Mishaps of Piracy
Chapter Eight: Kidnapping the Bookman
"Ge ge," Linali whispered, standing up. "I missed you."
"As did I," Komui responded. He was at a complete loss for words, and hoped he wasn't currently looking much like a fool. As she stood before him, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, unwilling to let go of his darling younger sister.
"Ge ge, air please!" she cried, feeling the pain shooting down her ribs.
"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled, releasing her. "You still look the same."
She nodded. "As do you. You look a little chipper. Did something good happen while I was gone?"
"I… I married Miranda." She laughed, patting him on the shoulder.
"It's about time you did. That poor woman was waiting for you for awhile." From the corner of her eye, she glanced back at Allen, still sleeping in bed. "He didn't do anything drastic while I was gone, did he?" she asked, worried.
"If you mean drastic such as suicide, then no, but he does mope around this time for about a week," Komui answered.
"I see," she said. "Stupid Allen, mourning over something he didn't control… That's so like him."
Komui nodded in agreement. "But that's one of the things you loved about him," he said quietly, with a trace of bitterness.
"You can be like that too, Ge ge," she said. She smiled. "I should go out now. Our poor crew's been out there waiting for awhile. Allen won't mind if I'm away from him a couple minutes." She walked side by side with him, opening the door to face the stunned faces. "Good evening everyone." Her voice was charismatic, light. "I'm only here temporarily, but let's have fun working together again!" Linali said, the crowd cheering.
It certainly feels like back then, Komui thought, watching his sister run over to hug and chat with Miranda.
Allen crawled out of bed, a little happy that there was no one to greet him, no Linali to smile at him kindly and make him sink deeper into guilt. He tucked his arms underneath his head, staring up at the ceiling. He liked having his moments alone, to bask in the silence and his thoughts, no one to disturb him. He could hear the happy, jubilant cries of his crew-all for Linali. He wasn't the only one that missed her, and he acknowledged that. There was a soft knock on his door, muffled by the noise of the shouting crowd. "Come in," he said, annoyance creeping into his voice.
He hastily apologized as he realized it was the Japanese boy in the doorway. "Is this a bad time?" Yu asked.
"N…no, I suppose not," Allen said. Yu stared at him suspiciously.
"You sounded like you didn't want to see anyone."
Allen laughed mirthlessly, calmly. "That too," he admitted. "I really didn't want to see her-"
"-even though you missed her?" Yu finished. Allen nodded. "You're going to get lazy if you stay in bed." Allen pouted.
"I was only in for a couple of hours," he protested.
"And you can save that for sleep at night," Yu retorted.
Allen huffed. "You know, sometimes I think I liked you better when you couldn't speak English," he said sarcastically.
"Meh… It's your own fault for getting Lavi to teach me…"
"Yes… that was my fault." So was her death, Allen thought.
"…so are you going to come out now, or wallow in your misery?" Yu said.
Allen laughed. "When'd you learn the word 'wallow'?"
"Like that matters," he said.
"You're progressing fast," Allen said, standing up.
"You're going out now?"
"As you said, I'd rather not rot in bed." He smiled teasingly. "Wouldn't want you to be the one to look at me in disgust when I'm withering dead." Yu shook his head uncertainly, not understanding every word his captain was saying, but at least the pirate wasn't moping at the moment.
"Hold stiiiiilll!" Rhode whined, running a brush through Jasdero's long blond hair. Jasdero continued fidgeting; Debitt laughed a few times at his younger brother's expense. Jasdero stared at the messy, black-haired boy, expecting Debitt to rescue him from this "torture".
"Don't you have someone else to go bother? You know, like Lero?" the older twin asked. Rhode waved her hand nonchalantly.
"He's no fun anymore. The only game he ever wants to play is hide and seek and he never comes out even when I give up," she complained. "Hm, that's too bad," Debitt said, not paying attention. "Now, do release my brother." She pouted, allowing the blond boy off the seat.
Lavi was sent off to get groceries, and to be frank, he wasn't happy that Allen had yet again limited how many books he could buy. Today, the limit was one, one. That was an all new low, that dirty, mean-he sighed forlornly. His eyes danced as he singled out a bookstore in the middle of the street, smiling happily as he waltzed in, skirting the bookshelves.Bam!
The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, blinking his eyes blankly up at the tall, suave looking man. He thought there was something familiar about the man and reached to take his spectacles off, wiping the lenses with his shirt-he attracted too much attention with an eye patch. He was a little surprised when the man smiled and pulled him up politely. "Sorry for bumpin' into ya," Lavi said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. The ivory-skinned man shook his head, still smiling, his thick glasses barely balanced on the tip of his nose and his unruly chocolate curls gave him a handsome, rugged sort of appearance. "It's alright," the man replied in the same slurred accent. It seemed to suit him, and he laughed. It wasn't too rambunctious, but it wasn't quiet either, and Lavi liked it.
"Hey," Lavi said, looking down at the man's hands, "that's the same book I want!" He glanced towards the shelf, disappointed that there were no more copies.
The man smirked. "Do ya want it?" he mused.
Lavi cocked an eyebrow. "…what's in it for ya?" The man shrugged, smiling innocently.
"Nothing, can I have your name?"
Lavi laughed.
"Trust me, it's not something that's gonna do ya much good. I'm gonna be leavin' the next day or somethin' anyway," the Bookman informed him. The man frowned.
"I see. What'cha doing here anyway?
"We mainly stopped for some groceries an' stuff-you know, to stock up for da journey. We travel on ship. It's a pretty nice ship," he was careful not to mention the name, "an' everybody's pretty close. It's much 'appier after da Miss came back too, 'specially the cap'n. He's brightened up."
"That sounds good."
"Yeah, it's great, stupid jerk's only lettin' me buy one lousy book dis time though," Lavi said, annoyed. "So d'ya live 'ere?"
"Not at all," he said. "I'm sorta here on a vacation."
"I'd like ta get away from work sometimes too," Lavi said wistfully, "not that I don' like my work or anythin', but still… it can get pretty tirin' sometimes."
"Well at least you don' have to listen to a fat man whene'er 'e says 'duty calls', the man beside him groused.
Lavi snickered. "You said 'duty'."
"Oh, grow up."
"Funny," Lavi said. "We sound like old friends." The man snorted, as if he found something he said stupid. "What?"
"Nothin', nothin' at all." He held up the book, and Lavi watched as light shone on the smooth, glossy cover. "So d'ya want this or not?" he said.
"Duh, it's what I came 'ere for." Lavi pulled out a silver pocket watch. "I sould probably be goin' now…" The man frowned again.
"You still didn' give me your name."
"And I said, you don' need it." Lavi pressed several copper coins onto the counter, and the chocolate haired man followed after him.
"Where's your ship?" Lavi smiled, pointing into the near distance to the right. "Over there." The pirate flag had been taken down for the time being, not needing any officers to arrest them. After all, Captain Allen Walker had a bounty of over 100 million. It was an impressive feat; almost beating Cross' by 150 million, but it would surprise Lavi if Allen had somehow managed to up the bounty up in next couple of weeks. "What's your work?"
The man laughed. It was deep and short, rich. "I'm part of a crew. We're all pretty close-like family ta say."
"We're kinda like dat too. Too bad our cap'n is always so intent on blamin' 'imself for anythin' 'e does wrong." Lavi grinned. "But dat's why everyone loves 'im so much."
The man nodded. "Lucky, our is like a slave driver. He lets us do what we want, but he makes it impossible to disobey 'is orders when he gots some." He smiled sadly. "I'd really rather jus' have fun all day long actually." Lavi was about to respond when he was scooped up over the man's shoulder.
"Hey, what are you-!"
"This is one of 'is orders." The man smiled cockily. "Sorry, boy, but you're comin' with me." Lavi was about to do anything, kick, yell, scream even, but he had to admit, this guy worked quick. His limbs were bound, and tape was slapped over his mouth. Curse the minute he decided not to take that dagger with him.
