55 Part 6.8

I'm still heading for that fancy mansion where the bigger noble in all of Diz-Harmony loves, but now Clair is following me. Not going to lie, I partially feel like she's going to stab me in the back. It's time like these that I wish I had Shiv Sense.

Every once in a while in Impel Down, I'd hear stories about Shiv Sense. I've even met people who possessed it themselves. Shiv Sense was an ability that people either trained or developed that allowed them to sense danger and let them dodge it. It was the stuff of dreams. There were two other powers like Shiv Sense and all of them meant bad news.

On Level Five sometime after I had met Gurry I fought a guy with Shiv Sense. That... It was an experience.

His name was Finn, and he said he was the former King Of Balderia. Apparently I looked like his nephew who had overthrown his throne and he took offense to that. He had sharpened a rock to and tried to kill me with it. Then when I threw a snowball packed with gravel at him at fifty fold speed, he dodged it! How?! My first guess was magic at the time. Then he talked about observing hockey for a while as I threw more snowballs at him, all of which he successfully dodged. When I discovered he had actual Shiv Sense I knew I would have to play it smart.

Instead of throwing a bunch of small snowballs going really fast that he could dodge before I threw them I did something differently. I threw one large snowball I enlarged by a hundred fold that he couldn't possibly dodge. Then when he was buried under a small avalanche I walked over to where he was buried and beat him with death with my hockey stick.

"Do you have any Shiv Sense Clair?" I suddenly ask her. I'm curious because if she does, I'll have to throw one large lawn dart instead of one fast lawn dart if or when I fight her.

Clair cocks her head to one side and I imagine she has a confused expression. "No... At least I don't think I do. I have no clue what that is. Is it some sort of gross prison thing?"

I wave a hand dismissively as I walk over the charred body of a dog outside a pet store. "Nah. Gross prison things are like, I don't know. Truffle Butter and Duck Grease I guess."

There's a moment of silence only broken by some gunshots in the distance before Clair responds. "I'm afraid to ask. But now I'm curious. What in the name of Justice is Truffle Butter and Duck Grease?"

I look around to see if anybody is listening. Talking about that kind of stuff out in the open is... I want to say taboo, but taboo isn't the right word. I guess I would use 'skanty' to describe it.

I stop walking and motion for Clair to step closer. She looks a little hesitant but she does come close. When she does I bend my knees to get lower to he ground and move my mask away from my mouth so she can hear me better.

Halfway through my explanation of Duck Grease Clair turns around and runs into an alley. I assume she begins to vomit because I hear gagging followed by a splashing sound. I lean against the entrance of the alley away from her and wait for her to stop.

I wait for an entire minute but she still seems to be vomiting. It sounds a bit concerning so I call out to her, "Hey is there any blood in your vomit?"

She stops gagging long enough to call out, "Urp! No..."

"Oh. Cause if you did there's tons of gross prison things we could do with bloody vomit."

She continues to gag and when she finishes she steps out, mask back on her face. She sniffs and shudders, but I guess she looks okay.

"You good to go?" I ask. She nods stiffly, and begins to slowly walk torwards the mansion again.

This time as we walk I don't ask about Shiv Sense. Instead I asked an actual important question. Something to do with Diz-Harmony. "Hey Clair-"

"I'm Keystone."

"-you mentioned the captain of the guard earlier. Any chance you could describe him to me?"

Clair cleared her throat and then began to speak. Like she was reading off a notecard or something. Maybe she had one glued to the inside of her helmet in case she needed to recite something. I wouldn't put it past her, she did mention she used to have a desk job and I'm pretty sure this people are weird.

"The captain of the guard is Reeze Dolme. Retired Marine Rear Admiral. He has several decorations from the Wylde War eight years ago when pirate Bill Wylde took over the kingdom of Hur. He was famous for his sword fighting techniques, specifically a technique made himself. Future Strike. It allows him to strike his foes in the future with nothing but his killing intent!"

I stop walking and ask, "So what does this Reeze guy look like?"

Clair rubs her chin and thinks. "Hmm. His file says he's tall, old looking, has a verbal tic where he says 'remember' in every sentence, white and grey hair cut short, always carries his sword, wears guard armor-"

"Does he wear a purple cape?" I ask interrupting her.

"Our reports say he does. How did you know that?"

I point ahead. "I think that's him in front of us. Is that him?" I also as I turn to look at Clair. When I do though she's not there. There's no trace of her at all. Damn. She's really sneaky.

I look at the guy in front of me and call out, "Hey you! You Reeze?"

He calls back, "I remember my own name and it is Reeze!"

I'm supposed to interrogate him right? Yeah. That's what Clair said. I cup my hand around where my mouth is on my mask so he can hear me better, "Do you work for the Revolutionaries?"

"That's none of your business, you should remember that!"

The nerve of this guy. He didn't have to be so rude about it. "Yeah, well... Your cape looks stupid!"

"That's rich coming from a stupid pirate who can't even remember to not bite off more than he can chew! I know you, I remember your bounty from the paper a few days ago."

He begins to walk forward, unsheathing a sword he has strapped to his back. I don't know what the name of it is, but it's longer and has a hook like bit at the end. My eyes might be messing with me, but the edge of his sword is glowing purple and it's giving me an uneasy feeling.

I unstrap my hockey stick and grab some hockey pucks I carved from stone from one of my pockets. I drop them to the ground and get into position.

It doesn't look like Reeze want to talk anymore, which is okay. I don't walk to talk anymore either. Right now all I want is take some goalshots at this guy. Show him some of my hockey skill.