14 Part 14 - Is The Midget Still Talking?

"Is this pipsqueak talking about killing us? I can't..." Vaeg wheezed.

"Are you missing your mummy and daddy?" Belsari asked, still thinking he was a lost kid.

"You know what? I've had it with the disrespect!"

As Belito said this Nargo was flung into a nearby rock. The group readied themselves and charged all at once. Belito yawned mockingly and sent everyone flying. Tim Tim skidded across the snowy ground and ended up diving head first into Ronin's dung. Tim Tim removed himself from it, seemingly unfazed. After all the years he had lived with Ronin, it was nothing. Snow started falling gently again.

The snow started to land on Belito's invisible hands as he stood there, gloating about his undefeated record. Whatz D Face transformed into his full form. He grew in size and stature, his fangs protruding much more visibly, and a bloodlust slowly consuming his mind. He vanished and suddenly reappeared behind Belito. However, he was just tossed away before he could attempt anything.

Belsari went to grab her weapon off her back but it was snatched off of her and thrown away, now on the edge of a cliff nearby. Nargo slowly got back up, clutching his head and cursing. Jimmy then tried to throw his harpoon; it was just tossed back towards him, scraping his arm.

Barbosa pumped his blood faster until steam seemed to surround him. He punched Belito full force and connected his strike. Finally, someone had landed a blow but their victory was short-lived as Barbosa was thrown into Nargo, collapsing them both.

Ronin, who had gone on a small hunt around the area whilst the others went to the tavern, returned. Belito stopped his sentence and his eyes lit up.

"S-so cute! I want it!" Belito screamed in adoration.

"Mister Belito, he's mine. I refuse to let you take him." Tim Tim declared, aiming his gun at Belito's head.

"You're nothing but filth. You're a weakling. Weaklings deserve nothing. What did that man call you? Oh right, shut up bucket boy! Hahahaha!"

A gun cocked behind Belito's head as Vaeg whispered in his ear, "No! No, no! NO! That's my line, you don't get to say it, I do. Me, not you! Also, this man is a bloody doctor, give me some credit. Anyways, Night-night!"

He fired the gun and Belito stood motionless. He then started smiling and turned round.

"What was it you said, night-night? How corny." Belito slammed Vaeg into the ground. "And just for the record, next time place the gun directly on my head. Otherwise, my invisible hands will block it. Now what I'm going to do is spin my hands so quickly that it'll be like a drill. Then I'm going drill slowly into your skull whilst you're going to plead and beg me for your life."

Vaeg smiled, "Looking forward to it, sunshine."

"BEG ME FOR YOUR LIFE!"

"No can do. I've just realized I left the stove on in hell, so I need to visit real quick."

"Why you insolent fo-"

Tim Tim whistled and Ronin ran in front of Belito. Distracted momentarily, everyone fired a bullet from their flintlock pistols. The trajectory of the bullets changed randomly as Nargo controlled everyone's bullets from afar. Putting his defence off, Belito accidentally allowed all the bullets to hit him. He started stumbling around and Vaeg got back up and dusted himself off.

"Shame, looks like I'm still alive. But look at the bright side, you're not anymore." Vaeg fired a bullet from another one of his pistols, this time piercing Belito's head. Belito dropped to the floor, blood soaking the white snow red. "Why'd you underlings join in? I had it all under control."

"Whatever, let's go get some well fucking earned drinks." Nargo shouted, wobbling due to the excessive use of his powers. "But not you Tim Tim. You fucking stink. What were you even thrown into?"

"Ronin's lunch." Tim Tim explained.

"Well you need to go wash. Don't worry I'll buy extra beverages for you." Nargo replied.

Tim Tim slumped off and jumped into the nearest frozen lake. When he got back to the ship, which was instructed to meet near the town, Leroy and Jenkins threw a towel for him as Tim Tim explained what had happened.

"NOW I AM SUPER MAD! I WANTED TO GO!" Leroy complained, folding his arms.

Ronin plodded downstairs to warm up and sleep in Tim Tim's room.

"So basically, we're going to be involved in a mini war." Jenkins said.

"More or less. Mister Jimmy said he'd discuss it and put it to a vote but well... it has a couple of things everyone's interested in. For example, a lot of money, stopping bad pirates, helping someone out, and more importantly, a test to see if we're ready for the Grand Line." Tim Tim explained.

"Then I'm definitely in. I need to see where my skills lie if I'm to take down the man that stole everything away from me and Leroy." Jenkins said.

"I MEAN HE DIDN'T TAKE THESE GLORIOUS MUSCLES OF MINE!" Leroy gloated, but seemingly with a hint of sadness.

The rest of the crew returned, Sam in tow, after he had frozen in fear at the sight of Belito. Everyone gathered on the top deck to decide what to do.

"Mister Jimmy, why do you have a black eye?" Tim Tim asked concerned.

"The other bounty hunters wanted to fight. So we fought them and won." Jimmy replied proudly.

"Tell me the story, please." Tim Tim pleaded.

"We've got more important things to discuss, maybe later."

"Ok, Mister Jimmy." Tim Tim pouted.

"Anyways, first things first. I assume Tim Tim already told you two what happened."

Leroy and Jenkins nodded.

"We need to vote first. All in favour of raiding and eradicating the Black Dagger pirates, raise your hands."

For the first time ever, everyone agreed, including Vaeg, although he was clearly only thinking of the exquisite 'Cuisine' he could get on a battlefield.

"Ok then, that settles it. Sam, please explain this place we need to go to first."

"Right. We need to go to Spider Miles first. That's where we'll get our information. It hosts a secret underground casino, and it doesn't just gamble in money, if you catch my drift. There's an informant there that may help but someone will have to beat her at a game first. Usually it's blackjack. We'll hopefully be able to go to the Black Dagger's base from there." Sam explained.

"How do we get to Spider Miles, kind gentleman?" Whatz D Face asked.

"There are two routes: one near a marine base or going the long way round and heading close to the Germa Kingdom. Either way there's an element of risk but no matter the route, maximum amount of time to arrive is two days."

"I think we should avoid the marines for now. If Ensign Masterson is there, I feel like he'll beat us at our current power level." Jimmy suggested.

The crew agreed and set sail immediately to save some time. However, they forgot to pick up supplies in the town, but they would be good for at least another week. Thankfully the first night was easy-going with no sights of any ships. As they moved further away from the daunting Oseb Isle, the snow began to stop and was replaced by light breezes. The second night was a very close call, as a Germa ship passed by with a boatload of soldiers but luckily they were too pre-occupied with something else.

Early into the second morning another newspaper dropped. Its headline was, 'Breaking News — Golden Lion Shiki breaks into Maineford.' Details below stated he started to attack Maineford but was stopped by Sengoku and Garp and imprisoned in Impel Down. The news was quite shocking to the crew, but they had their own lives to worry about as the time drew nearer to a great battle that would shock the world.

The sky was dull and grey as the Crimson Spear headed towards Spider Miles. Smog covered the entire town, making it hard to tell how big it actually was. Factories littered the landscape, whilst run down homes sat near them. The atmosphere was depressing and suffocating. The crew docked, leaving Barbosa, Ronin, Leroy and Jenkins at the boat to try not to attract too much attention.

Sam led them down sketchy alleyways with drunkards laying in their own urine, blocking some of the paths. Most of the shops seemed to be bolted down and locked. When they arrived at an open street, no-one was there. They walked for a few more minutes, avoiding shady prostitutes (Jimmy covered Tim Tim's eyes) and violent drug addicts. Finally, the crew arrived.

They arrived at a shop, brightly decorated and inviting. The name of the shop was 'Ryland's 'rumptious Muffins'.

The shop defied the norms of the society surrounding it.

"This totally doesn't look suspicious." Jimmy mumbled to himself.

They entered and Sam said, "Hey Bun-Man! How's it going?"

A gruff man in a pink apron, stuck his head up from underneath the counter, "Is that my favourite customer? What would you like?"

"We're after some honey iced doughnuts."

"Ah, my speciality. If you'll just come through here, I'll show you to my well known doughnuts."

The crew were led through into the back room, which seemed like a dead end. The Bun-Man placed his hand on the wall. For a second nothing happened but then the bricks started to separate. The crew were ushered down the staircase. As soon as everyone was in the staircase, the entrance started closing.

The Bun-Man shouted down, "Enjoy your honey iced doughnuts!"

avataravatar
Next chapter