Two Deadly Surprises: The Lapahn's Heart and the Marine Ship
Now that it was decided to go find and beat up Karasu. The crew decided to get started and start to head out. Zesiro shook his head. He already knew for a fact that he would rather just get his swords and go. They came here because Alfred wanted their help, not only did Alfred betray them, but he is now dead. There was no reason to stay here.
Currently they were just waiting for Hiro-Shu to undo the lock. The key slid in with ease but it was still pretty banged up. Hiro-Shu twisted the key, but it refused to spin right. It was a difficult struggle. The world just doesn't make locks that work right anymore.
"Okay," shouted Mikoto, "let's go beat up Karasu!"
"You're kidding me!" shouted Zesiro, "I need to retrieve my swords first! We are up against a Shichibukai level villain! I don't trust you enough to defeat him!"
"Don't worry about it! I beat you up didn't I?" said Mikoto.
"Uh, guys," spoke up Sage not wanting to interrupt the fight and get caught up in the middle of it.
"We never even finished that fight! Renvont broke it up, blew up my town, and then you got the crap beaten out of you by him and were knocked out!" shouted Zesiro.
"You want to continue our fight right here and now then!" shouted Mikoto.
"I need to get my swords back first!" shouted Zesiro, "I am not going to fight you without my swords!"
"Chicken!" shouted Mikoto. Mikoto started mocking Zesiro doing the old as dirt chicken dance.
"Guys," said Sage. He foot was badly messed up. She wanted to tell them, but she just wasn't getting an opening. She really wished these guys would be quiet like Hiro-Shu was. Hiro-Shu was mindfully picking the lock.
"STUPID LOCK!" shouted Hiro-Shu. The entire door, including the hinges, was blown straight from the wall. He stood there for a few more minutes. The key wasn't working, the two idiots behind him were blabbering on and on about stupid stuff. He had to punch something! The two idiots behind him weren't really an option anyways.
"Let's go get, Karasu!" shouted Mikoto. "Come on guys!" He looked down to notice Sage was still sitting on the ground. "Don't be lazy Sage, you are a pirate let's act like one!" He picked her up by her hand and forcibly made her stand on her two feet.
"OW!" Sage shouted as she collapsed and fell back to the ground. She gripped her foot. It was hurting like crazy! She was going to kill HIM!
"What's wrong Sage? Your foot hurts?" asked Mikoto.
"YEAH, IT HURTS, YOU…!" Sage breathed out heavily stopping herself from saying a word that wasn't very ladylike. Even though she was a pirate she should still keep a ladylike tongue.
"Sorry, but what are we going to do now," said Mikoto sounding very depressed. The more time they waste here discussing what they were going to do the more time he'd have to wait to beat Karasu up.
Hiro-Shu looked over towards the box. "We could use the trolley they used to bring the Lapahn in here." The large trolley was probably big enough to hold them all, after all it held a box big enough for a beast the size of a bear to fit in.
"Yeah, but who is going to get stuck pulling it?" asked Mikoto.
"Its Sage's foot let her decide," said Zesiro, he already knew who she was going to pick.
"Yeah, I agree with Zesiro," said Hiro-Shu, he, too, knew who she was going to pick.
"Fine. Sage, pick," said Mikoto, he didn't know who she was going to pick.
Sage smiled wickedly. It may not be as good as killing him, but it was a close second. "Mikoto." She only wished Ridley was here so he could've been punished, too. That blasted death to all plants! That's right! She remembers what Ridley did to her garden!
Hiro-Shu and Zesiro moved Sage over to the trolley and SET her down there. Mikoto had reclined himself to his fate. He had no options. Zesiro and Hiro-Shu were probably just going to stick him pulling them anyways. He tried taking off pulling with all his might. The trolley didn't even budge. He continued to try to pull. Still nothing changed. He turned around and looked at the trolley. Zesiro had been kind enough to step off, but Hiro-Shu was still standing on the trolley, with a distracted look on his face.
"GET OFF THE TROLLEY! ITS FOR SAGE ONLY! NOT GOLEMS!" shouted Mikoto wanting to get his punishment over with as soon as possible. He wasn't in the mood for hauling around Sage, much less Hiro-Shu who weighed who knows how much!
Hiro-Shu stepped off of the trolley. He thought he heard something a faint ticking. He looked at the Lapahn's battered body. He wandered over to it. It sounded like it was coming from the beast's defeated and burned body.
"Get over it," said Zesiro, "we got bigger fish to fry." He didn't quite realize the irony in his statement.
He heard it. A faint tick. He rolled the beast over onto its back. He didn't like looking at the mutilated bunny. It was burnt to a crisp. It was blood splattered it had deep gouging scars. He looked at where the heart should be. There was a line of stitches and a small protruding metal box. He got down to get a better look at it. The metal box was a clock. It had a glowing green ':30' on it. And it was counting down!
"Get going!" shouted Hiro-Shu. He charged towards the door at the highest possible speed he could achieve. He didn't want to see what was coming from the Lapahn.
Zesiro decided it was best not to ask questions and was following soon after him. Mikoto feeling the trolley was lighter without the heavy golem on it pushed and followed in a slower manner then usual, but was trailing behind them anyways.
A loud boom sounded out behind them, soon the entire room was engulfed with flames and it was swarming out as if it was trying to grab the crew and drag them to their graves.
Hiro-Shu panted heavily. He barely made it out in time. The flames actually tickled his hard metal back. He hoped the rest of the crew were as lucky. The smoke cut off all sight. The remaining flickering of the fire also made it hard to hear the rest of the crew. He hoped against hope that with Mikoto having to take Sage along would calm him down enough and make him stay where he was until the smoke cleared.
He decided it would be in his best interest to wait for the flames to die down. He wondered what would happen if he did wait? Would the flames ever die down enough to make passage through them safe? Would they just have to separate anyways? He pondered these thoughts as he waited patiently. When he finally got into a calm state of mind waiting for the flames to die down a loudspeaker blared on.
(-With Zesiro-)
"Crap!" shouted Zesiro, he tried desperately to shout over the roaring flames. He was sweating profusely. He didn't really like hot weather. Many Fishmen didn't. They felt their skin dry up and flake off in large slabs. This fire definitely wouldn't make his day much easier. He looked around. Maybe there was a map. Something to tell him how to get to the armory. His mind had floated back to his swords. He'd be nearly useless without them, if he could even get two replacements right now he would feel better.
He saw it a big sign that as plain as day said 'Armory'. He smirked maybe this day wouldn't turn out to be such a major loss after all. He could go there get his swords, maybe some others for the trip. Then come back here to regroup and meet with the crew. It was probably only a short jog to the armory anyways. Well, no use in sitting here waiting for a better invitation! He started to head out for the armory. He'd come back in a few minutes after he picked his swords up.
He started to head off for the armory. He didn't even need his swords at this point, he could get his swords back once they met up again. But he needed some kind of weapon. One sword, two swords, heck at this point he'd make do with half a sword. He started to bolt away from the blazing fire when out of nowhere a loudspeaker came on.
(-With Mikoto-)
"Let's see," said Mikoto, "if I were Karasu which way would I go?" He looked back over his shoulder to check on Sage. She was currently curled up into a ball, muttering some nonsense about fire.
"Uh, let's see…left is…" he held up both of his hands forming a L with each, "that way! Well, left is right and right is wrong, so LEFT!" he charged dramatically in the left direction. Well, as dramatically as a person can while he is stuck carting around another person…who was curled up in a ball.
"Bad fire…bad fire…bad…" muttered Sage. Her mind flashing back to the building with her mom. The brilliant red flames caused by the blasted pirates. Her mother's last words. She felt like laying down and sucking her thumb for a day or two with those images in her head. She wanted to get away from the fire and those memories as quickly as possible.
Sage was still trembling with those thoughts swarming in her head as Mikoto tried to wheel them away from the flames. Sage's thoughts were interrupted quickly by a loud blaring speaker. On the other of the speaker was the deep voice of a man.
(-With Ridley-)
"Shit!" shouted Ridley, uttering the first curse word of this entire story. He heard that explosion and knew for a fact that Mikoto had caused. He cursed out loud using similar word choices as his first. He felt better after that. The explosion would definitely bring other people to this place. It could work in his favor. Maybe Karasu would send his people to check on the explosion. No, Ridley couldn't pin his hopes on a 'maybe'. He had to keep going and wager all of his chances on a 'for sure'.
Ridley took two steps and froze. Somewhere, intercoms had turned on. He could hear them. Someone was going to broadcast a message. He stopped in place and listened closely.
"Atrium Zesiro and accomplishes!" shouted a fairly deep voice over the intercom. "We are from Marine Base East 1 and are here to subdue you. We request that you come quietly, but we are willing to use force to handle you brutes."
"We request that you come quietly," mocked Ridley in his head. How many times does that work? We are pirates for god's sake. If we were going to give up that easily we would've done so already. After all it wasn't the first time they had a run in with the marines.
The intercom buzzed back on. "We are guessing that you choose the hard way. So be it. We will deliver a quick and merciless rain of justice onto you. I, Stephanie, will finish you all off along with my army! Enjoy the last days of your life!"
STEPHANIE! Ridley nearly busted a gut laughing. He couldn't imagine being a guy with a name like, especially if he had such a deep voice. He wanted to mock him and he had never saw the guy before. Poor guy. Ridley shook his head trying to get his thoughts realigned. But after hearing a deep voice calling himself 'Stephanie' he had a difficult problem focusing.
(-With Zesiro-)
"Great," said Zesiro recognizing the name nearly instantly. "No swords, in the house of a mass murderer, and a girl is coming here to kill me. What a fun day!" He continued on his way to the armory. Swords come first. Only thing he had to do was get them, slash and hack his way through some freaks, and he is home free again.
Zesiro saw it, the big door underneath the word 'Armory'. Finally he could get his hands back onto some cold hard steel. He broke out into a sprint towards the swords. Next thing he knew he was thrown back along with the debris from the shattered concrete floor. Above him stood a towering man reaching nearly twice his size and if that wasn't intimidating enough to Zesiro. The sword he had just swung into the ground was probably just as tall. He wasn't going to be able to grab his swords and go. Hopefully, they wouldn't mind waiting on him.
Battle Within the Armory: Zesiro Against the Giant Blade
Okay, now that Chapter 25 is done with, I would like to say that after the Blackwell Arc I am planning to work harder and incorporate more OC's. So, that also means that if any of you readers & reviewers have any ideas for characters I will welcome them with open arms. (Even if you already submitted one or two, there is no limit to the number of OCs.)