Mukuro curses and Daemon jumps into the water after Kyouya to rescue the kidnapped Chrome. Byakuran is already heading into the cabin of the brothers' ship because he's sick of getting wet by now so he sure as hell isn't jumping in.

"Alright," Lal says and heads back into their stolen ship to begin steering away from the other vessel. Not her problem.

Colonnello goes off to help and Reborn hangs over the railing to watch the entertainment. The rest of the brothers' crew is down for the count after that brutally efficient beating from Kyouya.

Fon is standing next to Reborn. "Do you think I should help?"

"Nah," Reborn says.

Fon nods.

Reborn slides a glance sideways. "Wow, you didn't even try to push the issue. Given up on pretending to be nice?"

Fon smiles. "With your foot like that, it wouldn't be very difficult to throw you over."

"Hey!" Colonnello yells over from beside the sails. "Fon, I don't like it when you smile like that!"

Fon hums blandly and goes back to watching the struggle. Kyouya has ditched Chrome, who is now climbing the rope Mukuro threw down looking shaken, and the mermaid has instead grabbed Daemon to drag the man around.

They watch until their ship gets far enough away that Kyouya and Daemon become unrecognisable in the waves. About ten minutes later, Kyouya is swimming alongside the ship, looking satisfied with himself.

Daemon is probably not dead, and everyone on board is perfectly fine with that conclusion.

Fon jumps ship right before the port, using a small rowboat to try and lead Kyouya around to a place where he won't be seen by people.

While Lal and Colonnello are getting the ship settled at the port, a man in a white lab coat walks up the slanted gangway from the boardwalk. The stranger has a scruffy beard and a sleazy look to him when he sees Lal. Colonnello immediately puffs up but Reborn waves him down.

"This is Shamal," Reborn introduces, limping over to the gangway with his cane. "He's another doctor I met a few years back."

Lal ties off the thick rope to the sail and crosses her arms with a frown. "How did he know you were going to be here?"

"I sent him a letter," Reborn explains casually. "To get some supplies for my injury."

"Colonnello, go with them," Lal orders.

"I don't need parental supervision," Reborn complains. He grabs Shamal's elbow and starts dragging the man back down the gangway. He rolls his eyes when Colonnello follows anyway.

Shamal looks between the three and says nothing because he knows when to stay quiet. They head down to a restaurant Shamal picked out in advance and Reborn whirls on Colonnello.

"There's a private room we're going to upstairs," Reborn explains. "Wait for me here."

Colonnello stares down Shamal. This is an entirely new country, currently unfriendly to Colonnello's home country, and he's never met this other doctor – who is also suspiciously waiting for them despite the travel from the last port only taking two days.

Reborn steps closer to the blond and leans in to whisper; "Shamal sleeps around a bit." Reborn gestures vaguely downwards. "He's been wanting to talk about an 'itch' since last month."

Colonnello claps Reborn on the shoulder. "You have fun."

The doctor tsks. "Thanks, nice to know how fast you'd ditch me."

Colonnello is already picking out a table.

Reborn huffs and waves a confused Shamal upstairs. "Let's go."

The problem is that Reborn doesn't want to go back home anytime soon.

It doesn't matter that Reborn is out of the country while King Kawahira cleans house because people are still going to blame Reborn for the deaths – it's still going to affect his reputation. Honestly, Reborn is pissed off. He's going freelance now. He wants to travel around, see the world - which means he needs Shamal's contacts and trade routes to give him the boost to get started.

Reborn does like Lal and Colonnello, they are good friends, but they have a kind of patriotism that Reborn doesn't understand and doesn't want to humour right now.

"The servant's passage is over here," Shamal says, leading Reborn through a hallway. "We can circle around the back. I've got a carriage set up for long-term travel." He glances over. "What did you tell him to leave us alone?"

Reborn casually waves the question off. "You have chlamydia."

"Of course," Shamal muses. "Now I remember how much I hate you."

Lal and Colonnello wait for Reborn downstairs in the restaurant – the two doctors having gone up to have a private conversation.

Hours pass and Fon comes back from playing with Kyouya.

"I think I'm going to head inland," Fon admits. "I want to teach martial arts again and the cities are further in."

"What about Kyouya?" Lal asks.

Fon smiles. "I'll try and communicate it with him. Haven't figured out how yet, but I'm sure I can work something out. What about you two? Where are you heading now?"

Colonnello gestures upwards. "We're following Reborn."

Fon looks away. "Oh."

"Oh?" Lal repeats slowly. "What's that 'oh' for?"

Fon offers up a sympathetic smile. "Reborn said goodbye to me about half an hour ago."

Colonnello breathes in deeply because he certainly didn't see Reborn leave the building - and they had checked; the only exit is the front door and the back kitchen, both of which can be seen from this angle.

Lal scrubs a hand across her face. "Did he say where he was going?"

"He didn't," Fon answers. "I'm sorry, I think he made a run for it."

Colonnello scoffs. "I'd like to see him run from us with that foot-"

"He didn't take his cane," Fon says hesitantly. "When I saw him, he wasn't even limping slightly."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lal hisses, jerking to her feet. "How long has he been faking it? That son of a bitch better run because I'll break both his fucking legs when I catch him. Colonnello, we're leaving, now."

The blond stands up, pats Fon on the shoulder in goodbye, and follows Lal out of the restaurant.

Fon orders some food and takes it with him down to the docks.