The Proposition!

Head for the Grand Line!

Hiro-Shu laid stretched out on one of the inn's bed. His eyes were closed and his breathing became ragged. His chest was wrapped up in a heavy bandage. He had a similar bandage on his knee. Enma, Sage, and Ridley were gathered around him watching, waiting for some kind of improvement.

"Wow," said Ridley, "I guess his third form takes a lot out of him." He had his guitar in his lap and every so often he strummed a few notes, but in reality he just didn't feel like playing.

"Not quite," said Enma, "our attacks were designed to kill a giant…Hiro-Shu isn't a giant. Then of course while Hiro-Shu was in that armor he wasn't fully aware of what was going on, so when he finally comes to all of our attacks would hit him simultaneously. His body is waiting for a time when Hiro-Shu would be able to survive such a shock without passing out again."

"What if…he wakes up before then?" asked Sage. "What would happen if he wakes up before our attacks heal enough?" She hated this. This moment reminded her of when Mikoto was nearly killed on Zesiro's home island…only they didn't have a doctor then. Thankfully, Mikoto managed to pull through, but its still not guaranteed with Hiro-Shu.

"He could enter a post-traumatic state and go berserk, he could pass out again, or he could…" Enma trailed off. He didn't want say any of the other options.

"Where's Mikoto at?" asked Sage, "shouldn't he be here? I mean, his nakama is in trouble! He should be here to help us out!"

"And do what exactly?" asked Enma as he laid down in a separate bed, "Mikoto has a knack. No matter what he touches, he always seems to make things worse. I'm surprised all of you are still alive so far, especially since you just got a doctor."

"Mikoto does happen to break a lot of things," said Ridley with a chuckle. "Anyways, should we try looking for Zesiro? He still hasn't returned since Hiro-Shu flung him."

"If there is one person who doesn't need worrying about on this crew," said Sage, "its Zesiro." Enma nodded in agreement.

"Fine then I have one more question," said Ridley, "do either one of you two know where I can get some alcohol?" Sage spun around and launched a devastating blow to the back of his head.

(-With Mikoto-)

Mikoto was lying with the majority of his body against the counter at Xavier's pub. "Xavier, can I have more lemonade?" He lifted up a nearby empty glass and began to swirl the ice in it around.

Xavier chuckled at him and quickly refilled the glass, "how's your crew doing? I still didn't get to meet all of them, yet. Just you, Zesiro, and Hiro-Shu. I want to meet the cook, musician, and doctor of my little bud's crew."

Mikoto didn't even respond. His mind was more focused on the proposition of the masked figure. He told him to meet him at the local café in three hours. One hour had already passed since then. His crew had mixed feelings about it too, after all their bounties were increasing pretty fast and he just knocked Hiro-Shu out, this could be a trap.

Mikoto's mind was jumping around, though. If it wasn't a trap and just something simple like an alliance or maybe just going out for a celebration they'd skip out something good. The guy was powerful and he already had the chance to knock them all out once, why would he wait three hours to do it?

Mikoto sighed and began to drink his lemonade again. He was becoming weaker, he should've been able to stop Hiro-Shu, but instead he had to rely on some random person to protect his crew and his village. What was happening in the world?

Xavier sat down next to him, "wondering what's going on are you?"

Mikoto's ears perked up, but he didn't move from his spot. "Yeah."

"I'm a barkeeper," said Xavier, "I never had any kids, never will, never been married, never plan to go out to sea, never wanted to be the Pirate King, sorry kid. But my ambitions and advice just isn't suited for you. I have an old friend that might be able to help you out, though." Xavier reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black notebook. It was bound by a leather strap on the front of it was golden lettering that spelled 'Valhalla Pirates'. Xavier put the notebook on the table, "read it, the person who wrote it was a good guy." Xavier got up and left.

Mikoto eyed the notebook for a while before grabbing it and stuffing it into his pocket. He's not one very for much for reading, but maybe Sage or Zesiro would like it. Mikoto turned in his chair and faced the door way. He was just going to wait for someone on his crew to come and drag his butt back to the ship. He just hoped it wouldn't be Sage.

Zesiro was the first one to enter. "Nice of you to worry about me," he said as he sat down next to Mikoto, "went flying into the ocean. Lucky for me, I'm a Fishman or I would've drown. The crew said you went somewhere without them, figured you'd be here."

Mikoto looked at the nearby clock. Only half an hour left before he had to make his mind up and go to the café. "Did they tell you what happened?"

"Yup," said Zesiro as he spun around and smiled, "are you going to go see this person?"

"Still making up my mind," said Mikoto, "I don't trust anyone who wears a mask."

Zesiro shook his head. "I say you go. You can beat the crap out of him if he steps out of line, so you might as well see what he wants." Zesiro pulled a sword out of his sheath and chuckled, "or I can beat him up if you are too weak."

Mikoto smiled. "Fine," said Mikoto as he stood up, "let's go." Zesiro nodded and stood up with him.

"Should I go gather the rest of the crew?" asked Zesiro as he put his blade back into his sheath. "Or are we going this alone?"

"I think me and you should be able to handle him," said Mikoto. He didn't want Sage or Ridley get to involved and he'd like it if Enma would stay back and watch over Hiro-Shu. "Wait a second." Mikoto dug into his pocket and pulled out the notebook and tossed it to him, "Xavier gave it to me. I figured if it's a book, you'd like it more then me."

Zesiro smirked. "Just what I always wanted. An old notebook from a barkeeper."

The duo walked to the café. It was small. It was the size of a house and there were only about four tables. Mikoto scanned the area looking for the masked man. He felt Zesiro jab him in the side. He was pointing over to a corner. In it was a man with a mask on. Mikoto wandered over to him, "I'll hear your proposition."

"Wonderful," said the man as he reached up and undid the chains holding his mask onto his face. He took the mask off. His face was well-kept he had windswept brown hair and blue eyes. His smile was brilliant and bold, but it still radiated fear. "I am the 'Mr. Smoke and Mirrors', the Trickster, the Joker, my name is Henry Diduo."

"Mr. S & M," chuckled Zesiro under his breath. The man didn't even pay him any attention.

"I'm glad to see you know a good deal when it presents itself," said Henry, "I guess I'll begin with a small background story of the proposition before I tell you what you are going to be doing."

"Makes sense," said Mikoto as he sat down. Zesiro soon joined him.

"To begin with as a pirate of your caliber," began Henry, "this is probably just a review, but the World Government has established a blockade at Reverse Mountain. This blockade is fully operational with very powerful weapons and defense systems. Only someone who can present proper Marine certification will be allowed to pass. A Jolly Roger would be shot down before the crew got within shooting distance."

"I didn't know that," said Mikoto, "what about you Zesiro? Is this blockade new?"

"First I've heard of it," said Zesiro with a shrug.

"Its been established for two months," stated Henry with a sigh, "anyways! A normal crew would stand little to no chance as the Marines not only established a temporary holding jail there, but also they sent ten top notch warriors to stand guard there. These guys are capable of taking out people whose bounties exceed 40 million with ease. No pirates from the East Blue could take them out, at least not alone."

"So, you want my crew to team up with you as we go through there?" asked Mikoto. The kid was powerful, but he wasn't going to say that he evened the odds. It would be eight pirates taking on ten people who crush someone who was nearly double his own bounty. "Not happening."

"Oh, no!" said Henry, "see that would be suicide for your crew. I've been gathering up a small group of other professional pirates who would be willing to wait until we got a capable attack force. Right now I got three pirate captains on my side waiting for me to say go."

Mikoto leaned back and took this all in. Three pirate captains. That means three crews. If all the other crews were at least as developed as his was that would mean they would have a total fighting force of twenty-nine, counting Henry. "Agreed," said Mikoto, "I have to talk this over with my crew." He got up and left, Zesiro followed after him. This left Henry sitting in his chair all alone grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Mikoto soon arrived at the inn where Hiro-Shu was lying unconscious. Enma was the first to take note of Mikoto's serious disposition. "You went?" he asked, although he already assumed the answer.

"Yes," replied Mikoto sitting onto a cot next to Hiro-Shu. "He wants to team up until we get into the Grand Line."

"Does it have something to do with the blockade?" asked Sage.

"How'd you know," asked Mikoto.

"Its been in the newspaper," said Sage, "it took them a couple of months to complete it. No crew would dare to go in there alone. They basically isolated the East Blue pirates from the Grand Line."

"So," said Ridley, "what's the verdict? Are we teaming up or not?"

Mikoto sighed, he wasn't the tactician of the crew. He had always trusted his gut when it came down to a difficult situation, but his gut was just as confused as he was. Henry seemed decent enough, he wanted to get to the Grand Line safely, nothing wrong there, but he called himself a trickster and a joker. This could be a trap. If they arrived at Reverse Mountain and they were the only ones, they'd be sunk.

"Well, captain?" asked Enma, "your call. We either go all out and place our bets on this man or do we leave him be?"

Mikoto leaned back and lied into the bed. "We do need to head to the Grand Line soon, so why not do it with some help?" Even as those words came out of his mouth they felt wrong.

"I was thinking the same thing," said Zesiro, "we go with him to the blockade and go along with his plan until they inconvenience us, then we ignore them. If we can use these forces he's prepared to serve us, we might as well."

Mikoto nodded, glad that someone agreed with him. Sage and Ridley nodded in agreement soon after. That only left Enma. "I don't trust him is all."

"Don't worry," said Mikoto smiling at Zesiro, "if he does anything we don't like, we can just beat him up."

"Right," said Ridley as he picked his feet up and put them on top of Hiro-Shu's limp body. "Hey! Hiro-Shu makes a pretty decent footrest." The entire crew turned and glared at him. "What? Can't a guy make a joke?" asked Ridley as he pulled his feet off of Hiro-Shu's body.

"NOT ONE LIKE THAT!" shouted Sage as she pulled a frying pan out and slammed it into his face sending him tumbling off of the bed. Ridley laid on the floor for a few seconds. He looked more distraught then angry at Sage.

"Now that that's settled," said Enma, "can you guys continue watching over Hiro-Shu? I've been with him all day, I think I'm going to get a breathe of fresh air. My first one since the fight."

Zesiro nodded and got up. He walked around the room until he got to where Ridley was laying. "Hey, big guy," said Ridley, "mind helping me up?"

Zesiro lifted his feet up and stepped on top of Ridley and stood there for a few seconds, "you know, Ridley, you make a pretty good floormat!"

"GET OFF OF ME YOU UGLY SHARK!" shouted Ridley from beneath Zesiro's weight. Zesiro only chuckled at his distress.

Sage shook her head, "I can't wait until we get another female on our crew. These guys are driving me insane."

Mikoto glanced over at her, "how can you say that? We are your nakama!" Mikoto leapt from his spot on the bed and on top of Sage knocking her to the ground. He sat on top of her for a second with a proud smile on his face.

"Congratulations, Mikoto!" shouted Sage from her position as she pushed him off of her, "you beat up an unarmed girl. What's next?" She couldn't hide the laughter in her voice though as Mikoto toppled to the floor dumbfounded.

"Oh, hey, Mikoto," said Zesiro as he pulled the small black notebook out of his short's pocket, "I think this is much better in your hands then in mine." He tossed it over to Mikoto, who caught it with ease.

"Just like a Frisbee," said Ridley beneath Zesiro, "now get off of me!"

Mikoto looked at the book for a few seconds with a stupid look on his face. "You do know that I am never going to read this, right?"

"You may want to look at the author," said Zesiro, "it might change your mind." Mikoto looked down at the name at the bottom right hand corner of the book and read the small golden print out loud:

"Michael Azgard."

The Secrets of the Black Notebook!

The Goodbye Kiss!

Buh-buh-BUH! The plot thickens! For those of your who are wondering the importance of Michael Azgard, I'll give you a hint. It's Mikoto's father! What? Too big of a hint? Oh, well! DEAL WITH IT! ITS MY STORY I CAN GIVE BIG HINTS IF I WANT TO! And I will! Well, the crew is finally heading off towards Reverse Mountain so you may want to grab your Sea King repellent and a whole bunch of weapons, because things are going to become hectic! You all better wish Mikoto good luck…go ahead and wish Sage some too actually (she's on a ship with seven males now!)

Please say anything you want to about Henry and your personal thoughts about what he may or may not do.