One Piece; The Great Pirate Era

Relentlessly the pellets from the cutout pirate ship hammered into Flint. However, quick on his feet, he found a shield to protect himself. Each one hit his flailing and angered barrier, before bouncing and rolling onto the boardwalk.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!?" The middle-aged man exclaimed irritably, as Flint hid behind him to avoid another barrage. "Not trying to get hit, of course!"

"That's against the rules!" The staff member exclaimed, as he accusingly pointed his finger. "How would you know? You're a pirate."

"Oh..." They immediately noticed their getup, because they were impersonating a pirate. "Good point." They replied, as they ceased firing, and exposed themselves from where they were kneeling. Without warning, a rock hit them in the head, and they fell over unconsciously.

"That was close." Wiping his brow, Flint stared above at the sun in order to observe the current time. I wonder if Hawkins has gotten a sear screw yet. Those merchants will try to put one over him, if he's not careful...

Anais relaxed upon seeing Flint fight off the staff member pirate. That was a close one. Flint had to be careful if he wanted to survive this round. God, what were they going to do if Hawkins didn't come back in time?

She thought about leaving to go find him. Knowing that idiot, he probably got himself piss drunk in a bar somewhere. But if she left suddenly, that might throw Flint off. If seagulls flying above could distract him, she couldn't imagine what her sudden absence might do.

Anais scanned the arena entrance to see if there was any sign of him. But there wasn't. That idiot.

OOC: I think Hawkins should remain out of action for a couple of posts.

OOC: Sure, we can delay his impending doom.

"It looks the Black Beard ship has finally met its maker!" Exclaimed the announcer, whose voice channeled through the various speakers erected around the stadium. "Participant six from group three earns thirty points!" They added, bumping Flint's score to a total of thirty three.

"And armed with nothing but a slingshot, not bad." Diligently a staff member continuously switched and changed the scoreboard for the countless participants within the maze. By the looks of it, hitting a single cutout gained a person three points, which is where Flint's remaining handful had came from.

Although he was nowhere near the top he also wasn't at the very bottom of the list either. The point-keeper also continued to change everyone's score for each passing moment. The number of people earning more points continued, after Flint's take down of the pirate ship.

OOC: Also if you think you can do whatever it is that you wanted to do, then you can go for it. I don't know, you mentioned wanting to do something, not sure how big or small it was.

To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out where to take this island arc currently. I have a few ideas, most are Point A/B, with the middle ground missing lol.

OOC: I know where Hawkins can go but I don't know if he'd end up getting Flint the parts he needed lol XD

Anais sat fidgeting in her seat. She was starting to understand the concept of the point system, something she hadn't really been paying attention to before. In all honesty, she was just hoping Flint would make it through the maze. Now she had to worry about points too?

Hawkins still wasn't back. And, at this rate, she wasn't entirely sure he was coming back. Which meant, she might now be forced to find the parts Flint needed. With no money whatsoever. She just had to trust that Flint would be fine on his own. But she had to be quick as it seemed like the round was almost over.

"Flint! Flint, listen, I'm going to go look for Hawkins!" Anais shouted as loud as she could. She wasn't sure if Flint got the message or not and she didn't have time to find out.

Anais got out of her seat. It was easy for her to squirm past everyone and make it to the lower level of the arena. Once out the crowd, she hustled into the crowd of the town's market.

OOC: Wait, what do you mean about Hawkins going somewhere? Was that to my first or second OOC comment? Bit confused there.

Despite his success of besting the pirate ship, Flint could still hear the sounds of energetic and chilling shouts, stampeding feet, and gun fire. He assumed this meant that he didn't finish the second challenge. Otherwise he was sure that the commotion would had settled down.

"Aw man...I thought you were the last boss or something..." Flint bemoaned, but did not receive a reply from the unconscious staff member, nor the grumpy middle-aged man. These long stretching white walls and the many confusing passageways began to annoy him. He needed to press on, but to where?

It didn't help that he couldn't hear Anais through all the fused noises, but he needed to keep his head in the game anyway. With over eight different paths to take behind the ship, Flint then stared above at the fake hallow vessel.

It was then when a idea hatched and with a plan set in motion, he jumped on the ship. Although vision was impeded by the different barriers, he could still see different things like shadows, smoke, and contestants running about.

From what he was able to see, he was in trouble if he didn't start moving yet. A lot of the targets had already been attacked, leaving him behind as countless others began to rake in on points.

"Stupid pirate, you wasted too much of my time!" Flint retorted, as he glared at the knocked out member. "Punch him for me to!" The man exclaimed, as he spotted Flint hitting him in his head.

It was then that another thought occurred, as he held the staff member by his lifeless and dangling collar.

-

Elsewhere as Anais had squeezed her way through the crowded stadium, she would soon find out that the town itself was just as packed. They couldn't fit much other people on this island if they tried, or at least not this street. The figure of expression, packed tighter than a sardine in a can would come to one's mind.

There were adults and children everywhere, parents and siblings, and everyone in between. No one from this island was staying inside today and missing this event, and it showed. Taking up on this opportunity were all the vendors who were pushing their cart full of wares every which way.

They housed food and drinks for those who needed to quench their thirst or hunger, a variety of clothing and souvenirs for that someone who needed a special trinket to commemorate this day, along with a few other odds and ends. If one was to look hard enough they could probably find these salespeople carrying just about anything.

OOC: I figured I'd start off a post for Anais (if you're RPing as her) on account that it wouldn't be too much fun to RP by yourself. Unless you had something else in mind, in which case disregard what I posted and do what you intended.

OOC: I had meant that if you need help with 'what happens in the middle' I know where Hawkins can go. I just don't think he's going to accomplish what we told him to do :p will edit this post momentarily.

Although it was crowded, Anais managed to catch a vendor here or there with a cart full of trinkets. But the question was: where was she going to get the money? Hawkins had taken it all. She had no way of purchasing anything even if she wanted to.

A thought then hatched in her head from this morning.

"No!" Anais told herself. "You're not stooping so low to follow Hawkins' stupid tricks." There's got to be another way...

Anais attempted to catch one of the vendors. "Hey! Hey you!" she called. It was probably difficult for the vendor to see her given her size and the state of the crowd. Still, she tried to push her way forward.



Hawkins' nose twitched as he slowly started to wake up. He groaned, rubbing his temple. After laying there for a few moments, he forced himself over to his side. He staggered to get up but it wasn't easy.

He was still drunk as hell and he still had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Jesus, at this point, he wasn't even sure if he remembered his own name. Something with a 'H'. Yeah, close enough.

At his first attempts to make what normal people call steps forward, he fell flat on his face again. When he got up again, he seemed to be making slightly better progress as he swayed to and fro in an attempt to head in some direction. He wasn't sure which direction but some direction was fine.

Through the chaotic and noisy crowd, a single vendor pushing his wares heard a little girl's plea. As soon as his ears perked on their shouts, the allure of money followed. Although he seemed to vanish amongst the people, he immediately reappeared in front of Anais with a creepy grin.

"Greetings! Greetings! What can I do for you?" They asked in a tone, which was just as obnoxious as their smile. "Are you looking for a confetti popper?" The vendor asked, as they sampled one of their merchandise, so that she could see all the paper pieces fly everywhere. It blast out of the container, almost close to hitting her in the face.

Immediately throwing it over his shoulder, he grabbed a party blower. "Or maybe one of these!" They asked, as the horn made an annoying sound, as he blew into it.

-

Elsewhere, as Hawkins drunkenly swayed with each step, which always appeared to be one of his last, he accidentally bumped into a passerby. "Hey!" An irritated man yelled, as he was walking away, and raising his fist. "Watch where you're going you lazy bum!"

Another person was minding their business, as Hawkins passed by them. Casually and comfortably leaning against a establishments outside wall, their rest and relaxation came to an immediate halt, as the overbearing smell of a drunken man's alcoholic breath filled the air.

As their eyes began to water, they fanned the air around them, before coughing. "Get a job, you lazy bum!" They uncontrollably coughed again. "You know, a job where people actually work for a living and make money!?"

"No!" Anais shouted, irritated at the fact the man was blowing and throwing confetti and noise in her face. "I need parts for a gun."


Hawkins made no response to the people belittling him along the way. Mostly because he still wasn't entirely sure what planet he was on at the moment. So he stumbled forward, still trying to figure out how to form coherent thoughts. Hell, he'd settle for forming a coherent word at this point.

OOC: so like is it okay if Hawkins and Anais meet up cause that's what I was going for...

OOC: Sure, but I should probably use Anais at that point. Otherwise you'd be rping by yourself. So you should probably do a oneshot or something about what Hawkins is doing currently and I'll take over Anais and have her go from there.

Having made progress from the pirate cut-out section, Flint juggled between firing at pirate boards and lugging around his extra cargo. Sometimes he even accidentally aimed at one of the Marines, as things often got heated. However, he was lucky enough not to hit any of them, and often quickly slacked the slingshot's band.

It didn't help his concentration that gunshots and shouts were rampant everywhere, as smoke belched here and there. He had been alone through most of his maze travel, unless you counted his time with the disqualified middle-aged man. Now he had arrived where a massive group had converged and they were just about going anywhere through this maze at this point, and shot up anything that popped in their path. Some even unfortunately shot the Marine's to pieces.

Points were deducted from their scoreboard, along with the announcer adding something to the lines of 'better luck next time.'

Suddenly a peculiar pirate cutout popped in front of Flint and he immediately aimed at it with quick reflexes and precision. Then out of nowhere the group of trouble-making contestants arrived. The same exact teenagers who were giving him a problem at the firing range.

With their confident stride and merry laughter, they began to decimate the entire lot of cutouts in their path, before they knocked Flint. This sudden and unexpected action caused him to release the sling, which then launched a rock off course and into a Marine cutout near the pirate.

The smiling Marine, who was waving cheerfully, had their head torn off in a series of splinters, and then dropped to its feet. "Oops!" One of the rowdy teens exclaimed, as they rushed off and laughed at Flint's expense. "Better luck next time!"

-

"Gun parts?" The vendor uttered in shock at such a request. "You're in the wrong place kid. I bet the entire town is cleaned out at this point." Not to mention if there are any, the prices would gouge you.

"Besides, what does a little girl like you need with guns?"

In his drunken state, Hawkins wasn't entirely sure where he was or where he was going. He was a lost soul, wandering aimlessly.

He didn't know how long he had been walking or even how far he had gotten but someone in the midst of the crowd seemed to send off a faint signal in his brain. He thought he knew this person. In fact, he was pretty sure of it. But he had no idea who she was or how he knew her.

Hawkins stumbled towards her, or at least, tried.

As soon as Flint's rock destroyed the Marine cutout unintentionally, by foul play, a few of the audience moaned in disappointment. With eyes of a hawk, the announcer caught everything that went on in the maze, including this incident. "Looks like we got ourselves a pirate in the mix!" They exclaimed due to his mistake.

"Two more times and you'll be wanted by the Marines!" They added, until they noticed Flint was shouting and throwing several obscenities. There was a moment of pause, when he spotted the contestants who were foul-playing before. "Uh kid...that means you'll be disqualified and taken away."

Once the group had switched into another hallway of the maze, Flint hoisted his extra luggage over his shoulder, which was the unconscious pirate staff member, and proceeded onwards to the next destination. He lost a lot of the points he had already gained, so he needed to regain them.

Elsewhere, as the group lacking sportsmanship entered the next hall, the fired at every pirate cutout accurately. Through their merrymaking, several Marine staff members came through personnel doorways. Placing the participants hands behind their backs, their attitude soon changed to confusion.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" One of them asked the staff, "Come with us, you failed."

-

"I'm not here for confetti and annoying sounds! I get enough of that garbage with people I know!" Anais fumed, as she stomped her foot. "So tell me where to find the local stores. A place that holds an event like this has to have a few."

"Well aren't you a smart kid." The vendor who was pushing trinkets remarked, before pointing to the third street to the far right of the harbor they were currently on. "Head this way, it's where you'll find the cheapest selections."

Cheapest didn't always mean the greatest, but at this point everything else was probably bought out. Not to mention they didn't have that much money to begin with, especially if Hawkins went and found a way to lose their loose change by any means possible.

"Oh, but a fair warning." The vendor remarked, which caught her attention. "There is always a tavern notorious for harboring drunks of all kinds. Be sure to steer away from that place. Unless you want to be mugged."

Oh greaaat, I have a feeling where that dumbass is now... "Thanks, I have to be going now." To potentially beat some sense into someone...

After having left the docks and making her way to the third street, Anais had trouble finding anything in this crowded town. All the shops and stores looked the same, but she didn't have time to check in each one of them. So instead she went with her gut feeling, which began to churn, and scouted out this 'tavern'

And of course her stomach did churn even more, when she noticed a familiar face staggering towards her.

When he was close enough, Hawkins tried to address the person he realized he recognized.

"Ananana--Anay-" Hawkins said. He shook his head, realizing this wasn't going to work. So then, he held up the mug that was in his hand. He wasn't sure why but he thought that might clear some things up.


OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR6LxPXQDzo :D

The way that Hawkins carried himself, if stumbling and stagger could even be called that, Anais recognized what had happened. The smell of his breath, as he attempted to pronounce her name was even more revealing. She had to lean back in disgust, as she gasped for breath, and fanned the air around her nose.

"Ugh you pig, I should've known!" Anais exclaimed, especially once she noticed the wooden beer mug he was flailing about. Was that his way of showing off whatever it is that he did. Is that how he got his number one status, pasted on the cup. "Number one huh? In what, being a dumbass!?"

Immediately she swiped the mug out of his hands, which wasn't difficult to do with a drunken man. It still had most of its contents in it, which she didn't bother eying and smelling too much. With her anger getting the best of her, she tossed the alcohol straightly into his face. "Don't tell me you wasted all our money!"

Hawkins yelled as the alcoholic drink was thrown in his face. That was the last thing he wanted.

"Blast it!" he yelled. Apparently, the shock of throwing something in his face was enough to wake up, if only a little.

He wiped the liquid from his face and when he was done, he stared angrily at Anais.

"It's not--It's not what you think," Hawkins started to say. He was now forming words but unfortunately he was still slurring every which way. "I was trying to win us more--more money."

"Oh hoho, it sure looks like you were trying to win something!" Anais exclaimed, as she grabbed the collar of Hawkins shirt. Such a feat would probably be difficult due to her size and his strength, but because he was very drunk, and could not support his own legs it was easily managed.

She then squeezed the mug's handle. "I have an idea as to what to do with this number one. And the next time you go number two, you'll always remember the day you screwed us over."

Hawkins pulled away from Anais.

"Alright, that's enough," he finally said. After all, he was still the adult here. Right? "What's done is done. Can't change it now."

He paused as his mind was still a bit fuzzy. Although he was still very much drunk, the grueling side effects of the last drink were wearing off.

"We need money or gun parts..." Hawkins said, mostly to himself. They needed a plan and they needed it quick. He paused again to think things through. "And I think I know where to get some."

He started to lead Anais back from where he had come from: the bar that had cheated him out of his money. When they were near it, he pulled Anais to the side of the building where no one else was around and spoke lowly.

"Now here's what I'm thinking. Most of those guys just got out of the contest right? Which means, they're piss drunk like I was. So find someone either inside the bar or just outside and say you think they've made a mistake."

Here, Hawkins took out of his pocket a pouch, one that would usually harvest coins. He filled it with pebbles on the ground.

"And say they accidentally took the wrong pouch. Make it seem like there's more money in this one than the one they're going to give you so they'll be more willing to swap."

Anais really wasn't sure what to make of Hawkins plan. She just stood in front of him, as he held a bag of pebbles for her to take. She stared at him, with a look that screamed out how unconvinced she was with his ideas.

But the fact that he was still drunk enough to capsize, especially on her, that his breath smelled of bilge, and because looking at his face still angered her, she forcefully swiped the sack out of his hands, and proceeded towards the tavern.

After having spent some time inside the tavern and doing Hawkins bidding, Anais returned to the drunkard. She only hoped he didn't pass out, wander away somewhere lost and confused, and or found other ways to complicate their situation.

When she came up to him, she brought another wooden mug, and thumped it into his chest. "Here's your reward." It was a similar mug that he had won, but was still filled with booze. Booze that Hawkins possibly needed in order to calm whatever hangovers would soon be looming over him.

As Anais left to carry out the mission, Hawkins stayed nearby. He watched from a distance as Anais carried out the plan in case she needed any sort of back up from him. After all, he wasn't going to leave her alone in a tavern full of drunk men.

Most of his watching consisted of him peeking through a window but once or twice he did have to walk by the entrance just so see what was going on.

Hawkins only became confused when he saw Anais buy a drink. He waited to see what she was up to but in the end, she walked out of the tavern and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he said as he took the mug. He took a small, cautious sip. "Okay let's go get those parts for Flint."

He started to walk down the street on the search now for a shop.

"By the way, let me know if you get hungry. I get a free meal at the tavern." Hawkins took another, bigger sip. "Just don't tell Flint or he'll cause a scene."

"Before you ask, I didn't buy that." Anais belted, with her anger still present, but slowly dissipating. "That's the reward they all got."

"So what did you guys get for winning? I got some free meals and a mug of beer!" One of the previous winning participants remarked, as an even more drunkard pulled out stones from his bag. "I got a rock..."

"So what we now have in our possession is two wooden mugs and three free meal tickets." She remarked, as she calculated their inventory. "Considering the money we had before, your drunkenness actually helped."

The problem now however was if they did manage to find even one of the gun parts, what would they pay off the seller with? Free tickets to meals? That would defeat the purpose. Maybe if they were lucky, they would find an owner who needed a stiff drink in return for a piece. If only she could keep Hawkins from consuming it all before they got there.

With that in mind, she took the mug of booze away from him again. "That should be enough to keep your wits about you for now." Anais remarked, "We need something to barter after all."

-

Elsewhere, as the shootout maze was beginning to wind down, there were less and less targets to actually hit. There were so many cutouts that were already attacked or in pieces, bringing Flint to the conclusion that he had to at least find one target somewhere to hit to bring his score up.

He wasn't sure if it would be enough, but at this point he needed to do something. Every corner, long stretching hall, and area he entered seemed to be a war-zone of some kind. Maybe he did spend too much time messing around with the pirate ship after all? For that matter, where were all the others? Did they happen to reach the end of the maze already?

"What?! You mean to tell me everyone got the same prize?" A part of Hawkins wanted to go back and beat the living daylights out of the owner. Still, if it hadn't been for that little fact, they wouldn't have an additional three meal tickets that were now at their disposal.

"Point taken," Hawkins said as his drink was taken. He followed Anais to some hopeful takers.

Granted Hawkins sample would only last so long to sustain his impending hangover, the small taste would have to be enough for now. Hopefully they could find a gun owner, a smith, or a shop where they could barter the remainder of the drink, before the pains had a chance to come back to him with vengeance. Otherwise they would need to sacrifice even more of the drink in order to keep Hawkins wits about and his feet on the ground.

"We should probably split up, we don't have much time." Luckily they had two mugs to evenly distribute the drink. Anais carefully poured half into each cup, before handing one to Hawkins and keeping the other for her.

"I trust you won't drink this whole thing, before you find some kind of store or something." She remarked, as every building within this town seemed that it could had been a store of some kind for guns and parts.
____

Rushing worriedly through the remainder of the maze, Flint finally reached the end. At least, he thought it was the finish, because it was an opened area, with a clean view of the ocean and sky. Not that it mattered though, because at this point he probably was finishing last.

There didn't seem to be anyone else in the maze with him, or at least not that he took notice of. He managed to hit a few targets here or there that weren't taken down, but he wasn't sure if that still would be enough to get him to the next round.

Once he reached the finish line, he dropped and skid on his knees, before wearily breathing. "Di-did I make it? How off am I?"

Precautiously one of the staff members manning the exit of the maze approached Flint. "Actually...you're the fortieth one through. We're still waiting on the remaining one hundred and fifty."

"Oh...is that good?" Staring at the scoreboard, they shrugged. "That depends, take a seat with the others until the stragglers get back." They then noticed what was behind Flint's back. "And...what is this?"

"Oh? That's the pirate I took out." Flint remarked, noticing the unconscious staff member from before. "I thought, it wouldn't hurt to see if I could get more points by bringing him in alive."

Hawkins looked at the drink, unsure how to make this work. But he did as Anais said and went to find a decent shop for guns or parts.

He finally settled on one: a smaller shop. It appeared empty in comparison to the others and Hawkins guessed this was due to a "Grand Opening" sign written crudely in the window.

Seeming to be the best option he had encountered so far, he entered.

The shop that Hawkins choose was so empty, that there weren't any actual full weapons. There seemed to be indention, where pistols, rifles, and whatever other guns they had in store were displayed. The signs that resided next to empty shelves, stands, hangers, and other forms of storage could probably explain why that was.

There were tiny paper signs which stated that one sold out pistol was 25% off, while another was a buy one get one for free deal. Obviously the owner was trying to go all out with this grand opening, so that they could reap in the rewards quickly, rather then later. Still they probably would suffer for it later, now that their entire shop seemed cleaned of all fully intact firing arms.

There were still stocks, bins and trays full of different screws, a variety of different springs, several different metal pieces of all origins, and just about anything someone would need to construct or custom their own weapons.

At the counter was a balding middle aged man, who appeared to be sleeping, after having nearly sold most of his wares.
-
Elsewhere, Anais squeezed through the thick crowds of people, as she kept a vice grip on the half cup of alcohol she had. She only hoped that Hawkins hadn't drank the rest of his, either intentionally or subconsciously.

"There's got to be someone desperate enough to give something for half a drink..." She thought aloud, before a figure etched into her head, of who that person would be. Of course the only person she could think would be willing to go that low was on her own crew. So that didn't help matters.

Now, here Hawkins was faced with a dilemma. Was it wrong to steal from a sleeping man right from under his nose? Yes. But was Hawkins a pirate? Also yes.

As Hawkins contemplated the situation, he began to rummage through the parts that were left. He did so quietly in case his final decision was, indeed, to flat out steal. He also thought about whether or not he should just skip this place and try to find a gun instead. But really, who would sell a gun for a cup of beer? Or, whatever was in this mug.

As Hawkins was searching through the bins of different pieces of all shapes, sizes, and origins, the owner grunted irritably. "Don't you dare think about it!"

Another grunt exited from him, "I'll cut you!" They moaned sleepily, as a snore escaped, and drool began to form on the counter where his head was resting. "You're not...getting anything from me...zzz." Aside from the shopkeeper, no one else seemed to be even setting foot inside this store.