[Saga] [Part 4] Black as Tar

[Part 3 found Here]

Anton sat quietly outside of the ship's sick bay, or at least what passed as one on this ship. The day had been a hectic one, and now he had two crew members laying in bed, sick as Doctor Black, a.k.a Cobweb, looked them over. Not only that but Yumiko, Lune and Sol had not returned. The undercover Rear Admiral was worried. Very worried. Something very very off was going on right now, and he figured it had something to do with the Big Top Pirates.

His attention went to the door was it opened and Black stepped out. Anton immediately rose to his feet. "Well? How are they?" Black gave a small sigh. "Well, in regards to Ryoichi, it seems like he's suffering from more than just a few hits to the face. It almost looks like the man was poisoned." A brief flash of panic ran through Anton. "Poisoned?" Doc Black nodded, gently patting his captain on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it's nothing lethal. At least, not by itself. It seems like whatever it was was designed to incompacitate him. Someone really didn't want him to win his event."

Anton gave a small sigh of relief. That was good, though he hoped Ryoichi's recovery wouldn't take too long. "Any idea how it happened?" The doctor shrugged, "Not a clue. Probably ate something he shouldn't. But it doesn't seem like him to snack or anything like that." Anton nodded. Indeed, Ryoichi took very good care of himself. So that only made him wonder just how he got poisoned.

He could worry about that later though. "How about Celia?" The doctor leaned against the wall, tilting his head. "Now that is still a mystery. There are no injuries on her, and her symptoms show some signgs of poisoning, but I'm just not sure what. Any medicine I try to give her doesn't seem to have any effect. Whatever her affliction is, it's a stubborn sort."

Anton's face was grave as he leaned back against the wall. Something was very, very wrong here, and the people he felt he could trust most were either sick or missing. Anton had dealt with a lot of things during his career, situations that seemed outright hopeless. And yet, right now he was feeling more dread than he ever had in his life.


Post Word Count: 388
Total Word Count: 388

A door is slammed open and two figures rush inside the room. The room already had people like Anton, the plague doctor, Celia, and even Ryoichi, including other members of the Guardian Knights crew who were in the middle of recovery, one way or another. The two red mushroom-looking hat-wearing lads had come to deliver news to medbay.

"Wahid! The four-armed Fishman! He threw the game! He lost on purpose to get away from us! What were they planning?!"

The duo were catching their breath as they delivered the message in tandem to the group in the said medbay. While the loud message entered some of the attendees' ears, some even resulting to going so far as to shush the duo to not talk so loud, the message could barely enter the ears of Ryoichi. As a matter of fact, the man was completely oblivious to what was going on in the room.

All that came from Ryoichi's location was a beeping noise of the machine that had wires attached to him, with Den Den Mushi being used as the speaker to sound the beeps. Besides soft breathing, nothing else was expected of Ryoichi at this very point. What else can there be expected from a man in a coma?


"Aaaaaaah!"

The eyes opened. Ryoichi gasped for air as he sat up. His first reaction of his was to touch his body. He is all in one piece. With each movement, he could hear something familiar. Water, with each body movement, he could hear the water moving... As a matter of fact, he was sitting in the water... Surrounded by nothing but feet-deep water... With nothing else to be seen... Just white light, and an endless amount of water.

"Where... Am I?"

[322/322/24 022]

As the two men burst in, delivering the news about Wahid, Anton and Doc Black looked to eachother. "I think...we may know who our poisoner is," Black uttered, looking to the unconscious Ryoichi, "After all, he did have the opportunity to do so. He did cook for us earlier today." Anton grit his teeth in frustration. Dammit, he should have known. After all, Wahid was a pirate. Anton had been a bit too trusting, and now his friend was laying unconscious in sick bay.

A thought then occured to him. "Wait, but he cooked for all of us. Why did he only poison one of us and not all of us?" Doc Black shrugged, "No idea. Maybe because he was the captain? Or maybe he said something racist? I can't say for certain." Anton gave a small nod as he thought. The first option did seem to make sense. After all, he never pegged Ryoichi as a racist. But still, he was surprised Wahid didn't take the opportunity to take them all out, especially if he planned on running anyway.

There was a knock at the door, pulling Anton from his thoughts. "Come in," Black called, quietly admitting that the room was starting to get a little crowded. The door opened, admitting in Nero, along with Melanie. "Any luck?" Anton asked. Nero shook his head. "There's no sign of them. It's like the Big Tops have just disappeared." Definitely not a good sign. Their ship was deserted, and now the entire crew up and vanished.

Melanie stepped forward. "I did find something. I checked where Lane was staying, in case she came back here. No Lane, but I did find this." She pulled a small piece of paper from her dress, handing it to Anton. As he unfolded it, he read it quietly.


Anton's eyes widened in shock, thankfully covered by the mushroom cap. Anton. She knew his name! How did she know his name!?

He quickly shoved the letter into his pocket. "They're heading towards the tower," Anton explained. No doubt they meant Alcibiades' tower in the center of the island. Did the man in charge of these games have something to do with this? Nero stepped forward, already guessing Anton's intentions, "I'll come with you. They can't get away with this." Anton hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. "Alright. Peaseblossom, can you and Cobweb watch over Oberon and Titania?" The pair nodded.

Anton's insides were twisting into knots. Something very bad was going on, and odds were whoever was behind this knew who he was. Nothing good was going to come out of this.


Post Word Count: 448
Total Word Count: 836

Just when it looked like it was a weird form of white-lighted heaven with a lot of water, it all turned very dark... Literally. All the light in the world Ryoichi was residing in at this very moment was turned pitch black. With each movement, all Ryoichi could feel and hear was still water.

Suddenly, a cylinder of light shone down straight on top of Ryoichi as if someone had cut a big hole in the sky and used a vital light source. Ryoichi moved his right hand and used the fingers as a beak on the eyebrow's height to block some light sources.

"Gah... This is worse than before..."

As if Ryoichi was in a closed room, he could hear an echo of an animal roar. The cylinder ray of light then got shadowed by something. But the shadow kept getting bigger, and more prominent in his eyes.

"What the!"

Ryoichi rolled away backward from a massive object that had crashlanded on his former position... But as it turns out, it was not an object... It was a creature. With a menacing g growling, the creature regained its posture.

With the ray of cylinder light lighting just the position where Ryoichi was together with the creature, he could finally see what had crashed in his position. It was a creature with rather tall legs, with a bear-like body, but its head was that of a cobra snake. It was an odd hybrid creature with white-light-yellowish fur.

"Not cool!"

Ryoichi grinned as he slammed his right fist into the left palm. As he dashed forward, he leaped up a bit, trying to land an uppercut in the creature's stomach, only to simply pass through it, as if he was punching an illusion. But was it truly an illusion when the creature flung its snake-like long neck with the head, hitting Ryoichi and sending him off stumbling in the water? Don't think so... It had to be a gimmick.

The creature continued its relentless assault on Ryoichi. Its head flung but also flew towards Ryoichi like an arrow with its fangs facing forward. That left Ryoichi with nothing but to dodge and run away from its attacks while all he could do was think of a battle plan.

As he ran into the darkness and with the creature following him, he could finally hear something else that was not him moving the water or the creatures growling... It sounded like the water flowing, and eventually, he made it to the source of the sound.

With a sudden stop, he looked down at the light source, down at a massive endless waterfall.

"I won't survive this... No way..."

The choice was simple, be bit by the creature, or jump... But thankfully, he had figured out the third option. As the creature had made it to him and lunged at Ryoichi, he performed a quick side step to allow the massive creature to fly off the waterfall.

The victory was Ryoichis... Almost. The creature at its last attempt had managed to dig its fangs into Ryoichi's shoulders and edge him off the top of the waterfall, all the way down into the endless white pit.

[532/854/24 554]

There was an ever growing feeling of dread as Anton and Nero made their ways towards the central tower of the island. The closer they got, the emptier the place seemed to get. There wasn't even any sign of security or vendors. It was like everyone had vanished.

And that wasn't even including the fact that, somehow, Lane knew his name. How did she find out? Did the other Big Tops know? And what did she mean by "stop him"? Who was she talking about? So many questions spiraled around through his mind.

"There they are!" Nero pointed out. Up ahead, Anton could see them. Members of the Big Top Pirates, standing at the base of the tall tower, facing away from them. They stood unmoving, even as the pair approached. And as they got closer, they could see why.

Their feet were planted to the ground, covered by that same oily black substance Anton had seen earlier. There were patches of it covering other parts of their bodies. Knees, waists, elbows, necks, etc. Not enough to completely cover them.

...but certainly enough to stop any movement...

"What is this stuff?" Nero asked quietly, poking the black, sticky substance. He drew his hand back as the figure in question tried to move, muscles straining but held in place.

Anton found himself standing in front of Stromboli, the strongman. Another thing he noticed was a patch of this tar covering their mouths like a gag. Stromboli's eyes were looking down right at him, silently pleading. And on his shoulder sat Lane. Her small body was effectively covered in a black blob, with only her head visible. Tears ran down her eyes as she pitifully whimpered against her gag. "Who did this to them?" Anton murmured quietly.

"Who indeed."

Both men spun towards the tower door as it opened. Quietly, Jacques Barnaby stepped out. He had a somber look on his face as he looked at the pair, though the fact that he, unlike the others, wasn't covered in that black goop was all too telling. Anton's eyes narrowed. "Barnaby! What did you do to them!?"

Barnaby shook his head lightly. "I am sorry. Truly I am. Unfortunately, there are things outside of our control." He tilted his head, "Though I am surprised. I wasn't expecting this much concern for them from you, Mr. La'croix."

"La'croix?" things quickly pieced themselves together in Nero's mind, "Wait, as I Anton La'croix? The marine rear admiral?" Anton gave a small sigh. "Well, I guess that cat's out of the bag." He pulled off the mushroom cap, letting his red hair fall free. It was surprising how long it was when it wasn't curled into his trademark buns. "I won't bother asking how you learned that. I think we all already know."

Barnaby nodded, glancing at the whimpering Lane. "Don't have them, Mr. La'croix. They had no choice in any of this. They didn't choose this life." Anton briefly glanced at the bound dwarf before looking back to Barnaby. "And you?"

Barnaby quietly reached beneath his cape, pulling out a series of knives. "As I said before, there are things in this world outside our control. Do forgive me."


Post Word Count: 533
Total Word Count: 1,369

When a person has a long and high fall into a profound water source, it creates a sizeable splash, along with waves... Not this water in where ever Ryoichi was wandering. As a matter of fact, it did not even feel like water. Upon impact after falling into the white nothingness, it felt like he had landed in a pile of feathers... It felt soft.

As he sunk deeper into the feather pile, it seemed as if he was actually in the water, and only the impact was that of feathers. While sinking, all he could see was a reflection of himself. Ryoichi felt helpless, perhaps it was his devil fruit powers playing tricks on him. He was struggling, and yet, his reflection wasn't.

As the bubbles were leaving Ryoichi's mouth, the reflection of his turned his back and began to walk away in an unknown direction. Ryoichi's struggling arm reached out to the walking reflection of himself, but it did nothing... And soon after, the breath began to exit his body completely. The eyes were shut once more.

"Haaaagh!"

The sound of gasping air left Ryoichi's mouth, his eyes were wide open... The water was gone... Replaced by white clouds and a clear blue sky. His body had turned from feeling like a heavy anchor into a feather, that floats in the sky... As a matter of fact, Ryoichi was actually floating.

"So... Light? I could stay like this forever." he chuckled as he turned himself to face what was down and not up... And all he could see there were white clouds as well... The man was sandwiched between clouds, with only one way to go... Forward, into an unknown direction, for another unknown adventure, with a mind that was clear.

[293/1147/24 847]

Anton La'croix uses:
Molting - activate
Survival Instinct - MT on self
Fast Hopping - LT on self
Hopper Kick - LT at Barnaby
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 8, 2

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 5, 12, 13, 19

Anton La'croix uses:
B-Flat - AoE at Barnaby
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 10, 6

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 12, 16, 12, 5

Anton La'croix uses:
SOUL Shriek - HT at Barnaby
Grind Slash - LT at Barnany
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
HT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

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

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 1, 12, 4

Anton La'croix uses:
Grand Strike - HT at Barnaby
Hopper Kick - LT at Barnany
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 19, 8, 6

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 2, 12, 13, 1

Anton La'croix uses:
Mighty Lewp - HT at Barnaby
Pitch Bullet - LT at Barnany
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
MT at Anton
LT at Anton
LT at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 14, 15, 11

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 10, 1, 6, 11

Anton La'croix uses:
Kenbonshoku Haki - active
Bosushoku - active
Grand Spear - HT at Barnaby
Cavitation Kick - LT at Barnany
Grind Slash - LT at Barnany
UT at Barnaby

Jacques Barnaby uses:
AoE at Anton
UT at Anton

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Anton La'croix' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 6, 19, 19, 18

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 13, 4

From the beginning Anton had Barnaby pegged as a master of knives. But even he wasn't entirely prepared just how fast the man was with throwing them. The blades may have been bullets out of a gun with that sort of speed.

Fortunately, having his identity blown did one good thing for Anton. He no longer had to hide his Devil Fruit abilities. The man seemed to vanish in a burst of speed as the knives dug themselves into the ground. Anton almost reappeared, now in his insectoid hybrid form. Now if only the man had a sword.

Nero took the opportunity to charge towards Barnaby, club in hand. The large man moved surprisingly quickly, closing the gap between them. However, before his attack connected, Barnaby quickly pulled something from his cloak, firing it upwards before he was pulled upwards. A grappling hook. Anton had to admit, he didn't see that coming.

Now high up on the wall, Barnaby was pit of range. With one hand holding onto the grappling hook, his other hand started throwing down knives at the pair. The pair dove to avoid the incoming knives.

Though Anton immediately noticed something was off. The attacks seemed to come much slower than he expected. With how fast he could throw them, he expected the attacks to be relentless.

Unless...

Anton suddenly lept straight into the air, putting him on level with Barnaby. The pirate smiled, seeing the grasshopper coming towards him. What followed was exactly what Anton had suspected. A storm if blades shot through the air towards him.

I knew it!

Anton quickly turned in the air, firing a burst of air with his feet right at Batnaby. Many of the knives were knocked out of the air, though a few slipped past, cutting into Anton. Barnaby, caught by surprise by this sort of attack, was struck hard. He slammed into the wall, losing his grip on the grappling hook and falling to the ground.

Anton, meanwhile, managed to land relatively well. Those knives certainly stung. Thankfully they only grazed him.

But one thing now confused Anton. Why was Barnaby holding back?


Post Word Count: 355
Total Word Count: 1,724

Like lightning from the clear sky, literally, a yellow flash struck the floating Ryoichi, electrocuting the man, heck even comedically showcasing his whole body skeleton of his. Right after, a way down he went, flying down like a comet, leaving a smokey trail behind.

Fortunately for the falling Ryoichi, the impact was not hard... Rather opposite, the man crash landed into a fluff of clouds, bouncing a bit on it even. "Aaaaaaaaah! That hurt!" Ryoichi groaned while he laid back on the fluffy clouds. "But... Darn, it feels soft..."

"You flew too high my friend. It's not your time for it yet."

The cloudy surface on which Ryoichi was laying down was moving, creating soft waves, and from it, emerged a figure. When Ryoichi turned his attention towards the location of the voice which came from the emerged figure, he could see wide white wings that of a bird, a human-looking head that had only one eye, a human-looking body except for very long arms, and legs that of tentacles, as if the creature was an octopus.

"You still got much to do."

"W...What? Who... Are you?" the creature's presence even got Ryoichi to feel intimidated, even more so than the odd creature before that.


A small den den mushi howled out fast beeping noise, catching the attention of Melanie and Dr. Black. Being the doctor of the crew, Doc Black immediately approached the patient to check the pulse. It was high... The breathing had increased. Sweat had appeared over Ryoichi's forehead, the fever had become high.

"He's fighting." Doc Black remarked. "The antidote is working, but there is a lot he has to do, and a lot we have to do still."

The doctor wiped the sweat away from Ryoichi forehead while handing out orders to Melanie. "You are my assistant now, get a bowl of cold water and a fresh towel, quickly!" and while Melanie was doing that, the Doc was preparing add medicine from the vial into a syringe... It was time to give external support, even a minor one for the crews current acting "captain".

[374/1521/25 021]

Barnaby grunted as he pulled himself back to his feet. Anton's attack, plus the fall, had hurt, but he was far from done. He quickly laid eyes back on the rear admiral, who seemed a bit cut up, but otherwise good to keep fighting. He quickly pulled some more knives from his cape.

Anton side stepped, causing Barnaby to pause. Mainly because Anton had stepped behind one of the bound Big Top Pirates.

"I thought as much," Anton spoke, "You're holding back, trying not to accidently hit one of your crewmates." Nearby, Nero gave Barnaby a sharp glare of disgust. "He does this to them, and then acts like he still cares?" Anton shook his head, "Now, I don't actually think he's the one behind this."

Barnaby blinked, a little surprised as Anton stepped out behind cover. "I saw this power take full control of a person. If you could do that, it would stand to reason you would have done so here, instead of trying to fight us both by yourself." He stared the pirate captain right in the eyes, "No, I don't think this is your doing at all."

Nero lowered his club, now turning his gaze to Anton. "An officer perhaps?" "I don't think so," Anton replied, "I think this is a similar situation to our own. Oberon isn't really the captain of our crew, but one of my subordinates, acting the role to draw attention away from me." And honestly, he had done a fine job too. "That's what this is, isn't it Barnaby. You're acting as the captain, but you're not really the one in charge. You said yourself these people didn't choose to become pirates, and I think you're in the same boat."

Barnaby paused for a moment, before the man gave a small, sad chuckle. "Very perceptive." Nero looked back to Barnaby, "So if he's not the captain, than who is?" Anton's gaze hardened, "The one face that ISN'T here right now. Someone who stayed nice and quiet in the background up until this point," he looked up towards the tower, raising his voice, "So the clown can come out of hiding right now!"

Everything was quiet for a second, before a dark chuckling could be heard.

"Very good."

Barnaby's eyes widened as one hand suddenly clamped over his mouth, another coming to his throat. Anton looked at the pirate, concerned as he started to choke. "I had a feeling someone like you would piece things together," spoke the voice, "I had to push things a little forward because of you."

Barnaby fell to his knees, coughing and choking. "Wait...I..." "Yeah, yeah, you did what I wanted, but yo be fair, you really had no choice in the matter. Now, it's time for the opening act to move aside for the real star of the show!"

Anton watched in horror as Barnaby started coughing up that same black substance that covered the others. He had that stuff inside of him! The black tar seemed to turn around, spreading and covering the flailing pirate. Still clutching his throat, Barnaby looked up at Anton with pleading eyes, reaching out to him in a cry for help.

Only to be completely covered, frozen like a statue in black ooze.

A dark laugh echoed around the area. "I never get tired of that. The fear, the hopelessness. Really suits this world, doesn't it?"

Anton's eyes were drawn back to the tower, as a black form slithered down the wall. Some distance up, it paused and began to change, reforming into a humanoid shape. Anton gave it a hard glare. He recognized the man forming in front of him. That same clown he bumped into when he first arrived on the island. Black and white all over, with pale, soulless eyes.

The clown, his feet planted firmly on the wall like he was on the ground, grinned wickedly. "My name is Loko Pierott. How wonderful it is to finally meet you, Rear Admiral."


Post Word Count: 671
Total Word Count: 2,395