One Piercing Note

One Piercing Note
It had been mere days since the Dewdrop Pirates had ventured across the surface of the island of the rare animals, and mere days since the rarest of them all --a Cavalier Birdman-- had mysteriously landed upon the spar emanating from their ship's hull, only to propel itself away from the two members of the crew without so much a proper greeting, leaving nothing more in its wake than a torrent of wind. With nothing to remember the bird by, an enigma shrouded itself over the Gaston; had they even come face to face with such a creature? Or had it all been a dream?

With their sights set so benightedly upon the Grand Line, Meliodas and Alva looked the part of curious roamers. They were both incredibly eager to learn more about the world around them, passionately so. But to refer to them as pirates was blasphemy. Much like their confrontation with the exotic Cavalier Birdman, they had absolutely no evidence to support such a profound claim.

For now they were mere explorers, exploring whatever moved within their near vicinity. This only delayed their ultimate goal of entering the Grand Line, as well, they quite literally visited each individual island they came upon, so in that regard surely this curiosity of theirs was most certainly a curse? Ambiguous to danger as they were, they had been fortunate enough to escape the clasps of horror up until now, seeing very little of what the sea truly had to offer them. But there was a method to the madness that the wind currently portrayed; glistening with a preciously even tune, it was almost as if it were crying out for danger, begging for it to knock on the door of the Dewdrop Pirates. And this time, it promised, matters wouldn't be as easily resolved.

- - -

Zork Atoll. A ring shaped infrastructure rich and vibrant with all sorts of wildlife. And as to be expected, in the coming of exotic plants were equally exotic animals, who helped themselves to the former on just about every occassion of the day. As unique in appearance as they may have been, the creatures that inhabited this island were far from foul beasts; on the contrary, they were very much the exact opposite. They were calm, sincere, even warm-hearted; they made the best of pets, and for this reason were hunted to no end by poachers who visited on a daily basis.

But the monstrosity that had made the island the site of his training at the start of this day was no poacher at all. He was what the Dewdrop Pirates could only pretend to be: a real pirate. A pirate who was known throughout all of East Blue for possessing a whopping bounty of 25,000,000; a pirate who identified himself with the color of his beard, much like countless others in the past; a pirate who wielded the power of a Logia outside of the facets of the Grand Line. He was none other than Bluebeard.

With his firstmate, "Soko" --just about the only meaningful member of his crew-- at his side, the blue bearded tyrant reshaped the ground of the jungle beneath his own two feet, desperately trying to comprehend how best to operate the powers of his Devil Fruit. He tore apart whole animals that had come in his way, uprooted entire trees from their place in the dirt, all for the sole purpose of perfecting his abilities. Sure he was a big deal here in the East Blue; but even a pirate as notorious as him knew that were he to have so much as a chance at surviving amongst the monsters of the Grand Line, he'd need to be able to wholeheartedly rely on his Logia powers in battle.

In the near distance, the Gaston reeled toward Zork Atoll. Ship of the Dewdrop Explorers, the two scientists were greatly horrified at the sight that welcomed them unto the island; it was like the whole jungle that they had been looking at as they stepped foot onto the beach was being mowed down, one tree at a time. The sand beneath their shoes was shaking, like a precursor to an all too coincidental earthquake. What in the world could it be? Could it perhaps be a large beast that Meliodas would enjoy documenting? Or was it an obscene lumberjack that was collecting wood to make a ship out of? Whatever it was, to say it instantly garnered the interest of the two explorers would have been an understatement.