Land of Dreams, Takara

Kaji Kaji, Cook
A ship waved on the ocean, gracefully drifting through the waves and tides of. It hadn't been the most impressive ship in existence, however it did it's job. It successfully carried a crew of six, which included a five and a half meter large member of the Frogfolk Tribe. All the boys were forced to room together, while the massive amphibian aboard had a room to himself due to his large size. Then there was the only woman within the crew, whom, needless to say, also had her own room. It wasn't a perfect vessel, but the Kaji Pirates were proud to call it home.

As the ship breezed forward, there was a young lad sporting brown hair and a light brown coat designed with white fur trimmings, an open collared shirt in the color of purple. He stood behind the helm as he read a map. Not the best navigator, but his basic knowledge got him where he needed to go, even if a few mistakes were made that would cause the crew to lag behind a bit. On his back was a massive frying pan, clearly scaling to be larger than the boy himself.

"I'm coming, Reverie World." stated Basil Kaji, "Just stay nice and ripe for me!"

"Who are you talking to, Kaji?" A small girl pops from behind the helm, her icy blue hair follows close behind. The girl can't seem to sit still darting around every corner, essentially bouncing off the walls, she was odd to say the absolute least. "Can't wait to get off the ship, there will be so much to explore, I wonder what ingredients they have on this island, can't wait to get to work, teehee." The girl turned her head back to Kaji, she crashed to the floor and sat in a criss-cross fashion, her hair flew down seconds after her. "Criss-cross, apple sauce, teehee. Soooo, Kaji...Whatcha up to? Just looking out into the distance?" Based on her behavior and distinct characteristics, this girl was none other than, Brignac Kopi.

"U-um..." A hesitant, but deep and croaky voice came from the water. The oceanfront before the ship began to ripple wildly, before a monstrous form appeared, until its innocent eyes opened. This was Catesby, a member of the Frogfolk tribe, and despite his imposing size, a child at heart. "I-I think I can feel another ship-rib, but maybe I'm seeing things-rib..." Catesby was a bit bashful, and quickly began to subdue his head into the water again, feeling as if he said something wrong.

Loud but slow clapping filled everyone's ears. "Triumph," A rough voice said, followed by some periodic humming, "Kaji excited!!" Though he couldn't see his captain, the owner of the voice Defoe, a Pirate with a bounty of 70,000,000, clapped yet again at Kaji. Suddenly, he turned to Kopi, "Kopi... excited!" Then, to Catesby, who had been in the water. "Oh, oh!"

Defoe clapped, jumbling himself around and jumping to stare at the waters. "Catesby... not excited... be... triumph!!" Maybe if he said that Casteby would feel it, saying things was good, right?

Kaji read the map, however he'd become distracted quickly as more and more members of his crew appeared. "Thanks for the report Catesby! It's always safe to be aware of what's around us." Kaji loved all his crew, but if you asked him who his favorite was, he'd probably lean towards considering Catesby for that spot. It wasn't something related to a personal connection, but his child-like behavior made Kaji rather protective despite the fact Catesby size made him someone rather fearful regardless. Plus, Kaji has a slight tendency of using Catesby as a mount, with consent of course.

He gave Defoe a thumbs up, showing that he acknowledged the musician's effort to cheer up Catesby as well as his usage of his word of the day, triumph. Kaji usually gave Defoe a word to focus on and use as much as possible to expand his vocabulary, and due to going to claim the legendary Reverie World, Kaji felt this word to be necessary to Defoe's vocabulary.

"The only ingredient I'm after is Reverie World!" Kaji replied to Kopi, clutching his fist dramatically. He continued to stare intensely at the map, "We really need a Navigator..." Kaji thought to himself, yet somehow managing to keep up the impression he knew what he was doing. "Just reading this map, we're about this..." Kaji measured a short distance as if he had a small bean or something similar in his fingers. "close, so we oughta be there soon." Kaji rose a nose to the air, believing the salty aroma would lead him to his fortune.

"98! 99! 100!" the chanting of a man could be heard across the ship, his voice followed by the sound of the air being disrupted. It was the work of Dryden who, with his blade, had been practicing his technique. He brought the sword above his head and then straight down, repeating this again and again.

"Ahhh, that is quite enough for now." he said, sitting on a nearby barrel. He pretended to wipe sweat off of his forehead, but his hand met the cold iron of his helm instead. He gazed at the sea, not even flinching when Catesby popped out. "A ship you say?" Dryden crossed his arms staring at the frogfolk intently. "Follow your gut, that's the way to excellence!" He took on a dramatic pose, his fist pumped over his head. His voice grew louder for the entire crew to hear.

Bone Busters
It had been two weeks since the Buster Pirates escaped the hands of the Marines and they set out for their second adventure. That two weeks had been filled with quite a few interactions among the current five-man crew. Most notable was the creation of the Jolly Roger, something Zack had completely designed himself and one of the greatest steps he'd even taken as the official captain of the crew. It went a little something like this:

Day three on the Rave Skull most of the crew members had been lollygagging around the ship. They'd been trying to get accustomed to the new ship that was theirs, which had been composed of many lessons by Henrietta. It was as though she could spend years talking about the ship, something that completely uninterested the captain.

The five pirates gathered at the deck of the ship, each one doing their own activity. Rosemary sat on a long back chair, resting under the sun's rays licking on her own hands as cute as ever. Sherry had been doing her daily routine of tailoring, though it seemed this time she'd been working on a piece of clothing for her captain, looking as fine as she always did. Bro Dude sat on top of the mast of the ship, scouring the seas for any danger, had he found any he'd be swift to alert his captain. Henrietta was forced to pilot the ship, due to the crew lacking a Helmsman and her being a rather proficient one anyway.

At the very front of the deck, resting on the railings sat Zack, the very captain of the ship licking on a lollipop given to him by Rosemary. He had the biggest smile on his face, he looked like some sort of child who'd just been rewarded a piece of candy for completing the simplest task known to man. Legs swinging in front of the ship, a splash of water drizzled over Zack's head causing him to let out a slight laugh. Jumping to his feet, Zack turned and looked at the rest of his crewmembers.

"FRUIT! SHERRY!" He shouted, demanding he be given a plate of fruit, but the weaver made no sudden movements. Instead, she simply turned her head towards Zack and gave him a stare--a Death Stare. Swallowing his own spit, a droplet of sweat inched down the side of his face. "N-Never mind! Haha!" He scratched the back of his head with his free hand.

His eyes quickly switched to Bro Dude, who'd as mentioned, been resting atop the mast of the ship. "Hey wait! Ya' know what we're missing?!" He asked, the question directed to all of his crewmates. "A Jolly Roger!" He responded, giving them no time to even guess an answer. Jumping from the railing, Zack walked over to Sherry. "Listen, guys, we need a Jolly Roger. What kinda' crew are we to stroll around with no Jolly Roger. That old ass Legs has one, so we need one." Throwing the lollipop overboard, Zack took off inside of the ship and returned with a marker and large poster board.

Swiftly, he began to draw onto the poster board and colored on it as well. "Tada!" Holding the poster up, he showed the rest of the crew. Each member gave their head nods, "See, it's a play on the new jacket Sherry is makin' for me." Nodding, Sherry increasing her weaving speed and finished the jacket in no time and quickly went to work on the flag.

About thirty minutes later, she finished and Zack met her with a large smile. "LET'S FLY IT!" He shouted, snatching it and running towards the mast and pulling it up to fly in the wind. As the ship moved against the wind, it extended and revealed the Jolly Roger's design. A skull and crossbones hiding within a hooded jacket. "NOW WE LOOK OFFICIAL!" He shouted one last time.

Two weeks later and here we are. The ship finally stopped and Zack, in an empty room of the ship, had been in the middle of what seemed to be a training session but he was alone. His face and body had been drenched in sweat and he lacked any sort of clothing to cover his torso. "Oh, the ship stopped?" He stated, throwing a set of weights onto the ground showing off his slightly muscular build. "It's been sooo long!"

"Haaah...haaah...haaah..." Panting could be heard from the main deck of the Rave Skull. Holland Sherry, the crew's tailor and de-facto chef, was seen finishing a sparring session with Bitter Rosemary. She was assigned to block and evade as many arrows consecutively as possible, each growing progressively faster in speed. The "Deathmaker", as she was called by the World Government, was doing this intensive training for the two weeks that the crew were afloat.

Sherry's mind had gone back to two weeks ago temporarily, where she had begged both Rosemary and Dude to teach her the ropes of combat so that she could become more useful to the crew. Both had agreed, but both had their own, very intensive, ways of going about the ordeal. Rosemary couldn't instruct in close combat very well, so she stuck to teaching Sherry how to adapt to mid and long-range. On the other hand, Bro Dude, the crew's most seasoned Pirate, taught Sherry the basics of close combat and swordsmanship.

While she continued to use her unique sword, Bastestoc, Sherry slowly began to be more comfortable wielding it. In fact, Bastestoc was a blade of her own creation, but she was horrified to wield it. After witnessing the blade be used in such a murderous manner, the trauma prevented her from wielding the blade at all. However, over the course of these two weeks, she has slowly overcome this fear. Albeit, the fear of killing pervades strongly in her mind.

Noticing that the ship had stopped moving, Sherry stood up and bowed gratuitously. "Thank you, Rosemary-san. You and Dude-san have helped me a lot in the past two weeks, and I'm sure our fates are bound together by a lovely red thread." Sherry smiled genuinely, "Ah, we have landed. I should prepare food supplies for our travels. I'll be off." Sherry "sheathed" her blade down her back, before going to the bathroom in order to freshen up for land. She was only wearing a simple tank-top and tights, and her body was sweating considerably from the training session; she couldn't be seen like this in public!

It was Bro Dude's voice which came from outside the doors, he strolled through the corridors on his lonesome, already dressed up. "Zack, everyone, we docked. I hope not any you have been asleep and instead worked yourself up." After all, that was what had been said or, well, promised. If they all had wanted to be better, that was the time nigh.

Not that he himself hadn't anything to improve on, it would have been quite hypocritical of himself to just demand that from everyone. In fact, Dude had used the very sessions with Rosemary and Sherry to learn things by himself, he looked at his own hands for a second. A teacher that only taught was doomed to fail and, while he was not really the best at teaching, he still found himself a good learner.

No one had responded yet, though only a few seconds passed. Maybe they needed some motivation, "I PREPARED SOME BREAKFAST!!" He cupped the air in front of his mouth.

Crashing through the wall of the room, Zack appeared. He'd seemed to have been moving with haste as once the dust from the crashing wall cleared, he appeared placing on his jacket tailored by Sherry. "FOOD?! I HEARD FOOD? ARE THERE ANY FRUIT, DEVIN?!"

"Nyaaaaaaahhhhhh....."

Rosemary yawned and stretched as she awoke from her catnap on the sun-warmed roof. She had been among the more lazy members of the crew during their trip, as any kind of training she would do required much more open space than the ship had available.

The ruckus from below had woken her up, though the smell helped. She swung off the raised platform she inhabited, landing softly on the deck as Zack made his inquiry.

"Why is fruit such a big deal, Nya? It doesn't taste like anything."

Henrietta stepped out of the captain's brig above the deck, allowing herself a moment's break from the helm of their steam ship; a ship that she had personally designed during her days working for the renown Galley La company of Water 7. It had been the first time she had personally let go of the helm since their escape two weeks ago, especially since they were not wanted criminals, and for a moment she expected to be pleased. Land...she loved ships. But not water so much, and she surely didn't love having to steer her own ships. It was a craft that she was forced to learn during her time on Water 7, but was often something that she felt paled in comparison to her ability to design and create things. She was an inventor, an engineer, not some measly pilot.

However, the moment that she had stepped out, what she saw was a giant hole in her wall, Zack sitting on the deck, and Rosemary asking about fruit.

"Did that kid put another fuckin hole in my wall?"

Zack held his hands up, "Woah woah woah!" He smiled, throwing up one of his fingers, "That's Capta-, er. Hm, never mind." The teen dropped to his knees as though he had been distraught. "W-What do you mean, Rosemary?!" He shouted, asking about Rosemary's most recent statement. "They have no taste? They have all the taste, even better than your candy! Most fruits that you bite into are all juicy. They kinda' bust in your..." he paused for a moment. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed over and over like a broken record player.

Standing to his feet, he hammered his hand into his palm. "Okay, sorry to make you stop, Henrietta. We'll be quick. I can't survive on the ship with just meat. That shits impossible. Imma' hop off, grab some apples, and hop back on. I'll even take you guys with me to make sure. I promise... on Legs' life. You guys alright with that?" Giving the group no time to respond, he went on. "Good, then let's get it."

Henrietta reached out, grabbing Zack by the collar of his shirt. "You don't understand huh? The marines are probably right behind us, and you made me stop for some apples?" She paused briefly. "At least pick a good fruit like oranges or some shit!"

"You shouldn't be that insensitive, Captain." Sherry spoke with a hint of sarcasm as Zack continued to flounder around. "If she's saying that she doesn't taste anything, she probably doesn't. After all..." Sherry looked at Rosemary's cat ears. "If she's half-cat, then she can't taste sugar, right?"

Sherry then took a plate from Dude's hands, and bowed. "Thank you for the meal, Dude-san." Sherry took a bite, delighted by the taste.

Looking at the island thereafter, she found some similarities to a place she had been when she was quite young. "Oh, this place is...um...what was it's name...Ah, yes, Takara! Captain, this place allegedly has some hidden treasure on it! It may be worth our while to dock here for a while!"

"Good, good!" Dude sung twice, closing his eyes as he hummed a bit and brought more platters to the others, all with a variety of common food, salad, and fruits even. He didn't know himself why he continued to hum, but, maybe Sherry was good with her words truly. "I picked these because I knew Rosemary-dono here can't taste everything," He nodded.

At the mention of Takara, Dude stopped singing and glanced at everyone present, "Takara? Hmmmm..." He cleaned his hands and put the towel aside, "Where have I heard that name before...?" Dude rubbed his chin.

Divide, Treasure For One
"U-uhm, okay...I'll follow my gut, Dryden-senpai! Captain, do you wanna follow me?" Catesby asked his Captain. He was glad he could be of some use with his Frogfolk senses, as he already knew that due to his enormous size, it was hard to accommodate Catesby in most places. Catesby began searching for the signs of the ship he felt earlier, and his body oriented towards the north in pursuit of them.

"They're in the north, Captain!"

"To the north..." Kaji repeated to himself. Although he wasn't a tactical mind, he had an advantage thanks to Catesby's senses, and wanted to make good use of it too. "Thanks Catesby, this outta serve us well." Kaji looked around at all those whom had gathered on the ship, only to realize someone had been missing. Someone vital to his plan. "Dryden, can you go wake up Sobek? I need you two to do something." Kaji commanded. Taking control of the helm and turning towards the north, yet keeping the ship close to the land, close enough for someone to make a jump. A big smile crew on Kaji's face, the scent of the flora and fauna of the island filled his nose. What an island.

Giving Catesby a thumbs up before turning to Kaji, he looked at his captain with a sense of admiration, which was evident particularly because of his straight posture and uptightness when Kaji called him. "Alright, Kaji. I will go and get the young one. However, what shall I do if he does not awaken?" he asked, as he began to walk towards the boys quarters, his armor clanging loudly as he did so. It was a sound that the crew, while at first didn't withstand, had gotten used to.

"If he doesn't wake up, drag 'em up here." Kaji called, awaiting Dryden's return.

Dryden nodded, signaling he understood. "Oi, young one!" he said, knocking on the door several times, each time louder than the last. After knocking for a while, he opened the door forcefully, finding the teen laying on one of the beds, sound asleep. Without hesitation, he grabbed the boy by his shirt's collar and dragged him back towards Kaji. "Here he is." Dryden said, dryly.

"Good, here's the plan." Kaji stated, the ship came to a very slow movement, eventually stopping as a whole. It was pulled up directly next to the island, "We don't know who is on the ship Catesby sensed, however, I'm not taking any chances. Dryden, I want you and Sobek to hop off the ship here and start looking for the treasure. Dip his head in the water if you gotta wake 'em up. The rest of us will go around to meet the other guys who are here." Kaji lowered his head, in a dramatic fashion, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two odd tomato-like fruit.

"If you two end up in any danger, toss this into the air." He chuckled a bit, handing one of them to Dryden and keeping the other to himself. "It's not too good for food, but it makes one hell of a flare. If you see this go up, attack or avoid anyone you don't recognize." He extended a fist bump to his First Mate. "Walk tall, brother."

Once again, Dryden nodded several times in approval. He felt the ship's slow, almost unnoticeable movement but didn't act on it, instead focusing on Kaji's instructions. "Alright, I understand." he said, grabbing the strange item Kaji had handed him and placing it in a small bag that hung by his waist. He returned the fist bump, his metal fist making contact with Kaji's knuckle. "Walk tall I shall!. See you all later, and good luck with your endeavors!" It sounded like a farewell, but it was just Dryden's way of saying 'see you later'. Grabbing the sleeping teen by the collar once more, he moved closer to the ship's edge before jumping off and gracefully landing on the island. Waving goodbye to the ship, he looked at the long road ahead of him. "This should be fun."

Sobek yawned himself awake. His eyes burst open, though the sudden light made him squint. The teen noticed that he was being held up by Dryden, and quickly squirmed his way out of his grasp. He faced Dryden, an annoyed look on his face. "What's going on? Can't a guy snooze for a while longer?" he signed towards the man, his hands moving furiously with ever word he signed.

Kaji watched as Dryden went along his way with Sobek in his arms. Kaji walked back towards the helm, getting the ship back into motion to meet the other occupants of the ship. "Get ready boys, and girl." Something coiled from the handle of Kaji's pan, something orange, to the center of his pan where it dissipated. The temperature momentarily rose, yet nothing too drastic took place. "Let's see who's come for our buffet." Kaji gripped the helm with a dangerous determination.

At the northern area of the small island, the Buster Pirates docked their ship and had already stepped onto the land. Zack, the Captain of the crew, stepped forward while holding onto the straps of the backpack-basket on his back, and took a large sniff at the air. Inhaling, Zack's chest puffed up as he took in a large chunk of air and held it, "I can smell so many fruits!" He shouted at the top of his lucks, his voice shaking the very island itself, ruffling nearby trees causing birds to flee of fear.

Running off, Zack approached the first tree with fruit he saw. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed, shaking the tree as circular objects fell from the branches. Turning around, he leaned forward so that the fruit landed into the basket. "Orange ain't the best, but it's a st-... Wait, why don't I see any houses around." Zack held his hand up to his chin in a thinking fashion while his eyes looked left and right.

Waving at his crew, Zack signaled Sherry but was sure the others would follow. "Hey, Sherry, where the hell are the people?"

"How is she supposed to know where everyone is, huh?" Henrietta inquired, her tone aggressive and rude. "What are ya, some type of fuckin' idiot? It's probably some random island anyway, you know. Maybe it's something dangerous around here, which is why I propose we take all these oranges and get the hell out of here."

She turned back to face the rest of the crew. "You guys with me?"

"Hmmm, that is odd..." Sherry thought to herself, reminiscing on the last time she was here with her master. She was quite young, but that day was quite eventful. She saw a number of dangerous figures lurking around here. Powerful ships, and immense amounts of traffic in the taverns and shops. The islanders had made the rumor of this place's treasure into a commercial success. However, for some reason, that same island was completely bleak.

"Henrietta-san might be right, Captain." Sherry spoke aloud, affirming Henrietta's suspicions. "I think we should leave quickly."

Meanwhile, Dude stood as the quietest amongst the Buster pirates, right hand close to his chin whilst it held a dagger. He was looking at the scenario before Zack even went in there, eyes sharp as a sword and fierce like steel. Dude knew it, he knew he heard the island's name somewhere.

"Of course, Henrietta-dono." He turned to the island, "Get off there, Zack!!" A yell escaped his lips, could this boy be anymore careless? Maybe he didn't want to know the answer. A gut feeling? A memory? Dude really couldn't remember it well, the island, at that point, was simply staring to give him the creeps.

Whatever had gotten Dude riled up would have to wait, the bells of a ship rang as none other than the Sea Skillet, the vessel of the Kaji Pirates, drew near. The waves parted in the ships wake, however, next to it seemed to be yet another part. Kaji had gotten the ship as close as he wished for it to be, with a decent amount of room still available in case things went south.

"Let's meet our new friends." Kaji told his crew, a ramp of sorts seemed to gently detach itself from the ship. A deceptive move as it slammed into the sand of the beach with might, knocking up a large amount of dust in the process. Kaji has begun walking on the ramp through the dust, his silhouette was the only thing visible as he did so. "Yea, this is a spicy entrance!" Kaji thought to himself, but amidst all his desire to look like a badass, he inhaled a bit too much. He began to cough uncontrollably, which had forced his eyes open, which began to water as they too were plagued.

His entrance had been ruined, the sound of coughing didn't make his debut too terrifying. And before he knew it, the dust the ramp had kicked up had completely dissipated. So much for an entrance. Kaji tried to quickly fix his composure, but to no avail, until suddenly his nostrils caught a furious aroma. All his senses stopped acting up, having shaken him up to the point his coughing and teary eyes halted in their tracks. Kaji sniffed once more, looking towards the individuals before him. "No way..."

"There's no way you expect me to only get oranges from this place, Henrietta. Think about that for a second, oranges are like tha' bottom of the barrel when it comes down to fruit. Right beside tomatoes which, I'll have you know, will never be acceptable as a fruit." Turning his body slightly, he pointed towards the opposite direction. "Just gimme a little more tim-," His sentence had been cut short due to the unruly coughing he heard in the distance.

While he couldn't pinpoint the location originally, once he turned his head he knew well enough that it had been coming from within the cloud of debris that was not there when his crew first landed on the island. As it cleared, his eyes met with the many figures of other people. He had no idea who they were but, his question of "where was the other people of this island" were answered quite quickly."

Henrietta scolded him for constantly asking Sherry questions, but Zack didn't care. If he knew she possessed the potential knowledge why wouldn't he ask her? "Sherry.. who are they?"

Kaji analyzed all the people in front of him, and by analyze, he simply glossed over them. He really only noticed their most obvious features, but that notice only went to the half-mink girl amongst the other individuals. He never saw anyone quite like her, he'd heard about people with animal like features from his mother, but seeing one was a completely different story. And for some reason she smelled like...candy?

"Who are we?" Kaji asked, while he wasn't quite known himself, a member or two on his crew had quite the bounty on their heads. Unless this man before him didn't read bounty posters often, then he must've been bad at remembering faces. Despite this, Kaji tried to put on his best serious face when introducing himself. "I'm Hot Tongue Kaji, and together we make up the Kaji Pirates!" He stated proudly, completely oblivious to whatever repercussion he may face for revealing their status as pirates to a bunch of strangers.

Zack's eyebrow lifted in confusion as he looked to his crewmates for clarification despite Kaji literally answering his question. He looked to each of the pirates individually. "Yo, don't ever do that again. "Hot Tongue", that sounds soooo sexual. Wait," Zack threw his hand under his chin. "Kaji Pirates? Ain't never heard of 'em.. Must be a new crew or something?" Zack asked himself, looking back to his crew once again. All he wanted was the clarification.

"Sherry!" He shouted, scratching his head. "Who are they and not their nam-" Zack's eyes widened. "YOOOOOOOOO WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!!!" Pointing to Catesby.

"I'm not as tied up with knowledge as you both think I am, Captain and Shipwright." Sherry said with a haughty tone that displayed clear murderous intent, but she quickly hid it from sight once again. "I have never heard of the Kaji Pirates, nor have I ever seen quite a...monstrous form before. Although, I can confirm, at least, that it isn't a Sea King..."

"M-monstrous...?" Catesby, the gigantic figure in view began to have tears well up in his eyes. "C-Captain, tell them what I am please..?" Despite his imposing appearance, the frogfolk was a child at heart, and accusations like monstrous truly did affect his disposition.