high_seas | [02] i came in like a

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[02] i came in like a

Who: Uchiha ~~Buttface~~ Sasuke and the kindly crew of the Charming Murderess
Where: Deck of the Charming Murderess
When: November 19th
What: A really grumpy ninja getting dumped via Nav onto the unsuspecting deck of completely innocent pirates.
Warnings: Rudeness. Definitely rudeness.
Style: Any!
Status: Open to all crew members!

As if it weren't humiliating enough to have been forced to make a run from the unexpected number of whatever the armed forces had been (not shinobi by their movements, but trained enough), he'd been roundly lambasted for a fool by the woman whose shop he'd ended up ducking into to avoid the searchers -- but if what the girl who had called herself a 'Precure' was right, then not everyone in this world was a construction of genjutsu. It was perhaps less that Sasuke was inclined to spare lives, though it was certainly a waste of a chakra reserve that continued to deplete more rapidly than was normal, and more that there was a possibility of useful information from a real person than a piece of the illusion.

If it weren't an illusion, as the shopkeeper had insisted ... that was an idea he had no time to contemplate before he'd found himself unceremoniously shoved into something she called a 'Nav' and, in the next moment, stumbling into a completely different place altogether.

There had been no reverse-summons seal that he'd seen, no exchange of blood for a kuchiyose, just a moment of being in the dim light of the shop and then sunlight full in his eyes, forcing him to roll into a defensive crouch before he'd even fully processed his location on ... the deck of a ship?

Depleted as it was, his chakra flared in alarm at the realisation that not only was he at sea, but he wasn't alone.

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Now, that was a key word there, Sasuke.

Marvelous had certainly wanted to leave that island with Luka.

But need?

"Needed to, eh? What's gonna bring someone to pop up on a ship like this uninvited, I wonder?"

Suspicion was far from unexpected -- deserved, in all probability -- but it was highly inconvenient. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, keeping his tone even.

"People in the village were chasing me. Some kind of military force. I found the shop by accident." The military hadn't been shinobi by a long stretch, but more trained than the civilian population and (more significantly) armed. In point of fact, some of the projectile weapons they had been using had looked not unlike the one that was in front of him now.

The velocity of those things had been incredible. His leg wasn't injured so deeply that it impacted his own speed, but ... the whole situation was edging past inconvenient into dangerous.

"What do you know about this military?"

"I know they'd rather put bullets in all our heads and be done with it," he replied evenly. "That said, me and my friend weren't getting shot at when we left earlier."

And he just left that comment hanging there for the moment, still staring the ninja down.

... bullets was yet another new word, but this conversation was clearly not the time for finer discussion of uncommon weaponry. Or common, as it appeared to be in this world.

No -- it was clear that he was digging for particular information. How quickly did news travel in this place? Even if it was apparently the case that the military force was the enemy of all, it didn't necessarily follow that Sasuke, as the enemy of this man's enemy, was his friend. Without a sense of where he was on the water he had limited options even if he destroyed the ship and simply walked.

"You're getting at something," he said shortly. "Say it straight."

All told, Marvelous had not yet heard about the goings on. But it was true, he and Luka hadn't been pursued off the island. It simply made sense to wonder just why he was being CHASED off it in such a manner.

It sure as hell made him suspicious, though. He certainly wouldn't MIND another crew member, because he didn't have room to be as picky as he would be back home, AND they just needed all the help they could get.

But there was still a degree that needed to be tested.

"I could. You got a straight answer?" he asked, tapping the back of his Gokai Saber on his shoulder. "We left earlier and there wasn't any kind of ruckus going down there. Like I said, we didn't have anyone trying to kill us. I've got a responsibility to protect this crew now, so some guy who basically got chased on her by the people that want us sunk could make a problem. Just what the hell happened?"

Of course, in the end, he also realized that very little could probably make this Navy want to blow them to Kingdom Come MORE the way he was reading things. Still, it seemed like a good way to pose the question at the time.

So the details of Sasuke's arrival were not yet common knowledge, at least not to those who had not been there at the time -- which was a piece of information Sasuke filed away for future reference. If what he'd been told about pirates was true, then it made sense that not all of them could be docked at once, though it begged the question of exactly how many pirate ships there were and how they managed to avoid all-out warfare over whatever sea territory was officially called.

In any case: there was something to be appreciated about someone who could be straightforward about his intentions, and it was more than fair for him to suspect someone who had so hastily arrived on board.

Still, there was the question of how much to divulge -- Sasuke kept his voice carefully level when he answered, surreptitiously gathering chakra in case he needed to defend or attack.

"The town centre was destroyed. The military chased everyone ... I was given to understand that everyone the military chased out of town was a pirate."

There was still disbelief when he said the word, despite everything.

Edited (bad typing) 2013-11-28 21:03 (UTC)

Marvelous furrowed his brow, though it was largely in interest. The Navy was chasing people off the island, now? That would mean if they needed to re-supply...

Crap, was the first thought that ran through his mind, before everything else he had been told fell into place. The way he put it all, the suspicious arrival, the fact this guy was clearly just as poised as Marvelous to go down swinging if the other attacked...

He swung his saber absently in a circle, sighing.

"Well, this sure is an interesting day. And a pain in the ass, 'cause we're gonna have to find somewhere else to dock, I'm guessing," he muttered. "So, do I get to ask just what destroyed that area, or is it time for me to start jumping to conclusions?"

The expression and body language that followed the information was interesting -- relaxation, if anything, Sharingan reading nothing but vague irritation in the arc of the saber the man spun with evident ease. The sentiment on this ship toward the military seemed less than positive overall, and this confirmed it, though it failed to particularly reassure when it came to people who had provoked attack.

There was no point denying it, and Sasuke had no habit of pretending to peaceful cooperation in any case. At least this response seemed to further bolster what that girl had said, that this world was populated by real people and not just brainwashed and bizarre figments of Madara or Obito's imagination. Whether the world itself was illusion or not was what was still in question.

"You don't need to ask or jump to conclusions," he said finally, straightening his posture into something less immediately threatening. Even if the man chose to attack, there would be enough time to respond from their stances. "I destroyed the area.

"I arrived here from a war. It was my assumption that this world was an illusion." He paused, then admitted: "I am still not convinced that it is not."

Marvelous gave him a long gaze at that explanation, but there was obvious amusement in his eyes.

"If you really insisted, I'm sure we could find ways of making you believe it was real," he replied, and twirled his gun in his hand once. "But man, there's going to be a lot of people mad at you..."

Though Marvelous well knew this was something inevitable, regardless of Sasuke's actions. There was too much activity from their kind on that island. After just a few days, he already knew that well enough.

He looked back at the ship, and then to Sasuke.

"So, what are you planning to do, then?"

Sasuke tensed at first, the man's focus returning to him with intensity, but relaxed almost immediately when it became clear that the news was apparently funnier than it was something threatening. Score another for this not being the illusion he'd expected; if the wholesale destruction of a town centre was something to be amused at, there couldn't be much by way of even brainwash-enforced peace in this world.

In any case, there was too much to be concerned about currently at hand. Sasuke was nothing if not accustomed to being the focus of people's anger, but in an unfamiliar place with strange abilities at every turn, it was something to consider with more care than was his habit.

"I can take care of myself," was what he said, finally. "But I can't stay here whether people want my head or not. Do you stay here by choice? Is there no way out?"

"You might be able to take care of yourself," Marvelous said, but then waved his gun arm at the wide expanse of ocean off one side of the ship. "But there's a hell of a lot of water out there."

He glanced back to Sasuke. "The only way out I've gathered, and that's only maybe, is to look for some sort of treasure that's out there. Otherwise, most of us sure as hell wouldn't be hanging around, because none of us are from around here either."

It was, indeed, and it was the only reason Sasuke hadn't simply taken off. Walking on water was hardly a draining jutsu, but walking on saltwater with no sense of direction was suicide. He had no choice but to acknowledge the reality of the man's statement, brow furrowing with irritation nonetheless.

"Someone else in the town mentioned a jewel of some sort," the girl who had attacked with ice and a bizarre amount of sparkles. "She said we were brought here for the purpose of finding pieces of it. Is that something we have no choice in either?"

Marvelous cocked his head up, his grin wide.

"Seems that way! I'm good with that, myself. If I was going to get pulled anywhere, it might as well be someplace with a good treasure hunt. On the bright side, it sounds like it might be our ticket home."

If this business about different worlds was true, this man must have come from a truly carefree one -- a ridiculous treasure hunt as a good diversion? Still, it had no real bearing on their current conversation, which had somehow become less tense after Sasuke had admitted to being the one to destroy the town.

He wasn't sure if that demonstrated good priorities or disorganized ones, but it benefited him in either way.

Still, he scrutinized the man a moment longer before deciding that there was little chance of a lie in front of him -- and if there were, little chance the lie would do much more damage than had already done by simply being in this place.

"If that is the only lead we have, then I will search for it as well." He paused, glancing around the ship with an eye for more detail now that he was no longer skimming for immediate threat. "Are there others aboard this ship? Are they looking for this jewel as well?"

"There are, and so far as I can figure, anyone who's anyone is lookin' for a way out of this world," he said, and began to pace back and forth in front of Sasuke, studying him as he went.

This guy was dangerous. That much, between his stance and his admitted actions, were clear.

Most likely, he wasn't someone Marvelous would have trusted aboard the Gokai Galleon. He couldn't be sure of his motivations or trustworthiness.

At the same time, though... If he sought the same things they did, and he was that dangerous? It could be to their advantage.

While Marvelous may have been a terrible poker player, he knew a gamble worth taking when he saw it.

"If you're gonna search for it, you're gonna need a way to do it. Yeah?"

Competition for what seemed to be the only item of any relation to escape was to be expected, but an irritating thought nonetheless: there were plenty of weak people here, doubtless, but there also seemed to be a variety of bizarre abilities that would prove a hindrance if he had to run up against them alone. That, and the awareness that Itachi (or some age of Itachi, as real as anything else appeared) was here and likely to look for it as well -- all unwanted and unavoidable complication.

It was likely evident to all, as much as the intent way the man started to scrutinize him was: not analyzing a threat this time so much as trying to measure him in some less specific sense.

The question, when it arrived, was not unexpected. They'd confirmed that they were no immediate threat to each other -- the obvious next step for someone seeking to protect the place was to decide where to put him, whether on or off-board.

"I will," Sasuke confirmed, and glanced meaningfully out at the open ocean. "I assume a ship is the only way to travel efficiently here."

He stopped and just grinned.

"You'd be about right. Unless you plan on swimming."

"Normally, I would walk," Sasuke said, irritation creeping into his tone at the fact that the most efficient option -- finding the island again and finding whoever passed for leadership to interrogate -- was made impossible by his absolute ignorance of this terrain.

"But I don't know this world enough to know there will be land in reach. I assume that is why you've taken a ship as well?"

"Walk," Marvelous repeated, but didn't really further question the comment.

"So far as I can tell it's just some islands and water as far as the eye can see. It's a bit annoying, really. I'm used to just flying over all this junk, but hey... gotta make do with what you've got, eh?"

Just islands and water -- Sasuke couldn't recall any portion of the map of his own world (and the concept of not being on his own world was going to have to be something he reconciled himself with, it seemed) that looked like it. It made walking an even less appealing option.

"That makes searching for anything difficult as well," he said, frown deepening before he drew the inevitable conclusion. "Is there room on this ship for one more?"

Marvelous gave him a sharp chuckle, and stopped pacing, staring him straight down.

"Sure do, and we could use someone who can do what you just did," he said. "So long as you're gonna stay on our side. And... under one other condition."

Sides hadn't been anything Sasuke had paid any particular attention to for a long time now, and as far as he had seen he hadn't lost much by it. The truth had found him only through fighting to find it wherever he could -- but it seemed unlikely here that there would arise a situation where he needed to attack the ship he was on.

Even if Itachi was here. If anything, there was less danger to Itachi specifically in a world where clan-murder wasn't pinned to his name.

"I will not take action that will harm the ship," he said instead, but folded his arms. "What is the other condition?"

Marvelous lowered his weapons. His expression became notably more serious, and far less jovial.

"Honesty. I know what you did, I can understand even how it happened. I want to make sure everyone else here does, too. And if they have a problem with you for it, if they wanna toss your ass over the side, I'm not gonna be able to blame 'em. You need to be able to show anyone here you're worth keeping on this ship. You painted a target on your back, though. You'll have to deal with it."

Was this man actually warning Sasuke before broadcasting his actions to the rest of the ship? It took a moment before Sasuke decided that yes -- that was it. Something like a smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth, unexpected.

"I'm used to that. I'd already assumed you would tell your people."

Marvelous paused a bit, leaning back his head.

That jovial look was back.

"Oh no, mine's much more fun. I want you to tell them."

[02] i came in like a

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