Well looks like I updated on time for a change. Yay! Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Only Mina and those you don't recognize. Oh, special thanks to Elielephant for helping me name Scotty (a.k.a.: Orangie) last chapter. And for the story cover.
Chapter 11: Another Miscalculation
"The commonest mistake in history is underestimating your opponent; it happens at the poker table all the time." -David Shoup
Law found himself sitting in the Charming Angel's bar with the rest of his crew while they waited for Mina to return. Well, actually it was more like they couldn't leave thanks to Arthur insisting that they stay. Luckily the man wasn't drunk; he had stopped after three shots. Though Law truly wondered if the cross dressing man really was sober because of the rather outlandish stories he told. Arthur was currently in the middle of telling a story where the Hammerhead Treasure Hunters managed to run into a hybrid creature called a tiger bear. The animal was exactly what it sounded like: a tiger crossed with a bear. Apparently the creature was roughly four times as aggressive as a mother bear and had the teeth and claws that matched a tiger. It was mildly fascinating to hear him recount Mina's actions at the time. Which were, according to him at least, "grinning madly and then trying to take it on by herself".
"...And then she killed it," Arthur said affirmatively. "Never thought I'd see the day where a 5'4", fourteen year-old teenage girl could literally kill something three times the size of a normal man."
"Is that even true?" Sarge was a skeptic to say the least.
"I may have embellished a few details," Arthur said with an amused smile. "There weren't any steak knives involved for the record, I was just seeing if you believed me. And I have to say, quite a few of you did."
"YOU ASSHOLE!" The pirates raged at the smirking man.
Arthur laughed heartily as he took their threats and insults in stride. Ah, sometimes he missed the old life of being out at sea. Especially with people as volatile as these guys. Though he had to admit, Law just sitting there with a blank look on his face wasn't very fun. The blond haired man would have to figure out this guy and how to push the man's buttons to the point where he'd react visibly. And once he did, oh how he would relish the moment. But in the meantime, Arthur found himself surprised when a man dressed in green denim overalls and fisherman's hat came through the door. He panted heavily as he rested his hands on his knees.
"You guys... Are the pirates who own that submarine, right?" The middle-aged man said between breaths.
"Why do you ask?" Law returned him with a question of his own.
"Well, some King pirates caused a bit of trouble," The man straightened out. "I remembered the brown haired lassie asking me where the Charming Angel was so I assumed it was your ship."
Law frowned deeply as he stood up from the bar. Looks like the trouble was starting sooner than he anticipated.
"Penguin, stay here in case Mina comes back," Law ordered him. "Everyone else, follow me."
Arthur stood by with a stoic face as he watched the pirates leave; and judging by Law's body language, he wasn't happy. The fisherman stood aside as the pirate Captain and his crew passed him on the way out.
"Hm, well, everything seems to be headed south rather quickly. Don't you agree, Ducky?" Arthur looked towards Penguin.
"My name is Penguin. Not 'Ducky'."
"Oh don't be like that Ducky," Arthur grinned in a rather unsettling manner. "I'll treat you right, don't you worry."
Penguin hoped Mina or his Captain would be back soon; being alone with Arthur was a frightening idea that would make any brave man cringe.
-:-
Needless to say, this was a bit of a predicament Mina found herself in. She stilled in the trees almost immediately at the sight of the white boiler suit and assessed the situation. Four men walked up the path leading up to Duncan's castle and the Jolly Roger displayed prominently on their shirts made sure that there were no doubts as to who those men worked for. The man carrying her crew mate over his shoulder was a bald man who was much, much taller than she was. Memories of Olaf reared their head before being squashed completely. For what it was worth, at least this guy looked a bit brighter than a post. Quite frankly Mina didn't care about the other three. A preliminary glance at them was enough to tell her that they were hand-to-hand combatants as only one man wielded a crowbar as a weapon. They were an average trio at the very least and she bet that the man carrying her distressed crew mate was the muscle behind the group rather than the brains. Mina couldn't exactly tell who it was in the bald man's grasp since the hat he wore was missing, but whomever it was had an unruly shock of light brown hair. Her crew mate was currently unconscious and had his wrists bound behind his back. She couldn't see any wounds from where she was, but that was probably due to her vantage point not being all that good.
The four men walking guffawed at whatever event ended with the capture of the man currently in their grasp. Watching them intently, Mina overheard a bit of their conversation.
"Man, that was easy!" The first man, the one with the crowbar, laughed. "Did you see the look on that guy's face? Priceless!"
Laughter erupted in the group once more and Mina felt the itch to tear their throats out. The laughter was a bit much in her opinion.
"Those pirates must be useless if they left such weaklings to guard the submarine," The bald man said. "Now this guy is paying the price for their stupidity."
"Hey, I wonder what the Captain is gonna do to him," Another man, he had purple hair of all things, said rather excitedly.
"Eh, probably the usual. You know, go for the eyes and then cut his head off," The last man, one with bright blue hair, shrugged. "And then of course sending the head to those weaklings as they wonder what happened to him."
Oh. That was not good. SO not good. Mina then realized that she had to act rather quickly if she wanted to avoid having to bury a crew mate. Luckily for the captive, Mina was good at thinking on her feet; or talons in this case since she was still in her hybrid mode. Her goal here was to avoid being seen but still rescue her crew mate, so she wasn't about to go in guns blazing and give everyone down there an impromptu tracheotomy. No, too messy; and besides Duncan would start to wonder where his men went after a while. Mina blinked in realization when an idea popped into her head. Then a rather evil smirk broke out on her face as her eyes glinted with the look of a predator. Oh, that will do nicely.
Quickly and silently, she made her way further up the path towards the castle making sure she was out of sight from the pirates. Her eyes spotted the bear cubs rather easily. They cubs were playing with one another; tussling lightly while their mother was no doubt a short way away from them even if Mina couldn't see her.
"Sorry little guys, but you're going to be my distraction," Mina muttered to herself.
Diving for them from the tree, Mina's outstretched talons caught them by their scruffs in an instant. Letting out cries of shock, the cubs alerted their mother to their plight. Banking quickly to the middle of the road, Mina was still out of sight of the men carrying her comrade since she had moved so far up the winding path. But it would only take a moment for them to arrive and meet a very angry mama bear. If Bepo ever found out what she did, hopefully he'd forgive her for using bear cubs as a distraction. Leaving the cubs in the path, Mina immediately bailed from the situation and ducked into the trees. The timing was perfect. The men had started to approach the cubs as mama broke through the tree line.
"Shit!" One man swore in terror as the bear roared at them.
Panic quickly set in and the bald man dropped their captive in order to pull one of his comrades out of the way of a set of bear claws. Mama bear was on her hind legs and she towered over all four of them. Mina watched in mild amusement as they ran like chickens with their heads cut off and waited for the perfect time to snag the captive right out from under them. It didn't take long though, the men scattered from the site rather quickly, all cursing and screaming their lungs out. And with that, Mina swooped down from the trees and snagged her fellow pirate by the back of his suit before flying to an adjacent tree.
Gently setting him down on a large branch, Mina reverted to human form and drew her hunting knife that she kept at her left side. Cutting the thick rope binding his arms, she moved him so his back was leaning against the trunk with his head lolled to one side. Crouching in front of him with her elbows on her knees, Mina tried to figure out who it was. His light brown hair was in his face and there weren't any remarkable scars that she noticed. Though she did notice the blood streaked down the left side of his face and she was worried he had sustained a concussion. Sighing at the situation, Mina reached out to tap him gently on his cheek in order to rouse him from his sleep.
"Come on. Wakey, wakey," She told the man.
There was a small groan from him as he came to. Closing his eyes tightly, he grimaced in pain.
"Wha' happened?" He asked in a thick drawl.
Looks like it was their chef, Chase.
"Good to see you awake," Mina said. "And I don't know what happened. As a matter of fact, I think I should be asking you that question."
Chase opened his eyes and was surprised to see Mina. She looked a bit concerned about his current injuries.
"Mina?" The cook was a but confused. "Well, I don't know what to tell ya' other than we were ambushed by those yahoos."
"We?" The Zoan user frowned. Hopefully there wasn't anyone else in trouble.
"Astor and I," Chase elaborated. "I heard a racket on deck and went to investigate. I can't remember much after that though."
"You must've got knocked on the head pretty hard then," Mina shook her head. "Any other injuries?"
"I don't- Ow!" Chase yelped in pain when he tried to move his right arm. Gripping his lower arm, the cook knew that something wasn't right with it.
"Roll up your sleeve," Mina ordered.
Chase did as he was told, yanking the cuff of his boiler suit up to his elbow. His arm was bruised and it hurt pretty badly. Gently grabbing his arm, Mina applied a bit of pressure to the bruised area and Chase bit his lip in order to keep from crying out in pain.
"It's either fractured or broken," She said bluntly. "Law will have to take a look at it, but I'm pretty sure you won't be using that arm for a while."
Chase grumbled his objections to the situation with a frown. Cooking will be a real pain in the ass now. Mina let his arm go as she looked around for a few branches she could use as a splint. It was important to prevent any further breaks and she imagined the fact that his arms were tied behind his back did very little for his injuries. Simply breaking off a few branches from the limb they were currently sitting in, Chase then realized that they were in a tree.
"Are-Are we in a tree?" His dark green eyes widened in surprise.
"Yep," Mina said as she stripped the needles from the branches. "Don't look surprised, you aren't that heavy. You seem to be taking it in stride though. Normally the people I bring up into a tree start screaming: 'Holy shit! Holy shit! You crazy bitch let me down!'. That's when I normally shove them out of the tree and let gravity do my work for me."
Chase just looked at her oddly. She could be a bit weird sometimes. Mina pulled out another leather cord form her pocket and shuffled ever closer to him.
"Arm out," Mina said.
Placing the stripped branches on either side of his arm, the cook helped her by holding the sticks in place as she tied the cord around his wounded arm several times.
"What're you doing here? If ya' don't mind me asking," Chase asked why she was currently away from the rest of the crew.
"Scouting," She said simply as she finished the last knot. "I imagine we'll be launching a strike against these guys soon now."
Chase chuckled.
"You'd be right about that, Missy," The cook smiled. "The Cap'n sure doesn't appreciate having his ship attacked. Though, one question."
"Shoot."
"How are we getting down?"
Mina gave the cook a rather unsettling crooked grin as her eyes glinted rather dangerously.
"Ah, Chase... Don't you trust me?" She said with a playful tone.
"... I was afraid of that," He admitted openly.
The Zoan user simply grinned.
-:-
My oh my... Someone was going to pay dearly for what they did to Law's submarine. The fuzzy hatted Captain knew that it wasn't going to be a pretty sight when he arrived at his vessel, but seeing the broken, dented railings, the bloodstained cracked floorboards, and the door to the bowels of the submarine wide open really did piss him off. Then there was the cause of the bloodstains. A plaid hatted man laid facedown in the middle of the deck. It was none other than Astor; the one in charge of the infirmary and it's upkeep while Law was busy with his other duties. He was rather unconscious when the crew went to him in a panic when they feared the worst; but luckily he wasn't dead. Just suffering from a nasty knock on the head. Smelling salts revived him easily enough, but it was the fact that they left him that was more unsettling. The King pirates also hadn't stolen anything from the Heart pirates. It looks like this was a warning of what was to come... Law stared up at the castle with a calculating look.
"Captain," Shachi sounded solemn.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Shachi holding a black ten-gallon hat that belonged to their missing cook.
"We can't find Chase," The ginger stated. "And a few of the fisherman admitted that they saw some King pirates walking through town with an unconscious person. They were headed up to the castle apparently."
Well, that wasn't good. Not at all. Tightening the grip on his nodachi, Law frowned deeply at the news. He was also still quite angry at the turn of events. Vandalizing his submarine was a good way to piss him off, but kidnapping a member of his crew was a death sentence.
"We can repair the damages in a few hours," Sarge said gruffly as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "But I don't like the idea of sitting on our hands for that long when they have Chase."
"Sorry Captain, we should've been more alert," Astor sighed sullenly. "Chase didn't even see it coming really. He came up on deck when he heard the racket and they whacked him pretty hard when he came to investigate. It was five on one at that point... That kid though... He didn't seem normal."
"What'd he look like?" Shachi asked him.
"Short. Black hair, white uniform. He didn't seem with it. Sorry I can't be of more help. It all happened so quickly," Astor wasn't pleased that he couldn't help more.
"Don't bother apologizing, Mister Astor," Law told his assistant. "This was a lesson in caution more than anything."
He was beginning to form a plan of attack. Duncan would get his in due time. All it would take is a bit of planning on his part and the castle will fall.
"Oi! Captain!" Penguin's voice interrupted his thoughts. The penguin hatted man quickly came up on deck.
"I told you to stay behind, Mister Penguin," Law didn't appreciate his orders being forgotten.
"Mina came back though! And she had Chase with her. His arm is broken and he has a headache," Penguin told them the good news. "They're waiting at the bar."
Sighs of relief came from a few of the pirates; Chase was alive. Though a few of them wondered how Mina managed to rescue him by herself.
-:-
Mina wasn't the least bit surprised when Law, Sarge, Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi walked back into the bar. Law's posture was stiff and she could tell that he wasn't very happy. Chase was sitting at the bar; still sulking a bit about how he was caught. Mina was sitting on a nearby table, she was resting back on her palms with a bit of a smirk on her face. Arthur was nowhere to be seen though.
"Eh? Where'd that guy go?" Shachi asked about his whereabouts.
"He went to change," Mina said bluntly. "Apparently the shoes he was wearing were making his feet sore."
Law immediately began tending to Chase's wounds. He had brought a medical kit along with him and the necessary materials to form a cast. Not a word was exchanged between the two men as Law took care of his injuries. The good news was that he didn't have a concussion, but the bad news was that he'd need a cast on his arm. Cooking would serve to be rather difficult with a cast on his dominate arm.
"How'd you do it?" Sarge asked Mina bluntly.
The brunette merely quirked an eyebrow at the man standing in front of her with a dead look on his face. He'd have to be more specific. For all she knew he could be asking how she got her hair so shiny and silky smooth.
"I assume you're talking about how I found Chase," She deadpanned.
When Sarge made no move to reply, she shook her head.
"I caused a distraction using the local wildlife. The King pirates are a bunch of pansies when it comes to dealing with large predators," Mina explained. "I was on my way back when I saw them. They were talking about decapitating him so I had to think quickly."
Chase snapped his head in her direction at that. He didn't know about that part! Paling considerably, the cook was taken aback by the news that he almost lost his head. Anyone would've been perturbed by that news.
"How many people?" Law asked as he looked up from his work on getting a cast on Chase's arm.
"I saw four," Mina answered. "One carried a crowbar, a bald guy carried Chase, one that screamed like a little girl when he saw the bear, and the last nearly got his head taken off by said bear."
"Astor said there were five," Shachi was a bit concerned. "Can't you be more specific."
"Alright, alright..." She said with a bored tone. Relaying their appearances wasn't exactly the most exciting thing in her book. "The bald guy was roughly seven feet tall. He was the tallest of the four and had one of the most annoying laughs I've heard in a long time. The guy who screamed like a little girl was average height with blue hair; not the most effective way to blend in if you ask me. The one with the crowbar wore a beanie and was about the same size as the blue haired guy and seemed like an ass. And the last had purple hair and was again the same size at the blue haired man. Maybe a bit taller, but seriously, if you just stand there waiting for a bear to take off your head then you really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed. They all wore black T-shirts with their Jolly Roger on them. They carried themselves like hand-to-hand combatants and were overall complete assholes. They never saw me, nor did they know I was there."
Silence reigned in the bar once again. Damn. She had a good memory. Her side comments were rather unnecessary, but somewhat useful. At least there was little doubt in their minds as to who pulled this off.
"We're missing one then," Sarge recovered first. "Didn't Astor say something about a kid?"
"Was it the same kid from this morning?" Mina asked as she remembered the meeting from earlier today. Like she'd ever forget how she wanted to punch Orangie's lights out.
"Sounded like it. Dressed in white and had black hair," Shachi remembered Astor's words.
"I didn't see him," Mina said as she tilted her head to the side in thought. "I stuck to the path. I didn't hear anyone around me as I went through the trees either. Oh, and by the way here are the plans for the castle."
Mina held up the blueprints to the castle nonchalantly as silence covered the room once more. Stunned completely by the revelation that she had the castle plans, Sarge snatched them from her hands as he looked at them. Gaping at the fact that they were the actual plans to the castle, he looked at Mina to find her grinning ear to ear at their reactions. They really didn't know what she was capable of. Filching the plans was a risk, but the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. She doubted that anyone would really miss them in the castle anyway. The renovations looked to be complete in her book.
"These... Actually look legitimate," Sarge said in shock. "How...?"
"And that's why you always send Mina to scout," A male voice said.
Looking towards the door that led to the upstairs of the bar, a grinning blond haired man was leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest. He wore black pants that he had tucked into a pair of heavy combat boots with a simple red dress shirt that he didn't even bothering buttoning, but at least he wore a white undershirt beneath it so he was completely baring it all. He was a lean man; very slender, but he was muscular and on the tall side. A katana in a simple black sheath sat at his right hip.
"Hey Arthur," Mina lifted a hand in greeting.
Yep. That was Arthur when he wasn't cross-dressing. His platinum blond hair was tied into a low ponytail, but he sure as Hell didn't look like a girl anymore. Female or male, Arthur was always a looker to say the least.
"Stunned by my roguish good looks, aren't you?" The man grinned at the looks on the pirate's faces. "Don't feel embarrassed, that's the normal reaction."
Vanity at it's finest, but damn when you looked like him, vanity was a given. Oh, the bastard was very amused with this turn of events.
"You-You're a swordsman?" Shachi eyed the katana at his hip.
Arthur shrugged.
"Family tradition," He said easily. "But treasure hunting was my true calling in life. No boring patrols to deal with either."
Of course that was not including any sort of graveyard shifts for the watch. Those could get rather dull if you didn't have any good conversation or booze nearby.
"How exactly did you get those plans Miss Mina?" Law asked her.
"They left a window open. It was a poor excuse for a library and the plans were out in the open," Mina let him figure out the rest. "Never even knew I was there."
"Typical," Sarge muttered under his breath.
Sadly he seemed to have underestimated Mina's sense of hearing. The brunette gave him a glare at that comment. The man really was getting on her nerves. Arthur watched the two of them with a blank look on his face. Even he could tell that those two weren't going to get along for quite some time.
'Oh dear...' Arthur sighed mentally. 'Hopefully she doesn't do anything too rash once he finally puts the last nail in his coffin.'
Even he knew that Mina's temper could get the best of her rational thoughts at times. Continually setting her off was fun to do in his opinion, but legitimately angering her to the point of seeing red was really not the smartest idea in the world. So, to diffuse the situation, the man put on a bright grin as he plucked the blueprints of of Sarge's hands. The bucket hatted man was surprised to say the least. Even in those heavy combat boots, Arthur was still rather stealthy.
"Now, let's take a look-see here..." Arthur hummed as he walked over to the bar.
Placing them close to Law, the fuzzy hatted Captain put the finishing touches on Chase's cast and looked at the plans as well. He studied the plans and looked for any potential openings.
"Patrol?" Law directed the question at Mina without even looking up.
"Barely any. Two guards at the front gate. None on the roof, and none around the perimeter," She answered.
"Probably changed by now though. With Mina's rescue of Chase and their attack on your submarine, it's safe to assume that they've boosted security," Arthur hummed in thought before looking up at Penguin. "Oh, right. Ducky, be a dear and fetch Doctor Trent for me."
"For the last time, my name is Penguin," The man frowned at him.
"Don't be like that," He sighed. "Doctor Trent is in the brick building at the end of the street. Tell him that I, as in Arthur, not Annie, sent for him. He knows I'm alive so he should come with you without a fuss."
Penguin looked to Law for orders. The pirate Captain okayed the orders before going back to plotting, but Shachi was to go with him in case more King pirates were lurking about. The two left without protest. Apparently the Doctor was important to their plans and Law was looking forward to the chance to gain a bit of insight into Duncan's Devil Fruit; information was key in creating plans after all.
"Duncan has a crew of about... Twenty or so," Arthur told Law. "Of them I'd say that there are five key members including himself."
Law's cold gray eyes flicked up to the blond haired man. He was a bit curious as to why this man was helping them.
"Why exactly are you helping us, Mister Arthur?" He asked.
Arthur smiled lightly.
"A friend of Mina's is a friend of mine," Arthur looked at the Zoan user currently perched atop a table before looking back at his new friend. "And besides, I have a bone to pick with Duncan. Townspeople aside, he's caused me a massive dip in profits these past few months. Also he tried to kill me, but I'm a bit more upset about my bottom line here."
"Miser," Mina deadpanned.
"Oh shush," The blond gave her a mock glare. "You'd be out for blood too."
"You're right about that," She admitted easily. "It's one of the many things I learned from you, oh wise mentor."
Her voice wasn't without sarcasm. In fact it was dripping with it. The dull look on her face was really what sold it too.
"No one likes a smart-ass," He deadpanned back at her.
"No one likes vain misers," She wasn't going to let this go easily.
"You...!" Arthur sputtered angrily. "God, I knew you were going to cause trouble the moment I saw you walk through that door today."
Mina merely smirked in victory. Of course he was conceding right there. Normally their bickering could last for hours, but he knew he had better things to do other than engage in a battle of words with someone several years younger than him. Like plotting to kill a bunch of pirates. Yes, that was much more exciting and demanding of his attention right now. Of course as soon as he looked back to the plans, his lovely Ducky walked back in with his friend. Oh, and then there was Doctor Trent; who was an aging bald man of about sixty-five and still going rather strong. He was hunched over quite a bit and wore some rather opaque glasses. How he ever saw through them, Arthur didn't know. Maybe he was just hiding the fact that he was blind as a bat or something...
"Hello Doctor Trent," Arthur greeted the fellow in a lab coat. "And welcome back Ducky and friend."
Penguin glared at the grinning man while Shachi just stood there. The ginger haired man felt a bit awkward.
"Eh, Arthur?" Doctor Trent adjusted his glassed. "These two whippersnappers whisked me away to see you. What now?"
"My guest here would like to know what happened to the mayor," Arthur motioned towards Law. "And from what I understand, the young fellow is a doctor as well."
With those words, the older man was invading Law's personal space in a flash. The old man sure could move. Shoving his old, wrinkly face in Law's, Doctor Trent studied the young pirate. Law of course was extremely uncomfortable and did his best not to show it.
"Hm..." The old man rubbed his chin. "A doctor, eh?"
"Yep, he fit the cast on that young man over there quite nicely," Arthur motioned towards the sleeping Chase.
Trent leaned to one side to get a good look at him. Nodding his head in approval, the old Doctor looked back at Law.
"Good work, sonny-boy," The old man complimented. "Now, what's this about old Thaddeus?"
"His injuries, Doc," Arthur jogged his memories. "You know... With his whole..."
"Face being melted off," Trent finished. "Yep. Old Thaddeus didn't stand a chance. Went right down to the bone, sonny. I've got the photos."
He had said that last part a bit too cheerily, but nonetheless he dug through his lab coat's pockets and the old man produced a small stack of photos. Arthur looked away and found a rather interesting spot on the wall to stare at. Law however, wasn't squeamish in the slightest and took the opportunity to rifle through them. Now, the contents of the photographs are sadly a bit too... Graphic (and horrendously disgusting for that matter). And quite frankly, what other description do you need other than "the man's face was melted off"? There have been enough horror movies where the unfortunate victim's face has been flayed to the bone, so feel free to imagine something similar to that. Or for the truly adventurous, think of a well cooked ham with the meat practically falling off the bone. Now just add more oozing and melting and you'll get a pretty accurate idea of what happened to poor Mayor Thaddeus. Formal apologies to those who will not be able to look at ham the same way again.
"Was it acid?" Law asked the old doctor as he handed the photos back.
"From what I could tell, that was indeed the case," Trent nodded as he placed the photos back in his pocket. "But from what I saw, Duncan merely put a hand on him. No acid in sight."
"Hm, well thank you for coming Doctor," Arthur thanked the man. "Now I'm sure Ducky and his friend will be more than happy to-"
"My, my, my," Trent had taken notice of Mina sitting on the table.
Her expression was plainly read as 'Oh hell no' as the Doctor came up to her.
"Aren't you a pretty young lady," Trent smiled at her.
Arthur stood there with a look of abject horror on his face. Oh, what a time for Trent's obsession with young women to rear it's head. The old man needed to tread a bit lightly otherwise he might get punched through a wall. The other men in the room were merely staring blankly at what was about to unfold.
"So darlin'," The doctor said rather creepily. "How about dinner? There might be a sponge bath out of the deal too."
The look on Mina's face was that of disgust. God why was he so creepy?
"I'll pass," She said tightly. Of course she was a bit freaked out otherwise...
"I knew it," The doctor sighed before looking back at Law. "Good catch sonny-boy. She's a keeper. Nice strong bone structure, good pallor... Yep, the kids will turn out just fine. I'll be on my way now. Good to see you dressed like a man again Arthur. I'll be by to pay my tab tomorrow."
And with that, the old man shuffled out of the bar; leaving several stunned people behind to gape at what just occurred. Again, silence seemed to be a frequent occurrence in the bar nowadays. Mina's bronze eyes were wide with shock at the man's words. Law however just stared at the door before glancing at Mina out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that she was pretty much flabbergasted by what the old man had said, Law looked back at the blueprints for the castle. Best to not think about it too much.
"Well, that was unexpected," Arthur coughed. "So, back to work, right?"
Oh, he was going to tease Mina endlessly about that scene later. Then she'd most likely try to kill him again, but in the meantime there was plotting to be done.
"I have an idea," Arthur's blue eyes flicked to Law.
"What did you have in mind?" Law was curious as to what Arthur was thinking.
A dark smile crossed Arthur's features as his left hand came to rest on top of his katana.
"If you handle Duncan and his core crew members, I'll make sure the others don't get in the way," He said smoothly. "A dead man usually doesn't show up in front of the castle guards."
Law had to admit, Arthur was going to be useful for his plans. Now if only the same could be said for his personality.
The action will be next time. Hey, I had to set things up for some non-stop action next chapter. Start to finish will be people being awesome. Hopefully. Now, take your bets on who's gonna win and who will be sent on a one-way trip to Timbuktu. Oh, and for the truly curious, the reference last chapter was "Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town". It was also in this chapter too. Next chapter will be either at the end of the month or this time in August. I'm gonna try to shoot for twice a month updates. No guarantees though.