Er... Happy Holidays? A bit late I know, but better late than never I guess. Haha. So, long time no update, but I wanted to get a least one last update in before the new year. Well, enough blathering, on to the Chapter! Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Chapter 13: Another Knock Out
"The life of an adventurer is full of the unexpected. For instance, you did not expect to be dead. And now you are." -Blades of Avernum
Fighting was nothing new to him; in fact he'd been fighting since childhood. His current opponent was a man about as large as himself. He was a big bald guy with a rather dumb grin and the standard King Pirate's shirt. Seriously, did these guys have a uniform or something? Not that Sarge should be talking about that considering the Heart Pirates' tendency to dress in boiler suits all the time. Fashion sense aside, the King Pirate was doing his damnedest to fight tooth and nail with the mechanic.
However... It was kind of a losing battle.
Ducking another blow, Sarge could only shake his head at the haphazard way his opponent was striking. He was just blindly swinging his fists any which way he felt like and it really wasn't working in his favor. A flurry of fists came his way and Sarge merely back stepped away from them all. However, while he was lost in thought Sarge felt his back hit the wall and his eyes widened. Well, that wasn't a good sign.
His opponent grinned widely and wound up for another strike. Acting quickly, the head mechanic tucked and rolled out of the way. Rolling back to his feet, Sarge turned around just in time to see the large fist of his opponent strike the wall where his head would have been. The heavy stone of the wall cracked under the pressure of the man's fist. The King Pirate quickly withdrew his hand from the wall and hissed in pain.
"Damn! That hurt!" The baritone voice of the King Pirate echoed in the halls of the castle. "But I almost got you there, boy!"
"You're really starting to annoy me," Sarge muttered as he picked up the green striped hat that had fallen off his head in the midst of the dodge. Without his hat on, it was easy to see Sarge's dark brown eyes shining with contempt for his opponent. Of course he had a major case of hat hair, but that's what happens when you wear a hat for the majority of the day.
"Like I care!" The King pirate gave a large grin and began his advance towards the mechanic.
Without so much as a single word, Sarge reached into his left boot and pulled out a rather large, silver wrench. It looked heavy and well used. In fact it was his favorite wrench that he kept with him at all times. It was also the length of his forearm, so getting whacked with that monster was going to hurt and hurt rather badly. The sight of the wrench made the approaching man pause for a moment.
"Last chance to tell me your name," Sarge said gruffly.
"Name's Terran. What's it to you?"
"So my Captain knows what to put on the specimen jars back on the sub," Sarge said with a bit of humor in his voice. The King Pirates had really pissed Law off.
Terran wasn't the least bit fazed by Sarge's words. In fact, the man completely ignored him. Running forward with the intent to kill, Terran aimed his large fist for the mechanic's head.
Sarge held up his free hand as the Terran's fist aimed for his head. Catching the thrown punch with relative ease, Sarge's grip on the man's fist tightened; and before Terran could even react, his eyes caught a flash of silver as it streaked in the air towards him. The cold metal meeting the skin and bone of the King Pirate's skull, Terran saw a flash of light and then darkness. His body falling to the ground at the feet of the mechanic, Sarge stared coldly at the unmoving enemy pirate before letting the fist in his grasp go. Wiping the blood on the wrench on Terran's shirt, Sarge placed his favorite wrench back in his boot. Completely ignoring the fact that his white boiler suit was now spattered with blood, he picked up his hat from the ground and dusted it off before placing it back on his head. Sarge sighed as he looked down the hallway his Captain and fellow crew mates had run down after they had run into Terran. Looking back, Sarge briefly wondered how Mina was faring before scoffing and walking further into the castle.
-:-
Speaking of Mina, the Zoan user was currently in a tight spot. Searching for openings to either dodge or make an attempt to strike either of her opponents was usually met with the other blocking her attempt. Trying to hit Flynn meant Scotty would try to shove his rapier through her stomach, and trying to hit Scotty meant she'd have to watch out for Flynn's giant claws. The cat-boy was proving to be a bit of a challenge to figure out. There was something off about him and Mina couldn't quite place a finger on it...
As she tried to fight Scotty in order to rid of the biggest threat first, Mina couldn't react fast enough when Flynn came charging in. Managing to jump back just a bit, she still felt Flynn's claws rake across the skin of her stomach through the thin tank-top she was wearing. Wincing at the feeling of her flesh being sliced open, she jumped back even further and placed a hand over the fresh wound. Blood seeped through her fingers and it rolled down her hand. It was then that she realized that she didn't have much of a shot here alone... Her Devil Fruit wasn't really made for this type of confrontation. Eyeing her two opponents with a guarded look, she tried her best to figure out the best plan of action.
"You aren't going to win this one," Scotty sighed before closing his eyes. "Just give up and we might let you live."
"Give... Up?" Mina gave the man a quizzical look.
"Yes," Scotty pointed his sword at her.
"People like us should know when to give up," Flynn spoke flatly. "We cannot win in situations like this."
"We?" Mina sent him the odd look next. "The hell are you going on about?"
"Zoan Devil Fruit users," The cat-boy elaborated.
"... So you're saying Devil Fruit users aren't a match for run-of-the-mill swordsmen like him?" Mina asked the boy.
"Run-of-the-mill!?" Scotty screeched. "I'll show you 'run-of-the-mill' you little bitch!"
"Can it orange juice, I'm talking with your associate here, not you," Mina sent the seething man a flat look.
Scotty ground his teeth together and if looks could kill, he would have sent Mina to Hell and back.
"Captain Duncan told me that Zoan users were the weakest of all. That they couldn't even stand against stronger Paramecia or Logia types," Flynn said.
"Try telling that to the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and see how that works out for you," Mina almost laughed at his statement. However, any humor in her voice was absent with her next question. "Tell me kid, are you proud of that power you have?"
"Proud? No. I feel the power of a Zoan fruit is a disgrace to have," Flynn's voice didn't break that eerie monotone.
Mina's bronze eyes narrowed at that statement. This kid... No wonder she found him so weird. His movements were too forced; too human-like for someone in the current state he was. He was halfway to the point of being an animal and yet he still moved like an average person.
"And here I thought you'd be a challenge..." Mina sighed as she cracked her neck. Spying a tiny bit of movement in the shadows above her, Mina let her posture loosen to the point where she looked totally relaxed. "Oh well, it'll still be a bit of a work out I suppose."
"You! You little bitch!" Scotty was still really rather pissed off about the "run-of-the-mill" insult she had handed him moments before. Also the whole "orange juice" thing probably didn't go over well with him either. "I'm gonna kill you for that one!"
Mina completely ignored him. It was like he wasn't even there at this point.
"How long do you plan on just sitting there Arthur?" Mina looked up to the rafters.
Anger quickly forgotten, the orange haired man followed the gaze of the Heart Pirate and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Flynn stared up as well since he was stunned that he hadn't sensed the man get in. Arthur sat in the rafters with a large grin on his face. He looked completely unruffled by the fight outside with his pants and shirt still looking pressed and clean. The only odd thing about him was that he had a white lily in his right hand.
"Why hello my dears," Arthur was highly amused by the whole situation. "I have to say Mina, you've gotten better at handling these types of situations. You didn't lose your cool, I'm very proud of you."
"Hello my dear vain miser," Mina crossed her arms over her chest while mimicking his speech pattern. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Not too long my dear smartass," Arthur narrowed his eyes at her.
Mina opened her mouth to reply to that jab, but she was sadly cut off by Orangie.
"What the hell! You're supposed to be a dead man!" Scotty pointed at the no longer amused Arthur.
"Why my lovely Scotty..." Arthur's voice went cold as his blue eyes shifted from Mina to him. "I'm here to deliver this to you."
And with that, Arthur threw the lily at Scotty's feet. The orange haired man stomped on the flower without a second thought; grinding the flower into the cold stone beneath his boots.
"I hate flowers," Scotty grumbled.
"I simply thought it would be a fitting flower to place on your gravestone," Arthur said as he stood up on the rafter he had been sitting on. "However, a grave would mean that people need a place to mourn your inevitable death and I highly doubt anyone on this island would mourn the loss of your pathetic life."
Scotty glared up at the blond haired man. Mina's eyes flitted from Arthur to Scotty, and back again as she could sense murderous intent rolling off of her old friend like the waves of the ocean.
"So... Orange man, what'd you do to piss him off?" Mina asked him with a blank look. "I mean it's your funeral in the end, but I'm just a bit curious why you're gonna get the full funeral procession here."
"Shut it wench!" Scotty snapped at her. "I don't know why the fuck this pansy is angry with me!"
Mina blinked at the orange haired man. Scotty must've really done something bad in order to make Arthur want to full-on kill him. She figured she'd get the details a bit later. Then it clicked in her head. There was really only one way to piss Arthur off... And it usually didn't involve money.
"Oh," Was the deadpan reaction. She then looked up at her friend. "Kick his ass Arthur."
"That's my plan," Arthur stated coldly as he hopped down from the rafters. Drawing his katana, Arthur readied himself for a fight.
Flynn, however, wasn't willing to let them fight on equal grounds. Launching himself forward with his claws bared in an he attempt to dig them into Arthur's back, the cat-boy soon found himself being blindsided and pinned to the ground by large yellow talons. His face scraping against the stone floor, Flynn grunted in an effort to get up and throw whatever it was off of him. However, one arm was pinned behind him while the other was pinned under him with the other talon firmly resting on that shoulder. It was a bit awkward to get any sort of leverage to push himself up.
"Not so fast kid," Mina's voice floated to his ears. "I want to show you what a real Zoan user can do."
With that, the pressure on his left wrist intensified tenfold. Flynn let out a yelp of pain when he heard and felt the bones snap like twigs underfoot. Managing to unpin his other arm, he swung it in a wide arc in an attempt to slash her legs. Letting go of his broken wrist, Mina gently hovered out of reach from the cat-boy.
"Flynn!" Scotty called out to his younger crew mate. "Back-"
Scotty was cut off by the Arthur making his move. Moving forward in a flash, Scotty barely had time to raise his rapier to attempt to block the strike. Normally one wasn't supposed to block by crossing blades using a rapier; it was just the only thing that he had time to do.
"A swordsman, huh?" Arthur sneered coldly before kicking the man in the gut and sending him to the ground. "Mina was right. Run-of-the-mill abilities."
"Fuck..." Scotty coughed as he sat on the floor.
"Get up," The bartender told his opponent coldly. "No one is gonna come save you, so you might as well face me properly."
Scotty sneered up at Arthur.
"I highly doubt that bitch over there will survive Flynn," The pirate said as he got to his feet.
"I'm not worried about Mina," Arthur sounded amused at the prospect of her losing. "In fact, I'm more worried about the amount of pain that boy will be in by the time she's through with him. And besides, you should just focus on keeping yourself alive."
Before Scotty could even blink, Arthur was in front of him with his sword raised to strike. Managing to dodge the blade aiming for his neck, Scotty was then assaulted by a fist to the chest. Sending the man skidding across the floor like a rock being skipped on a pond, Arthur stood there with his katana over his shoulder as he watched his orange haired opponent hit the opposite wall.
Scotty definitely felt something crack when he struck the wall. Dropping like a rock onto his stomach, he wheezed and gasped for air as he tried to recover from that blow.
"Flynn!" Scotty rasped as he tried to get up. Scrambling onto his knees at least, he looked up and towards his fellow pirate. "Back me up!"
The cat-boy, apparently having heard his friend's cry for help, decided it was best to ignore the woman attempting to kill him and go try to help. Needless to say, that was an extremely bad idea. Seeing the opening she needed, Mina moved quickly. Cutting Flynn off from helping his friend in a flash, the cat-boy was unable to dodge the slashing motion she made with her left talon. Raking her sharp, black nails across his face, it was all too apparent that Mina had aimed for his eyes. Stopping in his tracks to scream in pain from being blinded, Mina flew back and out of the way of a poor attempt to slash her in retaliation. The much more aggressive Zoan user flew to the rafters in preparation for her next move.
"Where are you!?" Flynn roared, he was now extremely pissed off and in a large amount of pain.
"You can't even sense me, can you?" Mina said from her crouched position in the rafters. "Pathetic."
And with that, Mina launched herself from the heavy wooden beam and rocketed towards her opponent. Snagging the boy's right arm, she flew behind him and latched her other talon onto his left shoulder. Digging her powerful talon into his collarbone, she applied more and more pressure to the bones until she felt them snap. Once they broke, Mina pushed off his shoulder and whipped the boy around using the arm still in her grasp with such force that he flew into the stone wall. Flynn realized in that split second just how screwed he was. His entire left arm was useless at this point and his right was dislocated when she tossed him into the wall. Full transformation was not an option at this point.
"You're really pathetic," Her voice floated into his ears. Looking around blindly, Flynn couldn't tell where her voice was coming from. In truth, if Flynn was able to see, he probably would have pissed his pants in fright.
Mina was perched back up in the rafters, her bloodstained talons digging into the large wooden beams in anticipation of rending flesh from bone. The look in her eyes was cold and predatory. At this point, the boy was helpless against her. And there was nothing anyone could do about it. She figured she could toy with him for a little while longer, but that was probably just cruel on her part. So, it was time to end it. Standing from the crouch she had been in, she took flight one more time. Pushing off of the beam, she aimed her talons for his chest. Slamming both outstretched talons into his prone form, Flynn's breastbone and surrounding ribs snapped. Her nails were embedded partially in his flesh as the blow was enough to crush his chest. He let out a gurgle and rasp as blood pooled in his lungs and trickled down his chin. His unseeing eyes glazed over and he drew his last breath.
Knowing he was dead, Mina hovered back and landed gently on her feet. Without the force of the blow driving him into the wall, Flynn's body collapsed at her feet. No longer in her hybrid form, Mina turned on her heel took take a look at how Arthur was faring.
Scotty had gotten to his feet shortly after Flynn was blinded and was now fighting with Arthur properly. Well, it wasn't really properly since all Arthur was doing was shutting down Scotty's attacks at any moment possible. Crossing blades once more, Scotty was forced to use an improper style suited for his sword. Still blocking the katana strike, the orange haired man glanced over to look at Flynn. Upon seeing his crew mate on the ground at Mina's feet, something in him snapped. When Arthur let up on his strike, Scotty bolted for Mina.
"YOU BITCH!" He roared at the top of his lungs.
However, Arthur was there instantly. Appearing in front of the enraged man, all Arthur did was hold his blade in front of him. Scotty could only move forward and the end result was impaled on Arthur's katana. The shining blade cut into the orange haired man like butter. The blond haired man merely scoffed at what had happened.
"Absolutely pathetic," Arthur muttered as he looked at Scotty. The orange haired man was fading fast. Something vital had been hit and he was now bleeding out considering the sword was buried up to the hilt in his flesh. In fact, the blade was coming out of the man's back.
Withdrawing the blade, Arthur wasn't all that gentle in pulling the blade from his opponent's body. Scotty could only fall backwards with his own rapier clattering to the ground.
"Bastard..." Scotty rasped from his position on the floor. Blood began pooling around him.
Without a word, Arthur dug through his shirt pockets and pulled another white lily. And with a cold stare, the man tossed the flower next to his felled opponent and watched as the white petals were soon stained with crimson.
"Her name was Karina and she was the daughter of the florist here on Crissor," Arthur said bluntly as he cleaned his katana from blood using a white handkerchief. "She was the young woman you dragged to the castle within the first two weeks of your arrival. She also committed suicide when she got back to the town."
The only sound that filled the room was that of Scotty's labored breathing.
"Each and every night after her death, I saw her father slowly drink himself to death in my bar," Arthur then re-sheathed his sword and shoved his hands into his pockets as he coldly stared into Scotty's half-dead eyes. "When he died as well, that's when I knew that I had to kill you. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's men like you."
With those final words heard, Scotty stopped breathing. In the ensuing silence, Arthur heard Mina come up behind him.
"I figured it was something like that," She said with a sigh. With a pat on his shoulder, Mina gave him a sidelong glance before looking at Scotty. "Our opponent's weren't much of a problem, huh?"
Arthur looked down at Mina's stomach. He saw the wounds behind the fabric and blood and frowned lightly.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I've had a lot worse, Arthur. It's a scratch. In fact, I think it tickled rather than hurt me," Mina gave him a lopsided grin.
"You're too reckless. Just like always," Arthur shook his head.
"If you say so, Arthur," Mina brushed aside that comment like she wasn't even listening. "Now, shall we find their treasure?"
Arthur gave a long sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. Looking elsewhere in the room, he thought about it for a moment.
"Sure, let's go," He said.
And with that, they went off to rob the King Pirates like the merry treasure hunters they once were. It was a force of habit that both Mina and Arthur studied the locations most likely to contain treasure. So all in all, this would probably be a very quick trip to rob the enemy pirates.
-:-
While the former treasure hunters were doing what they did best, Penguin and Shachi were finding themselves to be in... Well, let's just say that it was an interesting situation. Their opponents were piss drunk and fighting each other rather than the Heart Pirates in front of them. Obviously there was a problem when it came to priorities for the King pirates in front of them.
"I said... That... I can handle zis!" A man with purple hair slurred. He was an average looking man, aside from his bright purple hair, and he also wore the standard King Pirate shirt. His face was flushed and he reeked of booze.
"Nah, ya' can't! But... I can!" A man wearing a black beanie slurred back. He was about the same size as his 'friend' there and equally as drunk.
The two were currently attempting to wrestle, but the narrow hallways meant that the two of them were just shoving each other around. They were paying no attention to the Heart Pirates that were just standing there staring at them.
"Should we do something?" Penguin asked his friend.
Shachi shrugged and hummed "I-don't-know".
"I say let 'em fight it out. Maybe they'll suddenly pass out," Shachi remarked with humor in his voice as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
Their "opponents" were so wasted that they weren't even paying attention.
"Lemme fight 'em, Warren!" Purple hair drunkenly whined.
"Shuddup Ambrose!" Beanie man, apparently named Warren, then threw a drunken punch.
Hitting his friend square in the jaw, Ambrose was knocked back into the wall. It wasn't a difficult thing to do considering both men were off balance.
"Dude! What the fuck waz that fer!" The man was angered by the punch.
"Cuz... Cuz... I dunno, man," Warren shrugged.
Ambrose suddenly burst out laughing.
"Ah, man, we are SO drunk right now!" He laughed.
Warren joined in on his friend's laughter and all Penguin and Shachi could do was have their foreheads meet the palm of their hands.
"Should we just punch them out now?" Penguin sighed while shaking his head.
"It'll be like shooting drunken fish in a beer barrel..." Shachi snorted.
With a nod to each other, the Heart Pirates went to go in for the knock out. That is until the left wall suddenly exploded. The wall collapsed and made Shachi and Penguin raise their arms to protect their faces from the crumbling stone. The stunned pirates looked towards the massive hole in the wall to see a familiar face. As the dust settled, the green striped bucket hat was all too familiar to the pirates.
"What the fuck Sarge!" Shachi exclaimed at his friend.
The tall man looked to see his crew mates gaping at him.
"Oh," He grunted. "There you are."
"Did you get lost again?" Penguin sighed.
"No. I just got impatient," He said. "So I decided to take a wall down."
"Wait! What happened to the drunk guys?" Shachi snapped his head towards the two drunk men.
The sight the three pirates were met with was the King Pirates having been halfway buried in rubble. Ambrose and Warren were currently unconscious beneath the rubble of the collapsed wall. They were alive from what the trio could tell thanks to the snoring. Apparently all it took was a good smack on the head before the both of them passed out.
"You're welcome," Sarge smirked at his crew mates.
"Bastard..." Shachi scowled at the rather proud mechanic.
"We so had that too," Penguin sighed as rubbed the back of his neck. "Should we follow Captain now?"
-:-
Whilst his subordinates were being thrashed into oblivion, Duncan was busy sizing up his opponent after such a bold statement that was made.
"Pardon?" Duncan asked as he came down off his throne.
"Your Devil Fruit. It's acid, isn't it?" Law took in the room rather quickly because if his hunch was correct, Duncan was not a man to get into a close quarters fight with. His gray eyes lingered a tiny bit on the large, wooden chandelier hanging in the middle of the room.
"Indeed. I was bestowed with the powers of the San San no Mi. I am an Acid-man," The self-proclaimed King told his opponent as he advanced ever closer to the opposing pirate. "Paramecia type, if you must know. The fruit turned every fluid in my body into acid. Sweat, blood, oil... Everything."
Yeah... Not exactly the type of fruit user you'd want to take on in close quarters combat. Duncan halted his advance halfway to where Law was standing by the doors.
"You have once chance to retreat now," Duncan gave his opponent an opening.
Law wasn't going to retreat. This man had severely pissed him off. Forcing him to pay a toll to dock was one thing, but vandalizing his submarine and kidnapping (as well as having every intent to kill) a member of his crew was another thing completely. With the lackeys taken care of, all that remained was Duncan. And he was about to go down.
"Room," Law's blue dome encompassed the throne room.
With Duncan preoccupied with the sudden atmosphere change, Law quickly drew his nodachi and sliced the ropes keeping the chandelier in place from afar. Gravity taking over from there, Duncan could only stay rooted to the spot he was currently in. Which was directly under the falling chandelier. When the light fixture came down on his head, a large dust cloud settled over the scene. However, nothing in life was ever easy. Much to Law's disappointment, when the dust settled there stood Duncan looking no worse for wear. In fact, the expression on his face was quite dull.
'How is he still alive?' Law sighed mentally. Looks like this was going to be done the hard way.
And if you must know, there was a large hole in the center of the chandelier. It was just chance that Duncan was standing in perfect alignment with it otherwise that would have killed him. It also would have been a very unpleasant way to go. The dull look on his face was soon replaced with one of anger as he realized just what angle Law was going for.
"You lout! How dare you try to kill me that way! I am a King! You cannot strike me down using silly parlor tricks!" Duncan was suddenly cut off by a coughing fit. Apparently he had dust allergies.
Luckily, Law's Room was still up. Spying several suits of armor off to the side, Law decided to humiliate the man even more. Spying a shiny helmet that would fit rather nicely and with a quick slice, Duncan's head was off his shoulders.
"Shambles."
Law then switched Duncan's head for the helmet on the armor.
"Enjoying the view from over there Mister Duncan?" He taunted.
Duncan's head was now on an inanimate suit of armor and his body had an empty helmet for a head. How fitting.
"What sorcery is this!?" Duncan's head roared from the immobile suit of armor.
"It's not sorcery, Mister Duncan. I ate the Ope Ope no Mi," Law told the man with a large smirk while tapping his nodachi on his shoulder. "I'm a Free Modification Human."
"You shall not get the better of me!" Duncan roared.
And with that, the body started moving. The headless body lunged for Law, but sadly the coordination was a bit off since the head was over twenty feet away from being able to see correctly. Also there was still quite a bit of distance between the two. So without his smirk ever fading, Law bisected the man's body at the waist. Duncan was left speechless. The self-proclaimed king could only gape at the strength of the man in front of him.
With the body rendered useless at his feet, Law dropped his Room and sheathed his nodachi. He took this time to mull over his options as well. He could kill Duncan or leave him to rot. There really wasn't much of choice here. So, Law took up one of the broadswords from a suit of armor with his left hand. He wouldn't expose his nodachi to the acidic blood of Duncan, so it was important to use something disposable. Closing in on the legs of Duncan, Law set his sights on the femoral artery of the King Pirate Captain.
"Wait! What're you about to-" Duncan was cut off as he let out a scream of pain when Law stabbed the broadsword into the flesh of Duncan's inner thigh.
Upon seeing the blood of his latest victim react with the metal of the broadsword, Law yanked the blade free from the injured limb and moved out of the way from the gushing stab wound. Taking in the sight of blood corroding the metal of the broadsword, he looked at the stone around the area where Duncan's legs were. The stone was indeed beginning to corrode. It was mildly fascinating to the Doctor, but that was it.
"Well Mister Duncan, I would say that you don't have too long with that type of wound," Law gave his medical advice to the screaming pirate without his smirk ever fading. "I doubt you'll live to see daybreak."
And with that, Law turned on his heel, dropped the broadsword, and began to head out of the room with his mission complete. The King pirates were successfully taken down.
"You miserable lout! Get back here! I'll kill you for this, I have you know!" Duncan still had some fight left in him even while bleeding out.
Law ignored him and, so not to be seen as rude, he shut the door behind him. The victorious pirate Captain came face to face with Sarge, Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo. All four of them had been waiting patiently for Law to finish his fight. He was pleased to see that none of them were really wounded in their fights. Of course that was just a testament to how weak the opposing pirates were.
"We passed an unconscious guy with blue hair back there," Shachi said. "What happened to him? He had this huge bruise on his forehead."
Law glanced at Bepo.
"I believe he has a panic attack," Law stated.
The men who hadn't been there to witness poor Karl knock himself out were even more confused with that answer.
"Where's Mina?" Bepo looked around for the Zoan user when he noticed her absence.
"She's around," Sarge waved off any concern for her.
"You mean you didn't go back to check on her?" Penguin looked a bit concerned.
"I didn't feel the need to," Sarge stated dryly. "And neither you or Shachi asked about her on our way here."
He did have a point there. Still, Law mentally sighed at the prospect of having to find the Zoan user in a castle such as this. However, the best place to search would be the scene of her fight.
"Let's go," Law told his men as he walked past them.
"Aye-aye Captain," The four sounded off as they fell into step behind him.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review then. Now next time... There will be a first for Phantoms. A mini (or omake if you'd like to call it that). Thanks to Elielephant for the prompt that spawned the mini next chapter. Though I bet you want a hint for next chapter. Let's see here... It's time to wind down with next chapter. Which is the wrap up of Arc II: The King Pirates and the start of Arc III: Bridges Burned. (For the record, Arc I was: The Mansion) See you next time!
Edit: Thank you Elielephant for the new Story Cover. Looks awesome~