[Episode] Unexpected Opportunity

Episode:

As Hyde laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling of his cabin, he thought back to the events that had happened today.

It had all happened so quickly, and yet at the same time had been building up for a while. Don Baldino had been relying on Hyde's powers for too much. For weapons, false merchandise, for everything. Hevsaw Hyde as some sort of golden cow he could continuously milk. Even when he tried to explain there were limits to his abilities, Baldino wouldn't listen. He just kept assuring him he had it under control.

But in the end, it resulted in a lot of people being pissed at the family, and then Baldino got the stupid idea to try and flex by taking on the Amorati Family. Needless to say, it had been a complete disaster, that ended with Baldino decapitated by the Don's psychopathic brother.

And Hyde himself had a target on his back as well. Fortunately, unlike his former boss, he had prepared. One explosion and a fake body later, the Amoratis no doubt believed that Hyde was dead. He doubted they would have even noticed that the body mysteriously vanished a few hours later.

And all the while, the real deal was sailing away on a passenger ship, leaving all his troubles behind. It hadn't been hard to forge a ticket. Even managed to get himself a nice room too. As far at Baterilla was concerned, Hyde Garland was dead, and he was happy to leave it that way.

Though now the question was, where did he go from here? He had never been outside of Baterilla, and he didn't have a lot of money to his name. But he was a crafty one. He was sure he could think of something. But [dass]today[cmt]I'm sure I've commented on this before, but using terms like "today" and "yesterday" places your narrator at a certain time that might be far too close to your story. Especially considering the story is written in past tense. Try using "that day" instead.[/cmt][/dass] had been hectic as all hell. He was not in the mood to do any planning.

With an irritated sigh, Hyde got to his feet. What he needed [ass=Apply my comment from above here as well.]right now[/ass] was a drink, and thankfully this ship had a bar.


Post Word Count: 341
Total Word Count: 341

The large dining hall of the passanger ship was a hub of activity. Mainly because, when you stopped and thought about it, there really wasn't much to do on these things. It was either socializing with complete strangers and feasting on the food the kitchen staff effectively slaved over the entire voyage, wander around the ship, or do god-only-knows-what in your cabin. The inclusion of a bar added a fourth option. Get completely and utterly drunk.

Hyde certainly hadn't thought of going that far, but today had been a stressful day, and the evening was young. He took a quiet seat by the bar, keeping his distance from everyone else. He simply wanted a drink, that was all. A young bartender approached. "What'll it be sir?" Hyde glanced up at the different bottles along the back shelf, and found he couldn't be bothered looking at them closely. "Eh, just give me the most expensive you got," he said, reaching into his coat pocket and setting a good stack of beli on the bar.

The bartender's eyes widened. "Yes sir!" He scooped up the money before scurrying off to get the bottle. The money was fake of course. By the end of the evening they would find their till short. Hyde would have felt sorry for the guy, but right now he didn't care too much.

The young man returned, pouring a glass for him. "So, what's your plan for Black Drum?" Hyde raised an eyebrow. [Color#ff3399]"Hm?"[/color] In his haste to get on the boat, he hadn't actually checked where it was going. So it was going to Black Drum Island huh? Fortunately Hyde was quick with the recovery. "Oh, I dunno. I'm a bit of an artist. I'll see what opportunities there are for me." Technically not a lie. His time with the family had made him a skilled artist. He just hadn't thought of what exactly to do with it yet. Most likely crime. That sounded about right.


Out on the open waters nearby, a foreboding danger lurked. Because in this world, there was always something waiting to just ruin your day. A ship sat in the water, in its crow's nest, a rough looking man peered through a spy glass at the passanger ship, it's outline silhouetted in the evening light.

"What do you see out there?" shouted a voice from below. The lookout peered down at the gathered crew below. "Looks to be a simple [ass=Passenger*]passanger[/ass] ship. Nothin' special!"

The crewmen all turned to a man leaning against a wall, his body hidden in the evening shadow. "Hmm, unless there's nobility on board, thry don't normally have too much." He shrugged, "Well, a haul's a haul, and it wouldn't hurt to stir up a little fear on these seas. Raise the flag boys. We're moving in."


Post Word Count: 469
Total Word Count: 900

Hyde had to admit, this ship had some pretty decent stuff. Then again, he was effectively swindling them out of it with fake money, and buying the best stuff they had. It was really tempting to splurge, but experience taught Hyde otherwise. You start throwing money around, and people noticed when that money suddenly went missing. And on this boat, Hyde had nowhere to run to when questions start coming up.

Though it seemed fate had other ideas. He noticed it out of the corner of his eye. A security officer discretely making his way around the dining hall, whispering something to the others. Years of working for the mafia had taught Hyde to look out for such things, and whatever was going on was causing them some aggravation, each of them quickly leaving the room. "Something happening?" Hyde murmured. The bartender looked over, noticing the security leaving with a concerned look. "I'm sure it's nothing sir."

Boom!

The ship rocked from the explosion though there didn't really seem to be any damage. Panic and confusion gripped the people of the hall until a voice rang out, answering the question on everyone's minds.

"PIRATES!"

Everyone broke out into an unbridled panic, trying to find somewhere to run to, somewhere to hide. But the issue was, as mentioned before, they were on a ship! There was only so far one can go when pirates have you in their sights.

At the bar, Hyde let out a small, annoyed sigh. On one hand, it wasn't the authorities, or the mafia (if the mafia even had ships, which seemed doubtful). But on the other, he had just wanted to relax after everything that had been going on. A pirate attack was NOT what he would consider relaxing.

Outside, the pirate ship had pulled up alongside. Ship security were waiting with rifles, but if the security forces of a passanger ship could compared to hardened pirates, they were sorely mistaken. With barbaric cheers and hollers, they lept over onto the ship, quickly overwhelming the security with clashes of steel and gunshots.


Post Word Count: 347
Total Word Count: 1,247

The whole ship was in an uproar, as the pirates swarmed over it, easily overpowering whatever security they had though would be enough to protect the passengers on board. Life boats were out of the question, which left nobody on board any chance of escape, unless someone was foolish enough to jump overboard and swim. Well, panic does cause people to do foolish things.

The end result was everyone being herded into the largest room of the ship like frightened cattle. The large dining hall was packed as frightened passengers and beaten security officers were huddled together, surrounded by sneer, victorious pirates.

Through the throng of menacing pirates stepped out a tall man. With dark skin and black hair tied in a shower of dreadlocks, he wore a pair of bright yellow, puffy pants and a white shirt, left open to give maximum exposure to his large chest. This was Denzel "Knuckleduster" Keeves, a rather high ranking officer of this delightful crew of criminals and cutthroats, and the one who opted to lead the boarding party this time around.

"Now ladies and gentlemen," he said with a superior smirk, "You all know how this goes. Turn out your valuables and nobody gets hurt. Otherwise..." The other pirates chuckled cruelly, waving pistols and knives.

"Pfft, amateurs."

Denzel stopped and blinked. He had heard many things during these raids. Insults, declarations that they wouldn't get away with this, but this was a first. The pirates, equally confused, turned their attention to the lone man sitting at the bar. The man hadn't even moved when the pirates burst in. "Excuse me?" Denzel asked, a bit too confused to be threatening.

Hyde sighed and turned in his seat to face the crowd. "I said you're being amateurish. "Turn out your valuables or else." Have you never held up somebody before? Or is this your first time intimidating folks? You don't just leave it up to their imagination. You need to give thrm an example. Something to think about."

"You know what? He's right sir," said a rather portly pirate as he swaggered up to Hyde, holding a pistol right up to the man's face, "I reckon we should make an example out of him." The pirate's smirk instantly evaporated when Hyde, instead of giving the 'correct' response of backing away in fright, simply rolled his eyes and pushed the gun aside. "Another rookie mistake. Any idiot can wave a gun and threaten to shoot someone. Besides, in stressful situations, people are really good at ignoring dead bodies. No, you need something they can't ignore. Let me show you." He looked to the stupefied pirate, "Sorry, I never got your name." "Um, Robert," the purate replied dumbly. Hyde smiled. "Nice to meet you Robert."

Suddenly, Hyde's foot shot out, striking Robert hard in the leg. There was a loud crack as the pirate's bent in an odd angle, sending him to the floor. "FUCK! MY LEG! HE BROKE MY FUCKING LEG!" he wailed.

[dass]Hyde turned back to the crowd casually, "Now, it's easy to ignore a corpse, but someone laying on the ground screaming in pain? Not so much. After all, the dead feel no pain. Only the living can suffer."[cmt]That was a good line! I really enjoyed this interaction.

Though, I did feel like it was a sudden reversal of Hyde's mental state. He was coming to the decision to avoid confrontation by trying not to be too obvious with his scams. Moments later, here he is, getting into a direct confrontation with a band of pirates.

Not to say it's not feasible, but it did throw me off just a bit.[/cmt][/dass]

The crowd stared in surprise. Some of the pirates were even a little impressed, though they said nothing. Denzel stared in shock, looking down at the wailing Robert before his face twisted in anger. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled, pulling a pistol out of his belt and pointing it right at Hyde.

Hyde, for his part, just sighed. And here he was, giving a free lesson on proper intimidation. Ingrates.


Post Word Count: 608
Total Word Count: 1,855

Hyde Garland uses:
Never Die toggle, activate
Fog Armor - MT on self
Swatch Blade - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Old Fashioned Violence - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 4, 5, 19

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 7, 18, 14, 17

Hyde Garland uses:
Incoming - HT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Painter's Bow - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 18, 12, 2

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 14, 2, 10, 2

Hyde Garland uses:
Get em Boy! - MT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Swatch Blade - LT at Knuckleduster Keeveold Fashioned Violence - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
MT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 15, 13, 16, 10

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 12, 13, 16, 13

Hyde Garland uses:
Artistic Cure - HT at self
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 5, 8

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 3, 8, 12, 9

Hyde Garland uses:
Paint Bomb - HT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Painters Arrow - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 7, 7, 14

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 19, 17, 13, 2

Hyde Garland uses:
Something I Prepared Earlier - AoE at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
HT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 4, 13

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 17, 12, 19

Hyde Garland uses:
Swatch Blade - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Painters Bow - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
Old Fashioned Violence - LT at Knuckleduster Keeves
UT at Knuckleduster Keeves

"Knuckleduster" Keeves uses:
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
LT at Hyde Garland
UT at Hyde Garland

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Hyde Garland' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 14, 12, 10, 6

--------------------------------

#2 'Reflex Check' : 20, 12, 20, 4

Denzel Keeves was bristling with anger. This was supposed to be a simple raid. Get in, clear out the valuables of these rich bastards and then leave. But of course, there had to be someone who tried to be a hero. Granted, this wasn't why he was angry right now. In fact, such folks were often entertaining, especially when it came to beating them into the floor.

But this guy...somehow he was different. Just how casual he was about the whole thing, so confident. It rubbed him the wrong way. That, and the fact that his crewmate was now on the ground screaming in pain, and the guy barely bat an eyelid. Now, under normal circumstances, some being that calm in a situation like this was a major red flag. But right now, Keeves didn't think of that. He just wanted to beat that look off of his face.

Keeves quickly closed the gap between them. Hyde brought up a leg to kick, but the pirate batted it away before delivering a sharp blow to Hyde's sternum. He quickly followed up to a couple of sharp blows to the face, knocking his glasses onto the bar. Keeves gave a vicious grin. "How's that then, huh?"

Hyde was quiet for a moment, turning his back to him as he collected his glasses. "Another mistake." He said, slipping them back on, "You just jumped straight into rage. You gotta keep your cool first, leave them thinking what you would do if they pissed you off. Always keep them guessing" Hyde smiled, "Observe."

Suddenly, Hyde spun around. Keeves leaned back just in time to avoid the sharp blade almost slicing into his chest. A knife? Where did he grab a knife? Keeves lashed out with a foot, catching Hyde in the chest. With a crash of glasses, Hyde rolled back over the bar, falling to the other side.

Keeves was ready to jump over after him when something large shot up from behind the bar. A keg? Hyde lept up into the air after it, and with a sharp kick sent the thing hurtling towards him like a meteor. Keeves had no time to dodge of block as the thing went smashing into him, throwing him off of his feet and sending him rolling back across the floor.

As Keeve pulled himself up, slightly dazed, Hyde landed nimbly on the bar. "Now see folks? That is a key example. Nobody saw that coming, right?" People were starting to notice. Keeves had landed a few good solid hits, and the man's punches weren't anything to sneeze at. It was why he was called "Knuckleduster" after all. And yet, Hyde seemed relatively fine. It was a little unnerving.

What nobody noticed though was the broken keg vanishing, leaving only lines of ink on the floor.


Post Word Count: 470
Total World Count: 2,325

Keeves climbed to his feet, letting out a low growl. That last his had hurt. It had hurt another. He wiped a small bit of blood from his forehead, where a piece of that keg had cut him. Now, normally, this would be a prime time to stop, assess the situation better, and try to come up with a game plan. The guy was obviously stronger than he had given him credit for. Of course, right now, the only thing on Keeves' mind was to just pummel the smug bastard in front of him. After all, he had his crewmates watching him. He had to show why he was an officer.

As Hyde hopped down from the bar, Keeves clenched his fists and began to advanced. He was going to break that son of a bitch's face if it was the last thing he did. He closed in on him, pulling back to slug him right in the face when... "Hold it!"

Keeves paused, a little surprised more than anything. Hyde wasn't even looking at him as he pulled out what looked like a small thin brush and began to...draw? Yep, that was exactly what he was doing. The man was drawing a picture in the middle of a fight! "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Keeves yelled out, more than a little insulted. "Remember what I said earlier about keeping them guessing?" Hyde replied, a little distracted as he continued his drawing, "Well, a very good way to do that is to give them just a little example of what you can do."

Hyde then lifted up the drawing. "Tada!" It was a picture of a dog. A rather well drawn dog, actually. It looked like something that belonged I a junk yard, mauling trespassers and solicitors. Keeves would have admitted that the drawing was actually pretty good, if he wasn't as pissed off as he was. "What? Is that supposed to impress me?" Hyde's smirk widened. "No, but this is," he snapped his fingers, "Get em boy!"

Jaws dropped at what happened next. The dog suddenly lept out of the picture, snarling and frothing, as it dove at Keeves and chomped him right on the arm. Keeves cried out in shock, swinging and punching at the viscious animal. "Gyah! Get this God damn mutt off of me!" Meanwhile, Hyde started to stroll around the room. "See that guys? Now, nobody expected that, right? Now, just imagine what other things I could possibly do." It was very hard to disagree with that. The man just summoned an attack dog out of nowhere!

Keeves slammed the dog into the floor, before delivering a crushing blow to its head. The dog let out a pained whimper, before seemingly fading away, leaving nothing but a sketching on the floor. But at this point, Keeves was too frustrated to care. He was hurting, he was bleeding, and this man was making a fool out of him! His eyes snapped towards Hyde, growling like an animal before he charged at him like a bull. Hyde saw him coming too late. "Oh snap."

Keeves crashed into him, slamming him into the wall. The wall splintered and cracked as Keeves through punch after punch mercilessly at Hyde. Finally, with one furious swing, the wall gave way, causing Hyde to fall backwards with Keeves atop of him. Hyde's feet came up, launching Keeves up and off of him.

As Keeves rolled along the deck to recover himself, Hyde let out a small groan, holding his head. OK, now that was starting to hurt. His free hand scribbled something on the floor and as he sat himself up, the man pulled a bottle out of the floor itself.

Keeves watched the man stand up, and gave a predatorial grin when he saw him bleeding from his lip. "Ha! Whatcha got yo say about that, huh?" He was finally making the arrogant bastard bleed! Hyde felt his lip, looking at the blood on his fingers. "All that and you're only now making me bleed?" Keeves' jaw dropped as Hyde casually took a swig of the bottle, his face twisting into a grimace. "Bleh! Disgusting." He poured the rest of it onto his head, almost washing his face with the strange brew before tossing the bottle over his shoulder.

Hyde smirked as some of the pain in his head started to subside. "OK. Now, let's actually get this thing started, shall we?"


Post Word Count: 746
Total Word Count: 3,071

Standing on the open deck of the ship, the two men stared eachother down. Hyde had to admit, his body was starting to hurt from the blows Keeves had been giving him, but he was doing a decent job of hiding it. In his early days of the mafia, before he had gotten his fruit and his new job, Hyde had often gotten into fist fights. He learned how to roll with the punches and felt like he could take a punch pretty well.

And, it seemed like this was having the bonus affect of getting under Keeves' skin. Hyde had the man pegged as someone who was used to dropping folks with a punch or two. Being confident in your strength was one thing, but you should always be prepared for someone sturdier. It was clear the guy hadn't even considered that, [dass]as the sight of Hyde still standing was causing his blood pressure to rise with each passing second[cmt]Be careful about jumping back and forth between multiple perspectives. Third person omniscient perspectives are generally discouraged. If you're gonna change perspectives, it's best to do it between scenes. You can research "head-hopping in literature" if you'd like to learn more about this topic and why it's discouraged in fiction.[/cmt][/dass].

Keeves snarled. Well, there was only one solution to this problem. Just keep beating him until he went down. Keeves charged towards him. Hyde smirked and suddenly seemed to pull a bow out of nowhere, firing an arrow right at him. But Keeves wasn't some scrub. He ducked to the side, the arrow shooting past his ear before closing the gap, swinging a powerful blow to Hyde's stomach.

"I'm going to break that god damn smirk off your damn face!" he snarled, delivering a second hard blow to Hyde's face. Hyde stumbled lightly, but kept himself on his feet. "I'm sure you would," he muttered, reaching into his coat, "But before you do, hold this, will you?" He suddenly pulled something out and tossed it to Keeves, who instinctively caught it. The pirate blinked and stared at it for a moment. It was round. And there was the telltale sign of a fuse.

A bomb. Hyde had literally just handed him a bomb.

Keeves yelled out in surprise, hurling it skyward. The explosive ball spun in the air before erupting. Oddly enough, the explosion was black and white, though the coloring didn't really matter. The explosion was very much real.

As Keeves looked up at the explosion, suddenly something struck him in the knee. Hyde had taken the opportunity to attack. "You really gotta focus on what you're doing!" Hyde laughed, swinging a punch to the side of Keeves' head. He drew back for a follow up punch, only to stop dead when the pirate caught his fist.

Keeves was pissed. This man had been making him look like a chump this whole time. The growing fury in him seemed to travel up his arm. With a roar of rage and all of his strength, he swung his free arm in a powerful haymaker, catching Hyde right in the face with a painful crunch. Papers flew out of his coat was he went flying, slamming painfully into the ship's steel railing.

Keeves' crewmates, who had come outside to watch, cheered. "Hehe! That's Keeves' vicious right hook for ya!" "Yeah! I'd like to see that guy smirk with a smashed up face, huh?" The cheers were suddenly cut short by a loud coughing. All eyes fell on Hyde as he slowly pulled himself up, turning yo lean back against the railing. The side of his face was bleeding as he spat up some blood onto the deck. "Damn...that one actually hurt," he muttered to himself.

Keeves stood there in absolute shock. That had been his strongest hit. He had KILLED people with that punch alone. The damn fight should be over by now. Sure, Hyde was clearly injured, but injured was a far shot from actually being dead, which he had been aiming for. "How...?" he muttered, genuinely dumbfounded.

Hyde gave another cough and thrn smirked. "I'd worry less about that, and more about where you're standing." Keeves blinked and looked down. Numerous pieces of paper were scattered at his feet. Pictures of...arms with swords? The thought of the dog from earlier came roaring back as Hyde snapped his fingers.

Keeves jumped back in time was [ass=Love this technique.]hundreds of arms erupted from the paper, each one armed with a sword and swinging it around wildly[/ass]. It was almost like a field of blades, and Keeves had almost been in the middle of it all. The watching pirates were staring in shock. "H-How did he do that?" "What is he? Some sort of bloody sorcerer or something?" "The guy's been pulling weapons and dogs out of nowhere. There's no way he's human!"

Meanwhile, Hyde gave a small, annoyed sigh as he leaned against the railing. "You know, I really need to stop doing that. It just gives them a chance to dodge."


Post Word Count: 790
Total Word Count: 3,861

Keeves was trembling. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware just how much of a beating he had been taking. His muscles were aching, sweat was dripping off of him, and he was starting to run out of steam. But all that was taking a back seat to the rage and disbelief he was feeling. He had been utterly beating on this man. Most men would be a bloody pulp right now. And yet, Hyde was still standing, and pushing him to his limit. It was like watching a dog suddenly fly. He just couldn't comprehend it.

"Why...?" he hissed, the word opening the floodgates of rage bubbling inside of him. He charged at Hyde, leaping over the swinging field of arms and blades, ready to deliver a powerful blow to him. "Why!? Why won't you just die!?"

Hyde stepped to the side, causing Keeves' strike to hit the floor with a splintering crash. "Now, I can't say for certain, but if I had to guess..."

Suddenly, Hyde swung out with a blade of ink, stabbing Keeves in the side. The pirate let out a cry as he stumbled back. "It's because," Hyde lunged forward, delivering a sharp blow to Keeves' stomach, causing him to double over. "You hit," Hyde swung a leg out, catching him in the side of the knee and bringing him down on one knee. "Like a goddam bitch!"

Keeves lifted his head to yell in rage before Hyde's foot caught him square in the face. The pirate rolled along the deck before finally coming to a stop. It was at this point his body finally decided to take control from his rage fueled brain and simply stayed down. All Keeves could do was deliver a pained groan.

The pirates stared in absolute shock. Meanwhile, the other passengers, who had dared watch the fight, suddenly broke out in cheers. That will show those damn pirates not to mess with this ship! Hyde, noticing the applause, smirked and bowed.

"Not bad."

"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind." Hyde then paused when he realized something. "Wait, who said tha-"

Suddenly, something crashed down onto Hyde hard, pinning to the floor underneath a boot. Said boot belonged to a large, muscular man in a long black coat and a black tricorn hat. The neatly trimmed black beard he had matched the sharp gaze of his redish, brown eyes.

The passengers gasped as the pirates cheered. "Captain Bartos!" Beneath the captain's boot, Hyde tried to pull himself free but to no avail. He had thought that Keeves had been the captain, but now here was the real deal and that one shot alone knocked the wind out of him.

"Aw shit."


Post Word Count: 455
Total Word Count: 4,316

This was bad. Very bad. Despite the confidence he had shown, Hyde's fight with Keeves had taken a lot out of him. And now, here was the captain of the crew, no doubt much stronger and fresh to boot. He tried to free himself from under the captain's boot, but to no avail.

Captain Bartos seemed to almost pay Hyde no mind. He stepped off of the battered man as he walked over to his officer. A couple of his crewmates were already helping him up. "I saw the whole thing," Bartos muttered, shaking his head, "You looked like a complete joke. Fight doesn't go your way and suddenly you're losing your head. I thought you were better than this man." Keeves looked two parts angry, and one part ashamed. As much as he hated to admit it, the captain had a good point.

Bartos looked back at Hyde, who was now taking the opportunity to pull himself back to his feet. "You lot could actually learn a thing or two from this guy." Bartos approached the battered Hyde, who was now leaning against the railing for support. "Nice show back there. Even with the powers of a Devil Fruit, you seemed to have enough common sense not to rely too heavily on it." Hyde gave the captain a sardonic smile, "Well, what can I say? I didn't always have this fruit. I had to get by somehow."

Bartos nodded, glancing out at the open water before looking back to Hyde. "It would be easy to take you out you know," he stated, "I can just throw you over the side, and I doubt you're in a position to do anything about it." He stroked his beard, "But that would be a waste, won't it? Someone of your brains and talent." He thought for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. "So, why don't you join me?"

Everyone paused and stared for a moment. Bartos' crew was stunned by the offer. Hyde blinked, trying to process it all before giving him an incredulous look. "Wait...you're offering me a job?" Bartos laughed. "Sure! Why not? A man like you can make a decent living off of that." He gave a casual shrug, "Or, you know. I could just throw you in the water. Either or. Last I checked, you Devil Fruit users can't swim, can't you?"

Hyde was quiet for a moment, before he gave a small chuckle. In all honesty, there was only one real option. He pushed himself upright. "Well then. Guess all I can say is..." he looked towards the expectant crowd and smirked, [ass=LOL, nice!]"Hand over your valuables folks! This is a robbery!"[/ass]

The passengers' jaws dropped. The man had been their savior moments ago, and now he was robbing them? Bartos gave a laugh. "What's your name?" "Hyde Garland," Hyde replied. Bartos smiled before offering a hand to him. "Captain Howard Bartos. Welcome to the Black Dawn Pirates." Hyde smirked and accepted the hand.


The raid had gone relatively uneventful after that. After the displays of power from both Hyde and Bartos, the passengers weren't really willing to try and fight back. The goodies they got off of them were, well, passable. It wasn't like they hit the jackpot, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. Especially since they had gotten themselves a new crewmate.

And so the Black Dawn's [ass=Unfortunate typo.]shit[/ass], the Sundowner, glided away across the water, leaving the passanger ship sitting there, much poorer than they began.

Hyde sat in the ship's sick bay, being bandaged up. Sure, the ship's doctor didn't compare to some of the mafia doctors he had seen, but he did a decent enough job. As he sat back, he glanced over at the bed. Keeves laid there, heavily bandaged up and glaring daggers at him. It was almost Comical. The man looked like a very pissed off mummy. Hyde couldn't help but smirk. [dass]"So, we cool?" Keeves' eyes narrowed, his response muffled by his bandages. "Fuck. You."[cmt]This is a good way to build up a potential rivalry and a very satisfying ending to the episode. Nicely done.[/cmt][/dass]

Hyde threw his head back and laughed. "Fuck you too buddy. Fuck you too."

Episode End


Post Word Count: 686
Total Word Count: 5,002