AN
So yeah, I'm back and kicking, and I gave a quick read to my work so far, there are good parts and bad parts, but I still like it, so I'll keep writing this story.
It's been pointed out that I'm shit with new names, and I agree that Davi D. Jhon sounds stupid as fuck, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that, I had chosen it because of the obvious joke with the D, because I felt at the time that the MC would want to stroke his ego a little, and coupled with the resemblance to Davi Jones, I kind of liked it.
I'm not at all satisfied with it, and then yesterday I learnt that Denis Villeneuve is going to give a try to DUNE. He's the movie director of Arrival, by the way, and DUNE, by Frank Herbert, is the greatest thing ever written along with Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.
So I obviously went and read again Dune in like... a week. And I got to thinking Muad' Dib is a fucking cool name, and it would feet the MC's criteria of self-importance and will of the D.
So, while I won't go back to correct or adjust this work, I'll likely start another One Piece ff at some point, with a character that will go Marine with the intent of changing the system from the inside while abusing the shit out of his metaknowledge. So... this was just a heads-up.
As for the people asking me about pairings with all the hot chicks and chiselled men, harem with minks and whatever: people, seriously, the MC enjoys a hot piece of ass as much as any amoral character, but given his foreknowledge, he is obsessed with gaining enough strength and power to stay alive, so landing a pairing is not a priority, even if I have something lined up that I haven't read anywhere yet...
NEW TARGET
The hazy shapes around me soon found a meaning in my head: the close-pink were my hands, the cold-gray-weights were shackles with a suspicious detonating charge placed over my wrists, the down-brown was the wooden floor of the stage where I was being shown off, the cold-pressure was a single death-switch around my neck. How the fuck did this happen? I thought. I didn't even react when a strong tug on the chain that led to my collar brought me to my knees: what were the odds that people randomly kidnapped me in one of the Blues? I still hadn't managed to gain a bounty, surely there were more interesting targets?
And how come I can't remember at all the inevitable trip from the Blue to... wherever we are? I looked around, neatly ignoring the humans, and paling when I recognized the place. Human Auction House. Dozens of thoughts started running around randomly in my mind, leaving me more and more speechless. How did I miss the trip? The whole thing? Wait... slowly, I remembered shades of memories, stuff that I wasn't sure had actually happened, and a woman. Fucking hell she has hypnotized me hasn't she? I growled to myself, before discarding the how and why, choosing to focus on how to free myself without dying instead.
Without a key to my shackles, the only way I knew to free myself was to either stumble upon a merciful and crazy strong Haki user... "Sold to the illustrious Heavenly Dragon!" the voice that I had willingly ignored up until that moment startled me out of my thoughts, forcing me to focus on the grim reality of my actual circumstances. What? I followed the chain without complaining, biting on my instinct of using what Haki I knew to try and rip them off. Grimacing when I realized it would be years before I could ever manage to actually harness that kind of power.
Hours later, I still couldn't believe it. I had always known that One Piece was a mess and an all-around horrible place unless you were a character of some renown, but I clearly hadn't considered that the worst could happen to me without any kind of warning.
Ok, no panic. I reprimanded myself quietly, since sure as hell I didn't wish for a whipping only because I used my slave voice in presence of a 'god'. I took a deep breath and started evaluating my options. From a purely economical point of view, the explosive shackles and collar needed to have a key of some kind. The ones with the authority to use them were either slave-overseers, in case a slave died on his own, likely due to exhaustion, and the 'gods' themselves. Which... I really didn't think that the would even consider the idea of freeing someone, but taunting a lowly slave with the idea of freedom? I could see it. Or better yet, the overseers were the ones to do so.
So, either a Fisher Tiger decides to come through and save me, and I doubt that I have affected reality so much to cause such an enormous side effect, or another Heavenly Dragon suddenly goes 'fraternitè libertè egalitè'. I thought dryly before returning to the dramatic grimness of my circumstances. I needed to develop Haki, while finding a way to get myself the keys as a parallel plan of action. Everything while trying to fly under the radar, every beating I managed to avoid, would grant me more time and strength to focus on my clandestine training.
A sudden commotion stopped my slow walk behind the group that had just bought me.
"Her, I want her!" the Heavenly Dragon shouted, pointing randomly at the one I recognized was among the people to have kidnapped me. As her companions took a step back from her and the Tenryubito's men moved to subdue the girl faster than she could understand what was happening, I found myself smiling. Four men in suits were quick to slap seastone cuffs on her wrists when one of them started attacking another: "My God, she's a Devil Fruit user." One stated, sending the Heavenly Dragon in a trigger happy spree that saw three civilians dead.
That put a tentative stop to my Schadenfreude only because the one instrumental in my capture would share my fate, but because with a fruit, maybe there was a possibility. Why pay more for an ability user if you didn't wish for said slave to use his, or on that case her, abilities?
I took another deep breath and smoothed my expression, trying to figure out what the powers of the woman were, and how they could help me.
I awoke to the low and constant beeping of a machine that was clearly monitoring my heartbeat, and while my bleary eyes put into focus the IV that forced something in my veins, Observation Haki came to me with newfound ease, sweeping without issues the small room and the following ones. They were somewhat randomly placed around a twisting corridor that led upwards. I blinked slowly, forcing myself to quickly regain a proper level of control over my own body.
The smell of the room was curiously acidic like bleach had been used to thoroughly cleanse the area. And given the fact that I was clearly in what passed for an infirmary, I could understand why. Still, it didn't mean that I had to like it.
My eyes slowly managed to bring the world back into focus and I trailed them where I had sensed my crewmate. Moving my head I had to have made some kind of noise, because Robin lifted her eyes from the thick book she was reading, and she pinned me in place with her stare: "A vice-admiral almost killed you." she informed me. Like I don't remember! I wanted to snark right back, but my throat was too dry, and I only managed a raspy gurgle. And since she reminded me of the fight, I frowned, not remembering exactly how it ended.
At some point, the blood loss and pain had likely made me a bit loopy. I moved slowly, carefully checking out each part of my body, looking for damage of any kind, but finding out that besides being sore, and several new scars, I was as good as new. I moved my left arm out of the covers and grabbed the glass of water that a thoughtful someone left on the bedside table, drinking slowly, but relishing in the cold feeling trailing down my throat.
Remembering the fight, I tried to give a sense to those last moments in which I had clung to life and killed the Yama-something as a result, but there was still only a confused haze that clung with determination over my memories: "You sailed the whole ship on your own?" I blinked, before immediately realizing how stupid my question was as Robin made arms sprout from the white sheet that covered my torso, making them take the glass of water and setting it back on the bedside table.
Careful to not open the wounds kept closed by stitches, I slowly tossed aside my covers and rose to a seated position, willingly ignoring my nakedness as I pulled up a pair of boxers from my bag along with a pair of baggy black pants that had an elastic band around my calves, stopping them from letting cold drafts run up my legs. I grabbed Shusui from a corner of the room where it had been resing and secured it to my waist, before trying to figure out if I needed to cover my torso somehow. I also briefly considered blindfolding myself in order to force myself to go around with only Observation Haki as a guide, but the ease through which it had responded to me made me ignore the possibility, besides, I wanted to actually see where the fuck we were: "I'm guessing you found a medic." I told Robin.
She smiled softly, which for her meant that her eyes almost crinkled when her lips twitched upwards: "I'm used to roaming on my own, the Grand Line is a much bigger threat than one of the Blues, and I have more than a passing familiarity with the underworld."She said while I rummaged in my backpack, pleased to find that it survived the battle without issues and looking for something wide to wrp around myself since I found the air a bit chilly. From the Eternal Log poses to clothes, I even found a new pair of sunglasses, no doubt a sneaky gift from Robin, and among that stuff, I was surprised to find, held in a plastic bag, the folded overcoat of the vice admiral. I grinned savagely for a moment when my eyes landed on the bloodstains that marred the otherwise white cloth "Spoil of war?" I gestured with the overcoat in my hands, causing her to shrug minutely, there was nobody to report of your fight with the vice-admiral, so your new bounty reflects only what you've done up to Crocodile's maiming."
I have a new bounty? I grinned, I should look for it soon, it was always useful to know how much your enemy valued your life. Or death is it was the case.
After my words registered in her mind, she visibly withheld a snort: "You didn't tell me you cut off his leg." causing me to shrug unrepentantly, what there was to tell? "I thought that he could manage, he did it with his golden hook didn't he?" I asked as my hand landed on a familiar katana: "Why is Yama-whatever's sword here?" I wondered out loud as I unsheathed it, noticing with glee the numerous scratches and dents that I knew I had caused.
Seeing as I only had a mixture of bandages covering the itching wounds on my torso, and feeling the slight chill of the room, I opted to toss the large overcoat over my shoulders, before my hand reached for the crutch that had been left for me at the foot of my bed.
Robin finished placing her stuff away in another backpack, before donning a new cowboy-like hat, this time of a dark brown that matched her fur-lined leather coat. She then started heading to the door to the end of the room: "In order, Crocodile's hook is merely his weapon of choice, he has a hand, the stump will be a novel experience for him, and I didn't remove the sword in your lung for some weeks. It reduced the amount of blood that would fill up your lung." She explained, causing me to pause for a moment and put away the sword, that I quickly tied to the crutch, feeling that my right leg still twinged painfully when I had fully extended it.
"How long has it been since the fight?" I asked as we left the room.
"It's been little more than a month, it took three weeks to find a medic, a day for him to heal you, and three days for you to recover." Robin spoke from her seated position in a corner of the room. How the fuck did I survive for weeks with a sword in my right lung?
Almost like she had been able to divine my thoughts, she went to explain: "I know enough to make transfusions, and the ship had liters of 0-, as for the how you managed to not die.." she shrugged lightly, you had another hole in the lower side of your lung, from which the blood that would have otherwise suffocated you managed to exit. The medic told me that the wound had partially been cauterized by friction: he had to remove a small part of your lower lung, before finding a replacement."
One day to heal me? Replacing a lung? I then thought: "You mean you found Law." I smiled widely, I wanted to hug her: "Can I hug you?" her withering glare was answer enough, so I resisted the urge. "It was luck that the marines had a lot of cash on their ship long with a Devil Fruit in a chest, I used it to pay him, and I couldn't avoid him taking an... insurance."
Insurance?... Oh, shit. I quickly moved the bandages that covered my torso, showing the square hole that sat above my heart. I felt completely okay, if not for my eyes, the hole in my chest didn't register at all to my other senses, I could feel my own heartbeat, and its steady rhythmic push in my chest. Doesn't matter. "Thank you Robin." I still forced myself to say.
While I thanked her, I removed the bandages left, actually observing myself for the first time. Along with the wounds still held together by neatly placed stitches, I could tell that each one would scar, and I distractedly wondered if was only wounds given with shaky that left permanent signs on the people of One Piece. Once I fully healed, a narrow and straight scar would run from my left shoulder to my wrist, another horizontal one would testify how I had almost been gutted, a third was just a few centimeters away from my neck, and a thin one crossed the one Ryuma left me over the Dragon's Hoof on my left pectoral.
We walked in a relatively peaceful silence until we reached another room, this one furnished as a cross between a living room and a study. But At least I could watch out of the window to the windy day outside, letting Observation Haki take actual stock of my surroundings, breathing in the distance between me and the sea, getting glimpses of the cold, the cutting winds. With a start, I noticed the first snowflakes falling on the side of the cliff from where I was admiring the view.
I looked towards the pirate sitting in a slouch in an armchair. A 21 years old Trafalgar Law was looking at me from behind half-lidded eyes: "I healed you, and this is your heart, so we'll talk about how you can pay me the rest of what I'm owed, or this will find its way into Marine's hands very quickly." he stated, his fingers pressing slightly on the heart in his hand. I felt it, it was only a warning, so it didn't reduce me to a drooling mess on the ground, and it was enough for me.
Half a second later, I was pinning him on the ground with a hand on his neck and my feet on his arms, preventing him from unsheathing his sword as my left hand plucked what was mine and I studied it briefly. Once I had managed to determine how it needed to be oriented in order to fit in my chest, I placed it back, and only once my heart was back in its rightful place, I took a step back from the medic, grabbing a water bottle from a case on the side of his chair: "Now we can talk." I stated simply.
"Is this the kind of emotionally devastating talk that you used to convince me, leveraging knowledge you shouldn't be able to possess?" Robin suddenly asked from her armchair, and as soon as she spotted my grin, she quickly rose from her seated position and walked outside of the room: "I don't need to know." She tossed over her shoulder as she left, bringing her thick book with her.
I waited for her to close the door and sat down, grabbing a bottle of water and poured a large glass for me, I had the feeling it would take longer than usual to push the future 'Surgeon of Death' into the direction I wanted him to: "How did you manage to give me back a completely working lung?" I started off, genuinely curious.
He simply shrugged, trying to playing off the fear that being so quickly overwhelmed had put into him: "I looked for someone compatible, your companion paid well for full healing."
"I'm actually surprised you didn't simply sell me to the Marines." I started, "My bounty would likely have agreed with you more than the money you've been paid."
"I would have." he simply answered, his thumb running over the hilt of his sword, I could tell that he was trying to look unconcerned about how easily I had overcome him: "Your woman proved herself quite lethal with the rest of my people, so I didn't really have a choice. I can heal much stuff, but a broken neck is beyond me." He shrugged, taking for himself the bottle of water and drinking directly from it. "And you know that I killed a Shichibukai and maimed a second." I added, making him go still in his seat.
"You wanted to sick me on Doflamingo, or on his interest somewhere in the world." I continued, sitting back with a wide smile on my face
"How do you know?" he asked, and like I did for Marco months before, I lifted the side of my open shirt, revealing the now scarred mark of the Heavenly Dragons: "I assume you know what this means, yes?" as the light hardening in his eyes, I grinned: "I've been captured when I was 13, in South Blue, and sold in a certain someone's Auction House. I have two years as a slave to pay him back for." I didn't actually remember exactly if it was Doflamingo's place to have sold me, but I could assume it, and let my actual rage at being a slave take over.
"My crewmate has told me you have got a mink among your people." I started conversationally once I felt that the awkward silence had stretched itself long enough.
His eyes narrowed immediately, and he freed an inch of his far too long sword: "Why do you care?" I shrugged as I answered, "I don't, not really, but I've heard of only another polar bear mink going around, and given what I know, I didn't expect to see him here."
"What do you know?" the medic gritted out, not bothering hiding his dislike for my cheerful ways. I tilted my head, shaking a finger in a joking denial: "This for that, but nothing for nothing."
"But since you've healed me, I'll pass you this one for free: Big Mom killed a mink and crippled another. I thought that the dead one was the polar bear, but since he's here, maybe it's the leopard who' died instead." I said, knowingly acting like I believing Zepo and Bepo to be one and the same. "Do you know how those minks are called?" Law directly asked, and seeing the seriousness in his eyes I couldn't not answer: "Zepo was the bear, and... Pedro, I think, was the... leopard? Something like that."
"Are you sure?" he asked, the intensity in his eyes never wavering, and I nodded seriously: "My pieces of information are always remarkably correct." he cursed under his breath, before looking at me again, his gaze calculating: "How do you expect me to trust you?"
It was a reasonable question, that nevertheless made me snort: "It's curious how much you have to rely on the words of people in a world made by tyrannical governments, anarchy and criminals gallivanting around, isn't it?" And it was true, in this world, no piece of paper was actually binding, no contract could enforce its terms if you were independent enough to ignore them. "How can I trust you?" I retorted before I scratched my head distractedly.
"Join me." I stated before he could speak anything else: "I am building up a crew, I'm in need of a medic, and naturally Shachi, Penguin, and the mink are welcome." when he was about to deny me, I kept going: "You won't be able to even touch Doflamingo by the time I'll go after him." I shrugged, tapping over my heart a couple of times, "You must have noticed how outclassed you are, even with such a powerful fruit as the one you have."
He scoffed, clearly either refusing my words or simply not believing me. "I don't lie very often, since I find the truth to be much more compelling, so listen to me Trafalgar D. Water Law: I'll tear apart Doflamingo sooner or later, along with those who have allowed him to exist. So, I'll make you a deal: join me, and I'll help make you and yours strong. As a bonus, if you manage to grow enough by the time I go after the Heavenly Yaksha, he's yours."
"I am the Captain of the Heart pirates." he stated, forcibly ignoring the declaration of the hazy plan I had for a faraway future, and turning on my face his always calculating gaze, studying me to see how I would react to his statement: "And none of you has a bounty yet, meaning that you're keeping yourself off the radar, smart of you, but it is so only because you know that you're not strong enough to survive your bounties if you were to receive them." I tilted my head, genuinely curious: "Why have you become a pirate? To kill Doflamingo? To stay away from the Marines? To not be used by the Revolutionaries? You can cover every point of the list taking my banner. Once I've got a proper one anyway."
"I still don't trust you." He stated, making me shrug again, seriously, I wouldn't have trusted me either: "I have no interest in selling you out, if that's what you're fearing, and after all the effort I'll put into bringing you up to speed, I really wouldn't want to waste the investment of my time only to leave you and yours high and dry, would I?"
After the silence had stretched for another minute, I sighed, and returned to my flippantly brilliant personality: "Since we're talking about bounties, do you happen to have seen my last one? I've yet to read it, you know." I did a complete 180, looking expectantly over the paper that he handed me: "Davi Dion 380.000.000 beli" I read out loud. They managed to get my name wrong!? How did they do it? Then I thought about all the times I had introduced myself, and grimaced a bit when I realized that maybe slurring the d so much hadn't been my brightest idea. I sound like Gaunter O'Dim. Only, kind of lamer... "They've been lame with the bounty increase, and I guess they didn't feel like advertising my casual attitude towards taking down the Shichibukai." I grinned, and just as I was about to pressure him into joining me once more, manly through sheer exasperation, I realized how I could definitely make him vastly more interested: "I heard that the Chyper Pol might be in possession of the Nagi Nagi no Mi." I bullshitted him.
Seeing his face contorting in a rictus of rage, I thought that I might have pushed too much on his plate.
Under Law's care, none of my wounds needed ulterior care, only leaving me with the task of waiting long enough for him to take away the stitches, still grumbling about not being able to heal my wounds directly with the use of his devil fruit.
For the first week after our chat, I had exasperated him with my carefree attitude, occasionally dropping references about a certain Calm Calm fruit, of which I had no real information about. Still, between his unresolved issues with Doflamingo and general hate for everyone in his life but Rocinante and the three men that composed the core of his crew, he didn't even think of doubting me.
I had managed to slip out of the infirmary, and I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, admiring the drop before the churning dark waters below. The weather was cold enough to force me to abandon my no-shoes policy, as well as having me keep my shirt buttoned up, along with a hoodie and over those, mostly to have fun, I had torn away the sleeves from the vice-admiral overcoat, and choose to slip my arms into the holes I had left. It was a surprisingly good windbreaker to keep on, its tear-resistant material hanging a bit too large on my still growing frame.
Again and again, I had played my battle against the Vice-admiral in my head, trying to ascertain where I could have done better. Avoiding that ship meant trying ourselves even more before eventually making land, or being spotted at some point and attacked while we soared just below the lower level of the clouds. I couldn't really find any hole in my strategy, even if I were to get close enough to use Observation on the whole ship before attacking, the Vice-admiral would have found me nevertheless.
The landing had been a must. Attacking like I did? Maybe not. Robin had been exemplary, showing that she had learned much in the years she spent on her own on the sea. Even more so if one considered that she had managed to leave the Blue where she was from and reach the Grand Line, where admittedly, the more chaotic sea was a good cover for her movements.
The Haki of the Conqueror King had been used well in my opinion. I knew that it would keep growing with me, but I still wished t be able to twist it somehow to give me an edge in battle. Sure, maybe against the Vice-admiral it was only wishful thinking, and yet, I knew that it could affect objects around me. The manga had proven it several times, even if never in an explicit way like Shank's cracking the wood on the Moby Dick. All Haki is related to will. I repeated to myself, trying to find the common thread. Observation to feel the will of the beings around you, which travels with their attacks, Armament to oppose the world. "In a way, Observation is passive and Armament is active." I said out loud. But then, where does the Ambition of the King stand? It could tame animals, knock them out along with the weak-willed... There is the key. I thought again. Will. Why would it affect living beings more than inanimated ones? Because there was a will to influence, it was obvious.
But what about the Moby Dick? I frowned heavily, trying to figure out the common ground between an animal and... I smacked my own forehead. "The ships are alive!" I said as I remembered the whole spirit of the ships spiel: "A Klabautermann is said to be a water spirit (or fairy) that dwells on ships and is basically an incarnation of a ship that has been well cared for." I could easily believe that the Whitebeard's pirates took good care of their own ship.
But then again, there was a sword that had eaten an Elephant-zoan, and a bazooka that had eaten a dog zoan, so there had to be something at play with objects being somewhat alive, after all, hadn't Shusui absorbed Ryuma's Armament Haki?
Apparently the building I had awoken into had been cut out of the cliff itself, and it was a succession of chambers that the Heart Pirates had stumbled upon while looking for a place where they could keep their heads low. As the snow kept falling over me, however, I spotted a white something further at sea, and knowing that we weren't expecting anybody, I thought wise to give the others a heads up.
I rose from my seated position and returned to the small door skillfully hidden among the rocks on my left. I climbed down a spiral staircase that had me hunched forward to not hit my head and soon enough I had reached a room where Bepo was busy punching the rock wall: he hadn't taken well the news about his brother. "Sails to the horizon." I announced lamely, and enjoyed seeing him stiffen suddenly before looking over me with wide eyes. Well, as wide as he could make them at least.
His was feeling conflicted about me. On one hand, I had given him news he had been looking for since he had been swiped way in the New World, on the other, they were really bad news. But my presence unnerved his captain, even if Law hadn't pronounced himself one way or another toward my offer to let them in my crew.
The following minutes were characterized by a flurry of movements, with Schachi, Penguin and Bepo chaotically running around while grabbing everything that wasn't nailed to the ground, Robin sitting quietly on her big backpack, reading another tome she had likely pilfered from Law's collection, and the one-day infamous surgeon's flat gaze pointed at me.
I shard with hi the approximation distance, but like everyone in this world, there was no idea about the average speed of the ships, given the vast differences between one and another, along with the way too volubile sea, and the capricious weather: "We have a little ship," he announced, and started walking deeper into the system of caves of the winter island "this way."
As Robin and I made to follow, the room shook slightly, a layer of dust falling off the ceiling, and an echoing crash announcing that when in doubt, the people on the ship had randomly chosen to bomb the cliff. Which didn't make sense. "Why would someone use cannons against a cliff?" Robin wondered out loud, but clearly expecting an answer.
"Well, this system of caves wasn't exactly abandoned when we found it." I heard Shachi mutter to himself.
That makes more sense than a good hiding spot such as this left alone without reason. I snorted at the fearful acting of the man, before noting that Law hadn't commented on it: "Why are we running away?" I questioned the man temporarily in charge.
"Germa 66." was his dry answer as he opened another door that led us on a narrow, rocky trail that forced us to walk a single line. I didn't think he would have had the balls to attack a force from an established kingdom. I mused to myself, but then again, while the North Blue dwellers that I had shared the hiding were weaklings when compared to the shit necessary to survive the New World, they weren't pushovers here. Not completely.
"So, you're joining my crew Law, or not?" I asked, enjoying the annoyed expression that he shot me from above his shoulder, "because, I may still be a little tender, but my crewmate and I can handle ourselves without fear of me reopening my wounds, but buying you enough time to get ready to leave would require another kind of effort on my part..."
"You want to do this now!?" He stopped and whirled on himself, forcing himself to stare at me from above the heads of Shachi, Penguin, Bepo and Robin, which were awkwardly shifting in place, clearly not wising to be there. Except for Robin, she totally couldn't care less, and if I wasn't reading her completely wrong, she was holding back a smirk. When I shrugged and stood still to wait for his answer, he actually growled: "Fine! But in the moment you don't hold up your part of the bargain, we're out, deal?"
I laughed a nodded happily: "Robin is in charge of you four then, lead her to the ship and set sail. Where is the nearest island?" I spoke quickly and clearly, leaving the mink reeling from my sudden change in attitude. I listened to the answer and nodded: "Set sail West, I'll reach you, before you make land." I ordered, before dropping in Robin' hands my backpack and jumping upwards, my hands easily finding gaps in the rock, my form quickly rising toward the plateau at the top of the isand.
Once I was on top, I saw that the ship indeed belonged to the Germa 66, and that given the number of men dropping from its deck, maybe Law hadn't been a complete fool by choosing retreat. As I reached the edge I watched the 200 meters that separated me from them and quickly realized that I didn't need to learn any lesson from my last fight. With a grin and my right hand closing on Shusui's hilt, I jumped forward, using moonwalk sparingly to avoid reaching a speed too high for my haki reinforced legs to handle, and with a crash that made everyone snap to attention towards me, I landed.
Once the men had recovered from the surprise assault, "Drop down and stay still, you're surrounded!" the man clearly in charge shouted at me, a rifle trailed over my chest.
"The only things I am surrounded by," I chuckled, "are fear and dead men." and the King rose to the slaughter.