolled this yard back and forth as well.

The guards were dressed in a formal black suit, white dress shirt black pants, and shoes, but had weapons on hand. Some had rifles, some had swords, some had pistols, daggers, bludgeoning objects, you name it. While they dressed classy, their weapon choice ranged from traditional to barbaric.

In position about 30m out from the Esate, Pico spoke to his squad. "His signal will be an explosion, to fire that thing just turn the crank . . . and be ready to move as soon as you hear the explosion. We need to push at least to those Gold Statues though, it doesn't have much range for it's size. Stay quiet until that Gatling Gun starts unloading too. If they see us while we're running up getting the Gatling Gun in place, they'll shoot us all down."

On the other side Birdie was scanning the opposition with his Eye Scope placed on his right eye, courtesy of Verde. "Looks like he hired the Renegade Pirates for protection." He used the zoom feature coupled with the night vision toggle to see everything clearly. "Wonder how long he has them on contract . . ." As he spoke Verde set up the Proton Cannon and took aim. "Ready?" Verde looked to Birdie, his shot aimed at the wall ready to blow it to bits. Birdie looked to Verde and nodded."At your leisure." Looking back through the scope one last time to ensure he was still on target, Verde fired an explosive round from the Proton Cannon that caused the back wall of the Estate to explode as forecasted.

Following this explosion, his men stormed out of the cover of the forestry and Birdie nonchalantly followed behind in brisk jog. "Stick close to me and be sure to save at least one shot, for the vault." Verde nodded as he trotted behind Birdie painfully lugging the heavy Proton Cannon with him.

On the other side, Pico would have waved his hand to signal a charge forward with the sound of the explosion. The attention of the guards drawn to the backyard, they'd be able to run up to the gates of the Estate without facing enemy suppressing, then unload with the Gatling Gun for a perfect pincer style attack. Gun fire and shouting would ensue, but only from the backside of the Estate where Birdie's squad was, the other squad was informed to keep quiet until the Gatling Gun got to work.

 

As Birdie lagged behind with Verde, his men went toe to toe scuffling with the hired mercenaries that were guarding the estate. Gun fire, swords clashing, cries of death, and grunts from strenuous activity it was very sonically engaging, but Birdie paid little mind to it all. He had extended his mind elsewhere by activating his sixth sense. While he wasn't adept enough with his Observation Haki that he could make out each and every aura of those he sensed, he was proficient enough to engulf all that was within 75m of him. Not the whole property, but majority of it given how he was already in their expansive backyard and nearing the doors to enter. "This guy really stacked up in preparation for us, hope you weren't expecting an easy night." Verde too accompanied him through the chaotic battlefield, the nameless companions doing well to cover both of them. Giving an upward gesture with his head to the backdoor, Verde fired the Proton Cannon once more blasting the backdoor pieces and those braced against it to keep Birdie's company outside to their death. Lifting a nonchalant arm to cover his face, some of the minor debris and the displaced air from the blast made Birdie take a moment to secure his footing to avoid stumbling back. A single wood chip scratched his hand and drew blood, but it was a negligible wound. "Charge for the inside in the cover of the debris!" Verde would yell as the men responded appropriately. Outside the estate it was a disadvantageous battle due to the opposition having been posted on balconies to give them an edge in the ranged department.

In the cover of the dust and debris, they stormed inside, but they'd find they were just facing another wave of enemies. This wouldn't be discovered until the debris settled however and until then, Birdie fired accurate shots with his six shooter pistol at those he perceived with his Kenbunshoku Haki. "Don't stop here. If you do they'll open fire in bulk and slaughter us." This caused a bit of a commotion within Birdie's group and caused them all to chaotically disperse in every which way outside the debris field. This caught and drew the attention of the enemies, but also split it, so they couldn't simply fire into the dust cloud and kill people blindly.

Birdie's crew in a foyer of sorts, they were surrounded by people on the second floor of the mansion and it was important to get rid of them considering they were firing upon them from a higher ground. "Get rid of those sharpshooters!" A peculiar sounding noise was emitted from the Proton Cannon once more and the result was Verde blowing up a balcony some mercenaries were posted on. Once more this happened and another balcony but on the opposite side of the room was blown down. The rubble came tumbling down burying them if they didn't die from being blown to pieces from the blast. It also buried those shooters that were positioned underneath these balconies and shooting into the crowd of melee fighters. Two birds with one stone in quick succession, this is why Birdie had chosen Verde as right hand. Smirking at the wit his protege displayed, Birdie also reloaded while continuing to run forward. "I'm going on ahead, before our little lamb flees the scene."

In the front of the Estate a one sided battle was taking place. With their attention drawn to the back of the estate where the initial explosion happened, Pico's squadron easily got the upper hand, especially with the Gatling Gun. Majority of the opposition outside mowed down, Pico would shout. "Move the Gatling Gun to the front door! Everyone else get ready to break these doors down. We need inside and secure the exits!" Pico would be running towards the front doors of the Estate as would the rest of the squad that weren't finishing off their small skirmishes. Using his large fram he begin shoulder ramming the door and gradually as more arrived, others would too. "If you have a gun- *ram* prepare to take fire- *ram* as soon as these doors are open." Shortly after he finished speaking, the large wooden doors would fracture and he'd step back and deliver a thunderous wrestling style drop kick to the doors to kick them in. Just as they broke, those with guns would start firing into the mansion killing those who were posted waiting for the doors to be broken down. It was just a classic shoot out, but Pico's team would have more fire power with the Gatling Gun.

Scrambling to get out of the way along with the rest who helped break the door down, he'd stuff his index fingers in his ears and try to shout over the gunfire. "Fuck em up! Let em have it!"

 

His pistol reloaded, Birdie slid it safely against his stomach into his waist band where it normally sat. Secure in place despite it not being a conventional holster Birdie continued forward without the aid of the firearm, but his own extremities. He might need the bullets for later so he figured he'd conserve as many of them as possible and rely on his rarely used hands to dispose of the few who got in his way. Flexing his hands in a manner that he created three "claws" Birdie assaulted those who got in his way with quick yet effective Ryusoken based strikes. Thrusting outwards towards the grunts, he'd create bullet like wounds in their bodies. One swordsman prepped to take a swipe at him and cueing in on this preparation, Birdie stopped right inside the man's range. As he swung, Birdie deftly hopped back, then rebounded while the man was reaching the end of his swing and his blade was across his body from the swing. Plunging his "claw" into his chest into the bone and all. Lifting up his foot, he gave the body a kick to the gut sending the man a ways away, before two more large steel pipe wielding guys came from both his sides. Utilizing his Rokushiki, Birdie lifted both his arms upwards while using Tekkai to specifically to harden his forearms to his finger tips. This would lock all the effected area in place of course, but it didn't matter since Ryusoken relied on this specific finger placement. Blocking both downward pipe swings with his Tekkai enhanced forearms, he then used another Rokushiki technique to counter attack. Cancelling the effects of his Tekkai since the shock from their attack was successfully suppressed, Birdie also released the tension in his hands and lost his Ryusoken form. Still combating the pressure the two grunts were applying down on his arms, Birdie quickly performed flick in the air. The result were air based bullets that shot from Birdie's fingers and pierced into the skulls of his assailants killing them.

A few others in his immediate vicinity and pin pointed with his Observation Haki, he accurately fired upon them with this technique as well executing them with a headshot or shots through the chest to pierce either the lungs or the heart. Deactivating his Haki having located whom he assumed was Porter, he forged on ahead.

Pressing on, he'd find himself in the main room which was square shaped. In this room, right in front of him was a grand staircase to the second floor was. This staircase went up half a story, still a lot of height given the ceiling of the place was about 40ft high, then it split to go left and right. This made like a letter "T", but then it made another turn to go back up in its original direction. Both stairways lead to the same place, but it just looked fancy. This second floor lined the whole bottom floor that Birdie was on, basically forming a square shape border around it with the stair's rails where people could look down into the main room from the second floor, think ballroom-ish. On this second floor, gunmen lined all of the railing and looked down onto Birdie. No one said a word and Birdie couldn't help but stop in his tracks in anticipation for what was to come. Footsteps echoing in the deafeningly silent room, from down a hallway on the second floor came Porter with a discerning man who was actually the Captain of the vagabonds the rich man had hired. "I never took you for the self destructive type Birdie. I thought you were just always content as long as you were getting paid. That's how most of you dealers work at least." Birdie scoffed and stepped forward a bit out into the open and out of the doorway he had been in. "And I never took you for the standoff type. I figured you'd be busy heading for the sea as opposed to trying to reenact a dramatic stage play scene. But unlike most dealers I actually take pride in my work and find it disrespectful to have it peddled into the hands of whoever pitching top dollar. I'm more selective with my clients, just like you're selective with who you choose to buy from." Getting a bit ahead of himself and perhaps comfortable due tot he fact Birdie had so many guns trained on him, Porter began to make his way down the stairs, the Captain of this band of gunmen remained at the top of the staircase due to a gesture from his own boss.

Birdie soaked in this air of confidence Porter was exuding and began concocting how he'd exploit it to his advantage. "That's exactly why I know you aren't planning on killing me . . ." This caused Porter to stop in his tracks, not yet to the first turn in the staircase. Playing it off with a chuckle, Porter continued trotting down the staircase making it hard for Birdie to tell if he was right or not. "Just another dealer or not, I still have a unique product that you can't get from anyone else, at least not for the price I sell it at. If you were going to kill me I would be dead already anyways." This caused Porter to shape his head in a disapproving manner as he touched down on the final flight of stairs and now jogged down them to be on the first floor with Birdie. "I haven't killed you yet, because I wanted to see what you really look like once that ego of yours is broken, but I guess even at Death's Doors you persist. That's commendable at the very least." Not letting this feeling of victory influence his actions too much, Porter stopped at the bottom of the stairs putting about 15m between him and Birdie. "Sorry to disappoint then . . . It's just that I'm still not convinced you're genuinely interested in killing me. Figuring if Porter was planning on killing him he'd die and he had nothing to lose, Birdie tested his luck and confidently began walking forward towards Porter as he spoke.

A repulsive expression was the reward for such a ballsy gambit and trigger fingers itching to apply pressure could practically be heard. Looking up with only his eyes at the gunmen as he paced forward casually, Birdie's devilish grin grew bigger and bigger until he was about 5m away from Porter. "STOP!" He thrusted out a hand with his commandment to the rodent and Birdie did as Porter wished. "You may have called my bluff, but that doesn't mean that you have plans on killing me eit-" Near the end of his sentence Birdie had flexed his right hand into the clawed positioning for formal Ryusoken techniques and while Porter might not have noticed it, Ramah proved to be worth his salt and sprung into action from such a gesture. Leaping from the top of the staircase all the way down with his axe in hand  and reeled back to cleave, he let out a murderous shout and was forecasted to land right in front of Birdie to chop him in half. Looking up at the savage, then once more to Porter Birdie hopped backwards out of Ramah's range before jamming his clawed hand into the marble floor of the main room. Clenching his claw closed just as Ramah was about to land it caused the whole room to rupture and the floor to collapse. There were pillars near the walls of the first floor that held up the balcony on the second floor the gunmen were on and the quaking had caused a few of them to collapse causing some of the areas of balcony to break as well. Rubble and debris filling the air, vision was cut to an all time minimum, but luckily Birdie had his Haki.

"Fuck these childish antics. You ten, grab that idiot and carry out the escape plan, I'll handle this guy." A few grunts that were only barely shifted out of the rubble that had fallen on with them and grabbed Porter who was frozen in shock and ran deeper into the mansion. "Fuck he's going to get away."

 

Pulling his Eye Scope back out and equipping it to his eye to protect it from all the dust in the air from the attack he launched, Birdie also allowed his Haki to lead him in Porter's general direction. The entrance of a new aura that was fairly strong alerted Birdie that he had a potential ally or threat to be watching out for, but he honestly didn't have time to stick around and find out. His path forward clear, but the ground shattered he'd travel through the air as opposed to risking it with unstable footing.

Using Soru in a long jumping fashion, not high, but far, he also reached his maximum speed instantly and darted beyond Ramah and towards where Porter was fleeing. This lead Birdie into a gaudy corridor and out of the dust cloud, his targets multiple meters ahead of him in sight. Withdrawing his pistol, he fired off multiple shots and started shooting at the mob of grunts who were escorting Porter to safety. Not the best shot from a distance outside of about 15m definitely while running, only a few of his six shots hit and resulted in people keeling over in pain or death. Not bothering to reload his gun, he just tucked it back away and did the same with his Eye Scope, while he continued his sprint forward, steadily catching the group.

To his luck at the end of the corridor they were fleeing down Pico and a small group had emerged thus cutting off their escape and sandwiching them. Rifles drawn and aimed at Porter and his escorts and Birdie to their back, they also put up a firearm based front, each of the remaining escorts drawing their pistols and pointing some at Birdie and some at Pico's group. Not alarmed much by the guns, but halting his sprint due to seeing Pico, Birdie had known he won this battle regardless of what happened next. "There's no use in even putting up a last stand. You can either just accept that you failed you jobs or be foolish and die for an employer who won't even live to pay you what he owes you. In fact, after he dies there's a whole vault up for grabs in this Estate with more than enough money you were probably going to get paid for this job." Porter's eyes flickered from escort to escort as he watched them mule over what Birdie was telling them. "No! Don't you dare! Fire at them all right now! Kill him! Kill him now!!!" Bucking at one of the escorts and snatching at their gun, Porter and the escort engaged in a small tussle for the firearm, before the other escorts grabbed Porter off of him. Empty handed and realizing he was at Death's Door he began to kick and yell incoherently, some of it was curses, but ever now and then there would be pleading and this would continue all the while Birdie approached him to put an end to this whole heist.

"You know . . . there is a way we can end this with your life intact." Birdie squatted down to Porter's and his words had apparently soothed him for a moment allowing him to listen to what Birdie had to say. Feeling no threat from the escorts that realized they could get paid either way, Birdie would continue. "You  -" Birdie put a finger to Porter's chest which made the man gulp in discomfort. "Throw this shit away and work for me." As he referred to himself he moved this finger to his own chest and smiled deviously. "Why would I choose to work with someone so beneath me?" Birdie's drooped down in a disappointed manner as it shook and he sighed. His hand's dropping to rest on his knees as well, one would slyly move to his waistband and retrieve his pistol. It was empty of course, but he doubted Porter would notice while being in a state of shock. Putting the six-shooter to the middle of Porter's forehead he looked back up at him in the eyes with a scrunched over mouth, still disappointed. "Thanks for the riches then." Finger on the trigger, he feinted pulling it causing Porter to reel both his hands up in a submissive manner. "Okay! Okay! Don't shoot, I'll work for you! Please just don't kill me!" Smiling in the same impish fashion he always did, he removed the gun from Porter's forehead then tucked his pistol back away while coming to a stand.

"Your first order of business is to tell these guys they are relieved of their duty and they can get out of here." The escorts looked at Birdie as if he were speaking another language and the cocking of a rifle from Pico's end reiterated that they were enemies to Birdie. "Go ahead Porter, what you waiting for. You're one of my guys now, I got your back." It sounded more like the rich man had made a deal with the devil and he was being lured into a trap than it did sound like Birdie was actually reassuring him he had his back. "Yo- you guys are relieved of duty . . . Sorry." Waiting for the fight or flight response as this meant they wouldn't be getting paid after Birdie had just put such an idea in their mind, they surely realized how they just manipulated by him and his grinning visage. "Go on . . . go back to the main room and gather the rest of your wounded allies and get a move on, you have no more business here." Not daring to combat Birdie and his companions, they did as they were told and walked back down the corridor the way they came checking for signs of life in their allies that were recently shot by Birdie.

"Next-" Birdie turned to Porter who was noticeably as uncomfortable as ever, especially with Pico's group approaching from behind albeit they were doing so in a casual fashion. "One of you go make a round and tell everyone we're done here. Rendezvous place is the front gates." Like that one grunt ran off to see out the orders. "We're going to talk about who exactly it is you've been selling my products to and how much money you've made me from doing so. But . . .-" He began walking down the corridor back to the main room and gestured with his head for Porter and Pico's group to follow. "We'll settle all of that back on the ship, I'm sure you've had a stressful last couple of days."

---

While this whole thing went down with Birdie chasing Porter, Verde's group would have came upon the main room where Cappadona and Ramah were. "You guys secure the area and back up Cappadona or whatever his name is." Verde looked up ahead, then waved with a hand, the other firmly grasping the Proton Cannon. "Two guys come with me, we need to find the vault." Carefully running through the fractured ballroom through gunfire from both parties, Verde would run up the stairs, the two grunts he had taken with him working to cover him and shoot up opposition that came as he did so. They'd then make their way down a hallways and search for the vault. It'd take them a while to come across it, but eventually they'd find it and with the Proton Cannon, Verde would blast it open and lay his eyes upon all the Beli and gold inside. "Gonna guess this is it. One of you go back and relay the message to the other group and Birdie that we found the vault. It's going to take a while to loot all of this, so bring anyone who's not injured back with you." This grunt would be running back to the main room the same time Birdie had begun to walk back with Porter and Pico.

 

Arriving in the main room all the divisions had rendezvous'd here save for a portion of Pico's who were at the front gates. The single grunt Verde had sent back had just arrived too. He'd speak to the group from atop the second story balcony that was still partially in tact near the stairs. "Verde located the vault up on the second floor, we're going to need help looting it all." Birdie looked up at the messenger, nodded, then assessed the number of uninjured men. "Alright whoever isn't injured go help loot the vault and meet back at the ship. Tell Verde to oversee this and take the route we discussed so no highway robbers or anything fuck things up." The guy nodded and a few men began to mobilize and make their way up the stairs to the vault. Pico remained behind with Birdie and Porter. "What about my division?" Pico looked around the destroyed main room in examining all the wreckage awaiting Birdie's response. "Take your group on ahead of Verde's and make sure their route is secure . . . take this guy with you too." Birdie gestured to Cappadona and Pico nodded and began to make his way to the front gates with the few of his men that were still with him. "Lets get a move on then."

Porter looked around in a bit of confusion, just him, Birdie, and corpses of those he had hired in the room. "So what's to become of me? Like I understand we're going to discuss the selling, but like af-" Birdie held up a hand and turned to face Porter with a smile. "You'll do whatever I ask of you. Simple as that. Just like these people listen to me, you'll do the same, but not because I say so, but because it'll benefit you and you'll want to. That's how my crew is ran . . . got it?" While Birdie did seem like the manipulative twisted egomaniac type, he never ruled his group with sheer demands and his word was law. His underlings always had freewill and could choose to disobey him whenever, he just knew how to appease to people's desires to keep them around, mutual relationship basically. Porter was a bit hesitant to nod, but it came as he began to accept and understand that he was being inducted into Birdie's regime.

[Exit]