The ships of Skeleton Mafia have not sailed in the morning, instead being comfortably docked in the abandoned port of Royal Auxiliary Isle. Bowser and his skeletal (and non-skeletal) henchmen decided to sleep inside the inn, where sailors of the former empires once slept. The inn was in a similar shape as other buildings on the island: untouched, but not renovated at all. Washed out walls that were made out of bricks along with a decaying wooden roof on top of it was a defining feature of the inn, not unlike nearly every other building in the town. The same decayed colors of the building were apparent inside as well, with walls having the same bleached out tone of white as outside. Wooden furniture that showed the consequence of age were one of the few, if not only things that occupied interior of inn. However, the inn was quite large, allowing quite a decent amount of travelers to sleep inside. Not exactly surprising, considering that it once worked as a station for once largest navies in those periods.
Each of the higher ranking members (with a sole exception, who wasn't even there at all) occupied their room, but those were more or less identical to each other. The rooms had the following: a sturdy wooden bed, a wide but short cupboard with a candle on it and a hole on the wall that functioned as a window. At that time, when the sun was just getting up in the sky, sun rays went through that window, enlightening the room in the process. Bowser, who was sleeping on the bed that, despite all odds, still managed to keep itself together, knew it was time for his day to start when he felt sun rays on his face. Not that he was a particular fan of that, though.
After fully waking up and getting out of the bed, Bowser decided to leave his dorm. As soon as he entered the halls, he was welcomed with the sheer emptiness of them. Aside from the doors that lead to dorms, only objects being there were some portraits of the former admirals of previous empires, who were proudly posturing themselves in them. He observed portraits, wonder what kind of conquerors they were. After a slight distraction, Bowser faced towards other dorms, preparing to call out for his amigos.
"Gentlemen, it's time to get up!" announced Bowser loudly, so that everyone could hear him well, as if they didn't already. It didn't take long for them to open doors of their rooms and leave their dorms. It was rather, much to Bowser's surprise, instant, so to speak.
"Oi, mate. What'cha needing us for?" asked Mad John before he closed the door of his own dorms. Bowser felt like the subject matter he wanted to talk about was best discussed outside, so he and his colleagues left the inn, greeted by the port town's aging yet suspicious tranquility.
"So, you have to tell how did you sleep through out the night." Bowser raised his eyebrow as he turned towards them, curious if they found anything odd during their slumber.
"Eh, slept in worse places if I'm honest." shrugged George, remembering how much has he slept in quite bad places during his time as a human.
"One of the better places I have partaken!" praised Brane, who seemed to have enjoyed his stay at the rusting inn. It quickly caused a rather confused reaction in George after seeing how happy his Croatian colleague seemed.
"To what kind of places did you go, buddy ol pal?" perplexed George, wondering if Brane had questionable standards regarding inns or places where he has slept were really that horrendous in comparison.
"I have literally slept on stones in my life already. You could not get worse than that, mate." said John, recalling many of his experiences abroad in his life.
"Hmpf...I can't say it was the worst or the scariest place where I had some sleep. It was alright, I suppose. However, have you seen anything supernatural in the night?" queried Bowser before he realized that he was a fire breathing dragon ox turtle talking to a skeleton gangster, a mercenary sniper and a chef. "Ahem...relatively supernatural."
"Define relatively supernatural." demanded George, acknowledging the elephant in the room or, rather, the giant turtle dragon ox specimen in front of an old British inn.
"You know, ghosts, spooks, sleep paralysis demons. Something like that." casually clarified Bowser, wondering if they saw anything spectral in that regard. He wouldn't have been surprised if they did, considering that an army of round giggling ghosts was also under his command. Only thing they lacked at dealing with paranormal spectacles at that moment was a vacuum cleaner.
"Nope, not on my end." said John, confirming that no spectral nonsense was encountered that night.
"Nothing too weird that night." added George, with his two cents on the matter also solidifying about lack of ghosts and stuff.
"Nema." Brane shook his head, putting the final nail in the coffin regarding spooks.
"Well, neither did I, but lets not get too comfortable so soon. We should check our surroundings as well." suggested Bowser before noticing that one of his colleagues was not present in the group. "I just noticed that one of us is missing."
"Ya know where he went. No doubt about it." ribbed George before they went checking the place to see if anything odd happened on the island. First place they decided to check was the port, putting a priority on it in order to see if their ships were still in their place. After they had spent a solid amount of time walking, they have arrived to the port. Much to their relief, two fishing boats and one golden yacht, along with four galleons, were still comfortably docked in the port.
"Hmm... ships seem to be in the right place. Perhaps I should move those cars on the land." thought Bowser before he jumped on the deck of their "capital ship", landing near two of Skeleton Mafia's land based vehicles. The first car he decided to move on the isle's ground was George's classic Jaguar MkI, since it seemed less of a hassle to carry. After lifting the one ton machine with relative ease, Bowser then jumped off the deck and carefully placed the Jag on the ground. Once being done with moving that saloon car, he leaped on the deck of "capital ship" once again, dealing with a privately militarized hippie van in the process. Even though Mad John's Volkswagen Type 2 Samba bus was, from the design alone, slightly lighter than George's Jag, those M2 Browning machine guns inside provided quite the additional weight. Despite that, Bowser lifted it with ease and performed the exact same procedure as he did with the Jag. After he finished his self imposed task, he rubbed his hands in satisfaction.
"George, John! Here are your cars!" called out Bowser for their attention. Immediately after hearing him, George and John approached him to see status of their cars. Just from looking at their exteriors, both of his colleagues seemed to be satisfied with states of their personally owned vehicles.
"Thanks, mate!" Mad John gave him a thumbs up as a sign of approval while George tipped with his hat. Both of them approached even closer
"Good to see you back there, my baby. You've been through a lot, now my car can get some rest." George tapped on the hull of his car as if it were his horse.
"Just to be sure, check if everything is working." suggested Bowser as he pointed at both vehicles, just making sure that he wouldn't see any mechanical failures on their end. George was surprised by Bowser's suggestion, considering that his usual pieces of advice tend to be the exact opposite of sensible. Both George and John entered their respective cars, put their keys in ignition cylinders, revved up their engines and started their cars. From the noise alone, they could tell that their machines were working well, but just to be one hundred percent sure, they went on short test drive. Brakes, steering and such seemed fine to them, so they concluded the results to be satisfactory.
"All good!" crowed Mad John while George just quietly nodded, both happy that their machines seemed to work quite dandy, despite all the sea faring they had to go through. After they have performed their tests, they turned off engines and stepped outside
"Great!" Bowser pumped his fist before deciding to check another place in order to see any oddities: the port town itself. Judging from the view of their position alone seemed like nothing changed. The same old buildings occupied the town, just that their status of being abandoned was disrupted by Skeleton Mafia. However, a view from faraway didn't exactly convince them to leave it as it is. They have decided to take a closer look at the town itself.
However, despite being cautious about it, no drastic changes were spotted during their patrol. It all seemed too good to be true, that no intervention arrived, either from paranormal or just normal visitors.
"The buildings also seem to be the same as before. No drastic changes...yet." noted Bowser as he observed all sorts of buildings present there. Countless of minutes were spent on directionless meandering.
Suddenly, an oddity was spotted by Bowser: the poles had two different flags on them, waving in the slight breeze. Instead of having worn out Union Jack and Dutch flag on them, he saw that two blue flags with white diagonal crosses were in their place. They were also in really good shape, which caused greater confusion for the turtle don.
"Hey, boys! Weren't there two different flags there before?" Bowser pointed at those flags, focusing attention of his colleagues onto them. George, Brane and Mad John immediately recognized those flags and already knew what actually happened there. It warranted quite a lot of squints, to say at least.
"Oh, I already know who's behind it." scoffed George.
"Something supernatural?" piqued Bowser, curious whether or not his suspicions could become reality, despite them refuting any sort of ghost activities on the island before.
"Supernatural by all means, yes, but very familiar at the same time." hinted George
"Who could that-" Bowser wanted to ask before it dawned to him who was true cause of sudden flag changing. It wasn't anything spectral, but rather a one thousand year old Scottish skeleton in a trash can. Upon realization, Bowser let out a furious call out:
"MOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSEAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
Upon hearing Bowser's scornful shout, Mosseau immediately bum rushed out of the pub with a bottle of Rakija in his hand. As he rolled on the stone paved path like a dragster, he was quick to arrive to the group. Everyone among the "elites" was squinting at him for what he did.
"Aye laddeh, what'cha needin me?" nonchalantly asked Mosseau as he took a quench of a half full bottle of Rakija.
"WHY DID YOU CHANGE FLAGS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!" condemned Bowser, bringing his own typical loudness with him.
"Aye replaced shite with national treasure, just like God intended." Mosseau casually rationalized his actions with sheer pride he felt as a Scotsman.
"Do you want the British to find us out?! It's too early to change flags!" argued Bowser, taking caution that any sort of international attention at them could easily become their downfall, considering that they did have first hand encounter with a destroyer belonging to a superpower.
"Who gives a damn about opinions of britbongs anyway?" seethed Mosseau at the mere mention of inhabitants of Great Britain. His tone in his argument was enough to warrant a warning glare from the Australian mercenary sniper.
"Jesus Christ, Mosseau, tone it down." warned John calmly, yet full of condemn. He raised his finger to put emphasis on his caution, implying that such behavior will face consequences in the future.
"If ye knew what kind of shite were they doing, then ye will see why they absolutely fooken deserve it." retaliated Mosseau, insisting on his point.
"Still though. We shouldn't do any risky moves yet!" interrupted Bowser before their debate would turn into a discourse of whether or not modern Britain should be judged by their actions from the time when it was an empire.
"Says a person that thought throwin' skeletons at the ship was a good idea." George couldn't help but to make a jab at him. Provoking Bowser was almost a secondary job for him at that point.
"THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TACTICAL RISKY MOVES AND STRATEGIC RISKY MOVES!" thundered Bowser, falling right for George's provocation, before he decided to tone down his voice and explain his opinion in a more delicate manner. "On the battlefield, you have to pull risks in order to influence the tide of the battle. If your risks flop on the grander scale, then you're pretty much hosed for the long run."
"I fail to see how changin' flags on an abandoned island is a risky move, pal." George raised a point, considering they were kinda in the middle of nowhere. He doubted that any country would really care about an abandoned island, including former colonial titans like Great Britain.
"...Eh, forget it. Lets move on." Bowser decided to drop the conversation and change the topic into something else. Meanwhile, Mosseau rolled up to John to give him a present of sorts.
"John, me laddeh. Aye've got somethin' for ye." said Mosseau as he pulled out the worn out British and Dutch flag out of his trash can and gave it to his sniper amigo. "If ye weren't a flag collector, Aye'd dump em right in the sea."
"Oh thanks, mate! They are going straight to Bendigo." thanked John, rolling up the flags before he went to his militarized Hippie van and placed them there. After their debates have settled down and them observing every corner of the port town, they have decided that nothing truly strange happened on the island. That also meant that they were closer to approving their own "renovations" for it.
"So, aside from...that, everything seems pretty normal." concluded Bowser as he crossed his arms.
"I think we have forgotten about something, though." corrected Brane, remembering something from the previous day that wasn't addressed at that moment.
"Hm? What do you mean, Brane?" asked Bowser with his memory a bit clouded.
"The scouts, don't you remember?" reminded Brane, which made Bowser also remember.
"Oh, right! Brane, hand over your phone!" ordered Bowser. With no hesitation, Brane gave him his Nokia phone. Bowser then pressed buttons on it to type a phone number of skeleton scouts. He had to use tip of his claws to type, otherwise his huge fingers wouldn't do it. However, any concerns about breaking Brane's phone were null, since it was a Nokia after all. After Bowser managed to type the number, he put it near his head and waited for skeleton scouts to pick up his call.
"Eyy boss." casually greeted skeleton scout through the phone call once he managed to pick it up.
"Scouts, report me everything you've seen!" demanded Bowser in his usual royal fashion.
"Alright so...there was a lake on our way. No roads, though. Seems like they have forgotten about it. Now we're at some kind of port town, looks kinda crusty." reported skeleton scout, stationed in a port town on the other end of the island. Port itself raised Bowser's interest by a huge margin.
"Another port town? Tell me everything about it!" further commanded Bowser, wanting to hear as much as possible.
"Well, what'cha got there on your own end?" queried skeleton scout to see if there's anything different on his boss' end.
"Hmm...we got...a port." Bowser looked around to see what sort of places were in it and started reporting back.
"I mean, it's a port town, boss. Did you expect a port to not be there?" sassed skeleton scout, thinking that Bowser's words were so obvious, that even Captain Obvious would take a jab at him.
"To be fair, the port could be busted, but I digress." Bowser raised his own point, taking in a consideration whether or not ports could be used by them. A busted port falls under the category of "useless" for the turtle man. "We also have...a market."
"Same here." replied skeleton scout as he looked around the town he and his fellow two scouts were occupying.
"I think there's also a pub here, also known as Mosseau's paradise." squinted Bowser at his skeletal trash can chronic alcoholic colleague.
"Gyehehehe, the pub's now full of good stuff, thanks to me!" boasted Mosseau, who might or might not have transported all alcoholic beverages from the ships during previous night.
"Did you actually spend the entire night relocatin' alcohol?" perplexed George, baffled by not only already his insomniac tendencies (not that it had any effect on him though), but the fact that he possibly spent entire night placing drinks there.
"Bloody Aye, laddeh!" proudly confirmed Mosseau, smacking his rib cage like a prideful soldier. George was rendered speechless, pressing his hand on his face after hearing Mosseau's boast.
"Same shit as here it is. I think it's safe to say they're more or less identical." concluded the skeleton scout.
"Hmpf, so be it. However, have you found any ships on your side?" Bowser raised one more question, desiring to hear if there's more vessels that Skeleton Mafia could implement in their minuscule fleet.
"Uh, no. Not here, boss." reported the skeleton scout as he looked at the port, only to notice the lack of ships at their port.
"Hah! One score for us!" flexed Bowser before he gave out an order. "Anyway, one of the scouts should return back here, capisce?"
"Capisco, boss." said the skeleton scout before the call ended. Bowser already formulated a plan for the island in his head, but before he went to announce it, he wanted to check something first.
"Did I get that right?" asked Bowser as he turned to George to check his mafioso terminology.
"Yes, you did." approved George, which was a sign that Bowser could tell his colleagues about his plan for the island.
"Gentlemen, I have a plan to announce!" declared Bowser as he turned towards his colleagues, gaining their attention in the process. "We are going to build a road to connect those two port towns, basically doing what those British have forgotten!"
"That's actually one of your more sensible plans, but we still have an uno problemo." pointed out George one thing before fully agreeing with his plan. "Where are we gonna get materials for it?"
"...Hmmmm…." thought Bowser, thinking about possible materials to use for their road construction.
"Well, I don't expect asphalt to be used, so why not use stones?" suggested Mad John as he pointed at stones on a nearby empty beach.
"I haven't seen a single good stone for roadbuildin' there, pal." commented George
"What about we made the bare minimum of a road? You know, just like in a jungle or something?" advised Brane, thinking of something rather simplistic to use as little time as possible for the construction of it.
"Bare minimum is not acceptable within my standards!"rejected Bowser, wanting his road to look like an actual road instead of just a dirty path that poorly connects two port towns. "Perhaps we should establish trade routes fir-"
Then, just like how fireworks explode on the New Year's Eve, an idea appeared in Bowser's mind. It was a daunting one for sure, but at the same time, it was a perfect opportunity to obtain necessary material for their road.
"This gives me an idea! A risky one, maybe, but a brilliant one none than less!" announced Bowser as he started typing another phone number on Brane's phone. It seemed like he had memorized that number to such extent that he could say it rapid fire at three in the morning.
"Oh boyo, what's he gonna now?" wondered George with a slight undertone of dread, being unsure whether or not his boss' plan was of his typical forte: being crazy. After few seconds of ringing
"KAMEK!" shouted Bowser as his voice was so powerful enough that Nokia couldn't fully register it. His skeletal (and human) colleagues got used to his yelling already, so they weren't really taken aback by his booming shouts.
"Aaah! I-I did not expect you to call, Your Very Loudness." Kamek
"First of, how's it going back there? Is everything in my kingdom still in check?" piqued Bowser, wondering if his kingdom has been attack or taken over by some external force. It has happened a few times in the past, such as the case with giant magic sword or a maniac bean that forgot to take their English grammar lessons.
"Of course it is, Your Majesty. All is well." confirmed Kamek, making sure that Bowser's kingdom was still owned by Bowser himself.
"Gwahaha, that's great to hear!" laughed Bowser, feeling relieved that he didn't have to deal with another bad guy trying to take over his kingdom before he switched to the topic he wanted to talk about with his wizard colleague. "Anyway, I'll be needing you here at Royal Auxiliary Isle, which is located in…"
"Uh, where are we again?" Bowser turned towards his colleagues, asking them what was the exact name of their location. He didn't want to get it wrong, but certain names gave him issues, such as that Raamsdonksveer place mentioned in that book he found on the ship.
"Somewhere in the Arabian Sea." answered Mad John.
"Yeah, somewhere in the Arabian Sea!" Bowser passed the answer to his wizard colleague in his world.
"Uh, Your Farawayness, where does that pipe on the mountain lead again?" asked Kamek.
"New York or something." replied Bowser, trying to provide as accurately as possible. New York was one of the places he remembered quite well, especially for his escapades with George.
"Ah, that's a nostalgic name." reminiscent George of his home. On a good day, he thought about New York, despite living through some tough times in it.
"Alright then, I shall arrive as soon as possible." said Kamek, confirming his incoming appearance on Royal Auxiliary Isle.
"Wonderful! Make sure you bring your magic wand with you, because we will need it!" reminded Bowser, just in case the wizard would have forgotten about it.
"What for, Your Demandiness?" asked Kamek once again.
"I will explain everything once you arrive here. Now, put Junior on the phone!" demanded Bowser before his wizard colleague passed his phone to the youngest son in Bowser's family.
"Hey, Pops!" happily greeted Bowser Junior, glad to hear his father's voice after such long time.
"Junior! How's it going, my boy?" beamed Bowser during his conversation with his son. The tone of his voice and mannerisms were quite radically different, as if Bowser became a completely different person when his children were around. Such contrast was found to be amusing among his colleagues.
"Doing good, Pops! I'm actually doing two things at once: trying to come up with a plan to take over Mushroom Kingdom with Peach kidnapping included and I'm currently trying to build a mechanical combat suit! I'm thinking about how to use my thingy for conquest, but so far we are only in the brainstorming phase." Bowser Junior reported his situation at his home as he still worked on the aforementioned suit. He took a brief pause just so he could talk to his father.
"That's great! Keep up the good work, son!" praised Bowser, feeling nothing short of proud for his son.
"Thanks, Pops! Anyway, are you still in Croatia?" asked Bowser Junior.
"Nope, I'm actually at Royal Auxiliary Isle now, it's the first island I...ahem, unofficially took over! There's been two islands that have been conquered before, but they are too tiny to be considerable." corrected Bowser as he told his situation at that moment.
"Royal Auxiliary Isle? That place sounds really cool! There must be a kingdom on it!" cheered Bowser Junior, imagining the island that once belonged to the British Empire to be something akin to an island that was shaped like a dolphin. When he thought of that island, he remembered all sorts of adventures he and his father partaken on it.
"If you count two abandoned port towns as kingdoms, then yeah, I guess." said Bowser while neglecting to mention his other two islands. He considered the Rastplatz Island to be too minor of an achievement to mention, but he wanted to tell his story about the events that happened on Despot Island a little bit later. "Anyway, once we set everything up, you're welcome to visit!"
"Really?! Coool! I can't wait to see it!" chorused Bowser Junior, raising his expectations from the events on dolphin shaped isle.
"Hahaha, I knew you would like it. I must ask, how are Koopalings doing as well?" asked Bowser about his other kids as well, wondering if they were doing okay.
"Lemmy and Larry are playing video games, Wendy's binge watching fashion shows, Morton has been trying to order pizza...multiple times, Roy's been really into kart racing lately, Iggy is trying to make bombs and Ludwig is plotting to overthrow another kingdom. You know, usual stuff." cheerily explained Bowser Junior, despite some of the actions he mentioned in his report.
"That's good, that's good. Glad to see you are all doing well." smiled Bowser, knowing that his family was doing just dandy at home.
"Anyway, Pops, I have to go now. I still have quite a lot of work regarding my thingamajingle." said Bowser Junior before he returned working on his mechanical combat suit, which had a resemblance to the Koopa Clown Car.
"Alright then, son! Take care!" Bowser wished him well being before the call ended. The turtle king returned Nokia to Brane before he faced them, prepared to share information he received from the phone call.
"Well, gentlemen. I've got good news and bad news." announced Bowser as he was about to tell them the situation at hand. "Good news is that-"
"Bad news first." interrupted George, wanting to start off with possible negative possibilities before any good news was shared. The interruption surprised the turtle king quite a bit.
"….What? Don't you want to start on a positive note?" grumbled Bowser, who wanted to start with good stuff first.
"It's better to know what forebodin' events come first, ya know." rationalized George, knowing from his experience that usually what is told later holds more water than what is told earlier.
"I do not disagree with such sentiment." concurred Mad John, who related to gangster skeleton's experience regarding
"...Alright then. So, bad news is that we gotta wait for our package. Estimated time of arrival is sadly unknown." Bowser admitted that his gangster colleague had a point, so he started with the possible
"Well, that isn't really bad. We've got plenty of stuff to do while we wait." said Mad John, who, along with George, expected much worse than a waiting time.
"Now, good news is that we are gonna get materials and additional manpower to reconstruct this island! Kamek will make sure of it, I swear!" Bowser
"Is Kamek that wizard guy we saw back in Croatia?" asked Brane, who remembered the process of establishing Skeleton Mafia
"Yes he is tha-" confirmed Bowser, but anything he wanted to say more about it was soon ended when Mosseau pulled out a fully loaded Kalashnikov out of his trash can out of instinct.
"MOSSEAU, NO!"
"Wizards deserve to be hunted to sport, laddie!" fumed Mosseau as he flailed his AK-47 around, waiting for Kamek to arrive so that he could fill him with 7.62×39mm rounds.
"I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY KIND OF FRIENDLY FIRE INCIDENTS, IS THAT CLEAR?!" raged Bowser, telling Mosseau to cease with his trigger happiness, but to no avail.
"Make me, fucker!" taunted Mosseau, who had zero intentions holding back.
"No rakija!" grinned Brane as he raised his finger to assert dominance, knowing the exact sentence to use when his Scottish colleague goes mental.
"Ye got me there, lad." Mosseau calmed down and placed his assault rifle back in the trash can. No action was worth for losing alcohol was what he thought.
"Sheesh, how many things do you vehemently hate in your life? Isn't there a limit?" perplexed Bowser, both concerned and amazed at how much was that Scottish fella capable of such enduring hatred of many things.
"Too many to list." deadpanned Mad John, knowing all sorts of stuff that his Scottish colleague had less than positive opinions on them. Considering that Mosseau's life was more or less the entire millennia, one wonders what he experienced during that time span.
"Geez...and here I thought I was the heated up one." blurted Bowser before he regained his composure and continued with his plan. "Anyway, any of you got any ideas what to do, now that we wait for Kamek and scout?"
"Poker?" suggested George while also being in the mood for a card game.
"Aye, we could go with that." approved Bowser before all of them went to the pub, spending rest of the day playing poker for like one thousandth time on their journey across the world.
Meanwhile in Dubai, Kaneo Takarada and Superhik, each of them wearing Kandūrah, were waiting in front of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building not only in United Arab Emirates, but also in the world. Any skyscraper near Khalifa was utterly dwarfed by its sheer size. The sky piercing skyscraper was surrounded by a park, which offered luscious plants amid the scorching desert, along with a large fountain lake. Teal colored water reflected under the unforgiving sun.
"Homeboy should be here some, G." stated Kaneo Takarada as both of them waited for a specific person, probably the one he called before.
"I cannot wait to see him! It will be a personal historic moment for me!" Superhik couldn't contain his excitement to see that person. Compared to the once-janitor-now-"saint patron of the rich", Takarada was not as eager, but not out of personal feelings, but rather because he had quite a lot of meetings with that person already.
Suddenly, a Rolls-Royce Phantom VII luxury saloon car, painted in raw platinum, drove down the street. The noise of its engines caught their attention in an instant as it was quickly approaching them.
"There he is!" Kaneo Takarada pointed at the incoming Rolls-Royce. It also seemed like EDM Trap music was blaring from it, probably due chauffeur's or guest's liking. After it arrived nearby, the luxury car stopped right in front of them. First person to step out of it was chauffeur, who opened the doors for the person inside the car.
"Fire up that loud, another round of shots, shots, shots, shots…."
As the person inside the car stepped out, it was revealed that it was none other than the Sheikh of United Arab Emirates, the richest man in the world. Wearing a white colored Kandūrah, he also wore sunglasses and had a beard worthy of a Sheikh.
"TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!"
The moment when the beat dropped, Sheikh put his sunglasses away in a dramatic fashion. If he were in a Hollywood movie, there would be explosions behind him.
"Wassup, my homie?" casually greeted Kaneo Takarada as if they were buddy-buddy with each other, approaching him in the process. Meanwhile, Superhik quietly bowed down to show nothing but respect for Sheikh.
"As-salamu alaykum, The Tycoon from Osaka Kaneo Takarada." formally greeted the Sheikh of United Arab Emirates as he shook hands with Japanese tycoon. "Explain your decision for calling me."
"It be all clear, G. Just that we need to be where we can discuss stuff." stated Kaneo Takarada before all of them went inside Burj Khalifa. "Imma be summarizing though, because if I went into detail, it'd be pretty fucking trippy."
As they navigated through the interior of Burj Khalifa, they have decided to use the elevator. After entering it, Takarada pressed on the button that showed the number "112". Upon the press of a button, the doors of elevator closed as it began to rise. Despite there being about 163 floors in total, the elevator was so quick, that going from the ground floor to floor 112 felt like a mere moment. The doors of elevator opened, allowing them to traverse the desired floor. After looking for a place to discuss relevant matters, they found an empty corporate suite. Takarada and his colleagues entered the suite and sat on the nearest chair, prepared to discuss the issue which the Osaka tycoon had at that moment. The window of the suite allowed for quite a view of Dubai, despite not being at the top of Burj Khalifa. After everything has been set and done, Kaneo Takarada began explaining his issue with a certain turtle conqueror:
"Alright then, hear me out. My boat's been stolen by some seafaring fuckheads and this boye right here wants to beat their asses to hell and back and, of course, get my boat back. So, my boy Sheikh, I ask for your assistance for finding that boat and beating the shit out of those pirates!"
"Solving out personal grievances with military assistance is not a matter of mine nor of my country. This region is already as volatile as it is, any further build up could lead up to some severe escalation. I am well sure you are aware of that." immediately cautioned Sheikh, knowing well what could happen if a more noticeably aggression of any nation around the Gulf was shown.
"Oh, no worries, my G. I'll handle them myself, if that's an acceptable compromise. However, I must note that only a minimal amount of my private forces are stationed here, so I may just ask for two favors instead. One, let me get some of my own homeboys on this soil, so I can properly launch those operations against pirates and two, help me find the ship." elaborated Kaneo Takarada, deciding to take a compromise in his plan while also expressing confidence that he himself will deal with a threat in an armed sense.
"First of, I fail to see why would you need our assistance when looking through publicly available satellite imagery could solve your issue in a much more efficient way." suggested Sheikh.
"Here's a lil issue with satellites, though. Their info needs to be constantly refreshed. I want data of my ship as insta as possible. Who knows what those fucks could do with it by the time image refreshes." Kaneo Takarada raised his point regarding Sheikh's suggestion. He felt like it was best to deal with Bowser as quickly as possible, but also because having that yacht back sooner was an optimal option for him.
"That is a fair point indeed, but I make sure that your potential deployment of private forces doesn't get recognized as a threat to regional stability." warned Sheikh, putting emphasis on his previously raised point.
"Bruh, I goddamn pour my own money right here! What makes you think that I am the threat here?" perplexed Kaneo Takarada, baffled that his possible ally already considered him to be a threat to the Gulf.
"I know well of your status as an investor, but Islamic Republic of Iran could respond to your actions in a quite different manner than you would expect." calmly elaborated Sheikh before giving him a rather intense glare to further put emphasis on his warning. "I am going to make myself very clear: I better not see a Scud strike on my country."
It was enough to make the prideful and stubborn Osaka Tycoon reconsider.
"Oh...right. Good point there. Didn't take that in consideration." concurred Kaneo Takarada while thinking about how was he going to execute his plan against Bowser without further disruptions in an already incredibly volatile region. Any sort of action gone south could get a response not only from regional powers, but also from foreign nations, who had quite a lot of escapades in the Persian Gulf for one reason or another. Superpowers, be it former or current, always had their eyes on the region.
"Before I can give out any sort of approval, I would like to hear more about pirates that have stole your boat." Sheikh
"Shit, you got me good. This one's gonna be tough to explain." thought Kaneo Takarada to himself, but he gave it a try none than less. "Very well, hear me out. So far, I have seen they operate stolen civilian vessels, judging from that I've seen two fishing boats. I'd expect them to use speed boats, but I digress. For such a small group, they seemed to be armed to the bone as well. Was kinda surprising, really."
"Perhaps they are a proxy." assumed Sheikh, knowing that a decent amount of nations, including in the Persian Gulf, often utilize proxy organizations to achieve their goals. Sheikh's nation was no exception, often using mercenaries in not only regional conflicts, but across the world as well.
"Proxy? Unlikely, but it's not impossible." denied Kaneo Takarada, because the idea of Bowser being state sponsored by Iran or similar was just too silly to be believable. "I do think it's same to assume they're stateless, since I doubt any country would support dickhead of a boss that is their own."
"What were they armed with, so to say? Do you perhaps remember what you saw during your encounter with them?" asked Sheikh, wondering whether or not thieves of Takarada's yacht could have capability to disrupt the region, especially the flow of oil tankers in the Gulf.
"Hah, those dumbasses though they could flex on me and look at that now. Their flex gonna bite them in their asses hard!" boastfully thought Kaneo Takarada to himself, glad that he could use Bowser's words against him.
"Fuckton of Thompson Machine guns, gangster style, a singular Mosin-Nagant with a scope, a revolver, Kalashnikov clone and even a Hippie van technical with Brownings." Kaneo Takarada started counting down all the weaponry he saw at his encounter with the aspiring turtle conqueror. "Hippe van technical, can you believe that?"
"They seem to be more armed than I have initially anticipated. There's also a variety in their weaponry, which makes me wonder about their origin even further. Do they pose any threat to the regional stability?" further wondered Sheikh as he scratched his beard in curiosity.
"Hmmm, what did that guy say again?" Kaneo Takarada tried to remember what sort of grandiose speeches Bowser had said to him. Then, after some time of thinking, Bowser's words flashed right in his mind.
"...I WILL BECOME A CONQUEROR GREATER THAN ALEXANDER THAN GREAT! I WILL BECOME RICHER THAN SHEIKH!…"
"Oh yes, absolutely! Territorial expansions seems to be in their great interest and there's definitely potential that they could build up their forces here and cause shit." grinned Kaneo Takarada as he crossed his arms when giving out an answer. His words regarding Bowser's desire of conquest did rang quite true.
"Curious. They do not seem like a typical militia, but we cannot afford to take risks. Kaneo Takarada, consider your request approved. Our air force is going to deploy a maritime patrol aircraft in order to find your stolen vessel." Sheikh gave out an approval for assistance in Takarada's operation against Bowser after hearing "I assume that your private forces will arrive through air transport, is that correct?"
"Duh. Other means are same as having a snail do a trucker's job." said Kaneo Takarada.
"Your aircraft can use Al Dhafra air base. If you will deploy any vessels, I suggest docking them in Fujairah." Sheikh gave out a few offerings to him to
"Hahaha, excellent! That's all I needed." boastfully grinned Kaneo Takarada before he decided to share a "fun" tidbit regarding what Bowser said to him during their confrontation. "By the way, the boss guy said he's gonna be richer than you."
"I would like him to back up his statement." smirked Sheikh at Bowser's words, knowing that the turtle conqueror, despite having a restaurant as a means of funding, had still a long way before he would reach the amount of income provided by Sheikh's oil industry alone. After their discussion, they have concluded the meeting, traversed through Burj Khalifa once again before exiting the skyscraper, standing outside the entrance once again.
"I wanna express thanks for offering me to perform my operations against those pirates. Many blessings for you, homie." thanked Kaneo Takarada for the approval while also getting more and more eager regarding executing revenge against Bowser.
"Wada'an, Kaneo Takarada." Sheikh of United Arab Emirates gave him a farewell before he entered his Rolls-Royce. After the chauffeur turned on the engine, it drove off as it gradually disappeared from Takarada and Superhik's sight. Left alone in front of the Burj Khalifa, they have decided to discuss their situation at that moment.
"Hahahaha! We got ourselves a homerun, hombre!" Kaneo Takarada pumped his fist from the excitement.
"Soon, that Bowser guy will get his lizard ass kicked!" cheered Superhik before both of them decided to go back to Burj Al Arab.
"Indeed, G. Now that the first phase of my plan is done, lets go to the next one." concurred Kaneo Takarada before he brought up his telephone on their way to the exotic looking hotel. After typing a phone number that only he knew, he put the device near his ear, waiting for the response. Once, after a series of rings, the call was picked, Kaneo Takarada issued an order:
"Yo, send ma boys to Dubai."
