[voice] A stormy question

[justicereigns]

[Hello Luceti, is the nice little ice storm distracting you from post-Valentine's woes? Don't worry, here's a grumpy marine asking questions to painfully reminds you all.]

Seeing as we're all stuck inside -- [Once again, an usually feminine voice from Smoker's journal account.] -- I've got a question for everyone affected by the event.

Are there normally lines you won't cross in relationships that the Malnosso seem to cross for you? Or do they seem to take those into consideration instead? Since they seem to know us pretty well, it begs the question whether they're using our weaknesses, or if it's completely random.

And if anyone needs help out there in the storm, let me know. This weather is good practice.

[ooc: and feel free to threadjump like the dickens. It might be the only time Smoker keeps quieter than not, seeing as he's a girl now.]

Comments

[justicereigns]

So they all say.

There is, though I couldn't tell you the science behind the curse. It used to be believed that devil himself cursed people for using one of his powers and dragged them down to the ocean. It's still a curse in other ways as well.

[redjacketthief]

"Dragged down to the ocean." Is that literal or metaphorical? Cause I'm not seeing too many drawbacks--you can go all smokey, temperature doesn't bug you...

[justicereigns]

Literal. You drown. And you can't swim, even if you used to know how, you won't be able to move enough for it.

[redjacketthief]

Well...that is a curse in a world dominated by islands then!

[justicereigns]

Exactly. And some people believe a devil fruit makes a person evil or at least more violent since that kind of strength will get used, or stolen. You can never get rid of a devil fruit, you have it for life, which also means no one else can have that type so long as you live. And of course that kind of power draws someone who would to use it for their own gain.

[redjacketthief]

So it's something you have to carry forever, pros and cons alike. Huh... you seem like the kind of guy who won't let the draw get the better of you, but it would be very tempting for most people.

[justicereigns]

Correct. Well, you can only have one, or you'll explode. But there are a lot of reasons to want one, or not want one.

[redjacketthief]

It is tempting, but explodey death is a deterrent for many people, even me. I like living too much.

But, other than the swimming part, you seem to have gotten off pretty well. Temperatures don't bother you, normal things probably don't hurt you. Sounds lucky, anyway.

[justicereigns]

It takes practice as well.

[And have you noticed the two cigars Lupin? People get affected a lot by their devil fruits.] And yet at the same time, too much use of it can turn you less human. Especially for zoans, but even for logia like me.

[redjacketthief]

[More unfamiliar terms. Lupin furrows his brows as he processes this, becoming more and more curious.]

Interesting~ Are you sure there aren't any books around here on all of this? I don't want to bug you, but I'm intrigued. It sounds almost like a fantasy novel, like Waterworld meets...meets...Gremlins, only without the mogwai.

--that's more works of fiction. Films. Plays recorded remotely and distributed for profit.

[justicereigns]

It's not like my world has encyclopedias on all the devil fruit types.

You might find a few books though. What is it you want to know?

[redjacketthief]

Dunno if Pops told you, but I'm kind of an info geek. Need to be for my job. This conversation? I'm pinged.

I'd like to learn as much as I can, while I can. Any one of us could go home tomorrow, and there's no guarantee we'll remember anything when we do. This is a rare opportunity~

[justicereigns]

I'll survive. [He'd apologize for making him curious except, a) he's not that nice b) everything makes Smoker a little curious. Though probably not nearly as much as Lupin. In any case, that's as best to an open invitation to try to answer questions as Smoker can give.]

Be more specific then, Lupin. "My whole world" is about as big a topic as your whole world, I assume, and I don't know what you know already or not.

[redjacketthief]

[There's a chuckle on the other end--oh, he knows he needs to hold back, to not be overwhelming, but he doesn't want to.]

I only know for certain what you've told me. It sounds like there's more than a few people from your world, and I may have spoken with them, but I don't know one way or another.

For starters: who the hell is this straw hat you keep comparing me too, and why are you comparing me to a guy who can win a hot dog eating contest?

[justicereigns]

[Hides a snicker at the last part.]

Straw Hat Luffy is a rubber brat. My prey. Monkey D. Luffy. He seeks to become King of the Pirates. He declared war on the World Government, he's the son of the Revolutionary Dragon, little brother to one Portgas D. Ace. His crimes are pretty numerous, and while not as many as you'd expect from a pirate, they're still much more severe.

[OH and he saved Smoker's life :|] If I'm like Zenigata, [Which Smoker is.] then he's like you. There are other ways too. You both look like monkeys. You have different styles though. He's more.... direct than you I suppose. He doesn't bother hiding what he's doing or why, just does it. If there's someone he doesn't like, he'll say it to their face. [Or if there's someone he does like he'll tell them too. Like with Smoker.] Neither of you have enough sense to avoid danger though.

1/2

[redjacketthief]

Gee, I look like a monkey now? That's nice~

[redjacketthief]

Wait--your Portgas is Ace? I spoke to him once then, December sometime. It was about fireworks and pirates, a little. Mostly pirates.

...but there's other pirates here too, like Jack. Surely they're not all from your world!

[justicereigns]

[Annoyed. So Lupin does know Portgas. Fuck his life.]

Yeah, he's made of fire so fireworks would be his thing. And not all the pirates are, just many of them. You want a list? I haven't updated it since I got back though, still working on it.

[redjacketthief]

[There's no reason to worry--why would Lupin tell? It would only ruin his current plans and likely get his ass beat by Smoker at the next possible opportunity. Besides, it takes more than one conversation for Lupin to call someone a friend.]

No need; I'm good at finding people with bent morals. I've probably spoken with a few and not realized it. Like attracts like, you know.

You keep mentioning revolutionaries, you mentioned that there's a lack of historical records, and justice comes up a lot. Is there something up with your govermnent system? [Not that he cares to try to do anything about it. It was just getting info while the getting was good.]

[justicereigns]

[It would definitely get Lupin beat, but it's embarrassing (more) because Lupin knows of who he speaks. Which negates some of the bartender effect.][Pauses, he has to think it over very quickly.]

All right, the World Government is the governing body of most of the world. Individual countries can't handle pirates on their own, there are too many and they would flee jurisdiction even if a country was strong enough to have a naval force to fight them. There are a few island countries, like Wano, that didn't join the World Government and have always kept it out. However, there are 170 countries joined and the leaders meet every 7 years to discuss world problems. There are also the tenryuubito and world government leaders.

The marines are the soldier force of the world government. The fleet admiral is at the top, then 3 admirals, then vice admirals, rear admirals, and so forth.

Justice is the business of the marines. [Shows off the back of his jacket.] We capture pirates because they raze towns, pillage, and I'm sure you can guess what else.

Dragon the Revolutionary is the most wanted man in the world. His goal is to overthrow the world government, and he so far does it by convincing countries to rebel. The West Blue is almost completely his domain now.

[redjacketthief]

That sounds a little like the UN there, but the ICPO is more of a police force than a military force.

...Has nobody questioned why Dragon does what he does? Your government sounds moderately like a Police State, and in my world those generally don't work well, or for long.

[justicereigns]

So I've heard.

Questioned? We know why. My world is more of an oligarchy. [While there is the void century and certain things banned by knowledge, they are supposedly things that would destroy the whole world if pirates or even certain marines got their hands on them. The newspapers still have mostly free speech, enough to embarrass the fuck out of the government politically, but the government just doesn't tell them anything, nor let others like Smoker or the marines tell them anything either.] He wants people to choose their own destiny...

[And sometimes Smoker can see the merit of that. He doesn't like being told which way to go, and then there's the whole issue with Portgas he sort of didn't bring up, but that bothers him.] But throwing off the World Government... the hell does he intend to replace it with? Anarchy might bring freedom for some, but it'll kill a lot of people.

[redjacketthief]

Everyone has their own definition of how the world should work, really. It shouldn't be on any one person or group to decide that, though. [Says the man who lives and thrives on freedom in any and every sense. The idea of such a thing bothers him deeply, but he has no desire to ever lead a revolution.

That takes a special kind of man. That man isn't him.]

Death, while not ideal, is likely inevitable in any event really. I'm not one to talk--my world's had people of a specific region attempting genocide on eachother for centuries. It always fails.

Such a system, though. That would create a lot of criminals...

[justicereigns]

Agreed. World Government nor Revolutionaries.

Tch... There are problems with the World Government. Humans are infallible, and so too will be anything they create. However, we don't have wars between countries anymore. Even with the amount of piracy, there are ways to deal with them -- as I did in Loguetown, and other marines do regularly. Simply having a World Government doesn't create more criminals. The amount of piracy didn't get so big until Roger sent them all trying to reach the end of the world and find One Piece.

Poverty, rebellion, lack of options, these things create criminals. People seeking power by any means with no regard to justice; that does it most of all.

Whatever problems the government has, a complete overhaul isn't how to fix them. Sometimes an individual country can rebel and turn into something far better for itself. Other times it just makes it worse.

[redjacketthief]

And this is why I don't get into politics, Cap'. Too complicated, too many variables that could go wrong if you look at them funny. Admittedly? That sounds like a pretty interesting place to be. [he didn't understand the context of One Piece, but it had a mythic ring to it, of the sort that would attract any number of ancient heroes.]

It's good to know that some things remain universal. Politics are complicated. It makes you understand why people don't trust the ones who play that game.