Don't try to show off too much. You might burn yourself

Everyone was standing on the deck of the ship, their departure for the enemies' base delayed as Jerry had to visit the toilet.

While Tom was wondering if he should just leave the brat behind and leave, he was approached by Tyke. Folding his arms, Tyke said,

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

Looking at the questioning expression on his captain's face, Tyke asked,

"Do you want to fight Spike?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, you won't get the chance."

"Huh?"

"I will take him down myself."

As Tyke clenched his fist and looked at it after saying that, Tom watched him for a moment and shouted,

"What'd you say!?"

"...."

"You think you're cool for saying that, don't you!?"

"No, I-"

"Are you gonna try to spout another cool line!? They don't suit you!"

At some point while screaming at Tyke, Tom got onto a big stool so he could look down on Tyke. Poking Tyke on his forehead, Tom asked,

"Did you get it!? Oi. Oi. Oi. Oi."

Tyke's annoyance only grew as Jerry joined Tom after arriving and started making mean faces at him. Rubbing his face, Tyke said,

"Don't we have something better to do?"

"I just started! Let's do this for a bit more!"

Though Jerry wanted to keep going, Tom clicked his tongue and walked towards the edge of the ship and turned towards Tyke.

"Don't try to bite off more than you can chew, idiot."

As Tyke saw Tom jump off the ship after saying that, someone sat on top of his shoulders. Looking up, Tyke saw a smiling Jerry, who said,

"Don't mind what Tom-san says, he's just a tsundere."

"...."

"Let's go then! What're we waiting for?"

Letting out a sigh, Tyke jumped off the ship with Jerry on his shoulders with Yuuki and Della following soon after.

**********

Over at Spike's temporary base, Spike had already left, dumping his responsibility to Hansen. With Hansen going over to take care of it, he left some of his subordinates, the Fatare knights to clean up the mess that was caused earlier.

While they were clearing the rubble, one of them said with a disgruntled expression,

"Man, why are we stuck here, doing this?"

Recognizing him as one of the rookies that had just entered their squad, the other knights nearby told him to just get used to it. Seeing the others act like they didn't care, the rookie thought,

'This squad is shit. I should transfer when I get back.'

While he was thinking of which squad to transfer to after he got back, he saw someone walking towards them. It looked like he wasn't alone as he was flanked by a tall guy with a kid on his shoulders, a woman and someone who clearly looked too scared.

As the rookie sneered at Yuuki, Tom asked him,

"Oi, where's Spike?"

"Hmph."

Looking at the arrogant expression the guy in front of him carried, Tom slowly felt his anger raising.

"I'll be nice and let you go if you answer me."

"Do not order a knight of Fatare."

"H-hey rookie, maybe we should just-"

As someone behind the rookie Fatare knight tried to say something, Tom crashed his fist right in the rookie's face and looked at the other people standing there and asked,

"Are you all 'Fatare knights' too?"

"...."

"I guess I'll beat you up first."

Giving a wicked grin, Tom started relieving his stress by beating up everyone in front of him. His crewmates and Della watched for a moment before Tyke and Jerry joined in and helped Tom clean up.

A few moments later, Tom held the collar of the rookie Fatare knight and lifted him up.

"So, wanna talk now?"

"I'm sorry! I'll say anything you want to hear about!"

"What? What happened to the tough guy, huh?"

The rookie could only cry with his swollen face. Watching the man start crying, Tom made an annoyed face and asked,

"Where's Spike?"

"Yes! I don't know!"

"Huh? You bastard, looks like you haven't had enough."

Watching Tom let go of his collar and make a fist, the knight got scared of the beating he might receive and shrieked,

"You have to believe me! I don't know! There's only one person who knows!"

"Who's that?"

"It's Hansen!"

Tom looked at the face that looked gross with tears and snot at this point and decided to believe him.

"Where can I find him?"

"W-well.."

**********

At the royal palace of Rocky road, Hansen was sitting with his feet up on the table like he owned the place.

Opposite him sat the ruler of the land, the king of Bedrock island, Freddy III. He looked frustrated after he glanced at how Hansen was acting.

Taking a deep breath, Freddy looked straight at Hansen, who was picking his teeth with a fish bone, and said,

"Your demands are too excessive. There is no wa-"

"Let me stop you right there. It's just me here now, who knows who's gonna come next time. They might not be as nice as me, you know."

"...."

They were currently trying to negotiate a deal. Well, more like Hansen was trying to force a one sided offer in which Fatare would benefit greatly.

Freddy knew the reason why they were trying to make such a deal, but he could not easily accept it, as that would mean losing out on a lot of money.

Looking at the 'king' who had gone silent, Hansen smirked inwardly, thinking his threat had worked. Taking his feet off the table, he leaned forward and said,

"Look, we need your help. You know 'who' will be in your favor if you help us out, right?"

Under normal circumstances, Freddy would have accepted the offer even if he would've taken a loss. After all, it was pretty easy to find any ore he wanted on his island. But was it actually normal over at Fatare?

The country that lived in harmony and peace suddenly turned into a dictatorship overnight. Though it had happened around three decades ago, Freddy was quite suspicious of the circumstances, as he had lost all contact with the king of Fatare since then.

And now, they were reaching out to ask for weapons to thwart the rebellious groups that had started to take root and gain momentum.

"Come on now, we don't have all day. 70% off, that's the final line for us."

"...."

"Just remember, the next one that comes might not be as nice as me."

Just as Freddy was thinking of probing a bit more, someone burst into the room. Looking at the man and recognizing him as one of his butlers, Freddy frowned.

"What are you doing? Did I not tell you to not disturb us?"

"B-but Your Majesty, it's an emergency!"

Though he wanted to take out his frustration, Freddy knew he could do it later after he saw the panicked look on his butler's face. Taking the silence as approval to continue, the butler hurriedly said,

"We're under attack!"

"..What?"

As Freddy tried to confirm that his butler had indeed said they were under attack, Hansen walked towards the window and pulled the curtain aside, taking a peek outside.

Immediately, he rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things, but he still saw the blue haired pirate shaking down one of his subordinates.

His subordinate seemed to have noticed him as he pointed towards him and exclaimed something. As Hansen clicked his tongue after getting sold out, he saw the pirate throw away his subordinate and pull out a bazooka.

Widening his eyes, Hansen immediately jumped away from the window while shouting,

"Take cover!"

*BOOM*

As soon as the explosion occurred, Tom rushed towards the palace, weaving through the militia that was gathering. His crewmates, on the other hand, were not as nimble on their feet and were surrounded before they could reach the palace.

The only one who could have followed Tom was sitting on top of Tyke's shoulders, who did not seem to have any intention of getting off as he tapped Tyke's head and said,

"What are you doing, Tyke-san? Follow our captain!"

Ignoring Jerry, Tyke assessed the number of people he would have to beat and cracked his knuckles, thinking of the best way to smash through the steel armor everyone was wearing.

As Yuuki hid behind him and Jerry was grabbing his hair and trying to make him run, Tyke looked to the side and saw that Della had taken out a mace. As Tyke thought whether he could leave his back to her, he heard her say,

"Please, leave this to me."

Though Tyke remained wary of the woman, it was not the case for Jerry, who asked,

"What are you gonna do?"

Seeing Della just smile at him, Jerry tilted his head when he heard a weird sound coming from below her. Looking down at her legs, Jerry saw there was something coming out of her and held his nose.

"Ew, she's peeing! Move away from her, Tyke-san!"

"No, I'm not! And that's not a way to speak about a lady!"

Seeing the Whisker pirates slowly scooting away from her, Della harrumphed and waved her hand, causing all the liquid underneath her to fly away and form a ring around their group. Then, she took out a matchbox and lit a match before throwing it onto the liquid.

The Whisker pirates watched in shock as the liquid, which was spread out, caught white fire. Smiling in satisfaction, Della turned towards Jerry, who exclaimed,

"Wow! Big sis, your urine is so strong!"

"Shut up! That's not my beep!"

"Beep?"

"A lady doesn't curse!"

As Jerry leaned back to avoid the glare the crazy lady was giving him, Yuuki asked,

"What was the point of this?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you haven't taken down anyone and we're kinda stuck here."

Only then did Della realize her blunder as she looked at the white flames she created. None of the militia gathered tried getting closer, and they couldn't pass through, as they would burn themsleves if they tried.

Clearing her throat, Della said,

"W-well, the fire will die down soon..."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Tyke looked towards the wall of the castle where Tom had a blown a hole open and saw him crawling in.

'Should I try and jump?'

When that thought passed his mind ,Tyke shrugged it off, as he probably couldn't make the jump while carrying Yuuki and Jerry with him and he couldn't possibly leave them here. Letting out another sigh, Tyke stared into the sky as the surroundings were burning high with white flames.

__________

Author's note : Pronounciation for Fatare is Fata-ray.