Island of the Strongest Animals

An Unwanted Interference
"Oh great," Dare sighed as he looked through his binoculars. "I don't want to deal with this right now." Not far from the position of the Animalia Pirates, Dare had spotted a marine vessel, headed straight for them. "I'm not in the mood to deal with marines. Can you take care of them for me Jac?"

She looked up from her sitting spot, a wolf pup napping her lap. Another nipped at her shoulder lightly, attempting to get her attention. "Hmm? Marines?" Jac stood, placing the sleeping pup next to its littermate. Sure enough, as she ranged out her sight, she picked out the tell-tale flags, winking in and out of existence over the cresting waves.

In a few moments, she could see the dots of marine members pointing in their general direction. "Well...they spotted us. Sure." An orca emerged next to their boat, its eye meeting Jac's. Several long seconds passed as silent messages passed between them. Then, the orca slid into the ocean, cutting through the underwater in a straight shot for the marine ship.

"Three...Two...One."

The orca breached out of the water, landing directly on top of the marine vessel. It buckled under the weight. Just when it seemed as though things couldn't get any worse for the marine vessel, two more orcas breached, landing on top of the ship. At that point it broke in half, the crew being lost to the ocean.

"Have I told you how much I love that we brought you aboard?" Dare said. He looked back through his binoculars. "There are a couple of survivors. Can you tell the orcas to eat them? I don't want to be followed."

"You have, but that doesn't mean I don't love hearing it again," she commented, her tone a bit cheeky, "No, I won't. But I know someone who will." As the orcas retreated, returning to whatever they were doing before, two fins could be seen cutting through the water like hot knife through butter. The fins would multiply as the sea was stained red.

Screams followed as rows of dagger like teeth broke through the sea's surface: sharks.

"That should take care of them. And the sharks get a free meal too; everyone wins."

"Thanks," it won't be much longer now.

"No worries." She returned to the wolf pups, who proceeded to tackle and smother her with playful nips and licks.

Gerong Island
As Dare looked through his binoculars, he saw it in the distance, a lush island, covered by jungle, untouched by man. "There it is! Gerong Island!"

For the second time, she looked up. However, her gaze brightened as she took in what she saw. It reminded her of home in a way; beautiful, flourishing. She could sense the abundance of natural life like a homing beacon. Indeed, the animals on the vessel clamored excitedly, eager to touch down.

"How long till landfall?"

"It should just be a few more minutes." That's when Dare felt a presence, an attack. "This far from the island?" Dare turned around, looking to the sky. "Oh crap."

Raining down upon his ship, were several balls of fire. He had heard about the natives strange abilities, but launching a raid like this? "Time to put that new Devil Fruit power of mine to good use." He ran forward, inhaling deeply, then released a loud bellow. A beam of energy fired from his mouth, blowing away the fireballs. "Hm, I suppose the Goe Goe no Mi has its own perks."

She noticed the fireballs, only to see them neutralized by Dare. Turns out the Devil Fruit was useful after all. "Eh? Where did those fireballs come from?" Jac asked, ranging out her senses. The woman then looked up, shading her eyes against the sun as she searched for the culprit.

"Looks like they don't take kindly to foreigners."

"I've heard interesting things about the Gerongians. They're powerful creatures that eat any humans that come to their island. On top of that, they each possess powerful Haki. However, the risk is worth it. Not only can Gerongians use Haki, but every animal on this island can as well. It's been difficult to teach the animals how to use Haki because of the language barrier, but if we were to have our own Haki-using animals..." He stopped to allow Jacquotte to finish his sentence.

"Well, we'd be a bit more powerful now wouldn't we? Not to mention the human clearing we could do. Wait...they eat humans? Do you know what they look like? I've never seen one, much less heard of them," she said, picking up where he left off.

"No idea myself," he answered, "but people call them lizards." He looked back towards the sky. "It'll probably be too dangerous to continue forward with the ship. Call in a few whales to bring us to the island. Yuki, order the crew to have the ship move farther out. We'll call you when it's safe."

The monkey nodded and got to work.

Jacquotte nodded as well, humming softly as she stretched. One by one whales crested near the ship, gliding alongside it. After the two arose, she jumped onto the back of one, gliding over the edge of ship smoothly.

"Alright. Who else is coming?"

"Let's just have it be us for just now. If they eat people, they'd definitely eat animals. Let's get going."

"Sounds good." she communicated the message to the two whales, who took off in earnest.

"Just as a warning, they can only take us so far; if they go too close to shore, they risk being beached. I'm not letting that happen; so we'll need to think of a way to make the jump."

"I can just jump the rest of the way," Dare said nonchalantly. "I can carry you the rest of the way if necessary."

"That works. Just don't fall short; I heard sea and DF don't agree," Jac responded, settling in as the whales cut through the ocean, closing between ship and island rapidly.

"Get ready."

Before the words could even exit Jacquotte's mouth, Dare was already beside her, scooping her up into his arms as he prepared to leap. His legs became coated with Haki, the muscles swelling. "Kemono no Gitai: Kangaroo! And at that he leaped from the back of the whale, soared through the air, and landed safely on the beach of the island.

The whales huffed a bit at his presumptuous behavior, turning around as soon as the two pirates landed safely on the beach.

"Eh??" Jac was caught off guard as she was suddenly scooped up. Before she could blink, they were on the island. The woman rolled out of his arms onto the sand, managing to send a mental thank you to the whales, as well as some information for hunting, having overheard their conversation.

"You know, warnings and countdowns are nice." Jacquotte brushed herself off.

"Sorry, was in a bit of hurry. Let's head further in-" An arrow whizzed by his head, coated black from Haki. It turned back to its normal wood and stone coloring after a brief moment. Dare whirled around, face to face with a man.

"That was a warning shot," he said, knocking a second arrow.

"Human!" Dare shouted, making a beeline for him. Before making so much as a step, a fist struck him in the side, sending him reeling. "Where the hell did that come from?" This time a woman, unarmed, his fist turning back to normal after striking Dare with her own Haki.

She marked the arrow's descent as it landed harmlessly in the shallows. Her gun was locked and ready as the man prepared his second arrow. "No. Not human. That's what the animals are saying anyway," she commented, nodding at the trees. It rapidly filled with spectators as the stand-off continued. She backed up slightly for a better angle.

"You alright?" Her tone carried a note of concern.

Dare popped back to his feet, as if nothing had happened. "Yeah, I'm fine." He seemed much more chipper all of the sudden. "So you're not humans. Sorry about the hostilities then. I'd been lead to believe you were all lizard people, but humans are a lot of liars." Anyone that could use Haki would instantly feel his bloodlust decrease. Although, the Gerongians didn't lower their guard. "I couldn't sense you at all. That's an interesting technique."

"It helps to hide from slavers like you," said the woman.

"Slavers?" Jac questioned, her tone insulted, "Do I look like a slaver to you?" Despite her efforts to keep decent, Jac looked more at home among the woods than mingling with high society. She lowered her gun, squinting slightly as she saw a head poking out from the tree line. A....lizard? No..that wasn't quite right.

She points. "Maybe that's why they're called lizard people."

Quickly bounding out of the forest came two, rather sizable, Komodo dragons, each one sidling up to one of the Gerongians. They let out pleased grunts before turning their attention to the island intruders. They began circling Dare and Jac, grunting at them with much more hostility.

"Jac, can you tell them that we're not a threat?" Dare said.

"What do you think I'm doing? Shooting the breeze?" she responded, her tone cheeky, "It doesn't help that you have resting bitch face." She focused on the two circling komodo dragons, sending out a welcoming greeting to both. It was followed by an abbreviated explanation of why her and Dare were here, and that in no way was their aim to harm anyone.

While she relayed this, a couple of small animals from the treetops landed on her shoulders, making themselves comfortable.

The Komodo dragons appeared much more at ease after hearing her, backing away from her and Dare.

"What the hell?" said the archer.

Dare turned to the two Gerongians, giving them a smile. "Now, let's start over. I'm Whisper O. Dare, and we're here to talk to your animals."

Dare and Jac were flanked from all sides by Gerongians and Komodo dragons the further they went into the island. Hidden, just beyond the tree line, was a large, bustling community, full of huts. It was magnificent. Everywhere they looked, Gerongians and their Komodo dragons were working, playing together. Dare couldn't help but smile. It all came to a halt the second they walked in.

Mothers told their children to go into the huts, and the older Gerongians gathered around them. "Hey there. Can you bring us to your leader?"

This was what her home island was missing; this harmony had never been there. Not even once. Part of her noted just how many Gerongians there were, and how their numbers had been so easily concealed. While she knew it came from great practice, it made her question her own sharpness.

She couldn't help but be hurt when their arrival brought it to an end. It reminded her of why she had joined the pirate crew to begin with. Just how many humans had stolen these people from their homes? She didn't dare ask.

"Yes, we had a couple of questions for them, if you don't mind."

A woman, relative tall, with brown hair and green eyes, stepped forward, dressed in a beige shawl with a white shirt. A Komodo dragon happily scurried around her feet. She looked the newcomers up down. "And who might you two be?"

"My name is Whisper O. Dare, this is my first mate, Cormac G. Jacquotte. I apologize for the intrusion, but there's something we must discuss."

The Komodo ran over to the two pirates, sniffing them with its tongue.