A wide grin spread over the left side of Mashyuu's face and he nodded once. "Yeah, I'm a blacksmith. Or at least that's what I tell myself. Not very practiced yet. Only managed to make a few things but it's never a bad time to learn or practice." Mashyuu admitted while gliding his tool across the blade. "I don't plan on letting Harley leave that room of hers if I can help it. But thanks for the heads up and the help. In my book I owe you one still." The Captain went on. A brow only lifting at Kouse's request to see how strong he was. "I have a devil fruit ability. I control magnetic fields with it. Haven't exactly mastered the skill yet but I'm pretty good with it." Mashyuu admitted. "Wanna see how strong my crew is? Well let me just tell you my roster. There's me. A former slave from Skypiea who survived falling from it twice. A long arm swordsman who is training to master the ten sword style. He has a devils fruit that controls gravity. A fishman navigator, Harley my doctor, a half Mink cat girl for a shipwright, and a forty two foot tall giant that is a cook. And then there's..."

Mashyuu's voice trailed off when Elias started to chime in on what exactly his real story was. Mashyuu simply removed his red glasses and put them in the breast pocket of his jacket while giving Elias a blank stare. Slowly he stroked his chin and nodded once. "I don't know what any of that means. I've never been off of this island and Skypiea in my life. Hell I haven't even picked up a news coo yet. So as far as I'm concerned you're just some dude with a slingshot. Welcome aboard. I'm sure we can make your dream come true. Mine is a simple dream. I just want to live free and not feel like I'm stuck under someone's thumb. But I'll fight against anyone who would put others under the same harsh treatment that I was under as a child." Mashyuu went on. "Elias, welcome to the Phantom Raiders. Doctor, what exactly did you have to take care of before you could leave? I have to wait for the rest of my crew to arrive before I can do anything so I might as well help you."

‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Kouse thought as he listened to Mashyuu talk about practicing his blacksmithing as much as possible. Kouse understood what it meant to have a passion for something, although you might not yet be good at it, your interest and enjoyment in doing it inevitably made you much better, and as Kouse saw the smile on Mashyuu’s face as he talked about practicing his occupation, Kouse knew that it was just a matter of time before he became a top level blacksmith.

Kouse couldn’t help but speak up when Mashyuu said he had a devil fruit ability. “Oh! So that’s how you moved my sword.” Kouse would say, impressed and excited to meet yet another devil fruit user apart from his friend, Madori.
But the surprise didn’t stop there, as Mashyuu began telling Kouse about, per his request everyone in his crew and Kouse listened intently.

“A forty two foot giant?!, A cat girl?,a fishman?, A devil fruit user that controls gravity as well as being a long arm swordsman?.” Kouse rushed out, both impressed and surprised. “And you actually fell off from the city in the sky, twice!, And survived.”
Kouse adjusted his glasses, a smile appearing on his face. He couldn’t even imagine all those different different races working together in one crew. It was obvious that this man, Mashyuu had traveled round the world, recruiting the people he saw were worthy. Yet here he was, explaining things about his crew to Kouse to get him to join his crew.

Kouse nodded at Mashyuu. “That was impressive. I’m convinced.” Kouse would turn to look longingly at the endless blue sea, the world was waiting for him. But he knew he had something to do before he could leave mock town. It was something, even the limitless joy of being free couldn’t overcome.

“I accept your invitation to join the Phantom Pirates.” Kouse turned back to look at Mashyuu. “I just hope I’ll be able to sail out with you soon.” Kouse added, knowing, he might indeed have agreed to becoming part of Mashyuu’s crew, but he also knew deep down that it was very possible that he wouldn’t get the chance to sail out with them, giving his responsibilities in mocktown.

Kouse was a little saddened by that fact, well he was until Mashyuu unknowingly said the perfect thing.

‘I have to wait for the rest of my crew to arrive before I can do anything so I might as well help you.’
On hearing that, relief spread through Kouse’s body instantly. He was not in a hurry!.

“I would like to build the first pirate teaching hospital in the world, right here in mocktown before I can leave.” Kouse would answer Mashyuu’s question. “It was the dream my mentor had before he died and I aim to see it come to pass.”
Kouse touched his glasses. “I don’t currently have anything that you can help me with, but I’ll be sure to ask you once I do.”

Kouse would turn to Elias who had just finished speaking with Mashyuu, who had also agreed to join the Phantom Pirates. “Oh, I almost forgot. I don’t think that crazy fellow you fought with will let things end just like that. He’ll surely be coming back, this time with help.” Kouse would say. “We all know him and the trouble he causes in mocktown.”

Mashyuu actually didn't know about the nobility of the world? "The hell kind of backwater is it up there in the sky? You don't even know about the Celestial Dragons, the Tenryubito?" He rubbed the back of his head while he conversed with Mashyuu. He got welcomed in to the phantom raiders as the resident botanist and slacker. Elias would just take a moment to try and get Mashyuu's attention while he spoke about who was on the crew, "Well before any of that. The Celestial Dragons. They're these guys, with fishbowls on their heads so they don't breathe 'commoner air' and basically, if you so much as touch them, they'll send the entire marine navy after you. They're rather conceited, and look down on everyone. And honestly: I would like to see them brought down. Nothing against them personally, I just wanna stick a nail in my dad's coffin as one giant middle finger to him."

Making his intentions known, ELias would return to the side of the ship, leaning over the banister while he sighed. The look of excitement on his face turning to one of boredom the moment that Kouse mentioned that long arm guy. "Yeah. Screw it." He said in a disinterested manner, "That's the fifth time I've been thrown through something by that guy in the past three days. It's--boring. Wish he could come up with a new means of attack. But, c'est la vie, non?" SLumping forward, he rested his chin on his folded arms, puffing his cheeks out in to somewhat of a pout.

---

That Long Arm- Tinyjoints as he was called by his allies and crew, was getting his ship set up, ready to set sail, but he had one final thing to take care of. He wanted to see Elias one more time and leave him with a parting gift. So he strolled down the docks after hearing random hearsay about Elias having joined a crew. When the kid that was prohibited from joining a crew finally found one, it was the talk of the town. So when Tinyjoints stormed down the docks, and saw just what Elias was doing and who's boat he was on, he clapped his hands together, rubbing those palms against each other.

"So this is where you've gone Bad Luck Charm! Well, better put this to rest for everyone before you cause grief for someone el-"

He was swiftly interrupted by Elias grumbling at him, "Shaddap, I'm bored of you."

"O-oh. Well if you would just lis-"

"I said go away, you bore me." Elias shot a green seed with a red X through it. ANd mid flight to Tinyjoints, it broke open, revealing a flurry of four thistle leaved shuriken the size of a human being flying through the air. Tinyjoints was able to avoid them all, but Elias wasn't really aiming, just deterring some idiot from bothering him. Tinyjoints however, just brought his index finger and thumb to his mouth to blow a loud whistle. And from the horizon on the other side of Jaya's docks, that ship of his was starting to sail around, the side ports opening up and revealing cannons like they were gonna perform a flanking maneuver on Mashyuu's ship.

Elias quirked an eyebrow, that spark of interest coming back to his face, "Oh! So you can do something other than throw people!" That's not the point right now Elias, the crew you just joined was about to be fired upon by another pirate crew!

"Glad to have you on the crew Doctor! Just what we needed." Mashyuu gave Kouse a thumbs up and smile while thinking to himself for a moment. "So you would need like.... a two story tall building with medical supplies to set that up right? I'll bet Harley would be happy to give you the keys to her place if you were gonna do that. She'd want the place to get some use while we are gone. You just need some teachers." Mashyuu assured Kouse, finding it crazy that all Kouse wanted was to help make a hospital to teach at in Mock Town.

Mashyuu happily turned his attention back to Elias and started to count. "Me, Yuurei, Dai, Gideon, Harley, Koneko, Elias and Kouse... that's nine of us. Yeah.... A real crew." Mashyuu muttered. He still didn't have a scientist, or a robot on his crew but that would come in time. "Back water? Hahaha no. The water in Skypiea is made of clouds." Mashyuu explained. "It's why you can't see it from here. It actually floats on massive clouds." Mashyuu went on. "Kouse is right.. if you want to stop a bully then you need to not only stand up to him but not let him come back for you. You need to go to him." Mashyuu spoke from past experience.

It didn't seem to matter though, because as if being summoned by a genie, the long arm showed up to shout out at Elias. While the two were going at it, Mashyuu looked out past the long arm and narrowed his eyes. The guy wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Elias while he was at Mashyuu's ship. Not without a plan. Just as the whistle cut through the air, Mashyuu saw it. A fair sized ship that was rounding towards the Skycleaver. Mashyuu growled under his breath and ran to the wheel of the ship and flipped a large lever, causing the Skycleaver to roar at the base. The metal pipes started to intake water and expel it from a different end. Soon the ship started to become surrounded in a thick blue fog.

"Kouse, you and I are going to sink that ship. This one isn't going anywhere thanks to the anchor holding it in place but the blue fog is gonna keep rising. Elias, take that guy down but don't do it from my ship!" Mashyuu ordered and spread his wings. Mashyuu shot up into the air then dove down at Kouse. He gripped Kouse's arms and looped around towards the advancing ship that started to produce it's cannons. Mashyuu started to strafe left and right while advancing forward. Mashyuu focused on his morning star and it began to float at his side, quickly swinging around in a circle at his right. "Kouse, I'm gonna drop you on the main deck, work your way down and try to stop the cannon fire! I'll be dealing with the sails and then meet you below!" Mashyuu yelled as the first cannonball fired and whizzed past Mashyuu's body just as he strafed hard to the left.

Quickly Mashyuu's entire body dipped low so that Kouse was nearly touching the water, then twisted towards the back of the ship they were about to attack and shot up, Just before Mashyuu passed up the top of the ship, he hurled Kouse up and over the rail of the vessel, while continuing to fly up. Mashyuu headed towards the crows nest and pushed his morning star out, the swinging weapon catching the man calling shots in the chest with the spiked weapon. The impact sent the man over the rail of the crows nest and down to the main deck with a sick, bone crunching thud. Bullets bounced off the crows nest the moment Mashyuu landed. Mashyuu picked his weapon up and flipped it around in his hand. His left hand pointed at the base of the crows nest and pulled back. Nails ripped out of the nest and Mashyuu continued to walk around it until all the nails were ripped out. His wings flapped to keep him airborne and without warning the crows nest fell to the deck, shattering atop a few pirates.

As quickly as he could, Mashyuu flew towards the main sail of the ship and stabbed his morning star into it. His wings stopped flapping and he fell, dragging his weapon along the sail, ripping it with the weight of his heavy weapon and his body. After it ripped three fourths of the way down the center Mashyuu flew backwards and landed on the deck with a grin on his face. "Alright, everyone has exactly one chance to surrender before I start killing you!" He shouted to anyone who might have been in ear shot.

“well, thanks for the offer Mashyuu.” Kouse replied to his offer. “Although what I have in mind is much much bigger, the building would be used properly.”

Kouse listened quietly as Mashyuu listed out all the individuals currently in his crew to Elias. He continued listening when Mashyuu began talking about the long arm pirate who had attacked Elias, and how he supported Kouse on the idea of taking the initiative and hitting first, especially if the person is a troublemaker like the long arm.
Kouse was pleasantly surprised when just as Mashyuu finished talking to Elias about dealing with the long arm, said long arm appeared and immediately got into a war of words with Elias. Kouse had heard a lot about the long arm pirate and knew that although he was a trouboe, he was no fool, and to Kouse, him coming to attack the three of them at once was infact a foolish plan.
To say Kouse was surprised when he saw the ship approaching them would be a lie. He knew for a fact that the long armed fellow came with a plan.
Mashyuu also wasn’t taken by surprise and jumped into action. He ran to the wheel of the ship and flipped a large lever which caused a thick blue fog to cover up the ship.

Kouse adjusted his glasses with a smile when Mashyuu announced that they would be sinking the approaching ship. “I like that plan.” Kouse said as he raised both his hands for Mashyuu who had already gone airborne to lift him up with.

'Kouse, I'm gonna drop you on the main deck, work your way down and try to stop the cannon fire! I'll be dealing with the sails and then meet you below!' Mashyuu yelled out as he carried Kouse towards the long arm pirates ship.

“That’s a great plan!.” Kouse replied, just as Mashyuu dropped him on the deck.

The moment Kouse landed on deck he activated 'ROOM’, pushing it to the limits, reaching 35 meters. He instantly located an arrow whizzing towards him from behind, which he dodged, but barely. There were half a dozen pirates all moving towards Kouse from all directions, surrounding him, giving him no way to escape. Only if they knew about Kouse’s ability.
Kouse with a smirk, waited until they were all about to shoot at him from all directions before he instantly switched locations with one of the pirates.
The look in all the pirates faces when the smoke cleared and they saw their comrade lying on the floor, dead with several holes in his body was hilarious.
Kouse didn’t give them any chance to recover as he immediately swung his sword sideways, slicing off all their heads in one go. Then another similar swing of his sword and this cut off their arms.
Kouse looked at the cut up pirates before him, they were all still alive, but they couldn’t move. With a flick of his fingers, Kouse lifted all the hands and heads he had cut off and tossed them into the sea. This caused the armless and headless pirates to all jump into the sea in a desperate attempt to recover their bodyparts.

Without a second look, Kouse rushed below deck. He could still hear the continuos cannon fire below. He had to stop them before the cannons caused serious damage to Mashyuu’s ship.
The moment he arrived below deck, Kouse sliced off both arms of each of the pirates manning the cannons and with his telekinetic powers he lifted all the cannons, tossing them into the sea.

Once done, Kouse waited for Mashyuu to join him below deck.

If he did, Kouse would thank him again for the building he gave and for requesting that he join his crew.

If he didn’t show up, Kouse would immediately make a deep slash in the hull of the ship, causing water to begin rushing into the ship. The he would rush back on deck and immediately get into one of the small boats on the ship and row back to the dock as the long arm ship slowly sank.

This was his first act as a part of the Phantom Pirates crew. Kouse only hoped that this wasn’t going to also be his last.



(Exit)

That was quite the roster for a crew, Elias thought to himself while Mashyuu told him everyone that was on the Phantom Raiders as of that point. And the water in Skypiea is made out of clouds? "I -- Of course I know that I can't see it from here. Where else would I think something called Sky anything would be?" He slapped the heel of his palm in to his forehead, an audible smack rang out as he had turned to face Mashyuu only to guffaw at how much of a doofus his new captain already was being. Well, most protagonists for a story are quite the dope, he thought to himself before he turned back to the railing of the ship. His attention back on Tinyjoints.

You need to stand up to a bully, and not let them come back? Elias thought about that for a brief moment, furrowing his brow as he spoke in a mumbled tone, "Let me just do away with this entire island then. They all behave just like that guy down there." He said with a scowl while looking down at Tinyjoints, who was bounding about and taunting Elias. FUming about how he was now being ignored, enraged that Elias, The Curse of Jaya, The Black Spot of the Pirates of the world, the mark of death, was now ignoring him? He would not stand for that. He would not put up with that. He would charge up that gangplank and fight Elias on the ship. Tinyjoints started to approach just as Kouse and Mashyuu left. The tall man looking to storm up the gangplank and get on deck. The moment his feet reached the top of the deck though, Elias jumped ship.

Pushing his hands against the railing of the ship, he shoved himself up with that one hand, vaulting over the railing so he could clutch on to the side of the boat, and brace his feet against the hull while his fingers clutched on to the railing. He pushed off with his feet once and lifted just a few inches in an arc, only to swing back down, and then he let go with his hands as his lower body pushed in more. Springing off of the boat, Elias performed a back flip, twisting and turning through the air before he landed on the dock and slipped his hands in to his jacket pockets, spreading his arms out, which in turn spread his jacket like a bird spreading its wings to look intimidating. He tilted his head a little and put a sneer on his face, his brow scowling at Tinyjoints, "What're you doin' up there? I'm all the way down here."

"You little--I'm gonna squash you like a little worm!" Tinyjoints, stormed back down the gangplank, huffing and puffing as his potbelly went up and down and he ran with those triple jointed arms swinging in a comical way. His cheeks puffed out as he breathed in and out of his pursed together lips. Those dark eyes of his locked on Elias, a marksman, a ranged fighter, who was already taking out that slingshot. Oh. That slingshot. That damn thing that had sent Tinyjoints flying earlier. It was then that he started to flail his arms, trying to slow himself down while his heels kept flying out from under him, "No! No! No! No! NO!" He shouted out loud.

Elias had that slingshot at the ready, clutching on to it with his left hand, gripping on to the handle solidly. His fingers flexing as the sound of leather being lightly twisted could be heard by him. His right hand pulling back on that hide pouch that held a seed, the elastic bands starting to stretch back as he pulled his right hand as far back as his left elbow. In that pouch of the slingshot, a green seed marked with a red X. No, not just a single green seed, but two of them. He was squinting his left eye shut, staring down Tinyjoints with his right eye as he took aim and saw that the man was slowing down, trying to turn and run. That just made him an easier target. The slower moving, the easier to hit. And this just made Tinyjoints the biggest target in the world to Elias in this moment right here.

ANd then, he let go. His right index finger, middle finger and thumb all let go, and that elastic band let loose, snapping back toward its original position, passing over and and through the Y-shape of the slingshot, letting the two seeds fly out of the pouch as the elastic band pulled it back toward its original position again. And as those seeds flew, they burst open. Those red X's splitting open like fault lines before a puff of green small leaves could be seen, along with four large snowflake shaped leaves from each seed. A total of eight Platanus Shuriken leaves shot out, all flying through the air and seeking to lacerate and chop up Tinyjoints and his lanky arms and pot belly.

The leaves were green on approach, and the tips were drenched in red, spinning through the air and scattering speckles of red along the docks and walls as they flew by after their pass through Tinyjoints. Even if the man wasn't dead yet, he had lacerations all over his body. Standing still after he had been cut, his eyes rolled in to the back of his head. Even though Elias was someone that had an arsenal capable of killing with the power of nature itself, he wasn't keen on taking a life that wasn't ready to give it up. Sure, he was fine with maiming or teaching a lesson to not trifle with him. But he wasn't a merciless killer. The red eyes of ELias just stared at Tinyjoints, a forlorn look of pity. For someone like that to be a captain, to be so afraid of leaves of all things, "How utterly boring can you be?" The man was a coward in the end. And as Tinyjoints dropped to his knees, Elias rushed forward.

Null Schritt he thought to himself while he leaned forward, applying weight to the ground with his left leg, pushing off of it, he went forward five meters. ANd then his right foot touched the ground, and the process was repeated again, crossing ten meters in just a few seconds with that powerful dash move of his. And at this point, he was just a couple of feet behind the passing out Tinyjoints, the man falling forward, ready to face plant the docks before Elias leaped off of the ground by three inches and brought his left heel around to clip against Tinyjoints' chin, sending the guy backwards, but not enough to knock the large man over. But that's where Elias' right foot came in, crossing over and striking the Long-arm captain in the face, and sending the obvious rookie off along the ground, away from the docks and the water, toward the street. Schuss Ablehnen.

he had won, but, what a boring win it was. With everyone on the street just looking for a moment before they continued about their business, these were outlaws after all, this kind of thing was common place. Tinyjoints could spend some time bleeding and unconscious on the ground while Elias went back up on to the deck of Mashyuu's ship, finding a note to leave.

"I'm staying in the forest outside of Mock Town. I'd rather not cause you trouble with all of the other crews around here. So, when you are ready to leave, come and get me please? I really want out of this place already!

Signed, Elias Weltenbauer."

With that done, ELias would walk off, and take his leave from the ship, making sure to leave the note posted to the main mast for Kouse or Mashyuu to read when they came back, if they came back. If they did? Well they were worth following around after all! If not, he would just spend more time in the forest.
[exit]