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Post by CJ on Dec 12, 2013 10:48:59 GMT -5
Ron, now Matthew, stopped when Ammy pointed her blade at him. His face fell in uncertainty, as though he was questioning how a small girl could make him feel so helpless.
His wonder ceased when Arnell charged into the room. Matthew put his hands up in defense, but it didn't help much against the salamander beast. The poison loosened his arms, allowing Arnell to pummel the Saint all he wanted.
Arnell might not have been able to see it in his rage, but the bandanna came off Matthew's head, revealing a large, ugly scar that was situated where the Saint's signature mismatched hair curl once was. This might have been what Agatha was talking about before, when they disfigured Matthew in case his body was ever found.
Rizzo shouted at Arnell, tears streaming down his face.
"Stop! Please! I know he's done horrible things but he's the only family I have!"
Only Ammy knew that Matthew and Rizzo were brothers, but the Jack and Arnell should have able to connect the pieces otherwise. But, if they were family, wouldn't that mean Rizzo was a Celestial Dragon as well?
The answer could be found in the drawer Ammy kicked across the room. It smashed the wall right next to Matthew's head, barely missing him.
In the splinters, a music box could be seen, mangled and broken from the attack. The lock was smashed, allowing anyone to open it and see what was inside.
At this point, Matthew was already unconscious from Arnell's attack. As manipulative as he was, it seemed he couldn't hold his own in an all out fight, especially with a beast. He was at the complete mercy of the pirates to do whatever they wanted to him.
Rizzo groveled on the floor nearby, trying to appease the pirates.
"Please, I'm begging you! Don't kill him!"
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Fell
Cabin Boy
Posts: 33
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Post by Fell on Dec 12, 2013 13:30:29 GMT -5
"Good lizard, please stay your hand!" Amelie said firmly; if necessary, stepping between him and the fallen noble. "Though repugnant, he deserves not death for his manipulations... and Mr. Rat will be sad if he dies!" she said with a childish sparkle of puppy dog eyes. She stepped over to the music box and picked it up, brushing it off and looking slightly sheepish at having broken it; it was the kind of thing she'd gotten a smack on the ear for doing only a few years ago...
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Post by Necromantic Soundwave on Dec 12, 2013 15:43:30 GMT -5
Arnell held Saint Matthew up by the front of his shirt, looking at the bloody heap of an unconscious man. He thought of all of the ways he could kill him, but voices were starting to speak over his rage. Of family, and that this Dragon did not deserve death. His gaze looked to Rizzo, who groveled, and Ammy, who was far too small to step between them. He knew that if he killed Ron, any friendship he may build with Jack and Ammy was likely at risk.
"There aren't any other sides to this coin, Jack. He's a Celestial Dragon. They all deserve to die for what they did to me. What they did to my family. Call it blind hatred, but you don't know me or where I've been. These monsters were born into power and money and all they do is abuse it for their personal gain."
Tearing at the walls had ripped his wolf pelt and jacket, revealing that terrible Hoof on his back that Jack or anyone able to see that might see. Certainly, if they knew what it meant, they would understand his anger. That this was Arnell's justice for what had been done to him and his "family". That if he let them live, they'd probably send slave hunters after him.
"I don't care who he is to you," he growled at Rizzo, "You're all monsters, and anyone who sides with the Dragons, may as well go extinct with them."
Still, Arnell did not kill Ron. It would be easy for him, with his Zoan strength that had gotten him this far. He did not know why he hesitated.
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Post by Franky on Dec 13, 2013 5:08:16 GMT -5
Jack had Let go of the hulking reptile as he smashed inside and set himself down in the doorway. "A little ironic to use the "you don't know me" angle when you're wanting to kill a man without any idea what HE'S been through." When Arnell started growling insults at Rizzo Jack stepped up next to him and placed a hand on the shoulder of Arnell's free arm. Not saying anything, he just gave him an understanding yet disapproving look, having now lost his grin for the first time anyone here had ever seen.
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Post by CJ on Dec 13, 2013 12:53:56 GMT -5
Rizzo covered his mouth at the sight of the dragon's hoof on Arnell's back.
"That mark," he gasped. "I have it too. I'm a slave as well."
"Not anymore."
Matthew spoke quietly, too broken to make any attempt to free himself from Arnell's grasp. His bloodshot eyes drifted toward Rizzo.
"In the music box is a deed that will free you along several money orders in your name. It's all been approved."
"But I thought you said your most important treasure was in there," Rizzo countered in disbelief.
The Celestial Dragon merely sighed, too tired to explain himself. He gestured his hand feebly to Ammy.
"Give the boy the box. After that, I don't care what you do to me. I've enabled the cruelty of the line of Matthews for too long."
His eyes darted to Arnell. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to pity or feel bad for the salamander man as he did for Rizzo. There was clear contempt in his stare and malice in his voice. Jack might have been right to let Matthew explain himself, but would his explanation warrant his life?
"You're right. We're monsters. In order to keep our line free of infighting, we make slaves of all but our first born. My parents might have made my younger brother a slave, but I enabled the tradition after they died until now."
Grasping onto Arnell's harm, Matthew dared Arnell to go through with his actions.
"Kill me. At the very least, the end of my life means my line will be eradicated."
"Don't say such things!" Rizzo shouted in tears. "You don't have to die. We can leave here together and start a new life. You've already lost the mark of infinity on your head so no one will know who you are."
The "mark of infinity" was probably the swirled color of hair that Matthew had lost, but Rizzo still had.
"Do it," Matthew begged and closed his eyes.
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Post by Necromantic Soundwave on Dec 13, 2013 13:10:07 GMT -5
The grip on Matthew's shirt tightened as he listened to the two of them. He was grinding his teeth, and his free arm had a fish clenched, waiting to decide on what Arnell did next. Here he was, so close to finally getting revenge on someone or something, anything to expend his rage, and he couldn't do it. Not when someone begged him not to. Not when he knew Matthew could change.
"You're never to have children. Your brother needs to get rid of his mark."
Arnell dropped him, and changed back, quickly fixing his tattered leather over his hoof mark. He didn't mean for anyone to see that, and it played into him releasing Saint Matthew. He never imagined anyone could talk him down from killing a World Noble. Rizzo was a lucky man this day.
"I'm not a monster. Not yet."
He turned and walked away without another word, wanting to get far away from this miserable excuse for a hotel.
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Post by Franky on Dec 13, 2013 19:01:53 GMT -5
Jack took his hand off Arnell and let him leave. "So that's a slave mark huh?" he said once Arnell was out of earshot. There but for a stroke of luck go I. He turned to Rizzo and Ron/Matthew. "We got what you came for so we better get out of here, you two as well. Give him the box Amaranth" he said motioning to Rizzo.
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Fell
Cabin Boy
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Post by Fell on Dec 13, 2013 20:52:37 GMT -5
Ammy pouted at the loss of a potential treasure... but then again she'd gone and broken it anyway. She thrust it out at Rizzo, turning bluntly away from him in a childish pout of defiance.
"This all turned weird and dumb. I wanted to fight someone strong, or kill a cyclops or something."
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Post by CJ on Dec 15, 2013 21:29:51 GMT -5
Rizzo caught Matthew and saluted Arnell with a nervous grin.
"No nieces and nephews for me!" he chirped. "I'll be sure of that! And I'll look for some hair dye as soon as I can! Thank you for sparing my brother!"
The boy grinned at Jack and Ammy. He took the music box in hand and hugged it tightly. It might have been the happiest day of the rat guard's life.
Matthew, meanwhile, grumbled to himself on the floor. He turned his face away from the others in his shame.
Running toward the back wall, Rizzo waved to the others with a cheeky smile.
"I'll go look outside to scout the area. We should be good, but I'll check just in case!"
In a poof, Rizzo turned back into a cute rat. It scurried about until it found a hole in the wall. This was likely connected to the same hole Ammy had seen Rizzo try to run into before.
Only a few seconds later, the others inside could hear Rizzo squeak and scream. Listening closely, they could also hear Agatha shouting for the men to burn down the building.
Flames sprung up from the corners of the room and the floor. If the pirates tried to open the doors to get out, they would find that they were barred shut. There were two large windows that could serve as escape routes if the pirates chose it.
"No!" Matthew shouted, holding his head in terror. "Agatha's got my brother! There's no way I can get him back if she kills us all!"
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Fell
Cabin Boy
Posts: 33
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Post by Fell on Dec 16, 2013 11:26:22 GMT -5
Ammy was busily cleaning her ear out with one finger when she heard Matthew's declaration, popping it out distressingly loudly and grinning.
"A rescue now, that's definitely heroic!" She shouted, lifting the ruins of the desk off the floor and hurling it out one of the windows and then crashing down to the ground outside.
"I'll take the high road comrades! Let us make haste!"
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Post by Franky on Dec 17, 2013 17:55:32 GMT -5
Actually showing some shock as the room quickly ignited, Jack whirled around and tried the door. They barred the door? Don't think you can keep me locked up that easy He stepped to the left side of the door and placed one foot on the wall beside it and both hands on the door. Gripping the door he pulled back with all his strength. He groaned with effort over the sound of cracking wood until the wall splintered as the hinges came loose from the wooden doorframe. Able to to manipulate it now he dislodged it from the door-bar and pulled it down. He turned back to Matthew. "Place wont stay standing long at this rate, lets roll."
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Post by Necromantic Soundwave on Dec 20, 2013 14:48:22 GMT -5
All Arnell wanted to do was leave, and that bitch Agatha was burning the building down, with him in it. He had spared her. Did she not hear him when he stated that he was going to kill Saint Matthew? It was as if Jaya seemed to make people more foolish than they normally would be. Arnell clenched his fists and watched as Jack pulled down the door, using the versatile power of his devil fruit and his own strength, and slowly changed into his full Salamander shape.
The pent up anger had to go somewhere. As soon as the door bar was dislodged, his large form darted forward, and leaped free and outside, scanning the area around for targets. Particularly, Agatha.
(( Sorry that took so long and is so short for the amount of time I took. December is a busy month for me. ))
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Dec 25, 2013 2:40:17 GMT -5
"Like, seriously?! Like, oh my gosh, it looks like some of them made it out!"
"Peace be the way. It's like the ancient islander saying; out of the frying pan, into the fire."
Outside the building, there were a number of cannon balls lying all around on the ground. What had been some of Agatha's rowdy lot lay unconscious amongst them. A closer inspection though would find that the cannonballs were not exactly the normal-looking; for one thing they were white and seemed to be held together with stitching, and for another they were almost squishy and had the name Milson printed on them.
"Like, I don't think they said that... like, did ancient islanders even have frying pans?"
"Stone ones."
Apart from the odd scene before them though, the only personages the pirates would be able to make out (apart from a number of Agatha's gang a ways off who fled for the time being, the captain herself possibly among them) were a pair standing not so very far from the building and observing the scene. Dressed in rather concealing, obstructive looking cloaks that hid all but some of their faces, it was hard to get an impression of them from appearances alone.
"Like, quit baggin', we got these dweebs and their Joanie to deal with."
"As the waves roll. The seafarers of antiquity once said; time to get down to brass tacks."
The shorter one, decidedly female at least in voice, facepalmed, shaking her head in the process.
"Like, what he means is-" at this part she shouted out much louder, as though trying to notify everyone within audible distance, "-quit your illin' pirates! Take a chill pill, and give up already, or we'll deal you a fresh one!"
As it were, there didn't seem to be anything stopping the group from acting freely, or at least there was not a firing line aimed at them upon leaving the building. Just these two.
---
Out by the windows, almost as if waiting for someone to jump through them, was a monster of a man. Dressed similarly to the other two, he seemed to be standing guard, though given his size he could have stood guard for a giant's home. He must have been at least twelve feet tall, but just as wide. Proportionally he wasn't necessarily fat, just very stocky and wide, and given his overall height and size it was almost like facing down a semi truck.
"Mmmhmm..."
Seemingly in response to the female figure out by the front, he merely nodded in affirmation, even if she couldn't see or hear him. For Ammy to be presented with this so suddenly upon exiting the building though, might be a bit overwhelming at first. Apart from noticing the large wooden barrel at least as large as he was, that he had on his shoulder though, she might also notice he had only one eye; an eyepatch covering the other.
Either way, with his free hand (admittedly a very large hand) he slowly went to grab her. Given his size, it would be no difficulty to hold her in one hand, if she did not resist.
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Post by Franky on Dec 26, 2013 4:53:19 GMT -5
Jack paused a moment, hearing her demand. Door in hand, he turned to Matthew. "...I have no idea what that woman is saying" Slamming it over his knee he dislodged the doorknob from its wooden socket. "But if she's dealin' I'm payin' the blinds". He tossed the door out the open doorway, hopping onto it. "Let it ride! SAAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed as it touched down, skidding across the edges of the steps. The tail of his coat flowing behind him as he speedily slid down the stairway towards the two new hooded faces, riding the door like a wide mahogany surfboard.
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Post by Necromantic Soundwave on Jan 1, 2014 17:19:17 GMT -5
"Tch. What is it now?"
Originally giddy at the prospect of tearing down this hotel, the betrayal had sullied the mood of Arnell. He didn't think he could trust any of these other rookies. If not for the two standing in his way, he would have already left. Arnell slowly shifted into his human form, and his hands drifted to the hilts of his daggers. He continued walking forward, stopping a few feet from.
"What awaits us after our surrender? Hanging? Slavery? I'll take my chances.
Keeping in mind Jack's antics, the man with the wolf hood made sure to stay out of the way if the door kept sliding across the ground to them. Any other time and it would have made him laugh to see such a thing.
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