Poison

"I don't get it," questioned Suzanne as she sat gracefully down next to Shane, attempting to maintain a graceful and wonderful appearance to him and only him. "Weren't you and that Mikoto kid going to fight? But now, you are teaming up? What for? You sounded so happy when you were thinking of grinding his face into the dirt." Shane glanced up at her and sighed. He rolled his head to the side and looked up at the ceiling of his own ship. It had taken some minor damage from the fight with Kraven, so he was busy repairing. While he had one or two proper shipwrights, they weren't as strong as him and they needed his extra strength for moving and building the ship parts. He wanted to focus a bit more on the job then he could with Suzanne around, but he supposed she and the rest of his crew did deserve a proper answer.

"I realized something watching Mikoto's fight with Kraven. He's still growing," muttered Shane as he looked away and clenched his own fist. "He'll definitely grow a whole lot stronger and become a brand new person further down his journey. I think the reason why the Marines dubbed him the 'Kid Coyote' is because they sense a lot of untapped potential within him."

Suzanne grimaced, "you mean, you think he'll become stronger than you?"

Shane chuckled at the thought, "he'll definitely level up over the rest of his journey, but I never said I'm fully tapped out either." Shane flexed his muscles as if to show off in front of her, but he was really just thinking about how weak the current him was. "No, by the time we meet again on the final island of Raftel, I can promise you…both of us will be on a completely different level." Shane shook his head, "Mikoto already mentioned his dream was to become the new King of the Pirates…and mine is a quest to become one of the strongest beings alive. In a way they are pretty similar. No doubt as long as we both keep going forwards to our current goals eventually we will have to butt heads, we will have to duke it out on the grandest stage known to mankind. And that's the kind of battle I want to have with Mikoto. I don't want to sully such a thing with a fight when neither one of us is at our best."

Suzanne grinned slightly, but her grin quickly turned to a frown. This was the thing she loved and feared about Shane. A sort of primal drive for fighting was the only thing that seemed to propel him. Such concentration and dedication to his goal seemed like a great thing…until you wonder when he'd be satisfied. Did he just want to experience the ultimate fight? Suzanne shivered at the thought…in that case how did that fight end? With him standing above his opponent beaten black and blue…or with him losing against the ultimate foe? Either way Suzanne couldn't help but feel a slight pang in her heart for her captain…it didn't seem right. Then again on the other hand…Mikoto wasn't in a too much better scenario he was basically being brought up as a scapegoat for Shane's highly unrealistic dreams…after all, Suzanne had been with Shane for an incredibly long period of time now and so far no one's ever even given him a challenge. Shane was just on another level than other pirates and Marines. She admitted Mikoto had a good reputation going for him, but there was a huge difference between him and Shane. Suzanne hoped that when their fight finally did come…Shane wouldn't kill him.

(-with Mikoto-)

"Are you sure this is the best idea?" asked Sage as she shuffled through the dining room, picking up the dishes with the help of Mikoto and some other pirates. "Shane did want to fight you, not only that, but we are going to be teaming up with hundreds of opposing pirates who we know nothing about...and your bounty is getting rather high...even if Shane won't turn on you it is possible one of them will." Mikoto looked back at her and acknowledged her worries, but in the end he just wound up shrugging them all off. "Come on, Mikoto!" Sage shouted, jumping in front of him as he tried to make a move for another plate stacked with food. Mikoto slid his hand away, afraid she was going to get on him about eating other people's food again. "Not that! You actually got to consider this problem! There's a reason why the World Government doesn't worry about pirate alliances its because they never hold up! At least one pirate gets money hungry and tries to take over the alliance with an iron fist." Mikoto knew immediately that she wasn't talking about him...heck he could barely be considered in charge of his own crew...he basically always allowed them free-range of their own time. Sage sighed, "come on, Mikoto. Taking on the Shichibukai's isn't really worth it in the end anyways. We can just increase our bounties the old fashioned way."

"That way will take too long," Mikoto said with a slight smile on his face as he gleefully swiped another chunk of food from the plate, really it was a shame that this many people had left food remaining. Especially Sage's food which would taste good weeks old covered in maggots...okay, maybe not that far...but definitely an hour or so later.

"So, what?" questioned Sage, not fully understanding Mikoto's reasoning. "We still have our whole lives ahead of us. We can take it slow and still have time leftover in the end. We don't have to rush this thing, its an adventure, its our adventure? Do you really want it to be over with quicker than it needs to be?"

Mikoto paused at that thought...indeed. What were they going to do when the adventure was over? When they had covered the New World and back? He had never thought about it. In his mind, the adventure never ended. But he supposed once everybody accomplished their dreams...would they keep up with this? Would they keep sailing the seven seas or would they return to their average everyday mundane lives? "Sorry, to say it, but we don't have a choice. We are on a strict timer." Sage looked questioningly at Mikoto. A timer? What kind of timer was that? "I'm surprised you can't tell. Ridley's dying." Sage looked a little bit taken back, but she shook her head. How? When? What did Mikoto even mean by that?

"I only really noticed it recently, but..." Mikoto paused as he bent down and hefted a plate into the air with nearly all of its food left on it. Sage looked down at it and shook her head, Mikoto was still going around and swiping people's food. There was more than enough leftover, he didn't need to go swiping. She then realized that the plate was Ridley's. She paused looking it over once more, it was basically untouched, save for some of the spicy curry which was one of Ridley's favorite foods. "I think I can almost like smell it on him. The reeking scent of a dead man."

Sage rolled her eyes. In her opinion Ridley had always smelled. "I asked Enma about it and he relayed some information to me about how Hiro-Shu had told him about how he overheard Ridley saying it. They kept it away from me cause they didn't know how I would handle it." Mikoto smirked, looking down at Ridley's plate as he tried to swipe some of the spicy food. Sadly unlike Ridley Mikoto couldn't handle the spicy curry and quickly shook his head. He looked over at Sage and saw the question written all over her face. How would they handle it? One of their crew mates is sick and in dire straits? Surely they couldn't just...

"We're leaving it be," were Mikoto's stern words. Sage looked a little wide-eyed for a moment before Mikoto tightened his gaze on her. "We're leaving it be. I thought back to when Hiro-Shu said he had overhead it. It was right after he came back...I figured if it was enough for him to leave over the first time, it was enough for me to overlook." Sage shook her head. They were close friends so Sage was surprised Mikoto was just leaving it be. "We're climbing through the ranks as fast as possible, we'll become a capable crew as quickly as possible. And we're doing it with Ridley on our side." Sage shook her head again, trying to make sense of this. Was that it?

Sage turned away, putting her dishes onto Mikoto's pile and swiftly leaving. Where was Ridley now? She was already planning on apologizing for when she got mad at him for telling Mikoto off, but now...she felt a sudden need to do it now. While on her way she wondered when Mikoto had found out. Did Mikoto accept both Shane's and Kraven's challengeto bolster their bounties? Was taking on the jail like some kind of pseudo goal for him to bolster their bounties more back then? Or did Mikoto find out about it further back? He didn't run away from Melanie or Trevor back then either. Sage's head was still rushing with these thoughts when she bumped into Ridley. He was standing off on his own rather than missing with the rest of the party.

He was resting on the railing of the ship, one arm on it and the other wrapped around his stomach. He piqued up at the sight of her, he chuckled to himself, probably half-expecting a good reaming by her hands...that kind of seemed to be 90% of their interactions...and most of the time he realized he kind of couldn't complain. "Are you okay?" asked Sage, causing Ridley to look rather surprised as this was one of the few times she actually seemed concerned for him.

"Yeah," he muttered, "I'm fine." He looked over at her and knew that his half-assed answer wasn't exactly convincing her. "Its your damn food. It gave me indigestion...learn how to cook," he murmured beneath his breath. Sage puffed out her cheeks, incredibly annoyed at him. She was a chef, saying that she couldn't cook was like calling a girl ugly...you do not want to call a girl ugly. "Anyways, how goes things?" Ridley responded, unsure of how to maintain a 'humane' conversation with her. They spent most of their times at each others' throats.

"So..." Sage said, letting her voice trail off unsure of how to continue this conversation herself. A nice, humane conversation probably would never happen between the two of them. She knew they were capable of it, but both of them probably never saw the need to lower themselves down to the other's level. Sage wait for a few more seconds before shaking her head and deciding she had to say SOMETHING, heck, almost ANYTHING would work in this awkward situation...except for something Mikoto would say. "Can you believe we are taking on another Shichibukai?" she asked, deciding to go with the news that was knowably on everyone's mind...even someone as dense as Ridley...that was a tad bit mean to think with the new news, wasn't it?

"Of course we are," Ridley stated matter-of-factually, perhaps even a little bit angry...like he knew it would all come down to this. Or he was hoping for it in some weird way...Sage looked little bit taken back by his comment, but he shrugged and looked out over the wide open skies. It was their first time in Skypiea...and before they had been so busy either trying to break into or out of jail or fighting off a maniacal Shichibukai that they had forgotten to take one look around them. The skies...looked lovely. The nearly endless rolling clouds in front of them...it made them shiver as they looked on, taken back by nothing but a heavenly landscape.

"We're pirates."

Sage looked over at Ridley because of that a little shocked to have him break the much more comfortable silence than before. She could just stare at the clouds in front of them forever...even if it was with Ridley. Suddenly she realized that Ridley had pointed out that THEY were pirates and hadn't included some kind of quick jab to her to say that she wasn't.

"Battling against horrible odds is kind of our thing," chuckled Ridley with a friendly smirk, that seemed to have thrown Sage for a loop. Ridley rolled his eyes and focused them back on the clouds before them, she always seemed so surprised whenever he tried something nice. "Marines and Bounty Hunters may think we're crazy always going against the tide of the world, but in the end...I think it'll be worth it. No matter what hardships we'll face or dangers that come our way...I think in the end it'll be worth it all."

"You mean the One Piece?" asked Sage. This was probably the first time her crew had ever actually thought about the One Piece. True, they had always talked about Mikoto being King of the Pirates and them getting to Raftel, but they never actually said anything about the One Piece like it was a goal completely separate from theirs. And perhaps it was...infinite riches, huh...never even crossed some of their minds. They were happy with what they had. Their goal of the One Piece was nearly non-existent up until the end. Sage never really thought about One Piece...what would she do with all that money? Even if she wasn't a money hungry young lady...she had to admit, the thought made her drool (figuratively, not literally. She was a young lady and young ladies do not drool).

"Yeah, sure," Ridley muttered with another slight chuckle below his breath, "the One Piece." His tone and chuckle basically made it obvious that that was not what he was thinking about. Sage spent another few seconds there, wondering what Ridley could possibly be thinking of. If it wasn't the One Piece what in the end was worth it? She didn't want to ask however, as she was sure it was either something very obvious that she was overlooking or perhaps it was something only Ridley would want. Either way Sage decided it was one of those 'don't ask if you don't want to know' moments. She kept tight lips and didn't speak. Perhaps part of her was expecting Ridley to offer up an answer. However, it looked like he decided to remain tight lipped about it as well. Sage shrugged. Since they'd be working with Shane's crew for the next few weeks probably she better go get ready to cook some monstrous meals. Shane's crew had a couple of decent cooks, but nothing quite on her level yet. Sage got up and left, deciding not to get involved with Ridley any further and not apologizing to him. Once again she had to chalk it up to Mikoto's senses that Ridley wasn't particularly bothered by such a thing. Or maybe in the end he thought he would beat it.

Ridley smirked once more now that Sage was gone and this one was a lot more naturally, but it was hiding an underlying grimace. His entire body was racked with fevers at times, he lost his appetite...for the most part before these symptoms bordered on manageable, but these latest bouts had become even worse for him. He shook his head and tried to shoulder on. He slumped down slowly onto the floor as his breathing hastened. It was amazing how his head was being consumed by horrible thoughts, but in the end a slight ray of hope was shining down on him.

When he had joined up it was with some weird little kid who wanted to be King of the Pirates, Ridley thought nothing of Mikoto back then. Come to think of it he still thought very little of him, the guy was an idiot...and his dream was ridiculous...the top. Ridley's dream was nothing like that just someone who wanted to be famous. The more and more time went on, the more and more people with big dreams had joined them. However, Ridley's dream remained small...he never wanted anything more...he just wanted to be famous. The truth was in some ways...he already had his dream. He grew up in a horrible family, a horrible father, a mother murdered before his eyes...yeah, perhaps no matter what his dreams were they wouldn't match up to what he had right now. So he laid back and relaxed, taking a few deep breaths and let his guard down. Perhaps he was just finally happy to have a real family.

Interviews

Not in the mood to think. Car troubles last week screwed me over and now I got like three papers due coming up! I'll get my life in order eventually (or never depends on if I feel like it).

There's been a few question about the current Shichibukai layout. I want to point out that there is only actually 6 Shichibukais as Trevor's replacement has not been found. Plus the Fox Brothers count as one Shichibukai as they are all on the same 'crew'.

Oh, P.S. Ridley's not dying, I just wanted to make it sound like it cause I like it that way.