Ahh to be out in the sea again. It was a place of sanctuary for Gilbard. To hear the rolling waves above and the cool underwater currents that flowed past him. He was as fit as ever these days. He had regained much of the strength and technique that he had lost since the days he left the Conclave. He still wasn't back to his peak just yet. But that was a state that was brought about through rigorous training and discipline every day for years on end. These days he focused more of his efforts on his medicine. Despite how far he traveled, there was still no whisper of the 'miracle cure' that he seeked. For the past year or so he had found himself on Sandy Island and had managed to get himself distracted on more than one occasion. He was sure he had learned all he could from the literature and professionals that inhabited the island. It was high time that he should be thinking about moving on. But something kept him there for the time being. One part of him wanted to keep an eye on the developing situation on Sandy. But then again, maybe it would be best to avoid it all. But then where would he go? He had no leads and was stuck at a dead end.

Today he was in search of the sea king who had died in this area. He had smelled it's blood from a ways away. The carcass would be valuable to him as he wanted to test out his newest strain of microbes and see if he could collect a second strain. Following the smell, he eventually came across a thick cloud of dark red blood and a mass of scavenger fish ripping it to shreds. Coming closer, Gil would stretch out his finger tips and grasp the water. He would shake it, sending a small tremor through the ocean, enough to scare off the fish. Diving down to the body he would inspect it. The whole thing was worse for ware. Several massive harpoons had struck this creature and pierced through it's flesh. They looked like marine ship artillery. With all the marine activity in these areas now, even the ferocity of sea kings became nothing but an obstacle that needed to be removed.

Gil brought his hands together and clasped them, bowing his head. He wordlessly prayed for this king of the sea, and hoped it's noble spirit would find peace beyond the silver spray. After he had honoured it's death, Gil began to investigate further, fully intending to desecrate it. The creature was huge, like some sort of snake but with a beaked head. Gil was sure this thing would be able to crush the largest of ships should it be able to coil around them. He floated down to the wound in it's side. There, the intestines were exposed. Gil would examine closer. Right where the metal protruded into the flesh. It looked like the wound was unnaturally clean, and not like something had ripped through a struggling monster. Gil cut into the intestine with a scalpel made of water. Almost immediately, the flesh turned blue and then it began to regrow in front of his eyes. This was it. These were the microbes, like the ones he had previously harvested. But these were in overdrive. Much stronger and more effective. He had to get a sample. If he could find a way to crossbreed them... Did they multiply sexually or asexually? Would the two species even be able to live in the same environment? He would have to investigate further later on.

items: spear pistol in jacket pocket
doriki: +2 speed +1 strength

*BOOM*

Gil felt a ripple flow through the water from overhead. It felt like something had happened on the surface. Quickly cutting a chunk out of the intestine wall, he swallowed it. He would have to store that and harvest the microbes later. Right now he wanted to check out what had made that sound.

Swimming to the surface. Gil would happen across a strangely shaped metal ship with a cloud of thick grey smoke billowing from a pipe on it's back. It was two kilometers away from the shore of Cactus Island. It didn't seem to have any sails at all and made some sort of chugging sound. As strange as it looked, Gil could tell something was wrong. Oil leaked into the sea and the side of the ship was falling off, a cannonball securely lodged in there. Having a look from different underwater, his curiosity finally got the better of him and he climbed aboard. Slinking around the ship, things seemed strangely silent. A woman was layed sprawled out on the deck, Her rib cage blown apart by what looked like a shotgun. Her blood painted the deck a rusted red. A groan came from inside the cabin. Climbing inside, Gil ducked back out when his eye caught the sight of a pistol barrel aimed his way. The crack of the gunshot lit the air and the bullet zoomed past the fishman's face. Feeling a dose of adrenaline hit his system, he looked again, this time seeing the man hiding behind the counter, clutching his side while attempting to reload. He shook to much, dropping the bag of bullets. He grunted as the bullets rolled away from his scrabbling hand. Gilbard walked over, not too afraid of what looked like a dying man.

"Be still, I mean you no harm." Gil's raspy voice attempting to calm him. "You'll never have it!" Seeing his distraught state, Gil's professional state of mind kicked in. He walked over to the man and put a hand on him. "Who ever you think I am, I am not them. I've come across your ship while out in the sea. Let me have a look at your wounds." As if his eyes cleared, the man took a new look at Gil, his brow furrowing. He let Gil examine him all the same.
Parting his shirt, Gil would see the burnt, severed flesh at the side of his ribs. He was in bad condition and at this rate, he would die of blood loss. A couple of ribs were cracked and the man yelped in pain when Gil probed them. "Alright, I'll patch you up." Behind the man, a first aid box was open. It looked like the man had made an attempt at fixing himself up but to no avail. Gil took a bottle of antiseptic and poured some over a clean rag. He dabbed at the wounds, cleaning them slowly and carefully. The man winced against the pain. After that, he asked the man to lay down on his back. He would have to set his broken ribs back into place. This would not be pretty. Gil had picked up this particular technique while watching shipwrights on Sabaody fix the hull of a boat. The structure of a ship was not unlike that of a rib cage, it was a frame that held the body into a particular shape. Gil wrapped his arms around the man's torso and squeezed and pulled, stretching the man's body out and easing the ribs back into alignment. This procedure would be most painful, but it would also make sure that the bone regrew properly. The man yelled and almost fainted from the pain. He would need to stay in a laying position for a time while he recovered. "I... Can't do that." The man growled, wincing as he attempted to get up before falling back down to his laying position. There had been some urgent or maybe panicked energy with him the whole time. Gil didn't press for details, although he was interested to just what was going on here.

Gil went to grab the stitching thread and a needle to start stitching up the wound in the man's side. His green scaley wrist was grabbed and his eyes met with that of the injured man. "A fishman doctor around the Sandy Island region. You wouldn't happen to be Gilbard Noam, would you?" Gil almost flinched. How did he know his name? "I heard there was a zebrafish fishman doctor on Sandy but I never thought I would meet him." The man panted. Gil grew suspicious. He seemed to know exactly what breed of fishman he was. "How do you know who I am. How do you know so much about me." Gil croaked, unsettled. "It's... It's okay. The marines don't know about you. The details of your heritage have not been discovered by the World Government." "Answer my question." Gil hissed. What the hell was going on here?

"Alright. Okay. Usually I would die before revealing any information on myself or my organisation but I think my superiors will forgive me in this instance. There is a force that opposes the World Government from the shadows. We are known as the Revolutionary Army. You probably don't care for our war, but unfortunately, you will be brought into it whether you like it or not, should your heritage become known to the World Government. We've been keeping an eye on you for a while now but it wasn't until a week ago-. Listen, I don't know any details, but we managed to tap communications on Baltigo and something about a 'miracle cure' came through." Gil's eyes widened. This was the first time he had heard the words 'miracle cure' in years. This was it. Was it? "Tell me more. What is it? Where is it? How do I get it?" "Ahh settle down. Look. I understand your interest but it is important for you to keep your head low. You don't understand how much danger you're in, and anyway, I don't have any intel on this matter. If I did then I would tell you. Find somewhere quiet and settle down so you can live the rest of your life in peace."

Gil sat back, considering the implications of this new information. So there was some sort of source of this 'miracle cure' but as to whether or not it exists was another story. What exactly was going on here? He didn't know if he was relieved, upset or excited to hear this news. "I have to find it." Gil made eye contact with the revolutionary. The man's grey eyebrows came down over his eyes. "You're not listening. The marines are going to be here soon. Being here will make you suspicious enough to be investigated. And if they should find out your heritage, you will be confined to some dungeon, never to see the light of day again." "I've already given up my life once to chase this trail. I'm not going to give up on this chance." They maintained eye contact for a few seconds before the revolutionary gave in. "Damn it. Well. It's not like I could stop you even if I wanted to. In that case, I would like to prepare you as best I can with what time I have left." "You're not going to die. Let me sew you up." "How about this, you can tend to me after I've taught you a few things. This will be important if you intend on pressing onward." Gil slowly nodded, his curiosity overflowing his concern for his patient.

"Alright. Get comfortable. Now, do you know what haki is?" Gil shook his head. "There are three types. The first two are capabilities that supposedly any are able to achieve. One is called armament haki. It is used to augment skin or weapon to improve on durability and is noted by a deep black colour." "Oh! I can use this already." Gil had discovered he could use this particular type of haki after his first encounter with Jack Frost. The particularly stressful encounter had lead him to dive deep into Kappa in order to escape with his life. "Good. Then you may already be aware of it's uses. It has also been found to be able to render logia fruit users tangible, meaning you can hit them as if they were a normal person with a haki coated surface. But more about that later."

"The second type of haki is known as observation haki. It allows the user to sense the presence of others as well as attacks coming as if they had a sixth sense. Do you know this one?" "No." Although it did sound familiar. He had seen Jackal fight in a way which looked like he had eyes in the back of his head. Maybe this is what he had been using. "Good. Let's see if I can teach it to you." The injured man wiggled his index finger at Gil while still laying flat on his back. Gil wondered if something like this was possible to learn, but hey, he may as well give it a shot. "You'll need to relax completely. Drop all thought and sense of the outside." Gil sat cross legged, falling easily into a perfect meditation. This skill came with his lifetime of prayer. He controlled his breathing to one inhale every twenty seconds and his heartbeat slowed. All thought of the past, present and future was simply stopped. All he could hear was the sound of the man's voice. "Good. Now I am going to ask you to do what seems impossible. I need you to focus on my presence. Close you eyes and feel." How was he expected to do such a thing? But he tried nontheless. He tuned himself out of the rest of the world. It was a rather strange development in what was such a gruesome scene. But there was something strange about this man that made him feel calm. And he would follow whatever direction he was given by the man if it meant learning more about the cure.

OOC: feel free to start the NPC attack in your post if you like

In this deep meditation, seconds seemed to turn into hours for him. Even the injured man's words stretched into an unrecognisable background colour which Gil absorbed, rather than listened to. It was a strange environment to meditate in. With a bloody corpse laying a number of metres away out on the deck, and the boat falling apart. This man, he could tell had experience and wisdom. But for all his attempt to keep calm in the moment, the short, upward inflection at the end of his sentence betrayed a deeply stressed individual. Not that this was a surprising fact, as he had just attempted to shoot at Gil when he entered. He saw himself in danger but for some reason, it was very important for him to keep this from Gil. He was unable to though, as Gil was beginning to get a sense of the person in front of him, just as he had asked him to get. A living body had a rhythm to it. Like a hum. Pulsing electric signals and pumping blood. Gil was beginning to lock on and feel an energy. Maybe this was the essence of life itself. Could this be what observation haki was able to produce.

He listened as this man told him of his knowledge of haki and about the third, rarer type that was able to knock unconscious those with a lesser will. The information transfused into his system, his psyche not giving a reaction to it at all. He went on to talk about about devil fruit. The seemingly magical fruit which gave it's users wondrous abilities which could bring about chaos and order. Zoan, which brought about changes to your boby to mimic a specific animal. Logia which made the user embody a specific animal. And Paramecia which seemed like a mixed bag of all sorts of crazy functions. All of which, meant that you could never swim again. This rattled Gil's meditation like nothing else. These truly were fruits of the devil if they stripped the user of their ability to be in the sea. The strange man went on, talking of the power structures of the world, giving an overview of things as they stood between the pirates, the World Government and the Revolutionary Army. Usually Gil wouldn't accept such information from one source only, but everything he said fit in well with the view he had through his own eyes while traveling the Grand Line. He told of the situation on Sandy Island and Cactus Island, but only witheld the most secret of information.

"This box here, It must make it to Cactus Island." After those last words, the man finished talking. Gil opened his eyes to see a box in front of him that had not been there before. "I have some vital intel that must be brought to my commanding officer that I collected on Baltigo. I can't afford to use a den-den mushi as the line may be compromised." To be honest, Gil wasn't all too thrilled to get mixed up in such a grand war. He was much to selfish and small minded to consider any of the ideals that the man spoke of as relevant to himself.

"Betterman. It's the end of the line. I'll give you one minute to surrender."
The booming voice echoed out over the sea, interrupting the little heart to heart Gil and this man, apparently named Betterman were having. Betterman's cool facade disappeared completely in an instant. "Shit! Damn it, we've run out of time. Go! Take the box!" "I still haven't stitched you up." "Don't worry about that now!" Gil frowned. He didn't like being rushed and interrupted while at work. He had let his own curiosity take over and let the man run time out. "I'll be back." Gil croaked before walking away, leaving the man to shout at him some more. "Damn it!" Betterman grabbed his gun and reloaded it, clutching his wound as he pulled himself up into a sitting position.

Gil was pissed. For someone that was usually as cool as a sea cucumber, it was an uncomfortable feeling. Just as he had caught sight of the 'miracle cure' again, some obstacle had presented itself and was attempting to get in his way. All his years of work had lead him to this moment of randomness. He couldn't let it slip away now. He went down below deck and into the hull of the ship. There were some strange machines whiring. Some were obviously broken with hot steam blowing everywhere and some leaking oil. Gil avoided this and instead went for a weak point in the hull where it was clear of oil. He would bend back the metal plate and slip out into the sea below, bending it back into place. Gil guessed that even if Betterman managed to somehow repair the ship, it wouldn't reach shore before sinking. It was letting in water, but it was a slow process.


Kappa swam downward, taking a brief look at the three boats before swimming 40 metres below their hulls. Kappa would slowly pull in water around him and condense it against his body into a 1mm thick shell so as to not disturb the surface. He was aiming to get the jump on these intruders. As the last few seconds of Goragano's minute ran out, Gil would attack. After positioning directly underneath Gorgano's leading boat, Kappa would swim upwards to 30m below sea level, thrusting his left arm upwards. He would attempt to use his Moray Munch kata at it's maximum size to chomp a huge hole in the wooden hull.

skills:

OOC: Feel free to control Betterman, otherwise I'll just leave him where he is for now.

By the choric current
By the dank domain
A rising moon
Brought to wain

By the whispering wash
By the turbid tide
A body to your spirit
And a soul to confide

With a massive hole having been carved out of the bottom of the first boat, Kappa turned his intent toward the second boat. He kept himself thirty metres from the surface as that was the range at which he could strike at using his Moray Munch. He let go of the water moray as soon as his strike had connected with the first boat and swam to directly underneath the second boat. Due to the second boat being several tens of metres away from the first, Kappa would be well out of range of the marbles that would be dropped next to the first ship, his secondary speed carrying him to his new position swiftly as the marines shouted on deck.

From there, he would thrust upward again, sending out another water moray identical to the first to rip into the wooden hull of the second ship. This sequence of action taking much less time than the marines took to organise themselves on the deck of the first ship.

Kappa had taken hold over Gilbard. The clinical zealot which worshiped an ancient sea religion was a much more fearsome personality than the doctor. This was a man that had the teachings of the Kappa Conclave deeply rooted in his psyche. With a single mind, he represented the wrath of the storm using the lifetime of martial arts and physical conditioning that he had lived through underneath the crushiing pressure of kilometres of sea.

skills:

OOC:

Gil began swimming away from his location underneath the damaged boat. He was intending to sink these vessels, removing them from their proud positions above the waves. However, it was hard to ignore the three massive boulders that had just been dropped in the ocean above him. They were round and smooth, with swirls of colour through them. They were strange, it was no accident that they had been put there. It occurred to Gil that these were most likely a response to his attack, but he had no idea what they did. He was a suspicious fishman, and though he didn't want to mess with them, ignoring them all together was much too lackadaisical for his nature. As he swum toward the second boat, he decided to encircle himself in a barrier of condensed water.

The marble bombs dropped deeper into the water, slowly sinking while Gil swam away. And then they exploded. A massive volume of gas was produced from seemingly nowhere, enveloping the area in a destructive shockwave that pulsed through the water. The explosion displaced a massive amount of water, leaving the surface swelled up in the shape of a hill, rocking boats too and fro and drenching and knocking the marine away that was just above the surface. The two damaged ships, one marine and one revolutionary would be wrecked further, as sea water rushed inside.

Gil himself was hit like a freight train, the unexpected explosion smashing into his barrier with it's full force. He was sent tumbling away as his grip on the water was released, the strength of his barrier barely able to withstand the force before shattering.

It took him a few seconds to gather himself again, pushed away from the ships. Gil decided this threat couldn't be ignored if he wished to continue with this assault. Returning to his original position, Gil would strike with is Moray Munch kata once more, this time aiming at the shadowy figure that lay just above the surface of the water. This time, Gil was going to add his own speed to the attack by swimming upwards at his full speed until he reached just below the surface or until his attack had landed. Gil was aiming to bite into Goragino with his kata and drag him into the ocean where he would capture him in the eel's mouth.

skills:

Goragino's shoe expanded and exploded, blowing apart the head of the moray eel and releasing it's grip on the marine. Goragino was free, but his worries wouldn't end there. It is said that a devil fruit eater's fate is to end up returning to the sea, as the sea finally claims what was taken from it. All things will return to the sea. Ambition, ego, hope, love. It would all be washed away by the silver spray. Goragino attempted to escape this fate, fleeing from the very thing that brought him life. A curious, meaningless, and futile struggle in the face of a zealot of the sea. But this man's intent was neither good nor bad in Kappa's eyes. It was simply the expression of randomness that life brought with it. Like the eddying current flowing down a stream, or the Brownian motion of random collision in fluid. Kappa's philosophy was reflected in the nature of the sea itself, something so self evident could not possibly be proven wrong by a single squirming human.

Every being's very being
From egg or womb, to wilt from bloom
be minnow, mermaid, fishman, sea king
All shalt return to thy salty tomb

He wished to flea, so Kappa would bring the sea to him.

Kappa would release condensed water under his feet to accelerate his swim to maximum speed toward Goragino. He would then harness the leftover water that was still in his control from the headless Moray Munch kata, the neck of the eel being only five metres from the man at his point of escape. While swimming, Kappa would heave, spreading his control to the water around it, swelling the sea to a shape 25m around him, rising out of the water at secondary speeds. The aim was to immerse him in the water once more. Should the water immerse him in any portion of his body, he would find it condensing into a hard, solid like substance, attempting to hold him in a vice grip while it spread to the rest of his body. Kappa would then curl and wiggle his toes, turning parts of the water prison into razor sharp threads of condensed water, attempting to coil around and mummify the marine.

skills:

He was in his grasp. The hook deeply planted. Now all that was left was to reel him in. The man shouted, and his body hardened. Kappa could feel the strength of his muscle under his own grip but it couldn't stop all of the damage from his attack. Bruised bone and fractures from the squeeze and splitting skin and muscle from the cutting of the water strings all over his body. The sea wished to claim the devil fruit's soul as it's own, the salty spite draining the man's strength from his body. At this point, he would be beginning to weaken if he hadn't already. The sea had swelled out to meet him, like a pimple on the surface of the ocean that had now consumed the marine. This 'water hill' was 50m across and solid, no cannonball would reach the fishman inside.

The marine attempted to blow up his clothes. Whether he realised it or not, these clothes were shredded by the sharp strings that had mummified him. The scraps of clothing that he would have managed to swell wouldn't get far from his body due to the condensed water before exploding. The explosions meant for speed would meet their match against the strength of the condensed water.

Kappa would continue the attack exactly the same as before, quickly reforming his shaped water that had been blown apart by Gorgano's attack. Deeper cuts, larger breaks. Kappa was truly ruthless in this mindset.

skills: