Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece and characters.
A.N.: (please read this first, before questioning).
This might seem OOC and A/U-to-the-max at first. But purposely I left everything quite unexplained at first; things will be explained rather soon. It will makes sense! Just not immediately.
The next morning, 3 miles away from the Kingou-River, San Faldo
Paulie woke up with a throbbing pain in his shoulder blades. He felt like he had been hit by an airplane.
As Paulie became more aware of where he was and what time it was, he also became aware of the tightly wrapped bandages around his right shoulder. That meant that someone had treated his wound. Hopefully it had been someone who could not distinguish between the wound from a nail and the wound from a bullet graze.
Paulie carefully opened his eyes, immediately closing them as the sun was shining rather brightly. How late would it be?
Where was he anyway?
He opened his eyes again, and this time he sat up straight. He was probably put in one of the trailers, still at the Festival's ground, because the room was decorated rather primitive, and Paulie could hear the roar of animals on the background. Yes, definitely still at the festival's ground.
Now only hope that Iceburg-sama would not get too annoyed because Paulie had not contacted him immediately after the mission was accomplished.
"Oh, you are awake!" An intelligible voice Paulie only vaguely recognized met him while the door of the tiny room opened. And behold, the sister of the bastard boy entered the room, holding a plate with deliciously smelling soup on a tray in his hands.
Wow. Paulie sure played out his cards well..
"I'm very sorry of what happened yesterday. Our stands are very safe, but you happened to just bump into that one stall which had a nail sticking out." She put down the tray on the small table next to the bed, and then sat down on the chair opposite of the table. The room wasn't big of itself, yet there was enough room to place a bed, small table, chair and a laundry-basket.
"Oh, that's okay. Thank you for treating my shoulder." Paulie replied with a small smile.
"Please do me a favor and call me Kalifa. I'm the big sister of the teenager you were arguing with yesterday.. Well, I'm not really his sister, but he always says I sure act like one, and the title sort of stuck." She smiled while talking, while not trying to fuss to straighten her jeans.
"Older sister, eh?.. Well, Kalifa, I'm sorry I made such a drama yesterday."
"Drama? My little brother provide you with an ugly wound, and so far he did not say 'Sorry' whatsoever."
"But that's okay really-"
"But it's not okay! I'll get him for you, so he can offer you an apology." And gone she was. Paulie stared at the now empty chair, and contemplated whether or not his dramatic show yesterday was smart after all.
Luckily that bastard boy had not said anything against him yesterday, else he would be in real troubles now.
"Here he is. Can I leave you two alone?" Bastard boy didn't look particularly happy when he was pushed inside the tiny room.. Not that he had looked happy yesterday. In fact, yesterday he had only looked neutral, bored and annoyed, and had only shown emotion when Paulie had pushed himself against that stuck out nail.
"Of course, Kalifa. We'll call you if we need you.. Oh, do you mind if I ask who bandaged me?"
"He did," Kalifa pointed at her 'brother', "We don't really have a doctor, and my brother had been with you since the beginning, so he volunteered to help. I helped too, pulling off your shirt.. It looked really nasty, and I can't handle blood well, so I looked away for most of the time."
"Well, he did a good job then, especially if he is not a real doctor. But you may go now, I'd like to talk with your brother alone for a bit." And then Paulie smiled so carefree and sweetly, Kalifa felt at ease immediately. She left the room, but not for giving her brother one last warning look.
And Kalifa had not even closed the door of the room, or the bastard boy was looking at Paulie, and Paulie was looking at the bastard boy.
"Who, besides your sister, was there when I was bandaged?" Paulie had dropped the sunny smile and had become his serious self again.
"I thought you wanted to hear an apology?"
"I asked you a question."
"My Nee-chan was with me, and a few fellow colleagues. You were bleeding badly, and we couldn't really wait for a doctor to come, you know. Even though your shoulder only came in contact with a nail, the wound looked like something grazed you earlier.. like a bullet or something."
Paulie's face turned, if possible, even more serious.
"You sure have an eye for details. Did one of your colleagues notice the shape and oddity of my wound as well?"
It was silent for a moment.
"Does that matter?"
"Answer my question." Paulie deadpanned.
"Nee-chan didn't look because you were bleeding so much. And my colleagues don't notice things like that."
Again that silence.
"That's a good thing then." And Paulie's face lost a bit of the hostility.
"Uh, you still want me to say sorry?" The question suddenly seemed silly. Both knew that the bastard boy did not need to do such a thing. If anything, it should be Paulie who should be saying sorry.
"Don't be silly. It should be the other way around. You were just trying to be a good stand holder. Although I'm still surprised they're letting a kid like you do such a work."
"I'm turning 15 soon."
"Eh, really? I though you were years younger than me.. you sure sound like a child."
"Heheh, I get that a lot," The bastard looked contemplating for a second, before continuing to talk, "Nee-chan forbade me to ever stand behind a stall again because of what happened yesterday."
"Hmm. You were a good stand holder. Even though you never said a thing when I dropped my food on the ground and polluted the environment."
"Oh, I don't mind, you know. I mean, now I won't have to feed the pigeons anymore."
And suddenly the tension was gone. Paulie sat up straight and relaxed again a few pillows, while the other teen leaned back in a relaxed manner when sitting down on the chair. And again there was silence, even though this time it did not last long.
"Paulie." Paulie whispered, like he had trusted this teen with his biggest secret ever. Which was partly true, because Paulie didn't make it a hobby to tell people his real name. Usually, he made up names like 'Zambai' or 'Tamagon' or when he felt like it, 'Lulu'.
But Paulie's first impression of the bastard teen was that the kid had no spine whatsoever and would never intentionally hurt someone. And Paulie was good at estimating whether or not to trust someone. He immediately knew if someone was faking or lying.
"Kaku." Was mumbled back, and Paulie couldn't help but to eye the nose again in an almost humorous fashion. Well, now he didn't need to mentally call him 'bastard boy' anymore.
"Kaku, eh? Kaku.. Tell me, Kaku, do you not like to feed the pigeons?"
"Kaku hates it."
"The pigeons won't like that."
"Neither do the lions and leopards we have."
"Sadist. Shame on you!"
"You can feed them for me, if you want to."
"Only if you give me a telephone. I have to.. I have to call uhh, my Father." It was obvious to both of them that Paulie was lying. But Kaku kept his mouth shut and actually exited the tiny room to probably search for a phone or something, so Paulie didn't bother to correct his lie.
"Deal." Paulie only vaguely heard before the door was slammed shut. Paulie grinned softly, before he started the tedious task of eating soup with only his left hand. He rather ate something before he would leave this place. He needed to get away from this place quickly though, and then contact Iceburg-sama to let him know he had succeeded.
Paulie shifted his weight a bit, carefully to not aggravate his right shoulder, and grabbed the tray with the bowl of soup with his left hand. This was easier said that done, and before Paulie could stop it from happening, the spoon fell on the ground and a puddle of chicken soup war formed in the bed sheets, decorated with a few crispy croutons.
Fuck.
Paulie silently cursed, while looking for a napkin or anything alike. Luckily he found a handkerchief under the pillow. He dabbed the handkerchief a few times in the puddle, but what had happened, happened. The brother and sister would really have to clean the sheets.
Then he'd better find back his spoon.
He bent carefully, and groped the sheets with his right hand for the time being, silently hoping he wouldn't fall off the bed or aggravate his right shoulder more. He had put back the bowl of soup on the nightstand.
The spoon had fallen on the ground, nearly under the bed, so Paulie had to bent deep. He felt lightheaded, and his right shoulder hurt a lot as he put more and more strain on it. Paulie hated it when he lost a lot of blood.
Once he shifted and nearly fell off the bed, but he kept his balance. He did pulled the sheets loose, but he did not care. He wanted to find that stupid spoon, then eat, then leave this place.
A few more centimeters.. Gotcha!
Paulie felt victorious as he held the spoon up in the air. He then cleaned the utensil with his shirt and then put the spoon down in the bowl of soup with grace.
Now..
Better first straighten the sheets, and then eat the soup.
He shifted his body a bit, so his weight was moved to the other side of the small bed. Then he grabbed the sheets with his left hand, and pushed them back under the matress as deep as he could.
Well, Paulie had always been rather curious.
So when he heard the faint sound of something crisping when he pushed the sheets back under the mattress, he did not think about it one moment and pulled them out again. Then he felt under the mattress with his left hand. Because Paulie was still sitting on the mattress, this was a rather impossible task. But Paulie didn't mind, because he felt rather good in handling seemingly impossible missions.
Within a minute he had reached and found an unlabeled file.
Porn?
Paulie listened if he heard someone approaching. When that wasn't the case, he carefully opened the file, not prepared for what he saw.
No. Blueprints.
Paulie rather would've found porn instead of blueprints. Because who-ever slept in this room, or once occupied this room, was definitely a terrorist and an enemy to the government. An enemy who was trying to hide the blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton.
2 hours later, 3 miles away from the Kingou-River, San Faldo
Two hours passed by, and Paulie had been left alone in the tiny room. He guessed that the matinee show was probably the reason why the two siblings did not check on him.
"Here is a phone." Kaku entered the room without elaborating where he had gone to for the past hours, and threw a Frog-dial on the sheets. The frog landed on the now dried up pool of chicken soup. The croutons crisped a bit, but neither Paulie nor Kaku noticed.
"It's huge." Paulie commented, and wished he had his own baby-frog. But he knew better than to take his own baby-frog with him on a mission: frogs always got very difficult when being near, and especially under, water.
"Like a fridge." Kaku replied, not fazed the least, grabbing the empty plate and spoon.
Paulie didn't reply, but dialled the only number he would ever call in situations like this: the number closest to what he could ever call 'home'. Not even 5 seconds later, a familiar voice was heard. Kaku kept watching Paulie as the latter made the call.
"Hello, this is the Tom Family." Came the reply. Iceburg-sama had always been very fond of code-names when answering his phone.
"This is Paulie."
It was quite. Too quite.
And then it was anything but.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HECTIC PEOPLE ARE HERE, JUST BECAUSE YOU CANNOT CONTACT US SOONER THAN ALMOST TWENTY HOURS LATER? THIS IS THE FIRST AND LAST TIME YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. WHERE ARE YOU ANYWAY? I AM-" Paulie hung up. Kaku was still standing in the door opening, holding the tray with the empty plate. He was obviously not making any attempt to leave.
"Uhh, I'll wait until he has calmed down." Paulie weakly explained. Like this excuse explained everything.
But Kaku didn't seem to mind this too. He turned his back to Paulie and strode out of the tiny room. Paulie contemplated for a moment to call back Iceburg-sama, but then reminded that his boss still probably had a temper. He could better wait an hour or so.
"You still hungry?" This time, Kaku came back in less than a minute. He casually leaned against the doorpost and looked straight into Paulie's face.
"No," Paulie looked out of the window, and then added, "Those leopards probably are though."
"I can show you where their food is, Paulie."
"What do you want, Kaku?" Paulie felt the tension rising. Kaku obviously wanted something from him. Maybe Kaku finally saw the connection between his wounded shoulder and the terrorist attack from last night?
"The Tom family, eh? Tom Paulie?" Paulie was right. Kaku had switched into the position of a dangerous animal again, and now probably wanted to know why he was here.
"If you want to call the local authorities with that name, you won't get far."
"I don't want to call the authorities." Kaku sighed, then entered the room completely and shutting the door close. He sat down on the chair again, facing Paulie all the while, "I just want to know if you are a danger to Nee-chan. She trusts you, you know."
"Ohhh, that's all? Well, I'm like a Saint. I won't kill you when you're sleeping or something." Whether or not Paulie actually meant that last part, Paulie didn't even know himself.
"Well, now I know that, I can peacefully sleep again." Kaku retorted with such a dry sarcasm, Paulie promptly laughed out loud. But the laughter did not continue for very long as he noticed that Kaku kept eying him with a very serious expression.
"Who are you?" Kaku asked. It sounded a bit silly to Paulie. Like he would actually tell this boy who he really was.
"I certainly aint Tom Paulie."
"No. But your said your name ís Paulie."
"So? What do you want to do with my name? Call the local authorities anyway?"
"Maybe." Kaku's voice wavered a bit; this kid was definitely putting up a brave front, though barely succeeding in appearing in control of this situation.
At that moment, Paulie had enough of the conversation as it was going now. Kaku seemed unaffected when Paulie was teasing, but how would he react when Paulie would flat-out blackmail him?
"Then you might want to call quickly. I mean, maybe I'll kill your leopards when you don't look."
"The leopards can die. Just leave Nee-chan alone."
"Then call."
Kaku hesitated for a moment, then got up and grabbed the Frog-dial from Paulie's grip. He was looking less and less brave.
"But please stay here when making the call. I have to speak with the local authorities as well," Paulie said, and Kaku halted his actions, "I have to report someone as well. Really, you'll never guess what that guy did!"
Indeed, Kaku would never guess that.
Kaku dialled the number of the local authorities, his hands shaking a bit, trying not to break eye contact with Paulie but failing to do so. He was very nervous. Paulie just continued talking.
"You see, I've only met him recently, but this guy is really dangerous. Because he has this file full with super secret stuff in his house. Hidden! If the government would ever find out, he would have to pay with his life!"
The Frog-Dial quacked. And again.
"You know what blue-prints are, right, Kaku? Well, that's what he has! Under his bed, off all places! I mean, some people sleep with plushies, and he sleeps with this blueprints!"
The Dial quacked once more, before finally someone accepted the call with a loud 'KA-CHA'.
"He doesn't know that I know though. But because your nee-chan trusts you, I trust you too, so I will tell you. It appears that these blueprints are actually blueprints of an ancient weapon. And not just any weapon. No, I'm talking about the Pluton Blueprints here."
Kaku broke the connection.
"I think he's called 'Kaku', but I might be mistaken.. Say, Kaku, you're so pale. Are you alright?"
Then Paulie blacked out. Even though Paulie could read Kaku's thoughts and emotions perfectly, he underestimated the sheer strength the boy had when kaku punched him in the face.