Serious: The Fair Pirates, chapter 1: A new Beginning?

The other man finally said something and then turned to the bartender who was in the midst of his thoughts about who those two strangers were.
To his question Henry shook his head and then spoke:
"No idea but this surely isn't going anywhere good for us." He said. " Those two ran away quite fast and now we are stuck."

And probably going to be blamed for all this, he added in his thoughts.

The whole pessimistic energy somehow attracted the attention of a short girl that was using all sorts of methods to overcome the curious crowd which had surrounded the two men.
She finally was able to reach the two men and told them that they had to come with her.

The big man and the dog followed her quickly while Lansbury wasn't going nowhere.
"Oh, no, no,no." He went a few feet back. " I got a job I have to attend to."

"Oh, you do?"
Esther sounded truly surprised. What had she expected? that those two ere simply some homeless, jobless people who happened to meet the pirates her love was looking for?
She snapped her fingers. Of course he had a job! Obviously, he was one of the pirates!
"Well, but you must come with me! I insist on it, mister pirate!"
The two marine soldiers were quick with their guns, which they were now pointing at him.
"Permission to shoot, lady von Rosberg?"
Esther shook her head wildly.
"Nonononono, don't shoot him! The poor man won't be able to answer any questions if you shoot him! So, how about this, you bring him to the base and hold him there. I'll come there later. I still have a call to make, anyway."
She smiled brightly. Finally, she was making some process here!
She looked back at the man and... the dog who had been willing to follow her.
"Well, shall we?"

Pirates ?

What pirates.

Oh hell no.

That's what was in Henry's mind.
"You got an awful mistake, lady, I ain't no god damn pirate." He said strictly. "I am a bloody bartender on a liner in the Grand Line. "
Now it went to shooting him up but the short lady saved him from being shot.
Lansbury raised his hands in the air surrendering, something he did not like but it was futile to resist anyway.
"Alright, alright, you win." He said in a surrendering tone. "Now lead the way."

The bartender went up to the lady while keeping his hands in the air just in case some nervous lil recruit could hold pressure and shot him. Henry looked around the marines and using his body language to say that he meant no harm as he approached the woman.
Bet she some high-ranked girl thanks to poppa's power. Lansbury thought showing a disgusted face.

"Now that's more like it, good boy."
She was reliefed. No need to shoot anyone today... Everything was going so well! Theo would be proud of her!
She had the feeling that her hat disapproved of her way of thinking... But she shook it off as she headed for the marine base, the two men following, the marine soldiers still carefully pointing their guns at their backs.
One of the soldiers proceeded to open the gate, and Esthme lead her "guests" to a surprisingly comfortable room that the soldiers usually seemed to spend their breaks in. She chased a few of them out and had the two from earlier guard the door before she sat down on a coach and searched through her back. she pulled out something to write.
"Sit, please. Make yourselves comfortable!"
She wondered if she should be stricter with potential pirates... But she just couldn't bring herself to do it. There would be enough time to lock them up later.

What Henry Lansbury was expecting was none of that. He was expecting gray walls, black jail bars and a wooden table that had blood on it ready for interrogation but this...
It was a comfortable room and it had soft couches which Henry quick let his body relax on them while looking around for anything as a potential threat to them. Things that looked way too good were not good at all.
The bartender remained silent as he made himself comfortable on the soft couch infront of the woman.

Avery followed the woman without questioning her actions, despite the fact that she just bullied his only potential ally into going along with her. It was starting to look like Avery really was in trouble. When they finally reached the Marine Base and entered the comfortable break room, Avery waited until both the girl and the bartender (if he really was a bartender) had sat down before he walked over, ignoring the couches, and plopped himself on the ground. Lawrence trotted over to his master's side and placed his head on Avery's lap, staring up at him with mournful eyes. Avery ran his fingers over his dog's head absentmindedly as he looked up at the girl.

"So, what's up?" he asked.

"It's like, a bad feelin' bad," Seppy tried to explain. "It's like how I felt when that huge chick with th'muscles attacked me, an' I knew somebody'd done somethin' t'you...like, I dunno. It feels bad, bad." The idea of dealing with anyone right now sat sourly with the ex-hunter. The island had felt so clean and safe when they'd gotten there...had that all been an illusion, too?

"I kin get out here an' find out who's on th'island, what's feelin' so 'bad'...but I can' do it 'till night."

Seppy sniffed the air, taking a catalogue of every scent present. He then began to lead Miyu through the alleys, occasionally coming out onto streets just long enough to duck back out of sight in some new alley. Eventually, they came to a place where the alleys ran one into the next, and soon it was a mazework, the alleys tall and their tops covered with planks and tarps, turning the world below into a shaded blue maze.

Testing the air again, Seppy found only one familiar scent; nothing had followed them except for possibly a cat. That seemed natural enough; they did, after all, have the smell of seafood about themselves. Satisfied they'd be safe for now, he turned back to Miyu.

"Sorry if th'place stinks...this 's a 'Rat's Nest'," he explained, pointing to the walls. They were covered with graffiti, lined with sleeping bodies. Occasionally somebody stirred from their drunken slumber long enough to inspect the two outsiders, but nobody much seemed to care.

"Nobody'll look fer us here, an' we kin move out once it starts gettin' dark." Seppy found a crate and dusted it off with his palm, setting it down so Miyu would have a place to sit. He then gave the girl an apologetic look, his smile missing for the time being.

"Sorry if it's kinna a shitty hidin' spot, an' borin' too..." Seppy said, seeming unusually aware of how lame his plan is. "'M not usually so jumpy, but righ' now...jus' not feelin' it, y'know? Danger never fel so...dangerous, before you." Laughing nervously, Seppy glanced around the shady back alley.

"'S like 'm more worried 'bout your hide than my own, nya hahaha!"

Miyu smiled and sat down, not very careful about whether her dress got dirty in the process or not.
"I think it's a good hiding spot!"
It was only half a lie, too. she felt a little sorry for Seppy, the poor man had to keep up with her, protected her from all harm... Something she had done alone before... She just hoped he didn't get himself killed.
"Hey, Seppy... don't overdo it with protecting me, okay? If it gets too dangerous, please run, okay?"
The last thing she needed was him dieing for her.

Up above them, the cat decided it was about time she made a move. Esther could be too fast to judge sometimes, and they didn't really know yet if those reslly were the pirates they were looking for... She didn't like helping Esther in her ridiculous plan... she didn't like Theo. But she was too loyal to not help her.
She jumped down carefully and landed in from of Miyu, who stretched her hand out when she saw her.
All right, she liked animals. Ebony sniffed at her hand and then let her pet her, like a normal cat would have. She was just going to eavesdrop for a little while.

"Well, okay. First question!"
esther looked at the two very closely.
"How about telling me your names and what you have to do with the two persons at the stand?"
she really hoped this wasn't just a big waste of time.

Avery's eyes widened. Then he blinked. Then a smile slowly crept onto his face. Then he just burst out laughing.

"The people at the stand?" Avery stated, still laughing his head off. "I only just met them today! In fact, I only apologized to the man because my dog was being annoying. You see, my dog started running and I had thought he was after a cat, but apparently it was just that guy. Then I told the guy I didn't like cats to try and explain the situation and he insulted my face." Avery stopped laughing and he went pale. He hung his head and started muttering, "My ugly, horrible face..."

Oh god! that had seemed to be the wrong thing to ask! Panic!
"Ah, err... I'm sorry, I didn't want to.. I mean... I think it's a fine face! Really, nothing wrong with it..."
No! She was being led on! He was trying to make her pity him so she'd believe his lies!
Damn, Theo wouldn't have fallen for this!
She pushed the little voice in her head aside. It had dared to say that Theo might not have fallen for a man, but...
"Uh. Nice try! I will not fall for this! What about you? Ehat lies will you feed me, bartender?"
She looked at the man with the sunglasses again.

Henry waited for Avery to finish his story which was true as Lansbury was there but he decided to just answer the question then start defending his only potential ally here.
"Look, my name is Henry Lansbury. You can check it up your database or whatever you get your information from." He said. " I was just loading alcohol up the ship when this takoyaki smell hit me so I want eating there. I just met those two that you are talking about there as they were next to me and I was accused of being a bounty hunter by the weird looking man. That's all, I've never seen them before."

Seppy's head tilted to the side a bit as Miyu spoke. He had one of those vacant, curious looks on his face. As soon as she'd finished, he smiled broadly and gave her a clawed thumb's up.

"Acourse! 'M tryin' t'keep us both safe...an yer jus' as strong as me anyways. Id'd be stupid t'jus' protect you..." Seppy rolled his eyes back in deep thought, holding up a clawed pointer finger. "'S way more fun when it's 'us.'"

Just as he finished spoking, a cat jumped down and stalked over to the two. It was clearly the same one he'd smelled since they began their flight. Miyu reached out to the cat, and she came over in kind. Seppy smiled at the little thing; he suspected his story about the stray following the smell of takoyaki might be right on.

"Ey there girl!" Seppy stated emphatically, crouching down next to the cat. His movements were abrupt and startling, and he had an aura that seemed, to every animal ever, to mark him as clearly being apart from the natural order. Still, there was a genuine kindness in his gestures that showed through right down to the instinctual level.

Reaching into his a side back on his pack, he pulled out a piece of dried fish. Crumbling the small, silvery fish by pressing it against his palm with his thumb, he held the aromatic, flaky treat out to the cat.

"Eat all y'want," Seppy instructed, smiling broadly. "Dunno if yer findin' food alrigh' out 'ere, but t'day y'can fill up!"

The cat jumped back when he first came close to her, looked at him curiously, ready to run.
When he offered her the fish, she came closer again, sniffed at it, looked at seppy again, and at the fish again, as if she was wondering whether or not this was a trap.
Then, she said: "Thanks!" and started carefully eating the fish out of his hand.

Miyu froze. Had that cat... talked just now? She stared at the little thing with a blank look on her face, as it ate the fish out of Seppys hand like it was the most normal thing on earth.
"Uhm..."
She didn't know what to say anymore...

"Yeeeah, of course you did..."
esthers voice wasn't as sure as she had wanted it to sound. really, those stories sounded... convincing, in a way.
She laid her pen down and thought for a while. Then she leaned forward. maybe being honest was the best way here.
"Look, I really, really need to catch those two you were with. They're pirates, the girl has a considerable bounty on her head... Also, for... personal reasons. It is very, very important to me, so please, if you know anything..."
She looked at them with eyes that would have put any begging dog to shame. Speaking of pets... where was Ebony?

Avery squinted at the girl, who seemed to be giving them puppy eyes right now. He knew that look well from Lawrence pulling it on him, and so he wasn't fooled.

"And I'm telling you I don't know anything about them," Avery replied. "Look, my story isn't so easy to confirm, but you can always find out whether or not that guy is telling the truth." He pointed over at Henry to indicate who he meant before continuing. "So let me ask a question or two of my own, if I may. Why did you grab us? I don't see the owner of the takoyaki stand here and he probably spoke to those two more then we did! Besides that, you showed up after the fact, not during the whole conversation so why don't you ask someone else, like those Marines who were there, what happened?" He figured from the way this girl was reacting that she got flustered easily. Hopefully he could capitalize on that fact and overwhelm her with idiotic questions.

"Oh, uhm.... errr.... Well..."
She didn't think of it. Why hadn't she thought of it. She glanced at the marine soldiers, then gave them a nod and they left the room.
"To tell the truth, I have been watching the two for a while... But I... can't really do anything, you see.... Because, uhm...."
Because she knew it would've made Theo mad...
But she couldn't say that! Suddenly, she stood up. she really had to get stricter...
"Soldiers!"
The two came in, they obviously had been waiting right before the door, possibly eavesdropping...
"Take the two into custody! I'm not done with them!"
"But..."
They couldn't just take people into custody, she knew. But she also knew they couldn't refuse a world nobles orders.
"I'm giving the orders! And I say I'm not done with them!"
In case they did belong to them, she didn't want to risk letting them go.
the guards sighed and escorted the two (plus dog) outside.

Once outside, one of the guards grimaced, the other one sighed.
"Damn those pesky nobles... think they can just do what they want..."
"Shhh, man! She could still hear you!"
One of them turned around.
"I'm sorry about that, can't really refuse her orders... her fathers got some serious influence..."
"Could get us executed right on the spot for this!"
Both of them shivered a little.
"Well, shall we?"

Inside the room, Esther was wondering if she had done the right thing.
She shook the thought of. Her hat was disappointed... or felt like it was... How could a hat be disappointed?
She looked at the den den mushi in front of her. then she sighed and dialed the number.

"Yer welcome," Seppy responded, not seeming to register that there was anything wrong with the talking cat. "If y'wan't another piece, I got a bunch. I usually save it fer snacks an' stuff, but this here's no waste of it. Eat up well, girl!"

There was a sudden thumping sound, like something very heavy hitting the ground. A dusty, scraping noise could be heard in the shadows behind Seppy. The new pirate himself paid it no mind at first, focusing on scratching the hungry kitty's head with his free hand while she ate. A moment later, however, the IQ-human was not the only one with his eyes on the cat. A massive black and gold serpentine head with sharp looking scales peered down at the feline from Seppy's shoulder.

"Wha...dammit, Fleshton!" Seppy politely dropped the rest of the fish on the ground, as quietly as he could, before reaching up to grab the python sitting over his shoulder by the neck. Before long, a few feet away from where he'd been crouching, he was wrestling a giant black and gold constrictor.

"Nah-uh! Y'don't come outta form on yer own! An' y'don't eat this cat! Nyaaa!"

"Chaaaaa," the snake hissed back at him. Seppy pulled his arms back, putting the snake in a sleeper hold. A few moments later he was holding a very familiar leather whip, covered in spiked barbs, in his arms. Picking himself up off the ground and patting it gently, with a few friendly and well-meaning jibes, Seppy hooked it back to the underside of his pack.

"Sorry 'bout that," Seppy apologized to Miyu and Ebony. "Guy's still a li'l roudy with me."

"S-Seppy! Are you okay?"
She raced to his side to see if the snake had wounded him.
"I didn't know you kept the whip."
Miyu wasn't even that surprised anymore... With Seppy as your partner, you had to expect the weirdest stuff to happen... Like cats talking...
The cat finished her meal and lisked her paws in search of any small crumbs that might be stuck on them.
"I'm Ebony."
"Oh hi, I'm..."
Miyu started. She had decided to at least try to be nice to the cat, but she was interrupted.
"I know who you are. Miyu Delaney and Septera, the ex bounty hunter, correct?"
Her eyes were fixed on Seppy as she asked the question.
"You're pirates. And the last time you were on land, you came in contact with a less than nice individual calling himself Theo, correct?"

Seppy regarded the cat for a bit, then crouched back down into place and nodded.

"Yeah..."

He stared at Ebony the way one cat stares at another, challengingly, trying to read her. After a little while his gaze became a bit less intense, and he tilted his head to the side before resuming dialogue.

"Theo...'m sorry, but I hate that guy." Seppy's face was resolute, his look determined and unapologetic. "I didn' wanna hurt anyone, really. But like...he tried t'take Mew away from me. That's worse than anything...so I had t'fight. I mean, I didn' really even lay a finger on 'm."

Leaning back, he turned his head up towards the covered alley tops, his backpack writhing a little. Staring into the empty blue, he continued speaking.

"Could y'jus' like...tell 'em we're not here?" Seppy leaned forward, his eyes locking with Ebony's. "I jus' wanna have fun...I jus' want me and Mew t'be happy."

Ebony tilted her head and looked at Seppy thoughtfully.
"I can assure you, I don't like Theodore either. It isjust the circumstances that bind me to him, because he's bound to my master, and my master's bound to me."
Her eyes darted to Miyu for a moment, then back to Seppy. Then she sighed and climbed up the building. When she was back on the roof, she looked down again.
"I'm sorry, but I have to tell my master... The only other thing I can do is trying to convince her not to tell Theodore, if that helps... I will do what I can."
Sometimes, it was hard deciding between loyalty to your master and loyalty to your race, Ebony thought as she raced over the rooftops, barely more than a black bolt.

"Ah, wait..."
Miyu stepped forward, but the cat was already gone.
"Who is your master..."
And more importantly, why was he "bound" to that bounty hunter?
She couldn't really imagine Theo having bounds to anyone else than his sister...
She looked up to Seppy.
"What do we do now?"

The den den mushi was asleep again, and Esther was looking at it with a concerned look in her eyes. She was deep in thought when Ebony jumped through the window.
"Master!"
Esther turned around and when she saw her sitting on the small table in the middle of the room, a wide smile appeared on her face.
she ran through the room and picked her companion up, giving her one of those tight hugs cats despised so much.
"Ebony! Where were you? I was so worried about you!"
"Master! Please... need air..."
"Oh yes. sorry."
Esther set her back down to earth and looked at her curiously.
"Well? Well?? What did you do?"
Ebony cleared her throat, which made a weird sound,coming from a cat.
"Well, master, I hope you haven't talked to Theodore yet..."
And she began her report.

Seppy sighed, his shoulders falling a bit. He then looked up at Miyu, smiling optomistically.

"Cat's gotta do," he explained, as if that would cover everything. He himself couldn't blame her; animals were generally not that complicated. They did what they felt they had to, and didn't let things like sides or what other people want and need mix things up for them. This one might be a little more introspective, on account of the whole sentience thing, but it followed the rules just the same. Seppy couldn't begrudge her for that.

"Anyway, we did manage t'kill some time," Seppy explained, standing and stretching. "If we jus' keep movin' now, we can probably get some distance. Chances are Ebony'll be able to find us, now, but like...alleast we got some time t'get a head start while she fines master."

Smiling down at Miyu, Seppy flashed her another thumbs-up.

"I getcha...might be a bit depressin' t'always keep runnin' all th'time..." Seppy's hand switched from giving a thumbs up to opening and extending towards Miyu, who was standing infront of him. "But they can' catch th'smoke an' they can' catch th'night. One day atta time...if we make it fun, it's okay t'run fer a while, right?"

----------------------------

"He's really on this island...that damn freak..." The voice that spoke the words was tainted by anger, but still the clear and strong voice of a young man. The voice that answered was lilting and sweet, almost angelic.

"Calm down," she urged, putting her hands on the other's shoulders. "We'll finally end this all some day..."

"It can't be soon enough, Uni..."

"I know, I know Duo..."

"Last week we had Quatera cornered...that eagle bastard! Just up and took off, laughing..."

The girl addressed as Uni kept quiet this time.

"Octera, Nontera, Dectera...why didn't that crazy bastard just stop at three? They all started going wrong after that...!"

"That's not fair," Uni corrected her irate companion. "Quintera and Hextera ever been good to us."

Dutera scoffed at the statement, waving a hand dismissively.

"Quin's not bad, but the only reason Hex is on our side is that she's obsessed with him," he retorted. Dutera rested his face in his hands. "Maybe the doctor should have stopped at one..."

"Please don't say that," Unitera begged, wrapping her arms around Dutera from behind. "It's okay...and we wouldn't have met if he hadn't..."

Dutera's hands lowered from his face, coming to rest atop hers. He turned his head and gave the girl a kiss, mindful of the golden, spiraling horn protruding from her forehead. Then he vanished. Unitera's arms remained in place, resting on his body when he reappeared.

"S-sorry," Dutera apologized. "Sometimes, I still-"

"It's alright," Uni stated. "We'll rest tonight. We can look for Seppy-"

"Don't call him that," Dutera growled. He vanished again, appearing several feet infront of the girl with a look that was much angrier than he'd intended. "Don't ever call him by that name...!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Unitera quickly apologized, lowering her head. "I meant Seven, that's all."

"We'll find Seven tonight," Dutera insisted. "We'll be screwed if Quatera gets to him first."

"Should we contact that girl...?"

Dutera nodded.

"It was like a dream come true, seeing that bastard get a bounty. But he's already pissed off some powerful people. That's why we've got to move fast," Dutera explained, his earlier rage wearing off and remorse for how he treated his woman dissolving quickly.

"Nobody can take that bastard's head but me." Dutera glanced down at the Den-Den exchange and the name it corresponded to. Picking up his snail's receiver, he dialed in the numbers.

Miyu looked at his hand thoughtfully before taking it.
"Yes, I guess we could try to have some fun."
She was insecure about it, running away had not been much... fun. It had been very, very serious. But she also trusted Seppy. And a little fun couldn't be bad, right?
She wondered if those other two had gotten into trouble....
"Hey, Seppy.... What about those men we were with? Back at the stand? Do you think they, uhm... Got into trouble? Because of us?"
The bad conciense was practically written on her face. Nothing was worse than someone getting into trouble because of her.... What if... if the marine found out who she was and-and thought they were with them and....
The thought alone made her shiver.

"I dunno," Seppy answered honestly, looking confused. "The coulda. I mean, clearly someone saw us, righ'? An we were righ' there an' they were th'reason we got spotted, so..."

Squaring his jaw, Seppy gave Miyu a comically serious look and nodded.

"Yeah. They're probably in trouble." A moment later he was smiling again already. He pulled her hand forward, took it in between both of his.

"We'll go check on 'm," Seppy insisted, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze for no reason - not that he was consciously aware he did so - before letting it go and hopping up onto one of the back alley walls. A moment later he was through one of the holes in the Rat's Nest's tarp, looking down at her and gesturing for her to follow on up.

"Jus' gotta keep movin' fer a little longer, though! 'Till it's for-real dark!"

(Let's wait for the otehrs before continuing.)

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Avery glanced over at Henry. "I'm truly sorry," he said. "For everything." Then he whipped his staff off of his back, snapped it into four segments, which made up separate two nunchaku, and then Avery smashed each of the weapons into the face of a separate Marine. Avery ran down the hall, not looking back to see whether or not he had succeeded. "Come on Larry. We're getting out of here." The bloodhound barked and ran after his master, tail wagging frantically.

Miyu looked at her hand, which Seppy had held , even if only for a while. He had squeezed it, like humans would do... She smile. She had known he wasn't a complete monster, like some people seemed to think he was! He was just... not as socially aware as others...
She turned her legs into smoke and, rather than being catapulted, rose up carefully to where Seppy was. she had always thought smoke wasn't good to sneak around in the darkness.... Everything about it was too bright...
"I hope they are okay...."
Those poor men had nothing to do with them...

"Agh!"
Both soldiers flew back. One landed on the floor and held his hands to his face. Blood was gushing out of his nose, which was most likely broken. The other one tumbled backwards, against the wall. He seemed to be more robust than his partner. His hand was on his gun right away, aiming for Avery.
"Alarm! The prisoners are escaping!"

"What?"
Esther jumped up from the coach she had been sitting on and stormed towards the door.
Ebony jumped to the floor as well.
"Master! You didn't hear..."
"It'll have to wait!"
She slammed the door open, straight against the soldier who had been standing at the wall, aiming for Avery. His shot, of course, missed, and he finally sank to the floor.
Esthme looked at both of them.
"What are you waiting for?! Catch them!"
The soldiers got up, moaning, and started chasing Avery as well as they could.