Another day in Karate Island... Lin had slowly been running out of things to do, just how much longer would she be able to hang around this island without going anywhere else? How long would her boredom permit her to stay? True, she was a patient woman, but also a curious one with a keen love for exploring new sights she had yet to see. Even if she couldn't bring herself to get further away from the Grand Line at the moment, her yearning for new adventures would soon drive her towards that same goal once she got bored with simply waiting around. Why not just grow stronger elsewhere and then come back here? Should be as much a valid a plan as any other, no?

As she wandered around early in the afternoon, she made a point of exploring the lesser frequented alleyways. By staying away from the larger crowds and visiting the yet unexplored parts of the island, she could take down 2 birds with one stone, her favorite way of doing things. In these alleys and smaller streets, there were mostly houses and lesser known shops, the kind that didn't always have that many people around like weapons or curio shops. There were also some ill frequented taverns, the kind that she was sure she'd find unsavory pirates wandering around. Her scrutinizing eyes took in every little detail of the envoiroment around this mostly delapidated part of the village. There wasn't that much to see which was kinda what Linnea expected to realize, but it wasn't so bad considering the amount of people walking around the main streets. Some of these alleys were pretty dank and narrow, and certainly exploring them at night wouldn't be a good idea.

After crossing another corner, Lin's eyes narrowed towards something further up ahead, where she was starting to hear a ruckus... People speaking and even screaming frantically; something was up here. Heading silently towards the source, soon she grew close enough to make out about three or so different voices - mostly male - and the closer she got the more concerned she felt. She could sense distress in some of those voices. Peeking over the corner, she spotted four Marines seemingly pressuring a store owner, and she couldn't help but notice the sorry state the shop itself was in:

"Marines my ass! You're worse than the pirates!!", shouted the kid in anger and tears as his father pulled him back

"You're lucky the pirates didn't kill you kid... If you people could pay your taxes on time, maybe we'd have the resources to protect you, and that wouldn't have happened.", The Marine leader pointed at the store with a smug look.

Both father and son were obviously frightened, but while the father simply tried to appease the seemingly corrupt Marines into leaving them alone, the kid lashed out repeatedly. He clearly wasn't helping his cause but from the whole screaming and shouting, Linnea could tell that these four marines had recently come to this shop to collect a business tax to "help them protect Karate island's shops against Pirate attacks". Unable to pay at that time, they then found their shop destroyed. Linnea scoffed at this realization, noticing how these Marines were acting very much like gangsters, using their power to protect them as they shook down innocents for money. Pirates are evil and Marines are good? What a bunch of bullshit...

"It was you!! You broke up our shop when my dad refused to pay your taxes!!"

"Watch your tongue kid... Or you're gonna be in for a world of hurt.", said the Marine leader menacingly as the worried father desperately tried to hold his son back

"We have no money to pay taxes that high, we'd go bankrupt! Please, just give us more time.", pleaded the father

"That's not acceptable... If you cannot pay your business tax, we must reposess items from your store.", the Marine Leader shook his head as two of his underlings moved in to walk inside the store.

Finally wrenching free of his father's hold, the boy attempted to punch the Marine leader fruitlessly. Though she admired his bravery, Linnea's concern immediately spiked as the Marine looked at him with a mean look... This was bad, this kid was gonna get killed. Wasting not a single moment, Linnea loaded an arrow and let it loose as soon as the Marine wound back a punch. Taking aim a few inches in front of the the kid's face, her arrow caught the enemy's punching forearm and knocked him aside, preventing him from turning his wrath onto the kid. As the Marine screamed in pain, his underlings immediately stopped going into the store and turned towards where the arrow had flown.

"You should pick on someone your own size.", Said Linnea with a cold, narrow gaze as she looked into the startled Marine's crooked eyes with another arrow in her bow, promptly hiding back just as a rain of bullets came flying her way... Once the lead rain stopped, she could hear someone running towards her, no doubt one of the sword wielding Marines...

Trying to attack a child was the last drop... Marines or not, these four were going down, dead or alive.

OOC: Used 1 arrow

A calculating marksman, Linnea paid great attention to all manners of signs from her opponents, allowing her to gleam information about the battle she was currently involved in even if she couldn't actually take a look. Her Haki had been dulled since the time she left Amazon Lily, to the point where she could no longer safely rely on that skill; it greatly diminished her combat power level, but she was still more than capable enough to stand up to a few marines. But as she got ready to strike the Marine the moment he passed the corner, she heard a loud "thump" accompanied by a pain filled shout mere inches away from the corner, followed by a yet another bullet. Even Marines as rotten to the core like this wouldn't be so eager to fire on their own buddies, meaning that scream likely belonged to their friend who was now dead or at least knocked out. Would this mean that whoever attacked them would be her ally, or would she or he be willing to attack both of them? Either way, she held back her instinct to let loose her arrow at the first figure that came past that corner, a wise decision since the person in question - another winged young man with silvery hair - was just as pissed as she was about that cheap harassment. Giving out a cool yet amicable smirk - obviously appreciating the help - she answered his question by nearing the corner and preparing to let loose another arrow:

"Much appreciated... It might be hard in these narrow alleways, but do you think you could draw their fire somehow?", she said this but unless he moved away he would be straight in their line of fire.

Once the Marines finally started charging or firing at her new ally, Linnea would duck down and peek out of the corner, quickly lining up a shot and taking aim at the rifleman furthest to the back, letting loose an arrow that caught him in the gut, reducing his ability to fire but not killing him outright. Judging by his uniform he appeared to outrank the sword wielding Marines... She ducked back into cover right after firing, but even then she wasn't fast enough to avoid getting grazed by a bullet in her bicep, letting out a pain filled yelp. This wouldn't kill her either, but it just meant she had to be smarter. Looking around, she looked for a way to climb onto the rooftops:

"Maybe we can use those roofs to our advantage?", she suggested, nodding upwards. If she could shoot from up there, she could take down the crooked Marines one by one...


OOC: Used 2 arrows total; wounded T2 rifle wielding Marine
T1 Marine dead/disabled

 

ooc: Used flight for one post to get Lin on roof. Flight is deactivated

The winged man grabbed her and pulled her up, throwing the ranger onto the roof as the marines took aim at the two of them. It wouldn't be too easy for them to hit them while flying, but getting dropped from this height wasn't the kind of wound either of them could shrug off. Well, at least Linnea couldn't, she wasn't exactly the toughest of the bunch, that was far from her greatest strength. Landing on the roof with a somersault roll, she pushed herself against the edge, taking cover behind a small stone wall and thanking her ally with an appreciating nod. She could see the man dropping back down on the ground as one of the Marine leader started shooting upwards into the roof, unaware of Linnea's actual position and hoping to land a lucky potshot:

"Shit! Where did she go?!", he shouted, as Linnea followed the sound of his voice to position herself right on top of him.

Meanwhile, as her newfound ally dealt with the Marines on the ground, he mostly managed to keep the other two occupied. Her main goal right now was killing the apparent leader of these corrupt marines and put an end to their little racketeering scheme, permanently. If he survived, his corruption would likely be covered up by his superiors anyway, and for once had no interest in taking that chance. Loading an arrow and pulling back her bow, she suddenly stood up, peeking over the roof and pointing down, letting loose an arrow at the Marine Lieutenant, catching him right in the head, killing him instantly. She also managed to see the father and son hiding back inside their store, but she didn't really have much time to notice that fact as the other gun wielding Marine looked away from the Winged man for a moment to shoot in her direction. Lin ducked the moment she saw him turn to her and avoided the following gunshots, but this should be more than enough to give her ally an opening to attack...



OOC: Used 3 arrows total;
T1 Marine (sword) dead/disabled
T2 Marine Lieutenant (Rifle) Dead

t2 Marine Corporal (Gun) => Gut wound
T1 Marine (sword) OK

Every now and then Linnea dared to peek her head out to glance at what was happening down there, and for the most part she managed to do so without being punished for her audacity. The wound to her bicep still stung, especially when she tried to aim her bow, but at this short range it would never turn into a crippling handicap. Judging by the sharp scream, her ally capitalized on the distraction caused by her own attack and promptly took down another Marine. Unlike her, he seemed to have a much more feverent hatred towards these guys where as Lin's was mostly circumstantial, aimed towards the ones she saw using their power to bully those weaker than them. Nothing rubbed her the wrong way like people using the power that came with a vow to protect people so as to exploit the same people they were sworn to protect. They would stop their little enterprise, dead or alive, both of them would ensure that.

It wasn't that hard for her to notice how the enemies ability to react and fight was slowly getting reduced with each dead and wounded, obviously they weren't very eager to count on the help of other allies. Fortunately, this implied not all Marines in this island were desperately crooked, but it wouldn't bring these four any mercy...

The scream from the wounded opponent would have likely disctracted the sole remaining opponent, Linnea took a deep breath and got ready, it was once again her time to shine, pulling another arrow, she got up and aimed at the enemy below her, the last remaining Gun wielding Marine. The two sword wielding ones had been taken down by the winged fighter, while she had killed the rifleman and wounded the other, who she now aimed at again. Albeit struggling with his gut wound, the man was still able to move slightly, pointing his gun upwards and shooting immediately after Lin let her arrow loose. As a result, she missed his head but hit him right between his ribs, missing his heart, but only barely. Even by ducking immediately after, she wasn't able to avoid another grazing bullet, this time to her shoulder... But with the last enemy dead, the sounds of battle grew silent and she finally peeked down.



All enemies were either dead or dying, in no condition to fight. Making use of the ledges between the roof and the ground, Linnea leapt down with three quick steps, landing on her feet in a crouched stance. Her first priority was to look at the shopkeeper, his son, and her ally; to verify none of them was in danger. Once that was done, she frisked the pockets of each of the four marines, looting a rather hefty amount of Beli which was quickly split into three; she gave one part to the shopkeeper, another to her ally, and kept the other third herself:

"Thank you, you two...", uttered the shopkeeper as he recieved enough money to restore some of his shop, "We'll be forever in your debt. Can we at least know your names."

"I'm Naga D. Linnea... And rest assured, I won't collect any debt from you. I couldn't let those crooks lay their hands on a child.", she smiled kindly at the two before turning to the winged man with a smile, "Thanks again for your help."

-exit-


OOC: Used 4 arrows total;
T1 Marine (sword) => dead/disabled
T2 Marine Lieutenant (Rifle) => Dead

t2 Marine Corporal (Gun) => Bleeding out (Dead/Disabled)
T1 Marine (sword) => Fracture in collarbone (Dead/Disabled)


Lin and Frank both beat 2 Marines

-Exit-