I don't think there's anything I can say at this point... It seems like all I do in these prefaces is apologize for my update schedule and the lack thereof. Oh writer's block. How it makes a fool out of me. But hey, I'm not dead so let's get back to it. Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Chapter 14: Another Party
"Be wary of a strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... And miss." -Robert Heinlein
Sarge's motto in life when it came to navigating confusing places tended to be "If there isn't a door, I'll make one." This motto made walking through the hallways of the castle akin to walking through a war zone. The once sturdy stone walls were broken into rubble due to the mechanic's impatience and his large shiny wrench. Shachi and Penguin could only shake their heads at Sarge's habit. Those two had been witness to his penchant for destruction of confusing locations many times over. Law, however, was used to his head mechanic breaking walls willy nilly, so he didn't even bat an eye when he saw just how many had been shattered in Sarge's endeavor to find a crew mate. On the plus side, the hallways were now extremely easy to navigate if one just followed the path of destruction to retrace the man's steps. So, thanks to that, the Heart Pirates were able to get back to the location where they last saw Mina without much trouble at all.
Upon arriving at the rather open room, the pirates were met with the sight of two bodies on the floor. Considering that neither of them were Mina, they came to the conclusion that she had won the fight. However she was nowhere to be found. Looks like they'd have to track her down anyway. A Zoan user with flight could have gone just about anywhere at this point. Also considering that she hadn't found them yet indicated either that she was none too worried about them, or she just left after she killed two men.
"Well, she sure didn't show mercy," Shachi remarked with a low whistle as he took in the sight. "Wonder where she went..."
Still, Law couldn't help but notice something off about the two dead pirates. One looked like he was mauled considering his slashed eyes and other wounds. There was also the fact that there was a human-sized indent in the stone wall above that body while the other looked like a much cleaner kill. And of course there was the fact that there was a blood soaked lily next to the orange haired man. Law highly doubted Mina would have left a flower for the dead man.
"Seems like Miss Mina had some help after all," Law remarked as he walked away from the scene.
The others were a bit confused, but nonetheless they followed their Captain down the stairs to the first floor. It was easy enough to get out of the castle at this point. All they had to do was walk out the front door.
The night air was cool and rather refreshing all things considering. Judging by the moon and the brightness of the stars, it was still early morning at best. The battles really hadn't taken that long and the people of the town were still unaware that the King Pirates had fallen. All in all, the winners couldn't wait to get back to the submarine and sleep. An odd sight met the winning pirates when they walked out the front door of the castle though. The King Pirates that ran out to face Arthur had all been left hog tied on the ground; in a single line no less.
"Did Arthur do all that?" Shachi was surprised.
"Yep," A female voice said from beside him. "He wanted to make sure they didn't run off."
Shachi jumped in surprise and turned to his right and there was Mina. Looks like they didn't need to go all that far to find her after all. She was looking at the hog tied pirates without sympathy. She looked relatively unscathed from her fight, although she did have a bloodstained shirt.
"Where'd you run off to?" Sarge narrowed his eyes at her. Apparently even now he was suspicious of her.
"Arthur and I went to rob them," She motioned to the multiple sacks of loot next to the door.
Arthur was also there, leaning against the stone with a large smile on his face. He was also wearing a crown for some odd reason. The golden coronet was straight out of a fairy tale. However, that was really the only thing special about it. It was rather boring in the design aspect, just a simple gold crown with no gemstones set in it. Still though, the bartender looked rather ridiculous with it on his head.
"They didn't even bother locking the valuables up," Arthur remarked. "You'd think they'd be more careful with their treasure."
"Why are you wearing a crown?" Bepo asked the man.
"I'm taking this as my payment," Arthur declared. "In my book, the King Pirates owe me money. They nearly killed my bar! My poor, innocent Angel..."
The only sound after that were the crickets as Arthur placed a hand over his heart and nearly wept for the almost death of his bar. Mina just gave him the blankest look she could muster. Law really didn't have any particular interest in the crown. After all, it was rather tacky in his opinion.
"How the hell did you beat this many men?" Sarge just shook his head. He just didn't get Arthur.
The melodramatic man looked up with a grin on his face.
"It was a battle for the ages!" Arthur began one of his rather long tangents. Sarge looked as if he regretted opening his mouth. "I was surrounded on all sides, and it was twenty to one! The odds were against me, but I knew if-"
"Arthur," Mina interrupted with a dull tone. "Stop screwing around."
The man mellowed out just like that. He was now the picture of composure. Well, he would be if it wasn't for the crown on his head. That sort of detracted from the calm and serious image he was going for.
"Fine, fine," He said. "We can continue this tomorrow at the bar."
"Tomorrow?" Penguin didn't want to deal with Arthur tomorrow.
And just like that Arthur was at the poor man's side with a wide grin on his face. Penguin looked rather unsettled when the ex-treasure hunter slung an arm over his shoulder.
"Of course my darling Ducky," Arthur said. "You will be stopping by for the free drinks, right?"
"Free... Drinks?" Mina quirked an eyebrow.
"I just decided a moment ago that all drinks are on the house tomorrow," The bartender said nonchalantly. "All are welcome to come. Now if you excuse me, I require my beauty sleep. See you tomorrow."
The rather dumbstruck pirates could only watch the odd man go off into the woods. Mina could only shake her head at her friend's antics. Needless to say, Arthur was best in small doses as he often drained one of their sanity in one way or another.
"I... Don't get him," Sarge sighed tiredly.
-:-
With the crown in hand, Arthur walked through the backstreets of Crissor at a rather leisurely pace. The street was lined with houses, most of them residential while some were shops. It seemed that everyone in town was asleep for the most part if the darkened windows were anything to go by. After the King Pirates came to the island, the nightlife died down rather quickly due to fear. Even those who normally stayed in the Charming Angel from dusk til dawn took to getting sloshed in the safety of their own houses because of them.
The months of terror were in the forefront of Arthur's mind as he walked with only one destination in mind. It wasn't his bar or even the submarine of the Heart Pirates, but rather the house of a person most affected by the events. As he came to a stop in front of the house, Arthur noticed that there was a light on. While the small glow from the second story didn't illuminate much, it was enough to cast a light on the sign outside the front door. It simply read "Flower Shop". Of course, Arthur didn't need to read the sign himself since everyone in town knew what happened here. It was no longer known for the beautiful flowers they sold, but rather the tragedy of what happened to the people who lived there.
Gathering his wits and slipping down the narrow alleyway beside the house, Arthur went to the side door. Knocking a few times rather gently, he waited for it to be answered. It wasn't long before he heard the sound of footsteps from inside. The door slowly creaked open, the inside chain still keeping the house secure. A middle aged woman in a pale blue robe had answered, her brown eyes were wary of the man outside. However, that caution vanished suddenly when she realized just exactly who it was on her doorstep. Unchaining it, she stepped out of her house slightly so she could face Arthur better.
"Arthur...?" The woman was rather astounded at the sight of someone she believed to be dead.
"Good morning Irene," Arthur said jovially. He couldn't help but notice how gaunt she looked.
"How on Earth did you survive?"
"Oh... Just a bit of luck I suppose," He said. "I needed to pull a vanishing act. Those pirates weren't making it easy for me..."
"They don't make it easy for anyone," Irene agreed.
"That's why... I wanted to be the one to tell you. To tell you that the King Pirates have been kicked off their high horse. They won't bother this island again."
Irene's face was blank. She probably didn't believe his news. Arthur's grip on the crown tightened before presenting it to her; the gold shining slightly in the low light. Irene was taken aback by the sudden move.
"I know that this is nowhere near a suitable payment for what happened to you, but I feel that you should have this," Arthur said.
"Money isn't going to bring them back, Arthur," Irene nearly snapped at the young man; her voice thick with grief.
Arthur let the crown drop to his side as he looked to the ground, if only to avoid eye contact for a moment.
"I know," He admitted before looking back up. "Nothing is going to bring them back. I know it hurts to go on without them, but sometimes it's what you have to do."
Irene was silent. Arthur sighed and gave her a weak smile.
"Sell it, throw it in the ocean, I don't care what you do with it. I wanted this as proof to show you that the King Pirates are no more. Maybe I should have taken their Jolly Roger instead of having it hung upside down, but the fact remains that they aren't bothering anyone anymore. In fact, I made sure that the man who hurt your daughter died."
Without another word, Arthur placed the crown in her hands. This time, she accepted it without any protest. Overall satisfied with their conversation, the ex-treasure hunter turned to leave. Now it was time for his beauty sleep.
-:-
With a heavy frown set on her face, it was very obvious that Mina was not in a good mood. Being dragged off to the sick bay for a few scratches wasn't what she had planned to do upon returning to the submarine. However, Law had taken one look at her bloodstained shirt and ordered her to follow him and she hadn't been in the mood to start an argument with the man. So, Mina soon found herself in her current predicament. Which was sitting in a chair and baring her abdomen. Luckily she didn't need stitches for the wounds, but Law wanted to make sure they didn't get infected. Thankfully he was almost done. All Mina wanted to do was go to bed really. Conversation with her captain wasn't all that appealing at the moment considering neither of them had spoken a word.
It was the sound of a stomach growling that broke the silence over the two. Law paused for a moment to look at her. Mina was finding the wall rather interesting as she scowled at it with slightly darkened cheeks.
"Flying uses a lot of my energy," She told him, not meeting his eyes.
"I see," Law said as he went back to work.
It was just then that Mina took notice of the awkward silence. She hadn't really been paying attention, but the sick bay was dead quiet. Not even Astor was around. Caught in her thoughts, she was taken off guard when Law put the bandage on her wound. She couldn't help but wince at little at the sting of pressure being applied to it. It was also due to the antibiotics no doubt.
"Little warning next time," She muttered as he went to clean up the mess from having tended to her wounds.
"You weren't paying attention," He said simply.
Mina just scowled at him. He really could be an ass at times.
"So, am I all set, Captain?" She asked as she pulled down her shirt.
"I have one question for you, Miss Mina," Law turned to face her. "Why was the King Pirate's Jolly Roger inverted?"
Law had noticed the inverted flag after Arthur had taken off.
"Arthur asked me to," She stated as she stood up. "He mentioned something about that being a signal to the town."
Without any further questions from him, Mina left to find something to hold her over until breakfast tomorrow. Speaking of which, she wondered vaguely how Chase would be handling the meals now. He did have a broken arm after all. All in all, that proved to be problematic for the pirates. They weren't going to stay on Crissor for that long. Oh well, the crew would cross that bridge when they came to it. In the meantime, it was time for a quick snack and then she'd promptly collapse on her bed. It had been a very long day for her...
The next morning Mina accidentally slept in. Blinking blearily at the clock, the panic of having overslept set in. Sitting bolt upright, she kicked free of the sheets that had twisted themselves around her at some point in the night. As she got to her feet, her brain fully woke up before she went straight into a tizzy.
'Wait... I'm not with the Hammerhead crew anymore. I'm not going to get murdered for having overslept,' Mina realized. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she calmed down.
Well either way it was time for her to get moving. Stretching out a bit, she began to get ready for the day.
Oddly enough, there weren't too many people around on the submarine. It was almost eerily vacant. Feeling slightly unsettled by this, Mina didn't even stop to say good morning to anyone. Quite frankly, what she really wanted to do was go for a morning flight. Picking up speed the closer she came to the deck, she was in a full sprint by the time the sunlight hit her face. Continuing her headlong run, she launched herself off the railing at the end of the deck and caught the wind. Taking off into the blue sky, she left a few surprised pirates back on the submarine. They certainly hadn't expected her to run off guns blazing like that.
"She really likes flying," Bepo said as he watched her vanish into the sky.
Law didn't comment on the polar bear's statement. He had watched Mina sprint across the deck and noted that it seemed like she was almost smiling... Still, the man shook his head and got back to discussing the current route with Bepo.
-:-
After a good flight, Mina decided to drop in on Arthur at the bar. Setting her sights on the Charming Angel, she landed just behind the bar and climbed through an open window. Funnily enough, it was the same window she had jumped out of the other day...
"You here, Arthur?" Mina called for him.
Looking to the bar, the Zoan user froze in place when she saw a familiar face there. Doctor Trent had heard the news about the free drinks and was all too eager to take advantage of the occasion. The sixty-five year-old doctor was now relaxing on a barstool with a cup of sake in hand. Arthur was tending the bar as usual, so he looked up at the sound of Mina's voice.
"Glad you stopped by Mina. I'd offer you a drink but..." Arthur trailed off. He knew too well that it was not a good idea to serve her alcohol.
"A glass of water is fine," Mina said as she eyed the old man warily as she sat down at the other end of the bar.
Trent looked over his shoulder at her, his opaque glasses glinting in the light. Mina immediately found the liquor behind the bar interesting and began reading the labels. She muttered her thanks when Arthur set the water in front of her.
"Little missy," Trent managed to get Mina's attention.
"Y-Yeah?" Mina eyed the man warily. It was doubtful that she'd ever forget the man's comment from the other day.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about what happened at that castle last night, would you?" The old doctor asked.
"Huh? You mean Arthur didn't-"
"Honestly, I can't say I was expecting a bunch of rookie pirates to take them down," Trent didn't even acknowledge the fact that she tried to speak. "I was expecting a bit more of a celebration from the townsfolk though."
"That's probably because-"
"Now, now Arthur. You know what they say, don't interrupt your elders," The doctor even cut Arthur off. "As I was saying, I expected half the town in here celebrating."
Never mind that it wasn't even the afternoon yet... Why a sixty-five year-old doctor was drinking before he was off the clock was beyond them, but to each their own. Doctor Trent continued to prattle on and on about the defeat of the King Pirates. Needless to say, Mina's wary look soon became one of complete disinterest.
"Arthur," Mina spoke in a low tone. "Does it count as murder if you're merely helping someone into the grave?"
"That's technically what murder is," Arthur told her as he set a glass of water in front of her.
It was then that the bar door opened and in walked a brown haired man wearing a dark gray double-breasted suit. The sight of him was enough to get Trent to shut up. The old doctor quickly downed whatever alcohol was left in his cup and tried to make it seem like he hadn't been drinking for long. The newcomer was a rather muscular man who couldn't have been much older than his mid-thirties. He had a presence to him though as he seemed to radiate confidence and charisma. His mouth was pressed into a hard line as he surveyed the three people in the bar.
"Doctor Trent," The man addressed the doctor. "I thought you had patients to attend to today."
"I was just headed out, Roy. No need to worry," The doctor went to leave. He paused momentarily as he turned back to face Mina. "Good luck with the boyfriend, missy."
With that last comment the old doctor made himself scarce, leaving a dumbstruck Mina to contemplate what he meant. Again.
"Old men..." Mina rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on after that encounter.
"Tell me about it," The newcomer, Roy, sighed as he shook his head. "I have to speak with you, Arthur."
The bartender perked up considerably.
"What could you possibly want with me, Mayor dear? I am just a lowly bartender not worthy to be in the same room as you," He sounded a bit overdramatic.
"Cut the theatrics," Roy said harshly. "I know you had something to do with what happened last night. Same with those pirates down at the docks."
"You'd be correct about that," Arthur said. "But is it really of any importance who overthrew the false king? Here I thought the townspeople would be a bit happier. In fact, I thought you would be happier since your father can rest in peace knowing that his killer was punished. Instead you come in here with such a gloomy look on your face."
Roy just glowered at the man. The bartender just smiled in response.
"Then blame those pirates at the docks for our sour mood," The mayor took a moment to glance at Mina. She was paying little attention to the conversation and had her mind elsewhere. "The townspeople are afraid of what they'll do next."
"We have no intention of causing more trouble, Mister Mayor."
Roy turned on his heel to find the captain of the Heart Pirates at the bar's entrance. Law was leaning against the doorframe looking as calm as ever with that smirk on his face. The rest of the crew was hanging back a bit. They didn't want to overcrowd the door.
"I find that hard to believe, pirate," Roy said coldly as he glared at Law. "Your kind always makes trouble. No matter where you go."
"Let's keep this civil, Mayor dear," Arthur sighed.
"Don't bother, Mister Arthur," Law said. "Mister Mayor doesn't need to believe me. We weren't expecting a reward. We were merely taking care of our rivals. If we did the island a service in the process, then so be it."
"Your point?" The mayor said.
"I'm not one for senseless violence, Mister Mayor," Law said casually. "As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, your island will be safe as soon as we set sail."
Roy gave the man a hard look. There was a heavy silence in the bar as neither man spoke.
"I'll keep you to that, pirate," Roy said as he walked out of the bar. The mayor gave the rest of the crew a glare as he walked past them.
With that situation diffused, the Heart Pirates took over the bar. Apparently everywhere else in town was closed for the day. The Charming Angel was the only establishment open, and thus, the only place for the pirates to go in town. Even then, Crissor was a small island to begin with...
After the incident with the mayor, things settled down quite quickly. Although the locals were staying the hell away from the bar now that it had been taken over by pirates. Which was acceptable really. No need to add drunk townspeople in with the drunk pirates. Granted not that many people were hammered quite yet. The night was still young after all. Luckily enough the Charming Angel also served food. Although it was rather hit or miss when Arthur was cooking.
"Why is there a whole lemon in my tea?" Mina asked the bartender as she stared at the small lemon in her beverage. She was still sitting at the bar.
The bartender looked up from pouring the drinks only to shrug.
"I was distracted," The bartender said before handing out more drinks.
Mina only shook her head at the man. Fishing the citrus out of the mug with the spoon she was given, it was set on the bar. Grabbing her hunting knife, she sliced herself a suitable lemon slice for her tea. Running the blade across her jeans to clean it off, Mina slid it back into the sheath before taking a sip of her tea. Looking over her shoulder, Mina saw that there were a few other odd dishes floating around. She couldn't help but shake her head at the sight of Sarge fishing a bone out of his soup. She then looked over to her Captain, who was also at the bar, to find him staring blankly at his grilled fish that had been topped with licorice candy of all things.
'Yeah... I would say that most people are wasted once they start ordering food from here,' Mina thought to herself.
There was a reason why Arthur never worked the kitchen on the Hammerhead crew. It wasn't that he was a bad cook per se, but rather he got too creative for his own good. Sometimes it worked out for the better, but most of the time it worked out terribly. All Mina could do was shake her head at how dinner had turned out for most of the crew. Just then, Arthur set a plate of pancakes in front of her.
"Thanks Arthur," Mina said as the man went back to work.
Law looked over in vague interest. They actually looked normal.
"There's a trick when asking Arthur to make something," Mina said to her captain as she cut into her food. "Order breakfast. He won't mess with breakfast food for some reason. How's the licorice fish, captain?"
"... Not all that good," Law said as he took another bite. Luckily he could wash it down with some strong alcohol.
Mina took a large bite from her stack of pancakes. It was pretty good considering what else he'd been serving.
"I take it you don't drink, Miss Mina?" Law had noticed that she hadn't ordered a single alcoholic beverage.
"It's for the best that I don't," She said bluntly. "I'm alcohol intolerant."
"I see," Law said. Rather unfortunate for a pirate really.
"Besides, my grandfather always told me that drinking was a good way to dull your senses and get killed," Mina said nonchalantly before taking another swig of tea.
"He sounds like an interesting man," Law muttered to himself.
"I suppose he was. He did teach me everything I know about survival," Mina answered much to Law's surprise. She had some pretty good hearing.
"And how did those lessons go?" Law asked partly out of boredom and partly out of curiosity.
"Depended on the subject," Mina said as she took another bite.
Just as Law was about to comment further, Arthur practically collapsed on the bar between the two.
"Your crew can sure hold their liquor, dearie," The exhausted bartender told Law.
"Oi! Arthur, 'nother round over 'ere!" Shachi waved to the bartender with a drunken grin on his face.
"I'm on it..." Arthur sighed.
-:-
Somewhere on the Grand Line...
While the Heart Pirates were having a grand old time, there was a different sort of gathering being planned. A funeral was on the horizon. Not the most lively of gatherings, but still a social event nonetheless. As the record keeper blathered on and on to his latest guest about the news, he was getting the impression that said guest wasn't even listening. And he would be right about that. The stone faced individual sitting across from him at the table honestly didn't care that their boss' latest wife just so happened to die. He didn't know the woman in question, but could safely assume that she was a fool to ever agree to marry Alderman. His wives were a dime a dozen usually. Despite one lucky lady managing to make it past two years before dying, Alderman's track record for being widowed was rather outrageous otherwise.
"Is there any news I care about?" The bored man asked.
The record keeper flinched at the tone. Looking absolutely petrified at the thought of boring his guest, the mousy man stuttered for a moment as he tried to find a topic of conversation that would interest both parties. However, that's where he would permanently draw a blank. These two were as different as night and day. One was a bookkeeper in charge of the information given to Alderman while the other was in charge of ending people's lives.
"It's hardly news that Alderman's new bride has suddenly perished," The bored man drawled.
"Y-You're right... Ion, sir," The bookkeeper fiddled with his wire rimmed glasses. "F-Forgive me for even mentioning it."
The man, Ion, just gave the bookkeeper a dead look. Honestly, why was he sent to the library of all places? Couldn't Alderman have just dismissed him for the time being? Apparently the man needed to talk after his meeting, so Ion had been forced to wait. Surrounded on all sides by shelves, the room was much to small for the amount of books kept in the room.
"You didn't answer my question," Ion said. His dark blue eyes made it a point to shift over to the claymore laying on the table next to him.
The bookkeeper gulped audibly, much to Ion's amusement. Ah, how quickly people got flustered whenever he threatened them with his Last Judgement. The bookkeeper was hurriedly flipping through his notes on the table trying to find something of interest.
"Well there's been a conflict in Alabasta that's hurt our business, Marines almost caught one of our operatives in the New World, and the double-crosser was seen somewhere in the vicinity of Crissor..."
The bookkeeper continued on with the news about the business, but Ion only latched onto that last part of the sentence. Slamming his gauntleted right hand on the table made the bookkeeper flinch once more. It was then that the informant saw Ion's face come to life for the first time since he got there. His dark blue eyes sparked with interest at the thought of seeing her again.
"By 'double-crosser', do you mean Mina?" Ion's face settled into an incredibly unsettling grin.
The informant could only nod the affirmative. Ion stood up from the armchair he had been lounging in, his black cloak falling back into place around his muscular frame. Grabbing Last Judgement off the table and strapping it to his back, the man crossed the large room to the table of maps on various islands of the Grand Line. He searched for a map of Crissor island, although Ion doubted that Alderman would bother with such a location as it had become a pirate den as of late. Still, the man lucked out tremendously when he found a map of the area and a few surrounding islands.
"Oh where, oh were has my little dove gone..." Ion hummed as his hand traced over the possible islands.
The bookkeeper had come up beside the rather intimidating man out of curiosity.
"D-Did the boss tell you to find her or something?" The man asked.
At those words, Ion clenched his fists. The informant immediately regretted opening his mouth and took several large steps back. He did not want to be hit with either that claymore or the gauntlets Ion wore.
"This is just between us, understand?" Ion's icy stare was back and directed at the informant.
"S-S-Sir?" The poor man's knees were practically knocking together.
"Alderman doesn't need to know about this. It's irrelevant to his current goals."
"B-But... I could be killed if I-"
"And you'll be killed if you tell him," Ion interrupted the man. "Pick your poison. Shot by one of Alderman's body guards, or killed by me. Which will it be?"
Ion was seriously considering just murdering the man where he stood. Alderman would be mildly put out at the very least but there wasn't anything he could do. His hand twitched in anticipation of drawing his blade.
"Understood, sir. I checked the report out and it was false, no need to tell the boss faulty intelligence..." The bookkeeper stared at the gray rug of the library as he fiddled with his glasses nervously.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Ion said as he turned back to the maps. "Just know that I expect you to keep your word, and if you don't... Well, there are other informants Alderman can use."
The bookkeeper felt like a death sentence had just been dealt to him. He was between a rock and a hard place. Feeling rather sick with worry, he barely noticed Ion turning from the maps and heading towards the door.
"Found you..." He whispered.
Now, time to get the meeting with Alderman over with. He really didn't care that he'd most likely be interrupting a meeting. All Ion cared about was making his plan.
Well now, that was fun. If the chapter seemed a bit disjointed, I'm sorry about that. I hit a block with this chatper for the longest time. But as promised, there's a bit of an extra below this note. A mini... Or rather an omake. Now, this omake has nothing to do with the plot and will probably never be mentioned in the main story. And as such, characters will be out of character strictly for laughs. So, enjoy the first omake of Phantoms of the Underworld.
Omake: The Wager
How on Earth did she get herself into these types of situations? Crammed into a cake whilst wearing a bunny suit... Sounds about right. Oh, if her grandfather could see her now... Mina was sure that she would've gotten an earful. Sighing heavily, all she could do was wait for her cue. And perhaps reflect on how she got into this situation.
Sarge was going to get his after this little show was over with. Who knew the man would actually get lucky while playing poker? Well, it wasn't so much luck as it was a conspiracy to get her to lose. Either way, Sarge and his cohorts were going to regret ever having made the wager in the first place. Although... Who said that Mina couldn't have a bit of fun while playing the part of a bunny girl? Shoving her residual anger aside, she waited patiently for her cue.
Hearing the door open and shut, Mina knew that was the signal. Well, best get this over with. Jumping from her position inside the cake, Mina popped out of the top as a surprise for her... Target. That target being her captain of course.
Law could only watch in shock as Mina made her appearance from the rather large layered cake in his office. Of course his eyes immediately went to the rabbit ears on top of her head... And then he looked at what else she was wearing. The black strapless leotard she wore hugged the right places on her body. It accented her hips and bust rather well with a generous amount of cleavage being shown. Her black heels clicked gently on the floor as she approached him. Sliding her right hand up his chest and to his shoulder, she got a bit too close for comfort. Meeting his wide eyes, Mina gave him a sultry smile as she pushed him back towards the sofa in his office.
"Why don't we have a little bit of... Fun?" Mina asked him. "Wouldn't that be nice? Right, Cap-tain?"
And with that, Law felt the back of his legs hit the sofa.
"Care to take a seat?" Mina said sweetly.
It didn't take long for Law to notice that cotton tail on the back of her leotard...
Hm, maybe she didn't need to get back at Sarge. After all, seeing the vulnerable side to her captain was reward enough.