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Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 1, 2014 5:31:04 GMT -5
It seemed the new Fleet Admiral had some difficulty grasping a giant's pride, but if it wasn't the threats of Gracie that calmed the beast, then it was the interjection of Uzo.
"Hilda, I know it's strange for you, but your crew needs you to sit in the toy soldier's chair. I'm not comfortable either but it's something we have to do. This won't take long, I promise. We're only here to talk."
There was a long moment where she stared incredulously at Uzo. Though the crow's nest had been a dearer friend than most to him, he had traveled with her before, and lived the honest life of a working man. She thought he was better than this, and though it wasn't apparent merely from her expression, it felt to her like he was siding with Gracie against her. At this point her status or her crew, or even her country were out of her mind. She did as she was bidden not because she cared about the repercussions of her actions, but for Uzo's sake. She felt that she might have seen his true colors here, and perhaps this meeting would in more ways than one, act as severance.
"Can to do, if she is understanding... will take off her head, if to tell what to do again. Give as gift to next toy soldier."
Lowering her axe to the floor, the giant made the tremendous effort of moving to her feet, the primary reason she had not wanted to sit down in the first place since it would require getting up which was troublesome and tiring for her. Examining the chair with some apprehension, she had to remember how it worked. It had been quite some time since she had been accommodated like this, seeing objects appropriate for her size, so properly situating the chair for herself was a bit of a chore due in part to its size. At first she actually moved it properly to the table and stood there with her hands on the furniture for a few moments before she realized she also had to be sitting, at which point she drew it out and with an amount of uncertainty moved to sit and position herself at an appropriate distance with the table.
"What's to talks?"
Based on her demeanor, it seemed she had made an about face from the seriousness of the situation before, and while she wasn't exactly the picture of amity, she was back to her usual jovial self and seeming to bear no animosity.
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Post by Franky on Apr 4, 2014 22:37:55 GMT -5
With one finger the fishman tilted up his hat to look at Gracie, somewhat caught off guard. That was not the reaction he had anticipated to get for strolling into the World Government's holy land uninvited.
He walked up to the base of the chair that had been chosen for him, eclipsing him from the view of the others behind the tall table. A few moments later there was a loud splash as a mist of water droplets sprayed out, the table mostly protecting everyone from the spray, and those present saw the newcomer launch up into the air from behind it. He landed firmly on his chair, the tails of his duster draping over the back behind him before dropping to the sides.
He sat, arms crossed, for a moment before picking up his drink. If he had been aware of who had chosen to provide it to him in a little crustacean cup he would have shot them an icy glare, but annoyed or not he was not one to turn down free booze.
The lady in charge had been a little more uppity than he'd like in the way she spoke to him but he decided not to blame her for it. Dealing with the rag-tag group of ruffians he saw before him was clearly working on her nerves. He figured it would be best to wait for his proposition until she had dealt with them and could give him the attention required. That was alright, patience was not something he was in short supply of ...provided he had whiskey.
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Post by CJ on Apr 8, 2014 10:53:27 GMT -5
"Thanks, Hilda," Uzo said with a sigh. He dodged another bullet. At this point, he actually did care for Hilda's safety, but he also knew that if the giantess lost her Shichibukai status, his life would be in great danger. He needed a safe place to hide until he was able to master his powers again. What better place than next to a giantess and her warrior crew?
He was glad no one had commentated on his broken fingers. For now, he kept them hidden on his lap and used his other hand to drink his coffee.
Now that Hilda and the unknown fishman were seated, Gracie seemed to go back to her normal composure. Her high heels could be heard rapidly tapping against the side of her seat in nervousness.
"G-g-good. Now that you all are seated, we must discuss some issues at hand. We shall go in order of most important to least important. Let us begin."
The table started to move beneath them. The center of it was revealed to be a panel that rotated and flipped, revealing what looked to be plans. They were very large, nearly encompassing the whole surface with many complex notes written about them. As it finished, it was obvious what these plans exactly were.
"These are designs I have made for uniforms I intend you to wear. I hope you do not mind that I have taken your measurements into account, which required me to do an extensive amount of research into your private lives. Please, understand."
Every one at the table, even newcomers like Hito and the unknown fishman, were sketched in colored pencil to alarming accuracy under a large title that read "Mandatory(?) Warlord Uniforms." They were depicted glistening black uniforms with high shoulder pads and long flowing jackets. It looked almost like a palette swap of typical higher ranking Marines. Even Morrison had a one suited to his figure, though his lacked the flat heeled boots of the others and had additional sparkles drawn to his eyes. Interestingly enough, Hilda was depicted as being of similar height to the others. Etched in cursive next to her was written "Not to scale."
"W-what do you think?"
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Post by Hitotsumami on Apr 10, 2014 0:01:02 GMT -5
Hito was very thankful for his glass of sea water and though he didn't expect the sushi, he ate those too. Along with the toothpicks and the miniature sails. And the place. And the glass the seawater came in. In fact he probably would have taken a bit out of the table if he was hungry enough, if it weren't for Gracie's show of their suspected 'uniforms'...
"I'm not wearing that," Hito said straightly, nibbling on some glass. He then said something that was almost smart. "I've never really been up to date with these Warlords, but aren't they pirates, just as free as any other? Only reason they're needed is for times of war to protect the Government. Costumes aint gonna help."
Hito spit out the sharp tip of a toothpick on the table in front of him then rested his hand on his hand, still eying the bizarre outfit designs.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 11, 2014 0:42:21 GMT -5
"Not to wear. No fur, no good for cold."
Glancing over the plans, Hilda had trouble making sense of it all, and it took Gracie's explanation for her to actually understand anything. Once she was more up to speed, she was able to study the designs and fairly quickly refused them by tugging at the exposed fur around the neck and shoulders of her coat to press her point. It took her awhile till she noticed herself among the plans, to which she scoffed in an amused fashion.
"Lojlig! Not to fit, it is. Not working, to change from big to small, or other way."
Although she actually wasn't referring to the scale of the design, instead a different matter relating to her anatomy, it might not be immediately apparent. She seemed to think they would understand though, or at least Gracie would.
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Post by Kyubey on Apr 12, 2014 2:22:04 GMT -5
Morrison did not comment on the bowl he was given. His thoughts on the cutesy design went unknown to all that were present, but he did take the time to examine them. Whether the bowl was the only thing they had lying around that fit his request, or if it was painted specifically for him, was a mystery that he considered for a second, and then decided he would rather not know the answer. He sniffed the water, licked it experimentally, before finally beginning to drink.
He looked at the costumes for a moment, first looking at the design chosen for him before looking at the others. While he would take his time in writing his formal response, right away Gracie and the others would hear him make a soft grunting noise, that couldn't mean anything good.
It was interesting that Gracie was so insistent on the little details. Everyone must sit down. Everyone has to have a drink. And now, there were the matching uniforms. It was not like the way any previous Fleet Admiral had treated the Warlords. In fact, it seemed to go against the entire way the Warlords had operated in the past. Morrison would have interpreted Gracie's tone and attitude as a demand for respect, but her efforts to accommodate all seven of them, coupled with her rather flustered disposition, didn't strike the cat as being all that authoritative. But none of that really mattered. At the time, Morrison was focusing on only one thing. That being, that they wanted him to wear a costume. A costume for kitties.
Is me wearing that thing an order from the World Government itself? Or is this a request from the Marines? If I am not required to put that on, I will decline. I do not wear clothing.
He slid the note to Gracie, and looked at the other's reactions. He was not out to make enemies at this meeting. But he wasn't dead set on forging friendships, either. And from the way he had been treated so far, Morrison got a strong sense that he was not being taken seriously. If he continued to feel that way, he would make it a point to change that.
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Post by Franky on Apr 13, 2014 19:31:50 GMT -5
The fishman saw himself drawn on the plan mid-swig of his drink and his emotionless demeanor disappeared for a moment as his eyes grew wide and he started to choke and quietly cough, covering his mouth. He had very nearly done a spit-take at the sight but he forced himself not to as he dare not waste good whiskey. A moment of throat clearing and chest pounding later he recovered and swallowed properly this time. He examined the drawing intensely, its existence troubling him deeply. He'd been a bounty hunter for years now, and dealt with the marines frequently to collect his rewards, so it was understandable they would know he was. But He had only recently made his decision to seek out a more official military title (and paycheck) and come here to propose the idea. But sitting in front of him was proof that not only did the marines know he was coming, but they were able to obtain detailed information about him without him ever knowing. Being the loner he was, he found that very disconcerting. Was the reach and influence of the marines this powerful?
he looked up from the drawing with a mixture of anger and worry on his face. "...How did you get this information?" he asked Gracie.
He felt very conflicted, He was a confident man but he began to feel the danger of this place, being in the presence of people with such significant power that they could so easily abuse if they choose to. But on the other claw, he was being offered a position of warlord. he'd wanted a Marine title but he sure didn't expect that. He wasn't even a pirate. He was no expert on the ways of the marines but this was nothing like how he thought it worked. Something unusual was going on it seemed and he waited tensely for an explanation.
As upset as he was by the drawing's existence, he ironically was totally fine with the design, and if he came to accept the position he would have no problem with wearing it (assuming he could keep his hat and boots).
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Post by CJ on Apr 22, 2014 23:01:12 GMT -5
Gracie boiled in frustration over the Warlords' disapproval of her designs. She remained incredibly silent as she clenched her fists. Her face turned bright red with rage at Brynhilda's comment.
She only addressed Hito's and the fishman's concerns.
"No one is ever truly alone," she said coldly. "No one is ever truly free."
Meanwhile, Uzo found himself agreeing for once with the other Warlords in the meeting. His lazy eyelid twitched as he looked to see Gracie steaming.
"I don't think they look too bad," he began to say.
"No one asked for your opinion!" the Fleet Admiral finally snapped, making Uzo sink into his chair.
Breathing in and out slowly, Gracie looked to the rest of the Warlords. She tapped her notepad with her pen, then adjusted her glasses.
"I s-suppose we should now talk of the second most important topic of this meeting. I hope most of you have heard about the recent dilemma over some of the nations getting over a slight pickle about something. Like you, the leaders of these nations are savage and settle petty arguments through bloodshed and war. Whatever it was they were squabbling about is unimportant. Some of them need help becoming viable again."
The center part of the table flipped again, taking away the uniform designs. On what was once a blank side appeared an extremely detailed map of the Grand Line. On it was six different countries marked in red X's.
"These countries are Coryphaues, Galatae, Ibaia, Regala, Ravunya, Vengeance and Victoria. I would like Warlords to go and oversee these nations to make sure they are up and running again. Their economies are a slight bit important to the world as we know it. You are free to do whatever you wish for these nations, maybe even take them for yourselves in their weakened state if you wish, but I want them to be useful again.."
The Fleet Admiral shifted slightly in her seat, keeping her back perfectly straight. She was incredibly rigid.
"Does anyone have a preference?"
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Post by Hitotsumami on Apr 24, 2014 12:29:00 GMT -5
Hito was dumbfounded that Gracie simply skipped the issue of the costume, as if her say was final. She then went on about a number of different nations that Hito really knew nothing about, though chances were that Hito might have actually visited some of those nations in the past.
Take them for youself? That caught Hito's attention. He could just imagine it now. A country with no ships. It sounded like paradise.
Still, he didn't know anything about these nations, so he said, "I will take whatever country no one else wants to take." But he didn't say what his plans were.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 28, 2014 2:24:43 GMT -5
For once Gracie did something that caused Hilda to become worried, and it was visibly apparent. Something about the countries listed, and the situation involving them.
"Not to Ibaia. No outsiders there, come close to die. Give gift to stay away from."
Grabbing at one of the trinkets hanging from her hair, a small dark metal box, the giantess seemed to believe it had some bearing on what she was saying. While she was trying to get a warning across to the others, more than anything else she did not want to go there herself. Too many unpleasant memories, and too many fears.
"Go to Galatea, will. With ship and kamrat."
Although she choose Galatae with a degree of confidence at the hope of turning the subject from Ibaia, the real reason behind her choice was simply because it was the name in front of that latter place. Of the countries listed, she stopped paying attention after Ibaia, and so just picked the country on the list closest to it that she could remember.
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Post by Kyubey on Apr 29, 2014 1:00:13 GMT -5
Morrison let the full weight of Gracie's orders sink in before formulating a response. It was a very high order for one to give to the Warlords, multiplied by the fact that this was the first order she was giving them. It was true, that this crop of Warlords seemed much more cooperative than the group had been historically, but it didn't change that this order was of a magnitude that could not be overlooked.
First there was the issue of the nations themselves. Morrison, who had been doing his own research on the war while never getting involved himself, knew that all nations had been damaged from the conflict, but didn't think all of them would be so willing to accept this form of assistance, if any of them would. Not all of them were even part of the World Government, and some of these were bound to resent the interference. That Gracie was sending pirates to do this work did not boost Morrison's faith in the plan, either. The government may have been pressed as it was, with the recent shifts in power and all, but the cat could not help but feel as though there was somebody else that would have been better suited. As things were, it was more likely that a new war would start over this decision, rather than anything positive. Unless beginning a new war was Gracie's intention to begin with. The order may not have seemed sensible, but it would be a solid first step to conquering the nations that didn't already belong to the World Government. That she would give this order at a meeting that included no representatives from the nations discussed would indeed support this. But Morrison couldn't be too sure.
All the cat really knew was, Gracie's plan, whatever it may have been, was not relevant to the cat. His main focus was one of the countries listed, Vengeance. His mind went to the first meeting he ever attended as a Warlord, where he had met Roderick, the head of that nation. Roderick had known Samantha Faro, and knew things about her that even Morrison had not. It was that man, from that country, who had informed Morrison of her death. As soon as he saw the name, and understood what Gracie was saying, he knew what he had to do. It meant a change in his own plans, but it was a welcome change.
I will accept the responsibility of handling Vengeance. I take it nobody here will have issue with that.
He may have thought that Gracie's orders were foolish, and possibly suspicious. But that did not mean that he wouldn't take advantage of them.
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Post by Franky on May 6, 2014 5:17:26 GMT -5
Something was going on. The bounty hunter-now-turned-warlord could see that. But he could also see he was in no position to figure out what it was. As cryptic as the answer she gave him was, it was also very telling, and what it told him was; she was intentionally avoiding giving him all the answers.
A lot of factors were weighing into his decision of what to do next. What would I do with my own county? What would they ask me to do with it? What would they do if I declined now, knowing their plans? Why are they sending warlords there? What happened to the previous warlords?
Right now what he wanted most of all was answers, and he knew he wasn't gonna get them without finding them for himself, and to do that he'd need to see how this played out.
He was not a worldly fishman and had never heard of any of these islands. He decided he'd let anyone with a genuine preference go first, though he didn't like the sound of Ibaia from the giant's description, but if it came down to it he could pass that one off to the other fishman there, who didn't care which one he got.
Seeing him present the written massage, the fishman just now registered the fact that there was a cat sitting with them at the table. He stared at him a moment then pointed his thumb at him looking around as if to ask for confirmation that the others where in fact seeing this.
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Post by CJ on May 21, 2014 15:43:37 GMT -5
"Regala sounds easy," Uzo said, raising his hand meekly after the others. "I'll see what I can do for it."
He hadn't yet regained full control of his powers, but he would have chosen the small city nation anyway. Despite being probably the most equipped for the job, Uzo went for the arguably "easiest" nation. He was lazy and didn't feel like giving up time for something he didn't really care about.
For a moment, he realized there could be some way to correct his brother's reputation if he were to help the city recover. It was a slim chance but it was one he still could take.
---
Gracie looked to each Warlord, prospective or otherwise, as they took their picks of the countries. She wrote furiously on her note pad, writing way more than what they had simply said. What was in that notepad of hers?
"Good," she said sharply. "You will receive whatever you need later for your various missions. This went better than I expected. I did not want our new guests to get too excited to assist a country in its time of need. For now, we are to decide whether to instate these two as Warlords."
She stopped writing for a moment, glaring at Hito and the bounty hunter.
"Now is the time to determine if you are worthy. State your cases."
"I don't know anything about this creep," Uzo spoke up, casually pointing to the fishman, "but I know Hito Tsumami well enough. He's not powerful. Just lucky. Any one here could take him out easily."
The Time Lord didn't even look at Hito. The two only had a few brief encounters when Hito was crew members with his younger "brother" (to Hito, his sister), but they were enough for Uzo for form an opinion about the swordsman.
"His reputation is one thing, but I don't think he'd be able to maintain it. You might as well put any old pirate scum where he's sitting. It wouldn't make a difference."
Uzo was pressing his luck. He was forgetting how weak he really was now. If Hito attacked him for what he siad, there wasn't much he could do besides rely on Hilda to help him. And that would only lead to chaos.
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Post by Hitotsumami on May 21, 2014 16:27:30 GMT -5
Hito was happy that it seemed the meeting was drawing closer to the finish when Gracie said they'd receive their various missions later (thought Hito already knew what he wanted to do with his island), but things took a sudden negative turn when he realized he hadn't actually been appointed a Warlord yet.
To top it off, Uzo wasn't giving him much of a chance either. Hito knew his own reputation wasn't the greatest. He had never done anything amazing in his life or changed the world in any significant way. He burned ships and ran, but he had survived, and no matter how strong you were, if you couldn't survive, then you were as good as the weakest man in the world.
But Hito's brain wasn't sufficiently capable of saying these profound words, but a deeper instinctual ability was...
Emanating Conqueror's Haki, all those around might feel Hito's power, like a pushing force, and he applied the most pressure to Uzo, though unconsciously.
Though Hito didn't remember Uzo well, he still spoke to the Warlord.
"I've swam the Calm Belt and I've walked on the clouds. I've cut and burned more people with this sword than I can count. I've spoken to the air and the earth and I've read what I've been told are forbidden histories, yet I'm still free to swim the seas. I've sacrificed plenty."
Hito propped up his new mechanical leg against the table.
"And I've fought a warlord." Hito motioned with his thumb to the three deep scars that blemished his chest, scars he had received many years ago from Crocodile himself. The last line could have perhaps been taken for a threat against Uzo, though Hito did not mean it that way.
He then looked over to Gracie. "I want an island."
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Post by CJ on May 21, 2014 16:45:20 GMT -5
Uzo stared coldly at Hito, seemingly unimpressed by the display of Conqueror's Haki. His facial expression did not change as he began to list his accomplishments. Truly, this Warlord would not be fazed by Hito's argument. There was no way the swordsman could have proved himself worthy. It truly seemed impossible.
When Hito propped his mechanical leg on the table, Uzo moved forward. He then leaned back slightly and dropped, hitting the table face first right after Hito made his demand for an island.
The Time Lord had been knocked out from Hito's Haki the whole time.
"Indeed," Gracie responded, taking down more notes, ignoring Uzo's dilemma entirely.
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