Pimp my Ride

It had been a rough night. The living quarters were very unfurnished, having no bed, cots, hammocks, or anything of the like. Clearly, these Marines weren't the most prepared of the bunch. Breakfast of more hardtack and room temperature water was not what you'd call energizing, either. Luckily, they'd come into sight of a new island not far off into the distance. It had some sort of tree on it, probably meaning it had to be populated. Trees don't normally grow that big on their own. Hopefully, this place had some good equipment. This new ship was in need of an upgrade. More of a tune up, really. And a good painter.

Sailing was, for lack of a better term, absolutely fantastic. The smell of the sea, the sensation of the salt breeze and the incredible blue expanse all around him was an entirely new world compared to the stranglehold his family had held him in for years. For the first time, he was truly free. Sitting cross-legged near the front of the ship, the lightning bruiser inhaled deeply and held the breath for a long moment before finally exhaling through his teeth. It was one of the many breathing exercises that his master had taught him way back in the day to gradually increase his lung capacity. Fighting was all in the breath, the longer you could go on a single breath the better.

Finally cracking open an eye to check out their newest destination, Tyson looked back over his shoulder at the man in glasses currently in charge of this floating engine of death. "So what's the plan once we get to Tree Island anyway? We all gonna go grocery shopping like an old married couple or what?"

Slade had all but abandoned the irritating two-some down on the top decks, instead finding himself quite at home within the crow's nest, finding a nice place to nestle into. Laying the confined space with his feet visibly propped on the rim, Slade had allowed his attention to be swallowed by the cyan sky as a distraction from how ridiculous he had found the dispositions of his new acquaintances. He held no dislike towards their carefree attitudes. In fact, it was one of the qualities that Corban shared, but the simple lack of coordination and organization that the two had was simply mind blowing. Not only that, but neither of them knew how to actually sail, with the blond having just enough skills to work the sails and the four-eyed suit being capable of steering. How exactly did they expect to make a decent pirating career with such lackluster skills on the high seas, especially since they were plagued with the curse of the Devil Fruit?!

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Slade shifted a bit and interlocked his fingers behind his head to provide some modicum of comfort against the hard wood he had been laying on, muttering his many concerns and dislikes about them slightly under his breath. Slade had long since figured out that they had headed west since the so-called captain of their rag-tag crew had pointed out the direction on a whim. Granted, the one-eyed sniper was no navigator, but he had enough experience to tell simple directions without a compass by using the subtle hints that were found in the world, such as the position of the sun. In fact, such a choice in direction left the Marksman questioning the decision overall. The West Blue held almost nothing of importance to a group of barely-coherent pirates like themselves, but he simply chalked it up to a pointless endevour that would likely bare little to no fruit.

Then again, Slade suddenly thought, there is a Marine Base in the West Blue, if I recall. 80th branch? Stroking his stubble in thought, a sly smirk crossed his lips as a rather sinister idea formed in his twisted little mind. If this trip doesn't bare anything of value, I suppose raiding the base would do our bounties good. Not to mention the supplies we could get from their store houses. That would shut up the Glasses' complaint about the lack of food and fix most of our other problems regarding the ships ammunition and black powder inventory... Eh?

Pulled from his thoughts by the sight of a towering tree that pierced the clouds, Slade pulled himself into a seated position as his eyes tracked the trunk up into the sea of blue that was above them. "This is..." Placing a hand on the rim, Slade pulled himself up and looked over the edge toward the two below. "Oi! The hell are we doing in Ohara?!"

He thought about what their goals would be once they reached land. "Someone should go get food. I'm going to try and find some stuff to work on the ship with. We're still really low tech right now." He'd done plenty of building and wire jobs back home while constructing his training course. He needed something like that to keep up with his sword, but he was also hoping to build up on the ship a bit. Some lights, a cold place to keep food that doesn't belong in barrels, maybe even some motorized fans for propelling the ship through the water. The closer they got to that island, though, the less likely it seemed to find the kind of stuff he'd need. It was rather small from the looks of it, so chances were slim it would even contain the amount of metal, glass, and other supplies he'd need to do this work.

The angry old man started talking now. "That's the way the wind blew the ship." He wasn't really sure how to answer that question. He didn't even know the name of this place, let alone why they would have floated there intentionally. Apparently, there wasn't something cool there, though. Why else would he be acting this way? Hopes were bright for finding what he needed now. Maybe they could even get a cow.

Groaning at the excitable state of their sharpshooter, Tyson hauled himself to his feet and walked towards the back of the ship to better participate in the conversation. Stopping next to the main mast, the martial artist crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the giant wooden pole. "You may very well know something that I don't but that island looks like a whole lot of nothing outside of that giant ass tree. If you really want to trick this thing out, we should probably look for some place a little more settled. Food, metal, ammo, all that good stuff," he said with a shrug. Noticing the surprising urgency in Corban's voice, Tyson looked up to address the older man in the crow's nest. "Yo gramps, you've been all over right? There any place we can get plenty of supplies around here?"

There it was again, that lack of organization and forethought from their so-called leader in place of simple-mindedness and carefree attitudes when it should be the opposite. The fact that this guy was their supposed captain was just too freakin' unbelievable for Corban to take seriously, so he didn't. However, that hardly mitigated the annoyance he currently felt and it showed. If they didn't get a navigator soon, he'd likely go mad. Placing a palm over his face in agitation, Slade sighed audibly in a large huff as he rambled on internally, dragging his hand down his face to stretch it's features in the process. Right, the wind... Of freakin' course. I mean, what should I have expected? These are guys that don't even know how to properly sail despite not being able to swim, why did I give them any credit towards possibly knowing their own reasons for doing anything...?

Glancing towards the Island and focusing on the large tree at it's center, Slade took a moment to think before responding. It might not be an Island brimful with anything useful, but it did possess one thing that they could abuse; the ample amount of information held within the Tree of Knowledge's library. "Yellow Thunder down there is right. Ohara's an ancient island dedicated solely tae amassing knowledge in all of it's forms, not ah major city overflowing with commodities an' luxurious comforts fer us ta abuse. It's highly unlikely we'll be able ta find more than maybe a day or two's worth of food, if 'ey'd be willing to even spare that. However, I 'ave little doubt in my mind that we'll be able to find an updated map considerin' tha places obsession with knowing shit."

Slade grabbed hold of one of the nearby ropes and used it for a controlled decent towards the deck to join the others, in which he dusted his hands off upon completing his graceful enough landing that didn't involve him slamming face-first into the wood. "In regards to yer fantasy about upgrading the ship, however, that's not likely to happen 'ere unless yer thinkin' of using bark and paper to do it. The best thing we could likely get, as I said, would be a map of all the Blues', seeing as how large that freakin' library of theirs is." Quirking a brow, Slade turned slightly to face the yellow-haired bruiser that was now beside him, seeing it as an opportunity to bring up the plan he had formed earlier. "Now that ya mention it, if memory serves there is a Marine Base located a ways away from here, further west if I recall. Nothin' major, either, considerin' it's the 80th Branch, but their store houses would probably be full like any other. Tha'd solve our problems of food, water, bedding, ammunition and powder, and all tha' little things."

Maps were always a good bonus. "You'll be in charge of the maps, then," he said to the sniper. He was disappointed to learn that this island really wouldn't have what he needed to trick out their ship. However, the news of a library seemed interesting enough. He could probably find a few books worth reading, too. "We should keep going before we try to fight Marines," he commented. "Breakfast kind of sucked. We'll need more energy if we want to fight at full power."

He remembered the weights in his pockets then, pulling out the bombs and smoke he'd make himself. "You guys should probably take some of these, too. I made them back in Water 7 for when we need some extra options in combat." He handed each of them a good number of each for future use. Whenever he could find more materials, he'd be able to make more. And with a ship, they'd be able to stockpile loads of them.

(OOC) 3 bombs for each, 8 smoke for each. Bombs are lit with a fuse, smoke is thrown and explodes into a purple cloud.

Nodding along with the discussion so far, Tyson pushed off the mast to take hold of Fisher's offering of explosives. Hopefully they would not need to be used but you could never be too sure. Looking up at the Ohara dock growing larger and larger in view, Tyson yawned audibly before moving to the edge of the deck for a better look. "Good map from the librarians and maybe a little food from whatever vendors they've got over there, before we head off to kick a little ass? I'm not complaining but I don't have much interest in wandering up and down aisle after aisle of old books," he said, suddenly lowering himself to a seared position and then stretching out completely on the deck with his fur coat as a pleasant pillow. "I'll keep an eye on the ship if you guys don't mind."

"I planned to do it anyway. Now that I'm here, I've got some business here I want to take care of. Not to mention, if either of you did it, you'd likely come back with four copies of the same thing..." He commented, accepting the explosives and eying them with a suspicious curiosity before placing them in the internal breast pockets of his clothing. He'd seen their explosive powers back on the dock, so it wouldn't hurt to keep a few for himself. The acting captain certainly wasn't the best of pirates, but he seemed to be a technological wiz with things, so at least he had some usefulness. "If someone hadn't let tha goddamn Marine flag go, we'd be able ta get on their dock unsuspected and unload tha entire broadside into tha walls without havin' ta worry about whether or not either of you are at yer best. Half the job would'a been done in tha first five seconds of arrivin'..." Slade turned, scratching the back of his head in irritation.

"I doubt ya need ta watch tha ship considerin' this island isn't known fer criminal activity. Their'all real peaceful like. Tha most you'd likely get is ah curious townsfolk wonderin' why the hell a war vessel is stationed at tha dock with only ah three man crew, but whatever." He paused, giving another glance towards the approaching docks and positioning himself against the edge to prepare for an immediate departure as soon as the peer was within range of his ability to leap the distance. He had planned to get a bit more than a few maps, however. Ohara had all sorts of information within the walls of that tree of theirs, and Slade would be damned if he didn't take advantage of it for potential instances in the future. It's not like either of his companions had the forethought to think about what could happen anyway, so that pretty much made him the crew strategist for all it was worth.

"Now tha' I've thought about it, tha' library might have some information that might be useful in the future, so I'll prolly be gone for an hour or two while I dig through tha crap that's been amassed there. So if Thunder Boy is stayin' here, tha' means yer in charge of taday's food."

Continued in task.