What would you say
If you had to leave today
Leave everything behind
Even though for once you shining
(Line of fire - Joze Gonzales)
Chapter 9
After the transient confusion at being suddenly awoken cleared, I grabbed my pistol. These days, I always sleep with it loaded and on my person. In a flash, I had it levelled at the mysterious man, who had presumably been following me since I saw him at Norgren Island—maybe even before. As he had yet to make any threatening move, I didn't shoot yet. If anything, he looked nervous now that I studied him.
"Algea don't shoot!"
"Give me a good reason," I challenged him.
"I will explain everything, I promise you, but now is not a good time, we have to leave here now."
"Why, what's so urgent?"
"Men from the town, they connected you to your bounty poster. They know you are staying here. About 12 of them, from what I saw, are coming now."
"Shit." I thought something like this would happen but I hoped in a place like this I would be okay for a day or two.
"We have to go," he urged, now looking increasingly desperate, his head swinging side to side searching for the locals hunting me.
I ran my hand through my hair and looked up to the house of Pluto and his family, his wife and two kids. Would they be okay if I left, or would it be worse if I stayed?
The sounds started as a whisper, indistinguishable from the rustling leaves. Crackling flames, stomping feet and the drunken jeering of men psyching each other up to fight, to take me dead or alive. The mysterious man and I looked in that direction then back at each other.
"Quickly they will be here in a moment," he urged me.
"Okay, quick let's hide," I pointed a few yards away near Pluto's family house where there were bushes at the boundary of a small wooded area.
"No, we need to go, as in off this island and out to sea."
I ignored the man and ran to my hiding spot, I could hear him following. We made it to a good spot where I could peek through the plants, just as the large group of men arrived. He was right, one dozen men, ranging from teens to middle aged. All drunk, none I recognised from the party earlier, I had been keeping a vigilant eye. Aha no one of the teens, stood at the back looking uncomfortable. The men fanned out, some had knives, others sticks, harpoons and two older men were holding torches.
"Algea Morvah," a well muscled man with a grizzled face bellowed at the house relishing in the fanfare, "you got a bounty and we are here to collect it, come quietly and we will take you in alive,"
I heard a window slide open, "What is the meaning of this, you lot aren't welcome here," Pluto called out to the men sounding concerned.
"We know you're harbouring a criminal Pluto, send him out or we are coming in."
"My family are in here and nobody else, I swear it, you can't come in," Pluto was pleading now.
He was a good man, but I got no impression he was not a fighter, a man much like myself up until recently. I looked over at the man next to me, he too looked scared and unprepared for a fight.
"You any use in a fight," I whispered to him.
"No, I'm more of an information gatherer," he spluttered back indignantly.
I unwrapped Aji, and handed it to him, "Just in case you hold this."
"Oh dear," he gawped at the dangerous weapon.
I looked over and saw two of the men making their way over to Pluto's house. Pluto quickly closed the window and retreated inside. The two men started ramming the door with their shoulders. It looked like it would hold but I wouldn't just let these men terrorise my friend like this. I stood up, squared my shoulders and walked out into the opening.
"I hear you lot are looking for me," I called out.
"It's him!" one shouted.
"So you were here."
"You gonna come quiet," the grizzled man called out to me.
"Yeah just leave this man and his family be, they are good people, you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves," I berated them.
"Yeah yeah, save the saintly act old man, I saw the poster, you are wanted for multiple counts of murder and theft,"
I started walking towards a group of them, slowly my hands down by my side, relaxed but confident. I reached into my jacket and they tensed baring their makeshift weapons at me.
"Relax."
I pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a match, puffing deeply, and they lowered their guards, lower than they were before. As I got within an arm's reach, one of the men reached out to grab the scruff of my collar. When he did I blew a lungful of smoke into his face and swung my sword with all my might. The blade screeched out of its sheath with numbing intensity.
His head went rolling through the air, an expression of shock and disbelief stuck on his face. My blade didn't stop there, cutting the arm off of one of the torch holders. He screamed in pain and fell to the floor clutching the wound now seemingly spraying litres of blood. At the end of my sword's ark, it superficially cut a shallow gash in one of the younger men's shoulders. He looked ready to piss his pants and fell on his arse, catatonic.
Like a slash I felt a harpoon ripping through the air at my head, I leant out of its path and pulled my pistol on the man, shooting him in the face at point blank.
"Noooo," the second older man screamed and charged me in a man dash, which I sidestepped and drove the basket of my swords hard into the back of his head like a pistol. He crashed into the ground and didn't move again.
A brief still as the crowd of men now nearly cut in half stared at me and the destruction I had wrought in half a minute. I made a mental tally of the opponents left while I waited for them to make a move. One young man by the path back to town, too scared to move. One man in front of me was in utter shock. A few more off the one side looking at each other. Lastly the grizzled man and two big men who had been knocking in Pluto's door.
"Get him" the grizzled leader commanded the two muscled men at the door.
They came charging, as they did the man by me, chose this moment to take a clumsy stab with his fishing knife, I dodged and cut off his hand at the wrist without looking. The bug men reached me, one swinging a massive fist that I dodged, the second had a gnarled old stick with a not at the top. He swung it with a deceptive speed and caught my lower rips, I coughed and stubbled. The first man went to bring both fists down on my head. I dived and rolled to one side and shot him in the side. He didn't go down but sped at me and tried to stomp on my stomach. I rolled again and swiped my sword into his leg. This time he went down groaning.
I managed to stumble onto my feat just in time for the stick wielder to drive it into my solar plexus, I fell to me knees. And he grabbed me by the neck, choking me. The grizzled man strode over looking somehow pleased with this outcome. The big man holding me was simply watching the over big man bleeding and groaning on the floor.
"I think I'll bring you in dead" he grinned a manic look in his eye.
"Marvin, my brother," the big man pleaded, a much softer voice than I expected I dimly observed through the haze. He was gesturing at the shot and sliced and shot man groaning weekly on the floor.
"Just wait idiot, we have to finish him"
The mysterious man who woke me up came running into the opening with Aji raised overhead. Marvin span around in shock, he sidestepped the attack, tripped the man and placed a foot on his chest
"Who the fuck are you."
I saw something then that shocked me, but nobody else saw it. Everyone was too preoccupied, the man holding me was calling to his brother, who was responding less and less. And while he did his grip got looser on me. Marvin was reaching down to the mysterious man with his knife in hand, shouting that he was gonna cut him if he didn't say who he was. It was Pluto, kitchen knife in hand, first tip-toeing out of the door then he broke into a sprint. Marvin looked over a second too late.
Shlick
The meticulously sharpened kitchen knife sank in with almost no noise. Pluto fell back hyperventilating, and Marvin took a few steps. Eerily reminding me of Gus' last moment, so much so that I knew what was coming when he keeled over. I drove my heel into my captor's foot, and my elbow into his ribs. He let go and I jumped away and levelled my sword at him threateningly.
"It's over, tend to your wounded," I commanded him
He nodded not saying a word, picked up his brother and left. I looked over to see a few of the older men, helping the wounded away, the two teens I assume must have run away. In a minute only the dead bodies littered the clearing.
I walked over to Pluto, he was staring at his bloody hand, hyperventilating, when his wife ran out.
"Luto," she cried and hugged him.
They both began to cry.
"Come on," I gently pulled them up and walked them inside. The two kids were on the stairs watching.
"Go to bed now," their mother sternly told them.
I fixed the couple tea and brandy and left to clear away the bodies, I didn't want them to have to deal with that. I hauled them away, one by one, and buried them in the woods. After that I filled some buckets of water and poured them over the blood stained grass, soaking the worst of it away. It was morning now when I finished my dirty work, I came back to the clearing. The man was there, talking in hushed tones to a Den Den Mushi. I grabbed my supplies, snatched up the beautiful mackerel inspired katana Aji, and left it on the doorstep of Pluto's house, as a form of atonement, as much as I'm sure the last thing he wants is a sword, at least it is a very valuable one. With that done I turned and started walking away, a sick feeling in my stomach, that my bounty had wrought such chaos and pain on such a peaceful place. I hope they can recover and that this doesn't create bad blood with the village folk.
"WAIT"
My mysterious stalker called after me and came running, I didn't stop, and he fell into step next to me.
"My ship is moored up down the coast, just out from a small cove, we can get there through the forest," the man informed me.
"I have my own boat, thanks for the help back there and everything but I don't know you," I certainly felt less animosity towards the strange man now, but that doesn't mean I want to get on his boat for no good reason.
"I wouldn't bother, the mob that came for your bounty went to town on it before coming for you, they wanted to make sure you couldn't escape the island," he informed me.
"Hmm, let's just say I believe you, who are you and what do you want with me?"
"My name is Pessoa, I represent an organisation, who are steadfast in the fight against oppression and tyranny the whole world over. One of my superiors believes, based on your actions in Lougetown, that your ideologies may align with our own."
"That's it is it, you've been trailing me island hopping for over a week now, due to shared beliefs… pull the other one mate," I scoffed at him "What does your boss really want with me?"
I stopped on the path, and so did he.
"We acquired written testimony from one Virgil Hapner Jr, it was highly classified and incredibly difficult to acquire," he stopped to clear his throat "The testimony stated that you stole a devil fruit."
This was not an unexpected line of questioning, however it was making me more and more uncomfortable.
"Ah so your boss, heard I may have a devil fruit and want it." I spat with contempt.
"Not quite, I don't know if you understand what you did when you killed the patriarch of the Hapner family, they are an old, well connected powerful family. They may not have been brazen about it, but they were quite possibly the most influential family in the east blue."
"I understand something of this, they oversaw an enormous network of food production and distribution, as well as other miscellaneous goods," I replied, concealing my more in-depth knowledge.
"Well what you may not have known is that they worked directly for the world government's upper echelon, in the trade of Devil Fruits, and when you killed Virgil Hapner you destabilised a several century old government network, creating a power vacuum that Virgil Jr is scrambling to fill with the backing of the marines," Franco informed me.
"So what does that have to do with me now," I pressed.
"In one evening a deadbeat drunk did more to weaken the world governments hold of the east blue than our organisation has managed in decades of resistance action, and we believe your role isn't over yet, my superior has a hunch you have somehow stumbled half drunk into possession of something the world government want, something they didn't know Virgil Sr had and now suspect you have."
A chill went down my spine, if that irksome brat got a good look at the fruit and described it I could be in deep deep deep shit.
"You are very likely in extreme danger, and the fact there is any doubt over whether you have already consumed this fruit is perhaps the only reason you are alive."
Gulp. That did it. He has me scared me now. I popped a cigarette into my mouth, lit it and started to greedily puff on it. Thoughts of government assassins and navy warships hunting him relentlessly.
"Right, well be that as it may I don't really give a shit" I bluffed, "you haven't told me what the fuck your boss wants with me?"
He sighed heavily dragging a hand heavily down his face, "It would be best you come with me so he can explain to you himself Mr Morvah"
I blew out a lungful of smoke with a dismissive chuckle, "riiiight, then what, if I'm not interested you let me walk."
"In the event we cannot come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement, you would of course be free to go, we are good people Mr Morvah."
"Listen, kid, thanks for saving my skin back there, but I'm not some naive brat," I quaffed with all the confidence I didn't feel.
I turned before he could go on trying to convince me and took off down the path to town.
"You don't understand what danger you are in, we can help you!" He called after me before running off into the woods.
I arrived in the town sometime later, as I walked through, doors slammed, and shadowed faces peaked through drawn curtains. A door beside me slammed open and I span to see a woman screaming and crying, she ran up to me, tears pouring down her face and grabbed onto my jacket.
"My husband, where is he you bastard" she cried.
Her sobbing renewed and fell to her knees at my feet, I looked down and noticed the swelling of her stomach, pregnant. Slowly one of the young lads from last night crept out the door, his arm bandaged and rushed to the woman's side holding her protectively.
He glared up at me with wild eyes, fear and fury in equal measure. "G… g… Get out of here."
Fuck me, this is depressing. I turned and carried on towards the dock, to validate the strange man's claims of my boat's condition.
Gods that was bleak, but it's not like I came here looking for a fight, they came to take my life not the other way around. I gritted my teeth and grabbed a fresh cigarette, smoking mechanically.
I arrived at the docks to an unwelcome but not surprising sight, my boat was gone, on closer inspection it had been dragged up onto the shingle beach to the left. The mast was smashed and the rudder removed, it would take some serious work to fix it up and unfortunately, I no longer had the time, nor did I suspect the goodwill on this island to source tools and lumber.
I heard a person slowly approaching, their feet shuffling and a steady clack clack clack of a wooden walking stick beating against the docks. I turned and saw an exceptionally old man he was maybe three and a half feet tall, with thick white hair surrounding his sagging leather face.
"Now listen here you pirate scum I'm the mayor of this town and I called the Marines, they say they'll be here soon so you just sit tight" he croaked out and began coughing.
I span back around, to see all the other boats were gone. Damn, this is shaping up to be a huge disaster, Pessoa was right, maybe I should've taken the lift.
"That's right, I had anyone I could muster take our boats out to sea, so you couldn't steal 'em. You killed some good men last night, 'bout time you pay for your crimes I say."
"They came for me, not the other way around you wrinkled old bastard." I vehemently defended myself.
I scanned the sea, seeing boats dotted about, all bobbing in place, anchors down and sails furled, watching on in apprehension. I spotted one small sailboat sailing fast towards the harbour. At the rudder waving frantically to me was Pessoa.
As he got closer I heard him shouting to me but it was too distant to be heard. A small crowd of what locals were left in the village began to gather behind the mayor and jeer at me. 'Get lost creep', 'The navy will hang you' 'You killed my daddy, I hate you' and other such rubbish I tried to tune out to hear Pessoa.
"SWIM!"
Cut through like a hammer.
"Navy's here, you have to swim!"
He was shouting over and over, coming towards the harbour at speed, clearly no intention of docking.
Thwack
A stone smacked across my head, drawing blood. I turned and saw the locals arming themselves with rocks. I turned back and saw Pesoa start to steer in an arc that would take him back out to sea with or without me. I started sprinting down the wooden pier and leapt into the water.