Chapter 31 The Gifted Princess (II)

"Oh, where are my manners. I have not introduced myself yet, haven't I. " the woman slightly lifted her skirt while slightly lowering her head. " Please to meet you everyone. My name is Mei. Nefertari Mei. The first princess of this kingdom." Princess Mei did a graceful bow towards Kana and the rest. After she was done, she looked at Jack and the rest with anticipation hoping they'd do the same.

"We did not ask though." Seuss was about to respond in kind but Kana's mumbling beat her to it.

"You! How dare you talk to the princess like that?!" Caspian yelled at the disrespectful yellow-haired girl who just gave a 'hmp!' and decided to ignore him. The captain of the guard nearly had enough of this party's impertinence.

This put Seuss in a rather awkward position as he is the only one in his crew who's trying to calm the situation down.

"It's okay, uncle Caspian. It was my fault for wanting to have an informal meeting instead. It is normal for them to not react positively of this hassle." Princess Mei, said apologetically, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Hear that, you bastard? It is your fault for trying to put us in this inconvenience. Hmp!" Said the Kana while proudly raising her non-existent chest but she stiffened like a rock when a smiling Jack patted her head. She seemed to get the message asking her to shut up.

"Princess, you-" Caspian was unable to say anything. Doing so would make him look like trying to disobey the princess' orders so he chose to just stare at them with venom laced gaze.

"Also, please mind your words, miss. Uncle Caspian had gone through alot this past few months due to the machinations of those meanie people. I hope you can forgive him and treat him with respect as well." the princess calmly asked Kana. This made the latter unable to proceed. Now that the man backed down, she had no choice but to shut up as well lest she becomes too annoying in the eyes of Jack. As the situation descended into silence, another voice resounded.

"You're Mei, right? I am quite thirsty. Do you happen to have any water?" Joyboy, a 10 feet tall man wearing a hood and a mask suddenly in front of Mei, scaring the poor girl.

*Shing*

Weapons were raised as the guards was about to charge but they were held up by an invisible thread making them stay in place.

"What is the meaning of these, you bastards?!" Caspian yelled followed by angry shouts of the guards and Jack finally decided to step in.

*Slap!*

A crisp sound reverberated to the ears of everyone as Jack slapped Caspian who stood rooted in place. This made everyone present surprised as they recognize the man who was hurling insults at the poor guy slapped Caspian in the face. The surrounding suddenly grew quiet as the princess, Yvonne and the rest watched how the situation would unfold while.prepararing for the worst.

But then.

"What are you all looking at me for? You expect me to say some shit or something? Well, this ain't TEDtalk, chief." His words brought Caspian and the others back to reality.

"Why you-" the captain of the guard finally had enough as his whole body turned black from armament coating. He urged his Haki to try to break free from the threads that binds him.

"Uncle, please stop this! Let's not further deepen this misunderstanding!" Princess Mei's voice fell into deaf ears as a raging man finally snapped after holding back so the girl turned towards Yvonne. "You're his lover right? Can you please tell that mister over there to stop?"

'What lover are you talking about brat?!' both Yvonne and Kana cursed Mei in their minds. " Nah, Don't worry about it. He won't do anything to your uncle." It was Joyboy who responded while holding her pissed off sister back. " See? he is just playing with them." he assured the concerned Mei.

"Really? Is that true?" the princess asked with almost teary eyes while her spot-billed duck tried to comfort her.

"ARGH! I WILL KILL YOU! KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME!!" Caspian urged his entire strength to break the strings of Jack. The ground beneath his feet cracked and gave in due to pressure. It left a wide shallow crater around him and Jack but he was unable to breakaway from the string. His power is only at the Grandknight Level, a child's play to someone like Jack.

Soon, Caspian and the rest was fully wrapped in strings from the neck all the way down while also covering mouths so as to stop then from squealing like a pig but Jack made sure not to hurt them. They all gritted their teeth in anger while Jack put over his hands on their shoulders to spite them.

"See? Aren't they fine and all?" Joyboy said smugly earning an elbow from Kana while Yvonne and Seuss looked at Jack confused. From how they knew the man and what he have shown so far, Caspian and the others should have been dead the moment they continued to ran off their mouth. Seuss and the crew observed in the 4 months that they have been together that you can insult Jack all you want as long as you are creative with your words but he hates it when people shouts at him repeatedly that it gets annoying.

"Um. Thank you for not hurting them, mister. Can you please let them go now?" Jack felt a tug at his sleeve as Princess Mei asked him timidly but her concerned look towards the wrapped up men were apparent on her pretty face. This, however, made the guards ashamed as even their princess had to beg someone to spare their worthless selves.

'Oh, you should have not asked him that little girl. Now, he will never do it.' those words alarmed Yvonne who thought in pity at the girl who seemed too kind in nature. Jack tends to do the opposite thing you want just to try and annoy the hell out of you. It does not matter whether the choice is good or evil in nature. So long as he wanted to annoy you then he will do it.

"Hm? Why would I do that?" Jack said with a big smile while facing Mei who is pouting at him.

She thought hard trying to come up with a response but all she can make out was "Because you do not want to hurt them. Right?" her teary eyes while looking at Jack invoked a reaction from even Yvonne and Kana themselves. One could not care less about the others while the latter is annoyed at her presence but they can't help but admit that this girl can draw ones pity by her kind nature. (Cap. She is just cute.)

'Oh oh, don't goad him like that, Mei!' Even Joyboy looked at the situation with concern. Not a single soul from Jack's crew believes that he will follow through with what the princess had requested especially if he had made a move himself. If it were not the case then, he can just let Joyboy engaged them instead but he made a move himself.

"How can you be so sure, princess? I may be someone who takes pleasure in killing just about anybody regardless if whether I mean to hurt them or not." Jack replied calmly making Mei pale for a second but she caught on to his words. She bit her lip and stubbornly replied. "But you don't always want to feel the pleasure of killing anybody, right? Or else you would kill every person you see. But we are still alive which can only mean you never wanted to kill uncle Caspian in the first place."

'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit! don't talk to him like that. My god! You are walking on thin line, little princess!' Joyboy was panicking at this point. Mei's stubborn but less intrusive demeanour earned a bit of respect from the crew which is why they kept quiet so as not to goad Jack into doing anything otherwise.

They watched as Mei timidly yet also stubbornly convinced Jack to let Caspian and the rest go while the men in question was left in their own world feeling ashamed.

Jack let out a maniacal grin which scared not only the princess but also the rest of the crew. 'It's over. What a pity.' they all thought as they concluded that Jack will indeed be Jack. He will kill Caspian and the rest in front of Mei while wearing the gentlest smile could. Same as he did with the bandits who pleaded.

"Okay." Jack shrugged, however, and let go of the bounded guards leaving Seuss and the rest dumbfounded. Mei, on the other hand, heave a sigh of relief and profusely thank Jack for his benevolence.

"RAHAHAHAHAHA! You've scared me there for a moment, Jack! Rahahahaha!" Joyboy burst out laughing while patting Jack's back.

"Whatever do you mean, big guy?" said the always smiling man who gave the crew teasing grin.

"Whatever. Oy girl, do you have any water?" Kana ignored the look he gave them and asked Mei for some water as they have been under the sun for quite some time.

"Right right. We are quite thirsty over here. It will be good if you have some meat too."

"*Sighs* I am sorry for my crew's attitude, princess but do you indeed happen to have any water available?" Even Seuss had to ask as he was also very thirsty from being in the desert for quite a while.

"I usually do bring some water with me but I kinda left them with my attendants as Kirara and I rushed to your location." Mei said apologetically but a sound from the distance made her face lit up. "Oh, there they are!" Mei pointed towards the location and everybody saw two young maids riding a camel looking worried sick.

Soon, the two maids arrived and Joyboy and the rest saw and they saw huge rectangular wooden crates on each side of the two camels. These crate caught Jack's attention making him remember a distant memory that made him genuinely smile.

"Your highness, you should not have left us like that! We were worried sick about you!" Both the maids said at the same time while checking on their princess.

Seeing the piercing heat from the desert sun, one of the maid then unloaded the first rectangular crate and opened it then the magic happened. The crate suddenly expanded and transformed into a rectangular box about 10 feet wide and 15 feet long. There are 4 hollowed arcs below on each side where an axle can be seen while 2 gaps is present on both sides as well. The box became odd looking from all the missing parts and joints.

Then another crate was brought on top of the enlarged one and the same thing happened only that the crate expanded on top of the 10×15 box. The gap in the first box was soon filled with doors from the second crate and the joints were filled as the form of a basic carriage was revealed. But it did not stop there, on the 3rd crates, some self-assembling tools was taken out and an improvised jack was used to elevate the carriage while on the 4th crate, the wheels along with other auxiliaries that are needed for a carriage was taken out.

It did not take long before the maid assembled the whole thing leaving Joyboy, Seuss, Kana, Yvonne and even the Caspian and the guards dumbfounded.

"What the hell is that?! It is so cool, Mei!" Joyboy exclaimed while his eyes sparkled like a kid. The two maids gave a proud smug hearing that while Princess Mei blushed in embarassment.

"Of course it is. Our princess was the one made this, after all." One of maids said proudly while the other added. "Umu! She make lots and lots and lots of cool stuffs!"

Joyboy and the maids talked about how great their princess is while Yvonne is admiring and curious with the mechanisms behind it. Not a lot of technology development is present in her home world after all.

"Cool indeeed. But can she make, like, stuff explodes?" Kana asked a very important question scaring the two maids. They were suddenly reminded of the times where they suffer from thr small explosion their princess put them too while tinkering with her stuffs.

The atmosphere became relaxed from the earlier tension and a mocktent was also built to protect everyone from the shade but no one realized the solemn expression of the guards. Caspian was in deep thought as his brows furrowed before finally easing as he seemed to made his choice.

*Ahem*"Say, princess. I think you should go return to the castle right now as you are technically still being grounded. They must have already noticed your disappearance and your maids back at your room will surely suffer when they found out you're not there." Caspian reminded Princess Mei making the smiling woman who was happily talking to Kana pale in fright.

The princess panicked at the realization. She had enjoyed the time she is having right now with Kana and the rest despite the earlier misunderstandings and would not want to end it short. "uhm.. Why don't you guys come with me to the castle?" She asked but her eyes clearly resembled that of begging. The two young maids also made the same eyes as they understand their princess' loneliness.

Yvonne chuckled at their antics while Seuss' doting instinct was triggered. "Of course! We still haven't talked about the time you used your explosive to dig wells in the desert, after all." Said the now excited Kana who earlier was clearly acting against Princess Mei.

"Well, I guess we have time to pass so why not?" Jack agreed and they all boarded the carriage. They were puzzled however as a waving Caspian who was smiling wide had the rest of the guards stayed back while Jack grinned from the side.

"Captain, why are we staying in here-"

The guards was not able to register what happened as the smiling Caspian turned solemn and hack one the of the guards' head.

"Captin! What the hell did you to Jimmy-"

*Swing!*

*Ugh!*

*Thud*

Same thing happened and this time all the guards understood what's up. They all scattered in different direction hoping for more survivor to come out of their group but suddenly, the sands in the dessert moved and chased away those who are fleeing.

"ARGHHH-- WHAT HELL IS THIS?!"

"A DEMON! THIS MUST BE A DEMON!"

"HELP ME ARGHHHHH!!!"

In the middle of broad daylight in the desert of Arabasta, a massacre took place.

**

Inside a spacious inn, Arabasta two shadow of person sat face to face inside a dark covered room.

"We have lost contact with the spies."

"It doesn't matter. We have received a hint of Pluton's whereabouts."

"From whom."

"A blue-haired woman"