Previously:

"Hey… I've been looking for you…" A chilly wind swept through the night as they stared up at the wild young man who bore a strange sword on his arm and was surrounded by a myriad of thugs. "I've come to save you, partner." He told Alibaba with a smirk.

"Cassim!" Alibaba gasped.

Chapter 43: Attack

CRASH—!!

Sinbad flinched in pain as he drew his head back and dropped the cup he had been using to listen in. "What!? What happened!?" he exclaimed. "There was suddenly this loud sound from above…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the twins came rolling out through the door, which had been blown open in the blast.

"Oomph!" they grunted, landing on top of each other in a heap.

"W-What the!?" Faith exclaimed, staring into the room with wide eyes, while Hope blinked and stared up at Sinbad and his retainers. She noticed the cup and how close he was to the wall.

"… Were you eavesdropping on us?" Hope asked.

"Uh…" Sinbad said awkwardly, caught in the act. He was saved from his feeble attempt at an explanation when Masrur and Ja'far twitched upon sensing danger.

"Sin, behind you!" Ja'far shouted, while Masrur braced for action.

CRASH!

"!!" The twins gasped in alarm when a strange projectile crashed through the other wall behind the king. Without Ja'far's warning, Sinbad would have been skewered. Droves of armed thieves came pouring in. The hotel had been completely surrounded from the outside.

"Damn, they're over here, too!?" Faith cried.

Still inside the room, Alibaba glanced behind him in the direction of her voice and saw the other thieves. "Cassim!! What did you bring so many subordinates for!?" he demanded, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Isn't that obvious!?" Cassim retorted with a frown as he stepped down to enter the room. "When we found out that you had been abducted, we immediately came to save you!! According to reports, our enemy has extraordinary skills. That is why I mobilized the whole group!"

Alibaba gasped. "What are you saying!?"

Aladdin and Morgiana stared at Alibaba's rough and dangerous friend. "So, this is Cassim?" she asked. They had faced each other before.

Cassim furrowed his brow as he stared down at Aladdin. "You… aren't you those brats who interfered the other day!?" he asked Aladdin and Morgiana, recognizing them from their previous fight. "I see… you're part of the military, too, eh?" he concluded darkly, raising his blade.

"…!?" Alibaba gasped in alarm, worried a fight was about to break out between his friends.

"You must be Cassim. You're here to take Alibaba back, right?" Morgiana said, staking a step forward as she prepared to fight. "Do you want to leave with him, Alibaba?" she asked, glancing back at him over her shoulder.

"…!!" Alibaba said, startled. He tried to quickly think of what he should do. He didn't want to abandon Aladdin again after his offer to help, but he knew that he would have to go back with Cassim sooner or later…

He was startled again by the sound of a loud crash and screams. He whipped his head around and was shocked by what he saw. The other members of the Fog Troupe were ransacking the hotel and accosting everyone in sight. And the twins were right in the thick of it, already caught up in the chaotic violence that was consuming the entire building.

"Attack! Attack! Everyone in this hotel is rich!" one of their men shouted vindictively.

"Hey, back off!!" Faith yelled, delivering a roundhouse kick to the man's ribs when he reached for her next.

"Hands off the women and children!" Hope shouted, flipping a thug who had tried to attack a scared mother and her little boy.

"Whoa! Those girls are dangerous! Who's our target?" asked another member of the troupe.

"No idea, Cassim ordered us to capture everyone." Answered another.

"Cassim!!" Alibaba shouted furiously. What the hell was he thinking!? "What are you doing!?" he demanded. "I've never heard of the Fog Troupe attacking a hotel!!"

"You idiot! If we don't do it thoroughly, we'll be the ones to die!" Cassim retorted gravely. "Our enemy is 'Sinbad'!!"

"Damn!" Faith cursed as she and Hope stood back to back against the overwhelming threat they faced. They kept getting pushed farther and farther away from Aladdin and the others. They braced themselves for another attack as two men with swords charged at them, but to their surprise, their attackers were suddenly stopped when two dart-like blades attached to ropes shot out from over their shoulders to bind them in place.

"Over here!" Ja'Far called, and they saw that he, Masrur, and Sinbad were waiting for them towards the back of the room near a marble table, away from the main part of the fray. The girls didn't need to be told twice. They immediately knocked out the two men who had tried to attack them and ran over to join the others while Ja'Far pulled his darts back into his sleeves.

"Thanks for the save!" the twins said.

"Who are these guys?" Sinbad asked.

"The Fog Troupe! Their leader's in the room with the others!" Faith explained as the droves of thieves finally came after the king and his retainers, led by a large, muscular man wearing a cloth tied around his head so it covered one eye and a strange sword similar to the one Cassim had on his arm.

"How dare you take our leader away!" he roared, glaring fiercely at them.

'There target is me? Is the Fog Troupe taking revenge for yesterday?' Sinbad wondered with a frown, disturbed by their tactics. 'How did they find out about me…?'

'There must be a leak somewhere…' Hope thought. "It's not like we're holding him against his will. Can't we talk about this?" she asked, looking for a way to stop the violence before more people got hurt.

"Do it!" the one-eyed man ordered. The men with him raised their crossbows, and the twins immediately hit the floor as they fired. But there was no need. In that instant, Masrur flipped the huge table up in front of them with one hand to block all of their arrows. Sinbad and Ja'far didn't even flinch.

"!!" The twins and the Troupe members gasped in astonishment at his speed and strength. The thieves broke out in a cold sweat.

"That table is made of marble!! Is that guy a monster!?" the one-eyed man yelled, shocked. Ja'far took advantage of the moment of confusion to launch a counter attack. He jumped out from behind the table and threw his rope darts to take out the crossbows. Their wielders cried out in alarm as the weapons were destroyed.

"Sin!" Ja'far shouted.

"Leave it to me!" Sinbad said, lunging forward through the path Ja'far had just created for him to launch an attack on the one-eyed man.

CLANG!

Sinbad smirked as they crossed swords. His opponent was trembling in his effort to keep up with him. It was obvious the king had the advantage when it came to skill with a blade. "Is that all you've got?" Sinbad asked cockily.

The one-eyed man smirked. Thin wisps of yellow vapor began to rise from his blade. A whisper of a sizzling sound could be heard.

"!" Hope gasped when she squinted and saw what was happening. "Get back!" she shouted at Sinbad as the thief's sword started to cut into the king's. She rushed forward from behind the table with Faith hot on her heels.

"!?" Sinbad said, alarmed when his blade began to melt.

"Ahh, you're so useless!" Ja'far exclaimed, mortified.

"Shut up!!" Sinbad shouted back, chagrined. His eyes widened in surprise as the twins leaped straight over him to deliver a pair of flying kicks to his opponent's face when the one-eyed man tried to take a swing at him with his corrosive blade. But it wasn't enough to take him out in an instant K.O. When the thief reached up to grab the twins' ankles, Sinbad immediately thrust his palms out, slamming them against the other man's abdomen.

WHAM.

"!?" The twins' eyes widened when they sensed the odd ripple of pressure that passed through his body as he released his grip on their ankles and stumbled backwards. The girls landed on the floor and quickly rolled back onto their feet to take up defensive stances while the thief laughed.

"What was that?" He asked. He barely even felt that attack! "What did you do—"

"!!" The twins were startled when his eyes bulged in his head, and he suddenly coughed up blood.

"Hassan!?" A woman with dreadlocks and piercings cried in alarm as the one-eyed man collapsed to the floor.

"Damn, bro!! What'd you do!?" Faith yelled nervously.

"A waste of my magoi!" Sinbad complained.

"It was an energy attack!?" asked Hope.

"You beast, everybody attack!!!" the woman roared furiously while cradling the one-eyed man's head against her chest.

"Ahhh!" The men roared as they charged at them. There was no way out for Sinbad's little group. They had them trapped like rats.

"Oh, boy…" the twins said, sweat-dropping and wearing nervous grins as they faced the oncoming horde.

"Cassim… when you mentioned 'Sinbad'… did you mean that 'Sinbad'!?" Alibaba asked, alarmed.

"I'll tell you later! There's no time!" Cassim said, reaching out to grab him.

Alibaba gasped when he saw Morgiana take up an offensive stance. "Watch out, Cassim!" he shouted, shoving him out of the way as she lunged forward to deliver a powerful kick that destroyed the wall she hit when she flew past them.

"What!? Is that girl a monster!?" Cassim asked incredulously.

"Anyway, just run, Cassim!" Alibaba yelled urgently.

"Time to go!!" Sinbad said when their group was about to be overrun. Masrur took that as his hint to throw the marble table across the room like a giant Frisbee as a distraction. The twins gasped in surprise when Sinbad grabbed them by the waists and flipped each of them up onto one of his shoulders.

"Hey!?" Faith shouted indignantly. "What's the—" Whatever complaint she and Hope had been about to make died in their throats as they watched Masrur launch himself into the air and punch a hole through the ceiling like a human drill. "Whoa…"

"… Going up?" Hope said wryly, sweat-dropping, as they stared up at their new escape route as Ja'far leaped up after Masrur and dropped his rope darts down for Sinbad to climb up with them.

"Attacking this hotel's innocent guests… The nature of a thief is hard to change, but let me take care of that!" Morgiana said sternly as she chased Cassim's group and Alibaba up to the roof.

"Wait, Morg!" Aladdin called as he hurried after her. He was worried about Hope and Faith. He had lost sight of them during all the confusion.

"Come, monster girl!" Cassim dared her when they reached the roof, confident they could defeat her with their superior numbers now that they'd had a chance to regroup. "I'll stop you with the black fog again!!"

A small crack formed in the floor of the roof and quickly exploded outward as Masrur came crashing up through it, followed closely by Ja'far, Sinbad, and the twins. The girls had insisted on finishing the climb themselves, and the king was more than ready to oblige when Faith took advantage of her position hanging over his shoulder to feel up his tight behind.

"…" Masrur said, standing firm at the front of the group, while Ja'far sweat-dropped at Faith's antics, and Sinbad made sure to stand at what he deemed to be a safe distance from her.

"Sinbad ojii-san! Faith! Hope!" Aladdin exclaimed in surprise.

"Are you all right, Aladdin?" Hope asked.

"More strange people appeared!?" the thieves shouted.

"They're just trying to scare us! Go, everyone!" Cassim shouted, urging them forward.

"Aye!" the thieves shouted, getting ready to attack.

"Damn, how many of these guys are there?" Faith asked, raising an eyebrow at the huge number of enemies they now had to face. There were even more out here than there had been inside the hotel!

"Yes, there's quite a lot of them…" Sinbad remarked coolly. "Masrur!"

"Understood." Masrur said with a nod, taking a step forward before assuming an odd fighting stance that the twins had never seen before. The Fanalis took a deep breathe, and launched himself forward in a devastating strike that decimated anyone unfortunate enough to be in his path, depleting their numbers by a third as he cut a wide path through the horde of thieves to reach Cassim, whom he quietly landed just a couple of feet behind. Cassim looked like he was ready to crap his pants. The twins and Morgiana were stunned, their jaws had literally dropped.

'A-Amazing!' they thought, as they watched the older Fanalis return to Sinbad's side, rendered speechless. Which was particularly impressive in Faith's case.

"Masrur, you over did it." Sinbad said. The majority of the people he sent flying had nearly been thrown clear from the roof. "Use less power next time."

"You… who the hell are you…?" Cassim asked nervously.

"What… Wasn't I the one you were looking for?" Sinbad asked.

"So you're Sinbad. It's you who provoked us first!" Cassim said angrily as he raised his sword. The twins readied themselves for another strange attack. "Take this! Sword of the Binding Black Fog!" he yelled, swinging his sword to send a jet of black-purplish fog shooting toward Sinbad. Sinbad braced himself as the heavy fog swirled around him and brought him to his knees.

"What's this?" said Sinbad.

"It looks gross." Faith quipped, wrinkling her nose a little.

"Is that the 'black fog' from yesterday?" Hope asked.

"Yes." Said Ja'far, nodding in confirmation.

"Ah, so this is the thing that caused you to be captured yesterday." Sinbad remarked calmly.

"Don't move, or you boss loses his life!" Cassim shouted.

"That's so weak, yo." Faith said with a frown. Why take a hostage? They still had, like, a hundred guys left. Hope glanced worriedly at Ja'far and Masrur, but they were completely unfazed. They didn't seem to be worried about their king at all. She thought about the odd attack he had used on the one-eyed man and wondered if he still had something up his sleeve.

"Shouldn't we help him?" asked Morgiana.

"There's no need." Ja'far answered quietly so only they could hear. "He's not called 'King of the Seven Seas' for nothing."

"Wait, Cassim, what exactly are you saying!?" Alibaba asked worriedly.

"We received information! The king of Sindria, Sinbad, is going to take care of the Fog Troupe!!" Cassim explained urgently.

"Ah, who was the one who told you that?" asked Sinbad.

"Stop asking questions when you're the one who's caught!" Cassim snapped.

"Caught? You mean this?" Sinbad said with a sigh. The twins were surprised when a soft, warm glow spread through the captured king's hands. They weren't the only ones.

"… What's that light!?" Cassim asked. As the glow spread, the black fog broke down and disappeared. 'The black fog… dissolved!?' he thought, alarmed. "How can that… How can that be!?" Squinting, Hope thought she could see s few small, rukh-like shapes in the light.

"Cool..." Faith said appreciatively. She totally wanted to learn how to do that.

"I told you, didn't I?" Ja'far said with a smile. "Sinbad, 'the King of the Seven Seas'… is already used to seeing mysterious powers!" The thieves stared at the king of Sindria in shock and awe.

"A magical item of this level is useless against me." Sinbad declared with a confident smile. Cassim grit his teeth as his eyes widened in fear.