And I live! Oh dear lord this took forever to update. I'm so sorry. But you know, life and all it's grand wonders... Anyway, so I sort of felt like I owed you guys an extra, extra long chapter this time around so that's why it's over 6,000 words. Think of this as a double feature. Anyway, disclaimer on: I do not own One Piece. Only the characters you don't recognize.
Chapter 9: Another Blast from the Past
"Look both ways before entering the insanity." -Terri Guillemets
Mina had been a Heart Pirate for four days now and she was finding that she wasn't quite fitting in yet. Of course that could've been due to the fact that the pirates were a bit weirded out by a few of her mannerisms; like accidentally bringing a seven inch knife, which she had stuck in her waistband, to lunch and then claiming it was just her hunting knife. Boy was that a surprise to suddenly look over and see her with a seven inch knife in her hands when there hadn't been one there a mere three seconds ago. Normally the pirates would've written it off as just some odd behavior, but after it happened three more times after that they were getting a bit skeptical. Mina still claimed that she forgot about it since carrying a knife wasn't all that uncommon for her and that she never used it to murder anyone. Murder seemed to be a bit specific to some of the pirates.
That was only one incident that made Mina seem like she belonged in an insane asylum. The other incident had to do with a poker game. Let's just say that it didn't end all that well for her new comrades. It wasn't that she flipped out and injured anyone, it was more that she practically robbed them of what money they had on them. They figured out that she was one hell of a poker player by the end of the night. Though she did need the money; some of her clothes had really seen better days and she outright refused to wear a boiler suit. She had given Shachi a look that basically told him that she thought he was insane for even suggesting that she wear a boiler suit before just giving him a flat "no" to really drive the point home. To be honest, it probably wasn't the most aerodynamic thing either. Although she did keep it in case something went horribly wrong with her wardrobe. Like if they visited a Winter Island; Mina had nothing to wear if they ever visited a Winter Island. She figured that she's cross that bridge when she came to it. Hopefully the next island wasn't a Winter island.
Speaking of, it would be another three days to the next island. Which was a good thing too considering what Mina had learned two days ago. Apparently the submarine needed some repairs. Someone had gotten the bright idea that a leaky pipe could just be fixed with duct tape; and while that normally works, apparently it didn't work so well when another pipe began to leak. They had run out of materials to fix the pipes, so now the mechanics were just trying to keep them from leaking too much. This did nothing to help Mina's anxiety. Not only was she a Devil Fruit user and the idea of being underwater still unnerved her, her mild case of claustrophobia managed to kick in. It wasn't so bad that she was sitting in the corner shaking and plotting a murderous rampage. Yet. Though such an event was bound to happen eventually.
Instead of plotting, however, her mind kept running through all the things that could possibly go wrong; and it wouldn't shut up. It was the proverbial hamster wheel where her brain kept a flurry of thoughts always bouncing around in her head. Mina was heavily annoyed by her mind's inability to shut the hell up. Not even concentrating on her journal could keep her mind off of a watery death for long. With everything going on in her head, needless to say, she was a bit cranky. Well, crankier than normal.
Sighing deeply, Mina rested her head against the desk in her room. She found that just taking it easy for the time being was the best plan since she had been pacing back and forth like a caged animal for the past hour. She was sure that Law wouldn't be happy with her if she dug a rut three feet deep in her bedroom floor. Eyeing the thick brown journal at the edge of her desk, she was halfway tempted to just thumb through it out of boredom. Maybe the legend of Simeon Conrad would calm her down some. However, to fully enjoy the legend, she'd need something to drink. Maybe some tea and a good read would help her calm down. Though the sun would be the only thing missing from her plan.
As Mina stood up from her desk and grabbed the thick book, she took little notice of her bed being in a complete state of disarray. The blankets and sheets were twisted into a sort of mess and it really only seemed to look like something had started nesting in the bed instead of sleeping in it. Completely ignoring the irony of what her bed seemed to look like, Mina left her room without so much a second thought. Luckily she had memorized the way to the galley and a few other places so trekking through the giant metal monster wasn't so much a chore any longer. It still lacked any sort of distinguishing features for her to use as "landmarks" but she was making due with how much she had memorized of the immediate area.
Upon entering the galley, she took notice of several men sitting at a table. Well, it was more like they were slumped over with their heads resting on the metal tables. They all looked to be suffering from being a little overheated if their red cheeks and grumbling was anything to go by.
'Must be the boiler suits,' Mina decided after a moment of observation.
Shrugging she went to the kitchen to ask for some tea. Pushing the door open, she saw that even the cook, Chase, was also suffering a bit. Mopping his forehead with a towel, the cook turned to the bewildered Zoan user at the door.
"Hey, there Missy," Chase greeted in his thick drawl. "Can I get ya' something?"
Mina blinked slowly.
"A cup of tea," She said. "But am I missing something here? Everyone looks a bit overheated."
Chase was stunned that she hadn't noticed the drastic rise in temperature. They were going through an underwater volcanic ridge for Roger's sake! It was boiling in the submarine.
"We're going through a hotspot," Someone, she couldn't quite place the voice, called from the galley. "It's like 95 degrees in here!"
Mina just looked a bit amused. She remained completely unaffected by the warmer than normal temperature in the submarine.
"That's it?" She asked rhetorically. "No wonder I didn't notice anything different."
Ah, the joys of having lived on what was basically a sub-tropical Summer island for the majority of her childhood. Mina didn't even so much as bat an eye at temperatures above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It was often times hotter than that by noon during the middle of the Summer. She would admit that the humidity would just make things plain uncomfortable, but the dry heat was much more tolerable than anything else in her book.
"A lot of us are from North Blue," Shachi informed his new crew mate. "We don't have much heat tolerance."
Oh right, they aren't Grand Line natives like she is. Although she was sure they'd seen some crazy stuff in order to get past the first third of Paradise, she wasn't sure how they'd handle the more insane things.
"You might want to gain some then," Mina mused. "What kind of climate is the North Blue anyway?"
"Depends on the island," Shachi told her. "Though the Winters are generally long and cold."
It was the complete opposite for Mina's island since summers were long and quite hot where she grew up.
"Sounds lovely," She said flatly as she gave the still suffering pirates a blank look.
Shachi began to say something else, but was ultimately silenced by the cook.
"Ya' still want some tea?" Chase didn't even care that he interrupted Shachi's conversation.
"Yes," Mina still wanted her tea no matter how hot it was.
The men at the table were floored that she would still drink something that warm right now.
While waiting for her beverage, Mina sat at one of the metal tables in the galley and let her journal fall open to the last page she wrote on; she had stuck a pencil in the pages to keep from losing her spot. The last entry she had made was about the map piece she had found on Caito's mansion. It was a crude replica of the map, but hey, it was good to have when she didn't feel like digging up the map piece from her suitcase. It was a shame that she didn't feel like studying it anymore than she already had. Flipping to another page, she was met with a detailed description of how Alderman's business worked. Scowling at the messy writing on the pages she did her best to push the thoughts of that back-stabbing bastard aside.
'If I ever get my hands on him,' Mina let the threat hang inside her head as she clenched her fists.
Glaring at the page, her eyes were drawn to a few little lines towards the bottom of the page. Mina's rage was all but forgotten as a plan began to form in her head as she read those words. The galley seemed to be a distant place to her as she mulled over her decision. Flipping the pencil over her fingers, she had enough presence of mind to thank Chase when he set the mug of tea down on the table. The more she thought about things, the more her sensible side tried to pry her away from her train of thought. Though her sensible side was wasting it's time. It was like attempting to negotiate with a charging rhinoceros; it wasn't stopping for anyone or anything short of a tree. A smug smile began pulling at her lips, and with that, a decision was made. Reaching for the white mug of tea, Mina had decided that it was time to bring down an empire.
-:-
For the most part, it was a quiet night on the pirate submarine. It was also the middle of the night, so there would need to be a damn good reason for anyone waking up at this hour and Mina was about to find that reason. The blankets were twisted around the Zoan users body as she snored softly. It was then that her sleep was so rudely interrupted by an alarm bell going off. The noise invading her dreams, Mina yelped as she woke and tried to sit up. However, with the blankets so tightly twisted around her body, she only succeeded in sending herself off the bed and to the floor. Letting out an annoyed growl, Mina scowled at the ceiling above her with half-lidded eyes.
"I'm going to kill him," She said to the darkness around her as the warning klaxon continued to wail. The "him" of course being Law. Only he would order the submarine to ascend to sea level in the dead of night.
Unravelling herself from the cocoon of blankets she had created, Mina glanced at the clock she had dug out of a storeroom. It was indeed three in the morning and Mina was none too happy with that revelation. She normally got up at 4:30 in the morning so being shorted an hour and a half of sleep was none too pleasing prospect to her. Now Mina was faced with a dilemma. Go back to sleep, or head topside for some much needed fresh air. Well, maybe "dilemma" was too much of a strong word, 'cause the answer was as plain as day for Mina; she'd be going topside. Of course, she'd need to put a pair of pants on first since her usual sleeping attire was her underwear and a t-shirt. Best not to parade around half-dressed in a submarine full of men.
Having gotten ready for the day, Mina wandered the dim hallways of the submarine. Finding her way topside was a bit more difficult than she recalled; but then again, the first time was just dumb luck on her part. Of course the metal monster wasn't making it easy for her either. Stopping at an intersection, the confused woman looked between the two directions she was faced with: straight or right.
"This morning keeps getting better and better..." She quietly mused to herself.
It was then that the sound of a conversation floated over to her ears. Well, if people were up she could always ask how to get to the deck. Listening closely, she could barely make out the conversation. Perhaps "argument" would be a better word... The overall tone and words used were none too kind. Hoping she wasn't walking towards someone being reprimanded, Mina made a right and followed the voices. Her footsteps were, for the most part, silent. Only the soft padding of her bare feet really echoed on the wood floor. As she drew near, the voices became even clearer.
"It's 3:30 in the fucking morning, Sarge!" A male voice, who was obviously not any happier about being up at this hour than Mina was, whined.
"Orders are orders," The bucket-hatted man said evenly. "We're on watch until breakfast."
"Come on, we've been up since dawn two days ago," The other one continued to gripe about the orders. "Is two and a half hours of sleep too much to ask?"
"Shachi, we've been over this before..." Sarge sighed.
Mina was highly amused by her current situation. She was literally standing in front of them and they hadn't even noticed her yet; she was debating whether or not to scare them by interrupting their quarrel. And she would.
"Having a debate at three in the morning I see," Mina said with just a hint of humor in her voice.
The two men nearly jumped out of their skins at her sudden interjection. Shachi yelping audibly, he snapped his head in her direction while Sarge visibly jumped before trying to pretend that it didn't happen.
"Holy-! You- How did you-?" Shachi was apparently too sleep-deprived to form a coherent question if his sputtering was anything to go by.
"I walked," Mina answered the implied question. "Not my fault you took a few minutes to notice me standing here."
"Why are you even up at this hour?" Sarge was much more put-together with his thoughts and obviously a bit more aware if that suspicious tone in his voice was anything to go by.
Mina looked to the large man. Sarge, or rather Sergei, was a rather large man. While shorter than their Captain, there was no doubt about Sarge being bigger than Law. Built like a bear and with a temperament to match, Sarge was the only mechanic in charge of the submarine's engine. The engine usually needed very little maintenance so there was only one man in charge of it. And that was because he normally couldn't stand working together on something like an engine. Apparently it offered too many creative differences in the work process or something... Either that or Sarge really was an anti-social bastard. There was one other thing Mina knew about the man, and it's that he's a horrible poker player.
"Insomnia," Mina said curtly. "Besides, I thought I'd get some fresh air."
With a nod of her head, Mina motioned towards the top of the staircase the two men were currently standing in front of. She had found the way to the deck and she was rather happy about that. It was then that Shachi got a bright idea. Grinning ear-to-ear, the ginger proceeded to get out of watch duty.
"You're a newbie," Shachi stated the obvious.
"I know that," Mina deadpanned, her bronze eyes conveying the amount of boredom with this situation. She knew where it was headed. "And before you make an ass of yourself, I suggest going to bed."
With that, Mina walked past two rather stunned men and headed up the stairs.
"Also keep in mind that the only reason I'm doing this is because I planned to be out here until breakfast anyway," The brunette didn't even spare them so much as a backwards glance.
She reached the top of the stairs and then vanished onto the deck.
"Well..." Shachi began as he looked up at the bucket hatted mechanic. "I'm going to bed. Later."
And just like that, Shachi was gone. Sarge stared at the place where the ginger had been mere moments ago. The man then decided to follow Mina onto the deck. Sarge was a bit suspicious of Mina due to her former profession. Sarge was a Grand Line native like her and the things he heard about Alderman and his lackeys were none too pleasant. While Mina didn't hide her hatred for her former employer, Sarge still found her a bit suspicious so he didn't like the sound of her being the only one on watch for this morning. Lurking in the door to the deck, the bucket hatted man scanned the area for her. Mina was standing on the railing with her back to him. The submarine was anchored for the night, so she wasn't in danger of losing her balance but she was in her hybrid form anyway. Her large talons made the railing look like a mere toothpick in her grasp. Wings spread wide, she seemed to be inspecting them.
"And here I thought I'd be alone," Mina said when she heard Sarge's heavy boots hitting the deck.
"Like I'd let one of Alderman's employees be alone on watch," Sarge said gruffly. He wasn't hiding his feelings at all.
"So you're the one who's been watching me for the past few days," She said nonchalantly. "I was beginning to wonder who it was."
The large man snorted loudly.
"You better not do anything stupid while you're with us," Sarge decided to give her fair warning. "Otherwise, after the Captain's done with you, you'll have to answer to me."
He couldn't see it, but Mina's lips twitched up into a smile. Giving a wry smile to the ocean, she chuckled lightly.
"I'll keep that in mind," The Zoan user said coolly. "I'm not one for betrayal though, so you'll be sorely disappointed if you keep your hopes up."
"That better be the case woman," Sarge stated before walking away.
-:-
Today was the day they were to arrive at the next island. It was a sunny day and the gulls were the first sign that they were close to land. That and they could see the island off in the distance. It was a large island with a port city and Mina couldn't wait to get be on land again. Part of her just wanted to finish the last ten minutes of the journey there by flying to the island, but she ultimately figured that it would be a bit unfair to her equally antsy crew mates.
Standing on the deck, Mina gazed at the flying gulls instead of helping with any preparations for landing. Not that they'd need her help for anything anyways. The rest of the Heart Pirates seemed to be doing fine without her. They way she saw it was that if they needed her help, they'd ask. Tearing her eyes away from the gulls, she looked in front of her only to see Sarge. It had been a few days since their chat during the night watch, and she could still feel his eyes on her every now and again. She didn't feel threatened in the slightest by the larger man, but she was still as wary of him as he was of her.
"Stop standing around and help," He ordered and then walked away.
Blinking at him, she sighed before pushing off the wall she had been leaning against. Time to at least help with something.
Mina ended up helping Shachi with the wind direction. Which was something Mina was rather adept at doing. Watching the birds and even turning into her hybrid form, she successfully gave Shachi the necessary information he needed. Now they were docked at the port. The town itself was, well, a bit unsettling. It wasn't a boisterous town like Lostrowan, but rather the people who walked the streets seemed like zombies. The atmosphere was heavy and almost repressive. The brick streets of the town were crowded, but it seemed like the townspeople were going through the motions of their lives rather than living. Fisherman wrangled their catch without much chatter or laughter, children seemed to be putting up a cheery façade, and the even the merchants and travelers who came into town seemed nervous about something.
Eyeing the town suspiciously, Mina took in the local architecture. It was a simple town. Wooden buildings lined the streets, brick pathways wove between the shops and homes, and the greenery seemed to be plentiful. Trees and flowers were abound in such a place. Mina's eyes were then drawn to the building overlooking the town. It was a castle surrounded by dense forests. The stone building stood out against the line of green pine trees with a sort of dignity. Mina couldn't see much from the distance she was at, but the sight of a black flag flying atop the castle was enough to make her even more wary of the island than she'd been at the start. She hoped the others had noticed it by now, but they probably wouldn't recognize the flag even if they had due to the distance. It was a pirate flag. The skull and crossbones were all too apparent against the blue sky.
"Oi," An unfamiliar voice invaded her ears.
"Eh? What do you want?" Shachi's voice floated up to the deck.
Most of the men had already jumped off the railing as soon as Law gave the order to disembark, but Mina stayed behind to study her surroundings. The brunette decided that now was just as good as any other time to join them. She didn't like this island even though it was a beautiful place to fly around in her opinion. Her sandals hit the wooden pier with a slap, but the men in front of her didn't even pay attention to her. Mina scrutinized the newcomers. There were two of them, both males with one being much older than the other if she had to guess. The first of the duo was a man of average height and build. He wore a black t-shirt with a Jolly Roger displayed prominently on the front. The sneering skull wore a crown studded with rubies and other precious gems. The insignia seemed familiar to her, but she continued to study the man. His cut off black jeans hit below his shins, the edges frayed towards the end and strings hung from the tattered edges. He wore simple black tennis shoes to match his black ensemble. He was currently smirking widely at the sight of the Heart Pirates with his bright orange hair hanging in his face; it still didn't stop his blue eyes from sparkling with a sense of superiority towards them. That expression made Mina want to kick this man's ass into the ocean without a second thought. The only thing that was stopping her was the rapier at the man's left hip. The gold caged handle was that much of a given. The scabbard was, again, black with gold highlights that reminded Mina of the waves.
The second man was much shorter than the first. His eyes were firmly on the ground and covered by a black mop of hair, so Mina couldn't see his facial features. He was younger than the first man and he in comparison to the man next to him, he was dressed in white. A white t-shirt with the same Jolly Roger, white pants that instead of being frayed, were cleanly pressed and hit just above his white tennis shoes. He had no weapons to speak of, but something about the kid made her wary.
"Oh, nothing much," The man with the rapier said. "I just wanted to let you know the rules around here."
"Rules?" Shachi repeated. It was a bit confusing to be lectured on rules by someone who's obviously a pirate.
"Yep," The orange haired man said as he grinned even widely. "There's a toll to dock here ya' know. 500,000 beli per day."
The Heats weren't please to hear that at all.
"What!" Penguin exclaimed.
Even Mina was astonished at that price. Most likely the Log set in quite a few days, so they had quite the little scam going here.
"Oi, what's going on here?" The voice of their captain cut through the commotion.
Everyone but the kid looked up to see Law standing by the rail above them.
"Oh, you must be the leader then," The scammer remarked. "It's 500,000 beli per day in order to dock here."
Law's eyes narrowed at that news.
"And how long does the Log take to set?" The Heart Captain said coldly.
"Oh... About five days," Orangie said.
"What?!" The men around Mina screamed. "That's 2,500,000 beli!"
Ouch. That was a steep price. Mina could only imagine how pissed Law was... The nodachi toting Captain jumped off the deck to land lithely on the pier next to his men.
"And if we refuse?" Law figured he'd ask.
Orangie merely chuckled.
"Then I'd have to tell my Boss," He said as he narrowed his blue eyes. "And the Boss doesn't take kindly to being shorted his money. If ya' knew what was good for you, you'd cough up the dough."
"What if we don't have the money?" Penguin asked out of curiosity.
Orangie looked at the penguin hatted man.
"Then we'll come up with some other sort of payment," He said cooly.
Mina blinked at the orange haired man. Was he staring at her? Yep, he was. Oh, Mina was not amused.
"We refuse," Law stated flatly gaining the attention of Orangie once again.
Orangie blinked at the declaration before laughing.
"Alright then, suit yourself," Orangie sighed. "Come along now, Flynn. We need to see the Boss."
The kid didn't even look up as he followed Orangie.
As soon as the other pirates were out of earshot, the Heart pirates let out a collective groan. This couldn't end well.
"This can only end badly..." Sarge muttered. He then noticed Mina looking thoughtful. It was pretty easy to tell when she was thinking about something; she'd stare up at the sky.
"I recognized the Jolly Roger," Mina's eyes went from the sky to Law. "They're called the King Pirates and they're Captain is named Duncan."
"Who are they? More of Alderman's associates?" Sarge asked acidly.
"Do you think I've worked for Alderman for my entire life?" Mina snapped, her bronze eyes narrowing at the large man. "The King Pirates are just some regular pirates who gained notoriety for their crimes, not their association with Alderman."
"Miss Mina, Mister Sergei," Law stopped an argument from breaking out between the two of them.
Mina growled in aggravation softly and Sarge merely looked away from the woman.
"That's all I know about them though," Mina stated. "If you want more information however, I seem to recall an old friend of mine living on this island."
"Eh?" The men were surprised.
Mina broke away from the pirates around her and walked to a fisherman. Placing a hand on his shoulder, the middle aged man even flinched.
"This is Crissor island, right?" She asked.
"Y-Yes," The fisherman stuttered.
Mina smiled in triumph. Oh things were working out well right now.
"Which way to the Charming Angel's bar then?"
-:-
Despite some skepticism on Law's part, Mina insisted that the bartender was an old friend of hers and that he'd know a lot of what was going on with the pirates on the island. And her persistence had indeed paid off; she was now leading him and a group of other Heart Pirates to the Charming Angel's bar. The streets bustled with activity of all sorts, but there was almost a sense of fear palpable in the air. The townspeople were on edge, that much was obvious.
"Are you sure the guy won't try to kill you?" Sarge asked the Zoan user.
Mina scoffed.
"Arthur has no connection to Alderman," She told them flatly. "He and I once belonged to a crew of treasure hunters."
"Treasure hunter to underworld dog," Law was curious about Mina's past. "What happened there?"
"Our Captain died and we couldn't bring ourselves to continue without him," Mina kept her voice calm and unwavering. "We all went our separate ways after he passed."
Silence settled over the pirates for a moment. They couldn't imagine what they'd do without Law. Even the Captain himself was a bit uncomfortable now.
"Oh," Mina's voice snapped them out of their slightly depressing thoughts. "Fair warning right here, Arthur is a bit... Eccentric."
"Eccentric?" Shachi was more than a bit skeptical now. "How so?"
"You'll see..." Mina sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. She wasn't looking forward to this. At all.
Coming to a stop outside of the bar, Mina took a deep breath before turning the knob. Normally one would expect to see men of all various ages and professions inside, but this bar was eerily empty of all people but the bartender. A young woman with platinum blonde hair tied back in a ponytail stood behind the bar polishing a glass. Her blue eyes went to the door upon hearing the hinges creak open and with a radiant smile, she greeted them.
"Hello there," She greeted airily. "Welcome to the Charming Angel."
Mina gave pause for a moment. She wasn't expecting this. Oh well, Arthur was probably pulling his usual stunts again. With nary another thought, Mina approached the bar. The interior of the bar was spacious with plenty of tables out but it was a bit dark as most bars are; dark wood floors and paneled walls were par for the course at this point. The woman behind the bar wasn't the least bit fazed by the pirates that came in shortly after Mina did. Of course with such a pretty woman behind the bar, the pirates felt a bit more at ease and they joined Mina at the bar.
"I'm looking for Arthur," Mina cut right to the chase as she sat down.
"Oh, such a shame," The woman sighed. "He passed away three months ago. I'm his little sister, Annie. You must've been a good friend of his if you knew where to find him though. What's your name? He told me all about his friends, so I might be able to help you."
Mina blinked at the blonde.
"The name's Mina," She gave in to the request. "How did Arthur pass if you don't mind me asking?"
"It's those damn pirate's fault!" Annie accused. Finally setting the glass on the bar. "They murdered him!"
With that tears came to her eyes. It was then that the Heart Pirates offered their... Condolences. While the men were attracted to those big blue eyes set in her heart shaped face and hair the color of cornsilk, Mina took a closer look at Annie. The woman was wearing a floor length blue dress that looked a bit heavy for the pre-summer weather of the island.
"Oh thank you boys," Annie said with a rueful smile. "You're such dolls."
And with that, the flirting began. Annie's blue eyes immediately went to Law and a coy smile made it's way onto her face.
"So who're you handsome?" Annie asked cutely.
Law was used to this sort of attention by now. The rest of the crew grumbled their complaints and backed off for now. There really was no competing with their Captain.
"Law," He introduced himself.
Suddenly Annie's head snapped back to the slightly dumbfounded Mina. The Zoan user hid her confusion well behind a mask of indifference.
"Is he your boyfriend?" She asked.
It took a moment for her brain to process that question. What the hell was this girl up to?
"No," She said flatly.
Annie looked pleased by this answer.
"You're kind of cute yourself, sweetie," Annie then said to the now slightly creeped out brunette. "You wanna a drink? It's on the house."
Well, looks like there was one person who could compete with Law after all. Too bad Mina wanted nothing to do with this situation. The men however, were finding some sort of enjoyment out of this whole deal.
"No thanks," Mina's voice sounded a bit strained.
The bartender pouted at the refusal. However any trace of hurt feelings were soon eased as the blonde turned back to Law.
"How about you, cutie?" Annie cooed.
"It's a bit early to drink, isn't it Miss Annie?" Law really didn't want to start drinking before lunch.
"Ah, phooey," The bartender remarked. "It's never too early to drink darling. So what'll it be?"
Well she was a persistent one that much was blatantly obvious.
"Come on, for me?" Annie turned up the charm level and batted her eyelashes at the men.
The men were about to agree before the rather disturbed Zoan user stepped in.
"Okay, okay," Mina said. "This is a bit too creepy, don't you think so Arthur? Keep this up and longer and you'll traumatize them."
Dead silence hung in the bar. The pirates froze in utter shock. Arthur...?
"Mina!" Annie said in an accusing tone. "Why'd you go and tell them that? I was having so much fun..."
So, looks like Annie was really Arthur after all. This realization made the pirates gape openly. Even Law was stunned silent by this news.
"Too late," Mina glanced at her new crew mates. "You traumatized them already."
"Now way," Arthur now dropped his ruse and let his voice settle back into the normal octave. "I don't traumatize people. They're just too stunned by my beauty."
"You traumatized me!" Mina accused the blonde man. "Hell, you traumatized most of the crew with your antics."
With the two of them bickering, the pirates began to recover some. A few of the men felt... Well to put it bluntly, disturbed. Either by Arthur or the fact that they had been attracted to a male in some damn good disguise.
"Miss Mina," Law stopped the two from bickering any further. "Are you sure this... Man, can help us?"
The brunette looked from the still somewhat angry Arthur back to her Captain.
"Yes," She said flatly. "Once you get past his penchant for traumatizing innocent people, he's somewhat helpful."
"For the last time, I don't traumatize people," Arthur said in exasperation.
"Keep telling yourself that," Mina scoffed. "Doesn't change the fact that you snuck into people's beds at night."
Arthur just laughed.
"That was a joke," He said. "It was all good fun."
Mina shook her head in exasperation.
"So what can I do for you Mina dear," Arthur picked the glass back up. "Unless you came just to visit little old me."
"First off, why are you in drag?" Mina deadpanned. "I know you swing both ways, but seriously, that's a bit much."
The Heart Pirates were wondering that as well.
"Well you see, I might've pissed off the King pirates," He admitted. "So, Arthur had to pull a vanishing act and Annie had to take over the bar. Simple really."
"Why didn't you just tell us you were a guy then?" Shachi asked. "It would've saved a lot of trouble."
Arthur suddenly stopped shining the glass and set it down once again. It was then that Mina noticed the rolled up screen above the bar and the gold rope that attached to the screen. How odd...
"Because..." Arthur began.
Mina's unasked question was soon answered when Arthur pulled the golden rope. A pink, flowery backdrop suddenly eclipse the sight of the glasses and bottles of booze on the back shelf taking the patrons off guard.
"I LOVE PEOPLE!" Arthur screamed at the top of his lungs. His hands went to his cheeks as he gushed. "They way they react to situations, the faces they make when they get embarrassed, and of course those tight little bodies that beg to be loved. I just can't help myself. I just love it~!"
Again, dead silence from those present in the bar. Mina just stared at her still gushing friend. She knew he was crazy, but she hadn't realized that he went even crazier in the past five years. The Heart Pirates were heavily disturbed by this point. A lot of them felt like walking out of the bar by now, and Law was one of those people. It took a lot of self control to remain calm, but he was highly disturbed by this man's actions. That little voice in the back of his mind was telling him to leave.
"So darling," Arthur suddenly invaded Law's personal space. "Want to-"
Luckily his question was never finished. Mina finally decided that enough was enough, and yanked on his ear in order to make him stop his ranting. Arthur had gone a bit too far off the deep end and Mina had to reel him in.
"Just stop," Mina ordered as she retained her grip on the man's ear. "Now, care to tell me everything you know about the King pirates?"
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review then! A special thanks goes out to Eliephant for the new cover. It's awesome isn't it? And I have to say, I loved writing out Arthur here. Oh, god, he's so funny. Also if you feel like he crossed a line anywhere, then my job is done. I can't really give you guys an estimated time for the next chapter, but I'll make sure it's not another four months okay. I've got plans. Big ones too.