"Man, that Susanoo fellow is an odd one." Joey would say upon watching Susanoo depart back into the jungle while scratching his head despite him being the last person who should be calling anyone weird...The teen would then grin, and chuckle some as he didn't mean what he said to be some sort of insult, but more of a compliment in his own way. People with their own little quirks, and differences are people that Joey usually likes compared to your ordinary basic person. The country boy turned his attention back to the oncoming crew with a welcoming grin, and wave. These many people, and they all wanted to join up with them!? This Nico person must be much more interesting than Joey originally thought!

Though it soon became obvious that these pirates weren't looking to join, but just like Nico, Joey was also slow on the realization....a tad bit slower one could say. Once the pirates first started to laugh, Joey laughed a bit as well despite not knowing why they were even laughing as he looked back at Gerard then Nico. Nico continued to try and be nice to these newcomers only to get bombarded with insults which Joey continued to laugh about. His laughter would slowly die down shortly after as he started to realize how rude these guys were being. "Wait, what's goin on?" Joey would lean over, and ask Gerard in a whisper like tone.

The pirates just continued to insult Nico, calling him a bitch of the world government, and stuff like that while Joey just stood there with a mixture between a pondering, and puzzled expression on his face while a hand rested on his chin. EVEN after one of them outright saying they've come to kill Nico, Joey was still not sure if they were serious, or not. Maybe they were trying to impress the guy, or maybe a weird sense of humor these folks have? A rather simple mind Joey has....

Suddenly, and much to Joey's surprise as well to most of the pirates' about half, or possibly more of those pirates met a painful death by the hands of an unseen force, that force being Nico's. As Nico threatened the remaining pirates, Joey looked up to him with eyes widened in shock. Did he really do all that!? What the hell DID he even do!? Fear would run through most people's minds upon seeing that like it's no doubt happening to these pirates, but of course with Joey....

"HOW THEE HELL DID YOU EVEN DO THAT!? THAT WAS REALLY SOMETHIN ELSE!"

is what the excited Joey yelled after Nico finished with his threat, jumping up and down a small bit as if he were a small child. It would then completely process through the blond's mind that those guys were dead, leading him to say, "Hmm, I guess those fellows aren't planning on joining us after all..." in a much lower tone compared to the previous shouting. Gerard chimed in his own jabs at the pirates which led them to open fire at him only for the....bullets to phase through him! These two were certainly something else Joey thought. He knew this had to be the work of those devil fruits, but wasn't taught about the different types, only knowing that eating one of those would give someone strange abilities....like what happen to him.

Now, I don't really take too kindly to people I like getting attacked..." Joey said, finally bringing his attention back to the remaining pirates, referring to both Nico getting insulted, and Gerard being freaking shot at. Sure they all just met today, but with Joey, he's usually the type to deem people his friends within a heartbeat whether they think the same way or not. "Oi, how about you scurry on now to whatever farm you were birthed from kiddo. This place ain't for runts like you." one of the pirate claimed, causing the others to snicker and laugh once more. Joey kept a calm face as all of that went down, and balled up his fists, spreading his legs apart while standing firm before taking a deep breathe.

Unknown to the others, power was surging through Joey's body from that basic stance, and once he was done, he'd leave his small box of huspuppies beside a nearby tree safely, and walked a bit until he was within ten meters of the pirates. Still not taking him serious, they just laughed while Joey looked at them, keeping a calm, plain expression on his face. Without warning, his body began to grow, skin turning to dark green grayish scales, his appearance being reptile in nature with arms shrinking, and a tail growing! The taunts and laughter slowly went away during the transformation, stopping fully as he completed his transformation into a beastly tyrannosaurus rex growing to be an impressive 40ft long, and 20ft tall.


Joey leered a bit at the pirates before letting out an unsettling roar to break the silence!

"WH-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!?!" some of them would yell.

The now transformed Joey shifted his body some, and bends his tail to the left before swiftly sending it to the right with great force! If successful, it would ram into ten of these obviously shocked pirates as they were foolishly grouped up together, sending them flying five meters to the right with no doubt shattered bones, or even a serious case of death due to the country boy's now amplified strength, doing this all without a hint of remorse thanks to his beastly side partially taking over.

Passive:

Skills:

(Full Zoan From Transformation)
(Taking out the 10 T2 pirates)

Stamina: 220/280

A numerous amount of things had occurred in the moments after Nico had killed a majority of this pirate force out of self-defense. Not only had things occurred, but Nico also learned quite a bit about his potential allies. One of the first things he learned was that his assumption of Gerard's devil fruit was correct. A bullet being able to pass through a person was usually something that was regarded as belonging within the realm of a logia devil fruit, which Nico had predicted. Next, he'd learned that Mr. Pryce was more than just a maker of hush puppies; he was also the consumer of a Tyrannosaurus Rex zoan devil fruit. This surprised Nico immensely, and added an entirely new facet to how Nico viewed him. He also learned quite a bit about the mysterious male known as Susanoo. Though he hadn't been able to physically observe Susanoo in his element, he could only assume that he was responsible for the large twister that had descended upon their enemies and decimated them. He'd have to ask the young man later if this ability was the result of a devil fruit, or something else.

With how things were going, and the chaos that was ensuing as a result of the actions of these three, Nico began to realize that his abilities weren't exactly needed. This was the perfect opportunity to see what these three were fully capable of. There would be plenty of combat situations within the Grandline and New World that these three would have to partake in; seeing what they were capable of now would give Nico the ability to know how best to make use of their skill sets.

"You guys can finish this up, if you'd like.

Nico directed this towards Gerard, Joey, and Susanoo. Hopefully, they'd accept the invitation and take out the trash. They still had much to discuss afterward.

Today was just a day for surprises, wasn't it? Before his very eyes, the young man, Joey, morphed into a massive dinosaur, starting to take out pirates left right and center. Gerard couldn't help but laugh. "Now why didn't you tell us you could do that earlier?" he laughed out, watching the pirates getting scattered. Even Susanoo returned for some action, taking a number of them out himself. What had started out looking like trouble was turning into a cakewalk for them.

And it seemed that Nico agreed, because the shichibukai was turning to leave, letting the three of them handle the rest of the pirates themselves. Guess this was another part of the job interview or something of the sort. Either way, it didn't seem like a problem. These guys were getting demolished. There was only four of them left, plus the captain who was standing there, completely smackjawed by what he had gotten him and his men into.

And Gerard was going to make things worse for them. For the pirates had turned their attention away from Gerard and were focused on the dinosaur and the pirate attacking them, giving Gerard the chance to get into some mischief. Moving around to position himself, the gas man thrust out a hand, a cloud of noxious gas slowly enveloping the nearby area. The nearby pirates, distracted, were swallowed up, immediately starting to choke and gas on the poisonous vapors. This was proving just too easy.

Taking a couple of steps back, Gerard held out his cane, a gout of flame shooting out towards the cloud. The gas erupted into a fireball, catching three of the remaining pirates at once. Gerard wasn't sure if it would take them out, but hey, it would certainly do some damage to them.

skills:

Stamina: 230/260

As he rampaged, Joey heard Gerard's question, and laugh but was in no position to speak back due to his new form. While in this beastly form, Joey's fun loving self is mainly gone, and replaced by a more predatory form. Fortunately, he is still able to distinguish friend from foe, so he hasn't take the form of just some mindless beast, but it would prove to be obvious that he is unforgiving to those he deem foe while in this form.

Once Joey had swung his tail to swiftly take out some of the pirates, five of them managed to get out of the way by jumping back a bit. The dinosaur's eyes shifted to those remaining ones before his head followed, a low growl humming between the beast's razor sharp teeth. Joey opened his large mouth, and was just about ready to try and devour those five pirates who were obviously scared for their lives, but as he was about to lean in closer to eat one of them, a random tornado came slamming down on them which caused Joey to move back from it after being surprised by it! However, that tornado wasn't all that random as it came from some attack that Susanoo fellow pulled off. Joey never realized the origin of this attack himself since he was looking down at where that tornado once was, at the crushed bodies on the ground.

He quickly lost interest in them, and turned his sights to the captain of these pretty much now dead pirates who he was ten feet from as Gerard performed a gas attack on the last of the captain's fodder, finishing it off by setting them ablaze. The man just stood there distraught about what just happened, but still appeared that he wanted that warlord's head, and now everyone else. The rex growled, but the growls would soon grow into a massive roar directed towards the remaining pirate that one just couldn't simply ignore as a way to show off his dominance and strength! If it lands, the roar would leave the captain temporarily deaf along with anyone else within range, but Joey made sure to avoid any of his allies.

After that. Joey would stop, and just eye the man menacingly while his tail slowly swayed.

Skill:

183/280
Chef's Stance: Active
Full Form: Active

One by one, the pirates from the opposing group began to fall as Joey and Gerard continued their respective assaults - until only one Pirate was left standing. This remaining Pirate was also the same one that had initiated this scuffle. Despite the fact that his entire crew had been reduced to zero, this man of advanced age still maintained the appearance of a man that had not yet given up the will to fight - even after enduring such a ferociously intimidating roar he still wore a face of anger and determination. However, it wasn't until the man's profanity-laced declaration and attack that Nico truly realized how serious this man was.

The Pirate Captain seemed to be stronger than they'd given him credit for, managing to create a rather impressive explosion. This explosion not only functioned as an attack, but also as a both a diversion and smokescreen. Joey had been relatively close to the Pirate Captain, however, Nico wasn't yet able to see if the boy had been able to evade damage. Regardless, given what he was seeing, it was obvious that the Captain held the advantage in this current situation. With the Captain's position being obscured, he held the element of surprise. There was a possibility that he could use this time in order to help himself escape - even though this idea was highly unlikely. There was a possibility that he could use this time to go on the offensive and target them with an attack. Not only was the Captain's position obscured, but they also had no idea of what he was capable of. One could have assumed that the explosion he created was the work of a devil fruit, but one could also assume that the man made use of an impact dial that had been hidden within his fist. There were a lot of possibilities when it came to the current situation, however, Nico wasn't worried in the slightest. He held this attitude mostly because this fight no longer involved him. Simply judging from the face of the Captain prior to his attack, it was plain to see that his focus was no longer on Nico. His perception had long shifted from simply seeing Nico's companions as people that were in the way, to people that were now targets. They'd embarrassed him, and in return he'd do the same to them. Well, at least that's the only way Nico could interpret the events that were currently unfolding.

It wasn't long before Susanoo once again exited the foliage of the jungle and proceeded to ask for the Shichibukai's assistance. Continuing to watch the battle ahead of them, Nico replied with a simple nod of his head and a smile.

"I've already relinquished my right to participate. This is no longer my battle. This is yours to handle."

Some may have seen this as faith in his potential companions, but in all honesty, Nico wasn't sure if they held the capabilities to come out on top in this fight. However, this is what letting them handle it was all about. This was the perfect opportunity for him to see what they had. There would be far more difficult situations that they'd have to handle in oceans following this one. If they weren't capable of handling such a foe now, then they wouldn't be capable of what was in store for them further along.

After all that, there was only one man left, and it just so happened to be the captain. The big man who had started all of this, and was most likely regretting making this challenge. Gerard smirked at the poor man's predicament. But then again, he did challenge a shichibukai and his future partners. What was he expecting to happen?

Well, Gerard hadn't been expecting what the captain would do next. Letting out a shout of frustration, he slammed his fist into the ground, letting out a powerful explosion. Gerard lept back in surprise, and to avoid any fire created by the explosion. Did the man just blow himself up? He didn't see a bomb or anything of the sort in his hands.

Ah shit, he's got a devil fruit!

Gerard brought up his weapon, trying to see through the smoke where the captain was. Though he didn't have to wait long before the man suddenly burst from the smoke and sand, heading right for him with arms outstretched. Did the man not notice the bullets passing right through him when his men attacked him? No, there was only one reason why this man would try to grapple him despite that. An ability Gerard had seen before. Mantra.

[olor=orange]"Oh hell no!"[/color] Gerard yelled out, thrusting out his hands. From one hand, a blast of compressed gas propelled him backwards, faster than the captain could move, and safely out of the way as he lunged to grapple him. The other hand let out a blast of cloudy gas, different from the poisonous cloud that he had let out earlier. The captain would feel the air around him drop to an almost unbearable chill, the gas being a freezing cold hydrogen. He doubted it would be enough to bring down the pirate captain, but that could should definitely sting, as well as slow him down.

"Bring him down before he blows the whole beach up!" Gerard yelled out.

Skills:

Stamina: 205/260

This "battle" was appearing to hit its climax, or at least from the looks of Joey, and his potential allies. All but one of these pirates who dared to strike in hopes of being able to claim the head of a Shichibukai were swiftly dealt with by the hands of said Shichibukai's new potential allies! Now all that remained is the idiotic captain who sent his own men off to their deaths. At this point, the odds appeared to be against him in not only numbers, but strength as well possibly. Not only that, but he was now rendered temporarily deaf from the previous roar that Joey let loose. Though his lack of anymore men, and hearing wasn't going to stop this man from trying to leave an impression.

After the roar, Pedro slammed a hand onto the ground, unleashing a surprising explosion! Was this some sort of trick, or rather the use of another one of those devil fruits? How this man did what he did was the furthest thing from Joey's mind however as the T-Rex was caught in the explosion due to being in range unfortunately, suffering second degree burns, but it wasn't something he couldn't handle. Joey roared in retaliation, his body wincing a bit. Dust, and sand was kicked up from the ability Pedro used, spreading around the area at amazing speeds. This also impaired Joey's sight, causing him to squint his eyes shut as he continued to roar, and growl. However just like this Pedro fellow, Joey was a pretty stubborn one as well.

Despite having the sand block his vision, Joey remembered where he last saw Pedro as well, and when the dust came, Joey had rose a foot up, and immediately stomped it back down with great force! The stomp not only shook the area around, and broke up the ground, it sent a large (40m diameter) shock wave out in bullet like (T4) speeds as Pedro still had his hand on the ground from unleashing this attack. If successful, this shock wave would collide with Pedro at full force! This would send the captain flying backwards five meters at the same speed as the attack. The damages caused from this surprise attack would be fatal for Pedro if it lands (T3 skill turned T4 due to Chef's Stance) Crushing up his body to the point that it would be unrecognizable.

After that all occurred, the dust would clear up, making things visible again while Joey reverted back to his human form, bruised, burned, and breathing heavily, losing his focus, and strength from the stance he took earlier.

Skills:

126/280

OOC: Pedro's grapple on Gerard lands as a result of Gerard reacting to a situation that would not have occurred. Gerard, Pedro, and Joey are all in the midst of the sand and debris. This means that Gerard could not react defensively by seeing Pedro "burst out" of something that they're all currently in the midst of. This in essence voids Gerard's actions and leaves him vulnerable. Joey's actions are still actionable, however, due to the lull in which he took them they won't make impact - yet. The attack moves at the same speed in which Pedro moves, so it'll follow behind him given the fact the moved prior to Joey's attack.


-Pedro's Perspective-

Pedro's extended arms had finally made their way around his target. He grappled the young man and pulled him into a deadly embrace, firmly locking Gerard against hist own body. Occurring simultaneously with the hug, an explosion was unleashed. This explosion would be far more concentrated than the one that preceded it as there was no ulterior motive behind its use. This time, Pedro's intent was to deal as much damage as possible. The explosion itself would only have a diameter of five meters, however, it would deal heavy concussive and burning damage (T3) to the areas of Gerard's body that would lose the ability of of becoming intangible as a result of the haki being used against him. The concussive force behind this explosion would be enough to send Gerard's body violently flying backwards as Pedro loosened his hold on him.

There were currently three other combatants outside of the one that he'd just taken care of, and if he was going to be able to survive this fight he'd need to take them all down as quickly as possible. He was still dealing with his hearing loss as a result of that bitch-ass dinosaur, but he didn't feel as though the loss of this faculty was too much of a hindrance. He still had something he'd come here to accomplish, and he wouldn't let a bunch of snot-nosed brats keep him from it. Sadly, however, this ambition would come to an end in almost the same instance in which Pedro had forged such intense resolve within himself. Before he could turn around and proclaim his dominance over those that still stood in his path, he found himself torn asunder and turned into a pink mist by an attack he couldn't even see. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.


-Nico's Perspective-

Sand was still all over the place, the ground was shaking, shit was exploding, Gerard's body flew out of the cloud of sand and dust, and a disgusting crunching sound preceding a pink mist occurred. All in all, a lot of shit was going down, and Nico simply continued to observe. Maybe he should have held the same seriousness that Susanoo appeared to hold, however, this was simply too exciting to interrupt.

"Whew! This is wild!"

Soon enough, the smoke, sand, and dust cleared and gave Nico an idea of the carnage that he'd been robbed of witnessing. Gerard seemed to be extremely hurt, but even from NIco's distance he could tell that he continued to breathe. Joey appeared to be injured as well, but not nearly to Gerard's level - a few burns here and there. Last but not least, the elderly captain that had been so outspoken before now taken on a form of blood, torn flesh, and broken bones. Calling him "dead" didn't exactly do this form enough justice. The rival pirate crew had finally been taken down, and with their defeat, Nico had been able to see just how gifted these three young men were. Sure, they still had a ways to go, but the fact that they still held so much potential is what truly made Nico excited. Nico was sure that this experience in itself would also show these men what they were capable of, and how much further they needed to improve.

With all of that out of the way, Nico informed them of his decision. He'd decided to go into partnership with these three men, and named them all members of Outer Heaven. He'd even given them the option to pass him their Den Den Mushi's so he could have a way in which to contact them through use of his devil fruit. It was now time for Nico to take his leave and make his way towards a goal that would set the stage many of his, as well as his group's, future endeavors.


-Exit-

450/450:

And the day had started out so well too. Gerard and his new companions were wrecking pirate scrubs like they were nothing. Then, all of a sudden, the leader of that jolly band of idiots directed an explosion downward, creating a loud boom and an even bigger dust cloud. As such, Gerard was effectively blind, allowing the pirate captain to grab a hold of him. To make matters worse, Gerard simply couldn't gas his way out of the hold.

Mantra! Shit!

Then came another big boom, this time point blank. With Gerard's inability to go intangible (and considering explosions made fire, that wouldn't have been a smart idea anyway), Gerard took the full force of the blast, and was sent rocketing back. His jacket and skin burnt by the blast, his body exploding in pain from the concussive force. The young man was sent bouncing along the sand before sliding to a stop, pretty much down for the count. Gerard was barely conscious, but through some miracle had survived, if his breathing was of any indication.

Being borderline unconscious, Gerard wouldn't see the others take down the pirate captain themselves, the only indicator he would have would be when he fully woke up to find himself NOT a corpse. Though he would definitely be kicking himself for this rather embarrassing display. How was he going to team up with a Shichibukai if he couldn't handle himself?

He needed to head back to Minion to train.

[Exit]

This is certainly going to be a day that Joey won't forget. He came to this island believing that he would be just joining some ordinary pirate crew which would've been perfectly fine for someone like him, but instead stumbled upon something possibly much greater. More than just some crew, an organization would better suit it. But the cook certainly didn't expect to run into a pirate who works for the World Government. He didn't even think such a thing was possible until today!

The dust finally settled, and Joey was still on his knees trying to catch his breathe. He had burn marks here and there along with part of his attire being ripped up. How his clothes became damaged despite not having them in full form is a mystery. Where do his clothes even go when he transforms is an even bigger mystery! But that all can be saved for another day. Joey finally caught his breathe, and turned his head towards the now deceased, and badly broken pirate captain that was giving them so much trouble. "Woah. Di-Did we do it?" he asked, his question not really aimed at anyone while being unaware that it was his previous stomp that did this guy in.

The country boy finally got back on his feet, and made his way to Nico who was complimenting the others on how well they did, acknowledging that they were now members of "Outer Heaven" which pleased Joey. He then handed Nico his baby den den mushi so that they could keep contact. Joey assumed that they were going to keep contact by exchanging numbers, but instead showed off his mysterious devil fruit ability some more which of course amazed the young cook. After that it seems that everybody started to part ways. Joey found it odd at first before quickly remembering that this wasn't going to be an ordinary crew, and that he was still free to travel around on his own.

Joey decided that he would probably stay here on the island for a bit before moving on elsewhere, perhaps drop in on one of his new allies out of curiosity. At first, the blond wasn't sure about joining a World Government aligned pirate, as he'd rather be beating up Marines, and getting into all sorts of crazy shit, but from what happened today, it still seems that he could get himself into some wild situations by working under, or rather with a Shichibukai, and the others which left a big grin on his face

-Exit-