Why on Earth do I insist on updating at 2 a.m...? Well, this took me longer than expected and I miscalculated quite a bit with where this chapter would end up. Well... Let's just say that if I didn't cut it where I did, then it would end up taking me twice as long and end up being at least 3 times as long. Well, enough blathering. Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Chapter 12: Another Tromp Through the Woods and Castle

"Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark tonight turning to partly light in the morning." -George Carlin

It was a wonderful night for a moonlit stroll up to the castle. Sadly it wasn't as romantic as it sounded; partly because a good date idea never entailed tromping through the woods at eleven at night. So there they were; a group of relatively young adults and their polar bear in the dense woods... It was the perfect set up for some psychopath to come in with a machete and try to hack them into pieces. "Try" being the operative word there as Law would probably bisect them before they so much as had a chance to swing that hypothetical machete of theirs. Anyway, the Heart Pirates weren't enthused with the idea of a nearly midnight walk through heavy foliage, but there were at least four people completely unfazed by this: Mina, Arthur, Law, and Bepo.

Mina had taken to the trees a short while into their little stroll, and was doing what she did earlier as she glided gently from tree to tree whenever a simple jump couldn't suffice with keeping up. Law, as usual, was stoic; though he did glance up into the trees every now and again to keep an eye on the resident tree-hopper. Bepo, being a bear, was relatively comfortable with the woods and found his keen sense of smell to be useful. He smelled the King pirate's scent on the path, indicating heavy travel, but in the forests, not so much. And Arthur? Well... He was still bugging poor Penguin. The electrician didn't appreciate it; not one bit. Of course when Arthur started the act again with Shachi, well, then things got interesting. Needless to say, that conversation is best left unrepeated for the sake of those with... Delicate sensibilities. The two pirates were left rather uncomfortable after the remarks Arthur had made. A sign that the swordsman had left an impression on their minds. Even Sarge, who had overheard the "conversation", was a bit... Creeped out by the blond haired man after that. All in all, it was a rather dull, yet mildly interesting trip to the castle.

Now if you're wondering why a group of only six people are potentially taking on a crew of twenty-five, well the plan Arthur and Law had come up with would cut down on the amount of people that would get in the way of their target. The plan was simple: Arthur would cause a ruckus at the front gate and defeat most of the underlings there while the five pirates snuck into the castle via the library window. Of course finding the target would be the next important task, but Law had a good sense of the layout of the castle and would probably find Duncan with some relative ease. Either that, or Duncan would find him. Well no matter the circumstances, Law would end up with a fight. Personally he felt that he'd win, but you never know in battle since the tides could be changed quickly and suddenly. Caution was to be used; but at the same time Law had the advantage tactically speaking while his opponent had the advantage of knowing the lay of the land better. It was quite the position the Captain found himself in. He wasn't quite sure if he liked this position or not, but he'd have to deal with it. No one got away with kidnapping a member of his crew and damaging his submarine. It was an unavoidable battle all the same though. His grip tightening around the sheath of his nodachi, Law readied himself for a fight.

Upon coming to the castle, Law's grey eyes took in the layout and put them in perspective of the floor plans. This would work. Glancing to Arthur, he saw that the man was eyeing the gates. Two people stood guarding the door. Well, one was asleep if the body language of the man leaning on the spear next to him was any indication of his current state. Arthur let out a small sound of disapproval as he watched the guards.

"What complacence," He hummed softly before looking at Law. "Well dearie, shall I go raise some Hell?"

"Don't call me that," Law ordered. "And yes, Mister Arthur. Start the plan."

Arthur made the mental note to call Law "dearie" every day for the rest of the fuzzy hatted Captains' life. Or at least until Heart Pirates left that is. Arthur couldn't very well call Law "dearie" then now could he? Smirking to himself, Arthur stood up from the crouch he was in and began walking nonchalantly over to the front door.

"Don't get yourself murdered," Mina hissed to him as he walked away.

A simple wave with the back of his left hand told her that he'd be okay. She rolled her eyes at the confidence of the man, but she knew he'd be the winner in the end. If he wasn't... Well, let's just say Mina would be the one to raise him from the dead so she could kick his ass for losing to a bunch of goons.

"Let's go," Law ordered.

Nodding, the five pirates trailed behind their Captain as he led the way through the bushes towards the back of the castle.

-:-

Arthur heard them leave and shook his head gently. He wished them the best of luck during their infiltration. Though with Mina on their side, the blond swordsman was fairly confident that they'd make it. She was quite sneaky when she needed to be. Though he could tell that the other pirates weren't a bunch of layabouts either simply by the way they carried themselves. To be perfectly honest, Arthur had been surprised to see Mina walk into his bar after five years of separation. And with pirates no less... Not that Mina had anything against pirates to begin with; it was just more surprising that she joined them in the first place. She was never a sociable person to begin with and it was fairly apparent her cold demeanor was rubbing at least one crew member the wrong way. Arthur was also fairly surprised that the bucket hatted man hadn't been keelhauled by her yet. Well, reflection aside, the swordsman figured there was more to the story than he knew and he'd have to get the details from the Zoan user herself once they got back to the bar. For now though, it was time to raise some Hell. His smirk still in place, Arthur waltzed right up to the sleepy guards with a spring in his step.

"Hello," The blond man greeted the guards.

The somewhat more... Conscious guard was a shirtless man in black dress pants with black hair framing his roguish features. He looked genuinely surprised to see the swordsman stroll up to the gates like he owned the place. Thanks to the light provided by the torches that sat next to the gate, Arthur was recognized by the shirtless man. He paled considerably and woke his sleeping comrade with a shake to the shoulder.

"Dude, wake up!" The shirtless man was panicking.

When the other man didn't rouse from his sleep, the echo of a slap resounded through the dark woods.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for George!" The bleary eyed man rubbed his cheek.

"G-G-Guh-GHOST!" George stuttered as he pointed at Arthur. "We all saw this guy fall off the cliff!"

The sleepy man slowly realized the situation. He was a bit more average looking; short brown hair, the standard King Pirates shirt, and a pair of cut-off jean shorts were what he wore. He also carried a spear in his right hand, and seemed to be rather familiar with the pole-arm.

"Well, I'm very much alive my dear," Arthur was highly amused by this scene. "Too bad for you really, but I'll spare your lives if you do one teensy-tiny thing for me."

At that, Arthur drew the katana at his hip. The silver blade glinted in the torchlight as he drew it and reflected the light onto his face; the effect of the harsh illumination was quite frightening. George and his friend saw the rather cold look that had taken over Arthur's crystal blue eyes.

"W-What...?" George was actually kind of afraid at this point. First a ghost and now this... This was not poor George's night. Nor was it his friend's night.

"For you to scream of course," A rather unsettling grin stretched across his face at the end of his sentence.

George and his friend were all too happy to oblige after that.

-:-

Law and his group made it to the library window without much fuss. However, there was a guard patrolling the rooftop that was posing a bit of a problem. Mina was thinking off all the ways to murder the man before he made so much as a peep when an echoing scream tore through the somewhat quiet night. It sounded like our man with a machete showed up after all. There was no way of not hearing that scream. Bepo even had to put his paws over his ears thanks to the volume and pitch.

"I think that's our cue," Sarge deadpanned.

The pirates watched as the man on the rooftop ran towards the front of the castle to check on the situation and then as he ran across the roof and vanished into the castle most likely to warn everyone about the ruckus at the front gate. The coast was finally clear. Mina leapt from the tree she was sitting in and glided quietly to the library window. It was still wide open from earlier this afternoon, and even if it hadn't been there were plenty of rocks around to remedy the window situation. Digging her talons into the rocks again, Mina peered into the darkened room to find it as empty as ever. Smirking she climbed in and pulled a coil of rope from the bag at her side. It was a simple tan satchel given to her by Arthur; the leather strap sat on her right shoulder and went across her body to sit at her left hip. Tying the rope to a table, she threw the other end out the window for her fellow pirates.

While they climbed up, Mina went to the door and gently cracked it open. She heard footsteps throughout the castle no doubt caused by some twenty-odd people running through the place towards the front door. Peering through the crack, she saw plenty of men scrambling to the front gates. Her eyes locked onto a lone straggler as the man stumbled a bit too close to the library door. Mina pulled the door open; her hand shooting out to grab the pirate by the back of his shirt; which most likely was the same as every other King Pirate in the place. The poor guy didn't even know what hit him. All he knew was that the library door clicked shut again and he was very much throttled against the stone wall with a forearm across his windpipe with his feet off the ground. Grasping the arm of his attacker, he tried to keep the pressure off of his neck so he wouldn't suffocate.

"So, care to tell me where your Captain is?" Mina asked with a menacing undertone as she kept him pinned against the wall.

"Miss Mina, what did I tell you about strangling people?" Law said as he climbed over the windowsill.

Mina shot her Captain an annoyed look from over her shoulder at that comment.

"I saw an opportunity for information and I took it," She replied icily as she glared at the man she was depriving of air.

"Well you aren't gonna get much out of him if you choke him to death," Sarge offered his wisdom as he came in through the window.

"I didn't want him to scream," The Zoan user stated flatly but she still let off some of the pressure on her captive's windpipe. "Call for help, and I tear your voice box out and show it to you as you bleed to death."

The man's face, which had been turning a light shade of blue, looked like a fish out of water as he sucked in some precious air. Coughing lightly, the man glowered at Mina; his dark eyes attempting to cut through Mina's cold bronze ones. It didn't work really; she was as unfazed as ever as he glared at her. Meanwhile, the rest of the Heart Pirates entered the building via the window.

"Now, Duncan where is he?" She was commanding to say the least.

"Che," He scoffed. "Like I'm telling a bitch like you."

"Name calling?" She quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't realize you were twelve since you reek of booze. Does your mother know what you've been up to young man?"

The man in her grasp glared even harder at her.

"Attitude," He scoffed. "Think your so tough, eh? A couple of quips and you think you have me on the ropes?"

"No," Mina denied, her eyes sparkling with malice. "Once you start crying and begging me for your life is when I know that I have you on the ropes. But quite frankly I don't have the time to break you, so if you'd be so kind as to just tell me what I need to know then I won't need to get blood stains out of my shirt later."

"You're bluffing," The captive pirate deadpanned.

Challenge accepted. Mina pulled her hunting knife using her free left hand. Settling the knife over his heart, she looked at him with cold eyes. Digging the tip into his skin lightly, she made sure he knew how sharp the knife was and that his life was in her hand that very moment.

"Hm, looks like I'll have to clean blood out of my shirt after all," She hummed in cruel amusement as she gently pricked his skin through his shirt. "Oh well. I've had practice, so it shouldn't be too much of a pain."

For what was probably the first time in his life, the pirate against the wall felt a cold sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. When Mina saw the spark of fear in his eyes, that's when she knew she'd won.

"If you want to stop this," She murmured lowly. "All you've gotta do is tell me where to find Duncan. A fair trade, right?"

"Y-You'll kill me once I tell you," He said as he broke eye contact with her.

"You die if you don't tell me either," She retorted easily. "There's no way out of this situation unscathed. However, I might be in the merciful mood today if you tell me what I want to know. Depends on how lucky you feel I guess."

"Captain..." Sarge complained to Law. He made sure to keep his voice down. "This is taking too long."

"She's getting somewhere," Law commented. He could see the dilemma on the King pirate's face as plain as day.

Mina tilted her head to the side quizzically. It was a foregone conclusion in her mind; people usually take any means of survival they get and that tiny glimmer of life she was offering should be enough to get him to spill the beans.

"So, what do you say?" She pressed him once again. She even dug the knife in a tiny bit deeper to drive the point home.

"Throne room... He should still be there," The pirate told her what she wanted to know.

In a flash, the knife over his heart was gone and his feet were back on the floor. However, what he didn't see coming was the strike with the blunt end of the knife handle to his temple. Striking him swiftly, he crumpled to the floor unconscious at her feet.

"You didn't kill him?" Shachi was surprised. He had her pegged as one to enjoy bloodshed.

"Of course. He's the one who wanted to live even after he betrayed his captain," Mina stated as she retrieved the rope from the table. She was going to tie him up in case he didn't tell the truth about Duncan's location. Then she'd go back and kill him if he ended up telling her the wrong information. A normal practice when it came to her mindset. "Living with the consequences of your actions can be just as bad as death. He now has to live with the fact that he betrayed the information that ultimately led to his Captain's death."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a coldhearted bitch by any chance?" Sarge wasn't one to mince words.

"Eh, I've been called worse," Mina admitted with a nonchalant shrug. She was completely unruffled by Sarge's insult. "So Captain... Orders?"

Mina looked to the unfazed Law as she tied the unconscious pirate's arms behind his back. Her Captain was mentally going through the floor plan of the castle. The throne room was a floor above them. Easy enough to get to; it just depended on how many stragglers they ended up fighting in the end.

-:-

Meanwhile...

The King Pirates were highly confused and some of them were actually rather frightened as they paused in their fighting. Some blond haired twit was making a fool of what was almost the entire pirate crew outside the main door to the castle. Sure they were the "lackeys" of the King Pirates, but they didn't make it this far into the Grand Line for nothing. Still though, their opponent hadn't even drawn his sword. In fact, the only thing that the man was doing was writing in a small notebook; and dodging strikes as well as gunshots. Actually the men using guns had all but tossed them to the ground out of sheer frustration over not being able to snipe the man. Yeah, he was a rather slippery bastard and it was absolutely dumbfounding to see him bend over backwards like he could. Seriously, there was a fine line between flexible and practically boneless and he was crossing it every other movement. Sensing a pause in the strikes, the man looked up from whatever it was he was writing.

"Hm? Done already?" He asked with dull blue eyes. His dead expression really sold the pirates on how boring he found this whole thing. "Hm, such a shame. I haven't even gotten to the fifteenth stanza yet."

"Stanza?" One random pirate asked as he panted heavily. Well, no one can really deny that the King Pirates weren't trying to hit the man. They really were; most were using deadly force by now but... They just couldn't hit the bastard.

"Indeed my uncultured little pirate," The man smiled as he closed the book and slid it back in his right pocket. "I like poetry; clears the head in my opinion. Also the pen, or pencil, is mightier than the sword in some instances. In fact, I bet I can take you all on using this pencil and my free hand."

He showed said pencil to the pirates. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just your standard pencil. However, while the pirates were busy thinking "what the fuck is wrong with this guy", the man lunged for an attack on the nearest pirate. Startled, the pirate tried to get a hit in using his spear but it was effortlessly pushed aside by the seemingly unbreakable pencil. Striking the man in the stomach with his free hand, Arthur sent the man flying backwards and into a nearby tree. The tree quivered at the sudden weight slamming into it, causing leaves to float down from the branches, and it was very obvious that he wasn't getting up after that hit; well, for a while at the very least.

"I did warn you," Arthur sent a grin to his remaining opponents. "I would suggest that you just surrender at this point."

Snapping out of their stupor, the pirates, which numbered somewhere around the twenty mark, charged the lone man. Grinning happily all the while, Arthur dodged blows left and right while parrying the random sword or pole-arm sent his way with a mere pencil. Sidestepping the left hook a pirate tried to strike him with, the bartender slammed his fist into a man's belly which sent the poor sap into several of his comrades who tumbled to the ground in a mass of limbs and rather sharp objects. Even with those few out of the way, Arthur set to work on thinning out his opponents. In the midst of the confusion, the King Pirates were falling one by one due to blows not only from Arthur, but friendly fire as well. There were more than a few instances of a King Pirate accidentally striking his comrade that was also going in for a hit on Arthur, only for the blond haired man to move out of the way with such haste that they couldn't redirect their attacks to properly hit him. It was quite the chaotic scene for the King Pirates... It was a shocking contrast to Arthur's rather graceful movements.

It was truly a spectacle to behold. Dancing among the flurry of blows sent his way, Arthur lashed out in small strikes that were nearly impossible to dodge. Lithely dodging blows while exchanging his own, the King Pirates were outclassed by this man; and he wasn't even taking the fight seriously for the fact that he didn't draw the sword at his hip. All in all, it was a fast battle. Expedited by the cases of friendly fire and the fact that the pirates were really fighting a losing battle to begin with, the last King Pirate fell to the blow of a pencil. Smacking the last man in the temple with the blunt end of the mighty writing utensil, the pirate hit the ground like a felled tree. Never once did Arthur lose his grin; in fact it only grew as the pirate hit the dirt.

"Hm... Well that was mildly entertaining," He mused as he took out the notebook once more. Flipping it open to the page he had been working on, his blue eyes scanned his work. "Now, where was I...? Ah, I remember now."

And there Arthur stood; surrounded by unconscious men as he wrote his fourteenth stanza in a poem he wrote about how the King Pirates were such idiots.

"Hm... I wonder how things are going for them," He mused half-heartedly as he continued to write.

-:-

The Heart Pirates were well on their way to the throne room. Running through the halls at an easy pace, it was surprising to them that they hadn't run into any other King Pirates yet. Still... Something wasn't quite right. As the sound of their running footsteps bounced off the cold, gray stone walls, Mina was on high alert. Well, the same could be said for the rest of her comrades, but Mina in particular was showing some distrust with her surroundings with her eyes flicking around to take it all in. Coming to what was the main room of the second floor, something triggered Mina's instincts and she shoved the pirate in front of her, which was Shachi, forward and into Penguin while she jumped backwards.

"The hell!" Shachi was taken off guard by the sudden push.

It was a mere split second later that a large, black creature shot down from above and embedded a set of sharp claws into the stone floor where Shachi stood not all but a second ago. Digging her heels in, Mina glared at the creature that had so rudely dropped from the ceiling. It had most likely been hanging out in the rafters waiting for its prey to walk by. Needless to say, the sudden appearance of the large creature was enough to stop all progress from the Heart Pirates.

"The hell is that thing?" Sarge asked as he fell into a fighting stance.

"Cat," Mina scowled as she studied the large feline.

It was a large, black cat of sorts. Gold eyes flashed in the darker lighting of the room as its tail flicked about. The funny thing about this cat was that it wore white pants and a white shirt with the King Pirate insignia on the front.

"It smells the same as on the ship," Bepo observed as he too fell into a fighting stance.

'I hate cats...' Mina grumbled in her head.

It was true; Mina hated cats like no tomorrow. It wasn't because she was a bird and therefore seen as prey, but rather it was because of the fairly large tiger she had killed in her early teen years. Yes, the tiger bone bracelet and the pelt she used to make her chair more comfortable came from the same tiger. Said tiger was the "king" of the island she had stayed on and was the number one reason why she hated any and all things feline. That thing made her life living hell for quite a number of months as it would steal the kills she made of the other animals on the island. However the cat in front of her now was a Devil Fruit user. The clothes made it all too easy to spot; the white pants and shirt looked like they were in the brink of tearing.

"So, you must be the kid I saw this morning then," Mina observed.

Without much word on his part, the teenage boy transformed back into human. No longer stretching his clothes to the furthest point before snapping, he eyed the fellow Zoan fruit user.

"Looks like my opponent's been decided," Mina was looking forward to the fight.

"I trust you can take care of him yourself, Miss Mina?" Law asked from near the steps to the third floor.

"Yeah, I can handle him," Mina was confident. "I'll catch up in a bit."

And with that her crew mates went up the stairs to the third floor. The cat-boy didn't even try to stop them. Apparently he was too engrossed in trying to read Mina's mind or something.

Mina stared back at him; already in a fighting stance, she was sizing him up as well. A little information went a long way in her line of work. Studying the kid, she was able to safely guess that he was a close quarters combat type of person thanks to him being unarmed. As a fellow Zoan user, Mina knew what to expect for the most part so it just came down to adapting her way of fighting to counter his. The other part was knowing her surroundings, but she really didn't feel like she could safely take her eyes of her opponent. They stood there as another minute slowly ticked by. Neither of them were too keen on moving first, but as her impatience grew, Mina felt the itch to move. Her wait was soon over as her opponent moved in for a fast strike. Noticing how he transformed mid-step with black fur sprouting from his skin and tail trailing behind him, she dodged the swipe of his large claws. Skidding backwards from the momentum of her dodge, Mina watched him coldly. Now, he had been shorter than her in his human form but with the added muscle mass granted by whatever feline fruit he ate, he was rather tall and bulky. He probably had a growth spurt of a good six inches. Even in the very low lighting of the room, she saw the glimmer of his slitted, dark gold eyes. His hybrid form was something to behold, but it looked distinctly more cat than human. Mina's eyes narrowed at the observation. He was roughly fifteen years too young to be taking her on with control like that on his Devil Fruit.

"I never did hear your name, kid," She prompted the introduction.

"... Flynn," He told her.

Nodding in acknowledgement of his name, Mina studied the kid some more. She was fully aware of her surroundings at this point. The second floor room was large and rather empty for such a room. She would've expected at least a few suits of armor, but instead the walls were covered with moth-eaten tapestries from the previous rulers of the island. However someone had tacked a King Pirate flag on the wall to her right which covered some of them. The floor was stone; no carpeting or anything to take away the chill of the room. Although she did take a minor note of the wooden rafters above her. They might be useful at some point.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Mina asked when he didn't move after awhile.

Flynn didn't respond to her question. Instead he answered with his claws. He moved quickly; almost too quickly for Mina to react, but when she realized that he was only going for the throat, she rolled her eyes as she ducked the large arc of the sharp claws and ended up behind him. Before he could react, Mina had already brought a fist forward to meet his lower back. Knocking him forward, Flynn landed flat on his stomach.

Normally this would've been the end for anyone as Mina probably would've either severed their spine with her hunting knife or at the very least flip them over to crush their trachea with her talons, but a flash of glinting metal made her pause in any movements to end Flynn's life. Jumping backwards once again, Mina barely dodged a rapier thrust to the gut. Her eyes meeting the cool blue ones of an orange haired man, she groaned in her head. Orangie had decided to make an appearance and effectively made this a two-on-one battle.

"What're you doing Flynn!?" Orangie was pissed at his subordinate. "Get up and get with the program!"

The cat boy on the floor got up and faced her once again.

"Fuck," Mina muttered too low for Orangie to hear. Flynn probably heard her though.

Well... This just isn't a good situation.

-:-

Law was fairly confident in his crew and their ability to fight. So when Penguin, Shachi, and Sarge each found an opponent to fight on their way to the throne room, he left them to deal with their respective opponents much like he did with Mina. It was just him and Bepo on their way to the throne room. Running through the halls, his ears heard the sound of a door opening. Seeing a man come through the door rubbing his eyes as the door closed behind him, Bepo knew he was about to face his opponent. The sleepy blue haired man looked towards the sound of running footsteps and paused at the sight. Sure the King Pirate knew that the people running towards him weren't allies, but something about the situation had the man frozen stiff. Law and Bepo coming to a halt in front of the petrified man, they were both prepared for the attacks by the man in front of them. Still though, what they weren't expecting was the fact that he still hadn't moved an inch. He just stared at Bepo.

"B-B-B-B..." The man stuttered. "BEAR!"

He sounded absolutely terrified by the prospect of a bear. Sure Bepo was a polar bear in a boiler suit, but he was still a bear to this obviously traumatized King Pirate. The blue haired man then promptly let out a shriek of terror more commonly associated with small girls and turned on his heel to run back into his room. Sadly poor Karl didn't realize that his door remained shut. So with the force of a raging bull, the man rammed into the thick wooden door to his bedroom and then promptly fell backwards. The combination of his forehead striking the heavy door and the back of his skull striking the cold stone floor rendered the man unconscious. Both the Heart Pirates stared blankly at the unconscious man. Looks like Bepo won his fight...

Well... Strange event aside, the two pirates continued on their way. With no further interruptions, Law and Bepo stood outside the tall doors to the throne room. Dark, intricately carved wood towered above the pirates. Seriously, the thing almost reached the ceiling! It was highly apparent that Duncan liked his big fancy doors, but the funny thing was that there was a smaller door actually cut into the much larger behemoth.

"Make sure no one enters," Law told the polar bear before he pushed the smaller portion of the ridiculously large door open.

Entering the surprisingly lit throne room, Law was met with the sight of Duncan on his throne. The man sat on a throne cut from the same stone that probably built the palace. Of course the man would probably have some sort of cushion, because sitting on what amounted to a stone chair would probably leave one's tailbone aching should you sit on it for more than a few hours each day as is. Anyway, the enemy pirate captain was sitting slouched in his throne; his chin resting on his right hand as he stared at Law from across the room. Duncan was a man in his late thirties; he was seemingly well built and rather tall too with his thick chestnut brown hair slicked back to show off his sharp features. The pirate wore an iron breastplate that gleamed in the lights. A long sleeved gray shirt was under the armor and his black pants came to a stop above the top of his metal boots. Well, at least the man wasn't wearing a crown.

"So, you are the mouse that has been scampering around," Duncan said. He was speaking in a normal, conversational fashion, but Law could see the anger being suppressed by him due to the fact that he had the left arm of the stone chair in a white knuckled vice grip. Also there was an undertone of malice. "I commend you for getting this far, but you... Have chosen poorly. The decision to face me was a foolhardy one."

Law remained silent. He figured bursting out into hysterical laughter would only give Duncan the advantage.

"You do not seem to comprehend the situation you are in," The King mused. "I am Regulus Duncan; the Captain of the King Pirates and a man of royal blood."

"I highly doubt that..." Law muttered lowly.

Duncan continued as if he hadn't heard Law. To be honest, he probably didn't because his head was so far up his own ass that he was deaf to everything around him. Come to think of it, that also explained why he wasn't reading into his crew's feelings about being on Crissor.

"Sadly though, the chance to surrender has passed and now you will die like the common scum that you are," He so boldly declared before standing. "Now, be prepared to face true power. You will be helpless against the powers of my Devil Fruit."

"I beg to differ Mister Duncan," Law spoke up. "I already know your Devil Fruit powers."

I'm tired... Next time: blood will be spilled. In fact, it shall paint the very walls of the castle. And while this chapter wasn't as much action as I had hoped, next time for sure. Basically, it boiled down to updating this month before school started or not updating this month and then updating sometime closer to Thanksgiving Break. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned. And as always: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review then!