Kane keeps his head down as he rushes through the streets. He tried cutting a straight line towards the amusement park only to get a big shock when he discovered a body of water in the way. The route is, as it turns out, far more linear than he thought. This place seems to be made up mostly of smaller islands connected by bridges, with massive trees acting as a landmark for each one.
There's a general buzz about the area, a buzz that has slowly been climbing since his escape. Not that it has much to do with him- in fact, he's not heard any chatter about him at all. Most of it has just been hushed conversations, questioning wether a celestial dragon was seriously killed.
He hopes to god that what he killed wasn't this all-important figure people seem to be making him out as, because if that's the case then this world has less hope than he thought. Not just rich, but also politically omnipotent?
He shakes his head to clear it of that distraction, picking up the pace has he approaches the next bridge. The next island is apparently 29, which makes it the last one before the amusement park. The walk over has given him a lot of time to question why he'd even go there in the first place though. If there's no bridge to the mainland, then he should really be looking for a boat.
"Well well, what have we got here?" A nasally voice suddenly cuts through the din of his thoughts, stopping him in his tracks. Two men that he took for a couple enjoying the view suddenly step out in his path, blocking the way forwards.
"I'm just a tourist. I'm heading for the amusement park over there." He replies casually, pointing past them.
The second man, the burlier one, snorts immediately, uncrossing his arms.
"Sure. A tourist walking alone in the lawless zone. Seems might suspicious to me, doesn't it Eddy?" He drawls out as he draws out a katana from under his coat.
"Yep. 'specially cause he doesn't even know about the special bounty the marines put out just an hour ago. Don't you know? Any suspicious character could be a dangerous revolutionary." The first man, Eddy, turns that last part to me, putting mock concern on his face. "We even overheard you relaying information to the Revolutionary Army, though unfortunately we lost your den den mushi to the waves in the scuffle."
Kane is… confused, honestly.
"What are you talking about? I literally just got here, and haven't talked to anyone. You must have mistaken me for someone else or something." He responds incredulously, shaking his head slightly.
"What? No, we didn't actually- That was supposed to be intimidating!" Eddy snaps, in a flash drawing a revolver from his hip, "We were obviously lying, you moron!"
Kane stiffens, eyes locked onto the gun.
"…h-hey now, maybe don't point a gun at me? It was an honest mistake, I didn't even realise. Those things are dangerous you know." His voice shakes a little. Certain that this will go bad, he's already slowly extending a whip towards the gun.
"You think I fucking care? You're just gonna be the first of many 'dissidents' we track down. Taking you in alive would be too much trouble." Eddy cocks the hammer, whilst his boyfriend(?) puts his sword in a ready stance. Why they'd even bringing a sword, Kane has no idea.
"Then…" He pauses to buy time for his whip to wrap around the barrel of the gun, careful to make sure he doesn't actually touch it yet, "…you should have killed me faster."
He suddenly tightens his whip around the gun and jerks it to the side. The bounty hunter pulls the trigger instinctively, but the bullet whizs past and hopefully doesn't hit anything too important. The second one reacts immediately, lunging forward sword raised, and Kane instinctively tries to pull the whip holding the gun in the way.
Eddy is apparently attached to that gun, because he gets pulled along with it. Just in time for the sword to slam into his shoulder and cut inches into his flesh, causing him to cry out in pain. Blood spurts out, splashing on both Kane and the other hunter.
The second one immediately releases the sword and backs away, his face pale. Kane shoves Eddy towards him, desperate to get rid of the injured man. He stumbles and drops to his knees, clutching his arm.
"D-don't stand there, do something! K-kill this fucker and get me a doctor!" Eddy snaps, before gritting his teeth and yanking the sword out. That makes the bleeding substantially worse, but apparently money is more important to the man. His arm hangs limp, and the sight of it makes Kane feel ill.
"Just know I didn't want this, okay! Don't blame me!" Kane shouts as he slowly circles them, trying to get to the other side of the bridge.
Eddy's partner is not having it, unfortunately. A little colour returns to his face as he takes the sword back and lunges for him again.
Unfortunately, it's really not that difficult for Kane to just slam an air whip into his side and send him hurtling to the floor. He uses another to yank the sword away and throw it off the bridge, to be swallowed by the ocean. For good measure, he does the same with the gun.
Then, before either of them can get up, he turns and sprints to island 29, intent on getting lost in the slightly-nicer buildings here before those hunters can come back for him. As soon as he rounds a corner…
Congrats! You've solved a lethal altercation non-lethally. Take x1 Bronze Trait ticket
…he sighs, annoyed. There's been so many. He'd be happier if they were more useful. He looks around and, after noticing only a few odd looks at his slightly bloody clothes, takes a moment to lean against a wall and rest. A lot has happened today after all, and he needs what recovery he can get. The hunger is bad enough.
[Blind Eye] |Common Trait|
You just disappear in a crowd, as long as you shouldn't stand out you won't.
His annoyance immediately fades. The common tag made him initially disappointed, but the actual effects seem perfect for his situation. Looking back, his most used ability or trait so far has just been Air Whips, which is only uncommon. Now this common trait is putting up a strong fight for second place.
Slowly, a plan is coming together.
First step is find some clothes to replace his current set, considering the specks of blood. Going to the main tourist attraction to get some should actually make sense, any tourists coming here would be more likely to wear that sort of stuff. This whole time he's been trying to figure out how to steal them.
Really, it should've been obvious enough that he should instead be figuring out how to steal money instead. That part is far easier, with air whips. How is this ability only uncommon?
He pushes off the wall, now far more hopeful about it all. His gait is confident and hurried as he rushes to the next bridge, rushing into island thirty. It's only another ten minutes of rushing to get there, and the sight is immediately both a relief and a source of confusion.
It's… a shopping mall.
Everyone here has been using flintlock pistols and iron manacles, but this small island is dominated entirely by a modern-looking shopping mall. With a few oddities of course, more bright lights and bubbles, but still. At least the rides he could see made more sense, focused on the fantastical-elements of the bubbles. The construction of this building is most entirely mundane, and yet the vibe is just completely different.
It's also eerily good fortune. A place bustling with crowds of people, selling all sorts of things, both expensive and not. It's almost too good to be true, in a sense.
Kane tries to appear confident and at ease as he heads into the building, keeping his eyes straight ahead. A few stores line the sides, but first he looks for somewhere to sit down. Just a straight line from the entrance is just that, a fountain that's spewing a stream of bubbles directly up makes for the centre piece of the mall. He takes an unoccupied bench and watches.
There's quite a few people here, chattering casually and seemingly wholly unaware of what happened back in whatever number he came from. It's not surprising, and certainly very helpful. Dozens of people walk back and forth, carrying bags of shopping and with jingling satchels or pouches attached to their hips.
Even after Kane sits there for a while he rarely even gets a first glance, never mind a second. Just a random guy people-watching whilst waiting for his friends, probably. No one notices the three thin air whips he's left laying on the floor, because how could they? They're invisible, and intangible unless he wills otherwise.
Eventually he sees someone chatting loudly at an entourage of silent followers, seemingly unaware or simply uncaring of their disinterest. Importantly, there's a big bag with what looks like a dollar sign printed on it, half empty and dangling off his hip. It's a bit risky, sure, but it's too obvious not to take. The guy probably wouldn't even notice it's gone anyway.
He slowly lifts the tip of the whip, snaking it between the entourage. A strike of inspiration hits him and he lifts another whip up above him, to the bubbles floating about in the air. During a lull in the man's talking, he jams one whip into a bubble to pop it, the loud sound drawing most eyes upwards for a moment. At the same time, he snatches the pouch, pulling it loose from the belt and yanking it away. He picks a random nearby bench to slip it under, pressing it up against the underside to hide it.
He holds his breath.
The man quickly looks down from the distraction, only saying a quick "Anyway" before resuming whatever he was talking about before. The troupe continues along with the crowd, and then they're gone.
Kane lets out a sigh of relief, and carefully drags the money back towards him.
Inside the sack is a bunch of bills he doesn't really recognise. They look most similar to yen, mostly in the values listed on them rather than any aesthetic similarity. That doesn't really tell him much about what it's worth, but if they're all the same bill then he can at least estimate that there's about a hundred thousand in here. Hopefully a decent amount.
Congrats! You've successfully pick pocketed someone of little note. Take x1 Bronze Skill ticket
The sudden notification doesn't quite manage to startle him. He didn't expect to get something just for this, but it's giving him quite a few ideas. It probably wouldn't work just for stealing again, but there must be more that he can do to get it to trigger. But that's later. For now he just takes the roll and is happy with it.
[Salt Distillation] |Trash Skill|
You are skilled at extracting salt from sources of water or tears.
'Trash tier. I didn't even know that was a thing…' He laments to himself internally. The skill itself isn't technically useless, for all he knows salt is really valuable here. Plus, if he does end up needing a boat to escape then dying of thirst might be less likely.
It still hurts though, admittedly.
He gets up and holds the sack tightly against his chest, making sure to hide the money symbol on it so that nobody gets any ideas. Getting pick pocketed of the money he pick pocketed is too ironic for him to allow.
Heading a short distance back the way he came, he finds a clothing store he noticed earlier. The clothes all look similar to what he's been seeing around the place- that is to say, eclectic and varied. A lot of them have a sort of bubble theme going on though.
Ten minutes later he comes out of the store 20,000 'berries', as they are apparently called, poorer. But richer in fashion, as long as these clothes are worth as much as he paid. He hopes to god they are. He settled on simple, a black shirt, black pants, and a brown jacket. Hopefully nothing that will stand out too much.
The jacket, as he made sure of, has a pocket on the inside for him to shove the rest of his money into.
Now that he's dressed properly he feels much more secure. Enough to, perhaps, just take a walk around the mall and look for something else to buy.
His eyes light up suddenly, and he snaps his fingers. An information kiosk!
He immediately starts searching the ground floor of the mall, until he stumbles across a stall near a different entrance with a big lower-case i hanging over it. There's a bored woman manning it, resting her cheek on her hand and staring down at nothing in particular.
Kane walks up and hesitantly clears his throat to get her attention. Once she looks up, appearing every bit as disinterested as he figured, he starts talking.
"Excuse me, is this an information kiosk?"
She stares at him and then sighs heavily.
"Yes. We have maps, store locations, popular attractions, and any ongoing safety warnings or local bounty updates. 1000 berries each, or 2500 if you buy a packet with everything in it. The recent bounty updates came in earlier today, due to an emergency situation." Her voice is flat and even. She pauses for a moment, and then seems to remember something. "2000 berries. Safety information has been discounted due to the emergency situation."
Then she just goes back to staring, impatiently waiting.
Kane fumbles around in his pocket before pulling out a 10,000 berry bill.
"Is this… Sorry, do you have change for 10,000? I'd like to take everything."
She rolls her eyes and snatches the bill out of his hand. She pulls an folder from under the kiosk and slaps it down, before quickly counting out some coins and bills and slamming those on top of it.
"Thank you. Sorry. Bye." Kane smiles tensely and beats a hasty retreat with his change and the folder, stuffing the change in his pocket. He hurries back to his earlier bench to start reading.
Before anything- even the map- he sees an old-timey bounty poster. The face on it surprises him, it's the very same marine that stabbed him with that needle.
Wanted - Dead or Alive
Turncoat Yumiko
B 1,000,000,000
Kane stares at the wanted poster and the poster stares back. It certainly is her. Who took this picture though? She looks angry in it, seemingly in the middle of attacking something. From what little he saw, he's surprised she gets angry at all.
His blood runs cold at the thought that, perhaps, she's angry now. Out of everyone, she's likely the only person that knows he's the killer. Well, unless they've got their own magic system here that can tell.
Suddenly, getting a ride out of here has jumped right up the priority list. He moves the bounty posters to the back, though he'll really have to take a look at those posters later, to find the map.
It's about as bad as he'd figured.
According to the map this place is ocean-locked, meaning there's no escape by running. He'll need a boat. The map lists a few other things, such as the shipyard district in a section labeled 50. The majority of the centre is blocked out, with a note saying it's not the best place for tourists to visit. The place the marines brought him is in there, as is the human auction house. It's especially strange because the marine headquarters isn't exactly far away. It's all very shady.
It also says something about not having an eternal pose, and log poses won't connect or something? Kane doesn't exactly get it, but he's not much of a sailor.
And by that metric, he definitely shouldn't be trying to sail away on his own. He needs to find some way of securing travel to somewhere more normal, away from all this slavery and marine corruption.
The info here gives him two options.
Option one, and the lowest profile one, is to go the shipyard and get a ship there. He'd be more likely to try and find someone else to hitch a ride with in that case.
Option two is to go the hotel district, which is where all the cruise-type stuff is. He can find a cruise that has a stop somewhere better- hopefully there's an atlas he can consult- and plan from there. Staying any longer risks doing more things that he logically shouldn't, no matter how impossible it may be to regret them.
A part of him still laments missing that clone ability on one of his first draws. It would make things so much simpler.
According to the map, going to the hotel district would require heading directly through the lawless zone. It's probably only gotten worse there as news of the apparent blank bounty the marines put out, not to mention how understandably uncomfortable being near slavery makes him.
Just quickly glancing at the safety warnings affirms his decision, there's a note about 'chaotic factions' attacking 'high profile targets'. They're being so vague, he's just about certain that they must be secretly in bed with whoever that slave owner was. And they're covering it up with the death of a Celestial Dragon, not that he believes those types are likely to be much better.
There's a short list of the most expensive shipyards, presumably they don't think that it would be a very popular topic to visit ordinarily, so he doesn't have much to work with. If 20,000 berries buys him an outfit, then 80,000 isn't likely to get him on a ship.
It's frustrating, but he doesn't know nearly enough information to form any serious plan. He skims over the rest of the leaflet for any other pertinent stuff before folding it up and cramming it into a pocket to deal with later. It'll probably fall out if he has to run, but that's not exactly worrying.
He sets a hurried pace out of the mall, opposite the way he came in.
The map isn't the most detailed, but just with the massive numbers written on the trees that's not too big a deal. He's in the thirties, and he needs to get to the fifties, so it's as simple as going to whichever connected island has the biggest number.
Along the way he sees his fair share of fascinating stuff. He remembers back on the ship noticing bubbles that looked like they have stuff in them. As it turns out, that 'stuff' was actually people. Multiple people, a lot of the time. Using the bubble like some sort of floating bicycle, pedals and all. He so badly wanted to rent one.
But, though it would have made the journey faster, it is also just far too conspicuous. And he'd also have to steal it, because there's no way he'd be doubling all the way back to drop it off and then return to the shipyard.
He keenly feels the time pressure too. Stopping to go on the bubble coaster would just take far too long when, for all he knows, the marines are closing in right now. What if they've figured him out already? No, it's not possible at all.
By ignoring every sidequest and each little wonder, he makes it to island 50 in no time at all. Now it's time to enact his ultimate plan.
Wander until something catches his eye, obviously.
Okay, so it wasn't quite that mindless, but it was close. It's not like there's just a sign that says 'shady travel services here'.
Or so he thought.
He slows to a stop on island 53, staring at a little shack set up next to a boat of some description. A pretty big one, probably big enough to be considered a house by some metrics. The shack has a large sign nailed into the roof, barely angled to be readable.
'Emmet's Discrete Boat Travel', and then in smaller text 'Inquire inside'.
"…huh." It's all Kane can say. It was certainly far easier than he expected. It's not even been half an hour. At this point he's fairly confident he can handle anything this place can throw at him.
He walks up to the shack, glancing around briefly to make sure that nobody is looking as he knocks on the door. As soon as he raises his hand, he hears a gun cock behind him.
"Heh. I'd watch yerself, buddy. Just empty yer pockets, real slow like, and no one'll hafta get hurt." A man with what Kane is certain is a southern drawl speaks from behind him, oozing confidence in a way that irritates him to no end.
Obviously, Kane is already starting to extend a whip to circle the barrel of the man's gun. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
"Seriously? I'm just trying to ask about these boat services that this guy is offering, can't you rob someone else?" He asks flatly, making sure to make it obvious just how irritated he is.
There's a beat of silence.
"…are you serious? The sign is a trick to lure people in. I'm Emmet." The man sounds genuinely bewildered.
Kane clears his throat.
"N-no. That was… a joke, of course. I knew that." He replies stiffly. It's very fortunate that Emmet decided to rob him from behind.
"You're jokin' with the guy robbin' you?" He asks, disbelieving.
In lieu of a response, Kane grabs his gun and yanks it out of his hand to end the fight in one swift move.
Or rather, he tries to.
The whips have only barely brushes Emmet's gun, whatever type it may be, before Kane hears him practically leap backwards and clear out of his range. Kane whips around to face him, shocked at the failure of his technique.
Immediately, he decides Emmet is exactly how he imagined. Wide-brimmed hat, dusty cloak, and his eyes half in shadow. The gun is a long rifle-type of thing, clearly designed for range. Range, which Emmet has a lot of. In just a few seconds, he's made quite the bit of distance.
"Bah, jus' my luck. Just as am about to skip town, I try to rob a devil fruit user. 'least you'll probably have some sweet loot." Despite his apparant confidence, he's firmly keeping his distance, and has refrained from shooting yet.
Kane is still shocked.
"How did you notice my- my devil fruit ability?" He barely avoids just blurting out that he's using whips, like an idiot. Though to be fair, he's not got any clue what this 'devil fruit' thing is supposed to be.
Emmet actually looks offended.
"Ya think a man wouldn't tell when somethin's tryin' ta grab his gun straight outta his hand? What sorta outlaw do ya take me for?"
"Alright, no w you're being ridiculous. Outlaw? Like the wild west?" Even as Kane speaks, he's trying to surreptitiously maneuver his air whips closer to the man. And yet, somehow, he seems to notice them and subtly take another step away. They can't get any closer than a few metres.
"Wild west? That's certainly a name fer it. Yep, ma home blue was wild. But not wild enough." A wistful look crosses over his face, and in that moment Kane tries to lunge a whip across the last distance, using a burst of energy that staggers him to feed the length of it.
It's not nearly fast enough, and even distracted Emmet manages to leap clear of it yet again. Though he's already backed away twenty metres, the bridge to area 52 is behind him, so there's plenty of space yet. He's far enough that any attempt at conversation would be laughable.
That's why it takes a moment for Kane to realise he's still talking. Not any louder than before though, so he's got no clue what the 'outlaw' is saying. Something about figuring something out.
Kane gets the picture when he starts casually lifting up his gun. And yes, of course he panics. The only thing stopping the man from shooting him dead has been his own caution.
If he can't get his whips close enough, then in that moment he decides that he'll have to get the next best thing. Just before Emmet shoots, Kane stabs his whips into the ground and pulls as hard as he can.
Emmet stares in shock as Kane sends himself hurtling forward through the air, sailing like a rock. For a moment it feels like he's flying, and he swears he can feel something click into place.
And then he crashes into the ground, crying out in pain as he sends himself rolling a few feet.
He wasn't even going in the right direction, he covered the right amount of distance but a bad angle has put him a bit of a distance away from the man.
"That was… quite somethin'. Maybe I don' need this old thing after all, if yer just gonna get yerself killed like that."
Everything hurts, and Kane isn't quite listening to the man. Something is strange. Despite the pain, he doesn't really feel like it can stop him. He's tired, and something might be broken, but if he wanted to he could get up right now.
But Emmet is distracted.
"You must've just eaten that devil fruit then, aye? Did ya steal it, and that's why yer runnin'? Now I'm wonderin' if there might be a bounty to collect. Though, I'm not usually the type." Though he's obviously trying to fish for information, it doesn't really work. Kane is too focused on circling a whip around.
He's really starting to feel his limits now, though. As soon as he stops focusing on it the second whip dissipates, and though he doesn't get much feedback from the whips, he can still tell that his only remaining one is getting thinner as he extends it. With Iron Man, his body will still follow orders on low energy, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same for his abilities.
That means that this has to count.
"…I think yer bleedin', buddy. Are you sure you should be ignorin' me right now? If'n ya want, I could be convinced to help ya out… for a price."
Eventually, Kane estimates that the whip is in position. He can't see it, but at this point it must be long enough. His aim was to extend it behind the man, and go far enough past him that when he cinches it there's nowhere to go.
"Maybe he's already out. S'pose I should get you up 'n runnin', then see what I can extort-"
Kane pushes energy into the whip and snaps it as tight as he can. Before it even reaches him Emmet lashes out with a kick, and for the first time Kane feels the whip distort and almost break entirely from someone else's actions. He instinctively pumps even more energy into it, firming it up just in time for it to slam tight around his waist.
Kane grunts as he starts pushing himself to his feet, lifting his head off the ground to check on his attempt.
Emmet is… struggling. His gun has been trapped against his body, and there's some sort of leather strap attaching it to his wrist that means his right arm is stuck too. He's desperately thrashing, sort of like a worm on a hook. The barrel of the gun is bent where the whip pinned it, so Kane can only imagine what his body looks like.
"G-goddamn devil fruit users!" The man curses, his hat knocked askew by his struggles. His are revealed, and they look wild, almost crazed. "Lemme at ya! I'll beat ya to a bloody pulp!"
Kane jerks back slightly, startled by the sudden shift in demeanour from the calm and collected outlaw.
"Um… Sorry about this." He mutters, before lifting the man and slamming him into the ground. The effort drops him to a knee, but at least succeeds in doing some damage. Emmet gasps in pain, his struggles stuttering.
Kane does it again, hammering Emmet's body into the dirt hard enough to leave a crater. And, when Emmet soon starts trying to break free, does it yet again. Finally, after slamming the man into the ground four times, he stops moving.
The whip dissipates immediately, leaving Kane raggedly panting for air. It feels like he's been holding his breath whilst running a marathon, and something in his leg is making him dizzy.
Congrats! Beat the user of the Punch Punch fruit! x1 Gold Ability Ticket.
"The… what?" He asks dazedly, and then he passes out.
Kane wakes up on a blanket, laid out on a wooden floor. It's not exactly comfortable, and his body aches. It feels like someone threw him down a hill.
He freezes.
Oh yeah. He threw himself through the air. It didn't even accomplish anything much. He got more injured by himself in that fight than from the other guy. On second thought… Emmet didn't do anything at all the whole fight. Embarrassed, he turns his thoughts elsewhere.
He vaguely remembers getting a weird message about a punch fruit before he passed out, which he loosely connects to this 'devil fruit' thing that the outlaw mentioned. Who was it registering the defeat of though? It's not like a guy with a gun would have a punch-based anything.
Kane startles as he recalls the obvious second implication of the message. He's got another roll, and quickly checking his tickets confirms it as a gold ability roll.
He's not had the best of luck with gold rolls, other than the absolutely killer Air Whips, so hopefully this one will turn out better.
He watches with bated breath as the gacha spins. It just barley passes an elite ability called 'Boogie Woogie', which he certainly doesn't feel confident in being good, before settling on something incredible.
[Doppelganger]|Rare Ability|
Allows you to produce a seamless doppelganger of yourself that you can control with your thoughts but does not possess any of your abilities, the amount of Doppelgangers you can have is equal to your ability slot count.
"…oh my god. Clone." He whispers to himself. From his very first tickets, he just barely missed a Clone ability that he thought would be incredible. This is… exactly what he wanted from it. He's not sure what he'll do with it, maybe when he gets another ability slot it'll feel like less of a bad idea to switch it out, but until then it'll just be nice to hold onto.
In the meantime…
He sits up, looking down. His clothes are… completely fine. Not dirty or bloody at all, despite the bandages peaking out under his pant leg. The pain is vastly diminished compared to what he remembers, which is nice, albeit confusing.
The room looks like some sort of small cargo hold, though it's about the size of his bedroom back home. There's a bunch of shelves lining the wall, and crates piled up in one corner. Obviously, he gets up and hobbles over to start looting.
Before he can get near them, someone clears their throat from the doorway. Kane stiffens and turns to face… Emmet, smirking smugly for some reason.
"So you're awake. Ya really exhausted yerself in that there fight. Ya gave it yer all, and even managed to defeat my ultimate technique. No one's managed that and lived to tell the tale." He crosses his arms and leans against the doorway.
Confused, Kane looks back to try and find what 'ultimate technique' he's talking about. The only thing he remembers Emmet doing was going berserk in his whip.
"Don't think about it too hard!" He snaps, briefly losing composure before schooling himself. "That's not important. Yer strong, or at least you will be. There ain't a single devil fruit user I know that ain't been, so long as they lean into it anyhow. You need passage off Sabaody, and I need somebody to watch ma back 'till this bounty tha marine's put out dies down."
Kane stares blankly at him as his rousing speech dies down.
"…what's a devil fruit?"
Emmet splutters, "How's that all ya got from that! Look, are ya comin' with me or not?" He puts his foot down, glaring from under his hat.
Kane thinks for a moment. He's really not certain he could win if they fought again, though using Doppleganger as a trump card might snag him a victory under the right circumstances. Plus, he really needs someone to help him for the time being.
"I guess so. It's kinda my only option. I kinda killed a guy." His candid admission gives the outlaw a moment of pause, but only a moment.
"Good. Because we're already at sea." He does a heel turn and stalks out of the cargo hold, onto the deck of the ship. Kane's eyes widen and he scrambles to follow, considering and then hastily dismissing the idea of trying to use his whips to help with walking. Later.
"What do you mean, already at sea? How long was I out?" When he emerges from the hold he sees it's already night, with a few lanterns lighting the deck of the ship. All around, as far as he can see, is open water.
"You were sleepin' for 'bout eight hours. Musta been an exhaustin' kill or what have you." He shrugs and heads up a flight of stairs to the helm of the ship. It looks like the cargo hold is in place of what would usually be the captain's quarters on Kane's idea of a regular ship, and it's the only raised portion of the deck. On one side is a staircase heading up to the helm, and on the other is a staircase heading down to… other stuff, probably.
"But- That- You kidnapped me!" Kane snaps as he hobbles up the stairs, leaning against the railing to keep himself stable.
"I'm an outlaw." Emmet responds dryly. He drops onto a chair nailed to the floor at the helm, draping his hands on the wheel. Kane stops at the top of the stairs.
"Dontcha wanna ask yer little questions, rather than talkin' about this kidnapping business?" He speaks up before Kane can voice anymore complaints.
"…fine." He reluctantly gives in. For now. "What's a devil fruit? What's a Celestial Dragon? Where are we going? Where's the main land?" He rapid fires questions, too irritated to bother being reasonable.
"A devil fruit is a disgusting, abnormally coloured fruit that gives a specific power ta whoever eats it. Ya probably ate somethin' like the Air Air fruit, though you'd have to look it up in the encyclo-wotzits. You've not noticed yet, but eating one takes away yer ability to swim, and seastone weakens ya." He pauses a moment, glancing at Kane as if waiting for something. When he doesn't get it, he continues.
"Celestial Dragons are the ones marines answer ta. It's not common knowledge, but livin' in the grand line, and Sabaody in particular, it's impossible not ta notice that they're disgusting. Snotty-nosed brats that own slaves and treat lives like trash. They literally refuse ta breathe the same air as us, tha's why they have those bubbles coverin' their heads all the time."
Kane's face pales. He was sort of worried when Emmet first started speaking, but that stupid bubble just about confirms it. He feels some concerns about the fact that the, as far as he can tell, presiding justice system is not secretly led by slave owners, but instead publicly. Of course, something else stands out far more starkly.
"H-haha. And if someone killed one?" Kane speaks up before Emmet can continue, his voice weak.
"Hm?" Emmet glances over out of the corner of his eye, "Well. Usually tha marine's'll send an admiral out ta kill ya without even givin' you a bounty, never mind a trial. They've destroyed entire islands just ta get at someone. O' course, that marine lady did it way too high profile-like, so they just had to give her a ridiculously high bounty instead."
Kane gulps. So that really was his fault. Oops. When he doesn't say anything else for a few minutes, Emmet continues.
"We'll talk about whatever that was later. We're goin' back into paradise right now. That's the first half o' the grand line. I wanted to get into the New World, but the heat's too high now. I've got an eternal pose fer some place a couple islands back, so we'll head there and wait it out."
He goes quiet then, ignoring Kane's question about the main land.
That leaves Kane with far too many questions. Even outside of the fact that he may have killed someone far more dangerous than he thought, the geography of this place is worrying enough. He keeps talking about islands and lines, but never countries or continents. It's quite strange for a cowboy-type of person to be sailing, too. Even alone.
He sighs and slowly sits down on the top of the steps, looking out over the ocean.
A lot has happened over… Has it really been just a day? It feels like far more, honestly. He's not sure what comes next for him. This elite programming skill he got early on seems like it'd be exactly what he wants to focus on, but first he needs to find a computer. And that'll have to wait until they reach land, unfortunately.
In the meantime, he discovers that just watching the sea pass by is calming. Occasionally he'll see something. A bird flying over it, or a shadow swimming by under the surface. It's kind of nice.
His relaxation is interrupted by potentially the last thing he expected.
Congrats! Caught the eye of the leader of the Revolutionary Army! Take x1 Silver Random ticket
"…" He just barely keeps his confusion internal, glancing at Emmet surreptitiously. The outlaw notices and waves back, which makes Kane scowl and look back at the ocean. He definitely isn't telling that guy about his weird gacha thing.
But, this reward is worth his attention. The revolutionary army is real, apparently, and somehow he has their attention. How did they figure it out? And if they can, then why wouldn't the marines be able to? The only solace is that he'd probably get a ticket for becoming a wanted criminal too, especially one with such a high bounty as that marine woman.
It takes a few minutes for him to figure out how to silently roll a ticket, but he's got plenty of time.
[Claws] |Common Ability|
Allows you to create durable and sharp claws on your fingertips.
And it's potentially the worst ability he's heard of. Just making claws. Though it does remind him that he'll get an ability slot after his fifth ability, meaning he's only one away.
He almost can't wait, except, he kind of has to.
He sighs, and rests his head against the wooden railing.