Resolution
Shaad wasn't lying when he warned the stranger's death wouldn't be a quick one. Though, it wasn't for lack of trying. The pirate trio, having encircled the young interloper, was careful about their next move. Shaad's wounds had already reopened and Vega was sporting a couple of burgeoning bruises on his left forearm and shoulder while Raine had both her baton as well as a pistol at the ready.
"You ready to give up and walk away," Shaad panted, a smirk on his face as he drew his second sword in what was supposed to be a threatening fashion, but due to his sorry state was anything but.
"I already told you. Me and that fish freak have business; just hand him. . ." The sentence trailed off as the young man looked past Vega momentarily.
"He must have escaped while we were dealing with you," Shaad growled. "Now, we definitely can't let you go."
"Just try it. You can't even scratch me," he mocked, settling into a fighting stance with bandana in hand.
"Yeah, why is that anyway," Raine chimed in, her pistol aimed center mass.
"Hammerlock Tech apparel. A hard get, but well worth it. Steel fibers hand sewn alongside each thread means not only are bullets useless but most blades have no effect either," the stranger confidently boasted.
'Hammerlock,' Shaad pondered, a lingering feeling of familiarity prodding at the back of his mind.
"My entire outfit is Hammerlock. Cost a pretty penny and just this headband weighs over a kilogram, but security is its own reward."
"How sweet; they should make you a spokesperson," Shaad remarked dryly. "Okay Raine, let's go with 'Nightmare Scenario.'
"Hmph, you'd like it if you tried it," Raine answered in a tone far too suggestive for their current predicament.
"Su~re. Sorry, Vega, but I'm gonna need you to pick up the slack for me. . . Hey, I have not been that slow," the captain reacted to something Vega didn't say. "Maybe that was your fault," he added as Vega's mask tilted as if to look over the two darkening bruises.
"Now, where were we," Shaad's tone, a haunting melody, teased sinister intentions. "Aah, that's right. We had just moved on to the part where you die." Shaad slowly dragged the sharpened edge of Tairyoku along their foe's chest, drawing a thin sliver of blood.
The young man struggled. He'd fought valiantly but had no clue what to defend himself against, and the cuffs were locked tight around his ankles before he knew what happened. From there, it became a comparatively simple matter to handcuff his thick arms behind his back. Still, he resisted mightily, thrashing violently to no effect.
"Those are seastone cuffs; found that out the hard way, myself," Shaad commented with a creeping smile. "But do keep that fight. You'll be suffering for two after all since your distraction allowed your friend to escape."
"Friend," the captive scoffed. He'd stopped pulling against his binds so roughly. He was tired, but more so didn't want to waste energy on a futile effort. "That bastard blindsided me when I arrived here. . . No, I simply wanted my payback and to find out what happened to my shipment."
Shaad's early torture was slowed by the revelation. While he didn't flatly believe it, the outburst surprised him nonetheless. "Regardless," he said, dismissing the new claims. "You'll have plenty of time to tell me what I want to know."
With that said, Shaad stabbed his blade into the young man's shoulder. He was sure not to hit anything too important. He didn't want the poor guy dying after all. . . yet, anyway. But, before things could go any further, the sound of a den den mushi ringing overshadowed the pained grunts.
His hands literally tied, Raine checked the captive's pockets for the snail, handing it to Shaad when she found it while Vega quieted him.
Kaclunk. Silence hung in the air for minutes on end. Shaad could say nothing or risk whoever was on the other end hanging up, and he would've hung up himself if not for the imitative facial expressions of the den den mushi telling him the person was still on the line. . . and growing increasingly annoyed, apparently. After almost three whole minutes, that annoyance boiled over to mild anger.
"Okay, who tha fuck do you think you are not saying nothing!? Making me look uncool by having to speak first. You better have a good ass reason before I have you killed twice! And, that's not even including punishment for killing Tru!"
Shaad winced at the enraged shouting, not understanding most of the curses that followed. Once there was finally a near silence, he chose to start by resolving the simplest issue. "If Tru is the stocky chump decked out in Hammerlock, he's not dead. He just can't talk right now. But, maybe you can answer my questions."
"Ah, he speaks. Well, you've saved yourself one death. Let's see how much you really want to live? What's your name, boy?"
A vein in Shaad's forehead nearly popped. He didn't react well to being disrespected, and even more so to being called boy. Ironically, it was probably that anger that kept him from crushing the den den mushi receiver; he needed a name for who to kill for disrespecting him.
"I'm the one asking the questions! You'll answer or your boy, Tru, will die!"
An exaggerated sigh was the initial response. "Understand, the only life being bargained for here is yours, and right now you're losing. You already owe me two deaths; whether that number increases or decreases is up to you. Now, name."
"Ugh. Vega, kill him! This isn't worth the headache."
"Back to three, it is. And, this Vega gets one himself. Now, you can either tell me the name of the fool who embarrassed me and we can talk or you can go get started on picking out caskets and tombstones."
Shaad held up a hand to hold off Vega. He was angry, not stupid. And, the way the threat sounded, it wasn't just some child's confident bluff, it was a guarantee. Whoever was on the other end had the power and influence to follow through. There was a deafening silence as he figured out how to proceed.
"Shaad; his name is Shaad!" Whoever the dangerous person on the other side of this call was, he now had Shaad's name. Granted, he already had Vega's, but Vega was essentially a ghost or local legend. Shaad could only hope they were too stupid to piece together that Shaad and Rashaad are the same person.
His navigator's outburst caught the pirate captain by surprise, and it was already too late. Briefly too flustered to think straight, he exclaimed, "Raine, what are you doing!?"
"I'm not letting you get us killed cause o' your damn anger issues."
"Wh-"
"Thank you, Miss Raine. And, very well said. With that settled, we can actually hold a civilized conversation. Unfortunately, since you didn't tell me yourself, no credit for you. As a matter of fact. . . you owe me four deaths for being rude to Miss Raine. You're really behind the eight ball now. "It was only then that Shaad caught his flub, this maniac now had the names of him and his small crew. "So, Shaad, how - . . . Wait. Shaad? . . As in Rashaad. . . Cornelious Rashaad," the caller asked curiously, his surprise evident.
"Who's asking," Shaad growled. The fact that they could that quickly place his identity, meant they were already familiar with him. That was worse. Now, more than ever Shaad needed to project strength.
"Wait, hold on a sec." Papers could be heard rustling in the background as Shaad only grew angrier at being ignored. "Damn. . . It's your cousin, you idiot. Five-Star. . . Actually, I go by Youngblood now."
"Aaron?"
"Youngblood; call me Youngblood Killbane. It's so much cooler."
"No," Shaad answered curtly.
"Harsh, dude. Harsh. . . If you've run into Tru, you must be at the Illusory Forest. Miss Raine, if you'd be so kind, search my idiot cousin's clothes for flowers. If you see any with white and red petals, like a fire burning towards the center, crush them. His attitude should return to normal after that."
"What are you talking about, Aaron?"
"Research, my dumb friend. If you ever did any, you'd know the plant I just described is the Fire Sprite, they're valued as rage agents. Something, meatheads prone to losing their temper such as yourself should stay away from."
"You will stop talking down to me. We're not children anymore."
"Aah, see. You're calming down already," Aaron mocked just as Raine pulled away a couple of the described petals and one full flower. "You should also probably be cautious of running into any Venus Scents. They're naturally powerful aphrodisiacs used in perfumes and all sorts of other products. It should be easy enough to recognize them. They're more colloquially known as Lady's Flowers because they resemble. . . well, a lady's. . . flower. Anyway, be careful of them; we wouldn't want you making unwanted advances on the beautiful Miss Raine."
"Just shut up, Aaron. And, you don't even know what Raine looks like."
"Are you calling Miss Raine ugly?"
"Yeah, are you," Raine teased, smirking at the obvious discomfort on Shaad's face.
"That is what I heard. But, what you fail to understand, is that all women are beautiful, and, call it intuition, but I can tell that Miss Raine is quite exceptionally lovely indeed."
"Thank you, Youngblood"
"You are more than welcome, Miss Raine. Unfortunately, all this has gotten me sidetracked from the original purpose of my call. . . Wake up Tru and have him get his lazy ass to the meeting spot. He knows better than to be sleeping on the job. He has a delivery to make, and if he's late it reflects poorly on the company."
"Fine," Shaad said, motioning to Vega to release the courier. "But, answer me this: what is he really transporting, and why drag me into the middle of it?"
"What? You know I can't answer your first question; company policy. As for the second, I don't know. I'd assume unforeseen circumstances, but I had nothing to do with it so I can't say for sure."
"Cut the crap, Aaron," Shaad demanded, a twinge of anger creeping back into his tone.
"Ugh, your father really should've taught you how to ask for a favor."
"Aaron, I know your agent's here acting as a transporter. Uncle Black seems to be involved as well by virtue of some Captain Morrigan who roped me into this shit. Now, there is no way you two are operating this closely to one another without being aware of the other, so, tell me what's going on?"
"Oi! In addition to my real name - which I would implore you never use over transmissions again - you just exposed a lot of information that even I don't record for safety reasons. You're lucky this call is secure. As for your claims, fine. But, I really don't know why you're involved. I'd gotten word that you were with one of Black's contacts and could put together the rest. Now, let Tru go do his job. Even if you are family, I've still got to record that you owe me four deaths plus one for Vega. But, so long as you don't continue to interfere, I can make collection on that debt a low priority."
"Your weak, little man will have to wait. First, how did you get word of my location."
"So young yet so foolish. Family sticks together, cuz. But, you did say something interesting. If you can legitimately call Tru weak, then you must have grown quite a bit stronger. Allow me to update my power metric on you, and I'll deduct two deaths from what you owe me."
"If I kill Tru right now, no amount of owed deaths on my part is gonna complete this delivery, and there goes the Company's sterling reputation."
"Boss!"
". . . That's low, Shaad. Real low, even for you."
"You have no idea how low I can go. However, like you said, we are family. Get me a ship, I'll let him go."
"A ship? How the fuck does that relate to this?"
"Ours was damaged getting involved in this mess. That's now become your problem as well."
"You're calling that little dinghy a ship," Raine scoffed.
"Hey, that was a good boat. Right, Vega," Shaad objected, looking to the masked man for support. Vega merely turned away. "Not you, too."
Aaron knew attempted extortion when he heard it even without the aside, but knowing doesn't change the circumstances.
"I can't give you a ship, but feel free to take all the money Tru has on him."
"But, boss -"
"Already done."
"What," Aaron and Shaad simultaneously exclaimed in surprise before a soft chuckle pulled attention from the fan of bills Raine was displaying.
"A woman who knows what she wants. Gotta respect that," Aaron commented.
"Uh-Huh," Shaad grumbled with an accompanying eye roll.
"This is nice and all," Raine chimed in, putting the money into her back pocket, "but it doesn't solve the issue of transport."
"Hmph. Very shrewd," Aaron stated, the compliment earning a look of distaste from Shaad. "As I'm sure you're used to hearing, you are indeed right, Miss Raine."
"We could just take his," Shaad suggested, nodding in the direction of the conspicuously silent courier.
"That could work," Raine agreed.
"Uh, no. No, that couldn't," Aaron objected in a flustered tone. His boat is for one person; you know that, Shaad. . . Tru, give them the Eternal Pose."
As Vega uncuffed Tru with the key from Raine and the young man reached into his jacket's inside pocket for the Pose, Shaad eyed the den den mushi with a discerning gaze. "You planned this, didn't you?"
"What?" The faux surprise in that reaction was unabashed. "Why so cynical, cuz?"
"Your hands are never clean."
"No, you're just predictable. . . Now, you will have to find your own way into the Grand Line as well as a Log Pose once you get there, but this should get you started. Now, let Tru be on his way. There's not much time."
Shaad hadn't even got another word out before he heard the click from the other end. Aaron had already hung up. Tru was already on his feet, straightening his clothes as best he could and re-tying the jacket around his waist.
"Wish I could say it's been fun," he said with a sneer.
"It's at least been profitable," Shaad mocked as Tru ran off.
"So, now what," Raine inquired, a hand on her swung out hip. "I don't know if you recall, but you blew up the palace. That no doubt counts as terroristic behaviour. Are we running?"
"No, we're not gonna run, but we are gonna move on. We can stay at an Inn on the outskirts of town for the night; the bartender, and owner, there is good people. We'll leave tomorrow with a boat from the port."
"Fine," Raine grumbled, "but you're going back for my stuff."
"Of course, madam," Shaad quipped, a bow adding flourish to the statement.
"Good, you're here." Captain Morrigan looked up from signing a form to acknowledge the newly arrived courier. "We'll speak in my quarters. Dahl, take over here."
"Why are you bleeding all over my ship. I'll assume it has something to do with that black eye."
"That patsy you chose is a nosy fuck, him and his lot. I think he wanted to kill me."
"Yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers; he fell right into our laps. Besides, if things went too far, you could've just eliminated him. Flynn might prefer a breathing suspect, but he has just as much stake in not getting caught as anyone."
"I'd say; the heads of this city probably wouldn't like that the people protecting them are taking such a volatile substance."
"Haahaha. I see why He likes you; you've got a lot to learn, kid. That wasn't for the soldiers. It was for the people." Morrigan saw Satori's eyebrows raise at that, and gave another chuckle. "Politics, son. Poor folks don't like seeing money just out of reach. Why you think they got that big ass wall? One side provides the tools for keeping the masses placated and in return gain a loyal man with access to the governing elites. So, where's the payment he gave you? I went through a lot to steal those little pieces of gold leaf."
Satori straightened up then, reaching into his pants for the envelope. After searching one then the other, his face dropped and worry donned.