One Piece discussion

-------- The Island --------

The Purblica de Tortuga is known for one thing and one thing only. It's gunman contests. Marksman from outside of West Blue travel to Republica de Tortuga just so they can enter these various contests. Seeing gun fights in the street isn't at all uncommon.

~ Barrel Town ~

With it's classic wild wild west look Barrel Town is the host to most of the islands famed shooting contests. Gunfights take place frequently in both the streets and the many saloons found in town.

~ Bullet Bay ~

A small bay south of the island. The dock market is a perfect place for buying all kinds of guns, bullets and various other marksman accessories.

-------- Docking Area --------

Docking can be done in Bullet Bay and on the beaches surrounding the island.

(())

Aria wove through the crowds of people as they pushed one another in an attempt to see the tournament. Every so often she let her hands stray and pick pocketed the bystanders while they attempted to see the current round of competition.

Neo stood at the edge of the large crowd, they all came here for the tournament. However Neo wasn't that interested, it made for a great detour and boosted his crew's moral, but he was happy sticking to his trusted Chains.
Neo looked around but knew now wasn't the time to be looking for trouble, so he sighed and looked around for something to do instead

Marines... Interesting. She thought, weaving her way towards the captain. She was tempted to try swiping something from him but wasn't sure it was worth it.

Neo decided he'd find something more to do in a bar or one of the stores, he tapped his poclet to make sure he has todays ration of coins, then moved towards the closest pub to see if he xould overhear an interesting tale or two

The clink of coins was too tempting and she pressed close to him, a seductive smile on her face. "Hey there sailor boy, looking for a good time?" She asked.

Neo was taken by surprise as the woman came up next to him, his initial instinct was to reject her and keep moving on, but then he thought she may have heard some interesting tales.
"Not specifically, but I'd be happy to make a wager or two over a game of chess or Pai Sho" he said thinking about the tables usually set up in the corner of most taverns or inns.

She pouted, "not that kind of fun." She pulled away, looking dejected. "Never mind, go have fun gambling." She left as quickly as she'd come only after she had gotten lost in the crowd smirked and played with the coins she'd lifted from the marine.

Neo sighed as she left, 'I suppose she's not going to help me then' he thought as his hand drifted to his pocket to check his coins.. and they were gone.
Neo turned to the direction she disappeared to and smiled, 'maybe she will be of use' he though as he moved his hand to check his hidden stash of coins to make sure it was still there. He smiled and began his search for her, She may have stolen some of his coins but Neo knew that would happen, so he also stashed a couple fakes in his pocket filled with piant and ink, ready to explode.
After all, thieves always knew good secrets, catching one would be very helpful.

Aria tsked and deftly peeled the paint packs and ink pouches off the coins then sorted out which ones were real and which were fake. She hadn't just pick pocketed the obvious fake pocket, she tossed the fake coins to the ground and threw the pain packs at random passersby then stifled a giggle when it exploded on them. After sorting through the marine's coins she had four real ones and a lot of paint colored people around her.

Neo heard some screaming straight ahead and picked up the pace a bit, soon he found a group of people covered in paint and in the middle he saw his fake coins on the ground. He grinned and began scanning the crowd, she must be pretty good to have already noticed, even being able to remove all the paint packets, to be honest he was rather impressed.

She had slipped through the crowd after getting rid of the ink. She noticed the marine making his way through the crowd and watched him for a moment, interested in what he would do when he saw the ink spattered people.

Neo grinned and suddenly became thankful to his crew for messing around with so much paint. He pulled out a compressed paint bomb and tossed it into the air.
If he can't see her then he thought he'd be able to find her by covering everyone in paint, the thief of course would probably dodge and be the only one not covered in paint..
Neo suddenly launched one of his chains into the air to pop the paint bomb, both to explode it and to stop it from covering himself

Reflexively Aria dodged the paint spatter and though there were a few other people who did as well, she was the only woman to manage it. The crowd settled as a few people thought that perhaps there was some unknown festival going on and soon enough paint was being splattered over everyone indiscriminately though Aria continued dodging the paint.

Neo slowly began turning in a circle to check who wasn't covered in paint. He was surprised by the face that several people had managed to dodge the hit, "they're getting better" he reflected.
Soon his eyes came upon the thief and he grinned, he did love it when a plan came together. He began moving closer to her when the pain finished spraying, "Impressive moves you've got there" he said with a grin

"You're not so bad yourself mister Marine." She said with a smirk, not bothered by being caught. "What are you going to do now?"

Neo shrugged and side stepped a puddle of paint as he moved a bit closer to her, "you criminals are too scared of us marines, suppose that's a good thing though" he said and stopped moving forward wondering if she would try to run again. "We marines desire peace and order, so how about we go for a drink?" he asked hoping she would be interested enough to give him some information

She rolled her eyes. "You, us, we. Marines aren't so different from anyone else." She said though as a pirate maybe that statement wasn't so accurate. "And how does peace and order mean we should go for a drink?"

Neo scratched his chin and looked around at all the distressed people running around, covered in paint. "well, surly it'll be more effective then running through the streets and throwing paint, or stealing coins" he said with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow

"Ehh." Aria said with a shrug and smirked back. "Running through the streets, throwing the paint, and stealing coins is so fun though. A little controlled chaos always is."

The smirk slowly grew on Neo's face, he knew he'd have to keep at it, this one definitely knew something, he could feel it. "well in that case let's stick to the fun that we can both enjoy" he said suddenly tossing a paintball at her.

She managed to catch it and throw it back at him before it exploded, carefully stopping it with her index as middle fingers.

Neo's hand shot out in front of himself as instinct took over. His open palm connected with the side of the paintball and it exploded, however due to the force of the impact it exploded sideways and just past Neo himself, only coating his hand with a bit of paint. "Very nice reflexes you have there" he said with a grin

(*and not as)

Aria smiled mysteriously. "Growing up around here you've got to have good reflexes. The better to steal and eat with." She said, confident that she could escape if he decided to try and arrest her.

Neo nodded in agreement, he knew exactly what it was like growing up in this area "Personally I preferred the fruit over on Sunnysmile Island when I was young, still do, they just have an exotic taste" he said with more of a smile hen a grin now

She laughed, pleasantly surprised. So maybe the marine captain wasn't so straight laced as she thought.

Neo looked around again as everyone seemed to be calming down, realizing it was only paint and that they weren't being attacked. "Can't say there's any good food in this corner of the world though, not enough cooks"

"Hard to make a living as a cook when people would rather steal from vendors." Aria said and shrugged. "There are a few here and there though."

Neo smiled and nodded, "yeah a few, you never really know what meat they're serving though, but growing up here teaches one not to be too picky" he said with a laugh

"How about that drink now?" Aria asked, smiling. "We can continue this wonderful conversation about mystery meat."

Neo smiled again, "Might even be able to order something and guess what it is" he offered, "I know just the place" he said pointing to one of the many run down inns in the town

"Lead the way good sir." She said, gesturing grandiosely and smirking at him. Obviously he would be the one paying so he may as well show her where he wanted to drink.

Neo laughed a little but still led the way, it was on the other side of the big group of people covered in paint, not the best when it came to food however it has some good people running the place and he'd been here so many times before, it was hard to break out of a habit.

Aria ducked through the crowd, avoiding paint covered people. Since it was still wet paint she didn't want them to brush up against her and get her covered in it.

Neo laughed a little as Aria ducked through the crowd, beging a marine had many perks, people covered in paint avoiding him seemed to be one of them. When they reached the inn, Neo held the door open for Aria and smiled at the... unique scent the place had.

She laughed a little when they got to the bar. "It smells like wet cow in here." She said. If that wet cow had bathed in feces and urine for a month. It wasn't pleasant.

Neo chuckled and lead the way to his usual table, "yeah, but don't they all?" he asked with a smile, "the smell tends to grow on you after a while"

"Oh really?" She asked, smiling crookedly. "And just how long does it take?"

Neo looked at her and stared at her eyes for a second before sighing and shrugging, "I'll let you know when I get there" he said with a laugh. The busboy finally noticed them and started heading over to serve them.

She laughed again and wiped her eyes as the busboy arrived. "It grows on you but it hasn't yet after how long?" She asked teasingly.

Neo ordered for them, asking for two pork steaks with a side of vegetables and gravy then looked back at Aria and sighed, "little over ten years, I think"

"Yet you still come back here?" She asked, her brow rising in question. Ten years seemed like a long time to come back to a place that stank so badly.

Neo shrugged, "I don't come here that often, but it's sort of become a habit whenever I come to this island. Plus, at least they try to make it smell better in here, unlike the other places" he said with a laugh as he pointed to a flower decorating the counter.

"Oh of course." She said, nodding in full agreement. She walked to the bar and ordered a drink, on her marine friend of course.

Neo watched her walk over to the bar as he relaxed into his seat, he began to wonder if she would even have any useful information, but then he shrugged the thought away. Surly she would have some enemy she'd like the marines to deal with...

When her drink arrived, Aria started chugging it. At least the booze was a lot better than the smell.

Neo looked from Aria to the busboy who was now returning with their meals, Neo smiled and paid for the meals then called over to Aria that their food was here, figuring she would pay for the drinks with the money she stole from him

She didn't pay for the drinks though did bring them over to him. "What did you get?" She asked, feeling a pleasant warmth spread through her from the alcohol.