III. [Action: July 15th--19th]

[sailedfirst]

[It's been a week since Luffy was brought back home. The first few days were hard; the fact Sabo might never see him again and he's helpless to do anything about it still cuts deep. But he and Ace promised to keep living, keep moving forward. It's what they've always done, and Sabo's not about to stop now. And so to avoid moping so much, he decides to get busy.]

[July 15-19 -- Mornings, the Library]
[He'll be seen occupying a table in the library, with large sheets of paper spread out and books lying open all around him. The books are noticeably all about ships and how to build them. He's busy sketching out blueprints of a small sea-faring vessel. he's obviously not an expert, so the blueprint's almost cartoony and not accurate with regards to the finer details, like measurements and stuff, but he's got most of the main parts down.

On the 19th, he'll open his journal to ask something.]

[Voice]

Hey, are there any shipwrights around here? Or anyone who knows anything about making boats or ships?

[Afternoons (except the 17th), the beach/the mountain]
[Afternoons are spent out in the beach, just looking out to the sea, and/or exploring the nearby mountain in the hopes of meeting the Wind spirit Kipinn.]

[Evenings, the Battledome]
[Sabo can be found in the Battledome. The simulation shows a wide forest, with towering trees and a huge mountain looming behind. Sabo's armed with his usual pipe staff, and his chosen opponent is an old acquaintance to the ASL brothers: the Great Tiger of Mt. Corvo.

Even knowing he's no match by himself, he'll fight on determinedly. Of course, he's just going to get smacked around by the giant paws or batted away by that bludgeon-like tail. But he'll get up, again and again, until the auto-abort kicks in due to the boy's over-exhaustion. At one point, his journal will get knocked aside and start recording one of these fights on video.

Once he catches his breath, he'll rest a bit within a peaceful simulation of a cliff overlooking a wide blue sea, before making his way home.]

Comments

[action] 19th/evening

[hiken_ace]

[Ace decided to check out the Battle Dome for a change, and who does he find but Sabo... right after getting his ass kicked and staring out at the ocean. Fuck he wants to get this kid out on the sea.

So he'll just take seat next to you, bro.] I'm going to get you the real thing someday.

[action] 19th/evening

[sailedfirst]

[Simply glancing over, before looking back at the sea.]

The real thing's back at home, Ace. [And there's no someday for him there. For both of you.]

[action] 19th/evening

[hiken_ace]

[He clenches his fists.] There's one here. I'll do whatever it takes to break the barrier down.

[Action] 18th Library

[fierybluebird]

[Marco is also trying to read more nonfiction for a change of pace, which means starting with things that actually interest him. Ships aren't as interesting as animals, but probably something useful to learn more about, right? Though he's never going to be a carpenter, at least it would help to learn a thing or two in case none of the Whitebeard shipwrights do ever show up.

Which is when he spots his youngest of brothers.

Time to sneak up on him. Hopefully Sabo won't scream too much when a pair of hands suddenly cover his goggles. Marco makes his voice deeper and raspier, just to throw the kid off.]

Guess who, eh.

[It'd work better without that verbal tic.]

[Action] 1/2

[sailedfirst]

[Nope, no screaming here.

But he does stiffen the moment those hands descended and by the time that deep, raspy voice spoke, he's already moving. Struggling out of the grasp to slide under the table and scramble to the opposite side, his back hitting the other shelf and making books fall noisily around him.]

[Action] 2/2

[sailedfirst]

[Then he's staring at his assailant with wide eyes.]

M-Marco?

[Yeah, sorry bro. He's still kinda jumpy about people coming up from behind and grabbing him. Too much bad history.]

[Action]

[fierybluebird]

Good to know your reflexes are still set on high.

[Starts picking up books.] Sorry to startle you kid. Guess Ace never played that game with you, eh?

[Action]

[bubblywishes]

[At the library, Sabo might notice he's not alone there on the last day. There's someone a few tables away, surrounded by a complete mess of papers and writing tools and some book and notebooks. She's asleep on one of her notebooks, breathing peacefully as the sunlight filters through a few of the windows and warms her back and wings.

The papers all have strange symbols on them, like writing but without words. Runes, sybols, and scribbly notes and drawings are under a few. Practice. Routine practice for Norma on her Relares, but she got so carried away she fell asleep...again. Or, maybe, like usual. She's even still got a a quill pen in her one hand.

But what's unusual is the brilliantly colored jewel fragment near one of her hands - the one not holding the pen. It's shining in the dim sunlight and throwing its colors onto the ceiling as well. Blue, green, and aqua...colors like the sea. In fact, the way the patterns of light and colors dance along the ceiling of the library, one might think they were staring at the sun flitting through between the waves themselves.]

[Action]

[sailedfirst]

[He's walking past with an armload of books when he noticed the strange colors in the ceiling. They look like the sun shining from under the sea... Curious, he follows them and they lead him to where Norma is dozing, and to where that jewel of hers casts that strange light. But not only that, those runes she'd written are plenty intriguing too... Huh.

Upon a closer look, he realizes he knows this girl. It's Ace and Marco's friend. Or is it sister? Would that make her his adopted sister too? Well anyway, she's friendly to him whenever they meet so Sabo likes her. Maybe she wouldn't mind if he ask about the jewel and the runes? But.... as much as he would've liked to do that, she looks pretty tired. Maybe it's best to just let her sleep. As he turns away, however, one of his books slips and falls loudly on the floor.

He winces. Whoops]

[Action]

[bubblywishes]

[Twitching, Norma stirs awake, and yawns, mumbling incoherently. She almost looks like a cat waking from a long nap, pulling herself back in her chair and stretching out, working out the kinks from sleeping hunched over like that. Ugh...ow. Now, uh. Where was she again? Looking around as she rubs her face, Norma spies Sabo standing there with his stack of books.]

Uuuaaw...you're...uh--Chip, right? [Excuse her, she's still not quite awake.] What're you doing here so early, huh?

[Voice]

[thatsnotcute]

Are you trying to make a ship, Sabo-kun?

[A pretty obvious question given his own inquiry, but Perona's curious. She'd like to have a ship made, too, or just go on one of the others present at the ocean, just to feel a little less homesick for the sea. She could very well fly over the ocean if she so chose to, but it's not the same as sailing. Not the same as leaning over the edge of a ship's railing, watching and hearing the water rush by, not the same as watching a flag flutter undaunted in the sea breeze...

She sighs, and leans her face on one hand, tracing pictures on her desk with her finger. Her jolly roger, and Moria's, and a few seakings. She even misses those to a degree. Ugh.]

[Voice]

[sailedfirst]

[Oh, that's a familiar voice.]

Yep. Or that's what I'm hoping for. But I'm no shipwright, so I was wondering if I could get anyone to teach me how.

[Voice]

[thatsnotcute]

Ah, good luck. I'm sure there should be someone in this place with the skill.

[Considering the amount of ships Perona's seen around, and the variations in shape and size, there's got to be a few worthy shipwrights in Luceti. How else could those ships have come here? There just couldn't be any other way than them to be built here - or so she believes.]

Will you make a big ship? I'd like to go sailing sometime...

[action] 19th/afternoon

[mikangirl]

[Come the return of the sweltering heat after the storm, Nami's decided to say screw it to all other obligations and head out for the beach herself, if only so she can avoid thinking too hard about certain missing captains. Distractions are useful things.

She's pretty far out. She has no ship, but she does have a sailboard, and those things are damn fun.

...is that a child on the beach?]

[action]

[sailedfirst]

[Yep, it's a child. And if she can see the top hat from over there, it'll help recognizing him.

Sabo, for his part, had spotted her sometime ago. It's kinda hard to miss someone on a sailboard in an empty sea, and just the right glint of orange hair from a distance told him her identity. He retreats under a shady tree, and continues watching her having fun in the water, wishing he could do the same.

Damn, that looks really fun! Maybe he could borrow Ace's skiff and join her? .... Nah, it'll be too heavy for that kind of sailing.]

[action]

[mikangirl]

[The top hat does kinda give it away. Not many kids wear one, after all. The sailboard skims in toward land, slowing down until she drops off the side with a splash and wades it into the shallow and up onto the beach.

She'll snatch up her towel on her way to say hi.]

Hey. Kinda warm not to be in the water, isn't it?

whatever day at the Dome

[rashness]

[You know he's all for fighting strong opponents - he's been doing that at the Dome himself. but between one of his rest breaks he sees in one of the rooms he wasn't using some little kid getting the shit beat out of him by a giant tiger demon. He's actually tempted to put a stop to the sim himself, but he indeed goes to try to open the door, see if he can't get in.

If he can't he'll just. Wait for it to die down and ask the kid if he's okay]

the 17th! :>

[sailedfirst]

[With the sudden storm raging outside, Sabo decided to put the same weather condition in his sim tonight. As if fighting a giant tiger in a fair day isn't hard enough. But hey, this is training. He's got to be strong enough to fight in any weather.

The only difference of this fight from the other nights is that, instead of being thrown into trees and rock solid ground, he gets thrown into wet trees and muddy ground while being pelted by rain. Yeeep, it's a pretty sad sight. But Sabo could care less. As long as he could still stand up after the tiger's attack, he will.

So feel free to barge in on him, Rin. The door's open! o/]

the 17th it is

[rashness]

[...Yeeeah that kid is getting the snot beat out of him and he can't really just ignore it or anything. So Rin makes his way through the door, drawing his sword as soon as he's in the simulation, and making a large standing leap to punch the tiger-thing in the face. ...Which, given his super strength and the fact he's coated in powerful blue flames (not to mention he's in his demon form: blue flame horns, blue flame tail, longer ears, more fangs, claws, etc) probably makes the whole thing impressive.

Ignore that he's holding a sword despite the fact he punched the tiger-thing. And that he's doing a whole snarling thing as he lands in the mud after said face punch]

[action] Any afternoon you want!

[weakahoshi]

[It's becoming a well-established fact that if you're in the vicinity of the beach, at some point, you'll get a rather large mermaid shyly watching you from the waves.

She still hasn't figured out that her big hair loops stick up well above the waves.

Feel like saying hi to a Mermaid Princess, Sabo?]

15th pls :>

[sailedfirst]

[It's the first time he came down to the beach in a long time. After spending most of his life longing to sail away on it, seeing the sea now is almost comforting. Like an old friend welcoming him back.

So with boots hooked around his fingers, Sabo heads to the shore, letting the water and sand sweep through his toes. The first wave takes him by surprise and he laughs delightedly at the feeling. Man, he missed this...

He looks up to scan the water, watching for the next wave, when he spotted those... loop things. Squinting hard at it now. What are those exactly? ...Corals? Some kind of debris?

Um. Yeah, he'll say hi later, Princess.]

[weakahoshi]

[Under the water, Shirahoshi gasps. The boy is looking right at her! How did he know where she was? And why does he look so confused?

Shirahoshi swallows, squints her eyes for a moment while she gathers up her courage, then lifts her head above the water to talk to him.]

Um. H- hello!

19th morning

[toujoursfluer]

[Robin, as it happens, is already in the library when she hears him, his voice coming through the air rather than the journal. She pauses for a moment, wondering whether she should find him and intrude. It seems almost cruel to remind him of what he doesn't have any more. But... at least she can say something]

[She finds him sitting at the table, eyeing his blueprints as she leans against the shelf]

Going somewhere?

19th morning

[sailedfirst]

[Looking up, then smiling when he saw who it is. But the question confused him at first (since he wasn't intending on going anywhere 'til the afternoon) until he saw what Robin is looking at.]

Ah. [Smoothing out the paper.] There's nowhere to go exactly, with such a small sea. More like, being able to sail one way or another seems like a good idea.

19th morning

[toujoursfluer]

So ne. [She'll sit down with you for a while, looking at the plans]

We have a shipwright in our crew, but sadly he's not here now. Too bad it can't just as easily be made out of paper.

[She rests her chin on her fingers]

Getting restless on land?