A Haunted Ship?! Gang-way! Mugiwara Pirates Ghost Closer to the Ghostly Galleon!

[gomu_ningen]

Who?: Monkey D. Luffy gomu_ningen and the other passengers aboard the Chasing Joy.
Where?: Out at sea.
When?: Evening of the 22nd.
What?: The crew aboard finally encounters the ghastly vessel much rumored
Warnings: Language, spooky things, possible harm and/or fatality to characters.

- - - - -

The brig sloop on which the crew had been sailing was finally out in the midst of Crytallis' vast, emerald-tinted waters. Surprisingly, their rations had maintained a steady decline, with enough food for several more weeks despite the ship's Captain insisting on a fourth portion with each meal. Nights had become uneventful, so much so that doubt had begun to fill what little belief that the ship they sought was truly noting more than rumor.

It was on the fourth evening, the sound of the cutting water splitting past the hull of the ship as they sailed. Despite the uneventful nights, the ship's Captain still sat atop the cartoon-ish figurehead of a Behemoth, watching out as a lone lantern lit their way forward as it swayed a few feet above Luffy's head.

He'd mistaken the light in the distance as a piece of the horizon, a glimmer of a distant star and nothing more. It isn't until his small wealth of intelligence discerns that the light was in fact growing closer, an approaching outline of an unsettling color that was more akin to a ripened lime than any sort of star in the sky. The young pirate jumps to his feet, holding to the mast line which connects to the bow of the ship. His eyes widen in the darkness, watching as in the distance he can make out the form of a ship cast in the light of the moon above. Turning his head over his shoulder, he barks up to the Crows Nest and to the rest of the ship.

"SHIP! THERE'S A SHIP! WE FOUND IT! HAH HA HA! WE FOUND THE GHOST SHIP!"

Comments

II. Boarding the Ghost Ship - MODs Post First!!

[gomu_ningen]

[nightofthethirteenmoogles]

The ship is as the rumors described it-- A man-o-war without a crew glowing with ethereal light. The are all around it is covered with it as far as the eye can see, and the seas are unchained. Before boarding it, they will have to approach it, which is possible the most dangerous part: the ghost ship will be firing at the Chasing Joy if it approaches too much, and even use mortar fire should the Chasing Joy try to board it from afar. On its end, the Ghost Ship nearly seems immune to damage.

Should they manage to board it, they'll find there is no crew aboard the ship, yet it is like if there were invisible people taking care of the normal tasks of a ship. The wheel is turning on its own as if there was a captain behind it, the sails are being attended to as if crewman were working on them, yet should the characters approach all these things, they will find nothing aside from eerie presences.

[thegreatninja]

"CRAP HOW DO WE GET ON?"

Yuffie thought to use the time mage skill to blink across except that was a lot of water between the two boats that would make it difficult. She really wished she knew more about boats right about now.

"Anyone?"

Thank goddess her stomach was feeling better but this was still a world of suck.

[dammit_flynn]

"How about jumping? Unless you're afraid of a little leap, Princess," Yuri replied with a grin as he turned towards her. Yuri had taken a few more steps ahead of Yuffie and now was staring at the ship in interest.

Honestly, he could care less what would happen since he had been on a ghost ship himself. Nothing good came out of it but he sure as hell enjoyed it for what it was worth. Also, it was nice to see Yuffie not ready to throw up whatever fluids were still inside her stomach.

He waved his hand dismissively before making preparations to do what he suggested.

[not_most_days]

A Man-o-war. It was a long time indeed since she boarded one of these. What she would give to have the Jackdaw and Queen Anne's Revenge backing them up right now. Then again, as individuals these Heroes were as strong as both ships crews. She trusted in them.

But having some cannons trained on this thing still would have been nice.

"Captain. Be sure to keep your course erratic. That will keep us safe from the mortars. Once we get close enough we should be able to swing over and climb up to the deck." The ship was definitely taller than their own. She bit her lip to stop herself from calling orders for the crew to get ropes at the ready. This was Luffy's ship, not her own, even if she knew what she was doing.

[zodiac_brave]

Naval warfare was certainly not Ramza's specialty, but he figured he should try to help generate a solution to their current dilemma.

"Does anyone have the skills to make a shield between us and the enemy ship? A swim across would be too dangerous. We need to get closer before we board."

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie will raise her hand.

"I have time mage... they can teleport in battle." Being shot out by cannon's sounded like battle.

"CAN I STOP THE SHIP!" Her stop spell might be to weak for a whole ship. She's never really tried that before though in her world the materia works on a house with legs.

[victorix]

Leaping down from the netting that clung to the crows nest, Rikku stepped in closer to the crew.

"I have time mage as well."

Glancing over at the large vessel, her mind quickly wandered over to where Yuffie's was. Even combining the two of them -- would it be enough to stop the ship? "Perhaps we don't need to stop the entire ship, what if we just try freezing the sails and rudders? It couldn't go much of anywhere then, and we wouldn't have to use up so much magic?"

ugh sorry i'm late

[charming_jerk]

Johnny had been watching the ghost ship closely from the edge of their ship while everyone discussed tactics. He feels like he brought along the wrong Job skills for this fight. He walked over to join the others.

"Time Mage here, too. And Ghostbuster. Maybe if all try usin' the same spell on it at once? Slow, if not Stop."

[dammit_flynn]

"Sure if that's what we want to work with. What does the captain say about this?" He replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Whatever they decide to do. They better do it quickly since there wasn't much time anyway. The thing was moving about and discussing how to do it wasn't going to get things done any faster.

Of course, Yuri was never the tactical type. He's rather reckless and it seemed like the boat full of people were not reckless like he was.

[zodiac_brave]

"Perhaps if the time mages cast Slow all together on the ship's canons, we will be able to maneuver close enough to board without taking too much fire? It seems worth trying, before we go any further and risk being sunk."

Ramza had a feeling the ship could not be so easily Stopped, but a concentrated spell on a single part of the ship might have a better chance of sticking.

[needsteaplz]

"If I had my Dragoon job equipped, jumping wouldn't be a problem," Saori sighed. Ghostbuster was a must for the quest but now she was starting to question the idea of combining it with her Ninja job.

"On the other hand, it would be too risky for just one of us to jump over there now. I don't suppose we have any skills that can ensure the spells can stick?"

[gomu_ningen]

No sooner had the group begun to speak about their plans, Luffy was already starting to back up against the deck doors to give himself plenty of room to run.

"Adventure! Here we come~!"

He starts off running, the long length of the deck acting like a runway for him to take off from. With arms behind him, the speed in which he runs leaves a small trail of dust behind him as he approaches the end of the deck, just past the main mast and on to the bow of the boat.

"NORMAL~ NORMAL~ ROCKET!"

[thegreatninja]

"Luffy you idiot!"

Yuffie didn't wait, she ran after Luffy. Her speed not as fast without her Ninja abilities equipped but she was skilled at jumping. She following after him, planning to blink the rest of the distance while pulling luffy along if they happen to fall short of their jump.

They weren't to far away now but it was still a decently long jump.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

"Luffy!" Jack's hand automatically flies out, but he is of course too far away to reach Luffy. No, there's only one way he can help, and so can everyone else. "Better start casting!"

Which, for Jack, involves starting to move in a dance as if he had arms around a partner, but the Slow Dance should affect the Galleon in the way that everyone was hoping.

Meanwhile he can only watch as their self-proclaimed Captain does something foolhardy and rash. "Yes, Gwen, I know how ironic this moment is, shut up," muttered under his breath as he keeps moving.

[not_most_days]

Mary was likewise using Time Mage and Ghost Buster, but before she could say anything she was interrupted by Luffy running across the deck.

"DAMN FOOL!" Still up in the rigging she tugged on some ropes, trying to adjust the sails to give Luffy the extra distance or handholds he'd need to clear his jump. Once she was sure he didn't kill himself she'd swing over to the other ship.

[victorix]

Rikku's eyes went wide as Luffy left his crew in the dark to take a leap of faith over the churning waters. Unbelievable! Could there actually be a leader out there more incompetent than Brother?

Dashing across the boat in a flurry of motion with a haste boost, she grabs hold of one of the ropes and swings herself out after the silhouette of Yuffie and the foolhardy pirate. Blinking along in the night sky like skipping film with her time mage abilities. Idiot Luffy!

Barley just learned how to swim, leaping over rough waters like this! Rikku would make sure the waves didn't claim her friends if they could not clear the jump.

[dammit_flynn]

"Well there goes the boss," Yuri whistled watching Luffy leap off the boat and into the sky. Well, it as time to get busy himself. He grinned as he took a good few steps back before going to leap for himself. Dangerous maneuvers were his thing so having to jump that far was really nothing. He would make it, spells or not since everyone seemed to be following suit to Luffy.

"See you all on the flip side."

As everyone made their move, Yuri leaped as far as he could with his current job classes. They weren't awesome but they were good enough to give him the extra boost. He also knew a few tricks to getting over there, utilizing the ship.

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza just watched in mute horror as Luffy threw himself at the armed ship and his crew followed.

"Father above, please pity these idiots and lend them your protection," he murmured.

He looked toward the remaining crew. "Should we move our ship closer to distract the Ghost Ship, or keep back for when we need to retreat." Ramza figured that leaving an escape route would be best.

[needsteaplz]

"It'll take more than gods to save them from their own recklessness" Even if she had her godly powers back, she doubted it would be enough to save the advancing party.

Saori's eyes twitched as a good chunk of the crew followed the captain. Well, this escalated rather quickly.

"Given how reckless our captian is, they'll keep them busy but we should be there for support. I think the bigger question is did anyone who just left have the Ghostbuster job on them?"

[charming_jerk]

"So, uh. Who here can steer the ship?" Definitely not Johnny. He looked at the others left on the Chasing Joy with a shrug.

He holds up his proton gun in Saori's direction. "Me. I'm ready to go. Ya want me to stay on this side or hop over with them?"

Sorry! Late to the party.

[ninjainviolet]

Sheena had been scouting the Ghost Ship from any angles that she could as they moved near it, trying to figure out a way on board. Of course, leave it to their "captain" to put into practice what she was going to suggest.

But, ironically, not as recklessly.

Shaking her head, she hears the question about the Ghostbuster job and points to her proton pack. "Well, if they don't have one now, they're gonna have one soon!"

And with her Time Mage job equipped as well, Sheena's able to speed herself up to make that flying leap on to the other ship.

Re: Sorry! Late to the party.

[gomu_ningen]

Heavy cannon-fire begins to rain down upon the ship like a storm of metal and fire. The main guns of the Flying Dutchman sound off as if a series of fireworks had been ignited in a row. It is unfortunate timing that Luffy had made his attempt to make his way across to the haunted vessel, leaving the ship vulnerable to the barrage of cannon balls. He'd put his trust into the crew, and it would be their next actions that decide the fate of the gifted ship.

More cannons fire on the approaching ship, the larger vessel making a bank to the right so that their port side cannons begin to fire upon their target with impeccable accuracy. Splinters fly as the behemoth-headed boat undertakes the numerous holes from the other ship unloading its bewitched magazine. The hull begins to resemble a wood-stained swiss cheese, perforated and punctured to where it was beginning to take on the sea's endless supply of salt water.

Re: Sorry! Late to the party.

[not_most_days]

With the cannons firing, Mary pulled back on her plan to go to the other ship just yet. If that fool was going to abandon his own ship in his eagerness that was on him, but she still wanted to avoid a watery death, or at least have a way home after this. Swinging down from the rigging, Mary landed on the deck and took the helm. She quickly turned the wheel, trying to turn the ship away from the worst of the cannon fire.

"EVERYONE BRACE! GET THOSE CANNONS READY! RAMZA! JOHNNY! GET BELOWDECKS AND SEE TO THE DAMAGE!" She looked across the deck to someone she knew she could count on. "Saori! Take the wheel! I'll give you as much sail as I can!"

[dammit_flynn]

"Whoa what a greeting this is!"

Yuri shouted amused as he moved to dodge the canons that were suddenly being fired at him as he made an attempt to land on the other side. Now that was one wake up call. He used his sword sword to help him move around acrobatically, in hopes of not getting tackled down with the canons as he was making his way over. Yeah, he's reckless as hell and he doesn't care.