Consciousness that had fled an old man's mind gradually crawled back into place granting him a subtle haze of awareness. Seiju's eyes blinked open to find them forced into a squint by a sudden flash of lightning that lit up the room he was in. The lids closed shut tightly for a second only to slowly open once more. From what he marine could tell, he was laying in bed inside an unknown room. Judging by the swabs, stethoscopes, and other such objects on a nearby counter as well as the nature of the bed he was in, Seiju deduced that he was in a clinic or infirmary of some kind. "Brilliant work, Seiju..." The old man thought to himself mockingly, "You can recognize a sick room. But where, exactly? How did I get here?" It was the pitter patter of rain against the window glass that answered one of those questions for him. Seiju recalled that he had taken refuge from a storm on an island that was supposedly hit with regular rain and showers. While here he'd met a fellow marine, although he didn't know it at the time, at a bar. Then a group of rascals pilfered their belongings initiating a chain of events that ended with Seiju and Anton both declaring themselves to be Marine Commanders to a corrupt priest. After that? Seiju couldn't remember.

The old man grunted as he sat up just as a nurse entered the room. "Oh, you're awake! Your things are over there. I'll get the doctor." She pointed to Seiju's robes and swords which were neatly set on a chair beside his bed. The woman then left the room informing the local doctor of Seiju's awakening. The doctor in turn informed Anton that the old man had come to. The next half hour for Seiju was spent realizing he was in a patient's garb, getting changed into his usual attire, and then shooing away a doctor that insisted on giving him another check up to make sure he was alright. "I'm a doctor myself kid, trust me when I say I'm alright. This isn't my first dirt nap." The stubborn old fart said with a scoff as he stretched. "But sir, a concussion is serious business. At least let me-" Seiju silenced the young doctor with a glare that only an old man could give. One that was weary of dealing with the doctor's petty issues when Seiju had more important things to attend to. "Who's gonna stop me from leaving, eh? You?"

Anton hadn't gone too far after delivering Seiju to the doctor's clinic. After all, his mission had been to find and escort him to the Briss Kingdom. But with all that had happened, Anton couldn't hang by Seiju's bedside. There was the whole matter with the children and their corrupt caretakers to take care of. Anton had backed the children's stories about the priest using them as thieves, and brutally punishing, even sometimes killing any of the children that failed. Sometime later, thanks to some help from the local authorities, the priest and his hired goons were safely in custody. Now there was the matter of where the children were going to go, and who was going to look after them, but Anton had decided to leave that to them. This was their affair now.

When the doctor approached him, informing him that Seiju had finally woken up, Anton headed over to the clinic as fast as his legs could carry him. He was very worried about the man, after that blow he had taken. He was relieved when he was told he would be fine, and that was doubled now that he was awake. He arrived at the clinic to find the old man on his feet, dressed, and shooing away the doctor who was trying to perform some last minute tests on him. "Don't be too hard on him," Anton spoke up as he entered the room, putting on a small smile, "He worked hard to make sure you were alright. It's good to see you up and about again."

The intimidation tactics being employed on the doctor were already about to come to an end. So when Anton arrived in the doorway and chastised Seiju for giving the doctor a hard time the old man simply scoffed and made a gesture with his hand as if to wave the matter away as insignificant. "I just took a bump on the head is all. Doesn't take much work to let a sleeping man wake up." The words were cold and dismissive of the doctor's efforts to treat his patient, but they were only an exterior the old man held up. They hid the gratitude he felt towards the clinic for taking care of him, as well as the thanks he had for Anton whom was likely responsible for ensuring the silver haired marine saw treatment. "I'm glad to see you again too, kid. I've got some questions for you!" The seven foot tall man said as he stepped past Anton, ducking his head under the door frame as he reached back to drag the younger marine along by his ear or collar. Whichever Seiju could manage to pinch between his finger and thumb.

Seiju would attempt to "escort" Anton to another room in the clinic where they could talk alone. Letting go only once they were inside a room with some privacy. The old man wouldn't say a word to explain what he was doing by dragging Anton here or why he had to do so in such a rough manner until he sat down in a doctor's chair facing the young man. A pair of old eyes settled on Anton carefully and a less grumpy tone flowed from the old man's lips as he began to speak. "Well...Out with it. This island is too small and too low value for someone of your rank to be stationed here. Normally there would be no reason for a Commander to stick around for me to wake up either. So what's the story? You lose your ship in the storm and get washed ashore here or something?" It wasn't quite an interrogation, but the hardened blunt nature of the way Seiju spoke might have made it seem like one.

Anton was happy to see that Seiju was alright, but any sense of geniality faded the very instant the older man walked past him. Or, more importantly, when the older man grabbed him by the ear in an iron grip. The young commander yelped out as he was dragged along like a child to be punished. What did he do? Why was he doing this? It must have been some strange sight, to see a full grown man being dragged along by...another full grown man. He was about to demand what was going on when the two came to an empty room, Seiju releasing him and then sitting down. Anton couldn't help but feel like he was being interrogated for something, the way the old man spoke. Weren't they on the same side not that long ago? Just what the heck was going on?

"I wasn't stationed here," he replied flatly, rubbing his sore ear. Since Seiju was forgetting out the niceties, so will Anton, "I was sent to actually meet up with you, to escort you back to the Briss Kingdom, since you're rejoining the marines. The storm forced me to dock. To be honest, it was by chance that I met you here." He didn't really have anything else to say. That was all there was to it. Anton stood there in silence, looking down at the man sitting before him. He was half expecting him to suddenly start questioning him about other stuff, like there was some conspiracy or something going on. He really hoped Seiju wasn't like that.

"To meet up with me?"

Seiju spoke with his surprise at the news clear and evident upon his face. The old man's eyes widened and a brow raised inquisitively upon his visage. It was a bit strange to think someone would be sent out to meet him. Zed's doing? Or was this the initiative of someone at the Briss Kingdom branch? The old man closed his eyes and frowned as he leaned back in the chair. Seiju's arms slowly rose to his chest where they would cross as he sat there thoughtfully leaving the room in silence after a soft, "Hmmm..." Seconds would pass which felt like minutes, as the old man pondered to himself without the slightest consideration for how awkward it must have been for Anton. But the stillness would not last forever. Finally Seiju sighed and reached up to scratch his cheek with one finger as he opened one eye and looked up at Anton with a much more gentle gaze than he had been using just moments ago. "I apologize for my rudeness." Seiju stood from the chair and opened his other eye as he took a step forward to explain his previous behavior.

"I thought there might be some kind of operation going on here. Pirates in hiding, revolutionaries on the move...something like that. I thought you might have been trying to rope me into helping you deal with a pain in the ass problem so I was trying to look mean and turn you down."

The man's voice still had a rough tone that made it clear he was far from the gentlemanly type despite having the tact to apologize. It was the kind of stern and rigid voice you'd expect of a drill instructor with a dash of irresponsible laziness thrown in. "But to think they'd send someone out to get me...must have thought I was going to Briss in some dingy row boat! Bwahahahaha!" The old man had a good laugh at the thought, ending his amusement looking to Anton as he realized that he was droning on a bit. Seeing this, the old man shut up to let the boy get a word in. It might have appeared strange to Anton that Seiju mentioned not being in a row boat however. There were no new ships in the harbor after all.

Anton nodded as Seiju explained himself, the stern, hardness to him fading away somewhat. His explanation made sense to him. After all, he wouldn't want to get roped into a mission he didn't get assigned to. The two had already had enough trouble with having to deal with the corrupt priest and his goons (not that Anton regretted it. He would have stepped in whether ordered or not). "Well, we never actually got word of how you were coming in," Anton admitted. All that they had been told was that Seiju was coming in, not how. "So Captain Stelbourg figured it would be proper for me to meet up with you and escort you into the Briss Kingdom. After all, you are being brought back in as a commander." Anton gave a small, sheepish chuckle. That was probably also why he, a commander, was being sent in to do this mission. Give Seiju a proper welcome.

As the silence fell on the pair, something then occured to the red head. "So, how were you getting to the Briss Kingdom anyway? I didn't recall seeing any boats at the dock when I stopped here, and this island's a bit out of the way for a ferry, as far as I know. I mean, I figured you were here because of the storm, but how exactly did you end up here?" This was a little mystery that would continue to bother Anton until it was solved. Still, it beat murder mysteries. Those never seemed to end well.

The old man pursed his lips and made a face that said he was having trouble deciding on what to say in response to Anton's question. "Hmm...how to put it?..." The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then spoke with raised brows and a self questioning tone, "I flew?..." But the man immediately realized that was an insufficient answer and returned to a pondering frown until he sighed and simply decided that showing would be better than telling. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you with words. So I'll just have to take you to see me ride." The man expressed his surrender at offering a believable explanation by shrugging and showing empty palms. What was he supposed to say? "I rode a flying dragon-bird creature that is thought to be a legendary myth by many?" It was too farfetched of a tale to spin without anything backing it up. For now, Seiju simply led the way out of the clinic and out into the deluge.

It wouldn't take long to get soaked among the countless falling drops of water if Anton didn't have an umbrella, but the old man would seem to care little about the fact that rain was dousing his body. He walked casually through the storm as if it were perfect weather, enjoying the way it felt as though his body sucked up the rainfall rejuvenating him. The man was unaware of the fact that he was absorbing much of the water through his mushroom body and obliviously took Anton to...the butchers. "Sorry, I need to stop here for something." Seiju insisted before taking out what beli he had and spending it all on a wooden cart full of meat. The man had so much stacked onto the little wheeled box that it was enough to feed ten men with ease. "Alright, now we can go."

The old man set out into the rain once more hauling a cart full of meat behind him this time. A somewhat lengthy walk would take them to the island's edge, down a cliff path to the coast, and towards the cove where he had left Scylla to rest. When they arrived, the interior of the cave would be dark, the grey beast blending in with stone as it slept towards the back. "I'm baaaaack!~" Seiju called out as he let go of the cart yoke and peered into the shadows. "I got here riding her." Seiju said pointing into the abyss like darkness. There would be a short few seconds where Anton wouldn't be able to see much. Then lightning would crack and flash light across Scylla's form just as the Sennenryu opened her eyes making them gleam from reflecting the light.

Anton rose an eyebrow as Seiju explained how he got there. He flew? How did he do that? Did he have some sort of Devil Fruit that allowed him to fly? When the older man got up and walked out of the building, offering to show him, Anton followed. Unfortunately for the commander, he hadn't brought an umbrella with him when he came to the island, so in little time at all he was just as soaked as he was. He made a mental note to have a nice hot bath when he got back to the Briss Kingdom. Lord knows it was the least he deserved after all that had happened.

He was a little confused when Seiju stopped and got a massive cart full of meat. Wasn't the old man poor? If his meal when they first met was of any indication. So why was he getting all of this meat? Their destination, the coast, didn't seem to help in his confusion. As Seiju mentioned riding in on 'her', Anton tried to peer into the darkness, trying to see just what it was that the man had flown in on.

Then the lightning struck, and Anton saw just what was in the darkness. And he did what he would normally do in such a situation. He screamed and jumped back. "Holyhellwhatisthatthing!?" he yelled out. The marine was at a complete loss for words for what lay in the darkness. Those ominous glowing eyes didn't help either. Just what sort of beast were they bringing back with them to the Briss Kingdom?

The Sennenryu's eyes were still half closed from the tired grasp of sleep, but her sights settled on the startled marine with an observant gaze. Scylla attempted to discern the man's nature based on his body language and found Anton to be somewhat akin to a startled puppy. An an ironic twist, the pet assumed Aton was Seiju's pet and discarded his presence as being of any importance. The dragonic bird felt far more interested in the scent of fresh meat coming from the cart Seiju had brought with him. She was a little upset with the man and moved to bite him before eating the mean he'd brought. It wasn't a real attack of any sort, but she wanted to make it clear that she did not approve of being left here hungry and alone overnight.

The old man stepped aside to avoid Scylla's beak snapping shut around his body by a hair's breadth. "I know, I know! I didn't mean to leave you here. Some trouble found me..." He tried to explain the situation to the elderly avian but it was apparent to Seiju that Scylla had no intentions of listening. She had already begun to feast upon the meat that Seiju had brought along, her beak plucking one slab of beef from the card after another. Seiju sighed and shook his head abandoning the idea of trying to explain himself. Scylla would forgive him in her own time. The old swordsman turned his attention to Anton instead and apologized, "Sorry if she surprised you. This here's Scylla. She's a Sennenryu and my traveling companion." He had his hands on his hips has he declared this, feeling a tad proud that he had managed to befriend a legendary creature.

With the introductions out of the way, Seiju let his prideful pose fall into a more relaxed stance as he rubbed his chin and closed one eye using the other to peer at Anton carefully. "Now that I've explained how I got here, I was wondering if you could do me a favor..." Seiju's lips curled into a slight smile as he paused to await Anton's response. If the Commander expressed any interest in hearing Seiju's request he'd go on to say, "You seemed to have pretty good control over your devil fruit powers. To be honest, I don't even know what mine are or how to really use them. I was hoping you'd be willing to share some pointers."

While Anton was still surprised by what he was seeing, he relaxed slightly when Seiju went on to feed the draconic bird, speaking to it like an old friend. It gave the marine in the impression that Seiju had some control over it, and that it wasn't going to turn around and try to eat him, like most birds do when it comes to insects. Seiju introduced it as Scylla, and was the reason that he had gotten to the island. Well, guess riding on a giant bird certainly beat taking a dinky little rowboat.

He then asked him if he could do him a favour. Anton tilted his head to the side. "Erm, sure. What sort of favour?" With his response, Seiju went on to ask him if he had any advice on how to use Devil Fruit powers. So, he had a fruit of his own huh? Anton pondered for a moment, trying to figure out what to tell him. "Well, I'm not sure what to say. I know I had to adapt to mine rather quickly. It's almost second nature to me now. I guess the only thing I can say is, well, don't think about it too hard? At least, not at first. You just, well, get a feeling when it comes to what your powers are. Sorry I can't really be more helpful. Once you know what your powers are, you can go from there."