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| - “HE WON!” Art yelled out in happiness as he leaped into the air, pumping his fists as he grinned happily. The rest of the Marimos grinned and began laughing out loud, dropping to the floor and continuing to chuckle away. Knave chuckled as well, relaxing completely as he slumped against the bit of wall, allowing his feet to splay out as he let another deep breath escape him. “You still awake?” he asked, directing his words to Sirius. “What’s it to you?” Sirius grunted from where he lay. “Well, I was hoping you could give me the key you have,” Knave said, picking his nose. The key quickly flew through the air, slapping the side of his head lightly. “Now what was that for?!” “Just take it and go. You won, right?” “Yeah, but I kinda wanted to ask you a question...” “Then ask it.” “Wanna join my crew?” Knave asked, grinning. “WHAT?!” Sirius yelled, sitting bolt upright as his eyes bulged out of his head! “You heard me,” Knave said, snickering slightly, “you’re pretty damn strong after all, and I can tell you’re not that bad of a person. Not really.” “How the hell do you know that?!” the bounty hunter snarled back. “I dunno...” Knave drawled, “it’s just... a kind of instinct, I guess. I feel like I understand someone better if I fight them. And besides, you could’ve just left us and taken Mercuia wherever the hell you wanted. Glad you asked us to fight you again, that was kinda fun! Ciaosususususususususu!” “Don’t think anything of it,” Sirius said, leaning back as well, “I just enjoy a fair and brutal fight over any special tactics to ‘get it done easier’. Load of shit if you ask me.” “Umhm hmm...” Knave said, staring off into space. “IF YOU ASK QUESTIONS PAY ATTENTION!” Sirius yelled, chopping Knave over the head! “Sorry, sorry,” Knave said, rubbing the back of his head, “you were just saying some meaningless stuff so I kinda spaced out.” “Meaningless stuff..?!” Sirius growled, preparing to launch another blow- “Enough about that!” Knave said, grinning again, “do you want to join my crew or not?” Knave stood quietly in the corner of the platform on which the building had been placed, staring forlornly into the water. “I can’t believe he said no...” “Just get over it and help us unlock these keys!” Art yelled at him as the rest of the crew gathered around Mercuia, the three keys in hand. “Oh!” Knave said, snapping out of it, “yeah, sure!” The crew quickly inserted the three keys into the handcuffs, them finally clicking open and dropping to the floor. Mercuia immediately whipped around and caught the collective crew in a massive bear hug, nearly knocking them over! “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!” she cried, tears streaming rapidly down her cheeks, “thank you all so much!” “Ciaosususususususu!” Knave laughed, “it was no problem! You’re our friend now, right?” “Yes!” Mercuia said, nodding so fast that her head appeared as a blur, “of course I am!” “Oi,” Sirius said, stepping into scene a few inches away from where the rest of the Marimos were standing, “can I talk to one of you?” “Sirius-san!” Mercuia said, immediately pushing away the other members of the crew as she walked towards Sirius, before proceeding to... bow to him?! “What the hell?!” Sirius asked, taking a step back as he raised an eyebrow. “Thank you for taking care of me during my forced captivity!” Mercuia said, “even though you could’ve just as easily treated me horribly, and even provided me with a way out should I have discovered it!” “Hmph,” Sirius muttered, shaking his head slowly, “don’t get me wrong there either. It wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if there wasn’t the factor of you potentially escaping and all...” “Heh,” Knave said, smirking slightly. “What the hell was that?!” Sirius cried, pointing his finger at the marimo lad. “Nothing, nothing!” Art said, quickly putting his hand over Knave’s mouth and shooting his captain a I’ll-Kill-You-If-You-Make-Things-Worse look at him, “now, what did you want to tell us again?” “Ghh...” Sirius grunted as a sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head, “anyway, I needed to tell someone intelligent something. Anyone of you here a bit smarter than the Green Tempest?” All of the Marimos proceeded to raise their hands, with Stormy briefly slapping Knave’s hand down. “I’ll talk to him,” the doctor sighed. “It’s just a warning, really,” Sirius said, holding out a small paper with a strange logo on it. “A warning?” Stormy asked, taking the paper. The logo was truly difficult to describe, appearing to be a sequence of random, harshly drawn lines that all came together to form the appearance of some kind of demonic eye, or something close to one anyway. “Yeah,” Sirius growled, “the other members of my organization aren’t as honorable or fight-happy as I am, and once word gets around that you managed to beat us, they’ll all be after your heads. Some for honor, some for the thought of rubbing my nose in the fact that they could kill an opponent I lost against... either way your voyage has just gotten a lot harder.” “I see...” Stormy said, crumpling the paper slightly in her hand, “well, thanks for letting us know.” And with that, she turned around and began walking away. “That’s all?” Sirius asked, once more raising an eyebrow. “Yep!” Stormy said, turning around and smiling, “we can handle it, so thanks for telling us about it!” “And they’re off,” Canis Major said, one hand raised to shield his eyes as he watched the Shooting Star sail away. He turned back to face Minor and Sirius. “Got any idea of what we’re doing now. Sirius-sama?” “Of course he does, dumbass,” Minor growled as she continued bandaging herself. “Stop calling me that!” Major yelled, pointing angrily at her. “Shut up, you two,” Sirius grumbled from his crouching position, “honestly, you’re giving me a migraine.” “My apologies, Sirius-sama,” Canis Minor said, bowing. “So, the idea is..?” Major prompted, pushing up his glasses with his fingers once more. “It’s simple!” Sirius cried, having teleported to the edge of the platform, a random flag in one hand and planted on the platform itself, “we head back to headquarters!” “THAT EASILY?!” the two other bounty hunters cried in disbelief! “Yep!” Sirius said, nodding solemnly. “B-but, Sirius-sama,” Minor said quickly, “are you sure we can sail with the, er, ship in this condition?” “Then we’ll just build a raft!” Sirius said, giving a thumbs up as a spark appeared by his head. “EHH?!?!?!” his two subordinates cried in disbelief once more. “‘Green Tempest’ Knave, 50,000,000 Beli. ‘Two Knife’ D’Artagnan, 30,000,000 Beli. ‘Blue Wrath’ Sid, 1,000,000 Beli,” recited a somewhat odd looking young girl with dark skin and pink-colored hair. She lifted down a small clipboard with the bounties placed upon them, exposing her pink sunglasses and fake goat horns on her head. “Though it’s also highly likely there are others members of their crew that we’ve yet to identify.” “I see,” came a deep basso voice from right beside her. A incredibly massive and muscular man wearing a cow-printed jumpsuit beneath his standard tux, as well as an iron bull mask, closed the book he was reading as he walked to the massive window that the room afforded him and his group. “Shall we ambush them then? When they’re close enough?” “Whatever,” came a somewhat tired and wheezy voice from the corner. A pale and sickly looking man wearing a purple jacket with large fake black wings attached lifted up one of his arms to shield his face, “do what you want. I’m just interested in the games.” “Agreed, eyup!” came a gigantic pink bear with a yellow ascot, sitting down in the corner (as it was the only way he could fit in the room), “the games are really fun and the best part, eyup!” “Moohoohoohoohoo!” the cow man laughed, tucking his book into his breast pocket, “I understand your enthusiasm, but patience always wins the game. Remember that.” “Still,” the girl said, “the fact that Sirius’s group couldn’t take them means that they should at least be SOMEWHAT good.” “But not as good as us, right?” the black wing man drawled, looking over at her. “Of course not, eyup!” the bear laughed, “no one’s ever beat us before, eyup!” “Of course they haven’t,” the cow man said, “so it’s agreed that we should send them our special kind of invitation?” The rest of the people in the room nodded. “Then let’s prepare for the game.” Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
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