#Advanced Armament
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HK 416 + AAC 416-SD
Karve | Carbon Black
QTR Stop | Carbon Black
4-Slot G10 RailScales | Dragon Texture
3-Slot G10 RailScales | Dragon Texture
2-Slot G10 RailScales | Dragon Texture
QDX Sling Mount | Carbon Black
CSMR Button | Apex Style | Carbon Black
- RS
#RailScales#G10 Scales#G10 RailScales#G10#Karve#QTR#QTR Stop#QDX#CSMR#Scalarworks#LEAP/01 Mount#Aimpoint USA#Micro T-1#Knight's Armament#KAC Aimpoint Micro Battery Cap#AAC#Advanced Armament#416-SD#416-SD Gen 1#Heckler and Koch#416D#HK416#10.4 416#Magpul#EMAG#HK Parts#TangoDown#Time Crisis 4#MLOK#Made in USA
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ADVANCED ARMAMENT CO TEAMS UP WITH BAUER PRECISION IN THE M4-2000 GLASS BREAKER RELEASE
Advanced Armament Co has teamed up with Bauer Precision in the release of the M4-2000 glass breaker.
Advanced Armament Co states ” These are for the 1.45”OD such as the M4-2000, Mini4, 762-SD, 762-SDN-6, and others. The 1.5” OD will be later in the year.”
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
1.6oz weight
1.925″ OAL
4140 Steel
Black Nitrite finish
To learn more about Advanced Armament Co and Bauer…
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You dream of rain. You dream that the ink that is your flesh is running off the page, smeared into dark rivulets on the vellum. When you wake, you can still feel a stiffness in your back; as if your spine is being held tautly by yarn.
In the dark of the cabin, your mind enumerates sensations as your eyes adjust: The sway of the gondola. The vibration from the engine in the starboard nacelle above you, rattling slightly – still no replacement for the broken fuel intake.
The noise of water rapping against a porthole window.
Hello, delicious friends. It appears that time, very disrespectfully, has chosen to march on until it is very nearly April. The time has come to talk about our major future plans for Fallen London.
A new major storyline
Firmament is Fallen London’s next major expansion, a main story arc that adds on to the game’s ongoing progression. Acquire an airship – permanently, this time. Fly to the Roof. Explore the stalactite fields ruled by the Starved Men, the carved paths of the Moon-MIsers, the inverted jungles of the Antipelago, and more.
This expansion focuses on the Roof. Just like the unterzee gets stranger and darker as you zail away from familiar shores, so do the upper airs of the Neath contain more than what you know about. As these castles on the ceiling open to you, you will learn more.
Firmament will launch over the course of April, with a prologue becoming available on April 11th, and the full first chapter on April 18th.
While Firmament is in some ways a follow-up to the Railway storyline, we are aware of how long it takes to get to the very end of the game’s (current) highest-level story. When Firmament launches, you will be able to start it as long as you have already begun the Railway storyline and reached Ealing. While you will need to advance your railway further to access the latter parts of Firmament, there should be ample time to catch up on the Railway in between Firmament chapters.
New mechanics
The Railway arc added new advanced skills. During the Zeefarer cycle we added revamped Zee travel and the new Boon/Burden mechanic. This set of updates comes with its own mechanical expansions to the game.
New item slots
Airships make their return as full-fledged items. Much like zeefaring ships, they serve you mostly in air travel – Aerial Prowess and Aerial Armament also make their return. But we’re also adding a few other item slots, while we’re at it.
Adornment includes all manner of jewellery and accessories – rings, necklaces, earrings, neckties, brooches, and more. Previously, items in this vein would appear in slots like Gloves or Clothing, leading to the somewhat odd mental image of wearing your Pendant of Helicon Amber and nothing else. With this update, these items gain their own space, enabling more player expression and empowering players to reach slightly higher stats.
Several existing items will be shifted to the Adornment slot, slightly buffing them by allowing them to stack with other existing items. Adornment is intended to be a part of the game from relatively early on – around the later parts of Making Your Name. A new Bazaar store, selling Adornments, will be added in a future update.
Crew is a complement to both ships and airships. We’ve long wanted to give ship crews (distinct from the vessels themselves) a bit more personality. Are they experienced or green? Are they Admiralty men through and through, or a band of privateers and villains? These kinds of concepts never really fit the Companion or Affiliation slots, so we are creating a purposeful slot for them.
Crews will be made available in a future update, initially accessible to players who have a ship.
Luggage may seem like a slightly odd addition, but so much of Fallen London, and Victorian fiction in general, is about travel and the mystique of travel. A battered steamer trunk that’s been everywhere. A briefcase full of secrets. Phileas Fogg’s carpetbag. Luggage is intended as a midgame slot. In a future update, you will be able to assemble some initial Luggage items in the Bazaar Side-Streets.
New Skills
We are conscious of not adding too much complexity to the game, especially not all at once. Firmament doesn’t add a full suite of new skills, like the Railway. It adds one new skill, and two new qualities of a somewhat skill-like nature.
Chthonosophy, the study of the root of things, has already been teased – but you’ve not really been able to obtain it, thus far. It is the major new skill for Firmament, playing a role similar to the role Zeefaring had in Evolution.
Inerrant and Insubstantial join Neathproofed as its two other counterparts. Like Neathproofed, these will appear more as additive benefits; they help your checks with other skills, more so than being checked in themselves. They exist to add a little extra, to help differentiate otherwise-similar items, and to act as an occasional bonus. As part of Firmament, we are pushing to make more use of Neathproofed, and carve out that space for its new counterparts, also.
Roof Travel
I won’t go into too many details about Roof travel, other than to set expectations. Yes, there is a new map. No, Roof travel is not quite a fully-fledged activity like zailing is.
We aimed it at a sort of middle ground between Railway travel (which is convenient and fairly predictable) and Zee travel (which is a whole venture unto itself.) Traveling from point to point on the Roof mostly takes one action; very occasionally, two. But it is drastically more variable than rail travel. There’s a broad variety of different things you can encounter in the upper airs of the Neath. And as you progress this storyline, you will encounter stranger things as you travel through the air.
And other delights…
Of course, we have other things planned for the rest of 2024. Our usual festivals will run as usual. A new Estival. Monthly Exceptional Stories. Various other surprises, including a series of more grounded new stories set in London. But we’ll talk about these things in detail sometime after Whitsun, which should take place, as usual, in May.
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Israel, pound for pound, is the best investment the US has ever made. Israel is the purest expression of Western power, combining militarism, imperialism, settler colonialism, counterinsurgency, occupation, racism, instilling ideological defeat, huge profitable war-making and hi-tech development into a manticore of destruction, death, and mayhem. From Israel’s victory in the 1948-1949 war, US planners saw the country as a regional military power that could contain Arab military and political ambitions. Amidst France’s imperial sunset in the Arab region, the country aligned with Israel – trying to deliver a blow to Nasserist Egypt through the 1956 Tripartite Aggression with Britain and Israel, and armoring Zionism for its successful 1967 war against radical Arab nationalism in the frontline states. Green-lit by the US, the war left the Syrian Ba’athist fusion of Arab nationalism and Marxist-Leninism in shambles and slammed the Nasserist national development project. Israel also became a useful assassin, eliminating Arab radical luminaries from Mehdi Ben Barka to Ghassan Kanafani.
From 1970 onwards, US military aid into Israel turned the country into a unique asset: an offshore arms factory; a regional irritant to Arab peace, stability, and popular regional development; a destructive gyro of world-wide counterinsurgency; a black hole drawing in regional surpluses and devoting them to endless defensive and offensive armament, away from social-popular welfare spending and non-military development. Uniquely, the US allowed Israel to keep the military aid partially within the country, slowly and steadily building up a massive military industrial capacity. Meanwhile, US-based capital inflows accelerated, taking advantage of Israel’s highly educated workforce in the defense sector, resting upon super-exploiting the Palestinian colonial underclass in other sectors. In return, Israel armed reactionary forces world-wide: from Argentina to Brazil to Chile, helping evade Congressional restrictions on arms shipments to the Nicaraguan Contras and advanced armaments to the South African apartheid regime. On a world scale, Israel has protected the political architecture of global capitalism. And its US domestic adjunct, the Anti-Defamation League, presaged wider Zionist capitalist investment in repression by carrying out wide-ranging spying on anti-racist, anti-Zionist, Arab-American and anti-apartheid movements.
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SandWings
It's finally time, people!!!
SandWings have been on the agenda for a while and I'm so happy to finally have them done. Here's as much info as I can give right now.
General
SandWings are medium-sized bipedal dragons that inhabit the desert, badlands, and other transitional biomes of Pyrrhia.
They come in a variety of muted desert-y colors, but the most common include: Yellow, brown, red, dusty orange, and some black.
SandWings, unlike most other tribes, are built for running long distances rather than flying.
While their wings are still perfectly good for travel, it's far more efficient to travel on foot, since they are the fastest tribe on the ground.
Their wings are smaller in comparison to their body than most other tribes as well, so they largely rely on desert thermals to keep them aloft. In places with minimal air currents, or with excess cold, SandWings have trouble gaining lift.
SandWings have light armoring along the scales of their back, although these armor-plated scales are not quite as tough as you would expect. These armored scales are thicker than the rest as to protect them from the harsh sun; although they do double as a nice additional protector from other SandWings' venomous tails. Otherwise, they're not great for protection.
Their armored appearance bears heavy resemblance to MudWings, and it is believed that MudWings and SandWings are quite closely related; albeit MudWings are much more on the heavyweight-end.
A SandWing's horns can be of any shape and array, although most commonly, SandWing horns protrude forward like bull horns; especially female SandWings, where they're used to vie for the throne. These horns are utilized at high-speed to ram into targets, and to duel with rival SandWings. Being hit by a SandWing horns-first at top-speed is near equivalent to being impaled by a motorcycle on the freeway.
SandWings are also adorned with frills along their head, neck, & chest. Male SandWings have additional frills along their lower jaw & lower torso.
These frills are continuously-growing, meaning that SandWings typically cut, style, & shave them at their discretion. Some SandWings prefer their frills long, like Princess Blister. Other SandWings cut them quite short to keep them out of the way during battles, like Six-Claws. Short frills became standard for SandWings during the War of SandWing Succession, as they became a distraction or a detriment otherwise. It was rare for a SandWing not to have short frills during the 20-year conflict, if they were battlers and not factory-workers.
SandWings are notorious for their potent venom. This venom is created and stored in sacs inside the barb at the tip of their tails.
While adult SandWings are perfectly capable of killing another dragon with a lethal dose, SandWing dragonets are far more deadly. Not strictly because of the venom, but because they lack the control needed to limit how much venom they inject. A sting from a newly-hatched SandWing is more likely to kill you than a sting from an adult, who can decide how much they want their sting to hurt.
Culture
SandWing culture is nothing mysterious; they have some of the most well-known festivals and armaments in the continent.
SandWings, having so much land to themselves, utilize much of it for factories and plants. They are one of the most technologically advanced tribes, with steampunk-esque mechanisms and structures throughout their kingdom.
Their metals of choice include copper, tin, and bronze; much of it mined within the desert itself. However, with the SkyWings' alliance, SandWings on Burn's side of the war have been able to import metals and other materials from the mountains to create stronger weapons & armors.
Similarly, Blister & Blaze's forces have been able to do this as well, albeit with fewer materials overall and less armored dragons total.
Weapons and armory aren't the only things SandWings create with their metallurgy though. SandWings, having deep respect for their veterans and a cultural motto that you will always survive to fight, also create advanced prosthetics.
Prosthetic legs & arms are the most common, but you might also catch a SandWing with a prosthetic wing or tail. Some SandWings get horn replacements if their horns break off in battle and become less effective at fighting with.
Prosthetic wings are by far the rarest to find, since they are the most expensive to make & obtain, and don't actually perform quite as well as a normal wing. Most dragons with prosthetic wings use them to show off their worthiness in battle, how they survived and were heavily rewarded for their supreme skill and efforts.
Each prosthetic, weapon, and piece of armor comes branded with several labels:
The name of the factory it was made in, the name & seal of the queen/princess it was made under, and its serial number.
These labels would allow each rival sister to check their dragons' true alliance. SandWings with the seal of a rival sister would be killed, as it would then be apparent who they went to for their supplies.
After the end of the War of SandWing succession, the seals for Burn, Blister, and Blaze were retired in favor of Queen Thorn's own seal. As a result, armor with the royal SandWing sisters' seals were considered limited collector's items, and have increased dramatically in their value.
Prior to the death of Queen Oasis, these seals were not a generic serial label, but a gift from the Queen, almost like being knighted. To have armor with the Seal of the Queen was considered a great honor, but times have changed.
RGAAAAH I HOPE Y'ALL LIKE THIS
If you have any questions or ideas you want me to fill in on, please shoot me an ask or something bc I would love to answer !!
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In-universe, is Zoro conscious of his own ability to use Conqueror's Haki? To me it felt like his awareness of it is kind of ambiguous/fuzzy.
following his fight with king he does seem to be at least aware he has it, but- the important thing to remember about zoro as a character is that he has absolutely no interest in achieving his goals in any way besides with his swords and whatever techniques he can use to strengthen his swords (such as armament haki). it's an absolutely consistent element of his character.
so my reading is that to zoro, conqueror's is basically exclusively something he can use to strengthen his physical swordfighting. kaidou notes he's doing that without even being aware of it, despite infusing conqueror's into attacks being otherwise considered a very advanced technique. like, compare zoro jumping to that right away with luffy, who was training his conqueror's for two years under the mentorship of one of the most advanced haki users we've seen but still didn't come up with that particular use until the same fight with kaidou.
i honestly think the fact that zoro has the potential capability to psychically knock people out probably holds basically no interest for him. i doubt we'll see him use his conqueror's much that way intentionally, if at all. that's not gonna help him become the world's greatest swordsman, so who cares?
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Buggy's Haki is weird, I bet.
I'm definitely in the "Buggy's Observation Haki is NEXT LEVEL" band camp, but like. I also really love the idea of his Haki being oversensetive, and nobody quite REALIZED. Roger may have had suspicions, but his grounding techniques were rather limited because his Haki awakened a little later in life and so he never had a need to completely shut it down. He does his best, but it's not enough.
Buggy learns relatively early on that his Devil Fruit requires a strict level of spatial awareness. A lot of it is instinctive, knowledge essentially deposited into his brain once the fruit hit his stomach, once otherworldly energy unfurled and braided into his body, mind and soul. He is the only person on the crew with a Devil Fruit, and so he learns a lot of his methods by trial and error (and the occasional meet up with Whitebeard's crew).
Buggy winds up trying to use his Haki with his Fruit. He thinks of it as a liquid, blue and bubbly and alive, poured into a Buggy shaped mold. It covers his skin, his ears and eyes. It fills his mouth, and he breathes it in with every gasp or calming inhale. It sinks into his cells and stains his blood and muscles with blueblueblue. It's easier to keep track of his pieces this way, with his own energy so densely imbued in his form.
This becomes a habit of his. Not only does the Haki help him with control of his Fruit but it also helps dull the sensory input of his Observation. The world isn't quite so sharp and loud with his energy coiled so tightly. He can still check the surroundings and react properly, thinking of some of his energy as the strings of a puppeteer or tentacles of energy. It works for him.
It is not, actually, a common thing to be done.
Mihawk, for one, is absolutely stunned when he realizes what Buggy does, is furious when he learns why. The suppressing method he came up with is actually both nigh impossible and also quite dangerous. Were it not for his Devil Fruit, it's highly likely that the oversaturation of Haki in his body would have caused it to deteriorate, especially given how potent Buggy's energy really is.
Crocodile, while rarely using Haki, is also a little blindsided by the truth of the matter.
Buggy's use of Haki is both highly advanced and unrefined. It's a unique variant that shouldn't be feasible in the least, and yet he's mastered such a dangerous and improbable method.
Because of his energy being coiled so tightly, his Armament both suffers and leaps up by numerous levels. His control is so finely tuned that it can spread not over skin but over his very cells, thus minimizing the color change and enhancing the underlying strength of his body.
Buggy is running on fumes, has been for years, if not decades, because of his control there. He's essentially burning the candle from both ends and chop-chopping new wax chunks in the middle. He oscillates for overstimulated (Haki released) and understimulated (Haki contained).
Mihawk refuses to let such a thing slide.
Buggy may not be the strongest Emperor crowned, may not even be the strongest pirate on the seas, but he has some things others can not fathom - brain cells, a working survival instinct, and creativity.
Winners right history, and Buggy is holding the quill.
#buggy the clown#buggy headcanons#one piece#cross guild#one piece headcanons#roger loved both of his cabin brats i just know it#he just also made mistakes#and the boys suffered for it
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Title: The Victor
(Chapter 5 of Doflamingo’s Marine Series)
*Crossposted to AO3 Here*
Chapter Pairings: Doflamingo x Reader, Aokiji/Kuzan x Reader, Smoker x Reader is in the past, Doflamingo x Tsuru (platonic)
Chapter Warnings: foreplay without payoff, references to more physical abuse to reader, alcohol abuse
Chapter Synopsis: After the confrontation over you between Doflamingo and Aokiji in Sabaody, both men are now left dealing with those resulting emotions in their own ways. And you still find yourself caught in the middle, the three of you all having to find the next way forward.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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————————————
This morning had been more than rough. You should have given into the nausea of last night and puked these toxins into the bushes. Instead of trying to be so tough to hold it in. Because what did dignity matter when you still felt this awful?
You’d been a little confused on your way to the gym too as you’d seen Kuzan walking the opposite way in the rain. Towards the harbor actually with an awfully serious look about him and his umbrella open above his head.
He hadn’t even seen you, you were sure. But you’d been in a crowd of other sailors. Vergo had volunteered you to give assistance in some basic haki training happening this morning.
And said class was thankfully being held inside the gym, in comparison to the poor luck of the muddy recruits now running past you all in the yard. You could hear Akainu’s whistle and yell towards them even now over the distant thunder.
“Too slow! Double time it you slugs!” He was screaming.
Oh, you did not miss that part of the rookie days.
The haki class itself had been pretty uneventful at first too. Not very many students, just those who had shown any aptitude at all and had been recommended to keep training by their commanding officers.
Of course Vice Admiral Vergo was well known for his advanced level of armament, so he’d been a guest teacher for today while still in Marineford. And for the entire morning you were only moving through the group as his assistant, giving pointers here or there where you could to the other marines to help improve their form.
If you hadn’t felt like such utter shit, you would have gladly asked Vergo to spar with you by the time lunch break came too. You knew he was above your level, but that was the only real way to learn and push past your own limits sometimes. You’d hoped you’d get another chance before he left to head back to G-5 base at least.
But you’d been sitting on the gym floor with your legs criss crossed, headache still going strong despite your best efforts to rehydrate as you ate the meager rations they’d brought in from the mess hall for lunch. It was too inefficient for the class to cross campus all the way there and come back. So the kitchen workers had just brought you all some sandwiches to get by on before training would start again.
And you were eating your sandwich and thinking about nothing at all. A rare privilege really, when suddenly you felt like you were being completely stared through.
Someone else’s haki had focused on you? You were still pretty bad at being able to know the difference. But your muscles did tense a little as you glanced up slightly.
And as your head turned, you realized Vergo had walked to the edge of the room and was now on the phone with someone. Holding a small receiver in his hand, so the voice on the other end could not be heard.
Vergo’s sunglasses always hid his eyes, much like someone else you knew. But you took another bite of your sandwich as you pretended to brush crumbs off your shirt instead of looking at him directly.
It was so stupid, but you were trying to seem completely unbothered as you could barely hear the Vice Admiral’s voice over the other chatting sailors. But this classroom was not that big. Just open floor with exercise mats and mirrors, nothing to really absorb sound well. And why did you even care?
“No. She’s been here with us all morning.” He said.
Okay, that was a bit more interesting as you tried to remember how many females there were in the room then. Maybe only another two or three? Yes, it was actually only two others. You saw them now, off in another corner together. Not at all where he was looking.
He was absolutely looking at you.
And you were watching a seam on the side of your boot by then, wondering why your heart rate kept increasing. You really strained your ears to listen further.
——————————
Doflamingo’s grip on the other end of that phone was incredibly tight. Enough to push some of the blood from his knuckles. But he did not break the snail’s receiver the way he’d done to the pen earlier. His voice was still low through his gritted teeth as he continued, “That piece of shit had the gall to come after me in my own house, Vergo.”
It was inexcusable of course. And even now the mansion staff were still trying to shovel the chunks of ice away floors below him. Doflamingo had shredded that frozen wall in a hateful fit not long after Aokiji’s departure of course.
The warlord had then immediately stormed upstairs as well. His mind forgot nothing, and he’d still recalled your number perfectly from before as he’d dialed it again then.
And he’d been pacing in his office, one fist clenching and unclenching, blood vessels pulsing on his forehead as the snail had only rang and rang.
He didn’t know what you had done to rile the admiral so thoroughly. But he was certain that you’d had some culpability in it all. Because you were just that infuriating.
It was fine if you had shown Aokiji what couldn’t be had. Doflamingo had even encouraged this, just as he’d given you permission to go out with the other man at all last night.
It would have been no different than when he’d paraded your body in front of Disco at the auction house. Because the obvious focus still should have been on the “could not have” aspect of it.
But the admiral that he’d nearly just traded what surely would have been debilitating blows with, had not arrived here on just the thought of you alone.
No, that was the resolve of a man fighting for you. You had done something to make Aokiji feel as if you were still truly his to be defended. Doflamingo could see this no other way.
And even as he’d finally hung up that unanswered call to you, to ring Vergo instead, the memories from yesterday had still been so vivid as well.
Because you’d told him that you wanted him then. You’d told him that it was him alone that you thought of when you opened your legs at night. And he had believed you.
All this frustration for one goddamned bitch.
But Vergo was loyal at least, fully dependable in contrast to you as the vice admiral had answered right away. Vergo’s own snail was encrypted of course, fully safe while Doflamingo still paced and vented freely as soon as the other man was there to listen.
Yet Vergo assured him that you’d been in sight all morning. That you were there right now in fact at some asinine marine class. If you’d put Aokiji up to this today, that conversation had to have taken place elsewhere.
But still Doflamingo wanted more. His current feelings couldn’t be sated with words alone. He needed to know that some sort of punishment would be carried out. Retribution for this pain in his chest that he couldn’t expel.
He hated you for it. The same way that he’d hated you as his finger tips had smeared through your tears in Disco’s office. Your wounded silence taking away all his pleasure as you’d broken too easily before him then.
“So what did you say, haki class was it?” Doflamingo grumbled in renewed question, trying to shake that mental image of you and your tears again. His hand was now running back through his hair.
Fuck you and this feeling. No one could be allowed to humiliate him this way. So you needed to feel it in exchange, but even harder of course.
“Yes, training in armament.” The vice admiral replied.
“Then put on a lesson for me, Vergo. A decisive one.” But even through his cruel sneer, the warlord still found himself placing extra rules that he normally wouldn’t have. It was maddening.
“But not too far…I just want her to feel this. Go for the sternum, the ribs maybe. At least once hard enough to bring her down to her knees. The rest you can leave to me for later. I’m not done with her yet.”
“I understand.” Vergo simply agreed in his usual flat tone, no judgment at all towards those heightened emotions still radiating from his master. “I’m sorry you had to experience this. I’ll take care of it.” He did add dutifully as well.
“Thank you, Vergo.” Doflamingo answered with another exhale. Finally sitting back down then at his desk, though still feeling no better for it.
Yes, he also knew that in a way, this was exactly what he’d asked for. He had wanted to know the extent to which Aokiji may be a future problem. But in his mind, it’d been more him trying to gauge your lingering feelings for the admiral. Not the other way around.
He had truly underestimated your own hold on that man. Doflamingo had underestimated you.
A mistake he would not make twice.
———————————
“She what?” The incredulous, yet fully serious voice came as the large transponder snail on Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s desk now glowered into the room.
“I told you to tell her at the end of the meeting, not the beginning, if you were going to tell her at all.” Vice Admiral Garp chuckled at the predictable response, his big fist full of another round of potato chips before he shoved them into his mouth from the bag.
Sengoku scowled at the loud crunching sounds that followed. Garp sitting across from him in the office and generating a mess of crumbs. It was only the two of them here, plus the now angry female on the phone as Tsuru continued over the snail’s speaker.
“And you were just going to let me find all this out myself weren’t you?”
“The reception in Lyra is terrible, Tsuru-chan.” Sengoku tried. She was still stationed abroad. And even the high powered snails here at HQ had trouble reaching those distant mountainous islands like the one she was now on. “There was no point in-“
“Who brought her to the infirmary?” She cut him off again.
“Kizaru.” Garp answered, just speaking as he still loudly chewed. “Just an excuse to get back out of the damned rain I’m sure. The man bitches about it every time.”
“He’s also a terrible gossip. So this will be everywhere already then.” Tsuru sighed, the irritation from her still palpable.
“I mean, it is pretty goddamned funny.” Garp responded, knowing when he was likely pushing her too far. But he didn’t exactly care either. He feared no one. “Akainu about blew a gasket. If he didn’t want to be puked on, probably should have moved a little faster!”
“It was just his boots.” Sengoku clarified before Tsuru could react further. The fleet admiral was regretting letting Garp in here at all by this point.
This had been a previously scheduled meeting for an update on the rebellion in Lyra that Tsuru was currently addressing. But with everything that had recently happened with her own subordinate, Sengoku knew that Tsuru would want to know.
Firstly, the whole mess in Sabaody yesterday that you had been involved in. Tsuru hadn’t liked that at all of course considering which warlord was present for it. And now, just today some training incident that had gone off the rails. It was still confusing as to why it had escalated that quickly. But Sengoku was leaving this solely to Tsuru if she felt there needed to be any followup on it.
All Sengoku knew at this point was that Vice Admiral Vergo, visiting from base G-5, had moved his haki class outside to the yard to have more room for sparring exercises.
But somehow you and Vergo had taken things above and beyond everyone else. Blame, fairly or not, was also being put more heavily on you for choosing not to tap out when faced with a higher level opponent.
And at some point you’d been hit hard enough to land where two of the admirals were still supervising rookie drills. And you’d thrown up on Akainu’s boots, forcing Kizaru to talk the literal hothead back down while whisking you off to the infirmary.
The only thing Sengoku had heard since then was that you likely had some cracked ribs and a possible concussion. Luckily only that, but the fact that for two days in a row now you’d become the center of some utter fiasco was still worrying.
At least worrying to himself and Tsuru anyway. Garp seemed to find it entirely entertaining.
“She’s just a kid.” The Vice Admiral replied. “You know we did the same shit back in our day.”
“Speak for yourself.” Tsuru grumbled, her impatience with him evident as usual. But she had grown up through the ranks with these two men, and she could also speak freely with them as she worried aloud.
“It’s not either incident alone which is the worst of course.” Her tone was changing the more she thought too. She sounded more troubled now. “The day I left her in Mariejois, I had concerns. And after that day I could tell that something was wrong. I thought it was that stupid boy Smoker. If it was, then you’d be right for once, Garp. Just children figuring things out.”
She sighed again. “But then you tell me he is involved with the auction house now. And that the day after dealing with him alone there, she’s now acting out enough to pick fights with Vice Admirals?”
“You think it’s related?” Sengoku asked her.
“If Doflamingo upset or humiliated her, then yes. Her risk management falters quickly in those circumstances. She’d fight to her last breath to regain some sense of control or power in times like that. It’s a stress response for her.”
“But by the reports we have, there was no physical altercation between Doflamingo and your captain in Sabaody.” Sengoku offered.
Tsuru made a doubtful sound on the other end of the line.
“I don’t know why you still let that pink shitbird get under your skin so much, Tsuru-chan.” Garp grunted at that.
“He’s not a rookie pirate anymore. And his influence is only growing now that he’s a warlord too. I’ve learned the hard way never to discount him.” Was Tsuru’s rather cold response. “I’ll deal with it though. But please keep an eye on her for me in the meantime. It may be time to ship her back my way. I didn’t expect to be away from HQ this long. Base life doesn’t suit her very well regardless. She needs to get back out in the field.”
“Setting sail and bashing some pirates’ heads together is always the best medicine for all ailments.” Garp could at least agree somewhat to that.
“We’ll look at who has ships heading towards you next and let you know.” Sengoku replied, though fully realizing this would likely not be the last time he’d be hearing your name in relation to all this now.
They were getting too old for these new generation dramas.
——————————
You were essentially trapped now. The nurse on duty had threatened you with strong sedatives if you refused to stay in this bed at least another hour.
Their excuse was the need to continue monitoring you for signs of head injury. But if it was a concussion, you’d had stronger ones. Vergo’s fist had left you briefly seeing stars for sure, yet you hadn’t fully blacked out.
It was only that strike just below your chest that had done you in. Partially off center, and into ribs that Doflamingo had already weakened with his tantrum of yesterday.
Even with your own armament up at the time, it was like Vergo had pushed energy straight through that barrier. Stronger than a bullet as he’d knocked you from the sparring area to win with an immediate out of bounds call.
Anyone else in your shoes would have tapped out long before then of course. But you just couldn’t. The more he’d hit you, the stronger you’d hit back. The more pissed off you’d been.
But it was still too much. And certainly too much for today as you’d been on your knees in the mud before you’d really known what had happened. Finally losing your lunch right onto those boots then in front of you as Akainu didn’t back away quickly enough.
Of course it was not in that admiral’s nature to move for anyone though. So why would he have? But he didn’t expect that resulting vomit as you’d coughed and struggled to breathe after Vergo’s last incredible strike.
Akainu had never liked you at all either. And for a moment you had felt the mud heating up dangerously below you as his temper had flared.
Kizaru had grabbed you by the back of your shirt to get you out of the way then. Like picking up a stunned kitten really. An embarrassment in its own way as he’d also then volunteered to drag you to the infirmary against your will.
And now you both remained here. You laying in one of the infirmary beds, watching the timer the nurse had set, and Kizaru sitting languidly in the chair next to said bed. One of his long legs crossed over the other as he seemed he truly had nowhere better to be.
“You don’t have to stay.” You said for probably the third time now.
Kizaru’s arms were crossed over his chest, just perfectly unbothered in that almost annoying way of his. “It’s still raining. I’m fine here.”
Why they only ever called Aokiji the lazy one, you weren’t fully sure.
Maybe if he’d stayed quiet it wouldn’t have been so bad. But Kizaru couldn’t do that either.
“So…” His voice started up yet again. “This is what, three for three now of Captain (Y/N) related incidents? And the last two nearly within twenty four hours. You’re starting to outdo yourself.”
You really couldn’t tell if he was making fun of you or just noting this as interesting enough to comment on. But either way you didn’t like it.
“Well, are you going to write me up for something?” You asked flatly, not knowing what he expected you to do about any of this now. You were well aware that people were still talking about your dust up with Smoker in Mariejois. And of course the auction house yesterday, and now it would be about you, Vergo, and Akainu’s vomit boots today.
Troublemaker was another moniker of yours you often heard in not so quiet whispers.
But Kizaru’s demeanor never really changed at your attitude. He just answered you with a question of his own. “If Aokiji never reprimands you, then what right do I have to discipline you either?”
Your eyebrows raised a little as Kizaru turned his head to make eye contact with you through those transparent sunglasses before he kept on.
“I don’t know what Aokiji’s dragging his feet for though. You always get him flustered. It’d just be the sensible thing for him to go ahead and admit it right?”
How your body could still have had the energy for that flush of heat to go immediately to your face when you’d just been pounded into the mud not long ago was a feat in its own right. But you didn’t hesitate much.
“Aokiji and I are just friends.” You said with the plainness of someone repeating a legal statement.
“Uh huh,” Kizaru answered, tilting his head a little as if working out a stiffness in his neck brought on by the cheap infirmary chair. “And water isn’t wet.”
———————————
Hours later you’d finally been alone in your room again. The sun had long since set and you were hurting all over as the remnants of mud darkened your shower drain.
When that was done, you refused to even look in the mirror as you dried off. Your body was a battlefield by this point. Even you weren’t sure which bruise was from who anymore. Unless they truly looked like Doflamingo’s bites or sucks, it was anyone’s guess.
Karma wasn’t something you really believed in. Because you’d seen too many good people suffer and too many bad people win. But if you had done something to truly merit this, you could still only wonder what that would have been.
Especially when an abrupt knock came at your door.
What in the fuck now? Was your first tired thought as you dropped your towel to grab a robe instead. You did tighten it well and pull the collar high before you went to the door.
There were no peep holes in these doors. Something that wouldn’t normally matter as you cracked the door just slightly, expecting one of your female neighbors at most.
But your breath caught in your chest as you saw that familiar admiral coat at your eye level instead.
And Kuzan said nothing, just looking down at you as you opened the door wider in surprise.
Yet you could smell alcohol again as you heard girls laughing in the distance. They were just entering the barracks from the outside. They’d be coming around the corner into your corridor shortly. They’d see him at your door, and you only in your bathrobe.
So you grabbed that stupid man by his marine tie, jerking him towards you as he did not resist. The door slammed shut as he disappeared into your room. Those girls not even noticing the sound over their own voices before they entered the hallway.
“What the hell are you doing!?” You fussed up at him. You’d already had to argue with Kizaru of all people earlier, likely the biggest gossip on base about these very kinds of things.
And Kuzan was just going to show up unannounced to make this all even harder?
But he was just staring at you for that moment. He actually looked sad, sincerely so. In a way that had your anger melting away as his dark eyes stayed focused on you.
“Kuzan?” You asked him, more concerned then.
“I’m sorry.” His words finally came. He looked distracted, bothered. It was different things all at once.
He moved away from you too, going to sit on the edge of your bed as the closest thing to take his weight off of his feet.
“You’ve been drinking.” You stated the obvious. It was much worse than he’d been last night. But you’d seen this before. You knew what it meant.
“What happened?” You asked him carefully, fearing the worst.
He was still watching you. That heavy look, his legs were spread. “I just…I just want you.” But he was almost fighting himself. Changing the meaning with just a few additional words. “I…want you to be okay.”
“You’re drunk.” You tried again, still not understanding at all where this could be coming from. “You can sleep it off here if you need to.” You would still protect him of course.
It wasn’t just about you. You did care about Kuzan’s reputation as well. He’d had his struggles with alcohol as most knew, but normally only when really triggered. He’d be sober by morning and no one would be the wiser. You could sneak him back out of here. It would be fine.
“(Y/N).” He just sounded more insistent.
You watched him carefully. That chilled vapor was coming from his mouth then. He needed to control himself. Your anxiety did increase as the room’s temperature continued to drop.
“Kuzan, you need to rest. Lay down.” You tried to sound more forceful as the chill bumps started across your skin.
“I can’t…because I can’t help you if you keep lying to me.” His eyes were so sharp, even if his voice was not.
And at this you did feel that first real tinge of fear.
He stood again not long after. And when he did, you saw those ice crystals sparkling across your bedsheets from where his hands had been.
But you stood your ground as his long legs crossed the distance between you so easily.
This man would never hurt you. Not on purpose. You knew this even as your own breath started to turn to vapor as he came to stand in front of you once more.
And his arm moved around your waist then. The other onto your shoulder. He was steadying himself. But it was so cold. It was as if that touch went straight through the thin robe direct to your skin as he said these new words.
“Doflamingo…what is he to you?”
The world stopped.
Maybe your heartbeat with it. Your legs felt numb. His grip was on you harder. He was the one holding you up now instead.
But you couldn’t make a sound. There was ice on your lips. Even before his own soft mouth had covered yours.
You didn’t even know if you were letting him, or if you really couldn’t move any longer. The taste was so familiar, but masked with the alcohol. That intense cold like drinking him into yourself as you felt the pain beginning in your lungs.
Ice crystals were forming inside your airway as you finally raised your hand enough to grip the side of his face. You dug your fingernails in.
It wouldn’t hurt him, his cheek was more ice than skin now. But he did feel it.
As soon as his lips parted from yours just that slightest bit, you forced that frigid air back out enough to speak.
“Let me breathe.” But even as you said so, you hadn’t moved away from him at all.
And he understood. Not apologizing yet, but you could feel the ice beginning to withdraw. He was reigning himself back in just enough even as his face remained pressed against yours.
He did let you breathe as requested then. Your body heat reclaiming your lungs bit by bit as you felt his hand wandering up from your waist. He rubbed your back to assist in the gentle thaw as his power continued to recede.
But you still had to answer him. Even as numb and fearful as you still were. Did Kuzan think you were a traitor? Would he hate you? You had no idea how he knew about Doflamingo yet, and maybe even more importantly what he knew.
“We’ve had interactions.” You tried to start. The cold still stung your throat. “But it’s all new...”
Kuzan made a sound. He had lifted his head enough to look down into your eyes again. “So it’s true?”
His voice was different then. And you didn’t like that harshness. You wanted the softer man back from out of all this ice. “My loyalty is to my friends, to my crew, Kuzan. That won’t change.” You promised, but it sounded more like begging. “I’m a marine.” You said, as much trying to comfort yourself as him in this moment.
“He’s a devil…he really is, (Y/N). Why…why would you let him…did you let him?” And it was clear that Kuzan was still so unsure of which answer would be worse.
To live with the knowledge that Doflamingo had taken you against your will, or the equal torture in the realization that you may have actually wanted the madman to do it.
Was this the debate that had plagued Kuzan today as he’d poisoned himself with drink until he could stagger to your door? But still, why? How did he find out?
“It’s a bit of both.” You finally answered, unable to lie any further when faced with this weakened king right before you. Because he was a king to you. Kuzan commanded more respect with his selflessness than the Heavenly Demon ever could through cruelty.
But that logic didn’t make you immune to Doflamingo’s flames and that growing desire for him either. Far from it. It was as if the two of them combined could have made the perfect man for you. Fire and ice.
And what a selfishly deranged thought to think though. Especially when faced with the true pain that your indecisiveness between them could cause.
You didn’t give Kuzan time to reply. You didn’t want him hurting any longer. You resolved yourself to relieve this as much you could for him in this moment. At the very least you could do that as some form of atonement for whatever he’d suffered through today.
You’d had no idea he was still holding onto these kinds of feelings. But maybe so were you. Because this vulnerability was still something that Doflamingo couldn’t fully give you.
If the warlord even had a side like this. If he really did, wouldn’t he have just cut it out as a weakness long ago?
Kuzan had not forsaken any such faults though. You knew he hadn’t in the way his knees weakened as soon as you’d started kissing him again.
He wouldn’t stop you either. He didn’t want to stop as the two of you moved together to fall back onto your bed.
It felt so old and so new all at the same time. You knew just how to undo his tie. Your fingers remembered every button in his vest and his shirt. All those prestigious layers of that marine uniform cast to the floor one after another.
He wasn’t sobering up by any means, but he was more focused then. Wanting something too and controlling the ice so much better now, letting your hands move freely across him as you finally reached bare skin.
His broad chest, breathing for you as you kissed across it. But that milder cold still remained, assisting you even as it now dulled all the aches and pains across your own body. Your bruises, your cracked ribs, all these things that were meaningless to you in this moment.
When your hands ran down his flat abdomen to his belt, you did glance briefly back up to him. You saw that briefest hesitation in his eyes, but then he nodded.
You had his permission to go further. And you didn’t waste it, unbuckling the belt to open it, along with the button and zipper of his white pants soon after.
When it was all loose, he raised his hips to help you in sliding them off. His shoes had already come off sometime at the beginning. Socks now joining them with his pants on your floor.
He was just in his boxer briefs then. Not the instant nudity of Doflamingo who seemed to like nothing between his cock and the open air but those ever tight capris pants.
You couldn’t help but keep contrasting the two men even then as you gently started to massage Kuzan through his boxers.
But were you taking advantage of the weakened admiral in the same way that Doflamingo would so gladly have done to you now? And how could his hold already be this strong for you to even be thinking these things? The warlord was still in your bed in your own mind even as another man now laid down into it.
“It’s been a while,” Kuzan breathed out as you felt him beginning to tighten beneath your touch.
And at first you thought he meant since the last time you and he had actually been together like this. Because yes, that’d be at least three years ago now.
But something in the needful way he still looked at you made you second guess that. Did he mean the last time since he’d been intimate with anyone at all?
“How long, Kuzan?” You asked gently then, realizing he may have neglected himself entirely. Which was completely unnecessary. Kuzan could have about any woman on this base if he actually tried. And he could be a complete flirt when he wanted to be.
“Almost five months.” He admitted honestly. “A girl at a bar. I didn’t know she was just trying to get back at her boyfriend though.”
“Ouch,” you said affectionately before admitting your own previous record. “Smoker made me wait three months then dumped me.” You half smiled.
It was something how quickly you could both tell each other almost anything again. Just like it used to be as you fell back into those old rhythms. But there was still that massive shadow hanging over you both. And he hadn’t forgotten it either.
“Did you and Doflamingo…” Kuzan started, even as his abdomen tensed, he was hard beneath those boxers now.
And of course he had a right to know. You could imagine that getting seconds from a pirate was not on any admiral’s wishlist to be sure. Also with the extra baggage of it being unprotected sex as well unfortunately.
You hadn’t been in the position to demand a condom in either instance of course. Just praying that the pirate was wealthy and intelligent enough to have the right medicines on hand to keep himself clear of STD’s. Your marine issued birth control pills were a necessity you’d always kept to the daily regimen of as well.
Why Doflamingo had insisted on going in raw and not pulling out either you weren’t sure about yet. Whether that was just his reckless nature, or something more specific to you was far too soon to tell.
“Me and him? Twice…” You answered quietly, not without guilt still in your tone. Even if Doflamingo hadn’t gotten to finish you that second time in Sabaody.
Kuzan groaned. You knew if he was sober the reactions would have been so much worse. So maybe the alcohol was still a blessing in its own way. As it was now he just looked somewhat miserable again even as ice crystals still sparkled across the mattress around you both. “I just…don’t understand, (Y/N).”
“I don’t really either,” you admitted too. “And I don’t even know if I can…well, take you right now because of that. I don’t have any condoms here anymore.” You and Smoker had been together long enough to trust that each other were clean. And you were just trying to be up front. Plus you were still torn anyway. You probably couldn’t have endured him without serious ice to numb you again anyway.
But your hands worked fine. Your mouth worked fine if he wanted that. All he had to do was show that it was still okay.
“You don’t have to do anything for me, (Y/N).” He breathed instead as he reached for you then. “That’s not why I’m here.”
And he was then kissing you again, disregarding his erection as you felt him loosening the belt of your bathrobe. His cold hands slipped beneath it as he so gently pulled that last barrier from your shoulders.
You saw him lean back enough to look at you as it fell away. A light frown downturned his lips as he looked across all the damage.
Kuzan sighed, fingertips tracing some of it with the cold growing a little more around you again. “Of you and me, I was always supposed to be the more self destructive one…when did that change?”
Probably around the time that he’d first left you you thought to yourself. It had been so hard then. You had to get even tougher to keep going. But when you didn’t answer him, he just shifted you both so that you were now on your back in the bed, him above you as he straddled you.
And in some way, being under him made you feel so young again. Like true innocent affection despite still being nude in bed with him right now. How those two things could coexist made about as much sense as anything else right now as he started kissing your collarbones.
You knew he was being so careful with you too, even as his lips moved lower to suck one of your breasts gently. His chilled mouth teasing you unintentionally as your hand reached up to stroke through his hair and down the back of his neck.
Kuzan had always joked about really liking breasts whenever he flirted with girls. Doflamingo had focused on yours a bit too. But not in the same way that Kuzan made them a real priority as soon as they were available to him.
If you had to pick a part of your body that Doflamingo had seized on most, well it was just the main attraction at this point. He just wanted to fuck you and nothing else as far as you knew. Whether by cock or tongue, that man wanted to be inside.
Kuzan had never been that way though. He wouldn’t say no to the privilege of course, but he’d never been in a hurry. He would get there when he got there. It wasn’t about any specific endgame. It was just about being together.
And yet…even now as Kuzan’s mouth worked your chest and his hand slid protectively over your hip, you didn’t feel like this reunion changed a thing between you.
It didn’t feel like tomorrow would be any different than yesterday or the day before that. Maybe he had missed you. Maybe this was his own form of penance if he thought in any way that his prior actions had put you on a road to falling into the grasp of a man like Doflamingo.
But somehow you still knew that when the sun came up this ice would be melted again and he would be gone. Back to only being your friend.
“Kuzan…” It may be your only chance to ask, the alcohol dropping enough walls for him to answer you once and for all. This question that had plagued you even on the nights that it was Smoker instead who would have been above you like this.
“Hmm?” The admiral turned his head, just resting it against your chest then to listen to you.
You knew he could hear your heartbeat too in that position now as you brought your fingers back into his hair.
“Why did you really leave me…why wasn’t I good enough for you then?”
And he made another sound and you realized he had closed his eyes. But his expression looked somewhat miserable again. He didn’t want to talk about this.
“Kuzan.” You raised your voice a little.
His eyes opened slightly. He was using your chest as something to rest against all the same. “I’m sorry…I’m just an asshole, (Y/N).” He murmured. “I couldn’t stay. I can’t have a family. None of it. My path doesn’t allow that…it’d just end only one way. I’d lose them…lose you.”
“And nothing has changed now, has it?” You knew the answer already. But you both needed to say it.
“No. It hasn’t. I can’t…”
“You can’t love me.” You finished for him.
“No.” He breathed. “Not that way.”
“It’s okay…” You heard yourself saying. Even with the pain that went through your chest at the final confirmation. “Nobody can.”
He lifted his head, just enough to look at you again. His eyes looked so tired. “That isn’t true.”
You smiled just barely. “It doesn’t matter. Doflamingo isn’t capable of it either I’m sure.” And before he could interrupt you for saying that name that he still didn’t want to hear, you asked something else.
“So are you going to out me about him? I am still a marine like I said. He put me in a bad spot, but I did what I had to so that I was the only one he hurt. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I’m not a traitor, Kuzan. And if it does go too far, I know you can stop me. Is that what you really came here to tell me?”
And for the first time Kuzan had a trace of fear in his own eyes. But he was also too tired to do much more than interlace his fingers in yours then, with his head still on your chest.
“Hina is the only other one that knows. That boy told her what he saw and she told me. She won’t out you.” He took another breath though. “But I went and saw Doflamingo in Sabaody this morning…”
And an additional streak of fear cut through you at those words. But the most terrible thing of all was that you actually felt a concern for the demon himself. You had almost asked if Kuzan had hurt Doflamingo, if he had frozen him before you bit your lip to stop such insane words from coming out of your mouth.
“We didn’t fight. It came close.” Kuzan said, though his expression didn’t say how much he may have noticed your near slip. “But I thought about it the rest of the day. All day at the bar until I finally realized…”
He’d closed his eyes again. There was a new defeat in the way he’d draped across your body now. “I still don’t understand why it has to be true…but I realized he’s just the kind of man you like to fight with. And you love to fight so much…you always have. So he didn’t just choose you. You’re choosing him. Aren’t you?You wouldn’t give that rush up even if I begged you to…”
You were speechless.
Kuzan nuzzled further into your bare chest however. He somewhat clumsily reached out to pull the blankets around you both as well.
“I’ll leave in the morning. I trust you…whatever you do.” He murmured. “But I’ll kill him the moment he goes too far. Don’t let him hurt you again…if he does there’s nowhere that pirate could hide from the ice age I’d bring.”
————————————
Late into the night, the rains had finally moved on. But the stress in Doflamingo’s mind had not. He knew that Vergo had carried out his orders just as asked. They hadn’t gotten to talk about it any more as he’d had to go into phone meetings as Joker the rest of the day. But no news was good news. It meant that everything was completed as expected.
The warlord had decided to let the hours pass by even further after that too. Trying to think out his next plans before he’d make any other move.
He’d busied himself too with readying to sail for Dressrosa in the darkness. The Sabaody house would be out of play for a while as he’d gathered the things from his office.
Even this morning’s threats from Aokiji hadn’t been enough to fully deter him though. He was apparently willing to risk it all as the longer the day had gone on, the more he’d realized that he wanted…no, needed to see you again.
He would absolutely still be holding you to that agreement of staying with him a few nights in exchange for the release of those slaves as well. Just not at Sabaody as things needed a longer pause there now.
The warlord had other houses though. Plenty of them that he could choose farther from Marineford. Somewhere more difficult for unwanted company to interrupt everything he wanted to have all the time in the world to finally do to you. He was sure his opportunity would come.
He hadn’t been boarded on his ship long at all, navigators setting course for Dressrosa as he’d headed below deck and away from the now clear, starlit skies. He’d actually considered just getting a quick nap in as he entered his captain’s quarters to sit alone on his bed as well.
He was more than tired after such a long day. He had more work he could be doing instead of sleeping though. The door was already shut and locked as he removed his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.
The right eye was dry, the left stung even more than usual.
He sat in silence, opening only his right eye after another moment. He rubbed at the left eye, then blinking it to see only shadows and haze through it as always before closing it again to lessen the stinging.
Leaving his glasses on the nightstand, he laid back onto the bed regardless. He’d kicked off his shoes and put his arms behind his head, probably falling asleep within a half hour at most.
At least until one of the snails rang anyway. There were always several wherever he slept. Different snails for contacts all over the world.
Doflamingo actually just rolled over for once though, burying his face in his overstuffed pillow. Maybe that nap needed to be a few hours anyway. But the snail just kept ringing.
And with that amount of persistence he finally had to lift his head up to look. His right eye trying to focus on which snail it was before that eye did widen in realization.
A specific marine snail that hadn’t rang in quite some time was now vibrating among its peers. Doflamingo’s hair was still messy from rolling around in the bed as his strings brought that receiver quickly to his hand. And the snail with it as he pulled it onto the mattress beside him. Hurrying to catch the caller before they might finally stop.
“Well,” He said, already feeling that bit of adrenaline starting to rile him back fully awake too. It really had been a while. “What am I in trouble for this time?” He asked, with his hand partially going over his eyes in habit, as if to hide them even over the phone as he lay on his back again.
“Doflamingo.” Tsuru’s voice carried over. Not angry, not pleased, just fully Tsuru as she answered him. “I had thought you’d outgrown this childish fixation. You’ve been bothering one of my crew again.”
“Do you mean short skirt?” He smiled at her usual bluntness, but it actually wasn’t a harsh expression on his face. There was a little nostalgia here. It’d been a few years since he’d said that older nickname in front of Tsuru.
“I told you not to call her that again.”
“Captain is a lot more boring of an honorific, Tsuru-san.”
Of course, he should have been far more upset at this surprise. Because the moment that Tsuru would become involved between the two of you was inevitable, but also an entire new difficulty level that he may not currently be prepared for.
And yet, it wasn’t at all like being confronted by Aokiji this morning. Doflamingo truly didn’t mind hearing her voice again. Regardless of the circumstances.
“So what accusations am I facing then?” He actually yawned as he stretched within his bed. “Apologies if you’re going to have to be more specific.”
He could hear Tsuru’s resulting frown even without looking back to the snail, himself always irking her whenever he insisted on being so purposefully informal in their interactions. It was such an old game he never tired of.
“Firstly, did you misbehave in Mariejois?” Her tone was sharp.
His lips parted slightly. If she was asking, then she was already quite sure that he’d done something. And she was even a step ahead of what Aokiji had been then. But of course he’d expect nothing less from Tsuru.
“She sat with me at the meeting while she gave her little report on the war for you. So professional. I did try to trip her, but that didn’t even work.” He admitted with another rare, genuine smile.
“Brat.” Tsuru grumbled. “But that can’t be the whole of it.”
“You’re the one that had to dangle her in front of me. I don’t know what you expected.” He dared to taunt a little without actually admitting more.
“As I said, I thought you’d outgrown that stupid fixation. You’re too old for this nonsense. Keep to your harems in Dressrosa and leave my crew alone.”
He laughed abruptly. Tsuru actually still saw this as a boyhood crush that he refused to release? He had teased her before about you in the North Blue days, yes. So he knew where she was coming from with this. But it was still something else entirely to hear her say it.
“But my pool girls at the castle can’t fight like she can. They can’t send you or even admirals to gut me like she can. It’s a completely different game. You know how much I like a challenge.”
“You can feel challenged all the way to Impel Down, boy.”
“Feh,” He was still smiling. “You’d miss me and you know it. Besides, we’re on the same side now like you always wanted. Why can’t it just finally be water under the bridge?”
“You’re still a pirate. And you don’t take care of your toys, Doflamingo. You break them and then you discard them. That girl has been with me since she was sixteen. And unfortunately, I know you’ve had your attention on her since then too. But it doesn’t give you any right to her. You think everything belongs to you. That’s not how this works.”
He did frown a little then. But he wasn’t afraid to dig deeper, maybe even complaining to her actually about the injustice he still thought he’d suffered this morning. “You know you aren’t even the first marine to give me this speech today. Though it sounds a lot less patronizing coming from you.”
And there was a pause there. Which actually delighted him a little, with him having even a rare sliver of information that she did not.
“It was your Admiral Aokiji. I guess that’s her new marine boyfriend again already? He came to my house in Sabaody this morning to bitch at me about having that little skirmish with her at the auction house. I suppose I must have made him jealous. He really was an asshole about the whole thing.”
But he couldn’t catch that woman off guard for long, as she absorbed this revelation easily. “Then I hope his ice gave you a wake up call. Just stay out of it. He’s not someone to be trifled with.”
“Neither am I,” The warlord’s pride did force him to remind her then, but he still wasn’t cold in tone. Not to her. “All I’m hearing though is that you all think I’m not good enough for her. It’s insulting. But let’s talk hypothetical since you took your precious time to make this call about her anyway. What happens if she falls for me instead? Do you excommunicate her from your little sailing brigade? Again, per the World Government, you and I are allies now. No matter how much you still call me a regular pirate. There’s nothing regular about me, Vice Admiral.”
It really had been some time since they’d conversed for this long. But Tsuru was always his match and more when it came to verbal debate as she responded without hesitation. “You’re fantasizing about things that can’t be. I have no doubt that you could hide behind your charms for even months or more if you chose to. But she’s not as ruthless as you’d require. And if it did become public, her rank would be frozen at best. She’d lose all credibility. And she’s worked far too hard to throw that away for a man who can’t even love her.”
Doflamingo felt his teeth grit at that damned word. It was simultaneous to that slight twist in his chest again. Yet he didn’t lose his temper. “You’re so practical as always. But tell me the truth then. If I said I wanted to at least try, would you still do everything in your power to stop me? I don’t care what the world thinks of me. A kingdom of my own was my goal for so long. And now I have one thanks to Riku’s madness. So I’m chasing my next treasure. And I’m starting to think that it’s time for Dressrosa to have a queen. I could give her everything. You know that I could. Would it really be so terrible for her?”
She finally sounded more irritated then, maybe even surprised for a single moment. This was of course the first he was confessing these new intentions to anyone. But it was only natural that she’d be the first to know as Tsuru answered him. “And the moment she does anything at all to challenge your ego, or your ideas of people only existing in tiers beneath you as your servants at best, would you kill her, boy? Because I don’t think you understand how to function any differently than that. A woman is not a toy, not a puppet, not a pet.”
But she still took another breath, and here showcased the real reason why Doflamingo had tolerated this old marine mother for so many years. “I know you’re lonely. I know it hurts you. But forcing more people into your family against their will is only going to lead to another Minion Island. She’s a marine. She’ll always choose to save others even at the expense of herself in the end. Because that’s what we do. Even if you can only see that selflessness as betrayal to your own aspirations.”
His smile was fully gone as his hand slid away from his eyes then. If the snail copied the look in them now, it was what it was. Tsuru had seen these eyes before of course, and the pain that lived inside them.
“Rosinante never loved me, Tsuru-san. It’s not the same. And I know when things are worth risking and when they aren’t now. I’m smarter than I was then. She doesn’t have to be involved in anything unsavory.” And that was of course putting it lightly. “I don’t need another soldier. I already have plenty.”
“How long has this been going on then?” She asked, seeming to start to accept how very deep into this obsession he already was. How serious he really was.
“Since you recruited and flaunted her in front me years ago.” He responded, as if still blaming Tsuru for all of it too.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it. I made sure she was oblivious to your leering and your dirty comments back then. Because she had a right to grow up without that burden on her self worth. She was still a child.”
“But you still let Aokiji have her.” He retorted, and it was more spiteful there.
Tsuru sighed. They had already been through this too. Years ago when it had first happened. “Don’t you dare lecture me on morality, boy. I’ve raised enough daughters. There does come an age where they’re going to go out and find a partner whether you approve of it or not. And if you don’t let them, the rebellion and self destruction they’ll choose instead would be even worse. I knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Just as much as I knew it wouldn’t last. And it never will now either as long as he’s still wishing to remain an admiral. That’s his own choice after what happened to Zephyr. Kuzan doesn’t want to be close to anyone.”
Doflamingo’s eyebrows lowered. This didn’t make sense to him. And Tsuru had never divulged that extra tidbit before. Aokiji was afraid? “He was ready to try and kill me this morning if I so much as sneezed. He wants her that bad and yet he still chooses to be without her?”
“He chooses distance because he does care about her. You wouldn’t understand. And the only reason I’m telling you this at all is so that you don’t resent her for someone she’s not even going to have. I know how that mind of yours works. You’re the most jealous thing that ever breathed.”
He sneered a little. “Sometimes I think you lie about which devil fruit you really have. You see through everyone don’t you?”
“Not everyone. I know you commit far more crimes than I can put evidence to at this point. But if the question is just how you’ll react to something? Please, you haven’t changed at all.”
“Why do you always have to be so difficult?” He exhaled, even as that tension faded again. “What do I have to do to convince you that I won’t kill her? You talk about your daughters, but what about me? You keep telling me ‘no’ over and over, you know it only makes things worse on this side too. Let me pursue her, even if you think this will never work. Fine, I’ll walk away when I’m done. Just like Aokiji did. But if you keep blocking me, you know it just makes me want to tear right through those walls.”
“You still never answered me on how long this has been going on. You hadn’t asked me about her since you’ve been a king. Now all the sudden you’re fixated more than ever. Why?”
“It was Mariejois of course.” He confirmed. “The very moment you left her alone with me, Tsuru-san. Can’t you at least commend my patience? It only took that many years for you to think I’d forgotten about her.”
“And then Sabaody.” She said, taking her own deep breath, seeming to accept this as her mistake. Obviously she didn’t know the extent of what had happened in either instance. She only knew that his desire for you had been fully rekindled because of it.
“So, I answered you.” His voice was fully serious though. “You do the same. What do I have to do to prove to you that I can play house with her without any casualties? You never know, she might even like it enough that she decides being a queen is a better gig than being shot at by pirates all day long as a marine.”
Tsuru still scoffed. “I can’t hand her over to someone whose going to inevitably destroy her. I don’t know how more plainly I can say that. You’ll never have my blessing.”
And there was a deeper desperation that must truly be there for him to use this comparison now. “But I’ve never truly hurt you. We’ve argued, and we’ve pitted our soldiers against one another like pieces on a chessboard over and over. But I never have gone for your throat, have I? And I won’t. And you know why.”
The silence in that moment made him smile again. Aokiji had been such a prick to think he was truly lying about this this morning. “I didn’t force you into my family.” Doflamingo kept on. “All those years ago, when you took that wounded boy you so pitied into your heart willingly. So let me do the same for her. I have room for you both in what’s left of mine. Because a boy will always need his mother figure. But now this man wants his queen as well.”
“I don’t think there is a heart there anymore, Doflamingo. Even as remnants. But, I’m not going to waste more breath on what you clearly have already decided. So I’ll say this. I can’t stop her. But I will tell her the truth. Everything I know about you. And unfortunately, it doesn’t break any written protocol we have for a marine to fraternize with a warlord given your government immunity. So I can’t formally punish either of you. But as I said, it absolutely would be a social stigma that could ruin all she’s accomplished. And I’ll warn her of that too. In short, I’ll do all I can to show her the terrible choice you would really be.”
“I can accept that challenge.” Doflamingo did smile again then. This was the best it would possibly be then. He was realistic enough to know that. So honestly, it almost did feel like a victory.
And Tsuru always had the perfect read on every situation as long as she had enough information to do so. The ‘Great Tactician’ they still called her.
So Doflamingo also believed her when she said that Aokiji would not take you back. Not fully or publicly anyway. And the warlord could live with this too. Because it meant that you’d never truly belong to Kuzan, even if he still wanted you. Because half measures weren’t enough for you. You were an all or nothing kind of woman.
And Doflamingo would now be the only one of the two of them willing to go all in.
His grin had stretched from ear to ear once more.
He’d won.
“Well anything else to berate me with before I hang up? I think I’m actually going to sleep well for once tonight. So thank you. I do enjoy these late night chats. We should get them back on a regular schedule again shouldn’t we?”
“Mind yourself, boy. Nothing’s changed. Slip up and I’ll have some nice chains for you on your way to Impel Down.”
“Love you too, Tsuru-san.” Doflamingo laughed, that word of course sounding so unnatural just by the nature of the man it came from. But he still liked to say it to her for how much it pissed her off each and every time that he did.
And as she immediately hung up on him to prove her reaction indeed remained the same, he just smiled into his pillow as he buried his face again. There was a large weight off of him now. He’d be back to sleep very soon.
He’d actually let you sleep uninterrupted tonight as well, wherever you were. He could call you again tomorrow and start this chase all over again.
——————————
T⨂ BE
CONTINUED
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Thanks for reading!
#doflamingo x reader#doflamingo x you#doflamingo x y/n#aokiji x reader#kuzan x reader#aokiji#kuzan one piece#aokiji kuzan#kuzan#doffy x y/n#doffy x you#doffy x reader#one piece x y/n#one piece x you#one piece x reader#doflamingo#doflamingo one piece#donquixote doflamingo#one piece fanfiction#doffy one piece#doffy#op doffy#doflamingo tsuru#tsuru doflamingo#tsuru one piece#doflamingo’s marine
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Hey people, so I was trying to find out a way of immersing myself in mecha even more and I settled on the idea of making funny little reviews about the gundam kits I've built on my blog so here it is tee hee
(Very minor spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury season 1 episode 6 ahead)
I present to you:
Demi Trainer A.K.A baby's first gundam kit
This is what kickstarted my addiction to building these little guys and honestly it was such a blast as my first experience with it! I saw the HG (1/144) model of this mobile suit in a nerd shop I was in that I was told had these kits and I figured it was a good starting point. I liked the idea of the training mech from g-witch acting as training wheels for me building these kits.
Fun Facts About the Demi Trainer
the MSJ-121 Demi Trainer is a mobile suit seen in The Witch From Mercury series, and is primarily used by students in Asticassia as a mobile suit to train with (hence the name Demi Trainer)
The Demi Trainer is just one model in a series of other Demi mobile suits! Other Demi models we see throughout the series are the MSJ-OP122 Demi Garrison (seen early on when Suletta Mercury's Gundam Aerial is being detained after her first duel), the MSJ-R122 Demi Barding, which is a more advanced model of mobile suit, equipped with more armaments, while still maintaining the Demi model philosophy. There's also Chuchu's iconic MSJ-105CC Demi Trainer, which is an older model that has been heavily modified by Chuchu in order to compete with more modern iterations of Demi mobile suits.
Our primary experience with Demi Trainer in the show is when Suletta Mercury is tasked with piloting one as part of her spotting exam, where she has a particularly difficult time passing it. It honestly made me feel really sad when I watched it for the first time :(
The Design of Demi Trainer
I really love how this mobile suit looks! It's a very simple design but I feel it's so effective at conveying it's primary purpose: to be a baseline training model for mobile suits. It's a lightweight mobile suit with minimal modifications done to it so that it can achieve high mobility and it's easy to maintain. It also looks very much like something a company would mass-produce for an institution like Asticassia.
Demi Trainers are used with a standard set of equipment, which includes a simple shield, a beam gun for ranged combat, a saber stick for melee combat, a combat knife, as well as the Daedalus multi-tool, which can be shaped and transformed into a variety of tools. This makes Demi Trainer a very versatile mobile suit, appropriate for use in many different situations. It doesn't seem to come with any sort of flight module, though that makes sense, as I imagine those are quite expensive to include on mobile suits, and this is meant as a simple trainer mech.
Of course, since it's heavily used in Asticassia, Demi Trainer also has an equipable antenna module for use in duels within the academy.
The Demi mobile suits are known for their extensive customisability, and the Demi Trainer is no different! You can even see these aspects within the design of this mobile suit. There are many little slots and places where you can modify Demi Trainer and potentially add modules or armaments, and you can see the extent of this modification in Chuchu's modified Demi Trainer, despite it being an older model. I'd really love to see what kind of modifications other student in the academy would apply to their Demi Trainers!
Building the Kit
My experience with building this gunpla kit was a blast! I was so excited to get started on this, and the kit did not disappoint! It wasn't too complex so that I was overwhelmed, but it also wasn't so simple that I was bored. Hearing all the clicks and feeling the pieces snap together as I built it was extremely satisfying, and I really like how the instruction booklet was structured.
You're not told to put individual parts of the mobile suit together until you've built a number of modules beforehand. For example, the instructions tell you to build the head, body and arms before telling you to put those parts together, and I think that makes the experience more satisfying. The same structure applies for the waist and legs of the kit, and being able to put all of the parts together at the end is such a good feeling! Of course, you can totally ignore the structure of the booklet and put parts together as you build them, which is also fine.
The kit also comes with a variety of stickers, and with the help of hindsight after having built 2 more kits after this one (which I also plan on reviewing), I can confidently say that the stickers for the Demi Trainer are probably the easiest to apply based on my limited experience! You get a small choice of stickers too, mainly a choice of what colour you want the middle torso portion to be. Of course, I picked purple because it's my favourite colour, but other choices also include red, blue, yellow and pink.
At one point while building this kit, I tried to take a part out so I could hear and feel the click of it again as I assembled it, but I accidentally applied too much force into it and the piece snapped, which make me panic but thankfully I had some glue to repair it, which was a huge relief. Not a fault of the kit itself, just my own excitement getting the better of me! Though I will recommend to be careful when assembling these kits if you're not experienced, and be gentle with them.
I was so so happy when the kit was finished and I could play around with it! Building it is half the fun, and the other half is posing it in all sorts of cool ways! You've seen some pictures of that already, but I also have some gifs of the kit spinning on a little turntable saved for the end.
The HG Demi Trainer kit comes with just the shield, saber stick and beam gun that I mentioned previously, which I personally don't mind too much but of course having more options for equipment is always a good thing. Thankfully you can buy an expansion set for Demi Trainer that includes a beam rifle, gatling gun, combat knife, 4-cell hand missile launcher and open hand parts, as well as some smaller extras. I personally don't have this expansion kit but I would love to get it at some point!
Overall, I think this is a fantastic kit to build, particularly if you are new to gunpla and are looking for a place to start. The Witch From Mercury kits are some of the best quality I think I've seen in gunpla (again, from my limited experience) and if you love the series and want to collect gunpla, you can't go wrong with getting this kit. The posable nature and movement of the kit itself is great, which I think is really cool and allows for some creative shots to be made with them!
This is a little series of posts that I hope to continue in the future! If you have any suggestions on things to add or change please let me know! I'm open to constructive criticism :)
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Ghøwout, as a word, speaks of both a nation and a culture. Though they are not the same, Ghøwout's culture is molded by its history as a nation and by its nostalgy for the nation's former glory. This, more than anything, brings together the many different traditions that call themselves Ghøwout, even within states that have cesseded from the once-great Empire.
Despites being a shadow of its former self, Ghøwout's is still the heart of politics south of the Kantishian range. Its historical and cultural weight keep it well centered in the minds of the many nations which surround it. This attention is not all undeserved: although no longer the most prosperous or powerful southern nation, Ghøwout remains the most technologically advanced, be it in terms of military armament, mining technology, or social engineering. In these aspects, Ghøwout still rivals with the rising stars of the Namitan Empire and Oumdashen Confederacy far to the North.
Even there Ghøwout's excellence is waning, as state paranoia mandates extreme secrecy and rejects foreign influences, preserving Ghøwout's technological advances at the cost of its allies' goodwill and knowledge.
Text from the images under the cut.
The Ghøwout live in the shadow of their former glory. Under the 4th Dinasty, Ghøwout held in its power all of the Southern Kantishian, and though its power has waxed and waned many times, it has never again reached this peak. In the current day, Ghøwout is much diminished and surrounded by kingdoms born of its losses. Nonetheless, Ghøwout remains a powerful nation, held together by a strong cultural identity. Perhaps as a reaction to its waning power, Ghøwout culture has grown to be insular and xenophobic, regarding strangers with extreme distrust.
Ghøwout is a strongly stratified society, weighted down by a large nobility and a stagnant peasant class. Nonetheless, its numbers and strong logistics allow it to support a large number of specialists, particularly artisans, professional soldiers, and religious specialists. Ghøwout's populace is both pious and prone to superstition. Though Ghøwout's state tends towards totalitarianism, it does not have centralized religion: it is home to many different regional sets of beliefs supported by local shamans and a few specialist clans of spiritualists and healers. These are highly respected by the populace and clad in beautifully dyed and ornamented textiles, precious stones, and bronze jewelry.
Ghøwout's artisans include some of the best chemists and metalworkers of Uanlikri, and the first to master steel. The use of steel weaponry has allowed Ghøwout's military to remain menacing even as Ghøwout's political power waned, brought low by internal power struggles. To counter its downfall, Ghøwout is always pursuing advances in war technology, fielding experimental weapons and financing scientific research, which it treats with utmost secrecy. Ironically, this drive is part of Ghøwout's downfall, as military spending has brought low the nation's coffers and the fear of spies has fostered a general climate of distrust and suspicion.
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Humans are weird: The Adventures of Captain York and Felix: The Galaxies luckiest bastards
Continuation of: https://www.tumblr.com/niqhtlord01/679724673487044608/humans-are-weird-salvage-rights?source=share
“Esteemed scions,” the human captain opened up to the descending group of alien leaders, “welcome to the most interesting purchase of your lifetime!”
Despite their trepidation about dealing with a human, the gathered aliens could not disagree with the human captain’s statement.
Before them was the chance to purchase a Scral Warship; a vessel that had been deemed a fleet killer for sheer armament and technical sophistication. The human captain “York” and his crew had flown this vessel unannounced to their spaceport and loudly broadcast that they were looking to sell.
Within three hours a delegation from the chamber of scions had been assembled and shuttled up to the waiting warship to inspect it and hammer out the final details for the purchase. Lingu, the delegation leader, was somewhat more cautious than his fellow delegates.
The majority saw this as a chance of a lifetime. The acquisition of a Scral Warship would be a huge boon to the system defense fleet and would allow them to even exert power to neighboring systems. Lingu was aware of the benefits, but at the moment he was more worried about the still many unclear facts of the situation.
This York and his second in command “Felix”, claim to have salvaged the warship after finding the entire Scral crew dead. They then repaired critical systems and flew to the nearest system to put the ship up for sale.
From the very beginning Lingu found this concerning.
The standard crew complement of a Scral warship was five thousand minimum. Each member of the crew would be the cream of the Scral navy; from the lowest janitor to the captain themselves. For all five thousand to die suddenly from an “atmospheric malfunction”, as the humans had described it, would be strange to say the least. Then there was the matter of the Scral government wanting their ship back.
Salvage rights were one thing, but they meant very little to a Scral attack fleet and Lingu would be hard pressed to find a reason that would convince them to let his people keep their warship.
Lingu had sent a message to the Scral government over the matter but he had yet to receive a response. He would have to push the matter to the side for now as the humans began their sales pitch.
“What we have here is the most technologically advanced death machine the galaxy has ever seen.” York began as he began leading the delegation through the hangar doorway. In typical Scral design aesthetic the corridor was decorated with various trophies from previous conquests and battles.
A nebula blaster here, a religious braid of a Shen’gan warrior there, a tiny black obelisk of the Drumari there; it was as impressive of a collection as it was seemingly random and without order.
Lingu wasn’t paying much attention to the trophies though as he listened to the human captain.
“Have you contacted the Scral government?” Lingu asked Captain York. “I imagine they would have been rather eager to obtain such a valuable asset.”
York smiled and nodded to the diplomat. “You would be right, but after determining that the Scral were just as likely to board the ship once more and attempt to take it back we have kept our relations cordial.”
“Meaning you haven’t contacted them about your latest acquisition.” Lingu added with a smirk.
If the snub had wounded the human’s pride they gave no sign of it. With the air of a used hover vehicle salesman he deflected the question while leading the group deeper into the ship.
The group walked for another thirty minutes touring the gun decks and engineering sections of the warship. Along the way they would occasionally encounter members of York’s crew. The humans would either nod a greeting to York and the diplomats as they passed or would be so deep in their work that they hardly noticed as the delegation passed.
Lingu took notes on a data pad as they entered each area. It was strange how despite traveling through the majority of the core areas of the ship they had still yet to see a single deceased Scral. If there had been an atmospheric malfunction as Felix had said there should have been dead Scral manning their station. He pondered this question as York led the group into a turbo lift that carried them to the command bridge. York introduced some of the other humans on the bridge including his second Felix who came over to the group after smacking a nearby terminal to stop the sparks from flying out of it.
“And that concludes our wonderful tour.” York announced as he casually sat himself into the Scral command throne. He looked like a child sitting in the chair three times his size but none of the delegation openly spoke it.
“What is you offer?”
The delegation spoke amongst themselves for a moment before nodding to each other. Lingu stepped forward and handed the data pad over to York. The human took the pad and scrolled through the details on it.
“Is this a joke?” York declared as he finished.
“Something wrong captain?” Felix asked, to which York responded by handing him the data pad. Felix went through the data pad and Lingu watched their expression contort with each page.
“What the frak is this?!” Felix finally declared before throwing the data pad back in disgust. Lingu casually caught it midair and returned it to his robes.
“I take it you are not pleased with our offer?” Lingu asked. In truth he had already knew the first offer was well below the value of the ship itself. The chamber of scions had approved spending up to two third the yearly planetary budget to make the purchase but he was not willing to offer all of that without negotiating.
York slapped the right arm of the command throne and sat upright. “Perhaps you need a demonstration to up your bidding offer.”
York nodded to Felix who in turned waved a hand to the surrounding human crew. On the order they began activating the ships systems and bringing the warship to full power.
The delegation turned to see the energy shields come to life outside of the viewport. Waves of blue energy enveloped the ship in a thick radiance until the entire viewport was tinted in a blue glow.
Lingu watched as the monitors began turning on one by one showing other portions of the ship.
Video feeds of the engine room, armory, weapon batteries, and…
Lingu stopped on one monitor in particular as he saw a room filled with what looked like stacked bodies. No sooner had he started to focus on the image did it suddenly turn off. Checking the other monitors Lingu turned to see that it was the only one that had been deactivated and turned back to look at York.
York was still sitting in the command throne smiling while Felix was likewise smiling but somewhat flustered. His arms hurriedly folded behind his back and Lingu swore he could see a band of sweat running down the human’s face.
“Mr. Felix,” York cut in through the silence, “target an open area of space and have all weapon batteries open fire.”
“Wait, what?” one of the delegates said as they heard York. “You can’t fire in system, it will frighten off the other traders and merch-“
“Firing main cannons.” Felix replied in a monotone voice.
Lingu felt the ship shudder as at least a hundred weapon emplacements fired as one into the void of space. The viewport soon was filled with lances of pure energy shooting out into the void; thankfully aimed at nothing within the area.
“Quite impressive, no?” York added smugly before Felix jabbed him in the shoulder. “What?” York asked before looking at Felix motioning with his head to the radar screen. The normal and orderly lines of trade ships coming in and out of the system now were scattering in all directions like insects when the lights turned on.
“Oh, well; sorry about that.” York remarked with a half laugh. Felix pinched his brow and sighed loudly before stepping forward.
“As you can see all primary systems are functioning and within operational standards. This vessel will become a primary deterrence to any and all aggressors while complimenting your military forces for any future engagements.”
He then proceeded over to Lingu and held up his own data pad. “This is our final offer; if you refuse we will take this vessel and seek new buyers.”
Seeing no other option Lingu looked back at the other delegates who were all nodding in unison. “Very well, we shall make the transfer now.”
Lingu pulled his data pad out once more and began entering in several keys. Felix’s pad beeped and he went over the information to confirm the transfer. When the device flashed green he gave the thumbs up to York who rose from the command throne.
“It has been a pleasure doing business with you gentlemen,” York began as he walked over and shook Lingu’s hand. Felix beside him was waving his hand in the air in a circle motion and the rest of the human crew began filing out into the turbo lift.
“Until we meet again, I wish you all a bright future.” York finished before turning in place and joining the other humans in the lift. The last Lingu saw of them was York’s smiling face while Felix was repeatedly pressing the close button on the turbo lift.
“This is York to all hands, the sale is complete so let’s get the hell out of hear.”
York started speaking into the communicator built into his collar the moment the turbo lift doors closed.
“You have twenty minutes to get back to the Cuttlefish; any later and you will be left behind.”
With that he terminated the communication and turned to Felix who was looking at him in disapproval.
“Why the hell is our ship name so stupid?” he asked as the other crew in the lift casually began looking anywhere else.
“Because it’s my ship and I wanted something cute.” York explained once again. “Any you don’t get to sass me now after you nearly cost us the deal.”
“I caught it in time.” Felix countered. “How was I to know the mess hall had a camera in it?”
“Furthermore, it was your idea to store all the bodies there; I wanted to dump them into space.”
“So you just wanted me to get rid of perfectly lootable bodies?” York scoffed.
The turbo lift finally came to a stop and no sooner had the doors opened wide enough was York and the rest of his crew sprinting out of the lift to their ship.
“We need to be off this ship before they find the bodies or battle damage.” Felix called out as the group skidded around a corner. “Blaster fire kinda puts holes in the whole atmospheric malfunction story.”
York grunted in reply but otherwise kept focusing on sprinting.
It was true that the atmospheric systems deactivated on the Scral warship, but only after York’s crew had snuck aboard, fought their way to the atmosphere control center and turned it off. The majority of the crew died once the breathable environment evaporated, but several dozen had been smart enough to put on vacuum suits and continue to hold key sections of the ship.
They had only eliminated the last batch of survivors on the bridge just before the traffic control station contacted them after they entered orbit. They then spent the three hours waiting for the delegation to arrive cleaning up the hallways leading between sections and repairing whatever battle damage they could while hiding the bodies out of sight.
Felix had wanted to dump them to be safe, until York pointed out their potential buyers would be suspicious seeing a couple dozen bodies begin ejected out an airlock.
Now with the sale completed the human crew needed to be off ship and out of system before the Scral realize that one of their warships was missing and came looking for it.
“Next time can we steal something smaller?” Felix gasped out after passing through the last airlock on to the Cuttlefish. “Like a safe? Like a normal bank safe filled with credits?”
“Always thinking so small, aye Felix?” York remarked as he ushered the rest of his following crew onboard. “You should be thinking how we can possibly outdo ourselves after this job.”
“But don’t worry,” York smiled as the last of his crew finally came onboard and the airlock began sealing, “I already have an idea or two.”
#humans are insane#humans are space oddities#humans are weird#humans are space orcs#scifi#story#writing#original writing#niqhtlord01#funny#York and Felix
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Tano Thursday Setup
RSB/M | Terra Bronze
TerraCore 2-Slot G10 RailScales | Dragon Texture
TerraCore 1.5-Slot G10 Solo’s | Dragon Texture
TerraCore 3-Slot G10 RailScales | Dragon Texture
CSMR Button | MilSpec Style | Terra Bronze
- RS
#RailScales#TerraCore#TerraCore RailScales#G10 Scales#G10 Solo's#RSB#RSB/M#RSBM#CSMR#Terra Bronze#Noveske#Noveske 10.5 5.56#Noveske NSWDG Rifle#NSR#AAC#Advanced Armament#416-SD#AAC 416-SD#Surefire#Scout Light Pro IR#NGAL#Unity Tactical#Hot Button MLOK#Magpul#Geissele#EOTech#EXPS3-0#Tano G33#MLOK#Made in USA
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HGN-732bM "Old Bird's Nest"
BattleMech Technical Readout
Name/Model: Highlander "Old Bird's Nest" HGN-733bM
Technology: Inner Sphere (Mixed)
Technology Rating: F
Tonnage: 90
Role: Sniper
Configuration: Biped BattleMech
Era/Year: Dark Age / 3150
Rules (Current): Experimental (Extinct)
Rules (Era): Experimental
Rules (Year): Experimental (Extinct)
Total Cost: 16,131,760 C-Bills
Battle Value: 2,735
Chassis: Krupp 255 Endo Steel
Power Plant: Shelby/Ford 270
Walking Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Jump Jets: Pratt and Whitney 440s
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Valiant Lamellor with CASE II
Armament:
1 Holly "Ballista-20" LRM 20 w/ Artemis V FCS (C)
1 Krupp Sturmfeuer Light Gauss Rifle
1 ExoStar Pinnacle ER Medium Laser (C)
1 Harmon Starclass-ER ER Medium Laser (C)
1 Hegemony R&D Dept. Weapons Division ER Medium Laser (C)
1 Holly SideWinder SRM 6 w/ Artemis V FCS (C)
1 Clan Wolf Watch RISC Advanced Point Defense System
Manufacturer: Skobel Mech Works
Primary Factory: Yakima Proving Ground Maintenance Facility
Communications: Studebaker-T19 with Neutron Star CEWS (counts as Nova CEWS)
Targeting & Tracking: DeadEye Superlock 18K with Advanced Targeting Computer (C)
================================================================================================
Overview: Manufactured specifically for Star Captain/Colonel Melissa Hazen at the direct order of ilClan Ward, the HGN-732bM "Melissa" was designed to be as much a prototype of the HGN-732Ib "ilClan Highlander" as it was a command 'Mech for the newly resurrected Royal Black Watch. Stuffed to the gills with advanced systems for defense, mobility, and communication, as well as a impressive arsenal nearly equal to that of the original HGN-732b, the one-off prototype 'Mech has already come be known as the "Old Bird's Nest", an affectionate nickname referring to Star Captain/Colonel Hazen's advanced chronological age, and how much time she spends in the Mechbay, personally tinkering with and adjusting the 'Mech to her liking, sometimes even with the help of her personal Mech technicians.
Capabilities:
Starting out life as the prototype of the HGN-732Ib, the "Old Bird's Nest" would soon see an almost continuous amount of tinkering and changing by technicians from both the ilClan and the reborn SLDF.
Eventually, when Star Captain Hazen was frocked to the rank of SLDF Colonel to (eventually) lead the reborn Royal Black Watch, the 'Mech received a massive overhaul to become perhaps the most well-equipped Command Mech in the Inner Sphere. The upgrades started with a massively expanded and improved communications and sensor array with satellite uplink capacity. To this, the first unit of the experimental Neutron Star CEWS (based on Nova CEWS designs smuggled from the Clan Homeworlds) was linked, along with the DeadEye Superlock 18K Clan-spec Targeting Computer from the exact Hunchback IIC that Hazen used in her Trial of Position in the 3020s - this computer was not upgraded to modern specs by order of Hazen herself, save to add the advanced Variable Range Targeting program in trials for the HGN-732Ib.
The weapons loadout is largely a replication of the old HGN-732b Highlander, though upgraded with modern technology. Mounting a Light Gauss Rifle in place of the standard Gauss of the HGN-732 was a decision by Hazen to gain more range at the expense of sheer damage output. The LRM-20 and SRM-6 remain, though upgraded with Artemis-V FCS. In a curious move that shows Hazen's admitted loveof the past, only one of the ER Large Lasers is a modern-manufactured Clan design - the others being one of the ER Large Lasers mounted on General Aleksandr Kerensky's Atlas II, and another the sole remaining weapon recovered from the irradiated wreck of Colonel Hanni Schmidt's Black Watch Highlander. A highly experimental RISC Advanced Point Defense System provides protection for the 'Mech and its starmates. The use of a Combat Computer helps the 'Mech's 20 Clan double heat sinks keep cool.
Using a prototype Clan-spec Endo-Steel chassis, the "Old Bird's Nest" is covered in 17.5 tons of Valiant Lamellor standard armor, incorporating panels taken from the wreck of General Kerensky's personal Orion. A trio of Clan-spec Pratt & Whitney Jump Jets enable the 'Mech to execute Hazen's trademark extremely accurate "Highlander Burial", and prototype RISC Super Cooled Myomer technology helps the 'Mech keep cool even during movement, while Clantech CASE II protects the Mech from ammunition detonations.
Deployment:
As the personal 'Mech of Star Captain Hazen, and soon to be the Command 'Mech for the Royal Black Watch, the "Old Bird's Nest" resides solely at the rebuilt Fort Cameron, just outside Unity City, Washington, Cascadian Administrative District, American Administrative Zone.
Variants:
None.
Notable MechWarriors:
Melissa "Mysty"/"The Old Bird" Hazen: One of the oldest and oddest MechWarriors in human history, Melissa Hazen was decanted, along with her 15 sibmates in 2990.
As a Trueborn product of the Clan Coyote/Genecaste "Totem Warrior" program, she was part of an effort to create human-animal hybrid warriors - both to improve upon Clan phenotypes, and to embody the spirits of the totem animals of their respective Clans. After a successful career in an enormously popular holodrama, and after attaining three kills in her highly belated Trial of Position, Hazen, along with the others in the "Totem Sixteen" were sent on a scouting mission to the Inner Sphere.
Joining up with the now-famous mercenary outfit, Fursona's Fusiliers, Hazen served with the unit for decades from the year 3025 onwards. Briefly taking extended leave to assist her Clan during Operation REVIVAL, Hazen returned to the Fusiliers to fight against the Word of Blake Jihad, and then as a mercenary for the Republic of the Sphere. During and after the ilClan Trial, Hazen and the others of the Sixteen fought on the side of Republic, but were spared by order of the new ilKhan.
Biologically only in her late twenties thanks to the efforts of Project Totem Warrior, as well as later medical aid by the Terran Belters (on whose work the original project was based), Hazen has over over one hundred and fifty years of combat experience against virtually every foe in the Inner Sphere and Clan Homeworlds. This experience will soon be brought to the core of the revived Star League Defense Force, under which Hazen is slated to run the new incarnation of the Gunslinger program, as well as command the resurrected Royal Black Watch Regiment.
================================================================================================
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure: Endo Steel (C) 4.50
Engine: 270 Fusion 14.50
Walking MP: 3
Running MP: 5
Jumping MP: 3
Heat Sinks (Double): 10 20 0.00
Gyro: Compact 4.50
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Armor Factor: 279 17.50
Type: Standard
Internal Armor Structure Value Head: 3 9 Center Torso: 29 42 Center Torso (rear): 16 R/L Torso: 19 28 R/L Torso (rear): 10 R/L Arm: 15 30 R/L Leg: 19 38
================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
Jump Jet CT 1 2.00
CASE II (C) RT 1 0.50
Communications Equipment (2 tons) (C) RT 2 2.00
3 ER Medium Lasers (C) RT 3 3.00
Jump Jet RT 1 2.00
Light Gauss Rifle (Ammo 16) RT 1 1.00
Targeting Computer (C) RT 3 3.00
CASE II (C) LT 1 0.50
Jump Jet LT 1 2.00
LRM 20 w/ Artemis V FCS (C) LT 4 5.00
LRM 20 (Ammo 12) Artemis V LT 2 2.00
SRM 6 (Ammo 15) Artemis V LT 1 1.00
Light Gauss Rifle RA 5 12.00
RISC Advanced Point Defense System (Ammo 12) RA 1 1.00
Nova CEWS (C) LA 1 1.50
RISC Advanced Point Defense System LA 2 3.00
SRM 6 w/ Artemis V FCS (C) LA 1 1.50
================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics
Point Value (PV): 63
TP: BM, SZ: 4, TMM: 1, MV: 6"j
Damage: (S) 5 / (M) 5 / (L) 3, OV: 1
Armor (A): 9, Structure (S): 7
Specials: CASEII, ECM, IF1, MHQ3, NOVA, PRB, RAMS, RCN
Quirks:
The HGN-732bM "Old Bird's Nest" variant is subject to the following Design Quirks:
Battle Computer
Combat Computer
Cowl
Cramped Cockpit
Difficult Ejection
Difficult to Maintain
Improved Communications
Improved Sensors
Multi-Trac
Non-Standard Parts
Reinforced Legs
Variable Range Targeting
#battletech#mechwarrior#muse lore#battlemech#no this is in no way balanced#it should probably have the Illegal Design Quirk#just from the Quirks list alone
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Sanji black fire theory
I know a lot of people already were talking about it, but because the theories I saw tend to associate it with some demonic epithet, I have been very hesitant to adopt it. The theory I have is that his max power would have a godly/holy name (my theory/explanation here), so I had been very reserved about the black fire thing.
I have now somewhat changed my mind about it.
It occurs to me that if the black fire is the manifestation of conqueror haki, it can still have a "holy" epithet. For example, Shanks's haki attack is called Kamusari 神避, or translated as "Divine Departure".
With that in mind I'm gonna revisit the "foxfire" idea I once mentioned, just with some slight tweaks.
"Foxfire" is kind of a fire ability that is not entirely explained. Back when Sanji said it in Thriller Bark, it was being portrayed as a joke. However, Kin'emon later uses "foxfire technique" that actually interacts with real fire. It produces fire, and also cuts fire.
Unless I missed something, I cannot find explicit description of what exactly makes the fire, but it seems to be implied to have been Haki ability. Once again, until proven otherwise, based on this I will assume that somehow Haki can generate fire.
In which case, it's not impossible that Sanji's "foxfire" joke can later manifest as a full-fledged fire ability that allows him to actually fly (like Ace).
In the same Thriller Bark context we already had a joke manifesting into reality. Remember that when Usopp told Sanji about Absalom, he just went completely berserk, and Zoro told Usopp to stop lest he "henshin into something"?
Well... further plot development shows that if Sanji get really angry, he can now indeed "henshin into something":
Some people have also theorised that the black fire will be related with the Germa modifications because of this, since the name "Stealth Black" implies that a successful modification would've made Sanji's hair black.
I somewhat agree with it, though I don't subscribe to the idea that Sanji's hair will turn black if he unlocks the ability to use black fire.
Going back to Kin'emon's fire ability. Assuming that it's indeed haki, then it means that he makes the fire by channelling the haki into his sword. In which case, maybe that was the same with Sanji, except that it's channelled through his leg and not through a tool or weapon.
It may be possible that if Sanji manifests advanced Conqueror Haki, which can be infused in body parts or weapons, his fire legs will be black flames. It would also match his already existing epithet, "Black Leg".
This also fits my theory about Sanji being symbolised by "solar eclipse" in relation to Kamen Rider. I may have to re-explain it based on the new material I have, but the short of it is: I see Sora as representing "sun", while Germa is "moon". Solar eclipse is a phenomenon where the sun and moon lines up.
The Kamen Rider connection is that Kamen Rider Black, whose name and powers symbolise solar eclipse, has all the body modifications given to him (including an exoskeleton armour) by the evil organisation. However, due to still having human heart, he uses all that power for good. I strongly feel that sensei used this particular character as Sanji's reference.
Therefore, I feel that this means that Sanji will use "both the sun and moon together", not see the "moon" as a hindrance. He will "redeem" the exoskeleton and other Germa modifications that he has. Someone somehow will fix it later so that it will not affect his ability to empathise and be kind, and he will combine the exoskeleton (Germa science) with Armament Haki and Conqueror Haki (Sora's influence) to use the black flames.
Why is Haki "Sora's influence"? Because as we've seen with the other brothers, not having fear of death means that they also don't have a particularly strong will to push themselves to the limit. They do have some fighting spirit still, but it doesn't seem to be enough.
Even if you argue that Perospero's candy is too strong to break, you don't see the Vinsmoke brothers bothering to even try. For example, until proven otherwise, Yonji's power was supposedly some kind of superstrength that is above Ichiji and Niji. Why is he talking about the weapons and not trying to break free?
Compare that to Luffy, who we know has very strong will, using all his power to try to pull himself free from the book pins that trapped him. Nami and Opera both told him it's no use, but he still tries anyway.
Haki is a power that comes from willpower. No strong will, no haki. Therefore, Sanji's ability to use haki is because of Sora's efforts to preserve his "heart".
Aside from the symbolism, we already saw that he needed to have the exoskeleton in order to use Ifrit Jambe. His normal body is not strong enough to withstand the heat. If black fire is even more powerful than Ifrit, he will need the exoskeleton even more than this.
It would be really cool if the flying foxfire joke manifests as black fire wings, really. It would be a close allusion to the Lunarians, without actually making him one.
My personal favourite guesses for the "godly/holy" names Sanji might use for his max power are: Acala (Fudou Myou'ou is a god connected to solar eclipse), Garuda (Lunarians resemble Garuda), Archangel (as a counter to Seraphim)
I'm sort of reserved about Garuda, honestly, because Sanji knows that was Judge's name. The clones were saying it when the two fought. Sanji might not want to use it as his own power name, because he hates Judge, and even "redeeming" the Germa ability for good usage might not erase his distaste for the name.
Still, maybe it will turn out that Garuda has a much deeper significance in One Piece lore. A personal favourite theory of mine is that Germa in the past is actually a force of good, and Sanji will be the one to "reclaim" that good past somehow. Maybe Garuda is related to that, and so if the good outweighs the awful stuff Germa has become, maybe he'll be okay with it.
Secondary guesses that are still cool, but not my personal preference: Draco/Dragon (due to yin yang symbolism), Vulcan (fire god), Surya (sun), Ignis/Agni (also fire).
A rather unlikely option, but it would be funny if it's true: "Erasmus". St Elmo's fire is sort of the Western version of foxfire, and "Elmo" is the shortened form of "Erasmus". Funny because then we can make Hellmo memes about it.
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[TimesOfIsrael is Private Israeli Media]
Amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and fighting against other Iran-backed terror groups in the Middle East, Israeli defense officials are advancing a number of key defense deals with the United States, which would see the country procure new fighter jets, attack helicopters and a continued supply of munitions.[...]
Defense sources told The Times of Israel later Thursday that Israel’s plans to procure a new squadron of 25 F35i stealth fighter jets, a squadron of 25 F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX — and a squadron of 12 Apache helicopters were advanced during the discussions.[...]
As part of the discussions, the Defense Ministry delegation also worked to advance the continued supply of American munitions amid the war.
At least 250 cargo planes and more than 20 ships have delivered more than 10,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to Israel since the start of the war.
25 Jan 24
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Decline of the Avvar
So just a sad little thing I noticed from the Awakening DLC, is just how far the Avvar of the current Dragon age timeline has fallen back from their heighday when they were just as prominent in the Fertile valley as the chasind and the Alamarri(the people that won the war for the good land east of the Frostbacks, and became the Fereldens).
The Avvar are the Dragon Age's equivelant of the Norse, just like the Fereldens are the equivelant of the Anglo-Saxons and great britains Celts, if they had thriumphed over the invading normans, and reached the high middle ages as Britains dominant culture.
Only where the Fereldens despite their hardships were thriumphant, the Avvar instead is what the Norse would have become if they were defeated, displaced, and pushed further into the wilds by the people who took their lands.
They have become little more than barbarian Goat herders, raiders and hunters, living on what measle food they can produce through animal husbandry, hunting, and raiding. They fight with crude weapons, often stone hammers, or weapons clerly made from crude metal. The only real exception being their exceptional magical weapons of enchanted ice.
Their idea of heavy armor is leather, intervoven with simple metal plates intervowen with leather and furs, to varying degrees of effectiveness.
But it wasn't always this way.
In Awakening, we get a short glimpse of just how advanced the Avvar of that age actually was, and just how far north their traditional people once lived, having been the original masters of the lands around modern Vigil's keep.
They had full plate armor, advanced, enchanted swords, and was skilled enough in stone building that they constucted massive, stone mausoleums.
Either they forged these themselves, or as the designs imply, they traded these armaments from the Dwarves, but regardless, it speaks of a far richer, more advanced, and powerfull society than the current pockets of Avvar civilation left in the modern day.
It also highlights the fact that the "Barbarian Horde" of Holy warriors that Andraste led north to try and snuff out the Tevinter Imperium forever and end slavery, was a far, far cry from the way many people in universe tries to portray them as.
While they might not have been as rich as the Tevinter Imperium at it's height, these were powerful people in their own right, and no wonder is there that they fought the wretched Vints every, single stage of their expansion through Ferelden.
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