"Come on, Lavi. Leave Allen alone," Tyki tried to pull Lavi away from the sobbing prince who had just poured his heart out into the ocean for his brother, but Lavi stayed behind with a determined look on his face. No way am I gonna leave Allen just like that!
Suddenly, a loud crash and shouts of curses were heard from afar. Not thinking at all, Lavi together with a shell-shock Tyki raced back to the campsite. What they saw was a one sided battle. But not against the frantic Noahs.
The Royal Navy was attacking both pirates and merfolk alike with their weapons and sharp swords. Their gold and black uniform was undeniably proper as they continued their attacks. Black Order tried to fight back with whatever they could get their hands on while the Noahs were hissing and dragging unlucky soldiers to their watery graves.
"Arr ya bootlickers! Taste me blade!" Lavi shouted, unsheathing his buckled sword and joining the fray. Tyki reunited with his brethren and took immediate command of the restless twins and ordered Lulubell to guard the young Rhode. Although the Black Order had magical creatures by their side, the Royal Navy had larger numbers and more experience dealing with slippery criminals.
"TYKI, look out!" Miranda shouted all too late.
Distracted by Jasdero who wanted to save Devit from being cornered, Tyki didn't see the net thrown towards him until it was too late. The metallic hooks that were tied at the corners dragged Tyki's body downwards until the merman ate sand in his face. Tyki struggled instinctually as he tried to break free from the restrains. But the more he tried to tear free, the tighter the net twisted around his body and thus paralyzing his movements.
"TYKI!" Both Devit and Jasdero wanted to save their elder brother, but they were so absorbed by their saving plan that they fell into one of the Royal Navy's traps that were hidden beneath the sand. The net caught the twins and swiftly put an end to their killing spree.
"You'll have to do better than that to take her away from me!" Lulubell hissed dangerously like her reptilian brothers, placing herself in front of an unconscious Rhode. Her black eyes narrowed into slits as her tail fins sharpened when the Royal Navy came closer with guns pointed straight at the mermaids.
"Don't ye know better than to hit an unarmed woman?!" Lenalee placed a precise kick to the stomach as she fought against the soldiers that stood against Lulubell.
Black Order was fighting with all their might as well and they were no pushovers! With ingenuity and dirty tricks, they fooled many soldiers and killed many that stood in their way to save their merfolk comrades.
However, the tide quickly turned against them when a booming sound of a gunshot rang through the battlefield.
"I suggest you lay down your weapons before I plant a bullet in his head," a commanding yet confident voice carried through the night air.
Lavi growled, clenching his sword but his heart beat with cold worry as he saw who the accursed man locked in his arms with the pistol pointed straight at his head, "General Malcolm.. Yer coward! Taking a poor man as yer hostage! Let 'im go, ya whimshidonkey!"
General Malcolm was infamous as a pirate hunter that had long served under Her Majesty, the Queen of England. He was merciless, cruel and commanding. But he completed every job and all missions given to him with precise judgement and cold compassion.
Lavi had a few 'fortunate' meetings with this General himself. He was lucky to have escaped with his life. But in exchange for his life, he got a permanent scar that forever took away his eyesight in his right eye. Yes, Lavi knew how ruthless Malcolm was and he didn't like it one bit that said ruthless man had Allen at pointblank!
"Why should I, Lavi? He's such a precious little thing!" Malcolm tilted Allen's chin with his other gloved hand. The poor merman was visibly shaking with fear now, his pretty silver eyes threatening to release a barrage of tears. But there was untrained fury underneath all those fear and Allen swore that Malcolm would rue the day he was born into this world! He bitterly announced that aloud, causing the unaffected General to laugh loudly.
Malcolm shouted to his still-living soldiers, "Tie them all up, boys! Make sure those creatures are away from the water!"
The soldiers went straight to work with complete discipline and silence. "Just like dogs, yar all are!" Kanda spatter at their feet when they came to tie him up with an injured Krory. The Black Order was tied up tightly while the struggling merfolk were dragged far away from both their home ground and the captured pirates.
"Let Allen go! He ain't worth anything to you!" Lavi tried to take his arms away from the grunting soldiers.
But Malcolm smiled viciously like a shark that had just smelt fresh blood, "what makes you think that I'll let him go? After all, Allen here is essential to my plans,"
"What're you gonna do to him, you trollophead?!" Lenalee cursed while she pulled against her restraints.
"Why, I'm going to hunt down all the merfolks, of course!" Malcolm explained to them like a parent to their child, "I knew these mythical creatures exist and I was researching about them for years! Do you know how long it took for me to find even one? I nearly gave up hope!"
Here, Malcolm gripped Allen's pale arm till it turned red, "That is, until I felt the ancient power of a merman himself! With Allen here, I can find the home of Atlantica and capture all the merpeople I want!"
Allen growled, angry that this foolish human had the tongue and guts to speak of his faithful home, "What do you want us for? We'll never give anything to you," Allen struggled with innate anger.
But Malcolm wasn't deterred and instead of threatening to point the gun at him, he fired one shot at Lavi's ribs within a blink of an eye.
Lavi felt sheer pain when he felt the bullet digging into his body without stopping. He remembered screaming in surprise and suffering, but there was also a louder scream in unison with his own.
"LAVI!" Allen shouted, trying to get to his collapsed best friend. The Noahs howled and doubled their efforts to escape, but the nets were too harsh for them and they were too far away from the ocean's water.
"Now, Allen. This can go two ways: leave with me peacefully, or-" here, he cocked his smoking gun to a groaning Lavi once again, "-he dies,"
Lavi's memory was vague after that; the blackness crept at the edges of his one eye. He saw Allen's mournful face as he was willingly carried away in Malcolm's arms. He tried to get up, move a muscle, but his body was against his wishes. He felt the steel bullet digging in as he continued to struggle until he could move no longer. Lavi felt his heart burst in sadness as he took his last breath before falling into darkness. Allen...
"-vi!" An echoing voice tugged Lavi lazily into reality. Why can't they let me be... I want to sleep...
"-Lavi!" The voice came again, this time more urgent.
Lavi grudgingly opened his heavy eye to blurry images. The sun was high up in the sky now and there were sea gulls flying around in the blue sky like they were vultures in disguise waiting for Lavi to drop dead. He felt like his body was turned into lead overnight and his muscles changed into dry cement. Just turning his head to the side so that he wouldn't suffocate into the sand below was pure effort.
"Lavi! Are you alright?" Komui cried out from... Far away? Lavi narrowed his eye as he tried to clear his mind. What happened? My head feels like a monkey cannon threw up on me!
"Lavi! Wake the heck up!"
Groaning with the energy needed to get his body up, Lavi gave up moving when he managed to sit up. His whole body protested on sudden movements, and Lavi nearly gave in the urge to just sleep the week away. A sharp pang bit in his ribs, and Lavi cursed softly as he felt fresh blood seeping into his shirt and hand.
"Lavi! D-Don't move so much! You'll agitate the wound!" Miranda stuttered from behind Lenalee, her hands tied up together with the other female pirate.
Lavi blinked back the sleep sand from his eye and pressed against his painful bullet wound, "I think we need to revise on timing, Miranda,"
"Lavi!"
Lavi turned his -oh my Poseidon, moving hurts!- head and looked upwards. There, tied to the branches of an old tree was hanging nets filled with merfolk. Their cracking tails hanging loosely against the net that tied them together and they looked as old as a Bookman themselves.
"Woah... What's up, guys?" Lavi chuckled at his own joke, "you look a little parched,"
Tyki growled weakly, trying to (futilely) untie the knots that tied his hands together, "You're ridiculous when you're near Gordon's Gate, human. But hey, I'm there too.. Get us down... The sunlight is going to kill us if we don't get into the water by sundown..."
"Lavi..." LuluBell's panting voice called out, contrast to her usual noble voice, "eat Allen's scale... You-You have it with you.. R-right?" She struggled with her words like a literal fish out of water.
"Allen's... Scale?" Lavi narrowed his eyebrows. With his free hand -the other hand still staunching the wound- he feebly took out the magical blue-silver scale that had caused all this mess. The scale sat daintily in his palm, the color changing according to sun's strong intensity and the coolness caressed his skin nicely. So... I'm supposed to eat this?
Hesitatingly, Lavi popped the scale into his mouth and chewed on it. The scale broke into little pieces like it was too delicate for predator's teeth even though the merfolk claimed that their scales protected them from animal bites and scratches. Lavi tasted sea water and refreshing coldness in his tongue. As soon as Lavi swallowed the broken scale, he felt his energy being rejuvenated and he was up on his two feet a moment later.
The fatal wound had closed up and left nothing but a tiny scar, leaving Lavi in awe at the magic that was the merfolk's scales. His mind was as sharp as his blade beside him and his willpower returned to its original self. He threw a smirk to his friends' direction and clapped his hands together, "Alright. Let's get started, mates!"
After releasing the Black Order crew and dumping the fragile merpeople into the ocean, Komui patted Lavi's back thoughtfully, "you go after him. We'll be right there after we're done with the ship's repairs,"
The Royal Navy had sabotaged the Black Order ship and had no doubt imprisoned his other crew mates in the ship. Now handicapped and running out of time, Lavi felt like the whole world had turned against him, "How, Komui? Even if we had Black Order in full order, we don't even know what course they were heading to!"
"I know where," a familiar gruff, baritone voice said from the shallows. It seemed that Tyki had recovered fully since his tail showed no cracks and his face was painted with that same cocky grin. His scaly tail twitched curiously, "My Noahs can stay and help your Black Order ship back to tip-top shape. And I can take you to where the fishbait is,"
Lavi only needed that offer to give up his ship command temporarily to his First Mate. Quickly, he stripped off his shirt and folds his pants. Tyki dived back down again and Lavi became the first human to witness the transformation from a merman to his animal form.
Tyki's animal form was huger in close contact, what with a Great White Shark's teeth as large and wide as Lavi's own arm. The body was covered with scars and long-term scratches; proof that Tyki had travelled through thick and thin. Tyki nudged on Lavi's outstretched hand and the pirate held onto the shark's dorsal fin.
They swam from one corner of the earth to another, never stopping for a break or detour for fear of Allen's safety. Not to mention that the Great Whites clan prided themselves for their swift speed and timeless stamina. No, both Lavi and Tyki weren't taking any chances when it came to someone precious to them. Especially when Allen was concerned.
Finally, they reached the Royal Navy ship. It was twice the size of any normal Royal Navy ship and the amount of firepower on that ship alone is triple of anything Black Order can concoct anytime of the day. The day had bowed down to nighttime, putting the dark blanket over the sleeping sun and raising the moon onto its starry throne. Tyki swam quietly to the ship's side before shape-shifting back into his merman form.
"Sorry, pirate. But I think you realized by now that I'm not suited for land-walking. I'm going back to my Noahs. We'll meet up soon," Tyki whispered to a climbing Lavi.
Lavi had his small blade between his teeth and so couldn't answer Tyki back verbally. When he dropped onto the open deck as quiet as a mouse, Tyki said seriously, "Hey.. Take care of my little shounen,"
Lavi saluted respectfully to the merman and received a solemn nod in return. As sneaky as a true pirate, Lavi strode across the deck and into one of the many corridors that were decorated with red curtains and portraits of unknown men. A passing by soldier on the graveyard shift gave Lavi the opportunity to change clothes. Lavi dragged the unconscious man into a closet and came out wearing the uniform of a soldier serving under the Royal Navy. Decked with his own sword and white gloves, Lavi walked his way confidently to prevent suspicion.
If memory serves me correctly, Malcolm's quarters should be around... Here!
Lavi turned the doorknob and openly gawped at the scene; the General's quarter was humongous in size, littered with papers and gold pieces everywhere from top to bottom. But smacked from one corner of the large room to another corner was a giant aquarium.
"Allen!" Lavi gasped in relief.
The chained up merman looked up and bubbles came out from his mouth. Allen's own silver eyes widen in surprise at Lavi's entrance and shouted, "LAVI! WATCH OUT!"
Somebody tackled him from behind and before Lavi could reciprocate the favor, he was duly tied with jute rope and slapped twice for good measure.
"Well well. Look what crawled into the ship; a stinking rat," Malcolm stepped out from the shadows with a hand that rested on his sword's handle, "did you really think I'd leave little Allen here unguarded?"
Malcolm took out his soldier gloves and promptly slapped Lavi in the face, making a resounding sound that echoed the whole room. But Malcolm wasn't done yet as he continued slapping and giving a few punches to the stomach, stealing Lavi's breath and his lungs ached for oxygen.
The resilient pirate held his tongue throughout the whole ordeal and he spat out blood, "That all you got, yer bloody wanker?!"
That earned a precise punch in the face and somebody behind was twisting his arm in all the wrong directions. His strength began to abandon him as Lavi took another punch into his recovered ribs. Lavi knew that he was going to black out and was determined to at least kick Malcolm in the nuts before it happened. Yet the punches kept raining down on the tied pirate until he could bear the torture no longer.
"STOP! Stop! P-Please!" A serene voice filled with sorrow cried out.
Lavi panted, looking up and saw that Allen was actually crying. Honest to goodness crying, completed with the tears, red face and sniffling and all. But what was mystifying was that Allen's tears magically changed into precious pearls the size of actual teardrops.
"P-Please," the crying Allen begged through his tears, "D-Don't hurt him. I'll do anything, so please don't hurt him anymore,"
Lavi felt his heart drop dead cold at Allen's distressed face.
Malcolm laughed maniacally at the scene. He pulled Lavi's hair up so that the pirate was forced to watch Allen continue crying; "Now you see, Lavi. This, this is why I'm going to capture every merperson. Imagine: their scales can heal anything and any disease. We don't need to worry about our health anymore! Their tears-" Allen's tears turned pearls dropped continuously to the aquarium floor, spreading the small fortune everywhere, "-are living treasures! Free for everyone to spend and lavish on!"
He threw Lavi down again like the pirate was dirty scum and exited the room with his foot soldiers, the triumphant laughter followed in his wake.
"L-Lavi..." Allen placed his webbed hands onto the glass, his eyes portrayed frantic worry.
Lavi crawled his way towards Allen as best as he could, his tied hands loosened its hold but not enough for Lavi to break free of its restrains. When Lavi finally touched the aquarium glass, Allen's eyes immediately released a new batch of magical tears.
"I-I'm sorry, Lavi. I'm so so sorry! I wish I can help you. I want to help you so much. It hurts, Lavi. It hurts me to watch you get hurt," Allen's forehead lied on the glass and the merman looked at Lavi with regret and sadness.
Lavi's forehead came to rest upon the cold glass. The only thing that separated the two from embrace was the doggone glass and Lavi hated every second of its existence. He chuckled roughly, "Sssh.. It's alright, my sweet Allen. I'm here now, everything's gonna be alright,"
"Lavi..." Allen calmed himself down, gazing at his best friend with longing that made Lavi just want to screw it all and take Allen into his arms and never let go! "Why.. Why do you suffer so much for me.. I'm just a banished prince,"
Lavi knocked on the glass amusingly at Allen's webbed hands, "You're not that. To me, you're Allen Walker, my best friend. My treasure of all treasures,"
I think you've realized by now that Malcolm is (and most of the time!) a pure jack-ass in my stories. I feel so sad writing Lavi seriously injured and making Allen helpless :( I do hope you're enjoying this story so far, your comments are perfectly awesome in my inbox! Have a nice day! =D