Prepare to Mortar!

The crew roared into a frenzy when they heard their captain state and confirm the rumors. No more letting those bastard colesons flag fly, no more inspecting cargo and merchant ships for criminals when their obvious enemy waited for them to finish so they could attack. No more letting injustice fly as they all lifted their fists into the air to cry havoc!

It wouldn't be for a solid five minutes before the crew were worked up from a cheer into a storm as they quickly began to move on full action. It seems the constant "gifts" that merchants gave them as well as the good fishing that the crew had been having recently had only continued to provoke them into battle ready state. Caliga quickly slid down the ropes on the starboard side and joined up with her captain as she quickly walked ahead of him. Entering the planning room, while he had laid out a clear view of the map of Long Shore Island, Caliga was quick to pull out an envelope of some kind he hadn't noticed. Paperwork was not his fore, and it seemed he always misplaced it, or forgot to sign many things. Of course Caliga and Silvia were his best paperwork drones, though even they had their work cut out for them. "No need sir. While we were on our.... "Vacation"....," Caliga growled at the note of having been forced to not only ignore the pirates, but not engage them unless attacked first, "It seems as though other Taskforces were busy. Gradioso, those prim and proper bastards were already having reconossance scouts surveying everything about their patterns, holds, stockpiles, and even who to watch out for. It seemed the Coleson Brothers only have one Devil Fruit user, and it's the Younger, which Grandioso was given charge of. No idea why, but orders are orders." There was a bitterness to her tone. Usually Caliga didn't speak much, but when she did it was with authority. This showed that she was just as frustrated as everyone else had been as she pulled out the papers and displayed them in a nice and orderly fashion for Thorleif to scan. It was true. Only the younger coleson had a devil fruit, and he wouldn't be at long island. Instead, the Mortar Crew would be fighting the opposite half of the fleet, which had been on standby and doing as they pleased until a few days ago. They had sailed from the farthest corners of the north blue, and were using Long Shore island as one of their stockpile bases. The fact that this was a stop meant the crews were likely preparing inventory, and grabbing everything to fully stock the entire fleet.

"Eight ships are currently pulled into the shore as per what recon said recently. There's plenty of activity, but it seems that they are preparing to stay there until the tides are about to fall. Seems they think they could celebrate on their plundered loot before taking it back to their bosses. The island isn't inhabited," Caliga stated, as she brushed the minor info aside. There wasn't a town or anything on the map shown. In fact, there were two versions of the map. One labeled High tide, and the other Low tide. There was several points of interest, buried storage bunkers, originally used by rum traders to store their stock for a rain day, or for other traders to use as an anonymous pick up point. Now it had been commandeered by the Coleson Fleet to store their loot, and their confidence that the Marines that had been leaving them alone and not daring to go near their booty meant they were overconfident. Thorleif had seen them dropping off loot there several times, but he knew Caliga had a far better view, and was never happy looking when she reported her findings.

"They won't have much cover aside from their ships, and flimsy palm trees sir... the bunkers may pose a problem for cannoneers, but what I'm worried about is just that. This entire island is a giant cellar. If we fire cannons into it, we can bury them in it, but then we can't reacquire the stolen goods. We could storm into it after decimating their ships to prevent escape, but that won't mean they'll sit idly by and let us board. Plus if we get too close and the fight lasts too long, we could end up beaching our ship. What's more, under darkness, we won't be able to tell friend and foe apart from a distance." Per usual, Caliga was quick to point out strategic options and their pros and cons. Thorleif would notice that the ships were placed with all eight of them facing the south side almost like a wall. The island was mostly long, roughly 400 yards from east to west, while it was less than 50 yards wide north to south at high tide. Under darkness the tide would be low, so the size of the north and south would double, but only be open sands. That was another problem in and of itself as sand, especially wet sand would drag the feet of his men down. This would either be a full on assault via cannons, or a full on land raid via lifeboats. What's more, they'd have to leave a sizable group of marines to steer the ship and prevent opposing boarding parties.

Looking at the island map during high tide, Thorleif would notice that one of the bunker doors was seemingly very close to the edge of the water.

Caliga nodded, however she did notice the captains third cigarette as well as his scowl. "I know that look. You're worried about an ambush." the first mate said as she knew her captain better than most. He expected results, and he also knew that his own men's lives were on the line. It was one thing if the died because they couldn't fight, which wasn't likely to happen with how grueling Taskforce Mortar was. It was another thing if Thorleif told his men to walk into their own deaths. Especially if it could be outright avoided. Sacrifice his men was one thing. Slaughtering his own men was another.

Grabbing the report again, Caliga would notice the obvious problem that Thorleif noticed before herself. "We're missing enemy ships......". Her voice showing her realization. Flipping through the notes, she noticed a note about the fleet. "Fleet is arriving from multiple points and staggering their resupply..... Damnit, Grandioso pulling their bull shit.". Tossing the paper over to her captain, he'd notice the 'advised' plan. They'd stay on Long Shore, and face the ships as they reached here. This wasn't an order but a suggestion by 'intelligence'.

"So glad I chose Mortar over them.". Looking at the plans, the incoming waves predicted arrival time, and even taking into consideration her Captain's plan, Caliga added her own thoughts. "We could either attempt to blind them using firebombs around the outside edge of the island away from the sun, or wait until sunrise and attack from the east. The sun will hamper their attempts to aim. Flooding them is an idea I hadn't even thought of, and..... Wait.... What if we leave the ships seemingly intact?"

Caliga scowled, "We're capable of securing stolen goods to use against our enemies. Ships such as their would make a fitting firebomb, wouldn't it? Especially if we booby trap it, right?" Suddenly it became clear why she was wanting to secure the ships intact. "There's no doubt we'll leave a mark, but we can use that confusion to make them want to regroup and attempt to form a method to fight back. If we create bait, a simple ship that explodes from their own gunpowder barrels rigged to traps; imagine how much chaos it would cause for those other waves? It'd give us a better chance to not only catch them off guard, but even make them realize their own greed is being used against them. We do have that authorization." Caliga stated, reminding Thorleif that she was just as destructive as he was. She wanted to destroy pirates just as much as him; and the faster they could do it; the better. "But.... It's your choice ultimately. How we'll deal with those waves are your choice as well. With that said, we can confirm that no fishmen are a part of their crew. Their attempts to recruit fishmen pirates ended exactly as you might expect. Pirates don't exclude their own as victims. Though if you ask me, it's all the better if they kill each other off."

Standing there she picked up the papers again, before filing them back for Thorleif to not be bothered with accounting. "Honestly sir, I'm itching for a fight, and I wouldn't mind seeing a few public executions either; but we have to survive this as well. Grandioso might take credit for the Devil Fruit, but if we pull this off and bring an entire fleet of people, I think we can rub that in their faces. Wouldn't you agree?"

Caliga blinked, "To be honest Sir, I think they'll be happy to work triple time. They've been shooting rocks when given the chance." she smiled, like a sadistic madwoman. With the plan and order of operation set up, Caliga would accept her captain's handshake. "Merciless Justice." his First Mate stated, quickly heading out. Not even a full five seconds later he heard a cocky and cold voice speak up.

"So, any chance I could get a few new test subjects?" A voice came in almost immediately as soon as Caliga left. Doctor James Alpaca was not as enthusiastic about the idea of "Justice", he was an individual who did believe in being "Merciless". What's more, his insight and research into the history, tales, and even his attempts to learn more about the Devil Fruits of lore which had been unleashed into the world was invaluable. His existence was a necessary tolerance that Mortar required in order to effectively fight against Devil Fruit users without being massacred. His methods were cruel and perhaps unusual, but justifiable. "To be honest, I'm not too surprised that Grandioso was given the fight against the younger Coleson Brother. The Dance Dance fruit would have made our men look like idiots. Meanwhile, it could only amplify the artful dancing swan's lethality so long as she could endure the constant movement." The red haired man grinned toothily as he strolled into the planning room. Looking at the island, he had his hands inside of his coat pockets. "So.... What's on your mind." He said more as a command than a question like a doctor would normally pose. James was always like that. Quiet, observant, and as sharp as a scalpel. The thing was that if it didn't have to deal with devil fruits or results he didn't show interest. Considering he had been so inactive as of late, he was restless. "Don't get me wrong, I honestly don't care if you're mentally distraught, I just want to know if you think there could be the possibility of other Devil Fruit users that a very.... "by the book" for lack of a better word, crew was doing for the last year could have possibly missed. After all, they took quite a number of crews and cannibalizing them. That means all of their stolen loot also got transferred to them." He stated, attempting to see if he could pry into his captain's mind.

"Did I ever mention how bad it is to not only chain smoke, but stack smokes like that as well?" James joked, as he often used this as a means to mess around with his captain. He wasn't someone who stopped bad habits, but he felt it would be.... "TOO" hypocritical to not at least do that much. Still, he smiled with a wickedness that would, could, and has made even the most hardened and difficult to deal with pirate scared of his madness. "Oh, please stop~." He sung, as he fantasized about his next possible test subject, "It's always so hard getting any sort of research done with all of that red tape around the place. I feel like I'm so close to figuring out something about these fruits. I'm on the borderline Cusp of it, I can..." James shivered and exhaled, "Almost TASTE IT!" He said in near ecstasy. Doc Alpaca was over-eccentric when it came to those damned fruits, or anything known about them. Still, the Higher Ups in the WG were wanting to avoid their marines eating the fruits unless absolutely necessary.

Ususally, if you found Devil Fruits that weren't eaten, as a civilian you'd be set for life and could quite literally own your own island just by turning it into the marines. Most people didn't know what the Devil Fruits even were outside of legends, much less what they looked like. The Captain and Doctor of the Mortar Crew knew exactly what they looked like. That was a tale for another time; but the standard Protocol for Marines was to avoid eating it, with the exception of two things. The first was immanent capture. Even eating one bite was enough to transfer the powers of the fruit; so a tactic was to deny pirates at all costs, as if the marine died then the fruit would at least be forced to reappear in a different location. It was a last ditch gamble, and often one that sent the marines in the local area into a flurry if they discovered the incident did result in the death of a marine with DFP. The second protocol was different, and usually it almost always required personal judgment, and approval from the local Commodore or HQ. The policy for Marines with Devil Fruit powers was that they were not allowed to leave the marines under any circumstance. The World Government blokes would prefer to put a marine officer 6 feet under over the slim chance of a DF Marine going rogue. What's more, restrictions and eyes were placed on the Marine until all intentions and possibility of betrayal were either confirmed as possible or not.

With that said, James made his stance on the idea of eating a Devil Fruit clear. He would never. If he was forced to eat one, he'd rather choke on it. That said.... He had expressed interest in one before, calling it the "Surgeon's Perfect Scalpel" of a fruit. Of course he could never find any extra info about it. Red tape and all.

Taking a moment, James, exhaled, and calmed himself, flipping his red hair back. "Sorry, that was quite unprofessional of me." he basked in the afterglow of his fantasy. "Still... I shall perform my duties to the best of my abilities and more." Taking a seat, James himself lit a cigarette. It was medical and he used it to calm himself down; but he would be a common companion to the captain on his smoke breaks. He really wasn't as creepy when he wasn't talking about the though of dissection and experiments. Still, he wasn't here for no reason. "Still no progress on the blood samples from Petty Officer Clisson." James wasn't allowed to perform drastic experiments or anything suspiciously illegal on the crew, but Clisson was a constant point of interest for the doctor, despite the Petty Officer's distaste for him. "I attempted to see if I could have her blood transport items. IF it was possible, we could create remote seals she could stamp onto items with high priority for restocking. Cannonballs, cuffs, bullets, grenades, etc.... If it does work, I haven't been able to get her cooperation; but outside of that; perhaps it's just not possible with her fruit limitation. It only ever seems to work on living things anyways; but protocol and lack of approval from everyone involved continues to be a thorn in my side. Not that I'm blaming you Captain." James stated, before staring at the cigarettes in his mouth.

"I always wondered.... why do you smoke those cheap things?" He asked. While the cigarettes were indeed far cheaper than cigars, cigars weren't that much more expensive. Maybe it was simply how many he could shove in his mouth? "You know... that reminds me of a devil fruit. It's a Logia fruit known as the Smoke Smoke fruit." He stated, not even waiting for his captain to answer. "While I'm not a man of superstition, I have heard a theory that the Devil Fruits seek out their users as oppose to being found. I find the idea preposterous, but if that's the case; I'm more surprised that we haven't seen one pop up for you considering how often you fill your lungs."

James smiled as he agreed, "I couldn't agree with you more, and that's exactly what I told that scientist. Too bad they didn't last long in their field." James taunted, before pushing his glasses up, a sheen of white covering his eyes. "Though no doubt I will still pursue methods to convince her to cooperate." Looking at Griggs, James considered his statement, before frowning at Grigg's orders. "I don't need rest, I need answers.... but I digress. Perhaps some sleep would help refresh my mind." Waving his hand, he dismissed himself, "I'll take that as your permission to be dismissed sir." He said, before leaving the room.

Once Griggs finished his cigarettes, he'd head out onto the deck. Indeed, his troops were performing basic maintenance, triple checking the cannons, cleaning them, and preparing them. Rations were handed out, mostly jerky and hard tack, though there were fruit juice pouches supplied to prevent scurvy. Then there was the bets being made, which Silvia had made.

"And so the stoic Captain Griggs looked over his crew, watching as they loyally prepared for a gruesome battle at Long Shore island." The cheerful voice of the team's mascot Silvia herself chimed in, as she walked over. "Is that going to be the end to your boring arc in your journal captain?" She asked, curious about what he was thinking. She knew Griggs had a soft spot for her, or rather that she was his favorite. "So.... I heard that there's no Devil Fruit users.... Am I on look out?"