Chapter Two :Ardael

It was fortunate that Ardael hid his past and his identity very well. If not, Locke, by now would have gathered enough evidence connecting him to numerous immature and sloppy jobs he pulled in past which even he would have trouble remembering all of them now. That would have earned Ardael a massive bounty on his head. And, if that happened, it would be even more difficult to do what he was about to do next.

This didn't mean he had all the time in the world. Locke was a very sharp and intelligent man, he most likely already knows that Ardael changed his identity from what it was when he was in the South eight years ago. He will most likely learn his old identity in a couple of weeks or so and find enough evidence to legally declare Ardael Criminal in around a month. But that should be enough time to do what Ardael came here to do. He hoped it was.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. Thomas and Brown entered the office and sat on the chair before his desk.

"Do we know when they are gonna reach the rendezvous point?" Ardael asked Thomas as he sat.

"They'll be reaching there tomorrow, sometime after sunset," Thomas said. Though they were brothers, not related by blood, people still find it hard to believe that the two people who call each other brothers can have so different fashion choices. Ardael dressed in more formal ways. Tie, shirt, pants, overcoat, and so on while Thomas dressed in black leather with spikes poking out, a white tank top, and skintight pants. Ring on every finger and hair gelled back. Ardael's and Thomas's dressing styles could not be more different.

"That's good, we'll need to act fast. If HE learns I'm still alive, the plans not gonna work."

Thomas adjusted his jacket."As far as he knows, you're dead. And the four of us without you aren't enough for him to even bat an eye," Thomas said. "You don't have to worry about that."

"About that," Ardael said, "Our good friend, Captain Vincent seems to be awfully close to connecting me to our old jobs. In doing so, the whole world will know of us and IN doing so HE will also know."

"WHAT? and what have you done about it?" Thomas bolted upright.

"Calm down!" Ardale motioned Thomas to sit. "It will still take him a little more than a month to figure all that out. So we'll have enough time if we hurry."

"Why not just have him dealt with," Thomas asked.

"We'll just be wasting more time. And, he's an intriguing man, I wouldn't want to have to kill him if I don't need to." Ardael would lose a friendly enemy if he killed him.

"Then what do you suppose we do,"

"We'll just have to pull the job a little earlier. Nothing much."

Thomas stared at the table for a long time. "Are you totally sure about it? Cause it seems risky to rush things to me. And it didn't go too well the last time we rushed," Thomas said. And he was right. The last time they rushed things, it didn't go too well. It had gone horribly wrong. But Ardael was prepared for things this time.

"You don't have to worry about that. We've all been waiting eight years to do this, I know we'll be able to do it right this time."

Thomas sighed. "If you say so."

"Alright, now that's done, how is the progress going on?" Ardael asked Thomas.

"It's going okay, I guess. Just need a few things and in a week or so it should be good to go."

"That's good. You might find what you need in the market. It's gotten a lot bigger over the-"

"Did you go home?" Thomas asked abruptly.

Ardael hesitated for a little but answered, "I did."

"Did you see him?"

"I did."

"Did you talk?"

"I didn't," Ardael said. "I couldn't."

"How was he?" Thomas leaned back on his chair.

"Older. Hair all grey now. More wrinkles than ever. Works alone in the kitchen, but he's learned to cook- I'll give him that." Ardael took a deep breath." I was right there, "he said," Right there, and he didn't even look at me. Maybe he didn't recognize me, you know, the dyed hair, beard. And I've grown a lot, maybe he just didn't recognize me. Maybe. Or maybe he didn't wanna look at me. Maybe he just didn't wanna remember me." Something in his chest hurt like it just got stabbed, but he endured it.

"You're overthinking it," Thomas said," I'm sure even the gang won't recognize you when we meet tomorrow, you just look too different from what you looked like before. Even I had some trouble after you dyed your hair black," Thomas chucked.

Ardael smiled. "You're right. I shouldn't overthink these things."

"Okay, so I'll be off. Need to get those things working soon, and I'm still short on some parts. I'll look if I can find any in the market." Thomas stood up to leave.

"Are you gonna talk to him?"

"I don't know," Thomas said, softly. Then he left.

With Thomas gone, Ardael sulked back on his chair trying to think about the plan when Brown, who was sitting right beside Thomas that whole time called him, "Captain?"

"Oh, Brown, didn't notice you there. Why were you hiding for?" Brown, his young Accountant had eaten a devil fruit that could make his presence almost completely unnoticeable. One would actively need to look for him if they wished to locate him when he was using his powers and even that would be difficult.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to activate it. It just slipped." Brown was very young, just sixteen, and not too experienced in using his powers. He sometimes activated it randomly. He was very good with numbers though.

"Alright, how is training going?" Ardael asked.

"Good. But I still activate it unknowingly when I'm not focused on it." Brown replied, a little embarrassed.

"That's good, but I need you to have full control of your devil fruit soon. Activating and deactivating it unconsciously won't work." Ardael said. "You know I have some important work for you, that only YOU can do. And we don't seem to have much time to prepare, so you'll have to be ready soon."

Brown listened silently. Like he always did. The boy never spoke when he didn't need to, never interrupted others, and spoke as less as he could when he did. Ardael found him when he went to The Ortho Island to rob it's Royal Family. The boy was locked up in a cell all beaten up. Feeling pity for the boy, he rescued the boy.

Ardael picked the briefcase he brought from the bank and put it on the desk. "Brown, Tomorrow I want you to give the accounting responsibility back to Mr.Gates for a couple of months, and during that time I want you to fully focus on your training and the task I'll give you." He added," But before that I want you to distribute this money to the crew as per their share after we set sail. Alright?"

Brown nodded in response. He then left the office with Ardael's permission.

With Brown gone he was now alone in the room. He stretched his back and sulked back in his chair. He then closed his eyes to think about what he needed to do next. How he was gonna confront his old crew tomorrow and how he was gonna make this plan work.

After staying still for a few minutes, Ardael pulled himself up from the chair. He then proceeded to the main deck where around twenty of his crew members were waiting for his orders. Most were men, some young, some old, some as short as one meter, some as tall as three. Women making only a fraction of them. Not many women choose life on seas.

"ALRIGHT! We'll be unloading the goods now. I believe Mr. Gates has given you the details of what it is has to be done. We have less than seven hours to deliver them to their destination so I recommend you do it fast. We'll be setting sail before the dawn to the next stop and I give you all seven days off before setting sail again." Ardael said to the crew. They looked dead after they heard they had to set sail right after heavy work and before enjoying the solid land properly after months of being on the sea but cheered up immediately after hearing about seven days off.

The crew started bringing boxes on the main deck from the cargo storage down below. There were around a thousand boxes in the storage. They contained many goods. Alcohol, cigarettes, clothes, jewelry, books, household appliances, etc all from the grand line. It was easy carrying those goods but hard finding buyers ready to pay upfront. It was more difficult now considering they had so little time to sell them. Some of them have worked on this ship for years and even they would find it hard to do that. So, considering that, Ardael told them to sell the goods at twenty percent less than their selling price.