Midnight Watch with Mikami - Fireside Memories

[Magimasterkarp]

Dark night choked the forest, and gale winds whipped the surf against the shoreline. But a small bay shielded a bonfire against the elements, a speck of warmth and safety in the wilderness.
The Sweet Pirates ship, the Cotton Blossom, was laying at anchor, gently bobbing on the waves that managed to make their way into the natural harbor they had sheltered in for the night. Their Captain Sweet Einsauer had left the ship for a town on the other side of the island with a few crew members, and the rest of the crew had nothing to do but hide for a few days.
Some of the louder characters had been kicked off the ship for the night watch to ensure maximum night rest. Mikami (@Einsauer) , who rocked the boat every time he moved and could wake the dead with a whisper had just ripped out and thrown a small fir tree onto the fire. The wet needles hissed as they hit the embers, promising to produce a whole lot of smoke. This prompted Johnny Brathering to scooch out of the way of the wind. He elbowed Mikami in the gut.
"Oi, watch what you burn, the smoke plume is gonna be visible for kilometers, it is. You're always so careless!"
The crackling firelight illuminated the other members of this night shift, Krabby Jr. (@Emperor Cross), demoted to watch duty for being a nuisance, and Johnny B. Goode, the rocking surfer, sitting on the beach.

 

[Einsauer]

Mikami's toothy grinned glistened against the firelight as he approached with a piece of firewood he had freshly uprooted, complete with deep-green bristles. The ground light rumbled with every clumsy step he took with the small fir tree firmly planted in his meaty mitts, sparks jumping from the fire with every rumble. The massive man looked down at the pitiful fire and dropped his freshly acquired pine tree into the starving flames far below him. Quickly, the little green needles let loose a thick black smoke that formed into a pillar rising up into the sky- the wet wood crackling and spewing as it rapidly dried under the intense heat.

He elbowed Mikami in the gut.
"Oi, watch what you burn, the smoke plume is gonna be visible for kilometers, it is. You're always so careless!"

"OHO!" Mikami chortled, his dopey grin more prominent (maybe menacing to the untrained eye) with the firelight hitting the bottom of his face. "SORRY, LITTLE MAN!" His usual maximized volume filling the crisp night air around them. As the heat rose to meet his fat face he closed his eyes blissfully while still somehow screaming. "YOUR FIRE WAS TOO TINY!"
He looked around at the others within the fire's powerful light, one man with an eyepatch from his original troupe of bandits- he knew him by the name Roach, he saw the friendly surfer now suddenly unusually grim whilst tuning his guitar, he saw the bright red shell of the little crab glistening against the firelight.
"OHO!" He chortled once more as an idea struck him, he struck his palm excitedly as he announced: "I JUST GOT A BIG IDEA! LET'S TELL SCARY STORIES!"

"There's nothing scarier than being on a boat with you all." Remarked Roach casually, but with an emotion that hinted towards somewhere between humor and grim reality. He looked up at the enormous human mocking fear down at him, meeting it with an empty expression before sighing and leaning back onto broken barrel to sit and drink watered down rum.

@Emperor Cross @Magimasterkarp

 

[Magimasterkarp]

As the crackling flames ate through the wood and spewed bright sparks into the wet darkness, Johnny Brathering, his red hair almost as bright as the campfire, eyed the eyepatched pirate across from him.
"Youse were with Mikami back then, wasn't you?"
He turned towards a few of the newer Sweet Pirates, like fishmen Krabby and (other) Johnny, with a cocky grin. "These guys were pretty scary themselves back then. They'd nearly done in the great Johnny B., heartthrob of Kilkenny." He'd struck a galliant pose, arms wide. "It was 40 against one, after all."
He craned his neck towards the side of the island where the captain of the Sweet Pirates was on some errant. From their little isolated bay, they couldn't even see the lights of the city.
"What irony, that we'd be on the same crew now, with such a nice colleen as our captain." he reflected.
A swabby stopped staring at the campfire, a recent recruit that hadn't found her sea legs yet and was allowed to stay on land for the night. She timidly waved the stick she'd poked around in the fire with between the red haired boy and the fishman musician.
"Aren't you both called Johnny B.? How can we tell which Johnny B. someone is talking about?"
Having spoken up, her gaze hastily fled back to the flames in front of her.
"We should just go with Red Johnny and Blue Johnny." came a suggestion from some other night watchman huddled around the fire.
@Einsauer @Emperor Cross

 

[Einsauer]

@Magimasterkarp @Emperor Cross <-Post you lazy hoe!

"Aren't you both called Johnny B.? How can we tell which Johnny B. someone is talking about?"
Having spoken up, her gaze hastily fled back to the flames in front of her.
"We should just go with Red Johnny and Blue Johnny." came a suggestion from some other night watchman huddled around the fire.

The surfer fishman looked up from his absent-minded guitar tuning at the mention of his name. His eyes, hidden by sunglasses were quickly refocused on the conversation being had at the crackling campfire. He smiled at the suggestion and strummed his still slightly-out-of-tune guitar. "Johnny B. Goode, you can call me Kahuna Extraordinaire, also known as the King of the Beach~" He said with his signature, overly perfect, smile. "~chaaa. Dibs on Red Johnny~"

"Youse were with Mikami back then, wasn't you?"
He turned towards a few of the newer Sweet Pirates, like fishmen Krabby and (other) Johnny, with a cocky grin. "These guys were pretty scary themselves back then. They'd nearly done in the great Johnny B., heartthrob of Kilkenny." He'd struck a galliant pose, arms wide. "It was 40 against one, after all."

Roach nodded a bit solemnly reflecting on the inaccurate number- they had lost an unfortunate amount of comrades on these seas, over their short career piracy... But he accepted the compliment with a smile and then looked to the giant oaf that used to lead the obscure bandit group.
Mikami towered over his fellow crew cheerfully, even when leading his roving party of bandits he never seemed to lose that signature dopey grin or boisterous chortle for very long.
"OHO- OHO OHO HO HO!!" The ginger-headed giant began to the panicked dismay of the startled crewmates. "OHO OHO!!..."

...

"...OHO!!!" Finished laughing an ever-so-slightly younger Mikami, covered in an ill-fitted golden crown meant for a normal sized head. The giant man was adorned in whatever jewelry could be dangled from his giant body. He sat in a bright (but soon to be darkening) environment just outside of a small tavern that his bandit party currently inhabited. His bandit underlings all cheerfully danced and partied about within the tavern, complete devoid of its usual bargoers. The barman behind the counter stood bravely, but confident with an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't ransack the place in exchange for a place to drink and carry on.
Mikami bellowed out for another keg of ale to be rolled out the door to him, only to resort to begging when threatened with being cut off for the evening by his underling: a man named Roach (complete with two eyes). "COME OOOOON!!" He whined in a voice both threatening and goofy. "I'M STILL BIG TIME THIRSTY!"

​

The bar's inhabitants once more exploded with laughter, all completely unaware that they were being used as small scene-setting elements in a plot device.

 

[Magimasterkarp]

Narration
"Johnny speaking"
Johnny narrating

"Johnny B. Goode, you can call me Kahuna Extraordinaire, also known as the King of the Beach~" He said with his signature, overly perfect, smile. "~chaaa. Dibs on Red Johnny~"

Red haired Johnny, who had been gesticulating wildly - enacting some fantastical scenario seemingly including a lot of swordplay, while under his breath cooing in falsetto "Oh Johnny, you're so handsome and brave! Swoon!~" and then answering himself in his own voice "No worries, captain. I'll..." - stopped dead in his tracks.

"You want me to be blue Johnny?" Confusion spread across his face. Below his red beard his mouth opened once, twice, speechless. Finally he managed: "I thought my hair was green!"
The pirate next to him chortled "-What?"
"Yerra, Moonshine made me colorblind years ago. They do be telling me all the time 'With hair like that, he must be from the Emerald Island for sure for sure.'" He turned to the rocking surfer. "Alright, you can be Johnny Red. Label me Blue, if that's the color of the Shamrock."

"OHO- OHO OHO HO HO!!"

Thunderous laughter rumbled across their little campsite, seemingly even shaking the surrounding foliage as every small animal in the vicinity fled in terror. A door opened on the Cotton Blossom and someone shouted "Be quiet out there!"
"Haha, the oaf was laughing like that when I met himself the first time as well. Woke me up, too. We were in some bockety bar on Yomama Island..."

We flash back to that fateful day, when the bandits were partying at the Busy Street Inn. Usually a quiet corner of town, today business was booming. Or at least Mikami's voice was. Before Roach cut off the giant's drinking, two of the bartenders had rolled out another barrel of ale.
"So you don't want this anymore?" one asked while he slapped the barrel.
With a *plop*, the lid of the barrel fell out, and the red contents spilled out onto the floor. "ooOOOHhhh!" moaned the heap that slowly pulled itself together into the shape of a young man with red hair and mustache and a red vest.

...where I made my dynamic entry. In front of my raptured audience I introduced myself by saying...

"Hurgh" The youth managed, as he hurled, with his inner ear and his liver joining together in protest after being rolled in the barrel, which had been full the day before.

... well, it doesn't matter what I said. I was after hiding from someone, and these guys flushed me out. The big guy wasn't exactly quiet...

"And then what happened? Did you help hide him, Roach?"

 

[Emperor Cross]

#
The little crab was sitting by the fireside, not understanding what he was doing there. These people, these strangers, each in turn seemed to be sharing their memories of being cabin boys. What was he doing with these strangers? Out of the corner of his eye, he watched them : wrinkled clothes, dirty, covered in stains; it smelled musty, it smelled bad. These people were never clean; they could never mingle with the high society of Fish-Man Island. Crabie was not from the same world as them; he knew it, he felt it, he did not belong there.

He had set out on an adventure to earn money to open a restaurant, to find worthy cooks, men ready to do anything to raise their business to the top of the hierarchy of his seas. So how was it that he had left East Blue and now found himself among these strangers? He wanted to run away, he wanted to act, but our little crab had never been particularly brave, nor strong, for that matter. Maybe he could negotiate his release?

He heard his name in memories he himself could not recall. In his head, he kept asking one question: What the hell am I doing here? #

 

[Einsauer]

The eye-patched man watched the uncomfortable crab shift around in the harsh firelight, Roach shook his head as a question was directed towards him, pulling him from his train of thought:

"And then what happened? Did you help hide him, Roach?"

He scratched at his head and responded simply: "Well, not right away..."

...


Roach stared out from within the building, brows furrowed as the drunken man spilled out of the barrel then spilled out his guts. Mikami stared down in disbelief, his usually large grin was replaced with a small concerned frown; his eyes looked up to his squad of bandits in the bar who seemed just as puzzled as he was. Suddenly the tipsy Mikami scowled down at the little pest stealing his booze and disrupting his fun.

"THAT WASN'T FOR YOU!" The pseudo-giant bellowed. "YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!"

The ginger-haired goliath brought forth his massive clenched mitt, ready to send Johnny Brathering directly into his crew. "WAIT!" Screamed Roach over the crowd of nervous murmuring. The giant fist stopping mere meters from the intoxicated stranger, the rush of cool, charged air meeting Johnny's sweaty and booze-soaked skin. Roach hopped over a fallen stool and rushed out the door and grabbed hold of the red-haired man gently. He began to moved him around the giant away from the bar carefully, making sure the stranger didn't fall whenever he stumbled.
He released the man when they had found themselves on the opposite side of the now-turned Mikami. Roach took a few steps back and then looked at Mikami.

"Okay- You're good." He said with a mildly cheerful bluntness. Mikami's fist immediately extended back outward, rethrowing the same exact punch he had nearly finished a few seconds before.

[dmg and stats edit incoming tomorrow, too sleepy for math atm]​

Mikami swung without the intent to kill, but sometimes it could be hard to tell- especially when you were the one expected to survive his overwhelming brute strength. Those within the bar winced as they prepared to witness a fist the size of a small shed meet with wobbly flesh.

@Magimasterkarp @Emperor Cross

 

[Magimasterkarp]

Narration
Johnny Narrating the flashback to the campfire group
Narration for the present campfire time
"Johnny speaking"

Spoiler: Johnny's stats

Level 49 x 5 = 245
Human (+3 Strength, +3 Speed, +3 Vitality) x4
Strength: 44 +12 +5 = 61
Speed: 49 +12 = 61
Movement Speed - 61
Reaction Speed - 61
Vitality: 49 +12 = 61
Durability - 61
Stamina - 61
Martial Arts: 66
Rapier - 61
Gunslinging - 71
Haki: 31
Armament: 61 (offensive)
Unused: 6

Bleary eyed, Johnny looked around. He was awakened roughly, surrounded and out in the open. So far the morning was shaping up exactly as he had feared last night. He tried to muster some snark for his would be captors, when his thoughts were interrupted.

"THAT WASN'T FOR YOU!" The pseudo-giant bellowed. "YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!"

There was... what was that thing? Something large and glistening had produced a noise like an avalanche that shook his inner ear and rattled his bones. He blinked away the booze that was still dripping from his eyebrows in an effort to get his eyes to focus on the thing, and suddenly found himself faced with a giant fist! It had come right at him but had abruptly stopped after some more loud shouting.
The shock and the cool wind caused by the aborted attack finally helped Johnny wake up fully. These people were bandits!
Relieved, he let himself be led away by the kind man that had stopped the green haired half giant in the crown from hitting him.

"Okay- You're good."

"Phew, I'm glad ye aren't with the marines. I saw..."
All the lights that had slowly been turning on in his head were knocked out again in an instant, when the bejeweled brute finished what he started moments earlier and sent him flying with an enormous punch.

Yeah, we didn't really start on the correct foot. First thing this kid did was smack me right in the face! But I didn't even flinch!

​

When he came to again, he found himself face to face with a garden gnome in someone's front lawn. It was beginning to feel like a bad idea to open his eyes ever again. But even closing them again didn't bring any relief to the pain, quite the opposite. Every part of his face hurt, and he was sure his nose must be broken.
When he got up, at least he found some of his snark again.
"You hit like a girl!" is what I told him.
His hand found the hilt of his rapier at his waist, an action that could have seemed threatening, had he not been leaning on a pink lawn flamingo for support.

In the present, Johnny touched the blue war paint on his face. He grinned at the crab fishman. @Emperor Cross
Your fellow Sweet Pirates are men of passion, after all. We're all hardened criminals! I bet a punch from Mikami would have sent a kid like you flying.

Further downtown, a group of marines were alerted by the racket caused by Mikami. They stopped showing around hand drawn pictures of Johnny, and made off to check out the situation.