Serious: Chained Men Tell No Tales

[Docile]

Waves shook the ships in the almighty blue whilst the clouds above lounged lazily in the sky allowing the sun to slither between each blockade to light the way forward. Rocking the Sneezing Hound a weary old ship which sailed along the blue with sails raised fully and a captain stood at the helm with a toothless grin on his face, the Sneezing Hound's crew begun to sing a jaunty sea shanty.

As the first voice roared into life and the sea's harsh winds whistled past giving the tune more of an eerie feel to it, the sounds from below of men & women begun to burst into life. Moans, groans and all around sounds of annoyance seemed to echo. The scent of wretched body odour and another foul stench which probably stained the clothing of the slaves lingered. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the sudden realisation that it wasn't just the slaves aboard the ship that stunk or were chained up.

Sitting forward and trying to pull his own hands forward, Captain Heartly Hayes of the Navy was chained up too. Feeling his wrists a little sore from where they'd been rubbing whilst unconscious, Heartly looked around alarmed to find another Navy soldier chained up to an opposite post.

Not a soldier he'd personally met, but one he'd seen, seen enough times to know he was no pirate. But indeed a marine soldier just like himself. He could feel his head still throbbing painfully and his arms still weak. Seems they'd been drugged. The last thing he did remember was drinking at that Navy party. Reaching up to feel his head Heartly was reminded by the pain his wrists that he was still chained up.

Kenjiro was probably in the same state.

Turned out the narcotics they'd been drugged with had been a special blend to render anyone practically useless for forty eight hours and so far only twelve had gone by. The next thirty six hours were going to be horrible. Looking around at the faces of men & women who all seemed to be terrified he recognised a few familiar faces. There were other marine soldiers here too. Not just himself & Kenjiro, but the blurring of his vision hadn't helped when it came to recognising faces far off.

Seemed almost all the soldiers who'd been at the party last night were here among with some civilians.

Whatever was going on Heartly could tell one thing. It wasn't good.

[Roy]

As Kenjiro awoke a groan escaped his lips, he tried leaning forward to allow the pain to stop but found he couldn't "Oh...what the actual hell..." The marine captain asked no one in particular. Much of the previous night was a blur for the young marine, he had been flirting with several new recruits and drinking heavily. He noted that the alcohol tasted odd but shrugged it off as a lack of purity and that he had tasted worse. "Oh God no." and with that the marine lurched over and emptied the contents of his stomach from the previous night.

Looking around he saw several of the citizens and marines who had been at the party were also captured. A curse escaped the marines lips, an attempt at transforming his hand into a weapon failed as he couldn't muster up enough concentration due to the combination of drugs and alcohol still in his system. "Dammit..." he spoke, leaning as much as he could into a more comfortable position, though admittedly it didn't help much. His eyes landed on a fellow marine who stuck out "Heartly...dammit...They got you as well?" Kenjiro asked the fellow marine captain.

[Docile]

Hearing the sounds of someone emptying the contents of their stomach, Heartly looked over towards Kenjiro and rolled his eyes. He had been drinking far too much the previous night. But then again that's what you get when your around that many women, you wind up finishing most of their drinks, except the overly manly ones who want to prove how tough they are.

Although allot of them had been quite manly, one almost having more of a beard than Kenjiro himself. Nodding in response to Kenjiro's question, Heartly replied.

"Yea, seems they drugged us. Whoever they are. But they got allot of us. About 60% of the people here were soldiers at the part last night."

Feeling the ship rock to the left heavily, Heartly slammed his head against the post he was chained to and grunted in pain.

"Can you remember anything about last night?" he asked curiously hoping Kenjiro or someone could and would come forward with this information. If no one did then they would be clueless as to who they were up against and could risk themselves getting into some deep shit.

That was the biggest problem with marines. If they were unprepared things could go horribly wrong.

[Roy]

With a sigh Kenjiro nodded "It seems they did capture most of us...What a mess..." Kenjiro said shaking his head. With a hard rock left Heartly had nailed his head against the pole "Shit, you alright Heartly?" Kenjiro asked seeing it. Due to his continued speech Kenjiro assumed he was fine. "Can you remember anything about last night?" Heartly had asked. Kenjiro winced in thought "I arrived as the party started...I immediately began buying drinks for everyone...After a while they ran out...but hey...now that I think of it...There was someone there who was...off. Like he didn't belong...I assumed he was refilling the kegs but no-" before Kenjiro could finish the ship rocked hard right and caused him to suffer the same fate as Heartly and nail his head.

"Dammit my train of thoughts gone now." Kenji said wincing in pain. With a sigh Kenjiro spoke "Well nothing to do for now but trade stories eh?"

[Docile]

Not remembering seeing someone who looked out of place Heartly was relying on Kenjiro and his train of thought which seemed to be golden until he slammed his head.

As he lost his train of thought, Heartly sighed and shook his head. Looking around to the others, they were clearly still too hung over and drugged to start making sense let alone trying to remember the events of last night.

Suddenly a flashback came to mind of what had happened. Petty Officer Jinzou's pink panties flying towards his face and her wandering away with her curly blonde hair, crimson lips and a smile on her face that seemed to say a little more than I'm easy.

Snapping back to reality with slightly red cheeks, Heartly looked towards Kenjiro.

"I don't recall anyone being out of place from last night, I remember seeing Horton and telling him how much we'll miss working with him and even speaking to his wife, but I don't remember." as he spoke Heartly did his best to picture the memory.

"No wait, I do remember something!"

Remembering seeing the man who met Horton after Heartly said his goodbyes he continued.

"I remember after I said my goodbyes someone shook his hands and said something to him in a hushed tone before slipping something into his shirt pocket. I think it might've been money."

Heartly had seen this out of the corner of his eyes, but not caught sight of the man's face. As he tried to remember his eyes simply went blurry and the man's face was just black.

Feeling his wrists still sore, Heartly tried to move them into a more comfortable position and adjusted himself.

"I don't remember the man's face, but even if we do manage to get out of these cuffs, we're at sea and we'll need a way of getting back to land."

[Roy]

Nodding Kenjiro suddenly spoke up "Wait a minute now I remember...A man put something into the kegs then walked over to the old timer and slipped him something. It looked like a wad of belli...perhaps the same person?" Kenjiro asked. Mimicking Heartly's movement of his wrist to get them into a more comfortable position. With a chuckle Kenjiro spoke "Well, we are on a ship and I have no qualms about killing or arresting a bunch of slavers then commandeering their ship."

[Docile]

Nodding to Kenjiro's accusation Heartly was sure it might be the same man.

"I think your right, I think it very well might've been the same man. Can you remember what he looked like at all?" If Kenjiro could remember the man's face, Heartly might have a chance in putting things together and coming out with an answer, but that did rely on Kenjiro's memory.

"If you can remember his face, I might be able to place it to a bounty poster. Then we know how dangerous the man we're dealing with is and form a plan of action."

Looking to see the other marines were still pretty much out of it then looking towards the hatch that lead unto the upper deck, Heartly noticed someone opening the door and beginning to descend.

A small dark skinned child headed down the stairs with tribal markings over his naked torso and face. His hair black and tied up in a bun with a bone through it he had a skull pained over his face in white and a spike through the middle of his nose.

"Whatchu lookin' at white boy?" the child said in a hostile tone as he motioned towards Heartly violently before stopping and continuing to walk down the hallway past and over other prisoners.


As the boy walked away Heartly looked at Kenjiro pulling a face mocking the child.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Heartly said in a hushed tone. The child was only one room away and would probably be returning through the same passageway soon.

[Roy]

With a thought Kenjiro began thinking "I remember a mess of shoulder length black hair, a scar running down his left eye, he was tanned with a hooked nose and thin lips. Ringin' any bells there Heartly?" Kenjiro asked. He began scanning the area seeing if there was anyone in decent enough condition, realizing there was none he let out a sigh. "Whatchu lookin' at white boy?" when Kenjiro heard that his head looked up and saw a child motioning towards Heartly. "Well aren't you popular?" Kenjiro said letting out a chuckle. "You're pry gonna hit me when we get out of this Heartly but I could really use a drink right about now."

[Docile]

Hearing the words from Kenjiro, Heartly rolled his eyes. Turning to look at the kid who was now heading back past them with a map in his hands, Heartly put his foot out tripping the kid.

As the kid tripped over his foot, Heartly struggled to lift his leg and slammed his heel into the back of the kid's head. Knocking him unconscious he reached for the paper he'd been carrying in his hands. Motioning it towards himself, Heartly glanced over it.

"This is a map. The destination is Coruckus Ridge" Looking towards Kenjiro, Heartly wondered if the name run any bells with him.

[Roy]

Watching as Heartly tripped and knocked out the kid Kenjiro let out a laugh which soon came to a stop as Heartly mentioned the name of the area they were headed. "Coruckus Ridge...It's where I made my name for myself..." gone was the partying, womanizing cocky young man. The man sitting across from Heartly now was Kenjiro, master tactician and genius of battle theory. His face no longer held the easy going look, instead it was replaced with a serious face expected of a captain. "It's to be honest a hell hole that most marines are to afraid to go to or to corrupt to stop, it was there in a hunt for Josh Wynter I had caught Alejandro Monetize."

*Flash Back 4 years ago*

Rain pelted Coruckus Ridge as Kenjiro directed marines "I want no less then two of you in every alleyway, no less then three on every roof top and no less then four in every street. This man has murdered, ravaged, and ruined far to many people for us to allow him to escape now." It was hours later that Alejandro was in town square, marines came out of every corner but he was smart, his crew from inside shops began launching smoke bombs and uses it to cover his escape. Seeing him run past a group of marines Kenjiro chased him from the roof tops, leaping off of the roof and following on foot Kenjiro began closing in.

Until a toy left by a child in the street was stepped on and caused him to trip. "No I refuse to lose you." and with that Kenjiro transformed his finger into a gun and shot Alejandro in the heel, causing him to go down. His crew and Alejandro was arrested and Kenjiro was put up for promotion.

*Present*

Kenjiro eyes grew dark "If we don't escape we have two options, we'll either be executed or sold into slavery to the islands leading crime family."

[Docile]

Watching as the man before him seemed to fall into a dark place within his own head, Heartly wasn't so sure this Coruckus Ridge would be good. As he spoke about their two options, Heartly nodded and attempted to use his devil fruit powers.

Failing miserably he grunted and laid back against the post he was chained to.

"What ever this drug they put in our drinks last night its stopping me from changing. I just can't muster up enough energy to change."

Looking towards the kid, Heartly tried to pull him closer with his foot but struggled. Catching sight of what hung from his jeans, Heartly grinned. It was a set of keys. Hooking his toes around them, Heartly tried to unhook the keys.

"We might just be getting out of here sooner than we think." motioning the set of keys towards his hands, Heartly began to place each one in the lock and turn trying to free himself. Jingling the keys behind him, he rushed through each key desperately wanting to escape.

With his face pulling stupid expressions he reached the last key to find out that none of these keys were that one he was looking for. Sighing in disappointment he looked towards Kenjiro.

"Looks like we're out of luck with the keys."

Pulling the keys in front of him and examining them, he looked at the loop they keys were on.

"But I do have an idea."

Slipping each key off and allowing them to fall to the floor, Heartly began struggling to pull the loop apart. With it now as a straight piece of metal he slipped his hands behind his back once more in an attempt to free himself. Tinkering with the lock behind his back by sticking it into the lock, Heartly attempted to pick the lock. He could feel a few pieces moving about and even a few tumblers in the lock rising only to fall back down again. Grunting as he tried, he looked towards Kenjiro.

"Kenjiro tell me more about what to expect when we do get to Coruckus Ridge. Cause we're probably headed there no matter what and going to have our work cut out for us."

Pushing the metal a little further into the lock Heartly smiled as he heard a click and felt the shackles loosening on his wrists. Pulling them free within moments he grunted at the soreness but smiled as he could now get his ass of the groggy floor and plan a break out. Looking at his wrists he could see how horribly red they were.

[Roy]

"What ever this drug they put in our drinks last night its stopping me from changing. I just can't muster up enough energy to change." With that Kenjiro gave a nod, he was in the same boat as he had been attempting to change plenty since he had awoke. He watched as Heartly went through the keys, each of them failing. With a sigh Kenjiro again moved his wrist trying to get them into a more comfortable area, it was then Heartly tried picking the lock and asked Kenjiro for more about Coruckus Ridge. "There are four main families, Nakamura, Stein, Schmitt and Hondo. Nakamura collects from the three and is the largest. Stein, are the ones who more than likely own this ship, marines who aren't corrupt tend to be put onto these slave ships and sold between the three. Schmitt are big time drug dealers and into..."working" girls and guys if you catch my drift and Hondo...Well they are the enforcers of the island, into weapon dealings and such." Kenjiro explained. Seeing Heartly free himself Kenjiro smirked but then a thought occurred "Wait...so where's the old timer? I see everyone else but the old man ain't here." Kenjiro stated.

[Docile]

Hearing the info about the island, Heartly nodded and got to work on freeing Kenjiro. Struggling a little he found himself fumbling before finally after a few ongoing failed attempts there was the rolling of tumblers and the sudden sound of shackles hitting the floor.

Pocketing the small piece of metal he'd used to pick lock, Heartly motioned towards the small kid. Placing him in the shackles, Heartly strung him up with his hands shackled to the post Heartly had been shackled to then shackled his legs to the post Kenjiro had been against.

Watching as the child hung in the air thanks to the shackles made him smile. Looking towards Kenjiro after hearing what he had to say on it, Heartly picked up the map and gestured towards the storage room the kid had just left.

"Right, good to know you know allot about this place. Because I know bugger all. But the island sounds like bad news. I've got plan though. I personally don't feel all that strong right now and I'm guessing neither do you. However I do have an idea for something we can do that'll give us an advantage."

Looking towards the various objects scattered around the storage room Heartly looked back towards Kenjiro.

"How good are you at talking grade A shit?"

[Roy]

Watching as Heartly had begun to work on Kenjiro's own shackles he continued speaking "No one here deserves what those families offer for them, we need to either turn this ship around or set up a new base of operations on that island." Kenjiro said. As the shackles hit the ground Kenji began rubbing his wrist to ease the soreness, seeing Heartly double shackle the kid Kenjiro let out a chuckle. When asked how good he was at bull shitting Kenjiro gave a chuckle "I'm a marine, it's a part of our job description isn't it?"

[Docile]

Walking over to a shelf and lifting up what seemed to be an old broken den den mushi, Heartly smirked. Walking over to another shelf he tipped the tin over pouring yellow paint over it.

Pointing towards the den den mushi Heartly smiled.

"We've got an ace in the whole now. This bad boy here. Well don't you think it looks a little bit like a Buster Call den den mushi?"

All they needed to do was hold it in such a way that they could only just make it out.

"If we make our way up there we can threaten them and stop them from heading to Coruckus Ridge and keep them at sea. Whilst we manage that we can defeat them all and then take the ship for ourselves."

[Roy]

Kenjiro was going to speak before he went into a coughing fit, bad enough to cause the marine to fall to his knees. Once it was finished the marine wiped his mouth "Well it's a decent plan Heartly but I'm sure they have riflemen up top and we're not really in dodging condition." Kenjiro said. "The second we do anything with that Den Den their more then likely to start blasting us and Heartly to be honest with you I don't wanna get shot right now." Kenjiro said with a chuckle. "But...we do have a bargaining item." Kenjiro stated glancing towards the child Heartly had handcuffed. "Perhaps we can begin a hostage negotiation, the Stein family are scum but are very protective of their own so if this is their ship, we have a large bargaining chip with this child."

[Docile]

Seeing how Kenjiro spoke about riflemen and not in fighting fit condition, Heartly nodded and turned away thinking whilst Kenjiro talked about the hostage they had.

"True, but I was thinking we warn them from here we've got a buster call den den and then show it to them from down here. That'll get their attention and send the fear of god into them. Whilst their agonizing over this little buster call we've got, we can surprise them. I mean we could sink the ship. After we find something we can use for ourselves to use of course."

Heartly knew his plan wasn't perfect, but they had no idea who they were up against or what would become of them. But it was time to take risks.

[Roy]

Listening to Heartly speak Kenjiro couldn't help but agree with the plan, it was a good chance they had. "Alright Heartly, it's our best chance so it's time to take it." Kenjiro said. Grabbing the metal piece of handcuff Heartly used to free them both Kenjiro began walking out to marines. Finding the ones in the best shape Kenjiro began picking locks and freeing them from their cuffs, unfortunately there was only about four marines who were good enough to make it seem like they had a decent enough force to keep them up there in case things went sour. "Alright Heartly, give it a go."

[Docile]

Heading towards the hatch with the yellow den den mushi, Heartly took a deep breath. He looked towards Kenjiro who had already begun to free prisoners and kicked the hatch open. Peering out to see he'd gained attention from everyone he raised the den den mushi into the air and called out.

"I'm Captain Heartly Hayes of the Navy and you done fucked up big time. This in my hand is a Buster Call Den Den Mushi. If I push the button on top then a fleet of Naval ships will be coming until they reach this signal being sent out! So its your choice. Either go peacefully or take a chance!"

Waiting for a response Heartly heard a few murmurs before a voice called back.

"How do we know its real?!"

"You don't. But do you really want to try your luck? You really think a naval captain is stupid enough to risk something like this or even be this sure about it?"

A few more murmurs were heard before footsteps were heard. The sound of a rifle being cocked was heard and next another voice.

"Just so you know Mr Hayes, we've currently got guns trained on you"

"That supposed to scare me?"

Squeezing the trigger a bullet streamed through the air sweeping past Heartly's wrist. However it was so close the bullet drew blood on the side of Heartly's wrist from the near miss.

Biting his other hand below deck, Heartly continued to hold the den den in the air.

"That was a warning. Just imagine how much more painful it will be when you actually try to push the button."

Dropping down his hand Heartly caught the den den and shouted back up.


"If your not willing to be men about it or deal with this on a mature state then we'll keep it down here and wait till you're ready to be more mature about it. But don't try attacking us, because we've got every entrance manned."

Closing the hatch and sitting down on the floor where he'd originally been cuffed, Heartly looked at his bloody wound and cursed quietly.

[Roy]

As Heartly dealt with their captors Kenjiro was undoing the cuffs of those who were well enough to stand and move. "Come on men, I've seen how much you drink this shouldn't be to much different." Kenjiro said with a chuckle. It was after they had a group of 8 not counting Kenji and Heartly that a gun shot was heard and Heartly came back down with a bloody wrist. Acting quickly Kenjiro began sharpening the pick into a fine point and took a thread from his duster off. "Fuck...Who has a lighter?" one of the marines tossed his to Kenji which he then used to burn and slightly sterilize the new "needle." finding a plank of wood Kenjiro handed it to Heartly "Bite down on it or don't, your choice." and with that began sewing Heartly's wound shut. But only due to knowing basic first aid due to marine training the stitches were sloppy but nothing that a trained doctor couldn't make better.

"Like I said, we have a bargaining chip in that child, we should use it."

[Docile]

As Kenjiro snapped into action sewing up his small wound Heartly took the wooden plank and bit down on it. He hadn't expected such a response from him but was grateful for the help. Looking to Kenjiro and the other prisoners he looked down at his hand then spoke.

"Alright guys I've bought us a little time, but its not going to be that long so we've got to get out of here now and take them by surprise. We can sink the ship and let 'em drown but I'm a devil fruit user and I'll be useless in water. Or we can make an exit through that wall right there, and try to climb aboard and take them down from behind. But from what I heard above deck, they're armed. They've got rifles, swords and cannons. So guys, what're you thinking?"

[Roy]

"Alright guys I've bought us a little time, but its not going to be that long so we've got to get out of here now and take them by surprise. We can sink the ship and let 'em drown but I'm a devil fruit user and I'll be useless in water. Or we can make an exit through that wall right there, and try to climb aboard and take them down from behind. But from what I heard above deck, they're armed. They've got rifles, swords and cannons. So guys, what're you thinking?" Heartly had asked. "I'm in the same boat here Heart, I'll sink like a rock. If we can get to their weapons room and arm these marines we may have a better chance." Kenjiro said.

[Docile]

Looking towards Kenjiro then the other soldiers, Heartly continued.

"Well look gentlemen, we've not much time before they try to bust down that door. My vote is break that wall down and sneak top side. The sooner we can take them out by surprise the sooner we've our own ship to command."

Walking over towards the wall, Heartly placed his palm against it. Peering back he started to tap the wall. It felt hard, but he needed some extra force to get through it. He would've normally burnt it, but couldn't manage to generate enough heat.

[Roy]

Following Heartly's example Kenjiro tapped the wall and frowned, it was dense but could break if Kenjiro charged it with some extra weight. "You there, stand in front of me and charge the wall with me." With a nod from his fellow marine the two began charging into the wooden wall and cracking it. They continued this charging attack, the crack getting deeper every time they hit it before after about the 8th charge the men broke through, then two promptly fell into the ocean. Moving forward Kenji saw the men climbing up the ship using the cannons, sneaking around and lowering a rope the marines began climbing, after the entire group was up Kenjiro grabbed a hold of the rope.

"Well Heartly, see ya top side." Kenji said and made his way to the top, sneaking around and his way past the guards who kept watch on the door Kenji found a room with which held their personal items. Picking up Heartly's gun and strapping it to his side he made note when he ran into Heartly to give it back. Then, something caught the marines eyes, a pair of brass knuckles, possibly belonging to one of the marines down below or from a previous illegal selling. "Well, either way I'm taking these for the moment." Kenjiro said slipping them on. The rest of the group of marines followed in and began arming themselves with weapons. "Men today we're taking a ship, these slavers have done wrong by our glorious Government and in turn we shall be taking this ship back. It's our duty as marines to ensure the safety of our comrades and the civilians below. If possible take them alive, I however will not fault you for killing them. Now, let's handle business."

[Docile]

Watching as the wall was cracked open and the soldiers begun to escape through the hole Heartly looked to his right where the kid had started shouting. Quickly taking action Heartly motioned towards him and slammed his elbow over the kid's face.

Knocking him out again, Heartly turned to face the door and gulped as he placed the den den mushi down and clenched his fist tightly. He knew for a fact that he would be facing some pirates soon as they would only be so rational.

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