CH - 56

Halcen was pacing back and forth across the deck of the ship. He kept muttering to himself, would look up for a few moments and look around at his crew, then go back to pacing.

Bo and Kazuki stood nearby, leaning up against the mast of the Black Tail, watching and waiting patiently.

Finally, Halcen stopped his pacing and came back to the group to talk. His eyes were steeled, showing he was ready.

"So what's the plan?" Kazuki asked Halcen. Obviously, their Captain had some idea of what they needed to do. He always seemed to have an endless supply of ideas.

"Well, first we need to get you two some new guns. Can't have you defenseless if we're going to save Bo's family. This is Loguetown. They ought to have anything an experienced sniper might need."

"Uhmmm…." Bo said, drawling.

"What's the problem?" Halcen walked to the side and crossed his arms.

"Here's the thing," Kazuki began. "We don't need new weapons… we need our weapons."

Halcen looked back and forth between Kazuki and Bo. "You mean the ones that were confiscated from you when you were taken in?"

Bo just nodded.

Kazuki stared seriously.

"You're joking, right? There are dozens of gun shops in town. You can't possibly think they won't have something good."

"It's not an argument about good replacements or not. It's about the fact that they can't be replaced. They're imprinted. It's like a part of our body. We're attached to them. We can't just pick up any gun and use it efficiently."

"That's ridiculous," Halcen said.

"It's really not," Kazuki said, somewhat offended. "We were given these guns years ago. They were custom made for us, as snipers. We can't find better equipment just lying around, regardless of how much you're willing to spend. These are special."

"Seriously? You're going to get sentimental over guns?"

"Okay, think about this," Kazuki started, "Your primary weapon is your Haki, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well imagine, just… try to follow… imagine that somebody was somehow able to strip you of your Haki abilities."

Halcen clearly didn't like that idea.

"What would you do? Would you try to replace that power with a shield… or armor? Or would you go after the bastard that stole it and reclaim it?"

"Okay, I can understand your point. But don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?"

"Is it?"

"I mean, my Haki is literally a part of me. It can't be removed from me. Nor should it."

"It's essentially the same with our guns. They were designed for us. We can't operate at a hundred percent without them. And I know you want us to be the best we can. If we're to join your crew, don't you think it would be best for us to have the best weapons we could possibly get?"

"I see your point. But we're on a tight schedule. Aren't we kinda in the middle of trying to get your family out from Marine execution? We're supposed to go out of our way to get this taken care of first?"

"We can't save my family without our guns," Bo said.

"Alright, fine," Halcen swore. "But how are we supposed to do that? Are we just supposed to waltz into the Marine base and grab your guns?"

"Can't we go under cover of night and sneak in?" Bo said.

"We could cause another distraction elsewhere while we snuck in. How about making more of those bombs?" Kazuki asked.

"We can't," Jin said. "I'm out of the stuff. We used most of it up making sure we kept you two alive. I don't see the point in risking our lives for a couple guns."

"And I nearly got caught a few times getting those bombs put out," Fein said.

"So do you have any other ideas how to get in?"

Kazuki sighed. "We might."

"Like…?" Halcen asked, reaching out his arm.

"Ensign Masterson."

"Kazuki," Bo said, then shook his head. "No."

"Who is Ensign Masterson?" Halcen asked.

"He was our trainer," Bo sighed.

"He's noted as one of the most proficient snipers in the world," Kazuki pointed out.

"You want to get help from a Marine?" Halcen asked.

"That's right."

"What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull?"

"None at all!"

"No way! You saw what happened when you put your trust in Marines! They captured you! Do you really think trusting another Marine is going to get you what you want?"

"Ensign Masterson is different. He's a good man. We can trust him. I'm sure he'd be willing to help if we just sit down with him and tell him what happened."

Bo started talking. "He's got a daughter himself. I think he'd be empathetic to the situation."

"Oh?" Halcen asked.

Bo nodded.

"Alright…. Fine. If you think you can persuade him into helping..."

The crew waited till morning to get their plan in motion. They were all pretty tired from their night's events, so they took to their bunks for the night. Bo and Kazuki set out to find Ensign Masterson in the morning.

He had leave to own a home outside the base in Loguetown because he had a daughter. They didn't have much for actual homes within the base, so fellow Marines that had families were allowed to live in the actual city. This was good for Halcen and his plan because it meant they didn't have to try to sneak into the base to make this work.

Kazuki and Bo were sent to try to talk to the man. They pounded on his door with some urgency.

"Ensign!" Bo said loudly, trying to get the man's attention.

"What the hell is all this noise?" came a gruff voice from inside the house.

The front door opened to reveal the Ensign. Daddy Masterson was the same height as Bo, but a bit more lean. He had tan skin and dusty brown shaggy hair, with a thick beard that looked unkempt. He had on a very depressive face. He had always maintained a serious facade, but this was different. He was wearing standard civilian clothes. But what was more, was he was holding a pistol at his waist. "What the hell do you two want?"

"Ensign Masterson, please," Kazuki said. "Listen to us."

"Get out of here," he said lowly.

"Please, you have to know we didn't do anything. You of all people should know. You trained us! Are you really going to believe upper command over your own gut? Is that at all like you?"

Masterson moved his eyes about the doorway, making sure nobody was watching. "You have two minutes." He stepped inside and motioned for them to do the same. He closed the door behind them. "What's going on?"

"We need your help!"

"I can't help you," he said, walking across the room. He replaced his pistol to its holster on his hip and picked up a glass of whiskey he had on his table. There was a nearly empty bottle sitting next to it. The Ensign did seem particularly inebriated. He sat down at a couch just inside and motioned for them to sit on the opposing couch.

They took their own seats.

"Please, sir, you have to help!"

"Ensign, listen-"

"You need to stop calling me that," he said cutting them off.

"What?"

"I'm no longer part of the Marines."

"What… what are you talking about?"

"You're joking right?"

"A lot has changed in the time you boys have been gone. You've been gone for months on consecutive missions. Things have happened."

"Like what?" Bo asked.

"Your brother."

Bo gasped. "What?"

"Red-Haired Shanks came through."

"We heard."

"And I was here to challenge your brother to a duel. I could not let a pirate like him walk away without at least trying to stop him."

"Of course…"

"And I lost."

"Really?! You?!"

"That man… spat on my dignity. I lost the duel fair and square and he refused to kill me."

"Oh… shit."

"He said I needed to stay alive… for Carol. To keep her safe."

"He's… he's always had his own way of doing things."

"So I left the Marines."

"You what?!"

"I lost my pride as a Marine and realized I needed to focus on what was really important."

"So you quit? To take care of Carol?"

"Where is she?" Kazuki asked, looking about the house. He hadn't heard her clamoring nor seen her running around the small house.

"She's with a friend of her mother's."

"Why?"

"Cause I'm a shit father."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I was never a very good father. That was Eleanor's thing. But when she passed, it took its toll on me."

"I remember."

"More than I let on. I threw myself into work, and Carol has suffered because of it. She's only four, for God's sake! She's practically an infant. And once I lost that fight… I lost my shit altogether. I stopped taking care of myself, I couldn't take care of her. What the hell was I supposed to do?"

"Man the fuck up!" Bo said.

"Excuse me?" the drunk said, glaring angrily at his progeny.

"You can't just give up because you got beat!"

"You don't understand how hard this is!" Masterson shouted.

"I don't?! You don't know the shit we've been in since we left Loguetown!" Bo raged. "We were betrayed by our own commander, left to rot on an island, captured by pirates, almost killed multiple times, we even went up against a warlord for god's sake! And now? The Marines have captured my wife and son for me being a pirate, as they like to claim. So you want to talk about pain? You want to talk about wanting to give up?! I can't think of anything more hurtful than my life right now, and you want to talk about how much yours sucks!? Pathetic."

"At least your wife is alive," Masterson spat.

"For now," Bo said. "If Kazuki and I aren't in Marine custody in the next couple days, they'll kill my family for sure. And you know it. Any relative of any pirate is treated as a pirate themselves."

"Don't you dare!"

Bo stood from his seat. "Don't I dare what? Stand up against this bullshit system? You know damn well how it works! You're just turning a blind eye to it, as I did all these years. I figured, better them than me… but now it is me. After all this time, it's finally happening to me. I can only imagine all the people who I hurt in the process of serving this piece of shit system! Karma made her move. Now I have to give up everything, to save the one thing that actually matters. And dammit, I need your fucking help!"

Daddy stood up suddenly and stared Bo in the eye. "Get out of my house," he said, his voice shaking.

"So that's it, then? You're just gonna coward away and wither and rot? What happened to you?! You were the brave one, you were the strong one! You were my idol! But now? When it finally comes to actually doing something right, you're gonna pull this shit? Fine, be useless. Be shameful."

BADUP! BADUP! BADUP! BADUP!

Kazuki went into his jacket to pull out a den-den mushi. Halcen had given them one in case of emergency. "Hello?" Kazuki said.

"How did it go?" Halcen's voice came over.

Kazuki looked up at Masterson and shook his head. "Not great," he said out loud. "He's not gonna be of any help."

"Oh, really?" Halcen asked, but you could hear something in his voice… something vile.

"What's going on?" Kazuki asked.

"Is he there, with you?" Halcen asked.

"Yeah, we're all here."

"Alright, make sure he hears this. Mister Masterson, I have come to a realization. You are clearly a man with a particular skill-set that we find ourselves in need of. But if you are unwilling to help by your own free choice, perhaps I can sway you."

"What are you blabbering about, pirate scum?" Masterson swore.

"I've found that you have a certain weakness, and you've left it out in the open for all to see."

"Excuse me?"

"Halcen, no…" Kazuki said, coming to a tragic realization.

"I believe there is a little girl that you have left unprotected."

And then they heard what sounded like a little girl say "Daddy."

"CAROL!" Masterson shouted.

"Oh, fuck," Bo said, shaking.

"Halcen, what did you do?" Kazuki asked, shaking.

"Listen, all I want is to talk. Come meet me at the ship, and we'll discuss matters."

"You bastard!" Masterson shouted. "How dare you!? If you harm one hair on her head, I swear to God."

"Don't swear to God, swear to me. I'm the one with leverage. I am your God."

Masterson gulped, and he looked back and forth between Bo and Kazuki with his eyes burning of fury. "Fine, I'll come talk to you."

"Very good. The guys will show you the way to our ship."

Click!

Kazuki and Bo gazed at each other incredulously. How could the man they had joined forces go this far? They had witnessed him peel the flesh from a conscious man for information, sure. Pirate shit. But this? This was new. This was kidnapping an innocent little girl. "What the fuck is going on?"

"What did you two drag me into?" Daddy gasped.

Bo turned to look at Masterson, and said "I am so-"

BAM!

Masterson swung a hard right first across Bo's face, throwing him across the room and against the wall. He was on Bo in a second, grabbing him by the collar with one hand and holding a pistol to his head with the other. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't pull this fucking trigger!"

Bo seethed, staring Daddy in the eyes. "You already know why."

Kazuki interjected. "As bad as this is, Halcen is the kind of man who will take this personally. If you kill either Bo or myself, I can guarantee you will never get to see your daughter again."

Masterson didn't move, but looked to Kazuki and gave him and evil look. "Are you… really going to make that threat? Are you siding with this pirate?"

"Not at all. To be honest, I'm just as surprised as you are. We had no idea Halcen would sink to this low. But now, knowing this, we know he's not going to let this go easily. We need your help, and if you don't comply with his demands, I can only imagine what he'll do. We watched him literally filet a man alive for information. This isn't a man you want to screw with. Don't test him for your pride. Think of Carol."

"You keep her name out of your filthy pirate mouth!"

"Listen to him, Masterson!" Bo shouted.

"Listen? To a pirate? To the two of you? How about I just kill you both, and kill him myself?"

Kazuki shook his head. "You might be able to… might. You're a strong man, sure. But Bo and I just took on Vergo by ourselves and were able to subdue him. Halcen was able to take on Commodore Reluji, Bo, and myself all on his own. He was also able to take down a fifty foot bear god that had taken over an entire island."

"So I get help! Vergo, Smoker, there are a handful of powerful fighters in the Marines here."

"Okay, maybe so. But Halcen also has a crew: the Chaos Pirates. They're composed of a very talented, but young, swordsman; two genius technologists, one of whom was able to handle Halcen by himself in hand to hand combat; a new but very strong and agile navigator that not even Bo could land a shot on, and then there's the first mate, Axcel D. Grey. We watched Grey take on and defeat the Warlord Dracule Mihawk, by himself. This man was one of the Roger Pirates back in the glory days, and personally trained the Yonko Red-Haired Shanks. Now, think to yourself… do you really want to try this? Even if you manage to take down Bo and I, and get out of this house without severe detriment to your own self… can you really win this war?"

Masterson's body shook. He took a deep breath.

"Listen, we don't want your daughter to end up fatherless, nor do we want you to lose her. I promise we will do everything we can to keep you both alive. I will die to keep her alive if that's what it takes, so don't treat us like the enemies. We can handle this. Let's just go talk to him."

"Fine," Masterson finally said. "Take me to him."

The three men finally ended up at the docks, and stalked carefully toward the Black Tail.

Bo walked behind and eyed the place. "I still can't believe he would do something like this," he cursed.

"I know," Kazuki said. "But we gotta get this over with. Remember, a lot more than just Carol's life rests on this. "

And then they all stepped aboard. Halcen was standing up on the top level of the deck by the wheel. Morkine was standing behind him. The dark-skinned man's bald head glistened in the sun. Grey and Jory wandered about the deck, waiting for them to arrive. There was nothing to be seen of Jin nor Fein. This made Kazuki worry.

Halcen stepped forward to welcome his guest. He walked to the balcony and leaned up against it. "Hello, Ensign Masterson."

"Where's my daughter!?"

"Your daughter?" Halcen said, pretending to be confused.

"Don't play games with me, you twat! Tell me where she is! I swear, if you've harmed her, I will kill you all!"

Halcen laughed. He pulled back from the balcony and began walking down the stairs to meet them on the lower deck. "One, you couldn't if you wanted to. We both know that. And two, I have not harmed your precious daughter."

"Where is she!?"

"Oh, rest assured, she's in a safe place. And she will remain safe, I promise. You, however, are in the lion's den," he said with vehemence. "Now, why don't we talk about you helping us?"

"I already told your pawns, I'm no longer a part of the Marines."

"Pawns?" Halcen laughed. "They're my bishops. They're quite valuable. And they would be more valuable when properly equipped." He stepped in front of Masterson and took a moment to adjust the man's collar.

Masterson swung his arm about swept Halcen's arms aside, then pulled a pistol from his hip and aimed it at Halcen's head. "Give me my daughter back, you sick bastard!"

Everyone jumped to action except Halcen.

Morkine readied his blunderbuss.

Jory unsheathed his sword.

Grey readied his fists.

Fein dropped from the mast above and covered Masterson's back.

Halcen just stood still and coated himself in Haki.

Bo and Kazuki watched as their mentor was outmatched.

"We told you not to!" Kazuki said. "This isn't going to get your daughter back, just get you killed!"

"Can you really blame him?" Bo asked, taking a look around.

"Excuse me?" Halcen asked.

"You kidnapped his daughter, Halcen! Even for you, that's too far. How do you think this is going to play out when all is said and done? Do you really think we'll forgive this and just ride off into the sunset like nothing happened?"

"Halcen," Grey said, insistent.

Halcen put up his hand to silence Grey. "This is the way this has to go." Then he looked to Bo and said "Listen, pal, you asked me for help. Me. Your family is in danger. I said, 'Okay, I'll help.' You say you need to get your guns back first. I say 'Okay, I'll help.' But you have nothing to offer to get started. We have no other leads. You can't just rush in by yourself. We can't march against an entire base with just us. We gotta be smart about this. We need an inside man. He said no. So I did what I had to do."

Masterson looked at Halcen, then looked about. He pulled another pistol and aimed it at the encroaching Grey.

Grey stopped for a second and looked at Masterson, astounded that someone would be dumb enough to pull a gun on him.

"Daddy Masterson, elite sniper," Halcen said, bringing his attention back to Halcen. He outstretched his hands out to the sides. His black coat was thick and ready to defend. "If you really think this is the best way for you to die, I will gladly oblige. But If you want to see your daughter again, put down your gun. We can make a deal. We can come to some sort of arrangement, can't we?"

"How do I know you won't just kill my daughter even if I do help you?"

"I'd be a lot more worried about my own well being, if I were you. You're the one on a ship full of pirates."

Masterson swore, then dropped his arms to his sides. "What do you want me to do?"