The Grand Sea

(1000th post, and I'm pretty sure this at least wins longest running RP, if not longest. Very glad to be part of it all the way through.)
"So that little gem is going to magically lead us there?" T-kun asked, looking at it with doubt. "That's a little convenient, don't you think?"
"Screw it, I'm just glad we don't have to go through another 3 dungeons. My mittens almost got ruined last time..." said Espe, remembering the painstaking sewing he had to do to mend his mittens to perfection.

Hakai gripped the ever stranger but never dull girl's hands. "You watch my back. And I'll watch yours. Friends that are closer than friends. That have a deeper bond than that, you know. On my home island we have a word for it. Nakama. So umm..." he blushed a bit and itched the back of his head. Then blustered up his courage and kissed the girl on the cheek.

...he retreated and hid his eyes from her for a bit. He then let go of her hand and took a step away. "So...don't go doing anything stupid ok. You're my nakama now. That means I won't let any one mess with you ever again, because of how you look or where you came from or anything. You're my nakama. I trust you, but just try not throw yourself into trouble like half this crew does...ok?"


The Romance Dawn and Alice began to pick up speed, but were no match for the Navy's ever advance Dartage. As the capital ship moved ahead, the statues' wakes in the water became murkier and hard to follow.

"Keep Westward bound Mr. Rozo! We can't be lose'n the trail!" The Captain preached from his position on the aft-end of the boat.
"Stupid Navy always making everything harder for us..." hissed Rico.

Hakai began to fiddle nervously with his rifle as they passed, his stance almost intentionally placing him between the large vessel and Cindy, "Strange that they aren't attacking us..."

Rozo maintained his never changing position at the wheel, a man of god like patience, "They seem as hungry for vengeance as we do. Perhaps the place of Captain Dimitri's ward among their ranks grants us amnesty...this once..."

"Wait, Ms. Cornelia went with them!?" Rico questioned with a shocked expression on her face.

Hakai pointed toward the Alice, "Didn't you see her ninja flip onto the boat as they passed?"

Rico huffed, "No...cause I'm so damn short! ...and what's a ninja?"


"Captain!" Bellamy bellowed, "2...no...4...no...lots of statues coming into view sir!"

"How long till fire'n range Mr. Carrack?" the Red answered.

"45 minutes if the wind holds sir!" the Cannon answered back.

"Damn...the Navy dogs'll beat us by a good 20 even at this rate..." The Captain mumbled to himself. "AYE! Cap'n Dimitri! The Dawn's taken herself a tad bit to much damage to be pushed any faster! The Alice though is a schooner in build and shouldn't have to much trouble moving ahead! Try and race ahead some if you can aye?"

"This stone has a partner that goes with it. I can see through it and it can see through me. This will lead us straight to him. Once the body is recovered.." She walked over to the edge of the deck, staring down at the growing, murky waters. "All open fire on the statues." She turned. "And bring me the head of Teach if someone doesn't get it first. Which means you have full rien to do what you wish Cornella..As well as the Armitice!" She yelled back at the trailing ship.

Cindy was a little stunned by what Hakai had done, and her face turned a really deep red. "Uhh y-yeah, we're nakama now so...let's knock some heads! We can take anything down!" She noticed that the ship they were chasing was starting to come into view, but it was still far away. "Maybe I can turn into a bird and survey the situation? I mean, really, who would shoot at a bird? Or maybe I could become a fish. Anything to help us get the upper hand."

Eclipse was sitting on top of the mast eating some Mochi. “Yo! Dimitri!” She called; mouth full, “Rama wants us to sail ahead!” She said before she popped another of her treats in her mouth. She then eyed the Armitice and looked down at the soft Mochi in her hand. She looked back at the ship and squinted her eyes. “This is for being ahead of us.” She said before she flung it at the ship and watched it fly to a moving object; possibly one of the crewmen.

Yio wondered who the person Demon spoke of was. Was it Fairy? His mother? A friend of his? Either way she didn’t dare to pry further. She didn’t want to be rude or insult him.

Dimitri nodded, thanking the odd girl as he quickly jogged to the steering wheel. As per orders, Asia released more of the sails, gaining extra wind fueled power. The Alice sped after through the cutting waves, following the trail of murky water.

Cornelia muttered a "yes ma'me". On the outside, a look of determination glinted in her eyes. On the inside, however, she was at a loss. She understood her task, she just did not know how to go through with it. She just didn't want to attack the statues and end up ruining the mission completely. But she was too afraid to ask Letra for specifics. So she was content on pretending to carefully select which blade to use and readjusting the bandages on her face.

"Works for us." T-kun yelled back. "We'll follow behind you until we get there."
"Free reign eh? Sounds like target practice for the new ammo, doesn't it?" Espe said excitedly.
"Indeed it does my good Espe, indeed it does."

The Captain threw out his hand pointing at the statues ahead, "We'll be in firing range soon ladies and gents! Those of you who can, by sea or by sky, try and find a way to bring down them nasty statues. Avoid Black himself though, it's to risky to go after the sea rat alone. Aye, our target be the statues and only the statues! Try to avoid the navy's assault where you can as well, but if they start gett'n in the way?" the captain pondered a moment... "Don't be afraid to remind the white coats why we're called pirates! If we won't let Black touch the isle, by Davey Jones we sure as hell won't let them either!"

Hakai was already below deck priming the cannons. It was going to take some big hits to bring down these giants. Normal shells do nothing to them, so he was going to have to break out some special ones...

Captian T-Kun! Prepare your ship! It is swifter and Espe has been on of the best shots I have seen. We will direct fire at the legs. MEN, try to take them down, one by one! One stick is easily broken, but a bundle of branches is a strong force! Everyone aim at a leg of the single statue at a time." Letra turned swiftly towards the side, her attention turned to the Armitice, "I want you three to scale ahead. The attention will remain on us Fire at will if your lives are threatened but save your ammo. Teach is ours and your shots are one of our keys to victory!"

She strolled across the deck, a slight limp in her stride. "Cornellia. Please go with them. I want you guys to make step on the isle."

The blond turned, gathering her crew's attention. A woman of treason, still holding even a mild respect in human sense where her military kind was mostly lost. I have heard the madman's rambles through the seer stone. There is a place he plans to land. I don't know where but the pirates aren't far behind. I don't know if there is something important on this land or if they are for revenge after Teach or if there's possibly some code that the 4 kings follow but I want first strick at him. This is more then a personal revenge! He thinks he can wipe out order in the sea? That he can rule over the waters where our friends, our families live?! We shall not let him! The time is now. If you would follow me, You must be willing to follow me to your death. If we are all to die here today and take that black bastard down with us! We will die heroes of the seas! A proud and strong name the Navy once held! We may be few of the last, but we will make sure and fight so that the homes we love, Windfall, Dragon Roost, Outset, ALL WILL NOT DIE WITH US AND LIVE ON!" Men saluted, others hesitated and others were down right annoyed, but had their orders, and began to set up and load cannons.

"Miss Ivy! It's time to put your magic's to the test." She smiled, grinned almost in a way distinctly like her younger sibling.

Menroe frowned slightly and walked over, staring up at the daywalker. "Captain. Shouldn't this be a time to set aside the past? Your both working for a common goal. Both ships should team together and fight to bring the statues down! So at least everyone is safe. Then go back to your rivalry!" As she finished the younger of her blood grabbed her. "But the rilvarly is the best part! It's a race against the clock and we plan on winning!"

As the water was forced out from under the weight of the almost celestial beings, their new dark master atop, bloody fingers twitched under the unconscious body.

((I figured this way, MW and T-Kun won't be stuck on a ship fighting, they can go and do their own thing, weather it be fight how they want or go ahead to the island. Give them control over what they want to do since I've been controlling it long enough.))

Demon reached into his pocket and he pulled out a small vial, full of black stuff. He traced one of his fingernails around the rim of it, and then walked up to the captain. "Captain, I have an attack that will probably get rid of one of those statues. It's really powerful, but I suggest that you have the doc on hand when I do it. If I mess it up, even slightly, I'll rip a hole in my stomach." He said, before putting the vial back into his pocket. He stared off at the target.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cindy went to where Hakai was. "I don't want to bother you, but I want to help you again. Please! This is an important fight and I'm worried. With the navy and Black's ships everywhere, I'm just worried. Please, let me help you somehow." She begged.

Yio walked up to Demon. “And you always have me with Eclipse’s healing crystals.” She said with a shy smile.

“You can borrow the large one!” Eclipse shouted from the mast before she dropped her big healing crystal into Yio’s hands.

“You’re main crystal? But I don’t think—“

“Don’t think! Just use it when you have to! Demon’s attack sounds fatal and that crystal of mine can heal faster than the doctor’s method’s! No offense Doc!”

Yio smiled. “Thank you!”

“No problem. Just don’t lose it!” Eclipse replied before facing the statues. “I’m gonna go ahead! See you guys there!” She said before she jumped onto a black platform and started to run to the statues while more platforms appeared to make her path.

Cornellia promptly nodded, gathered her stuff, and jumped onto the two trouble maker's boat. "Alright, so let's get to that island."

Dimitri tightened his grip on the wheel, preparing for sudden turns to avoid flying debri from the fight. From the way his allies were acting, this was not going to end peacefully. Asia, on the other hand, smirked and pulled out a handful of cherry bombs. "I'm ready when you people are," she said."

"Aye!" said Ivy, ready to do what her commanding officer requested.

"Alright, giant statues. Seem easy enough to destroy." T-kun said, sizing them up. "Kryys, go fly around them, give me some descriptions, weak points would be nice too."
"Sure thing." Kryys said, jumping up and flying off.
"Espe, let's try our basic explosive rounds and see what they do." T-kun said.
"Fine by me. Hopefully we can whip out the fancy stuff later though, we haven't gotten to use them in a while." Espe said, as he loaded the cannons.
"All set!" He yelled.
"Alright, 3, 2..." T-kun started to count down, but was interrupted by a loud bang.
"I thought we were going at 3." Espe said, shrugging.
"You realize how little sense that-" T-kun started, but was again interrupted by fire from the cannons. "Screw it." T-kun said, and focused back on maneuvering the ship.

"Open fire~!~" Letra cried, throwing her hand out in the direction of the bow of the ship. Now was the time, the final confrontation, her men have made the first move and she was ready to follow suit. "Aim all projectiles at the feet, we will bring these creatures down to their knees before their faces are wiped from the face of the present! They will return to the history for which they belong!" The game of chess was played and lost, a chase of cat and rat had begun, and the cats were winning, with the sea rats not far behind. She couldn't help but wonder where this madman was heading with such fearless beasts, soulless lives, and even more, why her brother's body and why would only the Dawn set chase afterwards. Was there information she was lacking? A slight bit of dought filled her mind slightly, her younger sibling would have had all the facts together 5 steps ahead of where they were going, but for now she had to relay on her military skills and gut instincts.

Hakai nodded. "Ryo! Man the cannons! I have them set up with the explosive rounds. Cindy? You can change into a bird right? A big on like a rito? If you can fly me close to one of those things I think I might have something that can do some damage."

He unlocked and dug into a stone chest and pulled out a brass hand cannon big enough to be carried by two hands, albeit barely. He looked over at Cindy, "If you don't think you can do it, don't stress yourself. But if you can? I'm ready to go when you are."


Rama nodded to Demon, "You take your life into your own hands mate, you're a brave lad but any and all help is appreciated. We can't allow him to reach that island with those statues."



And with that the assault was launched. 16 statues all marching toward Miria island under the control of the most feared man in the world with the legendary heroe's own son as his hostage. Pirates, Thieves, Renegades, and Ex-Navy. For better or for worse, they all had to do their part.

Cindy smiled. "I can do that easily! I'll meet you out on the deck." she said, and ran off. She made it up and leaped off of the deck, transforming into a bird that was large enough for one person to get on.

Demon nodded at the captain. "I understand." He then smiled and nodded to Yio. "Don't worry, I won't be using this attack just yet. I want to see how well they last under some phoenix's fire first." He took off his shirt and his wings sprouted and ignited. He flew off and met one of the statues. "Let's see how you like some of this." His wings outstretched and he spread his arms out, his hands drawing some of the fire. He brought them together, and a powerful burst of fire shot from them. The statue he was attacking didn't seem to be damaged at all, but it slowed just a little. "All right, so you don't like fire after all." He drew more fire onto his arms, and started flying around the statue he was attacking, superheating the water and occasionally blasting the statue with the fire, trying to get it to slow down.

Huge orbs formed in Eclipse’s hands as she ran on her platforms. When she got close enough to a statue she swung her hands behind her back then flung them forward. The orbs crashed into the statue’s legs. Numerous cracks formed upon the impact. The statue staggered; its movements were sluggish now.

Eclipse smiled a wide smile and chucked two more orbs at the legs. The said legs shattered and the statue fell with a big splash.

“Not so tough now.” Eclipse said, hands on her hips. She held out her hand towards another statue and black vines flew out. When they reached the statue they wrapped and bound themselves tightly around it. They started to constrict the statue like a snake does to its prey. With all these black vines restricting its movement; it wasn’t going anywhere.

Yio gripped the rail of the ship as she watched her friends fighting the statues. She wanted to help so badly. But right now she had to wait until the ship was close enough.

The new captian glared off at the other sounds of canon fire, watching another statue take damage from an on coming assault. "Steal my ideas. Just like a pirate." She watched, seeing the Armitice go through with high fire and ease with the water. She rubbed her fingers together slightly and held out her hand, spinning the wheel so the ship was sideways towards the statue for more open fire access and released the wheel, causing the boat to almost tip slightly before settling back on the waters.

"Mary-Lynn! Everyone else is." "Ya know I don't care to do what everyone else does!" She said, having already jumped over the side and started to climb up the side of a statue, her well muscled arms allowing to do so. She climbed her way up to the top of one of the statues..."No eye heh? Well, might as well take your whole face while I'm at it. Hit it Goldy~!" She yelled, swinging the hunk ton of gold hard into the rock of the creature, creating a dent. Strange, as mythical as they were, they were worn with age, perhaps being under the seas long, but while their strength was still amazing, their bodies were old and beginning to wither down. Menroe stood at the ships side, watching out at all that was happening. Even weilding one of the dragon carved blades, the earth would not move to her call, not being a spirit of it, nor would these giant creatures. She just kept an eye on her younger sibling.

((10,000th VIEWER!! ))

Cornelia braced herself on the rails, the cannons booming and the ship rocking. "You two are insane!" She yelled, imagining the boat tipping over from the force of the canons.

Asia chose her target and threw a small bomb at it. The statue didn't seem affected at all-- but it now noticed her. It moved it limbs towards her, ready to land a blow. She used a second to curse before jumping back and throwing a bunch more. Still, the blasted thing did not want to die. Asia moved back a few steps before feeling the Alice's rails press against her back. Behind her was the open ocean. The fear of falling into her watery grave made her grind her teeth together and kick herself into action. The moment the statue lunged for her, Asia ducked and kicked it over the rails and into the water.
A small smirk stretched across the face when it gave a satisfied splash.

Kryys landed with a thud on the deck of the ship.
"Yeah, these things are pretty solid. Though maybe if you aim at the feet-"
"Oh can it, you just stole that idea from Letra like everyone else did." Espe said.
"W-whatever, just try it out..." Kryys said.
"Already are, now be a good bird person and go man a cannon." Espe said, pointing at a cannon not in use.
"They look like they're slowing down, we might be close to victory!" T-kun shouted from the wheel.
"That'd be something, then the plot would advance..." said Espe under his breath as he kept firing their seemingly unlimited supply of cannon balls.

These massive creatures were indeed formidable, and essentially immortal to boot. But they were far from agile, and that was their weakness. As Demon boiled the water around his chosen target, the bubbles roughened the sea to greatly. Just one little stumble and the statue found itself face first into the waves with no way to get back up.
The same went for the other 5 they managed to take down. Two with out legs, one tripped much like Demon's, and one other restrained by dark vines. But 10 more still waded through the ocean not stopping once to aid their fallen comrades.


Hakai jumped on Cindy's back and took to the air.
"There! The one Eclipse is holding back!" as Cindy moved in he primed the many cannon and took aim for the leg. CRACK! The mini cannon flew out, jolting Cindy back and just about knocking Hakai off altogether! The mini ball borrowed its way into the leg and with in a few seconds....BOOM! Exploded with the force of a bomb almost taking the leg clear off. But...it still kept going...
BOOM! Another cannon ball hit it finishing it off, the restrained statue fell. Looking back one could see the ball came from the Dawn, most likely shot by Ryo!

The Captain shouted, "Aye! We're in firin' distance now! Got get em boys and girls!"





The Black looked back with a grand fury, "Think you can stop me? Pirates and Navy working together, what a truly sickening sight!" with this final exclamation he cast out his hand and a reef of rock and pillars rose from the sea! While no issue or the Alice or Armistice, they proved a nasty road block for the Dawn and Dartage.

Bellamy shouted from his nest, "Reef ho Captain! Summoned by the Black, we aren't gonna make it some one doesn't get rid of those for us!"

"Damn it!" She coughed slightly and turned swiftly, getting the crews attention. "I want those rocks gone!. I'm going ahead and confronting teach. She glared back at the dawn. "Miss Ivy. You are in charge of the ship. Do what you want, but meet me this destination as soon as possible." The woman said, saluting the officer before jumping off the edge of the boat, vanishing into thin air. "Captain Ramura the Red!" She stood at the very edge of the front of the ship. Her coat frowned behind her, torn at the bottoms and sleeve ends. "It appears both of our ships are at an impass. My crew will blast through in a matter of minutes, but what about you? If you plan on reaching the 4th King before I do. You are greatly mistaken. He has made a mockery of the honor and pride of the Navy and on a more personal matter, my family. If you have intentions of reaching him before me, I have this warning right here. I will have you all taken into cosidty and get the bounty to help rebuild the headquarters, better then before."

Letra hesistated and repositioned her weight onto her other leg. "However. Since he had the same ideals of freedom that you do, I offer a proposition. You help us take him down. you can have whatever you came for and I will pretend that I didn't see you after the battle of the tower. The only thing I ask is that I get the man first! Are was at a temporarily agreement? Or are bigones gonna remain bigones.

The idea of joining up with pirates thrilled and scared her. She had given and owed so much to the navy, she could never repay them for what they did for her. However, the idea of freedom, to be at the seas and help people like her childhood and young adult years by her mother's side still rested deep in her heart as a small flame, protected by all the others. Had it been her brother, he would have joined up without hesitation anymore and probley already won this battle.

"Sorry for the rough ride!" Cindy called to Hakai. "I didn't know that your little cannon packed such a big punch! I'll be ready next time!" She said. "but first..." Her feet turned into a wrecking ball. With that weight and the weight of Hakai, they were falling, but they were high enough that Cindy could angle their descent and she smashed the ball into one of the still-standing statues. When the impact was over, she turned her feet back to normal and flew away. Demon flew up to Cindy.

"Hey, that was pretty cool!" He said. "Do you guys need any supplies? Hakai's cannon thing is a pot more powerful than me right now so if you need more ammo or something, let me know!"

Michiko dove into the water. A blue light covered her body as she morphed into a huge blue koi fish. After the light faded away she lifted her head and opened her mouth. A powerful jet of water was released. It broke through a section of the rock wall; a hole big enough for one ship to go through.

“Miss Letra!” She called. “In all my years of doing my duty I’ve met countless of people willing to risk their lives for the sake of their family. You are one of those people. Your courage and determination to save your brother has touched me in so many ways. That is why I am willing to take to Black if you really want to get to him first.”

"From what I take, you are a descent of the Queen of Pirates herself," Dimitri added. "Although I do not trust easily, I am willing to forget my doubts in order to reach our common goal. However, if you even consider backing out... well, let's just say that your own brother wouldn't be able to recognize you." As Asia shrugged in vague agreement, he silently added, "And any opportunity to reach Mirage before Cornelia is a good one".