The next day, the prisoners on the Spirit of Liberty were gathered in their "classroom". The film about the evils of greed and capital and people owning their own labor ended. The "students" sat there in a trance. Lestahl turned off the transponder snail and stepped forward, saying "so, comrades, what did we learn?"
"That the upper class oppresses the lower class by nature of their very existence," said Freddie in a creepy monotone. "Even in a world where there are no Celestial Dragons."
"Very good, Comrade Freddie! What else?"
"The oppressed workers must throw off their shackles and lead a violent uprising against the upper class," said Roxanne in a similar monotone. "No gods or masters except Balthasar von Esens and his god above him."
"Excellent!" Lestahl exclaimed. "I think you little comrades are ready for your labor in service to our great king!"
Lestahl held his right arm up, hand parallel to the ceiling, and the new batch of revolutionaries followed suit.
"GLORY TO MINUS WORLD!" Lestahl shouted.
"GLORY TO MINUS WORLD!" the "students" echoed.
—
The Spirit of Liberty sailed toward Mesomeso Island. It headed into a massive cave on the northeastern side of the island, secluded by a waterfall from one of the kingdom's titular twin rivers. The ship dropped anchor, and one by one, the prisoners were unloaded onto a hidden dock by Minus World soldiers. In exchange, burly giant-like men (they had to be at least thirty feet tall), topless in long gown-like garments, began loading crate after crate of weapons and Happy Happy Grass onto the Spirit of Liberty. Notably, they were all wearing purple toupees.
As this transpired, Roxanne stood in awe of the men, commenting "wow… they must be giants…"
"Nah, real giants are bigger than that," said Franco, who had received his robot legs back so he could walk, but not his arm.
"QUIET!" shouted the Minus World soldier escorting them as he whipped Franco with a cat o' nine tails.
A giant-like man took the chain that all the prisoners were attached to and asked "these our new workers?" to which the Minus World soldier nodded.
"A couple of these guys look pretty tough," said the giant, adjusting his purple toupee. "Good. Your last batch croaked pretty quickly."
The giant looked down at his prisoners and asked "are you lot ready to prove your worth to Minus World and your king? For equality?"
Almost as if a switch had flipped in their heads, the prisoners raised their right hands, palms facing the ceiling of the cave (save Franco, who was missing his right arm, so he raised his left hand instead) and exclaimed "at once, comrade!" in unison.
Balthasar von Esens and his creepy sister stood on the deck. Rusila was playing with one of her dolls… until she burned it to cinders with her fire powers and giggled.
Rusila turned to her brother and asked "vhere are ve going next, big brozer?"
"Let ahs return to ze Tvilight Kingdom for ze time being. Marie Jois iss probably on guard more zan usual after our conquest off Ficks Dafis."
"Yaaaay! Ve're going home!" Rusila cheered.
And with that, the Spirit of Liberty departed from the Twin Rivers Kingdom.
—
The Marine battleship carrying the CPW-2 agents docked at Flansburg, the port town of the Twin Rivers Kingdom, located in the southwest. The three agents hopped off the ship, not bothering to use the ramp that had been lowered for them. Salvatore slipped as he landed, almost falling off the dock, but Zeiko grabbed his hand and caught him before he could.
"This mission shouldn't take more than a few days, Rear Admiral!" Zeimaru called up to the deck. "Go ahead and do whatever while we're gone!"
The rear admiral nodded and gave the order for the ship to depart. The Cipher Pol agents headed up into the city, where they found a bustling civilization of giant-like people. It was a summer island, hot and dry, with very little foliage. The buildings were simple, being made mostly of clay and having simplistic geometric shapes. Like the men at the hidden port, the citizens were all wearing purple hairpieces. The streets were filled with the giants driving cars that looked like giant minks.
"You're stocked up on smokes, right, Zeimaru?" Zeiko asked.
"Why?" he responded.
"Because we're probably not gonna be able to find any our size for the next while," Zeiko said, lighting up a cigarette.
The three agents stood in the city, in awe at how small they were compared to the general populace. Then, out of nowhere, a filthy scarecrow popped up out of the ground behind the trio, waving its broomstick arms and doing parodies of each unconscious thing Salvatore did.
Hearing the rustling of the scarecrow, Salvatore swiveled around. The scarecrow revealed itself to be wearing Salvatore's confused expression, somehow morphing its blank scarecrow face into Salvatore's.
"What the…?!"
Zeiko and Zeimaru turned around, and the scarecrow was gone, having disappeared and reappeared behind them. It began making parodies of Zeiko and Zeimaru now.
"Guys, it's behind you now!" Salvatore called, pointing at the scarecrow.
The twins looked back around, and saw the scarecrow now wearing Zeiko's face.
A giant approached the agent trio, squishing the scarecrow under his foot. "Ho there, little people! What brings you to our city today?"
"What was that thing?!" Salvatore shouted.
"Ah, that was an Imitator Scarecrow! Common pests in the Twin Rivers Kingdom! Pay them no mind. They just pop up from time to time where your eyes don't go. Now who are you?"
The trio produced their badges, and Zeiko said "we're from the World Government's Cipher Pol W-2 division. We're tax collectors. The ruler of this island has some explaining to do."
"Oh! Explaining, eh?" the giant asked, stroking his beard. "Well, our leader is in the capital city of Linnelton. It's located at the eastern end of the island beyond the Guris River. You should talk to the mayor first."
"Thank you for your cooperation, sir," Zeimaru said, blowing smoke and putting his badge away. "We'll do just that."
"Here, I'll get you all a mink taxi so your tiny legs don't have to walk all that way!" said the giant. He scooped up the agents in his hand and raised his other one to hail the taxi. A giant mink rushed forward down the road to the giant, and a door on the mink's side big enough for a giant opened up. The giant dumped the agents inside and pulled out a (relatively) small bag, dropping it on the seat next to Zeiko.
"There! That should cover your fare to city hall!"
Zeiko looked in the bag and pulled out what looked like a giant piece of kibble.
"What is—"
"Oh yes! We don't use World Government berries here! We use cat food for our general expenses! Berries are only used for paying the World Government's Heavenly Tribute!"
The trio had to force themselves to hide their shocked expressions.
"This place is weird…" Salvatore muttered.
The giant slammed the door and slapped the mink's rear, and the mink took off in the direction of city hall.
—
The Marine battleship carrying the Cipher Pol agents was soon gone, and across the horizon. Coincidentally, the Humo Robinson began to see Mesomeso Island in the distance. A grunt in the crow's nest called down to Shaska, who was sitting on the deck, reading the newspaper, still covered in bandages.
"Boss! There's an island up ahead!"
Shaska folded up the paper and pulled out her binoculars. "Perfect. This must be the place," she said, looking at the island in the distance.
She got up and headed back to her room, then picked up her transponder snail and dialed into the Robinson's PA system.
"Alright, guys! We're almost to Mesomeso Island! Remember! No funny business! We're just here to relax and recuperate after we got our asses kicked at the last island. Okay?"
Caaaalick
Shaska let out a long sigh, then rhetorically asked "we're gonna have to fight, aren't we?"
—-
Shaska headed up to the helm, where she found Zinnia steering the ship as usual.
"Miss Shaska, where do you want me to dock the ship? I do not think it is wise for us to dock at the main port, given the bounties on our heads."
"You got that right, sna–Zinnia. Sail around, look for a secluded spot. We'll drop anchor there and head onto the island."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And you understand our mission here, right? We're gonna relax until the log resets, got it?"
"I am autistic, not stupid, Miss Shaska," Zinnia replied.
"Oh, so there's a word for what you are," Shaska said, walking away.
As the door shut behind Shaska, Zinnia turned to Ruth, who was wrapped around her like usual. She stroked the snake's chin, saying "you are the only one who understands me, Ruth."
—-
Sure enough, at the mouth of one of the kingdom's titular rivers on the northwestern edge of the island was a grotto that was just big enough for the Robinson to hide in and comfortably turn around. Zinnia dropped the anchor, and the crew of about a hundred fifty gathered on the deck. At the front were the officers. Shaska paced in front of them, her tentacle feet making noticeable squishing sounds. She was wearing a new blazer over her bandaged torso.
"Alright, everyone, we're just here to relax until the log changes, got it?" Shaska asked. "Don't go poking your nose in any of the island's serious affairs. In fact, most of you should lay low here on the Robinson while us officers get supplies and figure out where we're heading next."
"Works for me," said Delilah, rubbing her cast.
"Let's agree to regroup here in three days. It's gonna be a long, tall weekend, but I think we can do it."
Zinnia raised her hand.
"Yes, Zinnia…?"
"What happens if we do find trouble, Miss Shaska?"
"Do your best not to engage, okay?" Shaska responded. "We don't. Want. Trouble. While we're here, okay?"
"I don't know about you darlings, but I'm quite eager to do some exploring!" Lulupo said.
"I think I'll lay back here for the weekend," said Puerco. "Got a lot of patients that still need tending to."
"Might be nice to explore a new locale," said Isha, pairing up with Lulupo. "Though, this place doesn't look very wet outside the rivers… I'll need to bring a lot of water."
She turned back to Puerco and said "keep them stable, 'kay?", to which Puerco's eyes became hearts and his tongue fell out of his mouth.
Johnson, absent of his robotic backpack, stretched a bit, saying "it'll definitely be nice to relax after the collective beating we took at Vicks Davis. I wonder what kind of books I can find here."
Ren, sans her guns and explosives, nodded, saying "I will join Johnson. Bookstores may have new and interesting comics to check out!"
"What are we waiting for, then?" Schwarz asked, stretching as well. He promptly warped himself over to the shore. "Let's go!"
Shaska pulled out several large stacks of cash. "Here's twenty thousand berries as an allowance for each of you. Don't go too crazy, okay?"
"I assure you I am mentally stable, Miss Shaska," Zinnia said, taking a stack of cash.
The officers (sans Puerco and Roxanne) disembarked from the Robinson and headed inland.
—
The seven officers stepped out into the sun from the grotto, and immediately had to shield their eyes. Each had a large container of water strapped to their backs. The heat of the sun was somehow much more overbearing now than it was when they were sailing into the island.
"Oh, GEEZ, it is hot!" Ren exclaimed, sipping her water.
"Methinks we're not dressed appropriately," said Schwarz, tugging on his collar.
"Shaska and I can cool off in the river," said Isha, crossing her arms. "You all aren't so lucky. It's important we prevent heat stroke and sunburn."
"We have lots of clothes on the Robinson, but… I don't think we have anything for a desert climate," said Shaska.
"Well, only one option," said Schwarz. He dropped his water pack and pulled off his shirt, revealing his muscles and numerous scars, which caused Ren to go bright red and get a slight nosebleed. Lulupo couldn't help but stare as well.
"D-darlings…" Lulupo stammered, coming to his senses. "I believe I have a solution. Gather round!"
The other six officers did what they were told, gathering around Lulupo. He grew his hair out long and tight, creating a large parasol of hair that provided shade.
"Oh, that is much better!" Zinnia exclaimed.
"You sure all that head fur's good for you, Lulupo?" Johnson asked.
"I'm fine, darling," said Lulupo, visibly starting to sweat already. "Let's… let's just find a town sooner rather than later."
And so, Worldwide Smoke began their trek through the desert, looking for a town where they could pick up supplies and relax.
"Ow. Ow. Ow," Shaska muttered with every step through the hot sand.
"What's wrong, Shaska? Your wound opening up?" Isha asked.
"Au contraire, I'm not wearing shoes in this sand!" Shaska declared, holding up her tentacle foot. "It's like walking through boiling water!"
"…and why not?" Isha asked, pulling out a lollipop.
"Because I'd have to get custom shoes made for these tentacle feet! And I'm not gonna hire a specialty cobbler!", to which Isha rolled her eyes.
"Hairy pretty boy, do you mind carrying me?" Shaska asked. "I'll throw in an extra ten thousand for the trouble."
Lulupo sighed and said "if you insist, darling," before scooping Shaska up in his arm hair.
No sooner than Lulupo picked up Shaska, however, did the crew begin to feel a tremendous rumbling from the ground.
"W-what the…?!" shouted Isha.
"We're gonna die…" Johnson muttered, clutching his forehead.
"Damn good times, eh, birdson?" Schwarz quipped.
The sands opened up in front of Worldwide Smoke, and from the desert came a gigantic worm, a worm so huge it would have easily towered over one of the "giants" who inhabited the island. The worm, despite its monstrous size, had a friendly face. And for some reason, it was wearing a doctor's head mirror. At its sides were two tiny arms with which it was carrying drumsticks.
The worm stared down at Worldwide Smoke, who reflexively prepared for combat as best they could without their weapons.
The worm smiled and said "they call me Doctor Worm. Good morning, how are you, I'm Doctor Worm!"
Doctor Worm was met with a collective flat "what."
TO BE CONTINUED