Broken Reflections (Tamsyn)

Inherited Intellect & Descendant of Mavis Weekly Training
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It was her birthday at least that’s what her master had told her a special occasion as she was now old enough to stop leeching off of his graciously provided food and shelter and start actually earning her worth. It was the death of something but the birth of something else, the knowledge of what she was in the eyes of all of those around her. She wasn’t free to chose what she wanted out of life but when she was that young she didn’t understand her lack of agency she merely thought that it was the norm for all children to work as she did. Scrubbing decks, washing clothes, fetching rum and packing barrels these were the tasks of her early childhood and if not for her natural intellect she would not even be the person that she was today. You see sometimes despite the circumstances a person can strive to be better than what other say they are, one instance of that was her teaching herself how to read by stealing books and then using words while she spoke and suffering cuffs to the head as they told her that she used them wrong. Those corrections would happen often enough that she was barely able to read the books she had pilfered but her true education came at the hands of various whores when the ship stopped at ports. She greedily accepted any help she could get at that point and using pity was not something she was adverse too so long as she got something out of it.

From the whores she learned how to properly string together words and her reading level jumped by leaps and bounds as occasionally one that wasn’t busy would sit with her and teach her properly only to stop halfway when work was found for her. Still with these lessons she learned enough that she could appreciate poetry and music but more importantly she could read newspapers and get knowledge of the world around her. She unders old what she was for the first time when she was 6, and realized that her lot in life was to be a slave and that because of that she could not have any choice in what she wanted unless she took it herself. As such she began to take steps into regaining that freedom that she had never known not with malice as she didn’t fault her masters as that was just how the world was someone in power and someone beholden to it. No she realized that she could have power over those who were just like her and use the, to improve her own standing in the eyes of the masters. It started with minor things, preforming her duties mor willingly and ruining the chores of others when she could get away with it. This worked for a time until she began to he resented and after the first time she was “taught a lesson” she poised a question to one of her masters who seemed to be the most skilled at fighting with hair a similar color to her own. She asked for the first time having never asked a thing from her masters ever since she was old enough to question things and as such her request was granted after all a slave that was content was therefore less likely to rebel.

The request was to learn how to fight and what she didn’t know was that it was always the plan to teach her after all she wasn’t just some run of the mill slave but instead one taken from the hands of their greatest enemy a final fuck you to attempt to break her where fists and steel had failed. As such she wasn’t just taught she was taught well and she found that she had a natural grasp over movements and the things that she was taught felt as natural to her as breathing. She didn’t question what she was taught due to this and when she successfully used it to brutalize those like her who had thought she was below even them, she was content with absorbing everything she was taught like a sponge. She would practice on her own in secret tweaking things so that it fit her better and not simply copying the way her tutor fought as that wasn’t what felt right and as such she made her lessons truly her own even if it was merely basic kata which couldn’t truly be called techniques. Still this was a foundation and the most important lesson she got was that she could build upon herself and through force she could increase her worth.

As such she did just that practicing, fighting and bleeding until she cowed everyone around her age group and ruled over them with an iron fist letting out her frustrations upon them just as those above her did to her. A trickle down effect which probably made their lives even more miserable but none of them were able to topple her to improve their own worth and thus worthless they stayed. They were weak, and she was strong but not strong enough to best those older than her, not yet at least. This preserverance was something innate to her something she was potentially did inherit from her parents unknown to her as they were. But it was something that she could work with something that she would use as a tool to improve herself within the limits of her station. At this young age she didn’t understand that even her station could be changed through it, merely that her worth in the eyes of the masters was not set in stone and thus she should always strive to be the most worthy of their praise. It was something she wouldn’t learn for some more years but by then the building blocks of what would define her were already set in stone. She was after all a product of her circumstances despite how she thrived, that was something that only came about due to her in born talent she realization of superior stock in comparison to her fellow slaves.

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The lessons under her tutor were the highlights of her childhood only because they only lasted a couple of weeks during which she was exempt from the usual chores and discipline that would usually be associated with her worth. It futher soured the relations between herself and the other slaves but perhaps that was the design to make her isolated and thus hold more adoration for her masters who at the very least awkwnowedged her. She realized the manipulation in her later years but rather than react violently she accepted why it was done after all it was a tool just like any other and it mounded her to better suit their needs. She could not hold it against them as they were using the abilities given to them by their station and it was not inherently malicious as some of her fellows had bit out in whispered conversations amongst themselves. They didn’t realize that one’s worth was not owed to them by anyone or anything and that the only thing that defined that worth was the perception of the majority. Innately it doesn’t matter what they thought so long as those with more worth than them decided that they are worthless that is what they were. Tamsyn understoodd that with a clarity born from not having any idea what freedom felt like, what a life where worth didn’t determine whether you were fed, beaten or raped come nightfall.

This was why the lessons were so important this was something that she could use and master to further improve her worth, so that she wasn’t used for the same things that the whores or slaves were but instead she could be crew albeit the lowliest of them. A swabbie that was what she aspired to be because at least a swabbie got to fight and was used in a manner that she could enjoy. To hurt, to kill not merely to be used and to be abused no a skilled Swabbie could enjoy life even as miserable as it was. It was with a dream like that, that she began pushing herself further not merely to dominate those in her age group or even though who shared the same lot in life as herself but to be seen worthy enough to be put on the frontlines. She would push herself until she noticed improvements and through constant effort she began to see the fruits of her labors. She was able to work harder for much longer than others yet she knew that it would only cause her masters to pile more work upon her and thus she sought ways to exhaust herself. Initially she didn’t have much success and it was beginning to attract notice until one day she learned how to partion her energy in a way that was undetectable by her masters.

This partition drained her immensely and she suffered from exhaustion far more quickly once it was done but her drop in stamina was capable of being mitigated by working smarter not harder until she could regain strength that which was partitioned away. It was slow going but she felt her body regaining it’s strength all the while that undetectable force remained bolstered by her allocated energy, it excited her as for the first time she felt something outside of what could be quantified as worthy in the eyes of her masters. No it was something whose worth could only be measured by herself, and she was ever thankful to those whose linage she shared as she knew it was something that no one else she had encountered had possessed. This was unique to her not in it’s composition but instead it’s utilization and thus was her edge against the competition. Actually it was more than just that but instead something that could keep her alive until she was able to accomplish her dream and maybe even after that. But for now the most pressing issue was to manage to keep what she had done under wraps for as long as possible.

She was fortunate that she was so young as her sudden tiredness could be explained away as her no longer pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion and saving her energy for other things. She was punished for this of course but she endured that pain as she knew that what she had done was worth it in the grand scheme of things, just because she held no malice for her masters didn’t mean she respected them no she had respect for their station not for them as people as their worth was decided by the majority and thus at any time that worth could change to worthlessness. The most common method was death and she had seen many a slave and master die whether to Privateers or dreaded bounty hunters, even pirates or the occasional sea creature and such was the worth of death that it’s station gave absolute finality to the worth of another. The dead were worthless, their only use as a tool in the hands of another and one thing above all was that though she tired and was in pain what she had done would ensure that death would not come for her yet.

Her partition had proven it’s worth, it had saved her from falling overboard once and won for her a battle when she was ambushed by those worth less than herself. She had seen what it can do and thus her philosophy about worth had deemed it worthy in the eyes of the only one who had noticed it. Now what she had to do was give it the respect it deserved and strive to become worthy of having it, and by her blood she would do so no matter the cost. The concept of “or die trying” was a worthless one to her, after all what was the point if she was dead, and as she swore by it to succeed, so her blood swore by her. No one told her what being a descendant of Mavis Zankokuna entailed, Tamsyn figured that out all on her own.

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She hadn't been told of what exactly happened to her birth parents as it was a sour topic among those in the know, but she was told that they were loyal members of the Buccaneers. Her father was a Zankokuna while her mother was a Kukinorite who had been cast out of her clan due to joining with the Buccaneers. It was why she had no ties to the illustrious clan though she didn't mind it all that much especially considering the Zankokuna were just as feared in the Pirate World. Sure it would of been interesting possessing skates and things like that but ultimately it wasn't something that she truly cared about when it got down to it. She knew enough about the Kukinorite that their power came with a lot of conditions and sacrifice and while such a pairing of Zankokuna and Kukinorite would have been quite a boon in her career she was content with what she had so that she could make her own mark on the world rather than being a combination of her parents.

Still she was interested in learning about them and sure enough she was given info when she preformed above expectations as a sort of incentive to keep her doing well. She figured that her parents must of done something hence why she was born into slavery rather than being a Buccaneer from the start it couldn't have been something disloyal but perhaps they failed an important mission and she was punished due to them perhaps dying as a result of it. It was the only thing she could think of seeing as while she was treated like the others, she also knew she had more inherent worth than them judging by the extra lessons she recieved and when she excelled the preferencial treatment she got. She had contemoraries of course, it wasn't as if she was the only one excelling but while they would eventually be sent to other masters or madams for specific training to join one of the splinter branches she remained in Osore with her specific training only coming from her teacher.

He had said he was actually well aquanted with her mother and knew her father through her yet despite that he seemed to be more willing to tell her stories about what her parents could do in a fight and less about their personalities. Perhaps he didn't want her to emulate them and instead have her own personality which would undoubtedly have been shaped by her hard life experiences. In that regard he was correct as while she was younger she might of tried to have them live on through her, but as she got older she realized that they were dead and gone and by living her own life she would be showcasing their worth regardless of her own actions. She had explained this to him one day and it got her a rare smile, and that was when he actually told her what branches they had been in and that they had both not advanced past B-Rank Bounties. She knew that he had included that fact so as to motivate her to surpass them and she clearly intended on doing that as B-Rank was very much middle of the pact not weak but also not strong but then again sometimes notoriety didn't directly correlate to strength, especially if one's life was seemingly cut short. Who knew how strong they could of been if they had lived long enough to reach their full potential and truly she swore that unlike them she would do everything in her power to ensure she didn't die young.

Her father had been the type of Zankokuna who utilized weapons, more specifically ranged weapons, he had a bit of a thing for bolas and tended to go out of his way to purchase them and had custom versions that he could use in combat to trip, incapacitate and maim opponents. Likewise he was a bit of a flirt and was apart of the Keibetsu Branch relying on trickery and trick bolas in order to become a skilled member of his splinter branch crew. He had even been elevated to the level of 1st mate before his death despite primarily being a Lookout for most of his career though she was told that he had dabbled in some whore work from time to time much to her mortification. Still he seemed to be a ranged fighter mostly which initially piqued her interest but only because of the unconventional thrown weaponry he seemed to use. It sparked her interest as while her preferred Dance was that of Ziz she did have an interest in using things which wouldn't normally be seen as weapons to fight others.

On the other hand when it came to her mother, she was aparrently a member of the Fukushi branch and was quite mobile in combat often flitting around the battlefield and using a combination of her Road in addition to her natural agility and acrobatics to combat her enemies. She was brilliant and spent most of her time making things for the buccaneers on her crew but she didn't neglect her own abilities instead using her inventions to supplement them as the most skilled of Inventor's typically did, she was much more focused on her position and had some use of Dials as did most who originated from the Sky sea tended to do. She was rather eccentric though and never actually dated her father merely having a fling and getting pregnant only to deliver the baby without informing him. It was why most people didn't even know they had been together and it wasn't exactly uncommon for a woman in the Pirate World to get knocked up with a bastard. It was just how life worked at sea, a seafarer would dock at some port and seek to unload his or her sexual frustrations on any whore or random civilian that was interested and due to drunkeness would forget to wear a lambskin. Sure enough they would end up fathering or mothering children with little to no recollection of actually doing the deed. Tamsyn considered herself lucky, as often times having a mother that was a Buccaneer wasn't exactly a good thing as it wasn't unheard of for Cabin Boy's and girls to be used for "relief" pimped out by their mothers in exchange for goods or Niikos. Everything was a commodity at sea, and children were the most exploited commodity of them all, whether as powder monkey's cleaning and restocking the cannons during a naval battle, emergency food supply on crews with Beasts or Nova, and other terrible things. It was no wonder that the youngest pirates encountered were in their mid to late teens, often times if one started early they usually didn't live to make it past adolescence.

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There was something she always wondered about when she became noted for possessing low stamina, and it had something to do with the fact that her body didn't seem to have been too restricted by the fact that the majority of her physical energy had been diverted to that aura-like force of hers. Initially she thought it was because she would eventually be able to extract her physical energy back into her body and regain her lost stamina reserves but as she continued to train and work her body she noticed that some how it wasn't the case despite her stamina gradually increasing over time. It wasn't something groundbreaking but instead it was growing at a steadily increasing rate perhaps it had something to do with the fact that her intelligence allowed her to figure out how best to motivate and improve her conditioning the more she did it.

She pegged it to be her Zankokuna heritage but it was interesting due to the fact that it seemed that if it continued to grow in such a manner it would actually offset the fact that she had diverted so much of her physical energy into her aura-like force. No she knew that her stamina could potentially be comparable with a normal pirate of her age and race, while she still had her aura-like force as a trump card over them. As such she would continue trying to push her body so that it could adapt and bolster her stamina reserves over time as she knew that it was quite important. It truly interested her to see how one could push oneself and perhaps it was because she spent a lot of time doing repetitive tasks such as training that she naturally pulled away from being a swabbie and instead ended up becoming a Rigger. At least that was what her teacher had told her she had the potential to be when she mentioned feeling a weird form of energy that pulsated in her head.

On one hand she was glad she wasn't going to become a swabbie, on the other hand this weird energy was something she was unfamiliar with and it didn't exactly help her growth of endurance. In fact she had lost almost three weeks of fitness training just trying to get a handle over it and had been forced to take a break lest her development be stalled indefinitely. No she would just have to examine what she could do with Nen at a later date as for now she was more focused on getting her body back up to snuff before she had to fight anyone who wasn't a swabbie or didn't hold back against her like her teacher clearly did. She was unaware at how she was percieved by the other slaves beyond their contempt for her or seeing her as competition but she knew that any show of weakness would be preyed upon and she would not become lesser than those who bore the same marks as she did. No their worth was not more than hers and if left to her they would never be anything more than equals on their best day and her worst day.

She did see that she was making progress though, already her limits were on par with a Nova shinobi based on what she could gleam from her teacher's disparaging her but with a little more effort she would be on par with a Human Shinobi, after that she would have to get to the point of a Zireh Shinobi or a chakra lacking Nova and after that perhaps she would reach the level of a Beast Shinobi. Regardless shinobi couldn't compete in a direct physical confrontation with Pirates this was simply because when it came to stamina Pirates had them beat, which was counterbalanced by the fact that Shinobi had chakra, it was also why Nova Pirates were considered to have the smallest stamina reserves of all pirates and why Beast Pirates were considered to have immense amounts of stamina easily able to outlast anyone who didn't possess a Devil Fruit. She had been fortunate enough to get that information from her teacher it wasn't exactly specific but generally speaking Devil Fruit users seemed to have more constitution in comparison to those who lacked it though the direct correlation between the types of Devil Fruits wasn't knowledge that was readily available. Her teacher did say that most rumors were based in a truth at some point so despite her skeptism about such things she would take it into account if she ever fought a Devil Fruit user.

She found that most people feared Devil Fruit users to the point of irrationality and that they considered those who possessed them so much stronger than normal pirates. But this was actually not true as many things could equal a Devil Fruit user in a battle and being as she had been under the care of the Buccaneers she was privy to some of these things. Weaponry was the most common equalizer, followed by Size, though these two could likely be used by a Devil Fruit user to a certain point, as Kairoseki could brutalize any Devil Fruit user and those of the Kyojin Clan were rarely rivalled in size by anyone including most Devil Fruit users at least to her knowledge. Chakra & Nen were other equalizers, as possessing an additional energy source often gave people more to work with, and while Shinobi were universally hated by Pirates it wasn't for unjust reasons as chakra was such a cheaty power it rivaled Devil Fruits and had no inherited drawbacks. Nen by comparison was far rarer than chakra and most who possesses it couldn't master it with the ease that a shinobi could their chakra. Another equalizers were abilities, something that was rare among Humans but was always quite dangerous to encounter due to the diverity of these abilities in combat, often times she thought her aura-like force was an ability but truly she didn't know if it was the case or not. Finally there was yet another thing that could equalize a Devil Fruit, something that she had only heard by chance and didn't know anything else about besides it's name, it was called...Siddhi.

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Today was a bit different, she had encountered her first predator, no not in the sense of one which hunted other animals despite both types craving flesh. No this was a predator of a different kind seeking to take advantage of her current state of being lower on the totem pole in comparison to him, suffice to say the act itself was etched into her mind and some how she felt as if something inside of her actually broke. Well physically yes things were torn but she meant in regards to her mind as the only thing she managed to take from it was the fact that in that moment their was power that he had over her and once it was over and done with he had essentially proven his worth over her own. Perhaps that wasn't the correct lesson to learn but it was something she learned all the same, especially when her sensei had scoffed at her complaints when she brought up the recurring pain from the action. According to him such a thing would happen and it was up to her to ensure it didn't interfere with her training sessions, yet he gave no mention as to how exactly she would do that.

Still she had learnt a lot in her relatively short life, the first was that she was a slave and until she got her freedom she wasn't allowed to strike down those who were above her. She likewise had learned that she was free to use those equivalent to her as she saw fit seeing as if she managed to become their better that meant they were lesser than her. In addition, she learned that those with more worth than others were able to get away with things that their lessers couldn't hope to get away with. Finally she learned that in order for her to get power, she had to not only prove her worth but likewise take it from those who had it after all it was to her understanding that; "The worthy take, and thus the worthy shall rise".

Suffice to say she never did get personal revenge against the individual who stole her first time, but she chalked it up to him falling overboard during a storm two weeks after the event in question. She took it as confirmation that it was essentially a test, after all the ocean was a fickle mistress and none were more fickle than the storm goddess Calypso. It had left it's mark of course, as the next times she had encountered such things she found that she couldn't quite enjoy it unless she was the dominant partner, and even then she had to hurt others to actually get pleasure from the act. Rationally she understood that the trauma had the effect of turning her into a sadist perhaps it was a combination of how she grew up, the circumstances surroudning her station in life in addition to the act itself but she took it in stride for the most part. After all she found that it was quite fortunate on her behalf once she encountered a whore who tried to seduce her, unfortunately for them when she was good and turned on she was quite violent and if not that she was quickly knocked unconcious perhaps the woman would have been flayed alive to completion rather than just missing the skin on her left arm.

Part of growing up has to do with important development milestones that eventually culiminate in shaping your worldview when you are an adult, and she figured that intelligence also plays a part in this. After all when you are more intelligent then it is likely that certain things register more vividily with you just from the fact that you are able to understand them at an earlier age. The older one gets the less they are able to change as certain things become embedded in their personality, so it only coincides that the younger one is the more often one changes with little things carrying over till adulthood. Usually trauma sticks around the longest and perhaps if not for the trauma she dealt with growing up she would have grown into a more balanced individual, alas it was not to be.

Sometimes she thought whether that was the intention or not, perhaps everything she endured was carefully introduced in order to break her down so utterly that she would be shaped into something that the Buccaneers could use as a weapon. But she would dismiss it as the type of oversight that would take would be nothing sort of omnipresent and to what end would it serve, she wasn't special she was just a child of disgraced Buccaneers who weren't even all that useful in the grand scheme of things. Unless they believed that ones potential wasn't genetic but rather innate, something that didn't really make that much sense as those who won the genetic lottery had inborn advantages against those who didn't. Even so why go so far as to mould her in such a way, unless there was some end goal of sorts, perhaps they wanted her to do what her parents couldn't. No that didn't really make sense either, perhaps she shouldn't be paranoid and just accept that sometimes things just happened for no reason and her life wasn't at the whim of some unseen individual.

Either way she was noticing improvements in her comprehension once more as she pushed herself past what she had experienced into a more rational thought pattern rather than reliance on some sort of higher power or grand design. It was fortunate because according to her minions others had noticed how she had changed and were spreading rumors that she was weak of mind and thus not fit to be the most worthy of their generation of slaves. She had to show them that this was not the case and that said rumors were very much wrong, and the best way to do that was to set an example of her dominance. It would be just perfect to show it in the very manner that she was slightest by, sure some part of her did think that this was perhaps the start of a pattern and that the smart thing would be to not perpetrate such actions, but it was quickly killed and buried as it was a weakness she couldn't afford to have.

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She was at a level comparable with a Nova shinobi child as her initial estimates towards her stamina reserves weren't accurate, it was a bit shameful to think like that but when she factored in her innate advantages as a Zankokuna and the chains she wore she was quite well off. Still she would have to do more work in order to further increase her stamina reserves to be something comparable with..wait. No her math wasn't wrong in fact she was accurate when she took into account the stamina she already possessed. In fact that amount was merely the amount that she had gained as a result of only factoring in what she had gained from her current training but when she thought about what she possessed and then end result of her current conditioning training she would have stamina on par with a Beast Shinobi child, which actually was quite something even if it wasn't comparable to a pirate. Even pirate children of nova descent had more than her and despite her thoughts that if she possessed her full stamina amount that she'd blow them out of the water she knew that it wasn't exactly usable in that way.

She did think of some quick solutions that could boost her capacity besides conditioning and the only thing that really came up was the consumption of a Devil Fruit, she had actually been debating it with herself quite often after all losing the ability to swim was actually a big thing. If she couldn't swim then what would happen when she fell overboard, she would be incapable of rescuing herself and while she didn't think the world of swimming she was no fan of death by drowning. Still she would most likely get an ability of some sort which most people saw as being worth the trade off, still it would have to be a pretty interesting ability to be worth getting a potential method of dying even though there was no guarantee that being able to swim would guarantee that she didn't end up drowning in the future.

Still it was quite possible that by consuming one her stamina reserves could experience an increase, as she had asked around and only her sensei had informed her that the speculation that Devil Fruit users could outlast non devil fruit users in terms of stamina was in fact true. Though he did mention that Zankokuna outstripped them all and thus she shouldn't be concerned about running out of stamina in a one on one fight with anyone who wasn't a Zankokuna unless she was careless. Still it did make her think, after all which Devil Fruit would suit her, like on one hand she knew that Logia were the rarest and could allow one to manipulate the elements, but she was never quite interested in elemental manipulation as it reminded her of the shinobi and she was a proud pirate through and through. Not to mention if she was fortunate enough to get her hands on Kukinorite skates perhaps she would ne able to manipulate them anyways so she didn't feel like they could offer her something new. Intangibility was fine but she felt like she would end up overly confident when she could avoid most forms of damage and it would ruin the fun in proving her worth against others if there was no risk to herself. On the other hand Zoan would allow her to turn into animals, creatures and mythical beasts all with various levels of savagery which would only end up amplifying her physical prowess while giving her some new innate abilities based on the animal she emulates. Still this was also the most common type of Devil Fruit and she didn't want to be similar anyone, especially if that was all that it offered as she quite liked how she looked and didn't fancy how she'd look while spliced with a beast.

So eventually she settled on the fact that if she was going to eat a Devil Fruit it would have to be one of the Paramecia ones as they offered the most diverse set of abilities and were a balance between the rarity of Logia and commonplace of Zoan. Not to mention they were divided in such groups that she could potentially get an ability not shared by anyone else and that would be yet another edge she could use against those she fought against. Still she would have to put it to good use and find one which complemented her abilities so perfectly that it would cause others to think it was something innate to her rather than a Devil Fruit. Thus she would require something subtle yet powerful and she would not settle for anything besides a devil fruit that fit those parameters. All it would take would be patience and dedication which were both traits that she had in spades thanks to her upbringing forcing her to embody both of these things.

She had already realised at this point that she had decided that the new abilities were in fact a comparable trade off to not being able to swim, after all swimming was overrated anyways and eventually she would gain a crew that would consist of someone or a couple of people who could swim so it would make up for her deficiency. Covering your weaknesses was one of the important things in the pirate world, and when one actually thought about it pirates were actually alot more cooperative than their shinobi counterparts what with the latter always going missing-nin or being lone wolf types. Pirates on the other hand almost always had a crew who they sailed around with, partied with and grew alongside as all of them shared interests and dreams. Perhaps that was why her clan had sided with Epsilon all those years ago, they weren't cut out for the isolation that was the shinobi world and their cooperative nature was shunned by their village. It was an interesting concept but she understood it well as even in bondage as she was she relied on others and in turn was relied upon, it wasn't as if she could make clones of herself at will to do everything for her, no that was the fundamental difference between pirates and shinobi. She would break out of her thoughts with enough clarity to realise she had made yet another breakthrough and thus was one step closer to being on par with other piates when it came to stamina.

Training Complete
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Word Count = 2155

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It had been a while, quite a while actually since Tamsyn remember being awake as for some reason it felt like after she had trained herself she had passed into wha seemed like a coma. Well maybe not exactly a coma and more like something akin to going through the motions without exactly focusing on what she was doing. It was weird like how a person could just tune out all outside influences and turn into an unfeeling automaton for a long stretch of time and not even know it. Truthfully it made her remember the times where she would watch some buccaneers who were able to enter a sort of trance while they were doing things. These things would vary whether chores, training, sparring, or even singing songs along she ship not that any of them realised what was happening, merely falling into step with the rest of their brethren.

Perhaps that was what happened when one spent a lot of time alongside other individuals eventually you sort of sync up like some complex clockwork device with each part of in this case person filling the spot of a cog in said machine. It was this what they meant by the fact that people were social creatures? That the reason why pirates were able to survive when almost everything in the Pirate world was out to get them. Their ability to adapt to their harsh realities by tuning out and being part of a faceless mob of working, sleeping, raiding and other things. Do they even realise the monotony outside of the high adrenaline moments or was it because she had a greater sense of self awareness that she was able to identify when she was done my such thing. That begged the question of whether or not this increased self awareness of hers was a blessing or a curse whether what she was capable of was actually a skill or was it instead a self inflicted delusion of her mind pushing her to think of herself as higher than others around her. Truly if that was the case she figured that she would accept it, or at least understand why her mind was doing such a thing as after the trauma she experienced growing up she needed that sort of mindset to survive for as long as she did.

Thinking that you are better than others comes naturally to everyone but not to those who have been abused or conditioned into thinking that their worth is only relative to their usefulness. She thought back to the times where she felt this urge to rank herself alongside others to compare herself to them so that she felt that she was better than them and what type of effect that had on her psyche. Perhaps there were still scars left from her upbringing that she failed to realise and isolate apart from her true persona. Perhaps they had actually succeeded in changing a fundamental part of her identity and self worth. But honestly when she really thought about it if they had then that was just the luck of the draw.

She was who she was and ultimately having something to prove would get her very far in life. After all those who lacked something to prove those who lacked ambition would never survive to learn the harsh lessons at sea. Those who lacked the ability to push themselves past the brink and then some were not fit to rise to become the future heavyweights of the Pirate world. Those who lacked the scars and backbone required to create someone truly powerful would only break or bend to another and Tamsyn was sure of one thing in her short life. She would never again bend her knee to anyone ever again, sure she had been born a slave and did not hate her birth situation but that was because she had no choice over the matter. Now that she had a choice no one would ever take her freedom again. No this time she would be free and she swore that anyone who ever decided that such a thing was not possible for her... Well she would use her finely honed mind to break them and everything that they've built for themselves.

It wouldn't be for a while however as right now she needed to square some stuff away after all she needed to find reliable people to crew with something that wasn't exactly easy to do while she was still a slave. But eventually she would age out of it and be able to become a true buccaneers and then she would set off on her own and coerce others to join her whether by charisma, seduction, bribery or through force and then she'll have her shot at carving out or freedom one island at a time. Ideally she would like to have a crew which was small though not as small as bounty hunters were rumoured to have perhaps something a bit larger than that and maybe eventually form an organization completely independent of the current types linked to the Buccaneers. After all the way things were currently one was either a member of Hakayune-dono's crew or you were apart of the splinter branches. No she wanted something that was her own only considered a Buccaneers by name like some of the other organizations in the world something that when spoke would render people afraid due to its name and it's name alone. It was like the Supernovas were considered a special class of pirate or how there were other types of bounty hunters besides those contracted to Epsilon. There were even different types of Privateers so why was it that there were only two divisions of Buccaneers and both divisions had a connection to Hakayune. No if she were to make one it would be more independent something with a name like Swashbucklers or wait no that was the name, Swashbuckl ers it stood out and was iconic.

Yeah that was the perfect name...
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Ronan Isley and Mileena Tenshi, two individuals who by all accounts were her first true crew members in this world. It was crazy to think about it but to really get the true scope of what happened to allow such a thing to happen she had to go back to the events that changed everything. The night that the prisoners escaped and killed the captain of the ship she was stationed on. Initially Tamsyn hadn't taken the threat seriously and figured with superior numbers they would be able to repress them however this was not the case. Three individuals emerged while simultaneously releasing the other captured slaves and used that to overrun the other buccaneers, she had been forced to step in fighting a rather fierce opponent. She had never encountered a Logia  in a hostile environment and she was surprised by the ferocity displayed by the female Faunus but gave as good as she got ultimately she managed to pull ahead as despite the power of her devil fruit Tamsyn was the more experienced combatant.

Still despite her near victory there was a time limit and the fact that she didn't have a definitive victory made her obsess to a certain extent over the woman, the next time they encountered each other they would settle things and perhaps Tamsyn would persuade her to join her crew. Either way during her battle the captain had been rather injured by her sibling whereas their first mate was locked in a struggle with the whore accompanying the prisoners all the while the ship was burning to a crisp from the Logia user's flames. The last thing she remembered about that night was trying to steal the captain's raft and watching as seawater poured in.

She woke up a couple of hours later on a nearby island with Mileena about to gnaw on her leg. Suffice to say they fought and it was revealed that during the escape Mileena had been swimming to safety and decided to take Tamsynalong because she looked like a snack. Still after Tamsyn won she agreed that it was a good plan to bring along emergency food but she didn't enjoy being on the menu though considering she was saved by her she decided to let bygones be bygones. The two of them tried to plan their next move as with no crew they were essentially on their own. Still it turned out that there was an actual habitable island a couple of leagues away and with the two of them swimming they could make it. On their way they came across Ronan who unlike them managed to make a make shift raft out of barrels and they joined up with him. Once they arrived on the island they quickly set out to establish themselves and after a bit of pillaging and murder Tamsyn managed to find a peculiar devil fruit which she quickly stored on her person with the idea of eating it at some point.

It was at this time she realised that these two individuals were actually trustworthy in a kindred spirit sort of way which was strange because she didn't think that any other buccaneers thought like she did. But intact they shared a lot of her views and when they explained their circumstances she knew that they weren't interested in making another splinter branch but instead stepping away from the norm and creating something completely new. Ronan was a tough as nails Helmsman who had the radical idea of sailing ships which had blades built into them citing his reasons for such being inspired by swordfish and the idea that other Islet would marvel at his ability to preform ninjutsu with ships. Mileena reminded her of herself albeit far more savage and bloodthirsty though at the end of the day she was a simple woman she liked a good fight and a good friend and was loyal to the point that it was slightly endearing. Granted Tamsyn thought that being loyal enough to kill for others wasn't the endearing part but the way she hesitated before asking if it was okay to eat them as well was just thrusts thing ever. She was a sailor after all and sailors couldn't be picky out at sea were one's next bounty was never guaranteed.

Still they were her fledgling crew and she valued them more than the buccaneers she had met up until that point including her mentor. With them there was no games or motives they needed to survive plain and simple and they were grateful that they had her direction while she was thankful that she had people with actual worth and not just those who would weigh her down. Thus they would sail together building strength until she was able to create a sub-faction of the Buccaneers which was just as feared as the other two. The only thing was to figure out what was missing in the world and how she could fill that and thus become essential in the grand scheme of things. There existed a balance of power between each and every faction and sub-faction within the Pirate World and she knew by exploring the world she would eventually come across something that wasn't properly balanced not enough in the side of chaos and thus would find a place for her Swashbucklers.

They would travel to the Frozen Ocean the cold never bothered her anyways. But truly she was trying to make contact with any individual who possessed a curse mark and try and recruit them to her crew or at the very least acquire the means to obtain said curse mark for a future loyal crew member. Versatility was the spice of life after all and it wouldn't do to have a crew of all devil fruit users sometimes people need a different force multiplier and ultimately she would explore every option to get her crew ahead of all others. Now that she knew where they going all that remained was to train herself and her crew to survive in the harsher waters, sure they started out in North Abyssal but they were going to show the world what they could really do

Word Count Req. 2000
Word Count: 2007
Trainings Complete

Inherited Intellect & Descendant of Mavis Weekly Training
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It was interesting how a motely crew of individuals could get together and find other strange individuals on their way to spread chaos through the world but in Tamsyn's case she had to actually rebuff the amounts of crazies hoping to join up with her. Apparently word of her exploits aboard the ship spread and now she seemed to actually be kind of famous within the pirates in the North Abyssal Ocean. Not that it was anything of note anyone worth anything who originated in that sea would quickly rise above the chaff and establish that they were a force to be reckoned with so it was only natural that she'd rise in the same manner. what was annoying about that was the frequent low lives who thought just because her star was rising that they could hang on her coattails and rise with her. No she wasn't interested in washed out old pirates or useless fresh faced wannabees. No she was looking for those with worth who could have their own rising stars not any who were anchors who would hold her down due to merely existing on her crew.

Usually in these cases she shot them down herself but eventually she noticed that one of her crew members was more skilled at doing so and as such she had Mileena become her enforcer if they didn't impress her then they weren't even allowed to approach Tamsyn to ask to join the crew. As such it continued like that with Mileena getting some skill after beating up on those who wouldn't take no for an answer that is until they stumbled upon someone who actually did have some form of promise. His name was Razor Juryoku and she honestly was impressed when she met up with him, his eyes were that of hunger, greed and she could see the chaos lingering behind his veneer of stoicism. Now this was someone who would fit well on her crew especially when Mileena decided to test his mettle only for him to reveal that he was a Devil Fruit user.

Now seeing one in the North Abyssal Sea was pretty rare, but sometime you came across people who had a Zoan who thought they could just lord over everyone else because of their basic bitch devil fruit power. But learning that this man had a Logia was something else as that particular type of fruit was universally feared by anyone who hadn't survived the Lost Ocean. Past that and the real monsters lurked and most who had Logia devil fruits typically peaked around then due to coasting through all the seas but those with Logia who didn't peak well those were said to be among the strongest people you'd see roaming the ocean. So her interest was definitely peaked especially when she asked where he hailed from and it turned out he was the type who was aligned in a manner to the Buccaneers like she was. It was like a match made in heaven and when she asked if he would be willing to join her crew he said he was interested but had some business to settle before he could fully join. Slightly disheartened she nodded in understanding before continuing her journey thinking that she wouldn't run into him again but knowing that if she did then she would be gaining a crew member.

It was a pity as a Lookout would have been a good addition to the crew  especially one from the famous Juryoku Clan but hopefully whatever business he had to finish would be resolved soon. Still during this lull she needed to know what her crew's plans for the future was and whether or not they would need to take some detours as they moved through the world for them to get special training and equipment. Ronan was interested in visiting the sky sea primarily due to his interest in Dial Tech, as it was one of those exclusive technologies that you couldn't find used to the degree that you'd find it in the Sky Sea. Mileena on the other hand was more interested in seeing the West Ocean particularly because it had the most privateers and she was interested in killing some privateers to boost her bounty and maybe if she was lucky get some Kairoseki for own personal use as she heard that some people in the world were capable of tattooing it onto people's bodies. It seemed as if they both knew what they wanted out of life and as their Captain she could see herself noting their roles on the ship in the future.

Ronan was certain to become the type of Helmsman who was capable of piloting an exotic ship filled with Dial Tech and perhaps some sort of exotic fuel of some sort. He had been explaining to her that his clan specialized in kenjutsu and how he wanted to make a style of kenjutsu which could be applied to a naval vessel. As such she knew that in ship to ship battles he would be the type of helmsman who's skills made him a menace to those ships he encountered at sea. She knew there was roughly four types of helmsmen, those who excelled at navigating the most treacherous of storms, those who excelled at naval warfare, those who deftly evaded the maws of the creatures of the deep and the rest. Ronan Isley she knew would definitely become one of those who excelled at naval warfare she once caught him mumbling that when for his first bounty he wanted to make sure that they called him "Jagged" though he mumbled it because the last time he said what his title would be Mileena had laughed herself silly.. But really "Blade of the Sea" sounded like someone was trying to be cool and there was no way such a heroic adjacent name would be used to describe a buccaneer maybe some pirate but she knew that buccaneers were considered even worse than those bandits of the sea.

Mileena on the other hand she got the feeling that her crewmate would be the type to fight against Devil Fruit users, especially if she had her way and could get her hands on some Kairoseki. She could imagine Mileena would look even fiercer with tattoos comprised of the rare material and if the Kairoseki was of a high enough grade it could be used to make even the touch of her deadly to a Devil Fruit user. It was crazy to think about her being even more deadly than she was already and this was after seeing her rip out someone's throat with her teeth. Still she didn't seem to have the most creative of naming senses as she said she'd prefer them give her the name "Gimlet" apparently it was what they called her growing up due to the fact that she once gnawed though a barrel of wine and got so drunk off of trying to drink as much as she could without spilling it she ended up passing out while her jaws were still embedded in the barrel in question. It was short sweet and anyone who did any research as to what a Gimlet was would know it was a T-shaped tool with a drill tip specialized in opening things. Then when they applied that knowledge to what they saw of her they'd realize that she was more than capable of opening holes in various things and didn't seem all that concerned with cannibalisms laws she was after all a piranha beast.

She often thought of what positions might help them reach their goals, she could see Ronan delving into Historian, maybe Cooper as both would help with his ambitions and by pairing with someone else on the crew he could use them to improve whatever ship they eventually ended up with. On the other hand Mileena seemed like the type to delve into something else odd after all she was an extremely violent individual yet was a Sailor which was a position typically held by people who weren't as combat happy as she was So she could see her embracing something like Artist and maybe at the end she might become a combatant just because it was plainly obvious that she had some skills at hand to hand combat.

As for Razor she had no idea, sure he was a lookout now but what would that mean for his future, would he stick to it or would he try for something more exotic later. She knew the Juryoku were capable of a lot but usually it had something to do with heavy or light objects so she wondered if he was one of those types, or would he be something different. As for herself she knew that whatever positions she decided on would be dependent on her Dance of Ziz and how best she could advance it as she wanted it to be as perfect as possible when she mastered it. Her Zankokuna blood was strong, and she longed to prove to those of her clan despite her affiliation with the Buccaneers she was someone who they could proudly say yes this person is worthy of our heritage. The first step to that was consuming the Devil Fruit she had obtained during her period with the Buccaneers.

It was a strange fruit that was to be sure, it looked almost crystalline when she first saw it almost to the point that she thought it was a fancy bauble of some sort. Still it's appearance belied the fact that it was actually one of the fabled fruits of the devil, and she swore that she would eat it. She knew it couldn't  be a weak devil fruit otherwise why would they punish all of those slaves aboard the ship she stole it from by hanging them overboard. Indeed it was something powerful and rare and that was why when she did eat it during a lull in the middle of the night after meeting her new crewmates she was initially extremely disappointed when nothing seemed to change about herself. It was weird she was sure something was supposed to happen and she confirmed that she could no longer swim by trying to and almost drowning if not for Mileena waking up and fishing her out of the water. She would have to reward her with a free meal the next time they got to an island. It would be about a week before she understood exactly what sort of Devil Fruit she had consumed, it was an odd on that was sure. The oddest thing about it was that it was a Devil Fruit that actually didn't seem to really affect her body directly, but she noticed that it worked to amplify things instead. So she figured that this was what made it so valuable to the Buccaneers as depending on who ate it they would be able to adapt it to fit any existing fighting style, which was perfect in her opinion seeing as now she could use it to shore up any weaknesses she could of potentially had.

She had tested in a spar between her and Mileena immediately after figuring out what it could do and actively tried to use it to bolster herself and much to her amusement she promptly trashed her beastly teammate. Ronan was also surprised as prior to that it was more of a close fight when they sparred due to Tamsyn not wanting to bring out her big moves while Mileena was hard to put down and had more stamina in a fight than she did. As such when there was a noticeable change in how Tamsyn approached the fight and the fact that she could seem to use minimum effort yet still be able to out pace and out punch Mileena it was seen to be a worthwhile investment worth the price of losing her ability to swim. Perhaps at some point that wouldn't even be an issue after all there were numerous ways one could travel the water without swimming and Devil Fruit users were common enough that it was almost considered a downside to not have one especially if you intended on reaching the Lost Ocean.

Word Count Req. 1000 & 1000
Word Count: 2047
Training Complete

Approved