8 Part 8 - What Better Than To Save The Condemned After Shopping

Nargo sped ahead and burst into the blacksmith's shop. Sweltering heat escaped the shop desperately and the giant seven-foot ginger man stopped hammering one of his products to greet his new customer. He grinned, but winced slightly when he moved his arm to shake Nargo's hand.

"So what canny do for you, newcomer?" the man asked.

"Do you have any fucking metal chains?" Nargo replied.

"Ah yes laddy, we have some two-foot chains here. Would you require anything else?"

"Could you weld them together, so I could have two ten-foot chains?"

"Umm... sure I could laddy but why would you want that?"

"I have my fucking reasons. Also, could I buy a bunch of ammunition from you as well as some cheap reliable metal weapons?"

"Sure but are you sure you have enough money for this, laddy?"

"Are you really fucking questioning me?" Nargo slammed a case of money down.

"Ah... I apologize. I will get to it right away. Would you like it sent to your house?"

"Actually, I'm captain of a fucking ship, so could you get it there and loaded?"

"Yeah course laddy. Anyway have a good day and thanks for your purchases."

"Whatever," Nargo whispered under his breath.

Meanwhile, Tim Tim, Ronin and Jimmy went shopping for some essentials in a general store. Its name was the 'Generic General Store' with tiny writing underneath the sign saying, 'Help me!' Jimmy and Tim Tim just dismissed it as they thought it was the name of the owner, although it did ponder in their minds for a while.

"So what are we getting, Mister Jimmy?" Tim Tim asked.

"Essentials like meat, salt, vegetables, salt, limes, salt and some water." Jimmy replied.

"You know you said salt three times right?" Tim Tim asked concerned.

"Don't question the chef and captain of the ship!"

"Technically you're a co-captain."

Jimmy slapped Tim Tim at the back of his head for his remark. Ronin turned round to growl at Tim Tim's defence but realized it was Jimmy and continued sniffing around the shop. The shop was kind of like a supermarket, only slightly smaller. There were rows upon rows of aisles, all different things. Chocolate caught Tim Tim's eye, and he started pestering Jimmy for it.

"You know chocolate's essential for a healthy diet Mister Jimmy."

"I'm pretty sure it isn't. I should know since I'm the bloody chef."

"Maybe you're wrong and it actually provides healthy nutrients."

"Tim Tim, don't you have your own money?"

"Sure I do, buuuuutttt...."

"No, I'm not paying for it."

"Damn it!" Tim Tim whispered under his breath.

"Aren't you almost 16?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You don't look like it, midget."

"Now that's going too far and you know it. I'll have you know 5"3 is not that small."

"Sure, sure. Anyway Nargo should've finished in the blacksmith's by now so you should be good to go."

"Oh yeah I almost forgot. I need to buy a sword or two."

After saying this, Tim Tim whistled and Ronin and him bounded enthusiastically towards the blacksmith's. Jimmy sighed and continued shopping.

Whilst this was going on, Belsari and Whatz D Face headed towards the tailor. Once they arrived, they were blinded by some flashing lights as some tall man walked up to them fabulously.

"Welcome to my beautiful shop! What would you two darlings want?" He announced sparkling. Like quite literally which was a cause for concern.

"We ah... wanted to buy some clothes." Belsari stated obviously.

"Yes, yes, but what type? We've got stylish winter clothes, glorious summer clothes, and one hecking awesome dark cape suited for a prince of darkness.

"That seemed oddly specific." Belsari whispered to Whatz D Face.

"This fine gentleman is just sizing us up and trying to see what would look good on us." Whatz D Face replied.

"We're going to browse and select afterwards." Belsari explained to the man.

"No problems darlings. Just holler if you have any troubles."

Belsari, made sure to buy everyone winter and summer clothes, so they were ready for any weather conditions. Whatz D Face did the gentleman thing to do and tried on the cape suited for the prince of darkness.

"I must say that this is exquisite. That gentleman surely has an eye for these things." He whispered to himself.

Once he bought their entire stock of capes, Whatz D Face returned to the ship whilst Belsari headed back towards IPEA, hoping no-one would notice her. When she entered, thankfully, a scrawny teenage boy was at the reception area.

"What would you be wanting?" the boy asked shyly, perhaps with a voice crack.

Belsari produced a list from her pocket, containing components and other things which she then handed to the boy. He stared at it for a few seconds, nodded at the order and spent thirty minutes gathering the items asked for.

"Here you go, Missy."

"Thanks. By the way, do you know anywhere where I can buy ship materials?"

"'Course I do. Just down the street there's a shipwright bu-"

"Cheers!" Belsari rushed out of the shop, excited about the new ideas of gadgets she could create.

Nargo had returned to the ship, where the refurbishments were well under way. He made his way to the bottom deck, weaving through the builders. There he saw Lt. Dawn curled in a ball in the corner, whimpering as Vaeg slowly caressed his cheeks. Somehow Leroy was arm wrestling himself and Jenkins was reading. Barbosa was still keeping a lookout.

"Fucking hell, Doctor Vaeg what did you do to the bastard?" Nargo asked.

"I don't think you need to worry about that Nargo, otherwise who knows? Maybe you'll be next."

"You're a sick psychopath Vaeg! You keep the window open when you're sleeping." Barbosa burst out.

"Don't bring my habits into this monkey man. I'm not the one that sleeps upside down."

"Umm... I don't think either of those things even compare to what Vaeg's done to Dawn." Jenkins interjected.

"SHUT UP!" both Barbosa and Vaeg shouted flustered.

Nargo left the three to argue and went to observe the weirdly amusing arm wrestle of Leroy versus himself.

During this, the small beast master Tim Tim, entered the blacksmith's shop. The man looked up as yet another new customer had arrived and grinned. He beckoned for Tim Tim and Ronin to approach him. As Tim got closer he noticed an assortment of cuts and bruises riddled across the giant man's body.

"What do you need little laddy?" he exclaimed.

"Would you be able to don my friend here, Ronin, some armour?" replied Tim in a rather, timid manner.

"I don't have any on hand. However, I could possibly make some. The only problem is not only do you have to pay extra because I have to customize the armour for your friend there, I'd also need to close my store for the rest of the day so you'd need to compensate somewhat for that. And not to be rude but a little lad like you, don't look like you can afford my services."

"You shouldn't judge people on looks, you know. Anyways, how quick could you make it to a good standard and how much money would you require for the services?"

"4 hours." He looked at the beast again to calculate the measurements. "More like 5 to 6 hours now that I have a proper look at him. Also, I'd say it'd cost you 300,000 Beli."

"That works for me." Tim Tim said relieved.

"By any chance are you travelling with a man that likes metal?

"Depends on the situation, why?"

"He ordered a lot of things, so I'm delivering them to his ship. If you're with him I can also take the armour as well."

"Yeah, I'm travelling with him. Thank you for being that intuitive."

The burly man looked shook by the compliment.

"Anyway, is there anything else you'd like to browse, little laddy?"

"Actually there is one more thing. Could you show me the best weapon you've got?"

The burly man hesitated for a moment before replying, "I will show you but it has a hefty cost and a heavy price to wield."

Off the top shelf, the man brought down a katana, its hilt covered in white and gold, however the blade gave off a deadly ominous aura.

"Before I tell you its price, I will tell you of its creation. Only then will you be able to decide."

"I've got some time to kill so why not."

As Tim Tim said this, Ronin curled round in a ball and started snoring, somehow not affected by the scorching heat radiating from the furnace close to him.

"Wow I'm surprised, little laddy. Most lads are impatient and take this sword without the explanation. But you, you seem different. Maybe I'll never have to see this cursed blade again."

Around ten minutes later, Tim Tim processed the information and meticulously reached a decision.

"How much?"

"Two million."

"That's quite a lot of money." Tim Tim pondered again.

"Usually such a well crafted item is worth at least 30 million but because of the curse and fear for my life, I want it gone."

"I'll take it!"

"You don't know how much this means to me. You seem like a really good lad and I wish you luck in the future. Don't worry I'll definitely get your beast's armour completed and on the ship by the time you're back on it."

"There's no need to thank me, Mister. I can see it's a well crafted weapon. It's a win-win for both of us. I promise you won't see this blade back in your possession. Depending on how things go, I might even come back in a few years to visit you and discuss my adventures."

"That would be nice."

"Anyways, I should probably go. Me and my friends can never seem to stay out of trouble."

"Good luck on your adventures, little laddy."

Meanwhile, Belsari was just arriving at the shipwright's. To her dismay, it was closed and there was a large note on the door. It read, 'Stevey's Super Shipwright is closed indefinitely!'

Underneath the big title it read, 'Stevey has been tried and found guilty of aiding the pirate Golden Lion Shiki and his crew. He is to be executed at the execution stands located in the middle of Lvneel at 7pm. Until then, all his possessions have been seized.'

"Crap! That means I can't repair the ship properly." Belsari spoke to herself, "I'll go tell the others about this."

As she returned to the ship, she noticed a badly made, beaten up rowing boat just next to what they had decided to call their ship, the Crimson Spear. She dismissed it being anything suspicious and instead salvaged parts of it to fix parts of the ship. Later, once everyone had returned to the docks to convene, Belsari told everyone about Stevey.

"I think we should save him. There shouldn't be too many marines and it would be great to have another shipwright on the crew if he had nowhere to go." Jimmy said.

"We're already in hot fucking water at the moment with the marines. If they find out what happened on Swallow Island combined with this potential incident... We're going to be hunted quite a lot." Nargo argued.

"Let's put it to a vote." Barbosa said, "There are nine of us so there can't be a draw."

"You're forgetting three of us can't go because of our bounties." Jenkins intervened.

The votes came in and there were three votes for saving and two votes for leaving him to die. Vaeg decided he wasn't bothered and didn't vote no matter how the crew pestered him.

"Then it's decided. Let's go!" Jimmy enthusiastically declared.