Prickly as the Grave [Open]

Ah, the Grand line, an area karyu tended to frequent to contact his old bounty hunter allies about his latest work towards his own goals. For a time now, he had done very little to move closer towards his ultimate goals, both of finding his true home, and of returning the "favour" to those who had apparently ripped him from it. With the idea of meeting with old friends in mind, it was only logical for Karyu to visit Cactus Island first, a dusty old town known for housing bounty hunters was the island's main feature afterall, discounting the grave covered mountains. Soon enough, he had found some of his old friends at the local bar, no sign of his mentor however...Nevertheless, he joined them at their table.

"Ah, Karyu! Still wearing the mask I see."

"It aids me in my work." Picking up a glass that had been poured for him, he simply swirled the liquid within, glaring at the man who had passed him the glass.

"Oh come on man, you can take it off here! We're all friends!"

Karyu shook his head, letting out a quiet sigh as he pushed the drink away. He had justified his mask many times before, and did not feel like doing so again. Instead, his eyes, still bright under the darkness of his mask, glanced around the table. "So...where is he?"

"Don't worry kiddo, he's just on a job. Gotta say though, he's getting on a bit, might not come back!~" Another glare quickly came from Karyu, who promptly snatched the man's drink with a flick of his arm.

"Hm, this is some weak stuff. Normally it takes some real stuff to get you to talk bullshit about him." The table chuckled quietly amongst themselves as the drink was returned, and Karyu rose from his seat. "I simply came to see him and inform him. If I need information I'll return..." he glanced around the bar. It was a quiet place, but a slight smog of smoke hung in the air. It was in no way the type of atmosphere he enjoyed staying in. "I shall see you all another time."

With that, he was gone, walking out of the bar without another word, resting his palm against the wood of his mast, when something interesting caught his left eye. A cloaked figure walking along the path. Sure, many bounty hunters took such an appearance when on a job, but it was nearly unheard of for people to be so secretive among their hunting pears...it was only Natural that Karyu began to follow, sticking to the shadows of the alley passages following the strange folk.

For a while karyu had stayed on the trail of this mysterious cloaked figure. Passing by shops and alleyways alike, the man seemed to do nothing specific...and that in itself was worrying. Following the map of the streets in his head, he knew full well that anything of interest could have been reached far faster if an earlier turn had been taken, or a U-turn had been made. He tried to remain silent in his movements, believing he himself had not been seen...or heard for that matter...

He supposed his idea may be completely wrong. Afterall, who was he to speak of another's attire when his own was that of a mask covering his face. Still, he had friends here, and he would rather be safe than sorry...

When this cloaked figure turned the next corner, Karyu would speed up his approach, darting around the corner and following swiftly behind, trying to outspeed the supposed sightseer and pulling in front of him, looking into the shadow of his cloak with his won eyes of red and purple, quickly coming up with a disguised way of inquiring to the man's identity.

"Ah, fellow hunter!~" He began, a cheery, nearly drunken tone coming from beneath his mask, unhindered or muffled. "What's with the hood? Trying to hide those hungover eyes?"

He tried to keep his tone cheerful, which oddly seemed very easy as his eyes became cheery beneath his mask. He was close enough now that if the man refused, he could easily rip off the cloak.

Uncomfortable with the sun? Please, that was as good an excuse as him saying his mask was because he forgot to put on facial cream today. Still, his eyes didn't betray the cheery demeanor of his drunken act. he had some experience of playing the role by now, and this day would not betray that.

"Ah, my mask!?" He blinked quickly, his face showing an unsurity as to whether the cloaked figure was indeed talking about the block of white on his face. It would be then however that he would take the next step. From behind a nearby corner, another man would approach the cloaked figure, his footsteps silent, but, from a mere few feat behind the cloaked enigma, a second voice, similar to the first would ring out. "Or mine?~"

If the man were to turn around, a second Karyu would stand before him, far less drunken in his smile, but more devious. Like he was planning something terrible for the cloaked figure that now stood in an alley, both exits blocked by the same man. This was the art of Karyu's illusion, double vision. Soon enough, a third and final voice would ring out, a Karyu with dark eyes gazing down at the cloaked figure from the rooftops above. "Or is it me...?" Each of them held a different tone, each seemingly diverse in their nature and the possible goals with the cloaked figure, when, as if on cue, they all held the same dark stare as the man above. The man above would pull out a chain, wrapping it around his fists. The man behind would draw a sword with a blade as black as night, and the one in front would simply adjust his mask, his eyes holding a great weight, but his tone as cheerful as a drunk.

"Why not let the sun shine on that head?~"

Though it was hard to read emotions when you couldn't see someone's face, it would be clearly obvious that his double vision illusion had hardly even phased the stranger. It did make him question though...why would someone go to such extremes just to hide their face? Furthermore, most people would tend to flee when the matter was pushed this far...

"You could say that..." His drunken cheerfulness was all but gone. He planned to remove the hood by force, but that became harder when only one of the Karyu here was real. He could easily have the one behind the cloaked figure pull his hood down from behind, but of course, his hand would just go straight through the cloaked figure. Well, so long as the cloaked man believed he was trapped it wouldn't be too hard getting a grasp on him. "It is admittedly hard being one of three, but it's even worse when you wear a mask. Afterall..."

He stepped forward quickly, reaching out a hand in an attempt to push his hood back over his head, revealing whatever face lay beneath. "No one can tell what you look like!"