Indiana Gekko

As Kiru stepped off the boat at the of the nearest isle in the archipelago, he paused on the deck while those around him filtered off or on the ferrying ship. He had his duffelbag slung over his shoulder, Cypher tucked modestly between his back and bag. He paused to take in the view of the island, it being the first time he had seen it. He made sure to just embrace this macro look of the isle as he had done every time he stepped on to a new shore for the first time as a rule. As he did so, he was unintentionally scanning. There was a cliff face to his left. At the top he saw a gaggle of beings huddling over the edge. Kiru locked his gaze on it for a few seconds before taking the walk over. Once her got close, he could see the beings were the heads and upper bodies of people looking down with whimpers and concerns at something part way up.

Kiru squinted at the centre of of attention just to affirm what he was seeing against the morning light. Kiru sniffed to himself before putting his duffle bag down and doing a few warm up stretches to shake off some travelling rust. Kiru then began to silently ascend the cliff face. It didn't take too long for those at the top to see Kiru's ascent. He could hear some of them call to him, some to help, some to warn, some to fill in the gaps, but Kiru needed a little too much concentration to communicate with them properly or freely. Once he had climbed level with curiosity against the cliff he shimmied as close as he could, realising there were no more sensible footholds or hand holds left. He swayed three times back and forth to gather momentum, before launching his body over and grasping at an extended branch which rattled, dispelling leaves at the sudden addition of his body weight. Gasps and calls of concern shot from the awaiting audience at the top, turning into hushed relief as he clenched at the bark, waiting for the branch to level off in its dampening vibration before hoisting himself up.

"Grrrrr..." came the growl from the poised, defensive feline Kiru now found himself facing. Kiru slowly raised a hand, lifting it to his face scarf. The palm was tracked intently by the cat, hissing at him on edge. He lowered his scarf down to his neck, revealing his face. Kiru took a deep breath in and with an exhale he began to whistle with an arcing pitch, rising then falling sinusoidally. He was currently perched on the edge of a branch to a tree protruding out of a cliff face. At the stem of the branch was the aforementioned cat, curled up defensively.

At the sound of Kiru's tune, the cat's hissing settled and it's animated devour quelled into one of intriguing and silent interest. Kiru, recognising the quieting of the cat began to inch forward with a scooch. He scooched a little more, then a little more beyond that. As he whistled the nervous onlookers from the crowd began to mumble in confusion. He made it about halfway as  the branch began to creak. Kiru lost a little carry in his whistle as he flinched at the sound of the crack, realising he was on a time limit and was a lot more precarious than he thought a second ago. Instead of scooching with one hand, he now let go of the branch, opening with both hands to entice the cat to him. The cat did begin to move, one paw at a time, sheepishly at first, but with diminishing scepticism of Kiru.

As the cat was inches from his finger tips, leaning out of the corner, the cat was no longer a counter balance to the seating Kiru and the branch creaked a little more leading to a an alarming crunch. After that Kiru knew the branch's spinal root had just given way. It would be seconds now before the branch would just fall under his weight, movement or not. Nonetheless he whistle high with his hands outstretched. The enticed cat stretched out a paw to him. Kiru seized his chance and pounced with his right hand clutching at the kitty's stomach while his left reached for his blade. As the bow broke, falling and crashing into the the watery rocks below, Kiru was hanging by the handle of his broadsword, wedged into the protruding stump. He glanced down at the avoided demise silently and nonplussed for a moment before adjusting the kitten, now licking at his face, onto his back.

He looked up as claps rung from those at the top of the cliff, followed eventually by a rope.

Line hated having to take the ferry boat; sleeping and eating with dozens of other strangers, and many combatants. She couldn't relax and stretch out anywhere besides those cramped lodging rooms, but this is the quality she expected. During the trip she and others sat on the deck drinking and exchanging stories. Considering this the trip wasn't all bad, besides she had a goal; find the rumored devil fruit. She assumed why there was more than a few combatants traveling to Gecko Island. She kept her ear to the ground just to hear this rumor and now she had to capitalize on it before the Marines came. In this particular instance the rumored devil fruit was guarded by Gecko Island's Beast; The Spear Eagle. It was a lengthy trip, but once Line reached her destination she practically jumped off the boat. She thrusted her arm in the air and let out a yawn.

"Yosh!" She shouted and stretched out her body, her bones audibly cracking and muscles flexing. Her lips stretched out into a feral grin once she stretched since she knew this was her moment; her pursuit to reclaim her lost strength and beyond it. She placed her arm on the hilt of her katana and began to walk up the mountain with her black jacket flowing behind her. She soon outpaced the other travelers and caught a sight that bewildered her. She saw a man scaling up the mountain. Line could barely make out the small silhouette of a small animal even with her excellent eye.

She considered her interest piqued, thus she waited for the climber to climb back down after-all he DID leave his duffel bag here. Whilst the climber....climbed she found her eyes drawn to the broadsword on him. A fellow practitioner of the sword was somebody she could easily respect. She could see something wrapping the lower portion of his face; a mask? Why would somebody wear a mask that couldn't conceal his identity unless it was for aesthetic purposes. Who would do something stupid as wearing something some blatantly cosmetic that it was almost a hinderance. It was then that Line felt her own flowing black jacket come slapping down on her back. Oh yeah, nevermind.  

Line didn't mind the wait since she was curious as to why the Ninja-looking swordsman decided to scale the mountain. Though once he made his way back down; which he did surprisingly quick she greeted him with a raised arm.

"Yo, so why did you decide to climb that mountain magical Ninja-Swordsman?" She asked with a little wiggle of her brow and jovial in her tone.

Kiru took a less extreme and excessive route down to the beach, using the path way. As he walked back to his original spot, he noticed that there was a figure hailing him at his duffel. Once he got close enough to appreciate them specifically, he could was a woman with pink flowing hair. The scrunched tail and bangs flickered in the wind, and although her eye patch, attire and sword would have been visible to Kiru from the distance he stopped stunned his gaze found it hard to look passed her feminine hair, lips and buxom bodied.

After a few seconds his subconscious mentally prodded at him to alert that he was said 'magical ninja-swordsman' being spoken to.

"Er - *ahem* - right." he began, pulling at his neck scarf to adjust something while orientating his glance downwards. "Cat in-on, cliff. I just... well. Curiosity... I guess?" he responded sheepishly, while scratching the back of his head. He was trying to finish a sentence as best he could, but he also wanted to play down himself to the stranger. He had a similar if not much less awkward conversation with the locals at the top of the mount. After all, he wasn't trying to be heroic or even necessarily help. It was a chance to practice sneaking up on and capturing prey. It was his passion. He would have pursued the cat even if it wasn't domesticated and belonged to someone just for the challenge.